Sunday, June 29, 2008

Bookcrossing ~ June 08 Meetup

The Malaysian Bookcrossers met up last Saturday at Delicious, Bangsar Village where the thirteen of us enjoyed good food, good books and great company!

I picked up Orange-Marmalade aka Yatie from Kelana Jaya and we arrived at Bangsar around noon, we made a quick stop over at Silverfish since we were still early. Got myself another copy of "News From Home" which I passed to OM for her reading pleasure. And for myself? Chiew-Siah Tei's "Little Hut of Leaping Fishes"!

Delicious at that point in time was already half filled but we managed to get a table for ten in the middle of the place.

Upon Ammogurl aka Diyana's arrival, we settled down and ordered some starters while we await the arrival of the other members. Fried Calamari with tartare sauce was the first to arrive, followed up by a Pate plate with Melba toast in a bamboo steamer tray with capers on the side! (The serving of pate was large and we needed a second helping of Melba toast to finish it off!) Last to arrive was Roasted Cherry Tomatoes Bruschetta (this was excellent!)
And this was Cafeauchocolate aka Taty's dessert! (Note: I did not order any - remember? I am on DIET!) And would you believe that I totally forgot to snap a picture of my long awaited Lambshank pie!

Here we have Taty chumming up with Sharon Bakar!

Sharon with Azwan:

From RtoL: Berisman aka Adib and friend:

LtoR: Taty, MAI aka Azwan, BabyImran aka Zarina, AuntyJo aka Emily and Orange Marmalade:
LtoR: Synical aka Soe Chin, Taty and Sharon:
Ammogurl and Gary:
LtoR: Gary, Katie, Soe Chin, Taty, Adib, Azwan, Zarina, Emily, Yatie, Diyana and Mr Wong (whom we met during the KLAB previously):


With Sharon and Adib together with his friend having departed for other engagements; Wong also bide us farewell ~ we hope to see him at our next meetup! The rest of us headed off to MPH to get more books!

I got myself a copy of Shahriza Hussein's "Legacy" (for the booksigning at Readings @ Seksan where we were next headed, at the invitation of Sharon)
I also got a copy of Preeta Samarasan's "Evening Is The Whole Day", another of Sharon's recommendation!
Taty also bide us farewell when she found out that we were planning to "walk" to Seksan! My camera battery went out at Seksan but not before I took a picture of Katie and Gary!For more updates on our meetup, you may click here and here

Gifts for a Bookcrossing Friend!

Katie and Gary are returning to the UK come 1st August. I took the opportunity to give her books by Asian writers and some fabrics from Malaysia!

Left to Right:
"News from Home" by Chua Kok Yee, Shih-Li Kow and Rumaizah Abu Bakar

"Japanese Women Dont' Get Old Or Fat" by Naomi Moriyama & William Doyle

"Unhurried Thoughts At My Funeral" by Catherine Lim ~ which I thoroughly enjoyed!

"Princess Shawl" by Shirley Lim ~ a story about Princess Hang Li Poh for children ~ highly entertaining!

And beneath the books, fabrics from East and West Malaysia!

Hope she likes them!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Something about Over and Under!

From Full Circle found an easy technique of weaving that might just convert you! Well, none of us need a wall-hanging, but there are many other practical uses for weaving, i.e. rugs, place mats, coasters, etc.

This technique is simple and appropriate for any beginner, old like me and even a young child!

Click Here for Weaving Starter Lessons and recycling styrofoam trays

60 Days Left!

60 days. Thats what is left of the initial time frame I had given myself to loose some stubborn pounds just to look nice for my one and only brother's wedding end of August!

I walked slightly more than 2km yesterday and this morning I did 3km! I am going to increase it to 4km within one hour or at 15mins per 1km and maintain it at that pace for the next couple of months. The new route for my 4km shall be the perimeter of our apartment complex grounds and I shall continue to warmup and cool down in our little court yard here:

Path to the left:


Path on my right:


Please note we have exercise bars and etc all along the pathway:





Since my food intake at night is rather controlled as it is, I am looking to reduce my mid-day food intake.. Thinking of reverting to packed lunches from home or other healthy alternatives... as compared to nasi briyani etc from the Mamak Alai, who delivers too! Making it so easy to over eat! Wish me luck!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I Learnt Something About Paper Bags!

Apparently paper bags are just as bad as plastic bags! Read here:

TRY REUSABLE BAGS!
Paper or Plastic? How about neither! A simple change from disposable to sustainable makes a world of difference. Remember, green is the new black!

Some fast facts:
Worldwide, an estimated 4 billion plastic bags end up as litter each year. Tied end to end that’s enough to circle the earth 63 times.

The plastic bags that have inundated our planet are derived from a non-renewable resource; they never break down completely; they strangle wildlife and they clog single stream recycling machinery.

According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 1999 the U.S. alone used 10 billion paper grocery bags, requiring 14 million trees to be cut down (and as we know, deforestation is a major contributor to global warming).

Paper bags cannot be made from recycled products, they’re not strong enough. The paper bag manufacturing process adds deadly toxins to the environment. In short, paper bags are no more environmentally friendly than plastic. TRY REUSABLE BAGS!

And here are my two GREEN BAGS! I bought them when shopping at Giants at Nilai with Diyana earlier this year and have put them to good use!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Lynette Anderson's GiveAway!

For those among us who loves REDWORK and with only one strand of thread! LOL! Lynette's having a giveaway and to put myself in running for the prize - a link to her giveaway on our blogs is required to be in the draw. So please visit her blog and look at the beautiful pattern she is giving away.

Lynette Anderson's GiveAway!

What are you waiting for?!!!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Books!

Recent book purchases!

Thrifted:

Classics!

Local books! Top two ebay purchases and the rest from Silverfishbooks!

A lovely cross-stitch book!