Long Weekend, Merdeka Weekend

This past few days has been a prelude to what KL is gonna be like in more or less three weeks-clearer traffic with less people.

It's gonna be a long weekend because Monday is the Merdeka holiday, so...I'm going on a...

I'm going with Nina, and after sahur tomorrow, we will be heading east to..Kelantan, her home state. Specifically, we'll be in that would be Kota Bharu.

For me it'll be a much-needed short getaway before the Raya hectic sets in, and it'd be nice to go there again. Will definitely be doing some shopping, but cross me fingers I don't cross the line:)

So wish us a safe journey ya??..though it's not a spring break, but it's still a break..;)


photos courtesy of Mr. Google and those who put their watermark there...

Weekend Woes and Two Hours of Heaven

Last weekend was quite eventful. Saturday was the first day of Ramadhan, so now we're fasting from dawn till dusk. The weather was rainy and nice, and apart from the usual house-cleaning chores, I opted to have minimal activity, and only left the house to send my clothes to the laundry and bought Saturday papers. Later I put the kids in their room and cooked food to break fast. Just simple ikan kembong masak kicap, pak choy in oyster sauce and cucur cakar ayam keledek.


Sunday was my outing day. As my boys could not stop fighting and were constantly growling, I knew I could not put off neutering them much longer. Plus their yearly vaccination was up so I thought better kill two birds with one stone and had the vet over to do whatever's necessary for the health and well-being of my cats. Poor Abang, Dingdong and Abu are finally 'fixed'. Even as of this morning they were still quiet and not as hyper, probably because traces of the anaesthetics are still in their system. Plus, maybe merajuk dengan mummy kot...And yesterday, courtesy of Dingdong, I had two claw-cuts on my feet that he made in his haste to run away right after the vet jabbed him with the anesthetics.



My poor babies....

But after that, I left the house around noon for my appointment with a heavenly treat. See, I took part in the Women's Weekly magazine SMS contest and I won a European Facial at Estee Lauder. So last Monday I went to pick up the voucher, and after that called the Estee Lauder Skincare Center at Midvalley for the weekend appointment. I got a Sunday afternoon slot.


Arriving there on time, I went and from outside you can tell it was gonna be a luxurious treat for me. Yelah, all this while kalau pegi facial pun pegi tempat-tempat yang moderately priced jer, mana nak mampu bayar sampai 2-3 ratus sekali kan...

After the usual consultation to know my skin type, activities and beauty regime, allergies, medication, etc, I was ushered by the bautician assigned to me, a nice lady called Jasmine, into a private room. I was then told to change into a bathrobe and Jasmine there proceeded with the facial. The nice bonus was they were giving complimentary massage, so I had to choose either foot massage or back massage. I chose the one for my back as I just had a cut at my foot. Very nice, very relaxing. Sorry at that time it never occured to me to take any photo. I thought I just wanted to have a relaxing time getting pampered.

After that was a series of treatment for my face-the usual steaming, scrubbing, masking, extracting and some other what-not that I just couldn't remember. Jasmine was also nice enough to do my eye-brow, as well as giving me a hand-massage while masking my face. When it's done, there's the shoulder and head rub, after which she left me alone to get dressed and prep myself.Only then did I have the time to take the photo. The upright chair you see here was my bed before that, and really, I could sleep there all night I don't mind:D..Best sangat-sangat, cause the best part was it was free!! But still, if I could afford this kind of place, I wouldn't mind treating myself to that every few months. Insya-Allah maybe in the future I can afford that ya...


After the facial and ronda-ronda a bit in Midvalley, I went to Nina's house to get my Raya cookies stock so far. We broke fast together then after that it's home sweet home to my kids. What a full day huh...

Project Kitchen-Sayur Batang Keladi Masak Lemak & Ikan Masin

I had a craving yesterday. Well, since Wednesday sebenarnya. Bukan apa, my crazy tekak would sometimes crave for food that usually require extra effort to get, or crazier still, demands that I cook it myself. A few months ago, I craved for Laksa Sarawak. Sure, boleh je pegi Laksa Shack ke kalau nak makan, but no....my tekak requested Laksa Sarawak from my own cooking. Hadoiii...camner tu??

So kena la called my family and had them courier the perencah laksa tu all the way from Kuching. So lepas tu buatla projek laksa...

