My Harbouring Grievances

这过程中的每一秒
都像是千年的等待

I will not blog in multiply too often anymore. For more inspiring writing of mine, please visit http://g-sterling.blogspot.com/ instead.

Thanks for dropping by. I will see you in another place. :)

Just chatted with a close friend online, and I started the conversation with what she dislikes on me the most. This obvervant lady dislikes me for being BOSSY the most. Yea, I couldn't agree more. I admit that I have such strong character that sometimes will get people irritated, especially those who are too close to me, they know how cranky I can be and how irritable I become when others don't follow my way. Let me blame this on my birth month, I believe 90% of scorpios are just like me. :p Okay, at least I have some good characters to neutral it back can? Example? I am bossy but at least I am cute and adorable can? Muahahaha no one tells you scorpios are extremly self-respecting?

Okay, this is supposed to be a boring entry, so bear with it. By the way, please kindly place your vote on what you dislike on me the most?

Preparing fresh pasta is definitely one of the pleasurable tasks to be done in the kitchen. To my mind the feeling of kneading the dough and the true sense of making a dish of pasta from scratch is somewhat satisfying. Furthermore, you are free to play with the flavouring and colouring of the dough by adding your favourite spices, vegetable purees (e.g. tomato, beetroot, and spinach), herbs (sage, oregano, basil, parsley) and etc.

Making fresh pasta entails 4 distinct steps:

1. The first step is the formation of pasta dough from several basic ingredients, which are usually “00” flour or strong flour (specially milled for pasta which contains high proportion of gluten), eggs and a little salt. Other colourings and flavourings may be added. There are 2 methods to assemble the ingredients at this stage – by hand or in a food processor. The latter is quicker and less hassle, but the former ultimately results in a more tender pasta.
2. The second step is to knead the dough in order to develop its “body” as to be stretched thin later on.
3. The third step is to stretch the dough into thin sheet. There are again 2 methods you can use to stretch the dough – using a rolling pin or a good-quality pasta machine. The hand-stretched pasta is often known to be lighter, and more capable to absorb more sauce but requires a lot of skills and patience, while machine-stretched pasta results in a slicker and smoother strand.
4. The final step is to cut the sfoglia (which is what Italians call the thinly stretched sheet of dough) into desired shapes.

Sage Pasta

Ingredients for Sage Pasta Dough:

250g “00” Italian pasta flour

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp sage, finely chopped

1. Chopped the sage leaves into fine pieces, preferably using a mezzaluna, or simply a sharp knife.
2. Pour the flour onto the work surface and form a well in the middle, large enough to hold the eggs and yolk. Crack the eggs and 1 separated yolk into the well and beat lightly with the fork. Mix the chopped sage with the eggs.
3. Begin drawing in small amounts of flour from the inside bottom of the well and mixing to incorporate the flour into the eggs. Gently stir the eggs all the while, and continue pulling in small amounts of flour.
4. When the mixture is thick enough not to run, push all the remaining flour into the centre and gently mix to form a dough.
5. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough holds together well. If it’s too sticky, sprinkle with a little bit of sifted flour, but don’t let it get too dry.
6. Continue to knead for another 3-4 minutes, or until the dough feels very smooth and elastic.
7. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, before stretching it. This will give it time to soften enough to be stretched.
8. When dough has been chilled, shape pasta into desired shape, either using a pasta machine or simply a sharp knife.

To cook the pasta:

1. Bring an abundant amount of salted water to a rapid boil and plunge pasta carefully into the water. Stir immediately to prevent pasta from clumping together.
2. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until it is tender. (Fresh pasta is cooked slightly beyond al dente, carefully not to overcook it, as it cooks almost immediately.)
3. Drain pasta through a strainer. Do NOT run cold water over it, as it will losses all its starch and seasoning.
4. Tossing it in the pan with the readied sauce, coat the pasta evenly to help it soak up the flavours.

Note: While pasta is cooking, be sure to have everything to hand, ready to go, so that the pasta can be quickly drained and sauced, then served immediately.

