Things That Make Me Smile

I love all the technologies we're blessed with living in the USA in 2011. We can easily make silly driving videos like this one.

A New Chapter begins with Spring part 3

Spring is finally starting to actually show itself..  its still pretty cold at night , dipping down to -10C or so ..   I keep checking my little cold frames and they are doing okay , a tad too cold for any real planting yet ... but i did try a row of romaine lettuce , directly seeded , and under a small frame.  If it works , Ill be having fresh lettuce soon :))  

I turned the bottom of a wooden shelf unit into a tiny green house, complete with grow light and Mylar walls, should speed things along nicely.  

The goats and sheep , in their winter pen.  We are building a nice big open pasture area for them next week, 

The egg layers are VERY happy its spring , so they can get out and peck around.  198 arrive next week , and the fun will begin ! 

Some of the trays of seeds that we started in the 80x20 greenhouse :)  Lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and many different herbs.  

Making a cold frame from old green house plastic , and part of a packing crate ...  just need a few tacks and its done. Best part is .. 100% free!! lol 

Another project in my yard ... a new compost bin is in the works , right beside the garden this time. I'm having some fun , and building everything from scrap lumber and pieces... its slowly getting finished. I also made a bunch of bird feeder platforms from old cedar shingles :)   

A little experiment in my garden, last season i cut all the sunflower heads off and placed them face down in a small garden,  I want to see if I can create a sunflower patch this way .  I checked, and the birds didn't get all the seeds.. so maybe ?? lol 

I hope you are enjoying this set of posts ?  Please follow the link below to leave any comments or suggestions .    Happy Gardening Everyone :))

the reason why i suddenly disappear, i got a bunch of things to do at home.

okay it is now 120am, i really need to shut down my laptop as soon as possible and sleep before 2am! tomorrow gonna be a big day. eh tak la big sgt pun. ada interview, tapi relax je kan? baju pun tak decide lagi. yer, jgn contohi. oh yar, regarding to the title above it is actually, kalau tetbe i tgh SMS dgn u, then tetbe i senyap. serius i mintak maap tapi bukan saje bersikap kurang ajar, NO NO NO. ade 2 reason je. selalunya sbb tgh ada kerja nak buat, and jarang-jarang sebab tak da credit. tp insya Allah lepas tu akan muncul balik walaupun kadang maybe time tu korang dah membuta T____T.

as for yesterday, i got a wake up call from a company, dgn suara mamai yg di-cover tu, suruh dtg interview esok. main 'ha, ha' je sbb nasiblah company to dekat je dgn rumah. dkt KLCC. oh yup, KLCC dgn rumah i tak jauh mane u. hebat kan. tapi i tak hebatlah sbb i selalu pergi naik train je. wuwuwu.

okay, i bangun, siram pokok, bagi kucing makan, kemas rak pinggan, terus i tulis2 alamat dkt 3 sampul pos ekspress utk semua details i utk di pos ke IPTA yg i apply utk UPU. dan 3 lagi borang poslaju utk customer-customer i yg order shawls. alhamdulilah :)

then i da settle tu, i gunting guna gunting zig zag lagi, doa-doa yg i print dr internet. which are doa masuk tandas, keluar tandas, doa masuk rumah, keluar rumah je. then i letak double sided tape and tampal 1 rumah. rumah i ade 1 pintu rumah je, tapi toilet ada 5. so bayangkan je lah ye benda ni pun ambil mase utk i buat tadi. tapi tak pe, at least benda yg mendatangkan pahala utk semua ;)

lepas tu i kacau cousin i si kma tu tidur, dia mandi, then kita orang makan! habis makan, around 1pm macam tu i terus tolong tanda kertas exam anak murid mama. kertas akaun youuu. huh. penat kot, sebab ramai, dalam 40++ murid, and ade banyak bahagian. so it took me hours, about 2-3 hours.

