Good Bye 2009

Once again we are here at the end of another journey round the sun ......... to some it had been a great journey then there are those who would say good riddance and it is just another day for some. But then again how many of us really did do something for Mother Earth? Only you can answer this question.

Take a moment and and think what we could had done to help our Mother Earth get better, to make 2010 journey BETTER before the countdown to 2010!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

"Mui Choy Kau Yoke"- Yummie!!

It had been a very very long time since I had this very delicious sinful dish and I had no idea where in Malacca can I indulge myself with this so very delicious mouth watering dish. The desire to have this dish again is really bugging me so I decided to make it myself with no knowledge of how to at all ......... thanks to the www (world wide web) I managed to check like out so many sites posted with this delicious dish.

After sieving through many recipes I could almost taste the flavour and the fats of the pork melting in my mouth .... yeah!!! yum!! yum!! Finally I narrow it two recipes base on the way it is prepared, ingredients and a vivid imagination ....... hehe!!! Then it is off to the Chinese foodstuff shop in Kampong Pantei to get the "mui chi" the sweet variety. The porkie?? Home Minister had two beautiful pieces of pork belly in the freezer and it was perfect for the two recipes.

Prepared both dishes at the same time, one for lunch and another for dinner .......... ding dong ding dong ding dong and the first one was ready for lunch. Wow!!! the aroma was really mouth watering, took a whole spoon full and stuffed my face ...... wah!!ha!!ha!! very 'kiam' salty I mean, looks like sweet "mui chai" is also kind of a salty ........ the pork very tasty but on the hard side and the fats did not melt in the mouth.

After having a salty experience for lunch, at dinner suspecting that the "mui chai" is going to be salty too, I was more careful so I took only enough to taste it. Yup! I was right it was just as salty. The mean was of the same texture but less tasty ....... anyway after discussion with Home Minister we decided to just eat the pork and reuse the "mui chai" with a modified and improve the two recipe also adding in some of our very own know how.

A couple of days later after getting over the shock of the earlier failure, Home Minister got another beautiful piece of belly meat to try out with modified and improved recipe and to reuse the “mui chai”. This time the “mui chai” was thoroughly washed and instead of steaming, we had it pressure cooked. The ingredients was also adjusted ……………. it was really smelling wonderful and thinking of it now is making me ………. I WANT MORE!!!! YES!! YES!! YES!! This time is the real thing, it is heavenly …….. I did it …. yahoo!!!

Me n Oats

My last cholesterol check up was like about a month ago and six months before that I had been faithfully taking oats for almost every meal. Yes, almost every meal like 99% of it because I think I want to believe the craps in their advertisements. The only time when I do not take oats is when I had noodles or western food which is not that often but definitely I will have oats at least in one of my daily meals. I think I already had consumed like a few tons of it!!!! Hehehe!!! Just joking.

Basing on the advertisement by oats companies and write ups in the Internet, my cholesterol level should be a big fat ZERO!!! or at least within specifications or at least lower than the level of my previous check up before this. Craps!! it is higher, much higher …….. "Hey!!!! oats makers what kind of crap are you people talking about!!!!” Never like oats anyway and the wonderful point is that I do not have to eat oats any more …………. Great!!! :)

Now who is the wise guy who wrote the specifications levels anyway?? ……… ever wonder about that?? Huh!! There are so many kinds of people in this world ….. big, thin, fat, small, ugly, pretty and so on and so on ………. can we all be generalized??? Ohh well …………… Life is too short so guess I’ll just enjoy it ain’t got no time to play with this boring cholesterol thingy anymore!

The Graduation

It was 8th August 2009 translated into 8-8-09 an auspicious day for the Chinese and my Princess but it was a sleep deprived morning for me. My Princess is officially a First Class Honours Graduate in Bachelor of Communications – Public Relations and also a recipient of the Book Prize. It is indeed a very proud moment for us to see her receiving her scroll and with all that excitement I was still able to capture the moment on a video clip.

