Oil That Lasts

There is a verse in the Bible where it says that "the jar of oil did not run dry ..." (1 Kings 17:16)

Yesterday, I finally used up the last drop of oil from a 2 liter bottle which I bought more than a year ago. As you can tell, I don't cook very often. Also, because I love Italian food, I'd tend to cook pasta with olive oil. That means the normal cap Helang oil would last longer.

Trying to think of ways to finish the oil, I bought raw chicken chop, Pacific West fish fillet and french fries from Tesco to fry for dinner. And FINALLY, I poured out the last of the oil!

My western dinner turned out to be delicious. Easy and almost instant. It made a mess out of my floor, of course, with the oil splashing everywhere.

Sharks In Our Lives

a forwarded email ....

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went further than ever. The further the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allow the boats to go further and stay longer. however, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish.

The frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste.

The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did the Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan? If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?

HOW JAPANESE FISH STAY FRESH

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged.

Have you realised that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull? We need a shark in our lives to keep us awake and moving.

Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active and taste better ... the more intelligent, persistent and competent you are, the more you enjoy a challenge.

If your challenges are the correct size, and if you are steadily conquering those challenges, you are a Conqueror. You think of your challenges and get energized. You are excited to try new solutions. you have fun! You are alive!

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR US:

1- Instead of avoiding challenges, jump into them. Enjoy the game. If your challenges are too large or too numerous, do not give up. Failing makes you tired. Instead, recognize, find more determination, more knowledge, more help.

2- God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but he did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way.

3- Disappointments are like road bumps, they slow you down a bit but you enjoy the smooth road afterwards... don't stay on the bumps too long. Move on!

4- When you feel down because you didn't get what you want, just sit tight and be happy, because God has thought of something better to give you. When something happens to you, good or bad, consider what it means. There's a purpose to life's events , to teach you how to laugh more and not to cry too hard.

5- No one can go back and make a brand new start. But anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.

En, the Lady Magician

I was on leave one Friday and was at my parents' place together with Eunice, having lunch. En came back from school at 12.30pm and was surprised to see me there, in my "normal" clothes (as opposed to my working clothes).

Later we were out at the living room talking when suddenly, En walked in with a black cowboy hat and a Mickey Mouse blanket which acted as a cape..... and like her mother, commanded attention from all of us.

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She transformed into a magician, all set to perform her magic show. We laughed because she had that cartoon accent while performing her tricks.

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I'd say that she would turn out to be someone who's very confident about her ability to capture and hold people's attention. Her public speaking skills are excellent and she is not shy at all. In fact, she craves the limelight and attention - which is really unlike any other Chinese-educated person her age.

50th Anniversary of Louis and Sothie

Celebrating one's 50th wedding anniversary is indeed a very big thing. When I first got married, especially the first two years of our marriage, it was very difficult imagining myslef being married for even 5 years. And I often "wowed" at couples who already celebrated their 10th or 20th wedding anniversary.

Last weekend my husband and I were invited to Sothie and Louis' 50th wedding anniversary. Friends and relatives flew in from as far as Australia, Holland, America and other parts of the world to celebrate with them.

The following pictures are friends and relatives who came for the anniversary dinner...

The reason for me taking all these pictures is to help me remember who is who. This family is so big and they are scattered all over the world. I don't see them often and celebrations like this helps everyone come together as a family. No doubt the Internet plays a very big role helping us in keeping in touch with friends and relatives who live miles and miles away from us but it's nothing like MEETING up and seeing each other face-to-face.

Blender

I don't take enough fruits and carrots and all the healthy stuff (although I love vegetables) so one day, I went into an electrical shop with the intention of purchasing a cheap blender which would cost me less than RM100.

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My main criteria is : Easy washing after usage.

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And the lady was quick enough to recommend me this Kenwood blender which cost so much more than I was will to pay for. The original price for this was RM700 but every now and then, Kenwood would have special promotions for certain items and so happen, this particular blender/mixer was one of them.

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And thus, I am now the proud owner of it.

MCTC and Eunice bought carrots and apples one day and we experimented with the many functions on the mixer.

