Adieu

We have talked about the arrival of this day for many times, imagined and even rehearsed how it would all be like, and yet I refuse to admit you are finally heading out the door of the company today.

A decade is a pretty long time to be sitting next to someone in the same office.  If we are to take a 40-hour work week, makes it 50 weeks a year, 10 years turns out to be 20,000 hours!  This span of time can be hardship if things were petrifyingly dull but I am awfully glad that it was mostly exhilarating.  

I am very sure that we will forget lots of the nitty gritty details as time goes by, but I am also certain that only the best of the best would linger on in our minds.  

It has been my honour to be able to find a true friend in the office, and you and I know a large chunk of my life could not have been the same without you. 

Wishing you all the best. 

P.S. These were lovely.

ANA To Join Women-Only Loo Club

In theory, women won't expect to have to lower the toilet seat on ANA flights any more!

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is introducing the ultimate answer to men who refuse to put the toilet seat down: 

Go find your own toilet.  

They are responding to customer requests and announced from March 1, it will join Korean Airlines in having a dedicated women-only lavatory on its aircraft.  

I personally think this is a sheer nuisance.

Goodbye City Golf

With the approval of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, cranes are seen at the site on day 2 shut down of the golf club. 

Well, the government and the precious land can't wait, but my golf?  Surely.   

Goodbye to the closest driving range from my home.  Guess it will be a while till I pick up my golf again.

Read A Person Like A Book

A few months ago, I read a book with immense interest on body language, titled  I Can Read You Like a Book, by Gregory Harley and Maryann Karinch. 

Later that day, I experimented the concepts learnt from it and held a conversation with a friend online.  She was surprised when I told her I knew what was on her mind and how she was feeling at that time!

You are thinking "Psychic" isn't it?

There ain't no rocket science here, but a certain pattern which, if you can master, will allow you to "decode" a person just like I did.  

Well, I thought I had things in my grasp.      

The same friend above caught me totally off guard yesterday when she saw right through me and read me like a book!

So...either my book is too easy for her to read, or she must have read the same book!

I need to invest in...another book!

Cute Taxi Advertising

We are a consumer nation and we will buy rocks if it is packaged and advertised right.  Agree?

My favourite ad campaign lately would be these cuties running on crisscross streets in Hong Kong.  Did they catch your eyes?

 

Reading Emails After Being On Holiday

Most people are used to the pile of email which awaits them after returning from a few weeks off.  Let's say you have three hundreds sitting there and you have an hour to just read without needing to respond to any of them.  Is it better to read the most recent emails first, or the oldest first? 

I always experience this dilemma plus the constraint in time, but it is generally my habit to read them from oldest to first. That way, if an issue or outage has occurred, I could come across the notification first, then the resolution to the notification. 

What is your way to deal with yours?  Would you scan and filter? Sort by sender?  Would love to do a little survey here and could be interesting to see if there exists some kind of correlation to the personalities and occupations in the sample.  

 

The Knitted Love

I learned to knit in the first year of secondary school and the first item that I knitted, like most people, was a scarf (full of holes), trashed the very next minute.  

I found learning to knit very difficult to master and remembered complaining to my mom when all of the stitches came off the needles. 

"How am I ever going to knit?" I said.

She told me to just sit quietly and find my own way of doing it (as if it was that easy!)
 

I have a great mom who can come up with hundreds of different knitting patterns in her head. She can practically produce a vest in a day, a long-sleeve pull-over in two, but that string of her genes certainly didn't reach me.   

Till this day, I remain totally hopeless in knitting, but I admire those who can.

I am also proud and glad to be wearing my mom's knitted wear.  

Cheetos: Cadbury & Kraft

I have no idea what got on me, but I bought myself a pack of Crunchy Cheetos to munch on the way home. 

I mean, what could I possibly be expecting from that sort of snacks?  To satisfy my tastes buds or to fill me up?

Neither could happen, but I had an afterthought.

