Cooking It

this is a programme by channel 4, UK – Cooking It…
sometimes, I watch, sometimes, I don’t as it clashes with some other dramas that I’ve been following in weekday’s afternoon…
however, I actually like this show, it’s just that, for the drama that I’ve been following, it’s better if I follow through (^_^)

http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/C/cookingit/biog.html
http://www.pearl-restaurant.com/aboutpearl/meetjun/

actually, I first came across this show…
one fine day… (ie. I can’t remember which day, just happened to see it while I switched to “travel & living”)
it kinda caught my attention, as it’s showing how a damn bad cook, finally win a competition against other professional cook…
and when I first saw Jun Tanaka, I was thinking, what stupid Chinese wandering around in this show… (didn’t know actually it’s HIS show, thought he’s just some ‘keh leh feh’ running around in the show)
but then, at the end of the show, when the very-bad-cook (just a commoner) finally won the competition (just a small daily competition, but the judges won’t know he/she actually doesn’t know how to cook at all) I actually smiled…
it’s kinda heart-warming, when you see those ‘idiots’ could actually win the competition…
ya, idiot… cos, they really have this idiotic look… well, I suppose, not because of the physical look, just their expression, as… they’re not confident in themselves.. and that shows up in their face, make them look like an idiot in the kitchen…

and therefore, I finished the show… and saw the crediting, oh!! it’s a Japanese (oops, since I’ve this thing about Japanese guy)
and I was thinking… no wonder… hahahahahaha!!!
since then, whenever I see this show (ok, normally after my drama, I’ve still got a few minutes to watch “Cooking It” – just at the right time, when the “idiot” finish up his/her dishes and judges give verdict)

in fact… come to think of it… this show is quite “Japanese”
as I’ve grown up to read Japanese comic, to Japanese anime, and Japanese drama,
for ‘idiot’ to win at the end of something is a very common style of those stories…
the thing is, I’ve been seeing them on books, and dramas…
and maybe that’s why, when I watch Cooking It, the real life show… I smiled…
I smiled for the success of the idiotic commoners, who actually will win the competition, it doesn’t have to be the first, Jun’s target is, as long as they’re not the last…
and I smiled to finally see these idiots, actually gain some confident in cooking, and that, they start to cook for the loved ones…
it’s kinda sweet and nice if you ask me…
very Japanese.. indeed…
and of course, if you watch any Japanese shows, or read any Japanese stories…
they’ll tell you, cook with your love!!

technology marvellous

i'm currently busy doing my photo scanning with my canon 4400F scanner,
as i was flipping through the thick photo albums, browsing those photos that i've had for years.. fading...
i've to say..
gosh, i really love the advancement of technology..

imagine!
now we've digital camera, snap pictures like nobody business, the limit is the memory card in there
and immediately, we see the result, no good, delete...

imagine!
my friends and i used to send each other via MAIL, i mean, real mail! those that you need to put stamp on the envelop and bring it to the postbox and post!!
and wait for a few days.. sometimes, mail got missing...
only then, it'll reach our friends, and vice versa..
that's how we exchanged our photos

but nowadays...
we just use emails
or, upload it to online photo albums...
gosh, how convenient it is!!!

we don't have to tell our friends to help print out what and what photos anymore
and we don't have to manage and keep those bulky photo albums...

better still.. the best best best technology improvement to me is
the mobile with camera functions
mobile with other functions, doesn't mean so much to me, but with camera... goodness!!!
that's one real big leap in the technology man!

technology, technology...
it makes my day..
it makes my life (ok, part of it!)

ps: and that's why my friend asked me before, what are the things that i'm really willing to spend..
i told her, GAGDETS!

If you love him/her, give him/her a baby!!

ok, I thought of this before baby came into our world…
I thought of this… based on my personal experience…

after what we (me, my 2 younger brothers) have been through last year…
I know how lucky I am that, I’ve my brothers with me… (and I hope the they feel the same way too!)

