Ketam kari part II

More than words can say.... Lalila....

lovely is my middle name

Say yesh to this bebeh:


The yummylicious Tiramisu cake from Suchan.

I couldnt get my mind off it, so much so that I had to have it.

As a proof : tengok ni, licin clear, even on Mr Fluff's (yg tak suka makan cake) plate!





Youve got to try it to appreciate it.

So that you wont get lost, here is the GPS coordinates :3.110724,101.648426, or simpler still, refer to map below:


View Suchan Deli in a larger map

The details:
Price is a bit steep for RM10.90 per piece but I thought it was totally worth it. Worth the travel, (on weekend only la, if weekdays dengan Traffic sumer, tak la kot). Worth the money. Yums. It is also available as a whole cake at RM110. So peeps lets go berserk!!

Weekend bersedih sedihan

Sungguhla gempak title minggu ini sesuai with the theme of the post today.

Why is it called hujung minggu sedih-sedihan? Because i watched two movies back to back - both the kinds that made my mascara turned me to look scary enuff to be casted in the next pontianak movie. Berendam air mata kalau ikut peribahasa melayunya.
To my defense - it is not sebarang movie ok, these two movies are ones people raved about.. Semua cakap besh giler.. And memang menyayat hati .

I started with Hafalan Shalat Delisa, which is an indonesian movie currently aired on astro first (but of cos me being apprehensive n kedekut donlod fr 'tokey' dvd diopis instead...) . Anyway it was indeed quite a moving one. Wont say it was sangat hebat though, i somehow found the acting was a bit off, especially 'uncle smith' and 'kak sophie' - Ntah mat salleh mana la dia sapu suruh act dalam movie ni.. Nasib baik they are just supporting roles. And nasib baikla smith tu handsome (yeah sungguh tak relevant kan).. maka saya pun mem-overlook the fact yg dia memang tak terer belakon.
Despite that, i thought the movie has good very good values and it brought some repentance in me. Immediately i was reminded that sungguhla tak diligent i am in serving and obeying my Maker.Budak kecik pun lagi bagus mengingati Allah. Masyaallah. Tsk tsk tsk..

So setelah sembahyang thus settling my debt to my Maker i continued to Ombak Rindu.

Its a love story, and honestly, i have mixed feelings on this one. Tak tahulah nak ketuk2 kepala Haris tu or nak ketuk2 kepala Izzah (ketuk kepala yg datin tu takyah cakapla, since dia boleh katakan at par ngan ibu tiri bwg putih bwg merah). But seriously woman, dear Cik Izzah, why oh why la you soooo submissive. Tak paham den. I mean, boleh tak jangan redha sangat sampai camtu sekali? And that Haris, amboi sedapnya dia dah kutuk2 and pukul2 pastu tiba2 nak jadi suami mithali, and at the same time repetitively, i say it again, repetitively hurt the woman u so called cared and love. Yennaadeyyy.
Hurm. So that sums up my mixed feeling. Cos i still bleed with tears sebab kesian. Walopon geram and frustrated tengok kesah chenta dorang tu yang sungguh macam roller coaster. The thing is, i dun understand why they wanted to be with each other. For izzah, he treated u badly, apesal ko tak lari je, or in the first place why did u beg him to marry u, cant u just say u will repay him back by being his bibik or something like that?
And that Haris, yes seb baik ko cute, why the sudden change of mind, from a monster to be a loving partner overnight? In my opinion, the movie should hv shown how Haris gradually fall for Izzah rather than in a blink like that. I was still memaki hamun Haris dalam ati tiba2 he turned 360 degrees and became Romeo of Malaya.

All in all, i felt that the local movie scene is finally re-maturing . Why i said rematuring is because i thought when i was kids local movies were good, like jins samsudin movies - u know the 'esok' series, and somehow it went deterioting in more recent years, sampai tak sanggup nak tengok cos it was too insulting to the human brains intelligence. At least nowadays takdela so bad, like this ombak rindu, though still not to the level of hollywood yet, it is decent enough to watch and the fact that you get carried away ranting and crying with the movie shows that it was pretty good. Sampai masih teringat2 the tracks of the movie which i think is brilliant btw. For those yg belum pernah dengar, do catch em here, seriously it is sweeet

Flush Puhleeeezzz

Each time I do my business in the office I cringe - because I would be staring at this:

Like, aiyoooo.... that also need to remind?? how embarassing... Think about this - we are an MNC company, a reputable O&G Engineering no less, and we need reminding to flush? seriously? Me felt like dunking me head in the sand.

