Put on that gloves, love

It has always been my interest to grow my own vegetable. This new hobby buds out here, in UK. Never, in my mind that I would be into gardening. Back home in Malaysia, I asked my hubby to covered any soil available around our house with concrete cement. I just don't bother to weed out the invasive grasses, let alone growing any vegetables or having a flower bed.

But people do change, right? And here I am.....sitting in the cold, mixing the soil with compost, while my other half putting his strength to test by digging out as many hole as possible to grow our vegetables. We had brocolli, broad beans, mangetout, sugar snap, several varieties of tomatoes and a selection of green bell peppers, red ones and cayenne.

I only managed to grow one single plant of tomato last year so it is kind of massive improvement this year. I got the 'green finger-man' on my side this year so hopefully all will ends well.

Sadly, we had to dig out all of them 2 days later since it was forecasted for snow and frost in the next few days. So my hubby spent his day digging out the seedlings and small plants (while I was in York, attending a conference) and bring them indoor, safe and warm.

Well...let me introduce you to our very own vegetable patches. Will keep you updated of the progress. Hopefully will be able to show you the harvest, at the end of the season...

See you, soon!

CAPER 2010 at University of York

I was away from 29-31 March, attending CAPER 2010. CAPER stands for Committee on Air Pollution Effects Research. It was my first time and I was glad that I have been given the opportunity to give a talk. I was not very proud of my performance...since I do not think I have done the best. I put it to lack of practice. So there is no one else to blame but me. I promised myself that I will do better next time. Next CAPER conference will be held in Edinburgh. We'll see if there is any improvement on my side. That aside, I learnt a lot at this conference. I met a few big shots in air pollution study and I was approached by researchers from Netherlands who are interested to join forces in my algae project. That is quite good for a start, I think.

With the Pakistanis who have been a great help. Really good to meet such a nice people. They even begged and insisted us for staying another night at York so they could show us around. Very nice of them. They helped me through the night, the day before my talk. We had rehearsals and Q&A sessions as well.

Me.....ready to give my talk. Quite composed on the outside but falling apart on the inside, I must say.

Lunch and dinner was well served. I really loved the carrot cakes (not in the pic), I had them 2 days in a row. We were well-fed, then. The food is halal, too. So we had chicken as well.

University of York.

After my presentation...feel free and alive again.

This short trip has really taught me something. It injected a sense of 'keinsafan', hahhah. Feel like I'm not gonna waste anymore time and will locked myself up in the room, focusing on my research project. So refreshing.

Tapi...minggu depan aktiviti jalan2 akan bermula sempena Easter holiday and school break. Nak pegi Norwich, Lancaster n Stoke. Camna ni? Tangguh dulu la semangat membara nak study tu. I'll put it on hold...but not for long. Takleh main2 dah...time is running out. Wish me luck, guys!

Sweet tooth

I'm not into doughnuts...but this one I can't resist. Especially the chocolate caramel dreamcake....so yummy, it's out of this world! Over la pulak. But trust me.....it's super duper yummy. Perfect on cold winter days, tucked away in bed with your favourite books.

My brain is working hard : food food food. :-)