Happy New Year 2006

This is my profile picture. I drew and paint this piece of art with oil pastels during my undergraduate time in university. I saw the similar picture in the magazine and love the picture, so I painted one myself. I guess that was a decade ago already :) The Title of this painting is The Lion and The Lamb ~ Hope and Peace Through Jesus Christ.

~ Isaiah 11:6 ~

May Peace Prevail On Earth ~ in Every Country and Every Nation ...

Wishing U A New Year Sparkling With Joy, Success and Happiness..
May The Coming 2006 Unfold A New Beginning;
And Fill Your Days with Cheer;
And May All Your Dreams Come True;
And Be Blessed With Joys All Through;

Happy New Year 2006
新年快乐

槛榄 Olive

Junk food, anyone? This is one of my favourites.. preserved 槛榄. What is it called in English? Is it Preserved Olive?

Talking about 橄榄 reminds me of this song 《橄榄树》 by 齐豫：

不要问我从哪里来
我的故乡在远方
为什么流浪
流浪远方流浪
为了天空飞翔的小鸟
为了山间清流的小溪
为了宽阔的草原
流浪远方流浪
还有还有
为了梦中的槛榄树, 槛榄树……

The Magnificent Seven.

I get tagged by Day Dreamer quite a while ago... She kept on bugging reminding me to do my homework with deadline given at end of this year.. Since now is toward the end of the year liao.. so, like it or not, have to do homework :( But at least I submit it few days earlier.. not on the last day :D

Seven things I plan to do before I die...
1. Spend more time together with my hubby.
2. Be closer to my family members. Spend more quality times with my mum, sisters, brother and nephews
3. Travel around the world. Yes, I enjoy travelling.
4. eat, eat, eat.. Taste all the delicious and yummy food.
5. Owns a nice bungalow by the countryside.
6. Sayang my doggy more and give more affection and attention to him.
7. Catch up with my long lost friends or friends that I have not keep in touch for long time due to busy schedule.

Seven things that I can do...
1. Read the Bible more frequently.
2. Attend church more regularly and grow closer with God.
3. Listen to my favourite compilation of songs.
4. Eat, eat and eat... Try all the cuisines worldwide. (Eat again !! We live to eat, Not eat to live)
5. Riding and drifting on the road with motorbike. (which I have not done for ages)
6. Buy all the high tech gadgets that I like.
7. Apologise to those whom I have offended, and forgive those people who have pissed me off...

Seven celebrity crushes
1.Hahhaha...
2.I'm no longer 18-22 lah..
3.I’m too old for this…
4.I listen to mostly old Canto pop songs, including chinese songs as well..especially those from the era 80's to early 90's.
5.However, I do not have any crush on any celebrity.
6.What else?
7.None loh... Answer is Nope.

Seven current/recent books
Mmmm.... The books I read are mostly the boring and hard to digest medical books. Are u still interested? Or u can just skip this part :)
1. Practical Nuclear Medicine.
2. NIV Bible
3. Nuclear Medicine - The Requistes.
4. Dr Slump Comic Books or IQ博士 (Another Crap Comic, but I like) (yeah.. finally something different... )
5.Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine.
6. Garfield ( The fat cat; to me akin human in cat skin)
7. anything else ah?? can't remember liao...

Seven favourite foods
- so hard to choose ..
1. Fruits. No special preferences.
2. Sushi.
3. Bilin Jungle Fern.
4. Steak.
5. Hot and Spicy dishes.
6. Penang Assam Laksa.
7. What else ah? Too many and hard to choose.. Cheese Cake?

Seven random facts about me
1. Photography is my most recent hobby.
2. I enjoy travelling.
3. I have a cute and adorable miniature pinscher (迷你杜宾犬).
4. I hate those unker or auntie (or whoever ) who drive like tortoise on the road/those inconsiderate drivers/those who drives like they are king of the road or as if there are no tomorrow.
5. Simple is Good.
6. I like Chinese ~ I enjoyed talking in Chinese language, reading Chinese novels, listening to Chinese songs, or write in Chinese etc.. (although I'm not from Chinese school but people always mistaken me as Chinese educated).
7. I hate hypocrites.

