The Dabai Story

The best Dabai (O-lam in hokkien and kra-lan in Foochow) in Sarawak, a kind of local olives, are reputed to come from Sibu. There are usually available towards the end of the year. Prices range from RM12 to even 18/kg. This is one of the few things that my mum would definitely hoard back from every single one of her Sibu trips, without fail.

The preparation for Dabai traditionally includes soaking them in lukewarm water. Normally, these little delicacies will be washed in plain water and placed into a bowl of lukewarm water and soaked with a plate covering for about 20 min to 30 min or so.

But this is where the complexity sets in as the water temperature & the soaking duration has to be just right. The temperature has to be that you can place your hands in it. Any slight miscalculation & the whole thing would become inedible, hard and waxy.

The story goes that once upon a time, because Dabai originated from Sibu, many Kuchingites upon being introduced to them for the very first time, tried cooking them. They fried, stir fried, boiled and obviously ended up puzzled about how Sibu people could actually eat this ridiculously hard thing.

There exists another simpler method of preparing Dabai which we've heard of only very recently. The good thing is that this new method requires none of that temperature control & soaking. All you need to do is to wash and wrap them up in a plastic bag and freeze them. After completely defrosting, they are as soft as they can get. Season them with sweet (optional) dark soya sauce and sugar. And there you go! They transform into highly addictive morsels.

But this is not the end of the story yet, at least for people like Greg. His Dabai journey begins when everyone else finishes. If you're eating Dabai, and you're anywhere near him, you'd need to surrender the seeds to him, otherwise he gets upset.

Dabai seeds can actually be eaten. I know that part is true cos Greg has eaten them many times & he's still alive plus I haven't seen any Dabai plant growing out of his butt.

The seed is really hard as Greg would attest. You can see him pounding them away with the pestle & mortar, & debris will be flying off 10 feet away. When the nut breaks away, it reveals a fresh green nutty like filling inside which Greg would meticulously pick out with a toothpick.

Sometimes I wonder if Greg really likes Dabai, or that he's just trying to gulp down as much as possible just so that he can have the seeds later. But I think whatever it is, as long as he's doing the pounding & the picking himself, he can do whatever he wants.

Life with Passion

For the past few days, due to this and that at work, I wasn't exactly feeling like I was on top of the world and most of all, I was really questioning my job. As most readers would know, I am a civil engineer working as a lecturer in a public university. I quit from the industry more than 6 years ago and went into teaching, not because of the more flexible hours, nor because of it's 'fantastic' pay. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a noble character but I was really sick of my profession and the industry which if full of people who cannot and are not qualified to be called professionals.

Corruption, bribes, big boys bullying the small. Justice is for those who have more money and power. These are all common stuff. Engineers bowing down to employers, and contractors kiss the feet of engineers and employers, and the story goes on in every project. I am sick of being the only lady in the group of males who expect me to pay for every single meals after meetings just because I work as a contractor. For anything that goes wrong on site, it is never the engineer's fault, their excuses are so ridiculous, and I don't even know how they have the nerve to say it and if these people join the Tai-Chi category in Olympics, the Chinese will have to step aside.

There has to be a better way. This industry is really sick, like terminally ill.

6 years in university and more than 6 years of trying to do my best for these future engineers so that they can be better equipped and hoping that they go out with some integrity if they cannot remember anything else I lecture. Meanwhile, the industry has gone from bad to worse. And what's new?! The industry is just the miniature version of our government. The government probably thinks that we want to change them, but really, all we just want is for them to change the way they do things. But nothing has change. And If I say some more, I will soon be finishing my PhD in the detention camp in Sungai Buloh.

But yeah, back to the story, I was really praying very hard to God, asking him so very hard, what the hell am I doing in a place (which is like another miniature Malaysian government) that does not give me credit and appreciation for all the effort I put in. Is the university where God really wants me to be?

On Tuesday, I attended a course on contract management and I was caught in a jam from the campus all the way to Stutong. Was getting really agitated because I was running late. Then all of sudden, I remember Alvina sending us one of those encouragement email. This IS where God wants me to be. Right in the middle of jam. And I talked to Him for one whole hour, asking again and again the same question. It is indeed a very rare opportunity to have a one hour conversation with Him. At the end of it, I had the necessary peace in my mind and heart to sit in and listen to one of top authority in the area of study in this country.

And God finally answered my question, through firstly the speaker, and then a young man who came to discuss about his future career path. This is what God said,

"Why are you looking for appreciation and acknowledgment in this dirty and unfair place? Can't you see that I want you to love and focus on these young people? Yes, the society is a bad place. But don't complain. If you want it to be good, you have to start making sacrifices. Can't you see how you can affect the direction and thoughts of these young engineers that will be unleashed into society. Out of the 100 graduates each year, if just a handful can be good, the industry will be a better place, the society can improve and it may not be such a bad world after all."

But God, I am nobody. My work is probably not read and my students are probably sleeping half of the time.

"It is not about you. It is about Me making the changes. Appreciation and acknowledgment CAN'T be forced because it is from the heart, not the mouth. As long as you use your heart when you work, that's all you need to do"

So to all the sad people out there who only cares about what advantages they can dig out from another person, who spend so many hours trying to strategize and position themselves to get the best of everything and everyone, who can make differences but do not hestitate spoiling the minds of the young, who want everything yet not willing to give anything, you are sad because you are empty.

