Paris - Rochefort trip

One of the tower by the sea, La Rochelle town.

Was a late summer trip this time to the in-laws. As usual there was lots of eating involved! LOL! So this time I did not forget to take some meds for indigestion, you know for just in case for all those GOOD FOOD.... I love eating for pleasure but then again having too much pleasure will upset the usual running of the system... :p

The boys: Hugo, hubs, Jean-Marc (BIL) and Owen.

August is the height of summer here, where by temperatures could reach 38°C or 40°C in some parts of Europe. Yes, global baking is in for this century.... Had to slap on SPF 50 sun block almost everyday Owen and I was out this time around.

We drove from here to Paris - 5/6 hours drive, stayed over at 3rd SIL place. Then drove for another 5 hours to Rochefort, this time with BIL and friend - Hugo. THANK GOD BIL brought Hugo along for this trip! hehehehehe... Reason? He's very (VERY) good and patient with kids! I mean the guy could and can play for hours with Owen! Its just AMAZING!!! I mean I couldn't get through the day without having either a headache, brain drain and being tired at the end of the day being with the little guy.... :p

Owen checking out older cousins' Nintendo DS...

Any ways, this time around we Rochefort & La Rochelle is basically crawling with tourists - as per usual but there's more French tourists than English speaking tourists. Guess with the bad economy, people tend to not leave the country for summer holiday. Which is good, coz the money stay within the country thus stimulating income for the locals.

Don't think he'll let Owen have his turn though....

FINE! I'll just play with your toys. :p

We went to the beach, of course. But I really do not like the beach we went to this time. There's more pebbles, washed up corals/some small trash, and the water is not clear as it was cornered off by the municipal to make a pool like thingy instead of open sea. So THAT makes the water stagnant, cloudy and most of the time smelled like algae... YUCK!!! Its nice to swim as there's basically NO waves coming into the man made bay/lagoon. BUT I'd rather swim in the open sea!

We tried to go to Ile de Rè this time but it'll take us 3 hours of traffic jam to get there.... So the beach sucks this time. At the very least we did a nice beach in Malaysia! hehehehe.... With warm, crystal clear water that is!!!

BTW, this just come to my mind. If peeing in the swimming pool is forbidden, what do you think about peeing in the sea? I think its yucky to pee in the sea, but many people just do it! SO DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY GULP SEA WATER AS THERE MIGHT BE PEE YOU'RE DRINKING!! HAHAHAHAHAHA.... OK, enough of this.

The little ones "recharging their batteries with some chips!

Owen had a GREAT time playing with all his cousins (they are all BOYS) while we're in Rochefort. The little ones slept at around 11pm every night while we're there. We've been having problems with going back to the old routine with his sleeping time ever since we got back. ARRGGHHH.....

Back after 4 years.... This time with a little one!

Besides that, we were invited by the Boisselier (I hope I got the name right!) - a very close family friend, for a paella dinner. It was huge!! And it was really good with all those fresh seafood. They have a beautiful home. Their home is where hubs came to pick me up when we got married in 2005. We had our evening wedding reception on a boat. I was a good experience....

The GIANT yummy paella... :D

Its so nice to see them again as they do travel a lot ever since their retirement. I love their court yard. They planted an olive tree in the middle, some roses on the sides and apparently an orange and a prune (or was it a peach?) tree in big pots. I would love to have a court yard/winter garden if we ever could afford to buy a house here.

Would love to go back the next time. And this time I'll make sure we'll go to Ile de Ré...

Medieval Festival 2009 Aigle

This is a back dated post.

Meaning to blog about this last 2 weeks ago but as usual things come up. So here goes....

1st of August was Swissyland's national day. Since the whole country was on a standstill, with some exceptions of course, we decided to head off to Aigle (means eagle in French) for their Medieval festival . It was a really nice and hot day; cloudless skies!!

Aigle is a vineyard district not far from our place, about 35 mins drive. When we arrived in town, it was pretty strange as virtually EVERYTHING is shut and there was NO ONE on the streets to say that there's some kind of festival going on! Hubs kept on asking me "Are you sure there's something going on?!?"... That was not untill we decided to park the car and walk towards the chateaux where it should be held. Now chateaux Aigle is a small castle - ok, make that minuscule... In fact, I won't even think it should be called a chateaux!

Any ways, we had to pay for entrance (CHF15.- per adult) for us and Owen gets to go in for free since he's below 6 yrs old. Walked thru a couple of guards (teenager with spears!) and then a long cobbled/pebbeled path to be welcomed by actors dressed up in middle ages costums. From the hair styles down to wooden clogs! Well, we don't call them actors if they don't act real right? hehehehe...

There were huts/stalls selling their wares, from candles to fur, knives, swords (I swear!), tapestry, clay ware, baskets, clothing etc etc. They even show how the items that they sell were made during the middle ages. We went around and the interiors of the chateaux. It was quite interesting to see how, when and where the grapes were planted, trimmed, plucked, distilled and the final product; wine. The tools used were show cased as well as the hundreds of old wine labels from almost all over the world.

Food was interesting as well. They have a huge barbecue pit at the entrance of the chateaux with chickens. The BBQ chicken were really good by the way. Food were served in plates and bowls made out of coconut fibers and the spoons were of thin wood if I'm not mistaken. I doubt that we would pay for the same price if plates/bowls were made out of wood! They made really delicious apple juice as well there. It was served in jug form with tumblers, hand made pottery I should think. It was about 35°C or 34°C but the juice stayed cool, which was an excellent thirst quencher.

We had fun discovering the chateaux and the festival. Here I leave you with some photos from our outing at my WEBSHOTS album.

