Covid-19, a global pandemic and Malaysia's Movement Control Order (MCO) or Restricted Movement Order (RMO) as it is originally known as. But MCO got more popular with the press due to it's catchy tone, which is less mouthful too.
Anyway, it has been 5 weeks since 18th March 2020 when my country has entered into a partial lockdown. Most of us are confined to our homes, except that unfortunate few who got away. Initially, it wasn't easy for everyone to adapt to the restricted movement. Many has attempted to resume their usual life as though the government didn't implement it. Many couldn't get use to it, many even violated it on many occassions. So, the fines came in. That didn't help either for the first 2 phases of the MCO. Yes, we are now on the 3rd phase. Let's hope phase 4 will not happen, but chances are it just might because of the upcoming Raya holidays.
It is difficult to live how we used to be in particular travel and holidays. There was a comment that I received at the beginning of the MCO from a Caucasian reader in my Facebook page. She commented something like, "eat travel and be merry. don't even think about it with covid 19. you can eat and be merry but don't travel." Hilarious, of course not. My site may have the element of travel in it but I am not dumb enough to even suggest any travel or even its alternative. Not at least the next 2 years, unfortunately. It's a shame but to be able to do more, it's best to preserve our life for time being.
Everything non-essential can wait, that includes certain food which we used to enjoy or splurge on. Certain basic food items are scarce if not inflated in prices. Unlike the UK where essential food items such as milk, flour, eggs, and bread are all relatively cheap and affordable. Here, it's limited edition item especially bread. I am not sure why. I heard somewhere that one lady bought 10 loaves of Gardenia bread. I wonder how are is she going to finish them with their short lifespan.
During the MCO, it felt like a survival mode had been turned on within us. Some tend to hoard items, and some live frugally. I learnt a few tips to keep some food items last longer but I don't hoard (like how my brother accused me), I tend to want to have at least one extra to each item I have at home. Things we usually use, such as rice, noodles, clothes detergent, washing liquid for dishes, rubbish bin liners, butter, sugar, cooking oil, condiments etc. Obviously, you can't do these to perishable items like raw meat, vegetables, eggs, biscuits, bread. But there are ways to keep their lifespan a little bit longer. You need patience, and it does pays off.
Just as an example, I used to have problems storing spring onions or scallions. It may seem trivial, but you'll be surprise how fragrant your food is with just some spring onions, either sprinkled on top as garnished or even put in cooking oil. It's really good. Speaking of which, mom, if you are reading this somehow, please teach me how to fry Teacher Baek's stir fry aubergine using spring onion oil. I'll try my luck with Google too. Hopefully I could find it. Anyway, back to spring onions. How to store it? Well, before we could actually handle it, we first need to understand the mechanism of crisper or the fruit/vegetable compartment in our fridge.
Oh yes, I googled it. Haha..
So, the general rule for storing fruits and vegetables in the crisper section is this: -
Dry - low: fruits
Humid - high: vegetables.
Now it made even more sense. You need moisture for vegetables to retain its freshness. The reason why it got wilted is because the fridge's environment sucked all its moisture out. So, when you increase humidity in the crisper, your vegetables' freshness is prolonged. Fruits don't need humidity, it'll only rot them quicker. So, remember the rule and you'll be fine.
A tip from a blogger for spring onions are to wash them clean, just trim off the roots without removing the white parts. Cut to a size that fit your container (measure the length before you cut) and store it as it is. Wet. Keep in the container and it'll last for at least 2 weeks. The blogger has successfully store her spring onions in containers for 18 days when she made a blog post about her methods. Interesting eh?
Well, being confined at home means you have a lot more time doing passive activities. Your physical activities reduced tremendously, as you need to go to work or going up and down between offices. I gained weight during these 5 weeks but I try to do some exercise too. I picked up zumba during the first 3 weeks, and now I am trying yoga. Still trying to get a hang of it. Motivation and will power is key. Have a routine, and stick to it. That's the key principle to working from home.
You'll tend to get complacent but with a routine, the transition from working at home to working at office would be much easier. Try it. Of course, besides routine, you also need to hydrate more and eat nutritiously too. Instant noodles and fast food are quick fixes but it's unhealthy in a long term. I see many of my friends became master chefs during MCO. Many tried baking, and cooking all the food they love. We can't go out to buy them, or it's expensive to order them in, we then make them at home.
I've made the following so far which I've not tried before pre-MCO: -
1) Chapatti
2) Char Koay Teow basah (Malay style)
3) Chai Koay (steamed crystal dumpling with jicama)
4) Nasi Lemak
5) air frying ikan bilis
6) air frying chicken wings
7) steamed cream cracker cake
8) milo / rum & raisin / dark chocolate ice creams
9) traditional egg cake (mini version)
10) deep fried sweet potato QQ balls (taiwenese snack)
So you see, when you are restricted in many ways.. you'll just have to find your way through it. Not around it, but through it. You'll learn a lot more when you go through something than to avoid it altogether. Don't take too many u-turns like what's happening to our government. It's frustrating to watch news these days. Using a straight road is never the same again. It's going to feel like a no-exit roundabout.
Well, I am blessed to be in Malaysia. I really am. At least, I am with my family and they are safe. Penang is doing well with compliance of the MCO's regulations. Our monitoring unit and frontliners are doing very well.
I would like to also take this opportunity to thank all my friends and everyone who are the frontliners, doctors, surgeons, dentists, nurses, scrubs, the police, the army who are working so hard to keep us all safe. We will stay at home for you guys. Please take care always and when all these are over, do give yourself a pat at the back. You are our heroes who are not wearing any cape. Your tireless efforts are very much appreciated and recognised by us Malaysians and also the world. Thank you for all your sleeping debts, reuse of PPE, no off days, irregular meal times, bruises on your faces due to long wear of face masks and shields, without all these sacrifices that you guys have gone through, our country's Covid-19 cases would not be contained as well as it should be.
We will go through this difficult and unprecented times together and together we shall walk out and embrace the new normal. It is never going to be the same again in the next couple of years, maybe. It's better to be safe now than to be sorry later.
Until the next post, hopefully not a year later. I hope to resume writing as much as I can to keep my mind sane.
Take care everyone wherever you are in the world. Stay safe and stay put. Stay at home.
