summer.weekend

a real summer weekend consists of not just cycling, outdoor dining and into the nature but it just so happened to be an appointments pack weekend too. you have to let go yerseke mosseldag because you couldn't fit everything in one real summer saturday.

it's also your BIL and nephew birthday celebration of which you briefly stop-by to say hi to the adults and guests around

and the kids that playing in the living room while you munching on these

the yummy shrimp crackers (keropok) you brought back from recent home trip, a local delicacies from brunei.

and then off you go to utrecht for a wok dinner gathering with your fellow friends, some 20 people get together with kids and adults...

the food is really good although you are not a big fan of wok (the dutch idea of all you can eat) but this place could be  easily mistaken as china because the interior decoration is too "mainland chinese" - glittery gold.  the food is delicious. your have to be really selective on what you eat because you can't possible try everything. so crabs, mussels, sichuan spicy fish（水煮鱼）, sichuan spicy chicken（宫爆鸡丁）, salmon sashimi (which is so fresh even judging the quality of the sashimi with japanese standard) and in reality you didn't even try the wok at all because there are waaaaaaay too many starters, side dishes, cold and warm dishes to choose from.

and you can certainly tell from the smiles of all the ladies how satisfied you all were "woky-talky" night.

and this is probably the one and only summer weekend for you can feel that autumn is silently creeping in...

real.summer

real summer because this is the first on the weekend.  the first ever weekend that you can wear your sleeveless, sunnies and your crocs without feeling chilly. a real summer weekend doesn't need to be extra-ordinary, but just doing things that you don't normally do on your ordinary weekday routine.  

such as cycling to the city...

 

appreciating the groomed flowers in the neighborhood

pause and talk to the duckies, admiring their beautiful silhouette reflected on the water

 enjoying the normal weekday's bread but in an elaborated brunch setting and taking all the time you have sipping your cuppa coffee without worrying it will turns cold...

and enjoying the brunch in an outdoor setting with a lot of sunshine

taking the moments to soak in the wild lawn full of summer flowers raise by the mother nature, even though there is nothing spectacular...

strolling the old part of the city in the festival atmosphere

 enjoying a taste of summer with ice cream (yogurt and caramel)

and above all, being thankful for the little things in life.

smiling.away.furoshiki.風.呂.敷

you have been having constant headache for the last two weeks. you know it's not migrant and it usually goes without notice after a session of workout, when you are busy at work or when you are on the business trip. 
you when for a medical consultation today  and the result is as you suspected. 

faith needs to be proven, testing proves that you depend on God. to be able to stand above your problems, you need to give thanks and put yourself under God's authority.  God who is the one who has power over your life and when you trust in Him, the problems will be under your feet, simply because you trust in God. and when you give thanks, you think of His power, greatness and the things that only He can do.  so you choose not to be anxious but meditate on His word because if you choose to worry, you are thinking on the problem and not on God.

smiling away your problem. not being ignorant but thankful because your God knows that you can handle another trial and that you are going to come out beautifully as always! 

read james 1:2-12.

you are in the mood for photography again (which is good) and not knowing what your object/subject should be, you then discovered a bag of japanese gift wrapping clothes (furoshiki) under your desk.

you started to collect this during your first trip to japan (kyoto to be exact) and when you got to know the cultural meaning behind these and plus they are recycle-able, and thus they are 'greener' than normal wrapping paper.

japanese use this for almost anything including as a wrapper for the bentos (lunch box), it can be use as table cloth (big one), a head scarfs, and being just textile with print, one can wrap them in thousands of ways...

your collection consists of some really traditional patterns that vary according to season, some modern print, some really cheap ones that you got from 100 yen shop or from the market to some quality ones that you bought from specialized shops...

some motives for spring, summer and autumn...

toledo.summer

last year around this time, you were at madrid and you made a day trip to toledo.
it's been a year... you could still remember, you arrived by train, and as soon as you step out the train, stand at the platform

you wonder if you have arrived the right destination. the train station looks too moorish to you...
a short walk to the city center...

it's like a fort city on top of a hill and a quick tour around the city will give you the out look like these...

toledo is an interesting medieval city with mixed culture, as like any city in spain, there are roman cathedrals, jewish synagogues and moorish mosques that form the mainstream architecture and that shape the history. 

and you were at a cathedral where the works of el greco were on display. you love traveling because you not only learned about the city, its people but also learned about the artist/painters, the food and the cultural values... this is your first encounter with el greco's work. and you absolutely love those portraits on the red wall and accompanied by the black and white tiles and a cooling effect of any cathedral because it's hot out there.

and this is needless to say, a heavily moorish influenced cathedral with the southern european feel.  a lovely courtyard with plenty of arched corridors and pillars. and summer roses blooming around.

and back to the city, on the quiet and deserted lanes that you walked on, it's  a silent exploration while the entire community are enjoying their siesta or munching on their elaborated lunch somewhere...

and you discovered the charms of this city, the rustic, torn and worn walls where bricks are exposed and some quiet moment all by yourself, with a feeling that you travel back in time...

and some interesting doors that lurking you to walk in to discover the inner world beyond the door and interesting walls all around the old city.

