Bittersweet Taste

Do you notice that the picture above looks like a scary smiley face? XD

No, I am not talking about the taste of the horrible cupcakes above. They were disaster, but on my defense, they were edible. XD 

Do you know that feeling of, you don't like to do something, but since you are asked to do that thing by someone you love, then you finally force yourself to love doing that thing because that thing was supposed to be sure thing, but after days of feeling unsure yet prepared to do that thing, you finally know that the thing is not a sure thing? 

And the probability of making it a sure thing is very thin? 

What would you feel? Relieved? Disappointed? Cheated? 

Okay, maybe you don't get the thing I was crapping about in the first paragraph since it was almost like a monologue to myself. Let me be a little clearer. If you read my previous post, Kalau Aku Boleh Lambung Syiling Destiny, you would know that I was supposed to take on a temporary job that I do not like, uhuk temporary teacher uhuk. But then, since my mom said it is at an all boys primary school and I would be teaching the lower primary students, I was okay and quite excited with it.

Thus, I brought my formal attires back home, and bought a pair of formal shoes just in case. At first, I was skeptical. I had a habit of hard to believe something until I encounter it. Maybe you would say I have trust issues but then I did not want to be too sure about something so that I would not be disappointed later. For example, like the master application that I am applying now. When I bade farewell to my course mates, my course mates told me "Hey, we're gonna meet again, during the master." But I was still... skeptical. It's not like we already promised a place there.

But then, if the case is reversed, where you were promised a place, and you kept asking that if it  is a sure thing and people kept assuring you that "Of course, it's a sure thing since the headmaster said he wanted to choose you for his school." So I tried to be more optimistic and sure, and tried to be prepared, though not really prepared. :P

But then, yesterday I just got a news, I don't know how to describe it, whether it was a bad news or good news, when my mom told me that the officer at the education department at my town told the headmaster that they will choose the temporary teacher instead of the headmaster himself and they told him they already had another candidate for that position that I was promised to last time. So, my mom asked me if I still wanted to apply teaching temporarily for other school. I was like... " I am not ready to teach at another school. I prefer to teach at SK Sacr*d H****.  And if I applied but then I got offered at another school, I rather don't want to take it." Wow, you must think I sounded like a  perasan diva, trying to be choosy, when I am supposed to be in the position of accepting any offers right now.

Err, on my defense, I am doing good for the other school, you know. First, I don't like teaching that much, so I can't be flexible at it. I prefer teaching at primary schools, and to teach at a school where at least I am familiar with the atmosphere (I've been to the headmaster's office once, or twice. :P) I don't want to experience the torture of adapting to an atmosphere for the sake of doing something I don't like. If it was something that I like, it would be a different story, but then, this sacrifice is not worth it, even for the money.

So, it's either all or nothing. If I am going to teach at the first school I was promised, I would take the job, but if I could not get the position at the school that I wanted, instead of torturing myself teaching at the school that I am not familiar with, I  choose to continue my position as the homemaker and try my best to be as productive as possible by doing some gardening, cooking, and if God-willing, baking. I still want to be able to choose no matter what. Though I am in no position to be choosy now.

So that's what I am feeling now. Bittersweet. I am happy because I do not need to do what I don't like to do but at the same time, I am disappointed I am gonna lose a lot on experience,  lose my chance to compensate  my dissatisfaction towards my previous teaching skill, lose my chance to earn money which I could use for my convocation, and my chance of putting something good to see on resume.  And ironically, I am quite sad that I would lose my chance to be called "Cikgu" once more. It was quite a long time since I last heard people refer me that way.  Funny I don't like to teach but I like it when people call me that.

So yeah, it was sweet, but bitter at the same time. But then, if I am going to be a homemaker for my rest of my stay in Sibu, I am going to make sure that I make full use of my holiday by being as productive as possible. This home will never be the same again when I leave for Penang later, I promise you that.

Kacang Panjang Goreng @ Fried Long Bean (The Fifteen Minute Dish)

Interframe: This is the 2nd episode of The Mad Suri Rumah Series, a new series which showed you how a blur girl survived her days as the newly appointed homemaker.

Hello ladies (and maybe some men who accidentally run into this blog)! I am back again. With simple ways of preparing dishes of course. As you can see from the title above, you must know what type of cooking that I am gonna share with all of you right?

So yesterday, I kinda had a rush hour cooking going on at the kitchen because I started cooking at 12 something in the noon. It was because when I just started to hit the kitchen at around 10 am, suddenly my father told me this "We need to go out to pay the bills." I was like "What?" It was just the right time to start cooking and heating some of the ready-made dishes by mom, but then I had to go out. (-_-")

So I decided to fry the long bean for Mama and myself (since Papa already had his healthier dishes prepared by Mama which just needed to be heated) because it is one of simple dish which consume just a short time to prepare. Yeah, ladies, veggies again. Hehe.

Let me list down the ingredients. ;)

1) long beans
2) garlic
3) chili
4) anchovies
5) salt

Yeah, another simple dish with a really short list of ingredients too.

lesung batu dengan segala bahan-bahan untuk menggoreng.

