Queencylulu's Blog

Ngo Hiang (5 spices) meat roll

2012-02-05T20:06:00.000+08:00

1/2 kg of fish "Ikan Tenggiri" - RM17 per kg.

De-bone the fish and scoop out the flesh with spoon.

Fish paste.

1 packet of Water chestnuts at RM3.

Water chestnuts - peeled.

Water chestnuts - chopped.

1/2 kg of minced pork at RM17 per kg.

2 big onions - chopped.

1/2 carrot - chopped.

Dump everything into a big mixing bowl together with 5 spices, salt, a little bit of sugar, three eggs, Sarawak pepper and mix them all thoroughly.

This is the beancurd sheet - 1 packet costs RM1.50. Open the beancurd sheet and wipe it with a clean damp cloth to get rid of excess saltiness. Then cut it to your required length and width. Trim off the edges if it is broken or crumbled up.

Put the mixture in a row along the edge.

Row the beancurd sheet to cover the mixture and at the same time, fold the edges in. Once you have covered the mixture, cut the beancurd sheet.

Ta-da...... the finished product.

I made 8 rolls but these are unusually long meat rolls.

Steam them in a kuali for 20-30 minutes and they are ready for eating.

Enjoy!!! Have fun making them!

Food in and around Wangsa Maju, KL

2012-02-05T19:50:00.006+08:00

Upon arrival in Wangsa Maju, everybody dropped in at Pontian - an air-conditioned cafeteria.

Quite clean and everybody enjoyed the air-conditioning.

There's dessert and coffee.

There's dry noodle with dumplings.

There's noodles in soup with dumplings.

The food was alright but not fantastic.

Next, we visited the mamak stalls. These started opening at 5:00 pm in the evening.

You order by queuing .......

.... and that's the famous kueh tiaw at RM5 per plate. I remembered I didn't quite like it but my son loved it even though the taste was not what we are used to.

There's fried rice......(without fried chicken).

There's fried rice with fried chicken.

That's how long was the queue in order to get your food. I took this photo at midnight and the queue was still a long queue. How come people don't sleep in Wangsa Maju?

We visited the I LOVE YOO!

Another cafeteria with air-conditioning.

Its specialty is in providing snacks - that's (clockwise) soya bean milk with yew-cha kuih, porridge, yam and potato balls.

After so much eating, thought to try something healthy..... so ordered a drink at this place.....

...... where AFC's Jason visited previously.

Didn't realise herbal drink can be bitttttteeeer!!!

Next morning's breakfast at the coffee shop. Here, people cook at stalls along the shop's corridor and patrons eat sitting at roadside tables right beside these moving vehicles.

This stall is operated by an old aged couple but the fuzhou meat balls are really nice.

But the coffee is the real black type and very thick and sticky.

That's the noodles in soup with fishballs at RM4 per bowl. Taste good.

That's the fuzhou meat balls at RM4.50 per bowl. Tastes better than the fishballs.

I came back to this stall three times during my trip. That's how much I loved the fuzhou meat balls.

Salad chicken rice from another stall at RM5 per plate.

Our dinner at Wangsa Maju on the second night.

First dish arrived, dig in - kangkong with belacan and chilli. See the mountain of rice on a plate?

Second dish arrived, dig in - buttered chicken.

Third dish arrived, dig in - bittergourd in eggs.

Fourth dish arrived, dig in - taugeh.

Four dishes and four plates of rice cost only RM20.20 - I thought it was unbelievably inexpensive. No wonder there were so many students having their dinner there and we could hardly find an empty table.

This is where we had our dinner. Tried to ask the cashier what's the name of this stall but I was told there's no name. This stall actually is an illegal extension ( I think it's illegal) of a block of shophouses. It opens from 12:00 noon till 12:00 midnight. Three chefs handled all the cooking. The strategy is to order small portion but more dishes so you get to taste a variety of dishes. Lots of students during the early evening but after 7:00 pm, I noticed more families started arriving.

This was our second meal at the same place.

Sweet and sour fish, braised tauhu, mixed vegetables, braised pork ribs and four hugh portion of rice costed only RM24.20. Wow, this is value for your money, guys!

Oh, how to get to this place. For us, we found it accidentally. We were exploring and got attracted because there were hardly any empty table and it was only 6:00 pm in the evening. Directions: From the Wangsa Maju LRT station, take the left flight of stairs down, walk straight for a short distance till you come to the main road. Here, turn left and walk along 4 or 5 rows of shophouses until you see the traffic light junction. This stall is on the left before the traffic light junction.

Third morning breakfast at this noodle place.

Pan mein soup.

Pan mein - dry.

Pan mein with beef slices.

Travelling while on holiday

2012-01-14T08:23:00.010+08:00

A scene at the airport.

The aerotrain shuffling passengers to and fro domestic and international terminals.

Walking while on holiday.

Waiting for the bus while on holiday.

Getting bored because the bus was late.

A pose after alighting from the bus.

Use public transport - the LRT.

Another means of transport - the cable car.

Waiting for the free shuttle at Genting. It was raining that day so 'yippee' the weather's cool and refreshing.

Using public transport.

More public transport.

Waiting at the LCCT terminal.......

...... very boring with nothing to do........

....... till go crazy. The end.

Developer Disaster - rectification works in progress

2012-01-14T07:59:00.007+08:00

Machinery arrived. The pile of soil was dug out of the drain.

Clearing debris from the drain for the lorry to chuck away.

Materials arrived.

Men started work.

Work started on the wall of the monsoon drain.

Piling and reinforcements.

The 'concrete' vehicle arrived.

wow, so much work just to re-build drain walls.

Repairing the edge at the front - the part that didn't collapse.

Patching up the cracks.

Walling the fence. Luckily the weather was fine and sunny so the contractors can work continuously.

Concrete reinforcements for extra support which should have been done by the Developer because of the substantial width of this drain.

They even knocked down the last panel at the back and re-build it.

Walling near completion.

Finishing works - patching up here and there.

Knocking out the uneven part and patching up the front "unfallen" part of the fence in order to straighten the whole fence.

The front part - all made good.......

..... with reinforcements. Now I don't have to jump across. I can walk across.

The unpainted part was the 'fallen' portion of the fence. Now, it's nice and straight.

That's the usual water level when it's not raining. If it rains heavily, then the level will raise up to 1/2 or 3/4 of the height of the drain but the first time it ever overflowed was on 5 January 2012 during the flash flood.

It took the contractors 2 weeks to complete the job right at the end of the year on 30 December 2011. During that 2 weeks of work, weather was fine so activities went uninterrupted. This group of contractors appointed by the Council did a very good job and I'm happy that the work was carried out smoothly and efficiently. There was a lot of teamwork among the workers and the supervisors were capable and efficient. Luckily for me, the flash flood that took 2 lives happened 5 days after completion of works on 5 January 2012.

Traffic in and around Wangsa Maju/Setapak - 2011

2012-01-13T22:09:00.000+08:00

I was in Setapak area around the end of December 2011 and I noticed something very strange. The traffic here is totally "no law" type. Cars come around the corners anyhow and park anywhere. Maybe the problem is there isn't enough parking space but I find it weird. And the funny thing is I don't see any police issuing summons for these traffic offences.

This vehicle is parked in the middle of a roundabout. Can you imagine that - parking your car in a roundabout climbing onto the curb and running over the grass?

The car on the extreme right is moving around the roundabout and the four cars on the left are taking the space of the roundabout.

The four cars you see in the photo are encroaching into the roundabout. They are parked and locked with nobody inside.

This is a one-way street and there's no lines to indicate that it is for parking but cars are parked on both sides.

There! Can park at the road junction and taking up half the road.

Park onto the road reserve meant for pedestrians.

Awards

2011-12-12T11:01:00.019+08:00

Blog Award By: Blog Directory - Blog Sites

News Shopping Games Home & Garden
Personal Technology Arts & Crafts Health

Blog Award By: Blog Directory - Blog Sites

News Shopping Games Home & Garden
Personal Technology Arts & Crafts Health

News Shopping Games Home & Garden

Personal Technology Arts & Crafts Health

Developer Disaster - The Aftermath

2011-12-11T01:16:00.003+08:00

10 December 2011, after the fence dropped into the drain, work in progress in putting up temporary fencing so that the dogs could run free again!

It took four hands to do the work.

More and more soil broke off and sloped down into the drain.

Only the second day and soil erosion is underway. From the look of the condition of the soil and cracks below the yellow pillar, this part of the fence is likely to fall down soon.

Luckily no rain from the time of the disastrous incident till now.

Evidence of soil erosion.

Knocking a post into the ground to support and hold the chain-link fencing together.

Laying the large plastic sheet to alleviate the problem of soil erosion in case it rained.

Holding the plastic sheet in place with bricks.

That's the spot where the hippo slipped and lost control and nearly sprained his back.

What is the boy doing in the photo? Oh, he's playing with the brick.

Work in progress.

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Developer Disaster - the final straw

2011-12-10T16:25:00.002+08:00

It's everyone's dream to own a home. I'm one of those everyone whose dream was to own a house - not a mansion but a house. So I looked around and saw a sign standing upon an empty land advertising a housing project. I went to visit the developer. I remembered it was a nice visit. As soon as I walked into the sales room, I felt like I was VIP - "Very Important Person". Tea arrived together with brochures and photos and location plans and I vividly recall sales talk of how solid is the foundation and what tiles will be provided and how strong the car porch will be. However, as soon as a sale is secured and deposits made, they forgot all about you and refused to entertain complaints from you. I guess that's how developers work to make a living. Even within the warranty period, they delayed repairs/fix defects. They were slow to entertain complaints and refused to fix problems/defects.

I remembered speaking to the neighbours and each had a different story to tell, lamenting on defects and the lack of response to their complaints. There were so many complaints that I remembered one of the developer's manager resigned because he could not handle so many complaints from purchasers. Stories of defects were leaking roofs, leaking bathrooms, bursting water pipes, collapsing water tank, sinking septic tank, pest infested doors and windows, uneven walling, just to name a few. I faced the same problem like my neighbours with the various defects. I even got the house without all the water tapes because when the keys were handed over, it was verbally agreed that the contractor will hand over the water tapes at a later date. Since there was no signed document to state this, I had to buy and install all the water tapes in my house.

