Calling The Pot Black?

Nope.

Just that i tried the recipe again this evening. It's not really the greatest but at least it was better than the first time. Presenting my Chicken In A Pot cooking.....

Tadaa!

One for you...

and one for me...

p/s I know it's up quite late. Blame it on the flu. Need to do something to boost the immune system. Hmm.

Don't Mess With The Chicks!

Remember my previous post about cooking? I tried a new recipe last week.
And it was quite a disaster.

That particular day was one of those time when you feel so lucky and grateful having someone that will still think you're adorable no matter how bad you screwed up. We were anticipating a delicious and nice set of meal for dinner but instead what comes out was an overcooked, over-taste and over-ingredients kind of dish. Regardless of what happened, KC still finishes his portion diligently. I know it might be that you were just hungry dear, but I really appreciate the thoughtfulness.

It was that bloody Chicken In A Pot recipe.
The only one missing was the pot.


I tried everything from throwing half of the broth mixture to adding other ingredients so that the sauce tasted better but I did not come close to getting it right. In the end, i just let it be and serve it up at the table. I never cooked dishes with all the chicken broth mixed with tomato paste, bread crumbs and dried oregano before so maybe that's why I failed at it the first time. Excuses aside, I am not letting January ends with a fail recipe. Now that i know at what step that I did wrong, I'm going to try that recipe again before the month ends. Saturday maybe?

Here's the recipe if you feel like poisoning someone this weekend.

Hell Yeah!

It was suppose to be a very simple recipe so good luck! :-)

6 Facts For Yesterday & Today

1) I have been cycling about 30 minutes after work for two days now.
2) I can feel my legs starting to muscle up.
3) I went round and round the same driveway until my legs felt heavy from pedaling.
4) I turned around whenever i saw a dog about 50 metres away.
5) I am afraid of being kidnapped while cycling.
6) All dogs seem to be extra excited with people who ride a bicycle.

Quote For The Day

'Read not to contradict and confute;
nor to believe and take for granted;
nor to find talk and discourse;
but to weigh and consider.

Some books are to be tasted,
Others to be swallowed,
and some few to be chewed and digested:
that is, some books are to be read only in parts,
others to be read, but not curiously,
and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.'

~ Francis Bacon

The Girl In The White Dress

I was 11 when I first sang on stage in front of hundreds of people.

Tho I did not win anything, I'm not really sure why I have always thought that I was at fourth place, an inch away at being number third. No one knows who get that place anyway so maybe I was being my own judge and place myself there. The other girls was very very good. Such high note here and there and I get to see them sing first before my turn. Fuh.

I vaguely remember my dress that night. An oversize white or pink dress which is clearly not for 11 years old girl and the shoe was a bit err...big. I just didn't realize how big it was up until now. I had a conversation with mom and she finally told me the real story.

You know what have always been in my mind all these years? That my mom was there while I was on stage singing my heart out and there's this image of her clapping after I finished.

And guess what really happen?

My mom was not there. She did not even hear me sing, my first ever singing competition. She sent me off inside the competition hall and waited for me outside until it finish. She could not make herself see me there on stage in front of so many people, wearing a pair of an oversize shoes and a dress that didn't fit. I got a bit emotional when mom told me that.

I was 11 and I wore my mom's shoes. She said that i was so adamant of going that i put tissues to fill the gap in the shoes so that it can fit my small feet. There's nothing she can do or say to make me change my mind. God, I didn't even remember that. My mom told me that I didn't tell her about the competition until it was tomorrow so she could not look for a dress for me to wear and could not even make it to go to town to buy a nice pair of shoes for me because all the shops were already closed.

I'm not really sure why I didn't tell her about it earlier. I guess I'm just afraid she won't let me join the competition as how she could not let me go to any trip or birthday party because we didn't have much money to spend on fees or present.

Now everything is way better and for years, mom has been nagging me to go for a singing audition whenever she sees one. I can expect her to call me anytime just to remind me which places is holding an audition that day. I know she meant well and I don't mind either. I'm lucky to have such a supportive mother. Love you mom.

Come to think of it, there's an AF audition tomorrow, I reckon mom would call me sometime soon. I better decide now. ;-)

Do you smell what The Rock is cookin'?

I have been thinking about finding one thing to focus before the end of this month so i can have something which i start from January and hopefully for every month till December.

Inspired from the movie Julie & Julia, i think i want to learn to cook every favorite dish i love to eat. This literally means the exact taste of the best recipe which is in my liking. Julie's idea was to cook every recipe in Julia's cooking book and to finish it within 365days. Mine would be much simpler. One recipe each month which means 12 recipes in 12 months. Whoa!

Even typing this now makes me nervous. I am really going to do this and the challenge of learning something that i may have no idea about is kind of exciting and scary at the same time. I know it's just cooking but imagine the consequences of one's cooking error can do to oneself! Well just hope i won't burn the kitchen at least.

Let's start by listing all my favorite dishes here and i'll sort it out later on which i want to do first.

1) Steak (thinking of a flat iron steak with some red wine)
2) Pasta (spaghetti and meatballs maybe?)
3) Daging/ayam masak merah
4) Nasi goreng belacan
5) Tom Yam Kung
6) Hokkien Mee
7) Jawa Mee
8) Nasi Lemak

I'll leave that to 8 dishes first in case i found a new favorite dish after this and decide to learn to cook it. There's a few more cookings that i am fond of but i don't really need to list it out here because i'm already very good at cooking it. [grin]

So. January. If it's you, which one do you think you want to try your hand at first?

