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Yes…the 2nd sequel to ‘28 Days Later‘ has now been released at theaters near you!

Set in the present time, the movie is about a group of people who call themselves ‘bloggers’. A new strain of the “Rage” virus has been found and the disease called blogivitis is now sweeping through the blogosphere. Will the bloggers prevail? Or will they fall? There has already been a few known cases, and one particularly well-known socialite…err…bloggerlite has already succumbed! Will you be next???

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Take a look at the symptoms below, does it apply to you?

1. The first thing I do after waking up and washing up is to stumble over to the computer, log-in and check if I have any new comments.

2. The second thing I do after #1 is to check my RSS feeds to see if any blogs on my blogroll have new posts.

3. I rather spend lunch time in front of my computer reading blogs than to go out into the hot hot hot sun.

4. After work, dinner and washing up, I plant myself in front of my computer and check for new comments and read more blogs until it’s time to go to bed.

5. I get depressed when there are no new posts from the blogs on my blogroll…where are you people? Blog, damnit, blog!

6. When we almost drove right into the flooded road on Sunday night, my first thought was…’Darn it…why didn’t I bring my other lens so that I could take a proper photo to put on my blog?‘

8. When I tell my friends about stuff that I’ve done, the usual response I get before I can even finish my sentence is “I know, I’ve read it on your blog“.

9. I happily learnt CSS, HTML, Wordpress coding (the WP Codex is my best friend) even though back in uni, I had to beg people to teach me programming coz I was so clueless.

10. And yes, I take photos of food. Not only that, on one occasion, my dear dad actually adjusted the angle of a plate in the restaurant so that I could take a better photo!

Ready to infect other people? Go forth and multiply and tell us what your symptoms are!

[Not tagging anyone again, but feel free to do this meme!]

Pinkelle tagged me with this meme on my favourite food. My first thought when I read it was “Die la, how to select only ONE?”

Hence the delay coz I’ve been racking my brains trying to think of my favourite food. Have to be careful, k? Your favourite food defines you! I don’t want to be known as the female blogger who loves errr….chicken pie? Not that there’s anything wrong with chicken pie per se, but then people might think…eeeyeeerr…chicken pie? How boring. Then I’ll forever be known as that boring female blogger who loves chicken pie. How how?

Ok, jokes aside…*puts on thinking cap*. Seriously though, it’s not easy for me to select a favourite food because I can no longer eat most of the food that I like due to my sensitive tummy. Chocolates, ice-cream, certain fruits, nasi lemak…I can no longer indulge in them as often as I would like to unless I want to skip work the next day…*wink*

So I suppose I’ll settle with a current favourite that looks like it’s here to stay:

Tau foo fa!

Now, how many of you guessed I would pick that?

This is what I found about tau foo fa from Wikipedia:

Dòuf�?huā (Chinese: �?�?��?�, literally “bean curd flower”), also called Dòuhuā (�?�?�) or dòuf�?n�?o (�?�?��?�), is an extra soft form of doufu (tofu) that is used in both desserts and salty dishes. It slightly resembles a custard.

In Taiwan, douhua is served with toppings like cooked peanuts, azuki beans, cooked oatmeal, tapioca, mung beans and a syrup flavored with ginger or almond. During the summer, douhua is served with crushed ice; in the winter, it is served warm.

In Hong Kong it is known as bean curd dessert, or by the name dau fu fa (�?�?��?�) in Cantonese. There, it can be served with ginger or syrup, and sometimes as a mixture with black sesame paste, and sometimes also with coconut milk. Traditionally it is made with wooden bucket, which is sold as dau fu fa in wooden bucket (�?�桶�?�?��?�). Dau fu fa is also sold as packed cold dessert at supermarkets.

In northern China, douhua is often eaten with soy sauce, thus making a salty flavour.

Douhua is also served as a sweet dessert in Singapore and Malaysia. In those countries it is more commonly known by its names tow huay or tau huay in Southern Min Chinese, or by the name in Cantonese. It is usually served either with a clear sweet syrup alone, with Ginkgo seeds suspended in the syrup, or in a sugar syrup infused with pandan. In Japan, this style of douhua is known as “annin dofu.”

In the Philippines it is known as taho and sold by hawkers in the mornings. It is served warm with a dark brown syrup and sago or tapioca balls.

Personally, I love tau foo fa coz it’s so versatile. It’s lovely taken hot or cold, plain, with ginger syrup, gula melaka (palm sugar) syrup or with soyabean (tau cheong). You can eat it with barley seeds (see top right pic), with mango puree (see left pic) or with lots of different toppings like the one served in Vietnam Kitchen @ 1U (see bottom right pic).

I can never resist a bowl of tau foo fa. Unlike most of my favs, this one doesn’t give me a tummy ache, and one bowl is always just nice…it never fills you up completely and it leaves you kinda wanting abit more.

Among all the tau foo fa stalls that I’ve tried so far, I still think Funny Mountain @ Ipoh is one of the best. It’s not cheap coz the portion is really little (like half a plastic bowl!), but it has that silky smooth texture that drives me nuts everytime I eat it.

