Busy Bee Cafe

I haven't been in a room full of teenagers since I was a teenager myself! And that was many moons ago. It was scary!

It was DJ Sugar's 13th birthday!! She is still sweet... but I'm not sure if she thinks her mom is cool anymore or just set out to embarass her in front of her friends! Which kind of upset her mom as she never set out to embarass the kid but then... I told her that as a mom she has the right to embarass her kid; my mom still does it to me

There were teenagers running everywhere, teenage boy passing messages from friend to friend to ask the teenage girl if she likes him too, teenager boys asking if they can have a bit of beer, teenage boys and girls sitting in one tiny bedroom playing ouija board... teenagers just being teenagers.

But I've also learnt that there's a new rebellion in the teenage world. They are called Emos. They dress a bit like Goths but they differentiate themselves from Goths. They rebel by showing their back to cigarettes and drugs and alcohol. Well... I think that's not a bad idea to rebel for. Good on them! At least there are three things parents need not worry about!

I just rambling as I think I'm still affected by being surrounded by screaming teenagers! Sorry...

It's that time of the year when most of the working nation thinks about their annual leave.

Hmmm... OK. I didn't mean to be politically incorrect. People on benefits also think about their summer holiday as they seem to have more time and, confusingly, money for it.

I'm starting to feel lethargic. Actually I've been feeling like this since a little mishap last month and my body has been working overtime to rectify it. So I myself have been thinking about taking my annual leave before the hoard of new students come in at the start of the new academic year... because by then I'll be too busy and my body will not have the rest that it deserves. If I don't take any time off by mid September, I won't be able to go anywhere until November time... and by that time I will have to think about Christmas.

Now I'm in a dilema. I really don't know where to go to. I want to go somewhere nice but not expensive. I don't want to go to any European countries that uses Euros as it is strong at the moment and will make my holiday expensive.

I've been thinking about North Cyprus (the Turkish bit) and Morocco.

I have to decide if I ever want to go to Greece, because if I do go to North Cyprus, I won't be able to go Greece ever! Apparently some archeologist signed the death of their career by having a North Cyprus stamp on their passport.

To tell you the truth, I never really had the desire to go to Greece.

Lady Boss has been raving about North Cyprus. She's been there a few times and will be flying out there again in a week's time. She's been saying how lovely it is over in North Cyprus; there are not many tourists about; the scenery is breathtaking and the sea so inviting. How can I not be mesmerised by her stories? Even though she needed a few pieces of paper to draw the area... I don't think she realise the concept of scaling down while drawing. Bless...

But then, it's very late in the year and there might not be any deals left for a holiday in North Cyprus. There are not many advertisements for North Cyprus holidays and there not a direct flight either. So maybe those few places in Kyrenia might be gone by the time I could convince J that it is a good idea.

Maybe I'll end up spending a week just clearing up my garden. Oh... joy...

I come in early each morning to work so I have some quiet time just to sit down and do work without any interuptions from colleagues or students. I was 'happily' doing some finance stuff when all of a sudden I am unable to concentrate anymore! This constant buzzing sound!

I really don't mind insects but if there's is one insect that really bugs me that makes me reach for a newspaper and kill it, is the 'humble' fly!

It annoys me!

Why can't it just stay still so I could smash it flat really hard!

Why does it buzz, buzz, buzz and can't seem to find the same window/door that it came in from?

Oh... why don't you just die fly!

All it takes is just one second for someone to spoil my day; and it was only 7:05am. Can people actually wake up aiming to be the rudest person of the day? Do people actually plan to spoil other people's day? But then, may be I am just too sensitive.

What happened?

I saw that the traffic light turned green for us pedestrians and walked quickly towards it. There was another person crossing the street from the other side. She's not very big but she wasn't leaving much gap for me to cross. I even turned to my side so she'd have more space. But deliberately she hit me on the shoulder really hard. Seriously all she needs to do is move 1cm to her side and both of us wouldn't even touch.

Instead, she banged her shoulder on mine; I almost lost my balance and I was lucky enough not to fall on the street. I didn't dare to unless I want to be hit by a truck! She didn't even say sorry... well... why would she if it was a deliberate move.

My shoulder still hurts but I'm at work now so I should start focusing in a minute instead of thinking about the stupid, rude bitch.

I need a new iron. Yes, my second iron in less than 6 months.

