A very expressive seagull :) (some time in 2009...somewhere in Sydney, Australia)

Bird oh bird...

what have I done wrong? :p

why are you scowling at me?

(bird looked like it was about to snatch away my cup of coffee)

World's bigggest pear & smallest apple - found in Auckland, New Zealand

Years ago, I traveled to NZ because I love berries :)

But it's winter when I got there and berries weren't in season.

So, I tried other local fruits. 

In the same week, I'd eaten the biggest pear and the smallest apple I'd ever seen in my entire life :)))

The pear's so huge that you can probably use it to attack burglars that break into your house

 

It even looks a bit like a whale! :)

  

It's called the P.Barry Pear 

& this (below) is the smallest apple I've ever seen :)))

It's even smaller than a really small kiwi fruit!!

I felt like a murderer eating such a cute little thing.

The fruits were bought from Boric Orchards.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find Boric Orchard's address online.

Now, if anyone knows the contact details of Boric Orchards, I need your favour to post it here. The family-owned orchard is a great place for fruits shopping :))

Let's support them, help them earn a decent income so that we can have more unique fruits in the future :)))

Things-to-do for coffee fans (/connoisseurs) in Seattle, Washington

Wouldn't call myself a coffee connoisseur. I'll stick with the word "fan". I love coffee but I don't usually "sample" coffee. I like only black coffee ("plain coffee", we call it in other parts of the world outside the US)...and many other forms of the black coffee - Americano, espresso, coffee of the day...whatever you call it, lol. If there's no sugar,  no milk, nothing else but just the coffee, I'll most probably like it.

So, as a coffee-fan...while in Seattle I had to see the first ever Starbucks (at Pike Place Market..)
I've met some anti-corporation coffee snob friends who avoid Starbucks just because it's Starbucks...lol, but I like the blonde roast (cuz it's healthier..and has higher antioxidant levels) and Starbucks is the only place that I know of that sells blonde roast (light roast) coffee
I didn't get coffee there, I had my coffee at Columbia Tower Center

Coffee-time + views from Columbia Tower Center

Walked around Seattle after coffee. It is a small city, clean(er) than NYC, kind of reminds me of San Francisco. Some photos of the Escala luxury condominium from the E.L. James' book Fifty Shades of Grey.

It's a romance book, (a fun read in my opinion. So if you're not looking for anything challenging like, maybe The Fight Club, then you might enjoy it) that somehow found its way to mainstream bookshelves. Had to laugh at Salman Rushdie's comment on the book: "Fifty Shades of Grey makes Twilight look like War and Peace":D
haha... I can totally understand where that comment came from. Usually, when I think of "bestseller books", I think of maybe books like Chicken Soup for the Soul (and the other Chicken Soup books...), Rich Dad Poor Dad, Battle Hymm of the Tiger Mother, How to be a Winning Saleperson...etc - serious, non-fiction, educational stuff.
Even the title Fifty Shades of Grey seem somewhat inflated - giving the impression that it is a "self-improvement/motivational" type of book that shares tips on how to improve (bring excitement into your) life via 50 methods recommended by the author...
(But no...Grey is the name of a guy..lol)
But then again, the title is really quite typical of the porn genre..., for example "7 Wonders of the World"...if it is a book of the said title found at Barnes & Noble, Borders in the Bestsellers section, you will expect it to be about the "real" 7 Wonders of the World (instead of 7 human beings "interacting")

My favorite place in Seattle is a neighborhood called Capitol Hill.

Walked all the way there just to try the cheesecakes from The Confectional (which turned out to be overpriced and over-rated) but I did enjoy my walk there:)

Found a quaint little snack bar called Kedai Makan Seattle that serves "tauhu sumbat" (stuffed tofu).
Now, back to why I think The Confectional cheesecakes are meh -
they're too small for the price. A little underbaked & too sweet for my liking.

There are so many other bakeries that sell better cheesecakes (bigger slices) at the same price, like Martha's Country Bakery

"Aperitivo" experience at Sans Egal in Montenapoleone (Milan, Italy)

 My fav place in Milan is Montenapoleone...here are some photos

 We had aperitivo at a Sans Egal...I don't remember the exact location of the restaurant

The quiche (above) is really really good. The drinks are some of the best I've had. I like that they added a lot of fresh fruits & berries in the cocktails

 After dinner at Sans Egal, we dropped by at Amorino gelato (somewhere across the same street) since my friend was craving for chocolates

Gardone Riviera, Italy