Soup: Sup Tulang Merah

POINT TO PONDER

Do people change their ideology, principle in life? Based on my observation, some people do change. However, there are a few who hold strongly to whatever they believe in. Me? I would say that I am the swaying kind - especially facing with those sweet talkers or enthusiasts who are able to express themselves eloquently, convincingly. It will be only after a while I will realize my mistake - realize what it should be truthfully. (Anyway, it is not easy to determine what is right and what is wrong. It is a real scary world to live in.)

Some people are so desperate. They change their ideology so that they will get what they want. The question is, by getting what you want, will you be happy for the rest of your life? Perhaps, you will but the after-life will be questionable.

I still remember when I was studying in Plymouth. The scholarship that I received was not enough. Life, basically, was expensive. If I was not careful, I would not have anything to eat before the end of the month. A friend of mine who loved to buy clothes and went to 'places' would usually eat fried batter towards the end of the month as she did have not enough money for rice or other food stuff.

Living with a tight financial situation was not grand at all. So, at one point, I decided to find a part-time job illegally. (We were not supposed to work - full or part time. That was the condition when we signed the agreement.) The first part time job was with an Indian Restaurant. I was a waitress. To be honest, I found it very humiliating. I felt like a whore - parading in front of the customers with my 'kebaya'. I was asked to put on our traditional female clothing which is usually tight fitting. It was a good thing that the job did not last. Maybe, it was God way of protecting me.

My second and last part-time job was with a Chinese Restaurant. Initially, I applied as a waitress but a waitress in a Chinese Restaurant should not cover their hair - no head gear. So, the owner asked me to take it off. As I wanted the job so much, I told the interviewer that I would take off my headgear or we call it 'tudung'.

Fortunately, when I was in my room, I came to my senses. I did not feel that it was the right thing to do. The more I thought about it, the more vulgar it became. How dare was the guy to ask me to take off my 'tudung'? The humiliation became an anger. I went back to the place and told him that I had a change mind but, to my surprise, he offered me another position. I was given the responsibility of preparing the dessert in the kitchen. Excellent!

We, human, are lucky creatures as we are made with wonderful brain. We should use it  to think things carefully. By standing firm to our ideology or even principle in life, we will gain respect. When people say things to you, think carefully. Is it right or wrong? We should always use our listening skills carefully. Some people are very good with words but people with bad intentions will tend to use words that reflect their characteristics. So, we should always LISTEN with our brain being fully function.

INGREDIENTS

STAGE ONE

1 kg mutton (cut into bite sized)
2 lemon grass (bruised)
a thumb-sized ginger (my thumb is rather small so it has to be double my size. Bruised)
2 cloves of garlic (bruised)

1. Take a 5-litre pot. Fill half of it with water.
2. Put in everything into the pot.
3. Let it boil for 30 minutes.
4. Then, scoop out the mutton and throw away the water.

STAGE TWO

1. 1/2 teaspoon of pelaga and cengkih.
2. 1 inch of cinnamon
3. 1 teaspoon of bunga lawang.
4. 1 1/2 ladle of chilli boh
5. 2 ladles of tomato sauce
6. 1 1/2 teaspoon of tomato paste
7. 3 tomatoes (slice like an orange)
8. 2 carrots (cut like small logs)
9. 2 potatoes (cut into six or four - depending on the size)
10. 1 celery (slice not so thinly)
11. oil
12. salt and white pepper / black pepper
13. fried shallots and daun sup (for garnishing)
14. 2 1/2 litre of water

1. Heat up the pot.
2. Put in the oil. Then, put in pelaga, cengkih, cinnamon and bunga lawang. Fry them for a few seconds.
3. Put in the chilli boh. Once it starts to curdle, add in the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Let them simmer for a while.
4. Pour in the water.
5. Add in the mutton. Let it boil for about 2-3 hours.
6. Towards the last 30 minutes, add in the tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and celery.
7. Add in the salt and pepper.

EAT WITH BREAD.

MY THOUGHTS

As the whole family does not have rice for dinner, this is an ideal meal - especially for me as it is tomato sour and spicy.

Dalca: Vegetarian

POINT TO PONDER

Sometimes, the so-called adults behave like children. We are immature and do not consider other people's feelings. We shout and scream when other people do not give us what we want. Yet, we want people to see us, the adults, as the wise ones, the mature ones.

                  This reminds me of ...an incident when I was young. My mother invited her siblings' families over for dinner. I was so excited. I wanted to make the dinner a memorable one. So, I started to rearrange my room for a game. There were a few stations and each station had a clue and something to do.

