First New York trip that did not happen

Nothing can describe the eventful week :(. I was supposed to be in New York with Keng Lai but I ended up in hospital bed.... I did not even tell my mom until after I was discharged from hospital. I don't want my mom to worry about me....

New York trip that did not happen :'( :'( :'(

I decided to write this on my blog because it is an event that I will always remember for the rest of my life. Well, I was supposed to go NY on the night of 10th of Aug 2007. Everything has been booked and I am getting excited to go to New York.

Unfortunately, I started to feel pain at my appendectomy area on Thursday night. I start to worry and pray to God that I will feel better the following day. Well, it did not go away and asked my friend to fetch me to clinic. I was diagnosed with appendix as all the test results are positive for appendix. I took a picture of myself with the IV to remind me the beginning of my eventful week of pain.

I have to be admitted immediately and operated on the same day. I felt bad for my friend Keng Lai as we were looking forward for the trip. Anyway, I stayed in hospital for the next 3 nights and then home for the next 1 week (instead of staying in New York city :( )...

It is an event that I will forever remember because I never went for operation before plus went thru the operation in US. Thankfully, I have friends that visited me everyday and took care of me while I am recovering (including cooking, helping me to buy groceries, driving me here and there). Thank you God for protecting and giving me strength to recover. Thank you Keng Lai for taking care of me, cooking for me, helping me to buy medicine and other groceries and being my driver for the 1 week. Thank you Boon Cheong cooking porridge for me. Thank you Kean Yung for making me laugh even though you knew I was in pain (i needed to laugh so i can recover fast :)). Thank you everybody for visiting me while I was in hospital and the card and the flowers you gave me :).

Now, I have recovered :). Going places and starting my running and exercise in the gym :).

Summer at Crater Lake

I was fortunate to be able to see Crater Lake during spring and summer. The view during Spring and Summer is different and I was happy to make it the second time....


Crater Lake 21st July 2007

Crater Lake for the second time :) ??? Anyway, the first time I went to Crater Lake when the place was still covered up with snow even though it was spring. And during summer, the snow has melted and you get to see the different view of crater lake. Below are the some pictures for comparison....The first and second pictures are taken in May'07 and while the third and fourth pictures are taken in Jul'07.

However, this trip is a bit different as well because I get to go on a trail and hike down to be near the lake and touch the water. The water is cold and crystal clear. Don't be fooled by the blue color of the lake. The water is not blue but because of water molecules, will absorb all the colors of the spectrum except the blues. Those wavelengths will bounce back and make the water appear blue. The key is to have relatively pure water and lots of it. There has to be enough molecules to absorb all the other colors.

Last but not least group photo :)....

Farmer for 1 day???

Summer is wonderful because cherries, rasberries and many more berries are ready to be plucked. I went on rasberries picking a few weeks earlier with my friend Soo Luan. I managed to pluck rasberries, blueberries, black berries and many more berries that I won't be able to get in Malaysia. We had fun there because we managed to pluck berries, did wine tasting, bought a bag of walnuts and enjoyed a good dinner of wild mushrooms.

I wrote this blog about a special area called Fruit Loop.... Read on to find out more :)...

Fruit Loop 15th Jul 2007

It is road trip again. This time I visited the Fruit Loop located in Hood River. Here is the summary of Fruit Loop from the website (lazy to write :p)...You can also visit the website at :
http://www.hoodriverfruitloop.com/index.html

"The Fruit Loop is just an hour away from Oregon's largest city, Portland. Located in the national scenic area called the Columbia River Gorge, and the nation's largest pear-growing region, this is one of the few places that offers the complete experience of growing, producing, and then enjoying fruit and wine.
Take this 35-mile, scenic drive through the valley's orchards, forests, farmlands, and friendly communities. Sample delicious fruits and take your favorites home, visit a winery, experience fields of fragrant lavender, meet adorable alpacas, savor delicious baked goods, and create memories by participating in family activities hosted at Fruit Loop locations throughout the year."

