The Street Smart & The Book Smart

Happy New Year Everybody!

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It's not too late for me to wish all you guys a very Happy New Year!

What's my resolution this year? Nothing.. I am not interested to come up with yet another resolution but never seemed to achieve it. It's better for me to stay as I am now and take it day by day. In any case, I am going to be fifty three this year, so what's the big deal?

My four children? I don't know if they have one. Whatever they may desire, the best I can do is to pray for their success.

Many a time, I sat down watching them (unknowingly to them) if they have what it takes to be a successful, intelligent yet tough, as in street smart tough.

Sophie once asked me, "Ma, who do you think is better? A book smart person or a street smart?" I think for a while and said both because we need to have these two elements to live in today's sadistic and cruel world.

I Google-d to find the meaning of street smart. I quote some of the phrases I found. It says, " A person who has a lot of common sense and knows what's going on in the world. A person who has the experience and knowledge necessary to deal with potential difficulties and dangers in life in an urban environment."

What about book smart people? It says, "The stereo-type of a book smart person is someone who is upper class and well educated but less knowledgeable when it comes to handling important situation in a bad neighbourhood.

'The more extreme and negative stereotypes are that book smart people are naive, easily manipulated and have bad judgement in bad situations while the street smart people are unintelligent and incapable or achieving a higher education.'

Both stereotypes aren't always true. Period.

I am sure many of you had gone  through some unpleasant incident at one point that was way out of your skills and means. Somehow you managed to pull it through and solved the matter on your own.


Scene 1) You're trapped in an old underground railway tunnel. What do you do? The book smart in you would automatically advice everyone there to stay calm and not to panic. It will only weaken the body system and losing oxygen unnecessarily.
The street smart in you would scour around the area looking for a tool to find the way out.
Thank God if we were to get stuck with these type of people, we still had the chance to live and recount the traumatic experience to those who cared to listen. Imagine if we're stuck with none of these people.

Scene 2) You were in a shopping mall clearing their year-end stock. One handbag item displayed $250.00 less 30% discount.
The book smart would probably calculate it 250 x 30/100.
The street smart would most likely calculate it this way: 10% out of 250 is $25, so 30% will be $75.00.
Both got it right. Amount to pay was $175.00.
Sara is genius when it comes to maths but when it comes to this type of calculation, I got the answer before she does!  I am the  latter, Sara is the former. Now you know that I am the street smart gal. And for once I beat her in maths! But only in this case.

Scene 3) Your car broke down in the middle of a busy street. The book smart may come up with, we don't know what's wrong with the car, let's call for help.
The street smart said, use your charm to get some help from the passers by. (You think the passersby won't stop when they saw a damsel in distress was sweating it out during midday?)

Those were some instances that may occur to you once in your life time. What we never realized was that each and every one of us got this animal instinct, that we automatically have, the sense of gut feeling telling us what to do.

Last month when I was sending Sophie to the airport, we stopped by at one of food stall for our lunch. It was pouring heavily when we arrived. Finished lunch, we paid and ran towards where our car was parked. It was still raining but not as heavy as just now. As soon as I started the engine, nothing happened. There was no sound whatsoever. Damn! Not now, I thought. The three of us looked at one another. I tried again but still nothing happened. I was quite sure it's the battery since there wasn't any sound when I ignite the engine.
I told the girls (Sophie & Sara) to get down and push the car while I tried again. At first it didn't work. They pushed again the second time whilst I turn on the engine again. Miraculously, it worked. My engine revved up and we made our way to the airport safely.

It's the same when I am in the kitchen. If the menu that I was about to prepare didn't work out the way I wanted it to be, I improvised. Let's take the simplest situation. Rice. Sometimes my rice got under cooked. You know it's under cooked when the rice slightly grainy.
What I did, I switched off the switch and let the rice cooled for about 10 minutes. Then I switch it on again, pour in some water and press cook. Your rice would turn fluffy and soft.

