Friday, October 17, 2008

Límites razonables

A veces me pregunto dónde está el límite de las cosas.

Qué nos separa de un lado u otro del río; en qué momento pasas de amar a odiar a alguien y viceversa.

Por qué un día te ves estupendo y al otro horrible; qué provoca que seas inteligente para algunas cosas y terriblemente estúpido para otras.

Qué mecanismo se activa en tu cabeza para, un día, ser una persona normal... y al día siguiente, cojear física o psicológicamente.

El caso es que, cuando comienzas con ése cojeo, no te das cuenta de lo que sucede... pero al cabo del tiempo los fantasmas comienzan a susurrarte al oído; y no necesariamente son los fantasmas del pasado los que vienen a por ti. ¿Qué hacer entonces, cuando no sabes cómo ponerle remedio a esas voces que distorsionan tu presente?
¿Cómo detener al sociópata cuando éste es perfectamente consciente de lo que es? ¿Qué hacer si el cobarde es incapaz de enfrentarse a sí mismo? ¿Si el embustero sabe que miente y se miente a sí mismo con ello?

¿Realmente nos hemos parado a pensar quién pone los límites? ¿Quién decide qué es estar cuerdo y qué es estar sordo? ¿Son fiables ésas personas? ¿Quién los evaluó a ellos? ¿Quién les dio la potestad para elegir lo correcto y lo erróneo?

¿Y si los cuerdos somos nosotros... y los locos los demás?
¿Me seguirías acompañando en este baile?

I made it!!

Through my first two days of my new job anyways! The therapy gym is so much bigger here and there are about double the staff and caseloads too. There are 14 therapists, compared to 6 where I came from. I had 9 people to treat today, but I was covering for someone that was off too. On Monday I will only have 5 though. I miss my friend Missy though. I think I have talked to her like 3 times this week, haha. Oh well. Life is full of changes. I guess I just like doing them all at once!! This is almost like 2 years ago when I graduated, got married 2 weeks later, moved a week later and started a new job two weeks after that!! Now I have moved again, new job, and new house hopefully soon.

Speaking of house hunting, we are still on the search. We've looked at like 10 houses I think; nothing seems right yet. We have four more to look at which we will be on Tuesday. These are closer to our jobs, but still have the larger, 1 acre yards for the dogs. We are also waiting for our WV house to sell too, so please keep that in your prayers.

Have a Happy Sabbath!!

Friday Nibbles - Garlic

After last week’s jaunt into vaguely luxurious territory, I’ve chosen to bring things back down to earth a little with today’s ‘Nibble’. I started doing this series a couple of months ago in order to create a semblance of structure to my seemingly incoherent culinary rambles but they’ve quickly become one of my favourite aspects of the blog.

Naturally, it’s wonderful to launch into a few paragraphs explaining my views on molecular gastronomy or extolling the virtues of delicatessens, but these are far removed from the majority of my experiences in the kitchen. I really wish that I spent my days experimenting with spherification techniques, trying to find the perfect salami or eating in fabulous restaurants but, alas, this isn’t the case.

Which is how ‘Friday Nibbles’ were born. They are about examining the unsung heroes of the kitchen and trying to explain why they are just as interesting or just as important as the latest fad or fashion or restaurant or recipe. Personally, I think there is too little written about the apparently mundane aspects of cookery. They tend to be glossed over in favour of the things that seem more glamorous but actually strike a chord with far fewer people.

Not everyone gets the chance to eat at Per Se or WD-50 but everybody has a kitchen of their own. So these are an attempt to redress the balance slightly and look at those wonderful items that no cook, professional or domestic, could possibly live without. So without further delay, let’s celebrate the simple.



I’ve been saving garlic for a few weeks now (as a topic as opposed to a weird collection). Even before I did the very first ‘Nibble’ I knew that garlic would feature at some point but I wanted to get into a stride before eulogising over this amazing plant.

I cannot imagine what direction cooking could possibly take if it weren’t for this pungent little allium which adds its unique flavour to countless dishes from all over the world.

It is unknown from where the ancestral progenitor of garlic originated although it is likely to have been somewhere in Asia. From there it spread rapidly to almost all corners of the world to a point where it now features in more global cuisine than any other ingredient I can possibly think of. In fact, the only area I can recall that doesn’t feature garlic in its traditional regional cooking is northern Europe where the presence of a harsh climate would likely have prevented the plant from becoming truly domesticated.

There are hundreds of varieties of garlic from the tightly packed and highly pungent Purple White to the delightfully named Elephant Garlic with its distinctive large cloves and milder flavour. Most are relatively simple to grow in the garden or in small pots on the windowsill and now is a good time to get them planted, just before the first frost. Incidentally, frost is essential to the formation of garlic cloves: without a cold snap, you’d end up with a large garlic ‘onion’ as opposed to the separate sections we all know and love.

But what can you do with it? I honestly don’t think I have the time to go into this. You could write entire books on the uses of garlic and you’d barely manage to get out of Europe. You’d struggle to get beyond France, in fact, and Italy would be an entire series on its own and that’s without even mentioning south east Asia.

Suffice to say it is, in my opinion, the most versatile and essential ingredient that it is possible to have in the kitchen. From utter simplicity – think spaghetti tossed with olive oil, garlic and chilli – to deep rich and complex winter stews, garlic is virtually the first ingredient in the pan and one that I keep a constant supply of in the kitchen. It doesn’t even make it to the cupboard, but rather sits happily on the windowsill in a little copper pan.

