Birthday wishes

It’s good to be back after a short break and to enjoy a lovely lunch with two dear old friends. My birthday is coming up in a few days and they wanted to celebrate it with me

I was greeted with three beautiful stalks of pink bromeliads, from Yu Ling’s garden and a birthday card with wishes for good health and happiness. Sigh….. what more can a person want? Good old friends who remember your birthday with flowers, good wishes and a tasty lunch with longetivity
noodles ( a must for birthdays ) plus dim sum. ( literally translated as touch the heart )

We had steamed fish balls, yam pastries, sesame balls with sweet filling and pau filled with lin yung. The pau were shaped like bunnies,so very cute!

Companionship and trusty friends of long standing are a must in one’s life especially as one gets on in years. Sometimes it is only with bosom friends that you can share matters of the heart. Yu Ling and I go back a long way, ever since her daughter was a tiny baby in her arms and early next year she will be getting married. Time has gone past, like the water under the bridge flowing out to the sea. What has transpired is gone, never to return, so we should enjoy the present and happily anticipate the future.

Our children, once small, are now adults with their own lives, away from us but the precious bond of our friendship remains, to paint rainbows in our lives. I will have another one soon, in the form of line dancing, which Yu Ling has initiated at her home and I look forward to that.

I remember when I was a young teacher, fresh out of college, posted to teach in a convent school that had high walls enclosing it. No cars and no men were allowed to enter the grounds and the headmistress was a very intimidating Irish nun who wielded iron discipline and control over teachers and students. She didn’t believe in outdoor sports and I was given physical education (PE) classes to teach. She said I had to teach folk dancing and if I didn’t know how to dance, I had jolly well go and learn!

Luckily there were folk dancing classes in those days at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur during the weekends so faithfully I learned a few folk dances, largely Scottish and Irish and taught them to the girls in school during the week. So I’m looking forward to learning line dancing, beginning tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you my friends for a lovely lunch, good wishes and the beautiful flowers. You made my day!

Happy Father's Day

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and it will be celebrated world-wide to honour the man who brings home the bacon. Hotels & restaurants are cashing in with special menus, moms and kids are thinking of gifts for the head of the family to show their love and appreciation.

The dad of yesteryears was very different from the dad of today. Back then, the dad worked hard to put food on the table and he was the discipline master in the family. His word was practically law and woe betide the child that dared to disobey. He often kept his distance and his emotions were always in check. Neither did he talk much.

It was not done then, especially in traditional Asian society, for a father to hug his children
kid or young adult and his children didn’t confide matters of the heart in him. There was little closeness but the children nevertheless loved and respected him and to a certain extent feared him.

One would definitely not see a father in those days feeding a baby or carrying the baby’s nappy bag. That was considered the mum’s work.

However much has changed since those days. You can see fathers carrying their babies, feeding and changing their diapers, carrying the nappy bag and even the wife’s handbag, or pushing the pram, etc. Today’s fathers hug and kiss their children spontaneously; they are more friends than disciplinarians. You hardly see fathers who cane their children these days. Fathers are not bashful about hugging or kissing their daughters, child or young adult. The bonding and closeness are much in evidence.


However much has changed since those days. You can see fathers carrying their babies, feeding
and changing their diapers, carrying the nappy bag and even the wife’s handbag, or pushing the pram, etc. Modern day fathers play an active role in bringing up their children. There are even stay-at-home dads who cook
and clean and send the children to school while mums are the breadwinners. The role reversal is more acceptable these days. Women definitely welcome any help men can give at home, especially now that both parties have to work to bring home the bacon.

Indeed fathers take an active part on the home front and family is a priority on their list.

Women definitely welcome any help men can give at home,
especially now that both parties have to work to bring home the bacon.

To single fathers who are taking care of their children, kudos to you and here’s wishing every father a Happy and Blessed Father’s Day.

It's a Small World

Another rainbow was painted into my fabric of life this afternoon.

I was walking along the road looking for a taxi when one passed by so I waved and the driver stopped. I hurried to the taxi and got in, telling him where I wanted to go.

He turned around and looked at me. Then very politely, he asked me, “ Excuse me, you are Mrs Peggy Chan, aren’t you?”

Was I surprised!! “Yes, I am,” I replied, “how do you know me?”

His answer almost bowled me over! “You were my teacher in La Salle in 1982.”

Wow, it really is a small world. After that he regaled me with his experiences of the past twelve years in Kuala Lumpur, his promotion of Sabah to the German and Canadian tourists he transported in his taxi, etc., etc. However, he misses Sabah very much and he intends to return in a couple of years. Kuala Lumpur is very different from rural Sabah where people are still very friendly and there are no pronounced racial divides. It is very common to see people of different ethnic backgrounds sharing a table in a Chinese coffee shop. This is not often seen in Kuala Lumpur.

All too soon we arrived at my destination but meeting my ex-student was really wonderful. He spoke perfect English and I’m very proud of him. I was his English teacher all those years ago. Zulrushdy, you have done your school proud. He still has fond memories of Datuk Brother Charles O ’Leary, our former school principal. He said that on his next visit to Sabah he’s going to tell his friends how he met their Cikgu Peggy Chan and that her kampong is Jalan Imbi, right next to Bukit Bintang!!

The Essence of Happiness

Take time and pause. What are the things that make us happy?

Here are some findings from studies that have been made.

People who are married are happier than those who are not.
People who have religious beliefs are also happier than those who do not.


Who else are happy?

People who have sufficient sleep of 7 hours on average and who have friends and family.Those who are mentally and physically healthy and have a regular schedule to live by.

Oh yes, having extra money makes people happier too. However, the above ingredients are the true essence of happiness. Money just adds extra happiness.


However, if you have money but none of the above, you will have an empty and meaningless life unless you can put your money to good use. You can feel happy if you bring happiness to others.

