The Soup Queen

You know how sometimes your body tells you you're working too hard? Mine does and when I do fall sick, it's always the same. It starts with fever/chills and then works its way to a runny nose and sore throat and cough. I can tolerate the fever/chills, running nose/stuffed nose and sore throat but it's the cough that agonizes me the most.  While I do use healing on myself, I sometimes crave for extra boost. I was having this annoying hacking cough that seemed to be worse at night when I lay down. There's a good reason for this. Our Lung Qi is not flowing smoothly hence the coughing gets worse at night. My husband says my coughing sounds like a scooter that cannot start!  I've always been afraid of coughs because coughs can linger for a week. Not good when I have to do stuff and I really find that post-covid, everyone is anxious about any flu not to mention coughs. I try to stay home for a good part of my flu but I am also impatient and start rummaging through my cabi...

I recently bought a small container of wild astralagus slices when I was back home in Banting to visit my dad. There's really nothing much to do in Banting except spend time with my dad or take him out for breakfast of bak kut teh or nasi lemak.  The nearest and most interesting place is Tanjung Sepat which is a seaside village that has become rather prosperous due to the influx of local tourists from other parts of Selangor or even other states.  Many come to Tanjung Sepat for its fresh seafood and fish and the seafood restaurants are a big attraction. There's also a scenic spot called the Lovers' Bridge which in the 1990s was a rickety, almost falling down wooden bridge jutting out to sea.  This is where the fishing sampan or fishing boats would moor and have their catch hauled up to the shore. I am not sure if this bridge was demolished but the bridge is no longer there. A little further down is now a man-made cement bridge that juts out to sea. Tourists can walk out t...

Two days ago, I started having this annoying pain in my right ear. It was a sharp pain that didn't seem to get any better with massaging around the area. It was inside my ear and behind my ear. And I didn't know what it was. Did I have an ear infection? I haven't been going to the public swimming pool since the pandemic some 2.5 years ago.  Then the right side of my body, right behind my armpit, had this weird sensation. It was not painful but it felt like I pulled a nerve. This morning, I woke up with my tongue in pain. The right side of my tongue!  In short, I felt really uncomfortable. I wasn't ill but it's this pain here and there that got me irritated. Since I do know a bit of TCM, I wanted to find out if I was heaty again. I am more prone to heat issues than cold. I get "hot" if I sleep too late (past one a.m), eat too much spicy food or fried foods, work too much or think too much.  It wasn't heat but Wind-Heat. Wind Heat affects two major merid...

UPDATE: Please see this post as we are no longer practising PVH.  Before your eyes grow wide with surprise, no it's not me. I'm far from it. I couldn't be one because I may not have the patience to deal with people's problems. It's my husband, Nic.  In the past 3 years, his ability to help people spiritually has improved so much from the time he learnt PVH in 2016. In fact, he has learnt much on his own with his own research and reflection and solving health and metaphysical problems. This has brought me to believe that in his past life, he was a healer or herbalist or doctor. This is just a continuation of his past self.  When I say spiritual healer, what comes to your mind?  I've tested this question with many people; some are strangers, others are friends and some are family members.  Once I brought it up to a friend and she looked at me incredulously and said, "But I thought you were logical!"  How does being logical be at odds with being spiritual...

When I've been working too hard and sitting through too many Zoom meetings and having too many online webinars, my brain gets tired and my body feels heated up! I find that screen radiation affects me a lot so I try to limit my screen time and most times, to no avail! (It doesn't help that I am in the digital space and that I need to work on stuff on my Mac all the time - from my podcast to my live streams and to my main business ).  I felt really exhausted this week as I was also rushing to complete some important content for a client. She was in the running for a major award and needed help to brush up on her submission profile. The thing with submission profiles is that there's always a pressing deadline! And limited words is another. Most people think it's easy to write 250 words than 1000 words but trust me, it is much harder to be concise than to be long-winded.  So work being work, and life being life, a lot of things can stress up the body.  When I sit too lon...

