There’s something about America that I need to bitch before I forgets. Tipping! Everywhere you go make sure you have plenty of small note for tipping. For example our tour to Disneyland and Universal Studio. End of the day when we are back into the tour bus, the tour guide will announce this over the mic, “Please get ready your tipping. Minimum is US$5. I’m making my rounds shortly after this to collect from you.” Wah, I thought we only get rob like this in China. Never know America also like this! KNN.

Toffee apples and Krispy Kreme

Regardless if you are dining, taking a cab, the bell boy that helps you with your luggage, room service…. etc… Can you imagine how much I have to spend on tipping per day? For example when you are dining, the rough calculation of tipping is 15% of your total bill. Let’s do some simple calculation *searching for calculator*. Your bill is $30 x 15% = US$4.50. After conversion, that is about RM15.75 *ding! ding! ding! ding!* Of course you can walk off without tipping. But will you do that?

Stuffed Portobello

You can escape paying tips in restaurants but one thing for sure you can’t escape is “The Mr. Cab Man”. In fact, they ASK you for the tips. Minimum US$5 also. Another RM17.50 *ding! ding!ding! ding!* To Malaysians (x 3.5), this is like broad daylight robbery!

Spicy Buffalo Wings

Finised bitching liao. Sorry if I’ve offended any Amelicans, but really hor, if you come to our country, no need to pay tips wan. The most when you settle your dining bills, leave them those cents and coins for tipping. No one is going to curse behind your back like how we get cursed, “Cheapskates!” Almost makes me wanna shout back, “Baskets!”

This time really finished with my bitching liao *look left, look right for any rotten tomatoes and eggs*

My favourite outlets in Las Vegas is Premium Outlet.

I can’t be sure if this is your ideal shopping place. It all depends on what you are looking for – Coach Bags, French Connections, Ann’s Taylor, Osh Kosh B’gosh, Gap, Guess, Levi’s, etc… I went there 3 times and each time I’ve never fail to leave empty handed.

Let me bitch with you something good about Amelica this time. I love their “Goods Refundable” or “Goods Exchangeable” policy.

I was in Osh Kosh B’gosh. It says on the banner, 4 or more items, you save 50% on store wide item. Therefore, I’ve grab 6 items from the store – 2 normal priced, 3 further reduction and a pair of sandal. After paying, I’ve realized ‘further reduction’ item is not included in the promotion. Which means I’m entitled to 40% off. That is a lot of difference in currency if I were to convert back to Malaysian Ringgit. I walked back to the store, explained that I’ve overlook on the promotion and if they could allow me to pick up another item so that I will get 50% off instead of 40%. I was glad they allowed me! I quickly went and grab a US$10 t-shirt. After working out my new bill, not only I get another piece of t-shirt, I got a refund of US$3 for nothing! See, if you ask you will get.

There’s another similar incident. On a Friday, I bought a Guess watch at 40% off and didn’t notice there’s some scratches on the metal bracelet. The next day I went back for a goods return or an exchanged. Since they are out of stock for the design that I’ve bought, I decided to grab another design albeit higher price. And since it is a Saturday, their watch is at 50% off! Which means, I don’t have to pay the balance and still get some refund!

See! Now you know why I’m such a happy shopper.

Ok. So much bitching for today’s post.

I was told, Americans prefer Puma shoes and I bet, you won’t meet any Malaysian wearing this design of Puma shoe! If you can prove me wrong, at least I’m glad there’s someone other than me is having a sense of good taste 😉

… Go back to read Day 10 in Grand Canyon here

… proceed to read Day 12 Red Rock Canyon here

The simplest breakfast.

Preparation for the batter is as easy as 1, 2, 3 if you are using the pre-mixed ingredients albeit the cooking is a bit time consuming. Each sides needed about 2 to 4 minutes to have a nice browning.

So, my first attempt in Pancake. I read the instructions and it says, “Add 2 tablespoon of……”

Aiyah, no need to continue reading la. So easy! Add 2 tablespoon of butter in the pan lor. Then scoops batter and cook till brown.

