Fish Crackers aka Keropok Ikan

 

Can I have more of this please, I was very happy when you sent me this packet of wonderful fish crackers, though it was already opened, and tied up with a rubber band (sad, I would never sent something that is already opened to you). But to give you the benefit of the doubt, may be the plastic busted en route when you were sending them to, may be…………….. who knows? But, you are appreciated.

Anyways, that packet of wonders is gone now, fini, fəˈnētō. May I ask for a new unopened packet to be sent to me please? You know I can eat this with rice and kicap and nothing else.

Economy and budget have to because Euros are so “F” up now.

The Smokers Are My Number One Enemy Now

Many may not know that in my younger days, I was smoking a lot, smoking my life away. It was the only way that I know to keep me calm, to give me all the energy that I needed to go through studies, and workloads, and to overcome all the stresses that I would encounter along the way.

My children were disgusted by my behavior, my parents too. But, nothing mattered to me, I smoked as much as I want to and when I want to, no one could stop me. Secretly, I thought I look kind of sexy with a cigarette in between my fingers always. I even smoked in my own private office, can you imagine, how disgusting that habit was then?

However, the excitement of being a first time grandma encouraged me to quit smoking. I was over excited to be taking care of my grandchild, I dreamed about things that we would be doing together, day in and day out, hence I was reminded that the first thing will be his well being, and that was for me to quit smoking. Guess what? I did……………… hooray.

But, guess what too? Sadly, I was not given the opportunity to take care of my grandchild. That is life right, you cannot win them all. At least I quit smoking for a reason.

Since I am no longer a smoker now, I find it really hard, and disgusting when I am around people who smokes, and where I am residing now, smoking is like the air that they breathe. They smoke their lives away shamelessly and without a care about other people, especially at the bus, tram and train stations. I am always never too ashamed to show them my disgust. Parents smoking with babies in their arms in the park, parents smoking with babies in their pusher strolling in the garden, what the hell, what are they thinking off?

There has to be an inaccuracy beyond belief here right? Honestly, smoking is the one thing that I find very hard to tolerate when I am in public and it frustrates me so badly.

The public smokers fail to realize that they painfully attack my lungs and nasal passages while polluting the public areas. I am so afraid that I have become such a hater for smokers that I might be verbally nasty the next time, by telling them that it is not fine to smoke in public areas, irrespective if it is open air or otherwise and that they are violating my body.

The smokers are my number one enemy now.

Will I Go Back To The Doctors?

It has been awhile since I blog about my health situation. This does not mean that nothing is brewing but I am just in denial, I am close to could not care about the brewing matters in my body. However, yesterday something happened to me that make me snapped back to reality.

I have been having constant fever especially in the night, but the magic pills managed to keep me feeling good for at least 6 to 7 hours, and that is alright. Then I noticed that the swelling on my upper right hand is getting bigger, I decided to put some ACUSTOP Cataplasma (that was left behind by a good friend). Though the swelling does not subside, the pain was contained for a bit.

Following that I began to bleed from my nose. It was fresh blood with no clot. I just ignore this as I actually had nothing to stop it. The throbbing headache is also getting worse, and my magic pills are not helping that at all.

Yesterday, like any normal working days, I was in the house alone. When I woke up in the morning I was still down with fever, again I ignored that and go on with my morning chores. By the time the house was empty I felt my head throbbing so much, the nausea feeling came back, I went to the sofa to rest but I discovered that my eyesight was blurring, and I could not recall things. It was scary.

In the evening over dinner hubby, my little angel and I discussed about my situation and I don’t want any of them to be panic, but we decided when and how many calls if I don’t answer should hubby come runny home. The other problem is that I always double locked my doors when I am home alone, and this has to change too.

By the way, I am so due for the doctors’ appointment. The sonogram, the blood results, and the X-rays have been collecting dust on my printer for more than a month. Why I am ignoring the doctors? Answer, I am bored with them and bored of hearing that and that and more that.

Will I go back to the doctors? Errmmmmmmmmmmm……….. I don’t know yo!!!!!

........ the subjective word call LOVE

Today I thought I will dedicate sometime to write about the subjective word call LOVE. This is because my little angel is going through some colorful changes in her young teenager’s life, and I would not want to act as though I was never young before.

Honestly, I started to know the feeling of wanting to have an exclusive friendship with that certain someone at a very tender age of 12 or 13. It was a very uneasy feeling as your mind was occupied with the thought of that person more than you could handle, but the feeling drizzled off soon enough, and I learn the magical word of saying “next please”.

My little angel has been quite open in sharing her stories with me, but I am pretty sure that there are more hidden in that little head of hers. I am a very protective mother and I don’t want her to get hurt, not even if it was at the stage of learning what puppy love is all about.

Love is not about attraction to many, but to me that is not right. You have to be attracted to something to love it or him or her or whatever. They said love is not about infatuation, but I think it all started by being infatuated first. Love is not about gifts, but my little angel was smitten by a simple bar of chocolate given to her on a valentine day. Love is not about the length of time you spent together but how could that be?

