5 Top Reasons Why Everyone Must Learn To Cook

I am really glad that I learned to cook over the years. I am convinced that everyone must learn to cook. Being the second youngest in a family of 6, I was really ‘lucky’ to be very well pampered and taken care of. My mom is a great cook who cooks without any recipe books - still amazes me. She was very popular in our neighbourhood. Our neighbours often asked her to help cook for festivals.

Mary's cooking : Best Turkey Rice Porridge

From Zero Cook

Besides my mom, my eldest sister loves cooking and I love eating, so are the rest of my family. Little did I know that later in life, I would wake up in utter shock. That happened right after my honeymoon! I was married to a man who loves to eat, in fact, lives to eat. My nightmare began! The word ‘STRESS’ has never been so real. Boiled eggs came out too hard, vegetables overcooked and too salty or tasteless, fried fish turned out like fish crackers and loads of other culinary disasters. Worse, Steven must have soup every meal. I still fail to understand why he needs to run down his food with soup. It’s so bad for digestion. However, I have successfully trained him to be happy with just a glass of plain water and soup will only be on special occasion. It works quite well so far.

Mary's Cooking : Pan-fried Meat Dumplings

To Hero Cook

All the shock and stress stirred up a desire in me to learn to cook. On top of that I learned very quickly in life that ‘The way to a man’s heart is through the stomach’. Hmmm….that sure sounded easy and achievable. There in the midst of my misery, my cooking journey began. I bought loads of recipe books to learn and also for inspiration - could be at least 300 copies by now! Today, I am proud to say that all my time and effort paid off very well. I am a happy wife, a happy mom and a happy self-taught chef. That explains my:

5 Top Reasons Why Everyone Must Learn to Cook.

1. Cooking a healthy meal for your family is your greatest way of showing love.
   There is nothing better than a nice, clean and healthy meal for your family. Ready meals should be out of your dinner table. When you cook yourself, you can always choose high quality ingredients (fresh and organic) and avoid all the additives or preservatives. Nothing is better than a healthy family. The kitchen is the source of your family’s health. If you love your family enough, then start cooking healthy meals. You can cook restaurant food right from your kitchen. Just keep learning and don’t give up. A lot of people these days just don’t cook. Their reason is always, ‘NO TIME’. I would say most of the time is LAZINESS and not because of no time. If health is important enough you will make time. You just need some organization and time management. If you like, you can check out my  recipes section for easy, simple and fast cooking.
2. Cooking is a great hobby. It is fun and can be relaxing to the mind.
   There are lots of types of food you can cook. The list is endless. You can give a twist to existing recipes or even create your own. The sky is the limit. I am always amazed at how my friends enjoyed all my food which often came out different from what I expected even though I followed the recipes in great detail. I realize that people don’t know even if you make mistakes, one of the few things in life that mistakes is fully acceptable and even works on the contrary. Many of my culinary mistakes actually ended up becoming my own signature dishes. I find tremendous joy and relaxation in cooking and true satisfaction when my food goes down well. On top of that, food and cooking are always great topics for conversation in building friendships.
3. Cooking saves money.
   We all know that it’s very expensive to eat out. A plate of fried noodles in an Asian restaurant can cause you £8-£9, depending on where you eat. I can feed at least 10 people for that amount if I cook myself and it probably comes out nicer, without MSG some more. I remember being invited to a Chinese restaurant for a dinner one day. There were about 10 of us. The food were rather simple, the normal food that we would cook at home. The amount served was not a lot. The bill was a shocking £300+! That can buy at least 2 week’s food for a family of 4.
4. Cooking adds sparks in your marriage/friendship
   Like I mentioned, ‘The way to a man’s heart is through the stomach’. I think it’s not only the man’s heart, but everyone’s heart. I find that food has its magnetic power of drawing people to you, whether your spouse, children or friends. Nothing is better than home-cooked food.  All the amount of time and effort you put in to create that wonderful meal for someone always touches his/her heart. It’s also a good time to train your children to cook as they observe and help along.
5. Cooking has great potential to make money from home.
   While many shops close down especially during this economic downturn, food business generally still survive well. The main reason is people need to eat and there are still a lot of rich people around and there are still a lot of people who don’t know how to cook or just too lazy to cook. I met a man many years ago . He had a food business from home and he was earning thousands of dollars every month. Today, he has 2 shops and a big house. He achieved all of this within a matter of about 7 years. I met another man a few years ago. He is an established engineer working in a big oil company. He told me that his brother, who had little education, has a small restaurant. He added that his brother earned a lot of money and drives big cars while he is an engineer, earning quite a lot of money but drive small car. He said food business always makes a lot of profit. The best thing is that the customers pay you immediately while in many other businesses, they often run into difficulties because of too many credits by clients. 3 times I tried it out, one time from home and 2 times from shop and all 3 times I made good profits.

