Last Episode of 《千金》("Precious")

The last episode of《千金》("Precious") (Episode 34) was shown on 28 Feb 2014, MediaCorp Channel 8.

In this episode, Qianjin (played by Jeanette Aw) finally figured out that the An family's secret prescription could be in the sandalwood beads that her mum had already given her. She used a chair's leg to smash the beads and found a small note with an address in Beiping on it. She passed the note to Li Chuanzong (her boyfriend, the adopted grandson of Li Dahai) to find out more about it. 

Qianjin and her cousin, Ling Zhichu (played by Dai Xiangyu) then went on to confront Li Dahai, the person who killed Qianjin's maternal grandmother, An Tianlan and was also responsible for the deaths of An Tianlan's maternal family and husband. Qianjin told Li Dahai she had already found the secret prescription but she would not give it to him. 

Li Dahai then grabbed hold of Qianjin as a hostage to get them to give him the secret prescription. Ling Zhichu, in the process of trying to save Qianjin, accidentally killed Li Dahai. Ling Zhichu then instructed Qianjin to tell the police and other people that he was the one who killed Li Dahai. He would hide in the mountains and continue his work with the guerrillas. 

Xinyi, the adopted granddaughter of Huang Yuena, was upset that Ling Zhichu and Li Chuanzong both did not want to marry her. She hated Qianjin, so she put a lethal poison in the ginseng soup that Qianjin made for Huang Yuena. She was thinking of killing two birds with one stone. She could kill Huang Yuena and put the blame on Qianjin. She would never have thought that Xinrui (Xinyi's sister) would be the one who drank the soup, was poisoned, vomitted blood and died. She came in too late to stop Xinrui from drinking the soup. Xinyi was extremely upset, went crazy and stabbed Qianjin. Huang Yuena shouted for help and her servants came in to catch Xinyi. Huang Yuena ordered the servants to kill Xinyi but Qianjin, in her weakened state, still pleaded with Huang Yuena to let Xinyi go. 

The next scene, Qianjin went to visit Li Chuanzong. Li Chuanzong told her he had gone to find the address she had given him. It was a treasure trove of the An family. There was no secret prescription. Qianjin gave the treasure to Li Chuanzong to help them fight against the Japanese and said she would wait for him. 

The show ended in the modern day (2011) with a group of tourists visiting "千金汤"，a shop that served herbal soup which was opened by Li Chuanzong and Qianjin before Li Chuanzong went off to fight the Japanese. In the group of tourists, there was a guy who looked like Ling Chaoyan (Qianjin's father, played by 霍震谚).

When this Ling Chaoyan look-alike was looking at a stick of candy, there was a flashback of Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo (Qianjin's mother, also played by Jeanette Aw). Then a girl who looked like Xiruo came, took the stick of candy from the guy and commented that the stick of candy looked interesting. She then introduced herself as Huang Peishan and was in the same tour group as him. He then introduced himself as Ling Yiran. This whole scene was similar to how Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo got to know each other except that this time round, it was the girl who took the initiative to talk to the guy (it is 2011, after all).

Presumably Ling Yiran and Huang Peishan should be the descendants of Ling Zhichu and Qianjin respectively. There was no mention of their actual identities, so I could only guess this much. Perhaps those flashbacks of Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo was to hint to viewers that Ling Yiran and Huang Peishan were the reincarnations of Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo, respectively? 

Below are just some of my thoughts on this drama:

1. Huang Yuena had known that her son, Yakun, had been secretly visiting Xiruo and helping her. When Huang Yuena got someone to burn Xiruo's house, I don't understand why she told the person to do it as soon as possible. Shouldn't she tell the person to make sure Yakun was not at Xiruo's house before doing it? In the end, Yakun was burnt to death in the fire while saving Xiruo and her unborn daughter.

