The Truth About Santa Claus, Elmo, Big Bird & Whatever

Sipping my hot spicy ginger tea while staring at my computer screen I nonchalantly said to J,

‘I am going to be honest this Christmas by saying that there is no such thing as Santa when any children around me excitedly say that Santa left them presents under the tree’.

J jolted up, immediately stopped whatever he was doing and said,

‘What?! Why?! Don’t do that! That will screw them up’.

Looking lazily up from the screen with the hot cup warming my hands I replied,

‘Why not? It is the truth. Kids should know the truth. Why would you lie to a child? Santa is not real but the spirit of Christmas is. Besides, look at me. I am well adjusted and I never believed that Santa was real. Also, Santa did not surprise me with presents. Real people did. By the way, I want a humongous and red plushy bull toy...the kind you see in amusement parks’.

‘Don’t tell the kids that Santa is NOT real. You are crazy! Why would you want a plushy toy anyway?’. That was J’s reply.

‘So that I can sit on it when I am watching my TV shows or playing RPG games on my PS3’.

Perhaps I do not know how sensitive the subject of Santa is for kids since I do not have any of my own. Even so, when I was young and especially growing up in Asia, Santa Claus is nothing but a myth. Yet, I was still happy because there were parties to attend, carols to be sung and I have always received presents from parents, relatives and friends. Most if not all Christmases, we would always have at least one person pretending to be Santa when we attended Christmas parties. One of the most enjoyable activities was guessing who the person was behind the disguise. Also, I do not really remember having conversations with friends at school wondering if Santa was real or otherwise. I did however had a conversation with my parents about how Santa was actually St. Nicholas and his generosity giving out presents to the poor. Spurred by curiousity, I decided to read up and reacquaint myself with facts.

Nonetheless, as I was reading and browsing I came across an episode from Family Guy that was tremendously hilarious. Although aired last year, I still find the show refreshing and funny. My stomach was in knots after laughing so hard watching the show. It has a twisted take on Christmas and Santa but a positive spin on gift giving. The stars of the show were of course Stewie and Brian (they are my favourite characters on Fam Guy). For you adults out there who have not seen this episode, I highly recommend it.

Preview #1

Preview #2

Sneak Peek

Now, now, although armed with facts about Santa, what should I tell the kids when they start mumbling about Elmo, Big Bird, Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer or Barney? Suppose I say that they are mere products of network television to keep children learning while keeping them entertained, what will happen? There will be pandemonium for sure. Such agony and torture to have to keep mum while everyone is excited about entities that are non-existent. From the bottom of my heart, I wished they do exist. That simplifies everything.

A few days later while I was watching an anime, J asked,

‘Are you really going to say that Santa’s not real?’.

Taking a deep breath and without peeling my eyes from the TV, I said,

‘Are you going to get me my plushy toy?’.

‘I will get you the toy, okkaayyy. So???’.

I turned, looked, slyly smiled and said,

‘My Christmas gift to everyone is to feign ignorance when it comes to Santa, Elmo, Big Bird, Dora or whatever. Happy?’.

Have A Very Blessed and Merry Christmas Everyone :)

Chinese Opera, Interrupted..........

I had my butt plopped on the couch after a good dinner on the eve of Black Friday relaxing to a Chinese musical play called ‘The Peach Blossom Fan’. Watching this historical drama brought back memories. I have loved Chinese opera as far as I can remember. My parents and I used to walk to a nearby park when I was a kid to have supper. Every now and then, the Chinese opera troupe will be at the park at night performing. I would be sitting on one of the wooden benches watching the entire show. Truthfully, I do not understand half of the story due to language barriers but they fascinated me nonetheless.

There are many varieties of Chinese opera such as the Beijing, Shanghai, Kunqu, Sichuan, Cantonese opera and many others. The one that I can relate to is the Cantonese opera. There are two types of plays in Cantonese Opera i.e. Mo and Mun. Mo plays involve characters who are warriors and generals where there is strong emphasis on good gymnastics and martial arts skills. With Mo, the theme typically involves battles, wars, loyalty and courage. Mun on the other hand involves characters who are scholars or royalties. The theme mostly pertains to romance and ethics.

