eat your greens

That's probably what most parents would repeatedly say to their kids during meals. I for one used to abhor veggies or anything that resembles it when I was a kid. I was willing to take the time to isolate any unsightly greens from a dish just so I could eat that plate of mee goreng or curry puffs. My mom told me that I wouldn't even taste it once it has been cooked to a pulp but when you hate it, you hate it right?

Fortunately, I've overcome that period of veggie-intolerance. Now I really enjoy eating my greens. I even have my house specialty which is salade niçoise and ratatouille.. and these two dishes hail from the Provence.

The salad is a meal in itself when eaten in large quantity as it consists of boiled potatoes, tomatoes, french beans, leafy greens, chunks of tuna, olives, hard-boiled eggs.. toss all of them together in a lovely vinaigrette dressing and voila, you have a healthy meal packed with all the good nutrients. Serve it in a handsome-looking saladier and it looks all the more appetizing.

Ratatouille is a vegetable stew make colourful by all the different ingredients.. and aubergine is one of them.. that's one vegetable that I don't normally eat but when cooked in a stew like that, it's a different matter.

Well any salad will taste good with the right dressing. So kids, eat your greens cause they're good for you.

a breath of fresh air

Make that very cold air. When you step outside on a cold wintry day, you'll immediately notice a "cloud" forming in front of your face as you breathe. That's condensation taking place. When you breathe out, you are filling the air with water vapour. If the air is very cold, the vapour will turn into lots of tiny water droplets and your breath looks "steamy".

When I was much much younger, I was fascinated by the sight of those people on tv with their steamy breath. So I wanted to emulate that effect and what I did then was to put an ice cube in my mouth and shut it for a few seconds before blowing out clouds.. creative, I know.

Now I'm actually living in a place where I have the opportunity to experience the real thing. It's a privilege for a girl coming from the tropics to get to 'see' her own breath.

revival

My first entry this month. Well I guess it's high time for me to update my blog. Am I losing steam on this thing? nooo, just been lazy.

So the winter sales has ended and I'm happy to say that I'm richer by not one (almost three) but two pairs of shoes, a top and a trenchcoat... and it's all thanks to my dearest hubby (merci chouchou :). We got some stuff for the apartment as well.

Besides that, it's been raining almost daily over the past weeks. Days are wet and grey and cold.. pretty gloomy... can't wait for spring to come and then the summer vacation.