Fav comic strip from PHD comics

Can't help smilling when I read this comic. It is soo true, especially that "until death do you part?" Am sure many PhD students can't wait to be "apart" from all this (and of course completing it).

Source: PHD Comics

yours truly,

10-minute post: "Apa adik cakap" Pt 2. Adik's movie/TV selection

Our weekend was busy with the medical checkup and cleaning. Alhamdullillah, the checkup took just an hour and 30 minutes. Then off we went to buy some stuff for friends back home and groceries shopping. And we went through Clem Jones Tunnel, while it still free hehehe... starting 6th April there will be a toll charge of $4. Ala...macam SMART tunnel gak. So, when we went through it, I felt very proud because we have kinda same tunnel in Malaysia. By noon the kids and mom were already tired. Though now it's autumn, we still experience hot weather during the day (on fine day). We had lunch at McD so that the kids can have some fun at the playground.

OK, a quick post this morning, this is the continuation of "apa adik cakap". When I am working from home, adik will spend her time watching movies or her favourite TV programmes. After sending yaya to school, I will ask adik what movie she wants to watch, and she will say like this:

"uuuu bat (singing to the opening song)" = Bratz the movie

"ngok mut laaa" = Antz bully

"pin pin" = Upin & Ipin

"bean" = Mr bean (on holiday)

"pee po pee po" = Cat in the hat or Up!

"mouse" = Mickey Mouse club house

hahahahha... only adik knows why she said it like that.

yours truly,

Just 2 days without coffee

Another working week has come to an end. Evaluate yourself...ahahahha...better not kan... bikin stress aje.
As long as you managed to complete what you have planned to do, so don't stress yourself. So give a pat on your shoulder. Pat..pat..pat... Weekend is here, so take a break. Spend time with your family.

Tomorrow we are going for a medical checkup to renew our visa. Pokai den. hahahhaha... Hopefully this is the first and the last. Kami mau pulang..mau pulang...ok...emotional pulak.

Owwwhhh...the headache is gone, finally. Alhamdullillah. I think the culprit is my glasses, like Maryam said. It has been awhile since I have my eyes check. Balik Malaysia pun tak sempat nak buat. Rushing here and there. Plus my glasses will take about a week to get it done. Takpe...tak lame lagi nak balik. InsyaAllah. Amin...amin...(kasi panjang sikit ye hehehhehe). And I was having the mens earlier this week, that has also contributed to the headache. So I did make a pledge to stop drinking coffee for awhile kan. ahahhahah... since the headache has bid bye-bye, I am now having a cuppa of Old Town White Coffee (the black coffee laa, the white coffee not allowed to enter here, nanti lingkup bisnes kupi kat sini...hahahahha), with some karipap. I used instant pastry. Tadi ada mood nak buat pastry dia. Tapi bila dah duduk menulis, bila ada idea, tak sempat pulak nak buat. Curry puff...hot from the oven.


Karipap, my fav kuih (I think I have told this many times kan :D...). hmmm...there is a place at Seremban selling this excellent curry puff. It's a hit among us who live in Ampangan, particularly around the stadium. They will fry and sell dulang after dulang of karipap. So the customer will always get it hot from the frying pan. A good karipap must have a soft and yet crispy pastry and the filling to die for...ahahahhah..lebih la tu. What I like about the one at the stadium is the filling, the smell of it plus the taste of it, fuhhh... Not too much of the curry taste, and they put chinese parsley or coriander in the filling. Yum yum... Cerita banyak pun tak guna... Must try it and then you know.

OK laaa... my good neighbour came just now to give me a book that she borrowed for me. Time to screen the book. Next week nak zerox. Can only borrowed it for one week. A very popular book. I think I should buy it.

Have a good weekend kengkawan.

New features

It has been awhile since I last change the layout of this blog. Today, I play around with the new features provided by blogspot. Now we can create a new page under the same link ya, kinda like a new partition under the same account, errkkk.... hmmm how to explain it in simple words. OK imagine that you have a new filing cabinet, and you sort your files according to pre-defined themes, and each drawer represent a theme and you keep the files according to these themes. There..kalau tak paham gak...kita buat tutorial...wakakkakakak...

