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November 19, 2005
last lunch. last day.
fu ho was in town for a day to sort out some paperwork so we had a dim sum lunch together. he'd resigned last month, and he is now going to work for vodafone in london as an experience-design manager. or something like that. good for him! i was really pleased for fu ho, but i've really missed him since he left. no more dim sum lunches for me!
also, yesterday was my last day at work. whew!
it felt kind of weird. i've been working there for nearly five years. the day i resigned, i felt an immense relief and at the same time, i realised how much i would miss working with friends like judith, michael, marie.
the last couple of days i was cleaning my desk and collecting my personal belongings from the office. i found loads of little post-it notes from monica; she used to leave me sweet messages like "i came by to return a hug", with her signature curly monica cartoon at the bottom. it made me sad because she left around this time last year and that means no one has come by to give me a hug for a year!
after work friday, robert and i went to meet angus, damian and stuart for drinks at this new bar, efffes, around the corner. then loads of people started to turn up. it was a good crowd; it kinda felt like the after-work drinks at mezzo four years ago.
so now i am free! except for 4 hours a week teaching at the TUE till the end of term, i am free! yippee yay!
Posted by Yasmina at 12:06 PM | Comments (14)
November 16, 2005
amazing circles!
do you like my amazing circles? let's play a guessing game! if you can guess what the three original items were, i'll send you something nice through the mail. post your answers in the comments box!
p.s. comment-spammers are back! so i turned on the spam moderator. it sucks, but hey... :(
Posted by Yasmina at 11:49 PM | Comments (3)
November 14, 2005
work incidents
random incident at work this week:
patray *from hong-kong* and jessica *from NL but has indonesian-german-jewish roots* are at my desk and we're discussing some design issue or other, when we saw our manager leading a group of serious-looking men in suits around the studio. our manager makes a beeline for us, and, as he approaches us, he makes a grand gesture with his hands at our little trio and flashes us a huge smile and says, "and as you can see, gentlemen, our studio is really comprised of multinationals."
OMG. LOL.
random conversation with john:
you know those situations where your conversation partners says something in such a way that you don't really have a reply?
john: ufff, i've been so busy this week that i don't even have time to go to the bathroom.
me: huh?
john: yeah, you know, like, taking a dump or having a pee. i don't even have time to do those things. i'm too busy. how bad is that?
me: then you must be full of shit *embarrassed silence from my side*
on the phone with joão:
joão was supposed to come over from brazil. i called him to confirm his arrival.
joão: *picking up the phone* hi yasmina!
me: hi joão! how are you?
john: *pauses from reading his document* huh? i'm fine, thanks.
me: *confused, then starts laughing*
gee, i'm going to miss sitting next to john.
Posted by Yasmina at 01:58 AM | Comments (2)
italian dinner at cathrine's
i was visiting cathrine and ebbe this week, after work. it was good to catch up with her and finally meet ebbe. he is so cute! he has a signature way of quivering his lower lip and chin. adorable!
anders was in china for a business trip so i think cathrine found it hard to be with ebbe all the time. i cooked dinner: a simple insalata caprese and risotto alla funghi, and passionfruit sorbet for dessert. yummy.
now that i am off work, i can visit cathrine during the day on weekdays, yippee! so next time i can stay for longer and we can chat longer too.
food recipes below. now, i modified the recipes a bit, so don't take the recipes below as the real italian deal.
insalata caprese: slice up some veldsla, fresh basil leaves, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. add pepper and salt to taste. drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. i usually make this only with basil, tomato and mozzarella but i had some veldsla with me so i added that too.
risotto alla funghi: in a frying pan, heat some olive oil. add finely diced onions and garlic. add arborio rice and fry for 5 minutes until the rice is evenly covered in the oil. i use 300 ml water for 200 grams rice. boil the water in the kettle. add 100 ml to a pot, add chicken stock, and the rice. cook over a medium heat, whilst stirring constantly. the rice takes about 30 mins to cook. so just stir and add the water till it's done.
chop 400 grams of mixed mushrooms. i use at least 2 kinds of mushrooms: usually kastanje, button and oesterzwammen. re-use the frying pan to cook the mushrooms; this should take about 5 mins. add the mushrooms to the finished rice, stir well, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. enjoy!
Posted by Yasmina at 01:18 AM
November 13, 2005
retail therapy
a somewhat stressful week at work since i had to work with video and i'm not a moving-image designer like joão and i don't know everything that's involved in video production, plus my renderings takes ages, and it was a nightmare transferring the files onto a DVD since i don't have a DVD burner on my work laptop. bla bla bla, it was tough and i was tearing my hair out.
of course, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping, shopping and shopping.
i fell in love with the autumn collection of Noa Noa. delicate, feminine pieces, rich in textures and materials. brocade is a big thing with them right now, or so it seems. i bought a gray wool blazer, with a mint green ribbon sash. i also bought matching tank top and farmer girl shirt, to go with the blazer. i regret not buying one of their net tulle petticoats, to wear under my skirt for a layered volume look. hmmm, maybe i should get that this weekend.
