New Year Steak!

Belated Happy New Year 2015!

Heh, let's keep the memories of 2014 to heart, embrace and grow with positivity, let the negativity exit our souls as we enter the new year, and forgive our friends and fiends. After all, this is society with its ups and downs, and suns and storms. Unless if your fingers are all the same length, this world will NEVER be perfect, so live the best of your life or just be a freaking recluse!

Anyway...

Let me tell you a piece of breaking news:






I ATE STEAK.

Yes, I ate a juicy, bloody steak after a year and nine months being a vegetarian. And BEEF steak too. Because I crave steak! And because beef is rich in iron and protein! Now I am through with my old and nagging mother who keeps telling me on all the old grandmother stories on Buddhism and I am eating BEEF in front of her face for her to feel sorry! Sorry for being so controlling on her twenty-year old!

Now before you militant vegans fire me with ridiculous comments for me to go to hell, brand me as an animal torturer, traitor, flesh eating zombie etc., here is my steak...






Now Buddhists, vegetarians, vegans and whoever that matter, be rest assured that I do not stray from being a Buddhist and a vegetarian. Who needs meat when there are TONS of plant-based protein which come with dietary fiber, minerals and a relatively cheap price (compared to meat and costs of producing item) as a complete package?

Because this steak is made of PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS! Here is a comparison of grilled portobello mushroom versus the leanest cut of beef (95% lean, 5% fat). However, mine's pan-fried so I'm sorry that I can't actually compare my steak with beef steak...

By the way, I got this information from Google. Most websites feature almost the same info, but if you want detailed information, ask Mr Google.

Sure, the vegan steak has less protein, but unless if you starve, you probably have enough protein in your diet, or even more than enough. In fact, high animal protein intake is linked to increased cancer risk. Read here and here for more! P/S: They are not even pro-vegetarian sites.

On average, adult men need around 56 grams of protein a day; while adult women need about 46 grams of protein a day, and 71 grams if pregnant or breastfeeding. (Source)

After reading through all those, I questioned myself: Isn't it easy to gain protein from our diet? Greens have protein. Grains have protein. Beans and nuts have protein. Most food have protein in fact! So, why do we need to even boost our already-high protein intake through cruelty and processed stuff, like, for God's sake, protein powder? Protein muffins, protein ice cream with whey protein... really? Just eat more real and unprocessed plant-based food for goodness sake.

After all the rant (Sorry readers), let me divulge the secret of the steak... (makes 1 serving)

STEAK: 2 pcs Portobello mushrooms

MARINADE: Black Pepper Sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee brand), soy sauce, sugar, salt. Apologies for the lack of measurements because my mum just used approximate amounts-she does not really believe in measuring ingredients for seasoning)

MASHED POTATO: 1 potato, 1/2 medium sized carrot, salt, dash of black pepper, dried herbs

SIDE VEGGIES: Some broccoli florets, carrot slices (from the remaining carrot), 1/2 tomato, diced

Now onto the method!

STEAK: Marinade the mushrooms for 3 hours. Pan fry the mushrooms in a shallow pan. Cover for around 5-10 minutes. This is important to release the juices from the mushroom. Pan fry for a little while. Dish up.

MASHED POTATO: Dice the potato and carrot. (about 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm). Cook in salted water in a pan, covered, over high heat then medium heat for 15 minutes. Drain and mash the carrot and potatoes with black pepper and herbs to taste. Form into balls and arrange on a serving plate.

SIDE VEGGIES: Lightly cook the broccoli florets and carrot slices (I boiled them, of course you can steam them but I'm too lazy for that), then blanch the tomatoes. Dish up.

Arrange the steak, potato and veggies in whatever design you like. Mum helped me and mine went like this:

To be honest, this is my first steak ever as a vegetarian. This is my first time having to force myself to use a fork and steak knife after almost two years, except that I need not deal with meat that does not tear apart or meat splutters this time.

Credit to mum for her plating! It's beautiful and looked almost like those at restaurants except that the veggie serving is generous (The restaurant ones are usually just a sad slice of tomato, carrot and some cabbage shreds drowned in mayonnaise) and the potatoes are very low-fat (mashed instead of fried). Now that's steak! I swear that this mushroom steak is just as delicious, if not better than the original black pepper chicken steak because it is just as meaty, less cruelty and, best of all, you do not have to debone it or being worried of bloody meat bits, undercooked meat etc. 

