Happy Friday!

There are times when you go to bed, with your alarm clock set. But you wake up fresh before the alarm clock rings....your first thought, let's get the day started! That is when you know you had a GOOD NIGHT's SLEEP.

That was how Ping's morning started today. Woke up, washed up and started reading some review paper for class later that day. By the time Ping finished the paper, it was only 6.30am...so decided to make some breakfast - roti canai and kurma chicken!
Roti canai...that's one of the most popular breakfast dish in Malaysia. It is a piece of dough cooked on a flat pan and eaten with various types of curry. Ping's favorite roti canai is roti planta - roti canai with some margarine (but Planta is much nicer than margarine. Actually Planta is a brand name of a margarine that is often used in M'sia but Ping thinks that it taste a little different from most margarine)...yeah, not a very healthy one but 'ho chiak' enough already lah. Hehehe... Occasionally, Ping would order roti telur (add egg) but it usually makes the roti much more filling so it is the choice only if Ping is super hungry.

While Ping is on the roti canai topic, some memories of eating at a roti canai stall right next to a main road back in Sri Subang. This particular stall has one of the best roti canai Ping ever had. It started out as a small stall on the pavement right next to someone's house, next to the main road of Sri Subang. There was only one long table where we have to share it with random strangers. Later, they moved into a food court closer to our house. It was not any posh restaurant and stray cats frequently roam around the table...nope, not a pretty sight, but that's what Ping grew up with...one of the great memories. Wonder if the stall is still there at the food court....

Back to today, continued working on stuff for ESP after breakfast. It was definitely a very productive morning for Ping. The feeling is awesome!!! Class was great too! Ping was a little lost every now and then because Ping didn't know the background of the author of the report, which sounds like a pretty scandalous background. But, Ping still loves the class!

After work, we (Steph, Kristi and Ping) went over to Jen's place for dinner and hang out. It was nice just to sit around and talk about what's going on about us...just life in general, talk about our childhood ( we actually talked about 尿尿 and 夢游). It has been quite a while since we had the chance to do that. Ping have been planning the big gorilla experiment on Fridays so always end up skipping our Friday girls night out because by the time Ping is done with the experiment and the cleaning up, it is pretty late.

Jen and Kristi prepared dinner for us while Ping and Steph met up with them later due to some unavoidable incident. Salad with mushroom and Wheat Thins. The multigrain Wheat Thins are really good!
After salad, we hang around Jen's place for a while before heading towards Krispy Kreme. That's the best doughnut in town! Way better than the Dunkin Donuts here but Ping still likes the doughnuts back home.
There's the football season donuts...none of us got it but it sure looks cute!

This one on the right is Ping's favorite! Chocolate coated...custard filling...yummy!!

We also get to watch them make doughnuts...and we happens to be there when the machine was not 100% efficient because we saw lots of cacated doughnuts.
After the snack, we took a short trip to Chang-Wee residence for a lantern walk to celebrate Lantern Festival/Mooncake Festival/Mid-Autumn Festival.

好快樂的星期五!

Watermelon Frost

Remember the watermelon frost? It is applied on canker sores. Nope, we don't use any Ibuprofen or modern medicine. Instead, we would dab a little of the powder on the canker sore and go to sleep. It is usually much better the next morning. Ping gets canker sores quite often, especially on the bottom left of the inner cheek...for some reason, Ping's cheek is a little too fat there and Ping always bites on it..ouch! So Ping brought some of the watermelon frost here. Don't apply it during the day though because Ping would look like a vampire who just had a lovely meal. Kekekeke...

Anyway, just finished reading an article on Mercury in power plant emission and Ping thought of an old news where mercury was found in watermelon frost...remember that? It happened probably about 10 years ago? Agak-agak lah. So Ping decides to slack and start surfing for mercury and watermelon powder/frost.

The first thing that came up was today's news from the Taiwan government.

Lawmaker seeks stricter rules on Chinese-made medicines

So this is actually prohibited in Taiwan eh...but all brands or just some of em? Hmmm....wonder what is the mercury source in the watermelon frost? Is it while the watermelon is sitting in the Earthern bowl that the mercury is being absorbed into the watermelon? But only HgCl and CH3Hg are the reactive form...and it seems like it is more likely for the watermelon frost to accumulate elemental Hg right? But when you google around more, you'll find companies 三金 saying that their products are safe to be consumed. Unfortunately, Ping brought the watermelon powder in a 'eok uan' container rather than in its proper container since Ping only took a little of ahmah's stock...so Ping could not look to see what company was it produced from and what is the ingredient. On the other hand, the entire generation or two before us (mum/dad and ahmah/ahkong's) were using it all their childhood life...so does that mean that we should be tested for mercury to see if it is at a toxic level? Haha...where got so kua cheong hor...

