'Tis The Season For Giving

...and receiving gifts :)

Sometimes, I think that with the creation of e-mails, instant messaging services, and the likes of that, we miss out on the good old-fashion post. I'm not complaining...who isn't grateful for e-mail on the days when you need to get a document to someone, on some other side of the world a.s.a.p.? And the next best thing you can do with someone really far away is to IM them, because that is almost like being there together.

However, the post. Ah, the good ol' post. Of the days when I used to have pen-pals and we would mail each other letters documenting our so-called interesting lives, photos, and small gifts. I know the Post Office has rules regarding how a standard letter should be like, but I remember how we used to make envelopes out of posters from magazines. And the sneaky ways of saving up on stamps (by applying a layer of glue on top of the affixed stamps...they can be reused by the other party after soaking the stamps in water and drying them).

But the best of it all is the feeling you get when you check the mail box and find something in it addressed to you :)

I got a gift via courier today...which was totally absolutely awesome! (thank You!)

- ♥ -

Speaking about gifts, I got this really cool X'mas gift from Francoise (thank you!):

Introducing the Envirosax! Hello Mikado #3 :)

The Envirosax is "the original designer reusable bag", so now not only can I go around being green, declining plastic bags while shopping like I always do, I can do that with style (and join the ranks of celebs using it pfft) THANK YOU FRANCOISE!

Oh, and I saw a woodpecker today. In the tree outside my room...the tree which somehow has its roots wired to some temperate system. It decided to go all bare because it's winter up in the northern hemisphere.

Cheers,

Reusing is Recycling

Like printing on not only both sides of the paper, but also over the previous stuff (especially when it involves drafts of graphs), I like to think that I have put a piece of paper to its full use before transferring it to the recycle pile.

So, remember I have this totally awesome field notebook (photo here) which was in this irreversible disgusting condition since the day I got soaked in the rain in Batu Putih last year during one of my sampling escapades? It has deteriorated since, what with more notes and thumbing through its pages to refer to the data. About a month ago, its back cover fell off, and it had to be held together by a flimsy piece of tape. Recently, part of the book came off its cover.

*sigh*

Although I do rather take pride of its state of deconstruction, I knew I had to do something before I start losing vital pieces of information. And then I had this brilliant idea with an old Starbucks paper bag I found wedged between some books in the shelf!

Voila! Good as new!

My green answer to "What else can I do with a Starbucks paper bag?" :)

And I didn't need to ply myself with drinks to collect stamps for a "Starbucks organiser".

Childhood Treasures: MLP Sunny Daze

Apparently it's "Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, December 6, 2010, there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is a campaign for children's rights and violence against children."

Confession: the word "Childhood" in this post is a little inaccurate because Sunny Daze is a Generation 3 pony (circa 2004). She's one of the newer ponies (not as new as those weird things they are selling now that look like miniature figurines with small bodies and big heads) and I got her just for the sake of nostalgia.

After my first three Generation 1 ponies from the 80s, I have not seen MLP on toy shelves for a long time (and even I changed to a different toy which I practically grew up on). So when they first reintroduced MLP in the early 2000s, I was intrigued and just couldn't resist buying one and compare her with the older ones.

Twenty years after its debut, MLP was reintroduced into the market with their first few ponies, and Sunny Daze was one of them Rainbow Celebration Ponies.

Sunny Daze has a white body and her symbol is a sun with a dark pink & yellow face, orange rays, and purple-outlined wind & cloud. Her mane is five vertical streaks in gold, dark pink, coral, dark pink again, and purple while her tail is a mixture of only dark pink and purple. Her eyes are purple with a lighter purple highlight and orange heart and there is a small orange heart on her hoof.

The ponies have a new packaging, and Sunny Daze came with a white brush (with a raised bow design on the back), a translucent w/ silver glitter pony charm on a white iridescent 'friendship ribbon'.

So that's my Pony collection, not a lot actually, because they were pretty rare in the market during my growing up years. I actually was more partial to the other 80s toy which is absolutely adorable (but potentially a choking hazard) which I may write about one day when I am all nostalgic again :)

I don't know how effective the "Facebook campaign" actually is, but this trip down memory lane has been nice.

And violence against children is one of the saddest things around. It makes one think, how evil a person has to be to commit violence towards the young who are unable to defend themselves. Worse, the perpetrators are usually the people whom the children look to for love and protection.

Childhood Treasures: MLP Windy

Apparently it's "Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, December 6, 2010, there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is a campaign for children's rights and violence against children."

To continue with this series of nostalgia, I shall introduce my final Generation 1 (produced and in the market from 1982 to 1995): Windy -- the Magic Message Earth Pony (circa 1987-1988).

Windy had streak on her mane, the symbol of a tree on her haunches and a ribbon icon at the bottom of her right eye. She came with a yellow flower comb.

