Home is where the heart is...

I didn't realise how true the saying is until the little one came along.

Since becoming a mom, my life has made a 360 degree turning. My focal point has switched from career and money-making to family and home life. About now, I found that I don't really worry how much I'm making as long as I get home safe at the end of everyday. Even traveling for work seems to be off putting these days. I'm even considering changing career to a more laid back one that doesn't require me to think much or travel much, but one that keeps me constantly able to spend more quality time with my little family at home.

My constant worry now is that I don't spend enough moment with my little girl, watching her grow up, enjoying and capturing her precious milestones and achievements, and making sure she knows I'm the one who brought her into this world. I'm also worried she'll be close more to her nanny than me... :'( or to anyone else than me. I know she's always in good hands when I'm not around, it's just me being paranoid much.

But then, maybe motherhood does that to every woman. With the joy comes the concerns. Oh well... As of now, unfortunately, I cannot entertain the thoughts of becoming a full time mom because we do need the money. Cost of living these days is too high... baby products are more expensive than adult's, and there are also the bills and miscellaneous debts to pay off.

I am however, looking into having a career that allows me to work from home. Wouldn't that be fantastic? Then I could have an early retirement... This daydreaming is not bad really. Hmm...

Anyway, since I have a knack for home-cooked meal, maybe that meal business is still on the line. Home made kuetiaw soup everyone! Good for any time of the day, but most especially when you feel down or under the weather or simply craving for a hot healthy meal. =)

Totally missed April... and homemade Laksa Sarawak!

Hey look who's back from the brink of unplanned hiatus and blogging self-exile?

*INSERT GRINCH-OF-APRIL-PAST GRIN*

I know. I almost missed March. And now I have completely missed April! It's unheard of. Broken promises to constantly write. Or make an appearance. But you know... like Spiderman whispered to Gwen Stacy about broken promises: "Yeah but those are the best kinds."

Anyway. A month is too long to stay away. I know some of you don't miss me at all, and some don't even know I exist, but that's the beauty of it all. It's not about reading, it's always about writing.

It has been a few eventful months, and I predict (correctly I hope) the upcoming ones are going to be more swamped and frenzied, but no less exciting. It's always more happening at the beginning of the year, peaking at the middle and anti-climaxing by the third quarter, and reclining to a more steady and relaxing pace by year end.

So before I bore you with more nothingness... here's some tough love on your diet list: LAKSA SARAWAK! I'm not the expert here, however I can say to you that it's relatively easy to make, once you get a hold of the key ingredient: Laksa Sarawak paste.
 
Note: This serves two (for my tiny household lah)

Ingredients:

- 1 packet of Sarawak Laksa Paste (of any brands you prefer, mine is Haji Manan)

- 1 packet of rice vermicelli or bihun (some like to substitute with yellow noodle)-blanch in hot water
- 500 medium sized fresh tiger prawns (you can opt for shrimp too) - blanch in boiling water
- 1 pcs chicken thigh/drumstick (boiled for fresh stock; meat are shredded into strips)
- 2 eggs (optional) - mixed together, fried, and cut into strips
- 5 limes (cut in halves)
- Parsley leaves (or you can also opt for coriander leaves) - chopped
- A handful of beans sprout - blanch 2 secs in hot water to leave it just crisp enough
- 1 tsb Prawn paste (for the sambal)
- 1 small packet of instant coconut milk (the liquid type is more convenient)
- Chili (optional)
- 5 cups water to boil
- Salt to taste

Methods (mine actually):
1. Soak the bihun in hot water until tender. (some may prefer blanch in boiling water, but I find if I do that, the vermicelli will lose a lot of its texture). Put aside.
2. Boil the chicken meat in a pot maybe half an hour, to cook the chicken and to make fresh chicken stock. Then take out the chicken and put aside to cool. Once cool, use fork to shred the meat into strips. (I normally just chop instead of shred if it's just for 2 person, less work and looks better on presentation. Hehe)
3. Using the fresh chicken stock in the pot, keep water to boil. Add in the laksa paste and coconut milk. Add in salt for flavors (although the paste might already have salt.) Slow down the fire and bring the laksa soup to boil.
4. Beat the eggs in a bowl until just slightly puffy. The fry until golden. Once it's cool, cut into strips and put aside.
5. Boil another pot of water to blanch the prawn and beans sprout. 
6. Mix the prawn paste with chilli and 2 lime juice to make the sambal.
Hope I didn't miss anything. And now to serve it...
7. Divide the bihun in two servings. Arrange nicely the chicken meat, beans sprout, prawns, and egg strips on top of the bihun.
8. The pour the laksa sarawak soup on the arrangement in the bowl, just enough to half-drown them (so-called lah). Sprinkle the parsley leaves on top.
9. Serve with the sambal belacan and lime.

