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Yummy Twist Potatoes!

zyenhoo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:06:23 +0000

Twist Potato (from www. twistpotato. com.my)

This post is quite overdue, but I must make this special mention because we had a fantastic sponsor who helped us!

Last year, in a bid to raise some money for our class fund, my homeroom of 2011 (5 Columbus) decided to open a stall during the school’s Merdeka Day carnival. This carnival was held in conjunction with the country’s National Day, and it was an open carnival which meant that public could come into the school. Many classes and clubs opened stalls to sell food, drinks, and products, and some ran games stalls such as a dunking booth and even Haunted Houses.

5 Columbus wanted to set up a food stall that sold fried finger food (I can’t remember the name of what it was they wanted to make initially) and smores (marshmallows with melted chocolate served on cream crackers). The smores were deliciously fabulous, but the fried finger food that they tried to make did not work out so well. They showed me a photo of their failed attempt – it tasted quite good, they said. But it wasn’t in a presentable form. You wouldn’t have bought what they were trying to make.

I knew they were frustrated, and I wanted to help them find something foolproof that they could make. And honestly, the moment they told me they wanted to open a food stall, I already had the solution for them, although I wanted them to figure something out for themselves first. When they hit this roadbump, I immediately called Twist Potato Malaysia.

Twist Potato Malaysia is actually a division within Fresco Cocoa Supply, and this division sells machines that makes potatoes into a lovely spiral – hence the name “twist potato”. Even when uncooked, the shape of the potato is aesthetically pleasing.

However what would make the potatoes sell is not the machine, nor the shape. It was the taste. If it was delicious, no matter how it looked, the potatoes would sell.

And this was where I found Twist Potato really awesome.

The Twist Potato machine is very easy to use. Just a quick twist, and voila! Click on the photo to view the rest of the album.

Twist Potato Malaysia does not only sell the machines to make the spirals; they also sell their Magic Flour, as well as more than twenty different flavouring powder to accompany the twist potatoes. The key to the delicious twist potatoes lies not in the twist potatoes, but in their Magic Flour.

What’s so special about their Magic Flour?

The Magic Flour, which is made from their secret recipe, makes it so easy to cook a potato. All you need to do is add some water, oil, and salt; then coat the potatoes with the batter and deep fry them. Quite frankly, you don’t even need twist potatoes, or even potatoes. You can just slice potatoes thinly and coat them with the batter, or even use other foodstuff like fruits or vegetables. Coated with the Magic Flour batter and deep fried, they’ll taste better than our local delicacies such as goreng pisang or goreng nangka.

Twist Potato Malaysia helped me out without hesitation when I called them; I wanted to rent the machine, but instead they lent it to us for free, and even sponsored us three different seasonings. They even lent us their buntings which reduced our need to decorate our stall. All we needed to do was just buy the Magic Flour, and promote twist potatoes.

Actually, we didn’t even need to promote them. The twist potatoes promoted themselves.

The twist potatoes sold like hot cakes during the carnival; we sold so much more twist potatoes than our smores did. We had so many repeat customers, and the lines were so long. We made a lot of twist potatoes in advance, before the lunch crowd came in; but when the crowd really began to swell, the twist potatoes were snapped up so fast that we had to start taking orders instead. We didn’t expect the twist potatoes to sell out so fast; in fact, we had been quite worried that we wouldn’t be able to sell enough to cover our cost. Our home deep-fryers were not able to cook fast enough. Had we known we were going to sell out, we would have brought our own gas stove!

The stall busy selling Twist Potatoes. Click on the photo to view the rest of the album.

We still had orders coming in way after the official closing time of the Merdeka Carnival, and were forced to stop only when the carnival official politely but firmly told us that it was time to call it a day.

Thank you very much, Twist Potato Malaysia! Your wonderful twist potatoes sold so much that we not only covered our cost, we made a considerable profit. (In fact we had losses from the smores because they didn’t sell as well as planned, but the twist potatoes more than covered that loss.)

Hon Wye enjoying a twist potato! Click on the photo to view the rest of the album.

