lost not found: mutual respect

Saw some photos of school kids eating in/near the toilet shower room last week. Why? It is fasting month, the canteen was not open and they were told that they shouldn't eat in front of their fasting classmates. So the school told them to eat next to the toilet. You can google for it if you want to know more. Since then, many versions and explanations were given and the matter seemed to have been 'resolved'. Sort of.

But what I would like to ask is: why the huge uproar when the news first broke? My own reaction when I first read about the new was WTF!! Then, it was "not surprised that it happened in MY".. finally, "MY, truly Asia my ass!".. I might have been over-reacted, but I do believe many share my sentiment. Don't get me wrong, the people of MY do live in harmony and we all get along very well but when the government and/or public service gets involved, things may not be what they seem.

The incident is sad, yet not unexpected. The government and the civil service often forgets that the country doesn't just belong to ONE single race. The tagline for Tourism MY(aka "MY, Truly Asia") is but a sham. The "we are all one big happy family" facade that the government is trying to sell to the world is not really genuine. We the people know better. Among the common folks, racial and religious differences are not issues of contention. Corruption is. Nepotism is. Discrimination is. Unfortunately, after decades of racial incitement and brain-washing by the government, there is no lack of Malay supremacists who think Chinese and Indians should all go back to "Tiong-shan" and India.

In order to show "who's the boss", the government encourages the civil service, including schools and institutes of higher learning, though not explicitly, to discriminate against non-Malays. They try to out-holy the (political) oppositions by showing how they are willing to push the envelope ever further when it comes to enforcing the Syariah laws, even onto the non-Muslims. These overzealous puppets clamber over each other to show who is a 'better' follower (or should I say spineless ass-kisser) by implementing half-baked, idiotic policies. Their emphasis on empty forms and charades does nothing to foster harmony and mutual respect. Personally, I have no issue with the insistent of all these 'wayang' because I know these are nothing more than elaborate pretenses. When there's no substance, there'll be lots of ostentatious rhetoric. 

I've always believed that what your religion commands you to do is your personal business. If and how you do it is between you and your GOD. The act of fasting is to remind oneself of the suffering of those less fortunate. It is also a test of one's fortitude against temptation and faith. Rather than asking people to bent over backwards for you just because you are fasting, you should go about your life normally and show HIM (your God) that you are able to be steadfast and unyielding in your faith while you fast. Won't you feel more virtuous and sanctified when you are able to resist temptation?

There is a huge difference between in making sure no temptation exist so that you will not be tested thus will not fail and facing such temptations head-on knowing so that you may test your resilience. Which is more venerated?? Facing and conquering/failing or avoiding and hiding from temptations? Why did you think that most beloved saints (like St Francis of Assisi, whose name the current Pope took) or holy men/women (like Mother Teresa) were those who lives among common people, 'bad' ones especially, and not just hide away in some caves/mountains so that they would not be tempted. Whether you are a 'good' Muslim/Buddhist/Christians/etc or not, that is between you and your God.

I don't want to talk too much about religion, especially this one. It makes no sense to me that lesser sins that disturb no one but himself/herself (like not fasting, not praying, etc.) are overemphasized while bigger ones that may affect the society/community (like corruption, misuse of power, etc) are overlooked/covered-up.

All I have to say is: If you believe there is a God, be prepared to be judged. God knows, even when (you think) others don't.

kittens I

More than once I've written about my dad's garden of abundance. It is a little oasis of greenery where fruits and vegetables are grown.. It is also a playground for birds and cats to hang out..

My parents are not into pets, so we didn't have any when we are young.. but our garden attracted a few cats that made it their home although some of them come and go as they like. One did stay and gave birth to two litters of kittens the last two times I went home.. and they were soooo adorable..

The first pair was born mid of last year.. we didn't know their gender but I named them Tom and Jerry anyway.. :) Tom is grayish white while Jerry has black spots on his body... here are some photos of Tom and Jerry..

