Shabby

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Pancake day

Today is Pancake Day and also Shrove Tuesday which is the day before Ash Wednesday. This day came about as in the past there were feasts of pancakes to use up the supplies of fat, butter and eggs... foods that were forbidden during Lent which is a period of fasting.

In any case, pancakes are one of my favourite foods so I decided to go down to the City Square to see the Pancake Day festivities that were being held there. There was a police band playing and tents with pancakes for sale. There was also going to be a pancake tossing race but I didn't stay for too long. Didn't want to be under the noon sun...:P


Walking pancake Posted by Picasa

Inspired to have pancakes, I headed to AIX Cafe Creperie Salon to get my lunch - a crepe is similar to a pancake anyway :). Got a roasted peach with amaretto and ricotta crepe...Yummy!


My lunch Posted by Picasa

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Lucky lucky

Was just about to head to the market but then decided to come home as the sky was really darkening and there was going to be a thunderstorm. Soon as we got home, it started to rain...and then it hailed for a while even! Heheheh! So exciting! Luckily we were safely home :)

Only thing is now we have no food for the week. Might have to go to the market tomorrow instead then.

Have been having a tough time limping around these couple of days. We had a fire drill at our office building on Thursday and had to climb down 25 storeys. I didn't feel too bad after that but apparently my knees did not feel the same. After the fire drill, I was going for lunch with a colleague and upon meeting a tiny step in the road, my knees decided that they had enough work for one day and gave way. I found myself almost flat on the road. Luckily there was not many people around or cars passing by at that time even. :(

Suffered a gash in one knee and bruises on the other. Went to a nearby pharmacy and a nice lady there cleaned up my gash and even gave me a discount on the plasters...hehehe!

Having a wound on the knee is really not great - it is incredibly hard to go on stairs without a rip. Hope it dries up soon. Scary picture of wound ahead...


Poor knee Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Bunny rubs

It is quite satisfying to give Bobbi bunny her head rubs :D. She really does like it and shows her appreciation by purring. Can't actually hear it but you can feel the vibrations on her head. She is really quite an affectionate little fella and will follow me around in her cage. If I could hear her, I bet she is calling for more head rubs...hehehe!


Hmmm...where shall I run to next? Posted by Picasa

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Beautiful cupcakes

Went with Charli to Prahran Market this morning (Darlink went to play badminton). Thought I would get some marketing done there as we did not go to the market yesterday. Unfortunately, many of the stalls were not open (should remember never to go marketing on Sunday at any market :(). Anyway, I had another reason to go there - wanted to find the Crabapple Bakery which I read had beautiful cupcakes.

The shop (although in the market) is really quite pretty. Lots of English style teapots and tea cups around and generally a girly place. We sat down for tea and tried 3 of the cupcakes, one flourless chocolate, one lemon and one white chocolate raspberry. They all looked so pretty it was rather difficult cutting them up :P


Look at the cakes! Posted by Picasa


Pretty tea set & cupcakes Posted by Picasa


Flourless chocolate cupcake for Darlink Posted by Picasa


Charli trying to eat a rose...hehehe! Posted by Picasa

Friday, February 17, 2006

Cute little animals


Sleeping kitten Posted by Picasa


Little Jack Russell Posted by Picasa

Went past the pet shop today at lunch time and spotted some cute little creatures :)

Lavender cookies


Lavender cookies Posted by Picasa

Just tried baking cookies with the lavender that I bought from our recent visit to a lavender farm. Only certain types of lavender can be used for cooking so you have to make sure you have the one of the right ones (Egerton Blue, Munstead, Hidcote or English Lavender). These are quite yummy! The lavender gives the cookies a really nice scent.

INGREDIENTS:
5/8 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon lavender flowers
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

METHOD:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat the egg, and blend into the butter and sugar. Mix in the lavender flowers and the flour. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden. Remove cookies to cooling racks.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

My favourite radio station

Oooh!!! The streaming for Class 95 is working quite well now! Some time back I tried to listen to it online but it was not streaming properly. But we are listening to it right now and it makes me SSSOOOO happy to hear familiar voices and different songs, unlike the same things they keep playing over and over on the radio stations here.

What is your temperament?

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything.
You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life.
You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you.

Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace.
You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life.
Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times.

