Marsha Maung: Write. Cook. Read. Watch. Try. Innovate.

It's cliche and said a whole lot, but sometimes, I wonder if we are really aware of the real deep impact it has on our everyday lives. Time flies, and it waits for no one.  Yet, for those who are hurt, who are waiting, who feel helpless, who are trying to get by every day trudging through muddy piles of emotional messes, time stands still. Time has a mind of its own . It is its own entity. It is the speed skater when we are young and having fun, and a sloth when we're in pain. Nobody tells you about enduring the pain of waiting for something to happen or a negative to change. When someone you love is in pain, someone you love has been mindlessly taken away from you, when you've just been dumped by your so-you-thought soul mate. It crawls when you're healing physically and emotionally . There's no magic spell to cast to urge Time to do it your way. The saccharine sweetness of life is often short and every single test of the bitter, long and arduous. Flipp...

The time of the red, yellow, orange and hot pink is back....it's Chinese New Year again and it's my kids' favorite time of the year. There really isn't a need to explain why the kids love this time of the year, huh? #lol For the grownups, not so much. XD We, however, look forward to the opportunities to meet up with relatives to celebrate, eat and lou sang or lou hei. Lou Sang Time - Chinese New Year It's a raw fish 'salad' of sorts that is tossed around by everyone with a pair of chopsticks. The practice is supposed to usher in prosperity, vigor, and abundance in health and wealth. Although the highlight of this dish is the raw fish, I am not a raw fish kinda gal, so, I would skirt around the raw fish and just eat the fragrant, sweet vegetables. Chinese New Year Lanterns adorn our streets Credit : FreeImages.com Much like Christmas trees and lights during Christmas and year-end celebrations, Chinese New Year means that our streets are lined...

It's true...if I looked at a teenager's Instagram account, (a.k.a my kids' and nieces'), they're way out of my league. It's like a whole new different world that I am completely new to. There are no boundaries, no censorship, they say and post whatever the hell they want and feel like, it's almost always funny or emotional and it's a train wreck during their off days. Sometimes they are a little extra ( check the definition here  which basically means OTT) and yet, they don't really care. I told my son a few times that his meme-filled Instagram account (a sudden overnight shift from his anime-drawing-filled one) is giving me nightmares. But he doesn't change it, my comment left no mark whatsoever and he continued on with a laugh as if to say, oh, really. don't you like it? there's the unfollow button right there, mom . If there’s anything I miss about being a teenager, it’s this extra, unrestrained emotion. Teenagers don’t hold ...

I've, of course, seen this place many times before because...well, the name is so tacky it's hard to miss. But because  it was tacky , I didn't even give it a chance. I want authentic, not commercialized things made for the Malaysian taste buds . Located in Uptown near Starling Mall (or where our childhood road-long mamak used to be), Gangnam Oppa BBQ looked comfy and chic from both the inside and outside. In fact, I've eaten Korean BBQ many times over in Uptown, but at the restaurant BEHIND this row. It looked far simpler and more authentic from the way I saw it. But I bought a food deal from Fave (formerly Groupon) app and RM55 for 2 person's worth of BBQ sounds like a good deal! All I need to do is to order something extra for me. My boys can devour all the protein they want from the BBQ portion. I have to agree that Asians are such cheapskates. LOL Delicious marinaded Korean BBQ pork for 2 persons The downside - the inside of the restaurant was alre...

Why???? Why Monday's gotta come back? Can't we have Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday on repeat? LOL Anyway, uploaded a video on Youtube which is a compilation of food pictures that I have taken thus far. I was trying out an app on the phone so....since it's up, well... XD And no, I am not thinking of turning YouTubing into a new  career. I write better than I talk and you've got to put makeup and nice clothes on before filming yourself...and you've got to have like some high-tech equipment and stuff. Me? All I've got is my ASUS phone and laptop. That's it. Hardly enough to be a Youtuber. I don't even have an iPhone or a good Samsung phone. So, nah. Anyway, tomorrow, it's back to this... I  wish  I don't remember what day it is. Let's feed the right beast tomorrow! XOXO, Marsha