Seven people I want to tag
I think most people have done this already lah... So I won't tag anyone this time :)

Millennium Eve (31/12/1999)

I still remember the millennium new year eve (31 December 1999) although it was so many years ago already :)

I was on call that day on 31/12/1999 in the Operating Theatre (OT) in Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching. I had the thought of closing the OT except for real emergency or life threatening cases... (just in case ... something might go wrong with the anaesthetic machine etc cos of the so-called millenieum bugs or Y2K bugs. Err.. Frankly speaking, actually I wanted to take a rest cos it's millennium eve !!! ) But ... who knows, there were lots of emergency cases that night, I mean after midnight. All were Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) cases, three emergency Caesarean Section (LSCS) and one ruptured ectopic pregnancy for emergency laparatomy (this lady had lower abdominal pain for a week already, I wonder why on earth she only went to the hospital one week later on the new year eve)????

I even heard "hilarious" story from the labour room that 1 pregnant lady who was in labour refused to be examined by the doctor till midnight (year 2000) as she wants a millennium baby !!!

If I didn't remember wrongly, the first millennium baby in Sarawak General Hospital was born on 12:01 am... Actually the mother had the urge to push one minute earlier on and the baby head was on the way out already but the baby was sort of "prevented" from coming out further as the staff nurse/midwife in the labour ward put their hands on the little baby's head to prevent the little fellow from coming out... I was not there at that moment, as I was inside the Operating Theatre (there's one Caesarean Section in progress...) I still remember giving spinal anaesthesia to a lady for Caesarean Section or LSCS with indication Poor Progress at around 11:30 pm, 31/12/1999.

Actually I was glad that I was on call on that night, cos there's plenty of people celebrating the new millenieum with me. I still remember going to GICU for a bried duration and wished all the staffs there Happy New Year, including one of the unintubated conscious old lady (patient) in GICU as well. Haha. I still remember I shaked her hand as well while wishing her "Selamat Tahun Baru" and she wished me back the same greetings. Well, as usual, most GICU patients are either intubated or sedated. She is the only one fully awake. The hospital was full with people everywhere... If not, i will be lonely inside my room, as my other half was far away in Penang. Yeah, we greet each other happy new year via phone at 12 midnight ;)

How about you? Did you still remember what were you doing or where were you during the Millenieum Eve?

Eggs (鸡蛋)

I know there are lots of egg lovers over here. Some people just like eggs, regardless how the eggs are cooked or served.. half boiled eggs, hard boiled egg, steamed eggs, fried eggs, scrambled egg, herbal eggs, omelette bla bla bla... I'm not an egg person by the way.

Eggs are very nutritious (eggs contain the highest quality source of protein, and almost every essential vitamin and mineral needed by humans, except Vitamin C) with many other usages. Everytime talking about egg, I can't resist thinking about the statement ~ using the rotten egg(s) to throw at people. And Chinese people use the word Egg or 蛋 quite frequently to scold people. Eg. Mr "Wong Eight Egg" (王八蛋) or 混蛋 or 臭鸡蛋 etc etc.. (Not me although I'm Chinese.. I don't use all these words :P) And my uni coursemates (guys) have a very unique word to scold people, that is 鸡蛋 (telur ayam) or 鸡蛋糕 (chicken egg cake); Using the word 鸡蛋 to scold people sounds more civilised compared to the four letter words :D (*Edit* Err... should I censor all these words? Since this is supposed to be a U post, not 18SX or 18 SG post).

This is what I have today ~ the delicious herbal eggs. Nope, I didn't eat all the eggs. The most I consume are 2 herbal eggs. Not more than that. And I don't consume eggs everyday.

And not forgetting to share with u all.. presenting, Mr Ghost Egg. I'm so amused when I see this on my frying pan. Don't u think this fried egg looks like.... hantu ????

Sushi 寿司

This is what I have for lunch today.. Sushi (寿司) !! Included is the Jellyfish sushi/gunkanzushi (the one nearest in the picture), baby octopus (tako) sushi/nigirizushi, preserved squid (ika) sushi, salmon (sake) sushi, clam sushi, squid (ika) sushi, fish roe sushi etc etc.. Can't remember all the Japanese names :P .

Sidenote:
Jellyfish, I finally eat u liao, after so long ... (p/s: seasoned jellyfish is nice to eat. Very delicious and yummy)

Christmas Wish Tag Meme...

