my quaint world

Life's little wonders. It does brightens up ma day!


Taken with my 350D. Not bad eh? (Auto-mode hehehe)

** Long forgotten post. I'll complete it now for completeness sake. Enjoy!

So, with our 'ebay' tickets, we packed our bags and headed for the english land.

We ate. We chat. We shop (a bit). We ate. We ate. We drink. We drink. I drunk! :)

Just in coincidence, Siva was there. And my cousin sis, Mona too. Just minute before we left the house to go and join the crowd for the new year's party, Kels checked her mail while waiting for slow me to dress up. And there was her mail. Mona was in town. Yippeess! I was so excited. Its been ages since I last saw her. And I just love to have many many people around.

This is the gosho I picked to share in our February Discussion Meet which happened today. Many turned up. I was nervous. Lightly prepared. And thought of an easy way out.

Which did not really went well. I guess it was boring as there wasn't any interaction and just listening to my playing the podcast.

The podcast was fabulous. You should check it out - A Buddhist Podcast A duo of husband and wife recording their very own buddhist radio show. Its interesting and lots to learn from.

Well, everyone thank me for introducing them to this wonderful site.

I didn't feel as bad that things didn't go the way I planned. I can't remember when I stopped feeling bad. But its good. There's a tiny feeling tugging away, but I managed to put them off.

Though I learn from this experience. One day I want to be well verse, confident, understandable and most importantly being about to communicate my thoughts and feelings without barriers of self-conciousness, nervousness and unsureness. One day I will be able to share and teach others about this wonderful buddhism.

The one day will come.

I really wanna study the gosho in depth. Polishing my life daily. And continue chanting NMHRK no matter what.

This gosho that I shared today is a very short and concise. It contains the very essence of why we practise faith. To be happy.

We are born in this world to enjoy life. No one else can make us happy. Only by our own efforts can we become happy. In good time and in bad time, let happiness enfolds us.

Quote from a book : True happiness is not the absence of suffering, you cannot have day after day of clear skies. True happiness lies in building a self that stands dignified and indomitable like a great palace - on all days, even when its raining, snowing or stormy.

Ah, here goes the gosho :

There is no greater happiness for human beings than changing Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The sutra says, "The people there [in my land] are happy and at ease." (2) "Happy and at ease" here means the joy derived from the Law. You are obviously included among the "people", and "there" indicates the entire world, which includes Japan. "Happy and at ease" means to know that our lives --- both our bodies and minds, ourselves and our surroundings --- are the entities of ichinen sanzen and the Buddha of absolute freedom. There is no greater happiness than having faith in the Lotus Sutra. It promises us "peace and security in this life and good circumstances in the next." (3) Never let life's hardships disturb you. After all, no one can avoid problems, not even saints or sages.

Just chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and when you drink sake, stay at home with your wife. Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens. Then you will experience boundless joy from the Law. Strengthen your faith more than ever.

With my deep respect,
Nichiren

The twenty-seventh day of the sixth month in the second year of Kenji (1276)
(The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1 pp. 161-62)

Terrific buddhism!!! You should try it. It opens to a whole new realm of self learning and realisation. True joy that radiates from your being :)

Haha. I think my words sound overrated. Honestly, one has to try to know it.

I just know for myself, this is the best life principles to follow.
I just love it!

It snowed today!


Lots lots lots in the morning. It caught Belgium by suprise. But by noon, the sunny sun shone so hard that all the snow turned into water. It was slushy everywhere. Urgh.

I just thought my blog is a bit neither here and there. No exact focus. Its just a bric n brac of my mind and eyes. Some humour of mine to share.

I tried to make it a photography blog. Most of the time I forgot to bring along my camera. Otherwise, the photography course I enrolled, drove myself to, lost for 1 hour in Brussels - to arrive eventually to a course held in Flemish :(

I am still learning my languages. And...

Oops, gotta go. Tot morgen.

A quick make up for the long dissapearence. All written in this night.

Its late now though. My master is complaining.

To bed, Ms Teh. Good night everybody.