Knot In My Gut, Pit In My Stomach

I feel that whenever i'm about to step in courts for a sports game, or when i'm about to walk on stage to sing and perform.

But none of that situation is happening to me now. So why does it feel like there's something about to happen? As if i'm going to decide on something...or in a moment or two, i'm going to do something that may change my life forever.

Or is it because there's nothing for me to decide, or do, or ponder on that i'm panicking because it seems that my life has stop from moving forward and that i'm stuck here in this rabbit hole and i can't find my way out. But that can't possibly be the case because i can feel the rush of adrenalin pumping through my veins and my heart beats faster with excitement.

And listening to Adam Lambert's Time For Miracle isn't helping either. Feels like there's such a huge energy inside me, as if i have just done my part on Burning Man and now i'm suppose to make happen those dreams i had in me.

Or is it merely the case of hearing that we are going to sign the increment letter today?

Or am i going nuts?

Hmm.

Writing it here today.

KC bought me a white note book with a soft fabric cover for christmas present last year. And i decided to write something on it for the first time this very moment, right after i finish this post. I wonder how i should start.

For the past few weeks, i have also been thinking about myself and my life aimlessly. Uncertain. On what exactly did i found out, i'll keep that private.

And I have also been trying, and will do so again, to see anything that is difficult as a positive thing. That way, i will be able to challenge my own self-belief and inhibitions. Whenever i get through it, more often than not, it will open up my mind and i can just be entertain with an idea or situation even without accepting it. Being an open minded person is very helpful, especially about things that i don't know about.

And let me tell you one thing here. Never worry that you might change your mind about something and have people call you inconsistent. Who wants to be predictable anyway? As Osho said it, never afraid of contradicting yourself. Life itself is never constant but changing simultaneously with every breath each of us inhale every second of our lives.

So, go start anew. Today. While it matters.
Good night everyone. :)

Two Things I Want To Do This Year

In between a stomach ache and toilet bowl on new year, there's only two things that i'm thinking of aiming this year.

1) Go to a place i've never been before.
2) Do something i've never done before.

Happy New Year people!

In The Mood of Celebration

Yuletide

Yuletide is the name given to the period around Christmas.

The name “Yuletide” comes from the Scandinavians, for whom 'Yultid' was the festival celebrated at the twelfth month. This was the twelfth name of Odin (Jul), who was supposed to come to earth in December, disguised in a hooded cloak. He would sit awhile at the firesides listening to the people, and if there was poverty, he left gifts, usually bread or coins.

On the night of December 20, the god Ingvi Freyr rides over the earth on the back of his shining boar, bringing Light and Love back into the World.

In later years after the influence of Christianity, the god Baldur, then Jesus, was reborn at this festival. Jul signifies the beginning and end of all things, it is the darkest time (shortest hour of daylight) during the year and the brightest hope re-entering the world.
During this festival, the Wild Hunt is at its greatest fervor, and the dead are said to range the Earth in its retinue. The god Wotan (Odin) is the leader of this Wild Ride- charging across the sky on his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir.

In ancient times, Germanic and Norse children would leave their boots out by the hearth on Solstice Eve, filled with hay and sugar, for Sleipnir's journey. In return, Wotan would leave them a gift for their kindness.

In modern times, Sleipnir was changed to a reindeer and the grey-bearded Wotan became the kindly Santa Claus (Father Christmas).

So lets remember that many of the associated Christmas and Yule celebrations actually date back to before Christ and were adopted or altered from their original meanings. Things like Feasting gift giving, pudding, tree decorating(Yggdrasil), father xmas, holly, mistletoe, reindeer, yule logs, hanging stockings up, leaving food out, candles, yule and the 12 days of xmas all are original pagan activities.

Many people today think that Father Christmas is just the British name for Santa Claus. Whilst it is true that Father Christmas and Santa are considered virtually the same today, Father Christmas is a completely different person entirely, with a much longer history.

The earliest Father Christmas appeared during ancient British mid-winter festivals. He wasn't known as Father Christmas then, of course, but as a general pagan figure who represented the coming of spring.
When Britain fell under Saxon rule in the fifth and sixth centuries AD, Father Christmas took on the characteristics of the Saxon Father Time, also known as King Frost or King Winter.

This association was strengthened when the Vikings invaded Britain and brought their own midwinter traditions with them. The 20th through the 31st of December is known as Jultid -- the time when the Norse God Odin takes on the character of Jul, one of his twelve characters, and visits the earth. The name lives on today as Yuletide. During Jultid Odin, a portly, elderly man with a white beard and a long, blue, hooded cloak was said to have ridden through the world on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, giving gifts to the good and punishments to the bad. Our Father Christmas became fat like Odin and developed the ability to automatically know whether people had been bad or good. Also like Odin, Father Christmas could travel magically and be in lots of places in a short space of time.

Mistletoe

In Norse beliefs, a connection to mistletoe is found with the Norse god, Balder. In order to protect him from harm, his father, Odin, and his mother, Frigga, asked the elements and all living beings never to harm Balder.
However, they forgot to ask the mistletoe. Loki, a rival of Balder made an arrow of mistletoe and gave it to Balder’s blind brother, Hoder, to shoot. Loki promised to help Hoder aim the arrow, but he aimed at Balder instead of the target. Thus, Balder was killed.
After the elements tried to restore his life and failed, Balder was restored to life by his mother, whose tears turned into the pearly white berries on the mistletoe. Frigga, rejoicing for her son’s return, forgave the mistletoe and gave it a blessing (in the form of a kiss) for everyone who stands under it.
So hanging mistletoe became a symbol of blessings and good fortune for celebrations.

- Kommano88 at some forum on the net. ;) -