Good Bye 2017 Annus Horribilis

Today is the last day of the year and I’m happy to see the end of it. It hasn’t been a good year really, personally and professionally. 

I had the dreaded “writer’s block” and haven’t written anything to date whereas last year, 2016, I published 3 books.  However, I’ve been mulling over some ideas. 

Growing old healthily is not easy, not when I hadn’t taken good care of my health when I was young. This lackadaisical attitude has finally caught up with a vengeance and I found myself falling over a few times but praise the Lord, it wasn’t too serious.

Towards the later part of this year, I had a fractured toe and more recently, I was in such severe pain that I had to be hospitalized. Any slight movement of my left leg caused excruciating pain and I couldn’t lie down flat. An MRI scan revealed a compressed disc in the lower back was the culprit.

Now I cannot walk long distances without sudden twinges that send an electric shock through my back. A walking stick helps me to balance and enables me to get up from a sitting position.

The good part in these two episodes was that I was blessed to have good and caring doctors who attended to me. May God bless them.

My eyesight has deteriorated too. They have become ultra sensitive to light, whether natural or artificial. Vision is no longer clear and I require eye lubricants every hour to ease the burning sensations in my eyes. It is very hard to read now or to work at the computer without tearing. This is a major blow as I love reading and writing.

A few days ago I received news that my younger sister had been hospitalized for a mild heart attack and she’s still undergoing tests for other related issues. Family and friends are rallying round with prayers for her swift recovery.

I now look forward to a much better year in 2018, God willing.

The Winter Solstice Festival or DongZhi Festival or Tang Chek

Today, the 22nd of December, is the Winter Solstice. It is the day when the Northern Hemisphere has the shortest day time and the longest night time in the whole year.

In the Chinese Lunar calendar, today sees the celebration of the Winter Solstice Festival or the Dongzhi Festival or Tang Chek ( in Hokkien).

It is a time for the family to get together much like the way Westerners gather to celebrate Christmas with the family.  Family members in the Chinese community make the round balls of glutinous rice flour and color them pink with some left as white. Some even make green balls. These days they have different fillings in them, such as pounded peanuts or black sesame paste, or even lotus seed paste.

Eating the tangyuan (湯圓) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion is a tradition handed down over the  years and will continue to be observed annually.

They are eaten together with a sweet broth made from boiling pandan leaves with rock sugar and ginger. This syrupy broth smells fragrant and is tantalisingly delicious which makes the plain glutinous rice balls more palatable.

Two generations ago they were just plain glutinous rice balls.

As a child, my siblings and I would help our grandmother pinch small amounts of the glutinous rice flour that had been colored pink and roll them between our palms into small balls. We rolled pink and white balls. Then Grandma would place them into boiling water to cook. Once they floated up, they were cooked. She would then dish a few pink and white balls into rice bowls and pour the sweet syrupy broth over them and we would wolf them down!

This is the last festival of the year and after partaking of this sweet dish, people are deemed to be one year older. The older generation will always remind the younger ones of this.

So to all who celebrate this festival, I wish you a Happy Winter Solstice!

Visiting My Grandhildren

It’s almost two weeks since stubbing my toes against the edge of the door frame. The xray revealed a possible fracture in one of the little toes.

However, fracture or none, a promise is a promise. A promise that was made months ago to a little boy across the South China Sea, that Grandma would visit him. He had been counting the days so Grandpa and I set out to fly across.

Wheelchair services made boarding and disembarking a breeze. On arrival, my grandson’s sharp eyes noted the walking stick and on learning of my mishap, was most sympathetic and concerned.

The next day, we visited Stephen, our older grandson who will be leaving before the weekend, heading for the UK where he will continue his tertiary education.

Isaac has just started pre-school but unfortunately he hasn’t been feeling well of late so he has been missing school. He’s a jovial little lad and very helpful. Here he is, weighing himself before reading our weight as we by turn, stand on the digital scale.

His little sister Abigail, is 17 months old and she has just learned to walk.

Chloe is our older granddaughter who’s sitting for her A-levels soon. Here she is with her small butterfly pendant, a present from me.

In a couple of days we will making our way back to the Land Below the Wind which has been our home for the last 5 decades.

It’s time for the next xray of my foot and I’m missing my plants too.

My Birthday

It seems that as one grows older, the time goes by faster! Half of 2017 has flown past and my 74^th birthday has come and gone! 

I’ve been blessed with a lovely family and great friends. Even though my children (except for my eldest daughter) and  grandchildren stay far away across the sea, they never fail to telephone to wish me Happy Birthday. My siblings too, call up to send their greetings. It is wonderful to feel so much love coming across the distance. My little grandson (he’s four years old) sang Happy Birthday over Face time! So marvellous to see him and hear him sing.

Isaac

My eldest girl who stays with us bought dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The three of us had a simple dinner with the mandatory birthday noodles or longevity noodles.

Longevity Noodles

In the days of old, when my grandma was still alive, she used to cook me a bowl of longevity noodles (mee sua) and a couple of red, hard boiled eggs. Red signals prosperity.

My buddies ( we used to play golf together ) organized a lunch to celebrate my birthday. It was a most enjoyable lunch as we nattered over a nice meal and polished it off with cakes and coffee. Needless to say, lunch is never less than a 2 hour affair, after which we adjourned to go shopping.

Getting together for a meal and going shopping is not only enjoyable but most therapeutic. For those few hours, we forget whatever problems we have and the stress that comes with the daily grind of life.

Penang Assam Laksa

Fruity salad

Pumpkin soup & spring rolls

Butterscotch cake & Brownie with ice cream

It is so true that apart from family, we need to have girl friends with whom we can let down our hair, giggle over silly happenings, take wefies and forget the calories for that afternoon. We celebrate our birthdays by going for lunch. Thank you my friends for the lovely afternoon. Looking forward to the next birthday in July.

Nary, Josie, myself & Faridah in a wefie.

Food That I Like

I’m a typical Malaysian who loves food.  I daresay that Malaysians live for food! At any time of day and night, you can find Malaysians eating, in coffee shops, swanky cafes and restaurants, at road side stalls, etc. In fact, wherever the food is good, there you’ll find crowds.

Sambal Petai

Ladies' Fingers

 Supper is very common among Malaysians. This could be one reason why many of us are obese and diabetic. 

Char Kway Teow (Fried Flat noodles)

Oyster omelette

Sauteed  Prawns & Oyster Sauce Vegetables

 We just can’t help it for our country is a food paradise. We are a multi-culture nation and we have food to suit every palate. Eating can be quite an adventure itself.

Chicken Satay & Peanut Sauce

Indian Chicken Curry

The local cuisine varies from state to state. The food in the northern states is different from that in the south. There are also differences in the type of food available in East and West Malaysia. 

Soft Shell Crab

In fact, we don’t mind driving a couple of hours to a place to have lunch or dinner, so long as the food is good!!

Small mussels

Food we had at a fishing village restaurant 2 hours' drive away from Kuala Lumpur

 It used to be cheap to eat out but at present it has become more expensive as the cost of living has gone up tremendously. Our currency is very weak so food stuff costs more these days.

Nonetheless, Malaysians will still eat out, enjoying the camaraderie among friends.