But of course still have to be careful lah...don't want to end up like this case here.

Mercury intoxication presenting with tics

Wanna look at the article but Ping is currently at home (yah lor, slacking lor....haha..I wish ar!) so could not get access to the article. Maybe will check it out later...

Ping definitely still prefer the traditional medicine...hate pills! In fact, whenever Ping falls sick at home, Ping would get the appropriate 'eok uan' from ahmah rather than going to the doctor. Here, no choice lah...when cannot tahan have to go to the doctor..but even then, Ping usually gets the injection rather than eating pills. Yup, still do the injection. Ok ok, it is a psychological 'I can't do it' but why must Ping try when injection is so much less painful, faster effect and less hassle? *grins widely*

中秋節快樂!!

Happy Mooncake Festival and Happy Lantern Festival!!! That's Ping's favorite...lotus paste with egg yolk!!

It is getting much easier to celebrate mooncake festival here now that you can get mooncakes here for a pretty reasonable price. Ping bought 3 for USD 5 today...because it is actually the day after Mooncake Festival since according to the Chinese Lunar calendar, it was yesterday. But get to eat enough edi mah...in addition to that, we'll be having a lantern walk this weekend too.

Ping's first baby

When Ping came back from Woods Hole last year, Ping planted her first baby....plant in the States - chilli! Now it is huge and giving Ping lots and lots of 'luak luak' chilli. In addition to that, Ping also got a chilli plant from tiptup early August and it is also making lots and lots of chilli edi! By the way, blogger thinks that 'chilli' is a wrong spelling! Is Ping really spelling the word wrong or is blogger just dumb? Hmmm...the word is confusing in the States anyway. When you say chilli (which is probably spelt chili), people will think of this stew that is super yummy! But when we (M'sians) say chilli, we usually mean 'hot peppers' (as known by the Americans) aka 'huan chio' (hokkien) aka la4 jiao1 (辣椒).

The growth of Ping's chilli....
This is just about 1 month old. It was still warm outside so it was sitting out at Ping's balcony (or as the Americans call it, patio). As it grew bigger, Ping stopped taking pictures because Ping's prelim was getting near. Eventually, Ping had to bring it back to the lab. It sat right next to a radio that was by the window near Ping's bench and desk. However, it didn't get much TLC (tender loving care...as learned from Steph) because Ping was mostly at home reading and writing.

Then, the big day came, the break down came (but Ping handled it pretty okay...I think?), and then it ended and *phew*, can finally 'chuan tua kui'. But just a few days after Ping passed the scary exam, Ping took off and went back home, leaving the baby chilli in Steph's hands. She did a great job keeping them alive! As we can see on the right, it grew and grew and grew and became really tall that Ping had to tip-toe to water the top leaves! It became so big that it blocking Ping's awesome view of the campus.


Then the weather warms up and Ping brought it home...and so it went to the balcony again. Ping had to change pot for it too because the roots where starting to become visible from the top.

As time goes by, Ping started to see flowers....







then the chilli buds...








Next thing you know....jeng jeng jeng....the whole tree is full of chilli!!!
However, it has already been about a month since some of them came out and they don't seem to turn red so maybe they are 'cheh huan chio'.

On the other hand, the one from tiptup is 'ang huan chio' as it has recently started to turn red. This was taken last week and now, half of them is red already.

Yippee...just in time to watch House!! House is back! The crazy doctor!

Resident Evil

Just got back from Steph's. Had a Resident Evil movie spree - watched the first and second one in a row. The third one is out and Ping have yet to see the first two so Steph and Jen was nice enough to spend our Friday evening activity watching the first two so that Ping can catch up to watch the one that is coming out today.

Played the PS game a long long time ago when ahdik had his first PS console. Love the movie! The effects during the action scene was awesome! They gave it a very nice storyline too. Ping like the last part of the second one when the bad guy had expected Nemesis to attack her but in the end, Nemesis remember her and attacked the bad guy instead. Chun!

Ping accidentally deleted the old layout. Found a really nice sunset template but too lazy to edit the frames to fit Ping's liking. Most of the new frames for the Beta seems to be very narrow. It makes some of the pictures way too small. The bigger ones are mostly html templates. Ping wanna get the xml one so can add the widgets at the sidebar. Ping prefers the xml one 'coz it is way more intuitive. The html one is a bit more mahuan to edit. Or can Ping edit the html one using the same codes as the xml? Don't think so right? Since the xml codes are much easier than the html ones. Oh well....will make do with this layout for now, until Ping has time to edit the sunset ones, or find something nicer.