Japanese Cucumber and Shitake

Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients for sauce:

1 Japanese Cucumber, diced

10 medium fresh shitake mushroom, diced

30g butter

6 fresh sage leaves

150ml chicken stock

50ml red wine

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

grated Parmesan Cheese, to garnish

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the Japanese cucumber and shitake mushroom in the butter until the mushroom is tender and cucumber turn golden in colour. Add in the sage leaves.
2. Add the chicken stock and red wine and bring to the boil. When the sauce is reduced slightly, pour in the cooked pasta and toss till the pasta is evenly coated with the sauce. Season with ground black pepper and salt.
3. Sprinkle with same grated Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Cooking is somehow fun, minus the washings and cleanings. And tonight before I sleep, I wanna tell Santa that I want a pasta machine for Christmas.

People comes, and people goes. Sometimes it's hard to retain the feeling that you ever had on someone, to keep hold of  the bond that you ever wish to have like forever. I just had a sleepless night yesterday, when I thought of my grandmother, my parents, my past, my future... How I wish there is someone around me that I can share my feelings with, to stroke my hair and cuddle me into sleep. I felt the emptiness inside out, and I truly miss my parents who are 400km away, I miss being their baby again. I cried and cried, then I swallowed a flu pill to help me into sleep. I woke up the second day, the sun still stood up as bright and I know I have to be strong.

I wiped my tears. I don't want to stay here no more.

Hey guys, just need you to spend like 1 min on this. Just click on the link, and chose 5-6 characters that you think suit me the best. I will post up the conclusion when the number of respondent is saturated. Thanks a million! *Hugs*

http://kevan.org/johari?name=echolow

During the worst stage of my past relationship, just happened that I get to know a bunch of really cool friends that helped me so much in overcoming my intensed sorrow and heartbreak, till the relationship finally ended. Knowing them for just finger-countable days, I feel that I had known them for like forever. The cordial feeling that they gave me made me think that they are those kinda friends that I always wanted. Being with them, I am well accepted as myself, and all hang-outs turned out to be so pleasant and worth remembering that I thought we are gonna be best buddies for this life. Then I met Beng, I found a job in Penang, and everyone started their next chapter in getting their own halves, jobs and lifes. Conversation always centre on your work and my work during occasional meet ups, no more sincere concern about how well you are doing, where to have fun together, and even planning for the next meet up. Everyone became less concerned on each other, the warm and affectionate feeling that I had before, is dying. Then, I shifted out to a new apartment, that we are even further apart. Since after, I learn about gatherings that I wasn't being invited, and how their lives go on without my existence. It's killing me when I need to accept the truth that things had changed, and we are really living our own lifes. I struggled a lot in secret when I feel so helpless with the inevitable transition.

Perhaps there are some misunderstandings (to be blamed) that worsen the whole thing, but I do still miss them. I will never forget how they escorted me to go through the darkest days in my life and how they wrote me the best chapter of my life. Love fades, but memories remain. 

God bless them.

Feeling very down and moody since yesterday. It's out of my surprise that mum can actually sensed what is going on. I already tried hard to be cheerful at home and pretended nothing goes wrong, but yet she feels it.

I feel like I am such a loser.

 Beng and I were strolling at the fresh food section in the supermarket, when he started to yearn for tempura after he saw the piling packets of fresh abalone mushroom. Come to think of it, I couldn't even recall when was the last time I cook him tempuras. I actually find the after-deep-fried-clean-up kinda unfavourable, but when Beng began to feet-pounding the floor which attracted so many amused eyes... "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, you take it and I am not gonna pay for it!" 

One thing that I dislike most with deep-fried is the sprinkling hot oil (which burns), and moreover I just got my stovetop cleaned! I am sure most of the population in earth find frying very demoralising too, so hereby I introduce an easy solution that surely can make things better. Yea, it's magic time!

