My cute little grandmother is getting more and more forgetful these days. It makes for a good laugh but it is also a glaring reminder of what may become of me when I age.
I have been told that I am sentimental. I tend to attach emotions to almost everything - receipts, places, songs, scents and the list goes on. My cupboard and its content can attest to this fact, although I assure you I am nowhere near a need for a Clean House intervention. My mother and my other half prefer to refer to my sentiments as clutter but as anyone living in denial would say, I have a good reason for keeping them. I fear that one day I will lose my memory and everything that I have lived through and for will be an unrecognizable blur. When that day comes, I hope that I can look through my glorious clutter and remember my life, even if it is just a small part.
Sometimes all you need to do is talk. Confront, hash it out, discuss, explain, face it, justify, deal. Just deal. There are always three sides of a story - yours, mine and the truth.
It is always easier to take on the role of the victim and be appalled at the perceived injustice that is being inflicted on you. You are good, wholesome people, how could those evil people do such a nasty thing to you? How could those mean people say such terrible things about you?
You see, you do the same things but the difference is that when it is done by you, the actions are not horrible. Actions of good people are good and conversely, actions of bad people are bad. You are good, they are bad.
For example, there are things about those people that you dislike but you mean well and you are just telling the truth, pointing out the things about them that annoy you. Like how you disapprove of the wedding preparations of one of them. Your intentions are good, you are just voicing out your opinions. The things about you that those people do not like, that’s just preposterous and not to mention mean. Because you are nice and wholesome, why would they, or anyone, not like you? More importantly, why would they say things behind your back? You say things behind their back but that is because you are concerned whereas they are bitchy. Then there is also the issue of you not understanding why those people cannot accept you for who you are but it is okay for you to reject their choice of language & the way they behave because you are a good person and you possess admirable qualities that everyone should strive to have. Those people, on the other hand, should do something about their undesirable self, like work on their vocabulary or grow their own backbone. Finally, you cannot understand why the people you call friends would do all that to you. What wrong have you done to those friends of yours? All these while you have been nothing but an awesome friend to them. You ditch them thrice for three different boyfriends and only come running when you are upset with your boyfriend. You ask them about their problems but they end up comforting you for yours. You ask to meet up so that your friends can act as an audience to listen to you go on and on about yourself. You fall asleep when the conversation is not about you. You are only concerned about your own well being, even at the expense of theirs. You worship your partner so much, to the extent of compromising your friendship. You think your friends are all talking behind your back when they have spoken to you and you choose to ignore what was said.
You’re such a great friend, why would your friends do such awful things to you?
I like being in the kitchen. Cooking makes me happy, even if I am not awesome at it, yet! I want to be the kind of cook that my children’s friends will gush about.
Dude, I love your mum’s _____, when can she cook for us again?
Hey is your mum cooking today? Yes? Great, we’ll be there in 15 minutes!
That kind of cook. For now, I have attempted mostly Western dishes because to be honest, I am terrified of cooking Asian food. By Asian, I am referring to Malay, Thai & Indian cuisine. The ingredients, good lord. What is what again? I did attempt Thai minced basil chicken and Thai-style fried chicken, both of which were pretty tasty, if I do say so myself heh.
In order to be an awesome cook to my future children’s future friends, these are some of the dishes that I will strive to master. If you can get these right, the rest will be a piece of cake! Or at least that’s what I believe.
1. nasi goreng aka fried rice - easy to gather ingredients, difficult to get the right taste. I am extremely picky about nasi goreng. My favourite fried rice is nasi goreng kampung from Al-Ameen & also a friend’s mum nasi goreng sambal belachan. I would pay money to get my hands on the recipes.
2. rendang - my favourite Malay dish, even during non-Eid days. I loveee my mum’s rendang.
3. asam pedas - another favourite, especially with stingray. However my dear, dear boyfriend prefers his with catfish. I am squeamish about touching the mustachioed creatures!!
4. maggie goreng mamak - I have tried a number of recipes, none of them were to my liking. I want it to taste like the one from Mr Prata (Evans Road). The cleanliness of the place is questionable & the service could be way better but the maggie goreng is good.
5. teh sarabat - ok it is not a dish but it is an important beverage, especially when most of my friends are tea lovers. I once spent the whole afternoon playing with different proportions of tea dust and milk and different techniques to get the right cup of teh tarik. Not easy, dude. Not easy at all. I am still figuring it out.
Maybe I will attempt baking some day because that is a horror bigger than Asian cuisine.
I had a nice and quiet NYE with 21 other people. Quiet and 22 people are not terms that normally go together but you see, my friends (me included) are very loud and when we all hang out, the decibels can skyrocket. So yesterday’s mellowed out BBQ was a quiet affair by our standards. We gathered around at close to midnight, most of us drawing puffs of smoke and most of us nursing a very full stomach. I looked around and noted the absence of a few, some intentional and some not. Every year the circle gets a little bit smaller and it used to upset me but this time around, I really don’t care if the number shrinks. What matters is that the bonds with the remaining few gets stronger.
As always, I pray for contentment for myself and everyone else for this new year.
Happy 2011!
I want an exotic shorthair kitty. They’re so adorable. How can you not love a face like this? So cuteeeeeeeeee!
Source: thecatsblog.com
My mother was almost 40 when she went on her first flight. Times were hard before and traveling overseas meant long bus rides across the border. We even took a bus from Singapore all the way to Bangkok! Twice!
Times are better now and so I have decided to fulfill my mother’s wishlist, and that is to see the London Bridge, Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty & snow. Separate visits, of course. I, unfortunately, do not print $$$.
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