Laksa in da houz!!

In my quest to become healthy and after so many days of rice for dinner, i was craving for something light but fulfilling.

Spaghetti and fusion is kinda out, cos i had too many those for lunch this week AND the weeks before that. Choices of food is kinda limited at my work area so as a result balik2 makan that same thing.

ANYWAYS i dont know what made me think of laksa but somehow it just popped in my mind. So on my way home, i just stopped by to buy the ingredients:

• cili kering about 10 pieces
• cili padi about 3 or 4 pieces
• belacan 2.5 cm
• udang kering half handful
• bawang besar x 2
• Ikan kembong x 5
• Daun kesum one handful
• Bunga kantan x 2
• Asam keping x 8
• Laksa 500grams
• Eggs
• Salt to taste
  

To make the gravy:

Blend well :

cili kering, cili padi, belacan, udang kering, bawang besar

Boil:

Ikan kembong. take out the fish and blend the meat. Keep the boiled water for gravy.

Boil in other pots:

Eggs (well done)

Laksa (for about 5 mins)

To prepare Garnishes:,

cili padi - slice thinly

Bawang besar - slice

Cucumber- cut long thinly

Bunga kantan (the top red bits) cut thinly

Red chilli slice

Eggs Slice in two

Methods:

Senang je masak laksa ni if you have all the ingredients ready.

Just put together blended fish, gravy ingredients, bunga kantan and daun kesum, asam keping. Bring to boil until the gravy thickens.

Thats it. and serve with the boiled laksa and garnishes...

I am quite happy when My Fluff said it was 8/10. So certainly its worth trying again - cos it is something that we both enjoy having.

Bon appetit!

Note:

Original recipe taken from here

Guide to Eiffel Tower

Finally. On the third time in Paris, at last i took the plunge ( errr not so appropriate term there :p) . Anyway, they say if u dont go to eiffel tower you might as well dont say uve been to pahree.

You know usually I am most inclined to visit a place when the place holds some sort of meaning- like historically. With Eiffel tower i think it is kinda overrated. Paris itself is indeed the city of love but frankly there aint anything romantic about the eiffel tower specifically. I think there are gazillion other dreamy love boasting spots in Paris, but hey, different people have different views kan.

So why do i say eiffel tower tak romantic? To start with, the place is sooo touristy, ye lah every one who sets foot in paris mestilah nak visit. So you can just imagine the crowd, any given time of the day theres just sooo many people there. And the queue.. ooo my... don't get me started.

Waaayyyy too long!!!

Guess how long i had to stand on the queue before i reached the ticket counter??

T.H.R.E.E hours!! Yeap, u read me right. I kid you not the queue was long, and seriously memang its one in a lifetime thing cos tak larat nak queue lagi , ever!

Anyway, when i got nearer to the tix counter i noticed they do actually have separate queue for pre-book. I dont know though how or where can u book but i found this:

ticket.toureiffel.fr/index-css5-sete-pg1-lgen.html link

You can give it a go.

For lack of better tool, here goes the pix snapped with my phone.

Ouch!

I must hv hated me so much that i inflicted pain on myself!

Itulah saya.... Ever so clumsy!

The music room

Finally there. Almost..

Doorless with CLS kitchen

I am half-hearted about this post, part of me wanted to share the experience, part of me think I shouldnt be too petty over things like this.

In the end I think I should just share what I have gone through fairly and squarely.

After scouting (but not for so long :P), we decided to go with CLS kitchen. Let me be frank with you, budget IS indeed is main determining factor for us. I dont have stash of cash/gold/diamonds lying around, so obviously where ever possible I would like to try to ensure the sweat blood is spent rationally.

What was good with CSL kitchen is that they offer free granite top and bottom skirting (standard colors of course. Kalau nak black granite need to pay more not sure how much though). There are three granite colors available: grey, orangish and the normal mix of grey and brown.

They do charge however on the installation of the granite itself and the cuttings of holes for the sink and hob.

On the cabinets itself I think is pretty standard, mind you, they are not customised size though. They are all modules - macam those of ikea. Like in my case, I do loose a few inches of space since my kitchen is not exact fits of their sizes. Another plus of CLS is also that they designed our cabinets to be ceiling-height, which then gives us additional storage and saves us the trouble of having to clean cabinet top (which is a relief ... haha )

So all in all in happy and dandy till the date nearing the installation date. Few days before scheduled installation date, I called to confirm.

First - I was surprised to learn that the person answering is a different one to one I was liaising before (btw ni mobile number). Apparently that person has left. I was stumped a bit, cos it was just the week before and this guy didnt say anything. But I was thinking, of course la, takkan pulak he wants to tell off customers about his career movements kan. Anyway after explaining again to him and confirming the dates and all, he assured me that the schedule is still on track.

Mr Fluff asked me to call again following day sebab I forgot to ask about making the final payment. Err actually I didnt really forget but I kinda not agree with the full payment system before delivery thing.. so malas nak bring it up unless they said something. They didnt. But I asked anyway cos in case they'd delay our installation due to that.

True to my fear, memang they wanted to re-schedule to which both me and Mr Fluff reacted. See we are both working, and weekends are kinda precious to us. We have also allocated the installation on the scheduled date sekali nak reschedule - when we already have other plans for the following weekends. We insisted and the guy said ok boleh, stick to the schedule.

