Take me back si si si oui oui oui.

I am cultivating my evidence for my Australian
visa. They want to know whether we have truly
loved. I want to slap them across their puffy faces
and tell them it's private. But none if it would help
so I keep hunting and gathering.
At the mean time I wish someone would spin back
the ye old time and get me back to that one hot
month and a half spent in the Basque Country with
the boy I love.

Love,
E

Things that make me happy post food poisoning.

1. Bright green silk skirts that look like a balloon was dropped
on your waist and then tied down with a tiny black bow.
2. New books that tell silent stories of love in its most subtle forms.



Oh and the food poisoning?
Just a little something something that I picked
up on the way. No biggie.
It's just that I seemed to trade in my parents and
get that instead. Bad trade that one.
But I live and learn my friends.
Live and learn.

Love,
E

About family.

We are the same.
All four of us.
I have your heart,
you have hers,
she has his and
he has mine.

We are of same blood and
when I leave you I leave myself.

Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving here today.
I don't believe in it... however, I like the spirit of it.

With that, I'd like to Thank my Family. Friends [like You, who still has the energy and patience to be around me]. And last but not least, my lovely Mikey-Ike.

Early Birds

Woke up early and quickly dashed off to the Market.
We missed out on these amazing eggs these past 3 Saturdays. I swore to myself that today I'd wake up extra early and wouldn't miss it again --- it paid off.

I love going to the Market before everyone does. Peaceful and the tourists are not awake yet (not that I have anything against them...). And I like looking at the produce nicely laid out - fresh and untouched.

Anyway, after the Market we headed back and had our delicious meaty-hearty brekkie.

For ages, I have been looking for really good Spicy Italian Sausage.
I tried different specialty stores, but to no avail

Until today, I think I finally found it @ Bocallone. *Yippie!

Above: Bocallone Spicy Italian Sausage w/ toasted baguettes.
Meaty and fresh (nothing like the store brand).

The "Soft boiled egg" - they're the kinda eggs that Nigella would have. Wasa. Half of the Spicy Italian Sausage. and Jamon Serrano.

And a cup of GenMai.

*smiling*

Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meeeeeeeeeep Meep-Meep

Taste Test: natto, gooey fermented soy beans

*This article is from BoingBoing.net. I thought you maybe interested in this...

By Lisa Katayama

In Japan, we eat soy all the time. For breakfast we have rice with natto and miso soup with tofu; for dinner we pop edamame into our mouths in between chopsticks-full of vegetables sauteed in soy sauce. I always assumed it was good for you, until I came to California and my health-conscious American friend told me that soy was actually really bad for you. So which is it?

Here's what we know about soy: unprocessed, it's a great source of digestible protein and has tons of vitamin B, calcium, and folate — all things that are good for you. It also contains isoflavones, and here's where things get tricky. Some studies prove that isoflavones are beneficial, while others have shown that it promotes breast and prostate cancer. Soy has also been called out as an agent of brain cell aging and thyroid dysfunction, too.

In her recent book The Jungle Effect, San Francisco-based physician Daphne Miller — who studied low cancer rates in Okinawa extensively — writes:

While Okinawans take in over 80 percent of their soy in a relatively unprocessed form as tofu, edamame, soy flour, soy milk, or miso, people in the United States eat a similiar percentage of their soy in a processed form. Our soy foods are heated, mashed, and denatured to create a vast array of substances ranging from Tofurky to fillers for tuna fish to ice-cream sandwiches... while whole foods offer valuable protection, concentrated or denatured derivatives of these foods are having the opposite effect.

The bottom line, at least for now, seems to be that good soy prevent cancer and bad soy might promote cancer. Good soy = tofu, soy sauce, miso, natto, edamame. Bad soy = soy protein powder, energy bars made with soy, fake hot dogs, tofurky.

A lot of Western people think natto — fermented soy bean — is gross because of it's gooey texture and stinky smell, but it's one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. It's filled with protein and great for a post-workout snack, too. If you're still iffy about it, why not combine the foreign with the familiar and cook some natto spaghetti? The slippery texture of the pasta cuts the gooeyness a little, and in my opinion this is a gentle way to ease natto into your culinary life.

Every installment of Taste Test will explore recipes, the science, and some history behind a specific food item.

Images via Jasja Dekker's Flickr and Gaku's Flickr

A

My hair is getting longer every minute. And I can hardly wait until it reaches my shoulders.

I've come to conclusion that unless I really have to (like grow my hair to give away), I won't grow my hair "below my shoulders" (mid length).

