I wish I was in a food business

Fasting month over and what else to do but go back to our regular foodie programming!

Tough week again so last Friday we drove to Bangsar Village 1 to check out Ben's. I've always wanted to go there, been hearing people raving about it, the pizza's good! and knowing that it's under the same management as Delicious and Plan B, I doubt we could go wrong with the food there. 

Except, I didn't know that 

BEN'S;

BEN'S GENERAL FOOD STORE;

are 2 different restaurants guys.. -_-

Was disappointed that Ben's GFS don't serve pasta (WHAT NO PASTA) because we googled the menu before heading to Bangsar (yeah, wrong menu, derp) and opted for Salami pizza which turned out very nice. Didn't get to take a picture of the pizza because I was starving. Heh. Had bread & butter pudding for dessert and latte and I am happy person. I'd definitely come again if I'm feeling health conscious BUT I STILL WANT MY PASTA. With lots of cream on it.

Ambiance is a bit noisy, you know how much I hate sitting too close with other patrons because I will end up eavesdropping on them. British grandmas on my left can't wait for Christmas, and mak datins behind us insist that the the cute waiter cut the pizza for them. Pfffttthhh.

So apparently my work is deteriorating again. I tried digging deeper into this issue -- am I depressed? Does my work-life balance needs rehashing? Do I watch too much k-pop? Am I not doing enough laundry? No no no no.

I love my job. However, loving your job but you're not that good at it can be problematic too. Or maybe I'm just too comfortable here. I don't know. I guess I just have to buck-up. But how does one improves the quality of work when the only (annoying) voice you hear at work is the demotivating type?

*grumble grumble*

My drooling rugrat turns 6 months today! Party!
(actually I need to work harder -- have you not seen the cost of formula milk these days?)

... and then he progresses...

My iPod is acting up today! Arghhhh. I noticed that if I let my baby play with it (SALIVATE all over it more like it) then the iPod will go all diva on me. Pssshhhhhh.

My 3 kids are a handful these days. Rumi dances like Pocoyo, Emre is cranky (teething, poor baby) and Alebu the cow is so smelly! Heh.

To keep the creative juice flowing (or what's left of it) I'm gonna update this blog more often. If you noticed in my previous post I updated via my iPod. When I'm at home I hardly use my blackberry (apart from whatsapp & the occasional sms). Most of the time I'll be on the 'pod, doing everything an iPad could do. Fun!

With the current surge (God Nate can you not write like an economist now) of nuffnang-blogs (hate them, where is the passion in writing money-driven blogs?) I'm kinda grateful with the minimal readers I get here. I'm happier to know that some of you have been growing with me since my hedonistic Diaryland days! Let's keep it low key like that lah kan. :)

So, 'welcome back'!

Spent 4 days in sweet Kota Bharu. It's good to be 'home', although we don't have a place to stay this time around. My grandmother's house is temporarily rented out but I don't want to talk about it further. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. It's sad to see how families can be easily broken when they fight over material things.

But that aside, it's great to be back. I'd never say no great food. Visited the cemetery and some relatives. Rantau Panjang for cheap kaftans and jerseys, Kubang Pasu for delicious nasi dagang, etc etc.

On our 2nd day there I decided to splurge a little. I bought my first gold! But not that little considering the price of gold (as of a couple of days ago) was RM188 per gram. And I don't even wear gold to begin with! But since I'm a very low risk investor and I dare not venture further than the usual ASB & TH investments, I figured buying gold would be the next best thing.

To be honest I couldn't stop staring at this pretty little thing. I always wanted a bracelet that is not too big to be noticed but not too thin that may break so easily. A trip to a gold shop is very intimidating, especially when the people on your left and right are buying chunky gold stuff and paying in bulky cash no less.

Only one depressing thing, if I die, who will inherit my one and only string of hard-earned harta? One of my sisters or nieces? Or one of my boys' wives? :)

You may think that I'm so pathetic for worrying about this. But if there's one thing I've learned about death -- you need to have a will. Estate planning is important. Trust me, you never know who'll be fighting over your estate.

That aside, all I'm hearing while I was in KB was "you should try for a girl". Arghhh you smartypants should just shut up and breed your own kids. Realistically it's not cheap to raise kids these days. My head throbs like k-pop beats everytime I think about education fees and healthcare. -__-

Oh hey, I just realised that I updated a 'wordless wednesday' on a Thursday.

 

Eh, I so clever lah!

#wordlesswednesday

Sent via BlackBerry from space.

