At The Movies

I just got back from watching Ice Kacang Puppy Love and felt like writing something about it. So in this post, I won't blog about traveling, but talk about the movie I just watched. When I read about Ah Niu (Tan Kheng Seong) making this movie, I already told myself I'll support the movie. The guy is very talented he deserves our encouragement and support. What more, with so many of our Malaysia Boleh stars who have made it big overseas lending their support in the movie, we Malaysians must give this guys some encouragement.
My review may not be fair and to be honest I think I'm going to be biased because I'm very proud of our Malaysian artistes who have made a name for themselves. But then after watching the movie, I'm sure many would agree with me, biased or not, that Ah Niu did a good job despite this being his first attempt. It's a very simple movie, not the type which will move you to tears. If you want to see heavy stuff maybe you should watch "Echoes of the Rainbow" . To be fair we shouldn't compare. Many viewers tend to compare this with WooHoo. But this two movies are different even though there are many similarities. Like Woo Hoo, Ice Kacang has its humorous parts but basically its not a slapstick comedy. And for laughs, do you know that "Its Complicated" is such an enjoyable movie that makes you laugh throughout the show?
Some viewers were disappointed because they expected more songs and singing, with all those singers in the movie. But then this is not meant to be a musical, the actors just happened to be singers. So, without the heavy drama, without the laughs, without the songs, why do you think we would enjoy this movie?
Well, besides showing our support for these guys, the movie actually lets us see ourselves in the movie. Just like WooHoo, most of the laughs were related to our Malaysian way of life, the way we speak and the things we do. And this is a movie by Malaysians for Malaysians !
There are of course some flaws in the movie. It's odd that Fish Leong's role doesn't require her to speak despite seeing her in so many scenes except exclaiming a sound at times. She's not supposed to be dumb, So the script ought to let her speak or chit chat with her fatty friend. Gary Chaw Ke acted his role well. Pin Kuan was also ok. Lee Sinje was of course very good.The younger generation might not connect very well with the scenes in the movie but for older folks like us, the scenes are exactly like what it was when we were young. The Bakuli (marbles, as what we Penangnites called them) we played during childhood days, the Roti man, the coffee shop scenes all remind us our childhood, not forgetting the Ice Kacang! The coffee cups and saucers are exactly what all coffee shops used, those days. The way people drink their coffee (pouring it on the saucer to cool) the half boil eggs (haha) and also the number betting is exactly how people behave those days. This movie enables the older viewers to reminisce their past and allows the younger generation to see how life was during their parents or grandparents time. These days nobody plays marbles any more. No more mamasak ( play cooking). No more fighting fish. No more keeping fighting spiders as pets , too.
Besides these, the movie also tells us about the exodus from small towns to big cities, the dreams of small town folk and how the small town people lack the guts to venture out including Botak who is a classic example of someone who misses out on something (or rather someone he loves) just because he is not bold enough to speak out or express himself. The generation nowadays might not understand why he simply wouldn't just express himself to get the girl he loves. But then we older viewers can identify better because we were also like him during those days. People were not so bold those days, there were so many things we could have done or said but we didn't. There were many decisions to make, choices to make, steps to take but we tend to hesitate. Society is different now. People think differently now. But this movie does tell us that if we keep hesitating and are not bold enough to do want we want and follow our heart, opportunities won't wait for us. It'll just come and go. For those of you who haven't watched the movie, go watch it. After reading this you might view it in a different light rather than expecting songs or loads of laughter. It definitely won't be boring, there is still a fair share of laughs.

Planning Your Own Holiday

I know I have not been updating my blog for a long time. And most of my friends and readers must have given up checking to see whether I updated. Sorry folks!. As I said earlier, I keep trying to find an excuse for not updating. What's the excuse this time? Some friends also thought I was pretty busy since they also seldom see any updates on Facebook. Well actually I still do spend a lot of time online, as some of you must have noticed me on MSN as usual. So what do I do when I'm online, since I'm not on facebook and not updating my blog? Ahhh... I've been busy finding information and planning for my holiday.
Some people prefer to let the tour agents do the planning...and just sit back and enjoy the tour. Others prefer to plan their own travel. In this post I'll discuss the two options. Is it cheaper to have a DIY holiday? Well it all depends. You might end up paying more than the arranged tour fare or it might come up to a few thousand ringgit less than the tour agents' price. My Hongkong/Macau/China trip was DIY and it was much cheaper than the available tour fares then. And when we compared the itinerary with some friends who also went around the same time, we actually went to more places and spent less. And we didn't really stinge on the hotels! We stayed in nice grand hotels in Macau and Shenzhen. The Hongkong hotel was clean and the location very convenient but the building facade was rather unpleasant. My Australia trip had to be DIY because it was partly to send my daughter there for student exchange as well as help her settle in. The trip wasn't cheap, because we flew SIA. But it was a lot of fun not having to follow a tour agency's itinerary. We booked an apartment in Gold Coast, cooked our own dinners and ahd a splashing time at the theme parks there.
Generally, people go on their own not because it's cheaper but because its more fun. Some people will surely disagree because they find the planning tedious and time consuming. But those who love to plan their own itinerary would agree that part of the fun is in the planning. With all the information you can get in the internet, planning is now very much easier. Almost everything can be booked online. There are hundreds of sites where you can find tips about traveling on your own.
So what do have to do when planning? There a lot of things to check out. Let me list them:
Flight tickets: check for offers, and schedules
Accomodation: check location, price, travelers' reviews
Places to Visit: list out places you want to see and visit, read reviews
Transport: it's very important to understand the transport of the place we are visiting because we're on our own
Tickets: find out about admission tickets
Food: check out where you can get cheap eats and nice food
Budget: do an estimate first for the overall trip
I've done a bit of DIY traveling and also a lot of surfing about traveling. There's so much to share...I'll use the next few posts to share my experience during previous DIY trips.