'whatcha' looking at??'

chilling with mum

Jerry: 'I'm sooo sleepy after that big meal..'

Tom: 'Can't a cat take a dump in peace?'

'Need to hydrate.. even if it's drain water..'

Do you know that cats eat papaya? No? Here's the proof.

It was fun having Tom and Jerry around with their mum. But good times seldom last, even for cats. Tom went missing a few days after I came back to Taiwan last July. My dad said that he was probably 'kat-nap' by cat lovers who lives nearby. Jerry is still around, now as big as his mum.

Next, Tom and Jerry's siblings - Garfield and Kopi... :)

buah naga..

Continuing from my previous post on my dad's garden.. Other than papayas and bananas, my dad has lots of pitaya in his garden too.. pitaya, or otherwise more commonly referred to as 'dragon fruit'.. Here are some photos that kinda chronicled its fruition..

a small bud on the cactus-like tree

it starts growing.. then it flowers for a day..

the flower dries out and the fruit starts to grow..

a closer look.. dried petals..

a tree can have multiple fruits growing at the same time..

it slowly ripens.. turning red..

all ready to be plucked and eaten..  :)

'Buah naga' as it is called in Malay, is a good source of Vit C and Vit B (B1, B2 and B3), and contains sufficient amount of phosphorus, calcium and antioxidants. It has also became one of my favorite fruits.. :)

garden of abundance.. II

If you have read my entry on my dad's garden of abundance, you would know that my dad loves to garden and my house's garden is filled with crops and vegetables.. and here are some of the 'new' crops....

nice green lettuce

calamansi or "limau kasturi"

yam plants.. a few more months before harvest

okra or more commonly known as 'lady finger'

Fragrant leaves and lemon grass.. or commonly referred to as 'pandan' and 'serai'

Can you guess what these are? they are green beans (绿豆)!! or to be more accurate, 'mung beans'.

we need to wait until the pods turned black before harvesting.... sometimes, the green mung bean plants look so similar to the red ones (red mung beans or 红豆）that my mum can't be sure what beans she had harvest until she peel them out of their pods!







Frankly, I am quite hopeless in recognizing plants.. if not for my dad, I can't even differentiate a durian tree from a rambutan tree.. and unfortunately too, I did not inherit his green fingers.. but I don't mind getting dirty or working up a sweat under the sun.. so I think I might cut it as an agriculturist, if I decided to hang up my PhD (after obtaining it first, that is).. :p

Okay, back to the garden..

ginger plant..

pumpkin.. ornamental ones, not those edible types..

long beans.. beside a banana tree and a tiny banana sprout..

Sugar apple plant.. my dad did not plant this.. the birds did it.. the nature's way... As the garden has plenty of trees and shades, birds like to 'hang-out' here.. and they kinda eat and poop here too.. so lots of 'unauthorized' germination happening.. If not for my dad's superb plant recognition skills, he would have chopped off this plant before it can even flower much less bear fruit, like now... :)

winged beans

Other than these, there are also dragon fruits (pitaya), chilies, pineapples, papayas and bananas.. And I really like to spend the early evenings gathering crops.. cutting chillies and looking for harvestable crops.. like these..

some of the veg I've gathered..

Too bad we can't rear any chickens in our compound.. then we would have a source of protein to supplement all these greens.. Seriously, with the world climate going crazy - devastating droughts, floods and fires in many food producing regions, food prices are sure to rise.. thus it is always good to be self-sufficient even if it is not 100%..

You can do without all those high tech gadgets (like iPhone, iPad, etc), but you definitely need to eat, no? So maybe now is a good time to be a farmer... ;)

end of hols.. kinda..

I'll be flying back to Taipei in a few more days.. ending my 1-month holiday in Msia... :( :( :(

It has been a very eventful month.. I was traveling every weekend.. first to SG to meet up with my friends and my dearest god-son.. then went to KL to meet up with one of my fav aunts/uncles.. after that, my family of four went to HK for a short trip.. and finally last weekend, we went to KL again.. lots of traveling, and lots of recovering from traveling..