Something you really want with all your heart and soul is your passion. Well, now I know what I really want, reminded of what I really want. You can crush my body and spoil my day but you cant disturb my spirit because my God is my Boss and I only have Him to answer to and my belief that my work and my students will some day, one day make a small difference is as strong as ever. My chin is up because my life is filled with Passion! Thank you Lord!

Super Duper World Saving Enzymes

Okie Gals and Guys. You guessed it right. This is the enzyme thingy that EVERYONE BUT ME seems to already know about. Very upsetting. How can I not know?!

Anyway, this thing is brilliant for the following reasons:

1) Environmentally, we are playing our part in cutting down rubbish. Recyling is good. I wonder if the trees TPK cut down for the Jalan Song (read about it on Kenny Sia's post here) can be used in the same way. I am still very very upset to see those beautiful trees gone. I told Greg I wanted to do a case study of it under UN-SUSTAINABLE construction and climate change and write a paper on it and present it somewhere. My hubby had to restrain me, reminding me that I will likely be sacked if that were to happen, and of course I will remain a peanut in my department for the rest of my life if I do so. Bloody dirty politics. So bear with me. I am just venting my anger, disappointment and displeasure over the whole thing on my OWN blog.

2) Sorry, back to enzymes. This thing is quite amazingly useful. I got a whole bottle of it from a friend. Hers is the pineapple ones. I am still not used to using that on its own. So I dropped a few drops and a cap or two into my dish detergent and floor detergent and reduced both the detergent by the equal amount. Hey, the results have been really good. My floor is seriously squeeky clean, not just borderline clean. My stainless steel top and sink are now really free from my constant baking butter, cream and chocolate. And it does give a hint of fruit fragrance after use. It's upposedly really good for timber doors, window frames and window panes.

I don't know how mine will turn up. So far so good. But you can have the recipe first cause my final results will only comes in three months. Will let you know how mine turns up. Probably everyone already know this but here it goes:

10 litre of water
1 kg of brown sugar
5 kg of any fruit skins and left over*

1) Stir water and sugar till they dissolve in a plastic container that come with a lid. Add in fruit skins. Stir and close the lid. Leave it under the shade in a cool place.

2) For the next seven days, open lid to stir and release the gas.

3) After the 7th day, leave it for 3 months to ferment and decompose. Strain the final product & you'll have the enzyme. The leftover can be used as compost apparently.

* I was told any fruits skin would do. Mine has lots of pineapple skins and the shaved off eye bits. I threw in lemon, orange and passionfruit skins. I think more acidic fruits smell better. You can also try apples, kiwis, peaches as well. But only if you so happen to have them.

Pineapple skins are available in abundance in wet markets but the traders are getting smarter. Cause demand is up due to this enzyme thingy, they are selling their pineapple skins instead of giving them away. The lady gave me her whole 8 kg for RM 4. Heard some vendors even go up to RM1/kg. Not exactly cheap for 'rubbish' but not exactly expensive if I thought about reducing the dumping on this poor overloaded earth.

A Fondant-ing Day

I did it! I finally did Fondant and royal icing. Jo and I took a weekend class for fondant-making and royal icing a while back. We used them to decorate a fake cake (a polystyrene one by the way). The class was organised by KT Bakery and conducted by a chef from Trans Standard, KL.

This is something that I have never attempted before even though Aunty Terry had repeatedly talked about in several of her posts. I have always been so extremely impressed with fondant creations out there so much so that I wouldn't even dare to try. But now I'm just so happy that I did.

And for me, to do the cake (which was a pretty one with roses and leaves and skirtings), gosh it was hard work and it took a lot of patience and lots of kneading but the results was just so pretty !

This weekend I finally has the opportunity to put my fondant making into practice. I was asked to do a polar bear cake for Rhiana and Natalie (the two beautiful girls who had the Neptune's Castle cake two years back). Polar bears was their theme this year as both the girls are collecting money to adopt polar bears to save the environment.

The cake is a rich double chocolate fudge cake (Greg's newest favourite cake) which was iced with topping cream. Fondant was used to do the polar bears and the icebergs. Greg made these in about 5 miutes as he was in a hurry. I did the fondant and Greg did the kneading and came out with this. Arent they cute?! (I was quite satisfied with this but Greg wasn't very happy with the cracks but didn't know how to get rid of them. Tips anyone???)

Fondant is definitely much easier to work with. They don't sweat as much as marzipan and they are white which makes colouring really easy. They stay well out of fridge too and of course are cheaper. Greg prefers fondant too as he thinks they can give him a wider flexibility in artistic expression. But before we try anything further, we'd need to know how to make the surface smooth.

Grandpa's Funeral

I am sure there are some of us who are hoping for me to write about the last leg of Grandpa's journey on Friday. There are so many of you who couldn't make it to the funeral because you were somewhere too far away.

Grandpa Wong passed away peacefully on the 11th February 2009 Wednesday at 7.05pm at the age of 91. It is with a very heavy and sad heart I began writing this because
1) I don't have someone I can call Kung Kung (Grandpa) anymore
2) My heart goes out to Grandma.
Imagine this. You shut your eyes and everything you can remember is life with this particular person. And when you open your eyes again, he is not there anymore. 60 over years of marriage, 60 over years of memories.