The first stop we went was to an u-pick farm for cherries, rasberries and blueberries. The trick to pick cherries is to try the fruit first from the tree so you can pick only the trees with sweet cherries. The rasberries and blueberries was quite disappointment compared to the u-pick farm that I went with Soo Luan a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, we were climbing up and down to pick cherries. Hard work pays off because we managed to pick only the sweet cherries :).

Next stop, a visit to a winery....

Next stop, Cascade Alpacas Foothills Yarn & Fiber... What is an Alpaca??? I goggled it up and below is the description of Alpaca from Wikipedia

The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid developed from the wild alpacas. It resembles a sheep in appearance, but is larger and has a long erect neck as well as coming in many colors, whereas sheep are generally bred to be white and black.

I bought something from the place....Guess what is it??? Hehehe.....

Cute or not :)???

Our final stop is Lavendar Farm....I am not that impressed because the farm is just few rows of Lavendar. But there is a performance on the stage - a band is singing songs while people are enjoying the breeze and the smell of Lavendar.

After going thru multiple farms in the Fruit Loop, the big group started to split. Some of them want to go home and some of them want to proceed to other place. However, Eng Hong wants to visit Multnomah Falls with the intend of hiking. Poor Phaik Lean and Keng Lai have to hike up :p. Hehehe.... Phaik Lean said she has been tricked by Eng Hong to go on hiking....hehehe....We can see the Columbia Gorge river while on our way up and it was magnificent :).

Visit to Volcano

I went to Mt St Helen because I never been one... It is sort of active volcano because I still can see smoke from the volcano....

Mt St Helen 30th June 2007

Remember a movie called Dante's Peak about a volcano erupted near a small town and caused a chaos... If you have not watch the movie, please go and watch it :). I was there when Mt St Helen erupted and experienced the spectacular of volcano eruption. Sound interesting...Too bad I was imagining the volcano eruption when I saw smoke coming out from the mountain :).

Anyway, it was another road trip to yet another place in Washington state. The mountain was covered with clouds so we could not see the dome created by the previous eruption on 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.

In 1982, the President and Congress created the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument for research, recreation, and education. Inside the Monument, the environment is left to respond naturally to the disturbance.

There are several lakes formed from the 1980 eruption. One of them is called Coldwater Lake. This lake was formed by a previous eruption and the water was really clear that you could see the bottom of the lake. The aquatic life continues to change Coldwater Lake ecosystem until today!....

Bak Chang in US???

The title says it all... The blog was posted on Jun 28th 2007....

Bak Chang in US???

I missed Bak Chang especially during the Bak Chang festival. So, I decided to embark on an experiment to make Bak Chang in US. Well, it turned out to be successful although I have to use cooked salted duck egg yolk which melted when I steamed it.

The bamboo leaves that I managed to get over here is smaller than the ones I got back home. I also managed to get chessnut that is ready made (hehehe - I don't have to process it). Anyway, I managed to teach a friend here to wrap the "Bak Chang". It turned out successful because no "Bak Chang" was destroyed in the process :).

Whei Fen - as promised the pictures of the "Bak Chang". Can you smell the "Bak Chang"??? Hehehe....

Rose Festival

I was lucky to be in Oregon in 2007 because Portland celebrated it's Centennial Celebration. There is fireworks and parades during the monthly celebration....

Portland Rose Festival Centennial Celebration

I was lucky to be in Portland in the same year they celebrate 100 years of Portland Rose Festival. It was quite a big event with fireworks and parade that capture the essence of Portland aka City of Roses....

I went to watch the fireworks and the show was nice but not WOW!!!. I heard the fireworks show for the 4th of Jul is even bigger and much more nicer. I can't wait to watch the fireworks in few weeks time :).

Luckily I was in Portland for dinner the next day because the Rose Parade took place on that day. I was standing for the next 2 hours in my 1 and 1/2 inches heels. But I was happy and glad to be there because the parade was quite unique from Penang or Malaysia's National Day Parade. I can even see people dressing up as Star Wars characters. Their school band played very well and their cheerleaders danced on the street. Everybody was enjoying themselves. The highlight of the parade was seeing the firemen performing their stunt on the street. Below are the pictures (quality not good because I don't have DSLR ;p)