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For those of you who follows me on Instagram, it’s certainly no secrets that I have cats as pet at home.

A little bit of a history – it all started out with Cendawan, a male Bengal cat that we bought from a breeder as a 3 month old kitten back in September 2010. Slightly less than a year later in August of 2011, we picked up two skinny stray cats at the neighbourhood, brought them in and named the male kitten Belimbing and his sister Tembikai.

Belimbing, Tembikai, and Cendawan

Over the last couple of years, the stray kittens grew up to have beautiful semi-long coat, and Cendawan packed on a healthy 7 KG. These cats are the masters of the house, we merely happen to be the live in staffs who serves them.

Cendawan was saying, “open em up for me to eat already!”

Each of the three cats have their own traits.

Cen being the biggest alpha male with Bengal’s unique characteristics, is also the most demanding and most responsive of them all. He response to calls pretty much like a dog, and double up as my everyday alarm clock.

Without fail, this ball of fur will head butt me before 7 am everyday asking me to feed them. It’s all convenient and awesome on weekdays, the only small problem is that he doesn’t have the concept of weekends.

Fancy Feast Royale Broth is an instant hit with the cats

Temmi is the princess of the house. Being the most adorable looking thing at home has its advantage. She usually minds her own business but will come around and “make cookies” on my stomach with her sharp claws.

You can never fault Temmi for she can never do wrong. She is also the loudest in the morning, meowing as if the 1 minute wait while I prepare their food is the biggest torture ever. She seems to eat quite a lot but manage to maintain her 3.5 KG slender body.

the dry cat food is their main meal

For a long time, we thought Bing might have been a mute. Turns out he’s just the quietest cat ever. Bing is never in a hurry for food, but perhaps his lack of athleticism contributes to his 5+ KG body size.

Anytime we sit at the couch watching TV, Bing will be the first one to jump on and use my legs as his personal pillow while demanding to be brushed.

Fancy Feast Royale wet cat food gets nom-ed down pretty fast as well

One of the reasons our cats are healthy and have beautiful fur is the food we feed them. I’ve always make sure that they consume wet food in addition to premium dry food. As cats have the tendency to not drink enough water, having only dry food might leave your cats dehydrated most of the time.

Recently I introduced PURINA FANCY FEAST cat foods to them, and as per recommendation, we started out with FANCY FEAST ROYALE Broths. It was an instant hit especially with Cen and Temmi, the gobbled up two packets (comes in 4 flavors) of the broth in no time, leaving very little for Bing.

This is the only soup for cats in Malaysia, and I think it really helps curb the dehydration problem in cats very well.

Main course was the FANCY FEAST dry cat food (450g packets, 3 flavors). Bing and Cen seemed to really enjoy this too. Now these are some fussy cats actually, and the fact that they love these food means that PURINA’s got it right.

Dessert then was a couple cans of FANCY FEAST ROYALE wet food (17 different flavors!). The cats again ate it like it was their last meal. The food looked pretty good, so I actually tasted it a bit myself. It was flavorful and not salty (cats and dogs aren’t supposed to eat nearly as salted as us), I can see why they like it.

KY with cen, Haze with temmi, and Horng picked up bing

These cats make our home come alive and greets us almost every time we come home. If you have furkids like these at home, be sure to feed them and treat them well.

PURINA also wants your cats to try the new FANCY FEAST ROYALE Broths, to redeem free sample (limited to 2,000 samples), go to www.fancyfeast.com.my, fill in your particulars and the free sample will be mailed to you within 4 weeks.

Now excuse me while I give them a laser work out.

Disclaimer: I was paid by Purina Fancy Feast for this post

Believe it or not, and I didn’t initially, that the whole exercise 3 times a week advice is actually a very doable routine for anyone. I wasn’t a particularly active person in high school (other than joining the dragon boat team for a couple years) nor in my 20s, but in the past few years, I’ve taken up recreational sports with quite some vigor.

some of my sporting equipments, ignore the two kitteh

My typical week starts with badminton on Monday night, then either a Tuesday or Wednesday evening futsal session, follow by my regular Thursday night futsal (on going for the last 4-5 years), and another perhaps another futsal on Saturday and sometimes a Sunday badminton session too.

