Foul weather, foul mood

Have been in a foul mood the last few days....eerily coinciding with the weather. Floods , earthquakes and all. Can't dispel the dark thoughts and feelings. Hmmm...bad. Can't understand why also - could be a number of events triggering off such feelings. Things not going the way I like, meeting the ENEMY, death of someone I know. Sometimes I feel like I'm not me, if you know what I mean. People who spoke to me on the phone have commented that I sounded sick. I pick imaginary quarrels with people in my head, I recall old grudges.. and generally am being very grouchy. Aiyo...how ar? Hope I am not going mad and that this is not going to last.

It's not that time of the month, just in case some of you may be wondering. Hehe..small things can irritate me. Even watching my beloved TVB series can set off some irrational anger - anger at the characters, anger at why certain people behave in ways that will hurt others. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's only make believe, not need to get so emo, but what to do? I blame it on the out of control hormones that are unbalanced in me!! Is there such a thing?

FYI, I am currently watching ' Chamber of Bliss' and the brothel characters really bother me. Dunno why...on the good side, the actress must be good to invoke such emotions, on the negative side, am I prejudiced??? Anyway, I am not enjoying such strong responses, and hope it will be over soon, and life will be normal again. Fingers xxxxx, toes xxxxx and may I borrow some more fingers and toes? :)
One bright light is that I have not much appetite and have lost all of ONE kg...Yay....hahaha....( Yeah yeah, I know it's only water and I'll put it back in no time....stop it woman,.no more depressing thoughts!)

Anyway people, don't worry, I am perfectly sane and of sound mind...just letting off steam. Thanks for lending me your ears!! Next post will be of happier stuff, ok?

Mental Block ...or is it 'Blogged' ?

Been staring at the screen for a very long time...nothing comes to mind. Heck, I have no idea whatsoever to write about ! Thought of not posting anything but then if I were to stop, I know it will be helluva difficult to restart! I'm sure you guys know what I mean.

Anyway, the week before was nondescript, hence the drought. Boys were on holiday due to Raya, so much time was spent at the rink. No big deal. Did the usual classes at the gym..again no big deal. Hmmm..what else ar? All my brain can think of is no big deal...hehe..

Ah, weekend...went to a party on Saturday. Again no big deal, until I found out the ENEMY was there. Then BIG DEAL lah...so not very happy. In fact, not happy till now. Today lagi not happy . Firstly, discovered that the stupid people who took over the gym messed up most of my favourite classes *&&%^*@#$% Very MAD. Why must they come in and disturb a perfectly fine schedule and put all kinds of classes which no one in California really wants???? Stupid idiots. ( I wanna use stronger words but cannnot do it here....). Just wished they would leave things alone. And some moron goofed up today and lost my membership card at the towel check-in. Somemore they have the cheek to say never mind cos the cards will be replaced by Oct 1. Hello people....there is still Sept 30 to go????

Okay, don't want to rant anymore - make myself lagi miserable. Yesterday was saved by a fantastic class by Annie..though sob sob...she is going on leave till next year :( And when I got home, Ryan brought back fried mamak mee which he cooked in KH class at school. The teacher says I have to rate it. I gave him a 80%. I was not being biased cos it was really good. More so cos I couldn't have done it myself !!! Would have posted a photo but I was so excited to eat and only realised I didn't take any photos until it was finished!!! Next time...

Ahem, must make a disclaimer here - bad English is used in this post by intention!!! Hehe...must jaga my reputation ok, in case some people think my 'Engrish' is so baaaad... :)

A cook's tour

Was watching Anthony Bourdain's ' A Cook's Tour' on Astro. He is my very favorite food/travel host and his shows are always so interesting. In this particular one, he goes to Bangkok and Singapore.

But, surprisingly, in Bangkok, he does not showcase any Thai food !!!! Hello....no Thai food in Bangkok???? Instead, he visits a Laotian restaurant where he eats rotten anchovies!!! Urgh..the anchovies are mixed with salt and left to rot for anywhere between 3 months to 1 year. It looks horrid...greyish slushy mush...and it's supposed to smell, too. But Tony, unlike so many Gwailos, took to it like he's been eating it all his life. That's what I like about him..he is so game and adventurous and he is so willing to try anything. Guess that's part of his job . This brings to mind a certain Gwailo I know from my working days. He was here on business from England and I took him for steamboat. It was such a joke, when I asked him if he has had steamboat dinners before, he actually said, ' No, where is it going?' . Gosh, he thought it was a real steamboat!!!Anyway, for us Malaysians, steamboat dinners are no big deal , right? Nothing exotic about it - just put everything to boil. No weird raw stuff, no strange ingrdients. But this guy is so bloody fussy, he hardly touched his food. Seems he only like familiar western food. Now that's a boring visitor.

Anyway, I digress. Coming back to Anthony Bourdain, he further ate deep fried frog skins ( this does look yummy) and also deep fried insects ( this I woulded touch). And surprise surprise, the dessert was going to an Egyptian restuarant for coffee and a sweet pudding!! Interesting...I didn't know there is an Egyptian restuarant in Bangkok.

His next stop was Singapore...hmmm..I wonder why he didn't stop here! I know there was an episode on KL but I never caught it. Anyway, he ate Indian food there, banana leaf dinner with all the works. No big deal, except when he tackled the fish eye from the fish head curry!!! Now I really take my hat off to this Gwailo....hehe...that's why I like him. Any gwailo who eats the stuff I wouldn't eat earns my respect! I myself am a squeamish eater and when some white foreigner eats something I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, he really rates high on my list.

Hmmm...life is really boring these few days...no subject to blog about except pathetic attempts like this..hehe. Anyone eat anything interesting lately???

Bon appetite!

'Jamie' at Home

Jamie Oliver's dish

Ryan's version

Inspired by Jamie Oliver, Ryan has taken a keen interest in cooking. This week, he decided that he would cook dinner for me on Wednesday. So he went through the various recipes on Jamie's website, and chosed one that featured my favorite kind of fish - white fish.

So, for this episode of 'Ryan at Home', our dinner menu featured ' White fish wrapped in smoked bacon, with a zesty mayo sauce'.

We were supposed to do the shopping on Wednesday evening, after music class. So, armed with a printed menu and ingredients list, we went shopping. Had to go to both Giant and Jusco just to get everything we needed. This made the entire expedition long and by the time we were ready to leave, it was 5.40 pm. To make things worse, it was raining cats and dogs and the traffic was horrendous. Add the fact that everyone was rushing to get back for Buka Puasa, it was doubly bad. I was really getting irritated, and it took us almost an hour to get home.

I left the kitchen to Ryan and his sous chef Julian, and prayed hard that they would not burn down the kitchen. Was a bit nervous cos the recipe called for both pan frying and use of the oven.!!

Anyway, the end result was....SUPERB, as you can see from the photos. The original Jamie Oliver dish is on top, the second one, by newly promoted Chef Ryan and Sous Chef Julian. Sorry about the quality of the photo, though, yours truly was never great with the camera. As the boys get better, I think I may have to hire a professional photographer!!! Haha...

The taste was divine....I would have said 'awesome' but the word is a private joke in our family!!!
And considering that this is the very first attempt, I'll give it a 95%!! Seriously, it was really good. (Although I am of course biased, but this is the truth) The fish, combined with the smoked bacon, was very uniquely tasty, and the asparagus crunchy. The sauce, a mixture of mayo , lemon juice and spices is very zesty. Really yummy.

However, the best part of the meal is not the great food, but the trouble ( looking up the recipes, choosing one, planning etc) the boys went through just to cook my favorite fish. This is worth more than 100% - the fantastic warm feeling it produces is irreplaceable. Thanks guys..I love you.

So who says letting kids watch Astro is not good? I have so much to gain from them watching it !!

Fire

The boys have been watching a lot of Survivorman and Man vs Wild lately and have been fascinated by the idea of making fire from rubbing two sticks together. So the project of the week became 'Making Fire'

Somehow they managed to get hold of some pieces of stick and a small wooden board. How and where , I have no clue, but they enlisted the help of our driver in this mad idea of theirs and he may have gone around the neighbourhood finding the stuff for them. They then fashioned a bow of sorts , with which the stick was strung and rubbed against the board. I must admit that I was pretty impressed by the creativity and ingenuity of it! Hmm...some of my engineering 'genes' must have been passed down...haha...So who else thinks that watching too much TV is no good? At least, this little project of theirs got them to turn off the TV and computer and do something with their hands and brains!

At first, the experiment was conducted outdoors , and rather unsuccessfully I might add, cos they were at it for about 3 days! Then on Saturday evening, the wind got strong and they moved indoors to the kitchen. I had warned them to stop but apparently they were quote 'very close' unquote!!! And this time, they had 'tinder' to help get the fire going. Eh btw, the 'tinder' referred to are the few miserable pieces of straw like thingie you see in the video.....don't ask me where they got it??? So how can I be so cruel as to stop them?? Besides, I didn't think they would succeed!! ( Tinder or no tinder)

Was I wrong? Watch for yourself. Needless to say, Ryan 'burnt' his hand on the wood ( it did get very hot and I did smell smoke) but I think my boys should remain in civilization cos if they can't get a fire going for 3 days, their chances of surviving in the wild are pretty slim!!! But I give them full marks for perseverance and tenacity cos they were still at it today!!! ( Today is Sunday)...4th day...still no success :(
If only this doggedness was applied to their school work and skating...then the world would be perfect and I would never have to nag again...LOL

Anyway, boys,I do hope you guys would succeed soon...then perhaps we can move on to another 'project'! Kampatei!

