Fickle

I am at wit's end whether to work or not. My mother prefers me to work although she doesn't admit it. My siblings said that I would be better off if I stayed at home. My husband said, I should stay at home. Years ago , I would be happy if someone said that .

Yesterday I went to Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman to buy some materials to make two dresses. I also bought some linen to make a blouse. It is very tiring , and at 5.00 pm I went to One Utama. I thought of buying a book but books are not very interesting. I thought of buying a chick lit book .Like " Confessions of a shopaholic" . It looks interesting and it has been made to a movie. I thought of writing a book again but it is very tiring. I feel tired most of the time.

I would like to do more exercise and I think I will try the Latin exercise. For 10 minutes I can exercise without doing the crunches . There are the Kathy Dennis and Denise Austin exercise Cd's but I do not like doing crunches .

So , now I will see what happens. My mother always tells me that god knows best. She is looking forward to go to Seychelles in June. My sister Yati will be going to Dubai, god willing in September. As for me , I would like to try to work but if it feels daunting , I will be a housewife.

New Book

I went to Kinokuniya bookstore in KLCC yesterday to buy a japanese book called "Floral Embroidery" by Ondori. The flowers are so beautiful . There is another book on roses but it is more expensive at RM 90.00 . I thought of buying a book on how to make bags but that can wait. I realise that I have to buy a sewing machine to make bags and a host of other items like an olfa cutter. I think I will buy a Raleigh sewing machine at Tesco. My mother is concerned if I buy a Singer machine and I would not use it and it would be a waste , what with me not working and so forth.
I have another book to dream about. It is called '' Redoute's finest flowers in Embroidery " by Trish Burr. It is crewel embroidery. I think I would go to Kinokuniya and ask if they can get it for me. That too would be later.My sister Nas and her children had stayed for a week during the school holidays. They brought their pet hamsters, Bubbles and Momo.
My other sister Yati came, my mother made pizza using her tupperware cookware. In the afternoon my mother made chicken bryani. And then my brother Akmal made beef lasagne. I made greek salad. Since my husband went to a Arab shop in Chow Kit to buy some olive oil , I took the opportunity to buy some Feta cheese. At night I felt so full.
Last week I made some body scrub. I bought some French Salt at RM 6.50. Fill it half in a small plastic jar. I added some olive oil , sesame oil and castor oil. And then I added a few drops of an old wrinkle oil for steaming which I seldom use. So I have a basic body scrub. I think I will to use brown sugar and honey the next time but for now the salt is good. It is supposed to be good for scars and it does scrub well. No more chemicals ....

Overweight

I am not only overweight but have reached the obesity status. I eat a lot especially at night. The cravings for food could not be controlled. My father wanted to know if it is safe to take slimming pills or powder. I had attended a wellness program especially for the overweight. I have to take 8-12 servings of carbohydrate and to follow the food pyramid. I have to do more activities and less food. All I know is that I skip breakfast, eat a lot during lunch, 1-2 cookies after lunch .I have a pre dinner at 5.00 pm , dinner at 9.00 pm and munching all through the night. Especially sweet food.

Today I went to Ikea after following my mother to the ASN office in Ampang. Before that I had lunch.Then after the salmon dish at Ikea , I bought some prawns and I was still hungry for a hot dog.

I have been thinking of my cats. I missed them terribly. I want a cat .....

My favourite channel is Asian Food Channel ,Travel and Living and Malay dramas. My mother refused to take the HBO channel or the News channel. I am surfing mostly on food especially on the You Tube channel on fat laden food like ,ribs , steaks, potato Au gratin. My brother GG also supported me when I tell him that I would buy lamb shoulders. He had high fever the last time so my father said not to buy any lamb because lamb is hot and his fever would not subside.

