EmmaGoodEgg

Waxing Lyrical About A Box Of Brownies

I had my hands on a box of Sas Brownies last weekend when Bobby away on a Rinjani-Man-of-The-Mountain trip with a few good men. When I got them they were still warm fresh out from the oven (delivery time accounted for). At first glance a white box of 9x flat square brown chocolate cake, at first smell it was heavenly.

Sas Brownies are baked by none other than, Sas Monroe, blogger formerly known as Pynk. I'm not much of a foodie and my brownie description may be shallow but you must be bitter, very bitter, not to enjoy these chocolate brown mamas. Full bodied and sweet just like their baker, they were a bit on the soft side, though I'm not complaining. A bite releases fudgey, rich, moist and chocolatey goodness. Not tooth-achingly sweet, which was a nice touch. The top was textured crisp and shiny. You can easily, I say a little bit forlorn, eat one whole brownie under 60 seconds. I had mine with a side of You've Got Mail. Bobby had his warmed and with a side of Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chocolate ice-cream. Deeelicious.

It was decadent and most appropriate for a girl's night home alone, taken slowly yet surely, chick flick/vampire Mills & Boon paperbacks optional. Full brownie points for Sas and her box of sassy, sexy brownies.

You can order Sas Brownies by tweeting Sas @sasbrownies or text 8950000.

Fulbright Graduate Studies Scholarship 2010-2011 : For Brunei Applicants

Please contact Shova at the US Embassy in Brunei for further details.

My Favourite Recipe Book By The Brunei Foodies

I finally got hold of my two copies of 'My Favourite Recipe Book' a compilation of recipes by our very own foodies, bloggers or otherwise. The recipe book was a sold-out and a signed copy of it (by Her Royal Highness ‘Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah) raked in a further B$5,586.00 for its charity of choice, the Special Olympics Brunei Darussalam. The aim was to raise funds to send our special ones to the World Special Olympics in Athens in 2011.

I feel most guilty at not being able to partake, but hopefully there'll be a next time. I've read that the recipe book gathered some vitriolic discussion over on RA's tagboard over some missing ingredients in some recipes, well-intentioned people simply using the book for fame and glory, the usual defeatist comments that seems all too common in our country. All I can say is My Favourite Recipes is a commendable and worthwhile effort and that at least these folks stepped up to the plate and gave their time for charity:

Ani Annuar
Alina Malik
Ann Jom
Aunidayini
BinKhalid
Brunei Creative Chefs
Bunny Pablo
Chef Pol
Eva Wanda
Fiona Foo
Hajimbo
Hjh Tom
Ihsan HZ
Irene Shahri
Iskandar World
Maria Rahimin Assagaff
Marul
Maurina HA Hamid
Nikki Ahmad
Nonnie King
Nurolaini Kifli
Reeda Malik
Risyianbalkis
Sabtuyah Ali
Safiya Emir
Senor Pablo
Syarifah Haslinda Assagaff
Tina Lim
Thanis Lim
Wais Saputera
Yee-Man Cheng
Zarina Hussain
Zul Fadly

Ps/ Bobby likes the look of the Udang Galah In Saffron Dill Sauce by Brunei Creative Chefs on Pg 29 and I'll give Yee-Man's Chinese Chicken Salad on Pg 10 a go.

Borneo Pygmy Elephants

A couple of years ago I did a post on Borneo Pygmy Elephants on my now defunct communityzero blog. At the time it was Bobby who told me about these cute bijou creatures (known to be more docile than their larger family members) that have a place on the island we call home.

Years later Bobby comes home from work and tells me another story about the north Borneo pachyderms. And it's a rather swell story.

Apparently there is no archaeological proof that elephants have been around our parts for thousands of years. A Reuters report on the Borneo Pygmy Elephants say:

The WWF said DNA tests in 2003 had ruled out the possibility the Borneo elephants were from Sumatra or mainland Asia, home of the other Asian subspecies, leaving either Borneo or Java as the most probable source.

New research discovers that the elephants come from Java. Although the species are now extinct on the Indonesian island, Malaysian Forester Mr Shim Phyau Soon says that "Elephants were shipped from place to place across Asia many hundreds of years ago, usually as gifts between rulers", so it is possible that the Borneo Pygmy Elephants trundling about in the Sabahan rainforests came from a Javanese pair of pygmy elephants that was a present to the Sultan of the day. This made me think of that elephant that was trundling about some empty houses in surburban Jerudong. The story goes that the King of Siam gifted it to our King some years ago, so apparently that custom is still going on strong.

Its nice to know we now have about 1,000 little elephants on Borneo. Just like the Clouded Leopards, a conservation of Borneo Pygmy Elephants ties in nicely with our Green Heart Of Borneo endeavours don't you think? A shrinking habitat would threaten the existence of these wondrous creatures.

How to see a Borneo Pgymy Elephant up close? Apparently there have been sightings of them at the Tabin Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah and the Kinabatangan area. You can fly from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu to get to Tabin Wildlife Reserve or from Brunei, you can also go by road. Royal Brunei Airlines flies daily to Kota Kinabalu, and since the Borneo Pygmy Elephant have a special place in our hearts, Bobby and I are making plans for a trip.

