Somewhat and somehow, I just need to give myself a push to do things…I’ve just appointed myself as God of Procrastination (mind you, it starts with a capital letter ‘P’ to emphasize on the ’seriousness’), this blog has been laid barren for months while stories continue to linger in my mind. I would really love to write and share my liberation of thoughts but every time, it just gets tucked away in the overflowing pile of stories I once had passion to turn into lines for my blog. It seems that the dose of caffeine has successfully drugged me off the zombie-syndrome of yesterday and the day before. And it so happens that I was fated to sit here and type on my ’still-quite fresh-in-mind’ history of yesterday.
And so, I stood there by the kitchen basin, my legs aching terribly. I had been there for the past 15 minutes or so, with multiple changes in my body position to seek relief from the long process. Due to lack of sleep the day before (another result of procrastination) , every movement was a slow product of zombie-like limbs. At last, I couldn’t stand it anymore; I gradually carried the two basins and moved my territory to the dining area. Aah….>
Earlier on, mum had summoned me to wash a basin full of spinach for dinner. I can still recall her warning of aphids in the veggies….it was supposed to be some kind of “training” for me, and well, “lets see how you deal with them” was mum’s final command. Unwilling to give up on mum’s assumption of my ‘domestic talents’, I hastily said “Okay!~~we’ll see”. My heart added another protest, “as if I’ve never washed any veggies before…”,it blurted. There I was, as drowsy as I could be, almost dozing off every minute. The beginning of the process was easy; I just plucked every leaf away from its stem and “wala” it went into an empty basin. That was until I zoomed in with my naked eyes that….darn!!the aphids are so small!!!!!! Those tiny white insects that inhibited my spinach had to be basically magnified more than 3 times for identification! God, the next thing I did was to turnover every green I see for signs of colonization from foreign objects. The pile of leaves, stems and what not categorized ‘to head for the bin’ was building a bukit.
It was already ten past noon, and the basin of ‘processed’ vege was barely half filled. Darn it!!,did mum accidentally buy those plants filled with tiny ETs or were all leafy veggies like that??!!”. My heart was crying, and my eyes were filled with sleepy tears. Mum’s voice was heard coming down the stairs. What? She’s already done showering? God, I need to double, no, triple the speed! I was examining leaf by leaf, turning if from front to back the plant was almost stuck near my eyes. Then, mum appeared and let out with a glee, “Oh my God, is that necessary to see THAT closely?” “Mum!!!You don’t know!!It’s full of aphids!! And they’re so small!!” “Look at how much I’ve thrown out!!….There are more at the back!!” Mum just smiled and left for other household chores. Sobz T-T, time is tick-tick-ticking away and there’s still half a basin of those, those…..SPINACH!!” Although I’m a supporter that cooking skills is a must for human’s survival, I had neglected the buying, selecting and most of all WASHing!!Finally, mum admitted that “Owh, if I knew there were so many aphids I wouldn’t have bought the pointed leaf spinach.”….”and, girl, I forgot to tell you that these (pointing to the some of the supposedly barred pile) can be ‘saved’ and not thrown” Now, God! I’ve already spent a dread long precious hour here, no, I’m not gonna save em’..T-T, sorry for the wastage….I mean, it’s not a lot….(fingers crossed,sweating..).
It was twelve forty when I finally completed the duel with those leaves, and stems and unwanted ETs. Sigh….the experience left me feeling a little ‘undomestic’ since cooking and cleaning wasn’t much of a trouble to me. And I vow, from the lesson learned-never to buy super leafy vegetables that are most likely to be manifested by lively aphids who are more than happy to stay at their new found homes despite long travels (you know the journey of veggies, I suppose? From off ground to lorries, to middlemen, etc?). Advice- buy veggies that require few washings and non-troublesome steps for cooking such as carrots, siu pak choy,ladies fingers , long beans and brinjal. And to all housewives and also women who are to go though transformation from ladies to wives, good luck in your process to the domestic household!!^^