If you are looking for business opportunities with Twist Potato Malaysia, I would tell you that they are a fantastic company to work with, without a doubt. Even though we were merely using their machine to sell twist potatoes for just one day, they were very generous and they were willing to spend a considerable amount of time to teach me how to make the twist potatoes to ensure that they will sell. I tell you the truth – it is so easy to make the twist potatoes that are ready for sale. I didn’t even need to teach my students ahead of time; I brought all the items with me on the morning of the carnival, and spent about ten minutes teaching them what to do, and they took it from there.

I would also like to say : to 5 Columbus 2011, you guys rock! All of you really worked hard and contributed so much to the class through this stall. You know I miss you already!

Special note: If you are seriously looking for some side income, why not consider Twist Potato Malaysia‘s business plan? For a very low one-time payment, you can purchase their kiosk which is complete with a twist potato machine and a commercial deep-fryer (that’s bound to cook much faster than our home deep-fryers!). Their training course comes with their kiosk, and they have a motto: we teach you until you know, which means that they will train you – at no additional fee – until you are able to operate the kiosk on your own. And quite frankly, if a bunch of 17-year-olds can do it, so can you! With their Magic Flour, your twist potatoes are bound to be a hit. There is no additional fee to be paid, so all profits are truly your own. How much you make will depend on how hardworking you are. Check out their business plan on their website!

The first stitch I’ve ever gotten

zyenhoo — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:52:52 +0000

I received the first stitch of my life about one month after my 31st birthday.

On Friday, 6th August 2010, Sri KDU organised a Merdeka Carnival in conjunction with Patriotic Run, which is the school’s mini-marathon. It is usually held in conjunction with National Day, but this year because the fasting month was starting on 11th August 2010, the school decided to have the run earlier.

My class was planning to make a maze of terror, and were only allowed to start our preparations on Thursday 4pm. I stayed back with the kids until 11.30pm to get as much done as possible, but the maze was still far from finished, and we had to come back early the next morning to continue work. The guards told us we could get in by 6am, but I was too tired and decided to get there by 7am. Bryan Homi asked me to pick him up from Zhou Han’s house, but because they overslept, I had to WAIT FOR THEM and we ended up reaching school close to 7.30am.

I was trying to fold the metal legs on the wooden table when the leg snapped at the ring finger on my right hand. I didn’t feel the pain at first; all I saw was BLOOD. My immediate reaction was, “Oh, we have real blood here.” Then I ran all the way to the school infirmary to ask the nurse to clean it up and to put on a dressing. The nurse took one look, and told me I needed stitches. I asked her, “What, now?” She must have thought that it was a really silly question. But what actually ran through my head was, “I need to be at the maze to monitor the students.” She didn’t clean up the wound, but put two tight layers of dressing to tide me until I get to the hospital.

I then ran back to the special classroom to get my handbag, but because I hadn’t had breakfast, I could feel the nausea building up. Jasmine Leong saw me, and stopped me to ask what was wrong – she said I had gone so pale!

She was going to accompany me to the hospital, but she couldn’t drive; so she got Mr Lee Wing Hong (the new Chem teacher) to drive me instead.

I went into the emergency ward and was given two shots: one painkiller in my ass, and another in my arm for tetanus. The nurse then opened the dressing but had a hard time taking it off because the school nurse had put the first layer on so tightly. She cleaned it and then put a basic dressing on it. They then recommended I get an X-ray done to ensure that there was no fracture.

After the X-rays, a hand specialist took a look and said that it didn’t require major surgery and said I only needed stitches. They were going to get an orthopaedist to take a look at it, but he was busy at that time so the emergency ward nurses suggested we go for breakfast instead and to come back in half an hour.

When we came back after breakfast, we were told that orthopaedist had come down in our absence, and they then sent us upstairs to see him. We had to wait for about half an hour before we were called in. The orthopaedist, Dr Soong, opened up the basic dressing and was going to do only another dressing before taking a second look and realising that I needed stitches.

He first administered a local anaesthetic, which was injected at the base of my ring finger. I couldn’t bear to watch that one… IT HURT!!!! I could feel the sensation of the anaesthetic traveling to my finger. But it quickly numbed my finger and the stitching process didn’t hurt at all. In fact, I was able to watch the entire stitching process without squirming or wincing at all. I was quite interested and fascinated because I had never received stitches before in my life!