The thought of the ­Americans – so good at so many things, so bad at coming out snacks like Cheetos!  The fact that they are meddling with the Cadbury formula, could prove too much for many of us to bear. 

It is a very British thing, Cadbury. We have all got a great deal of fondness for it. It was my favourite pick in tuck shop, it has been one of the few home comforts I miss while I am abroad, along with the BBC or the self-deprecatory British humour.

Look at Cheetos, they have them in every shade of orange imaginable, Spicy Orange, Smokey Orange...and they tasted downright bad!

Kraft better downright assures us, that they are going to leave Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate formula intact.
  

I used to play the piano...

There are literally millions of adults today who took piano lessons when they were young, but at some point down the path, all that accumulative hard work was forgone some way or the other. 

Over the years I have never heard anyone say "I'm glad I never learned to play the piano", but I have heard hundreds say something like "I sure wish I had paid more attention when I was a kid", or "I would love to get back to the piano some day."

I am definitely one of them.  

I sat in front of a piano tonight, couldn't recall any songs I used to memorise by heart.  I couldn't run my fingers on any scales nor arpeggios, which I used to pride myself in performing quite flawlessly.  

The most shameful thing was, I couldn't even demonstrate to a 3-year old kid how to play the world's easiest piano duet - The Chopsticks!

I should very much be ashamed of having attained grade 8 in pianoforte!


 

A Chocoholic Confession

Chocoholic - Is there such a word?  Apparently there is, and it is a portmanteau of the 2 words chocolate and alcoholic.  

I have a confession to make.  Due to an alleged addiction to chocolate, the chocoholic me have not been updating my blog for the last 2 days.  

Even though I can never seem to get enough of these snack from this fifth major food group, before I got drowned from indulging these lovely chocolate from Royce, I did remember to take photographs of what I consumed for my Project 340. 

 

A Whole New World of Cognac

I met with an uncle who's a connoisseur and had the honour to taste some of the finest Cognac in his collection.  

I better jot down what I learnt like a reporter, before everything evaporates!  

• One can never be in too much of a hurry to enjoy the wonderful Cognac you just been poured.  The best rule of thumb is to let the Cognac breathe at least a half-minute per year old.  Thus for the XO I had, which was 20-years of age, breathed for a minimum of 10 mins prior to our tasting.   

• A tulip glass must be used to get the full aroma do somersaulting in the glass.  

• Great Cognac is sipped and not swallowed!  So what he meant was, taste a few "drops" at a time, let it sit in the mouth for a good minute for flavours to engulf the whole of our palate and entice our oral cavity in totality.  

• Hold up the tulip glass and take one or two shallow sniffs, don't enforce it with a big breath or else the 80% or so spirit will just anesthetize our entire olfactory and dumb our senses.

• Then try to make sense of what you got out from that momentarily wait. Was it fruity or flowery?  Woody or spicy?  Chalky or oaky?  

I had no clue as you can guess, but the roof of my mouth and the back of my nasal sure had some fun crawling in a whole new world of wine tasting! 

  

Define: CNY

Most people associate Chinese New Year (CNY) with spending time with family, visiting relatives and catching up with close friends.  Plus lots of eating...and food, and, more food!

For me, part of the fun occurs when our normal home get transformed into make-shift casinos! 

Gambling is simply ingrained in our family tradition and

in the last 2 days, I have won some lucky money playing Fish-Shrimp-Crab, Caribbean Studs & Blackjack at the pleasure of my own home.

It wasn’t as much about winning or losing, but being part of the action allows members of the family to connect and joke around.  

Family together-ness would always be something that we all have to treasure - best defined during CNY and carry way beyond throughout.   

 

Welcome To The Year of The Tiger

Facts About Us Southpaws

Being a member of an elite society, I hereby present you with some interesting facts pulled out from the internet about left-handedness.  