Having said that, sadly though , there are indeed occasions when the toilet are left unflush. Like honestly you people, what were you thinking???

I can just imagine a visitor coming to this office, entering the toilet and thinking.. hmm not bad... toilet looks nice... and then... off she goes to the loo and then, WHOAAA... whats all these? cant these people flush?? too busy are you? or you think we have mechanical toilets?

tsk..tsk.. tsk... how embarassing... mesti dia ingat we are all blondies, tak pon so ulu that we dont know how to sh!t .

I was thinking, maybe we should rephrase instead: Dear All, This is not an automated toilet, kindly flush after you crap!

Begedil Part II

verdict: Still tak jadi !!! Huhuhu.. And my problem now is who is going to help me eat??!!

After consulting auntie ayie this time i tried frying the potato instead of boiling. It holds together better but still crumbling. Especially when i fry it...
So anyone.. Anyone at all.. Help???? Any tips???

Begedil - FAILED!!

I tried to make begedil with the mince meat made earlier.

Result: FAILED!!!


I couldnt get the texture that I wanted, somehow the potato was too soft and it didnt hold very well.

The way I made it:
3 x potato
mince meat (didnt measure- a handful maybe?)
daun sup (chopped thinly)
mix all three above, and made patty with flour, beaten eggs and then mix with flour again.

I forgot:
- to put white pepper
- to salt the potato (I put salt on the water I used to boil, and on the flour only)


Anyway, it wasnt disastrous - still edible, but didnt look appetizing and was a bit too gooey to my taste.

Based on further research on recipe, I found that:
Tips #1: I need to turn the begedil around often when frying (thats why mine blacken so quickly i think)

Tips #2: I boiled my potato, some recipe fry the potato instead

So I will try again, armed with more petua2.. hopefully it will menjadi..

btw, photos takde, sebab lupa nak ambik..

I can mince my own meat!!

Who would have thought, the very thing that I wanted has been sitting prettily on its ass all the while in my cabinet..

You know I had the hand blender for as long as I can remember. I took it from mama's home when I first moved out, which was like 15 years ago?

I didnt have a blender, and mama had this hand blender - still in its box (presumably from one of the golfing prize Ayah had won) so I took it with me. Konon nak pakai la, as substitute to blender.

Never really used it (actually never really cooked), so dudukla mendaallah tu from one house to another, from one cabinet to other. Tak pernah pakai - sebenarnya tatau nak pakai pon... yela, kat mesia suma pakai blender, takde sapapun pakai hand blender ni.

Anyway, so recently during Raya Haji ada org kasi Daging korban, sampai 3 bags. Dont know what to do with it, I thought would have been nice to be able to mince it, and make begedil ke, karipap ke... or spaghetti.

I was gonna use the standard blender. I googled to see if we can blender meat to make it mince.

Sekali, on one of the hits keluarla youtube Braun Hand blender - which is capable to mince the meat.

Hoolllaaaa.... and i thought to myself. Hang on. I have that thing in my cabinet (or kotak - since baru pindah kan) somewhere. Balik2 from work terus selongkar cari the hand blender.

Dah jumpa hand blender, lepas tu defrost meat, and test.

And yes, it can blend meat.. Seronoknya like nobody's business.

See??? my hand blender & and the minced meat. Sweet. :)



NEXT: to make my own smoothie...

we are the champion!!

congratulations Harimau muda!! U guys simply rock!!


photos from :http://sports.mylaunchpad.com.my

Cherating onestop guide

Getting there
I took the bus since Mr Fluff already there with his car. Quite a number of buses plying the KL-Kuantan route (info here: ) , but I opted for Plusliner because my previous experience with Plusliner to Penang was very good. So Plusliner bus costed me only RM21.90. Plusliner buses stops at Kuantan's main Bus station Kompleks Terminal Makmur. Those interested to know which route the bus took:

View Larger Map

From there, we took the taxi to Legend hotel, which costs RM55. Its standard pricing, so no haggling is required nor allowed.

