Ramadan Bazaar 2016

It's almost the end of the Ramadan month which means that Muslims all over the world have been  fasting from sunrise to sunset. In Malaysia, Ramadan bazaars have been mushrooming all over the towns and cities. Essentially, they're like our pasar malam (night markets), except that mostly food and beverages are sold. Muslims (and non-Muslims) get to pick from a smorgasbord of snacks on their way home from work for breaking their fast just before dusk.

Sharing these photos I've captured when I was at the bazaar to pick up some apam balik.

Otak-otak - a fish cake wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over a charcoal fire

Apam balik - Turnover pancake


Cucur Udang (Prawn fritters)

Kebab

Barbequed chicken wings

Sugar Cane Juice. The contraption you see in the pic is used to extract the juice from the sugar canes

Roti Jala - a lacy and net-like bread/crepe/pancake


Satay - skewered meat grilled over a charcoal fire


A variety of desserts


Drinks. 'Air' pronounced as ai-yer is a Malay word for water


Cookies I made for Father's Day

Of Useless Skills and Posts

Every now and then, Rodney, my teen son would show me some useless video someone shares on Facebook.

Take the following video for instance.



Me: How does this benefit anyone? It's a useless skill.

Rodney: I am sure some guy who loses his hands in an accident would find this helpful.

Maybe he has a point there. I guess this post is just as useless as the video but I am really blocked for something to write about. Sorry, pallies!

This week's cookies for St. Patty's Day.

For Dog Lovers - Cry your eyes out!

If you suffer from Dry Eye Syndrome like me, watch this heart wrenching Thai commercial that has gone viral and get those tears rolling down your cheeks.

It's a sad, sad story about the relationship between a girl and her canine friend.

You don’t find the purpose of this tear jerker until its final seconds. At the end of the video, you will see the words, "One of the students receiving scholarships under Krungthai University Graduates Project" flash underneath a photo of the vet at college.  The bank is reaffirming its commitment to helping Thai children reach their educational goals.


That dog should get an Oscar!

This week's cookies

You say shrimp, I say prawn!

So who's correct? Besides knowing they are yummy edible 10-legged critters that end up in your curries and salad, do you know the difference between a prawn and a shrimp? C'mon, 'fess up!
 Like most Malaysians, I had always thought that shrimps were small prawns until I shared a prawn curry recipe in a previous post and noticed the confusion when my American pallies referred to them as shrimps in their comments. I had specifically listed 'large prawns' as the main ingredient!  I googled for an explanation.Turned out I wasn't exactly wrong 'cos culinarily, many people distinguish between shrimps and prawns on the basis of size. Prawns are considered to be larger, while shrimps are smaller.  But then again, there are those who argue that prawns can be small and shrimps can be big. Confused? Hmm...maybe these decapods are just interchangeably used depending on which part of the world you live? Wrong again!  Believe it or not, there is in fact, a very BIG difference between the two!

Image credit - Ya Da Chef

So what makes a shrimp a prawn or vice versa? The difference is in their gill structure.
Prawns and shrimps are both decapods and crustaceans, and all that this means is they both have exoskeletons and ten legs. Once cooked and on a plate they are nearly impossible to discern because their main difference is the construction of their gills (or a part usually removed in the preparation and cooking process). They are classified in suborders based on gill structure. The prawn’s is branching (named dendrobranchia), but is lamellar (flat or plate like, pleocyemata) in shrimp. Also, prawns usually have claws on three pairs of their legs, while shrimp only have claws on two; and finally unlike almost all other decapods, prawns do not brood their eggs on the pleopods (legs along their tails) but release the eggs into the water after fertilization.

Source - http://www.finemainelobster.com/difference-between-prawns-shrimp/

Remember the OCD Jacques (Finding Nemo)? He is a Pacific cleaner shrimp.

Australians, however, invariably use the word prawn rather than shrimp.
If you say "put another shrimp on the barbie," Aussies will just roll their eyes because they NEVER say that!  No Aussie except Paul Hogan has ever said it! It all  started back in the '80s by Paul Hogan as part of an American advertising campaign for Australian travel. Australians say "prawns." Apparently Hogan changed the phrase to "shrimp" because the commercial was commissioned for broadcast in the United States and the change was made to limit audience confusion.