• Roughly about 5-15% of the world's human population is left-handed.
• 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed.
• 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed (250% more than the normal level).
• Left-handed drivers are apparently more successful at learning to drive than right handed people. As many as 57% of left handers passed their driving test first time compared with only 47% of right handers (a poll for the AA Driving School found).
• Lefties are more prone to have allergies, insomnia, migraines and are 3 times more likely to become alcoholic.
• Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right.
  
• Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.
• Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.
• Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein, Ben Franklin, Bill Gates are some famous lefty geniuses.
• Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama are lefties presidents I know.

I was hoping to find evidence to support the fact that we are no good at numbers or bad at maths.  Only to find leaning comfort which states left handed people are the only people in their right minds!

Blur Or Not To Blur?

I was discussing the preferred selection depth of field (DOF) with a friend over coffee and that was when I realised opinions can be quite subjective. 

The decision can be truly a matter of personal preference when trying to determine the appropriate use of DOF to enhance an effect in a photo.

One thing is certain though - no one would say no to a smaller f-stop number!


Let's do an experiment here.  Which photo do you prefer?

A Cuppa of Ronnefeldt

Tea, next to water, is the most widely drunk beverage in the world (and beer is third I think).

If I am to buy tea bags, I would look no further than Twinnings from London because it would be a no brainer - can't go very wrong with that choice.  

I recently discovered many hotels serve Ronnefeldt tea, so I went and check out their organic Japanese green tea.  

One thing good about this brand is that it tells you how long you should let the tea bag sit in the water.  So it would be 2-3 minutes for its Organic Japanese Classic; 8 minutes for their Lemon Sky.

My morning coffee has not been replaced, but a sip of tea in the mid-afternoon, added on the fact that it is organic, definitely serves me right.

 

The Outliers

Received this bestseller written by Malcolm Gladwell as a gift.  

After reading a few pages, a strong message conveys that I fall in either 1 of the 2 categories...really. 

1.0) Outlier 
2.0) Failure

I would have known better if I am an outlier, so logic tells me I am the latter. 

Let me read on and see if I stand any chances of any in-between. 

Wait a minute, but do I really want to be 

 1.5) mediocre?

In Search for a Bowl of Quality Ramen

At HK$120 a bowl, UME SHIO RAMEN definitely has made a statement and drew my attention.  I went for a trial but sadly to say it was not worth every cents of it.

This is the Plum with Salted Broth Ramen from MIST, which I ordered for lunch today. 

It has a slight hint of plummy citrus-ness, the broth was thin in taste and rather oily.  Pity one only gets 1 piece of BBQ pork to go with the big bowl, the high-class Ramen and the presentation of the whole thing nonetheless made up for the lost scores. 

All in all, I don't think there will be a next visit from me though. 

Creativity After A Rain Bath?

It was pouring dogs and cats out there but my mind was not at all disturbed by it.  

On the contrary, I decided to tune in and bathe in the rhythm of the rain, enjoyed a bit of reading, and was able to find a sense of tranquility very shortly after. 

What also came out of the rain bath, was a fair bit of creativity - hence this image creation, how about I called it "Me & Myself In The Mirror"?

Aino

Yup, rather tired of my old phone...here comes a new one after 7 months of having SE W995 in my pocket!

As far as feature phones go, I think Aino has pretty much everything I need.  

What's new for me would be the touchscreen navigation.  So far so good, the smooth sensitivity is there and I can't wait to load some touch-controlled Java games to play.  

Its Remote Play is also something very interesting.  

I should be able to wirelessly pair up with Sony's PlayStation 3 via Wi-Fi.  Not sure how well I can control my tennis swings with that though!

Stiletto

In a magazine I read today, the queen of erotic imagery, Madonna recently compared buying shoes to having sex!

According to the designer Jimmy Choo, the singer told him that buying a pair of his shoes is more satisfying than having sex with a man.

   

She said: "At least you know they are going to last forever."

Victoria Beckham said she can concentrate better when wearing heals.  

What about this pair of Stilettos?  Perhaps only ballet dancers will find its appeal and I'd marvel anyone who aren't and dare walk on it.

