Rainbow Jade

I am back and another year older!

2011-12-21T13:43:00.007+08:00

Yup, 1 year older tomorrow. Traditions are nice. Nowadays, we tend to just look forward to the holidays and do thing ritualistically without knowing the meaning of the festivals. So, in case you all want to know, please look at the following extracted from the internet.

The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; Pinyin: dōng zhì; "The Extreme of Winter") is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest; i.e., on the first day of the Dongzhi solar term.

The origins of this festival can be traced back to the Yin and Yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fù (复, "Returning").

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of Tangyuan (汤圆, Cantonese jyutping: tong1 jyun2; Mandarin Pinyin: Tāng Yuán) or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinuous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Each family member receives at least one large Tang Yuan in addition to several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savoury broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl. It is also often served with a mildly alcoholic unfiltered rice wine containing whole grains of glutinous rice (and often also Sweet Osmanthus flowers), called jiuniang.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. It is said to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm, to keep their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qǜ hán jiāo ěr tāng" or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.

Old traditions also require people with the same surname or from the same clan to gather at their ancestral temples to worship on this day. There is always a grand reunion dinner following the sacrificial ceremony.

The festive food is also a reminder that we are now a year older and should behave better in the coming year. Even today, many Chinese around the world, especially the elderly, still insist that one is "a year older" right after the Dong Zhi celebration instead of waiting for the Chinese New Year.

I have never made tangyuan before so I might just give it a try tonight. Its nice to know that it symbolises "reunion"

2010-10-08T13:50:00.004+08:00

I know, I have to upload the Redang pictures but there were just too many distractions and sometimes the timing and circumstances were not right.

Ok, that only translates to my being just plain lazy. But you do know the feeling right, lethargic, procastinating and generally listless. Maybe you will get the picture from the following picture:-

See you after the machine has been fixed.

Campfire Tall tale

2010-09-18T16:07:00.002+08:00

Updated my Taman trip. I took so long to do it and now I don't know why, don't ask me why, but the posting is below my Hari Raya post. So, if you want to see it, move the cursor downwards.

You know how people like to tell ghost stories on trips especially if you end up staying in a dilapidated bungalow near a beach like Port Dickson or a hugh mansion in cold Fraser's Hill or hotels or apartments in Genting where gamblers commit suicides and the draperies and furnishing of a Tudor looking hotel in Cameron Highlands looks like the backdrop for a vampire movie?

Well, we had one for Taman Negara too and it goes like this. "Some smart alec imported some anacondas into Malaysia and breeding them. Its just a matter of time before it gets into our forests and I am not surprised if it is not already here. Who knows what is in here anyway. It is so thick."

What da....

I Feel the Love

2010-09-09T23:34:00.002+08:00

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI EVERYONE!!!!!

I know everyone has a lazy bone but I suspect mine is extra large because I have photos to show of our trip to Redang and Taman Negara but the bones are in the way!

Anyhow, I am cranking them now to type this message and wish you all a good holiday with family and friends during this festive time.

We are feeling the love from our Muslim neighbours who brought some Raya goodies to share with us. The rendang chicken was so fragrant and delicious I had to have 2 pieces for dinner. Then, I had 1 more fried chicken made by popo so as not to disappoint her. All this was after I had chicken and char siew rice for lunch! Protein overload.

So, maybe tomorrow I will drag myself to the comp. and blog about the trip.

Meanwhile, I shall switch on the party lights in the garden to add to the festive mood in honour of the joy our neighbours must be feeling right at this moment.

Hope you receive many, many "green pows"

Taman Negara 2010-Surviving the Wild

2010-09-04T20:39:00.027+08:00

After Redang, we headed back to KL to re-pack for our camping trip to Taman Negara. Soo was in charge of getting the foodstuff while Meng was in charge of getting the cooking utensils etc. They decided to have a headstart by leaving one day earlier, put up a night in Temerloh and go into Taman the next morning breaking up a long and tedious journey.

We met up with a good friend of his and had a nice Chinese dinner. Then we were told to put up the night at Woodlands Resort (or something like that) which was surprisingly new-looking but I was informed the price was rather steep - RM550 for 3 rooms. The chalets were pretty, spacious and neat and not dodgy looking.However, things were just too good to be true. Well at least for me anyway. Did I say "the dust has settled on my problems" not too long ago? I should know better than to speak too soon. While settling in with a nice cup of hot coffee and a good storybook , I noticed some insects on the bed so I just mashed them. Now some people are afraid of insects in general but not me. Only those that want to have interactions with me that I am wary of. What can be worse than the "fleas" at home right? Then there was a dot here and a dot there. This time translucent cute little reddish beads were moving from the direction of the headboard. I had no idea what they were so I mashed them good and blood smeared onto the bedsheets. Aaaaargh.....it can only mean one thing.....bed bugs with capital BBs!!!! Further checking on the mattress confirmed it. At first Meng said, lets sleep on the floor then. I was game because no way was I sleeping on that bed. It was already close to 1 pm and the reception was closed (kampung ok). Hey, but I found bugs on the floor too. Luckily I managed to locate a security guard and he kindly gave us a new room.

Believe me when I say this is a toned down description of my behaviour then. I could feel my pyscho self rearing its freakiness.

Needless to say I was still paranoid so I had to shower again, fluff my clothing and comb my hair over and over in case I was carrying the bugs. I had barely an hour or two of fitful sleep and when morning came I could not wait to get out into the wild and the thought of sleeping in a bare tent was never so welcomed.

camping gear and foodstuff floating restaurant at the river Tourists staying at the chalet waiting to be ferried to some sight seeing tour
We had to load everything into flimsy sampans like these

Mike-Picture time

May

the other boat with Soo and his 2 friends
we had to stop by the office and pay for fishing licence

In some parts the water was choppy friendly aborigine woman in all her natural gloryfinally reached our camp site, time to unload
Everything out
Funny and jovial. He and Soo were like a Laurel and Hardy or Abbot and Costello Show

Mike helping him to set up his tent

scary snake like Toman fish...I cannot believe I just typed that word, now its in my blog...

this is how they keep the fish alive

Like some "smiling buddha". He had plenty of stories to tell.

Chilling

washing up cooking utensils with river sand and detergent The former scout building a campfire with dead wood and branches

We were not allowed to use any that are living and all perishable food may be thrown into the river or the surroundings. Non-perishables were constantly thrown into black rubbish bags to be taken out of Taman to be disposed of properly. We even have to dismantle any temporary laundry lines or makeshift tables when we leave so as to preserve the natural surrounding.

Heading back to civilisation

So, did I enjoy myself? Well not as much as Redang. First there was the bed bugs. Then, there is practically nothing much to do since it is a camping trip. No sipping coffee while reading a book before bed. Unless you want to hold the torchlight while doing so. We just hanged around the riverside, trudging up and down very deep and loose sand to the tents and cooking area. Sandflies come out at 12 p.m. and pack in only at 5.00 p.m. That was the biggest irritant. Nightmare in daytime. Drove me to distraction.

Then there were giant ants with heads larger than their bodies which you only see on National Geographic. Wait, we are in a millions of years old forest so naturally we are in a typical NatGeo set up. They do not as a rule bite you unless you get in their way. May accidentally stepped on one, got bitten, she yelped in pain, they tried swiping at it, but only the body dropped off and the head remained intact and would not budge! When they pulled it out forcefully, it brought forth a fair bit of bleeding that necessitated a plaster. Not a pretty sight I tell you with the head sticking and the blood trickling down...........

The guys went fishing but half the time they were eaten alive by sandflies. Fishing around the campsite was a wasted exercise with all the human chatter and splashing. Silence is golden when fishing in Taman.

Why don't go jungle trekking you ask? Well, there is this small matter of leeches and you need a guide. You can't just go wondering off by yourself. You have to look below, around and above you constantly.

Swimming? Yes if you can call dipping your body into the water swimming. I do it just to escape from sandflies. So I immerse myself after 1 p.m. till the evening. But the Park Ranger said, stay clear of the middle of the river because the Tapah fish may be lurking around and its mouth is as big as "T ...H....... I....... S" illustrating with both his hands yawning wide open like a crocodile's mouth.

Aiyoyo, toilet time. Must I tell you how it was too? Can imagine right? Ok lah, here's a guide to save you the agony in case you do venture into this camping thingee:-

TIPS

1. Have several good bowel cleansings before venturing on your adventure.

2. If you feel the urge, tell yourself there is no urge. This is a good time to be constipated.

3. Do not eat roughage. Take caffeine and carbs.

4. If on the third day you really have to go, look around you and study the topography of your campsite.

5. For hygiene purposes, pick somewhere near the water for washing up but yet you do not want to contaminate it. Remember, away from the place where you wash your dishes and food. Get it? Downstream.

6. Normally you do not want to stray too far off the campsite in case you need to yell for help. This means the aroma would be in close proximity too so as May said, "X" marks the spot. Dig a hole, be done, cover and voila!

7. During wash up, your b_tt should face the water, not you. This seems simple enough a procedure but you would be surprised how you can get it wrong until you actually try it.

8. Don't worry about the bits and pieces that do get into the water, the small fishes are always on standby to do the cleaning up. Thats the natural order of things. One man's p_op is another man's food.

9. Oh yes, beware of eddies and whorls in the water that actually have the water circling around a spot. Peeing into it would be a bad idea since you also brush your teeth, gargle and wash your face in the same spot.

10. As for the guys, peeing in your own backyard is not a good idea especially after having petai. You have no idea how much the flies, insects and butterflies love the sodium. Remember, petai stinks after and durian stinks before.

11. To avoid prying eyes, do it at night. Day dumping is a luxury for guys who do not mind venturing inwards braving leeches, insects and animals. Also, most annoying insects do go to bed at night so you won't get hassled that way.

12 Pack along a companion who has passed the silly romantic notion that bodily functions do not apply to you just because you look so sweet like an angel or hot and sexy like Pamela Anderson. Old married couples will not have a problem here.

13. No companion? Bring a good strong torchlight. Light the way to the spot but remember to switch the light off while doing it (refrain from switching it on no matter the provocation) and do it quick. It would be a good idea to wait till you are on the precipice of need to shorten the experience.

14. Training your torchlight at any given direction for a long time is not a good idea because sn_k_ s have a bad habit of following that light. Something about a beacon in the night.

15. If you feel the water rising to your knees in the short time it takes you to clean up then you better get your b-tt out of there pronto because somewhere upstream it is raining and a tidal wave of toilet flush is coming your way and you can easily get swept away in 10 minutes.

16. Cannot think of anything else. May, Mike, feel free to give your suggestions.

End of tips

SO, WAS IT A TOTAL LOSS BECAUSE I DO SOUND LIKE SOME SPOILT CITIFIED BIMBO. (Wish I looked like a bimbo )

No, no, nothing is a total loss. I learned so many things from this experience albeit not in a comfortable way. You always see all this beautiful places and people in magazines and tv and say to yourself, hey, I like this place, I can do that or, I would like to visit it someday.

Its just a one dimensional feeling just seeing it but experiencing it is another. The pyramid looks majestic but you will feel the sweat trickling down your spine and from every pore in your body while staring at it, the smells of camels and the sand everywhere.

Snow covered places look so good but the freezing cold.

Well, in Taman Negara, if you take your mind off the bodily functions and insect bites long enough, you will realise that your surroundings are truly as beautiful as the pictures in NatGeo and this is the real thing.

You feel close to the natural elements. Every change of direction of the wind may signal the onslaught of rain or the downfall of centuries old trees. Trees that are so very very tall. In fact, on the very first day we had our experience of falling trees in the distance. The crashing sound does make you feel that nature is bigger than you. So, everytime there are strong winds, we had to stay alert and be prepared to run any which way. One is forced to deal with the elements of nature.

Simple tasks like preparing our next meal and tending to our needs consumed most of our time. We got to see the occassional wild boars, kingfisher, fish and biawak only because we did not stray far. The night sky was crystal clear with stars in the darkness and glowworm flitting here and there.

Campsite tales at night was another good experience. Human interaction. Not sure whether this is suitable for our younger generation that are so dependent on modern technology and cannot communicate unless it is by texting and FB.

It is a good place to wean the tech addicts. I say ditch them there and lose the boat.

There was no way we were getting out of there unless we have a guide with boat.

This experience has reminded me that I am this big compared to the elements around me. So, stop being so self absorbed or whiny because we are really just a tiny grain of sand and not as important as we think we are.