Police traps

Did anyone notice that there is an extraordinary number of police traps on the road the last 2 weeks? I have, and I have noticed that this is a regular phenomena during the fasting month. Is it because more people have a tendency to speed or break minor traffic rules during the holy month? Somehow, I have my doubts...what do you think? Hehe...I think we all know exactly why there are so many traps out there. I just wonder how many of these so called 'blocks' and traps are actually authorized???

I have even noticed lone police motobikes stopping cars along the highway. And usually these cars are luxury cars. Is it because big cars = rich drivers inside? Or big cars = tendency to break traffic rules ? You decide. This practice obstructs traffic and causes chaos on the roads for no reason, and I believe ( mind you, this is only my opinion) that the summons is usually never issued. Anyway, if you break a rule, you deserve a ticket...so do drive with care.

Anyway, drive safely and carefully, irregardless of what month it is, for your own safely as well as others'. Have a happy Ramadan and we all look forward to a very 'Selamat' Hari Raya at the end of it all!!

Xian ...revsited

Watched a documentary 2 days ago, on History Channel Astro. Seemed to be watching an awful lot of documentaries nowadays. Anyway, History Channel is one of my favourite, worth spending time there, if only they don't repeat so many times!!!

Anyways, I digress. Coming back to the topic at hand, I was watching a documentary on the first Emperor of China, Shih Huang Ti of the Qin Dynasty, and it brought back the memories of my visit to Xian some 4 years ago.

Watching the show gave me a sense of nostalgia as Xian is truly a magical place.

At first I thought it was just another tomb or mausoleum filled with dusty statutes. This would have indeed been the case had I not come across a book in the hotel library which gave life to these terracotta statutes. ( The hotel we stayed in was Sofitel - now that is another long story - such a fantastic place, and we were upgraded to a suite, courtesy of our friend who was GM there!) Anyway, our friend the GM allowed me to 'borrow' the book out on our exursions and it gave such an insight to the tombs.

At this point, I think it is fair to say that most printed material about the terracotta warriors are in Chinese, which I cannot comprehend, so finding something in English that is so concise is priceless.

Anyway, I discovered that there are ways to tell the ranking of each soldier and even the area they are from by examining the armour they wear and the way their hair is done up. Even the studs on the armour tells a story. Of course, most of the statutes are in the enormous pits and no on is allowed to walk near them but there were a few on display on a small ' museum' and although they were in glass cases, you can get up close and examine them. I was never so intrigued by statutes before !!! Poor hubby (who had no interest) and guide had to wait for me. (PS. the guide seemed to know nothing compared to what I can find in the book!)

The actual tomb of the Emperor was believed to be underneath a earthern pyramid ( looked like a hill to me!!) in the nearby area. We actually had the chance to go up the 'hill' on horseback. It was nervewracking as there were no obvious trials ...only the guides and the horses seemed to know the way. Many a times, my horse slipped on loose stones and it was really very very scary. But at the top of the hill, the view was magnificent! The tomb is yet to be excavated as the Chinese government have not found an entrance and they did not want to excavate blindly. Also, they have a problem of preserving it once it is opened.

I remember the Jackie Chan movie, 'The Myth' which was loosely based on this tomb. Legend has it that underneath the tomb was a lake and rivers of mercury. Tests conducted have shown a high level of mercury in the ground in these regions, so maybe it is true!

Anyhow, I do hope that I can visit again , especially when they open the tomb. Don't know why but I do have a kind of fascination with the Terracotta warriors after that visit. The legend is so intriguing! And oh, one not so pleasant memory is that someone tried to 'molest' me at the pit. I was wearing a sleeveless T and some guy tried to stroke my arm!!! Urgh...luckily can hide behind hubby.

Xian is very nice, food was good , especially the Muslim barbecued meat - chicken and lamb. Never tasted anything like it! Hotel was awesome, plus the fact that we got a private limousine and guide and a suite, and access to the club lounge, courtesy of the GM...that just adds up to the overall charm! Food at the hotel, in particular, the Japanese food was out of this world. Great memories!!! :)