then around 5pm, i berjaya siapkan, and mama sgt happy. hehe. banyak juga i tolong, sbb tak boleh lah i tlg semua kan. i bukan cikgu. then i terus mandi cepat-cepat, sebab namin on the way. dah seminggu tak jumpa! huhu. itu pun sebab hari ni family die jemput utk celebrate bday mama namin. :) so sampai area Balakong tu pun da 8 something jugakla. sebab i pergi print out my resume, fotostat few things jgklah before straight to his house. plus, taw je lah MRR2 punya jalan kan. jemmmm.

cupcakes red velvet ;')

airyn, anak buah namin yg mmg COMEL GILEEEE.

happy birthday auntie! moga Allah permudahkan segalanya :)

the whole big family. uncle, auntie.

along. angah. abg boi. namin. and kanak2 jugak!

with me and kak rena ada dlm gmbr plak ;)

kak rena tunang abg boi.

hehe. mak dgn anak duduk gaya sama!

mula mula cam segan jgk. but then enjoy, sebab ketawa tak ingat lah kan bila dah ramai-ramai. lagipun dia orang baik-baik je. and serius kenyang gila, perut full. tapi semua tgh gila makan kuaci. dari i yg malas nak mengunyah da, terus mengunyah sekali. hehe. thank you auntie uncle, angah along, namin semua. i did enjoy myself there ;)

see. penuh je jadual walaupun org kata duduk rumah je kan. i got my stuff to do. i got family to care about. i got cute cats to hug and cuddling with. i got little blogshop to handle with. and, sorry again, if i accidentally tak dpt puaskan hati semua org.

eheh. :) okay dah lewat, good nite and sweet dream, take care then!

Paul Ryan Rocks

Master Bedroom Makeover!

Ok my people of the blogosphere, I have been working so hard on this room last week to surprise Nathan when he came home...the verdict?.....he liked it. Obviously he wouldn't say he didn't after how hard I worked on it. I freaking LOVE it though. I worked long days deep in dust and paint up to my elbows, and with a few minor cuts and bruises from trying desperately to move our furniture out of the way, it has paid off. Have you guys any idea how freakin' heavy the memory foam mattress are? Seriously over 100lbs. I think. 

So here's what some of you have been waiting for...the reveal.

 

I wanted to lighten up the room and give it some life. Originally it was all brown. Brown carpet, brown walls, brown curtains, and brown furniture. YUCK! We've given several rooms a face lift since we bought this house, but for some reason our master just wasn't at the top. I tend to paint when Nathan leaves for a week...this way I can do whatever I envision without complaints. Sorry honey if you're reading this....if the husband is away, the Kat will play!

It's really hard to tell in these crappy phone photos what the color is. It is Behr brand, which I love, called "Light French Grey". It has a hint of blue to it that I really like. I also chose to use some pops of yellow as a contrast to the blue and brown. Yellow is one of my favorite colors, it just makes me happy.

 

All decorators/diy people know that vinyl decals are a huge trend right now. I really like how they look, however I'm not willing to pay for them. So my secret you ask? I steal borrow and image of a decal online, print it out, then I have this amazing vintage wall projector that a wonderful friend has let me borrow to project the image on the wall. Then....I paint! Sounds like a process and it kind of is, but there is something so therapeutic about painting while listening to music and watching the rain outside It just makes my soul feel good.

White is a hard color to use because it requires several coats, but I chose it because I didn't want the graphic to be too bold on the wall, and besides...our linens and moulding are already white.

 

I did the same thing with the trees on this wall...I love that projector. I'm not quite done though, I plan on painting a little yellow birdie on that branch above the TV to bring the yellow to the other side of the room. 

 

I picked up some accessories from a couple different places for decor.

- Branch Hooks - Urban Outfitters ( I made most of those necklaces )

- White Birdie and yellow pot - Michaels for super cheap

- The bucket thing is actually a glass vase that I had laying around, I covered it in twine with some super glue, and now it holds my headbands.