Just a week or two before I had to try on my son’s super large pants and shirt when he was at his largest for Princess graduation because I don’t think I could get into any of my old formal clothes. I had grown and was conferred the title of Big D by Princess. “OH MY GOSH!! That is not my body, why is my head on the wrong body!!” Yes, that is the actual words that came out of me when I turned around to look at myself in the mirror after putting on those humongous clothing but it was very comfortable and airy. Home minister did not want me going around looking like Humpty Dumpty so she got me a set of more fitting clothing.


We decided to go to Kuala Lumpur a day before because the graduation ceremony is in the morning and Princess had to be there like 7:30am and the guest by 8:00am. We left home at a leisurely pace and had Seremban beef noodle for lunch as usual. This time the old chariot was not packed to the brim unlike the last few outstation trips. Princess seems to be very much interested about the durian kind of thingy in Mid-valley and was rambling about it many days before the trip. So the first stop was in Mid-valley and I waited by the road side because we were a bit push for time after I made a wrong turning.

Home minister friend from her university days offered to put us up for the night and bought us a delicious dinner in Chilis in Princess honour for her outstanding achievement. After the mandatory stop in Mid-Valley we headed straight for our hostess house to unload some stuffs and pick her up for the second half of the day’s itinerary.

Fear of being caught in unnecessary traffic jams we left for the Mall a little early and took a leisurely drive arriving ahead of schedule. Did our business of payment for Only Child’s college and hostel fees and still had a lot of time before she finished classes. Since we were in the Mall which is a shopping complex, we tried hanging around aimlessly like teenagers but we got bored real quickly so we headed to the college’s waiting area.

At the waiting area we met the college student counselor and were told many tales about Only Child …… Wow!! Is she becoming famous or infamous?? Anyway it is nice to know that she is getting on comfortably and I am sure she too will make us proud.

By the time we retired to bed it was late, being in a new environment always makes it difficult for me to fall asleep and having only one pillow did not make the sleeping journey any easier. Before I knew it with a real heavy head I had to drag myself out of bed, yes it is time to wake up and everyone is already awake with lots of activities going on.

Hmmm!! The wonderful aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the sight of an assortment of Danish pastries must have kicked me back into life all ready to face the day challenges. After saying our goodbyes to our kind and wonderful hostess, we headed into Kuala Lumpur to Wisma MCA where the graduation ceremony is being held just before the first light.

We made it just in time for Princess to report herself and she was the very first one there in the room. After parking the old chariot in a secure and cool place we made our way to the main hall where the ceremony is going to be held and were ushered to be seated in the guest area. Attendance was only by invitation and Princess was able to get an additional invitation for Only Child.

After waiting and waiting and waiting as usual the ceremony started and my head started to feel heavy again from sleep deficiency. Trying real hard to catch as many forty winks as possible during the speeches so that I can recharge myself to capture on video the once in a life time moment of watching Princess receiving her scroll. She was called and in just a wink of the eye the whole process was over but it is embedded in my memories forever. We were all very proud to see her walking across the stage to receive her scroll.



Almost everyone were taking photos with those in Harry Porter’s uniform just outside the building when the ceremony was over, yes off course including us too. Then it was again to Mid-Valley for lunch and some quick shopping before we head back to home sweet home.

Almost Recovered.

Just a couple of days ago I was able to harvest some leafy veggies for the table after almost more than six months of no cultivation because of the bout with sciatica. It is indeed a pleasure to have freshly picked leafy organic veggies on the table which made eating much more pleasurable and a great excuse for a broader waist line….hehe!! Anyway I am glad that the mini farm is almost fully recovered.

I am now into my second year of being an organic farmer that I never knew I had this kind of interest and ‘ahem’ talents. This is indeed a great discovery for myself and I am very please about it not only because it is productive but a real wonderful feeling that words cannot describe. Even my mum was surprised. OK let’s not get melodramatic here but it is good to be close to nature which is something I always enjoy.