Now I must count my lucky stars for this for being able to get portobello mushrooms at a discounted price (usually MYR 14 for four mushrooms; now around MYR 9.50 for six mushrooms) and learn to prepare them. Well, mum prepared it actually and all I did were the sides. I still have a lot to learn in cooking. However, I cannot wait to try these again, especially when they can be directly used as meat substitutes in steaks and burgers! 

(All we did for the steaks was using mushrooms instead of chicken and the rest is history)

Try this, and you WILL love it.

Happy 2015 and Happy Goat Year! May the goats, lambs, etc. be free from our plates this time...

I BAKE PUMPKINS! 我烤南瓜！

我上网时看到一个关于肉桂烤南瓜的食谱。食谱看起来不错，有十个人分量。可是，家里只有我愿意让味蕾环游世界，让其尝试特别一点的东西，如：烤南瓜、酿甜椒等等。

只取食谱的1/15实在不简单，因为我不能大量吃南瓜（很”风“）。原本食谱要三磅（约1.5公斤）南瓜，而我只用了100克南瓜，因此我就凭直觉调味了，还加入一堆桂皮粉，因为我喜欢桂皮的味道。（当然，放太多桂皮粉，食物会很苦！）

食物盖上锡箔纸后，我就烤南瓜烤了40分钟。本来还要打开锡箔纸烤15分钟才上桌，结果还没烤第二次，南瓜就已经软烂如泥了，基本上就是软得让宝宝吃也没问题，哈！

虽然如此，我很喜欢我的烤南瓜，它又香又甜，单纯的南瓜甜味配上香浓的肉桂味道和浓郁的焦糖。如果我减少一点糖，这道烤南瓜将是一道健康、完美的饭后甜品。

做人要懂得变通。就像为一个人做饭、烘蛋糕、画画等等，规则归规则，但也要适时变通。

I stumbled a recipe across the internet for cinnamon baked pumpkins. The recipe looked awesome but it serves 10 people. Alas I am the only adventurous freak in my family who is willing to try out things like baked pumpkins, stuffed  peppers and such stuff. 

Imagine scaling a recipe down to 1/15 of the original recipe since I cannot take a lot of pumpkin. The original recipe called for 3 pounds of pumpkin and I used only 100 grams. There is absolutely no way that I could measure such tiny amounts of seasonings, so I just went by feel. I loved cinnamon, so I put a lot of cinnamon onto my pumpkins.

I baked them for 40 minutes, covered. The original recipe called for another 15 minutes of baking, uncovered, but I ignored that because my baked pumpkins turned out like baby food!

Anyway I love my almost burnt cinnamon-caramel pumpkins because they are sweet, earthy and kind-of-healthy post-meal dessert if I cut back on the sugar. Ha ha.

When push comes to shove, you have to follow your instincts and think out of the box. Just like cooking, baking and painting, you have to follow your heart to unleash yourself and live the best as you can. And if your instincts do not bring you to the right track, you can always turn back as long as you do not lose hope.

Stuffed Bell Peppers!

As much as I love my mum's Chinese home-cooked food (I'm a Malaysian of 100% Chinese descent, duh), my curiosity always gets the better of me. This time, I want a stuffed vegetable, not vegetable in soups and stir-fries, which led on to me Googling "stuffed bell peppers"...

And I made my stuffed bell pepper using half of this recipe since I am the only weirdo in my family who loves to experiment with wacky combinations (stuffed peppers are considered wacky in my family) and am doomed to finish the entire dish. Well, at least I can make my taste buds to travel around the globe (hopefully) since I cannot afford to even travel on an airplane yet!

This must be really,really weird since none in my family has ever seen a stuffed pepper in his/her life...

This is the stuffed bell pepper from Gourmandelle, a bilingual vegetarian blog from Romania.

Looks beautiful, right? The ingredients are not too expensive and have some of my favourite vegetables(carrot, tomato, bell pepper, mushrooms). The instructions looked easy too, so I gave it a try.

I anticipated only three peppers since I used half of the recipe. As it turned out, I had to go through ALL the bell peppers in the refrigerator because the peppers were tiny. Sorry mom, I think I kind of ruined your precious peppers from Cameron Highlands...

The preparation process was of course, easy, otherwise I would not have tried it at the first place. I could not find any paprika so I used curry powder, and used dried parsley instead of the nonexistent coriander (What the hell am I doing?) The stuffing turned out pretty well except that it cooked quickly.

Here comes the hell of the entire process... stuffing the peppers. The recipe instructed me to stuff each pepper with 2 tablespoons of stuffing but I ended up with heaps of leftovers. Luckily two of the bell peppers were large enough to contain the extra stuffing. I then covered the stuffed peppers with tomatoes and cooked them in a pot for half an hour.

Here are my peppers... 

My heart sank. The large peppers were those which cracked and I had a hard time scooping them out. Miraculously, the small peppers kept their shape. This made me baffled. 

Here comes the taste test:

The pepper actually tasted good, not really mind-blowing but, still, good, except that the rice was undercooked. I would give my recreation of the dish 5/10 due to the undercooked rice.

Overall, I am going to try this dish again but with some tweaks:

• Soak the rice for three hours before cooking
• Cut off slightly around the tip of the pepper, not the entire top

This is my first time attempting this. No try, no knowledge, no experience, nothing to learn! Oh well,when it comes to learning, go big or go home.

Paradise of Romance

Welcome to the Lavender Garden, a relatively new tourist attraction at Cameron Highlands...

Before arriving there, feast yourself with the misty mountains which look like paradise in movies... through the car window.

Let's go to Lavender Garden! Children under 12 are charged RM3.00; adults RM5.00. No time limit imposed during the visit so you can immerse yourself in the ocean of beautiful flowers as long as your heart desires.

Lavender flowers symbolise purity, silence, devotion and caution. (Source)

If  the ocean of purple is enough to mesmerize you, just wait...

I'm not sure what car is this!

Here are the little huts for you to cast your wishes on: for health, friend, love etc. They look so cute that I wish I have these little huts in my future home, for the little birds to rest.

COUPLES ALERT: You can literally lock your love under these cute pastel-coloured arches!

The romantic purple ocean aside, there's this golden yellow bushes of coreopsis (金鸡菊), beaming wide to the sunshine.

It's Christmas! Why not have a romantic purple Christmas? (Okay I think I should stop here. I'm single. Haha)

Just as if you think that's all, wait till you walk a scenic little path leading up to some little hills and gardens which otherwise only appear in fairytales...

Now THIS is a great way to utilise rubbish (old rubber boots)! If you have enough space for a garden, you may want to try this money-saving idea. It looks cute too. Just be sure to clean the boots first.

Look at these flowers! God is so great that he created such seeds of the beauty. As human, we are responsible to preserve this beauty and pass them down across generations.

Celebrate REAL beauty like these, because they make the earth beautiful, unlike the plastic flower decors which involve using up the Earth's resources and make the earth sick!

Here are the strawberries growing. Visitors can pick them but if they do, they have to pick at least 200g of strawberries, which worth RM10.00.

Look at the happy koi frolicking in the water...

If you are hungry, you can always have some coffee at the cafe with a nice little dessert while chatting with your loved ones (in my case, it's family)

Strawberry cake that's not too sweet. 

Thank you for taking this virtual tour with me. I hope that you enjoyed it. :)

Please come again!

Sharon in the kitchen (at last!)

Happy Holidays and Welcome December!

Hmm... what should I say? Being a foodaholic, of course I must mention... FOOD! 

One of the things on my holiday bucket-list is to cook. Yes, I love cooking. Unfortunately, I do not have the patience to make anything that calls for thirty minutes of preparation time (Well, Libras are quite lazy, so yeah), so my so-called “cooking masterpieces” are so easy that even kids may handle it with adult supervision. Anyway, food is meant to nourish your body, ensure your survival and make it happy, so why complicate the matter with complicated recipes which call for a bazillion number of ingredients, slaving over the stove and an uncertain result? I mean, after cooking the complicated food for like two hours or so and the food does not taste good, your hard work will go to waste. Life is too short for that!

Anyway, since food is going to have a large impact on my body, I might as well choose to make simple food from healthy ingredients (Okay, maybe not really squeaky-clean healthy because I still use conventional produce and cooking oil here and there.) Simple food is not always healthy, but healthy food is mostly simple. Complicated recipes usually demand copious amounts of fat, salt, sugar etc. anyway, or a combination of desserts as in marjolaine and Baked Alaska, or a mixture of everything. NOT FUN.

