“A mother is she who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take.” - Inspirational Mother’s Day quote
I love you, Mummy.
Happy Mother’s Day
13 Monday May 2013
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Inspirational proverb for ‘Family Sorrow’
13 Saturday Apr 2013
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Books, Chinese, Chinese Proverb, Family, Family Sorrow, Inspiration, Life, Quote, Writing
“Reading ten thousand books is not as useful as traveling ten thousand miles.” – Chinese Proverb
How to make Chinese rice balls
01 Monday Apr 2013
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Hello all. Firstly, I do apologize for my absence. Anyways, I’m back. I’m going to show you how to make rice balls. It’s simple, as long as you have the ingredients right. So let’s get started.
First, you will need the following ingredients, glutinous rice flour, ginger, and pandan leaves. You can get the ginger at any stores or supermarkets. But as for the glutinous rice flour and pandan leaves, you will probably need to get it in Chinatown or in Asian stores (Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese stores).
Pour the glutinous rice flour in a medium or large bowl. The amount of flour you want to pour in the bowl is up to you.
Now, this is the tricky bit. Slowly add a small amount of tap water (or bottled or tap water, it’s up to you) onto the glutinous rice flour, and as you do, mix the flour and water together with your hand. Stop adding water when the flour feels not too dry or not too sticky, but more like soft play dough.
Take a pinch of the ‘dough’ and start rolling it with the palms of your hands until they are the shape of a ball. Depending on the size of the rice balls that you want, you can add more of the dough as you are rolling it.
If you want to add colours to your rice balls, you can do so by adding the colours when you have made the flour into the dough. It’s up to you how much of the colourings you want to add. As for me, I wanted to make my rice balls look like marbles, so I just added two to three small drops of the colourings.
Once you have finished rolling, boil some water in a pot. When the water starts to boil, put all the rice balls in and let it boil for 5 minutes. Do not put the rice balls in the water when it is not boiling, or else they will stick to one another. After 5 minutes, take the rice balls out of the water and put them in a bowl of cold tap water. The purpose of boiling the rice balls is to give them a wash. And then by putting them in a bowl of cold tap water prevents them from sticking together as the texture has become quite sticky. Meanwhile, boil another pot of water. This time, add in the ginger (don’t forget to peel off the skin) and a few pandan leaves and let it boil. After then, put in the rice balls and let it boil for about 15 to 20 minutes. Also, add in some sugar or rock sugars into the boiling water. It’s up to you how much sugar you want to add in.
And then you are ready to eat the rice balls. Enjoy!
Happy Mothers Day 2013
09 Saturday Mar 2013
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It is that special time of year again where we honour and show our appreciation to the one special person in our lives. It’s Mothers Day. Even though my mother is no longer around, I still think of her every single day, and it makes me sad to think that I cannot celebrate Mothers Day with her. However, I am a mother myself, and I am very thankful that I can celebrate the special occasion with my dear son, Nicholas. On Friday, I received a Mothers Day card from Nicholas which he did at school. It was a handmade card with his hand print on it. Just a simple card like that really says a lot.
(Photo above: Mother and I)
I miss you mummy, and I love you.
Happy Mothers Day to all mothers around the world.
Inspirational proverb for ‘Family Sorrow’
01 Friday Mar 2013
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Books, Chinese, Chinese Proverb, Family, Family Sorrow, Inspiration, Life, Quote, Writing
“Each new generation excels the last one.” - Chinese Proverb
Danag
24 Sunday Feb 2013
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Valentine’s Day card
15 Friday Feb 2013
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Hope everybody had a lovely Valentine’s Day 
Updates – ‘Family Sorrow’ for Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013
14 Thursday Feb 2013
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Last month, I entered my book ‘Family Sorrow’ for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Unfortunately, 2000 out of the 10,000 entries got through to the second round, and ‘Family Sorrow’ isn’t amongst the 2000 entries. However, I would like to thank those who have supported me on entering the competition. Much appreciated. I am extremely disappointed, but I also won’t give up. Like the saying goes, sometimes we have to fall many times before getting somewhere at the top. Thank you once again for the huge support.
Gong Hei Fatt Choi 2013
10 Sunday Feb 2013
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Celebration, Chinese, Family, Friends, Gong Hei Fatt Choi - Chinese New Year 2013, Life, Year of the snake 2013
Happy Chinese New Year everybody. In other words, Gong Hei Fatt Choi (in Cantonese) or Gong Xi Fa Cai (in Mandarin). The year 2013 is also the year of the snake. Not only is Chinese New Year celebrated in Asia, but also in Chinatowns around the world, especially in London’s Chinatown. Whether it’s sunny, raining, or snowing, nothing would stop the Chinese New Year from taking place in London Chinatown. There are lion/dragon dance, fire crackers, Chinese stalls, and performances by famous Chinese singers and musicians.
During Chinese New Year, most family members and close friends would give one another ang pows, also known as red pockets, with money inside. The colours and the designs on the ang pows represents good luck, and the red is to wade off evil. The amount of money in the ang pows are usually given in lucky numbers. For instance, no one should give any amount that has the number ’4′, because the number itself is considered bad luck in Chinese.
Yee Sang, also known as raw fish salad, is a traditional dish that many Chinese have during Chinese New Year. The dish consists of strips of raw fish, usually salmon, mixed shredded vegetables, and some sauce. The dish symbolizes good luck and fortune, and it is usually eaten in a large group. Everyone would hold a pair of chopsticks, and then they would mix and toss the ingredients together, and as they do so, they would shout out good wishes. It is believed that those who manages to toss the ingredients higher than others will have more good luck and fortune.
(Photo of Yee Sang)
(Photo of people mixing and tossing the Yee Sang)
Gong Hei Fatt Choi to my readers/bloggers. I wish everybody a happy, joyous, and prosperous New Year.
(Special thanks to Erica Khaw, May Lee, and Wewe for some of the photos).
Artwork by Oudvin Cassell
28 Monday Jan 2013
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I have a friend, Oudvin Cassell, who is a natural when it comes to art. I have known Oudvin for quite a while now, and he is an inspiration to me when it comes to ‘expressionism’ through art, which is why I wanted to post some of his work and share it with everyone. He is also good at animation. He has been very supportive of my writing, and in return, I am here to help him promote his work. When it comes to art, I don’t think there’s anything Oudvin can’t achieve. He currently resides in America. If anyone is interested in working with him, or they just want to contact him, they may leave a message on his website http://chirhil.deviantart.com/gallery/ or contact me directly via this blog.
Copyright @ 2013 Oudvin Cassell
