Medical Check-up...

"The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep..." - E. Joseph Cossman

I had to let anxiety take over my life for a few days.

This morning we joined the early morning traffic to brave the massive jam from Selayang to Bangsar. My appointment for the medical check-up was at 08:30 but we reached Pantai Hospital an hour late.

At the Executive Screening Clinic on 7th floor the registration was swift. The receptionist had earlier received the GL from PM Care and booked an appointment with Dr Ng. There were many patients at the x-ray and ultrasound sections and it took me almost 2 hours to complete the chest x-ray, bone-density scan, abdominal and breast ultrasound.

I skipped the stress test as my right foot was hurting so they did ECG instead and collect my blood and urine samples. My weight was a few kg above an ideal weight and my blood pressure reading was quite high. Dr. Ng suggested for me to wear the Blood Pressure Watch for 24 hours to get a more accurate BP and other vital readings.

Looking at the results of some of the tests, Dr. Ng’s initial diagnosis was quite worrying.

Amir 1st birthday...

"May you be given more birthdays to fulfill all of your dreams..."

(Amir Ashran)

Happy Birthday Amir!

Hot Pickled Mangoes...

"Allow yourself to be a beginner. No one starts off being excellent..."

Everyone was talking about the new pickled mango asam boi, even the fb is featuring this.

So when one of the nieces asked her hubby to pluck the young mango fruits from my emak's garden to make into pickle, I asked for half a dozen to bring back to KL. When I reached home I put the mangoes aside until a few days after. The young mango fruits had turned yellow and ripening.

I couldn't find any asam boi, regardless, I had dissolved sugar with vinegar, added chilies from my kitchen garden and turned the ripening fruits into hot pickled mangoes.

Pahang - Lunch in the mist...

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it..." - Lou Holtz

Do you often wonder where the time went?

The last few days were spent doing nothing in particular. Except for a few minutes of staying outside in the hot humid weather watering my kitchen garden or feeding the fishes in the pond, I would spend most of the time in the cool airconditioned indoor. Too much resting on the sofa watching TV and videos had made my fragile backbones soft and brittle.

So today we decided to give the Merc a spin on the wet and misty winding road of Karak highway and drove up Genting Highlands. We stopped at Awana Genting for a late western lunch of sirloin steak and a few cuts of lamb.

On the way back it was raining and the road was slippery, so we drove slowly and cautiously. We passed km26.5, the site where six superbikers met with an accident which killed two riders the other day.

May they rest in peace. Al-fatihah...

My first kitchen garden...

"The benefits of growing things are as much food for the soul as for dinner..."

This is my first attempt in kitchen gardening, and it won't be my last.

Last month when we visited my bother-in-law's vegetables garden it triggered me to plant something simple and easy. I surfed the web and got me an idea to plant spring onions that need little caring and no watering.

Using empty plastic bottles, compost soil and a-foot long wicks, I planted a few onions in the bottles. I added a few drops of liquid fertilizer in the water and left the bottles under direct sunlight. A few days after, I saw my first sprouts of green onion leaves.

And less than two weeks later I was ready to harvest my first spring onions.

(my first harvest of daun bawang)

(Chopped green onions in my cucur udang)

A birthday celebration TTS...

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give..." - Winston Churchill 

(A delicious birthday cheesecake)

The date for our 4-Nation ride is coming too soon and everyone was excited.

This will be the last and final meeting at Bidara House to discuss on logistics for the ride. We are also planning to have a family gathering at Sri Menanti Resort nearer to the date. Ten bikes, inclusive of four couples will be participating and routing was agreed on and finalised.

Tonight we celebrated Rose's birthday. The menu for dinner was simple, kuew teow and mee goreng from the stall.

(A simple birthday celebration)

(The gang in serious discussion)