寫中文blog

中文部落格来啰！

我這个blog 寫了几年，越来赿死，已经没有当初刚寫部落那种熱誠，不知要寫什么，加上英文文法不强，越寫赿没feel, 所以就尝試用中文来寫，自己的母語嘛，应該可以的。

加油！

My Home Chef - Making of Fruit Tart

I never blog about my home chef before ... i.e., my elder son, Andrew.

Andrew decided to venture into culinary word, since young he loves cooking, it will be good for him to venture into this areas. I believe when a person is passionate with what he is doing, the chances of success will be higher when he takes it as a career.

Since he joined the diploma course in culinary school at KDU, I can see the passion of his cooking growing leap and bound. Almost everyday he will be cooking something in the kitchen. Especially, when exam is approaching, he will cook repeatedly with many attempts until meet his satisfaction.

This round, I heard the exam is relating to pastry ... so recently, I notice him working very hard to make pantry stuff ... such as fruits tart, quiche, pie, sweet roll etc ...

Wow,  Look like I have so much opportunities to try his pastries ... hehehe, although it may fulfill my craving for sweet stuff but I hope it doesn't increase my sugar level. I got to control myself, don't simply eat !!

Yesterday night, it was very late, and it already passed midnight at 2.15 am, I woke up and still see Andrew working hard to finish his fruits tart, I am very proud of him that he possess such a passion and determination to cook every pastry that he think it might come out from the exam. He will continue trying to do until it reaches his expectation. Almost every night, he will make one or two pastry desserts ... I am glad that he has such a passion. 

Just like to share some of the deserts he had made. they looked awesome, isn't it  ... 

 These tarts are not only look beautifully but yummy too ... I am proud of you, Andrew.

3 good things in life

While on my way home, I heard a radio program. The DJ was interviewing a guest (I really don't know whose that guy was) but his sharing caught my attention. He said in order to become a positive person, one need do have the heart of gratitude for everything in life, he suggested we should list down 3 good things that happen to us on daily basis before go to sleep. Then, slowly, the heart of gratitude will slowly change us to become a better and positive person.

So, let me take this blog to start my journaling to record 3 good things of today:

1. I think God has blessed me with good staff, as now two days from Hari Raya, many staff especially the Malay staff have started going on leave or in holiday moods already. But yet I have one Malay lady staff who is willing to stay back late to finish my work.

During fasting period, Malay staff can go off from work earlier at 5 pm every day, but this staff of mine, she willingly to stay back untl 7 pm to make sure I get the report. I thank God for having such good and delegated staff to help me.

2. Yes, summon is bad thing. If you broke the undang-undang on the road,  you will get fine. Over the years, I notice I have 3 summons haven't settled, one is caught talking on mobile phone while driving, one caught in speeding and one is traffic light offend. I estimated about RM750, so I procrastinate as it involves big sum.

Well, I am gratitude that now I am working with car rental company that has good rapport with PDRM, so I managed to get a good discounts. Thanks God I just need to pay RM210 for the 3 offends. So I settled today !

3. The last but not least, good things that happen to me is everyday when I come home, dinner is ready for me. I feel blessed because my wife doing it everyday without fail. It is not easy to do it everyday to cook for the whole family but yes ... I am graceful of my wife who is willing to do it.

Thanks God for the 3 good things today!!

Walaueh ... I see spider web

Ahyoi. I am seeing spider web in my blog ...

I even have the problem to recall what blog name of my own blog ... "Scary!!!"

I need to go back to blogger.com to find where my blog is ...

Finally I decided to use back my name ... despite I am changing blog name after another, I don't see it right and remember it. It just doesn't give me the sense of belonging.

Nevertheless, I still can't get back my previous blog name tzeemeng as someone had used the name, so, I have no choice but to use my full name. 

Well .. take it easy.. let start blogging again ...

What is effective people ?

I have been working as senior manager in an organization many years, I expect my staff to work efficiently and effectively. 

Well, am I doing the same ? Haha .. to be honest, I some how not live up to the expectation :)

What are the differences between efficiency and effectiveness ?

Efficiency - As an efficient person do thing fast and they are task achiever and get thing done quickly. They can complete project on time and generally they are organised and competent. 

Effectiveness - As an effective person, they do right task and project. Even though they are slower but they do the right things. 

Many a time, we are rushing to complete a task without looking into the subject matter in detail. In many of my experiences, due to the deadline and work pressure from bosses, we are rushing to get thing done with checking in detail, and ultimately the result is unfavorable or full of errors.

Same happen when we see a problem arising, without checking on the root cause of the problem, we come out with "Solution" that we think it works, but at the end, the result is unsatisfied and end up need to redo or more problem arising from the rush job.

Therefore, being efficiency is insufficient, we must also do think effectively.

I read a articles sharing what is an effectiveness personality :

1) Effective person has goal and they know the reason behind the job.
2) Effective person know how to plan and create a system on how to acheive the goal.
3) Effective person has strong believe system and they believe they can conquer all sort of difficuties.
4) Effective person do not waste time to worry about not successful but they focus in control.
5) Effective person willing to help others.

Finally, Effective person always focus in doing the RIGHT THING. They will pause and recheck their goal / action to ensure their path is moving forward to the right direction.

Where to stay in Taiwan?

A friend shared a link in facebook on some recommended accommodation in Taiwan. Being kiasu and afraid I would lost the link (As you know facebook posts keep replacing with the new one, you couldn't find it after a while), I decided to place the link in my blog so that I can refer to it easily in the future. 

Well, it is not a bad choice if you wish to keep some links to avoid missing. Hahaha!!

http://tw.gigacircle.com/1305271-1

Love the design ... at least my whole family can stay in together :)

By the way, if you come across my post here, you may check out this website where to get decent and affordable accommodation in Taiwan. I am not sure how good are they but do write to me if you find anything nice.

Cheer!!

Cheese Souffle Recipie ... feel craving for it now!!

Suddenly I felt like having a cheese souffle ...

... and what better to get the right recipes from YouTube, you will find many cooking video clips in YouTube. All you need to do is to find one that you feel comfortable, then follow and do it yourself.

 INGREDIENTS IN THIS DISH:

4 Large Eggs (Separated, at room temperature)
1/2 Cup of Dry Breadcrumbs (Store Bought)
30g of Butter (plus extra, melted, for brushing)
1/4 Cup of Plain Flour
1 1/4 Cups of Milk
2 Cups of Grated Cheddar Cheese
2 Teaspoons of Dijon Mustard
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
Salt and Pepper

Preparation Time: About 20 minutes
Cooking Time: About 10 minutes

I have seen a few videos, but I like this one most because it is not sweet and is kind of savory taste, that is what I like most.

 



 

Thank to OnePotChefShow ... 

Can't wait to try .. hahahaha

A 37-Years Seperation

What is 37-years mean to you? It is indeed a very long duration for most people. Generally, human live about 70 years old averagely, and 37 years are more than half.

After 37 years, I finally reunion with some of my old classmates during my primary school time. I knew them since standard one, about 43 years ago, ever since our graduated from primary school in 1977,  I never see them at all. 

Time sometime is very strange, while everyone is staying around KL, especially a few stayed near my area,  but we never notice and meet up, not a single time. Except just one friend who is still in touch, however, suddenly, through this friend that I knew, I have been invited to a WeChat group...

Woow!! This is awesome, in the chat group, I meet back all my long lost touched classmates again, there are 18 of them being added into the group and the number is increasing. My friends are trying very hard to trace back all those long lost touched classmates. In the group, most of us are meeting up first time ever since we were graduated. I couldn't recall some of their names ... 

Time is like a wash detergent, it washed away many things, good or bad. Many of my childhood memories had watched away and leave with minor memories in broken pieces, but after chatting for a while, more and more pieces of my memories flashed back in my mind.

The WeChat's room has becoming my favorite place to hang around, I enjoy reading conversations between classmates. Mostly still communicate in mandarin, but I try my best to use my "half pass six" mandarin to communicate with them too. I felt close and warms again for using back my mother tongue to communicate. Since started working life, I seldom using Mandarin. But a after a while, I feel my Mandarin improved a lot.

In the group, there are a few outspoken ones, very talented and great command of mandarin. Excellent writing skill and do create many funny and entertaining conversations, love it !!.. 

Some are very touching and emotional too.

I just enjoy each other company, sometime friendship does not necessary disappeared over period of time, if time is right, it is like wine, it becoming more smooth over period of time. I guess our friendships are like that loh.

Thank to 慧丽, 长发，彬龙, 建昌 等等

You guys are awesome. They have taken efforts to scan this memorable photos in high resolution and take efforts to put our names and reconnect us back ....

 

Next, I am looking forward for an old classmate get-together, I can't wait to see them in person.Hahaha!!Yeah!!

Reality of Fact

Two days ago, I have gone through a two-day intensive training on positive problem solving skill. It was tiring as discussion continue for hours without stop. After the whole session, I was not only physically tired but also mentally exhausted. Nevertheless, I was very excited and impressed with the tools and technique on problem solving solution.

So, I wanted to use this problem solving technique with my son to solve his study problem. It always our concerns over his study. Knowing him very playful but he is going to face his SPM examination by the end of the year, anxieties was started building up as time approaches and stress level gone up not only himself but we as parent too. 

So, I checked with him about the recent exam result, off course not in satisfactory. Certain subjects were even in danger zone of below passing mark. it becomes alarming ....

I called a family meeting to discuss this issue, hoping this more scientific approaches can solve the problem.

Step 1 - Clarify the Problem

First, I need to identify what is the problem. Clarify problem is important, we don't want to simply guess what is the problem, it may tackle wrongly. After much deliberation (normally we can use 5W1H to help), we all agreed that the problem is "Problem having poor result in examination".

Step 2 - Facts Finding - Desire Vs Current

After we have the problem statement, second step is to do fact finding. We something assume without checking on facts. So, I was using the "comparison table of desire vs current status". Off course, after the finding, I have to face the reality, the variance of meeting expected results were too much, the gap is so wide... Hai~~~ 

It is like "wacking" on my head ... (as father, I was thinking my son study was okay ... but after fact finding, I then realized, is not okay at all ... or dear!!)

 

Step 3 - Zooming in Critical Areas

So, we move to 3rd step, to zone in the critical areas. 

But how ? 

So many areas affecting may cause the problem. I use the radar diagram to help me. This diagram is to help me finding critical area. There are many other tools such as flow chart analysis and so on, but I think the radar diagram use lesser time and more simplified to use in my situation.

So I divided into Effort of Study, Teacher Quality, Parent Encouragement, Leisure Time (such as handphone, games, tv etc). Actually can have more area, but for this case, 4 areas are sufficient.

First, I need to set"what is I wish ......." For example, I wish to use how much percentage of efforts in study ... my son said, 80% ..... then I asked him, how much percentage you have used to study ... he told me 20%.

(shock!!!)

Anyway, after asking repeatedly question in the 4 areas ... the radar diagram show me this:

The greatest gap differences is the critical areas .... and turn up to be his study efforts.... oh dear !!

At least I have found out the critical area.

Step 4 - Finding out the actual root cause 

What is the "main killer" that cause my son efforts of study was to low ?

I decided to use the Inter-relationship diagram to help me to find the killer who cause why my son has low efforts in study. I started to give all family members 8 pieces of small paper and request everyone list down one possible cause in each paper. Afterthat, we sort out those possible causes together according to their nature. Initial, it has quiet a lot, but then we start grouping in similar form. Then we picked up the highest 6 possible causes to analysis.

1) Spent too much time in h/phone, computer & games

2) No mood to study

3) Teacher do not know how to teach

4) Parent

5) Physical Tired

6) Study environment in house

So, by looking at it, who is the real "Killer"?

Outright, from the result (highest number of paper), everyone in the family think that spending too much times in hand phone, computer and games was the killer that kill my son effort in study. 

(at the time, I thought so ......)

