My Quick & Lazy Mushroom Soup

I often got inspired by this Lazy Man's cooking & baking posts of blogger RealGunner 

who is a happy KL bachelor residing in Penang. I thought that even lousy cooks like me 

could probably dish out wonders too! 

Before I boast to you my cooking, let me wish all my blogger friends 

and silent readers a Very Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year 2015. 

Happy Holidays to everyone and get drunk & happy okay.

You probably remember that my sick mother was discharged from hospital recently and now resting at home. Her efficient maid who has been nursing and caring for her has gone back to Philippines for her Christmas break while my sister is away to join her hubby's family in Sweden and my brother is always finding excuses to disappear from thin air. So we have hired professional nurse's help to give 24 hours care for a week and it costs some RM5,000!!! This is crazy but true... sweats!

Besides that, I have to plan for most of their meals and the planning made me smarter. I was sick of buying the same restaurant food daily and started toying with several soups & my Mario's spaghetti. Today I will share my Quick & Lazy Soup that costs me less than RM10.00 and could serve 8 persons!

I bought 2 mushroom soup sachets (No MSG), 2 types mushroom and used some milk. 

The total is indeed less than RM10 and took less than 45 minutes to boil till finish!

YUMMY! It tasted good if not better than the soup served at P@STA Z@NMAI.

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How To Get Rid Of Lizards?

I don't hate lizards at all. I even play with small lizards by catching them with my bare hands and soaked them in a pail of water until half drowned! That was when I was a kid. I know, I was cruel but not anymore. You might say that I never killed them but gave them good baths.

Over the years, I had headaches with the bigger lizards who would swarm my home at night to feed on insects. They would drop the poo all over my altar and rooms. I would not mind their visits but they should poo outside or in my toilets. I tried to buy all sorts of repellents but they didn't help at all. The lizards still came and laughed at me with that tsk tsk tsk tsk sound!!

Then I heard some grandmother remedy tales that we should use the fresh serai leaves (Lemongrass Leaves) to keep the lizards away.

I found this idea unsuitable as I might need to grow many bushes at home to get fresh supplies. By then, these bushes would attract snakes and I have to start buying sulphuric powder to keep the snakes away. I was in a dilemma until I saw some neighbours shared the idea to buy the concentrated Serai Liquid instead and I sprang into action immediately.

I bought a bottle from Hero Market and poured it neat into my spray bottle. I zapped the spray and aimed all the whole corners of my ceiling and window frames. The lizards have said good bye to me and went to my neighbour's homes! They hated the nice smelling lemongrass in my home.

Now I miss the lizards!

HAPPY WEEKEND MY FRIENDS!

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Beware of Bad Feng Shui

What is a saw? We know that it's an iron tool with sharp teeth that could slice wood into halves! I have a true story to share as I am a firm believer of Feng Shui and you can call me Superstitious Aunty!

We should avoid sleeping or sitting too close to the open-styled or exposed stair cases. We should place our beds or living/dining room chairs away from them. 

 

This is the actual photo of the staircase in the factory where I work. It leads up to the office area where all the bosses, staff and myself sit daily. We have a very crammed office with almost 20 persons squeezing inside a sardine can! My Dato boss decided to add tables and chairs below the stairs for his very favourite right hand man and left hand man to sit.

I protested fiercely that it would be a disaster as the stairs resembled the saw! It would slice the person's spiritual well being. It fell on deaf ears!

 

Damage of this bad Feng Shui in less than 60 days: The right hand man screwed up a very big project case in Johor resulting in a legal suit and affected the left hand man so badly. Both of them had a series of headaches and the boss' favourite right hand man has resigned. Now the left hand man has health issues to tackle suddenly. Didn't I warn everyone before? Now one has lost his job and the other is nursing his health. Feng Shui is all about science today yet many labelled it as mere superstitions.

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(Updated) How To Keep The Cats Away From Your Garden?

I have lived in Taman Tun for some 10 years before moving to Taman Desa for the next 10 years and back! I could say that Taman Desa is a very peaceful hub for many retirees besides the many fierce dogs roaming the streets! You could often see many owners proudly parading their huge dogs like Rottweilers for evening walks. I have even seen rare imported canines like Eskimo dogs and even assorted racing Greyhounds! I often wondered why on earth they kept such huge dogs who eats more than humans at every meals. They don't look cute like good-for-nothing poodles that make good lap dogs! Well, I do love dogs but I don't keep any as I could not afford to feed extra mouths!

