ANNOUNCEMENT: HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, MALAYSIA

Wishing all my Malaysian family and friends happy 52 years of independence. Merdeka! Merdeka!


Independence Ceremony, 31 August 1957

NATTER: HISTORY IS NOT BORING

DID YOU KNOW……They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot and then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were said to be "Piss Poor."


But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...........they "didn’t have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.


The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s and 1600s.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom we have today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.


Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all were the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"


Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."


There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.


The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt Poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way to stop the thresh from slipping outside. Hence: a "thresh hold".


GETTING QUITE AN EDUCATION, AREN'T YOU???

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old".


Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat".

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.


Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust".


Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of "holding a wake".


The folks in England started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (this became known as the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer". And that's the truth......


NOW, WHOEVER SAID HISTORY WAS BORING????

RECIPE: MEATBALLS IN CHILLI AND PLUM SAUCE

Another take of meatballs with plum sauce.



Ingredients

500g meatballs
1 large onion – sliced 1 cm thick
2 carrots – sliced fine
Capsicum - sliced
3 cloves garlic – minced
2 tsp Galiko or John West brand freshly minced chilli *
1/3 cup of plum sauce *
2 tbsp light soy sauce *
2 tbsp oyster sauce *
2 tbsp water *
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine - optional
2 tbsp veg oil


Method

Mix * ingredients in a bowl or small jug. Set aside. Warm meatballs in a microwave.

Heat oil in wok and fry garlic until aromatic. Add in the carrots and capsicum and fry for 2 mins or until nearly cooked. Moisten with a few tbsp of water if needed.

Add in the meatballs and stir through the ingredients. Add in the blended * ingredients and mix well. Bring to a boil. Add in the sliced onions just before lifting. Serve hot with rice.

NATTER: CASH FOR CLUNKERS

The 'CASH FOR CLUNKERS PROGRAM' was Obama’s answer to stimulate the economy and bail out the automobile industry. Many Americans brought their old cars to the car dealers and received a sizeable discount on a new car, thank’s to the American Government.

IF MY BODY WERE A CAR………


If my body were a car, this is the time I would be thinking about trading it in for a newer model. I've got bumps and dents and scratches in my finish, and my paint job is getting a little dull. But that's not the worst of it. My headlights are out of focus, and it's especially hard to see things up close.

My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip and slide and skid and bump into things even in the best of weather.

My whitewalls are stained with varicose veins. It takes me hours to reach my maximum speed. My fuel rate burns inefficiently.

But here's the worst of it…………..

Almost every time I sneeze, cough or laugh, either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS.......... I QUALIFY!!!!!