                   We had fun playing and eating. When the time came for my cousins to leave, one of them took my clue. I went after him and shouted for him to return in which, being a child, he refused. The clue was just a piece of paper and I could easily make another one but, again being a child, I shouted for the return of my clue. My aunties and my mummy helped to get the clue back. Once they found out that it was just a piece of paper, they were rather displeased. No one understood, at that time, that the piece of paper meant something to me. Being a child, I was pretty possessive with the things that I own.

                   I believe that is why the Muslims in Malaysia are pretty upset with the Christians who insist on using the term that is so dear to them. They have been using it since it first began. The term appears in Quran many times. The Quran is written in Arabic and that is actually the first language of Islam. As for the Bible, I wonder, does it have the term in its original version? The original version of the Bible, I believe, is in Latin? Does it have it?

                   Why do we wish to torment others if the other party really is sensitive over it? If we do not like to be hurt, we should not hurt others too. However, most of us, I find, are rather selfish. "What about me?" they would usually say.

                   There was this person who hurt me badly. When I confronted that person, she could not understand why I was upset. The only that she was thinking of was herself. "What about me?" she said. The best thing of all, I did not do anything to her. When I asked her, she said it was merely my aura. She did not even have the courage to get to know me and yet she could judge me.

 Tst!  tst! tst!

INGREDIENTS

One cup of dhal
2 Carrots (slice them)
one Brinjal (cut it bite size)
2 potatoes (cut into six or four - depending on the size of the potatoes)
3 green Chillies

Pound the following:
1 inch of ginger
2 garlics
1 onion

curry leaves
bunga cengkih, bunga lawang and cinnamon
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

oil
sugar and salt

1. Boil the dhal until it is really soft. It takes about 30 minutes or so.
2. Then, add in the carrots, brinjal, green chillies and potatoes.
3. In a hot pan, pour in the oil.
4. Add in the biji sawi.
5. After the biji sawi starts popping, add in bunga cengkih, bunga lawang and cinnamon.
6.  Then put in the pounded ingredients into the pan.
7. Finally, the curry leaves.
8. Leave it for about 1 minute. Then, pour it into the dhal mixture.
9. Add in sugar and salt.

MY THOUGHTS

I got this recipe from the internet. It is really nice. I had it with Nasi Briani but you could also eat it with chapatti.

Vegetable: Sayur Keladi Rebus

POINT TO PONDER

My husband had a dizzy spell when he was at the gym two days ago. Initially, he announced that he would be going to the gym with our three sons but then, just before he left, he insisted that I came along. ((I refused at first as I wanted very much to read the article that I have printed.)

          The layout of the gym is pretty impressive. They have a few LCDs that play nice movies. So, when you are on the thread-mill, you really enjoy the walk or the run that you are having. The LCDs are also placed in front of the 'bicycles,.

           I was embarrassed at first as the place was filled with young ones. I, with my humongous body, did not really fit the picture. Once my husband had set me up on a thread-mill, everything else seemed to out of my mind. Twenty minutes on the thread-mill, I moved to the 'bicycle' section but my right knee did not allow me to do it for long. Feeling tired, I stationed myself on one of the provided soft bench and started to read the novel that I conveniently tucked in my rucksack.

          It was just a matter of a few pages of reading, my husband place himself next to me. He softly told me that he was not feeling well - a bit dizzy. His body was perspiring profusely. Not knowing what to do, I just looked at him with my novel still in my hands. He took off his glasses and handed it over to me. Right after that, he slowly collapsed.

        I still could not believe such thing could happen to me. It appeared like unreal but my instinct made me pull him to my lap. His body just went limp. Luckily, there were a few youngsters who saw came to our rescue. One person in particular took exercise-cushions and placed my husband's feet on them - to make them higher, according to him. Then, he brought us a bottle of mineral water and asked me to make my husband drink. Twenty minutes later, my husband came around.

         The next day, I did my own research in the net. In actual fact, my husband was experiencing dehydration. Based on my reading, after a few minutes of exercise, one is bound to perspire and thus, one has to drink so as to replace the water that has been released by the body. This part, I did not know. When we went to the gym on that day, we did not bring anything to drink. My husband went on all sorts of exercise equipment without stopping to drink - and that is the biggest mistake.

INGREDIENT

2 Yam complete with its sprouts. (clean them properly. Cut the sprouts about the length of your
                                                       finger. Then, boil them. This is to get rid of the itchy texture.)

