Once, I was having the set lunch at a local hotel and there were a few slices of it in the complimentary soup. Initially, I thought they were ginger…but later, I found out what they actually were and ate up those few slices. They actually tasted quite good. But later, I came down with what I figured was gout.

We very rarely eat it. In fact, I can safely say that we never eat it anymore. We have not had it for a long, long time. I remember when I was young sometimes my mother would cook it in with pork in tomato sauce and at other times, she would put it in her sayur rebus (kampung-style boiled vegetable soup). Then my father had some problems with a nerve as a result of an extracted tooth and everytime he had it, the pain would come back. So we stopped eating it altogether, along with a whole lot of other things.

My missus loves it very much though. I saw some at the Bandong stall the week before last…and I told her but added that I did not buy for her to eat as she had this recurring back pain and all kinds of pain all over. She did not look too happy, so when I saw them selling it again, I bought RM2.00 worth of it for her to eat…

I’m talking about bamboo shoots. What is it about them that will cause pain? People say that we should not eat too much kangkong or paku either as these are “cold” and may lead to rheumatic pain…and nuts and beans including bean sprouts (taugeh) can trigger off gout attacks because of the high protein content. Then they also claim the kuchai (chives) will bring out all past sicknesses that one may have suffered from before while lobak putih (white carrot/radish) will “wash away” whatever medicine you have taken and render them ineffective. Personally, I eat most of them but in moderation as I’m not really a fan of any of them. Do you know of any others that should be avoided?

Well, if I may digress a bit from the topic, while I was at the Bandong stall that day, I also bought RM2.00 of this buah kedondong sambal…

It was very nice and certainly contributed towards stimulating one’s appetite. But I would prefer buah emplam though.

Generally, fish is a bit expensive at the stall. They sell this kari ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret curry) at RM2.00 a piece and it is not a very big piece…

…but then again, fish is expensive these days and getting somewhat scarce.

This is expensive, that is expensive. You can’t eat this and you can’t eat that! What is there that is left for us to eat? Sigh!!!

My parents’ Indon maid loves to watch me cook. She once remarked that Chinese cooking was “sangat mudah” (very easy) and I couldn’t agree more – minus all the peeling, the pounding and the multitude of ingredients to be added.

Well, I had some venison in the freezer, so I decided to cook it…but you can do the same with other types of  meat, be it beef, lamb, chicken…or even pork. Actually, all that was needed were a few slices of ginger…

…and some soy sauce and sugar but I had some chillies and Chinese celery.

Prior to cooking, I mixed the meat that I had cut into thin slices with some pounded papaya leaves to tenderise it (in case it was a bit too tough) and left it to stand for about half an hour.

Then I rinsed the meat to get rid of the leaves.

After that, I marinated the meat with soy sauce and sugar (I used gula apong/attap – palm/nipah sugar) plus a bit of Foochow red wine, pepper and finely-chopped Chinese celery…and left it to stand for another half an hour or so.

To cook the meat, I heated a bit of oil in the wok and threw in the ginger, followed by the chillies…and the meat. After stir frying it for a while, all the juices would come out of the meat…and I let it simmer until it became quite dry and the gravy had turned thick. Then I served it on a plate…

…and garnished it with a few sprigs of Chinese celery…

The meat was nice and tender and tasted good. Yum! Yum!

It was Friday yesterday and I normally do not eat meat on Fridays…as far as possible. But Louis J contacted me just before lunchtime and insisted that I joined him for lunch. In the end, we agreed to go some place where we could have fish…and that was how we ended up at the Red Carrot.

I had the fish and chips…

…which was quite nice, a bit hard but on the whole, it was ok considering that it was RM12 something only for a huge slice of fish…and it did not have any unpleasant fishy smell at all.

Louis J had the grilled imported sardine…

…for only RM8 something. It was BIG…and looked so nice that I regretted opting for the fish and chips.

So, was it nice? I guess this next photograph says it all…

I think I will have to go back there again one of these days…and guess what I will be having! LOL!!!

