Ichiban Ramen

Lyn's birthday last week. Let her choose where she wanted to go for dinner. Finally after much thinking, we ended up here...Ichiban Ramen. She loves Jap n korean food. This is the only Japanese restaurant that we have not tried.

The place is so narrow and packed. Four of us shared a real tiny table. Felt so squeezed.

Lyn ordered an eel bento. We love eel cooked this way. She seems most satisfied with it.


KC had kimchi noodles....very tasty. A bit milkish...or could it be santan?

I had seafood ramen....see the top is covered totally with vegetables and two large prawns. To my surprise when I got to the bottom, it was actually yeemee!!!! I expected something Japanese; didn't know ramen means yeemee. Ok la....kind of flat the taste after trying KC's noodles.

Dan had some sort of rice and chicken with eggs. He said it was the best ever!! As long as it is rice and not spicy; he is happy. Didn't manage to get a picture as he was already digging too far into the food.

We had an interesting discussion on what we prefer if given a choice of noodles and rice.....the kids will definitely choose rice (but Lyn will have any rice except fried rice and chicken rice). KC and I prefer noodles.

When we paid the bill, we were pleasantly surprised to have a twenty percent discount when we swiped the CIMB credit card.

Teacher's Day 2011

A yearly affair...teacher's day celebration. It's almost the same every year...games, followed by presentation in the hall and end with makan. After 19 years of teaching; kind of immune to all these celebrations. Think I would be happier if the teachers are given a day off. Anyway...I was pretty sporting this year. I played 'galah panjang'!!! I hated the game as a kid because I will always be the first one to 'die'. Really....I was dead within seconds!!

As usual, students will shower us with presents....I do appreciate their thoughtfulness but I feel very bad that they have to spend money to get these stuff. I have taken pictures of some of them; left some in school and some pictures didn't look too good. I think the most touching present was when Taty (my Form 1 student) came up to me to hug me. I always scold her and if she look blur, I'll ignore her because I just don't know what else to do with her and don't have the patience to help her understand. (She is extremely weak in her English and most of the time she can't follow me). After her hug, I felt bad for being impatient with her. Sigh...a reminder to me that she needs my attention more than the others.

Below are some cards and presents which the girls gave....

Thank you girls for all the lovely pressies...there are many more that are not here. Totally appreciate them. Next year maybe I'll make them get As for me as present....what about that????

exam fever

First it was Dan...preparing for exam seems pretty simple for him. Just take his book, read (or pretending to read??) and at the same time talking incessantly to the sister or whoever is around him. When the clock shows 8.30pm, his revision is done. Pack his bag and ready for bed!! After each paper, no worries...all done with.

Then the sister's turn. It was stressful. I felt stressed looking at her. Locked in her room; sometimes carrying the book to and fro, looking for a conducive place to study.... Her busyness with the choir pracitices had taken a toll on her study time. Her reaction after each exam varies from frown, smile, mutterings to tantrum.... I think the worst was her History paper. Sometimes I wonder if she's being to hard on herself just because the mother is a History teacher and thus she has higher expectations of herself.

Dan received his report card early this week. Grades dropped especially Maths. I had to take drastic actions. No more TV, computer, nintendo till after UPSR. Every evening after dinner, it's Maths practice till bedtime. Well, if this does not help I don't know what else to do.

The sister will have to wait till after the holidays. I will brace myself for more temper and tantrum...she has given me sufficient warning that her grades may drop too. Did threaten to confiscate the ipod if it happens.

Sigh...it's not easy watching over teenagers' academics. Why must the mother always do the dirty job???

board games

Playing board games is one of the ways our family spend time together. In the early years of our marriage, KC and I would play Scrabble. We have a travel set; so it's easy for us to carry it with us everywhere without the seeds toppling all over.

Later we taught Lyn the game. Dan wasn't interested as it has to do with spelling; something which does not interest him.

Monopoly is more of his game. There is Mad game too; which we will bring out when friends' kids come over. Not forgetting the game Cluedo. A game on investigation...which I am still blur about. An all time favourite is the card game; UNO.

Recently Risk has come back to the scene again. After watching the most impressive WW2 powerpoint map, Dan is in the war mode. Both he and KC have been challenging each other over and over. It's a wonder how they are not bored.