as parents, we’ve to realize the naked truth… that, we won’t be with our baby long…
imagine, if during that time, I was alone… I’d probably will just follow my mother to leave this world…

only with siblings, we know we still have family, to show our weakness when we really want to cry,
only with siblings, we know we have to be even stronger during bad time, cos, we all depends on each other to survive…
friends, relatives, they’ve their own worries, most of the time, what we’ll get is the sympathy… and reasonable help…

unless… unless we’re grown up as the only child in our family and we simply enjoy it, else,
if you love your kid (only one) now, give him/her a brother/sister…
I suppose, having siblings, our kids will have the opportunity to learn ‘rivalry’, ‘compromise’, ‘loving’, ‘caring’, ‘sharing’ since they’re small…
they may love us as we’re their parents, that’s somehow, or maybe, a love in return…
but with siblings, as small as toddlers, or maybe baby… they’ll have the opportunity to learn to love and care, simply because of the blood-tie… unconditional…

I know of many family thinking of having just 1 child, so that the parents can give THE BEST to the 1 child..
but growing up in a family with my 2 younger brothers, I really do not know how an ONLY child will feel in this sense,
and as a parent today, I really to think that, “THE BEST” for our only child, is to give them brother/sister…
to grow up together…
and especially if there’ll be tough time, for eg. the parents are gone (ie. WE will not be by their side anymore)
they will be able to support each other, and live…

"Your children will become what you are; So be what you want them to be"

the other day, I quoted the above saying, saw it online somewhere… (that’s what I do daily in the cyberspace… looking for inspiration ^_^)
and now.. I remember one scene I watched off the Japanese drama, “jikou keisatsu” (時效警察)

the guy – kiriyama
the girl – shizuka (meaning – quiet)
both of them are police, one in the department that’s handling those “cold case” files… in japan, they actually give a timeline to cold cases, 15 years, vs. to US and elsewhere (I’ve not done much research yet, so, this is not absolute!) cold case is still a case, if the murderer is arrested, he still can be convicted, irregardless how many years have passed by…

anyway, that episode, suddenly kiriyama and shizuka were discussing about names, people’s names, and the meaning behind the names…
kiriyama told shizuka, normally, we’re opposite of the meaning of our name,
shizuka asked why, kiriyama further explain by taking her name as an example, he told her that, she’s very talkative, and noisy (she keeps talking most of the time, a very active and lively girl indeed) but yet, her name means “quiet”… see!
then, he further explain,
our name’s given by our parents,
and usually parents will hope that, our children (I said, “usually” only) will be somebody different from us, maybe we think that, we’re too loud, too noisy, so, when we’ve a girl, we hope she’s quiet, and ladylike… and therefore, we give them a name, as what we’ve hoped… in this case, “shizuka” - quiet
but then, kids follow their parents, in the end, the ‘hope’ doesn’t come true, and the girl grows up exactly just like the parents…
ie. shizuka is not shizuka.. but exactly like the parents (of course, I won’t know what the parents’ names are)

in conjunction with this phrase that I’ve quoted, haha, I thought it’s somehow true… ^_^

The ENgorgement STRIKE BACK (~~~tHe jOURney of ThE BREASTS~~~ (Part V)

nearly…
nearly I’m going to get the scary mastitis again!!!
this morning, after feeding, found it (the same problematic one) still engorged…
to the extent, you know what?? I can see the little bumps… yikes!
immediately, cold sweat!!! the last time, I didn’t know, so, I got it, nevermind…
now, I know how the thing is exactly like, I don’t want to get it again…
I was worried… I do not want to be rushed to the hospital, probably got jabbed, and be fed with anti-biotic…
yikes!

so, I tried to express… arrgh… dripping… I’m not patient enough to keep expressing…
so, I took out the cabbage leave… people said it works.. but somehow, I don’t see tremendous result…
and I’ve got blister out-front already (cry!) (painful, you know!!)
then, baby got up..
I quickly latch her on, endure the pain… beg her to continue suckling…
that’s this afternoon…
she refused to in the beginning, and sorry baby, mama has to force you (sigh..)

luckily.. with her help, it subside a little bit…

AND.. as I’m writing now (after midnight)
it’s gone… manage to ‘recover’ during the previous feeding, before she went to sleep…

I guess… the bonding when people talk about breastfeeding, is not just the baby being ‘bonded’ to you,
without realizing it… the mother’s already been bonded to the baby too…

I guess…

Asian Value - a Good Husband

I watch mediacorp drama “Love Blossom” (it’s showing on AEC, Part I and Part II, now, showing part II)
and I came across the blog entry by Betty Wu 吳淡如 (she’s a famous TV host and writer in Taiwan, but just to clarify not my favourite of the favourite, my favourite is 張曼娟)
her blog titled: 夾心餅乾是無能的
(url: http://blog.1-apple.com.tw/bettywu/index.cfm?Fuseaction=PersonArticle&ArtID=100462)

全文如下：
大同跟玫瑰交往超過3年，在大同心目中，玫瑰最大的優點就是善解人意。當女朋友時，玫瑰對他的家人一向很好，還會陪大同的爸媽聊電視劇情節與噓寒問暖，讓老人家認定玫瑰是個好媳婦。
可是結婚後，所有的美好想像全部翻盤，玫瑰變得不大願意陪他回老家，也常常批評他父母或家人。例如：希望他妹妹不要這麼晚才來家裡串門子；大同的母親只要多管一些閒事，玫瑰表面上不會頂嘴，回家卻會跟大同抱怨……這些小牢騷讓大同不勝其擾。
有一天，大同下班回家一打開門，就看到玫瑰在生悶氣。原來她剛接到大同母親的電話，婆婆又頒布了些指導原則，要玫瑰照她的方法照顧大同和孫子。在大同眼裡，憤怒中的玫瑰看起來青面獠牙。大同失去了耐心，迅速的以咆哮打斷了玫瑰的控訴：「妳不要讓我當夾心餅乾好不好！」
硬起來別當傳聲筒
很多男人跟大同一樣，真的不了解原本應該賢淑寬容的妻子怎麼會變了樣，讓自己在原生 家庭和新家庭之間，裡外不是人。這些夾心餅乾常覺得自己很可憐，搞不懂妻子為什麼要把關係搞得這麼僵，事實上夾心餅乾都是無能的，無能處理人際關係、無能 化解家庭衝突、沒有意識到自己的角色應該有變化。他們的角色還停留在「兒子、少爺」，而不是「丈夫、父親」。
當男人不能有效阻擋原生家庭來的壓力、扮演有效防火牆的角色時，妻子的壓力就會越來越大，情緒反彈也會越來越激烈，男人才會變成夾心餅乾。夾心餅乾如果可以振作起來別當兩個家庭的傳聲筒，而扮演堵絕雙方壓力的絕緣體，就能夠解決問題。

anyway…
and since I’ve been following “Love Blossom II” every weekdays, neh! the part about “kai wang” (開旺) and “zhi jing” (紫荊)
it struck me as,
hm… our teaching…
I remember, as a girl, my mother taught me on “how to be a good wife” (well, not exactly, but you know what I mean, by learning to do all the housechores, cooking, behave in front of the elderly, who is who, bla bla bla…)
but I’m not sure, and I’M REALLY VERY NOT SURE
if mother/father actually teach their son on “how to be a good husband”
nah… I doubt it… believe me…
ask my brothers, ^_^;;

MEN…!!!
from the blog (well, betty wu’s sharing her friend’s experience as her writing material)
from the movies…
it does seems like, that’s how asian men are brought up, or SPECIFICALLY, Chinese men!

in “love blossom”, when Kai Wang failed to give her wife Zi Jing this “secured” feeling (mostly financially, and also, the future)
his mother told her, “he’s always been like that”
ya… what most wives get is “he’s always been like that” (if any of you get it otherwise, do share!)

and what compliments this, is Betty Wu’s writeup,
she wrote (in the second paragraph) most men, stay as what/who they are, as “son”, as “shao yeh” (cantonese, “siu yeh”)
but not “husband”, “father”, after they got married…
ya, most men are still papa/mama’s boy even after they got married, the thing is, they do not want to admit it…^_^
and that’s why all the “complication” cannot be handled properly…
cos, the man, failed to become the FIREWALL, but only become the “sandwiched” man!
you see the difference??

my opinion:
men, only learn to be a good husband by himself…
so, what’s his parents doing?
(sorry, hope I don’t offend anybody)

for eg. my ex-boss, once mentioned about her son…
she said, her son so ‘pai tee’ with her now, next time got girlfriend, don’t know how…
hai… sad to hear that right??
yep… I supposed, asian (mainly Chinese, maybe) parents,
“producing” a good wife material type of daughter is something that’s proud…
and because of the long traditional thinking (Chinese ma!! son is “bigger” than daughter, ie. 重男輕女)
I don’t think it’s even come into their mind that, “producing” a good husband material type of son, is also something right for them to do??

then, aren’t we lucky that we’re married to a man who’s graduated from his own self-learning-to-be-good-husband/father??
are you?
are we?
am i?
and, are you teaching your son to be a good husband??
(grin!)