There was one time when I was driving, a guy on a motorbike was riding in a reckless way. He tried to overtake a moving lorry when he came directly head on towards me. He lowered his motorbike to avoid the accident but somehow  his action dented my car. I came out of the car in horror to see if he's alright. He got up unscathed and pushed his motorbike aside. He then walked towards me and started rambling about how the lorry blocked his view.
Then came the excuses. I knew all these tricks given by these people. They would claim to be poor, got family to support and so on. I was about to fall for the tricks when his next sentence angered me. He said I shouldn't be driving the way I did. I mean, what's wrong with the way I drive? The minute I heard he was trying to put the blame on me, I hardened.
I said to him, "I want you to bear the cost of my front bumper and the scratches."
He said it's too much for him.
I replied, Ok, in that case we file a police report. That way I can claim the insurance.
Again he declined. This time citing the damage was not much.
After a while he gave in. He said he'll pay me up not today but tomorrow.

This is when my street smart skill came in handy. I said to him "fine if you're to pay me tomorrow. Now the time is 12;45pm (approx), I will wait for your call tomorrow until 11:00am. If I don't receive any call from you by then. I will proceed with the police report."
That way he can't run away, either way he had to face me. I jotted down his plate number and ID number.
If he decided not to show up, I'll lodge a police report and I am entitled to claim the insurance. ( I don't know about other countries but in Malaysia, we are to make a police report about vehicle accidents within 24 hours. That will allow us to claim insurance from the other party.)

Since he didn't want his name to be listed in the police list and had to pay penalties, he showed up the next day and paid me much much lesser than the actual amount I had to pay to repair the damage to my car. I guess had strained my energy arguing with him the day before, so I accepted it in goodwill.

You see, it doesn't necessarily mean that if you are a woman, you don't have that street smart skills. It's all inside us. We just need to be more informative, a bit of courageousness and be alert with everything around us.
I claimed myself as a street smart person but I would also like to claim myself a book smart woman. Too greedy you think? Hear me out. I may have never set foot in any colleges or universities but I am good in general knowledge. I am good in word puzzles and I am super good in Scrabbles.
So, what does that make me?

As we talked about the street smart people with a lot of pride put in, never forget the book smart buddy.
They, that is the book smart people, will definitely achieve his goal one way or the other. He or she would almost certainly fared well in his or her lives later on. They worked hard to achieve their dreams, they painstakingly worked their way up through sheer hard work. All they need to do is to blend in a little with their surroundings.

As for me, I strive to be the best in both categories.

Until then people, have a great evening wherever you are!

Rose
15th.Jan '16

Kambing Badam Masala

Salam semua,

Dah lama tak makan nasi beriani. Di rumah pulak ada daging kambing yang saya beli hari tu. Since semua ada di rumah kecuali Sophie, saya buat nasi beriani beserta Daging Kambing Masala.

Banyak bahan yang diperlukan untuk masakan ni tapi berbaloi memasaknya.

Bahan-bahan yang diperlukan

1 kg kambing dipotong kecil
2 labu bwg merah /  2 inci halia ( dikisar bersama)
1/2 cawan tairu atau yogurt
2 sudu teh serbuk cili
1 sudu teh serbuk kunyit
sedikit serbuk ketumbar dan serbuk jintan putih
bawang goreng (diramas hancur)
( semua bahan ini digaul sekali dengan daging kambing) - ketepikan

Bahan tumis :

Kulit Kayu Manis, Buah Pelaga, bunga lawang dan daun bay (serba sedikit)
4 labu bawang besar dihiris nipis

Bahan tambahan :
2 gelas air
Minyak ghee 2 sudu makan & 2 sudu makan minyak masak
1/2 cawan badam yang digoreng tanpa minyak dan dikisar halus
1/4 cawan susu cair
2 sudu makan garam masala
Gula dan garam untuk perisa

Cara memasak :

Tumis bahan tumis dulu diikuti dengan bawang besar yg dimayang.

Bila bawang dah agak kekuningan, masukkan daging kambing dan tutup.

Kuatkan api selama lebih kurang 5 minit. Kambing akan bertukar keperangan.

Tambah masuk air 2 gelas dan tutup periuk.

Biarkan sehingga empuk sekurang-kurangnya 45 minit.

(Tambah air lagi sekiranya kuah kekeringan)

Bila dah hampir empuk, masukkan serbuk badam, susu cair dan garam masala.

Biarkan sehingga mendidih dan kuah menjadi agak pekat.

Terakhir, jangan lupa tambah garam dan gula mengikut selera anda.

Salam dari saya,
Rose
3rd.Jan '16

Gulai Sotong

Salam bahagia,

Dah makan tengahari ke? Tak makan lagi? Ehh..tak percaya saya.. dah hampir pukul dua. Pasti perut dah berkeroncong kalau belum makan lagi.

