OK… I’m getting ahead of myself.

I was chatting the other day about being a sickly child. I’ll spare you the gory details. Anyway, during this exchange/conversation I explained that for about 5 years of my childhood I was forbidden to eat ice-cream… or drink iced water for that matter. I was undergoing some kind of treatment plan that negated consumption of anything that came out of a refrigerator.

Now, put this into context… especially considering the fact that…
1.) I was a child.
2.) I grew up in an equatorial climate.

I’m sure you’ll agree that just those two factors alone make the prohibition imposed on me pretty significant… and a definite sticking point to one’s memory. (Oh, the horror!) This course of treatment (for… what particular ailment… I can’t recall at the moment) was based on traditional Chinese medicine. OK, that much was always part of my memory recall. No problem there.

Anyway, the following day… in a conversation with another friend I began relating a story about Kellie’s Castle. These are ruins (click the link for more detail) on the outskirts of the hamlet of Batu Gajah. I recalled passing these ruins on family trips and being fascinated. It looked ominous, mysterious and a little spooky as the jungle enveloped it in reclamation… guaranteed to pique the interest of any child.

I began to savor telling the story… that after passing it so many times… my father, after countless requests from little old me finally stopped and we ventured into the ruins. Even though it was in the middle of the afternoon… it was spooky. No doubt tales of Kellie’s ghost still roaming the corridors coupled with the trees twisting their grip on the place fired the imagination even more.

I suddenly stopped mid-story… much to my friend’s chagrin. He pestered me a little to continue. I explained that I couldn’t because I was experiencing a memory gush… and I had to wait for a bit for it to settle.

You see… me not being allowed to consume anything cold and driving past Kellie’s Castle were connected. Sometimes we passed the ruins on our way to Sitiawan where we spent many a family vacation. More often than not we passed the castle because Batu Gajah was the primary destination. The treatment I was undergoing was actually administered by an old French Catholic Priest whose parish was located there. (Chinese medicine + French Catholic Priest = eh?)

For many years he had been stationed in rural China where he learned a branch of traditional Chinese medicine. During the turmoil of the cultural revolution he was secretly whisked out of the country and reassigned to the humble parish in Batu Gajah… where he lived, practiced his craft and tended to his ministry until his death.

I remember him taking my pulse as part of the examination. He would then ask me to spit into a paper cup. He would then disappear into his “laboratory” that housed hundreds of jars of bark, leaves, wood chips, etc. He would then emerge with two little bottles of clear liquid. One had a red twist top cap and the other black. Every morning and evening I was to drink a glass of water with a drop from one of the bottles diluted in it. And I was always reminded on these visits not to consume anything cold.

The thing is… we made the trek to Batu Gajah an average of 4 times a year for about 5 years. The treatment stopped after the old priest died. Not soon after… but about a year after. I guess he knew he was dying and had prepared a year’s supply for each of his patients… including me.

Now why would I not remember all that throughout all these years… at least until a couple of days ago? I’m glad I did though… and am thankful that two seemingly separate conversations were instrumental in unlocking that memory. So, I thought I’d better blog about it in case it slipped back into the corridors of memory oblivion.

BTW… the pics in this post are of Kellie’s Castle culled from various sources.

My friends claim that I have a green thumb… I usually counter by saying that it is my special brand of neglect that makes them grow. Almost as if they thrive out of spite. LOL.

So, why is this such a big deal? Well the flavor and aroma of this plant factors heavily in Southern Indian cuisine… which is what I grew up on. I do cook some of those dishes and this will add that extra special “zing” to the end product… and make all the difference in the world to my tastebuds.

As with the kaffir lime plant… I will keep this in the pot and shift it to various locations in the yard over the next few weeks so that it can decide where it’s permanent home will be. While doing this I will have to be mindful that it is a tree and so I’ll need to give it the needed space to spread it’s branch span.

So, this is my count this week… adding back a flavor from my youth into my present. And if you run across some on your own… here are some recipes you might want to try. I promise the experience will be a taste explosion.

From that you can assume that cooking has not been part of my daily routine of late. (Remember, when I was cooking everyday?!) OK, since I gave up the food business (or more accurately… it gave up on me) my cooking time has been sparse.

