Little Cozy Corner

This is one of my favourite emails….it may be a forwarded one but it still has substance. Read on…. 

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her 70+ birthday. Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older.

And, there on television, she said it was “exciting.” Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring every day…like her breasts.

They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist first.

The audience laughed so hard they cried. She is such a simple and honest woman, with so much wisdom in her words!

Maya Angelou said this:

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

“I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.”

“I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.”

“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back.”

“I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.” [My favourite!]

“I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.”

“I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.”

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Have a nice day, peeps! :hug:

Thanks Shanthy!

I still remember the aroma of freshly ‘baked’ kuih kapit or also known as love letters, filling the entire house as chatter and giggles echoed from the spacious kitchen at the back of a semi-detached town house. I also remember recoiling back from searing pain when I burnt my fingers trying to pick up that very hot and thin layer of unfolded kuih kapit from its steel mould. Ah Ma turned to look at me when I yelped and smiled understandingly. She had this look on her face, as though she was reminiscing the time she first started making kuih kapit many decades ago, in an old atap house. I’ve always loved chomping down on these very brittle traditional ‘cakes’ because I love how they crumble in my mouth no matter how ‘gently’ I bite down on them. The sweetness coming from very simple and basic ingredients simply cheers my heart up. Or maybe it’s just me getting sugar high! 

The whole kuih kapit making process is centred not on it’s ingredients but on how fast and neat you are at folding the hot sheet of sweet (rice & plain) flour. The kuih kapit is made up of part rice flour, part plain flour, lots of egg yolks and some egg whites, lots of sugar and not forgetting one of the main ingredients, thick coconut milk which gives it a nice coconutty after taste - which also happens to be why I love chomping down on kuih kapits by the dozen.

It seems like only yesterday that I found myself seated cross-legged on the cement floor in that kitchen beside Ah Ma, Aunty Lucy, Uncle Leong and Aunty Ah Yu, preparing myself for that virgin experience of kuih kapit folding. I was excited and was so sure that it was easy-peasy because Ah Ma made it look like child’s play but how wrong I was, you wouldn’t believe it! Ah Ma may have been old but she was a busy little bee, a fast worker and her fingers were nimble. She picked up the hot kuih kapit off the mould, one after the other, with her bare fingers as though they had some kind of protective substance that kept her fingers from burning. It was amazing. Everyone who was seated around the charcoal grill (some people use charcoal stoves though) had their own role; Uncle Leong fanned the fire, Aunty Lucy poured in the batter while Aunty Yu and Ah Ma folded the crisp kuih kapits at almost lighting speed. It was like a mini production line going on there!

After observing for a considerable amount of time, I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at it - literally. It was certainly harder than I thought. I ruined quite a number of kuih kapits and to tell you the truth, if we were running a business, we would have been bankrupt within a few days with the number of ‘failed’ kuih kapits that came from me alone. Because they were piping hot out of the mould, my virgin fingers could not stand the heat and thus I either ended up dropping them on the floor (and then I would generously offer to eat them as well) or ended up folding the cakes too slow that they ended up ‘opened’ and not nicely folded in quarters, looking like a fan like it should. It really took a lot of time, patience and will-power to withstand the pain to finally be able to produce somewhat better quality kuih kapits, although I still thought they were certainly not festive-worthy.

However, today I’m even further from perfecting what little skill I had acquired. It was at least 5 years ago since I helped Ah Ma and her gang but today, she’s far too old to be sitting down on the floor for long hours. I’ve since resorted to buying my kuih kapits from the shops but these are mostly mass produce thus they do not really taste the same. It’s always that special personal touch which makes it taste better because you know it was a labour of love. Nothing beats making traditional cakes, the traditional way. Only thing is that it’s such a hassle…but it’s still the best and worth the blood, sweat and tears!

This the second article that I’ve contributed to a new site called Memoirs of Malaysia. My other article was written when I first started blogging. It’s called ‘My adventures‘. Here’s calling out to those talented particualrly Malaysian writers out there, join the community and share your experience and heritage with us. It’s gonna be quite fun!

I had a VERY sweet and plesant surprise today. Ted really made my day. :love: He had mentioned to me yesterday that he was going to make me a special dinner and he did a magnificent job! I had worked the whole of last week [Saturday and Sunday] right up till today and I was really looking forward to a restful weekend. What a marvelous way to start it off indeed.

