Regrets of the dying

My Quay Lo tweeted this article back in February. I learned something from it so I would like to share this with you all about top five regrets of dying. 

Here is the article:
"Top Five Regrets Of The Dying"

Posted by Jacob Sloan on February 2, 2012

I immediately replied to his tweet by saying my last regret would probably be none of what was stated in the article. It is more likely that I would wish that I did not "sweat the small stuff" and choose to be more happy than to be right in some arguments. What will yours be? Or, is it too scary to think about it?

A week before the article, my Quay Lo and I were talking about death and what our wishes would be for all the neccessary arrangements. We both wanted our loved ones to celebrate our lives rather than mourn the loss. To those who loved and survived us, we want them to open champagne and put on all our favorite music and remember the good times we had together.  We hope they will share some food, and share their memories of us. We both think it would be nice to know that among the food they share, some of our favorites are included. We laughed as we talked about this. My husband said that it sounded like "hungry ghosts" and we laughed some more. (While we mean no offense to anyone, we don't really believe in ghosts.) Later, after our conversation, I decided to examine the question of what would be the best food for our friends to share at our memorial feasts. I didn't think about this because I didn't expect anyone to follow the suggestions literally. This isn't a dying wish or anything that anyone should feel is binding at all. Our main interest is that our friends and family celebrate our lives that were, instead of mourning our lives that are no longer.

I may be the only foodie to blog a suggested menu for her own memorial service. So here I go, with some ideas about food that is nourishing and comforting and that we like. It is food that is best taken with a favorite wine. We hope it is food that will make our family and friends feel at ease, contented, and thoughtful.

Feel free to click on the pictures to get the recipe. Oh, before that, I would like to share a very inspiring video with you about how Ric Elias who was given a second chance to live. He had eliminated those regrets he had thought of, when he thought he was dying.

Frittata

Cod in lemon grass sauce

Lettuce cup with minced Pork croquettes 

and salsa

Stitch's Magarita in case you don't want wine

QPC Snow White Cocktail

Choy Geok

Carrot Cake

Pavlova

Chocolate croissant pudding with whiskey sauce

This post is a good reminder for me to pay more attention to the people that matter most to me and not waste the little time I have on earth on those who are not. Hugs to all.

Choy Geok (Mustard leaves left over soup) - featured in Group Recipes

According to my Mum, there is a story about this dish in Chinese legend. It seems that Emperor Qianlong disguised himself as a commoner and was on a mission to see how his citizens lived especially the poor farmers. Then, he came across this young chicken farmer who had a sick old mother. He was impressed with the young farmer for being hardworking and at the same time took good care of his sick mother. He became good friends with him and through him he got to know the hardships faced by his poor citizens. The young and innocent farmer, not knowing that his new friend was Emperor Qianlong had invited him to his home for dinner. When he could not find any decent ingredients to cook for his guest, he regretted the invitation, but it was too late to back out. What he had were just some left overs. So what he did was gather some mustard leaves from his neighbors mustard farm, and came home and threw everything inside the big clay pot with the left overs, along with some dried chilly, assam, and water. He cooked it all slowly. He served the dish to his new acquaintance worrying that he would not like the taste, but to his surprise, his new friend enjoyed the dish so much and wanted to know it's name. As he was too embarrassed to tell the truth, that the dish was made out of left overs, he invented a sophiscated name – “Yat Pun Woh” which literally means, the No.1 tasty dish! So when Emperor Qianlong returned to his kingdom and ordered his chefs to make the dish called “Yat Pun Woh”, none of them had a clue what the Emperor was talking about! I guess Emperor Qianlong had to return to the poor farmer’s home to have this dish, or he sent someone to ask about the recipe. Whether or not this legend is true, it is not important, but I have to say, this is one of my “DIE FOR” dishes! I can eat this dish continuously for a week and still want more!  Chinese cuisine,  just like everyday life, is full of legends like this.  

Ingredients:

4.5 kg of mustard leaves
water, enough to cover all ingredients

(A)

2 roast pork trotter

25 gm assam slices (adjust according to your own taste)

20 gm dried chilly (adjust according to your own taste)

2 cubes bullion chicken stock

3 tbs lard (optional)

Method:

Wash mustard leaves and cut them in big pieces. Separate the stalk from the leaves. Add mustard stalk and (A) in a big pot and enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Let it boil for 30 mnst before you add the mustard leaves and let it boil for 15 mins and turn down heat to simmer for 1- 2 hours until vegetables are soft and you can smell the aroma of the dish. This dish tastes better the next day.