I like trying out recipes of different countries. My next week's 'project' is to make a Tunisian dish. All the ingredients are easily available in Malaysia(mostly imported from the Middle East and India). The following is the recipe copied from a cookery website:
Bring lentils and cinnamon stick to a boil in the broth. Simmer for 30 minutes. Remove cinnamon and discard. Saute onion, garlic, salt, turmeric, cumin seed, cumin and bay leaves in oil for 8 minutes. Add to the lentil mixture. Add tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaves. Add chickpeas and simmre for 5 minutes. Season with pepper, cayenne and lemon juice. Remove from heat. Serve sprinkled with mint.
Serves
4
Yacine, Malaysians also like chickpeas , lentils and strongly-spiced dishes. I will show you the picture once it is done.
This is a Tibetan song sung in praise of Tibet's beauty. The poweful vocal of Ba' Shang, a gifted Tibetan singer and the accompanying lilting , infectious melody really mellow me out.
The translation shown in the video is in Chinese. I couldn't find the English version online and had to translate the lyrics myself into English. I hope my prossy attempt could convey the essence of this song:
Who has brought upon this ancient call..
Who has passed down this millenial longing
Is it spoken through a song of wordlessness
or through the remnant of a timeless, unfor-getable love
Oh....Aaaaaaa I can see
a mountain range, a sea of mountains....
that lay in close unison with each other
Ya La Shuo
She is the Tibetan Plateau......
Who keeps gazing at the sky day and night
Who keeps yearning for the eternal dream
Is he inspired by the song of praise
or by the unchanging grandeur that has long existed?
The intense tropical heat made me do something bold to my hair yesterday. I had much of it shaved for the first buzz-cut of my life in a barber shop!
The new hairdo makes my head feel much lighter and cooler. I was thrilled while washing my head on my return from town. Never in my life had my fingers come in such full contact with my scalp! I also cannot help looking at myself in the mirror there and then. How different(and silly) I look with so little hair as my crowning glory!
I will post up my photo shortly. My head looks quite like the guy's in the above picture. Of course, my hairline does not look as good as his.
I saw something interesting on Lori Ann's page just now. It is a game called personality cocktail which tells you what you are made of based on the 'characteristics' of your names. I decided to give myself a go and was thrilled by the result. I sent in all the names of my family members and found out that my brother and I had the two worst qualities!
You do not have to register for the game. Just type your name in the username box below any of the following results . Then, click the 'How to make a you' button and you will receive the result of your possible personality traits in seconds.
The following are the results:
Me:
How to make a Lo Sin yee
Ingredients: 5 parts competetiveness 5 parts silliness 3 parts beauty
Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Top it off with a sprinkle of caring and enjoy!
Mum:
How to make a Joan Teo Mok Lan
Ingredients: 5 parts intelligence 5 parts self-sufficiency 3 parts energy
Method: Layer ingredientes in a shot glass. Top it off with a sprinkle of sadness and enjoy!
I received the following news from a friend. Is it considered as racial discrimination?
Hello everyone. I have some interesting news. I was in Pizza Hut (Sunway Pyramid) yesterday and suddenly my friend showed me the bill. The bill contains normal things la (number of person, bill. number and what is ordered). But, what shocked me is that they had space called ' RACE ' .I guess since we were all wearing tudung(hoods for Muslim women), they labelled us as 0, which means MALAY. Later, when we went to pay…we had no service charge and no tax charge. Still in shock, I peeped into another bill in the counter. In that bill, under the race space, it was labelled as C (which I guess means Chinese). That bill had service and tax charges!!! I started investigating. One of my Sri Lankan friends was labelled as Indian it seems and she also had to pay service and tax charges a few weeks back. What I ' m wondering is that…does anyone know about this? I find it rather strange that they charge service and tax charge using racein Pizza Hut, out of all the places! WE SHOULD NOT GO EAT AT PIZZA HUT!
I hardly dine at Pizza Hut so I am doubtful about the validity of the information. I will try and find out!
A series of tremours hit Sabah, a neighbouring state of my place(Sarawak) yesterday. They were believed to have been triggered by the seismic impact of the Szechuan earth quake. The following is the news report:
Hundreds flee as tremor hits Sabah
TAWAU: Hundreds of people fled their high-rise buildings and homes as tremors from an earthquake centred in Kalabakan hit this east coast district of Sabah.
No damage was immediately reported following the quake, which measured 4.3 on the Richter scale.
It hit at 2.26pm and lasted for about five to six seconds. Kalabakan is about 70km away from Tawau town.
“The reports from our stations and police pondoks report no casualties or damage,” Tawau police chief ACP Jaafar Mohd Yusof said.
Businessman K C Fung who was on the third floor of an office building in the centre of town said he felt the floor swaying and immediately knew a tremor had hit.