Funny how I compare cooking like going into a battle. I need to strategize, go forth and fight! If fail, retreat or have a back-up plan. Ayam padprik turned out to be really good thank god. I have a knack of browsing for recipes and choose the easiest ones to make or the type of recipes that comes with exact measurements. Puasa what. Cannot taste. ;)

Also made butter prawns, a simple recipe lifted off from trymasak.tv and for once they have a recipe that really works!

It's 2am right now and it's raining heavily. Hope I can get up on time for sahur.

Blessed month

Alamak, didnt get to post the pre-Ramadhan stuff I ate.

 

With the ridiculous cost of iftar buffets going up every year I doubt I'll be eating out this month. Oh, except for Al-Salam resto which I'll probably check out next weekend.

 

But if I have money I'd check out the buffet at Rebung -- the food there doesn't disappoint!

 

Tak balik Raya tahun ni. Most likely I'll go back the week after to coincide with Danial's 1-year death anniversary. Cepat betul masa berlalu. I said goodbye to Danial last year during the final week of Ramadhan on his hospital bed. "Kita jumpa di KB okay".

 

I tak peluk dia kuat-kuat.

I tak gosok kepala dia, I tak tatap muka dia betul-betul.

I tak cium pipi dia.

 

Tak terfikir langsung that he was just waiting for 1st Syawal to leave us forever. I know I shouldn't be beating myself up over this but I just can't help it. Healing process takes the longest time.

 

====

 

On a happier note,

my husband turns (jap i kira with a kalkulator kejap - my Maths is very bad!) 32 today. wow masih muda! the trick to buying a good gift for your spouse is -- there isn't any. No more surprise gifts at least, asyik salah beli je. So sorry!

 

and three of my buddies are pregnant. Jealous leyyyy. Especially with the surge of baby girls born lately. Do you not see how cute Sheikh Muzaffar & Jimmy Shanley babies are! Read somewhere that the astronaut's wife tak berpantang sangat pun. I feel less guilty now!  Also, congrats to Cik Daun on the birth of her baby boy.

 

My rugrat Emre is doing find except for his eczema problem.

I don't know how babies can produce so much saliva! No sign of teething but he slobbers all over us on a daily basis hee hee. Don't think I was craving for anything particular during pregnancy.

 

Maybe nak handbag mahal kot? ;)

 

 

 

 

Lunch with vendors and dinner with a dear friend tomorrow. I sense 2 resto reviews coming! :)

supir-mak

How do you guys do it? Come home after a long day at work then cook dinner. Perhaps do a little laundry and cleaning. Watch a bit of your favorite k-drama and spend time with your kids.

 

I did just that last night, but unfortunately it's not something that I wish I can do on a daily basis. I wish my eyelids didn't have to be so heavy by the time the clock hits 9pm.

 

My neighbor upstairs, a fierce Kelantanese lady (I should know, I always hear her screaming at her 3 kids and husband haha) wakes up at 430am (almost) on a daily basis, when she's not cooking at night that is. She is probably maidless too like me, but everytime I see her with her kids, I'd go "man, that's a superwoman over there". My sister has 5 kids, with or without a maid she is constantly on her toes, persis a captain commanding his ship. I can only salute her.

 

Me? Cooking and laundry are meant for weekends. But then again, most weekends we'll be out and in the end, I'd be backlogged with a mountain of clothes and a fridge of wasted veggies and poultries. I am definitely not a superwoman.

 

But I'd like to believe that I AM a supermom. *winks*

 

Ramadhan is almost here. I managed to get my tealady (no, actually I begged her) to sew my baju Raya. Thank God. Now need to think about the rest of the family's baju Raya (yay for having boys!) and make travel arrangements for a holiday in Kota Bharu. Sad to say since my Queen Mother, my dad and my beloved nephew passed away, Kota Bharu is now just a holiday destination. I refuse to deal with harta-sucking relatives and I only want to come home to my Kota Bharu which I love so much for its food and cemetery. Sad but true.

 

I think there is a special hell for me for that. Sigh.

duviet, uptown

Wasn't in the mood to take pictures today (one of those days of TAKDE MOOD SEHARIAN).

 

Lunch with my bestfriends at Duviet, Uptown. I had their Vietnam fried rice which looks like fried rice ulam to me. But I gobbled it up licin anyway. Appetizer was very nice (as pictured), I makan sahaja, I tak pasti apa yang telah dimakan. Haha!

