Visit to Tamu Muhibbah
This tamu (market) is interesting. You can literally buy anything from green farm produce to native wild product, etc etc. I will post later for the other pictures I took last Saturday.
Lemon Grass - a type of spice

Lady Finger

Spring onion and parsley

Local lettuce

Cai sim

King's veggie (Sayur Raja)

Baby corn shoot

Bai Cai (Literal translation: white vegetable)

Kang Kong (in Hong Kong/China it is know as Kong Sin Cai)

Long Bean

Siow Bai Cai

Kai Lan

Pure Breed Dog Exhibition & Contest 2008
This morning after church, we went to see a dog exhibition and contest organised by Miricommunity.net. Quite a lot of nice dogs. We went there a little late and missed the demo by K-9. To see more pictures, please go over to my entry at miricommunity.com.


"Big dog" category champion

"Small dog" category champion

Me and my "garden"
I have three "bushes" of banana. I may call them "unhealthy" because they lack nutrient. The bunches of fruit weren't that big anymore. Anyway, this is how baby banana looks like. See the new shoot coming out from the base of the trunk.
The soil near the banana bush used to be yellow clay 25 years ago. However, after so many years of long grass, cutting, burning, etc, the patch now has some one foot deep "top soil" with plenty of earthworms.
Since Tuesday, I have been "gardening" and you can see 4 beds with ashes spread on the top ready for planting. The ashes were from the dry grass, leaves and branches. There are two more beds elsewhere in my humble garden. Normally, I have visitors like butterflies, small snakes, dragonflies, etc in the garden. But now, they are all gone as the land is now barren... haih, good and bad. On the far end, you see the mango tree with brownish leaves due to fire.
I have planted "King's veggie" and one bed of sweet potatoes.
This is the fruit from that "coconut" mango tree. This tree is from my late father. It is about 20 years old now. The fruit is extra sweet but doesn't really produce much. It is unlike the kuinin tree (local mango) which is taller than the house.
Ever wonder why I worked so hard? You can imagine me sweating all over. Ya, the motivation is from my poor blood test result which showed a "total cholesterol" of 6.0 mmol/L. This should ideally be less than 5.2.
This also reminded me the tip to good health from the bible:
Gen 3:17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Gen 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Gen 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

God threw out Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden because of their disobedient by listening to the serpent. God demand obedient just like our own parents demand obedient from the children.

I need to sustain with the work in the garden. I need to produce lots of veggie, etc. Now that the land is barren, I must do something quickly. I need to knock off from work latest by 5:00pm.

Cell Group
Introducing the "stars" of my cell: Amber
She is the cutest... we all adore her! She is less than 3 years old and love to post for pictures!
Amber with Angeline... see, she post like a star!
Angeline, Roseline and Grace.
Our very special couple... they taught us sign language. They will be in front of our group using sign language to sing. So we also learn sign language!
Peter was having severe stomach pain last night. So we went over to see him and at the same time drop into Regina's cell to see how is every thing going. James said they are a super dynamic group with 17 people last night!

Wireless since 5000 years ago
Something for a laugh...

After having dug to depth of 1000 meters last year, Swedish scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 1000 years ago.
Not to be outdone by the Swedes, in the weeks that followed, English scientists dug to a depth of 2000 meters and shortly after, headlines in the UK newspapers read: English Archaeologists have found traces of 2000 year old fibre optic cable and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech digital communication network a thousand years earlier than the Swedes.
One week later, Malaysian newspapers reported the following: after digging as deep as 5000 meters in padi fields in Kedah, Malaysian scientists have found absolutely nothing. They therefore concluded that 5000 years ago Malaysia's inhabitants were already using wireless technology.

The Importance Of Relationships (1)
Share each other's troubles and problems.
Galatians 6:2 TLB
Johnny Cash recorded more than 1500 songs, had well over 100 hit singles, was awarded 11 Grammies and sold 50 million records. Much of the credit goes to his wife June, a committed Christian.
At her funeral Johnny's daughter said: "In her eyes there were only two kinds of people: those she knew and loved, and those she didn't know and loved. She looked for the best in everyone; it was a way of life for her. If you pointed out that a particular person was perhaps not deserving of her love, she would say, 'Well, honey, we just have to lift him up.' She was forever lifting people up. It took me a long time to understand what she did when she lifted you up. She would mirror the very best parts of you back to yourself. She was like a Spiritual detective; she saw into all your dark corners and deep recesses, saw your potential, and the gifts you didn't even know you possessed, and she lifted them up for you to see. She did it for all of us, daily, continuously. But her great mission and passion was lifting up my dad. If being a wife were a corporation June would have been the CEO. It was her most treasured role. She'd begin every day by saying, 'What can I do for you, John?' Her love filled up every room he was in and lightened every path he walked. Her devotion created a sacred, exhilarating place for them to live out their married life. My daddy has lost his dearest companion, his musical counterpart, his soul-mate and best friend."
That is the power of a great relationship!
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The above is from The Vine. Please subscribe your own daily inspriational reading.

