Merry Christmas!

This is gonna be a short one to while away the gap between posts. But as it is Christmas Eve, I wanna wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!



And of course, have a great, blessed 2010!!!

Cousin Ida's Wedding

Ya I know...I know...This was about two weekends ago, and I don't understand why it took me this long to post about my trip home for my cousin's wedding. But better late than never:)

So Mz. Ray pun balik la dengan excitednya ke Kuching pada 4/12/09 sebab sepupu kawin. Mesti la kena balik, she's like my sister kan. Bukan apa, kitorang kazen-mengazen ni tak ramai, so hubungan pun memang macam adik beradik. Kalau tak balik, kecik hati pulak Pak Usu.

My flight that morning was supposed to depart at 11.45am, ETA Kuching agak-agak dalam pukul 1.30pm. So awal paginya tu, I drove to Kamal's place so that I could leave my car and then lepas tu mintak tolong dia hantar kat LRT station. Reached Kamal's place dalam lebih kurang pukul 7.15am, then sementara tunggu dia bersiap main-main lagi dengan Baby and Boboy, his kittens. He sent me to LRT Asia Jaya, and Alhamdulillah tunggu train pun tak lama. Tapi yang tak syoknya sebab masa tu peak hour, so there were lots of commuters on their way to work. Rasa macam sardin je on the way to KL Central tu. My beg ada dua je, one is my backpack with my netbook and impotant documents and necessities, and another was my overnight bag. Dua-dua akan masuk cabin, so sebenarnya buat rugi je bayar RM10 for cargo load.Tapi takpe la, tak kisah pun.

Anyway, ngam-ngam sangat sampai kat KL Central pun dalam pukul 8.10 and terus turun bawah nak naik shuttle bus the LCCT. Kebetulan bila dah settle, nampak pulak my gym friends Mike and Osman pun nak pegi ke LCCT sebab diorang nak terbang ke Bangkok. 8.30 the bus departed and around 10am cemtu sampaila kat LCCT.

Borak-borak kejap sambil menuju ke termina with Osman and Mike, then we parted ways sebab nak check in. I went to the domestic flight hall, then lepas check in and collected my boarding pass terus ronda-ronda nak carik breakfast. Lapar sangat masa tu. Pegi ke new wing tempat international departure, ternampak pulak MarryBrown. Sebab dah lama tak makan kat sini so I ordered a breakfast set. Tapi memang sengaja taknak makan kenyang sangat sebab tau nanti bila dah sampai Kuching I would definitely pegi makan dulu before balik rumah.

Masa tengah makan tu then Mike and Osman joined me sebab diorang pun dah ronda-ronda airport lepas check in. Kitorang lepak till it was time to go to our respective boarding halls.

Nak dipendekkan cerita, our flight was slightly delayed sebab pagi tu hujan lebat di Klang Valley, and so kapalterbang pun sampai lambat sikit. I reckon our flight only took off at around noon.

Bila sampai Kuching my sister dah tunggu, and immediately after that we went to have lunch. I was famished by then and she took me to Lock Ann Cafe di area Rubber Road/Green road untuk makan mihun belacan. Muhun belacan is actually another Kuching delicacy not (easily) found in the Klang Valley.

Anyway this is how mihun belacan looks like. Trust me the name could be deceiving. For those who think they might be put off by the name or the smell, fret not, the dish itself it not pungent nor is it too belacan-ish in flavour.


Lepas makan, ikut my sister run errands like collecting her baju kurung, then right away kitorang balik rumah my Pak Usu di Matang Jaya. Biasala bila dah buat kerja nak kawin ni, rumah pengantin sure la ramai orang. So jumpa la saudara mara, makcik-makcik, sepupu, etc kat sini. Bila sampai tengok mini pelamin dah siap, all the souvenirs pun dah siap. Jumpa Ida, the bride and she was in the midst of confirming the appointment with the inai artist. Chewahhh....hehehhehe...

OK, so the following will be pictures and more pictures. Dah malas la pulak nak cerita panjang-panjang ehhehehe...

Friday, 4/12/2009





Just some photos masa petang before the akad nikah-pasang inai and some scenes at the house. Malam tu baru balik ke my own house, penat sangat-sangat. Esoknya pulak pun kena bangun awal.

Saturday, 5/12/2009: Hari Akad Nikah

Esoknya majlis akad nikah, waktu petang dalam pukul 3.00 cemtu. Bestnya, makanan lauk tengahari tu jenis lauk kampung, ada ikan masin, nangka masak lemak, sambal asam, dan sambal goreng. Tak lama lepas tu pulak another anutie bawak cencalok. Rudi tak boleh nak masuk second round of the food jer. And punya la selera sampai tak sempat nak ambik gambar kitorang makan beramai-ramai.

