Perks & Quirks: November 2013

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Pressed Flowers

Trying my best to preserve the the flowers of
my lovely birthday bouquet, Summer Fruits.
♥

Cheers

♥

Friday, November 29, 2013

I'm so hooked to rice paper wrappers!

Few days ago, I've bumped into this recipe called the Bacon Wrapped Avocado Fries. (You can try their recipe here) The name interest me because they consist of 2 of my favourite food-Bacon and Avocado! So I tried this recipe and the wrapping was tricky. Probably my bacon strip wasn't long enough or probably it's the avocado fries wasn't small enough. Either way.

So based on the recipe, you'll have to precook the bacon strips so it will turn out nice and crispy when you bake it again with the avocado slice, which I did, but the bacon shrinks down a little and could hardly wrap the avocado. Probably just the middle part of it, and it kept falling off. So what I did instead is, just wrap them up with rice paper instead. No extra baking and though it might seem weird, It tastes heavenly! Well at least for me. :D Besides, rice paper wrappers are so versatile you can wrap anything!

Cheers

♥

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Colours Of Food

I love food,

and though I'm not a professional cook, I can cook pretty well and I love
what I'm doing. The colours of different ingredients put together never fails
to excite me. I also love to experiment with different flavours and methods of cooking.

Each produces surprising results that keeps me going, and I'm proud to say that,

"I live to eat!"

Cheers

♥

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

My First Polaroid Camera

Such an excitement to have purchased a second hand camera from Amazon!

I admit that I somehow felt skeptical about purchasing this camera and there's a notion of uncertainty when you are purchasing online, and when it's a second hand item too. I have to go through countless reviews before setting on one particular seller in Amazon. And the result? I am satisfied with the product despite having few scratches on it. Plus, it functions well too!

It was a great deal for this pre-loved item. The film are expensive though. But i'm aiming for a film pack per month, which means I will have to be extremely careful on what i'm taking, the composition, lighting etc. Each film (not film pack) will cost around 2.13£, equivalent to an estimation of RM10.63 per film. Sucks right? But it also teaches you to be super appreciative of it. Unlike our digital cams now, where we can just make mistakes and over and over again.

But since this is the first time I tried on an instant camera, it takes a while before I can get used to the functions. The first few photos I took was a disaster! The lighting were bad, thinking that the aperture were somehow the same as a digital cam. Bad mistake! I took the first one without flash and it was a huge mistake. It came out looking really dark and I could hardly see my face. (Yes, the first one was a selfie) The second and third one was taken using flash, but it turns out real blur. I didn't understand why, but I supposed it's because of my shaky hands.

I read the manual over and over again, but couldn't find any reason why. Until one day I started experimenting again. I was tweaking with the lighten and darken dial, though I only used the lighten function. Things looked washed out when it's set to lighten and again, it's still blur! I re-read the manual again, only to find out that when I'm using close-up function, it have to be at least a distance of 2ft (equivalent to 61cm). Ugh! Not so close up after all. I've wasted 2 films experimenting on the lighten function and a normal function, and another one where I finally got it right! well, at least. It was so heartbreaking to have wasted 2 films just like that, but I figured out that I have to start somewhere right?

I used up the last 2 films taking outdoor pictures and it turns out beautifully. And i'm just glad that I did all those experiments despite how heartbreaking it is. (Damn! it was 2.13£ per film!) Nevertheless, I am still learning. :)

Cheers

♥

Thursday, November 21, 2013

I wanna be a cleaner

"Léon:
You need some time to grow up a little.

Mathilda:
I finished growing up, Léon. I just get older.

Léon:
For me it's the opposite. I'm old enough. I need time to grow up."

Cheers

♥

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Perfection

Few days ago, I came across an article that describes the 14 signs of perfectionism and I am ashamed to say i've scored 9/14. And the guilty part is that I agree especially with point no. 3 - A BIG Procrastinator! and no. 6 (Introvert maybe).

It is true that I have a fear of failing which have me ending up doing nothing! And would only do it if I feel comfortable in doing it, (this would sometimes be associated with "doing something only when you're in the mood") This just amounts to wasting a whole lot of time! AND I am sometimes motivated by the desire for social approval. *sigh* I also tend to stop halfway if the result I expected turns out otherwise. (Yes, i'm very fickle-minded too) This would also lead to learning new skills halfway cause I just failed once, and would only pursue those that are guaranteed success! But of course, this doesn't happen often, just for example. :p

Being perfect is what people strive for, it can be both good and bad at the same time. But for me, being perfect means taking control, well, too much control about how you want your end result to be. I have been questioning my ability to create something organic, something that some people would like to call the "unpredictable result", in this case it's means "good" and beautiful result.

I have recently been experimenting painting again, ever since the last time I used it during college in painting class. I have been a fan of watercolour especially the spreading effects of paint on paper, and I've been trying to mimic some styles from the internet, even went on youtube for tutorials, but it disappoints me whenever the result turns out otherwise.

This made me realised that i've been trying to control my result, and sometimes it feels that it limits my capability of trying to create something that could proudly call it my own. It wouldn't be the matter of whether i'm using the right method or not, or whether it's the right material or not, it just somehow feels very uneasy whenever the result is something that turns out completely different from what I expected it to be. It is that unpredictable result that made me feel very uneasy. We have been bombarded with images in which we conceive as perfect even though how imperfect it looks. It is a complicated contradiction. We see ourselves comparing to others and of course that goes with the saying of "the grass is always greener on the other side. I hated my drawings and would constantly tear them off whenever I am unhappy with the result, I wouldn't allow things to flow naturally and would often draw or paint awkwardly.

However, though it may seem odd and weird and somehow cuckoo, I shall practice courage to keep those sketches or drawing that I think un-fit for my perfect sketchbook. I admitted that I've torn some away, but i'm striving to keep it as it is. ugh! Probably for the better as I can see progress.

Cheers

♥