The Roti Man

We used to wait for the roti man to come to our house during the evenings. Mom would want to buy bread for tomorrow's breakfast, while we, the kids, would like to buy junk food like Mimi, Chickedees, Kum Kum and so much more. Sometimes, mom would buy rectangle buns with coffee cream to keep as snacks in case we are hungry.
You still see this bread peddler with great balancing skills riding around housing estates, be it in big city or small town.
This is part of Malaysia.

Uncle Choong

If you have seen my previous post on Uncle Mun, you would know that Uncle Choong is another friend of Ben's dad.

My first impression of this man is that he looks like Choy Sun Ye (Prosperity God) for Chinese or Santa Claus for Christian. He is generally round with full long beard. He has got bright eyes and bushy eyebrows. For a person like me, who is really bad at studying a person's features (because I am shy by nature, ek eheh..), I thought I did quite well by capturing their faces. I had to. I spent the whole hour++ sitting there studying them.
Anyway, Uncle Choong is an entrepreneur and similar to Uncle Mun, he too has limited education. He knows no English or Malay. His bills were written by qualified engineers under his instruction. Projects that are deemed not do-able by many has been proven successful under his hands. His name is so famous within the industry that graduates/scholars wanted to be his apprentice. Need I say more?
But from what I could discern, I don't think you can learn how he does things. It is more like applying his spirit. The never say can't and never give up spirit. He would stay up all night thinking of a solution to his problem. He would knock on your doors at 4am to tell you he found the solution and hope to get it done. That's what differentiate him from the scholars. You can't acquire this from books. You have to apply it.
Uncle Choong's favourite quote since the 70s : "People has already managed to travel to the moon, what else can't be done?". Can you?

Thank you!

As I sit here typing away anything I want to say, without reserve. I can't help feeling lucky and thankful that I have all I need. I have beautiful musics that accompanies me whenever I am and whatever I am doing. I have good books to lull me to sleep or entertain me when I am bored. I have great people surrounding me, some ensured I am pampered, while others ensured I get my fair share of life's lessons. I have work (including these blogs I am maintaining) and hobbies to keep me going. And when all else fail, I have my imagination to give me all that is lacking in my life. From the bottom of my heart, I am thankful for I am still living today. Thank you!

Uncle Mun

It was raining on Saturday night. I followed Ben to fetch his father from a gathering with his old friends. Friends he had known and worked with since 1972. When we were there, we were told to join them for a drink. Sitting beside Ben's father was Uncle Mun.
Uncle Mun is not an engineer. Neither is a degree holder. But do not underestimate Uncle Mun. He may not have been well educated, but back then, the general public all over Malaysia may not have the opportunity to taste soda crackers without him. No, he is not a baker. He is the man that engineered machine that could mass produce soda crackers. There is no formulated calculations, nor is there blue prints to build the machines. Everything was done through trial and error. Resources and technology back then was limited, but what he possesses were homo sapiens basic creativity and determination. Traits that all of us possessed but failed to develop. As we sat there drinking and listening to them lamenting about all the knocks and bruises they tackled along the walks of life, I kept asking myself 2 questions.

1. Did we ever asked the elders in our family about their story?
So many things we could learn from people so near us, but why are we looking so far away from them?

2. How have we digress?
How many times have you heard people lamenting their fortune and destiny instead of fighting for their goal?

I kept studying their faces, Uncle Mun, Ben's father and Uncle Choong. They may not be the richest tycoon or most famous celebrity, but you see their pride and integrity as clear as the sun. I wish their legacy could be passed on to the next generation. Not the machines, but their spirit.

There isn't really a need to buy books to learn about philosophy and life, as long as you are willing to sit and have a drink with the golden citizens.

Love is a many splendid thing...