TADAAA!!!

 See how big the prawn is? The ones they serve you at laksa stalls are too small lah. :D

Easy to do right? Note: There are many brands out there available in supermarket or most grocery stores. I've experimented with some and found that I like this one better (Haji Manan's).

So there you have it! My version of homemade LAKSA! Have a merry-fantastic May!!

The Beginning of All Things Good...

My first post for the New Year! And I am like 14 days late! So random.

There are a few posts on the way prior to this one being written, but they are still in the draft list. And some more stories I said I'd write about, but hey, first thing first...

ALL HAIL 2014!

And ya, if you noticed, I attempted to give this blog a makeover. A bit overdue. But I hope it will stay awhile until I can do some more proper revamping work. Whatever it is, there will always be coffee somewhere in this space. :)

Anyway, I promise to write more soon. There are soooooo many things to put into words I hardly know where to begin! The wedding tips, the honeymoon cum Bali trip, the moving house, the whole interlada about being called a new wife cum daytime career woman etc ... it's a lot to digest but it's an adventure of a lifetime that is much better in reality than just coffee-induced daydream. And here I am, can hardly believe I just said that. Haha.

Hope I still have my writing muse, so hold that thought. :) Meanwhile, here's a visual of our first meal cooked and ate at our new home, by yours truly. Never going to be a world renowned chef ever, but I promise I can fix a decent meal. Like my mother. Hopefully.

Herbal chicken, kangkung in oyster sauce (water spinach) & salted fish...

Till then, hope you all have a good month and a good year!! :)

Home and away ...

It's a weekend routine, coming home to my suburban little kampung.

Here's home -- where people don't lock their doors in the daytime and still feel safe. Where the streams flow clearly you can see minnows swimming and chasing baits. Where there are no gates and people still ask permission to walk about anyway. Where neighbours borrow sugar and rice from each other without expecting a return. Where the coffee is always hot and the everyday meal seems tastier  than usual. Where everybody knows most basic things about each other and the other's daughters or sons, and still feel the need to protect their secrets. Where everybody else is mostly related somehow or another. Where the grass is greener but youngsters still leave them for the bright lights of the city. Where the heart is.

The journey home ... now there's that private moment alone to do a lot of thinking about the past, the future and the current present. There's something about driving solo into the sunset that makes a person just feels melancholic and a tad too emotional to understand, or sometimes dreamy and distant. Or maybe it's just me... anticipating the outstretched welcoming arms of home.

Now that I have my own little loft in the city away from home, I realised that that journey home is getting less. And now that I have another valid reason to not come home more often, the sunsets just slowly fade from my memories. Spending more time creating and living my own little world away from the precious childhood memories, sometimes I felt like a little black sheep... that prodigal daughter that the father can't seem to grasp or fully understand... that runaway child that the mother tries to restrain but quite powerless to do so. Except I did nothing wrong other than not come home often enough. Or maybe it's just me... feeling like a criminal everytime I see my parents' beautiful ageing worried quiet faces looking back at me.

I don't know how I could handle it if one of my kids do that to me someday ... finding his or her own dreams and hanging on tight, to the point of them slipping slowly from my grip. Which is why sometimes that's reason enough to make that trip back home because who would want the past to haunt the future quite like that?

No city girl this. The heart has always been in the country ... preferring the quiet moonlight night to the colourful smokie bars and loud music, the smooth streamfalls to the traffic jams, the green and dark forests to the skyscrapers, the busybody friendly neighbours to the self-absorb nearby city residents, the thunderstorms midnight for sleeping in to the midnight movies, tempoyak to all the best rib-eyes in the world, and smiling dirty-hands kids from playing in the outfield to their peers who were more IT-savvy and advanced.

Not that I don't always prefer the other ones nor do I dislike them... it's more like a push and pull between  circumstances and choices. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, and sometimes we just want to return home to regroup and recover.

This is home, where my roots are, my ancestors and my future descendants. How could I be away so often and not realised how much I miss home?

Or maybe it's just me... wanting to move a step ahead in my life but unsure of a lot of things ... like will that familiar precious home always be there to await me when I do need to come home to rediscover myself? Or will I find a home away from home and never forget the home that ever was?

My father once said on my return to the city, "that is just your second home, but this will always always be your home. Why leave it?" I didn't have the heart to remind him that his willful little girl is now all grown up.

Note: Third week of the new year, and already a first melancholic posting.