October 1, 2006 Hope you enjoy this song. I think I played it everyday at one point in my life 
and it’s still one of my all time favourite song.
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September 30, 2006 
I recently read an article in Marie Claire about a woman following a Japanese diet after reading the book ‘Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat’ and managed to lose 1/2 stone in 2 months. To me, Japanese food is not about dieting, it’s about enjoying authentic taste in food and feeling absolutely great even after stuffing yourself with rolls of sushi and ‘pints’ of green tea!
Yes, I love it all, whether it’s due to its close resemblance to chinese food or the fact that I love fish which features commonly in Japanese food. I even make sushi at home every now and then to quench my thirst for Japanese cuisine. Some of my English friends have never ventured Japanese food further than the pre-packed sushi from supermarket. Some thought it tastes bland, not surprisingly, because he’s indian. I think they are missing out one of the finest cuisine in the world.
Japanese restaurants are a lot more common in England now than they were a few years ago, not least because people are turning a little more health conscious and increasing obesities. I am no french and am probably not as particular about food than they are. But I can’t help to share my sympathy when it comes to critics on how unpalatable and boring British food is. It’s always fish and chips, burger or chicken tikka and countless of pizza and pasta chains. To me, it’s a good sign that international cuisines are more and more common here and hopefully with a little bit more competition, they can be more affordable. But before that happens, I think I have to work on my cooking skills a little more to enjoy fine and healthy meals.
Just one year ago, I had to go to Japanese specialties shops to buy simple ingredients like silk tofu, miso paste and wasabe for my sushi. But it’s no longer necessary these days thanks to giant supermarket like Tesco. They are all on the shelf just like baked beans and potato crisps. Better still, we managed to buy some pickled ginger that taste as good as those in Japanese restaurants and we absolutely go crazy about it.
It’s just so easy to make a simple non-fatty meal these days. Mix miso paste in hot water, boil some soba noodles, pour soup into noodles and cut several cubes of tofu into the soup and sprinkle with spring onion and voil�. You can even find space to finish your meal with a few pieces of fruits like melon and some strawberries to complete a wholesome meal! Ideally I would recommend fruits in between meals for maximum health benefits. It’s a change from pasta and pasta sauce from the can!
Related blog entries: Posted in Birds, Sophie's World 2 Comments »
September 26, 2006 I just had the pleasure of attending a high school friend’s wedding last weekend. I always like to attend weddings, it’s such an exciting experience seeing people getting married. You always see the sweetest moments of a couple during their wedding. So much good things are said about each other and so on and so forth. Of course the most enjoyable experience is being able to dress up!
There’s a tradition in England that the ladies will wear hats when attending weddings. I think it’s a really delightful tradition. I also love the fact that most British really dress up for weddings and take the ceremony seriously. It shows respect to the wedding couple. On the contrary, it seems that in the Far East, at least from that part of the world that I came from, people don’t really dress up for weddings. I even had guests turning up in jeans and t-shirts at my wedding! Having said that, there seems to be a change in dressing sense at weddings these days. People are becoming wealthier and more exposed to the western culture. What’s more, it’s the perfect excuse to splash on clothes and get pretty.
I once thought of becoming a wedding planner. The idea of working with wedding couples at their happiest moments was really attractive until I realised that it was probably also the most stressful moments. You just have to get everything right and perfect from tip to toe. But still, I love weddings, one of my favourite events.:)
Related blog entries: Posted in Sophie's World 1 Comment »
September 24, 2006 
There’s a statue of liberty in New York. We all know that. There’s, however, also a statue of liberty in Paris, albeit 1/4 in size to the one in New York, standing on the Isle de Grenelle (on the River Seine) 1.5km from the Eiffel Tower. When I was in Paris last week, my French colleague pointed out to me that that was the original version of the statue of liberty. I couldn’t comment really, and accepted the answer as final, as I didn’t know it even exists!
After some careful trawl on the Internet, it turns out that there’s yet another statue of liberty in Jardin du Luxembourg, claims to be the first model, built in 1870! This really adds to the controversy on which one is the original. But what’s not in question is the statue of liberty in New York was gifted by the French
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September 21, 2006 Have been really into the mood of having some wine to go with meals at home lately, particulary Italian dishes that tend to have a lot of cream and cheese. But a bottle between the two of us on a weekday is too much. We only want the wine to accompany the meal, not to get pissed. So it’s always a waste to see a good bottle of wine turns sour after a day and we eventually have to pour down the sink.
Recently I came up with a plan, that was to buy a 3-litre box of wine that come with a tap. Apparently the quality of the wine in such box can be maintained for up to 6 weeks. Wonderful, couldn’t believe that I came across this alternative packaging of wine only as recently as 3 months ago, when my brother in Malaysia opened a box gifted by his aussie friend.
But what I hadn’t realised was, I was told by my French colleague that there’s such thing known as a vacuum wine pump and stopper! Like what’s said on the label, you can extracts the air from the opened bottle using the vacuum pump and reseals it with a special reusable rubber stopper. Doing so slows down the oxidation process, allowing you to enjoy the wine for a longer period, up to a week or two. Brilliant isn’t it.
So looks like our tolerance of alcohol is not in question. This is further confirmed when I had the dinner of my life, so far, in Paris with my work partners few days ago. There were six of us, three French, and we didn’t even finish 2 bottles of wine. But we did however start with Champagne, and finished off with Armagnac to settle the stomach though (Have to admit that the French really do take their food and wine seriously.)
Posted in Hobbies, Wisdom 3 Comments »
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