A shrimp/prawn recipe to share.....

THAI LEMONGRASS PRAWNS

Love the subtle, lemony taste (from the lemongrass) of the sauce that's bursting with zing!

Ingredients
1 pound prawns, shelled (leave tails intact) and deveined
2 stalks lemongrass (chopped)
1 chili,chopped
1 green chili, chopped (optional)
3 pips garlic, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon chili sauce
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
cooking oil

Method
1. Scald prawns in hot oil until the prawns turn opaque. Do not overcook. Remove the prawns and keep aside leaving about 1 tablespoon of oil in pan.
2. Saute chopped shallots and garlic until fragant. Add the chopped chilies and lemongrass and stir-fry for another minute.
3. Add water, ketchup, chilli sauce, fish sauce and sugar and bring to a boil.
4. Lower heat and let the sauce simmer for another minute.
5. Turn off heat and mix in the scalded prawns.
6. Serve with rice

This week's cookies

Crane Stories

Crane Cookies for Chinese New Year

Cranes are an auspicious motif in Chinese arts and favoured as decorations during the Chinese New Year. Throughout Asia, the crane is revered as it is symbolic of peace, health, prosperity and mythical wisdom. Referred to as "bird of happiness" by the Japanese and "heavenly bird" by the Chinese, the crane stands for good fortune and longevity because of its fabled life span of a thousand years. The powerful wings of the crane were believed to be able to convey souls up to paradise and to elevate people to higher levels of spiritual enlightenment.

An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. This makes them popular gifts for special friends and family.

Many enchanting legends and stories that have survived generations have been bestowed upon our feathered friends. When the boys were little, I would regale them with stories of the mystical birds while they folded origami cranes out of ang pows (red envelopes) that I would hang on my pussy willow stalks as decorations for the Chinese New Year.

Sharing two of our favourite crane stories.

TSURU NO ONGAESHI (Crane Returns A Favour)

A long, long time ago, there lived a poor woodcutter and his wife.  One day, the woodcutter found a crane caught in a hunter's trap. It was snowing heavily and the woodcutter felt sorry for the helpless creature. He freed the bird and it flew off in a great hurry. That very same night, a beautiful girl dressed in white appeared at the old couple's doorstep in the raging snow storm. The young girl begged them to shelter her for the night as she was lost while on her way to visit some relatives. The childless couple warmly welcomed the stranger into their humble home. The snow had not quite stopped the next day, and the day after that, and the girl remained in the house of the elderly couple.  She took great care of them and her gentle and kind ways endeared her to the old man and his wife. The girl then asked if she could stay and live with them as their daughter  They were delighted and consented without hesitation.

One day, the lovely girl requested for a loom to be set up in her room so she could help with the household income. But her request came with a condition and she said,“When I am weaving in the room, none of you can come to look at me working." She then hid in the room, and wove for three days and nights without a break. Finally, she emerged from her room and in her hand she held the most beautiful cloth the couple had ever seen. The old couple sold the cloth for a fair price. The girl continued to churn out cloths that were so exquisite, they became the talk of the town. People from far and near came to buy her cloths. Soon the couple became very rich.

The old couple persevered in keeping their promise but as the days went by, they noticed that their daughter was getting frailer by the day. Overcome with curiosity, the old lady sneaked into her room to peek. Where there should have been a girl was a crane. The crane plucked its own feathers to weave between the threads to produce a glittering cloth. Large portions of the wing had already been plucked out, leaving the crane in a pitiful state. In front of the shocked elderly couple, the daughter who finished weaving approached them, confessing that she was the crane that was saved. She had intended to remain their daughter, but now that they had seen her true form, she had to leave.  Suddenly, a flock of a thousand cranes appeared,  flying from the western sky. Carrying the  naked crane, the great flock flew towards the setting sun as the woodcutter and his wife sorrowfully watched,shedding tears of regret.

