Selamat Datang again,

"Terima Kasiah" (proun. Tear Up My Carseat") for the Blog Feedback yesterday! For those of you texting and emailing you can go to the bottom of each daily Blog and write a note, so I know you have visited. :)

Photos are coming .... once I download them from my iPhone. Baby steps. Again, I'm learning to tackle all the technology side of life living in the "single lane". I'm learning so much! :)

I must say as Bali certainly is a Culinary Capital I think I'll have to tell you all about our eating patterns. Sienna is even sitting for an entire meal at the dinner table in only a week of being here. Brookie is loving Nasi Goreng and myself, Mie Goreng and Bebek Betutu.... duck stuffed with Balinese Spice Paste, wrapped in coconut bark and banana leaves and cooked for 12 hours over smouldering rice and coconut husks! Very boney, but once you get past the bones, the Duck flesh is devine. Our favourite restaurant thus far is CLEAR in the very centre of Ubud Village ....WOW! Owned by a Canadian/USA, has the most unique menu with the most exquisite food I've tasted, unique, different, and presented so well, but the TASTE is incredible... vegetarian meals that taste like ...well.... certainly NOT vegetarian! So for those meat lovers out there, yep, you'd be converted to a meat free diet if you could cook food this good at home. For the 3 of us, with plenty of food to order, cost me only $30!!! The Chocolate Butterflies are like no chocolate milkshake you've tasted ...peanut butter et al!

Food for thought. The fresh food here is wonderous. Everything tastes so good, from your side street bike vendors to the best of restaurants. In comparison, one thing us Westerners leave out of our cooking is .... TASTE!

When walking down the streets or into cafes or restaurants the fragrant aromas taunt you! I was hoping to lose much more weight living here, but that may be more difficult to do. My new GOALS Book the girls bought me for Mothers Days (yes it's a little early, Brookie couldnt wait till May to give it to me!) is certainly filling up fast, the Health and Fitness section seems to be very driven around how to experience all the wonderous food here, yet still lose weight?? However the sinewy Balinese around, hopefully I'll be hot and trim and a little more "sinewy" and less "rotund" in a few months. :)

Doing anything like eating out in Bali is easy with children, as children are treated like deities by all locals, so as the kids are entertained I can sit relax, read a book or chat to fellow expats whilst the girls have fun.

It's taken me a week of eating spicey foods in restaurants, to realise that blowing your nose at the table is considered offensive ...woops! How does one eat hot spicey food and not have a runny nose?

Ubud is full of wonderous cafes and restaurants - brimming with eclectic expats, from all walks of life. Siennas rather taken by the waist length dreadlocked backpackers with nose, tongue and chin piercings. Those covered head to toe in tatoos sit in little cafes sipping coffee and chatting for hours with fellow "cleanskin" friends. Life here is so accepting of all others, chilled out, a real coffee culture. Nobody judges a book by its cover. Just what I want my girls and I to practice.

The girls and I are enjoying eating our breakfast sitting in our outdoor dining pool bale each morning. The local Balinese coffee is so nice, so were off to Starbucks this morning (yes, much to the locals disgust, Starbucks set up in Village!), but lucky for me I can purchase a Starbucks Plunger and enjoy a local brew by the pool each morning.

Well back to my reading by the pool .... spending much time immersed in my one suitcase full of beautiful Self-Development books (I know some of you laugh, but hey whatever works ah?!).

Charles Dickens Quote for the Day: "My suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand my heart . I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - today, into a better shape"

Couldn't word it better myself!

xxx