Bak kut teh & fried rice

肉骨茶在馬來西亞已是華人普遍的食物之一，吃肉骨茶者都會要一碗白飯或芋頭飯。

我煮了肉骨茶及炒飯，這樣的組合會是怎樣的呢？

Bak kut teh (herbs soup with pork) is a popular food for Chinese-Malaysians. Most people eat bak kut teh with either white rice or yam/taro rice.

I cooked bak kuk teh and fried rice, how will it be, eating these together?

You are lucky...

這裡的佛光山寺年初調換了主持法師，台灣女法師要處理寺務等也須要信眾的幫忙，有時詢問Steve一些事也請Steve幫忙電腦的設置等，她幾次和Steve談說她覺得亞洲人來到美國，尤其是女性，很多事會較困難，然后她向着我說，“你很幸運，嫁的是美國人！” 我每次微笑回應她。她說第一次時，我還蠻得意的，但她說了幾次，我心裡就覺得不是滋味… 在檳城時有如剛強‘大女人’，來到美國我好像變成依附‘小女人’了！
At the beginning of the year, the Fo Guang San temple here changed to a new venerable, who is a Taiwanese nun. She has to manage a lot of temple issues and needs the members there to help out. Sometimes she asks Steve for some information, and he also helps with their computers or equipment set up. She complained several time that as an Asian people, especially female, it is hard to deal with some maintenance issues in the USA. Then she talked to me, “You are lucky, you married an American!” I always smiled in response to her. I felt proud when she said it the first time, but after she mentioned it several times, I felt something was ‘wrong’… I was a strong woman while I was in Penang, but I changed and became a dependent woman after coming to the USA!

To win $$$$$$$

每次看那些參加電視節目而得獎金的人，我的眼睛都是$$$$$$$。我對Steve說，“不如你也去參加贏獎金！” “No!” “為什麼不？” “我不想在這麼多人的電視機螢幕出現。”

嗯…Steve切實是非常害羞的人，我們两次在檳城華人新年文化節慶被記者看上，要訪問Steve，他一看到那攝影人拿着錄影機過來，他馬上搖頭拒絕！有機會得贏獎金的都不要了，更何況只是訪問。

而且他也很不喜歡當佛光山的義賣銷售義工，“為什麼你這麼害羞接近陌生人？” “就是因為害羞，所以我之前都没有女朋友。” “那你第一次到檳城與我見面，一定是要很大的勇氣！”

Every time my eyes are like $$$$$$$ when I see contestants win money on TV shows. I said to Steve, “How about you go to this show to win some money!” “No!” “Why not?” “I don’t want to be in front of people on TV.”

Mmm….Steve really is a very shy person. Twice we have been asked by reporters when we were at Chinese New Year celebrations in Penang. The reporter wanted to interview Steve, but when Steve saw the video cameraman, he shook his head and refused! He doesn’t even want to go on TV shows that have a chance to win money, so these media interviews have no chance to get him at all.

He also didn’t like being a sales volunteer at the Fo Guang Shan booth. “Why are you shy to approach strangers?” “That’s why I didn’t have a girlfriend before, because I am too shy.” “But you were brave enough that you came to Penang to meet me!”

The water drop is dancing

我們看到植物園的荷葉已冒得高高的，荷花也開始蠢蠢欲動… 水珠在荷葉上乘涼兜風。咦！怎麼這水珠竟然跳起舞來了！你曾見過嗎？

魚的咀張得比女孩的拳頭還大！荷花開得比我的臉還大！

我想藝術家喜歡用抽象詮釋其作品…你看得出這些塑像的玄意嗎？

At the botanical garden, we saw these lotus leaves growing very tall. The lotus flowers trying to pop out from a bud…. The water drop is riding on the leaf. Ahh! It’s so amazing, this water drop is dancing! Have you seen that before?

The fish opens its mouth, it’s bigger than the girl’s fist! The lotus has a big flower, it’s bigger than my face!

I think some artists like to make abstract articles…. Do you get the profound meanings of these sculptures?

