Happy Eid ul-Fitr

Some might say I am kind of late, but I *heard* that the official Indonesian holiday is only today.
So... Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 2011, everyone!

Pet week: Penny the Companion

(Somehow, the Dog just grew into adulthood overnight. Haha!)
Well... actually, not long after moderately successful potty training, Mr. G's travels resumed and I was left with the Dog. We made good friends, so much so that the Mister often complained that the Dog is more mine than his. I guess I was there through most of her formative years (or months). Lucky me!
For I also got to deal with her 'formative' issues.

Penny, you see, seemed to have an issue with being blonde.

Penny is a Golden Retriever, and was a pretty active puppy. So... we try to understand and be properly accommodating. After completing all her shots, we started with the yard under the apartment building, and moved on to larger grounds around the complex.
Unfortunately, the yard under the apartment has this area where collected rain water created a small puddle in the corner instead of going all straight into the drainage. That area became a favorite for the Dog. Happy like a pig in mud, we would often find ourselves going down with a golden puppy, and back up with .... half golden (top) half muddy brown puppy.

As for the picture above, we scouted around and found this empty land where the Dog can run around without her leash. The shape of the lot was such that the entry is small so that we can (relatively) easily kept the Dog from running out of the area.
Unfortunately, at the far end, there was uncovered drainage. And of course the land being empty, the drainage collected all kinds of debris unchecked, providing the Dog with a perfect dyeing wading area with the result of a very happy and black(!) dog.

I am thinking that the apartment cleaner might have wondered about the dirt marks on the wall of the staircase. Ahem... yeah, sorry, that was us.
Shortly after, we found yet another empty land nearby, but with a clean water channel running through. So... after getting dirty in the first empty lot, we'll take the Dog to the second lot and she would emerge slightly cleaner. Like this:

Oh the joys of owning a dog! From the good, the bad, the expenses, the headaches...
But we love the Dog. Really.
Especially when the Mister is away, it was great to come home to have still somebody else waiting for you, even if they have four legs instead of two.
The Dog kept me sane, kept me moving.
I personally attributed many things about my first pregnancy having gone oh so swimmingly to this Dog.
The many long walks, for my easy delivery process, my reasonable weight gain, not to mention a pretty manageable moodswings. And of course, there is always the adoring company.

(We'll keep it short for today, but stay tune for the next installment: Penny the Jet Setter)

Pet Week: Penny the pup

After posting yesterday's post for I ♥ Faces, I thought, why not post more stories of the Dog? There are definitely many stories after 5 years of living with us, so... we might break it up into shorter posts. Here's the first installment:

We picked up Penny as a two-month-old puppy from a dog farm in Singapore. It was in January and we just got our end-of-year bonuses and we thought we would finally jump on the idea of getting a dog given the 2-year lease of our apartment then.

We did not count on getting a Golden, but I fell in love with this bunch of puppies at first sight and just couldn't let go of the idea. And so we got Penny out of the bunch, a puny little puppy with the shortest snout (my criteria of selection, don't ask).

T'was a long ride from the farm home, and the poor puppy actually vomited in the taxi! Luckily we carried with us some newspaper and we did not quite make a mess in the taxi.
Together with the puppy, we brought along quite a few stuff, a starter kit, if you will, bought from the same farm.
We heard before that those farms are not really top recommendation for getting puppies from, however, we were quite happy with the whole experience. Service was great, and although the place was quite in the middle of nowhere, they do provide full service from selling puppies, providing pet boarding, dog run and wading pool (for weekend), and even a fully stocked pet megamart. If you are considering getting a pet or even need supplies (especially for larger dog), the place is highly recommended. You can check out the website here.


The best part was getting the starter kit at the pet megamart. With a little puppy in hand, we were totally lost as to what to get, until a staff member came along and guided us at the toy section with the admonition to choose a toy or two for the puppy while he went around grabbing other stuff which he thought we would need.
A few minutes later, when he came back with a fully laden shopping basket, we were still gawking indecisively at the array of toys. Haha...

We took the few obligatory snaps the moment we came home, but subsequently, between toilet training, sleepless nights (the puppy cries at night!), the scramble to feed the Dog (she does not like the chow we got her), taking pics just slipped our minds. But we still have this precious shot of her squeezing under the coffee table.

Would you be very amused to know that the table in the picture was later on 'demolished'... uhmm... 'devoured' by that very same dog as she progress through puppyhood in which she proceeded to chew everything and anything around the house?
She did that, all right.
After all the hard work I put into assembling that piece of furniture! Hummpphh!

Anyway, that's our first installment on the Penny stories. Stay tuned to read more on her adventures, her issues with being blond, and her jet-setting ways.