If any of these sessions are canceled, I sometimes substitute it with cycling. Something that I enjoy a bit more than running since it’s easier on the knees and I get to travel a bit further and be able to carry water.

Hence the four pairs of shoes in the picture – badminton, running/cycling, futsal turf, futsal hardcourt. Ignore the two nosy kittens.

I document my exercise routine on Endomondo (add me if you’re on it!)

Tiger Balm warm and cool plaster, ointment

With all these exercise sessions, I am no stranger to muscle ache and (sometimes) joint pain, and when it comes to this, there’s one trustable name that we are familiar with – Tiger Balm. In fact, when I opened the package of the new Tiger Balm Plaster, Haze immediately recognize the smell.

While we are more familiar with the traditional Tiger Balm ointment, the are now two types of Tiger Balm plasters available in the market – one warm, and another cool relief.

Tiger Balm hydrogel plaster with stretchable material and additional adhesive

The warm plaster is mostly used for effective relief for chronic pain such as arthritis and rheumatism, while the cool plaster is catered for the relief of acute pain such as muscle ache, sprain, and backache.

After another session of badminton, my often sprained left ankle was acting up a little bit, perfect opportunity to try the new Tiger Balm cool plaster.

the cool plaster feels pretty good on my often sprained left ankle

packet comes with 2 hydrogel pack and 2 adhesive plaster made with stretchable material. Though the instructions printed on the adhesive sheet stated 9 steps, it was actually quite a lot easier to apply:

• remove adhesive back
• place hydrogel on top
• remove hydrogel plastic
• remove additional adhesive
• apply on muscle/joint

just follow the instructions printed in every packet

The plaster felt pretty good on my ankle, it is stretchable and does not impede movement, and additionally it does allow air to flow through too plus its comfortable to wear. The cool feeling came on some 5-10 minutes after application and really does provide good relief from the joint pain that was bothering me a bit.

Each pack of Tiger Balm Plaster contains 2 units, large pack goes for RM 6.80 while the smaller one is priced at RM 5.20. You can find them at all key chain pharmacies such as Guardian or Watson and nearby pharmacies.

I’m gonna keep some in my sports bag 😀

Take a look at the photo below and what do you see?

In the frame t here are two very sleepy cats, the bigger one being our resident alpha (castrated) male – Cendawan the Bengal, with Belimbing, one of the two kittens we rescued from the neighborhood.

happy moment – brrrrrrrrrrrr good morning!

And if these cats could speak and label a photo, both of them would title it “My Happiest Moment”

Nothing beats a lazy evening nap right next to the window facing the garden with running water from the pond. Especially if you are a cat.

a slightly failed attempt in forcing a Happy Moment out of Tembikai

The photo above, on the other hand, is a slightly failed attempt to get Tembikai to cooperate with Haze in executing a good Happy Moment capture.

So picture one – score!

Picture two – maybe not so much…

Which brings us to the Happy Photography Contest by Olympus. The idea is simple, we want to freeze those happy and awesome moments in our lives, but barring a technological break through in cryogenic and time freezing nonsense, we have photos.

The mechanic of this contest is as follow:

• Write a blog post titled “My Happiest Moment”.
• Include a photo in your blog post that describes your happiest moment. It can be a pre-existing photo, or you can go out and shoot something that represents that moment
• Download this file containing Olympus Happy Photography logo variations, choose one of the colour variations and include it in your blog post as well
• Upload the photo of your happiest moment and submit the permalink of your blog post in this form.

A pretty awesome deal, yes? There is no purchase required to enter this contest. Do head to http://www.nuffnang.com.my/olympus2011/ to check out more details.

Olympus E-PL3 with the 40-150 kit lens and external flash

Some 1.5 years ago, I got my hands on an Olympus E-PL1 camera and did a review, the camera was small, responsive, and produces quality that rivals much bigger SLR cameras.

Now I got with me the latest iteration of the same line of Camera from Olympus – the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL3. Not only this camera spots a bigger 3.0 LCD that can tilt (very useful for events), full HD video recording, faster auto focus, more focus points, higher ISO, faster shutter speed… etc etc..

And the amazing thing is, they’ve made it even smaller!

