Sebelum bulan posa hari tu, aku dok banyak ganti posa. One day as usual, I announced it to my mother and as expected, she said “Mai lah rumah. Mummy masak blah blah blah…” Taktik menjadi setiap kali. Ha ha..
Anyway, my husband didn’t call me the whole day. 1 whole day ! Aku dah pakat-pakat nak hingaq dah tapi bila pikiaq, la… kan posa ni..
Sabaq, sabaq… Okay tak pa. Call cakap baik-baik but bagi jugak sedas, “Amboi hai… Sengap sungguh…. Pi mana ?”
Okay lah… he did tell me what he had to do the night before so I was lucky I didn’t bring brimstone and hell fire immediately after I heard his voice heeding my own advice to be patient and just shut my trap.
“I nak bukak posa rumah Mummy ni. You okay ke ?” I asked.
He said, “Okay lah….” But funnily in a very small voice.
I was puzzled by his reaction but before I can ask he asked in a much smaller voice, “I makan kat mana ?”
He he… Ha ha …. Keh keh…. Hahhahaha … Hihihihihihihi
“La…. Sekali lah… Takkan I pi sorang2…”
Kah Kah Kah..
“Dah you cakap you nak bukak puasa… You tak cakap kita pegi makan rumah Mummy..” Suara sungguh syahdu, merajukdotcom.
Ha ha ha…
“Sejak bila I pi sorang ?”
My husband he is, seized the opportunity to lord over me. “Itu lah.. Lain kali cakap biar betul…. Tak pasal-pasal I kecik hati tadi… Blah blah blah blah…..”
Hampeh. Aku pulak yang kena. He always, always wants to have the last say.
Cess….
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
She ain't no monster.... Aku je...
You know, bila kita dah besar-besar ni…. barulah kita nak paham mak kita kan ? I mean, I had a suspicion that my mom descended from some kind of a monster when I was younger. Now I know she was not being a monster sesuka hati. Everything she did was with reasons and those reasons that my immature brain failed to grasp. Seriously, being a parent is not a popularity contest. To bring up a good, wholesome child ain’t easy and needs a lot of sacrifices, even their love. And hoping that they would come to their senses and see you in a different light when they grow up. They usually do, after having their own child that is.
I would like to think… well I do firmly believe that my mammy… she didn’t deliberately stop me from going out at night just because she was on a power trip. She had wanted me to keep my virtue in tact. At 15, I couldn’t see anything wrong with going out at night of course since ALL my friends were doing it. SO her reasonings fell on deaf ears and I was just adamant that she just so dengki about me having a good time. And that is why she was a monster.
So somewhere in my life, probably at a junction in my 20s (probably late), I have come to a conclusion that my mom is not exactly a hantu but actually a very wise person who doesn’t want me to make mistakes. Aku ni yang hantu sebenarnya. Especially when I sound just like her when I talk to my own kids.
She is a mom so she is protective. Berleter and marah so that we wouldn’t get ourselves into trouble or worse, get hurt. There was this once, yeah I stumbled upon my mom silently weeping on her bed.
“Laaa… awat pulak ni ?” Bukannya nak pi peluk ke hapa, tapi pegi tanya lagu tu pulak.
“Tu… Fiza (bukan nama sebenar adik ku)… Dah break up dengan Hamid (bukan nama sebenar ex-boiprennya yang bangsat ituh)….”
“Ha… tau… Yang Mummy ni keriak ni awatnya ?” Anak yang bangang ni pulak pergi tanya… I had to ask because she doesn’t like him that much and to my thinking she should be jumping up and down with joy.
“Dakk… Mummy kesian sungguh dekat dia … Dok menangis… Tak mau makan….. I cannot help her… How can I make her feel better ?”
Alahai… sian lak ngan mak aku. Yelah.. a mother has this overwhelming need to protect her children. My mom had many, many times said that the thing she feared the most is if her children get broken hearted. As that is when she is powerless..
My problem pulak is I need to see my mom happy. I always have this need to make her happy so aku belasah adik aku and ordered her to at least to be cheerful in front of my mammy. Ha ha… tapi bila bergaduh dengan Dan, aku meraung kat mak aku gak.
He he… aku tak pa…
So whatever she did, I understand now (well bukanlah sat-sat ni… dulu-dulu dah paham dah… he he…), she had just wanted to shield us from harm. She loves us. She doesn’t want us to get hurt. If she can, she would have us bubble wrapped and hidden from the cruel world.
Anyway… yesterday as I looked at my dark house, I shook my head in despair. I should have listened to my mother. She had predicted that my house will be dark because of the very dark varnish of the stairs.
She had also warned me about the black floor tiles of my kitchen, the dark brown tiles of my bathroom, black tiles of the guest bathroom. But did I listen to her ? No sirree…. I had dreamt of my kitchen, my bathroom far too long to be destroyed by her logical reasonings.
Ha… padan muko. Aku memang suka ala-ala vampire’s lair gitu… sebab tu semua hitam… Wahahahaha.
Dulu-dulu.. when I was still in school, she had warned me about my tendency to order my siblings to shut-up. “Biasakan lah… Nanti dengan orang pun ko cakap shut-up.. Eii… malu lah… Nanti orang cakap ko perempuan garang….”
Did I listen ? Nope. I remember feeling very irritated at my mom when she said that, so bloody sure of myself that I would never make that kind of slip-ups. Anak durhaka kan ? Allah tu nak tunjukkan ?
So it happened one fine day. I was talking to Amelia and Nurul Al-Bakri, having quite a heated discussion when we were interrupted by Jamil (again, bukan nama sebenar… nama dua orang tu nama betul…ha ha). I was so bloody pissed-off because he interrupted my train of thoughts and without thinking, it was almost automatic really, I gave him an arrogant, “Shut up !” and immediately winced. Terlupa that he is not one of my siblings. Aiyoh lah…
Well… at least I winced when I realized my mistake but it was done, wasn’t it ? It had happened. And the look on his face, Jamil that is, plus the pity look Amelia gave him didn’t help either.
And that is when I learned that Mum was right.
I sort of changed after that. But of course, it is a lesson that I frequently forget. But as of right now, I am more aware that even with my university education, my mother still is much cleverer than me, and she actually knows what she is talking about. That Mummy is always right.. Okaylah.. almost always… ha ha…
I would like to think… well I do firmly believe that my mammy… she didn’t deliberately stop me from going out at night just because she was on a power trip. She had wanted me to keep my virtue in tact. At 15, I couldn’t see anything wrong with going out at night of course since ALL my friends were doing it. SO her reasonings fell on deaf ears and I was just adamant that she just so dengki about me having a good time. And that is why she was a monster.
So somewhere in my life, probably at a junction in my 20s (probably late), I have come to a conclusion that my mom is not exactly a hantu but actually a very wise person who doesn’t want me to make mistakes. Aku ni yang hantu sebenarnya. Especially when I sound just like her when I talk to my own kids.
She is a mom so she is protective. Berleter and marah so that we wouldn’t get ourselves into trouble or worse, get hurt. There was this once, yeah I stumbled upon my mom silently weeping on her bed.
“Laaa… awat pulak ni ?” Bukannya nak pi peluk ke hapa, tapi pegi tanya lagu tu pulak.
“Tu… Fiza (bukan nama sebenar adik ku)… Dah break up dengan Hamid (bukan nama sebenar ex-boiprennya yang bangsat ituh)….”
“Ha… tau… Yang Mummy ni keriak ni awatnya ?” Anak yang bangang ni pulak pergi tanya… I had to ask because she doesn’t like him that much and to my thinking she should be jumping up and down with joy.
“Dakk… Mummy kesian sungguh dekat dia … Dok menangis… Tak mau makan….. I cannot help her… How can I make her feel better ?”
Alahai… sian lak ngan mak aku. Yelah.. a mother has this overwhelming need to protect her children. My mom had many, many times said that the thing she feared the most is if her children get broken hearted. As that is when she is powerless..
My problem pulak is I need to see my mom happy. I always have this need to make her happy so aku belasah adik aku and ordered her to at least to be cheerful in front of my mammy. Ha ha… tapi bila bergaduh dengan Dan, aku meraung kat mak aku gak.
He he… aku tak pa…
So whatever she did, I understand now (well bukanlah sat-sat ni… dulu-dulu dah paham dah… he he…), she had just wanted to shield us from harm. She loves us. She doesn’t want us to get hurt. If she can, she would have us bubble wrapped and hidden from the cruel world.
Anyway… yesterday as I looked at my dark house, I shook my head in despair. I should have listened to my mother. She had predicted that my house will be dark because of the very dark varnish of the stairs.
She had also warned me about the black floor tiles of my kitchen, the dark brown tiles of my bathroom, black tiles of the guest bathroom. But did I listen to her ? No sirree…. I had dreamt of my kitchen, my bathroom far too long to be destroyed by her logical reasonings.
Ha… padan muko. Aku memang suka ala-ala vampire’s lair gitu… sebab tu semua hitam… Wahahahaha.
Dulu-dulu.. when I was still in school, she had warned me about my tendency to order my siblings to shut-up. “Biasakan lah… Nanti dengan orang pun ko cakap shut-up.. Eii… malu lah… Nanti orang cakap ko perempuan garang….”
Did I listen ? Nope. I remember feeling very irritated at my mom when she said that, so bloody sure of myself that I would never make that kind of slip-ups. Anak durhaka kan ? Allah tu nak tunjukkan ?
So it happened one fine day. I was talking to Amelia and Nurul Al-Bakri, having quite a heated discussion when we were interrupted by Jamil (again, bukan nama sebenar… nama dua orang tu nama betul…ha ha). I was so bloody pissed-off because he interrupted my train of thoughts and without thinking, it was almost automatic really, I gave him an arrogant, “Shut up !” and immediately winced. Terlupa that he is not one of my siblings. Aiyoh lah…
Well… at least I winced when I realized my mistake but it was done, wasn’t it ? It had happened. And the look on his face, Jamil that is, plus the pity look Amelia gave him didn’t help either.
And that is when I learned that Mum was right.
I sort of changed after that. But of course, it is a lesson that I frequently forget. But as of right now, I am more aware that even with my university education, my mother still is much cleverer than me, and she actually knows what she is talking about. That Mummy is always right.. Okaylah.. almost always… ha ha…
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sabarlah dengan aku punya merepek ini....
Dah tulih panjang2 dah... sayang nak delete... Merepek pun merepek lah...
