Sorry... I'm Busy...

I've drafted a few posts, just uploaded the photos but I can't find the time to write. I'm currently in a reading mode and once I start to read, I can't stop. I have a few more books waiting for me and the reason I'm rushing through all the reading is because those books have due dates and I have until next week to finish up all 4 books plus another 2 books. I'll write about it once I'm done with reading.

Furthermore, I'm trying out all the hawker food in Penang. Trying out not as in thronging the hawker centres in search of food, but preparing them myself from my own kitchen since I have everything that I needed to make good food.

The month of Ramadhan is starting on the 1st of August, I'll have to refrain myself from posting food photos during the fasting period until they break fast in the evening. So, it's better that I fast from the Internet during this one month period. Christians are also fasting for 40 days starting August the 7th until September the 16th. I doubt that I can do any fasting as lunch is the only meal that I have and it's impossible for me not to prepare lunch for my kids. I'll do the prayers though.

I will squeeze some time to keep this blog very very much alive. Time is my greatest enemy. I want to sleep as well. I enjoy sleeping. I enjoy going out as well but I'm always in a hurry.

Penang's #1 Street Food...

Char Koay Teow

Before I continue writing what I want to write, I have something to say. Creating a list of delicious food is up to the individual. For example, CNN's World's 50 Most Delicious Foods list created an uproar in our newspaper. Malaysia and Singapore were fighting over why Singapore's chicken rice was listed at the 45th position. If it was Penang's Chicken Rice then definitely we will score higher. But I guess those in the team doing this survey has a sour tastebud. Therefore, I choose not to fight over which food is the best. Penang street food is the best and McJu's burger line comes first. Thus, I have come out with my own list of food, up to my liking... not open for condemnation because it's silly to argue with another soul over which food tasted the best. I like what I like, you like what you like... we have a world of preference.

Let me give you a clear view of how tedious it is to prepare street food. It's dirt cheap. Seriously, a bowl of prawn noodles for the amount of RM3 is so cheap. If I'm the one selling to you, I won't know how much I'm going to sell to you as I've worked like a buffalo in the paddy field ploughing through the soil. It's really hard work, if you don't believe me try it out yourself. Cockles. Blanch them in hot water and then use another cockle shell to open the rest. It's like using diamond to cut diamond. I'm blessed because the hypermarkets sell cockles that have been removed off their shells. That made my day easier. You'll need the prawns. You can't by the frozen de-shelled prawns and plese de-vein your prawns. It's kinda disgusting looking at those black intestines on the prawns. You can't get the frozen pre-packed prawns because you need to blanch them in hot water and the sweet prawny water will be used to make the sauce. I pounded my own chilli boh with so many dried chillies. Dried chillies don't come expensive. Then, I need another hand to blanch the ricecake strips in hot water so that they won't stuck into a ball. By the way, I kept the prawn shells for another dish that I will write about later in Penang's #2 Street Food. I have no liking for Char Koay Teow so it's good enough that I took the effort to fry plate by plate and I made at least 12 plates and I lose all appetite after seeing so much koay teow in one day. This is the Malay style char koay teow. It's wet and I prefer it that way. I've never enjoy the Chinese-style chokingly dry and oily koay teow. I get Lindt in exchange of a plate of char koay teow. Thank for those pieces of chocolate.

I Need These Urgently...

The moment I saw Gardenia's burger buns, I'll be grabbing at them like I can't live without them. The truth is it's the best burger buns, better than any other buns. I've not been able to put my hands on the buns. I have burger patties but I don't have enough buns. Gardenia, can I call you and you send me the whole truck of buns right at my doorstep? I will really appreciate that instead of letting me run from one hypermarket to another departmental store to hunt those down. Or can you send more to Tesco so that there won't be competitos grabbing with me.

Life Down South...