The first sweet surprise I got was a bouquet of pink roses waiting for me when I got home, he didn’t mention a thing when he came to fetch me at the station and I had no idea what was waiting for me at home. When I got back, as I was hanging up my jacket and all, he called out to me from the kitchen and when I got there, there he was…..standing with a bouquet of beautiful pink roses. So sweet lar! :love: :love:

Then he made me some strong tea coz I like it really thick so that I can add milk and it would somewhat taste like tea back home - not the same but nearly the same and I cant really argue with that, can I? After that, he pretty much hurried me off into our study and practically forced me to blog/surf. He told me that I was not to come out of the room until he was done. So I obediently stayed online until he hollered out to me.

What greeted me was beyond my expectation!!! :love: :blush: He had prepared a meal of rice with pan fried fish, accompanied by my favourite wine from the Brown Brothers - Spatlese Lexia [a sweet sort of dessert wine], a single stalk of rose in the centre and some candles to complete the romantic look. I was escatatic and so excited that I was running around looking for my camera coz I just had to immortalise it. It was just so beautiful and so romantic….. :daydream: How could I not love this man??? :love: Such a lovely soul he is… :hug: And he’s MINE!!!! Happy Yvy…. :dancing:

The meal…. :drool:

The man… :love:

The pic of a bird the man took… :hehe:

Have a funfilled and rested weekend, folks! :hug:

Picture courtesy of XP. Heh. 

I’ve come to realise that it’s the little things that matter. The fact that I finally got myself my OWN phone made a huge difference in my work productivity. I got my work done faster and I was more efficient. Before this, Keith (the guy sitting beside me) and I were sharing a phone and it was tough especially when we were both rushing to finish some pretty urgent work last week. It’s frustrating coz when he’s on the phone, then I’d have to wait and vice versa. At one point, he had to temporary move tables so that he could call from another cubicle coz those phone calls were REALLY important and needed to be made by a certain dateline…more like dateTIME!

But yes, it’s the little things that matter and funnily enough, to me…they make me smile and sometimes giggle too. :hehe: Take for example how my colleagues thought I was nuts when I waited patiently for the window-washer men to drop by our floor today so I could take a pix of them daggling by their ropes [which I did] and washing the outside of my very tall office building. [I'm on the 14th floor!] I found it to be very intriguing and was thinking what thoughts were running through their minds as they dangled there, so high above solid ground. Although they certainly took the necessary safety precautions, I wonder if they had any ‘What ifs’, you know? Then I thought how they must either be nuts or real daredevils to be doing what they were doing! I believe we have 15 floors altogether but I could be mistaken, I have to find this out tomorrow though.

Then there was once, just a few days ago while on the train back from work, I saw this young mother [She could not be more than 30.] with 4 kids who were all below the age of 8. Despite having rather hyperactive kids all around her, she wasn’t tensed nor did she looked stressed. But I could feel MY stress level slowly rising as I watched her kids climb up and down the seats, swinging from the steel rods….it was indirectly driving me up the wall but she was oblivious to this fact. She was even playing ‘Police and bad guy’ with the 3 kids who couldn’t be more than 4 where she held his hands behind his back and said playfully, ‘You’re under arrest!’ and it actually amused the child! I could see him giggling away and while all this ‘fun’ was going on, she had accidentally lifted her right left and the pram with a baby in it, tipped back!! I pretty much exclaimed in shock and surprise [which is mak-jatuh...kononnyer melatah ler..] when the pram tipped over but she was cool, and obviously managed to grab it before it went totally over. And of course, some of the kids got a good scolding for making her do that to the baby and surprisingly, the baby didn’t even whimper…I bet s/he is already used to the tipping over. I don’t blame the kid though, the pram was overloaded. Then I was thinking, despite all these kids who were most certainly driving her up the wall, she didn’t look ‘tired’ at all. And it struck me how strong mothers are. How they adapt themselves to the situation, no matter how bad things get. I had a gut feeling that this was a single mother or perhaps a family where the father was practically non-existence but that’s just what I think - I don’t know the truth, it’s merely gut feeling. I’m not sure how this is related to the little things but I just had to share that little daily anecdote which I thought was something special….