Being an Earth Pony means she practically looks like a normal horse, but being a Magic Message Pony, she has a cool feature -- the trees on her haunches are heat sensitive: rubbing them would reveal different pictures. I remember one side reveal apples on the tree, and the other side has a kite in the tree. However, after twenty years or so, the 'special effect' wore off so now both of her symbols look like faded apple/with kite trees. Still cool, though :)

I don't remember seeing Windy in any of the cartoons though.

Those were the days...

Shall end this run with one last pony tomorrow!

Childhood Treasures: MLP Whizzer

Apparently it's "Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, December 6, 2010, there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is a campaign for children's rights and violence against children."

Right.

Based on the above excuse, I shall continue with my trip down memory lane. Meet my second pony: Whizzer -- a Twinkle-Eyed pegasus from circa 1985-1986.

Whizzer has symbols of beanies on her haunch and being a Twinkle-Eyed pony, she has 'jewels' for eyes (which made it very quaint to me when I was a kid). Her mane and tail were also of two colours and she is bigger than Morning Glory. Whizzer came with a purple (I know the picture shows pink but, yea, mine was purple) Shooting Star comb:

In the cartoons, Whizzer had a more colourful mane and tail, and honestly, I reckon she was pretty annoying. Living up to her namesake, Whizzer moves about and speaks really fast, usually stringing her sentences together. And usually saying everything in one breath.

Generation 1 ponies...good stuff :)

Childhood Treasures: MLP Morning Glory

There's this thing going round Facebook today: "Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, December 6, 2010, there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is a campaign for children's rights and violence against children."

Fad or not, I thought it'd be fun to showcase some My Little Pony (it's been a long while) and whilst doing that, I got a little nostalgic. And it being a Friday and all, I thought, "What the heck, Fridays are for corny entries." So here goes:

My very first My Little Pony (MLP) was a Flutter Pony named Morning Glory. And it being a product of 1985 made it even more cool.

You can see her namesake are marked on her sides :)

Flutter Ponies differ from the other Ponies in regard of their size (they're slightly smaller) and they have longer legs. Their wings are of the iridescent variety (and the toy-version breaks easily -- they're removable and when you stick them into their slots on the pony's back, there's this button which you press makes them wings go up and down LOL). I remember Morning Glory came with this pink flower comb:

What I remember too was that when I was a kid, I watched a lot of MLP cartoons. They used to have them over the weekend mornings, and I had some of them on VHS tapes too. I think there was one which they called the MLP Movie where Ponyville was attacked by some purple goo which made creatures that came into contact with it hostile and unfriendly. The Ponies seeked the help of the Flutter Ponies (and their magical wings) and I remember this was how Morning Glory looked like in the cartoon:

What amused me was that I used to watch the cartoons with the dolls. And if I see them in the cartoon, I would say to my dolls "Look! That's you!" :) Also, as with all little girls and dolls that come with comb-able hair, I used to bathe them ponies and shampoo their manes.

Kids.

Ahh...the good ol' days *hums MLP theme song*

Easy Rat-ta-too-ey

I came across this recipe here and it seemed pretty simple (otherwise the "easy" part of the recipe's name would be a lie) so I thought I'd try it out. The first time around, it looked a tad too mushy and dull of colour for my liking, so I tweaked it and I think it was better the second time.

Easy Ratatouille

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 onions, slivered
• 3 bell peppers, cut into one inch squares (try different colors)
• 2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
• 2 pounds tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot on medium heat. Sliver onions and add to oil.
2. While the onions cook, chop the bell peppers and add them to the pot, stirring well.
3. Chop the eggplants and add to the pot, stirring well to coat theeggplant with oil. At this point all the olive oil will have soaked into the eggplant, so you need to stir often to keep things from burning until they soften some.
4. Chop the zucchini and stir it in once the eggplant has softened a bit.
5. Chop the garlic and add to the vegetables, stirring well.
6. Chop the tomatoes and add them.
7. Mince the thyme and add it along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and cook two minutes.
8. Turn down heat and cover the pot. Simmer until everything is soft and well blended - about 40 minutes.
9. Stir in basil and remove from heat.

4 to 6 servings

* * *

What I did was I cut everything first, then only started cooking, adding each vegetable starting with those that take longer to cook. Slicing reduces cooking time so I won't end up with uncooked vegetables later (seeing as I didn't let stuff cook in accordance to my cutting time -- which is a bit slow). By doing so, I end up with a prettier dish as the vegetables don't get overcooked and become all yellow and olive green and gross.

By the way, it is not nicely arranged as per those pictures of true ratatouille dishes because I couldn't possibly do that with a pot on a stove. Things at the bottom of the pot would start burning if not stirred :)

Good luck!