I Need

I need new pair of glasses. My Oakley now is about 4 years old already. The coating on the frame is peeling horribly. The rubber sheaths along the temple arms were so deteriorated from sweat that I removed and binned them like a year ago.

I need a pair of sun glasses. I don’t have one. Come to think of it, I never own a pair. My recent trip on a boat from Battambang to Siem Reap confirmed the paramount importance of owning a pair on the road. Plus I think I’d look really cool with a pair of RayBan aviator.

I need a new pair of speedo. Yes, speedo. I’m an avid swimmer. Swimming is my cardio workout. Swimmers wear speedo when we swim. We do have boardies, but that are for hanging out at the beach or the pool. But when we go to the pool, we don’t hang out there, we swim, so we need speedo. My speedo is falling apart. I need speedo.

I need a new hand phone. I’m currently using a double hand-me-downer: my brother-in-law handed it down to my sister, then my sister handed it down to me. The screen no longer lit up. The screen is crack. The battery is practically dying.

I need a pair of slippers. They've been logging probably thousands of miles over the past 2 years. Furthermore, they had been taking quite a lot of beating during my recent trip to Cambodia. I think they are ready to call it a day any day now.

I need a pair of black shoes, for work. Something simple but formal. I need an alternate to my current brown Geox, which I quite like, the color and design but they are not exactly comfortable and properly made.

So, I need new pair of glasses, I need a pair of sun glasses, I need a new pair of speedo, I need a new hand phone. I need a pair of slippers, I need a pair of black shoes.

I need, I need, I need.

Actually, I need speedo. The rest, they are more like I want.

Oh I know what else I need. I need to clean my apartment!

And So This Was Christmas

And so this was Christmas.

We had music and singing and dancing.

We had presents!

Their faces beaming with surprise and joy when getting their presents were pricelessly precious and truly magical, melting hearts and flooding the room with love. It was indeed a season to be jolly and time to celebrate love. As cliche and corny as it was, it's true you know, it is better to give.

And so that was our Christmas.

And yes, we had fun, so much fun.

May yours were just as wonderful.

I'm Back

More photos and stories on the way. Stick around.

Can I?

Busy packing for my solo Cambodia trip tomorrow. I'll be there for a bit more than 3 weeks, slumming it through on a shoe-string budget. The plan is 1 week of traveling around and 2 weeks of volunteering in an orphanage near Phnom Penh.

Excited and anxious at the same time.

The last time I went tripping backpacking style was a good 4 years ago. That was a week plus in Saigon.

The excited part: I really look forward to this trip. I really want to do this.

The anxious part: Can I still do this, roughing it?

Wish me luck.

Carrot Cake Sunday

Rummaging through the fridge, I found a bag of God-knows-how-old carrot at the bottom of the vegetable compartment. How would I get rid of them?

Carrot cake!

So after dinner, I started the whole shebang of peeling and grating carrot and chopping walnuts and whisking and mixing and all the fun baking stuff. And when the cake batter loaded into the oven, I moved on to the cleaning and scrubbing, happily.

I couldn't remember when was the last time I baked, really.

30 minutes later, came the best part- eating the first slice, fresh from the oven and toasty warm.

Oh God, it was tasty, just the perfect combo of the sweetness of the carrots and crunch from the walnuts and the fragrance of the cinnamon. Kick-ass tasty!

Damn I'm good!

I was still stuffing myself a slice at 11:30, right before I headed for bed!

So good!

Cooking

Baking, I enjoy, a lot. Cooking, not as much.

But lately, I'm cooking more and enjoying it even more. I've been buying loads of cookbooks. I've been reading them up and trying out new recipes over the weekend. Now I find myself flipping my meal pattern. Normally, I lunch out and just make a simple sandwich for dinner at home. Now I make sandwich for lunch and cook up a storm for dinner at home.

So much so that I actually entertain the idea of quitting my day job and running a catering business on my own, out of my tiny kitchen. I see myself crying my eyes out chopping onions, slicing my fingers peeling potatoes, burning my arms baking tartlets, aching my back from hunching over the kitchen counter making vol-au-vents.

That sounds like a lot of pains and sweats and tears. Maybe I'll stick to my day job for a little while longer. Just keep cooking as my latest hobby, and get ready to get fat.

It's What You Say, And Also How You Say It

"Mmmmmm..."

My 4 year-old nephew, A said to me after stuffing a piece of plain pancake into his mouth. His eyes were squinted into a thin line and his lips were pressed together with the corners curling up a little satisfactory smile. He likes it plain, just plain. No berries, in the pancake or on the side, simply topped with a bit of whip cream and squirts of maple syrup.

I made him the pancake for breakfast. What he said and how he said it made me over the moon happy. How could I not spoil this little monster?