All About Yum

Joyce and Shirley's Birthday Celebration

2009-11-11T00:56:00.000-08:00

The oysterettes recently gathered in H's house for a lil birthday celebration last weekend. I was glad I was able to join in. After all, the last time we met were last May during my wedding in KL Hilton and that was agessss ago! Anyway, I quickly arranged for my sister's helper to come down to my unit to help my dad to transfer my mum to bed during bedtime the moment I heard about this occassion. Well .. you can say that I was really, really excited to meet them again!

Seen here : Colin trying his best to blow his mummy's birthday candles out but instead "kar liew"

H whom recently moved to her new place in Mont Kiara gave us specific instruction for the night. Just bring yourself and nothing else! Arggg ... I though that was tough coz I had earlier planned to bring something over. But knowing her ... when she's incharge, never underestimate the amount of food she prepares. And so, I played it safe. I arrived at her new pad on time and boyyyyy ... I was totally smitten by her place. It was gorrrgeous! The area, smacked at the other corner of Mont Kiara facing a hill of green were breathtaking, but that was not it. The whole development was very well done and the pool ... don't get me started with the pool area! She and her hub also did a great job doing up their place, and furnishing them with loveeeely pieces of furniture of soothing hues. I was in love.

Enough of swooning at her place eh ... lets move on to food. H, as usual ... prepared an array of local and western delight for 5 adults and 2 kids. We had Sushi Rolls (and this itself filled us up pretty quickly!), Damansara Jaya Rojak (yeah, the one from the Uncle infront of Atria and boyyyy ... it is still good after all this years!), Lasagne (from Delicious I think) , Salmon and Cheese Quiche (also from Delicious), Kentucky Fried Chicken (I miss this too!), Pad Thai Noodle, Potato and Pasta Salad, Leafy Salad, Stinky Blue Cheese (which I stayed awayyyy ..yuckkk) and Durian Puff! Yummmmm!

Whenever I am with the girls ... loud Yum Seng follow suit. It is a trademark within our group irregardless of location or occassion! The Lindemann which H opened up were nicely chilled.

And soooo for the birthday, we did what we did best ... ate, gave presents, take photo and chat, chat, chat away ... and what was suppose to be gathering till 10 (because of the kids) ended much later ...

Well ... everything have to come to an end eh. And so we parted after the session and hope to meet again before I leave next week. I hope.

To my beloved Mum ...

2009-11-11T00:42:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken a few days before she was discharged. As you can see here, she looks like she was in a lot of pain from her facial expression.

And ... this was taken a few days after she was discharge. According to her, she was still in pain but like anyone else, she hates the hospital and it made a lot of difference to how she felt. Another thing that made a difference on that day was ... UMSC (University Malaya Specialist Centre) does not have a height adjustable bed for my mum to get up too hence she was lifted by TWO veryyyy handsome (her exact words!) doctor to the bed!

She was so smitten to the point of asking if they are both single???!!!

MY MUM!

Hehe ...

Anyway, my mum wanted to thank those whom dropped me messages here and some in Facebook for all the well wishes. Now that she is a lot better ... I will be flying home really soon to be with my hubby again.

Our Last BBQ for 2009

2009-11-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

Me and hubby grilled away the week before I left for Geneva. The weather as I remembered them were already turning chilly hence we took the opportunity to enjoy what's left of 2009. Here's what we had ...

Grilled German Wurst (which is a must during BBQ here!)
Teriyaki Prawn Skewers with Sesame Seeds

Grilled Turkey Breast with Black Pepper and Butter. Turned out really yummy!
Japanese Potato Salad but with normal mayo dressing instead of the fame Japanese Mayo.
And ... Steamed Green Curry Paste and Ginger Fish.

We finished them off with our favourite Riesling Wine. Perfect.

What I bought in Geneva!

2009-10-22T02:04:00.000-07:00

The recent trip to visit Lillian and her family was a bitter sweet event for me. So much happened, but the one that affected me most was finding out that my mum broke her pelvic bone from a fall last week. Although its a low risk operation to get it replace and she just got it done two days ago, her being diabetic with weak heart / lung etc makes it extremely difficult and sensative. Anyway, I will be flying back to Malaysia coming Monday to be with her for the next three weeks. Thanks Lou Kung for the tickets, again :-) And for those of you whom I have promised to meet up during Chinese New Year ... well, I am doing that too! Only thing is, poor hubby is not coming with me due to work, and working hard he did ... to sent his wife off to her family twice in less than 3 months.

