The wonders of induction

Left the office at 6.15pm and was making my way to SS2 for 6:45pm yoga class but underestimated the buka puasa traffic. Only reached Damansara Intan at 6.50pm so decided not to go after all since Manoj did mention something about locking the doors 10 minutes after class starts (although I'm not sure if it was implemented or not). Called hubby and told him I decided to ponteng so we could start cooking dinner earlier.

Yippee!! Felt guilty about skipping yet another week but what the heck, I'll start next week.

Anyway, I did the prep while hubby cooked up a nice simple meal. We whipped it up within an hour with the use of our Sunhom induction cookers.

Vegetarian pasta a la BK. Julienned vegetables and garlic simmered in a tomato and egg base, garnished with lightly sauteed white oyster mushrooms. Healthy, generous but at the same time, not filling-to-the-brim. It was so satisfying! The pasta was cooked al dente and we had enough sauce for one more person so kept it aside for another day. Topped the meal off with a plate of grapes... not seedless but beggars can't be choosers.














Absolutely no regrets about going home and spending quality time with my husband. Ambient & relaxed atmosphere, delicious home-cooked nosh.... It felt like ages since we've just chilled out in each other's company. And the best part? We didn't have to ask for the bill after we were done!

The person who loves others will also be loved in return

A long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law's habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly.

Days passed, and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great distress.

Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper and dictatorship any longer and she decided to do something about it. Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs.

She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all. Mr. Huang thought for awhile, and finally said, "Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you." Li-Li said, "Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do."

Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li, "You can't use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious.

Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspect it’s you. When she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen."

Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.

Weeks went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang
had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother.

After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She hadn't had an argument with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.

The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find.

Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter. Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.

One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again. She said, "Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She's changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her."

Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. "Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her."

Have you realized that how you treat others is exactly how they will treat you? There is a wise Chinese saying: "The person who loves others will also be loved in return."

Gem Isle Gems

Yin's take...

CEO - Chief Entertainment Officer
Mel being jakun and sitting in the sauna machine
BK and his fascination with mosquitos trapped in the net
Sly-vester - vs. Stuyversant vs. Salem High Country
BK and his strong sense for good kuih cooked with coconut husk
Mask and fins vs. goggles and flippers
Lim and Tomoko vs. Lim and Tomato
Charlie and Diana vs. Charles and Diana
Someone claiming to know BK and said he has put on a lot of weight
BK and Mel vs. Shrek and Princess Fiona (haha!)
Buying all the kuih bendel in the makan stall
Auntie Irene and her horror stories about encounters with Daniel's girl friends
Uncle Leo and his facination and passion for his work

BK's take ....

"I dont need googles."
Yin just floating out in the open sea before descending for her dive.

"There is a lot of peer pressure to wear a tudung. Dancing and singing is frowned upon.... there was once when we were rehearsing a dance and some religious authorities commented that we should not look into the eyes of our partner (male) and should stand at least 'satu depa' apart ..... try not to shake the buttocks too much too."
A comment made by Hana, some Datuk Hamzah's daughter on her experience studying in Yayasan UEM who we met on the boat while diving.

"There... you can drop me at the kedai jahat"
What Mel meant was the 'Kedai Jahit'.

"Eh .... you look very familiar-ah ..... you put on
weight huh? ...... you use to be much thinner".
Some woman siiting at the table in her swimsuit who wants to puke after getting back from snorkelling.

"Chief Entertainment Office of Gem Isle".
Unlce Leo's deserving unofficial designation considering he makes sure everyone has a good time in the sea.

PS I WILL REMEMBER THE FIRST QUOTE FOREVER !!!!!!
SCUBA DIVING WITHOUT A MASK WILL NOT WORK!!! HAHAHA

BK

Farts

Never hold your farts in.
They travel up your spine, into your brain,
and that's where shitty ideas come from.

What goes up must come down

A man eats two eggs each morning for breakfast. When he goes to the grocery store he pays 60 cents a dozen. Since a dozen eggs won't last a week he normally buys two dozens at a time. One day while buying eggs he notices that the price has risen to 72 cents. The next time he buys groceries, eggs are 76 cents a dozen.

When asked to explain the price of eggs the store owner says, "The price has gone up and I have to raise my price accordingly". This store buys 100 dozen eggs a day. He checked around for a better price and all the distributors have raised their prices. The distributors have begun to buy from the huge egg farms. The small egg farms have been driven out of business. The huge egg farms sell 100,000 dozen eggs a day to distributors. With no competition, they can set the price as they see fit. The distributors then have to raise their prices to the grocery stores. And on and on and on.

