sabatical

i'm on sabatical. yea - i like the sound of that.

so far so good. :)

venice biennale 2012

a short account of my time in venice for the architecture biennale of 2012

blog: 17 chipmunks

came across this blog today while researching affordable ready made non-ikea furniture options:



http://17chipmunks.wordpress.com/

i left a comment in the about section. not sure if it will be accepted by the moderator so i'm reproducing it here.


hi! your blog is quite a valuable resource. thanks for writing. being frugal is not a very trendy in asia it seems. ie. people brand you as kiam siap. and it also goes against the obsession with so-called branded goods. one positive outcome of the global economic crisis of 2008 in the US is that it has led to a re-evaluation of values towards money and material possessions. down-sizing is a more sustainable way of life for most people and it is also better for the environment.

crunchy and naturel remedies

some tips gleaned from our tasik kenyir guide - 'green' john chan

• kunyit - natural antiseptic to heal cuts (and cancer prevention)
• aloe - to soothe/heal cuts
• bird nest fern - crush with olive oil to make natural hair dye
• garlic - cholesterol buster
• bittergourd - diabetes

christina (john's future mother in law and cook extraordinaire) curry recipe:

dry
indian curry spice mix for meat (from 2 sisters' store @ttdi wet market)
candlenuts

wet
red onions
no garlic
cloves
star anise

inspired to experiment with natural home cooking ala 101cookbooks but using local ingredients.

another inspiring person met this weekend was mabel - a vegan, naturalist. unassuming (never would've guessed she's singaporean). and totally passionate about the environment. wish her all the best :)

happy 2012!

got back from tasik kenyir last night where we spent 3 days in a houseboat with 30 strangers. on the lake. in taman negara. there was no internet or phone connection. no clock. (there was astro however!). it was an awesome holiday and fabulous way to ring in the new year. we only wore 1/2 of the clothes we packed. and we didn't take a shower the entire time. swam in the lake or stream (fed by waterfall) to clean off. spent hours reading (i finally finished eragon) and enjoying the cool breezy air as the boat made it's way around the lake. can't wait to do this again. :)

the house boat: a barge with 2 storey light weight structure built on it. 

10 sleeping quarters, a kitchen, a tv room, 

2 toilets and 1 shower, living area/decks, lofts.

the loft on which we slept on in our sleeping bags 

instead of our assigned room - with zubee, christy and mabel. 

view i woke up to on new year's day! 

 okm getting some reading action. 

 lagoon where we docked on 2nd night. 

 spider having lunch

stopped in kemaman for trengganu eats

on way back to kl. this is pic of ladiesmaking keropok lekor.

dec5.


saint nicholas day! have fond memories of waiting for sinterklaas and his 3 black peters to come ashore at the piasau boat club

was on a sickie today. or mc in otherspeak. 'twas nice. 


visited my doctor - last time checkup was circa 2006. got mc, bunch of meds and also had a pap smear done. wanted to refuse the meds - but i was afraid she wouldn't give me the mc - so i took them obediently. then went to medifoods to have some of their luicha - also got a bunch of dry goods for my sustainable pantry. some of which featured in tonight's macrobiotic dinner: brown rice + red quinoa (which i made a big pot of on sunday to last through the week). made a super yummy soup with kombu, wolfberries and dried shitake - with just a pinch of rock salt for flavoring. looking forward to the millet dumplings i got from medifoods for wednesday dinner. :P


feel that i'm losing my sense of balance back here with work and social activities consuming about 99% of my time. don't get me wrong - it's great to be back in the valley. but sometimes you just have to hit the PAUSE button. get centered - as they would say in yoga. 


had 2 amazing sessions of bikram hot yoga this past week - unfortunately the studio is tied in with true fitness which is one of those gyms that make their money by signing members up for a min. 1 year package. something in me just refuses to buy into such products that arm twist their customers into loyalty. honestly - if you are that wonderful - there is no reason for you to demand customers sign up for 1 year, or to only buy your brand alone. 


but it has made me want to start doing yoga on a regular basis again. going to try out manassa yoga - which is closer and less of a parking nightmare as well. 


have been using a new cleaning service. yesterday's cleaner was excellent. but the manager wants me into take her on as a weekly. i prefer the flexibility of having house cleaned only fortnightly at times ... how now brown cow? 


would love to stay and write some more but i need to go sort some laundry. it's back to the grindstone tomorrow. 

wow. one goes away for a little while and returns to find a changed landscape ... i'm talking about this blogspace.

anyways. before i excuse myself to go explore - here's a link from sunset of one of my zero waste heroes

http://www.sunset.com/home/natural-home/zero-waste-home-0111-00418000069984/page11.html

ciao