Many tears were shed during the ceremony of placing Grandpa in his coffin on Thursday afternoon, at the moment when Grandma with complete calmness and such beautiful inner strength, held his hand and whispered something to him, probably telling him it is alright to go. She remained calm throughout the whole process. Soft tears but no wailing. And he looked peaceful, completely at rest. God Bless! Many came to bid him farewell. The entire house, the balcony & the staircase were packed with people, friends, family and people he had blessed throughout all those years. Such wonderful man!

On Friday he left the house at 7.30am. It was a fine day. We had a short & simple funeral ceremony with pastor reminding that he had left for his home in heaven. He is with God and his spirit will continue to live in each and everyone of us. We then walked with Grandpa from their house on Kapor Road to Sibu Logos Church before embarking on the bus towards his final resting place. He was buried at the Sibu Chinese Cementery at Rock Hill.

For those of you not there, please don't be sad. Peace can be felt throughout the whole two days. This kind, dignified man is with God and he had lived his life to the fullest in whichever capacity he was in ~ a husband, a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather, a friend, a confidante, a loyal servant to men and God. For family members far away, we will also put up some pictures on our links in the next few days.

Stress Duck

I am getting a little stressed because I am travelling tomorrow on my own to KL to attend my cousin Carol's wedding to Gooi (who graciously took us around in Hong Kong).

Stress 1: The trip is pretty last minute but I managed to book cheap MAS tickets (RM385 return) very early on. But then I realised that my classes do not finish until Friday and I have a teaching assignment early Sun morning. So there were a lot of 'to go or not to go' going on and when I finally decided, I had to forgo my return ticket and buy another one from Air Asia that costs RM213 to return on Saturday evening instead. So this whole week revolved around getting things arranged so that I get my Friday off.

Stress 2: I rarely travel alone without Greg. I think this must be the 2nd or 3rd time since we got married. I dont like to have to catch taxis alone in KL and having to watch out for potential snatchers or thieves everywhere I go. So normally, when I'm alone, Greg will make sure that I get Foong Sin, my good uni mate to drive me around and that I am staying with someone like my cousins or my friends.

Stress 3: I get stressed about what Greg will be eating during my stay away. I know it's just for 2Days/1 Night but I am seriously worried because my hubby lives on junk like cookies, cakes & takeaways if food is not on the table. Like when I got up late last Sat morning, he ended up eating the leftover bits cut from the side of a napolean cake. He just walloped a whole plateful of buttercream laden bits when there were homemade curry puffs in the fridge. See, even when there is food is in the fridge, he seems to ignore it. So I am seriously thinking of labelling everyone of his meal before my trip. I cooked a little more tonite to last him for the next two days.

One of the dish is the 8 Jewel Duck. I am seriously proud of myself for this. Under the supervision of Aunty Yeo, I managed to debone the whole duck. Yeap, all the bones are gone and the duck is still in one piece, & is still looking like a .... duck. It was an absolute perfect destress-er - all the wringing, poking, slicing, chopping and when the carcass came out one piece without any meat attached to it, the satisfaction is indescribeable. And next time if Greg ever upsets me, I will debone a duck in front of him to show him what I am capable off with a little carving knife.

Darling, looook...ONLYYYY skin and meat left. No bonesssss....

What Does Having A Father Mean?

I remember when I was 13, I won the 3rd prize in the school essay writing competition about my Mother. Come to think about it, many tributes have always been given to mothers. Have you ever wondered why? Even songs are usually focused on mums like "In this world, only Mum is good".

Dont get me wrong. I have nothing against tributes to Mums. They are the ones who have to go through XXX degree of pain just to bring us into this world after carrying us around for 10 months, then they spend the rest of their lives worrying about our lives. Based on that fact alone, we should all love our Mums with all our hearts.

Mother and child relationship is special and the bond is not something that we would have with another person ever. I love my Mum but there are times when I don't even want to see her. I can scream at Mum at the slightest annoyance, but if anyone ever say one bad thing about my Mum, I will tear them apart. I don't have the lovey dovey relationship with Mum but deep down inside is our ultimate love and trust for each other. Love does conquer all (any hurt, any pain, any sadness). Ehmm.. I am supposed to be talking about Dad.

For those of you who only have daughters, don't fret. Dad and daughter relationships are special in their own way. As the first man to pick your little gal up, she will always look to you as a role model. How many of you out there find that your husband is in some way similar to your dad?

For me, I tend to think that I am very close to my father. Maybe because we are in the same field of work. But somehow Dad seems to know me well. Mum says I can twist my dad around my fingers but I tend to think that I will do whatever for him, with or without him asking. Example: Why else do you think I did engineering? I would like to think that I am fulfilling his dream for him, achieving something that he never ha the opportunity to.

Having a father to most people is like having a mountain behind them, especially where finances are concerned. Many people never think of how lucky they are just because their fathers are around. For me, I thank God that I have my dad still, especially after his health scare in 2000. In engineering terms, my dad is my whole foundation of love, pillars of strength and my walls of protection, wisdom and advice.

To say that my father loves us is an understatement. I never doubt for a single moment that he will even give his life for us. Dad as a young man and just married, used to ride a motorbike . And what made him change his bike for a little car was when his first born and only daughter was born (that's me!). Mum used to tell us the story of how he refused to let his baby be driven around on a bike. What if it rains, what if it is too hot?

