After SPM and then what………???

Posted on March 26, 2012 ·

Nazmi will be sitting for his SPM  this year, but we are already WORRIED. TENSED. Will he able to make ‘it’? To blend into the system in Malaysia. Nazmi never had secondary schooling here, but will have to sit for a very nerve wrecking exam soon. Personally, I don’t like this system, but I cannot complain….I/He just have/has to fit in. Nazmi attends tuition from Monday to Saturday. In April, it’s going to be Monday to Sunday. We have private tutors giving him personal tuition, or we have to travel a distance for his classes. He has to take Form 4 and Form 5 BM both at the same time, fearing that he might not PASS BM after all.

He has not registered for his SPM with the school YET, but the ‘kiasu’ me already pencil in his SPM schedule in my diary.

At this moment, we are helping Zul’s niece to  look at her options to further study with her exam results. While browsing the UPU and other websites I am alarmed at how ‘they’ measure abilities, and one’s readiness to seek an academic choice. You need a pass in Add Maths or Physics to enter admissions into ‘certain’ courses that do not require knowledge in both subjects. 


Well, we are giving Nazmi 100% freedom to choose what he wants to do, with a little guidance from us.


Filed Under: TRAVELS

A Middle East Lunch at Puteri Pan Hotel

Posted on March 20, 2012 ·
A simple birthday lunch for my girl, Ain..we had a small luch at Hadramawt, a middle east restaurant in Puteri Pan Hotel, JB.
The restaurant entrance

Before lunch…..

Middle east salad…

Iced tea

The kids ordered lamb kebab

I ordered Chicken Mendy

While having our lunch

Boy oh boy…we were congested with food….

Filed Under: TRAVELS

I wish for….

Posted on March 7, 2012 ·
Every time I get home from work, I can feel the tense all over my body. How I wish I can just find a masseur to rid of the tense. I’m a lazy hunter. I hate driving to get to the nearest spa, which is in UDA area. For me, it’s a long long road to get there. Anga used to give me FREE foot massages, but with his tuition and homework and extra co-curricular activities, it would be cruel of me to ask him to foot massage me. If my darling husband is reading this, why can’t you rub my sore back once in a while eh? 
a Foot massage

an Aromatherapy/Oil massage

a Thai massage

Filed Under: RELAXATION, TRAVELS

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on February 22, 2012 ·
Filed Under: TRAVELS

Ramadhan 4, 1432H

Posted on August 4, 2011 ·
An update of what we had for Iftar 3rd Ramadhan…

Hubby bought 6 pieces of kuih, and we had Ikan Patin masak lemak cili api tempoyak with Fried Bean Sprout with Ikan Masin.
On the 4th of Ramadhan, I was clueless, I did not know what to cook. It has been raining, so a good soup would do. I made us Beef Soup with lots of blackpepper. I found this recipe of Moroccan Chicken & Olives and decided to alter it.

Moroccan Chicken & Olives

Marinate Chicken pieces with ground ginger, ground garlic, ground cinnamon, salt and blackpepper. Leave it to rest for an hour.
Heat olive oil, and fry each chicken pieces until well cooked. Once done, fry in some onions. Mix well. Put in some lime juice and chicken broth (about half a cup). Let the mixture cook well. Finally add in olives. I used green and black olives.
Besides this dish, I decided to add in Ain’s favourite, the Rojak Tauhu to our Iftar Meal.
Rojak Tauhu

4 pieces of Tauhu- fry them and cut into pieces.
Taugeh- soak and hot water & drain.
Cucumber
Sengkuang.
For the gravy, I blend fried peanuts with cili padi, salt,sugar and kicap cap kipas.

Filed Under: TRAVELS, WHAT'S COOKING

Meridian & Makan….

Posted on June 10, 2011 ·

Nasri finally came back to spend his weekend with us. We fetched him Thurs night at the Skudai Toll, when later we were told that he left his static book in the bus….Hubby wasn’t too keen about chasing the bus, but I pushed him to do so, so we drove right to Larkin Bus Station. We went frantic looking for the bus. Too many buses, too many people, too hot…and sweating like hell….
I went to the counter and asked for the driver’s number, and after making some phone calls, we managed to get hold of the book….
After the chase, we decided to have dinner at Singgah Selalu by Danga Bay. The last time I was there was in 2007. There are lots of kiosks being put up around the area, which reminds me of Lucky Garden. Whilst at Singgah Selalu, I bumped into M.Nasir’s (that popular song composer….) family, his brothers and parents. Since we grew up in the same vicinity in Singapore, we had a long chat about our family etc etc etc. It’s good to see En. Mat Syam & Cik Esah still doing well, when my dad is quite weak and is bedridden.
Dinner at Singgah Selalu cost us RM46…Let’s see…Along had Yee Mee & Bandung Soda, Ain had Beef Burger & Lychee Juice, Anga had Claypot Mee & Honeydew Juice, Zul & I shared ABC special. He had Fried Rice with Blackpepper Beef and I had Tahu Bakar…..


