A year had passed

One year ago, yesterday - my abah passed away.

I've been dreading to write about this since the beginning of this month simply bcos I dont know what to write but I guess the harder task in doing so would be hiding the pain and keeping the tears from flowing freely. But I dont want the day to go unnotice either. So the opportunity is now, when other family members are busy watching tv and too busy to notice (this wife and mother of two) is trying to keep her emotion in check. Whilst it (relatively) easier for me to remember the date of my father's passing by the months that had lapsed, my mother on the other hand is remembering it by each passing day; religiously marking it in her calendar. In which ever way, we all remember him and each one of us grieve differently.

But remember him ... we will always do.

I choose to remember my father in my passion for reading. For he was the driving force (and teacher) in me learning to read in the first place. So for every good book that I ever have the pleasure to read and for every rotten book that came across my way, I owe the pleasure and agony of it all to my dearest abah. And thanks to him, I'll be using this gift for a long, long time and hopefully ignite the same passion to his and my grandchildren.

To me this will be a perfect (if I may borrow a quote from the movie Love Happens) 'recognition not only for a person who had died, but a recognition for a person who had lived'.

Love and miss you abah.

Cendol

Image by ImipolexG via Flickr

I am absolutely, utterly , totally in love with this dessert call 'cendol'. Its basic ingredients are shaved ice, coconut milk, starch noodles (green in color), red beans and palm sugar. There are also other variants (the foodcourt or restaurant versions) which sometimes include vanilla ice cream or durian. But if you ask me, I prefer the roadside vendor style - the basic which sometimes may or may not include 'pulut' (glutinous rice).



My favourite roadside vendor will have to be the one back at my hometown at Manjong, Sitiawan. Owner's name is James. It's located just in front of the Hindu Temple. And this is not the first time I'm writing about this particular stall either (as if I have a share in it or something) Ohh ... but you just can't beat this cendol anywhere. Period. The sugar and ice will be just right. Not too sweet nor too dilute. Perfect.


I was there 3 days ago. Usually the crowd was manageable but this time around there was actually a long line. It was a hot afternoon just one day before Chinese New Year and I found that most of these people were from Singapore. They took the long holidays opportunity to drive down and of cos' savour Sitiawan's famous cendol. I had one in Geylang wet market Singapore just over three weeks ago but it was nothing compare to this. Besides this is just RM1.30 (without pulut) and that will be what ... S$0.50? No wonder.


So with my hubby, son and mother waiting in the car in the hot afternoon sun (they don't have sweet tooth like I do), I queued and waited for my turn to taste my favourite dessert cendol. Mmm, heaven.

Fridge magnet - Venice, Italy (95), Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (96)

My interest in collecting fridge magnets has the involvement (accidentally) of hubby's friends. Bcos I do received many from them. And of cos' my high fliers sis and bro-in laws whom travel a lot too.

Hubby's friend travel to Venice recently and I got this:

And from K.Lin whom visited Ho Chi Minh during the new year holiday, I got this:

96 and counting ...

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• Video: 2010 Venice Carnival (shoppingblog.com)
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Where is the Love - Roberta Flack

Valentine's Day come early. This is classic. Pure ecstasy to your ear drum. Enjoy people.

Expecting Adam by Martha Beck

The book was a memoir. I was moved and tickled to tears by it, all at the same time. I put the book on hold for two years. Can you believe it? Bought the book in 2008 and not until last month that I have the guts to go beyond its plain cover and serious subject to tackle the book.
I was already hooked at page 2.
The book is full of clever, witty and sarcastic humors, everyday prejudice and deep emotional ride of a mother-to-be whom also a Harvard scholar. And she's expecting a Down Syndrome baby.

p7 'They decided to allow their baby to be born. What they didnt realize is that they themselves were the ones who would be 'born', infants in a new world where magic is common place, Harvard professors are the slow learners and retarded babies are the master teachers'.

Somehow Martha's (author) 'special-need' child Adam has magic (to simply put it) and miracles surrounded him even before he was born. With bizarre happenings occurred to his parents when the author was expecting him.

I laughed at this, p16 'the more upset John (husband) is, the happier he acts. It's a Harvard thing'. And this p20 'the moment Mr. Sperm and Ms. Egg first encountered each other in my fallopian tubes-before they even had time to make any informed decision about going steady, let alone forming a biological unit- I could sense them conspiring to make my life a hell on earth'.
Maybe I shouldn't have laughed ...

I cried when 2 'angels' appeared out of nowhere to help Martha. Angels read: 2 beautiful and intelligent women - 1 pregnant and the other not. My intermittent cry lasted almost 10 minutes or so .. and I was not even pregnant.

p75 'Adam brought with him a sweetness that surpasses anything I ever felt before he was conceived ... a quality of attention to ordinary life that is so loving and intimate - it's almost worship'.

On p.76, the author wrote about a friend in a lab experimenting with rats - for reason unknown to author but she suspects that her friend was making soup and labelled her friend as 'my rat molesting friend'. That had me laughed out loud (my lunatic personality suddenly escaped me).

When the author wrote about magical/out of this world experiences, perhaps it was just pure, innocent coincidences and the book also spoke a lot about the author's and hubby experiences in Singapore. And I was also in Singapore when I read those pages, what a coincidence.

p317 'vast majority of normal people spend our lives trashing our treasures and treasuring our trash'. How true.

So as you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. However her once too many bizarre occurences were kinda hard to swallow (well, perhaps that's the reason she wrote it down) . I was also not too keen on her labelling/writing Down Syndrome children as 'retarded'. I winced everytime I read that. I prefer special needs children. But other than that I like her writing and love the story. Deeply moved and satisfied.

Fridge magnet - Jakarta (92), Taj Mahal-India (93), Sri Lanka (94)

It has been quite some time since I posted anything on my collection of fridge magnets. The truth is I didnt realise that it was actually growing, bcos I didnt really go anywhere neither does hubby. I had a good look at my fridge door the other day and saw 3 new magnets. Where did these come from??? Then I realised that the one from Jakarta was from a colleague who went there for a business trip (err.. about a year ago if I recall correctly) while the other 2 must be souvenirs from hubby's friends.

So 94 and counting.

The Vampire Diaries (book 1&2) by L.J Smith

I have no excuse. I admit I was intrigued (at first). Giving justification (to myself) that perhaps I need something which require less grey matter cells to digest (but was actually looking for another Twilight saga?) What was I thinking?Alas, it didn't meet up to my expectation.

But I found out ... before I read the sequel (it's 2 books in one) - that there is a TV series based on the book and from my short preview of the series in you tube - my preference goes to the tv series. However the characters potrayed on the screen gave me a better (looking) 'vision' of the faceless characters in the book which turned my reading to somewhat bearable for the second sequel.

The saga continues in book three and four which I don't intend to read (but perhaps I shouldn't speak so soon).

Maybe I should find the video set instead.