Tapi this time, my craving was for sayur batang keladi masak lemak and ikan masin goreng kering. Make the ikan masin goreng crispy la...Owwhhh heaven! This is among the best combo for me. The problem is, in the previous times that I cooked this dish, the batang keladi tu dah elok2 dipotong and dibuang kulitnya. Otherwise Mum did it for me and I just prepared the ingredients. Ehh kena buang kulit tau batang tu, kalau tak nanti jadik macam monyet lak garu sana garu sini...

So pagi semalam, dengan semangat berkobar-kobar, I left the house 10 minutes earlier cause I wanted to go to the Pasar Tani pagi which is just acroos the road from my office. Nasib baik ada, kalau tak mati kutu kena tunggu weekend la pegi pasar malam carik keladi ni. So bila dah penuhkan my shopping bag, seronok sangat tak sabar tunggu balik kerja terus nak buat projek sayur keladi masak lemak ni...

Tapi sorry la takde mood plak nak amik gambar. Balik-balik terus prepare bahan-bahan. Paling tak best kena potong and buang kulit batang keladi tu. Pun tak amik gambar sebab tangan jadik comot dengan getah keladi tu. Takut gak jadi gatal, nasib baik takde pun. As I only cook using a multi-cooker, it took me double the time to finish everything. Semalam pun pukul 9++ baru menjamu selera...

But it's been worthy-all the kepenatan bejalan kat Pasar Pagi carik barang-barang dapur ni, all the way to the slow process of getting this dish ready. Ni je gambar yang ader...enjoy...

Sorry gambar ikan masin takde plak, because dah habis makan baru terfikir nak amik gambar, ikan pun dah habis:D


To whoever reading this, Selamat Berpuasa!! Semoga ibadah puasa bulan ni diterima Allah, lebih murah rezeki dan family jadi lebih bahagia!!

Project Kitchen-Apple Pie

This time rasa nak buat entry ni in BM. Boleh ker???Cakap rojak is OK kan??

So anyway last Saturday buatla projek apple pie ni. Sebenarnya dah lama sangat dah nak buat pie ni, even bahan-bahan pun dah beli dari minggu lepas. Tapi ni pun ada jugak bahan yang takde, contohnya kismis and tepung jagung. So yang jadi subsititutenya adalah tepung kastard. Takpela, tepung kastard pun ada mengandungi tepung jagung what...

So since dah dekat sangat nak puasa ni, baik buat apa yang diniatkan takut nanti bila dah puasa tak larat plak. Bukan takat tak larat saja, mungkin penyakit M pun melanda, lagi naya tau!!

Sabtu lepas bangun pun awal pagi dengan semangatnya terus buat preparation untuk pie ni. Ye la, bukan kejap boleh siap. Kena buat doh dulu then sejukkan dalam 2 jam, lepas tu baru boleh canaikan, letak isi dan bakar. Lagipun tengahari tu memang cadang nak keluar jenguk my good friend yang baru lepas bersalin, so sekali bawakkan pie ni la sebagai buah tangan...Hheheh more like ada orang tolong makan sebenarnya;)


Ni bahan-bahan nak buat apple pie ni. Of course guna green apple, then ada tepung kastard untuk ganti tepung jagung, dan ground nutmeg. Patutnya guna cinnamon, tapi sebab allergic tak tahan bau cinnamon, so guna nutmeg la;). Selain daripada tu, sorry ekk ni boleh kata apple pie yang rebellious sket sebab kismis takde, then instead of brown sugar aku guna honey, as well as guna butter biasa untuk doh instead of the recommended unsalted butter. Mahal tu woohh....Oops...nampak lak buku resipi tu. Yelah ni first time buat, kenala rujuk buku ye tak??


Apple ni lepas ni nak kena kupas kulitnya, buang benda kat tengah tu, sorry what is it called in BM ekk??Ala senang buang its core and lepas tu potong dadu:)


Ni la rupa filling pie tu selepas di campur. Ada nutmeg, honey dan perahan orange (sorry patutnya lemon heheh)..



Bila semua bahan dah tersedia, canaikan doh yang dah awal-awal dibuat tadi tu dan masukkan dalam pie bowl. Nasib baik ada pie bowl ni (hadiah table sporting masa company dinner :D) so bolehla buat projek ni. Letak elok2 tekan doh tu dalam mangkuk ni.


