Calling all Brunei-Australia Alumni members and others for a foodie meet up,. Come and showcase your favourite dish and possibly win prizes. - food hamper . kitchenware and many more. Email your participation to brustralia@gmail.com. Why do you need to email the participation? So that to ensure everyone will not bring the same dish of Roti Prata, for instance. If your dish coincide with someone's else, we can politely email you back and say, that slot is taken. So, hurry slots are limited.

So what is basically BRUSTRALIA? LOL! A catchy word that sums up Brunei and Australia together. Although the food theme is Australia but in this day and age, seeing Australia is a melting pot of various cultures, Asian, Greek, Turkish, Middle-Eastern and Europe, anything is Australian these days. So, that makes your choice of dish simple to choose from.

An opportunity to meet other Alumni members, students returning from Australia for their summer vacations and Australians working in Brunei. You can meet them all, network and who knows you might strike a deal!

If you are not an Alumni members, you are welcome too.

Visited the Agriculture and Agrifood Expo 09 this morning at Kg Tungku and it is a HIT for me. The place is huge and will be a great walk about. There are tractors mini buses to ferry visitors around the site and I thought that was cute. Riding the tractors, you will pass across the planting fields and see the various vegetables and fruit farms.


I really like the showcase of local agricultural activities and agri food business. I was just amazed at the number of vendors, especially in agrifood. There are many existing entrepreneurs selling cookies, crackers, sauce, ,frozen food and many more that I was not aware of. The Expo really made a showcase venue for them.

Apart from vendors, there are booths from the new Department of Agriculture and Agrifood that can help/assist/answer quieries on marketing and packaging. Basically how you can participate in agribusiness. Excellent!

I personally see there is massive potential from our own agribusiness. One idea for marketing some of the food industries is to invite foodies for a competition, using the products that we have. I thought that will bring more audience and at the same time, give ideas on how to use these products in their food preparations. For example:

• BMC salami slices - can be made into gourmet sandwiches, pasta alfredo, cheezy pasta bake,
  
• lettuce - make into various salads ranging from sea food cocktail to chicken mango salsa.
• Laila Rice- using Ayam penyet or fried rice
• Cacah sauce - kampung cuisine.

I think with some creativity, the options are endless. I am definitely coming back to the Expo again.. Nda puas rasa nya. I didn't bring my camera this morning. So no photos for the moment.

If you are driving to the place, please be patient as there is major traffic to the side.
The Expo will be on till 30 November 2009. Recommended for a family outing.

Found this on the internet. Great idea for a brekkie.


Mashed Potato Egg Boats

1 cup leftover mashed potatoes

a big pinch of shredded cheese

4 eggs

Preheat your oven to 400, and put your cast iron (muffin) pan into the oven to heat up. When hot, drop a teaspoon of butter into each one. Roll your potatoes into balls, then press into preheated pan and hollow out, pushing the potatoes up along the sides. Bake 10-15 minutes, until starting to brown. Loosen the sides (this will help later), sprinkle in a little cheese, and crack and egg into each potato cup. Bake until the egg whites are set, and serve immediately, sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Photo source : APEC Secretariat

Your must have heard or read in the news. APEC Summit? APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting? Which one is it exactly? Sounds confusing. Are they the same or have slight different meaning. What is it actually?

According to the Dictionary, SUMMIT means "a meeting of heads of governments ".

But if you visit the APEC Secretariat website, this is what they explain the membership of APEC.

What is Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation?
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region .

APEC is the only inter governmental grouping in the world operating on the basis of non-binding commitments, open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants. Unlike the WTO or other multilateral trade bodies, APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.

APEC has 21 members - referred to as "Member Economies" - which account for approximately 40.5%¹ of the world's population, approximately 54.2%¹ of world GDP and about 43.7%² of world trade.

APEC's 21 Member Economies are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Republic of the Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; Viet Nam.

China, Hong Kong, China and Chinese Taipei joined in 1991.

Source: APEC Secretariat

The above explains three things that are relevant to our discussion:

• Not all in attendance are Heads of State ( Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei)
• Hong Kong is not a country per se but China's Special Administrative Region
• Due to political sensitivity of China-Taiwan relations, Taiwan is referred to as 'Chinese Taipei and membership in APEC is regarded as 'member economies' instead of countries.

My conclusion is that APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is more apt to describe the annual gathering of Asia-Pacific Leaders instead of SUMMIT.

