FUTSAL CARNIVAL!

There is this NEW 'SPORTS PLANET' Futsal Sports Centre(located just next to the Kota Damansara Toll Station) right in the heart of 'bustling' Kota Damansara, a young Township of close to 450,000 and fast-growing.....The centre boasts of 4 normal-size Pitches and one FIFA Pitch. Futsal is the current 'cool' in-thing that captures the hearts of many. With a similar concept as FOOTBALL..... except that it is done INDOORS minus 'rain or shine' it is a good form of exercise. There is no need to worry about *Global Weirding or any other weather conditions. Within the netting enclosure, and with a downsized playing field, it minimises wastage of time on ball retrieval and at the same time ALL players get the chance to be fully participative. Competition and friendly matches are 'crowd-pullers'! More often than not, it's a CARNIVAL! The music, excitement, non-stop cheering equals a PARTY-MOOD!!! When the ladies are at it......it's even more exciting because some 'pint-sized' bodies do pack a punch! Families are also there to give moral support........not to mention boyfriends and girlfriends.......so it can be romantic ....... also *bromantic .....at times, too. There is no restriction on age, sex or size. The beauty about playing Futsal is...... it's SAFE, LESS TIRING, and SO.....MUCH FUN!!!!! Weekends are especially 'packed' so bookings have to be made way in advance! Favourite playing times are between 8 p.m. and 12 midnight and the standby list for those time slots get to be really long!. As for those people who are a little 'high on their metabolic rate', there is ........ASIA CAFE....nearby, within walking distance!

OYSTER TOM-YAM

Anybody for OYSTER TOM-YAM? When we ordered three dozen fresh oysters, we never thought much about how we were going to eat them except the usual 'squeeze the lemon, dip into zippy cocktail sauce, slurp the whole meat together with it's juicy goodness into the mouth and chew, chew, chew' ............fresh and raw! (A glass of Chardonnay would complement well though!) That, I think is the best way to relish such a delicacy. You get to 'savor' it's cucumber, melon and toasted-almond flavor with utter satisfaction! To create variety and choice, we had some oysters 'baked' where the Au gratin sealed in all the natural goodness! Crispy Garlic Bread made the meal complete. Everybody knows what Seafood Tom -Yam is all about. But 'Palm-sized Oyster Tom-Yam served in half-shell' beats the daylight out of me! You could see it's piping-hot (spirals of steam rising ), the distinctive lemon grass aroma, the succulent mouth-watering oyster meat immersed in half-shell soup (rich in flavor and taste to the last drop) and it's definitely more than a mouthful! That, to me is sweet CULINARY DELIGHT!

A Matter of Choice

Whatever you choose to give attention to 'will grow'! Our choice of focus of THOUGHT is important. If our pattern of thought is always along negative lines, then we tend to be negative somehow. It is easier said than done, some people may say..... but then it is a matter of choice! Nobody should determine whether we should be happy or sad, calm or angry. It is a matter of interpretation - we can either choose to think or accept that what another had said or done is offensive to us or not. If we choose to feel offended, you could 'fly off the handle' and do something silly and later live to regret it for the rest of our lives. The number of 'road-rage' cases in our country is clearly evident of such occurrences. In another case, because a father's choice of interpretation is self-defeating, his daughter ended up being splashed with acid together with her mother by him! There were many other case scenarios where unnecessary violence and damage were incurred because of the wrong choices of interpretation. The same principle may be applied to the masses where big numbers are involved - and that was how we ended up with street rioting and racial riots where extreme provocative 'fanning' was induced.

Face Value

Can we change our own 'Face Value'? In China, it is a trend to do plastic-surgery to look nice for a multitude of reasons-get a job, life-partner or be famous in the entertainment industry. In Malaysia, certain companies use Digital Physiognomy to decide whether to employ certain potential employees irrespective of whether they are for management or rank and file. It looks like we need to change our perception about the statement "Beauty is only skin deep!" Beauty is actually Pocket deep! It is sad to hear of cases for instance, where a 'cleaner' failed to get her probation confirmed due to her manly features! I can foresee 'SPERM-BANKS' will be doing brisk business in providing a service to meet the discerning rich who can afford to pre-determine the looks of their offsprings.

SEE, SMELL AND SAVOUR

When I did 'Wine-tasting', there were the 3 s to observe; SEE, SMELL and SAVOUR. So what do I do when my wife asked me this morning to do ' ASSAM LAKSA-TASTING?' I applied the same approach. The colour of the soup was right, the aroma was salivating, and the taste.....yummy! Don't get me wrong, she's no Hawker in Air Itam in Penang, but a Cake Artist with a passion for 'sweet challenges'.......but she's also born with a 'wok' on the back of her head.(that's what the Feng Shui Master said of her!) She had specially prepared the Assam Laksa together with Durian Puffs as her contribution to the Potluck Lunch Gathering for her gang of Cake Decorators/Designers.