WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 88

Digging A Way Out

There's a man who has been by himself in a prison cell with a dirt floor, crude stone walls, and there's two windows one of which looks out towards the ocean. All of the sudden, he hears a scratching noise, and he looks down at the ground that is furthest away from the window facing the ocean. He sees the ground moving, and he starts to think he's losing his mind. But soon the ground breaks, and up pops a head with long hair and a beard... it's a prisoner.

And the prisoner says "Sssh. Listen. A group of us have been tunnelling for about six years, and we've finally reached your cell. We have ways to cover up my entrance into this, but now it's all on your shoulders, man. All you have to do," he said while pointing out the window towards the ocean, "you just start digging here and go down about six feet and about 75 feet in that direction and there is freedom, and we're out of here!"

"Oh, I love that! That's great; I want to be free!"

"Okay, I'll check back with you in a few weeks."

Two weeks later, he pops back in to check on his friend's progress, and his friend nods back with great affirmation. "Yeah, I've done it."

So the man who was providing the instructions pops down the hole, and two seconds later pops right back up and says, "What have you done?!?!?"

"Huh?"

"I told you to dig in the direction towards the OCEAN! This tunnel that you dug goes back under the wall and into the prison yard."

"Well, the digging was easier in the other direction..."

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 87

Footsteps
Deep in his slumber, one night a man had a very real, yet surreal dream. He dreamt that he was walking along the beach with God. As he looked up at the sky, he saw all the scenes of his life flash by along with two sets of footprints: one set for himself, and another for God.

After all the scenes had flashed before him, he looked back at those footprints and noticed something quite disturbing: At the most difficult times in his life, he saw only one set of footprints.

This deeply troubled the man, so he turned and said to God: “You said that if I followed you, then you would always walk with me through thick and thin. In looking back, I see that during the most painful times there is only one set of footprints. Why did you leave me when I needed you the most?”

“I love you and would never leave. It was during those times when you suffered the most that I carried you.”

Mint M&M Bark

This recipe is a product of one of my biggest pet peeves. Peppermint ice cream is one of my all time favorite foods, but I can't understand why everyone insists on ruining it by putting candy cane pieces in it! I am not one to chew hard candy, I think it might be my neurotic obsession with my teeth. I mean when I am enjoying a nice smooth bowl of ice cream I don't want to have chomp on candy cane or worse swallow a bunch of ragged pieces.
Anyways how this is all relevant to the recipe to this recipe is that this is originally for peppermint bark, but I've replaced the candy cane pieces with a less offensive candy to chew, mint M&M's :)

So for Tracy, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups (12 oz) White Chocolate Chips
appox. 1 cup Mint M&M's
Dash of Vanilla Extract (optional)

A word on M&M's: Make sure you get the classic mint M&M's that are only available for the holidays. They should come in a bigger bag. They also make a gourmet type mint M&M in small bags, but they don't have shells and will thus just melt into the chocolate. (Which will still taste pretty good but won't look the same)

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in Microwave

2. Place M&M's in plastic bag and crush using a rolling pin.

3. Holding Strainer over melted chocolate pour crushed candy into strainer. Shake. Leave the larger pieces in the strainer.

4. Pour chocolate onto wax paper. Sprinkle with reserved larger pieces.

5. Allow to cool then break into pieces.

White Chocolate Fudge

This is going to have to be a short post because guess how much I've packed for our trip tomorrow... yup nadda nothing none.

Ingredients:
2 pkg. Baker's White Chocolate
3/4 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
splash of vanilla extract

1. Line 8-inch pan with foil
2. Microwave chocolate and milk until melted (stiring frequently)
3. Add almonds, cranberries, and vanilla and stir well
4. Spread into prepared pan and refrigerate until firm.
5. Remove from pan and cut into pieces

CIRI CIRI ALAYY !!

1 . Alay Sok ImutisaurusAlay jenis ini suka ganti² kata baku yg indah menjadi "imut" . Tapi bukannya menjadi imut , tulisan itu malah bikin bingung , bahkan membunuh pembacanya !

