What’s with the ‘lah’?

I was watching clips from a latest Tamil movie titled ‘Kuruvi’. Nowadays I don’t bother to watch the whole movie, thanks to the various shows by various television channels. You can figure out and watch almost ¾ of the movie through these shows. Of course, it won’t be in order though but is that really matters?

Anyway, back to this particular movie. There are few characters played as Malaysians in this movie. How do we establish that they are Malaysians? That’s easy. They speak with excessive ‘lahs’ in their conversation.

Firstly, when we Malaysians speak we don’t insert ‘lah’ at the ending of every word. Secondly, we don’t insert ‘lah’ at the ending of every single sentence. I hope the dialogue writers will pay attention to this. It’s very annoying when the characters keep on uttering every single word with ‘lah’ attach to it.

I think this is one of the most ridiculous ways to describe Malaysians.

Vanga-lah, Ponga-lah, Eat-lah, Aiyayoo-lah kepala-lah saya-lah pening-lah, macam ini-lah, mana-lah ada-lah Malaysian-lah, speak-lah!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

WISHING NOT ONLY MY MOM, YOUR MOM BUT EVERYONE’S MOM

A VERY HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY.

This rose bouquet goes to all the moms.

Though rose is a common flower but it’s a very special.

Just as special as our mother!

So do we only cherish our mom and dad on these special days?

I believe we should cherish our parents every single day.

Why? Because….

Only these two souls will always blessing us whole heartedly

on this whole wide world.

Only these two souls will always love us whole heartedly

without seeking anything in return.

Only these two souls will always pray for our well beings

without seeking anything in return.

Only these two souls will always be happy for us

though at times we have hurt them.

Only these two souls will always forgive us first

if we have made any mistakes.

Do we need more reasons than this to cherish them?

Do you need a reason to be happy?

I’m soooo HAPPY today.

No, the Rain God has not replied to my letter yet!

I did not meet any interesting people today!

I did not win anything!

It’s not a special day!

No lucky thing happens to me today!

No, it’s not because today is Friday.

Yet, I’m very HAPPY.

A small smile lingering on my lips since morning.

I feel like go up to a mountain (Err, hill will be better, I guess) and scream my heart out.

Why? I don’t know. I was feeling like that since I woke up at 5.30 in the morning.

I watered my plants and smell the sweet scent emits from the wet plants.

It adds more happiness to me.

When the sun starts shinning, it’s another beautiful sunny day.

The afternoon, I realize it’s hazy but the weather did not bother me

The smile on my lip just does not want to leave.

I reach home, thought of making a cinnamon tea which I want to make long time ago.

But, with the tea I can only share my happiness with my family.

I want to share my happiness with my Creators as well.

I decided to make something sweet and chose to do Sweet Ponggal as prasadham.

I start washing the rice and keep aside.

Next, I took some cashews and raisins from the fridge and keep it aside.

Everything is ready but I don’t have milk which is the main ingredient of the ponggal.

I totally forgot to buy milk to make the ponggal.

I’m not going to the shop as the traffic will be very heavy at this time.

It’s funny how you can think up of alternatives when you are HAPPY.

Still smiling to myself, I took out a pot, boil some water.

Reached up to the instant full cream Fernleaf milk powder.

Mix the boiled water and the milk powder, taadaah! The milk is ready.

I set the vessel on the stove, put the washed rice, a pinch of salt, and pour in the milk.

Gave the mixture couple of stir and half cover it.

I turn the fire into very small simmer.

As the rice cooking slowly, I thought I’ll attend my dog while the rice cooks

I woke him up from his deep sleep.

Wash the porch and make sure it’s dry for my dog to continue his disturbed sleep.

When I reached the stove the milk have spill out. It’s all over my stove.

I switch off the fire. Look at the mess I have caused.

Smile to myself and start cleaning it.

I transfer the whole contents to a new vessel.

Scrub the stove and clean the whole part of it.

I put the new vessel on the stove and continue with the cooking.

After the rice three quarter done I put in the rock sugar.

Stir them from time to time.

Once the rice is done, in a pan I heated one and a half teaspoon of ghee.

Fried the cashews and raisins in the heated ghee.

