In the late morning of Day 5. we drove to Kilauea, which is an active volcano on the big island. Kilauea has been continuously erupting for some 24 years! Pretty amazing stuff, and we had decided to do the Crater Rim drive and drive around Kilauea Caldera. [[image:hi57.jpg:Me by Volcano House:center:0]] First we stopped by the visitor center and Volcano House to pick up some literature on the volcano and map out our plan for the day. We had originally thought to take the Chain of Craters road down to the ocean and hike to the edge of the lava to see if we could see where the lava meets the ocean, but we’d gotten a late start to the day and decided to do the drive around the volcano for the day. Here’s Vin at the viewing area of Volcano House: [[image:hi53.jpg:Vin with Kilauea Caldera in the background:center:0]] [[image:hi54.jpg:Don’t […]
Continue readingAuthor Archive: sila
Hawaii Day 4 – Sayonara Honolulu, Hello Hilo
So after 3 nights in Honolulu, it’s time to go. We ate our last fabulous Hilton Hawaiian Village buffet breakfast (free continental buffet, $5 to upgrade to the entire buffet thanks to the Hilton Honors membership, and well worth the money). We relaxed on the beach, took a last dip in the waters of Waikiki beach, and went around the hotel taking last minute pictures. We also said our goodbyes to the beach and the sun for a few days, for we are off to Hilo (the rainy side of the Big Island of Hawaii). [[image:hi35.jpg:Orchids:center:0]] First off, some pictures from around the hotel. Statues of real people as well as gods: [[image:hi34.jpg:The guy who built the hotel, I think:center:0]] [[image:hi36.jpg:Legendary goddesses in the process of tapa making:center:0]] [[image:hi45.jpg:I forget who this was:center:0]] [[image:hi41.jpg:Don’t mess with this chick – garang!:center:0]] Some of the trees and plants that caught my eye […]
Continue readingHawaii Day 3 – Hanauma Bay and an Old Friend
The morning of our third day in Hawaii was bright and sunny. We enjoyed yet another marvelous buffet breakfast at the Rainbow Lanai, then we packed our stuff and headed out. We wanted to make sure that we would be able to park the car and spend some time snorkeling and swimming at Hanauma Bay! We got there around 9 AM, and this was what was waiting for us: [[image:hi23.jpg:Hanauma Bay:center:0]] It was a gorgeous day – and the parking lot was pretty empty when we got there. Plenty of space for us! And just look at it! We could look down at it from the parking lot, and what a view. We both had to get our pictures taken: [[image:hi24.jpg:Vin with the Bay in the background:center:0]] [[image:hi25.jpg:Don’t pay attention to the girl marring the view:center:0]] We paid our entrance fee (free to Hawaiian residents) and watched a 10 minute […]
Continue readingHawaii Day 2 – Lazy Day in Waikiki
After a refreshing night’s sleep, we both woke up early local time (around 12:00 noon Eastern time) and went to have a big buffet breakfast (we LOVE the buffet at the Hilton Hawaiian Village!). It was nice and relaxing, sitting at the Rainbow Lanai. The day promised to be beautiful and sunny. Already, we were feeling holiday-ey and summery, and laaaazy! Check out this hibiscus (bunga raya), the state flower of Hawaii (of course, the hibiscus is also the Malaysian National flower!) [[image:hi22.jpg:Yellow Bunga Raya:center:0]] After breakfast, we walked around the hotel and saw a bunch of different animals right in the hotel area. There’s a lot of open air areas, ponds, and vegetation all around: [[image:hi06.jpg:Shy flamingo:center:0]] [[image:hi07.jpg:Blue Macaw:center:0]] [[image:hi08.jpg:Red and Blue Macaw:center:0]] [[image:hi09.jpg:Green Macaw:center:0]] [[image:hi10.jpg:Penguins and Turtles:center:0]] [[image:hi11.jpg:Molting Penguin:center:0]] [[image:hi12.jpg:Big turtle and little turtles:center:0]] [[image:hi13.jpg:Green lichen turtle:center:0]] [[image:hi14.jpg:Cicak with funky red sac that inflated – or maybe funky […]
Continue readingHawaii Day 1 – Arrival
So, on April 12th, we said good bye to Lily (who was staying home with daily visits from Carey, the pet-sitter – more on this at a later post), packed our bags, and lit out from one of the worst March/April I’ve ever experienced in this country to head to warmer climes: Hawaii! It had been raining and at times flurrying (that’s snow!) for days prior to our departure, not to mention temperatures were below zero (in April in Southern Ohio!!!), so we were glad we’d scheduled this trip to Hawaii when we did. However it did take a long time to get there. We flew out of Dayton, first to Atlanta (2-hour flight) and then from Atlanta to Honolulu (10-hour flight). Not as long as the flight home to Malaysia, but still, a very long way away. Plus the fact that we first flew east to Atlanta increased our […]
