Bak Chang(Rice dumplings in hokkien)

Today is Chang day, the Dragon Boat festival for the chinese. Even though we dont pray, my mum used to pak chang(wrap rice dumpling) for us to eat and give to our relatives and friends. Now she’s too old to carry on making this delicay, so I thot’ its time to show off my skills, after years of observing my mum doing it.

My chang leaves and the strings to tie the chang are still lying around somewhere in my kitchen. That is called procrastination. Last Saturday I was all fired up to carry on the family tradition of making my own chang, with my favourite flavors and whatnots. But a scout at the night market for the ingredients put a stop to any hope of me sampling some nice changs. The prices for the nuts, mushroom and even the salt eggs have escalated. Hoping to get a taste of the chang from my office colleague, I was disapponted. She thought the same, ” Do it after the chang festival, when the prices of things drop”.

These days it’s so easy to get recipes to make chang, if you are first timers:

http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1384

Fish in a glass tank

My office is a one-storey buliding built in a shape of an inverted T , unlike t-junction you encounter on the road. It is surrounded with glass-panes. No matter where you are, of course minus the “loo”, you are like a “koi” peeping out from the tank. Reminds me of the story of Red riding hood and the ugly wolf. “Oh what big eyes you have grandma”, said little red riding hood. “To better see you with”, cried the wolf. This could be my ex-boss intentions for all we know. As more and more office workers find themselves stuck in 4 concrete walls, for us it was a blessing in disguise.

This is what we get to enjoy everyday:

Morning – birds with colorful feathers chirping, singing or pecking away at the fruits on the trees or on the grasses. On bad days, the birds commit suicide when they mistook our window panes for their landing rights and with a “thud” drop “dead” or fainted.

Iguana, snakes and monkeys are common sights. Sometimes the iguana or monitor lizard with their long slim body and short legs crossing your path in their slow gait when you swear under your breath “move faster, move faster”. Or a snake flatten like pancake when our driver rolled over it in their haste. Dont play play with our monkeys. Besides scavenging our garbage bins, they have a jolly good time swinging from trees to trees like tarzan, and even carted away our durians meant for the staff’s durian fests.

In front of the office entrance, there is a well-kept garden cum field with beautiful landscape. Here is where we hold our sports and games. And it is a good spot to snap a picture or two as momentos, esp. trainees from outstation and overseas.