阿北的生日

我给了阿北一个自己很喜欢又让别人羡慕的生日礼物！

想了很久很久都想不到要买怎么样的生日礼物给阿北。。。虽然他不是为百万富翁，可是在他的日常生活里，该有的东西他都有。。。钱包、电话、腰带、球鞋、手表、钢笔、香水，通通都有。。。到底男生的礼物还可以送些什么呢？如果讲到送电脑或上千元的礼物，我就真的买不起了。。。

一个月前，我就在想这个问题了。。。终于，我想到了！！哈哈！一向来我都很好奇为什么一个立体的蛋糕会那么 贵？也只不过是个普通的蛋糕，只是在蛋糕上加了些设计而已。。。经过我努力的 research 后，我决定自己亲手做个立体的蛋糕给阿北，一来可以解掉我心中的疑问，二来阿北可以收礼物!

自从大学毕业后，第一次进厨房的我决定烘一个麻将蛋糕! 我心中的麻将蛋糕是打算做一幅麻将,然后麻将桌子是由可以吃的蛋糕做成的。。。麻将粒是用raw icing 做的。。。

时间一天一天的过。。。可是我的麻将粒还不能“摆上台”！一开始，做不出标准的形状，后来经过嫂嫂的指点，我用了硬纸皮来当模型 - 成功！！后来，遇到了字体会“发”的现象。。。每当写在麻将粒上，那字体就好像发水面包似的发起来，原本美美的“发”字，却变成了鬼画符！！经过多番的研究，虽然“发”的现象还在，可是没有当初发到那么难看/严重！哈哈哈！！

离阿北的生日还有两天，为了能给他一个意外惊喜，我调闹钟四点凌晨爬起来完成我的麻将粒！很伟大吧！可是，那天起不了身！哈哈哈！结果，在他生日的那天，我逼自己起床把麻将粒完成！！真的很开心！做到六点半（我周日起床的时间），我赶紧跑回我的床，继续睡觉，以免让阿北发觉！哈哈！做戏要做全套！至于那“麻将桌子”，我就交给妈妈去处理！

阿北生日当天，我很早就溜出公司了。。。我们到BERMUDA & ONION (www.bernudaonion.com.my), 位于CHANGKAT BUKIT BINTANG, 烛光晚餐！可能是星期二，所以这间餐馆只有几座吃客而已。。。这间餐馆以前有美味的GIANT GRILLED BBQ PORK RIBS, SKEWER COMBO PLATTER (PRAWN & PARMA HAM, ASPARAGUS & BACON & SCALLOPS & HAM), 可是这些NON-HALAL 食物已不再菜单上了，大概是换了管理人吧。。。（这些食物都是从BLOG找到的）

既来之，则安之，我选了羊脚 – TRADITIONAL BRAISED LAMB SHANK，而阿北选了牛排 – GRILLED BEEF RIB-EYE。。。味道还不错呢！因为 BLOG 大力推荐 CLASSIC MOJITO (moe-hee-toe) , 所以我就叫了一杯来试。。。它是一杯很清凉酒精饮料，来自 CUBA。杯里放了几片薄荷叶，整体看起来很REFRESH！

吃完晚餐后，我们就回家吹蜡烛吃蛋糕！妈妈很厉害，完成了“麻将桌”，还把一些麻将粒放在“桌子”上和“桌旁”！（因为"桌子"太小了！）！阿北很喜欢这份麻将礼物！他还把麻将蛋糕的照片放上“面书”！当然，我的目的达成了! 很多留言说很漂亮啦、很有创意啦、还有朋友要拿电话号码预定一幅麻将蛋糕！哈哈！如果麻将的字不会“发”，那单生意我一定做！因为我要把我的手艺发扬光大！哈哈！

我另一份礼物给阿北是一个BURBERRY 的钱包。。。托朋友从日本买回来的。。。。。。

Rich Women

Read an article about "Capitalising on Women" from Islamic Finance, March 2010, the interesting title attracted my attention. In the article, it highlighted that women are getting richer and richer than men... Why? According to the research, in GCC alone, women hold U$40bn in personal wealth, of which U$12bn belongs to Saudi Arabian women. Out of U$12bn, 75% is sitting in cash deposits and 20% in unit trust. The reason why Saudi Arabian women are rich because they hold the keys to their family coffers, in another words, they control the wealth! I found it very interesting as I always thought that Saudi Arabian women have no say in any decision making, but I am wrong!

Leave aside Saudi Arabian, why women are richer now? Accumulated wealth has increased among the growing population of female professionals. Yes, it is true! Women today are well educated, even cleverer than some men. So, Men, please take note! The world has changed!

Nowadays, we can see more and more Financial Institutions launch “women” investment products, I believe this is because women are risk averse and therefore willing to commit to medium and long term investment. It is so called “easy money” to make from women!

I, the risk averse investor, believe in “play safe” rather “adventure”, that’s why I invested in Amanah Saham products, ie Amanah Saham Malaysia (“ASM”), Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (“ASW”) and Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (“AS1M”). Invest in Amanah Saham can give me at least 6% return p.a., even thought the interest rates have been declining, but it is still better than fixed deposit's rate. Why invest in Amanah Saham products? The main reason is it functions like fixed deposit with higher interest rate; it is fixed at RM1.00 (so far, the only unit trust in Malaysia has fixed price of RM1.00), so it is capital protected product.

ASW was launched by Tun M in 1990s', his motto that time was “Wawasan 2020”. So far, the past performance of ASW was considered good, thanks to the support of rakyat. Today, Naj is our PM, he created “One Malaysia”, that’s how AS1M born! When AS1M first launched, not many people keen to participate, WHY? Simple because it does not has track record. Investors do not want to take such risk… So, people took the “wait and see” strategy. Come to think about it, if AS1M does not perform well, what do you think it will happen in next election?

I am praying very hard so that my investments can bring my wealth next level!