Only he would know how much money was spent on our education, and those credit card bills I had piled up for him because Melbourne was so 'cold' that I needed the latest fashionable winter clothing, every winter & non-winter seasons. Only he would know how many times I have called home crying because I was afraid of failing my exams the next day.

Before I started dating Greg, I actually showed Dad a photo of him, and poor Greg would probably not even get a date if Dad had not given his one of his neither-here-nor-there smile and said,"At least he doesn't look like a bad guy".

He is a pretty strict dad but we all know that he is softie. I remember when I got diarrhae a number of years back during one of the uni holidays and had to be hospitalised. I was in a lot pain but it really hurt more when I saw Dad started to panic and his tears dropped. It hit me like never before the love he had for the three of us.

I actually felt thankful to God that I still have a Dad. And I will not stop telling myself that I am very blessed because he is still around. By having a wonderful father, I am lucky enough to have a good example to follow, someone who could teach me about integrity, honesty and diligence. It means confidence in handling anything bad in life because he has shown it by example that there is no problem which cannot be solved, no bad luck that stays forever, and no bad things that will not pass.

Having a father means I have someone whom I can run to whether I am happy or sad. Having a father means that I can embrace life and be daring to try because I have the mountain behind my back. It means there is someone there who loves you as much as humanly possible and therefore, the world cannot be such a lousy place after all.

As he celebrate his 63 years of life, we wish him a very very long and happy life and many many more blessings to come!

The Mid-Autumn Project

Yes we are alive. We have been quiet but we were around. We've been busy with work and the mid autumn festival. This year we ate out. Saturday was with my parents and brother. Sunday was with Greg's family at the courtesy of my BIL and wife, Chiang and Winnie.

It is wonderful to celebrate Mid-Autumn Fest with families. This is a time for family and reunion and to the Chinese, it's a celebration which is as important as Chinese New Year. The moon's roundness and fullness signifies the same for families (complete and full of joy).

Also it is something like Greg and Nee on the Go's 1st anniversary. I remember one of our earlier posts was about me making mooncakes. So all the more meaningful this Festival is to us this time. We have completed one full cycle. Thank you fall or supporting us and being a part of our lives!

As much as I thought about not making mooncakes this year, I ended up making all sorts of different kinds. Some how not giving mooncakes especially to the elderly seems so odd and disrespectful. Especially with all the support and love that they have shown us.

But unfortunately for our readers, we can't send mooncakes to you. So we'll just have to let you feast with your eyes.

These are the traditional types.

Baked

Snowskin

Homemade Lotus with and without salty egg yolks and homemade red bean paste.

Presenting the agar-agar mooncakes. I had fun with this type. Pretty and easy. These are with the durian (green), chendol (white) and lotus (brown) fillings.

These are the traditional Teochew ones.

Black La Ko (Sesame with Yam Paste)

Mooncake Pastry

(Greg's aunt calls it 3 ping or 3 layer but mine is just 2 layers because

I mixed the sweet salty vegie layer with the nutty-fruitty layer)

Windmill Mooncake

White Mooncake

Happy Autumn Festival!

The Joy of Baking

I have been asked many times on why I love to bake and cook, and where I got my interest from. I've always believed that behind this interest will always be an inspirational figure, someone like our mom, dad (not very likely if he's a foochow, unless if he's a cook), aunt, or even a friend's mother who'd always make creative lunches for her to bring to school.

However, note that the person does not necessarily have to be your own mother. In fact many times, if the mother is a superb cook, the daughter will end up not interested in cooking because the mother would easily get annoyed if anyone messes around in her kitchen.

My mum has always been a good cook but I attribute my love for cooking and baking more to my Grand Aunty, Yi Po. There would always be food in her house, even up till today, whether in Sibu or in Melbourne. When I was younger, I looked at her and remembered telling myself I wanted to grow up just like her. Well, I am still very much below par & have yet to reach her level of kung fu but I never regret the time I spent in the kitchen.

Part of the reason why I started serious baking was because it was very hard to ignore how much money we'd need to spend in a year from buying cakes as gifts. According to my Foochow calculations, 10 -12 cakes a year to be given away as gifts is quite a lot of money especially when we go for the good stuff. Of course we're not talking about the M or T shop.

I've been doing more serious baking for more than 2 years now & have found it a very enjoying experience making cakes for all sorts of people for all sorts of occassions; baby's first birthday cake, children's annual birthday celebrations, joint triple cakes for triplets, little girls' princess parties (Greg is usually roped in for mega projects like this), sweet sixteen & 21st birthdays, 80th & 90th still young-at-heart birthdays for the swinging granpas & grandmas, wedding anniversaries & Valentine's, christmas and any special days for cakes giving. One experience was very profound that a friend's FIL who was sick actually enjoyed a cake and he passed on not long after that.

Just this Sunday, I was asked to make 100 cupcakes for someone's special day as part of her wedding cake decoration. I really hope that they'd help to make her day a little bit more happier and sweeter.

The best part about baking is when people take a bite, & you see a quite little smile at the corner of their lips. Cakes are about joyous occassions & celebrations. It's about bringing happiness & joy, no matter how little or fleeting, into somebody's life at a certain point in time, when they need it, or when they least expect it. That is the ultimate joy of baking.

