The first true blue rose was created by the Australian and Japanese molecular geneticists under the companies Florigene and Suntory. After 13 years of joint research between the two companies, the genetically engineered blue rose was created in 2004, and it was no easy work.

Traditionally, blue roses were only made possible by dyeing white roses blue. This is because roses lack the delphinidin gene, which is the gene that produces the blue pigment, and attempts to make true blue roses by breeding roses with the blue pigment were unsuccessful.

So how was the first true blue rose created?

1. The red pigment was turned off by silencing the dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR) gene, which is the gene that produces the red pigment.

2. The blue pigment gene was added by inserting the delphinidin gene, which was cloned from pansy, to direct pigment synthesis in the rose.

3. The DFR gene from iris was added to complete the delphinidin-synthesis reaction.

So what inspired me to write about the blue rose?
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Facebook, of course! Someone sent me this:

  Awwwww. Is it not sweet?

And look what I got from the Hatching Eggs:

A dragon.

Sigh.

A week ago, I signed up for a Facebook account. The amount of activities that are going on in Facebook is simply amazing. Every facebook account has a life of its own!

Someone gave me a Grow-a-Gift with a mystery seed in it and a few days later, it turned into a sweet whatIsThat?! There are so many different types of seeds that you can choose from when you send a Grow-a-Gift to your friend.

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Someone gave me a Hatching Egg with a mystery something in it and a few days later, the egg hatched into a Koala! There are so many different types of birds and even land animals that you can choose from when you send a Hatching Egg to your friend. I just sent a Hatching Egg with a White Tiger in it to my friend. I hope it doesnt scare my friend too badly in four days time!

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I bought a Christmas Tree and it came with a Jingle song and a Countdown to Christmas Day. My friends can now give me Christmas Gifts and they will be placed around my Christmas Tree. I am only allowed to open them on Christmas Day! My current Jingle is Joy To The World (Heavy Metal Version). The heavy metal version is really nice. I feel so IN just listening to it and especially when it comes from my Christmas Tree.

I adopted a Fluffy Friend and she is a giraffe. I named her Hannah. HAHA, Hannah is the name of my colleague and she is also on my Facebook. She was !!!! when she first knew of the name I gave to my Fluffy Friend. Now she’s treating my Fluffy Friend like her own pet and I guess it is because she feels ‘responsible’ for my Fluffy Friend. HAHA! The real Hannah comes to my Facebook and buys food for Hannah and pets Hannah everyday. Hannah’s mood gets better when someone pets her and her speed (in fph) increases everytime she is fed.

Some friends gave me Love Ice-Creams! There are Sponge Cake Kitty, Sweet Heart Kitty and Rocky Road. Arent they sweet?

Here comes the violent part. I have been infected by a Vampire, a Slayer, a Werewolf and a Zombie. So now I am one of all of these!

 
Catholic SchoolVampire                Renegade Slayer

 
Creeper Werewolf                        Ensign Zombie Newbie

I can now use my Vampire, Slayer, Werewolf or Zombie to attack other Vampires, Slayers, Werewolves or Zombies to gain points, or lose points if I lose. I can also gain points by infecting other ‘clean’ friends.

So much fun at Facebook! Check it out!

Il Lido is an Italian restaurant and lounge bar situated at a golf club here. We went there for dinner last night and wow, I made the right choice. Yay! I chose this place for dinner and the food was great. The scenery was great too.

The first course on the menu was pan roasted goose liver with green apple, honey and hazelnut sauce. Oh, it tasted really nice but it was so, so oily. My stomach felt kind of weird after that.

The second course on the menu was home-made tagliolini with live lobster and green asparagus tips. I like this course most! The tagliolini was really good.

The third course on the menu was usda prime beef tenderloin with sweetbreads, asparagus and truffle sauce. The medium raw beef was one of the best but I didnt finish it thought because I felt that my stomach was full. Actually, I think it was because of the oil from course no. 1.

