One of the most beautiful sunset in the world

The word " the most" and " in the world " attract people's attention naturally as it did to me! I am sure many people enjoys sunset, all over the world. Some even travel to places just to see these magnificent events and wrote about it in their travel. So why should I write about sunsets? Do you think it will be a boring topic?  I choose to write about it because one of the lovely sunsets is right in front of me, every evening and I feel proud it's in Sabah!😂 Do you know that Borneo (Kota Kinabalu) sunset, is rated the 15th place of the 24 in the world, according to the google site I searched-https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/the-worlds-best-sunset-spots/

 

The above  photo was contributed by a friend. Her friend captured this amazing sunset from her office. Thanks to Luvita for the contribution to my blog.😂😊

Sun set views from the Waterfront, Kota Kinabalu

This beautiful photo was taken by a friend during our hangout moments at the Waterfront. 

Thank you Watti and Dorothy for such a lovely evening.🌹

Amazing changes of the colours in the sky during sunset within minutes at Waterfront, Kota Kinabalu,

 It's a lovely evening sitting at the Waterfront with a glass of cold beer watching sunset this way🍺

At 6.19pm - Sun began to set

6.24pm

The last sight of the sun 

6.28pm

The sun has disappeared but it is still emitting light and this is the best part of sun set because the sky changes to many different colors within a minute or two. It's beautiful to watch.😃

7.05pm 

The sun has gone. The sight of sea and sky turned to darkness. Only lights from the fishing boats were noticeable.

Another friend also shared these photos of the sunset while holidaying on top of the hills at Kokol Haven Resort. Thanks Mag for sharing your photos in my blog😘.

We are lucky to have mother nature, to witness such beautiful, mesmerising sunsets in our hometown.

To most people, sunset makes them happy, a feeling of contentment. The moments, even though it's short but enough to give people great enjoyment. Sunset can bring a magical experience or feeling. 

But there are some, like my parents would say “what’s so good about sunsets? It is more important to have money in your pocket and able to fill your belly!😂😜😜People like my parents who worked hard for a living, all their life to survive, didn't appreciate such nature like sunsets, mountains or beaches in our hometown. I respect their opinion. 😂

For those who love the sunsetting, they admit to spending time embracing this event.

When I was 16yrs old, I went to our home town beach at Tanjung Aru(KK), with my school mates. That was about 47 yrs ago. We came across a couple of Japanese tourists taking photos of the sunset. At that time, we didn’t know how to appreciate a sunset. I wondered why were they taking photos of the sunset and even aimed their special camera at the sky. Ahh..... now I understand it's to take the wonderful looking rays of the sun spreading around the sky the moment the sun disappeared in the horizon. 🤭

About 11 years ago, when my husband retired, he also loves to go to the water front here in KK, especially in the early evening, the beaches at Tg Aru, Shangrila Resort and Pantai Dalit (and still does) just to sit down, enjoying having a cool beer while watching the day end.

Some of my local friends think it’s a waste of time, sitting down looking at Sunset, when they can see it every day! That's the reason.  It's because we see it every day, we tend to take it for granted, without appreciating the nature around us. Just like the magnificent Mount Kinabalu standing right in front of our eyes when we visited National Park at Kundasang. Did I ever climb or make an effort to try? No, and I still haven't😅. Yet, people from all over the world came here to experience the climb. For most of us here, the way we view our nature, is different from how other people visiting here. How many of us really embrace the beauty of that mountain like the visitors here did?

On the 27.11.2019 I googled to find out that there are, in their opinion 24 spots for the world's best sunset , and Kota Kinabalu (KK)is one of them!. Wow!not bad eh?

1. Taj Mahal, India

2. Atacama desert, Chile

3. The Matterhorn, Switzerland

4. Punta del Este, Uruguay

5. Zanzibar

6. Siem Reap, Cambodia

7. Isle of Skye, Scotland

8. Santa Monica, California, USA

9.Maasai Mara, Kenya

10. Sussexm England

11. Port Waikato, New Zealand

12. Cairo, Eygpt

13. Bali Indonesia

14. Hawaii

15. Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, Malaysia

16. Lofoten, Norway

17. Santorini, Greece

18. Massachuetts, USA

19. Uluru, Australia

20. Cape town, South Africa

21. Veneto, Italy

22. Grand Canyon Arizona, USA

23. Venice, Itay

24. Alaksa, USA

 Yes, Kota Kinabalu has one of the worlds’ best spots for viewing the sunset. Sadly, most people in our city are not aware of how fortunate we are.

