Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com

Most people have heard of, or experienced the dreadful, brutal cold winter in Canada. Has anyone wondered how hot does it get in the middle of summer? Heat wave could very well happen. Last Friday, it was 39 degrees Celsius in Fredericton! Of course, when the weather gets that hot, thunder shower will follow. It was certainly a very Malaysian-like weather. I didn’t mind it too much, since we don’t get it all that often here. It sure beats -39!

It’s that time of year again, strawberry picking season. Yay! After the tiring moving, unpacking, organizing, cleaning etc., enjoying some freshly picked strawberries might not be a bad idea. On top of that, I’ve moved closer to the u-pick farm. This year’s season is a little slow starting, due to the cool weather and consistent rain in the spring.

Miles and I visited the Sunset U-pick farm this week. Strawberries are sold at $1.30/lb or $2.10/quart basket. Pre-picked berries are available at $3.50/quart basket. I think the whole idea of visiting the farm is to be able to pick my own berries; as many as I want! 

Fresh berries are great for making strawberry shortcakes too! Home-baked tea biscuits with whipped cream and generous serving of fresh berries. Yummm….

Winter blues will soon be gone; snow is melting and ice is cracking. Wouldn’t it be nice if the four seasons spread out equally throughout the year? Spring from March till May; summer from June till August; autumn from September till November; winter from December till February. In reality, winter lasts up to six months in most parts of Canada.

This year, however, it hasn’t been too bad of a winter, considering major snow fall didn’t take place till January. It started raining last week with the fluctuating temperatures hovering around freezing point. Rain or snow? Be prepared, because you can never tell till the day comes.

Rivers are found frozen in New Brunswick during the winter months, covered by a smooth layer of ice. The depth of ice varies according to weather. The cracking and breaking of ice layer results in ice pans that slide past and collide against each other in the slow moving water, until smaller ice chunks are formed. They will further be melted away by the “warmer” river flow and disappear.

The formation of ice pans.

Three days later…Ice pans were broken down into ice chunks.

The unbelievable “shrieking” sound from the collision with ice pans. It’s an analogy of earthquake, doesn’t it?

The snow condition as of last weekend outside my apartment building.

The thick snow was observed one month ago, in mid-February!

I was anticipating the appearance of  “Supermoon” last Saturday, on March 19th. The moon was said to be significantly larger and brighter due to a closer (than usual) proximity from the earth. There was prediction from an astrologer that it might trigger natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms etc. There were numerous heart-breaking disasters that happened around the world these few weeks, was “Supermoon” the one to be blamed for, or was it just a mere coincidence?

I always wonder how does the surface of moon look like…

An unedited picture of the moon taken to show its surface (click to enlarge). Doesn’t it look like a melon?

How many of us here experienced food cravings? Hunger? Dieting? Reality shows that food can bring us fulfillment, but also regrets. Too much or too little, is not doing us any good. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I suffer from food withdrawal every time, after a major trip back to Canada. From my observations, this could due to over exhaustion, jet-lag, and most of all, I went all out savouring my favourite food items during trips. Food then, back in Canada, seems so blend and not very appetizing. Even though I might loose some weight from staying active while traveling, my eating habit (a.k.a. food withdrawal) contributes much of my lighter weight after trips. It might sound weird, but it happens….

After the first few weeks of food withdrawal, my body finally clued in that it needed food regardless. Gradually, food can be enjoyable once again.

The horseshoe-shaped German pastry topped with buttercream and chocolate, from the Farmers market. Flaky pastry and delicious icing. It’s not too sweet.

Spicy food, spicy food, where are you? Miles and I visited the “New York Fries” at the mall one day and decided to get a poutine, featuring “The Works.” French fries were topped with beef chili, cheese sauce, sour cream, green onions, and bacon bits.

To add on a spicy kick to it, some hot peppers were added on the poutine. Forget about the unhealthy part, it was an appealing delicious snack!

It only seems appropriate to talk about Tim Hortons this time of the year, when “Roll Up The Rim” contest is back, for the 25th year! It’s usually around this time of season when snow is melting, rain is pouring, and occasional speckled fresh snow on the ground and trees. It’s a mix feeling for me, the joy that winter is ending and spring is approaching, as well as a lost feeling due to the scenery change; 8-ft high snow bank is gone and the green is resurfacing. On top of that, there’s also a sense of urgency, hinting “time is ticking, and the next season is fast approaching!”

It’s almost an excitement to visit Tim Hortons nowadays, hoping to get a “winner” cup ;) From Canadian-owned to American-owned, Tim Hortons is now a stand alone public company trading on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchange. The corporate head office resides in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

Let’s take a peek at some of the new products at Tim Hortons:

Raspberry Lemon doughnut, sprinkled with red & yellow candy bits and topped with raspberry jam in the middle.

