Siaran dari kampung...nak raya kome weh!!!

Hello everyone.....today's entry is posted from my hometown, Ipoh. Yes,...i am an "Ipoh mali girl one laaaaaa......". To be exact, my parents' house is in Taman Golf, dekat-dekat dengan Gua Sam Poh Tong....ala....tempat Buddhist people beribadat tu. The "gua" is famous for housing a large statue of Gautama Buddha in its caves and also for having a Mercedes Benz logo on top of one of its limestone hills....so, the logo is sort of a landmark for Ipoh...you know you've arrived in Ipoh once you see the logo on top the hill. However, sad to say that now the logo has been removed, maybe because it was not in good condition anymore.

Anyway.....it is always good to be home, you know....home sweet home.....even though I'm now living in Shah Alam, just a mere two hours away from Ipoh, I seldom come back home....too many activities during the weekend, that I just can't find the time to go back. It's only during Eid Mubarak that we siblings (the 4 of us) could get together at our dear old childhood home. So, you can imagine the house now is busy with a hive of activities....right now, at the eve of Eid, my mom, sis in law (Kak Jijah...hehehe...I have two you know, thanks to my brother who has two "cawangan"....hehee), and the two maids (Jinggo and Husna) are in the kitchen cooking ketupat, laksa johor, laksa penang, and rendang ayam. Telling this really makes me look bad kan....what am i doing blogging instead of helping them in the kitchen....well, my reason is plain simple....Too many cooks can spoil the broth!!.....muahahaha! My hubby is watching the telly, my daughter Sarah is what else??? still sleeping, the boys some of them just had their morning shower and some are reading the newspaper, my dad...as always is out (pergi pasar this time), my brother and his 2nd wife, baby and one son from the 1st wife are out in town somewhere too. My two millionairesisters??? ... in their bedroom, getting ready to go out too.

Have some pictures to upload. Will do it chronologically, starting from Saturday night in Shah Alam, just before we came home to Ipoh malam tu juga. We had our iftar at Windmill restaurant in Plaza Shah Alam....the food was delicious. So, i'll give it a two thumbs up.

waiting for the azan

Then, the next day (Sunday), my hubby wanted to cook for the whole family his specialty dish....Nasi Briyani Kambing ....embekkkkkk.....hehehe....he had cooked it once for me back in Saudi, and I tell ya....It was super delicious....Never thought that my hubby had it in him. So, the photos below show the before and after shots!

Haa...the 1st photo shows my hubby cutting up garlic and ginger to prepare the ingredients to marinate the mutton with. The second shot is of him...smiling happily coz his dish is cooked...hehe....notice now that he's in his baju pagoda....hahaha....macam mamak masak kat dapur restoren kan?? except that ni bukan mamak but cina mana ntah...heehee

The next photo is of my sis Elynn, who just got back from Cyberjaya at that time. She bought a baby baju kurung for Fatimah....my parents' newest cucu, my newest niece..So, we forced the baju on the baby sebab Elynn wanted to snap a photo and mms it to her boyfriend who apparently chose the baju.

Comel kan??? No, I meant the baby....hehehe

After iftar last night...like about 11 pm, we had a birthday celebration for Fahim (whose birthday was on 27th August) and Rahman, Ammar (my brother's sons whose birthday was about a month or two ago) and my sister Akmar (whose birthday was on 30th July)....senang, all lumped together.....Just a cake-cutting and makan session. So, layan the photos below.

The cake...our family's favourite....Secret Recipe's Chocolate Mud Cake...hahaha...penuh cake dengan the names

See Fahim's face? Smiling.....really made my day. He was not himself these past few days....been sick. Fever. Am glad that he's back to his old self today....chattering non-stop, terlompat2 here and there...my cheeky little monkey!

Ok....that's all for now....til we meet again the next entry, which will most likely be about Raya! woohoo!

Big help from little hands

I have not been updating my blog for quite a while now. Same old story....busy busy busy. However, this entry is dedicated to my littlest one, Fahim! Thank you for being such a big help to me yesterday.

Hehehe....No, I am NOT an advocate of child labor...no, no, no, ni bukan kes dera ya. He wanted to help me. Of course I was giving hints that I need help...hehehe....typical hints are like, "Kesian Mama....I'm so tired, but I want to cook for you guys coz we've always been eating out, you guys deserve a home-cooked meal once in a while...but, kesiannnn mama penat...."... Hahahaha, and he fell for it!!! Terus masuk kitchen, even though he was feeling lethargic from fasting.

Well, Fahim, you made my day! All I can say is, terima kasih daun keladi...hikhikhik....lain kali, tolong mama lagi!!!

And then when I cooked.....

This was what happened when I ventured into the kitchen and 'forced' myself to cook

The spots are not chicken pox, not small pox, not measles, not also 'tahi lalat' ...hehehe....those spots are the result from frying keropok....yes tuan2 n puan2....All those 5 spots u see there are kes terkena percikan minyak panas! How could cooking something so simple turn out to be so dangerous ye? yeah....and it also shows how 'alien' I have made myself to cooking something in the kitchen kan? Nasib baik none of the oil splashed onto my face or neck......tak ke haru!! A consolation to myself though, at least I can hide the spots under my sleeve.

When I was too lazy to cook

Sarah came back for the weekend. I was super-excited as iftar time would be merrier. If only my Basir is here too....sigh!!!.....Anyway, we had our breaking of fast at Khulafa on Friday night. We were there even before 7 pm sebab I was positive that there would be a huge crowd at the restaurant. When we got there, there were only two other tables occupied. The crowd started to build up only around 7.15. By then, we had gotten our orders already.....what le the mamaks....they never used their common sense....ada ke air dihantar to our table so early, even earlier than the food!....so, you can expect that when it was time to eat, the ice cubes had dissolved and the drinks did not look as enticing as before.

