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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