… and so they turn out looking like this,

Dang! First attempt fail! How come ah? Quickly refer back to the instruction on the box again. *slap own face* Too much butter! No wonder la. It says, “Add 2 tablespoon of batter ….” and not butter. See! Trying to jump on conclusion. Dai sei.

The following is a breeze. How I wished I have a griddle. The pancake will brown evenly and not like the one I have – spotted or patches of browning.

I spread the first layer with peanut butter, 2nd layer butter, 3rd layer maple syrup before stacking them and topped with more maple syrup and strawberry jam.

I know I’m missing something here. Vanilla ice-creams! Let’s leave that for another time 😉

~~~***~~~

psst…

Fuh yoh!

I’ve been cracking my head for the past 2 weeks not knowing what to post up for this week theme. Upon digging into my photo archieves, this is the only available ones or should I put it… the most suitable picture of all.

This ceramic bowl has been in existance since my great grandmother’s year. Nowadays, it’s appearance in chinese household is almost extinct and people consider this as an ‘old fashion’ bowl and opt for Made-In-Ikea bowl. How uncool is that *ffts

Each and every bowl is individually mould by hand and the rooster is hand painted too. Hence you can see all of them are in odd shapes thus making it unbalance and difficult to be stacked. Upon comparison, every painting of the roosters differ from each other to proof it’s origin.

To me, it is a RARE looking bowl and a RARE hobby of mine (psst…. I’ve been collect all sort of Rooster dinner sets now.)

Crafting: Easter Eggs

Kids + paint = DISASTER! *sigh…

For the sake of Disaster Easter Day, I let the kids paint the eggs with tight supervision. But gawd knows why i have to keep on running to the kitchen for some towel and more towels. Baby Princess was frustrated with the painting, that’s when she started to paint on the newspaper. Cleber girl 😉 .

Not only that, she cleaned her stained hand on her shirt! I have to bleached her shirt, clean the chair pad, mop the floor and the wall cos gawd knows why the paint fall from the table and splattered all over! That’s end of the painting for her. The two eldest carry on with their painting with lots of arguing – “That’s my egg!” “Yours is so ugly!” “Boy don’t use Pink, OK?” *shudder*

Mischievious – The Story of the Poor Bin

Trying to act cute?

I don’t find them funny anymore. I had enough of her! I carried her down. She climbed up again. That’s when I used the clothes hanger and piak her butt and dragggggggg her down! She refused, struggled and started yelling and crying. The situation turned so chaotic I can sense the neighbour is going to dial 1-800-CHILD-ABUSE.

Birthday – 7 wonders of the year.

Sometime last week, Princess celebrated her 7th birthday without making a big hoo-haa over it. She wanted a party but Mummy is frighten of the aftermath clean-up. Infact, she was caught in a total suprise when we gave her a surprised birthday cake in Baskin Robbin.

She almost shed tears of joy when the waitress bring over the cake along with us singing to her the international birthday song. As usual la, Mummy is the emotional type. Was singing while choking and holding on to her tears. After all, she’s still my baby, ok! A big and heavy baby.

“But Mummy, my birthday is tomorrow.” Well, this is what we called a ‘Surprised Birthday Celebration’ *ngek.

Talented – The Musician and the Dancer

Princess was practising on her violin while Baby Princess was watching. Out of a sudden, she got up and started dancing.

Swirling and showing off her flare.

Makes me feel like I have a small concert at home. lol

Hero – Is that a bird? Is that an aeroplane? NO, it’s Superman!

Let the picture do the talking….

Who need Daddy when we have a Superhero at home?

Clap hand la, everybody.

I was double tagged by Giddy Tigers and Jazzmint. As promised, I’ve google bake many types of kuih lapis for her.

Layer One: On The Outside
Name Hijackqueen
Birth Date : June 2nd
Current status : Bored!
Eye Colour : Dark brown
Hair Colour : Most parts are black with streaks of shinny brown