I ♥ Faces ~ Pet Week

Our (going to be) 5 year old Golden Retriever had some problem with her hip last week. She has since recovered, her gait back to normal, no signs of pain or anything amiss, but the episode was a definite wake up call on her advancing age and mortality in general (dogs do not generally outlast their human 'family' and bigger dogs are generally have shorter lifespan as compared to smaller dogs).

Not to put a damper on your mood, but I guess TODAY is always a good chance to take some picture of your beloved pet just to ensure that you have something to remember such precious soul.

Here's our lovely, spoilt, wonderful, beloved dog:

Enjoying the sun

For more of my efforts in capturing the Dog, you can check out my other post.

For Ramadhan

 

Actually it's already halfway through, the month of Ramadhan, in which Muslims around the world fast. This year the first of Ramadhan fell on 1st August, so... haha.. more than halfway through actually.

Maybe because I do not practice fasting. I am not a Muslim, is one reason. I tried before, out of spirit of tolerance to Mr. G. Uhmm... let's just say I barely last a few, very cranky days, after which I never bother trying anymore.

All fasting Muslims out there have my utmost respect for being able to follow through with such rigorous practice. Nowadays, I use my occasional bout of gastric problem as an excuse to escape.

Still, as an Indonesian, memories of Ramadhan is always a vivid memory, between the plethora of Ramadhan themed dramas on TV, to the rising prices of certain food items, to some delicious delicacies (especially of the sweet kind! Yum!) traditionally prepared for the breaking of fast, the beat of the beduk signaling the time to break fast, the ululating prayer immediately following, right to the sleepless eve of Eid ul-Fitr (or Idul Fitri as the Indonesian version goes) with its non-stop beduk and prayer chants all night long.

There are definitely more rambling about Idul Fitri itself as one of the most important holiday in Indonesia affecting most people in Indonesia in various ways, but maybe I should keep that to a different post and focus on today's topic.

As I said before, I am no foodie, but I can't resist to share just this simple desert I love, something quite traditional, not just for the month of Ramadhan, but also commonly had for normal desert. 

Start with a bit of pandan (screwpine) leaves, tied together for easy removal,

Chop some coconut sugar (so that it will dissolve easily)

Cut up some bananas, I used the not so sweet variety, to balance the sugar

Mix together in a soup of coconut milk, diluted with some water...

Add whatever additional ingredients you like (jackfruit, sweet potato, yam, pine nuts)

And voila! You have:

Kolak Pisang,

a delicious dessert, tea time snack, whatever you like it to be

You can have it hot, or you can have it cold

Have it as you like it

Oh well..that wasn't much of a recipe. I told you I'm no foodie.

Let's see if I can translate this one from Resep Keluarga Nugraha (plus some tinkering of my own):

Ingredients:

6 pieces of medium sized banana, sliced 1 cm thick (I prefer not so sweet)

250 gr of pine nuts, boiled till softened (or you can use the canned one in syrup)

8 tbs coconut sugar, chopped

2 tbs granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

500 ml coconut milk

2 leaves of screw pine (pandan)

(optional) 3 pieces of jackfruit, cubed

Directions:

1. Boil the coconut milk, sugars, salt and screw pine leaves to a simmer

2. Add the banana, jackfruit and the pine nuts, occasionally stirring to prevent separation of the coconut milk

3. Boil gently till softened (bananas would slightly change color)

4. Serve!

So simple! I love that I can find all the ingredients locally here in Philippines as they use roughly about the same ingredients for their food, except for the spices. Indonesians love to put WAY more spices in their food.

Anyway, I hope you can enjoy one of my favorite dessert. Have fun!

Project: Photos part deux

Earlier in March, I was muttering all kinds of stuff about organizing my photos.
I am quite happy to inform you that, despite all the kinks and imperfections, I have already come up with a working system since.
Armed with a new camera (which has created a super productive spawn of images in my library), a system is simply a necessary tool for survival.
So. Without further a due, let me share with you my system.

First stop, remember that my system is quite limited by both my hardware and software. My version of iPhoto ('08) does not come with all the nifty tools of its younger counterpart. No face recognition, for example. Just simply albums, tags, events. In any case, these 3 are the tools that I currently use to organize my collection.
Given an upgrade, most probably I would still stick to my system, only relying on the new tools (like face recognition) as a fall back or alternative searching method.

Second stop, events.
Event is my main tool for organization. You should know by now that when iPhoto imports your photos from your camera or your disk, you can either choose to have the pics automatically categorized into individual dates, or simply dumped into one single new event.
I find individual dates too cluttered for my taste, so unsorted pics would usually end up as a new event at the bottom of my display.
Many of my photos are basically of my Kid (I'm a relatively new Mom, sue me), so for these, they get categorized into 3 categories: at home, outdoor (for walkies and shoots from the garden) or outings. Every year I would make new event folders with similar titles.

The Dog has his own yearly event folder.

Should we have a special event like a trip somewhere, I might create a new event just for the duration of the trip, but increasingly I tend to stick to the original 3 categories.