Hari ni saya buat gulai sotong. Gulai ni lebih kurang cara yang sama dengan gulai udang jugak. Tapi tak pa lah, untuk memeriahkan blog saya, saya masukkan juga resipi ni.

Bahan yang diperlukan :

Semestinya sotong  (kuantitinya ikut keperluan kita)
3 sudu makan rempah daging + 1/2 cawan air + 1sudu teh serbuk kunyit
1 sudu kecil jintan manis
1 batang kecil kulit kayu manis
Daun kari
2 biji ubi kentang di potong kecil
2 biji tomato
sedikit kcg panjang
1/2 cawan santan
1 cawan air
1 keping asam keping
2 butir cili hijau dibelah dua.
1 batang serai dititik
Sedikit garam
Sedikit gula

Bawang merah
Bawang putih
Halia
(Semua bahan ini dimayang)


Penyediaannya :

1) Mula-mula sangai jintan manis didalam periuk atau kuali tanpa minyak.

2) Bila dah naik bau, masukkan sedikit minyak untuk menumis.

3) Bila minyak dah agak panas, campak masuk bwg merah, bwg putih, serai, halia dan daun kari.

4) Tumis sehingga agak kekuningan.

5) Setelah itu, tuang masuk pes rempah bersama ubi kentang dengan menggunakan api sederhana.
    Biarkan sampai pecah minyak.

6) Sekarang tambah secawan air dan biar lagi sehingga ubi empuk. Waktu ni masukkan tomato.
    Mungkin ambil masa 10 minit utk ubi tadi empuk.

7) Bila dah empuk, baru masukkan santan, garam, gula dan asam keping.
    Biar sampai mendidih dan kuatkan api.

8) Terakhir, dan paling penting, masukkan sotong juga kcg panjang sejurus sebelum menutup api.
    Sotong tidak perlu dimasuk terlalu lama. Ia akan menjadi liat kalau terlebih masa.
    Cukup selama lebih kurang 5 minit.

9) Tutup api dan keluarkan dengan segera sotong dan kuahnya sekali kedalam mangkuk supaya
    sotong tidak terus masak didalam periuk yang masih panas.

10) Gulai sotong siap untuk dimakan.

Anggaran costing :

Sotong 5 ekor    - RM 5.00
Santan              - RM 0.50
Semua rempah
ratus                 - RM 4.00

Jumlah             = RM 9.50 (untuk hidangan 4 ~ 5 orang)

---------------------------------------

Salam dari saya,
Rose
29th.Dec '15

Blog beautifulwomenthink.blogspot

I had just realized that all my articles had been copied page by page by the above blogger. He or she had been vandalizing my blog since 2012. There was no credit given to me and all the articles were copied word by word and made it looked like beautifulwomenthink.blogspot owned this blog.

I am telling you, whoever you are to bring down all my articles immediately. Failing to do so, I will seek an authority to remove your blog permanently.

Rose Rahim
24th.Dec '15

Makan Di Paratha Crispy Popiah

Assalamualaikum,

Kalau di lihat pada nama kedai ni macam bunyi kedai mamak, tak gitu? Bila saya Google cuba cari siapa pemiliknya, apa yang saya dapat adalah, kedai ini dimiliki bersama oleh Cimb dan Mapletree Management.

Kalau tak silap saya, ada 4 cawangan Paratha Popiah ni. Yang saya pergi hari tu terletak di Jaya Shopping Centre di P.J.

Sebab saya menulis tentang outlet ini ialah sebab makanannya agak memuaskan. Saya order Signature Rice dengan Ayam.

Sara pulak minta Nasi dengan Rendang Ayam.

Sebagai side order, kami minta popiah basah. Ok sekarang the review, Nasi signature yang saya order, saya boleh kata memenuhi citarasa saya. Sedap walaupun makan nasi kosong tanpa apa-apa.
Nasi rendang ayam yang Sara order, kurang menyengat. Rasa biasa biasa saja.
Popiah pun bagi saya tak boleh lawan popiah basah Tanjong Tokong, Penang. Banyak tempat yang saya dah cuba makan, tetapi yang di Penang tu jugak menjadi pujaan hati ku.

