Messages At Midnight: 2011 : Eating, Praying & Loving

Messages At Midnight: 2011 : Eating, Praying & Loving

2011 : Eating, Praying & Loving

What d'ya know? 2010 is drawing to a close. The year had been a mixed bag for me. In fact, I think 10 out of the 12 months were rather down in the dumps, right from the first day itself (waking up with a hangover - not a good way to start the new year!).

The year was good, with me shaping up and getting back to my race-fit physique and I eventually went for my first tri after a 3-yr hiatus in Hoi An, Vietnam. I did not bad, considering. It wasn't my personal best time, but that only means I can keep improving (fingers crossed!). The year was good too with a really awesome trip to Bali - for Leticia & Tjun Hong's wedding as well as my own little honeymoon with MOH, venturing back into the realms of wedding bliss at Kayumanis Nusa Dua and retracing our entire wedding journey a year ago :)

Other than that, I've taken a huge beating this year - got screwed over by a partner, got sandwiched by yet other partners (and I don't mean in bed - which would've been welcomed), got screwed over too - by a friend because he sold his integrity to the devil, saddened because there are now some people's faces in my wedding album which I wish to delete, got robbed, got indoor waterfalls going on in the apartment here in PP, ....... the list could go on. Basically - nothing was going 'smooth' and mentally and emotionally, I was deflated. I was angry and frustrated. In the face of the adversities, I had to put up a strong front to face the world. I had to continue motivating others to carry on, to be 'zen-like' for others who needed my emotional support or mental support or whatever support. Most people who had to deal with me may not know I am on the verge of a mental & emotional collapse - except perhaps thinking (and bitching about :P) that I was perpetually having my PMS daily. This led to more anger, more frustration and it was such a continuous vicious cycle! Everything was a big "WTF?!" and going through this continually almost without a break for the year wasn't my idea of a "good year". With the state of mental and emotional health I had, I thought going for the Bali honeymoon and coming back to reality was going to be the end of me!

It got to a point where I was actually seeking divine intervention and I asked Ah Por to pray for me. I asked my Mom to pray for me. I even asked Aunty Debra to pray for me. Things were still bleak and it was just a matter of getting my work done for the day and calling it a day. It got to a point where my head did me in and I wanted to run away. Particularly after watching "Eat, Pray, Love" - the movie. One day, in my frustration, I asked my Mom to 'up the ante' with the prayers for me. She said this to me in return, "Why don't you start praying yourself? Asking people to pray for you - that is insincere." Hmmm.... I had lost faith in prayers the day my Kung Kung passed away. I do pray during festive occasions - but that is more to keep to rituals and traditions which my Ah Por pratices. I didn't particularly want to start praying because I thought it would confirm how despairing my situation was. But I did think long and hard about what my Mom said - especially the sincerity part.

And so, I started praying. I prayed the best way I knew how - I wrote. It was my own conversation with the 'powers that be'. When I did pray for the first time, I felt compelled to start off with an apology. You know, for not having done this in a long time. And I felt compelled to be 'polite' and thanked the 'powers that be' for my life. This was a shocker. Having a "conversation" with, you know, the 'powers that be' out there can be quite a humbling experience. Why? Because it made me realize that - as I complained and complained about things not going my way, I had forgotten about ALL the things that WERE going my way. Because I had felt compelled to be polite and give my thanks in my 1st prayers, I've come to realize - Oh my f***ing God. I have been a bloody lucky bitch after all! Suddenly, what I was complaining about didn't make much sense! I can't believe how calm I felt for the rest of the day actually. It's been exactly 30 days now and I haven't missed a single day :)

Around the same time when I started praying, I started reading this book Kris lent me - it's called "The Secret". Now, I got the book way back in October and brought it back with me to PP but just couldn't be bothered reading it, thinking I'll just return it unread to Kris in my next trip back. One night, I opened my bookshelf with the intention of choosing a book to read and guess what? That book, with its hard cover and all fell out just like that! Well, it fell on top of my toe and it was effin' painful! Instead of hurling the book out of the balcony (because it wasn't my book!), I just said "Fine. I'll read this then!"