I hope that my 5 important reasons above will motivate and inspire you to get started cooking if you haven’t, to continue to learn more cooking if you have. Just keep learning, keep cooking and keep smiling.

Thought of the day…..

We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.

Owen Meredith

5 Ways To Plug The Emotional Leaks In Your Life

The word LEAK can refer to many things. We often hear of bottle leaks, news leaks, cash leaks, energy leaks, profit leaks, data leaks, tire leaks and even gut leaks. I would say that all these leaks can be dealt with quite easily. But there’s one leak that is the toughest to deal with and that is Emotional Leaks.

Life is like a boat or a vessel. There will be times when it leaks. Emotional leaks happen in everyday life. It’s either you emotionally leak on someone or you are emotionally leaked on by others. Emotional leaks just mean expressing your unpleasant, negative feelings in a bad way that is much felt by people around you. A classic example is when something bad happened to you and you just go round throwing your frustrations, diappointment or anger around. Or, you are angry with somebody and taking it out on another person. You know it is unfair and you shouldn’t but you still do it.

Like the boat, take time off to find and repair the leak.

Remember life is like a boat or vessel. If you allow yourself to continue to leak, no one can get into the boat with you. Who wants to get into a leaking boat? You can’t sail in deeper and more challenging waters if your life vessel leaks. You can’t stand the waves, the tides and the storms of life. One day you are just going to sink altogether. Marriage sinks, business sinks, relationships sinks, integrity sinks and even your kids sink. Your emotional leaks have the potential to cause extensive damage.

My dad in trying to teach me about friendship and relationship when I was young, threw a plate onto the floor and broke it into many pieces. He explained that friendship is very important and that I must always treasure a good friendship. But if at anytime you do wrong, you cause cracks or breaks in the relationship. You can ask for forgiveness and do everything that you can to repair the cracks or breaks but it will never be the same again because people will always remember the incident. That’s such a wonderful lesson he taught me.

You must always look out for emotional leaks in your life and plug it before it gets out of hand.

5 easy ways you can do it.

1. Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you.
   Recall the times when others leak on you emotionally. How did you feel? That will help you not to do it to others. Remember that emotional leakage causes cracks in relationships, though repaired will never be the same again. People may forgive you but they will always remember the incident.
2. Exercise self-control.
   Exercise self-control takes time and discipline to learn. You can’t exercise self-control on the spot if you have never learned to exercise self-control.
3. Take a deep breath.
   Taking a deep breath helps you to relax and sober up your mind. It has to be a deep breath from the depth of your tummy.
4. Talk out your problems with someone.
   Seek support and help to talk out your problems. Usually just talking with someone will lighten your burden. Don’t think that you can carry every burden yourself unless you are bionic.
5. Respond, don’t react.
   When you respond to a situation, you don’t blow your head off. There’s usually an underlying problem that causes a problem. Respond to that problem first before it adds onto another problem. If you react to it, you just increase its dynamite effect instead of diffusing it.

Do add and share your experiences whether you emotionally leak to others or emotionally leaked on by others.

Thought of the day……

“What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not do.”

Aristotle

Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (Chinese Food)

I had such a wonderful experience visiting the Richmond local market (Part 1) and then strolling along the Thames River (Part 2). The heat and hunger drove us to leave the place. We didn’t have a lot of time too. So there the food-hunting adventure begun. We needed food! I really hoped to find Chinese food. As we walk around Richmond town, we were really happy to find one, The Miso shop. They have quite a few chains in London.

Then shop was big and clean. We ordered fried rice noodles. It looks impressive. The presentation was good. Chili oil comes on request. It was free unlike the other Chinese shop where we have to pay 80p for half a small bowl which is too much for a plate of the noodles. We also ordered the pan-fried Chinese dumplings. Well presented too. Both the fried rice noodles and the Chinese dumplings tasted very good except that the dumpling skin was slightly sticky. I presume they added n some glutinous rice flour to the dough. Well, chili oil is important for many Chinese dishes, especially for the noodles. It gives you the punch.

Fried Rice noodles at The Miso shop

Chinese Dumplings at The Miso, Richmond

You can take have a look at the fried rice noodles at another Chinese shop here which didn’t look and taste as good., only slightly cheaper. I think I still prefer my own homemade Chinese dumplings which you can learn how to cook it yourself here.