Being tagged for this by two people not long ago... Keep on postponing, and I guess it's still not too late to do this. I do believe the saying: It's better to be late than never.

Instructions:
State who tagged you;
List who you want your Santa Claus to be (the bearer of the gift);
State the gift you wish to get;
Then invite a few friends to join the tag, and inform them by dropping a comment in their blog.

Who tagged me : Chai Yen Hu Jellyfish

My Santa to be? : The "cute" Jellyfish loh, who else? Since u tagged me...

The gift I wish to get : What present u want give me? Since I'm your KJ, u must give me something (I hope not the dummy handphone; Since that one is not included; cos u promised to reserve 2 for me earlier on...)

Who's next : Aiks, since it's Christmas, give everyone a break. Enjoy this huge Christmas Tree ;) I took this picture in Gurney Plaza few hours ago.

p/s: Few more days to New Year 2006! Reminds me of the Millennium Eve several years back. I will write about that later on :)

Christmas Eve Dinner

We had Christmas Eve Dinner together with my in laws in my apartment yesterday night. The picture above showed some of the food/dishes that we had for dinner. Still have lotsa leftover big bird turkey from dinner yesterday night. The dog (I mean my little doggy (ah boy) is very happy as well, cos he gets to eat turkey meat and the other dishes.. with mango pudding and vanilla ice cream too as dessert. Too bad he cannot eat the coffee walnut cake. (He begged for the cake in his usual cute way, but we can't give it to him cos coffee is poisonous to dogs) I can see his bulging tummy after the Christmas treat. Well fed... :)

Merry Christmas

Christmas is celebrated by Christians throughout the world. Why is Christmas so special? To some people, it's public holiday; to some, it's festive season and time to have fun or gathering together with friends or family; some get excited especially small kids cos of the opportunity to get gifts etc. Christmas nowadays is too commercialised, and Christmas season is the good time for businessman to make more $$$$. Many have forget the true meaning of Christmas.

(Picture from Cross Daily cards)

Christmas celebrates the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ ~ the birth of a child over 2,000 years ago, a child who was the Son of God! Scriptural basis for the Christmas scene comes from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

圣诞节快乐
Have a Blessed Christmas.

NGF - The Love Molecule

I noticed this interesting piece of information via MMR websites.

Written there, Nerve Growth Factor or NGF triggers the powerful emotions seen in new lovers. This is according to a research done by Pavia University researchers. According to the research, those who have recently fallen madly in love have far higher levels of NGF compared to single people or those in long term relationships. However, after a year with the same lover, the quantity of the ‘love molecule’ in their blood had fallen to the same level as that of the other groups.

Written there as well, the researchers were not clear how falling in love triggers higher levels of NGF, but the NGF clearly has an important role in the "social chemistry" between couples at the start of a relationship.

Also written in MMR, regarding the possibility of the new blood test in the future, to check for serum NGF level to rate LOVE. :)

Serum NGF: how to tell if it is really true love? Now a simple blood test will cast out all doubt.

NGF level - Love rating
0-50 - and they they call it puppy love….
51-100 - teenage crush
101-150 - getting warm; could be serious
151-200 - red hot passion. it’s the real thing!

What do u think? So hilarious.

View from my Apartment

Snapped these photos last Sunday morning. When I looked out the windows from my bedroom after waking up in the morning, I saw the awesome view ~ blue, cloudy sky and, the clouds were so low.. I took my camera and snapped few shots.

The following pictures were taken from my living room.



At times, when I have nothing to do, I will just stand near the window and enjoy the beautiful and nice scenery ~ Sunny Day, Cloudy Day, Rainy Day, Rainbow etc etc.... I know my doggy enjoy the scenery as well. I see him looking out from the window many times already :) I manage to catch the glimpse of eagles flying high up in the sky many times as well.

Sweet Potato Tangyuan (蕃薯汤圆)

Yesterday I cooked Sweet Potato Tang Yuan (蕃薯汤圆). Since it's so common to eat the normal plain tang yuan, I decided to cook something different. Some people only cook tang yuan during 冬至 / 过冬 / winter solstice , but not me. I cook it anytime I like. Since the ingredients are simple. The dough (glutinuous rice flour mixed together with warm water) were kneaded to achieve the chewy texture. I never measured how much flour or water to use, but never added in excessive water initially cos one can always add in extra water later on if the dough is hard :P The glutinous rice dough is then rolled into little marble sized balls.