 

-_-

 

Weekend is here. Need to catch-up on laundry, spend time with my pretty Mama, probably cook a little, read a chapter or two of Hemingway and maybe potty-train kid Rumi.

 

Next week I have a photoshoot with a magazine. Very excited although it's just a small gig.

I just want to feel pretty again.

Dancing Fish

Oh I'm on a roll now. But all my posts are all food-related. :)

   

Anyway, I was telling my husband perhaps we should go on a dinner date at least once a month. Something we should have done long ago.

So last month we went to Dancing Fish. I earlier wanted to revisit Avanti over at Sunway Hotel because they serve the best Italian food there but I had to opt for a resto closer to the office. So Dancing Fish it was, a Malay_Indo joint located on the 3^rd floor of BSC.

 

As you know, the 'dancing fish' refers to the fish fried in such a way that makes the fish look like it's dancing. Woah. I very the jakun.

The fish itself is very crispy, even the bones. We also had some side dishes – kangkong belacan and cumi-cumi (fried squid).  What else did we order, ah yes, drinks. Roy had timun soda, an ice-blended concoction of cucumber and er, soda. I had a Shirley Temple I think– did I? or did I not? Eh wait, I had watermelon lah. God this is probably the lousiest food review you've ever read because I am trying to recall everything from memory and we all know my memory is as short as my hair these days. Ha! Pemalas.

 

If you must know there are 3 types of rice to choose from here, and oh, for appetizer we were served with bitter crackers and sambal pedas.  A wonderful combination I must say. To top everything off we had shaved ice with mango for dessert. Nice.

 

The bill? We hit up about RM130++ for 2 pax, not cheap, but good food, great service, I can't ask for more.

 

Reservation is important here as the place is always packed. Tried to go there for lunch without making any reservation, jangan harap.

 

I think I'm done with my food spiel for now. If there's something I don't mind spending money on, it's definitely food. Food glorious food!

Stuff Your Face, BSC

Apologies if the pictures are a bit dark.

 

Lunch today was at BSC. Saja je google for a place to eat at BSC and friedchillies recommended this place.

Located at the kids' floor at BSC, as warned, the place is rather noisy with expat kids running around - can't imagine this place during weekends.

 

Anyway, few weeks back I ordered the wrong chicken chop at Coliseum (was craving for hainanese style chicken chop but ordered the black pepper one instead) so I thought I'd give this place a try.

 

Eyy, not bad lah! But of course the winner of all Hainanese Chicken Chop would be Cozy Corner man! But Stuff Your Face's chickchop will be a good back-up plan if I'm in the mood for one.

 

Oh shit I just realised they now have Cozy Corner at Jaya 33!

 

Anyway, I digress. My colleague ordered the chicken curry (in a tiffin no less) but the curry was spicy but tasteless. Blergh. My latte wasn't that great either. For an RM10 latte I'd be more satisfied with an RM8 latte at SanFran Coffee.

 

Didn't get to check out the desserts though - they have fried Mars Bar! Will probably come again to check it out.

 

Now, who wants to bring their kids for a playdate with me and my rowdy cowboy soon?

Plan B

I wanted to type Plan B just now but terlajak type Plan BN. Oops!

 

Been craving carbonara for days, but didn't have the time to drag my husband for my carbonara fix either at Food Foundry or Pizza Uno.

 

Today by chance I ended up at Plan B over at BV1. Decided to give their carbonara a shot and wahey for RM19 I get a very tasty & rich meal!

My colleague had fish&chip but it wasn't your typical one because it is served like a burger. The fish 'burger' is thick and juicy.Recommended as well.

 

I hate eating at places that are noisy, especially when the table next to mine is so close that I can't help but eavesdrop la kan. I'm not the type who likes to listen in on other people because I can never keep my face straight but I have no choice here. ;p I can't carry a conversation for more than 5 minutes so it was nice to see the dating couple talking about many things from Bersih to religion to books and the list goes on... I bet the guy has a set of questions that can last him for the whole day! Bravo.

 

The lady who sat next to me has a nice Prada bag. She kept feeling her bag, probably worried that I might run with it and scream "The Prada is mineeeeeeee!". ;p

 

Too afraid to walk, I might fall over.

(sleepy)

Makin dekat dengan Ramadhan, makin kuat rindu pada arwah Danial. I don't know what's wrong with me but I miss him terribly. Every single day teringatkan pada arwah, especially during my long drive to work/home. All I can do now is to doakan kesejahteraannya di sana.