Playing games like this helps in family bonding. Unfortunately, most of the time we are preoccupied with our own activities like study, reading books, onlining etc. Thus we just lose interest in playing such games with each other. Everything needs effort; this is one effort which I've to remind myself to make; while the children are still with me and whenver the window of opportuinity is open.

The White Queen

I have read and attempted to read quite a number of Phillipa Gregory's books on the English monarch. After checking my blog, I found that I've only made review of two of the books. The Constant Princess http://siamooi.blogspot.com/2011/02/constant-princess.html and The Other Queen http://siamooi.blogspot.com/2010/07/other-queen-by-philippa-gregory.html.

Just recently KC found a few more copies of her books. I decided to read The White Queen first (I saw and read the first part of it in Phuket last year). I read and googled, read and googled, read and googled and talked.......took my quite a while to finish the book because there was so much facts to google and check for. Really mind-blowing. The facts are almost accurate; therefore it goes to show that the English monarch that era was immoral, savage, cruel and what have you. Power and wealth makes man greedy and they will never have enough.

Back to the story, it's a power struggle between the House of York and House of Lancaster but at the the end of it; it was taken over by the Tudors. The story is narrated by Elizabeth Woodville ( a widow from the House of Lancaster) who managed to catch the attention of King Edward IV (of York) and became his queen. Bore him 10 children and she had two sons from her earlier marriage. This king is portrayed as a womaniser (which I checked is true; even his favourite mistress is mentioned). 6feet 4 inches; probably the talled king in England. Elizabeth is supposed to be a very beautiful woman (I checked her pictures, could be true but her forehead looked rather bald).

Then there is the character; Earl of Warwick...who is the kingmaker. I mentioned to KC and he exclaimed...that's him...we visited his castle in England; oh ya...the Warwick Castle. Such complexity as Warwick who was for the king finally went against him and plotted to dethrone him etc. Again...the facts are totally true; what Warwick tried to do to the York and Lancaster family. Such wickedness and power craze.

Edward and his brothers...George and Richard also were sort of involved in power struggle one way or other. George was finally killed for treason against his brother the King. Richard actually made the Parliament declare Edward's marriage to Elizabeth void because it was done in secret. So that makes Edward's sons bastards and Richard was able to become King Richard III. It's really quite complex but the way it is written makes it interesting and worth spending the time reading all the way to the end.

I am real glad I bought the deck of cards when I was at the gift shop at The Mews; Buckingham Palace. These cards are making more and more sense to me now as I read Phillipa Gregory's books. Here are pictures of the kings mentioned in the story.

Henry VI (1422 - 1471)

This poor sad man from the House of Lancaster lost his throne to Edward IV from the House of York (the main character of the book). They are actually cousins. He became crazy and did come back to power again for a short while through the effort of his power craze wife. To get rid of him forever so that his wife or supporters will not think of putting him on throne again; he was finally murdered.

Edward IV (1461 - 1483) ...the main character
Married Elizabeth Woodville (the narrator) who is 5 years older than him and a widow. Warwick who played an important role in making him a king had other plans for him...thus the enmity begins. He fought many battles and won many but the way he died was so unexpected and disappointing.....I just couldn't believe it when he died like that...and at such an early age!!! (Find out for yourself why he died). His wife outlived him by about 10 years.

Edward V (1483)
He was the Prince of Wales and 12 years old when his father died. On his way to London to be made king; he was abducted by his uncle Richard who was supposed to be his protector. He was imprisoned in the Tower. According to history, there were two princes of the Tower; Edward and his younger brother Richard (9 years old). But Phillipa Gregory thinks otherwise. Finally the two princes disappeared and up till today it is still sort of a mystery. This is the saddest part to me as the narrator is the mother herself. Elizabeth had only three sons (Edward, Richard and George who died young) and she lost all three of them. One of her sons from her earlier husband was also executed by Richard.

Richard III (1483 - 1485)
A picture paints a thousand words. What does this face say of the person? He was said to be of small stature in comparison to his older brothers Edward and George. He was pious. He was quite a warrior on the battlefield. His brother; King Edward IV named him the protector and guardian of his heir at his deathbed; but what did he do to his nephew(s)? Why did he do it? In the story, Phillipa Gregory spinned her tale where he had sexual intent on his own niece (Edward's eldest daughter Elizabeth who later married Henry Tudor and became his queen). Not sure how true this is.