I added in the half of the blended steamed sweet potatoes to the dough (glutinuous rice flour). The other half I used it as fillings inside the sweet potato tang yuan. I didn't add in any artificial colouring to my tang yuan. The orange coloured dough is the natural colour of the sweet potatoes.

The tang yuan are then dropped into a pot of boiling water (it's important that the water must be hot or else the tang yuan dough will dissolve in the water, and all the effort is then wasted). Once the tang yuan start floating in the boiling water, they are cooked.

The cooked tang yuan, served together with sugar syrup cooked together with slices of ginger. Nice :)

tang yuan/汤圆 or glutinous rice balls

冬至 (tung zhi or arrival of winter) or 过冬(guo tong) or winter solstice (normally falls on 21st or 22nd December). The day of the year when the night is the longest and the daytime is the shortest. There's an old chinese sayings that 过冬大过年 or "winter festival is more important than chinese new year". I guess it's not so significant over here in tropical countries like Malaysia whereby the weather is hot and humid all year long. And, there's the saying that after eating 汤圆 (tang yuan) during 过冬, they will grow older by one year. Chinese festival dishes usually have auspicious and meaningful names. Tang yuan (汤圆) sounds similar to "tuan yuan"(团圆) which means family reunion.

I remember helping my mum making tang yuan during my secondary school times. Besides rolling the glutinous rice dough into little balls, I made few tang yuan with various size and shapes, including triangular shaped, pyramid shaped, cube shaped, cuboid shaped tang yuan. Haven't made those weird shaped tang yuan for long time already. Might be it's time for me to restart back ;) During those days, we prepared the tang yuan and cooked it with different ways. One way is cooked with chicken meat and vegetable. Another way is eat it together with sugar syrup. The third way is to mix the cooked tang yuan together with mixture of grounded peanut and sugar.(The taste is similar to muar chee) .

Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner. In few days time will be 25 December... I helped out my staffs decorating this little Christmas tree in my department. We created the snowing effect on the Christmas Tree using the cotton wool and little pieces of styrofoam. And we hang the blinking light on the tree as well. Yeah, we wrapped up the little presents and tied them with ribbons before putting those little presents at the bottom of the tree :) Everyone helped out in the decorations . The nurses, medical assistants and attendants play the main role and we just helped out a little bit, here and there. Since I don't have a Christmas tree at home, at least I took part decorating the Christmas tree in my workplace ;)

Lokam (芦柑)

I went to supermarket (yesterday evening, after work) to shop for groceries, and guess what I see... Lokam (芦柑) or CNY Mandarin oranges :) Guess while everyone is busy preparing for the coming Christmas, CNY lokam (芦柑) or mandarin oranges are seen in the market already. Yeah, yeah.. Chinese New Year coming soon as well.. CNY falls on 29th and 30th January 2006. In 40 days time....

I bought one carton of 永春芦柑 back home. Something special this year ~Besides red wine and turkey etc. , we can have lokam as well during Christmas Eve Dinner :)
My doggy stared at the oranges yesterday night when I opened up the carton. Guess he must be thinking of ~ So many oranges... Can I have one? If I give him one, I will expect him playing with the orange and rolling it around. That is what he did to the Ya Pear I gave him previously. Playing with it first before eating it :) Let's see whether he steals any of the oranges or not, since I left the carton of oranges on the floor. He is free to take one. But most of the time, he is very good boy and he seldom steals.

Crap Post

While backing up my photos before I bought the new pc, I went through some of the shots. I noticed some of my shots taken for Jellyfish during his previous trips to Penang in May this year. I wrote two simple posts regarding his visit previously (Click here and here if u wanna have a look) but I didn't post any pictures earlier on. Those were during my early days of blogging. He didn't have a camera at that time, and all the pictures are taken with my Minolta Dimage Z2.

I told Jellyfish that I will write a post about him few days ago together with his cute handsome photos, and he consented :P Now here is the post. By the way, I have posted a post on real jellyfish earlier on, not regarding the perasan, crappy cute jellyfish..