What is love? Why some people believe love equals to suffering? Why people believe you have to sacrifice to show how much you love a person? Why must there be tears when you are supposed to be happily in love? Why some people say love means giving and why some other people say love means having? Why some hope for a big bang or electrics flying while in love? Why some people expect love has to be shown? Must we shout out our love? Or must we keep it? All I can see and I feel all it implies here is that love is a very personal and individual feeling and perception that we gathered from our environment. What we needed from love and what we gave in love depends on what and how we learnt since infancy. And of course the meaning of love will change constantly as we discover and rediscover ourselves as we walk along these lives of ours.
Many people broke up because they say they lost the feeling. Many people got together because of a moment of chemical rush that was propagated in the dramas as “the real deal”. We learnt too much from the idealized movies and dramas that we forgot what love means to us personally. We dream and fantasized about the “overly hyped” moments and feelings that we forgot how to live in the real world.
For me, love is simply a path I took to explore the inner me and of course a path I took together with my loved ones on mutual discoveries and respects. It isn’t easy to remind myself everyday that every action and word meant a stroke, a scribble or a doodle on my book of life. But I want to say “I love you” everyday and I want to mean every word I said. Do you mean what you say?

Health/Herbs : Tian Ma

Tian Ma is also called Dong Ma or Calm Wing Herb. It is sweet warm in nature. It expels wind, cures palpitations, and benefits the liver. Among the symptoms of wind are dizziness, nervous prostration and numbness of the limbs.

Living in hot and humid country like Malaysia, we tend to develop wind in the body. Now, I don't mean the normal bloating. In Chinese medicine, wind is one of the 6 main cause of illness. Sometimes when you go for massage, do you find certain part of your body gave out a certain tick inside, as if there is something hard within your body? Those are actually wind that can block our body's "qi" flow. Massage can help, or once in a while consume some wind expelling herb like this one.

Be careful as there are fake tian ma made of sweet potatoes. The best tian ma is big, yellowish white, firm and bright in colour. There should not be any cavity over the cut.

Suggested recipe: Tian Ma with spare ribs in green tea soup

1. Throw in 1-2 pieces of tian ma with 300g of spare ribs, 1 packet of long jing green tea, 3-8 dates, 1-2 tbsp jizi (or jujubes in English), 1-2 tbsp barley, and 3 slices of ginger.
2. Make sure all the ingredients are covered by water.
3. Cook over slow fire for 1-2 hours or cook using microwave at high power for 20-30 minutes.
4. Once done, add a little salt and wine to taste. Bon apetit!

Note:

The picture show other additional herb such as rose bud, chrysanthemum, and bamboo pith. Personal additions to expel wind and dampness, as a result of our hot and humid weather these days (all the rains and extremely hot sun).

Tropical Gardening - Jasmine (Jasminum Officinale)

I love Jasmine. I love the scent, I love the colour of purity. Hindus love to pay respect to their ancestors or deities with this flower. Asian women, used to apply Jasmine oil to their hair or body to enhance their womanly appeal. For me? I just hope my plant could flourish and once in a while offer me some pelasant fragrance.

Where to get
You can alwyas find jasmine at nurseries. They do not cost much. The price shoudl be around RM5. I recall a greedy tauke tried to sell me a jasmine plant at Rm15. Luckily I did not buy. But please note that there are fragrant type and there are normal beatiful type. I have chosen the fragrant type.

How to maintain

Very very simple! Give it a hot sunny spot, water well amd inhale. Just take note that these plant needs pruning.

Note:

Put a plate of Jasmine in your living room, and the whole area will be fragrant. No need all the synthetic air freshener. Natural living and beauty.

Tropical gardening - Thai Basil

Think about Thai Green Curry and you can't forget the strong aroma of basil. It was said that basil originated from Asia. Indians planted them for protection. Easteners use it for funeral. Greeks say it represents hate and misfortune, but Europeans say it stood for love and sympathy. The mixed feelings is exactly how the aroma of basil is to our taste buds. You may sometimes feel the strong aroma too compulsive, yet pleasing. The herb is useful as it has antidepressant, antiseptic and soothing properties.
Where to get
You could find the baby plant in the supermarkets food department (apparently herbs like basil, parsley and mint are the in things now). I seldom see them sold in the local nurseries. But the lazy thing that I did and you could do is to buy the cut basil from wet market and just thrust the trunk into well drained soil. Water them well. Let them settle for a few days. About 10% of them will survive (hehe..).
How to maintain
The plant is rather easy to maintain. Just make sure they are planted in well-drained, moist and medium rich soil. The plant requires full sun (in other word, just leave it anywhere with sunlight). Water them daily. Done. Easy bitsy.
Note:
The herb can be extracted to make essential oil, but the oil should not be used during pregnancy.

