a few more to go!

yummmmm

yummeh!

Porto Romano

I had lunch at Porto Romano today.

 

(more to come)

to ponder

I remember dulu ketika my short stint di Illinois living in a Malaysian community, my (Malaysian) neighbor sedang memukul anaknya. Just pukul biasa, kerana anaknya nakal. My other neighbor who was generally a nice person, seorang warga Amerika, tanpa disangka terus meluru ke akak itu dan memaki-nya. "This is not how you discipline a child!," jeritnya. Maybe memukul anak is not part of American culture.

 

Not in my family either. I've never been slapped, kena rotan atau dijentik even. I think I turned out okay. Perhaps kaedah psychology yang diguna my parents lebih memeritkan dari deraan fizikal.

 

That's why I tak boleh terima hakikat that a child, any child, should dipukul didera sehingga boleh menyebabkan kematian. Tambah jelik apabila masyarakat sekeliling hanya sekadar memerhati, berbisik sesama sendiri dan lambat mengambil tindakan. Tambah meloyakan apabila ibu si kecil comel ini diberi perhatian umpama dia-lah yang terseksa; dialah yang memerlukan bantuan kerajaan untuk membawanya ke jalan yang benar. A child is dead. The blood is on your hands too.

 

Sedih apabila memikirkannya.

Last stop

I'm really really exhausted. Our lunch was nasi paku at resto Hover. Makanan only for the brave. 10 different lauks into one, with additional ayam/paru/telur of your choice. Insaf kejap taknak makan nasi dah.

We had A&W for dinner. Esok nak tapau nasi dagang balik KL.

Kuih Manja

This is my favorite kuih. It's like dorayaki, tapi bite size. Either inti kelapa warna hijau atau kaya. 10 biji = RM1.

Yum!

(We had Yati Percik for lunch. Wanita poyo yg bekerja di sana kini membenarkan pelanggan request extra kuah percik. Yeah!)

I like!

Like omg, cantiks gila kan shopping beg mak ni! Takde jual di Malaysia okay, I sanggup pergi ke Rantau Panjang okay to get this bag! So now, I lah paling hebat because I ada beg ni and uols takde. I rasa macam nak ambik je semua design tapi that's okay sbb nanti hasben I nak bawak I pergi Jepun omaigod boleh la I pakai beg ni di Jepun!!

'Nuff said.

Day 1 (yesterday)

Greetings from KB! Panas di sini but windy. We are on our way to Rantau Panjang to buy some stuff i.e. seluar track bottom murah tapi selesa. Hehe.

Semalam, tak sampai 3 jam di KB, 3 org dah kata gua gemuk. Guess I forgot we are not allowed to get fat in this family. Queen Mother was the 1st to say I am fat (after commenting about how big eyes Rumi). Then my aunt, then QM's neighbor. Tak suka lah jiran tu! Whatever.

For lunch, my brother bought some lauk including a very tasty asam pedas ikan patin, which I saved some for dinner. With ayam goreng sedap from a resto nasi kukus near my arwah Baba's cemetery (patut la tutup pukul 4 ptg!). Malam we top-up ayam (R bought ayam percik) and more ayam from the kedai nasi kukus (as pictured). Beli ayam goreng besar 2 ketul (RM3.50 each) dapat satu ekstra! Beat that!

More to come.

Finish

Didn't finish the whole course. Terpaksa pulang, lagipun dinner started late tadi, lion dance pun lama.

That's okay. Esok lagi banyak makanan menanti di Serambi Mekah. Yay!