Contoh :● makan → mumbth● sayang→ chaiiank → cayanqst

2 . Alay KapitalismeAlay jenis ini seneng pake huruf kapital dalam kalimat yg digunakannya . Duh , sadar ga sih ? Kita sbg pembaca jadi sakit mata . Ga bisa bedain huruf kapital ma huruf non-kapital ya ? Anak playgroup aja bisa . Nyahahahaha . . .

Contoh :- AgkuH bEndci dIa

3 . Alay Cocotion RosaniusAlay yg lg dibahas ini adalah alay yg mengerahkan seluruh jiwa raganya buat jejeritan ga karuan .

Contoh :
X : waaaa ! Iya dunkz beibthz , hahahahaha . . .
Y : iaa kALi yHa bebth , hihi . Aaaa !

Ps : biasanya mereka jejeritan sambil memble + nekuk lidah (biar kayak bule kali . Tapi malah jadi kayak bule Zimbabwe)

4 . Alay AngkaliciousIni nih salah satu tipe alay yg paling bikin sakit mata . Emang dunia ini kekurangan huruf ya , sampe² make angka buat nulis ? Kenapa ga sekalian pake aksara jawa aja biar mantep ? Wakakakakak . . .

Contoh :a9kuH La9y 53bel5 5am4 k4muH !

5 . Alay Hydrocepalus Lebaytun Melebay²kan .INI DIA RAJANYA ALAY . Paling hobby show off dan melebaykan kejadian yg dia alami . Padahal sebenernya sih biasa² aja .
Contoh :
X : kamu online dimana ?
Y : di blackberry storm agkoh t'cindtah . Kemarendt baruw dibeliindth sama daddy di Paris . Itu lho , ibukotanya Perancis . Ada pertemuand pengusaha sukses di seluruh dunia getoh .

Ps : ya ampun , beli blackberry di Mangga Dua juga banyak . Pake jauh² ke Paris segala . Lagian semua orang juga tau Paris itu ibukotanya Perancis . Sejak kapan ibukota Perancis pindah ke Bantargebang ? Nyas . . .

6 . Alay Sok BuleIni alay PALING SOK dunia per-alay-an . Sok pake enggris tapi kagak ada benernya . Kalo diliat artinya per kata , bener sih . Tapi waktu digandeng , beuh.. NTU KATA ARTINYA APAAN ? Wealah... Cuma translate amatir dari bahasa Indo . Sekalinya bener ternyata ? NYONTEK !

Contoh :Hi , Coro . What you know if I already are is have ? Oh ya , how you ? What you good² only ? Don't shy² cat lah .


JADI, APAKAH ANDA TERMASUK DALAM KATEGORI DI ATAS?? hahaha!!

Pumpkin Rolls

I was introduced to this amazing treat when I married my husband.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1 pkg. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbsp butter

Beat eggs on high for 5 min.
Gradually add sugar.
Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice.
Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg
Fold in pumpkin mixture
Spread onto greased parchment papered pan. (Top with nuts if using)
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
Turn onto or place parchment onto dish towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Start at the narrow end and roll towel and cake together.
Allow to cool.
Beat all filling ingredients together until smooth. Unroll and spread filling over cake. Roll cake back up and freeze.
Once cold cut into pieces. (hint: it won't cut very well unless it's cold)

Fudge!

This is another easy peasy recipe that you can throw together in a sec. The fudge is tasty, not award winning but tasty and foolproof. (you'll see why this is important later)

Ingredients:
3 cups Chocolate Chips (I used semi-sweet)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1. Combine Chocolate and Sweetened Condensed Molk
2. Microwave until chocolate is melted (stirring frequently, ever 10-30 sec)
3. Stir in Vanilla
4. Pour into wax-paper lined 9-inch pan
5. Let cool & harden cut into pieces

Ok so that was the pretty fudge I took to the neighbors now for complete honesty... I am absolutely HORRIBLE at making fudge! Last year my fudge was harder than a rock we broke it into pieces and gave it out as chocolate. This year I was committed to making good fudge so I started with Danny's family cookbook. (it's never led me astray yet) Things started out well I put the sugar and evaporated milk on the stove and let it boil for the 6 minutes. The whole time I stood right there so that nothing would happen to it. Somewhere along minute 3 or 4 my computer beeped letting me know I had an email...