A friend of mine spoke about an unspoiled beach in Tuaran she once visited. It was further away from our KK town. She sent me a photo and it was this photo that influenced me to google and write about the topic.

So on the 1st Dec 2019, I made a promise to myself, that I must go and view a sunset at the 3rd beach of Tanjung Aru before it's taken over by the Eco Project, now it's still a public area. The 1st beach is not as peaceful or cleaner as the 3rd beach. Partly because it's right in front of the main road, whilst the 3rd beach is further away and more isolated. The 1st beach is always crowded with tourists. More people, more rubbish thrown on the beach, how sad😢.

My son and his son by the beach. Photo taken by my daughter in law😊

December is mostly monsoon season for Sabah, but I still try my luck. I drove to the beach on the 6th December 2019  but unfortunately luck was not on my side. There was no sign of a sunset because of the thick heavy clouds and rain that  covered the skies or rays from the sun😥😭.

But I didn't give up😜 and came back the next day for a better luck. The weather had improved, even though it  rained and I managed to get a few good shots of the sunset😎. I don't have any fancy hand phone camera or top rated camera but I am happy enough with some of the photos I took at the beach.😊Mission accomplished!


Sunset at 5.59pm on the 7th December 2019

The reflection of the sun makes the sea look like it's on fire!

My homeland sunset looks like a painting.

 It's mesmerizing😍. A breathtaking golden beauty. 

The rays from the sun spread all over the sky leaving so many varieties and shades of red, orange and many other colours, is a phenomena. The final part of the sunset gives a wonderful feeling. Day after day, month after month and year after year, I feel each one is different even on the same beach. That’s nature.

Within a minute or two, the colours of the skies change
 

The 3rd beach of Tanjung Aru is lovely. It's very care free, cleaner and pleasant. I believe the sunset has a powerful effect in making people comfortable and happy in their surroundings. 

It was lovely to watch people enjoying their moments on the beach. 

Some sitting at the long bench, listening to the motion and sounds of the sea.

 Some were just like me, posing and taking photos.

Family photo shots

Lovers admiring the sunset. 

 Someone embracing the energy from the sunset😂

Children enjoying their dip under the sunset while their parents sit on the sand, close by, watching.

The silhouette of coconut trees stand out beautifully. 

Looking at these happy events, put a smile on my face at the end of the day.

These were all just photos. It would be even better if you witness it yourself.

Sun set at 6.47pm on 23.4.23 .

Beautiful sight of the Celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, star) outside earth atmosphere.
 Very rarely I see these 3 natural objects together so I couldn't resist taking this photo.
Such a blessing! 🙏
This view was taken from Sutera Harbour Resort, Kota Kinabalu. 

 

The Sun, Moon and the Star! -23.4.23

One of my friends, Christy was also at Sutera Harbour Resort, Kota Kinabalu  and she captured this beautiful photo at 6.30pm on the 24.4.23.

After the sun disappeared from the horizon, the sun's rays looked like fire explosion in the sky. Spectacular sunset!

Thank you Christy for contributing such beautiful sunset photo of our hometown.😘

This chapter was updated on 24.4.23

http://www.wwf.org.my/?17825/WWF-Malaysia-concerns-over-DBKKs-Local-Plan
https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/the-worlds-best-sunset-spots/
https://foursquare.com/top-places/kota-kinabalu/best-places-sunsets
https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2018/06/28/the-most-beautiful-sunsets-in-the-world/#2586d2935a72

What is Kale?

Years ago, we hardly heard of a vegetable called Kale in the market. More common vegetable are the sayur manis, Pak Choi, Choi Sam, Spinach, Kangkong etc but not Kale. 