And now that you’ve read about my current favourite food, do you feel like eating a bowl? Well, luckily for you, tau foo fa is pretty easy to find. It’s usually sold along the roadside together with soyabean milk, and here are some of the places you can go to enjoy a bowl:

1. There are two tau foo fa shops near TMC @ Lucky Garden. One opens in the morning till about 7pm and is usually located in front of TMC (though recently, I’ve spotted them near Nam Chuan coffeeshop to avoid being detected by DBKL). The other opens at night behind TMC. I never go for the shop that opens at night though coz I once spotted a cockroach making it’s way across the countertop. The tau foo fa from the morning shop is nice and firm, very much like tofu.
2. The Soya Shop @ Hartamas Shopping Centre (ground floor) and Ikano (basement). Their tau foo fa is not as firm as the above shop, and I like the syrup.
3. Ipoh Old Town @ Lucky Garden (next to Nam Chun coffeeshop). Pretty good, but it’s expensive!
4. There’s a stall in a small alley next to Guardian at the junction of Lebuh Ampang and Jalan Tun Perak. The tau foo fa is really cheap (RM1.10 if I remember correctly, and big portions too!) and has a soft, wobbly texture. Lovely when eaten hot together with the soyabean milk. The sugar syrup is just so-so.
5. Funny Mountain (49 Jalan Theatre, 016-595 0369/012-516 1607) @ Ipoh…what can I say? Smooth and silky…it just slides down your throat! Be prepared to queue though!

And in Hong Kong:
6. The Sweet Dynasty (Ground floor, 88 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2199 7799). Famous for their tau foo fa that’s served in a small wooden barrel.
7. Mun Kei Tim Pan (4th and 10th floor of Langham Place, Mongkok)…ever tried tau foo fa with mango puree? An unlikely but absolutely delish combination!

And in Singapore:
8. Jollibean franchise @ Funan (ground floor) and Paragon (basement).
9. Pinle franchise @ Suntec City next to Tony Romas (and Vivocity as well, if I remember correctly).

Now my appetite’s all worked up!

***Start Copy***

Proposition: What is your favorite food in your state or country?

Requirements: Find some info about the food and show delicious pictures of it.

Quantity: FIVE PEOPLE.

Tag mode: You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.

Mybabybay loves Asam Laksa from Penang, Malaysia
JustMyThoughts loves Penang Char Koay Teow
My Lil Venture loves Laksa Sarawak
Monterssorimum loves Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun
Chinnee loves Melaka Wan Tan Mee
PeimunLeah loves Hakka Lei Cha
Hui Sia
Jonamum
Karen loves Pan Mee
Something about Lai loves Crispy duck skin from China
Simple American loves Cheese Enchiladas
Nicole Tan loves Char Tau Kueh
Velverse loves Otak-otak
Kenny Ng loves Jawa Mee
Fatty Poh loves Nasi Dagang Kelantan
wmw loves Kuih Tutu
Lyrical Lemongrass loves Asam Boi
Pinkelle loves Mee Siput and Keropok Lekor
Soo Yin loves Tau Foo Fa

And I tag:
1. M @ Pitter-Potter
2. Geekchic
3. Carrot
4. Mei
5. Lynn

with the usual caveat to ignore me if you don’t do memes!

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I finally got around to watching this movie while waiting for my brownies to cool down this afternoon.

Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore…what an adorable combination. Hugh Grant plays his usual deprecating and witty Englishman role, while Drew is lovable as the slightly ditzy Sophie Fisher.

The storyline is simple: Alex Fletcher, a washed-up 80s pop (pun not intended!) singer is commissioned by the hot pop-princess (hotter than Britney and Christina, mind you!), Cora, to write a new song and perform it with her in her upcoming concert. Seeing as he isn’t a natural lyricist, he enlist Sophie’s help. As with most rom-coms, misunderstanding ensues but of course, a happy ending follows.

It’s not the greatest romantic comedy ever, but it provides a nice relief after watching this summer’s action film extravaganza of Spiderman 3 and PotC (and the upcoming Fantastic Four *yawn* and Transformers). Hugh Grant’s witty one liners had me chuckling throughout the show, and who doesn’t love Drew Barrymore?

And while the theme song ‘Way Back Into Love’ is lovely, I found myself humming to the catchy ‘Pop! Goes My Heart’ instead while driving home…

I said I wasn’t gonna lose my head, but then
POP! Goes my heart (pop goes my heart)
I wasn’t gonna fall in love again, but then
POP! Goes my heart (pop goes my heart)
And I just can’t let you go,
I can’t lose this feeling.

Well, looks like using a translator helped!

Conversation between hubby and myself before the winner was announced…

“Who do you think will win?”
“Dunno…probably Korea or Brazil…they’re the most presentable ones…”
“Why, what’s wrong with the others?”
“Venezuela looks so old. The other two look like aliens…”
“Well, it IS Miss Universe. They might need alien looking people to represent us among all the other universe…”
“Ya hor…if Ms World then maybe Korea or Brazil can win…”

And then Miss Japan won…

I was just watching the 50-something Miss Universe (can you imagine how old the first winner would be now??) and it’s now down to the top 5 finalists: Miss Korea, USA, Japan, Brazil and Venezuela and the famous 30-second Q&A session.

Four out of the five contestants needed a translator. While watching, I asked hubby…would a translator be able to capture the subtle nuances of the answer and be as eloquent and passionate as the contestant herself?

Right then and there, Miss Japan walked out and picked her question. She was asked ‘what would be the one lesson that she learnt as a child that she still remembers till today’ (something along those lines la). She launched off into a long and probably very eloquent answer. And her translator, this short weird looking man, translated her whole sentence to, say, five words.

Something like:

She said: “When I was a young girl growing up in a beautiful village in Japan that had trees where gorgeous pink cherry blossoms bloomed during spring time…”
He said: “I was young.

We burst into laughter…

Talk about butchering an answer…