curry in tom yam style

"adding those little red chillis will make it very spicy" my gran was saying, as i was getting ready to tug into this special bowl of curry with rice meal. clear curry soup that is moderately spicy and cooked with no coconut. it's different. it's unique. it's one of a kind - my gran's kind :) curry in tom yam style.

of rats, cats & dogs

so it's true. a cat does chase after a rat. down the corridor, a cat with keen eyes, furtive movements, was eyeing that grey long-tailed scavenger. i sat down and watched. so still. both anticipating the other's next move. rat turned its body a little, cat sat up almost immediately. so precise. i whipped out my camera phone. cat eyed both me and that rat. turning its head left to right, right to left, purposefully. it's at times like these that i wish i had a camera with a superpower zoom.

more still moments. until the rat decided to scurry to a pillar. cat ran after it. rat hid. cat stopped. cat planning its next move. cat watched. rat remained very still. cat moved towards the rat, with caution. till at one point, cat and rat looked close enough to each other, that it seemed they almost kissed. now - i thought cat would pounce on rat and do what cats do best - shred. instead, after what seemed like a split second, rat hid further in, cat backed off. i was surprised and oscillating between disappointment and relief. did i really want to see cat shredding rat or rat cleverly escaping cat? cat went behind the pillar. and then in front of it again. rat ran to a neighbour's door. neighbour opened door. rat scurried down the stairs. in a flash, nimbly, cat followed suit. both stopped in their respective tracks. bidding their time. listening out. ever ready. up, down. down, up. always on the lookout, always on the go. never a moment of rest. i wouldn't want to live a cat's life, even if it has nine, and even less that of a rat. a rat race in a dog-eat-dog world is no fun, and never mind the cat. as fascinating as it was, watching the chase, no, i don't really want to see a dog eating another dog in real life.

butterfly bun

morning walks to the market will consist of buying fried doughs. long ones and butterfly shaped ones. some days when my gran is too tired to walk, our neighbour will offer to buy them. one time, a friend of hers from our previous neighbourhood came to visit. my gran came to my room shortly after, handed me a butterfly bun and said "aunt bought this for you". her body language tells me that she wants me to eat it while it's still warm. she must have shared with the neighbours that 'huay ji' is my favourite.

when asked about the mandarin translation, gran thought for a while and managed to convey these meanings - 'huay' means flower and 'ji' means fry. however, she doesn't seem too sure and it does boggle me that the hokkien term doesn't seem to match the english term. but the dough does look somewhat like a butterfly. oh well, what matters most is the soft fluffy interior when one bites into the crispy exterior; and my gran's sweet gesture.

m&m

kids. they never fail to amaze and inspire me. and this blog entry is especially dedicated to m&m, with whom i have had countless hours of fun. and yes, yes, for the umpteen time, you guys rock! :) so, exactly how many times do i have to answer that..?

while going through a passage, i was puzzled as to why this 12-year-old imp could actually mispronounce the word 'women'. giving him the benefit of the doubt, i pointed out "you need to pronounce wee-men, and NOT wu-men." at this, very gingerly, he pinched and lifted his upper lip with his thumb and forefinger. hm.. what is he up to this time? anyway, holding that position, he tried to enunciate but soon after, with a mock serious expression, he said "i can't. it hurts." i burst out laughing. see, his upper lip had an ugly ulcer. to say wee-men, he needed to stretch his lip a bit more. wu-men was more manageable for him. yes, monogamy is indeed good. what a kid!

halfway through tutoring, i felt thirsty and wanted to grab a drink from the kitchen. en-route is the living room where this cute 11-year-old elf was, propped up on the chair, eyes glued intently to the laptop, pencil in her hand, and plugged in with the headphone that sat snugly on her head. curious, i asked "what are you listenin' to?" with a relaxed shrug, she said "nothin' really, i just thought it's kewl" and grinned widely at me. with rolling eyes, a knowing nod and smile, i said "ah.. i see.." no wonder her head wasn't really moving to the beat of the music or ANY music for that matter!

stopped in my track

it's not the year end. neither is it the beginning. nevertheless, meaningful pauses in life were never stipulated by the official calendar. one pauses when one wishes to. or be stopped in one's track, like what these diaries did to me.

i forgot all about them till i swept those old copies of reader's digests out for a flea sales - my oldest copy of diary says 2000. flipping through the pages. a whirlwind of activities and names. as for the blanks, i'd like to think that i did use them well. adding all up, i sure hope that my life did count for something.

deliberate pauses. maybe i should mark them down now, yes, in the diary that's in my bag.

supersonic gran

BEFORE @ 7.30pmAFTER @ 7.34pm

2517

i had time, while waiting to see the doc at the polyclinic, to memorise my queue number a hundred times over. no, a thousand times over. yet, when the display screen flashed '2517' to indicate that it was finally my turn, i failed to respond.see, i fell asleep. it was a kind lady who alerted me. otherwise, the wait could jolly well extend into eternity. how did she know my number? well, earlier on, for some reason, she had asked me what my number was. the little blessings in life. i'm thankful.