FINALLY!!! Haiyolar….I dont think I can take anymore sequels from Saw the movie! Although it was such coincidence that I saw a number plate the other say which had ‘SAW 372′ on it and I thought, ‘OMG!!! If it ever came to that, I”d be running the other way….’ I bet it would be the sequel with Amanda’s great-great-grandaughteras the psycho woman. Anyways, Ted and I went for Saw3 last Thursday and I’ve had to wait till now to finally write you a review of it. I just couldnt find the time, would you believe it?? :rolleyes: 

I dont want to review in detail lest I end up turning this into a spoiler although I will throw in the spoiler later on. :devil: But the bottom line is that, this is a hate-it or love-it movie. It’s certainly one of those must-see movies for all those out there who are fans of blood and gore like yours truly. However, some say otherwise. A few good reviews has this to say about Saw 3 :

• If you found Hannibal’s brain cooking scene a tad too much, you will want to avoid Saw III; but if you are a fan of the gory versions of horror, this will be an iconic essential
• The makers… demonstrate a genuine integrity for their series by reigning the story back in to its original core elements… Fans of Saw will not be disappointed.
• There’s a reason that this series has exploded at the box office while other sequels wither on the vine — and it’s not just because of the perpetually rusty torture devices.
• Saw III isn’t just by far the best film of the series, it’s one of the better horror movies of the year.
• Makes the first two look about as intimidating as a child’s six piece jigsaw puzzle. This is for the hardcore horror fan and for the hardcore horror fan only.

While others, bashed Saw 3 :

• The fact that it contrives to give its torture master the moral high ground (apparently he only tortures his victims for their own good) is possibly more perverse than any of its violence.
• Extremely dull in every sense. Even the most devoted fan won’t find much to enjoy in this grab-bag of tired cliches and inept tricks.
• Call this franchise ‘Chicken Soup for the Soulless.’
• The faces on the mannequins at Penney’s are more familiar than these actors. The entire cast might as well be dressed in gray and bicycling around Beijing.

Now, if you ask me what I thought of the movie, I’d say that it was freaking fantastic! Jigsaw is currently standing side by side with Hannibal as far as I’m concerned. This last sequel to the previous 2 Saw movies, is the most happening, disgusting and gruesome of the lot! It’s that gruesome and literally painful that I found myself hiding behind my jacket several times during the course of the show. Not to mention the number of ‘Ouch!’ and ‘OMG!!’s that spewed from my mouth during this less than 2 hour movie. It even had Ted going, ‘Gad….’ a couple of times too. So you can just imagine the kind of scenes that took place!

I found the plot to be quite interesting and the ending, perfect! All 3 Saw movies had me thinking about the plot and how the deeds were carried out and everytime, I would fail at understanding how it all worked but in the last sequel, all is revealed and YET, at the end, you’ll still find yourself in for a surprise. And this is why I could hardly wait for Saw 3 to be released. I doubt the uncensored version will be shown in Malaysia, I think it’s too extreme for the cinemas there BUT even if they did bring it to the cinemas, I think it will be very brutally butchered. That would really suck coz most of the interesting bits HAVE to be in there and you HAVE to watch it. So here’s hoping that all Malaysian will get a chance to watch the real Saw 3 - uncensored. If not, just go visit Uncle Ho lor! :hehe:

My last thoughts on Saw 3 [which also happens to be part of a review]…if ever there was a movie that warranted a “not for the squeamish” advisory, this is certainly it. :devil: So go watch it…it’s coming to cinemas near you!

Ps. For the spoiler, go here.

Since I spent most of today at work [OT mar :kaching:], I decided to spoil myself rotten for lunch. For the past week or so, I’ve been walking past McD’s advert on burgers which seem to possible only in my imagination. I’ve been seeing a triple cheeseburger (??) and a double quarter pounder EVERYDAY since then but I never really went over to check them out coz I normally bring something to eat for lunch from home. Eating out is not a luxury I can afford to splurge on at will…plus, I bring HEALTHY food from home. I make my own sandwiches. Anyways, today….I told myself that I’ve GOT to spoil myself since I’ve been hard at work on a WEEKEND. That’s like almost near impossible here.

So, I treated myself to a DOUBLE QUARTER POUNDER. :drool: Wow is the ONLY word I can think of right now to describe it. It was massive….but damn, it was GOOD! It’s all meat, baby….MEAT. It’s just like the normal quarter pounder you get back in Msia but this one has an additional slab of meat AND cheese!! O boy, it was gastrorgasmic…O YEAH!! :drool: :drool:

I totally recommend it to all meat lovers and no, it’s not that filling if you take a small helping. Was so NOT amused when a galpal’s bf said, ‘WOW, you are a big eater!!’ as I sunk my teeth into that wondrous burger. :grouch: I should have boxed him in the ear. :beat_up: Should have, could have but I didn’t. Lucky for him, I just met him then or I wouldnt have been so polite by saying that this was just me being a pig today. :grouch: Anyways, here it is….my current fav burger. Totally unhealthy and DELISH!! :drool:

Ps. Watched SAW 3 on Thursday….movie review coming up soon! Bottomline is….Consuela & Lux, YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT!!! :applause: