Another Blog : Laugh and Be Healthy

April 2006

Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Laugh and be Healthy

Since so many people have requested me for my personal recipes, I have decided to set up a blog on "laughter and health". Things that promote good health.... good food, joy, attitudes, etc.

I always enjoy talking to my eldest sister, Lee Lee. She is a very well read lady and would often share with me articles and information which she has gathered from books, magazines, etc.

Sister told me that laughter helps to clean out body toxins. It helps to build up the body immune system so that when a person laughs and is happy, he is able to fight sicknesses and diseases.

If readers would like to contribute articles and recipes, they are most welcome to write to me via email and I will post the articles in this blog.

Choo Choo Train :-)

posted by The Oriental Express | 7:30 PM | 0 comments

Hi my dear readers,

I have started another blog : Laugh and Be Healthy and hope to post jokes, recipes, etc. under this blog. Can you believe it? I managed to handle the computer aspect of this blog on my own! The first time I did without help! For some of you mechanically adroit people, this is "kaching putih" or "peanuts" as they like to say in our country, but to me, it was quite an achievement, and I feel so ooo oooooo proud of my little feat! However, I am stuck now... don't know how to link it to the main blog of Oriental Express. Will have to write to my buddy Richard Tam for help again. Hope he will "tahan" or bear with me. Richard would probably tell you that I am one of the most mechanically helpless persons he has evercome across since his undergraduate days at the University of Alberta, and 3 decades later, I am still as helpless as ever! However, my Indian customers, are surprised I could still remember the Hindi movie, "Haathi Mere Sathi" in such great details and this movie was shown 35 years ago! I guess the Creator has given all of us different talents and hence make us all dependant on one another! C'est la vie! For all the help that Richard has given me, I will be more than happy to cook him a lovely dinner of our local gourmet dishes of char koay teow, Nonya curry chicken, fried lice oops I mean fried rice, etc. etc.

Hence, please feel free to email me jokes, recipes, etc. so that I can post on this blog. After all, life is all about sharing..... it only takes a spark to get a fire going.....

Choo Choo Train :-)

The above blog is http://choochookam.blogspot.com
My email is :kamlette@gmail.com

Parking Idiots, Watch Out!

Soh Yah, one of my ex-customers of Rialto Italian Cuisine, often sends me interesting emails. Her latest email mentioned about a blog created by someome who is concerned about the inconsideration of car drivers who park their cars anyway and anyhow they like! Please look into http://parkingidiots.blogspot.com

Once I parked my little Fiat Uno at the Copthorne King's Hotel at Havelock Road. After lunch, I was furious when I found a white Mercedes had been parked so close to my car that I could not even quite open the door. Even if had to deflate myself by 30kg, I would still not be able to enter by the driver's entrance. In the end I had no alternative but to enter by the passenger's door. If I had known of the existence of the blog for parking idiots, I would have taken a photo. However, I left a piece of paper on the screen of the Mercedes with the words, "Dear Driver of this Huge Mercedes, you have a very big car but a very tiny brain. As such, you only deserve a ride a bicyle!"

Hence, do be careful how you park your cars for Big Brother is watching you. You would not like to see your car featured in the blog which has been set up by one responsible, creative resident in Singapore.

Gan Chau :-)

The Unforgettable Khar-Kiak Man

Just as I came out of the Overseas United Bank at Orchard Road, I noticed a young man holding on to a metal walking bar. With saliva drooling due to his somewhat twisted and contorted face, he was coercing passersby to buy some lottery tickets from him. I decided to give him a $2 note. Just as I was about to cross the street, I spotted a $2 note on the floor. I picked it up.

When I was about to take the escalator at Sommerset MRT I saw a man in a white T-shirt. He was juggling three tennis balls, and at the same time playing his harmonica to the rhytmn made by a pair of wooden clogs or what is called khar-kiak in Hokkien dialect. The almost balding busker was playing Jambalaya. I smiled and decided to put the $2 I picked up into the busker's stainless steel kettle for donation.

When the elderly man took a break, he realised I was smiling and encouraged, he said in Mandarin, "Just now I performed and I enjoy performing.!" I told him he was very good and entertaining and asked him for his name. "Gn Kok Lin", he said and pointed to his paraphernalia of two framed up photos taken of him and some write up in Chinese. He had a mini totem pole which had a sticker of the Goddess of Mercy. Mr. Gn also told me proudly that he had been asked to perform in Tan Pin Pin's short film, Singapore GaGa, a documentary featuring the various sounds of our little island nation. "Ok. I better continue performing now", and he took his harmonica and started throwing the tennis balls into the air.

Soon, more people gathered round to watch his performance and some put in donations into his kettle. During his break again, I asked him about his family. "I live alone in a small flat in Chinatown, as my wife and daughter had left me. I miss them but what to do? Life goes on and I hope to marry again. Hope to find a young and pretty lady... you know", he smiled. "When I'm not performing, I'm at home listening to music from the radio or watching TV. Hope to find my ideal woman to keep me company and I'm confident of finding her", said the gutsy busker with an air of confidence.

I left the place and suddenly felt very happy. Just as I reached the end of the escalator, I found another $2 note! When I reached my apartment, I took my harmonica and borrowed my flatmate's tennis balls and with my wooden clogs I tried to imitate Gn Kok Lin. It was not easy doing three things at one time. My tennis balls kept dropping as I could not co-ordinate my movements. After a while, I decided to play on the piano instead. I felt so much richer for the experience of having watched a humble, elderly man bringing joy to pedestrians with his creative performance. Music has power to soothe many a stressed and overworked Singaporean, and I am definitely one of them.

Thanks, Mr. Gn for reminding me what life is all about. It is about being resilient, truthful, simple and giving for it is in giving that one receives even more abundantly.

Gan Chau :-)