Filed Under: TRAVELS

An unfortunate day for a leave

Posted on June 8, 2011 ·






Hubby took his leave today, thinking that we can finally clear our Ruby from PTP Port, but looks like our hopes drown in the drain…of which drains?? I don’t know.

Let me do some recap of some events that have happened since we took Ruby home. Ruby was deported home some months ago…let’s see 13th April..that was the date. She reached PTP Port on the 28th April. Nasir did the clearance for our personal effects, and we took a short ride (about 40mins drive to PTP), to check that Ruby and all our items were alright before Nasir docked them in the warehouse. We paid RM175 a week for storage. After a week, Nasir sent my goods to Pontian. I submitted my application for an AP permit 2 weeks after we landed, that was on the 25th April, and the AP was approved in 19 days. It was a joyful moment for me, and we headed to the Customs office in Larkin for a quote. We were quoted RM50k at first and we were so stunned that I nearly fell off the chair that I was sitting on. I felt that the world was coming down on me. 50K?? We asked the officers to recalculate, saying there must be an error somewhere. True enough, the second quote we got was 23k. I told the officer I wanted to appeal, but I was discouraged. But I proceeded with this appeal and we waited for another 2 weeks when we learnt that it was not approve. Hubby told me to accept “what has been written”, but me being me, was still unsatisfied over this. I called up the Dato’ Pengarah, but it was just too bad he was held up in a meeting. I called up the Timb. Pengarah but was informed that he was on a week long course. Hmmm…so we just made a bank draft of 23k, went to PTP Port hoping that Ruby can finally be taken home.
Opps…the customs took almost half a day trying to release Ruby, but the system with MITI and Customs had some errors. So we finally went home empty handed.
This morning, we thought we could settle everything. Hubby took a day leave, we drove to RTD, and bought a birth cert.for Ruby. Nasir called us when we were in RTD. Another error. Customs PTP could not link the system, and they have to wait for another 3 days…Ouch!!!! At the moment I’m writing, we (both hubby and i) are just staring at the four walls in the house. Ruby is still at PTP, the car that was loaned to us was in the workshop for engine failure since yesterday, and the other car we have is just too small for the 4 of us to drive around. We were just too distraught with what we had to encounter.
Filed Under: TRAVELS

Justin Bieber Gave me a Fever

Posted on March 25, 2011 ·


I paid $20 which is almost Rm50 for a a Never Say Never exclusive Preview at Chartwell Event Cinema this Sunday. This is not a family thing, mind you. This is just for the price of my daughter’s movie ticket. With NZD20, she’s going to watch the movie in 3-D, gets free 3D glasses, Small Pop’n’Coke Combo, and Purple Glow Bangles.
I hope this is better be good…Layannnn

Filed Under: TRAVELS

Nasri & Engineering

Posted on March 10, 2011 ·

It’s been a while since I last updated my blog. Too busy? Or my mind was not at peace….

I’ve been rather busy lately getting us prepared to make another shift, a shift of life………before I ponder into this deeper, I’m going to write about engineering. I knew nothing about engineering and have never been interested to know what engineers do. When my son, Nasri decided to study engineering, I thought to myself…”why should he be doing it when we have put into his head that someday, he’s going to be an architect”. But I guess, this is all fated. he was supposed to apply for Architecture studies in Victoria Univ of Wellington, but decided to apply for Engineering at Auckland University, and as soon as his Level 3 NCEA results were released, University of Waikato offered him the same area of study. We did discuss about financial constraints, and decided to apply for MARA loan, but the options about MARA loan is that you’ll be bogged down with debts to MARA even after you have worked. When there was an opening at Multimedia University in Cyberjaya, I said to him…”apply for a place”…and so WE DID!! WE as I was the one pushing him all the way. The offer came in, first to do a Creative Multimedia course which he turned down, then an Electronic Eng. and finally in Electrical Eng. I told him to go ahead and accept the offer but “nahhh, I want to do Architecture. Let’s wait for UIA to give me an offer”.
Nasri should be thankful to have ME as I was the one making all the emails communication and making phone calls….I was worried that because he doesn’t have any SPM, he might not be able to pursue tertiary studies in Malaysia. Last week when I called UIA, they said something like “it’s difficult to process our applications as we are lacking in supporting documents and bla bla bla…but yesterday came to a surprise when Noraida, the officer in UIA that I was in contact with, broke me the news that he’s been accepted to do Engineering. We were hopeful that he’ll be doing Architecture instead. Why Engineering Puan Noraida? That’s my son’s second choice. He’s been wanting to do Archi…. “Oh…that’s because he put engineering as his FIRST choice and the committee has decided to offer him that!”
NASRI!!!!!!
Filed Under: TRAVELS