Healing

FA寫了一篇文章 – “母親”，其中一段﹕感恩自己有幸在梦中与妈妈重新修补以往恶劣的关系，治疗内心那曾经失落的创伤。

我也願與你們分享﹕

我未認識Steve之前，我對自己為何遲遲没遇上真爱，一直是心中的納悶，我參加各類不同的心靈成長課程及團体治療，經多方面的自我探索，但我不記得從那時起警覺到，其實我對父母他們没有很亲密的關係，一直耿耿於内心深處，我每次看我的家庭圖，回憶父母冷戰多年至到老死。我知道父母是爱我們但從没表達，我不認為我的家庭很溫馨（信念）。但就在一次的團体治療中，我的内在與過世了的父母聯接，我冥想我原諒父親和母親，並在另一團体治療的催眠環節時見到父母很好的在一起並对我笑着说…

我想那過程已讓我釋放内心的结及感覺到是被愛的！

在我們的成長過程中，我們不知不覺吸收了很多外在情境或經驗並轉化成為自己的信念！但有些人會認為何必再去探索沉澱已久的渣，但往往信念就是影響行為及情緒！那你不覺得心靈的療愈是很重要的嗎？

A friend, FA wrote a Chinese article, titled “Mother”. One of the sentences (I translated it into English): “I appreciate that I was lucky enough to have a dream in which I met my mother. We repaired our previous bad relationship during the dream, and it healed the sense of loss that I felt.”

I would like to share mine also:

Before I met Steve, I always wondered why I still hadn’t met a true love. I attended several self-development workshops and group therapy. I explored and though I do not remember which workshop it was, I became aware of my inner doubts about my parents, because they didn’t have a good relationship with each other. They were in a cold war for many years before they died. I knew my parents loved us but never expressed it, so I never thought I had a very harmonious family (my belief). So, when I was in a group therapy workshop; I had an inner connection with my late parents and I forgive each of them. And in a hypnosis session of a workshop, I met my late parents, and they came together, smiling, and talked to me…

I think that process released my inner doubts and I felt loved!

During our growing, we are not aware but we absorb a lot of the issues and experiences surrounding us. We turn all of these into our beliefs! However, some people might wonder why we need to explore those issues, already deep inside for many years. In fact, beliefs always influence our behaviors and emotions ! Don’t you think healing is important for life?

Honey oat bread

Steve喜歡烘焙，但很久没為我做點東西了，我就催他做麵包，他找了食譜后問我，蜜糖麥麵包如何？

四小時后出來的麵包，很有賣相吧！

有時候想，我有點過份，Steve工作回來，我又要他做這做那，前星期要他做雪糕，現在要他做麵包… 可是誰叫他每次回家一定問，我們要做什么？

Steve likes making pastries and baking but he has not made anything for me for a long time. So I wanted him to make bread. He found his recipe books and asked me, how about making honey oat bread?

After four hours, we saw the bread come out nicely!

Sometimes I felt guilty that Steve would come back home from work and I wanted him do this and that. Two weeks ago, he made ice-cream and now he made bread…. That was because he always asks me when he gets back home, what do we want to do?

Different customs

我和Steve在美国正式注册结婚已一年了，想起我们的注册结婚是没有任何仪式时，觉得有点好笑！

我们是不同国家和种族的人，华人的结婚习俗是由男方策划，我期待我的新郎办婚礼来迎娶我的，但我知道我的新郎是外国人，我总不能要他來策划，所以我们在槟城的佛教及华人风俗结婚的仪式就由我一手策划。

來到美国，我以为若要进行结婚仪式，也应是男方策划，所以我从没有任何意见，后来才知道原来这儿的结婚为理都是由女方策划，新郎只须适时出现！

Steve and I just celebrated the anniversary of officially registered wedding. When we recalled back to the time we registered without any ceremony, we thought it was very funny!