Mother's Day Cakes

We all know what Mother's Day is about. It's about taking one day out of every year to officially appreciate what they have done for us. Of course, this special day shouldn't be the ONLY day that we actually do that. That'd be horrible.

Another day with Mother's Day is that it would be about the only day in the whole year when strawberries would run out of stock in the whole entire Kuching.

You can ask us. Oh yes. We were running around town hunting for those little red darn berries yesterday. We weren't looking for a crate, not even a box. Nee just needed 10 measly little pieces for her one of her cake K ordered for his wife and mother. But they were nowhere to be found.

Out of desperation, we called everybody we knew, and pulled every string that we could. As ridiculous as it may sound, we even thought of going to all the bakeries in town to buy up any cakes with a fresh strawberry on it.

When we remembered Aunty Terri mentioning about receiving a box of strawberries from the UK, we nearly raided KK. But of course we didn't do that. Instead, we got a friend in KK to do it for us.

Fortunately, before all this was necessary, we found a big punnet at Giant (Riverside).

Behold, our conquest:

NEE: With extra berries, I did one fresh strawberry cheese cake for my mum.

NEE: And also a very traditional pandan kaya with pandan sponges for Mum-in-law. Excellent when taken really cold. And the colouring on the cake is 100% NATURAL pandan. Besides the usual pandan, I used another species which is smaller in size and has a very beautiful green. Will post the picture of the plant soon as my laptop is sent for reformatting.

All for a Loving and Caring Society

Every morning when we pick up the papers, there will alway be a piece of news of newborn babies dead & abandoned, children being neglected, abducted (the still missing 5-year old Sharlinie missing since Jan 9, 2008), abused and murdered (remember the horrific Nurul case last year?). All of these are very chilling and sickening stories. And they're not things which happen in far away America or UK or Indonesia or Thailand which has got less to do with us, but it's something that is happening right here at home.

There are also more and more children born sick with asthma and with the weirdest forms of cancer, physical/mental abnormality and handicap which makes us appreciate the fact that having a healthy child no matter how naughty they can be is still like striking jackpot lottery.

Have you ever wondered what is really happening to our world and society? Aren't children supposed to be our future leaders, the generation that must be nurtured, cared for and loved? Why are family units crumbling and why are they so many social ills?

Despite these sad aspects of things, every time Greg and I are involved in charity work, we are quite amazed to witness the generousity of some individuals. They contribute their time, effort, talent and of course money for charitable causes. Over the weekend, we watched Kuchingites working hard to contribute to a charity. Our good friend, Doreen's school for the mentally handicapped children were having the annual sales. Many people volunteered to set up stores to sell all types of food and some very creative & fun activities like body painting. Many people also showed up with pre-sold tickets to support the charity sales.

If it is not for the general public and their kind support, we think the world will be a much more sadder place for these less fortunate ones. Governmental support is downright miserable. The funding for the blind, deaf, handicapped, orphans and abused children are pathetic.

Did you know that the Kuching Blind Centre had to build an entire new building based on the support of the general public public & a few individual philantropist? There was barely any contribution from the government and their so called ministers. They are usually very good at holding big grand cheque-handing-over ceremonies at big grand hotels, with the media snapping away. But if you look at the cheque, the amount is so miserable. Sometimes I wonder why millions are wasted on abandoned, unfinished and overpaid projects, elections campaigns, grand opening ceremonies and so on. The mathematics just does not tally.

There are actually genuine needs out there to make life better for these less fortunate people and children. They are many of you with big hearts and lots of care and love for them. So if you think you can contribute your dollars or effort and time, please do so. They are right here in Kuching, not some far away places.

Children charities that always need extra support are like the School for the Mentally Handicapped where a large amount of funding is needed anually for special equipments, staffing and the daily operations.

The Salvation Army is also another organisation that solely relies on charity to survive. Many children there are neglected, some without parents, while others are abused children. Funding is needed for the daily operation, children's books, food and clothing. These children basically do not have even 1/4th of the privileges of a normal child, from a normal average family.

Other organisations in need also include Autistic Children, Thelesammia, The Cheshire Home, School for Deaf and Dumb & The Blind Centre.

People's Power

On March 9, Sunday morning, Malaysians woke up to the news of BN being denied their 2/3rd majority and their loses of 5 West Malaysian states in the March 8 elections.


Both of us stayed up till almost 1 am but finally caved in after that. We went to bed praying for our country. And God has done the impossible, or what we as the little humans had thought was the impossible. Once again God has proven that He reigns!

For many Malaysians, we have been disheartened, disappointed & let down by our government. Badawi promised in 2004 to fight corruption, improve transparency, to have open public tenders, build the economy and one Malaysia for all Malaysians and repair any mess that was left over from the Mahathir era. Instead things got worst ~ corruption went rampant;

Politicians built houses worth millions

and fed the crowd in a feast that costs 1/2 million and they went scooting away free;

Kerises were pulled out and kissed at parties' assemblies, threatening racial intergrity; racial segregation was more obvious than ever before; THE FAMILY-controlled businesses are booming while most small to medium businesses finds it harder and harder to survive based on real capabalities; civil service hardly improved; universities' position started to glide downwards in their rankings; we hear about kidnaps and murders of children, terrifying robberies and snatching and we don't even feel safe in this land anymore. Our politicians went on their merry ways, saying the darnest things and promising the same old promises that they had never plan to fulfill. They went on disregarding the people's voices. They heard but never listened.

