Picture blogging: Gullivers’ travel.

Once upon a time, there was a voyager named Omar Gullivers who liked to travel to kingdoms far and near to seek wisdom and experiences.

 

On one of his many journeys was to the kingdom of Perthia. Omar Gullivers was surprised that the Kingdom was nothing like he had ever since before.
 
The plants were smaller that the ones he usually see back at home. Buildings were tinier and cars and trams were so much smaller and cute as well. Everything were doll sized but were magnificently built.

As he was marvelling at the petite architecture, he bumped into a tiny Perthian man.

The Perthian man was only his knee height. I can tell you that the man is called Miguel Ayman. He turned out to also be a traveller himself. In fact he had just arrived in Perthia and like Omar Gullivers, he too was fascinated by the beautiful city.

Initially Miguel thought that the city was pretty tiny built. but boy he was surprised when he looked up to see Omar Gullivers standing next to him.

Omar Gullivers was pretty surprised himself when he saw Miguel Ayman stared at him. So he bent over to touch the tiny man’s head. Although it was scary at first, Miguel Ayman braced himself and try to befriend Gullivers instead.

In the end they became friends and decided to enjoy sightseeing in Perthia together.
The End.
 

F e s t i v e . c o o k i e s

I was looking through a recipe magazine and found a delightful idea of giving away edible presents during the festive seasons… a major economic saviour I must say from the tradition of giving away money. I wonder what are the kids going to react to this? Well, you know what they say, it’s the thought that counts..hiks…

The cookies that I made were “Chocolate Chip Meringues”. Before wrapping it all pretty and nice, the cookies will have to be wrapped with a parchment paper and secured with a clear tape. This is an important step to prevent the oils from absorbing on to the wrapper. Luckily meringues have very low fat content which made it a perfect cookie for gift wrapping.

Choose a pretty wrapping paper, and draw exactly like I did in the picture. Make sure the cookie can sit nicely in the middle of the square. Cut the areas marked “X”.

Fold the sides like in the picture.
Grab a cookie and put it in the centre. Tape the folded sides using a clear tape.
Now fold the remaining sides together and tape one on to the other using a double sided tape.

If you have a bit more time, you can also dress the wrapper with a band of contrasted coloured paper.

And of course you can prettify them with more cute embellishments if you like. I, in particular love embellishments. =^.^=
Now, it is hard to stop once you’ve started cookie giving (or barter trading) with your friends. But who can find the time to bake the cookies all the time right? So like me, you could theoretically buy the cookies and wrap them instead. the cookies may not be “home-made” but they still look the same. And in my case, it might also taste better. =)
or You can bake the cookies and let the kids have fun embellishing the wrapper!

Tantrums…ahakz.

As much as it is accustomed to see no one in the Anatomy building as the Uni closed it’s door to all things “work” on the 25th of December each year , I too customarily write a blog entry on this date to celebrate the NOTHINGNESS of this day. And I do not mean it in a nice way.

I distinctly remember 12 months ago, I was writing this blog, posting images of how wonderful it was to be able to work alone for a change for I am not a very people person… I can’t believe it that I am still doing it again this year.  I was promised that my hard work and dedication during the 2 weeks Christmas holiday last year would be benefited by a scientific paper. Excuse me, where is that paper now? if it was going to be delayed for a year, why was I “pressured” to finish it during Christmas holiday? The only holiday that I was allowed to have but was taken from me, for what?

So, wash it wong for me to be a wee bit “angwee” and twor a weetle baby tantwums  while I’m at it? hikhikhik

There was also the issue of me not going and not telling anyone that I was going to ditch the Christmas party.  I agree that I was excessively rude to not call anyone about my absence especially when so many preparations had been made so that the food (sushi) would be acceptable for me. Well I am truly sorry for that. I was inconsiderate to a large extent.

But the change of venue 72 hours before the party to a venue where there is completely no acceptable food for Muslims, the very Christian give giving ceremony, and the constant access to beer here and beer there, positively blackening and hardening my soul, sorry peeps, It’s not worth it anymore to try to pretend to be OK with it if I had to sacrifice my Islamic practice. NO WAY…

On top of that, the trauma from the last Christmas Party was still haunting me. I came home from the party feeling undeniably shameful. I felt ashamed and cheated. I really thought that the restaurant in Swan Valley was  very near to Swan Bell in Perth City (5 minutes drive from home) which was the reason why I agreed to join on the first place. I blamed it on my immature sense of direction. I should have Google mapped the location prior to saying yes to any invitation, but my internet knowledge at that time was poor. So I accidentally missed 2 prayer times. And what I thought was a short Christmas lunch turned out to be an all-day event.  Really, not in a million years would I have agreed if I knew that was going to happen. NOT IN A MILLION YEARS. {Regretful}

So there I was, explaining to the Big Boys the reason why I was acting “strangely”. I was torn between keeping my human to human relationship with them intact without sacrificing my established relationship with God. And whilst I triumphed at one, I failed miserably at the other.  But amidst all that, I am relieved that I was strong enough to make the right decision..which was to abandon the party and let Allah settle it for me.

And as usual, HE did. In a meeting that I arranged with the Bosses last Tuesday, “HE” helped me gather all my courage to FINALLY explain the truth about the struggle that I have been facing ever since I joined this group. Turned out, things are not as complicated as it seemed and all is fine now. of course at the end of the day I came out looking like a REBEL. But I don’t mind that because that is who I am after all. What I love the most is, I NEVER had to cater for lab meetings anymore.. a great burden lifted. {Bliss… =^.^=}

Even though I am still working over the holiday again this year, I do not mind because this time it is for ME. It’s my study, it’s my baby. I am willing to do anything for it.

Till then,

Ana.