We are different nationalities and races. For Chinese customs, the groom's family needs to plan the wedding, so I expected and hoped my groom would plan the wedding. But I knew my groom is a westerner, so I couldn’t ask him to plan it. Thus, I planned our Buddhist & Chinese culture ceremony wedding in Penang.

When I was here, I thought the wedding ceremony was also planned by the groom. Thus, I never had any comments about having a ceremony. After living here a while, I learned that the wedding is planned by the bride’s family; the groom just needs to know when he should show up!

Aware of it

有人認為現今的人有很多精神狀况病症、身體疾病，其中一項因素是來自壓力！我覺得是有些 根据…

舉我自己的例子，我之前雖有白髮，但不是多到有整堆的，自從來美國之后，白髮不請自來，不斷的停歇，越聚越熱鬧。我一直怀疑為何會突然這麼多白髮了，也許是我還不承認老。

一年后，我想起 “白髮魔女” 的故事，她因誤會認為愛人出賣她，徹底對情愛轉成恨、憤怒、失望…一夜之間美髮變成白髮。雖然這是小說，但我相信，當人在承受極大或突如其來的壓力時，其意識卻没能認知或無法承受時，身體的某部份就會承擔起那些壓力…

我雖然很理智的認為我是會很快適應人生的轉變，但我的潛意識可能還没如意識的‘步伐’ 快速，因此由我的頭髮來承擔內在的壓力了！白髮是否能自然再轉為黑髮呢？我不知道！但我感激它在提醒我。

你相信這点嗎？當你身心有任何不適時，不要忽略或拖延，請即檢視或找專人帮忙處理。

Someone said that one of the reasons many people have mental illness or physical diseases in this modern century is from stress! I think there is some truth in this statement…

Let’s use one of my examples. I had white hairs but not many that were very obvious. Since I moved to the USA, the white hairs came without my invitation; they haven’t stopped coming and coming, more and more. I always wondered why suddenly there are many; perhaps I don’t want to admit I am old.

A year later, I remembered the story ‘The bride with white hair’. The bride thought her groom had betrayed her and she totally shifted love to hate, anger, disappointed… Just at that moment, her beautiful hair changed to white. It was from a novel, but I believed…if a person suddenly has an extreme issue or stress, and her/his consciousness still couldn’t recognize or endure it, a part of the body might take on that stress…

Even though my rational thought says it should be fast and easy to adjust to my change in life, my subconscious is not as fast as my mind ‘pace’. That might be my hairs undertaking the stress! Will the white hair change to black hair naturally? I don’t know! However, I am grateful for my white hair; they wanted me to be aware.

Do you believe that? If you feel your body or mind has something that is not well, don’t ignore it or delay. Please be aware or see someone who can help you up.

Sincerity

人類似乎已不斷在提倡環保，我不認為我做得很多，不過我常很節省用纸巾、纸張，用盡两面纸…

話說我结婚宴請親朋戚友，設宴的餐館（檳城）没提供结婚請帖（有些餐館有提供），自找印刷店或買請帖都不便宜，我覺得請帖也不過是一張卡，並不相等於邀請的誠意，所以我用最省資源最便利的e-mail邀請朋友和同事，若没e-mail者，我就用手電話簡訊… 然而可能還是會讓某些人覺得不正式、没誠意，完全不回應者有之。

嗯…有時候想省也不行！

When the roles were reversed

你看過電影裡，丈夫要出門去工作了，妻子送他到門口，抱一抱，吻一吻，说 I love you, bye-bye，然后丈夫工作去了，妻子在家做家事…丈夫在工作閑餘打一通電話给妻子…傍晚丈夫回來了，妻子迎接他，又吻一吻的…這類的影幕嗎？那是電影啦… 我可没想到自從和Steve過婚姻的生活，我們時常有這情景。那不是電影呵！

這天，Steve的腳踝酸痛，不想去上班，而我卻已约了TLing到她們的圖書館義工，我要出門去時，Steve送我到門口，及像每次的情况，但這次角色對換了… 我的感覺很不一樣，我們倆人都不禁大笑！

In a movie about a husband ready to go to work and a wife goes to the door with him, they have a hug, kiss and say: I love you, bye-bye. Then he goes off to work and she stays at home…. He gives her a call while working…. He comes back home in the evening, and she welcomes him and they have a kiss again…. Have you seen these scenes in movies? Those were just in movies though…. I never thought about it, but since Steve and I got married, we have these scenes in our life. These were not a movie!