Having survived the first year I had made some changes to make the farm more organized after learning from my mistakes. The first and most important lesson that I learned is that never ever force yourself to continue working when you feel your back is letting up. I was rehabilitating one of the beds so that I can get some leafy veggies going just before the wet season sets in so I was a bit tight on time. Thinking that my old cranky body is still like a ship shape John Deere, I put in full throttle and guess what …. I got sciatica and was in pain for almost two months but managed to finish rehabilitating that bed just before the attack. The weeds were having wild parties on the rehabilitated and fertilized with my specially cured organic compost beds. I guess that was a real good lesson learnt and now whenever I feel the slightest threat to my delicate back I would just take it easy until the threat is gone.

Having quite a lot of time on my hands while recovering from the sciatica, I decided to make a study to improve on the starter pods that I am using. It was kind of a frustrating when I had an idea but was not able to carry it out physically but the pain from the sciatica quickly dismiss the desire to try it out. The moment I recovered from the sciatica I started the slow and tedious process of having to rehabilitate all the six beds all over again. It was slow, very slow because I could still feel the agony of the sciatica pain running down the whole of my right leg from the small of my back without mercy. Just thinking about it still sent a chill down my spine but nevertheless I am now into the last bed.

Having rehabilitated one of the beds I decided to try out the idea I had by using egg trays as starter pods after some modification because it is much easier to handle. I was really pleased with the results because by virtue of its shape I can stand the pods in shallow water thus keeping the seeds watered all the time and transplanting was much easier. Moreover the egg tray decomposed much easier because it is made of mashed paper and it is easily available.

I have also discovered that climbers cannot share the same trellis because the faster growing plant would practically take over the whole trellis suffocating the more timid one. I have not planted any of the climbers yet this year and I intend to do so real soon. I have some idea on how to plant them and I will plant them individually on mini hills this time. Seeds, some seed deteriorate really fast even thought it was kept in a dark cool place and I was surprised to find that it was powdery when I wanted to use it. Now I decided to keep only the newly purchased seeds in the fridge because many people say that seed can last much longer in the fridge.

Now only leafy veggies are planted on beds and others are on mini hills …..yeah!! it is great to be planting again.

Oats

In the early sixties or earlier I had my first taste of oats and one thing for sure it is Quaker Oats. Till today the first thing that comes into my mind when anybody mentioned Quaker, oats will quickly register in my mind because Quaker was the only brand available when I was growing up I think. In those days we get to eat oats quite often for a while for breakfast only because it was really fast to prepare. It was kind of a fun then because I get to prepare it myself, actually everything was on the table and I just had to mix it myself after mum pour the boiling hot water in it. The recipe was very simple just oats, sugar and boiling hot water. I just cannot remember why or when I stop eating it but I can remember the taste, it is just a sweet and boring. I guess it must be the do it yourself part that makes me eat it and when the novelty died out I guess that is also when I stopped eating it ……hmmm ….. Maybe!

Just recently I just restarted to eat oats as a weapon to help me in my never ending battle with cholesterol and the famous battle of the bulge ……hehehe!! Even Sun Tzu is not able to help me here. Taking oats is my last resort at fighting cholesterol and if it does not work then…….. I stayed away from oats because eating oats is really boring and yucks!! So is exercising. Playing game and doing constructive labour is my way of spending energy other than the daily routine needs of walking, talking, eating and etcetera. Let’s hope I don’t really need to rely on exercise to help expand the stored energy.

OK I did mentioned that I tried walking and it was nice initially but I guess when it becomes a routine it is just boring to walk aimlessly even though I was burning calories. Swimming, errr …. Let us just continue with the oats OK? Hehe!! ….. Never thought that I would be eating oats again after all these years, oh well!!