I remember when irons used to last! Mom had this blue and silver iron for ages. We used it until the the material that covered the wires were tearing and it was showing the blue, brown and green wires. She only changed it to the red iron in the mid 80's when I pestered her to get a steam iron because I used one at my uncle's place and it reduced my ironing time by half! I think mom is still using that iron.

Why don't they make irons like them anymore? Irons that would last for more than 10 years!

The iron I have now is leaking even though it claims it has an anti leaking device. It also has a chip on the plate that gets caught on the clothes which is not good as it might make a hole in the shirt or trousers or skirt that I'm ironing. So I do need a new robust iron!

My last iron suffered from a leak too. I endured it for one and a half years until I couldn't anymore...

So, if anyone knows a good robust iron please do let me know the brand and the make... and I'll be grateful to you forever...

Last night J was a bit stressed out. I mostly left him alone.

One of reasons he was stressed that the hard drive Nasty has become nasty. As a person who does not understand a lot of computer jargons and probably not really interested in it as long as I can cut and paste and look at pretty things on the internet, I think the gist of it is that part of it has gone kaput.

Well... it is a machine but it's has got me thinking that maybe I should print some of the million photos that I have stored in all different hard drives.

In this age of digital, it is great that you could just snap along and not worry about using up your roll of film. However it has made me complacent. I don't really think about the photos that I'm taking and when I'm finished, all I do is transfer everything over and not really thinking about how I store them. Of course there's the odd moments of 'I should really create files and put them in order' but when I open up the 'to go through' file and see the gazillion photos I have, all of a sudden it seems too overwhelming that I try to console myself by saying 'well... there's always tomorrow'.

Yes, there's always tomorrow until the hard drive breaks.

That also applies to photos you store on the internet. If the server goes mental, there goes your photos. Of course the person/company looking after the server should have back up and will try to retrieve as much information as he/she/it can but sometimes, not all of it will be working as I noticed on my Gallery page. My Batang Ai photos have gone a bit mental and I will have to re-upload them again, and my Belgium photos and maybe some other bits that I'm still yet to discover.

So, maybe it's not a bad idea for me to actually sit down and carefully select some photos to go to print. It may be expensive, but it would be nice to have something that is tangible and have the memories on paper when the machines decided to rule the world and delete all the fond memories I have from the hard drives or servers.

Ever the optimist.

Today I read that we (the people who are living in this great island) should not give up on Summer just yet. The second half of July will be more promising.

Hmmmm... I wonder what they mean by 'more promising'?

I'm not really complaining that it has been raining for the past few days. In a way it's good news as I don't have to water the garden. But as usual, there's always bad news that follows good, that is, I can't really sit in the garden as it was and will still rain.

I don't mind the cool temprature of 20C but I do mind leaving the house in the morning feeling cold that I have to have my scarf handy so I don't have to shiver in the middle of Summer.

I don't mind a bit of breeze in the Summer but I do mind gale that blows my skirt up to reveal my granny pants.

I don't think I'm asking for much when I ask for a warm-ish, dry-ish and a less windy Summer. But hey... I have my own self to blame as I chose to live in this country. All of a sudden, Mexico looks really appealing...

Here's to middle of July and the 'more promising' weather outlook.

Oh what a disaster!!!

I can't believe this happened to me first thing in the morning at work! How can I function properly now? My whole day is ruined!

I can't believe there's no milk in the fridge in the kitchen at work!

I cannot drink tea without milk!

If I was drinking coffee... I cannot drink coffee without milk!

Milk is essenstial to my hot beverages. Tea and coffee without milk is just like looking in the night sky and see no stars. OK that is not a good description as I live in London and therefore I see no stars due to light pollution! But you get what I mean.

I'm crossing all my little fingers (big fat sausage fingers actually) that there will be milk delivery today or that someone would go out and get milk. OK I'm desperate but I'm also lazy.

For now, I'll just have to swallow this black tea... the blackest of black tea... and hope for the best.

One white tulip among the pink tulips... independent from the rest Unfortunately, the main flower that I was targeting was out of focus. Oh well... can't win them all...

I'm not a fan of boats. I get seasick just looking at them. I guess I'm just paying for what my ancestors did. Some of them were a bunch of pirates The rest were ninjas

So the highway code is not made for them therefore they have the right not to obey it. They have the right to jump red lights. They have the right to go down the wrong way on a one way street. They have the right to cycle on the pavement. Stopping will only stop their momentum.