8 Foods that Fight Stress

(http://health.yahoo.com/featured/87/8-foods-that-fight-stress/)

Dark Chocolate

High in flavonoids, which are lauded for their relaxing properties (chamomile tea is another great source), chocolate also contains phenethylamine, a chemical that enhances your mood. The darker the chocolate, the more healthy substances you're getting in your diet, so look for bars that are 70 percent cacao or higher.

Skim Milk

Turns out that a glass of warm milk really is calming. One study found that women who drank four or more servings of lowfat or skim milk every day were about half as likely to experience stress-related PMS symptoms than those who drank less than one serving a week.

Oatmeal

Carbs help you produce serotonin, a calming hormone that helps fight anxiety's negative effects-which is probably why many of us crave them when we're stressed. Go with the craving and choose healthy sources. Oatmeal is high in fiber, which means that your body will absorb it slowly. In one fell swoop, you'll prolong the serotonin boost, keeping yourself feeling full for longer (and on less) and making sure your blood sugar's in check.

Salmon

Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids-abundant in fish like salmon-can help reverse stress symptoms by boosting serotonin levels, and that an omega-3-rich diet can also help suppress the production of the anxiety hormones cortisol and adrenaline.

Walnuts

They've been shown to help lower blood pressure, which is critical for those whose hearts are already working overtime thanks to high adrenaline levels. In fact, research so strongly backs their health benefits that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration goes so far as to recommend 1 1/2 oz per day.

Sunflower Seeds

A good source of folate, which helps your body produce a pleasure-inducing brain chemical called dopamine.

Spinach

Studies show that magnesium, which you'll find in leafy greens like spinach, improves your body's response to stress.

Blueberries

Their antioxidants counteract the effects of stress hormones like cortisol on your body.

The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Cook Your Own Meals (3) - Curry Assam Fish

This is also a popular Penang dish. Nonya restaurants will serve this dish with silver pomfret (Tau Teh) but you can get it with ikan pari or black pomfret in most "economy rice" stalls in Penang.
The curry paste consists of chilli paste, shallots, kunyit (tumeric) and serai. Sometimes we add lengkuas and garlic also. For those of you overseas, it would be a good idea to bring some curry paste in sealed packets. But you can also use dry curry powder. Just mix the powder with chopped shallots before cooking.
Assam Curry fish does best with okra or ladies fingers and tomatoes. If you prefer Indian curry then you can add terung or brinjal (also called aubergine)For this version of curry fish, we use tamarind juice. And we add chopped bunga kantan. This is the traditional Penang nonya taste. Some people prefer the Indian style when cooking curry fish. You don't have to add tamarind juice and bunga kantan for Indian curry fish, just add a little santan. But actually it all happens on your taste, just experiment and see which is to your liking. Cooking is just like chemistry, you have to experiment and come out with something you like. Practise makes perfect.
First you heat some oil and fry the paste till fragrant. Add in the tamarind juice, tomatoes, ladies fingers and some bunga kantan. Add salt and sugar to taste. Let it cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. Check the taste, add in the fish and cook for a further 8 to 10 minutes. You have to try out the cooking time to know how long to cook depending on the size of your fish and ladies fingers. The skill in cooking can only come from experience. The fish should not be overcooked. This is where your technique comes in.

