Something simple…

Early in the days, simplicity...

Living in a country where everything is fast pace, stopping once in a while is a good thing.

Stop, stand and look around… Sometimes everything is so blurry, like a photo taken in a slow shutter speed with blurry silhouette of people walking around in a busy city street.

In a society where everyone is trying to gain the most whenever they can, suddenly I thought, maybe simplicity could be the answer.

What are we really chasing for? Why complicate life with so much trouble, with so much stress?

Just live simple, and be content, isn’t that suffice to sustain a normal life?

This is what I am telling myself now. But looking ahead, this simple plan won’t work. There are more to come, and we should get prepared for the worst when things turn the other way.

Just hope the body can catch up with everything we throw at it.

Simplicity, is the only thing I yearn for the most.

Wedding Matters, Part I

Looking back at the posts that I had made for the past few weeks, everything seems a bit too personal, with only meaningless monologue and thoughts of mine.

Now I shall share with all of you some of the photos I shot during my brother’s wedding which was held 3 months ago. Too bad that I couldn’t get the permission to put up potraits of people that I shot during the wedding. The most I can share, is the stuff that you can generally see in a Malaysian-Chinese wedding.

I hope you enjoy.

"Heart to heart" decorative lamps

New bedsheets for the new couple

Just having a sweet kiss

On the Altar

Offerings to the Heaven, morning prayers

Joss stick offerings

As you can see, those shown in the photos are just some decorative objects used in the room of the groom and the bride, and also the things offered on the altar for the morning prayer on the day of the wedding ceremony.

More photos will come next time. Stay tune.

Morning Prayer

A message accompanied by beautiful sun rise

Do you know why most Chinese light up joss sticks when doing a simple prayer?

One that I know is to communicate with God, as the message you want to tell in you heart will be brought to the heavens through the slowly-burning joss sticks.

This is what my grandma will do every morning, offering three joss sticks and do a simply prayer.

A simple offering which in my generation, many would neglect to do. Maybe we are loosing our roots, or just that we don’t have strong religious thinking in our veins.

How would you communicate with God? Do you always do it?

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