Pesto....

Yesterday was a day that I made my own pesto sauce! I really wanted to make them for a long time but never did either find the time or enough basil leaves for it! So yesterday when my basil plant is finally in full lush leaves, I cut them down leaving only the young shoots to grow me more basil for the next few days...

My poor leafless basil plant.... It used to be lushed!

I always though pesto is difficult to make but its really not that difficult at all! All we need was lots and lots of basil leaf, 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, some pine nuts (I used almond nuts instead and it tastes great!), grated Parmesan cheese, some olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. All I did was pound away the first 3 ingredients then add the rest according to taste. The taste was heavenly as I cook it in with my pasta of vegetables and fresh tuna. Hmmmm....

My faithful "lesung"... When my mini blender calls in "sick"!

May be the next time when my basil leaf grows back again, I'll make another round of pesto but this time with chili padi in it! There's nothing in the world that can beat the extra "oomph" in pesto sauce than chili... May sound un-Italian to some, but I like to try out new things from the basic recipes. This way it keeps our creative juices flowing and at the same time fulfill our stomach!

The World Cup 2006; France - Swiss

We went to watch France - Swiss match yesterday (13/06/2006) by the lakeside of Vevey where they put up a so-called "GIANT" screen. It was really hot even at 5:30pm.... Guess you can say this is the time when we get the sun set only at 10pm or so!! Thank goodness its only 10pm here, elsewhere you'll find that the sun NEVER sets during summer time! I wonder how people could get some sleep when the suns' up bright and shining?

Hubby all charged up!

So back to the lakeside screen; the atmosphere was really great with Swiss fans sporting red and white (national flag colour), while we couldn't really see a lot for French supporters only a couple here and there.... Now hubby is a full flag French team supporter but it was really strange to see him and a few others actually sing (ok, hum for hubby. Reason? Can not remember the whole lyrics!!! And he claimed to be nationalistic!) the national anthem a.k.a La Marseillaise and cheer on les bleu (the French team colour).

Look at the lousy screen and the really TALL fans!!

Now the other bad part is that vertically challenged me can't see a thing! Reason? Everyone was taller and was standing around instead of sitting their asses down.... Besides the screen quality is really bad and its only 5m by 3m (and they announced that its a "giant".. :p). So off we went to another screen nearby in a pub. Now in this pub, the screen is really a giant screen! At least everyone is sitting down on comfy sofas, having a beer or two, out of the sun and we can even see the ball from afar! Now beat that lakeside screen!

Sorry dear all Swiss fans wor... No blues!

Now before we even went to watch the match, I told hubby that the score would be nil for either side. And the score after 2 half time was..... NIL! I should have put my bet down with him.. *sigh Could have won myself a cheese cake or a chocolate cake! Hmmmmmm.... May be on the finals then...

Summer time...

Its finally summer here in Switzerland... For the past few weeks we've been having really cold tempretures (at times till 5°c or 6°c!!) and also followed by strong winds and cloudy skies. I do hope this week onwards we'll be able to enjoy cloudless skies...

Summer for me is a wonderful time when we get to enjoy more fruits and vegetables than winter time. Its also a time for bbqs! I just love cook outs coz its just so simple to do; marinate it and put it on the grill! This week was great as we did cook out on the park (charcoal grill) and also on our balcony (electric grill) with some friends that either came to stay over at our place or we go to their place.

This is also a great time I think for most of us ladies to don bikinis! Although I'm not really a bikini fan, I did took the pains of "slimming down" in spring time so that I'll look good in my new swimming costume! hehehehhe.... Yes I am VAIN, so what? All humans are vain one way or the other.

I always find it funny to see the difference between mat salleh and us Asians. They (the mat sallehs) would want to get as dark as they can by "grilling" under the sun, going to a tanning studio or spreading on self tanning lotions on their body. While us Asians (majority the typical Asians who grew up in Asia) would want to avoid the sun at all cost! There's one time when I actually open my umbrella when it got to hot here in Switzerland (2003 heat wave). Everyone looked at me as though I'm nuts! Call me typical Chinese, the "tan" I get during summer tends to stay with me till winter and I get more "pimple scar" by having to much sun. I think its time for me to splat on more sun block lotion, don't want to get any darker than I'm suppose to.

Things to look forward to...

Well, its been a long time since I've posted anything on this blog. Had been busy working on weekends these few weeks and no I'm not employed permanently, its just part-time work to keep me from doing more shopping online! hehehehe... Kidding about online shopping part, recently don't feeling like buying any more "junk" (as my hubby puts it) from eBay etc...

BB Evelyn Tan sleeping peacefully...

This whole month of April and May has been very eventful despite me not blogging as often as I think I want to. First of all there's the new additions into the family; nephew, Hughes Leung, born on 30th April and niece, Evelyn Tan, born on 18th May. The babies are so.... cute! So now hubby and I are "promoted" to being "ah yee" and "yee cheong" despite being already "kau mo" and "kau fu" to Marc (Hughes's bother). As happy as I feel now, there's still a little bit of sadness as I wanted so much to be at my sister's side when bb Evelyn was born. I really wanted to shared a little piece of happiness with all of them at home. But I guess, having them emailing pics to us will do, until we go back next year! I can't wait till next year when I can get to hold and hug her for the first time!

Marc looking at his brother, Hughes;"hope you're fun to play with!"

But there's also another thing to look forward to end of this month; we'll be going back to France to see the new "arrival", bb Hughes! Both of us simply can't wait till then! I wonder how much he has grown so far despite the fact that he's born a month earlier than scheduled.. I really looking forward to going to see him and to do some stashing while in Paris. Talking about killing two birds with one stone! I've already started my shopping list and shop lists now... :) Pray that I don't forget the list then and that I'll get to buy the things I wanted. From previous experiences, I tend to forget my list and had to buy the thing I wanted from memory!!! Not a very good idea, buying from memory as there will be always one or two things that I really wanted and "forgot" to get them! Will only remember when we're about more than half way going back to Switzerland!! Then again hubby got used to me saying "AAARRGGHHH..." in the car on the way back, as always....

In fact I think this year and next there's going to be load to do and to look forward to for us. Right now I just pray that things will fall into place as there would be more pleasant surprises to come, hopefully! :)