A Tweety Resignation

He is the pioneer in corporate blogging and I have been a loyal follower of his blog, until he decided to flee and hide from the public since May last year, after he happily sold his company to Oracle.

For a reason beyond any fathom I can measure, I failed to follow him on Twitter! I am attempting to kick myself on what I am missing, as he tweets his way out of Sun/Oracle.

See that bottle of juice he's holding?  

I gave him that and I remember congratulating him on gaining the throne when I first met him in an Analyst Summit.  That had to be in early Feb 2005!  


So long, farewell!

"Simplicity Is Best" Album OUT NOW!

 

Simple food, nostalgic decor, 

autographed CD covers from Capital Artists...

It's SIZZLING HOT, so DON'T MISS OUT

the newly opened Capital Cafe

in the Wanchai NEAR YOU! 

Over a cuppa and a sandwich, I was able to travel back by time tunnel to Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui's heydays and hence the attempt to design the CD cover above as my pic of the day.

Charming Molecular Mixology

Chemistry just isn't a word that most people associate with cocktails.  I came across this years ago, I said I will go try many a times and finally, I experienced the thrill of it all tonight with a friend.  

 

Molecular Mixology is the term applied to the process of creating "edible cocktails" using the scientific techniques of molecular gastronomy.  

"It's about changing the texture, density or viscosity, the molecular structure of a liquid," says Hong Kong's most renowned mixologist Antonio Lai at FINDS.  

Tonight, I was honoured to have Antonio made us 3 of his spectacular signature drinks - A foamy Earl Grey Tea Martini with caviar pearls, bite-sized icy cubes made from mixing Bombay Sapphire with liquid Nitrogen and finally an adorable Godiva Liqueur Burst jelly to finish!

Man....I tell ya, my taste buds were in heaven and I can't be more thankful that they are. 

Swarovski Bombay Sapphire

Gin best typifies chic and sophistication and I think it was Premium Bombay Sapphire's Original Dry Gin that taught all the other performers how to act.

I took this at the airport and regrettably for display only and not for sale.  

Otherwise, this limited edition bottle studded with Swarovski crystals dazzles bright enough to knock me out even before I can pop open the bottle!

Perfectly Lonely

John Mayer's performance in Beacon Theatre on his latest plug - Perfectly Lonely...

Love his talent and the music that he brings...go straight to 4'25" if you want to see the guitar duo jam.

Dusk Till Dawn

When I was young, I always got mixed up with the words Dusk and Dawn.  Did you ever have this problem or was it only me?  

Well, then I devised a way of distinguishing the two.  The word "Dusk" sounds like "Dust" and dusts will be mostly settled by day end and...there you go...that's my wicked way of memorizing those 2 words.

Here's not 1 but 2 photos of the day, titled Dusk Till Dawn - An absolutely beautiful day today for me. 

I am thankful for waking up to a lovely sun rise and ended the day with a spectacular sun set.   

Regrets I have a few

I did something that I regret, or precisely, I should say, I didn't do something and therefore I am regretting big time right now.

And it is not the first time.

When I packed for my trip, I was contemplating whether to bring my 70-300mm and the standard 50mm, along with the 17-40mm.

At first, I pulled out the 70-300mm as I thought that would be unnecessary.  Guess what...at the last minute, even the 50mm was withdrawn!  Tripod was totally out of the picture from the beginning of course, and guess what went in my rucksack instead? A brolly!

Yes, a brolly.  I heard you laughed.

That was where it all went wrong.  If weight was my concern, why would I bring a brolly which you knew I won't use in this sort of weather anyway.  I must be out of my mind!

I think I have to face the fact that if I am ever going to be serious about photography, I should be prepared to be bogged down by weights.

I am going to carry EVERYTHING with me next time, so this disappointed look of mine won't happen again!

What I called Great Customer Service

 
Background:
I was supposed to go to REP via HAN.  I turned up at the gate 30 minutes before departure, only to be notified that the plane will be 2 hours delayed, which meant I will miss my connecting flight.  

