Perfect Dessert

Delicious and special gui ling gao with vanilla ice-cream.

Tree is up

The Christmas Tree. ^^

10 Promises To My Dog

My 5 yo Golden Retriever, Bean.

I finally bought the DVD of 10 Promises To My Dog.

Most of the scene in the movie looks familiar to me. Because I do live with a Golden for more than five years, ever since she's a two month old pup.

At the last part, when socks died made my heart broken into thousand pieces. I cried, suddenly I realize my Bean is getting much older. I turned to her and I can't imagine if she's gonna leave me one day.

Life was not the same without my Bean Bean.

Monthly Personal Goals - December 2008

It's already end of the year, it's December! My favorite month of all.

I love winter time, I love snow, I love Christmas, I love prezzies, and I love holidays! *goofy grin*

Every month I make myself think about my personal life goals.

I might set new goals, revisit on-going ones, check up on how I’m doing in various areas in my life. I’m not strict about it. It’s just nice to create a space for my thoughts.

My last few months of personal goals have been very simple – Everything is basically about keeping myself together, sane and healthy. Not to mention about my hectic working life, I want to continue living a balanced life.

I can’t exactly pinpoint a beginning, but I think I have always been plagued by a “wanting to achieve something”.

A wanting to be special. A desire do something significant. A yearning to stand out of the crowd in a special way. A hunger to be someone amazing and inspirational. To live an admirable life and make a difference.

I have always looked up to amazing women. Female scientists, politicians, designers, humanitarians, artists, writers, public figures. Women who have conquered illness, climbed mountains, helped build hospitals for dying children, inspired millions. I would read about their lives and be filled with utter amazement and awe.

And who am I? Absolutely nobody. Just plain old Jessica. Living in Kuala Lumpur.

Until I realised that my life is how I choose to live it.

I can sit back and envy others, or I can try to make a difference.

I can focus on my inadequacies and insecurities, or I can be significant in my very own special way.

So, here I am.

I am turning 26, and it is a new beginning.

Life is never dull with pets and children

All my little puppies have finally opened their eyes! Now they can run around, grumbling over each others and have started to eat puppy's food!

It's just wonderful and amazing watching them growing up day by day.



bleh..
my favorite among all.



On the other day, I just can't resist little Ann Hui with her tutu.

She's one little pretty in our studio. Isn't she lovely? *smile*




I'm so glad that children and pets are always around me in my life.

How grateful would it be. Thank to God.

3rd ASEAN Inrternational Chopin Piano Competition

Congratulations to Miss Han Nah Son, a graduate student of piano performance major at the College of Music, Mahidol University who has received the First Prize in the College Category. Han Nah Son with Piotr Paleczny, one of the jurors in the competition and a professor at Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.

第十届 书香国际中文书展

当第十届书香国际中文书展在马来西亚如火如荼地展开之际，正是我忙得头昏脑胀的时候。。拖到最后的今天，我不顾一切、冒着大雨也要前去，终于没有错过这盛大的书展。

去之前在《肥佬蟹》跟爸妈享受了一顿丰盛又快乐的晚餐。已不记得上一次何时在这用餐了，但环境依然优美。我们选择湖畔的位子，将美丽的湖水尽收眼廉。晚餐后天下起了滂沱大雨，坐在湖边的我们得以欣赏漂亮的湖色。从平静不时有小船划过，至雷电交加喘急的湖水都别有一番天地。辽阔的天际，看着大自然的变化，多么的神奇，多美呀！

纵然雨势没有转小，但我们还是冒雨赶往书展。大约八点钟到达，现场比我想像中小，可能已是尾声所以人潮不会太拥挤。很多书大概已卖光，但我们还是在最后两小时内买到了超值、超棒的书！共花了马币六百多令吉。 *咋舌*

对我来说，买书永远比买衣服快乐。能读到一本好书，尤如听到优美的音乐、喝着喜爱的咖啡，一样令人感觉那么地幸福。

Spring Sprouts

We have bright green things pushing through a carpet of brown.

It’s very cool to see life emerge from what seems barren.

Fashion Find: Scarves in Muted Hues

Although we do not have cold winter in Malaysia but I'm gonna have a white Christmas this year. These scarves from Anthropologie are enough to inspire me to dress up a simple black dress, or white top and pants. Love the colors!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

When I bake, I usually try to use organic ingredients, less sugar, and healthier alternatives. But today I decided to throw it all out the window.

I was very keen to try out a muffin recipe that was a bit sweeter, richer and basically, something delicious I could serve at a tea party and make people sigh with delight.

