That Time Again

It’s not hard to guess the hormonal condition of a girl when she comes home with dinner consisting of vanilla ice cream, frozen Tim Tams and Ice Magic.

New House Preview

We went for the final inspection of our new house today!

4 weeks ago (when we bought the house) we only looked around for 20 minutes. We fell in love with it instantly and put an offer on the place a few hours later.

So yes, it’s 4 weeks later, and I am very VERY keen to see the place again.

I was a little scared that we might have been caught up in the MOMENT and that the house was actually crap. Scared that if we looked at the house a second time, we’d find some outrageous problem that we didn’t spot the first time. Or that it was smaller than we imagined. Or that it had burnt down.

But what I was MOST worried about… was that I might look around the house and decide that I didn’t really like it anymore. Aaak. Can I change my mind?

Anyway, as we arrived at the house I was struck by how small it looked from the outside. As we walked around checking lights, stove, oven, sprinklers, locks, doors, windows…. I knew we had bought a gem. The rooms were all a great size, heaps of storage, nice division of living spaces, beautiful kitchen, and best of all… the previous owners looked after the house REALLY well.

I was so happy with the house, that I didn’t seem to mind the nightmare, albeit superficial, that would betray my sense of taste-pride. The colours of the walls and carpets were shocking! Pink. Speckled brown.

Best Pancakes Ever

Every Sunday morning I try to make something a little special for breakfast. I absolutely love these mini pancakes (or pikelets), especially with fruit.

1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
2 tablespoons of castor sugar (optional)
1 egg, beaten lightly
¾ cup (180ml) of milk
butter for cooking

1. Mix flour and sugar
2. Mix in egg and milk, to make a smooth batter.
3. Add a bit of butter to lightly coat a hot pan. Pour dessert-spoons of pancake mixture onto the pan.
4. Wait for bubbles to appear on the surface of the pancake, flip!
5. Serve hot with fruit, yoghurt and honey!

My parents don’t like their pancakes to be stacked up, so I serve them like biscuits.

Birthday Celebration to Bb Eve

*pretty hands*

Dinner at Roadhouse. Countdown at Wings Cafe. Live Singing from Quin to Eve on Stage. The boy next to our table so happened was having the same brithday as Eve, which borned at the same year and day! What a lovely coincidence~ *smile*

Happy Birthday to my bao bei, and I love you so.. muax! *hugss*

xoxo

Happy Birthday to my Babe Quin~

Bb eve, Babe Quin and Babe Jess~*

Sweet smiles*

The birthday girl *hearts*

We celebrated Quin's birthday in The Gardens RedBox on last Friday. Great moments with perfect sounds systems and the delicious Secret Recipe Chocolate mud cake. ^^

Happy Birthday to my dear, love you heaps!

xoxo

Rainy Days

The last couple of days have been cold. Cold, rainy, wet and gloomy. The rainy days have brought a gorgeous warmth to our house. The spaces seem smaller. The rooms feel cosier. The corners glow with intimacy.

I’ve been nursing a flu. Catching up on sleep. Reading a book. Staring out the window, watching the rain fall in the garden. And sipping on steaming cups of gen mai cha.

I made a HUGE pot of chunky winter vegetable soup with red lentils. I made it Monday evening, and we were still eating it yesterday. Hee hee. It was DELICIOUS. Especially with crusty garlic bread. And especially since I varied the recipe to suit my own tastes (ie. threw together whatever vegetables I had in sitting my fridge and pantry).

I just love rainy days.

《三杯茶 》令人震惊的承诺，与情感

今天一边看《三杯茶》，一边哭得断断续续。这书是我近期于书展所买的，还记得那时手里扛着一大叠书排着队正要付钱，眼睛还不停地瞄着柜台上的书，深怕错过什么似的。然后在收银员打着最后一本书前， 我只粗略地看了看书后的内容简介就赶忙“啪”的一声放在她眼前，结果惹来一记白眼。但都值得，也庆幸在最后一秒还能让我买到这么一本好书。

并不是虚构的故事，也没有很华丽修饰词句，只因真实的画面往往最撼动人心。诚意推荐令我读到感动不已而泪流满面的这本《三杯茶》。这份感动，得要你亲自阅读才能了解。。

敬上第一杯茶，你是一個陌生人。
再奉第二杯茶，你是我們的朋友。
第三杯茶，你是我的家人，我將用生命來保護你。

一個早逝女孩的生命，讓另一群女孩擁有改變世界的力量。

在過去的十二年，巴基斯坦、阿富汗及西藏山區，六十所學校陸續成立，摩頓森守護妹妹的信念，讓他願意用生命去化解世界上最大的仇恨，幫助一群女孩有勇氣改變世界。

當我們懷疑，一個人的力量是否真的能改變世界時，願意放棄日常生活享受的摩頓森做到了！

書中主人翁摩頓森原來是個登山家，1993攀登世界第二高峰K2時發生意外，與隊友們失去連絡，只留下他一人，沒有水也沒有食物。十分幸運地，他在巴基斯坦山區的一個偏僻小村落被救起，而且在村民的細心照護下，他的身體得以康復。被村民的善良所感動的摩頓森發現，當地小孩在寒冷的天气里只能坐在戶外髒汙的泥地上上課，用棍子画着沙子写字。村民窮到沒錢聘請老師。为了感谢他们，摩頓森告诉自己，承諾一定會回來為他們辦所學校……　

他放棄白天的工作，過著最低度的生活，到圖書館尋找名人錄、找出一個個參議員與明星的名字，在還不會使用電腦的時候，租用打字機開始寄出580封信；當他灰心不已的時候，是小學生激勵了他：

「我真的發現，要解釋半天，讓大人聽懂為何要幫助巴基斯坦的學生是件很困難的事。」摩頓森說，「但是這些孩子馬上就懂了。當他們看到照片時，沒有辦法相信怎麼會有這樣的地方：孩子在寒冷的天氣坐在戶外，沒有老師教、卻努力上著課。他們馬上就決定要做點什麼。」

六個月後，他終於收到回信，一張一萬二千美金的支票，足夠蓋第一間學校，他終於可以前往巴基斯坦蓋學校，......摩頓森會實現他的承諾嗎？

一個人，一個承諾，一段辛苦漫長的旅程，許許多多人的愛心，一個美麗的承諾，終於實踐。故事的後來，的確是美好結局：在過去的十二年後，摩頓森總共在巴基斯坦、阿富汗及西藏山區，蓋了不止一所，而是六十所學校，特別是能讓女孩子上學的學校。

◎本書榮獲

2007太平洋西北獨立書店書卷獎

(The Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Book of the Years)

2007奇里雅瑪環太平洋文學獎

(The nonfiction winner of the 2007 Kiriyama Prize)

班夫山圖書展獎

(Banff Mountain Book Festival)

蒙大拿紐西蘭圖書獎

(Montana New Zealand Book awards)

When He’s Just Not Into You

HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU

At once, I was furious.. Shocked.. Why doesn’t he like me??

I was very confused for a moment. Maybe he’s just not interested. Maybe he’s gay. Maybe I have to stop kidding myself.

But now everything is pretty clear and obvious.

Gah, I'm still long waiting for this movie to show in Malaysia.

Cherish Friendship

With lovely bb eve~*

Fashion Find: Seafolly Swimsuits

I’m trying to go for a 5km run or small swim every day, do yoga or stretches every other day.

And I’m seriously hankering for a new swimsuit!

Here’s me eyeing some super-cute, yummy pieces from Seafolly.