If you like to eat Chinese or Malaysian food in London or other parts of UK, you really have to scout around. Certain shops or restaurant are only good in certain dishes. So, it really depends on what you want to eat. As for me, I just love the one dish meal

Do share your experiences eating Chinese food or Malaysian food in UK or other countries. The best is to learn to cook. I have some recipes for you here on my blog. More will be coming. So, do come back often. Just keep learning and keep smiling. You can only become better in what you keep doing and enjoying.

Thought of the day……

‘Be selective about your external influences. your multi-dimensional brain is influenced by everything you see, hear, read, smell, touch, feel or say.’

Brian Tracy

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Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (local market)
Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (Thames River)

Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (Thames River)

After a lovely visit to the Richmond local market (read Part 1), we headed to the Thames River nearby. I heard many wonderful stories about walking alongside the beautiful Thames River. I remembered a friend told me that he often spends a few hours strolling along the Thames River if he has time. It’s a place where he gets a lot of inspiration.

We had to go down a couple of flights of stairs. Suddenly something interesting caught my eyes. A small crowd gathered at the edge of the river, peering down into the river below. Out of curiosity I joined in to take a look. And WOW! there was a pair of black birds with 2 little birdies. That was such an awesome sight! The birds must be enjoying all the attention from the crowd above.

A family of black birds, The Thames River, London

Then next to us where we were standing and admiring the beautiful family of black birds was a boat under construction. That was the frist time I saw boat-building. What an awesome experience! Then opposite the boat was another boat which was apparently under repair. Both boats spoke to me about life which I will share in my next post.

A boat under repair, Richmond, London

Well, the weather was so boiling hot that you just feel lethargic and lazy to walk. We were lucky to find an empty bench to sit down and relax. It gives me a happy feeling to see everyone enjoying the sun. But I think it was just too hot. I could feel the heat piercing through my thick jeans. I hope people remembered their sun screen.

Strolling along the beautiful Thames River, Richmond

A beautiful scene beside Thames River, Richmond.

We were not able to stay any longer. The heat was intense and suddenly I felt so hungry. So, another food-hunting adventure began. I will share in my next post…..very good Chinese food!

Do share your experience about Richmond and the Thames River in London if you have been there. You can subscribe to my RSS (orange button on the top right) or through email for free if you like this article so that you don’t miss out on future articles.

Thought of the day……

“I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day lose!”

Woodrow T. Wilson

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Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (local market)
Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (Chinese Food)

Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (Local Market)

On a recent visit to London, I went for a very short visit to Richmond, London. On arriving there by bus, I was greatly fascinated by its beauty and history. I learned that Richmond is a favourite of the rich and the famous. The Thames River runs through the town.

It was a Saturday and the town centre was buzzing with activities as shoppers throng the streets on a sunny, hot summer day. I was really delighted that it was a local market day. I always love to go to local market day as you get to see a lot of various fresh local produce and food that you don’t get at the supermarket. As a Malaysian, I am always eager to know what other cultures do and eat. A lot of the British foods are actually very delicious. I love all the different types of roasts and its accompaniments.

These are a few scenes at the local market.

A hot, sunny day at Richmond local market, London

Bright, colourful vegetables and fruits stall.

Carving roasted pig for burger

A bakery stall with a wide variety of baked food.

The farmer actually roasted the whole pig there, a scene that you hardly get to see these days. In Malaysia, that happened decades ago during big festive seasons like during the Chinese New Year.

Well, the hot weather just killed my appetite. All I want at that moment was ice-cream….cold and refreshing! It was just such a lovely visit to the Richmond local market. With ice-cream in my hand, it’s time to move on. Next was to walk along the Thames River which I’ll share in my next post.

What places in London have you visited? Do share and comment. London is such a famous city, known all over the world and it’s great to be able to visit it and just see it with your own eyes.

Thought for the day……

“The shorter way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time.”

Mozart

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Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (Thames River)
Richmond, London - An Attractive Town (Chinese Food)

Delicious Malaysian Fried Noodles (Part 2)

This favourite Malaysian Fried Noodles of mine goes well with the Malaysian Fried Curried Chicken (Part 1) in my previous post. Just like any other Malaysian cuisines, there are endless ways to fry noodles. In Malaysia, fried noodles is called,‘Mee Goreng’.

This is a very simple recipe. The most important is the quality of the noodles. It shouldn’t taste soft. It should have an elastic feel to it. If you have time, make yourself. Nothing beats homemade noodles.

