What is this life?

Came across this poem while surfing,
which left me ponder,
are we so caught up with life.........???


"LEISURE"

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

By Wm. Henry Davies.(Wm. Henry Davies (1871-1940) is to be considered as the poet of the tramps. Born at Newport, Wales in the UK, Davies came to America from Great Britain and lived the life of a vagabond. One day, as the result of jumping a train, he lost one of legs. Davies returned to England where he continued to live the life of a tramp and a pedlar. He wrote poetry (presumably he did right along) and, eventually, he determined to print his own book and did so with the little money he earned panhandling. A copy of this first work, A Soul's Destroyer, came into the hands of George Bernard Shaw; which, in turn, led to the popularization of the poet.
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pasta quickie

Eat in or out ............... ever face this problem?

Well, fear not, I have a quick home-cooked pasta recipe to share.

Pasta ala carbonara sauce.
Ingredients :
1 packet of pasta ( your choice - spaghetti, fettuccine,etc )
2 cans of thick mushroom soup
1 can of button mushroom
1 packet of sausages
big onions ( 3 medium size)
evaporated milk
oregano leaves
cheese ( optional )












Method :
1) Slice the onions , button mushrooms, sausages.





2) Blanch the pasta in boiling water until soft , ( add a dash of salt in the water )
When done, remove the pasta to a bowl and toss it with butter .





3) To prepare the sauce
- Heat butter in frying pan,
then add onions, sausages, button mushroom,
fry until soften and slightly brown.



4) Then pour in the 2 cans of mushroom soup,
add in water (use the empty can to measure),
stir in 1/4 can of evaporated milk.
Add in the oregano leaves ( to your taste )
Add in cheese and your sauce is ready!



5) Serve with the pasta, and there you go, a nice quick meal.
Enjoy !!!

deepavali

Firstly : " HAPPY DEEPAVALI " to all Hindu friends.

Was reading an article in the papers titled " Quirky issues "
and now I know and understand why some of my family members
including myself are such.

I used to think it was queer, or peculiar in behaviour
which can be annoying at times, but not anymore, I accept
them because we are categorise as ' Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
which means ......
( extracted from article in THE STAR 14 Oct 2009 )
~Many people have their own idiosyncrasies , for example,
preoccupation with orderliness, cleanliness, eating right,
choice of clothing and more. ~

I know what it means by :
"obsession of cleanliness " -
my mum-in-law sweeps the floor like umpteen times
in a day, first thing she wakes in the morning,
sweeps when she's back from market,
again after preparing lunch,
before her afternoon nap, after her nap,
after her bath, after dinner, and before she calls
it a day.

" obsession of eating right" -
that will be my daughter, it seems like she is playing
with her food, but NO, she is actually arranging it
on her plate, saving the best piece for the last.
e.g. her favourite sausage, fried egg, or chocolate piece,
and by the time she finishes, her plate looks sparkling
clean as if it is already washed.

" obsession of orderliness" -
my hubby is one person who is orderly tidy in the sense that
everything has a place of its own, and must be in that position,
if shifted, he will adjust it back to original place / position.
How? you may ask, well, example the furniture in our
living room, every table and chair is in line,
meaning in one straight line, measured according to the
marble flooring ( rectangular shape ), symmetry is the word.
Colours is another obsession, only goes for black, blue or grey.

"obsession of drawers / doors "
this is my son's obsession, he cannot bear to see drawers/doors
not close properly, or doors not open widely.

Much said about my family member's obsession, mine is :
I cannot stand to see unwashed clothes soaking in the pail.
I hate to see unwashed cups/plates/pots lying in the kitchen sink.

Well, we are a special lot ya!!!

mid-autumn festival

Oct 3, 2009 ( sat )

It was Mid- Autumn festival ( chinese lunar calendar 15th day, 8th month )
me and my family were looking forward to the celebration
lined-up that evening, a parade from Gurney Plaza to Gurney drive.

Sadly ...... at 5.00 evening it was raining cats and dogs till 8.00 night.
But this did not dampen our spirits, especially my daughter,
she insisted that we should go,
anyway it's just round the corner of our home she said.

Armed with our umbrellas, we quickly walk over, braving the heavy drizzle.
As we turn the corner of Cantonment road, down the road towards Gurney Drive,
from afar were coloufully lit floats, a band playing, and we were excited .