I spotted this headline in a local daily the other day…

…and the first thing that crossed my mind was – whatever for? What are they going to teach the kids? Einstein’s E = mc2…or Pythagoras’ theorem…or Newton’s “For every action, there is an equal reaction…”? What knowledge would they have to impart to the children that entails the recruiting of graduate teachers?

Gee! Aren’t they supposed to enjoy and have fun? At that point in time, they’re supposed to develop their motor skills through playing with building blocks, play-doh or plasticine or making paper handicraft, their mental skills through games, jigsaw puzzles and so on, their social skills when they mingle with their peers…and they’re supposed to sing and dance and have fun. I have heard of parents who moved their kids to other kindergartens for the simple reason that there were no books and no examinations…and the kids played all day.

Once, my mother visited my brother and his family in New Zealand. When she came home, she complained about the grandchildren going to school with an empty school bag – just their lunch…and they seemed to be going somewhere all the time. I guess they went on field trips to the museum or the science centre and the like…and they probably learned more than they ever would from books in the classroom. I also visited some primary schools in the UK myself and found that the system there was very different from our book and exam-oriented AND rote-learning system here.

Or are they going to enlist graduates in child psychology? If you ask me, those are mere theories, academic stuff. In real life, every individual is different and one cannot stick steadfastly to principles drawn up through researches based on some groups of little tots halfway across the world. “Teaching is a work of heart.” Just because someone is a graduate, it does not necessarily mean that he or she can handle the kids better. Even a maid with no formal education would be able to guide the kids effectively to learn things of immediate need and concern through the love and affection that she showers upon them.

I have heard presenters at seminars – those with a string of degrees. Once, there was one from a local university, a PhD holder no less, who was SO boring and nobody knew what he was talking about, so everybody switched off and started talking among themselves. He was annoyed as the noise level was too high for him to be heard, and he knocked on the microphone and said, “Excuse me! I am still talking! I haven’t finished!” Sadly, nobody gave two hoots about the poor guy and went on with their private conversations. Imagine people like that teaching the little children…

I suppose in principle, it would be good to train those teachers who are going to teach in pre-schools but then again, that will give rise to a few considerations on the matter. One is the selection – who will they choose to be trained? Don’t we all know that there are teachers in the schools who should not have been chosen in the first place…and who managed to pass and graduate, some with 1st Class Honours some more? Two, who is going to train them? If you think the lecturers in the teacher training institutes and the universities are any better than the teachers in the schools, think again! Just look at the PhD guy at the aforementioned seminar!

Whatever it is, I hope this is not another of those desperate measures to provide employment to those unemployed graduates from the universities – just a year of training and abacadabra! Behold! A full-fledged teacher to be dumped in the schools, never mind what damage he or she will do! To be fair, there may be some good ones – those who are naturally-gifted with a flair for teaching but I am quite sure that these are few and far between. Little do they bother that this is the beginning of a vicious cycle…and the backlash will come sooner or later. Thank goodness I do not have any more kids in school…

We grew up together, my brother and I. He’s a year and a half older than me…

My father was a speedboat racer and won numerous trophies over the years. After the race, he would take the boat home and then make his way back to the riverside for the prize presentation ceremony. This was one occasion when he could not make it back in time to receive the trophies, so my brother and I were asked to do so on his behalf.

Did I look sad in the photograph? I remember I was presented with the big one first but it was too heavy, so I got the small one instead. Can anybody recognise the man with the hat – the one helping my brother with the trophy?

This one was taken at our house – No. 96, Race Course Road…

Of course, the house is no longer there. Even the name of the road has been changed to Jalan Awang Ramli Amit. I remember there were two parts to the house – the front with the living room and the bedrooms and the dining room and the kitchen at the back, linked by an open section of the house as you can see in the photograph at the top of the stairs. Eventually, that part was covered up with planks.

Now, did I look unhappy in the photograph? It was as if I was pushing for more space…and don’t you think I looked like that porn video star/politician – Chua then? Hahahahahaha!!!!

This one was taken at my maternal grandma’s house along Queensway…

…since renamed Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg. I didn’t seem to look happy either. Gee! Did I have an unhappy childhood or what?