Canada - Niagara Falls at night

Ping's second Wonders of the World - Niagara Falls. Okay maybe it is not on the new list of wonders of the world but who cares..to Ping, it is a wonder's of the world. Ping's first one was Great Wall of China in 2004.

Never thought Ping would get a chance to make a trip there so soon. It was actually a pretty spontaneous trip for Ping. Ever since coming to Lansing, a lot of Ping's 'I want to go' places is usually back home, places where Ping's friends and relatives are. Niagara Falls was definitely not one of the "aih..if only I get to visit there". But Ping's Canadian visa was expiring and for the price Ping paid, of course want to get the best out of it lah. So off we go to Canada, with Niagara Falls as one of the must go destination.

After the Lion Safari, we checked in at Niagara Parkway Court. We got an awesome deal there. It was also pretty close - less than 10 minutes drive to the falls. After a short rest, we drove towards the town area - Clifton Hill. It is like a mini Hollywood, San Francisco bay area, a more upscale Bintang Walk...crazy fun!! In the afternoon, people are busy shopping for souvenirs, enjoying the various museums and adventure attractions. When we first drove into the street, it was totally exciting...like 'lembu lepas kandang'...like 'sua pa kau' only...so jakun. The same feeling Ping had when she went to San Frans two Christmas ago. But it got quite a little overwhelming when you're actually walking along the street itself...the city just eats you up. Thanks to the small souvenir shops, Ping managed to get a Niagara Falls sweatshirt, which Ping didn't bring and it was getting a little too chilly for Ping.

After walking around, taking in the city atmosphere, we went to Mamma Mia's for Italian dinner. The bread sucks but lucky thing, the pasta was pretty good. It was a little too pricey for comfort though...but almost any non-Chinese food is expensive in Canada due to their super high taxes. Then must give tips somemore...'kao giak' man.

Just as the sky turns dark, we head over to the falls for the fireworks show. We were lucky enough to be there during one of the nights when they have the fireworks show.

As you approach the falls, you start to feel the mist from the falls, the air cools, the rumble of the falls stronger, the atmosphere is totally different. It feels like a dream. Can you imagine standing so close to something so amazing? There's just no way Ping could describe the feeling. Definitely not something Ping had ever imagined. To make it pretty, whoever who manage it decides to color the falls. It does look pretty but nature is beautiful by itself. Even when the lights are off, the falls can still takes your breath away.

It is simple mesmerizing. Indescribable.
No picture could capture the feeling of standing right there in front of it, feeling the breeze, listening to the falls, letting the cool mist embrace you...definitely one nature's creation that has to be self-experienced.

Papaya Sisters - 881 (Ba-ba-yao)

Papaya Sisters!!! The modern revolution of 'kor tai' (歌台). Brought to Asia by S'pore's Royston Tan.

Canada - African Lion Safari Part 2

Continuing from the previous post....

Here's one of Ping's favorite view.
Clear sky. Greens. Three different kind of animal roaming freely. No cage. It has also been a while since Ping see a zebra...maybe since days when daddy used to bring us to Zoo Negara.

Next came the giraffes. There are only a few of them roaming around. Their legs look so fragile, like it could break anytime. We get to see them sitting down. It seems to be a pretty long process - due to their long neck, which seems like it has to be straight up while they sit down. It looks like when ahmah is trying to 'khu' when she wants to 'ban chao' - takes forever!

All the animals were allowed to roam freely. They have guards camping out in their trucks just incase the animals starts to attack. However, they must have been in the safari long enough that most of them don't even bother looking at the cars, beside the lau kaus ler.

The safari also have some endangered species, which are caged up. Which Ping thinks it is okay since they get to keep track of them that way and they can keep them away from being harm by other animals.

Another pretty one is the deer. Look at the antler. Isn't it huge? One of them was crossing the road when we drove by. It decided to take its own sweet time so we had to stop for it.

Besides the safari itself, there is also a small bird section, a boat ride that circles through mini islands with small animals, an elephant section (wonder why they don't mix the elephants with the other animals...maybe they don't get along?), parrot show, a train ride, AND a waterpark for the kids. Something like the kids area at Sunway Lagoon Theme Park.

After the Lion Safari, off we go to Niagara Falls. Now Ping wants to go to bed first. Finally had time to clean the house. Rearrange some of the room decor...feels good!! Also had time to watch 轉角遇到愛...very funny one! Couldn't stop laughing...especially Xiao Zhu's expressions!!

