what are you waiting for?

WAITING to be glued. x-ray showed no glass shards embedded in my palm. stitch? the nurse asked. no way. i said. i took some pix to while the time away. thought i could escape the jab though.

it was excruciating.

never thought i’d ever be at A&E. as i waited, a guy limped past me. i wonder what caused his limp. a middle-aged woman with her mom in wheelchair beside her, patiently waiting for their turn. a young man, who had obviously gotten into an accident, was wheeled out. with toothless grins, he chatted with a friend beside him. an old man, with his head bandaged, was on one of those 'wheel-able beds'. why was there no one with him? a young lady at the registration counter,

handcuffed and with two policemen by her side.

why is waiting so poignant in such a space? is it because the shuttle between life and death is more keenly felt within the confines?

in the same space, one can be waiting to live or to die.

prawn lovers

i have reason to believe that every grandma loves to cook. especially when her children appreciates it. last night, my brother came home. she whipped up a storm – kangkong, pomfret, meat balls, soup dish... food offering is a language of love. that’s how it runs in my family. today, look what I have for lunch. ‘lovey dovey’ prawn noodles.

very nice to eat

she put it on my table and walking away,

she said “very nice to eat.”

an understatement no less, by the looks and taste of it.

by the sink, washing my favourite bowl and chopsticks,

and within my granny's earshot, i said “very nice to eat.”

yong tau foo

yong tau foo ( also spelled yong tao foo, yong tau fu, or yong tau hu ) is a chinese soup dish with hakka origins commonly found in singapore and malaysia. my granny is born teochew but she speaks fluent cantonese and hokkien. as for me, dialect became a thing of the past when my grandfather passed on. now? my granny and i converse in mandarin. ok, i guess food is food, whatever the origins :P

simply succulent

yums! need i say more...?

those orange bits

those orange bits on the edible white surf board? brightens the eyes. better than any off-the-shelf vitamins. just ask my granny.

mian xian tang

mian xian (vermicelli) tang (soup).
before my lunch turned cold and the strands got bloated,

i took a few quick shots.
cooking is not my forte. for dinner, i bought her mee rebus.

dating

i was never that much into springcleaning. in fact, if i could get everything done at the snap of a finger, i would gladly do so with gusto! well, it happened to be one of those cool mornings where i could pack a little, and maybe mop a little, without giving those perspiration beads a chance to ooze out too much from my pores. i guess i could do with a little carthasis. my room probably thought the same of itself. ah, as if on cue, some red dates to nourish and strengthen right after. my granny knows best.

chicken soup for the soul

i woke up groggy this morning. heard a voice. my granny's. there's soup in the pot. didn’t answer her. so typical of the way we treat our loved ones sometimes. i told myself i would make it up to her later. by the way, those i-dunno-what-they-are-called tonic pieces are supposed to be energy boosters.

dinner-time. i was in my dad's room. glued to the tv. gran brought food in. flat noodles! i love it and she knew it. it's dunked in the same tonic stock as what i had this morning. the ingenuity of grans. to assuage the guilt i felt this morning and to show my appreciation, unspoken, i showed her the pix of the noodle bowl i took. she took a look and simply nodded.

peppery pork slice vermicelli

my gran always does this. quietly putting a piping hot something on my table while my eyes are incorrigibly glued to the computer screen. the peppery waft. the smooth strands. the sweetness of the minced pork. savouring her loving ways.

new kid on the blog

when was the last time you did something for the first time? doesn't such a question rouse up all the dormant impulses in you? anyway, i have just created a virtual blog! the inspiration has to be my granny - the loveliest grande dame. did i tell you how fair (in both senses of the word) she looks even in a b&w photo?!

see, i know that she's not gonna be around with me forever, so i thought of immortalising her loving ways - by documenting every bowl of special something she cooks for me. on my cluttered table - is where my gran often, quietly, places that bowl of special something. an inaugural picture - of how my table looks like or rather how i'm like!