One of my favourites : Romance of the Phoenix Chamber

Nonetheless, my immersion in my cultural heritage was rudely interrupted when J decided to join the mindless crowd at midnight for the Black Friday sale. While I had a shopping list I was reluctant to go out in the cold of the night and I really wanted to watch Chinese opera. J’s rationale was that these games may be gone by morning. My take on this was that there are plenty of GameStops in Maryland. If we could not find the game in one store we could go to another. J was adamant however and I did not want him to drive out alone. Hence, I followed suit.

I should have known better by following my instints. It was a little too late when I realized that. What welcomed us were long lines and crowds.

Soon after we started queuing up, someone at the front of the line fainted. Normally one would faint due to illness or shock over some bad news. In this instance, someone actually fainted over games and/or a game console. This is so surreal.

It is also in these settings where one would encounter interesting characters. One of the patrons actually dashed out of the store frantically when the store operator announced that the PS3s were all sold out. About an hour later, a group of robust women entered the store and their conversation went more or less like this.

‘Is this the line? Are you guys in line to pay?’ asked one. We nodded in unison.

‘Damn!’ was her reply. Then her companion mumbled that all she wanted was a game. I was caught off guard when she decided to yell from the entrance where they congregated to the opposite end of the store,

‘I just want to know if you guys have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3!’

The store operator hollered, ‘Yes, we do!’.

‘Do you still have many left?!’.

'Yes, we do!'.

‘How much is it?!’.

‘It’s $59.99!’, answered the store operator.

‘Oh, hell no!’, the lady retorted without hesitation. Then she mumbled to her friend, ‘I am getting the hell out of here’.

After they left, everyone in queue snickered and laughed. I was chuckling the whole time. There is no way a new game will be discounted even on Black Friday. What were they thinking? Also, how difficult it is to walk up to the store operator to ask. It almost felt like an auction going on at a fish market. Surreal, just surreal.

It was 1.30 am when J and I were still in line. I decided to call it quits as I was tired and sleepy. I walked back to the car leaving J to continue with the madness. Out of boredom, I decided to take pictures. It was surprisingly a nice quiet night away from the crowd.

Experimenting with the 'Night Scenery' option on my camera

Chilling to Frank Sinatra's...peaceful

At approximately 2.00 am, J came back to the car and this was our loot….hahahahaha…..

Dragon Age Origins & Awakening beckons me but they will just have to wait until I finish ‘The Peach Blossom Fan’.

A Misadventure with Food : Duck Eggs vs Baby Duck Eggs

Coming from Malaysia where everyday multi ethnicity food is of variety and abundance, we often unknowingly take them for granted. I know I did as I never thought about not being able to eat what I liked when I was in Malaysia. When I came to the US, everything changed. There certainly are foods that I could not get hold of and those that I can obtain did not come close to authenticity or quality.

One of my favorite foods is the salted duck egg. Salted duck eggs can be hard boiled eaten with hot congee or steamed with chicken eggs or minced pork. They are also used in glutinous rice dumplings and mooncakes. Hunting them down has been a pain as the ones sold here in the US are already boiled where the texture of the yolk is not firm and the whites a tad too salty. A good salted egg should have a firm dark orange yolk. It should also have the right amount of saltiness to it. While the salted duck egg is a simple dish by itself, there is definitely food science behind making a great salted duck egg.

Since my parents are here with me, we decided to make salted duck eggs as we were not happy with those that we have bought from the Asian grocers. One fine weekend, we went to buy fresh duck eggs. While my parents were buying vegetables, I hunted for fresh duck eggs. After walking from one section of the store to another, I finally found a box of duck eggs. The strange thing was that the box had a placard labeled ‘Baby Duck Eggs’ and some foreign writing that I could NOT make out. Also, next to this box of baby duck eggs were baby chicken eggs.

Baby Duck Eggs (front)

Baby Chicken Eggs (back)

I was rather happy I found duck eggs BUT questioned why they were labeled ‘Baby’. Perhaps they were labeled as such to inform buyers that these were baby aka tiny duck eggs. I was further convinced by this conclusion seeing that the baby chicken eggs were especially tiny unlike the usual chicken eggs that one would normally get from grocery stores like Giant or Shop Rite. To obtain a second opinion, I asked J.

‘Why do you think these eggs are called baby duck eggs?’