 

I picked up this little shelf from Michaels and painted it white. The blocks are also from Michaels.

 

I hated these curtains so much I couldn't wait to get them down. Originally I had planned to just get rid of the box valance altogether and make regular curtains, however the chick at Joann's cut the fabric wrong so I came home with the wrong amount. It worked out good, because I really like how they came out.

 

Basically all I really did was cut the fabric to length and use my hot glue gun (my favorite weapon of choice) and glue it over the old fabric. So easy you guys! I also bought a little ribbon for the bottom to tie in the brown to the furniture. What I love most about this ribbon is that it looks like stitching, but is again...attached by glue. 

 

 

This jewelry holder didn't change too much. I have a ton of jewelry, its another one of my many hobbies, I love making things that I can wear. I found this wire form at Ross for like $14 and its about two feet in length. It is perfect for my earrings, but I still didn't have a place for my necklaces. It popped into my head one day that I could get s hooks and hang them from the bottom, like a skirt! I love functional art.

 

I needed an accent pillow on the bed to match the new decor, so I took the scraps from the curtains and made over an old pillow that I already had. This took me seriously like 20 minutes. I want to makeover all the pillows in my living room now. haha. Pillow making party anyone? I'll buy the wine!

What you don't know about this pillow is that I did not use a sewing machine like most people do. You guessed it...I used my trusty friend the glue gun. Its super sturdy guys, this thing ain't coming apart! I also added some rosettes I made a while back that were supposed to become a necklace.

 

 

Ok so for the lampshade, I bought this plain one from Target for like $6. I dug through the $1 scrap bins at Jo Ann's and somehow got lucky and found the perfect color yellow I was looking for. 

 

 Once again I used my hot glue gun to glue the fabric on. I added the same ribbon from the curtains as an embellishment to tie the two in together. Voila!

 

If you've made it this far into my post, I want to congratulate you for your dedication, haha. It's probably the longest one I've ever posted. 

If pictures weren't enough for you here's a short video I made and edited with my phone. If you're looking for an app that is super easy to use it's called "Splice" I didn't do any fancy effects on this, just wanted something to put up here.

 Are you into crafts? DIY stuff? I'd love to see your work!

Food Writer’s Diary readers don’t like to vote for Beard Award nominees

Okay, okay, I get it. You don’t want to vote for Beard Award nominees.

In the Rising Star category, which is really the only career-maker, a total of six people voted, one for each nominee, except for Momofuku Milk Bar's, Christina Tosi, who got two.

Given the geographical diversity of this category, it is hard to believe that many people are familiar enough with all of the chefs’ work to vote with authority, so let’s try something new:

A number of chain restaurants have been responding to pressure — from customers, government, public health advocates, what have you — to make kids' meals more healthful.

Some, notably IHOP, have swapped out fries as the automatic side dish and instead serve fruit or vegetables, with fries made available on request.

How do you feel about that?

Please vote in the poll, and feel free to comment below if you like.

Thank you.

For the record, the results of the last poll.

Aaron London, Ubuntu	1 (16%)
Thomas McNaughton, Fire + Water	1 (16%)
Gabriel Rucker, Le Pigeon	1 (16%)
Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar	2 (33%)
Sue Zemanick, Gautreau’s

The Death Of Need

... because the fiscal troubles in Europe are really much bigger than they seem. The underlying philosophy that has governed the Western world for the last 40 years, need trumps ability to pay, is in its death throes.

Niall Ferguson recounts the EUs troubles for the 403rd time.

Equally culpable are the banks of the core. German banks, for example, have close to €500 billion of exposure to the PIGS. The dirty little secret of euro-zone finance is that if one of the periphery countries were to default, German banks—in particular the state-owned Landesbanken—would be among the biggest losers. And that, of course, is why it makes sense for the core to bail out the periphery: in truth, they are all in this banking crisis together.