Now back to my original abode, this current neighbourhood has turned scary with so much crimes like break-ins and snatch thefts around the banks. The most disturbing matter to me are the many neighbours who keep fluffy cats and persians which roam the streets instead. I rarely see any stray dogs here. The cats love to come to my small little garden to poo almost everyday!!! Kaneeneh! I have to scoop their shit to dispose as the smell of their feces is horrible!! Yiaks!

They love to come to my garden as most houses have tiled their gardens to park more cars. My garden is the only one with neat plants with blooms of flowers. Even wandering spirits do come to visit my garden at night to sit on my bench and admire the flowers. That's scary and I am not kidding!

There are wandering spirits everywhere as the air space is free for them to roam. We only occupy the physical land areas that happens to overlap with their dimensions. So there is no such thing as "My House" and you get out. We should respect the spirits and even cats that come and go. However, some naughty ghosts might create disturbance or bring negative energies besides sucking on the house occupants' energies when they sleep. We can just say short prayers and sprinkle salt or smoke the place often with suitable purification herbs. I do that often but they still came but walked around & sat on my bench to admire the unusual flowers. "They" might be foreigners who had never seen exotic Asian flowers.

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I wired my gates with mesh wires and even sprinkled curry powders to keep the cats away but failed! They jumped over neighbour's fence or climbed over my 6 feet walls! I almost gave up until I saw the community FB which has some 3,000 outspoken members inside. Someone posted her same cat's poo-poo woes and shared a solution! Bingo!

This is one corner of my garden and guess what is the magic trick?

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I placed 3-4 mineral water bottles around the garden and the cats have stopped coming!!! My neighbours could not understand the reason the cats are avoiding these bottles but they all got this successful idea from Japan while they lived there. It seems to be a common practice in Japan yet none of us here knew the answer.

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Enjoy African Food In Kuala Lumpur

I am pleased to share a wonderful dining experience I had over the last weekend. I am always seeking for sheer adventurers and excitement when food and traveling overseas is concerned. It has always been my bucket list's wish to visit Africa someday as they have so much to offer besides the colorful culture, exotic food and big wild animals across the safari.

I found out from the WithLocals website that we could actually enjoy real African dinner, cooked by this lovely African couple right here in our bustling city of metropolitan Kuala Lumpur. I need not have to fork out RM4,000 to fly to Uganda & back! It was so simple, I logged into their WithLocals website and booked a date with Ms Tima.

1. This African couple has lived in Kuala Lumpur for over 5 years. Their home at the Regalia Residence Suites is really a posh looking condo right at the tip of Jalan Sultan Ismail.

 

2. I waited for her friendly hubby to come down to the lobby and bring my gang of 4 up to their unit.

3. Look at the lovely panoramic view of our Kuala Lumpur's city skyline with the lap pool on the 37th floor! It looks like the famous Singapore's Marina Sands hotel. I will be back for a swim!

4. This is the lovely couple who makes the perfect hosts! Ms Tima is from Uganda while her hubby is from Nigeria. She sings at the club in the swanky hubs of Bangsar while Chris is actively into the events management. They are really a good pair of entertainers to keep me laughing all night. We exchanged many juicy and useful gossips about our cultures, people, food and even voodoo stuffs. I was the one who asked 1001 questions about Africa as I am always excited to read and watch their country in the news. I complimented that Africans are naturally born with the biggest lungs to produce all the world's fastest runners and most popular MTV's singers & rappers.

5. Look at that! All the yummy food spread from her mama's kitchen recipes in Uganda. She may not have all the ready fresh raw ingredients here, but she was smart to find them from all over the city shelves to cook them for me. We really appreciated her effort!

6. We had pickled olives as appetizer. I am actually an olive oil believer who drinks them daily directly from the bottle, down my throat for good health and good skin.

7. Fresh African home made yoghurt with chopped herbs sprinkled to start me drooling.

I also eat yoghurt cups almost daily but my supplies are from those supermarket shelves. Trust me, Tima's yoghurt was better and heavenly nice!

8. I love this and regretted for not packing the left overs home. Next time, I will bring my own containers! Muahahahaha....

9. Arab Breads are eaten daily in most areas in Africa. They taste like thin plain pancakes and suitable to wrap with any side dishes.

10. Couscous Semolina is a very popular dish in Uganda. It's actually sugee flour being mixed well beans, herbs and chopped vegetables.

11. Delightful salad tossed with fresh greens and sweet sour sauces.

12. You will love them! They will love you too and keep you entertained & happy all night!

13. Minced chicken spiced with paprika herbs, chunky beans and diced spinach leaves. This one is so heavenly delicious and I could eat them everyday for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper!

14. One for the album. 

Thank you so much to Chris and Tima for hosting us with yummiest food and entertaining stories. She gave each one of us a string of hand made necklace from Uganda. It is so pretty and made from beads that were rolled tightly from paper into balls! Amazing craft, love it. 

Many thanks & muacks!

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The Story Of A Dying Bird

It has been a week since my mother was hospitalized last Sunday night. I am still hopeful that she might recover as the doctors have not been able to detect the actual cause after doing tests, X-rays and CT Scan. I have not stopped praying hard each day. In fact, I had never prayed so hard in my whole life like now. 

This morning, I did a short prayer for my mother at my altar, reciting the sutra from a book. I got ready to leave for work and had a terrible fright of my life. I found a very colourful bird dying on my porch. It was still struggling to breathe very hard and looked like dying. I was numbed for so long and had nonsensical thoughts flying in my head. I saw tiny ants crawling to this small dying bird.

 (Photo taken from: http://tgpearsonaudubon.net)

I wasted no time and bravely picked up my spirits & started chanting Amitabha's Ferry Mantra 7 times and dedicated to the bird to leave in peace & fly to heavens. I took out the Frankinsence's essential oil from my pocket which I used to massage my mum daily to fight her disease. I poured onto the bird to help bring relief and comfort.

I walked away sadly and wore my shoes.

I turned around and was shocked to see the dying bird standing on its 2 legs again! Whoaaa!

This is the actual photo of the bird. Everyone knows that I am a very superstitious man but I hope the bird was showing me some GOOD SIGNS!!

Viva Burung!

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Life Is Just A Journey

Last weekend, we were all prepared to watch a 9:00 pm movie - INTERSTELLAR which was highly recommended by SK & other friends. It would have been a near 3 hours long movie and we had packed enough snacks to keep ourselves awake. We both had a nice dinner just before the movie while my siblings were elsewhere feeding my aged parents the usual dinner treats at their homes. Halfway trough dinner, I received a SOS call that my mother developed breathing difficulties! My poor mama was panting so hard like a sick dog gasping for air. What happened?

My heart sank to the floor and everyone rushed her to the medical centre where she was whisked into the ICU immediately. She was later moved to the CCU (coronary care unit) where this ward is very specialized in the care of patients with heart attacks, unstable angina, cardiac dysrhythmia and various other cardiac conditions that require round the clock monitoring and treatment.

The specialists found that my mother's lung had collapsed and so much fluid were clogging inside. They hooked her up onto beeping scan monitors with tubes inserted through her hand, nose and stomach. Awwww! It was such a pain to witness all that. Finally, they drained out 1 liter of fluid with traces of blood inside. That was just 1/3 of the fluid and more tests are being done now for the next step.

There is nothing else I could do except to pray, pray and pray hard that heavens will take pity on her. I always believed that we humans have spiritual souls inside our physical bodies, therefore we need to see both the doctors and spiritual divine's help when emergency arises.

I knelt down and poured my hearts out to the 3 Goddesses to help bless & cure my poor mama! I realised that the heavens don't charge me anything for my prayers and wishes while the medical centre charges me a bomb!!!

I offered the lighted lotus candles to the heavens and dedicated the merits to my mother. I just wished that she will not have to suffer and recover swiftly. Someday I might share the beliefs on how these lighted candles can also help all the departed souls.

