Everything is Awesome

I chanced upon this Lego display at the city.

That is a whole lot of Lego!!

Wishing everyone an awesome year to come.

Bucketful of Green (and Red)

This one is for Slash-M!  

Am not sure if he is finally convinced that green M&Ms 

taste exactly the same as the rest of the others.

Just in case he isn't,

we found this bucketful of M&Ms where he has about 50% chance of finding green ones.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Everyone!!

Live Each Day, Love Each Day

We pause to remember the recent events at Martin Place.

As I walk past Martin Place, I stop to think that each day could really be your last.

Only God knows the place and the time when we are to leave this earth.

Let us always be prepared.

Live each day.

Love each day.

Not in Vain

I found these old photos the other weekend.  It might seem strange to have pictures of the kids holding up random letters, but in truth, it makes perfect sense.  

Back in 2001, I wanted to come up with something special for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. The kids had foam mats with letters,  I figured we could make a photo collage spelling out "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY" with the family members holding up the letters to form the words.  Letter assignments were by age (one letter for each sibling and one letter each for the next generation).  So GI, RD and MyGirl were the "NIV" for ANNIVERSARY.

Eldest Sis and I were still living in Manila at the time.  The US based siblings didn't have children yet.  Both London Eye and Sister Deer were scheduled to visit the country some time during the year. It seemed a doable project.   

We took some pictures when London Eye and Sister Deer came. I took pictures of my kids with their assigned letters (and a batch of random photos thus we have RD with an "A").  The siblings in the US took their respective photos when they got together during Thanksgiving.  Z helped put the whole thing together.  She even added the clouds in the background.  

We changed the wallpaper of Father's PC on the eve of their 40th anniversary.   

It's amazing how time flies.  These pictures were taken 13 years ago. GI's age was single digit back then, RD was only in nursery, and MyGirl... MyGirl was just a baby.  She was less than a year old we had to put the V on her tummy for the shot.

I'm really glad I found those old photos.   

Family Gathering

We still managed a family picture this year.

I tried to get this photo placed in the Christmas letter

but unfortunately it didn't make the final cut.

The original collage had a birthday greeting for Sister Deer 

who is celebrating a special round number birthday this year.

We had spelled out 

H A P P Y   xx  Sister Deer!! 

 We love you all over!

It was a surprise birthday gift we made for her.

We'd planned the gift early this year and 

gave her the finished product four months before her birthday

when she visited Manila in August.

.

We're quite fortunate to have a clever and innovative brother in J

who conceptualized the collage and prepared the PPT.

He also managed to get include Sister Deer in the shot with him

allowing the final product to have all the family members.

Can you see me? 

I'm not quite 4th in line here.

As a matter of fact, while the collage was still a work in progress, 

both London Eye and I felt that something was wrong with the pictures 

because we are so used to having Sister Deer

coming between the two of us when we have "by age" pictures.

It took some presence of mind and a lot of restraint

to keep this a secret from Sister Deer.

Happy Birthday, Sister Deer!

Tall And Getting Taller

I took this the other day as we were going home from the mall.

Let me zoom in on you, RD and MyGirl

because I could hardly see you in the first shot.

I had wanted to get the giant Christmas tree

but in hindsight, I'd rather see the two of you.

This was taken last night.

GI came around with his first cousin on his back like a koala.

 "One day," he said, "I won't be able to do this anymore."

So naturally, I took a picture of them.

Popping All Over Sydney

Last month, there were a lot of posters around the city.

They kept on reminding me ...

Pop!

Pop!

Pop! Pop!

Just gotta love art.

As Andy Warhol says, "Art is what you can get away with."

Pop to Popism : Read More About It

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Me!

It must have been a subliminal suggestion 

I picked up from passing by the

Christmas trees at the office lobby.

I found myself in blue and grey last Thursday

matching the Christmas tree decor.

These are Not the Watermelons You are Looking For

MyGirl and I wanted to test this recipe from Yoyomax12.

To half of the dough, we added some red food colour and raisins,

to one-fourth, we mixed up blue+red+yellow to get nice dark green, 

and then we left one-fourth as is.

Here is the "main watermelon" complete with "seeds."

The pith will be the plain dough.

And the rind will be the green dough.

Here are the loaves of raisin bread

waiting to become watermelons.

  !

And voila!

This is the best disguise a raisin bread could have.

Raisin Bread Disguised as a Watermelon  

1 c milk
1 1/2 T butter
2 1/2 T sugar
3/4 t  salt
2 1/4 t yeast
1 egg yolk
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour
3/4 c raisins 

Combine milk and butter in microwave safe bowl
Microwave for about a minute to heat the milk and melt the butter
Add sugar, salt, yeast and eggyolk
Stir to combine
Add about 2 cups of the flour and mix together until you get a sticky dough
(Dough is not yet firm enough to knead but firm enough to handle) 

Divide dough so you have two fourth pieces and one half piece.
Transfer the two quarters into two smaller bowls 

To the half piece, add red food colour and raisins
Add enough flour to make dough ready for kneading.
Knead for about 8 to 10 mins
Set aside. Cover and let rise for about 2 hours or until double in size 

The one of the quarter pieces, add green food colour
Add enough flour to make dough ready for kneading.
Knead for about 8 to 10 mins
Set aside. Cover and let rise for about 2 hours or until double in size 

To the last quarter piece, add enough flour to make dough ready for kneading.
Knead for about 8 to 10 mins
Set aside. Cover and let rise for about 2 hours or until double in size 

Punch down the red piece of dough
Roll into a log shape 

Punch down the white piece of dough
Roll into a rectangle that will be big enough to wrap and cover the red log
Brush surface of white dough with milk then place red piece on top
Cover the red piece completely, crimping the edges of the white piece together along the length and edges of the log. 

Punch down the green piece of dough
Roll into a rectangle that will be big enough to wrap and cover the white log
Brush surface of green dough with milk then place white piece on top
Cover the white piece completely, crimping the edges of the green piece together along the length and edges of the log. 

Place loaf into a greased loaf pan (9"x5")
Cover and let rise for about an hour or until double in size 

Bake in preheated oven at 350 deg for 15 to 20 minutes until done.

When You Send a Man to the Grocery

Eldest Sis shared this on FB.   Her husband thought she was choking because she was laughing so hard.

This is so funny!   It reminded me of the day I opened the grocery bag to find five big containers of various spices.  I thought my grocery list was quite specific when I had written "five spice powder." Obviously, it wasn't,

Frozen in Name

All just trivia

but I did enjoy the movie, the music and the company when I watched it.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen,  

people are saying that the characters of the movie Frozen are all named after him. 

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans - Kristoff - Anna - Sven

If you say the names fast enough, you will hear it.

Sand and Song

This is so impressive.  I think the artist is Korean and the singer a Filipina.

Philippines Singer & Korea Sand artist  
Grace Eve - Let It Go
SANDARTIST Mi Lee Sin