And here you can see the two of us in leather jackets a la James Dean…

If I’m not mistaken, that was my uncle’s car (Lindy, Kpenyu & Gundot’s father) driving off in the distance, or was it my Aunt Gertrude?

So there you have it – glimpses at yesterday when I was young…

…it pours! Well, the weather’s pretty much the same here, it seems but actually, this song title is an English idiom which means that when things go wrong, it gets worse. In my case, however, it was the exact opposite…for over the weekend, I had been receiving lots and lots of goodies from friends and next-of-kin!

Gundot and Lindy were in town for All Souls’ Day and they brought me these chai koi (vegetable kuih or cake) from Kuching…

…the yummy delicacy with translucent skin that some say, looks like a lizard’s tummy. These were HUGE – the size of the palm of my hand and absolutely delicious!

They also brought this special version of the same – the skin is different as they used kuih chap instead…

This one had salted veg inside…

…but between the two, I think I prefer the original. Some things are best left unchanged.

And that’s not all! They also gave me this very special super-lemak (rich in santan/coconut milk) beehive kuih bingka…

…which looked the same as the beehive or honeycomb cake but it was not a cake but a kuih bingka instead…and one that was very rich and fragrant at that! Wait! That’s not all! I also got these nyonya chang (meat dumplings) from them…

…and as if those were not enough, they topped it up with a tub of sambal hay bee (udang kering/dried prawns), sold in Kuching at RM6.00 each only…and most importantly, it tasted really great. I wouldn’t mind buying instead of toiling in the kitchen to pound the dried prawns and the other ingredients, dripping in sweat and spending hours just to cook that…

And if you think that was it, you’re badly mistaken for Clare too came home for the weekend and she gave me these yummy char siew pao from that shop at the end of Padungan in Kuching…

Now, don’t you think her paos look nice and firm? Oops! I mean the paos that she brought me! Gee! What on earth were you thinking? Hahahahahaha!!! If you remember the last time she brought me some, they were kaymek (squashed) and out of shape, like the ones I got later from KNB. LOL!!! She also bought me these cheese and ham rolls from the same shop. These were definitely better than the ones at the bakery here in Rejang Park….

…and my favourite baked meat pastries from Kai Joo Lane in Kuching…

…and the yam puffs…

My sister-in-law was back too and she brought us some bak paos (steamed meat buns) too.

Thank you, ladies. It certainly was most thoughtful and kind of all of you…and with all that, I would not need to do any cooking for at least a week…and no prize for guessing what I would be eating! LOL!!!

Nope! This is not going to be a post about the current controversy about the student of mixed Iban and Chinese parentage. There are enough people making a lot of noise in the local newspapers and elsewhere but so far, it seems that they are all like dogs barking at the moon.

Now, to look at what’s on my mind at the moment, let us start at the very beginning. When I was in school, we had to sit for an examination in Primary 6 and those who failed would not be able to go to Form 1 unless they went to the private schools. There were a number at the time – Rejang Secondary School at the end of Tiong Hua Road, Sibu Secondary School where the Sibu Medical Centre presently is, Ling Chu Ming School near Kin Orient Plaza (Sing Kwong Supermarket) and Chew Geok Lin School.

At the end of Form 3, we had the Sarawak Junior Examination and more of those who did not make the grade would go to the private schools and likewise, after the Senior Cambridge Examination at the end of Form 5. These days, everybody makes it all the way, it seems…and consequently, those private schools went out of business.

When we were in Form 3, we were asked whether we wanted to go to the arts stream or the science stream, should we make it through the Sarawak Junior Examination. Thus we would have to decide where our strengths lay and choose wisely. In Singapore at one time, they would stream the students in Year 3 while in primary school – into the arts, science or technical stream. There were people who felt that it was too early considering that there were late-bloomers who would unfortunately through no fault of theirs, be stuck in say, the technical stream.

