Running In The Family - Part 1
You may have known of or read of famous families of politicians, evangelists, singers, actors or soccer players. Or you may know friends who has a family of talented people. Like the Quah family in Singapore soccer where it is easier to name the very few who was not into soccer. Some may be famous, others could be notorious, like a family of gamblers or alcoholics. Regardless, this is what they call "running in the family". What runs in your family? Other than noses that run and feet that smells (sshouldn't it be the other way around?). Has this got to do with your DNA?
Let Level 42 warm you up with Running In The Family:
The person who keeps the family together is very often the mother for she is also the patriarch of the family no matter how great the father is. Mum is the glue that keeps everyone together.
Mum
Browse through my tribute to all mothers previously- http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2010/05/mother.html.
Mum like many mothers of her time is a housewife where today we give the name of a homemaker. All her sisters can cook, in fact an uncle could whip a mean wok of mee goreng and others. All aunties and my mum led by granny would whip up a storm each weekend at the sprawling kitchen with elaborate dishes for dinner with different meat,soup, vegetables,etc.
Mum like many mothers of her time is a housewife where today we give the name of a homemaker. All her sisters can cook, in fact an uncle could whip a mean wok of mee goreng and others. All aunties and my mum led by granny would whip up a storm each weekend at the sprawling kitchen with elaborate dishes for dinner with different meat,soup, vegetables,etc.
I remembered mum's eldest sister did very good chicken rice and it was her introduction that got me intrigued by the fragrant rice. Another aunt baked great marble cakes, probably the best I have ever tasted. They would also combine their efforts when making dumplings during festivals and cookies during Lunar New Year. At other times, they do nonya kueh and many more. Those were the days I remembered fondly.
When we were young, food was mainly home cooked and healthy but at times, we didn't have time to eat and wasted chances of tasting mum's food prepared with love, nourishment, great pains and culinary skill. Mum would prepare food and hardly slept for a few days before the Lunar New Year and all relatives and some friends would all come over for a feast. She would have made the fish maw/meatball soup, cabbage/tang hoon, braised duck/pork, chicken curry and many more. Above all the delicious stuffs, her curry made everyone craving for more. This is not what I think but what everyone has said singing her praises. Those who think that Massaman curry is the world's best curry probably does not know what real curry tastes like in the first place or are Americans or Europeans who prefer them milder, less spicy and whatever and certainly have not tasted mum's curry! I say this knowing many people who say their mum makes good curry and have tried so many curries everywhere.
It is a secret recipe honed from years of practice with dad helping with the grinding and mixture of the spices and other ingredients. A combination of passion and love. She does fish, squid, prawn curries too. If I had been more of an entrepreneur, I could have engaged everyone and start a food business and called ourselves "Storm Warrior Sisters' Kitchen" and then we will whip up a storm. Success will be sure and swift and then we will open a cannery, export them foodstuffs, go public then international with IPO. I am a dreamer and was told that dreamers are always great.
Mum could do anything, I mean she does stupendous "char siew" where even our most discerning taste buds among family members could not fault and earned more praises. She could taste something at a restaurant and she knew how to innovate and create.
Her Nasi Lemak "kuning" fish are yummy.
Now Chili in any style through her own creation and interpretation is also her forte. Nothing you buy from the shelves can be equal. That is why I can't really enjoy a meal thoroughly without chili. I was born and bred with it. Mum would feed the nation if she has to. She has to be in semi-retirement after working so hard bringing us up for so many years.
Here is mum with Tag Heuer moon glasses! Cool! 黑色 会 老大！Please do not tell her I wrote this for she will start whipping up a storm. You see all mothers think that their children are babies even if their children are 70.
Dad
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2010/06/tribute-to-fathers.html
If Michael Jordan were His Royal Airness then my dad is His Royal Shutterness. Dad used to play a mean game of badminton but I didn't know till later but it was he who brought me fishing where I got hooked - hook, line and sinker back then and it was he who introduced me to the world of hi-fi - turn-tables, cassette decks, tuners, amplifiers and most of all speakers. But there was one passion that he scaled his pinnacle - photography. Maybe I can direct a photo-shoot but I will fumble with an idiot-proofed camera that is why not every movie director can be an actor and give themselves only cameo appearances.
FRPS (Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society) The Royal Society was founded in 1853 to promote art and science of photography. Fellowship is the highest distinction of the Royal Photographic Society and recognised original work and outstanding ability in a specialist field. Not many have it those days but dad achieved it a long time ago. You have to be really very good.
His passion and works have been put up for display in exhibitions on several occasions at Suntec City and Raffles City, etc.
These are a few examples. He could make flowers speak to you when David Copperfield could only make them disappear.
A moment in time at a certain speed of light.
May a thousand flowers bloom for you!
Or he could make them dance.
He could capture a grimace or a smile breaking out at the perfect moment just when the planets and the stars align and in a straight line. Swirling koi with a deft touch. He developed this into a painting for me which I hung at home.
The arts are very important. It is an artistic expression which breathes life. A conversation, a passion, a thought, an interpretation. I could gaze at them and imagine it to be a freeze frame and look at it from this point and venture backwards, going back to a time and place. Well, you can't get through to the father except through the son.
He would get invitation overseas to be a guest judge in their photo competition.
Or giving pointers.
He has won many awards for his works and was a grand prize winner representing Singapore at international competitions.
A memento as guest judge.
Well what about me? I am the black sheep and the dark horse of the family. Half sheep half horse but all dark. Do I have the wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. When I grow up I will be a stallion! This is not all but only half-time break. More to come.
To Be Continued.....
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