Quick cooking tips - My Extreme Kerabu (Salad)
A handful of basil (coarsely chopped)
A handful of mint (coarsely chopped)
A raw mango (shredded)
A handful of shallots/onion (shredded)
Half/Quarter pineapple (coarsely shredded)
3 small chillis (finely chopped)
A bunch of sugar coated peanuts (roughly crushed)

Throw them all into a container and do a samba with the container. Bon apetit!

New addition to my family - Guppies

I love water plants, but with our tropical weather, it is prone to aedes mosquitos breeding. So I have been trying very hard not to have any water plants. But I have recently obtained some from my company's gardener (with his permission, of course). This is a version of the money plant. Easy to maintain type of plant, where you can either plant in in soil or water. Moreover, I have picked up rocks and corals from the Port Dickson beach. How can I resist from such perfect combination?
I gave in to my desire and got myself a beautiful bowl. But after I had the plant for a month, I found mosquitoes kept laying their offsprings in my bowl. I do not want to use chemicals to spoil my plant or the earth, just to kill the larvae. So I have this - tada.... My 5 brave little guppies.
3 males and 2 females.
These are clear water fish. Beautiful and easy to rear. Now that I have combination of sexes, they can actually breed to produce more little beautiful guppies :)
But what I didn't expect was how intelligent these little cuties are. When I came back home and started calling guppy, they will swim towards me. No, I wasn't feeding them or knocking on the glass. They can really hear and know that I am calling. Hope I am not hallucinating :P

This is the best photo I could manage, as I could not use flash or the glass will reflect when I capture, but if I don't use flash, the fishes are too fast before my camera can capture them. Sigh... naughty little things!

p/s: Will update you when there are baby guppies. hehe..

To Anita With Love

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"I wonder how many people will remember me after I leave the business for good. My hope is that when they feel bored and look at the stars in the sky, people will think of my name."

--- Anita Mui

Dear Anita,
I would like to tell you that you will never be forgotten. The spirit and bravery you left behind will live on for many many years to come.
I have always wondered how did I fell for your music, when I am not a strong follower of pop songs. I would like you to know that I was and am a fan of yours. I heard you on the radio when I was in primary school. And your image and music stuck with me ever since. Your music is catchy and lightening. Your music is also soft and heart wrenching.
I have always found your performance prowess unmatchable. Your singing, acting and performances were full of feelings. Your daring attitude in singing, performing and facing life is incomparable.
I hate it when many people felt sad for your life. I think that everything happens for a purpose. If not for this life, then I hope for your next life. Of course it would be even better if you do not have to go through another cycle of life. Let just bygones, be bygones.
My only regret is that I have never met you in person. I have not attended any of your concerts. But I truly want you to know that you will be remembered for all the greatness you have done.
I will remember your generosity to all your friends and young singers. I will remember your strong sense of responsibility for your family. I will remember your brave fight with all that life throws at you. I will remember all of you inside out from your music. The place where you seek solace and lash out.
With this, I celebrate your legacy!

The empress dowager of China - Tzu Hsi

Empress Orchid

I have recently bought a book on the well known empress dowager of China named "Empress Orchid". I love history, so I have read quite a number of accounts over this well known empress that had been blamed to have caused the downfall of China's monarchy, or more specifically the Ch'ing Dynasty. This book shows a totally different aspect of Tzu Hsi. It basically humanized her and rationalised her actions. I find this a good read as it gives me a fresh perspective. After lodging my mind with all the accounts of her tyrannies, viciousness and superficialities, this book refreshed my ideology that people are not born good or bad, but moulded and perceived as what they are. And what anybody else think will not matter except to the person himself/herself. All things said and done, there is no way to judge or really know a person. How many of us know our ownselves? She may be a victim of circumstances, or she may be a fighter in situations. All I know is that it certainly needs a lot of character to be where she was. Histories changes as people and ideas evolves. If looking backwards really help us to move forward, I think 1 simple lesson learnt here is that although things may be dampen if 1 person do not proceed with the chain effect of the environment, things will not stop just because 1 person stops.

