Foong Speaks Her Mind

I don’t know why is it that I like to do this in the middle of the night or should I say, early in the morning? Perhaps it is the quiet silence of the night. The peace. And the only sounds I hear is the quiet mutterings of those deep in slumber.

And then my stomach starts growling.

I get hit by this sudden urge and craving.

I simply MUST have it.

The need is so strong.

So unrelenting.

I gave in.

And so…

I transformed this glob

Into this fabulous, rich, dense, thick, sweet and absolutely satisfying…

Five Minute Chocolate Cake served with ice cream!

Yes, you read right. It is the much talked about 5-minute chocolate cake and I finally tried it out! Want to have the recipe? Want to know how I made it? Wait lar. I’ll be posting it in my food blog soon.

All I can say is that I am SO GLAD I found this recipe. Now, I can make chocolate cakes within minutes without all the hassle and yes, the serving is just nice for one person. How good is that?

Yummy.

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Not that I am encouraging people to keep lions as pets illegally (or legally).

When my dog’s vet told me about how he used to have a pet lion and how it is the best pet he had ever had, I found it quite hard to imagine.

According to the vet, the lion, that he adopted from the circus when it was just a cub, was very affectionate and fiercely loyal. In his own words:

“It is better than having a dog or a cat. It is so intelligent and affectionate, it is hard to describe it,”

The vet had to give up the lion when it became too big (and too expensive) so now the lion is in Taiping Zoo. However, till now, whenever the vet goes over to visit, the lion would remember him and greet him, much like a dog greeting its owner.

Still, I could not imagine how such a wild animal could be affectionate and be better than dogs and cats. Until I saw Christian the Lion video clip which was making the rounds through emails and have received millions of hits in You Tube.

I am sure by now, anyone who’s connected to the internet would have seen the highly popular clip about Christian the Lion. It was really an amazing story and I am sure, many people are quite sceptical of the truth of the story and whether the lion really do remember his ‘adopted’ family or the video was pre-fabricated.

You haven’t seen it? Where have you been? Mars? Well, never mind. Anyway, here’s the Christian the Lion clip that has been making the rounds:

I don’t know about you but each time I watch it, it makes me want to cry! And no, apparently it is not pre-fabricated. It is not a Hollywood set-up. It is the real thing! The Today Show interviewed the two men in this video:

And if you want to know more about Christian the Lion, check out more about his story here.

This prove that animals have feelings and they will remember till the end those who protected and cared for them. I just don’t understand how some people could be so cruel to animals. People like that should be shot or better still, treated the same way they treat animals.

Now excuse me while I go bawl my eyes out. Watching those darn videos of Christian the Lion really do get to me, especially teamed with that song!

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We recently took a trip to the salad bowl and strawberryland of Malaysia, also known as Cameron Highlands for a short retreat and some fresh air. Instead of completely fresh air, we got a lot of fumes from all the jeeps and tour buses…**cough, gasp**…so don’t be fooled, all that greenery does not necessarily means fresh air when you are going from one tourist spot to another up there because the roads are full of tourist buses and those pollution-emitting jeeps, trucks and lorries.

But I digress.

I meant to talk about the trip there. The drive from Penang to Cameron Highlands was surprisingly short. About 4 hours or so. And no, we were not speeding! The first sight of Camerons was not the wonderful undulating green hills but dusty roads with rows of shophouses or vegetable farms or ugly bare hills being cleared for one purpose or another. Development has come to the serene green highlands and though necessary for the residents, it was not pretty.

The only places with loads of undulating green hills are the tea plantations.

Amongst the things I like about Camerons are the cool weather (no sweating like a pig even as we walk and go farm-hopping), the loads of strawberries, fresh vegetables and flowers.

I simply love strawberries for its wonderfully sweet smell and sourish taste. It is also good for health, I have written about the benefits of strawberries in my food blog recently.

Also, a great time to visit Cameron Highlands is during the weekends because of their amazing night market! They have a night market on Saturdays at Brinchang and a pasar tani on Sunday mornings. You can shop for flowers, strawberry stuff, food, vegetables and plants on those two days there. The prices are cheap and there are loads of varieties.

Everything strawberry is widely sold in Camerons

Flowers and strawberries are also easily found in Camerons at at the markets.

The Saturday night market and the Sunday pasar tani.

In the end, we ended up buying a lot of produce = vegetables, fruits and flowers. Till now, I still have some of the vegetables and fruits and flowers!

All in all, it was a fun Cuti-cuti Malaysia trip. The vegetables are fresh, the fruits are fresh, the air is sometimes fresh but definitely cooler and the sights are still better than the concrete jungle we live in. We will probably go back again. It is much more preferable than Genting anytime!

Fun rating: 7/10 (for those into nature and greenery)

Food rating: 8/10 (for those into fresh vegetables and fruits)

Getting there: It is better to drive than depend on the only bus service up there through the treacherous winding roads.

Weather: a cool reprieve from the heat in the city

Sights / tourist spots: Mostly vegetable farms, plant and fruit centres, flower gardens, tea plantations and bee aviaries.

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