Since this is a crap post (since writing about Jellyfish, must write something crappy..) So I will made up some stories.

Long long time ago, there was a notti boiboi (he claims that he is a boiboi). One day the notti boiboi ran out from his house while his mummy was busy cooking in the kitchen. The notti boiboi somehow (don't know how...) walk-walk to the campfire site, and he saw something that caught his attention. Cos of his busybody nature, he couldn't resist but to go near and disturb.. He went to stir the cooking and tasted the food as well. The food was so nice that he finished eating ALL.

What was the consequences? The notti boiboi was being locked up in the cell room for what he had done. Poor boiboi.. He shouted for help... 叫天不应, 叫地不灵.. Poor boiboi.


What to do? The notti boiboi had to stay in the cell room for ......... luckily it's just few minutes time. Since he confessed and admitted what he had done and promised not doing it again in the future, he was released few minutes later on...

The End of the Crap Story :D

(p/s: These photos are taken just for fun in Fort Cornwalis, Penang. No Jellyfish was injured or hurt throughout the process...)

By the way, while choosing few of the photos that I took previously for this crap post, I noticed something that looks very familiar... Any comments from the floor regarding this picture ??

Yeah, this is the profile picture that our dear Jellyfish used when he posts comments :) This was taken in Kek Lok Si Temple near the huge Guan Yin Statue.

Another view taken in Kek Lok Si Temple. Cloudy day. Indeed it rained quite heavily in the morning, but Thank God the rained stopped later on.

Snowman

Found this from Loc Kee. The building snowman art using the tools provided in the website. Click here if u want to join in the fun.

I built a snowman as well (since I never get the chance to build a real snowman in real life...) Just few clicks here and there and here it goes... My Little Snowman. What should I name it? The only name that comes to my mind at the moment is Frosty, hahhaa... I guess most of u know who is Frosty the Snowman, right? :) So, my Snowman is currently called NoName, since I couldn't think of any other name yet ....

My piece of art.

Loh Bak/Lor Bak

Meeting up with Day Dreamer today for breakfast in Ayer Itam. Day Dreamer was very alert, and didn't day dreaming nor building castles in the air..) She finished eating already by the time I arrived, cos I was a bit late. So, just a brief meet up only since she needed to go off as she had other commitments. Before I went back home, I bought some sinful unhealthy but delicious high calories food (Loh Bak/Lor Bak) from the nearby hawker stall.

For those who dunno what is Loh Bak, (by the way, Loh Bak is not Lobak nor Radish :D ) there are few varieties. Basically it's meat rolls like Fried Minced Pork/Sausage wrapped in Dried Beancurd Sheet. But the hawker will sold other things as well such as Shrimp Fritters, Beancurd Cake, Preserved Eggs etc etc. The Loh Bak was served together with two types of dipping sauce. One is the black gooey tapioca flour mix, cooked with soya sauce and egg and some spices. The other one is the specially made sweet chillie sauce.

The Loh Bak in this hawker stall are more pricey than other place but it's worth the money. And they have special Loh Bak as well ~ the Salted Fish Ball and the Salted Fish Tofu. I bought few varieties of Loh Bak back home (including the Salted Fish Ball and the Salted Fish Tofu). The hawker fried the Loh Bak again before serving to the customer; hence, more hygenic and of course this made the Loh Bak more tasty and crispy as well, and definitely it's nice to eat while hot.

When frying the Salted Fish Loh Bak, the salted fish smell nice ;) But the horrible consequences following that was ~ now my car smell of Fried Salted Fish as well :( The smell was really strong, but I won't describe it as pungent. Hope the smell will go off tomorrow....

Top 10 reasons that you were/are from Sarikei

This post was written by Daniel, my cousin : Top 10 reasons that you were/are from Sarikei. Quite accurate in a way, and it really brings me back to the old days. My answer is written in the bracket (italic and blue colour). To those who have no idea where is Sarikei, it's a small town in the Sarikei Division (previously the 6th division), near Sibu town.