THE WRITING WAS ALREADY ON THE WALL SO LONG AGO

For your reading enjoyment.

This has been going on for far too long. The MACC acts like God. They kidnap families and torture those they arrest. They threaten those they interrogate with death if they refuse to talk.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The writing was already on the wall very much earlier. Alarm bells were wailing like banshees. But this was largely ignored. It was ignored because it was Malaysia Today that had triggered the alarm bells. Malaysia Today is not the most reliable source. It does not offer the best of information. What Malaysia Today dabbles in are rumours and innuendoes.

When the Anti-Corruption Agency, now called the MACC, kidnapped the family of a police inspector, Malaysia Today raised the alarm. They had kidnapped the wife and child of a police inspector who had investigated a Chinese underworld boss on the instructions of a higher-up with the rank of ASP.

The inspector was just doing what his boss had ordered him to do, and that was to open a file and launch an investigation into the activities of the Chinese prostitution, loan shark, drugs and gambling syndicate. And this resulted in the detention of three syndicate bosses.

What the MACC wanted the police inspector to do was quite simple. They wanted him to change his report so that the three underworld bosses can be freed from detention. And he would have to do that if he wants to secure the release of his family.

The police inspector refused to do that. Instead, he made a police report. And so did his wife. But nothing was done about the matter. The MACC officers were not arrested and dragged to court on kidnapping charges.

The MACC then leaked information to the media that they are investigating a very senior police officer, the Director of the CCD, for the crime of not declaring RM27 million worth of assets. The fact that MACC investigations come under the Official Secrets Act was not a hindrance. After all, the OSA is only used against opposition supporters and not against those who serve those who walk in the corridors of power.

Nevertheless, the Director of the CCD was finally not charged for not declaring RM27 million in assets. He was charged for using police property for his personal reasons, something that all government officers, ministers and politicians do blatantly every day of the week. But his real crime is that he detained several Chinese underworld bosses who control the prostitution, loan shark, drugs and gambling business all over Malaysia.

Then they arrested the lawyer who acted for the CCD Director. The MACC officers came to his office on the eve of Hari Raya and handcuffed him after roughing him up like one would do to an armed bank robber. To ensure that the lawyer suffered the greatest embarrassment this Hollywood-style arrest was done in full view of the entire office.

Malaysia Today wrote about all this. Malaysia Today not only wrote about all this but Malaysia Today repeated the stories again and again to make sure no one would say they somehow missed the story. But still nothing was done. No one denied the story. More importantly, no one did anything about what Malaysia Today revealed.

The MACC has been a tool of those who walk in the corridors of power for a long, long time. Officially, Barisan Nasional has 14 component members with Umno as the lead partner. Unofficially, Barisan Nasional has seventeen component members. The Election Commission is the fifteenth component member of Barisan Nasional, the Malaysian police the sixteenth, and the MACC the seventeenth. They all serve the interests of Umno and the Prime Minister.

The writing was already on the wall very much earlier. Alarm bells were wailing like banshees. But this was largely ignored. It was ignored because it was Malaysia Today that had triggered the alarm bells. Malaysia Today is not the most reliable source. It does not offer the best of information. What Malaysia Today dabbles in are rumours and innuendoes.

“Where is the smoking gun?” they ask. “Show me the body!” they demand. No gun, no body, then no crime has been committed.

Well, today, there is a body. It is the body of a most unfortunate Chinese opposition member who was arrested and tortured by the MACC officers. Yes, he was tortured. And he was tortured because the MACC wanted him to talk.

But he could not talk. He could not talk because there was nothing to talk about. The MACC wanted him to finger his comrades in the opposition. They wanted him to implicate his friends in the opposition for various crimes that the MACC alleges had been committed by those in the opposition.

He tried to explain that he is not being stubborn. He tried to explain that no crime had been committed. He tried to explain that he could not possibly implicate his comrades in the opposition for various crimes if these crimes are merely a figment of the MACC’s imagination.

So they continued to torture him. And he could no longer stand the torture. After all, he is not the macho type of man. He is but a gentle man who only wanted to get married this weekend. That was all that he wanted.

They threatened to kill him if he refuses to talk. With tears running down his cheeks he begged for mercy and pleaded with them not to harm him. They threatened to throw him off the top floor if he refuses to talk. Sobbing like a baby he went down on his knees and begged for his life.

They dragged him across the room and opened the window. Then something went terribly wrong. It was supposed to be just a threat. They just wanted to put fear in him. They did not really want to throw him off the top floor.

They just wanted him to see what the ground floor looks like from the top floor.The unfortunate young man panicked. He went ballistic when he saw the distance he would have to travel before hitting the ground floor. He struggled. They could not hold onto him. Gravity took over and the life of this young man was prematurely snuffed out.

The MACC then announced that they had released him the night before. They failed to announce that they had not released him from custody but released him from this world. Then they suddenly found his body the day after. He jumped. He committed suicide. He took his own life. He was never tortured. He was not dragged to the window with the threat that they would teach him how to fly.

This has been going on for far too long. The MACC acts like God. They kidnap families and torture those they arrest. They threaten those they interrogate with death if they refuse to talk.

And now one young man has really died. But no one will be punished. No one will be punished because they will say the young man took his own life. Why he took his own life no one knows. He was never tortured. He was never threatened with death. He was not made to look how far down the ground floor is. He was not accidentally dropped when he panicked and struggled and they could not get a good grip on him.That is what they will be telling you and me later today.

One down, the rest of rakyat to go!

Its truly a sad, sad week for Malaysians. Another true blue Malaysian has fallen while in custody of so-called Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on July 16th. The man, Teoh Beng Hock, was a political secretary for a village assemblyman, was being called in by the commission to investigate the misused of public funding (about RM2400.- OR USD 700.-). WTF???? How about the millions missing from abandon projects and submarine purchases?

