going digital

i met with nor finally.

i'm excited.

poxed

joshua started the ball rolling first. on the second day of school, he called me at 9:30am to tell me he was running a fever. i picked him up and did nothing, figuring since it was just a slight fever with no other symptoms, there was nothing the doc could do anyway.

the next day, blisters erupted on his body (and just before we left for a family dinner with my aunt, too). i cancelled dinner, brought him to the doc who comfirmed it was the chicken pox.

and so i confined the boy to my room - i REALLY did not want all three to come down with chicken pox at the same time.

2.5 weeks later, keith came down with the illness.

2.5 days later, noah was next.

chicken pox party, anyone?

priorities

I got a call from an old friend who was talking really fast. When that happens, I knew she was horribly stressed out and needed to talk before she went crazy.

In that one-hour plus chat with her, I had many realizations.

I digress. My heart ached for her as she went on and on. I regretted the times we grew apart and couldn't remember the reasons why anymore. I could hear her lighting a ciggie up, struggling to breathe through her mess.

In the end, there was nothing much I could say to help her. All I could do was listen.

So what did I learn in the one-hour chat with her?

1) Stop to breathe everytime the throat tightens up. Count slowly 1 to 10. And back again. Feel the oxygen coursing through your veins, clearing up the foggy mind. Once your breathe has returned to normal, you can deal with whatever shet you have to deal with. Same shet, but calmer attitude.

2) I've placed my priorities on my family first. Nothing comes in between.

3) I am thankful for the blessings that came my way - BIG blessings.

4) I am thankful my health is giving me one more chance to get out of the woods. I've stopped smoking. Week 4, and no urges.

5) Everything happens for a reason. Perhaps we can't comprehend the why now, but in good time, we will get the epiphany. Better late than never!

And so, I hung up one hour later, resolving to call her more often and haul her out during the weekends to check on her.

I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you....

roti queen

I used to hate bread when I was a kid. Really.

My mother stuffed us with bread for breakfast in the morning. Here we were, couple of grouchy kids, forced to slurp down too thick Milo and eat slices of bread overspread with butter. It was rich, creamy, and obviously an overkill.

We usually threw the Milo down the sink and pitched the bread in the dustbin when she was in the toilet.

I know, I know. You must be thinking. What an ingrate. She has food to eat whereas others don't and still complained. Perhaps...... but at 6am in the morning, the last thing on our minds was a truly rich meal before we went on the bus to school. Bus rides are jerky affairs, and more than once I've felt  nauseous rocking with the bus trying to keep the carbo down.



Today, I love bread. Probably because I  appreciated other kinds of bread more than just plain bread.

So today, I'm going to share Donna Hay's recipe for flatbread. I'll probably bake it for Christmas.

basic dough
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm milk
2.5 cups plain all-purpose flour
1 tsp table salt
1tbsp olive oil and extra for brushing sea salt

Place the yeast, sugar and milk in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the flour, salt, oil and yeast mixture in a bowl and mix until a smooth dough forms. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding a little extra flour to the dough if it is sticky. Return to the bowl, cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Press the dough onto a lightly greased baking tray to 1cm thick, brush with oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

Best served warm.

Glorious food!

With Christmas around the corner, I've been looking at festive recipes left, right and center. I've always enjoyed cooking but it's only recently that I understood what cooking with love means.

That said, I wanted to cook everything I laid my eyes on. After cracking my head, here's the list:

30 dec - with my folks - cos my beloved sister will be in town!
1. Pork and chicken chops. My folks love the chops I make, so why not? To be served with simple boiled veggies such as white radish, carrots and broccoli
2. Hazelnut ice cream
3. Dash of strong coffee
4. May, you choose the dessert.

24 dec - with the boys
1. Roast sirloin beef served with roasted parsnips, sweet potatoes and baby carrots
2. Tiramisu
3. Sugee fruit cake

25 dec - with rest of gang
1. Roast turkey with cranberry sauce
2. Shrimp and mango salad
3. Roasted veggies
4. Festive cous cous
5. Xmas cookies
6. Tiramisu

As you can tell, the tiramisu is a hot item, thanks to Nigella Lawson. I've never been into baking, but perhaps this season, I will. :)




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The learning spree

I haven't quite decided if I should go back to work next year. Bh is of the opinion I should just stick around with the kids. Others feel I should go out and work. And me? My heart sinks everytime I think about leaving the kids to the maid. So I'm going to go with my gut feel and stay home with them for a while.

Afterall, I'm earning a lil side income from IDC.

Which is why I went on a learning spree - well, sort of.

1. I signed up with The Writers'
Bureau and have started already.

2. My beading intensive class starts on 28 & 29 Dec. I'm really looking forward to that.

3. I'm toying with the idea of taking up Mandarin classes to be effectively bilingual.

I'm not sure where all these will lead me to. Hopefully somewhere I feel like I belong ....


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Writing

Module 2 of my writing course asked that I write daily, about everything and anything. Some interesting (and perhaps obvious points):

1. Regular writing helps to keep the mind active and creative.

2. Always have a notobook or tape recorder handy and make notes when u see or hear anything that you could use.

Well, I dislike using notebooks now because they pose a huge privacy concern for me. As since I've found blogpresslite, I can jot down anything I want, anytime, anywhere. And with my iPhone, I can voice record anytime, anywhere.

I think by now you know I'm an iPhone fan. Have been since I got my iPhone couple of months back :)

3. Keep a cuttings file.

4. Read widely for you can never know enough.

5. Write about what men and women are discussing in their daily lives - what we call human interest topics.

I have another 20 more modules to go but it seems promising already!

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