So, this blog title is borrowed from one of my favorite YA authors, and one of my favorite books. It is now 3 years since we got together, and we are still coasting on. ;)

He has to work on our actual anniversary date (7th March), so we decided to have our anniversary dinner a few days earlier. I selected Tosca, one of my favorite Italian restaurants (which I've reviewed before in 2011) as they serve great food and has impeccable service.

But before I indulge you with photos of food, I want to just write a few words few short paragraphs, on why after three years (I know it's not a long time, but...) I still feel like one of the luckier girls in the world (not to mention the most-constantly-annoyed-girlfriend) and how much I appreciate the little things in our relationship.

He goes to things he doesn't want to go to, because I want to
Horror movies that he hates watching? He goes anyway because I love horror movies, and then spends half the time hiding under his cap. He even attends girly blogger events with me which some of my friends commented that their men would NEVER do for them. #bonuspoints

He gave me most of his closet space
Having co-lived together at his place, he has given me more space to keep all my stuff in – even if it means throwing out some of his older stuff. He even bought me a table and cabinets from IKEA, to store more stuff and that I may have my own personal workspace. This is probably one of the things I appreciate the most.

He always listens (or pretends to listen) when I gossip/rant about girl drama
I think he listens most of the time because he seems to remember certain gossipy bits – and can even bring up certain things I've forgotten I said months later. He has bad memory for things like 'dinner with mom' or 'event to attend', but he remembers gossip. Sigh.

He doesn't act like some 'macho' cool guy around his friends
No showing off in front of his friends – he keeps things real. That's pretty good since some guys I know act like some 'big know it all man' around his friends if his girlfriend is present. Bleagh, please..

He gives good advice (sometimes)
I have learnt a few things from him, such as having patience (amongst other things), as he is a very patient person who doesn't like confrontations. I, on the other hand, am the total opposite. Pros and cons to both traits, but he teaches me to be better, sometimes.

Most importantly, I feel secure
I don't think I have ever felt insecure throughout our time together. I occasionally ask 'who is this?' whenever some girl likes or comments on his photos – but it's mostly in jest. I know he's honest and sincere, and I believe that I have no reason to doubt him, not just yet anyway (and not ever, hopefully). We both have the same vision for our future, so that gives me assurance on his commitment and my utmost trust.


Now that we've gotten all that gooey stuff out of the way, on to our date night!




Every table at Tosca gets a complimentary bread basket – which I mostly love because of their delicious grissini! In fact, it was my last visit to Tosca that inspired me to make my own grissini at home. The basket also comes with a generous assortment of bread to satiate our gnawing hunger as the food is prepared.

Our starter arrives, it is a carpaccio of Australian grass fed beef tenderloin with horseradish cream and rocket leaves to go with. I think there was a sort of mustard sauce beneath it too.






Our delicious mains came next. I loved the wild mushrooms and sea scallop risotto! I am a sucker for rice dishes like risotto and paella, and this is done really well. The flavor is creamy and fantastic. We also had a calabrese pizza, which is made simple with tuna, capers, oregano and chilli on top of melty mozzarella. These were shared between us, and it was so much, we had 3 slices of pizza leftover.





Tosca has got a lovely pool view. We decided to share dessert (because we're greedy) and selected the creme brulee. It was lovely and it came with raspberries and a lovely raspberry sorbet. I thought it was a little too sweet, the sorbet. I don't know, maybe I am getting older, a lot of things seem too sweet to me these days.







Last but not least, my annual anniversary gift which we went to purchase last weekend. He had to bring me along to try out the ring sizes. No, we are not engaged, but I would like to think this is a promise that we might, one day. :)

p/s: I haven't gotten him his gift yet, but all he wants is a soda machine. Men. #rollseyes

Over the weekend, the very last weekend of the 15 days of Chinese New Year, we had our own little gathering over dim sum. The place to try was Dolly Dim Sum – a unconventionally decorated venue that serves pork-free dim sum.

Many people gasp at the absurdity of having pork-free dim sum – like how could it be good if there is NO pork? To be honest, I have tried pretty decent pork-free dim sum in other places, and those were one of the best ones I had. So, honestly, it's all about being open to going without the piggy.

Food woes aside, the place is highly decorated in gorgeous tiles and lots of glass and wood, which reminds me of a pseudo era of psychedelic hipster-ness (if that term even exists). Somehow, all the mosaic tiling, chevron designs and bright murals seem to jive very well together.

There isn't much choices of dim sum as compared to a conventional dim sum restaurant, but they do serve the popular favorites like lo mai gai, har gou, siu mai, char siew pao, loh shi fun and even my favorite custard bun. I was glad that even their loh shi fun had a few varieties of fillings to choose from. However, one thing to note is that the prices are run much higher than other dim sum places.






To start off, we had the egg tarts which was very lovely and silky, followed by the loh shi fun, which is soft, silky and flavorful. The chilli that accompanies it is terribly delicious – I asked for more.








My only quip with this place is its poor service and the fact that it opens only at 11am! Dim sum is meant to be had early, for some of us, and it is appalling that even when we got in at 11am-sharp (we were all there by 10.30am), the food took a long time to come, and they do not come altogether at once. Service is such that we get sleepy-cranky-faced waiters serving us – it is very, very poor in comparison to those Chinese dim sum restaurants who have very quick and snappy servers who gives you what you demand in a jiffy.




There's a well-stocked bar in this place. I'm impressed.






Overall, the food is lovely and very enjoyable. They just need to improve on serving everything all at once (how else does one enjoy dim sum if food comes in one-by-one?) and putting smiles on their servers' faces. The price was quite a pinch but I figure, quite alright for its ambience and taste.

And to add-on a short summary of my Chinese New Year, it was A LOT of eating, drinking and gambling involved. Trust the Chinese to come up with a festival which makes gambling okay for all ages to participate in within those 15 days of celebration. There was a lion dance troupe that came to bless the house on the fourth day.

Boys, boys – this post is for you (as much as it is also for us girls). Valentines is coming, and perfectly on a Saturday too, so there is much to plan and buy for. Here are some of my top picks for gifts and dining. You're welcome.


GIFT SELECTIONS
01 Melissa + Vivienne Westwood / Karl Lagerfeld Shoes
A beautiful collaboration between Melissa and one of the most celebrated designers – which brings about a girly and feminine look to Melissa's signature shoes. The Lady Dragon shoes are given new life with elements of Westwood's designs, a sweet curved heart on the toe and soft pastel color combos. Then comes another collection that collaborates with the celebrated Karl Lagerfeld – with his style of sleek black, and metallic-color application. I personally love those Ultragirl flats that features Choupette, Lagerfeld's famous pet cat who has recently gotten her share of fame worldwide in various campaigns.

02 Victoria's Secret Bombshell Pink Diamonds
Following the successful debut of Bombshells In Bloom, VS has yet another new fragrance from the Bombshell line, just in time for Valentines day! It is a vibrant blend of pink grapefruit and passion flower, very lush and oh-so-perfect for Vday. Just check out the gorgeous bottle that has a jewel encrusted pink bow filled with lovely pink diamantes, what's not to love?

03 Bobbi Brown's Skin Smoothing Pore Perfector
We all know that one of the best ways to a girl's heart is NOT through her stomach, but rather, through worshipping her beauty. And what better way to help her maintain her skin's glow that with this lightweight product? It is a targeted treatment that instantly helps creates smooth, poreless-looking skin. This formula features special soft focus powders that immediately blur pores – she will not be needing those face smoothing apps on her iPhone after this. And she will thank you for it. ;)



DRINKS & DINING
04 PLOY's Valentines Day Offerings
Step into PLOY, and taste their specially curated Valentines Day menu in collaboration with Michelin-starred Chef Jeff Ramsey. Themed in a Naughty or Nice fashion, you get to pick a dish that either defines as naughty (such as the chocolate and hazelnut crunch bar dessert) or nice (its polar opposite which features the raspberry dome with Grand Marnier mousse) – which makes it easy to try everything by sharing your selections with your partner. This menu goes at RM288+ per person, and you start off with a nice glass of prosecco.