Nature affects different people in different ways. Some can't help but feel FREE.

So you know what this means right?

2010-08-13T23:01:00.004+08:00

This cake signals the end of the fleas era. Finally the dust has slowly settled on all my problems. Not everything has been solved but I am content with the eventuality.

For my birthday, I decided to make a durian cheesecake. Durian is creamy and so is cheese. Therefore it makes absolute sense to marry these two components. I have always wanted to experiment with this idea but as usual when I have cheese, I don't have the durian and vice versa.

So, while out walking in the rain mind you, running some errands and looking for food, I thought what the ...... I might as well buy the durian since it was freshly packed into a box with its soft golden yellow flesh showing through the cling wrap. RM10 for D24 per box which is practically 1 whole durian.

Imagine trying my best not to squash them amongst my other purchases. I even went to the bookstore when exchanging my rental books. The owner was ok with it.

Although the durian needs no other enhancement because it was truly delicious the way it was, I must say that it didn't hurt to add the cheese, sugar and whatnot because I like the result very much.

Since it was a guinea pig kind of experiment, the presentation was found wanting but the taste factor was spot on. The cheese did not drown the durian, but added more depth and smoothness and the sugar was just right with the sponge base giving it substance and tempering the creaminess. Somehow I feel that a biscuit or cookie base will be too gritty a companion for the smoothness.

Someone ask me, why don't I just make it like everyone else with sponge cake layered with durian filling (durian whipped with whipping cream). Firstly, I don't really want to do what everyone is doing and secondly, I like the idea of everything being "cooked" so that I can hopefully extend its shelf life and ensure no tummyaches.

I found myself thinking of the cake during work in the office the other day. Couldn't wait to savour it after dinner. Eating one makes you want more but having two will make you feel guilty.

Also this way, you are effectively eating less durian (so no "heatiness") but sorry to say it probably contains more calories. But worth it if you love durians. Just hope that I can perfect the presentation by tweaking the ratio of the ingredients and cooking time. Wish me luck!

Mundane-Wherefore art thou?

2010-07-13T23:51:00.004+08:00

I knew I shouldn't have tempted fate by uttering that my life is mundane. Mundane is good. It is state of being to aspire for. Now I know and have learned my lesson.

No sooner have I finished lamenting on my bland existence, everything began to go haywire. Now where do I start?

First the house desktop computer went bonkers. It keeps restarting and after about 6 times of doing that it may finally open successfully. Since the house cannot be without a computer, I took Mei's laptop for repairs and some sprucing, took it home and tried going on the wireless with it. It can go online but we could not log onto MSN Messenger which defeats our purpose since we will not be able to chat with the girls. So, alot of researching and garnering advice from friends, colleagues and relatives went on.....

Meanwhile, as I was upstairs figuring out the computer, I was literary attacked by ticks! Euuuu... They were exasperating because they jumped about alot, hard to catch and kill the buggers, and they latch on to your feet and their bites are pretty painful. They are very much like sandflies at the beach. The bites itch alot and last for 2 weeks. Somehow they just loved me and needless to say I had to endure ugly, itchy feet and body since I was kind of allergic to the bites.

Okay, so we were trying to figure where they came from. A search of some pest control website revealed that they were animal ticks. Well the only animal that we can think of was the musang or civet cat that we have been seeing lately on our rooftop and mango tree. In fact, we think it killed a cat on our roof and the carcass stank to high heaven. We could hear pitter patter on our ceiling at night. At first we (our neighbours too) all thought that it may be the sound from burglars trying to break in from the ceiling.

Since we do not have plaster ceiling upstairs, the ticks were dropping down from the little holes for the wiring for lights and fans. It was a most stressful time for me especially. We were forever sweeping and looking out for ticks, changing the sheets, pillow cases, vacuuming, mopping, taping the doors and holes and.... and... and.... In fact, the family is beginning to suspect I may have gone bonkers from my incessant sweeping and lookouts. Everytime they accused me of being paranoid I wanted to shove my ugly feet into their faces and make them count every ugly inflamed bite and let them tell me that I am imagining things! haha. Does shining a spotlight onto my bed to check for ticks before I go to bed too much? Or when I told Meng that on one or two occasions I found ticks "staring" at me in bed and in fact woke up from a nap to find one sizing me up. I must look like a giant picnic on a day at the beach to the little bugger. Luckily we had our trusty "sticky fly trap paper" on hand. I relished dropping every single tick that I found onto the paper.

So the priority was getting rid of the musang. Didn't know what to do so I googled again and decided to call MPSJ and they do help to remove musangs but "maaf, orang in charge you punya area kat Kelantan. I akan suruh dia contact you bila balik." No phone calls, so I called them again. "Belum balik lagi" So I told another guy to come to our house but he said "Bukan tak nak mari, tapi kereta saya dekat workshop." So, I said then take a taxi and I will pay the fare and he said "eh.. tak boleh macam tu." So I asked when will his kereta be ready? He said, "entah, sudah satu minggu dah, esok pun tak tahu boleh repair kah tidak. Anyway, queue pun panjang, bukan you satu orang saja, Subang area ramai rumah pun waiting. Tak cukup sarang."

What to do? So I called the Bomba and 6 of them came in their Fire Engine. They climbed up to the ceiling (to me it is now officially the "hellhole") and said the musang was not there presently but its odor was there (smells like a mesh of morning saliva and pandan). They asked us to buy a cage and fruits and they will set the trap in the hellhole for us but Meng decided to do it on his own by putting the cage at the balcony. 2 nights of empty cage and on the 3rd night we caught a rat at 3 a.m. but by next morning it was gone like magic from the cage. Bah!

Well, it took 3 separate sprays of toxic pesticides from Rentokil to see results. I am still monitoring the situation and patrolling the hallways, walkways, bedrooms, bathrooms and garden like a psychopath. Oh ya, stray cats were also contributing to the problems and Meng took care of it by fixing wire fencing to the drains and gate to prevent them from coming into the garden. Helped alot.

While all that was going on, the shower tray got stuck. I dislodged the clog during one of my insomniac nights worryinng about the ticks and felt fairly proud of myself but next morning I found out that the clog went further down where a layman like me was not able to do anything about. The plumber that was supposed to be here did not materialise.

The contractor for retiling the shower area (ya, the shower tray was also another dinosaur, so had to dispose of it and replace with just plain tiles) and sealing the hole/s in the ceiling and roof did not turn up so the civet cat or whatever animal is still free to come and go as they please. According to Rentokil, it would be futile to spray and not deal with the source of the problem. Well, Meng did nail some wood to cover the holes at the balcony which we think is the entry point for the musang. That helped somewhat.

And then the house alarm system did not work anymore maybe due to the pesticide spraying on the contact points or something. Since it was a dinosaur model, no replacement parts were available and we had to install a brand new alarm.

Did I mention that the TV was also spoilt? More and more colours were threatening to leave the pictures so much so that one day, popo wondered whether the actor was wearing a hat which he was not. The colours were that displaced. And so, we bought a new TV.

There were things happening in the family and at work that I will not go into here. But suffice to say that I have enough challenges in this 1 month to last me a very long time. Like someone mentioned to us the other day... when it rains, it pours..... and then I realised that others have it worse than me/us.

The laptop problem has been solved with a new all in one modem router but the desktop is still not replaced. We will just make do with the laptop for now. The wireless is giving me more freedom and flexibility and I like it.

Things are slowly but surely patching up and I hope it will all work out for the best. If not, I will just come back here and vent it all out again. The only good thing that came out of all this was that the house is cleaner than usual and that includes no cobwebs behind wardrobes and under the beds.

I sincerely hope not. Do you know what my barometer for normality is? To be able to open a cookbook or to bake a cake is a good indicator that all other parts of my life is moderately in control. Well, I have not regained that yet.

Lets all hope that my next post will be a "Bake a Cake" post.

Pray for me too.

Letter

2010-06-14T20:41:00.011+08:00

I bet most of you would have, at one time or another, written letters to your school to explain why you were absent and I must say I, too, have my fair share of letter-writing to the class teacher for mei and li.

When the reason for absenteeism is valid, it is not a problematic task. But if it is otherwise like "ponteng" (cutting) class then it will take much ingenuity to draft a reasonable letter with an "original" excuse instead of the usual stomach ache, headache, diarrhea and all sorts of other ailments. The trouble with this excuse is it may backfire if asked to produce a medical chit.

Some would even go so far as to pick a non existent relative to die or about to die. Now, that is extreme and usually used when the "sick" excuses do not hold water anymore from overuse.

However, today I came across this class assignment that is the mother of all excuse cleverly written by Ng Zi Wern. I do not know how long this letter has been circulating around but thanks to you, Ng, and I hope with your approval, I would now like to share your fine piece of work with some friends.

I guess it will be hard to see the original print, so here goes:-

Ng Zi Wern
Soalan: Tulis satu surat memohon cuti

Hobi saya ialah memandu basikal. Pada satu hari, saya hendaklah memandu basikal ke sekolah, tiba-tiba, saya berasa nak buang air kecil. Saya pun ke tepi sungai untuk buang air kecil.

Tiba-tiba, saya Nampak seekor ular, saya takut dia mengigih OlO saya, saya pun lari! lari-lari……lari-lari…… Saya jumpa hantu yang ada satu kaki sahaja! Saya sangat takut.

Hantu itu memandu basikal saya untuk 追 saya. saya lagi takut! Tetapi saya sangat “angry” kerana dia memandu basikal saya! Saya pun 追 balik dia! Dia sangat takut, dia pun selalu 跑. Saya selalu 追, dia selalu 跑. tiba-tiba, dia accident! Kaki dia 2 2 pun sudah habis sekali.

Jadi, saya membawa hantu itu pergi ke hospital. inilah sebab kenapa saya tidak pergi ke sekolah semalam.

Teacher"Jangan campur Bahasa Cina dalam karangan Bahasa Melayu!! "

English Translation: Verbatim

"My hobby is driving bicycle. One day, I wanted to drive bicycle to school, suddenly, I felt like passing water. then I went to the side of a river to pass water.

Suddenly, I saw a snake, I was afraid it would bite my OlO, I ran! ran-ran.....ran-ran...... I saw a ghost with only one leg! I was very frightened.

The ghost drove my bicycle to chase after me, I was even more afraid! But I was very "angry" because he drove my bicyle! I then chase him back! He was very frightened. he also ran. I always chased, he always ran. suddenly, he accident! 2 2 of his legs were finished totally.

So, I brought the ghost to the hospital. This is why I did not go to school yesterday."

Teacher's comment: Do not mix Chinese language in a Malay language composition!!"

So, how about that? Never occured to you to use this excuse right? I would give full marks for extremely good application of alternative use of language and even figures and symbols to put his point across. Did you noticed the part "lari- lari...... lari-lari....."? It is as if I was watching a movie in my mind. What about the symbol "OlO"? Very evocative way of using his words. haha.

Mei, tell Callum he has alot of catching up to do with our mixed lingo.

Tata!!

Mundane

2010-06-01T01:30:00.011+08:00

The reason I have not blogged for quite some time is because I do not think whatever is happening in my life is interesting to anyone else unless I cook something or take pretty pictures of plants or hijack some stuff from the internet.

I guess many a blogger feels the same way at one time or another.

For example, would you find the fact that I suspect that I may have been a dog in my previous life to be interesting? The reason I say this is because I have always been sensitive to smells. I cannot stand heady perfumes or detergents. I will know if someone is doing some illegal open burning at night or whether the bread or cake smells "done". It is unfortunate to have this heightened sense of smell in this humid weather. Au naturel is no good too as my own body odour is enough to drive me to distraction.

Still in a joking but truthful note, when I was young, I used to think that the line running across my neck may have been there because I was slaughtered in my previous life. Now I have altered my theory and think it may have been caused by a dog collar. Laugh if you want but I am into this alternate universe way of thinking and I am out of the closet with my suspicions.

Alright, back to my sense of smell. Lately, there was this elusive rotten stinking smell wafting once in a wee while out in the garden. Meng and I were puzzled and could not detect where it was coming from. Being the dog that I am or was, I could not rest until I searched the whole area in front of our house and even the neighbour's but to no avail until finally I found a dead cat lying on our sun roof full of maggots.

Speaking of dead things, would you be interested to know that this morning I may have come across a dead frog on the roadside pavement on my way to the bus stop which was so black and dried that it qualifies to be in one of the chest of drawers in a Chinese medical hall? It looked so "medicinal" instead of gross like the cat's carcass. I regretted not snapping a picture to illustrate my point and to make my blog look more interesting and easy reading with pictures.