March 8 proved that they cannot disregard us. We had shouted very quietly and in an orderly fashion. When we put down the two strokes on our balloting paper, we had chosen to give ourselves a chance. We said, "WE Malaysians have a choice now." We only want those who serves us and us alone only. We are not the oppressed people as we thought we were. We have rights and we exercised them. By exercising those rights, we had given ourselves hope. We had set a new heartbeat, a new precedence for Malaysians and our children. Many of us woke up on March 9 and felt that new ray of hope. There was no huge excitement, no jumping up and down in joy, no huge parties or celebrations to be seen. But Greg and I for one, smiled from the bottom of our hearts. We felt very warm and peaceful, very quietly thankful to the Almighty and we smiled at that new ray of hope. Malaysia still has hope.

Many may feel that Sarawakians are still deep in our sleep and how could we let that 'ruling' family continue to oppress us. Are we really that gutless?! Are we really that stupid?! Sarawakians' polling results was nothing to shout about for sure. Initially, many of the oppositions are actually winning the main urban areas in Sarawak until the postal votes came in from the interior.

But i do appeal to all readers to understand that Sarawak and Sabah is not just comprising of Malays, Chinese and Indians. We have the real sons of this land, the indigenous people ~ the Ibans, the Dayaks, the Orang Ulus etc. While most people in the urban areas are not supporting the BN coalition, these people are clueless about their rights. Many of them are uneducated. These are simple, forthright, trusting people. To them life is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. While we have Malay, Chinese and Indian oppositions, they have no one to speak up for their rights. There is no one to tell them that they are treated like the rubbish in their own land. Their 'representatives' had been ripping them off. Those 'representatives' have given these people nothing. For their own selfish gains, they sold off their people. And these people, many of them so poor and their living conditions so sad that some dont even have the basic ammenities. So for a few miserable dollars, they sold off their votes and their rights, and in some cases their lands and their homes.

Please have mercy on these people. Opposition leaders, please don't forget them! Bring on their plights with you! Stand up for them too! We truly believe that God loves them dearly and we would pray that there would be some good people standing up for them soon. We dearly hope that they are some among themselves that would fight for their rights and tell them how oppressed they actually are. Then only then we, maybe in the near future, will see the real people's power in Sarawak.

If the BN coalition dont put their acts together, the revival would not be only in 5 states but across the land. If the opposition dont work to deliver what they promised, we will change them. And that is Real People's Power!

Grandpa Wong: The Story of Their Lives

I really wish I can tell lots of stories about Grandpa Wong and Grandma. Being the Kuching grandchildren, my siblings and I really did not spend too much time with the Gramps. Especially in those years when we were overseas furthering our studies. Also Grandpa has always been Grandpa, our dear Kung Kung, so we never tried to find out.

When I was little, he was the greying yet robust grandpa, never in a day sick. He was booming loud yet loving to his grandchildren. Thus, he is a Kung Kung that we were never scared of. In fact everyone enjoys going to Kung Kung and Ma Ma. All those Sibu holidays we spend at Gramps' were wonderful. Nice sweet pictures so clearly etched in our memories.

This time we see each other, there was a sad moment when it was registered that Grandpa has really aged. But he is still Grandpa, eagerly welcoming all his offsprings and wanting to absorb in each one of us.

I remember the last birthday celebration for him. It must have been so many years ago. We were all still little chipmunks. Some of us were not even born yet. We all pooled in our little pocket money to get Kung Kung a birthday present and a card. We managed a belt. And he sat there with all of us surrounding him listening to him reading out our names in Foochow.

This trip had us gathering more information about Kung Kung and Ma Ma. Sibu people called them Ting Chiong Pa and Ting Chiong Mu. Ting Chiong Pa came to Sibu at the age of 6 from the Fujian Province of China with his mother and brother. Life back home had been hard with his father passing away. But a widow with two children in no man's land at that point in time was nothing less than immense hardship. Grandpa had to start rubber tapping work at young age.

He met Grandma and as he sheepishly tells us, he would try to tap her share of the rubber for her. Grandma must be one hot young lady at that point in time. And when Japanese invaded, Great Grandma was worried for her safety and thus, when Grandpa proposed, they were married almost the next day without any fuss. She was only 16. Life continued to be hard but Grandpa with sheer foochow guts and perseverance worked hard to bring meals to the tables and building a nice little house for the family. He worked different jobs and continued to work and ride his motorcycle till he was 70 plus.

Grandpa at one stage took up jobs as rubbich contractor and traders for forest produce. Thus he has many many many Ibans friends. He always insisted you dont cheat Ibans or anyone else for that matter. "You promised them something, you delivered". He was the man on high integrity and adhered to strict rules of honesty. In the days as rubbish contractor, when we were at Gramps, I always distinctly hear his motorcycle enjine starting at wee hours in the morning as early as 2 -3 am when he started work. He could have left it to his workers but he just had to supervise their work. Sometimes picking up rubbish dropped onto the ground. When he retired, he was still employed as construction site supervisor because of his honesty. He would returned every cents entrusted to him if there were any leftovers.

