Appraisals and Rewards

Time for that year end appraisal(could be over for some) and for the new year's increment, and not forgetting the bonus too.

How have you fare? Have you been adequately compensated and rewarded? Is your organization fair in its rewarding its employees? Do you have an opportunity to present to your superiors your performance for the past year and are you given the chance to bring up issues that have been troubling you or the challenges that you feel are not adequately supported with the right resources.

Appraisal is a process loathed by most people, appraisers as well as the appraisees. This is particularly so as it is almost impossible to be fully objective for a very subjective operation.

How does one then ensure that all that are involved are impartial and shows no favoritism? This will be much easier to adhere to if those in authority are seen to be so.

Managing the human side of an organization is never easy. Leadership in the right vein plays a crucial role here.

My wishes to all of you for a rewarding and fruitful assessment and that you do get what you wish for. If not, chart and document your progress as you work hard and perform better this year and hopefully your remuneration committee is receptive and wise enough. Otherwise, search for greener pastures.

For bosses, quoting Mr. Tan Thiam Hock "never underestimate the power of inspired teamwork".

Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year

Bye-bye 2012 and welcome 2013. How do I feel? A little sad, as with all goodbyes, saying goodbye to year 2012, makes one feel nostalgic too. Happy to welcome another year. Another year of opportunities to do and be better in all that I do and love to do and that I do not love but have to do. Ha! Ha! Ha! Happy New Year!

Baked Otak Otak

The Otak Otak, a fish dish cooked in a blend of spices, thinly shredded limau purut(kaffir lime)leaves and coconut milk. My mum’s signature dish, I remember how she would fill banana leaves that have been folded into packages with the fish mixture for steaming. The waft of delightful spices and aroma filling the air would not fail to stir our appetites.

I have modified the recipe a little, using only the daun kadok(aromatic wild betel leaves), omitting the banana leaves to simplify the preparation a little. My mum would say, “not bad at all.”

  

Baked Otak Otak Recipe

Ingredients :

300 to 400 gm white fish meat (2 blocks of Red Snapper or Garoupa or other similar fish meat)

8 dried chillies (seeded for a mild flavour)

12 shallots

5 pips garlic

1 inch piece of fresh tumeric (about the size of your distal phalange of middle finger

1 lemon grass

½  inch piece of belachan (I do not like it too strong for this dish)

4 tabsp of fish curry powder, or 3 tabsp of wet curry fish paste(this can be bought from the market)

Some limau perut/kaffir lime leaves (thinly shredded)

Half grated coconut, to get half a cup of coconut milk

3 eggs

Sufficient 'daun kadok' or wild betel leaves(a type of aromatic ground creepers) for lining tray or pan

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation :

1. Grind the chillies, shallots, garlic, tumeric, lemon grass and belachan together.
2. Mix the ground ingredients with the fish curry powder or wet curry fish paste.
3. Add the beaten eggs, and mix well.
4. Add the thinly shredded kaffir lime leaves.
5. Add in the fish meat that has been thinly sliced.
6. Stir well, add salt and pepper seasoning.
7. Line a baking or steaming tray with ‘daun kadok’.
8. Scoop the fish meat and egg mixture into the tray, leave about ¼ cup of the gravy for spreading over the top of the top 'daun kadok'.
9. Cover the fish and egg mixture with a layer of ‘daun kadok’.
10. Pour the remaining gravy onto the ‘daun kadok’ and bake for about 30-35 minutes at at 180 deg. till sides of tray are slightly brown.

NOTES :

·              You could steam the Otak Otak in a plate/tray for about 15-20 minutes instead of baking it.

·              You can estimate the proportion of coconut milk used. It should be approximately 1.5 times the volume of eggs.

·              Some cooks omitted the curry powder and some do add some rice flour to thicken the gravy.

Nature's Canvas 2

When I put up Nature’s Canvas 1 in August 2012, I was not sure that there will be a follow-up.  But, if you ask me now, I would say I would not know how many sequels there will be.

One thing though, as they say, ‘ Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder’, so it might not necessarily appeal to some of you. Yes, you are right, it definitely is not going to deter me. For me these pictures that I put up have their own unique attraction and beauty.

So, enjoy the ride as much as I have and thanks for taking time to do so.

The yellow flowers in the photo above and the red fruit in the photo below are from the same plant. Fasinating, isn't it? No, I do not know the name of the plant. The photos are from my neighbour's plant. I had previously planted this shrub, but not anymore.

This is one of my favourite flowers, partly because my hubby cared so well for it and it blooms so well.It's flowers exude a light, enchanting fragrance. The photo below is from the same plant and that is its ripen fruit. I was happy to be able to snap this before the birds get to it.

Beautiful, purple lily gives me so much pleasure

I enjoy the light reflected on the water and the leaves. The  flower buds standing majestically, basking in the light

The rambutans lend some colour to the dark twined trunks. :-)

These colourful Crotons look their best after the rain in the morning light.

Fresh and beautiful

Another type of Crotons bathing in sunlight and raindrops

Insects love the rain too

 The pink bougainvillea emerging blooms, common to some but gorgeous to me

Interplay of sunlight and raindrops on Palm fronds

What was I thinking when I took this? My fasination with raindrops

For this shadow image, I have to wait for right moment

The fragrant limau purut bud, flowers and fruit

Wild? So green and luscious, isn't it?

Crimson beauty

Definitely, one of my favourite flowering shrub. This is its bud and so beautiful.

My favourite again, I love the way the bud displays itself, the flower and the young fruit. ......                                               and the fallen petal, so soft and light

Hand Cast Removed

How am I doing? What is the prognosis upon removal of the cast on my hand?

Fortunately, the fracture along my 5^th metacarpal has healed. That means I do not need any further treatment. All I need to do is some simple hand exercises and physiotherapy to recover the full range of functions of my hand, including my wrist. Simple enough, isn’t it?

After being in a cast for exactly 23 days, my hand, particularly my 4^th and 5^th fingers have forgotten some of the motions they have been doing for fifty over years.

There appears to be some venous congestion and tightness. I could not bend and close my fingers tightly to form a clenched fist over the middle of my palm. So there you have me, not only trying to bend my fingers to form a tight fist, but clenching my teeth as I bear with the pain to work those lazy muscles, tendons and ligaments. For the first 20 hrs, the pain was practically unbearable, but fearing the worst, I persevere and finally could see some progress. The full strength and scope of movement has yet to materialize but

I am now confident, that all will be well and soon too.

For the past 23 days I have been cradling my right casted hand like a baby and being very respectful of my left hand. My left hand had stood and still stands in good stead of my right hand, although I could not lift something heavy or that which require enormous dexterity.

I have even been able to write a few legible words and am thankful that my dear left hand has served me well in my hour of need.

Humpty Dumpty had a ……..

Lo and behold, if only I had not hesitated and not turned my back again to feed my dear plants with more water, I could have avoided all this trouble. But alas, the morning rays were screaming, “a very hot day it will be”.

How does it feel to be like a deck of cards tumbling down? It happened so fast that I do not actually remember the sequence of events. Just oh no, and next, I found both knees in the drain, (my garden drains) and my right palm beside the drain. It did not seem to hurt much, and then the pain reared its ugly head warning me not to take it lightly.

With ice packs, Ketoprofen pain relieve gel and two panadols, everything seemed fine and inflammation subsided.

                                                                                                        

However, the two doctors advised otherwise when the inflammation returned with more vengeance and seemed to be more extensive.

My reply then was, “What’s the fuss about, it is just something minor.”

So off to the hospital we went. After seeing the doctors, the prognosis is : A spiral crack on the metacarpal at the base of my little finger. I was informed that I may need either a plaster cast or a wire and a cast. That got me worried, if they need to wire it, I had to be warded. Fortunately, the fracture has not displaced the alignment of the metacarpal and managed to evade the wire but not the cast.

Moral of the day, ‘BE CAREFUL’. Then all these troubles and hassles could have been avoided.

That was a week ago, I still have another two weeks before the cast is removed.

The positive thing is I get to train and manage around on my left hand, an intensive course at that though. Most certainly hope the training will last me a lifetime, as I am not signing up for a sequel. The thing is, your muscles cannot be in high gear mode on such short notice even if it’s only for minor chores. That means I will have to be less ambitious with my training targets.:-(

The heightened use of my left hand has also provided me an opportunity to better understand what stroke victims have to go through to regain function of their limbs.

It is indeed a test of my patience and an alert alarm, a wake up call for my mounting carelessness of late.