One more died today. If you are Malaysian you know what I am talking about. Very, very unnecessary. Life, to me and I dare say to 90% of the population of this world, is precious. All life… except for semut and lipas yang geget baju aku. Hmm… I really couldn’t understand how people can have so much cruelty and very little compassion. I read that her bone somewhere along her legs could be seen. That is quite extensive but now since she passed away, it must have been very, very , very bad.
Can you imagine the noises that she made as she was beaten ? The cries of help, the groans of agony, the screams of pain. All that failed to invoke pity ? All that failed to make them stop out of guilt ? All that did not at all managed to snap them to consiousness. No mercy, none at all.
Such brutality. Such hatred. What had she done to you ? Gembiranya Syaitan sebab dia berjaya sekali lagi menghasut kita.
I think about her parents a lot. Imagining their happiness when she was born, how they went “Awwww…..” for the cute things she did while in ponytails. When they fought to bring her back to health when she was ill and when they swelled with pride when she said she is coming to Malaysia for a better future for all of them. All that for what ? All those hardwork to raise her for these 2 evil shit heads to torture until life ebbed away from her broken body.
What is our society becoming to if we can actually inflict pain purposely on another human being? At least cannibals had wanted to satisfy their hunger, it is about survival, but this ? Yang berlagak sangat tu kenapa ? What gives you the right to hurt her like that ? Why ? Why ? Tak kesian ke ?
Kelmarin aku marahkan Gizmo. Aku tak bagi dia masuk. Datang Elsa, cekak pinggang cakap ngan aku, “Kesian lah kat dia !!! Mummy ni !!” Itu baru kucing. Budak pun ada empathy. I didn’t even lay a finger on the cat, my daughter dah marah. Ini orang tau tak… orang ! Hee… tak paham aku.
I know this one family. And they are a good family, I suppose. One day I heard their daughter hit her maid all black and blue. I heard this from her own sister so I know it to be true. Apparently, she covered her maid’s head with a basin and hit it hard. Plus pukulan-pukulan berhantu tanpa baldi sampai lebam-lebam budak tuh.
I heard the story in the morning. The next afternoon I saw her driving around Shah Alam with the maid in tow. If we ever see a child with a knife we’d jump to take away the knife from him as it could cause unthinkable hurt, right ? We want to separate the child from the thing that could injure him. So why isn’t the maid separated from the thing that harm her ? Why is she still in the hands of her tormentor ?
To save her, Mummy Dearest sent back the maid that very week to avoid prosecution. I suppose she didn’t send immediately to wait for the bruises to fade. Replacement maid came swiftly.
What if is she was my child ? What if perempuan gila tu is my child. Do I haul her to jail ? Or would I quickly send the maid home like her Mom did ? In all fairness, I would have done what Mummy did but she will not get another maid after that. Gila apa belasah orang. I know your daughter is already 30 but you still have to teach her a lesson. By keep giving her maids yang dia buat macam hamba abdi, you are like condoning her behaviour, okay ?
“Nah…orang gaji baru. Jangan dera yang ini okay, sayang mak ?”
Okay she might have not said that but her actions sort of did.
I did not hear anymore stories of her abusing her other maids after that. But once, 2 maids after the one she abused (yes… she changes maids like she change… errr….panties….) confided in me that the next door neighbour advised her that she should run away before it’s her turn to kena belasah. The neighbour in fact offered her house as a temporary refuge and her willingness to send her to a safe place.
Commendable true but why can’t you, neighbour, call the damn police ? If you did, she might not be getting all these maids still.
This reminded me about my own situation last time. Actually when my kids kena dera dengan my first maid aku tensen gak why my neighbours who were in the know, never come to me. Apparently the 5-6 months she was in my employ, my neighbour once scaled the very high wall that separated our properties to have a sneaky look at my howling children. He was worried because he heard her yelling resulting in my children crying uncontrollably.
Once, his wife knocked on my door because she was so concerned hearing Elsa non-stop bawlings for hours. She was greeted with the sight of Elsa yang dah lembik sebab demam panas. She barged in and took over nursing my little girl back to health. I thank you from the bottom of my heart but why did you never alerted me of this matter ?
I did ask her when cerita dah terpecah and stank to high heavens. She explained that she was scared because my mom-in-law banyak puji this maid to her and dia tak berani nak bawak mulut. Alahai… memang le MIL sayang because she didn’t know the truth. I didn’t until I saw my son acting strangely.
Can you imagine the noises that she made as she was beaten ? The cries of help, the groans of agony, the screams of pain. All that failed to invoke pity ? All that failed to make them stop out of guilt ? All that did not at all managed to snap them to consiousness. No mercy, none at all.
Such brutality. Such hatred. What had she done to you ? Gembiranya Syaitan sebab dia berjaya sekali lagi menghasut kita.
I think about her parents a lot. Imagining their happiness when she was born, how they went “Awwww…..” for the cute things she did while in ponytails. When they fought to bring her back to health when she was ill and when they swelled with pride when she said she is coming to Malaysia for a better future for all of them. All that for what ? All those hardwork to raise her for these 2 evil shit heads to torture until life ebbed away from her broken body.
What is our society becoming to if we can actually inflict pain purposely on another human being? At least cannibals had wanted to satisfy their hunger, it is about survival, but this ? Yang berlagak sangat tu kenapa ? What gives you the right to hurt her like that ? Why ? Why ? Tak kesian ke ?
Kelmarin aku marahkan Gizmo. Aku tak bagi dia masuk. Datang Elsa, cekak pinggang cakap ngan aku, “Kesian lah kat dia !!! Mummy ni !!” Itu baru kucing. Budak pun ada empathy. I didn’t even lay a finger on the cat, my daughter dah marah. Ini orang tau tak… orang ! Hee… tak paham aku.
I know this one family. And they are a good family, I suppose. One day I heard their daughter hit her maid all black and blue. I heard this from her own sister so I know it to be true. Apparently, she covered her maid’s head with a basin and hit it hard. Plus pukulan-pukulan berhantu tanpa baldi sampai lebam-lebam budak tuh.
I heard the story in the morning. The next afternoon I saw her driving around Shah Alam with the maid in tow. If we ever see a child with a knife we’d jump to take away the knife from him as it could cause unthinkable hurt, right ? We want to separate the child from the thing that could injure him. So why isn’t the maid separated from the thing that harm her ? Why is she still in the hands of her tormentor ?
To save her, Mummy Dearest sent back the maid that very week to avoid prosecution. I suppose she didn’t send immediately to wait for the bruises to fade. Replacement maid came swiftly.
What if is she was my child ? What if perempuan gila tu is my child. Do I haul her to jail ? Or would I quickly send the maid home like her Mom did ? In all fairness, I would have done what Mummy did but she will not get another maid after that. Gila apa belasah orang. I know your daughter is already 30 but you still have to teach her a lesson. By keep giving her maids yang dia buat macam hamba abdi, you are like condoning her behaviour, okay ?
“Nah…orang gaji baru. Jangan dera yang ini okay, sayang mak ?”
Okay she might have not said that but her actions sort of did.
I did not hear anymore stories of her abusing her other maids after that. But once, 2 maids after the one she abused (yes… she changes maids like she change… errr….panties….) confided in me that the next door neighbour advised her that she should run away before it’s her turn to kena belasah. The neighbour in fact offered her house as a temporary refuge and her willingness to send her to a safe place.
Commendable true but why can’t you, neighbour, call the damn police ? If you did, she might not be getting all these maids still.
This reminded me about my own situation last time. Actually when my kids kena dera dengan my first maid aku tensen gak why my neighbours who were in the know, never come to me. Apparently the 5-6 months she was in my employ, my neighbour once scaled the very high wall that separated our properties to have a sneaky look at my howling children. He was worried because he heard her yelling resulting in my children crying uncontrollably.
Once, his wife knocked on my door because she was so concerned hearing Elsa non-stop bawlings for hours. She was greeted with the sight of Elsa yang dah lembik sebab demam panas. She barged in and took over nursing my little girl back to health. I thank you from the bottom of my heart but why did you never alerted me of this matter ?
I did ask her when cerita dah terpecah and stank to high heavens. She explained that she was scared because my mom-in-law banyak puji this maid to her and dia tak berani nak bawak mulut. Alahai… memang le MIL sayang because she didn’t know the truth. I didn’t until I saw my son acting strangely.
Yelah… serba salah kan… I quite understand.
Once right when we were small, we kept hearing J, our back door neighbour crying. First we thought he was just acting up but as time goes by, my mother got a bit suspicious. She talked to Aunty L, J’s mom and when my mom found out they have a new maid, my mother informed Aunty L of her fears. The very next day, Aunty L was installed in our dining room, facing her house, with a cup of tea in front of her. My mother left her alone. I didn’t as I was busy looking from upstairs… he he….
She heard what my mother was saying and the maid was promptly dismissed. Ha… Can't imagine her feelings when she heard J nangis kan ? Or that very night when my mom confided in her, mesti tak tiduq malam. It must have been excruciating for her.
E-eh….dah lari topik lak. Pasal pembantu yang mendera pulak jadinya... Sorry...
Dah jadi lagu ni… bising lah depa lagi… Depa itu adalah Bendera yang nak mai attack kita tu. Aku ketuk satgi penjenayah laki bini yang dera bibik tu. Sian kat dia. Kepala dia depa pi botakkan awatnya ? Please believe wahai ahli Bendera, we do not like this kind of behavior either. Please allow us to mete out punishments as this happened in our own soil. Not all of us are like that.
Plus you wanting to come and attack us, did you take into account our own Armed Forces at all ? Where do you think they will be when you create mayhem and destruction over here ? Takkan depa nak duduk sengap kot ? Dok ternganga, sampai tak buleh nak buat apa-apa langsung ? Or you planned to you use black magic like you talked about on them ? Manderam Penyengap atau Jampi Bagi Buduh yang hangpa dah awai2 hembuih kat Jalan Padang Tembak.
Don’t be stupid lah….
Cannot lah kerana setitik nila, rosak susu sebelanga.
Al-Fatihah for the deceased. And I do hope for justice.
Once right when we were small, we kept hearing J, our back door neighbour crying. First we thought he was just acting up but as time goes by, my mother got a bit suspicious. She talked to Aunty L, J’s mom and when my mom found out they have a new maid, my mother informed Aunty L of her fears. The very next day, Aunty L was installed in our dining room, facing her house, with a cup of tea in front of her. My mother left her alone. I didn’t as I was busy looking from upstairs… he he….