Yang bestnya, tengah kami mengadap makan, tetiba, pelayan membawa rojak buah ke meja kami. Saya katakan tak order sebab dah tentu-tentu tak boleh habis kesemua makanan yang ada. Rupa-rupanya, rojak tu complimentary. Free lah kira nya tu. Rojak memang sedap, bukan sedap free aja, tapi memang sedap!

Sebab tu hari ni saya masukkan tempat ni buat tatapan semua walaupun selalunya makanan di mall ni rasanya lebih kurang sama.

Saya lupa harga kesemuanya tapi rasanya tak melebihi RM 50.00 untuk 2 jenis nasi, popiah dan juga air.

Jadi kalau nak cuba rojak buah yang sedap tu bolehlah ke sana atau mana-mana cawangannya yang lain.

Salam dari saya,
Rose
22nd.Dec '15

Makan Makan Di Pantai Cenang

Assalamualaikum semua,

Semalam (15/12/15) saya berpeluang balik sekejap ke Langkawi. Yayy..dah setahun saya tak kesana, al maklumlah sibuk sedia kala di Sg Buloh ni.

Sebenarnya saya ikut Soffian balik sebab dia nak attend wedding best friend dia jadi saya pun ikut jugalah. Sampai di Langkawi, kami berpecah, dia ikut kawan-kawan dia yang berkodi-kodi di Langkawi ni manakala saya ikut anak sulung saya, Ariff yang sudah pun menunggu setibanya saya di sana.

Tanya Ariff pada saya, ma nak makan apa malam ni. Jawab saya ma nak makan yang simple tapi tempat yang selesa. Biasalah, saya kurang makan sebelah malam. Mana tau tiba-tiba dia bawa saya ke satu tempat di Pantai Cenang, The Brasserie nama restaurant tu. Pemilik dia mat salleh. Kalau dah mat salleh punya dah tentu semua makanan dia western dan dah tentu-tentu mahal.
Tapi tak pa lah since Ariff yang belanja bukan saya.

Pada yang teringin nak kesini, anda harus ke Pantai Cenang dulu. Agak susah saya nak describe jalan nak masuk ke restaurant ni sebab ianya terletak dibelakang, iaitu menghadap ke laut. Apa-apapun cuba cari Cenang Mall dulu, bila dah jumpa, kena cross the road, meaning restaurant ni bertentangan dengan Cenang Mall. Dari situ jalan masuk sehingga ke pantai. Anda akan jumpa restaurant ni di situ.

Disebabkan kami berdua sampai pada waktu makan malam, berpeluang juga tengok kerlipan lampu-lampu di tengah laut yang meriah. Tahu kenapa banyak lampu sebegitu? Ini masa mencandat sotong. Musim menangkap sotong di Langkawi.

Ini yang saya order, seafood pasta. Harga RM 32.00 kalau tak silap.

Ini yang Ariff punya, Chicken Breast with Spinach. Saya tulis biar senang di paham, kalau ikut menu rasa nak makan pun tak tahu apa ke benda nya yang dia orang hidang ni. Yang ini kalau tak silap RM 36.00

Di samping itu, ada complimentary side dish iaitu multi grain bread, garlic bread dengan sosnya minyak zaitun dan bwg putih.

Hidangan ni dikira starter belum lagi main course. Kalau main course kopak jugak kot.
Apa pun, saya enjoy spaghetti udang tu dan ayam yang Ariff order pun sangat sangat sedap. Ayam tak kering dan di masak sempurna.

Harga semua sekali lebih kurang RM 96.00. Apa pendapat anda? Kalau anda inginkan suasana yang santai dan romantik, ini adalah tempat yang sempurna. Cuma satu yang menjadi masaalah buat saya, tempat ni terlalu gelap sampai nak baca menu kena buka cahaya dari handphone. Ingatkan saya sorang saja begitu, rupanya berderet-deret mat salleh yang datang selepas kami pun terpaksa berbuat demikian.

Jadi, itu saja entry saya untuk hari ini.

Salam dari saya,
Rose
16th.Dec '15

Boys Are Hard To Handle, But They Are Fun To Be With

Hey people!

Going through Soffian's closet the other day, I thought of calling for some help. It was in an immediate call out for help state. I told him before that I was never ever going to tidy up his room or his clothing, but every time I enter his room, I had a perpetual head ache. The smell of cigarette, the cigarette ash that stuck to my feet whenever I stepped inside his room and the bed that was never made up.