I feel out of breath now. Perhaps because of the long time in the car . A nice nurse told me to eat a cracker or a fruit instead whenever the hungry pangs attacks. I need to do more exercise but I don't like to walk alone . More exercise. I feel tired already. I saw in one of the my favourite channel how a woman became too fat a.k.a obese by making and eating brownies at home. I too had thought of baking brownies and munching them while watching the Food channel. It would be heavenly .....

Awang

My sister from Penang is here for three days. I told her that a cat reminiscence of my lost cat Awang had come to the house. Since I have fed him fish and occasionally pieces of chicken he dutifully come everyday. He refused to be touched. He ran as soon as I get close to him. Maybe he is a stray cat . My niece had brought her hamsters so the Awang the cat as I call him would come in the house. At first I wondered why , but now I know that this cat had smelled the hamsters.

I was surfing for and I found a website called Tea and cookies. I found about a nice soup called creamy garlic soup which looks nice. Today my mother had made some prawn and vegetable fritters . She told me that my sister in Jakarta would make the vegetable fritters in the morning.

Awang had just been chased out of the house because he wanted to come in . Poor cat. It is quite difficult to care for a cat since they pee a lot in the house. Perhaps I just feed the cats that come . Just that.

Ramblings

I have been playing Scrabble again with some friends. I made short sentences. I played the Malaysian version of "Monopoly" today. The last few weeks I played "Uno" and Chinese checkers. My mother is keen on her Tupperware business. I was dragged along. My mother wanted me to follow her when she does the Tupperware party. I don't really like to do that. That or to stay at home.

I have been browsing on Internet business , again. It doesn't take off at all . This wanting to be an entrepreneur or an Internet venture. What is holding me back ? Fear , I would guess. I read a lot of self -help books when I was younger but nothing clicks. Facing my fear , I read that once . Just face up to your fear. My fear is to start a business and I would fail. It's the fear of failing , that one cannot succeed. It is very crippling but yet I would love to try. When ?

I have been eating a lot these few days. Yesterday my mother made chicken soup but she added dates. It was too sweet. My brother GG , the lawyer did not finish it. She also made some nice noodles with peanut gravy. I had eaten 3 bowls of noodles and 2 bowls of soup with rice . I also had my dinner very early. I had checked my body mass index, the result is , I am obese. Oh dear , I am very hungry nowadays. Perhaps it is the stress .

Rainy Night

It has been raining heavily tonight. My parents and brother had come back from Kedah to attend my cousin's funeral. He died of leukemia. It is in the family so is heart attack.

I spend a day in Kuala Lumpur yesterday . I went to KLCC as usual to browse some books. I saw a new book from Ondori on floral embroidery and another book on roses. It cost about RM 90. There is another book from Synergy Sdn Bhd , a local one which cost RM 29.90. There is a huge difference but the one from Japan has many lovely pictures on floral.

I went to Sogo and I saw some phyllo pastry. I could not find the pastry in Cold Storage. It cost RM 12.00 . In KLCC I bought Yao Char Koay set , complete with a big bowl of rice porridge. The porridge is not thick like my mother used to make . I used to see the Chinese eating the Yao Char koay and the porridge in Chinese dramas. I told my mother about it but there was no response. We used to buy Char koay in the evenings . The set is very filling .

My mother used to make porridge or 'moi' as she used to call it . She usually makes beef porridge whenever one of us is sick . It has been a long time since she made it. Now when someone is sick ,with fever she makes chicken soup. My sister in Penang , the good doctor always makes chicken soup whenever she is here for a visit. Her children loves to eat the soup with rice and so do I. It is very simple . Here goes.

Chicken soup recipe

Ingredients

One onion thinly sliced

2-3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced

A bit of ginger julienned

Some cinnamon stick , star anise and cardamon

Chicken pieces

One 0r two potato diced

Salt and pepper

Heat oil. Add onion , garlic and ginger.

Cook until the three items are transparent

Add water .

Add the chicken pieces , potato and herbs.

Boil the soup until the potato is soft

Add salt to taste