Now, it's getting popular. Even at the Tamu ( Traditional Open air market in Sabah ), I could hear someone said, "Look! It's Kale!"

So, What is Kale?

Kale is a cruciferous vegetable , a member of the cabbage family.
There are many kinds of Kale. Some green and some purple. Some smooth and some curly.

I have a "Dinosaur Kale" also known as Lacinato Kale ( Italian) or  Cavolo Nero Kale or Tuscan kale. So many flowery name indeed but in scientific name it's only Brassica Oleracea.

This is Baby Dinosaur Kale. I bought it for a price of Rm8 from the Kolombong

 open market which only opens every Saturday.

It was a small plant of about 6 inches tall with 4 leaves. I planted it on a raised bed under the shade of my blue pea flower plants.

Within 1 month, the plant grew bigger with more leaves. I tried with 7 leaves first to do the stir-fried recipe and gave my comment at the end of this topic, so read on...😅

Stir-fried Kale : Ingredients needed.....

 7 leaves of kale


2 pip of garlic + 1/2 Bombay onion (chopped)


2 tablespoon cooking oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon light soya sauce,
1 teaspoon oyster sauce or scallop sauce.

Method:

After washing and draining the leaves , remove the midrib of all the leaves. Some use the midrib to make stock but I just throw them into my garden as compost.

Cut the leaves into small pieces as shown

Heat the oil in the pan on medium heat.

Saute garlic till slightly brown

Add Onions and fry for about a min

Add Kale

Add all the seasonings ( salt, oyster sauce, light soy sauce) and stir fry until the vegetable turns a
darker green.

Serve hot with steam rice

Okay, now for the comment for this dish.

It tastes like Kai Lan ( cabbage leave), a bit tough ( Guess i need to squeeze the vegetable during draining as shown in U tube to make the veges softer). 

Seasoning is just right but somehow, I don't seem to have a liking for this Vegetable. But my husband likes it! Partly because I don't fancy Kai Lan or Brussels Sprouts . If given a choice, I wouldn't have it as my choice of vegetable 😅😅😅.

Anyone have a better way of preparing this dish? Please do share it with me. Some suggest to add in rice wine, Some suggested to make as salad....hmmmm...but no thanks, not for me.😂

Even though Kale is good for healthy skin, hair and bones but i would give it a miss and go for other choices of vegetables that I like, such as choy sum😂.
For your information, Kale is extremely nutritious with lots of Vitamin A and K.

15th May 2020

Sabah Rice Wine and a dish

This topic is mainly talking about how I made my 1st attempt of  Sabah homemade rice wine and making a dish with it, which is very popular in Sabah and also for women undergoing confinement period.

Lihing , Malaysian rice wine originates from Sabah , is made from glutinous rice and natural yeast. They were left to ferment for at least 3 months. The wine is either sweet, or bitter sweet but the most popular is the bitter sweet taste.

The natural rice wine yeast, also known as Sasad or Ragi by the locals, is actually made from mold and rice flour,  which is in a form of solid round pieces, as picture below shows.

This particular yeast is needed  for fermentation.

The amount of these yeast used, depends on the amount of rice we used. For example 5 kilo rice to the whole bag of yeast shown in the picture. 

This Sasad/ragi or rice wine yeast can be easily bought from the wet market . There are big, medium and small wine yeast hanging up for display and sale.

These smallest Rice Wine yeast are for making bitter sweet rice wine which is the most popular.

Medium size wine cake are for sweet wine which is not as popular because the wine can be too sweet for some people's taste.

Large wine yeast for  not so bitter or sweet rice wine, How true? So I bought these too for experiment.

There is some tobacco added to the bottom of the bag, to minimze the invasion of rice weavils, a kind of rice pest.

One of the stall vendors selling natural rice wine yeast and local tobacco( sigup) for years in the market. She admits she cannot make good Lihing as Darine, another vendor from the store next to her.

Darine, a friendly, active lady in her early 70's (she looks 10 years younger than her age), speaks good english. She told me how she learnt to make the  Lihing type of wine,  from her aunty who lived up to the age of 105 before she passed away. Darine believes Lihing has been introduced to Sabah for more than 200 years ago by the Chinese and after intermarriage with our natives, it has been passed on to the Sino Kadazan ( Chinese and Kadazan) and the Kadazan.

