-an OD of Love-

The first thing that I read every Sunday morning are the magazines that are laden with adverts which come free with the Sunday papers. Mind you, most of the times; most articles are really boring except for the ones in my favourite magazine 'Homeworks', which I tend to, read every part of it, sometimes even more than once. Last Sunday’s freebie was the Sunday Circle and as from today till the 8th of March, the only 'model’s' gracing the front pages of all magazines will be Alfred Sant or Lawrence Gonzi and that had already put me off reading it, but since it was the only available I just sat and started going thru the ads and some articles. When I made it to page 35, (it took me seconds) I was captivated by a lovely smile and that made me read the article with more interest, but to be sincere I spent most of the time looking at the pictures at first, (men will be men!) The article was about a young lady who goes by the name of Daniela Xuereb and about the love of art ...

As most of my readers know I tend to have a soft spot with anything which is usually designed to be enjoyed mostly by children. Could it be that a (small :)) part of me never accepted the idea of growing up or the reason might be that when I think of getting older, I just get rid of the idea and that helps me feel younger at heart. Well as you might have read earlier one of the best film in my opinion of 2007 was Ratatouille and after the massive success made from Pixar thanks to the little character of Remy, on the 17th of June and that means that probably we will be seeing it in Malta around October if not for the Christmas season, we will have a new contender to soften our heart. Its/His name is Wall-E and so is the name of the new animated film by Disney-Pixar. Wall-E is a tiny robot, with sweet eyes very clumsy but otherwise a fantastic little thing. Here is the latest teaser/trailer and I recommend you watch this precious new gem, which I’m sure will have the same repeated succe...

Since the dawn of time, mankind has been searching...searching for something more. Ever since the first homo-sapiens pushed a mammoth over a cliff; feasted on its widely dispersed remains and decided that it was a pretty good meal; we've been on the road to culinary improvement. Much later a German, let's call him Helmut, fried up a bit of mince, slapped it between two buns and changed the course of history. Helmut didn't realise it at the time, but he had just invented the burger. But mankind wasn't satisfied with the burger. No, man is never satisfied.  Since that day we have continued to improve, refine, enhance and augment. We have continued to experiment and explore, to add pickles and fried onions, to push the burger boundaries. As most of my readers know I am fascinated about food but some days I feel like having some less sophisticated stuff and when it comes to burgers(especially if you do have a large appetite) The King Of Homemade hea...

One of the e-papers I love to read is the British Times. The main reason that I look for this paper almost every day is so I can read Jeremy Clarkson's reviews which originally were about cars and during those days only the four wheels, sometimes the two wheels were the things that bothered him, in the good and in the bad, so they had to go thru his hard criticism but nowadays anything that moves or doesn’t tend to end up under his sharp wit and cut down to pieces and becomes just dust in the wind. Yesterday as I was reading one of his article about the new Mazda MX5 (His final conclusion is that it's still a bacon sandwich made with good bread, good butter and good pork but now it has a splash of HP sauce)I came across two interesting articles and as I was reading them I kept telling myself how lucky the Maltese students are compared to most students in the European countries especially the Maltese students over sixteen years old who not only do they all get free tuition but ...

GOOD NEWS Well I weighed myself this morning after I believe more then three weeks and I can proudly say that I managed to shed down almost 20 kilos without loosing any muscle, even if I eat all food that I love and it’s food that all nutritionist wanna be tell you that are unhealthy…since I started my diet on the 1st of December 2008…keep them coming… P.S. I’m still experimenting to create some low carb dessert but so far some of my successful dishes I managed to create are Strawberry cheese cake Almond cookies Chocolate chip cookiesTorta Del Re (an Italian lemon and almonds cake) Cherry muffins (I still have to try the blueberries version but the fruit is out of season) And my always favourite: Coppa Sorpresa a double cream, mascarpone based dessert with dark chocolate and almond nibbles

A beautiful quote for all the people who decided to start a new lifestyle or they already enjoying the benefits of it...I'm talking about the Low carb diet... "It's not a 'race' to get thinner; but it's a 'journey' to get healthier."