Look at the photo above, I don’t have a big hand, and even then the PEN Lite with a telephoto lens and the external flash (included) sits comfortably in my palm. Technology is amazing.

more product information at http://www.olympusimage.com.my/products/dslr/epl3/

You know that this camera can be won by joining the Happy Photography contest right? 😀

pretty impressive output on low light condition – Haze at work

I took the camera for a bit of a test drive and these are some of the test shots. The PEN Lite is pretty easy to handle, and the autofocus is now much faster too. Compared to my old SLR rig, this baby is only some 1/3 in weight and I would have no trouble taking it everywhere (will work handsomely underwater, with the Olympus PT-EP05L housing)

Diorama art filter, outside Pavilion KL

The much loved ART filters is now expanded. There are six to choose from, with art effects to add composition effects as well as ability to do art filter bracketing too. With the art filter bracketing, you can generate multiple pictures with different Art Filters from a single shot, allowing you to experiment with different effects to see which one works the best. Pretty cool feature isn’t it?

The six filters are:

• Pop Art (i & ii)
• Soft focus
• Grainy Film (i & ii)
• Pin Hole (i/ii/iii)
• Diorama
• Dramatic Tone

Soft Focus art filter – how cute can a car get?

The photos on this post (except for the one with the PEN Lite in it, duh!) are all taken with the PEN Lite with no extra processing on the computer. I only re-sized them before posting.

If you haven’t seen one of these baby in real life, do try your hands on one at any camera shop carrying Olympus. It is amazing how technology has advanced and be able to pack so much in such a small body.

Pin Hole art filter – a street less traveled

Since I work with food photography quite a bit, I also took the PEN Lite for a test run on some food shots.

Penang Curry mee and Char Kuih Teow

The shot above showcase the advantage of the big sensor found in the PEN Lite, a compact camera will not be able to create that out of focus effect (bokeh) of the char kuih teow while focusing sharply on the curry mee. This was done with F/4.0, now imagine if you use a prime lens with bigger aperture. *slurps*

wine and dine at Favola, Le Meridien

The second picture is a simple shot of a glass of wine taken at 1/10s, ISO 1600, 58 mm at f/4.4. This again showcases the ability of the PEN Lite in handling very low light situation. The image stabilizing system works superbly, and the CMOS censor processes ISO 1600 without much (if any) noise at all. I’d have to use a tripod for this with an older DSLR, but this is done with my bare hands. 😀

Now I wish to have one complete with underwater housing and underwater flash,  Happy Underwater Moment?

In the mean time, I have more candidate photos for  “My Happiest Moment”.

Cendawan as my scarf 

Before going to Sunway Pyramid, I was trying to wear Cendawan as a scarf, obviously the kitteh wasn’t very impressed with my fashion sense, but kitteh did not use claw attack. *phew*

Haze with gingerbread man

Hooo look there’s a gingerbread man! Haze actually had to line up to take this photo, who doesn’t love gingerbread man? 😀

Mr. Sunway Lagoon duck and me

This is a very very distant cousin to the more famous uncle, Donald, or is he? Niether of them wears pants that’s for sure.

specially decorated Olympus PEN Cameras

Olympus is also running roadshow at Midvalley Megamall from 26-30th Oct. If you want to get your hands on the PEN Lite or check out other Olympus PEN systems, this is the perfect time.

Furthermore, there’ll be specially decorated Olympus PEN Cameras on display at the roadshow too, so do check it out.

It is the time of the year again, it is now approaching the end of the 7th month in the lunar calendar, which means… jeng jeng jeng, Mid Autumn festival is just around the corner!

Now I’m not the most traditional chinaman out there, but one thing I love most about the Mid Autumn festival are the mooncakes. Yes, the Chinese bakery product that you can eat as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even dessert (that is how I approach them anyway).

You are right, I love my mooncakes.

Tai Thong mooncakes, this stall is at Subang Jaya SS 14

I was invited to Tai Thong’s mooncake launch for 2011 (Kim attended) but unfortunately had to skip it due to work commitment, but of course, that does not stop me from getting them on my own. Last Friday I stopped by the Imperial Garden building at Subang SS 14 SS 17 to grab myself a couple boxes of Tai Thong mooncakes.

mooncakes with more “traditional” skin, 12 varities to choose from

These mooncakes are the brain child of Tai Thong’s Group Executive Chef Yiu Wing Keung, and there is a total of some 20 types of flavors available, with 5 new flavors this year.