But, have to find a time to do it. I should keep all the recipes in one folder laaa. Easy for me to make reference. So far I have yet to see an easier way to do that besides pulling up a new post as an index. Wish there is a function that allow me to move the post into different folder. Can you hear errrrr read that blogspot team...hehehehhehe..

yours truly,

No Coffee today

I was down for the whole day yesterday. The headache is here again. When it came nothing can stop it, the throbbing, the watery eyes and the foot will start aching. Luckily atang was not working yesterday.

When I got up today, still have a slight headache. Hope it will not get worst again today.

Aiyah...maybe I should layoff coffee for a while...errrkkk boleh ke? I will definitely feel something amiss. OK try today, 1st day without coffee.

p.s. BTW, the winner of MKR is Shadi and Veronica. Three course meals, each was cooked under an hour and for how many, I lost count. I think 12, 6 for the judges, and 6 for former competitors.

yours truly,

Penuhi permintaan orang tu

Aritu ada orang tu letak status, rasa nak makan ayam berempah. Tak pernah2 orang tu letak status kat fesbuk nak makan itu ke ini ke sebelum nie. Tp tak dapat den de nak masak ayam goreng berempah hr keje. Kalau bleh nak masak tak smpi 10 minit je. Haha. Jd arinie den penuhi permintaan orang tu. Senyum lebar dia bila nampak ayam goreng tu.

the Roti Jala story

Friday is here again. And there goes another busy week. Loads of work waiting for next week. But tomorrow, I will leave my machines to rest, and allow my brain to relax. It is time to spend time with the kids and atang. How busy I am, and how tight the schedule is, and how close the datelines are, I should not take things for granted. Forget all the kelam-kabut-ness during weekdays. Forget all the running against time. Leave all the stress behind, and have a good laugh with the family. After all it is just for a day and a half kan (I start working on Sunday night).

My break started with making roti jala and pizza for our dinner tonight. Can't exactly remember when was the last time I made roti jala, but I am sure it was more than a year ago, before we went back for raya in 2008. I remember I made many roti jala to give to some friends for breaking fast that year. I started experimenting roti jala after a good friend sent a container full of roti jala, and chicken curry to celebrate first day of Ramadhan the first year we arrived in Brisbane. Fuuhhh masa tu rasa happy sungguh bila dapat roti jala tu. Months and months after that, I told my mom how I wanted to make some roti jala, and asked her to buy a roti jala mold back home and mail it along with the recipe. And one day the mold arrived, together with other provision, and the mold was not like the common roti jala mold you see at home. This one is not made of plastic. And it doesn't have holes at the bottom. This one is made of steel, with spouts at the side, kinda like the watering can. It was Mak's roti jala mold. Mak's mold was custom-made, and she had it since....since I was a teenager, but she has never make us roti jala, ahahahha. Kiranya I was the first one who used it. Hey who knows, maybe Mak bought it years ago, for my use. hehehe...Ok jugak guna mold nie. Instead of holding like the common roti jala mold at the bream, this mold requires you to hold it by the handle, and slowly tipping the mold, to pour the batter.

Actually, I had hands on experience watching my MIL making roti jala before we came to Brisbane. At my MIL house, roti jala is consider the occasion food, and normally MIL will prepare by request, especially from my BIL, atang's little brother. Thus, eventhough I have never made one, I have observed the process kan. So kinda immitate la how my MIL prepares her roti jala. Susah jugak guna mold nie, because the batter will get stuck easily at the spout. When it got stuck, you have to wash it under the running hot water. So, when we went home to celebrate eid last year, I bought the plastic mold.



Today is the first time I used the plastic mold. Kira perasmian la nie. Senang sikit nak guna, ringan, but still the batter easily get stuck. But I guess it is normal. Apa-apa pun our dinner today is eh...was roti jala and a few pizza. Cooking is fun nowadays because now I have a helper, an entertainer and of coz the eater...wakakakakkaka...