Bulls**t!!

Now, don't get me wrong. I used to cycle to work when I used to live about 20 minutes cycle ride from work. It's just too far for me to cycle to work now unless I try to find a job South of the river. But, when I was a cyclist, I do not break the highway code.

They are arguing that following the highway code endanger their lives.

If you are cycling the wrong way down the road, and a motorist wasn't expecting to see you, that's not dangerous??!!

They are saying that the roads were not built with them in mind. Errrrrr.... do you pay the road tax?

Get real cyclists. The roads in Britain do belong to the motorists! This was never a country of cyclist. If you want the road to be built for you, fork out some money and pay the tax... maybe then the motorists will shut up as you do share the road with the tax paying motorists!

Me? I'm a commuter and a pedestrian, and happy enough to keep being one. I might jump a red light and jay walk but the difference between me and a cyclist... I look out for cars when I'm doing it, while a cyclist expects the motorist to look out for them. Get off your high horse (or padded seat) as the world does not revolve around you!

OK... I know it's Wednesday and not Tuesday but I was busy trying to look for this photo yesterday and couldn't find it anywhere. I think it's stuck in one of the hard drives that I can't access at the moment Thank goodness I remembered that I posted it up on my Deviant Art page that I haven't access for a year! Yes, I'm lazy like that... or maybe there's just not enough time in the day for taking photos, drawing, painting, doing house chores and work!

I know that I've put this up before but due to something going wrong with the blog server ages ago a lot of photos disappeared and I haven't had the chance (time) to fix that yet. I guess that will go on to my list of a million things to do!

Since I've put up the recipe for the Apple Juiced Chicken and mentioned Ayam Masak Merah I thought I ought to put that recipe up to.

Most of the time when I want to make Ayam Masak Merah, I'd just do the easy option by using the Brahim's ready made sauce. It is pretty good but the authentic way is not that hard to make either... depending how lazy I'm feeling that day I guess

Ayam Masak Merah
(Chicken in Spicy Tomato Sauce)

4 chicken breasts cut into chunks
1 tsp salt
Cooking oil
1 large onions
8 garlic cloves
10 dried chillies deseeded and soaked in warm water
1.5 inch ginger
3 cardamon pods
3 cloves
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 lemongrass
300ml water
3 tbsp honey
salt to taste
1 onion sliced into rings

Mix the chicken and salt together. Heat the cooking oil and fry the chicken chunks until they are golden brown. Take them out and put them aside.

Cut the onion and garlic into small chunks and put it in the blender with the soaked dried chillies and ginger and blend them into a paste.

Put three tablespoons of oil (the one used for frying the chicken) into a pan. Make sure the oil is hot and add cardamon, cloves, star anise and the cinnamon sticks. Sautee them for a couple of minutes and add the chilli paste, tomato puree and bruised lemongrass stalk. Stir and add water to make a thin paste.

Add the fried chicken chunks and stir so that they are covered with the paste and pour in the honey and continue to stir. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and leave to cook for 20 minutes. When the sauce has thicken, add the onion rings and salt to taste. Stir and leave to cook for another five minutes.

The dish is now ready to be served with rice and vegetables or with nasi lemak

A change from my food theme as Anttyk is on a diet

I find flowers make beautiful natural patterns... but then I am a girl

I think this is the Western version of 'ayam masak merah' (direct translated to chicken cooked red or maybe chicken in spicy tomato sauce makes more sense).

Apple Juiced Chicken

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
3 red onions, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp plain flour seasoned with ground black pepper and salt
3 skinless and boneless chicken breasts cut into chunks
300ml apple juice (NOT from concentrated or apple squash!)
1 tbsp tomato puree

Heat oil and butter and add the onions. Stir and gently for 10 minutes until it softens and turn golden brown. Add garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Take the onion and garlic out of the pan and put it aside; leave as much oil and butter in the pan.

Dust the chicken chunks in the flour, shaking off any access and drop them in the pan. Cook until they've turned golden brown.

Pour in the apple juice and tomato puree and stir well. Return the onions and garlic into the pan. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook for a further 25 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thicken, it's ready to be served.

Taste better when it's warm! We had it with rice and buttered sugarsnap peas.