Gift Food in My Mouth

School’s out this week due so my dependency to the virtual world hangs on RM$2.50 an hour at the littlest cyber café. I got me a couple of really nice books for Thesis Project homework but I’m going to need most of my time doing online researches.

So it’s only a picture-filled quickie post today. Plus, I’m getting a little suspicious about my mother these days. She’s a good cook but she only cooks well during the weekends. On other days, she just buys lauk from the street market and take-outs from nearby restaurants.

Starting with what’s she’s been cooking in the kitchen.

Breakfast 2 days ago: Pepper Mix.

Mak doesn’t usually cook breakfast. Seeing that we kids are old enough to fix meals ourselves. But she made a Pepper Mix. I called it that for lack of a better name. It’s a fried jumble of all sorts of pretty good stuff. Buttered bread, potato slices, burger meat chunks, sausage pieces, carrots and other marinated vegetables fried with strong pepper seasoning.


Dinner 2 days ago: Shepard’s Pie.

It was me who taught Mak how to make the best mashed potatoes from original potatoes. It made her Shepard’s Pie even better. Baked layer of mashed potatoes with a thin centre of freshly shredded carrots and a thick base of spicy taco meat. We never made any gravy with the Pie by compensating with creamier mashed potatoes.


Lunch yesterday: Carrot rice with Roast Chicken.

This is when I was beginning to suspect a hidden plot. Mak makes nasi minyak lobak merah very, veeeeeeeery rarely. It’s not hard to do but it’s one of her best cooking, especially delicious when made with her signature roast chicken with soy-sauce gravy.

She’s up to something and then I’m beginning to suspect what it is.


Dinner tonight?: Bread base, pasta sauce, white mushrooms, etc

And now she’s planning a pizza. But... Mak has never made pizza with these mushrooms before. They’re not our usual canned mushrooms.

It wasn’t until later in the afternoon that I knew something was up with my mother. It was while my father was watching the Al-Jazeera news on TV. Usually he’ll want to discuss current events with Mak, like US elections or Middle East conflict or the bad ice storm China is having for Chinese New Year.

As usual, Mak was sitting next to him but she’s not paying attention to the news or to Ayah this time - and Ayah, despite all the extra good cooking, was a bit sour that his wife wasn’t paying attention to him. Mak, oblivious, was reading a new book.



Mak has a crush on a new guy.