I bought a total of eight mooncakes, four from the four season collections – with the more traditional skin, and another four  snow skin mooncakes. The mooncakes are divided into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter collections.

lotus paste double yolks, and the interesting shrimp sambal mooncake

I still love my traditional lotus paste double yolks mooncake. As always, the combination of those salted egg yolks and lotus paste is a perfect blend of savory and sweetness. The only question I have is why haven’t someone come up with mooncake that has four egg yolks? (not enough interior space I guess… )

Then there’s the savory white lotus with shrimp sambal mooncake. You read it right, yes, shrimp sambal. I thought it was going to be super weird, but somehow the combination actually worked. It was refreshing and I gotta applaud the good chef’s creativity on this one. It was daring, and it was good!

The snowy white lotus & sesame with custard was a bit lighter, and the assorted fruit nuts with chicken bits mooncake perfect for someone who loves it chewy and full of nutty flavors.

there are 9 varieties of snow skin mooncakes

The snow skin mooncakes are a relatively recent phenomena (if you are generation-x or older that is), I love the minty and fresher taste the skin provides, but as a trade off, you have to keep them in the fridge.

The snow skin Japanese potato with custard has a sweetish taste in it’s smooth fillings, goes very well with some Chinese tea. Snow skin yam paste single yolk is one of my favorites too, salted egg yolk and yam are two of my favorite flavors, and they work well together.

assorted fruit nuts with chicken bits,
snow skin black sesame & green beans with cheese

Then there’s snow skin black sesame & green beans with cheese mooncake, I never knew mooncake could have cheese in them, but this one certainly does, and you gotta try it for yourself, it was slightly odd at first, but turned out to pretty good too.

The snow skin silky vanilla chestnut, on the other hand, is a more soothing experience that provides the taste that one would expect from the ingredients listed.

it looks like not only the two humans who enjoy Tai Thong mooncakes

Among the 8 flavors I tried, if I have to pick my favorites, they gotta be the traditional lotus paste with double yolks (call me a traditionalist), the savory white lotus shrimp sambal for Autum (really!), and the snow skin yam paste with single yolk. I guess I just really love the combination of savory + sweetness in mooncakes.

Tai Thong mooncake packaging

Tai Thong mooncakes come in four season aluminum boxes that are beautiful to look at, practical to use, and environmentally friendly to recycle.

From 11th July until 4th September, Tai Thong is running the Sweetest Snapshot Contest too.

• Weeks 1 -2 are Early Bird Weeks, where 1 Apple iPad 2 + RM100 Voucher are to be won each week
• Weeks 3-7 are Standard Weeks, where 1 Apple iPad 2 + RM100 voucher are to be won as 1^st prize, 1 Apple iPhone 4 + RM100 Voucher are to be won as 2^nd prize each week
• Week 8 is Grand Prize Week, where 1 Apple iPad 2 + Apple iPhone 4 + RM500 voucher are to be won

Do log into http://www.facebook.com/TaiThong, like the page, and win some stuff already!

note: this is  a sponsored post

The picture below is something I have to deal at home – happily browsing the internet on my computer and the 3 kitteh had to come and demand my attention, which I usually duly give them.

When you already have to fight with such creatures to go online, it is just natural to want to have a good internet browsing experience when there isn’t anything between the keyboard and LCD monitor – which is where Celcom Broadband comes in handy.

The best network coverage also ensures that I get the same experience with good download speeds when I am on the go or happen to be with my laptop at other locations without interference of these animals.

The new broadband plans from Celcom, now faster and more data

Celcom is always rewarding their customer base, and now they are bringing together 2 of the most popular lifestyle activities – web surfing and music.

All Celcom broadband customers can now listen to FREE music. New subscribers can download free music from Musicube, Celcom’s very own new music player.

Get Musicube at celcom.com.my/broadband/plans_music.php

What’s so great about Musicube?

• Unlimited music download
• Unlimited access to international songs
• Listen to it anytime while you’re online or not

To subscribe to Musicube

• SMS “On Music” to 22990 from your Data SIM no.; or
• Click and download straight from your internet connection manager
• Enter the activation key into Musicube and start enjoying great music

From 22nd July onwards, new subscribers will also get the limited MTV World Stage USB modem while stock lasts.

Do check out www.celcom.com.my/broadband for more information.