"Pou-pou Gou Sing"

"Pu pu Gao Sh'ng"(in Mandarin) which literally means advancing towards a better future....that's the reason or deep meaning behind the nian gao(aka the glutinuous rice cakes) and also why it is regarded as auspicious and a must have for all families during CNY. It used to be available only during the festive season....but I think nowadays, one can easily find it in supermarkets and stores....only difference is, it comes in abundance and more attractive packages during the festive occasion.
There is also the story of the origin of this rice cakes.....as the story goes,which was told by my grandma...in each house, there's a Kitchen God who guards over the kitchen. Each year, the Kitchen Gods will have to travel to Heaven and give a yearly report to the Jade Emperor before passing on his task to the new Kitchen God. Therefore, the household residents, to ensure that their Kitchen God provide a good report to the Jade Emperor on their household condition, will prepare these glutinuous rice-cakes, and made them as sticky as possible and offer them to the Kitchen God for consumption, hoping that the sticky stuff will sort of seal his mouth after consuming it...since it is so sticky. That's what I remember from the story told....I have heard of other tales related to its origin as well.....maybe I will share them when I recall.
Anyway,whatever it may be, this auspicious has never fail to make its way to everyone's household or mouth everytime the festive occasion is around.....everyone loves it!Hehehe....Mum decided to consume it while it is fresh and since she has had the deep-fried nian gao the other day,she wants to consume it the simple way...to steam it and then coat it with coconut sultry.....
The following pics depict the snapshots of the process of preparing them...


4 pretty and auspicious glutinuous rice-cakes...or "nian-gao"....sitting on the plates...before they are to be consumed:D

Local fruits galore....

This weekend, mum bought some local fruits....coz they were quite abundant and fresh in the market...furthermore,it is good to consume more fruits in this hot weather for the purpose of water retention in the body. At the same time,do remember to drink plenty of water....somehow,it's a lot hotter here back home than when I was in my campus....I still feel so thirsty and dehydrated despite the amount of water which gushed down my throat.
Back to the fruits issue.....the following are the fruits which were purchased....all local fruits;) Supporting local Malaysian fruits....ain't that patriotic:P Besides,I came across an article...in the papers, I think, which talked about fruits and highlighted the issue that our local fruits are far more nutritious than imported fruits...in fact, most of our very own crops boasts of higher content of vitamins than foreign fruits. Such was the statement....since more and more people actually prefer imported fruits such as kiwi,grapes,pears,etc to cheap and good ol' bananas, papayas, watermelons, mangosteens...which are actually more cost-effective and diet-effective.
Well,isn't that something we should all ponder upon,folks?;)
Now,these are the fruits for your eyes only...LOL:P

Local fruits......first in line to be introduced is the good ol' starfruit(buah belimbing). Mum bought this fresh from the market....according to the seller,these are fresh and also best consumed as soon as possible due to the hot weather. Definitely a nutritious fruit as well...renowned for its nutrients in Vitamin C...its juice is also tasty as well;)

The starry shapes of good ol' starfruits....haha....mum says that we should cut it this way....so that we'll know that we are actually eating starfruit...LOL:P

Of flowers,plants and pot...

Despite my busy schedule,I took advantage of those little free time-out seconds to snap some pictures of plants and to post them on my blogs....not much pictures though....as I've mentioned..it was just a short "time-out":p
Anyway, the sun was also kinda blazing hot at that time...and thus it was kinda hard for me to focus...I can't stand the sunlight...:P I tried to capture some of those which are located in the shady areas...and as for some of those which are under the sun...well,maybe next time....however, I also noticed some of the plants which are exposed to the sun, looks kinda "photogenic" when captured...hmmmm...visual effects definitely add a tad of highlight to the pics,don't you think so?
The following are the pics that I've captured...not much....and I'm also not too sure of their actual names...will try to look them up after my busy schedule...hehe..for the time being,I will name them according to my very own naming standards..so do bear with me ya;)
Now, let's showcase some of my "plant models".......ready to catwalk..LOL....contestant No.1:-

So ,here, this is the baby version of the "prosperity flower"("fu gui hua")

Looks like some kinda spidey to me....well,let's just call it the "spider plant" until I get the actual and accurate scientific name;)

A type of Japanese fern..I think...which we got from a friend:)

Reports,reports and reports

Hey...back again for more musings:p Been busy...and STILL busy...but I do miss crapping on my blog and so,I need a space to say something before I totally burst my head off....staring at projects and paper reports everyday(although now we do technical reports...technically:P)
Yeah..was at home and actually took some time to relax a little amidst the busy schedule and actually took pictures of stuffs around...plants,flowers and yeah...FOOD too:D
As time would permit,I've actually less than a month to the end of my university years and then will be officially taking the plunge into the workforce. That's why you can see the hectic lifestyle I'm leading right now....no time for TV,etc...*sob *sob:(( But yet,I have time for taking pics and crapping here....haha...well,I need some time off anyway and writing plus photography are my interests...and blogging is indeed fun;)
Currently rushing myself to wits' end with 3 major reports which will be due in less than a weeks' time and also an individual assignment which, I've programmed the whole thing and yet,the system runs only the initial part....arrrghhhh..so frustrating...and I've to halt the whole assignment for ONLY this part which I still have to debug....oh no,please save me!!!I pray it will work pretty soon because my schedule is killing me already:(( In fact, I've to keep track of lots more deadlines and also meetings with my groupmates and also my FYP supervisor...all within this week...isn't that enough to kill someone??:(
Definitely not that "up" and cheery this week....hehehe....but nevertheless, I'll do my very best and leave everything to God...after all,nothing is impossible,right?;)