Legend Hotel
The hotel is nicely situated just about 100mtrs from mainroad, and has a sea frontage. The beach is not a private but part of the long long stretches of beach. It is no bother though, because the next hotel along that stretch is a good distance away. It is also quite a convenient hotel because you can just walk towards the mainroad and you will find a few restaurants there.

Eating out in Cherating
In the morning and afternoon I just went to the restaurants along the mainroad from the hotel. In the morning Paksu's restaurant serves roti canai, nasi dagang and the likes.
In the afternoon i tried D'Cherating restaurant, if you are ever there, please try the Mee Kari. It is yummy and reasonably priced at RM4.50.
For dinner, we actually tried two different restaurant. We first went to Restaurant Awang upon recommendation from Paksu Cherating. Food was ok, to me nothing to shout about. The way food is priced is based on the weight. So you select the fish/seafood you want, they'll weight it and then you just tell them what sort of dish you want (bakar only/sweetsour, black pepper etc). Not knowing how much it would cost (since we cant tell unless you so kiasuly calculate when they weight), we didnt go crazy but just take moderately. But when the bill came I thought the price was reasonable, we took - 1 x ikan pari, 2 pieces of ketam, about 2 pieces of sotong and a bit of udang, those together with kangkung goreng belacan , drinks and rice came up to only RM66.30. To get to restaurant Awang, from Legend hotel just drive on towards Kemaman, it is somewhere about 2-3 kms away on the left side.
Despite the dinner we just had, I didnt feel enough, so we thought we'd go for a drink at the other place we saw when we went boating. It is in Kampung Cherating, its right infront of Hafiz tourist center (GPS 4.126667, 103.391667) Its the red color shop, the last shop. Though the selection of fish and seafood is not as many as Awang's, it was still ok. Taste wise, i prefer this one, cos I think it is better, and price is also great. Imagine, a big serving of Lala is only RM4, kerang RM5 and sotong RM15. I also ordered mihun hailam, tamak punya pasal kan, but the serving was huge, i cant even finish half of it.

Activities
I was there for a really short trip. So didnt get to do much. But managed to get info from Paksu Cherating on whats available there.

River cruise
We went for river cruise. It costs RM20 per person (no pickup, need to get to there yourself) and the cruise takes about 2 hours. They'll take you to see some amazing mangroves, wildlife animals such as snake, bats, biawak, birds etc. Beautiful landscaped, and an insight of things you dont see everyday. Apparently the river where we cruised is like more than 25mtrs deep! No wonder the water look sooo dark. The standard take offs (for walk ins) are at 9AM and 4PM daily, however if you come in a group (boat can fit up to 6 persons), you can request for different departure time.

Fireflies
Another popular activity is Fireflies watching. Costs around RM15, and starts at 8PM. I didnt do the Fireflies - opted for makan instead. Mana tak gemuk kan. Anyway, makan wasnt the only reason I decided not to go (saja la excuse) but apparently the best time to go is when it is pitch dark, or when moon is not full. When we were there the moon was exceptionally full and bright, so the kelip2 would loose a bit of its lustre because of it. But next time, I would surely give it a go.

Turtle watching
Again, another big hit for our eastern coastal is of course tengok penyu. Didnt go as well, because Paksu (the tukang roti canai cum tourist guide) told me that his recommendations is to go around June. Sightings of turtle is actually possible between February to September (off moonsoon period). During early months between February to June you will get to see the big ones (egg-hatching mother turtles). And subsequently between June to September, they'd be letting go the lil' ones (hatched baby turtles) to the sea. So if you go around June, you'll have added advantage of seeing both the mothers and their babies returning to the sea. Mental note: To go again somewhere in June.
Oh by the way, turtle watching costs around only RM10, if you actually go to the site yourself. So if you are looking at a budget kind of visit, should just find your own way there instead of taking the excursions kind of trip which costs whole lot more.