"What to do? We had to engage our own contractor to rectify all the defects else we can't move in." That was what everybody did so that they can move into a house that's livable. I suppose in Malaysia we are more complacent and docile and do not have the habit of fighting and standing up for our rights. So everybody happily or unhappily engage their own contractors to rectify defects and carry out renovations. However, the story doesn't end there. Slowly things happen, lines appeared on the walls and walls started to crack...........

............ and one day, ............

On Thursday, 8 December 2011 at around 11:50 pm - a loud boom was heard, then the dogs barked. This happened - the fence running along the side of the house collapsed.

The whole two-third of the fence together with the monsoon drain collapsed and left hanging in mid-air one of the hollow grille with one side attached to the back fence.

Three flower pots, a bunch of lemon grass and 'misai kuching' went along with the fall.

That's the end near the back fence.

View from the front.

Close-up view. Any piling? The yellow bit is the pillar support for the hollow grille.

All debris into the drain.

Soil erosion taking place.

As can be seen, no piling at all.

That's the right-angle corner at the backlane. No piling at all. That's why the monsoon drain walling collapsed taking the whole fence with it.

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The story of making dumplings

2011-11-30T10:34:00.002+08:00

The ingredients for this 'lumpy' thing: 200gm plain flour (shifted); 150ml boiling water; 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp cold water (if necessary). Put the shifted 200gm flour into a mixing bowl or any bowl you can find in the kitchen, make a hole in the center, pour in the 150ml hot boiling water and mix quickly using a wooden spoon. This part of the process was done by my son who suddenly showed an interest in making dumplings. After this lump is created, cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rests for 20 minutes. There's a 20-minute wait for this 'thingy' to rest so everybody dispersed and we all agreed to gather for the kneading of the dough. You can easily get the plain flour at the DIY Bakery shop - 1kg at RM2.70. You need to buy more than 200gm because you need extra plain flour for kneading and when you want to divide them into smaller portions.

I prepared the filling which is shown in the bowl on the left side of the photo. The filling includes 300gm minced pork; a small sweet cabbage (discard the veins, shred the leaves, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and let it rest for maybe 20 minutes, then squeeze out the water from the cabbage); 1 tbsp light soya sauce, some salt, 1 tbsp sesame oil, some pepper, a pinch of sugar, 1 tbsp corn flour. Mix them all together and put the bowl into the fridge while waiting for the dough to rest. Did I say everybody dispersed because we wanted to wait for the dough to rest for 20 minutes? So when my son and I came back for the lumpy dough, I discovered the dough is round and smooth (as shown in the plate on the right side of the photo). My first thought was, wow, miracle, that lumpy thing can rest and turn into something so smooth. Then I realised that lumpy thingy was no more in a bowl but on a plate. I asked who disturbed the lumpy thingy and way back in the kitchen, somebody answered "I kneaded it already". People can be so 'busybodies'. The recipe says when kneading the dough, there's a need to add 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp water if necessary so that means the busybody did not add this two crucial ingredients. After kneading into a smooth dough, rest the dough for 10 minutes before using.

Roll the smooth rested dough into a roll (using some plain flour because it's very sticky), then divide them into round portions of 20gm each. Then roll them into thin rounds. Remember to sprinkle plain flour everywhere so the dough won't be so sticky.

Once you have the thin rounds, you can spoon the filling into the middle and close the edges. You can just close the edges or you can fold and close them which will look better as dumplings are more rounded not like curry puffs which look more flat.

200gm plain flour for the skin and 300gm minced pork can make about 30 dumplings. I smear the plate with olive oil before putting the dumplings on it.

This is the first batch of pan-fried dumplings. There are three ways of cooking the dumplings. You can steam them which is the most healthy way of eating them. You can fry them in hot oil which is the most delicious way of eating them. You can pan-fry them by heating the cooking pan, pour in some oil (not too much but just enough to brown them), lay the dumplings on the side and once they are browned, pour in enough water to submerge them but do not over-submerge them and cover the cooking pan. Let it cook and boil. Once the water is reduced, you can take them out. They are ready for eating. What I did was to put that little bit more oil to brown both sides, then before I pour in the water, I pour out the oil first so it's not so oily.

Barbeque

2011-11-29T19:32:00.000+08:00

Suckling pig over fire. I saw this behind the Hap Chen shop.

Pork belly undergoing seasoning.

3-layered pork, chicken wings, fish for barbeque.

Cooked.

Chicken cooked in bamboo

2011-11-29T19:08:00.002+08:00

That's chicken cut into pieces with ingredients such as lemon grass, chilli, garlic, onion, ginger, salt, pepper, some sugar.

Chicken and ingredients well mixed.

Put chicken into the bamboo.

Prepare the barbeque pit.

Block the entrance of the bamboo to retain steam and heat.

Turn them once in a while so that all sides are evenly cooked.

Bamboos look charred after cooking but as long as the juice from the food inside do not ooze out, then it's alright.

Pour out the cooked chicken into a bowl.

Chicken cooked in bamboo!

Fish cooked in bamboo

2011-11-29T19:01:00.003+08:00

Prepare the fish.

Chop into pieces.

Put in ingredients such as lemon grass, garlic, onion, ginger, chilli, salt, pepper, sesame oil.

Mix them well.

That's how it looks like inside the bamboo.

Put the well-mixed and seasoned fish into the bamboo.

3 bamboos ready for cooking. Can buy these at the jungle produce market. Price range from RM0.50 (small) to RM2 (big) per piece.

Prepare the barbeque pit.

Block the entrance of the bamboos with tapioca leaves or banana leaves or can use kangkong leaves together with stems. This is done to retain the steam inside the bamboo. It works like a high pressure cooker.

After cooking, the bamboo will get charred but it's ok.

After it is cooked, pour out the fish into a bowl.

That's fish cooked in bamboo.

A good mother!

2011-11-03T11:50:00.000+08:00

I read the following article this morning and I was so impressed with it, I'll like to share it with you.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 15-year-old girl who has never been in trouble, but my mom treats me like I'm a criminal. She makes me go to church every Sunday. She makes me go to Catholic school, and I have to wear an ugly uniform. She won't help with my homework. She says, "I already did 10th grade." I can't wear halter tops, short shorts, a bikini or much makeup. If I tell her it's the style, she says, "Modesty is always in style."

When I go out with my friends, she wants to know where I'm going, who I'll be with, what we'll be doing, when we'll be back and their phone numbers. If I have a date with a new boy, she makes him come into the house and tell her what school he goes to. Then she makes him show her his driver's license and car registration.

I can't keep my computer in my room. When I'm using it in the den, she looks over my shoulder and won't let me go to chat rooms. I have to set the table even if we don't have company and sit down and have dinner with her every night.

If I can't afford something, she tells me to save up or budget better. She won't let me drive until I can pay for my own insurance. It's not like my mom's poor. We go to Hawaii and Lake Tahoe, and we've been to Europe and on cruises. But she won't even pay for cable TV. She says it's an idiot box and I should read a book instead.

She also makes me do my own laundry and keep my room and bathroom clean. She makes me do unfair chores like clean the guest bathroom even though I never ever use it. She wants to teach me to sew and cook, but I have no interest in those things.

She makes me visit Dad every week, and if I complain about anything, she says (very calmly and quietly, which I hate more than if she'd yell), "You can always choose to live with your dad."

She told me as long as I live under her roof, I have to abide by her rules even if I'm over 18. And I have to go to college, and if I don't, I'll have to get a job and support myself.

I could go on and on. Have you ever heard of a mother so unreasonable? I'm afraid to run away, but I don't know how much more of this I can take. -- EMOTIONALLY ABUSED IN CALIFORNIA

DEAR EMOTIONALLY ABUSED: Wow! Your letter should be posted on every refrigerator in the country. Rarely do I hear about a parent who tries as hard as your mother does to do a diligent job. One day you will look back and thank her.

PS. And if by chance this letter was written by your mother -- congratulations for a job well-done. I would like to nominate you for Mother of the Year.

KTS vs SH telematch & boardgames 2011

2011-10-29T14:36:00.000+08:00

The All Blacks' team ready to fight for the "Winner takes All" prize.

All the four teams getting ready for telematch

Shaking hands with the competitors.

Some members of the All Reds.

Steady, All Blacks!

First telematch game - lighting the candle.

Another telematch game - folding paper aeroplane. The engineer is the squatting guy.

The opposition team folding their paper aeroplanes.

Concentration in progress.

Mass production.

The All Blacks ready with their aeroplanes.

The All Blacks showing off! Very confident of a sure win.

One of the All Blacks' aeroplane taking off.

Wondering how far did it fly?

Getting ready for the next game.

The guessing game.

The victorious team!

Wei, wei! Taking photo - pay attention!

One of the boardgame - The Aeroplane.

The All Blacks' Aeroplane team.

Badminton Match 2011 - KTS Club vs See Hua Club

2011-10-08T22:19:00.000+08:00

The "All Blacks" team from KTS taking a photo before the match while everybody is still fresh and full of energy. BUT what's this? There are spies in this photo. They know who they are................

The Vice-President of the KTS Club and the leader of the KTS team. She smiles the whole afternoon because her teams win.

The KTS "All Blacks" mixed double team.

Warming up before the matches begin! KTS has got two teams, the red team and the "All Blacks" team.

That's one of the most experienced player of the red team.

The "All Blacks" mixed double team in action!

Getting ready to win.

Watching the shuttlecock falls down.

That's the See Hua mixed double team. Very good players with sharp smashes.

Ready for ACTION.

The See Hua team trying to return a drop shot.

Ready to take the serve.

Where's the shuttlecock?

See how alert the players are?

Wow, ever-ready.

Everybody shakes hands after a good match!

A team photo after the matches. Wait! The spy is still here!

Having fun after a good win.

Having more fun!

Aha!!! See the lady squatting down? That's the team who has been spying on us!

Kota Kinabalu's wet market and Filipino market

2011-10-06T14:44:00.000+08:00

The wet market in KK is quite interesting. There are buckets of different types of clams with prices ranging from RM5 to RM8 per kg.

These clams are RM5 per kg.

