Happy Mid-Autumn Festival~

Fun and excitement that was long forgotten

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all!

I guess most of you know that September is the month of harvest, right? For the Chinese, Koreans, and the Japanese, they celebrate some sort of a harvest festival on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, which is on 22nd of September this year.

From what I know, Chinese’s celebration is more towards of a “moon worshiping” rather than focusing on harvesting. The name Mid-Autumn Festival is actually the direct translation of “中秋节” (pronouce as zhong qiu jie), which means, well… Mid-Autumn Festival! When I was young, we used to eat mooncakes and drink Chinese tea at night during this time of the month, and lit up small little lanterns and hanging them around the front yard of the house while enjoying the beautiful sights of a full moon. So this explains why some people might refer this festival as “Mooncake Festival” or “Lantern Festival” back in Malaysia. Sometimes the older generations might even tell a story of Chang-er and the jade rabbit, a moon deity of the Chinese. It was more fun than tradition that time.

But now I’m in the land of Kimchi, where everything is “slightly” different. They call this festival as Chuseok, or some would tell you as the Korean version of “Thanks giving day”.  Over here they do things differently, mostly by paying their respect to the elders at home or to those who had passed away. So most Koreans will travel back to their hometown and prepare lots of traditional foods, such as songpyeon and hangua(the confectionery with the chestnut behind in the photo on top) as offerings. And also, they would bring gifts to their family and relatives too. So you can see, it’s more of a thanks giving day in a different sense. It’s a 3 day public holiday in S. Korea, so it’s a good thing for me, since it’s not a public holiday in Malaysia, even though we Chinese in Malaysia celebrate it.

Anyways, I had plenty of free time for this week, and it has been raining since yesterday night, I figure that I should spend some time to whip up something like this just for the fun.

Hope you guys enjoy this short writing, and Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you all!

Wishing someone, Happy Birthday~

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday

Working life is really changing my life style. I thought that I would have time to myself, and at least to post something every week in my photo blog. But I guess I was wrong, being all so busy during weekdays. But luckily, I still have some freedom during weekends, and still can do some simple updates in this blog.

Last Thursday, I celebrated my “little sister”‘s birthday. We didn’t have any big parties, but just celebrated among the family.

But in the same month, someone special in my life will also celebrate her birthday. She is my godsister. I would send her a gift on her birthday, but this year, I think I had disappointed her.

I don’t know she visits this blog of mine or not, but I just wanted to say sorry, and just wanting to send her a simple wish, “Happy Birthday”.

This is the most I can do for the time being. I’m sorry, hope she would understand.

Pampered

Yummy

It is always the best to have someone close in our lives, be it your family, soul mate, your best friend, or just some stranger that you met in your life.

Frankly speaking, my university life in Korea, even with good friends beside, can only be described as plain loneliness. Maybe it was just me, but from time to time, I would feel lonely even though I don’t express it out. I couldn’t wait anymore, and wanted to head back to Malaysia for work after finishing my studies.

But, here I am, still in the land of Kimchi, working in a mid-size company as an R&D engineer. Kinda contradicting, isn’t it?

Well, I guess I would call this fate, or just something planned by God. Right now, I live at the outskirt of Seoul, in a town call Bucheon, famous for its industrial park and all. Coincidentally, my foster family also lives in the same area. This is the Korean family that I first met when I had my home-stay program during my language course 5 years ago.

I can be considered as a total stranger to them, but maybe because they don’t have any son in their family, or for any other unknown reasons, they treat me like their own children. I am really lucky to have such a family beside me, even though during my university life I didn’t spend much time with them at all.

Even though I have a busy schedule all the time, I would try my best to spend time with them. I just really like their company especially when I am feeling down and lonely. Sometimes having a simple dinner in their home can feel so special. Simple food like the glass noodle in the picture above can bring me such warmth and happiness.

Sometimes, I really want to tell them how grateful I am to have them beside me now, even though it would be hard for me to express that in Korean. How am I gonna repay all their deeds back next time?

