Happy 5th anniversary to us; Part II

Anyway I just noticed that I had the previous title of anniversary but didnt have any story about it. Well, kind of.

If you didnt get it, what I wanted to convey was basically we had Chicago Cheesecake as our anniversary treat.

Desserts aside, we've got another surprise this year. In laws had bought us an anniversary gift. Something that I am REALLY looking forward to use.

A GRILLER!!!

Thank you y'all! We both really appreciate it :)

oh and not forgetting... thanks to Mr Fluff as well for the lovely flowers

And above all, I thank Allah Almighty for this gift you have bestowed on both of us. May we be blessed with this marriage till death do us part. Insyallah.

Happy 5th anniversary to us

Goodbye New York Cheese of Secret Recipe,

Hello Chicago Cheesecake of Coffee Bean

I have found me a new favorite. If you love cheesecake and havent had a taste of the Chicago cheesecake from Coffee Bean, I suggest you do so. I promise you, it wont disappoint.

Just one word to describe it:

...................yummylicious..........................

Life as we know it

I am just a sucker for chick movies. For two reasons:

One - They usually feature good looking actors and actresses, and who doesnt want an hour or so of drooltime..??

Two - They usually finish off with a feel good ending. No matter how turbulence a relationship is, or no matter how bad the leading casts' lives are , at the end of the day, everyone is happy and dandy.

The only difference between a good and crap chick movies are the amount of humour you'd get watching it.

Life as you know it kinda bring a fresh storyline, away from the usual girls meet guys at the most unusual place or like work or in vacation etc etc.

It is about two people who could not stand each other's guts, but had to somehow work out their difference and hatred towards each other to raise suddenly orphaned Sophie, daughter of their deceased good friends. Holly (Katherine Heigh) is a good friend of Alison (the baby's mother) while Messer (notice the pun on the name?) played by Josh Duhamel is the baby's fathers good friend going way back in College.

Katherine and Josh made a good pair, plus I have always enjoyed Katherine's movies - so far I have not seen one that disappoint.

As expected, so off they go the unlikely pair (Holly & Messer) trying to fit Sophie in their lives and living together as part of the process.

Both of them could not have been more different, with Holly being an righteous kind of girl while Messer , is a typical playboy happy go lucky guy.

It doesnt take long before Messer loses it and despise the fact that his life is over and Holly being triumphal over her thoughts on Messer - about how unreliable he is.

There were some good emotional scenes as well, like when Holly first found out about Alison's death and when Holly was dumbstruck at Messer's anger about having to care for Sophie.

It wasnt difficult to like both leading actor and actresses and their characters and to see why their good friend had thought that they would be suitable for each other.

Needless to say they both fall in love in the end - and I know it is a good movie when even after the credit rolls, I'd still want to see more.

My rating would be 8 out of 10, err, maybe 9 - if you factor in Josh's smiles and boyish grins..

Beautiful blue sky

But will it rain today?

Melaka Bandaraya Bersejarah

Watch out this space for more!

From melaka

Mari Menjahit

Okay, so I may not be the world's best tukang jahit, but I could do a simple sewing job or two. But I only know how to sew by hand. Sadly my skills do not extend to operating a sewing machine.

I have been wanting to blog about this, but havent really found the time to do it.

So it all started when Rizal bought a new pair of pants, but didnt it have it hemmed at the shop. I took it to the those alteration shop, and the lady demanded RM25 for it - because she was going to do the hemming by hand.

I thought then maybe I should just do it myself.

So I did. (With quick guidance from Imah of course)

First of all, you will need to measure it for the length that you want (or it might turn up looking like Mr Bean's).

For example, if you want a length of 42cm from the waist to the end, hold the pants together - and measure at the seam line. (or alternatively just have it worn and pin it at the length you want)

Once you have the length, turn the pants inside out, and fold it like image below. I usually iron it as well so that the fold stays

Next, sew the inside part (or the inner fold)

Once thats done, start hemming the outer part.