SADAKO SASAKI

The origami crane has become an international symbol of peace, a Peace Crane, through the sad but inspiring story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki

Born in 1943 in Hiroshima, Japan, Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, on 6th August 1945. Growing up, Sadako appeared healthy but at the age of 12, she was diagnosed with leukemia. While in the hospital, a friend showed her colourful paper cranes and told her an old Japanese legend, which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. In the hope that she would recover soon, Sadako began making origami cranes with
the goal of making one thousand as inspired by the senbazuru legend. Sadly, she could only make about 600 cranes before she passed on after an eight-month battle with the disease.

After her death, Sadako's friends and schoolmates published a collection of letters in order to raise funds to build a memorial to her and all of the children who had died from the effects of the atomic bomb. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. At the foot of the statue is a plaque that reads:

"This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world."

A statue of Sadako holding a golden crane

“I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.”
(Sadako Sasaki)

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

Euphemisms and Idioms

Your squid just got fried!.

Conversing entirely in Cantonese is a struggle for me with my limited vocabulary of the Chinese language. And having a dialogue with my mom-in-law is the biggest challenge as she does not speak English.

Me: How's Grand Aunt?

Mom-in-law : Gone to sell salted eggs.

Me: I didn't know she was in the salted egg business.

My mom-in-law burst into laughter, shaking her head at me. OOPS! Caught again! Dang those euphemisms! The Chinese language is full of them.

''Sell salted eggs" is the Cantonese euphemism for croaked, bite the dust, six feet under, kicked the bucket or pushing up daisies. You get the picture.

I didn't know what a camel-toe and the phrase "Aunt Flo is in town" were until I started blogging!

Here's a list for the verbally -challenged

1. Bat in the cave
Booger stuck in the nose

2. Step on a frog
To pass gas loudly

3. I’ve got the flags out
Having your period (Australia)

4.Burp the baby
Male masturbation

5. Up the duff
Unplanned pregnancy ( UK and Australia)

6. Pinch a loaf
Defaecate

7. Driving the porcelain bus
Puking (Australia)

9. Fried squid (Chinese)
Getting fired

Funnily, the Malays seem to have something against the chicken as you can see from the following idioms. Poor bird! Ayam is chicken in Malay.

1. Chicken scratch ( cakar ayam)
Bad handwriting

2. As warm as chicken poop ( hangat-hangat tahi ayam)
A short-lived interest (chicken poop cools as soon as it reaches the ground)

3. Mother hen (ibu ayam)
Prostitute

4. Like a chicken pooping chalk (seperti ayam berak kapur)
Looking pale when one is unwell.

And what's with the Yiddish and onions!!

1. He should grow like an onion with his head in the ground
Go take a hike

2. Onions should grow from your navel
An insult

3. Onion tears
Crocodile tears

Do you have an interesting idiom/euphemism to share?

This week's cookies

Yu Shang 2016

I am back from my Chinese New Year break, pallies! Fatter and poorer though - fatter from all that feasting and poorer because of the Ang Pow distribution! My boys say they raked in more of the red packets this year than last year! And today is only the 7th day of the Chinese Lunar Year. The festivities last for 15 days!

For me, the best part of the Chinese New Year is the reunion dinner, which is kinda like the Thanksgiving Dinner in the west but instead of turkey, we have dishes that are symbolic and homophonous with auspiciousness.

We always start off with "Yee Sang" as the first course. The fun begins with the communal tossing of the ingredients into the air with chopsticks while wishes are expressed out loud to mark the start of a prosperous new year and it's customary that the higher you toss, the greater your fortunes! Invariably, the tossing ends in raucous laughter and food all over the table!

Each ingredient has an auspicious meaning as explained in the video below.

Getting ready with our chopsticks...

The tossing begins! Toss high to achieve great heights!

An example of an auspicious and symbolic Chinese New Year dish -  lychee for close family ties and duck for fertility. Several members of our clan have just gotten married! This should explain the increase in Ang Pows. According to Chinese tradition, Ang Pows are generally given by married couples to single people.