One day, Steve’s feet were very sore, and he didn’t want to go to work. I already promised TLing that I wanted to volunteer in their library. When I was ready to go out, Steve came with me to the door, and we did the same as always. But this time our roles were reversed…. I felt very strange and we both laughed loud!

Emotion ‧ Expectation

星期天的靜坐班后，這次我們討論的課題是“如何運用佛法在生活上” 。回想我過去在職場上，雖然我每天早上在家靜坐后才出門上班，但有時與同事在工作上，會有不高興的情緒出現，搞到我和同事的關係不是很好。究其根源，往往是我想要工作效率、決策、執行等… 這其實是對自己的期待，不僅期待自己工作效率好，也期待同事（或他人）能符合或滿足自己的期待，所以當他人没有達到我想要的（期待）… 負面的情緒就會出現！雖然我知道要接纳、尊重，但情緒往往是捷足先登，騷擾了彼此的關係！

所以我總認為若自己生氣，是因為我的修養還不夠好。

佛法的苦、空、無我，我還未悟！

We had a discussion topic about ‘How to practice Buddhism in our life’ after our Sunday meditation class. I recalled back to my previous working days. Even though I meditated every morning before I went to work, sometimes I got bad emotions when dealing with colleagues. So I didn’t have good relationships with my colleagues when the negative emotions came. To trace the source, mostly I wanted to work efficiently, make decisions, execute, and etc…. In fact, these are my expectations, and I not only expected work efficiency from myself, but also expected colleagues (or others) to fulfill my expectations too. If other people couldn’t make or satisfy what I want (expectations)… my negative emotions would come up! Although I understand about acceptance and respect, the emotions always come up fast and harass our relationship!

Thus, I always believe that if I get mad, it is because I haven’t cultivated myself well enough yet.

The suffering, emptiness and no self in Buddhism, I have yet to ‘awaken’ to these.

Hokkien mee (Prawn noodles)

我不知道為何檳城的蝦麵叫為福建麵，也許這是由某福建人創煮出的麵食，當然我指的是檳城的福建人，如你去中國的福建，我想你在那兒可能找不到福建蝦麵。且檳城的福建蝦麵是湯煮的，而福建炒麵又是另一類的麵食。

我看過我三嫂煮過福建麵，剝蝦殼，炒蝦殼，煮蝦湯及做其它配料…蠻多工的。

哈哈…不到半小時，我就自己能煮出一碗福建麵！不是我厲害啦…是這包福建麵醬料的魔術！想不到我前次回檳城時在超級市場見到它，從此不愁吃…

福建麵！

I don’t know why prawn mee (noodles) is called Hokkien mee in Penang; maybe this recipe was made by someone who was from the Hokkien/Fujian Province (China). Of course, I mean they were Hokkien Chinese in Penang. If you go to Fujian, China, I think you wouldn’t find this type of Hokkien prawn noodles. In Penang, Hokkien prawn noodles are in soup, and fried Hokkien mee is different; it is another type of noodles.

I saw my sister-in-law prepare Hokkien mee before, from taking off the prawn shells, frying the prawn shells, cooking prawn shell soup, and cooking the other ingredients…a lot of work.

Haha…in not more than a half hour, I cooked a bowl of Hokkien mee! It does not mean I was skilled…it was magic from this Hokkien mee paste package! I found it at a supermarket in Penang on our last trip, so I was not worried I couldn’t get…

Hokkien mee!

