Stanley's Roasted Turkey with Bacon Recipe

When it come to roasting stuff, I have a few basic rules that I follow. Marinate and baste! I'll marinate the turkey one day ahead in very basic stuff. Just throw in salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce till you feel that the thing is coated nicely and leave it to marinate in the fridge till you start roasting it.  

Then before roasting poke some rosemary all over the chicken. People say that it gives the turkey some sorta aroma, I think it just looks really cool and professional!  After that just put bacon all over the turkey and anchor those babies down with a toothpick. For the stuffing I just use the one from the supermarket. Stuff that thing right into the turkey's behind and tie the legs together with a wire.

Most of the stuff here is taken from various recipes all over the web. I checked out how people would roast their turkey and sorta came to a decision on how I'm gonna do it. Just do what Jamie Oliver does in his kitchen; grab stuff, throw them in and BOOM you got yourself something to eat.

Merry Christmas!

Finally, the most wonderful time of the year is here. Just had a wonderful Christmas eve dinner with the family and watched Home Alone 2 together after that. The things that the little kid do to those thugs, they should be dead by the end of the movie!

On another note, I just want to thank God for being so faithful and for all His blessings. I just feel like I've been blessed out of my socks this year because it has been nothing short of amazing.
I would not call it perfect because there were definitely challenging moments and life's just like that. But seriously! I thought last year was amazing. So I'm feeling very optimistic about the year 2011. 

Youth Camp 2010

This year Youth Camp was held in Port Dickson organised by the youth group from my church. I had a great time, loads of fun despite being so exhausted by the end of the camp. Our camp site is located opposite the beach this time round so all our games were held there.

You'll be surprised to head that the beach is actually really nice compared to the other Port Dickson beaches I've been to. Only things is that the ground gets muddy when you wade a certain distance in the water and weird smell comes out of the ground when you dig up the sand. And we buried David from the toes all the way up to the head!

Final night was really fun, we had all the groups performing sketches and I thought everyone did an amazing job. So much creativity! Then we had a HUGE bonfire, sang camp fire songs and toasted marshmallows till one in the morning. It was then some people realised that they have not practice the songs for the morning session.

50 Pages of Love

My birthday happened a little over a week ago on the 8th of December. This year's celebration was quite eventful. Friends at school had a birthday surprise which I almost spoilt by not arriving at the venue because I had something to do. Daryl had to come finding for me and rush me to the tuck shop because the 'aunty tuck shop had something really important to talk to me about'.

The other surprise was at Youth Camp which happened to be on the same day as my birthday. It was late at night and suddenly people were asking me for stuff simultaneously. My sister needed a contact lens casing, Calvin needed something and someone else was also bugging me to get him something. Honestly at that moment I was quite disoriented and confused because I had no idea why people wanted so much stuff simultaneously. Then everyone started singing!

Over the past few weeks I also noticed many of my school friends adding my sister on Facebook and it was popping up all over my news feed. I thought that it was weird but never gave it much thought. Turns out that my sister was compiling birthday wishes from all my friends and made it into a card. 

This has to be the THICKEST card I've ever received. I really appreciate all the thought put into making this card and it was so nice to read all the heart warming messages written in it. A big thank you to my sister and everyone involved in making this happen!

Central Park @ New York

Central Park, probably the most recognisable park in the world. It makes up a huge portion of land smack in the middle of New York hence the name. The park is so big I probably just covered a really tiny portion of it.

There you will find it filled with people; travellers and locals alike all looking for a spot to take a break. Its weird though that people there seem to work out all the time. Even at odd hours you'll spot a New Yorker jogging around town.

I visited the entrance near the huge Apple store which has the iconic glass box entrance which reminds me of the Louvre in Paris, just square instead of the pyramid. You'll see many horse drawn carriages around that entrance, a romantic ride often depicted in Tinseltown. I however beg to differ. Those horses stink! I doubt that it'll be very romantic when your ride smells like the zoo.

Smell aside, the other parts of the park is fascinating. I find it interesting how Central Park has such big spaces but you can still find a nice little spot that you can have all to yourself. The part is filled with nook and crannies, open spaces and personal spots which I think is one of the few reasons that makes this place so appealing.

Christmas Giveaway 2010: Updates

Hei there! Been busy for the past few days gathering up all those mailing addresses so I can mail them tomorrow. Its a little late because some came in really late and I'm still waiting for some replies. But rest assured the first batch of cards go out tomorrow. I will be mailing them all the way till new year!

The response so far is amazing! I will be heading to the post office tomorrow to post more than a hundred cards. Hopefully this little gift will make your Christmas celebrations even more enjoyable. I have to say though that it is not easy making one hundred cards; pasting address lines and writing greetings. Thank God that I have a little sister to help me.

Awesome Naan @ Pak Putra, Melaka

Here is another gem from Melaka. A local friend brought us to Pak Putra one night and told us that it serves good naan. I remember the place being packed with people. The shop was just one lot but they had tables lined up at the parking lot across the whole row.

Service was brisk and friendly. Food was good. Its been such a long time since I've had naan that I forgot how fun it is to eat it! Yes, I find eating food fun. You have this huge round flat bread on your plate and you have it with the various toppings/condiments you order like lamb curry or healthier choices like spinach.

Restorant Pak Putra
Jalan Laksamana 4,
Melaka

Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday (Closed on Mondays)
6 pm to 1am

Early Morning Cleanup @ Patong Beach, Phuket

This brings us back to my last trip to Phuket. I mentioned that it rained and I took shelter at a nearby coffee shops such as here and here. After the rain subsided, I walked down the streets of Patong Beach watching this little sleepy head wake up. Everywhere was evidence of hard partying the night before.

Its pretty obvious that the whole place is like a nocturnal being. My watch shows eleven in the morning and guess what, no shops open! The streets were empty except for vans stocking up the bars with their supplies of ice. I've never seen a town so dead one hour before lunch time. But I would say that I have lots in common. We wake up at the same time.

Christmas Caroling 2010 (KTJ Last Week of Term)

Finally a break! This term have been excruciatingly long. Awesome but long. Many interesting stuff happened over this span of time, great moments and some not so. However overall I would say that it was a good term. But like everyone else I'm glad its over! I really need some time off to recharge and repay my sleeping debt.

Just a few days ago, on Thursday we had Christmas caroling at school. We have it every year at Kolej Tuanku Jaafar. A huge group of carolers would go to every boarding house in school. I remember taking photos of the same event one year ago. Its was definitely challenging with the general lack of light. I think I got a good idea of what to do last year so this time round I was not too blur figuring out settings.

ISO had to be bumped up all the way to two thousand! Photos were slightly grainy but still usable. The candles really gave nice dramatic lighting to the photographs. So most of the time I would ask people to hold the candle near their face to light it up. Flash is a no no because it ruins the natural lighting. Till now I still have not got the hang of using flash except for the fancy delay shutter effects I use for the dance floor.

Its really nice to see everyone participate. I'm in the mood for Christmas already! Looking around it definitely looked like everyone was having a good time. Plus it was a nice way to end the final week of term.

I really don't have much more to say. Here are the photographs! I'm going to set up my Christmas tree.