Nice movie

I seldom buy DVD.  Mostly hubby bought all the DVDs from his friend's shop.  RM10 for 3 DVDs.  So one night while he was choosing "Total Recall" DVD, there were no other DVD that attracted him.  So I chosen "Ted" and "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".



When I read the description of the Timothy Green and Jennifer Garner is in the movie, I wanted to watch it immediately.  It was worth watching and I really enjoy the story line.  If you are wondering what this movie is all about, then this is a little description for you:

Disney brings enchantment home with The Odd Life Of Timothy Green, an inspiring, magical story for the whole family starring Jennifer Garner. Cindy (Garner) and Jim Green are a happily married couple who can't wait to start a family but can only dream about what their child would be like. When young Timothy shows up on their doorstep one stormy night, Cindy and Jim - and their small town of Stanleyville - learn that sometimes the unexpected can bring some of life's greatest gifts.

At first, it tells the painful part of a childless couple (which happen in real life) and how they wanted their child to be. Like few friends of mine who have no children.  They envy the other friends that have children.  With no choices, they have to go for adoption.  It may not be the same as having your own, but I believe with good environment and love, adopted children can be great like any other children. 

P/s I miss my 2 children.  Sigh!

One month from now?

I was having breakfast with my mum this morning and suddenly my mum told me a story of a friend.  It was rather funny but not to self-judge other people's action, I let you decide for yourself.

This male friend came to my mum's shop few days ago and asked my mum is she ready for the 21 December phenomenon.  I guess I no need t o tell you, you would know what is this phenomenon all about.  The NASA predicted total blackout and may stretched for 3 days or so.  So this friend of my mum told my mum that he has brought a lot of kerosene, food, canned food, mineral waters and crackers to be stored for the phenomenon.  And my mum being a very straight-forward lady, just replied him "Why need to store? If really the end of the world, the most is we all go together.  We have company." 

The the male friend continued to advise my mum to keep stock.  My mum replied him what happened if nothing happened and all my stock turns expired or rotten?? 

Funny when think of my mum's reply.  I never knew some people are so afraid of such prediction or rather, uncertainty and death.  Well, what ever happens on that day, I do not know but I know that I have loved ones with me and I am not alone to confront anything in front of me. 

Weekend Menu #39: My first beef & tendon stew

I woke up very early on Sunday.  Around 7am.  Must be having a good sleep on Saturday I was very energetic on Sunday morning.  I asked hubby whether he would like to go to Satok market since he was also awake.  He agreed so we headed out from the house before 8am.

We stopped by the kolok mee stall in Green Road and have our breakfast.  Our RM8.10 breakfast consisting of 2 bowl of kolok mee and a bowl of kiaw (wanton) soup.  They used to serve the little soft drink bottle (we called it "pop drink") but they no longer do so now.

After the breakfast we went to Satok for its Sunday market.  It has been more than 5 years since I stepped into Satok Sunday market.  That time hubby was operating his textile shop in Satok and every weekend we would walk the market.  But that was before I have my first child.  So with much disappointment we discovered that the market was no longer in Satok.  Sigh! Can blame myself for been not well informed and did not read local newspaper.  Lol! 

Satok Sunday market has moved to Petra Jaya to a new centre which is situated next to Kubah Ria.  Nice or not?? 

We headed to the new Satok market which cost RM47M but nothing was there.  After checking out the online news it said that it would be in operation next year.  All Satok traders would be moved to the new centre which consisting of 4 blocks that can accommodate 1900 stalls.  So, I wonder where all the traders in Satok go while waiting for this market to be in occupation??

The new Satok market centre.  Picture courtesy of Medan Niaga Satok website

Well, since there was no Sunday market, hubby suggested we drive to Batu Kawa-Bau road to buy some fresh vegetables from a vegetable stall on the roadside.  So our 30 minutes road drive to Batuk Kawa-Bau road was fruitful because I bought 2 bunches of water convolvulus (kangkung), a plastic full of purple yam, kacang ma leaves and green vegetables.  All for RM15.00.  I like to buy from the stall because the farm is nearby and they pick the vegetables straight from the farm and sell on the spot.

As for our lunch, I prepared beef stew.  Hubby insisted on adding beef tendon in the stew so I have to accommodate his request.  Lol!  Actually my first trial cooking beef dish.  I do not fancy beef that much other than beef burger so cooking a beef stew is a tough assignment to me.  But glad the stew turned out good.

I bought sliced beef instead of beef chunks because sliced beef cooked faster than beef chunks.  So if you are interested to try this beef and tendon stew ala Rose' recipe, you are most welcome.  Mine does not taste too flavorish, just nice for my tastebud.  And hubby also gave a thumb up to my first attempt on beef stew.  *happy*

Don't you think beef tendon look like a frog??  Lol!

Beef and Tendon Stew

Ingredients:

100g beef tendon, washed, rinsed, sliced into smaller pieces and boiled for 30 minutes
150g sliced beef, washed, rinsed
A clove of garlic, peeled and minced
3 sliced ginger
1 carrot, peeled and cut into cubes
1 small onion, sliced
1 stalk of dried beancurd, soaked in warm water and cut into smaller pieces

1/2 cup of water
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Shao Xing wine
few dashes of white pepper

Methods:

1. Heat up the wok with 2 tbsp of oil.  When the oil has heated up, add in garlic and onion.  Once fragrant and onion has soften, add in sliced ginger, tendon and beef slices.  Stir fry for a while.