Canada - African Lion Safari

Been a while since Ping updated the blog. Recently when plan experiment...long long punya...then weekend lepak kau kau so no time to put up photos and update blog. A bit ketinggalan already...hehe.

Took a road trip to Canada last weekend. Unlike US visa, Canadian visa only lasts for 6 months. Actually, it is only a single entry visa but since Ping did not leave US, Ping could go through the Canadian border again. Our first destination - African Lion Safari.

You get a choice of driving your own car or go through the bus. Lucky thing we rented a car because if took our own car, sure very sim thia because we actually got a bit of scratches...you'll see why later. It is also much more fun to go by yourself rather than the tour bus because we get to be really close to the animals.

First one we met was the Llama (骆马)...of course after we pass through the beh piao eh lang lah....
It is much cuter than the one we saw at Lansing Potter Park Zoo.

Next came the lion..they were kinda boring. All busy sleeping only. One of them is sooo cute - the one in the inset - it was right at the top of the stone structure. It must be pretty hot because he stucked his tongue out while sleeping. But besides him, the others were pretty boring.
After the lions were the cheetahs but we only saw two who were very far away. There were no stone structures near the cheetahs so they were lying under the trees. Could barely see them. The most fun area were the baboons area. However, we were also pretty pissed off because some irresponsible visitors think that it is okay to simple feed them with bread and banana even though there clearly are signs saying 'Do not feed the animals' everywhere!' Ping definitely was not practicing the first habit - Be Proactive - of Sean Covey's 7 Habits. But seriously, who in the right mind thinks that it is okay to luan zhu chi all the lau kaus? They think they are at Penang Botanical Gardens meh. Bo tau nau! Once one of the baboon found out that one car is feeding bananas, all the others starting heading towards the cars. They were all over the car and their favorite place is to sit by the window on the side mirror. As you could expect, lau kaus are very tham chiak. So you can see one super eau lo punya lau kau...chui ka bo liao, chiu gim tiau gui nah tiau.
Another fun and hilarious one is the ostrich (駝鳥). For some reason, they get really fascinated with their own reflections or any movement by the window. They kept pecking on the window....the reason why we were glad we rented the car because they actually create some scratches on the door. Although they look harmless, when they are standing right next to you pecking on the window, they can be quite intimidating.
Got more but Ping's laptop running out of batt. Will continue part 2 tomorrow.

Lust, Caution

Guess what??!!! While watching the previews, they showed the preview from Lust, Caution!!! Does that means it will be showing here at Lansing Celebration Cinema???? Ping hopes so!!! Wanna see Lee Hom in action again. His first movie - China Strike Force - he was a pretty lousy actor. Ping didn't see any of his Japanese movies since they were not big enough to get here in the US. Given that Ang Lee praises his improvement, now Ping is excited to watch it!! Even though it seems from the preview, he is just a sideline and Leung Chiu Wai is the main actor. But never mind ler. He he!



Wonder if the storyline will be exactly like the short story written by 張愛玲 - 色, 戒. Ping have read a few of her stories and Ping's favorite is 紅玫瑰與白玫瑰.

Jane Austen

The plan was to watch Stardust. Then Skin Walkers. Eh..wait. Haven't had dinner. Need to get dinner. So can't make it to Skin Walkers. Last choice - Becoming Jane. Went to Boston Market for dinner. That was Ping's first time there. Ordered the chicken potpie (the one that ahmah likes to get from Dave's Deli) and it was good. It is a much nicer fast food place than McD or the other burger places. The movie - it is a fictional biography of Jane Austen. So who is Jane Austen? She is the author of 7 awesome novels about marriages for various reasons. The first time Ping knew about her was when Ping read her "Pride and Prejudice". Later, Ping bought "The Complete Novels of Jane Austen" and Emma became Ping's favorite Jane Austen story. Definitely one of the best novels - one where the English is proper without much slang and a happy or contented twist to the ending just when you thought it would be a sad ending. Awesome enough that it is one of the few books that don't make it's way back to Penang, but stays right there on Ping's bookshelf. If not mistaken, Ping still have her "Pride and Prejudice" or "Sense and Sensibility" somewhere in PJ...hmm...have to ask mummy since she's been digging through Ping's books at PJ lately.

As for the movie, the storyline is was much faster than Ping had expected for a biographical drama. Anne Hathaway - yup, the princess of The Princess Diaries - did a really good job with the emo scenes. The ending - Ping usually don't like sad ending movies. But it is really not that sad in this because she sort of got what she wanted. Definitely worth watching for drama lovers!

simple dinner

Last week, after Dozie passed his prelim, we had a small celebration dinner at our place. It was a very simple but unique dinner prepared by Ramon (所以說吗, 如果想找一個很會廚菜的男朋友就是要找一個 Spanish 還是 Italian! Haha!).

Appetizer was salmon slice with capers. The first time Ping had capers was when Ping had lunch with tiptup and dk at one of the restaurant at Falmouth. Almost like assam but less sour and much smaller.
Main dish was roasted chicken and omelette. The omelette is much much better than the classic American omelette (which usually comes with cheese!!).
It was definitely a very simple dinner with bunch of crazy jokes. Besides that, been a quiet week so far. Met up with Ming Woei and Ee Foong this evening for dinner at Suria - the only place we can get M'sian food if lazy to cook. Waiting to find out if the single colony on Ping's plate is a positive transformants....

pokok sudah sampai

Another happy thing...Ping got a pokok cili from tiptup!!!

Thank you so muchie!! The pokok is still very healthy. Already put it in the pot with more soil and the flowers are still fine. In fact, the flower buds didn't tanggal at all.

one colony....

One colony. One! On a selective plate. There's one!! From a transformation reaction that Ping had yet to have success with. Usually there's no colonies. But Ping has one! It is a pretty normal size colony too!!

This one colony might not mean anything to anyone. But it means a lot to Ping. It could still very well be a false positive transformant. BUT it was Ping's happy news for today. A colony grew! on a plate that Ping had never had colony before! Is it a true transformant? That we shall see if it grow on the streptomycin plate tomorrow morning. Then there's the restriction digest check. But for now, a colony grew!!! Yippeee!!!! Sometimes in science, we just have to find excitement from little things. Because big things too often bring disappointments. La la la la la la!!!

twice...in a week

Ping thought he graduated...but Ping saw him twice in a week!

第一次 - 他在過馬路，　我已經上汽車了所以他看不到我. 但是看到他的時候覺得很開心. 原來他還在這裡!

第二次 - 就是今天! 跟朋友一起去吃午餐. 回來的時候碰到他. Hmmm...我該打招呼? 他還記得我吗? 我還沒想到要怎麼就跟我笑了. 就這樣, 我就覺得超高興 得!他還記得我哦!

Haha...他是誰呢? 他就是一個好特別的人. 只看過他几次而已可是每次看到他都是會怎麼得開心. 我也不知道為什麼. 一定不是愛...可能是因為我們第一次見面的時候我們有很多東西聊吧. 但是我也不想認識他多一點. 現在這樣的感覺比較好玩. 默默得看著他. 远远看他的時候, 他還滿可愛的. 但近近的時候, 其實一點都不可愛, 是害羞. 看不到他的時候, 回想看到他. 但是看到他的時候, 好想不知道該說什麼. 好財我們每次見面的時候都是在Salsa dance. 可是如果說話的時候, 我們兩個都說不停. Haha...不要說太多了. 終極, 我今天好開心!

真的沒想到他還記得我!!!! 已經要到半年沒見到他了, 我真的以為他已經畢業了! 現在我在開心的唱張棟梁的其實幸福很簡單...因為幸福真的有那麼的簡單!

Canadian goose crossing the road

Near ahmah's house, we have to stop for gu (cow) to koi kae lor (but Ping actually haven't seen any gu around there the last few trips back). Here, at Trappers Cove, we have to stop for 'go' (Canadian goose) to cross the road. They are actually pretty 'gong' because they will still cross when they see a car coming.

potluck dinner

We used to have potluck dinner at Western every time there is a birthday or any M'sian holiday. It was always at Edmund's place - probably coz that's where the bachelors are? hehe...or maybe because Edmund is always willing to clean up afterwards (remember all the talks after that? really miss the times when you would come over and just hang out...but of course you barely talk to me unless BK is not around *grins*...thinking back, you barely talk to me every time BK is around..even during Burnham days!!）

It is not so often here at MSU since the M'sian community is much smaller. With potluck, there's always too much food and sometimes the combination is totally out of place...like the one we just had last weekend. It was a small one - the regular M'sian gang, some friends from TT's lab and a few 'rarely seen' people.
Ping brought the chap chye. LP made cha ye tan, TT brought herbal soup anｄ　菊花, Jo made chicken with mushroom gravy. We also had some tandoori chicken, fried rice, some vege dishes,
and salad. For desserts, there was some kind of pie and brownie with icecream.

chap chye

When not sure what to eat and don't feel like cooking, chap fan is one of the best thing to get. Back in M'sia lah. Here a bit sien. No matter where you go, it is the same choices - burgers, wraps, pizza, subs - all got some kind of flour - Chinese, Mexican, Korean, Japenese - a bit high on the price scale and they usually serve enough to feed half of a family in M'sia.

