Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Ribs

Do you know where to go for tender juicy ribs in Penang? Ribs of course! Situated in one of those pre-war houses along Penang Road right after Nagore Lane and just before Penang Plaza, it is a cozy unpretentious little place which serves a variety of stuffs including pasta, steak burger and ribs. Fantastic food and good value for money too. Oh! And in case you fancy some wine to go with your main course, Ribs has a modest cellar boasting of a vintage or two sure to satisfy your palate.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Favourite Scenes from Roman Holiday









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My Idol, Audrey Hepburn


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I am 13 months old today



See my pox mark??

Saturday, September 24, 2005

A Grandmother's Love


Is there anything greater than a grandmother's love? I really doubt so, especially in Zerlynde's case.

Comrades, Almost a Love Story


An all time favourite of mine starring Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai, also known as "Tien Mi Mi".

My favourite scenes in the movie are when Maggie Cheung tried to block Leon Lai's view of her PIN number at the ATM and when the camera zoomed in to show a Mickey Mouse tattoo on Eric Tsang's back.
Also, there were the unforgettable scenes of the lovers when they first met at McDonalds, when Leon Lai offered to give Maggie a ride home in his bicycle (I love the way she swung her legs in such wild abandonment), when they shared a pathetic piece of melted chocolate and when he buttoned up her coat for her with trembling fingers before they finally kissed on that fateful new year's eve.

Both the main characters are so natural in their acting, Leon Lai looking the typical innocent goody two shoes and Maggie in her characterisation of an ambitious hardworking clever woman. I cannot think of many screen-lovers exuding such powerful chemistry.

Though the movie is remembered most fondly for its sweet romantic moments, its heart-tugging scenes left me with no less an impact. I can still remember the sudden drop of my heart when Maggie left Hong Kong by boat, painfully recognising that love no matter how strong still had to give way to loyalty sometimes. And I remember weeping silently when Maggie went to identify the body of Eric Tsang after he was shot dead in the streets of New York, more specifically when she sobbed uncontrollably at the sight of the tattoo confirming her worst fears.

Oh! And I simply love how the director slots in that last scene providing the missing link to the first scene, finally showing us the whole picture of Leon Lai nodding off back to back with Maggie Cheong in the train upon their first arrival in Hong Kong. Goes to show how fate can sometimes lurks in the most unexpected of places!

My verdict: 10/10. Perfect plot, perfect actors, perfect cinematography, perfect script and perfect soundtrack!

I wish they made more movies like that but I have yet to watch another chinese movie that can match this 1997 hit.
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Friday, September 23, 2005

Le Petit Prince


"On ne voit bien qu'avec le Coeur. L'essential est invisible pour les yeux", the fox told the little prince his secret. It means "it is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye".

Antoine Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince was introduced to me by a friend in year 2000. I cannot believe I spent 30 years of my life oblivious to this gem of a literature!

Since the discovery, I have spent many hours reading and re-reading the book, surfing the net for little trivia and facts and collecting Little Prince memorabilia. I've got books in different languages; the original French version, a Chinese edition and 3 different English editions. Oh! not forgetting I've also got an abbreviated version for Zerlynde.

My favourite character in the book apart from the little prince, is the flower; proud, vain, strong and haughty. She reminds me a little of Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. There are two whole chapters touching on the complex nature of the little prince's feelings towards the flower. You can tell just by looking at the following quotes:

"One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace."

"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her ... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little statagems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her... "

And when the little prince declares, "If some one loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars", now isn't that something?

My other favourite part is the conversation between the little prince and the fox. Apart from the infamous quote written in my first paragraph above, consider the following:

  • The fox : Are you looking for chickens?The little prince : No, I am looking for friends. What does that mean - tame?The fox : It is an act too often neglected. It means to establish ties.
  • You have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat.
  • One only understands the things that one tames. Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me.
  • But in herself alone she (the little prince's rose) is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses..… Because she is my rose.
  • It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.
  • You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose....

Oh! And do you know there's a The Little Prince Musuem in Tokyo? Can anyone beat the Japanese?

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Scratch n Sniff



Zerlynde loves her Scratch n Sniff books. She has two. Scratch n Sniff Garden offers fragrance of roses, lavender, log, newly mown lawn and mint whereas Scratch n Sniff Food provides aroma of banana, pizza, oranges, chocolate and strawberries. Amazing, isn't it?

I love watching her scratch those pages with her little fingers. It's so cute.

Seafood Barbeque

Hubby and I decided to celebrate this year's mid-autumn festival by having a seafood barbeque at home. So we bought some crabs, squid and prawns from the Chai Leng Park market on Sat afternoon before going over to Carrefour to get some other knick-knacks.

We also invited some close friends over at the last minute.

The party started at around 10pm, our baby girl was already fast asleep by then. Nonetheless, we hang her battery-operated powerpuff girl (is that blossom or ...?) lantern up to create "la ambience". The guys started off being gentlemanly and all, barbequing for everybody, up till when they decided to bully one of us girls to take over for the rest of the evening.

The prawns were really delicious but my favourite was still the squid. Thanks to the chicken brand Thai sauce really.


When we ran out of stuffs to barbeque finally, Kenzu ransacked the kitchen and brought us some bananas and sweet potatoes for the stove!

The last guest left at around 2 am, followed immediately by soft patters of the morning rain. I went to check on our baby. She was smiling in her sleep.

Verdict: A super delicious supper! Definitely a must-have-again!

Mum and dad graced the occasion with their "His n Hers"!






















