Ying and Niq’s Niche

We had dinner at Miss Saigon, e-Gate, Penang on 5-Sep-08. We ordered Spring Rolls for starters, Catfish with Fried Rice, and Lemon Grass Chicken with Noodles. The Fried Rice had too much garlic for our tastes. The Lemon Grass Chicken was something different and I liked it. We ordered the Vietnamese coffee to top it off. The coffee powder was placed in a sieve sitting on top of the glass and we had to pour the piping hot water into the sieve and the coffee will drip into the glass. It was served with condensed milk. The coffee had a special fragrance and was satisfying.

Lemon Grass Chicken Noodle

Making coffee the Vietnamese way

Starburst at Lakeside

I was experimenting exposure bracketing and starburst effect at home. The view is of Lake Plaza, Bukit Jambul at night. I used Canon EOS 400D with Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC MACRO. I exposed 2 frames at f/32 for 10s and 20s at 70mm (35mm equivalent is 112mm). I later Merge to HDR with Adobe Bridge to get a wider dynamic range. The starburst effect turned out quite nicely although the telephoto end of the lens was used. Some gurus would recommend using the widest setting as the aperture is smaller.

Is the bear at the bottom left corner singing or yawning?

Here is a photo of a picture frame. The photo in the frame is of Mom and Dad in New Zealand near Milford Sound. But if you look at the picture frame, you could see a family of musical bears. There is one blowing a horn, one with a violin, another playing a cello, a drummer and one singing. Yes, the one singing is at the bottom left corner. Mom was describing to Gabriel what each bear was doing. But coming to the bear who was singing, Gabriel exclaimed in disagreement, “No! She’s not singing! She’s yawning!”. Yah, I tend to agree with Gabriel, she looks more like she’s yawning!

Gabriel’s routine:

Age: 2 years, 10 months old

7:30 Wake up, drink milk, sit on potty for motion, he will request story telling when pass motion

8:15 Ready to go to day care (Full day)

9:00 Lesson starts

10:00 Breakfast time

10:30 Play in park/ Water sport (Tues)

12:00 Lunch time

12:30 Bath time

1:00 Milk time

1:30 Nap time

4:00 Wake up from nap and milk time again

4:30 Snack time

5:00 Play time while waiting for papa / mummy to fetch home

6:30 Reach home, may go for a walk in park if papa/ mummy is not too exhausted

7:00 Bath time & dinner time

8:00 TV time while papa and mummy bathe and wash plates

9:00 Play time with papa and mummy, favorite game at this moment are role play

10:00 Milk time & Bed time

Total sleeping time: 10-11 hours

Gabriel was down with flu, cough and fever the whole week from 7-Sep to 12-Sep. Had to SOS mom to help nurse Gabriel during the weekdays. Brought Gabriel to see Dr. Chan on 8-Sep. Gabriel was put on Augmentin, paracetamol, mucosolvan, ventolin and polaramine. His body temperature was up and down between 37.5ºC and 39.0ºC, even with antibiotics. Clearly it was a viral infection. He had difficulty breathing lying down, and had productive cough. We reduced his milk intake, and gave him less solids. Gave him more clear soup and fruit juices. Mom even resorted to traditional treatment – rubbing body and forehead with flour solution and rubbing his back with a hard-boiled egg (de-shelled and with coin inserted). His temperature stabilized on Thursday night 11-Sep. Certified him fit to travel back to Ipoh. Many thanks to Mom & Dad for your help!

Forehead with prickly hairs after flour rub

Egg yolk with grey beads after rubbing on body