Biscuit & Soap

Another one from my aunt. I once bought some bars of soap and a packet of biscuits and had packed them into one plastic bag. When I got home and placed it on the table, she immediately removed the soap from the bag. Here's her explanation:
"The soap will get onto the biscuit"
"Er, but the soap is individually wrapped in paper, then shrink wrapped with plastic and the biscuits are also packed in its own plastic wrapper"
"It will still kena the biscuit"

This is the reason why supermarkets here give you separate bags for food and non-food purchases.

I Really Don't Like It

Last Christmas, my Dad gave the most astounding statement. In response to KS not eating rice, he said, "Yeah, actually, I don't like rice either"

"But all my life you are the one always insisting of having rice at least once a day!" (Ron and Grace, you know this for a fact). Whenever we traveled, we had to search for rice for either lunch or dinner - without fail!

"Ah yes, but I really don't like rice"

And They Are Called...

Once, long time ago, while we were having dinner with my aunt's family in JB, my uncle turned to me and said in all earnestness:

"You know those people who travel?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, these people... they are called...(long pause while I politely stopped chewing and gave my utmost attention)... they are called - travelers!"

I remember giving him a blank stare and continued to chew thoughtfully as though I had just been given tremendous insight.

My Aunt & Ice Cream

Some time last year, I walked into the kitchen where my aunt was washing some plates. On the table was a cup of melting ice cream. I immediately pointed out to her that her ice cream is half melted and she replied "It's because I have a cough so I don't want to eat it when it's too cold"

Family Insights

Just had a flash of family gems and thought I'd blog them to remember. So here's some that I remember and tagged under My Family, a more generic tag to include Dinner Conversations That Make KS Cringe.

Outsmarting a Rat

There's been a rat in the PJ house which has outsmarted us for some time. We know where it comes into the house from and despite several attempts to pull away towel racks or anything which may aid its route, it still came and went as it pleased.

Traps were set but somehow, the bait didn't appeal to it. We coaxed it with bread, bak kut teh meat, laced it with curry as it bit through a few curry packets and even stuck a packet of Mamee in the trap. All this in vain.

Then last Friday, KS and I saw the rascal scampering into the kitchen. I attached a packet of biscuits in the trap and set it in the kitchen. But knowing how smart its been with traps, I figured it would probably be another unsuccessful attempt.

So I took out an old magazine, opened it and faced down, slathered some rat glue on the cover and placed it as strategically as possible. Fingers crossed, I went to sleep.

Voila! Next morning, here's the result:





Hopefully this is the only smart rat around.

Thanks, Marie Claire, for ushering in the Rat Year!

Ex Minister of Kedah

My parents just told me this yesterday. This happened when I was completely ignorant of political issues in Malaysia and this fact is quite amazing.

Kedah had a Minister by the name of Sanusi Junid, who tried to implement very creative ideas to the state. Here's a selected list of his attempts:
1. Plant padi on your rooftops
Kedah is known as the Rice Bowl of Malaysia for having the most rice fields in the state. And so, in an apparent bid to make full use of all rooftops, we should all level our roofs and plant padi. I think someone tried. And failed.

2. Coconut Plucking by Monkeys Competition
Farmers should train monkeys to pluck coconuts so that we can have competitions on the best coconut plucking monkey.

3. Plucking White Hair Competition
A competition on how fast a wife can pull white hair from their husbands.

His supporters described him as being a very creative person. I he lasted one term. Alas, I can't find anything on Google to back my parents memory.

Strange Mushroom

The other day Mum bought a can of asparagus mushrooms to cook for dinner. When we had dinner that night, we had a good laugh at the odd shapes of it. One looked like a chicken drumstick while I got this:


Dad described it as politely as he could - a baby body part while I was cruder and exclaimed "It looks like a dick!"

KS buried his concentration on chewing his food at this point.

Have I mentioned before how my family tends to talk about all things related to body excrements especially after dinner much to the discomfort of KS and Matt? I'm going to start recording them on my blog.

The Plant Who Lived

Still in the spirit of Harry Potter, I shall now tell you of an amazing thing. The bulbs I planted had not only grown but also came into flower, and such wonderful ones that my neighbour cast envying looks at it each time she was in her garden.




Ah, aren’t they gorgeous? The only darn thing was that it bloomed while I was in Singapore and died upon my return. So while I wait for the last bulb to burst into blooms this month, my grass continues to wither and choke on weeds back home in Klang.

Happy 2008!

Looking forward to a new year filled with:

• Food with less sugar
• More exercise
• Blood test which will lead to more advice on more exercise and less fattening food
  
• Job uncertainty

Basically, ditto from last year's resolutions. Hmm... not something to really look forward to.

But KS and I have sat down and listed a whole bunch of good stuff too of course. Some of which:

• Holidays! - We're looking at Bangkok and HK as I've never been there
• Organising the Youth Camp this year
• And now that my parents are here in PJ, spending more time with my parents, having more home cooked food...
• To read more books

Happy New Year 2008!