Jungletrekking & waterfalls
Other activities around there is Jungle trekking and going to the waterfalls. There are two kind of trips. The common trip one is categorised as 'easy' and suitable for all ages. Just about 15-30 mins walk to reach waterfalls and on well used path. Whole trip will probably only take you about 2-3hours. But for those who wants more advanterous trip, there's also a whole day excursions which requires a serious trekking. Needless to say, I didnt go to either one since takde kasut... lame excuse ;)

So that pretty much sums up the Cherating trip. Sorry I dont have photos to accompany my post, since I no longer have a camera.. sob sob sob...
(but nantilah if I am rajin I will copy some from Akmal's camera since he brought his).

Till then peeps... Enjoy nature and be supportive of SAVING OUR EARTH!

writing for the sake of it.

So much has happened within these few weeks that I dont even know where to begin.

I wanted to blog about Perth, but it is only reminding me of my stolen camera, so I changed my mind.

I wanted to blog about food, but there is nothing in fridge worth to mention, so again I changed my mind.

Now this is pointless. this will be deleted.

Greatest Lurve songs ever

I'll always be right there - Bryan Adams

I swear to you
I will always be there for you
there's nothing I wont do

I promise you
All my life I will live for you
We will make it through


Forever, we will be
Together, you and me
ooh when I hold you
NOthing can compare
With all of my heart
you know I'll always be
Right there

I believe in us
Nothing else could ever mean so much
You're th eon I trust

our time has cmoe
we are not two people now we are one
yeah you are second to none

Forever, we will be
Together, a family
the more i get to know you
nothing can compare
with all of my heart you know i'll always be
right there

Forever, we will be
Together, you and me
the more i get to know you
The more i really care
with all of my heart you know i'll always be
You know I really love you, nothing can compare
For all of my life you know I'll always be
right there


I'll be - Edwin McCain


The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful
Stop me and steal my breath
and Emeralds from mountains thrust toward the sky
Never revealing their depth

and Tell me that we belong together
Dress it up with the trappings of love
I'll be captivated I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above

Chorus:
and I'll be your crying shoulder
I'll be your love suicide
and I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life
Rain falls angry on the tin roof
As we lie awake in my bed
You're my survival, you're my living proof
My love is alive not dead
Tell me that we belong together
Dress it up with the trappings of love
I'll be captivated I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache, that hang from above

and I'll be your crying shoulder
I'll be your love suicide
and I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life

and I've been dropped out, burned up, fought my way back from the dead
Tuned in, turned on, Remembered the things that you said ..

and I'll be your crying shoulder
I'll be your love suicide
and I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life

and I'll be your crying shoulder
I'll be your love suicide
and I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life

Happy Birthday Ayah

I love you lots!!

Chicken Grill

The last time I made grill chicken, we nearly had the bomba called by the neighbors. Didnt realise the smoke were all over the block...So of course after that tak berani nak buat lagi.

Now that my kitchen is no longer in an enclosed area, sungguhla bersemangat nak ber grilling, memandangkan nak makan yang healthy2 saja kan.

Anyway, as I am only using a grill pan, option is kinda limited.

I made chicken wings and drummets. This time i use

Worcester sauce

Balsamic Vinegar

Sprinkled with lemon, salt and pepper

..

Its the moment of truth. I am braving it out. All by myself. On my own. Pray for me.

Dear God, please turn the clock real fast. Make the time fly.

Let it be over in a blink.

How to mend a ruined cloth

Few weeks ago I was quite upset as the new shirt I bought were stained with oil (cooking oil). I have washed it two times since but the oil stain still there and didnt even fade.

It was unfortunately stained at such glaring place, which made it unwearable. I was already going to throw the blouse away in the bin - then, I thought about googling on the net to see if there is any way to mend it.

Lucky me, i found a few sites and they all gave same recommendation - to clean it with dish washing liquid.

I was quite sceptical and didnt expect much when I tried the method. But surprise surprise, it work wonders!

