Steamed Stuffed Bitter Gourd

I got this sudden crave for a special dish of my mum. I immediately went off to buy the ingredients for the dish ~ Steamed Stuffed Bitter Gourd.

Firstly, i cut the bitter gourd transversely into segments about 2 cm thick. The seeds were dug out and cleansed properly.

To some, the bitter gourd might be a bit too bitter. To reduce the bitterness, just pop them into boiling water and allow to boil until the gourd turned soft. If one preferred it to be more bitter, this step can be omitted. I love the bitter taste but my wife and mother-in-law were otherwise.

At the mean time, prepare the stuff. Mince the meat of your preference, and add in some carrots, water chest nuts (or sengkuang), spring onion, a bit of corn flour and an egg. Add in some salt for taste too.

Mix the ingredient well and stuff them into the hallow of the segments. At the mean time, bring the water to boil.

Steam the bitter gourd for about 10 mintues, then pour in eggs beaten together with water at the ratio of 1:1.

Steam another 3 minutes and tadaaaa..........

Yummy.......

Suddenly i miss my mum and dad. Got to call them, after finishing the bitter gourd :-P

Junction ~ the dilemma

I knew it. Sooner or later this thing will come again. It happened two years ago and was not materialized. February this year, the wave came again, wanting our office to be moved to a far-away-land. To our dismay, three months had passed, yet not much had been done by 'them'. The future of our office is yet to be certain. Thus, i'm getting nearer to the Junction of dilemma.

Today, traveling to work takes up two hours of my day. If the shifting is certain, commuting from home to office will take 2 and a half hours. Five hours out of my 24 hours will be spent on the road. I leave my office around 7.00pm almost everyday, due to the tons of work waiting to be completed. If i were to work at the new place, I might reach home after 9pm. Definitely not the kind of life i wanted to have.

Shift my home nearer to workplace? Out of the story. If i were to choose between family and work, family is definitely my priority. Period.

Leave this workplace and find a greener pasture? Possible. In fact, i had received some offers. However, my heart is still with my current workplace. I love my colleagues. I love my students.

Somehow i'll have to make my choice, for my future, and the future of my family.

Oh God, grant me a heart with humility and the wisdom to make the right choice. Amen.

Apple and Laughter

With inconsistency in bowel movements, the pediatrician advised us to feed baby Justin some fruits. She suggested red apples. We cut the apple into half, and scrapped the fruit flesh with a teaspoon. We feed him two to three teaspoons a day for a start. Baby Justin loved it.

That was two weeks ago. Now, baby Justin enjoyed half an apple a day. He's healthier now, and very cheerful. A very happy boy he is.

Ever since he turned 4 months old, he refused to lie down on his crib most of the time. Instead, he demanded to to seated or to be carried upright. But since he's still too young to sit up-right for too long, we put him on the seat instead. He would use his best 'weapon' to attract your attention. Not screams, not cries, not noises either, but his sweetest charming smile. Even grandma (my mother-in-law) couldn't resist to spend some time with him.


We constantly look up to God our heavenly Father with prayers of thanksgiving. Indeed Justin is the best gift He had given us so far. The constant attention demanded and the interrupted sleeps at night mean nothing when compared to the joy of having this gem in our life.

More challenges of baby up-bringing coming up. We do pray for wisdom and strength from Him. Justin, papa and mama love you.

Playful Justin

Justin turn 4 months old on 23 March. Being a cheerful and happy boy, he would charm you to play with him. In return, he would give you the world most radiant smile and sweetest baby laughters. Without fail, mummy would play with him every day after his morning shower and milk feeding.




Beside being playful, he's rather 'talkative' too. He would coo and make noises when we talk to him. However, he got this habit that most baby have. Sucking hands, fingers, and any object that come close to his mouth.

Even Blue-blue the doggy also fall victim into his sucking habit. Aiyoooooo

Being cheerful and happy is obviously inherited from his parents, tapi tang sucking hands to comes natural takyah ajar. Kan?

Fengsui??

I sent my car for some washing and vacuuming recently. Nothing much to do while waiting, so i walked around the centre.

This fish net thingy caught my attention. The owner hanged it high on the wall, with the little opening of the net facing the main entrance.

I got curious. Cantik kerj?? Close examination of the net reveals that it's actually a common fish catching device used by kampung folks. The fish would enter from the small opening and got caught inside.


"For fengsui ah Tauke??"

"Ya maaa, money come in, cannot go out!"

Aaah.....it's confirmed now. It's fengsui. But i wonder if such fengsui work if the owner is not a diligent person?

Honey Laling's Wedding Banquet

Our dear friend Honey Laling got married recently and we were invited to an extravagant wedding banquet at a famous Japanese Restaurant at One World Hotel, the Kura Restaurant.