Henry VII (1485 - 1509)
While all this family feud was going on, this man who is a Tudor was in exile in France. According to my card, he was also the head of the House of Lancaster through his mother. He returned to England through Wales and killed Richard in a battle. Thus he became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York (Edward IV's eldest daughter); uniting the House of Lancaster and York.

Going further down the line, Henry VII's son became Henry VIII (the scandalous king with many wives). His grandchildren are Bloody Mary and Elizabeth (the virgin queen).

Wow...I think I know English monarch better than the Malay Sultanate now.

words that rhyme

Today we did an exercise on words that rhyme. We started with :

song

long

kong

thong

dong

wrong

strong

pong

wong

Thong and Wong happen to be the surname of two of the girls. As we went down the list; we started to remove words that are not English. Lo and behold....I learnt quite a few new words today. The only non-English word is wong.

Here is the meaning of some of the words :

pong - an unpleasant smell; stink

dong - a deep sound like that of a large bell

kong - strong whiskey; illicit whiskey.

Then we decided to make silly sentences that rhyme:

Once there was a wanderer,

who works as a fruiterer,

He was actually a murderer,

who killed the emperor.

Bong sang a long song

While drinking kong

And released a strong pong

that sounded like dong

which was wrong!!!

What fun we had laughing at the silly rhymes we made.

haze

Seremban is shrouded in haze for the past two days. I walked in the house today and was hit by a strong smell of smoke. No one is burning but the house smells so smoky.

In school, my throat feels dry and my nose is blocked. All I could smell is smoke.....

When I was a kid I watched a very depressive show on TV about the world coming to an end. I remember the ending scene showed a man walking alone in a deserted place that looked hazy. It made an impression in my mind as I was frightened that I will face such a situation one day. I think I am not far from it now.

WW2 from the eyes of a 12 year old

Pastor sent me a powerpoint slide on World War 2 map. I showed it to the kids and they were much intrigued by it. Dan was able to relate to it as he enjoys playing Red Alert; a war game.

Today after he had checked his English Exam paper (so he claimed) he started drawing stick pictures of his version of the war. The facts are kind of distorted but it is still quite interesting to see what a 12 year old understands:


How did Japan get into the picture? He must have got it in his mind when I explained Japan invading SEA and it was on Germany's side.

Hahaha....Iraq came in to help too!!! Such innocence, after the war, everything went back to normal!

memory failure

Almost twenty years of teaching and each year I have about 300 students under me. Do I remember them? Students from my first four years of teaching in Pantai Remis and Port Dickson .... definitely out of my memory. In this last month, I encountered a few incidents that challenged my memory:

I sat in front of a salesgirl with KC at Maxis Center and the girl exclaimed, 'Pn Ting.....' She went on and on trying to help me recall who she is as she tried to bring to my mind one name after another. I couldn't remember and while she served KC, I kept looking at her and finally I was able to see some familiarity. It took me a while to dig into my memory bank and link her to some faces in the past. Phew....what a test.

A few days ago in Tesco I saw a face that looked familiar. She gave me an extra glance which I ignore as I just couldn't place her. Then she approached me and said,' Miss, are you a teacher from SMKP?' Well, again I struggled to bring my memory bank up. I could remember her face but I just don't know who she is exactly and what were our teacher/student relationship like. Of course she was able to tell me I used to scold her etc etc. She has two kids already!!

Yet another incident while I was going up the escalator; I heard a small voice saying 'Pn Ting..' I turned around and saw a bunch of young giggling girls and could not recognize any of them. Must have heard wrongly. KC stopped me and asked me to acknowledge them because he heard very clearly my name being called. So I turned around and asked the one whom the rest were looking at, 'Do I know you?' She replied; 'Teacher, I am Thong....' . Oh my goodness!!!! What a shock. Thong is in my present Form 1class! I looked at her again then my mind just clicked. I couldn't recognize her out of her uniform and she looked so good in hot pants, boots and long hair.