I did quite a bit of shopping before receiving the news. Now that mum is recovering ... I am finally in peace to post this up. Here´s what I did on the third day of the trip. I went hunting for an autumn/winter jacket in Geneva alone and look what I found :-)

Tried this one on .... loveee the colour but the cut felt retrain. It was way above my budget too. I think it was around SF 280 SF / MYR 940.

I´ve always been a fan of Trenchcoat. Better still when the material is waterproof and one can easily dust off whatever dust that falls on it. The price was good at SF99 / MYR333 but hummmm ... don´t I look fat in it???!!!

NEXT ....

This one is off 70% wool material and felt sooo good against my skin. The colour, although light grey and would usually pile on the pounds to my already heavy frame, the cut was simply amazing! It was going for SF159 / MYR535.

And so, it was not difficult to guess which one came home with me. Apart from the jacket, I picked up two Swiss Made watches from Manor. They were gorrrrgeoussss! Well, I am not going to reveal the price here because one of them happen to be hubby´s early Christmas present and he reads my blog .. so ...

Hubby chose the one with silver lining while I kept the other one.

My other shopping list includes ... French Pastry Silicone Mold! I can now bake stuffs like Caneles, Madeleines, Tartlettes, Petit Fours and French Tarts with this easy to remove Silicone Mold. I hope. One of my other reason visiting Geneva was also to go check out some english cookbooks too. As the result, a copy of Swiss Cookbook in English Language came home with me. Not cheap though. It was around SF45 / MYR 151. Heartache.

I love picking up food item when travelling hence these came home with me too. Dark Swiss Chocolates with Orange, Earl Grey and Thyme flavour. Also bought back Goose Fat, Foie Gras, White and Dark Chocolate Fondue, Madeira Sauce, Artichoke/Olive/Fig spread, Chestnut spread, and .. and .. the yummiest bottle of Balsamic Vinegar (the one with 3 stars) from Globus Gourmet floor! Though the same brand came with 3 varieties, the one with 3 star is the yummiest and most expensive as it was syrupy like, and taste sweet! Good stuff! I think a bottle was going for SF25 / MYR 84

I have also added 3 french cookbooks to my collection, with one being Molecule type which came with some gadgets, a silicone mold and recipe book, of course. When not looking, Andrew sneaked in another cookbook into my collection too. Thanks! But eerrrr ... someone´s gotta help me translate those recipes!

I carted home french butter all the way from France to Germany with my 8 hours train ride, and thank god, its Autumn weather hence it was all in good shape. I also smuggled in Alpage and Doux Gruyere and lovely, loveeeelyyy Comte.

And Cailler Chocolates! All I can say it, it is so much more better than Lindt! And the best part is getting the Gruyere and Cailler straigh tfrom the source in Gruyere :-)

My only hope is, I hope there are leftovers for me to enjoy when I return from Malaysia in a month´s time.

One Week in Geneva

2009-10-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

Passport (Checked)
Camera (Checked)
Luggage (Checked)
Souvenir (Checked)
Ipod to kill 8 hours ride in Cisalpino Fast Train (Checked!)

Though I will be leaving only tomorrow morning, I guess I will not be blogging till I get back on 20th October as there are still tonnes of things that I need to do. There´s a lot that I want to do this time round in Geneva too, like visiting the vineyard around this area, United Nations Building in Geneva, or Red Cross to donate blood perhaps???, and shopping (of course!) so ... so, gotta surf, surf and surf to get those info in place.

So, here´s wishing you all a nice week ahead and see you back here next week!

Our Three New Coffeetable Books and ...

2009-10-08T01:16:00.000-07:00

Online shopping can be sooo dangerous! A few clicks here and there and Voila!!!

50 Euro damage for the following ...

There´s one more book I am desiring .... :-) But I really should go check out the content first when I am in Geneva next week. Just heard sooo much about it but not sure if it is an easy book to follow. What do you think?

