Google News for Malaysia

Technorati Tags: Asia,Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia,News,Google

Google now have launched a News Page for Malaysia. Check it out if you like to know what is happening around were I live.

Wendy's in Malaysia.

Technorati Tags: Wendy´s,Food,Malaysia,Kuala Lumpur,US,Mont Kiara,Jalan Kiara 2

Is this the first Wendy's in Malaysia? The service was Great and the Food was Good. Down the road from us in Mont Kiara.

 

And here is Wendy or is it Pippi Långstrump??

A Fund Raising Recital for The Cyclone Nargis Victims

Andrew and Friends will sing at KLPAC!!

John would you like a cup of Java (Swedish roast)?

If you work for Sun Microsystems the name John Gage should not come as a surprise. If you visited JavaOne in San Francisco he should be a familiar face. If you have seen or had the fortune to hear him then you understand why I admire him. This guy can talk to anybody from kids to heads of state.

John Gage is in town (I checked his online calendar) be in town this week for the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2008). I have found that there is a connection between John and Malaysia.

From John's hompage you find "Gage has served on International Board of Advisors for the Multimedia Super Corridor project of Malaysia (MSC)".

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad a friend of John's?

Read what Wired wrote about John in December 1998.

"The phone rings again. It's Gage's secretary - his "admin," in Sun speak - relaying a message. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad wants another meeting of his special advisory group on building a best-in-the-world national information infrastructure. Next week. Gage tells the admin to book the ticket: round-trip San Francisco to Kuala Lumpur, one night in a hotel, then straight back."

So John, I would love to serve you a cup of Java and to hear about your current projects. If you have the time please stop by Mont Kiara Aman.

You are Welcome!! /JD

Technorati Tags: John Gage,WCIT,MSC,Malaysia,Kuala Lumpur,Sun,Sun Microsystems,Java,JavaOne

Vesak Day -- Happy Birthday Buddha!!!

Happy Birthday Buddha!! This day is a public holiday and is called Vesak Day.

It is not only about Buddha's birthday it also encompasses the birth, enlightenment and the passing of Gautama Buddha. For more info see Wikipedia.

Technorati Tags: Vesak,Wesak,Buddha,Gautama Buddha,Birthday

Swedish Rice Porridge made the Asian way!

 

Risgrynsgröt (eng. Rise Porridge, Rise Congee, Rice Pudding) is something Andrew loves to get for Breakfast. It is also the only porridge that I like. The recipe below together with our new Fuzzy Control Rice Cooker Hitachi RZ-CM18Y.

"Fuzzy logic technology, which allows the rice cooker to 'think' for itself and make fine adjustments to temperature and heating time to cook perfect rice every time." (quote from Zojirushi)

 

Ingredients

3 Cups	Japanese Rice!		Nishiki
4 Cups	Water
14 Cups	Milk		buy 3 l
½-1 teaspoon	Salt
Cooking time	~ 1 hour
1 Cup = 200ml

How To Do

You should buy Japanese rice, Nishiki is a good choice. We use low fat milk but it is a matter of what you have at home. Please note that you need to have approximately three liters of milk for this recipe. Clean the rice in a sieve and put all the ingredients into the rice cooker. Turn the machine on and wait for about one hour.

When done open the rice cooker and stir with a plastic or wooden spoon. It is now ready to be served.

You can save the porridge in the fridge or the freezer for later use. Take the amount that you need and put it in the microwave for a minute or two and your ready to eat. It can not be more simple!!

 Before cooking.

 After 1 hour.

No burned porridge (Andrew calls it "bottennapp").

You can not fail!!

 Sugar and Cinnamon

How to eat Swedish Rice Porridge.

The porridge should be served hot! Cinnamon and sugar is needed on the table when you eat Swedish Risgrynsgröt. Ann likes some cold milk with her porridge. I like my porridge the same way my grandfather (MorFar Otto) liked it, no milk and a nugget of butter or margarine.

Enjoy!!!

  

 

The recipe is an adaptation from a porridge recipe that we found in The Ultimate Rice Cooker book at Google books.

If you are interested in our rice cooker, then check out this pdf document.

Technorati Tags: Rice Cooker,Food,Rice Porridge,Risgrynsgröt,Rice

How Britain build their Empire!!

"Do you have a Flag?" 

Malaysia probably didn't when the British arrived.

