Sciatica

Sciatica is from hell! Trust me you would not want such a thingy but then again sometime it is a gift from nature which cannot be refused or rejected if you are the chosen one to receive it. When such a condition is at its prime one cannot sit, lie down, stand up, et cetra, et cetra without the feel of excruciating pain. The only solution is an injection of pain killer right in the cheek of the buttock for some decent relief.

It is not over after the injection, the pain will linger on for not the next couple of days but weeks. Sleeping is almost impossible and so is sitting down. Getting up from a lying down position is really a killer; the only way for a small relief is to walk around with a therapy of pain killer. A constant pain is felt at one of the buttock's cheek and therefore you will be bestowed with the title "Pain In The Ass"

Lot of rest is required and that is not at all an easy thing to do. You will know what I mean if you are one of the "lucky" one to receive this gift from nature. I was not able to do anything even I wanted to since I received this gift nine days ago. I am still suffering but a little less now. OUCH!!!

The Feast

Once a year we will have a feast and eat ourselves silly ....... maybe a couple of times in a year hee!!hee!! Most Chinese people call this particular get together to eat among family members during this time of the year particularly on the eve of the Chinese New Year a Reunion Dinner. We do not think it is necessary to have it on the eve or dinner time, just a time which is convenient for everyone and my mum was the only guest.

This year we had it a couple of days before Chinese New Year and as usual it was scrumptious. Just thinking about the dishes that we had makes my mouth water.....mmm yum! yum!

The first dish is of course the "Yee Sang - 鱼生". Traditionally this dish was only eaten on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, nowadays it is eaten anytime just before and during the fifteen days of the Chinese New Year celebration. Chinese being Chinese will cease at any opportunity to make an additional dollar if it is viable. There are too many versions of stories to this dish but one thing for sure it is a damn good appetiser.

Braised sea cucumber with fish maw with pork in black sauce.....this is my favorite. The fish maws were collected over a period of time and the sea cucumbers were from our regular specialty Chinese food stuff supplier and Jusco. Those from Jusco were good to eat but those from our regular supplier were heavenly. Eating sea cucumber is not just for the taste but also the bite, it must not be overcooked but just right. My wife had mastered the art of cooking these heavenly delicious eating thingy.

Butter Prawns, a dish that Princess prepared which The Only Daughter learn how to do from her place of part time work. The pomfret, The Only Daughter favorite was steamed to perfection but coriander garnishing had to be a private affair. My mum and I were the only two persons who enjoy these very fragrant leaves. To the uninitiated it stinks!!

Soup of the day was dried scallop soup specially prepared by Princess and so were the fresh American scallops with broccoli in XO sauce.

Last but not least a two point something kilo roast duck Cantonese style by yours truly.

Indoor Rain

The water pressure to our home from the mains had dropped drastically over the past few years and the quality of water is horrible most of the time. The pressure is extremely low at peak hours and it is really a nuisance and irritant. For example if somebody is having a bath with the instant hot water shower which greatly depended on water pressure to operate and someone else turn on a tap to wash something the instant hot water shower will turn off ......... "Hey!!! Who turned on the tap?" is the usual response coming from the bathroom when the warm water becomes cold water.

Having a warm shower is quite a hassle sometimes but and getting the laundry done ....... have to ask the home minister. Normally it takes about an hour but with the ridiculously low pressure it had been extended to more than two hours. About two weeks ago with no major backache, I decided to proceed with some modification of the plumbing to increase the pressure to the washing machine to reduce the unnecessary waste of time and electricity. I had to make sure that my back was in sound condition because the working area is very cramp and I did not want to be immobilised in there. I have a weak back from an accident ages ago.

After inspecting the existing pipes and got some measurement I went to the friendly hardware shop down the road to get the supplies. I bought the thin walled Upvc pipes thinking that it would be more flexible as there was some minor bends required. I am making a changing the supply source to the washing machine from the mains to the storage tank.

After spending almost a whole afternoon working on the piping with most of the time in the cramped place of under the roof, I was really glad that it was done. Thank god my back did not give up on me.

The home minister usually does the laundry at night and tonight was no different from any other night. She started the machine just before having a bath and I would be relaxing in the family room by that time. "Ging-gong ging-gong ...... praaahhhhh" the sound of heavy dripping water came from the kitchen, the rain had started! Oh sh*#!!, I quickly ran upstairs and turned off the storage tank supply line to the new pipes I put in.