2. It was very sad that such a nice girl like Xinrui should die in such a manner - poisoned to death.

3. There was no mention of what happened to Xinyi later. Was she arrested for murder? 

4. We were also not sure what happened to Ling Zhichu and Li Chuanzong. Did they survive the war? 

5. Did Qianjin ever get married and to whom? 

6. Why should Qianjin visit Li Dahai just to tell him she had found the secret prescription but she would not give it to him? 

7. The An family's secret prescription which Li Dahai kept harping on, turned out to be just a treasure trove. Why in the world would someone claim to have a secret prescription and run the risk of having the whole family killed for it when it did not even exist?

Nevertheless, it was still an interesting drama to watch. Apart from the fact that Xiruo is a mute girl just like Juxiang in 《小娘惹》"The Little Nonya", there were very little similarities between the plot of 《千金》("Precious") and《小娘惹》"The Little Nonya"

Bird's Nest

Ardon was coughing badly a few weeks ago. He had seen the doctor and took a few doses of the cough mixture given. However, he still had phlegm in his throat and was not able to get it out completely. The cough mixture would cause drowsiness, so he was reluctant to continue taking it as it would interfere with his daily activities. 

Then, I remembered bird's nest had worked wonders for him when he was a child. Since he had been coughing for about 2 weeks, I thought we should give the bird's nest a try again. 

Bird's nest is known to contain many antioxidants, amino acids, collagen, protein and many other nutrients. It can help to boost immunity.

So I began my search for more information on bird's nest and here's what I had found:

1. The best time to take bird's nest is in the morning before food or night time before sleeping (helps us to sleep better too). Next would be 2 hours between meals. 

2. The quantity of bird's nest to consume every day should be between 1 to 5 g. Below 1 g, it is ineffective. If we consume more than 5 g, the human body cannot absorb that much and hence, would be wasted.

After doing all the research, we went to Hock Hua Tonic. After checking with the staff on the different bird's nest options and efficacy, we decided on a set that contains 2 g of bird's nest in each bottle.  

After drinking 2 bottles on two consecutive mornings, Ardon said he felt that the phlegm had turned thinner and was easier to cough out. He drank another bottle two days later and, since then, he had recovered. 

Personally, I feel that bird's nest is one of those few tonics that are not bitter. They are usually double boiled with rock sugar which makes it even more palatable. It's a good choice to start for taking tonics. However, be careful not to "overdose". As with all food, eat tonics in moderation too (unless you have a prescription).

[S$89.00][HOCKHUA]HOCKHUA TONIC|金牛特级冰糖/泡参洞燕(配套)|Golden Cow Special Grade Birdnest with Rock Sugar and Ginseng Set|6 Bot x 150g|Store Pickup Available|

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Yam Paste Dessert (Orh Nee)

I had about 200 g of yam left after using some to cook yam rice. So I decided to try and make some Yam Paste Dessert (Orh Nee) from the yam that I had left.

Ingredients:

200 g yam (cut into slices or cubes)
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
75 ml of coconut milk (I used the "kara" brand)
70 g of sugar


Steps:

1. Put the yam cubes on a steamer rack together with some pandan leaves and steam for about 15 min until the yam cubes turn soft. 

2. Once the yam cubes are soft, switch off the fire and mash the yam cubes.

3. Add cooking oil, coconut milk and sugar to the mashed yam. Place this mixture in a small slow cooker and brew it for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. This is also a good way to keep the yam paste warm. 

I prefer my orh nee to have some yam cubes in it for the texture, so I didn't bother to blend the mixture.

Orh Nee in slow cooker

Above is a picture of the Orh Nee with half the amount left in the slow cooker.

Tasted good. Maybe next time, I can add pumpkin :) .

Note: Most recipes require that we put cooking oil, the mashed yam, sugar and coconut milk in a cooking pan and stir the mixture constantly. I was too lazy to keep an eye on the fire and stir constantly. So I used the slow cooker instead. Using the slow cooker also means it takes longer to cook to the required consistency. 

Related post:

Yam Paste Dessert (Orh Nee) - Alternative Method