‘Erm…..I don’t know. Maybe they are tiny?’ answered J who shrugged and went on looking for pastries to purchase.

Thinking nothing more of this, I informed my parents. My parents selected an entire tray of eggs. With a slight doubt on my mom’s face she asked,

‘Why do these eggs look darker than usual?’

‘Mom, honestly I am not good at this. I have NO clue whatsoever’. Very ‘helpful’ answer indeed.

‘Hai kam ka la’, my dad answered in Cantonese. That translates to ‘It is what it is’.

When we got home, my parents were excited as they boiled a concoction of saturated salted water with Shaoxing wine, Szechuan peppercorns and some star anise. When the liquid cooled they placed the eggs and brine in a container. Approximately 21 days from the time we started brining the eggs, we decided to test one of them for saltiness. Normally when the eggs are not salty enough, they are left in the brine until the desired saltiness is achieved. My mom decided to hard boil the egg for this purpose.

I was sitting in the office working when my mom came to me asking why the hard boiled salted duck egg looked so foreign. That really piqued my curiosity hence, I followed my mom to the kitchen to investigate. I took a look at the cooked egg.

The yolk looked really dark with a texture that looked like flesh. Looking at my mom I told her that we should not eat the egg. Instead we should throw that out. With optimism I told her that perhaps it was just that one egg and that we should check the rest over the weekend.

That same weekend we returned to the Asian grocers to shop. While I stood over the baby duck eggs pondering on what went wrong I was struck with an ‘aha’ moment. What if, just what if these Asians literally translated 'Baby Duck Eggs' to eggs that had baby ducks in them?! I turned towards J and exclaimed,

‘What if there are baby ducks inside the eggs? Maybe that is the reason they labeled these boxes of eggs ‘Baby Duck Eggs’?!’

J’s eyes lit up and said ‘Yea! You could be right’.

When my parents walked toward me, I shared my suspicion with them. They looked at each other in disbelief. Disbelief as they could not believe that humans will actually eat such food. On top of that, an exotic item as such actually sold in a store locally.

When we got home, my dad broke one of the eggs and what we saw justified our suspicion. The smell of the content reeked of iron and the sight ghastly. I was disgusted and excited at the same time so much so I had to capture it with my digital camera.

Warning: Not for the faint hearted. Scroll down quickly if you do not want to be disgusted.

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‘Who would eat this?’, my parents asked.

‘Uugghhh so disgusting!’, J piped in.

Nonetheless, I explained to them that in some parts of Asia this fertilized duck embryo known as balut is considered to be an aphrodisiac, a high-protein and hearty snack. Those who love balut will eat it hard boiled with salt, chili, garlic or vinegar. The broth surrounding the embryo is first sipped from the egg before the shell is peeled to reveal the yolk and young chick where these would be eaten thereafter. My parents and J were clearly appalled with this new found knowledge.

That evening even though hungry I could not stomach my dinner as I remembered the smell and sight of the embryo. Will I be able to forget this vivid encounter with a fertilized duck embryo? Will I be able to eat salted duck eggs again? Given time I believe I can. This feeling shall pass I pacified myself as I reluctantly put another spoonful of dinner in my mouth. Furthermore, I believe this encounter and realization is not as bad as J’s. He was practically sleeping beside the container of baby duck eggs in salty brine for almost a month.

Why was he sleeping beside them? That is another story all together……....


Salted Duck Egg Recipe - http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/09/homemade-salted-eggs.html
Balut - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg)

This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

I do not know the origin or the history of Halloween. However, I do know that it is observed on October 31st of every year. It commonly includes but not limited to carving jack-o’-lanterns, decorating your home with spooky items, attending costume parties, watching horror films and trick-or-treating.

This year I decorated the front house using the same decorations I bought the year before last. I still find them very tasteful although they have been used before.

 

Witches, Cats, Spider and Web,
Jack-O-Lanterns and Flying Bats!

Cat and Bats - A view from inside the house

In addition to decorating, I bag candy treats for kids that come around the house on Halloween every year. It is fun watching them as they dress in cute little costumes. One year, a parent brought his **toddler wearing a bumble bee costume. He was definitely a cutie.

