Vege time!

Upon requested by my friend that I should maybe add some vegetarian kind of recipe... so here it is. :) I named this dish "Tofu & Shitake special linguine. The picture above shows this special (Five spice tofu) that I bought from the wet market. It is said that the taste and the aroma are different from the normal tofu. It has a kind of yellowish colour. This tofu is made by an old age man who actually sells his tofu from 5am in the morning, and it is always limited. So if you want to buy wake up early! :)
This is my special shitake mushroom seasoning. Well I add sake, mirin and soy sauce for the taste. Let it cooked for few minutes, viola!
Now this is the vegetarian dish! I add shreded carrot, some green vege, shitake mushrooms and lastly tofu. Fried together with linguine with the mushroom sauce, yummy! Done! It's easy, give it a try!

World Music Festival...

Well attended the world music festival at Quarry Gardens, (Taman Kuari) Pg. It was real fun although it rains like cats and dogs! Phew........ guess it takes a muscle or two to really be persistent in supporting the local event! Why they choose to organise it during the rainy season?!?

ENSEMBLE KABOUL - Group from Afghanistan, Its music is made up from different cultural sources – the Pashtuns and the Tajiks, the Uzbek, Hazara, and more. There are even Indian influences especially in the rhythms and percussion. Music was banned during the Taliban regime, but now the ban has been lifted, the music are once again being performed. But there are still problems of some instruments that no one know how to play.

Well, get a glimpse at the live show here....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F89VTfieJs8

AFRICAN PERCUSSION - Group from Africa, they were singing and dancing, music were so lively that you can dance with them too. One of their most well known instrument – their percussion on tama (the talking drum), djembes and baras. The group has indeed made the crowd become lively and people start to dance with their beat.

Another highlight: INKA MARKA - from South America, a band of five young men whose music alternates between slow sweet and hauntingly nostalgic songs as well as lively folk dance music. They blow the panpipes as well while playing the string instruments. They are some among the incas, who still values their music, as they now resides in Australia.

Most Favourite band of the night, the Throat singers from Tuva, Russia; HUUN HUUR TU / MALERIJA. This will be a fusion of ultimate traditional culture with 21st century dance pulsations. The contrast is electrifying and mind blowing – both visually as well as aurally. I would shout out a big WOW..... and thumbs up for this group of people. They really made the crowd go wild! I thought I want to leave the concert earlier but in the end, we call for an encore and the band impress us all with the perfected and the most incredible vocal technique where they can produce 2 or 3 different layers of sound at any one time by one person.

Act 7- Spice Tea anyone?

Bedak kid saw me today.... he ask me to bring him to his pal, Muthu's place. So I gave him a ride. When arrived, Muthu's mom was there too, and she invited us in and serve us this Spice tea.

And I complimented her and she taught me how to prepare it. Simple and easy to make, kinda like "Teh Tarik" a bit with spicy taste. Make use of Cardamom seeds, star anise and cinnamon stick and of course Tea.

Viola, "Tarik" the tea a bit and here you are the Spice Tea.







You can view the recipe in this link.
http://www.grouprecipes.com/11103/spice-tea.html

Those thoughts that counts....

I remember once someone told me that, " It is the thoughts that counts." I also heard it in the radio today................

So many ways of expressing oneself towards the others, the key to the basic communication tool are the thoughts. The thinking brain........ what is in our minds are more important than the words and actions! This is the basic rule for any relationship.

Of course every now and then we met people who doesn't speak their mind, or more often have the habit of twisting their words and become sarcastic and hypocrites. They usually do not speak the truth and tell you what you want to hear. Well some call it "white lie", it happens and it seem normal so to speak.

Here, I am trying to convey that, in any relationship........ COMMUNICATION is the key and sometimes, and often our thoughts are the uppermost importance as we do not always mention what we want as we want it to be call "Romantic" or "Caring". The notion of romantic always have a link to the thoughts.........

We sometimes will wonder whether our partner has eaten? sleep? safe? need help? etc. Or we care for family, friends even pets, strangers......... sick patient, or poor kids etc. Our thoughts for them are important, as this makes us feel alive and we will feel better as well if they understand how we have felt for them. Most often, they do not know as there are no follow up actions or any communication that help them to understand which most often cause misunderstanding; which is worse!

A phone call, a message, an email, a flower, a card...........etc. all these actually helps to brighten the day........ and making those people feel alive and happy. Such a wonderful thing to do.

So, a thought is not enough........... as communication speaks better than thoughts, romantic is a bit outdated these days... as people are using hand phones so much.... they can't wait to feel, they needed to talk!