Dr Soong was quite surprised and impressed that I could watch the whole stitching process. It was Mr Lee who was squirming with his shirt pulled up over the bottom half of his face.

We got back to the school late – at 11.30am. That’s 3 hours after the accident happened.in the hospital! The kids were already running the maze and there was already a line.

I’m going to be removing my stitches on Monday (hopefully) after 10 days. It was supposed to be removed tomorrow but I’ll be accompanying the kids to the debate competition at IIU.

I didn’t manage to take photos during the stitching, because I couldn’t have possibly managed it at that point in time; and poor Mr Lee was squirming too much. I did manage to take a photo of the stitched finger though… if you’re not squeamish, you can view them here.

Oh, and the class managed to make a little profit from the maze. The important thing was that we covered cost, which fortunately we did.

Best Birthday Ever!

zyenhoo — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:43:55 +0000

OKOK. I’d better write this down before I forget to, and the news becomes so old that it’s not interesting anymore. It’s just that I had no time, what with the class tests and the dance competition and falling sick.

My birthday was last month, on the 8th of July. I had shamelessly been announcing my impending birthday in vain hopes that I would, for once, be able to get something from my birthday wishlist, and I mean my birthday wishlist. Nothing of the sort happened, of course. Except for the dark chocolates. Oh, but at least I didn’t get any plumbing accessories this time

Anyway my birthday was off to a good start with dinner with close friends at The Ship. It was fun and enjoyable, but if I thought I could escape the “Happy Birthday” singing, there was no such luck. While other places like TGIF merely get all their staff to sing very loudly, The Ship blasts the birthday song over their speakers so that everyone in the restaurant knows it’s someone’s birthday.

Birthday fun at The Ship! (Kodie not in the photo because he's taking the pic)

The meal was fantastic, and the company was excellent! Kalem arrived extremely grumpy but his mood got progressively better and he became positively hyper by the end of the night.

We took a lot of photos… Take a look!!!

Sunday saw a brief celebratory lunch with some of my dance teammates. Tracy made me beautiful cupcakes, every single one personally handpiped by herself. The cupcakes were absolutely delicious! She bought us lunch at Starbucks before making everyone embarrass me with a “Happy Birthday” song…

Tracy's beautiful cupcake. She says her sifu told her it takes 600 tries before she'd get a perfect rose, but it already looks beautiful to me

Me with Tracy and her cupcakes

More photos of the beautiful cupcakes here!! Must-see!!!

My family then took me out fo a nice quiet dinner at Sri Siam. Erm, there’s no photo because it was a really simple dinner.

Tuesday night, on my birthday eve, I went for dance class which is usually followed by dance practice. One of the ladies who attends the social dance class, Eloise, usually brings her 6-year-old daughter Jye Yi to the class, but because the little girl usually can’t cope with the adult-level class, I spend time with the little girl, teaching her the basics and dancing with her so that she doesn’t lose interest in the dance. Because I spend so much time with her, she became quite attached to me; and she found out my birthdate… through the expedient method of asking me.

She made her father take her out to buy a cake, and insisted on coming to class to give me the cake. Fortunately it wasn’t a class celebration, because everyone left quite quickly when the class was over (phew!) but for the little girl’s sake, her mother and her aunt (both of them attend the social dance class) sang a quick round of Happy Birthday, and I cut the cake to give the little one a slice. She had bought a delicious coffee cake… yummm :)

Jye Yi and I

Wednesday… my actual birthday. I have to say that it was simply the best birthday I’ve celebrated at Sri KDU, ever. The day got progressively better

I had ordered mini-cupcakes from a friend, with the intention of giving each of my students one, and some of my colleagues (can’t give EVERYONE… there’s too many). I ordered the cupcakes because I knew that I couldn’t expect people to celebrate my birthday with me, so the only way to make sure I’m not alone in my celebration is to MAKE THEM CELEBRATE IT WITH ME.

The mini-cupcakes I distributed to my students and friends

The first class of the day was 4 Newton who, instead of the customary “Good morning, Miss Hoo” sang “Happy Birthday”. That was a nice greeting

"Everyone do the Japanese pose!!"

And… surprise, surprise. Some of my tuition students actually got me a cake!!! I was quite touched; it was the first time I ever received a cake from students not in my class. Muaxes to all of you With Lydia’s help, they got me a very pretty chocolate cake.

With the 5A kids who bought me the cake

Shaun attempting to stab Kareem with the superlong knife

The second class was 4 Aristotle, who used to drive me nuts the whole year by always singing “Happy Birthday”. But when I walked into class, they refused to sing it to me, and gave me the customary “Good morning” greeting instead. And when they did sing, they sang it to one of their classmates Gary instead. After a bit of hemming and hawing, Juno finally came forward with a papercard which everyone signed. And they said they didn’t know how old I was, so they wrote every number they could think of – “Happy 16th birthday”… “Happy 32nd birthday”… “Happy 48th birthday”… But of all the numbers everyone wrote, no one got the right number.

Me with 4 Aristotle

The class immediately after that was 4 Mozart, and they sent people outside to stop me from going in. I guess it would have been obvious to anyone as to what they were planning, especially since the lights were off and so many of them were holding cameras, but I had long taught myself not to expect anything. And… so when I went in, they had a cake with candles lit and everyone burst into song, I actually started crying. And unfortunately, a few of them caught my tears on camera. =.=”

But I don’t mind admitting it. I was truly overwhelmed, especially since this class isn’t even my homeroom, yet they were thoughtful enough to throw me a surprise party. If I could, I’d take them in as my homeroom, too.

"Everyone look at Miss Hoo!"

I don’t have photos of the cake 4M prepared for me though. I didn’t have my camera ready, I was too busy wiping the tears away.

The best surprise was yet to come though. 4M had done something great, and it would be right to expect my homeroom to do something better, but like I said, I had taught myself not to expect anything. But during lunchtime, it was obvious that they were planning something, because from my seat in the staffroom, I saw quite a few of my students walking by the doors, and the moment they spotted me through the glass, they quickly doubled back. Then Darryl was sent in to ask me to step out. He pretended to want to ask me a Chemistry question, but it was so obviously a lie, that I handed him my camera. What was waiting outside for me was beyond anything I had expected…

I GOT A HUMAN GREETING CARD!!! IT’S THE BEST CARD I’VE EVER RECEIVED!!!

My human greeting card is so big, I get to stand inside it!

And on top of that, they got me a cake! And embarrassed me in front of everyone by singing “Happy Birthday” very loudly at the cafeteria.

The cake 4 Dickens bought. I'm at the cafeteria where they embarrassed me by singing "Happy Birthday" very loudly.

I had no more tears left, but I was still very touched. It trumps 4M’s surprise party, hehe.

I was surprised at how quickly everyone disappeared back to class when the bell rang, leaving me and a few others to clean up the mess. And when we got back to class, someone kept saying, “The party isn’t over yet” but it didn’t register until Johann walked in with a second cake…

My second cake from 4 Dickens!!

The day ended with my receiving a beautiful bouquet from Bronya, which she had sent to the school. They were late; it was supposed to be sent in the morning. But nevertheless, it was a great end to a great day.

The lovely bouquet Bronya sent to me at school

Thank you everyone for your wishes, presents, and cakes! I love you all!

Photos of my birthday at school can be viewed here.

I got my dark chocolates!! :)

zyenhoo — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:20:26 +0000

Today was Teacher’s Day at Sri KDU. Initially the teachers were supposed to play games (men – football, ladies – netball) but then the plan was scrapped and nothing was supposed to be on, except for a lunch for the teachers.

I had also initially planned to have a birthday celebration for my homeroom 4 Dickens for the March, April, and May babies, but with the lack of anything special going on, we decided to postpone it to next month.

I didn’t want to go to school today (I don’t work on Thursdays and Fridays), but Lydia asked me to accompany her for the lunch, so I went. I got there about noon – in time to catch the last 5 minutes of the “surprise performances” the students put up for the teachers. Not that it mattered much to me I wasn’t there to celebrate Teacher’s Day.