Mr Teoh has join the list of names that has fallen : A. Kugan, Samiyati Indrayani Zurkarnain, Francis Udayappan, etc etc etc. The question now for me is who will be the next victim? Could we just let the police force and whatever so-called law enforcement to continue to harass, torture and finally murder another law biding, tax paying rakyat without prove and without any possibility of seeking legal aide?

Some time ago, an online acquaintance asked me if I do follow news from Malaysia. Well to answer your question; yes I do follow them most of the time online. My sources mainly comes from Malaysia Kini and Malaysia Today. OH! Not forgetting that thanks to YouTube, I could even watch Media Rakyat! The main reason why I don't blog about them often is that I don't have facts at hand and I can't totally be dependent on online sources (for you'll never know which is which).

Plus, ever since I'm residing overseas, my vote does not count!?!? WTF?!?!? What are they afraid of? That overseas vote can and will give the opposition the winning vote? If the present ruling party has done nothing wrong, then why be afraid of it? Unless of course they know that some persons in the ruling party messed up and tried to over up issues such as the growing lists of mysterious death while in detention.

It is not to say that I can't do anything, I can. And so can you Lim! Stop saying; what to do? its the government. the government should do this and that blah blah blah blah... Why are we so content of the few brave ones doing things for us while we as the people should be the one who must demand what is rightfully ours! In every struggle, there will be sacrifices to be made. Are we just to afraid to take risks for the benefit of our children? Or are we just plain afraid of what might come after us and bring us even more problems? Oh, right the ISA, the police force, the MACC and the whole lot of our corrupted government.

Let me remind you, Dr. Martin Luther King died for the rights of African-Americans, Nelson Mandela had to do time in prison, our own Tun Razak had to deal with the Brits and then the communist for our independence. Let me also remind you that, not all overseas government and police force are better one time ago. Even some the Brits’ government officials are accused miss using public funds for personal gain. And who exposed them? The tabloids of course!

Malaysia is still a growing nation. Our future direction or path can not be the one Myanmar/Burma has taken, nor how the Chinese has always governed the country. It is up to us, the average people to improve it, to make it better for our children to live in. The real question is; are we willing to take risks to improve things? Only you know the answer.

*Rakyat - the people in Malay language

Whose the gold digger now huh?

Just got to read this on Weird News off MSN - "San Francisco's gay penguin has a change of heart". Now what would you think when you read the headlines? Strange right?

It says that for penguins real estate means a lot, which is true in a way - which reminds of a book called The Genetical Theory of Natural Selections..... I have not read the book but I heard that its not bad if you're into social studies etc.

Any ways, if penguin could be gay and decides to be straight (does that make the said penguin a bisexual?) just coz he could get the bigger piece of the "pie", in terms of survival, I seriously don't think its all wrong. Even we humans do it all the time. I seriously think at least about 30% of all divorces is due to money issue. And its not unheard of some women/men decides to marry that significant other for money/title/status. Not to mention that it creates delicious scandals and many will predict how long the marriage will last. That's what sells papers, tabloids and boost ratings for stations and or bogs! The $ sign once again.

So lets say that "happy" couple wants to divorce based on irreversible differences which could also mean $$$$, especially when the other half is a billionaire/celebrity. Look at Britney and Kevin (how much did they settled for again? 1Mil? Not bad. Even better was Trumps' divorce with 25mil...... So much money, more that all of us make in this lifetime!

Then there was a time when Mrs. Simpson was labeled as a gold digger. But then again Edward VIII gave up the crown. That’s just too bad…. OH! And there's Heather Mills!! She got about £24.5 or some where around there from Paul. I rather pity the women; she was the black sheep amongst women for a time.

Time and time again, these things happen in our humans' "natural selections" (women will always go for men who could provide; good genes etc). I don't really see the point of actually writing about of a penguin going bi just coz he could get a few meters of space and probably good genes too!!! Probably there's nothing to write about and they are desperate to get ratings/sell papers...

A month ago...

I was home in KL and man! Its a total change from the last time I was back; Feb 2007. Partly because this time around, we went back to OUR own house in which we bought some time back. Its kinda strange to own a house but it FEELS GREAT! I've never own anything expensive and that will see that thing having more value than it is right now.

Any ways, it was really great to be back home. Got to meet up with NNC members for Stitching Bee (which reminds me: got to re-learn how to crochet!), to practically STUFF myself silly with local food (which BTW will burn off due to the heat here! LOL!), to meet up with old school friends (you know who you are! IT WAS A BLAST GUYS!) for lunch & dinner, spent some family time at Redang island, fabric/dress/book shopping (good thing I didn't actually max out this time!) was good, got myself a new pair of glasses (its RED this time round) and finally managed to catch Transformers at the cinemas with hubs, sis and her husband.....

And guess what?! I manage to FREAKING FORGET MY CAMERA ON THE AIRPLANE WHEN WE LANDED IN ZURICH! ARRRRGGHHHH.... Why, oh why does it have to be me?!? It has been 2 weeks now, and there's no news from it. sigh... Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk eh?

So if you guys are wondering where are the pictures from our trip, just don't bother. It'll take my sister and dad AGES to get her to mail me pictures anyhow. :p IF I'm LUCKY, it'll be here on 31/12/2009!!!!

Any how, there's loads to blog about the trip but I'm just not in the mood to do it now with the camera gone and all. Perhaps later in the week....

Disneyland Trip

Look! Its Clint Eastwood!

At the Disneyland Park entrance.

Was meaning to blog about this earlier but as usual the thing got to me! :D

I like the Mikey clock tower...