Another reason for my suspicion is the fact that I am not that bright. To allay Alzheimer or whatnot in my approaching ancient age, the experts advised that senior citizens like us should continue exercising our minds. Mahjong is good but illegal if there is more then 1 table operating in each household.

At one time, I tried Sudoku and was diligently tackling the moderate to hard ones and after numerous unsuccessful attempts at the diabolical ones I sort of gave up and started doodling on my sudoku so that the people standing in the bus will not know that I have failed again! haha

Then recently I wished for the once popular Rubik's Cube and Juliana made my dream come true by getting one for me from Tesco supermarket.

Now I am obliged to crack my head trying to solve the square thingees. Yes, at first I refused to seek help from the internet. Do you know that there are many websites for this and you can also see it on You Tube? But the thing is, you remember the show with Tom Cruise and Renee Zelleweger with the famous one liner "You had me at hello?" Well, when I watch the illustration on You Tube, I can only say "You lost me at turn once counter-clockwise, twice clockwise...." Do they know alot of people have a hard time distinguishing their left hand from their right?

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same thing. Albert Einstein.

You have no idea how appropriate this quote is to my rubik solving attempts. No wonder he is a genius.

For those who wants to skip all the words like me, just look at my story in pictures as follows:-

Dream came true....from that to this.... easy peasy

just turn this way and that and all around if you so wish

Another design to make us feel more stupid. First tackle the primary colours then only we may graduate to abstracts

and then there is fine arts made of rubik's cube

If all else fails just do as illustrated. You have no idea the number of times these pictures come to mind

Okay, I have to say adieu. Time to shave my beard, body and legs, unmentionables and tame my hair.

Dream of getting one for yourself?

"Dumpling" is such a Humpty Dumpty word

2010-05-31T23:45:00.007+08:00

Rice Dumpling Festival is here. Although we have the luxury of obtaining the dumplings from hawkers all year round, the month of May holds special significance in commemoration of the dead poet or minister (depending on your source), Qu Yuan (pronounced as Chue Yuan) who tied himself to a big rock and threw himself into a river because he was disheartened that the Emperor of Chu did not heed his advice and was eventually defeated by his enemy and killed.

The people threw rice dumplings wrapped in leaves into the river to stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body. They would even row their boats out and beat drums and shout loudly to scare the fish away. Hence, they believe that this may be the beginning of the Dragon Boat race.

Hmmmm... something is fishy here. If you analyse the story in a very literal sense, tying of rock on your body and jumping into the river voluntarily sounds like suicide. Was his heart broken by the death of his beloved emperor or... did someone murder him by making sure he drowns mafia style?

Throwing of rice dumplings into river by poor peasants sound so irrational since they would not have much to eat especially just after a war. Another way of looking at it would be the dumplings were used as "lure" to ensure that the fish will come in droves to feed. This method is commonly used by fishermen to attract fish before laying their baits. It is called "charming".

Anyway, enough of my nonsensical ramblings. Don't mind me, I always like to poke fun at things and find an alternate universe for every story, event or being playing with what ifs.

As you may or may not know, my sis and mom make awesome savoury dumplings and their first batch is out.

I have been toying with the idea of trying out Nyonya dumplings for the longest time poring over various versions of the recipe but the ingredients were intimidating and I have no experience in wrapping and tying the dumplings. But the most crucial stumbling block is that I have never tasted this type of dumpling before. So, how in blazes will I know whether I have it correct? Then there is candied wintermelon which is sweet and toasted peanut which is peanuty!

So I slowly began gathering all the ingredients and implements needed for this operation always stressing to myself that I do not have to follow through with it if I don't want to so as to relief any expectations on myself.

Like all yummy food, the preparation has to be in stages just like paus or bread etc. First I did the filling and stored it in the fridge. The next day, I steamed the rice and did the wrapping. Initially, the plan was to get my mom to do the all important wrapping but I challenged myself and made a few clumsy attempts but gradually got the hang of it.

Here are some photos on my first experiment. The flavour I am told is fine but the method does need fine tuning.

dumplings in bamboo leaves and tied with hemp

Pictures were taken with my less than excellent micro megapixel handphone so bear with me

I shall etch another notch to my self-improvement deed.

Happy stuffing your face full of dumplings month!

The Italian Man Who Went to Malta

2010-05-13T14:59:00.002+08:00

Go see this clip in You Tube and have a giggle - "The Italian Man who went to Malta" the simple blackboard chalk version, not the cartoon or other version.

Choose

2010-05-02T02:06:00.003+08:00

Well?

2010-04-17T17:23:00.014+08:00

Yes, I know, its been awhile. Chalk it down to just plain laziness and the fact that the girls were not tapped in on the internet.

So, I shall start with the long gone Cheng Beng trip at the beginning of April. We started off in the morning and took a leisurely drive and when we were nearly there, Meng's eldest sis asked whether we could fetch her to pay respects to his departed husband. When we reached there, she was not home so we had lunch in "town" and tried 2 assam laksas from 2 different stalls facing each other. One was slightly better than the other but both were nothing to shout about. The portions were small and it seems that there was not much imagination going on with these two. They have the exact same stuff in the dish! Hello....rivalry going on....add something to one up the other......

I digress. We bought some chrysanthemums and this time around we were lucky, she was home.

His ashes are preserved in an urn and kept in the temple or house of rest

This is the first time I have been to a modern funeral home. I think it is all abit commercialised and mass production mode was evident. Just look at all the tables outside where one is supposed to lay one's offerings and carry out the prayers.
Rather impersonal since the urn is in the building. I still think the old method is much better.

See what I mean?

May, see the new shoes and clothes for your mum?

And these are the fruits that you and Meng contributed. Hey, Xmei, recognise the basket? From Damien. Wah... with the flowers and all... looked so fancy and "big town" haha
The usual suspects were there. It seems Hong Chiew was supposed to fly in but he did not turn up in the end.

Waiting for the offerings to finish burning. Good thing the trees were still there. So were the ice cream sellers. Had abit of chit chat then and at lunch. Did not really have much time to catch up since all of us were headed home immediately after that.

Ai Li and family took us to visit the kuey chap stall

They were busy as ever, no time to talk

Never leave Penang without one of these. They are mandatory.

Kueh Bahulu, one of popo's fav munch

Pungent petai. Ever noticed how our Malaysian fruits are notoriously pungent? Cempedak, nangka, quinine, and the king of them all, the durian. Mark my words, someday, somewhere, somehow, someone is going to discover that durian can be used as an alternative fuel. The fumes emanating from it? One can get "high". The same goes for inhaling petroleum. So, it does make sense. How to go about extracting it I leave that to you geniuses.

Good hard wearing cotton from China found in a tiny shop along Juru's main road for popo to make into her specialised blouses with "2 big pockets in front". I even helped to sew 3 of them into the wee of the night. Timely too because she would be going to Philippines soon with unc k fooi and this will be her new wardrobe. haha.

Gorgeous and fragrant handmade, homemade soap by Ai Li. Some people are so curious, creative and productive. A woman after my own heart.

Plants

2010-03-12T22:50:00.005+08:00

Tried planting sugar cane lately so that hopefully by next year's "Pai Teen Koong" we need not buy any. So far, out of the 6 that we planted, only 3 sprouted shoots.

It is a very slow growing plant

And look at this long and pointy looking ladies finger. By the time you read this, the plant is no longer in existence. Popo just planted maybe 6 plants recently. Hope the pest dont get to it again.

Guess what is this hairy baby?

Its a cucumber.

The teenager cucumber has lots of spots that it has to outgrow

Once the complexion has more or less even out and it is a good size, it is time to harvest. Loot at ours, its longer and heavier than a small water bottle. This, and the tomato plant below was somewhat our pride and joy for a short while.The original plants are dead now. New ones have taken root but they still have a long way to go before attaining this stature.

Self-improvement deed

2010-03-12T22:29:00.003+08:00

So, what self-improvement deed have I done lately? You see I have collected tons of recipe books with every intention of trying them out but nothing ever goes according to plan. But I do try every now and then.

Before attempting any, I bought 2 new books again! But this time I managed to try out the Loh Mai Kai recipe. So all is not lost.

It is not the cooking that is the problem with me, its the gathering of the necessary ingredients and/or utensils for the making of the food.

I did not have enough loh mai kai bowls for the recipe as required and had to make do with odd shaped rice bowls
Used chicken fillet instead of thigh meat. I must say that this is the most successful of my attempts at making this dish. The method of preparation makes absolute sense unlike other cookbooks and the result was 80% close to the real thing. Needs tweaking on the flavours etc. because Meng said the chicken was a tad sweet and popo said it was a tad salty (haha..cannot please everyone) but its there. Finally, I can move on to something else now that I have uncovered the secret of making loh mai kai.

Onward to sang yoke pow next! (But the ingredients........)

Green Apples and Lemon Enzyme

2010-03-12T22:16:00.003+08:00

Meng bought a book on enzyme making and tried the one with green apples and lemon.

Concentration, care and cleanliness
Skinning the lemon. Otherwise it may leave behind a bitter after taste

See, they look so fresh and pristine

This was like more than 2 weeks ago. I think it is time to reap the rewards. It has not gone mouldy. No water, distilled or otherwise, was added this time and the liquid we see in the jar now is most assuredly from the lemons and apples.

I am sure this one is a success.

Hoping for Riches

2010-03-01T00:34:00.003+08:00

Meng has been consistently trying his luck at the Magnum 4D Lottery draws. They have introduced some kind of new fancy draws whereby the Jackpot keeps snowballing and snowballing. Its something like 30 Million at one time. Now that its gotten too big a sum, they have carved out 10 Million into the Second Jackpot. Got that? Beats me.

Anyway, you can imagine there is quite a crowd at these places and while everyone was queuing up impatiently waiting for their turn to buy their lottery , an Indian guy behind kept jostling him. He turned back to "look" at him but he kept doing it so Meng turned his body abit.

He got to buy the lottery and all that, but when I was folding the laundry recently I noticed a major cut/tear near the back pocket of his pants. Thats where he keeps his wallet. After searching his memory he recalled the incident and told me about it. It was a good thing the guy was not successful at picking his pocket or clumsy enough to nick Meng.

So all of you out there please inform your friends and relatives to be careful when queuing up for this or any other things for that matter.

After some surgery by me, the pants is still wearable.

At the Stroke of Midnight

2010-02-24T01:49:00.014+08:00

We made a mad dash to K Sing's house to pick up the fatt koh, ang ku, and mi ku that they made. While taking an evening walk, we bumped into Denisa's family and we were invited to join them at the Chinese restaurant nearby.

After that we adjourned to their house to supposedly "help them" finish some single malt whiskey and chit chat and before we knew it it was already 11.30 p.m.! By the time we reached K Sing's place it was already 11.45 p.m.

This was the set up and he was fixing up the sugar cane
Quite fancy. Ah Sow was there and so was K Sing's girlfriend who came back from Singapore

When we reached home, we had to assemble everything quickly and I must say luckily we prep some of the stuff earlier otherwise we would not have it in time.

Managed to take some photos, some without flash and then I found out that I can do it with flash. Ya, I had to discover it only now:-

Popo's specialty -cutie crab

Ang ku, Grace's speciality

"Ta daaaaa........."

Awesome looking jossticks

Do you know that some of them stayed erect even though they were burnt through? Got to really strain your eyesight to check when they are done burning. Took exactly one hour.

Quite mystical looking right? No touchups or photoshop. Just flared like that

Without flash - more like how we see it

We wish everyone a Good Year!!!!!

The Ninth Day of CNY

2010-02-23T21:48:00.025+08:00

The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven (天宮) in the Taoist Pantheon. The ninth day is traditionally the birthday of the Jade Emperor. This day is especially important to Hokkiens. Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Incense, tea, fruit, vegetarian food or roast pig, and paper gold is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person.

Normally, we would perform the prayers at K Sing's house but this year, Meng decided to give it a go at our house.

Since we were really uninitiated, K. Leong and Lai Yee lent their helping hands and brought us to their favourite shop in Taipan to get some prayer stuff.

Beautiful lanterns on display

A treasure trove of prayerful stuff

How? Where? What?

Meng consulting his bookSweets, mee suahVarious serving plates for offerings

Colourful lamps

Big joss sticks, small ones and some very specific ones Not forgetting the candles

Even the oil is colourful

So very artistic

So pretty

Clever....