Anyway bila majlis dah dekat so tukar baju pakai lawa-lawa sikit and mula sambut tetamu. OK la more pictures...








Sayu jugakla bila dah sampai bab akad nikah ni, especially bila Pak Usu lafaz akad wali. I was standing nearby taking pictures, and couldn't help shedding tears too.

Oh..and don't mind the last photo ada budak menyandar atas kerusi pelamin tu. That was my niece having her photo taken by my cousin. Budak-budak sekarang...macam orang dewasa kannnn???

Sunday, 6/12/2009: Hari Bersanding

So this was the climax of the whole thing. Bila dah habis acara akad nikah the next day, seperti biasa kami tuan rumah la sibuk jugak mengemas apa-apa yang patut. Malam tu pun lewat jugak sampai kat rumah. Lepas settled down, mandi, etc, semua terus pengsan. Esoknya kena bangun awal tauu...

Esok paginya I was assigned to temankan my Mak Anjang to escort the pengantins to be our family's representative in berziarah ke majlis pihak lelaki while the rest of the family is already at the reception hall. Bukan apa, actually my cousin's husband's sister pun kahwin jugak weekend tu, so family diorang celebrate the wedding of both siblings la. The plan was I would temankan my aunt to majlis pihak lelaki before we proceeded to Dewan Pustaka Gallery where our side is having the reception. BTW Pustaka is the State Library which has a hall facility la. A very nice building overlooking a lake and taman. Usually masa musim orang kahwin ni, this is one of the hottest spots for the couple to have their photography sessions.

Some gambar, and I'm sure they explain everything ya?









Unfortunately, probably due to tiredness and also because of the weather, on this most important day my Dad pulak boleh demam. Petang hari akad nikah sambil layan tetamu dia terkena hujan. Bila balik malam tu dia dah mengadu kat my mum dia rasa tak sedap badan. Esoknya, he woke up with high fever, and tak boleh nak bangun. Kesian my Dad:(..Mum contemplated skipping the ceremony and stayed home, but he insisted that we all leave and go to the kenduri. So kitorang pun terpaksa la tinggalkan dia kat rumah to rest.

Tengahari tu bila majlis dah habis, my Mum went home right away and made plans with my cousin and her husband to take him to the clinic. But upon my cousin's checking (she's a dentist) they decided to take my dad to the hospital instead. They took him to the A&E and the doctor immediately admitted him for observation. Kitorang pulak lepas dah siap-siap kemas barang kat dewan, rehat kejap kat my uncle's place, then terus pegi hospital jugak. We waited there for a few hours, while waiting for Dad's blood test result, sebab takut demam denggi ke etc. Alhamdulillah, by around 5.30pm, the doctor confirmed that his blood showed nothing and that after masuk air sikit, he was cleared to go home. I was also anxious sebab my flight back to KL was later that night.

Anyway, all turned out OK and I made it back to KL on time. Penat tu memangla penat, but being there for my family made it all worthwhile.

Tu je some ramblings about my short trip home:)

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Surah Al-Anbiya, Ayat 87: And remember Zun-nun, when he departed in wrath: He imagined that We had no power over him! But he cried through the depths of darkness, "There is no god but thou: glory to thee: I was indeed wrong!"

Ya Allah, please help me get through this problem, and please bukakan hati orang yang telah mendatangkan masalah ini kepadaku supaya meringankan bebanku ini...






I'm in a bit of a fix, and I'm working on solving this problem. Please pray for me OK:)

I'm Flying Home...Again!!

On Friday, I will be flying home again in Kuching..




Though it'll be a short trip, but I can't wait!! And this time, I'm pretty sure I'll be meeting even more family members as I'll be home for my cousin's wedding.

Just sorry that I can't be there longer, cuti dah habis beb!!! Padan muka amik cuti Raya lelama sangat ehhehehe:)

I'm Happy, So Very, Very Happy!

Well, before anything else, I would like to wish everybody (ada kerrr??) a Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha!! Hope the day has been enjoyable and that you had a great time with family tercinta.

This year I'm celebrating Aidiladha alone (though I'm flying home next weekend so maybe will celebrate it then so does it count?). Woke up slightly later than usual, but come afternoon I went out to my friend Sam's place for a little Raya makan-makan. Other friends also came, and we had a good time chatting and eating Raya food. That was the most Raya feeling I had today though.

Anyway, that was not really the reason for my overhyped happiness today. It's what I got afterwards that really made my day.

One of the greatest,simplest joys in life for me is in reading. I buy lots of books, and though I take a long time finishing them, I still find myself spending unplannned trips to the bookstore and bringing home at least one reading material.

My favourite bookhaunt is, and always will be the Amcorp Mall in Petaling Jaya. I remember feeling like a giddy kid in a candy store when I called my friend Diane about a cheap bookstore that I had just discovered at that time. I still love going to Book Access (top floor, a few doors aways from Kenny Rogers Restaurant)and everytime I went there I'd surely bring home at least one book.