Special Recipe - Barbeque Choco-banana

J'adore the Carrie Look

















One of the nicest things about watching Sex and the City is we girls could pretend we were Carrie with a walk-in wardrobe full of beautiful dresses and high heels, sipping a Cosmopolitan with our best friends in Manhattan. Nevermind we never owned a single piece of Oscar de la Renta in our whole entire life!

I think the most spectacular dress in SATC is the Versace "dress of a thousand layers" that Carrie wore in the last episode in Paris. Seems it has a retail price of us$79,000-00! Hubby please take note....

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Sepet - Malaysian Best Film 2005

I watched Sepet about one and a half months ago. Thanks to a friend who gave me the VCD (original!) knowing that I love films with great cinematography. To be honest, I didn't expect much of the film at first. In my mind, it's just going to be one more of those local productions; mediocre, boring, nothing to shout about. I'd rather be watching the Korean series.

Yet, I was also curious about the film. There were some good reviews on it. And if this discerning friend of mine thought it good enough to share with me, then I should at least give it a chance.

Sepet turned out to be a major surprise. It's so superbly done that I consider it to be a breakthrough as far as the Malaysian film industry is concerned.

Of course, there are some stuffs I don't like about the film, the first being the unrealistic picture depicted of the main actor Jason. That chap actually writes poetry. Isn't that kind of hard to believe? (Tell me how many teenagers of today read poetry, let alone write them?) Next, some of the dialogues are too stiff and unreal they sound like they're being read straight off the script. And that bit when Orked's parents ran around in the house in their sarongs, now, isn't that way too kitsch?

The major let down was that scene when Jason and Orked first met and fell in love at first sight. The director I think was trying to achieve that sort of classic love scene effect found in great films like Gone with the wind, Breakfast at Tiffanys and Cinema Paradiso, but I am sorry to say that it didn't quite make the mark, in my opinion, partly because that scene was a tad too long and partly because it was not accompanied by a powerful soundtrack.

Apart from the above, all else was perfect. I like the contradictory personalities of Orked; gentle yet tenacious, conservative yet liberal. My tribute to Sharifah Amani who plays Orked so naturally. I am sure many hearts melted when she calls Jason "Sayang" in that endearing way of hers. And how well she stood up for herself! Remember that scene in the school when she practically swore at a classmate of hers for teasing her? Isn't that great acting?

Other favourite scenes of mine were at the bus-stop when the lovers sheltered themselves from the rain using plastic bags, the way Orked bent her legs upwards whilst slumping in bed and that dating scene by the lakeside. I must watch Sepet again to discover more finer details.

In summary, I think Sepet is a success mainly because it is honest and unpretentious. Thanks to Yasmin Ahmad who made the film from the heart. This is a film we Malaysians can definitely be very proud of!

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Turquoise, Emerald & Olive - what they mean to me

I just received a sms from a friend saying "I made a great discovery today. My favourite colour is green. Various shades of green" and he went on to say that "green is common thread throughout [his] life eg. turquoise emerald rainforest even song evergreen"

Turquoise. Now who can resist turquoise, part blue and part green, a perfect mix of the two. I remember when my sister Kitty and I first discovered turquoise, we were both so enchanted by it that for a brief period of our lives, we incorporated as much turquoise as we could in our little world, telling everybody about the wonder of our favourite colour, taking pride in having been the first to discover that unique hue. We were in primary school at that time and it was a big deal to us then, seeing as other friends of ours were still experimenting with predictable pink and purple.

Although more than 25 years have since passed, I must confess that my fascination with the colour turquoise has not wavered one bit. And when I think of turquoise now, my mind travels back to that one afternoon when Kenzu and I were travelling with a group of friends in a speed boat heading towards Kapalai from Sipadan. The Celebes Sea, I remember, was an endless paradise of turquoise.

Emerald, on the other hand, did not strike a chord with me - not until about a year ago. Since young, green has always been my least favourite colour. And what is emerald but just another shade of green? My mind was altered, like I said earlier, about a year ago. I was at a jewellery shop, just looking, when from the corner of the glass case, a few emerald rings caught my eyes. They were so dazzling and regal that I was quite stunned for a moment. How did I fail to appreciate the true beauty of that colour all this while, I asked myself.

I think I have got the answer. The manificence of emerald can only truly be appreciated by persons possessing a certain level of maturity and sophistication. It doesn't really appeal very much to the young. And that is why we see only mainly older women wearing emeralds and jades. When I see the colour emerald, I see Elizabeth Taylor, I see queens and empresses, and I see my mother. And because of this last reason especially, emerald today holds a very special and significant meaning to me.

My other favourite shade of green is olive, so subtle and understated and down to earth. And that alone is good enough reason for me.

Chicken Pox Day 6

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Peek-a-boo



Baby Einstein



Ain't I Funky?

These pictures were taken in July when Zerlynde's hair was at that twilight zone point, neither here nor there.

We didn't touch a single strand of her hair since the day she was born. But all except the top part dropped when she's two weeks old.

People advised us to shave her so that thicker hair will grow. I dunno how far is that true. Some even advised shaving the eye brows and cutting the lashes. All in the name of vanity.

We didn't do any of that.

I hope Zerlynde won't blame mummy when she grows up to have thin flyaway hair and sparse eyebrows and lashes.........

Manolo Blahnik



What Zerlynde and Carrie (Sex & The City) have in common

Zerlynde's First Birthday






We celebrated Zerlynde's 1st birthday twice this year. One in BM in our hometown where I now stay with Zerlynde, my parents, my brother & his family. The other in KL where my hubby stays with my sister and brother.

Two parties, two birthday cakes, two homes, 140 guests!

Lucky Zerlynde was showered with enough presents to last her for a long long time. Thanks to our most thoughtful and generous friends.