♦ Estee Lauder Model Search 2009

For the 3rd year running, many gorgeous young ladies endured training after training for hours on end and finally strutted their stuff on the catwalk yesterday. Each having their mind set on nothing else but to prove themselves worthy to be the face of Estee Lauder.

Let the games begin

It was divided into 2 categories - Category A & Category B.
One being the contestants below 30 and the other above 30 repectively. Why above 30, you ask? The answer is, why not? Beauty transcends at any age, doesn't it? :)

Anyway, thanks to Mei Fong the Senior PR Manager, I made my way into the competition grounds. It was surprisingly held in the middle of a working afternoon day though. Anyway, the first thing I did after shooting some contestants was to give some love and lucks to Beatrice Au, of which was coincidentally mom's former colleague.

30 and thriving!

Estee Lauder has always been a favorable brand of cosmetics by me. Heck, mom has a collection of it in her dressing table - of which I secretly used to paint my face with when I was a child of 5.

Whoops the secret's out, but I think you already know who was behind that smashed lipstick and smeared eyeshadow palate of yours right mom?

I personally love their lipglosses

Contestant with that aforementioned lip pump

To me, I second the fact that beauty is only skin deep. But make up can enhance every single part of that skin depth. So why not make it worthwhile while it lasts?

Contestant Christel having her make up touched-up

Many local celebs and TV personalities were invited as well. To name a few, Amber and Xandria graced the event among many others.

The committee of Estee Lauder Model Search o9 were a really fun bunch! You can tell by the looks on their faces, no? :)

Okay-lah, since everyone is having a go at the photo wall... I think we should jump onto the bandwagon as well.

Photographers Ken & I
(kindly ignore the uglyshortfringe)

LOL this post will only have one photo of me, due to the reason in brackets.

ANYWAY

After having their hair and make-up done, it was almost time for the showdown. The dresses and other outfits of the ladies were specially designed by Sonny, the boss of Eclipse boutique.

Emcees Daphne & Naz

Let it roll!

Would you believe me if I told you they're married with kids?
Pretty stunning for their age, methinks.

Emcee Naz was donning a rather retro suit for this event. Think black and white movies of Charlie Chaplin back in the days.

And trust me, the walking stick is not a prop!
He had some injuries

The catwalk and Q&A session began rather promptly after the 1st introductary walk. Some were nervous and stammered whilst answering, where as the others were pretty darn calm and very eloquent, if I have to say so myself!

Contestant Mabel having a go

But one answer I especially liked was by Dr. Sharifah. Yes you read right. DOCTOR SHARIFAH. She's a doctor by profession in the emergency ward.

Seriously, don't you wish your doctor was this hot?

Guys, get sick more often LOL

3 of 7 from the panel of judges

More Q&A's ensued as the judges kept vigil towards their communication skills, catwalk, beauty, poise and body shape. I could somewhat see a little scribblings and figures on the score sheets from where I stood but they were too tiny. Anyway, I wouldn't want any spoilers too :)

Contestant Soraya giving her two cents

"Eh, who you think winning ar?"
"Donno lah. Wait la haiyoh"

Ohmy.
Who do you think it will be?

THIS IS IT.
READY?

Estee Lauder Malaysia Brand Ambassador (Category A)
Jennifer Pederson
Estee Lauder Malaysia Brand Ambassador (Category B)
Carol Lai



Much love & grats to the both of you!
♥

Before I end, I'd like to vehemently express how exorbitant KLCC's parking fees can be. RM15 for approximately 4 hours?? It's not as though my friends and I have never parked at KLCC before but look, is the car park gold studded with diamante walls?

Remind me to catch the LRT next time!
=P

♦ I've gone whacko over Jacko

Okay well, it has been approximately 2 weeks since the passing of Michael Jackson. I actually thought it was a prank upon waking up to a few SMS-es saying he had died.

My random impersonation of MJ

I never thought much about it until it dawned upon me that the King of Pop is really what he is now - dead and gone. Reading through special edition pullouts after pullouts all about MJ's musical career and personal life, I couldn't help but to think that this dude had achieved so much.

Random facts

1. How come I didn't know he was married twice? How ignorant of me.
2. I want to go to Neverland
3. My favorite song of his is 'Thriller'

I like zombies

5. Everyone in Tesco gathered around a tiny TV just to watch MJ's concerts
6. Buddy Andrew was emotionally in despair about his death
7. I had an overdose of MJ when everything on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, magazines, televisions, conversations were about him

8. His daughter Paris was choked with tears when she said how much she loved him

That moved me.

9. My maid was crying when she watched the MJ Memorial on telly
10. I can't believe someone asked me, "Who's Michael Jackson?"

This is my tribute to the late Whacko Jacko,
one that I never thought I'd write about.

He really is a legend.

