Entries from March 2007 ↓

I thought I’d do a foodie post so I prepped my camera and took the picture. But damn! I cannot find the software CD to load the drivers programmes etc so I can upload the pictures!! So, here we have a foodie post, without the foodie pics. Sorry ah….. I need to buy a new camera also, but at the moment, no budget.

So anyway, what I had for dinner last night was 2 slices of toast, one topped with tuna flakes, and the other topped with Branston Pickles, all washed down with a bottle of Yakult!

Sounds sad, but in fact, I really enjoyed it. It was like having tea or breakfast for dinner, and you can only do it if you are single and live alone… hehe… I was tired - it was a long day, and cooking was the last thing I felt like doing.

Anyway, on a nostalgic frony, we have here Branston pickles - a British icon, that you either love or hate. If you like chutneys and pickles and acar, you’d likely like this pickle relish. Its sweet and tangy and bites your tongue in a way only something so pickled can. Visually, it looks quite horrid. Its black…. or ok, dark brown with lumpy bits in it. These lumpy bits are crunchy diced vegetables, including swede (rutabaga), onions, cauliflower and gherkins pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and dates with spices such as mustard, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Heaven, I tell you!

I remember snuggling up to watch tv on a cold winter’s evening, with a plate of cheese, crackers and branston’s pickles and a mug of hot chocolate. Bliss! It tastes heavenly with cheese especially chedder. Cut thick squares of it or grate it and sprinkle it over crackers spread with the pickle. The strong sharp taste of the cheese is well tempered by the tangy taste of the pickle.

While surfing for pictures of Branston’s Pickles, I came across this - something I can never resist. CRISPS!!! And they had it in Branston Pickle and Cheese flavour! waaahhhh!!!

Cheesey, you said you’d never seen me drool over chocolate before - true. But this time when I say drool, you can bet I’m reaching for a piece of tissue paper to mop up the drool. Sigh… we never get the good stuff here *pouts*

I just got off the phone with the rudest most clueless person I’ve ever spoken to. When dealing with professional firms or companies, what do you expect? You expect a certain level of professionalism, even from the staff. At the very least, if they don’t have the information you want, they would be polite and tell you to please call back when someone who knows what you want is around to take the call.

Instead, what I got was an earful of “I don’t know who you are! I cannot tell you anything!” and she … get this… slammed the phone down! What sort of image are you projecting? Would you want to deal with that sort of company? No. Well, neither do I.

God! Whatever happened to manners?!

I took delivery of my new computer for home and for work a couple of days ago. I was really good and got legal software even for my home use! For work, it goes without saying, as I don’t want to be caught and fined and what-not. In any event, it doesn’t cost very much for software anymore.

I opted for Microsoft XP for the Operating System (OS) as I wasn’t sure about Vista (RM295). For the wordprocessing bit, I went for Microsoft Office (Basic Edition) (RM500+) for the office and for the home, Microsoft Home and Student Edition (RM410). This is enough for me as I don’t need Powerpoint which seems to be the only other addition in the professional set. So, all you out there, don’t email me pps/powerpoint files ok? Cute and all, but I cannot view la…

Anyway, I used to pride myself on being really up to date with technology stuff, but lately I’ve been slacking. And this slack has never been more evident than my face when I opened up Microsoft Word on which I work most of the time. WAHLAU!! WTF is that?!

Um… yeah. I wasn’t aware of the launch of Microsoft Office 2007. The interface is totally different from the Word I’d been used to. Everything has nicely rounded corners and the toolbar has all the functions you’d ever need set out in tab form. This tab thing is really getting around isn’t it? First IE7, now Word!

Anyway, it takes a lot of getting used to. I was having trouble finding lots of shortcuts and commands I was used to. Fortunately, the keyboard shortcuts to the commands remain more or less the same, and as I use a lot of keyboard commands, I found most of what I was looking for.

Excel too has had a facelift.

And that’s not all. I had an error message from trying to save an Excel 97-2003 version because apparently, Excel 2007 is now bigger and better and certain functions are improved so its not compatible with older versions. I’m not very good with Excel but it sure looks better!

There is a snag though, as there always is. The Microsoft Office 2007 file extensions are different. Excel in 2007 saves as a .xlsx file as opposed to the traditional .xls. Word saves as a .docx file as opposed to .doc. What this means is that older versions will not recognise this document. You can opt to save it as a 97-2003 file which makes it compatible with other computers, but I’m not sure how stable that is.

On the plus side, they have colour themes, so my layout is now a cool silver/grey colour, which is very different from the traditional blue tones and which gives me a very Mac computer feel. Not that I’ve ever used Mac! LOL…. but I like being a little out of the ordinary, so this grey theme thing is fun!

AhPek and Lilian both got hacked. I can view Lilian’s site now, but AhPek’s is still just blank for me. All I’m seeing is his header. Are you back online yet, Ah Pek or are you still grappling with your hacker? I hope things get sorted out soon. Maybe Big Brother was watching

Then, I just got an email from my new friend, Doris who was worried as her host tells her that her account has been suspended. This was terribly odd as I was just at her site not more than an hour ago, reading her posts about organic stuff.

What with all this hacking scare going around, I hope her site did not get hacked into as well. Her other sites are ok so I’m praying its just a glitch in the system or a ghost in the machine or something innocuous.

I don’t quite understand this hacking thing anyway. I mean, if we are large corporations or big websites, yes I can understand the thrill. But these are personal blogs. What satisfaction does the hacker get out of it except to feed on the frustration of the blogger? Is that how they get their kicks? Must be.

Damn I hope I don’t get hacked for just contributing my 2 sen. 2 sen isn’t even worth anything anymore!

A choco-what?  

You’ve heard of a chocoholic, right? Someone who loves chocolate. So, the converse would be a Choco-phobe. Someone who doesn’t like chocolate.

I’m Paris Beaverbanks, and I’m a choco-phobe. I don’t generally like chocolate. Even if I do eat chocolate, I am of the 70% dark chocolate variety. The darker and more bitter, the better. The more expensive also the better, of course!

I can get by without eating chocolate, even if was waved under my nose. Ah, but this choco-phobe has one weakness - Terry’s Chocolate Orange!

Knowing I don’t eat chocolate, I was put to the test when I had this orange flavoured milk chocolate waved under my nose. *whimper* Damn! How did they know this was my weak spot?! This chocolate infused with orange oil, and packaged to resemble an orange, down to its segments reminds me of England for I have not found this in Malaysia ever since I got back. Damn!

  This is how it looks inside

The chocolate comes in the shape of a ball, and you whack it on the table to break up the segments. The chocolate orange smell is enough to make your mouth water, as you pick up a segment to savour it.

Still, choco-phobe and all, 1 segment is about all I can handle in one sitting. Now I know what to ask for the next time anyone goes to the UK