What has happened to my memory? I always tell KC that I am a public figure because when I go out I bump into students knowing or unknowingly. So I must dress properly and behave properly. But I don't seem to be remembering them anymore.....It is quite embarassing when cornered and I just can't recall them.

double celebration

Lyn asked me what I want for my birthday last week and I replied I just want peace and quietness. Well the day has come and it is also Mother's Day. Did I get what I wished for? Let me start from the beginning:



Birthdays, valentines, christmas are times which stress KC a lot because I expect him to give me presents. Sometimes he just doesn't know what to give me; there was a time when he would just give me cash vouchers. This year he started early.



On the 12th February, we happened to be at the Maxis Center and saw people queuing for iphones. He turned to me and said, 'Let me get you an iphone for Valentine and birthday.' I wasn't that enthusiasted about it but agreed. I think he was most relieved that he managed to kill two birds with a stone.




My iphone....wonderful gadget. I simply love it.



Last week, Ing came to visit. She brought with her my birthday present...a belt and a book. Thanks.....


That week too, KC took the kids out to Terminal 1 to shop for my birthday present. This is what they got for me; a cooler stand for my laptop. Really very practical kids.



Yesterday, I decided that we would go Curry Leaf for dinner (we've not been there a long time). I was thinking it would be crowded to go out to eat today. On top of it I was craving for briyani. So I had mutton briyani. This is once in a very blue moon affair...can't eat this too often.

I also received a card yesterday from Nee. She still uses the snail mail to send me cards and it's really sweet of her to make such effort. She sends Christmas and sometimes CNY cards too. Funny girl...thanks.

While I was away for Bible Study today, Dan made a card for me. It's really cute. I was most touched to see "I Love You' right at the top. That makes my day.

The green green heart shape is 2D. I think he learns this from his EE. The little box is actually Mother's Day gift which he made in Church School for me. It contains a magnet and a poem...all the kids gave this to their mum. Lyn gave me a box too with similar content.

Here's the poem:

My Mother

My Mother loves me,

How do I know?

She hugs me and kisses me

That's how I know

My Mother loves me

How do I know?
She tells me of Jesus
Who loves me so.

Later in the evening, I saw an interestingly wrapped note in my dresser basket. I knew it was from Lyn. She loves to fold interesting shaped stuff. She scribbled me a love note. I always look forward to receiving notes from her because like me, she communicates best through writing. It is from notes like this that I know her heart and find deep communion with her. Infact the whole of this morning in church she was holding my hand. I know she is trying her very best to make my day a special one; and she has done so by this little gestures which I value more than any material gifts.

Finally after dinner, Dan went around taking orders for cakes. We normally don't buy whole cakes for birthdays. We prefer individual cakes from Secret Recipe where we get to choose what we like and don't overeat. Then he went off with the father to get us the cake. I had carrot cake with cheese topping. (I wanted apple crumble.)

So....did I get my wish??? Yes, it was most peaceful and quiet Sunday. Had a great service in church, went for Bible Study (the first time as I didn't have time to join them in the earlier lessons), did grocery and rested in the afternoon. On top of the peace and quiet, I had those lovely gifts above.

Thank God for blessing me this 44 years and I'm not shy to say I'm already 44!! I don't ever want to shy away from the growing numbers but to face each growing year as they come gracefully.

protocol

A very very important person is coming to school tomorrow. Today a convoy of 'busy people' from her office and state education department landed in school to check on sound, stage, performance, how to stand, how to walk, trays, how to hold and lots lots more of how tos........

I felt my team and I had prepared well enough for tomorrow. Unfortunately when one of this big busy guy saw the stuff on the tray that is to be handed to VVIP tomorrow, he was afraid the plaque will slip and fall. He suggested I have the certs and plaques tied to prevent from falling.

I had not finished preparing the prizes....there was a repeat of the rehearsal again....I had to leave the rehearsal to the good hands of Pn Sharifah to get ribbons and help to tie 151 certs and plaques.

On top of it, I needed to go to town to get nice paper bags for the tupperwares and cakes which are to be given away tomorrow. What a rush as I get 10 students with Santha and Wan's help to reorganize the SPM and PMR certs/plaques. Double double work. Spent the whole previous evening organizing it and reorganizing it again today.

Elizabeth drove Is and I to town. We jumped off and tried getting all we need before heading off another destination to buy table cloth etc.