**Disclaimer: That does not mean I plan to have one anytime soon.

While I may not be able to give away candies this year, my parents and J will take my place in giving them out.

Bags of Candies

Hallmark was also selling cute Halloween toys this year. Where I worked, I will normally walk past a Hallmark store from Mondays to Thursdays. I did not want to buy it but succumbed to temptation anyway. I just cannot help it. It is the Hokey Pokey Skeleton. The head bobs up and down according to the song with the lyrics below when one activates the toy.

Parody lyrics:
You put your whole head in
You put your whole head out
You put your whole head in
And you shake it all about
You do the Hocus Pocus
And you shiver up and down
That’s what it’s all about
Now children…don’t try this at home!

Hokey Pokey Skeleton also glows in the dark……

As I was surfing the internet on the weekend, I found this pretty cool game online i.e. Plants vs. Zombies. I beat this game in one day and I must say it was really enjoyable. What better way to spend Halloween Eve than playing an eco friendly theme game where Plants actually save mankind from brain eating Zombies!

Nonetheless, once you beat the first level in Adventure mode, you can still continue playing the Mini, Puzzles and Survival mode games. Additionally, you get to build a Zen garden which I find ‘therapeutic’. One of the many things I like about this game is the credits. Nonetheless, let me end this post by wishing everyone a Happy Halloween!

Plants vs. Zombies - The song keeps repeating in my head

Reminiscing The Good Times: Broga Hill

There is no Chinese New Year (CNY) entry for 2011 since I remained in United States. In fact, this is the second time I missed celebrating CNY with my family in Malaysia. It was fortunate that I was able to celebrate it with my in-laws here in the States. Even so, it felt incomplete as the atmosphere was rather different due to the fact that CNY is not a national holiday for the United States. All I could do was call home and reminisce the good times.

The last time I went home to Malaysia was April 2010. It was not CNY but a fantastic trip nonetheless. J and I had our Chinese wedding banquet. Furthermore, my in-laws visited Malaysia for the first time and to top it all Aunt Maggie whom I have not seen for a long time came back from Japan with her husband, Jin. Though a little different last year, there was one thing that will always remain the same; our appetite for food and adventure. To fulfill our appetite for adventure, Melissa (Mel) suggested that we climb Broga Hill.

Broga Hill may not be new to Malaysians but it was certainly new for me as I have not been back for a while. As I am writing this, many blogs have been written about Broga Hill. Writers alike have told their respective experiences climbing the hill to catch the sunrise or workout whatever that maybe. I for one certainly would not mind being one of the many to convey my very own experience walking up this hill.

This hill that sits on the edge of the Titiwangsa Range is located in Broga, a small town located on the border of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. As Broga is situated approximately 45 kilometres (28 miles) from where we live, we woke up early to leave our homes by 5.15 in the morning. Seeing that there were eight of us, we drove two cars; one car with my parents, Aunt Maggie and Jin while the other with Aunt Anne (Mel’s mom), Mel, J and I.

It was pitched black when we left our homes. Advised by Mel a few days before our climb, we brought torch lights with us. An added perk, we made tuna and egg sandwiches the night before as reward when we make it up the hill.

Getting ready to leave

With the GPS that I had loaded with Malaysia and Singapore map, we made our way to Broga. When we reached our destination at 6.00 am, we thought that we had arrived early and there would probably be only a few other hikers there. We were wrong as there were many others who had parked their car in the palm oil estate and made their way up the hill.

We alighted the car after parking and turned on our torch lights as we could not see where we were going. As it was a palm oil estate, the ground was uneven and a little slippery as the soil was predominantly fine-textured clay and clay loam soils. All of us congregated at the foot of the hill and gradually ‘walked’ up.

A small stall selling amenities

Broga Hill Information

As we did, I realized that the route may not be as easy as what Mel conveyed to all of us days before. According to her, it was a relatively easy trail and we would probably complete the climb in about 45 minutes. Bear in mind that we have two sixty year olds i.e. my parents. Moreover, my aunt was still recovering from illness. Thankfully, Jin was there to assist her and me being their ‘tour guide’. Aunt Anne, J and my parents went ahead leaving behind Mel, Aunt Maggie, Jin and I. Climbing in front of Aunt Maggie and Jin, I guided them up by showing them uneven ground, tree roots growing out of the tropical rain forest and pot holes.

Sunrise

Taking a break - Dad, Me, Mom, Aunt Maggie, Jin and Mel taking the photo

Moving on

Halfway up, we finally caught up with the rest of the gang. Mel was totally out of breath and panting away. Thankfully, this hill was a breeze for my dad, Aunt Anne, J and I. As for my mom and Aunt Maggie, they had to take breaks as they were out of breath. Hence, the entire way up I kept saying to Mel,

‘Just a trail huh? What trail? This is not a trail. Where did you get your information from? Sigh….’.

‘What???!!!! How would I know? My friends told me it was easy’, Mel defending herself.

‘Easy for them but not for YOU or older folks’, I sighed.

For the few of us who did not wear long sleeve shirts, we were not spared by the aggressive mosquitoes. These breed of ‘bloodsuckers’ known as Aedes aegypti can be lethal especially if they were carrying the dengue virus. There is currently no vaccine to cure the infection as such the infection can be fatal if not treated early. Mel seeing us brushed ourselves to keep the mosquitoes at bay piped,

‘Did you know that Broga Hill is known for Aedes mosquitoes?’.

I turned my head, looked at her intensely, paused and said,

‘You knew all this……when???’.

‘Errr……I read about this a day ago?’, Mel replied nonchalantly.

‘And you did not tell us because????????’.

Sensing that I was faulting her, Mel defended herself,

‘What? I did not know that you guys were not aware’.

Classic response. I just shook my head, sighed and just sighed while Mel just kept echoing,

‘What?!! What?!! What?!!’.

Next time, I vow to do additional research although I am NOT the event organiser.

Second break

As the sun rose, I made my way to the top leaving behind Mel, my parents, Aunt Anne, Aunt Maggie and Jin as they coerced me not to wait for them. I finally met J at the second peak and was amazed by the view as well as the fresh air.






After a short interval, I decided to check up on my family hence gave my dad a call on his cell. Surprisingly, the reception on the hill was rather decent and that my family made it to where J and I were. We could not spot them right away as there were so many other hikers blocking our view. As we greeted them, my dad informed me that Mel had a difficult time hiking up so much so she was grateful to be alive when she finally reached the second peak.

Her reaction here reminded me so much of the time when we hiked up Maxwell Hill and that hill was way more difficult than Broga’s

Family photo - Me, Mel, Dad, Aunt Anne, Mom and J (clockwise)

The Three Musketeers

Mel & the view

Me & the view

As the sun glared and the heat began to intensify, the troop decided to head down. The trip down was not easy at all especially for my mom and Aunts. At anytime, we could have slipped and fall since some areas were really steep.

Sun is up

Downhill

When we finally reach the foot of the hill, we pat each others’ back well done. It certainly was not shabby for a trip rather organised (despite some lack of information due to the organiser’s lack of vision) and with a party of different ages that attempted the hill successfully.

At the foot of the hill - Job well done

Here we were at our cars getting ready to go home when Aunt Anne decided that she wanted to go to the rabbit farm across the road. As I was itchy all over due to some mole removal wounds the day before and bites from mosquitoes that early morning, I had to decline. However, I was deemed the party pooper and was made to stay when I was put on a guilt trip by Aunt Anne (evil, just so evil). To minimize the itch I had to use ‘Minyak Cap Kapak’ on the mosquito bites while avoiding the opened wounds.

*I just love the smell of ‘minyak cap kapak’ although J says I smell like old people whenever I use it. Sheesh....He needs to stop stereotyping. In fact, Aunt Anne loves ‘minyak cap kapak’ too.

Itch & Minyak Cap Kapak

Rabbit Farm

Since we were still early and the farm was 30 minutes from opening, we decided to have some breakfast. With the recommendation from my very good friend K, we drove to a small coffee shop a few miles down the road. I cannot say that the food was great. It certainly was not. However, it functioned well to fill us up as we were famished after the exercise.

Food Shop

Taking our places

Mom, Jin & Aunt Maggie (clockwise)

Toast

Noodles

After breakfast, we drove to the rabbit farm only to walk out from it without entering at all. The end just did not justify the means. Not that I mind as I was all for heading home to get a good shower, a good nap and later a fulfilling family dinner.