Bitter Life, Better Man

Chinese proverb says 吃得苦中苦, 方为人上人. It translates to one can become better man if he learns to survive in his suffering life. In sarcastic way, the more you suffer the better you would be. In short, as per title, bitter life, better man.

Is this the right way? Let me try to "bitterize" my life to see if I become a better man.

What is this plant?

Do you see the gourds at the bottom?

It's bitter gourd. 2 down there. Another 2 inside...

1 more here...

Few more in process, the yellowish flower...

So? How to become "better man" with bitter gourds?

Drink it! Like this...

Stir and drink...

You will feel "better" once you drink the bitter juice. From the "i" (idiot) in bitter transforms to the "e" (elite) in better. Hence, better man. Hehe...

Enough talk cock :P

I hated bitter gourd since kid. I used to avoid whatever dishes cooked with bitter gourd. Worse, I even refused to eat the next dish cooked after the bitter gourd dish by my mom! Because I could still taste the bitterness! My dad very bad, always forced me to drink bitter gourd soup and I hated my mom whenever she cooked bitter gourd dishes or soup or whenever I saw bitter gourds in the refrigerator.

But now I am "better man".

I have a cup of this every morning to start my day. Of course it's not plain bitter gourd juice, I mix with green apple and carrot to neutralize some bitterness. Yet, I can still taste the strong bitterness, but I love it. I even ask my mom, "so little bitter gourds you cut for me?! I want more!" And baby bitter gourd is very hard to get in the market, and because of supply-demand (I want more) theory, my mom therefore decided to have a try, plant it. This is why I have these photos.

It's quite simple, no fertilization required, just let it grow by itself. You can harvest it after 2 weeks.

However, it's now like this...

Not because of over harvest, but kill it! Hehe...

I must mention that I hate insects. Flies, mosquitoes, ants etc etc. They bite when you sleep; they disrupt when you eat; they eat your favorite food when you unnoticed etc etc. I hate them all so much. I see one kill one 见一只杀一只, kill wrong than let go 有杀错无放过. The plant attracted insects and the insects trespassed my room! And because of this, it reached its destiny - I had my mom to chop it off, and have to pay more visits to pasar pagi (morning market) and pasar malam (night market) to hunt for baby bitter gourds. Thanks mom!

But why a sudden change to eat bitter gourd after 20 plus years to avoid it? Thanks to someone who wanted to share the meal with me and the meal was bitter gourd noodle. Smart! Apparently I was cheated intentionally to eat bitter gourd for the first time and now I start eating bitter gourd because of this smartie.

And may be because of this experience, I become better man now. Don't boo at me, at least I am better in health. :P