Monday, November 28, 2005

Malaysian Food in Charlotte?


We had a pleasant discovery on Saturday. Jason suggested we stop by Tin Tin Buffet for lunch on our way to Pineville. This is not a typical Chinese restaurant serving carbohydrate-laden lo mein and moo shu pork loaded with MSG and sugar. They have a sumptuous buffet and I was surprised to find so many Malaysian dishes. Not just any regular made-for-Asian-restaurant dishes, but stuff that you can actually find in the "Pasar malams" (night markets) and hawker stalls. I was ecstatic !! There were peanut pancakes which you find in Pasar Malams for RM0.60,Yau Char Kuih with congee, Char Kuay Teow, assorted Dim Sums, egg tarts,chicken feet (which I still haven't acquired a taste for),satay, curry mee, roti canai, steamed fish ,etc.. Eventhough I was still feeling a little under the weather, it did not stop me from stuffing my tummy to satisfy all those almost-forgotten cravings. Now, if only they had "nasi lemak", I'd be in seventh heaven!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

My First Thanksgiving




Thanksgiving Day in America is a time to offer thanks, of family gatherings and holiday meals. A time of turkeys, stuffing, and pumpkin pie.

Eventho I was drugged with antibiotics and all sorts of medication, I woke up feeling like it was Christmas Day!! The aroma of a roasting turkey drifted up to our bedroom. I had a dream of a headless turkey chasing me around the night before. Must've been some TV advertisement that decided to haunt me. Nevertheless, it will not stop me from gobbling up this Thanksgiving feast.
Mom-in-law started cooking this feast since Wednesday. Susan brought her broccoli pasta caserole and my dear hubby made his Peanut Butter Tracks pie and Creamed Onions. (I was too sick to render him any useful help, or so that was my excuse:) We stuffed our bellies to the max and spent the rest of the day laying around chatting and browsing at all the catalogs and advertisement
s which came with the Thursday newspaper, as everyone decides which stores they wanna storm into at 5am the next morning to grab the best bargains in town.
Thanksgiving, as we know it today, has come a long way from the Pilgrim's harvest festival in 1621. It is an event that seems, as each year goes by, to reinvent itself and to expand its meaning to larger vistas. Maybe this is the real significance of the occasion; for as we continue to change and grow, there are an increasing number of things for which we can be thankful. And I am thankful for everything and everyone that has been a part of my life till today.
Now I am dreading the thought of having to get up at 5am to make that mad rush to the stores and act like a "kiasu". I'll probably end up buying something that I don't need. C'mon, my brains will probably still be asleep at 5am after a turkey overdose.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Autumn



Ahhh.. the sound of crackly leaves under my feet,
As I sit and watch the leaves falling outside my window,

Red, yellow, orange and gold,
What a beautiful sight to behold,
The trees will soon look barren

As the snow comes falling down

But in the meantime I'll sit and enjoy

as autumn unfolds its beauty