If you were to Google oats you would get something like more than seven million sites talking about oats and I guess all of them are talking about how great oats are against cholesterol. Many people that I know say likewise and some even swear by it but not doctors, as far as I know none had recommended oats to me but fish yes…….mmm, I wonder why? To make eating oats bearable I first tried eating it by mixing with my coffee for breakfast and it tasted OK but I had to drink more coffee after drink eat the oat coffee so I guess it is a no no because coffee consumption will increase. Next I made oats sandwiches and it tasted quite good with lots of bite. It is really easy to make, just spread butter and kaya or jam if you like on a single slice of bread and top it up with instant oats. Then fold the bread once and hold tightly the end that is going in the mouth last so that the oats do not fall out …… try it, it is quite interesting and better than whole meal bread …hehe!!

Eating with bread the amount of oats consumed per day would not be enough so I decided to have for lunch and dinner as well if possible. Being an Asian and rice being my staple diet it is quite easy to include oats in my meals, I just reduce the amount of rice I am having and replace it with oats. There is no need to boil or cook the oats just use instant oats and add it into the rice and gravy or soup it. Oats don’t really have any kind of strong taste so everything just taste the same except for the structure, it is just like eating rice cooked with too much water. The beauty of it is that there is no real increase in intake and I should feel my pants getting looser.


So far to date I think I had consumed more than two kilos of instant oats and there are so much more variety of brands to choose from nowadays. I usually chose the cheapest and to date I had eaten three different brands and they are all the same in taste, I guess instant oats are just instant oats. My next cholesterol test is in September, so till then I am really keeping my fingers crossed.

Picture Story

Identify.

Approach.

Satisfaction.

Unpleasant Incident - Conclusion.

The uncalled incident in TESCO is now settled and today I had closure on this matter after meeting up with their store manager.

After I lodged the official complaint at the Customer Care counter and on line, I only managed to get a reply in my email on June 18th after eleven days .......... oh OK, I guess it is still within the fourteen days as mentioned in their website. I do not know what had happened to the written complaint that I made at the Customer Care counter.


On the evening after receiving the email, I got a call from the store manager apologising for the unpleasant and uncalled for incident. He was very apologetic through out the conversation and explained the corrective action that had been taken to ensure that incidents like this would not happen again. Assured me that it is safe to visit their store again and requested me to meet up with him the next time I am there.

Today we had to get quite a few groceries and we decided to get it from TESCO so that I could meet up with the store manager face to face. I was surprised to meet quite a young chappy to be the store manager and he was polite. I guessed he must had put on his apologetic face and seemed very concerned that such a thing could had have happened. When I asked him why there was no respond to the complaint note that I filed with the Customer Care service counter, he was quick to respond that he was on leave at that time. Hmm!! On leave eh! How about somebody else like an assistant to respond unless it is thought off as an unimportant matter or is it a coincident that he came back on the same day that I received the email from their head office? Hey man!! I was not born yesterday you know!!! Anyway I was satisfied with the action and not wanting to pursue the matter any further, I gave him a smile that translate to "Don't crap me", shook hands and parted company.

I guess after becoming a TESCO person, it is difficult not to patronise the place.

Sandals

I had been using the same kind of sandals or slippers or flip flops whatever you might want to call it from the same manufacturer since I was a teenager or was it before I was a teenager. The manufacturer is Bata and the slogan then was "First to Bata then to school" and they were the maker of the very famous Badminton Master where everyone wants to be seen in a pair at that time. Yes it was cool to be seen in a pair of Badminton Master at that time as it is to be in a pair of Nike today. I remembered that I used mine until it was really worn till my last little toe can be seen protuding out, yes it really lasted a very, very long time.

After the Badminton Master came their very popular sandals,I had three pairs when I was working in Kuala Lumpur and were using them everyday when I came back home to Malacca for good. Why three pairs? ........ one pair for use in Malacca every time I came back for the weekends or whenever I am home. The second pair is for use during the week days when I am in Kuala Lumpur in my apartment and the third was always in the car which is for after a game of golf. Wow!!!! really sound like a luxury huh!

