FUNNYACCENT

Bitter Gourd With Sweet Love

MY father thought it was funny when I showed him my new bangles. I slid slices of bitter gourd Mak was working on in the kitchen onto my wrist. "Abah, look." I twisted my wrist left and right. He lowered the book on his lap, laughed at my act and said, "Beautiful bangles. Where did you get them from....?" Then he warned me, "Don't let Mak catch you doing that."

I sat next to Mak at the kitchen table peeling off the white shrimps skins. Mak was slicing the bitter gourds. Three big and fat bitter gourds from her own garden. I'd been watching them growth since they were the size of my thumb.

My mother was the greatest UTILIZER I'd ever known. On our 6' by 7 ' backyard (if you could call it a backyard) on every army quarters we had moved into, she turned them into little vegetable garden. She grew chillies, okras, brinjal, long beans, chives and tomatoes. When she ran out of space, she used an empty cans people threw out to grow the vegetables.

With a small, sharp knife, she scraped and removed the seeds and the soft white part of the sliced gourds. Her hands moved fast and smooth from one sliced gourd to another.

When I finished shelling off the shrimps, I put them in the bowl, added some water in it, and squeezed a half lime juice into the bowl.

I sat next to Mak and started to stack up the sliced gourds. When I finished the first stack, I worked on the second one. When the first stack collapsed, I tried to build them again.

"What did I tell you about not playing with food?" as she finished the third gourd.

"Why?"

"We eat them, not to play with them. If I cook your marbles or your books, what will you do?"

"Makkkkk, we don't eat marbles and we read books." I thought it was funny.

"You and your father read book. I don't read books. Why can't I boil your books?" Boil my books? I didn't even let my little brothers to go near my books I constantly rearranged them.

I got her point.

But, as an eight year old kid, how much could you hold back your curiosity and resisted not to do when you were told not to?

When Mak finished slicing the gourds, I automatically knew what to do next. I removed all the scraps from the table into the trash, wiped the table and washed the cutting board. Mak went out through the kitchen door to check on my two younger siblings playing with the kids at the next door neighbor.

I seized the moment that I'd been waiting for. I carefully slid the gourds one by one onto my wrist and went up to my father to show off my art work.

My father's warning came a little too late. When he hastily picked up the book, brought it near to his faces and continued to read or pretended to read  as nothing had happened, I knew I was in trouble. I lowered my wrist, carefully removed the gourds off my writs. Tried not to look at my mother was the hardest part. I stole a glance at her expression. Somehow I had a feeling I noticed a hint of smile on the right corner of her mouth. Or was I hallucinating?

Mak stood on the kitchen doorway. Not a word came out of her mouth.

After I removed the last gourd off my wrist and put it back into an aluminum bowl in the sink I heard Mak said,"Give me your slingshot."

I had my slingshot hung onto my neck. I never parted with it except when I took a bath and went to bed.

"Huh? What are you going to do with it?"

"What do you think?" She held out her hand.

"I won't play with the food next time." The thought of my slingshot in the pot almost paralyzed me. "I will mop the floor everyday for the rest of my life." I hated moping the floor.

Mak's hand didn't move. I turned to look at my father. The man wasn't much help when he had book in his hands.

"I'm going to boil his books too, so two of you will eat boiled book and slingshot for lunch today."

I took my slingshot off my neck, handed it to my mother. Crying didn't work with my mother. I tried it before. Wasted my tears, really.

"Go and finish your homework."

"I already did my homework yesterday."  She never let me leave the house on Saturday morning if I didn't do my homework on Friday evening after I came home from Quran class.

"Go and read the books on the shelf"."

"I already read them four times already. All of them."

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, Hikayat Hang Tuah, Pelayaran Musnhi Abdullah, Raja Bersiong and a lot of books that way ahead of my young age. Some of the books were written in jawi. Most of the books used the old Malay languages I had no idea what they meant, but I read them anyway because there were not many children books written in Malay.

"Read them again."

I groaned.

When I think back all those times when my mother sent me to read and re read my father's books, I ran out of gratitude words for both of my parents.

On this fine Sunday evening, I sliced and cleaned the bitter gourds. Cleaned and removed shrimps heads and put aside a half cup of thick coconut milk. I added a tablespoon of chillies paste, two cubes of palm sugar, tamarind juice and salt.

I put all the ingredients in a deep pan, simmered them on low heat until the gourd wilted. An hour later I had sweet, sour and bitter gourd in creamy and golden gravy.

Abah and Mak,

Father's Day and Mother's Day come and go, but not a day gone by without me thinking of you.

An Easy Way to Activate Your Brain Cells

A couple of months ago Nina asked me how to prepare pulut kunyit- steamed glutinous rice. Somehow the world pulut kunyit activated some cooking cells in my brain. The've been working their way slowly but surely. On a shuttle bus from campus back to JFK subway station, those cells popped out one by one.

