This is the last dish I’m cooking for the year…a vegetable curry of sorts. It has always been a personal favourite of mine, as i love veges and curries. I have not cooked it before however, as kiddo doesnt touch curries and there is simply too many ingredients for a dish like this for just the 3 of us. I had to get

cabbage, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, cauliflower, tofu puffs, ginger, garlic, onions, mung bean vermicelli, bay leaves, coconut milk, curry powder, garam masala, basil, corriander, cardamons, etc….

I slaved for over an hour, peeling, slicing, chopping … actually this can be the best time of a day. I’d put on a CD, fill my glass with my personal “Chateau Embankment” (usually cask wine which I use mainly for home consumption as I stand over the stove) and just enjoy the cooking process.

For me, it is usually coming up with the idea for a dish which is the worst part. Once I have decided what I want to cook, the rest is basically a mechanical process and I’d just go with the flow, aided only by a glass (or 2) of red (or sometimes a white). I dont know what the end result is like, usually…just what I myself would have liked to eat. Something like this, perhaps.

Sorry, it should have read “New Cleaning”. I thought I’d be a little more dramatic. 2 days ago, we got rid of our old washing machine. It was a top loading unit which was recommended to me when I arrived in Melbourne over 2 years ago. I had never bought a washing machine in my life. When my wife and I got married in Klang, we moved into our new house and were given various prezzies which included a top loading washing machine. So when I got here and looked for a washing machine, I naturally looked for another top loader. The guy in the store told me top loaders have a “middle stump”, which wreaked havoc with your clothes. There was this unit which is a top loader without the middle stump, and it was cheap! The catch? It was branded “Centrex”, a Made in China immitator. It worked alright but in the past, say, 6 months or so, Theresa has been complaining that it has not done much washing for our clothes. On the odd occasion when I did the laundry, I thought she was right.

2 days ago, after advertising in the Trading Post for a few days, I got rid of the Centrex Top Loader, capacity 6kg. Aquired 19 Nove 2004, disposed 29 Dec 2006.

This morning, Theresa and I went again. We bought ourselves a front loader this time. A Bosch one. 7.5kg capacity. Paid a little for extended warranty so that for the next 5 years, we’d have less to worry. The lady at the store told us it was made in Germany. All Bosch products are, she said. She was a sales lady. She is expected to lie. We should have known. When it was delivered about 3 hours ago, and I did some installation work, I found a largeish sticker on the back. It said “Made in Thailand”. Liar you. Stupid us. Anyway, we had to go out to buy some groceries to cook a dish for tomorrow night’s New Year’s Eve dinner with some church friends so we didnt have too much time to fume.

About 20 minutes ago, we put the new Bosch 7.5kg front loader on. It’s spinning now. It sounds like James Taylor compared to the Centrex. Smooth, unpertubed, and sounds like it’s on valium. The Centrex had always sounded like it was always on crack or something more potent. Are Germans really more serene than the Chinese? Waiting now with baited breath, to see if the wash would turn out better than the Chinese laundry work…

More dinners

Last night we were at yet another dinner. Another pot luck thing, this time at Auntie Hooi’s. I did a tofu with chicken mince and prawns, which went down okay. No one got sick and only one person politely left the little piece on her plate untouched. Recipe:

400g chicken mince (approximately, based on “lift the bag and guess” weighing method)
For seasoning: Salt and pepper, five spice powder, basil, corriander, soy sauce, sherry (dry and sweet) sesame oil
Chopped onions and carrots (1 large one each)
2 eggs (beaten and mixed into the above lot)
500g tofu
500g peeled uncooked medium prawns

Method: just mix the seasoned chicken mince with the chopped carrots and onions and leave for about 1 hour. Mix the beaten eggs into the mince, and set aside.

Something about our relationship with kiddo has been gnawing at me. I feel, somehow, that we are at a crossroad and I need to think about this more deliberately and come up with a plan of some sort. She’s 12 going 13 and has started forming ideas and attitudes of a teenager. Yet she has the emotional needs of a child.

Last night, we decided to go out and rent a few videos. A stack of Video Ezy vouchers have been sitting around and would expire in a few days. As we browsed the shelves, the familiar divergence emerged again. Theresa wanted something fun and sentimental. She eyed Steve Irwin’s “Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course”. Little Bindy’s emotional speech at Steve Irwin’s memorial was still tugging at her heart and she wanted to watch something he made. She used to enjoy Irwin’s shows on Animal Planets, especially those episodes on individual animals’ plights in Australia Zoo. I was impartial to that and went with it.

Kiddo on the other hand, wanted one of those zany comedy that only teenagers (or perhaps I should say “mainly”, as I get the impression that Uncle Seng enjoys those as well) would find amusing. I told kiddo I didnt want any Adam Sandler rubbish. I never enjoyed his movies and I have never found him funny. I should have been more open minded, especially since what is important is how I connect with kiddo, not my taste and preference for movies and performers. I could see the disappointment and frustrations on her face when I said that, and I regretted it. We compromised and went for her choice of Batman Returns, the one with Danny De Vito as The Penguin. Again, for some reason, I never enjoyed the Batman movies. Not even with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. The one I at least enjoyed a little was the most recent one, with Christian Bale.

I went for the Maltese Falcon, having recently watched “The Brick”. I had watched Bogart’s Maltese Falcon years before but thought it would be worthwhile to re-watch this gem again. I think I’m the only one who is going to enjoy this.

When we got home, we watched Irwin’s offering, enjoyed it and thought we should go to bed. Kiddo wanted to go on with Batman but I was ready for bed. Theresa had gone to bed at various points during the Crocodile Hunter’s battles and was definitely for bed when Irwin signed off. I didnt think a dark movie like Batman would be good for Kiddo just before bed time and suggested we watched it the day after. She on the other hand, was adamant about watching it but this is where the connundrum lies: she wanted me to watch it with her. She knew I didnt like it, was ready for bed, yet she wanted me to watch it with her.