Yaya preparing the pizza, adik is entertaining us at the side, while atang at his laptop waiting for the dinner to be ready.



I bought the mini pizza base. Always have pepperoni, mozarella cheese, pizza sauce and mushrooms in the can at home. For under 30 minutes, you can have pizza for dinner.

And today's highlight...hehhehe

Sume dah kenyang, mata pun dah berat. Guess I will do a light task tonite, that is to run simple stats before call it a day. So, enjoy your weekend ya. We are taking the kids to the Movie World again tomorrow. Our passes ended this June, so apa lagi nak buat, visits all the theme park la until the passes expire.

yours truly,

Jom potong kuku

Hari nie hari Jumaat, jom potong kuku. Mari kite ikut cara Nabi Muhammah (saw).

Den dapat nie dari blog Kak Salwa, mekasih kak Salwa bagi izin amik gambar nie. Jom baca citer amalan potong kuku dekat blog kak Salwa.

ehhh kejap aje dah Jumaat. Jadi kena pikir la nak bawak yaya n adik jalan-jalan kat mana hujung minggu nie. Ke mana ye? Abis idea dah nie...

yours truly,

Who rules the kitchen

I am watching My Kitchen Rules while typing this entry. Right now, Veronica and Shadi are competing with Mossy and Gabe for a spot to the final. There will be two teams competing in the final. The other spot, won by Noah and Clinton automatically, because they have the higest score. Fuhhh... suspense pulak den tengok. I have been following this series since the beginning.....arrghhhh now the judges are scoring.....now the advertisements are on.....suspense.... ok ok...den citer dulu laa.... gosh!! have a lot to say here, bit little time to spend....here goes....

I had a very constructive and good meeting today. Now I know what I should do for the data analysis. Although there are loads of things to get done. At least one problem has resolved. Alhamdullillah, Allah has shown me the path.

OK....they are going to announce the result. Jap ekkk.....(boleh pulak)....haaaa...dah agak dah...veronica and shadi won... can't wait for the final's next week...ok now we talk about my kitchen yaa...hahahahhahaha



I cooked simple nasik goreng today. This is a very significant dish in my life, because.... because mak cooks her nasi goreng like this. Cooked rice, with ikan bilis, shallots, garlic and eggs. With oyster sauce and light soy sauce for seasoning. During weekend when there are some left over rice from yesterday's dinner, mak would fried the rice for brekkie on Sunday. Sometimes, when I was little, I showed resentment when mak made nasi goreng almost every weekend. I would choose a couple of toast over her nasi goreng. But when I moved out from the cocoon, after I got married, I missed her nasi goreng...hahahahha...so boring kan. Thus, whenever we went down to my parents' place, and saw her nasi goreng under the tudung saji, wahhh.... I was sooo happy...and...makan la apa lagi. Ahhh I missed mak and her cooking (emotional)

So for dinner tonight, I prepared nasik goreng just like how mak prepares it. Though this is not the first time I cooked this dish, I still couldn't get the taste right. I guess the saying, "air tangan" is right after all ekkk.... We had some daging masak merah left over from yesterday's dinner. Being a mom, wife and a full-time student, recycle meals are acceptable kan...ahahhaha... Am lucky to have a family who is not fussy.

There are going to be a lot of things happening from tomorrow onwards. Tomorrow I am meeting yaya's teacher about her progress in the classroom. Yaya has her first 'show and tell' tomorrow. When I asked her what is she planning to talk about in that session, she immediately said her barbie doll. What!! I said one straight NO! to her. No toys please. You are too old to talk about a doll (yes, I am being the garang mom). Plus, I don't want her to bring any toys to school, afraid she will misplace or forgets to bring it home. I said, "Why don't you talk about your glasses?" She reluctant at first, but after I gave her some good reasons, she agreed to it. Then I helped her in preparing the text for her to read. She has practiced it, and hope she could deliver it well tomorrow.

Next, I need to call up panel doctor to book an appointment for medical check-up, for visa renewal. Hope I am able to submit the application before end of this month. Then, loads of writing to do. And data analysis. And reports. And...... don't know when I will see the end of the list. But I know there will be the end of all this. Can't wait to go home, and see all the familiar and friendly faces again.

