Pickles n' Tickles by JJ

OILS and I go a long way. My mom used a lot of oil on me, growing up. As a teenager, baby oil was my go-to daily face moisturiser. I didn't know then what I know now about synthetic oils but it worked for me. In my early 20s, I fell in love with pure essential oils. I was introduced to the world of Culpeper during work. Then, I was gifted a 50ml bottle of jojoba base oil with two precious bottles of 10ml rose and geranium essentials oils courtesy of Culpeper. I was set for life and I've never looked back ever since.  Over the years, I have depended on and dwelled solely in beauty oils. Recently, I've started learning about healing through essential oils. It's been a huge eye-opener for me. Essential oils are just not skin deep, they're simply so much more than that. The potent substances extracted through steam distillation from various shrubs, flowers, roots, skin and seeds could have incredible healing powers when used with sensitivity, respect and knowledge....

I baked a cake for a friend's birthday party today. More than the baking, I enjoyed icing this cake. It's a simple vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. The idea for decoration comes from a cake Chef Lorraine Pascale made. It's a white cake with little flowers constructed from raspberries and almond flakes. So pretty and whimsical, just the kind of cake that'd make me happy if it was presented to me on my birthday.  I had so much fun decorating and re-decorating the cake while munching on berries, almonds and cream. I used red berries for raspberries as I found them to be more delicate for the flower effect. Red on white is one of my all time favourite combinations and not just at Christmas.  The final look. Whimsical.  White and Red  I started off with a scale-like design along the side. Since I had some extra buttercream, I decided to continue a row on the top too. With the space left on the face, I constructed a few flowers. When done, I stood ba...

FLIPPING through some food sites, I came across an interesting recipe for an alcoholic beverage. The writer calls it the Milk of Amnesia. At first, I thought I had read it wrong but there it was again. Milk of Amnesia. The article soon broke into a series of pictures of how it's done. Fresh milk is used with sugar, vodka, oranges and lemon. The combination is left to ferment for 10 days after which it's filtered and ready to go. So, the pictures went from a milky, gross concoction of floating citrus to an end product of something that represented a clear, golden liquid much like a fine icewine. Elegant and sophisticated. I was curious and drawn to it.  Lab coat on and ready to experiment. That night, I cut some oranges and a lemon, threw them into a jar and dumped in sugar, milk and when it came to the vodka, I realised I didn't have any. I went through my little closet bar a few times but all I had were bottles of various vile-flavoured vodka, not the ordinary ...

TWO weeks ago, we took part in a dragonboat festival: Qatar's First Dragonboat Festival. Our training had started t wo weeks before that,   and I felt fabulous for many reasons. One, I was able to enjoy and take part in sporting activities despite my ear and hearing issues. Two, it's a water sport. It's a team, water sport in the pristine waters of the Qatari coastline. Thirdly, I've been in an international dragonboat festival in 2011 and therefore, to be part of a second event in a different country is an exciting prospect.  First week training was excellent. I was made the front pacer along with our team captain. Our job was to set the pace for our team of 20 paddlers. Paddling came naturally to me although when spelling it out on a paper, it always came out as peddling. I think people just went with it because they didn't want to embarrass the writer.  In the second week, we were trained harder by a new coach. The wind and waves doubled the intensity of...

The template has been changed since the last post. The red was alarming, I couldn't think straight looking at it. Maybe this will do, for now. Clean, simple and blue. I speak of blue often which may lead people to think that it's my favourite hue but green is more like the colour for me. Blue, I admire from afar. Green, I have it on me. But both make me incredibly happy.  The husband had a job offer coming his way recently. We were excited because that will bring us to Abu Dhabi, by far my most favourite place to live in the Gulf and UAE. However, it did not work out. As much as I like staying put in one place, I realise that I have a secret addiction for moving and starting over. I didn't notice that until recently but I think the older I get, the more governed I am by the need for something new. Not materialistically though. I cannot imagine being calm and content about being stagnant geographically, socially and mentally. Physically too, if I count my need to run it ...

It feels like there's too much red on here. I'm even feeling a little trapped by this new template but I'm too lazy to go through the whole rite of template-searching again. The earlier blue skies and poppy flowers are no longer available for me to return to. Sadly.  So, I've been camping on my balcony past few weeks. Let's just say that I've spent some quality time in it. I've never slept in a tent except for that one work trip some years ago. Technically, it shouldn't count because we had air-conditioning, proper beds, dressing mirrors and a pantry just outside. All four adults sharing the tent walked comfortably upright while having their own space too. We glamped.  My balcony tent is far more basic. It's something I got from Carrefour during a sale. Meant for four but it's just nice for one person (okay, I like my space). A few layers of duvet, a sleeping bag and some pillows with my favourite things at the side and it's perfect. S...