I, of course, opted for the arts stream as I was never good at Mathematics and Science. In the Senior Cambridge Examination, I got a 3 for General Science, much to my surprise…and 7 for Health Science, I think and I just managed to pass General Mathematics with a miserable 8. It was pretty obvious that if I had gone to the science stream, I would have sealed my doom there and then. Kaput!!!

But these days, they look at the PMR Examination results to stream the students into arts or science and in the end, those with “better” results end up in the science side…and the left-overs are unceremoniously bundled off to the arts stream. This has given rise to the stigma that if you go to the art stream, you are  a “gong kia” (stupid kid) and people refer to the arts classes as the “gong kia pan” (classes for stupid kids) and everybody who’s anybody dreads going to those.

There are a few considerations that one needs to ponder upon when deciding whether to go to the arts or the science stream…and it is not as simple as merely looking at the PMR Examination results or complying blindly just because it is some government policy that there must be  a certain percentage in the science stream…

There are also some over-ambitious parents who, in the pursuit of their own selfish dreams of having a doctor or an engineer or an accountant and the like in the family, would force their kids to go to the science stream and then send them for tuition classes morning, afternoon and night. I have seen with my own eyes, students eating their dinner in the car after having finished one lesson at one centre, on their way to the next one. I actually tried taking a photograph of one not too long ago but it did not come out well owing to the tinted glass of the cars. I really wonder what kind of lives such children have and more importantly, what kind of people they will grow up to be.

I helped my daughter with her Mathematics all through primary school, patiently (though not all the time) explaining and guiding her, and even while she was in the lower secondary classes despite the fact that I barely made it through the subject myself in Form 5…and I could tell that she was exactly like me – not good at the subject and definitely not science stream material. But she got straight As in the PMR Examination (and the UPSR Examination too) and ended up in the best science class in Form 4. I advised her against it but she insisted that she wanted to give it a try.

The second day of school, she said she needed to go for tuition for her Science and Mathematics subjects so I took her to the centre where I was teaching and enrolled her there. She attended one class that afternoon. The next morning, she woke up crying saying that she wanted to drop out of school. Eventually, I found out that she could not make head or tail of what was taught in the school nor the tuition centre…and she finally agreed to go to an arts class. A good friend of hers, another top student, followed suit…and both of them did well in the SPM Examination unlike those other friends of theirs who remained in the science stream.

I do not know exactly what the other girl got but my daughter got As in all subjects except English Literature which she had to take on her own as it was not offered by the school. Perhaps she had her mind set on becoming an English teacher already by then. But one thing I do know is that the other girl went on to do Form 6 and emerged as one of the top students, with straight As in the STPM Examination.

Likewise, there have been a number of students in my former school who insisted on going to the arts stream in Form 4 and in the end, did very well – which probably would not have been the case, if they had stayed in the science side. I will not touch on the horrendous problems arising in the schools that had stemmed from bored, restless and unmotivated students who had been “forced” to study the dreaded Science and Mathematics subjects…and there were those who failed to make the grade even despite the incredibly low passing marks.

To use an analogy, I cannot simply say I want to cook this today! I would need to see whether I have the ingredients or not, whether they can be made available or whether I can afford them. If not, I would just have to abort the idea until such and such a time, when it is possible for me to do so. I am what I am and you are what you are…and there are things that cannot be compelled. There are many considerations that ought to be made and many things that should or should not be done, but the last thing anyone should do is to base the crucial decision on the one-off public examination results. In your folly, it is the students’ future that you are playing with…and perhaps, even destroying!

Last Saturday evening, I was invited to the annual dinner of my former school at the ballroom of a local hotel here. It certainly was a grand affair…

I sat with my good friends and ex-colleagues, Carole and Adeline who incidentally was a student of mine in a previous school.

Stella may recognise the shirt as the XXXL one that she bought me all the way from Melbourne, Australia on her last trip home. It certainly fitted me well and was nice and comfy!