Let's start with snacks and desserts, shall we? Who loves having snacks and/or desserts ALL DAY? Hands up please. (Le me raising my hand now) I am not joking here. I can munch 18 hours a day (six hours for sleep) if not for the random love handles, bat wings and carrot legs. Of course, I must make snacks which can also double up as desserts because food is the best cure for blues. Ha ha. Snacks are also easy to make, rendering it suitable for novice cooks and lazy people who just can't be bothered to be soaked up in thick smoke and kitchen grease.

Excuse me while I share the recipes as well...

#1: Popsicles

Let's face it, this is Malaysia where it is literally summer for all seasons. Naturally, most of us will need a snack to chill. Let's go to BASKIN ROBBINS! How about Haagen Dazs or, for the budget conscious (like me), Walls or Kings? WAAAAIIIIITTT. Look at the label. Sugar, Tartrazine, Emulsifiers, Milk Solids... Okay this is just the tip of the iceberg, but you get the idea. Instead, spend just 3 minutes (I am serious, THREE MINUTES), get your popsicle moulds, load them with frozen berries, frozen fruits or cut fresh fruits, pour in desired liquid like nondairy milk, fruit juice, coconut water etc., freeze for at least two hours, remove from the fridge and eat up. How complicated and energy-draining is that?

This tasted exactly like a popsicle,which was light and refreshing. Duh. If you want something (supposedly)decadent, here they are. Guess the secret ingredient. (Hint: Not cream)

Based on my extensive research in the quest of searching the perfect recipe for the most delicious yet friendly-on-the-figure popsicles, I can conclude that:

1.They are so simple that even idiots novices can do it

2. Two variations: 

   -Dump the fruits into the mould and fill it with liquid. Freeze.

   -Make a smoothie and freeze in moulds

   -Make several multicoloured smoothies. Fill the mould with a bit of the first. Freeze for awhile. Layer with next. Freeze. Repeat the entire process for more. 3 to 4 layers are enough. It will result in a beautiful, multicoloured frozen dessert.

Of course, the last option is way too difficult for me, so I might not be doing it anytime soon. If you have the tremendous amount of patience for it though, congratulations! Go for it.

#2: Lunch salad

Yes, if you do read my blog, you should know that I am very fond of salads and always make them in the campus. I even wish that I can start a salad business if not for the ban on refrigerators and blenders there! 

Repeat after me: NO SAD SALADS! By sad salads, I mean side salads which are comprised of two leaves of iceberg lettuce and a sad slice of tomato as seen in restaurants. No wonder many people dislike salads, well, at least the people around me. NOBODY DESERVES THIS ATROCITY!

Now this is what I call a salad, served with instant rice. Of course I had this in campus. I don't think this salad is mindblowing but at least it's pretty decent with a small head of broccoli, three baby corns, a carrot and some cherry tomatoes, seasoned with herbs. I challenge you to resist salivation if you see FullyRawKristina's salads. I dare you.

I would love to have salad like hers but I doubt I can go through even a quarter of her rainbow-on-a-platter!

This is another campus lunch-mixed veggies salad, fruity salad and failed carrot-potato soup. Talk about 90% fruits-and-veggies meal! Oh yum.

Anyway, this is my salad...

Mixed veggies and fruits salad with Orange-carrot-sesame dressing! I LOVE this dressing because it was sweet, savoury and for holy goodness sake, CREAMY! I only used like two drops of sesame oil for that Asian hint in the dressing. This is definitely my favourite meal salad by far. 

The veggies were coral leaves, tomatoes, carrot slices and bell pepper slices (I used 1/4 of the pepper. I don't really like eating huge amounts of raw pepper). The fruits were apple, orange and mulberries. I topped it off with some crushed walnuts for healthy fats and satiety. I should have used a larger plate instead so that I can make a pinwheel pattern. Whatever. I am eating it so the appearance does not matter (not if you serve me ONLY vegetables, though. I want my veggies in beautiful patterns rather than like a rubbish dump or I won't touch it.)

Dressings can really make or break a salad in terms of taste and nutrition. I will discuss about salad in my dusty blog which badly needs an update later! Stay tuned.

#3: Mega Fruit Bowls

I call these "MEGA FRUIT BOWLS" because there are at least 7 servings of fruit. These may look tiny for hardcore fruitarians but for me as a commoner, this is overwhelming.