:(

Rasa macam nak muntah dah pergi hair salon. I can't seem to be satisfied with my new hairstyle -- no idea why, perhaps now that I'm getting older, my hair texture has changed as well (tapi perangai masih di takuk lama yes?). Fed-up. I want to look good when I go back to work, since I can't impress my colleagues with my weight. Why is it that when someone comes back from maternity leave, people will be expecting that person to lose weight? Come on. Shallow sungguh. When I had my first baby, my excuse for not losing weight was that I am preparing for second baby, buat penat je kalau lose weight sebab nanti akan naik balik. Bollocks. But it kept everyone quiet. But now I have no excuse at all. I JUST LIKE BEING FAT ALRIGHT?!! Yeah. Emo pulak saya.



I'm not really looking forward to go back to work. I miss my colleagues, but I think the dynamics of the department have changed. Not sure how much of this is true, I'm gonna have to check it out myself. 3 of my favorite people that I work with (from our ad agency and HQ) have quit too so I foresee there will be some problems ahead. Tak tahulah. A job is a job is a job. I'm comfortable here. Not sure if other people feel the same though.

Enough about work.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could sleep and hug my boys at the same tight. Peluk mereka kuat-kuat. I want them to know I love them tremendously.

It's been a crazy 3 months and on the 20th I go back to work. Funny, last year I couldn't imagine myself having two kids, now I can't imagine NOT having two kids. Both boys are so different from one another and everyday I am experiencing new things. Rumi, the feral child; Emre, the giver of smiles. Motherhood has taught me to learn not to lose my cool easily, but it has also taught me to reciprocate -- the children comes first, while my needs can come later, or never. Not that it's a bad thing.

In a nutshell, motherhood is a Pyrrhic victory for me against many of my insecurities and flaws -- everyday I can only pray that my little family will continue to be blessed with so much love and happiness.

Now if only I could lose few more pounds...

Great, just when was in the mood to update, blogger was pulak down. Boo.

Anyway, I have about a month or so to be with the kids full time before I start work on the 20th June. It’s been fun staying at home with the kids. Well, most of the time it’s fun. Bathe the kids, figure out what to eat, do laundry, watch tv, fold laundry, attempt to cook (once) aaaand at the same time watch over the abang who likes to bully the adik. Love works in mysterious ways, I tell my friend Chee, even if it involves tarik rambut adik / cucuk mata adik / squeeze kaki tangan adik / lepuk kepala adik, you know, that sort of brotherly love thing.

I’m watching Julie & Julia for the umpteenth time right now. Fast forward to Julie Powell sections only. She is me – we never finish anything. I have not touched my camera for weeks, my photobook project never took off, my cooking has gotten worse etc. etc. My rice was overcooked, my fried chicken terlebih kunyit, my egg masak tomato was too spicy. *sigh*

This is how my hair looks like these days – the epitome of servantless working mom. Eh, ini excuse sahaja, I’m not even working right now!



Have a good weekend. Saya nak makan red velvet cake.

My mother used to spend hours in front of the tv sambil melipat baju dan melayan sinetron/telenovela. I would do the same but both sinetron/telenovela -- I cannot tahan. Marshanda/Bintang/Kejora should all die a slow painful death like the slow-motion shots that happens every five minutes in the sinetron. Marshanda punya slow-mo shot mesti dengan mulut ternganga which I don't get at all. An expression of guilt, or anger, or shock doesn't need to be with a open mouth no?

Telenovela(s) are as horrible, because Pinoys dress like whores and their boobies are too big for their body. And they have talking dogs! But I shall not comment much about telenovela. My adik angkat is now dating a Filipino (I don't know how to tell him that she looks like a man with overblown boobies and fake lips). Mwahaha.

Gambar di atas? Tiada kena mengena dengan topik yang dibincangkan di sini. I got bored.

p/s: I secretly wish Malaysian dramas can be made panjang berjela rentak berlipat like sinetron&telenovela. Si Capik doesn't count.

My little bat is asleep (he'll probably wake up by the time I'm sleepy!) and I should take this little chance to update this space. But I don't really have anything to say right now. Another bad weekend for me so hopefully next week things will get better. I keep telling my husband that "I'm trying very hard", you know, just to act like a sane wife but sometimes I just get too tired and sick of myself. Sometimes I just want to duduk dalam store and cry myself out because talking about it would make things worse.

But inilah cabaran kehidupan wanita berpantang. Dalam masa 44 hari senang sahaja you lose grip of your sanity. Just few more days to go, Nate. Berusahalah!