I come to end of this entry. Atang had looked and try to fix my camera. Unscrewing the screw was laborious job (no wonder the fixing charge is soo expensive). There were so tiny, and atang doesn't has the right tool. When he finally removed the casing, he met with another set of tiny screws, and he gave up. Then he gave me many reasons; afraid that a spring will pop up laa, tak nampak laaa, nanti susah nak pasang balik laaa....hahahahhahah...so I told atang, it's ok if you can't do it. I still have my phone camera, besides, my photography mood has gone. Don't think we will visit any new and interesting places in near time. Kalau ada rezeki sok...beli a new one. Sounds like merajuk kan...ahahahhahah... psychology tu...huhu...don't know if atang will get the hint

OK...adik is calling me to bed. She still needs me cuddling her to sleep. And I have one paper to read tonight.


p.s. dapat comment arinie...sekali ter select reject la pulak....
"samalah.. ituje yg akak masak kalo bz dan malas datang menjelma,... ahakss"
(Diarihatiku1976)


sorry banyak2. tu la akibat buat 2 keje dlm satu masa...ahahahhaha... terima kasih ya kerana sudi baca ngomelan den.



yours truly,

Alhamdullillah... I can think clearly now

Thanks kengkawan (either my readers or fb friends), for having faith in me. Tu la kadang-kadang I got carried away. That is my weakness, cepat melenting. Anyway I feel a little better now.



I remembered what atang has told me once, "Allah yang menentukan segala-galanya, Allah yang berkuasa. Jangan berharap pada manusia. Minta pada Allah, bukan lain."

Semoga urusanku dipermudahkan. Amin.

Ok..den nak lepas stress kat dapur. Today's cooking, family favorite chicken rice :D. Same recipe, so no picture. If you need the recipe, please find it in the "must try recipe" link, located at the top-left box in this blog.

p.s. orang tempek snippet dari fesbuk..den pun nak buat gak. hehehehe I am lucky to have friends who really understand my situation, and provided me with such motivation and advise.


yours truly,

Marah mode....

Pagi-pagi dah buat den hilang mood.... arrrghhhh tension tul... susah ke nak beri tunjuk ajar....kedekut ilmu betul!! Bukannya suh dia buat keje kite, suh ajar je camne nak buat test, apa menu nak pilih. Itu pun susah ke, kalau nak asyik explore aje, tak siap la keje. Dah sah-sah den nie tak pandai bab tu, nak suh orang explore. Explore pun ada limit laaa... kang jadik Dora the Explorer kang.

Rasa nak jeritttttt sekuat-kuat hati.............

p.s. Sorry, tengah marah sangat nih. Gi makan lagi bagus....

yours truly,

10-minute post: a comfy Nook

Library is the most conducive environment whenever I need to focus on something, be it for writing or studying, or just for retreating. There are a lot of comfy, secluded spaces at the library. Don't know any particular reason why I can work better in the library, maybe the smell of the books, or the isolation, or maybe less distraction of people walking here and there unlike in the office. Or maybe the silence, ehhh..nah... that couldn't be it, the office is much more quieter than the library, yela, with the sound of pages being flipped, the sound of books being retreived from the shelf, people talking though discretely, still audible to my ears. Ntah la ekk...what most important is, I can work better here...

Kalau kat rumah .... haa.... I have several places. An each of them have a specific purpose. Sempat sok, I will tell you more. My 10 minutes is up. Got to go back to the writing.

Books that I need for referencing.

yours truly,

It was returned with a note...

I have just came home from fetching yaya. Guess what, yesterday I wrote about how yaya lost her school stuff kan. Today, on the way home, yaya told me, her classmate has mistaken took yaya's t-shirt and she returned it with a note from her mom. Wahhh...baru je semalam den bebel...hari nie dapat balik....alhamdullillah. Siap basuh dan iron tu.