At the centre is a sugar sculpture of Shou, one of the three wise men, Fu, Lu and Shou, used in Chinese culture to denote the three attributes of the ultimate good life. Fu for prosperity, Lu for ambition/career and Shou for longevity. According to legend, Shou was carried in his mother's womb for ten years before he was born, and already an old man when delivered. He is recognized by his high, domed forehead and the peach which he carries as a symbol of immortality. He is usually depicted as smiling and friendly, and may sometimes be carrying a gourd filled with the elixir of life.

Fu, Lu, Shou

A video to explain how "Yu Sheng" (Yee Sang in Cantonese) is eaten.


Cookies I made for Valentine's Day

Gong Xi Fa Cai 2016

 1. Spring cleaning ✓
 2. Bake cookies ✓
 3. Shop for new clothes ✓
 4. Ang Pows ✓
 5. Stock freezer with large prawns ✓
 6. Stock up on mandarin oranges ✓

With only a day more to the Chinese Lunar Year, I am quite done with most of the preparations. I really should have a longer list but being Malaysian and Catholic, I do away with many of the practices especially the taboos observed and the non-Christian rituals of the festival.

SPRING CLEANING
While spring cleaning is done to get rid off all the bad luck gathered in the previous year, I do it because it's a good reason to get Hubby and the boys to clean the house from top to bottom once a year. I think that's the only time Josh cleans his room!

COOKIES AND MANDARIN ORANGES
Cookies and mandarin oranges are exchanged as gifts with family and friends throughout the 15 days of the Chinese Lunar Year, kinda like gifting during Christmas. Who doesn't love cookies or mandarin oranges?!!!  Besides, these oranges do not grow in Malaysia and we get to enjoy the fruit only when they are available, that is, once a year during the Chinese Lunar Year. Mandarin oranges are homophonous with "gold" and are an auspicious symbol.

NEW CLOTHES
New clothing symbolizes a new start to the year. l can still recall the difficulty of falling asleep on the eve of the Chinese new year with our neatly folded new clothes that Mom would place at the foot of our beds when we were little.  We were so full of anticipation and excitement for the following big day, eager to parade around in our new cloths when we received our ang pows. I am the second child in a family of three girls and save for special occasions, my clothes were mostly hand-me-downs from my elder sister and cousins so you can imagine what this meant to me.

ANG POW
As a kid, receiving "Ang Pow" was the highlight of the Chinese Lunar Year for me!  It's the one thing that all Malaysians, regardless of race and creed, associate the Chinese New Year with beyond mandarin oranges! "Ang Pow" are those little red envelopes containing money handed out  as Chinese New Year gifts. Folding and slipping crisp new RM$5 and RM10 bills into red envelopes is a pleasure that's hard to describe. I guess there is as much joy in giving as in receiving. The wide smile on the recipient's face is priceless! It is a small yet  thoughtful gesture of thanks and gratitude to the people you encounter daily - the friendly janitor, the helpful security guard, the patient check-out girl in your neighbourhood grocer, the mailman, etc.

And if you are wondering about item #5, that's because large prawns always skyrock to a ridiculous price about 2 weeks before the Chinese Lunar Year due to the spike in demand as people rush to stock up on the essential item for the dinner table during the festivities. You would probably ask, "Why prawns?"  That's because prawn, "HA" in Cantonese, is a homophonic pun for laughter.
Ha! Ha! Prawn suppliers must be laughing their way to the bank!



I will be on a blogging break for the Chinese Lunar Year so until then........

HAVE A VERY HAPPY MONKEY YEAR!!

GONG XI FA CAI

Chinese Lunar Year Cookies

Fu Dogs?

In my previous post  "Upside Down Fortune", bloggy pally Lin @ Duck And Wheel With String asked, "Veronica, I've heard of Fu Dogs....how is Fu connected with them??"

I've never heard of "Fu Dogs" until Lin mentioned them!  Neither has my all-knowing aunt nor my mom-in-law! Or my Malaysian Chinese friends! I even asked my son's Chinese teacher and she was just as clueless!  Finally, an American Chinese cousin explained that a "Fu Dog" is actually a Chinese guardian LION! Chinese guardian lions, known as Shishi or Imperial Guardian Lions, are  INCORRECTLY called "Fu Dogs" in the West. Chinese reference to the guardian lion is seldom prefixed with " Fu" (佛 or 福), and more importantly never referred to as "dogs". In other words, "Fu dog" is a misnomer.