* You like Kam Pua, Kompia & Yu Hu Eng Chai. (yeah yeah... I do like kampua and kompia) You think Sarikei pineapples are the best in the world. (Yes... Sarikei pineapples is very sweet and juicy, right? However, these pineapples cannot be consumed in large quantities cos it can "cut" your tongue or the oral cavity mucous membrane..) Who cares about KFC & Sugar Bun? (I don't actually fancy fastfood except french fries :D, but I don't think is applicable to the modern societies in Sarikei. )

* You can speak 4-7 dialects and languages: FooChow, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, Iban, English & Chinese. (Quite true ~ I can speak foochow, hokkien, cantonese, malay, english and chinese and little little bit of Iban). You know the Foochow & Hokkien "dirty words". "Hey, Lu capak apa?"(This one ah.. not really lah...)

* You wonder what the black pepper & rubber farmers are doing now to make a living. (I guess they are still planting black pepper ??? ) You don't bat an eyelid at the swarms of swallows. (Get to see a huge swarm of swallow every evening, who cares cos it's like bread and butter to Sarikeian? Just for your info, Sarikei = Town of Swallow). You have savoured wild game like bats, snakes, turtles and pangolin. (This one is ~ absolutely true !!!!! 101% agree)

* You have watched a movie at Lido & Cathay but now watch pirated VCD/DVDs. (Watching movie at Lido & Cathay? That was ages ago... ) You can not find the new Sarikei library & the new hospital. (Yeah lah.. the new Sarikei library and the new hospital is so far away from town.. Damn troublesome to go to those places..) What happened to the padang and basketball court? (Mmmmmm... I have no idea :D ) You wonder whether the brothel ("Lok Kee") is still around.

* You thought Sibu's Sarawak House was darn cool and Kuching's Holiday Inn was hip (so "atas") when you were young. (Hahhaha.. how true.. During my childhood time, Sarawak House in Sibu was damn cool.. Now? errr... it's just another old building, nothing special :D )Your best memories of the Sarikei-Bintangor-Sibu express boat ride is the Bintangor vendors jumping on board to sell green oranges. (Wow... those really were the days.. And I remember jumping fast from the boat to the jetty cos the express boat stopped at the jetty for just a brief duration !) Jakar bridge ride was the scariest 5 seconds of your childhood days. ( I can't remember anything about Jakar bridge, sorry...) You think the Mosque is still the most beautiful building in Sarikei. (Hehehe.. is it? However, there's no unique building in Sarikei lah) You have hardly used the Sarikei Swimming Pool despite yearning for one when you were young.(I guess... I don't go there cos I dunno how to swim :P) And the Sarikei airport is still a mirage. When will Air Asia fly there? (This one.. I agree 100%. Waiting for the Sarikei airport till my neck also become long... I guess it won't happen )

* You think Sebangkoi is the romantic place for a cuddle, (Hahaha... Sebangkoi is the best !!! I guess all Sarikeian been to Sebangkoi before, and this is the one and only recreational place in the early days...) Rejang River Esplanade is the place for a breezy walk (true.. I enjoy strolling there, and in fact, each time I go back to Sarikei, I will visit that place) and Ngiu Kee store is the place for a free air con stroll. (During those days, Ngiu Kee Supermarket really rocks !!!)

* There's a 70% probability that you have studied at St. Anthony's (Yeah, I'm proud to be student of SMB St Anthony, or the so called Anthonian !!) and 100% chance that you have bought something from the Anthonian (yeah yeah.. I bought ALL my reference books from Anthonian since that's the one and only reference book supplier bookstore available in town during my time) , Culture or Shanghai bookstores. You have cringed at your geeky look at high school. (No comment :P ) You still cannot sing the whole Negara Ku but knows all the lyrics to Liu Wen Zheng's songs. (Err.. this one I think not true lah.. I can still memorise Negaraku although I haven't sing the song for ages already, since I left Form 6)

* You have wondered why the muddy Rejang River could not be as clear as those Alpine streams in the cigarette ads but now you feel proud of the river & its heritage. (I never wonder about the earlier question, but I do feel proud of the rive and its heritage) You have probably swum in the Nyelong River because all the buaya's have been eaten by man. (This one... nope, cos I can't swim) You have likely caught sewage eating guppies (fish) and tadpoles from the streams. (I caught fish & tadpoles from the drains or longkang before. Does this count?) There's a 90% chance that you have never entered a long house or tried the Iban tuak (rice wine). (Then, I'm in the other 10% category. I have entered long house before, few times ~ during my Form 6 time while camping and also in the early days in my career as a doctor ~ cos we have to give talk to the community in one of the long house etc etc... Yeah.. I have tasted Iban tuak before as well during visitation to Iban friends' place during Gawai Festival )

* Ah Kow's is still the best restaurant in town.
(Hahahha.. Ah Kow, Ah Kow.... always attend wedding dinner or some other function in that restaurant. But now, the popularity has dropped already, compare to the early days).