I came back 10 seconds later to find this. So all that is in the pot is sugar and milk can someone explain the floating black pieces that appeared out of no where!?! At last my slight distraction had let to me burning the fudge. I knew that there was no rescue from this so I threw it out and searched for easy, foolproof recipes thus why my neighbors actually received fudge this year.

Christmas is coming...!!!

As much as I love Christmas but this year is gonna be different and somehow I'm just not looking forward to it. I won't be able to celebrate it with my family (coz I'm not going back...) nor with Mr. O... =( This is coz he's going to Indonesia on the 25th itself... *sigh* I guess it's gonna be a lonely Christmas this year for me... =(

Chocolate Truffles

These are my favorite holiday treat! My brother-in-law told me last year that they were better than the fancy smancy truffles he bought from a chocolate shop. Oh and did I mention they are super easy to make?

Ingredients:
Insides
1 pkg. (8 sqaures) Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1 pkg. (8 oz) Cream Cheese

Outsides
1 pkg. Semi-Sweet Chocolate
or
Powder Sugar
Cocoa Powder


1. Melt 8 chocolate squares. I melt my chocolate in the microwave in 10-30 seconds spurts just make sure you stir frequently and don't overheat.
2. Beat cream cheese into chocolate until creamy. It should look something like this. Now place in the refrigerator until firm. This takes about an hour or two, but you can leave overnight.

(Sorry this is where my camera battery died)

3. Using a cookie scoop or measuring spoon shape filling into tsp-Tbsp size balls. I scoop out a bit then roll them in my hands to make them round and smooth. Warning this gets messy as things warm up. (if things get too soft return to the fridge to harden again)

4. Melt 8 more squares of chocolate and using a fork dip truffles, then return to wax paper-covered tray. Refrigerate until firm.

Other options include rolling the truffles in cocoa powder or powdered sugar. (this is a faster, easier option)

So Much Baking!!!

I finally went to and survived the dentist so what to I do on the way home? Stop by the store and load up on all this sugar! I had to load up on baking supplies to prepare for this year's Christmas baking. Can I just say I love holiday baking! Every year I block out a whole day and turn my kitchen into a pastry shop. So if you haven't been bitten by the baking bug yet this year my next posts are for you. I'll post one treat a day until we take off for London so enjoy!

Here's some tips to help making your baking day faster and more enjoyable. First, a couple days in advance plan what you'll be making and stock up on supplies. Then, on the day of set them all out within easy reach. Something I learned a while back is to always have a glass of cold water close by when your baking sweets. All that sugary smell can really make you sick after a while and the water will also help keep you from "sampling" your goods all day long. I know those chocolate chips are calling to you, but if you eat them all day you'll regret it by the time everything is done.

Next, fill up a sink with very hot soapy water. If you start with really hot water you won't need to change it as often. I found that having this wash station set up is really helpful if your like me and only have one set of measuring cups and mixing bowls.

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 86

It Hurts

A man suffering from great pain went to see his doctor. “What seems to be the trouble?” the doctor asked. “I hurt all over, doctor,” replied the man. “Whenever I touch here,” he added touching a spot near his heart with his finger, “it hurts! And if I touch here,” he added touching his nose “ouch! – it also hurts!” The Doctor looked on, perplexed, as the man continued. “When I touch here,” he said touching his stomach it hurts like hell!” Then he leaned toward the Doctor and touched his eyelid “Oooouch,” he yelled.

The doctor conducted a complete physical examination. Finally he said, “Sir, I can find nothing wrong with the areas you have shown me. The trouble is you have a broken finger!”