We quicken our steps as we didn't want to miss anything,
not knowing whether it was the start or the end of the parade.

We took shade under Mr Pots and watched
the band, stilt walkers, Chingay flag bearers, and floats .













After the parade, we walked further down and saw stalls along the way.
It was free hawker flavor of laksa, wantan mee, chee cheong fun,

popiah, chrysanthemum drink, friedn koay teow,

muar chee, curry mee, kueh pie tee, and rojak.

Laksa - is a favourite among tourists visiting Penang.

It is thick rice noodles in a sour fish soup base of shredded fish.

Finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillis,

pineapple, lettuce,common mint, and pink bunga kantan (ginger buds)

are the garnishes that goes with it.

Wantan mee -

wheat noodle ( in soup or dried )
wanton (Chinese ravioli)
barbecued pork
chye sim (sawi, often translated as mustard green)

chee cheong fun

- is steamed rice noodles served with thnee cheo (a sweet dark-red sauce),

hae ko (black, prawn paste sauce), huan cheo chiau (chili sauce), oil,

and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Popiah - is a thin paper-like crepe or pancake wrapper

stuffed with a filling made of cooked vegetables and meats.

Chrysanthemum drink - one of the Chinese teas that has a cooling effect

Fried koay teow-

very popular stir-fried noodles over very high heat

with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, whole prawns,

deshelled cockles, bean sprouts, and eggs.

Muar Chee - is made from glutinuous rice paste, steamed.

And then cut into small cubes and mixed with

grounded, roasted peanuts and sugar.

Curry mee

is made up of thin yellow egg noodles or/and rice vermicelli

with spicy curry soup, coconut milk, and garnish with

dried tofu, prawns, cuttlefish, and mint leaves.

Kueh Pie Tee ( or ' top hats ' )
is a crispy shell, top with crunchy vegetables ( like the popiah )

with a dash of chilli sauce.

**** description of some of the above food,

are courtesy of search from various source .

At the end of the stretch of stalls was an opera show,and lion dance.

It was an enjoyable night despite the rain.

tips

Was cleaning my room, came across some old magazines,
and before throwing them away, flipped thru' to see any
articels or recipes of interest, and found this page called
" reader hints " and would like to share some i find quite
useful, here are the extracts ......


1) To bring back the glitter to your gold jewellery,
gently brush them using an old toothbrush and toothpaste.
Then soak the jewellery in warm water for about 10 minutes
Finally, rinse them under running water.

2) Here's a tip on how to make boiled vegetables look
fresher and greener. All you have to do is put a few
drops of cooking oil into the boiling water before you
add the vegetables.

3) To stop new shoes from causing blisters, rub candle wax
on the insides of your shoes.

4) To get rid of tough stains in your mug, rub some salt
all over the inside of the mug. Leave for awhile before
scrubbing it with a scourer.

5) Pop a paracetamol pill into a vase of freshly cut flowers.
Let it dissolve and you'll be surprised to see the flowers
stay fresh for a longer period of time.

I've tried them and it works.

tremor

I felt the tremor again yesterday, in office ( 11th floor ),
recalling back ..........

It was about 6.15pm, suddenly i felt giddy, ask my colleague if she felt any,
" NO , she said.....
" Are you sure, I ask again... before she could answer, the building kind of swayed,
and her reaction was YES, it's shaking .... the window blinds slid from left to right.
Quickly, we pack and left the office. On the way home, news broadcast on radio was
" strong 7.6 earthquake in Padang, Indonesia " ....

Earlier, at 4.00pm I looked out my office window overlooking the sea,
it was strange to see strong winds blowing the trees, strong sea current & huge waves,
telling myself is a horrible storm coming ???

Didn't expect the tremor.
This morning ( about 10.00 am ) felt another slight tremor, one of my colleague felt giddy
and nauseous.

And the headlines of STAR newspapers ..... " ANGRY EARTH "
GOD must be upset , really, really, really upset ............... the World must come to an END !!!
To start anew ???

Makes me wonder.....!

chinese tea

Was in a little town called " Jawi" yesterday ,
exit at the Bukit Tambun interchange.

Went all the way to a tea shop - " Kok Garden Tea Gallery"







If you are a "Chinese Tea lover", this is a must see, must go place.
There are variety of " tea leaves ", tea pots, tea sets, tea trays,
and many more accessories.
























You can spend hours here, ......... the aroma of tea, the ambience..... just luv it.