Glad It's the Last Day Of April

April has been crazy. It was the busiest time ever, with many inter-school academic competitions and sports tournaments taking place at the same time.

Due to an oversight - or it could be due to the indifference of certain parties - school level competitions were held in the same month.

The result was a hectic, unfocused month for me. I am not complaining that April's over and done with!

Kuih Auntie and Uncle : Pulut Panggang

There's a coffee shop at the Miri Centrepoint Commercial Centre at Jalan Melayu called Tham's Cafe. It is a corner shop, the same block where K.K Book Centre is located.

After 3.00 p.m. on weekdays, a middle-aged couple will set up their kuih stall outside the cafe to sell their kuihs. And so far, I think their kuihs are among the tastier ones in Miri.

Mr. and Mrs. Lim sell a special item on each day of the week. On Mondays, it's the Pulut Panggang. For the uninitiated, Pulut Panggang is grilled glutinous rice rolls with spicy grated coconut filling wrapped in banana leaves.

The glutinous rice is soft, with a faint hint of smokiness. Keep it in the fridge and pop it into the microwave the next day and it is still just as soft.

Mrs. Lim is generous with the spicy grated coconut filling too. Here's a Pulut Panggang pried open by my hungry fingers.

Mrs. Lim makes all the kuihs herself, and by the taste of the kuihs, you know that she has put all her heart and soul into it.

The Pulut Panggang will set you back by RM1.00 each.

The next time you are at Miri Centrepoint Commercial Centre, do drop by her stall. But you'd better be early, cos her goodies sell out really fast.

Scandalous!

I've been a fan of a South Korean actor named Ju Ji Hun. I first watched him in Goong, where he made his debut as the protagonist, Crown Prince Lee Shin. At first, his acting was not that commendable, and he appeared stony at times. However, as the series progressed, I could see that he had blended in with the character that was Lee Shin. His acting definitely improved. I thought this young actor had a lot of potential, and followed his career with interest. Oh, he was good looking alright. He had a boyish smile, a hearty chuckle, and I loved the way his eyes crinkled up when he laughed. Yet, he could look cool and suave when situation demands it.

Goong propelled Ju Ji Hun to fame, and he soon became the idol of many teenage girls around the globe - perhaps also to a few ahjummas like myself. The proof? Well, you can check the soompi forums, and you will find that his thread is always in the first 3 pages. And at this year's Baeksang Awards, he walked away with the popularity award for his role in the movie, Antique Bakery.

After Goong, Ju Ji Hun took on other projects, notably his starring in the two movies, Antique Bakery and The Naked Kitchen. He was involved also in the Korean production of the French musical, Don Juan. All was going well for him and he was purported to be taking on the lead role in the upcoming Korean production of the Japanese drama, Tokyo Towers.

Alas, last weekend, it was reported that he was involved in drug use on two occasions. He is currently being investigated. His management company has yet to release a statement concerning this, and fans all over the world are in shock.

One thing everyone knows for sure, his career is going to be affected. For a potential actor, who's on-screen charisma has been compared to the likes of Jang Dong Gun, it is such a shame.

I Want To Be The Boss

I want to be the boss
For she just dictates it
And her minions run around to do it.

I want to be the boss
For she is always right
No matter how wrong she is.

I want to be the boss
For she can be unreasonable
And no one dares to tell it.

I want to be the boss
For she can preach
But not practise it.

I want to be the boss
For she can unjustly accuse
And get away with it.

I want to be the boss
For she can be what she wants to be
A tyrant
A queen control
A slave driver
A savage
Reigns supreme over her little kingdom
While small men and women
meek and obedient
submit to her every whim and fancy.

Boiled Tapioca With Butter

Recently, my friend and I went to the night market, and we stumbled upon a lady selling tapioca roots. My friend looked at the tapioca with interest as I looked incredulously at her.

"Are you going to buy?" I asked. I had no idea what she wanted to do with it.

"Yeah, it looks good," she said.

"What are you going to do with it?" I asked, curious.

"Eat it, of course." She also said she could hit somebody with it. She sounded pretty serious.

Anyway, the tapioca was bought for RM1.00. My friend peeled, washed and diced it. Then she boiled it in water. She could have steamed it, but she would rather boil it. "It's easier to gauge whether they are cooked or not. I can just peer into the pot and poke the tapioca with a fork." You see, we were not sure how long it took for tapioca to cook.

It was after countless of pokes that we were certain that the tapioca was cooked. The water was then drained. While still hot, my friend dropped a dollop of butter into the pot and smothered each piece of tapioca with it.

And you know what, the result was heavenly - the sweet natural taste of the tapioca blended very well with salted butter. Just take a piece, and pop it into your mouth, and I'm sure you'll come back for more.

Why Did I Subject Myself to This?

What is the rationale?
Is it necessary?
Leadership by example?
I don't see it.
Please practise what you preach.