She heard what my mother was saying and the maid was promptly dismissed. Ha… Can't imagine her feelings when she heard J nangis kan ? Or that very night when my mom confided in her, mesti tak tiduq malam. It must have been excruciating for her.
E-eh….dah lari topik lak. Pasal pembantu yang mendera pulak jadinya... Sorry...
Dah jadi lagu ni… bising lah depa lagi… Depa itu adalah Bendera yang nak mai attack kita tu. Aku ketuk satgi penjenayah laki bini yang dera bibik tu. Sian kat dia. Kepala dia depa pi botakkan awatnya ? Please believe wahai ahli Bendera, we do not like this kind of behavior either. Please allow us to mete out punishments as this happened in our own soil. Not all of us are like that.
Plus you wanting to come and attack us, did you take into account our own Armed Forces at all ? Where do you think they will be when you create mayhem and destruction over here ? Takkan depa nak duduk sengap kot ? Dok ternganga, sampai tak buleh nak buat apa-apa langsung ? Or you planned to you use black magic like you talked about on them ? Manderam Penyengap atau Jampi Bagi Buduh yang hangpa dah awai2 hembuih kat Jalan Padang Tembak.
Don’t be stupid lah….
Cannot lah kerana setitik nila, rosak susu sebelanga.
Al-Fatihah for the deceased. And I do hope for justice.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Punyalah panjang, gambaq pun tak dak... Sorry...
So Monday is here again.
Sigh…
I wasn’t prepared for today because sleep has not left my body yet. It is hovering around, especially around my eyes and my mouth, which kept opening to emit oxygen into the brain.
Yawn…
There I go again.
So it is Monday huh ? Well then I have to tell you about my weekend, even if it was a boring one. But my last weekend was definitely not.
A good friend of mine, one that I have been friends with since we were 5 asked me to cater for her party. Errk !
When I was living in sek 7, I did that a lot. All of my clients (tu dia… clients tuh) only ever asked for 1-2 dishes. Usually a pan of lasagna or cottage pie. Or my beef casserole. Or meatball pasta bake. Cream caramel, orange caramel, normal butter cake or trifles are popular when it comes to desserts. Although a lot demanded cream puffs but because to make them is quite difficult, I usually mengelak but I did make them for close friends.
Nevertheless I have never been asked to cater for 30 people all on my own. People usually ordered from me to compliment their main dishes, but to cater for the whole party ?
Aku terduduk kejap sebab panic.
She ordered lasagna, chicken pie, cottage pie and one pasta bake. For desserts, trifle.
It seemed a lot and I was quite scared. But I was rather intrigued too, I must say. So I kept on talking to her. Okay, lasagna minced beef, cottage pie minced beef so the pasta bake must be without beef. So I suggested penne sausage bake.
Trifle aku suka sebab senang. In my head I planned the normal fruit trifle with custards and strawberry jelly. Plus my favourite blackforest trifle which I haven’t made in a long time. The blackforest trifle is truly decadent okay. We start of with chocolate sponge at the bottom layer, then black cherries on top, swiftly followed by chocolate custard and finally a layer of light mascarpone cheese.
Yummm….
Walaupun seram-seram because I haven’t a clue how to do it, I told her that since the party is at 8, I will prepare the food and she will bake it at her home. However and this is a very big however, they are having the party at a rented apartment with no oven even a micromave in it.
Errr…..
So I scoured my recipe books and had a long hard think but I could think of nothing that would taste nice after being cooked at 5 pm and consumed 3 hours after that. Especially with baked food, if not eaten immediately some would turn soggy and some would be dry.
I was in two minds about it as I am not expert enough to put all the problems into consideration and incorporate them in my food, ie. the ones that would be soggy I should make them dryer and those that would be dry, well… I’d have to make them soggier… he he… Kalau nak, mee kari boleh lah… Nasi goreng ke ? He he…
I told her so, fearing my cooking would fail me and her, but she still wants me to do it. And seriously I do not need much persuasion as I do love to cook so I said yes. She must have read my blog, the naughty girl as she changed the dessert menu from trifles to fruits tarts.
Okay. Therein lies the problem as to make the shortcrust pastry ain’t easy and to make 50… well I need time. So I asked somebody else to make the pasta bake, the easiest one on the menu.
Second problem, price.
Ha ha… I don’t even know the amount of ingredients needed to master this feat let alone the prices ! Thirty people requires 5 kg of minced beef for lasagna ? What about the chicken pie ? Is 1 whole chicken enough ? Luckily Bei came to the house to learn making cottage pie the week before so I used that as a basis.
But still I was riddled with doubt.
While seriously not knowing if my raw material calculations was even remotely adequate, I just ploughed on and quoted a price. That after going around Giant and Tesco with a long list to jot down the price of each ingredient first. It looked so bloody expensive when I sms-ed it to her, I winced. Ayoyo… the food had better be good, okay. And enough for 30 people as aku pakai taram aje…. Minced meat banyak ni, ayam banyak ni, ntah apa-apa banyak ni. Yang aku confident is the tart because she specifically asked for 50 pieces.
Friday, my day started after work. Swung by Tesco Extra and bought loads and loads and loads of minced beef. Plus other stuffs. Got home and started preparing before going off to Tesco for stuffs that I couldn’t get at Tesco Extra. I really do not know what the Extra was for as Extra it was defintely not.
Made the sauce for lasagna and the chicken filling for the pie. Hmm…. After that is done, I took out the aluminuim foil pan and tried to see if it is enough for 1 or 2 pans. I then turned my attention to the tartlets.
Saturday is the day of reckoning. I still send the maid away as she wouldn’t know what to do anyway. Replaced her with my sister and was very relieved when mum came to assist. Kamil also took leave. Wonderful, wonderful boy.
I started with the béchamel sauce first and that was the first thing that went wrong. I love mushrooms and over did it a bit with the fungi and therefore the sauce tasted like mushroom soup. Woopsy !
Took out the rest of the minced to thaw while I prepared the pastry for the pie. Sungguh I was so shocked as 2 ekor ayam can only fit in 1 pan. 2 ekor !! Hmmm….. I have no time to make some more and besides the price that I quoted was all used up for that one pie. I sweated a bit at the thought of the lasagnas so I started layering it up first. Hmmm…. I got to 2 pans worth.
So… lasagna is cheaper than the chicken pie then.
Second thing that went wrong happened when I fried the minced for the cottage pie. I don’t know if you could relate to this but it just smelt too beefy. Even my mom looked inside the huge wok to see what was wrong. Hmmm…. discussed and agreed that I cannot risk the health of my clients so my sister was dispatched to get fresher beef. And she came back with frozen beef that made me cry once because of its tastelessness.
All the fresh ones were gone, apparently. Ah… today is the day when the entire damn minced beef in Shah Alam laku. Everybody and their aunty are stocking up on minced beef. Discussed again and agreed tastelessness can be repaired but sakit perutness can result in a lawsuit. I fought valiantly to cajole the beefy taste out and eventhough my mum and my sister said it turned out okay, I was disappointed. Tak baca Bismillah ka aku pagi-pagi tadi ?
By 3, my sister was mashing the potatoes and Kamil hampaq tikaq on the kitchen floor to pipe the custard and chocolate filling for the tarts. Strawberries for the chocolate and blueberries for the custard. Kamil did a good job as it was neat and oh so cute. I started baking everything at 3.30 and at 5.10, my client was at the front gate. The cottage pie was still browning in the oven.
Sigh…
I wasn’t prepared for today because sleep has not left my body yet. It is hovering around, especially around my eyes and my mouth, which kept opening to emit oxygen into the brain.
Yawn…
There I go again.
So it is Monday huh ? Well then I have to tell you about my weekend, even if it was a boring one. But my last weekend was definitely not.
A good friend of mine, one that I have been friends with since we were 5 asked me to cater for her party. Errk !
When I was living in sek 7, I did that a lot. All of my clients (tu dia… clients tuh) only ever asked for 1-2 dishes. Usually a pan of lasagna or cottage pie. Or my beef casserole. Or meatball pasta bake. Cream caramel, orange caramel, normal butter cake or trifles are popular when it comes to desserts. Although a lot demanded cream puffs but because to make them is quite difficult, I usually mengelak but I did make them for close friends.
Nevertheless I have never been asked to cater for 30 people all on my own. People usually ordered from me to compliment their main dishes, but to cater for the whole party ?
Aku terduduk kejap sebab panic.
She ordered lasagna, chicken pie, cottage pie and one pasta bake. For desserts, trifle.
It seemed a lot and I was quite scared. But I was rather intrigued too, I must say. So I kept on talking to her. Okay, lasagna minced beef, cottage pie minced beef so the pasta bake must be without beef. So I suggested penne sausage bake.
Trifle aku suka sebab senang. In my head I planned the normal fruit trifle with custards and strawberry jelly. Plus my favourite blackforest trifle which I haven’t made in a long time. The blackforest trifle is truly decadent okay. We start of with chocolate sponge at the bottom layer, then black cherries on top, swiftly followed by chocolate custard and finally a layer of light mascarpone cheese.
Yummm….
Walaupun seram-seram because I haven’t a clue how to do it, I told her that since the party is at 8, I will prepare the food and she will bake it at her home. However and this is a very big however, they are having the party at a rented apartment with no oven even a micromave in it.
Errr…..
So I scoured my recipe books and had a long hard think but I could think of nothing that would taste nice after being cooked at 5 pm and consumed 3 hours after that. Especially with baked food, if not eaten immediately some would turn soggy and some would be dry.
I was in two minds about it as I am not expert enough to put all the problems into consideration and incorporate them in my food, ie. the ones that would be soggy I should make them dryer and those that would be dry, well… I’d have to make them soggier… he he… Kalau nak, mee kari boleh lah… Nasi goreng ke ? He he…
I told her so, fearing my cooking would fail me and her, but she still wants me to do it. And seriously I do not need much persuasion as I do love to cook so I said yes. She must have read my blog, the naughty girl as she changed the dessert menu from trifles to fruits tarts.
Okay. Therein lies the problem as to make the shortcrust pastry ain’t easy and to make 50… well I need time. So I asked somebody else to make the pasta bake, the easiest one on the menu.
Second problem, price.
Ha ha… I don’t even know the amount of ingredients needed to master this feat let alone the prices ! Thirty people requires 5 kg of minced beef for lasagna ? What about the chicken pie ? Is 1 whole chicken enough ? Luckily Bei came to the house to learn making cottage pie the week before so I used that as a basis.
But still I was riddled with doubt.
