Egg Art! Easter Eggs. Easter heralds springtime! Happy Easter!Elsie Gabriel

Egg Art! Easter Eggs. Easter heralds springtime! Happy Easter!

Elsie Gabriel

It is always fun spending quality time with my little son. The innovative artist in both of us binds us and tides us over when ever Daddy is away abroad working! This Easter is no different with hubby away at work, Mother and son use the entire dinning table to paint our Easter Eggs and welcome the Risen Lord with a riot of colours!

Whether in the name of Easter, or just because, using real eggs to paint on can be fun! Whether boiled or raw, egg shells make an excellent canvas to paint on. The colours on them catch on quick and bright. The basket full of eggs -whole rounded shell- make beautiful decoration pieces.

It is believed that egg coloring preceded Christianity and many ancient Chinese and Europeans used egg shells to paint on. If you stick crushed egg shells on paper or any canvas in various designs or shapes and cover them in whatever medium you may deem fit, the result is bound to be outstanding! You get a broken shell effect –collage appearance which is mesmerizing.

Of course Eggs are a symbol of fertility and rebirth, and an important aspect of Eater symbolsing birth and new life, maybe even the ‘ Easter Bunny -rabbit’ fits into the picture just because it multiplies and reproduces so fast, just maybe… who knows!! And I guess rabbits are around in plenty during the springtime.

Being a nature enthusiast all I know is that birds lay eggs during spring time and if you set out for a trail you could gather and bring back several coloured eggs of various different birds to study before putting them back carefully where you found them!! I guess that’s where maybe the Egg hunt games for Easter started! ?

Egg painting is an art I love. Wooden eggs, crystal eggs, real Ostrich eggs, Kashmiri paper mache eggs or swizz chocolate eggs, I relish and invest in the entire egg series ornate collection.

Of course beside the whole some protein dose, For me Eggs means Refresh, Rewind, Reduce, Rebirth, Replenish and Rejuvenate!! 

Thankyou my son Ridge for making Easter so meaningful! You renew my faith in God and Ecology,yet again.

Happy Easter all!

Rushina Munshaw takes me to Thailand. High on Vodka flovoured pickles and Lemon grass coolers .

Rushina Munshaw takes me to Thailand. High on Vodka flovoured pickles and Lemon grass coolers .

Elsie Gabriel.

It is always a pleasure to meet Rushina  the easy going, no fuss and avant -garde chef ! This time she took me to Thailand and I got high on the flavors of Vodka infused pickles and lemon grass coolers! Rushina always parts with that little extra secret about cooking and preservation or alternative ingredients that one can use,here is one...

Educates Rushina, “ Flavoring and infusing vodka is a tradition as old as vodka-drinking itself and requires very  little time and no special equipment. But you do need a little imagination, a grasp of flavours and lots of patience. You just need a good base vodka to start with and quality ingredients to flavour it with. Yes it is as easy as that! Most homemade liqueurs begin with vodka because it is a colorless flavourless spirit that makes it the ideal base for anything. Think of it as a blank canvas for you to paint your flavours onto!”

Cooking with her is always so delightfully simple. You just want to cook! She brings the exotic ingredients to the plate without much fuss and infuses you with a sense of wonder as to how simple cooking can be.

Continues Rushina on the vodka trail, “There are two ways to add flavour to Vodka: either mix flavoured extracts into it, or add the flavouring ingredients in their raw form and allow them to steep in the alcohol for a while. Using extracts is faster and in some cases better but more often than not, the best results come with slow infusion.”

I came away making Thai Green curry with Vegetables where I learned to make the Green curry paste from a scratch….and Chicken Phad Kaphro Thai where Basil leaves did a dance on my taste buds……..all with such ease and finesse I could pat myself on the back for having attended her trip to Thailand and back.
Meeting Supakan who represents the ever so slim Thai woman was insightful,she is soft spoken welcoming and graceful. Much to the surprise of many you have to know that Thai men and women eat fresh vegetarian diets which are equally exotic and sensuous,no wonder they are all so youthful,slim,clear complexioned and beautiful!

Rushina always draws you into the cooking with experiment zone, “Don’t worry too much about quantities, infusing vodka is not an exact science - the variety and quantity of flavouring you choose is up to you and if flavours get too overwhelming, they simply need to be diluted with more of the base liquor.”
Thai dishes artfully balance the sensations of hot, bitter, mild, sweet and sour from ingredients that are specific to Southeast Asia and neighboring India. The scent of Thai herbs, sweet basil, coriander, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, and Galanga which is Thai ginger, combine to create a therapeutic aroma that permeates the senses.