These white clams taste really good but the shells are very heavy and costs RM8 per kg.


That's another type of clam. Also RM8 per kg.

These are the white clams but smaller in size so only RM5 per kg.

Fish displayed KK style.

Ikan buntal. Very weird looking.

The eyes are scary and I thought they look like rats.

That's tuna at RM10 per kg.

That's big prawn at RM35 per kg.

These are really huge clams. Both the BIG size and the small size ones cost RM5 per kg. As you can see, they are really very fresh.

That's how BIG is the big clam. Super duper big.

That's 2 of the 3 crabs we bought. Prices range from RM8, RM10, RM12 and RM15 per kg depending on the size. Male and female same price.

That's the 3 crabs (already cleaned) weighing 1 kg.

That's the white clam (on the left) - 1 kg and the BIG kerang (on the right) - 1 kg. Simple cooking - wash and dump into hot water for a few seconds and eat with chilli sauce and lemon lime juice. The white clams actually taste really good but the Xtra Large clams were tough - real tough.

That's the 3 crabs in the wok. Clean, cut and dump into hot water.

Ready to eat.

FIRST NIGHT preliminary dinner - That's the crab (1 kg), white clams (1 kg) and the Xtra Large kerang (1 kg). All yummy except for the extra large kerang.

That's after dinner.

Finished with the crabs.

This fish costs RM3 per kg. Very cheap and very fresh.

Only 3 left.

Barbequed chicken liver, tail (RM1 per stick) and chicken wings (5 pieces for RM6) together with chilli and soy sauce at the Filipino market. Very cheap.

That's supper. 1 slice of watermelon at RM2 and the chicken fried rice was RM3.50 per packet and it was a very full packet. All from the Filipino market.

This is where I ordered the chicken fried rice. This guy can cook very fast and wow, very competent with his hands.

2nd night, went to the wet market again and bought prawns at RM14 per kg. Clean and dump into hot water and serve.

Pan-fried tuna with Aji, salt and pepper and lightly coated with lemon lime juice. Lots and lots of tuna at the Filipino market which opens around 5:00 pm daily.

Squid/sotong at RM8 per kg. Fried with shallots (small onion), garlic, ginger and lemon grass.

2nd night dinner. Fried rice and 3 small fish leftover from previous nite's supper. New additions are the pan-fried tuna, prawns, fried kerang and fried squid. Notice the egg tarts at the far end corner? That's from the Egg Tart Prince - very nice.

Fried clams.

3rd night dinner. Fried kerang, soup of cabbage and tuna slices (yummy), leftover prawns and pan-fried tuna from last nite's dinner and freshly deep-fried tuna and rice from the food court. After 2 nights of home-cooked seafood, I feel the need to visit Uncle Ronald - the french fries is yummy!

Dinner in progress. Notice the orange-coloured chilli sauce? Bought that at the wet market. I saw a lot of these at the different stalls and prices ranged from RM3, RM4, RM5 and this bottle costs RM7. Eh, I thought how come so expensive? So I asked the hawker why is it so expensive? She asked me whether I wanted to smell it. Of course I declined. Who want to smell chilli-padi sauce, right? Even though I shook my head from left to right (meaning no), she opened the cap and put the bottle right under my nose. My natural reaction was to smell it and I discovered it was actually very fresh. She offered to sell at RM5.50 per bottle. Now I realised, there's a difference in the type of chilli being used to make the sauce. The chilli sauce in some bottles are more red in colour while in others, it's slightly darker but the one I bought is orange in colour and purely made from chilli padi (small chillies that's really hot and spicy). Some bottles contain chilli seeds and/or garlic and/or onion.

4th day lunch. I don't want any more leftover food since we are leaving KK soon so bought the [from left to right] white clams (RM4 for 1/2 kg), the scallops (RM5 for 1/2 kg) and the black oblong clams (RM4 per 1/2 kg). All 3 different species of clams fried together with shallots, garlic, ginger and lemon grass. Wow, fantastic taste especially the clam on the right. If you wanted to try, eat that - yum yum and double yum. Like people say: xi-bay-ho-jiak.

That's the black longish oblong clam - really delicious.

Bought crabs also - 2 crabs for RM8. I think only weighs 700 gm. Fried with shallots, garlic, ginger and lemon grass. Taste is wonderful.

Rice from downstairs curry house coffee shop, 3-in-1 fried clams, soup from the clams, fried crabs and the left over tuna from last nite's dinner. Actually we can't finish the tuna so we tapau (take-away) and brought them back home.

Filipino market. This section sells barbequed fishs, prawns, squids, lobsters, sea grapes, rice and some pickled vegetables.

1 barbequed fish costs RM15 or RM20 depending on the specie and the size. The big prawn is RM10 per prawn. The smaller squids cost RM10 per stick but the bigger ones cost RM15 or RM20 for 1 squid.

A stall selling fried rice, noodles and some drinks.

Barbequed chicken also from the Filipino market.

As you can see, the seller set up a long table with shade and at one end of the table are the barbequed seafood and customers will order and sit along the table to eat. After you've ordered and paid, they will heat up the food for you at the barbeque pit at the other end. Notice that lobster on the left, second row from the bottom?

1 lobster costs RM100.

These are the sotongs. The big ones on the left costs RM20 per sotong, the medium sized in the middle costs RM15 per sotong and the small ones are RM10 per stick (5 in 1 stick).

These prawns are RM10 per prawn.


These are RM10 per stick.

Getting to know Kota Kinabalu thru its food

2011-10-05T01:42:00.003+08:00

Landed in KK on 1 October 2011 at 8:00 am. Took a taxi from the airport to the Promenade Hotel Apartment where I had pre-booked and paid for a suite in April. Let me tell you, the taxi from the airport to the hotel costs RM30 which is quite expensive because the airport is not that far away (around 12 minutes with no traffic jam). If I know the way, I could have walked but maybe it will take me around 3 hours to do that. I tried to check in at the hotel and unable to believe my luck, I was allowed to occupy the suite as early as 8:00 am. In the photo, the chef is checking out the bathroom and the closet. There's also a full-length mirror behind him.

I had what the hotel called a Studio Suite and it costs RM58nett which to me is a fantastic deal but of course I booked through the internet and at a very early date. I requested for a kingsize bed and what you see is a kingsize bed and beside that is a 2-seater sofa with a coffee table. In front of the sofa is a 21" TV and a dressing table with mirror.

Beside the sofa is a small kitchen area and quite fully equipped with electric kettle, rice cooker, hair dryer, gas stove with gas, cups and saucers, glasses, fridge, washing detergent and sponge, wok, pot with lid, build-in cabinet, knife, bowls, dinner plates, rice ladle, soup ladle, table forks, table spoons and tea-spoons including a chopping board and an oblong tray. Complimentary from the hotel are packets of sugar, tea, coffee and 2 bottles of mineral water.

That's the chef enjoying his first cup of coffee.

First stop is the Seng Hing coffee shop at Ruang Sinsuran 2 (opens daily from 7:00 am to 4:30 pm). It's usually crowded so I was lucky to find a table.

Ordered the fried KK's famous Tauran Mee - cost RM6 per plate. Portion is average. However, the taste is good.

Enjoying the Mee Tauran.

Same coffee shop has the Tom Yam noodle (signature dish) with prices ranging from RM8, RM10 to RM12. I ordered the RM8 and the taste was great. As you can see the prawns were quite big (5 of them) but with the heads intact which could be the chef's way of telling you the prawns are fresh but personally, I feel it looks dirty and the prawn's stomach smells, don't they? You could get the same tom yam noodle/bihun with the same taste at Rejang Park in Sibu costing RM4 per bowl but in Sibu, there's no prawn but the lady uses fish slices and meat balls and her meat balls are fantastic.

Tried the laksa at the same coffee shop at RM5 per bowl. Only 2 small prawns and the taste is okay although a little bit sweet. Personally I like the Kuching laksa better.

One of the landmarks in KK

Along the waterfront

Another angle of the waterfront on the way to Suria Sabah shopping centre and Jesselton Point.

KK waterfront

Along the waterfront, saw a fisherman caught a fish called "Ikan Cermin".

Odd looking fish called "Ikan Cermin". I was told this specie swims in groups.

Jesselton Point. This is where you can make arrangements to go and enjoy a lot of water activities like swimming and snorkelling at the islands: Sapi, Gaya, Manukan, Mamuk, Sulug. For locals, the boat rate to one island is RM17 per adult and a conservation fee of RM3 needs to be paid together with a terminal fee of RM7.20 per adult totalling RM27.20. But if you wanted to cover 2 islands then the boat rate is RM27 so that comes up to RM37.20. There's also a children rate which is cheaper. The boat will only move with a minimum of 8 persons and with the weather so hot, I was not willing to risk my skin so the plan to visit the island was abandoned.

An express from Labuan berthing at Jesselton Point.

Took lunch at the coffee shop called "Fatt Kee" (opens 11:00 am to 2:00 pm (for lunch) and re-opens 5:00 pm till 12:00 midnight (for dinner)). It's a small shop with no air-con and limited chairs and tables situated at the ground floor of Ang's Hotel which is near to KTS Trading and Capital Hotel opposite Wisma Merdeka. The food is good and a lot of people constantly drops in to "tapau" (take-away). I ordered meatballs (2 large pieces), chicken wing (1 piece) and fried brinjal with rice costing RM5.50. For dinner, in order to get a table, you have to be there around 6:00 pm and the popular dishes are lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork, assam fish head, pig's trotter and fried noodles.

Not far from Fatt Kee is Melanian 3 coffee shop (opens 7:00 am to 2:00 pm). It's famous for its mixed pork noodles at RM5.50 and the soup is good. The meatballs are tasty and the lean meat is tender. It offers side dishes such as stuffed tofu and chicken feet although I was not able to sample them. I regret I only have 1 stomach. In between Fatt Kee and Melanian 3 is a corner coffee shop selling good bah-kut-teh but unfortunately it wasn't open when I was passing by.

The next day, I returned to the same coffee shop. That's mixed soup without the noodles.

That's noodles with soup and veggie only.

That meal with the iced lemon tea cost RM10.