Welcoming Autumn with Federwasser (Young Wine) and Zweibelkuchen (Onion Cake)

2009-10-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

For three (3 weeks) only in a year, we get to enjoy these super yummy and delicious

white or red Federwasser wine, imported all the way from Italy, bottled

in Germany to usher Autumn before they turn into REAL wine.

These, my friend ... contains no more than 10% alcohol. It hits you faster than a bullet train, but thankfully also leaves fast so ... its kinda addictive and fun to drink. Niceeeee :-) And what I really love about this Federwasser is, one can´t taste the alcohol so much. It is akin to drinking very, VERY fresh, grape juice but cabornated. I simply loveee the freshness, sweetish and gassy combo that got me scrambling to the store ASAP. If you happen to spot them, I would urge you to try!

And soooo .. we finished the white bottle and there´s another red left in the fridge ... probably for tonight. I am definately going to stock up more before the season´s over and who knows, if I keep them long enough, it might turn into wine???!!!

Have them with a traditional Zweibelkuchen, or Onion Cake. Its delicious.

Cool Trolleybags from Lufthansa Miles and More Catalog!

2009-09-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

The new Lufthansa Catalog is out and I could not be more excited! Due to hubby being made to carry my handluggage in the recent Stockholm trip to/fro from Airport and in between - and my luggage bag is, well ... without the roller kind :-), hubby agreed to use some of his Lufthansa Mileage points to claim any of the following for me!

The first one I fell in love with is Mini Trolley (179 Euro or 46,000 Miles) from Mini Cooper! Damnnn cool but its kinda big as a handluggage. Since the airports here have strict regulation, there´s no point getting them and seeing them collect dust, right? I kinda like this Italian Business Trolley call Piquadro but elkkk ... 249 Euro or 64,000 Miles leh. Can almost fly back to Asia, I think.

Hubby suggested me to get the Wenger Laptroptrolley Patriot (179 Euro/46,000 Miles) since I am such a Swiss Logo fan :-) I kinda like this one too but the compartments inside seems more suitable for a businessman. And than, I spotted a super cuteeee Samsonite Solana Businessbag (170 Euro / 44,000 Miles). Not bad at all! And it is the reputable Samsonite, which me and hubby both had been using independently and are fairly happy with its quality.

Than, there is THIS special Lufthansa AdventureLine edition which is ohhhh sooo practical :-) Combining both the trolley bag, and a handcarry, what I loveeee about it is abling to zip both of them up to combine them as one! What a genious design! Besides, its only 109 Euro or 29,000 Miles to claim.

Or should I get the Knomo Trolley so that hubby will lay his hands off???!!! Haha.

But hmmmm ... 249 Euro or 64,000 Miles is a bit too much isn´t it?

Three Times A Week ...

2009-09-30T11:58:00.001-07:00

Eversince going downstairs to babysit my FIL while my MIL go pick up groceries

and tend to the family´s grave, I have been piling up the pounds with these ...

yum yum ...

Bagels, Beans and A Lil Shopping ...

2009-09-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

It feels good to be back after a week in hiatus :-) Well ...nothing eventful happened (haha) except that the computer was kaputt. AGAIN!!! (sigh). As I am writing this, the CPU sounds dreadful still, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that our repair damage will at least last us another 3 months. Otherwise ... urggg. Actually (cheeky grin) ... we have our eyes set on a MacBook should this PC fail us again already! And, andddd ... we are thinking of getting our home wirelessly connected too should this PC give way ... soooo, am I devilish to pray for this PC to go kaputt soon??? Haha! So anywayyy .... hubby was away with his buddies to some beer factory trip last night and will only be back tomorrow (roll eyes), and I was left, HOME ALONE (sob, sob). BUT it is all not that bad la (cheeky grin) coz I went shopping today! And it sure feels good to shop without anyone waiting for you, isn´t it??? AND the better news is, I received 50% refund from my German Integration Course yesterday for having passed the Exam and you know how it is, the rest is histroy! Although I did not buy anything major like last weekend where we splurged on a 139 Euro Map in Ikea! Plus many other things that costed us few hundred Euro more damage ... my lil shopping trip was nonetheless an exhilirating day for me as I feeled fulfilled. I started off the day with TWO portions of Battered Cod Fish at Netherland´s famed seafood stand. It was fresh, and good! After filling up the tummy, I surveyed some shops for needed supply for my upcoming lil business venture. And than .... it is shopping time!!!

