Hazel Ceej

Research papers or PhD proposals don't count, right? Yeah, I write those and sometimes a speech to kick off a university business meeting. The rest of the time I play with recreational haiku, and that's that. So I'm no writer, but once in awhile I date some daiquiri. When the calendar showed 1-1-11, I headed off to a beach town, the Thai Royal family's summer home. I did balance the table with something healthy. Now we don't play with our food but we certainly can have fun: Guess which writer loved daiquiri: Edward Thomas, Randall Jarrell or Robert Frost  Clue : " The land was ours before we were the land's..." Read at JFK's inauguration .  *More on writers and what they love to eat here .* Someone once said 'it takes four men to dress a salad. One for the salt, one for the pepper, one for the vinegar and one for the oil."  Can you name which men? Here are your choices: a . yeoman, barman, monk, gamekeeper b . wiseman, madman, miser, s...

"Bangkok on the cheap," says one site about a series of free concerts in Lumpini Park. The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra performs Sunday afternoons in January. Most concert-goers are picnicking at the same time: families and couples twittering and applauding in between bite-size pizzas, sausages in bamboo sticks and oishi tea. Like always the Thai government provides mats for people to sit on. For 'soloists' who come late, well they just have to grab a stone. I did. The guy in blue probably got tired of squatting on the grass with guy in red so he sat on my stone when I stood up to take a photo - Since it was my first time to watch this concert I had to find it by asking people along the way. This was by the sky train route -     Inside the park; sweet hues by the wayside - Lumpini Park lake - Silom side, Bangkok's financial district, in the distance - A park guard told me to 'trong pai' (go straight) and pointed me to a gazebo from which speakers with ...

I want to write a book about shoes that's full of footnotes. ~ Jarod Kintz My only recollection of noticing Replay merchandise was around 13 years ago when an ex-boyfriend mentioned that he liked the brand. Recently I was browsing in the shoe department of Central Plaza and noticed an attractive sign. Now what made me decide to check this pair out? Nah... it's not nostalgia for a past love. The new resolve to treat myself now and then is one. It fits and does not send me waggling on the glazed floor of my playground, a.k.a. lecture rooms, so that's another one. But the number one motivation for this purchase is the 90 percent off factor! I paid just US$13.35 instead of US$135.45. Quite a steal, isn't it? Sold to shoe lover me. This post is shared with Momspective * The Creative Homeacre * Mellow Yellows *  Make the Scene * Color Connection * Thrifty Things * Favorite Things

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. ~Ernestine Ulmer Butter pan cake with warm chocolate, green tea ice cream and red bean jam T his dessert plate arrived on my table and I had my nose glued to The Pelican Brief . When I remembered to take a photo, the green tea ice cream had began melting. But who cares? This is one of those feel-good moments when you're doing two things you love simultaneously! Food Friday * Share the Joy * Food Trip Friday

What spirit is so empty and blind that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed? - Michelangelo  Why is the Mom in this family picture smiling? Oh, I know. The Dad is wearing shoes. Old Photo Album But my mother was also smiling in our family photo. All three of us look about the same age as this family. Mama said she explicitly told Papa that day long ago that we would sit for a family portrait so we were to don something formal. But lo and behold Papa came in flip flops! Mama wasn't very happy about it. She still placed our picture neatly in the family album though. Family is family, slippers or stilettos. What is unknown to me, besides the identity of this family, is how Father (rest in peace, Pap) ended up in the photo studio wearing slippers when he wore shoes virtually all the time. In fact we only saw him wearing slippers during his retirement. Ah well, so much for shoes. I have ...

Les Miserables hit big screens in Bangkok on January 31st, weeks behind Europe. At least that's what I remember a friend in Sweden said to me last week of December 2012- that they're all crazy about the musical. I love buying little treats to celebrate films I enjoy watching. This time I tried the warm chocolate cupcake from Coffee Beans by Dao . I also browsed a sprinkling of quotes by LM genius Victor Hugo:  "To love another person is to see the face of God."   “A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.” "He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two.” “It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”   Food Friday * Share the Joy * Time Travel * Rednesday * Blues * Mellow Yellows

When Dasa Book Cafe claims that they are the 'best secondhand bookshop in Bangkok,' I believe them. Not only am I a frequent customer here; I have also visited other secondhand bookshops in the city but I like Dasa best of all. Their site has a page that explains the name Dasa, and I quote: "d ā sa" came from the name of the late venerable Thai Buddhist Monk called "Buddhad ā sa Bhikkhu". The word "d ā sa" itself means "slave" or "servant". It's the word from an ancient language called "Pali" which is the language that Buddhist monks use in chanting and in their regular rituals or ceremonies. We chose this name because it conveys the meaning that all book lovers are "slave" in the sense that they can't live without books or reading. The name also has a nice Asian touch to it and is also quite catchy. Even though the place may not look attractive on the outside, I'd still say it's one of...