Saturday, July 19, 2008

Thai-styled Pomelo Salad

I made Thai-style Pomelo Salad today.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 pomelo (medium)
2 tablespoons dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
1/2 - 1 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
2-3 chilli padi, finely chopped
1 leaf of lettuce, cleaned for garnish.

Method:
1. Mix fish sauce,lime, sugar. Blend until sugar dissolves.
2. In another bowl, peel pomelo into bits.
3. Using medium heat, roast the peanuts until toasty.
4. Add roasted peanuts(chop after roasting if necessary), shallot, chilli, mint leaves and pomelo in big bowl and toss.
5. Pour lime dressing over and continue to toss.
6. Serve immediately on a bed of lettuce.

Batman oozes sex appeal.

The Dark Knight was truly captivating.. well, almost all of its 2+hours, anyway. Christian Bale was gorgeous, as usual. Very suave and sexy. But chemistry was obviously lacking between Batman and Rachel. I felt that the joker was not as good a potrayal as that of Jack's but Heath Ledger did a pretty good job. We enjoyed the almost 3-hr movie at MVMM after banging our bumper into another car's headlights and having MacDonald's for breakfast. Very entertaining morning, I would say.

Next, we went to Klang Lama for a food court lunch and tried something new - wantan mee and shrimp dumpling soup. We also headed to the fruit stall to pick up papayas, bananas, grapes and a few starfruits. We will be making smoothies at home soon.

Friday, July 18, 2008

A New Student

Dear folks,

we have just come back from watching gay hunkies on the big screen. Tony Leung and Takeshi looked so good but gay, especially when they were playing the zither. hahaha.

Anyway, btw, I've got a new student. She is Aisha, an Arabian who can hardly speak any English at all. She is insisting on having class three times a week. hahaha. Oh well, I can squeeze her in now because some of my students are on holiday! :)

Societal Pressure- Don't u just LURVEE it?

The Rules
WHY must I be pressurized to follow the norm?
Make sure I bend to your every rule?
Travel down the path well-trodden,
Turn away from the hidden routes?
Can't I live the life I choose,
Determine for myself the don'ts and dos?
I am an ADULT, mind you,
Certainly Not a KID who hasn't paid his dues.
Who Makes the Rules? Why should there be even any?
They are just barbed wired fences
To Confine, Restrict, Suffocate Me!
So why don't you respect my decision
and cut me some slack?
Give me some space
and get the F OFF MY BACK!
~ Sharon Goh

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ANOTHER BREAK-IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, after Su Li's tuition class, she sent me a very disturbing msg. It read: "There 's a bit of a commotion downstairs. Someone entered the condo unauthorised, n a very panicked lady ran out onto the road." She saw the "guards running around" but her driver was the one who "saw the lady screaming".

It was YET ANOTHER BREAK-IN!

The lady, who lived alone, had just come back from her trip to Penang and entered the apartment only to find a man ransacking her home. He held her at knife-point and at a certain point decided to make a run for it. The poor lady ran screaming after the intruder. All the guards were in a frenzy and activated to comb the area for the scary mary man.

Of course, he got away.

Now, the question is:

HOW COME THERE CAN BE SO MANY SUCCESSFUL BREAK-INS IN BARELY HALF A YEAR????

A) Break in #1 - December 07, wee hours of the morning. The wife of a pilot who was away was stripped/asked to strip and tied up. She was robbed of her jewellery and more.

B) Break in #2 - April 08, wee hours of the morning. A single lady staying in the condo had her apartment broken into and her new handphone and laptop was stolen, amongst other things.

C) Break in #3 - 16 July 08 at 530pm-600pm(!!)

The break-ins are getting more and more scary. This time, the robber welded a knife! I think next time will be a chopper already lah.

SOMETHING needs to be DONE!

I'm GoNnA GeT Me A RoTteWeiLer SoOn!

PAINFUL First Day At School

hello guys n gals..

Just a quickie update before I hit the last few pages of the thesis again. Last night's session with the kids was mighty painful. As mentioned, I taught them the poem "First Day at School". Most of them, from the first line, to the last line didn't get what the poet was trying to say. As I noticed the yawns and frowns and slowly the slouching postures, my voice got louder and louder , trying to draw some enthusiasm. In the end, we emerged scarred and battle-worn but at least we finished PC-ing the poem.

Sigh.. Most of the children do not have a love for literature. I came out of the lesson realising how fortunate I was to have taught in CGS for those 7 years. In fact, the students had made me even more passionate for Literature and this subject was a joy to teach... errr can't say the same for English ahhh. hahaha.

anyway, after we finished the poem, the kids paid more attention as I explained to them, in the last 30mins of the class, the different types of "Continuous Writing" questions. It's the same as in Singapore - 5 different types. Girls u better be able to name all the 5!!!!

I also set them a story line as homework.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Creamy Portebello Mushroom Soup

After consulting quite a few online receipes, I mixed and matched and came up with the below:

Ingredients:

One packet of mushrooms, washed diced.
One medium potato, peeled and diced.
1 tablespoon of green parsley washed and diced.
I medium onion diced.
40g of butter
600 ml hot water
1 chicken stock cube
1 packet of light cream


Instructions:

Melt butter in deep pot over medium heat. Throw in the onions and cook until soft (for around 5 minutes).
Put in the onions and cook for another 5-7 minutes (or until the "juice" of the mushrooms flows out). hahha.
Put in the water, chicken stock cube, potato and parsley and cream and bring to boil.
Cool mixture and then scoop into blender and puree. Leave about 200ml of the mixture so that you still can see chunks of mushroom in your soup.
Puree for 20seconds and then return the liquid into your pot and mix with the remaining 200ml. Add salt and coarse pepper to taste.
Lastly, eat greedily with toasted garlic bread.

