Turquoise and Roses

On my Twitter, I always complain about my neighbours. The ones on the left generally are a very party party bunch of people who love to have fun, karaoke, and make a lot of noise. Most of the times they’re okay, and they sing very nice songs, especially taking into account that some of them are actually “special”.

On my right, is the total opposite. Sometimes I see my neighbour sitting on his balcony, with his cane, in the afternoons. He’s a wonderful man, who was at one point totally paralysed from the stomach down. But he was strong and with prayer and effort, he managed to walk again, albeit very slowly. His wife died a very long time ago, when his youngest son was still a baby and he never remarried. But he’s a wonderful man, and I always see him with a twinkle in his eyes. I guess he didn’t do too bad raising his children. But everytime I see him sitting alone on his balcony I see that he misses her.

Following the crash, passengers from the compact car were thrown out of their vehicle. One of the passengers, a 16-year-old girl, died instantly after the impact. Two others, an 18-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, were crushed underneath the other vehicle, which turned over and caught fire. Both also died at the scene.

From: Borneo Bulletin

That’s probably one of the goriest things I’ve ever read in a Bruneian newspaper. How sad is it that the ones involved in the accident are all young teenagers! They probably think they have their futures all laid in front of them. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, architects! Now we’ll never know.

Photo taken from Clarian.org

It’s exam season now. So here’s some biology for you. Do you know where your colon is? It’s also known as the large intestine, and is basically the last portion of the alimentary canal/digestive system and it absorbs salt and water from your food (which by now has probably turned into shit, literally) before you poop it out. Hehe, how’s that for graphic explanation.

Anyway why am I writing about colon? Well, I think a lot of us in this world take our colons for granted. We eat a lot of delicious things that are sometimes not so good for our bodies. But the part of the body that suffers the most is the colon. So today, tomorrow, or anytime this week, as a favor to your colon who has been so nice to you, do a detox.

1. Eliminate alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, refined sugars and saturated fats from your diet.
2. Relax. Avoid stress. Detox your mind as well. Zikir, yoga, sembahyang sunat, massages and meditation are great ways to relieve stress.
3. Juice it up! Drink lots and lots and lots and lots of juice, with no sugar added! And drink at least 10 glasses of water a day. Green tea is also a good idea (and I heard of its slimming properties). This aids toxin elimination, and cleanse out your colon.
4. Eat healthy amounts of vegetables and fruits that are packed with vitamins and minerals so you don’t lose out on your nutrients while detoxifying. If you’re missing out on carbohydrates, pick high fibre ones like brown rice, wholemeal breads and pastas. Extra points if they’re organically grown!
5. Exercise, or at least do something active that will make you sweat like running, hiking up hills and mountains, swimming in the sea, or just work it out on the treadmill in your underwear. Make sure it’s frivolous and relaxing! Hehe!

Lastly, try to maintain the above healthy habits so you may be kind to your colon, and also the rest of your alimentary canal. I know this is not a diet blog, but some things are too important to take for granted.

Apparently my readers now range from 16 to 50 years of age. What are you guys doing here? Hehehe. Welcome welcome! Thank you for following my blog. Just a little update here. Will be leaving off to Singapore on the 23rd which is on Friday to visit the zoo (among other things).

So in the mean time, here is a post about one of the fun things I did a few nights ago. Making kelupis!

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Kelupis is, as I’ve discovered, something that is uniquely Bruneian. Posted some pictures of kelupis on my Facebook a few days ago and my friends from Malaysia and Indonesia were very interested! They’ve never seen it before! I was quite surprised because we always have the same foods especially if it’s to do with rice. But then again, I realised that they eat ketupat with their rendang. Hehe. And so inspired me to write out this post.

Kelupis is made out of glutinous rice, that has been semi-cooked in creamy coconut milk and seasoned lightly with salt. Getting just the right amount of coconut milk is something that is usually done by feel depending on how you like your kelupis. Most of the time, the rice used is regular white glutinous rice, but once in a while you can see wild rice being used. I love those!

