The simplicity of happiness? Do they exist?

Kids are the happiest!

Be it a Monday, Birthdays or not,

I wish for this kind of happiness,

From within and without any expectation,

If only, adulthood could be this simple!

Of birthdays and August

August is supposed to be a special month to me or at the very least August 7th as I was born on this date.

I didnt remembered how i felt on my brithdays when i was a kid but from those old pictures i have, i gathered that i was a very blessed kid showered with birthdays parties organised by parents and presents from the guests.

Fast forward to college days, i still receive an abundance of birthday greetings from loved ones, friends, near or far which makes me feels special although celebration is already rare. It's a surprise that how some people still remembers your birthday and wishes you year after year without fail.

I, for one is a fail case in remembering others' birthday. Hubby is slightly worse than me. He thinks birthday is just another day. :-S

This year, there isn't any celebration for me except for some small treats here and there from my sistas. *sob sob* I hope next year, it will be a better birthday for me!

Drifting but ain't missing

I was struggling to complete this post. *sob sob*

Having been away from writing (i.e blogging) has its side effects for sure,

And when you thought u could just blog like before, uploading a photo takes forever,

I will be back. Wait for me!

The Azie Chinese Restaurant in Hoorn

On Monday, my friend who was on holiday from Vietnam and I went to the Azie Chinese Restaurant in the town of Hoorn for an early dinner. The interior of the restaurant resembled a Chinese temple in my opinion!

If it did not resemble a temple, it must have been a museum!

There was a lot of Chinese-styled furniture and decorations in the restaurant.

Courtesy of the restaurant, we were given a free sampling of their chicken wantan. It was not bad, quite tasty indeed.

For starters, we had vegetarian shark's fin soup.

Our main course was Singapore mee hoon.

We also had garlic black sauce stir-fried pork to go with the mee hoon.

Dining in, we had a beautiful scenery outside our window. Colourful flowers on the pavement.
We had a good dinner!

A Day in Food

11.30 am - Brunch was laksa mee hoon kari semenanjung, thanks to the Alif sauce which my mother sent to me

12.00 pm - Cooked teriyaki pork with tomatoes and leafy vegetables for hubby, but I also had a little for myself - could not resist...

8.00 pm - Back from my friend's house where she had cooked me pasta and we had tiramisu yogurt dessert for dinner. Yet upon reaching home, I just had to eat some deep fried shrimp rolls and wan tan!

Continuing the journey to Enlightenment

Yang chow fried rice from my usual Chinese shop near the station.

Dinner tonight was baked potatoes, drumsticks and salad for hubby and I.

Our Buddha at home.


It seems that I have had quite a few misadventures in Almere lately. The first post in this blog was inspired by a visit to the Buddha Restaurant, and now, quite disappointingly I have moved on. I have already been enlightened here...not in the way I expected to be, yet nonetheless aware.

First it came as a painful awareness and then a blissful understanding that I should just let go and move on to explore new frontiers.

I was in the Buddha Restaurant two weeks ago. I had been here some five times since the first blog post. When I come here, I always order the crispy deep fried noodles which I cannot get at the regular cafe near the station. That day, I felt I had stayed away long enough and decided to indulge in the noddles along with the more exotic pork intestines and seafood.

The regular, pleasant waitress which was normally here was not present today. Instead I was served by a grumpy, elderly woman who also banged the dish on the table as she came along. I was not much bothered by it for I came here to eat, not to get irritated with waitresses. A grumpy woman was not going to spoil my yummy meal.

The meal was tasty. I loved the egg sauce. Slurping my noodles, I found that I could not swallow this string of noodle. I could not chew it. To my surprise, it was a piece of green wire which I had tried to chew.

Yet still, I ate a little more after that...

I debated whether or not to inform the grumpy waitress. I was more concerned about her reaction, in case she would be unreasonable. I did inform her - customer's rights after all -  and she told me bluntly that it was a wire from a brush used to wash the dishes which got into the food. She said a quick sorry without looking at me and then dashed into the kitchen to scold the cook.

"Crazy man! How do you do business?" She yelled at the cook in Cantonese.

It was so loud that I could hear although I did not see them in the kitchen. So happened I was the only customer at that time. I could not continue eating anymore. My appetite was gone, more from the bad treatment I got than from the food.

I told the waitress that I could eat no more because of that wire - a white lie - I could have eaten more if I felt they were sincere and apologetic. After all, the wire had already been in my mouth and out! I had only a quarter of my plate.

I paid the bill. I was also disappointed that I was not given a discount on the noodles, and had to pay the full price. No other apologies. The bill was passed to me in robotic voice and gestures.

I left the Buddha Restaurant and decide to boycott it now. I believed that they changed ownership because the usual serving staff were no longer there. Instead it has been replaced by two elderly women as waitresses and an elderly man as the cook.

I am glad though that at home we have a nice bonsai tree where our own little Buddha is sitting under.

On a happier note, yesterday I had yang chow fried rice at my usual Chinese shop and it was delicious, minus the sambal. I avoid the sambal here because it gives me a tummyache.

So thus far my misadventures in Almere; but that is what makes life interesting, no?



 

Bird Alert in Almere

I am officially bird friendly ever since I could remember. Since I came to the Netherlands especially, I feed birds; notably seagulls, ducks and geese at our local park. I was comfortable in nature and enjoyed listening to the chirping of  birds. I liked it when birds perched on the branches of trees chirping away while I sat below the tree relaxing.

Yesterday was no different. Taking advantage of the good weather, I sat reading in the library garden. I had reading for half an hour when I heard a bird hopping towards me. It was a pigeon with somewhat ruffled feathers like it had just been in a fight. This bird hopped right up to my feet. 

Although I considered myself bird-friendly, I was now threatened by this gesture because its eyes were piercing into mine. It also hopped towards my bag, looking at it. I opened my bag to see if I had any cereal bar which I could feed it with. So happened the big eater in me had no food. So back I went to my reading, trying to ignore the bird. 

Yet the bird refused to bulge. So I had to bulge. What I did not like was the staring eyes of the bird. Before I left the garden though, I took a photo of the bird since it was so close to me. After taking the photo, with no flash, this bird suddenly gave out a loud "caw" sound and flapped its wings full stretch and lunged towards my thighs. 

I screamed with the impact. I did not expect the bird to actually attack me. I ran with my bag out of the library garden. For better or for worse, nobody heard me because I was the only one in the garden. 

Before I left the library, I felt it was my civic duty to inform the library staff that there was a predator on prowl in their garden. I explained to the huge, burly security guard about the bird which attacked me. I told him also that I believed it could not fly because it lunged only up to my thighs and not higher. Probably it was so hungry that it had to attack people for food. I also saw its mate, a darker bird on the ground, hiding under the stairs of the garden. 

The security guard laughed at me. Either he was amused by my experience or he did not believe me, I do not know. I felt like one of those straight-faced comedians who do not see the joke in it. Well, well...at least I had informed the guard. The next time someone else gets attacked, however mild - it is still an attack...not a physical one, but a mental one. Quite a shock for I thought most birds were shy with humans. 

Who knew such a little bird could be so fierce? 

Or just maybe I should come armed with a packet of snacks, not for myself but for hungry predators. This is vital to protect myself from unwanted advances...from those small, piercing and chirping ones. I live to tell the tale...

Of course I am exaggerating the last sentence. Mind you though, the rest of the story is true!