Continue readingSpring Flowers
Spring is springing!! Even though it’s a high of 40F (5C) today, and there looks to be little granules of snow falling from the sky (no accumulation so far tonight) and the low tonight will be well below freezing, it’s Spring! Witness the crocuses: [[image:flower01.jpg:Crocuses:center:0]] They say crocuses are the heralds of spring. They bloomed early, and now they’re gone. But they were gorgeous while they lasted: [[image:flower04.jpg:Little crocuses in a row:center:0]] [[image:flower02.jpg:Very comel, no?:center:0]] [[image:flower03.jpg:Lagi crocuses:center:0]] Then we saw these purple flowers blooming from the middle of this plant (last year I don’t think they bloomed – they look quite new. The plant grew, but didn’t flower last year): [[image:flower05.jpg:Dunno the name of the flower:center:0]] [[image:flower06.jpg:But it’s a pretty purple!:center:0]] What this flower is called? No idea. But in a few days, it went from the pretty little purple little balls above to this kembang: [[image:flower07.jpg:Mystery Flower fully blooming:center:0]] […]
Continue readingStunt KitKat
Since the arrival of Tiger Lily Belle (Lily, to those closest to her), Vin and I have hardly been able to take our eyes off of this little cutie. She sleeps on the bed with us sometimes, but normally on Vin’s side. We play with her and pet her, and enjoy her loving company. She’s an amazing little creature! She rarely meows, unless she wants something. So she’s not a chatty katty (which makes doing conference calls from home really easy). She’s really careful with her claws and hasn’t so far preyed on the furniture (knock wood), she likes to come and curl up with us, she sleeps with such abandon that she can comfortably lie in the weirdest positions as long as parts of her are on one of us. Vin and I are both crazy about her! Plus she is a sucker for the bunny on the string. […]
Continue readingBread 2006 (April to August)
After the Sprouted Wheat Bread adventure, I did continue to bake breads at a steady pace (weekly, pretty much). We had a few repeated breads, but I tried to balance the repeats with some new recipes. Here are the breads I made from April to August of last year. The first is called Buttermilk Cheese Bread, containing – you got it! – buttermilk and sharp cheddar cheese. After the first rising, the bread dough is formed into a loaf and placed in a loaf pan: [[image:bread128.jpg:Buttermilk Cheese bread in loaf pan:center:0]] Here’s the bread after it has been baked: [[image:bread129.jpg:Baked buttermilk cheese bread:center:0]] [[image:bread130.jpg:Sliced bread:center:0]] [[image:bread131.jpg:Close up:center:0]] The Buttermilk Cheese bread was quite cheesy, and the texture was very nice and fluffy. Quite an enjoyable bread, had a nice tang from both the buttermilk and the sharp cheddar cheese. Next, I decided to experiment with brioche. Brioche is a french […]
Continue readingBreads 2006 (Sprouted Wheat Bread)
I really have been remiss in posting my bread experiments from last year! So to continue the story, I take up where I left off: the next bread I baked in April. I tackled a complicated bread and took so many different pictures that I figure it rates its own entry. 😀 I have been baking pretty steadily, and really getting into bread baking. It’s still something I enjoy doing, and the process is getting quite familiar and comforting. It’s still an adventure to see whether the bread will rise or not, or if it will have the texture I want. In fact, I’ve even branched out to combining a bit of gardening with baking bread. This bread is called Sprouted Wheat Bread. It’s a whole wheat flour dough that is enhanced by adding sprouted wheat berries into the mix. You start off 3 days prior to baking day, growing […]
Continue readingBirthday Surprise
As Hisham so kindly posted, my birthday was just last Monday, January 29th. It was a really good day, not to mention I began celebrating on Saturday with a small dinner party with friends. I just wanted to do a quick recap, because as part of the birthday fun, something happened which will change Vin’s and my life! We begin first with cake. I made Orange Chocolate Chunk cake on Saturday (I was in the mood for chocolate and citrus). The cake is filled with semi sweet chocolate chunks and orange zest. Here’s the cake when it first came out of the oven: [[image:janbday01.jpg:Fresh from the oven:center:0]] Then spoon over some orange syrup while the cake is still hot: [[image:janbday02.jpg:Shiny syrupy cake:center:0]] When the cake is cooled, cover it with a chocolate ganache: [[image:janbday03.jpg:Ganache:center:0]] I also wanted to take the time here to thank everyone for their phone calls, emails, […]
Continue readingAnother Celebration!
