Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Of Chilies and Babies

It's been raining cats and dogs since Christmas. A day without rain has been quite rare lately. Some areas in the Outback are even flooded after years of drought. Seems like the water restriction for Sydney has been lifted as the dams are filled up quite nicely lately. Let's hope it will be a loooooong looooong time before the authorities impose such restrictions again. However, that doesn't mean we should stop our water conservation effort.

With the rain, some of the plants in our garden are taking it hard. Some are showing stress due to over watering while some are attacked by fungi and snails. The most distressed seem to be our bird chili plants. Mama decided to harvest the fruits early to prevent further damage to the crop. At least, if the plants die, we can still save the fruits, she said.

Here they are, our summer chili harvest. We'll start re-planting when the rainy season is over. What we can't eat now will go into the freezer.

Talking about chili, a deranged man (in my opinion) had gone around smearing babies' faces with chili powder yesterday!!! What must he be thinking? Mama got so angry and said the fitting punishment for the man would be to smear his face with our chili. Whoa! People, don't ever make my Mama angry. She becomes fiery and you'll be chili-fied!

This is what we read in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

Sydney (16 Feb): A man has been arrested following the assault of two toddlers with chilli powder in Sydney's inner west, police say.
The 40-year-old man allegedly assaulted two young children in separate incidents when the toddlers were being pushed in their prams by their mothers while shopping.
A woman entered a greengrocer on Liverpool Road in Ashfield when it is alleged the man approached her 18-month-old son who was sitting in a pram and rubbed chilli powder on his face just after 11am (AEDT) on January 25.
When the toddler began to cry, the man ran from the store.
The boy was treated by his doctor and did not sustain any serious injury.
In the second incident, a woman was shopping in a supermarket on Liverpool Road when a man allegedly approached her two-year-old seated in a pram and smeared chilli powder over his face about 7.45am on Monday.
The man fled the scene before police arrived. The toddler was taken to Canterbury Hospital by ambulance for treatment.
A man attended Ashfield police station about 9.40am on Monday, where he asked to use the toilet and allegedly tried to dispose of a packet of cayenne powder in the bin before police discovered what he was doing.
He was arrested and taken to Campsie Police Station, where he was charged with two counts of assault.
He will face Burwood Local Court on March 4.

* All places mentioned are suburbs neighbouring ours.

What a crazy world we're living in now. purrrr....meow!

26 comments:

Melb said...

That's awful!! He must be crazy!! Ask your mummy to smear his face with the chili padi!

kay_leeda said...

It's so hot hot hot here in Shah Alam. It rained a wee bit this afternoon, but wasn't enough to cool the earth down. The air cond is full blast and still sweating like nobody's business.

Enjoy the rain Angie. Them cili padi will keep you "hot" for sure. Complement yr Mama pls, she has such green fingers :)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Hie Melbourne!
O-oh...you sound just like my Mama. You're not in any way related to her, eh? But what a waste of chili padi...it's about $40/kg at the markets. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Kay,
Perhaps my Mama should become a chili padi farmer. Can make tonnes of money. purrr....meow!

mamasita said...

Don't forget to ask your mommy to pickle the cilipaas..just keeping dalam fridge macam tu will go busuk too..

Give that madman a good peppery bath from head to toe for a week..

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Yummy Mummy,
Pickle the chili? Good suggestion. We'll go get some vinegar today. Peppery bath...whoa! What if we team up and open Chili Spa? purrr...meow!

Pi Bani said...

Ohh... I cannot tahan cili padi. My perut will go memulas-mulas!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Pi,
What is, it's chocolate-coated? purrr....meow!

tireless mom said...

Reminds me of my late Uwan. She loves to say it after hearing people mencarut " Baik baik sikit cakap, kang kok den cili an mulut tu"

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Yatt,
Don't think the 18-mth old or the 2-yr old were mencarut. Clearly deranged case. purrr...meow!

Anonymous said...

That man's definitely deranged. I hope he gets a taste of his chilli soon. I agree with Mamasita... pickle them to preserve the taste would be a good option. You'll have both preserved chillis and peppery vinegar for the salads.

tireless mom said...

No lah. I am sure no carutan from the babies. Just that your chllies story made me terindu kat my late Uwan : (

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Andrea dear,
Char kuey teow would go very well with the pickled chili, eh? Any extra I'll send to the police lock up. Special chili dish for the deranged man. purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Yatt,
Alah....don't cry lor. I miss my Grandma too....purrr....meow!

Pi Bani said...

Chocolate coated cili padi?? Naaaah... I doubt it will reduce the perut memulas part!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Pi,
You're hard to please, woman. har har har *evil laughs*

Brad

Lee said...

Hi Cat, I love these bird chilies, or chili burung.
Whenever I eat those delicious Vietnamese Pho beef noodles, will bite, eat them raw....
Sometimes my wife will buy them too instead of the bigger ones...
I must have chilies, either raw or sliced in a small saucer with soy sauce.

Gosh, that man must be bonkers, to smear babies faces.
This the kind of person I sure would like to return the favour, my way.
You take care, G'day, Lee.

sherry said...

I tak makan pedas jugak macam Che Pi kita! Tapi kalu masak singgang ikan mesti nak taruk jugak cili api tu tanpa dipotong2 sekadar buat hiasan!

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Dear Kitties,

I have a great idea! We swaddle a huge monitor lizard in baby clothes and put a bonnet on its head. We put the monitor lizard in a pram and pretend to leave it unattended. When the dysfunctional sicko approaches the pram to smear chili powder on the baby's face, the monitor lizard bites off the sicko's finger! Sicko dies a slow painful death of gangrene/cellulitis/septicaemia/ salmonella poisoning!

Good idea, no?

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Uncle Lee,
My Mama likes them a lot too. That's why she planted some in the garden as the fresh ones are very expensive. Hmmm...I wonder what you'll do to that deranged man if you get your hands on him. I'll help you claw his eyes out. purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Sherry,
Tak power-lah tak makan pedas. Kita ni kucing Mat Salleh pun suka makan pedas tau! Singgang? Hmmmm...ikan kembong ke ikan tenggiri? purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

CO78,
We support you 500%! In case the lizard didn't do enough damage, we'll claw his eyes out. purrr....meow!

~CovertOperations78~ said...

"Don't think the 18-mth old or the 2-yr old were mencarut."

Waaaaaugh! Haaa haa haa! Too funny! *Tergolek atas lantai sampai ke tepi longkang!*

Cat-from-Sydney said...

CO78,
Janganlah tergolek dalam longkang. Someone could have just thrown a kilo of chili boh into the longkang..Bahaya! purrr....meow!

Melb said...

Cat, nevermind! It's worth it... Let me tambah another kilo... err.. am not related to your mum but kita semua sedara waaattt??

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Whoa! Melbourne! You're so brutal! har har har *evil laughs*

Brad