2 1/2 fresh chilli
3/4 anchovies
1 onion
(pound on the chilli, anchovies and onion)
10 cups of tamarind juice (you need at least 1/2 cup of tamarind juice.
10 Basil (Daun Selasih)

1. Pour in the tamarind juice into the cooking pot.
2. Add in the pounded ingredients and the sayur keladi.
3. Let it boil. Once boil, turn down the burner.
4. Add in the Basil. It is now ready to be eaten.

MY THOUGHTS

You must be extra careful when you are cooking Sayur Keladi. If you do not boil it first, you will feel itcy in your mouth.

Burung Puyuh: Fried

Fish Cencaru Sumbat

POINT TO PONDER

I went to a local supermarket the other day. I don't usually make the habit of buying things from local supermarket as I don't quite like the way they present the products. However, on that unforgettable day, I stopped at this particular supermarket as I wanted to buy drinks for my students of 18.

        The supermarket is not big at all. It is only three shop lots being turned into a supermarket. Still, the first few minutes, I went bonkers looking for the thing that I wanted especially as I was not used to the layout.

         When I finally found it, I scanned for the price. The drinks were arranged on the shelves. All three tiers were filled with different types of drink. Initially, I wanted to buy Drinho but, then when I saw the price, I decided to change to Milo. There was only one price label displayed. The price was typed in a huge number. The next big sized thing on the label was the name of the supermarket. As that was the only available label, I thought that all the drinks were at the same price - and that somewhat encouraged me to take Milo.

            But, when I went to the counter, they charged me more than I expected. Should I just pay, I thought to myself. Why must I? So I asked. The lady said that, the price that I quoted was meant for Drinho only and not for Milo. Again I asked, how could that be as the label did not indicate that. I called her to the shelf. She pointed out the small printing. True enough the word Drinho was there...but then again where was the label for Milo? Of course, typical cashier lady, she mocked me.

             One thing about this small supermarket, they love to trap their customers. So, be warned everyone of their traps. (Ever since Tanda Putra, I started to view people differently.)

INGREDIENT

6 medium-sized cencaru (Some local call them as 'Ikan Jaket' due to the thickness of their scale.
                                         Clean the fish and slit the upper part so that you can put in the sambal.)
2 cups of chilli
1 thumb-sized belacan
1 teaspoon of coriander
1 teaspoon of jintan manis
1 thumb-sized of galangal (grind coriander, jintan manis and galangal.)
2 lemon grass (pound them)
1 thumb-sized ginger (pound it)
2 1/2 thumb-sized tamarind pulp (you are to extract the juice using plain water.)
1/2 cup of plain water
salt
sugar
oil

1. Heat the wok.
2. Pour in the oil and, once it is hot, pour in the chilli and belacan. The belacan should be sprinkled.
    Let it fry until the chilli curdles.
3. Add in the coriander, jintan manis, galangal, ginger and lemon grass.
4. Leave it for five minutes and then pour in the tamarind juice.
5. Add in sugar and salt. Let it simmer for a while. Turn off the bunner when the sauce appears paste
    like.
6. Spoon the paste into each fish. Then wrap up the fish using aluminium foil. Grill the fish.
7. Leave for 15 to 20 minutes.

MY THOUGHTS

The fish can be eaten with boiled rice. It is best served with sayur berair as the fish is rather dry.

Fried Kway Teow

POINT TO PONDER

On my table, there is a photo of all my children. They have all grown up. My girls are at the tertiary level. My twins are in the secondary school while the youngest is in standard five. But I still put their baby picture on my table.

            Personally, I did not feel that I was a good mother when they were young. I was very strict, got to admit that. Things must be done accordingly and I would go berserk if it went otherwise. (but that does not mean I love them less.) My voice...even thunderstorm cannot beat my ability to increase the volume. I remembered my neighbour's mocking me when I came over one day. (The mother was of course embarrassed. Still, I bet the mother did the same thing behind my back.)

           My first ten years of marriage was not an easy one. Not easy because of my expectation in life. I wanted to give my children a lot of things and, to be able to do that, I had to take a lot of part-time job. My priority was, of course, my full-time job but still I would give my whole body and soul for all my jobs - may it be part-time or full-time. Thus, time was rather limited. There was at one time, apart from my full-time job, I had three different part-time jobs.

           When I say 'time was limited', it was really limited. The first eight years, I was without a maid. I would send my children over to a neighbour's house. So, you could just imagine how busy I was once at home. I had to cook, clean the house, wash the clothes, fold the clothes etc etc etc. The house chores did not seize - even weekends. (My husband did give me a helping hand. He too was as busy as I was.)

