Are what you enjoy now.....
Let me just tell you a little story.
Last century, sometime in the early 80s, as young reporter I had to cover a beauty contest. One of those local, little contests.
During question-time to test your intelligence and gauge your personality, the contestants were asked what their hobbies were.
The answers varied. One pretty lass said she enjoyed reading.
emcee: "What kind of books?"
pretty lass: "Recipe books".
And a little brief conversation followed.
From where I was sitting, I actually smirked. "Recipe books?", I repeated to myself. A little disdainful.
"And you call that reading?. Poor girl", I said to myself.
On reflection, that was judgmental of me, I know.
To me, at that time, (a very younger me), reading recipe books did not count as "reading books".
How young and judgmental I was.
Because later on in life until this day, I have enjoyed going through recipe books, and websites on recipes....
SO, to that pretty contestant, I'd like to apologize for trivializing your pursuit.
Aah..??
ReplyDeleteok..ok so you are being repentful of that act..ooh..ok fine.
Jo
ps. dont sweat over it from now on.
On that account, we could now forgive, even appreciate, someone who swears by his love for reading billboards which you could do from the comfort of your air-conditioned car. It's safer than reading the sms's you receive on your handphone.
ReplyDeleteare we 'reading comics' or 'watching comics' !!??
ReplyDeleteI know what you are saying sis. Back in the 70s I was disdainful of people listening to pop music because I was a newly-converted fan of bands like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep. Went on for quite a while, I must admit. I must have been a pain in the butt or the butt of many jokes. These days I keep my mouth shut and listen to mostly bossa nova music because it seems to convey images of people lazing around on a beach somewhere.
ReplyDelete..not if the recipe book is BBC's Delia's Complete Cookery Course Classic Edition which is bounded 3 inches thick and feels and looks like a novel..:) but maybe beauty contestants don't read such books..and maybe your disdain then was justified..:)
ReplyDeleteRecipe books with beautiful pictures that make your both water ;) Perhaps with a cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Ah, how nice it is reminiscing about our past (when we are younger, hehehe). And to learn and later realise our adolescence actions. And to have the courage to offer an apology is most outstanding.
ReplyDeleteBut Nuraina, just to share with you, do you ever felt that you're older that what you are right now? I mean, the way I am feeling now, my mind coast around 25. So was a friend of mind who first shot me this question as she never felt older than 25 albeit a few creaks here and there, together with a maturing mind. You catch the drift?
Probably that was our best era in life. Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you.
- Hantu Siber -
Opulently I to but I dream the post should secure more info then it has.
ReplyDeleteAunty Nuraina,
ReplyDeleteMy Mama says she's guilty of the same sin. We have quite a collection of recipe books now....but it's OK, I'm her official guinea pig (or cat???) when it comes to tasting new recipes. purrr....meow!
Dear bro,
ReplyDeleteAhhh, until recently, like you I used to raise my eyebrows when my sisters buy recipe books/mags. What a waste of time/money, I declared. That was until I had to study outside my kampong, then I realised how cocky I'd been. Then in all humility, I'd to "beg" for a couple of "simple, straight-forward, no-fuss" recipe books. Today, I browse these beautiful websites for "new" recipes. Now whenever my sisters call, they will tease "ada recipe baru ke?". (I roll my eyes upwards). Maybe that beauty contestant was ahead of our time, eh?
Matthews
Sorry Ms Nuraina,
ReplyDeleteI called you bro, actually I was thinking of my brother when he remarked about our local beauty contest years ago. He said a certain contestant had no future, becoz she read Barbara Cartland books. I can safely say Ms Cartland's language and style of writting is "cleaner" than other books in the market. True or not? As for the contestant, she's now owns a boutique and a hairsaloon. My brother is still at it!
Matthews
Salam, Puan.
ReplyDeleteI guess reading is still reading, no matter what type of books you read.
I wonder what would a judge in a beauty contest would say nowadays if one of the contestant said she likes reading manga ( a japanese comic book ). :)
talkin about recipe books, the art of cooking applies in anything , in everyday dear life.