I have to say, reading the book couldn't have come at more apt a timing (talk about the book looking for me yes? Falling onto my toe like that!). The realizations of the concepts of the "law of attraction" was greatly in tune with what I had been going through the last year. The vicious cycle of things just going bad to worse and worst, nothing going smoothly, etc..... was too much of a spot-on for me. I understand the basic underlying concept of the law of attraction - positive-thinking and a positive attitude! I've been so engrossed with the bad things going on in my life that everything was depressing and I couldn't see things any other way! I've lost some of myself in the whole year! I've always been a "glass-half-full" person. In the last 10 months or so, I had been "glass-f***ing-empty" instead. And you know what? All it took was to change my "frequency". Tune myself into the positive channel - as in for real. None of those "trying to be strong / trying to motivate others" type of "false positive". The prayers had calmed me and made me find some peace. Reading this book had slapped me into coming out of my blady empty glass.

And before I knew it - things ARE going smoothly. Just because TSO cannot make it to the February fair, does not mean "glass empty"! It meant that I had an opportunity to get in touch with other people. Like CO for example, who might be joining us instead. I cannot explain to you how amazing it had felt for me, in the last few weeks. I'm no longer looking at a door closing as someone slamming the door in my face. I'm looking at it as another door opening in its place. Even if not a door, a window. I can still climb through that  - I'm agile :)

"Eat, Pray, Love" found a new meaning in my life. It is not about running away. Sheesh.
 So for 2011, I will continue Eating, Praying and Loving.

I will continue "Eating" - fueling my body for the next race in Bali (which JFT is sponsoring!) with healthy food AND my favourite junk food on my 'bad eat days', feeding my brains with positive thoughts and ideas and execution plans as well as exit strategies, enriching my soul with kindness and compassion. I think I am still very much a work-in-progress and can definitely do better by being more patient, less anal (although, as Kris Wong says - these actually work for us, not against us in the line of duty - and emails should still be replied within 48hrs :P). Don't get me wrong - I'm not turning into an angel overnight :P I am still allowed to be a bitch when I want to and when I need to - don't screw with me, I'll bark and I'll bite but I'll take the high-road and walk away because you are obviously not on the same frequency as I am.... and I will still be cursing at the moron on the road who is endangering my life :P Not to mention, I AM still going to have my PMS-days :P

I will continue "Praying" - praying for my family and loved ones, praying for my friends and praying for world peace. I am hopeful one day, the world WILL be at peace with no war, hunger and poverty. Also giving thanks - I will never, ever again forget to give thanks for my life. Even just as simple as being alive with a near-perfect body (not perfect because nobody is) - I can see and read, listen and hear, think and feel. The one thing I am truly, truly grateful for is the love that I am enveloped in so deeply - from my family, my husband, my friends (to KM and MK, I'm so glad to know that if I ever, ever were to really run away, you have both offered me your abode as my refuge). Life's a bitch sometimes, but love keeps you going.

And finally, I will continue "Loving" - loving the life that I choose to live, loving myself, loving my family to bits, loving my husband till no end - and continue striving to be a good wife (however, the sofa will still be comfy for him if he annoys me) and doing so lovingly, from my heart and not as a chore - although I honestly dislike the household chores (if I be less anal, maybe someone else can do it!! :P) and will strive not to burn the ironing board or re-colour the laundry again :P (Some may say - hahaha! Finally, this day has dawned upon Eileen Lui - especially my Mom) I will continue loving the kids at the orphanage which I have come to adore so dearly - they are in my prayers too.

To this end, despite 2010 being a year I rate at the bottom-most rank of my 'had-this-been-a-good-year-chart', I am happy and thankful that I am ending the year with so much love surrounding me. Life is good. I will indulge ever so often in that.

And you betcha ass - 2011 will be an absolute blast. Believe me ;) So have a swell one and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!

