Salesmen Vs Engineers (Part 2 of 3)

Here's the second instalment of the salespeople and engineers story.

SALES STAFF AND ENGINEERS

The second...

A group of engineers and a group of sales people take a train to a conference. Each salesperson holds a ticket. But the entire group of engineers had bought only a single ticket. The sales people are just shaking their heads and are secretly pleased that the arrogant engineers will finally get what they deserve.

Suddenly one of the engineers calls out, “The conductor is coming!”. At once, all the engineers jump up and squeeze into one of the toilets. The conductor checks the tickets of the sales people. When he notices that the toilet is occupied, he knocks on the door and says, “Ticket, please!”. One of the engineers slides the ticket under the door and the conductor continues merrily on his round.

For the return trip, the sales people decide to use the same trick. They buy only one ticket for the entire group but they are baffled when they realize that the engineers didn’t buy any tickets at all.

After a while, one of the engineers announces again, “The conductor is coming!” Immediately all the sales people race into a toilet and lock themselves in. All the engineers leisurely walk to the other toilet. Before the last engineer enters the toilet, he knocks on the toilet occupied by the sales people and says, “Ticket please!”

And the moral of the story?

Sales people like to use the method of the engineers, but they don’t really understand them.

Salesmen Vs Engineers

Here's something from my `Forwarded e-mails' category. It was received back in 2002, originally as a Powerpoint presentation. I can't remember who sent it, but whenever the young engineers under my supervision get discouraged, I would show them this.

SALES STAFF AND ENGINEERS

3 Real Life Stories (well, not quite real life...)

The First…

Eleven people were dangling below a helicopter on a rope. There were ten sales people and one engineer.

Since the rope was not strong enough to hold them all, they decided that one of them had to let go to save all the others.

They could not decide who should be the volunteer. Finally the engineer said that he would let go of the rope since engineers are used to do everything for the company. They forsake their family, don’t claim all of their expenses and do a lot of overtime without getting anything in return.

When he finished his moving speech, all the sales people began to clap…

Moral : Never underestimate the powers of the engineer.

The next 2 stories coming soon...

As quick as lightning

I was at my parent's place in Singapore over the weekend. On Saturday evening, the TV news on Channel News Asia reported that the Merlion, the iconic tourist attraction located at the mouth of Singapore River, was struck by lightning. There was some damage to the top of the statue.

Pic 1 : From The Straits Times online

Last night, before driving back to JB, I again watched the news on TV. This time, CNA showed pictures of the statue with scaffolding already erected all around it. Wow... that was fast. Someone in authority had obviously issued directives that the damage be repaired immediately. And over the weekend at that. They sure waste no time, don't they?

Pic 2 : From Channel News Asia

It got me wondering, if such an incident were to happen in Malaysia, say for instance the Tugu Negara was damaged by lightning... how quick would our authorities act to get the damage repaired? One week? One month? Your guess is as good as mine.

While some of us may be amused by the well-known `scared to lose' attitude of our southern neighbour, we must admit that we trail them by a long way when it comes to efficiency.

Dinner duty

The wife has been a bit under the weather for the past two days and so tonight, I took the opportunity to revive my cooking skills.

I had my son cook the rice and also make some scrambled eggs. I decided to try out the sambal ikan bilis belimbing buluh recipe that I included in the previous post. Our belimbing tree is still sprouting bunches of fruits and I picked some fresh ones to be used in this dish.

Since it was the first time of trying, I wasn't sure what to expect. As all good cooks know, the method mentioned in any recipe is generally just a guide. It takes a fair bit of judgement and personal experience to decide on just when and how much a particular ingredient is to be added. For example, the phrase `... goreng hingga kekuningan' can be quite ambiguous to a novice. To what degree of `kuning' shall the paste be fried to?

Anyway, I could not follow the recipe exactly because I did not have shallots (substituted with plain bawang besar) and bird's eye chillies (replaced with plain cili hijau). Although I used a bit of soy sauce, the sambal did not quite turn out totally black (is it supposed to be?). It was more of a deep dark brown colour. I suspect it would've turned darker if I continued to fry it until `garing', as spelt out in the recipe. But rather than risk it being overcooked, I stopped the frying just as when I thought it tasted about right.