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

On Monday night, I came home from work with some energy. Given that I am currently 38 weeks pregnant, this is a rather rare thing lately. So, I sat down with Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker, and tried to find a recipe to make.

See, the night before, we had been gifted with a new slow cooker. We didn't need to be gifted with it--Sara, are you reading this? It appears that our old one had an accident when we left it at Kurt's college reunion, and this was a replacement. Nevertheless, since we had it (however much it was unnecessary to replace it!), I figured we would take it for a spin.

I chose a recipe that was completely out of character for our household--Sloppy Joes. I don't think we have any fundamental issues with Sloppy Joes. It's just one of those recipes that we've never thought of making before. For some reason, on Monday night, they sounded good. So, when Kurt got home from work, we decided on a simple dinner, and went shopping for ingredients for both dinner and the Sloppy Joes, which would cook overnight in the slow cooker and serve as lunches for the next few days.

A few notes. Our slow cooker is six quarts. This recipe is built for a "medium" cooker, which, in this book, means 3-to-4 quarts. So, we doubled the recipe to make sure that it would fill the bowl enough not to burn. This turned out to be a very wise choice, as it was still only filled about halfway. It cooked well, though, so I'm thinking the empty half of the crock did no harm. My other note is that, when we make this recipe again, we will use ground turkey instead of ground beef. It's just personal preference. But, in recent years, even the leanest ground beef still tastes greasy to me. I love my ground turkey, so I'll definitely make that substitution next time.

The overall reaction was that this is a very good recipe. I love that it doesn't use heavily processed foods. Actually, that is something that I love about the whole book. Most recipes I find for slow cookers are laden with cans of "cream of this soup," and "cream of that," canned vegetables, and other processed foods that I can't see myself using if I were cooking stove-top. This book, in general, avoids that downfall, and this recipe is no exception. I highly recommend the book to health-conscious, but time-pressed people who would like to use their slow cookers to make REAL food.

Here is a link I found to the recipe. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

On Monday night, I came home from work with some energy. Given that I am currently 38 weeks pregnant, this is a rather rare thing lately. So, I sat down with Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker, and tried to find a recipe to make.

See, the night before, we had been gifted with a new slow cooker. We didn't need to be gifted with it--Sara, are you reading this? It appears that our old one had an accident when we left it at Kurt's college reunion, and this was a replacement. Nevertheless, since we had it (however much it was unnecessary to replace it!), I figured we would take it for a spin.

I chose a recipe that was completely out of character for our household--Sloppy Joes. I don't think we have any fundamental issues with Sloppy Joes. It's just one of those recipes that we've never thought of making before. For some reason, on Monday night, they sounded good. So, when Kurt got home from work, we decided on a simple dinner, and went shopping for ingredients for both dinner and the Sloppy Joes, which would cook overnight in the slow cooker and serve as lunches for the next few days.

A few notes. Our slow cooker is six quarts. This recipe is built for a "medium" cooker, which, in this book, means 3-to-4 quarts. So, we doubled the recipe to make sure that it would fill the bowl enough not to burn. This turned out to be a very wise choice, as it was still only filled about halfway. It cooked well, though, so I'm thinking the empty half of the crock did no harm. My other note is that, when we make this recipe again, we will use ground turkey instead of ground beef. It's just personal preference. But, in recent years, even the leanest ground beef still tastes greasy to me. I love my ground turkey, so I'll definitely make that substitution next time.

The overall reaction was that this is a very good recipe. I love that it doesn't use heavily processed foods. Actually, that is something that I love about the whole book. Most recipes I find for slow cookers are laden with cans of "cream of this soup," and "cream of that," canned vegetables, and other processed foods that I can't see myself using if I were cooking stove-top. This book, in general, avoids that downfall, and this recipe is no exception. I highly recommend the book to health-conscious, but time-pressed people who would like to use their slow cookers to make REAL food.

Here is a link I found to the recipe. Enjoy!

Where are the lenses?!?!?!

I noticed this trend going around these days especially in my college and I'm kinda wondering 'What are these ppl thinking?'

