Cheddar Loaf

The cheddar loaf viewed from the top.


The bread; toasted in oven and sandwiched with icecream. Most delicious!!!!!


It's so wonderful to walk in the house and smell freshly baked bread; especially cheesy bread. I tried this recipe yesterday. We couldn't wait till today to eat; almost immediately I cut two slices for us to share (we just had our dinner). It is wonderful...savoury. Reminded us of the cheese bread from Panash, Hong Kong. But the family complains that the cheese is not enough and I must put in chunks and not grate it so that can bite chunks of it. I did stinge on the cheese because it looked so much. Here's the recipe. Worth trying and eating. Will upload a picture of it the next round I bake.

Cheddar Loaf
180ml milk
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
500g flour
1 tsp yeast

cape rachado 2

We hiked to lighthouse at Cape Rachado yesterday. It was cloudy the whole afternoon and we were pretty worried that the trip there might end up like the trip to Broga Hill. When we reached about 4pm, the sky brightened slightly. It had rained earlier as the path was wet and muddy.

The beginning of the hike....all smiles and still fresh looking.

None of us was too keen having our pictures taken. So the photographer decided to take pictures of the flora around him. I was slightly impatient as I wanted to get out before it was too late.

Quite sunny outside....but because of its thick folliage, it was rather gloomy and dark inside.

Some creepers.

Moss....

Our favourite....the log that looks like dinosaur.

Mushroom...we saw quite a bit of it here and there as the weather was damp...suitable for mushrooms to grow.

The journey up from the beach to the tar road leading to the lighthouse. This must be quite difficult for Dan as it is uphill all the way. He is totally unfit.

Civilization!!! He was so relieved. He didn't enjoy this hike that much...probably not fit. Look at his exhausted face. We must do it more often to get him used to it. It wasn't very difficult actually, took us 1 hour and 20 minutes at a leisurely pace.

The sight from the top.

Down at the beach near Bayu Beach Resort. We wanted to fly kites here but unfortunately there was no wind...much to our disappointment.

It was cloudy....not much of a sunset. So finally, goodbye to PD. We hope to hike up the lighthouse again very very soon.

kl and melaka

Here are some pictures taken with KC's camera on our road trip north and south but none north; just KL and none south; just Melaka.

We have never walked this side of Melaka town; so that evening we walked behind the houses, by the river to look for food.

the whole stretch of wall is laterite stone...that was what A Famosa was built with.

As we walked along the river, Lyn remembered the house which the MYFers stayed in when they visited about a year ago....it is a house belonging to aunty Bernice's relative. According to her, it's a real lovely house...I believe so. There is a house which has been converted into a museum somewhere here too but I just can't remember where...must visit it again.

We saw two men; the shirtless man has his whole face painted green. We wonder why. Some of these houses have been converted into homestays. So he could be a foreigner staying in one of the houses.

I love this part of the river....so scenic and cooling especially in the evening like this.

This was at KLCC when we visited the book fair. We bumped into a cute looking guy wearing a cute hat.

The greens that is preserved around the park at KLCC. It's good that these old trees are kept and maintained.

The wading pool (far end) and the fountain at the park at KLCC. It's a lovely park but on a public holiday one tends to bump into lots of foreign workers from Phillipines and Indonesia and Bangladesh.....

The bridge which we have yet to walk across though we have been here umteen times and have promised Dan over and over that we will walk across it one day. I have my doubts...

Acting like tourists, as usual....we have taken such pictures so many times. I am so tired of posing with this building but for the sake of the cameraman; we are smiling!

The Complete TOLKEIN companion

Both KC and Lyn got real excited when they saw this book written by JEA Tyler. Anything by and about Tolkein make them excited. I was like...'do we need it?' Guess what was their answer? "Of course! It's cheap!"

The book is priced at RM16.90 compared to the original RM72.50. To them; it's dirt cheap as it has more than 700pages. Sigh...this is one way how the book shelves overflow....cheap books like this. I have books on how to tie knots and a variety of John Maxwells and what have you which I know have not been touched for years.

This book contains all the terms and names found in the LOrd of the Rings and whatever you need to know about Middle Earth. I have attempted the LOTR (I have a real thick copy which consists of all the books; bought cheap in Japan) but never got very far because it's too descriptive. Lyn is rereading it now for the sake of this new book so that she can refer to it. She has read it upteen times and get herself all depressed over it.

But the movie is FANTASTIC. It is a must watch! It's a pity that I didn't catch them at the cinema.

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

KC bought a thick book entitled as above by Richard Carlson at the Book Fair. I think he bought it for the price...it is only RM14.90 and it's three books in one: a. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff b. Don't Sweat the Small stuff at Work c. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff about Money.

I scoffed at him when he bought the book....when will he have the time to read it? It is now next to the toilet....to be carried in and out whenever we want. I must say it is really good reading material during that time. I am most impressed by the three motivational passages I have read so far.

Carlson is a totally postive person. The way he thinks and suggests that we should think is amazing. I definitely don't view matters that way. Take for example the article on 'Choose your Battles wisely'....let me quote; Many people...argue, confront, and fight over practically anything, turning their lives into a series of battles over relatively "small stuff". Which is so true of my life. I get so agitated with my neighbour for parking her old non-usable car in front of my house. Why waste my energy on such matter where there is still other spots for me to park my car though it is slightly further?

I get upset when the noodle I order didn't turn out as I want...like just the other day I told KC I wanted my kuayteow beehoon laksa but I was served kuayteow mien laksa. I was upset...I don't like yellow noodles. I never like yellow noodles unless it is mee goreng mamak or fried kuayteow mee. My dear man just looked at me and continued eating his bowl of laksa like it's the most delicious thing on earth and let me work out my fury on my bowl. Energy wasted on unnecessary anger again when I could be enjoying my bowl of noodle too!