And, last but not least, when we talk about Sarikei ~ sure the huge pineapple near the Sarikei wharf will come into the Sarikei folk's mind :)

Durian

Now is durian season again... In fact, the King of Fruits, durian liulian is available almost all year round.. Err, I mean it's available almost every few months not like a decade or two ago, whereby it's only available once or sometimes twice a year. Yeah, I bought this yesterday night.

This post is specially dedicated to Cynthia. I know she misses liulian a lot :) Hope u will get to eat liulian if u come back home during CNY.

My new pc

Finally my new pc arrived. I didn't log online for the past few nights cos I had dismantled and disconnected all the connections from my previous desktop computer, making space for the arrival of my new toy. My old pc is really getting old already and needed to be admitted to ICU soon. That's why the new one coming in the picture.

My new pc is Pentium D processor-based PC with Clock Speed 2.80 GHz and Front Side Bus 800 MHz and Motherboard D945 GNTL with Hard Disc Drive of 200 GB (set to 3 partitions). Yep, since this new pc has 17 inch LCD monitor (Samsung 713N), so can save quite a lot of space on my table. In fact, I put my printer behind the LCD monitor. Just that I'm not used to the multimedia keyboard ~ much smaller than my old keyboard and the arrangement of certain keys on this MM keyboard are different. But I believe in few days time (or few hours??) I will soon get used to it :) Yours truly will be busy installing new programmes and softwares for the next couple of days.

Kueh Chap (粿汁)

Kueh Chap(粿汁) is one of the Teochew (潮洲) dish. Flat rice noodles served in dark coloured herbal soup together with pork (lean meat and fat) and innards (intestines and stomach), pig skin etc... (This might sounds yucky to some, and definitely it's non halal) and sometimes together with tauhu pok and hard boiled egg. The taste is superb and unique. I had this during my previous trip back home. Too many nice and different food to savour in Sarawak. I still couldn't manage to eat all "the wanted to eat things" in my list. :(

Kueh Chap also available in one particular stall in Penang (from what I know), but the one here tasted totally different from the Kueh Chap in Sarawak :) I still prefer (and love) the Sarawak Kueh Chap ;)

Refused Surgery cos of ....

Most Chinese (I mean MOST and NOT ALL) are reluctant to undergo elective major surgery during Hungry Ghost Festival.

I recalled one incident in my hospital which occured during one of the days in the month of Hungry Ghost Festival. One chinese patient was scheduled for elective surgery. He was admitted to ward as scheduled. All the pre op assessment and investigations were done accordingly. And he consented for the surgery as well and signed the consent form.. He was pushed to the Operating Theatre (OT) as scheduled on the operating list on the day of surgery. And on pushing inside to the operating room (OR) then only the patient conveyed his wishes not to undergo surgery on that day cos it's hungry ghost festival, and wanted the surgery to be postponed or deferred to a later date.

Aiyoh... If he really doesn't want to go for surgery at theat period of time, then inform earlier lah.. why inform at the last minute???? Till being pushed inside the Operating Room, then only informed? Really wasting all our precious time !!! And he took up the slots which can be offered to some other patient since there's a long waiting lists for patients who needs operation...

What's your opinion in this matter?

Watermelon

I took this snapshot one late evening in one of the street in Bintulu. This fruit stall owner is very creative. Most people will just cut the water melon into two or cut into slices for display.. But, he did something different and this really caught my attention :) He removed the outer layer of the watermelon (the rind) carefully, to reveal the smooth inner layer of the red coloured sweet juicy watermelon flesh.. Hard work though, but.. it's something different.. He did the same thing to the yellow coloured flesh melon, as well as the pomelo.

Bintulu Jetty

Colourful fishing boats

Smal express boats bringing passengers opposite the river or to the nearby kampung/villages . The Sarawak flag is seen on top of each of the express boats. I have taken similar express boats several times already but long time ago. If not mistaken, the last time I took it was something like 4 years back :)

Modern motorboats and ships are seen in the jetty as well.