Sauteed Prawns with Special Spicy Sauce

Steamed Promfet with Soy Sauce

Roasted Chicken "Pattaya Style"

Braised Scallop Soup with Crabmeat

Salmon Yee Sang I laff youuu

Counting the days

Tak sabar rasanya nak pulang ke Kota Bharu this Thursday. Perancangan awal adalah untuk tunjuk skil memasak kat the Queen Mother, but tadi tiba-tiba terasa macam nak google 'places to eat in KB' (other than our usual food haunt every morning kat Kubang Pasu or White House). Lagipun rasanya R masih belum merasa all the favorite makan places there. To name a few:

• Nasi paku @ Restoran Hover - this will be a wonderful treat!
• Sun Too - the original resto near town, not the new outlet kat Jln Hamzah
• Nasi Ulam Cikgu, Kg Kraf - craving the masak lemak ikan patin
• Nasi kukus @ Pengkalan Chepa
• Hayaki Jln Kebun Sultan - roti bakar best kat sini, only been here once, so nak kena cari balik

Apa lagi ye? Ack, confirm tak masak nanti!

Before you say anything, I didn't make the pizza. Ordered lah, to complement the pasta (or is it the other way around).

I think I may be slightly obsessed with pasta. I have enough pasta recipes to feed the family for the entire year. Untuk pasta goreng BBQ malam ini, resipi ini diangkat dari resipi.net. This is the original resip:

Bahan A:

200 gm isi ayam, hiris nipis
10 ekor udang
2 sudu makan (bumbung) sos barbeku tradisional
2 sudu makan (bumbung) sos tiram
2 sudu makan sos lada hitam
1 sudu makan oregano
1 sudu makan lada hitam, tumbuk kasar - boleh kurangkan jika tak mahu pedas
Sedikit lada sulah

Bahan B:
1 labu bawang besar, hiris
4 ulas bawang putih, cincang
1 biji tomato, hiris
1/2 biji lada benggala, hiris

Bahan C:
200 gm spaghetti, direbus

Cara menyediakannya:
1. Campurkan semua bahan A dan perap (perap dalam 4 jam).
2. Panaskan sedikit minyak zaitun, tumis bawang besar dan bawang putih.
3. Masukkan A, tomato dan sedikit air.
4. Setelah mendidih, masukkan spaghetti dan lada benggala. Gaul rata.
5. Sedia untuk dihidang.

***

I didn't have udang or sos lada hitam, but it turned out good anyway. My version had a bit of parsley and sprinkles of cheese - lagi power babe! Anyway, ayam yang sudah di-marinate memang saya masak seperti yang diarahkan but halfway through I took them out and goreng separately. The blend of BBQ sauce & sauce tiram is heaven. Masukkan semula selepas spaghetti selesai digoreng. I also added a bit of that Secukup Rasa stuff in the mix. Just a pinch.

Dijamin sedap. Selamat mencuba!

Kuih bangkit

I can't get enough of this tiny kuih bangkit! Nom nom nom

My colleagues make me eat the weirdest things

Happy Birthday!

My kid turns 9 months today!

Ayuh, pijak bumi dan berlari anak sekarang.

Spital story

So today my mom has a blood test at the government hospital. Jam 8 pagi.

Gua dengan confident bawak mak gua jam 715 dah terpacak depan sliding door. Staff hospital pun tak sampai lagi.

Jam 725, gua letak kad spital mak gua kat registration counter. Nombor 1 babe! Counter opens at 8.

Bila counter dibuka, staff bagitau for blood test mak gua tak payah register. Terus pi ambil darah sahaja. Hok aloh!

Sampai di tempat ambil darah ni, line sudah panjang. My mom's number is 25. *slaps head*

So much for wanting to be the first today.

yum!

I can't open my eyes. I had lunch at Mahbub tadi, nasi beriani ayam goreng yang menikam jiwa. I don't remember it was this good. Perhaps because my nasi beriani rountine is JM Briyani, Ali Maju and Nirwana Maju. It was like falling in love for the first time. Balik ke office dengan hati girang.

 

Don't think I'll be doing any fancy experimental cooking this weekend. Saya mahu ajar anak teruna saya menari.