ReplyDeletewe cook ingredients, in communication, salesmenship, leadership, etc etc.
cooking is extremely therapeutic. it feels soo good to cook, and its double good to eat the end results, and see others enjoying the end-results.
everytime i got the cahnce to cook for the kids in between works, i would., its so much satisfaction to see my wife and kids enjoying my 'air tangan'...
kitchen is one great lab....
I can vouch that reading recipe books is in fact a hobby for some. Tath includes my wife. You will not believe the number o recipe books we have at home. More than in a number of bookshops, I'll bet. Maybe that is what messed by the marriage!! I wonder!!
ReplyDeletemy wife however like to watch cooking programs although she NEVER any of the dishes ... Hmmmmm... How about that?
ReplyDeleteNuraina, I love collecting books and that includes cook books, especially the glossy ones. It is so nice to see how dishes look like when presented in good photographs. But I leave the cooking to .... and she is reading the books too. Thats specialisation or division of labour.
ReplyDeletehi ena and peeps,
ReplyDelete*standing with head bowed and hands behind back*
i am mekyam and i watch the E-channel... eNews followed by daily10... every weekday, religiously.
*whispers* actually i don't much care about what they're on about, but i find the prattle relaxing and it sure as heck beats watching dismal real news. ;D
maybe now we can include blog as one of the reading materials? hehe!
ReplyDeletei kindda sad reading your writing.
ReplyDeletemy apology.
I’d like to maintain that Nuraina’s article now is more about the state of the brain of beauty contestants rather than her contrite at a remorseful thinking of the past. Because if only certain grey-matter percentiles of those contestants are weeded in, we wouldn’t have any “beauty contests”. But then why should we eulogize the death (or non-existence) of intelligence among pretty women. An ad from America says it all: a favoured beauty contestant was asked in front of the millions of viewers, what would your contribution be towards the well being of the planet? And she asked back, “Which planet?”
ReplyDeleteHey let’s accept it. Not everyone could have all the beautiful tenets of a human being all rolled into one self. Should the “annual award for the young scientist of the year” include some winning points about a contestant’s “hunkiness”, we would not have any respectable scientists at all. Which brings me to a most thought-provoking idea:
Should Intelligent Men wed Pretty Women so that they could get an offspring which is both beautiful, handsome and brainy? The thought did cross my mind to popularize the legislation of this thought, until I read an incident where they had wanted Albert Einstein to copulate with Marilyn Monroe to produce a new breed of human beings which are both clever and beautiful.
“What if”, piped Einstein, “the offspring were to have MY looks and HER intelligence?”
The idea was invariably shelved.
true, I enjoy reading recipe books... like soup for the soul... lots in my collection! I always collect the raya editions of saji and rasa.. and Cooking Thin by kathleen sthg is my fav ever!!!
ReplyDeletesame things happened to me, it's not reading but watching.....back to 70's when every night my father like to watch berita and 'peristiwa' at that time. I keep on asking to my self, why old people like to watch something seem not so interesting compared to film like combat, six million dollar man, see hunt, space 1999...etc. Now same thing happened to me when my kids keep on asking me..abah why do you like to watch berita..isn't naruto better than that..i believed it's normal......
ReplyDeleteNuraina,
ReplyDeleteReading Recipe Books?? I have no problem with people doing so because it can actually make you think of the outcome or finished product! The combination of the ingredients used for the respective dishes actually helps you to understand the proper diet that we should follow.
Similarly with friends who like to watch programmes such as the AFC, Cook Like A Chef etc.
However, I had a classmate previously who reads the Dictionary! And she thoroughly enjoy doing so. I wonder what would have been your thoughts if the same beauty contestant mentioned that she reads the dictionary?
when i was younger, and when i didnt care, i didnt know i was sleeping deep;
ReplyDeletethings are not what it seems;
i loved carpenter, i loved deep purple, i loved abba, i loved it all;
when i was sleeping, they are cooking...
i dont want my children and their children to sleep like i was..
hmmmm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqFKhGHpvnQ</span style="font-family:>
Dont think u were trivializing. At that age recipe books cannot be the only thing she reads.....like kids now think reading FB or blogs is reading?
ReplyDeletebut i think reading u blog counts as reading...lol