That's Yee Fung coffee shop (opens 7:00 am to 4:00 pm) at No. 127, Gaya Street (tel: 088-312042). Labelled as the best laksa in KK, it was established 25 years ago. I was lucky to find a table at the back of the shop and it offers laksa, claypot chicken rice and beef noodle called "ngau chap".

Laksa at RM6 per bowl. The taste is similar to Seng Hing Restaurant's laksa but I still prefer the Kuching laksa.

Claypot chicken rice at RM6 per claypot. The taste was okay but again I personally prefer the claypot chicken rice in Kuching.

Foo Phing Dim Sum (tel 088-259692) at Lot 6 & 7 Ground floor at Kolam Centre, Phase II, Jalan Lintas, Luyang is a very busy dim sum eating place. Similar to Kuching's golden arch shopping centre, the dim sum restaurant occupies 5 to 6 shoplots and really takes eating dim sum to another level. It's a bit out of the city so since I stayed at the Promenade Apartments, I decided to take a bus. The bus station is only around 3 minutes' walking distance. At first, it was quite difficult but all you need is a lot of hit-and-run questions. I discovered the key word to this place is "Taman Hilltop". We waited at the bus-station under the sign "Luyang" for a few minutes and finally the bus arrived. It happens to be the no air-con small bus with small seats where half your bum is hanging in empty space. The bus driver and his assistant were very helpful and I should mention that they were also very cheerful people. Even though they do not know the place but they will try to drop us somewhere near the Kolam Centre/Taman Hilltop. Wow, it was an interesting experience because once the bus moves out of the parking lot, the loudspeaker blasted off a Lady Gaga song with a very catchy tune. I had Rihanna and J Lo accompanying me on my 15 minutes' journey and at one point, there's this song that sounds like ..... put your hands up, put your hands up.................... The bus dropped us off the the Prudential building and all you need to do is to walk to the back of the building, turn right and walk along a row of shophouse, cross the road to the opposite side and walk up a flight of stairs to this big open arched building. Since it was a Sunday, it was very quiet on the roads and I did not meet anybody but wow, when I entered this restaurant, it seems to me the whole town is here! Did I mention the bus fare is RM1.20 per pax? I had discovered the theory of taking buses. On the return journey, all you need to do is to go to the opposite side of the road where the bus drops you - Easy as ABC. It makes sense though - what goes up north must return down south.

Glutinous rice with chicken fillings wrapped in leaves.

Steamed pork ribs.

Braised chicken claws.

Siew Mai.

Fish balls.

Steamed dumplings with prawns.

Glutinous rice in leave but quite difficult to eat without a spoon.

Prawn wrapped with meat and spread with mayonnaise.

Yam basket with filling.

Filling inside the yam basket (with cashew nuts).

That's the bill - RM37.50 for 2 persons' breakfast.

Killing 2 birds with 1 stone. This is Kah Hiong Ngui Chap (opens 7:00 am till 3:00 pm). After eating dim sum at Foo Phing, I walked further towards the back and this restaurant serves very good beef noodles. Even though Foo Phing Dim Sum has the whole town, this shop can hold its own. On the wall, I can see AFC channel, Jason was here from the newspaper cuttings pasted on the wall behind the cashier.

I was quite full from the dim sum so ordered one Konlau mee with beef soup - RM7.50 for this set.

Beef, tripe, beef balls and 2 big chunks of white carrot

Konlau mee is actually noodles with black sweet and slightly thick sauce topped with minced meat. This is a specialty of KK.

These are egg tarts from "Egg Tart Prince". I bought these at Centre Point food court for RM1.20 each. Surprisingly, they are good. The filling is not too sweet and it melts in your mouth and the crust is crispy - very crispy. I thought to buy some to bring back home but flying nowadays is a hassle with so many new rules and restrictions so I had second thoughts. On my numerous journeys and trips around the city, I discovered there's another shop with the same name at Wisma Merdeka and along Gaya Street or somewhere there, there's actually a small bakery with the same name. I was thinking, eh, not bad, this is some sort of franchise or a chain of shops selling egg tarts, cakes and swiss rolls, etc. Oh, I saw that bakery has a sign showing durian swiss rolls or something like that. I couldn't quite remember but the egg tart is good.

I saw a lot of yellow mangoes with prices ranging from RM10, RM15 to RM20. I bought these at RM10 and wow, they re-arranged my teeth!!! I was informed they came from the Philippines and I bought these at the wet market. They looked so nice but in fact, they were very sour.

This is at "Little Italy" right on the ground floor of Capital Hotel next to KTS Trading. I thought to order pizza or maybe a plate of macaroni/spaghetti but my two-legged compass was not keen so I ordered a slice of tiramisu cake and a glass of lemon juice. It's a pricey place but of course, it's air-conditioned and the ambience is good and the place was quite packed (mostly by foreigners). The tiramisu was below expectation but the lemon juice was refreshing. But 2 items at RM24 is not a place I will frequent.

Wait for my next post on the wet market and the Filipino market!

Waterfall at Kampung Jantan, Lundu, Sarawak, Malaysia in pictorial form

2011-09-18T19:31:00.005+08:00

The day of the Hike: 18 September 2011 (Saturday). This is around 8:10 am

Checking the names and counting the heads.

Sharing a joke!

Captain looking for late-comers. There are sure to be late-comers for any event. (Stating a fact)

Hanging around waiting for everybody to turn up.

Finally everybody is present and the Captain gives his important briefing.

Captain registers himself at the Kampung before starting the journey.

Our guide is the handsome guy standing on the right.

The journey starts.

Looking smart, eh?

Looking very smart!

First resting point waiting for the rest of the gang to catch up. Feeling in tip-top condition. Not going uphill yet.

Taking a breather.

Reach the river and there are big rocks in the middle and along the banks of the river. The sound of running water is thunderous.

See how tranquil is the water?

Very tired hiker. See the sweat on the face? Notice how flat is the hair? BUT survived.

Huge gigantic rocks!

Along the banks of the river.

Have to climb up there and go up some more to reach waterfall.

Nothing to do so play around with the camera.

Idle past-time.

Relaxing!

Some more relaxing.

Very bored already! Alone and bored.

Changed venue and dipped feet into water.

Some more dipping. Water's icy-cold but very refreshing.

See how clear is the water? That reminds me of a poem in one of my literature lessons: "water water everywhere and not a single drop to drink." [Remember super-sonic boy took the backpack with food and water away?]

I can see no more dirt on those feet. Water so clear and clean but not a single drop can I drink.

Feeling rested although thirsty.

Feeling refreshed although tired.

Tranquility.

Calm and peaceful! The healing process of nature.

Big rocks in the middle of the river and very slippery. That's where I dropped down a few minutes later and screamed until all the birds flew away and the monkeys ran away.

Wow, no stress.

A tree growing out of the rock.

Natural hanger.

Whose shoes are these?

Where's the other leg?

Gushing water.

Happy time! Return journey.

Going home!!!

This is the journey further up the waterfall where I did not go. Photo courtesy of super-sonic boy.

Very slippery so need a helping hand.

Teamwork.

Site is nearer to the waterfall.

Whoa, that rock looks like a crocodile head.

Some more walking across rocks.

I was told the view is part of Kuching city.

At the top of the waterfall. Whoa, I cannot stand heights. Looking at this photo, I can imagine my legs trembling like washing machine in spinning mode.

Along the way to the waterfall, there's a rubber garden. Someone has been tapping rubber that morning.

The latex flows ...........

.......... down to the black cup to be collected soon.

Cocoa garden.

That's how cocoa fruits look like.

Durians! The smaller ones on the right are RM2 per fruit. Further towards the left, slightly bigger at RM3 per fruit.

These are bigger and earned its place on the table at RM6 per fruit but I bought 5 durians at RM20.

A tall cactus near one of the kampung houses.

Waterfall at Kampung Jantan, Lundu, Sarawak, Malaysia

2011-09-17T20:43:00.030+08:00

Hurray!!! Hiking!!!

Those small dots down there are people playing in the icy cool water and I'm way way at the northern end behind the trees (can't see me). Photo courtesy of super-sonic boy

A long time ago, I used to go hiking. That was when I was in my twenties after finishing high school and mixing around with a bunch of co-workers of similar age and disposition. Those were the days when we were young and oh, so carefree and energetic. I remembered the interesting but grueling job of trekking through fields with grass so tall as to cut your arms while walking through them. Of course, there were interesting sights along the way as you trek through padi fields, rubber, cocoa and pepper gardens and pass by some vegetable plots and wade through rivers and streams. I still remembered crossing a big wide river by walking along a fallen rotting tree trunk across that river and the tree trunk was hanging 60 feet above the river. I didn't dare to look down but I peeped and it was scary.

Now, more than twenty years later, I was offered a chance to go hiking again. I thought I'll try it and armed with preparations like tying up my hair, wearing sport shoes, cap and towels, I thought I was ready. I always had Plan A and Plan B up my sleeves. It's in my nature to be prepared. Plan A was the personal preparation and Plan B in this case was bringing along my teenage son so he could carry food and water for me.

The day in question arrived and all the hikers (19 of us) met at the pre-appointed venue, that was, 3rd mile KTS Village since the captain of the team resided there. I was eager to start. At 8:30 am, we started our journey. It took us one hour and thirty minutes to reach the junction to Kampung Jantan where a guide was waiting to show us the way. The fee for the guide was RM10 per hiker but negotiable if you had a big group of people.

The weather was fine and sunny although quite hot and dusty along the way. After parking our cars near a kampung house, we started our jungle trekking with the goal of reaching a waterfall. We saw some chickens, some dogs wondering aimlessly around and a brown cat lazing under a chair. We also saw an old lady eating durian at her veranda. She kindly offered us a free durian. How great was that? These people were very friendly and non-threatening.

After ten minutes, I was sweating profusely but I could still manage because I had been on the treadmill recently so walking was not a big deal for me. I even took out my camera to snap some shots to show my nieces. Well! That was actually the fun part of the whole trekking saga. The next ten minutes was grueling and that's just describing it mildly! I even asked my son whether he could hear me breathing. I thought I heard an elephant crashing through the jungle beside me and a gorilla breathing heavily while running after the elephant but to my utmost dismay, I realised both animals were actually ME!

Only then it hit me straight on the forehead! For the past ten minutes, I had been climbing slowly but gradually uphill the whole time. Now, let's get this clear! I have nothing against climbing hills but I know my weakness and that is climbing hills. (Discovery Thought Number 1) That instance when the thought hit me, it was like the sky opened and the truth struck me like lightning. Have you ever come across a situation when you are hit with not only one thought but two or three discoveries strike you simultaneously at the same time? By now, I also realised that my son who happened to be my Plan B if anything went wrong had disappeared from my sight! (Discovery Thought Number 2) Wow, I thought, I didn't realise I gave birth to "super-sonic boy" who can climb hills/mountains so fast! (Discovery Thought Number 3) Not only that, this "super-sonic boy" took away the backpack that contained food and drinks! (Discovery Thought Number 4)

I am a practical person if nothing else and with the snap of the fingers, I knew what I must do. 'STOP' shouted my brain 'and move the goal post!' So I told my guide I wanted to stop right this instance and wait for the rest of the gang to return. Did I tell you the guide, to my chagrin, was walking bare-footed? But that's another story. I must say I forgot the tenacious character of this simple man who just wanted to do his job. I think he was actually in the wrong line of work. He should have been in the marketing business. He tricked me into continuing this grueling, tedious and sweaty journey until we reached the river. He said something about the guarantee of reaching the waterfall like he will guarantee the performance of whatever product he might be selling in future. I reached the river after an hour of hard trekking exercise feeling like a donkey following a master holding a big stick.

Bliss!!!!! Here, I reached my new goal post. It was cool although by this time the sun was actually overhead since it's already midday. I could see huge, gigantic rocks with water gushing through the cracks in the rocks. The sound of water was thunderous although I could still hear the sound of twigs snapping or the sudden flutter of bird's wings. In contrast with the thunderous sound and the sight of gushing water was the still and calm water in some pools within the same area.

Did I mention that my goal post had moved? I was adamant that this will be my destination and finally the guide left me alone. And I can tell you, alone meant nobody was around me. "Super-sonic boy" was nowhere in sight. I was surrounded by rocks and water and of course some trees and scrubs along the riverbanks. So I had some 'alone' time and played with my camera. I listened to some songs on my handphone and dipped my feet into the icy cold water which was pretty refreshing and nearly fell asleep. Suddenly, I felt a shadow across my face and looking up saw "super-sonic boy" had come back. So it was time to return home. It was a happy thought.

I got ready to trek back home but after only five or six "very carefully placed" steps, I felt my feet gave way and my whole body sliding down one of the huge gigantic rocks. I could not hold onto anything and it was so sudden and shocking, I had no time to say, "O Jesus, save me!" Instead, I did the only reasonable second best natural thing and that was to scream "aaaaaaaaaarghhh!" I finally got the attention of "super-sonic boy". He stuck to my side like glue after that! THAT, I told myself, was what any self-sacrificing mother would do to get the attention of her teenage son. Needless to say, I was wet from my knees down to my Adidas shoes.

The return journey was downhill all the way. Wow, you should have seen me. I didn't know I was "speed-racer". Toot-toot and off I raced! With the blink of an eye, I reached the finishing line with no elephant and gorilla beside me. Although I was not the first one to reach the car park but I was within the first five position. Should I mention "super-sonic boy" was not far behind?

That episode ended well. An extremely interesting day for me. Oh, did I mention it was the durian season and I bought some durians?

Request to borrow money

2011-09-16T22:39:00.003+08:00

What is your reaction when someone close to you ask you for money on loan? Do you just open your moneybag and dish out the required sum of money? Do you dig for reasons why the loan is required? Do you negotiate to lend a lower amount or a higher interest rate?

My late father told me once that if you lend money to someone, then you can consider it lost. It is better that you change the amount of the loan into coins and throw them into the river. I was confused. Why? I wondered. He gave the reason that when you throw the bag of coins into the river, you can hear a big splash and that is more satisfying than worrying whether your borrower will pay you or not.

I once had a good friend who persistently requested for a small loan. I lend it to him to get him off my back. After the loan, I lost a good friend. Needless to say, the money was not returned and after a while, attempts at keeping up the friendship ended in failure. The purpose for the loan? To buy Chinese New Year dresses for the wife.

In another incident, I had a close relative who also persistently asked for a loan. The first phone call asked for 100 bucks, the second phone call increased that 100 bucks to 300 and the final request ended with 650 bucks. I was reluctant but considering the relationship, I relented and gave him the money. Another experience in life where I kicked myself senseless. The money changed hands and was never to be seen again. I found out later the purpose for the loan was to buy a wall lamp for the living room at the wife's request.

Don't get me wrong. I don't see anything wrong with lending or borrowing money. When there is a necessity, I'm sure any decent human being is compassionate and caring and will lend money for medical needs or for food or even to help set up a business but not for luxuries. Let's be clear on this: I'm not telling you to zip up your moneybag and refused to lend a single cent. When there is a need, by all means help out the poor fellow.

However, we have to decide whether loaning this sum of money is actually helping or just giving the borrower a reason to spend more money. Let me illustrate a simple case. Please note all names are fictional and not related to anybody living or deceased.

Jacintha asked me to lend her some money. After my bad experiences with lending money, I enquired and found out she needed the money for dinner because she just started work and she did not receive a full month's pay. That's fair enough. When she received her next pay cheque, she send me a message to say she's still unable to return the money because she had just started work and she had a lot of expenses to pay. Since it was a nominal sum, I replied that she can return the money after she receive her next pay cheque. In the meantime, I decided to look into Jacintha's lifestyle. I discovered a few facts about Jacintha:-
(1) She always eat out. Even if there is food on the table, she still insists to eat outside with friends;
(2) She smokes nearly two packs of cigarettes daily;
(3) She goes out for movies every weekend;
(4) She drinks regularly with her circle of friends;
(5) She spends quite a substantial sum of money on telecommunication charges; and
(6) She has a history of borrowing money from people around her whether they are friends, cousins, uncles and/or aunties.

I'm pretty sure she will not return the money when the next pay cheque comes in. It has become a habit of hers to borrow and not to return. It just doesn't pay to bail out this sort of people in the first place and I feel stupid to have fallen into the trap. The next time somebody like this comes to me I will tell them to face up to reality and if you need money for dinner then come and share my dinner or else you can go hungry. I feel lending money to these sort of borrowers is just being too complacent and not helping them to help themselves. We should do our part to help them by giving them advice on how to live frugally and how to live a life debt-free. Our advice will fell on deaf ears but it is our duty to help them and not to indulge them. Taking the easy approach by lending them money or telling them you do not have money to lend is not the solution.

What is it about the young these days?

2010-12-08T16:32:00.001+08:00

Socrates (399 BC)

"Our youth now love luxury, they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders, and love to chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."

High tea at Hilton, Kuching

2009-12-02T16:36:00.004+08:00

One of my colleagues resigned and for her farewell gathering, we decided to meet at Hilton for high tea. I brought along my kids and we really enjoyed the food and the company.

BBQ and steamboat

2009-12-02T16:20:00.012+08:00

BBQ cum steamboat

My brother-in-law invited my family to a bbq and steamboat dinner at D11. There are quite a number of shops in Kuching that offer bbq and steamboat "all you can eat" dinner. So far, our family likes D11 because it is comparatively cleaner. The stove and the bbq plate are cleaner and not so rusty like the other shops. I like the fact that the workers will straight away wipe and clean the stove and bbq plate as soon as the customers left. There's more variety of food and as there are more customers frequenting this shop, the turnover of the food is faster and therefore, more fresh.

Getting ready for an event

2009-12-02T15:53:00.008+08:00

Getting ready for an important event is not easy. I thought about the theme of the function; what to wear; what sort of make-up I should use-colourful and sparkling, muted, cool and mysterious; how important is the event; what are the people I will meet - should I make an impression or just melt into the crowd and become a "wallpaper"; the budget I can afford for the event, etc.

Fun in car trip

2009-12-02T15:16:00.012+08:00

A trip from Kuching to Sibu usually takes about six hours. To make the trip more enjoyable and not so boring, we took some photos with the newly bought handphone. We normally brought the dogs along for the ride as we don't really want to leave them at home as they are not "stranger friendly".

Felling trees in your backyard

2009-11-26T10:20:00.007+08:00

I had three majestic trees that I planted beside my house along the road. Day by day, I watched them grow. They grew very fast. The faster they grew, the more I worry. In no time, they were taller than the telephone and electrical poles. Once the wind blew, you could see them sway majestically against the sky.

I had tried to get people to fell them and finally the day arrived. I was actually amazed at the small sized fellow who was more a monkey than a man. You can't imagine the skill. He did not use any protection and climbed with his bare hands and legs for support. Furthermore, the trees were full of big angry red ants!

The naked guy trying to look like an antelope is my naughty photographer. He's playing with the branch of one of the plants along the fence in the garden that got accidentally knocked off by the falling tree. The white flowers actually had a faint nice smell and in mandarin, it sounds like: ma ti siang. In order to get him to video the incident, I had to get a chair for him to sit down and pour chrysanthemum tea (with ice cubes direct from the fridge) to quench his thirst.

Suan Lum Bazaar, Bangkok

2009-11-26T09:29:00.002+08:00

After shopping and haggling over prices, it was good to sit down for some dinner. A loud live concert was going on and there's a lot of stalls offering different varieties to choose from. I always have problems when there's too many choices. I get so greedy until I have no idea what to eat. The soft-shelled crab with the usual Thai sweet sauce tasted alright - they're fried so you can only taste the crispiness.

Coconut ice-cream in Chinatown, Bangkok

2009-11-25T16:34:00.004+08:00

Coconut ice-cream: yum yum, really delicious!

Sweet, yet not too sweet. Cool and creamy, soft and melts in the mouth with every mouthful accompanied by crispy nut crunch - it's just heavenly!

Bird's nest and shark fin soup in Chinatown, Bangkok

2009-11-25T16:03:00.004+08:00

Before I left for my holiday trip to Bangkok, I promised my husband I'll treat him to bird's nest and shark fin soup in Bangkok. Well, we tried both but the bird's nest was a bit on the sweet side so I'm not used to the taste. The shark fin soup is so nice - words are not enough to describe the taste. It's cooked in claypot and you can see it's the better quality by the whole piece of fish fin you find in the pot. It's cooked with a variety of mushrooms and balls of crab meat. Just imagine - big chunky pieces and big glassy needles of shark fin by the mouthful entering your mouth.

