Of recent

RIP, dear sir Robin Williams, my most favourite actor. Aiyo, why is he so 'unable to see through life' 怎么这么想不开呀？？as chinese saying.

Months ago, a family friend of ours (my Uncle Henrick's school mate) also hanged himself because of depression he suffered for some years. And I was suffering depressions too after childbirth. Based on my experience, during that difficult time if we meet with the wrong person and hearing the wrong the 'words', it is really depressing. What I did was I went to the temple more often, that itself was a challenging task - carrying one toddler and a baby to the crowded and smoky temple. But I did that with the help from my husband.
One of my girl best friends was suffering for some kind pre-marriage depressions for almost half a year. She was seeking consultation from doctors and finally able to overcome it. She says going to church does help her.
So, those suffering depression, pack you bag and head to the temple if you're a Buddhist; believes in your religion and God will lead you out. Seek for forgiveness or whatever, just tell the God. It is much better than telling to kind hearted bad person -  好心的坏人。

How to work with pineapple

Once when I was at the pineapple stall by the road side, I overheard two middle age ladies' conversation, one was mentioning she doesn't know how to cut the pineapple. I feel sorry for her and I'm saying in me 'Oh, you must have missed a lot of wonderful time enjoying this lovely fruit.'
Today, I'm going to demonstrate and document it on how to work or handle pineapples without wasting much on its flesh, and I found no tutorial on the way we do it in most cook books. 

First of all, on the chopper board, cut off its top and bottom with just ordinary kitchen knife. Then slice off the skin of about 5mm thick. You will still able to see the 'eyes' of pineapples after the skin cut off.

Now, identify the arrangement of the 'eyes'. Could you see the slanting curvy line of the 'eyes' pattern (from right to left) if based on the picture below?

Yes, we will based on the line pattern to cut off the 'eyes'. With one hand holding the pineapple (the other hand hold knife), start from the beginning top part of the pineapples, cut in 'V' shape, the depth in which the 'eyes' hold, along the pattern. It should be just about 10-15mm depth (depending on the type of pineapples, we have Bali, Morris, and etc)

Yes, you may work on a few lines, the pattern, at the same time. Turn the pineapple slightly as it go.

Cut off all the 'eyes', you don't want to eat your pineapple with 'eyes' intact. By now, the pineapple should look like the below (big achievement these far..) ^_^ close to get to eat already!
In my sample, I cut it length wise.

first half, then halves again.

The core in the middle of the pineapple is quite hard and I won't eat it, so, we will cut it off as below.

Ta..da.. here's the ready to eat pineapple. Some suggestions are, sprinkle it with some salt, or dip with Chinese soy sauce, or rojak sauce, or eat with the way you like. Enjoy!

I hope to see your favorable comment in my original tutorial on how to work with pineapples. And if you have way to improve it, write to me ya...

Have a great weekend ahead!

Jess-y sunblouse third version

I completed another Jess sunblouse, literally speaking on its third version of making. I love to see the combination of different fabrics to make into a piece of blouse, it's creative and funky at the same time. I like to wear this design of blouse very much, in and out of house, and ahh, not to mention the comfy it brings, in our all-summer seasons, no other blouse that suits better. If time allowed, I will make more to put it in my Etsy store for my dear clients to share the joy of having them. 

At times, I'm a very tired mama. School going children's first-half-year of school test was just over, most parents are now anticipating the outcome of results. yikes. those marks! I've decided that I'm not going to question much on their marks. I keep reminding myself to smile with them as though we have a good faith in their tests, but inside us, we've known that certain language papers whereby there are merely at border line. But we'll do postmortem on the areas they are weak at and work harder to improve it. There are parents or grandparents that intentionally walk to you and show off the marks of their grandchild as if they are genius, and I hate that. I never interested to know how much they score, never walk to me with this kind of discouraging act. I want my children to learn from their mistakes and there is always room for improvement. marking result is not an end-of-life issue. They should be given chances to do better, much less to compare. This way of thinking is more encouraging to give positive energy, agree?!

