Eleanor’s Sugee Cake

Fancy cakes do not usually catch my attention. I prefer the humble butter cake that Mum used to bake. The buttery aroma and moist texture right out from the oven was almost heavenly, never mind that it was scalding hot to the bite. Once in a long while, she would bake a sugee butter cake. It was, and still is, my favourite.

The sugee cake is baked with semolina instead of flour. That together with chopped almonds give the cake its coarse texture. Apparently, the sugee cake is an Eurasian recipe. Mum must have learnt to bake when she was working as a cook with an Eurasian family in Penang in the 1950s.

Eleanor Cheah's sugee cake baked with recipe from her mother-in-law
Sugee cake that Eleanor baked for me.

I have never forgotten the sugee cake after so many years. The bakeries in Kuala Lumpur do not have it. Therefore, when Eleanor posted in Facebook two slices of sugee cake that she baked with the recipe from her mother-in-law, I shamelessly asked for one slice.

Unbeknownst to me, she baked a whole cake for me yesterday and delivered it all the way from her house at the other end of Kuala Lumpur, braving torrential rain and the notorious Klang Valley traffic jams.

Truth be told, I have not had sugee cake for twenty years. Imagine my elation at the first bite. It was moist, its texture coarse and its aroma buttery with just the right amount of sweetness. Two decades of craving was finally satiated and I had more to feast on than I had wished for. I am blessed with wonderful friends. Thank you Eleanor!

Lipitor 40mg

My good friend Cynthia presented me with a supply of Lipitor that is going to last me a long long time, sixteen months to be exact. She even gave me a tablet cutter to split the 40mg tablets into quarters since I am only taking 10mg daily.

Lipitor 40mg and tablet cutter from Cynthia
Lipitor 40mg and a tablet cutter from Cynthia. Thanks!
Photo taken with the Samsung Galaxy S II.

Lipitor comes in dosages of 10mg, 20mg, 40mg and 80mg. The price difference between each succeeding dosage is minimal. This medicine has to be taken long-term. Buying a higher dosage and splitting it into the smaller recommended dosage makes economic sense.

Some medicine, like the Detrusitol capsules that I am taking cannot be split. Likewise other tablets that have a coating that releases the medicine slowly. However, Cynthia the pharmacist assured me that Lipitor tablets can be safely split without it losing its efficacy.

The difference in shape and size between Lipitor 40mg and 20mg manufactured in different regions
The difference in shape and size between Lipitor 40mg and 20mg.
Photo taken with the Samsung Galaxy S II.

There is a difference between the 40mg tablets that Cynthia gave me and the 20mg tablets that I recently bought from the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) Community Pharmacy. The former are round which makes splitting them into quarters easier. The latter are elongated and I had to get only the 20mg tablets to be able to split them evenly. Both tablets are manufactured for different regions.

Thank you Cynthia! My cardiovascular system thank you too!

Massive Earthquake And Tsunami In Japan

All major news networks are flashing the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck at 2.46 pm local time in the northeastern coast of Japan. The quake triggered a 10-meter tsunami. As I watched the footage of boats and cars being swept away, I thought about my friends and their family in Tokyo and other areas that were hit by the earthquake and then the tsunami.

Just yesterday, I was asking my good friend Hata about the 7.2 earthquake that struck on Wednesday. According to him, there was no damage in Tokyo as they were a distance away from the epicenter. I hope that they are safe this time too and remain safe in the aftermath. My prayers go out to them, especially at the Human Care Association, Centre for Independent Living Hino and Machida Human Network.