Last course on the menu was molten lava dark chocolate cake, white chocolate and coffee gelato, served with coffee. Dont you love the blue plate?

Why do I have this strange feeling that my blog is turning into a food blog? Seriously, I should start doing something else three times a day other than eating.

 
This was my favourite penguin and I loved him so much.

This was before I…

This was after I…

Dinner was nice anyway.

I am so bored at work. Nothing comes out of my brain anymore, that is assuming my brain is still there, and it is only Wednesday! I wish I am somewhere else doing something else. Fat sigh.

I am having my second piano lesson this evening and I am looking forward to it. Not that I have been practising (oh no!), I am just looking forward to having some fun with the oh-so-grand musical instrument. Two more hours to knock-off time and I am still stuck with some work. What have I been doing the whole day? Fat sigh.

I am currently listening to the song Just Another Day by Jon Secada. I have been listening to it for the last few days. Okay, now we know what I have been doing the whole day. Fat sigh. For no particular reason am I listening to the song. Just a nice old song.

It was simply fun! Two weeks ago, I signed up for a 3-month basic piano course at Cristofori Music School and three days ago, I had my very first piano lesson! My teacher is a nice girl. She talks fast and teaches fast. I like that.

I was required to buy a course book before the first lesson and I was given a 20% discount off the chargeable price of the course book but that was after I paid for my registration fees, which was more than the 20% discount. *roll-eyes* Anyway I think I am going to get a piano soon.

Aww. No, that was a joke. I am only getting a keyboard. I hope my “music” will not derange my family.

I made my own notes:

 
The Treble Clef sign is used for Right Hand notes. It came from the letter G and curls around the Right-Hand G line.

  
The Bass Clef sign is used for Left Hand notes. It came from the letter F and curls around the Left-Hand F line.

Music is made up of short tones and long tones. The length of a tone is measured by counting.

Each of these is a Crotchet. It has one count and is also known as a Quarter Note.

 
Each of these is a Minim. It has two counts and is also known as a Half Note.

This is a Semibreve. It has four counts and is also known as a Whole Note. 

 
This is a Crotchet Rest. It has one count of rest and is also known as a Quarter Rest.

This is a Minim Rest. It has two counts of rest and is also known as a Half Rest.

This is a Semibreve Rest. It has four counts of rest and is also known as a Whole Rest

I love theories!

See how cute she is in this picture. I took it while waiting for dinner to be ready. She was just sitting on the edge of a chessboard and trying to look cool.

She can be so tv at times. I so love this dutch babe of mine. Next is my dinner, or part of it. BBQ chicken!

And guess what goes really well with BBQ chicken? Peanut butter sauce! Tada! Dinner’s ready with nasi goreng, BBQ chicken and prawn crackers. An Indonesian dinner.

Nice. Thanks, Nijntje’s kindadad.

For old time’s sake:
Nijntje en haar vriendjes
My sweeties
Happy Valentine’s Day to You

Dinner was at Stammtisch last Saturday. It is a Swiss-German restaurant headed by a German chef. The place is cool and so were the dishes we had. It is said that the place is decorated with paintings of the Swiss Alps and chateaus. It is a two-storey restaurant and we were asked to go upstairs for our reserved table. I guess I was first too hungry and then too full because I did not notice any decorations on the walls as I walked up to our table and later, as I walked down to leave the place. My first time at Stammtisch and as un-usual, my camera was not with me and hence I did not take any pictures. Stolen are some pictures of what we had ordered:

 
Cheese Fondue - This is prepared with melted Emmenthal and Gruyere cheese with white wine, and is served with bread. Hot!

 
Roasted Pork Knuckle - This is served with Sauerkraut and baked potato slices. Crunchy pig!

 
Apple Strudel - This is served with vanilla ice-cream and the apple slices in the apple strudel are flavoured with cinnamon. ICanEatThisEveryDay!

Thanks, Fries!