My Birthday

Short, but sweet

Well, every year(almost), I would come back to my home town to celebrate my birthday, which is in the month of August. This year is the same. I had plenty of surprises from last year’s birthday as my godsister bought a cake and a present just for me. Not many people had done that, and I was pretty touched that time.

This year, I celebrated my birthday with my family with a big meal, and a cake. My mum bought me a shirt, and my older brother bought me a rare G1 Optimus Prime figure (*transformer fan*)! What a surprise! The picture above is the cake I’m eating halfway through. Really a pleasant afternoon it was.

Then on that same day, I went to meet up with my godsister again, this time in her home. She had a small surprise installed for me too. She went visiting and traveling to some Redang Island in Malaysia, and also to South Africa for some award ceremony (so cool, wish i could go!), so she bought be some gifts from those 2 places. A little key chain filled with sand and small sea shell she picked up in Redang Island, and also a book mark from South Africa. I love those little gifts so much.

We didn’t do much to celebrate my birthday, just talking all night long, about our lives, past, present and future. She taught me a lot of stuff in life too. And before I leave, she handed me another gift, just for my birthday. The gift was a piggy bank, or in this case, a “cowy bank”.

Cowy, bringing me wealth coin by coin

Well, I guess what she said was true, this might come in handy in the near future, to remind me to save up for myself, as I’m going to start my working career pretty soon. I really cherish this gift, as it’s really meaningful yet simple. She even took her time to make a photo of me with some messages on it. Really that was the surprise, and I was really touched. Because I didn’t do much for her birthday at all, as I was in Seoul that time. I really hope we can continue our lovely friendship and become godsister and brother forever.

This birthday was indeed memorable for me once again. I hope next year will bring more surprises!

Dumplings (Zong zi)

Glutinous rice dumplings, hanging by

Some of you might know what’s in the photo, some of you might not. And some of you might even wonder, why did I post something like this, which isn’t relevant at this time? Let me clear things up a bit.

This is one of the famous Chinese dumplings, called “Zong zi – 粽子”. Maybe some of you might think why the shape of this dumpling is really weird and totally different from any dumplings you might have tried. This is actually dumplings made with glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. These dumplings are usually eaten during “Duan Wu Festival – 端午节”, or easily known as Dragon Boat Festival. This traditional Chinese holiday is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which usually lands in between May and July. There is a great history behind this festival and these dumplings, and I would like write more about it. But sadly, I’m not clear about the details myself, so anyone interested in this festival and much more can visit the wikipedia link right here.

Anyways, it’s pretty unusual to have this during the month of August this year. The reason is because I had just came back from South Korea for holidays, and I kinda crave for this wonderful savory dish. So I actually requested my grandma to make them, and requested my grandma to teach me how to make them. I actually put in some effort to learn to wrap up the dumplings myself! My grandma really is the best as she makes one of the best dumplings in town, period!

Glutinous rice dumplings of this kind actually consist of many types, especially our Chinese culture and heritage in Malaysia has been through some changes and “localizations” as time goes by. As what I know, these kind of dumplings can be made just with glutinous rice, or, even better, with generous fillings such as meat, red bean paste, and so much more! All of these Zong zi are conical or triangular in shape, and it’s wrapped with bamboo leaves and then tied to with some strings, just like it the photo. Too bad I don’t have any shots showing the inner fillings of the dumplings.

Anyhow, great effort is needed to make this delicious cuisine. Ingredients are prepared and cooked prior to the day of wrapping. The learning curve of wrapping and tying these dumplings is pretty steep. Too loose, the rice will leak out from the sides, too tight, the shape won’t be attractive. Well, my grandma said that I made pretty nice dumplings for someone new who never tried wrapping one before! After wrapping and tying all of them, the dumplings are then put into hot boiling water to boil for 2 and a half hours. The waiting was excruciating!

In a nutshell, I couldn’t feel more happier to be able to learn something new, and to savor in such delicious dumplings!

Well, it’s really good to feel home once again, even though for a limited period of time only. At least, I know I didn’t waste my time learning nothing in this holiday.

Writing this makes me hunger for one more dumpling!  Here’s one more shot of the dumplings dangling down! Enjoy!

Cooked, and ready to serve