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Monday, August 31, 2009

Celebrating Malaysia Independence Day

31st August, Malaysia celebrate its independence day.
This year is the 52nd celebration.
So raise the Jalur Gemilang, Malaysian. tet tetetet....

Tanggal 31, bulan 8 '57....




SELAMAT MENYAMBUT HARI KEMERDEKAAN YANG KE 52


yours truly,

Friday, August 28, 2009

Puasa di perantauan...

Sangat-sangat stereotype tajuk tu kan...ahahhahaha... Apa yang terlintas kat otak nie den taip aje kat kotak title tu.... kurang sikit guna tenaga di bulan puasa nie. Pejam celik pejam celik dah seminggu kite berpuasa ekkkk....Pejam celik pejam celik lagi seminggu lagi nak raya...hehehhe.... Setakat nie macam mana puasa kengkawan??

Bulan puasa nie, rutin berjalan seperti biasa, ada la perubahan sikit. Kalau sebelum puasa, den masak lepas maghrib, skrang nie balik ofis kena awal, sampai umah solat asar terus bersilat kat dapur. Waktu berbuka dalam minggu nie antara 5.30 ke 5.35 petang. Nampak aje awal, tapi jangkamasa puasa samo yo ngan Mesia, 12 jam lebih gak laa. Cume siang kat sini awal, malam pun awal... Nie dah ujung winter nie... siang mula panjang balik laa. Ala, masak ala kadar aje, puasa-puasa gak, makan macam biasa je...tapi kadang2 terover jugak...dok teguk bergelas-gelas air sejuk bila berbuka. Macam mana tak buncit ye dak...

OK....oleh kerana skrang nie amat2 la susah den nak spend masa kat blog nie kan... so den curik sikit masa nak bebel2 arinie. Tu la sebab tulis dalam melayu, ayat mencurah-curah keluar. Tak la tersekat-sekat. Kalau nak nulis dalam english, nak kena ada feel dulu, tidak kang, taip sikit, backspace, taip sikit, backspace. Silap mood kang, select-all, delete...huhu...

Nie nak flashback sikit la...sikit je...ke belakang sikit, 2 tahun yang lalu....jeng jeng jeng...heheheh... Yela, den baru 3 tahun berpuasa di tanah asing nie kan. Masa tahun pertama sampai Brisbane nie, mati kutu gak masa nak sambut puasa masa tu. Yela kalau kat Mesia, 3 ari seblum nak puasa, kami bermantai. Ini orang nogori la selalu buat, 3 ari sebelum puasa, buat la kacau2 sikit, nghendang, baka lomang, macam nak rayo la gak. Bile dah kat Brisbane nie, nak bermantai camno iyo tak. Jadi tahun tu, den sempat la buat karipap, itu pun utk bekalan bukak puasa kat sini. First time tu buat karipap. Tak sedap, masuk tekak sendiri kan. Part kelim tu yang fail. Bukan tak pernah tolong mak buat karipap, tapi part2 kelim tu mak den tak beri kepercayaan 100%. Tugas den, letak inti kat kulit karipap yo, lepas tu lipat. Kelim mengelim tu tugas mak den. Hahahhahha...so bila first time buat karipap tu, mmg la tersangat huduhnye. Bila goreng tu menyeringai la, tapi tak la teruk sangat, bila dah banyak buat tu, skill improve maa...ahahahhah

Minggu pertama puasa boring sikit. Macam hambar yo, masa tu masih lagi mood, hati dan mental kat kampung halaman. Teringat la berbuka puasa ngan family, gi terawikh, kemeriahan bulan Ramadhan, pasar Ramadhan lagi. Issssshhhh....Kalau rajin tu, gi la korek2 kisah lama den tahun 2007 :D... Tapi masuk minggu kedua, ketiga, meriah dah, sebab hujung minggu je mesti ada jemputan berbuka puasa. Mesti la seronok buka puasa ramai-ramaikan.

Tahun lepas dah tak de feeling2 kampung halaman. Dah kebal la masa tu. Lepas tu pulak ada kawan buat bisnes karipap, den la pelanggan tetap dia. Siap request karipap sardin lagi. Puasa pun tak lama kat Brisbane, sebab minggu 3 Ramadhan dah balik Mesia :D.

