Happy 64th Merdeka Day!

Our beloved country has come a long way since its independence in 1957. We have become very famous for our tourism, great local food and all the wrong reasons too. It has made me tired of reading any political news as frog jumping has become a culture now.

The Covid19 pandemic has brought much misery and suffering to everyone in our country. Lives have been lost and income has become zero for many of us. Yet the politicians are busy counting numbers and numbers from their seats to the daily cases. When shall we see light at the end of this dark tunnel??

While I am still praying everyday for a better tomorrow, we still have to think of those who are hungry and sickly. 

I woke up at 6.00am to help and cut vegetables. In conjunction with the 64th Merdeka Day, this team had decided to donate over 60 packets of lunch packs and a truckload of groceries to another Old Folks Home and Orphanage. 

We have gotten smarter and bought a huge rice cooker this round. No need to cook 3 rounds using the small rice cooker like the first time. It saved so much time to scoop piping hot rice and dishes. My wife cooked soya sauce chicken wings, tofu minced meat and mixed vegetables for over 60! 

All the happy faces at the Charity Home and Orphanage. May this Merdeka Day bring good health and joy to everyone!

My Diary Of A Sick Friend

This happened 3 days ago which I would never forget. This is the meaning of Foolhardy. It happened to my old friend named Bruce Lee (his real name).

11.00am - I made appointment to see a dentist cos my front tooth cracked into half. I have been using the hardest toothbrush available for years. I love to brush my teeth real hard, scrape my tongue many times and floss them before gargling with strongest mouth wash. Yet my fillings also fell off and now tooth cracked. Now I am using the softest toothbrush.

12.00pm - The young dentist patched my cracked tooth easily. Bruce offered to buy me lunch and I requested for Chicken Sandwich because my tooth filling was still fresh & not hardened enough.

12.30pm - Bruce Lee went to FM's Convenience Store to get me the chicken sandwich. He saw the big poster selling the Spicy Hot Korean Ramen. He was so gatal and bought one to try the "Challenge". He seldom eat chillies all his life.

1.00pm - Bruce and I sat down to eat. I watched him slurping the spicy hot ramen and he was raving away how delicious & tasty it was. He suggested that I should try it too. I just kept eating my soft sandwich which was nice and suitable for my tooth.

2.00pm - Bruce was silent and drank water.

3.00pm - Bruce drank more water.

4.00pm - Bruce was restless and silent.

5.00pm - We parted and went home.

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8.00pm - Bruce texted me that he was in Hospital!! His stomach burnt out and he was in great pain for so many hours. He drove himself to the hospital nearby his home.

8.30pm - My wife and I rushed to Hospital to see him. He was rolling on the bed in the outdoor canopy of the hospital. They set up many tents outside for emergency patients to keep SOP and maintain their Covid- Free environment.

9.00pm - Doctor and nurses attended to Bruce. Gave him drip and took his blood for tests to see if he had food poisoning or others. He was still howling and whining like a little puppy with acute stomach pain.

10.00pm - Bruce went to toilet few times but no help. He vomited in the plastic bag but nothing came out! He was still in acute pain. Still howling and whining like hell.

11.00pm - I made noise to the doctor and nurses that nothing could help to reduce Bruce's stomach pain. His agony reminded me of all the cancer patients in my care who had stomach and lung cancer. The memories came haunting me back whole night.

11.30pm - My smarter than doctor, wife suggested that Bruce needed to drink milk to neutralize the acid inside his stomach walls. The nurses didn't give milk but gave him antibiotic instead. The acute pain was still there! It was like knife scrapping his stomach walls non stop.

12am - Where to find milk at midnight??? 7-Eleven and KK Mart nearby all tutup. Aha! I drove to my wife's new office and opened the fridge. There was a new box of Milk! Whoa!

12.30am - Bruce drank 4 cups of cold Milk at one go..

12.40am - The whole day's acute pain started to reduce gradually. Unbelievable.

1.10am - Bruce has stopped whining. He decided to go home already. Total damage RM900!

1.30am - We sent Bruce back home safely.

2.00am - We got home. So dead tired and slept right away.