The Caramel Chocolate muffin; baked with chocolate chips and filled with……

Caramel! Of course….

Caramel Crunch Doughnut; sprinkled with crunchy caramel pieces on a chocolate layer, and filled with creamy caramel.

Keep rolling, keep winning. Not for me though, for some odd reason, I’ve yet to receive a winning cup! Oh well…

It had been a busy month packed with travel itineraries, via air, sea, and ground transportation. Visiting four countries with climate varied from +35 degrees to -20 degrees Celsius had proven to be a very challenging step to take, despite the brutal winter experience that I had in the past. Imagine moving from an oven room to a deep freeze room….that was exactly how it felt like!

On the good side, family and friends, delicious food, familiar environment, laughter etc. surely beat the busy traveling plans and extreme climate change.

During the period of silence (e.g. no new posts on the blog), I felt like I needed another vacation for my vacation, a down time after all the excitements, high-tempo daily activities, traveling etc.

One of the many exciting trips that I went on was visiting the rice paddy field in Sekinchan, a small town located in northern part of Selangor state. Sekinchan is famous for its rice farming community; it’s one of the major rice producers in the country.

It was harvesting season in December.

A close look at the paddy. Every grain of rice is preciously produced.

Rice harvester in action at the paddy field. Crop harvesting can only be done on non-rainy days.

These days, we don’t expect farmers to do planting and harvesting in the old fashion way; bending down in the muddy field under the scorching hot sun. Instead, rice harvesters are commonly used nowadays. The rice harvester was important from Holland; modified from a used wheat harvester. Why go through all those troubles? It brings down the cost of the machine by multiple folds! Hundreds of thousands (in Malaysian currency) for the modified wheat machine harvester, instead of millions for a brand new machine.

Typically, June and December are the two harvesting months. There could be up to 3 times a year for harvesting; each season (from planting till harvesting) lasts about 120 days.

Miles was trying out the rice harvester.

It’d had been a beautiful sunset, too bad that it was overcast that day. I’ve always wanted to enjoy a beautiful sunset; the ones in Kota Kinabalu (east Malaysia) were the best thus far. Clouds were in the way that day, blocking the striking rays of sunshine. Another day, another time, I’m still not giving up hope on a spectacular sunset some day.

Cool breeze, red and yellow fallen leaves… These are certainly signs of an early arrival of fall! Believe it or not, this was speculated in late July. I was thinking: if the season is shifting at this rate, we’d see snow in the fall!

The weather has gone whacky this year. Just as I was hoping for a longer summer days, the heat wave hitted Fredericton on the first week of September! On the night of September 1st, the heat was unbearable in my room (for someone like me who grew up in the hot climate to say “hot,” it means really hot). After a few minutes of toss and turn, I fianlly got up from bed and decided to find out my room temperature with a fridge thermometer.

I was right… I was reading it right… 36.5 degrees Celsius in my room! Trying to fall asleep in the body temperature-like “sauna” room was driving me nuts! How I wished I had an air-conditioning unit at that very instant! I convinced myself that it was a “warm-up” for my next visit to Malaysia. Thank God I didn’t get up till the alarm went off in the morning as soon as I fell asleep.

I was truly blessed by the dry summer; biking almost every day all summer long! Having said that, the water level was at an alarming stage where people can literally walk across the river.

The heavy rainfall from last weekend, partially affected by Hurricane Earl has helped with the drastic transition from summer to fall, once again…

What do I miss from Malaysia? Tons! The place, culture, people, food, and the list goes on… In terms of food, sweet buns are some of the food I’m missing so much. They bring back nostalgic memories from my childhood and teenage years. I remembered the wonderful aroma when I stepped into the bakery shop in Malaysia, and the mouth-watering that my eyes feasted on. That was why, I won’t complain to go shopping at the bakery, picking up my favourite buns for breakfast and snacks.

In Canada, however, there’s no fresh Asian baked goods in small cities. In order to satisfy and taste buds and fulfill my cravings, I have to do something….I have to make buns on my own from scratch! Sausage buns, sweet buns with red bean paste, Polo buns, Mexican buns etc., I love them all :)

Moving is a tiring and tedious process. I’ve to admit that I’m fortunate in a way, since this is only my third move in six and a half years. I don’t understand how some people could tolerate the hassle of moving from place to place every year, or worse still, every school term!

Boxes are very useful when it comes to moving. Nonetheless, I’ve to say that it really is a waste of time packing and unpacking. Needless to say, transporting time can take up a big chunk of the day.

One of my biggest dream is to own a house; no more worries about the lease and moving issues (unless I really have to for some reason). I’m not a big fan of spring cleaning. If given a choice, I’ll choose spring cleaning over moving, anytime.