This express boat looks similar like the express boat I used to take from Sarikei to Sibu during the early days. Reminds me of the good old days. This particular express boat can accomodate 72 passengers. As usual, u can see the Sarawak flag hanging on top of each of the boats. Nice to see the flag waving when blowed by the wind.

Last but not least, the sunset picture... Nope, I didn't stay in the jetty for so long, I went strolling and walking around in Bintulu town and came back there again later on in the late evening. The jetty is located in the town area. So it's convenient to walk around :) There's one fastfood outlet(Sugarbun) located just opposite the Bintulu jetty.

Some Facts about Min Pin

My doggy is a miniature pinscher. I posted some cute photos of him in my earlier post ~ my doggy and doggy birthday. Lately, I found out Faira and Alicia have Min Pins as well, but different colour. My doggy has black and tan coat, Faira's Jengibre has red coat while Alicia's notti boi has brown coat. And check out this well written post regarding Miniature Pinscher by Peace.

These are some of the facts that I gather about min pin which is quite true...

• Min Pin are clownish in nature. My dog just loves to make funny noises, sometimes he can even make sounds like little baby... (damn amusing)..
• Min Pin are great little watch dogs and wil guard the house intensely. He will bark fiercely whenever there's any stranger passing by. Quite noisy at times as well...
  
• Min Pin has no fear of other living creatures that are much larger than them. Why so? Cos they don't know they are small. My dog like to bark at and provoke other big dogs.. But, most of the time, the other bigger dogs will just ignore him, cos he is so small..
  
• Min Pin is born a "Professional Moocher" and will stare u down for even a small tiny piece of food. And they have their "power" as well... My doggy will plead and look at us with his pathetic look and kesian look... His big round eyes are very powerful. Anyway, I'm sort of used to his trick already :P For those who are not used to it, the doggy will always get some food whenever he plays this trick :)
• Min Pin sometimes are stubborn, and they are independent thinkers as well. The dog will sometimes argue with me by barking at different tones :D
• Min Pin is the lovey dovey little dog who want to be with the owner most of the time, just like a shadow. My doggy is like my hubby or my shadow.. Can see him following us most of the time.. Very affectionate and loving :)
• To some Min Pin, vaccum cleaner is a relative of "Jaws"... Hahhaa... I can still remember the first time when I on the vaccum cleaner, my doggy went and hide under the table :) Nowadays, he is more used to it already :P Not as scary cat as the first time...
• Min Pin knows everything in their home. When new things is brought into the house, he is very inquisitive, and sometimes he is very curious, and busybody or "kay poh" as well :)
• Min Pin might suffer from separation anxiety because they bond closely with their human. I still remember when we lodge the doggy in the vet's place when we went for vacation last year... The dog became so skinny and he lost so much weight.. Aiyoh.. And he even go & injured himself.. Can see injuries on his "elbows"... Poor dog. Nowadays, we will leave the dog together with my in laws whenever we go outstations. And my doggy enjoys staying together with my in laws, cos they sayang and loves him very much..
• Min Pin are excellent climbers. My doggy enjoy outdoor activities ~strolling, hiking, etc and he can even "climb" on high steps, much to my amazement.
• Min Pin will guard the bathroom door when someone is inside. After bath, the doggy will come and lick my toes :P

Kuching Market (Vegetables)

Took these shots on vegetables at one of the morning markets in Kuching, Sarawak.


These bright yellow oranged coloured brinjal is one of the local vegetable in Sarawak. I don't know what's the exact name of these brinjals but we used to called it native brinjals or Iban brinjals. The flesh is yellowish/orange in colour, and it is... SOUR. But it's nice to eat when cooked together with chillies and belachan (shrimp paste). I brought one back to Penang as well :D Should have brought more back. Now I really regret :)

Raw groundnuts.

This is the old cucumber. I like to drink the old cucumber soup. Very cooling.. Enjoy the sweet natural taste without any seasoning when cooked with pork ribs.

Mmmm... I have no idea what is this. Can anyone tell me or enlighten me ??

And not forgetting bilin, the famous Sarawak jungle fern, which is available in every market :)