Here is what Carlson said as conclusion : If you don't want to 'sweat the small stuff,' it's critical that you choose your battles wisely. If you do, there will come a day when you'll feel the need to do battle at all.

Looks like this is going to be good toilet reading material. Am sure I'm going to get lots inspiration and motivation. Whether I practise it or not is another matter but it's nice to be given such thots to digest.

on the road

Half of the holiday has gone by and what have I done? I've spent half of the time on the road!! First...it was up north; sent ma home to Sitiawan. Then back here again. On the way back we stopped at KLCC to visit the Book Fair. This time, I didn't even get a book for myself as I read ebooks now. The kids bought 11 books altogether and Lyn wanted to buy another one at Kinokuniya....I had to put a stop to it.

The next day, it was down south to JB. KC had a meeting to attend the following day so we kept him company as it's holiday. We stayed at Grand Paragon; upgraded to a junior suite and were pleasantly surprised by the size of the rooms. Lovely view from the 25th floor....could see the Straits of Tebrau and Singapore. Visited Danga City Mall and it was a big big disappointment. The place is half dead.

The next morning, I had got up early and watched the city awaken and the sky changed colours. It was really beautiful as the whole wall is made of glass panelling. So the view was really large.

We visited City Square before heading north again. We stopped in Melaka; hoping to get some local food at Jonkers' but unfortunately Jonker's Street is not open during weekdays. We ended up in a hawker center opposite Dataran Pahlawan. The cendol was lousy....not enough santan. The oyster egg was nice but Lyn prefers Sitiawan style (crispier). We wanted to walk around A Famosa and up to St Paul's Hill to the ruins. But it was dark; definitely not advisable especially as I am so fond of telling my students to imagine walking around the old ruins with Sultan Mahmud or Alfonso d Albuqueque (?) and all the people of the ancient days around us. I frighten myself.

Today, we decided to go up Broga Hill (which we have planned a long time ago). It was raining when we left. The rain got heavier as we go further into the hills and interior of NS. The road was narrow and winding. It was really interior. We passed Lenggeng, Ulu Baranang and finally reached Broga. The road up the hill was muddy and need to hike through the palm oil estate. Not a good idea to do it in the rain. We decided to drive further to Kajang; passing Nottingham University and Semenyih. Made a U turn as it was too early for dinner and returned home using the Lekas Highway. That was two hours on the road!!!

We decided to have dinner at Era Walk. There is Old Town Kopitiam and New Town Modern Coffee. We have always been to Old Town; so we thought it would be nice to give New Town a try. LOUSY and poor service. The toast was just toasted Gardenia bread which I can toast on my own. When I eat toast outside, I am very very particular that I am not served Gardenia bread...it must be the old fashioned bread or whatever bread that is different from a normal bread which can be easily obtained from the grocery store.

That is half of the holiday. Will be travelling up north again soon to bring ma back here. Kind of sick of sitting in the car. Would have love to upload some pictures but unfortunately my camera has gone to Korea for a holiday without me. Miss it a lot. Three things that I can't do without now, my phone, ipod and camera. I was having withdrawal syndrome just now while waiting for dinner because I didn't bring my ipod; so couldn't read my book.

53 years old

Today is our 53rd year of indepandence. Indepandence from???? British colonialism, of course! But as we reflect back, are we really indepandent/merdeka?

I was brought up in a Convent school where I mixed with students of all races. I had no problem interacting with them and colour definitely is not a problem to me. My friends were Jeyarani, Revathi, Suseela, Siti Faridah, Halijah, Salamiah and not to mention Julie, Lai Hua, Ching, Ding and many many more of variety colours.

I remembered one weekend, Halijah (my best friend that time) decided that we would have a picnic. She packed her food and I packed mine. She cycled to my house and we walked to a little field on the way to the Malay kampung. We picnicked next to some cowdung!!! We were not bothered and had such fun yacking.

On Hari Raya, some of us would cycle to the kampung to visit Puan Saodah, our Maths teacher. How we adored her because she was so sweet, petite and gentle (before she married). We would sit cross legged on the floor as she served us rendang and we ate with our fingers. Then we would just lepak in her house and played congkak.

Come Deepavali, we would take the bus to Pundut Estate to visit Revathi and then take the bus back to town and changed to the bus to Ayer Tawar to visit Suseela. How I loved these times as I love spicy food. I enjoyed the thosai, idly and of course the curry.

I ran round the neighbourhood barefooted with my Indian neighbours and played masak-masak with them. I ate in their house if my mother came home late and there was no food on the table. They were never hesitant to lay out an extra plate or two (Ing would always be there too).

Then there was the Malay family down the lane who worked for McCullogh. All boys...I only remembered Rudy. Ing would call the boys 'abang' and got my mom all worried. But that didn't stop us girls from playing combat with them!

Today when I talk about patriotism in class, I get very unpatriotic responses. I fail to see the sense of pride for the country, the flag, the national anthem. Whose fault is it?

Actually the older we get, the more colours we see. We forget to be colour blind and thus pass on the colour codes to the younger generation. It is not the fault of the adults only, it should be equally shouldered by the administrators of the country. Who we are and what we have become is not the work of certain people but the whole society and nation. Who makes up the society and nation? The rakyat and the rulers.

So are we merdeka?? What are we not indepandent of now? Colour, status, name?? We are still colonised by ourselves......


MERDEKA!!!!!

JALUR GEMILANG ....

Are we getting better or worse? Let each patriotic Malaysian work towards harmony and equality regardless of who we are and may our leaders stay true to the ideals of a leadership that is fair, true and of integrity. (Hmm....do I sound like a hypocrite?) This is the Malaysia that I dream of.