I ordered the lowest quality of bird's nest at 300 baht per bowl and second grade shark fin at 500 baht. Cheap and saliva dripping goodness!!!

Chinatown, Bangkok

2009-11-25T15:46:00.004+08:00

Chinatown - this is indeed a busy place. Shoppers' and eaters' paradise. So much food that you wish you had another 2 or 3 stomachs. What a pity we only have one stomach each. A picture speaks a thousand words - here, a photo speaks a million words.

Elephant rides in Bangkok

2009-11-25T13:35:00.004+08:00

After my floating market visit, the tour took us for elephant rides. It was an eye-opener. The elephants were well trained but I saw one elephant suffering from some sort of itchiness. If they did not behave, they were canned. Well, I suppose some beings had to suffer in exchange for the enjoyment of others. It was mid-day and I saw some of them bathing. I did not join in the elephant ride cos my husband was afraid of heights and he refused to climb on those huge beings.

An adult elephant had a small baby elephant tagging along, obviously undergoing training.

Floating market in Bangkok

2009-11-25T11:08:00.011+08:00

The highlight of my whole Thailand trip was the floating market. Even though it is quite commercialised, I love it. I won't mind going there again if I can. I nearly didn't make the trip. I asked around and the prices were quite expensive at 700 baht per person for the trip. I checked the internet and it was around 1,350 baht. I finally found a travel agent that charged me 500 baht.

The best duck noodle soup I had ever tasted and the most memorable food I ate was the mango rice. It was heavenly. The mango tastes like ice-cream and melts in your mouth.

The market was quite far away and various means of transport was used. First, a van will pick customers from the various hotels and send the whole group to the jetty where a long boat will send the group to the floating market. On the air-conditioned van, you will meet people of various nationalities. I met a young handsome Italian who speak very good English and he's a travel agent in Italy so he had been to lots and lots of places. He had even been to Kuching and visited the longhouses along the Rejang River and took pictures of the smoked heads hanging at the corridor of the Iban longhouses. There was a couple from Equador and another from Canada. I also spoke to a newly-wed couple from Malacca and they paid 700 baht each for the trip but they got the deal from another travel agent.

The longboat trip was interesting for me. River traffic was quite busy and luckily it was a sunny day and I loved the feel of the sun and the rocking movement of the boat while it cruised along the river and sometimes, I could even feel the splash of the water in my face. The long boat was powered by a motor that looked similar to a car motor.

Alighting from the long boat, you can see a lot of stalls selling souvenirs, bead works, wood craving items, T-shirts, lady blouses, skirts and dresses. Walk past this section and head for the river - that's where all the excitement is. A lot of activities is happening - you can see tourists boarding boat rides, tourists ordering food from the sampans, tourists bargaining/haggling over prices, etc. It is amazing. I don't know about you but I love watching these scenes.

I was so excited, I immediately ordered beef glass noodle soup and it tasted heavenly. My husband ordered duck noodles soup. Hmm... yum yum! Each bowl costed 40 baht. On a hot day, the fragrant coconut was extremely refreshing and costed 20 baht. Not too expensive considering it was a tourist area. However, exploring down the river, I discovered that there's actually more stalls and sampans down the river across a busy street and bridge. Haiya! This is the actual floating market where things are cheaper and food and produce are "from the villages". 1 bowl of soup at this part of the river only costs 20 baht and the seller looked more "real". I realised that the front part of the floating market is actually commercialised and this upper part of the river is the "natural" part. This is where I ordered mango rice and the mango is the best I have ever tasted. It is quite expensive though at 60 baht but the mango is very fresh and the transaction of getting the food and paying money was done through a basket on a stick. I ate mango rice again later on in the city costing 80 baht but the mango was not so fresh. I was on a tour so there wasn't really time to loiter around and watch the activities but the next time I'm going there, I'm going to spend more time "people watching".

Remember you must ask for the original floating market when you book your tour and it is called the "Damoen Saduak Floating Market".

Roadside stalls in Bangkok

2009-11-25T10:42:00.010+08:00

On my trip, I was impressed by what I saw of the Thais. They came out of nowhere and I'm not sure where they are going but they carry bags and bags of goods (obviously for sale) and hurrying to I also don't know where. It strikes me that these people are very hardworking. Roadside stalls are everywhere. As long as your stomach can take it, there's plenty of food along the street. Barbecued pork belly, tongue, stomach, intestine, etc are almost everywhere. A plate of seafood salad costs about 30 baht.

I was at the Sala Daeng train station when I saw an old woman over 60 years old pushing a mobile cart and selling ikan lekor. It was a "one woman" show. She cooks, packs, collects money while pushing the cart to places where she can find more customers. A young man placed an order and while waiting for her to fry the ikan lekor, it started to rain and it rained heavily. The sky just suddenly opened and poured huge buckets of water down from heaven. She pushed the cart and by the look of it, it was quite heavy, to the nearby shop corridor and continues with her frying. The incident strikes me to the heart. We do complain sometimes about life giving us a rough deal but there are others out there who are very much worse off than us. I looked at this old woman and thought: that's how some people need to do to make a living. Seems to me she took the rain as part of the job if you know what I mean.

"Hot plate" dishes along Khao San Road, Bangkok

2009-11-24T16:30:00.007+08:00

Along this street, there's a stall selling sweet drinks/juices. Wow! I'm impressed with the huge array of fruits, jellies, nuts, etc, etc, etc. My photo only show a small section of what's on offer.

Outside a 7Eleven store is a stall is a stall selling piping hot porridge - looking at the number of customers, you know it is very popular with the Thais.

My first taste of "hot plate" dishes was outside a 7Eleven store beside this porridge stall. I had pork while my husband ordered seafood. It was piping hot both in terms temperature hot and spicy hot. It was hot until the last mouthful. I learned a lesson - when asked whether you wanted it "hot", please be careful. If you say yes to hot, it is really spicy!!!

Cost: 90 baht for both plates

Right beside the "hot plate" stall is a stall selling beef noodles soup and it is quite popular by the look of it. There are lots of newspapers reports along the wall showing news reports concerning this stall and its food. This is my first interaction with the Thais when I was told to "sit you down". Sorry, I can't show you a photo of this "sit you down" shop cos the noodles was so delicious that I forgot to take out my camera.

Street market at Khao San Road, Bangkok

2009-11-24T16:16:00.005+08:00

Ordered a plate of scallops fried with basil leaves and a bowl of tom yam soup costing only 115 baht. I thought it was cheap and the taste: yummy!!!

It's nice to stroll along the street looking at "street ware" and seeing a lot of different foods and produce. I was impressed with the freshness of the mushroom and I saw one giant among giants!

Eating insects experience in Bangkok

2009-11-24T15:52:00.005+08:00

Well, I managed to eat some delicacies. All these foods were fried so I can only taste something crispy and crunchy. Nothing much to it - just pop them into your mouth, chew and swallow.

Location: Also at Khao San Road, Bangkok.

Result: No stomachache experienced after the ordeal!

Evening fun at Khao San Road, Bangkok

2009-11-20T16:31:00.009+08:00

It was my first trip to Bangkok recently - October 2009 and I really enjoyed myself. My first stop was at Khao San Road. Things here are relatively cheaper and there are quite a number of tourists around. After a long day of travelling, it was nice to stroll along the street after checking into a hotel. The Thais are friendly people and very helpful. Khao San Road comes alive at night and offers a lot of entertainment. My first experience was the phad thai, noodles similar to our local "kueh tiaw" and I was hungry so ordered a plate from the hawker along the street. To my surprise, the lady cooked on the spot and handed me a plate of freshly fried phad thai and a pair of chopsticks. I thought: she expected me to eat right there and then? Eat along the street? Well, looking around, I saw a few Europeans eating from plates while walking around with their backpack still strapped to their backs. Hmmmm! I did likewise and really enjoyed the experience.

My first fragant coconut drink in Bangkok was a refreshing experience. The seller was really very fashionably dressed.

I met some "mobile" sales ladies selling beadworks, etc.

My first pair of sandals

2009-11-20T11:31:00.004+08:00

Well, being a mother and I believe all mothers are the same, we give a lot of time, patience, effort to our family and children. A lot of focus is on the family's needs instead of our own. A mother puts in effort to bring up a good family and at the same time and I believe this is human nature, mothers will lament on the lack of time and attention for themselves.

I'm also one of those mothers. Well, I happen to have a pair of branded sandals that I bought while I was on holiday - you know, when you are on holiday, you'll tend to buy things that you will not normally buy while you are on home ground. After three to four years, things get worn out and needless to say, my sandals are in a sorry state. My toes keep sliding to the front and it is not very comfortable. I have been thinking of buying a new pair but keep putting it off. Nice comfortable nonslip sandals do not come cheap.

On one of those Sunday shopping trips, my sons suddenly offered to buy me a pair of new sandals and I get to pick what I want. Of course, I went around a few shops and spotted a pair of 'Primavera' sandals that I liked. It costs RM69 which I thought was expensive for two kids to buy for their mother. However, the two kids insisted and I succumbed to the temptation. That's how I got my new sandals FREE of CHARGE!

A mother's prayer

2009-10-20T12:58:00.003+08:00

Day 1

Dear Father in Heaven
Creator of Heaven and Earth
Help me by giving me patience
Patience in dealing with teenage children
One came home, out of the blue, with his hair coloured red
I call him my "red hair and black eyebrow" son
He is indeed colourful
The other is too intelligent for his own good
He is often caught in a web of lies and deceit
because of his obsessive association with foolish friends

Day 2

O God Almighty of Heaven and Earth
I need some more patience in understanding the problems
of growing teens so that I can bring my children up
to be normal ordinary God-fearing men of tomorrows

Day 3

O Lord
I know you will not give me a burden that is too heavy for me to carry
But I ask for patience to help me deal with teen problems
and teen “growing up pains”

Day 4
Dear God in Heaven
You understand me like no other and
I thank you for giving me two children and not four
Can I ask for some more patience?