“I just ran down to the ground floor. On the road there were scores of people who had fled from other buildings including nearby hotels.”
My heart weeps and bleeds for the victims and their families of the Sichuan earthquake. All their happiness and hope are now buried beneath rubble . Death toll is on the rise but with the popular perseverence and resilience of Chinese I believe they will pull through......
Shame on those who have found their joy in the pain and sorrow of the nation. I was astounded when going through their crass comments on youtube. They deem the disaster as an annihilating punishment from God and even describe the victims as 'unneccesary excessed number of chicks!'. The under-humans are mostly from Japan, Taiwan and some western countries who are pro-Tibetan independence.What they fail to see is that when a devastating catastrophe strikes, the grief experienced in one place is the same as those who have had it before or simultaneously in other places regardless of your colour and creed.They have also not realized that Sichuan is a province where many tibetans populate her interior sites(particularly in Wenchuan).
P.S: Please pay close attention to each description in the following video clip. You will be amazed by how cold-hearted many youtubers are ).
The second video is dedicated to the victims in China. It is a meaningful , spiritual song entitled You Never Walk Alone by Mario Lanza.
How fast can you type? I admit I have never been fast in typing. I took a test on a website and my achievement was 39 words per minute. I do not know if it is a good result but my ranking is rather low:
149 points, so you achieved position 419001 of 640399 on the ranking list
You type 217 characters per minute
You have 39 correct words and
you have 3 wrong words
Click either of the following links to take part in the race:
A close friend of mine once told me of how overwhelmed he was by wistfulness whenever he looked back to the past. Due to drug addiction and gang fight, He had spent seven years in a rehabilitation centre, being deprived of formal education and the love of his foster parents. Life had been hard in that place and there was no one whom he could cling to for emotional support while suffering the withdrawal effects during treatment . He could have achieved his ambition as a lawyer had he been more tolerant towards his hostile non-biological brothers and more vigilant in choosing friends. There was a semblance of self-blame and regret on his face when he was recounting the traumatic experience to me . As a very reserved person then, I had no idea how to soothe his emotion except for listening to him attentively with sympathy.
My friend had always found solace in strumming his favourite songs on his stay at the rehabilitation centre. His greatest love being Charles Aznavour's 'Yesterday When I Was Young' in which he found striking similarity to his past. He had constantly sang it with tears in his eyes . When seeing the worried look on my face, he chuckled and assured me that he would not let his past defeat him. There has always been a better tomorrow for each of us.
I have not seen the friend for almost ten years but some friends told me that he had gotten married two to four years before. Rumour has it that he had been unemployed for five years and scared all his friends away with his constant request of loan. He could manage to land himself a job only recently. I can't help thinking of the song each time I wonder what has become of him. I hope life is treating him well from the bottom of my heart.
The following are two music videos of the same song 'Yesterday When I Was Young' presented by two different artistes(Charles Aznavour and Shirley bassey). Oh boy they all sound very melancholy.
Yesterday when i was young The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue I teased at life as if it were a foolish game The way the evening breeze may tease the candle flame A thousand dreams i dreamed The splendid things i planned I always built alas on weak and shifting sand I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day And only now i see how the years ran away Yesterday when i was young So many drinking songs were waiting to be sung So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out I never stopped to think what life was all about And every conversation i can now recall Concerned itself with me, me, me and nothing else at all Yesterday the moon was blue And every crazy day brought something new to do I used my magic age as if it were a wand That never saw the waste and emptiness beyond The game of love i played with arrogance and pride And every flame i lit too quickly quickly died The friends i made all seemed somehow drift away And only i am left on stage to end the play There are so many songs in me that won't be sung I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue The time has come for me to pay For yesterday....when i was young, young, young,......young
I will never grow tired of listening to this song. It has something that moves my heart........
The Lyrics:
Rows and flows of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons everywhere I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun They rain and snow on everyone So many things I would have done But clouds got in my way I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow It's cloud illusions I recall I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels The dizzy dancing way you feel As ev'ry fairy tale comes real I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show You leave 'em laughing when you go And if you care, don't let them know Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now From give and take, and still somehow It's love's illusions I recall I really don't know love at all
Tears and fears and feeling proud To say "I love you" right out loud Dreams and schemes and circus crowds I've looked at life that way
But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I've changed Well something's lost, but something's gained In living every day
I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all I've looked at life from both sides now From up and down, and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all
I was singing the song when a storm was raging across my hometown Miri. You will have no problem hearing the gale beat against the shutters and the door in the video.About my voice? Hehehe, my vocal is far too raw to sing this song and I had to transpose it to a lower key.
This song is actually sung for a dear online friend. I hope she and all of you will like it. My apology to you if my voice is goosebump-inducing.