           To make the matter worse, all my jobs required me to teach. Teaching means that you need to have lesson plans, prepare teaching materials, set test questions and marking assessment as well as exercises. (Looking back, I don't understand why I put myself in such a stressful life as life is short.)

          It is true that money was not a problem for me then. I could buy expensive clothes for my children and we could even go for holidays. The only thing that I could not buy was quality time spent with my children.

          Now, I only have one part-time job. Sometime, other places would call me but, if my children need me, I have no choice but to turn down the offer. Only now I realize that being with my children and husband is very important. I rarely spend long hours in the office even. Instead, I would plan my work so that I would not become so stressful. (Beside the fact that I have a maid to help me with the housework.)

          My maid will be leaving us next year. How will I cope after that?

INGREDIENT

1kg Kway Teow (soak in hot water for a few minutes)
4 medium-sized cuttlefish (cut them to bite-sized)
2 cups of prawn (peel off the outer layer leaving the tail)
1 fish cake (slice it not so thinly.)
3 cups of chicken (just the flesh)
6 cups of beansprouts (peel off the so-called tail. If you have a lot of beansprouts, it will taste better.)
3 toufu (cut them into small cubes and fry them.)
spring onion (for garnishing)
salt
1 cup of chilli
2 cloves of garlic (pound them)
white peper
soya sauce
oil

1. Heat the wok.
2. Pour the oil. The amount should not exceed the amount of the chilli.
3. Add in the chilli and garlic. Fry until the chilli curdles.
4. Add in the chicken. Let it cook a bit before putting in the prawn and fish cake. Lastly, put in the cuttlefish.
5. Add in the Kway Teow, beansprouts, fried toufu,  white pepper and soya sauce. (Make sure that it is not too black. So do not put a lot the first time. Add more if you need the colour. You have to JUST get rid of the red colour. That should mean you have enough of soya sauce.) Mix them well. The burner should be on low.
6. garnish with spring onion and omelette.

MY THOUGHTS

I love to have the Fried Kway Teow with pickled green chilli. It just tastes great.

Fried Kway Teow is my second son's favourite.

FISH LEMON BAKED

POINT TO PONDER

Yesterday, I received a whatsapp from a former student. I am not sure whether the term suits him as he is actually postponing his studies due to his condition. He met with an accident last year and thus he becomes an invalid. The family seems to believe that he will go back to normal. (I suppose any parents would have the same thoughts.)

          In his whatsapp, he told me about the insurance money. He wanted me to advice him. Unfortunately, my knowledge on that matter is pretty slim. So, I asked him to contact two other personnel as they would be able to explain to him better.

          Before we ended our conversation, he apologized for disturbing me. (He is a very polite person.) Of course, I told him that he was not disturbing me at all. It was a pleasure helping him (in any way I can). Personally, I believe in the Malay proverb that goes like below:

                       "Segan bertanya, sesat jalan"

Basically, it means that if we do not know something, we should ask. If we do not ask, we will never know.

         Recently, my eldest daughter received a letter saying that she was to study at a place which I vowed not to send my children. To make the matter worse, the course given to her did not sound good at all. From the day we received the letter, both of us just could not sleep. Not knowing what else to do, we prayed to God - seeking for his guidance.

         It was two weeks before Eid that I felt the urge to make a few phone calls. The first call I made was to the godforsaken place. I did not know who to call so I browsed its website and found a name that I believed would treat me nicely. (Thank God, the person did  treat me nicely.) I  talked to the person and seeked her advice. Unfortunately, she was not of the field that I was referring to. So, she gave me another number to call and I did. I tried a few times but there was no answer. Nonetheless, while walking towards my class, he returned my call. (How nice!)

          From the man, I found out that the course definitely did not suit my daughter and he advised me to go private. He said that sometime we need to pay a little bit for us to get what we want. However, money seems to be a real problem for me.

          So, after the phone call, I became more upset. Then, I called one good friend of mine - seeking her advice. She scolded me instead for not allowing my daughter to have a lot of options earlier. Feeling really sad, I told her that I did not have the motherhood manual. Thus, mistakes were bound to be with me. I suppose after that she pitied me. She advised me to meet some people. "Do not just call. Go and meet them. Let them see your daughter."

        That exactly what we did. It was surely embarrassing because we appeared to be like beggars. I called the HEAD and requested for an appointment. She replied almost immediately and invited us over. Both my husband and my daughter went up to talk to her. She told my daughter precisely what to do - in which they forgot to give me the detail.