After all, there would be no
MOON WALKS AND CROTCH-GRABBING PERFORMANCES
without him!

Am i nuts or what?
It's 3:40 AM and here I am blogging about Michael Jackson?
Ohnoes.

♦ THIS IS DISASTEROUS!

OMFG Just got back from eXtreme hair salon last night and there goes my yikes! RM500 again. I remember blogging sometime back about my hair escapades. It's about the revolution of changing my hairstyle and colour and length throughout the years.

See it - here

The colour of this picture is obviously
helped by the afternoon sun and photoshop

For those long-time readers of my blog, most of yall would know that I've always been a red head. Did it red for 5 times already. But as most red-heads would lament, the red pigments will eventually FADE and turn into some dingy yellowish-orange disgusting colour. Eww.

Like this -

So as usual, I couldn't stand my hair looking so unwell maintained. I proceeded to the hair salon to get rid of that horrid color. Probably doing it red again or having a darker shade.

Just before the process

And when it's done, here I am venting my frustration about how uncomfy I am with my new hairdo. Been lamenting about it in my tweets all night the moment I got home. Yeah I've been in mild depression with mom saying I look like Cleopatra with my new bangs :(


It's friggin short, okay???
I didn't expect him to chop my fringe off when I said :

"I want a bit of bangs this time but
do it red for me like you always have"

I didn't say :

"Make me look like an idiot with uber short bangs and dark red/purple hair that looks like black"

So not what I wanted.
You can't even see the colour!

During dinner with Ketiak and Minny, I kept telling them how awkward I was and conscious I felt with that uber short fringe. The colour was almost black. I did not want to look like a high-school girl!

Minny liked it, but Ketiak didn't.

So yeah, I got home.. and my maid told me it was nice. But mom just kept laughing. OMG even Michael Jackson's father laughed at his nose. And now.. mom laughed at my hair! I'm not gonna give my hair plastic surgery (if that is possible at all) just because you sniggered at me, mom.


With the help of my tripod and mom (how ironic) . I did "self-photography" to see how it actually looked like on photos. Self-photography is actually a very interesting term mentioned to be before by my friends Jeffro and Joyce.

Okay with the picture above, I failed.
The focus point wasn't correctly set and the photo turned out really blur with the background being the subject of focus instead. Dang.

Let's try again. Now, be good Mr. Tripod

A little better. But no matter how much I attempt to camouflage my ugly short fringe and ugly hair colour with my hand, by trying to pull the longer hair towards the front or even posing in an un-geeky manner, it won't change the fact that I look like a nerd with THE FRINGE.

Thus, making me somewhat emo throughout the day.
The boyfie jokingly said I look like a snail. But still!! :(

I like Emily The Strange.

Now with my own mother and boyfie against my new hairdo, this is social suicide! ARGGGGHHHHH next time I won't trust my hair stylist so much.

yeah yeah STFU
I'm just gonna sit at the corner waiting for my
hair to grow back while you laugh at me.

♦ Cinapek? Whaaad?

When the family comes down to visit me, many a time I've been asked by my mom or grandma :

"Jess, where should we all go eat today?"

Only to frown upon my answer :

"Ermm. idk anything. Chilis or Sushi Zanmai?"

Sometimes, my whole motley crew of a family would appreciate nothing but Chinese food. Yeah, they occasionally prefer those oriental delights of which I don't know much about. Neither do I know where to take them to, should they opt for Chinese cuisines.

But with invitations courtesy of CK, Mr. Robert Yeoh and chef-son Mervyn, I know just exactly where to bring my family to now.. and so do you! Behold the glorious Penang Hawker Food and Nyonya cuisine, now in Kota Damansara.

The Wok Cafe's signature dish

Often, I get comments such as :

"Woi Jess... from Penang
get to eat Penang's good food. Not fair"

Now seriously, everyone can get a taste of original Penang food in The Wok Cafe. It's actually a sister outlet to Hot Wok in Penang itself. There's no wonder why it tastes like the same real shiznit. The ingredients and recipes are sourced from the island itself... travelling chefs yo.

The traditional Kiam Chye Boey Soup.
A powerful combo of salty preserved veggies, tomatoes and duck.

Apart from tasting the food, I couldn't help but to dart my eyes across the room. The interior is really one deserving a standing ovation. It's so intricately built with fine carvings, authentic Chinese-themed furniture and oriental antiques on display that it's really hard not to think of the place as an ancient eatery from the early dynasties.

I immediately took a fancy to how the entire place was set as well. With neatly placed round tables and bamboo-looking chairs, I envisioned a sense of familiarity - a typical home of a Chinese family. (or a Petronas ad LOL)

Those dim spotlights which hung low from the ceiling above gave a very warm and cosy ambience. The bowls were of course, decorated with some very unique Mandarin designs imprinted on it.