Drums for burnt offerings

Meng bought this sandalwood spiral incense because I like the smell of burning incense around the house. Reminds me of home when I was small. We keep it burning in the car porch because I am slightly allergic to perfumey or smokey things. It is supposed to keep burning for 7 days!

When we reached home, we washed all the things that needed washing and tried setting up the fruits and all that on plates and cut red paper filligree to decorate them. Meng wanted to do a vegetarian version so no offerings of meat was needed.

5-6 types of fruits, kuehs like miku, fatt koh, angku, glutinous rice, a vegetarian dish consisting of soy bean sheet, toong fun, woodear fungus etc, 3 cups of tea and 3 cups of wine. Nien koh if you have it and sweets. They still have the 3 pagodas made out of pink sugar at the shop. We did not get that.

We even went to the furniture shop to get a brand new square foldable table especially for this purpose. So, all this happened on the 7th day. Sort of like a rehearsal but not full dressed one.

Will update more on the actual day.

2nd day of CNY

2010-02-20T23:28:00.023+08:00

Second day was dinner at Alyna's house. The food was cooked by kakak and of course they were delicious.

Kakak with Kenny
Meng and K Leong

The spread

Char Bor Ee

K Fooi & Irene

Uncle Bob set off some fireworks and firecrackers outside his house. It was deafening.

Believe it or not, after the card game, we all adjourned to Sri Melor in SS19 for roti canai.

Everyone was feeling gay. Must be high on carbs and sugar.

S M S ing frenzy

Paper tosai

Roti telur

We had a grand old time. Sorry to torture you girls with the food.

1st day of CNY2010

2010-02-20T16:43:00.028+08:00

On the first day of CNY, we congregated at uncle K Sing's house to celebrate the new year. Some of the attempts at decorations in our house

The dangly things were made and hung up by Xin Hui

On reaching there, the first thing to do was to pay respect to Koong Koong

Exchanged ang pows and makan simple fare, fried mee, meehoon and pumpkin cake

Meng

K Fooi

Irene

Precocious Xin Hui

Xin Yean

Lai Yee

K Leong

Yiow

Po Po

Grace

K Sing armed and shooting all the while

Mother daughter pics

Too bad we can't take family pic too

So, Meng had to make do with whats available... haha

and then the cards came out

"Sai Lang" provided lots of fun and laughter

Alyna and family had to visit Uncle Bob's side of the family so we did not get to see them. Anyway, the above are ang pows from po po, alyna, lai yee and auntie chris for you girls.

Gong Xi Fa Cai once more

The Ship & Remy Martin Louis XIII

2010-02-20T16:28:00.024+08:00

Lai Yee and family took us out for dinner at The Ship, Damansara Utama branch on the first night of CNY. Needless to say we had the black pepper steak, onion soup and escargots. The food was consistently good and so was the service which was a pleasant surprise seeing as how it was a public holiday and Valentines Day.

Xin Yean mincing her bun
Hui had to stuff hers whole
Waiting for our food to be served

Posing for some pics outside the restaurant after dinner

and here's "Captain Awesome!!!"

Awww. so angelic

Looks more like brother and sister right?

Pinjam again

Sssssh....

Thereafter Meng received a call from Uncle Soo inviting us over to their place to sample the exclusive and expensive "Remy Martin Louis XIII" liquor. It supposedly costs RM6K!!

Kirsten and Pet Li were some of the people there

The crystal bottle and stopper were encased in this box

Justin officiated the opening and everyone was gathered round for the momentus occasion

Uncle Soo

The bottle alone cost more than a grand. I must say the aroma and the drink was extremely potent. When you lift it to your lips the fumes would overpower your senses till you have to hold your breath to overcome it. You literally had to sip it a little at a time. It was easier to drink once you add abit of water to it.

After that, we tried XO and it tasted just like a watered down version (5x) of the Louis XIII. Let me attempt to describe how its like. You know when you extract the chicken essence from double boiling the chicken without adding any liquid? Well, the liquor is just like the pure essence whilst the XO is like a very diluted chicken essence. Even the aroma smelled pure and potent.

Reunion Lunch & Dinner

2010-02-14T15:05:00.006+08:00

We went to Uncle K Sing's house for reunion lunch. Lai Yee and family were at lunch too. However, they and auntie Alyna's family went for the reunion dinner last night whereas Meng and I went to auntie Chris' house for dinner.

Kirsten and mum and all of uncle's Soo's family were there too. We got to see Justin's firstborn daughter named Charmaine or Shermaine but Wen Li was in Cameron Highland at her in-laws so we did not get to see her firstborn daughter named Summer.

I do not know what I ate or its just that being idle does not agree with my system because after the dinner I was embarassingly sleepy and at times dozed off on the chair. Haha.

Meng wanted to wait till 12 a.m. so that he can "Pai Tee Kong" or "Pai Tin Koong" which means praying to the Sky God for ushering in the new year. This would be the time to "Chip Choy Sun" meaning receiving the God of Prosperity. There are some protocol to be followed, therefore only the most earnest and diligent will make the effort to do so.

Some of the many offerings for the altar at midnight

I know my postings are all jumbled up, so do SCROLL DOWN for more CNY UPDATES.

Making Fruit Enzyme

2010-02-14T13:45:00.012+08:00

Meng tried Wan Zhen's mum-in-law's fruit enzyme a while back and tried making same lately. First of all, everything must be scrupulously clean otherwise fungus or mold will destroy your efforts. That means all utensils must be sterilised in hot water and dried naturally. Do not attempt to wipe them dry with tissue or cloth.

That applies to the cutting board and knife too. If you must wash the fruits, do so before cutting. Lai Yee said that when her mum used to do this, they even have to refrain from talking so that no saliva would inadvertently contaminate the fruits.
Meng used lemon, dragon fruit and pineapple.
You can use a choice of honey or slab sugar from Chinese medicine stores and distilled or cooled boiled water to fill up the jar

So very pretty and colourful.
We must not fill the jar to the brim as gas will be emitted once the fruits ferment

The dragon fruit dyed everything pink
The lid of the jar must be released (but not opened) once a day to prevent it from exploding (hehe) and it has to be shaken too

The verdict from Lai Yee? Too diluted and too heavy on the pineapple taste. So next time, we will not be adding any water and will be using slab sugar as well.

If you are so inclined to know more, the following is a write up of enzymes from Shawntell Muhammad who is a Natural Health Coach and Publisher of “Organic Nourishment” a, natural health news publication:-

"According to the enzyme theory, our bodies are born with a limited stock of enzymes, which are “live” chemicals required for all actions of the body. There are two kinds of enzymes, metabolic and digestive. If the food being eaten does not contain the enzymes required to digest it, the body will convert its metabolic enzymes into digestive enzymes. Thus the enzyme stock of the body is reduced. This is what is called aging, and when the enzyme stock is too low, we die. So to live long and healthy, we have to maintain our enzyme balance. The easiest way to do this is to eat foods that have the enzymes in them for their own digestion, so that the body’s enzymes are conserved.
In order to gain full benefits of fruit, be mindful that since fruits are easily digestible, they don’t combine well if eaten with other foods. It is recommended to eat fruit alone on an empty stomach. In other words, don’t eat any cooked food BEFORE consuming the fruit, don’t eat any cooked food ALONG with the fruit and don’t eat any cooked food for at least half an hour AFTER you have eaten the fruit. If this is not possible or practical, no problem. Eat the fruits any way you can—but eat them. "

Last note: Our Pancreas is responsible for producing enzymes, so make sure they are nice and healthy.

Happy Chinese New Year Everybody!

2010-02-14T01:06:00.007+08:00

I apologise for the long absence. We have been busy lately and in addition to that, we have been baking cookies for CNY and by the time we hit the pillow each day, we were dead to the world.

Of course we made the only 2 types of cookies that I am actually quite confident about and they are chicken biscuits and almond flakes cookies.

Some we sold and the profits should just about cover the cost of making for relatives and own consumption.

Healthy almond flakes coated with unhealthy but yummy ingredients
Finished product

Chicken biscuits (without chicken) don't know why.

The necessary mandarin oranges to denote "kam" (gold)

The Kacang Cap Tangan and F&N orange are the traditional New Year goodies in Msia. I guess they have been replaced with "Shang dong brand" and "Coke" and the many many other choices of groundnuts and sodas available nowadays but I still think Cap Tangan rules.

It is the morning of CNY now and we will be gathering at uncle K Sing's house to exchange ang pows and hang around.

See you guys later and will update more

Gong Xi Fa Cai to both of you girls, May, Mike and all those who do visit my blog.

My Two Cents

2010-01-16T01:19:00.011+08:00

First the 2 cikus were stolen. Then it was the bittergourd. Lately, it was our rose plant. Yes, the whole plant. It must have been the same 2 ladies out for their morning walk that did it again.
The last time they stole our newly planted yellow flowers which was a shocker in itself because normally people would just steal a ciku, mango, bittergourd or pluck your flowers but to uproot the whole plant together with the soil? Seems really premeditated to me.
So, we planted a beautiful rose plant in that empty spot. Thorny too. Just when it was adapting well to the new environment and new buds were emerging, they stole the whole plant and left a hole. That was like 2 days ago.
As if it is not enough that we have to fight off pests and diseases and animals but now we have the human pests too. I don't blame the insects or the squirrels or the bats when they chow down on the mangoes, longan or tomatoes or what not because it is in their nature to scavenge for food as they have no means of making their own. I don't even mind that the Bangladeshi grass cutter plucked the cikus because I believe they will not otherwise get to eat any fruits as they don't have much money.
But human beings are supposed to be higher beings and able to rationalise, which sets us apart from animals. I guess for them, their human instincts are not finely honed and they basically fell back to their animal instincts.
Which brings me to all this bruhaha about arson attacks in churches over the usage of a particular word. I tend to see a similarity here. Those attacks are made by people who has fallen back to their baser instincts. It seems the issue has clouded the real meaning of religion. If you profess to be a believer or follower of a certain religion or teaching, you would want to live your life according to the fundamentals of that religion. I believe all religion or teachings want us to not only do good but be good and holy in our thoughts and actions.
If anyone is a true believer, then they would not be capable of committing such crimes whatever the provocation may be. On that note, we can safely deduce that the offender is using God's name in vain and giving the religion a really bad name in association. You know what they say, if you are not for God, then you are against God and who do you think is God's nemesis? So, kindly disassociate these actions from the religion. I am absolutely sure God, whether He is his, yours or mine, would not approve of the action.
Take for example a school. Its fundamental mission is to educate and teach. The rules and regulations on length of skirts, colour of rubber bands, type of socks or shoes are there only for uniformity so that there will not be disparity between the rich and poor thus leaving room for the act of studying without distractions. But sometimes the issue of the length of one's hair or skirt or socks, hair gel, cream, spike hairstyle can become more important than the act of educating. Most times schools forget the rationale behind the uniform and are guilty of nit picking on the less important things so much so that they lose sight of their fundamental mission. They should instead be spending more time on the welfare of the teachers and students. Are the educators doing a good job and are the students receiving the education? That is what it is all about.
So, do our beliefs approve of our thievery, committing crimes against each other and feeling hatred for your fellowmen?
I do not know about you but the God that I think I know would tell me that it is not the rituals that I perform like burning incense, offering fruits or food at the altar during festivals or going "vegetarian" on Fridays, or fasting or abstain from eating certain food or drinks or visiting the temple or praying 2 or 5 times a day in a certain manner is more important than being kind, good, holy, generous, helpful, forgiving, loving etc etc. Remember, the former is like the "uniform" and the latter is like the "fundamentals". Get it? Don't get me wrong, the rituals are put in place for good reasons and should be adhered to rationally but it should never be allowed to overshadow the real mission.
It is the ABSTRACT that is more important. The intangible things that you do or feel is more important to God than the tangible things that you do or perform that you think will appease the God that you know.
So, is the God you know same like the God I think I know?
God Bless and Good night

Holidays Galore

2010-01-02T21:52:00.027+08:00

Christmas Eve was spent with Meng's friends from IFC. Barbecue German sausages, lamb, pork, fried quails, salad and mashed potatoes. Plenty of wine and beer.

Then on Christmas Day, we were invited for dinner at one of the IFC member's film studio. The food was sumptious- thosai, satay, bbq lamb and rice with the usual great dishes of meat and vege. There were cakes and cookies with plenty of seating area. Beer and soft drinks were ever flowing. I had my first bash at the pool table. It was fun.