Darine has been making Lihing for many years now. Being an expert in Lihing, she said the best Lihing is still those bitter sweet one. Reminds me of my daughter's mother in law who is also an expert in Lihing, said the same, that the bitter sweet type is rated the best. Lihing gives good result if  fermented for 3-4 months old.
These 2 ladies don't mind posing their pictures for my blog😂

Ingredients for Sabah Rice wine

1 kilo of glutinous rice can produce about a bottle and half of Lihing

the whole of this rice wine yeast is for a 5 kilo rice

Therefore I only used 20 small cakes for a kilo of this yeast.

I put into a zip lock bag and crush the cake with a pounder or hammer to become powdery

Wine yeast ready to ferment the rice

Wash the glutinous rice. Some bloggers said not to wash the rice for better result but i still choose to wash. After 4 wash, the rice was drained.

and only half cooked the rice in the rice cooker.

Leave the rice out in a tray to cool.

Rice must be completely cooled or it will turn sour during fermentation

Sprinkle the crushed sasad/Ragi/ wine yeast over the cooled rice and mixed well

I  used a  clay pot to store the the well-mixed rice.

 Cover with cling plastic before placing the cover of the pot.

Task almost complete

Label the pot with date as a reminder when was the wine fermented started.I labelled it for 1 month but later changed my mind to 3 months.

Some Superstitious traditional ways of the Dos and Don'ts for preparing the rice wine

Quiet environment.

 happy mood or the wine will turn sour.

Don't touch the pot or eat sour stuff if one has period/menses.

How true was that?  I am not a believer but it is not difficult to follow these superstitious rules because in my house, we don't have children screaming their heads out or running about. To be in happy mood is also not difficult to follow because when you are in the mood to prepare something, you are actually happy. 

It makes more sense if I said we need to concentrate on  what we are doing😂. That's it!

Some like to add a little colour to the wine ,so adding a handful of  black or red glutinous rice will do the trick. 

I was told a half cooked rice is best as it helps to ferment better??? I am not sure😜

  My first attempt  Rice Wine -  A success 😂😋.

This rice wine shown here has been fermented in the clay pot for 3 months .

With the sieve , I slowly scooped out the wine with a cup to pour into a bottle.

Result of a 3 months old Rice wine during bottling which looked like soya bean milk- 23/11/2019

the next day the wine looks clearer - 24/11/2019

30/11/2019

One week later, it turned into a beautiful clear amber . I reused a whisky bottle and the wine looks like whisky😂😂😂

Chicken Wine is a very delicious and nutritious dish especially those undergoing confinement period.

Corn fed chicken meat are used preferably for it's texture and a good rice wine of course.

Black fungus, goji berries and ginger were added for more flavour.

When I was in my confinement period. my mother cooked a pot of chicken wine everyday for a month! It's a belief from old folks that it may help us recover faster😅 from our confinement period.

 Chicken Wine 

If you have followed my blog before, you may know that I have written a dish called Chicken in ginger wine. Yes. This recipe is the same except the wine used here is rice wine.
To make a good chicken wine, the wine is the key,but also the type of ginger  and selection of good cornfed chicken, makes the dish A1.

Ingredients:
half Chicken -chopped into bite pieces
5 Black fungus-woody ear
a handful of goji berries
1 thumbsize ginger
2 cup rice wine (Lihing)
200 ml chicken broth
2 tabsp cooking oil or sesame oil
 salt if needed

Method

1.Marinate chicken pieces with salt . Leave for at least 30 mins
2. slice ginger into thin slices
3. Heat 2 tabsp oil in a pot
4. Fry the ginger till slightly brown
5. Add Chicken pieces and fry a min
6. Add black fungus and goji berries
7. Let it cook for 2 min in slow fire
8.Add chicken stock
9. Let to boil and then simmer 15 mins
10. Add Lihing and simmer for 5 mins
11.Season according to your taste
Serve hot with rice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lihing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabah