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Saturday, February 27, 2010

off with the ... chicken

Alice in Wonderland are playing at the cinema kan... yup...the one starring uncle johnny, anne hathaway, to name a few. Always love both the movie and the book. Fav character, the white rabbit...that kelam kabut rabbit, always running against the time. huhu...and fav script, "....off with the head..."

Ok...here is our dinner tonite. Simple roast chicken, did a little improvised from my sistah roast chicken recipe. Still have half a bottle of the hoisin sauce (from that yong tau foo attempt) in the fridge. So I added about 2 tablespoons when marinating the chicken.



2 satisfied kids with drumsticks.



Aiyah.... sorry for the not-so-good quality of these pictures. These were taken using my phone. I must have my camera fix...pronto.... atang!!! jommmm...

p.s. today I read a news about a man, kicked his step daughter to death. a three year old, was bashed to death at a football field (in front of many witnesses, that I am sure were stunned with the action) at a place in Malaysia. that man was actually not the step father, he is just a boyfriend of the unfortunate girl mother. shake head.....

yours truly,

484

A quick peek at the inventory, I saw I have posted 484 stories in this blog. I want to capture this moment because the number, as a single number, and whole, bring a lot of significant to my life.


I guess 4 is my lucky number (orang cina takut ooo ini nombot...banyak suweiii). I have it everywhere: in my ID (student ID, national ID, passport), I was born on the 4th month of the year. I have always own cars with number 4 on the plate (in fact, one of it actually have the whole "484"). Chinese people literally translate 484 as = lugi, untung, lugi balik....ahahahhaha... but alhamdulllilah, no misfortune happened when I was owning that car.

Oh yes, my student ID, at one of the boarding school is 484. And I have this number, printed on all my uniforms, bedsheets, blanket, towel, etc.

Back home we live at level 4 in one of the VSP buildings. My old ID ends with number 4, my current ID ends with number 8. I am actually the 4th child in the family. Atang was born on the 8th month of the year. See....so many 4s and 8s in my life.....ahahhahaha...

Ok la...tu aje my rambling... alhamdullillah, the flu is almost gone...but am having a bad cough...so tak bleh cakap banyak...and the kids are loving it... mama kurang bebel today.



yours truly,

Friday, February 26, 2010

Status: progress > not good, spirit > low, health > not well

Tak kering lg hidung nie, kepala pulak denyut2 :"( . Kat luar pulak mandom. Tetiba teringatkn mak...aduh sardisnye...

Besok dah weekend, hopefully somethg will happen to cheer me up.

Opps sambil tulis nie, mulut mengunyah keledek goreng cicah sambal kicap. Jiran kasi nie. Sepiring besa bg, tp atang dah sontal bny, tinggal nie aje utk den. Sedih woo..

p.s. Mekasih bny2 jiranku.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

dripping like a broken tap

aiyoh...leleh pulak hidung nie... my desk is now cluttered not just with piles of papers and books but many balls of tissues. But it was not just me who are having the flu, this time I have a partner in crime, that is adik. Sape bawak virus nie?! I blamed it on yaya...ahahhaha...well partly... season is changing, we get a drastic change of weather, night is cooler, daytime is hotter. As a result, sneezes, coughing are common sight recently.

Last week was worst, with both atang and yaya fell sick because of diarrhea. And the toilet....pheeeewwwwhhhhh..... and for the first time I bought disinfected liquid, afraid of the viral infection. Then yaya catched the flu, and finally both adik and I succumbed to the virus....syooohhh syooohhhh...as I was typing this, one hand is holding a tissue while another is typing this... to be prepared of the sudden sneeze...

when I fall sick, I will get antsy, then everything will go wrong. I would rather stay in bed than putting everybody at fault...ahahahhahha....yeah I wish... a wish that will never be fulfilled.

Ooooohhhh..... tonight I will swallow 2 tablets of the panadol cold n flu (mesia mari maaa...sini ubat kurenggggg).... hopefully adik will not give trouble falling asleep.

Ok ...got to clean up this mess....

yours truly,

Sunday, February 21, 2010

peanut butter apam balik


Our tea today... Apam balik peanut butter (have some left-over batter from yesterday apam balik making) and kepok lekor. The kepok, bought from a friend with the sauce (dip). Sodap...

Ok, now off for evening walk, wanna take a good fresh air, for tomorrow is a start of another busy week.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

How naive can you be?