Over here, on our side of the pond, I have seen these majestic lions guarding the entrances of Chinese offices, temples, hotels, malls, etc. but never quite knew the symbolic elements they stood for until today. I had always thought they were merely ornamental.

Sharing what I've just learnt.

Traditionally made from bronze , the lions guarded imperial palaces and temples in China, always in pairs (yin and yang). These sculptures originally served as totems for the elite, due to their cost, but they have been reproduced cheaply and universally in modern times. Interestingly, you can tell the owner's status by the number of bumps (curly hair) on the lion's head - the more the bumps, the higher the owner's rank!

You can also identify the gender of the lion by what’s beneath the paws: the male (yang)  rests its right paw on a ball, symbolizing supremacy over Earth.

image credit -  https://travelinheels.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/shishi-or-chinese-guardian-lions/

The female (yin) has her left paw on a playful cub that is on its back, representing nurture.

https://travelinheels.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/shishi-or-chinese-guardian-lions/

image credit - http://talltales.me

Traditionally, the male lion is placed on the right side of a building or dwelling it stands before, and the female will be on the left side. The male of the pair is said to guard the structure, while the female protects the interior of the place and its worshipping believers or inhabitants.

image credit - http://www.houzz.com/

Fu dog ornaments, with their striking, often colorful appearance, have become a favorite of decorators in the West.

image credit - http://decor8blog.com

This week's cookies

Upside Down Fortune

Chinese Lucky Knot Cookies with the character "Fu". The one in the middle is inverted.

I was clearing out my closet when I found a lucky knot with a Chinese character on it. Though I can speak 2 dialects of Chinese, I can't read or write the language. Following the strokes, I tried to reproduce the character on my phone using the Pleco Chinese character recognition app but it could not recognize the character. Dang! I had to seek the assistance of my very traditional aunt who is constantly on my back for my illiteracy. Rolling her eyes at me, she turned the knot upside down and  explained that the character was an inverted "Fu" (fortune)! No wonder the app couldn't recognize it!  I had written it upside down!   Who knew!  I was curious about the reason behind the inversion but I quickly disappeared before she had the opportunity to launch into another long tirade about how disgraceful I am for being a Chinese and not knowing the language.

 I googled for more information and here's what I learned

 A long, long time ago, in ancient China, a servant was putting up the character "Fu" (福) on the door in a rich man's dwelling to herald the arrival of the Spring Festival. However, this servant was illiterate and did not know the word "Fu". He inadvertently placed the character upside down on the door. This made the  master of the house very angry and he wanted to give the poor servant a good whooping.  Just then, another quick-thinking servant told the master that the occurrence must have been a sign of prosperity "arriving" upon his household. His words calmed the master and in fact, made him very happy. Now, why then did the servant say that?
That's because the Chinese are big on homophones and the character for "inverted"  (倒) nearly sounds the same as  "Dao" (到) meaning "arrive". Therefore, the phrase an "upside-down Fú" sounds nearly identical to the phrase "Good Fortune Arrives".
From then on, "Fu" is pasted upside-down  on all doors in every household as the inverted "Fu" translates into a wish for prosperity to descend upon a dwelling.

Another interesting version to share.

It is said that the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang once used the character "Fu" as a cryptic code when he marked someone to be killed.
One such person who knew too many secrets about the royal court was on the emperor's hit list.The assassin was to kill that person with the indication of a character “Fu” hung on his door.
The kindhearted wife of the emperor, Empress Ma,  could not bear to kill people and she worried that the insistence of their killing people would lead to broad and severe repercussions.
To thwart her husband's plan, she gave everyone the order to hang the character “Fu” on their doors. Interestingly, an illiterate family hung the “Fu” upside down by mistake. Confused by the "Fu' on all the doors,  the assassin was not able to identify his target. On hearing this, the emperor was enraged. In his fury, he ordered to kill the goof who hung the “Fu” upside down.