Tahun nie. Seminggu sebelum nak puasa tu ada la teringin nak buat karipap, memandangkan kawan tauke karipap tu dah balik Mesia for good, jadi mana den nak dapat stok karipap kan. Korang mesti pelik, apsal la citer karipap pulak nie. hahahhaha... Sebenarnya den nie, kalau bukak puasa mesti ada karipap, dapat seketul pun jadi la. Lagi-lagi kalau karipap sardin....perrrghhhhh bila makan karipap terasa nikmatnya berbuka puasa. Tapi den tak de la kemaruk benar tiap2 hari makan karipap kan... Tekak nie pun pandai reject gak :p

OK sambung citer.... Teringin nak buat karipap, tapi malas pulak nak nguli bagaikan. Tiba-tiba....tinggggg.... teringat kawan den, ada citer dia beli pastry instant kat sini. Den pun apa lagi, gi la carik pastry tu, dan bermula proses membuat karipap menggunakan instant pastry. Den buat inti banyak2, penuh satu tupperware. Kang nak makan karipap, kuar aje pastry dari freezer, kejap aje dia akan lembut, letak inti, lipat2, bakar. Tapi..... ada lagi tapi tu hehehe.... den beli gak karipap frozen, sebab dah ada pengganti tauke karipap. Iye... 3 hari sebelum puasa tu, teringat ada sorang kawan nie hantar email advertise karipap frozennya. Den mmg terlupa betul, sib baik la masa nak dekat puasa tu teringat. Senang keje den, ada banyak variety karipap, kalau makan pastry aje pun boleh gomuk (macam makan karipap tak gomuk). Makanya, den pun meng-order la beberapa bungkus, utk stok berbuka puasa.

Kami berbuka dengan nasi terus, makan kuih sikit, lepas tu nasi. Sekali sekala goreng la mee. Ini la menu berbuka kami yang tak seberapa nie. Ehhhh...cukup la tu kan...Alhamdullillah... Den pun nak ucapkan terima kasih la pada pihak2 terlibat yang memudahkan den memasak di dapur kan, macam tauke karipap frozen, tauke pastry tu, makcik megi dan aunty aDebbie, kalau la anda takde, maka tempoh memasak den yang hanya mengambil masa 1 jam akan jadi berjam-jam lamanye. Tak pun buka puasa ngan nasi terus.

Berikut adalah juadah berbuka puasa kami yang sempat den amik gambar la ye...



Karipap guna pastry instant..makan panas2 sedap.....



3 bijik terung, digoreng... den sorang je makan, atang tak gheti lauk kampung nie



Sehari sebelum tu masak la kari daging. Esoknye kari banyak berlebih (mmg saje masak banyak2, boleh simpan dalam fridge...kes orang malas...hahahha), jadi kami berbuka ngan roti canai yo. Goreng cucur bilis aunty aDebbie, cicah pulak ngan sos cili makcik megi. Sirap bandung buat basah tekak (ada soda, tapi takde soda macam ais krim soda kat mesia).



Esok-esoknya, cucur bilis ada lebih, den tambah ngan karipap frozen sikit. Terhagus sikit karipap tu. Itu la akibatnya buat 2 3 keje dalam satu masa. Dah limit masa 1 jam yo...tapi sempat lagi fesbuk tu....wakakakaka




Semalam atang bawak balik nasi beryani arab, lebih2 bukak puasa kat surau U. Kat surau tu mmg tiap2 hari orang berjamu bukak puasa. Pak arab pak arab nie mmg rajin buat sedekah, jadi student bujang mmg ke surau aje la bila nak berbuka. Rezeki kami, dapat la nasi beryani, dengan kuah kosong dengan yogurt campur sayur. Jadi, hari nie, den masak ayam madu yo, tuang aje paste ayam madu makcik megi. Sonang kojo den....

Gitu la juadah berbuka kami minggu pertama kat sini. Maaf la kot2 ada yang tergugat iman nengok gambar2 tu yo (den nie pun dah terlanggar pantang gak nie...adehh). Ala...apa la sangat hidangan kami nie dari lauk pauk, kuih muih kat mesia tu ye dak. Ahad nie ada majlis berbuka puasa anjuran pelajar melayu, wahhh... Ada gotong royong sekali.

Mesti ramai yang balik kampung ek ujung minggu nie, senin cuti kan, sambutan hari kemerdekaan Malaysia yang ke 52. Hati-hati bila memandu tu yo. Semoga selamat sampai ke destinasi.

OK laa...den akhiri bebelan yang ntahapahapantah nie dengan ucapan....

SELAMAT HARI KEMERDEKAAN MALAYSIA YANG KE 52

MERDEKA....MERDEKA...MERDEKA



yours truly,

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Spring has sprung....