I was looking at my photos a few weeks ago and I thought I looked horrid when my hair was below my shoulders - ugh.

So either, "really long" or "really short."

What do you think of this band?

Weekend

Mikey-Ike made this for me. He's like my personal chef or rather I'm his taster - lol.
Olive roll. Mortadella. Salami. and a little bit of Mayo.

Just what I needed... on a Cold Fall Night.
Hot Cocoa with Vanilla Marshmallow on top.

Avec mon noveau chapeau dans la photocabine.

Today my parents left me to visit the city and I embraced my study materials yet again. But before that I managed to squeeze a teeny tiny visit at the local op-shop and what did I find if not an old vintage hat!
It is divine in a soft peachy colour and frills frills frills. The old lady gave it away for 1 AUD (0.65 EURO, 0.93 USD) and told me to have fun with it. I promised her I would and left straight for La PhotoCabine!

What a success!

Love,
E

I feel like the universe is at ease.

I feel great!
My parents are arriving tomorrow
and it must the most exhilarating
moment of my year in Australia so far.

So we celebrate by listening to some
Finnish classics. Some you might recognize
as covers and some might be brand new.
But they are fabulous all together!








And some funny trivia:
as I was writing the header for this
post I wanted to call it EXASPERATION
thinking that would describe my happiness
for my parents arrival.
Fail noticed when J actually Googled the
word for me.
Guess I don't know everything then!

Love,
E

"The Thin Red Line" by Terrence Malick

I'm not a big fan of war movies - I can't handle gory scenes and inhumanity of it, too much for me. Whenever I'm watching this sort of films my eyes are covered most of the time.

However, there is this movie that Mikey-Ike highly recommended I see, called The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick.

I've come to conclusion that Terrence Malick is one of all time favorite movie director. He also directed The New World, my other favorite film.

The movie The Thin Red Line is a must see.
It's a war movie and there are bloodshed scenes. But this movie is none other like war movies out there.

***a 1998 war film which tells a fictional story of United States forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II with the focus on the men in C Company, most notably Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) and his conflicted feelings about fighting in the war, Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) and his desire to win the battle at any cost in order to get a promotion, and Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) and the dissolution of his marriage back home while he fights in the war. - Wiki

(Characters)

Poetic. Poignant. Heart wrenching.

Takagi Masakatsu - Girls

Here's one...

This may make you a little bit sad but I think that at the end, it'll make you smile <3

***When 6-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with brain cancer, she began hiding hundreds of little love notes around the house for her parents to find after she was gone. Here’s the story:

Just before her sixth birthday, Elena Desserich (right) was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 135 days to live. She lived 255 days, passing away in 2007. After her death, Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith, found hundreds of notes from Elena hidden around the house — in between CD cases, between bookshelves, in dresser drawers, in backpacks….

"It just felt like a little hug from her, like she was telling us she was looking over us"

Elena left hundreds of notes like these:

(photo below is my favorite)

Homesickness.

A highly homesick Friday I might say.
Am like a little rattled piece of a person today.
Could you cheers me up?
Tell me of love, life and luster.

Love,
E

Holiday is just around the bend...

Went to Peet's. And they are now serving their Holiday drinks =)))))) Oh made me SmiLe... I had to try their Eggnog Latte, which was great, could have be even wayyyy better if it wasn't too sweet. Nevertheless, it was yum-O!

This is I think one of my ONLY reason why I like the Holidays. Oh except for the aroma of the Christmas tree - pine tree.

Still on the food path.

So as you might know breakfast is my
all time favourite meal. Most days when
I do my yoga practice in the morning I
enjoy not one but TWO breakfasts.
Normally I have oatmeal with honey,
fruit and almonds right after the training
followed by say a toast with beans during
lunch time.
All this because
1) I get super hungry waking up at 5.30
2) Come 7.30 I have already cranked the
downward dog for two hours
3) I despise lunch as a meal

So yeah anyway what I was coming to was
that sometimes it just happens that I get sick of
my oatmeal and just make this easy muesli instead.
It is by the lovely Donna Hay.

Peach and Coconut Granola

3 cups oats
1 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups chopped dried peaches

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Mix oats and almonds and set aside.
Cook honey, oil and vanilla over high heat
until the honey has melted.
Pour over oats and mix well.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 min or until muesli
is golden. Stir through the coconut and peaches
and allow to cool. Serve with vanilla yoghurt.

You must try it. It is divine!



Love,
E