We did not stay for the live band.

Finally we get to meet Uncle Chen's daughter.

On New Year's eve, we were invited to May's house for single malt whiskey, wine, baked mushrooms, bread, ham and cheese dipped in vinegar and olive oil. May is Audrey's sister in law. She is also the younger sister of the lady owner of the mahjong place that Meng goes too. We had alot of laughs with Audrey around.

On 1.1.2010 I tried making "Foo Chok Pak Kor Yee Mai" (Gingko Barley Beancurd Sheet dessert) ala "Angeline's style" Mei, remember the barley we had at their place? The taste was superb. The gingko was not overcooked, bland and bitter. Instead it was firm, juicy and sweet. The barley was soft and the beancurd sheets have disintegrated into the soup.

So I took the challenge of replicating the taste as per Angeline's tips and I am glad to say it worked. Yay!

Gingko with the bitter shoot removed
Pandan and rock sugar
A little barley goes a long way so remember not to use too muchI only used 1 small packet
Boiling the barley

Boiling the gingko until just done. Add to barley before serving so that they will not soak in the soup unnecessarily.

I used 4 pieces of foo chook {beancurd sheets)

The finished product. Although the picture is rather "out" the taste was all there and the experiment was a success at least to my estimation.

That evening, we had dinner at Alyna's house. Jeffrey was the cook. His wife, daughter and sons were back. Kenny, Kelvin, popo, and Grace were there too. I did not take any pictures of the food because I was busy eating. There was belacan fried chicken, loh chee yoke, fried cod fish, spinach, fried long beans, prawns and ham choy soup. My contribution was the barley above. Then we stayed and talk about migration and age related diseases and ailments and the various folk remedies! What's new in the garden? Well, the longans have ripened and the bats were at them nearly every night. No surprises there as Jade told me thats what happened to their longan tree a while back. Anyway we will probably trim the tree to a more manageable height so that we may wrap the fruits in future. The flesh was as sweet as can be.

The bittergourd plant is doing very well. Lookee here -

Soon we will be able to try out the "Foo Kua Tan" (aka Bittergourd Omelette) recipe.

Did a little match making with the pumpkin plant. 3 fruits dropped off because they failed to be fertilised. So I brushed some pollen from this flower,and deposited them into this flower here. Of course in this picture, the petals are closed already.

Hopefully it will work.

Today I made some pineapple tarts for Teong Kim's family. His wife and children love this cookie very much and so we try to oblige everytime they are back from Germany for their holidays.

Good thing I had some pineapple jam on standby because it can be a tedious undertaking especially when you are trying to make it look like a pineapple!

My version is not the melt in the mouth type as I personally think that version is too powdery and hence tend to be abit hard to swallow as it gets sticky by the time it reaches the throat. Mine is sweet, moist and tart on the inside and quite firm on the outside as I like to bake it till it turns golden brown so that the aroma of baked pastry is evident.

Bottled up and good to go

I was abit over enthusiastic with the filling for some and there was not enough pastry to seal it. So I flattened them and made them into biscuits. Reminded me of the raisins biscuits we used to eat when we were young. This might well turn out to be a happy disaster as I now have an idea to add more stuff to it and transform it into a new cookie for the Chinese New Year.

Speaking of which, how do we know it is just round the corner? The nurseries in Sg. Buloh are chockful of these, that's how we know-

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

The Visitor

2009-12-20T20:52:00.003+08:00

Lili's friend, Ben from Gold Coast came to Msia for a visit enroute to Switzerland for his greener pasture.

Its like a swirling tide this migration of people. The Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Vietnamese come to our country, we go to Australia, England and America whilst they go to European countries in hopes of seeking a brighter future.

Since we are stick-in-the mud kind of people he did not get to go to any fun places except our regular eating stalls. Mostly the middle to lower income stalls. Poor Ben, no chance to eat "Chinese fine dining" as he had hoped.

Being a chef, he loves to experience all kinds of food.

He saw the ice kacang served to another customer and immediately wanted to order it. He was rather fascinated by it.

This was in Old Town Yong Tow Foo hawker place

He tried teh tarik and liked it. Who doesn't right?

His fav food were roasted chestnuts and Seapark's Roast Duck and possibly dry mutton curry that he had on the morning before he flew off.

This is just the trailer, for the rest of the pictures, go to Meng's blog.

Labour and Leisure

2009-12-16T21:49:00.021+08:00

It has been raining nearly everyday for the past month. However, there has been some slight improvement lately whereby the rain would skip a day. Not the most ideal time to plant anything but what else is there to do? Now I know why "mature" people turn to gardening when the kids have flown. The need to nurture does not go away. Pets and Plants are there for this reason.

So here goes, pictures of what is still standing in and around the garden.

Curry leaves are thriving very well in the humid and wet weather. But the pests are back. I normally pick them out one at a time and S-M-A-S-H them with much satisfaction. The pandan leaves are finally growing too. Who has ever heard of anyone planting pandan without any success? Well, that used to be me. Now, with our homemade compost bin and the rain, that is history.

Thai Basil

This herb also attracts another kind of pest. Small little black insect that bites! The tip of the plant needs trimming all the time because thats where the pests are situated. Kill! kill! kill! Gardening is a blood-thirsty pastime. Thai Basil smells like "sarsi" to me. Apart from that we have planted lengkuas, kunyit, serai, daun limau purut, limau kasturi, limau nipis, daun gado and vietnamese coriander in small batches.

Planted a guava tree too that is always flowering but so far they have not turned into fruits yet.

Our Australian lemon. No flowers, no lemons, only leaves. Pests are using the new shoots as nests and sticking them together. Snip, snip, snip

Okra or as we like to call it, ladies finger. Meng planted some cucumber seeds recently and now only 2 smidgens-like shoots are out. Curious to see how it will look like. He made the scaffolding the day he planted the seeds. Abit ambitious and optimistic.

The very best vege to plant. No pests and it grows and grows. "Si Chai Choy" for "Pan Mee" Good for quickie noodles or soup with dried shrimps and eggs.

Close ups always make everything nicer than it is. Well, this is how the whole thing looks. Very kampung and planted by the roadside across our house. So don't go thinking our house has that big a compound!

As if that was not enough, I planted some pumpkins along the highway too. Once in a while the local council grass cutter will accidentally shave off the plants. This is the only one left and I thought I saw a baby pumpkin out of all the flowers. Keeping my fingers crossed nothing untoward will happen to it.

Mike and May, One of the 3 papaya trees that both of you planted. Skinny as can be but at least they are still surviving. Covered the surroundings with dead leaves etc to ensure that the ground will be soft instead of the hard clay it used to be. I will be pumping more fertiliser soon.

Finally, we harvested the bananas. The squirrels ate 2. Thats how I knew it was time to harvest. The centre of the banana trunk which is called the xylem has been given to our neighbour for making dhall curry. She said it is good for the kidneys.

Cikus. The wet weather makes the pests come out in droves don't they? The new shoots always gets eaten. The cikus take forever to ripen on the tree.

Our beloved mango tree is still bearing but the one by the road is barren.

We revamped the little patch outside the house and did some amateurish landscaping with re-cycled sand bricks dug out from the garden. I was striving for the English garden look. Organised disorder. But its hard to do when we don't have tall romantic flowers or plants here and the rain, omg, the place practically floods at one end. So we have to make do with hardy plants and leaves that have colour in them. Flowers don't last in our weather. So we have to make do with "wild kampung look"

Notice the 2 patches of circular grass? They sometimes look like football, or bug eyes or a slug hehe. It just looks weird but I like it because it makes me smile.
The plants used. Pictures taken in their prime of course. One of the flowers were stolen the next morning they were planted. Our neighbour's maid saw 2 Malay ladies on their morning walk pulling out the plant. When she asked them why they did that, they told her that they had the owner's permission. Shame on these people who have no respect for other peoples property. The flowers are planted for everyone's pleasure after all since it is by the road!

The garden proper revamped too. Took the white stones out and added some grass and flowers towards the front. The atomic bomb really spoil the feng sui. Actually wanted to get rid of all the rocks but haven't figured out how to re-cycle them yet.
The pink flowers are dead now. I guess plants from Holland are not meant for us.

View from even further in

Shifted the lamp to the interior so that we will at least use it once in a while.

Ok, don't laugh. I added some kiddie stuff to the bonsai plant. Took them out of the bathroom and could not think what to do with them. Hence, they ended up here. Cheesy? What do you think? Thats what I thought too but I figured children might like at least this part of the garden.

I am saving the best for last. The cherry tomatoes that Mike and May planted!

Look at the beauties.

As they ripened

The other species is kinda stunted but still surviving. However, I have noticed the "white airy fairy pest nesting on the underside of its leaves and sucking the life out of them. I trimmed them off and hope they will do alright. Not sure whether it is supposed to continue growing and growing or do we pull them out and start all over again from seeds?

Don't you think they are the cutest little thing you have ever seen? Meng juiced some of them and today we made sweet sour sauce for our black pomfret and added 2 tiny tomatoes to it. Thats all we managed to harvest today.

2009-11-23T22:14:00.020+08:00

Tried making assam laksa recently. It is a great to-do getting ready for it. So many unfamiliar ingredients to get familiarised with. There seems to be so many and tedious but once you get the hang of it, everything seems so simple on hindsight.

However, every little ingredient adds a little something to the pot. Therefore, it is best to go hunting for them otherwise it will not taste like the real thing.

The final product will be judged according to individual taste. Some like it with shrimp paste, some without. Some like it very sour whereas some like it more spicy. Some like the stock thick and murky whilst some like it clear. Some like the fish to be flaked finely and some like it in chunks. Whatever it is, just take the first step and do your fine tuning thereafter.

Here are some of the pictures from my adventure:-

Kembong or spanish mackerel gutted and washed

Blanch fish in boiling water till they are cooked, dish out

Extracting meat with the help of a spoon

Fish meat, some to be flaked finely and some in bigger pieces

Bones back into the pot to simmer so as to extract every bit of its essence, discard and strain stock before adding other ingredients

shallots, peeled

kunyit or fresh turmeric belacan came in this package which is gold, sometimes it is blue belacan, sliced

lengkuas or galangal

buah keras or candlenuts. They look really like macadamia nuts

Serai or lemongrass, sliced for blending bunga kantan or ginger bud flower, cut for blending
Dried chillies

Dried chillies softened in hot water and cut
Cut and ready for the blender

Blending the spice ingredients

Blend finely

Daun kesom, Laksa leaf or Vietnamese Coriander/Mint

Assam Keping

Pineapple core to be boiled in stock for extra flavour and discarded before serving

bunga kantan or ginger bud flower sliced in half together with lemongrass for the stock

Tamarind paste mixture. Use your hand to mix it in the water to get the most out of the paste. Strain the mixture into the stock and discard the seeds.

Laksa stock, Put the flaked fish in and continue simmering

Mint and cucumber for garnishing, lime in case more sourness is needed

pineapple for garnishing too

Shrimp paste, diluted with hot water to be drizzled over the laksa.

No final picture because the laksa was only eaten 2 days later. Still alright and the flavour was good enough for me. Maybe abit more belacan and less chilli (redness) and I should allow the flaked fish to be boiled longer so that it will disintegrate and incorporated into the stock.

Well, next time it would be better.

I am a total Knuckle Head

2009-11-09T01:45:00.031+08:00

After agonising over the fact that it took me forever to upload 2-3 pictures each day, guess what I did just now? I was cleaning up my computer of all important documents and information and accidentally deleted all my pictures! Yes, old and new ones! Luckily I had some back ups only up to September 09. Anything after that is kaput.

So, I shall wrap up my post and work with whatever I have here.

For details on what happened day-to-day, go read up Meng's blog.

Fuzhou is not a scenic place unlike other regions where everyone waxes poetic over the scenery, food and historical places and artifacts.

The only thing of beauty that I spotted so far was this little square shaped pond that houses these water lilies:-

But the effect was spoilt by the sticks and broomstick that was thrown in. See the end of the broomstick that I tried to avoid but failed?

The Lakeside Hotel was situated near the Westlake but unfortunately the interesting pictures that I took of the lake, people and hotel are unfortunately erased thanks to my not so smart move.

These are scenes captured near the restaurant where we had our dinner

One fact is notable in Fuzhou. The scooters are everywhere and I mean everywhere. They are surprisingly silent and are allowed to travel even on the pedestrian walkways.