As the man kept buying eggs the price kept going up. He saw the big egg trucks delivering 100 dozen eggs each day. Nothing changed there. He checked out the huge egg farms and found they were selling 100,000 dozen eggs to the distributors daily. Nothing had changed but the price of eggs.

Then week before Thanksgiving the price of eggs shot up to $1.00 a dozen. Again he asked the grocery owner why and was told, "Cakes and baking for the holiday". The huge egg farmers know there will be a lot of baking going on and more eggs will be used. Hence, the price of eggs goes up. Expect the same thing at Christmas and other times when family cooking, baking, etc. happen.

This pattern continues until the price of eggs is 2.00 a dozen. The man says, " There must be something we can do about the price of eggs".

He starts talking to all the people in his town and they decide to stop buying eggs. This didn't work because everyone needed eggs.

Finally, the man suggested only buying what you need. He ate 2 eggs a day. On the way home from work he would stop at the grocery and buy two eggs.

Everyone in town started buying 2 or 3 eggs a day.

The grocery store owner began complaining that he had too many eggs in his cooler. He told the distributor that he didn't need any eggs. Maybe wouldn't need any all week.

The distributor had eggs piling up at his warehouse. He told the huge egg farms that he didn't have any room for eggs would not need any for at least two weeks.

At the egg farm, the chickens just kept on laying eggs. To relieve the pressure, the huge egg farm told the distributor that they could buy the eggs at a lower price.

The distributor said, " I don't have the room for the %$&^*&% eggs even if they were free". The distributor told the grocery store owner that he would lower the price of the eggs if the store would start buying again.

The grocery store owner said, "I don't have room for more eggs. The customers are only buying 2 or 3 eggs at a time. Now if you were to drop the price of eggs back down to the original price, the customers would start buying by the dozen again".

The distributors sent that proposal to the huge egg farmers but the egg farmers liked the price they were getting for their eggs but, those chickens just kept on laying. Finally, the egg farmers lowered the price of their eggs. But only a few cents.

The customers still bought 2 or 3 eggs at a time. They said, "when the price of eggs gets down to where it was before, we will start buying by the dozen."

Slowly the price of eggs started dropping. The distributors had to slash their prices to make room for the eggs coming from the egg farmers.

The egg farmers cut their prices because the distributors wouldn't buy at a higher price than they were selling eggs for. Anyway, they had full

warehouses and wouldn't need eggs for quite a while.

And those chickens kept on laying.

Eventually, the egg farmers cut their prices because they were throwing away eggs they couldn't sell.

The distributors started buying again because the eggs were priced to where the stores could afford to sell them at the lower price. And the customers starting buying by the dozen again.

Now, transpose this analogy to the gasoline industry.

What if everyone only bought $10.00 worth of gas each time they pulled to the pump? The dealer's tanks would stay semi full all the time. The dealers wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the huge tank farms. The tank farms wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the refining plants. And the refining plants wouldn't have room for the oil being off loaded from the huge tankers coming from the oil fiends.

Just $10.00 each time you buy gas. Don't fill it up. You may have to stop for gas twice a week but, the price should come down.

Think about it.

As an added note...When I buy $10.00 worth of gas that leaves my tank a little under quarter full. The way prices are jumping around, you can buy gas for $2.65 a gallon and then the next morning it can be $2.15. If you have your tank full of $2.65 gas you don't have room for the $2.15 gas.

You might not understand the economics of only buying two eggs at a time but, you can't buy cheaper gas if your tank is full of the high priced stuff.

Also, don't buy anything else at the gas station; don't give them any more of your hard earned money than what you spend on gas, until the prices come down..."

Sent to me via e-mail.

The speech that moved Lee Kuan Yew to tears...

EULOGY BY GRANDDAUGHTER OF FORMER PRESIDENT WEE KIM WEE - LIM HUI
MIN
Weekend May 7, 2005 MY grandfather's achievements as an editor, a
diplomat and a head of state are now the stuff of legend. You would
have read all these things in the newspapers or watched them on
television - he was a public man. What I should talk about is my
grandfather as a family man. I cannot talk about my grandfather
without also talking about my grandmother. She was the rock of his life.
His last thoughts were of her. They were holding hands when he
finally went to sleep on Monday morning.