Cook Your Own Meals (2)- Fried Glass Noodles

When you have to cook your own meals, you'll love simple one dish meals where there is minimum preparation, not time consuming, tasty and balanced. Frying rice, instant noodles, rice vermicelli ( bihun) or spaghetti will be popular choices especially if you are eating alone or with only a few housemates. When you get bored with these, you can try this out. Fried Glass Noodles or Char Tang Hoon.
You just need some minced meat ( can be pork, chicken or beef) , some eggs, some tang hoon and some vegetables.
It's very simple. Soak some tang hoon, cut the vegetables, season the minced meat with pepper, soy sauce and corn flour. Fry some minced garlic until fragrant, add in the minced meat and stir fry till cooked. Add in the vegetables. Add some water and seasoning ( oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce). Put in the tang hoon , mix and let it cook a short while. Add in the eggs , stir and it's ready. It only takes a short time. Remember to add in lots of pepper before serving. This dish tastes better with lots of pepper. If you have some sambal belacan, it would be even better.
For breakfast or supper, you can even try this "mee goreng" without actually frying. Just cook some instant noodles, discard the water and mix the cooked noodles with sesame oil, pepper and yeast extract Bovril or Marmite. It is very fragrant and tasty and tastes like fried noodles. You can also add some boiled vegetables and charsiew or some leftover roast chicken meat if you want to eat it for dinner.

Cook Your Own Meals (1) - my version of Chai Boey

In this series of posts I shall share some tips on preparing your own meals. Knowing how to cook some simple dishes will come in handy when you leave home and stay on your own. Firstly, it's very much cheaper. For those studying away from home and on a budget, you should learn up cooking. Secondly, when you get bored with the outside food, its a welcome change. Sometimes it may be troublesome to go looking for food especially during weekends when you don't feel like going out. Besides, it's healthier and and gives you a sense of achievement, too.
The first dish I'll introduce is the Penang favourite Chai Boey. If you google this, you'll find many blogs featuring this dish. In Wikipedia there is similar version which the westerners call Chop Suey but it is totally different from our tasty Penang Chai Boey (also called Kiam Chai Boey) Every Chinese in Penang probably loves Chai Boey. Many "economy rice" stalls serve this ever popular dish. The name actually means "leftovers". Usually most homes will prepare this dish after festivals like Chinese New Year when there are a lot of leftovers. But you don't need to have leftovers to prepare this easy and tasty dish. And when you cook this, you don't have to cook other dishes , just cook some rice and you have a balanced meal. This is what you need
Some roast pork or roast duck or roast chicken (for those of you overseas, you can easily get this from chinatown)
Some salted vegetables (not too much because it will make your dish too salty. You can omit these if you can't find it)
A few slices of dried tamarind (assam keping) a stalk of serai (lemon grass) some slices of ginger, a few stalks of dried chilli ( If you can't get these overseas just add a cube of Tom Yam cube but it won't be as nice)
One large onion, one carrot , some jagung shoots, some button mushrooms, some tomatoes ( This is to add variety to your chai boey because the authentic chaiboey will have lots of different dishes thrown in. If you can get some loh bak from the market, it will be even nicer)
For the main vegetables, we use Kai Choy. If you can't find these vegetables you can improvise with other vegetables.
The first step is to add a small amount of water into a pot, turn on the heat and add the ingredients one type at a time. I usually put in the roast pork first because it doesn't need any preparation. You'll need to add a cube of ikan bilis, other wise your chai boey won't taste nice. The original chaiboey has a lot of leftover tasty dishes so if you make it from scratch, you will need some tasty stock. You can add the serai, tamarind slices and dried chillies also because you only need to wash them and add them in. As the pot gets heated up, I'll prepare the other ingredients and add them in . Remember that you only need a small amount of water. Don't be tempted to start with too much water because the whole pot will overflow by the time you add everything. And the dish is not suppose to be a soup. As a guide, about 2 to 3 cm depth of water should be enough. By the time you add the jagung shoots, mushroom, carrots, tomatoes and onions, your pot should look like this. Note that the water barely covers the bottom layer. Later when the vegetables are cooked, the amount of water will increase. While this is cooking, you can wash and clean your vegetables thoroughly. Cut the stem into medium size pieces and add them in first. Then add in the leafy part. Don't be alarmed if you see your pot filled to the brim. It will all shrink when it is cooked. You won't see any water, but don't add anymore. It should look like this.
Cover the pot and let it cook a while. The vegetables will soften and shrink and the amount of water will increase. Mix in the vegetables and let it simmer for an hour. Check the taste and add any flavouring according to your taste. Usually I don't need to add any salt or sugar. The salted vegetables, ikan bilis cube, onions, carrots and roast pork, chilli and tamarind slices would have combined to give a very nice taste. By now your chai boey should look like this. The large pot of chai boey will be enough for a few people to share. Penang people can eat this alone with white rice without any other dishes. It is tasty, appetising, and quite a balanced meal, too. If you cannot finish it, keep it in the freezer or fridge and eat it later , maybe with other dishes like simple fried egg or omelettes.