While seriously not knowing if my raw material calculations was even remotely adequate, I just ploughed on and quoted a price. That after going around Giant and Tesco with a long list to jot down the price of each ingredient first. It looked so bloody expensive when I sms-ed it to her, I winced. Ayoyo… the food had better be good, okay. And enough for 30 people as aku pakai taram aje…. Minced meat banyak ni, ayam banyak ni, ntah apa-apa banyak ni. Yang aku confident is the tart because she specifically asked for 50 pieces.
Friday, my day started after work. Swung by Tesco Extra and bought loads and loads and loads of minced beef. Plus other stuffs. Got home and started preparing before going off to Tesco for stuffs that I couldn’t get at Tesco Extra. I really do not know what the Extra was for as Extra it was defintely not.
Made the sauce for lasagna and the chicken filling for the pie. Hmm…. After that is done, I took out the aluminuim foil pan and tried to see if it is enough for 1 or 2 pans. I then turned my attention to the tartlets.
Saturday is the day of reckoning. I still send the maid away as she wouldn’t know what to do anyway. Replaced her with my sister and was very relieved when mum came to assist. Kamil also took leave. Wonderful, wonderful boy.
I started with the béchamel sauce first and that was the first thing that went wrong. I love mushrooms and over did it a bit with the fungi and therefore the sauce tasted like mushroom soup. Woopsy !
Took out the rest of the minced to thaw while I prepared the pastry for the pie. Sungguh I was so shocked as 2 ekor ayam can only fit in 1 pan. 2 ekor !! Hmmm….. I have no time to make some more and besides the price that I quoted was all used up for that one pie. I sweated a bit at the thought of the lasagnas so I started layering it up first. Hmmm…. I got to 2 pans worth.
So… lasagna is cheaper than the chicken pie then.
Second thing that went wrong happened when I fried the minced for the cottage pie. I don’t know if you could relate to this but it just smelt too beefy. Even my mom looked inside the huge wok to see what was wrong. Hmmm…. discussed and agreed that I cannot risk the health of my clients so my sister was dispatched to get fresher beef. And she came back with frozen beef that made me cry once because of its tastelessness.
All the fresh ones were gone, apparently. Ah… today is the day when the entire damn minced beef in Shah Alam laku. Everybody and their aunty are stocking up on minced beef. Discussed again and agreed tastelessness can be repaired but sakit perutness can result in a lawsuit. I fought valiantly to cajole the beefy taste out and eventhough my mum and my sister said it turned out okay, I was disappointed. Tak baca Bismillah ka aku pagi-pagi tadi ?
By 3, my sister was mashing the potatoes and Kamil hampaq tikaq on the kitchen floor to pipe the custard and chocolate filling for the tarts. Strawberries for the chocolate and blueberries for the custard. Kamil did a good job as it was neat and oh so cute. I started baking everything at 3.30 and at 5.10, my client was at the front gate. The cottage pie was still browning in the oven.
Kelam kabut sikit when Kamil managed to house only half of the tarts. "You beli tak cukup..." he said accusingly. Mana mungkin, I thought, as I tore down the house looking for the plastic packagings for the tarts. I remember buying 20 pieces. When I returned to the kitchen empty handed and half crazy, I heard my sister and my mom laughing and saw my husband grinning at them while separating the double layer from each packaging. Buang masa !!!!!!!!
I have to agree that the house smelt heavenly. E**y and his wife who came to pick up the food commented on the lovely smell, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the sight of the cute tarts, but I waved them goodbye with knotted stomach anyway. My sister turned the earlier beef with the suspicious smell into cottage pie for our own consumption. She didn’t want to waste so I just let her. We ate it and well…. nothing happened. Maybe.. and this is just a big maybe, lembu tu tak mandi kot…. Hmmm….
By 6 I was so darn hungry but there was nothing to eat except the tarts. And that was when I remembered about the food that was sent to my by an angel pukul 11.30 pagi tadi. The angel (hang jangan kembang, satgi jadi belon susah nak tangkap) said she knew I would be too busy to cook while cooking (he he……) and was she right. I was too hungry beyond words so while waiting for our own cottage pie to brown in the oven, kami anak beranak shared the fried macaroni. Yumm ! Thank you….
It was hard to pry open my eyes Sunday morning but we had to as the kids had to be sent to their tennis class. Fetched my mom and drove to pasar (Bei now I understand why you called it Pasar Meru because the name is Pasar Besar Jalan Meru). Kamil ordered us to get in and get out of the extremely dirty and watery and urgghh pasar quickly because the stench that very day was unbearable.
I tried making butter prawns for lunch with little success. The hard part, which was the egg floss, was quite a good first attempt (he he…) on my part, but the actual udang didn’t turn up like the ones I paid for. I fried small bawal-like fish which was a big mistake because Umar was still at the table long after us 3 settled on the sofa to watch the telly. How long ? Well about an hour because we managed to watch 2 sitcoms.
I opened the fridge to be greeted by now empty Tupperware of leftovers tarts. Looked at my family and my husband gave me a sheepish grin coupled with his very flared nostrils, guilty of scoffing down the whole lot (there were like 10 pieces) the night before. He, at that very moment, was dunking strawberries into the chocolate creams, resolutely ignoring Adik's “Bah ! Give me the whole box !”, while waving her spoon angrily.
Tak reti kenyang dia orang ni. We then settled upstairs to watch The Ugly Truth and then Taken. I do not know why I always get a botched Taken CD. This is the third attempt to watch the damn movie. Hissh !
I settled to read instead and promptly heard my husband snoring. By 6.30 he was still making horrible, horrible noises so I went to fetch Neti and singgah beli dinner for the kids. On the way home, dear husband called and demanded of my whereabouts. Panic pun kan… Janji nak pegi ambik Neti, last-last aku pi sorang. Hampeh sungguh.
When I got home, ada hati dia kata, “La… I kan kata nak bagi budak-budak makan nasi ayam…Awat you beli ni ?” Hiiii… banyak lah songeh so aku bagi dia cubitan yang tak manja langsung untuk memuaskan hati.
We got ready and by 8 Noreen came knocking on the door. We drove to Kokopelli to celebrate her birthday. Ian was joining us from Putrajaya. The food was good, I have to say and I really recommend it. The owners, a Malay artist whose name I have forgotten, turned a small bungalow into a restaurant and the ambiance I have to say, is wonderful.
We raced home because we have 2 Man U fans with us and so Noreen and Kamil settled on the sofa to yell at Liverpool. I went up to pray then went down for awhile and talked to Ian a bit before remembering that I have an sms to answer and went up again.
Tiba-tiba dah pagi.
Ha ha… sorry Noreen and Ian.
Tapi yang bestnya, this morning when I went into the kitchen, and saw the bread tray was filled to the brim again. Ha ha.. nampaknya ada orang pergi kedai sorang-sorang…. Tulah….
Ya Allah Ya Tuhan ku… panjangnya….
Friday, October 23, 2009
My attempt to dispense advice on child rearing... Ha ha
Sometime during this week, I had a conversation with a friend during lunch time about this and that.
I like her, I really do but aku a bit bosan sebab she likes to talk about her children a trifle too much. Of course I do not mind listening to her stories, but since as time goes by, her children's milestones resembled that of Clark Kent, aku tension gak.
But as Dan always said to me, dengar sajalah. Tak larat, don’t go out with her anymore.
Sure, sure.
The other thing yang aku a bit tak larat is her penchant to criticize other people’s parenting as oppose to hers. Anak Superman, mak Jor-El lah kan… Hmmm……..
Plus her children are oh-so perfect, nobody can say or do anything. Dia cakap pasai anak orang takpa, siap bagi nasihat lagi. Tapi kalau pasai anak dia, baru nak ambik napaih, telinga dia dah berdesing dulu. He he.... terrible ain’t it ? Me that is… As… right now I am about to do something I really dislike about her. But of course, aku buat di belakang takbir. Ampun.
It was a bit shocking listening to this story because she had always liked to paint ridiculously glossy pictures about her family, telling me about her daughter being kicked out of the clever class seemed a bit surreal. Maybe she was pissed off so she had for that one moment, let her guard down.
Probably. Hmmm…
Anyway, as I already and should know her daughter is a bloody gifted 10 year old and is in the advanced class. However recently she was asked to change class because the teacher feels the daughter could not cope with fast paced learning and would fare much better in the second class.
This is what she said, “Mana boleh anak aku masuk kelas bodoh ! Aku yang paling banyak menyumbang kat PIBG, senang-senang aje nak tolak anak aku pegi kelas bodoh….Banyak tau aku bagi kat PIBG. Ada cikgu cakap aku penyumbang paling banyak dalam sejarah sekolah ! Dia orang tak boleh buat macam tu kat aku !”
Pulak.
I like her, I really do but aku a bit bosan sebab she likes to talk about her children a trifle too much. Of course I do not mind listening to her stories, but since as time goes by, her children's milestones resembled that of Clark Kent, aku tension gak.
But as Dan always said to me, dengar sajalah. Tak larat, don’t go out with her anymore.
Sure, sure.
The other thing yang aku a bit tak larat is her penchant to criticize other people’s parenting as oppose to hers. Anak Superman, mak Jor-El lah kan… Hmmm……..
Plus her children are oh-so perfect, nobody can say or do anything. Dia cakap pasai anak orang takpa, siap bagi nasihat lagi. Tapi kalau pasai anak dia, baru nak ambik napaih, telinga dia dah berdesing dulu. He he.... terrible ain’t it ? Me that is… As… right now I am about to do something I really dislike about her. But of course, aku buat di belakang takbir. Ampun.
It was a bit shocking listening to this story because she had always liked to paint ridiculously glossy pictures about her family, telling me about her daughter being kicked out of the clever class seemed a bit surreal. Maybe she was pissed off so she had for that one moment, let her guard down.
Probably. Hmmm…
Anyway, as I already and should know her daughter is a bloody gifted 10 year old and is in the advanced class. However recently she was asked to change class because the teacher feels the daughter could not cope with fast paced learning and would fare much better in the second class.
This is what she said, “Mana boleh anak aku masuk kelas bodoh ! Aku yang paling banyak menyumbang kat PIBG, senang-senang aje nak tolak anak aku pegi kelas bodoh….Banyak tau aku bagi kat PIBG. Ada cikgu cakap aku penyumbang paling banyak dalam sejarah sekolah ! Dia orang tak boleh buat macam tu kat aku !”
Pulak.
Hmmm....
Okay.
In my dream, this is what I told her.
