No Commitment

I had a chat with a friend recently on relationships and commitments. After a bitter divorce, he was adamant on not remarrying. Marriage is work, I told him. It is not always a stroll in the park, smelling roses. Everyone who enters into a relationship must be fully aware of what they are getting into. After all, there is nothing certain in life except constant changes. He or she might love you now and in another 10 more years, if you are lucky. But what comes next, nobody has a clue.

Being older now, I guess I am much more wary of what reality is. When I was younger, I always look for the perfect love. Someone to love and love you in return. Perhaps, a few years down the road, we will get married, raise a normal family, bicker a little and having children and live till we are old and grey like what our still married parents are doing the past 30-50 years. Somehow, as the years progresses, you will see cracks and pieces falling apart from this institution called marriage.

I have many friends who confided in me relating to their marriage problems. One guy asked me for advice about his wife who liked clubbing a little too often. He is in his 30s and she’s in her early 20s. He’s very tired of nagging her and they always got into fights because of this. I told him to give her space. Afterall, he’s been there and done that. He should let her have some fun but advised her to remember she is now a married woman and should also consider the feelings of her husband. True enough, after 6 months of senseless clubbing and partying, she has grown tired of it and stays home ever since. This is what happen when you got into a relationship with a huge gap in age. People mature at different stages in the life. Sometimes, the older you get, it is not necessary that you have matured. The more we apply "iron fist" tactic on how our spouses should behave, the more rebellious one would get. Come on.. we all had been rebellious teens and young adults before, we should know! Haha! As long as the person truly understands his/her limits, I guess it’s still ok. He still complains about her occasionally though, mostly because now, his wife likes branded things too much and it costs him his entire month salary just to buy a handbag. I told him, if he had married me at the first place, he wouldn’t have this problem. That shut him up real good. Haha!

I think I’ve heard enough stories of my friends’ failed marriages that they made me cringed. I salute people who took the plunge into marriage and people who actually bothered to even have children! Well, it’s not that I am against marriages of any kind (same sex or otherwise), it’s good to have someone to go back to after a long day of work. Someone to volley ideas back and forth to keep your mind articulate or someone just to watch movie with, lying lazily on the couch munching away potato chips. I know marriage consists of more of that, involves plenty of sacrifices and a lot of heartbreaks. I don’t think my heart is made strong enough to withstand too many heartaches. For the time being, I share the burden of my friends’, which are more than enough for me to call life experiences.

Lemon Cheese Cakes

Tadah!! I can bake! Lol!

I was in the mood for some cheese cake and I googled for an easy recipe. Since I’ve been baking cakes, getting recipes from Rasa Malaysia, I thought I might do the same for lemon cheese cake. After all, the butter cake using the recipe here turned out to be great!

Somehow I couldn’t get the crispy looking, slight yellowish colored topping as photographed in Rasa Malaysia (then today I realized, I just put in two eggs instead of three. I wonder if it would somehow affect the outcome?), and one of the mini cakes actually starting to crack at 16 minutes into baking, to keep safe, I switched the oven heating to bottom rod only. In case, the cakes didn’t turn out to be well cooked with the top overly cooked!

Apart from following the recipe here to the dot, I also whipped up a lemon curd – in case the mini lemon cheese cakes started to crack, in my case 1/12 did! So lemon curd would be a good alternative too, to blueberries and raspberries which cost a bomb here! (Blueberries at Rm7.90 for 100g and raspberries Rm19.90!! for 100g at Jusco) Well, one good news though, even though the surface of the cheese cake cracked, after you removed it from the oven, it somehow closes back! Haha!

If you are interested to make these, follow Rasa Malaysia’s Mini Lemon Cheese Cakes recipe and as for the lemon curd, as alternative to the fruits toppings, I used the recipe from Joy of Baking. Took me no more than 2 hours (including prep, waiting for the cakes to cool down, decorate). Try it! It’s easy and simple!

To ease your reference, I cut and paste the relevant paragraphs and recipe here.

Make 12 | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 22 minutes

Ingredients:

Crust:

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (7 graham crackers)
1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

12 oz cream cheese, room temperature (approximately 340g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Toppings: (Optional)

Blueberry
Raspberry
Lemon slices

or Lemon Curd (See below)

Method:

In a bowl, add in the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and butter. Mix well. Divide the crumbs and press into bottom of the 12 soufflé baking cups. Refrigerate the crust.

Preheat the oven at 350°F. (About 176°C)

Attach the metal blade to your food processor. Pulse the cream cheese until smooth. Scrap the side of the bowl with a spatula as needed. Add in the sugar and pulse again until smooth. Next, add the sour cream and lemon zest and pulse until smooth.

Add 1 egg at a time and pulse until combined. Lastly, add the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Scrap down the side and give it a few more pulses until smooth.

Remove the baking cups from the refrigerator. Place them in a muffin pan. Scoop the filling mixture into the baking cups.

Bake them for 20-22 minutes or until the centers are firm. Remove the cupcakes from the muffin pan to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Chill the cupcakes in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. Garnish with the fruit toppings before serving.

