Another peaceful demonstration

I didn't realise X'mas is just around the corner until I saw X'mas Bearista Bears being displayed on Starbucks' rack. To me, X'mas simply means end of the year. Somehow, I felt this year has been the most fruitful year, and am glad with all the decisions I have made.

Anyway, I bought a couple of Starbucks X'mas Bearista Bears as a gift for someone who has never missed collecting any Starbucks Bearista Bears since 2004 ;)

Starbucks Galerie des Arcades at Champs Elysee.

On my way to the Metro, once again I saw yet another peaceful demonstration.

I got very close to them, and listened to what they were trying to shout about. It was actually a peaceful anti-Israel demonstration .



"La france est une farce, SARKO est une garce"France is a joke, SARKO (Nicolas Sarkozy -) is a bitchy girl.(Nicolas Sarkozy is the current president of French Republic)












"Boycott, Veolia, Alstom, Dexia qui participent a la colonisation des territoires palestinies" Boycott Veolia, Alstom, Dexia, which takes part in the colonization Of the Palestinian territories.
Veolia - is formerly Connex) is the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement.
Alstom - is a large French multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets.
Dexia - is a Belgian-French financial institution.





The 2009 Starbucks X'mas Bearista Bears.

Anyway, the vintage napkin giveaway is still open! You may still submit your creative ideas, latest by this coming Friday!

Vintage napkins and giveaways!

Monsieur... Monsieur..... Monsieur! ( sir...sir..sir! ) If you're a guy, that's the typical word that would greet you, by the pimps and their "social ladies" as you make your way through Pigalle, the red light district of Paris, home to the Moulin Rouge cabaret. It's a bit annoying when they get too pushy to get your attention.

The Moulin Rogue

But, somehow, there are many "decent" shops in that area where you can find collectibles and vintage items.

Vintage napkins!

I managed to buy these ten vintage napkins at a very good bargain (€ 18 each) . Their printed graphics look very cool, mostly taken from old French magazine covers and movie posters. I planned to frame them nicely or stitch them into a cushion cover as designs below:




Giveaways!

Anyway, I have something to giveaway! To all of you out there, you can win one of the napkins above by simply following the rules below:

1- If you have the ten napkins what would you do with them, to show how innovative and creative you are in displaying them? Leave your answer in the comments section.

2- Your answer must be in English or Bahasa Malaysia.

3- I will pick the most creative answer as the winner. Remember, only ONE winner! If the winner is a follower of my blog and a fan page member, he/she will receive a vintage napkin PLUS a pack of multi-flavour macarons like the pic below!



Get creative, guys!

Salmon, Salmon, Salmon!

I thought of pan-grilling two slices of salmon for lunch, and keep another two for dinner. Nowadays, I'm more into blogging about food; and styling the food is my latest interest!

Photography on food styling is really satisfying! Cooking of course is one of my passions. I still remember about my favourite chef Laura Calder. She gains her interest in cooking only at age 30! She had a linguistics background and later became - a chef? How cool! That, is really inspiring... I just wish that one day, I get to run my own cafe, and at same time, able to display my painting collection, selling them at my cafe? *dreaming*

O.k, here is a slice of fresh, raw salmon... Really fresh! In Paris, salmon can be considered cheap!

I simply marinated my salmon with crushed black peppers, paprika, some salt and sugar. Drizzled some olive oil just before grilling.




And here is how it looks on my lunch plate... I had also prepared a boiled potato in pumkin and cauliflower soup. Yumms! And for dinner, I had salmon - again! I made a salmon baked rice with a mix of mushrooms... And I just hope that I didn't overdose on salmon!

Salmon again... for dinner!

And the next morning just before my class started, I had raw salmon at the cafeteria... Wow, I even impressed myself, what a true salmon maniac I could be!

Paint Eiffel!

Everyone has his own view when it comes to drawing something... it's all about how one translates what he sees onto the canvas. I decided to paint Eiffel Tower from my view, and I've decided to paint Eiffel in a naive style.

This was taken off a kindergarten pillar, I just love the marble arrangement and below are some Eiffel art that I happened to bump into before... cool!

Just before I started painting, I did a thorough observation of the tower...

They were also taking in the Eiffel!





I just luv the pattern of its iron carving..

Here is Effel as I see it... I've done five paintings, and at the moment I've put two of them here for sale!

Oil Paint on Canvas
Size: 16 inches (width) x 16 inches (height)
Price: € 60 / RM 300





Oil Paint on Canvas
Size: 16 inches (width) x 30 inches (height)
Price: € 80 / RM 400


Anyway, I've just created my fan page on FaceBook yesterday! To my blog readers and fan page members, you are entitled to a 25% discount on my artwork, with more pieces coming soon! And to my first Fan Page member yesterday, I am giving you this iron structure of the Eiffel Tower!




And it goes to Jalina! Please send your home address to my email!

These two pictures below are from my previous entry.If you like it, u can click on the desired size below and set it as your desktop wall paper too!


1280 x 800 800 x 600


1280 x 800800 x 600

Happy weekend everyone!

Singang -

Everyone loves fish, I guess... It happens to be my all-time favourite meat! And the more simple we prepare the fish, the more juicy we're going to have it. Am I not right?

Instead of having it elaborately steamed with mixed pickles and a dazzle of lemon, my much preffered style is the "masak singang" - fish in turmeric soup. It's actually a traditional Malay-Javanese recipe.

My parents have a very strong Javanese backgrounds, so it shows in our daily meals during my childhood. In fact, mum specializes in Javanese recipes! And one of them is the singang fish (Ikan Masak Singang.)

I went to the Marche to get the most imporatant ingredients - the fish and fresh turmeric.



This is what I had for my dinner, Ikan Masak Singang.



All you need to prepare this fish soup are:

1 fish (your choice!)
1 clove of garlic
2 small onions
1/2 thumb size of kunyit (turmeric)
1 chilli (pits removed)
1 dried asam keping or u can replace with 2 spoonfuls of lemon juice.
1 bowl of water

To prepare:

1. Pound clove, small onion and turmeric in a mortar.

2. Heat up the pan and put 2 tablespoons of oil. Fry the pounded ingredients till fragrant and pour in the water and asam keping.

3. Leave the pan of the water to boil. Once boiled, reduce the flame and put in the fish, salt,sugar and turmeric leave (optional). I couldn't find the leaf here :(.

Slow-cook until the fish is well done, and serve it hot.

Anyway, in some other versions they include ginger and other spices; but I am not really into it.



Spanner Crabs and Balmain bugs... I just love the color combination when they were put side by side. I have planned to cook Balmain Bugs in spicy coconut milk (Balmain Bugs Masak Cili Api) one day!

All-season Peacock

Of late, I seldom upload my paintings to my blog, the last being sometime last year. The last series I uploaded was my mengkudu series. Thanks to Mr Saufi for his appreciation for my artwork. He had bought two pieces of that series ;) If you are reading this, I hope u can send me some pictures of my painting now hanging on your office wall :)



I am now doing better at painting, since I recently joined the art classes in Paris. Here, I am proud to present two paintings from a series of four. They are for sale, too!


I had named this series the "All-season Peacock"!




WINTER PEACOCK - Acrylic on canvas. Size 24"(H) x 36"(W)Selling for € 180 / RM900






AUTUMN PEACOCK - Oil Paint on canvas. Size 24"(H) x 36"(W)Selling for € 180 / RM900


Will upload the other two paintings, Summer Peacock & Spring Peacock later!