End of school holiday tour

Posted on February 4, 2011 ·
We planned a trip to take a cruise on Chris Jolly by boat on fine Sunday morning at Lake Taupo. This plan was supposed to mark the end of the school holiday. Unfortunately, the trip was cancelled as the water in the lake was too high and the boat crew refused to take us on the trip for safety reason.
Because everyone in the group had already made countless trips to the Huka Falls, the Honey Hives, The Prawn Park and did all the usual stuff tourists normally did in Taupo, we decided to do something different.
So we made an ad-hoc plan which covered a trip to Ararapids Dam, the Taupo Bungy Jump, the kids’ playground, the Best Kebab and finally Mc donalds.
Here are some shots from our trip.

This is Ararapids Dam. Water is released from this dam into Huka FallsWater from the Waikato River
While enjoying the view, we filled up our starving tummies
The kids with their hot mamas & papas taking a train ride

For lunch, we stopped at the Turkish Kebab store for some yummy lunch
Hot mamas waiting for their orders

This is one great activity, but we just people watched. No one dared to make this one jump.

Our final stopover was the Mc Donalds. While the kids played, the adults had an afternoon snack in the plane.


The packed kebab from the Best Kebab….devoured it at Mc Donalds
Along treated us with Mocha coffee…Thanks son!
The gang making a quick pose for the cameraman, my husband


Filed Under: LEISURE, TRAVELS

What’s up Doc?

Posted on January 28, 2011 ·

Hubby called last night saying that Edy started having his bad days and asked me to pick him up from work. This morning, he got someone from Motavation Masters Ave to check on Edy but one of the mechanics refused to come to site. We thought of calling AA to tow Edy to Automation. One of the best things about being a member of AA is that it covers you and the vehicle you are driving. As an AA member, they’ll help you with

I took Syahril & Nan to the location and waited for some help from AA.
These are things you should do when your vehicle broke down.
1) Owner of the card should call AA. I called AA but was refused help. AA people wanted to speak to the one man named on that card.

Syahril & Nan waiting by the roadside
Be sure to spot a comfy area to wait for the AA team. We found this area shady for us…
3) Show him your AA card.
4) Let him do the job. Ask him if might need help. The AA team tried to jump-start Edy.
The AA van to the rescue
5) After much work on Edy, & he still refused to start. So, the AA team called for a tow-truck. At this time, you just wait. You’ll get another phone call from the AA team assuring that a tow truck would arrive in 30 minutes. While waiting, we chatted…& chatted…
6) The tow truck is here. Again, just step aside and let the MAN do his ‘thing’.
& the lady posed for her blog…
See how efficient he was?
& the guys watched too….
Edy was ALL ready to be sent to the workshop without any charges!! As I’m writing, Edy is resting at Automation, hopefully, he’ll recover soon…

Filed Under: TRAVELS

From the sea into the pan

Posted on January 16, 2011 ·

After getting some good catch yesterday, it’s time for some fish cleaning sessions. I leave this task to hubby as it is often very messy. I normally take over when the fish has been cleaned…that’s the cooking part. Hubby was very cooperative when I told him I wanted to shoot his fish cleaning for my blog. So, he started telling me the processes like chef wan telling the audience about his cooking.

Well, we don’t have fancy fish cleaning tools, so we made do with the tools we have at home.

The first step in cleaning fish is to clear the cleaning area. Now, I’m eyeing for a good fish cleaning table to bring it back to our Malaysian home.

The next step is to make sure you sharpen your knife, to make the cleaning work easier. Hubby likes his knife sharp and comfortable in his hands.

Once you are ready, you can scale the fish. Do this until the fish is thoroughly clean. This reminds me that I have to mop the kitchen floor once all this work is done. As I am writing, hubby is still in the kitchen, cleaning his catch. Kudos to you, love!!
Then cut off all the fins. If the fish is too big, like the kahawai hubby caught last night, cut off its head.

And next, it’s time to cut off its tail.

The next step is to remove the gut. Don’t insert the knife too deeply in the flesh of the fish. Then, remove the parts that contaminate the flesh.

Hubby found some roes. Let’s look at the roes and compare the roes produced by a female fish and a male one. The one in Zul’s hands are the ones produced by a male kahawai.