"All That We Are Is A Result Of What We Have Thought" - Buddha

In-Laws & 'Out-Laws' :)

My parents and us at Khmer Surin for dinner

 Over the last 3 weeks, we had been slightly thrown off our usual weekend routine here in the Penh with both our parents taking turns to visit. We were both excited and happy that they were coming in to stay simply because we lived away from home and it was nice to have them around for a bit.

My in-laws were here only for a few days. I was of course a little bit anxious as I was welcoming them into my home for the first time and there was a little bit of pressure on me to strive to be a 'star' daughter-in-law.

Now, I am actually very anal about the cleanliness of my living space. We got rid of the maid because I just couldn't be bothered paying her and then doing her job all over again. So, I might as well just do it myself. Of course, MOH helps - as per his wedding vows (although, I did think when he vowed to do the household chores, it meant that I wouldn't need to lift a finger!) - but then again, as I said, I am pretty anal. Anyway, in anticipation of both parents' arrival, I cleaned and cleaned some more. Not that it wasn't clean before, but just getting rid of the cobwebs and stuff like that.  

And finally, my in-laws arrived. I did really want them to enjoy their visit - their first in Cambodia. We had planned a big trip to Siem Reap for them to see Angkor Wat but unfortunately, a couple of weeks before the trip, my mother-in-law had a big fall and thus, climbing the Angkor Wat was out of the question. As such, I revised the itinerary and packed it with activities for Phnom Penh instead. And in Phnom Penh, there is generally nothing much to do except to eat :) My in-laws were not very adventurous folks and most of the time, they stayed in the apartment watching TV, unless we took them out. I think overall, they had quite an experience in Cambodia - with the food, with the sights and with the living conditions. They couldn't believe how people could live on the streets and of course, the dirt, dust and grime of the city got to them a bit too. But they did enjoy their meals :) Over and above that, it gave me a chance to bond with them as well. Eversince I got married, I haven't lived in MOH's home, I haven't been in KL for that matter and most trips back to KL were so short and packed with activities, there was hardly any time to bond.

After my in-laws left, I cleaned and cleaned again, awaiting the arrival of my parents. I think my "anal-ness" with the cleanliness of my living space is an "illness" i got from my Mom. I don't know how she does it, but she kept our home in KL spotless - on a daily basis (eversince I can remember as a kid, our feet remained clean walking throughout the house so much so that this has become very important to me!!) I try, but maybe Phnom Penh is just dusty!! No matter how much I sweep and mop the damn floor, my feet seems to get dirty if I don't wear the house-slippers! Now that I don't have a maid, I can't blame the maid if the apartment wasn't "up to cleanliness standard" :P My Mom can be very particular about, you know, clean stuff :) Well - I don't know if she was being nice or polite, but she didn't complain a single bit. So, I hope it was because I did keep a clean house :)

"Entertaining" my in-laws were generally very much different from "entertaining" my parents. Don't get me wrong. They were not difficult guests. It has more to do with the fact that I didn't know my in-laws that well. And vice-versa. Whereas with my parents, they are after all my parents and we know each other pretty well. As Mom would say in Chinese, directly translated : "When you lift up your tail, I would know whether you want to pee or you want to shit."

Well, with my in-laws, I couldn't really sit on the sofa and lift my legs on the coffee table! What would they think? This siao char bor so rude! But with my parents, I could. Mom would dagger-stare me but Dad does it too, so it was perfectly fine. If not, it would just be so much more fun for Dad and I to annoy Mom! Hahahahha! And then, one morning, I came back from my morning run and to my horror, I saw my mother-in-law mopping the floor. I was so horrified that I rushed into the room and woke MOH up. I certainly didn't want my mother-in-law cleaning my apartment! MOH merely grunted in his sleep and said to leave her be. OMG. Whereas, when my Mom was here, she swept and mopped almost all the time. And I did leave her be. She probably couldn't stand that the floor felt "dusty" and she wouldn't be able to sit still if she didn't clean something. She even ironed MOH's boxer shorts!! (Ok, admittedly, I do suck at the ironing bit - and I definitely do not iron undergarments!!) And as per my itinerary (yes, I even planned this) - Mom cooked up a storm in my tiny kitchen. And she made enough to last the whole week so that I could still taste home-cooked food when she left (as of right now, finishing the last of the Low Gee Yuk...). And talk about "princess treatment" - when I snacked, she would bring me a plate so that the crumbs do not fall everywhere and as soon as I finish, she would take the plate away for washing - I did not have to get out of my chair one bit. Hahahaha! It had been too, too long since I had this treatment. Dad, of course, always had his "King's treatment" from Mom all the time. Now, would I allow my mother-in-law to do that for me? Hell, no! Again - what would she think?? "Siao Char Bor thinks she is the Queen??" OMG. (*point to note : it's not that my mother-in-law calls me siao char bor. At least not to my face :P)

