Durian Chocolates

My sister, fresh from Malaysia, has brought us a lot of souvenirs and goodies bought in Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur. How sweet! Among the things she gave us was a box of chocolates – with a twist! Ever heard of the King of Fruit, otherwise known as durian? (How exactly this pungent-smelling, thorny fruit could be called the King of Fruit, I don’t know.) Now this is something I haven’t heard of before (pardon the ignorance!) – durian chocolates!

Here’s the box of durian chocolates, simply titled, “Durian.” LOL

Aww…the chocolates even come in three varieties of shapes!

My daughter gobbled up the twirly-shaped chocolate and immediately declared it “oishii.” Oh really. I tried it myself, but couldn’t seem to agree with the rather strange taste! It tasted like durian, of course. It’s the combination with the dark, bitter chocolate that makes it rather strange. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. In fairness, the white heart-shaped one tasted better. 😉

Back to reading, again

I’m not much into reading fiction nowadays (I’ve consumed my fair share of fiction books in the past). I’m more into non-fiction, self-help books and the like. The latest books I’ve read this year include What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles, Survival Skills for Scientists by Federico Rosei and Tudor Johnston. I’m currently reading How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker. But oh boy, that is a relatively thick book, and it would take a while before I finish it.

Anyway, I’ve just ordered three books from Amazon, my regular supplier of books and DVDs. The first book is a bestseller from one of my fave physicists, none other than Richard Feynman. I loved reading What Do You Care What Other People Think, and after finishing the book, I vowed to get hold of Feynman’s other book, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! It is so refreshing to read about the personal stories of one of the greatest minds in science. I highly recommend these two books for everyone. Don’t worry about the books being too technical – the books were written by the Nobel-prize winner with simple folks like us in mind. 🙂

The other two books are How to Raise a Child with a High EQ, A Parent’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence by Lawrence Shapiro and Emotional Intelligence, Why it Can Matter More than IQ by Daniel Goleman. I decided to read these books, due to my resolve to learn more about the subject after the encouraging seminar I attended. Emotional intelligence is a familiar term to me, but I would be lying if I said that I know that much about EQ! At the back cover of the book by Goleman, it says:

…Goleman shows the factors at work when people of high IQ flounder and those of modest IQ do surprisingly well. These factors, which include self-awareness, self-discipline, and empathy, add up to a different way of being smart–and they aren’t fixed at birth. Although shaped by childhood experience, emotional intelligence can be nurtured and strengthened throughout adulthood–with immediate benefits to our health, our relationship, and our work.

Which means, folks, there is hope for the rest of us who want to improve our EQs. 🙂

Aya and the Art of Origami

One of Aya’s friends gave her a kiddie book on origami for her birthday. Aya really loves origami, and at the daycare they are learning to create lots of them. Ever since Aya got the book, she would make a new origami everyday, and show it off to us. I don’t even have to supervise her. She reads the instructions on the book all by herself. And she’s really good at it. In fact, one of her senseis even told me how good she is at origami.

Here are some of her creations:

Koi (Carp)

Tsuru (Crane)

Boxes (Aya tells me that they’re called “sanbou,” but I don’t know what purpose they serve

Here’s Aya proudly showing off her origami creations

Good thing she’s into origami – she leaves me alone long enough so I can catch up on my reading, heh. 🙂