The irony is that I LOVE to cook. OK… fine… I like to cook and love stuffing my face with the results of my cooking. This is especially so when as part of my culinary daring-do I whip up some old favorite from Malaysia. (Have I already told you that as a culture Malaysians are food obsessed? Well, they are.)

So, what’s growing in my vege garden? Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, chilli, bell pepper and watermelon. A modest variety admittedly but since I took a 3 year break from growing I thought it would be best to keep it… manageable. Plus, I’ve moved the vege garden to a brand new location that hopefully will extend the harvest season.

In the spice and herb area I have mint (peppermint & chocolate), cilantro, sage, rosemary, Thai basil… and attempting to grow ginger and turmeric. These join the kaffir lime and the lemongrass that were planted a while ago.

Today, while shopping for Thai basil… I saw that there were also ‘kariveppilai” plants for sale. Those are curry leaves… refer to the picture on top. No, I didn’t buy it… yet. But I may tomorrow. This is of major significance to me, yo!

Yes, this excites me… but you probably guessed that already. Heck, it might just get me back in the kitchen (perhaps barefoot… but not pregnant) sooner than expected.

We’ll see.

… as I was reading first person accounts of the Bersih 3.0 rally how essay writing has always been a big part of primary and secondary education in Malaysia. Seriously, check out some of the stories there.

By the time we were in form 3 (8th grade here in the US) a 2000 – 5000 word essay assignment was the norm. And as evidenced by the stories at the link you can see that this skill continues way past schooling. No doubt, some are better than others but the point being that each and every one is of a substantial length.

The rally itself took place on the 28th of April. The big one in Kuala Lumpur was supported by “satellite rallies” in several other cities in Malaysia as well as in at least 70-80 cities worldwide… all standing up for clean and fair elections in Malaysia.

There was a similar demonstration last year that reportedly brought out 50, 000 Malaysians of all stripes. The numbers of the one two Saturdays ago run somewhere between 80, 000 – 300, 000. Whatever the number… it was an impressive turnout.

In my opinion… a good noble cause that unfortunately was marred by some violence. Since then accusations have been flying from all sides.

For my part I was both impressed and moved by those who turned up… in spite of the inevitable probability of being tear gassed and shot at with chemically laced water cannons… which did happen. There were also reports of folk (hours after the rally was dispersed) being beaten up by the authorities… many pulled out of eateries just because they were wearing yellow. I even spotted a cousin in the crowd… meaning that the Nunis clan was represented. (Yes, I did send her a message telling her how proud I was of her for being there.) Plus, by most accounts everyone came out to demonstrate with a positive attitude… and conducted themselves in a quirky Malaysian manner.

This is probably going to be a continuing effort and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. But check out some of the first person accounts (linked at the top) for a clearer sense of what this is all about and what happened. Here are a select few worth the read.

The video is a sample “reel” of a show I recently shot and edited. I thought it came out pretty well… and the kids did a great job in performance.

I am proud of the work that went into it. I applied new “tricks” I learned over the last couple of months and the resulting quality does show. Of course, it doesn’t stop there. There is much more to learn as I acquire (and grapple) new techniques of thios craft.

It’s my count this week because continuing to learn new skills… applying them… and smiling at the results does give one a warm sense of accomplishment.

It’s a good thing I’m enjoying what I’m doing. Each project presents different and unique challenges that require creativity… and that’s always fun.

In other news… my vege garden seems to be doing OK. I moved it from it’s original location to the west flank of the homestead. It looks as though the seedlings have taken root. So, hopefully there will be homegrown produce to harvest soon enough.

So much for now… hope you are all doing well.

BTW… my hair is frizzy because I shampooed it this morning… need some product to tame the mane. Plus the beard certainly needs a trim.

Friday, (one day after I finished editing the last thing I shot) I went out to shoot another show. So, it was a good thing I have the editing bay up and running again, huh? In fact I have shooting and editing gigs all the way up till mid-June. A good busy time will be had by all.

It’s one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging as much. Editing can be pretty obsessive work.

Perhaps I’ll post again tomorrow…