Take a look at what I bought :-)

LOTS OF SMALL, SMALL STUFF!

I picked some stuff from Hema. It is one of my favourite place to stop by whenever I am in Netherland as it has everything a household needs under one roof. I love picking things up there coz not only are their things cheerful, it is not expensive too. For example these Petit Fours (4.00 Euro). Ain´t it cute and colourful? The checked photo album with buttons (showned partially above) is for my lil project and cost me no more than 7.50 Euro.

I also picked up three (3) packets of Ranunculus, Tulips and Allium Flower Bulbs (onion looking thingy) thinking it was a bargain at 2.99 Euro per packet. But later found out that the market were selling 4 packets for 5 Euro! Grrrrrr ... but did not hesitate to get more for Mama Else :-)

One of the favourte lil stuff I picked up are these! Some Monkeys face clip on to personalised your keys! Cool eh :-) Found them in Bijenkorf Departmental Store.

I will without fail visit Mr. Siew´s Asian Store everytime I am in Enschede. This time round, I only manage to pick up some Fresh Tofu (not showned here coz I don´t want to wet my bedsheet!), Bittergourd (woOT!), Nori Sheets (cheaper here), Konnyaku Powder and Ham Yue (Salted Fish) but get this ... not just any ordinary salted fish but Salted Cod Fish! Haha!

Showned here too, is a kilo or more of Holland´s famous cheese. I picked Mild Leedamer this time round it was going for a bargain of 5.80 Euro per kilo! But boyyy ... carting back 2 kilos of these cheeses along with the other stuffs is not a joke.

My shopping spree started around 10am and was supposed to end around 1.55pm. I wanted to get back early as I had promised Mama Else that I would join her for coffee. BUT as how it turned out ... I missed the train by 5 minutes.

And so, with one hour more to burn before the next scheduled train, I hit the nearest cafe for a drink. Ordered an Ice Coffee but was surprise to find out that this is no ordinary coffee! This coffee is so KAU, that I would just call them Espresso Ice Coffee, okay? Its really good, btw ... thick, and wicked, and totally unexpected.

Oh well .. might as well grab a bite since I am here eh. And sooo, I chose an Olive Bagel with Caprese filling since this is after all A Bagel House. But ... hmmmm, I found the bagel too hard.

Somehow, I still prefer the soft, milky Breadtalk Buns from back home :-(

Ahaus Kirmes 2009

2009-09-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

It is time of the year again for the annual Ahaus Kirmes aka Funfair :-) Held between 11th -14th September this year, it was nothing short of spectacular for children and adults to enjoy and marvel at the rides, do a little shopping and grab a bite.

The first thing we did was hit the food stalls. There are LOTS ot choose from, from pizzas, burgers, fried noodles, fries, crepes, braised mushroom etc. But I knew exactly what I wanted. I recall eating a delicious portion of Schweinbraten aka Grilled Pork with yummiest mushroom sauce last Kirmes hence I went searching for the exact same stall soon after.

Click here and here for last years.

My sausage man (hub lah) had a super longgg wurst from this stall.

Instead of just going there to eat and shop, I did something extra this year! Me and the girls (stammtisch) took a Ghost Train ride last friday ... (thanks to Silvia whom instructed everyone to get on the train :-) It was fun and we got ourselves all wet too ... Haha! Not as what you think! It was part of the ride where sprinkles of water greeted us when we are about to finish.

They remove the Big Wheels this year and replaced them with this Octopus Looking Ride. It really look scary to me just by looking at it! The 3 hands did not only turn its wheel, so does the individual hand itself making 360 degree turn at the same time! Pukey, pukeyyy game.

Before someone cup my eyes. and to find out that my party kaki is back from Peru after months of hideous, I manage to try my luck at these ...