Recipe for Fried Noodles
600g noodles
3 T dried onions
Oil
Vegetables (I use 2 packets of ready-washed salad)
3 eggs
2 T oyster sauce
2 T sweet chili sauce
2 T light soya sauce

First of all, make omelet. Stir it before it sets to break it up into small pieces. Remove.

Put a few tablespoons oil into the hot pan, add in the dried onions. Be careful, it turns brown very fast. Once it’s golden, add in the noodles and fry well. The fire must be very hot. Add in the 3 sauces, stir well. Then add in the vegetables and omelet. Mix well and dish up.

Important ingredients for Fried Noodles

Stir-fry the eggs for the noodles

Add sauce and vegetables to the noodles and fry.

Delicious Noodles-Chicken Dish

The amount of fried noodles is enough for 4 average eaters. I always add in a lot of vegetables to get everyone to eat more vegetables to make it a healthier version. I seldom serve deep-fry foods to my family but they do get a treat every now and then.

Do you cook or eat out more? Do you like Asian or Malaysian food? Cooking is fun. Besides, you can save a lot of money if you cook yourself. I hope you will start cooking if you haven’t and to keep cooking if you have already been cooking. Do share with me how your cooking gets on.

Pease share, add and comment in the comment box below.

Quote of the day……

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all.”

Dale Carnegie

Keep Learning Keep Smiling

Delicious Malaysian Fried Chicken (Part 1)

Malaysians love curries whether dried or wet curries. There are countless types of curries in Malaysia. Every race has their own unique curries. My family loves both the dry and wet types.

My daughter misses fried noodles so much that she bought 2 packets of noodles home yesterday. I thought it goes great with fried curried chicken. We are going to enjoy our food while watching Wimbledon tennis again. This is a common Malaysian recipe.

Recipe for Fried Chicken
4 whole chicken drumsticks (cut at the joints to make 8 pieces)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp corn flour
2 tsp Malaysian curry powder
Sprinkle and rub salt into the chicken. Then sprinkle corn flour and curry powder and mix well. Leave to rest 1 hour or more.

Beaten egg for coating
2 eggs
2 T light soya sauce
Beat it.

Flour for coating
1/2 C plain flour
1/2 C rice flour
1/2 C cornstarch
2 T Malaysian curry powder (available in Oriental shop)

Mix them together well.

Put some oil in frying pan to heat up. Dip chicken pieces into the flour, then into the egg, then into the flour again before putting them into the hot oil to fry. It’s important to dip in flour 2 times if you want it to be very crispy on the outside.

Chicken being marinated

Beaten egg with soya sauce for dipping chicken

Chicken coasted with flour

Deep fry chicken in hot oil

Juicy, crispy, fried chicken. It's finger-licking good.

This is a rather easy fried curried chicken which tastes fantastic. It helps to have a big frying pan to cut down cooking time. Coat all the chicken pieces and fry them all together. Chicken thigh is still my favourite chicken cut because it is very tender and juicy when deep-fried.

Do try out this special Malaysian recipe. My children said it’s very delicious. Let me know if you try it out. It’s really simple and easy. You can eat it with fried rice, pasta, fried noodles and mashed potatoes or even just with salad. I cooked fried noodles to go with it….it’s really good! I’ll show you how I fried the noodles in my next post.

In the mean time, keep learning, keep cooking and keep smiling. Enjoy everything that you invest in yourself and your loved ones. Be back for the next post, Delicious Malaysian Fried Noodles (Part 2).

Please share, add and comment in the comment box below.

Thought of the day……

“One’s best success comes after his greatest disappointments.”

Henry Ward Beecher

Keep Learning Keep Smiling

Teaching Toddlers in Scotland

I went to a local, community library in Aberdeen some time ago and was fully amazed to see a lovely, friendly bear mascot and a group of mothers with their toddlers there. There is a big area assigned to children for reading or doing other activities with their parents. I find it very inspirational.

The librarian assigned to that activity worked with the mascot beautifully to welcome the mothers and their little ones, teaching them songs and other activities. To me that’s such an awesome start to learning in a fun way. It’s also a very good way to get mothers out of the house to socialize with other mothers. In that way, they also learn from each other and get support and encouragement from each other.

The bear mascot with the librarian

Waiting to welcome mothers and their toddlers

Welcoming and cheering up a toddler

It was very entertaining to watch and I couldn’t help smiling along. It is actually so tempting to run up and give the big bear mascot a big hug but on second thought, I didn’t. What if he is a big man on the inside? That would be my most embarrassing moment!

How is toddler education in your area? Do share and comment.

Thought of the day……

‘The best way to raise positive children in a negative world is to have positive parents who love them unconditionally and serve as excellent role models.’

Zig Ziglar