Those three pairs of sandals were bought like at least six years ago, more likely more than six years ago. The first pair, one of them the right foot side split into half on top side while the left side was still in great condition so Home Minister with her McGyver skills learned from being a great fan of the tube salvaged it with just a short length of raffia string. It was repaired more than a year ago and it is still in service today, Wow!! Looks like it is going to go the extra hundred kilometers.

The next pair just had a seizure about two month ago, it disintegrated while I was using it working in the farm so it cannot be saved. It was given some kind of burial in some landfill by SWM because I just dumped it into the thrash bin as it is not recyclable.

The last pair is very worn out and it is used only on special days especially wet days like going swimming and rainy day for the last month or so. It is great for wet days because it is not water absorbent so that it can be dried fast and it has anti-skid properties. Worried that this only remaining pair might die of exhaustion soon I started to shop for the exact same type in almost all the Bata outlets but couldn't find any. Yeah I was disappointed, really really disappointed and having coming to terms that I am not able to get this very special kind of slippers anymore so I bought what I thought to be the next best replacement.

Hardly two months after having it, it is already starting to split up thus putting me into a real difficult situation of wanting those kind of sandals that I was so used to. Come to think of it that kind of sandals really had a big part of my feet life, they had been on buses, boat, cars, airplanes and train not mentioning five stars hotels and premier golf clubs. They were great for all occasions. With the lousy new pair I was even forced to get a formal pair for formal wear which until today my feet are still not comfortable in it.

Last Friday I had a real pleasant surprise when I came in for dinner, a brand new pair of the sandals were under the table to welcome my feet. Princess had managed to get a pair of this which she called legendary Bata slippers for me as a father's day present. Thanks a million dear Princess you are a real life saver and my feet are really happy again. Thank You!!

Unpleasant Incident

Last Monday as usual Home Minister and myself went to TESCO to shop for our and mum-in-law's weekly groceries and stuffs. It was as usual pleasant with lots of things to browse at until we bought two heads of broccoli because they were lovely. The broccoli had to suffer unnecessary abuse by a very unpleasant TESCO's staff and it wasn't lovely anymore after the uncalled for incident. We have our rights as a customer and a member of the public so we made an official complaint in writing at the customer service counter and was promised that it would be pass on to the management. Just to make sure our complaint don't go a stray, we made another complaint through their web site.

According to their web-site, all complaints will be attended to within 14 days and till today there is no response from the Malacca store where we made the complaint at the service counter.



My IC number and Clubcard number is not the true number so as to prevent misuse, it is only to show that I did fill it in.

The actual complaint that was made through their web-site.

My every visit to your store was always pleasant. Being a resident of Malacca and a retiree, I always look forward to the weekly visits to your store for almost all our daily needs. Yes, your service was excellent with great product range and prices until today.

I was really shocked at the attitude of one of your male staff towards my wife and me. We were waiting patiently in queue for our turn to have our two lovely heads of broccoli weighed and tagged at the fresh vegetable weighing counter. When it was our turn, my wife passed the broccoli in a plastic bag to him.

While sealing the plastic bag, a female staff came and said something to your male staff and he immediately left the counter with our broccoli in hand, leaving the counter unattended. Not knowing where he was going, I called out to him, he turned
around and glared at me. He then return and chucked the broccoli onto the counter. He then walked away in a huff, shouting at us.

We really wanted the broccoli so we asked that female male staff to weigh and tag it. All she could do was to give us a blank look, not knowing what to do. Moments later the male staff came back, still shouting at us and unwillingly weighed and tagged the broccoli. Then he threw (yes, THREW) the broccoli on the counter. Throwing a dirty look at us, he walked off, yelling and challenging us to lodge a complaint.

Fearing for our safety I quickly filled up a complaint form at the customer service counter while my wife paid for the purchases even though we only managed to get about half of what we had on our list. Now I am wondering whether I should go back to your store to complete our weekly shopping and risk being harassed or just go to Giant or Mydin which are, incidentally,nearer to our home.

Now let's see whether they really love to hear from us!! ten more days to go and counting.