Chinese Dumplings

The 5th day of the 5th lunar month in the Chinese calendar is the Duan Wu Festival which commemorates the death of Qu Yuan who was a renowned Chinese poet in the Chu kingdom. He was a patriot whose advice to the King went unheeded and the Chu capital of Yingdu fell to the Qin Dynasty general Bai Qi in 278BC. Qu Yuan was so deeply grieved that he jumped into the Miluo river after penning a poem “Lament for Ying”

The people made rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and threw them into the river to stop the fish from eating Qu Luan’s body.
Some even rowed downstream beating drums and shouting to scare away the fish and it is believed that this is how the Dragon Boat race is related to the dumpling festival.

The rice dumplings (ZongZi) are glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. They contain pork, chestnut, salted egg, mushroom, mung bean and Chinese chestnut or they can be plain without filling.



The most common shape of the dumpling is the triangular shape with four corners. It looks like a pyramid. There is also the flat rectangular shape
which personally I don’t find attractive.

Dumplings are not difficult to prepare. My grandmother taught my younger sister and I how to do it when we were young.

We had to soak overnight the bamboo leaves which were sold in sheaves.
This is to clean and soften them. The glutinous rice was also soaked for a few hours. Then she would fry it in a large kuali ( wok ), adding soya sauce and five-spice powder.

Granny usually used belly pork because the pork with some fat on it tastes better and the glutinous rice would not be so dry. She would fry the pork in soya sauce too. She also sliced the Chinese mushrooms once they were soft. ( The dry mushrooms have to be soaked first ) She used Chinese chestnuts and salted egg yolks. Instead of beans, she used dried prawns which were also soaked and cleaned.

She showed us how to fold the ends of the bamboo leaves ( we used two leaves as they were not broad enough )together so that there is a hollow ending in a pointed tip ( like an inverted cone). Then we would spoon some glutinuous rice into the hollow, after which we would put in the fried pork, mushroom, salted egg yolk (such a pretty orange color), dried prawns and chestnut. We then put in some more rice to cover the filling.

After that we had to twist the leaves in such a way that they would cover the glutinous rice snugly and there must be four corners. Then we would secure the dumpling with the previously soaked straw string.( Kiam chiau. You rarely find this now. Most people use raffia string.) We had to leave a fairly long bit of string
so that all the dumplings could be strung together into bunches.

Shaping the dumplings into little pyramids is an art and those who don’t know how to do it find themselves having sticky rice oozing into their hands as it escapes from the bamboo leaves. Thus some just wrap it into the flat rectangular shape which is not as aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

She would make about 100 dumplings as we have a large family.
The dumplings were then boiled in a large tin ( large used biscuit tin ) over a charcoal fire for about three hours. Once they were cooked, granny would hang the bunches of 12 dumplings on a long stick supported by 2 chairs so that the excess water would drip off and the dumplings could cool to room temperature.

The following day the dumplings would be distributed to family members. ( aunts and uncles and their families )

Granny would do this every year and we would help her. I used to make them too after I got married and had my family but unfortunately I don’t make them now
as my grandchildren don’t eat them and it is easier to buy as dumplings are readily available at reasonable prices.

Reading Opens a New World

Reading is a habit that is acquired. Those who love reading will know what I mean when I say that it opens a whole new world.

In fiction, your imagination takes flight as you visualize the pictures drawn by the author through his words.

In travelogues, you share the writer’s experiences and you can empathise with him. You see the places he has visited through his eyes as he describes them.

In horror stories of crime and the supernatural, you cringe in horror or terror as the writer’s skilful narrative evokes those reactions.

In tales of heady romance, you ache and sigh with the heroine or get exasperated and impatient.

You can cry and you can laugh, depending on the writer’s skills with words.

Indeed it is a world that enchants and keeps you mesmerized, clinging to the book into the wee hours of the morning, especially if you read at bedtime.


My grandchildren make a beeline for the bookshop whenever we go to a shopping mall. They will select the books they want to read and they will settle down on the carpeted floor, content to while the hours away in that same spot. Nothing will budge them and it speaks volumes for the well-known bookstores that the children’s section is always occupied by children engrossed in their books. They do not plastic-wrap their books as some stores do, rendering them unavailable to the children.



Some parents are even known to begin reading to their babies while they are still in the womb. If you don’t teach them to read when they are young, if you do not expose your young children to the fascinating world of books, then you are short-changing them for reading is not a habit that can be readily acquired when your child is in his teens as there are so many other distractions to occupy him.

If you haven’t started, it’s still not too late to draw some rainbows into your children’s lives by introducing them to the magic world of books.

Soursop, the Miracle Plant

The Soursop is a sweet-sourish fruit with white pulp that grows in the tropics. It is usually used to make fruit drinks or sherbets but many people eat it as a fruit. When it is ripe, it can be very sweet. We know the fruit is ripe when it is soft. Its skin is usually green with a rough texture.


It has many medical benefits and is a proven cancer remedy. Also found in Brazil where it is known as Graviola, it is known to lower high blood pressure and is used to treat stress, depression and nervous disorders.


The bark, leaves, roots, fruit and fruit-seeds of the Graviola tree have been used for centuries by native Indians in South America to treat heart disease, asthma, liver problems and arthritis.

In America, the National Cancer Institute performed the first scientific research in 1976 and the results showed that Graviola's "leaves and stems were found effective in attacking and destroying malignant cells."

The compound extracted from the Graviola tree selectively hunts down and kills only cancer cells and it does not harm healthy cells! It effectively targets and kills malignant cells in 12 types of cancer, including Colon , Breast, Prostate, Lung and Pancreatic cancer..

The best part is that we can grow the soursop or graviola in our gardens and enjoy the fruit for its health benefits.