From what we gathered, he was a strict dad too. Together they had 9 children ~ one boy and 8 girls. All of them beautiful and attractive. Stories goes that every chinese new year would have potential suitors lining up the staircase at Grandpa. The offsprings then produced 22 grandchildren (excluding the 4 grandchildren in law) and 4 great grand children. That's some achievements!

It is true that wealth is measured by financial assets. Grandpa Wong may not have a lot of this. But no one can deny that wealth also comes in the forms of strong family ties, health, friends whom you respect and trust and respect and trust you. If we take these as the measurements, Grandpa is a truly wealthy man. Long live Grandpa and Grandma! Happy Birthday and Happy 64th Wedding Anniversary!

The Makan Makan (Eat Eat) Culture

Flower arrangement, gift from Auntie Rose and Uncle Theng

We sometimes take it for granted, but food actually plays a major role in our lives. I'm not talking about eat-to-live. We know that one already. Today we should have already evolved out of that primal stage. Food is no longer just for survival purposes. In many communities, food has become a culture, something that binds people together & enriching their lives in the process.

In many cultures, when people meet up, it is usually over a meal, either eat in or eat out. It is almost like we need excuses to see our friends and family. Instead of "I want to see you", we would say "Come over and eat". Besides that, the Chinese especially, dont like to see their guests just sitting there talking. We prefer them eating. And if they are not eating, we shove the food onto their plates. And if they are still not eating, we would tell them to eat. Good polite guests will oblige and kindly praise you for all the efforts you have put in, even if it is the worst food they have ever tasted.

So naturally when Greg's Auntie Rose & Uncle Theng came from Canada, we invited them over for dinner. And yes, it revolved around food. And the menu was Vietnamese dishes. The reason why I did Vietnamese was because it has more fresh ingredients and vegetables, and of course, not as oily as the Chinese way of cooking.

There was The Beef Pho ~ National anthem of Vietnamese Cuisine. Thin Rice Noodles in Beef broth served with an array of fresh vegies like basils from the garden, lemon wedges, bean sprouts, chillis. It is a tasty yet clear dish, which was good for the travellers who had just gotten back from the land of the White people. My Mum-in-law actually thought I made the Rice Noodles (That will probably be one of the things that i would never be bothered with heheh).


Then there was Vietnamese Spring Rolls ~ Pork and Carrots wrapped in Rice Paper, deep fried to crispy and served wrapped in fresh Lettuce, dipped in Fish Sauce Dip.


Finally there was the Banh Mi ~ Vietnamese Baguettes with Homemade Pate, Roast Pork and pickled vegies. One thing good about homemade is that baguettes were served straight out of the oven and all the meat and vegies were prepared fresh.




The guests were happy as it was not so heavy a meal and most importantly not so oily. Very important point when your guests are over 50s. We were of course very happy to have them gracing our home together with Uncle Francis (SayKoo) and Auntie Francesca (SayKim), Uncle John (2Koo) and my MIL and FIL. Especially, Auntie Francesca who is an avid Vietnamese food fan. So I happily had my all these extra 'guinea pigs'.

Bread and Buns Tests

Nee's Wholemeal bread and loaf

In bread making, there are essentially three major dough variations ~ the bread dough for breads, sweet bun dough (used to wrap or with some other flavouring) and sponge & dough method (can made both breads and buns).

Homemade plain white bread. Cut into thick slices, perfect for French Toast.

Floss Rings made from sweet bun dough. Looks like spider legs. Many of our buns are made from this dough

Generally, bread and bun making uses high protein flour also called the bread flour (recent price increase from RM2.20 to RM3.00 per kg. *Sigh*), sugar, yeast, milk powder (optional) & salt as dry ingredients. Liquid like water & milk, eggs and finally fats like shortening or butter or cooking oil can be added. Recipes will generally vary depending on the portions added.

Of course, there are also other variations in the recipes which can create a whole range of bread items such as the American donuts, Italian pizza & foccacio (which usually incorporates fresh herbs), Turkish pita, English muffins, French bread, baguettes & cobs, danish & croissants. I love the smell of fresh bread and of course the smell of the house after baking breads and buns. Hmm so homey!

However, there are a few tips that can help to ensure good results:

1) Use castor sugar as granules are bigger which allow longer kneading.

2) Use cool water to make bread and bun because with long kneading, cool water will prevent the yeast to take reactions causing the rise in dough. Icy water will increase proofing time later on. Best is cool.

3) Do not put in the entire measurement of water called for in the recipes all at once. Always leave about 10% which can be incorporated later after the dough has formed. This is because different flours take in different amount of water.

4) Knead for about 15 to 20 minutes. The dough is only ready if it passes the film/membrane test. Take a little dough from bottom and roll into a little ball, stretch the dough gently until a thin membrane is formed without breaking. Repeat for the dough from the top. Thin film/membrane shows that the gluten in the dough had developed. If membrane broke easily, continue kneading for another 3-5 min. Repeat test.

5) Good shaping method will ensure nice end results especially buns (we do not want wrinkly surface). The roll and pull towards you motion can smoothen dough.


6) When proofing/resting, always keep dough in enviroment that is free of moving air like fan or air conditioner. Flowing air will cause the dough to dry out. Keep it covered with cloth that has water sprayed on (not wet, just slightly damp).