Eventhough my son is not stupendously clever as yours but he is the advanced class too. However if he is ever kicked out, I will ask him first. If his studies are suffering due to his laziness, I would get angry (Tunjuk baik... sesungguhnya aku akan marah tanpa usul periksa dulu… Naik hantu dulu, ask questions later). But if he said his teachers teach too fast and he couldn't understand his lessons, then it is better for him to move to a slower class to have better understanding of the subjects. He is not ready to move on to a new topic, but his mates are .. do you think the teacher would stop for him ? And thefore, apart from past lessons that he couldn't make heads and tails of, he has to learn new things ? By the end of the year he will be totally swamped and left behind. There will be too many for him to catch up on.
By forcing your daughter to stay in an advanced class, her studies could really suffer. What is more important ? Your pride or her studies ? Plus, if I am not mistaken, something I caught during her spates of bragging, there are about 4-5 classes of Year 4, so it does not look like second class is kelas bodoh. Plus... err... they are not doing anything to YOU but to your daughter. Why is this about you ?
Of course, I can’t say that well because first she was so fired up, I fear she will be spewing fireballs if I open my mouth. And I did have my favourite tudung on. Plus, well if she had been talking about clothes or some other stuffs I would have given her my opinion. But since we are talking about her children and she is very, very sensitive on that subject, well… I chose to save myself.
And therefore I dispensed my 2 cents worth via my blog that she doesn’t know existed.
Hopefully.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Weekend baru-baru ni...
Okeh… what did I do during my recent weekend ?
Jumaat my colleagues and friends came for raya. I made mee kari and baked penne meatballs (I know my guests would be expecting pasta and I had to have a long hard think of the pastas that I have yet to make for my friends). Kamil loves my chocolate tarts so I made those. I found some strawberry chocolates so I turned half of the chocolate cream to strawberry. What a waste as it wasn’t good. It was so horribly pink, even dressing it up with plump strawberries didn’t diminish its garish pinkiness.
Jumaat my colleagues and friends came for raya. I made mee kari and baked penne meatballs (I know my guests would be expecting pasta and I had to have a long hard think of the pastas that I have yet to make for my friends). Kamil loves my chocolate tarts so I made those. I found some strawberry chocolates so I turned half of the chocolate cream to strawberry. What a waste as it wasn’t good. It was so horribly pink, even dressing it up with plump strawberries didn’t diminish its garish pinkiness.
What do you think, Um ? Do you think she will notice if I take one chocolate tart ? They are my absolute favourite.
So what do I do with the rest of the strawberry chocolate ? Hmmmm… That to be talked about later.
Made blueberry cheesecake walaupun aku bosan giler dengan blueberry cheesecake. I want to try strawberry next.
Oh of course cok udang with kuah kacang. I love those. Aku selalu buat tak jadi macam mak aku buat tapi Neti and I really gave our full concentration when we make the batter, deep in discussion while feeling the batter with our hands and then VOILA ! Jadik okay. Kalau orang tengok kami, mesti depa ingat kami tengah nak operate orang.
Sam, Farah and her cute baby Farrel arrived first. Then Zurina came in her motorcycle. Ian next. Then Eja and her family came. Terima kasih, no… mai rumah aku. And then the rest trickled in one by one.
Sam and Farah. Amelia and family on the way. And my very pink strawberry tarts far right.
Terlupa nak ambik gambaq mak pak, nasib baik anak aku tangkap gambaq anak2nya.
They will be classmates come next school term. Amazing isn't it ? Adik tu boring kat sebelah... sian dia.
My friends.
We had a good time talking as the guests tak ramai so I do not really have to spread myself thin. I have learnt my lesson and that is why this year we opened our house more than once. Especially when my friends came, I can have a nice, leisure talk.
The kids played football and after kena marah, naik atas to play whatever. Min and Farid went home for awhile before coming back to sambung bersembang. Jubei tak dapat mai sebab it was her last mengaji class. Sheik tak mai because dia kata dia kena jaga Mohamad yang tiduq although bini dia kata dia kejut tapi orang tu tak buleh bukak mata. He he…
Noreen came at about 11 after her dinner at the Curve. 12 am/pm, everybody made their move except for Ian and Noreen who stayed until 1.45 am.
Tiduq.
Bangun pagi it was Deepavali so no classes for the kids. 11.30 I opened cottage pie cooking class for 1 student only, my darling Jubei… He he… It was really fun as apart from the talking, teaching her was very rewarding because she was a good student and very, very appreciative.
Why I say that ? Sebabnya pernah sekali this one lady asked me cara-cara nak masak nasi ayam. Bukan resepi okay, but cara-cara. After that, I went off somewhere and then I remembered that I had forgotten to explain making the chillie sauce. I went back to see her again late afternoon, ready with apologies and the recipe at the tip of my tongue when she got defensive for some reason and went."Ni.. dah buat dah ! Dah buat sendiri dah !” She disappeared and came back with a pot of her own sauce, showing me the contents proudly.
No need for me to explain lah. I know you can guess her intentions already. I do not want any recognition, cuma jangan tiba-tiba naik sombong, wanting to proove that she too knows how to cook. Kalau dah tahu, tanya aku buat apa minah ? Aku pulak rasa bangang.
So anyway, we didn’t do anything the rest of the day. Duduk rumah saja, eating the leftovers.
Sunday morning Mummy came over to cook nasi ayam. He he… kebetulan saja okay. It was nice, Mum’s nasi ayam. Kamil had 3 huge helpings. But at 2, his sister called asking him to tapau food from their mom’s. Apparently they had a makan-makan. Kamil went up to bathe, I waited and waited and after like 1 hour, went to check only to find him sound asleep. He has been a bit tired the whole week so I just let him be. Sambung makan nasi ayam for dinner and then tidur.
This is the male hamster that has been separated from the female and her many, many babies. Apparently the males eat their youngs. Hmmm... No lah, I wasn't thinking about it. Barbaric I am not.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
My weekend … 2minggu sudah... bukan baru2 ni... He he
Ha.. sorry. Was waiting for the pictures. I know, same ol’ excuse but it is true… Sampai sekarang gambaq masih tak dapat sebab aku pinjam camera adik aku.... So ceritalah keluaq dulu na...
Saturday Kamil invited his staffs over for Raya. I seized the opportunity to invite my ex-colleagues too. Therefore, Friday was already a very busy day.
Pasar malam, then Subang Parade then home. Mummy cooked all the main courses as I, as always, dealt with the desserts. Should have taken the pics of the food, kan ? Made the tartlets, then the chocolate cream for them. Mum was busy with the kuah kacang and the sambal ikan bilis and the bumbu for rendang. I rebus ketupat.
Saturday morning rushed to pasar then started toiling. Made the cheese mixure for the tarts then the custards then left the choux pastry for last. I like people eating my cream (or more appropriately custard) puffs while they are still hot.
Luckily Kak Ra and Jit from my last outfit, came when the first batch of the cream puffs were ready. The table was groaning with chocolate cream tarts, creamed cheese tarts, cream puffs, my mom’s amazing nasi lemak plus all its condiments, ketupat, rendang and breathtaking kuah kacang. Selagi tak penuh meja, aku tak puas hati.
Slowly people trickled in. I haven’t seen most of my ex-colleagues for a long time so I felt very honoured that they had wanted to come.
Kamil's colleagues showed their faces by 4. Ian lead the way. And his son. My friends from school, Wan Rita came with her children, with Johan in tow. While I was busy catching up with them, my mom came to me excitedly, “CP Kamil ! Hamsters ko beranak !!”
What ?
Excuse me, but WHAT ?
WHAT ?
A crowd had gathered in the kitchen as I made my way through, watching the female hamster doing the most yucky natural thing on earth. Trust me, it wasn’t a beautiful experience. She was frantically moving about and pushing all her bedding to one side of the cage while 2 of her very pink and hairless babies squealed and wriggled about. As I looked on, with I am very sure a horrified look on my face, I saw what looked like a pink tail underneath her. She was dragging the tail along, while she busied herself with God only knows what.
“I think she is letting out another one !” I said semi-hysterically. I am very proud of the fact that I managed to stay somewhat calm (hence the semi-hysterics) since we had guests. I know I would have gone ape-like if it was just us at home.
Ian’s son was the happiest as he was the one who first to notice them babies. He approached my mom and said, “The baby hamster is very cute..”
And my mom went, “No… they are just small… That is their normal size…”
And he went, “No, it’s a baby !”
My mom who at that point thought nothing much of it asked, “Okay, how many are there in the cage ?”
“Three !” and barulah mak aku melompat.
I need not say how rude I think that particular hamster is, making a spectacle of herself masa orang dok ramai-ramai.. In actual truth is… I was gelidotcom. That is right. Geli geleman. Urgghhhh….
After the crowd dispersed (read : went home), I packed the leftovers and sent it around to my friends, with Dan and Ian of course, leaving our children watching the telly. When I got home, I looked at the many, many hamsters in despair as.. well what am I to do with all of them ? Bukannya boleh makan pun. Kalau anak ayam tu, I could fatten them a bit and wait for them to grow before sharpening my parang. Or I could start collecting eggs pagi-pagi starting from next year.
But ini hamsters !!
Hamsters !!
Bulu adalah.
Do you know they could not be spayed or neutered ? I mean, What The … ? During this very, very modern times with advanced technologies being created and found every single day, we cannot find a way to control the population of hamsters ?
Really ?
Nobody shouted Eureka yet ?
Okay, no point going crazy now. Seriously.
Woke up in the morning after a tiring day only to be slapped with a bad news. There are 7 baby hamsters all in all, announced my husband.
??????
There were like 4 yesterday. Mana datang ramai-ramai ni ? Counted myself but only got up to 6.
The kids said there are only 5.
What the…. Sigh.
I need to calm down.
Didn’t succeed though as the tell tale signs of a migraine that crept in while I helplessly looked at the hamsters, became a full blown one. Took a couple of panadols and was transported to Dream Land in mere minutes. Woke up with a start as remembered neighbour’s open house to attend (we missed it) and Dessert Rose’s invitation to hers. Promised to make some rostis for her but since I was drugged to REM, filled an empty jam jar with some homemade chocolate fudge and presented it to the hostess. Sorry, okeh bebeh.
DR made cucoq udang which is my favourite, meehoom soup and a lovely multi coloured butter cake. Kamalia and her family was busy eating when we arrived. So I sat down for a chat with my friends while my head was still hazy from the pain.