Then I continue to use the IR Diagram to decode the results.

To do the IR diagram, I have to do relationship finding using clockwise. We have to ask ourselves, is the "handphone" and "no mood" have any connection that affect the study effort low? Everyone voice out... either yes or not, if yes, why? If no, why? If they have connection, draw a line between the two, then asked another question, which one is affecting which? Will "handphone" affect  "no mood" or vice verse? Everyone has to discuss their points of view, picked the correct answer and draw an arrow to indicate who affect who. In this example, it is "no mood" that influence "handphone". It is  because my son no mood in study, you will think to play more handphone/games....

Then we do another establishment of relationship between "handphone" and "teacher" ...... the list go on and on until complete the whole circle.

After our family "playing" this games, we summarized the result by establish how many IN and how many OUT for each causes. IN represent the victim and OUT represent as killer. The highest score in IN, is the worst victim and the highest score in OUT, is the Master KILLER!!!!

OH MY GOSH!!

We PARENT turn out to be responsible for my son low efforts of study!! Honestly, my wife suddenly cannot accept the fact, because she believe she has done a good job in children education .... off course I have to dis-fuss the situation a bit. Sometime, we have blind spots in life, we thought everything was okay, but maybe, we did not realize it is not as good as we think. The diagram clearly shown the killer is the Parent, we have to admit the fact we did not do good enough, then we then can open up for correction and improvement.

The analysis is good because it helps us to focus on the right cause. Form the look, blaming my son low effects of study because he has playing too much of handphone games etc may sound correct, but is it the root cause ? What cause him playing it ? Who bought all these gadgets for him? Who explore all these games in their young age ? 

We, parent, isn't it ?

We are the root cause!!

Hai~~ is a "pluak" on the face

We are not putting sufficient efforts in helping our son in study... we only know how to scold him for not study, always play games lah .......... etc ...

Step 5 - Possible Solution - Evaluate Solution - Finalized Solution

Step 6 - Measurement Indicator (setting up Lead and Lag Indicator)

Step 7 - Action

We did not manage to complete step 5 to 7 due to limited time. Nevertheless, ultimately, we have recognized Parent is the main influential for our son success. We have to set our next agenda for our family meeting, i.e., is to identify solution to rectify the problem.

I am grateful for what I had learned in work and able to bring it back my home to share with my family. Many times, we are so professional when worked, but we hardly use some of those skills to help our family. I am also happy for my son take it positively. His action told me he wanted to improve further in his study. ... 

I guess, tomorrow, mummy will start working with him to form his study plan.

Thank God!! Praise Him! Is never too late to take action now.   

Find something nice - Slideshare

Lately I like to visit slideshare.com. This is a website that allow people post and share their PowerPoint presentation. I called it slides-share.

You may get many information in various subjects / topic, these are the information uploaded by its members. The amounts of knowledge are tremendous and you can learn so much from all these presentation. Some of them are beautiful done. I have learned how to make beautiful presentation and it indeed had helped me a lot in work.

Off course, not every slide-share are useful but if you select carefully, you may find a lot of treasures and surprises.

I love the part that the slide-shares are being feature in various selection such as "Most liked", "Most popular", "Most feature" etc ... It can help you to identify the useful and good slides easily. 

Lately I come a cross a lovely slideshare, below is the link for your enjoyment.

 

Trust me – this is important! from Christof Braun

source :slideshare.com

A Sip Of Happiness

I decided again to change the website name to a sip of happiness. I have been searching for a name for my blog that satisfy me but never ... but I guess this one is alright.

I guess human being is hard to please. Normally, after getting something, we want some more.

That is why many unhappy people around. I read an article, it said, happiness is a choice that happy people choose. I do agree but is hard to do. Our emotions are easily affected by someone or something that happen in life.

Life is always unfair, unless you are accepting it as a fact, you will never be happy. Life will not always goes your way, but as long as you have done your best, even it doesn't go your way, let it go and you can still choose to be happy.

Okay ... 

Believe in yourself, do your best and be happy.

A joyful seller. I can sense a true happiness in her.