You've got mail

A very talented friend was one of the artists invited to vandalise one of the otherwise plain and boring mailboxes/postboxes right smacked in town under the STAMP project recently.





So, why this illustration? Read about it here. Do drop by and check the mailbox out!

In all honesty... i really like the outlandish lines, the funny sheep clouds.. fish on stilts (which reminds me of Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish) and the journey of the girl with the red balloon is taking. i wish that i was the girl with the red balloon... just going places.. and exploring... endless possibilities really.

Well... i'm looking forward to her exhibition in March with a Red and White theme.. with free wine, booze, cheese and pictures to see. And bookmarks to collect!! i'd love to have a piece of her original art... but i can't afford it!!! AARRRGGGHHH!!!

Do drop by if you are interested in looking at the whole series. Info will be up on her website soon (still under construction).

ETA: While IMing the artist last night... i was saying how i like balloons and how her painting reminded me of other books that featured balloons and their possibilities...

Do you know which ones thery are?


You Can't Take a Balloon into the National Gallery (Picture Puffins) by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Glasser

You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum (Picture Puffins) by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Glasser

You Can't Take a Balloon into the Museum of Fine Arts (Fairytale Foil Books) by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Glasser


Not forgetting one of my fave books

Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell

I'm inspired

With my new toy...i am inspired..

well.. especially after my not-so-great-looking but good-tasting attempt.. i will try try again.

And i'm amazed at the collection that the library has... for the beginner to the expert.




Cakes to Dream On: A Master Class in Decorating (Hardcover)
by Colette Peters (Author)



Wedding Cakes You Can Make: Designing, Baking, and Decorating the Perfect Wedding Cake (Hardcover)
by Dede Wilson (Author)



Tempt: Cupcakes to Excite (Hardcover)
by Betty Saw (Author)


Well.. given the amount of time that i had.. i decide to try one recipe from Tempt, so i made these tonight!!!



Chocolate mud muffins.. i think that they taste great!! And are sososo moist and yummy!!

p/s.. to the person who may be thinking of asking me to make a wedding cake.. do note that my attempt to make fudge icing for the mudffins failed!!!! So... even though i would want to try... you better be prepared to eat all the failed cake attempt products!!!

Objectively Newbery?

As a librarian, I aim to read all the award winners to update myself on the books that have garnered notice over the year.

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Author), Matt Phelan (Illustrator) is one of this year's winner. However, it does seems that many librarians have found this book to be objectionable, mainly due to the fact that it contains the word, "scrotum" which normally doesn't appear often, especially in children’s literature. And on the first page for that matter.

From the NY Times,

"The book’s heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum."

"The inclusion of the word has shocked some school librarians, who have pledged to ban the book from elementary schools, and reopened the debate over what constitutes acceptable content in children’s books. The controversy was first reported by Publishers Weekly, a trade magazine."


Well.. seems that this book is banned in some libraries.. i wonder if it'd be in ours. Now.. i really can't wait to get my hands on this book and read for myself.

Cheesy Wheezy...

I'm looking forward to this sappy movie!

Kekekek



And this song is very nice.



Will be definitely checking out this movie when it is out

Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore

Made these

Creamy mash potatoes with cucumber and shitake mushroom salad with my latest toy.




And curry puffs.. need more work though... i think i lost my touch.. after all, the last time i made them was over 8 years ago.

It is things like these...

that makes me feel happy.

i used to have a lecturer who really made my lessons a real joy to attend during my masters program. He was very knowledgeable, entertaining.. and even made the dictionary interesting to us.

He often tells the students that reference work is either triumph or anguish... you either find it or not.

Hence, it was a surpise that he sent us a email on a reference enquiry. Now.. if he couldn't find the answer... who could?

When we first saw the question... my colleague and i just went.. woah... what to do?

Even though i was on duty, the enquiry by right was not mine to handle. But i was really curious after all.. and just did some searches on it.