It's a 30-minute drive down south to Sungai Batu, Teluk Kumbar from Georgetown. Most people think that Teluk Kumbar is over at the mainland but it's not. It's just 10 minutes away from the airport. I've been driving down there to work during the weekends. The roads are narrow there's only one lane for each flow of traffic. When it starts piling, you can take a nap in the car. To start with, Sungai Batu used to be a small fishing village by the sea. They live a simple life. No rush, no stress albeit there must be some financial constraints. Some of them are just odd job workers, mostly factory operators and mainly fishermen. They own no big boats but very simple sampan with their fishing nets to get the catch of the day. Then some 20 years back, the developer cleared some part of the village land to make way for the building of low-cost flats. Even though they have hard time making ends meet every month, they still need cars to drive around to work. Therefore, the problems of having not enough parking lots. You'll just have to leave the cars and make sure the handbrakes are down so those who want to drive out from the lots can just push your car away. After so many years there, I still can't bear the stench from the rubbish dump. The drains are clogged and choked up with plastic bags. I do not know why are the people so unhygienic. Little children throw rubbish from the fourth floor all the way down and it will be smacked in front of my house as mine is a ground floor unit. Then, in the evening, the children will be running about, screaming from the top of their lungs, then some neighbours even listen to heavy metal music with the volume turned up to the max... that's life. Love thy neighbours as yourself. In low-cost flats when it's about meal time, almost every house will start cooking and I get to smell all types of smells and then everyone will start to guess who's cooking what. I feel like bringing empty plates and ask for food because there's nothing to eat in my house :D Ahh... mosque. Muslims pray 5 times a day. I have nothing against them praying with their loud speakers blaring into the atmosphere. I live where it's near the mosque. Without the morning first session prayer around 5:30 a.m. during my schooling years, our entire household will not wake up. There were once we overslept. We were waiting for the morning prayer to wake us up but there's none. We woke up at 8:30 a.m. on a schooling day and I think the sound system at the mosque broke down on that day. We're so used to it that we make it our alarm clock. No, I'm not being disrespectful but that's how life is. On the left of this photo is a project by Sunway Aspera. Please be honest, developers. You can't expect everyone to have sea view from their balconies. I've heard how your salesperson promote this project. I'm aghast by everything they said. They're totally untruthful and they don't even know the exact location of this place. They didn't even describe the lifestyle of the people here. They live a totally different lifestyle and please learn to respect that. In every place, there's a different culture. Here are a few photos of the view in Sungai Batu, when the weather is great... usually it's not good... and the sea water will be brown in colour with angry waves pounding along. You don't know what is an angry wave until you've seen one with your own eyes and hear the roaring waves with your own ears... and yes, they roar louder than the Siberian tigers...
It looks clean in all these photos. On other days, they're not. Overall the place is dirty, not much progress yet. There are other housing projects costing roughly from half a million to nearly a million Ringgit, selling sea view.

This is now solely my opinion. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion. First of all, the developers DO NOT own the sea view, neither do they own the sea. Secondly, that view cannot be invented but it has been created by God, the maker of this Earth. Thirdly, God NEVER charge us a single cent to have such beautiful view. Thus, why are developers cashing in on the sea view of this entire island from the north to the south? Isn't it unfair to side-line those who are poor? You bought their land at dirt cheap price then when you start to build all those luxurious houses, has it ever occur to you that only the rich can afford those lovely houses that are built on the poor's land? Then, sometimes to compensate the villagers, they only get to stay in ugly flats without any sea view. They'll be looking at other people's toilet from the back. Of course simple-minded villagers will not make a big fuss as long as they have a roof over their heads.

Anyway, life has never been fair... the rich will be richer, the poor will be poorer... and nobody tends to do anything to make a difference for once...

The Haze..

If any of you remember the previous posts where I put up nice views from my house the moment I open the door, but now I'm only looking at haze and inhaling them excessively. The weather has been so hot, but now, thank God for the heavy rain which makes me stay at home. I actually have plans to go out and roam around the city, paying bills and hanging out in the gym. But now I cancel everything to sit at home and relax. I've not been doing that for a few weeks and it's killing me not being able to sit down and do what I like most :D

I figure if you're slave to the dust, the kitchen and your job, it's not a good life. I choose to have freedom in everything, not to be tied down by anything... a carefree life... that's what I want.

Seeking for Fame...

In an odd way, I am obsessed with the number of readers I have daily for my blog. It has turned into such obsession which I can even Googled on "How to make your blog a popular one" and after reading all the 'how to' from top to bottom I find that I do not want to be a slave to my own blog. Then, I went to why in the first place I wanted to blog. To answer my own question, I started blogging because it's a way to keep me writing and expressing myself whether I'm in a good mood or in a terrible rage and I never use to bother to check whether I have readers or not.

What I've found to make one's blog interesting does not appeal to me at all. For example, I'll have to write about an interesting topic and keep my blog updated on a daily basis. Politics bore me to death, with all the MPs squabbling like little kids, in my own imaginary world, might as well I rule the country which I know I'll be overthrown within 30 minutes. I don't gossip about others and the lives of actors and actresses, they're just humans, so I don't have to scrutinize their every move to make my blog a popular one.

