21 Guinness Bright - Love At First Sip

Guinness crafted a stout beer specially for the Malaysian market marrying it with ginger, lemongrass and coffee. Light and pleasant on the taste buds, it had a familiar flavour that this person (me) recognised. Having regularly worked with these ingredients in the kitchen, it's no surprise that I liked it at first sip!

" Ma'am, would you like to try this new flavour from Guinness? " a pleasant salesgirl at Cold Storage approached me, holding out a small paper cup.

" Sure. Just give me a moment. " I waved towards hubs.

" You get a key chain and a free glass if you buy a pack of six, " the girl explained. My non-Spidey senses were tingling at that. Purchase seems imminent.

I took a sip and was thrilled by the refreshing taste. I'll get just one. Hubs gave me a look that said, "Really..? " To cut the story short, we all know I went home with a pack of 6 cans.

Guinness Bright

Instead of enjoying the first can as is, I cooked it off in a pork belly dish. A beer-pork belly pairing is something I can never resist since I've tried it several times with much success and satisfaction. I gave the aroma more punch with a fresh lemongrass thrown in. The dark soy sauce dish tasted really beery before salt was added to round the flavour  - and then it was all delicious and addictive. I was tempted to throw in a bit of jaggery but decided against adding that bit of sweetness in the end.

Guinness Bright - The Beer, The Pork, The Number 6

A '6' was embossed at the bottom of the can. Checking the rest, there was one with a number 4 and three 5s. I wonder what these numbers mean.

Anyway, Hubs and I enjoyed our meal it so much that I imagined us patting our tummies with a satisfied grin.

Lemongrass Guinness Bright Pork Belly

That ends my first adventure with Guinness Bright. Are you into Guinness? Do you think you'll try this new flavour?

14 It's A Nephew!

My aunt nicknamed him "the watermelon" months ago, at a time when my cousin's tummy looked as round as one as she was carrying the little guy.

He popped out two weeks early, whilst I was in the cinema watching Transformers. I had my phone on airplane mode and since I got home late, I didn't bother checking for messages that night. Imagine my surprise the next morning. " By golly! ", I messaged my husband at work, "The Watermelon's out."

I was excited. Weeks before, we ladies had discussed a slumber party at my cousin's place to celebrate the new birth. I packed my bags for a 2-nights' stay. My aunt, now newly crowned grandma, flew in from East Malaysia at the same time to take on the role of 'confinement lady'. We chatted and played games until late while watching over the baby. He was well behaved so it was pretty relaxing. I helped tidy up my cousin's home a bit. My aunt got down to the cooking and herbal baths.

Baby gift? Hah, I'd already gotten my cousin one weeks earlier so that she could prepare in advance - it's a newborn to toddler portable rocker. Would you like to see it?

Tadaa... here it is! 

Newborn to Toddler Portable Rocker

I had, in the beginning, planned on giving the new parents a fully assembled chair, unwrapped with a ribbon tied on top. Thought I'd save them the trouble. After removing all the parts from the box, I struggled to understand the instructions and failed to piece everything together. Haha ..! How come, right? But I gave in since I didn't want to ruin the new gift with scratches. "Aiyahh... better let the parents figure it out ", I consoled myself. 

Alas, the day just wasn't going right for me. It wouldn't fit back into the box so I had to pack the seat pad separately. I then wrapped the entire thing in brown paper. So much for trying to be helpful!

Luckily, it wasn't difficult for my cousin to figure it out.

Baby Damien In His Rocker

Fast forward two weeks since the baby was born, my aunt informed me that the little watermelon loves the rocker so much that he refused to sleep in his crib one night. In fact, he's in it most of the day too. After cracking my head for months over what to get the new parents, I was pleased to hear this. I'm glad baby is happy with his chair

Happy baby equals relieved and relaxed parents. Yes?

18 Pigeon Tales : Benji's Shenanigans

So cute that I look forward to it! Benji is one of the most adventurous pigeons I know. Remember my previous post on her varied choice of food? I believe she's kind of a foodie, in the bird kingdom of course.

Sometimes she pops in just to hang out, roaming my little green space for close to an hour before flying off again. I had no idea how territorial Benji was until another pigeon tried to land on the ledge. It was so surprising to see my cute buddy flapping her wings with mighty force to shoo the other bird away. The stranger, possibly a younger pigeon, was spooked and it looked like I'm destined to care for two pigeons and no more, that is Benji and Gaston. But inside me was a hope that the little guy will come back. And he did, but cautiously, avoiding the usual time my funny bird would be there.

This is a video of Benji checking out my Pak Choy greens. Yep, she took a bite and threw it away. She also stomped on the 2-week old vegetable. From the internet, I learned that pigeons do eat young leafy greens. No wonder the older plant was left untouched. Luckily, my poor plant survived the ordeal. In fact, it is ready for harvest today. Benji hopped on to the next pot and proceeded to eat my succulents. See? Foodie. She also regularly nibbles on my rosemary plant after each meal of seeds.

More recently, I saw Benji walking up and down my balcony in search of something. She finally settled on my orchid plant which had purple blooms and started tugging on a long root. She succeeded and flew away with it. It was a joy to see but I now had doubts about Benji's gender. You see, I had read somewhere that male pigeons gathered nesting material for the female. Benji was clearly looking for 'stuff' to build a nest! Well, until I know for sure, I will still refer to Benji as a 'her' .

I don't talk much about the other two pigeons who visit me because they're extremely neat and well-behaved as opposed to Benji. They clean up every seed that is put out there, leave nothing behind and fly off. This does not mean that they are not adorable. They are, and have their own quirks too. Benji, on the other hand, is always up to mischief. She eats, she daydreams ..yes, she does. She takes several short breaks to appreciate the sky whilst eating - which is why she takes a...g....e......s to finish her meal.

Benji's Planter Box and The Mess She Makes After Eating

For the past few days, Benji has been behaving jealously. It's funny, I know but I think Benji suspects that I've been feeding the little stranger behind her back. I've put out more food than usual, and in three different places. Benji goes to her usual spot in the plant container to eat the seeds I have placed there for her. After getting her fill, she pops out, heads to the other corner and starts swishing away the rest of the seeds on the floor in some sort of cute rampage. Yep, she created a big mess on purpose! For four days straight!

I never imagined a day that I would be enamoured by pigeons. Cats, maybe. Dogs, maybe. Not pigeons. It always seemed that they were a flock of characterless birds that I would never be able to tell apart. How wrong I was!

A packet of bird seeds costs between RM6 to RM9 and it lasted two months for me. Just to give you an idea how much I'm spending on my two, now three bird buddies.

Sunset

I hope you enjoyed reading about my naughty bird. 😉 To end, I leave you with a picture of a beautiful sunset taken from my balcony and wish you a lovely week ahead.