Patenting the Asam Pedas

Star Q

i.  An Ex-Student's View on English

ii.  Writing an Informal Letter

iii.  Sukantara

Some people have a stronger sense of belonging that they forget that the same thing can also belong to other people too.  The subject here is the (outrageous) idea of Malacca's Chief Minister to patent the Asam Pedas as one of Malacca's heritage dishes.

Holiday Breakfast Basket

Star Q

i.  Mesyuarat Pertama 2013

ii.  Till We Meet Again

I call this Holiday Breakfast Basket mainly because I can only make it during holidays, or weekends.  Small and cute, they may be, making the baskets is time consuming especially with the two steps taken to complete them.

Retirement Potluck by Ph Hjh Hazimah

Star Q

i.  A Serious Shock of Reality

ii.  Lawatan Dato' Pengarah, JPNS

It was another potluck session this morning!  But this time around, the brunch which consisted of 'Soto Nasi Impit' was sponsored by the person who is going to retire!  Strange!  Usually other colleagues would hold a potluck for a friend who is retiring!  However, over here it works both ways and we eat twice!

Watermelon Infused Pineapple Juice

Star Q

i.  Should One Know Everything? Part 1

ii.  Pre-U Raya Open House

It's been a hot few days and fasting during Eid when every body is eating and drinking merrily to their hearts' content is an awesome challenge.  I have decided to do the non-obligatory six-day fasting during Eid and I have four more days to go!  Seeing my colleagues drink and eat, got me to thinking about this juice that I made for Iftaar during Ramadan.

Marhaban Ya Ramadhan

Star Q

i.  Such Greedy Brutes!

ii.  Kejohanan Olahraga 2012

Image sourced from Google 

As usual I'm late again.  This time in wishing everyone Marhaban Ya Ramadhan.  We are already into the fourth day of fasting, and I have just now found some time to make this entry.  Excuses, excuses!

But, on the plus side, the first two days of fasting were a flurry of activities because all my children were at home.  It is always a much livelier environment when the kids are around, amidst their sibling bickering that sometimes can get on my nerves!

What Father's Day?

Star Q

i.  A Young Friend : A Poem

ii.  IrfanQasehLatifah

This year's father's day has come and gone.  With all the hype the media has made about this day, father's day didn't really turn out as it was expected to be.  Television ads carried wishes by local artists to their dads and the newspapers carried stories about father/son/daughter relationships.  Even magazines carried special articles and recipes to celebrate the day.

Gulai Landak Seri Sendayan

Star Q

i.  You Know Raya Is Near When ......

ii.  Tempat Yang Ditinggalkan

Yes! It is the real 'landak'!!!  It has been a long (read looooooong!) time since I got my hands on this elusive creature!  Actually, many moons ago, it was my late mom who handled everything about this creature!  My dad, being in the army then, had many opportunities to hunt this creature, and also the mousedeer (poor Sang Kancil!)

Well, anyway, back to present day.  This time around, I was given a small portion (hence the small portion shown in the picture!) by my brother-in-law who lives in Sendayan (hence, the name of this dish!)  But the preparation of the ingredients I owe it to my late mum, who reminded me then, that when cooking exotic creatures one must either use a lot of herbs or spices to hide the natural odour ot the animal.  

Best Guava Juice In Muar!

My Entries in Other Blogs :

i. Smoking During Lessons In School

ii.  Perjumpaan 3 Penjuru

There is guava juice and there is the guava juice!  I had to make an entry about this particular guava juice before I totally forget about it!  This is because I will not be travelling by that neck of the woods anymore (knock on wood!) since my daughter has finished her Form Five in one of the schools over there!

But for the past two years, travelling to and fro Muar to visit my daughter, I have more often than not dropped by that small hawker stand near the river (forgot the name but it's near an electricity sub-station1)  to purchase their guava juice!  Well, if it wasn't me, it would either be the missus of my daughter!  We even sometimes, buy the guava juice concentrate to take home!

Something to Hide

Sellers will do anything to ensure that their goods are bought by customers, especially unsuspecting ones.  Some, of course use more devious ways than others and seem quite inconspicuous to the customers!

I have always put a great trust on the people who sell their goods.  By that I mean that these people usually have my trust in displaying and selling the best of their produce!  If I go to a supermarket and the produce, fruits for example, are prepacked, I will not show any signs of irresponsibility of opening the packaging and pinching the fruits (which, unfortunately, some people do!) to ensure that they are fresh! 

My Significant Other's Birthday

It just happened that the day we went back to Kuala Lumpur was the same day as my wife's birthday.  So, I took this opportunity to treat her to a birthday lunch.  Of course, being her birthday, I knew she suspected that my daughter and I had been planning something for her behind her back; but she pretended not to notice.

Anyway,  along the way, we stopped at Seremban.  And since, it was still too early for lunch,  I told my wife that the little girl and I would go to MPH and she could go an buy whatever it was she had planned to buy earlier and to rendezvous later at a certain restaurant at about 12.30!.  So, when we went our separate ways, my daughter and I dashed to Secret Recipe and bought (yes, bought!!! I had no time to bake a birthday cake!!!) a Strawberry Marshmallow Cheesecake!