        It was the week that students started to register that I received a call from my good friend. She urged me to appeal and talk to the HEAD again. Our plan to go for the March intake was not a good idea, she said. So, I quickly drafted the letter and emailed it to the HEAD. The faculty approved our appeal but the STUDENTS DEPARTMENT did not. My daughter called and pleaded her case. They looked into it again and, in a matter of hours, my daughter was asked to register.

        The moral of the story is that NEVER EVER feel shy to ask. Some people without doubt are like lioness but what could be the worst thing they could do to us? They would shout or scold us but we will still be alive. The shouting and scolding are nothing. Perhaps, they just do not know how to say things nicely. So, we should pity them instead.

        Most important of all, we should PRAY TO GOD. Only God can really help us. I believe it was God wonderful work that make those people wanting to help me and my daughter. God is great.

INGREDIENT

2 Whitting fish / Senangin (clean the fish with tamarind juice. Then coat it with salt. Not too much though)
1 yellow capsicum
1 red capsicum
1 onion
2 stalked of celery
2 thumb-sized ginger
(slice them not so thinly)
2 cloves of garlic (slice it thinly)
8 Small chilli (just crushed them)
coriander leaves (for garnishing)

1. You need a baking dish. Arrange the vegetables first.
2. Place the fish.
3. Cover the dish with aluminium foil.
4. Put it in the over. If you are using the kind of oven I have, it would be (a) traditional baking (b)200.
5. Leave it for 35 minutes.
6. Eat it while it is hot.
7. You can serve it with white rice or bread with butter.

MY THOUGHTS

My husband does not quite like it as it is not that spicy. He loves everything to be chilli hot. The hotter the better but if the temperature is hot, he will complain.

My sons do not seem to mine. I suppose as long as I do not serve rice, they are alright. Nowadays, we hardly have boiled rice for dinner. So far, we feel lighter even though we still look chubby.

PRAWN WITH BROCCOLI

POINT TO PONDER

People usually say that when you die, you die alone. (Unless there is a massacre, you will definitely die with a few other people.) So, we should not feel sad if there is no one for you that can be considered as a good friend.

        However, the sadness is still felt when during lunch time, for example, no one would go up to you and ask you out. (I am referring to the situation at the office. If it is at home, we would usually cook on our own or call for food to be sent over.) It hurts to know that you do not exist in anyone's mind. You feel as if a knife has just been pierced into your heart.

        Now the question is, it is necessary for us to lament over it. If people do not like us, there is no way we could force them to like us. We could, on the other hand, do something to win their hearts - if we really want to. Then again, we need to really think about our action. Will it be worth it? Or will we still be at the losing end? There are, of course, a few questions need to be answered.

        There is nothing wrong eating alone. There is absolutely nothing wrong. We will not appear stupid. We will still look good. In fact, we will have our own time in which we can use it to think about LIFE. The time can be used to relax our minds - keeping us calm and contented.


        But then, there are the other people who are looking at us - thinking that we are the anti-social kind or the ones that are despised by others. The look that people gave or even the remarks given make us cringe or feel embarrassed. NOBODY WANTS YOU!!!!!

         Should that really bother us? It will but learn to ignore it. We need to remember this...not everyone will be running to help us when we are really in need of help. Not everyone will cry their heart out if anything bad has be fallen upon us. Not everyone will mop if we die. So the moral of the story is, we should learn to enjoy doing things alone. It does not matter as God will always be with. (That is why it is vitally important to believe in God.)

          We should also remember ONE more thing. There are always some people who like, love us and they are none other than our own families - our parents, our siblings, our husbands, our wives and our children. We need to take good care of these people's feelings. We should treasure them and never ever take them for granted.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups of prawns (peel off the skin, leaving the tail)
1 medium-sized broccoli (cut it into bite-sized)
2 cloves of garlic (slice thinly)
2 teaspoons of chilli boh
1 cup of tomato sauce
a handful of basil / daun selasih (cut it finely)
salt
4 tablespoons of olive oil

1. Once the pan has been heated up, pour in the olive oil.
2. Add in the garlic and chilli boh. Fry them a bit until you get the fragrant.
3. Add in the prawns and a little bit of salt. Once the prawns turn pink, place them onto a plate.
4. Add a little bit more olive oil. Once it is heated, pour in the broccoli and the tomato sauce. Cover the pan and wait for the broccoli to cook. (It does not take long. It is only just about three minutes.)
5. Pour in the cooked prawns and mix them well.
6. Serve them on a dish and garnish with basil.

MY THOUGHTS

I left the broccoli a bit too long as I was busy preparing for another dish and because of that, it looked really bad.

My sons love this dish and so do my hubby and I. I got the recipe from a book on diabetic.