Hi kawan-kawan! Kita kembali lagi di segmen memasak bersama Cik Nate! Sebelum itu, ada sedikit errata di post resipi yang lepas. I wrote 'ready-made parsley'. Saya sudah kena marah dengan sifoo memasak. There's no such thing as READY-MADE PARSLEY! Dried parsley, atau fresh parsley adalah wei. ASTAGA! ;p

 

Untuk minggu kali ini, saya telah memasak pasta shrimp cake, resipi yang diangkat dari San Remo pasta recipes (gua jumpa dalam majalah Women's Weekly). Bahan-bahannya adalah:

•100g San Remo Angel Hair Pasta, break into 8 cm length (saya guna spaghetti biasa, sbb tak suka angel hair)

•300g cooked prawns, chopped finely (I also added chopped beef strips for fun!)

•4 stalk spring onions, chopped finely

•1 small red capsicum, chopped finely

•2 eggs, lightly beaten

•¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese ß favorite ingredient saya

•¼ cup plain flour

•Salt and pepper to taste

 

Cara membuatnya:

1. Masak pasta dulu.

2. Dalam bowl besar, gaul pasta, prawns, onion, capsicum, gandum & parmesan cheese. Have fun menggaul!

3. Masukkan telur dan pastikan ia rata. Shape it sesuka hati (macam begedil pun boleh) dan refrigerate at least half an hour. Pastikan tangan bergandum sikit.

[part ni agak tricky, sbb it's not easy to shape it. Mungkin sebab itu kena pakai angel hair atau mungkin saya terkurang gandum atau telur]

4. Goreng guna pan sehingga both sides golden brown.

5. Makan!

 

Lihatlah kerja tangan saya yang kurang menjadi. Tapi ia sedap dimakan! Especially bila ia panas-panas. Rasa macam makaroni kukus pun ada. Makan dengan cili sos, sambil menonton drama Melayu.

 

[Suami kata rasanya biasa-biasa saja, takde lah stellar sangat. Tak apalah suami, bila saya jadi chef terkenal seperti Julia Child nanti, selamat makan masakan Melayu di gerai. MWAHAHA]

Nate's Potatonia Baconi

Nate's Potatonia Baconi
Originally uploaded by natinski

2010 is looking good so far. On the last day of 2009, I have forgiven myself, I have forgiven everybody.

Minggu ini memasak agak seronok. My niece is here, which means cooking for 3 is less membazir than cooking for 2. R juga was in the mood untuk memasak so we cooked lots of edible stuff including begedil, udang sambal, telur goreng kicap, nasi goreng cili padi, ayam masak black pepper etc.

Pictured is my Potatonia Baconi (I made this up haha, resipi juga sendiri) if you wanna try:
Potato dipotong dadu
Gourmessa beef pastrami dipotong kecil2
Ready-made parsley
Black pepper
Salt
Goreng potato terlebih dahulu with a pinch of salt, agak-agak dah masak tu dump the rest of the ingredients in.

Selamat mencuba!

Happy 2010

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it
He says its perfect sense
You just cant get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
Its too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
Its the bitterness that lasts

So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be o.k.

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
Its too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

~Mike & the Mechanics~

A Christmas party

2 weeks back (yes I like to write about stale stuff - saya kan busy) we had a Christmas party di office. Ada pokok Krismas, turkey satu ekor, apple cider, candy canes, segala! Terima kasih-lah kepada staf-staf Muslim yang bersusah payah untuk memastikan party ini berjalan lancar ye! Rasa-rasa di Hari Raya nanti ada ke majlis makan-makan sebegini? Hmm mungkin tidak. -_-

Semalam I attended a well-orchestrated tahlil except I had to sit at a table with a lady yang setiap ayat-nya pasti ada phrase "Saya-kan usahawan". Aduhhhh ada jugak orang macam ni.

It's been a while, lama tak update this space. December is always a busy month for me, ditambah dengan KPI season yang begitu mengharukan. Then I had a project to submit, kerja macam orang gila. Sudah selamat siap, now I just want sit back and relax (pffthhh yeah right).

