Photography Class

Hubby bought himself a new toy at the end of last year, a Sony NEX-6 dslr camera and had been attending the free photography classes organized by Sony to learn how to use his camera.

A few weeks ago, he was checking the Sony website and found that this month's class was about photographing food. Since I'm a blogger I thought it would be good for me to tag along and see how I can improve in taking photos of the food that I want to post up on my blog.

The venue was Haikara Cafe in Subang Jaya, near Subang Parade. Our instructor for the day was Mun Ho, a professional photographer.

Our instructor

There were about 12 of us, mostly couples and everyone had their own dslr camera...except me. I figured that I would just learn about the photography angles and hubby could learn more about using his camera. Oh, and we were the oldest couple there; most of the others look like they were in their early thirties.

Using white paper, aluminium foil or even
a white paper napkin to reflect light onto
the parts where there is shadow

The food looked really delicious and most of the time I was waiting for each session to end so that we could taste the yummy food (yup, the food was complimentary...how cool is that for a free class!)

First came the salads and main meals....

This is how I would usually take a photo of
something delicious

This...

...and this is how we can make the food
look even more mouth-watering!

Everyone busy taking close-ups of the dishes

Then came the desserts....

I could hardly wait to taste this!

Photos taken by hubby...not bad eh? Looks kind of professional. 

The instructor showed us how the shots would
look on the laptop since the camera lcd screen
is rather small

Hubby taking aim at a piece of cake...
and me? as usual, standing behind him giving
instructions ~ "a bit more to the left, 
zoom in a little, no no focus on that grape..."
bla, bla, bla...

The instructor was good and everyone picked up a lot of little tips on how to maximize the functions on the camera to take that 'perfect shot'. For me, it was a little too technical and this aunty was quite clueless most of the time when it came to ISO settings, shutter speed and aper-what?? However, what I learnt was how amazing and complicated our eyes are, and how the camera cannot fully capture the images that we can see.

R & R in Pangkor

 During the midterm school holidays we went on a much needed vacation to the beautiful island of Pangkor. We have fond memories of the last time we were there 7 years ago with our kids.

This time we travelled with some church friends, a newly married young couple . We decided to be a little more adventurous and took the trunk road instead of the highway, stopping every now and then to indulge in the favourite Malaysian pastime ~ eating.

We set out at 9am, and our first stop was Kedai Kopi Shin Lok in Jeram which is famous for it's fresh pau and yam puff (woo kok).

This is so unbelievably yummy even though
I'm not a fan of yam

Then we travelled up to Teluk Intan for Rojak Ah Chai which is located near the wet market. 

Despite all the good reviews on the internet
we found it so-so.

Finally made it to the Lumut jetty at around 2pm, parked, bought tickets and had a quick lunch of KFC before boarding the hotel ferry at 3.45pm. 

We all know sand-art. Heard of fly-art?
It's just sticky fly paper stuck to the wall
of the ferry...with lots of flies stuck to it!

Stayed at the Pangkor Island Beach Resort, formerly known as Pan Pacific. It's pretty much like a back-to-nature kind of place surrounded by lush forest with close up views of peacocks and monitor lizards that walk about the resort grounds, hornbills that fly about from tree to tree and monkeys that hang around the balconies on the lookout for food left out in the open.

Peacock that made itself very at home
on our balcony railing, hence the close-up shot

Monkey stealing snacks from the room next door
because they forgot to lock their balcony door!

Tiger toy placed on roof to scare away the monkeys,
not sure whether it's effective or not.

We took to the beach on the morning of day 2. The weather was absolutely perfect, slightly cloudy with just the right amount of sun so that we didn't get toasted. CoolTeen and SweetTeen went kayakking and saw some very large jellyfish through the crystal clear waters.

In the afternoon we did some archery where I found out that I have very poor aiming skills (fortunately I didn't accidentally shoot a peacock or monkey!). The wind was rather strong, so hubby and our friend had a fun time flying kites that we had brought along.

Our kite soaring high in the sky :)

We went to Pangkor town for dinner, at a restaurant recommended by a friend whose husband's hometown is in Pangkor itself. Taxi to anywhere in town is a standard rate of RM6 per person. 

Dinner here on day 1

Dinner here on day 2. Food was good

I must say that I looked forward to the daily hotel breakfast buffet, which had such a large variety of food, both Eastern and Western. 

The morning we spent some time taking photos on the beach before checking out at 12noon. 

Lovely rainbow in the sky after a slight drizzle

Headed to Sitiawan for lunch at a famous restaurant, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone because of the poor level of hygiene observed.

Then it was off to visit Kellie's Castle, an unfinished castle near Batu Gajah. Entrance fee is RM5. CoolTeen was hoping to spot some paranormal activity but everything seemed calm and peaceful.

Reached KL around 7pm and had claypot chicken rice for dinner at Heun Kee. We had to queue but it was worth the wait as my family loves claypot chicken rice and this is one of the best in the city.

It was a relaxing and unhurried vacation, truly what we needed to recharge our batteries before going back to our very busy daily routine.