You have to be alert at all times. The noise does not come from the engines of the scooters, cars, vans, or buses. They originate from the tooting and honking that goes on incessantly. But honking does not denote anger or frustration and no offense is taken. It is just a sign of warning that they are approaching. Similarly in Msia, we have to be alert too, of snatch thieves that is! Street scenes near our Hotel in Fuzhou

Pigs' spare parts fast food way

There was no market per se. Just individual shops selling vege and the like similar to some of the shops in Msia.

This old man was pulling an old lady on a piece of wooden plank on wheels

Waiting to pick up her child from kindergarten

All the pictures were taken near the hotel because we did not visit any places of interest as there were not many I was told.

We stayed at New Century Hotel in Macau. The casino was rather deserted as all the action seems to be at the other side of town where the newer hotels are

Massive chandeliers in the casino at New Century Hotel

Now, for the more happening place-
Pictures from The Venetian Hotel, Macau

Situated in the centre of the entrance hall

I curi curi take photos of the casino which was fabulous looking

Gondola

Mime
I was told these creatures have something to do with the making of kui lin ko. Eu, must be since they were in the display window for kui lin ko shop

For those who don't gamble, maybe you could pass your time shopping

Branded wears

Everything was golden, bejewelled and expensive
There were so many masks for sale. Masquerade balls must be the rage over there.
One of many

The M U store was like heaven on earth for soccer fans

Thereafter we took 2 cabs to St. Paul's Church Ruins

If you are in need of attention, wear this Remember this guy? We bought jackets from him a few years back

Pork chop in Bun (Wrong place, wrong chop)

Pork chop rice. Sorry to say that this version was not nice either

Street leading to the St. Paul's Church ruins - busy and packed with tourists

One can get quite full with free samplings of almond biscuits as you move along the street

Pretty colourful umbrellas

It was very thoughtful of Alex to treat everyone to an authentic evening of

Portugese food - Bun, salad and sangria

Garlic Prawns

Sausage

Grilled fish and roast pork and many more.

Night pictures taken from moving taxi

Although Fuzhou was not scenic or anything, I must say that the group of people we were with are great people. Meng is very fortunate to have them as friends and thanks to Alex, they are able to acquaint themselves once in awhile.

Next day, we touched down at LCCT, went home and immediately drove out for roti canai and teh tarik. We missed our beloved Msian food alright

Sorry for the uninteresting update. Just too bad about the pictures. Sigh!

Just Flowers Again

2009-10-21T21:16:00.003+08:00

We've been trying our hand at growing roses lately. Well, not growing, but nurturing actually. Took some close-ups of roses that I bought recently. Of course they only look big in pictures. In reality they are quite small probably because of the weather here.

This one is full of thorns and long stemmed

This is pure white

And this one is huge, pink and extrmely fragrant

Looks somewhat like peonies right

I hope I do not make a hash of it. I get excited everytime I see new shoots emerging. That means new buds and eventually roses.

Nowadays, the garden and plants are what makes waking up on a Saturday or Sunday morning so enjoyable. No more lazing in bed for me. The birds and plants are awaiting! (It used to be crispy fried bacon when Xuelily was around).

Another Birthday

2009-10-16T16:14:00.004+08:00

haPPy 18Th BiRthDay
XueLi

It was like only yesterday you were that young

Somehow
this flower
reminds me
of you.

Kind of tee too siow

May your Wishes and Dreams come true.

2009-10-13T19:50:00.006+08:00

Tried making Durian Portugese Egg Tarts lately. It was not a total success as I did not have time to do the last part properly. Also, I noticed that some of the method differed from the regular Portugese Egg Tart recipe that I tried in the past. Whipping cream, eggs, sugar, milk and durian for the filling. Yummy.

Went Sungei Buloh again last Sunday. Bought these pink and purple flowers.

And Gardenias too.

May and Mike, the sweet peas, corn and papaya plants are all doing very well.

The bell peppers have been transplanted but only 4 survived and they are pretty tiny right now.
That's all. Until the next time. Bye

High Class Instant Noodles and Birdie plant

2009-10-06T21:30:00.003+08:00

Last weekend I was home alone again. Grace, Alyna, Popo and Kelvin came to pick me up and we went to my favourite place, Sungei Buloh nurseries.

Ah...heaven and bliss. I bought a flowering plant and popo and Alyna bought roses too. I also bought a limau kasturi and limau nipis plant and still feeling greedy, I acquired a seedless guava plant too. But where to plant it? No more space! Right now it is squatting in a corner waiting for inspiration to strike me.

Roses still doing okay so far. Did not have much skill or luck with this flower in the past so we will just have to wait and see
And I spotted this huge pot of plant filled with leaves and in the leaves would sit a tiny birdlike flower. Can you see it? Imagine so many birdies on the cusps of the leaves. But it was too bad that my camera phone failed me and the rest of the pictures turned out blurred.

Also, I am happy to announce that I have 2 tiny version of it bought some time ago without benefit of seeing the cutie version. Now I at least have an inkling how it would look if I don't bungle it and it actually live to mature into the above.

My home alone lunch. Instant kon loh meen, spicy, with pan fried salmon with garlic and teriyaki sauce. Upscale abit and the easiest thing to defrost in the freezer. Yummy.

Happy Birthday To You!

2009-10-01T23:58:00.004+08:00

2nd october 2009

fRom ThaT
tO ThIs
How you have grown!

You wanted me to dedicate a lovely flower to you on this special day and I have handpicked one especially for you from our very own garden

Cute like you. Hope you have a very special birthday.
Love from ALL AT HOME

Short-sighted handphone camera

2009-10-01T23:05:00.004+08:00

Hi May and Mike. I am sure you guys are truly glad to be back in Portland gazing at the huge tomatoes and hopefully still get to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Just wanted to update you on the seeds that you planted while you were here.

Bear with me because I have a short-sighted handphone camera. It can only capture near objects and not far.

The corn is doing well although quite near to each other now that they are getting bigger
The yellow and red bell peppers have sprouted some shoots. Lets see whether they will survive the transplanting later on.

The mango plant is alright but the soil condition there is dismal

Thats why the papaya plants that were transplanted are still as stunted. We have transplanted bigger specimen and started burying recycleable food scraps in hopes of making the soil fertile.

The tomatoes are doing very well. Yes!

We went to Sg. Buloh recently and popo wanted some roses

These are Thai roses. They are supposedly hardy, small and can withstand hot sun

Pink one too

They can climb if you let them

Pretty. Hope we can sustain it. So far, we have not had any luck with roses.

Found a cute little fella on a tapioca leaf. I trained my camera phone very near to it and it actually tried to slide to the edge and gradually went under ever so smoothly hoping it can fool me. I used the phone to nudge it back up and it did but guess what?

In all the pictures, only the leaf and raindrops were clear. The grasshopper was totally blur. Must be some kind of camouflage thing. hehe

I know I am supposed to destroy it before it destroy the plants but I just cannot do it (also, no guts).

Sungei Buloh

2009-09-26T22:52:00.002+08:00

Today, Meng and I went to SS 14 restaurant to have Char Kway Teow with Duck's egg extra spicy and Assam Laksa. Just to torture you all I shall post the pictures here.

Looks as good as it tastes

Then, Alyna, Grace, popo and I went to Sg. Buloh to window shop

beautiful, beautiful orchids

quite huge

Imagine your garden filled with purple, white and yellow orchids

thats' what I will have if I were very, very rich

A big house with lots of room for family and friends to stay or visit, a massive kitchen, etc, etc. and best of all the most wonderful garden filled with flowers, ferns, pond, stones, pergola, arches, fruit trees, willow tree (for lily)...... and and tennis court, badminton court, table tennis, pool, putting green, barbecue pit and not forgetting that oven thingee for Chinese roast duck, chicken, pork that looks like a space ship.

Trust me, give me the money and I promise you, you will not want to leave the place that I will create.

Must remember to buy my lottery tomorrow and pile my pillow high high tonight.

2009-09-23T21:50:00.002+08:00

Still no RM50.00 but it made it into today's (23rd Sept) The Star Newspaper's Thumbnails. Sure enough they changed my caption. I wrote "Seals of the Round Table" and they changed it to "Genus horribilis". What is that? Never mind, better luck next time.

Alyna asked me why I always submit pictures of plants. Well, the pics are all shot with my handphone and the subject must be real close otherwise it will be blurred as you can see from some of the pictures in my previous posts. Moreover, I don't get around much macam katak dalam tempurung.

Next, I am going to submit my cutie flower picture. Will let you know of the outcome. Bye for now

2009-09-22T21:51:00.003+08:00

My juicy butt-looking strawberry made it into The Star Newspaper's Thumbnails again. Its in today's issue. Still cannot win the prize of RM50.00. Wish I can call it "Juicy butt-looking berry, don't you wish you can sink your teeth into it?"

But, you know, everything will be censored. Even my innocent caption they changed to "Weird Berry". Juicy will be better don't you think so?

So, go support it and vote so that it can stay on the website. Otherwise they will remove it once 1 month is up just like my interesting looking brinjal. Remember?

So Quiet man

2009-09-21T15:35:00.005+08:00

This morning Kooi Choou, Ailee and children left for home and on the way, stopped by at Hung Kwang's house for a visit.

May and Mike left for Johor but before that we went to Wan Zhen's sis-in-law's house in Shah Alam to sample her mother-in-law's Prawn Noodle. She said the recipe was passed down from Hong Chiew to Wan Zhen's mom to her. But the sambal recipe that supposedly consisted of 10 ingredients was not made known to her so she had to adjust and adapt. It was tasty. She even showed us the fruit enzyme that they were fermenting. Tried some of it and it tasted quite good. I was told it can make you dizzy and high too. Just the thing if you need help falling asleep at night.

Home-cooked Prawn Noodle - Presentation, 10 points

Sorry, but the following pictures are rather blur

Kooi Choou and Ailee looking at pics in May's camera

May and Mike

Guess what we had for dinner last night?

Recognise this?

Salted fish Map
Claypot Chicken Rice in PJ Old Town

Everyone liked it. Mike had his first taste of salted fish with rice. I think he agrees that the salted fish adds a different dimension to this dish

Poh Lei chinese tea

Leng Ngau Soup

Yeong Sam Soh soup
We also ordered the regular blanched choy sum with garlic

Yesterday afternoon, we went to Hou Moon Restaurant in Klang for our fish galore lunch. We ordered 3 fish cutlets, fried brinjal with long beans and fried sweet potato leaves with garlic. All perfecto.

Steamed with ginger

Fried

and Assam which turns out to be Mike's favourite

Sweet potato leaves with a hint of wine

After that we still found room for durian at SS15. It seems there is always room for durian.

This is Musang King. Very good.

But I have just found out that my favourite is Bamboo Leg (chook keok) which is meaty, sweet and sticky. So, remember this when you want to buy me durian.

Gohtong Jaya

2009-09-19T23:50:00.007+08:00

The trip to Gohtong Jaya was very nice and relaxing. May, Mike and Ronnie played golf at Awana and not even halfway through, they were totally drenched in the rain! But they kept on going. Crazy golfers.

Meng and me took the longest nap. It was like recharging my batteries for the next 6 months or so. The penthouse apartment was spacious.

We had lunch at the shophouses and then later had sumptious durian. In the evening, we took the cable car to Genting to meet up with uncle Shan who graciously treated us to noodles at the casino.

Lady luck was absent. Ronnie's friend gave us a lift back to Gohtong Jaya and we spent the night chatting, drinking wine and munching on kacang.

Next morning, we visited the strawberry farm just outside the apartments. They also farm mushrooms, flowers and sell the usual souvenirs.

Here are some pictures taken

Strawberry flower is white, then it loses the petals and morph into a strawberry (green)
interesting shape eh

fan

rose

bunga raya

azaleas

i dont know what but its interesting looking -like a meeting of seals

the flower before it becomes the seal

lemon and flower

bunga raya again

I did not know this ivy can bear flowers

mushrooms

bunga raya again

orchids-

the following are from the apartment

managed to get some seeds, hope they will grow

I bet u cannot guess what flower this is

Yup, cannas

After that we packed up and Ronnie took us to Menjalara to have the "best" curry mee. Ya, it was good

The teh was great too.

What a perfect ending to our trip!