Great customer service means thinking ahead standing on the customer's shoes, and before anyone could react - provide the victim with a viable solution.

Solution provided:  

• Re-routed HKG - SGN - REP, upgraded to Business
• Free flow of cocktail Mimosa, Champagne, OJ, coffee
• Luggage happily waiting for me at REP

In Return: 
The satisfied customer (who obviously had a few drinks) took the effort and appraised the team with excellence in customer service. 

The Lull Before The Storm?

"Where is everybody?"

Hello.........((((((hello))))))........(((hello))).....(hello)...anybody here?...((here?))...(here?)

 

My Midnight Snack

They look like sour cream and onion potato chips, but they are not.  They are Seaweed and salt potato chips from Calbee - my midnight snack to keep me sane through a 5-hour long webcast.

Here's my pic of the day - to commemorate this special day when Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) finally announced it had completed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Inc.  The day when Sun set to be Oracle's.  

And yes, there were bigger chips in the bag, but all gone in the last 10 mins into the webcast, way before I remembered to take photo as my pic of the day. 

A Founder's Emotional Attachment

I have had the chance to watch McNealy on stage many times and to interview him face-to-face. He was always performing some kind of role. As a statesman, clown, practical joker, visionary etc.

One of Silicon Valley's last true characters has now signed off - Sun's founder McNealy has sent a final goodbye memo to his staff today, said there was an interesting book to be written about Sun, but he wasn't going to write it. He said the company was sometimes better at inventing stuff than making money, in which I can't agree more.

Finally he said Sun was 'way more fun than any other company. By far.  From our dress code (You must!) to beer busts to our April Fools' pranks to SunRise.  Again...I can acknowledge each and every one of it.  


The memo I read today was not full of marketing dreck.  It is definitely one of those rare expressions of a founder’s emotional attachment to his company.




This photo was taken a few years back in Shanghai when I first met Scott McNealy, but I am going to be loud and proud and stick this one in as one of my daily photos for Project 340.

The Authentic Tram #120

I was finally able to catch this tram, right in front of a historical landmark - The Pawn!

 

My special love about this tram is that it is the only tram in Hong Kong still maintaining the original 1950s' double-deck design.

The cabin of this oldest running tram is varnished with its original light-green colour, topped with advertisements at the time.

Next time, I must target to hop on one, so I can take pics of its teak-lined windows and rattan seats inside.

Project 340

People often say that their whole lives flashed before their eyes after they experienced a traumatic event. Perhaps it’s a bit morbid, but I think that sounds pretty incredible.

It is coming to the 25th day into the new year, and after some serious dreading and procrastinating, I have come up with a project plan.  Yes, a plan.  

A project to take a picture each day, write something about it and then post it somewhere.

Ok...the plan has just been adjusted as I type.  I decided to start from tomorrow so I can literally call it Project 340, instead of 341!

As photo uploading gets easier and camera phones get smarter, I am thinking, giving myself such a project that requires me to commit to this degree isn't that bad, right?

I must say the movie Julie & Julia was where this idea tripped my trigger, it's time to get documenting!

340 and counting!

Hello 2010

One good thing about new year resolution is you are entitled to the full 365 days to complete whatever you have in mind.   

12 days into the new year and I realised I have been taking a longer-than-expected break from blogging.  I thought to myself, it has been nearly 2 months since my last entry, there really is no big deal if I leave it for another 2 months, right?   I can tell you a whole list of excuses for not writing, but I do not think this is something of interest to you, or is it?

Another year has passed, another chapter closed, another digit to add to my numerical age.  What do all these mean to me? 

I was asked at count down, the difference in my life between 2009 and the one before.  I practically could not answer. 