I know I am very behind on my blogs.. that I will catch-up once I'm back in Taipei, as I have almost 5 more weeks of holidays before classes start first week of September.. lots to read and lots to think about too as I really need to finalize my research direction and topic if I want to graduate in 4 - 5 years..

So most probably I will spend most of my time in the library where I can read and research in peace and in cooler environment as it is summer now in Taipei with temperature going up to 38 degrees (Celsius) or higher!!

I will try to come back for CNY next year as I really miss the gathering and reunion dinner.. hopefully, my brother will be back too.. then we'll have an actual reunion dinner.. :)

family trip 2012

Will be off to HK tomorrow.. a family trip to HK.. my bro was supposed to join us there, but he was asked to go to the US last minute..

It will be a 4D3N trip.. and I am the designated planner... ;) Since I'll be travelling with my parents, my itinerary will be very easy and flexible.. no point tiring my parents out with an "Amazing Race"-type schedule..　having been to the best Disneyland and Ocean Park in Japan, my sister told me to exclude those 2 attractions while in HK.. thus this trip will be just sight-seeing at a few locations, do some shopping and savoring some must-eat HK food.. however, I will include 2 must-see places - Ngong Ping 360 (with the big Buddha statue) and The Peak, which I think my parents will enjoy..

Anyway, I will be doing some research to find good (and cheap) makan place so we can have some signature HK dishes/food.. :) So looking forward to it.. :)　:)　:)

love letters

No.. I am not talking about written expression of affection/love.. I am referring to those edible kind.. :) Love letters are a must-have during Chinese New Year.. and this year, my sister and I decided to make some ourselves.. :)

So here are some of the photos taken during the making..

eggs and sugar.. to be beaten until white! before adding glutinous flour..

The recipe used was passed down by my grandmother.. with no machine (aka mixer) to help, the "beating"is done using hand.. my hands to be exact.. a sign of aging: I can no longer accomplish this "beating" alone.. my sister had to help.. :x

preparing the "clips".. heated over charcoal fire.. 

We have more than 10 "clips".. half of them belong to my grandmother.. These "clips" had to be heated up first and then coated with some oil as part of the preparation. My dad built the fire while we were doing the "thrashing"..

pour some batter onto the heated clip.. and put back onto the fire..

Once the clips had been heated up properly, the batter is then poured onto the clip.. whatever that didn't stick onto the clip is poured out.. and the clip has to be flipped frequently so as to prevent it from being burnt on one side..

after being "roasted" for a few minute, peel out the thin paper-like love letters.

Once it has been properly cooked (opening the clip and peeking to make sure), it has to be quickly "scraped" off the clips and passed to the person standing by whom will fold the "letters" into a triangle..

quickly fold the love letter before it gets cold..

So essentially, these processes needed at least 2 person.. one to do the making (heating the clips, pouring the batter, managed the clips, peeling the cooked letters) and the other to do the folding.. I like to do the making compared to the folding..

perfect end product.. in different shades

The initial few rounds would produced either burnt/spoiled ones.. it would either get stuck onto the clips (meaning the batter is too thick thus needs more coconut milk to dilute it), not form a proper love letter (meaning the batter is too diluted thus needs more glutinous flour) or burnt (meaning the heat had to be controlled more diligently or the clips be turned more frequently)..

failed product.. :p

We spent more than 12 hours making love letters.. used up 40 eggs, coconut milk from 6 coconut, N kg of sugar and M kg of glutinous flour.. (sorry, my mum did the measurements so I had no idea how much sugar and flour was used..) We made enough to give to my sister's friends and some relatives.. :) :) :)

Visitors of another kind..

Because of the abundance of plants and fruits (mostly papaya for now, actually) in my dad's garden, lots of small animals like to "hang-out" there.. Other than the bird nests made by burung merbab (Hook-billed Bulbul), there are a few more other types of birds..

This one...


and these...

Not too sure what these birds are called.. but those red eyes do kinda freak me a little.. don't they looked like some mutant birds from those horror shows??

