'Stock taking'

Hi everyone,

It's a quiet Sunday morning at my end.

I woke up at 6.30 am and after my morning prayer I started preparing breakfast! Here's today's breakfast!

.

Spinach monay and roasted potatoes! Of course the recipe for spinach mornay came from my cooking guru I remember I enjoyed eating mornay while in Tatton Park and Chester during my recent holiday in England.

After breakfast I started re-shelving my books - ahhhh, I need additional booksheves! While re-shelving, I get this idea of doing some kind of stock taking of books that I bought or acquired in 2008:

General interest/Memoir:

1. Scheherazade Goes West - Different Cultures, Different Harems" by Fatema Mernissi
2. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
3. The Cave of the Yellow Dog by Byambasuren Davaa & Lisa Reisch
4. The Road to Mecca by Muhammad Asad
5. Tree Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
6. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
7. Growing up in Trengganu by Awang Goneng
8. The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
9. The Garden of Truth – The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
10. Perilous Power – The Middle East and US Foreign Policy , Doalogues on Terro, Democracy, War and Justice by Noam Chomsky & Gilbert Achcar (yet to be finished )
11. From a Persian Tea House – Travels in Old Iran by Michael Carroll (yet to be finished )
12. Alek Wek – The Extraordinary Life of a Sudanese Refugee by Alek Wek (yet to be read)
13. The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop – A Memoir, a History by Lewis Buzbee (just bought this title, will begin reading it today)

It seems like most of the titles that I have been reading is either a memoir or a true story. I must admit that I am not so much into fiction. But I do read fiction and will continue reading it:

Fiction:

1. The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho
2. The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
3. The Kite Runner by Khalid Hossseini (yet to be read)
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini (yet to be read)
5. By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho (yet to be read)

It looks like I have only been reading fiction by Paulo Coelho! But not to worry I have two titles by Khalid Hosseini -in my waiting list - it's a Christmas gift from Herbie. It is Khalid Hosseini signed copy limited edition set! Thank you H!

.

There are also few titles on gardening or plant but not much can be practised since I moved to the new condo which has no balcony! Due to that Herb bought me books on bonsai, but I am yet to really work on bonsai .... I think I nead a 'real' guru

Gardening:

1. Bonsai Master Classic by Craig Coussins (from Herb)
2. Bonsai School – The Complete Guide Course in Care, Training & Maintenance by Craig Coussins (from Herb)
3. The Complete Practical Encyclopedia of Bonsai by Ken Norman
4. A Guide to Common Plants of Ayer Hitam Forest, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia by I-Faridah-Hanum and Shamsul Khamis (from Herb)
5. Trees and Fruits of Southeast Asia – An Illustrated Field Guide by Michael Jensen (from Herb)

And the new subject that started to fill up my bookshelves are books about travelling or places of tourist attractions as well as cookery books.

Travel:

1. Ghosts of Spain – Travel Through a Country’s Hidden Past by Giles Tremlett
2. Andalucia (Lonely Planet)
3. Spain (Rough Guide)
4. 1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die
5. Seeing and Understanding Andalusia
6. All Cordoba
7. An Easy Guide to Cordoba – Yesterday and Today
8. 100 Greatest Trips – From The Editors of the World’s Leading Travel Magazine (3^rd edition)

Cookery:

1. The One-Dish Bible
2. Around the World in 450 Recipes
3. Authentic Mexican – Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico by Rick Bayless with Deann Groen Bayless
4. Fast and Healthy by Flora Airey

So, those are the books on my book shelves. How about you? Is there your favorite titles that you have read in 2008 that you would like to share with us here? Please feel free to do so.

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were,

fondle them - peer into them, let them fall open where they will,

read from the first sentence that arrests the eye,

set them back on the shelves with your own hands,

arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are.

Let them be your friends;

let them at any rate be your acquaintances."

(Sir Winston Churchill)

 

And not to forget, to all my Muslim friends "Happy New Year" 1430H. 29th December 2008 is the 1st Muharam 1430H in Islamic calendar (Muharam is the first month in Islamic calendar). May Allah bless us for the coming new year.

Love - Larra

 

It's a new day ....

.

Life has its own way of telling me how I feel

.....

Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea
You know how I feel
River running free
You know how I feel
Blossom on a tree
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done, that's what i mean
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine
You know how I feel
Ohh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
It's a new dawn
It's A NEW DAY
It's a new life
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
It's a new way
For me

And I'm feeling good

.
(Song by Michael Buble "Feeling Good")

the sound of rain drops

.

I was

trying to capture

the sound of rain drops

that fall

on my red rose.

I heard happiness

-- of a lonely red rose

-- of a longing rain

Did you hear it?

~~ larra ~~

December 10, 2008: It's a Special Day!

 

Happy Birthday !!!

HerbMaster

May God bless you.

May all you dreams come true.

I.L.Y!

~ Larra ~

.

.

Psssst: I baked the cake, but since you're not here I ate it all myself.

Meet the new Chef in town!

 

I am changing career again.

No regret, I swear!

Been practicing a lot lately.

I am a very persistent cook (too shy to call myself Chef ) nowadays .... since my weight gone down to 42 kg (end of October)

Here's the resolution: Eat more cheese!

But the main problem is I_don't_like_cheese. And on top of that, I used to have Irritable Bowel Syndrome which very allergic to cheese and other dairy products. But the last 1 year or so, I have slowly included cheese in my diet (mostly because of HerbMaster, he loves cheese so much ).