Not sure what its called. Basically, all I had to do is buy some coupons and find a city/country match to grab any of the hugeeee soft toy displayed on stage. I started off with 5 Euro for 25 coupons but no luck. Topped up again with another 2 Euro for 10 coupons and again, no luck. By than, we had about 15 small prizes and decided to come back later. Perhaps, the next batch of fresh coupon in the box would be better. But another 2 Euro top up by hubby only got us that far.

Time to change for a small prizeee ... and guess what I chose? (scroll down ... to find out!)

...

Superrrr Cuteeeee leh :-) Pretty good quality too and now sitting happily next to me as I am typing this.

Garden time! Since summer is over, and temperature is dropping really fast ... I took the opportunity to pluck some blooms for the house. The apples from one of our apple plant is ripe. So harvest time it is. We are now waiting for the biggg apple tree´s turn coz there´s more than 50 up there!

Oh oh ... I thought I´d post them here. These are the cards I´ve bought from Stockholm to expand my inspiration board collection. And guess what? I found a hugeee box of OLD postcard collection from hubby too! Hidden in one of the grandma cupboards lol

Like it?

Will be Away ...

2009-09-04T00:45:00.001-07:00

As much as I love blogging and getting connected everyday, it is time again to take a break to sniff some Nordic air for inspiration. This time round, we are heading to the lovely, elegant city of Stockholm! We will be back next Wednesday.

Har en stor helgen! (Have a great weekend!)

Shop, Shop, Shop ...

2009-09-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

Oh my. I was out on a shopping spree again this week. First, I picked up a leather handbag from Tschibo which I don´t need at all as I have dozens sitting on top of my wardrobe. Last week, I bought a ballerina from Ebay, and have to resort to storing them elsewhere as my shoe rack was totally FILLED UP! Than yesterday, I went on a spree. I picked up lots of knick-knacks for our home and the ones in photo here are just half of what I got :-) but these are my favourite clutter so I though I´d take a photo of it to show you. But really ... don´t you think they are sooo adorable? As you can see, I am currently into colours and floral print but nothing too loud. Just subtle enough to make an impact and it was just soooo irresistable when I spot them in the store.

I absolutely loveee the two Wall Stickers from Tedi, a discounter store and this, my friend cost me 3.00 Euro each only! I have been eyeing Wall Stickers for a while and most that I´ve come across are 4 - 5 times more than what I paid. I hope the glue on the sticker is good though but what the heck. If its bad, just get a new, fresh design. Haha. My shopping philosophy. The other thing I really love is the Branch Decorative piece which I plan to double up as accessories holder. Also priced at 3.00 Euro, I though it was such a steal :-) Oh woman ... don´t we just love a good bargain! And since I will be starting up something - ahem, a small, teeny, weeny business actually but details to be revealed when finalised, okay?, so I or rather we need a planner to jot down information when seeing customer. Very important. The planner´s lime green colour is totally fresh and funky, and ... again, I loveee it. This is another 3.00 Euro pick from Tedi. I than stumbled upon this lovely brown/white/cream colour serviette just before check out counter and stuffed them straight into my shopping bag! Haha. Its only 1Euro and we need replenishment anyway. The ones we use at home are plain coloured and oh, so boring so .. and I guess it is time to inject some print. Me thinking. And check out the wrappnig paper. Can you believe it that the stores are already selling some Christmas decorative items? Gosh! So, there goes. Its a need, not a want.

And then this weekend .... in Kronors! woOT!

Easy Does It ...

2009-09-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

I had these ...

BUT what I am missing more is ...

THIS.

Crazy Auction and Goodies at Farmer´s Market!!!

2009-08-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

We have just returned from an exhilirating bicycle tour to a nearby town where an Annual Farmer´s Market Festival were held. It was a 14km journey (return journey) - was not too bad a lenght really as we totally enjoyed the market but right now ... instead of writing in words on what happened today, shall I just leave you with these photos to do the talking, okay? Hubby is waiting for me to start dinner with the items we´d just picked up :-)

Have a nice week ahead everyone :-)

Merdeka Celebration with Wicke ...