You can see in the photo that we ordered the typical mamak fare....Sarah and I ate nasi kandaq (ayam and peria goreng, kuah campur), while Fahim wanted tosey and Farhan, his ever favorite...cheese naan and tandoori chicken. Fearing that Fahim would be hungry still after eating only tosey, I ordered kuetiau goreng basah. Alhamdulillah, all food was gone in a split second....hehe....exagerrate le kalau in a split second kan....

On Saturday night pula, we went to Sunway Pyramid. The kids wanted to eat at Bubba Gump's. However, the place was packed. Kesian the kids, especially Fahim who was so looking forward to eating there. So, we went to TGIF, hoping that it wouldnt be packed too...malangnye....packed jugak!! Tensen...tensen.....rasa nak marah pun ada at all the other non-muslim people yg sibuk nak makan at that hour jugak. Last choice....Ole-ole Bali, simply because it was located in the same wing. We had eaten there before, but the kids didn't quite enjoy the food. Ye lah....the food served in the restaurant is culturally themed....so it's not that appealing to the youngsters lah kan! Memandangkan it was just 15 minutes to iftar time by then.....we went in anyway...luckily there were a few available tables left.

A good thing about the restaurant is that we were served with a few sweet treats (on the house) while waiting for our main course to arrive. I saw that only Muslims were served with the treats (see the photo below)....Mula2 tu, we were playing a guessing game....apa ke benda nya the two mysterious looking fritters on the plate and the black liquid in the small cup ni??? Fahim even asked..."Mama, halal ke ni???"....Heheheh.....kids!!

Ha.....tuan2 dan puan2 pembaca blog yg budiman.....cer teka....apakah bendanya on the plate tu???

.

.

.

.

Ala.....rupa2nye....cekodok pisang aje.....while in the cup tu is ais cincau with a tinge of lemongrass. Our food had not arrived yet masa time berbuka....so, you can imagine lah yang cekodok tu licin licap. But the kids did not like the cincau. Only mine was bersih licin! Oh yes....Farhan was shy shy cat in the photo tu....or then again, he could be playing with his i-phone!!

All in all, the food was ok lah, this time...the kids did not complain...I guess sebab lapar berpuasa kan!

Curi-curi berblog

Hi everyone. It has been quite some time since i last updated my blog. Been superbusy as a bee lately. I am currently in the office, feeling exhausted after a day's work (hehehe.....percaya sangat lah I have been working the entire day...syyyyy....). Well, I have nothing much to say really, especially since it is already the fasting month. I find that my brain goes numb during the day when I'm fasting....can't think....and it doesn't help either when night time comes as my brain goes into an asleep mode from the wayyyyy too much binging on food!!

It's boring to come to work these days. Apparently a majority of FBM citizens are on leave or MIA!!! So, I'd do my disappearing act too....I'll be at home between 11 and 2....especially now without a maid, I'd spend those precious lunch/rest hours to do what I can around the house. Like today, once I've seen Fahim step on the school bus, I went into the kitchen to cook masak lemak cili api ikan merah and tempe goreng kicap for our break of fast. So, when I get back home from work petang nanti, I wouldn't have to rush to prepare dinner.

Oh yes, I went to Port Dickson a few days before the fasting month began. Not for a holiday ye tuan-tuan dan puan-puan....(although, if you look at the photos I'm sharing with u down here...looks like macam pergi vacation aje!!!). What else, kursus ISO siri 2....precisely, internal audit course. I was scared shit that those who attended the course would di-paksa-rela to become an internal auditor for the faculty. However, PM Alwi told us that only a few from the group would be selected. I surely hope that it wouldn't be me.

The hotel we stayed at this time, was wayyyyy better than Seri Costa. It's called the Avillion, Admiral Cove....wahhh...gempak kan nama hotel.....sah2 ingat kat oversea...heh...hampeh...not oversea...bythesea aje..This photo down here, I managed to snap while I was ter'kial-kial' mencari the conference room.....Sempat lagi tu menangkap gambar....

Memandangkan Marhani, Zarina and Kak Jem (diaorang ni can be considered satu kepala lah dengan I..) were also among the course participants, apa lagi....favorite activity in the afternoon after the workshop.....Apakah????

Haaa......hitting the gym.....

Tak percaya?

.

.

.

.

Hehehe.....oittt!!! janganlah focus on my stomach tu.....

Penat woo.....before lifting the weights, I ran on the treadmill...and despite sweating profusely in a 30 minute run, I burnt a mere 120 calories....Perggghhhh!! I swear that whatever i consumed for lunch or dinner at the hotel totalled to more than a thousand calories per seating! Macamana nak maintain kurus ni???

Favorite activity after the night workshop session pula??

Hehehe......makan durian!!! Not me....no no no....I don't wanna suffer from sore throat...I was already coughing so bad as it was. The four ladies ni memang hantu deghoyan!! Especially Kak Jem (wearing the red checkered shirt tu)....tengok tu....tengah menyumbat durian masuk mulut!!! You think that was all we did malam tu??....think again.....We headed to Bangi Kopitiam pulak....pekena kopi! Mana tak perut masuk angin...the next day a few of them (I'm not naming names...hehehe)...had to visit the toilet every so often!

The last day of the workshop....as usual.....photo session is a must! I have not obtained a copy of the group photo with all the course participants from the Faculty photographer yet so, just layan le gambar the 3 mak dara pingitan ni again....

The hotel has a space/gallery dedicated for beautiful art works.....Nice paintings right? The 3 models pun nice juga!!

And here's one of me by the fountain

See, what did I tell ya....macam bukan pergi berkursus....