My Travel History

Just realised that I didn't update my travel history last year, so this entry will include 2015's as well.

2016 - Hong Kong, Indonesia (Bali), Malaysia (Labuan), Norway (Oslo, Bergen, Tromso), Denmark (Copenhagen), Sweden (Stockholm, Gothernberg)

2015 - Hong Kong, Indonesia (Bali), Netherlands (Amsterdam, Leiden, The Hague), Belgium (Brussels, Bruges), China (Shenzhen), Japan (Tokyo, Kanazawa, Takayama)
2014 - Hong Kong, Vietnam (Hanoi), Taiwan (Taipei), U.K (London, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Moreton-in-Marsh, Warwick, Blackpool, Windermere, Carlisle, York), Thailand (Hua Hin)
2013 - Hong Kong, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang), Thailand (Koh Samui), Indonesia (Bali),  Finland (Helsinki), Czech Republic (Prague, Cesky Krumlov), Austria (Vienna, Salzburg), Italy (Florence, Rome)
2012 - Taiwan (Taipei), Thailand (Bangkok), Indonesia (Batam), 

2011 - Taiwan (Taipei), Indonesia (Bali), Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu), Indonesia (Batam)

2010 - Taiwan (Taipei, Taidong), Australia (Melbourne), U.K (London)

2009 - Malaysia (Johor Bahru), Hong Kong

2008 - Russia (Moscow), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh), Hong Kong, Macau, China (Zhuhai)

2007 - Australia (Gold Coast), Thailand (Phuket), Thailand (Krabi)

2006 - Taiwan (Taipei)

2005 - Australia (Perth), Cruise

2004 - Cruise, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia (Redang Island)

2002 - Malaysia (Tioman), U.S (Chicago)

Considering the following places to visit next year:

Hong Kong (trip booked)

Bangkok, Chiangmai (trip booked)

U.K (England, Wales)

Australia (Melbourne, Tasmania)

Japan

A lesson for you, honey

For dinner last Saturday, I planned to make honey-roasted chicken. I dug through the larder to look for honey, and found a bottle... which had expired eight months ago. 

It's my mother again, I thought. Sometimes she just refuses to throw away expired stuff. Since she was overseas, I thought this was a good chance for me to discard it and buy a new bottle of honey.

This morning, I chanced across this video by AOL, titled "Don't listen to expiration dates on food labels". And near the end of the video...

"For honey? No need to toss this item. This natural sweetener can last you a lifetime."

I gulped. 

A short while later, my mother opened the larder to look for honey, and saw the new bottle. 

"You bought a new bottle of honey? You finished the older bottle?"

"Uhh yes. I was having a sore throat last week so I drank quite a bit of honey, and finished it," I said with a straight face.

Something I will probably remember for a lifetime. Honey never expires.

Gasp; could I have been UNDERcharged by a bank?

Since 2004, I have been tracking my expenses fastidiously. When one of my credit card bills came this month, I went to match it off with my expenses - and found one entry missing. It was at a coffee joint, for $19.30, paid using Apple Pay.

This was surprising - banks seldom make such mistakes. Banks will only "accidentally" charge extra, after all. I thought, maybe I didn't use this credit card, and went to check all my other credit card bills. Nothing came up.

So I went to dig out the actual receipt which I fortunately haven't discarded - and discovered that the credit card number (the last four digits) didn't belong to any of my cards.

I was astonished. How could this have happened? I was very sure that I used Apple Pay for this, so how did another credit card number appear on the receipt instead? The items I ordered were also correct, so the possibility of me taking someone else's receipt by mistake is out. 

Hmm, doesn't this mean that it is entirely possible that we will get charged for someone else's expenses by accident too?

Milk-Braised Chicken

Another dish I prepared for Mother's Day, sourced from here.




Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
Salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons of butter
10 fresh sage leaves
1/4 lemon, rind
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 cups of whole milk


Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

2) Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper.

3) Heat the butter in a pot, then brown the chicken all over.

4) Add the sage, lemon, garlic and milk.

5) Put in the oven for 1.5 hours, then serve.

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Prepared this dish for Mother's Day. Got it from Tasty's Facebook page; details are at this link. I modified the amounts slightly though.

Ingredients:

8 large shrimps
1 lime
Salt
Pepper
1 romaine lettuce
1 avocado
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of chilli powder
0.5 cup of cherry tomatoes


Instructions:

1) Cut off the shrimp heads and put aside. Deshell the shrimps.

2) Chop the romaine lettuce into pieces, cut the cherry tomatoes into half, and cut the avocado into pieces (around thumbnail sizes).

3) Mix olive oil, some lime juice (around ⅔), honey, chilli powder, salt and pepper. It's not easy to mix the oil and honey uniformly, so you may need to mix the salad more later.

4) Marinate the shrimps with salt, pepper and the remaining lime juice.

5) Pan-fry the shrimp heads and shrimps, around 1 to 2 minutes each side. Press the shrimp heads more while frying to extract more of its essence. When done, remove the shrimps and toss the heads aside.

6) Mix the salad well with the dressing, then place the shrimps on top. Serve.