2009-08-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

I wish I can tempt you with photo of delicious Nasi Lemak or Assam on this special occassion, but as you can see, my blog had been filled with nothing more than photos of flowers lately as I have been eating a lot at home and cooking Malaysian delicacy sometimes is such a chore as I need to travel a fair bit just to get its ingredients. At times, I will have a meal outside but even then, it is nothing new. The same old stuff, day in day out. Boo.

So dear Malaysians living at home, all I wanna say is ... you LUCKY you. Treasure the diversity of culture we have back home. And I am not referring to just food :-) Everything is under our roof and is within reach. I wish for my beloved homeland to be blessed with abundance of opportunity and good government.

Happy Early Merdeka Everyone!

p/s : This Wicke flower here smells gorgeously Jasmine-like :-) Love it.

Aster Flower Around the House

2009-08-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

Aster is by far, my favourite of the five packet of flower seeds hubby picked up and

planted on our plot of garden few months ago. Although the packet came with

photo of pink coloured crysanthemum looking flowers, the real thing was far better.

It had not only the pink coloured bloom as printed on the cover, I was surprise to find white,

baby pink and purple hue once popping up a few weeks ago. They are, according to MIL, very long

lasting too and could last all the way till October :-) Nice.

I plucked some Aster a while ago and tried finding them a nice spot.

Can you decide which is a good corner for the Aster?

I have also included some snapshots of my personal favourite space around the house :-)

For example ... my Inspiration Corner, and another Board which I had wrapped up but have no idea what to do with it yet. There´s also a little box hidden beside the office room sofa where I keep my knick knacks in jar bottles.

Also, I found a Year 2010 calendar in the shop today but without photos on! Perfect. Thinking of customising them as gifts soon! Gosh .. how time flies. The calendars are out already! Next to the calendar is a 30 year old French Cookbook which Mama gave me last week. My god ... this must be the oldest cookbook I have ever owned. There is a possibility that the recipe here can anytime be more authentic than Julia Child´s. No?

I had lunch outside today with a fellow ex school mate to discuss about some secret project. It was a simple Fried Salmon lunch in a local Imbiss, nothing spectacular but the salad that came with it was not good.

Here´s to more corners around that house where the Aster´s trying to find a comfortable spot on. The top is taken on my side of the computer table. Left photo is of an old sideboard located at the entrance of our home. The one on the right was taken in our bedroom. Spot Imbi!

Another favourite spot in the house is our sliding bar table in our kitchen. Before I arrive, this high table use to be empty. But it is now filled with my cookbook stand, a water jug, three bottles of Italian Oils, and cake stand which I double as fruit and vegetable platter. Haha. And right now, Jamie Oliver is claiming its limelight!

Well .. that´s about it. Will show more in the future. Have a nice day ahead everyone :-)

GEFRO Soup, Sauces and Seasoning Freebies

2009-08-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

Mama gave me another surprise today. She had apparently enrolled my name to receive free food goodies for trial and tasting from companies around here. She passed me a box after explaining what she did and so I though, okayyyy ... another one of those mini packet stuff which is so common back in my homeland. The companies usually produce them in smallest sachet ever and distribute them to as many household possible or even better, attach the freebies in magazine to reach out to as many readers as possible. The box on my hand was probably stuffed with LOTS of brochures etc ... I thought.

BUT ... it is apparently different here in Germany.

It is actual size my friend. With only a booklet for information. No feedback required too!

The bio range which unfortunately was not included seem interesting :-) Anyone heard of this brand?

First Lemon Plant ...

2009-08-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree

I'm turning my head up and down

I'm turning turning turning turning turning around

And all that I can see is just another lemon-tree

Arggggg ... I can´t stand this song!

But I am loving my new pot of Lemon Plant. Woohoooooo! I have been eyeing one for the longgggest time ever but paying 20 Euro a pot is just too risky for a beginner like me hence I held back a few times until today. Luck was on my side. A local supermarket was clearing it for 2.50 Euro a pot and there were only one and only left! Hidden in between some other bushy plant, it was just my luck that I found it, really. I told myself that it is meant to be mine this time and happily, it came home with me. My only hope is ... I hope I can keep it alive until it bears lemon! Haha.

