Gifts from the heart

My sister will turn 50 years next Wednesday, 5th September. The family decided to host a party for her today. My sister lived a simple life as a child. She never had presents or gifts. Or been to expensive places to dine. When she got married, she went to Hong Kong for her honeymoon just to save money. She wanted to go to faraway lands like Paris or USA but never got the chance.

She is 6 years my senior(okay, now you know how young I am!). I remembered our first Christmas together. We were still staying in that tiny 3 room flat at Circuit Road at Macpherson estate. I was still a kid back then. I think I was only 4 ot 5 years old. My sister would scrimp and save all her pocket money from school and bought some sugared peanuts, a handful of sweets and we lit one candle to celebrate our first Christmas together.

Then she taught me to sing a Christmas song. And that was "We wish you a Merry Christmas". After that, she said a prayer to give thanks for the sweets we are going to have. Then she told me to look up to the skies that night. And we should be able to see a big star hung up in the dark night. She said the star is God looking down on us. So if we have been misbehaving, He would know.

Its no surprise that I believed every word she said. I was still young and impressionable back then.

We didn't leave one candy behind. As they are barely enough for the two of us. We didn't have any presents to open for Christmas. Because we couldn't afford any.

But one thing my sister told me back then was this :

"It is the wishes of good things you want to give someone counts better then what you can afford to buy."

So she told me what she wanted to give me. A doll for me. And I told her I cannot think of anything she would want to have. And she said, "be a good girl"

Years ago she told me about a 3D handbag cake that she saw from an online cake order shop. I told myself back then that one day I will make one for her.

I hope she likes this cake I have baked and sculpted for her birthday today








Thank you Winnie..for all the wonderful years of being there for me, for loving me and caring for me all this time. And a very happy birthday to you too. And wishing you many more to come.

Love..Ting

Food for people sick from...

Last year, when my mom was hospitalised, the whole family took turns to camp outside her ward. Seeing that my family grew sick of eating fastfood at the hospital's foodcourt, I took the liberty to cook for them. Soon, my relatives(aunties, uncles and even cousins) had to fight with my sister, brother in law, my dad and also my niece with a share in the food too.

These are the food I cook for them. It wasn't anything special. But it was something that was cooked with love and attention.

Playing with food

Well, it is not what you think. It is just me, trying to find more ways to take a good photo of food. These are gummy bears I made some time ago. Using a special plastic mould with shapes of the Chinese mythical lions. The ornamental ones we see that was often carved in stone and sits outside a Chinese home of the rich and famous in China.

It proved so popular that friends have ask me for either the recipe or to make them as gifts for them to give to their friends. Home made gummy bears are less sweet. Or at least you can control the amount of sugar added. If you like to have the recipe, do check it out at http://www.cuisine-asia.com/recipe/rec070625.asp

Haunting melody from Japan

I have to talk about this. I just have to. I chanced upon this blog many years ago while downloading Macintosh icons. I felt in love with the kitchen waltz the author wrote. You must go to Yoshi's site to read about how he came about writing this piece of music for his friend.

Click Kitchen waltz from the left panel of the screen. It tells the story of how Kitchen Waltz was conceptualized. Since then, I have written to Yoshihiro Kondo and ask him to send me the tunes so I can put them into my iTunes and listen to it anytime I want.

He was kind enough and zipped all his music pieces and email the file to me. Since then, I have been listening to them. But the all time favourite is still his Kitchen Waltz piece. It gives me great peace whenever I play it on my Mac.

Yoshishiro is a very talented man. He will compose music pieces, can paint and also takes beautiful photographs of flowers, scenery. We have been online pals since the late 1990s.

visit his site and see for yourself!

http://homepage.mac.com/chilly/chillyday/kitchenwaltzpiano.html

Down by the river

Some photos I took a couple of months ago. Of birds, life on the river. This river is just opposite my flat.

a Bag of Air?

Some years ago, as I was cleaning a large seabass, preparing it for cooking. When I slit open the stomach, I found a bag inside. I haven't got the slightest clue what in the world it is.



So I took great pains not to burst this bag. I poke at it, it seems to be filled with air.





Then I took photographs of it and uploaded it to my forum and ask everyone if they knew what it was. Soon, everyone gave their thoughts. Some told me its a bag that keeps all the fish roe(eggs), a few said it is a cyst or fibroid. Although some wrote to say its the thing that makes fish maw when it is harvested from fishes and dried, and deep fried.


Although a fellow blogger also told me its something the fish has in it to helps it to float. And I always thought that a fish is born with natural abilities to float.

It proves to me that there is no end to learning new things each day. I am still learning.