Act 6 -Bird Nests anyone?

Bedak kid was wondering around town again... As you know I can recognise him from far with his usual bedak all over his face! people around town call him "Cat Face", well kinda suit him! He was on his bicycle stopping by the roadside watching the birds in the sky while Camry is by his side barking away.

I yell out his name and he wave at me. So he ride his bicycle over to talk to me. I ask him what are you doing? He said he was watching the birds flying around and listen to them! Oh.... and I told him that these small birds are swallows, they have built their nest all around town houses! They have this small holes at the top floor of these houses and the owner will have a radio playing the sound of the birds for the swallows to listen. Then the swallows will come and mate and make their nests in the house.

Bedak kid looked at me curiously and asked why the owner want to do that? I told him because the owner wants their nest! He wasn't sure what I said, so I explained that the owner are business man who wants to make money out of these swallows but they do not want to catch them. They just want their nest......... as in the Chinese culture they love to take "Bird Nest" as dessert or as a cooling herbal soup. It is said that the herbal bird nest soup will help one to look younger, and the skin complexion will be better, and it has a cooling effect that will reduce your body heat.

Ohh... bedak kid said he had that before but did not know where it comes from. Well, I said that there are different grades for all these bird nests. Some were from caves, some near the mountains, some were from tall buildings and some from houses. I also told him that there are cheaper ones and expensive ones. The price ranges from $200 - $2000 per box. One box contained only few pieces and after cooked you end up with only around 6-8 small bowls.

He was like staring at me and wonder how much he spit out the bird nest when his grandmama cooked for him! He then promised himself that he would drink every drops of the soup next time!

Well I told him that there were fake ones as well, as some manufactures prepare the nest in a nasty way, they actually washed the nest with water and some with food bleach, so to make the nests looked white in colour and clean and clear of all dirt. So I told him to tell his parents or grandma to be careful when buying those bird nests!

He thanked me and immediately ride home.........

I drove in my car and couldn't help wonder how many people out there who are still having these expensive stuff and did not know that it is not good for their health anymore......

Save it for another day?

I read an article about the things we treasure. I came to realise that things that we treasure we would normally keep it and save it in a place whereby we would occasionally take a look at it and admire it once in a while.

Well, remeber those precious dishes and bowls in the kitchen that you bought for the last christmas?

Remember that gift your aunt send you... a nice bottle of perfume? The soft towel that you bought? That sexy lingerie that you save for special occasion? The bottle of wine that you bought which you want to save it for a special occasion? That pair of shoe that you polished but never wear, that restaurant that you wanted to go for ages but you never went because you are busy? You haven't called your mum as well but intended to do so..... but you are busy? That trip that you planned....... that DAY / SPECIAL OCCASION will never come if you do not let them come by! You always have a choice, how busy can you be? how much you treasure it but never put effort on it?

Life is short and you never know when or what will happen to you or someone you love, so do not give yourself excuse for whatever reasons... Your JOB is not your life! You need to have a life, treasure what you have and show it, express it, give it a try, make it happen!

Money can be earned but time waits for no man!

Falling in love...

Falling in Love changes everything! It changes your life!

First it started to change your way of looking at things, change your attitude, change your lifestyle, change what you eat, drink and the way you sleep, the way you talk, you smile alot, you sing to yourself, you almost fly in the air. Alrite, now come back to earth!

I really love to watch people falling in love because they amused me alot. Stupid things they do to fall in love, saying words that is sooo.... irritating for others to listen....... spooky for me etc. Even I do that too but it feels weird when others listen to it, well that is falling in love... maybe?!?

Falling in love, is like a sudden lift that send you to heaven...... how long will the lift wait for you, no one knows......... the funny thing is that the lift will appear to you once in your lifetime. You do not always end up with the person who rides with you in that lift. That lift will descends and take you back to real life on earth and your moment in heaven will slowly collapse and those moments in heaven will be history!

Those moments in the heaven will be and must be cherished for life! Only some of those lucky people out there will get to hold their partners hands until the end of life, some don't so that's life and no big deal, right?

I have always been very cautious of Love. The part that I hesitate to mention is that, "Love is a choice we make"; and one has control over it at all times. We choose to love, we choose to hate as well. The choice is important, to love or not to love. It is that simple, but always people will forget about how simple that is and makes it complicated.

Love is a wondeful feeling that we all do not hesitate to go for it. It is also part of our desire to fall in love............ but remember also, once bitten twice shy; once it has been hurt, there is no recovery! So choose well people! Make a wise choice and live with it with the rest of your life and no regrets. Easy to say............. isn't it?

"Love is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery