Mar 23

Baba Pongteh

By Beautiful Melaka, Juesatta art, Photography
Baba Pongteh by Jason

Baba Pongteh by Jason

When we speak of Nyonya dishes we are first to think of Nyonya Pongteh. It is basically chicken (ayam in Malay) or pork (babi in Malay) or both, with potatoes and mushroom braised in soybean paste.

If you google for Pongteh recipe on the web, there are heaps of result coming out. However, I tried a few web recipes and did not get the taste expected. The real Pongteh is always made by the authentic Baba (refers to male) and Nyonya (refers to female) folks.

2 months ago, Jason’s mother invited my mother and me to their place and to learn how to cook Pongteh and also for a lunch together. Jason’s mom was guiding and supervising us. Jason was interested in learning too so he did the cooking most of the time while I was helping him to prepare the ingredients.

What I could remember is, about 300g-500g of pork was cooked in water (to remove the strong taste of pork), cooled and cut into pieces. Another 300g-500g of chicken was cut. Ratio 1:1 of shallots and garlic were peeled and chopped, then fried with oil. A few table spoons of Cow brand soybean paste were added to the wok followed by the pork and chicken. Then the Pongteh was fried until we got a strong flavour and the gravy was thick. After that, a bit of water was added and salt, sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce were added to taste.

I didn’t take down any notes of the Pongteh we learned to cook; rather I enjoyed eating than cooking. And regrettably I didn’t take any shot of the final product of Pongteh because I couldn’t wait to eat when it was served. It was really delicious. Besides Pongteh, there were other Nyonya dishes cooked by Jason’s mother. They tasted not so different from those I had in Nyonya restaurants, yet as yummy.

Thanks to Jason and his mother for inviting us to their place and teaching me how to cook Pongteh. I would call the Pongteh I had at Jason’s place, the Baba Pongteh, as Jason the Baba cooked it. Below are some of the shots I took while I had time:

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Mar 23

[News] ‘Man with the golden arm’ saves 2million babies in half a century of donating rare type of blood

By Compassion
Mr Harrison, dubbed 'the man with the golden arm', is still donating every few weeks at the age of 74. He is thought to have saved 2.2million babies

Mr Harrison, dubbed 'the man with the golden arm', is still donating every few weeks at the age of 74. He is thought to have saved 2.2million babies

An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.

James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia.

He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father’s blood.

Mr Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations.

When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.

He was also nicknamed the ‘man with the golden arm’ or the ‘man in two million’.

His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D.

He said: ‘I’ve never thought about stopping. Never.’ He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood.

‘I was in hospital for three months,’ he said. ‘The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.’

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Mar 22

Event shooting – blood donation campaign 21st March 2010

By Involvement, Photography
Blood donation campaign at Mahkota Parade, 21st March 2010

Blood donation campaign at Mahkota Parade, 21st March 2010

Recently my friend, Wee-Peng was asking me about blood donation. Since the last time he donated years ago, he wanted to make another donation.

I read newspaper about the blood donation campaign which would be held at Mahkota Parade yesterday and I told Wee-Peng about it days ago. He immediately agreed to participate.

"It isn't pain at all"
“It isn’t pain at all”

Both of us went to the blood donation campaign yesterday. The response of the campaign was good. When we reached the venue, there were public from different backgrounds were queueing up for blood donation registration. We were delighted to be part of such a meaningful event.

The atmosphere was so peaceful. It was much more laughter than pain for us. Since local anaesthetic was used, the only pain we experienced was very minor. In fact, it was only 2 seconds when the needle injected to the artery. After that, we just sat and relaxed, waiting for the pint of blood to be filled up.

The minor pain we experienced was nothing compared to the trauma victims due to accidents and burns, heart surgery, organ transplants, women with complications during childbirth, newborns and premature babies, and patients receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer or other diseases, such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia who need our blood for a cure.

Blood donation is an act of kindness and makes us realise that this simple act could save lives. Every pint of blood donated can save up to 3 lives. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Special thanks to the organisers, volunteers and donors who made this wonderful event  going. I would like to thank Wee-Peng for giving me an opportunity to participate in this event together. May everyone be happy.

While Wee-Peng was donating, I snapped some photos to share the event with you:

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Mar 21

慈济世界 – 118。03/2010

By Wisdom

马来西亚慈济月刊 - Vol 118

妈妈都有收集旧报纸、铁罐和纸盒的习惯，然后交给慈济公会。今早和妈妈把东西送去回收站，看到忙碌的成员在忙着，心里很是惭愧。
希望自己会有多些时间，能参加此活动。

向妈妈要了慈济月刊，然后迫不及待的阅读。想让自己感受到更多的爱与希望。

想分享月刊的小小启发：
一只缺角的杯子，诺不去看却的部份，它还是圆的、可用的；但如果只看缺角、还把缺角占满已心，让心地坑坑洞洞，实在苦不堪言。但愿人人以好心画好圆 – 心诺纯净，人事物就圆满；各取所长互补，画出彼此完整健全的人生。

心念能时时知足、感恩、善解和包容，心境就会很美；用智慧景观万物，领悟万物道理，自然能打从内心欢喜。

-共勉之-

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Mar 21

A day at Kampung Jawa and Kampung Hulu with Dylan

By Beautiful Melaka, Juesatta art, Photography

Days ago, Dylan Low (the last photo in this post) and I went for a shooting at Kampung Jawa and Kampung Hulu in Melaka. It was drizzling when we arrived, however we didn’t give up on our plan. Fortunately the weather turned out alright after some time of shooting.

Decades ago, Kampung Jawa and Kampung Hulu were considered few of the hottest spots in Melaka. Long before Mahkota Parade and Jusco were built, most Malaccan would do their shopping for things like shoes, clothing, dried seafood, groceries, or even a cheap haircut there. Besides, delicious multiracial food like rojak, wantan noodle, fishball noodle, cendol, etc. could be found there.

One of the reasons Dylan and I chose to go there was, we would see craftsmen like goldsmith, blacksmith, carpenter, sculptor, cobbler, tailor, etc. These craftsmen at Kampung Jawa and Kampung Hulu were really good and skilful in their profession, and sad to say that they were mostly senior citizens. Younger generation would not treasure these traditional handicrafts nowadays.

These are some of the shots I took:

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Mar 20

[Event] Blood donation campaign at Mahkota Parade, 21st March 2010

By Compassion
Blood donation advertising (Spanish) - by Dziesma

Blood donation advertising (Spanish) - by Dziesma

A blood donation campaign will be held tomorrow (21st March 2010, Sunday) at Mahkota Parade, Melaka from 10am to 2pm.

This event is organised by the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.

Thanks to all area committee members and all volunteers for having organised and conducted this campaign. Public and readers please do come and give your support.

Wishing you all in good health and be happy. 🙂

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