Posted by Yasmina at 06:57 PM
November 06, 2005
wagamama, antwerp
so after walking around antwerp on saturday afternoon, we ended up in wagamama's to eat. why wagamama's, and not belgian frites, mussels and beer? well, i had mussels friday night, and i was really craving chicken katsu curry, plus robert and patray had never been to wagamama's before.
i used to go to wagamama's quite often in london. i love the chilli beef ramen and yasai gyoza and chicken katsu curry, and the fresh carrot-and-ginger juice. oh, and the yakisoba too. so yumm. the food arrives quick, which is great when you're in a hurry, and is always delicious, and the staff are always friendly and efficient.
i had the chicken katsu curry, which was soooooo good. the panko crisp, the chicken still tender inside. the amount of curry gravy was just right, that it mixed well with the rice (i can't eat plain white rice, it has to have a sauce) but not drowning the chicken cutlet. i also had the tori karaage as a side dish, although i wish i had ordered the duck gyoza instead. robert had the duck gyoza (so scrumptious) and the wagamama ramen. patray had the salmon teriyaki ramen and a side dish of fried tofu.
we went home happy, with full bellies. it was a nice day out in antwerp. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 07:39 PM | Comments (2)
robert bakes bread (again)
like i said on my flickr entry, what did i do to deserve a supercool husband who makes perfect bread???
this morning robert made bread again. he made a beautiful loaf of white bread, which is unusual for him because he loves brown bread and we rarely eat white bread. but i'm not complaining! this loaf of bread was just perfect! crispy crust, with a pillow-soft center, yummm, i ate it while it was still fresh from the oven, the butter just melting on the surface, and i had my favorite Bonne Maman strawberry jam on it as well.
lemon curd and ginger jam would also taste delicious on this, i think. must get them next time i'm grocery shopping :)
Posted by Yasmina at 07:23 PM | Comments (2)
new toys! :)
robert, patray and i were on an antwerp walkabout on saturday afternoon when i found a fab comic/design shop, called bries, that sold these really beautiful handmade comics as well as illustrated books and wonderful collectible toys like the ice-bots, dunny, and smokin' labbit.
i bought three blind-assortment 2.5" figures: a Ci-Boys "Crazy Cuties" series, a 2-Faced Dunny and a Series 2 Dunny. i'm really happy with my new vinyl figurines. they are supercute! i wish i'd gotten an Ice-Bot figurine as well, but i guess that'll wait for next time :)
Posted by Yasmina at 04:02 PM | Comments (2)
November 04, 2005
paint night at work
last night a bunch of us painted in the studio, in an effort to make the workplace pretty. we were each given a 30x30cm square canvas and we were free to paint what we wanted.
it was fun! the images above is my first painting. i did another painting with jiska, a sort of paint ping-pong where we'd take turns adding elements to the painting.
i should paint more often. i did a lot of drawing (mostly charcoal, life-drawings) at art school, and i liked painting too, although not watercolors because it's super-hard and i sucked at it.
when i finish with work in a couple of weeks, perhaps i'll have more time to paint. yay!
Posted by Yasmina at 11:22 AM | Comments (2)
November 03, 2005
eid ul-fitr'
happy end of ramadan! happy eid ul-fitr' everyone! minal aidin wal faidzin! from my most sincere heart, please forgive everything in the past. may Allah give us the most beautiful eid al-fitr' ever.
*selamat lebaran yaaa... mohon maaf lahir batin. gue dan robert mohon dibukakan pintu maaf yang sebesar-besarnya atas segala kekhilafan. kalo ada kata-kata di blog ini yang bikin pembaca sebel, maaf yaa.*
here's a pick of muslim-related images from flickr. image credits, left to right: "Getting Centered" originally uploaded by BidWiya, "The Holy Quran" (Macro) originally uploaded by Jasem, "The Blue Mosque" originally uploaded by Madeeha, "The Masjid Mosque" originally uploaded by RTQ.
Posted by Yasmina at 12:40 AM | Comments (5)
November 01, 2005
getting nervous about the MA course.
i found a few people who are going to do the course with me. one is a fresh graduate of a design school in india. we've emailed and spoken over YM/MSN and he seems nice enough, certainly a curious guy.
another person is a furniture designer based in NY. and a colombian girl currently living in glasgow (?) or somewhere in scotland.
i'm feeling a bit nervous. i feel like i've been working too long, even though it's only been 5 years. i feel like i'm molded in a certain way, and i'm curious to see how i will adjust to the study environment again.
i'm insecure in the sense that the fresh graduates will be more creative/innovative/skilled than i am. that's what i think, anyway. also, the tutors might expect a lot more from me, simply because i've had a lot of industry experience.
daunting thought, really. well. i guess i'll just dive in there.
p.s. there's always cooking school, right? mmmm, alimento delicioso
linky: see more progress on: get a masters degree
Posted by Yasmina at 03:37 PM | Comments (3)