You learnt something new today : )

Our dream is to have a house near the sea. Hang out in the verandah enjoying our afternoon tea, listen to the sound of the waves and see the open waters to show how big the world is. Why is the sea and beach fascinates us? I guess the warm sun and blue skies with white cotton candy cloud. Yes! again sound of the waves and cool breeze made it a great time to unwind, forget your daily problems what so ever ( your in tray will always be filled. Or is it something bugging you? ). No wonder the beach is a place to relax and unwind... and to show your love to the significant half.

Above photos from Basim

Ah! Families... We can't do without them. Last Sunday, the family had a beach gathering again. Glad I came and the kids immersed themselves with their cousins and siblings. More of team building.

I was happy to see my new found friend: Basim and wife Noura joining us. It was an opportunity to share our life with them, how we live and interact within the family. Basim, an IT specialist is young and vibrant. So is his wife Noura. Sharing experiences of life stories has been my penchant for life moments and amongst the things that we talked about are wanting to see the world more and how cultures around the world are much alike with the kitchen being an excellent way to learn about food. Amazing how we share the same passion for food and coffee. Isn't life great when you meet people with the same passion for life : living and giving?

The family came prepared.. having a brother with a catering company does help. BBQ, Jackfruit fritters and fresh prawn being boiled all made into the menu. Those that came brought along much food for everyone to share...

Cucur corner

Jah? berapa sekilo udang rabus ahhh?

Looking forward for the next beach outing.

Hello.. Cantik Rupa mu

WHAT A GIG!! I must say!! Impressed with the organisation of the event and the awesome performances.. One word that I learn from that night's event is COLLABORATE.

I have not been to a hip-hop gig for quite a while. Many would think they will hear RAW hip-hop music. Yes and No!. The fusion of A Band Once's drums and rock elements with Micbandits Rap and R n B voices of NJ, Juju and angelic Feez Madea... made it all FANTASTIC.

Truly enjoyed all the performances at the Micbandits ; It's A Wrap event, unveiling their new video, Hello! Cantik Rupa Mu. Congrats to Reza, the man behind the video production.

I am amazed at the local and young talent we have. Truly supportive of their efforts in making their own brand. We heard so much of international and regional artists and it is high time we have our own.

David of Kartel records and Altimet were there to provide support to our local acts. David spoke that 'this is Brunei's night and will give support to it'. I thought that was awesome and most sincere. Let's hope there will be more opportunities in the near future. Looking forward to get the Micbandits new album and future performances..

What they gamble that night...really paid off.

The other thing that I was impressed that night was the support from their own parents and family members. Awesome. i really like what I saw. Parent's support are important. I bumped into Moody's dad who happens to be a good friend of mine. I told Moody of my acquaintance with his father. He responded, 'he is my friend too!". GREAT!

I didn't take much photos especially the concerts shots. Totally immersed with the performances especially first time listening to Juju.. Reminded me much of Mary J.Blige when she was featured in Micbandits 'SAID TO ME'.

Here are some photos from Kurapak's Mobil Studio..

Altimet and David on the red carpet

Feez Madea in action with her winning song FLY

Micbandits with members of A Band Once

Good reason to sleep and wake up early. From Jaunted.com

photo: Image astoraut

In an Interstellar Burst, Leonid Meteor Shower to Pass Earth on Tuesday

If you find yourself outdoors this Tuesday, November 17, 2009, do yourself a favor and look up. In the right place under the right conditions, you just might be a witness to the Leonid Meteor Shower. Every year at around this time, hundreds of meteors associated with the Comet Tempel-Tuttle streak by the earth, giving observers an amazing show of cosmic activity, and if you've never seen it before, it might be worth the lost sleep.

This year will be a pretty good one to witness the intergalactic spectacle, according to the brainy science guys at National Geographic, who recommend that residents of North America and Europe venture out to a dark place between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. ET on the 17th to see between 30 to 50 meteors an hour. Stargazers in Asia will have the best views, though, as the Leonids will be peaking at 50 meteors an hour in the predawn hours.

Scientifically, a meteor shower happens when the earth passes through the debris field left in the wake of a comet that has passed close to the sun, melting some of its ice and shaking off chunks of various sizes. Most meteor showers are relatively modest, with rates of 50 meteors an hour on a good year, but some meteor showers are truly breathtaking. The Leonid Shower of 1833, for example, had as many as a hundred thousand meteors an hour, or an average of 30 meteors per second, which must have freaked people out something fierce, especially without modern science to explain what was happening.

The Leonids get their name from the Constellation Leo, where the debris comes from, not, as I had thought, from Leonid Brezhnev, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. But regardless of what they're called, they're darn cool, so if you find yourself staggering out of a bar late Monday night, know that those streaks of light in the sky aren't just a product of your evening's libations. I wonder how well I'll be able to see it from Brooklyn.