I got off the shuttle and walked to Shaw's Supermarket, about 1000 meters from the station. I bought a bag of glutinous rice. When I got home I scooped one cup, washed, rinsed and added fresh water into a bowl and left the rice soaked overnight. I added a teaspoon of tumeric powder into a bowl.

I used ground chicken to make rendang and used up the last batch of  rendang ingridients which I prepared a month ago and I kept them frozen.

This morning, while waiting for my coffee to brew, I steamed the glutinous rice. When the rice was cooked, I removed the steamer from the heat and added a half cup of coconut milk to the rice. I stirred the rice evenly and put the steamer back on the stove for about 15 minutes before I turn off the heat.

I don't remember when was the last time I had glutunious rice for breakfast. But I was still full by lunch time. I went out for a walk to work on my huge breakfast.

Joy

I've make many decisions in my life in a split second without giving a chance to the left side of my brain to ponder or analyze over them. Some of those decisions screwed me big time not to mention the heartaches (but I don't get a headache). But a lot of those gut feeling decisions have saved me from dangers, allowed me to experience the joys of life.

I've learned to appreciate little things that seemed insignificance before from these split second decisions. I think I've become more humble and wiser if it is not smarter.

Earlier today I used both sides of my brain to make not so important decisions, but I patted my back all the same. As I wrote a couple of times in my previous entries before that I walk pass Border Book Cafe's bookstore at least 8 times a week on my way to the gym. 

I could draw the store lay out with my eyes closed: new hardcover fiction release, new hardcover non-fiction release, new soft-cover fiction and non-release sections, Buy 3 B0oks Pay for Two Section, bargain bins, five aisles of magazines and all the sections the bookstores usually have.

I had books in my arms up to my chin and began my ritual to walk in and out of every single aisle and took an escalator to a second level and circle all the circelable sections while convincing myself that I didn't need to buy more books, not for now.

I returned all the books to their original spots and walked out of the store with a brighter than  sun smile on my face. I brought up both of my hands and highfived in the air. The crispy air gently crushed between my palms.

When I passed the fresh produce stand at the corner of Filene's, the bright colors of sweet bell peppers caught my eyes. They were neatly stacked like a pyramid. I bought two for each color. I've wanted to make stuffed pepper since the stuffed pepper was invented.

I used ground turkey and wild rice for the filling. Istill have a left over pasta sauce from last week. I didn't pour the sauce on top of stuffed peppers until I was ready to eat. I wanted to keep the bright colors alive!!!

 

When Mayo Is Not Around

I'm a firm believer of bringing  lunch to work. Either a left over from previous meals or fresh sandwiches, I've always make sure I have nutritious lunch. But, sometimes I have to make do with  wheat crackers I save in my desk drawer.

The other reason I bring my lunch to work is when away I'm at trainings/workshops sites or accompany clients to the court. I'm not fond of cold bagels and muffins or pizzas they serve at the training sites. But sometimes the hosts can be generous too. They have meat, tuna, chicken and veggies sandwiches rolled into a training room on the cart during lunch hour.

I got home late yesterday and I forgot to defrost the chicken I before I left for work. This morning I woke up 30 minutes earlier and prepared my last minute decision lunch.

I have a little left over of tricolor ribbon pasta I had from last week, and  halves of purple cabbage. I looked into eggs compartment, I had two left. I boiled the eggs, thinly sliced the cabbage and as the eggs were boiling the pot, I added two handfuls of niblets corns and sweet peas in a chinoise and dipped into the boiling water for 30 seconds.

After I had all the ingredients set up on the kitchen counter I found out I was out of mayo. I was furious at myself but not for long.  A woman got  to to do what a woman got to do. I used Kenn Ranch Dressing. I sprinkled a quarter teaspoon of ground cardamom because I love cardamom.

Pasta, Pasta

I like to think myself as a practical woman, but it may not be true on certain topics, especially when food is the topic.

I'm fascinated by colorful and strange food. I enjoy selcect them, prepare them , cook them and eat them. My mother taught me to be adventurous in the kitchen. "Don't be afraid to try something new. After all you're going to eat them," was her best advice.

And one important Mak's advice I take it to my heart  is: "Never prepare or cook your food when you are angry."

I bought a packet 250mg durum wheat semolina pasta with beetroot, paprika, spinach and celery as coloring agent. I prepared the sauce a night before. I used Classico Gardent Vegetable sauce. I sauteed chopped onion and garlic. When the onion turned into transparent, I added ground turkey. After 15 minutes, I added the pasta sauce, chopped sweet red and green pepper and chopped celery

Gimme the Eyes

I've always enjoyed fish eyes. Since I was a little girl, I picked up the eyes first. Chewed them one by one. The bigger the eyes the better they taste. The outer layer is soft like a jelly or jellier than jelly. I made a deal with my two younger siblings to give up the eyes with fleshy parts of my fish. It always worked. My father used to tease me  when he was staring at all the empty fishes sockets on a dining table, "What happened to the fishes, all became Kassim Selamat?"

This evening after I finished my errands, I returned home, hungry and hungry. The tempatation to prepare something easy and simple was enormous, but when I looked at the eyes in the sink, my motivation soared.

I had a few pieces of Club multigrain crackers to keep me going while I prepared a salmon fish head curry. I used a half container of cherry tomatoes.

Later in the evening, a couple of hours working on my new baby quilt project, I made myself a little heavy dessert which I've tried not to have it after eight. But tonight, I gave myself an exception.

Pulut durian. Creamy glutinous rice with durian. I steamed the rice, added a slightly salted coconut milk, and cooked for another five minutes.

The durian wasn't as grand as durian back home, but that would do.

Catching Up

I stopped at the supermarket on my way home from work to make sure my refrigerator stocked with enough nutritious food at least for two weeks. I think I only ate green veggies three times and had a left over salmon once.

When my best friend Pris took me to dinner at Vopuli for my birthday treat, she had this tender and moisture steak that came with spinach cooked in cream and served in baked in butternut squash. I forgot what it was but the spinach was phenomenal.

I bought two bulbs of fennels (thanks to my lovely cyber sister Nina, who introduced me to fennels), a half pound of Brussels sprouts (why Brussels?), two bags of baby spinach, a few baby eggplants, broccoli and a stalk of celery for my split peas soup.

I switched butternut squash to spaghetti squash. I never had a spaghetti squash before and I've decided to try new veggies that I haven't tried before.

I was pleasantly surprised of the sweetness and tartly taste of spaghetti squash. When I picked a tender squash meat with a fork, the squash came out like glass nodules that my Mak liked to add in masak lemak sayur pucuk (dried bean curd, dried mushroom, glass nodules, dried lotus flower cooked in light coconut milk).

It was my first decent dinner since last Saturday. That was a darn long week.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Once I dated a man who loved stuffed mushroom, he could chow down 3 dozens stuffed mushroom in one sit.

We went to his good friend's house warming party and he kept disappearing from the crowd. I went to the kitchen, and there he was sitting at the kitchen island stuffing his face with stuffed mushrooms.

Early this week, I stopped at fruit vendor at the corner of Filene's Downtown on my way to the bank and bought myself two perfect portabello mushrooms.

Stuffed  baby portabello mushrooms look  more edible and beautiful, but after a long day at work stuffing mini portabello mushrooms with a gentle hands was the last thing on my mind. My solution was two regular size portabello mushrooms.

I mixed chopped cilantro, salt and pepper and ground cardamom to ground turkey. I laced the baking tray with aluminum foil and lined up sliced sweet potatoes, sliced apples and sliced red bell peppers along with stuffed mushrooms.

After fifteen minutes I removed the apples because they got mushy if I left them too long in the oven.

On the stove, my briyani rice was ready. Thanks to my beautiful cybersister, Nina who taught me how to cook perfect briyani rice. Sebiji-sebiji . I ate half of my dinner and saved the other half for my lunch the next day.

The Last of Baulu

Last night I had the last batch of baulu Kak N baked for me a day before I left for Boston. Let me see, it was Wednesday morning, Novemebr 22, 2006 when Kak N was in the kitchen baking the baulu. Two third of the batter was already gone.

Muna, my niece offered to finish the rest of the batter when Kak N and I went to visit Mak's grave site for the last time. I already visited three times since Hari Raya.

When we got back an hour later, all the baulu were neatly organized in tow air tight lid jars.

Kak N was surprised when I told her last night that I'd just eaten the last nine pieces of her abitesizeheavenlytastedlightascotton baulu. I wrapped them in an aluminum foil, heated at 350 degree in the oven for ten minutes.  My upstairs neigbour, Jay knocked on my door as he dragged his 6' 6", 360 lb body up to his apartment, "Ana, what are you baking? Smell good out here."

Note: The ingredients vary but Kak N used: flour, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract.

Kumquat Pajeri

A couple of days ago I was on the phone talking to Kak  N on our weekly chat. She was telling me about 3 kilo roti jala she was going to make after lunch. I heard my niece's voice on the back ground asking Kak N about pajeri.

"Mama, bila kita boleh makan pajeri ni?" When can we eat the pajeri?

"Huh? You cooked pajeri today? What kind of pajeri?"

"Buah kiwi," said Kak N.

As we chatted for the next hour I already had an idea what I wanted to do with a pound of kumquat I bought from super88market last weekend.

Kak N reminded me of the ingredients to prepare pajeri.

cinnamon stick -check

star anise-check

fresh ginger-check

shallots/onions-check

garlic-check

curry powder (Nuri brand)-check

coconut milk-check

kerisek (roasted grated coconut)-check

cooking oil-check

brown sugar-check