I clasped my palms and asked the Goddess to bless me with a divine fate reading for my mother. So many tourists were busy taking photos inside the temple and got curious! They started asking me to teach them how to shake those bundled sticks and I ended up teaching Mat Sallehs and Indian tourists! The above man is from India and he smiled so happily after that with the "fate paper" that has both English & Chinese explanation.

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Honesty Is The Best Policy

We all know there are many thieves out there! Bank Robbers, Snatch Thieves, Pick Pockets, House Burglars and etc. Now we have ATM Machine Thieves and even Potted Plant Thieves! OMG!

I visited IKEEA recently around the closing time to buy some household stuff. After checking out of the counter, we decided to buy the famous delicious ice cream! It was so yummy to stand there and eat my ice cream cone amongst a huge crowd of family shoppers.

 

I admired their thoughtful decor to place Eco-Green partitions using potted plants. 

Oh well, they were fake plants but still looked fresh, neat & nice!

Horrors! The next minute, I saw few pots went missing! David Copperfield could learn from them to make plants go disappear! It made me sick and shudder to think of such folks who would steal & grab anything!

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A Lavish Deepavali Night

Last week, a close childhood friend invited me to attend their family's Deepavali gathering somewhere in Petaling Jaya. I knew that area near Gasing Hills have plenty of ultra sized luxury homes with big sprawling gardens. If you want to know how exactly Beverly Hills in Hollywood looks like, just take a drive to Ukay Heights, Kenny Hills or Gasing Hills. They look so similar and no need to fly to Los Angeles.

1. The whole street was lined with all the flashy cars of the invited guests with so many security guards directing traffic.

2. It was my first visit and I was stunned by its size! The huge mansion looked so prominent with lots of Victorian white pillars.

 3. Their traditional Kolam's design was beautiful, using fresh scented rose petals.

 4. I had to pose myself there as a reminder that I really visited a Bollywood styled mansion!

Their huge chandelier behind was too bright!

5. I love their gold plated ornaments at both sides of the door!

 6. By now, you must be guessing who is the Indian Tycoon who owns this lovely abode?

The door gift's fruit cake carries the name where this humble restaurant chains started during the late 1880's. Now the family owns lots of estates, plantations and hotels around the country!

 Honestly, they are very humble and don't go about shouting for attention like many Chinese towkays today.

7. I saw many familiar faces of the KL's "Who & Who's". My wife bumped into a gang of her ex-students who were invited by the tycoon's youngest son. They are classmates at the private school in Damansara Heights.

 8. I enjoyed the best Indian food served in 2 long rows of Buffet Tables! I ate 3 rounds over 3 hours of chatting and gossiping. That's my trademark lah!

 9. I drank 4 glasses of the best teh tarek which was prepared by their best F&B expert from India!

I wished my Thambee SK (Sherman Khan) was there to yum cha & borak with me!!

10. Their fruit cake was so lovely!!

11. They hired a well known DJ who belted out all the latest and popular Hindi & Western music. It was interesting to see the Indian friends dancing the night away!! The older son danced with me too. Everyone laughed at our Bollywood dancing from the front door until the indoor swimming pool inside!

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I Won A Prize!!!

Hip! Hip! Hooray! I was over the moon recently when Small Kucing announced that I won the grand prize for the comments in her blog post! The organizer ~ THE SCHOOL sent me an email and invited me over to collect my Grand Prize of a "3-Wheel Vehicle" that comes with 2 legs manual turbo engine pedals. I had sleepless nights before and woke up early next morning to mask & powder my face & combed karipap hair-do.

I drove to THE SCHOOL @ Jaya One in the afternoon to collect my prize "amidst the paparazzi swarming around me!"

I was so happy and presented my speech well.

..."Thank you very much everyone for giving me this chance to win this prize. It means so much to me and I have pledged to donate this prize to the Padmasambhava's Orphanage in Klang as promised. I also wish to thank my blogging buddies Small Kucing, Mak Glamarlina and SK Thambee for all the encouragement and support rendered"......

The kids were all so happy to see the tricycle which costs a whooping RM300!
They excitedly took turns to ride and took the tricycle for a spin!

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed my over exaggerated post to tickle your ribs!

Have a Good Day & be Happy!