Kiddo has started becoming her own person. Yet she has the emotional need for us to be around her. I’m thankful for that. I made the effort to, but snoozed midway through movie. When I could stay up no longer, she watched it alone, but I know she knew I made all the effort I could, do be around. Small matter, I know. But…I need to pay attention to little details like that, make mental notes of them and act on them. I need kiddo as much as she needs me.

I started this blog over 3.5 years ago (back in July 2003), initially to record my frustration with the Malaysian malaise of doing the convenient thing as opposed to the right thing. That has always been my complaint against Malaysia.

Raja Petra Kamarudin in a recent piece, accused the Malaysian government, in particular the Prime Minister Badawi, of lying to the people and effectively, misappropriating money. That is an extremely serious allegation. Yet there appears to be little or no reaction. It appears as though Malaysians are so used to the idea of the government lying to them and stealing from them, that a direct allegation like that doesnt bother them one bit. Malaysians are not stupid and neither are they naive.

I guess Malaysians themselves prefer doing the convenient thing to the right thing, so they cant find have a morally convincing voice against someone else who does something other than the right thing.

Theresa has just left for work, so one third of this family has returned to life outside the Christmas period. I asked her last night, if she was up to it, to go back to work today. She said she was actually happy to return to work as it would be a quiet period in the office. What a contrast between what I imagine would be frenetically paced trade on the shop floor, and relatively serene corporate office. David Jones and Myer (Theresa would protest that I have mentioned Myer after David Jones) is always the target of shoppers whose minds have gone on extended holidays. The frenzy culminates on Boxing Day and doesnt die down till the New Year. I guess Jesus remains on the fringe for many during the Christmas period…

Kiddo is still in bed, and would sleep in for at least another 2 hours, I think. She enjoyed the Christmas Day lunch at Lynda’s better than the Christmas Eve dinner at Uncle Seng’s, I think. The Youth Group at our church has become the center of her social life. A bunch of them was at Lynda’s and they enjoyed themselves there. Kiddo too, from her expressions. Tomorrow, she has a birthday party at a school friend’s. We talked about getting a present for Dil, but she was quite happy to recycle one of the Christmas prezzies she got. Looks like some of our traits (Theresa and mine) have rubbed off on her…

We promised to get kiddo a new web cam and would probably get it today.

All through the Christmas period, I thought about my parents. Almost every incident triggers a memory of my father. When I telephoned my mother on Christmas eve, she still sounded a little tired. I hope she copes better. Yesterday, Sim, Daniel and the kids (Nicole and Isaac) returned to Penang and mom was supposed to have gone with them. David and Jean are going up there for a short holiday and hopefully, mom goes with them and stay a little longer. May only returns from Xuzhou, China for the Chinese New Year holiday in February so it’s a little bit of a wait for my mom, and quite a while to be all by herself. I hope she continues to find God’s peace at this time.

This was the Christmas Eve spread at Uncle Seng and Auntie Anne’s place. Let the battle (of the bulge) begin…

Actually it started at lunch earlier in the day, when the church had a Christmas Eve service lunch.

On Christmas day, Lynda and Leng had a few families over to their place in Wantirna and the cookout (BBQ, with a satay theme) finished close to 5pm, but that didnt stop us proceeding to the Spivaks’ (Hwa Eng and Gary, Sarah’s parents) place in Canterbury for another round at 6.30pm.

Thankfully, Ian (as in Tay Cheng Sian) from church gave a very good Christmas message which stayed with me.

Christmas has always been special to our family, as apart from remembering Jesus’ birth, we also celebrated my father’s birthday.

My father was born on 23 December, 1938. Our Christmas presents to him were also our birthday presents to him. We used to meet in David’s (my brother) house for dinner and in the last 2 years before we left Malaysia and came out here, Jean (David’s wife) also got us to gather around for some Christmas carols. I think my father enjoyed those sessions. He would enjoy his food and then just watch the grandchildren having a good time. I would join him and just talk to him about the kids.

My father’s IC (Malaysian identity card) had Tay Ah Pang @ Teh Seng Beng as his name. To everyone however, he was Seng Beng. Literally, that name meant “Holy People”. I dont know what my grandfather had in mind when he chose that name. My father was the eldest son, and the second child. “Beng”, or its variations of “Been” or “Meng” became the names for the rest of the sons, after my father. I Meng (3 chek), Tiat Beng (5 chek), Hui Been (6 chek), Kok Meng (8 chek) and Ing Beng (Beh Chek). My father’s sisters are Swee Lean (Tua Kor, eldest child) and Swee Har (Dee Kor).

My father was my great grandmother’s favourite grandchild. Dad loved taking the mickey out of her. I remember photos of him using her garbs to impersonate her. Dad was always the free spirit and though I tell myself that’s what accelerated his return to the Lord, that was also what kept him going. He was a salesman for much of his early life, helping my grandfather peddle goods like soy sauce, which my grandfather made for a while. The old mansion which the family used to live in Kampong Jawa in Klang is still often referred to as “Tauyu Long”, or the soy sauce factory. I still have images of my father tying soy sauce bottles with rafia string into eight bottle bundles and loading them onto a lorry, to be carted around the country for sale.

Perhaps my father’s free spirit grew during those sales days. As a travelling salesman, I guess he tended to be free, mostly. No one told him what to do and he lived his life as he pleased most of the time.

There are so many memories of my father in that old mansion. I have made a previous entry on this but there are so many more aspects to it.

It’s so close to my father’s birthday. He would have turned 68 tomorrow. I need to write this some other time.