Kristen & Elisa

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY MALAYSIA!!!

Hehehe... not that I'm that patriotic to blog about the 50th Independence of Malaysia. But I was so-looking forward to the public holiday and the long weekend that I started counting the days till 31st August 2007 since about 3 weeks ago.

We at home are having a feast as my sister and her family are visiting us since she had not done so for the last 3 months and I'm as delighted as anyone to be able to see Elisa and also to catch up on some good times with Kristen. And of course, my grandma and my 2 aunties joined us for the feast too. Just a small-feast where I think my mom spend hours preparing and cooking and at the end, due to some reasons, we all eat-separately whereby Kristen started and I followed after 15 minutes and then, half way thru, my grandma and aunts came to the table. Somehow, it was so different then the usual luncheon or dinner we used to have. But, who cares? No big-a-deal.

I didn't take any photos of the food as I'm sure everyone will start questioning me why I do so. But, took a few shots of Kristen with the "tools". And my dad cradling Elisa.

A Bear Hug

It's been a long time since I personally have a hug from anyone.
But, isn't it a pleasure to be hugged by a beary-soft-toy??
Guessed, only Samuel gets that kinda privilege. *chuckled*
See how he enjoys it......

Ratatouille

Last night, I was very delighted to catch the movie: Ratatouille. And it's the best thing to end a Sunday night watching a cartoon-movie. Somehow, I always feel that it's good to laugh or watch a sitcom/cartoon before I go to sleep. Before I watch this movie, as usual I will browse to read the synopsis and if possible even watch the short-preview.

So, here goes, a little peep into the movie: Trailer

Synopsis:
A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely and certainly unwanted visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy's passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down. Remy finds himself torn between his calling and passion in life or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef. (Full Story)

My personal opinion about the movie:
Before today, I seriously do not know what Ratatouille means other than reading the synopsis of the movie and also watching it. The movie was good in the sensed that it makes me laughed quite a fair bit until my mom was questioning me why am I laughing all by myself at the upstairs-mini-hall where I watched it on the Desktop. While watching, my imagination got a little bizzard in the ways like, I really cannot imagine a rat "cooking" and touching the spices and the food in a real human-world. I have always had the "arm-hair-rising" feeling whenever my mom used to "trap" the rats in our old-house's backyard and I had always remember that "tingling" feelings that lingers for a while whenever I see the new-born mice hidden in some corners in some dark spot. Despite that it's just a movie but always my imagination runs to an extend that I cannot myself imagine for the whole duration of the movie. Overall, I don't find Remy cute; it's a rat without clothes on and it's just like any rats you see running around the backstreet at night hunting for rubbish to eat.

Almost towards the last 20 minutes, then only the rat cooked the dish "ratatouille" and to me, it looks like "lasagna" when they were preparing it for the food critic. And when it's served, it's like layers of potatoe-slices arranged one layer after another layer and a sauce is being dressed on it. Watching and talking about it even makes my stomach rumbles and mouth-watering now. How I hope one day when I'm in Paris, I can try it.

When you watch it the motto of the movie is "Anyone Can Cook" by Gusteau and I could not agree more with him. If we have the passion, all of us can cook and when one cook with their heart and touch, the food automatically tastes good. "So, all the cook/chef out there... cook because you love it and not cook just because you had to... there are zillions of people who will sincerely enjoy your food."

So, the true meaning of "Ratatouille" seems quite far resembles to the one served in the movie. Ratatouille : If you click and check out the picture and if you have watch the movie, I think you will agree with me too. So, any French would like to comment on this? Which is real or should I take the movie for being just a movie or the true meaning of the food lies on who cook it?