Hmmm...it just look awkward!

chinese food

Masakan Tionghoa-Indonesia mempunyai ciri khas campuran antara masakan Tionghoa dengan masakan tradisional Indonesia. Masakan ini biasanya mirip dengan masakan Tionghoa yang dimodifikasi dengan cabai, santan dan bumbu-bumbu dari masakan Indonesia. Beberapa masakan dan kue menyerupai masakan di Malaysia.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Kurt often says, "Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you." I'm assuming it's a movie quote of some sort, and I just don't have the cultural literacy to know where it comes from. That happens more than one might guess. In any case, Wednesday night was the perfect time to use that quote. Seems that we got eaten by the bear, and then got to eat some very good corn chowder afterwards. Hmmm, that's a bit "Jonah and the Whale-ish," isn't it?

In any case, Wednesday night started off very promising. During work, I had been smelling the corn chowder that was available in the cafeteria. Now, I've learned my lesson--actually, learned it a few too many times--about eating food at my company's cafeteria. Namely, don't do it. And, if you do it, knowing full well that you shouldn't, do not, under any circumstances, get the soup. The soups there must be loaded with MSG because the kinds of headaches I get immediately after consuming it are excruciating.

Anyway, I really wanted corn chowder after smelling it all day, so I searched around for a recipe. See, I have a problem with corn chowder. I love it when I get it at restaurants. But, I haven't found a recipe I like to make at home. This, no doubt, has everything to do with my hesitancy to use ingredients like cream, or bacon. I finally decided that it must be these items that make the difference, though, and started rationalizing about how, it's bound to be moderately healthier made at home, even with those ingredients, and it would certainly be cheaper, per-serving. So, I found this recipe and we went for it. According to the link, it is originally from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, which, thanks to this recipe, is now very high on my "Cookbooks to Buy" list.

We made a few changes. We used turkey bacon rather than "real" bacon. We didn't have turmeric in the house, so we skipped it. We did have heavy cream in the house for some reason, so we used that instead of the half-and-half. And we halved the recipe because I saw no need for 10 to 12 servings of something with such a dubious nutritional profile for just two people.

The results were incredible. Really, this recipe finally matches up to what I can get at the restaurants.

Unfortunately, while the soup was simmering for its 15 minutes uncovered, my computer met with catastrophe. I don't know what I did wrong, but all of a sudden, there were pop-ups everywhere telling me about how my computer was under attack. Except, those pop-ups weren't from my antivirus software. They were from, well, a virus. This virus--spyware--whatever you want to call it--made my computer completely useless. And so began days of alternately wanting to cry, throw my laptop against a wall, and get revenge on whoever had done this to my precious laptop. On top of all this, I feared the worst--What would happen if I went into labor while my laptop was dead? GASP. As Kurt so appropriately asked, "If a baby is born, and The Jam Girls don't know about it, did it still happen?" I'm not sure, and I'm VERY glad not to have to find out.

So, in the end, the bear--also known as the virus--ate us, but we had some damn good corn chowder in the process.

Oh, and for those who would like to know, this program is what finally resuscitated my laptop this morning. I highly recommend it.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Kurt often says, "Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you." I'm assuming it's a movie quote of some sort, and I just don't have the cultural literacy to know where it comes from. That happens more than one might guess. In any case, Wednesday night was the perfect time to use that quote. Seems that we got eaten by the bear, and then got to eat some very good corn chowder afterwards. Hmmm, that's a bit "Jonah and the Whale-ish," isn't it?

In any case, Wednesday night started off very promising. During work, I had been smelling the corn chowder that was available in the cafeteria. Now, I've learned my lesson--actually, learned it a few too many times--about eating food at my company's cafeteria. Namely, don't do it. And, if you do it, knowing full well that you shouldn't, do not, under any circumstances, get the soup. The soups there must be loaded with MSG because the kinds of headaches I get immediately after consuming it are excruciating.

Anyway, I really wanted corn chowder after smelling it all day, so I searched around for a recipe. See, I have a problem with corn chowder. I love it when I get it at restaurants. But, I haven't found a recipe I like to make at home. This, no doubt, has everything to do with my hesitancy to use ingredients like cream, or bacon. I finally decided that it must be these items that make the difference, though, and started rationalizing about how, it's bound to be moderately healthier made at home, even with those ingredients, and it would certainly be cheaper, per-serving. So, I found this recipe and we went for it. According to the link, it is originally from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, which, thanks to this recipe, is now very high on my "Cookbooks to Buy" list.

We made a few changes. We used turkey bacon rather than "real" bacon. We didn't have turmeric in the house, so we skipped it. We did have heavy cream in the house for some reason, so we used that instead of the half-and-half. And we halved the recipe because I saw no need for 10 to 12 servings of something with such a dubious nutritional profile for just two people.

The results were incredible. Really, this recipe finally matches up to what I can get at the restaurants.

Unfortunately, while the soup was simmering for its 15 minutes uncovered, my computer met with catastrophe. I don't know what I did wrong, but all of a sudden, there were pop-ups everywhere telling me about how my computer was under attack. Except, those pop-ups weren't from my antivirus software. They were from, well, a virus. This virus--spyware--whatever you want to call it--made my computer completely useless. And so began days of alternately wanting to cry, throw my laptop against a wall, and get revenge on whoever had done this to my precious laptop. On top of all this, I feared the worst--What would happen if I went into labor while my laptop was dead? GASP. As Kurt so appropriately asked, "If a baby is born, and The Jam Girls don't know about it, did it still happen?" I'm not sure, and I'm VERY glad not to have to find out.

So, in the end, the bear--also known as the virus--ate us, but we had some damn good corn chowder in the process.

Oh, and for those who would like to know, this program is what finally resuscitated my laptop this morning. I highly recommend it.

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 85

The Ointment

A young woman, newly married, moved in with her husband and his mother. She found her new mother in law very critical of everything she did. Whatever she did, the older woman put her down, complained about her and generally made her feel like she had no value. Finally in desperation the young wife went to see the herbalist, a wise old woman who lived in the village. She opened her heart to the healer and begged for some potion that would kill her mother-in law off. The herbalist gave her an ointment and told her that she must rub it into the older women’s feet for half an hour a day for a month.

After three weeks the young daughter in law turned up at the healer’s house asking for an antidote. The mother in law had completely transformed and the two women had resolved all their differences and there was a lot of love and affection between them both. The healer smiled explaining that the herbs were harmless and that the loving attention the daughter in law had shown the elder woman was what had worked the miracle.

The Arash Concert!

I know some might be wondering who that is?!?! Well, I didn’t know who it was at 1st till recently when my bf’s band was busy practicing for his concert opening here in KL. And after listening to some of his songs, I realized that I’ve heard some of the songs before and I know them, just that I never get to know who the singer was.
Anyway, Arash is this Iranian famous RnB singer and frankly, some of his songs are not bad actually. They’re quite addictive.

He has this song called ‘Temptation’ which the video clip was recorded in Malaysia, and honestly it doesn’t look like KL at all! Bukit Bintang looks so nice in the clip not to mention Sunway Pyramid! And the quality of the video clip is really good unlike most of the Malaysian video clips which just look…..*sigh*!

The concert!

Us taking pics with him backstage! *It's just so nice to have the VIP treatment! u get to go backstage and take pics!*

Me & Neusha before the concert starts! She's really sweet! =)

Runway 18 doing their thing for the opening!

Ok let’s get to the part where I went for his concert! Well, it was great! My bf’s band played for the 1st one hour. Then, it was the concert. The best part was that, I get to sit at the VIP place cos I was in the ‘Guest List’ and it was really cool! Considering the fact that I didn’t have to pay for a single cent! *wink wink*

One of his famous hit. Try checking out 'Donya' one of his best single featuring Shaggy! i think everyone knows this one cos I listened to it before but i just never bother to find out who was the singer.