So I am sharing it here so that you folks can try it as well:

1. Get a Dishwashing liquid. I just use Sunlight
2. Spread it over the stain area
3. Wash the clothes as usual at the highest temperature the cloth can withstand , with Oxy type fabric cleaner. Note: For cotton type of cloth you can go up to 40degrees if color and upto 60deg if white.

That's it!

Imah's Cheesecake

COPY PASTE FROM IMAH:

Base:
Tiger biscuits - Square package
Butter - 60g-100g

1. Hancurkan biscuit
2. Cairkan butter dalam periuk and then campurkan biscuit yg telah dihancurkan.
3. Masukkan dlm freezer for about 15-20 mins.


Cheesecake:

2 pkts cream cheese [(250g) x 2]
3/4 cup caster sugar
4 eggs (Size B, medium)
1 sour cream (Biasa guna brand sunglo) OR 2 small cups Plain yougort
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tablespoon of multipurpose flour
1 container of blueberry filling

Cara2:

1. Putarkan Cream cheese sampai jadik macam butter.
2. Then add caster sugar.
3. Masukkan telur satu per satu
4. Masukkan sour cream
5. Masukkan flour
6. Tambah essence of vanilla
7. Kuarkan base from freezer. Tuang adunan atas base tadi.
8. Lupa lak, panaskan oven at 230 Celcius (Farenheight tak tau)


Masakkan cheese:

1. Masukkan dlm oven for 15 mins at 230 Celcius.
2. After 15 mins, lowerkan temp to 115 Celcius.
3. Masak for about 1 hour.
4. Selepas 1 jam, biar sampai sejuk kat luar.
5. Bila dah betul2 sejuk, masukkan dlm fridge. Ni kalu boleh sampai dia dah tak lembik, dlm
   5-6 jam. Pas tu baru letak blueberry. Masuk fridge balik, another 2-3 hours.  Sabar yer!!
6. Another thing masa masak cheesecake, kena bake dgn air sekali so that dlm oven sentiasa berair.
Tak reti la nak explain. Nanti jumpa saya, sy explain manually, hehehe .  Jangan lupa hantar sample!!
 

Pasar malam blues

Sob sob sob... Rasa sedih sangat because soon i wont be able to go frequently (if not at all) to my pasar malam.
I know i know i am sure there other pasar malam elsewhere and all that. But the thing with pasar malam is one pasar malam is different than another. I already have my favorite stall for mihun kari.. for my mihun sup.. another stall for my nasi tomato with daging kurma.. Another for my jagung bakar.. my apam balik.. my sayur stall.. my daging n ayam stall.. My rm5 tudung place.. Etc..etc..
And i am soooo going to miss all that... Oooo sedihnya nak pindah

bye bye pasar malam... Till we meet again some day hopefully wont be long cos i know i'll miss u!

Shrimp Scampi

The recipe wasnt really original, I took it from my pasta recipe book. Its really easy to make, and take very little time.

1/2 pack spaghetti or linguini
3 spoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
5 pieces garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 bird chilies, crushed coursely
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
20 medium sized shrimps, shelled and deveined
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon parsley
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil and the butter over moderate heat.
Add garlic, bird chilies and pepper flakes, saute for about 30 seconds
Add the shrimps; saute for 2 to 3 minute;
Add evenly lemon juice, parsley and salt;
Pour / mix over spaghetti

So long Norge...

happy at last - home tweet home..

I have taken some photos, and will upload soon. Here is the preview - some of my favorites shots around Sandefjord town & harbor

From Norway

From Norway

From Norway

From Norway

From Norway

Oslo

Click to see bigger image.


My oslo guide.

I only spent one day there, and my short visit was cramped with all the places where I can take photos. The objective - to try see as much as possible and take as many as possible nice photos.


Btw I was there on a sunday so there was not much on the retail front - In a way it is a blessing on its own.. cos kalau tak rasanya tak sempat pegi banyak tempat ... gagaga

Anyway I took the earliest train from Sandefjord. The journey from Sandefjord to Oslo should actually take around an hour and half.

Arrived at Oslo Sentralstasjon [no(9) in map], and looked for the Information office. I grabbed Oslo Guide andfew brochures and planned my routes over coffee.

