Enjoying Sunday morning on my balcony. Some flowers are blooming ....
Care to join me, while sipping hot lemon with honey & slice of ginger?
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Saturday, 7 July 2007
July 07, 2007: @ 7 pm on 07.07.07
This is how my sky look like at 7 pm on 07.07.07!
And this is at 7.07 pm on 07.07.07
Care to share your sky?
Love - Larra
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
July 03, 2007: Ulam raja
The above are pictures of 'Ulam raja' flowers that I took at my backyard garden in Kulim. My sister, Ramlah planted it as 'ulam' - not the flower though, but the young shoot. "Ulam raja" when literally translated means 'the King salad' (Raja=King). But I am not sure whether the King actually eat it 
. Some people say, the word Raja here means that this plant is the King of all ulams - especially due to it's medicinal properties. The 'ulam raja' is known for its antioxidant and also good for blood circulation. The scientific name for this plant is Cosmos caudatus.
If you notice the word 'ulam' is part of the name of this plant. In general 'ulam' is used for plants that can be eaten raw (or sometimes cooked - steamed or half boiled), as a form of local salad. The ulam is a traditional Malay dish that normally taken with 'sambal belacan' (a mixture of pounded chillies, shrimp paste 'belacan' and lime/tamarind juice) and serve during lunch or dinner.
Basically the food value and nutritional values of most ulams are very high. They are what keep our old folks and kampong folks healthy without the modern vitamins and nutritional enriched food of today's society. Ulams taken by the kampong folks are generally those that are readily obtained. Some people plant it as a back yard crop which means it is not farm based and farm ideas of using insecticides and growth hormones are not usually used. (however, nowadays due to the growing popularity, the common ulams are now beginning to be farmed). I remember those days when I was small I used to follow my mother and her 'gang' went into the jungles picking ulams - this normaly happened if it rained at night and my mother couldn't 'work' (she's a rubber tapper) the following day. To my mother and her friends, they were looking for food, but to us (normally the other mothers will take along their kids) it's fun time in the jungle!
Monday, 2 July 2007
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Larra is coming home
Well, did I say that Bikan was remote, off the beaten track, there is no mobile phone coverage. No signal means no communictaion with Larra. She has now started her journey home and when she got a signal back she texted me with the news that her brother-in-law is continuing to make minor progress and can now walk slowly.
I am sure that Larra will be very tired when she gets home, both physically and emotionally, but glad in that that she has been able to provide some minor form of support for Zainab during these difficult times, Herb P.P.S. to Larra.
July 1, 2007: Larra is Away For The Weekend
Friday night / Saturday Morning Larra's brother Ramli drove her up North to Kedah. As well as Ramli and his wife there was their youngest daughter who starts another culinary course in Penang on Monday. It was a full car, because also with them for the weekend were Aiman and Putra, Ramli's 2 young grandsons whom you may have seen in Larra's blog entry and photos on Johor. The journey was quick, over 4 hours, but nowhere near the 13 hours that it took when they last went up during daytime for a bank holiday last january.
Larra rang me when she arrived, 6:20 AM at her own house on Kulim, and was tired, she had a quick chat with me before praying and going to bed.
The plan for Saturday was to rise as early as they could, consideing their late retirment, and drive the hour or so it takes to Bikan to see how their Sister Zainab is coping and if Zainab's husband has made any more recovery.
Zainab's husband is in his 70's and had a stroke 2 weeks ago. Initially he was paralysed down his whole right side. They either shunned (or were unable to be accomodated in a hospital) and Zainab herself is largely caring for him using traditional Jungle therapies, medicines and poultices and massage. The latest news Larra had was halfway through last week, he was recovering slightly and slowly managing to master speech again, and some limited walking.
Bikan is not exactly remote, but it is not in the hub of telecommunications, and Zainab's homestead has no telephone. Communication with other family members is not easy unless one of the relatives from Kulim pays a visit and can pass information out along Larra's family grapevine.
I expect to hear from Larra when she wakes in a few hours time, I hope more progress has been made in his recovery.
I also hope that Aiman and Putra have had a chance to make friends with Little Farra! Larra and I expect them to fantastic cousin - ly friends because all 3 of them are so outgoing and full of beans and energy all the time. It shoud be good for Aiman and Putra because they spend so much time with their grandparents and see relatively few children. It should be even better for Farra, living with her Grandmother (Zainab) on a Homestead well outside Bikan village (and too young for any Nursery or School) she sees even fewer children.
I hope that Larra has time to take photos of the children together, but she may be too busy helping Zainab. Zainab not only has to be Nurse and Doctor for her husband, Mother to her Granddaughter, fetch supplies from the village, run the family home, meals and laundry, but she has the homestead to run : Tapping Rubber Trees, Gathering Fruit, Feeding the Chickens and other animals, and all the other chores - like feeding the fish in the pond, chasing monkeys away, gathering wood, the list goes on and on!
Any way that is all for this update, standing by and hoping for good news, Herb PPS to Larra.
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