05 Troika Sky Dining: Cantaloupe
Dine sky-high, up at Cantaloupe – with a luscious 6-course spread. You will find a medley of all the best aphrodisiacs in one night from oysters to lobster, foie gras, wagyu, tuna belly – and that's just some of the really good stuff – to treat your loved one to. Expect a thrill for both your tastebuds accompanied by a view of the city – not to mention, a warm and lovey atmosphere. The menu goes for RM500++ per pax.

06 Möet Chandon: Möet Rose Unfurl The Tie Gift Box and Möet Rose Unfurl The Tie Suit
Nothing beats ending the night with a good bottle of Möet. This year, they have gorgeously packaged Möet Rose (in two variants) which are specially glammed up for Valentines. Check out the beautiful packaging in lush pastel pink, gold and black – a definite way to romance your other half and drink to the stars. After all, every bottle of Möet Chandon is as quoted from Perignon himself who exclaimed, "Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!"


I hope this has given you an idea (or ideas) to spruce up your Valentines Day this 2015 – and may your love be everlasting!

It has come down to that time, where we summarize and recall on what a wonderful/shitty year 2014 has been and then proceed to make new year resolutions for 2015.

How has my 2014 been? AMAZING! Let me tell you why it's been amazing. First of all, I have managed to achieve TWO of my 2014 resolutions, out of the many I have. The only resolution I botched up was my fitness resolution, which I kept up so well in 2013 but managed to kill in 2014 – I guess I may have spoke to soon and loved my body and food too much to care about what other people think. But anyways, despite the laziness and weight gain – I've never been so happy! :) I kind of feel I need to do a round-up of all the amazing things that happened this year (I made a pretty impressive one for 2012). Here goes!




#1 ACHIEVED ONE OF MY RESOLUTIONS: TO TRAVEL MORE
And travel I did. I don't usually venture out of my comfort zones of travel like Bangkok or Singapore – where little or no planning is required. This year, I painstakingly and very proudly, planned out the itinerary for my Australia trip from Gold Coast to Brisbane and Melbourne. I came back and was immediately off to Cambodia (for the very first time) on a company trip – you can read about the culture shock we experienced there and see the beauty of Angkor Wat. A few local trips down to Malacca and Ipoh in between, and I was off again for my first time to Osaka, Japan. We had so much fun at the Universal Studios Japan theme park, über excited mainly for the Harry Potter park! I can now proudly say that I've been to Hogwarts! Later on we travelled out of Osaka into Nara, Kyoto and visited the iconic Umeda Sky Building. It's been such a long time since I travelled with my mom, so glad we got to do this. And just this month, I was in Boracay, Asia's ultimate party island! So much fun, I can barely wait for another planned trip to Bali next year! :)




#2 ACHIEVED ANOTHER RESOLUTION: GETTING MY BLOG INTO ACTION
My blog's existence has been somewhat so-so for a long time. This year, I vowed to bring it to life by being more 'sociable' on the blogging scene (an introvert's first world problems) because I am socially awkward around people I don't know, sometimes. I called out to my old PR contacts and made new ones – from then on, my blog took off from it's abysmal 2,000 visitors-a-month to over 8,000 now. Many other brands soon came to sought me out on their own, and much thanks to them and the amazing sponsors I got, my blog has never looked or felt more alive. From churning 1 or 2 posts a week, I am now working and churning out at least 4-6 posts weekly (except when I'm on vacation, I cannot blog while on an exciting journey).





#3 SURVIVED THE TERRIBLE TWOS
Yeah, so many relationships and marriages suffer this syndrome called 'the terrible twos' – which is the phase between year 2 and 3 where many things seem to go wrong in the relationship. You fight more, you feel sick of one another sometimes and the one you love starts to do little things that annoy you. But then again, this is just perspective. For me, things like fights and arguments happen – and should happen because that's part of the process, but only over petty things. We probably get sick of one another once in a while – but that's what friends (and other hobbies) are for. He has his business to run, and I have my blog to work on – so we have some good time apart until bedtime. As for him being annoying – that's been part and parcel of this relationship since Day 1 so it doesn't faze me. I have built tolerance for so much annoying-ness, I am almost achieving Zen. So, we toasted to our two years this year and are looking forward to the third!