So exactly how did my sambal hitam taste? Not as good as the ones my Pahang-based readers have mentioned, I'm sure, but boleh la... as a first attempt. According to my wife and sons, not too bad. The sambal has a nice tangy taste of the asam belimbing while maintaining the flavour of the ikan bilis.

With a bit more practice, I believe I can improve on the taste. I'm sure using shallots instead of large onions makes a big difference. The quality of the ikan bilis itself is quite important too. In the hands of a master cook, this dish is guaranteed mouth-watering. It goes down well with plain white rice. I reckon it would also go well with ubi rebus.

While I was at it, I also cooked another version of ikan bilis goreng asam... basically as a back-up, just in case the sambal hitam attempt resulted in failure. This recipe is a variation of the one I learnt from my mother. It involves frying the ikan bilis until crisp and then temporarily set aside. Fry some chopped onions, garlic and chopped green chillies until fragrant. Add a dash of oyster sauce and soy sauce plus salt to taste. The original version would then use a bit of air asam jawa (tamarind paste mix). I substituted this with fresh asam belimbing slices. After a few minutes of frying, the ikan bilis is added back into the pan and mixed well with the sauce.

Served with hot plain rice, this dish is simple but delicious. It was a life-saver during the years I struggled as a student overseas. Sorry about the plain-looking picture. Too hungry to wait.

The final dish I prepared was ayam goreng kunyit dengan kacang buncis. This choice was really based on what I could find in the fridge; two pieces of chicken fillet and some french beans. Quick, easy and tasty too.

Belimbing buluh

We have a medium-sized belimbing buluh tree (scientific name : averrhoa bilimbi) growing in the front yard of our house. The tree has been there all these years, presumably planted by the original owners.



At certain times of the year, the tree bears fruits that can be used in Malay cooking. This time round, the fruits seem to have sprouted in abundance... more than I can recall from previous times. Yesterday, I collected enough to fill a small basket and yet there are more than half the tree that was unplucked. A lot of the ripe fruits have already fallen to ground.

The green belimbing buluh fruits are too sour to be eaten directly but they make excellent additions to certain recipes such as any `masak lemak' type of dishes. While searching for the scientific name on the internet, I came across a simple recipe involving belimbing buluh and ikan bilis. I have not tried it yet but being the ikan bilis fan that I am, I'm sure it's going to taste delicious.

The recipe is reproduced below (credit to Nani Z @ resipi.mesra.net) :

Sambal Ikan Bilis Goreng Belimbing Buluh
Kiriman : Nani Z
Sumber : Resepi arwah moyang Limah turun temurun

Bahan-Bahan :
Segenggam Ikan bilis sederhana besar
5 ulas bawang merah
2 ulas bawang putih
7 biji cili padi (ikut suka)
Kicap secukupnya
2 sudu belimbing buluh (berwarna coklat / hitam)
Minyak masak untuk menumis
Garam secukup rasa

Cara :
Basuh ikan bilis dan toskan. Kemudian tumbuk sederhana lumat dan asingkan (Bahan A). Tumbuk cili padi, bawang merah, bawang putih dan belimbing buluh hingga lumat (Bahan B).

Panaskan minyak dan masukkan Bahan B serta goreng hingga kekuningan. Kemudian campurkan Bahan A, kicap serta garam. Goreng hingga garing. Angkat dan hidangkan.

Cadangan Hidangan :
Sambal ini dikenali juga sebagai sambal hitam (di tempat kami Kg Gua, Kuala Lipis). Ia boleh dimakan dengan nasi panas, roti canai dan lain-lain sebagai bahan pencecah.

Tambahan :
Buah belimbing buluh direbus dulu hingga hitam keperangan. Dikenali juga sebagai asam belimbing buluh.

Source : http://resepi.mesra.net/Detailed/5067.shtml