So, what I did, I picked up a pen, got a piece of paper and started doing some tallying on things that mattered to me in 2009

• Wrote 45 blog entries, accumulated 5,000 page views
  
• Attended 4 weddings and a funeral
• Organised 12 birthday parties & 5 school reunions 
  
• Enjoyed 5 live concerts & watched 10 movies in the cinema
  
• Enrolled in a photography class and a tennis class (both dropped out midway)
• Took up a handful of freelance and proof-reading jobs which helped pay the bills
• Survived a 5-hour long operation

Are you keen to reinvent yourself in 2010? Or at least use the new year as a long overdue excuse to get rid of bad habits or pick up new ones?

Yes, it’s that time of year again. The time of year when we feel as if we have to turn over a new leaf. The time when we misguidedly imagine that the arrival of a new year will magically provide the catalyst, motivation and persistence we need to reinvent ourselves.

Whatever your resolution may be for 2010, please be reminded not to forget about your own health and happiness.

A Wish On His Birthday...

Can you but feel my sorrow, can you feel my pain,
or even see my tears fell down like rain,
know of the sickness and of the strain,
all of this I must endure again and again.

All of the drugs, the chemicals too,
the treatments I've been through,
from all those injections,
come bruises often black and blue.

Now I look so different, now I look strange,
for in this battle my body must change,
to defeat this cruel killer,
my life I must rearrange.

Cells in my body are me trying to kill,
to win this great fight I must have the will,
your help and love is all I ask,
to get me through this onerous task.

Every day and every night,
against this cancer I must battle and fight,
while I cry and weep,
this single thought I keep.

Reclaim my life, reclaim my right,
keeps me going night after night,
to live and to love are not only my birthday right,
I will not surrender, I will always fight.

I was reminded I haven't talked to the Dead!

Facebook has a new way to annoy its users and it is this dumb feature that attempts to get you reconnect with your friends - "friends" that you haven't spoken to or interacted in a while.

So they think they know the world's population now huh?  I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want to be reminded that I haven't "talked" lately to a friend that has passed away!

To resolve that, may be I should put my act together to fill in this form and help them identify its deceased member(s).  

Music Simmers & Bathes in Moonlight

I bought the movie tickets a month ago, fearing its hit smashing the box office.

The day came and as I watched Michael Jackson's This Is It, I can't help but find my toes constantly tapping to every beat and my head nodding to his grooves.  I had the urge to clap at the end of every song rehearsed but have to remind myself I was actually sitting in a cinema!  It's sort of mixed feelings really. 

It's fascinating to watch Michael Jackson controlled every nuance of the performance, from the dancers' cues to details in the music that a layperson like me would never notice.

The most interesting part has to be the words he used to describe things: music simmers and bathes in moonlight.

Even though I'd probably never go to see Michael Jackson in concert, I can see that the show would have thrilled and amazed fans, and that this film will be one way for them to experience just a bit of what could have been.

The Dilemma of Shortening Jeans

A common problem that I come across when buying premium denim jeans is that the length often need adjusting.

I recently invested in a pair of Levi's Premium that I adore but I cannot simply have them taken up without ruining the vintage look I have just paid top dollar for.

I can't believe how lucky when I found a tailor that can shorten jeans and then reattach the original hem with an invisible seam. Don't ask me how they do it, but I guarantee you wouldn't be able to tell mine have been shortened - an investment that is definitely in the money.

Change The World

Only recently, I realised if I can raise the spirits of just one person for a few hours, I can consider changed the world.

Because of my action, this person might go on to encourage and raise the spirits of someone else, thus setting up a chain reaction. There's no knowing where this might lead, but I imagine the world will have changed for the better.


Michael Jackson once said something about changing the world we are living in,

"We're Here to Stimulate, Eliminate And Congregate,
Illuminate We Are Here To Change The World"

Eric Clapton wrote a song about it too

"If I could reach the stars I'd pull one down for you
Shine it on my heart so you could see the truth
That this love I have inside is everything it seems
But for now I find it's only in my dreams"

I guess when these great writers wrote these songs, they didn't mean we can all change the entire world forever so there be problem free everywhere. They knew this is impossible to achieve overnight, but...let it not be the mother of procrastination or our inaction.