So I was high on the vodka and the Thai spices. The Galangal and Lemon grass both are a gourmets harem of ingredients, the absolute essentials of Thai cooking.
I believe you taste the difference in every dish lemon grass serves, the lemonade fused with lemon grass herb and the Green curry with crushed lemon bulbous roots or the lemon grass in the curries all play their part to send you to Thailand for sheer gastronomical pleasure.

Meet Le Le and Ying Ying! Two giant Pandas in HK! Ocean Park is the best conservation theme park . Elsie Gabriel

Meet Le Le and Ying Ying! Giant Pandas in HK! Ocean Park is the best conservation theme park .

Elsie Gabriel

I came close to hugging a  huge Giant Panda, all black and white and furry! I couldn’t take my eyes off him! He was so busy chewing on the bamboo leaves I simple kept my feminine pride intact and admired him from afar. Both Le Le and Ying Ying live at the Ocean Park H.K. and are a spectators delight.

No , of course not, I could have never really hugged them, these Pandas are the most endangered species in Asia, are very protective and private personalities. Giant Panda lives along side the Red Panda another endangered species which is highly protected. And they both share a beautiful animal kingdom at the Ocean Park in HK. So far the most worthwhile theme park that I have visited around the world,the Ocean Park at HK stands in first place on my list world wide.It is easy to get to from the main airport in HK and is easily accessible by buses and cars. It is a haven for children of all ages, specially the big ones above 30!

All pics copyright Elsie Gabriel

Both the “ Ocean Park Conservation Foundation”  and “The Hong Kong Society for Panda Conservation” are the green offshoot projects of the Ocean Park in HK. It is said that including various research projects on dolphins, horseshoe crabs, porpoises, giant pandas, snakes and birds makes the Ocean Park a unique theme park center of wild life promotion and conservation of endangered species.

What a nature lovers paradise! And imagine spending time inside the theme park as part of the educational project, Yes the park offers over 35 core courses on six big topics: giant pandas and red pandas, dolphins and sea lions, birds, fishes, plants, and mechanical rides.

The Marine Mammal Breeding and Research Centre promotes research. The breeding programme at the park is very successful. Pacific Walruses at the Polar Adventures center inside the Ocean park are also the busiest creatures in the water and show off their dexterity skills playfully. Did you know they are fierce when it comes to protecting their ‘harems’, well not unlike humans after all, yeh?

Gentoo Penguins, Southern rockhopper penguins and King Penguin’s also share the habitat at the Polar center.

The park is separated by a large mountain into two areas, The Summit (Headland) and The Waterfront (Lowland). These areas can be reached by a 1.5 kilo metres  Cable car system. Watching the entire ocean surrounding HK atop the cable ride is awesommmmm....

And when you are done with the wild animals, you will hear  thrilled screeches filling the air! All coming from the four Roller coaster rides not far away. The park has many more rides which are exhilarating and fun. And the food court is extravagant and fresh. If you ever go to HK, this is one place you can not miss.

I got lost in the aquarium and didn’t  want to find my way out!

The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel Hong Kong Disneyland Park Elsie Gabriel

Imagine waking up to a lavish breakfast spread with Disney Characters.

Elsie Gabriel

The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is more than a hotel, it's a tourist destination and an attraction which takes you all the way back to your childhood. The Disney Character Breakfast Buffet at Enchanted Gardens is one of the hotel's main attractions.

Staying at the hotel is so convenient because you can just hop skip your way to the Disney Park when ever you want.

Out here middle of a fairy tale, if you have kids they are bound to be in a wonderland filled with smiles, and then you realize that you only earn to see money well spent like this. Entertainment here is like a science strategy. Everything designed to give people of all ages a sheer fun time without any inhibitions.

Basically, it is wonderful to be a child again!

And it isn't only about the wonderful set up, lavish accommodations and luxurious amenities, it's about the wonderful Disney touches and surprise encounters you are likely to experience  at every corner, from Mickey to Cinderella, from Daisy to Pluto, you have it all. The train rides and photo sessions are endless……

Hong Kong Disneyland is the fifth Disney Theme Park location to open, the second in Asia. And HK has done a fantastic job at creating Disney this side of the ocean.

After visiting the  original Disneyland Park in California I thought I would be disappointed but heck nooo………… this is good. The USA main street, the Magical world, The Toy story and ofcourse the rides and castles are simply over whelming. You have to see it to believe it, I'l leave the rest to your trip.The package trip is affordable and the Disney theme park is easily accessible from the main H.K. airport.

The fire works at night with the Disney musical background at the park, set you into that romantic mood and its outbursts are simply endless.
Inside the Park the gourmet offering is of an international spread, yours to gorge on. And then you can tire your self to your last drop of energy, swirling like Tinkerbell, only to step into your Mickey Mouse room to sleep like Cinderella!!