Chap fan is also known as the economy rice in M'sia. It is suppose to be a pretty cheap dish but it seems to be getting more expensive, at least in KL. They usually have about 20 different type of dishes laid out - from vegetables to different kinds of meat to seafood. They will give you a plate of rice and then you can pick any combination of the dishes. Chap fan is very convenient because when you're hungry, you can ask for more rice, when you're not so hungry, you can ask for less rice. It is also one of our family favorite choice because all of us get to eat our favorite dish instead of all of us eat the same thing. Ping used to eat chap fan for lunch everyday during high school because it is also faster and mummy only get one hour lunch break. The best one in Penang is the corner one at one of Green Lane's kopitiam. Didn't go there the last trip home as there's also chap fan near our house at Sungai Emas but Ping still prefer the one at Green Lane - more choices.

Last week, Ping wanted to char tang hoon (glass noodle, 冬粉) - like the regular ones that you can get from a char kuew teow stall. But then Ping started to think about chap fan and one of Ping's favorite dish from chap fan is the chap chye - tang hoon stir fry with or bok nee (black fungus, 黑木耳) and tau kee (beancurd strips). So Ping made a trip to Oriental Mart and get some stuff to make chap chye!

Ingredients:
tang hoon (soaked in hot water for a few hours)
or bok nee (soaked in water overnight)
hiow kor, black mushroom, 香菇 (soaked in water for a few hours)
kim chiam, lily bud, 金針 (soaked in water for 10-20 mins)
tau kee (soaked in water overnight)

or tau eu, black soy sauce
dissolved chicken stock

First stir-fry the tang hoon (mummy, the tang hoon didn't liam lah, instead was easily chooi, maybe chim chui siow ku) with the dissolved chicken stock. Add the tau kee and allow it to simmer until soft. Then add in the rest of the ingredient and stir-fry.
Easy leh. Actually, Ping didn't like the kim chiam at all but without it, seems like something is missing so Ping add it in but always pick it out. It would taste even better if there is teak gah kee (no idea what it is called in English or what exactly it is so Ping haven't found that here) - another one on the list for stuff to bring back. Keke..

Potter Park Zoo

While there's only one major zoo in M'sia, there are zoos at most big cities here. Potter Park Zoo is located at Lansing and this is Ping's first zoo in the States. It is VERY small (we finished walking around it in less than 2 hours!) but much cleaner and not so chau bi. In fact, when you first walk into the zoo, it feels more like a park (something like Taiping Zoo) rather than a real zoo. There are only a few group of people here and there. Zoo Negara is definitely much more fun and exciting!

Ping can't remember when was the last time Ping went to Zoo Negara but daddy used to bring us there on Sunday (probably way back before Ping started going to Sunday school) and we would spend the entire day in the zoo. It was always so pack that we have to squeeze our way around to get near the cage to see the animals. The cages are much larger and there are way more animals at Zoo Negara too. But Ping can't remember much of it except for the giraffe where we get to feed them and the KFC train that goes around the zoo and the flamingoes in the centre lake. Sometimes there is also a bird show where they make the parrot talk. Those were the days when we don't have to think of anything and when life was much more simple.
Back to the Potter Park Zoo, we happens to go on the hottest day of the summer - all the animals were sleeping!! Most of the cages were empty because the animals rather hide in their indoor area. The animals must be thinking - all these gong lang, jit tau ah neh tua lai kia zoo. Ping's favorite was the baby snow leopard. They kept him/her indoor but the room was so small and it doesn't look fun at all...a bit ke lian. But it is sooooooooooo cute!! It looks like a small baby playing with a toy. It was funny seeing the leopard attack the soft toy like it is expecting the toy to fight back.
The funniest thing - their zoo even have chicken!!! In M'sia, chicken walk all over the place, not in the zoo! When we were walking close to the chicken area, the sounds feel like we're walking around a kampung..hehe.

Mummy ar, maybe your next life you can be a lion/lioness since they sleep 16-20 hours a day and that seems to be your hobby? Keke...