I decided to purchase the Oslo pass, with it I get free entry to most of the museums and take any of the public transportation. It is NOK230 for 24 hours - which I reckon is a good deal.

Armed with the map and Oslo pass, I started walking towards Akershus and Fortress & Castle - the one place that made me decide to visit Oslo. It is probably the oldest area of Oslo dated back to 1200. The medieval castle is amazing, and definitely is a must visit if you are in town. Around the area there are also the Army Museums, the fortress and when you look down towards the sea,, you'll see the largest ever made Ship docked just right there.

Digressing a bit, the ship is H.U.G.E, eight storey high, and probably bigger than the building where I worked at here in KL. I wished I had time to go on it, it shuttles every Thursday nights to Germany from Norway.

Back the Akershus area, I walked down thru Christiana torv to the City Hall. Nothing of interests there. Its like any other quey Ive seen so didnt spend much time there. Took the next boat going towards Bygdøy. I went down at the first stop and walked towards Norsk Folkemuseum. It was an uphill walk, very very tiring - I shouldhv waited for the bus but I was racing with time (it was already near noon, and I had only visited one place), so anyway, it took a good 15 mins walk UPHILL before reaching the Folkmuseum. It was totally worth the walk though - it was such a nice showcase of Norfolks houses and community in the olden days. Also a must visit to me.

By the way sebab dah penat when reached Folkmuseum I had short coffee break at the nice cafe - and studied the timetable for the buses. So I timed myself to finish off the folkmuseum in time to catch the bus outside.

Very smart move - cos just nice as I walked out, the bus arrived. Took the bus to the Viking Ship Museum. The Viking Museum is unique on its own, it houses three viking boats, which is pretty amazing. To see that those days they travel miles in that thing. Viking boat has a very unique characteristic, and can easily be recognised by its shape.

Moving on from the Viking Museum, I went to the Frammuseet. Again, the museum housed a ship - this time it is the Polar Ship FRAM - which is the very first ship that had crossed the Antarctic waters. You can go into the ships and see the cabins and all. It is surprising to see how compact it is but I guess voyages like that werent really meant for holiday goers, more for people who make histories ;) There are three museet altogether there, the Fram, Kon-tiki and Norsk Maritime. I didnt bother with Norsk maritime, and Kon-tiki to me is nothing spectacular, maybe because I was in such awe with FRAM and Viking museums.

From there I took the boat back to City Center. The last must-see on my list is Vigeland Sculpture Park (Vigelandsparken) [F3 on the map]. I took the tram which is great transportation for tourist like me. It was kinda crowded on the tram. But my oh my, nothing had me prepared for the MASSIVE crowd I see at the park. At first, I was thinking to myself, so here is where all the Norwegian people - they flock the park on weekends. But my thoughts were quickly re-aligned when I see that there is actually some kind of event happening there. What a bummer. With soooo many people there I couldnt get nice shots, in fact I didnt even bother going close to the pole.

Didnt spent much time there since nothing much I can do. Decided to go back to city center and exploring the City hall, Royal Palace and Johans Gate area. City Hall as mentioned earlier was nothing to shout about. Royal Palace looked nice, but I was already quite tired by then so only glimpse of it from Karl Street, which is a nice place to be if you are in town. This is the happening part of the town with swanky restaurants and bars like HRC. Though it was only early evening, I could tell the place is a popular spot for tourists and locals as well perhaps.

Leading away towards the Oslo SentralStasjon is Johans Gate - where retail lovers could be spending chunks of their time. Sadly it was a sunday, no shops were not opened. I still could not comprehend why would shops be closed on what could potentially be the most lucrative day of the week... sigh..

With the shops closed, I covered Johans gate pretty fast which is a shame. All is not totally lost though, since one or two souvenir shops are still operating - and selling wayyy cheaper things than in Sanderford.

Last stop of the day - from there I hunted the nearest halal food outlet (which is quite a number and it is listed in the Oslo Guide), to have my dosage of meat. How heavenly... :))

There goes my Day trip to Oslo. Overall I think I covered a fair good amount of places and I was happy that I made the effort to go to Oslo. Certainly wasnt disappointing !