Whilst my in-laws needed a little more 'baby-sitting' in terms of to-do activities, my parents could be left to their own devices. Especially my Dad. Like me, he just cannot sit still and when my itinerary calls for "Rest & Relax In Apartment" - he would be in the apartment sighing "So boring! So boring!". My parents would venture out on their own and walked around (to my Dad's delight, there was a market down the block from where I lived - he loves markets and so do I), take photos, etc. During their 10-day stay in Cambodia, they even ventured over to Saigon and stayed an additional day in Saigon (mentioning something about there being "too many rules in the apartment" :P) and had a great time there - as per the photo evidences.

It's been great having them around and I definitely hope they had a ball of a time here (and my itineraries for both sets of parents were well-thought and well-planned). Of course, it did test my patience at some point. Like I said - I am very anal. I have a "Monk-ish" side to me. I don't like my things being re-arranged. If the tissue box is placed on the top right corner of the coffee table, it needs to be right there. If it was moved slightly away from its spot, it gives me a ticking :P Yes, yes, I am OCD. My refrigerator is organized meticulously too. Dairy drinks, soft drinks, juices, water, dairy products, sauces, etc... are all 'compartmentalized' and again - if sometimes a product is moved, I will KNOW and I will start 'ticking'. MOH has suffered through some of my 'ticking' :P (he's smarter now - after grocery shopping, he lets ME put the stuff away). With my guests - I just had to try very hard to close an eye. It doesn't help that my Dad threatened to re-arrange EVERYTHING before he leaves to help "cure my disease" :P I couldn't sleep thinking he wasn't joking! Can you just imagine how 'crazy' I would get if he did that?? Again, I believe this is something I inherited from my Mom. She may not admit it - but she doesn't like people re-organizing her stuff either! She definitely doesn't like people messing up her kitchen - and that is why I have never cooked at home (to the point that my family finds it so hard to believe that I Can Cook!).

Anyway, in-laws are back home safe and sound and my parents are back home safe and sound and you know what? The apartment seems to be bigger, emptier and lonelier now. I miss them very much. I wish they could visit every weekend!

And so, I now look forward to the Chinese New Year where I will see my family again. Counting down begins!



Mother & Father-In-Law with MOH at the park right in front of our apartment block



Chocolate Cream Mousse - by Chef Leigh Ann Seto

Ingredients :

200 ml Cream

180 ml Milk

40 gr Sugar

5 Egg yolks

200 gr 65% Chocolate

25 ml Brandy (optional)

Method :

1) Chop chocolate into 1 cm pieces and place into a blender or processor.

2) Combine milk and cream in a sauce pot and bring to a scald.

3) Mix yolks and sugar well. Pour some of the warm milk into the yolk mixture and blend well.

4) When cream mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and pour yolk mixture into the pot while whisking. Stir for an additional few seconds.

5) Remove pot from fire and strain mixture into the blender with the chocolate.

6) Let cream settle into chocolate for a minute.

7) Cover blender and blend until the chocolate is melted. Brandy may be added here.

8) Pour mousse into serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap letting the wrap touch the surface of the mousse
    to prevent a 'skin'. Chill for at least 4 hours.

To serve: Garnish with soft whipped cream, fruit, and/or chocolate shavings.