Name of guests were specifically labelled with two ferrero Rochers as appetizer. :-D

Actually, the japanese restaurant was not designed for banquet. It contain various private rooms with different decoration. They'd never done any wedding banquet and would not do any in the future, but since the manager is the bride's brother, they'd loosen up their stringent regulations. Though the wedding couple were worried about the space and the in-availability of hall, the dinner turned out to be very nice and extra-ordinary.


The newly wed couple made their grand entrance with simplicity. Nicely done.

The guests were all excited with great anticipation. All seated anxiously to wait for the surprises. After all, no one had held wedding banquet under such setting before. Judging from the facial expressions and radiant smiles of all who'd turned up, i guess the dinner was excellent and memorable.




To my delight, a few of my favourites were served in the dinner. The unagi sushi and sushi with avocado toppings were so yummilicious that I had 6 pieces in a go!

I was told that this plate of sushi was not cheap. I checked the price on the menu outside, it was a shocking RM68. Gasps...

The special chawanmushi was so delicious that I wish they would serve two helpings per person. The price was RM20 per cup. Gasps again..... no wonder they serve one cup only :-P

The cold mini soba was one of the best i'd ever had. Beautifully done with smooth soba cooked to perfection. Yummy.....

Aahhhh..... this was what I'd waited for the whole night! Their famous stuffed strawberry ice-cream with green tea ice-cream. Yoooooooooooooooooo!! so slurpy yummy super duper delicious that i'd actually asked for a second helping, and they responded to my request with smile. Yeaaay.

The dinner was definitely memorable. The food was super delicious, the decor was fun and mood lifting, and the entire wedding banquet was full with surprises.

Happy and blessed wedding to Honey Laling and her Darling. May God bless you both abundantly and your family fill with joy and grace.

Chit-chatting with Justin

I have always looking forward to weekends, especially Saturday. It's the only day that i can allow myself to goleking in bed until 8.30 or 9.00am. The rest of the days requires me to wake up by 6.45am.

Anyway, it's not the goleking that i look forward to on Saturdays. Rather it's the only time i can lazying on the bed with Justin and wife. You see, Justin is always in good mood in the morning after a good night rest. He would respond to our speeches with various sounds as if we're chit-chatting. Lets watch the video below:


Well, it's priceless. I enjoyed every single moment of it. That's the joy of fatherhood.

Justin is Three Months Old

Time flies, Justin is three months old now. He'd grown much, from 2.95kg during birth, to 6.5kg. From 2 oz of milk per feeding, to 4.5 oz.

And to my delight, he starts to laugh out loud every time we play with him.


Awwww....... that laughter is the best 'cure' for the immense amount of pressure and stress I'm having for now. :-D

Something Different About This CNY

With a blink of the eyes, CNY for 2010 was already over.

We had our usual family re-union dinner, with the usual 'lou-sang' and family get together.


The CNY eve midnight fireworks was as noisy and colourful as usual. The whole family stayed awake till midnight and watched the splendor of our neighbours' firework display without paying a single cent, as usual.

Relatives and friends came and visited us and we counter visit them as any other previous CNY. Updates and gossips were exchanged.

The activities were like any other CNY, filled with colour, joy and get-together. But there's something different about this CNY. Nothing big, nothing extravagant, but Dad and Mum can tell alright. It's the presence of Justin in the family. Our family was filled with Justin's laughter, Justin's cooing, and also his mid-night cry.

Dad was grinning from ear to ear all the time, having his grandchild in his arm almost the whole day (Great, now Justin demands us to carry him every single moment in between his two hours sleep).

Mum was excited too, to see her two-and-a-half months old grandchild able to coo and responded to her voice. Again, Justin was either at grandpa's arm or grandma's. He's a gem to them. Justin is not the only grandchild in the family, but mum and dad was extra happy to have Justin, after waiting for 5 years on our marriage.

To Justin's dad. It's another different story. It's about Angpow. :-P
My wife and I used to give away angpow on every CNY. This year, we received (or rather it's Justin) angpow, lots of them.... One hundred... two hundred.... three.... four...... seven.... eight..... and still going up (another 8 days to go before CNY ends)...

Yah, it's different now. Justin's presence changed our life, and our family's too. But it's a very much welcomed change.

Aaaauuuuuwwwww............

I sang a song to Justin one early morning. To my amazement, he responded rather amusingly, hitting the right note at the right time.

Good morning, good morning, good morning to you,
Good morning, good morning, good morning to you.

"Aaauuuuuuwwwww......."



Now THAT is PRICELESS. That auuww drew smiles on my face for days, and even now. :-D