February 1st. A holiday in KL. More importantly, Hisham’s birthday!! Happy birthday, Yope! May this year be filled with happiness and blessings. You’re the best brother ever (my favorite brother, even!) and I love you and appreciate everything you do for us. You’ve always been a great brother, it’s great to see you become an awesome dad and a wonderful husband, and still remain a good son, brother, brother in law. Break out the cake! It’s time for my brother to spread his bronchitis by blowing out some candles. Seriously dude, have an awesome day. Love yas from Vin and me.
Continue readingTennis
A little bit of retrospective blogging: back to Mak and Abah’s visit here. Even though it was early November, we had a nice warm-ish day, so we decided to head out to Miami University Middletown (MUM) tennis courts for a little exercise. Abah, of course, has been playing tennis (and playing it well) for 40 years. Hisham and I both learned to play when we were little, and I know I was never very good at it. But I do love going outside, going to the courts, and getting some exercise (trying to beat Vin which I have never done yet – give me time!). So the four of us packed into the car, and took the short drive to MUM. We couldn’t drive right up to the tennis courts (they closed the gate to the access road) so we parked the car in the car park a short walk […]
Continue readingBread for Abah and Mak
A quick review back to Mak and Abah’s visit here last year. After all this while of looking at the breads I’ve been baking, I finally got a chance to have them taste my home made breads. Here’s Abah and Mak’s introduction to one of Vin’s favorite breads, Raisin Orange Bread. While I was making this bread, Abah was running around wondering when he would get to eat it! After all, with bread baking you have to knead the dough, let it rise, then shape the loaf and let it rise again (that’s about the average way to bake bread, with 2 risings). Without the rising, the yeast won’t make the bread nice and fluffy! Then after all this, the bread has to go in the oven to bake. Abah was just about ready to give up on the bread when it finally got out of the oven. [[image:us346.jpg:Abah and […]
Continue reading10 Reasons not to go outside
After about a week of rain and snow flurries and overcast skies (luckily it wasn’t too too cold so no snow stuck), Friday was a sunny day. Cold and windy, but the sun was finally out and Vin and I took the afternoon off to go out and spend the afternoon together. Saturday wasn’t a bad day either. But this is what I woke up to this morning and my heart fell. Let’s not be shy about it. Believe me, I don’t make any excuses – I will say it out loud and say it strong. I HATE SNOW! I loathe it. I think that snow is the single most depressing thing in the world, and the one reason that I would think about moving. Here are 10 pictures of the scene I saw when I woke up this morning. The first snow of the season that has any kind […]
Continue readingBahamian Break
Christmas is a time for us to take a break. Get away from real life. Leave work behind and relax. Last year, we flew out to San Francisco and took a road trip up the coast north of San Francisco. This year, since we’d just done the road trip through the South West (it was 2030 driving miles total) so we decided we wanted to just go someplace warm and veg out. So we went to the Bahamas! Wheeeeee! We were away for 8 days, staying at the Paradise Island Harbor Resort [[image:bahama14.jpg:Harbor Resort:center:0]] We arrived in Nassau and took a bus to the Harbor Resort on Paradise Island. The Bahamas is made up of hundreds of islands and Nassau is on New Providence. The bus took us across a bridge to Paradise Island. Here are some pictures of the Harbor Resort on Paradise Island: [[image:bahama11.jpg:Vin catching some rays on […]
Continue readingIn a galaxy far, far away… Southwestern Road Trip Day 8
After a long hiatus, here’s the final part of the Southwestern Road Trip. Finally! I know! Forgot already. But here’s the last part of the story. Our final morning in Flagstaff dawned bright and early. We were packed up and ready to hit the road to head south to Phoenix. We were planning to be in Phoenix by lunch time to meet up with Vin’s cousin Becky, and the drive would take about 2 hours total. So we decided to meander down to Phoenix by way of Sedona. We ended up hanging out at Red Rock State Park, visited Cathedral Rock (which Becky, Vin and I climbed in a previous visit), and then drove on to Phoenix. [[image:us345.jpg:Flagstaff-Sedona-Phoenix:center:0]] While I was speaking with the manager of the Embassy Suites (they fixed our hot water, but Vin’s and my room never got above 60 F the whole time we were there […]
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