To avert the situation, the clever empress remarked that the inverted "Fu"  had an interesting meaning “Fudao”(福倒) which was homophonous  with that of “luck was on my side.” The Emperor was placated and the victim was spared.

Thus, besides praying for prosperity, the "Fu' is hung upside down in memory of the kind and wise Empress Ma.

Year Of The Monkey

Monkey Cookies for Chinese New Year 2016

Despair not if your New Year's resolutions are not coming along nicely 'cos you're in luck!  With the Chinese new year just round the corner, here's your second chance for a do-over.

We're 15 days away from the Chinese lunar year and 2016 heralds The Year Of The Monkey. If you're into Chinese hocus-pocus, the Monkey Year is predicted to be a rather challenging year ahead for those born in the year of the tiger. Grrrrrrr!  Yep, I am a tigress!

My HORRORscope reads, "Tigers won't have such a great year when it comes to health and luck, because the Tiger is the enemy of the Monkey. "There are forces on your chart that will test your motivation and resolve."

Truth be told, I'm a little disturbed by the negative prediction but I am NOT going to let that affect me. I am thinking of Katy Perry's song "ROAR".

"I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar"



Bring on 2016! You're gonna hear me ROOOOOOOOAR-OR-OR-OR-OR!

Malacca

Hi pallies! I'm back. Hope y'all  had a great Christmas and a wonderful start to the new year.
We spent 2016 in Malacca (Melaka in Malay), a state located in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia. It was a last minute decision as we all wanted a short weekend getaway before school reopens on January 4th. It had been quite a while since our last family vacation. Now that Josh is in college, his semester breaks and Rodney's school term breaks are no longer concurrent.

A little info about Malacca to share.

The story of Malacca a.k.a "The Historic City of Malaysia" begins with the legendary tale of a Sumatran prince named Parameswara who was out hunting one day and while resting under a tree, witnessed one of his dogs cornering a mousedeer. The mousedeer in its defence attacked the dog and even forced it into a river. So taken up by the courage of the wee creature, the prince decided on the spot to found a city on the ground he was sitting on. Hence, Malacca was born. Many claimed that the prince took this name from the 'Melaka' tree that was shading him. The year was 1400.

Parameswara established the Sultanate Of Malacca and the kingdom flourished under 8 sultans until it fell into the hands of the Portugese in 1511, followed by the Dutch in 1641, and then handed over to the British in 1795. Malacca went briefly under the rule of the Japanese in 1942-1945 during World War II.  In 1957,  Malaysia (known as Malaya then) gained its independence from the British.

The ruins of the A Famosa Portuguese fort, an iconic landmark of Malacca

Me and Josh. Excuse the sloppy dressing! I had to untuck my shirt and unbutton my jeans after stuffing myself with Satay Celup! Burp!

The Stadthuys

Malacca's most unmistakable landmark. This red town hall dates back to 1650 and is believed to be the oldest Dutch building in the East. The building was erected after Malacca was captured by the Dutch in 1641, and is a reproduction of the former Stadhuis (town hall) of the Frisian town of Hoorn in the Netherlands. Today it serves as a museum complex.

The Statue of St. Francis Xavier

Notice the missing right hand. In 1952, a statue of the Jesuit priest from Spain was erected in front of the ruins of St Paul's church in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of his sojourn in Malacca. A day after the statue was consecrated, a large casuarina tree fell on it, breaking off its right arm. Incidentally, the right forearm of St. Francis Xavier was detached in 1614 as a relic!

Satay Celup

No trip to Malacca is complete if you haven't tried their Satay Celup. Celup in Malay translates as "dunk" so Satay Celup is basically skewered seafood. meat or vegetables that are dunked in a pot of boiling peanut sauce. Think Malaysian fondue!

And you can't say you've been to Malacca if you missed out their chicken rice balls!

The rice balls are just rice shaped into ping-pong sized balls but they are more flavourful than ordinary rice and have a sticky texture, kinda like sushi.

We had a great time in Malacca but the boys and I would really have preferred a beach vacation.  Yep, I think I am going to add that to my 2016 list.