Painting a fish on batik

I've volunteered for the Batik painting event in the Company's Diversity event today. I was so eager to volunteer because I was so jakun have never done it before.

Eventhough my team mate ditched me last minute and fortunately managed to find a replacement team mate, it did not dampen my spirits. Yup, memanglah semangat and spirited :P

I must say my new team mate done quite well in the colouring *smug grin*. We were given a picture of a fish. The outline of the picture has been done. What we needed to do was to put in the colours only.

We were given Chinese calligraphy "paintbrush", a plastic container for water, palettes, a few bottles of different ink colours, and a small piece of cloth to soak up the water. I gave some ideas how we should paint the picture, and then we started the painting process. We're supposed to finish it within 30 minutes.

So my team mate "tackled" the main subject - the fish, and I did the rest i.e. the coral reefs, rocks, the blue water and the spots on the fish. We tried our best to bring some colour gradients, mixing colours and hopefully the end result look good enough. The painting was quite easy, as the batik cloth absorbs water real fast. The trick is to play around with water to get a lighter/darker tone of colour. As a finishing touch, we put our department's name and our initials to the batik painting

Tadaaa.... nah..tengoklah sendiri the hasil kerja. Not bad lah kan.. for two first-timers ? :P

Black Canyon Coffee @ Alamanda Putrajaya

There was a flash flood at the main entrance road to my housing garden after work yesterday, so we decided to have dinner elsewhere while waiting for the waters to subside before we could go home. We ended up at Alamanda because it was the nearest shopping mall and the journey there was traffic –free.

With nothing specific in mind, except for hot food, we decided to eat at Black Canyon Coffee which is located at the food court area. Black Canyon Coffee has many branches, usually located in Jusco shopping centers. Its menu are mainly Thai flavours, with some fusion theme, but it also has some western meals. The drinks menu is not too varied, though it has quite a selection of coffee beverages.

We ordered the following for two:

• Fusili Chicken Tom Yam (RM8.90)
• Pad Thai (RM10.90)
• Iced Chocolate (RM6.90)
• Iced Blended Green Tea (RM6.90)

iced blended green tea and iced choc	the napkin with the logo
Fusili chicken tomyam	Pad Thai

There’s a 15% govt & service charge on top of the price. If you happen to have a Jusco card, remember to present it when paying, and you’ll get to enjoy 10% discount of the bill.

The Pad Thai was quite tasty, though I thought it was abit “wet”. The iced chocolate was nothing to shout about, except it tasted like cooking chocolate with cream. N ordered the other two, and I tried a few mouthfuls. The Fusili is quite yummy with a hint of spiciness, the chicken was smooth and tender, the tom yam soup was just nice (not too spicy). The iced blended green tea was so-so only, it tasted just like normal green tea with abit of creamy taste.

Though the food experience was nothing to shout about, but there are quite a few of other food that I would like to try if I happen to revisit it. Not a bad choice for a quick lunch / dinner as they also have lunch/dinner sets.

Kiko's three tricks - sit, lie down and shake hand

Woof woof,

Daddy and mommy had taught me a few tricks over the past few months, and besides learning the tricks, I gained a few milligrams along the process. Hey, I need treats to learn better and faster, you know? ;-)

Daddy was training me last night, and mommy decided to record my "show" on her camera. So please enjoy my brief performance in the movie clip below.



I'm good, ain't I? You can also get a copy of it here.

Woof,
Kiko

Gardening: I'm going to start my own compost bin

I've always like gardening. It gives me a sense of achievement to see my plants grow taller each day or a new flower now and then. Of course, gardening also means the hard and dirty work of pruning out weeds and watering the plants etc.

I was reading sites on gardening few days ago and read about composting. This sounds interesting. You can create rich soil from your kitchen waste. And you can use that rich compost soil for your own garden. It's also environmentally friendly and it's a cheap gardening project.

It sounded simple, and with the minimum tools and some creativity, we can get composting started. There are many "how-tos" on the Internet, so just type in "how to make a compost bin" and you will get abundant information about it.

I particulary like this site, which inspires me with its plentiful ideas. It also has some videos which demonstrate the how-tos of gardening.

So I'm going to try out my own compost bin. Probably pop into the hardware store and see if I can get some tools to get started. And perhaps some wooden stakes/wires for my tomatoes plants too!

I may not be the best gardener, or have any green fingers, but you bet I'll be posting more on gardening stuff ;-)

First "family" outing to public park

Woof, woof,

Greetings...This is Kiko posting on mommy's blog again.

Daddy and mummy were eager to bring me to the park ever since they brought me home from the pets shop. After the first outing on the neighbourhood, daddy decided to bring us to this public park. This is my first "family" outing to a public park!.

I met another shih tzu dog named Momo there. She is a friendly dog, too friendly in fact. She walked up to me and started sniffing me up and down. I wasn't used to such "friendly gestures", and to daddy and mommy's much embarassment, I pee-ed on the spot. But daddy and mommy were so cool, they didn't reprimand me. Mommy was far-sighted to have brought some newspaper, so daddy used it to soak up my pee.

I love checking out the park. There were so many children and colourful objects. Some children were so attracted to me that they followed me. Some of them had the nerve of calling me "ee...kuching, kuching...". These kids don't know who they are calling a "cat". Me a cat?? Open your eyes big-big ok, I'm small but I'm mighty, and I'm definitely not a cat. I'm a chihuahua dog! I'll give you a piece of my mind if I'd longer legs to chase you kids.

I was so happy checking out the park, smelling the grass turfs and the tarmac paths. So much so I got distracted many times that daddy and mommy had to call me a few times to bring me back to track. I just love running alongside daddy & mommy.

Could we have another outing soon, please..? Oh, don't forget to check out some of our photos here.

Woof,
Kiko