.....it shouldn't be this early... but it surely warm nowadays... yesterday the temperature marked at 34 deg C.... it was like I was sitting near to a vacuum blower.... was expecting a cooler weather during this fasting month. Well this will be a motivation for me to stay in the office...

ok...been busy..and will be busy for the rest of the week, month until end of the year kot... nak dekat2 abis nie...tetiba je rasa tak cukup 24 jam....tetiba je sifoo jadi alert dan provides me with a list after list of questions for me to answer..... aritu rasa macam tak diendahkan.... how frustrated when your hard work, your arguments like falling on a deaf ear.... baru lepas overhaul agaknye.... suddenly everything is working well.... and I got an endless list to do (my sifoo called it as "laundry list") ..... hambik..... ahahhaha...

ok laaa...dah 4 hari Ramadhan berlalu.... tinggal lagi 26...eh tul ke....kalau kat sini slalu puasa 29 ari je...ahahhahaaa... Selamat berpuasa, terawikh jangan lupe :D


yours truly,

Monday, August 24, 2009

Salam Ramadhan...


Islamic Greeting Card by Alhabib. Visit www.al-habib.info for more greeting cards like this!
Islamic Greeting Cards by Alhabib

Semoga tahun ini lebih baik dari tahun sebelumnya. Selamat menjalani ibadah puasa.

p.s. Kami mula puasa hari Sabtu tahun nie... sama dengan Malaysia :D

yours truly,

Friday, August 21, 2009

....dan kesimpulannya.....

Salam kengkawan and friends,

Sibuk la semenjak dua menjak nie.... have to finalised my survey instrument and need to make all sort of arrangement for data collection purposes. Plan to start data collection after raya. Soon... hmmm... Sooooo.... I may not update this page regularly, maybe occasionally, maybe once in the blue moon....ahahahah...ok lets not promise anything ya... kang tetibo berderet pulak den post citer...dah lain pulak kisahnye ye tak... ok ok....

Since Ramadhan is just around the corner, with due respect, I will not post any pictures of the delicious food ya... bukan apa, den sendiri pun nengok tak tahan....apa tah lagi kengkawan...hahahhaha... Tapi kalau citer bazaar Ramadhan tu, harap maaf la ye, almaklum laaa... dah nama bazaar Ramadhan, pasti penuh dengan kuih muih, lauk pauk yang sodap2 belako... Yup, like last year, and year before that, the Ramadhan Bazaar will be held almost every Saturday and Sunday, during the fasting month. Thanks to the committee who organised this. Den tak niago la yo.... cito2 ado...tapi tak larat laaa.... dah la kojo tak siap, ada ati nak niago, kena lesing ngan sifu baru tau...wakakakakkaka.. ok enough of rambling (bila sekali sekala update camnie laa...merapu yo)

Anyway, last week... yup last week... I think it was last Wednesday, pardon my memory yaa... after maghrib, oopppsss I think almost isya, I was on the praying mat (bertafakur lama sikit haritu....hehehe)...suddenly I heard like stone falling on the roof, ok...more like pebbles... eh peliknya bunyi....peculiar...then the sound got louder, and..... sekali banyak turun camtu laaa.... so I shouted to atang....."nee.....bunyi apa tu....".... "ujan batu kot...."... I quickly got up, and open the window. La nie winter lagi.... nak bukak tingkap pun pikir 2 3 kali...sojuk....Anyway, curiousity kills the cat....hahahahah .... not me..... so I open the window.... can see anything weird, it was pretty dark outside, but it was surely rain heavily.....

At that time, atang was already rushing outside, to check on the car..... And I went to the balcony, to see what was really going on..... I saw ice, a few of them, small in size on the balcony floor.




Sorry gambar tak nampak sangat...angin kuat masa tu, tempias.... and I was wearing telekung, punya la excited, telekung pun tak bukak lagi.... So that small particles (I highlighted 1 of them) are ice. Ujan batu la..... it surely was hailstone....ahahahahhahah.... talk about once in blue moon..... though this was not the first time I experienced ujan batu, my first was when I was 6 - 7 yrs old, about that age.... in Seremban.... masa tu besar-besar gak... kat sini kecik-kecik aje....
It last about 10-15 minutes.... and our car was not affected at all....

OK...since my cooking mood has vanished.... so...tempek gambar masakan orang lain aje laaa.... This Laksa Penang was prepared by our good neighbour. They held a birthday party for their little girl, but we couldn't come, though it was public holiday, but I have tonnes of work to be done.... holiday or not, keje tetap keje (orang dah desperate camtu laaa....kalau tak orang sibuk keje dia dok melahu yo). So good of them to keep some for us...ahahahahha.... the laksa, a piece of the birthday cake (and I was craving for sweet thing pulak tu), some fruits and cupcakes.... Pulak malam tu mmg malas masak....ahahahhaha....(tapi dalam ati macam tau2 neighbour nak kasi...wakakakka...tak malu)....On the way home, on the bus, the good neighbour called, "akak...akak dlam bas ye...."..."a'ah....naper xxx?".... "ala...tak de, nak hantar food sikit....." dalam ati (yippie....).... ahahahhaha...