Errrkkk...agak-agak dia baca blog nie kot semalam...hehehhehe

yours truly,

The last autumn

No more hot weather, no more sweating. This year summer ends with more than a week of raining, and another worst flood in southwest Queensland. Welcoming autumn with wet days, and heavy clouds. Clothes have to be dry by the machine. Adik can now sleep soundlessly...almost soundless...ahahhahah...but still refusing to where "baju" during the day. Panas betul budak sorang nie.

Anyway, nothing out of ordinary happened last week. Been visiting my data, again and again, (bila la nak abis nih), preparing for the data analysis. And I should be worrying about the analysis, because I have no experience with the analysis, really depend on the material I have, and the sifoos. Kalau sifoo tipu...maka tipu juga la den...wakakakkakak....honestly the result of stats really depends on your understanding of what the outcome presents. Your interpretation is most crucial at this stage, so you should have a sound knowledge about the test that you gonna use. Kalau salah faham, you will end up using the wrong stats. Bila dah salah guna, of coz la result tak bleh pakainye. Remedy.... owwhhh better not think of any alternative. Sorry, no contigency plan, really hope nothing goes wrong laa... tick tock...tick tock....times ticking...

I have just finished labelling yaya's school uniform before typing this. It is only the first term of school, and she has already lost a lot of her school stuff. The last one was her school t-shirt, and she didn't even realised she had been wearing somebody else's t-shirt for a couple of days. Until I wash her uniform and notice the faded school badge printed on her t-shirt. Eh...how can that be, it was just 4 weeks of school, takkan dah pudar kan. Suspicious, I looked for her name that wrote on the t-shirt, and realised a mistake. I wrote her name on the washing label, instead on the t-shirt. And the label was cut-off. Moreover, instead of finding her name, I found someone else's name. And that proved that the t-shirt didn't belong to yaya. Next, I noticed the name written on the t-shirt has already faded, so I assumed that it was a hand-me-down t-shirt. Marah betul den at that time. Yaya pulak tak perasan, tapi patut la hari yg dia balik tu, dia kata nak tukar baju, sebab baju tu busuk. Rupenya.... issshhhh... so I have two hypotheses: 1. Yaya misplaced her baju, or maybe tertukar while changing into her swimming suit, terkeluar dari bag ke for instance. or 2. Somebody swapped it, sebab ada yg tak swimming jadi ada peluang utk swapping. And...we all pulak malas nak fikir or complaint, so we bought yaya another t-shirt. Dan kali nie sume den label dengan marker and correction liquid, dekat atas, dekat belakang, dekat bawah....ahahahhahahha.... And yaya gets the warning of course, sebab dia lalai kan...so if she realised that she is wearing someone else's t-shirt immediately, she could mention it to her class teacher, so maybe boleh selesaikan masalah tertukar ke...or terambil. Anyway case close, a lesson for both yaya and us.



Am still using my phone camera. Last Friday, we went to a camera repair shop. There are good and bad news. The good news is the camera can be fixed, but the bad news is, the cost of fixing it is almost the price of a new camera with upgraded specifications. Aiyoyoyoyo, can't afford to buy a new one right now laaa....Have asked atang to apply his electronic hi-fi system skill for fixing the camera, since the skill camera man said the cost is the same as buying a new one. So if something goes wrong when atang fixing it, I will not loose anything right, coz I still have to buy a new one. If we are lucky, and atang's hand did an amazing (miracle) job, I will save the money. Just hope atang can fix it.

....our last autumn in Brisbane...will enjoy it while we still can...


yours truly,

club house: limited membership

ahahahhahah.... what with these notes on the door. These came from one source only, from one little girl, who recently recruited member for her club. hahhahaha...

I knew yaya was cutting the papers, peeling the tape and running to and fro from the living room to her room, but I was so engaged with my work, was not interested with what she was doing at that time. Until I got up from my desk, to my room to perform the solat, and on the way, I passed her door, and saw the notes. I stopped and read them...and took photo of them.

Aiyoh...yaya...yaya...

Just hope one day she will not write like this on the note, "Please keep out (including mama and babah)"... kalau tak.... (shaking my index finger).....

p.s. dania is the name of my neighbour's daughter

yours truly,