INSIGHT CRIZ

With a successful turnout for the second Penang Food Bloggers (Floggers) Meet at Edelweisse Café on 27 September 2008, the organizing committee had decided to hold another gathering some time in the month of December. That would be the time where all the jingles and jangles of the Christmas bells would be heard. I was anxious about the next gathering until I found out that it might be a potluck gathering.

The first thing that came into my mind was what should I prepare for the gathering that would impress the guests? I was digging into my recipe collections trying to figure out what would be the ideal dish but I was lost. Everything was Oriental and would have to be taken with some rice. I needed something that would be light and easy to consume without the hassle of using fork and spoon or even a knife. I will need some finger food.

After stretching my brains out, I thought why not I have some holiday appetizers since we would be having Christmas just around the corner. The appetizer should be something to set the mood of the gathering to be happy, joyous and merry. Now I’m contemplating whether to have some Sweet Potato Pecan Tarts or Chipotle Shrimp Cups. Maybe I should have some salty items instead. What do you think?

Having a surprise party to congratulate a few of my staff on their recent promotions was sure a great one. It showed that with a harmonious working environment and teamwork, they had managed work hand in hand closely with everyone to seal the biggest contract ever in the history of the company. Isn’t that just wonderful?

Oh no! Whose smart idea was it to throw some confetti in the office to celebrate their success? Can you imagine the amount of those teeny weenie circles being scattered all over the carpet? Gosh! Even the hard reached corners had them. Don’t they know that it would be really hard to clear those mess they had created? I guessed I won’t want to spoil their joyous moods now. I would just get the cleaners to clear them after we had done with the party.

It would not be so hard for them at all after I had invested in a commercial carpet extractor cum cleaner as one of my office supplies for the company. I have seen them using that equipment and it sure helped make their lives so much easier. You should have seen how fast they had cleaned those hard reached corners. It was within seconds. I have never regretted making the investment ever since.

What would you do when you have just being informed that your regional boss and his wife would be dropping by your area and would want to visit your family for dinner in a few months’ time? Do you feel panic and get stressed out easily? Most of us would be as we would be in a dilemma of deciding what would be the best dishes to be set in your dining menu to impress both of them.

Of course there would the beverages to worry about too. You would not want to have all the arrays of nice food displayed on the dining table and yet you are serving them with plain water. You have to think about getting some red and white wine to accompany the red and white meat served. Sometimes, trying to get your hands on branded bottles of wine would be rather costly and not within your dinner budget. You might want to consider some that are produced by some local wineries and yet they are amongst the best in the world.

Have you heard about Gold Medal Wine Club? By joining them as a member, you will receive two outstanding wines each month right up to your doorstep. On top of that, you can also receive up to 45% off Winery-Direct Prices on reorders of half or full cases. Isn’t that a great way to get two bottles of top medals awarded wine of the month so conveniently delivered?

Who would believe that I had received so many invitations for Halloween although the date will only fall on 31 October this year? Well, I do not mind too. At least I have more time to create my own costume for the function. The last party I went to was rather disastrous as I had not prepared any proper costumes. I had to attend the function as a masked Superman. I thought it would be great to have some great fun there by wearing a red underwear instead but that made me the laughing stock amongst my friends.

Although I did win the Most Comical and Daring Award for the night, I would not want to face that sort of embarrassment all over again. This year, I am planning to hold a Halloween party right over my house. It may be three months before the date but this would give my guests ample time to come out with their costumes. I just can’t wait to send out the Halloween invitations as I would like to see who else would be as daring as me in coming out with a special and out of the world costumes this year. Hmmm… I wonder if someone would paint himself green with super tight shorts and come in as the Incredible Hulk. Well, I would just have to wait to check them out. Gosh! The suspense is killing me now.

Nuffnang again proved itself to be the best in the Malaysian/Singapore blogging community. The last costume related event during the screening of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” was a hit. Now, it gets even better with the sponsorship of Maxis Broadband and Modesto’s to hold yet another great event for the community this coming 21 June 2008 at Modesto’s/Rain, Desa Sri Hartamas, from 6.30pm until 10.00pm. The theme is “Wild Live Animal Costume Blogging Party”

What will make this coming event interesting is that you can enjoy yourself being wild and at the same time blog about it LIVE, with your own laptop of course. The best live blog amongst the rest will get the chance to win a Sony PSP. Moreover, the best costumed King and Queen of the Jungle will get to bring back Dell XPS M1330 laptop each. These are not the end. You can even win many more prizes for having the Most Creative Post, the Worst Recognizable Animal Post and the Oddest Place for an Animal Post.

I would not want to be a bore by wearing just an animal print t-shirt. Catwoman? Maybe getting one of those sexy costumes might pay off to win me a free laptop, but then I do not have the “body” for that. Haha! Now I am scratching my head on what costume that I can wear for the party. Simba? Pumba? Alvin & the Chipmunks? Garfield? Odie? Well, I have no idea yet and your guess is as good as mine. It’s going to be a surprise!