Then…. Jeng, jeng, jeng…. Ha ha… ! I was about to leave DR’s house when she announced Kak Ezza from Salam Dari Kelang dah sampai ! Seriously rasa macam nak jumpa celebrity punya seronok.
And she didn’t disappoint people. We hugged and laughed and I was introduced to her darling daughters. So nice, so warm… As I walked outside, caught a glimpse of Kak Kay of Kay_Leeda. He he…. Bloggers’ day…
Went home, and had a rest as you know what ? The bummer of it all ? Monday is a working day.
Sigh…..
Saturday Kamil invited his staffs over for Raya. I seized the opportunity to invite my ex-colleagues too. Therefore, Friday was already a very busy day.
Pasar malam, then Subang Parade then home. Mummy cooked all the main courses as I, as always, dealt with the desserts. Should have taken the pics of the food, kan ? Made the tartlets, then the chocolate cream for them. Mum was busy with the kuah kacang and the sambal ikan bilis and the bumbu for rendang. I rebus ketupat.
Saturday morning rushed to pasar then started toiling. Made the cheese mixure for the tarts then the custards then left the choux pastry for last. I like people eating my cream (or more appropriately custard) puffs while they are still hot.
Luckily Kak Ra and Jit from my last outfit, came when the first batch of the cream puffs were ready. The table was groaning with chocolate cream tarts, creamed cheese tarts, cream puffs, my mom’s amazing nasi lemak plus all its condiments, ketupat, rendang and breathtaking kuah kacang. Selagi tak penuh meja, aku tak puas hati.
Slowly people trickled in. I haven’t seen most of my ex-colleagues for a long time so I felt very honoured that they had wanted to come.
Kamil's colleagues showed their faces by 4. Ian lead the way. And his son. My friends from school, Wan Rita came with her children, with Johan in tow. While I was busy catching up with them, my mom came to me excitedly, “CP Kamil ! Hamsters ko beranak !!”
What ?
Excuse me, but WHAT ?
WHAT ?
A crowd had gathered in the kitchen as I made my way through, watching the female hamster doing the most yucky natural thing on earth. Trust me, it wasn’t a beautiful experience. She was frantically moving about and pushing all her bedding to one side of the cage while 2 of her very pink and hairless babies squealed and wriggled about. As I looked on, with I am very sure a horrified look on my face, I saw what looked like a pink tail underneath her. She was dragging the tail along, while she busied herself with God only knows what.
“I think she is letting out another one !” I said semi-hysterically. I am very proud of the fact that I managed to stay somewhat calm (hence the semi-hysterics) since we had guests. I know I would have gone ape-like if it was just us at home.
Ian’s son was the happiest as he was the one who first to notice them babies. He approached my mom and said, “The baby hamster is very cute..”
And my mom went, “No… they are just small… That is their normal size…”
And he went, “No, it’s a baby !”
My mom who at that point thought nothing much of it asked, “Okay, how many are there in the cage ?”
“Three !” and barulah mak aku melompat.
I need not say how rude I think that particular hamster is, making a spectacle of herself masa orang dok ramai-ramai.. In actual truth is… I was gelidotcom. That is right. Geli geleman. Urgghhhh….
After the crowd dispersed (read : went home), I packed the leftovers and sent it around to my friends, with Dan and Ian of course, leaving our children watching the telly. When I got home, I looked at the many, many hamsters in despair as.. well what am I to do with all of them ? Bukannya boleh makan pun. Kalau anak ayam tu, I could fatten them a bit and wait for them to grow before sharpening my parang. Or I could start collecting eggs pagi-pagi starting from next year.
But ini hamsters !!
Hamsters !!
Bulu adalah.
Do you know they could not be spayed or neutered ? I mean, What The … ? During this very, very modern times with advanced technologies being created and found every single day, we cannot find a way to control the population of hamsters ?
Really ?
Nobody shouted Eureka yet ?
Okay, no point going crazy now. Seriously.
Woke up in the morning after a tiring day only to be slapped with a bad news. There are 7 baby hamsters all in all, announced my husband.
??????
There were like 4 yesterday. Mana datang ramai-ramai ni ? Counted myself but only got up to 6.
The kids said there are only 5.
What the…. Sigh.
I need to calm down.
Didn’t succeed though as the tell tale signs of a migraine that crept in while I helplessly looked at the hamsters, became a full blown one. Took a couple of panadols and was transported to Dream Land in mere minutes. Woke up with a start as remembered neighbour’s open house to attend (we missed it) and Dessert Rose’s invitation to hers. Promised to make some rostis for her but since I was drugged to REM, filled an empty jam jar with some homemade chocolate fudge and presented it to the hostess. Sorry, okeh bebeh.
DR made cucoq udang which is my favourite, meehoom soup and a lovely multi coloured butter cake. Kamalia and her family was busy eating when we arrived. So I sat down for a chat with my friends while my head was still hazy from the pain.
Then…. Jeng, jeng, jeng…. Ha ha… ! I was about to leave DR’s house when she announced Kak Ezza from Salam Dari Kelang dah sampai ! Seriously rasa macam nak jumpa celebrity punya seronok.
And she didn’t disappoint people. We hugged and laughed and I was introduced to her darling daughters. So nice, so warm… As I walked outside, caught a glimpse of Kak Kay of Kay_Leeda. He he…. Bloggers’ day…
Went home, and had a rest as you know what ? The bummer of it all ? Monday is a working day.
Sigh…..
Monday, October 19, 2009
AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH !
Okeh… forget about my boring description about my weekend as aku tengah super duper angin sekarang.
AAAARGGHHHHH !!!
The story goes like this. As you know, my mother has a cook that has been working with her for the past 15 years. And apart from cooking, she also played a hand finding most of our maids for us. Plus for our close friends and families.
The charges are cheap as there is no middleman to pay. Tak mahal pun aku kena gak RM 3000 when I took Neti. Some of my friends too have enlisted Kak M’s help via my mom. And my mom had been happily helping my friends with the nitty gritty of dealing with immigration because her frequency of taking cooks and maids for herself and her own friends and families have garnered her the experience and the ways and the hows. It also kept her up-to-date with the current rules and regulations.
My mother had never taken any money for herself because she is not an agent. She doesn’t want to be because she does not want the responsibility that comes with it. Maid jahat ke, lari ke atau apa-apa ke… She doesn’t know these people and kalau dia ambik duit that she would feel responsible.
Aku pun kalau ada orang nak, I would explain that we are not agents but we are willing to help. Therefore you need to deal with immigration yourself and we have no guarantee that the person you get will be good. Kalau lari pun, we cannot help.
Sanggup ?
Okay, then I will call my mom and my mom will call Kak M.
Tak sanggup, then we part ways here lah…
Anyway, hari tu a lady called me up and asked if I can help her. She got my number form her officemate, whose wife was my ex-colleague. She needed a maid badly because she is planning to send back her current maid back to the agent that very night. Reason being ? Well macam-macalah perkara yang tak enak didengar. Aku pun seram.
Punyalah merayu nak maid masuk sebelum raya, aku call Kak M straight away. She said she would do her best sebab bulan puasa kan… Susah sikit. Dia pun kesian bila aku ceritalah benda-benda tak best yang kak Kiah (bukan nama sebenar) bagitau kat aku.
Dalam dua tiga hari dok exchange calls, it transpired that she paid her agent about RM 6-7 ribu. I urged her to get her money back. Full. But agent cuma bagi dalam RM 3 – 4 if I am not mistaken. I told her she needs memo keluar kalau tak immigration would not approve her application, and the agent slashed a further RM 1500 for it, sedangkan memo keluar is free.
Okaylah. But when she showed my mother the memo keluar (this after she said she do not know how to isi the borang so I sent her to my mom), it was a different one. One that my mom had never seen. My mom urged them to check with immigration and you know what, in immigration’s system, she is listed as without a maid. So, maksudnya the maid that was at her home was actually not hers. Or even worse, an illegal.
Dah sah kena tipu kan ?
Buatnya pulak 2-3 days after talking to me, so said she still need to discuss with her husband and asked me not to proceed pulak. Kelam kabut aku call Kak M to ask her to halt the process but unfortunately, the agent over there dah bertenggek kat Medan dah. He had found a person and was already in Medan to do her passport and what nots.
Berpeluh-peluh aku ngan Kak M sebab once dia hantar biodata , he would want a deposit and eventually his RM 3500. Kalau minah yang beria dok memujuk merayu kat aku sebelum ni tiba-tiba kata tak nak, aku nak buat apa ngan biodata tu ?
Aku bukannya agent. Kalau agent tak kisah jugaklah, I can still use it for my other clients. Tapi aku ni buat atas orang mintak tolong, itu satu je orang yang ndak pembantu rumah at that time.. so kat mana aku nak jaja bio tu pulak ?
Aku memang panic sebab agent belah sana tu a bit garang. Furthermore we need to maintain a good relationship dengan dia for our own future need. Mana tahu maid mumy kak Idah nak berenti ke nanti. Plus Neti pernah bagitau aku she only wants to work for 2 years as she wants to get married. So kalau agent kat sebelah sana tu bengang dengan kita orang, sapa yang nak tolong buat passport untuk orang baru nanti ?
Aku memang tak tidur malam. Luckily she called a few days after that and said she wants the maid after all. Earlier, when she called me the first time, I told her I would be needing a deposit of RM 1500. But she only gave RM 1000. So my MOM paid the RM 500 with her own money.
Lepas tu dia dok merayu-rayu kan nak sebelum Raya kan ? That is what we told the agent. But after 1 week the bio sampai, borang masih tak berisi. By that time, the agent kat Indon dah memekak sebab he wants his money plus dia takut maid tu karang boring menunggu, pi ikut agent lain.
Ding dong ding dong… Dah dekat nak raya pun nothing is ready. Meanwhile, agent kat Indon mengamuk sakan sebab kata hari tu nak cepat sangat, so mamat tu pun kelam kabut pi cari orang, tapi sampai nan la apa pun tarak kan… Kak M berendam ayaq mata sebab itu orang kampong dia jugak. So, last-last mak aku dulukan duit dia lagi.
Finally, minggu lepas budak tu sampai. And Kak Kiah ni mai ambik Sabtu baru ni after 2-3 days budak tu dok rumah kak M. Bila dia mai, mak aku mintak RM 40. Sebabnya feri depa delayed lepas tu bila immigration lepaih kan, dah pukui 2 pagi. Selalunya Kak M akan bawak naik komuter aje, tapi pukui 2 pagi mana ada komuter ? So terpaksa lah Kak M ni naik teksi. Itu yang extra RM 40.