Ta da....Penuhkan plak dengan filling apple tadi...Then lepas tu canaikan the other half of the dough untuk wat cover nya plak.

Ni la rupa apple pie yang dah ready untuk dibakar. Tapi sebelum tu kena cucuk-cucuk skit atas tu buat lubang nanti senang udara nak keluar kot. Lepas tu sapu dengan kuning telur supaya nanti berkilat cantik;)


Aiyo....Tengah bakar pie pun mau amik gambar ke...???

Ni dia pie yang dah elok dibakar. Bakar pun amik masa lebih kurang 40-50 minit. Lepas tu biarkan pie tu sejuk. Ngam sangat la sebab tengahari tu masa bawak gi rumah kawan pun dia still elok suam-suam gitu...


Selamat menjamu selera!!Hehehhe...buat tak malu je amik gambar pie sendiri kat rumah orang. Bolehla tahan sebab ni first time buat. Cuma rasanya crust tu lain kali kena nipis lagi sikit la..And make sure betul2 guna bahan yang patut ada. Ni kalau makan gak dengan aiskrim mesti best!!

Projek minggu depan??Tak tau lagi. La ni dah puasa, so...Entahla...Tengokla camne yer...

Long Week

It's been such a long week, I can't wait for the weekend. But on the other hand, I've got a few things in mind regarding weekend activities.

A good friend delivered her second baby last Sunday, and I might pay her a visit. There has been some kind of complication, and she had to deliver earlier. The baby was originally due during Raya, but Alhamdulillah everything turned out to be OK.

I'm also supposed to pay a visit to another friend who also just delivered her second baby too about a month ago. Hope I can steal some time to go to her place. Need to make a mental note to self to get gifts to the new mothers and their baby boys.

Maybe can jalan-jalan shop for those stuff later after work la...

In the menatime, congrats to my dear Sabrina and Nora, thanks for making me a second-time aunty to your girls, I'll always be their favourite Aunt Sue and I'll see you girls soon;)

Oh and to Ema too...it's been months since you had your boy too, and still tak sempat to come over to your place. Janji aku nak pegi la lepas tuk ok....

So..it's three presents for three Mamas who just had three boys:)

Weekend Work...Yikess!!!!

I'm still not feeling all that well, and with the haze, the worries over that pandemic disease and personal stress, I seem to be getting migraine attacks more frequently than before. As I still have remnants of that flu, I still speak with a nasally tone.

And starting tomorrow, I'll be outside of the office for the next three days in a row, working.I'll be starting my day reaally early and probably not gonna get enough rest. Not sure how I'll cope should migraine pays a visit:((


Wish me luck!!!

Short Trip to Singapore

My brother is a hard-core Liverpool supporter, so whenever I'm home and it's EPL season, the situation can be a bit tense if it so happens that two channels are screening games for both teams, and even more so when United and Liverpool are playing against each other. Thank god I wasn't home when we got beaten at OT last season:((

Anyway, for their Asian pre-season tour, this time the Scoucers went to Thailand, Singapore and....(sorry I can't remember, cause I just don't care), and earlier on he told me he might be coming down to Singapore to watch the game.

Fast forward a month later and on the night he was due to fly out to KL, he called me and told me he was on his way, and that he was bunking with me before he and his good friend drive down to Singapore.

So last two Friday evening, he took the red eye flight out of Kuching and arrived at my place at around 1.30am due to the flight delay. Their original plan was that to drive down in the morning, but I told him since both of them would not get sufficient sleep and rest, it'd be better to drive later in the afternoon. Suffice to say, once the bright mroning came, another change of plan-the friend decided to bring along his wife and mum as they also wanted to visit their Singapore relatives and visit his sick grandmother.

To cut the long story short, it was then decided that my brother and I would drive on our own and stay in Johor Bahru before we cross over to Singapore, jalan-jalan then I would get back on my own and he would stay back a few more hours for the game. As we also have a cousin there, we enlisted her help in getting us booked into a resonably cheap hotel near her place...Kira OK la budget hotel only ya..

So on Sunday, as per the friend's advice we were sent to Larkin bus hub and took a bus to Singapore. Disembarked at Kranji MRT and the friend then picked us up. As it was really just a short visit for me, we just spent the day jalan-jalan, makan-makan a bit then I took the evening bus back to JB.

