She feels happy when she feels needed

One day, I received a phone call from my mum’s ex-customer, now a very close friend to my mum. She is also my niece's future mother in law (MIL). She said, “Please tell your mum to come help my daughter”. The confinement lady that her daughter booked has called her to say that she has to cancel her service. I was appalled at the confinement lady's unreliability. How can she leave someone  high and dry by canceling her service at the last minute? So my mum was away from home for one whole month. I was happy for my mum to help her friend because I knew when she feels she is needed, it gives her happiness. My Quay Lo once told me that a person feels happier if he or she feels needed. Here is a good story to illustrate that:

(Extracted from the book, No Excuse! , by Jay Rifenbary)

As a young girl, Mona had been left orphaned and unprotected. She moved sadly through her days. One day, on a lonely walk through a meadow, she saw a butterfly struggling to release itself from a thorn bush. Mona carefully released the butterfly from its captivity. Her freeing touch caused the butterfly to turn into a beautiful fairy.

"In return for your kindness," the good fairy said, "I will grant you any wish." Mona thought for a moment and said softly, "I want to be happy!" The fairy leaned forward, whispered into the girl’s ear, and flew off.

Mona developed into a beautiful woman and eventually grew to be old. She had left the sadness of her childhood in the field where she had met and aided the fairy. After that, Mona’s years were marked by serene happiness. As the end of her life drew near, friends and admirers came to comfort her, and to say good-bye to this remarkable woman.

Mona’s last gift to her friends was the story of her encounter with the fairy. She shared with them the words the fairy had whispered in her ear. As Mona spoke, her eyes shone with the joys of a lifetime of treasuring the fairy’s message: "Everyone, no matter how secure they seem, no matter how old or young, rich or poor, has need of you."

To continue with the story of the new mother and her new born that my mum went to help...
Would you believe that She was “the baby” that my mum took care of during her mum’s confinement 30 years ago?  Yes, that is true. Amazing isn't it!!  Well, this will not happened if her mum did not keep in touch with my mum all these years. The reason why she did was, she loves her to bits. My mum is a well loved person by her friends and family. She is always quick to offer her love and help. She is also a very thoughtful person and will never view anything as troublesome to do when she felt she is needed. Here is an example of the extra miles she would walk happily for friends and family.
A few days before she left home to go help the new mother, I saw her in the kitchen scrapping off the skin of a few kilos of young ginger. Later I heard pounding sound and she was  mincing them in a mortar and pestle. She spent almost the whole day doing that in order to make ginger sauce. After the ginger were done, she continued to sterilize the recycled glass jars to be ready to hold the sauce. At first, I thought she made this for us to eat with the steam chicken we are going to have on the coming Reunion dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year. I was curious why she made such a big quantity this year.  I asked her and found out the sauce were not for us. She made them for her best friend and her children. She and her 6 children will get a jar of the sauce each.


Whoever had tasted my mum’s ginger sauce raved about how good it is. I asked her if she mind if I share her recipe on my blog and she gave it to me without hesitation. This sauce is so versatile and can use to compliment a lot of Chinese dishes especially steam chicken. You can also use it to fry rice and it is so healthy and flavorful. According to my mum, ginger has been used for thousands of years in chinese medicine to treat stomach disorders. It can also chase away simple cold and cough. Not only that, it also reduces toxicity in our body, which means it is anti-bacterial. It sounded like a magical ingredient to have! After she finished talking, I told her, "Mum, you are my old ginger!" That puts a big grin on her face. I can see she truly feels happy when she feels needed.

Ginger sauce

Ingredients:

Minced ginger

Sesame oil

Salt

Method:

Scrap off ginger skin and mince them by using mortar and pestle. Heat sesame oil in wok and add minced ginger. Stir fry till fragrant and add salt to taste.

Note: With this sauce handy, you can also make ginger fried rice. Notice there is no measurement? My mum said the measurement is up to individual taste. She said your tastebuds are your measuring tools for this! What a piece of work she is. One can put more salt or oil so it is up to you. She added that the key to a good ginger sauce is not to use the electric blender to mince the ginger but the mortar and pestle.

Click on the photo to get the recipe. 

This recipe was featured at Group Recipes

We have served my mum's ginger fried rice to many friends and family members before and all of them give their two thumbs up. 

Tweet

Pin It