In addition, these are two pots of ... oh hang on, got to go ransack my bin for the wrapper for its name.

Backkkkk ... hubby cleared the bin already! How fast was that? I am sorry again that I am not able to furnish the name of this flower plant. So anyway, it was really pretty when I saw them in the garden centre here and was not too boring as compared to the crysanthemum plant which everyone seems to be picking up here coz its in season. But since I am from South East Asia and crysanthemum is abundance there. Besides, it is associated to flowers for the altar table and funeral ceremony so ... I try to avoid them as much as possible.

I was in the mood to grab some seeds for next Spring´s gardening but did not find anything I fancy except for this packet of African Bride :-)

A little update on food front since I have not posted much of it lately.

Here´s two typical item the locals eat during lunch in a cafe. The one at the top is made of potato base with brocolli and cheese topping, while the bottom one is Frikadelle (Minced Pork) Burger sandwiched with yummy Saurkraut for extra kick. In general, this kinda lunch break cost about 2.00 Euro. Not too bad eh.

Flowers around my Neighbourhood

2009-08-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

The bottom right photo was taken at the street leading to our home. I love the colour combo of this house´s Hydrangea. Sweet and lovely :-)

Behind our garden lies a playground, and right across the small street stood this house with perfectly manicured plants and lovely flowers hanging from their window boxes. Whenever I am around this corner, this house never fail to catch my breathe. If I have my own garden, I would want it like that :-)

Its summer season hence a Caravan were parked next to the park behind our garden. Not too mention all the wild flowers growing around it. Nice eh. Heyyy ... can you spot our home from the bottom right picture below? The building smacked between the tree and the swing is our home!

This is my second time seeing black blooms. First time was in Keukenhoff when they had Black Tulips on display.

I love this Hydrangea copycat but with small flower petals surrounding it. Anyone knows what its called? There is another picture above (Pic 2, Bottom Right) but the flowers were in white and baby green.

As you can see, the people here are kinda fanatic over their garden hence it nice living in a neighbourhood where home comes first.

Our Summer Garden

2009-08-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

I took the opportunity to snap photos of the flower plants and what not in our garden as well as those around our neighbourhood yesterday afternoon, seeing that the weather´s fast approaching Autumn. Time surely does fly here, and interestingly, 7th August 2009 marks my first anniversary living in this land :-)

This year, Mama added a plants to her garden. Mama´s Hydrangea is growing very well. Infact, the small plotted area are so BUSHY with the bloom so much so that we had to snip them off to be enjoyed indoor. Nooo complain there :-) Apart from that, Mama added two new pots near the door too. I guess Hydrangea is not so difficult to grow and is versatile to the point that the bloom changes colour when the soil acidity changes. What an interesting plant! Anyway, while the main ones are pink in colour, the two new pots are blueish purplish in colour and I heart them A LOT. Lovelyyyyy. Oh ... check out our blue plums. They are fruiting well this year and I can´t wait to get my hands on them to make confiture!

Our apple trees are bearing lots of apples this year too! Hmmm yum, yum ... I cannot help thinking of apfelkuchen, appelgebak, apfelsaft and moreee already ... haha :-) Unlike last year, all the fruits decided to reward us BIG :-) including our grapes. Oh those grapes .... I still remember excitedly learning from Mama how to make Grape Jelly with it. Anyway, now that Autumn is entering, Mama had also started buying flower seeds for next years Spring and I wonder what flowers are those ....

The picture below are of Mama´s gurkin and zucchini plant and a type of yellow bloom whom had been growing pretty wildly in our garden. Yikes! And these are the ones which I had been decorating with in our living room like crazy. While our Zucchini gave us more than we asked for, the Gurkins growth were stunted at around 2cm. Hopefully, more luck next year.

Oh lookkkkk ... I though I did not snap a pic of Mama´s new Hydrangea but I did after all :-) Lovely colour isn´t it? The other bloom I kinda fancy, and will occassionally use them for cooking and eating is the Schnittlauch Flower (sort of like Spring Onion). The pinkish one at bottom left are actually from a huge plant bearing three assorted colour flower in one plant! How amazing is that? No idea what its called though.