** FOR a READ of Chef's "An Encounter With...Chocolate" Interview - click HERE!

 

** Photo of Chef and her Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse Cake! Simply heaven!!

Giving Thanks

I never grew up with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since moving to Cambodia 3 years ago, a lot of the expats who are left in town to celebrate the occasion without their families and loved ones often seek solace in each other's company and host their own Thanksgiving / X'Mas parties.

Last night, I had a fabulous, fabulous, FABULOUS home-made-from-scratch Thanksgiving dinner courtesy of Chef Leigh Ann and Nicole - our upstairs neighbour :) It being their first celebration away from home, they invited us over for the scrumptious meal. For Chef & Nicole, entertaining guests was like second-nature to them and they have really nice dinner wares and themed table-settings (Chef can be rather particular about how her food is presented - even off work!!) - so you imagine how stressful it was when I invited them over for a home-cooked Bak Kut Teh dinner just last weekend. I had no matching plates nor cutleries. At least I was "civilized" enough to have place mats! (And Nicole actually brought STRAWS - just in case I didn't have straws to drink the Mojitos which they prepared and brought over as well!) Not to mention - I still do not know if Chef approved of the Bak Kut Teh meal :P At least Nicole said she did :)  

Anyway, whilst I've had my fair share of turkey and all the fixings, this was actually the first time I'm having an entire Thanksgiving meal that had been passionately prepared from scratch - from the bird being given a one hour 'spa bath' of sea salt, lemon & garlic to the freshly made croutons and turkey drippings for the stuffing and gravy right down to the pumpkin cheesecake!

Those who know me would know that my "healthy days" (when it comes to food) are Mondays to Fridays and yesterday being Thanksgiving Thursday and all, I had to break the rule. Chef did indeed "try" to go easy with the ingredients she used - freshly baked WHOLE WHEAT rolls as opposed to plain white rolls (take my word for it - the rolls were to-die-for) and light sour cream for the cheesecake as opposed to the full-fat version (and despite the "healthier version - pumpkin cheesecake was to-die-for too!). And a bowl of grilled brussel sprouts and carrots too! But then of course, she had roasted a leg of ham as well and I couldn't resist the crispy skin and then, she had to serve the pumpkin cheesecake with a scoop of ice-cream. To top it off - she told me after the meal that she rubbed butter underneath the bird's skin before putting it into the grill to make sure it was moist.

Weigh-in before dinner was 46kgs and weigh-in the morning after dinner was 46.6kgs. But you know what? It was 0.6kgs well worth putting on because truly, it was a remarkable meal. So - I ran an additional 5km this morning for my training (maybe all that food had given me extra energy after all :P). Big deal. I train so hard, surely I deserve an additional "bad food day" in the week if I wanted to, yes?

Well, as Nicole said - it IS Thanksgiving. And I for one, have lots to give thanks for. For great friends who can whip-up such a lovely meal (I can't get over this meal - it had been really too superb), for the great love of a dotting hubby, for the unconditional love of my family, and for being a lucky, lucky girl - in so many ways but mostly, for all the love I have around me. So life's a bitch sometimes - but I still have a lot of love in my life. Is that lucky or what?

I got the almost Yaba-daba-doo drumstick!! :) :) And

the to-die-for whole wheat roll and stuffings *smack lips*

 

Grilled Turkey and Roast Ham.... mmmmm

absolute divine pumpkin cheesecake and I also learnt what is
plated service "stacked 2 high / 4 high / 6 high / 8 high / 10 high" :P 

Charity Work - A Delusion?

When my partner-in-crime Leticia ran the idea of doing the Wedding Wishes Campaign as part of the AWP Malaysia's social responsibility programme, I was extemely keen. I'm always for supporting a worthy cause and so - with the support of our members who sponsored their bits as well as TV3 who joined us as media sponsors, we embarked on our plans.

The "Mahligai Impian" project aimed at helping single couples where one or both are terminally ill because getting married presents to be a challenge as money is put aside to finance treatments and as a result, couples forgo the idea of having a complete wedding with the whole works. Briefly, the "Mahligai Impian" campaign was aired on TV3 in July 2010 and invited participation from Malaysians aged 20 and above. The condition was one or both the couple needs to be terminally ill to qualify and they need to submit a piece of their story as to why they would like to get married in any languages. Finally, after much scrutiny of the results, TV3, as the judges together with invited NGOs selected the final winning couple. They had their grand wedding reception just last night - which coincided with it being Thanksgiving.

