Longing

Occasionally I do miss it.

Being at work, cutting up patients and sewing them back together - roaming the quiet corridors when I am oncall reviewing cases.

Yesterday I was trying to make chek meks out of this bag of keledeks I got while on holiday in Johor. Ma had warned me that they aren't suitable for that purpose, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway and of course it was an epic fail. Despite pouring in about half a bag of flour, it was still too mushy to be shaped. Trying to air fry it didn't help either, I guess.

So as I looked at the big lump of keledek-flour mix, despair came over me. Why oh why did I leave something that I am good at and do something I thought (but in reality am not) I am?

*sigh*

But then, I get phonecalls from my friends and they tell me how stressed they are with presentations and thesis preparation and I suddenly feel all better again. I may have to face all that in 4 months time but for the time being, I am just going to lie back and relax and figure out the secret to fantastic chek meks (preferably air fried ones).

It may be wonderful.....

...but it doesn't fry cucur udangs, no sirree.

I recently acquired this gadget which is supposed to let me eat fried food guilt free (not that I ever felt much guilt, anyway) as it claims to use 80% less oil or something like that.



It complements my kitchen well, with its black sleek outer shell. The physics is that, it circulates hot air which cooks your food and since most food has natural oil, the air fryer uses this oil in order to, well, fry. It is heaven sent for people who love buying and stocking up on frozen kuihs and Ayamas drummets. Not only do you not use any oil, but excess oil gets removed as well!

I have been using it quite a lot in my little housewife adventures but I have to admit, it won't fry a decent cucur udang nor a chek mek molek but I still haven't given up on that so watch this space!

My Bree Adventures

We have both agreed that we wouldn't be going to any Pasar Ramadhan if we can help it. It is only during Ramadhan that suddenly everyone feels they can be the next Masterchef and open up a stall. Most of the time the food would lack taste and often, we would end up with nearly spoiled items.

In the past, and I am embarrased to admit to this - Abg would be the one waking up to prepare sahur. Since he is his own boss and doesn't have a punchcard, whereas I would have to drive to work at 7 - I figured it's only fair that he wakes up early because he could always have a lie in after Subuh. Fair, yes?

So, now that I am on unpaid leave, Abg has gleefully left the job of preparing sahur unto me. Which I have wholeheartedly embraced. Thankfully Abg isn't choosy about what I feed him and thankfully too that I am a rather decent cook.

I have been cooking everyday since the beginning of Ramadhan and enjoying every single minute of it. It has been chicken soup, keli bakar, baked macaroni and fried kuey teow complete with homemade pickled chillies, just to name a few.

Perhaps I would be bored and be begging for a trip to the Pasar Ramadhan later on but for the time being, here's to my Bree adventures!

Hiatus

I remember back when I was a giggling medical student and in between practising examining the cardiovascular system, talking to my mates Ching Yin and Chantal - about how all I really wanted to do in life is to be a housewife and take care of my family.

I proceeded to become a doctor and went on to work; I had just completed my 9th year in service late last year. I love working, yet time and time again, I would dream of being Bree (from Desperate Housewives). I would go to Tesco and linger at the the household products aisle and scrutinise the merits of the different cleaning material. I look at recipes and wish I could whip up a batch of scrumpilicious cupcakes, on top of the ayam percik and kerabu pucuk paku for dinner.

Last year I became unsettled. Work, if you could call it that (I was doing attachments at that time) became such a chore. I didn't look forward to getting up and driving to where I was attached to. I was grumpy and unhappy.

So, after much discussion with Abg, I decided to take a short break from my Masters and work. I spoke to my HOD about deferment of my training programme. I had to take a long look at my financial status to see if I can afford taking time off work. Having acquired all those properties amounted to a considerable paycut and I had to make sure that my savings could cover that. Thankfully I had a decent amount tucked away which made my decision so much easier.

It has been a month now and I have never been happier. Setting up home has taken the majority of my time; being away from work gave me time to make countless trips to textile shops to choose the right colour scheme for the soft finishings. I sewed all the curtains in the living area and the master bedroom and learnt to make cushion covers. Even as I was preparing to go to sleep, I was mentally arranging my tableware in the various drawers and shelves.

The only downside to being a housewife was being so lonely during the day. I could talk to my cats but one-way conversation isn't much fun.

But I certainly do not miss not being oncall, taking 50 phone calls from junior MOs who only wanted me to check whether they read the xrays correctly. Bah. Isn't that what your ED/A&E Specialists are for? MO A&E nak jadi polis trafik so pakar korang ketua polis trafik lah?

I do miss being in the OT though and hope my suturing skills haven't rotted by the time I get back.

Till then, here's to taking breaks and loving it.