How do you think I would react? Yep, goes without saying.. I nagged. But what good does it do? It only falls on deaf ears. When will he grow up, if he ever will!!
He needs constant reminder from me for almost everything that needed to be done. Take for instance, his cell phone. I need to remind him if the phone was with him before leaving the house. He doesn't seem to take things seriously.

For those who have been following my blog, you may have read My Boys Their Antics Gave Me Headaches . From there alone, you can sum up how tough my life is to watch over him. He'd do things you never thought he'd dare to do.
He'd give bad advise and bad influence to both his sisters. There was one day, Sara was driving and he was sitting in the front passenger's seat while I was at the back seat. Suddenly a car came close and tried to overtake us in a dangerous manner. Sara was still quite new in her driving and she was a little intimidated with what the guy did. Soffian on the other hand, sat bold upright in his seat and coached her, "Go to the next lane and drive at par with that driver." To which Sara replied, "Why should I do that?"
"Because instead of getting furious with that guy and him not knowing it, you should confront him. Now go, drive until you're at par with him, turn your face towards him and look him in the eyes. Show him that you're not afraid of him."

I know he sometimes did that just to arouse my anger or to see my reaction, but that is not the right thing to teach his sister who is still a freshie when it comes to driving. What if she was alone driving and she faced the same situation on her own? Would she dare to drive up next to one particular driver and eyeballed that guy? She'd be looking for a deep trouble.

He is and will always be a boy that will keep his mischievousness and bad boy attitude for a long time. I don't see any changes coming in the near future. At home, he'd always pick on Sophie. He'd punch her like she was his little brother and he'd call her names. Most of the time she'd ignore him. Other time she'd retaliate and fight back. At the end of it, my name will be called out, "Ma, look at Pian." And as always he'd go like, "No Ma, she started first."
If I didn't know better.. I'd surely believe him rather than Sophie.

Why am I blabbering about Soffian today? Because he is one of a kind. I've crossed path with mothers who complained about their son's mischief and having difficult time looking after them. I dare say what they went through were not even half of what I had been through.

Boys are hard to handle, yes, I can vouch for that! But they're also fun to be with. Put aside your anger and wariness (of your own child) and try to enjoy having them around.
I mean, you wouldn't see your daughter holding someone else's toddler upside down and swaying back and forth with that toddler giggling away happily. Only boys do that.

 That boy who is afraid of nothing suddenly went white as sheet when a frog leapt in front of him. Man! That was a sight to behold.

That boy who would occasionally lie down next to you and  talk to you about his day at his working place.

That boy who would laugh heartily at my cursing and swearing since he seldom hear me swear. That reminds me of Adam Sandler's Big Daddy movie. Remember, the little boy who would only laugh at
other people's expense?

At home, the three of us girls, Sophie, Sara and me prefer men company than the girls. Call it sexist if you want but we find it much easier to get connected with boys rather than girls. Boys are straight forward species. They say things that sometimes hurt our feelings but it's the fact. Take for instance, I don't look like a million dollar one particular day. An old male friend came by and saw me looking like a typical boring housewife. Instead of the sweet and pleasing greeting, his way of saying hello is this, " You looked terrible!"
Well what can I say. I wanted to be accepted in the men's company so I had to swallow the insult. But at least I know they are being honest.

A few years back, when I was still working, most of my staff were male. On the day when they were free from any assignment, they'd sit around the office and we chat about unimportant things. Sometimes we end up playing cards just to ease the stress of too much work load. (No money involved)

To care for Soffian and not to give up on him was never an easy task. He had done almost everything that could give a mother a permanent nightmare.  I shed too many tears for him all these years but I am proud to say that by enjoying the fun side of him makes me a better mom.

He had once said to me, ' I told my friend before, if it's were not for my mom, I don't know where I'd be today.' To me that was a brave confession.

I respect my children as much as they respect me. By doing so, I became the center of their lives. They love me for always being there for them, for loving them unconditionally and for simply being their mom.

For mothers with boys who'd sometimes get on your nerves, try to spend some time with them and be gentle. Most of these kids were looking for ways to get our attention. They felt they were not up to our expectations and are not good enough for us. They were bound to commit some nasty or silly mistakes on their way to adulthood.
Do not give up on them. Our love means the world to them.

I should stop now. My back is aching badly. Need to lie down a little. Have a nice evening everybody and be good to each other!

Rose
10th.Dec '15