7) Usually, most recipes will ask you to proof till the dough double in the bulk or to wait for XX minutes or hour. But that is not the entire story. Depending on where we are baking, the proofing time do vary. Warm and humidity Vs Cold and dry has a distinct effects on the proofing time. The best test for me is the Poke Your Finger Test. After about 1/2 hour to 45 min of proofing, gently poke your finger on the dough. The dough will not sink and the finger mark will spring back ever so slowly. If the mark springs back very quickly, the dough is not ready. Wait for another 20 min to repeat the test.

8) Always use preheat ovens to bake. Bake till golden brown. 165 deg cel with fan is a good temperature. Baking usually take about 12 to 15 minutes for buns and 30 to 45 mins for breads. 45 min for bread that is baked with a covered top.

I had make a fair bit of blunders so hopefully, these tips will help. And of course there are surely things that I dont know. Let's share! Happy baking!

DIY Chow Chai (In Theory)

Chow Chai is a Foochow preserved vegetable, which has a signature sourish taste. It is used to cooked the Famous Chow Chai Mee Fern with Fish or Prawns. It can also be used to cook Chow Chai Soup. I am salivating now as I am writing.

You can hardly find Chow Chai outside Sarawak in Malaysia. Chow Chai had moved around through Foochow migrants to other parts of Malaysia. Still the best Chow Chai can be found in Sibu, where the Foochows actually dominates. So if you are overseas where this is not available, you may consider making it yourself.

Grand Aunt (Yi Po) had learned this from Great Grandma. And I was lucky Yi Po was in Kuching over the weekend. In theory, Chow Chai is made with the fermented leftovers of Foochow Red Wine. These leftovers are called Ang Chow, which is basically Red Rice and Glutinous Rice.

Sun dry the kua chai for a day or so. No need very dry as Chow Chai has no added water. Rub generously with Ang Chow and salt into mustards (kua chai). Stuff them tightly into a clean glass bowl and cover with tight lid for a week or so. Check to see if the mustards had fully fermented. If not leave it for another few days. Great Grandma used to stuff it tightly in clay urns and flip upside down on a bowl of water.

The hard part is to find Ang Chow. If you know someone who makes Foochow Red Wine, try getting some from them. If not, you can actually buy them in Sibu or at Kuching Tabuan Jaya Market at the Foochow stall selling toufu. Ang Chow can be used to cook Foochow Ang Chow Duck or Meat.

This is the theory only. I actually wanted to try making Foochow Red Wine first before doing the Chow Chai. (Greg: Nee is nuts) So once I have the photos, will blog it for those away from home.

Quest to Bake A Bingka Sarang (Honeycomb Cake)

I have been trying to search for a good recipe for Bingka Sarang, also known as Honeycomb Cake. But it is not really that much about the recipe, it is the baking method. For those of you who know this cake, i m sure you understand the frustration of not getting it right. Not chewy, no comb, not enough comb, cake collapsing bla bla bla the list goes on. A good Bingka Sarang is:

Soft yet chewy. Chewy is very very important.

The comb is really obvious coming from bottom of cake to top.

The superb ones the comb is really neat like almost same diameter and spacings.

And the flavour is hmm...how should i put it...let just say very flavourful.

Similar cakes are Hong Kong Cake and Dunlop cake (both are darker brown) and some people called this cake Sarang Semut (Ants' Nest).


Thanks to Mrs Yeo, I finally find the right baking method. It all lies in a pot. The best pot to use is a really old fashioned multi purpose pot (Wan Nern Wor). I walked the two oldest streets in Kuching trying to find this 'magic' pot. Every hardware stores tell me the same thing " where got pot like tat anymore", " no one buys them anymore" , " no one make them anymore" ARGGGGGG...i get so mad at i dont know what. Happen when i cannot find the things that I want when it comes to cooking and baking. I get very UPSET. Almost started ranting at Greg like it is his fault. He quickly drove away from the shops in case i started rolling on the floor.

Well I persevered. I started calling Mum and Mum in law and all ladies over 60. Mum actually gave hers away...WHAAAAHHHH.NOOOOOO....Mum in law said she would try Ah MA, Greg's grandma who is 90+++ and has the oldest collection of antique cooking wares in town (at least to me they are treasures). The answer is Nope, she used a old brass mold (acuan) to do cakes like this, which involves charcoal. Ehmm, no thank you. Oppss, sorry, I have been ranting and I forgot about what is so special about the d*@# pot.

To bake this cake, you must use a short, thick metal pot. You must place the cake tin in the pot and the pot over real fire on the stove. You cook this cake open so that the heat on bottom can push the bubble upwards and thus creating all the combs you want. The last stage of the baking requires you to heat up the cover and multi purpose pot has a solid flat cover that can be put over fire, made of exactly same material as the pot itself. See..where got our pots these days got covers that can be put over fire. And you placed the heated up cover to cover the cake and this is to cook and nicely brown the surface.

I finally calmed down and let my engineering brain ticked. There's got to be another way other than the super elusive pot. So I took out my soup pot and my frying pan of the same diameter and the same material. And use the frying pan as top cover. For those of you who own AMC pots, you can use the 24cm diameter ones with a shorter one as cover. I was really worried that I would burn my kitchen with my experiment so i could hardly dare to take my eyes off the pots. But heay it works, my Bingka Sarang turns out chewy and with the honeycomb. Wooohoo... I feel so smugly smart!