Add them to the rice and mixed them well.

Oh! One more key ingredient, the powdered cardamom.

Add a dash of it and give a mix again.

Voila! The sweet ponggal is ready to be served.

I offered the sweet ponggal to the Gods, then to my parents and had it myself.

I want to share the happiness with others.

Thus, I posted the sweet ponggal on my blog.

Enjoy it.

The rice just melts down into my mouth. It’s sooo delicious (really!!! It tastes soo good)

The smile has not faded away from my lips.

It’s still there even while I’m typing this post.

I’m still in the feel good mood. I’m still feeling very happy. Yet I don’t know the reason.

Suddenly I hear somebody screaming my name.

I searched everywhere but can’t see anyone.

I heard the scream again, it’s odd.

I only hear it when I start thinking the reason of the smile on my lips refusing to go away.
The reason of me being so happy. Feeling so calm. Feeling so good.

Guess who is it? It’s my inner voice screaming to me.

I asked her the reason she screaming my name, actually our name.

Then she told me to stop questioning. There are certain things need no reason.

To feel happy, calm and feel good you don’t need a reason.

Just enjoy the moment to the fullest.

And, I agree with her. :-)

I wish everyone will have a Happy, Sweet and Safe weekends!!!!!

p/s: I can’t give the recipe for the sweet ponggal. No, no it’s not a secret recipe. It’s just that I did not write it down. I just listen to my heart when cooking this dish. It turns out superbly. So when you are cooking, make sure you are in a happy mood. Everything will turn out good. Even I learn about this secret today ;-)

A Letter to Rain God…..

Dear Rain God,

I was really hoping it’ll rain today. After all that eeny, minny tiny dots of water start drizzling for few minutes and all that roars of thunder the skies making. But then again there is still no rain. It has been cloudy since morning, yet no rain.

Is it so hard to shed some water from those clouds at my area? It’s been 4 days since I saw a proper rain. I’m really frustrated.

Look I don’t know how or what you going to do, but you better bring rain to my area. See this is not a threat. No, not at all. I love you soooo muccch that I miss you and wanted to see you. So I do really hope you WILL consider my letter.

I’m not asking you to flood my place or rain cats and dogs. Just make the drizzles heavier and stay for couple of hours. That’s enough. I don’t think I’m asking for something impossible, right?

WITH LOTS OF LOVE,
RAIN LOVER.

The sweet smell...

The smell of wet greens…

In the morning, before the sun start to flexes his rays.

A gentle breeze carries a sweet smell in the quiet misty morning.

A smell that is so pure, so innocent, and so fresh.


This is what I feel when the plants have been showered by the rain in the night. The sweetness of the scent floats through the air. It’s very hard to describe, you just have to experience it to feel the joy. I’m really, really, really missing the rain. Hope it’ll come soon. I love to watch rains falling down, how the small drops of water from the sky struggle with each other to be first to touch the surface of earth, I’m not very fond of the thunder though.

I love to watch waterfalls too. They are so beautiful. Whether flowing elegantly or powerfully, they are just a feast to eyes. Listening to the sound of water trickle when they come down the hills is feast to the ears.

There so many things I love to see and hear, unfortunately I can’t yet. It’s really eating me up, to stuck in place where traffics get horrible day by day. The pollutions, the sound of car honks, hand phone ring tones, the sight of cars, the sight of people, the sight of tall buildings, the sight of computers and gadgets.

I hope that one day I can escape all this things. I’ll be able to sit and enjoy all things mother nature has been offering us all this while. Oh before I sign off. I love to watch sun set and sun rise too. And, where do I plan to watch it? Santorini, Greece. I don’t know whether it’s the perfect place, but for me it’s a magical place. Something like a fairytale comes true.

Vegetarian Chicken Khaadhai

My brother is here with us in KL since Friday and today he is going back to Melaka. Mom and I decided to cook his favorite dishes. One of his favorite is Vegetarian Chicken Khaadhai. Of course cooked by me :-D

This recipe is actually a recipe for Chicken, but as we can get Soya made vegetarian chicken here, so I substitute the real chicken. I think this recipe will go well with potatoes and tofu too. (Err, just a word of caution, try it with this two substitutes on your own risk, as I have not try yet making with tofu & potatoes.)