The positive side of moving that I can see, is to get rid of junks! Besides, it gives us a good idea of our “assets”; what we already own and what we don’t. So that we won’t be walking into the store and purchase the same thing over and over again. Sounds familiar?

Anyway, I’ll be relieved for a little while after this move. The next one is coming up in 4 months’ time, as anticipated….

Time flies. Miles and I celebrated our first anniversary as a couple recently. When it comes to anniversary, there are different ways to celebrate it. It could be a romantic candle light dinner, a bouquet of flowers, a nice gift etc. A nice surprise, in my opinion, is a wonderful way to celebrate anniversary.

Having told that there will be an anniversary cake, I had no idea what the cake will look like, besides for it being a heart-shaped cake.

Surprise! A nicely decorated anniversary cake that Miles prepared in the midst of his hectic exam schedule. How sweet! p/s: very neat handwriting for one who doesn’t grow up learning Chinese.

The “interior” of the cake; red and blue (Miles’ and my favourite colour, respectively) marble patterns, with chocolate ganache in the middle, and topped with buttercream icing.

Of course, we shared the cake with friends too. It was one of the best homemade cake I ever had; rich but not too sweet. Very well done (someone mistakenly thought it was store-bought)!

Happy Anniversary, Miles! Thank you very much for the lovely cake :)

It has been a long haul before the nice weather finally arrived! Nonetheless, I’ve to admit the fact that this year’s winter was short and we don’t usually get 10+ degrees until closer to May. I won’t complain too much, for all I can say :P

Last Thursday was a sunny day; a good day for me to try out my new camera lens *v*

On the walking bridge, which used to be a railway.

The sun was shinning brightly.

The seagulls were enjoying the sunset too :)

This guy has already started roller skating!

People were taking a stroll at the park.

Running….

The moon was gorgeous, almost a full moon, but not quite. Focusing on the branches, blurring the moon.

Focusing on the moon, blurring the branches.

A second attempt of the same idea. Focusing on the branches, blurring the moon.

Focusing on the moon, blurring the branches.

Tim Hortons, the all-time favourite “kopitiam (coffee shop)” in Canada. I don’t visit Tim Hortons very often, but I make an effort to take some pictures when I’m there. Here are some of the pictures from Tim Hortons for the past six months or so.

The fall treats from Tim Hortons. Pumpkin spiced muffin and doughnut. There was even pumpkin spiced tea offered, around the Halloween season.

Cinnamon raisin, blueberry, whole grain, plain…. lots of options available for just a bagel. Can’t make up your mind? Try this “everything bagel.” Toasted “Everything bagel” with cream cheese (choice of plain, strawberry, or garlic & herb).

Hot breakfast sandwich, with a seasoned egg patty, a slice of processed cheese, and choice of sausage or bacon, on freshly baked tea biscuits.

Yummy breakfast sandwich!

Hot breakfast sandwich for the bagel lovers!

Candy Cane Doughnut; chocolate doughnut with chocolate glaze, and candy cane sprinkles. Needless to say, it was for the Christmas season!

Pastry filled with cream cheese and topped with raspberry jam.

Caramel Apple Fritter, made of chunks of apple and spiced of cinnamon.

Canadian doughnut, in conjunction with the Winter Olympics Games 2010 held in Vancouver, British Columbia on Feb. 12th to 28th.

Saint John, the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, with its population of approximately 70,000. It is also known as the oldest incoporated city in Canada.

The night scenes in Saint John, on a quiet evening.

How did you celebrate Christmas? To me, Christmas a great time for traveling and and having a get-together with friends. Other than that, there is not much to look forward to, since I’ve no family here in Canada. To cheer up my Christmas spirit, I might give myself a gift or two for Christmas. I know, it sounds pretty pathetic…

Last year, however, I celebrated Christmas with Miles and his family. A truly Canadian Christmas celebration; Christmas tree, treats, gifts, food etc.

I couldn’t remember the last time I was excited about Christmas and anticipated for the Christmas morning to come. Even though I never truly believed in Santa as a young kid, I was always looking forward to receiving my stuffed Christmas stocking on Christmas morning.

It brought back my childhood memory when I received a stuffed Christmas stocking in the morning! I’ve never had that many Christmas gifts in the past. Unwrapping each gift brought great excitement. That was one of the greatest fun celebrating Christmas!

Christmas decoration on the dining table.

Turkey and ham, with homemade beets and pickles for on Christmas day.

Homemade minced meat pie.

Plum Pudding. A must-have Christmas dessert in Miles’ family. It has a similar taste to fruit cake.

Hard Sauce, goes with the plum pudding. It is made of butter and icing sugar, and tasted like cake batter.

Christmas tree with gifts from Santa!

Cracking the nuts can be fun; walnuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, and almonds.