One of Ping's favorite is the Muntjac. They are soooo cute and they got a really pretty and 'eu siu' face. Ping found out from Wiki that they are the natives of Southeast Asia...maybe that's why so 'bin sek'. Haha!
The most geli one is the Axolotl. They look like a baby hamster at the stage when they just come out from their mum and still haven't sae mo. The interesting fact is that they can regenerate their own body parts. It must be pretty cool doing a research on them but every night sure 'bang' the axolotl wan. Actually, if you do a image google for Axolotl, there's a lot of cute looking ones. But it is still too geli to look at a real life one! Reminds Ping of the rubbery stuff that daddy used to buy back from Shanghai...the one where we can throw at the wall and then it'll stick and fall slowly down.
Heard of Gila Monster? Wonder if it has a 'gila' characteristic...hehe. But for those of us who have been in the States for a while, we would know that the way they pronounce 'gila' is actually 'hila' so it probably has nothing to do with the lizard being gila.
Another one that is pretty interesting is the Tamarin. They remind Ping of a 2 part movie where there are tons of this little creatures that took over the world but one of them is really nice and cute and is actually a pet of the main actor...totally blank on the name of the movie even though Ping have watched it tons of times!! The Tamarin seems to be tame enough to be made a pet too! They are also vegetarian so don't have to worry about them eating you! They actually have a 'kuai ku' look too!
Another one of Ping's favorite is the Llama! They are very social animals as the moment we walked close to their cage, one by one came out to greet us..haha..of course not lah...it's for food lah! But they have super huge teeth that Ping didn't dare to feed them at all. While they are very friendly, we cannot manja them too much because they will start treating us like one of them, which is spitting. To them, spitting is a common way of treating each other so they don't think it's a problem although Ping would not appreciate being spitted at by a llama even if it is because they like Ping. Eeeeee....
Other than these, there's not much interesting ones. As M'sians, we always expect to see monkeys and orang utans in the zoo but there's only one monkey cage, unlike the cages after cages of monkey and orang utans back home.

Zoo Negara is definitely way better!!!

Memory Pieces

昨天跟朋友去Chicago 看戲劇還有去玩玩. 要到Downtown 的時候, 有一種酸酸的感覺. 這是我第一次沒有跟你一起來. 如果到我們走過的地方我會覺得那個回忆是開心還是苦呢?

已 經快到三年了. 有很多我們以前的回忆我也不會去想. 我認為如果沒有去想它我一定不會想念那時候的我們, 也可能在我腦海里不再提了. 但是這兩天在 Chicago 走走的時候我才覺得我們的一切是不可能忘記的. 不管是三年後還是十年後, 那記憶一定會還在我心里的. 我們剛剛分手的時候我以及吵你給我我們拍的片但你以及都不會給我, 原來沒有照片那會議也不會消失.

雖然我們之間也有難過的關, 這兩天我只能想到我們開心的時候. 讓我走過那個地方的時候很想跟自己笑一笑. 真的好象我在看戲, 一個我和你演的戲. 每一次跟你出去約會的時候一定會覺得自己好像一個公主一樣. 還記得有一次我們送我爸媽回去的時候, 你已經好了好了可是你還是帶我去吃 dim sum. 只有你會這麼 manja 我. 想要什麼你也會給, 真的是一個好幸福的感覺.

去年, 有一天我發現我已經一個月沒想你了, 我覺得很興奮,因為我可以很大声, 很信心喊出來- It's over!!那時候的感覺好像有人在我背後把一個大大的石頭拿走. 跟你通信的時間已經沒有伤害了. 以前我會問為什麼我們要變成這樣. 我們真的沒有情人的命運吗? 可是現在我覺得作好朋友比較好因為現在的我們已經沒有受傷了. 反正有很多不開心的事我也已經忘了.

好想你的 'doo doo'.

"Claypot Briyani" konon

We were driving around Little India back in November last year. Couldn't remember if it was one of the trips when we were there for daddy's favorite past-time of driving around Penang or because wanted to get a sari (which Ping didn't get because it was crazy expensive. Ended up getting a dress that Ping hasn't had the chance to wear yet...maybe this weekend to Chicago..hehe). Not having to drive, Ping get to look around and saw an ad promoting "Briyani Claypot". *shiok!* Ping haven't eaten 'nga poh kai fan' (claypot chicken rice) or nasi briyani yet so that's a great combination!

This is what we got....
Sure...we got claypot and we got nasi briyani. But that's not what Ping had in mind!!! They didn't cook the nasi briyani in the claypot! They just use the claypot to 'tae' the pui and chicken. Grrrr!! Kena tipu! So disappointed! One of the best nasi briyani that Ping had before is the one at "The Janova" somewhere at the State, near the place where we apply IC in PJ (arghghg!! Ping can't remember any building landmarks around there!!). We used to go there every other week when we were still staying in PJ and when daddy was around. Haven't been back to see if it's still there.

Besides the nasi briyani, we also ordered the naan and tandori chicken. This was much better because it is hot while the rice was not hot enough.
Ish...now want to eat Indian food already. No good Indian food here :(. Sienzzz...