Wood ear fungus and cucumber salad Sometimes I have cravings and of late I have craved mushrooms of all types! Hence my post on making snow fungus dessert and now this wood ear fungus salad.  This is a super easy salad that can be made in 5 minutes and goes well with rice or even as an appetiser.  Wood Ear Fungus Salad  A handful of dried wood ear fungus, soaked until soft - drain well  Half a cucumber washed and roughly chopped into chunks A tablespoon of sesame seeds, toasted  1 tablespoon of rice vinegar  1 tablespoon of soya sauce 1 teaspoon of sugar  1 pinch of salt  1 bird's eye chili, chopped  In a bowl, combine all the above. Mix well and let it rest in the fridge for 10 minutes. Serve chilled.  Benefits of Wood Ear Fungus Auricularia polytricha - that's their scientific name - is usually sold dried and you must reconstitute them by soaking in water before you use them. It has a crunchy texture and helps  people with high bl...

Just last week I made this dessert because I was rummaging in my kitchen and found some snow fungus. This is a classic dessert that any Cantonese would know. I was just surprised at myself that I haven't made this dessert in a long time. Maybe because I didn't have the key ingredient - snow fungus - at hand! What is Snow Fungus?  It is technically a fungus that grows on dead bark or tree stumps just like wood ear fungus.  Snow fungus or silver ear, snow ear or white wood ear is known as Tremella fuciformis and yes, it is an edible fungus. The pleasanter term is mushroom if that makes you feel better. As most mushrooms go, they contain vitamin D, zinc, calcium, and folate.  Benefits of Snow Fungus Snow fungus is said to have anti-ageing effects due to the presence of superoxide dismutase , an enzyme that acts as a potent antioxidant throughout the body, particularly in the skin. It is best known in TCM for nourishing the lungs and we know how important this fact is right n...

  I made American ginseng soup with pork ribs over the weekend since I had recently bought some herbs from my favourite herbalist in town, Veng Tatt Soon.  Over the past few months, we have been making watercress soup with pork ribs and I was getting rather tired of that soup! However watercress soup is great for the lungs (especially if you are coughing, or a smoker or feeling heaty) and now what with the pandemic, it is simply one of the better ways to boost one's immunity. And unlike lotus root soup , you can freeze watercress soup without any change to the watercress texture.  I usually make about 8 servings of soup in my stock pot. This means I can freeze the other portions for other days. So making soup on the weekend means I get to drink soup over the next 3 days at least.  This packet of herbs consisted of:  American ginseng (3.8gm),  Bei Zi (12gm),  Dang Shen (12gm),  Solomon Seal or Yok Chok (19gm),  Goji (12gm),  Red Dates (38...

I've been growing my own mulberry trees and after a few times of pruning the branches and learning a secret gardener's tip, the tree or bush has been proliferating well.  In fact, the regular rain (it is quite rainy these days in Penang) and the humid, hot sun have helped the tree flourish well. I also use a lot of compost (from my own compost pots) on the tree, placing scoops of compost around the root and the base of the tree from time to time (or when I am feeling like a hardworking gardener).  As I write this, we're in our third lockdown phase in Malaysia (until 7 June or is it 10 June? I can't recall). So lots more pottering about at home and gardening I guess! Even Singapore (where my sis is) is also going back to a lockdown phase as virus variants are emerging. It seems you can't read any news without mention of the virus and how things are faring across the region. As someone who works in digital and mostly online , I am kept occupied with clients' proje...

I've been making this simple tea for a few times already. Not sure if I had shared this before but all it needs are 3 ingredients - dried goji berries, dried red dates and dried chrysanthemum bulbs. This sugar-less concoction is good for health especially if you want to maintain immunity. It's even more important these days what with the pandemic and Covid-19. But it is also a pleasant brew - no boiling needed. All you need is a handful of goji berries (washed and soaked for 5 minutes in water), 3-5 large dried red dates and a teaspoon of dried chrysanthemum flowers (these are the small heads of flowers, not the usual type for making chrysanthemum tea). Put all the ingredients in a teapot and pour in boiling water. Let it sit for 10 minutes and voila, you have made yourself a healthy tea without sugar. It has a natural sweetness from the red dates and goji berries. And once you have drunk all the tea, you can continue adding more boiling water for a second b...