Even at home, I have a sort of mini library. One three-tiered bookcase is already full and I know I should get my lazy bum off sometime and rearrange those books properly.


I actually have another similar shelf which is SUPPOSED to house my burgeoning number of books. However, nowadays this second shelf serves a purpose of a different kind;)


It's my cats' private shelf, their viewing tower to the outside world. Over and over again I kept telling myself I ought to just move it and fill it up with those overflowing books from the first shelf, but then again looking at how they enjoy being up there and it being their window to the outside world stopped me from doing so. Well, I might just get to IKEA and get another one to store them books then:)

Back to yesterday's happening, after makan-makan at Sam'splace, I thought I'd better pop by somewhere and remembered reading about a book sale in Amcorp Mall, so I drove there right away.

Suffice to say, I returned home a happy reader:D..All the books there were dead cheap, and if not because of the big crowd, I would've spent more time there browsing through the selection and probabbly bringing home plenty more books.

But I guess five will do for the time being. And the fact that there were really cheap was the icing on the cake.

5 Books=RM40.00 only!!!

And these are the lucky five I brought home. A nice mix of travel, adventure, humour and chick lit:)

Soo...this is the reason why I'm so happy today:D...

In the meantime, I'm not the only one enjoying getting new books, because..


My babies definitely are enjoying getting cosy with them too;)

Project Kitchen: Tempoyak Goreng

Dah dekat-dekat nak hujung bulan ni, weekend kenala duduk rumah hehhehe..Bukan apa, last month awal sangat dapat gaji due to Deepavali celebration. So macam last week, pegi masak kat rumah my friend, Kamal and jamu kawan-kawan, so hujung minggu ni pulak I opted to just stay home. Lagipun sebab cuaca sekarang sejuk je, sedap jugakla duduk kat rumah, dahla malas nak bersiap-siap and melaram;)

Anyway, this weekend memang dah plan nak buat this favourite dish of mine. Unlike in Semenanjung where tempoyak is just eaten raw, dibuat sambal ulam atau dimasukkan dalam gulai dengan ikan, di Sarawak, in addition to dimakan mentah (bersama dengan cili dan ikan bilis), tempoyak is also ditumis dengan udang, jadinya tempoyak goreng. Kalau udang takde, or bagi yang allergic dengan udang, ikan bilis pun jadi la. Jangan tak tahu, I don't eat durian hehhehe, tapi tempoyak makan pulak. Bak kata orang, yang fresh taknak makan, nak yang dah buruk jugak!!Pelik kan? Tapi taula, dah bau dia kuat sangat, hidung pun tak boleh tahan;)

This dish has been my favourite dish for the longest time, and boleh takde lauk lain pun takpela kalau tempoyak goreng dah ada depan mata hehehhe. Teringat pulak when I was in uni, I rented an apartment with a group of friends lah. So ada la satu hari ni I cooked this dish, which surprised my Semenanjung flatmates as they've never seen it before. Nak dipendekkan cerita, one of them terus berkenan sesangat dengan masakan ni, siap suruh tuliskan resipi lagi tu for her to try. Cumanya tak tahu kot sekarang dia suka lagi ke tak dengan tempoyak goreng ni. Yelah, mana nak carik tempoyak kat Holland kan Hasni? Kalau kau baca entry ni jangan jealous tau!!Hehehhe..

Anyway, making this dish is super simple. Ni dia bahan-bahan nak buat tempoyak goreng ni.

Tempoyak dah wajib ada la kan...Dah namanya tempoyak maaaa...

Udang fresh. Kalau ada udang besar-besar sikit tu lagi best, tp janganla pulak sampai guna udang galah tu yer...Hhehehe. Kupas kulitnya dan cuci.

Cili kering, blended.

Bahan lain cuma bawang merah and kalau cili kering tu tak cukup kick, bolehla tambah cili padi ke, ikut suka memasing nak pedas macam mana. Kalau boleh tumbuk je bawang merah tu dengan cili kering/cili padi tu, lagi best:)


Panaskan minyak. Minyak kena banyak sikit la, bergantung kepada berapa banyak tempoyak yang nak kena tumis ni. Sementara tu, campurkan semua bahan-bahan yang dah ditumbuk tadi dengan udang ke dalam tempoyak. Bear in mind that udang ni walaupun nampak besar, tapi bila dah masuk kuali nanti sure dia akan kecut, so tempoyak pun tak payahla banyak sangat. But still, ni ikut selera masing-masing jugak ok;)

Lepas tu bolehla mula menumis. Guna api sederhana sahaja sebab kena make sure that semua bahan-bahan masak serata. Lagi satu tempoyak ni kena sentiasa dikacau sebab takut nanti berkerak, so jangan tinggalkan kuali tu ya. Kejap-kejap takpe:)

Actually the menumis part ni can be a bit tricky. Ada orang tu bila tempoyak dah bertukar warna brownish sikit dah tutup api tu. But bak kata my mum, selagi tempoyak tu tak pekat, jangan tutup dulu apinya, sebab tempoyak tu tak masak lagi. Teruskan mengacau sampai tempoyak tu pekat, dan pecah minyak. In the meantime, jangan lupa tambahkan sedikit garam dan gula untuk cukupkan rasa.