I finally got to visit Disneyland for the first time. Oh! I mean the one in Paris not Florida.... Would love to have gone to the one in Florida but then again this also mean that either one of us would have to win the lottery jackpot! LOL!!!

At their Mainstreet USA

Was just over the Labor day weekend that we took off to Paris. Stayed at the in-laws place for a night and was off the following day early. It was rather cloudy then but thank goodness it didn't rained! We went with my 2nd SIL, which was great since their 8 year old could entertain Owen and vice verse.

A show was going on...

Was nearly noon by the time we arrived at the Santa Fee hotel (located within the parks' ground). Took their shuttle to the park right after checking in and boy, we were really excited! Well, its more Owen and I were really looking forward than hubs. Disneyland or any other park similar to this is just not his thing... :p As far as crowd goes, its really not that crowed as it supposed to be being the labor day weekend and what nots. There were more foreigners than French but then again, I guess the French would prefer Astrix Park to Disneyland...

The Phantom Manor

Which is scarier? This?

Or this?

We managed to go on rides that weren't that violent A.K.A.: the slow rides with no screaming involved, after having to wait in lines in an average about 40 mins. Which is still not bad since it could be worst - 1 to 2 hours!! We did the Phantom Manor (the decor is not bad & Owen wasn't scared!), visited Sleeping Beauty's castle, the Studio Tram tour, Mad Hatters' Tea cups and Its a Small world water ride, the Cars Race Rally and the Disneyland Railroad ride. Saw their Main Street parade and the Stunt Show Spectacular as well! I manged to go on the Twilight Tower of Terror ride with SIL.... Let me tell you that my heart went straight to my stomach with that ride! LOL! At least I kept my breakfast & lunch inside of me! hahahahaha..... The "cast members at the Tower were really convincing as well as funny.

Owen enjoying the view with papa from atop of Sleeping Beauty's Castle & eating popcorn! :D

In between, I managed to sneaked in a few visits to their boutiques. And there's soo.... MANY boutiques there! Despite the fact that its pretty expensive, we still got some souvenirs like t-shirts for the kids, pins, mugs, key chain and not forgetting photo album. I guess Disneyland is a mega money making "magic" machine, not so much of the original magic now is it?

Piglet ears Owen....

And silly mama trying to act like Piglet! LOL!

Owen was so excited and hyper the entire trip! Although he did nap a little admits all that's going on and noises around us.... He had nightmares and woke up crying several times during the first night which makes both of us looking like zombies the next day. Think they would hire us as cast members with us looking like that? hehehee.....

It was a fun trip although we didn't manage to visit all that we wanted to. Perhaps next time when Owen is a little older and could actually appreciate the visit more than this time around. By then I think we would probably go to the one in Florida, if budget permits.. TIME TO BUY LOTTERY TICKETS! LOL!!!

Storing and organizing... What joy! :p

My hap hazard flosses for now...

Looking at my ever growing floss, sewing threads, ribbons, buttons, fabrics collection; its really high time I buckle up! My ribbons and buttons collection so far has not reach its "critical" limit as yet, its all wound up and placed in zip lock bags in my sewing/stash cabinet. As for fabrics, it really has come to a stage where the initial cotton covered carton box is over flowing. Time to get a new box? hehehehe.... And oh! Most of newly acquired fabrics will be wash as soon as it crosses the door. That way I don't worry about if I've wash them or not. For the moment, they reside in zip lock bags. Depending on cut size, they'll either be in the lowest drawer of the cabinet OR the box.

The big ones in the box. About the yarn, I tried to crochet!

My sewing/stash cabinet from Ikea.

The small pieces of fabrics, mainly FQs together with my felts and XS fabrics.

For flosses I initially organize them by colours but now I totally give up on this idea as I don't find that its working for me... :( So yesterday I spent half a day labelling and reorganizing my flosses into zip lock bags by number. Mind you, I don't like to do it all over again, so I'm thinking its best to do it now and add additional bags as I go. There's still 200 over colours not in there! What joy in future "stashing expedition"!

I think its easier to find the colour I want by number. I think later I'd have to go look for a big piece of cardboard. I want to make dividers that will fit my current plastic drawers on wheels. I think it shouldn't be hard to make. Here's the link if anyone is interested. Now the only problem would be; to keep Owen AWAY from my floss on wheels!

P/S: Here's another link to storage system ideas for your crafts & studio!

There are no words

to describe what I'm feeling now, AFTER watching a horrific video on Stomp. In this video, it shows a domestic maid abusing a child, probably about 3 or 4 years of age at that time, by stepping on to of and kicking her!?!?

I'm just lost for words when I saw it. As a human being, I can't understand what has gone into the head of that woman. I mean; how could a fully grown adult step on and kick a poor defenceless little girl? OK fine, she might have gotten angry that the little girl didn't listen to what she said but then again, kicking and stepping on her? COME ON!

These abusive actions brings me ask these questions:

• Are we Asians so dependent on maids on our daily lives that we forsake the safety of our children in quest of fortune and fame for ourselves? *this video was shot in Singapore.

• Why are we employing unqualified domestic helpers? Unqualified as in having no basic knowledge in cooking, cleaning and or taking care of young children. Is it because we're afraid that it'll costs us more these helpers with basic knowledge? But then again, I think it'll costs us even dearly when we got to find out what the final results might be.

I think being as domestic helper is a hard job as it is stressful. Its even more difficult when its a live in helper who is a foreigner that does not know how his/her employer will treat them.

To me each occupation has its hazards, no matter how menial it may seem. You may think that a domestic helpers' job is easy but have you ever thought off the stress a person is going through when he/she doesn't know what they are doing and is trying to actually please their pay master with their limited knowledge?

I'm not trying to defend the maid caught abusing the little girl in the video. By all means, what she does is wrong and has to be punished, as we all reap what we sow! We all heard stories about how employers abuses live in domestic helper and horror stories about how domestic helpers lie, cheat, steal from us and abuse our loved ones under their care. But still we have to step back and think on a better solution so that these incidents will stop.

I may not know what IS the best way but at the very least, equipping them with basic knowledge of cooking, cleaning, taking care of children and dealing with difficult situations; either from employers and or children, can be one way. Another way would be dialogue through an intermediary between employee and employer. I believe that there's no bad solution, there's always a better one.

Earth Hour 2009

It was a pretty dark and yet eventful night. At least Owen wasn't afraid of the dark when we flick the lights off at 20:30 on 28th March 2009. I lighted up 3 candles, hubs was watching TV (there was France vs Lituania game): I'd love that he not watch it, and Owen was trying to blow then candles!!

It was pretty funny as, he thought that we're going to have cake after blowing the candles! Its our fault actually - we taught him to blow candles during his and hubs birthday.... :p And then after realizing that there was not cake, he decide to bring out the picture books so we can play "point and say" - well, I say and he point! LOL!

While we were doing that, it reminds me of the frequent electricity cuts back home. We had fun then - no need to finish our homework if it lasts throughout the night! LOL!!! But then again, we had some hot, sticky and uncomfortable night without the ceiling fan on.... It also reminds me of some nights we spent at our grandparents place in Kuala Pilah as kids. Back then there were no street lights and to go back to grandpa's house after visiting the bicycle shop (15 mins walk) when it was dark, we had to either carry a heavy torch light (you know the BIG sliver ones that will knock you out if get hit on the head?) OR the kerosene lamp. I like the kerosene lamp and my parents still have them at home!

I think Earth Hour brings me back to my childhood days when things were pretty much simpler and life was on a slower pace. I think Earth Hour also brings us (family and friends) closer as in; we'll actually talk to each other with candle lights WITHOUT the noise or distraction from TV/radio/computer etc. I don't want to have to think that some family living under one roof, text/IM each other while at home!! THAT would be strange and SAD.....

Well, I think Earth Hour should not be just an "event". It should should be practiced every day in our daily lives as often as possible. Now I'm not talking about lighting up the candles everyday... Candles can be VERY DANGEROUS when they are light up without supervision!!! I'm saying that we should turn off the lights when not in the room, simply just turn off the standby mode on electrical appliances when you're done with them, turn off running water while brushing your teeth, recycle etc etc. All gestures no matter how small or menial they may seem, if everyone does it; it DOES make a lot of difference not only on your wallet but to our home on this planet.

I've never

eaten artichoke before. Nor have I ever cook one, ever! So I dare myself to buy 2 on Friday and try it out on Sunday.... Since I have no idea how to cook them (or eat them), I looked up for some recipes over the Internet (GOD BLESS THE PERSON WHO MADE WWW HAPPENED!!) and prepare it accordingly.

1st off I have rinse it, cut away the stem, remove some bottom leaves and then give it a "haircut" - there are some really unpleasant small "thorns" on the leaves, which makes it HELL to eat afterwards! LOL! And then I steamed them in my rice cooker (got to thank the Japs for rice cooker!) for about 45 mins.

Pretty when opened up aren't they?

I wanted to bake them at first but decided to go ahead with steaming them 1st before popping it into the oven stuffed with Parmesan+breadcrumb+olive oil+fresh herb mixture. To stuff, 1st I have to "open" up the leaves like a flower but gently as to leave the leaves in fact, then removed some leaves and the fuzzy part in the middle. I baked them for about 15 mins over 190°C pre-heated oven. Sorry, there's no picture of the finish product as I was in a hurry to dig in! LOL!

I like this coz its really full of veg and white meat! YUMMY!

I like broccoli!

But I did took some pictures of my Baked Chicken and Quick Fruit Tartlets, made from this Irish cook mag I mentioned on my last post here. Its called "Easy Food - taking the "but" out of cooking" mag. I twigged the the Baked Chicken recipe - sub the chicken with turkey as that's what I got on hand -, and I would really reduce the amount of mayo and mushroom soup used in this recipe. Plus would rather not add in curry powder as I think it tastes funny.

My "quicky" fruit tratlets.... :p

As for the tartlets, that turned out alright. I won't be using raspberries the next time as they turn out S-O-U-R!!!! Same with Kiwi. The base I use puff pastry - store bought!! Making puff pastry from scratch is really scary!!! Made them when I was attached with the pastry department during my kitchen internship some years back..... I actually don't mind making them IF (and only IF) I have a proper working surface - AKA bigger kitchen! LOL!

Sunday brunch/late lunches

I always like Sundays.... No wait, like is really an understatement. LOVE is more like it! LOL! I mean who doesn't? Unless of course if and when you have to get up early to get to work on a Sunday. Can't blame you, I've been there and I utterly HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!! Its not that I don't like working on Sundays, as there's plenty to do when you work in the hotel industry, as the hours just breezes by! Its just that getting up in the ungodly hour of the day just to get ready for work that I utterly detest.

Sunday brunch/late lunches is what I look forward to on every weekend. Mum used to make awesome late lunches when we were kids. We usually have heavy breakfast at the wet market, and then we'll prepare lunch once all the purchases were put away. She use to make slow food - dishes that take hours to cook but is gone in the matter of minutes! LOL! I always love it when she'd make pork stew with some kind of pickled veg (I don't know what its called in English BTW).

Creamy peach melba breakfast bread - I love the sweet burnt creamy yogurt "droplets":p

Ever since I have time on Sundays, I try to make something special or experiment a little. Some times it works, some times it doesn't. If it doesn't, I'd throw out the recipe! LOL! Made Creamy Peach Melba Breakfast bread (Light & Natural cookbook - Brand Name) today. Its really not bad except that I made too much! hehehehehe.... We don't have peach yet, so I substitute with strawberries instead - its strawberry season in Spain. Swiss berries will come soon end of April. i think the next time I make this again, I'll have to cut out the cream as I find that there's just to much protein/diary in this recipe.

OH! I bought an Irish cooking mag yesterday and I can't wait to try out some recipes in them. They look so darn good in pictures that is.... Wonder how it'll turn out? Will blog about it next week! ;)

The sinking feeling...

Its just one of those days when I made my first cake that sank!! LOL! Ever since I learned how to bake eons ago, I've never made a cake that sank.... A hard one yes but never, ever with that sinking effect....

Hubs' cake that sank....

But still it looks alright once its upside down! LOL!

In fact, the cake was meant to go to my Filipino girlfriend who's going back to the Philippines for a month and then GOD knows when I'll see her again after that.... I guess I know what went wrong, the over beating of the batter. Owen was with me in the kitchen when I was busy, and as always he'll be "busy" as well. Guess you can say I was busy bakin', busy saying "Owen! NO!", busy keeping his grubby paws off the kitchen counter, etc etc.....

The other cake with banana & chocolate chip filling

So in order to "save" the cake, I made the hole extra wide, mix the cake up with some mashed bananas and chocolate chips and popped it back in the oven for about 10 mins. BTW, that same day it was hubs' birthday as well! ARRGGHHH!!!!..... Oh well! Better luck next time! Owen did had a great time helping papa blowing out the candles though. Here's a small clip of them... :D

Owen & papa

So what's on my mind?

There's just so much stuff on my mind these days. Wanted to blog about it but its just plain laziness that got in the way! LOL!

First off, one of my girlfriend in London had a revelation when she turn 30; to stay single for a little while longer. Well I truly support her decision on that coz I too feel that being single is not a bad thing as a lot of people might think. I've enjoyed my time being single and most of the time alone as well. Its not that I don't have many friends, just that I like the quiet, the ability to think things through myself and most of all the freedom to be selfish!

Some people think that (especially hubs) going to the movies, shop and dine alone is horrible and sad. But contrary to popular believes, its not. When you think about it, its really quite liberating in the sense that you don't need to please the others by compromising what you want to do, see and or eat. Being alone besides being liberating, its gives me time to feel my own self worth, to recollect self esteem and basically have a little breather from having people around me all the time.

Second, due to recent events that spur the rage, the sadness and most of all the need to urge to protect the someone close to my heart that got me thinking: what is LOVE in the first place? Does LOVE really lasts a life time? If it does, what happens after that? See, Ive seen people going lovey dovey when they first met and after a couple of months (or years) down the road, they split up! I know, it happens but why do people say it when they don't mean it? Did the person say it in the spur of the moment?

Love makes all of us makes mistakes as when it happens, all logic and reason will be thrown out of the window. That is why I think some people will take the vicious cycle of loving the wrong person and making the same mistake all over again and again and again. I'm not saying that I didn't make this mistake once a upon a time, I did in fact but I learnt not to do it twice.

To the persons I hold dear to my heart: I do hope that you'll take time off to reflect on your past mistakes as you've paid dearly for the lessons. Take time off to be single, time to be alone to think about what will be your next step, time to love yourself, to re-evaluate your self esteem, and self worth - as no one will give you those unless you give it to yourself.

To end this, I give you the song Love Hurts written by Bryant and Boudleaux, as I feel that there are some truth if not all in it. However, I'm not saying here that we shouldn't love but we must learn from what we get or give from it, for them we'll be strong enough.

Love hurts, love scars

Love wounds, and marks

Any heart, not tough

Or strong enough

To take a lot of pain

Take a lot of pain

Love is like a cloud

Holds a lot of rain

Love hurts

Love hurts

I'm young, I know

But even so

I know a thing or two

I learned, from you

I really learned a lot

Really learned a lot

Love is like a flame

It burns you when it's hot

Love hurts

Love hurts

Some fools think of happiness

Blissfulness, togetherness

Some fools fool themselves I guess

They're not foolin' me

I know it isn't true

I know it isn't true

Love is just a lie

Made to make you blue

Love hurts

Love hurts

Love hurts

I know it isn't true

I know it isn't true

Love is just a lie

Made to make you blue

Love hurts

Love hurts

Love hurts

Curtains

this is a back dated post

I've finally finished my kitchen curtains! This has been an on going thing from WAAAAYYYYYY back - last year! LOL! The cross stitching section has taken me some months to do instead of a few weeks. Yes, yes, its partly due to things that seems to pop up but mostly due to plain laziness...

Its my wonky kitchen curtain! lol!

Took me about the whole night just to tack, sew, frog and re-sew the voile. I didn't know voile is such a difficult material to handle for my 1st time. Luckily, I've adjusted the thread tension and changed the needle (for light material) before I start. Otherwise it would have snag and ruined the fabric...

The XSed motif taken from Fil en Aiguille mag - forgot which issue!

But then again, I don't mind if the fabric is ruined.. hehehehe.... See since I'm into recycling, I don't see why I have to buy new fabric when I could just reuse my old curtain (it was pre-made from our last apartment) that is sitting in my fabric box. Besides, I felt that its great that we get to re-use stuff that is still in good shape instead of buying new ones. At times like these it feels good to be stingy! LOL!

Giant snake fossils found!!

This is just beyond any words. That goes to show global warming has its trends. And yes I do believe that there are big or even gigantic creatures out there in the deep. We may not believe that they exists as we've not seen them... yet!