Hangpa tau ? Dia bising. Dia kata aku janji RM 3500 aje and kenapa ada extra charges. Bila mak aku explain dia kata dia pun buleh pi tunggu sampai pukui 2 pagi tapi sebabnya anak dia demam dia tak pi.
Habih tu awat hang tak pi ? Orang yang kenal dengan mak aku, tahu mak aku jarang marah orang. Tapi hari tu mak aku punya mendidih tengok kak Kiah ni tiba-tiba naik sombong, mak aku tengking balik. Terkebil-kebil pekerja mak aku tengok majikannya mengamuk sebab mak aku tak pernah mengamuk. Marah pun jarang.
Minah tu dah kena tipu beribu-ribu, haram dia tak buat apa. Mak aku suruh report kat immgration pun dia tak mau. Tapi sabit RM40, bukan untuk suka-suka, tapi menyenangkan dia pun dia buleh kurang ajaq. Macam-macam lah dia kata, malaih aku nak cerita tang ni. Whatever it is, cukuplah untuk buat mak aku yang selalunya cool and collected and jarang marah, teruih naik angin, and of course aku turut serta (aku tak dak tang tu… bila mak aku call aku mendidih jugak lah).
Masa dok hangat tu, mak aku terlupa pasai passport maid tu, so mak aku mintak lah kat Kak M. Uihhh… hangpa tau dia kata apa ? “Mari sini passport tu biar saya pegang…” . Laa… tak dak sapa nak pegang passport tu lah… Berlagak.. Bak kata kawan aku yang bagi phone number aku kat dia, “Mentang-mentang dah dapat… berlagak…”
Aku sungguh heran tak terkata. Sebelum ni punyalah baik, berterima kasih memanjang. Pembantu dah mai, jadik lain pulak. Akhir sekali mak aku kata kat dia, “Saya dah tak mahu berurusan dengan awak lagi…”
Lepas tu dia dengan angkuhnya jawab, “Saya pun tak nak berurusan dengan kakak lagi…”
Pastu mak aku jawab, “There is no reason why we should…” Pastu mak aku belah. Dia ada pesan dengan Kak M, dia pesan maaf dia dengan mummy but my mom said NO ! I will not forgive her. Mak aku ada cakap ngan pompuan itu, “sebab awak… saya dah tak nak tolong orang lain dah…”
Ialah, mak aku banyak tolong. Depa mai rumah 2 kali untuk isi borang. Mak aku satu sen pun tak mintak. Dia buat atas ehsan. Tapi kalau dah macam ni… buang masa… Baik mak aku charge. Kalau mak aku ada untung, boleh jugaklah absorb RM 40 tu. Ini, kita kena guna duit sendiri pulak nak bagi kat dia. Apa cerita ? Husband dia ada offer nak bagi jugaklah RM 40 tu, tapi mak aku tak bagi Kak M ambik.
She called Kak M, mintak kirim kan salam dia kat aku with her apologies… well… until she calls me, I will not do so. Aku tak suka orang attack mak kau tak pasal-pasal…. Okeh ?
AAAARGGHHHHH !!!
The story goes like this. As you know, my mother has a cook that has been working with her for the past 15 years. And apart from cooking, she also played a hand finding most of our maids for us. Plus for our close friends and families.
The charges are cheap as there is no middleman to pay. Tak mahal pun aku kena gak RM 3000 when I took Neti. Some of my friends too have enlisted Kak M’s help via my mom. And my mom had been happily helping my friends with the nitty gritty of dealing with immigration because her frequency of taking cooks and maids for herself and her own friends and families have garnered her the experience and the ways and the hows. It also kept her up-to-date with the current rules and regulations.
My mother had never taken any money for herself because she is not an agent. She doesn’t want to be because she does not want the responsibility that comes with it. Maid jahat ke, lari ke atau apa-apa ke… She doesn’t know these people and kalau dia ambik duit that she would feel responsible.
Aku pun kalau ada orang nak, I would explain that we are not agents but we are willing to help. Therefore you need to deal with immigration yourself and we have no guarantee that the person you get will be good. Kalau lari pun, we cannot help.
Sanggup ?
Okay, then I will call my mom and my mom will call Kak M.
Tak sanggup, then we part ways here lah…
Anyway, hari tu a lady called me up and asked if I can help her. She got my number form her officemate, whose wife was my ex-colleague. She needed a maid badly because she is planning to send back her current maid back to the agent that very night. Reason being ? Well macam-macalah perkara yang tak enak didengar. Aku pun seram.
Punyalah merayu nak maid masuk sebelum raya, aku call Kak M straight away. She said she would do her best sebab bulan puasa kan… Susah sikit. Dia pun kesian bila aku ceritalah benda-benda tak best yang kak Kiah (bukan nama sebenar) bagitau kat aku.
Dalam dua tiga hari dok exchange calls, it transpired that she paid her agent about RM 6-7 ribu. I urged her to get her money back. Full. But agent cuma bagi dalam RM 3 – 4 if I am not mistaken. I told her she needs memo keluar kalau tak immigration would not approve her application, and the agent slashed a further RM 1500 for it, sedangkan memo keluar is free.
Okaylah. But when she showed my mother the memo keluar (this after she said she do not know how to isi the borang so I sent her to my mom), it was a different one. One that my mom had never seen. My mom urged them to check with immigration and you know what, in immigration’s system, she is listed as without a maid. So, maksudnya the maid that was at her home was actually not hers. Or even worse, an illegal.
Dah sah kena tipu kan ?
Buatnya pulak 2-3 days after talking to me, so said she still need to discuss with her husband and asked me not to proceed pulak. Kelam kabut aku call Kak M to ask her to halt the process but unfortunately, the agent over there dah bertenggek kat Medan dah. He had found a person and was already in Medan to do her passport and what nots.
Berpeluh-peluh aku ngan Kak M sebab once dia hantar biodata , he would want a deposit and eventually his RM 3500. Kalau minah yang beria dok memujuk merayu kat aku sebelum ni tiba-tiba kata tak nak, aku nak buat apa ngan biodata tu ?
Aku bukannya agent. Kalau agent tak kisah jugaklah, I can still use it for my other clients. Tapi aku ni buat atas orang mintak tolong, itu satu je orang yang ndak pembantu rumah at that time.. so kat mana aku nak jaja bio tu pulak ?
Aku memang panic sebab agent belah sana tu a bit garang. Furthermore we need to maintain a good relationship dengan dia for our own future need. Mana tahu maid mumy kak Idah nak berenti ke nanti. Plus Neti pernah bagitau aku she only wants to work for 2 years as she wants to get married. So kalau agent kat sebelah sana tu bengang dengan kita orang, sapa yang nak tolong buat passport untuk orang baru nanti ?
Aku memang tak tidur malam. Luckily she called a few days after that and said she wants the maid after all. Earlier, when she called me the first time, I told her I would be needing a deposit of RM 1500. But she only gave RM 1000. So my MOM paid the RM 500 with her own money.
Lepas tu dia dok merayu-rayu kan nak sebelum Raya kan ? That is what we told the agent. But after 1 week the bio sampai, borang masih tak berisi. By that time, the agent kat Indon dah memekak sebab he wants his money plus dia takut maid tu karang boring menunggu, pi ikut agent lain.
Ding dong ding dong… Dah dekat nak raya pun nothing is ready. Meanwhile, agent kat Indon mengamuk sakan sebab kata hari tu nak cepat sangat, so mamat tu pun kelam kabut pi cari orang, tapi sampai nan la apa pun tarak kan… Kak M berendam ayaq mata sebab itu orang kampong dia jugak. So, last-last mak aku dulukan duit dia lagi.
Finally, minggu lepas budak tu sampai. And Kak Kiah ni mai ambik Sabtu baru ni after 2-3 days budak tu dok rumah kak M. Bila dia mai, mak aku mintak RM 40. Sebabnya feri depa delayed lepas tu bila immigration lepaih kan, dah pukui 2 pagi. Selalunya Kak M akan bawak naik komuter aje, tapi pukui 2 pagi mana ada komuter ? So terpaksa lah Kak M ni naik teksi. Itu yang extra RM 40.
Hangpa tau ? Dia bising. Dia kata aku janji RM 3500 aje and kenapa ada extra charges. Bila mak aku explain dia kata dia pun buleh pi tunggu sampai pukui 2 pagi tapi sebabnya anak dia demam dia tak pi.
Habih tu awat hang tak pi ? Orang yang kenal dengan mak aku, tahu mak aku jarang marah orang. Tapi hari tu mak aku punya mendidih tengok kak Kiah ni tiba-tiba naik sombong, mak aku tengking balik. Terkebil-kebil pekerja mak aku tengok majikannya mengamuk sebab mak aku tak pernah mengamuk. Marah pun jarang.
Minah tu dah kena tipu beribu-ribu, haram dia tak buat apa. Mak aku suruh report kat immgration pun dia tak mau. Tapi sabit RM40, bukan untuk suka-suka, tapi menyenangkan dia pun dia buleh kurang ajaq. Macam-macam lah dia kata, malaih aku nak cerita tang ni. Whatever it is, cukuplah untuk buat mak aku yang selalunya cool and collected and jarang marah, teruih naik angin, and of course aku turut serta (aku tak dak tang tu… bila mak aku call aku mendidih jugak lah).
Masa dok hangat tu, mak aku terlupa pasai passport maid tu, so mak aku mintak lah kat Kak M. Uihhh… hangpa tau dia kata apa ? “Mari sini passport tu biar saya pegang…” . Laa… tak dak sapa nak pegang passport tu lah… Berlagak.. Bak kata kawan aku yang bagi phone number aku kat dia, “Mentang-mentang dah dapat… berlagak…”
Aku sungguh heran tak terkata. Sebelum ni punyalah baik, berterima kasih memanjang. Pembantu dah mai, jadik lain pulak. Akhir sekali mak aku kata kat dia, “Saya dah tak mahu berurusan dengan awak lagi…”
Lepas tu dia dengan angkuhnya jawab, “Saya pun tak nak berurusan dengan kakak lagi…”
Pastu mak aku jawab, “There is no reason why we should…” Pastu mak aku belah. Dia ada pesan dengan Kak M, dia pesan maaf dia dengan mummy but my mom said NO ! I will not forgive her. Mak aku ada cakap ngan pompuan itu, “sebab awak… saya dah tak nak tolong orang lain dah…”
Ialah, mak aku banyak tolong. Depa mai rumah 2 kali untuk isi borang. Mak aku satu sen pun tak mintak. Dia buat atas ehsan. Tapi kalau dah macam ni… buang masa… Baik mak aku charge. Kalau mak aku ada untung, boleh jugaklah absorb RM 40 tu. Ini, kita kena guna duit sendiri pulak nak bagi kat dia. Apa cerita ? Husband dia ada offer nak bagi jugaklah RM 40 tu, tapi mak aku tak bagi Kak M ambik.