1) Bahan- bahan yang telah tertulis di atas adalah seperti dalam gambar di atas ini. Jangan lupa, lesung batu ialah alatan yang penting untuk menyediakan masakan ini. ;)

 

2) Kacang panjang dipotong seperti di atas. Jangan terlalu panjang, jangan terlalu pendek. 2/3 kepanjangan dan kedalaman mulut anda. 

3) Dengan menggunakan lesung batu, sila tumbuk bawang putih, lada dan ikan bilis yang disediakan tadi. Kuantiti bawang putih, lada dan ikan bilis ini bergantung kepada saiz hidangan kacang panjang anda ya, ladies...

4) Tumbuk sehingga jadi macam ini. Ok, sudah siap kan. Jadi mari kita beralih kepada kuali pula.

5) Panaskan kuali anda. Masukkan minyak secukup saiz hidangan anda. Jangan letak terlampau banyak kerana kacang panjang ni tak menyerap minyak sangat macam cangkuk manis.

6) Bila dah rasa kuali cukup panas dengan meletakkan tangan anda beberapa inci daripada permukaan kuali seperti di atas, anda sudah boleh masukkan campuran hasil tumbukan tadi ke dalam kuali. 

7) Ok, apabila dah masukkan campuran tadi, pastikan api tu kecil supaya tak nak hangus ok.

8) Apabila campuran tu dah wangi, tibalah masanya untuk memasukkan kacang panjang ke dalam kuali ini. Sebaik sahaja kacang panjang dimasukkan , besarkan api anda. Dan kacau kacang panjang tu seperti gambar di bawah. 

9) Kacau sekejap, lepas tu kecilkan api. Masukkan garam secukup rasa, bergantung pada saiz hidangan anda. Macam saiz hidangan ni, saya masukkan dua cubit garam jer. Kacang panjang ni tak sedap kalau overcooked. Kita kena pastikan hidangan ni rangup, tu lah sebabnya biarkan api besar sekejap, kacau sekejap, pastu kecilkan api, and lepas tu dah boleh tutup api.

10) Yea, kacang panjang goreng yang digoreng tadi sudah siap dihidang dan sedia untuk dibaham.

Okay that's all. I'm gonna watch American Idol liao. :D

See you on the next episode of The Mad Suri Rumah Series. If I am motivated enough to continue ;D

Do You Smell What The 'Suri Rumah Amatur' is Cooking?

Interframe: Anda sedang membaca The Mad Suri Rumah series. Ini episod pertama. Nantikan episod seterusnya pada.... ikut mood penulis la beb.

You know, my hometown dish that I missed the most when I was in Penang was this simple dish - Cangkuk Manis. And my favourite Cangkuk Manis was the one prepared by my mother. Since it is my favourite dish, it was the first veggie dish that I knew how to cook too. XD Yeah, I started to prepare my very first Cangkuk Manis when I was 18. XD Before that, all I knew how to prepare was fried egg, hot dogs, nuggets, and fried rice. I didn't know how to prepare veggie dish at all that moment, until I fall head over heels in love with this dish~!

cangkuk manis yummy - i like it prepared with egg. :) picture taken from here.

Cangkuk Manis, although it was a really simple dish, if you prepare it with different style, it wouldn't be as yummy. Seriously. I remembered a time I almost cried just because my grandmother prepared Cangkuk Manis  with shallot. You must think I'm over-dramatic for reacting that way, but then this is one dish I had a soft spot for. 

Girls, housewives, puan-puan, anak-anak dara, shallots is a BIG NO in preparing cangkuk manis. Some people may prefer it but trust me, if you want to eat Cangkuk Manis at its best, use only garlic and only garlic. And guess what, today I am going to share with you my mama's style of preparing cangkuk manis. Actually, she was inspired to prepare cangkuk manis this way after eating the cangkuk manis prepared by my father's friend who is a cook at central market. Okay, enough with the history. Let us start banging the wok and start cooking. 

First, let us list down the ingredients needed. (just a short list, ya'll)

1) Cangkuk manis/ Cekur manis (but of course~!)

2) Garlic

3) egg

4) salt 

Ok, permit me to use Malay language for this next segment hahah cause the steps are easier described  using BM (for me) and my verb vocabulary range in English is limited. (-_-")

1) Ok, pertama sekali, fokus pada sayur cangkuk manis anda. Dah cuci? (Cek) So, langkah pertama selepas anda mencuci sayur cangkuk manis ini ialah koyakkan daunnya. Koyakkan menjadi cebisan yang kecil-kecil ya. Lebih kecil lebih bagus. Tapi jangan sampai nak kisarkan pulak. (-_-")

2) Ya, dah jadi cebisan kecil macam ni cukuplah. Walaupun masih basah sikit (sebab anda koyakkan selepas mencuci sayur ni), dan ada jus-jus berwarna hijau keluar lepas anda koyakkan cangkuk manis tu, jangan buangkan air tu. Sayang. Biar saja jus kehijauan itu di sana.