Day 5
O Lord
Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven
But I NEED patience!!!

"BE HAPPY!"

2009-10-07T14:49:00.002+08:00

“Be Happy”

What comes to mind when you hear or think of the word “happy”?

I looked for the word “happy” in the Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary and it is defined as “fortunate, lucky, feeling or expression of pleasure, contentment, satisfaction”. Quite a lot of words to express the meaning of being happy, isn’t it?

To quote Abraham Lincoln, he said: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.”

In simple English, he meant that being happy is “a state of mind”. It is in your mind – whether you want to be happy or sad. How can that be, rite? I was born poor, an orphan and handicapped, how can I be happy? I met with an accident and had to pay for repairs which I could ill afford. Am I happy? I bought a house, rented it out thinking of how much rental I can collect but the tenant refused to pay rental and refused to move out. Should I be happy?

I have been thinking about this topic of “be happy” and I have done some reading and I would like to share with readers what I’ve discovered along the path of research into “be happy”.

1. Learning to accept yourself

Learn to accept yourself as you are and try to improve your limitations. We have our weaknesses, failures and limitations. Rather than to lament on our imperfections, we make an effort to improve them. We are always bombarded with advertisements of super-thin and super-young models that being fat/short/old is considered ugly and undesirable. I do believe each of us have our share of insecurities (we are not rich enough, not beautiful enough, not wonderfully witty) BUT remember we can be contented with what we have. We don’t need to look like Angelina Jolie or Jessica Alba to be sexy or happy. We can be who we are, look the way we do and still be interesting, exciting and desirable. Character is ever-lasting so build up your character instead of investing in face-lifts.

I have an aunt who is average looking (she does not really take care of her appearance). She gets along with everybody. She’s humble, forgiving and always ready to give a helping hand. She’s full of good advice since she reads a lot. When I’m around her, I can see why people are drawn to her. I discovered she has a high level of tolerance and instead of talking down to you, scolding or lecturing, she will put forward her views in a nice way. One such incidence, on the subject of being diabetic, my uncle will tell you of all the worst scenarios where patients need to cut off their arms or legs and how difficult it is to heal wounds and within two years, your kidneys will suffer, etc, etc. My aunt will approach the subject differently. She will buy tea and herbs for you and encourages you to go on a diet and to exercise. Gradually, you discovered that you are actually taking longer and longer morning walks around the neighborhood with her. My point is: beauty is from within.

2. Hoping things will get better

Most people spend a great deal of their lives hoping things will get better. “Things will get better” only happens in fairy tales. Even if you are beautiful but spend all the time hiding in your room, how many chances do you think you have of meeting Prince Charming? Even Rapunzel, the girl in the fairy tale have to grow long hair (exceptionally “long” hair), let the hair down so that Prince Charming can climb up her hair to save her. Everything needs effort. If you spend all day hoping for things to happen without any effort on your part, then sorry, it will not happen at all.

3. When we change, things around us change. For things to get better, we have to get better first

Some people are always late. They go to work late, they arrive for meetings late. If the appointment for dinner is at 7:00 pm and they realized that they are early, they will surely think of something to do to make ‘themselves’ late. For example, dinner appointment is at 7:00 pm but a glance at the dashboard clock says 6:30 pm so quickly drop by the bakery to buy some bread for the next day. But the problem is you walk out of the bakery at 7:00 pm. Usually, it is without any conscious effort on the part of the habitual latecomers. If you are one of these people, please make a conscious effort to change. You will find it worth your while to arrive on time. At least, you don’t have to say, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry …………….” Stop! Take a break once in a while and review your behavior. If you find that you are often apologizing for being late or constantly in a rush and yet still unable to be on time, then something is wrong. It could be that you are lacking in time management skills, then think of how to plan ahead. Visualise what you need to do and estimate each preparation and give ample allowance for mishaps.

As for myself, I always think I’m right and often, I like to win arguments especially those I had with my husband. After a few disagreements, tantrum throwing scenes and long drawn out silences, I come to realize that instead of me trying to change him, why not change myself? Suddenly, a senior colleague’s remark came to mind: “Give in a step, you actually win half the battle.” I decided to take her advice and realized that not only do I experience less stressful long silences but actually have more time to really talk to my husband and find out what is bothering him. It resulted in better rapport and understanding and this, I believe brings more peace and harmony to the family.

4. Enjoy doing things

JUMP into life at every opportunity. Life is not a bed of roses but you can make it better by living, treasuring every moment of it. Sometimes, there are things you don’t really like to do but since you have to do it, you might as well enjoy doing it.

I hate mopping the floor, getting all wet and sweaty and it gives me backache. I often grumble to myself, “Haiya! I hate doing this. I am in no mood to do this.” Now, instead of grumbling, I try to make the chore more interesting by putting on some music and dance while I mop so instead of grumbling, sing. If my husband remarked on the sparkling floor, then it’s a bonus. If not, never mind, I enjoyed the exercise. But circumstances change and as the kids are now grown up, I get them to mop floors.

5. Bad times

For example, bad times come once in a while, like our present economy downturn. But we should make the best out of it. Without the present scarce resource of money, we would not have to learn to budget, to cut-cost. Even if we are retrenched, we lose our jobs, we can still think of alternative ways of survival. No need to lose too much sleep worrying over it but think of alternatives, like moving into a smaller house with lower rental, plant some vegetables or fruits for own consumption, go fishing or hunting for food. You may lose your job as an Accountant but who knows, you may be just as happy being a chicken rice seller. Take this mishap (of losing a job) as a chance to explore new alternatives, new possibilities. Take this as an opportunity to spend more time with family and build up better relationships. Sometimes, misfortune befalls us and we lose control for a while but understand that it is alright to lose control. However, make sure that you go back on the right track again. We are the one controlling our thoughts and emotions so concentrate on happy thoughts. Think to yourself: “I had enough misery, now I want to change things – I want to be happy.”

I like watching television and I will always remember one interview conducted by CNN many years ago. The interview is focused on an actor, Christopher Reeve, who was in the movie “Superman”. He fell from a horse and was paralyzed from the neck down and had to breath with the aid of a ventilator. His skull had to be reconnected to his spinal column. He wanted to die – to save everyone a lot of trouble. But his wife convinced him that his family (herself and the children) still wanted him around, “You’re still you and I love you.” To cut a long story short, he made up his mind to live again and to breathe on his own. Six months later, on Thanksgiving Day, he went home to spend the day with his family for the first time since the accident. Who is more courageous here, him or the family (especially the wife)?

I feel we need to learn from the experience that life gives us. We can also learn from people who lead inspiring lives and be touched by them. Whether it is an economy downturn or a bad accident, if we can come out of every experience safe and happy, we’ll know we have what it takes to handle any situation.

6. Don’t put happiness into the future

We should not spend time worrying about the future. What matters is now. We have to be happy now because we don’t know what will happen in the next minute. We can’t see what is around the next corner of our lives.

I remember when I was in my younger days (in primary school). I dread exams and always feel other classmates are more fortunate than me. One of my classmate has got a lovely pair of sport shoes while I only wear serviceable canvass shoes. The richer ones (the father is a doctor) even wear a watch. I thought, “I’ll be happy when I left school (no more exams) and get a job, then I’ll have money. I’ll buy that pair of shoes and a watch for myself.” Now, I realize I should have been happy then. I have wonderful parents who care for me, two brothers to play with and I even have a chance to go to school. I can see, hear, walk, breath, talk. Yes, there are people who are better off than us but there are far more people who are less fortunate than us. Now I understand people always keep putting happiness into the future. “WAIT until I have a successful career (how do you define “successful”?), WAIT until I found a rich husband/beautiful wife, WAIT until I bought a house, WAIT until the kids grow up, WAIT until I have grandsons (granddaughters are just not good enough).”

By the time all these things that I’m waiting for happen, I would have dropped dead before I’m happy.

7. Problems

Every day, we take chances, we face problems. “Wouldn’t it be great if we have no problems?” I remember one of my ex-colleague saying to me, “Those people who have no problems are those crazy nuts. We pity them but they are actually the happiest people in the world. They have no worries at all.”

Just imagine a shellfish on the seashore – sunbathe all day long and enjoying the evening breeze at night. Do you think if you are the shellfish, you will be happy? Personally, I would have enjoyed the first few days lazing around doing nothing. But after looking at only the sun and the waves and the seagulls for ten days, I would have felt restless. Is this all there is to life? Is this what I want out of life – looking at the sun and the moon? There should be more meaning to life, more excitement and challenges to add some spice to this sun and waves scenery.

So whatever we do, we have to do our best. When we face problems and make mistakes, it should not be something to be ashamed about but take it as part of growing up. We should learn from our failures and wake up every day, refreshed and ready to meet life’s challenges head-on. We don’t want to be a shellfish, do we?

8. Aging

Keep practicing the art of living. This more or less applies to aging. Ever heard people say, “Age gracefully?” Growing old doesn’t mean you have to look like a witch. However, you don’t have to look young and beautiful like Britney Spears but do dress decently and please try to look your age. It is sad to see an old lady of 50 in spaghetti straps and low hip jeans trying to look trendy but failing miserable.

Remember to keep using your brain, use all the muscles and bones in your body. When you retire, don’t stop living or thinking. Once you stop thinking or working, all senses in your body slow down and that is where the trouble comes in. Everything will breakdown if left unused for a certain period of time. Ever heard of people telling you once you use an electrical appliance, you have to use it continually or else it doesn’t perform very well? If you refuse to use your legs and move about in a wheelchair for 3 months, I can safely presume you’ll fall down once you start putting pressure on your legs.

9. Learn from children - Laughter is the best

Ever heard “Laughter is the BEST medicine?” Learn to laugh, laugh at yourself, at your mistakes. Don’t take life too seriously! To quote my mother who always say, “We are only a guest here on this earth.” Life is too short to dwell over mistakes or bad experiences. You made a mistake, so what? Maybe you lose money, you lose face – but no big deal. Understand that people do make mistakes sometimes.