However, I am truly saddened and maybe disheartened at how the couple, as well as their parents treated the entire crew and team during the entire planning stages right down to the implementations yesterday. Mind you - the entire wedding was fully-sponsored by all AWP Members and it was well worth over RM100,000. Some members even sponsored their products / services / cash to the value of RM10,000 each without a bleep because we all held to one believe - that this was for a good cause.

Instead of the "thank you" - which societal P's & Q's would dictate as the norm, we had the family saying very unpleasant things to the wedding planning sponsors - rather rude and loudly in public. No, we do not expect to be thanked because we did this from the bottom of our hearts. But neither did we expect to be called "disgusting" or generally being insulted in public view that way. Being professionals, everyone kept their cool and the show went on without a glitch. But STILL - the families were not pleased. Right to the point that they actually walked past the Sponsor's table without SO MUCH AS AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, let alone a THANK YOU.

I saw some frustrated FB statuses today. We all have the right to be. As sponsors - we gave up our time, money, effort and most importantly - heart to make sure the project ran smoothly and the well-deserving couple happy. As professionals, we maintained our professionalism and poise by grinning and bearing through it all. When they say this is a thankless profession, INDEED it is. But as professionals too - whether on a pro-bono basis or a paid basis - we do not expect to be mistreated. We are not your slaves nor servants. Period.

What got me frustrated and disheartened is this : - There is a whole wide world out there for us to try to help in whatever ways we can. How many more will turn out to be like this? I know what your answers will be : "You try to save them all. You don't care about who they are or what they give you in return." That's not the point, you know. The point is our means as individuals and even as small groups / companies / associations are limited. We can't save them ALL. As such - I much prefer to save those who are well-deserving of it.

I mean, this is me writing in frustration but if you asked me now, after the incident yesterday - the RM10k cash & value sponsorship that some of the sponsors forked out - between an orphanage for HIV+ children and an ungrateful and rude family member of a deserving couple, I choose the orphanage! Need I say more?

** image courtesy of showersmile.wordpress.com

A Cambodian Tragedy

I'm one of those who hates reading tragic news. For some reason, it greatly disturbs me. In a lot of cases and at most times, there is very little if at all, that I can do. And yesterday's stampede, amidst the festive celebration of the Bon Om Teuk in Phnom Penh was a disastrous tragedy indeed.

Whatever the investigation outcome turns out to be - the people do not deserve to... be in this tragedy. When the island was opened, when the bridges were opened - already people were questioning the "crowd management" during the Water Fest. The bridge was - in essence, tiny. For those who has ever experienced the Cambodian Water Fest, you would know that we're not talking about crowds of just thousands. We're talking about millions. Phnom Penh alone has a population of 5 million. During the Water Festival, close to 1 million Cambodians travel from the provinces (they save up their meagre income and make the trip once a year) to catch the festivities and celebrations.

So - was there a proper 'crowd management' system in place? What about proper disaster management? Were these in place? Were the authorities given the right training, the right briefing to manage and control a disaster should it take place? Some 5-star hotels here do not even provide basic first aid training for their staff! You do the math. Who shoots water cannons at a crowd standing less than 0.1mm away from electrical wires and cables? (which were installed, not with safety in mind, I believe - I could be wrong, but you do the math again!)

I'm just a frustrated expat. Of course, I can always turn a blind eye and say - "Fuck, this ain't my country, this ain't my problem. I'm alive and thank you." But I come back to the point that these people do not deserve it. I call for better safety management, better disaster management and I call for them to be implemented in the best possible way, with the Cambodian people in mind. Always.

My prayers go out to all those affected by this tragedy. There is no way for me to even begin to comprehend nor understand what they are going through. My heart goes out to those who have suffered losses. Be strong.

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love." - Sophocles