Tasek Gelugor Trip

2009-09-18T17:03:00.006+08:00

Hi again. Before I show you the pictures of food and plants (what else) of our Tasek Gelugor trip, here's a picture of a freak baby papaya pod in a papaya. In fact, there were 2. Too much messing around with the genes I think.

Uncle Ronnie took May, Mike, Angeline, Igor, their 2 sons and us to a restaurant in Taman Menjalara for wonderful Loh Mein, fish cooked 2 ways and pork ribs with chinese bunsFish

Loh Mein, sharks fin style

Pork ribs

Curry Fish

Ok, here are the photos from Tasek Gelugor

Pictures are abit blurred

clams

scallops

deep fried pork leg

crab porridge

sotong tentacles dipped in chili sauce

Yes, it was a veritable feast and all very delicious.

We went to Meng's eldest sis's house to rest and shower before going back for prayers and these were some pretty flowers in their compound.

their cactus was flowering

H U G E

How time flies

2009-09-10T23:43:00.003+08:00

One moment she was back here having teh tarik and roti canai with fried fish and fish roe and next she is over at Gold Coast again. Good luck Mei and take care of yourself and Lily.

Oh ya, my Congratulations to Nick for obtaining your PR status. May your success rub off on the others!

What's up?

2009-09-10T23:30:00.003+08:00

Ok, I think someone has been plundering our plants and we noticed that it always happen when there is tuition at Mr. Ang's house. Must be one of those cars that are always parked outside while waiting for the students. . Recently chunks of dirt and pink flowers were dug up from the flower bed bordering the mango tree outside which upsets popo. Sigh, whats wrong with these people? Can't they just ask and we will teach them how to break off the stems and replant them without making a hole in our beds?

Just to show you whats been going on in the garden lately:-
This is some kind of fruit that is not common here. Meng brought back the seed and it is growing quite well

Now it is a bit bigger

Fern that I found growing randomly so I transplanted it and its much bigger now

Quirky flower with 4 pop eyes and 1 whisker. Some of the floweres are yellow and some are red. It is so cute and zany looking . Sometimes 1 of the "eyes" turn black! Lagi funny looking. Lately, we transferred the pot outside. Hope nobody hijack it! Shoo!!

Plants Updates

2009-09-04T01:57:00.003+08:00

Want to see another angle of the brinjal? Looks like a side profile of Pinocchio doesn't it? Another deviant brinjal has sprung up. Must be all that cross breeding and stuff. Popo don't seem to want to harvest and eat them. So it is more for ornamental purposes.

This is a banana flower or heart or plantain blossom. The tracts will open upwards to unveil the bananas. Then it will dry out and drop off

By some weird coincidence one of the tracts was curled around the stem of a tapioca leave in a stranglehold So pretty

My new phone wallpaper

All babies are cute including bananas

Now it is growing up and looks gangly and such like a teenager. haha.

Night night.

Holidays= what did we do?

2009-08-28T22:00:00.008+08:00

On Wednesday, we were invited to Auntie Christine's house for homecooked meal. It was quite a spread and all the food was cooked by her mother-in-law. We especially liked the red wine residue chicken with black fungus. Since I was thinking of trying to replicate the dish, I tried in vain to obtain the wine at Herbs and Food. The wine had to be specially ordered it seems and so Auntie Chris said she will order 3 bottles for us. Wah Lau... so many. Pics were blurred, so no postings here.

We had dinner at Fatty Crab in Taman Megah but the pictures were again disappointing. Auntie Younnie's children are quite grown up now! We even saw Erra Fazirah (hope it is spelt correctly) chowing down on crabs with a friend. After the usual sumptious dinner we went to SS3's Pasar Malam to buy Xlily's flower clips.

On Saturday night, we had dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in Taman Desa with Auntie Chris and family again together with Wen Li's in-laws who are from Cameron Highlands. They brought with them the famous Koo Chai /Yam/Sengkuang Kueh. Then we adjourned to her house for drinks, kueh and chit chat. Then Jen Li and Pet Li came home with the cutest cake.

It seems August 30th is Jen Li's birthday.
We overstayed our welcome and finally made a move. There was a road block but luckily Mei was driving.

The next morning the kuehs were pan fried and we had some ham and cheese croissants.

Then I made bubur cha cha and kaya too. Ya, again. My repertoire is very limited.

Auntie Alyna, popo and Grace bought all the stuff for Auntie Sai Mooi to make assam laksa and we did. Too bad I forgot to snap some pics.

Uncle Hung Kwang and family came to visit too.

Oh ya, Gin came to pay for the Procosa but it turned out to be a mini interview-like. hehe.

Again, we were invited by Auntie Chris for Indian vegetarian food in Bangsar. Kirsten and mum were there too.

They served the roti canai, naan, capati with rice and a set of dips or gravies and tomato soup as a starter and a scoop of ice cream at the end. Other dishes comprised of deep fried battered cauliflower, popiah, curry "chicken" and "mutton". It was air-conditioned and supposedly upscale. However, the waiters kept getting the orders wrong and the teh tarik tasted nothing like the milky and dyed version that we are used to in plain stalls and bistros.

And after all that, you get extremely thirsty and I was a major producer of natural gas. Guess they do not believe in using Asofetida in their cooking.

Imagine, after that Auntie S Mooi and Uncle Mike had their first dose of chilled D24 durian bought from Carrefour the day before. If I do that I might just explode. Too much gaseous matter.

Way too much information.

Brinjal in Thumbnails!

2009-08-23T23:55:00.003+08:00

Ok, so the brinjal picture did make it into the Star newspaper although no RM50 for me. Anyway, go vote for me just for the heck of it if you want to. It is on http://thumbnails.thestar.com.my/ , It is under "recent days", 22.8.09.

Do you think I should submit my triplet cempedak picture or will the Star think I am a pervert? haha. Night night.

Udders and all that

2009-08-23T23:32:00.005+08:00

Mei's voyage to her rediscovery of Msian food began today at the Indian hawker stall in SS3 PJ.

It was a hot and sunny day

The sunny top is from FOS.

Look how happy she is with the food

Update on the brinjal. Now it has a brand new appendage and they look like cow's udders
A sneak peak of the baby bananas hidden beneath the hood that I showed you in my previous

post.

They look like 9 Fido Didos

Aren't they just too cute and precious?

Stolen, Wow and Double Wow

2009-08-21T23:24:00.008+08:00

Stolen. Yes, this pair of cikus that I have blogged about recently can now be officially declared stolen. One went missing 2 days ago and yesterday, the other one has kaput too. People who visit SS18 for one reason or another like to steal fruits etc. The other day someone stole our flower pot. They just dumped the soil out and took the pot! Unbelievable!

Now it is just a distant memory.....

Just when we thought the banana was not going to bear fruit, it did. This is the welcomed sight of the huge flower shoot

This is a green brinjal flower.
Who would have thought such a demure little thing can grow up and express itself in such a manner --
Is that a nose, thumb or the finger?

I submitted it to thumbnails.thestar.com.my. If my picture gets selected, don't forget to go on the site and vote for me! hehe

The flower has finally bloomed

Note the lilac filaments? So pretty

4 huge flowers

Oh we brought the whole pot in. Otherwise, its going to be stolen too for sure.

You wouldn't think that the pictures can come out so well from the handphone right but it did and I am so pleased with them

It is my computer wallpaper now. Love it so so much

Hoping to be able to blog about the progress of the banana tree. Rather excited because this is a first. Pray no one steals the fruit man.

Bye, a good weekend to all of you.

Focaccia

2009-08-21T01:20:00.004+08:00

Tried making bread recently - FOCACCIA. It was very easy, practically no fail. However, it is best consumed on the same day it is made. A great accompaniment with a lamb dish, dipped in soup as a starter.

Mei said it can also be dipped in an olive oil vinegarette. Sounds good too. Sad to say I experimented with it late into the night so only a few pieces were eaten. The rest was kept in the fridge. When there were no takers, I crumbled and scattered them outside for the birds to enjoy

Rosemary, parsley, garlic and onions

At least I actually tried something from my cookbooks instead of treating them like food pornography - SEE SEE NO ACTION.

Happy

2009-08-16T22:43:00.003+08:00

We had the "best nasi lemak" in Damansara Jaya. Personally, it was just alright. Nothing to shout about. However you will not think so if you can only see the crowd! 2 shoplots and air-conditioned.
We had sotong plus fried chicken. They actually have many varieties for you to choose from.

But guess who is happy to have her teh si cham

Pig out time

2009-08-16T22:15:00.003+08:00

Lily!! The cempedak is fruiting again! Hopefully some will jadi. The jambu tree is only beginning to grow back its leaves in tufts. The hateful bee-like insect is hovering around waiting to invade the tree again I guess.

There are presently 3 cikus on the tree with a promise of more to come judging from the new growth that can be seen.

And finally.... remember the giant flower that we bought 1 year ago? It is flowering again!!! Popo was just commenting that the plant has not flowered at all and then the very next day I noticed the new shoots! What a miracle....haha.

So excited that I keep taking pics of it.

I wish I can freeze it at its prettiest.

Will keep you posted of the full bloom.

Don't Play with your food!

2009-08-09T23:32:00.008+08:00

Some people just don't listen to their mothers. But then again they may have mothers who do not have any such restrictions and well, they grow up and the playing gets sophisticated----

still not my fav vege

this is good Now you know..poodles do look good in green

some even make them into elaborate food art ala picasso or van gogh

Nope, its not housefly on your food...

Latest method in making creme brulee

scary....thats how watermelons become seedless

Did you know you can do this to your oranges? and compete in competitions?

Sorry, wrong family tree. Just not meant for each other
Self squeezing oranges

It carries itself too

keeps you looking young and slim

This was my idea of food art haha...

Finally tried making pandan chiffon cake. It was alright but not great. The orange version is still better.

Multi-Tasking

2009-08-01T23:35:00.005+08:00

Ever heard of the Chinese saying "lan yan tor see" (translation: lazy people lots to shit-meaning only idle ppl has lots of free time to visit the toilet) or "or see mm tak han" (translation: too busy to even shit-which is self-explanatory)?

Well lately, I find that I have more time to take care of that business now that the children have flown the coop. No more interruptions every few minutes you are in the toilet. Parents of young children will understand what I mean.

Now, when I am disposing my waste, I mostly take time to catch up on some light reading. Some people find that this is the only time they get to reflect on their life and some deem it the ideal time to catch a smoke.

And then, there are those who just can't stop the wheels from turning in their head, even in the toilet.

Lookee here:=

Now you are going to view your toilet rolls differently

fantastic
I wonder whether pooping and creative juices are connected in some weird way

But then I think not, because I don't think I'll be able to do this, pooping or not.

Inspired?

Think you can do better?

The most lifelike

These are called toilet roll sculptures and the artist is Junior Fritz Jacquet who is
fascinated with paper, exploring and experimenting with different techniques of folding and crumpling to create new art forms.

It does make going to the toilet kind of adventuresome. Who knows what else you can think of or create the next time you are sitting on your throne. No wonder they say we are only using a tiny percentage of our brain . Imagine what we can achieve if we use our brain more.

And looks like we are really only using it when we sit on that throne!

We really have to extend toilet time for the benefit of mankind.

Fishy tales

2009-07-27T21:21:00.006+08:00

Ok no tales. Just got some email on this subject recently with bizarre fish pictures. It is not so surprising to see that they are not very different from us. We have the huge fish that grow to unimaginable sizes and the vicious (garang) ones. Nowadays we have that variety in human form going round robbing and slashing ppl in the Subang area.

And then, we also have the placid, dopey and facially challenged ones and of course the good looking and cute ones. Not all fish are born equal either. Just see what I mean.

Today, I am going to skip the huge and garang ones.

Fathead (genus Psychrolutes)"Mr. Blobby"

Monkfish.
Look closely at the opening of the mouth (upside down)
Do you see the face of a man with rustafan hairstyle ? creepy

Giant Grouper. Looks kinda crossed-eyed.

Thick lips like Angelina Jolie's are highly prized in Chinese cuisine

This one looks like its being deep fried in batter.
Actually it is how a good yam puff should look like properly fried

Giant eel. Looking really sullen (we call it "aw too too")

Friendly whale. Looks like it is singing a song for the little girl

Axolotl - a freshwater salamander- Cute leh.
Now you know where they get their inspiration for Pokemon characters.. they are real!!!

Hehe...... Baby Stingray ah.......Like a baby something trapped in some plastic wrap.. help!!

Ta!