The RM350-per-table dinner started off with this dish of miscellaneous items…

…followed by the soup that shall not be named. LOL!!! Then there was this plate of roast chicken and duck…

…and the fish head curry with the fragrant Bario rice…

We also had a vegetable dish of broccoli and abalone and mushroom…

…and these fried prawn balls with pineapples served with mayonnaise…

…and lastly, we had the fried pancakes with red bean paste and a fruit plater for dessert.  On the whole, the food was pretty good and in the course of the evening, other than the seemingly-endless lucky draws, we were entertained to a guitar recital by an old student of the school, Dr Lim, who is currently the president of the alumni association in Kuching.

Then there was the karaoke performances by some very good singers among the staff and invited guests. These two lady teachers, who are going to join my fold this year – retired from service, presented a song with their hubbies…

It was an evening of mostly Chinese songs though and thankfully, they sang pretty well. There was one Malay song (Isabella) and an Indonesian number (Singkong & keju)…and not even one English song. I was not invited to render one! Sulk! Sulk! Hahahahaha!!!!

Well, I’ve retired for two years now…and I guess that as long as the most wonderful principal, Mr. Liong, is still the principal of the school, I would still be invited to this yearly function of theirs…or at least, that’s what I hope will be the case. Together forever…

Well, it’s November, and we’ve been getting a lot of rain lately…

This is one of my favourite songs and somehow the tone sets the mood for that time of the year…

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin’ when I hold you
Don’t you know I feel the same
‘Cause nothin’ lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it’s hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain

It’s November, just a month left till December – the final month in the year. What have you done…or not done?

We’ve been through this such a long long time
Just tryin’ to kill the pain
But lovers always come and lovers always go
An no one’s really sure who’s lettin’ go today
Walking away
If we could take the time to lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin’ that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
then darlin’ don’t refrain
Or I’ll just end up walkin’
In the cold November rain

Well, it’s November. Are things now any different from how they were when the year began? Are they getting better…or getting worse? Or are they the same, unchanged?

Do you need some time…on your own
Do you need some time…all alone
Everybody needs some time…on their own
Don’t you know you need some time…all alone
I know it’s hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn’t time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time…on my
own Sometimes I need some time…all alone
Everybody needs some time…on their own
Don’t you know you need some time…all alone

Are there things that you wish could be the different…but as the months rolled past, they have still remained the same?

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain, ohhh yeahhh
I know that you can love me
When there’s no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
‘Cause nothin’ lasts forever
Even cold November rain

Don’t ya think that you need somebody
Don’t ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You’re not the only one
You’re not the only one

Yes, you’re not the only one. It’s November, just two months left in the year and life goes on pretty much the same…as it always has.

P.S.:
It’s All Saints’ Day today and tomorrow, November 2nd, is All Souls’ Day. Let us remember and pray for our dearly departed…

Lately I’ve noticed a change in my regular kuih-muih stall at Bandong. They seem to be selling more and more cakes of various varieties e.g. this one that they call “cheese batik cake”…

It is really very nice with the cheese cream and the grated cheese on top of the rich batik cake. I can’t remember exactly now but I think they were selling that for RM3.00…and I thought that was a bit too expensive. But then again, the sliced cakes at the bakeries are not much cheaper, possibly a lot more expensive even, and they do not even taste good.

I love this Horlicks cake selling at 50 sen per piece…

You can actually taste the Horlicks…like when there is some undissolved Horlicks stuck to the bottom of your mug and you scrape it with a spoon and put that in your mouth. Ooooo…nice! LOL!!!

But considering that you only get two pieces of a ringgit, I would rather stick to the local delights like this kuih deram, for instance.

For RM1, you can get four of those…and Sarawak laksa is selling for only RM2.50 a packet, 50 sen cheaper than the cheese batik cake and a lot more filling…

Of course, there are no shrimps or prawns. Surely you do not expect that for RM2.50! Even at Thomson Corner, if you ask for the normal ones at around RM4.00 a bowl, you only get three miserably tiny shrimps.

This one tasted good…but I was not too sure about the sambal. Instead of the usual sambal belacan that we would get with our Sarawak laksa, they gave something like the sambal for nasi lemak…

Somehow or other, when I mixed it with the gravy, it tasted different. Nice, but different…