Now Malaysia have this wonderful flag.

Sir Wilhelm and Sir John

 

Sir Wilhelm and Sir John gave me these nice pictures of them surfing in Bali. I have them as desktop background on my computer. They left yesterday (2008-04-16) and we were sad so see them go. They are great guys/blokes!!!!!! Hope that they have fun in Australia and the US before returning home to Sweden in July (this year!).

Two Beach Bums has arrived!!!

  

John and Wilhelm has arrived from Bali where they have learned to surf. They started traveling last Christmas and now they have arrived in KL. After staying with us they will continue to Australia and return to Sweden sometime this summer. The picture above is from IKEA food store where John bought a Marabou Chocolate bar (you should have seen his smile when he found the it!!)

Wilhelm with his Curry Laksa at Souled Out.

 

"Can I find any nice girls in this town?"

Andrews Birthday!

 
On Andrew's birthday we went to a special kind of movie theater,

the Gold Class Movie Theater at 1 Utama shopping center.

We went to have a look at the movie Jumper which we all enjoyed.

 

Mad dogs and Englishmen

Last week Christine (see earlier blog entry) and I took the kids to the playground behind KLCC. It is a large and very nice playground, BUT we got there noon and the heat and Sunshine was terrible. I think we lasted for about 15-20 minutes not more. I kept singing the old tune "Mad dogs and Englishmen" which Christine never had heard  before.

Ann got back during the weekend and told me that some parts of Sweden only had 12 hours of Sunshine during the month of December. We have not had a temperature below 20 C (probably 25 C) since we got here. Here people use the umbrellas for shielding themselves from the Sun. In Sweden people try to get a tan as fast as possible when they get a glimpse of the Sun. "God moves in mysterious ways".

Anyway here is Noël Coward  from 1955.

If you have problems hearing what Mr. Coward is singing -- here are the lyrics.

The US connection

My American Cousin Christine and her family has been visiting us this week. William her husband had to go to Singapore to work but Christine and her kids Johan and Elise (Meimei -- Little sister) has been with us for a few days. You can not be on a fast schedule if/when you have small kids. You need lots of snacks, ice-cream and other small treats to get them going. We have been to the playground at KLCC which is very large. A visit to the butterfly park to feed the fish and turtles (and to see the butterflies). Today we walked the Central Market. During this week Johan learned to float around in the pool (with support). There is so much more I would like to show them but not so much time....

 

Below you will find more pictures from their visit.

Malaysian Open

 

 

The Swedish badminton players did not do so good in the Malaysian Open Badminton Tournament. (First link in Swedish--Sorry)

Christmas/New Years Letter from Ann.

Dear friends,
This year Christmas letter is a bit different to say the least! We hope that many of you are following our experiences from living in Malaysia on the blog http://joda58.blogspot.com/

Last time we sent you a mail we were just setting off for a few days in the Jungle. We went to Tamana Negara a forest reserve in the middle of Malaysia. It was a three hour boat ride on a river before we arrived to the cabins were we were going to stay. The boat trip was great and we saw some interesting animals. Once at the cabins where we were going to stay there was so many people! After a good (?) nights sleep, wondering if the animals were inside or outside the cabin we set out to go for a canopee tour. At the starting point we had to wait for two hours since there were so many in line waiting. As you can imagine they were not too quiet so we did not see many animals. Ann was not pleased with the tour 80 meter up in the trees walking on ladders held by ropes. With good moral support from the boys and Jonas taking pictures we made it! We also made a visit to a tribe village and got to see how they live. It was interesting but we wondered if it is not just a matter of time before they are part of the normal society.

Back in Kuala Lumpur the hard schoolwork for Christoffer and Andreas got on its way. They have really had a hard working term both coping with a new language, new way of teaching, finding friends and not the least trying to catch up with the part of the term that they had missed. Besides normal subject like math, English, physics.. they have been taking some interesting classes like Story in Art and band. The boys have been really extraordinary with their schoolwork. They have studied all week round. If it is not homework then it is projects to conclude. Jonas have been supporting them as much as possible and now all of us are happy that there is a break.

Andreas is still very interesting in singing. The school cannot offer anything to his liking so a few weeks ago he did an audition to a youth choir and came straight into a group with 13-15 years old. The conductor introduced the idea behind the choir to them and they were told that they do not sing pop song, much to Andreas liking. Rehearsals begin in January. We all hope that this will be a nice experience.