Ya.. even had a sighting of horn bill near by my house.. :)

And even snake!! My dad found this fella curled up nicely among the papayas on one of the papaya trees.. and duely took its head off.. :p

Another "notable visitor" to my dad's garden and even into our house was a musang (or civet cat)! Even our neighbors know that there are 3 civet cats in the neighborhood, most probably "escapees" from the nearby Taiping Zoo.. One of them came into the house a few weeks ago, trying to, and successfully, ate some Del Monte bananas that my mum bought from the local hypermarket..
 Didn't manage to get a picture of the cat as my dad and I was totally surprised by it..

Here was what happened..
We heard some noise in the kitchen in the middle of the night (around 3am) and went to check.. Much to our surprise, we saw this civet cat perched on top of the kitchen cupboard.. instead of running away, it sat there looking at both my dad and I.. It tried to climb down to get to the bananas, but my dad shoo-ed it away with a long stick.. it then reluctantly went out the way it came in.. which was a small gap between the tiled-roof and the bathroom wall.. so my dad and I went back to sleep, thinking that that was it..

Yet less than 20 minutes later, I heard some noise again in the kitchen.. and to my surprise, the civet cat came back! It had climbed down the cupboards and was sitting, very comfortably I must say, on the dinner table, happily eating the bananas!! It barely gave me a glance when I switch the kitchen lights on.. It just sat there, enjoying the banana like it was entitled to.. It even peeled away the skin before eating!! Only when my dad tried to hit it (not really to hit it, more like scaring it) that the civet cat went out, reluctantly (how I know it was reluctant? it jumped to another table and sat there for a while, looking at us and then back to the half-eaten banana, several times).. We decided to throw the bananas out to the backyard to prevent further "food raid" by that greedy civet cat that night..

And the next day, my dad nailed some wooden planks to prevent the civet cat from having another banana plundering.. At times, we can still hear it on the roof, pacing around trying to find a way in... Luckily for the civet cat, we don't really subscribe to the notion of "wild meat".. else it would have long ended in some Chinese herbal soup.. :p

Garden of abundance

As said in my previous entry, my pre-WW II house boasts a huge compound that my dad put into good use.. In fact, he kinda outdo himself sometimes, which you shall see later when I list out the vegetables and fruit trees that he had planted.. With the abundance of rain in my town, the growth rate of weeds and grass are crazily fast! My dad had to cut them almost every other week!! By using his trusted little "old-fashion" grass cutter, which I shall highlight in my future post..

In this entry, I wanna share some pictures of the produce that my (father's) garden produced.. all thanks to my dad's green thumb.. Unfortunately, that is one of the few things that I didn't inherit from him.. Almost everything that I plant/touch dies.. :x :x :x although I love the feel and smell of earth, and I have all the strength needed to "cangkul" (Malay word meaning work the land with a hoe) and I don't mind getting all sweaty working the land under the hot sun, but I am just hopeless when it comes to agriculture.. I suck big time at identifying plants.. I don't know my durian trees from my rambutan trees.. :x :x

Anyway, here they are.. 


Chilis.. Lots of them.. my dad would harvest them and let my auntie sell them in the market..

Close-up of the chilis..

Papayas.. we have more than 15 papaya trees in the garden.. we never run out of papayas to ear, but too bad I am not a fan of papaya.. :p

Bitter gourds.. one of my favorite vegetables.. the kiwi is there to show how "big" those bitter gourds are..

Pineapples.. this variety of pineapple is more for ornamental purposes.. to be used during prayers..

Pumpkin.. not so successful cos it didn't grow as big as my dad had want it to be.. might just try my hand at carving a "Jack-O-lantern"with this mini pumpkin since Halloween is just end of this month.. :)

Other vegetables that my dad has in his garden includes: sweet corn, sweet potato, banana, aloe vera, guava,  kacang botol (winged bean, which is another one of my favorite vege), eggplants, lemongrass, peanuts, pandan leaves, green beans, red beans, dragon fruit, ginger, okra (or otherwise known as lady's fingers, also my favorite) and a couple of those green leafy vegetables that I have no idea what they are called in English.. Some of them have yet to bear fruits/vegetables, while some are already in their n-th cycle of production..  .