I was reading a very interesting article lately in the Times of Malta and I couldn’t help but thinking in what a shocking state the two main political parties are now that the pre election fever is starting to be felt and both parties try to outbid one another when it comes to making electoral promises, something which after all, all parties in all democratic countries do. Just like most of the other countries in Europe, in Malta the two main political parties tend to get themselves in a tangle over issues that at best leave most people smiling at the politicians tricks and, at worst, upset at the way they dare expect the electorate to believe everything they say. When the Opposition Leader Dr.Alfred Sant recovers and re-enters the political fray by the end of this month, that will be the time when the political campaigning starts in full swing, Labour's election proposals to halve the surcharge on fuel and to exempt overtime earnings from income tax will surely top the political ...

I don’t see why there is a reason for all the fuss that’s been made because both Vodafone Malta and Go mobile have rounded up their prices and everyone is saying that the prices will increase. In some cases they will but if you are a heavy texter just like me I found a way which for the next 6 months you can text smses for free. I used to be a Vodafone customer and although I was not unhappy with their service, I never received any bonus or incentives for being their customer for 10 long years so during the last note Bianca in October I was stopped by a salesgirl in the street and as she intrigued me with a special offer which was being sold on that special night. If I kept my original number and moved to Go mobile I would be given 500 free sms and Lm 15 credit. Nothing special one might say when one sees the new marketing campaigns during Christmas from both companies, well you are right but Go mobile have an ace in their hands with the scheme called TEXT, where one can buy 300smses f...

At some point in the past 20 years, it seems as though parents abruptly decided to switch from names like Michelle and Jimmy to names like Madison and Hunter. The naming trend obviously didn't sit well with one Texas couple, who decided to name their children after luxury car manufacturers. The Lone Star duet named their first child Lexus after the new father saw a Lexus driving by. The name Porsche was shot down for the first child, but when Craig and Sondra Harrington found out they were expecting twins, Ferdinand's namesake was back in the fold. To keep up with the German naming convention, the other child now dons the Audi name. As it turns out, the Harringtons aren't even car nuts, but they may be a bit weird. Something tells us the twins had better be tough , because they're likely going to have to get physical to keep kids from picking on them. Besides, Texas is a Pick-Up country. Shouldn't they have gone with Silverado and Tundra? F-Series is probably a bit ...

It is 3 meters long, seats four comfortably or five at a squeeze, does 65mph and aims to revolutionize travel for millions. The “People’s Car” is also the cheapest in the world at 100,000 rupees (£1,300) – the same price as a car stereo in a Mercedes Benz or one third of the registration tax we pay on a brand new city car with a 1 liter engine in Malta and that’s without even thinking of the extra 18%vat charged on this illicit tax, but back to the Nano The Nano, from Tata, the Indian company which is now the owner of Jaguar and Land Rover, was unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo yesterday to music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ratan Tata, the company chairman, harked back to the first flight by the Wright Brothers and the Moon landing as he revealed the cute, snub-nosed hatchback that will allow millions in India’s emerging middle classes to buy a car for the first time. “I hope this changes the way people travel in rural India. We are a country of a billion and most are denied connectivity...

I was extremly dissapointed with the launch of the Fiat 500 in Malta. There were so many ways that they could make it so more interesting especially when they knew that almost 10,000 people made it to the Ta' Qali National Football Ground to watch the Juve vs Valletta match. No color no action no nothing, just a small quantity of classic cars and a white and a light blue new 500 driving round the football ground, with Gianluca Buffon driving few metres in one of them...what a massive dissapointment!!!...it's not even worth uploading the pictures and the videos I took!!!

It is finally here. The picture was taken few minutes ago. Fiat's new baby, white in color with a tri colori italian three colors strip on it's side is displayed wrapped in an italian flag at the Fiat showroom in B'Kara...

The New Fiat 500 is being launched in Malta next Wednesday the 9th of January, and the event chosen to stage the release of Fiat’s new baby is a football match between Juventus and Valletta. The car will be unveiled by a special guest (still unknown) following an evening of special entertainment, just prior to kick off of the game. Fiat are in the top list of cars, just after Alfa Romeo (which comes first), that I never consider to own for the simple reason that they are the most unreliable vehicles around and since the local importers don’t know what after sales means make it even difficult convincing me to part with my money to get one. But from the first time I saw the concept design of the 3piu1 in 2004, I have fallen in love with this cheeky model and even that now is larger it’s still has kept the spirit of the original cinquecento and I love it These are a couple of road tests from Top Gear and 5th Gear... Top Gear's Road Review (if one can call it so) goes first and James M...