It started with cheese biscuits which I ate while holiday in England last year and has fallen inlove ever since; and Herb brought me stock of cheese biscuits when he visited me April this year. After that I tried feta cheese , which according to Herb is a 'young' cheese that is not too strong in taste. And I kind of like that feta cheese though - even though it's not Herb's favorite cheese; he likes blue cheese that smell like a sock that has not been washed for months! .The new finding was eating feta cheese with celery stick! It's yummy and crunchy, I feel like a rabbit! Last month I bought cream cheese (it's expensive!! ) - which has milder taste than cheese and started looking for recipes that using cream cheese.

My first try was Spinach Potato Galette . I have also found the crispy version of galette which I would like to try someday.

Then followed by Spinach Cream Cheese Quiche

. .

Ingredients: for the filling - cream cheese, spinach, egg, cayenne pepper, mustard, nutmeg, chives.

The 2nd try , I still used spinach but I have added prawn (that was sauteed in butter with onion) and left out the chives and mustard.

The 3rd time was yesterday when I cooked Salmon quiche. I used fresh salmon that I boiled for 10 minutes before turning it into salmon flakes. If you look at the picture, I still use spinach - not just because I like spinach, Herb and I has also discovered that spinach is one of the 12 food that can keep you look young and healthy.

.

Since yesterday was a public holiday, I have also cooked my all time favorite Roasted fruit with Honey.

Yesterday I used persimmon, peach, red pear and plum.

Ingredients for the caramel: honey, sugar, cinnamon stick - if you don't like the taste of cinnamon, don't use cinnamon powder!, cloves, vanilla, orange zest and juice, bay leaf, black pepper (after cooking it the fourth time I discovered that it tastes better with more black pepper ) and nutmeg.

Cooking this roasted fruit is easy, but occasionally - like every 10-15 minutes - you need to bathe the fruit with the honey mixture. Not just the fruit taste better after being roasted, the whole house smell heaven while the fruit being roasted! (imagine the aroma of vanilla, orange zest and cinnamon - in fact you MUST NOT omit orange zest ! )

The other day I tried roasted pumpkin with mixed vegetables and shrimp. Did I tell you that I am a pumpkin eater I also like butternut squash - but it is not easy to find it in Malaysia and very expensive too.

So, having tell you my secrets ..... do I look like I have put on some weight? I am now almost 45 kg!

Note: If you have any home made recipes that you would like to share please feel free to do soo! Your contributions to me putting on weight are very much appreciated and will be fondly remembered!

 

Spinach Cream Cheese Quiche

My first attempt (the first 4 photos) of making quiche. It all started when I bought a quite expensive 'creme cheese' and dont know what to do with it! lol. You know our daily diet rarely use cheese or creme chees.
The last photo was my second attempt where the filling was different - this time I added prawns

Hajj and the Celebration of Eid Adha

In Saudi Arabia, Within the City Of Makkah, you will find a grand mosque called 'Al-Haram Shareef'. Within this blessed and very holy mosque is the 'Kaabah Shareef', built by Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Hazrat Ismail (Ishmael).

This is the place where millions of Muslims from across the globe unite annually and perform The Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage, an obligation for all able muslims who have the health and wealth to perform it atleast once in their lifetime, One of the 5 Pillars Of Islam.

Every year, millions of Muslims from around the world make the journey to Makkah, Saudi Arabia, for the annual pilgrimage (or Hajj). Dressed in the same simple white clothing to represent human equality, the pilgrims gather to perform rites dating back to the time of Abraham.

At the end of the Hajj , Muslims throughout the world celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). In 2008, Eid al-Adha will begin on December 8th, and will last for three days.

During the Hajj, Muslims remember and commemorate the trials and triumphs of the Prophet Abraham. While celebration of Eid al-Adha, Muslims commemorate and remember Abraham's trials, by themselves slaughtering an animal such as a sheep, camel, or goat.

 

I feel brand new

Date: 5th December 2008

Time: 6.30 am

Venue: Kelana Jaya Train Station Car Park

I stepped out of my car

cold morning breeze

touching my cheeks.

It felt fresh.

Early morning rain

has washed away

----- the dusk

----- the dirt

----- the sin

I felt brand new!

HAPPY FRIDAY everyone!

Charlie and Me

I don't want to die wondering.

Nobody should die wondering.

I have been wiping my tears for two consecutive Sundays.

They said, tears are wounds that heart can't express.

Maybe it's true .......

I don't cry easily.

But I can easily cry when something, someone touched my heart.

Last Sunday afternoon - after having lunch - I watched this film on TV called "Charlie and Me". Maybe some of you have watched it.

It's a 2007 film, about a twelve year-old Casey and her beloved grandfather Charlie.

After a severe heart attack, Charlie (played by Tom Bosley) ties up loose ends in his life by spending more time with his granddaughter Casey(Jordy Benattar) and helping his son (James Gallanders) recover from the death of his wife and reconnect with his daughter.

It's not a movie that full with sad scenes. It is just a heartfelt movie, especially the dialogues or some of the scenes which are funny and happy but it made you shed your tears instead.

Charlie is the kind of man who lives his life to the fullest, even though after his wife passed away. He said:

I live my life as if this is heaven, now I am going home.

Hmmmmmm, I wonder whether I am ready to go home. But I know I'll die wondering if I die now.