And don’t think it stops with savouries. I recently had lunch at a two star restaurant in Cambridge where, for dessert, we had a spiced apple tarte tatin served with the subtlest and most delicious foam I have ever tasted. Subtle and delicious garlic flavoured foam. Not that I’ve tasted many foams, but still.

Anyway, here’s to garlic. Have a great weekend and for more, don't forget the other blogs: Candid Food which exposes the seedy underbelly of food modelling, and Alex Rushmer, a collection of miscellaneous musings

its a cloudy day


My dad is admitted to GH, not good news.

still after each strong there is a rainbow, so this means that this visit to the hospital for the next few days, will help him get better.

Doctors say he has Cellulitis...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulitis
I don't get it, how does this link to the body pain??
that's why dad is getting an X-ray to check.

i have a choice,
feel sad and lower moral
or
Feel happy for things will be better

I have the power to choose!!!

Nasi Ulam.

Guess where i went again, last week? I was in the land of Cik Siti Wan Kembang, again for the umpteen times. I wonder why i like to go there so much. I don’t have an OCD problem, but when I like something so much, I will become very obsessive about it (having ocd and being obsessed with something does not really falls under the category isn't it).

Anyway wasting time and money some might say, but to me when you do something you like very much, you will put value to it, and the more you like it, the more value it has.

For example, 4 person might buy the same brand of clothing, let say a Levi’s jean, one is buying it because he loves levi’s so much, and have been wearing the brand from ages, and another person bought it because he think the jeans look cool and beautiful, the next person bought it because he is following a band wagon where everyone must have a levi’s jean, and the last person bought it because he need a branded jeans and he can only afford a Levi’s.

All four will have different views or perception of the usage of that jeans, and their perception will have an affect to how the value the goods. So whenever we have problem with our spending habit, we always blame it to the forces and the elements of economic ya.

In one of the activities (which includes a lot of sleeping, because of the bus ride take ages to reach there actually drain your energy) i did in kelantan is of course eating kelantanese food. There are so many Kelantanese food in KL, but the feeling of being there and experiencing the culture, mingling and socialising with the people and eat the way they eat, talk the way they talk (although, they don't really understand what you are trying to say, and you only guess what they are talking about, and ended both don't really understand each other and smile profusely as if we are engaging in a very exciting conversation, while the other person look flabbergasted because you sounded siamese instead) is somewhat very entertaining.

Enough said, lets look at some of the food I ate. Previously, I had nasi kerabu, nasi dagang, sup campur, and so on so fourth, last week I had, Nasi Ulam.

Nasi Ulam is just plain rice, which we eat with a lot of fresh ulam or uncooked herb’s vegetable, just like salad. But instead of having it with olive oil, or mayonnaise, we eat it with budu and tempoyak and what not. Accompanying the nasi ulam is other savoury dishes like chicken and fish.





tempoyak and budu, so yummy one.


The green uninteresting bunch of vegetables is the ulam. Usually it consist of the shoots of vegetable which is very fragrant, and have a distinctive taste to it, mostly minty. Then we have fried chicken, fried cat fish, salted sardine, pindang or singgang ikan patin (fresh river fish, which i don't eat, unless its fried catfish)


Then after sometime these are the only thing left, and the stem of ulam which consist of pucuk pegaga, pucuk ubi, daun selom, ulam raja, baby cucumber, fern shoots and so on and so forth. Whatever uncooked vegetables that would not kill us, or not tasteless and repugnant can be eaten as ulam.

Ulam-ulam usually have medicinal component to it. For example pucuk pegaga is said to have a compound that can kill cancer cell, and cure cancer, and petai is good for diabetic patients, while pucuk mengkudu is said to have a compound that will increase the collagen (or something that makes you look young) level to those consuming it and we will feel better, more energetic, our libido is at the high because of the clear blood flow of the body and those who ate a lot of ulam is said to have very youthful looking face.

I don't really care, i ate it because it taste nice.

You see, i like nice thing.

Because we love it so much, we went again the next day. This particular shop is around Pengkalan Chepa and very near to the airport.

This time we came early, and there are more ulam to spare.


Singgang ikan patin. I don't like the muddy taste of this fish. But the rest of the group likes it so much.


Pindang Ikan Ayer (tongkol). This one i like.

Ikan Keli Percik or BBQ catfish with sweet coconuty marinade, bbq to a perfection. I love cat fish, but i love it even better fried until its crispy and dry.

Fried chicken village (ayam kampung goreng katanya). The fried chicken is very delicious, its very crispy on the outside but very moist and tender in the inside.

pucuk pegaga, daun selom, daun apa tah.


then we have brinjol or aubergine, long beans, fern shoot, that thing which look like petola, don't know what it is called, kacang botol or something. but of course when we want to eat this, we eat it with the essential sauce, the Budu or tempoyak or sambal belacan.


Fantastically fantabulous i tell you.

And the price tag for one lunch for 4 persons, with a jug of syrup bandung is only RM28.00, you will never get that price in KL.

By the way, while i was eating there i met two of my ex students, both are doing their masters in USM Kubang Kerian. I feel so proud of them, because i finally see the result of my work. I have one who have become a lecturer, and now waiting for some of my first batch ex students which will be graduating with a MBBS from India and Indonesia soon.


I am actually very proud of myself, because i, in a way, have achieved something and have contributed to the society at large. And later, i will have more transcended success stories coming through the success of my own students.


Patting my own shoulder, good work.. good work indeed.


p/s: i will miss kelantan very much, maybe i will have to go there again next week. Because i like doing nice things.