6.00am - I woke up to get ready for appointment. Felt like a Zombie the whole day with little sleep.

Don't play-play with spicy hot noodles.

End of Story.

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A Very Popular Goreng Pisang Stall

I read in my community's facebook that someone from Damansara Uptown came over to buy goreng pisang. He was stopped by authorities somewhere and got slapped with a RM2000 summons for crossing district. That was the most expensive Goreng Pisang anyone could have paid. There are 2-3 different Goreng Pisang stalls located in the both ends of the neighbourhood but I guess the guy came to buy from this one below. It is the biggest stall with the best variety of fried kuehs for tea time and for me to watch my Netflix. Really sedap and shiok to munch.

They sell everything at RM2.00 for 4 pieces.

This stall would operate in the early afternoon and that's the perfect timing for the customers to buy back for tea time. By late evening, all sudah habis and very laku.

These are the trays of Goreng Pisang, Fried Crispy Lekor, Goreng Sweet Potatoes and etc. I could not get individual close up shots because the long queue was there.

This is my Top Favourite ONDEH ONDEH kueh which has fresh gula melaka bursting out in your mouth. The pandan flavour and grated coconut is always fresh to chew. Yums! RM2.00 only a box.

This is Keria (Donuts) which is coated with thick Icing Sugar which is ideal to eat with hot black coffee.

Fried Poh Piah Rolls with sweet & spicy caramel coatings. Very original and crispy!!

Curry Puffs (Left is Sardine Flavour and Right is Curry Potatoes)

This is Fried Cekodok (Banana Balls)

This is Cucur Udang (Fried Crispy Shrimp Balls)

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My 3 Jars Of Condiments (UPDATED)

I have been eating outside food which I bought 'tapao' or delivered by the Food Panda or Grab Delivery guys. It took me so long like over a year to realize that something's not fulfilling for me. The restaurants were quite stingy with their sauces when they actually increased their prices during the pandemic and lockdown. I can understand the price hikes but not the reduced sauces. The final straw came when the nearby pizza shop refused to give me extra 1 packet of chilli flakes when I have been ordering personal pizza from them at least TWICE a week! The entire staff could recognize me each time I walked in, as I have been their tallest customer. That's what the lady joked. 

Honestly I felt very frustrated as I grew up eating Thai Food all my life from a small kid until I went abroad. My mother cooked and fed me all the spicy, hot and sour dishes until I could not live with any chilly sauces to make my bad eating habits any happier. I always had to bring various sachets and mini bottles of spicy sauces in my luggage to Japan and China over the years.

Enough is enough! I told my wife that I decided to make my own since I am so bored at home. I went out to get grocery done and bought all the ingredients. I spent 3 days to prepare my own 3 condiments and kept them in my China's porcelain jars. Finally, I brought those porcelain jars to use after buying them some 15 years ago. There was a Chinese Antique Fair in KL that was wrapping up the booths to return to China and the seller begged me to take up all the jars at any price! He would rather sell at cost to cut losses for the return shipment of unsold goods. I think he was selling at RM12.00 each and I grabbed 10 jars for RM5.00 each! I wanted to buy and give others as gifts BUT it never happened as I kept them all displayed in row on the lower TV rack that was dark brown. The jars stood out beautifully like useless white elephants! Now I am using them for the first time and my readers get the first sip of viewing the replicas of the Qing Dynasty's condiment jars of the old Chinese kitchens. 

I am not telling you what I have made! Please guess what I have made from my own kitchen, all alone by myself as lady boss has been busy with 2-3 Zoom Meetings all day, everyday like a Busy Bee. The first all correct 3 answers of the different contents inside my 3 jars will win a prize from me (Only applicable to Malaysian and Singapore addresses only. You can just give me any mailing address or friend's office address instead for privacy reasons as residential addresses should be kept confidential by you) When I have seen 5 commentator's answers, I will update this blog post again with all the photos showing my ingredients and final product inside the 3 Condiment Jars!

The Correct Answers:

Sambal Belacan

Pickled Green Chillies

Pickled Ginger

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Moving Office

My lady boss wife suddenly decided to move her educational centre to the new location. She just gave me 2 days notice and I went into frantic mode. I disappeared from my blogsphere for over a week as I had to find many empty boxes, touch up dirty walls with paint, packed all the barang-barangs, swept the floors and went to police station to apply for permit to MOVE OFFICE.