2. Add in dried beancurd and carrots into the wok.  Give the ingredients in the wok a quick stir before add in 1/2 cup of water and seasonings.  Stir to combine well.

3. Cover the wok and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes.  Add water if necessary. Add pepper and salt to taste if desired.  When the tendon and beef slices have cooked, dish up and serve with rice.

Weekend Menu #38:Nearly burn and caught

I am getting forgetful.  Sometimes I can forget one thing while doing other chore.  For instance on Saturday evening, I was cooking chicken stew. Let it simmer on the stove and suppose to check it after 10 minutes, but I was busy in the living room and have forgotten about it. 

And when I did remember I almost burnt my dish!  The water dried up but fortunately it still can be saved.  So guys, presenting my nearly burnt chicken stew.  You can see the carrots and chicken pieces have black marks on them, but they still taste good when discard the burnt parts.  Lol!  My chicken with dried mushrooms and carrots stew.

And after dinner, while we were watching television, suddenly a mouse caught my eye.  From the tv cabinet running to the fridge.  Oh dear!  The little thing managed to go into the living room. 

Actually noticed it for the first time a week ago when we had a big blackout in Kuching last Sunday.  It was in the kitchen that time.  And we took necessary action to make sure the kitchen door is closed at all time, to prevent it from going into the dining room and living room.  But somehow it managed to squeeze in. 

So we immediately bought some mouse glue traps and a mouse trap on Saturday night to trap it down.  The mouse must be hungry because it was caught in the mouse cage instead.  Or the cuttlefish attracted it.

We placed few of this mouse glue around the trap to prevent it from escaping.  But they were not used so we shall keep them for next use.

The caught mouse also left behind some shits and pee.  So after cleaning the area, I need to disinfect my mop.  Heard that mouse residues are very poisonous to human beings.  

This is the little culprit.  Hahaha!  We were too eager to catch the mouse that we did not bother to peel off the price tag on the cage.  Lol!  It was a baby mouse and after left under the hot sun, it did not survive for till noon time.  RIP little mouse.

When the craving comes

My hubby enjoys food very much.  That what make him a big man.  Lol!  He eats almost everything yet he is very particular when it comes to food.  Must be too his liking and mood.  Sometimes it is hard to satisfy him. Certain food I enjoy, he does not like it. 

For instance, I craved for porridge for breakfast.  I missed those canned black bean fishes, prickled greens, fermented bean curd and salted egg.  Those simple condiments make a bowl of white porridge flavourish and super delicious.

When I told hubby that I wanted to cook white porridge, he told me he would only eat white porridge with century eggs, salted eggs and chay poh egg.  So to make him happy, I cooked all the 3 eggs for breakfast in the morning! 

Of course we did not finished up all the eggs.  Otherwise I think my hubby would have higher cholesterol reading after this.  Lol! 

My staff made and brought some wrapped glutinous rice for us to taste last night.  First time I saw this cute zhang.  Actually she meant to use the pandan leaves but she could not find them, so last minute she used pitcher plant as the wrappers.  Creative huh?

Taste the same like zhang because she insert a bit of pandan leaf on each wrapper.  Mini sized zhang so not too filling.  Just nice.  And I ate a lot too last night.  *wink*

Dust invasion

This is what we get when some dumb and inconsiderate people do not care about other people' wellfare.  Even after complaining, no one bother about the dirts and dust caused.  And what do boards built half-way done good to the surrounding tenants? Shouldnt the boards been  constructed all the way up to the ceiling and covering the affected area?

They are currently hacking off the ceiling and top floor cement to shift the existing escalator.  So all those asbestos, and debris are flying around the building. And my shop is just situated right in front of the escalator. Sigh!

I am having skin and eyes allergy now.  I never have much skin and eyes allergy problem before, but since the renovation started a couple of weeks ago, I developed eyes irritation and itchy skin.  Luckily nothing serious although I cannot wear my contact lenses for few days due to the eye irritation.  And need to wear face mask around, or I would be breathing dust into my body.  Yikes!

Moms interaction

I am excited that I am going to be a full-time mom next month.  It is going to be a new experience for me as I know taking care of my family and house is a big responsibility.  Nothing come easy. 

But thanks to mom forum, I am now learning more skills and techniques when it comes to managing my household.  I enjoy its forum on food and cooking.  I learnt a lot of interesting stuff about cooking techniques and how to use some ingredients and herbs that I never tried before.  You can say that my cooking has improved a lot and hubby also giving a thumb up to my dishes.  It makes my day to see that my family enjoying my cooking and it makes me want to cook and experience more in food.  I am not saying that I am a food expert but cooking for my family is very satisfying.

I also participate in its home improvement forum where I learnt some gardening tips and home decoration ideas.  I have been planting some potted flowers and herbs for few weeks.  Slowly my mini garden is growing and when they do, I will share some pictures with you.  Now too shy to show you my products.  *wink*

Another great forum that I enjoyed is its parenting general which concentrate on parenting.  There are a lot of experienced parents out there and I am glad to know that some parents are voicing up their concern and also have almost similar problems like I do.  It gives me some insight although each of us have different way of parenting.  No one is right or wrong here, but I learnt and improved my relationship with both kids.  My eldest are more willing to talk to me now on almost everything.  As for my younger child, he is learning better and can converse more now.  He is more than happy to play with other kids unlike one year ago. 

So for new parents especially moms, you can drop by mom forum and learn almost everything in the forum. It helps me a lot.  I know I would be frequenting the forum more next month because some are becoming my friends and giving me good advices.  I know I would not be bored when I am staying at home.