We are all but a grain of dust in the revolving universe...

Beautiful Spring - Prologue

“Hello. How are you? I am fine.”
I learnt these when I sent my daughters to pre-school. In actual fact, I may not be so fine after all. What can I say, I’ve been long dead since 1991. At least physically I am dead. Acknowledgement of my physical existence has long been replaced with memories. Memories held by my family and friends. Fond memories, I am sure for I have spent my life as a god/karma fearing person. I’d spent my life abiding social norms. I’d stuck to Confucious’ teachings. I have never done unto others what I didn't want others do to me. Yes, I know about Confucious eventhough I am not highly educated. This has been my life values: Be a good daughter and sister before you are married; Be a good wife and mother after you are married. I followed through them all. Anyway, it is through these fond memories that I am able to relay to you my life story.
I was born a girl to the Lee family in 1949 at an island called Leng Kee, which is slightly off the coast of Bagan Panchor, Pantai Remis, Perak. My parents were Hokkiens originated from Eng Chun, China. I was the second among six brothers and sisters. I was named Beautiful Spring in Chinese. But because my parents were worried that my birth might incurred the wrath of jealous evil spirits, I was also named Ah Kan, which means maid in Hokkien. Never had I thought that names could have such a big impact on my life. Sigh... never!

Herbs - Chrysanthemum (Flos Chrysanthemi)

When we talk about chrysanthemum flowers, many people expected flat yellow flowers that easily distegrates when soaked with boiled water. Aha... That is because you have bought the lower quality type. They are cheap, no doubt, but they also become easily bland in taste after the 2nd round of boiling water. But this.... this is a very beautiful species. Beautiful in taste, in sight and in function.

The herb is chiefly produced in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Henan and Sichuan, collected when the flower is in full blossom, and dried in the shade for use.

Chinese medicine uses it in expelling wind, clearing away heat, calming the liver and improving acuity of vision. As the herb is slightly cold in nature and acts on the lung and liver channels, it suits our consumption best during the time of haze like now.

When you are buying them from the herbal store, make sure you emphasize for high quality chrysanthemum which should look like the picture below when it is dry.

And not like the one below:

When soaked in hot water, the flower will expand into a full yellow bloom. Isn't that beautiful..

Preparation for a honey chrysanthemum drinks:
1. Put 2-3 tablespoons of dried chrysanthemum into a 500ml pot.
2. Blanch the flowers with hot water and drained.
3. Pour in hot water and let it soak for 5-10 minutes.
4. Pour 3 teaspoons of honey.
5. To beautify your presentation, pour the drinks into a see-through glass and voila!

Tropical gardening - African violet

African violet (aka saintpaulias) are container plants. I bought this flower plant as I was a bit down and need a little cheering from some beautiful plants. I do not know what it is and I am not sure it will survive in my hands (I am not very good with flower plants). But imagine my shock when I search through the internet to find so many clubs and societies for this plant. Wow!
Where to get
I bought it at supermarket. You can find them in nurseries. Or you can just pluck a leaf from your friend's and cultivate from there.
How to start
If you actually plucked it from your friend's, (1) Cut the stem at an angle, leaving a stem below the leaves that is 1 - 2 inches long. (2) Fill a small pot (that has drainage holes) with a very light potting mix. A mix of half vermiculite and half potting mix will work well. (3) Set the leaf into the prepared pot at an angle. Do not set it into the soil very deeply. Water and allow the excess moisture to drain away. (4) Place the potted leaf into a clear plastic bag (zip-loc bags work well) and seal it tightly closed. You may wish to blow into the bag as it is sealed to puff it up with air. (5) Set the leaf in a bright location out of direct sunlight. It normally takes about one month for the leaf to root and another month for the plantlets to appear. The clump of plants that develop will need to be divided when the leaves are about the size of a dime.
Take my advice, just buy them from somewhere.
How to maintain
The plant needs free-draining soil. Do not over water. And place the plant in the sun, as it needs them to reproduce and bloom.
Note
Type african violets in the search engine and you will get loads of support.