The only ingredient that we need is a pinch of SALT, as simple as that. Sea salt, table salt, Kosher salt or whatever edible salt are fine. Just add a tinge of salt (not too much, if not the outcome will become too salty) into the oil and wait till it boils, add in your batter coated food and voila! You will be surprised when you see the serenity of the bubbling-but-not-sprinkling oil. Now, you don't have to worry about frying when you are ran out of antiseptic cream (to cure burns). Though, cleaning up the mess still gave me a big sigh.

Life isn't that hard eh?

Did you ever find cleaning your stovetop is the worst chore you can do? Especially when you don't have the habit of cleaning it after each use, those accumulated stubborn greasy stains, grimes, mucks and assorted dirts are even harder to get rid of. There are plenty of cleaning products in the market that help to do this heavy cleaning, but why do you need to spend so much if you have some flour in hand? Yes, it's the flour that can do the magic and works as good as any cleaner you can get. You might ask what kinda flour I can use? Well, all sorts of flour, all-purpose flour, wheat flour, self-raising flour, cake flour, bread flour etc. are fine. This common ingredient will certainly solve your problem a little more quickly.

Now, what you have to do is to sprinkle some flour on your yucky stovetop, and start scrubbing it with a piece of dried sponge. You'll be surprised how easy it is to eliminate the built-up grease (less scrubbing) if compare with the traditional soupy way in using detergent. Moreover, the flour is safe for virtually all materials (of stovetop), including your hands! In just a few minutes, my stovetop became brand new again, all the yucks were removed without much hassle, left with a shiny non-greasy surface.

Life isn't that hard eh?

sparkling stovetop after cleaning with flour

 

 

Listening to her sweet tooth
Believing all her lies
I listen to those empty promises
One more time

She never thinks about the future
She lives from day to day
Sometimes I have to wonder
What kind of game she plays

I will forgive but I won't forget
And I hope you know you've lost my respect
You better watch out
If you don't know what's going on around you
You better think twice
Before you fly off the handle and lose it
You better rise against the demons
That are gonna try and hold you down

I will forgive but I won't forget
And I hope you know you've lost my respect

I shedded tears when I heard Mariah on the radio.

When you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you

It's a long road
When you face the world alone
No one reaches out a hand
For you to hold

It's a sunny Sunday. But I feel gloomy.

I was reading someone's blog, till I discovered an extremely meaningful article. The article is written in Chinese, which I didn't mind to spend some effort in translating it. Lately I had been encountering some incident which made me sighed the ugliness of human's nature. 

有些人很会打扮，但内心空无一物，你不会觉得他美丽。
Some people are proficient in dressing up, yet they have an empty spirit, you wouldn't think that they are beautiful.

有些人长着一张精致的脸，却长着一颗自私的心，你不会觉得他美丽。
Some people have a pleasing appearance, yet they own a selfish heart, you wouldn't think that they are beautiful.

有些人外表很朴素，但知道如何关心别人，你觉得他诚恳的眼睛很迷人。
Some people have a modest outlook, yet they know how to selflessly take care of others, you would think that their pair of earnest eyes are fascinating.

有些人其实并不好看，却很爱护小孩与小动物，你觉得他善良的心地很动人。
Some people in actual fact don't look appealing, yet they love and treasure kids and animals, you would think that their compassionateness are stirring.

美丽，是发自内心的光华，不会随着岁月的流失而流失，只会随着智慧的增长而增长。
Beautiness, shines from the innermost being, it doesn't subside with the subsiding age, instead it will build up with the building up intelligence.

美丽很简单，就是让自己舒服，也让别人舒服。
Being beautiful is simple, make yourself comfortable, and others will feel the same.

Lastly, do not fake yourself, make yourself comfortable, and beauty will be lying in your eyes.

Sometimes I feel like I can live on my own.
Sometimes I feel like giving so much is so silly.
Sometimes I feel like I am not wanted.
Sometimes I feel like I am your mother.
Sometimes what I need is just a hug,
   and a whisper of Thank You in my ear.