Righty or Lefty : Righty

Layer Two : On The Inside
Your Heritage : Hockchew (similar to Foochow) + Hockkien
Your Fears : Loneliness and GHOST!
Your Weakness : Sales! Sales! Sales!
Your Perfect Pizza : Must be Super thin crust with extra cheese and eeextra pineapples.

Layer Three : Yesterday, Today , Tomorrow
Your Thoughts First thing when I wake up : Why do I have to work *sigh…
Your Bedtime : 10pm on a non-horny nights.
Your Most Missed Memory : Going on a holiday.

Layer Four : Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke : Vanilla Coke
McDonald’s or Burger King : Burger King’s Breakfast ham!
Single or Group Dates : Group! I’m shy, a nervous freak and most of the time I’m tongue tight.
Tea or Nestea : What’s the difference between Tea and Nestea? Nestea come from Tea, right???!!!
Chocolate or Vanilla : Vanilla
Cappucino or Coffee : Cappucino.

Layer Five : Do You..
Smoke : Nope.
Curse: Yes!
Take a shower : Duh… of course la!
Have a crush : All the time *wink*
Think you’ve been in love: No 🙁 Just crush.
Go to school : I was born intelligent. Education ruined me.
Want to get married : Again? Woohoo!
Believe in yourself : Someone please slap me!
Think you’re a health freak : Can’t be a freak with the occasional sin of curry laksa with lots of see hum.

Layer Six : In The Past Month
Drank alcohol : Yes.
Gone to the mall : Yes.
Been on stage : No
Eaten sushi : Yes
Dyed your hair : Never!

Layer Seven : Have You Ever..
Played A Stripping Game: Yes! That was so much fun when your opponent keep on loosing.
Changed Who You Were To Fit In : I don’t even bother to fit in.

Layer Eight : Age
You’re Hoping To Be Married : When the knight come along, you just hop on.

Layer Nine : In a Girl/Guy
Best Eye Colour : Blue or Green
Best Hair Colour : Dark brown
Short Hair or Long Hair : Short hair!

Layer Ten : What Were You Doing
1 Min Ago : Writing this post
1 Hour Ago : Photoshopping the kuih lapis.
1 Month Ago : Any specific date and time?
1 Year Ago: Duhh!

Layer Eleven : Finish The Sentence
I Love : being lazy.
I Feel : so lazy.
I Hate : not to be lazy.
I Hide : my laziness
I Need : to be more lazy!

I’m so lazy that I don’t intend to tag anyone. Thank you very much.

Blogger’s Meet – Picnic in Morib Beach, Klang on Labour’s Day.  Anyone interested?

It’s been ages that I’ve not cook anything spicy since CNY. When I spotted Petai selling at the morning market, I thought I must buy them even tho the price is a bit pricey that morning and they doesn’t look fresh anymore. Some of the petai is already sprouting. There’s something about a women’s tastebud. Not sure about you, but i do need something savoury + spicy + sour = PMS at certain day of the month.

Ingredients that I’ve used is almost the same as for Kangkung Belacan. This time, you may need to increased the amount of dry prawn (hae bee) to half a bowl. For a lovely aroma, shread thinly 2 Kaffir leaves. Instead of using water, substitute with thick tamerind juice or you can use lime juice.

I was tempted to go to the beach to snap some foot step/prints for this week photo hunt.  I wish I have the time! *sigh…

I’m sure many of you have seen this before - Steps in Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles

As a women, why do we always have to be the one to forgive and forget?

My fair share of VisualDNA profile. After reading, don’t laugh at me, ok? 98% of the DNA result tested positive *shudder*

I was digging thru my archieve for the sake of showing someone *rolling eye* a site where you can paint the map red. Basically they show countries you’ve visited and produce a map of the world with those countries painted in red.

Last year I did one. It looks like this:

Of course I have the privillage to paint another country red. U.S.A. Here I comeeeeeeee!

Wah lau. United States so kwa cheong! Went to 2 States out of 50 States and I’ve got the whole of USA painted in red. Wakakaak…. Percentage increased by another 1% *tehehehe*

Basically these are the country/states that I’ve been too.

1. Los Angeles, United States
2. Las Vegas, United States