Right, I'd better let the photos do the talking now then...


This is around the area of Sultan Mosque and Bussora Street. The mosque is the oldest in S'pore, and surrounding it is a nice tourist attraction. I commneted that it reminds me of Melaka's Jonker Street, with its old school-like street. That's the road leading there (sorry I honestly can't remember the street name) and me posing with the mosque on the background.



That's my brother in his Spain shirt...Ahh...the men I love tend to support Spain la...Not that I have anything against them;)

Then we went to the nearby Malay Heritage Museum. It was formerly the palace of a sultan, just not sure which la..Sorry if I got the fact wrong ya..feel free to correct me. I guess maybe cause of the short time we had there so I skipped all the fact-finding mission. Notice the building's similarity to KL's Saloma Bistro/Malaysia Tourism Centre at Jalan Ampang?

After that we went to Marina Barrage,a state-of-the-art barrage dubbed as the 'reservoir in the city'. As with any other barrage it also functions as a key that controls the water flow in and out of the city state. Inside there's this Marina Barrage Gallery which is the information centre for all things related to Singapore irrigation and water afflictions-if there ever is an affliction la. Anyway I really love this gallery, it's also an environment/green awareness place.

That's just me outside the observation deck. On the other side is the Marina Bay where the construction of Singapore's casino belt was progressing nicely, as well as their famous Singapore Flyer, currently the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world. Definitely many times bigger than Eye on Malaysia.


At the recycle part of the Gallery. Notice the wall I was leaning on??It's made of mineral water bottles, thousands of them!

This is another part of the Gallery. Very futuristic, I felt like stepping into a club:)

By the time we were done with Marina Barrage, it was makan time. Really sorry can't remember where Amir and his wife took us, but these are among the things we had.


This is the mamak sup tulang. Fiery red in colour, but the taste is really mild actually. Eaten with the accompanying bread.

I ordered nasi penyet set.But instead of chicken I ordered fish. Guna ikan bawal hitam, and I really love the crisply fried fish. By then I have started getting mild headache (which later escalated to become a full-blown migrain)so I could not really enjoy my meal. My brother had the chicken set though.

This is lamb cooked with potato. Well, that's where all the meat gone I reckon before they stewed the bones for the sup tulang there. Not recommended due to high cholestrol content, but for the sake of tasting, I thought why not. I think if I'd taken more of those stuff I'd probably get my migraine much earlier.

After that it was just us driving around the city. By then I spent more time closing my eyes and rubbing my own head because of the headache.

So around 4 they sent me back to the Kranji MRT so I could catch the bus back to JB. By the time I arrived in JB my cousin had already been there to take me back to our hotel. She stayed with me during that weekend, but because of that darn migraine, we forgo our original plan of jalan-jalan ronda JB after that and rested and watched TV in the room instead, till the time to pick my brother up at Larkin again later that night.

The visit to Singapore was too short for my liking but at least I knew I will be back there and this time really savour all that the city state has to offer. I'd definitely want to go to Sentosa and look at the Merlion for real, maybe, but I will be back;)

My PC Fair Puchases

So I went to the PC Fair earlier today, with two things, well, maybe three things in mind to look at and purchase. As mentioned in a coupla entries earlier, I knew twas the time for me to get meself a notebook, a decent internet connection and perhaps a camera.

Alhamdulillah, I managed to get all those without spending more than RM2k! Now that the notebook's getting smaller and cheaper, PC Fair is also the venue to go to for an irresistable offer on gadgets and IT peripherals.

Here's what I got:)




As also mentioned earlier, I might buy a camera as well if the price permitted. Although I put up the photo of a Canon, that was for illustration purposes only lah!!:)

Anyway what I got instead was a Panasonic Lumix. I've been reading positive reviews on Lumix before this so imagine my surprise when I went to the Fair today and finding out that they're selling the 8.1MP model for RM299!!It was truly a pleasant surprise. The camera resolution was never really a big issue for me, but for decent point-and-shoot functions, this one can fulfill my needs, not that I take photos all the time or that I love posing for the camera. In actuality, I'm camera-shy tau....

Anyway, here's the one I snagged today;)


Now that I have these two, I hope to put them to full use.

That's all the ramblings for tonight:)