My nephew's cancer relapsed. That's another reason why I didn't feel like saying much here. I was so looking forward to a good 2010, rambut Danial sudah tumbuh sepenuhnya and he may be able to go back to school and now rasa macam segala-galanya sudah tiada erti lagi. Back to square one. I'm tired of being the strong one, tired of being told to be strong, just tired of everything. But eventually, I had to pick myself up again and teruskan hidup.

On a lighter note, setelah mencari high-and-lo for a good pasta recipe, I finally made my first pasta dish!



Resipi diolah dari resipi abang Sweet Paul:
3 tbsp olive oil
Beef strips
1 bawang putih (dicincang)
Basil leaves
Red pepper flakes (tak jumpa cari, so i ended up tabur cili flakes ntah apa2)
1/4 Salt
Fried breadcrumbs
Grated parmesan cheese
Mini tomato
Spaghetti

Goreng beef strips. Potong kecik2. Then goreng bawang lightly with olive oil. Masuk pepper flakes & salt (jangan lupa rebus spaghetti dulu with salt okay - al dente tau). Campak pasta dalam kuali. Tabur breadcrumbs, beef, tomato & grated cheese sesuka hati. Siap!

The one I served to the husband was a bit dry and terlebih basil leaves. So for my portion i added more olive oil, cheese, breadcrumbs & beef. Oh yum puas hati!

Selamat mencuba.

p/s: Lepas makan, suami saya kata dia teringin nak makan masakan Melayu saya. *gulp*

excellente!

I hate numbers. I wish this excel sheet can eat me up.

Eh or is it the other way around?

Is that why I'm not rich? Because numbers terrify me.

Ho-hum-skilli-dee-dum-dum-skili-dee-dum-dum.

 

I know I may be the most ignorant person, but are there any Tabung Derma Kilat (or whatever) being set up for our fellow Malaysians yang menjadi mangsa banjir? Ke duit kita sudah habis 'disedekahkan' kepada jiran tetangga Bendera kita itu? Just a thought. Banjir breeds diseases, and also causes deaths. Kesian kepada mereka.

 

and another thing,

 

so i was so proud kan, coz Datuk Lat's drawings ada di pesawat AirAsia. Kartun2-nya akan terbang ke ruang udara antarabangsa! Tapi Datuk Lat kata production untuk visuals-nya dari kecil menjadi besar dibuat di Singapura. Motif? So we cannot say lah this whole-local-cartoon-on-local-airlines-going-international is ENTIRELY 1Malaysia eh?

 

Hate it, HATE IT, when I have opinions. I shall shut up now. kthanxbai.

+_+

I'm no superhero.

But I feel better.

 

-_-

The thing is, there's nothing I could do to save him.

 

My CEO's driver had a stroke at our tower lobby yesterday and I was the unlucky person to be there minutes after dia jatuh. It was frustrating not being able to help him, I wasn't loud enough to scream at the security guards to get help from the in-house doctor, I wasn't strong enough to transport him to the hospital instead of waiting terpinga-pinga with the rest for the ambulance, for the damn doctor, for some miracle to happen. I wanted so much to help but there were too many people there already thinking they know what they're doing. Just because he was unconscious does not mean things are okay dammit!!!

 

When the doctor came, I thought things will be okay after all. I went upstairs, cried, and minutes later my colleague came in and I saw his face dropped and he just sat there speechless.

 

We lost our guy at the lobby.

 

I don't know why it made me so sad, I guess the shock of losing a father came back and it made me realize how fragile life is. I want to write more here but I'm still in shock. I'm sad, I'm angry, I want to be left alone. I don't need any additional drama.

 

RIP Ganesan. You will be missed.

 

 

Quarter day di Hospital Selayang semalam.

So I begin my latest read - Dr Zhivago!