Inilah hasilnya, my ultimate favourite dish, tempoyak goreng. Camne plak nak makan? Ala makan dengan nasikla -gaul je dengan nasi, ngap la udang tu, oh heaven!!!

Adios!

So Lazy...

Need I say more??;;)




**Model tersohor di atas adalah my beloved Mimi. Mimi memang bolat, but she's still my adorable mummy baby:D

Warkah Terakhir Rosli Dhoby

Work-wise, it has been a pretty quiet couple of weeks for me. As I have a lot of free time at work (ssshhhh...) I spent the time by surfing blogs, drooling over cuppies blogs and youtubing:)

Anyway, in one of the blogs I went to mentioned about Astro Citra's Warkah Terakhir Rosli Dhoby. Yeah it was screened sometime in June/July over Astro Citra. I had wanted to watch it so much but that required additional subscription, which I wasn't so willing to do at that time.

But I managed to catch all episodes throughout the week. It was a very excellently done mini-series, and I actually cried in a lot of the scenes. More importantly, it really opened my eyes and widened my appreciation to the struggles and sacrifices of those who fought for our independence.

Rosli Dhoby was barely 18 when he was hanged to death by the British, after he assasinated Sir Duncan George Stewart, the 2nd British Governor in Sarawak. I know that my grandparents were among those who also fought against the cessation, but the movement in Sibu was more radical. Rosli was the courageous one who shouldered the responsibility of murdering Stewart.

I won't talk about it much as I'm sure it's written in our history text book, but still, I am proud of what he did, and I'm proud that this mini series was done in a very, very classy manner. And the fact that they did it in Bahasa Sarawak was really the icing on the cake, which made this really a genuine work.

Here's the original soundtrack of the series. Do watch it of you haven't, even if just over the youtube, and I guarantee you you will cry and your patriotism is back.

Project Kitchen:Shepherd's Pie

I haven't had a really big kitchen project for a while. So once puasa and Raya were settled, and with the invitation from friends, dapur pun jarang berasap:)Kalau ada masak pun it's really those simple dishes.

That is until Osman, a gym friend invited me to his annual Raya Potluck gathering (refer to previous entry) which means that I need to bring something. He did not assign me for anything specific, and once I confirmed my attendance I told him I'd bring something secret;)

Anyway, I thought I haven't made this pie in a while, so teringin la...I sometimes have strange cravings you see, kalah orang mengandung hehehhe...

So basically the pie filling is more important, and as this was to be a gathering of many friends, instead of the usual minced meat I opted to use the minced chicken. Yelah, we have to think of other people's sensitivity jugak kan?

My chicken filling was quite simple to make. Just chopped onions and a bit of garlic, chopped button mushroom and chopped carrot. For additional flavour (saje-saje) I also added a dash of teriyaki sauce.

After that just press the filling to the bottom of the pie mould. On that weekend from the 2 1/2 packets of minced chicken I managed to fill up four pie moulds with the filling.



For the potato topping, I prefer mine to be creamy and only slightly chunky. But then again, as is any other kitchen creation(??) of mine, tu semua ikut mood jugak hehehhe. That night, after the potato is sufficiently boiled and softened, I put about 2/3 of it into my blender and blended it with a few spoonful of condensed milk. Wahh..this is the Malaysianised style ok, because by right the potato should actually be added with some cream. But cream is a bit expensive, so as I only needed it in small amount, better use a cheaper substitute. Some more it gave a sweetish tinge to the topping taste. Not forgetting a pinch of salt and pepper.

Then the remaining potato pulak I just mashed with my laddle so that there'd be small lumps before all of them were combined. Sadly, after putting them on the waiting filling, the potato I had that evening could only fill up three moulds:((..Looked like I had to freeze the other one and brought three to my friends' places la...(I topped the other one later and brought it and shared it with my officemates...my boss loved it!!!<--kes bodek Boss ke???)



Once I was done with spreading the topping, off to the oven they went. Baked each of them for about 30 minutes. No need to bake for too long as basically pretty much everything was already cooked.

Sorry forgot to take the photo of the pie after they were properly baked, but not much chnges from the ones in the oven photo. Lagipun after that I was busy having to pack them up to be transported to my friends' houses.

Glad my friends liked them;)