As i searched for the answer, i grew more and more confident that i was able to find the answer to his enquiry.

And yes i did give him a most satisfactory answer to his enquiry.. even though i believe the answer isn't exactly what he was expecting at all.

There's a whole twist to the reference enquiry.

Needless to say.. after i closed the enquiry... i was jumping up and down.. and doing my evil laughter in the office.

Muarharharharharhar..

The feeling of solving a puzzle that your ex-lecturer couldn't solve?

PRICELESS!!

Darn funny...

My friend told me about this ad..



darn funny..

and just in case you are wondering..

yes, we get such people in the library..

yes, we try not to roll our eyes..

i got it!!!

picture taken from www.tabletools.com

Am so broke now..

P/s... manniqueen.. you sure you want a cake from me for your birthday? I can most certainly attempt!!!!

Enriching classes

i have always enjoy cooking and baking and stuff like that.

My only main gripe is that well.. the kitchen at home doesn't really belong to me.. mum would always grumble when i attempt to make a mess.. else you'd always be nagging at me to clean up (especailly when i'm not done yet!!). The other thing that really bugs me is that i do not have control over what's in the kitchen. Missing essential stuff, incorrect equipment and such.

It's like if i wanted to bake... i have to buy myself an oven and a whole bunch of baking equipment cos mum's stuff are either incomplete or non-existence (which i did last year btw).

And in order to make the foodstuff, i have to ensure that all the ingredients are present. And sometimes.. the most basic stuff like garlic powder or honey would mysteriously disappear (used finish and not replaced), and i will have to run out whilst cooking/baking/preparing to the nearest store to get.

i loved my kitchen when i was staying overseas.. constantly making stuff.. and the best part was that i didn't have to wash up.. my housemate would be the one doing that.. afterall i'd be cooking you know?

Experimented with tons of stuff.. to the extend of making our very own dough fritters from scratch cos we need that extra ooommmpphhh to our rojak. And my chicken curry puffs are legendary. hee hee hee..

i bought myself a small oven last year and i had a blast with it.... baking cookies and stuff.. really simple..

However, most of it aren't for human consumption though.. though you are most welcome to try. I did get feedback that they are most drool-worthy.



It was really great that my company offered some enrichment classes for us recently. It didn't really had much to do with work other then team building, and getting us to work in groups which my group did really well, we ended up getting the top prize in the whole exercise.

What kind of classes did i attend?

Floral arrangement at Far East Floral and baking at Baking Industry Training Centre .

I didn't have the flowers to show for it..

But baking was really fun.. it was wonderful to be in a fully equipped kitchen, with everything (equipment and ingredients) within reach.

Made these 2 cakes over the 2 half day courses that everyone was raving about.



Top: Black Forest Cake, Bottom: French Chocolate Cake.

Frightfully easy to make... just need to ensure that you have the right equipment.

Darn.. i can't wait to buy a cake mixer next to start baking.

ETA: i want a kitchenaid mixer in RED!! Found out that it is the best there is... even chubbyyhubby raves about it here, here, and here

Brilliant Book to Film movie

allo..

i'm back.. noono.. not becos i couldn't type due to my injury.. just got caught up in real life.. too many things to do and so little time.

I had so many things to blog about.. but .. having put everything off for so long.. guess it is not that important anyway.

But I just wanted to say how impressed i was with the film adaptation of Perfume: The story of a murderer.

I have fears that it'd turn out crappy like Eragon.

But i'm so glad that it didn't. So i have been raving about the movie to everyone i know. But i think that it's having/had a short run in the theatres here though, afterall.. it's not really considered a main stream commerical flick.

The other movie that it would seeing is Pan's Labyrinth. A most disturbing film... i guess .. at the end of the movie.. i couldn't stop thinking about it.. and you know.. trying to get my questions answered.

I'm glad to discover that it was nominated for Best foreign language film of the year and had scooped seven awards at the Spain's top film awards, Goya awards, including best script and best new actress for young star Ivana Baquero.