Our first attempt didn't turn out well. Why? Because we didn't blend it enough and it was difficult to drink. We ended up giving more than half of it to my mum and Tusi, telling them that it is healthy for them to drink it.

Because this mixer doesn't separates the pulp from the water, we have to make sure that the fruit is properly blended.

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Evaporated milk was added for the extra taste.

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It's really very easy to use and I can even blend carrot and banana, wash the mixer after that ... all within 5-7 minutes.

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I haven't tested the ice cube function yet!! Maybe that's because I don't have ice in the freezer. Gotta remember to make some ice and test it out. Who knows? Maybe if the economy gets worse, I may have to sell fruit juice/smoothies/ice blended drinks at the side of the road...

Last Day of Class

You're thinking that I should be jumping up and down for joy at the mention of "the Last Day of Class", right? Wrong!

True, I moan about attending classes every Thursday because of my hectic after work activities. But this class had been an eye-opener where cults and religions are concerned. I learned so much about other religions and why they believe what they believe.

Rev. Lim taught us for 12 consecutive weeks (not the usual 14 weeks). I missed two classes because I was severely sick last month.

For those of you who know me, I don't do well sitting in one place for a long period of time. I tend to fall asleep if someone talks for more than 1/2 hour. But this class is sooo interesting, I didn't fall asleep at all. Well, there was once when Rev. Lim was bombarding us with all the facts on one particular cult and hearing all those "rubbish" made me tune everything out and as a result, I got a little sleepy. Also, that day, I was feeling exhausted after all the running up and down, taking care of my mother in law, going to Shah Alam for road shows, etc, etc, etc.

We had our last class yesterday and we were told to bring a dish each for this bitter sweet day. A few of us came empty handed and I was one of them. I just didn't have the time. I rushed home from work, showered and came to church.

Nevertheless, food was in abundance and very nicely varied. We didn't even discuss what we wanted to bring!!! There were sandwiches (yummy), Aunty Chris' mouth watering chocolate cake, yong tau foo, mangoesteen, rambutan, (no durians, though!!), roasted chicken from Tesco, roast pork, deep fried devil (not sure how to translate this) ... oh well, the picture of the food says it all.

As I've said earlier, I learned a lot from Rev. Lim and I find it helpful when I talk to people of a different faith. It helps me understand theirt point of view and how not to aggravate them when they don't believe in "certain" things.

And yes, I thoroughly enjoyed every session - even though I hardly asked any questions.

90th Birthday

Guess what? We celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday AGAIN. Last year, most of her children and their children and their children's children came over for the big Nine Zero celebration.

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When my mum told me that my grandmother turns 90 this year, I was puzzled. She gave a simple explanation that they miscalculated last year. Later I found out that the Chinese always add a year to their actual birthday.

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Not everyone can live up to a ripe old age of ninety, what more in good health. My grandmother hasn't seen a doctor for years. In fact, I don't even remember when she last saw the doctor. She walks very slowly now but apart from that, she is very healthy.

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I remember about 1.5 years ago, she was all set to go out to town with Tusi. It was a good thing I went to my mum's place at that time. She used to be so independant, walking all over Seremban town, taking the bus, visiting her friends and even going up to Genting (secretly) with her friends.

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Now, she is confined to the house because we don't think she can walk for too long without feeling tired.

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She not only is healthy, she looked healthy. Eunice just recently pointed out to me that my grandmother has very nice and smooth skin and her complexion is great. She doesn't have any pigmentation on her skin at all.

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My mum thinks it's because of all the chinese herbs she (granny) took when she was younger, which is true. I remember when Esther gave birth to En, my grandmother would preserve some herbs and asked Esther to drink it so that she would recover fast and that she would not have any side effects in her old age. and my dear granny is the living proof that these herbs go a long way. She gave birth to 15 children ... so she ought to know.

Coming back to the topic, we went to Regent for dinner. Eunice and I bought her a very small cake (which only cost us RM16) because we figured that no one will be able to eat anything more after such a heavy meal .... and we were right.

One for the album. The Tan family and their spouses, En and Tusi.