月亮与螃蟹

 

远在中学时期，我就很喜欢日本的推理小说，最记得松本清张，都在图书馆借的。

后来就很少接触到，也没想到看，大多看英文的。再后来，在网络看到，在班公室打印出来 （当然是用recycle-paper。。。老板不在时）。记得看了赤川次郎的，觉得太冗长了，陆陆续续也看了一些其他的。

最近无意间在一个部落上看到了一个推理小说迷的博文，知道了有一间城邦书局。又再另一个部落上看到了The Devotion Of Suspect X，看了(大呼过瘾)后，日本推理小说瘾被挑起了！

就这样的去到了城邦书局，只买了两本，因这些书比英文书还贵。

先看道尾秀介的月亮與螃蟹，之前没看过这位作家的书。

开始时看的很用心，关于两个十岁小孩的，情感部分描写的很细腻。

主角的父亲刚过世，对妈妈结交男友一事，感到很困扰。另一个男孩，时常被父亲虐待，当然难过。两人成了好友，常结伴到海边抓了寄居蟹到山上养，还烧，据说这样许的愿望会实现。

就这样，重复又重复的，两个小朋友放学上山，后来加了一个女同学，看得我发闷，直接翻到后面，期待重头戏，结果没有，只有男同学在忍无可忍下在父亲面前亮出刀子，之后父亲就不敢再对他动手了。

书中一直反反复复的在描述着男孩的感受，男孩在山上许的愿望，有点难信服，毕竟只有十岁！这本可能不是道尾秀介的畅销书，也不是推理小说，得再买别的来看，他可是数一数二的作家喔！

另外, 这书是台湾版的, 是繁体字，有点不习惯，很久没看繁体字。

Jessica Sanchez-I Surrender

Another favorite song of me performed by Jessica Sanchez when she was only 11 years old.

Arisxandra Libantino stuns singing 'One Night Only' - Week 1 Auditions |...

One of my favorite songs and she has to present it in such a way that it brings tears to my eyes.

Can't believe that the powerful voice belongs to an 11-year-old girl.

Online Shopping with Taobao

After a few successful purchases with taobao, i am generally happy with the service and most of the items.

And so the excitement continues....

This is the latest, the one I received yesterday in the office.

The receptionist said "Ms Candy asik beli aja..." when she brought me yet another package. I told her I am buying for my daughter.

As always, the items are in their original packaging.

The first box I opened is the purse Bao has been bugging me for since the day I placed the order. She fell for it immediately the moment she laid her eyes on it.

The thrill is opening it up to reveal what is inside. The packaging is fantastic with a card for return and a paper bag plus a small name card holder as a token of appreciation.

Next, I opened the book which is already out of print. I wanted to order more but was worried about the quality because it only cost RMB20.20+5 for postage.

Bubble packed! The book is in perfect condition and the quality is great! I now know where to get the out-of-print copy from my favorite author. 

Then only I moved to the other 2 boxes which contain clothes.

As always , this is how they packed the clothes.

This is my dress. For only RMB129.00, i don't think I need to expect better. For this, I received a mouse pad. Most of the plastic bags are of good quality with zippers.

Inside this box, I found Bao's t-shirt with a very beautiful paper bag.

Bao's shirt looks beautiful on her.

I always share my experiences with my colleagues who are much younger than me. Not only them, their friends are also buying from Taobao and Tmall and are happy with what they received. What happen to those shops out there? I read that a lot of fashion house in China can't sustain the shop and they have to close some shops and turn to online.

We are truly amazed with how extensive and established the website is. It is very well designed with anything from shopping up to status of your delivery. You do not need to worry about the combine delivery. They just know what to do. After you confirm the delivery, you just sit back and wait for your package, it usually takes about a week only.

PS:  The prices of the same piece of fashion sometimes varies a lot in different shop. Usually I am extra careful with this type of clothes which is not from the local designer. I reckon they are replica from different manufacturer.

Food Ordering & Groceries Shopping Online

Bao will sit for the trial exam soon, so we do not want to disturb her revision by having meals outside.

Working hard....sticking notes on the door of her wardrobe

But we are tired of Pizza Hut & MacDonald. And then I recalled someone mentioned food delivery service to me before. So I typed "order food online in selangor" in the browser, and a list of results appeared. (u may say that why don't u cook? Ya, i know....)

I clicked on the first one that says order food online, the name is room service. I was asked to fill in the area first. Then a list of restaurants appeared. Not many, less than 20.  Hmm....let's try another one.

The next is food panda. Again, identify our location first. The list appeared. I chose Din Tai Fung, one of our favorites. The menu appeared. I clicked on the dishes we wanted and the amount calculated in a box on the right of the page. The service charge is only RM4.00. It's a bargain! I confirmed the order and in a short while, an sms from the company saying that the order is confirmed and it will delivered in about an hour time.

Less than 1 hour later, a motorcycle arrived with our food all nicely packed in reheatable container complete with sources and ginger for the dumpling and disposable cutlery. (forgot to take pictures, couldn't wait to eat)

The food was packed inside this paper bag.

A must, Xiao long bao.

 Picture taken when we patronized the restaurant previously.

It's so simple! I do not have to change and make my face up and go thru the traffic and look for parking space and queue in front of the shop and wait for the food.