For photos quite unrelated to the Kid, I would create separate events still, based on the subject of photograph (eg. flowers, macro, school, etc)

Third stop, album.
Albums are usually smaller than events (which are made on yearly basis), so basically they will contain a mini-event, a special occasion, or simply things I would like to group together for purposes such as posting in blog, printing, etc.

I only use this feature lightly so far. As for project, uhmm... haven't touched them, actually.

Fourth stop, tags or keyword.
I suppose tags (or key words) are really useful when you want to search for something specific in a large collection. However, I do find the manual tagging VERY inconvenient.
I do prefer flagging my photos temporarily, select all from the flagged folder, create an album from the selection, and voila! I'm done. I can always look up for the content through searching the title of the album.
This totally beats inserting keyword one by one on every photos.
If apparently there's a function to insert keywords on a batch of photos, I have not found it.

Online library
For my online library, which I basically use mostly for blogging purpose, I only use the simplest system, chronological. Basically I would have an album for each month of the calendar, consisting of all the photos that I include in my blog posts for that month.
There might be some extra photos uploaded that I eventually do not use.
These photos I usually delete around the end of the month.
They usually stand out due to the low view-count, haha.

Last note
This is a rough sketch of the system that currently works for me. May not be perfect, but it works so far. In the meantime, I am always on the lookout for better ways.
The system might not work for you, but I guess it can always be a starting point.

Rachel from the Small Notebook also reminds me that the delete button is one VERY important and useful tool in organizing photos. But I have not had the heart to delete most of my photos.
I do, however, select carefully the pics that I would post online as I do not have unlimited storage online AND I prefer to show off only the better ones. Ha!

I hope you'll find this useful.

I ♥ Faces ~ Beautiful Eyes

I just found (yet another) photography site with weekly competitions, tutorials, etc.
Although there has been many assignments, competitions, weekly themes everywhere around the web, I have not felt comfortable enough to join in any of them.
This one, however, somehow feels more ... personal, more doable, somewhat closer
So I'm going to take a jump, at the very last minute, no less, and submit an entry.
We'll see how it goes as we go along.

I chose this photo because somehow I feel that all her mischief, her joy and her laughter are all there in her beautiful eyes, captured despite the blur.

Join the fun at I ♥ Faces

The Dog in action

It's been a while since I practice my photography on the Dog.
So when the sun came up, along with some free time and a few inspiration,
We went outside, armed with the camera and a bit of doggy snack, and took a few snaps away.

I'd say all those reading photography articles really help.
But then again, given the serious camera upgrade, it would absolutely disgraceful if the photos do not improve as well, don't you think?
And the tips that I got include, for example: getting up close, going outside for better lighting, as well as using large aperture for the glorious out-of-focus (bokeh) background.
The doggy snack part was my own brilliance, haha..., added to some previous trial and error.
It works really well to get the Dog's undivided attention, I can assure you!

I have to admit, however, that my weakness in styling still comes up.
That red bit on the Dog's head? Oh dear! It looks as if the Dog was going through an incomplete transformation into Lucifer or something.
I can't quite believe I did not notice that until I got the pics in my computer!
So... yeah, note to self: styling, styling, styling!!!!
Watch out for unnecessary 'props' lying around everywhere.

You see how it works when there are no 'extra props' caught by the camera?

Anyway, these two below are actually taken on a different day.
The Dog loves to sun herself outside. It would seem like she does not really like cold, so that whenever the sun is shining, she would pick a spot and sun herself until she feels warm (or hot!) enough.

Penny is one gorgeous dog. I am glad I finally have a set of roughly decent shots of her.
The Mister and I looked in vain for such shots of her puppyhood. Penny was almost our 'first kid', you see. But back in the days, neither of us had the skill nor the equipment to create something like this.

Now as for the things learnt through the process:

• Photographing short subjects is better when done at the same level with the said subject rather than always from the top


• Get close. Like... really close


• Cleaning up the surrounding area before taking pictures helps to ensure there are no 'extra prop' in the frame


• A treat works wonders in getting the subject's undivided attention, especially when the said subject happens to be either a pet or a small kid (more on that some other time)


• Taking pics under the shade might mean some extra work for post-processing due to non-uniform lighting and shadows


• Lastly, doing your homework by researching more techniques in photography does work in improving the quality of your pics

For the budding photographers among you, I do find Digital Photography School an extremely useful resource in learning about photography. There are definitely many other resources out there, but DPS is currently my main one.

All the best!

Roadworks Ahead

Image via Wikipedia

You might notice some changes on the blog as I do some serious re-aligning, repositioning, branding, and whatever stuff I learn through my 3rd term in school. Haha!
You have been forewarned.
Let us all hope that it will be for the better.