Ahem.. the above went well until I spilt some mixture from my Kenwood onto my wooden table. ahahha Apart from that...I must say, it sure beats Campbell's anyday!!! Fattening alnatural goodness steaming in a pot!

First Day at School


First Day at School

A
millionbillionwillion miles from home
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?So noisy?
So much at home they
Must have been born in uniform
Lived all their lives in playgrounds
Spent the years inventing games
That don't let me in.
GamesThat are rough, that swallow you up.
And the railings.All around, the railings.
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters?
Things that carry off and eat children?
Things you don't take sweets from?
Perhaps they're to stop us getting out
Running away from the lessins.
Lessin.What does a lessin look like?
Sounds small and slimy.
They keep them in the glassrooms.
Whole rooms made out of glass.
Imagine.I wish I could remember my name
Mummy said it would come in useful.
Like wellies. When there's puddles.
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here.
I think my name is sewn on somewhere
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me.
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.
Roger McGough
The above poem brings back fond memories of me teaching in the classroom. It was done with lower secondary students and those were the days when Literature was less about mugging and more about the appreciation and love for the subject. As I ventured into Upper Sec and O Level Lit, it became a race for time to complete the syllabus and also to make sure my students knew their Areas of Study and how to do a proper TEAQ!
I do miss teaching in the classroom, very much. Especially for English Literature. But as the saying goes, "Marry a Chicken, Follow a Chicken" and therefore I'm here in Malaysia now free from marking tonnes of papers, mock exams, meetings, setting exam papers, CCA and yadah yadah yadah!
Hahahha. Did I mention that this chicken is bringing me to USA? I shall kiss Donald Duck's backside when I am in Disney and take pictures with hunkie Batman at the Universal Studios.
We intend to travel the West Coast of USA and will head to LA, LV (ahhh my favourite brand!) and SF in september. I need to start planning NOW!!!! jiu Ming AhhhHhh!!!

Monday, July 14, 2008

A Good Food Blog!

Hello dearies! It's a gloomy Monday and I have dedicated it to finishing off my proof-reading job. Ugh... I'm still at page 28 out of 50 and am trudging through. Ahhh I admit, I also have been distracted.

Today, I am cooking Bakutteh for dinner. It's a ready to cook package bought from Jusco containing herbs, wolfberries etc and a satchet of the 'all natural goodness'. ahahaha. I just added the pork ribs to the Japanese earthen claypot and started cooking it from this morning. It smells very good- and I am in the living room, mind you! hahaha

Another pot is also on the stove as I type. I am cooking beancurd skin with barley and gingko nuts as dessert for the hardworking husband. Last night, we went to Cold Storage and picked up those ingredients and today I surfed for the receipe to create the perfect FUZHU! Compliments to Ellena - do check out her food blog at http://ellenaguan2.blogspot.com Very comprehensive and detailed and coupled with oh-so-attractive pictures of mouth-watering delights. I shall aim to increase the girth of Alan and my stomaches and experiement with her cakes/ Chinese dishes when I have more time.

I am supposed to also prepare for class tomorrow at the Welfare Society. I am toying with the idea of using 1 hour to PC a poem "the First Day at School" - I just need to find it. Have taught this to lower sec students a few years back. Then, for the subsequent hour, at the request of vanasa, I will teach them composition-writing skills. Perhaps for the narrative first.

That's the plan. I just need to prepare for it. Now back to my remaining 22 pages of mind-boggling chemical equations!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

the Sunday after Saturday

Hello folks... It's 1115pm and husband n I are polishing off some grapes and an apple.. Ahhh a healthy sequel to a sinful dinner. We had taiwanese food at The Gardens and each had a bowl of pig's intestines meesuah and shared a creamy corn soup with pastry on the top. I had a papaya milk shake and Alan (or we shared lah) a scoop of icecream atop a bowl of shaved ice and red beans. YUM to the MAX.

We watched the 3-D movie Journey to the Centre of the Earth where a slightly pudgy Brendan Fraser fought dinosaurs and volcanic eruptions to serve his nephew and his newly made gf. Not bad. At least it didn't make me puke due to motion sickness. Sad to say, I was irritated constantly by the audible "eeeeeeeeeee" made by the woman sitting two seats away from me. She went "eeeeeeeeeeeee" in every possible scenario. Sheesh.

Anyway, in the day, Alan and I brought Jay Jay to school and he was quite a good boy, I must say. At least I was not overcome by the urge to throttle him to death. Or as my ex-students will tell you, "Skin you alive, pour honey on you, hang you by the ponytail onto the blades of the ceiling fan, switch the fan on to Number Five and then set the bees on you." ahem.. I was quite a tyrant in those days.. hahaha but if I wasn't, how to produce such good results ah? hahahaha ;p
I am wasting my teaching talents as a housewife lah. :P

Ok enough of self-praise...

After 'school', we dumped jay jay at home and then took off to 600m away from our house to have roti canai (better known as roti prata in Spore). Sad to say, there wasn't any more roti canai. So i settled for very oily but tasty mee goreng and Alan had beehoon goreng. We both had teh terik kurang manis.

After lunch we went to Klang Lama to visit Petsmore. We wanted to buy dog food and vitamins but ended up with treats and heartgard as well. Then, we hit Watsons and picked up some essentials before heading home to stone.