So there you have it! My dad's garden of abundance!! :) :)

King of fruits

This is the name we give to durian here..


Truth be told, I am not crazy about the fruit.. I am not a durian fanatic and don't have cravings (for it).. although I prefer Malaysian durians to Thai ones, I will eat it when offered.. I won't go around town or across towns "hunting" for the best durian, unlike some of my ex-colleagues in Singapore..

Unlike most fruits, you don't pick or harvest the durian from the tree. You wait for it to drop onto the ground naturally, although some cultivated variety can be cut straight from the tree and left to ripen.. I had the experience of waiting for durians in my grandfather's orchard one night many many many years ago. It was kinda exciting as everyone was keeping their ears open for the sound of durian(s) hitting the ground.. Sometime none would drop the entire night but luckily that night, we had a couple... :) It was the freshest durian I ever had as the flesh was still warm!!

So one thing I do know is that durians taste the best when consumed immediately after you "open" them.. Although I can't really tell the difference, many of my durian fanatic ex-colleagues stand by this.. maybe that is why you see lots of professionals, in suits and ties, enjoying durians at stalls in Sims Avenue and Geylang Road in Singapore whenever the king comes to town..

So how do you "open" a durian? Let me show you.

Things that you would need is some newspapers (easy to clean up later), a rag (to hold onto the durian) and a cleaver (to pry open the thorny fruit)..

First hold the fruit (with the rag) and take a close look at the "butt" (aka the side without the stem). There should be natural "seams" which is where you should put your cleaver through. You don't just hack at the fruit nor anyhow make deep cuts.. nor try to step on it (wearing shoes of course) like what some bloggers had suggested..

Once you found the seams, use the edge of your cleaver and pry it open..

Then you use your fingers to pry it open further.. until you get to the flesh.. like this.. :) One tip: you can use the cleaver to cut along the seams to help your prying..

To "open" the hidden sides, place your palms on each side of the husk (on the side of the butt, not the stem) and press downward using your body weight.

It's not that difficult, isn't it? :)

Of course, you can get the durian seller to do it for you, but where is the fun in that??? :)

Piecing together..

Among many of the hobbies that I have, putting together jigsaw puzzles is one of those that I would allow myself to indulge in if I found the perfect design.. It had to be 1000pcs or more and with an image that I liked.. In fact I owned more than 10 jigsaw puzzles while in Singapore and have a few stashed all over the house right now! Too bad I don't have a house of my own to frame and hang them all up..

I had one with a picture of cute cartoon kittens that glow in the dark, one ancient world map in gold, several paintings byChristian R. Lassen of whales, dolphins and the underwater world and a few others which I can't really remember as I have left them in my friend's place in Singapore.. The maximum number of pieces that I have worked on was 5000 pcs, so I would love to get my hands on one that is 10,000pcs.. Maybe one of those Renaissance paintings like this, this or this...

During our last shopping trip to Penang, my sister bought a jigsaw puzzle.. and little did I know that I brought back the same exact jigsaw puzzle from Japan more than 8 months ago! She paid MYR$9.90 for hers while mine cost me ¥1,800 (almost MYR$62).. but the quality difference between the two was very obvious.. Both of our jigsaws are 1000pcs. Mine was held as the world's smallest jigsaw with a size of 29.7cm x 42cm while hers were 50cm x 75cm.Each individual puzzle pieces of mine is about the size of a 5-cent coin.. Both of us took about one weekend (half a day each on Sat & Sun) to finish ours.. It was challenging but doable.. Hers.. .. and mine...

Since the two of us have yet to get a proper frame for our puzzles, we decided to dismantle them and put them back into the boxes.. And we shall try to piece them up AGAIN in future.. ;)