Lepas ni kita pergi shopping okay. Duit bonus masih menanti untuk dihabiskan tanpa berfikir dua kali.

If my calculation is correct, I should finish my pantang on 2nd May. But if I wanna cheat and go for the 40 days confinement instead of the punishing 44 days, it'll be end of April.

Yah, yah, berusahalah Nate!

(I think I've been punished enough)

My little oppa, yang pandai membawa diri.

Mana ada sepi!

Anyway, having someone close to you lose her baby at a babysitter has made me extra paranoid about bringin up kids. It's not just about the issue of negligent babysitters, but also the weight of bringing a child into this world and ensuring that you don't have to see your child go before you do. A morbid topic of discussion, yes, it's something that every parents fear I suppose. Or should we just bertawakal and berserah pada ketentuan Allah sahaja? I could, but since I'm in confinement, I'm allowed to wallow myself in insecurities and fear for my children.

(wow, I said 'children'. 10 years ago mana ada terfikir to have kids.)

Anyway, I still have another 2 months to decide on what to do next once I start working again. Nak hantar ke daycare or not? Find a babysitter? Status quo? I will find my answers then.

In the meantime, I got some online shopping to do and sputter some merapu-ness on my twitter before kid Emre wakes up. It's kid Rumi's first day at the cinema with his dad today. Harap-harap dia behave.

Today I watched Life as a House (the dying father re-built a house, rediscovering the lost bond he had with his miscreant son) and thought, would I'd be a different person if I lost my dad from a terrible illness instead of having him yanked from my life all of a sudden?

But I lost Danial from cancer and I'm still regretting the time not spent with him. I don't know where this entry is heading, I just miss them both very much. *sigh*

Note to self: That's it, no more sad movies for me. Life is a great big canvas kan, I still have a lot of space to paint it with happiness.

Still alive. Takde mood nak update apa-apa. My new little bat is lovely, kita namakan dia Emre, and I'm just waiting for the 40 days to be over!!! Nghhhhhhhhhhh! :)

I can wait.

Damn I'm huge. a photo by natinski on Flickr.

With the recent developments in Japan, I feel that giving birth is the least of my worry right now. I packed my hospital bag, while my in-laws in Yokohama packed their evacuation bags. Hope everybody will be safe.

I'm officially on MC now. Not sure when will I pop, maybe this week, maybe not.

Refrain!

Yes I do realize that I should start buying stuff for the 2nd kid but! Why does everything has to look so nice these days?!!

Sent via BlackBerry from space.

Had lunch at Bumbu Bali today (I never say no to free food). The last time I was there was like 7 years ago - so when my sister-in-law asked "what's good there?", I dare not say much. I can't remember. Surely you can't go wrong with Indonesian food yes? And always choose chicken. Chicken never disappoints! Heh.

Well the food didn't disappoint. Everything was good but the surefire winner was the apple splash mocktail. Hmmm sedapnya, on a hot scorching day I don't mind having glasses of this lovely drink.

Alamak nak hujan. Mahu angkat kain.

Laksam di hati

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Our kid, Idris Rumi

Our kid, Idris Rumi
Originally uploaded by natinski

Wish I was as talented as my husband. :)

When the 2nd baby comes out, I feel the need to apologize to him for drinking too much coffee.

What I'm wearing:
Star Wars tee from Uniqlo
Stretchy pants from Pengkalan Kubur, Kelate
Double chin
(ha ha!)

34 weeks and counting. No crazy cravings for now but I do like my mee hoon goreng and chrysanthemum tea. And brownies. Shot this today while waiting for my kid to wake up, sungguh sangap. Husband was down with cough and diarrhea for the past few days and today my kid looks like he is on his way to recovery from diarrhea (yes him too) since last Sunday. He's all skins and bones now. Terjojol dah segala tulang. *sad face*

Well looks like my object of interest for the past few weeks are toys. First picture was taken yesterday - I managed to wash my kid's comfort Boo! Yeah! Not an easy feat because he needs his Boo every other hour. Julia the doll's pic was taken the day before at Rumi's cousin's house and the last pic is Rodney Copperbottom. He is mine. No one is allowed to touch him except me. Sentimental value weh, a gift from my good friend few years back.

The 4 days break was a blessing for us workaholics to spend time with the family but today was slightly marred because Rumi had diarrhea! Adeh, not fun at all. So not looking forward to work esok. Pfttthhhh.