For some reason I got constipated despite eating lots of fruits and veggies (At least 5 fruits a day and I don't count my veggie servings) and drinking lots of water. I workout twice a day too. Mum told me to eat lots of fruits. 

By the way, on the left are a whole Korean pear and two bananas with a dash of cinnamon; on the right are two oranges, a Packham pear and around 1/2 cup of mixed berries.

Apparently berries are heaty and cause constipation? I don't know. I love my berries and I have little knowledge on nutrition, if any. God please tell me that berries do NOT cause constipation!

After this breakfast (Around 650 calories), I got hungry within half an hour. My past experiences told me that I do not do well on a meal with solely fruits. I need some nuts in there at least. Fruits are rich in fibre and water but cannot fill me up. WHY?

#4: No-Bake Cookies

The best things in life are always simple: friendship, love, life, precious time, and of course great desserts which can be whipped up in minutes. Behold, my NO-BAKE COOKIES...

I choose Steffi's peanut butter. Granted, it has food conditioners (not good!) but it has the least ingredients (peanuts, food conditioner, salt) compared to other brands around. Plus, Steffi's is the only peanut butter without hydrogenated oil, palm oil and sugar.

I used this recipe but I tweaked it after reading the comments, i.e. reducing the salt, adding chocolate chips, mixing brown sugar and white sugar and adding a pinch of salt. I was glad that my sister loved it! This was actually the ONLY stuff made by me which my sister would actually eat, mainly due to the peanut butter.

There was no such thing as vegan butter in my area, so I used the only butter available which was basically a mix of palm oil and milk fats. It was not that good to the environment, but there was no choice and it was definitely far cheaper than pure butter! I am guilty.

The cookies were sweet and chewy, but I might consider reducing some salt and the sugar. I finished 1/4 of the batch in one sitting. It was SO good that I could finish the entire batch if not for self-control (so-called). Try making this and stop at three.

I used around 1/3 to 1/2 of the recipe because the original yielded a HUGE batch.

My sister loved it so much that I will make it again! Probably I won't just make a single flavour though this time. I might want to vary them like using half oats and desiccated coconut, make PB, chocolate and raisin cookies, add seeds into the mix, etc. That is, if I am hardworking enough for the extra minutes of work.

#5: Dreamy dessert smoothies

If I were skin-on-bones, I would love to gorge on pies and cakes and all sorts of desserts all day long. The problem is that I am chubby. I WANT PIES!

Luckily there are the kind folks in the world who create delicious and healthy dessert smoothies. Thank you folks so much.

Here are my blueberry-pie smoothie and berry-banana smoothie. They are really simple.

Blueberry Pie Smoothie (adapted from this recipe)

1 cup milk (I used cashew milk)

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/4 cup oats

dash of cinnamon

soak oats in milk for 5 minutes. Blend all the ingredients. Pour into a tall glass. Sip and enjoy.

I made the cashew milk myself. It fooled my dad into thinking that it was cow's milk! This is a good thing actually-cashew milk must be addictive then. I had to restrain myself from drinking the entire batch.

Best of all, cashew milk is easy. Soak the nuts, add water, sweetener and cinnamon (vanilla extract if you have) and blend. No straining required. Here is the recipe.

Banana-berries smoothie

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup of frozen berries

Optional greens

water

Blend it up. Pour into a tall glass. Sip and enjoy.

See, how easy are these? 

Basically these are what I did during the holidays. I know that this is NOT the end of my so-called cooking adventures. In fact, every day is a learning process. Fingers crossed, I can eventually cook well and make vegan treats when I start to live on my own.

And oh, here's dinner for tonight, which I made with mum. Today is the fifteenth day of the lunar moon, which is a vegetarian day. Vegetarianism is observed by Buddhists on the first day and fifteenth day of the lunar moon, No alcohol, egg and five pungent roots (onion, garlic, shallot, leek and chives) are allowed.

Here it is...

Bon appetit!

Twenty

FLASHBACK TO 23 SEPTEMBER 2014

                It was the very day that I lived the first day of the second decade of my life. I am a teen no more. No more fangirling (Not that I really fangirled that much anyway), no more being drama Queen, no more yelling at anyone, no more splurging on teenage fashion… okay the list can literally go on but long story short:

                I AM MORPHING INTO AN ADULT.