Inspirational Eye Candy on the cheap: IKEA catalogue

I was hoping to be able to write something useful everyday during this 'celebration' period.
But over-thinking the possible array of useful topics kind of kill the momentum.
Until this one landed on my (figurative) doorstep:

When I finally graduated from living in students' accommodation to sharing a bonafide apartment with friends in Singapore a few years back, this catalogue came into the mail box very much to my delight.
I had heard of the store then, but had never been there.
This catalogue was actually sent out to every single mail addresses in Singapore free of charge.
In fact, if you don't receive yours, you can actually register your address at the shop to ensure that you'll get a copy the next time they do the distribution.
All discussion about costs, marketing effectiveness yada yada yada aside, I adored having my own (well... shared) free interior design magazine in the house.
Not to mention the fact that back in Singapore, should you find something you like, you can just take the most convenient form of transport to the nearest branch to grab them.

Now that I am no longer living within easy reach of one (4 hours by plane to the nearest branch, either in HongKong or Singapore does NOT qualify as easy, yes?), I guess I'm stuck with drooling all over the pages.
Not that I even get a hardcopy of the said catalogue.

So here's the thing. These catalogues are actually available online!
By simply going to the IKEA website, you can either ... well... you can view it online, you can download the pdf file, or you can even download a mobile version of it for your ipod or ipad (lucky you).

Just some simple tips: the link I gave would actually bring you to the main Ikea page, in which you can chose your location. The pricing listed on the catalog would actually be published according to local currency, so.. if you maths is like mine, you'll go with the most convenient location for you.
I went with the US one, since the US dollars is used quite a lot here in the Philippines, and especially in the various Freeport Zones.
Here's how the US site looks like:

 To get the PDF catalog, you need to scroll all the way down until you see this part shown below:

 You see the right bottom corner there? It says catalog & brochures. Gold mine!
At the viewing page, there will be an option to save the said catalog into your computer.
If you're a hoarder like me, I guess you'll do that.

Alternatively, strewn around the main US page is the advertisement for the mobile catalog, which you might want to download instead of the PDF version. Just don't ask me about that one.
Not only I don't know much about mobile internet (mostly stuck at home with my computer here), I might just not be able to contain my jealous side about you owning iPad/iPod/such mobile gadgets. Haha...

On a last note, if you are a fan, do grab a copy of the catalog while they are available. The catalogs are only downloadable in full from the Ikea website until the launch of the following year's catalog. I still have my old copies from 2008 and 2009 as hardcopy, but I do wish I had the softcopy since the Little One had made a fast work of one of the covers. Arr!

That's it for my today useful content. I hope you find it useful.
Now go and enjoy your new 'free' interior design magazine cum catalog!

1 year blogging

One year on, despite the dearth of content here, I would say that I've gained LOTS!
In term of just sheer knowledge of the blogosphere in general, in terms of some blog-related know how, in terms of photography.
Of course, for the latter, it helps that I have since moved on to a much better gear, haha!
Still, I am reading so much more nowadays, and not only limited to stories in story books, but also a lot on photography techniques, home improvements, business startup, the occasional economic stories, even some graphic design and typography stuff!

Unfortunately, just like this blog, I still have not found a definite direction with all my wandering.
And so I have decided, that in celebration of the "blogversary", I would devote the rest of the month with discussions on technical bloggy stuff: content creation, content management, design, some extra link recommendation and discussions.
The point is that it has been a great 1 year of learning experience (one that is still continuing, I'd say. I am forever learning!).
Somewhere around my reasoning there is also this tiny little hope that through this 'celebration', I would be able to finally find a direction, both for my personal life and the blog.

So cheers for the celebration! There is going to be a lot of self-discipline involved if I were to really do what I have in my vision, on top of regular day-to-day living.
I think I am going to need a lot of luck (especially with that self-discipline thingy), and loads of coffee.
We will start tomorrow, hope to see you then!

Why I am not a "foodie"

One of my pastime activities include browsing through 'foodie blogs', both in the interest of finding inspiration for my own cooking as well as for the sheer enjoyment.
Great photography, fantastic sense of humor... oh there are so many gems out there.
And of course, some of them are bound to make you feel ooh so hungry.
And sometimes... even put the crazy idea in your mind to come up with your own 'foodie blog'
Until you realize, that is, that there is no way you're going to make it work.

Why? Well... I guess I am simply not passionate enough about food to ever come up with enough motivation to write on regular basis.
And then there is the photography... taking pics of step by step process? Uhmm... let me think about it.
Or even of the final result!
I have to admit that most of my food photographs are .... pretty lame, more on disastrous rather than good, with just the occasional 'decent' ones. I don't really think that they are good enough. Still, it's quite fun just to take the occasional food photo and try to improve on my technique in general.

Here's just some of the better photos, those that I am not ashamed to share with you.
I should try and take more.
How about yourself? Are you a 'foodie'?