It was tough, really really tough to accept the fact of having to get into the roof to repair the broken piping. That night I did not sleep well thinking of the extra unnecessary work and was wondering what went wrong. Luckily my back was still OK.

Reluctantly the next morning I slide open the roof tiles and was surprise to see that the Upvc pipe actually broke because of stress and not because of a poor joining work. Having understood the whole scenario I decided to replaced all the piping with heavy duty type and reroute it for minimum stress.

It had been more than two weeks now and I guess it is now safe to say a job well done!

Another Snatch Thief

Today when we went over to my mum for dinner my sister told me that my mum was a victim of a snatch thief again. This time the idiotic swine came right into the porch of my mum's home and snatched her very low cost necklace. It happened around late morning and my mum's house is an intermediate unit of a double storey terrace house. She was crouching to get something out of her car from the passenger side when she just returned from town last Wednesday. She did not close her gate first.

People let us not give these idiotic swines a chance, be suspicious, be aware!!

Burglary

It was like any other hot afternoon after having our lunch and it was time for me to have some shut eyes. My children were out doing part time job leaving my wife and myself the luxury of a long nap on a real hot afternoon. My wife was awoken by a phone call and I by an irritating marketing sms message and we continued napping after that.

In the evening my neighbour informed that their house was broken into while they were out visiting relatives. They were away for less than two hours. Their house was ransacked by the idiotic swine of a burglar and it got away with some cash.

We were burglarised before and the feeling was just horrible. What are the authorities doing? Just not long ago there was a snatch thief which I witnessed also in broad daylight. I have lived in this neighbourhood for more than thirty eight years and I believe the amount of patrol here by the police is becoming lax or non existence at all.

In the past I can see policeman patrolling on foot, then on bicycles and onto motorbikes. Now no more foot or bicycle policeman, motorbikes ....... where are you Mr. Policeman? Patrol car, WOW!! it is great to zoom around flashing the siren lights in the comfort of air conditioning.

People be aware of your surroundings and be suspicious of any kind of characters that do not fit into the scenario. Those idiotic swines are everywhere.

Fish Maw 花膠

Fish maw is a delicacy in Chinese cuisines. It is really nice to eat when properly prepared and I really do love it ....... yummy!! It is more of a texture food and it does not have a fishy taste. Because of the high cost it is only found in the supermarkets before Chinese New Year.

When we first started buying whole fresh fish from the central market I started collecting the fish maws which was in June last year. Before that we usually get our fish from the frozen food supplier, we decided to buy fresh fish because they stopped importing the fillet of the Dory fish. They replaced it with some kind of fresh water fish which is not to our liking.

When I saw the fishmonger gutting the fish and the maw popping out I was instantly reminded of how yummy fish maw with sea cucumber was. My mum used to collect the maws too and having watched how she prepared it for storage and cooking, I decided to give it a try.

The maw had to be cleaned of all things that were not supposed to be there and the best way to do it is by bare hands with some help from the finger nails. Most of it were fats anyway with some gooey stuff here and there ........ yes your hands are going to smell fishy for awhile after that, hehe!!

After the cleaning is done it had to be dried under the sun for a day or two until it turn transparent golden colour. I dried mine with a length of roasting string and hang it on the clothes line. You can do it any way you like as long as it is hung.

Once it is dried I stored them in the freezer until a week or so before this Chinese New Year to do the second last process of frying them before cooking them to be eaten. Frying the fish maw need some skill in getting the oil to the right temperature and the only way is by trial and error. If the oil is not hot enough then it will not rise, if it is too hot it will rise suddenly and get burnt real fast with the oil splattering all over. Good luck! Before cooking it just soak it in water for awhile and it is ready to be made into a delicious yummy dish.

Not all fish have maws and not all fish maws are of the same quality. From my experience with market bought fish I would rate the threadfin salmon as the best, then barramundi and snapper being the lowest. I judged the quality by the colour and the thickness, the thicker it is the greater is the yummy feeling ........... starting your collection??

Chinese New Year

Enjoy some yummies!!! The "ang pao" is for luck.