Brothers

Yesterday evening, I was initially too lazy to cook anything. But the thought of eating Quaker Oats did not excite me in any way. So I finally decided to throw in what's available in the pot for a quick chicken soup. Accompanying it is the 'sambal belacan'. Yummy...

I left some for my younger brother, who is asleep at around 9 p.m. He has very odd sleeping hours. Once, his friend remarked to another friend, 'dia ni ikut time India' (he followed Indian time), when explaining his sleeping pattern hehehe...

Anyway, when I was about to go to sleep around 1 p.m. last night, I informed him that he can finish up the food or keep the leftover in the fridge if there is any. This morning, I saw the pots in the sink. No sign of leftovers in the fridge :) If you ask why I'm smiling, my brother did not eat much. So when he finishes the food and all the rice in the rice cooker, he must have liked my cooking hehehe...

I'm reminded of many years ago when we're still young. Brothers exist to make life hell for their sister. Their nickname for me is 'badak air' (hippopotamus). Back then there's no cute TMNet Bluehyppo to remind us of hippopotamus. Hippopotamus is the hippopotamus we see in National Geographic, fat and unattractive. At 164 cm and 52-54kg, I was not fat by any standard but the hippopotamus image stayed with me that I'd only look for L, XL and XXL size clothes even when much later I weighed 47-48kg. It took me some time to realize I'm only size S or M. That was then by the way. Nowadays I find myself slowly growing back to L size and this time it's for real.

When I'm back from the hostel, I'd try cooking with the good intention of helping my mom. But brothers being brothers, would complain about my cooking until mom feels I better not cook as long as she can do it. But, they never complain when it comes to cookies. Once, my experiment with cookies renders the dough flat and all the pieces joint together to become a flat cookie pancake in the baking tray. They took the tray, use spoon and knife to peel the flat cookies off the tray to eat it.

In another instance, they gang up and chase their big sister with a big snail. The big brother holds the shell and directs the soft gelifying part towards me. The little brothers cheers their big brother up. I managed to outrun and locked them out of the house heh :)

I also have to become the referee whenever they fight. This is the time my younger brother practises his wrestling techniques on his younger brothers. The referee needs some wrestling techniques too to keep them apart. My youngest brother always have the advantage, being little and cute. He'll cry the loudest to gain big sister's sympathy and the other brothers will get the scolding of their lifetime.

They've grown up to become mature, responsible and reliable men. Last time my younger brother prefers not to eat heated food from the day before saying it smells different. Now, he never complains about the food anymore. Rarely say it's good or not either. The sure way to tell is when he took second or third helpings. My youngest brother has also become more diplomatic though he rarely has the chance to sample my cooking. No more naughty little brothers to test my patience now.

*This post was meant for yesterday but I've no time to blog about it.