Madeleines

I wanted to bake madeleines for my niece and nephew that were coming and my sister in law whom my mother in law was visiting yesterday, but with my niece only giving me a 5-minute notice, even the superwoman could not make it happen. In ended up serving pandan sponge cupcakes from Friday night that were still good to eat. (They are alive!)

I love the extra space that I have now in the kitchen and the bright natural light that comes through the window. On daily basis, the dust is also flown in as there so many constructions are being done in the area. Some are near and some are quite far but still visible from our place.

Madeleines are simple and straightforward to make. In a very short time they are ready to eat and to go. Our family likes them too and they could eat quite a bit. A box to go was for sister in law.

He Is Around...

My dad was gone when I was a little girl, 38 years ago on this date. The culprit was heart attack, according to some hearsay that was never confirmed by any doctors that we knew of. He fell and died, said his friend that went with him to another city. My mum was merely 45 years old housewife with nine kids, one more than Kate Gosselin has. She also had no source of income. Life was tough and harsh for her, especially in the early years....

I knew very little about my dad. I remember almost nothing other than little stuff told by my mother and my siblings. In fact I don't really trust the memory that I have of him. I have his pictures when we traveled during the holidays. I have some family pictures with him taken about two weeks prior to his departure. That's very much it.

This day, I think of him much more and put down here this poem by Mary Frye about life after death. Very beautiful. And I love to envision of my dad this way...

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die

Cooler Morning After

We had a thundery evening. Lightning struck one after another even before the darkness fell. The night was a little cold, but it was nothing compared to the coldness in Colorado for sure. But it was a cold evening and we had a cool night indeed. My little girl was patiently waiting for the lightning to come and capture them with her camera, leaving me alone in the kitchen preparing dinner all by myself.



Subsequently, the morning we had was a nice and cool one. We had waffles for breakfast with DH's mom who was in town after returning from her trip to Shanghai with DH. I prepared some strawberry sauce made from scratch and homemade applesauce to accompany the waffles. It was a beautiful Sunday morning.

Before College Starts

I don't feel much Halloween-ey around this area, unlike our previous place. Moreover compared to my college daughter's Virginia campus, that according to her in her own language: "Halloween is such a huge huge huge deal here and it’s just crazy!....." Here... mmmpppfhhh.... ssshhhh...quiet....

Speaking of college, here are the pictures from last August. The building is the famous one called the Rotunda, located in the Lawn of the original grounds of the UVA. The Rotunda was designed by Thomas Jefferson and completed in 1827.

The event is a gathering for freshmen prior to the start of the college.

Colors In The Morning

Not every morning we could get some beautiful colors in the sky. Here's a shot from yesterday morning around 6:35AM .... Awesome, isn't?

It Takes Five Years

In the summer of 2004, we traveled to the USA and Canada. We visited Victoria Island, British Columbia too, which I believe is the place where we got this chess set from. The top of the base was made of glass so DH carefully hand-carried the box around the airport. We never opened the wrapping, it was in its original box. We never really had the space for that. At some point, DH attempted to bring it to Jakarta to be put in his apartment there, but I think, he did not had enough space and decided to leave it for a while. Then it was forgotten.

I placed the box under the printer for a couple of years to provide base and support and elevate the printer's height to a more comfortable level. It was meant to be temporary but it continued until we moved out of the previous house.

Finally, we moved and had a bigger space, a bigger living room for once. DH opened it one day and put the set on the table in the living room. Nice. They are out after five years in captivity.

The City Is My Gym

That's a quote mentioned by Judith Light on TV about her way to lose some weight, she walked a lot around the city she was in. A tiny little part of that works for me. I love to walk, but I doubt if I could lose weight because of that. I feel healthier though, which is good. I am glad that it is so much nicer to walk these days because I can walk along the side of the river. Many people walk, jog or run. Many walk their dogs. Many use the path to get to places of their destination. I just need the sun to hide a bit more often.....

We had Stuffed Mushrooms last night for dinner. They are K's favorite... cream cheese, parmesan cheese, sausages.... and more.. Surely delish! I need that walk after having many of them. Burn those calories!

Pink Lily

I hope this is pink Lily. I am sure of the name of the flower but in terms of color, it could be purple. I managed to get some a couple of days ago after finding out that some markets nearby do not sell flowers. I love the smell and I love the beauty of them...

Eleventh Morning, 6:22AM

I am still in love with the sunrise and sunset, the picture below was taken this morning at 6:22AM. Gorgeous colors.

Morning number 11. What happened to the first 10 days? I barely noticed that many days have slipped by in front of me. It's so absolutely crazy how fast the time went by. The kids went back to school after midterm break, DH is in Shanghai. Life is good. Have a great week!

After Dinner ...

Chilling out in the terrace, looking at the city lights in the cool and nice evening after dinner.... just nice.