Andreas has also found badminton as an after school activity. In the facilities where we live there is also a badminton hall so there are plenty of possibilities. On top of the wish list for Christmas Andreas has an electric guitar so we have to see what Santa is coming with. Maybe there will be guitar playing annoying our neighbors in our 36 story condominium!

Christoffer has been trying to keep up his French horn. He has band as a subject and is amazed that you are getting grades for a subject that you do for fun at home! Besides school he has also been involved in a movement called Young United Nations. The international schools in Asia meet a few times per year and they then get to "play" that negotiation play in the UN. Christoffer had at one point to try to argue for the military regime in Burma. That was interesting for all of us.

Jonas is more then fully occupied studying and taking care of the rest of us. Everything you need to here do takes so much more time then at home. Since Ann has been traveling a lot most of the family matters falls on Jonas. Even if the boys have their school bus that takes them to school (even home after school activities) seems there to be a number of occasions each week when Jonas is required at school. Fortunately Ann is carpooling with some colleagues so Jonas can have the car most days. Ann is not to found of driving in KL either! Jonas is also doing a lot of physical exercise. Two to three times per week he walks for an hour with some of the other Swedish women that are at home. They are so fit that Jonas has a hard time to keep up with them! In the heat you think he has gone via the swimming pool before coming home!

Ann is traveling just as much as usual but it feels a bit easier when the flights are not as long (only 12 hours to Australia and Japan!) and the time differences are minimal. The time differences though makes her work some nights when Sweden is awake and working. The work is though still very rewarding. The work will take Ann home to Sweden in January and it will be nice to meet the family again.

We are all on and off longing for Sweden, it would be a lie if we said something else but we all think that the experiences that we get is worth it. In Christmas times you long more for home then usual. Celebrating Christmas in 30 degrees Celsius is not what we are used to and the coziness disappears somewhat. We will over the Christmas days go to Lankawi, a Malaysia island close to the border to Thailand. We will hopefully put up our feet, bathe and just be lazy. For the New Year we will go to Borneo and have a look at longhouses and orangutans hopefully. Since we will be away during Christmas we have already celebrated a bit with having Swedish Julbord. Jonas had arranged so that we had ham, smoked salmon, herring, cheese … Andreas said it was the nicest food he have had for long. When you do not have it everyday you appreciate it more!

We wish we could meet you all but …

Form us all to all of you

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Ann, Jonas, Christoffer and Andreas

 

ps. Andreas and Christoffer are known as Andrew and Chris at ISKL.

Another night in Paradise

All friends and relatives please come and visit us soon!!

Funny Family

Andrew likes to play around with our new phones. Maybe it is not a phone but a camera or a mp3 machine? With the phone I use you can even send pictures to this blog straight from my pocket.

 

 

Who needs a facelift? We do not!

PS. We only use Sony-Ericsson Mobile/Cell/Hand phones.

First Malaysian In Space Returned

Last year Sweden had a man i space and this year Malaysia did the same. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor left Earth on a Russian Soyuz spaceship 11 days ago. He stayed at the ISS spacestation, before returning yesterday.
Here is an interview with him.

We are off ... down the yellow brick road.

So we are off to Kuala Lumpur. Here we are outside Ann's parents house. We had to stay there because our house is rented out to a French family. The girl and the baby is Christoffer's and Andrew's cousins. We are flying Gothenburg-Copenhagen-Bankok-Kuala Lumpur. We will hopfully touch down on twelve on Sunday. Please not that Malaysia is five hours ahead of Sweden.

Far out/Leaving on a jet plane

My wife has got a one year assignement to work from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We will move around the 1st of September 2007. Our boys Christoffer 15 and Andrew 12 will go to an International School. I will be starting my life as an University student and a "houseman". It will be up to me to take care of the family while my wife travels to other countries in the region.

But all the things to do before leaving..... Pack up your own stuff! Rent out the house. What to do about your cars? Who will take care of the mail etc etc. It is a good thing that we have relatives that can help us. The inlaws are great. Martin will help us with the house while gone and Leif will take care of the economy for a minimum charge ;-)

After much waiting we got "the go signal". We are leaving on the 1st of September 2007.

What an adventure!!!!

Stay tuned to this blog to find out whats happening to the Dahléns.