wet and cold and dreary

It has been raining continuously for the past three days. I have to iron dry my clothes. The weather is cloudy, gloomy and cold. I wear socks in the house because the floor is too cold.

This dreary weather does not help my mood. Today is the worst of all cloudy days. Ma complained of back pain (for quite a few days). So this morning we sent her to see Dr Lim. After an x-ray, he found her lumbar has collapsed. It had happened before about 5 years or so ago. It was worse that time; she couldn't even get out of bed.

She is to go home with Ing today. After a jab of pain-killer and lunch; she was ready to leave. It was almost 7pm when Ing phoned to tell me she couldn't wake Ma up. It seemed Ma had fallen into unconsiousness. Her tongue had rolled upwards and bro-in-law couldn't feel her pulse. I panicked and started screaming in fright(I know I shouldn't do that; my apologies to Ing). It was just so shocking and unexpected. I told Ing to go straight to the hospital. I was crying in fright. Had KC sms Pastor and Justine to pray.

When Ing was reaching the hospital, she shook Ma again and she opened her eyes and said; 'we have reached is it?' She was surprised that she was in front of the hospital and quickly said, 'I'm well now; don't need to go to the hospital.'

The relief and joy to hear Ma talk. They returned to sis' house to feed her dinner. What a relief to know that she has big appetite and could eat well even though everything was tasteless.

That was the drama during this cloudy and moody day.

With so much rain; the boys had not the chance to try out the new bike. In desperation, they cycled in the rain around the garden. Here are some pictures of them.


Setting out in the rain.

Have hat will travel. The ground is totally wet and the floor is slippery.

The garden is full of puddles.....they dirtied the porch.

Finally, thank God all is well despite the dreary weather and we pray for a good lunar year celebration. Blessed Rabbit Year to all who celebrate too.

pre-cny celebration

It's the time of the year again where all we think about is food, food and more food. When I was a kid, ma will buy a few types of cookies and put them high up on the cupboard so that we can't reach for them and 'curi makan'. They are meant to be opened up and eaten on CNY day.

I am totally opposite. I have baked my favourite choco nut cookies and bought a variety of other cookies. I told the kids to eat and eat and eat....while they are still fresh. When CNY comes, there is so much of other food to eat; they won't be interested in the cookies anymore. So eat.......Here are pictures of the cookies and food which we have already started eating before CNY. (Some of the pics are blur because I was too lazy to open the container to take the pic.)


The choco nut which I baked. We have already finished a big container.

This is cornflake cookies....real crispy and nice. I bought this from PBS. Persatuan Berdikari Seremban is a community of kids with disabilities. The trainers helped and supervised them to bake the cookies. One small bottle is RM12, I bought 5 because it's real good.


Ngaku or arrowroot chips. Supposed to be very easy to fry but I'm too lazy for this kind of stuff. We love this. We've finished two bottles. I bought 8 all together. 4 from Caryn...hmmm not so good and 4 from Joyce Wan (a student)....very good. It's thick and crispy and really has the uuumph.

Bakua or pork jerky. This box is almost finished. The price keeps increasing. I used to spend RM100 and get 4 boxes. Now it's RM39 perbox.

Extra picture...don't know how to delete.

My all famous keropok. I fried two containers. One all sealed up to be taken home to Sitiawan. Sealed up so that Ing will not 'curi makan'; otherwise when CNY comes, there is nothing left. The other container; finished half. Ate with acar for dinner just now. Acar is also for CNY. I bought two containers. Think not enough. Will finish before CNY. Need to get more.

This is choco cookies which I bought from Pn Halimatun. Really thick and rich in taste and crispy. Half a container gone. Bit expensive. RM35.

Seaweed crisp. Just opened up a bottle and we are all snacking on it. Bought it from Joyce. She charged me real cheap. Did my calculation and found that each bottle is only about RM14; much cheaper than Caryn's.

Mandarin oranges....we've already finished quite a few. This is a new box. Dan seems to like it a lot. Pretty careful in consuming this as it can cause bad cough. KC and Dan just recovered from it.

history, history, history

The Form Five History textbook.....look what one of the students have put on the cover!!!! It was posted on her facebook and the response from her friends was awesome. The teens are tired of this dry and dreary text. They need a diversion. Having to memorize the facts is just making it worse.

 

I am a History teacher; using this text to teach. I must say the Form 5 text can be quite a challenge. I do struggle trying to get the students' attention and interest and it gets worse each year.

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puppy love

He received the above card from a girl with the words 'your girlfriend' pointing to the picture of a girl. So he seeks the advice of his family.

Dad : Send her a card and tell her to study hard and not think

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The Queen's Fool

This is a historical fiction about Henry VIII's two daughters; Mary and Elizabeth who were both queens of England. The story is seen through the eyes of a fictitious character; a Jewish girl named Hannah. I've always thought of Mary as the bad queen and Elizabeth as the good queen. Not sure how I came about with this perspective. After reading the book, I start to sympathise with Mary and see her as a victim who tried to get to what was her right....to be the queen

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A walk to remember

A walk to remember: "A walk to rememberEdit Delete
by siamooi on January 14, 2011
A walk to remember by Nicholas Sparks. I have this book!! I think it was Lyn who bought it. Now how did my teenage daughter start on Nicholas Sparks? Must be her friends. Infact we have watched the movie too.
It's quite an interesting book about a pastor's daughter who is like goody two shoes and the town's notorious guy. At the end, I think that she died but Lyn refuses to admit that she died. Anyway....I still think she died. Otherwise the story won't be so interesting.
Nicholas Sparks is one of my favourite romance authors but it's quite frustrating reading his books because he twists the ending in such an unexpected way that I'll"

rain cats and dogs

This is mid January and there seems to be lots of rain again. Usually before CNY, it would be dry and windy. This morning it rained heavily the whole morning. Yesterday, I was in school till evening. At about 3.00pm, it started to pour heavily. After the meeting, we opened the Bilik Bestari door and was shocked to see the water overflowed from the drain to the corridors.

Here are some pictures which I took time to capture.


Girls leaving school after Japanese class at 4.30pm.


I walked barefooted as I didn't want to spoil my shoes or slip and fall.


Put my shoes on dry ground so I could take pics.


The corridor was totally flooded. By the time I jumped into my car; I was wet.

asam laksa

I had been wanting to cook asam laksa since the last holiday for Neechia to eat. On the very day that I planned to cook, Justine phoned and asked us over to eat asam laksa in her house. So I put the fish back into the fridge and took it out again this morning.

I went to the market to get the other stuff needed for it. Didn't make a list; so I forgot quite a few stuff.


This is 'bunga kantan'. It can be used as garnishing but I just throw it into the soup.


Mint leaves on the left and 'daun kesum' on the right. Mint leaves are for garnishing. 'Daun kesum is to be thrown into the soup when it is almost done. Daun kesum is used to cook asam fish...it is a must to give it the ooomph!

Shallots; a small bowl. Usually I will peel double of this but I was just cooking a small pot today. Didn't invite anybody over (not in the mood to have guests over).

Chillies....ok; I have only six chillies. This is way too little. I need at least 12-16 chillies to give it the 'hotness'. I thought I had chillies in the fridge; that was why I only pick up a few this morning. When I opened the fridge to get the chillies; I found the chillies all dried up and wrinkled. So had to do with just 6 chillies and it was so so so unpedas!!! I had to add chilli powder into my soup!

Blend the chillies, serai (lemongrass), onions and a small piece of belacan together.

This is the fishbones after being deboned. I used kembong. Sometimes I use selar. Boil the fish with two pieces of smashed serai in a pot of water. Keep the water as stock. Debone the fish. I think that was about 8 fishes up there....a kg I think.

The fish after deboning. Must be real thorough doing it; otherwise it's quite irritating to keep biting into fishbone while eating. This is the part which take time and I dislike. That's why I hardly cook laksa.

The garnishing and the noodles. For garnishing : cucumber, pineapple, mintleaves, big onions (I forgot to buy), chillies (optional), boiled eggs and lime (for those who like the laksa real sour).

Finally, the laksa is served with a spoon of shrimp paste (petis udang). See the colour is not red; because not enough chillies. But it is overflowing with fish. I love my laksa with lots of fish. Oh yes, must add a bowl of asam jawa water and also a few pieces of asam keping.

I know it's not much of a recipe....but that's how I cook. Simply add this and that and then taste. Of course my food does not taste as strong and powerful as Ing's as I am very careful and cautious when adding this and that whereas Ing will dump all the this and that generously.

It was really delicious except not pedas enough and I miss the big onions.

fruit smoothie

Ing had been trying to convince me to get this fruit juicer for a long long time. She thinks that it is so wonderful because everything is blended till fine and there is no wastage.

Finally, last holiday, she told me that she can get it with some redemption vouchers for about RM199. I agreed to her to stop her from pestering me. When the gadget arrived in the house, I just threw it in a corner; hoping to give it to her as a christmas present. Unfortunately, somebody is already giving it to her for christmas.

I dislike putting gadgets in the kitchen as it clutters the place. I dislike taking it in and out of the cabinet; so it will eventually become a white elephant.

When I visited CC in Singapore, she blended all sorts of fruit juices for us to drink. There was starfruit, apple, orange, mango and whatever fruits she has. It was wonderful. She is a strong believer of drinking fresh fruit juices. I went to her tiny and cluttered kitchen and saw the juicer. It is the same as mine!!!!!! I told myself; if she has space for it in her tiny kitchen, then I must have space in mine too.

So here begins my passion for blending fruit juices. About twice a day if I'm hardworking. Lyn helps too. If I am not in a hurry in the morning, each of us will have a mug of juice(except Dan) before leaving the house.



Here is the juicer. I have a whole pineapple (after I cut it; not much left) and half a guava in there. The apple cider+ honey is on the left and there is maple syrup to sweeten it. I put a spoon of each. Then I add a cup of water.


This shows the various functions on the machine. I start off by pressing the smoothie for a while. After that, I will add ice; so press the ice function. Pulse is used if the machine is heavy and need more energy.


Ice....I skip this most of the time as I don't like my juice very cold.

After blending, this is how the juice looks like.

For this amount of fruits and water, I get 1 mug and 2 big mugs of juice. It is simply delicious especially with the apple cider plus honey.

I have tried quite a variety of combination. I put whatever fruits that I have in the fridge except banana and papaya. All of them taste good. I even put asamboi in....nice sourish tinge to it!!

writer's block

Made a few attempts but at the end just left them in draft.....I'm suffering from writer's block this year. Just can't focus. Don't know why. Will take a break till am inspired again.