PADMASAMBHAVA CHILDREN LOVING ASSOCIATION

No.23 & 25, LORONG SG.NIBONG 1A,BATU 31/2,

TAMAN MEWAH BARU OFF JLN KAPAR,

42100 KLANG,SELANGOR,MALAYSIA., 42100, Klang, Selangor

Tel: 03-32907584 | Fax: 03-32919253

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Magnificent Angkor Wat - My Eyes Opened 柬埔寨吴哥窟

Let me share a bit about my traveling bug that started around the year 2006. That time AirAsia just started their first ZERO FARES which I guessed was in early 2005 and no friends of mine dared to click & book many months ahead which was the requirement. I took the daring plunge and risks to click so many destinations without second thoughts. We happily flew to Siem Reap, Bali, Bangkok, Penang and others over the period of 24 months! 

I decided to post something which I unexpectedly found in my external hard disk. These photos were taken in 2006 at Cambodia's Angkor Wat ruins before I started my blog in the year 2008.

1. That was my first trip to a place which has full of historical buildings inside the huge ruins of the Angkor Wat's Ancient City. I remember that I was very stunned and probably shocked to see so many gated ruins all over Siem Reap. The trip made me think a lot with self reflects that this once feared Kingdom fought many battles with Thailand, Burma and others several hundred years ago.

2. The holy monks sat high above inside the ruins and looked out. 

It tells me that "Nothing Is Permanent In Life." Even this once very powerful and rich kingdom could be reduced to a poor and powerless nation today. Unbelievable!

3. The steps are all very small and so narrow that only allows half your feet size to step on. The travel books explained that it was made in such to force the folks to humbly look down while making their way up to pay respects to the shrines or warlords above.

4. Most of the ancient ruins were carved out of huge granite rocks and boulders! They did not have machines or helicopters to carry them up so high. It was so thought provoking for me for many years about this Khmer Empire!

5. I was much younger, looking fatter and ugly before I signed up the gym to stay healthy.

6.   These elephants took lazy tourists up the hill at Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset. My wife strongly objected saying that it would be cruel of me to pay for these suffering elephants to carry me when I still have 2 good legs for walking. Ommmph!!! Poor me, I had to walk and whine all my way up. It was so damn hot but so fun to greet "Hello" to all those poor elephants who passed us.

7. Nah! Where's the sunset? We had to wait for a few hours more like those sohaiiis. We took many photos and trekked down again. Adoi...!!!

8. The next day, our hired tour guide Ngoy Nget drove us in his old Camry to a place farawaaaay. We went to hike up the Kulen Hills which was famous for its amazing waterfalls!

9. This was half way up to Kulen Hills and called "Kbal Spean" the famous valley of 1000 Lingas and carvings. If you wish to understand and see more photos of Lingas - Click HERE

10. Goodness! It was a drought season with no rains. The waterfalls were dry and all the butterflies were so thirsty like me.

11. That evening we proceeded to another magnificent place where they claimed to be the last built ancient structures where they have the best preserved & intact carvings until today.

12. I have forgotten the name of this very isolated place. Anyone knows, please advise me! The buildings were never completed as their chaotic Kingdom was falling then. It has attracted thousands of prominent tourists here to study and observe the drawings and ancient patterns!

13. LOOK!!! I bumped into this very famous actor and film director here. 

He is Tsui Hark.

14. We greeted "Hi" and he was so busy walking all over the place to survey the whole place for their shapes and designs. I just kay poh & followed him everywhere.

 

15. His entourage from HKG consisted so many members and I guessed they were film crews.

He spoke and behaved exactly like in the movies - all of himself naturally.

16. Since that day, I could see that he has the best computer graphics and animations in all the big budget movies made in China. It is not easy to be successful and rich with inspirations without traveling overseas. As a result, my own hunger and interests for very ancient historical sites have taken me to China several times.

17. We stayed in this lovely hotel that have a traditional looking hut for its restaurant. The chefs were Europeans and they cooked very marvelous meals.

18. We both concluded that hotel served the best breakfasts and yoghurt we have ever eaten anywhere.

That's all my friends and my photos were selected to be different from SK's awesome ones. We have quite similar photos actually but you can view his lovely photos HERE

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