We hired the service from a Movers Company who provided 3 lorries (5 Tons Size) and 1 Lorry (3 Tons Size) No kidding, the tough & strong Indian workers were all screaming their lungs with hanging tongues! So many big heavy furniture and boxes as heavy as elephants!

The workers were very fast and within hours, all the 6 rooms were empty! All shifted to the new location within Kuala Lumpur with no obstacles.

Meanwhile I have just finished painting the 3-D Wall of my own office which I would share with the Lady Boss. 

May the Keyboard Warrior who still flies in like a Witch on a Broomstick, please take note that all SOP was being observed and I did not cross districts or borders to give frontliners a hard time as you loved to assume. I had applied for police permit to move office and the Lorry Movers have approval certificates from the Ministry as Essential Services. So no one broke any law and remember to suck your toes of your mouth gets itchy. Carry on being a good girl and never to jibe or taunt others as you know you had committed lots of sin in the past for being a nuisance. 

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Feeding The Hungry

Words got around that there is an old folks home in my vicinity that was running very low in provisions and money to feed all the inmates. A taukeh friend of my wife who runs a hardware shop decided to spring into action suddenly. He had never done any charity deeds all his life besides small cash donations yet he has been enjoying good life. I admire his accumulated merits from past lives. Envy! So this taukeh asked my wife to cook up a storm in our kitchen. 

I woke up before 6.00am and that was unlike me. I know I should help a bit while all the cooking was done by my wife to feed 85 inmates. She asked me to peel and chop 1 kg of garlic. OMG! It was no joke for me to pound, peel and chop them for over 2 hours. My left index finger was burnt with scalded skin until I could barely use it now to touch & unlock my smartphone. Muahahaha

In future, we would buy ready peeled garlic from the wet market and use a proper garlic chopper or grater instead. It was unexpected and impromptu as we never cooked so much in our lives. I felt good anyway and would want to help again.

She cooked scrambled eggs with tomatoes, mixed vegetables and chicken in black sauce (another friend's chicken).

By 11.00am, all the packets of lunch boxes had been delivered by the taukeh to the Old Folks Home.

The taukeh was so moved to tears to see the inmates eating happily and hungrily. He would want to plan more feeding and donations again. I told my wife that we should plan the menu ourselves as we had done so many times, on a smaller scale. Hope this pandemic would be over soon. Stay safe everyone!

May the Keyboard Warrior who still flies in like a Witch on a Broomstick, please take note that all SOP was being observed and I did not cross districts or borders to give frontliners a hard time as you loved to assume. Carry on being a good girl and never to jibe or taunt others as you know you had committed lots of sin in the past for being a nuisance. 

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How To Peel Mangosteen

I have been eating the delicious Mangosteen fruits all my life. It is nutritious and power packed with rich nutrients like different vitamins. My Thai mother taught me how to use a small knife to cut them open nicely to serve guests. This is a common practice in Thailand where the folks are creative in fruit carving as they often have beautiful fruits and food presentation as offerings to the Gods, Temples and distinguished guests.

It is now the Tropical Fruits Season in Malaysia and I have been eating durians, rambutans and mangosteens to my heart's content. I saw the supermarket selling mangoesteen and bought some home.

I realized that all my friends and relatives here would just use both their palms to press or squash open the fruit to eat. Sometimes the whole pulp would be messed up with juice squirting out. I would take a small knife to cut lightly in a circle to open up.

Tada! It looks better and neat to serve our guests with a fork.

Meanwhile, I have been snacking since last year when the MCO started. I have eaten so much junk food and narrowed down to just sunflower seeds lately. It is more addictive, healthier and not fattening! I have been buying Char Cheer's brand with Cream Flavour which is the top selling brand that has always been snapped up. Finally I decided to track down online and found only Shoppee sells them! So my big package arrived!

Look at my 10 huge packets of Sunflower seeds! Yums! I have lost a total of 18 kgs since the MCO started in early 2020.

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