(Google Image)

                Granted, the legal age for anything considered “adult” is eighteen, but hey, I am still a kid at heart and I am not interested in the things commonly regarded as “restricted for adults”-dance clubs, blue films, alcohol… whatever. To me, being an adult encompasses many aspects. For one, an adult must be mature and responsible. He or she should be able to think wisely and make decisions based on the best interests of themselves AND the community around them. Neither should one make decisions that benefit oneself and harm the others; nor one should choose to neglect oneself for the sake of “benefitting the community”. Besides, an adult should pay attention to the details in life, such as relationships, finances, etc. Well, I can go on speaking for three days straight but hey, I am still a student and not really mature enough, so these factors are enough to discredit me from giving lectures on becoming adults, no?

Being an adult does not give you the licence of living a YOLO lifestyle.
Rather, it means a new stage in life, a rebirth, and a precious period to live life purposefully and positively to enjoy life thoroughly, even into old age.
(Image from Google)

                Anyway, let us get straight to the point. My birthday was on a blue Monday, and thank God the quiz for Phonetics and Phonology was postponed, otherwise my birthday would be even bluer. It was the daily routine of a student started all over again: wake up, get ready for class, listen to lectures which qualify as lullabies… daily college student life that is! No birthday song, no, nothing at all. Anyhow, the absence of a birthday celebration did not matter much to me. The day of my coming to Earth is the day my mother’s life hangs at the beam of life and death. Birthday celebrations should, therefore, be better off dedicated to our parents.

                23 September 2014 was one of my most insane days in this year because, like every student in the Second Semester of Degree Year One in IPGKPP, I was struggling bitterly with the then upcoming exhibition for Language Literacy. It was great enough for me to be able to keep my head above the water; survive and work despite sleeping at 1am or 3am throughout the week leading up to the exhibition.  I was glued at the screen of the laptop again when there was a loud knock at my door. It was 9pm. I was thinking: what the HELL are these people up to? I am DARN busy! I opened the door nonetheless.

                “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

                Standing at my door were some of my coursemates with gifts and a slice of carrot cake, while they greeted me with a “Happy Birthday” song. Words could not describe my gratitude. They took the trouble to buy gifts and come upstairs to celebrate my birthday. I could not describe anything else… Thank you so much.

A bookmark given in class, and a gift and carrot cake (Sorry, I ate it halfway when the pic was taken). Thank you so much and be blessed.

                Being twenty means a step towards adulthood. I just wish to be healthy, happy, and able to reach out for the people in need. 

All for a Handstand

                Handstands! Since childhood, I have always admired the grace portrayed by acrobats and gymnasts through their rhythmic and impeccable coordination of their limbs which literally sing beautiful tunes. Every single split, headstand or flip depicts vividly the magic of the human body which, like a paintbrush, dances around the canvas and paints rainbows. Unfortunately, being almost obese for nearly a decade and cannot be bothered to even take a stroll, those beautiful movements only appear in my wildest dreams, and I could only imagine myself doing these artistic moves in my head.

Image sourced from Google. Handstands are really beautiful but demand core and arm strength.

                In fact, I only started being interested in these movements since I picked up aerobics in high school. I was always green with envy whenever I saw my friends performing stuffs like splits and handstands. I told myself: “Why can’t I do it?” They have limbs and so do I, except that I had a little more “buns” and “rolls” hanging over them.  

                So I started attempting handstands ever since, but failed. Giving up is not in my dictionary unfortunately (or fortunately?)

                It was on a day in late June 2014 where I worked out in my hostel room as usual. I tried to attempt a handstand by supporting my body against a chair. All attempts went well until one, where I almost succeeded in a supported handstand and then “WHAM!” it went. There was a loud thud on the ground. There went my left knee. Pain seared through me but I decided that the work out MUST GO ON. I switched to lighter workouts like busy-people workouts on chairs because, guess what, I STILL HAVE THE STAMINA OKAY? Well, the zeal to workout was there except that I was struggling to walk down the stairs. It was no big deal since my knees often screamed for mercy when I climbed the stairs anyway.

                Come nightfall and my left kneecap became as puffed as the head of a Rohan fish. Walking felt like a gymnastics stint. It only worsened as the days passed. I felt like cursing. Why can others do handstands? Why can’t I? Heck, I know that I’m old for such tricks but there are people who only learn these as adults!