Ps : Still much to tell. About the new year party. About my new house. The new vast. The tulips. The. The. The.

Mmm, another post about food. I thought I should share about this very delicious vegetable only found during winter time called WIFLOOF. Not sure if this is the spelling in english. This is what I see on the tag in the supermarket.

I've never seen wifloof before in my life till I arrive in Belgium. Do we have it in Asia? I've grown to really really like it. Winter is gonna be over soon though :(

Anyway, this was my sunday dinner, perfectly done by Mr D.

Super-long Sausage from morning market


Wifloof - soft, smooth with slight hint of bitterness


Potatoes - boiled in special recipe


He also made a big pot of witloof soup. That'll be my dinner for this entire week. Mmm.

This is something I wanted to post for so damn long time ago... and now, I say I tell myself I must. Otherwise, you know, occassionally the feeling of 'shit, i remember it now' and I am at the wrong moments and keep telling myself, 'remember ok, remember ok'.

Anyway, I thought this idea was fabulous, original and funny. Its environmental friendly too.



You can even turn the tub around, pop it on the roof of the car and go for a holiday :) Or camping.

Take a nice warm bath any where in the world, as long as there's water and wood.

Though, I guess its too hot for use in Asia now but who knows in the future.

The world's changing.

Lately I've been spending all the teeny weeny bit of free time I have absorbing all the lovely and yummy food blog. Yea, I have been dreaming about food back home. And the food blogs just make it more and more desiring. It makes me drool!

Check it out. These are the usual ones I check (and I keep them listed in my Google Reader)

Little Corner of Mine - lotsa baking and local malaysian dishes

Lily's Wai Sek Hong - lotsa malaysian cooking and also baking

Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food - lotsa easy home cooking e.g bee hoon soup and mee hun kueh!!!

Authentic Malaysian Cuisine & Food - lotsa spicy malaysian cooking

Tonite, while I was drooling over my pc, checking out backStreetGluttons.Malaysia (always featuring yummy hidden corners in KL and Klang Valley), I came across a new blog - Living in Food Heaven by Jackson Kah. He's from Klang.

As I was busy nosying about his blog as it contains many many ideas of yummy food to find in Klang. Many of the places I know and I am trying to store in my mind the long list I have now, so that I can go discover as many as I am able when I am back home. Sure to be fat!

AND recently, Jackson just opened his very own, Book Valley Cafe, featuring the most tantalising 'Nasi Lemak Klang Special'... mmm

SO I was looking frantically all over for the address of his cafe. Found it. Trying to recall where it is. Name of the street looks familiar.

THEN, I recalled. And laughed to myself really loud. Book Valley Cafe is just beneath my mom's dance studio! Such a coincidence! And this time back home, surely I will not lose my way to finding the drool-licious 'Nasi Lemak Klang Special' :)

Yea I am still alive.

I apologise profusely that I have been missing for a long while. There is so much I wanted to share, but time and mind is not keeping up with my wantings. I can't remember what I wanted to write so much about. Then again, something will remind me, during all the wrong time when I do not have my laptop or a pen and paper with me.

Anyway, whats been happening? I have been lazy :) But trying very hard to shine at the first light, to be fresh and early to work. Yea, still trying after all these years :S

I have been trying to concentrate at work. But things have been bothering me like the renovation of my new house, arrangement to go home, a small holiday, dieting before the big festival, etc.

Yes, I am confirmed to arrive (I cross my fingers!) in a 3 leg flight, Barcelona - Brussels - KL. Pray that there will be no any hiccups or delays or ... This year, we have managed to convince our dear mammy to cook :) And she will.

My mom is a wonderful cook. Too bad I didnt take that after her.

Yea, I've been trying out cooking the past weeks. Very sadly, it was major disaster. We had to settle for white rice and stir-fry vege only. My Egg-Curry tasted like egg in curry powder. My prawn fritter has not much fritters covering it. (I discovered that I did my measurement for the amount of water wrongly. So the batter was too thick and didnt stick to the prawns)

I've found some interesting website. I'll share but in separate posts as I do not like my posts to be overly long.