Anyway, here is the recipe.


Vegetarian Chicken Khaadhai

Ingredients
Vegetarian Chicken -
Onion – 1 medium sliced
Tomatoes – 2 chopped
Chilli Powder – 1 tbsp
Black Peppercorns – 1 tsp coarsely powdered
Curry Leaves – 2 strings
Sugar – 1 tsp
Salt – as per taste
Oil – 7 tbsp
Water – 1 cup

To be made into powder (I call it the 3C powder)
Cinnamon – 1 inch
Cardamom – 6
Clove – 2

To be made into paste
Ginger – 1 inch
Garlic – 7 cloves
Cumin seed – 1 tsp
Fennel seed – 1 tsp
Black Peppercorns – ½ tsp
Oil – 1 ½ tsp

Method:-
Firstly, we make the powder. I prefer to use the stone mortar and pestle to make the powder. Of course, one can use the dry ingredient blender too. Keep the powder aside.

Secondly, we prepare the paste. Heat the wok with 1 ½ tsp oil, fry the ginger, garlic, cumin seed, fennel seed, and black peppercorns for a minute. Dish out and wait until the ingredients cool down. Use a blender to make the paste. Use stone mortar and pestle to make the paste, as it gives a unique taste to the dish. Keep the paste aside.

Now to the main dish. Heat the oil in a wok, fry the vegetarian chicken until it turns dark golden brown. Dish them out. There will be excessive oil so just leave 3-tablespoon oil in the wok.

In the heated oil, fry the onions until it turn golden. Add the tomatoes and mix well. Cover the lid for few minutes, to soften the tomatoes. Open the lid and smash the tomatoes well. Add in the paste, chilli powder, sugar, salt, and the 3C powder. Mix the ingredients well. Pour in 1 cup of water. Mix it well and cover with lid. After 10 minutes uncover the lid give it a quick stir and add the vege chickens, mix them well, cover again with lid.

Simmer them for another 10 minutes, in order for the vege chickens to absorb the flavors. Then toss in the coarsely crushed black peppercorns and curry leaves. Stir them well and cover again with the lid for one final time, for 5 minutes.

Then stir it well and dish out. Have a piping hot rice, sambar, and serve this as a side dish.

Sorry for the not very clear photo. I snap it with my Motorola Rarz2 V9. My canon digi cam out of battery and I only realise it when I want to snap this :-)

A Simple Hope of the Citizen...

I was watching the news yesterday at 8 p.m., usually I skip it, but I got nothing to do at that time so I just sat with my parents and catch up the latest stuffs happened in my country. Usually it’ll be boring just the same court cases, which come back to hearings after a long break, accidents, some ministers cutting red, blue, green ribbons here and there.

Nevertheless, yesterday’s news was quite interesting. They showed a clip with lots of commotion in it. First thing which will comes up to a person’s mind without looking at the clip but by just listening to it ,will be something…….Hear that, it’s a fight between some animals in jungle, Noooo It’s a sound of zooo, but after viewing the clip you will be NOOooo it’s our parliament’s first session after the March 2008, 12th general election.

Here we have hundreds of grown-up people who have been elected as people’s representatives calling each other names like school kids. I wonder when they’ll settle down and start debating on real matters.

Looks like since the general election we still have many MPs who are in denial mode. Of course, it has been one hell of election. Almost everyone was shocked with the result. In 2004 election, we had only 19 or 20 something representatives from opposition, this time around, we have 92 or so opposition members sitting in the parliament.

I know it’s quite hard to accept it, but hey! It’s over a month already so just grab that life and start running the country. Hopefully they’ll recover soon and this time around will serve the rakyat and only the rakyat who elected them.

It is just a simple wish of a humble citizen who has practiced her rights on the voting day. Is this too much to ask? I just want my country back on track. However, looks like my fellow YBs are more interested in name calling and bickering at each other.

Sighhhh!!!!! Hopefully, on next seating they’ll start discussing about more pressing matters which the nation faces today.

A hope, a genuine hope of a citizen who loves her country very much.