Think about this, what you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever but in its place is something you left behind.

So...let it be something good - even the smallest change is a change worth making.

Simply Wordless

There's a woman I know who lost her beloved daughter over a year ago and she's still not over with it. She will shed a bitter tear or two all of a sudden, out of nowhere, and just like tonight, I would have thought I must have said something inappropriate to have triggered that.

After certain point, I know for a fact that a parent will never come to terms with the loss of his/her child, however long that period of time has been.

I came across this

A woman who lost her husband is called widow;
A man who lost his wife is called widower;
Kids who lost their parents are called orphans

but there's no word to describe parents who lost their child...that's how bad the loss is!

The Founding of A Republic Propaganda

The Founding of a Republic isn’t the greatest movie of all times, but as a Chinese, it’s definitely worth watching and particularly timely so, during the nation's 60th birthday.

If you are familiar with the history of the Chinese Civil War you should enjoy it even more, partly to check if they have changed anything and partly to appreciate how they portrayed what happened over 60 years ago.

If you are like me, who is cynical about the whole Communist Party of China, you will still be able to walk out appreciating the movie for not being a shameless propaganda piece but rather, a genuinely well-made film starring countless familiar celebrities.

The movie helps me remember one of the most contentious and pivotal moments of modern Chinese history. Well, for point scoring's sake, at least I know how we came up with our national anthem and the meaning to the design of our national flag.

Consider cramping 65 years of history and roll that out in just under 2.5 hours! It's not bad.

Recipe: Mussels in White Wine and Crème Fraîche

Blue Mussels from France are right now in season and I didn't realise I have passion for Mussels until this day.

Mussels can be found virtually anywhere in the world, but these one from France are the best and the fattest because the water is warmer than in Brittany and Normandy.

If you want a taste of the pure sweet delight, here's how:

1. In a wide skillet with a lid, melt butter over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion and shallot, and stir until very soft and beginning to turn gold, about 5 minutes; do not let them brown.
   
3. Add thyme and bay leaf and stir.
   
4. Add wine and 1 cup water and bring to a boil over high heat.
   
5. Add mussels, cover, and cook until open, about 4 minutes.
   
6. Transfer mussels to serving bowls with a slotted spoon and boil liquid in the pan until reduced to a sauce.
   
7. Turn off heat and whisk in crème fraîche and salt and pepper to taste.
   
8. Pour over mussels and serve with crusty bread.

Never Give Up Hope

I have been following a blog lately, written by a mother whose child was diagnosed of stage 4 Neuroblastoma at age of 10 months old.

I'm in awe that someone who is going through such a difficult time can capture so much of the emotion & love in writings on a daily basis.

Her blog started about 2.5 years ago, is till continuing this day and her sharing, which is both positive and informative, not only is helpful to all desperate parents out there, it also serves as a reminder on how strong we human being can be when faced with obstacles, whether you are an infant or an adult.

I then recalled a conversation with my bedridden friend in her last demise days one Christmas eve, here was how it went...


“Do you know what I wished for?”

“I’m going to tell you my wish even though you’re not supposed to tell wishes. Because I want you to remember it.”

“OK. But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“Listen. I wished to live 4 times on earth. I want to live 4 times."

And then she paused, thinking about it, checking to see if she had put the right words to her deepest, most private yearning. I had my heart in my throat, afraid to breathe, willing myself to remember every second. And then she continued:


“Yes, I wish to live. Because I really like it here.”


This is how strong and positive we can all be. Never give up hope!

A Bane of My Existence

Rubik’s cube has always been a bane of my existence.

I was only able to solve one side as far as I remember, and absolutely no idea what to do after that.

I was also totally hopeless when introduced with the beginner's solution which requires memorizing a few algorithms - let alone this 12-sided IQ Pentagon puzzle.

A Bizarre Hue

As I expected, twitter went nuts with tweets about the apocalyptic red morning in Sydney.

It really was that bizarre changing hue and not been edited in photoshop.