Animals take shelter.
For at that hour,
The sun reigns high.
All glorious and mighty
on its throne high up in the sky.
The clouds shy away
in fear or in humility.
Aren't I worthy enough for shelter?

I can't do it, I say quietly.
I can't do it, my heart screams.
Go, you say.
Go and listen to them.

I am not one
who defies authority.

Off I went.
Reluctantly.
Shoulders slumped.
Heart heavy.
Disappointed.
I didn't realise
just how insensible
some people may be.

The cruel sun bit me.
It lapped me up greedily.
Its arms wrapped around me.
Tears burned in my eyes.
Cheeks stung in pain.
Throat parched.
My head spun.

I did not comprehend.
Why was I going through this?

I am Lost for Words

I said I can’t.

I didn’t say I didn’t want to.
I said I can’t.
You said I have to.
I said I can’t.
You said I must.
I did it.
It was scorching.
I don’t like it.
It was sizzling.
I don’t understand it.
It was blistering.
I don’t see a need for it.
I am burning.
Inside and out.
More than that,
My heart aches.
I am dejected.
I am just so disappointed.
For I said I can't
but you said I must.
It is crazy.
And I am lost for words.

Sarawak Specialty : Kolo Mee

"What's the difference between kolo mee and kampua?" I asked my friend one morning, while we sat awaiting for our breakfast orders at a local coffee shop.

"I don't know," she replied and then added, "I think one is from Kuching and the other is from Sibu".

"I think one has minced pork, and the other one doesn't have," I supplied.

"Yeah," she agreed, "and kolo mee char siew is always edged red while char siew in kampua is brown."

"Some people think kampua is more fragrant and tastier than kolo mee," I said, as I vaguely remembered someone mentioning it to me eons ago.

Not wanting to refute that, my friend said, “Oh yes, the condiments are different too. Kolo mee is served with seasoned cut chillies while kampua is eaten with chilli sauce. Oh, and kampua comes with a variety of flavours. There is soy sauce kampua, for example.”

"Well, so does kolo mee. It is sometimes dressed in char siew oil," I replied.

“Oh, I know, I know,” she said. “Kampua comes in a plate while kolo mee is served in a bowl,” she quipped.

“Hmnn, my friend from West Malaysia thinks kolo mee is like instant noodles,” I said.

We looked at each other, “Naahhh.” We both disagreed with that opinion.

Our discussion was abruptly interrupted as our orders arrived.

Coming from Kuching, the Cat City, I am more accustomed to eating kolo mee. In Kuching, kolo mee can be found everywhere, and all the vendors bring their own unique touch to this simple noodle dish.

Well, just what exactly is kolo mee? Kolo mee, also known as “dah mee” or “gan mian” or “dry-tossed noodles” is a popular hawker fare in Sarawak. It is Sarawak's signature noodle dish.

It is simply just noodles tossed in shallot oil, lard (essential!!), light soy sauce, vinegar, and topped with a spoonful of minced pork, char siew, spring onions, and deep-fried shallots. The toppings vary from vendor to vendor. Some would add fresh pork slices, pig offals, fresh fish slices, fresh prawns, fishballs, fishcake slices, and also strips of mustard green. Kolo Mee is eaten with seasoned red cut chillies. It is ubiquitous enough to be eaten at anytime of the day - be it for breakfast, tea, lunch, dinner and even supper.

While Kuching is known for kolo mee and Sibu is known for kampua, Miri vendors seem to be selling a cross between the two. Why do I say so? Well, most of the char siew are tinged brown, and yet there seem also a sprinkling of minced pork. The kolo mee sellers in Miri also have a variety of condiments to serve their noodles with - some provide chilli sauce with the noodles, others provide seasoned cut chillies, while some used some kind of blended dried chillies. What I dislike the most is that they conveniently forgot to give you the condiment until you demand for it.

I am quite selective when it comes to eating kolo mee in Miri. I don’t just walk into any coffee shop and order a kolo mee because from experience, it usually disappoints as it just lacks that aromatic fragrance that kolo mee must have.

Nonetheless, there are also good kolo mee stalls around in Miri. One just needs to know where to eat it.

A yummy bowl of kolo mee ... Miri version

Maggi Mee Curry

In Malaysia, Maggi is synonymous with instant noodles. People will be eating Cintan brand of noodles or Mamee brand of noodles, but they will often say that they are having Maggi.

Every Malaysian probably grew up with Maggi. I know I did. I remember eating it as a child, and I am still eating it now. There are a few must-haves in my larder, and Maggi is one of them. Open my larder any time, and you will find packets of Maggi Mee Curry. It is my favourite of the variety of flavours.

I will always remember a tuition teacher who has said, "Nothing beats a bowl of Maggi Mee and Enid Blyton". To him, Maggi Mee was comfort food. Relaxation. Enjoyment.