In the coming post, I'll share with you my way of working with pineapples... see ya..

Penang this lovely land

Will be remembered

Sir, you'll be remembered...
A picture to share - a newspaper article I keep. Published by the Star on 8Mar 2009.

A visit to China

Under my lenses...bring to you some pictures from our recent visit to Hong Kong and Guangzhou China.

Guangzhou ~ Street food - ever scrumptious night hawker food
Guangzhou ~ Another night hawker selling preserved vegetables and fruits

 At Ladies Street ~ Hong Kong

Arena of Stars ~ Hong Kong

 In Hong Kong

 Hong Kong - Museum of Art

The weather there at this time of the year is excellent to us which it will never happen in Penang of 20 degree celsius. There are always many crowds on the streets, in the metro, at McDonald, on the bus and everywhere. From our traveling experiences, one place that we never missed are the museums. We love museums. It's a good place to visit to and spend time at though, with kids.

Edited to add
We booked and issued the air ticket days prior to our flying schedule. There has been a few international traveling of us and this trip we've chosen to fly by MAS, mainly because it is my desired airline to fly with as it has a proven track record and quite a branded airline in our region. Many business people and ex-boss too have chosen to fly with MAS. And with that, I feel good too - 'Wah...., can fly with a branded airline!' - human!
And with the twist of fate in a blink of eye, the MH370 incident which happened just a couple of days before our departure is really scares me off, hey, I'm not flying alone, it is the whole family! I called my travel adviser uncle Hock and relate to him my doubts, he says "Scared of what? No need to be scared one. Don't think of it!" Yes, his words that make me put all the scary thought behind to fly as planned. And bear in mind - make sure that you are insured, Hah!

Introducing Orange Poppy Pencil Skirt

Finally she is here, the miniskirt or not so mini but pencil skirt I just completed making it this morning. And a new waist belt. 

I found this piece of thick cotton fabric from local fabric shop some time back and immediately fall in love with it, and bought two-meter back. At that time, I still found myself have no idea what I'm going to do with it. When time passed, I'm getting realized that with many tops being added to the wardrobe, they are missing out the bottom part - a skirt would be a bingo to them. And here she is - Orange Poppy Pencil Skirt!

I surely will wear it during this Chinese New Year as some of my aunties are curious and eager to see what I've sewn lately, they say it is a 'hebat' (awesome) thing. I sew because I love to do so.

Blue Bean Blouse

This little piece is well cover the hip - introducing BBB; Blue bean blouse. Well, before I grow too old for a mini skirt, I need to wear it more often. This blouse will be an ideal matching, be it with a short skirt or a pair of tight pants.
There's a new mini skirt in the making for Blue bean blouse which the pattern is lost but found. 
Have a great week ahead.
Happy New Year 2014!

Adenium flowers and a pencil pouch

 

We have been to year end's floral fair held at Penang Botanical Garden, an event that is not-to-be missed by me, it's a beautiful place with blooming Adenium flowers. Coming back home one day, my son tells me that if it's not wrong there are almost twenty Adenium plants outside our home that he just counted. Oppsss... I just bought another three! I used my way to convince him that it's a normal thing for an addicted plant hobbyist to add collection to the species, and make sure we grow it well.  Now, they start to question me over unnecessary spending of money. Another favorite excuse is - "long long time bought once, it's okay one.." So, as long as you like the thing, just say you haven't buy it for a looooong time, then they'll give in to let you buy ;))

I'm making another Jess sunblouse which would be my new year blouse, but it has been weeks I can't finish one, then I carry on to make a desired zippered pencil pouch requested by the little ones - "a bigger in size one compared with the existing one and able to sit on the table type." I personalized the pencil pouch with their drawing and embroidered the picture onto it. It's my favorite do with pencils and pouches, and needles and threads...

A visit to Penang Pesta

Over the weekend, we visited Penang Carnival (Pesta). This is my return to the site for not going in about twenty years. oh my. Kids and adults alike are having lots of fun playing in the fun park. Hubby says it's like time returning to the seventies eighties. Indeed.