Juesatta art Archives - Page 38 of 46 - juesatta (CJ Photography)

Mar 23

Baba Pongteh

By CJ Beautiful Melaka, Juesatta art, Photography

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:

Mar 22

Event shooting – blood donation campaign 21st March 2010

By CJ Involvement, Photography

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”

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:

Mar 21

A day at Kampung Jawa and Kampung Hulu with Dylan

By CJ 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:

Mar 17

Over staffed: fable of an ant

By CJ Juesatta art, Photography, Wisdom

Every day, a small ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately.

She produces a lot and she is happy.

The Chief, a lion, was surprised to see that the ant was working without supervision.

He thought if the ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor!

So he recruited a cockroach who had extensive experience as supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports.

The cockroach’s first decision was to set up a clocking in attendance system.

He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports and …
… he recruited a spider, who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.

The lion was delighted with the cockroach’s reports and asked him to produce graphs to describe production rates and to analyse trends, so that he could use them for presentations at Board‘s meetings.

So the cockroach had to buy a new computer and a laser printer and …
… recruited a fly to manage the IT department.

The ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork and meetings which used up most of her time…!

The lion came to the conclusion that it was high time to nominate a person in charge of the department where the ant worked.

The position was given to the cicada, whose first decision was to buy a carpet and an ergonomic chair for his office.

The new person in charge, the cicada, also needed a computer and a personal assistant ,who he brought from his previous department, to help him prepare a Work and Budget Control Strategic Optimisation Plan …

The Department where the ant works is now a sad place, where nobody laughs anymore and everybody has become upset…

It was at that time that the cicada convinced the boss , the lion, of the absolute necessity to start a climatic study of the environment .

Having reviewed the charges for running the ant’s department , the lion found out that the production was much less than before.

So he recruited the owl , a prestigious and renowned consultant to carry out an audit and suggest solutions.

The owl spent three months in the department and came up with an enormous report , in several volumes, that concluded : “ The department is overstaffed …”
Guess who the lion fires first?

The ant , of course, because she “showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude”.

Adapted from Portuguese by PR. Obrigado Mário.
[source: http://www.infosl.com/doyouknow/?p=152]

Mar 15

Are you here for peace? by CJ

By CJ Compassion, Drawing and artwork, Juesatta art, Wisdom

Are you here for peace? - by CJ

Humming by myself a song of no melody
on the journey with the march enwrapped
camouflage under the blanket
painted in red with blood of nobody

Quenching thirst with endless tear
with my crutch starving to hunt the vulture
yet the smells of the burnt dead
masking the appetite I crave for food

Days ago you lived as a man of the house
before you took the gun and hugged goodbye
for the nation you had to fight
deep in me I know you stood for us

The silent moon bathes the scene
I could hear your whisper, mommy
fear not and sleep tight my child
shall you see me in your dream

My company my dearest pet
your beard reminds me of uncle across the street
smiled always and made delicious toasts
not anymore after the fierce assault hit

Saviour yet foreigner
you are here to take everthing I had
yet you say you come for peace
is it really right to be wrong?

Mar 12

巴厘岛之念

By cind@ My journey, Photography

AK366 - 飞去巴厘岛的天空

巴厘岛是印度尼西亚（简称印尼）13600多个岛屿中最耀眼的一个岛也是印度尼西亚著名的旅游区。居民主要是巴厘人，信奉印度教，以庙宇建筑、雕刻、绘画、音乐、纺织、歌舞和风景闻名于世。为世界旅游胜地之一。土地垦殖率65％以上，出产稻米、玉米、木薯、椰子、咖啡、烟叶、花生、甘蓝、洋葱、水果与棕油等。牛、咖啡与椰干为主要出口产品。

巴厘岛不但天然景色优美迷人，其文化和社会风俗习惯的丰富多彩也驰名于世。巴厘人的古典舞蹈典雅多姿，在世界舞蹈艺术中具有独特的地位，亦是印尼民族舞蹈中一枝鲜艳的奇葩。气候属于热带海岛型气候，气候常年炎热，全年平均温度约28℃，每年的10月到次年3月为雨季，其它时间为旱季。巴厘岛的地区天气状况，除了中部山区气温略低，海边地区气温较高外，其它地区大多是晴朗炎热的好天气。
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