Ignore the locations and the amounts for a moment and just consider the foundational facts. Banks loaned money to groups who had no ability to pay it back. They did it for decades. In part, the group borrowing and spending did so, not to create industries and future wealth, but because their citizens needed the money. The financial spasms in Greece, Ireland and Portugal are the death throes of need.

The Germans, who bankrolled this generosity, have had enough.

It is the political difficulty of selling this proposition to German voters that is set to derail the EU train. A euro-barometer poll last year revealed that only 34 percent of Germans thought the euro had mitigated the effects of the financial crisis. Germans are overwhelmingly for fiscal austerity—88 percent favor a policy of deficit reduction, much higher than for the EU as a whole. That is why the German government keeps insisting that the recipients of bailout money impose painful austerity measures on themselves.

The mood of the German voter can be summed up as follows: No More Herr Nice Guy. So the tax-dodging Greeks, the feckless Irish, and the bone-idle Portuguese expect the thrifty German worker to write them yet another check? For five decades after World War II, a penitent Germany paid up. The Federal Republic was the single biggest net contributor to the process of European integration. But the era of war guilt is now over—witness the humiliating electoral defeat inflicted on Germany’s governing parties in Baden-Württemberg at the end of last month. No matter how tough Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to the hard-pressed Greeks, to her own people she seems way too soft.

Traditional standards of lending and spending are on their way back and no amount of crying about who needs what is going to stop it. The Era of Need is over.

Pan Seared Chilli Soy-Marinated Salmon with Sesame Spinach

Finally! A horrible two weeks of deadlines after deadlines is over!

And to treat myself, I decided to slowly marinate a piece of salmon steak in spicy garlicky tamari and sesame oil for a couple of hours instead of my throw-it-all-together meals the past few days. The actual cooking and preparation time is still very short though, and there's nothing extremely unique or wow about this, but it's one of my favourite (comfort) flavour combinations.

Pan Seared Chilli Soy-Marinated Salmon

serves 1

Ingredients

1 piece salmon steak

1 tbsp coconut oil (or ghee or a mix with evoo, to fry)

Marinade

2 tsp soy sauce (naturally fermented and aged, I used tamari)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 small clove garlic, grated

1 cm piece of ginger, grated

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp unrefined cane sugar or molasses

Method

1. Combine marinade ingredients and cover the salmon with it. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours. Remove from marinade and bring to room temperature 20 min before cooking.

2. Over medium-high heat, add the oil in a pan and place the salmon into the hot pan. Don't keep poking it, or you won't get a nice sear. Salmon steaks are a bit trickier than the fillets because I can't see the colour change along the sides, but I give it an estimate of about 3 minutes before flipping over and letting it cook for another 2 min.

Sesame Spinach

Ingredients

2 big handfuls of spinach

2 tsp sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Method

1. Heat the sesame oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic, stirring often till they get browned.

2. Meanwhile, wilt the spinach in boiling water or you can steam it. Refresh in cold water.

3. Toss with the garlic-infused sesame oil.

Sprinkle the toasted garlic all over the spinach and the salmon and serve with rice!

Salty spicy and sweet with the aroma of toasted sesame and garlic --Ah, happy (:

This is part of Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Slightly Indulgent Tue, Tue Night Supper Club.

Lovers who uncover

Spring is here and I love to wear victory rolls in my hair when the good weather is coming!

My hair now is too long, so I can make these kind of things on it... but I must practice! It's been a while since the last time I made victory rolls on my hair... I think than more than a year!

Dress - Cache Cache

Tights - Calzedonia

Shoes - Blanco

Ribbon - Handmade

By the way, Carol gave me this cute cupcake and crochet cherries... aren't they cute? I really love them  so much! She gave me a pair or cute heart cards earrings too that I must show you!

And I realized before how my bedroom looks like with all those cute things and my Crystal Castels' posters... it's a little bit weird... electro-punk and cute things... well, that's me!

Have a nice tuesday!