I'll keep things short today because...well, it's Monday and I feel like I have been working 10 straight years without sleep. An exaggeration, of course, but my mind is telling me that it's very close to the truth, somehow. #lol Caribbean Baked Chicken with Delicious Sauce I am not a chef but because, as explained in another post, I spend as much time in the kitchen as I do in front of the computer, I continue to scour the internet for recipes so that I don't have to tapau (takeaway) everyday for lunch AND dinner. I don't even have time for my phone or tablet. =( But here's something you might want to try cooking in YOUR kitchen. The sauce is tangy and sweet at the same time, thanks to the mustard, paprika, cider vinegar, and the combination of pineapple, tomatoes, ginger, onion and garlic. I've never tried doing this type of cooking before so, it was an experiment. And I love it! Head over to Kellie's recipe on Cookpad for the printable Caribb...

I felt a little sick translating this but Syed Azmi has a huge following on his Facebook page because of his many humanitarian efforts. It spans states, countries, races, religions and backgrounds. As he sometimes does, he updates the rest of his followers about what he has been up to. This was written in half English and half Bahasa as some bilingual Malaysians would often do but I feel that the world needs to read this too. The fear and the shame is just the same, no matter the language, no matter the country.  I've been asked by some people why people keep silent when they are raped or sexually violated and I would give them a smile (a smirk, you might even say) and ask ' Is it anything we can be proud of ?', ' How many people do you think will believe us ?', ' What on earth are people going to think of me then ?', ' What's the use?  and ' Who's the winner in the end , is there one, is it me ?' If those are questions a grown pe...

On top of having to cook dinner, I am now doing lunches for the kids as well and let me tell you that making two meals a day can break the deepest of love for culinary work. At this point, I am copying, pasting, printing and writing down any recipe I can find on the Internet and my cook books and clipping them to the wall near my kitchen. Like such. If I make something delicious and I think it's a keeper, I would actually keep it in a folder and save it into my Cookpad page to share it...and so that I can refer back to it later when I am out of ideas. I have quite a few cookbooks at hand to help me along but I use other apps to find ideas too - Youtube, BigOven, Cookpad, Allrecipes and TasteMade are ah-ma-zeeng ! I am right there, ready to bookmark anything that looks interesting. =) At this point, when I cook, I am hardly thinking anymore. I am just popping things into bowls, pans and cookware according to what's printed on the recipes and go. It's the only way...

I started watching this because I was tired and disappointed with The King Loves. What the hell kinda show was that? Misleading title, sad king, unrequited love, stupid best-friend and undecided leading woman stringing two men together. It appears to me that the writers wrote out the story just to cause angst amongst its viewers for the sake of drama. I mistakenly assumed Im Si Wan chose a good script as his last before enlisting in the army. What... the hell .... XD I gave up on it...no, I actually half-watched it because...you know, wasted hours and everything. I predicted the ending and yeah...blergh....mucked around to the final episode and watched it out of the corner of my eyes while doing laundry. Whatever . That was when I closed the tab and thought, ' I need a little bit of screwball comedy '. One More Happy Ending , was supposed to be more relatable to people like me...and funnier. One More Happy Ending Credit : Google Search The story started off with b...

Mitch Albom is a magician when it comes to story-telling. The stories are haunting, memorable, digs deep into the recesses of your heart, and makes you feel like you have a very personal relationship with the characters, especially the protagonists or narrators of the story. In this instance, it's the latter. Magic Strings is written in the voice of a non-person - musical talent - and various other personalities  who have encountered the protagonists. It details the life of a man who had an inborn talent for guitar-playing, something that Albom has a passion for too, as detailed in the book and his biography. “Talent is a piece of God’s shadow, and under that shadow, human stories intersect.” The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto - Mitch Albom And through the voice of talent, he tells the tale of a lowly orphan boy born with nothing to his name and family registry. He had nothing but talent and the desire to play music, especially the guitar. Through the most sava...