The queue at Empire Shopping Gallery. picture courtesy of 

Next, I tried Tesco online shop, a place I heard before but have yet to try.  The shop is well labeled with things from groceries to everything you need at home. I made my purchase and asked to choose a slot for delivery. Apparently they have delivery every 2 hours with charges of RM8 and RM10. As my purchase is more than RM100, I enjoyed free delivery!

The truck arrived promptly with the ice-cream and yogurts still cold. For this service, they only accept a credit cards.

Just to try out, i ordered only the essential items.

And now I don't have to queue at the cashier with trolley full of groceries and food stuff, how i hate it. And if we don't feel like going out to have meals, we can order online besides pizza hut and macdonald deliveries. For fashions, I can order either locally or Tmall, IF I don't want to join the crowd. I am loving every bit of e commerce and really enjoy the advantage of modern living !        

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair

我们在最近的书展买了好几本书后，就走到Kinokuniya。心里说看看就好，别忘了家里等着看的书，在书展还真忍着，只买了女儿的书。虽然心里深处，知道通常都不是这样，最好别进去。

果真如此，还是买了，就因为书背的那几句!

看了这几句，那还住得了手。

回家后, 就迫不及待的马上开始看。开头的几张，觉得还不错，年轻有为的作者。

然后呢，觉得在游花园，这花园真的很大。各种各样的花草树木，看得眼花撩乱。一边游， 一边在盼那奇景的出现。

心里几乎肯定那真相一定会像差点从床上掉下的的一样! 但没有，最后的几章了，我还是稳稳的躺在床上。

作天下午，就把书拿下楼，躺在客厅的沙发继续等那刻, 结果一直翻到最后几页，我还是好好的躺着。

故事通过一个作家和他的师傅做为主角，关于一个已失踪了33年的少女，围绕在一个小镇和它的居民身上, 还有师傅很出名的书。少女的尸首在33年后在师傅的家的范围内被发现，师傅成了最大嫌犯，当时他们是恋人，当时34岁的师傅和只有15岁的少女！作家就下定決心要查个水落石出，还师傅一个清白。

作者用了一般的手法，引导读者进入一个又一个的假象，一次又一次的错觉，牵涉了一个又一个的人物，最后的最后才揭发真相后的真相。可是太多了，起了反效果，没有期待的惊艳！比较惊讶的是那出名的书并不是师傅所写，而是一个悲剧人物的杰作。

我开始对自己的理解能力有所怀疑，是不是没法捕捉到真正的含义，因为书的原著单在法国就卖了100万本，在其他国家也都好评如潮，还得了3个奖项。

后来在Amazon.com上，看了多个其他读者的负面意见，才比较释怀。

将作者与Stieg Larsson比较确实有点过火, 写法和情节安排有点不是那么顺畅和完美, 太复杂，反复无常。

豆原 Typica Cafe

其实我对咖啡完全没有研究，一点都不懂，但对那些很讲究喝咖啡的人还蛮欣赏的，觉得他们很懂得享受生活，很有品味！

 

在看了好几个人介绍过的豆原后，抱着好奇的心态，在前去KLCC的书展前，找到位于Shaw Parade的cafe。

 

没想到的是它是这么的小，在一个小角落里，还真有点失望，期待的是大小适中，环境优雅的咖啡座。一推开门，只见一边是长长的柜台，一边就是几张小小桌子和椅子，还好桌椅是紧挨着一整片的落地玻璃，而外边就是道路。但对含有“木”的原素简单装潢，还蛮喜欢的。


 

柜台前的长凳应是牌匾吧！很有意思！

小妹们就在柜台后煮咖啡。

  

坐下后,  有个亲切的小妹走过来问我们是否第一次到，我就说是看了一些blogger的推介而到的。然后他就开始对我们简单的讲解餐牌里的咖啡，他说咖啡豆是本地的Liberica咖啡，是店主亲自挑和炒的，绝对新鲜。

 

由于我对黑咖啡有点敏感，就让Vivian点店里的siphon coffe (一种用细管将咖啡由下吸向上，再往下流的煮法） ，而我点的是加了lavendar的白咖啡，女儿只得点个sasi。

 

小妹过后端来一小碟咖啡豆让我们闻闻，还叫Vivian尝尝，然后又拿来一个小小咖啡磨豆器, 让我们亲自磨咖啡。

 

 

 

小妹示范磨咖啡。



咖啡粉呈棕色，并不是黑色。
 

 再用磨好的咖啡粉冲出咖啡，就这样我们品尝到新鲜出炉的咖啡，还是自磨的！


Vivian的说法是咖啡还蛮淡的，清清的，不像一般的kopi o，哎呀，这怎能相提并论呢！我只能说我们真是门外汉，白白浪费了还蛮贵的咖啡。

而我的呢，平时喝惯了浓浓的Starbucks 和 Coffee Bean，这味道我却说不上，但是呢。。。喝过后，那味道却一直留在嘴里，许久都不散，就是这样的吧?！是这样的感受吧?！

这么一个年轻有气质的店主。



这些可不是实验室里的专用品，而是泡制顶级咖啡的“器材”！！



哇！气质美少女？才不是，闷得慌了！！（书展在招唤我啦！）
 

除了多年前在Bali，见识了闻名遐迩的“猫屎”咖啡，还有的就是只在小说中看过举世闻名的蓝山咖啡和爱尔兰咖啡，其他的都一窍不通，这种品质生活的东西，大有学问！这是专门让真正懂得咖啡的人而设的，我还是泡泡Starbucks 和 Coffee Bean吧！