Meet Miguelin

This is Miguelin, a 6.5m tall animated baby that Spain has created for its pavilion, at the super-super crowded Shanghai World Expo 2010. A couple of family members went to Shanghai and visited the expo and had to endured hours of waiting in line before entering many countries' pavilions. The visitors, who were mostly people from mainland China at this point, according to the two loved ones that went there, mostly were waiting in line by utilizing their own culture i.e. pushing and shoving....

I am glad I was not there. I'd love to go, but if I have to wait for eight hours to enter one Saudi Arabia pavilion and five fours to enter Japan's, I rather stay back here in my cozy place, looking after my boring plants and watching NCIS marathon on TV. Adios.

Thanks DH for the picture.

Propagating ZZ Plant

We were into ZZ plant around Chinese New Year. Everywhere we went, we saw these plants being sold, with some red ribbons around it, of course. Prosperity and money. ZZ plant can be propagated by using leaflets. I planted two leaves that I got and after four to five months of waiting, I finally started to see something come out from the ground. Yipee!!!!

Popping Red...

These are from other Chili plants that I have. They are small but truly hot. They are ripe and ready for consumption.

Pesto On The Pizza

Having pesto is handy. We used it as a base for our pizza. Keeping it simple by putting some cherry tomatoes and a little bit more basil leaves and some cheeses of your choice. We put a combination of grated emmenthal and mozzarella. That's it. And it's a hit.

Jessica's Daily Affirmation

I wish I could do something like this every morning.... The video was taken in December 2001, which is about nine years ago and recently uploaded, it has nearly 1.5million hits.

This is good for a Monday motivational talk!

Moving House...

There are too many potted plants that I could wish to handle, so it is about time - using the financial term that I know well - to consolidate. I moved three potted basil plants to the ground, replacing the little Zinnia plants that grew on their own, and knocked down by the recent strong wind. I am doing a lot of re-arrangement of the plants too as I feel it's getting too much of my time to look after all of them.

Sorry kiddos, mommy has limited time. My paper works have been a little neglected as the "Mister"that said "will take care of them" has been taking care of them his way. W hich to me is really confusing! Time to untangle the papers and know where each piece is located.

Pesto And Bread!

By now, with so many basil plants around the house, we have so much basil leaves that we could ever use. We simply can't use them fast enough. Nearly on daily basis, I trim the plants and use them in many dishes that I prepare. But that's not much, I am feeding only 2-4 people at once.

This morning, I decided to make pesto. After all, we had everything we need to make that. Basil leaves, - checked. Pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese -- all checked. Salt and pepper to taste. Got them!

Earlier on, I made a loaf of bread with flax seed too. Good to go with the pesto!

Sweet Potato Chips

It is almost self explanatory. We had one sweet potato left and Miss K decided to make chips of it. We both love the chips, they are crunchy and not too sweet. Peel the sweet potato, slice them and deep fry. Just like that!

Wordless Wednesday: Rosemary

After The Rain, Turmeric Leaf

Shot this morning after light rain in the early morning. Turmeric leaves are considerably big compared to ginger's.

Ain't That Pretty...

One of the Petunia babies has been moved to a hanging basket. Growing and blossoming. So pretty.

Uninvited Little Guest...

After an extreme heat in the afternoon yesterday, I was awaken by the thunder, rain and strong wind this early morning. By the time I got up later on, I saw the damage done in many of the plants in the garden. Some are fixable and some are good for cleaning up, that's just the best way to look at it.

A couple of days ago, one little birdie flew by and decided to play around and poked some Periwinkles and Yellow Alders in the containers. Taking pictures of constantly moving bird was of course a challenge by itself and I managed to get some decent shots that were cropped and presented here.

It seemed like this little birdie was having a great time playing by itself. Why not? I would if I could fly too. But considering my fear of heights, it's best that I do not possess any wings and fly.

It Could Work...

It has been a very hot Sunday here, extremely hot that I feel as if I were a melting wax... perspiring profusely...... I don't know what will be left of me at the end of the day. .....35°C but felt like 45°C.

Our kitchen has been busy again. Stimulating ideas did come after a while, I tried and tried and found something that everyone would like to eat again. These are the spring rolls that I made a few days ago and were selling really well.

Just Another Friday Morning...