Tropical gardening - Bowles' Mint

Mint or Mentha is a widely used herb all over the world. Its history can be traced all the way back to Roman times. There are 25 species of mints and they are perennials. I like perennials as they are more long lasting. Mints are consumed for colds, indigestion and migraine. They are inhaled to relief colds, chest infections, catarrh and asthma. It can also act as insect repellent to deter ants.
Where to get
Mint can be acquired from nursery/supermarkets (they sell them in small little pots). How did was I purchased them from the wet market and thrust them into the soil. Most of them time 20% of those will survive and flourish. muahahaha.... I know. I am extremely lazy. muahahaha..
How to maintain
Mint needs damp or wet soils. Place them under partial shade and trim the plant to promote regeneration. I usually do my trimming when I am cooking. Hehe.. But I strongly suggest this plant as freshly plucked herbs are more fragrant than those purchased from market.
Note
Excess use may cause allergic reactions.

Tropical gardening - Lemon

I know you might say that lemon should be planted at cooler temperature. But what I am proving to you is that lemon can be planted in tropical climate too. Lemon or scientifically known as citrus limon is a good source of herb. Its juice is rich of vitamin C, which can be consume or applied externally for insect bites and skin irritations. Its peel can be extracted for oil or dried for pot-pourri.
Where to get
Just buy a lemon from the market and sow the seeds.
How to start
Sow seeds in a small pot and cover the seeds lightly with mixed soil. Place the pot in a shaded area and ensure that the soil is always damp. When the seedlings come through, place it under direct sunlight. Or you can do like what I did. Just throw the seeds into a pot and place it under the sun. Water it daily and it will accidentally pop out to surprise you. That's what happen to me actually.
How to maintain
The plant needs well-drained but not too acidic compost/soil. You can keep them under filtered sun or greenhouse. For me, I kept them at my shaded balcony. Well I don't really have a choice there. And most interesting of all, you can actually keep them in a pot, as long as there are room for growth.
Note
1. Apply pesticide to avoid attacks on the plant ( I have to cut the plant to cure them of the pest).
2. If you intend to plant lemon in container, stop changing to bigger pots when the plant is at the desired size/height. Trim the plant to promote regeneration.

Tropical gardening - Lantana

I have bought many books on gardening. So far, all these books are great with many explanations and photos. The only problem is, they are all for 4 seasons gardening. Some local productions are too sad. They either lack the variety or praticality. So gardening became my experiments of trial and error. Quite fun if the plants don't die out on you. But I thought might as well share some tips with you guys, and please share yours with me.
Lantana is a perennial. Perennial means plants that can lasts for seasons/years. Lantana comes in more than 100 varieties. They come in many colours and changes colours so that the little flowers in the middle is different from the outer ring.
Where to get
You can find nurseries selling these plants as cheap as RM3 per plant. Or you can buy the seeds from supermarkets.
How to start
Sow seeds in a small pot and cover the seeds lightly with mixed soil. Place the pot in a shaded area and ensure that the soil is always damp. When the seedlings come through, place them in a lighted place but out of direct sunlight. When the seedlings are at least 10 cm tall with stronger leaves, they can be planted out under the sun.
How to maintain
This type of plant needs reasonably rich and free-draining soil. Meaning that it requires renewal of fertiliser from time to time. How to know if the soil is free-draining? When you water the plants, the liquid is easily absorbed and flow out at the bottom of the pot.
Note
1. The plant is poisonous.
2. Avoid over watering or they won't blossom.