So what is this thing call love? To each his own I guess, from the beginning I have stated that love is subjective. Bottom line, there is no right or wrong to anyone’s perception of love. We all fall in love; one way or the other, good or bad, there is really no reason at all to falling in love. It is just that stupid magical feeling that you want to belong.

In conclusion I can only say that it is wonderful having to wake up each day feeling so deeply in love and overwhelmingly happy whenever this person is around you.

But Don’t Forget Who You Really Are.

But don’t forget who you really are. And I’m not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you. You know who you really are. When you’re alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you…Your muscles will toughen. So will your heart and soul. That’s necessary for survival. But don’t lose touch with that person deep inside you, or else you won’t really have survived at all.

Louis Sachar

“If I Had My Child to Raise All Over Again” by Diane Loomans

WORTH READING:

If I had my child to raise all over again, I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I’d finger-paint more, and point the finger less. I would do less correcting and more connecting.

I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes. I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.

I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play. I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I’d do more hugging and less tugging.

– Diane Loomans

My Osso Bucco

Osso Bucco is an Italian dish of braised veal shanks or Ox tail, and I was introduced to this recipe by CD. When I decided to cook this dish I do not have any veal shanks nor Ox tail, but I have spare ribs instead.

yellow onions, carrot and celery 

 1.2 kg of spare ribs, cleaned, and paper towel dry

 I added cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise and bay leave to the dish as well

 once the spare ribs were totally dried, I dredged them with some flour

heat cooking oil on high in a heavy bottom pot, add the spare ribs and fry both side till well browned (I took 10 minutes to do this, 5 minutes on each side of the ribs)

 the browned spare ribs

 in the same pot (I removed some of the oil) add the yellow onions, carrot and celery and fry till the onions are translucent and vegetables slightly brown

 add the spare ribs and 2 tablespoon of tomato puree to the pot

 add 1 cup of non alcoholic red wine or dry white wine and let it boil and reduce a bit

 after that I pour in 2 cups of chicken stock (as I do not have beef stock) and add all the spices, and I let it boil for at least 15 minutes more before transferring the dish to my dutch oven

 

 

 the dutch oven is then put into a preheat oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 3 hours, but towards the end of cooking time I reduce the heat to half

 

this is the final results of my Osso Bucco.............................. need I write more?.................. FANTASTIC!!!!

My First Try At Strawberry Jam

1 kg of strawberries

 

washed, discard over ripped berries and leaves, paper towel dried, sliced in small pieces and leave in the refrigerator overnight

 

put the sliced strawberries in a heavy bottom pan, add 1.2 cup of brown sugar

 

I also added 1 inch of cinnamon stick to the cooking

 

start cooking on low heat, stirring constantly

 

increase the temperature to medium high once the sugar is dissolved

 

remove pan from the stove once the jam reaches setting point or really thick  

let the jam cool down for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring to a clean bottle

 

 cover and keep in the refrigerator 

I Love Watching CD In The Kitchen

 

 When CD cooked the Osso Bucco dish I was supposed to record her on video and learn the art of cooking that dish. However, on the day that she was busy in the kitchen, I was away with hubby, therefore, I missed on all the critical part of the cooking.

I love watching CD at work in the kitchen, this is mainly because she is left handed and to me anything that she does while at work as a left hander is super cute. Every once in a while I will ask her if it was any more difficult handling things being a left hander, of course that was a stupid questions, but I was being curious.

Anyways, back to the Osso Bucco, CD did everything very meticulously. She always has a watch in the kitchen with her to time her cooking. She will appreciate all the details that were thought to her in school and diligently follow steps by steps. To me she was just amazing. I regret missing her technic of cooking this dish. But, we all agreed that it was fantastically delicious. She served the Osso Bucco with polenta.

Now that she is not here with me, I decided to try my own cooking of Osso Busso, as always I memories what she told me about the method of cooking and thus turn it into my own. Apparently, it got the thumbs up too.

Next entry will be my own Osso Bucco.

P/S: Picture compliment from CD.

It Is That Season Again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Have To Take Risks

You have to take risks, he said. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun—and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven’t perceived that moment, that it doesn’t exist—that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists—a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.

Paulo Coelho

Organic Ice Cream

The first time I discovered this little organic ice cream place was about two weeks before they close for the winter season. The place is so tiny that the queue is almost so long, but people who know the benefit of organic ice cream does not mind waiting in the queue.

The place serves more than 10 dairy and vegan ice cream flavors. Consuming organic ice cream is not about losing weight to me, that is not entirely true, but it does make me more conscious and aware of the source of my deserts and sweets.

As have been mentioned and published in many articles or on the internet, the organic farmers use only natural, synthetic chemical-free production methods, therefore, the food produced is much safer for humans and the animals that consume them. Synthetic, toxic chemicals have been linked to serious diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

In this season, it is good for me to walk to the organic ice cream place, stand in queue, get an ice cream and continue walking. The weather is just wonderful and yes I do need the walk.

 

 

 

 

 

But We Were Hungry...................