Call Bomba

Last weekend I found myself in the midst of weary bleary-eyed men and got a lowdown of what happens on a stag weekend in Labuan. Yes, that's right party people, a stag weekend in Labuan.

All ears for a possible fly-on-the-wall post, I tried to pry like a woman and listened to Bobby's tale:

Bobby: So we rented a car to drive around the island and the car rental company handed over the grungiest Proton Wiras they had in their inventory. It was dirty and smelled, and didn’t have a full tank of petrol. Well, for RM70 what did we expect eh?

Me: Right, it smelled of what?

Bobby: It was just dirty and on its last wheels. Anyway, on our last day we were running late and had to be at the ferry by 1.00pm. We were supposed to leave the hotel by 11.30am but we dawdled over breakfast so we left an hour later. We were in a bit of a hurry lah.

Me: So did anybody make it on stage last night?

Bobby, ignoring me and in a ‘griping the wheels of a shaking race car’ pose: I gunned the Wira down the Labuan roads, cranking the engine, with SP and MatBon in the car. Ari and the others were in separate cars a few minutes behind. We had this running joke whenever we saw a cyclist we’d say, “How many points for the cyclist? Heh Heh Heh.”

Me: I cannot believe nobody brought the house down in Labuan.

Bobby, still in his pose, eyes wild: So there we were careening down the road, turning this way and that, around corners, pointing out to cyclists heh heh heh, followed by Is It Your Grandfather's Road? when suddenly Matbon goes, “Dude. The car’s on fire.”

[And SP, who was in the car with Bobby and I when Bobby was telling this story, snickered.]

Me, wide-eyed: What??

Bobby: And we're like oh my God! There was smoke coming out of the air condition vents, and there was this smell of something burning! So we screeched to a halt in front of a bus stop, got out in a hurry and tried to call Ari who was driving the other car but oh no! He's taking the scenic route!! Gaaah!

SP, a man of few words: It’s true.

Me: You got to be fucking kidding me.

Bobby, arms flailing: So we came to a screeching halt in front of this bus stop, got out of the car, threw the boot open and grabbed our bags. There was this young kid hanging about the bus stop idly watching 3 men in the face of a potentially exploding vehicle, so I took out my wallet and said, “Hey kid. Here’s 10 dollars. If this car explodes and burst into flames, call Bomba.”

I had no idea Labuan could be such a happening place.

Ps/ Anyway, the car rental company was kinda expecting it. The boys returned the cars and got on the boat on time.

The boys de-briefing at the Serasa Ferry Terminal.

A Post About The Place I Call Home

It's heartening when someone else finds our customs, places, forests and our closeness a revelation. Jennie Bond and her daughter visited us last Hari Raya and reported back to her editors in a swell article from The Independent:

...For both Emma and I, our memories of Borneo will always be very special – it was all a real adventure. And how many teenagers can say they went on holiday and had breakfast at the Palace before meeting the Queen?

I quite like that.

This picture of a part of Brunei life comes from Brunei Darussalam : News, a blog I stumbled upon. I quite like this one too.

Leopards and Didgeridoos and Trees, Oh My!

Whos says a leopard can never change its spots? And so says Mr Stuart Chapman, WWF International Coordinator of the Heart of Borneo programme.

The clouded leopard found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are considered a separate species of large cats according to a genetic study done by scientists. The species was thought to be the same as the ones found in mainland South East Asia. The Bornean Clouded Leopard has small "cloud" markings, many distinct spots within the cloud markings, darker grey fur, and a double stripe running along its back. Clouded leopards from the mainland have large clouds on their skin with fewer, often faint, spots within the cloud markings, and they are lighter in colour, with a tendency toward tawny-coloured fur and a partial double dorsal stripe.

Between 5,000 and 11,000 Bornean clouded leopards are estimated to live on Borneo. The total number in Sumatra could be in the range of 3,000 to 7,000. Destruction of their habitat is their main threat. The last great home of the Bornean Clouded Leopard is the Heart of Borneo, a 220,000 square kilometre region - five times the size of Switzerland - in wild, mountainous countryside in the centre of the island covered with equatorial rainforest.

Last month in Bali, the ministers of the three Bornean governments - Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, signed an historic declaration to conserve and sustainably manage the Heart of Borneo. This has put the area on the global stage of conservation priorities.

Earlier this month, the International School of Brunei (ISB) excellently hosted the Borneo Global Issues Conference (BGIC) which helped launched ISB's Million Trees Project and also brought into light Brunei Darussalam's commitment to the Heart of Borneo programme.

Bobby and I attended the ISB's Green Gala Dinner where renowned speakers like Professor David Bellamy and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai spoke about the importance of rainforests in conservation efforts and what we could do for the 3rd rock from the sun.

There was also William Barton, a famous Didgeridoo player, playing what else...his Didgeridoo. Pretty awesome stuff.

Save. The. Planet. Folks.