Removing Some Wisdom (Teeth)

My son complained of discomfort in his jaw, so I took him to the dentist. I'm glad he takes good care of his teeth because the last time he went to the dentist was 9 years ago, when he was 10 years old.

The dentist took a look at his teeth, shook his head and gave us the news...all 4 of my son's wisdom teeth were coming out all at once!

X-Ray of CoolTeen's teeth

From the x-ray, the dentist explained that the 4 wisdom teeth were pushing  his other teeth out of alignment. CoolTeen said that he wanted to wear braces to straighten his teeth and so the dentist recommended the extraction of all the wisdom teeth because there was not enough space in his jaw for all his teeth.

So an appointment was made and on Wednesday I brought him for his tooth surgery...he had 2 teeth taken out at once. The surgery took about 1.5 hours because it involved cutting the lower left tooth in half and removing it a piece at a time in order not to damage the nerves which were lying very close to the tooth. The upper left tooth was much easier to extract. Then it was antibiotics   for a week and pain medication whenever needed....and also soft food (which CoolTeen really dislikes. He's a meat-loving guy!) 

The dreaded dentist's chair!

Need to sign consent form

In a month's time I'll bring him to the dentist again to remove the other 2 teeth...not a nice way to spend my time but like what my fellow blogger Yuin Ting says - we need to fix our 'production defects'.

The first thing hubby said to CoolTeen when he got home from work was, "So you lost some of your wisdom?" As expected, CoolTeen with his swollen jaw didn't think it was very funny!

A New Nest

photo from wikipedia

The yellow-vented bulbul birds are back. They were persistently trying to build a nest on the main cables connected to our house electricity meter, and I had to dismantle the nest twice out of concern for their safety. It wouldn't be good to have the mama bird electrocuted while she hatches her eggs!

Finally they decide to build their nest on one of our hanging flower pots in the garden. The bulbuls haven't been back since the tragedy in February last year so hubby and I are pretty excited to see them once more, although I think this is a different pair of birds.

Hopefully all will be well this time and we will get to see the babies hatch, grow up and fly away.

Hubby took a peep and saw 2 little eggs!

What My Mama Taught Me

Mother's Day was celebrated 2 days ago. Every year there would be articles in the newspapers about mothers and I notice that the  stories of how a mother single-handedly brings up her kids would always be highlighted while the stories of ordinary mothers would often be overlooked. 

So today I am going to write about an ordinary, unassuming lady who has had a great influence over my life and some of the important things that she taught me:

My Mother Taught Me Colour Coordination.

The earliest thing I can remember my mom teaching me is that colours must match and not clash.  When I was about 3 years old, I had a large selection of coloured ribbons for my hair and whenever we went out on a Sunday as a family, she would dress me and then ask me to choose a ribbon that would match my outfit. If the colour did not match I would have to keep trying until I selected one that did. I remember one time when I was older and I chose a pair of shoes that did not match my outfit, because I wanted comfort rather than style. Needless to say, she convinced me to wear the matching pair of shoes instead. Today, shopping for clothes is such a breeze for me because I can visualize what accessories will match the piece I'm buying or which top will match the pants/skirt that has caught me eye.


My Mother Taught Me To Always Look Presentable.

My mom takes very good care of her skin and till today she looks at least 10 years younger than her 76 years. She also always had make up on, more make up for the office and less make up at home because she believes in always looking presentable. She had this philospohy : "If you're the lady of the house then don't go around looking like the maid"! My mom allowed me to wear make up when I was 15, in fact she ordered me to by saying, "You look pale. Go put on some blusher before you go out!" I guess that was her way of saying that I had permission to use make up, as in those days parents had this funny habit of saying things indirectly unless they were scolding the child. Today I have my own collection of make up and face creams, and I see the wisdom in my mom teaching me about skin care. I teach my children about proper proper skin care when they reach puberty and have to deal with pimples and oily faces. As for make up, I tell my daughter that at 15, she looks good as she is.


My Mother Taught Me About Self-Worth.

The one important thing that my mother instilled in me is that I must always have a proper sense of self-respect. People will respect us when we respect ourselves. This has helped me in my choice of friends and eventually led me to a right choice of husband. She was always very particular about good manners, mine and my friends'. If I was going out with a boy, my mom would not allow him to just honk at the gate and expect me to come out. She would want the guy to come in and say 'Hello' to her before we went out together. I told my daughter that this is how it will be for her too :)


My Mother Taught Me About Staying Within Budget.

My parents ran a business together and my mom was blessed with the finer things in life for a good number of years. However, when the economic downturn came, she knew how to cut back on her spending by using things that were cheaper but not necessarily of less quality, as in household, skin care and  make up products. Instead of having tailor-made clothes she would buy them off the rack and we would eat out less often. Now that I have my own household to run, this lesson is deeply ingrained in me and I always watch the prices of goods that I buy, whether it is good value for money or just an indulgence that I can do without.


Of course, there are so many more things that my mom taught me. Like most mothers my mom is not perfect and there are some things that I should not learn from her, like forgetting where she parked her car when we went to the shopping mall, haha! But I know that she always wants the best for me and as a mom myself I can truly appreciate all that she has done for me.

Love you, mom.

Happy Mother's Day!