Children can be maddening at times. I have two very energetic, boisterous and mischievous kids and it is so tiring looking after them and trying to discipline them. But when I really thought about it – we can actually learn from them. They don’t hold grudges. You spend 10 minutes lecturing them about something “bad” they had done and the next minute, they are reaching out for you trying to get your attention.

There’s a certain thing about small children that baffles me at times. They laugh at anything. They find fun in almost anything. It’s like they instinctively know that laughing is good. I remember my two boys when they were 5 or 6 years old, they poke each other and spend countless minutes giggling non-stop. They just laugh because it feels good. They laugh or giggle unashamedly, naturally, spontaneously. Of course, being a good mother, I will try to stop them because I was afraid they might get too much air into their lungs and get stomachache later on. I’m always telling them, “Don’t laugh so much, no giggling or else you cannot go to KFC” but you know …………………

According to reports, laughter is BENEFICIAL to both your body and mind. When you laugh, endorphins are released in your brain (gives you a natural high) and your respiratory system gets exercise which is similar to the kind you get when you are jogging. Laughter relieves pain. When you are laughing, you are more relaxed and when you are more relaxed, you feel less pain. Laughter is actually good for people with terminal illness.

That is according to statistic which I believe is true but a word of caution – do not laugh at funerals. I mean know when to laugh. If you smash your car, it would look very odd indeed if you stand at the roadside laughing – I would have cried. But after a few days of feeling miserable and feeling the pain of paying for the repairs, get back to normal track again. At least, you are still alive.

10. Look at the bright side of things

We always feel that anguish, sorrow and pain are distressing and we avoid them. But do you know, there is another way of looking at anguish and sorrow? Let’s say you lost a loved one to cancer and you feel a lot of anguish and sorrow but don’t you think it makes you appreciate life more? There are people who dedicate their lives to worthy causes after the death of a loved one. After experiencing such anguish themselves, some people are actually empowered to lead inspiring lives. I read somewhere that pain is actually good for you. Hmmmm….. how can that be? Let’s imagine, pain does not exist in this world. You are in a bus. While alighting from the bus, a car drive pass and accidentally knock your arm off. Remember, no pain! You don’t feel any pain so unaware that your arm is actually not attached to your body, you reach home and tried to make a cup of tea and discovered that you have in fact lost one arm. Is this example a bit weird? But when you really think about it, pain is good. Therefore, look at the bright side of things, even pain is good.

It also depends on a person’s perspective of things. Once upon a time, there were two aunties looking out of the same window. One saw a beautiful sky, pretty flowers on the lawn and birds chirping happily on the trees. The other auntie saw the dirty window panes and torn curtains.

Which auntie do you want to be?

CONCLUSION:

I’m not sure whether it is appropriate but I saw this quote which sets me thinking. It is from Sydney J Harris who states:

“The ART of living successfully is the holding of two opposite ideas in tension at the same time – first, plan your tomorrow as if you are going to live to be a hundred; second, live each day as if it is the last day of your life.”

GARBAGE ENZYME!!!

2009-10-01T13:53:00.004+08:00

We are so used to cutting vegetables, peeling fruits and throwing the rotten leaves and peels away. Have you ever thought of how to make use of this perishable waste? The ‘easiest’ and ‘laziest’ way is to dump them into a pot, let them rot and throw the rotten, black, slimy paste onto plants or fruit trees as fertilizers.

There is actually another way of making use of this perishable waste. Think: “You can turn waste into a thousand and one uses.” How can that be possible, rite?

I’ll show you how. Then, I’ll tell you how to use them and at the same time, preserve the environment and lessen the impact of global warming. See? One good thing leads to another……. Furthermore, cost is minimal.

What is garbage enzyme? It is a complex solution obtained from fermentation of fresh kitchen waste (fruits, vegetables) together with brown sugar and water. This is developed by Dr Rosukon of Thailand. She has actively pursued research in making enzyme solution work and encourages people to make it so as to change the climate. Dr Rosukon started it and we need to continue it.

How to make Garbage Enzyme:

Things you need:-
 A plastic container
 Brown sugar (unprocessed sugar)
 Organic/kitchen waste
 Water

Ratio of brown sugar, kitchen waste and water:
!!! Just remember - 1:3:10 !!!! The magic numbers are 1:3:10.
1 kg of sugar
3 kgs of kitchen waste
10 litres of water

If your container is smaller, then 300 gm sugar, 900 gm kitchen waste and 3 litre water. Got it?

In a big container, throw in kitchen waste (cut into smaller pieces), brown sugar, water and close the lid. Simple? Yes, it is. Remember to open the lid and let the air out daily for the first week to let out the ………gas…. If not, you might find your container had expanded due to the production of gas as the waste ferments inside the container. If you happen to see any worms around the rim of the container, don’t worry, just throw in some more brown sugar and close the lid.

That’s it! Done! Leave it for three months and extract the solution which can be used in one thousand and one ways.

After 3 months, extract the solution from the residue. The residue can be used as fertilizers. The solution is actually multi-purpose. It can be used for anything. However, it needs to be diluted with water and mixed into cleaning detergent for an effective clean. Example, mix enzyme with shampoo and water and shampoo your pet dogs. Pets will have more hair and the hair texture is more silky and lustrous. Sound like a shampoo commercial, ain't it? Well, it's true. For use as a deodorizer, mix enzyme with an antiseptic and water and spray. It kills odour. I find mixing enzyme with clorox and water and spray onto bathroom walls and toilet bowls makes cleaning bathrooms a much easier job. It can also be used to spray garden plants. But a word of caution, do not use hot water to dilute the enzyme. It will disturb the enzyme solution.

It’s all about you and your effort to make Mother Earth a greener and healthier place for you and your future generations. From the day that you started making garbage enzyme, you are already improving greenhouse gas and ease global warming. When you open the container, you will smell something sweet, sour and fermented, a scent similar to the smell of alcohol. It’s not unpleasant. This smell means that the enzyme is releasing ozone gas which can reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and reduces the heavy metal that traps heat in the cloud.

This should be a joint effort where everyone makes enzyme and use it. The more this garbage enzyme gets into drains and rivers, the cleaner will be our rivers and seas and thereby saving the earth. Remember, it saves money too by cutting down costs of expensive chemical detergents!

Pass the word around! Get everyone involved!

Global Warming!

2009-09-24T15:03:00.005+08:00

Do you read newspapers? Do you surf the internet? Do you listen to radios? Have you heard of calamities around the world? It’s happening everywhere now and then. Fires, floods, drought, earthquakes, various diseases, etc are as a result of global warming.

Impact of global warming:

• Polar freeze (as a result of excessive carbon dioxide emissions)
• Melting glaciers and ice (resulting from illegal oil drilling and thinning ozone layer)
• Unexpected winter storm (resulting from air pollution and climate change)
• Tsunami (undersea earthquake as a result of destruction of coral reefs and mangrove forests)
• Landslide (resulting from heavy rainfall and unstable soil)
• Heatwave and bushfires (resulting from open-fire burning, air pollution, climate change)
• Fish stock worldwide depleted (due to rising sea temperatures, increasing ocean acidity, pollution and overfishing)

Measures to counter global warming and pollution:

• YOU and YOUR ACTIVITIES – it’s all about YOU and YOUR EFFORT!!!
• Say “no” to plastic bags. Bring your own canvas/non woven bag for shopping.
• Use old plastic bags to throw rubbish.
• Say “no” to Styrofoam containers. These take centuries to decompose.
• Bring your own containers/cups for take-aways.
• Plant veggies, fruit trees, green trees, potted plants when/where possible.
• Use solar energy when possible. Buy solar heater. Use sunlight to dry clothes and not dryers.
• On only essential lights and water.
• Use energy-saving bulbs.
• Buy clothes that require less ironing.
• Use fan/air cooler instead of air-con.
• Close the refrigerator door promptly.
• Operate washing machine when full load.
• Off water tape when brushing teeth.
• Use showers and not baths. Husband and wife can shower together.
• Buy refill packs (eg coffee, milo, detergent, etc) when possible.
• Use toilet paper sparingly – 1 square for small businesses and maybe 3-4 squares for the major ones.
• Buy hybrids/electric cars, money permitting.
• Carpooling whenever possible. Use school bus.
• Cultivate good driving habits, eg, off the car air-con on a rainy day if driving alone, put car in free gear when you are near the traffic light getting ready to stop, do not accelerate and brake unnecessary, do not press accelerator unnecessary while car is stationary, pre-plan your shopping trips to avoid various unnecessary trips to the market.
• Be more “walking-minded”, not “car-minded”. Walking saves fuel cost and healthcare costs and reduces carbon emissions and improves carbon-abatement programs.
• Stay in green homes, money permitting.
• Heard of a garden on the roof? Tokyo introduced policies for green roofs to be installed on 20% of all flat surfaces. This saves energy costs, improves insulation, air quality and water management, offers recreational space, a solution to food issues and a garden rooftop on a hospital provides therapy for patients.
• Re-cycle food waste by mixing them and use them as organic compost.
• Collect perishable garbage and ferment them into enzyme solution.
• Use enzyme solution whenever possible in your daily activities.
• Decompose grass and twigs as fertilizer. Collect urine for use as organic fertilizer (provided you can stand the smell).
• Water plants using water collected from washing machine (during the rinsing cycle) and after washing rice, veggies, etc.
• Re-cycle glass bottles, newspapers, magazines, books, papers, tin cans, etc.
• Use discarded/scrap paper as drafts. Go paperless when possible.
• Remember when we eat and shop, we are actually voting whether to go green or not. How you spend money affects the world!
• Educate people around you about global warming and “going green” to preserve the environment

These are but only a few ideas on going green. YOU can come up with countless ideas but you need to look around you and think of possibilities of going green.

Not only are you saving $$$money$$$, you are also saving Mother Earth but you need to put in effort.

Borneo Highland, Kuching

2009-09-18T13:51:00.000+08:00

Smile! Smile! Look over there! Say: "Cheeeeeeese!"

I would like to share some moments with readers. The trip is indeed a time for bonding and building relationships and memories that last a lifetime. We had fun with some local models!

Sakura

2009-09-18T13:26:00.000+08:00

Now I want to show you the original Sakura which is "Made in Japan". I haven't been to Japan but these pictures sure are heavenly!

But these you have to see in Japan!!!