It is then wrapped in oblong leaf pockets. The kind of leaf used is the daun irik, or the scientific name I believe to be Phacelophrynium maximum. I also believe that the kelupis is the inspiration behind nasi bungkus here in Brunei as the leaf is fold with the exact same way as the brown nasi bungkus paper.

The kelupis is then steamed for about 30 minutes or until the daun irik changes to the lovely deeper and earthier shade of green as above. Wait a while and eat with some beef curry or rendang.

Kelupis is usually made for special functions such as Hari Raya, or wedding high teas, so we only have it once in a while. Rightfully so too, since coconut milk is so fatty! Haha, but as they say, it’s the things that are bad for you that taste the best!

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On the subject of kelupis, I am loving this book!

Haha! I found this awesome awesome awesome poem from this blog. I just LOOOOVE it! Hahahahaha! It’s by Lucille Clifton. You can listen to her reading it out here and I very much recommend you to!

these hips are big hips.
they need space to
move around in.
they don’t fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don’t like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top

I’ve been up to no good as usual.

And the cat is out of the bag I’m sure you’ve heard. I got a bob last Thursday. No more of my long luscious locks! Haha.

Eeeps!

Yes it is a rather sudden and drastic change I must say. Not really bothered by it all. I think it’s quite cute. It’ll give me something to fuss over the next couple of weeks.

I’ve been getting rather interesting responses to the whole bob thing though. A huge chunk of people are quite shocked and appalled if I may just describe their expressions when they saw me for the first time. Like “how dare she cut her hair!”. It’s as if though I didn’t have any emotional attachment to my long hair, other people did.

Why did I do it? The answer is simple yet, a lot of people find it difficult to believe. For fun. Why not? No I’m not frustrated after a heartbreak or sad or whatever. Just felt like a haircut. That’s all to it really.

So justification aside, I’m finding short hair really high maintenance! For my long hair, I only need to wash once every 3 days. But now I’m finding my hair getting oily really quick and it feels really yucky greasy. And the thing about yucky greasy hair is when its long, it’s not so bad (unless it stinks). But for short hair, I really can’t work with it! Heavy, limp and bounceless. So I’ve been washing it almost every day, something I haven’t done in years!

But the styling routine is pretty much the same. Just some heat protecting serum on the ends and some mousse for hold, then a quick upsidedown hairdrying and I get cute cowlicks. Followed by obligatory blow drying of the curly fringe. Haha.

Well I like it.

Isn’t it?

Isn’t it nice?
Babies and pink flowers and cottontail bunnies.

Isn’t it so satisfying?
Burping and farting and picking that scab.

Isn’t it fulfilling?
Cooking and farming and lending out a hand.

Isn’t it inspiring?
Oprah and art and Pehin Lau’s story.

Isn’t it sad?
Single mothers and roadkill and how accidents happen.

Isn’t it depressing?
Drug addict cousins and victims and disasters in our neighbours’ home.

Isn’t it heartbreaking?
A father losing his children to the crocodiles and a family mourning the loss of a drowned son.

Isn’t it harrowing?
Hunger and pain and not having money for school.

Isn’t it spooky?
Empty houses and stories of people possesed and black dogs.

Isn’t it scary?
Cancer and tumours and amputation.

Isn’t it horrible?
Poverty and debt and poisonous snakes.

Isn’t it terrifying?
Death and aging and loneliness.

Isn’t it?

If I didn’t care would it be the same?
Would my ev’ry prayer begin and end with just your name?
And would I be sure that this is love beyond compare?
Would all this be true if I didn’t care for you?

I love this scene from Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. I love the song, it makes me feel a longing. Or maybe a yearning, to be in love. Sometimes I do wish I have more vocabulary. You know it’s a great love song when it stirs up those feelings inside. Enjoy.