3. Oslo, Norway
4. Amsterdam, Netherlands
5. Paris, France
6. Brisbane, Australia
7. Perth, Australia
8. Phuket, Thailand
9. Singapore
10. Seoul, South Korea
11. MALAYSIA!!! wakakakaaaa….

The journey to Grand Canyon is about 5 hours from Las Vegas using the same Freeway again passing thru Hoover Dam. Once again, we are surrounded by dessert. We passed thru a very small town. It’s so small you can count the numbers of shops and houses they have. They look very familiar like the scene from Cars. All this while, I’m crazy head-over-heels on Route 66. I’ve got my Sony T-10 on standby. Finally, not only one but two! I’ve got the Route 66 sign captured!

I know there’s nothing great about the sign. It’s just a sign. But mind you, it’s not an ordinary sign. We are talking about the history of Route 66! And you think it’s easy to capture the sign on camera? Why don’t you try them. Imagine you are in a moving vehicle, say 110km/h and was seated wayyyyyyyy back in a 7 seater vehicle constantly looking out from the window with your head position at 75degree and your neck stretched so long it’s going to put you in the Guinness World of Record for having a neck as long as a giraffe, nose sandwiched on the window and eyes focus far. And when you spoted some sign, you position your camera at the window pane, hold your breath, eyes open up wide, finger on the shutter button and *CLICK*. It’s all over then. The sign now is behind you. If the picture doesn’t turn out right, continue looking out from the window with your head position at 75degree and your neck stretched so long and eyes focus far. And when you spoted some sign, you position your camera at the window pane, hold your breath, eyes open up wide, finger on the shutter button and *CLICK*. The sign now is behind you again. Let’s just continue your sleeping. It’s a long way out there. So now you know la. I was darn happy to snap that 2 pictures!

We stopped at no where at some petrol kiosk for gas and snacks. This is the way leading to the washroom.

So dem chun can die lidat. Washroom is on your left and on the right…..

Icy topped mountain landscape. Fuhyoh, sibeh sui hor.

Each vehicle is charged US$25 for the entrance to Grand Canyon. It is still cheaper than buying a tour which might costs you around US$230. I’ll tell you why later. Pun intended.

The first view that greeted us in Grand Canyon.

We drove to the next observation centre…

Fyi, don’t go during winter as the Canyon will be covered with snows. You see nothing but snow. But I’m sure it has the winter beauty too.

They all looks the same -_- . Lots of walking from one rim to another.

By the time you downloaded your pictures to view on a pc, you will find that the backdrop is almost the same.

Heck! Aunty also have the same pose. So boring! (psst… Aunty’s Guess shirt is only US$10)

It’s so boring can die lidat!

We can’t find the Red Indian settlement 🙁 and by the time we reached the Red Indian museum, they are closed. I feel like crying then.

Bear in mind that Arizona is 1 hour ahead of Nevada. Three hours in Grand Canyon and we see the same shit thing.

There’s nothing more to do or see. Or maybe we don’t know what else to do there. I don’t know. A very little entertainment we got there could be watching cowboy leading a harras of horses back to it’s barn.

The sun set around 5pm. Therefore, the Canyon looks very shadowy. Not pleasant for photography.

We left after that. So, it’s like another 5 hours back to Las Vegas. Gosh, we don’t even have proper breakfast and lunch. All we ate is Krispy Kreme donuts and bread.

If I have the opportunity, I may want to visit Grand Canyon again. This time, no more driving and watching Canyons from the observation centre. I’m going to take a helo and hoovers around the Canyon and cruise on the Colorado river. I want to have the feel of being IN the Canyon and not ABOVE the Canyon no matter how much it will cost me.

If you have been to Grand Canyon, mind telling me your experience?

… go back to read Day 9 with Bill Clinton’s appearance here

... proceed to read Day 11 with lots of bitching here