Seeds of hope and love

There was one season when my mum’s all into preparing ‘kiao’ (wanton or chinese wet dumplings?) for breakfast. It is just minced meat wrapped in popiah skin (made of flour, I believe).

Yums!

But if you are in London craving for this ‘kiao’.. it is extremely expensive to get the materials (presumely, in Chinatown?)…

How do you then do the cheapskate budget way?

A couple of days ago, I learnt that there is something similar in the western world. It is called tortellini.

You can cook it in broth or just do it the ‘kolok’ style. It has meat wrapped in pasta ’sheets’. I think it is quite similar to wanton/kiao/dumplings. I think it affordable, simple and makes a good meal. Toss them with extra virgin olive oil, some oyster sauce (don’t forget you’re chinese, after all), soy sauce, basil and pepper. Sometimes, you can also add some colours to the dish. Long beans can do the greens while tomatoes give the vibrant redness.

Improvise your meal. Stretch the dollars!

A crush is a drink made from fruit juice, purees and water. It’s often found in supermarkets and is much thinner than a true 100% fruit smoothie.

From Innocent drinks

I came across this book in the university library. It looks the least of medical books, so I decided to devour it..

I must admit, the pages were depressing. The author, Linda Grant wrote about coping with her dementing mother. She wrote about her family, her relationship with her mother and the frustrating times when her mother was diagnosed Multiple Infarct Dementia. What really struck me is the very fact that everything is real. It is not a fiction I was reading.. it was a real story.

Having the setting in the UK connected me. Familiar places like Liverpool, Bournemouth, Waterloo, Hackney, Islington.. at least I could have a visualise these places on the map in my mind.

As depressing as it may sound (”devastating at its core” on the front cover mentioned), I think this book is a good eye-opener to the real world. Really, without memory, we are nothing.

I am inspired to write too.. I enjoyed the writing style in this book. But ’til then, it is slumber..

Good night!

I finally finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife.

It took me some good few weeks to finish reading it. Initially, I found the book hard to follow.. I could not really grasp the chrono displacement (or was it ‘impairement) concept. I was a bit at loss reading. It was only nearly half way through that I understood and everything became clear.

After finishing a good read, I decided to ‘feast’ at the movie.

This is one of the rare ocassions when I actually read a book before watching the silver screen version. I can now understand how hard it is to fit every single ocassion or event from a book into a movie. They left out many subplots such as Lucille (Clare’s mother)’s death, Ingrid (Henry’s former lover) and how his feet were amputated (??).

Having said that, a movie can just be 2 hours long, anyway. A book which I read for 2 weeks warped into the screen for 2 hours. How much more do you want?

Honestly, I do not know which is better.. the book or the movie.. you take the pick!

I treated myself to a book..

The title struck me. I really, really need to learn to love others at this point. I am always meshed up with negative thoughts about certain something.. it is hard to love. It is so hard. I am trying, but I get crushed many times. I get poked back and then I feel so demotivated. Discouraged.

I placed an order on Amazon and they have just despatched the book. Hope to have a good read for 2010.

Happy new year!