Last year, we celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. After dinner
he presented her with a red packet full of money, which he then
followed up with a jewellery box - because my grandmother loves
wearing jewellery. There was a jade brooch inside the box. And,
in return, in front of everybody, she kissed him three times.
They were 87 and 88 at that time.

Once, (when) I was learning the piano, I thought I would learn some
songs to play at my grandmother's birthday party. I asked my
grandfather what songs he thought she would like. To my surprise he
gave me a type-written sheet (with songs listed)in order of preference.
He was always a busy man - he used to tell me that he had two million
things on his mind. But at some point in his life, he had sat down and
thought hard about what music my grandmother would enjoy and typed it
all out and kept it in special folder ready to be whipped out at anytime.

Husbands who are here today: Do you have a list of your wife's top 10
favourite songs in a folder? That's a lesson you can take from my
grandfather.

They celebrated 69 years of marriage together in April this year. I
thank my grandfather from the bottom of my heart for showing us what
it really is like to love a person. I also thank my grandfather for
showing us what it is to love life. He was a man who enjoyed life. He
collected snuff bottles, coins and stamps. He travelled the world; he
played sports; he planted fruit trees; he loved the smell and taste of
hazelnut coffee.

Whenever his grandchildren visited him in his office - whether at the
Malaysian High Commission, the embassy in Tokyo, the Singapore
Broadcast Corporation or the huge halls of the Istana - there would come
moments when he would wink at us, open his desk drawer and say
"have a chocolate".

Unknown to my grandmother, who disapproved of his snacking in between
meals, he always kept a secret stash of Hawaiian hazelnut chocolates,
which he ate out of her sight during office hours.

My grandfather loved animals as well. He liked to watch horses running.
He liked dogs and cats and he liked fish. At the last count, his house
contained 11 chickens, eight terrapins, two goldfish and one dog.

Once, someone gave him six turkeys. I think the idea was for them to
be fattened up and eaten. My grandfather looked at them and spoke to
them. He gave them names. I remember my mother saying to me, "Oh no,
he has given them names - we'll never get rid of them now". And
so the turkeys were with us for quite some time.

But one day, they started irritating the chickens so my grandfather
decided to find them a new home. The Singapore Zoo was chosen.
When the family heard about this, of course we all joked that the
turkeys would be fed to the crocodiles. He was so alarmed by this that
he made special arrangements with the zoo. They were to send him a
written report every time a turkey died. The report had to state the
cause of death and age of each turkey. That was the kind of man my
grandfather was. He revered and respected life - even the life of an
animal.

The stories of his life are, to me, all stories of love. If you wish
to honour his memory in your life, then live your life to the full,
stand by your friends, cherish your family, listen to everyone with
an open mind and welcome those who cross your path with an open
heart.

He has gone on another journey now. We have spent the past five
days saying goodbye to him and it is now the time to let him go.

From all your grandchildren and great grandchildren: I know you
love us all so very much. Goodbye gong gong (granddad). Goodbye.

Escapade

After less than 2 weeks in our own home, we decided to get away for a while and see if we would miss it. Whipped out our complimentary voucher for a stay at the KL Hilton complete with breakfast (supposedly an Anniversary gift) and booked ourselves in on Saturday afternoon.

Arrived at 3pm and there was a long queue for check-in. Got the usual Innovation Room and promptly turned it upside down by scavenging for freebies. Got another one of those big, handy shopping bags. Yay!!

Made reservations for dinner at Al-Nafourah at Le Meridien at 7pm. Had planned to get a cosy, inconspicuous corner in one of those dome tents but unfortunately they were already booked and the restaurant was quite full for the night. Oh well....

Close to 5pm, hubby says he's hungry and wants to order something from room service so I say it's a holiday, let's do it! We settled for the Roast Vegetable & Ricotta Tower which cost RM25. The portions were surprisingly generous and the quality was no worse than had we gone to the outlet itself. Very nice and satisfying snack indeed!


6.30pm : Uh-oh! Still full and not even showered!! How to go for dinner? Called and changed our reservation to 8.30pm instead. So now we could take our time getting ready. Stepped into the rain shower and oh, what bliss!! Was probably in there for a good half an hour with the water on full blast. Reminded ourselves that we have to make more money so we could afford one of those for the house.


Dinner was a lavish affair. We were served with pickles, dried fruits and nuts, olives and blackberry or apricot juice upon arrival. There were 3 sets available at RM99, RM115 and RM135 per pax and we chose the second. This time the waiter was able to give us recommendations unlike our previous experience. Being contently satiated, we asked if the portions were large and he said they were okay. What a liar!!

