Friday, March 31, 2006

Must-have for modern moms

This is my baby which sits in the kitchen all day..






















See the little buttons below? This is how it works... well, let's see..

1. Put all the ingredients in the ceramic pot.
2. Fill the water level to the indicator on the outside of the ceramic.
3. Press the "On" button, choosing the number of hours you want the water to boil for 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 hours and it will keep it warm for you until you press "Off"

It has a special filter to put inside the ceramic pot specially for making chicken essence.

Take a peek of how it looks when the cover is removed.



I made this for dessert the other day...

Birds' dried saliva! Yucks!

With rock sugar and pak kor.

Enough for myself and my 3 little bosses.

Can feel my skin 1% smoother already...:)

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

A wedding and a chicken-ed out speech

My good friend recently just got married. I was thrilled for her, for not only we had been awaiting for this day for years, but also for a couple more reasons.
1.
my promise to her beloved mommy is delivered. Well, actually I didn't promise her mom that I would find someone for her, but I remember I did promise her I will look after my friend and she would find the right guy one day.
2.
she's going to be "one of us", stripped away the freedom and joy of being single (especially after she had children), and bearing the frustrations (from nil to sometimes to most often times) of living with someone under the same roof.

Anyway, I still feel delighted for her. In fact, overjoyed. I thought of doing something on her big day for her. Hence, I prepared a short speech, and had a few "informal" vocal training sessions to sing a song for her on the stage. The song I chose was "Top of the world". So, I was all prepared for her big day, I am gonna make her cry with my speech and my bold appearance up the stage.

Dammit! I chicken-ed out. Must had been the bird flu. I can't bear the scenario where I make a complete fool of myself, my children would hate me so much they will dare not acknowledge me. I feel awful guilty for my friend. I couldn't even read a short speech for her. Sorry! Thousand apologies! Not my everyday activity to address some hundreds of people in an occasion like this.

Hence, I could only post the speech I prepared here. Hope she had liked it (if I had been brave enough to come up front and delivered it). Happy being wed!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ladies and gentlemen,
A very good evening. Please allow me a few mins to make a short speech for the newly married couple.
I consider myself a long time friend of Hui Ling, the radiant bride we have here. We had known each other since schooldays, got on really close in Form 6, and moved on to be coursemates and housemates in USM.
I must admit, I love to hang around with her a lot, she brings laughter and joy whenever she’s around. I used to say, if I had been a guy, I would surely want her to be my other half than any other, for she would certainly brings joy and happiness to me.

Paul, I believe you are the luckiest guy on earth. Cherish her and love her with all your heart.

Hui Ling, this is the beginning of a new chapter in your life, and this chapter is not going to be you alone, it’s both of you walking in this new path. I have to warn you, it’s not going to be easy, this telling from my own experience, but I have to say, it’s worth it because it’s nothing better than the joy of loving someone and being loved in return for all the things you are going through. When there are times when things not going the way you like to be, always remember you have your good friends here to lend a listening ear. I, had been, still am, and always will, be your good friend.

To end this speech, I like to make a toast, and wish you and Paul a very happy future together and half a dozen of little Hui ling(s) and Paul(s) to top it up. Cheers!
Thank you.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Chicken essence in bird flu times?

I went to market today to stuff my fridge for the next few days and can't resist buying that kampong chicken to make essence, my favorite soup to call a day.
I know, why buy chicken during the bird flu scare right now, huh? The advice given is chicken is safe to be eaten as long as it's cooked thoroughly. A friend wondered aloud, if it's safe, why kill all the chickens when bird flu is detected in an area? Why don't we just eat them instead, just make sure they are cooked well done. I can't think how to respond to her.

Well, I tried to avoid chicken, but chicken is my favorite meat. What else to cook other than chicken? Fish and pork all week? Sigh.. that will make the already boring days even more boring. I figured nevertheless, one chicken a week won't harm us. I am not a lucky person to strike the jackpot or won any lucky draws before, why should I be this time, huh? Sounds logic enough to me... aiyah.. don't care liao....

Anyway, I am about to stress on this chicken essence I made, homemade, double boiled. The double boiler is my favorite utensil in the kitchen. I got this information about double boiled method..

"Double boiler method is a Chinese cooking technique to prepare delicate food by separating the food from direct heat with a layer of water and cooked for several hours over the slow and constant heat.

This traditional way ensures the goodness of the food is preserved as there is no loss of liquid or moisture (its eseences) from the food being cooked, thus bring good nutritional value when consumed.

Double boiled food is believed to improve blood circulation, aids digestion, increase appetite, reduce fatigue, speeds up recovery after illnesses and strengthens your health."

It sounds very convincing to me. I even wrote an ad to start a business on this soup business, believing working people wouldn't have the spare time to make all these simple, delicious and nutritious luxuries in life. I set a specific soup a day, requesting customers to call or email for order 24 hours before, and deliver the soup in a vacuum flask to his/her doorsteps. Well, so far, I didn't get any order yet, as the ad just stayed in my pc's hard disk ever since. I should kick myself in the butts for being damn lazy to make another move on this "ingenious" idea of mine.

What the heck! I am going to pamper myself now. The soup's getting cold.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Pilot entry

I get this inspiration to write
1. to flush out my frustrations
2. to leave my stories and thoughts for my kids after I die.
3. to be trendy and "in"
4. to find out if I can find a living from writing junks on the internet
5. .... I don't know what else....

I am going to write about
1. marriage goods and bads
2. secret recipes for the lazy moms (not so much of a secret actually)
3. parenting, how not to be drove up on the wall
4. my inner thoughts and philosophies
5. how to keep an affair without being found out (..just kidding!)
6. ... dll ....

Welcome and stay tuned. (I hope!)

My Friday favorite time of the week

 Long ago, I used to look forward to every Friday 5.30pm. I would rush to prepare dinner and settle all that was needed to be done before 4....