Food blog? Life is more than satisfying the stomach. Nowadays, I find it impossible to update my blog everyday. I don't really have enough time to do anything without sacrificing my beauty sleep. I've been sleeping less than 8 hours a day, thus I'm a cranky person and I snap at anyone that crosses my path from the wrong direction. I want back my sleep so I prefer not to be the slave of the kitchen where I start preparing the next day's meal in advance by chopping and marinating then making sure the crock pot is switched on.

In conclusion, I figure I should adopt the habit of "I'm not bothered whether I have readers or not"... I blog because I enjoy writing and it's my own way of keeping tabs of my own life. I might forget how my life has been one day and it's nice to check my life in the past.
I've been spending my time reading. The school libraries have so many interesting books now. When I was studying in SGGS, I only remember a whole shelf of Agatha Christie's novels which I do not enjoy reading at all. I don't fill any thrills with her style of writing. I like Wimpy Kid a lot. Just needed a few hours to finish the whole diary.
Then, two days back, my precious and my pineapple came home with more books for me. This is a really good way to distract me from going online. I survived 24 hours without going online. My precious made a terrific pick on the books. They're all my favourite which I've been staring at bookstores and having a discussion with myself whether I should buy the books or not. Now, the answer is as clear as crystal. No need to buy :D Since they do not really like to read, I shall make full use of their library cards...

American vs Chinese...

Introducing to you the new McJu's Decked-Out burger, leaking with modified mayonnaise, boiled and minced Shiitake mushrooms mixed with Cheddar cheese. That piece of chicken burger is homemade as well. I mixed a lot of stuff to make it spicy but I guess it's not spicy at all. How am I going to make it spicy? Immerse everything into hot sauce with my concoction of chilli paste? That burger is definitely an American food... and I have piping hot Chinese famous pork bone tea or better known as bak kut teh. My hubby and I slogged in the kitchen until 2 a.m. yesterday just to put all bones to boil for the whole nite. Then I added every part o the pork that you can think of mostly bacon, pork ribs and then I don't know which part already. Meatballs~!! Yes.. yes meatballs~!! I can never live without that. The whole house has the aroma of herbs... lovely~! You definitely have to eat bak kut teh with yam rice. Yum yum yum... I like everything to max.

Lord, thank you for giving me the skills to cook and thank you for good friends who are also happy and satisfied guinea pigs. Thank you for the bottomless pit pots and woks in the kitchen. Thank you for the flowing of raw materials in Penang where we can get everything and anything from anywhere. When others have no food on the table, I have plenty in the kitchen. Thank you, Lord being a Provider. In Jesus' name... AMEN~!

Penang's Famous Street Food...

Char koay teow or literally known as stir-fried ricecake strips is Penang's #1 hawker's delite. No doubt I'm staying in Penang, but I have never fancy char koay teow. This is more to Sanni char koay teow, fried in Malay style. It's wet. I like it wet. I prefer it that way, and not the other way round where it's too oily and chokingly dry. No bean sprouts. I like it so and I have no time to pinch away the brown tail of the bean sprouts. No vege... I like it... so I like it. There are cockles and prawns and egg. Complete for one plate of decent meal. Add some barbecued pork. Home made char siu. Did it yesterday nite but it's not even red. I was thinking it might come out bright red as I spilt the red coloring into the wok while stirring. The sauce turned bloody red but in the end... it's not. The gym auntie gave me this.

Indian fried noodles...

Indian doesn't sound right. It's actually mamak (Indian-muslim) fried noodles. You can't find it anywhere else except in Malaysia. The best fried noodles used to be in Bangkok Lane. It shifted and I don't know where is it. It's okay already since I know how to fry it to almost 99% of the taste. Completely satisfied.

I feel like changing my job to become a hawker or maybe set up a cafe but then after I imagine of the hardwork in preparing the food everyday, I guess I better not do something that I will regret later. I already have very little free time, if I venture into food business, I'll be tied to the work day in and day out. That is what I will call having no life at all.

Hokkien Mee...

That's a lot of labour. Cut the prawn heads, fry them, blend them and then boil them whole night long in the crockpot with pork ribs as I know I won't have enough time in the morning to do all these. I woke up half an hour earlier this morning to make hard boiled eggs, blanch the prawns in the hot water and have more prawn shells in another round of boiling. When everything was done, tasted the soup and I almost crumble to the floor. It's tasteless. Totally tasteless but the prawny smell was so strong which I like it. Then, I started adding a lot of stuff into the boiling pot of prawn soup which were not written in the recipe. If I have no pig sense earlier, I have prawn brains now.... :D I hope it tastes great...