Like all weekends, early morning while preparing breakfast, I will download my fav TV series from TV3. I just finished ironing this week loads, while watching Aliff Firdaus.....aduuhhhh.... sedihnya nyeee episod kali nie. Was emotionally carried away with that "missing" scenes of aliff's parents... and how naive can aliff be....skipping classes after just enrolled!!.... shame on you aliff...

OK...nak solat....then off to the kitchen to prepare some apam balik... we are visiting friends this evening...


yours truly,

Friday, February 19, 2010

10-minute post: "Apa adik cakap"

I know I have a very tight schedule, but I need to write something, and at the same time to have a 10 minutes break between readings.

So here is a quick, 10-minutes story.

Of late, both atang and I keep track of adik's jargon....ahahaha... I mean, words that adik used when she wants something. Here are some:

nyanyak = tak nak (don't want)
boh skit = bubuh sikit (just a little) - and she actually immitates abah when she said this word
air song = air kosong (plain water)
penbot = spongebob - we kinda took a longer time to understand what she said, until she showed us the DVD
pin pin = upin ipin - and this one she said almost every hour, everyday

OK ... my 10 minutes is almost up...till later... enjoy your weekend friends.

p.s. dah lame tak post gambar makanan, my used-to-be dedicated digital camera mogok laaa...lens error....aduhaiiiiii ....

yours truly,

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Quote of the day!

"Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be Number 1 - Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.-"

yours truly,

Monday, February 15, 2010

Who says writing is easy....

Alhamdulllilah... I have completed chapter 1 and emailed it to both sifoos. I thought I could finish it in 3 days, but I took 5 working days, about 40 minutes in total to complete it. But before I send it to sifoos, I did final review, and am satisfied with the outcome. But I am expecting a little more room for improvement, coz I felt my words were not smooth enough. But I think, I have tell the story more clearly. Anyway, I can now say, I have one completed chapter, and I can move on to the next 9 chapters (aiyah.... lets ignore the number). My target is to have a complete chapter (by complete I mean, the content, the story line is there, but maybe need more editing work to have a clean and smooth chapters) in two weeks. Yet I know, the LR chapter will need at least a month to do it. The date line is the first week of August. That is to come out with a complete draft, free from spelling and grammatical error. I sure need a proof reader to read it before I can hand over the complete draft to my sifoos for final review. Any volunteer? :D

Academic writing is not an easy task for me. Atang asked me why I spent a lot of time writing a paragraph, for I can write a post in no time for this blog. I said academic writing is not the same as creative writing. When I write this blog, it came straight from my heart. I just spilled out what I have on my mind, often I don't need fact to support my argument. And whatever I write today, it doesn't has to be valid, and may not apply for tomorrow.

On the other hand, in academic writing, you are writing a story that will contributes to the knowledge for the benefit of the people, nation, on the phenomenon you are researching. So you need to have the fact right. And you need to tell it in a language that anyone who have no knowledge about your research can understand. And you need to tell a convincing story. And you also need to relate your research with past researches. Senang citer, bukan suke-suke tulis la, for your own excitement and satisfaction.

Ahh sudah, dah mula bebel budak fazid nie. Don't get me wrong, I love writing. I think it is in my blood. But sometimes I can easily feel frustrated and demotivated when I am stuck at one sentence...yup...at one sentence. Last-last bangun dari kerusi, and carik yaya n adik. Phewwww... am so glad the kids are here. They are the one who keep reminding me the reason that I am here.

OK, tukar channel. I have a story to tell. Of late we noticed something about adik. Whenever we called home to talk with mak and abah, adik will be restless after talking to them. Especially after talking to her atok. She will has difficulty to fall asleep. Often woke up after a few minutes of dozing off. Many times, after she fell asleep, she will woke up and screaming for me. She will screamed at the top of her lung, and we didn't know what's troubling her. This has caused anxiety for both me and atang whenever adik falls asleep at night. Lately, I put adik to sleep in front of the TV, most of the time with Upin Ipin's vids running. Sometimes this works, other time she will demand this particular video I took of the kids back home in Malaysia. My conclusion is, she misses Malaysia a lot, and more of her atok. For a solution, atang suggested we shall not call home at night, a day time is preferable. We will see whether this solution will work. Kesian adik....

OK laaa...dah lama sangat nih... I should concentrating on my next task. Tomorrow I have a meething with the sifoos, to discuss my chapter 1. Suddenly I feel sooo nervous....

