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.