We returned to see the hall transformed with brand new skirtings. What is all this for? Just to impress one mortal being; like you and me.

But the amount of pressure put on us to prepare for this event which will last for probably three hours is tremendous. Not to mention the money thrown in (and we are already running low on fund).

I trust the teachers and students who helped me reorganize the plaque and cert have put it in order. Tomorrow when we place them out and carry them in accordance to the name called, I believe it will be in order. If at all any mishap happens, I will be cool and thick skin and pretend it's just a small matter. Have to remind myself not to panic and be jittery as I am very prone to be nowadays. Hope they will think I don't do a good job and not ask me to do it again next year!!!!!

(I'm ridiculous right? Who in their right mind not want to do a good job? Sigh....)


It went superbly well today (ie my part in prize giving). My team which consists of Sharifah, Liau, Wong, Wan, Santha and myself can give ourselves a pat on our backs. We were like in a sauna behind the stage but to be able to see the flow going on and on and on without any mistakes was really a relief.

The prefects who helped us did an equally good job right from the start where they loaded the stuff into the car till they cleared the mess when everything was over.

crunchy cheese cake

It's holiday....and I've not baked for a long time. Promised Pn Yee I'll bring cheese cake to school for her tomorrow. So I woke up bright and early this morning to do my baking!!

This is a favourite with the kids. It has the saltish taste of cheese and the top is crunchy. It's almost like an ordinary cake but the cheese makes the difference.


The ingredients needed for the cake. I use two machines here; one to beat the egg white and sugar; the other to beat the butter and sugar. Unfortunately, the machine for beating the egg white stopped working after I turned it off. About time for it to konk off anyway....overworked it with all my cookie baking before CNY. I've an excuse now to get a bigger machine.


Here's the chef/baker lining the tin. I use oil paper nowadays for baking....so much easier to clean up.


Pop into the pre-heated over for 50mins at 180.

After 50 minutes...the whole house smells of cheesy cake.

CRUNCHY CHEESE CAKE (from Agnes Chan's recipe book)

Ingredients:

250 g butter

100g icing sugar

5 egg whites

120 g castor sugar

5 egg yolks

200g self-raising flour mixed with 35g cornflour; sifted twice

100 g grated cheddar cheese

Topping:

60 g grated cheddar cheese

(I added chopped almond)
1. Cream butter and icing sugar till light.

2. Whisk egg whites and casotr sugar till stiff. Add egg yolks and beat well.

3. Mix in btter mixture (1) and fold in flour and cheese.

4. Pour into a lined and greased 22cm baking tin.

5. Sprinkle grated cheese to cover the top.

6. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180C for 50minutes.

The cake was a hit....finished in no time at home. I had to protect the little container that I kept aside for school. Chan and Seck loved it....they were protecting the cake in the container to make sure Pn Yee has her share.

running with Racoon

One of my favourite time during the weekends is to to be able to go out for a walk/jog with the family. Usually it will be just KC and I. It's hard to drag Lyn along. Dan would oblige but he would give up half way and go home on his own before I am done.

Since Racoon joined the family, we have been bringing him out with us. This excites the kids and they will join us on the bicycle. I have been totally challenged by Racoon. When he sees the kids cycling past, he bounds into a run and drags me along. Now it's him walking/running me instead of me walking him!!! Boy....can he run! I think I've not done such running for a very very long time and it feels good to know that I can still run at such speed. Yesterday I ran at least three times of about 100m each time.

Being a pup, he has lots of energy. By the time KC caught up with us; I quickly passed the leash to him. Panting and laughing....drained all the energy out of me.


Running with Racoon...this is just a slow-paced running......

A dog must stop to sniff and put their marks here and there or else they are not dogs!!!!!


More sniffing.

We had an interesting experience yesterday. Three dogs ran out of a house barking at us rather fiercely. Surprisingly, Racoon isn't the aggresive type. KC was able to hold him back and restrain him without much effort. So different from Jackie who would jump at every chance to fight. Once at the vet; Jackie growled at a rotweiller (who was much bigger than him) and the vet commented that Jackie is an aggresive dog. A few years later, he had a fight with the neighbour's dog; attacked the neck. Later on the dog died (he was an old dog).

Well....pets and how they grow on us. It's really lovely except when you find a tick crawling on you!!!!!!