Cook’s Note:

I used the 3.25 oz soufflé paper baking cups. (I used cupcakes paper)

For lemon curd

Lemon Curd Recipe:

3 large eggs

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1/3 cup (80 ml) fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons (56 grams) butter, at room temperature

1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest

Lemon Curd: In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and cover immediately to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool until it of pouring consistency.

Have You Registered?

Well, I guess I might be sounding like an old broken record.. but I must say, all of you must register to vote in the coming general election! You love your country? It’s time to show your patriotism by voting for a better Malaysia!

So how to register? Where?

Details are all here.

For Klang Valley people, it’s so easy because you could do so just by going shopping over the coming weekends!

Let’s vote for a better security, better and safer place to live in, preserve our cultural heritage, protect Mother Nature, to develop our nation to a really first class nation and not pseudo developed nation with third world mentality! Let’s vote for the future of our children, our livelihood, our identity as Malaysians! Let’s vote for better infrastructure, genuine help and aid for the poor and needy, equal opportunities, education, good health facilities! Let’s vote for no one being left behind in the name of development! We vote for peace, unity and harmony.

Something Hilarious

My bro in law, well, the mechanic, can be quite hilarious at times. This is one of the incident that happened last night.

Mechanic: How to spell "activity"?

Sis: You want in English or Malay? Coz English is "ACTIVITY" and Malay is "AKTIVITI".

Mechanic: Malay.

Sis: So it’s AKTIVITI lah.

Mechanic: Ok…

Sis: … What you want to write lah?

Mechanic: Oh… I want to wish my Muslim friends, Selamat Hari Raya Aktiviti.

Sis: AHHHHHH?????? LOL!!!!! It’s Aidilfitri lah! LOL!!!

Mechanic: Different spelling?

Sis: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! You wait first! Don’t write anything now. I laugh till I need to go pangsai!

*so this is what it meant by, laughing till shit also want to come out….

After a few minutes…

Mechanic: Never mind. I wrote on facebook liao, to wish my Muslim friends.

Sis: I hope you spell "AIDILFITRI" correctly!

Mechanic: Ya.. I saw your sister wrote the same thing on FB. So I copied from her status.

Sis: Ok.. good then.

Mechanic: Then ah, she said sorry to two persons. Don’t know who they were.

Sis: Ah??? Say Sorry? Who?

Mechanic: Maaf Zahir dan Batin. Who is Zahir and Batin ah?

Sis:……. *speechless* HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!

Aiyo mah… I know he’s not very educated. But I didn’t know it’s THAT bad! Haha! I guess we have to teach him things all over again before Ern Ern catches up! All in all, it was a hilarious night last night.. we laughed till there were tears in our eyes!!

Random Notes

Donations

It’s been most unfortunate that, two weeks before Raya, our colleague’s house was ravaged by fire. I was sadden by the incident and somehow relieved that no one was hurt. So, in our office, we had a donation drive to help her and her family to get back on their feet. I know donations should come from our hearts and feeling of sincerity but when I saw the list of donation, it’s almost appalling that there would be civic unconscious people donating RM2. WTF?? I guess, if you don’t have money, prayers would suffice.. but if you have the cheek to even put your name on that piece of paper for RM2… I need you need a see a psychiatrist. Just today, another colleague’s father in law passed away and again, another mini donation drive is underway… and the same idiotic person donated RM1. If she’s a lowly paid worker, I would understand.. but this is someone who is in executive level and always wears gold bracelets, necklaces and ear rings to office that even a Christmas tree is less shinier than her! We can’t wait for the day she would need to solicit donations from us! We all planned to give her only 50 sen each!

Abuse and Neglect

I read with so much sadness in my heart that, there are some parents who would abuse their own flesh and blood. I know there are many families out there who are excited to start a new family and yet, failed to conceive and had to turn to medical assistance to conceive. Some new parents have to go to work for a living and left their children under the care of strangers. Am sure many would worry sick for their children and always rush home to see their children’s faces so that, they would feel whatever sacrifices parents would make in order to give the best for their children. Then, here come these people who conceived children without a problem and yet, after their marriage crumbled and they are with new boyfriends or girlfriends, they let their new beaus to abuse their own children to death. It simply befuddles me. Are your needs and wants to be desired or having sex is so important that it simply override whatever love you have for your own child? Even worse, some people throw away their newborn babies as if they were garbage. How could one be a parent when he or she doesn’t even have the slightest idea of what it takes to be a parent? You have brought a child into this world, so it’s your responsibility to educate and guide your offspring to be a good, law abiding citizen.

Slacking

I know I’ve been slacking in updating this blog. Well, I guess after so many years, I am sort of running out of things to say. Or rather, prefer certain things to be kept private. Also, the national news pissed me off to no end! Almost everyday, shit would come out from the authorities’ mouths. It’s still a miracle that these people could still stay in power after so many years of power abuse and exploitation! There’s no sense of happiness or euphoria really, even after the political tsunami back in 2008… So, that explains the slowness in updating. I prefer to share happy news if I could because our respective lives already have enough gloom on their own! So, if you would like to see an update, I guess you could see most updates in my instagram. Pics of mainly food.. and everyday ordinary life.

Drive Safely

Well, it’s going to be a long weekend, am sure most of you would have plans. For those who are driving back to their hometowns, drive safely. I wish to take this opportunity to wish all Malaysians, “Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri” and happy holidays!