3) Next, fokus kepada bawang putih. Yea, bawang putih. Bukan bawang merah or bawang besar. BAWANG PUTIH. Sungguh penting peranan bawang putih di sini. Kalau anda ibaratkan sayur cangkuk manis sebagai watak utama, kiranya bawang putih ni supporting actor la kot. Anda harus buangkan kulit bawang putih itu.

4) Seterusnya, telur ayam. Yea, telur ayam pun tak kurang pentingnya, setaraf dengan bawang putih itu tadi. Ok semua. Untuk pastikan cangkuk manis yang anda goreng tu sedap, adalah penting untuk memastikan nisbah sayur dengan telur sama rata, 1:1 barulah sedap ok. Kalau tak cukup rasa telur, errrk, tak best. 

5) Jadi di sini, anda kena pukul telur tu sehingga menjadi seperti gambar di atas. 

6) Ok jom beralih kepada kuali pula. Panaskan kuali anda dengan api yang kecil. Apabila dah terasa haba sikit, masukkan minyak. Minyak kena masukkan dengan banyak sikit yea. Kalau tak cukup minyak dan cangkuk manis tu kering-kering, tak sedap rasanya. Anda kena ingat sayur cangkuk manis ni menyerap minyak, so masukkan minyak banyak sikit pun takpe. (PS: lauk ini hanya sesuai untuk golongan kanak-kanak, remaja dan orang dewasa yang tidak perlu risaukan kolestrol)

Imej adalah blur disebabkan kehadiran haba yang terlampau (?)

7) Letakkan tapak tangan anda beberapa inci daripada kuali untuk menguji kehadiran haba. Kalau dah rasa macam kuali tu dah panas, masukkan bawang putih dan goreng bawang putih itu. Ingat, kena kecilkan api supaya bawang putih itu tidak akan hangus sampai kehitaman. Kalau sekadar jadi coklat and kuning tu, boleh lagi dimaafkan. :P 

8) Pabila bau wangi bawang putih sudah mengisi atmosfera dapur anda, anda sudah tau tibalah masanya untuk memasukkan sayur cangkuk manis ke dalam. Campakkan sayur cangkuk manis tu ke dalam kuali. Ingat, kena besarkan api anda supaya sedap. Bekas yang anda letakkan cangkuk manis tu tadi ada saki baki air berwarna hijau kan, ah.. jangan buangkan air tu dulu. Ok, fokus menggaul cangkuk manis anda dalam kuali. Pabila rasa dah semua minyak meliputi permukaan daun cangkuk manis anda tu, anda sudah tau bahawa ini tiba masanya untuk masukkan telur yang anda sudah kacau tadi.

9) Ok, so lepas anda masukkan telur, apa yang anda akan tengok berupa visual di atas. Teruskan menggaul dan jangan lupa masukkan garam secukup rasa yea! Ok, so semasa anda masukkan telur tadi, bekas yang anda letak telur tu mesti ada saki baki sedikit telur tu kan? Ya, so sekarang, tuang lebihan jus hijau baki sayur cangkuk manis tadi ke dalam bekas yang ada lebihan telur tu tadi. Tuangkan campuran ke dalam sayur cangkuk manis yang anda  sedang goreng tu supaya sayur cangkuk manis tu ada kuah sikit. Jangan terover sampai jadi sup ya.

10) Ok, jadi inilah hasil cangkuk manis yang saya masak tempoh hari. Macam tu lah caranya yea kawan-kawan. Serious sedap. (serious sedap merujuk kepada cara masakan dan bukan kepada hasil masakan saya tempoh hari kerana saya letak terlebih garam HUHU! Spoiled!) Di pasar, ada pihak yang letakkan gula untuk memberi kemanisan kepada sayur cangkuk manis, tapi saya lebih prefer kemanisannya yang semula jadi. Itulah sebabnya kita kena koyakkan daunnya untuk mengekstrak kemanisannya. 


Ok that's all for today's episode. Opocot, dah pukul 10.07! Kena pergi dapur dulu. Chao!

Lame words about life..

Have you ever experienced that moment... that moment after you went through some events in your life, and you made a conclusion about each experience? 

And the conclusion sometimes turn out to be some meaningful random thoughts which are worth keeping for? (at least for myself).

I guess, sometimes I experienced that. Or most of the times. Especially when I am emotional. 

I would make a conclusion about certain things and then I will put up the words at the corner this blog and label them as 'words of lamehood by lameleftygirl'. 

And I would change these 'so-called wise words' every week or every month.

Well, to me, life is like a series of experiments. Everytime after I experienced something, I would make a either an inference, hypothesis and conclusion out of it.

I used to type down my random thoughts and saved them in my laptop, but after my hard disk was spoiled, I could not trust my laptop, external hard disk without any back up anymore. So here I would like to introduce all of you to my new baby blog (aww agugugugu kuchi kuchi baby eh?)

which I named as 

"WORDS OF LAMEHOOD". 

 (yeah lame name I know )

And yeah, this is where I keep my random lame thoughts. 
Or the remaining of it which I can still remember after my hard disk died. T_T

So if you guys have time, do check it out yea. 

That's all.