I prepared Dinner this evening! Made my maiden attempt at Mushroom Soup! Important ingredients... half an onion, 1 carrot, brown mushrooms, 3 cloves of garlic. (and that's really basic).



After some chopping, slicing and cutting.... the mushrooms, garlic and onions are ready to be simmered in olive oil magarine (healthy alternative to butter).


In the interim, as the product didnt look exactly appetizing, I did not take a photo of it... but after it goes through the blender step, and into the pot again for creaming, it looks much yummy-licious! Stir... stir.. sitr...

And the end result....

Verdict:
Mummy:- Yummy but a bit too creamy
Papa:- Yummy
Bro: - Yummy!

And i seriously thought that this was better than what I had at Brown Sugar Bistro & Curdoroy Cafe! Think I shall perfect my craft and give them a run of their money one day!

Anyway, here's the Kinoko Rice... something Japanese but tasted a bit bland as I didnt add in all of the Dashi...



Not the tastiest dinner I've ever prepared, but this was prepared with love! to my family! Love papa, mama & brother!

1st April 2007, April's Fool. Was enjoying the coolness of sleeping in the rain when mum jolted me out of bed. I woke up to text Mingli & Peishi to ask if our plans of going to Sungei Buloh will continue or we have to look for a wet weather plan. The decision was finally, to play by year, and thankfully the rain had stopped and the skies have cleared by the time we reached the nature reserve.




So we began our 3km trail around Sungei Buloh this morning. The first thing we spotted was a slimy snake with a thick body swimming in the shallow waters of the mangrove swamp and we were really quite near it. Unfortunately, as I had forgotten to recharge the camera the night before, I couldnt capture that moment. Being a scaddy-cat (it did not help that there were "beware of crocodile" signboards a few metres away) I suggested that we quicken our footsteps away from this area. The next stop was a shed where we could bird watch from. Being a bird-hater (in fact, if I could be more precise, POULTRY HATER), I was not excited at all. We spotted quite a few flocks of migratory birds whose name I have forgotten, but later found out that they came from Russia (preveit!). They easily blended into the the muddy brownish environment and was not too easy to spot. A good distance away stood a lonesome blue chested heron whose body was so flat and lay so still that mum commented that he was practising yoga. We were fools for 15 minutes untik the heron, finally tired of staying still, decided to crane its neck downwards to admire its own reflection in the water. Enuff of birdwatching, and we continued on our trail. Along the way there were spiderwebs, and a couple of other squirrels. One squirrel was having breakfast and nibbling on its feed when it suddenly spotted us staring at it. The squirrel glared at us for a good 5 seconds - maybe little squirrel was suffering from myopia, and cannot see us clearly.





Anyhow, the mosquito repellant probably started to lose its magic powers when poor peishi began to discover bites on her slender right legs... poor gal.... and before we knew it, mosquitoes had invaded her left leg as well. Mum offered her favourite King Kong Ointment. I am so thankful that mum is always well prepared... (tidbits and King Kong and water... i didnt think of these things certainly...) Dont know if King Kong was strong enough to ward off those unfriendly mosquitoes. There were some portions of the trail where mosquitoes literally bugged peishi's back... and we finally realised it was because she was wearing in black, so me and Mingli decided to position her in front so that we could see the mosquitoes and ward them away with our brollies. Mosquito fending became our preoccupation for the rest of the trail... and hmm... are we here to watch birds and enjoy the nature or chase away mosquitoes or what? Hahaha....





We stopped at the Aquatic Plant Pond to take a look at the aquatic plants. We were first amused by the two turtles that waddled their way to us, and kept encircling around each other acrobatic style. Before we could make our way to the other end of the boardwalk, mum suddenly noticed a monitor lizard the size of the width of the boardwalk sunbathing in the middle of the trail. Gasp! That was an Anaconda moment.... but that was not all... we then realised that under the boardwalk, waddling in the waters was a even longer Monitor Lizard twice the size of the one sunbathing! Gosh... the first thought that ran into my mind was if the smaller one could make its way onto the boardwalk, so could the bigger one!!! Everyone, especially mum started to get excited and you know what happens when people get excited... they talk loudly. No no.. we shouldn't alarm the creature, but make our way quickly out of this area... I tried shh-shhing mum but she just wouldn't listen. Suddenly the big Monitor Lizard moved. It moved in. Further in under the boardwalk. Phew.





By this time, a middle aged couple came by and spotted the smaller monitor lizard lying across the boardwalk. Gungho man walked towards it, with his camera in tow, all ready to capture that creature in action. And he got his wish. The monitor lizard lifted himself up and showed off its web feet. Then he threw himself into the water, and plonk, his tail followed. As a side note, Mingli commented that it was an unglam sight... oh... look who is the bimbo here.





Soon, we completed the 3km trail. It had been a great morning, the rains had lowered the temperature and I thoroughly enjoyed the cool and crisp breeze of the sea blowing in my face. Not to forget the great company of my family and my dearest friends.





APologise for the bad photos taken... had to make do with a rather pathetic camera phone...

ラベル: Nature, Sungei Buloh