If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place,
but I have not loved ...
I am a housekeeper not a homemaker.
If I have time for waxing, polishing and decorative achievements,
but have not loved...
my children learn cleanliness, not godliness.
Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at the fingerprints of a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes away the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.
Love is present through the trials.
Love reprimands, reproves and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with child, then stands aside to let the youth walks into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens salvation's message to a child's heart.
Before I become a mother, I took glory in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child,
but the greatest of all is love.

Author unknown.

Being a mother, one can't help to reflect on the trespasses that kept her love for her child at bay rather than reaffirming it by the actions her decisions assigned. Recalling the times when I've angrily scolded the children at the mess from their art creations rather than appreciating those rather wonderful talents and thus overlooking the shortcomings of children. One thing is to change for sure- life is short, so stop 'sweating the small stuff '. Love them with absolut patience. They are after all just little angels.

I tried out this recipe that was on the label of F&N Evaporated Creamer and voila, it was easy to cook ( not the preparation though as you will have cut and chop the ingredients that need to be blended) ; appetizing for those who like curry or spicy sauces with their rice and a sure 'praise gainer' for its distinct aromatic fragrant. The secret : kaffir lime leaves. Start hunting for some in the garden, folks.

Ingredients

10 dried chillies

2 large fresh red chillies

8 shallots

3 cloves of garlic

2 cm ginger

2 cm galangal (lengkuas)

2 stalks of lemon grass (serai)

2 candlenuts (buah keras)

1 cm shrimp paste (belacan)

____Blend all the above ingredients____

600 g chicken (skinned and cut into small pieces)

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup water

100 mls Evaporated Creamer

3 kaffir lime leaves, torn (I prefer to cut it to strips to maximise the fragrance)

1 tbsp lime juice

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok and fry blended ingredients until fragrant.

2. Stir in chicken and cook in the paste for 10 minutes. Add salt, sugar, water and evaporated creamer . Bring to boil and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes on medium heat until chicken pieces are cooked.

3. Add lime leaves and lime juice. Simmer another 2 minutes and serve.

Happy Trying!

Sunset , Gunung Ledang