The hawker's price of RM2.50 - RM3.50 is nothing compared to all the hardwork. I will never complain again saying that Hokkien Mee is too expensive. The amount of prawn heads and shells used are not cheap. To make the chilli paste wasn't cheap as well.

Food...

Yum yum yum... pork chop from Klang... simply delicious... dunno how to make pork chop and don't intend to learn. There are some things that's meant for other people to prepare for you then it will taste superb. From my kitchen. That's how they suprise me on a Saturday. Surprise~! 600cc's Taiwan beef noodles. Sorry, I don't like the taste of the beef. Don't like the soup. I prefer raw wagyu beef with soy sauce. Then came the best ever dish~!! Chuka idako with meatfloss on rice. Dreamy eyes...

Ugh~! So Smelly...~!!

Ugh~! That's so insulting. I have to admit that I do smell of dry sweat after whacking around at the badminton court. Then, I met this young girl as I was going up the elevator. She was talking so loudly in English with very loud American slang. How revolting...

As she walked out of the elevator, she made such a loud remark, "Ugh~! So smelly~!" If I'm to say that I don't feel insulted, I'm lying to you. I do feel insulted and I was about to scream out loud," Shut up, biatch~!! Never sweat before? You probably have your sweat pores covered with gorilla hairs all over your body. And the American slang that you're talking loudly in doesn't make you even one percent like an American. I can speak in American, British and Australian slang... and I can speak in Singlish and Manglish at the same time... so keep your voice down as not to insult yourself further." .... Love thy neighbour...

I didn't say anything until the door closed. Oh, yes.. she speaks so loudly that I can even hear her two floors above. Please don't think that you're staying in a Chinese community area and you're the only ONE who can speak English... Love thy neighbour... that I have to remind myself...

I still prefer my close-door policy where I don't interact with any neighbours not because I don't want to mix around but I just can't tolerate busybodies who peek into your house whenever they have the chance to. There's a neighbour who went overboard by peeping through my kitchen window and then standing in front of my door and almost make my heart stop beating for a second when I opened the door and see that I was looking into his face... Love thy neighbours...

' A Call to Anguish ' - Reverend David Wilkerson - A True Man of GOD

Take a few minutes to listen to this...

The Cross and the Switchblade...

I was introduced to this book by someone *I forget his name* who is in charge of the church library. For myself, I will not want to even touch this book as it looks like it's gonna fall apart anytime soon. The book was printed in 1963, way older than I am.

This is one book that I will recommend to those who are readers and to those who don't read. There are so many testimonies on how the Holy Spirit, given a chance to work in a person's life, can change everything that seems to be impossible, into something beautiful... a new lease of life. And it is truly marvellous to read about how God, in His own mysterious ways, make things happen.

Here are the 10 special gifts which you can depend on once you have receive the Holy Spirit:

1. Power... But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you [Acts 1:8]


2. Have a Comforter... But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. [john 14:26]


3. Protection... Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia [Acts 16:6]


4. Of spiritual values... All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus [Ephesians 2:3-6]


5. You will have life... Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. [2 Corinthians 3:5-6]


6. Living with the Spirit of Truth... But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. [John 16:13]


7. Direct access to the Father... For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. [Ephesians 2:18]


8. Hope... May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. [Romans 15:13]


9. Liberty... Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [2 Corinthians 3:17]


10. The Holy Spirit... While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. [Acts 10:44]

Please take a minute to look at David Wilkerson's humble beginning that has grown tremendously over half a century. It's a Teen Challenge Centre... http://www.teenchallengetc.com/

I hope you will be generous enough to donate to them. Every penny from your pocket will be able to save a life from wasting away on the streets.

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. [Psalm 126:5]

Blogging with Windows Mobile

Hohoho! This is my first time blogging with my fat yet obsolete O2 PDA. I went to Facebook first but it bores me to death. There's practically nothing to do there. Here I am preventing myself from falling asleep. I don't think I'm able to post any pictures here as I don't see any buttons for uploading photos into this little screen which is not even 4cm in length.

I'm dreaming for Samsung Galaxy Tab but it might be too large and it will be pretty obvious that I'm concentrating at the tab instead of other more important stuff such as working.

I think I can consider myself old. I'm having backache sitting on a chair. I wish I can sit on the floor instead with huge colourful and soft cushions.

The weather is so hot I deserve a good swim in the pool but I don't seem to be able to find a few hours of freedom to do so.