On the installation day, they came and install. After like half way through the installation, datangla another guy telling us that the doors arent ready. I am like, what the heck?? So I told him off and he said he would call his factory.

He went off, I presume to make calls to factories and all. I waited, and waited, and after like two hours I began to wonder what is happening? He just went off, and now leaving us in the dark of whats going on. Luckily the other guys installing cabinet top and base are still around so I managed to get the number of that runaway sales guy. I called him and then he told me that they couldnt do the doors, cos the doors that was prepared by the factory was a bad batch. Geram sungguh. I was already spewing by that time, but I guess nothing much can be done.

They promised to call on monday to confirm. But no one called me so later in the evening I called. Still they could not confirm the delivery of the doors because apparently the woods arent in yet. Sabar aja lah.

By then me and Mr Fluff's evenings are already booked so memang tak boleh nak install pon on any of the weeknights. Terpaksa la do on saturday anyway. Promised us 11 AM, no one turned up. I called at quarter to 12, they reschedule to 2PM.

Just as we were going to grab our lunch at 1, tiba2 I saw the CLS lorry coming our way. Nasib baik havent left yet. tsk tsk tsk... my conclusion - memang they dont know how to stick to schedule.

All in all, I have to say I was quite disappointed at the whole thing, but I guess it could be due to the person supposed to be in charge of my account leaving the company.

Oh, and they didnt fix my piping right, cos the following morning when I started using the tap Ive got water leaking underneath it. They came the following night though to fix it, this time installing with better pipe. So in the end it was okay.

UPDATED: after all done, on final check I noticed something amiss, I doublechecked the kitchen drawings, and memang they did my frosty window wrong. Unbelievable. Not a major hiccup had it not for the fact that we do have other things we need to do on the remaining of our weekend.

But to their credit, they are quick to fix the problems and issues we raised. What I was more annoyed about is the fact that it took all four visits before everything was done right.

Overall, I think their workmanship is quite good, and had it not for the mixed up on the door, I would probably have commended them. It is just that it frustrates us that they cant get it right the first - wait , till the fourth time!

Other things that you should also know:

• *The granite that they use is only a 20mm compressed granite. Not so thick and not so hardy, so if you plan to do heavy duty work on it like pounding batu tumbuk, need to probably ask a better one than the standard free ones.
• *Because it is compressed granite, you'll see imperfections here and there
• *The granites are pre-cut, 8mtrs long. You will see cuts between the corners and if your kitchen is longer than 8mtr.
• *The cabinets are modules, so expect to loose some space in between
• *They'd usually throw in and ask to use their home brand sink, tab, kitchen hob and hood. Though their kitchen hob and hood are cheap, I decided to go against their home brand, in case it'll be hard to service later

the joinings at corners & imperfections

The Hunger Games

Rating = A must watch!!!!

I didnt expect the movie to be so good, though critics and reviews I read said so. I wasnt expecting it because I dont usually enjoy fantasy fiction very much, but the way this one was written was definitely an exception.

So apparently this movie was adapted from Suzanne Collins book. Since I havent read the book I cant tell you if it was any better than the movie itself.

What I like about the movie was that the storyline itself is different but not too far fetched as some other fantasy fiction. Its also quite focused on the lead characters and dont side track too much on the supporting roles. Usually I hated these kind of movies because they try to explain too much and tries to include stories about every one in the book but this movie did none of that- it stays on with Katniss' journey and Katniss's alone.

And the actress, my gosh, she is GREAT. Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job in this movie. I think if it was played by somebody else the movie probably wouldnt hold it together well. I am not sure if I have seen her in any other movie though but she definitely now is on my list-of-favs.

So peeps, watcha waiting for.... catch it before the curtains falls!

Oh, here's the trailer to entice you.. :D

Masak taucu

2nd attempt still tak jadi.

But better than the last try,.

Ingredients:
Ikan tenggiri 4 pieces
Bawang putih & kecik for tumis
Bawang besar
A bit of halia
Air asam jawa
Tomato
And the taucu of course (one spoon)

Methods:
Goreng ikan mcm biasa, put aside
Tumis bawang and add Bawang besar
put taucu and air asam
And water if necessary
Put tomato

Add in ikan towards the end


Look simple huh, still i cant get it right. Sheesh!

Where can I find another one of this????

Cantonese noodle

Looks can be deceiving. Seriously. Dont be fooled nampak je macam berjaya but na-ah-ah seyes mmg tak jadi !

The good thing is the taste is there so it isnt a complete disaster.

However what i think i did wrong was the noodle, it clumps together - i think i was supposed to break it apart before frying. And i should hv used less corn starch. Apart from that maybe it would turn out better.

Anyhow it is pretty easy to make, what u need:

The noodle (meehoon/kuew teow/charmee)
Garlic-pound slightly
Beef
Ginger
Vegs
Corn starch (one ts)
Salt to taste

To make:

1. Deep Fry the Meehoon. Put aside
2. Sauté garlic
3. Add beef until slightly cooked
4. Add stock and corn flour
5. Add all other ingredients
6. Stir for a min or two and pour on top of noodle

App Store on Facebook

I just noticed that there is a link to the App Store in Facebook

Check it out:

http://www.facebook.com/AppStore?v=app_380449627359&ref=mf&sk=wall

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.