I end this post with some pictures of my two little princesses that we took at Southbank Parkland last Saturday. Masih lagi summer, so bagi chance diorang berendam puas-puas sebelum sejuk datang....







yours truly,

Friday, February 12, 2010

Tahniah seribu kali...

Salam kengkawan, friends...

Rasa berbunga-bunga dihati. Am so proud of two of my best buds cum colleague. They have reach the finish line, successfully.

Congratulations to Dr Syaimak and Dr Masnizah. Walaweiii.... you gals really surprised my, especially you la Master G. After isolating yourself from the rest of the world (at least from us who live outside UK laaa) . Tup Tup you announced that wonderful news...huhuhu....

So bila nak belanja...wakakakkakaka....and cik...make sure u reserve a room for me aaa... must be neighbour again *wink wink*

p.s. bila la den nak sampai ke garisan penamat nie?

yours truly,

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Potang yang memonekkan...

Petang-petang nie, kepala dah buntu untuk menyusun ayat. Fokus pun dah makin hilang. Susah tul bila nak menulis nie, lagi la dalam bahasa asing. Tapi payah ke, tak suke ke, kena la buat kan... den takdo pilihan. Tu yang maleh nak cakap pasal study.

Dah petang, anak-anak pun resah gelisah. Kesian kat Thirah, sebab seharian duduk kat rumah. Mano lai nak poi kan. Dapat kuar 2 kali aje la sehari. Pagi hantar kakak sekolah, petang jemput kakak. In between, bila tinggal dengan den, dia tido sampai la masa nak jemput kakak. Kalau dengan abah eh, boleh la dilayan. Tu yang bila potang, adik dah mula ngarut. Semua serba tak kena. Den pon poning kepalo nak buek kojo. Sib baik routine masak potang. So poning time masak nasib laaa kan... Tak sodap pun, kono tolan...wakakakkaak... Time buat keje poning, aiyah susah, nak2 tengah menulis, kang balik-balik kat ayat tu je...taip sikit..backspace...copy sanun, delete sinin. ahahhahaa ado ko perkataan sinin nie....

Den tengah bakar ayam nih, anak-anak den eksport ke bilik mandi, suh mandi bubble bath. Haaa...berendam la korang lamo-lamo. Paneh lai kek sini, seronok la berendam yo. Bagi maso utk den berehat, sambil pekena teh tarik, dan mengarut kek sini....hahahhaha... Tetibo angin cakap nogori la pulak.

Anyway, last weekend, den goreng ayam rangka. Haaa... terkejut den bila satu hari, gi makan-makan rumah kawan, dia jamu ayam rangka nie. Issshhh tak sangka ada jual kat sini. Murah aje tau, 50 sen satu. Den boli duo...haaa....tapi aritu goreng terlama sikit laaa...jadi tulang dia jadik keras sikit. Takpe, next time boleh buek lai.



Wahhh...orang kat malaysia cuti lamo yo minggu depan. Selamat bercuti la....Takpo maso den akan datang nanti untuk cuti-cuti sakan (aarrrghhh.... nie nak pujuk diri nie). Ok sekian la den berceloteh potang nie, nak suh anak-anak bilas badan. Kang kocut pulak...

yours truly,

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Pau inti kelapa


... order kat kawan nie, sekali dgn bun kelapa, bun kacang merah dan pau kacang merah... Fuh sodap, kalau ada kopi o lg sodap. Tp dah pekena secawan kat opis tadi.

Monday, February 8, 2010

bila tekak nak apam balik

Salam friends, kengkawan and all...

Last week I finally get the focus I need. Tak lama, dua hari jek, but cukup la tu. Managed to complete a couple of tasks and met the milestones. And suddenly my sifoos started demanding, although I think it is conceivable, tapi den nie cepat gabra, bukan sikit, banyak...ahahahha...nampak aje den nie cool outside, tapi dalam, rasa seumpama kartun flintstones yang tengah berlari membawa kereta yang bertayar kan batu tu. Kat sini ada tayangan kartun flintstones setiap jam 6 petang kat Go Channel (lari tajuk dah nie)...

Anyway, minggu lepas jugak rasa malas nak duduk depan komputer, tapi apo nak buek, dah kojo dengan komputer, so malas la nak online segala macam fasiliti rangkaian sosial ni. Kengkawan pernah rasa cemuih/jemu/jelak tak bila mengadap internet? Haaa sampai gitu sekali. Tapi sempat gak la dload Nigina dan O-Mei pada penghujung hari, ahahahhaha....

Dan oleh kerana mood detox (detox dari online yo, tapi still working with the machine) minggu lepas, jadik malas la nak carik resepi-resepi baru untuk projek hujung minggu, sampai la petang Khamis, tetiba tekak nak makan apam balik. Nie sebab tengok "My Kitchen Rule" la nie, tengok chocolate mousse cake contestants yang sedap tu. Nak buat mousse cake, issshhh tak terbuatnye, nak buat chocolate cake, kena pikir 100 kali, kena find out dulu sape yang boleh menghabiskan kek itu (kang tak pasal-pasal den yang kena abiskan). Jadi oleh kerana tak nak menganiaya sesape (atang now is blaming me on his sudden weight increment), tekak nie terus switch kepada apam balik (boleh gitu). But then I need to get the approval of atang (sebab dia yang akan makan nanti) wakakakkakaka.... and he agreed by searching the recipe for me (dah den masih lagi cemuih nak masuk internet).

Jadi petang jumaat tu, oleh kerana dah tak tahan sangat... orang kalau dah food lover, craving dia memang tak bleh sekat-sekat lagi. Den pun try la buat. Kacang tumbuk, beli yang dah siap. Dan....



Fuhh....lembut dan gebu apam balik nih. Credit pada yang berkongsi resepi. Untuk resepi, sila klik di sini ya :D.

Oh ya....hampir-hampir terlupa. Ada sorang reader, namanye Lya, tinggalkan comment at one of my pizza's entry. I thought at first I wanted to respond directly under that story, but I think it would be difficult for her to search back the post since I have removed the "direct-link" box to comments posted in this blog. Thus, I replied her comment here:

salam, find out your blog. interesting. nak tanya mana u beli chicken pepperoni kat brisbane ni?Thanks.Lya

Thank you Lya for visiting, it is my pleasure to help newcomers, muslim students especially, about halal food in Brisbane. And glad you found this blog interesting.

About halal pepperoni, I usually bought it at Ismail Butcher at McWhirters in the Valley, or popularly known as China Town. Tapi tengok jugak, sometimes takde. Other option is the butcher at Logan Rd. But it is a bit expensive there. Maybe some of my Brisbane friends have other suggestion. Hope this helps.

Apa pulak citer my two little princesses. Yaya is now happy in school. She met her old friends from prep classes, so happy to go to school everyday. Tapi makcik nie mmg jenis forgetful laaa...ada aje barang tertinggal kat sekolah... aduhai... Yang si kecik cilik nie pulak, kuat menyonteng, pantang kite leka sikit, kalau ada pensel kat tangan dia, ada la ruang, n ceruk dia akan conteng nanti.... And adik still can't leave her pacifier. Her old ones dah koyak, so we have to buy a new one on weekend (takut kang dia tertelan pulak bila sedap ngisap tu). Kenapa we all tak stop aje kan?? We just hope she will get tired of it, like yaya. Yaya dulu tak lame, masuk 1 tahun lebih sikit, dia dah tak nak. Maybe puting adik nie sedap sangat kot....

yours truly,

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

sudah ada pengganti

yeaa....sudah ada kettle baru...huhu.... balik dari ofis tengok dah ada penggantinya.... yeeaaa yeaaaa....

(apo la yg dingarutkan si budak fazid nih)

yours truly,

Monday, February 1, 2010

One lazy weekend

I have no cooking or baking project yesterday. Just normal routine of grocery shopping, oh yes, a farewell dinner at Little Malaysia with friends. Our old neighbour is moving to Melbourne, so we had makan-makan, kinda open table on Saturday night.

Rain is finally here. 3 days in a row of raining, a bliss after a couple of hot weeks. And looks like it is going to rain again today. Well, summer is ending soon. We now understand, everytime the season is changing, rain will come, as if to mark the boundary, like a starting over for a new season.

Kids have new toys, so they didn't mind playing inside over the weekend. Plus they went over to our neighbour house, so mama had a few hours of privacy that allowed her to catch up on Nigina, Aliff Firdaus, and Jangan Tegur...huhu.

And... our dedicated kettle has decided to raise its white flag. So for two days, I boiled water in a saucepan. To lazy to go out to buy a new one (issshhh pemalas tul...).

And this was just what I made on that lazy weekend.

Instant jelly with vanilla ice-cream....yum