Scientists find world's biggest snake
'Titanic' boa fossils provide clues to past tropical climate.
Roberta Kwok - Nature News (www.nature.com)

An artist's reconsturction of Titianoboa cerrejonensis - Jason Bourque

Researchers have found fossils of the biggest known snake in the world, a discovery that could shed light on the climate of the tropics in the past.

The scientists estimate the snake lived 58 to 60 million years ago and was around 13 metres long. The giant, found in northeastern Colombia, dwarfs modern pythons and anacondas which usually don't exceed 6-6.5 metres and are thought to be the largest living snakes.

Since snakes are poikilotherms that, unlike humans, need heat from their environment to power their metabolism, the researchers suggest that at the time the region would have had to be 30 to 34 degrees Celsius for the snake to have survived. Most large snakes alive today live in the South American and southeast Asian tropics, where the high temperatures allow them to grow to impressive sizes.

A vertebra of a modern Anaconda (left) and (right) a vertebra from the Titanoboa.Ray Carson - UF Photography

"We've taken the snake and turned it into a giant thermometer," says lead author and vertebrate palaeontologist Jason Head of the University of Toronto in Canada, who says he "just about screamed" when he first saw the size of the fossils.
“We've taken the snake and turned it into a giant thermometer.”
Jason Head University of Toronto in Canada, who says he "just about screamed" when he first saw the size of the fossils.

Head's colleagues discovered fossilized vertebrae and ribs from 28 individual snakes in an open-pit coal mine at Cerrejón. The vertebrae's structure suggests the snake is closely related to the boa constrictor, leading the team to name the species Titanoboa cerrejonensis, or 'titanic boa from Cerrejon'. By comparing the shapes and sizes of the two best-preserved vertebrae to those of living snakes, the researchers calculated that the snake was 12.8 metres long and weighed 1,135 kilograms.

King of snakes
"It is hands-down the largest snake ever confirmed," says Harry Greene, an evolutionary biologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who was not involved in the work. "I think it's really spectacular."

Using models1 based on the largest modern-day snakes and their estimate of the Titanoboa's size, the team calculated how hot the tropics must have been 58 to 60 million years ago, a period known as the Palaeocene. The mean annual temperature would need to be at least 30-34 degrees Celsius to support the snake's metabolism, the researchers report in Nature2. This range matches previous estimates from Palaeocene climate models that assume high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations3.

The results support the idea that the temperature difference between the Palaeocene tropics and higher-latitude regions was as large as it is today, even though the higher latitudes were much warmer during that time. This counters the so-called 'thermostat' hypothesis, which predicts that tropical temperatures would stay fairly stable even as other parts of the world heated up.

The study offers a "really big piece of evidence" to researchers trying to estimate Palaeocene climates, says Lisa Sloan, a climate scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. But Greene cautions that the team based their temperature calculations partially on the largest known size of an anaconda today, which the study pegs at 7 metres. This number is "very conservative" and could be as high as 11 metres, Greene says, which would lower the corresponding temperature estimate for the Palaeocene tropics.

References

1. Makarieva, A. M. , Gorshkov, V. G. , & Li, B.-L. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 272, 2325-2328 (2005).
2. Head, J. J. et al. Nature 457, 715-717 (2009).
3. Shellito, C. J. , Sloan, L. C. & Huber, M. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 193, 113-123 (2003).

The urge is back....

Its been months since my last insomniac "attack". Woke up this morning bright and feels fully "charged" even though I slept at about, what I should think 3 or 4 am. Strange..... But then again there are stranger things happening around in the world, so I should not say that the "fully charged" feeling is strange.

During this time, what kept me up was the sudden urge for a ciggie!! It has been more than 7 years (has it?) since the last time I light up any form of tobacco: cigars, ciggies and shisha; which is BTW, I'm pretty proud of. I find myself some how changed now with regards to ciggies and people who do smoke them.

Yeah, yeah, I know that I might stun some people reading here since not many of you do know this side of me. And how many of you people that read this blog knows that I've got a tattoo as well? Well I do, and I'm not telling you where its located but still its not a big deal, as they say "the difference between people with tattoo is that they don't care if you've got one as well!" And oh! Mum found out in the end (the tattoo, NOT the ciggies) and all she had to say was; didn't it hurt? Which pretty much surprised me to finally find that mum was a cool person as well despite being in her 50s! LOL!

On her finding out about ciggies and me. Well let's just put it, its better that she doesn't know but then again she might know, just that she has not caught me red handed... LOL! Not that I wanted to be caught! When I started, it wasn't peer pressure as all (well 90%) of people I know aren't smokers. As all teenagers, I got curious and decided then I like it then. Thinking back, I surprised myself at how many sticks a day I had during my uni years; no thanks to friends who'll ask if I'm going for ciggies every time we see each other for breaks or after meal times! That was good times then spent with uni friends. Its still good times spent with them, just that ever since we finish uni, most of us stop smoking... I know, strange.... But the reasons for quiting for me was financial (ciggies are bloody $$$$!), health (fingers smell, out of breath etc etc) and work issues (non-smoking areas pop out every where now) . Did you know smoking cause stress to be even worst? Something to think about huh?

Now I try to stay clear of smoky places. Even more after we have Owen. We still have a box of high quality Cuban cigars, a gift from a friend. Think we'll save it for a very special occasion eh? hehehe... Till then, I'll try my best to resist.

Christmas 2008

Owen looking "serious"

This is an overdue post.

I do hope everyone had a wonderful festivities with the family with lots of eating and jolly making. We certainly had.