We've been in partial lockdown due to Covid since 18 March in Malaysia. Nic and I were lucky as we had just got back in time from our trip to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Meeting Uncle Ho at the HCMC Post Office which is still in use!  We had gone for a week to visit friends in Vietnam and just chill a bit. It was also my post-birthday travel - a little bit of me-time that I try to take once a year. Each year, I try to visit a new country that's one plane ride away. Nic and I went to the Reunification Palace or Independence Palace.  Inside, there were lots of old, stately furniture but nothing much. If you're in Saigon, just skip this.  More old furniture. A bit ghastly to me.  Food was great though! This was at a popular bistro named Propaganda. What a name.  I don't like transits and last year I did one major solo trip - Penang to Narita for a transit and then Narita to Honololu. It took me almost 30 hours each way including all tho...

I wanted to link to this article about a doctor named Dr Wu Lien Teh as not many Malaysians know about him and the tremendously significant work he has done in terms of medicine and fighting plagues. He is also Taishanese (or Toishan as I call it). I am proudly Toishan (though I haven't yet visited the ancestral village in Taishan). I speak Toishan even now with my 77 year old dad and my 15 year old nephew and 13 year old niece, in addition to speaking the language with my second sister when we want to say stuff in front of people! I first heard of Dr Wu when my uncle asked me about this man and I saw an entire book about Dr Wu at a local bookstore about 2 years ago. Dr Wu is definitely illustrious and accomplished. And we all need to know a little about history or our past. Especially when our past is so important to our understanding of the future! "Born in Penang in 1879 to a family of immigrants from Taishan, China, Dr Wu Lien-Teh received his primary and second...

Remember I wrote about trying out Joanne's fruit kefir and getting excited about making mine? Well, I did a batch of dried longan and dried red dates kefir just a week ago. I added them to my kefir for a second round of fermentation at room temperature for another 2 days (the first round is just the kefir, water and sugar for 2 days at room temperature). It tasted fabulous as fabulous can be. It had a light fizziness with a subtle hint of longan sweetness and red date fragrance. I also tried making a batch of pear kefir but pears aren't exactly a strong-tasting fruit so I couldn't detect much of a pear flavour. But definitely try out the dried longan and dried red date combination. I find that it's the most interesting taste for me.

Carol gave this to me a few months ago and I had put it aside because I didn't have time to figure out what it was and I knew it was either some herbal tea or dessert. Finally, I had some time last weekend and decided to cook this - not the entire block of course. The brown block consists of 6 mini blocks. I just used one of the mini blocks just to test it out. Actually, no cooking was needed. It's so easy that even a child could make this. Top marks for extreme convenience! I was puzzled by the instructions nonetheless. Whoever who wrote this doesn't know what he or she is writing about. It needed some deciphering so I read it once and realized it's a jelly. It seemed simple enough except that the tip given was quite confusing. What does it mean - hot drink recommended? Does the company mean it's best taken warm? But how could the jelly be eaten warm when it had to be refrigerated? Anyway, this is what happens when the company pays no attention ...

UPDATE: Please see this post for the latest update as we are no longer practising PVH.  Just the other day, I suddenly thought how lucky Nic and I are that we got to know PVH (Prana Violet Healing). I am thankful that we learnt this healing method and have not only used it on ourselves to get rid of minor aches and pains but Nic has also used PVH for more than a year now to heal others. PVH is possibly the most effective healing modality I know. There's no touch involved and you don't need surgery or special exercises or diet. It is simply healing oneself using the divine energy that is transmitted through the PVH healing wand which looks like a plastic cocktail stirrer. The PVH healing wand has done many wonderful healings for people with physical afflictions and spiritual disturbances (ghosts or spirit entities). Don't be shocked or afraid of hearing about spiritual disturbances. They exist and yes, they do affect people's health. Side story and true one too:...

I was over at Joanne's apartment two weeks ago when she asked if I'd like some kefir. I make my own kefir too at home but mine is just regular water kefir without a second fermentation and without fruits. Nic is such a purist that he refuses to add any fruits to his kefir. Joanne, on the other hand, is one who loves fruits in her kefir. She served me a mug of water kefir with chopped apple and hawthorn. It tasted really fizzy and sweet and I loved the texture and crunch of the apple. She told me she makes all sorts of fruit kefir drinks. Sometimes she would take the time to chop up fruits she finds in her fridge; other times, she'd pop into Jusco nearing closing time and buy two bottles of their concentrated fruit juice (guava for instance) and add this into her water kefir and ferment it in the fridge. I thought it was a smart idea to buy ready juices - I can't imagine pulling out my juicer and juicing fruits only to spend the next 20 minutes washing out the...