But even though the students knew I hadn’t planned to be at school today, I still got some gifts!! I GOT MY DARK CHOCS!!! Check that out… Lindt 85% COCOA!!!! YUMMMMM!!!!! And a box of Black Bitter Chocolate with 100% chocolate!!!!

My Teacher's Day gifts! Not all are from students - the food flask and the folded storage box are from the school, the small flask from the PTA, and the bottle of lotion from Mrs Chan.

Thank you to Nadirah, Ee Wen, Florence, Nee Shuang and Ee Ping (my former shadow!!!).

It’s so sad that I can actually name the students who gave me pressies.

Oh! And thank you 4 Mozart for the papercard!!!!

Card from 4 Mozart

Even my own homeroom didn’t give me anything :’( But anyway, thanks, you Chickens :-*

Oh. And I still owe you kids the Chemistry answers.

David Archuleta DVD – Not for sale

zyenhoo — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:42:39 +0000

Hi everyone. It is with regret I have to make the following announcement.

Sony contacted me yesterday and informed me that the DVD on David Archuleta at Sri KDU cannot be sold. They have also advised me to provide a refund on the DVDs that have been sold so far.

My sincerest apologies to Sony, and to everyone, for all the trouble.

David Video taken down

zyenhoo — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:19:19 +0000

Hey all. I’ve been advised to take the David Archuleta video down due to copyright reasons. So, sorry… the video is no longer available for viewing.

David Archuleta is such a cutie!

zyenhoo — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:45:43 +0000

David Archuleta in Sri KDU

I met David Archuleta!!

OK, not really met. Stalked him with a videocamera, more like. But on official business.

David Archuleta actually came to Sri KDU! We won the Hitz.fm interschool competition. The morning crew DJ JJ and Ean came first (arrived 1.30pm) to entertain the school students in the hall. I was assigned to videotape David?s entire movement in the school. We were told to be await his arrival by 12.45pm. He arrived only at 2pm.

Jessica (the only official student photographer assigned for this) and I were waiting by the steps at the school foyer, complaining about the heat and the wait. I was dressed in a very pretty blue flowy top and black pants, but because it was halter neck, I put a jacket on. I regretted it. It was BOILING HOT.

We were discussing the car he would be coming in. Jessica was betting on a black limo. I suggested a Proton Saga. Or a Perodua Kancil!!!

We were both wrong. He came up in this white Bas Persiaran van.

Damn, I don?t have the photos here. I?ll upload soon.

It was so? low-key, uncomfortable, and well? unbefitting a superstar. Like, seriously!!

But David is such a sweet boy. He was so nice and friendly and obliging. *I* didn?t get to have a photo with him or even shake his hand unfortunately. I didn?t even get an autograph I was busy videographing mah.

Luckily I?m not a huge fan though, otherwise I?d be crying. I like him and his songs, but I?m not dying to meet him. HOWEVER I did get to be in one of the group photos! You see, the school had selected a few groups of students to take photos with him, and they of course had one photo of the top management of Paramount Corporation Berhad to take a photo with him too. I quietly snuck into the photo and stood next to the Finance Director? hahahaha!!! But I did get permission from my principal to do so.

Damn, I do not have the photo yet, so I can?t upload it here!!! It?s depressing to write about something so exciting without accompanying photos. I do have the videos, but I?m waiting for them to convert now on my other PC.

ANYWAY? he?s so polite and sweet. He was very obliging – signing autographs and taking photos. It was the security guards and the Sony people who kept pushing the students along, but I guess it was for security and also to speed up the time as he didn?t have much time with us at the school. In fact, one of the student girls threw her arms around David when she came in, screaming that she loved him!!! But he didn?t push her away or anything; the security guards had to pry her off him though.

The photos were taken in a special room that was set up for this, and after that we were all shooed out for him to do his make-up (not that I saw any difference) before he went to the hall. Inside the hall, the DJs were keeping the kids entertained; and just before David came on, they played a prank on the kids by making Germaine (the head prefect) read out a letter which announced that we were runner-ups in the competition, and as consolation, we would only get DJ JJ and Ean (many students actually fell for it? and gasped in horror), but Ean went, ?Oh wait, that?s the wrong letter? and screwed the letter up into a ball. And THEN they announced David was actually here, and the kids went wild!