We were up in the mountains with 1st SIL (and family) for 4 days at ski station called Super-Besse, central of France. This winter we're having (and are still having with minus temperature now) plenty of snow fall. Basically ski stations were open weeks before the full swing of Christmas holidays. As we drove there from our place, it took us about 5 and half hours drive - which is about the same time as to Paris. We initially thought that it'll take us longer with the snow and all but thank goodness the roads were cleared and it was a pretty good day for driving.

SIL's family rented an apartment for a week (Sunday to Sunday) and we arrived on Christmas eve. The place was basic but clean and we even have small (small as in only 1 person could stand there) kitchen smack in the middle of the already cramped apartment with 4 adults and 3 boisterous boys aged 6, 2 and 1 and half!! I still shuddered when I think about it and plus this is not having another nephew aged 8 (another hyperactive boy) that could have joined us!!!

The kids were having loads of fun from the time they wake up in the morning till late at night, when they drop like flies! LOL! We brought all of them up for sledding and the eldest of them for ice skating once and skiing. This time, its my 3rd try at skiing my entire life. It wasn't as bad as the 1st time. Not much "casualties" to report except the tumble and rolling on the a slope at 1800 meters!!

Hubs actually brought me up to that level (a blue or intermediate slope) where else I'm suppose to be on the green or beginner slope with the 4 or 5 year olds!! Ya, trust the men to protect me.... NOT! Whenever I fell (visibility was low in the early morning with fog, wind and snow!) , he got angry and finally left me half way down. Well I got so angry as well at him the entire time I was up there!! AAARRGGHHHHH..... But still I made it down in once piece and alive! THANK GOODNESS!

I actually quite enjoy skiing later on as I was on the green slope with the kids. I think I'll do it again this winter or the next but I'm going to buy my own boots. Rentals have weird fitting. And guess what I found out later in the day as I came back to the apartment after the whole day (well 9am till 4pm skiing time)? Hubs actually fell on the last lap, hurting his left wrist - which BTW swelled up within the hour as he's going down too fast!?!? I mean the whole hand and wrist looks like a ballooned prune like colour.... Serve him right to bring me up on the blue slope, expecting me to learn ASAP and then leave me when I slowed him down! HA!

Besides the skiing on Christmas day, Christmas eve dinner was Chinese fondue (YUM!) with the family. Then it was bed time for kids as they were really anticipating Santa early on the very next day. It was "VERY IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO SLEEP", as we adults told told them... hehehehehe.... This is ONE way that we could finally sit down in peace and have some wine together! The very next day, they were up and thank goodness we're on the 1st floor! The noise they created was enough to wake the entire building!!! LOL! Owen got a musical book, really colourful toy cars and a wooden rail toy. Nephews got Transformers, Hot Wheels and some Batman gear.

The entire trip was fun but on the day that we're all pack up, it was still kinda sad to leave. The entire mountain and its valley below was really beautiful and picturesque. It still takes my breath way every time I look at the pictures we took up on the slopes. We hope to go up the mountains once again soon.

Pictures are here for your enjoyment!

Pain in the A**!

Well its 2009 and this the tile of my 1st post of the year! LOL! Honestly I think I'm getting so glad that the new year is here but actually really happy about it?..... Ok, the year is still fresh but to me it may and may not really mean happy occasion.

Why? I'm really a pessimist deep down despite the positive outlook I tend to have on the surface. For one, you'll never know what's gonna happen this year and I just wanna prepare myself to brace for the worst case scenario - which works for me up till now that is.

Now what I didn't aspect was that at 30 years old, I'm still having my wisdom tooth growing!?!? AND WHY IS DOES IT HAVE TO "GROW" ON NEW YEARS TILL NOW?!?! I've been having this ache every month for a week since it started growing 6 or 7 years ago.... My whole left jaw up to my temples are throbbing right now and I'm certainly NOT in the best mood except to snap at something or someone!

Have been to the dentist and he said; well unless it has a cavity or you're having problem eating, there's not much I can do. I could pull it out if you like but you might end up having more problems later. Like what kind of problems? It seems that there could be nerve problems which seems to connects itself to the brain. Why?!? I don't know and not sure why. I've had several friends who ended up in the hospital few weeks after having their wisdom tooth pulled out. They were having massive headaches, vomiting, massive pain on the neck and shoulders etc. Now that is what I'm not looking forward to. Lets just hope that this tooth will FINALLY grow out! Mean while, let me just sit quietly in a corner and endure it while I stitch or try being creative in some way...

The twilight saga

Picture from Amazon.com

Oh ya! I've been reading alright! Its been months since I touched any books. So I thought why not go crazy and get 4 books and read them back to back?

I didn't think much about Stephanie Mayer's book Twilight series when I was in the book store. I was just thinking; Hmm... seems like a good read. And I think its a bit like Anne Rice as well.... See, I really enjoy reading Anne Rice's vampire books. Don't know why but I enjoy reading them. BTW, I don't know if vampire exists but then again may be they could have since there seem to have legends or folk tales about them. Any ways, I actually forgot entirely about the book after getting them home for about a week. That is I still have to get my quilt finish before I actually sit down to do some reading.

And boy was I hooked! It seems that I couldn't read fast enough to get to the next page, and the next and the next.... I still can't believe that I actually finish reading all of them in a week! The story is kinda like Romeo and Juliet only that Juliet/Bella gets what she wish for and even more. But its her journey getting there that is pretty interesting (I must say - seems like the author enjoy reading classics), full of "mishaps" and misunderstandings with her best mate, Jacob and the love of her life, Edward. So not to spoilt the book for those who haven't read it yet, I'll leave you to your quiet moment with the book.

PS: I really enjoy book 4: Breaking Dawn. Wonder if Midnight Sun will ever be polished?