#4 (NOT REALLY MY ACHIEVEMENT) HELPED ESTABLISH EL LIBRE
My boyfriend and his partner started their own food company, El Libre, specializing in burritos this year. I was involved heavily in the logo design and all their labels and promotional items, as well as the initial planning and jump-starting the brand. It went pretty well considering the amount of orders they get and a radio interview, as well as a video interview with The Star. It's quite amazing how fast the business grew and we are looking forward to better things in 2015. You can help by spreading the word and liking them on Facebook!




#5 COMPLETED THE 100 HAPPY DAYS CHALLENGE
The popular #100happydays trend was created to give you something to appreciate everyday for 100 consecutive days  – sort of like finding the silver lining in your everyday life. I am super stoked to have completed it without missing a single day (although I sort of slacked posting the updates here on my blog). I have to say, it has positively helped me boost my optimism.




#6 I MET DAVID BECKHAM!
The one and only. When he came down to Malaysia to launch Haig Club whiskey, I was given the opportunity by YTL and The Peak magazine to attend and be one of the first 40 media members to meet him, fresh off his flight. It was quite an experience – meeting him in the flesh and tasting the delicious Haig Club whiskey cocktails. I'm extremely grateful for this experience.




#7 MY CAT FAMILY EXPANDED!
My cat Karma, got pregnant and miraculously delivered 4 pure black kittens (some with white stars on the chest, like herself). This all happened just 2 days before Chinese New Year – so you can imagine the chaos and the stress, as told in the full story. It was however, a blessing in disguise. The kittens were a bundle of joy and we managed to give two away to good homes. The other two however, stayed on with us. Tragically, Karma escaped one day and left her two babies behind. We have managed to now secure all escape routes with wire netting, and these two, Wally and Coco are tuning a year old in a months' time. Here's to maintaining my little black cat family.




#8 MANAGED TO SQUEEZE IN SOME TIME FOR ART
I haven't been producing as much artworks as I did the previous year but I still managed to come up with at least three greeting card pieces for Christmas (see above) and finished the third piece in my Meat Series, entitled Porckchop. These and my first acrylic on wood piece, Foxtrot.



I guess these 8 parts of my life sums up my 2014 pretty well. If anything, I loved this year more than the last. I am also very blessed with food this year, so many food reviews and reasons to celebrate. Not great for the waistline, but food is nourishment for the body and soul, and I am so not complaining. As tradition holds, time to make new resolutions – and hopefully by end of 2015 I'll be able to refer back to this post and check-off each item here.

• Get my 2013 body back! My boyfriend has fed me too much. 
• Travel to new places in 2015. I want to visit a cathedral with gargoyles and catacombs.
• Make more art (and more time to do art).
• Learn how to write with my right hand.
• Maybe write a book?
• Organize and makeover the room (it is a rat's nest at the moment).
• Put more ideas into action.
• Donate old clothes and replenish with new ones.
• Read more books. To be fair, I've read A LOT of books this year.
• Be more religious with cleaning my hamster's cage. (Sorry, Boss)
• Get another hamster? That is, if Boss doesn't kill his new friend.

That is about it. If you have a list of resolutions or year in review, do drop me the link in the comments section – I love reading stuff like that! Have a wonderful 2015!

Another year has passed. My lovely boss took us all out for the team's annual Gorging Day. Although not an actual holiday (it always falls on a work day), Gorging Day must occur a few days before the actual holiday (in this case, Christmas) and it must include pork.

Our Gorging Day venue selection for this year is at the Smoking Hog. Nestled in between the intersections of SS2 PJ, you can find a door (actually, more like a hole in the wall) with a floral pig ornament hanging above it in a little back alley. You take the lift up to the third floor... and walk into a restaurant filled with dark grandeur, and pig-related decor. I loved it upon first sight! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, just my phone, so all images I have are quite substandard.

The food however, is glorious in all its pigginess.










We also did a short session of Secret Santa (another Peak tradition) and everyone got fabulous gifts to show for. After that, we headed back to the office in a food-coma stupor and tried not to fall asleep as it started raining gloomily.