Don't mind us, we were finishing what we voraciously begun

:)

CK also introduced me to this dish called Inche Kabin. It's this Nyonya-style fried marinaded chicken drummets, of which my tasteb initially mistook as Pandan Chicken.

It tasted wonderful. By the looks of it, I was expecting the usual dry and deep fried chicken drummets but no. The moment I took a bite, I knew I wanted a 2nd one. The flesh was relatively tender, the skin was crispy and the mix of spicyish-tangy-wow-idk-how-to-describe-it flavour was just fabulous!

I practically grew up with the dish above. My granny and maid cooked them very often. It's a combo of fried mixed veggies, mushrooms and octopus in Nyonya style which goes hand in-hand with lettuce.

There were so many people in the house and more lining up outside during lunch hour! As I observed, The Wok Cafe's customers were made up of mostly Chinese families or working adults in groups of 2-8 people. Or other food-lovers likes us!

Ya know how back in the days, ol granny would reward the kids with candy for being good lil boys and girls or simply by just finishing their spinach? Well, my great grandma would gimme those treats too.

ANYWAY
Speaking of treats, it's time for dessert!

This one's my favorite. Ima huge fan of mangoes! And this one is an awesome blend of Cendol and Mango bits. Goodness me. The fragrant coconut milk a.k.a santan and the way they did it with the mangoes was rad! I'm certainly coming back for this one.

Yes I'm saving the best for last.

I'm pretty sure you know him
AND HIS FAMOUS ICE-KACANG MOM AT HOME


Oh yes.. here's The Wok Cafe's version of Ice-Kacang!

That signature bowl of shredded ice, kidney beans, coconut milk, sago and many more makes their ice-kacang one of the favorite desserts to end a complete meal.

And ohyes before I forget, benjicajess.com readers are entitled for a nice lil promo! Just print the voucher below and present it when you are ordering your foodies.

Customers get to enjoy 10% off the food menu price at this outlet
(and for my readers in Penang, buzz me if you want the Penang voucher too)


This voucher is not applicable for eve and public holidays,
weekends and promotional items.


For the Kota Damansara outlet, the voucher above is valid till end of
December 2009 and for a bill of RM100 and above.

Have fun pigging out with the family people!
It's a must-try

Come up with any excuses again or where to eat
and I'll whoop your ass real hard

♦ Make it count!

I haven't had sucha good time with my close friends for the longest time. Been away from home for 3 months and boy I miss hangin' out with theloves. I'll make this 1 week back in Penang worth every single day.

Reached home late at night yesterday, driving under the heavy rain all the way back home. Wet, but happy nonetheless. Miss them to bits since I've been away working & writing my butt off.

Buddies who have read my Tweets will already know that I was :
"having massages, indulging in chocolate cheesecakes &
laughing at old pics with the bffs"

We headed to this rather cosy place in Tg. Bungah, Penang to get ourselves a full body massage. Perfectly just what we needed after much stress and lethargy. I needed to get some bones a-cracking!

Ouch. Like seriously whoooompaloooompa!

Minny was shrieking almost every single time and I was laughing at her. Ralph could hear it all in the next room (when he was having an intimately relaxing moment with his butt exposed by another Indonesian lady massaging him) It was all until the lady made my backbone go KRAKKKKK

oh my.

We then bought chocolate brownies, cheesecakes and choux puffs for some sinful indulgences. Seriously, you wont catch us having these every other day.

Stuff 'em all in yo

And what could be better than Penang food in Penang itself? Yeah, no offense but I've seen multiple 'Penang Laksa' or 'Penang Char Koay Teow' stalls in KL which doesn't quite taste the bit. Well, I guess that's the closest you can get to delights of Penang!

FOOOOOOOD

oh by the way

DO ANY OF YOU KNOW THE ENGLISH TERM FOR 'LOH BAK' ?

If you look hard enough, there's a clue in my picture above
Guess guess!

Ah forget it. I'll tell you anyway.

HALOGEN MEAT.
wtf?

Go Google 'Halogen' if you don't remember studying about Halogen Gasses in Chemistry when you were in High School.

We also had Bruschetta, not Penang-ish at all but ohwells.

Yum

It was really cool that SuTing had a fish-eye camera. But it ain't digital, so you have to wind it before every shot and wait for the film to develop before you can see any of your piccies.

Pretty, no?

She bought it from Melbourne and it costed AUS120$. But it's a pretty good steal, for something as cool as that. We had fun playing with it till the other tables were intrigued as well.

Here's us stupidly trying to take a fish-eye picture using a digital camera and shooting it through the lens of her fish-eye camera. Apparently it failed and it doesn't look fish-eye at all! Now, whose bright idea was that? ROARR.

Randomly, I feel like buying a lomo camera.