I remember when I was studying abroad, packets of Maggi Mee were among the things I would bring with me. No, it wasn't that I was studying in Antartica or something. Maggi Mee Curry was available where I studied. But the taste was just different from the ones locally manufactured here in Malaysia.

Different people have different preferences. I like my noodles to be springy. Whilst I know of some who like them soft and soggy. I like my noodles with lots of soup. My friend, on the other hand, likes it dry. I cannot eat my noodles without vegetables. However, some do not mind their noodles plain.

Different people cook instant noodles in different ways. I prefer to blanch the noodles first, in order to get rid of the starch. Then I'll boil a second pot of water for my broth.

When I'm busy, I end up eating Maggi Mee Curry for dinner. It's one of my all-in-a-pot meals. It's easy to prepare and it's versatile enough for me to add any ingredients that I fancy. I like my Maggi Mee Curry with minced pork, lots of vegetables and an egg yolk.

And that was what I had for dinner tonight.

More veges than noodles, you would say. Well, you are right. Since I prefer more veges than noodles, I only used half a packet of noodles. I needed more fibre than carbohydrates after all.

I would deem my veges-laden Maggi Mee Curry with minced pork and egg yolk a healthy all-in-a-pot dinner. There was fibre, protein and carbohydrates all in one pot. The unhealthiest of the lot would be the flavouring, I suppose.

Whatever it is, I really can't do without my Maggi Mee Curry. By the way, I had a satisfying dinner just now.

Flip flap

Bang goes the front door.

I frown.

Flip flap. Flip flap.

Clank! The keys land on the table.

Flip flap. Flip flap.

The sound comes nearer and nearer.

Flip flap. Flip flap.

I brace myself.

Flip flap. Flip flap.

I roll to the side

covering my head with a pillow.

Flip flap. Flip flap.

Bang goes the bedroom door.

I grimace.

The whole house vibrates.

Peace and quiet restored.

A Fly in my Drink

My friends and I were having lunch at a prominent hotel in Bintulu. Today, we found this in one of our drinks.

Eeeeew.

The waitress was quickly informed and the drink was replaced.

But it didn't stop us from feeling eeewww.

A teacher is ...

A teacher is a person who gives lessons in a school, college, or university, or to help someone learn about something by giving them information. That is what the Longman Dictionary says.

But in reality, a teacher plays many roles in school. Today, I have the privilege of interacting with teachers from around the state in a seminar. And all of us agree that in today's education system, the actual teaching in the classroom takes up the least portion of our time. A lot of time is spent on other activities - attending meetings, planning, implementing and evaluating projects, supervising school/divisional/state/national programmes, organise events, and so on and so forth. On top of that, teachers need to plan for lessons, grade essays, prepare examination questions, mark examination scripts and God-knows-what-else.

In school, we teachers are not just teachers, we are all superhuman beings. We are expected to know many things and be able to do many things.

I am expected to know how to trim a students' hair, if it is a tad too long. Never mind had I no training before this. I am expected to train debaters at school though I have never debated in my entire life. I am expected to choreograph a traditional dance, though I have co-ordination problems even in doing aerobics exercises. These are just a few examples.

I guess it would not be inappropriate to call teachers Jack of all trades and master of none.

I am not a superhuman being. What should I do? Quit my job?

My School Canteen Sells This

Canteen food. What picture does that conjure in your minds?

Certainly, it's nothing near to gourmet.

This is what teachers and students can buy at my school canteen every day.

For RM1.00, one gets Char-Kueh-Tiaw-almost-kosong, for it comes with a few shreds of cabbage and miserable slices of chicken sausages.

Fortunately, it is pretty tasty being flavoured with spices and soy sauce.

Well, I don't know what other school canteens sell. But I just want to give you masses a glimpse of canteen food at my school, at least. I will be posting some other items on the school canteen menu soon.

Cheers.

Rice-wrapped Peaches

I am a pure Teochew. Both my parents are Teochews. My paternal grandfather hailed from Swatow, Southern China. And that sums up all I know about my ancestry. Dismal, eh?

Talk about Teochew, and what comes to mind is the humble porridge and steamed fish. Well, according to this article written by Sharon Tan featured here, the Teochews are known for other dishes such as braised duck, orh ni (yam paste), lek tau suan, and a variety of kuih. Heck, I did not even know that lek tau suan was Teochew in origin.

One of my favourite kuih is this :

I don’t know what the masses call it. In Sharon Tan’s article, it was christened ang kat toh or Teochew toh kuih. A quick search in the web resulted in names like Teochew perng kuih, or Teochew peached-shaped dumplings.

My household refers to this kuih in Teochew as bao perng toh. That translates to English as rice-wrapped peaches. It is quite common at home. My mom and her sisters make it often for our own consumption.