Mama decided to cut down the rhubarb plant to only one this year. Not sure why. If only there´s a lot like last year. I will than turn them into Rhubarb Liquor - something which I had tried several times during my Stammtisch gathering and I love them to pieces. It is pleasant tasting and super addictive :-) There are a whole lot more which I did not snap as I had featured them here before. You can scroll back past feature from Spring season onwards with Garden titles if you are curious.

So there you go ... Mama´s little garden which she´d put a lot of care into. Pretty little space isn´t it? Well ... better enjoy them as much as I can now :-)

Chilli Sardines, Kunyit Fried Chicken, French Bean Omelette ...

2009-08-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

My dinner last night. Alone ... while Hub was in cycling tour.

Kneipen Festival Ahaus - Livehaftig 2009

2009-08-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

Once a year, Germany comes alive with its summer celebrations and Nordrhein Westfalen region where Ahaus is located were no exception. In most cases and unlike other European counterpart where their celebration centres around food, Germany is well ... what is Germany without its famous Beer drinking session :-)

Hubby and I attended the Kneipen Festival Ahaus last Saturday where a group of participting Pub come together to offer affordable selection of Beer, Liquor and anything alcoholic. It was interesting for me as I get to try various drinks in one night (not too mention recuperating from hangover on Sunday!) and yeah ... local beer, draught beer, Fruit Beer, Oak Liquor and the speciality of this region ... Red Orange Beer! I tried them all and looks like I found a new LOVE too :-)

In total, we managed 8 pub from the 12 listed with our unlimited entry ticket. Not bad eh ... for first timer like me. We topped up our drink chips twice where for as little as one chip (1.40 Euro each), we´re able to redeem a basic, small portion drink mentioned earlier. Though pricier than usual, it was worth every cent as the beer served were all fresh and COLD - perfect for summer weather.

The music was ... OOHLALA ... rocking good! Apart from top notch sound system being present there, the crowd were alive and kicking. I particularly liked the ones playing old pop music in Vivendi and a spanish group (I believe specially flown in from Spain) whom did a kicking version of Gypsy King hit songs!

To get from one pub to another, a hop on hop off bus service were seen circling the routes every five minutes or so. Happening! I though riding the hop on bus were an experience itself as the crowd in there were ALIVE on its own. Perhaps they might turn the bus into a clubbing bus next year? The funny thing is ... I did not spot any drunken the WHOLE night. This proves that Germans can REALLY drink.

Apart from drink counters ... the Imbis were hotcakes too. Set up just right outside each pubs, most of them are seen selling standard german favourite snacks such as sausages and fries. Apart from Doner Kebab which we grabbed earlier from a Turkish Pizza Cafe, we filled our tummy with two portion of Pommes (fries) and Wurst from Poland!. Though moderate in taste (the ones you get from supermarket and fry them yourself are way better), its a relieve to be able to grab a bite when hunger strikes.

We pub hopped from 8 till 1pm with Drebbers being the last :-). Though we had the drink chips left, we left the place after 10 minutes as it was SO PACK. We than though we´d manage Müllers and Schlosshotel next but my feet gave way. So off we went for a final Imbis session with Fran (whom we bump into upon exiting Drebbers) before heading home to lala land.

It was such an enjoyable night with hubby and we should really do this more often :-)

(with or without festival)

Books, Books, Books ...

2009-08-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Have a lovely weekend everyone while I bury myself into tonnes of

yummy book I borrowed back from the library :-)

Chicken Soup for the Soul

2009-08-06T00:18:00.001-07:00

I know a few Brazillians here, and they can ALL cook very well. Fortunately, they share the same value as Malaysians - which is to catch up with each other over a meal and this happen to be one of their favourite past time apart from sun bathing :-)

Me and Debora was at Elisa´s place for lunch. She made a huge pot of chicken soup. On diet it seems and its a norm for brazilians to have soup for lunch so that they can show off their bikini body during summer. Now we know eh. It was very, very good that I had three bowls. The chicken drumstick was undercooked though (see picture, and I was the one whom picked it up btw) but the combination of radish cubes, carrots, onions and potato flavour made up for it. There is a hint of spiciness too, which added some kick :-)

Yum, yum!