Archive | October, 2019

Garden to Plate, Part 2

29 Oct

The third papaya, weighing a whopping 1740gm, was harvested from the tree whilst it was still semi-green last week. Hubby said best to pluck it and let it sit on the kitchen counter to ripen than leaving it on the tree, exposed to the insects, birds and garden squirrels.

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Over the weekend, I decided to inspect the papaya tree at the side of the house, a spot which I don’t normally go to. Wow. There’s a whole lot of fruits! Looks like we will be having papayas a fair bit in the coming weeks.

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It’s okay, I’m not complaining because papayas are actually very good in terms of its vitamins and nutritional values. This aside, I should visit our garden especially the side more to know what Green Fingers have planted for us to enjoy.

So Useless Yet So Busybody

28 Oct

As today is a public holiday (yet again, I know), we went out for dinner and drinks last night. But I was so useless with my alcohol intake. How come?

Last week, I was in Langkawi with my high school girlfriends and I was drinking gin and whiskey far more than my usual intake. The next day at dinner, it was champagne, wine and whiskey, mixing drinks all the way. And I was fine, no hangover at all.

By the third night, I had beer, more gin and potent cocktails, yet I was fine. But last night, after two Carlsberg and a mojito, I was woozy. So fast, so useless…

Our regular haunt was rather quiet and the table behind us was talking rather loudly about life, guys and relationships, it perked our attention. We decided to stayed on after our meal…

Truth be told, it wasn’t that we were eavesdropping, she was loud and her constant use of the word ‘like’ caught our attention more than anything else. So the one-sided chatter had both of us cracking up each time ‘like’ was used. But we also learnt that she went to Minnesota for her studies.

Ordering more drinks than what was originally planned, I had a Sex on the Beach cocktail next. We simply had to stay on because of the entertainment behind us and it felt good to laugh so much.

But even without her mentioning Minnesota, we could tell that she was American-educated because every other sentence she uttered had the word ‘like’ in there.

At one point, we were trying to structure out her sentences without that word, it didn’t work nor made any sense. Hubby even tried replacing the word with the ‘like’ symbol using just his hand. Lol… quite a riot and such busybodies we were.

By the time that last cocktail of mine was finished, I was almost finished too, feeling so woozy and being fueled by all that laughter. Hahahaha…

Garden to Plate

25 Oct

It’s the wet season again but this has not stopped hubby aka Green Fingers from working the garden well. Besides the habanero chilies that are holding up despite the rain, all of a sudden the papayas sprouted too. Or maybe it’s been growing healthily but I never knew considering I hardly venture out to the garden.

The pesticide-free care for the papaya tree has yielded two fruits so far and we ate one already – so sweet I tell you. We await the second fruit to ripen before enjoying it.

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Top: eaten with satisfaction; Bottom: measured, weighed and waiting for it to ripen.Yum!!!

As I write this, the third fruit, by far the biggest one is just a matter of time before it can be harvested. It’s so nice to have a garden to plate from our own efforts, or should I say his effort mostly and none of mine.

The Chicken and the Eggs

22 Oct

It was apt that when my high school girlfriends and I went off to Langkawi for our girls’ trip, it was themed Celebrating Us. The reasons were obvious but there was a deeper meaning and this was reflected on the logo that I designed for our official tee shirt.

The chicken signified the year we were born – the Year of the Rooster and a golden egg represented a decade. As there are five eggs, obviously we are dinosaurs. Now you know why I always refer to myself as a dinosaur and even have a dinosaur tattoo.

I guess with this chicken and egg approach, it certainly clears the doubts as to which comes first as far as we are concerned. Without the chicken, the eggs would not exist and this trip would not have materialized especially with the significant milestone of five eggs.

 

Chicken&Eggs

‘MGS’ our school is the binding factor for us besides our birthdays

Celebrating Us

21 Oct

When ten women gather for a down-memory-lane-high-school reunion, you’d be assured of it being a boisterous one, almost bringing the roof down. Staying at a resort owned by another school friend (from the primary school years) and a surprise 11th hour turn-up of another flying in to join us on the third night, it made the four-day bonding even more special and the celebration memorable.

Throw in good food, lots of alcohol, some shopping, silly card games, a commemorative tee-shirt, girlie chatters, an impromptu cooking session (which we enjoyed the end result tremendously after toiling over the stove) and of course the endless squeals and laughter, the gathering will be remembered for a long time. Even the weather was beautiful throughout our stay as it only rained on the island after we left.

All of us attended Methodist Girls’ School in Klang together since we were seven years’ old (Standard One) until we were 17 (Form Five). During that phase in our lives, some joined in later but it didn’t matter. That’s how we met and forged a friendship that lasted so many decades.

As time passed, some left for different schools or countries, others pursued different paths in education, careers and lives. Despite the distance but thanks to technology though, everyone reconnected. That’s what being friends is all about… remembering each other to keep in touch and stay connected.

This 2019 as we all reach the big five birthday milestone, we reflect back our times together with this trip, which was planned basically to celebrate our birthdays and to cherish our friendship throughout the decades. Through thick and thin, friends we have remained.

Celebrating Us is about us. Happy Birthday Gals!

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BFFs

Bonding Time

18 Oct

Girlfriends are the best. They will be there for you in times of need and no questions asked. So you know you can always rely on them.

My high school girlfriends and I have been friends since the longest time I can remember. After all, we are all dinosaurs. It is for this reason that we planned this trip to celebrate our friendship and our significant milestone birthdays this year.

Although a bigger group would have been better, the fact that ten of us made it is truly wonderful. What is even more wonderful is that we are staying at La Pari-Pari resort, owned and operated by one of our classmate of the earlier school years.

La Pari-Pari

Our room

The laughter, besides the drinks and food, is what makes our friendship so treasured, indeed a good bonding time which started yesterday and will last until Sunday.

Seafood lunch

Dinner spread

A toast by the early arrivals

Letting Go

15 Oct

It’s a good thing this weekend I am going away. A timely change in routine in view of the recent heartache. Unfortunately hubby is not coming along as this trip with my high school girlfriends was actually planned ages ago.

I hope being away—albeit a short one—will heal the broken heart to be at peace and accepting with life and the daily routine. Death really grips the heart and we must learn to overcome this or forever be sad or even burdened.

Emptier Nest

14 Oct

The past few days, the home front felt different and odd. Not used to it. The coming home and being home routines are unfamiliar without official pet number one around. The empty nest is now emptier.

No more sight of him waiting for us, no more insistent barks during our dinner time, no more demands to share our fruits or more of his snacks, no more snores or unabashed farts to break the silence, no more presence. In short, no more routines that we are used to. Sniffle…

Rooney was certainly a family member and a very vocal one, not just a pet like the fish or the tortoise, visible but silent.

Sad as it is, this is inevitable. We should be positive and look at the bright side; he lived a good and happy life – giving us many wonderful memories, annoying moments included.

He was a month and a day short of his 12th birthday, far longer than the eight to ten years typical for bull dogs. He will be dearly missed… Sniffle…

Devastated

11 Oct

Yesterday our beloved senior citizen official pet number one, Rooney passed away from an infection and internal health complications. No words…

A Good Push

8 Oct

Pumped by the satisfaction of Ginormous Gnome being completed, it was odd I couldn’t push myself to start on the next Whale despite plans to do so and having all that energy to carve. Plus I had just given away yet another Whale, two pieces within a week, it’s reason enough to get back to producing Whales.

Citizens #188 right through to #193!

Instead there was a sudden burst for the Citizens of Gigglesville. Within a few days, six new Citizens came about! Which was kind of nice because this means I should be able to reach 200 in its population count sooner that I thought I would.

However, in the midst of this, I found myself planning yet another Ginormous Gnome as I have started the process for it. Should be interesting how this one will turn out after the trials and error from the last one.

Glued and clamped to have a big block