Change image

Steve提醒我，我的blog已一年了！要怎樣慶祝一歲呢？就換一個面貌吧！

啊…拍拍寫寫的試圖將某些事件停駐在這空間，奈何留不住時間…

Steve reminded me that my blog has been going for one year! How to celebrate turning one year old? How about changing to a new image!

Ah…I tried to preserve the photos and writings in this space, but I couldn’t hold back time...

Change Your Mind - Meditation

在Mississippi 河上靜坐是另一般的體驗！St. Louis有一項活動 – Change Your Mind Day，選擇在一座經已不讓車輛通行的 Old Chain of Rocks Pedestrian Bridge上舉行。我們覺得是新鮮的事，所以前來參加，但看到這座橋頭卻被銷上鐵門了…無法在河上的橋靜坐，而只好改在草場上。這活動由泰國佛教法師主講，他引導大家靜坐，經行和立禪。

這布條上有之前舉辦的照片。

Meditation over the Mississippi River is something to be experienced! Change Your Mind Day – a national event – was taking place at the Old Chain of Rocks Pedestrian Bridge in St. Louis. We thought it should be a cool event so we went there, but the bridge was locked…. The participants couldn’t meditate on the bridge over the river, so we did it at field next to the bridge instead. The guest speaker was the Abbot of the local Thai Buddhist Temple; he led sitting, walking and standing meditation.

The photo on the banner is the same event held in the past.

Fuel prices

馬來西亞執政者宣佈5日起，汽油制定價從RM1.92漲至RM2.70每公升，肯定的這讓人民怨聲四起… 我在想，如果我還是在檳城生活的話，我會怎么做？我可能會去買一輛腳踏車吧！除非真的很必要用汽車，不然就以腳踏車做為代步工具，可省油又環保又可當運動。不過，希望檳城的路能讓腳車族有安全通行的措施，及其它交通駛用者多關注在路上的腳車族…

我住在這St. Louis城縣，我曾想買鐵馬，但這兒大多是如高速公路，Steve告訴我，騎腳車是很危險的！其實這附近也没有非常方便的公共交通，聽说有人乘巴士去某地，约十多哩，從等車及轉車，用了三小時才抵達目的。

燃油起价影響全世界，我認為執政者應在這方面多為人民及環境着想，諸如提供便利的公共交通，及各種有利人民及環境的建設等等!

當科技達至頂峰時，是否又會回歸原始的方式？如果你認為可能的話，就想一想有關腳車行業的投資賺錢吧！

Malaysia’s government increased the price of petrol/gas from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per liter effective from 5^th June. I’m sure people will be complaining… And what would I do if I was still living in Penang? Maybe I would buy a bicycle! Unless it is necessary to drive a car, I would rather ride bicycle instead, to save petrol, protect the environment, and also get some exercise. However, I hope Penang has safe roads or people in other vehicles would show more concern for the safety of bicycle riders…
I am living here in St. Louis, and thought to have a bicycle, but most roads are like highways. Steve said it is dangerous to ride bicycle! In fact, the public transportation is not so convenient in our area. We heard someone went by bus to a place around 10 miles from his home and it took him three hours from the time he started, waiting and transferring buses until he arrived at the place.
Rising fuel prices are affecting the whole world. I think those who are in charge should be concerned about people and the environment, and provide more convenient public transportation, facilities, and etc.When the technology comes to a peak, will it go back to the original style of living? If you think it is possible, then think about maybe investing in a bicycle business and you might earn money!

Flowers and leaves

又是其它種類花卉的盛放，雖然我們家的一顆黃玫瑰開得很大朵，但顯得很單調，看了botanical 花園的玫瑰風騷，就會讓人眼花繚亂！還有可愛的花上花，葉上花，葉上葉。是葉是花？心形葉配紫色花。

Now, there are different types of flowers blooming. Our yard has a rose bush; the yellow roses are big but just have a single color. The roses at the Botanical Garden have many colors that will dazzle the eyes! They have…cute little flowers on top of flowers, flowers on top of leaves, and leaves on top of leaves. Are they leaves or flowers? This picture has heart shaped leaves and purple flowers.