We three kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, moor and mountain, Following yonder star. January 6th marks the feast of the Epiphany, or as it is better known here in Malta as It-Tre Re. In my childhood it was a very loved tradition, that we write letter to the Three Kings or to our favourite King: Melchor, Gaspar or Baltasar. Santa Claus was quite well-known, and he delivers toys and presents, but the real stars were the Three Kings. These Three Kings are the ones who followed a star to meet the new King of Kings and that's the reason why they are a very important part of the Christmas Story. The tradition is that three Magi came with the gold, francincense and myrrh. Three wise men, no doubt extravagantly dressed in exotic clothing and riding on camels. It is thought they were probably of Zoroastrian belief and could very well have been priests. The gifts would indicate they were both of a priestly and possibly royal line. The names Casper, Balt...

Alexander Pfeiffer created together with Yvette Rossingaud and Andreas Raab a Video about the beautiful iles of Malta, Gozo and Comino. This Video will be used to promote Kinnie a local soft drink in Austria. The Video was shot in September 2007; Showing: Blue Grotto, Ta' Xbiex, Sliema, St. Julians, Gozo, Valletta, Peter's Pool and many more places! Music: "Another Dawn" composed and played by Florian Mayer. Florian Mayer, singer and keyborder from the viennese based band Blended , wrote two "concepts" of songs for the movie. "Another dawn" is a wonderful song about the beauty of Malta, but also speaking about the environmental problems Malta has to face. Another Dawn I was walking down the boulevard next to the sea People were on the benches talking in sweet evening melodies I remembered the Blue Grotto glistening; the wind blew the heat away As a newly-built hotel cast its shadow on the Golden Bay Dawn is coming, time is running Hey, we still go...

Celebrations in various locations around the Maltese Islands to Welcome 2008. Few minutes after midnight of 1/1/08 the Prime Minister of Malta Mr. Lawrence Gonzi attempts a couple of times to withdraw money from and ATM especially set up at the Valetta Waterfront to mark the introduction of Euro as the main new currency for Malta and he finally manages to after a little effort. The commentary is in the maltese language.

After so many adverts, press conferences and so many postal shoots that if you tend to use them as fuel for your fireplace you will have enough quantity to keep you warm for your next 25years, finally the E day is here. As from 1st January 2008 Malta will join the Euro Zone. I'm not saying this because I'm Maltese but I do think that our coins are some of the nicest around and I do believe that this is another positive step for my country. In Maltese the new currency will be called and written ewro whereas the cents will be centezmu for a single cent and centezmi when it is in plural form. The one and two-euro coins have the cross of the Knights of Malta, also known as the Maltese Cross. The Maltese cross is identified as the symbol of an order of Christian warriors known as the or Knights of Malta. The cross is eight-pointed and has the form of four "V"-shaped arms joined together at their bases, so that each arm has two points. Its design is based on crosses used ...

Notte Magica-Valletta-06/01/07 The night lived up to it's name. A magical full night of music, concerts and food turned Valletta into an enchanted City, with something to enjoy for all the family on the feast of The Three Kings. Malta Cu p Snooker Championship-Hilton St.Julians-28/01/07 to 04/02/07 The annual world ranking Snooker tournament offers entertainment on a different level the ever increasingly popular marathon saw the participation of both foreign and local participants The Carnival Celebrations-15/02/07 to 20/02/07 Thousands of persons flocked to Malta’s capital city Valletta to celebrate Carnival 2007. The sunny, warm weather allowed Carnival organizers to parade their floats around the streets, as adults and children showed off their costumes while watching the spectacle unfold. The BMW Malta Marathon-25/02/07- the ever increasingly popular marathon saw the particiapation of both foreigners and local athletes. The Silent Warriors Chinese Terracotta Soldiers...