Well, making bao perng toh is laborious. Mom usually prepares the filling a day before. The glutinous rice needs to be soaked overnight, and then steamed. Sliced pork is stir-fried with pounded dried prawns, sliced shiitake, beancurd, chestnut, dried radish and Chinese parsley. These are all my favourite ingredients for the glutinous rice as it brings a lot of different textures to the rice. Oh yes, sometimes I will ask for chopped roasted peanuts for the rice. It just complements the rice nicely. But I do suppose the ingredients vary from household to household.

The cooked glutinous rice and stir-fried ingredients are mixed together before they are wrapped in the glutinous rice skin and moulded into the shape of a peach. The glutinous rice skin tears easily and so one needs to get the exact consistency of flour to water. The shaped dumplings are them steamed, after which they are glazed with peanut oil.

The dumplings can also be pan-fried. The crispy, burnt skin makes them even tastier. I remember that when I was small, my maternal grandmother would pan-fry the dumplings for me and serve it with her own home-made sweet soy sauce. I still remember the taste of that caramelized soy sauce. No one at home makes it anymore. When I talk about it, Mom only smiles nostalgically. Even she is not really sure how that yummy soy sauce is concocted.

Well, I don’t really fancy buying rice-wrapped peaches from kuih vendors. I suppose I get disappointed too often. Theirs are often with skin so thick, and texture-less filling. The best dumplings are still home-made.

Dad and Mom Go to Metropolis . . .

I miss this.

Prawn & Vegetables Salad

It's a salad that I whipped up one evening for our dinner. It's really easy to make. Just tear up the vegetables and toss it in dressing and there you have a healthy vegetable dish.

I had cos lettuce, green and red coral lettuce, cherry tomatoes and shrimps. And then I used an Italian dressing, balanced with a little bit of honey. A dash of olive oil would also be great.

All three of us agreed that it was yum. Just for your information, I made that when I was in KL for my bro and sis-in-law-to-be (siltb) and myself.

Well, dad and mom have just landed in KL a while ago to visit bro and siltb. They will be staying for at least a week, i suppose. Do have fun, you guys ... but please remember me in the midst of your revelry ... ;-P

Is Teaching A Half-day Job?

Many people think that teaching is a half-day job. Well, I think that this notion is largely misconstrued, at least in my case.

On days when I am on duty, I leave my house at the ungodly hour of 5.40 a.m. It is still pitch dark at that time, and I suppose most people would be still snuggling in the warmth of their blankets and bedclothes. It takes 10 minutes for me to travel to school.

Why so early, you may ask. Well, because it's school policy that the teacher-on-duty stands guard at the gate before 6.00 a.m. when the students start arriving. We need to assure parents that there are teachers present at the gate to see their children enter the school compound safely, lest they wander off the the tuckshops nearby.

In training college, nobody told us we had to double as security guards too.

Roll call begins at 6.40 a.m. That's when students' attendance is taken. Disciplinary problms are ironed out too at this time. Spot checks are carried out on certain days for prohibited items. Announcement of school activities are made, and wisdom words from the school authorities are conveyed during the roll call.

Classes begin at 7.00 a.m. right up to 2.05 p.m. on most days. Each lesson is 40 minutes long. There is a 25-minute break from 9.45 a.m. to 10.05 a.m.

On Wednesdays, the school carries out CCA - Co-curricular Activities. It begins at 2.30 p.m., and ends at 5.00 p.m. On the other days, other activities are carried out, such as sports practices, meetings, extra classes, staff development activities and so on.

I leave school at 5.00 p.m., and it takes 30 - 40 minutes to reach home due to the heavy traffic.

When I reach home, I'm beat.

April has been a crazy month. And heck, it's only been 2 days into the month!! I have to organise a seminar on Saturday (yes!!! I also work on Saturdays!!!), I have to prepare for a study visit by teachers from abroad, I have to plan activities for our annual Academic month, I have to oversee the preparation for the inter-school public speaking competition, I have to manage an English Language Learning Programme for Mathematics and Science teachers who are yet to be proficient, I have to get ready the activities for English Camp ... the list is endless ... and for each of the activity I had just mentioned, paper work entails .....

That aside, I cannot put aside my core business of teaching. I need to get ready my lessons every day, I need to mark essay exercises which I have given out, I need to set exam papers for the coming semester examination ....

I haven't even begun talking about the sorts of characters that I have to put up with in school. Not every student is an angel. There's the smart aleck, the punk, the liar, the wanderer, the prankster (fortunately I escaped April Fool's unscathed) .... another endless list ...

That's why I get extremely annoyed when people quip that teaching is an easy peasy job, that it's only a half-day job and it comes with plenty of school holidays. Has this person been living in the 50's all this while? Perhaps teaching WAS a half-day job then. Whatever it is, it is no longer so and it's about time he wakes up that realise that we teachers are doing an honest pay's work!!