Hardcore poor - (Update: 21 May 2008)

Latest news, the man, Linteng, called to be with the Lord yesterday evening at 8:00PM local time. He was 60+, was baptised recently. Amen!

Do you know how is it like to be hardcore poor?
A group of us visited a church member in Tudan this morning. The husband has been suffering from cancer and it has spread to the eye.

I think most of the dwellers in Tudan were previous squatters from Canada Hill, etc. They are equipped with basic amenities, like road, water and electricity. However, there is no street light. The settlement in Tudan is simply a group of mostly hardcore poor native. I don't think there are many whom I can call them rich, perhaps rich in a different sense.
We visited them with some provisions...

This is the ultra simple house, with zinc roof. They have windows but no louver. The portion on the right is the kitchen and the roof was blown off during the recent storm. You can see a small fenced up area in front with no roof. Well, the roof was also blown off and yet to be fixed. It is the washing area. Not urgent!
We asked the women in the house who did the repair work? Believe it or not, it was fixed by the women themselves.
On the path to the house, I noticed that it is lined with this kind of grass. It is very soft and provided them with a kind of insulation or protection. This reminded me of my childhood days when this type of grass was in abundant.
Inside the house, there is nothing between the floor and the roof. The room is very warm and there is no fan. There is hardly any furniture in the house. The wall is made of unpolished timber planks.
We brought along some provision for them.
We talked to the wife and find out how she is coping.
Amazingly, she is very calm. She take care of him to the best she can. She fanned for him to keep him cool. He can no longer eat any solid. Neither can he talk. She is by his side all the time. I called this love. They have so little and they have love! Many of us have plenty but no love.

Frying Egg - my style
Yes, I am showing you how to fry egg! By the way, I am using a wok. Non-stick cooking pan is too delicate and a pain in the neck! They don't last and to me, a waste of money! However, if you have a non-stick or ordinary pan, it should be the same.

First, wash the wok or pan. Set it over "high" fire and dry the wok or pan.

When dry, pour in a little cooking oil. But the surface area must be all greased. (the photo here has been "enhanced to show the oil)
To grease the wok or pan, you can do it my way - run water over 2 fingers under the tap, shake of excess water (non dripping wet) and then in a flicking action over the oil, a tiny amount of water is "shaken" into the hot oil. The wok should now be well grease due to the jumping oil. Otherwise, use whatever method you normally use to grease the surface.
Crack in the egg...
And lower the fire ...
Cover the wok or pan.
While it is frying slowly, go to prepare the next dish. It takes 5 minutes to cook until like this...! But this is also depending on the size of the fire. Too hot, the egg burn. Too small, it takes longer to cook.
If you don't like the creamy yoke, flip it over and in 5 seconds, it becomes this...
ok, if you don't care whether the egg yoke is intact or not and you just want to fry some eggs fast, then do this: After you crack in the eggs, wait for a few seconds as you see the bottom part is "harden"; flick the eggs over and reduce the fire by half. Cover it up and it should be done in about 1-2 minutes.
By the way, I fry all the eggs in one go... up to six so far. If I were to do them one by one, everyone will miss school in the morning!

Preparing cabbage
Do you peel cabbage leaf by leaf? Or you do it differently. Let me show you how I do mine.
First buy cabbage of the "right size". Chop it into half.
ok, this is how my knife looks like ... notice the saw like edge. By the way, it is very sharp.
Cut out the stem in two strokes. Cut it at about 45 degree.
Remove the stem.
Chop it up in this manner.
Transfer the whole lot into the bowl for washing. I know some of the people don't wash cabbage. It is ok with me.
Use your fingers and "crash" the leaves. They should drop into pieces...
You know what to do next.... cook it the way you like it. It should take you less than 1 minute to prepare the cabbage for cooking. You have better and faster way to do it? Please let me know.
When I was in UK, the English student throw the whole cabbage into a pot of boiling water for cooking! Amazing method but I respect their way of cooking.