Strawberry for break-fasting

We were out of dates the other day, so we decided to break our fast with some sumptuously sweet strawberry

Recipe: Tom Yam Chiang Mai Marinara

Here is the recipe for Tom Yam Chiang Mai Marinara. The recipe is composed from several recipes i got from the net and made into one. It's not an original recipe whatsoever. According to those who tasted my tomyam said it's pretty darn tasty and spicy. So as not to lose and have to again and again look for the recipes on the net i'm putting it into my blog for those who are interested and for my future reference :)

We'll start with ingredients first.

 These ingredients are prepared for a feast of 25 people. However, since we mostly don't cook for many often, i'll list down the recipe for a 5 person meal.

Ingredients

1/2 kilo prawn
1/2 kilo squid
100 g button mushroom
2 tomatoes
2 onions
2 bunch of coriander with its root
2 lemongrass
10 kaffir lime leaves100 g bird's eye chili or more

100 g dried chill 

50 ml fish sauce50 g ginger

5 cups of washed grain water (air basuhan beras)

Galangal (optional)

Tom Yam paste

Sugar and salt

Lemon juice

 Method

1. Pour the washed grain water into the pot and turn heat to medium-high. Put in coriander's root, lemongrass, onions, tomatoes, ginger, galangal and a few kaffir lime leaves.

2. Wait until it starts to boil and put in the tom yam paste and blended chillies (bird's eye chili and dried chili). Wait until boiling again.

3. Put in prawn and squid. Add fish sauce.

4. Wait until squid and prawn's cooked (usually only a few minutes) and add some sugar and salt.

5. Turn off the heat and pour in some lemon juice.

6. Serve with hot plain rice.

The marinara for the tom yam. I remove the fish cutlets from the mix because fish tend to cook faster and might disintegrate if put too long along with prawn, squid and mussels.

From left: Coriander, bird's eye chili, kaffir lime leaves.

The coriander. Note how i chopped the root from the bunches and string them into one.

The Tom Yam paste that i use. There are many varieties out there. Choose any of your liking.

The chilies after i blended them. To the spice connoisseur , the more the better.

Step 1. Pour the specified ingredients into the boiling pot. Basically you already got your tom yum at this stage.

The finished product. The orange and red hue come from the paste and chilies. You can add some coconut milk or creamy carnation milk to add some mild flavour and texture.

That's all for the tom yam recipe. It's really easy to make and tastes great. If you happen to try the recipe please share your experience here. Thanks :)

Salam Ramadhan al Mubarak 1432H 2011

I never thought i'd be seeing you again so fast. What have i been doing since last year? There are a lot of things to ponder and reflect about. Let us take this time of the year to make up for all we have missed. Whatever it is, keep our faith strong and firm and let us be kind and generous towards others. May this month showers His blessings upon us.

5 Centimeters per second

Found another gem, this time it's an anime. The title's a bit odd for an anime though. 5 centimeters per second. The only way the title could be explained is by reading this excerpt here,

"The title 5 Centimeters Per Second comes from the speed at which cherry blossoms petals fall, petals being a metaphorical representation of humans, reminiscent of the slowness of life and how people often start together but slowly drift into their separate ways"


The movie is simplistic in its way of portraying the life of a young boy who meets a girl and got separated, as he grows older, the memories remains, and could remain forever, as suggested in the anime. The same goes for the girl, though she accepted the fact that she now just a piece of memory of him, nonetheless she still acts like the boy, always thinking about him, not  a day passes by that i don't think about you, even just for a while. The way the anime portrays the feeling and expression of the characters are priceless, intentionally keeping the characters from revealing their true feelings but we still feel as if we can read and understand them. I'm a fan of happy endings which is not usually realistic in real life, so it's heartbreaking when in the end they didn't get together again after all those while (especially the last scene when the passed each other at the train line) T.T 


However, he smiled at the end, finally letting go of his past. Life must go on.


The anime is as detailed and expressive as it can be, leaving few to the imagination of the director, Makoto Shinkai who mostly did sci-fi/fantasy anime. The soundtrack was awesome too especially the ending theme, i love it. 

My Mother's Day

There are many ways people would ask how much do you love your mom, what's your most memorable thing with you and her, what do you miss most of her.

When someone asked me to list 5 of your happiest moments with your mom i was dumbfounded. i couldn't possibly spits out 5 not even 1. it must be awkward when it's supposed to be really easy. just name any, like when she cooks your favorite meal or something, anything? How can it be? what, you don't really love your mom or something?

I sat there in silence...trying my hardest when it struck me. How could i list FIVE things of happy moments with her when all my life it was nothing but only happiness (with her)? I couldn't recall any specific moments because i regard each and every moment with her is special. I love her too much that i just can't choose without feeling disturbed that there are some special moments with her that are, not special.

All my life, this person guided me, teaches me, loves me, scolds me, reminds me, more than anyone ever did. I would recall (from many other) the time when she encourages me to be 'observant'. I was around 8 or 9 at that time. It was when we were driving back home to Terengganu, as she tells her childhood story (that are so fascinating by the way) that she would intermittently add some moral values in her stories. This time it is about to be 'observant'. To really open your eyes and see the world in another perspective. I took it by heart and started to be 'observant' (tried to, at least) from that day on. Obviously, there are so many values, stories, knowledges, etc that she taught that i would say that i am not what i am today without her, i wouldnt' even be close to what i am today without her. She's is the single most biggest influence in my life.

I was around 13 or 14 at that time (adolescent years, which im not fond of) when i vehemently abjects to her holding my hand in public or whenever when we're trying to cross the road. it wouldn't be seen as 'macho' or 'cool' for your mom to still holding your hand (who's watching anyway?). Or when we went to 'the Store' or 'Pantai Timur' supermarket to buy some shirts or pants. How she happily picks up any shirts (which is ugly from my view, at that time) and tries it on me and told me to put it on and then picks up another (horrible) pant to go with it. How 'uncool' is that? You are a big boy ( big lah sangat) now and still shops with your mom? Pergh, if my friends saw me i wouldn't know what to say. Eventually i never met or stumbled upon anyone in my years of 'mummy shopping' with her.

I miss that time, i miss it when she's busy looking for the best shirt for me, looking for the right sizes, usually meaning the worker to get into the store looking for the exact size. I miss her terribly when she would ask me to accompany her throughout the bazar or pasar malam, looking and most usually never buy anything other than tempering with my mood. Then she would laugh and mention how i'm always like that....

But i would remember many wrongs that i did to her. How i wish that i would never make her disappointed in me. But as life makes it way, there are some disappointments and sad moments along the way. I just hope that  i could make up for it somehow, someday.

One thing i'm sure of, she would never stop loving me. She would call us siblings almost every 3 or 4 days (at least twice) a week. Just to share some stories of her work or about my brother and all. No, her call wasn't not short in any way, most likely it will be around half an hour. Whenever my phone rings around 7 or 8 pm, my friends would yell for me, saying, "Syauqee, your mother's calling!!". Then i would hurry to pick up the phone and if someone doesn't know better it looks like i'm talking to a girlfriend.

I know she won't read this. Heck, i don't care. Because i know whatever happens, we will always be in her prayers everytime, everyday. Her love would not increase by reading this because it's always full, regardless. For all you have done, and so much more, i just want to say I love you mom, and may Allah grant you eternal happiness here until the hereafter.

p.s. just had to wait on the cherry story. this one goes first because i'm in the mood :)

7 months ago...

My last post was on October 11 2010. That'll be around 7 MONTHS since I last post anything here.

LOTS had happened in those 7 months. LOTS of thing i want to share but didn't. Anyway, i am looking forward to restart my writing. Hopefully, i can cover those missing months XD

Starting with my first full time working experience here in Australia as a cherry sorter for the next post.