Farewell Potluck for Kak Limah

Today saw another potluck session for yet another senior teacher and old friend (no pun intended!) who will be retiring as of tomorrow.  There was a large variety of different types of food which indeed reflected the taste-bud of the person who will be retiring, that is Pn Helimah bt Ujang.

It is always a poignant day when someone whom you have known for a long time (sixteen years long!)  In fact my acquaintance with her even extended to her two of her three children whom I have taught.  Her eldest son, who is now studying in Universiti Utara Malaysia, was one of my students until form 6.  I taught her second son when he was in form 3.  However, I did not have the pleasure of teaching her third and youngest son.

Fifty-one : Alhamdulillah

I woke up today, as usual at 5.30 in the morning, still dark outside, and everyone in the household (and other houses!) were still asleep.  Alhamdulillah.  I walked silently to the stove and put a kettle on to boil some water.  Alhamdulillah.  I went into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed myself and took my 'wuduk'.  Alhamdulillah.  I spread my prayer mat, started and completed by Subuh prayer and ended with a 'doa'.  Alhamdulillah.

Bread-based Cook-off Fun!

Today's entry is specially dedicated to the Bread-based Cook-off held by the Form six's Scouts Unit as one of their many co-curricular activities other than camping, jamboree and gadget-making.  This competition has been held for three years now, and has been a much waited activity among the members and teachers alike.

Members were encouraged to use their creativity in creating new dishes (as far as possible) using the ordinary sandwich bread.  Originally Scouts have their cook-off during camping when they only use ingredients that are long-lasting, usually dried or canned food.  

Potluck and Chit-chat!

One of the highlights of school days is the occasional potlucks that we have in the teachers' common room.  We usually have potlucks on Wednesdays considering it is co-curricular day and teachers go back late; which means they can continue eating as long as there's still food left!

Today's potluck is a bit special in the sense that it is held to commemorate one of our colleagues' last day in the teaching profession.  Pn Siti Marzian has been a regular contributor to our potlucks and it seems befitting that we held this do for her.

Cupcake Makeover!

Taking time out for a while, and as usual, checking out the fridge.  I have quite a few cupcakes given to me during my wife's niece's wedding reception.  They're nice just as they are, but I thought I'd give them a make over by putting some frosting and for the purpose of presentation, tie them with tiny ribbons.

It didn't take me long to whip up the frosting because all the ingredients are in the larder, including the silver thingies!  After piping the frosting onto the cupcakes, the kids had just enough restrain to hold back from devouring the cakes to give me just enough time to snap the pictures!  After that, they went like hot cakes (actually they were cold!) and the frosting made them even more irresistible (no modesty here!) 

Well, guess it's back to marking until the next time out!  Ciao! 

Polka Dot-Dot-Dot

It's the school holidays and there's a lot of things to be done (by the parents!) and things that children need to do to keep them occupied in order to keep boredom at bay.  It's quite surprising to note that kids nowadays (pardon me for saying this) lack the imagination to do things to occupy their free time.  Children nowadays need, shall I say, things that are bought to amuse themselves like computer or video games, comics or even board (bored!) games.  Quite different from the days when I (and my siblings and other children our age) would look around us for things, like discarded tins, rubber bands, boxes, slippers, rubber seeds or even mere pebbles, then create games that would make us forget about our boredom.  The key word here is creativity!

Well, recently I noticed a bit of that creativity when my girls helped the missus make Apam Polka Dot.  The Apam did not just end up with polka dots on them but the girls made swirls and squiggles and even did some writings (note the ones in the middle!)

I am not sharing this recipe (hehe!) because if you want it you can ask the missus (it's hers!)  If not, you can always surf the net for the many cooking blogs for the recipe!  Happy surfing! :-)

Duck Eggs in Turmeric Gravy

Who says you need to buy all the ingredients when you want to cook a dish?  I can tell you that in some situations you can get all the ingredients for free.

I recently went to visit my in-laws and it just so happened that quite a few of my other in-laws were already there.  By the end of the day, we decided to say our good byes, but before that, we distributed among us things that some of us had brought from our homes; things that we either planted or reared.

One of my in-laws who reared ducks began distributing duck eggs while another one distributed coconuts she had collected from her tree in the backyard.  The eldest in-law provided some carambola and some birds eye chili and I gave them turmeric roots and leaves which were growing in abundance in my garden patch at home.  All the ingredients, when put together,  became the crucial ingredients in making "Telor Itik Masak Lemak" or Duck Eggs in Turmeric Gravy.

This recipe does not focus on the idea that it is such a simple and ordinary recipe (for us over here!) but it focuses on the fact that things to cook with can be free and it can be obtained right in your backyard or the backyards of your relatives.  Nevertheless, here's the recipe!

• 5 duck eggs
• 750 ml coconut creamed, pressed from one coconut
• 15 pieces carambola
• 15 birds eye chili (less if you want less heat!)
• 1 thumb-size turmeric root, pounded
• 1 piece turmeric leaf, torn

Put all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a slow boil so that the coconut cream does not split.  Then break the eggs in a separate bowl, and slide them one at a time into the gravy.  Poach slowly until the eggs are totally cooked.  Best eaten hot with hot rice!