A huge storm is passing through the Miri town now. My windows keep rattling to the beating of the wind and the rain. The roof could have been blown off into the air had the wind been stronger. The most fragile part of my house is the zinc- roofed wooden outhouse. I was in it an hour ago. It was shaking so violently that I couldn't help worrying about the possibility of it being dismantled by the storm. Another fear I have is many giant rats may be seeking asylum in my area! I think our friends in the Philipines, Indonesia and Sabah may have been experiencing a more severe storm by now. You are all in my prayer.
Guess what I did twenty minutes ago? I videoed my singing of Kean's 'Somewhere Only We Know'. I had promised a friend to show my rendition of this great song a fortnight before. Due to the limitation of my voice, I could not deliver the song well. The guitar was out of tune and I kept going out of pitch and tempo. Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with the final result. It may not sound soothing but it is an effort from the depth of my heart.
I am uploading the recording to youtube now and hope it will be done in twenty minutes.
One afternoon, I was grading a few students' work at the teacher's desk in a Secondary One class. The classroom was quiet as every student was well-absorbed in writing. The silence was broken when three boys entered the room with a knock. The tardiness was caused by their being punished to do some cleaning for coming to school late. I thought they would return to their seats quietly but one stopped beside me instead .
"Why don't you return to your seat? Have you any thing to ask me?" I asked.
"Mr. Lo, you are getting old, and soon you will be going to grave." The boy spoke his mind calmly, as if it were a most civil thing to say to a teacher.
"What do you mean????" I asked in bewilderment. How insolent of him.
He continued,
"When I am about your age, mine will not look ugly. I will have it dyed."
" Hey, be quiet. Go back to your seat and do your work." I commanded him.
"People like you do not seem to enjoy life. Mr.Lo, scolding us more will make you uglier by one minute."
I looked at the cheeky kid for a moment and said,
"Well, the joke will go back to you. You will be as old as I am one day."
I sounded rather indignant now.
But the boy seemed to be feeling pleased with himself. The next thing he mentioned was really getting on my nerve.
"No, teacher. The key is you look more like a joke than any one else with your greying hair."
My goodness! I could not contend with his nonsense any more.
"Return to your seat or there will be a list of punishments awaiting you." I finally threatened.
"Okay, Okay!" The student broke into a mischevious smile. "Just kidding!"
The boy walked back to his seat showing no sign of guilt on his face. A few students could be heard giggling away. Were they impressed by the brat or did they find my reaction funny? To me he appeared more like a victor.
I had never thought my greying hair would become a subject of ridicule.
The following TV clip shows one of the most common Malaysian idiosyncrasies . Many people including me have ever had such unpleasant experience when making inquiry calls to government offices . The person answering you may either scold you for calling the wrong place or tell you to refer to the operator in a blunt manner .The irony is that our calls have always been directed to them through the emphasized procedure.
I was down for several days after the inter-school choral speaking competition( 15th April). My team finished out of medals.
Honestly speaking, I had never had any high hope for them to win the competition. Nevertheless, their performance was not up to par. Defeated by her nerves, the conductor had conducted the team in a speed so fast that the whole performance sounded mechanical and hurriedly done. It had gone one minute faster than the average practice duration.
Considering all the students, particularly the poor conductor felt bad about it, my colleagues and I had decided not to show any outward disappointment. We showered them with congratulatory remarks in acknowledgement of their hard work..
What made me really feel bad was that the adjudicators did not seem to be well-versed with the competition rules. They had overlooked many things in the academic competition. Out of eleven participating teams, nine schools had finished their presentations in a time far below the minimum duration. Though my school had finished our performance one minute faster, our timing was still within the acceptable range.
Besides, the performances of the above-mentioned schools were action-packed. They came up with too much gesticulation(like dancing and moving about the stage) which was not allowed in the competition. As the chief judge for the last year's inter-school competition , I am technically-savvy about the dos and don'ts in this respect. No matter how brilliant your performance is , there is no room for you to be among the top three should you move too much on stage. Gesticulation is strictly confined to upper body movements while dancing, jumping and walking in a circle will be subject to heavy penalties. Sadly, one of the rule-breaking schools finished above my school in third place.Minus their exaggerated actions, some teachers from other schools found our pronunciation and enunciation way better.
The other thing that I questioned was script originality. Except for my school, I think the other schools performed the downloaded ones from the Internet(I have seen many of them online before). I was the only teacher to have taken the trouble to write out the script but there was no credit given to the effort. The use of unoriginal or unadapted scripts was not permissible and I did not know why the adjudicators were blind to it.
However, the champion and the 1st runner-up were conspicuous winners. They had the quality that most teams did not have-- accurate pronunciation, expressive intonation with a variety of interesting sound effects.
. I decided to give myself a go and was thrilled by the result. I sent in all the names of my family members and found out that my brother and I had the two worst qualities!