So I begin my latest read - Dr Zhivago!
Originally uploaded by natinski

I'm on a week-long annual leave. No plans in particular, just chillin' at home with the family (and pray that office tak call - tough luck!). In other words, GUA TAKDE DUIT. But staying at home is what I anticipate every weekend so to be able to be at home for the entire week! wow, sangat best. My sleep cycle is all screwed up though.

I am supposed to start feeding my 6 months old solid makanan this week but belum lagi. Fruits puree from babyambrosia.com ada 3 jenis dalam freezer. Mungkin esok.

Cerita tentang Pil ASI juga belum berakhir. Maybe I'll write about it later. Off to bed now. Tomorrow gotta take my mom to the hospital kerajaan for her nephro medical review. if the doctor speaks to me in bahasa medik i am so gonna write to the newspapers!

Oh, my nephew Danial starts his radiotheraphy tomorrow. Another round of battle for life. Go forth, Dan, don't give up.

hargailah zoo kita!

Drugs in the mail

So semalam I received the Pil ASI in the mail. Ordered it from a badly-designed website, an online store that sells babymama stuff. I am at my wit's end here, trying to get my milk supply up again so I thought okay, let's try Pil ASI. See if it works.

 

So the pills arrived in a yellow envelope. Just the pills, takde sarung (like the one I saw online) nor instructions on how to take it. If you recieved unmarked pills in your envelope, would YOU eat it? HELL FREAKING NO (unless you're mat stone hee hee).

 

I'm sending them back and see if the seller is courteous enough to help me get a refund or resend a proper package because hell I (we all do) deserve a better service than this.

 

No, wait, that's too ambitious. I'll email the seller first. See what she has to say. Tak suka lah peniaga macam ni. -_-

 

(too bad Tiny Tapir tak jual pil ASI)

bosan

Tired of waiting for people on your reading list to update? Hey why don't you update your own space!

 

Hmm malas. I am feeling (looking) like a hippo these days. Most days actually, especially when I'm in the office elevator because the mirrors in the 'vator makes everyone look fat, including that miss anorexic at level 11. So what did I do over the weekend? Nothing much. Played with my kid, chilled with my mom, watched (from afar) the husband main Farmville - his horse wouldn't shut up and caught up with reading.

 

Speaking of reading, that little kid of mine (yang belum dikenalkan kepada solid food) telah mengunyah bookmark kertas saya hingga tinggal separuh. Patutlah dia diam sahaja di dalam bilik. Korek-korek mulut dia, and found sedikit cebisan kertas melekat di lelangitnya. Good job kid! Kalau kamu tidak menjadi seorang bersarjana tinggi, tak tahulah ibu.

 

I wanted to cook over the weekend but got lazy. When I say lazy, that means I'm just too lazy to go downstairs to get cooking stuff sebab bahan tak cukup. But I did make daging telur masak sos type of thing - sorry lupa nak snap photo. Ini resipi-nya:

3 telur ayam

1 burger daging (dicincang halus)

1 tomato dipotong dadu

(goreng those 3 items together)

 

Untuk sos: 3 sudu tomato & cili sos; 2 sudu sos tiram; 3 biji bawang merah & 1 bawang putih (dihiris halus); gula & garam secukupnya. Masak them all together, dan bila siap, tuang atas telur-daging-tomato. Wallah! Sedap dimakan. But of course, I didn't decide on the sukatan gula and garam. Masih tidak pandai. In other words I don't want to be blamed if masakan kurang gula atau garam! Mwahaha.

Bilakah Raya mahu habis

I've been busy. Hopefully after this 'Raya sebulan' crap is over we can all get our lives back i.e. duduk di rumah diam-diam and tidur. Can't wait!

an hour later

(I gave the chicken cake away)

 

p/s: My office has the lousiest lighting.

Bean cake from Japan

Halalan-tayyiban kah benda kek berupa ayam ini? My boss bought it for the team in Japan. Said it's made of beans.

Sinful chicken strips

This will be the death of me! Chicken strips fried in batter and lots of lemak ayam. I eat this everyday! -_-