                My parents came at the weekend to visit me. The bruise was (deceptively) small, so of course, the ointments brought were meant for small bruises because nobody knew the exact condition of my kneecap. My mum even suggested that light massages would do since it was a light case of injury. To be honest, the injury really did look light-just a normal swollen kneecap. That was where my nightmares began. The massaging proved to be useless because on Monday, I found myself hobbling to the lecture hall. What used to be a five-minute walk looked like at least a hundred miles’ journey. At least I could walk.

That was my left knee, right after the fall.

The left kneecap, about two hours after the fall. Note the bulging appearance.

My injury only came to light while chatting with a friend from Tzu Chi Society. Only when my friends from the society fetched me to the nearby clinic on Tuesday night, 2 July 2014 did I realize the severity of the “minor injury”, when even the doctor at the clinic could not detect the cause and referred me to the Penang General Hospital instead. It was an arduous and restless two-hour wait at the hospital because there was a curfew at my campus which required students to return to the campus by 11pm, whilst we only arrived at the hospital at around 8.30pm! By the time I met the doctor, I got all but a vague diagnosis and strange “treatments”. According to the doctor, my injury was “very bad”, but all he gave was a few colourful pills. I did not understand what the pills could do to my injury but hey, the doctor should be right, alright?

Alas, the injury took a turn to the worse and I was unable to walk at all by Thursday. I hobbled my way to the volleyball court as there was volleyball class in the morning. I excused myself from the session since I could barely walk, let alone perform other “complicated” actions like squats and jumps. That could not go on and my condition got so bad that I had to seek help from a friend to take me to the office to get fetched to the hospital. It turned out that I had a soft tissue injury which happened UNDER my skin. The doctors, who were in fact housemen, actually checked through my injury and bandaged my knee. I could not believe my eyes. The housemen actually checked through my injury while a qualified doctor just dismissed me with some pills? I could just imagine the chaotic scene in the medical world…

Worse was yet to come. I was not allowed to carry out physical activities for a month and I need at least six weeks to recuperate. A MONTH? I could not fathom myself being confined to the chair or the bed for more than an hour a day, let alone being inactive for a month! Oh hell no… Six weeks sounded like six centuries to me. Bye jogging and HIITs, hello to troubling people to stress over my chores!

This is LIBERATING! I don't know if I can ever do something like her though... (Image from Google)

Yes, I was even given a medical leave from 3 July 2014 to 10 July 2014. I could get another week off for my injury, but one week of troubling my friends over homework and missing lectures was beyond my level of patience. I need to study and my friends have their lives too.

POST INJURY

                It had been almost five months since my injury. During my injury, thanks to my immobility, I gained about 10 kilograms within two months. Of course, it took more than two months to lose them all and I am still working on it. My clothes were literally wrapping me like a dumpling. It was torturing and humiliating indeed as I walked around, with people laughing behind my back. "Oh she's gained weight!" "Oh she's too fat to have a boyfriend!" What matters more, though, was the MONETARY FACTOR. If I eventually became too fat for my clothes, I would have to empty my pockets on new but ugly clothes, get mom to sew new skirts (which is like adding salt to wounds as she was already busy and unwell), and may have to see the doctor more. Now THIS is the ultimate insult!

                    That was not the major focus, however. This injury taught me to be grateful and treasure my possessions, be it my wellbeing, material possessions, or the people around me. In this case, my knees and legs are very precious. A hurt knee proved to be a huge handicap because knees support movements; thus when one is injured, locomotion becomes difficult. Imagine being able to only move around by dragging my bottoms or walking with crutches… it was very inconvenient. I salute those who are handicapped but living strong; I realized that I need to respect my body and do not take it for granted. As much as I love to learn new tricks, I need to take baby steps. Rome is not built in a day.

                Without my family and friends, I may have to be hospitalized and give up exercising forever. That SUCKS. The doctor told me that had I delayed my treatment any later, I would need to go under the knife. That translates to-no more strenuous exercises in the future and more troubling for the people around me! I was grateful that there are people who care and provide support when needed... my parents, classmates (albeit some bad hats), friends from Tzu-Chi society, lecturers…

                Remember, be grateful and count your blessings, and treasure them by making the most use out of them and use them as tools towards achieving your dreams. As for learning, learning takes time, so be patient and persevere! Lastly, remember that no man is an island.

                And yes, I will NEVER give up in learning handstands. Maybe I should work on my core strength first, which was only so-so.