I’ve totally forgotten all about this till I signed my son up for camp this morning and checked the date. I had wanted to run a special but the past few weeks have been so busy and exhausting. It has been so hot at night that I dread sitting at the ‘puter working the images from my latest session last week. That said, this picture puts me to a party mood. I love the joy K portrayed and thank goodness she has a feather boa!

Watch out for my posting on the 1st year special here, craiglist or at your midwives offices.

and bunking on my couch for two nights. Imran whom I’ve known for 10 years (we started as online Pet  Shop Boys fans) is now living in Edmonton but he once lives at Metrotown area. Yes, ladies, he is available at the age of sweet 31.

My son was in a good mood in posing for us.

On the side, I’ve been watching this dragonfly nearby. The last one is my favourite shot. I am in the mood for TLR, hence its colours.

Whisk egg yolks with sugar until creamy smooth. Add mascarpone cheese and set aside.

Beat heavy/whipping cream till stiff peaks.

Whisk in mascarpone mixture.

Mix kahlua & espresso — heavenly combination.

Dip ladyfingers into kahlua & espresso mixture. Line them in your tray.

Spread half of the cream mixture on top, then another layer of espresso soaked lady fingers. Finally the balance of the cream mixture. Chilled to set. Easy, right? It’s easier to eat them too. Hence, you don’t see any pictures of the tiramisu, LOL!!!!

to read that another black bear was killed by the RCMP in Coquitlam. I was at McD watching the news on TV and it showed the bear up in the tree. It was then shot with a dart and the poor thing fell down to the grown. Minutes later, you see someone shot the bear at close range (which was on the ground). Shot! Poof! Smoke! The bear seemed to jump up and then it’s dead. (I am crying as I write this).

We encroached bear territory by building more homes up on the mountain especially those expensive houses up at Mountain Plataeu. We are killing those bears for being bears. We preach on living co-existing with wild animals like bears and cougars but we expect them to act like trained dogs. If they attack us, well, that’s what wild animals are. It’s too expensive to move them so we just kill them. Or the RCMP officers are just itching to use their guns so they use it on a helpless animal. They said they had to kill it because it was acting aggressively and they couldn’t control it. Heck, if you were the bear being surrounded by all these people, you would show your aggressiveness.

Watch the video here: black bear killed

So, I’ve finally finished editing and post-processing my latest session from this past weekend late last night. I decided to reward myself by reading the last few chapters of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight”. Let me say that I was ignorant about this vampire series because one, it’s a young adult book. Two, well… there’s no two. I was just plain ignorant about this. I was browsing Amazon for cupcake books when on the front page (or nearly every page), they were promoting the fourth and final title for this series… “Breaking Dawn”. Being curious, I thought I will read the first book.

Let me say that, the writing is not as intense as say, Anne Rice’s… the other vampire series author. I guess being a young adult book is vastly different from one written for adult. Twilight has more than 200 pages but it only got really exciting in the last few chapters. I was about to give up on Bella and Edward (no matter how good looking he is supposed to be) when the “tracker” appeared. After the climax, it felt downhill again. Will I read the second book “New Moon”? Most probably if I can’t find any other books to read. But heck, give this series a try. They say Eclipse (the third book) is much better. Have to read to find out.

What a glorious day for a bbq, this BC Day. Just so beautiful with blue sky and great, hot weather. My turmeric honey chicken wings (see recipe in previous postings) are baking in the oven and will be transferred to my friend’s grill within an hour. We will be having ribs and whatever. The kids are getting ready to be soaked, playing with the water hose outside. But before we get out of the door, I want to share this collage with you. I am actually behind in showcasing some of my maternity & newborn sessions here because my kids are taking a lot of my time this summer. I had a maternity session yesterday and they were the most loving couple I’ve met. R, the hubby is officially Lissalo’s most helpful hubby during a photography shoot. It was most beautiful to see how much he dotted on his wife, C. Enjoy this pic. I will be doing more editing and post-processing from this session these coming days.

As promised, here’s a collage-of-sorts of my client, Ms. M. She has her baby girl about two weeks ago. So now, Lissalo’s boy/girl ratio 2008 is 6:3 if I am not mistaken. This is a boy’s year!

A good friend of mine made this light-table image using photoshop. Looks how real the coffee in the mug is, the shadow on the table etc. Isn’t he enormously talented? This is only a low-res since he gave it for free. Anyway, I will post more pics from this session later in the week. I am so exhausted hauling my kids to here and there for their summer programs that all I want to do is crawl to bed with a good book before I sleep.

This is my first try in baking Pandan Chiffon Cake. It was rising so perfectly when it was done. When I inverted the pan on the rack to cool, it crumbled as if out of air within 10 mins! I whisked the egg whites real stiff with the cream of tartar but my folding wasn’t that great I guess. Sigh. The recipe calls for Ovalette (a stabilizer for the egg whites) which is optional BUT you can’t find it here in Canada or the US. It’s widely available in Asia, even in the smallest of smallest grocery store. I am going to drive by Fraser and Main to check out the Fillipino or Vietnamese stores there to see if one does carry it.

That said, the cake was delicious! The texture is slightly dense from the normal pandan cake which is perfect for me. I’ve always find the normal pandan cake is a bit too dry although the texture is perfect with these tiny holes with the air trapped in the batter. My kids say it’s great and ate a few extra slices. So, I guess it’s a success — in a way, hahahah.

Last night, I came across a blog, Rasa Malaysia  by a Malaysian living in the US and she has a recipe called Malaysian Turmeric and Honey Wings.

Recipe: Malaysian Turmeric and Honey Wings

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken wings (middle section)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
2 inches ginger (skin peeled)

Prepare the ginger by pounding with a mortar and pestle or grinding with small food processor. Extract the juice by squeezing with your hand and discard the ginger.

Marinate the chicken wings with the ginger juice and all the seasonings above for 1-2hours. Grill or bake them in oven (at 375 degree F) for 20-25 minutes until cooked or golden brown.

Simple enough right? So, I bought 2lbs of chicken wings and marinate them overnight. Baked them for dinner tonight and guess what? It’s delicious! I can taste the turmeric with a splash of ginger. Too bad my kids can’t eat too spicy or I would have added more chilli sauce in in the marinade. You also know that it’s a success when your daughter gives you the thumbs up after her first bite into the wing!