At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you.
You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others.
You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Giant cupcakes & heart balloons


Giant cupcakes Posted by Picasa


Balloon trees Posted by Picasa

The background for the Meropark window has also been changing in time for Valentine's Day as well. There have been giant cupcakes and heart-shaped balloon trees...how pretty! :)

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Bobbi's bottom


Bobbi's bottom
Originally uploaded by rabbittobunny.
Look at her cute fuzzy tail!

My first peg dolly

Have been inspired through various sources to make one of these (look here and here too!). When I came across pretty fabric scraps and the wooden pegs during our trip last week to Gippsland (we were in Yarragon Village), I couldn't help getting some and managed to put my first one together last night :) It doesn't look too bad does it? But I wish I could do better with the face.


Peg dolly Posted by Picasa


Closer up Posted by Picasa

Friday, February 10, 2006

Sun Smart

Attended a talk today on being Sun Smart, part of the health and safety emphasis that our company has.

It was quite funny when the nurse who was giving us the talk asked everyone in the room to stand up and then got groups of people to sit down if the questions she asked applied to them. On the first question (did you grow up in Australia?), three-quarters of the room sat down. After the third question, only a handful of people remained standing (I think the Asian % was significant then, it seems that Asians are more likely to keep out of the sun) and these were the people who weren't in the high risk category.

Learnt some interesting facts about skin cancer :-

* 1 in 2 Aussies will get skin cancer at some point (that is scary, just growing up in Australia makes you high risk, even worse if you are in Queensland).

* Skin cancer is caused by UV rays which have nothing to do with the temperature. Even if it is cold, you can still get sunburnt at the times when the UV index is high.

* Here in Melbourne, September to April (10am to 2pm/ 11am to 3pm (during daylight savings)) is when you must have sunscreen on whatever the temperature is because that is when the index is high.

It's a little bit hard to attune to putting on sunscreen when the weather is < 20 degrees these days but now I will definitely make a note of that.

Wonder why we never bother with sunscreen while we are in Singapore although it is near the equator...lots of cloud cover? Maybe we should have too!

Read more about being Sun Smart here.

Funny Blobby behaviour

Blobby has been growing up with my numerous postings and has been spotted doing some funny things.


Pooping


Catching food from the sky


Up close and personal

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Funny sightings on Tag Friends

Noticed that with Valentine's Day around the corner, the zombees (unregistered visitors) are wearing strawberry hats and emitting hearts...hehehe! Quite funny!



Ancraophobia

I think I have developed some amount of ancraophobia (fear of wind) no thanks to the strong winds that sometimes blow here. It was rainy and windy this morning...it was not good. Even though the wind was not very strong, I was a little afraid of stepping out into the open to cross the road :( Had to hang around a bit in the shelter of a building till the wind lightened up.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

A question

News these days have got me pondering on on why certain things happen...what are people thinking?


Which is more important?
Peace
Freedom of speech
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Friday, February 03, 2006

My pot of flowers for Mammo

That pretty pot of flowers is what Mammo got from me as a birthday surprise!

New tea (AGAIN!)

Heard that Charli will be going to Singapore for work next week. Was rather excited because I thought that I might be able to receive/send presents from/to my Mammo and sis. After some deliberation, we decided that we didn't want to trouble dear Charli but at that time, I was in the tea shop thinking of getting Mammo some tea. So in the end, I ended up with tea for myself! :P

I got 2 nice ones. One is a black tea with lots of rose petals and one is called Champagne Rosé which is a black tea flavoured with strawberry and champagne and has pink sugar balls in it! Just the description alone makes me happy...drinking it is even better :D.

I will probably send some to Mammo in the post anyway since that will not incur a bomb in postage...

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

My snow pea plants


Snow pea Posted by Picasa


Snow pea pots Posted by Picasa

The snow pea is doing quite well this time due to the alternating wet and warm weather that we have been having. This is actually the second lot. The first ones didn't do very well at all and I had to restart...Looks much better this time. Don't think I will be eating them though...maybe Bobbi bunny can have them.

A New Year present

I received a parcel from my sis and Mammo today! :) Had my all important skin care items, lots of cute little stuff as well as a can of tea from The Republic of Tea which Derek (the sis's bf) brought back from Washington. Yummy!


Stuff for me! Posted by Picasa


The contents of the egg - Tiny toaster with toast! Posted by Picasa

Today is also Mammo's birthday! Although I wasn't there to celebrate it, I did manage to organise a surprise for her :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMMO!