Sweet Sour Chicken With Cucumber

My own version of sweet and sour dish. I learned that when you add ketchup and light soy sauce to cook a dish , it taste yummy. The above is just another simple dish, a "what you can find in the fridge" dish.

Ingredients:

Chicken thigh (debone) and cut in cube

(you can use chicken fillet or chicken breast too)

Cucumber - cut into bite size

A bit of carrots to make it look colorful

Chopped garlic

Sliced onions

Ketchup, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar - to taste

Vinegar / cider (optional)

Saute onions till soft. Add garlic and saute till fragrant. Add chickens, stir fry till chicken is cook. Add in carrots and cucumbers. As for the sauce, if you want it dry, don't add water. If you intend to pour over pasta, then cook with more sauce. In the end add a bit of corn starch diluted in water to make dish a bit shiny. It would taste a bit soury sweet. If you you want it to be more sour, add a bit of vinegar or cider.

My mouth is watery already. Thanks for reading and hope you like this dish as much as I do.

Degree, PhD,.........

I was watching Oprah show the other day (rerun). The episode was about those who got laid off from work during the recessions not long ago. There was this girl in her late twenties who got laid off too. She said she studied very hard to get a Degree hopping that it would land her a good job so that she could support her baby girl and her self. She is a single mum. Little did she realize that her title as a Degree Holder can only land her a job but not secure her one for long.

There was this guy who was a manager those days, sitting comfortably in a nice office now had to sell hot dogs. He too, was a graduate. He had a wife and few kids and a mortgage to pay etc. When you hear stuffs like these and after reading Robert Kiyosaki's "If you want to be rich & happy, don't go to school?" Kinda put off getting that degree hah.

Well, education is important but school does not help children over come stuffs like this. No matter where you stay, no schools would teach our kids how to survive in the jungle out there. All they emphasize on was get that good grades and bring glory and fame to that school.

So it is up to us, parents, to teach our kids survival skills so that they are equip with all sorts of knowledge to get them through the jungle life. I find most parents that I knew, do not do that. They too, were busy helping their kids score "A" in their exams and end up, not many could survive long in the work force, even during the boom period.

Once at a gathering, parents and teenagers were around, and I mentioned that working life is not as easy as when you were in school. It is a jungle out there, and to my surprise, some parents not only did not support what I said, instead raise their eyebrow and look at me like as if I just mentioned something bad in front of their kids. Why should we hide the truth from them? Why should we let them find out the hard way?

My two sons are straight "A" students, as at for now. I do encourage them to study hard but at the same time let them know that, that piece of paper / certificate that shows all those "A's" will only land them a job in the future, the rest is up to their attitude. That piece of paper can't be pawn nor exchange for food or shelter.

Thanks for reading. Just something that needs to get out of my chest. So remember, your character and attitude is equally important, don't think too highly on that Degree / PhD certificate that you have in hand.

Repair Shop

The repair shop sign read:

We do three kinds of jobs: CHEAP, QUICK & GOOD.

You can have any two;

A good quick job ... won't be cheap

A good job, cheap ... won't be quick

A cheap job, quick ... won't be good

Taxi Driver's First Day on the Job

Sam was in a taxicab on his way to the airport. He tapped the driver very lightly on the shoulder to ask him how long it would take to reach the airport.

The cab driver flinched, screamed, then went into a panic and almost wrecked the cab.

Finally, the driver got control and pulled to the side of the road. With both of them still shaking , he turned to Sam and apologised. He said, "Sorry about that. This is my first day as a cab driver. For the past 20 years, I have driven a hearse."

Attitude

"Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude in Life"

This reminds me of someone I knew. She never realizes that her attitude is the main factor that makes this world a better place to be, at least for her. She complains just about anything under the sun, from her kindergarden teacher, when she was just pint size, to her college lecturer, her neighbors, her friends, her relatives and the list goes on and on and on.

Slowly she finds that this is a cruel world she is living in. Nothing seems to be right, or should I say not according to her expectation. Those who are friendly to her, she suspects of other motives and said that they are quite pretentious. Obviously till today, in her 50's, she remain single and about to shut herself from the world completely.

If only she knew she lack empathy, if only she knew how to look at things in a different way, she might sees the world to be a wonderful place to be in. Most importantly, if only she knew that her attitude and negativity that makes her unhappy, not others.

I would love to help her see things in a different way if I get a chance to but at the moment I could only share this tale with everyone, so that it be a lesson for all of us. Are you someone like that? Do you know anyone who behaves the same? Like Michael Jackson's hit song, "Man In The Mirror", we should all take a good look at ourself in the mirror more often and see how WE can make this world a better place for us.

Thanks for reading and help me change the world.

Queen Control

This was taken at my neighbor's house. Their kitchen faces my kitchen. As I was washing dishes I notice this cat keep following the black with orange spot female cat (the cat that gave birth at my house last Chinese new year - refer to my earlier post). The cat is always following at a distance and when it goes too near, the female cat would growl and it would back off a bit. This had been going on for few days, like as if they want me to record it down.

Look at the video, the female cat decided to take a nap and the other cat just stand there and watch. Reminds me of some female who tread their boy friend / spouse like this. Queen Control. Are you the controlling Queen too? Hahahah.

Thanks for visiting my site, will visit back when I have the time. Below is a photo of the Queen cat sitting there majestically while her servant, or admirer maybe, waiting for her Majesty to tell him what to do.

All went upside down when I arrived

If you had read my earlier post about me as a toddler, that was the brighter side of my toddler years. Mum said I turned her life upside down the minute I was born. She got married to dad when she was only 19 and dad 22. Got me when she was only 20. I ended her honey moon years the minute I step into this world.

Both my parents were working, so right after I was born, they decided that I should stay with grandma (dad's mum) in another town. Mum doesn't see eye to eye with this grandma and not for long before both my parents had an argument with grandma over her way of taking care of me.

Mum then got a maid. A teenage Chinese girl from out of town, to take care of me. One fine day, mum found out that she dropped my from the swinging crib and I had a swell on my forehead. Yeap, you guess it right, mum fired her and send her back home.

She had no choice but to call and beg my other grandma (mum's mum) to come stay with us and to take care of me. I was told that mum cried a lot when I was young. She cried when I fell, she cried when I constipated, she cried when I was sick and worst of all I had my first asthma attack before I turn one. Watching me gasping for air at that age is indeed frightening, not only to her, to grandma too. My dad had asthma when he was young, so could be heredity. Whereas mum and grandma had never knew what asthma really was until my first attack.

I could still remember that few occasion when both my parents were at work and we ran out of asthma pills, those days we were not introduced to inhaler, grandma would carry me and run to the nearest clinic and I was quite tall for a three year old and chubby too. I must be quite heavy for her because grandma was quite short and plump and when she reach the clinic she was out of breath and could not really talk.

Grandma always said that when she look at the adorable side of me when I was at my best health, her heart melts and all the pain and frantic moments of bringing me up was forgotten. She loves showing me off at the market or groceries shop for I never fail to attract attention and make heads turn.

Tales like these are worth sharing and writing it down to remind me that it wasn't easy bringing me up and my parents and grandma had sacrifices a lot just for me. Especially grandma for she spend the most time with me and my sister. I truly understand those parents out there with mentally and physically challenge children. It must be tough bringing up their children. My heart go out to those parents. It is all worth the sacrifies.

Thanks for reading and Happy Valentines Day to all.

Lazy Workers ( funny tales )

The boss sneaked up on the lazy storekeeper in the warehouse.

"Why aren't you busy working?" he demanded.

"Cos I didn't see you coming." said the storekeeper.

Gets To Be A Habit

A worker who was being paid by the week, approached his employer and held up his last paycheck. "This is $200 less than what we agreed on," he said.

"I know," the employer said. "But last week I overpaid you $200, and you never complained."

"Well, I don't mind an occasional mistake," the worker answered, "But when it gets to be a habit, I feel I have to call it to your attention."

Success Formula

Be nice to people until you make a million. After that, people will be nice to you.

Just for laughs and thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy reading it.

That's Amazing!

Those days when I was younger and single, when ever friends or relatives with young children tell me stories about their kids, they always sound excited and proud and almost can't believe that their kids know how to do certain things or pronounce certain words. I always finds it ridiculous as I think that kids at that certain age are suppose to know those stuffs or say does words but their parents make it sound like their kids are so smart and a genius too.

When I became a mum, I too, kinda fall on the categories above. Watching my infant who only knew how to sleep, eat and cry grows into an adorable toddler that are now more aware of his surroudings and continuously learning and imitating daddy and mummy, is indeed AMAZING!

I remembered my eldest son's first word was 'tiger'. When I potty train him, in order for him to sit still, I bought him quite a lot of tiny hard cover picture books. Just the right size for his tiny hands. When he flip the page I would point out to him and tell him the names of those pictures shown on that page. We have books about food, animals, birds, vegetables etc almost the whole set. Guess he finds 'tiger' to be the easiest to pronoun.

So sometime during lunch with my fellow colleagues in the office, I would tell them stuffs about my kids and those who are single will give me that 'what's so amazing about that?' look, like how I look at others when I was younger.

Well, folks with kids should hang out with other folks who have kids. Those who don't will never understand our feelings for our pride and joy. Same goes to those animal lovers and pet owners. Those who hate pets will never understand why we love our pets so much and how adorable our pets are.

Thanks for reading and hope your children and / or pets will never stop amusing and amaze you just like how my 2 teenage sons and 5 year old pet rabbits still do.