Right now I even wish that I have a book with me to keep my head from doing the fishing stance. I've just finished reading a book and I forget to bring out another one.

You know I'm trying to figure how to use my 24 hours fruitfully. I've stopped my stitching because I really can't find a few hours of leisure time to so. I can barely catch a good movie in the cinema nowadays.

I'm still thinking whether I should get Samsung Galaxy S like Judz and Gracie's but I want that Samsung Galaxy S2. I'm kinda attracted to HTC as well. Gosh.. I don't even know what I want. Maybe I should keep to this one as it is still serving me faithfully.

Suddenly I'm thinking about my huge comfortable bed. It's making me even sleepier. I'm thinking maybe I should spend less time online and spend more time in bed, staring at the white ceiling or even curl up with a good book in hand.

45 more minutes and I'm out :D It's not that I don't like working but my thoughts are running wild. I feel like shopping to buy some new clothes but I ought to wait and see whether I can get back into my old clothes.

Oh, why am I so sleepy? Lazy to be exact. After today, tomorrow will be Sunday.No difference as I'll still be working. Monday starts again and it's another cycle. Another week will just float away. I can't wait to start traveling again and hop around the globe.

Toodles~! I prefer using the desktop. This ain't bad but not accustom to use it for surfing the net and blogging.

It's Leaking... It's Leaking~! Yippee~!!!

The moment I saw my burger leaking with cheese, I was jumping for joy. I can even dance like Happy Feet in the kitchen. It's leaking... it's leaking... it's leaking... I'm trying to make it spurt to the face... but I guess that's way too impossible. Muahahaha... so this is the revised and improved and successful McJu's Cordon Bleu Chicken Burger with Yevreysky Salat (Jewish Salad)... *grinning like a Cheshire cat* but then I lose my appetite with those burgers after making so many. I made 14 burgers today... made 7 yesterday and I still have a few patties left in the freezer. Whatever it is, I'm still very happy that the burger oozes out cheese...

Homemade Burgers...

The only cheese I'm familiar with is the cheese slices by Chesdale. Now, I can see more brands for those cheese slices. Now, I'm exposed to the different type of cheese as I try out dishes from other countries. I've seen this cheese before when I was small. Not in real life but in the television where Tom & Jerry chased each other and Tom always try to bluff Jerry with that piece of cheese with holes. Then, the hard work began. I started shredding cheese in the wee hours of nite... or should I say early in the morning when the clock just struck 12? I have the slightest idea how McJu will taste like because I cleverly modified the recipe. Smart huh? What I know is shredding cheese or even carrots make you sweat like a cow. Do cows sweat? Geez... I don't know. Wow~! That's a lot and the price for that block of Emmantel cheese just went up by 200% after all the hard work. I've successfully stuff all those cheese into 30 homemade burgers. The tedious work did not stop here.
To those who wonder how the cheese and piece of ham went in between the burger, now you know how much effort I've put in to make them stay inside. It looks easy but it's not. Whoever tells you it's really easy to make burgers, it's not. They're not being truthful because they don't remember how hard it is for a first-timer. After more than 10 burgers then it's getting easier. Practice makes perfect. Then the gruelling part started this afternoon with only 7 burgers. With the same amount of time making those burgers, I can cook a feast of 10-course dinner for a table. Now you know why hamburgers are expensive? The work is a lot. It's hard. And the ingredients are not cheap. If I'm selling McJu, it will be a very expensive burger. Maybe RM20 for one which no one will buy that's why I'm giving away free burgers. It's more blessed to give than to receive :D Those who will be eating McJu tomorrow will not see this anymore. Deep frying the burgers don't seem to be the best way of preparing it. I'm changing it to grill burgers tomorrow. One thing I like about McJu is because there's no vegetables in it. But since the majority of guinea pigs decide to have some green plants to give the hamburgers more colour... there you go... I still refuse to put mine with those leaves. By the time I shred those lettuce, I feel like peeling someone's skin in a sadistic way... *my Donkey's skin in particular* You see you can't just top the huge piece of meat with lettuce and then cover it. You'll have to have some other stuff that makes the burger an outstanding one. I topped it with Yevreysky Salat... a Jewish salad but the itchy fingers started to add a lot of stuff into the wok. Started filling it with milk, cheddar cheese, Gruyere, Parmesan and slices of sandwich cheese. But hey, it tasted wonderful. Wow~! That's bigger than BigMac. Ta da~! This is McJu's Cordon Bleu Chicken Burger with Yevreysky Salat... I've made new burgers for tomorrow and I added two different types of cheese into the patty.

NICE~!