Rise and shine with freshly baked cinnamon roll in a cool Friday morning, hoping for a great and wonderful day. But life is life, it is filled with ups and down, it is often cramped with joy as well as sorrow and one just has to go through with it. So let's hope for the strength to carry on. Lots and lots of strength.... I could use them today and everyday after.

Marigold Again...

The last marigold plants that we had, produced zillions flowers. I keep the seeds. There's so much of them. But somehow, replanting them have not produced that many plants as I expected . I grew them in the containers but only have a few luck. So far I probably have a total of maybe ten marigold plants out of hundred seeds that I planted. I have tried many different ways, containers, type of soil, etc, but only one or two will turn up or nothing at all. I have not given up yet and am still trying.

A couple of them have flowered and blossomed. Not bad! I love having them back in the garden again.

The Hotter Ones...

In many days or weeks that I did not count, the chillies in the garden have ripen. Their color changed to red. Not that long ago, they were still green-yellowish. O how fast these kids grow.... I can't possibly imagine.

They are ready to eat, if you dare. They, however, look good hanging there on the trees, so let's leave them there, at least for a while.

Artfully Grilled...

This was taken at Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan, in one of the stalls found there. There were so many foods stalls selling all sort of food, mostly Japanese, but I remember seeing kebab and hot dogs too. Those fish were craftily arranged as if they were dancing and having a great time when the fact is that they were being grilled. Poor fish!

She Cooks It And She Eats It ...

Like I wrote before, lately we have been having problem with knowing what we want to eat. Without knowing that, it gets harder to cook or to buy our meal. Having said that, I have been trying not to cook too much or at all, as normally the appetite was not quite there for whatever I have been preparing. We all need a little break here and there.

So now, everyone tends to be busy preparing something for themselves at the last minute when their stomach screams to their brain...Ï am hungryyyyy......!! That's our weekends...

For those that know how to get their way in the kitchen like my youngest, that is just fine. She whipped up fettucine with lemon and shrimp, they way she liked it to be i.e. just enough basil, rather lemony and pepperish that she loves and some chopped shrimps. It looked good and according to DH who tasted some, it was good too and she really cleaned up the food well. I surely helped with the dishes! Well done!

Aiming...

That's my gal!

I Might Be Ready To Go Back...

The new Sapporo airport is so good, it's like going to a shopping mall, it has exciting shops and so many restaurants with mouth-watering and tantalizingly delicious displays. DH's dreams to eat the best Ramen in town were nearly fulfilled by the time we were ready to leave the town. We tasted No. 2 and No. 3 best Ramens in Sapporo or maybe Hokkaido. Who knows? The write up was written in Japanese anyway. He looked for No. 1, but not hard enough to find the best one of all. But, who would have thought?

We found the same No. 1 Ramen Shop at the airport, situated together with a whole bunch of other ramen shops there as well. There were so many to choose from but he knew which one he wanted. We had to wait for the available table. The waitress cum Captain who, thankfully, spoke English, said that her restaurant has the best noodles. Of course. We had Ramen for lunch then. Again.

We were really tired of Japanese food then. But I think now I am ready to have them again. DH and I have even talked about going back to Sapporo this Summer as our three kids will be in three different continents. Maybe. We'll see.

I Can't Tell...

That's how the sky looked like at 6:34AM today. It's pretty. But I honestly could not tell how things would turn up later on to decide on what to wear to go out. It turned out, we had another super hot and sunny day. Again!

Next...

My potted 4 O'Clock plants are doing well. The flowers keep on coming and the I have begun picking some seeds and give them away....

A Mouse On The Cheese

I got myself a mug cover in Sapporo. It's really cute and I really can make use of it since I tend to have a mug of coffee or tea on my desk everyday when I work. I don't mind a little mouse on my desk as long it is not a real one. This one is harmless and adorable as well as functional.

Finding Mushroom...

There were so many mushroom around this particular tree when I passed by, a few days ago last week. The tree is by the complex, not far from the entrance. It thought, it was really interesting to find them there...

Periwinkle

Getting the seeds from one of my sisters, now the plants have grown week and we have flowers out there in the garden too. My garden is very full now.... I have to think of what to do next.

The Hotties...

These little yellow chilies started popping up in our garden, they are expected to turn to red to be the really hot ones eventually...., to be the true hotties. Hhhhhsshhhh....