sookie's cookie: February 2009

x/xxx Arthur Street, Fairfield

This post is long long overdue. Sorry.

I now live in Fairfield with JJ. It's a far, far cry from the studio in the wild, wild west. I have a washing machine! I can sit up in bed! I have a separate kitchen with ventilation and an oven! I have a wardrobe with sliding doors!! It's all very exciting and most of all the blessing that is my housemate. I thank God...I really do..

This was the inaugural meal together we had in our new (well, not that new anymore) house. Vietnamese rice paper rolls on New Year's Eve..

L-R: Vietnamese basil & mint leaves, vermicelli, lettuce, Maggi sauce (that's really what it's called...), prawns, picked carrots, rice paper and sauce in the middle.

It was JJ's first experience with it and she loved it! It's fast becoming a household favourite...

JJ pouring drinks...

The drink- Maggie Beer's Desert Pearls with strawberries...stricly non alcoholic

And finally....some goodies from the local independant supermarket down the road. They have a little section where they sell home cooked meals, fresh pasta etc etc. They also stock all sorts of interesting imported goodies (for lack of a better word) like Le petit ecolier and italian nougat..what a life, what a life.. ;)

Everglades Part 2

Next morning/noon, we set out to the Everglades. Dalia had planned a trip that involved cycling on a trail.
She lives about 15 minutes away from the Everglades. 15!!
WAhhh. Seriously man, I'll go there everyday. Ok..maybe not everyday. hehe. Unfortunately you can't have both -city and nature. So there are no malls/cafes/urban stuff near her place.

Civilization..

oo..wild ..nature.
So we get there, and the lady says that the trail is some distance away. She gave us a map and so off we go again. But 5 minutes later, Dalia panics because she doesn't know where she is going. We look at the map again and realize that the trail is an hour drive away. So we turn back and decide to hang out where we are. No cycling unfortunately. :(

Ooo..first sign of an alligator.

How close can you get to an Alligator????!!!
SO CLOSE !!
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
ahhaha. not really lah. you think i'm crazy ar??
the close up was taken at the visitor's center. hehee. looks realistic hor?

but this is real. looks like some crazy picture from national geo hor? Click on the picture above to get a close up! you have to click.

pretty flower. not that many colourful things around. mostly just green stuff.

A bird sunning itself.

Bird stretching.
We saw a small bird and I said, "hey Dalia. check out that small bird".
And just then a couple walked past, stopped and looked too. And the lady said, "oh yeah. that's a herring."
Sook: "oh. cool. sorry - my categories for birds are big birds and small birds."
Couple laughs.
hohoho. sook ning is so funny. ;p
Anyway, so that was the alligator trail (it's a loop - you end up where you begin). We took a break for lunch.

Bear getting into nature stuff.
*in case you are wondering what is up with the bear?? It's my Christmas present from Tom and I thought it would be funny to take pictures with it everywhere I go.

Then off we went on the 2nd trail. It's very different from Trail 1 as you can see. Number 1 difference - no water/alligators.

Dalia kissing the naked indian. heehee.

WHOAAA.. check this out. BEWARE of panther!
haha. unfortunately we didn't see any panthers.

Check this bird out.

Ok lah. I better get going. Anyway, LOVE Florida in the winter. No wonder its the number 1 winter destination.
Thanks Dalia and Tony for hosting me!

Everglades Part 1

Day 1
After the conference, I flew to Miami/Florida City to visit Dalia and Tony.

Here I am ..waiting in the airport. They were no where to be seen so I sat near the cab stand and entertained myself on my laptop. After several tries, I finally got Dalia on the phone. Apparently they were lost/took a detour..but were 10 minutes away from the airport. *phew*

They took me to a Nicaraguan place. mmm. look at that fried fish. kinda ugly and sketchy.

an old cash registry i believe.

mmm...! beans and rice, with steak, veg, plantain and fried cheese.
the fried cheese was weird. haha. it was rubbery and..kinda tasteless. I just googled it ..apparently everyone likes it. :s I mean, I thought it was alright but not my favourite.
But the steak, rice & beans and plantain were awesome!

We took a drive down to downtown Miami - Where the rich hang out. I prefer downtown Montreal. :)

Sky line on the way home.
Day 2

Didn't really do much because Dalia had to work. So I hung out at her office. She works at Branches - which is an organization/ urban ministry thing.

Then we came home for lunch.

Bear and Dalia enjoying some dark M&Ms.

Dalia, after choir practice, hanging out in the garden.

On the way..

On the way to geniusity. ;)

On the way to the Laughing Cat

Looking fine . On the way to Lipgloss?Lipstick?Chapstick? to SPSP grad party.

Looking short..:( On the way to the tram stop

On the way to the SPSP party

On the way to hockey

Some fav pics

JB and David

Jen and I went on an adventure looking for Publix - a supermarket. The directions was "walk under the bridge, then up the drawbridge and it's on your right. It's 5 minutes away". No dice dude. Took us like an hour trying to find the place. Fortunately the weather was great! :)

McLaurin in deep contemplation..."Can I fly? Maybe I can. Should I go for a run tomorrow? I wish everyone would eat lunch at 3pm. Why am I a genius?"

At the laughing cat

Jb...lol! priceless.

Bear taking a ride.

SPSP 2009

Awww! I miss hanging out with you guys. It was great chilling and catching up with you all.

Waterloo grads in action

Bear makes his debut.

Asians conquer the world. It's coming...wait for it..;)

Trip to Yunnan - more pics

In December, 2008 we made a trip to Yunan, visiting Kumming, Dali and Lijiang. The last 2 are ancient cities, where the residents still wear their traditional clothings. These cities are World Heritage sites.

Old woman helping an older woman to cross the bridge, Lijiang.