Monthly Archives: December 2012

Prayer for work

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in Everything else...

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I am having an extremely tough and frustrating week at work…

and  hubby send this to me. (Don’t know where he got it from… but it made me laugh… thanks dear !)

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill today because they pissed me off. Also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today, as they may be connected to the ass I may have to kiss tomorrow.

Help me to always give 100% at work…12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday and 5 % on Fridays. Help me to remember that when I am having a bad day, and it seems that people are trying to piss me off, that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 muscles to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me.

The Original version is Serenity Prayer by twentieth century American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr.

God,
Give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
 
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.

Le Coq Hardi – Ales, France

18 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in France, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

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I walked pass this little restaurant many times in the past, but was never tempted to check it out. The bright red deco and outside frame of the restaurant felt a little too pub-like to me. Hence, I pre-judge this little guy and refuse to even look at their menu.

I’m so glad hub and I decided to give this restaurant a try this round. More like an interesting encounter which made us stop right in front of this restaurant, giving me the reason to scan thru their menu. I was instantly hooked. They serve quite a number of interesting traditional French / almost home cook type dishes.

The restaurant was pretty pack even at 6.45pm (which was relatively early for French to start dining). This is surely a good sign. The waitress speaks almost no English but luckily she is happy to help as much as she could and bear with my lousy French. LOL.

Hubby ordered escargot for starter to share. It was so delicious and I was so glad that it was a huge plate pack with escargots (I think there’s easily 2 dozens of escargots on that plate!). The sauce was absolutely fantastic and compliments the escargots really well.Escargot

For mains, hubby ordered duck. He loves the French way of cooking duck. This is the traditional Magret de Canard with apricot sauce. Simple common dish but done really well. The duck meat was pan-fried well, leaving it juicy and tender. It was a very generous portion plate fill with assortment of sides.

Canard à l'Orange As for me, I am in love with my Sole meunière. Such a simple dish of pan frying the sole with butter, and yet, the taste was anything but simple. The texture of the fish combine with the butter almost has a melt-like quality once in your mouth.

Sole meunièreEach bite is almost as amazing as the first, making me want to savor each bite slowly and making the meal last forever. Now, I truly understand why French takes 3-4 hours for dinner. When you have food this good, who would want their dinner to end?!

I would have loved to try their dessert. But, we were super full by then. I can’t wait to come back again to try their other dishes.

 

Address: 7 Rue Mandajors, 30100 Alès, France
Phone:+33 4 66 52 15 75

Deadly prank calls… DJs be responsible please!

17 Monday Dec 2012

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Sigh.. It’s so sad reading about the London nurse Jacintha Saldanha who committed suicide in England because of prank calls made by 2 Australian DJ. The DJs pretended to be Prince Charles and the Queen to find out more about the condition of Princess Kate (who is under going treatment in that particular hospital because of her severe morning sickness). The nurse then transferred the call to the nurse in charge of Kate and gave out Kate’s medical information.

Because of this, the nurse was perhaps scolded / reprimanded? (just my guess) Whatever the reason, she must have felt really remorse about it because she committed suicide. (so sad… sob sob)

I never like prank calls. I think it’s juvenile and immature. Whenever I hear radio DJs doing prank calls / crappy calls / gotcha calls (whatever you like to call it), I switch station immediately. I don’t find it funny and I think it’s not right…Especially if it hurt / scare / anger… the recipient. Many of you might thing that it’s ok (not a big deal) since you explain later that it’s all only a hoax. But, at the moment you pull the prank, you placed someone under duress and manipulate someone’s emotion. That’s not nice at all.

In this case, someone’s life was taken. Yes – the DJs might not have literally plunge the knife to end this nurse’s life. But, they are in some way indirectly the root cause of her death. Sadly, I don’t think the DJs will be able to wipe this out from their memory and will surely continue to haunt them for the rest of their life.

I hope DJs around the world take this as a lesson and be responsible and careful with what you do / say. Please “prank responsibly” and think of the consequences. Fun is fun, but there are lines not to be crossed…

To Ms. Jacintha Saldanha’s family, my deepest condolences for your loss…