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| Ransomed HeartSomewhere in the wide open space is where the heart is, stolen, held captive ransomed. Who will claim it? Who will fight for it? Who will set it free and let it soar again? In the past one month I've been taking a journey so intense, beginning in the Goldcoast which triggered a release of pent-up emotions. If the coast was an avenue of release and facing my own giants, Melbourne is an avenue of promise and wide horizons. God Himself must live here. To ol' time readers, forgive me for writing much absolute rubbish in the past months. To dear friends, thank you for your prayers and your encouragements. Finding friends like you is like recovering a drop of water lost in the ocean. I'll take time to write somewhere else about this journey. If you're lucky, you might just find it! | | |
| ReadingI read because I am interested
I read because I need an answer
I read because I want an escape.
I confess, that in as many years ago, I have not had a habit of reading for the sake of reading. My books were car mags, photography mags, bicycle mags, National Geograhic, Reader's Digest and the occasional book from Koorong bookstore. I am a slow reader and can never compete with people that read with both sides of the brain like an Intel Duo Core chip. For that reason, I couldn't really justify reading books like novels.
But since I started this life on my own reading has been an avenue of release. The cold weather doesn't help come Saturday. Reading while tucked in bed is a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone act. Beyond the black and white prints, are stories limited to as far as your can imaginations go. It follows that falling asleep, just brings it a step further.
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| From around the blogsFew months ago, I was invited to the Prefects' Reunion of SMK Subang Utama to be held next week. I just received news that I could no longer attend the function because I'm an assemblyman from Pakatan Rakyat.
Two prefects have confirmed that the teachers have issued a threat to the prefects to withdraw their invitation to me and if not, the event would be cancelled.
I am upset with this. Let me explain to you why this threat by the teachers is so fundamentally wrong:-
- this is a private function to be held outside the school;
- every past and present prefect is entitled to attend this event; and
- I was the Head Prefect for 1995/1996 and was one of the pioneers to start this yearly reunion for the prefects.
In school, we were taught to be good role models and to be someone successful someday who will contribute positively back to the society. I have done just that. The very same people who taught me these values are now telling me that I am no longer accepted because I'm an assemblyman from Pakatan Rakyat.
Blogging about this brings tears to my eyes. Why? This is such a sad state for our schools to be in, for our young generation to endure and succumb to irrational threats like this. For 50 years, we were told not to question, not to challenge and not to speak up - even if it impinges on your fundamental rights.
I am not insisting to attend this function and neither am I insisting to be a special guest at the function. I am telling you - students, graduates, working adults and parents, if you choose to remain silent and succumb to threats like this, there is little hope left for Malaysia. It could be your daughter/son who's in my place. Remember the young ones are watching. Some are being brain-washed. Some are now confused - here you have a 29 year old assemblyman who is speaking up against corruption for the sake of our nation and they're told that this is not a welcoming figure and that she is not accepted at school or private functions.
I was a little exhausted prior to this because of work, complaints and issues but this has caused my heart to stir. It has sealed my heart for a cause. The cause is this - to continuously speak up against oppression in this nation. My conscience tells me I am right before God, I have not acted unfairly towards others by stealing taxpayers' money and I am inspiring the young to stand up for what is right.
Our education system is trying to breed students who cannot think for themselves, issue threats when everything else fails. I am the ex Head Prefect of my school and I am entitled to attend the reunion to meet up with my fellow schoolmates, to catch up on old times and share some old jokes. I am now denied that right.
How many of you would stand alongside me for this cause?_________________________________________________________________________________
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| Winter warmer...
In the past winters, I've always made lamb stew and invited a few friends over. They usually ask me what is it, I can't really answer, because I didn't get the recipe off anywhere, I simply made it up and it tasted nice. So I always joked, if it tastes awesome, its got to be Jacob's stew (the biblical story in which Esau gave up his birthright for a stew.... although that wasn't lamb!).
This winter's a bit special. Well, for one, the rain's finally back. It reminds me of the first days arriving Adelaide, to that oh-so-small airport that equals the size of Klang Bus Station. Even Sandakan's airport was larger.