David Archuleta went on stage and first answered a few questions posed to him by Kareem and Elliot. Then he sang his 2 famous singles (Crush and A Little Too Not Over You) before he was whisked away to the Bas Persiaran and out the door. It was all I could do to just run and catch him leaving. It happened in a matter of minutes.

All I can say about this is? WOW. David is exactly like how he behaves on TV. What you see on TV is what he really is? the sweet, polite boy, with the beautiful vocals that sound just as amazing live as it does on the studio recording. No airs about him at all. In fact, when he pulled up in that Bas Persiaran, he had no bodyguards with him, just his father (I think it?s his father, anyway) and a couple of people from Sony BMG. The security guards who ?protected? him were employed from a local company who had been waiting for him in our school before he arrived. He was dressed in a simple green shirt and jeans. Quite frankly, he looks just like any ordinary kid; if his face wasn?t so famous, if he arrived at our school, he?d look like just an international student in our school. When that Bas Persiaran van pulled up, I actually had to stare for quite a few minutes to really see if it really was David Archuleta inside!!

I hope he stays this nice and humble – that?s his selling point, which has snared many a young girl?s heart, and even caught the raptures of many ladies too. I bet mothers all over would love for someone like him to marry their daughters. I know that our principal is a HUGE fan of David Archuleta! With good reason, too.

[Now, if only David Cook would come...]

Oh. And I?m not going for the Sunway Lagoon concert. Sorry, David. I think you?re cute and you?re a fantastic singer, but I got to meet you for free, so that?s good enough for me =D

Oh. And you can see photos of David A at our school on Hitz.fm?s website. You can?t see me cuz I?m a right at the back on the platform videotaping him though

Cheerleading Videos…. Finally!

zyenhoo — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:27:54 +0000

FINALLY…. after trying for about two weeks, I’ve finally managed to upload all the cheerleading videos from Sri KDU’s sports day. Here they are.

By the way, if anyone is interested – the DVD with all four march past and cheerleading performances are available for sale.

Back to school again

zyenhoo — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:02:11 +0000

So, some of you know the news, and some of you don’t. Well, the news can’t go around that quickly, since it’s only been confirmed today. Yes, I’m going back to school. Not to study. I’m going back to Sri KDU to teach.

Already I can hear mixed responses – cries of dismay, shouts of welcome, screams of horror. Thank you, thank you. I’ll take them all positively.

Cries of dismay probably from my students – those who feel betrayed. “You left… and now you rejoin AFTER our SPM?!?!?!?!!?!” I’m sorry… I love you all but I had to do what I had to do. I didn’t even think I was going to come back to Sri KDU.

Shouts of welcome from my former colleagues – yes, I love you all too! I look forward to having tea breaks with you again. Hahaha. Except I won’t have time, actually.

Screams of horror from well-meaning friends and colleagues – “WTH are you doing back here? Go away, you!” I love you all too.

In case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t reapply for the job. I was asked to come back. It’s nice being headhunted. Hehehe.

So why did I come back, after leaving in the first place? It’s a symbiotic relationship. They need a teacher, and I like having a fixed income. Truth be told, yes, I am worried about the state of the economy next year, and having fixed income will allow me to breathe more easily.

However, this time, I’m only working part-time though. Because of that, my schedule will be packed so I won’t have time for those tea breaks I look forward to Still, it’s kind of in my favour because I have time off for my outside work You know. Like websites, and dancing, and stuff.

I’ll miss the waking up at 10am, and the constant checking-for-updates on Facebook, but I look forward to coming back to Sri KDU nonetheless.

I know you all miss me. Well, I’m back!!!

Oh, by the way, I made an appearance during the Performance & Awards Nite last Friday. Ee Ping wanted me to be there but I couldn’t stay because I had something else to do that night.

Ee Ping and I

I took lots of random photos though I thought the event was very well done, and the booklet was really good this year.

Performance & Awards Nite 2008 - Album The First

Performance & Awards Nite 2008 - Album The Second

Congratulations to all the award winners!! You are a most deserving bunch. And to all the nominees, you are also all winners. Nomination in itself is an honour.