Greektown, Detroit

Went down to Detroit last week for Lin Pei's Canadian visa application. While waiting for her visa to be processed, we went to Greektown for lunch. Didn't know where the good Greek food are, we asked some guy and he recommended Pegasus. It is well-known for their Opa! dish, which is a flamed-cheese dish but we didn't know about that so we didn't get it. It was pretty fun seeing all the flames though. The food was pretty good but it is obvious that most of the stuff were pre-cooked and they just had to heat it up.
We got one of their combination platter - green beans, lamb chop, roast chicken, spanakopita (spinach pie) and rice. Ping was not too impressed with the chicken as it was sort of blend but the green beans was awesome, so is the spinach pie. The rice was not cooked very well either - too much water, but maybe it's because Ping like rice that are more 'liap'.

The other two dishes that we got was Moussaka - layered eggplant, potatoes, and sauteed onions, seasoned with spices - and roast lamb in tomato sauce. They vege dish is good but could definitely make do with less green peas and the eggplant was cooked a little too long. Ping likes the roast lamb the best since Ping don't cook lamb and haven't had it for a while.
Mediterranean food is one of the food that Ping has never had back in M'sia and is pretty well-known here. However, it is also one of the food that Ping won't be able to take everyday just because they have a lot of weird spices. Ping's favorite is their rice with almonds and crispy noodles!
After lunch, we walked over to Astoria pastry before heading back to the Canadian Consulate. There were sooooooo many cute ones we didn't know which one to get. In the end, Ping got the one on the bottom right corner of the picture.

Ping's bak chang

It's Duan Wu Jie (端午節) - Dragon Boat Festival - this month. Back home, it is usually when people make rice dumplings (chang, 粽子). The rice dumpling is made of glutinous rice and various fillings, usually beans and chinese mushrooms in addition to pork. The rice and fillings are wrapped up in a bamboo leave and boiled until cook. Ping's favorite is Air Itam ahmah and tua ee's chang but recent years, Ping haven't been eating them much. There's always so many things that Ping wants to eat whenever Ping goes home that Ping don't get to eat all of them. Furthermore, ahmah and ee haven't been making them for quite sometime already. Another type of rice dumpling that is pretty popular back home is 'kee chang' (鹼水棕, alkaline dumpling) that is made up alkaline water (don't ask Ping, have no idea what it is) and it is really good with gula Melaka (brown sugar)!!

Since Ping don't get to eat it here, Ping decided to be adventurous this time and try it out herself. Had most of the ingredients except for some that are available from Oriental Market.

Ingredients

Glutinous rice (choo bee, 糯米)
dried mushrooms (hiow kor, 香菇)
dried prawns (hae bee, 蝦米)
black-eyed peas (pek tau, 白豆)
garlic

for seasoning - soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and five-spice powder (ngo hiang hun, 五香粉)

sesame oil

bamboo leaves
Ping soaked the rice, peas and bamboo leaves overnight. The prawns and mushroom were soaked in warm water for about an hour before cooking. The recipe is actually from Kuali, but Ping didn't add any meat so it is not really a 'bak' chang. Ping also could not find chestnut and kiam ark noi (salted duck egg) so just make do with whatever that is available.

Ping started out by frying the minced dried prawns and garlic with the mushroom. Then Ping fry the rice with the spices and sauces and mix in the beans. The hardest part is the 'pak' (tie) part. Ping kinda remember what the chang looks like but not really. So Ping asked mummy but mummy's description seems to be giving Ping the triangular shape instead of the pyramid shape. So Ping looked up online and found this video on YouTube by teckiee. Haha..keng leh!



But then without someone physically showing Ping, Ping's chang all look weird. But Ping is proud of herself because out of the 10 chang that Ping pak, only 2 went loose! So chin chai pak also never mind. heheh..but learning how to pak is now on Ping's list of 'stuff to learn from gee kim'.
Tua ee, what do you think of this? ahdik, can show this to gee kim and get her comments? Hehe.. Oh yeah, Ping also just realized that this type of chang is actually called 'kiam bak chang'..maybe because of all the tau eu that we use?? This is also the 'nyonya' style chang. The cantonese style has a lot more fillings in them like the one in the video - all kinds of different tau and don't know what yong and other stuff.

Ping also could not put too much of the filling in like the one in the video. So Ping's filling is actually very little compare to most of the bak chang that are much bigger. Usually, bak chang is pretty filling but Ping's bak chang, Ping can eat two to three.

This afternoon, brought some of them to the picnic we had at the Riverside Park at downtown Lansing. The girls liked it but Ping wish that tua ee and gee kim get to try it to see if it is 'passable'. Hehehe..