First came the basket of yummy bread but unfortunately, this time, it wasn't warm so didn't stuff myself so much, which was a good thing. Next was the warm starters - samosas with yoghurt dip, fish fillets and chicken wing. Then came the cold starters - a naan-looking bread with 4 types of dips - aubergine, chick pea, parsley salsa and white beans. Soup was after - hubby had the green pea soup which tasted like rasam while I had the chicken noodle soup. Next up, main course. We were served Lamb Kofta, Chicken, Fish Kebabs and stirfried veggies with rice. Finally, we had a plate of bakhlava and 2 fruit compote thingies for dessert which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Since there's no belly-dancing during the month of Ramadhan, we enjoyed each other's company and took our time eating (something we hardly ever do). I requested the waiter to pack the bread into a doggie bag but had to fill up an indemnity form (in case I got food poisoning from the food I took away) and he gave me our leftovers and much more! They even presented us with a small box of dates each just before we left. Later went for a walk by the poolside to ease the congestion in our tummies. It was a nice breezy night so sat down till the pool closed at 11pm.

Sleep came easily that night with the blackout screen and no unwanted street noises.

Breakfast the next morning was equally, if not more, decadent. There was the usual pastry, cereal, cold meats spread but on top of that, there was local hot food, tim sum, yoghurts, waffles & pancakes, a noodle bar, a juice bar, tandoori, etc.... Stuffed myself silly and even pocketed a few packs of Boursin. Half-an-hour later back in the room, positively felt like puking.

Extended our check-out to 1.30pm and had another utterly cleansing time under the rain shower before we said bye-bye to it.

Conclusion: No matter how much you enjoy your getaway, there's simply no place like home!

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Instant Garden!

Remember how I was saying that our garden is full of debris and rubbish? No longer! Didn't end up going for yoga on Wednesday after all. Went home to change and saw mother-in-law (MIL) there spreading bags of soil all over the once decrepit lot and pots of pretty plants (there must have been at least 20 varieties) lined up in the porch. How could I have the heart to leave after seeing her toiling there like that? And all for our sake!! So I stayed and helped her on my biggest gardening project to date, squatting and getting dirt all over ourselves but shielded from the rain under the polycarbonate roof.

We were at it for 3 hours and after that, this was the result:

I must admit, when we started planning to put them in the small 3' x 10' plot, I thought it would end up looking too haphazard what with so many varieties. But the end result blew me away! Ah Yee (MIL) scattered some of the wild ferns in between the other plants and with the pebbles, it ended up looking very un-landscaped.... WILD is the word! Couldn't have done it without her.

When hubby returned, he asked if we had a nice garden yet so I asked him to go see for himself. He then mentioned that we need to let it grow before it starts looking nice. When he took a peek, he was lost for words. Finally when he came to, this was what he said: "Damn! This is the only thing that we can't claim credit for!".

Well said, my love...

To yoga or not to yoga

It's been almost 2 months since I have been to Yoga Life and I'm really starting to feel out of shape. Planning to go for this evening's class at 6.45 but have not been to the new studio before and a bit worried I'll feel so out of place even though I've been attending Manoj's classes for 4 years now.

Arms getting fatter (can tell coz sleeves are tight!) and paunch developing complete with a set of love handles... HORRORS!!!

One week and 3 days since we have a place to call our own and already it's getting messed up.... letters strewn all over the coffee table, oil stains on the tablecloth (will dump in washing machine tonight), white kitchen cloth turning yellow (ditto), washing machine covered with splashmarks from the rain, pieces of art leaning against different walls (before we decide once and for all where to hang them) and CDs stashed simply in the tv cabinet drawer. Not to mention our unkempt "Haunted Mansion" garden (if you can call it that) covered with paint debris and some sort of once-sticky-gooey chemical.

I'm soooo... glad we didn't get a bigger place. This one is more than a handful as it is even before I bring in all my "ka-chang". Well, at least the floor feels clean. Seems like the place is a haven for ants of all kinds... red, black, big, small.... Hubby says some boric acid will get rid of them but seems pretty cruel since they're not harming us in any way.

Got 2 lovely B&W wedding photos captured and printed by Taufiq from the good people at MERCY today. Now have to get them framed nicely before putting them up. Thanks T dear!

Will post some pics soon. Here's one of the sky from the main road outside our house. If only it looked like that every day.....