Nobody

2009-07-10T22:15:00.001+08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBn1e9pr2Q

Nice Korean song while I crack my head on what to blog next....

Trip to See a Friend

2009-07-09T21:13:00.009+08:00

We made an impromptu trip to Penang this Wednesday and Thursday. It was extremely difficult to juggle Meng and my timetable and also that of Meng's friend Wolfgang and his wife, Connie, who are here in Penang for a visit. He is a physiotherapist with the German Football Team, Bayern Munich (or Munchen). We had to make it happen as they were going home this weekend.

One simply has to take a break at Bukit Gantang rest stop just to feast on or feast your eyes on the wonderful fruits that was sold there.
Drool, Lili, drool. Guavas

I saw this monster of a cempedak. I love cempedak deep fried

Dokong. Meng likes this very much. There were mangosteens, giant jambus, cikus, pineapples, dragonfruits and others. I don't know, the fruits here may be more expensive than in KL probably because they take opportunity to ketuk "tourists".

Ok, note to self. Don't buy this again. Very salty and "chye" feeling.

Finally, Penang bridge.

Since it was lunchtime, Meng headed straight to Line Clear "outdoor" famous nasi kandar place. It is situated at some backlane and open air but the special thing about the place is that it has an "indoor" toilet - meaning the toilet is in one of the shophouses.

Drenched with goodies and curry

Dark curry chicken which is sweetish

Tried to take snapshots from car since there was simply no time to stop for touristy things

Don't know what is this, just looked interesting

Checked into Tanjung Bungah Hotel after some hopping around looking for "a better deal"

Seaview RM178 and Hillview RM148

If you book online, it is supposedly cheaper.

Also, Friday and Saturday's rate will be higher

some pics at the lobby area - restaurant

Reception and waiting area meaning lobby haha, thats how "big" it is

I must say there are no frills like great food, nice restaurants or good entertainment. But if you are looking for a nice bed, 1 soft and 1 hard pillow with smooth sheets and clean bathroom and good shower, then this place is quite alright. Seaview not so claustrophobic

Meng at the entrance

Moreover, it was just opposite of Ah Seoh's double storey house.
Ah Seoh and husband are friends of Wolgang too from way back when. They are putting them up at their spare condominium along Batu Ferringhi Road.

The view from their condominium. See the mosque in the middle? Its floating on water. They used to have a clear and unobstructed view of the shoreline but now highrises are sprouting everywhere and blocking the view. I was too chicken to go to the edge of the balcony.

Inside the condominium

After that, we went to a restaurant recommended by Ah Seoh but it was closed that day but we took some pictures there

Ah Seoh and husband

The closest we got to the beach

same place, different angle

Majestic looking tree near the place where we parked our car.

Then we went to another restaurant somewhere further down the road.

The garden was pretty

In the sunset

water hyacinth

That was the only redeeming factor because the restaurant was not nice and the food was barely palatable

For a very long while, we were the only customer, then came a caucasian couple

and that makes 2 tables. So you can guess how good the food was.

Immediately after that we went to gurney drive to look for mua chee

but unfortunately it was not operating that day

Sample of goodies found there ikan bakar

Fried chicken wings, sausages, etc

Fried Oysters (or chien) - We had this

Meng waiting for the sotong bakar that he insisted on Connie trying.

When she got to the stalls, I knew she could not tahan the smell but was too polite to say anything. So I mentioned that the pungent smells are coming from the sotong bakar and the heh ko from the asam laksa

All the different specialty biscuits known for Penang

Sotong rojak

Well, after tasting it she still did not change her mind about the sotong haha

Next morning, we had quick free breakfast by the hotel

Hotels really specialise is bland tasteless food whenever it is a buffet or if it is free with accommodation so as to deter you from eating too much
Picked them up for roti canai breakfast opposite the hotel. They love teh tarik and also durians.

To while away time till our next meal, we went to Gurney Plaza so that Connie could do some shopping. But the place was not so happening I have to say.

Then we went to Penang road for Cendol,

char kway teow which was expensive and salty. We did not try the asam laksa because we did not want to gross Connie out with the heh koh smell

Not sure whether they are grossed out with the condition of the restaurant or not.

Thumbs up only for the cendol and watermelon juice

the cendol stall

other stalls along the road

It was blistering hot and we were roasting under the sun waiting for Ah Seoh to pick them up.

Then we said our goodbyes and headed for home, sweet, home.

Sorry, we could not make any visits to relatives as the whole thing was too rushed. We could have extended the visit but I had to be back for a meeting on Friday, so........ I am the spoilsport.

In closing, we are sad to say that Penang is no longer a food haven like before. With the same amount of money, we can get a bigger portion of food in Klang valley and if you know all the key places, the food tastes infinitely better too. So in future, the attraction will only be the people and the beach.

Awesome plus Awesome

2009-07-06T00:15:00.007+08:00

As you know, we had dinner with Alex New who was back for a visit and the food was awesome. The small squids were crispy and coated with a sweet sour sauce. The suckling pig was Alex's favourite. He said one was not enough, so he ordered another one. The soon hock fish meat was so thick and the crab was cooked with salted egg and they are from Australia haha. There was also a dish of fried chicken and green vegetables and wat tan hor with beef.

Mei, when you come home we will visit this place again and treat you to the suckling pig. The guys did not get to pay for the dinner because Alex was one step ahead of them.

And you will be extremely sad to know that the leftover suckling pig was bungkus-ed by Simon Ho for his dog! boohoo right? Hehe

Another awesome thing is this artist/s that created these paintings. I will just take the easy way out and cut paste the story here.

Great Crevasse

Edgar Mueller, together with up to five assistants, painted all day long from sunrise to sunset. The picture appeared on the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, as part of the town's Festival of World Cultures.
He spent five days, working 12 hours a day, to create the 250 square metre image of the crevasse, which, viewed from the correct angle, appears to be 3D. He then persuaded passers-by to complete the illusion by pretending the gaping hole was real.

'I wanted to play with positives and negatives to encourage people to think twice about everything they see,' he said. 'It was a very scary scene, but when people saw it they had great fun playing on it and pretending to fall into the earth. 'I like to think that later, when they returned home, they might reflect more on what a frightening scenario it was and say, "Wow, that was actually pretty scary".'

Mueller, who has previously painted a giant waterfall in Canada , said he was inspired by the British 'Pavement Picasso' Julian Beever, whose dramatic but more gentle 3D street images have featured in the Daily Mail.

And this is Julian Beever, his inspiration.

Today I learned a new concept in contemporary art that involves brilliant optical illusions. Trompe-l'oeil (pronounced as trump-LOY) is an art technique that requires extremely realistic imagery so as to create the optical illusion in that one can visualize objects as three-dimensional, when in fact it is actually a two-dimensional piece of work. Trompe-l'oeil is French for "to trick or fool the eye", and dates as far back to Baroque period in the 16th and 17th centuries as its origin. One of its new age proponents is Julian Beever, the famous English chalk artist that implements the Trompe-l'oeil tecnnique. Not on paintings. But on pavement surfaces. As an addition, he utilizes anamorphosis to better view his "chalk paintings". He has been doing this terrific chalk art since the 1990s, and he has been commissioned by corporations around the world to create advertising images, and murals in movies. Here are samples of Julian Beever's amazing chalk works.

Get ready to go "ooh" "aah" or just speechless with awe

So, who do you think is better? The inspiration or the inspired?

and what will they think of next?

Wall art-

It will be a H U G E mistake to drive through that tunnel!

Sound Advice from your mother

2009-06-30T22:13:00.012+08:00

Hey, Mei and Li, just thought I should remind you of some of the advice that you should be heeding now that you are by yourselves over there. Cheong hei or not here goes and in pictures no less in case you are too lazy to read:-

Always try to help each other and any friend in need alright

Get plenty of exercise. (Looks so much like both of you, haha)

Read to exercise the brain (not only storybooks but school books ok)

Use the bathroom regularly (although not together at the same time)

Bathe regularly (even when it is cold out)

Meet new people, even if they look different to you (try not to be shy like moi)

Believe that people will like you for who you are

Eat plenty of vegetables

Don't over indulge yourself

Control your drinking of alcoholic beverages (Lili absolutely none for you)

Always wear a seatbelt

Eat right.
(Less fast food and junk food. I know it is tempting in a new environment)

Make sure your hair is dry before going to bed.

Dress right for the weather

At the end of the day... PRAY

Live up to your name (in your case, the formidable "Khan" legacy)

Exercise to keep fit (emphasise again)

Brush twice a day

Always try to see the glass half full (optimistic ok)

Watch your Step

Share your stuff with each other

Be conscious of your appearance

Express yourself creatively

Share a Joke with Friends

Try to have a little fun each day......it's important (and then go clean up the mess ok)

Take an occasional risk (but be smart enough to not get trapped)

Be weird whenever you have the chance

Who says cats only have 1 look - haughty. Thats where they get the phrase cat walk I guess. All those models walking around with the haughty look.

But this one looks downright goofy doesn't it?

Get Plenty of Rest and I mean it

Remain calm, even when it seems hopeless ...omg

Laugh Often (another non stereotypical cat)
Remember, DON’T BE OVERLY CONCERNED WITH YOUR WEIGHT,

ITS JUST A NUMBER

This picture reminds me of someone who wants to stowaway in the luggage when you left.

Remember to stick together and support each other!

Good day!

The Day She Went Away

2009-06-29T22:32:00.005+08:00

Mei called after Lili boarded the plane. "So, what are you guys doing?" Well, actually me and Meng were at a loss. Feeling sleep deprived, we tried to nap but to no particular avail. You know the feeling when you are trying to stay up to study for exams and subsisting on caffeine only. Feeling highly strung, tired and jittery. hehe macam withdrawal sympton only.

Then Mei said, "Go and have lunch. Yong Tau Foo in Old Town. How can you not want to eat the yummy stuffed eggplant!" Sure enough, we bucked up and off we went to Old Town:-

Now we look like any old couple having a lonely meal while others nearby speculate whether we have children or not.

Thats what I used to do when I see matured couples having meals

super duper

It does look yummy

Oh, Lili, just thought that for the record,
I should take a pic of the sky on the day you went away.
It was BLUE SKIES AND EVERYTHING NICE. The perfect wish for you and Mei.

Eat, eat, eat

2009-06-28T21:30:00.007+08:00

On the day of lily's farewell, we started of with roti canai breakfast. What else right.

After checking in luggage, 1 gang was in McDonalds and another gang in Marrybrowns. Eat again.

Then after Lily departed, the young ones went to Asia Cafe to yumcha again. Wah lau.

Our appreciation and thanks to everyone for the friendship and moral support that money cannot buy and to all those who supported us financially, your contribution has brought us peace of mind.

Arigato yet again.

farewell food

2009-06-27T00:25:00.004+08:00

Another one is leaving the coop. As usual the chef, Grace, cooked up a storm so that the family could have a meal with Xuelily. Even Kakak Lasli (hope I got the spelling right) contributed.

Fried sotong by kakak
Fried chicken by kakak

"choon keen" by Grace

steamed chicken too

fried fish

I only had stamina for 1 dish and thats....

butter oats prawns

Of course there were 2 dishes of vege and 1 more fish and Pig Stomach soup which was not to everyone's taste. Not because they did not like the taste but because they dare not even try it! hehe

But trust me, it tasted great. Well never mind. Less man more share.

Remember This?

2009-06-11T01:52:00.003+08:00

Now I am going to torture you with this picture that I downloaded from my phone today. It looks good wrong side up or right side up.

Indian Rojak or Pasembur
Yahoo.... and luckily for me the best one is in SS15, Subang Jaya.

I wonder whether the fella who thought of this concoction stumbled upon it with various leftovers on hand or actually composed it like Beethoven composes genius music with well thought out medley of diversed ingredients that just meld into something so yummy. It is like a healthy salad drenched in unhealthy gooey sweet sauce. Both good and evil at the same time.

Good combination I tell you.

Why I remain a drinker - till I die

2009-06-11T00:13:00.003+08:00

The following came in an email. It is funny and cruel at the same time. Might as well share it with you. Go ahead and have some guilty amusement.

Yup, drinkers everywhere rejoice when they see this. Now they have solid validation for their happy hour/s that stretches from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight.

1919 Anti-Drinking Poster...

If you were around in 1919 (just before prohibition started) and came upon
the following poster .....

I mean, seriously, would you quit drinking?

Kikiki........sorry....

*Rainbow Jade*