Anyway, thanks to Ernestine who recommended this specific brand of Tofu (beancurd) in chinatown, finally I got to make my most successful Yong Tau Foo (stuffed beancurd) ever in Adelaide. Really, it is so hard to find the RIGHT hardness in the beandcurds here. The hardness is due to the plaster content (chalk/calcium carbonate) They're either too soft or rock solid. Less hard, is actually healthier, since it contains less plaster. Chinatown doesn't sell the fresh ones coming off the steaming bamboo pallets like the ones we have back home. As a 16 year old kid, I remember tagging along with my parents in the wee hours (4.30am!) to the sunday fresh markets to buy the week's grocery before church. The main reason I had to tag along early was, I had to go church early to set up the sound system (yes, that was 10 years ago!). Why so early? My church back home starts at 7.30am. So dad and mum will usually drop me in church around 6am after they finish marketing, go home, have breakfast, and come to church. Those were the days. Waking up earlier than the sun on Sunday. In hindsight, it was kind of fun, having learnt the "art" of choosing fresh fish, vegetables, fresh fruits and so on....the only thing I didn't learn, and still find it hard to, is bargaining, must be pride I think..... I shall leave that to my future partner.
Back to the Yong Tau Foo. It is a Hakka dish as with many other famous dishes! It is not hard to make. There's no right or wrong way to make it too. As long as you got minced meat (chicken, pork or fish), a bit of salt, sauce and the square cut bean curd, that would do. They're normally pork for good reasons I'll tell you why (some trade secrets are revealed here...).
Ingredients:
Bean curd (right hardness so that it won't break when u stuff it with filling). 2 types to consider, the ones that are deep fried would have the brown skin, which would hold shape better. The normal one's just white.
minced pork
garlic
oyster sauce
soy sauce
eggs
starch
chopped scallions (spring onions) or shallots
salt/pepper
pig skin+lard
Preparation:
Mix minced meat (pork chicken, or fish) with eggs, starch, salt, oyster sauce, until homogenous. Don't blend. Just mix it with hands. Amount varies with tastes, but generally, 500g of pork will go well with 1 egg, 2 tea spoons of starch, 2 table spoons of oyster sauce and a bit of salt to taste. This will serve about 25 bean curds if you're generous and skilled in stuffing tofus. Otherwise, half everything to 250g. Let mixture settle.
Now's the hardest part, the cutting and preparation of tofu. Poke hole in container to drain water away. Cut packaging and open up the lid. Place tofu slab out with your outstretched palm on to a cutting board. use a knife, slice it to size, halving it again to reveal soft side for stuffing. Remember, the entire tofu slab needs to be cut in such a way that the boundaries are not used as the stuffing face, because it is the strongest and provide structure to your tofu, you don't wanna mess with it. Once you've sliced them nicely, put them aside.
Start digging out a pit in the tofus. Now in Adelaide, I use a spoon to cut it out, its easier to use spoon because the tofus here are softer. Usually if its hard enough you can do it with your thumb. With one palm holding a tofu, use your more artistic hand to cut out a hole for the stuffing, do not try to make it absolutely square right up to the edge... There's no point doing that. You'll only weaken the tofu. Cut it deep enough. Keep the "digged-out" tofus aside (you can use it to make fish tofu by blending it). Now still with the same spoon, scoop a spoonful of minced meat and place it into the tofu. Use your thumb (the one belonging to the hand you are using to hold the tofu) to guide the meat in to the spaces inside, stuff it in with your thumb, dont worry about the sides coming out. Once the meat is "lodged" in position, use the spoon on your other hand to "pat" the meat down to a more pleasing looking shape.
Voila, one's done, continue with the rest. Once you're ready, prepare a pot of water and a non-stick frying pan.
Layer the pig skin+lard at the bottom of the pot. This is basically a cushion for your beancurds to prevent it from burning. If you have a non stick pot, then you can skip this step. Bring the water to just below boiling.
Heat the frying pan. Oil not needed if it is non stick. Tip the beancurd upside down on to the frying pan so that the meat faces the pan. A bit of fingering and spoon will be helpful here. Once the meat starts becoming brown, scoop it up and tip it right-side-up into the pot of water. Do this for all the tofus. The brief surface frying of the meat is to seal the juice/taste into the meat, and also help prevent the meat from disintegrating when it is being cooked in water.
Once you have a fair amount of tofus in your pot, bring it to a slow simmer. Too hot, your tofus will overcook, causing bubbles to be trapped in the tofus, and they start floating and churning and tossing and turning around in the pot, which basically means all your hard work's wasted. This last bit just needs a slow cooking action. Water must cover all the tofus. Never stack more than 3 tofus thick. Close the lid and wait till the top tofus are cooked. Always aim for "just-cooked" so the meat is always tender and juicy. You can tell by periodically checking the meat. For pork, pink means uncooked. Brown means cooked. simple as that.
Once the tofus are done, set aside, take it out if you want. The remaining water, can now be used as a sauce. Thicken it by adding starch. Add more salt, oyster sauce to taste. add fried garlic, shallots and scallions just before serving. Enjoy!
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