And when I arrived home.... atang said to me....."xxx anta laksa aaaa...". I said, "iye...wahhh...dah lama teringin nak makan laksa..." ahahahhahahha.... sodap oooooo.... thank you to our good neighbour.....

Lepas nie den tak tempek gambar masakan la yo.... hehheheheh (malas sebenarnye)....

Anyway, to all muslim out there.... I wish you Happy Ramadhan. A good time to make amends to our soul. It is a holy month. Let's try to get as many rewards as we can.

Salam.

yours truly,

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Pulang laa...


Capek bangat... Ternampak2 tilam, bantal, quilt silih berganti di depan mata. Tamat la sudah perjalanan seharian kami di GC. Sendat, ngantuk, dan penat :-D

Golden Legend Seafood



Jemput makan, banyak pulak portion nie. Ada lg 2 dish, sambal sotong dan dim sum tak smpt amik gamba. Lapa dah nie

The Haunted House



After we left the mosque, we stop at Woolie to buy some groceries. Then off we went to Surfers Paradise to look for the haunted house. We thought the house would be a building on its own. Turned out it is situated in the centro, amongst all the shops and mall. We rest and had coffee. Dah nak dekat maghrib, so we just peeked inside the haunted house, 5 tingkat tu, tak sempat la. Maybe nxt time.

Tgh tunggu isya, lepas nie we r going to hv dinner at a Malaysian Chinese restaurant (actually it is owned by a malay kelantanese). Lapo dah nie.... Ok isya dah masuk...later

Bahasa melayu at GC



Takde la shopping, window shopping je. Harbour Town is a popular shopping destination in Gold Coast. You can get many big brand goods here. Main attraction, well at least to us, is the Canterbury outlet. Tp tahun nie takde massive sale like last year la.

Anyway, we r now at GC Mosque, zuhr n waiting 4 asr. Tu signage ada kat dlm mesjid nie, huhu.
Lepas nie nak g rumah hantu jap.....

1st destination, Harbour Town


Shopping jap, clearance sale hehe

A day in Gold Coast



Salam and good day friends. 1st of all apology for not visiting you as often as i used too. 2ndly thank you for readng my rambling. 3rdly am going to post a number of entries today, going life.. sort of. We r now on the way to GC, sight seeing, and celebrating atang's bufday, atang turned 33 yesterday. So... till later...20 minutes to destination

Thursday, August 13, 2009

sweet chilli Flower Crab

It has been 7 months since we last went to Inala to buy seafood. Inala is the one place that you can buy cheaper seafood, with a variety of selection. But the price is not all about it, the type of seafood is another pull factor (tu dia, pakai supply and demand la pulak). You know these mat salih, they don't eat the type of fish like we eat. Grocery store in the city only sell fillet or steak cut fish, and for that, they only sell big fish like salmon, tuna, snapper, or mackerel (tenggiri). So if you want to find fish like small mackerel (kembung), yellow tail (selar), even small size prawn, crab and squid, Inala is the best place to go.

We went to Inala last Saturday, and I bought some fish, prawn, squid and crab, a lot indeed, preparing for Ramadhan as well :D. The prices have slightly increased, but you get fresh fishes, so I felt the price are reasonable.

We had sweet chilli crab on Sunday. Mmmmm mmmmmm....ahahhahahha... goreng pun sedap actually, but I want to make something different. Recipe..... can't write a good one coz I relied on available recipes on the net, so I took a little bit from here, adjust a little bit from there, watched several vids from youtube, and into the kitchen I went, cooked the crab according to my taste laaaa....ahahahhah....

Basically, I marinated the crab with some fish curry powder, turmeric and salt, and fried them. I fry the crab because I don't have a wok to put everything together, only have my loyal flat pan. So afraid that I will undercook the crab, I fry the crab first until the shell change colour. For the sauce, I pounded together 1 brown onion and 3 garlic. I sliced about 1 cm of ginger. Then used some of the oil from the frying, saute the ginger with the pounded ingredients. Then add 1 1/2 tablespoons of dried chilli paste, drop in some belacan, add in oyster sauce, sweet chilli sauce, ketchup, about 1 tablespoon of vineger, salt and sugar to taste. Add a little bit of water, throw in 1 red onion, sliced to ring. Let the gravy slightly thickened, then add in the fried crab. Mix well.