This recipe is based on Ainsley Harriott’s Raspberry and White Chocolate Recipe. I used organic white self-raising flour instead of his suggested baking powder and plain flour.

Ingredients
300g self-raising flour
150g golden caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
225ml milk
50g butter, melted
100g fresh raspberries
75g chopped white chocolate

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut greaseproof paper into 15cmx15cm squares and push, creasing the paper to fit, into a muffin tin.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Crack the egg into a separate bowl and whisk in the vanilla extract, milk and melted butter.

3. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients with the raspberries and chocolate. Take care not to over-mix, no more than 10-15 strokes.

4. Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 30 minutes or so until well risen and just firm.

I put half the mixture in the self-made muffin cases and the other half in regular muffin cases. I couldn’t decide which cases made the muffins look better..

Exploring Facial Expressions

The children were exploring the facial expressions through music today.

Look at their cute little face, I just love it when they smile. I love the way their face and nose wrinkles up. They look so cheeky and happy. It’s adorable, infectious and it makes my heart crumble into a thousand happy pieces.

*Angry Face*

*Sad Face*

Finally, here comes Happy Face! ^^

Happiness

Six new borned puppies!



Absolutely cute~

Perfect Wedding Shoes!

Oooh I see these gorgeous Miu Miu shoes and I think of happy, sparkly garden weddings, with parisoles, violins, water fountains and white roses. Crystal Embellished Flats, Metallic Embellished Flats and Flower Motif Flats from Net-A-Porter.

Tuesday

I had a great weekend. It was a wonderful mix of friends, family, good movie, good food, good coffee, a sizzling barbecue and a slow walk in the warm sunshine. It was so good for the soul. And it was a nice contrast to the busy hectic week just past.

Today I’ve been twiddling away at some design work. Just some newsletter, flyer, next year calendar and poster designs for my church and music school. Simple stuff really. It’s really nice to be doing stuff for a non-profit organisation. It feels good to help people, to put in the extra effort, and to do it without expecting anything in return.

Roast Vegetable Pasta Salad Recipe

This is another one of my lazy – but healthy – vegetarian recipes.

Chop 1 medium eggplant, 4 tomatoes, 1 red onion into quarters. Put into a slightly greased oven pan. Throw in 5 cloves of garlic (unpeeled). Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Salt and pepper.

Roast at 180ºC for 1 hour. While you’re waiting, Boil 250g of spiral pasta.

When roasting is done, toss in a handful or two of fresh spinach leaves and fresh basil leaves. The heat makes the spinach wilt a bit.

Take out garlic cloves, unpeel, squash. Whisk with ¼ cup of olive oil and ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar. Pour this into the roasted vegetable mix.

Tip in pasta, toss everything, and eat immediately!

(I personally like to throw in some marinated feta too!)

夜。。

凌晨四点， 依然无法入睡。

喜欢的音乐萦绕着耳边，顽皮的小野猫在房里到处乱蹦乱跳， 虽然防碍工作但也幸好有它的陪伴。。

工作完毕后， 身体已很疲累但脑袋还不肯休息，于是就流览朋友的部落格，发现了令我很感动的这一段：

爱一个人，要了解也要理解；要道歉也要道谢；要认错也要改错；要体贴也要体谅；是难忘而不是遗忘；是宽容而不是纵容；不要随便牵手，更不要随便放手。

爱一个人，要爱他的一切。无论这个人咫尺天涯还是近在眼前，都要为彼此坚定的守住那份只属于你们自己的信念。

真的，既然爱了，就别轻易放手。

--摘自Winson 《爱情，不知道哪一站才是终点》

圣经曰：

"爱是恒久忍耐，又有恩慈；爱是不嫉妒，爱是不自夸，不张狂，不作害羞的事，不求自己的益处，不轻易发怒，不计算人的恶，不喜欢不义，只喜欢真理；凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐；爱是永不止息。"（《新约·哥林多前书》第1 3章）

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant nor rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 　
　
从古到今不知有多少人因这段话而坚信基督，基督教是"爱的宗教"，这就是使徒保罗对爱的诠释。

我也相信，一切自有上帝最美好的安排。

Esmay's birthday 2008

I took Esmay out for dinner last night.

We went to a restaurant called Telawi Street Bistro, in Bangsar, with modern western food. Our dinner tasted great, the service was good. Most importantly, the atmosphere was sophisticated, classy and warm – it was perfect.

Esmay's Pasta. *delicious*

My fettucine~ *yum*

We chatted throughout the dinner and took silly photos. Later we have drinks at Starbucks with some friends. It was such a lovely evening, hanging out with my dear bestie. Happy birthday babe.