To sew the outer part, you should as much as possible hide the thread. My grandma calls it jahit sembat. What you do is you hide the thread in the folds (see image below). Kalau malas can just make the hidden part longer, but it would also mean that it will easily rip as well.

Keep hemming throughout. It should then look like this from the outside.

Finally, just iron it out to smoothen it further



Senangkan?

Asam Pedas Daging

Finally. I found the opportunity to get uwan to teach me how to make the Asam Pedas daging that I love so much.

Without further a do, here is the list of ingredients (rough estimation yah, cos u know la uwan, she doesnt go by sukatan but agak2)

1. Meat half kilo

2. Dried Chillies 7 pcs (blended)

3. Red Onion 1 pc (half in cubes, chopped)

4. Garlic 4 pcs (chopped)

5. Ginger around thumb sized <- typical of uwan.. thee hee hee (sliced thin)

6. Asam Jawa 1 teaspoon (mama uses Asam Jawa Xtra)

7. Daun limau (Kaffir leaves)

8. Tumeric powder 1 tablespoon

9. Oil (banyak )

10. salt to taste

11. Potato

The method:

- Sautee the chopped onions, garlic and ginger until slight brownish and fragrant

- add in the blended dried chillies

- Once the oil has surfaced, add in the meat

- The juice from the meat will make the paste watery, so we'd want it to become tender and just add a bit of hot water if the juice from the meat is not enough

- add salt

- Leave it to simmer (put the lid on to help the meat becomes tender quicker)

- Once the meat is tender add more water for gravy

- put in the potato and cubed onions

- Once potato is cooked and meat is tender, add in the sour paste (asam jawa) and Kaffir leaves

- Let it boil and walla.. its done!

Lagu Berhantu?

mengapakah tergamak sungguh, memperdaya harapan ini
tunas kasih yang aku semai, racun berbisa yang kau sirami

beginikah balasan cinta, manis kata dibibir sahaja
lembut lidah mengukir janji, segunung mimpi berkecai kini

sesalan tidak terucap, bila kau berubah sikap
kusedar siapa diriku, kau buat tempat berteduh
semoga engkau bahagia, disamping kekasih baru
andainya engkau kecewa, janganlah kau cari aku

Biar saja aku sendiri, yang mencari damai dihati
airmata basah dipipi, tak mungkin dapat membasuh luka

** Ku cari damai di hati , by Gingerbread ( listen here )

I have personally enjoyed the live rendition by Jamal Abdillah as well, which is here. (Performed at a live concert in Istana Budaya 2006)

~
This song was played by one of the radio station when I was in Melaka last weekend, and for some reason the song was playing in my mind ever since, up till today. I didnt really know the song, except that the song is sung by Gingerbread (or 'roti halia' as joked by the dj ) . It wasnt so difficult to google it as I knew the artist name, and some part of the lyric was like implanted in my brain. I guess this is what they mean by 'lagu berhantu' - it just wont leave your head, EVEN after you have deliberately listen to numerous other songs, including personal all time favorites.

Personally I think this song has such beautiful melody and lyrics. Though the composition is very 80-ish (duh, it is after all an 80s song), the way it flows and progressed from the early verses, and gradually catching its pace and soul as it gets to its refrain/chorus, i thought was just so awesome. It is accesible, simple, yet very dynamic and certainly gives lasting impression

The credit has to be given to the lyric writer as well, as it definitely complemented the harrowing melody. What I love about listening to the songs in those era was the poetic way a story was told, and it has a real art in it.

Sadly, they just dont make these kind of music these days. While I have heard some good ones, but rarely it stayed in my mind like a broken record as this one did.

* disclaimer *
To song writer and label, I dont intend to steal music by putting the song here, the link is merely to share to those who have not heard it. I would be more than happy to pay for it to make it legal and to support your art/talent.