Because much of our cooking use the fish head like asam pedas kepala ikan, or fish head curry, give it a good clean. Then, soak the head and the fish in tamarind water or salt water to remove the fishy odour.

Once ready, it’s time to let your fish swim in your pan….My asam pedas snapper is waiting for the snappers to be cleaned. The asam pedas is almost ready now. All smiles!

p/s: It took hubby an hour to clean the kahawais

Filed Under: TRAVELS

You, Me and Life

Posted on January 15, 2011 ·

Many of us take things for granted….our jobs, our friends, our spouses, our parents, our children, and our healthWe don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone. And when we wish that it would come back, it will never will.

I just came back from the Waikato Hospital, visiting a sick friend when I realized that all this while, I never take things seriously. My health for one, that is. I have never been terribly sick during my 3 years in New Zealand, and this made me ignore the importance of good health.

Good health doesn’t always come easy. We have to be healthy either physically or mentally. Controlling all the negative thoughts that worry you is a signal you have a firm control of yourself. Eating something healthy as a precaution is an excellent way of trying to cure it later in your life. We might be feeling well now and healthy. We might be indulging on foods that we love, but when the time comes, we will realize that we are not that strong superhero who can take hold of our bodies! I must remind myself to always remind my husband about the importance of good health, as a healthier man makes a wealthier woman.

A view of Lake Rotorua & Waikato Hospital

Filed Under: TRAVELS

A special celebration for that special man

Posted on January 10, 2011 ·

It was hubby’s 44th birthday today, and I planned a great meal for that special man in my life. The preparation was quite tedious starting a day ahead, baking the hummingbird cake and marinating the meats for the paella. On the very day, with no helper (Along was called to work, Anga went shopping @ Auckland)…I spent the whole day in the kitchen. Well, Ain helped out in icing the cake…the rest was a solo effort.

I wanted to present something different than the usual, and it took a while to come up with the menu list. Coleslaw, shepperd’s pie & the garlic bread were planned this morning while I was on my way sending Along to work.

Here are some pics taken and some recipes of the meals I prepared today. I think I put on 2kg today! Enjoy!

The gifts we got for dad…a Rugby 2011 cap from Anga, a fishing bait box from Along, a box of choc from Ain & a Kenneth Cole watch from me.

Hummingbird cake from Foodtv. The filling was chopped banana, pineapple & pecans. Tasted great!!!

Menu list…I didnt set up dinner at the dining…as we had the guys over…tak cukup tempat…

My kids love shepperd’s pie….since we have additional guests to hubby’s small bday party, I decided to make one, to add up to my original menu. Unfortunately, I ran out of mince and was too lazy to run to the Halal butchery…and too lazy to take my food processor from the box (* I don’t remember where I stored my food processor…), so I used my blender to make my beef turned into pieces…..anything can do!

My shepperd’s pie…(I think I might have posted the recipe in my blog before.)

Paella is a rice dish from Spain and is well-known around the world. You can use just about any kind of ingredient that goes well with rice! My paella contained chicken, mussels, prawns, peas and peppers. But I reinvent my recipe as hubby wants something spicy.
Here is the recipe, credits to Rachel Ray.

Rachel Ray’s Paella
Olive oil
Garlic
Onion
Some beriani powder
4 cups rice
Saffron threads
Bay leaf
Chicken stock
Thyme
Red capsicum
Water

Cook the above as you would cook Nasi Minyak….then add the ingredients below

chicken (marinate one night & fry earlier)
beef (marinate one night & fry)
seafood mix (marinate one night & fry)
Turks chicken sausage (fry & add black pepper)

Garnish the paella with parsley, spring onions or anything edible that you like…

This hot chicken thighs appetizer actually might originate from Buffalo, New York (too lazy to google). I wanted to make Buffalo Chicken Wings but the Halal Butcher ran out of nibbles and wings so I substituted that with thighs instead. Well, there are many recipes that you can find on the net, but this one, I used Barefoot Contessa’s recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Thighs

16 chicken thighs
Cayenne pepper
Tabasco
Salt
Sour cream
Worchester sauce
Black pepper
I mix everything and marinate them overnight before grilling/baking them in the oven.

This is hubby’s bday cake. I took the recipe from FoodTV network. Yummm as it uses cream cheese icing (my favourite!)

Hummingbird Cake
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup pecan pieces
3 ripe bananas, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple ( I used canned pineapple)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil

For the Frosting:
2 packages cream cheese
Butter
Icing sugar

p/s: the vocab for today is “too lazy…”

Filed Under: TRAVELS
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