 

black.sesame.pudding.黒.胡.麻.プ.リ.ン

okay, let's take a breakie from museum hopping and have some desserts. ^.^

made this yesterday after work, swift and easy.

 black sesame cream pudding (黒胡麻プリン)

i omit the cream to make this a light dessert and would substitute milk with soy milk if i have some at home...

obviously my interpretation is very different from what you see in the recipe book.

 i love the sunken black sesame visual effect...

and a silky texture, powerful black sesame aromatic flavor yet light enough for a weekday summer night.

tokyo.national.museum.東.京,国.立.博.物.館

i am on a series of museum quests lately, so i am going to leave you with another museum post, but a tokyo version.
===
a very warm and super hot afternoon as far as you can remember.

too hot that you couldn't walk on the street to explore the ueno area but chose to hibernate in a museum.


it was so hot that you are ready to hide in any museum within the proximity and you chose tokyo national museum.

you were relief to see finally a building where you can hide...

instead of standing and wandering under the cloudless sky...you run

a shady place to avoid the sunlight for the reflection of the heat from the cemented floor is too unbearable

you were dehydrated by the time you stepped in to one of the exhibition hall and seriously need to cool down your body and you got yourself a uji green tea waffle ice cream from the vending machine at the museum.

there's not much too see there, so you walk out and again confronted by the heat, taking your shelter under the shade of a tree as you look to the left, you found your oasis, a place that draws you naturally... so you walk toward this place

you love this building as the design is super cool as if you have found your oasis moment. the illusion of the patch of water cooled you down immediately, even though in reality the temperature out there remain at 30c +.

you went in, sat at the resting area and became totally motionless but just enjoy the air condition and observe this view in front of you. it looks like there is a pond or a pool out there and you are totally amazed at japanese design illusion.
you didn't see much of the exhibition in this museum, most of them are the artifacts that didn't interest you, but you enjoy this view the most.
===

island.of.thoughts

you came to muzuem beelden aan zee for the den haag onder de hemel exhibition, but you are delighted to discover another series of exhibition by a dutch artist.

island of thoughts, display of portraits made by various materials. these portraits are famous philosophers that probably have inspired the artist in one way or another.

rousseau

this portrait catches your attention, and when you look closer, you almost want to kiss on rousseau's lip. you think it's delicious because the lip is full of the orange salmon roe (ikura)... hahaha!! but seriously you do think his lip is sexy, and his nose is delicious too...

voltaire

and you love voltaire's hair, colorful and unpretentious

hannah arendt

you are attracted by her lips too, but you have no urge to kiss the mother of pearl lip (set besides that she is a woman).  you learned that she is a jewish  who survived second world war. and her famous philosophy is "forgiveness is a key to freedom and action". how true! this relates very well to what you learned on sunday about the embracing your life.  the future is more important than your past.

sartre

 his look reminds you of the older version of harry porter

descartes

 another philosopher with groom and velvet hair...

russel

 russel is boring and you wonder why you took  this shot? but he does look graciously intellectual to you...

schopenhauer

he looks more like albert einstein to you. you don't know who schopenhauer is, but you kinda like his purple hair and his porcelain finished face.

nietzsche

nietzsche, another fellow unknown to you and he is made of wood and you like his eyes...

hegel

 hegel is an ugly man, looks for like the beauty and the beast to you (sorry)

spinoza

and you double expose spinoza by combining two photos, the result is rather interesting photo than the actual portrait in the exhibition

kant

who is kant? an english or french may be? but that's simply a guess from the hair style...

erasmus, montaigne, socrates,wittgenstein

obviously there are many other philosophers on exhibition all exist for the same reason. their philosophy touches hearts and minds of others...

for this very purpose, eveline van duyl definitely achieves her goal to simulate thoughts because these portraits not only just inspire you from creativity perspective but also stimulate you to search more deeper about the knowledge that contains in the minds of these philosophers.  their minds are indeed like an island of thoughts. denkeiland in dutch.

there is a short documentary here,you found it in youtube as you follow the trail in search for the very thoughts. it is in dutch with english subtitle, this give you more insights about the work and inspiration behind the artist.

enjoy!

and just for the record, mr. sunshine finally shows up today in a most unexpected manner...