Wallahhhhhh......






Served with steaming white rice and kangkung (water convolvulus) in tauchu sauce. And the rest, like they say, is history..... :p

yours truly,

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

two Mocha, a slice of Apple Pie, and a breath taking View

Been longing to visit Mount Coot-tha for .... let me see.... since the first year I arrived here. I saw pictures of the panoramic view of Brisbane CBD, taken from that mountain from my friends' albums. They captured excellent pictures. I love their pictures. Though these friends are using those canggih, tembak-tembak kamera kan (SLR la tu), but I am not shy at all. Arming with just a compact digital still camera, last Saturday I persuaded atang to take me there....ok honestly, I forced atang to take me there.....hahahaha....

It was chilling up there, and the smell of coffee and pies make us hungry.... kinda divert our attention from our main purpose of driving up there. huhuhu... Hey we did snap some pictures ok.... I have evidence.... huhu



[Brisbane CBD from Mount Coot-tha].... we used the panoramic function in the camera, waiting for atang to stitch them together, because am not good at this graphic thing :D.





Sun was setting down.... nak dekat maghrib dah, but before we went home, we had mocha and a slice of apple pie. Couldn't resist the temptation.


[and the winter warmer :p]

The pleasure is ours......of coz :D mmmm mmmmm.....

yours truly,

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pizza lagi...

Dah ku katakan, ku nak pencen dari memasak nie, tapi apakan daya, sudah pastinya takkan tercapai....ahahahhaha.... dah mula mengarut nie. Anyway, I don't have any choice, but to remain faithful with the pots and pans, and frequent the space as often as I need to, to satisfy the hunger of atang. :p ..... I think I left my "cooking" spirit in Malaysia....

Am afraid I will not try any new recipe for a short while. With Ramadhan approaching, I may not try anything new at all, maybe until the Eid. Sorry to disappoint you (ada ke yang disappoint nanti?? perasan sudah....). But I will keep on posting entries on food, because food is synonym with my living in Brisbane, lagi la bulan Ramadhan nanti kan.....hahahahahahah...

OK... last Saturday I tried again making pizza, this time with pepperoni, pineapple and mushroom...upgrade sikit laaa.... and more presentable from the first attempt :D.

Feast your eyes.......









yours truly,

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Serawa durian..yup in Brisbane

But no.... it is not me who prepared it (rasa nak pencen dari jadi tukang masak, sape cakap tukang masak kereja nya enteng)....ahahhahahha... The serawa durian was given by our good neighbour, to be eaten with glutinous rice (jiran oghang utagha Malaysia you :D).



So in return, as usual, I baked banana cake for atang's snack, and sent a plate of banana cake to our good neighbour with some prawn sambal with petai.





yours truly,

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

kakak and adik, they are different in many ways

The last week I was in Malaysia, I spent most of my time with my two little angels. They have changed a lot since the last I saw them 6 months ago. Yaya has became a little bit quiet and reserved, but she has shown interest in how and why things happened around her, asking more challenging questions.

She made a lot of friends at school. She has a friend that would call her at home regularly. Yaya can now read in both English and Bahasa Malaysia too, though sometimes she doesn't understand what she reads. However, yaya is getting more clumsy and careless. Mak told me that she lost her purse many time. Mostly after the recess. Although she brings some snack to school, since she learnt how to buy things, she will, everyday, buy 1 bungkus/pack of nuggets or sausages or keropok plus a vitagen. When she reaches home from school, she will immediately changed her clothes and has her lunch. Yes, yaya may look a bit skinny, but she does eat a lot. Alhamdullillah. Well, that doesn't change since she was a baby :D.

Adik on the other hand, it is soooo difficult to get her to eat. She shows interest with food, but when it comes to eating them, then a fight will begin....hahahahhaha.... She wants to eat it all by herself. But after a few feeds, she will starts playing with the food. She seems to like salty things like crackers, chips, all sort of kerepek. And fruits. Most of the time she will ask for her susu.

Except for eating, Adik acts the same way like yaya did when yaya was the same age, except adik is more focus and alert, always responded unexpectedly. We think adik is more mature than her age. But one thing that adik hates most is taking her picture. It is so difficult to capture a nice picture of her, i mean, of her smilling at the camera. We consider we are lucky whenever we managed to get a nice picture of her. Most of the time, she will runway, shy away, hide away from the camera ahahahhahah...like these pictures below.



This is something different with yaya, for she is always camera friendly :D.



Luckily we are using digital still camera, or else...



One of the lucky picture of our two little angels.

yours truly,