She called Kak M, mintak kirim kan salam dia kat aku with her apologies… well… until she calls me, I will not do so. Aku tak suka orang attack mak kau tak pasal-pasal…. Okeh ?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
9 Words Women Use
A friend sent me this... Whether this is true or not, it is still very, very debatable.
9 WORDS WOMEN USE
1. Fine: _ This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2. Five Minutes: _ If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3. Nothing: _ This is the calm before the storm.. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
4. Go Ahead: _This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
5. Loud Sigh: _ This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6. That's Okay: _This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7. Thanks: _ A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.
8. Whatever: _Is a women's way of sayin F@!K YOU!
9. Don't worry about it, I got it: _Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "What's wrong?" For the woman's response refer to #3.
PS : But it feels sooo true...
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Happy Birthday !
Last week was Ian’s birthday. (Ha ha… still no pictures from the weekend. Sorry…)
Mum made roti jala which he ate with gusto. “This is very nice….” He kept saying to my mom. Kembang lah orang tua tu, answering with a modest, “Ye ke ?”. Ha ha.We bought Baskin Robbins ice-cream. And candles.
Then Noreen called and said she will be bringing cakes. So we simpan the ice-cream and the candles sebab Noreen brought something so much better, delicacies from Delicious. Seriously, I find Delicious’ main courses nothing to gush about, but the desserts on the other hand are worth mentioning.
The wonderful girl came with 2 chocolate Brownies, Lemon Meringue Pie and Strawberry Pavlova. Yummy !
Especially the Meringue Pie because the Lemon curd was soft and delicate and wow ! Ha ! I will endeavour to make my own.
We talked until waaaay past our bed time and the birthday boy and our friend left the house at 12.40 am.
We had wanted to take him out for a proper birthday dinner the very next day but Kamil was tooo tired to go out of Shah Alam so we took him to Nachos Nachos at SACC Mall. Sans the kiddies, of course.
Ian was waiting for us at the kitchen with my children before we left. As he got up to leave, he asked Adik, “Don’t you want to come with us ?”
Adik leaned forward to her Uncle Ian, nodded vigorously and said, “I do ! I do want to come !”
Hehehhehe…
No can do. Little boy and girls need their sleep. Sorry.
I suppose the 3 of us were tired from the day before as Ian went home as soon as we finished dinner.
He he… Senior Citizen kan…
Sadly no pictures.
Happy 3* th birthday, Ian !!
Mum made roti jala which he ate with gusto. “This is very nice….” He kept saying to my mom. Kembang lah orang tua tu, answering with a modest, “Ye ke ?”. Ha ha.We bought Baskin Robbins ice-cream. And candles.
Then Noreen called and said she will be bringing cakes. So we simpan the ice-cream and the candles sebab Noreen brought something so much better, delicacies from Delicious. Seriously, I find Delicious’ main courses nothing to gush about, but the desserts on the other hand are worth mentioning.
The wonderful girl came with 2 chocolate Brownies, Lemon Meringue Pie and Strawberry Pavlova. Yummy !
Especially the Meringue Pie because the Lemon curd was soft and delicate and wow ! Ha ! I will endeavour to make my own.
We talked until waaaay past our bed time and the birthday boy and our friend left the house at 12.40 am.
We had wanted to take him out for a proper birthday dinner the very next day but Kamil was tooo tired to go out of Shah Alam so we took him to Nachos Nachos at SACC Mall. Sans the kiddies, of course.
Ian was waiting for us at the kitchen with my children before we left. As he got up to leave, he asked Adik, “Don’t you want to come with us ?”
Adik leaned forward to her Uncle Ian, nodded vigorously and said, “I do ! I do want to come !”
Hehehhehe…
No can do. Little boy and girls need their sleep. Sorry.
I suppose the 3 of us were tired from the day before as Ian went home as soon as we finished dinner.
He he… Senior Citizen kan…
Sadly no pictures.
Happy 3* th birthday, Ian !!
PS : Umur adalah rahsia...
Monday, October 12, 2009
Raya Ketiga and the Rest Of It...
Woke up late. Very. Then lazed around in our respective kain pelekat and kain batik makan breakfast and resumed our gossips. Hai…. Luckily it was not Ramadhan… err… if that is any consolation lah. Ian we thought was already on his way to his son and he thought we already left for Raya elsewhere. Ha ha...
My Uncle E dah chop raya ketiga waktu pagi. Turn rumah dia, he said. So everybody went to his house in droves. More food.
Menu : Mee soup, chocolate cake, fruit cocktail jelly, tonnes of kuih raya
He he…. It was fun. Sambung gossip…
My Uncle E dah chop raya ketiga waktu pagi. Turn rumah dia, he said. So everybody went to his house in droves. More food.
Menu : Mee soup, chocolate cake, fruit cocktail jelly, tonnes of kuih raya
He he…. It was fun. Sambung gossip…
Baru nak mula makan...
Makan sambil bergossip.
Dan makan lagi... Why am I wearing jeans ? Because my baju raya terbakar then berlubang when I ironed them ! Waaaa !Stayed awhile, sembang-sembang then head back to Uncle Mat’s house for lunch.
Menu : Kari kepala ikan, kari sotong, sayur kacang goreng, broccoli and black mushrooms in oyster sauce, fried chicken.
Menu : Kari kepala ikan, kari sotong, sayur kacang goreng, broccoli and black mushrooms in oyster sauce, fried chicken.
Ana makan.
Kamil makan. Ermm... there are no other activities to be done ?In order for his family to eat in comfort, my Uncle placed plastic tables all over the kitchen so much so when Umar entered the area he exclaimed, “Wow ! Macam restaurant !” Ha ha….
Kamil had agreed to leave Perak late afternoon, at my aunt’s behest. She dangled the promise of sup ayam masak dalam buluh which intrigued us but sadly at 2, Mail who was already on the way home (as he has to report to Hospital Muar the very next day) called to say he had left his white lab coat at our house. Sigh…. Had to leave early then.
Kamil had agreed to leave Perak late afternoon, at my aunt’s behest. She dangled the promise of sup ayam masak dalam buluh which intrigued us but sadly at 2, Mail who was already on the way home (as he has to report to Hospital Muar the very next day) called to say he had left his white lab coat at our house. Sigh…. Had to leave early then.
Perak is actually very pretty, with the rolling hills and greenery.
The journey home was not that smooth as certain highway exits were jammed up.
Home sweet home but sad thinking about my lovely family in Perak. Had KFC for dinner !! Ha ha….
And the Raya yang seterusnya
My mom’s cousins Mak Teh and Mauk Unggei came one afternoon. Mum cooked lovely Meehoon Singapore.
Mak Unggei and Mak Teh and their families.
As they were about to leave, my cousins Shah and Boy came for raya with their families. Sadly their mom, mak Ngah was still in Penang.
Boy and Shah and their families.
Had shisha Raya with the Bs. Belum beraya together yet tapi shisha raya dulu. It was really cosy, the way Anu made up his harem… he he…. When we got there, Shazmi dok terlentok, punya relax. Kah kah… Kamil bengang sebab dia kena bawak bini. B yang lain tu flying solo. Sorry aaa… They are my friends, too.
Anu served us lovely tart nenas but I was too full for some reason and could only manage one. Told my friends the sweet thing their friend did for me. He he…. They congratulated me for having a bloody wonderful husband. Shazmi said, “Kamil… please do not up the husband ante any further….”
Bro, this is after 10 years of marriage, okay. Lagi haru kalau cakap after 17 years of being together. So the Best B Husband award is still up for grabs. But no, he is quite wonderful (at the moment lah…).
This picture reminds me of the kekecohan that ensued when Saiful Apek was photographed smoking shisha. He was branded a drug addict. Don't know if it was really drugs he took then but ignorance can actually breed fitnahs. This one is lemon flavoured, okay ?Thursday, October 08, 2009
Finally ! Pics for Second Raya is here
Just got the pics, okey ?
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Please read like this is a direct sequel and not after 3-4 irrelevant entries.
Anyway, bangun pagi-pagi in anticipation of balik Perak. Yippee ! Ha ha... truthfully my uncle called me at 6 am to make sure we balik kampong. Thank you because I didn't miss my Subuh.
Made breakfast out of rendang and ketupat and kuah kacang of course and tried our best to keep all the food in my very overflowing fridge.
Note to self : please merengek mintak fridge besar sket dari Kamil.
Note 2 to self : Sian Kamil. Tak yah lah.
Seperti biasa, pergaduhan hari raya berlaku bila dah ramai-ramai ni and by 11, bertolak to Perak. I was so happy along the way, I love balik kampong and luckily my husband also likes to balik my kampong because he is rather fond of my family.
Arrived in Ipoh around 2 pm. Not going to Batu Gajah this year as Wan’s house was closed the whole of Ramadhan sebab maid dia balik kampong (tak jauh, Kg Kepayang je, kat Simpang Pulai.. ha ha). Actually bukan Wan aku ada maid, more like a companion, macam Mat Salleh kat Britain zaman dulu-dulu.
Sampai Ipoh, si Kamil lupa lak cara-cara nak pergi rumah my Uncle Kamal, so called my cousin and he asked us to wait after the third traffic light for him to come and fetch us. Tunggu punya tunggu and when he finally arrived, he parked behind us much to Kamil’s consternation. “Dia park buat apa ?” He asked me. Entah le, mana lah aku tau. Rupa-rupanya dia stop to salam Raya, sepupu ku itu sebelum membawa kami ke rumahnya.
I love going to my uncles’s house in Taman Istana. Walaupun dia adalah garang, I love him because he is kindness itself. Keduanya, aku sayang akan bininya iaitu Aunty Ana ku yang sangatlah sporting, understanding and penyayang.
Menu : Nasi lemak cun, rending daging hitam, laksa and mee sup. Of course kuah kacang and ketupat and lemang and kuih raya.
Made breakfast out of rendang and ketupat and kuah kacang of course and tried our best to keep all the food in my very overflowing fridge.
Note to self : please merengek mintak fridge besar sket dari Kamil.
Note 2 to self : Sian Kamil. Tak yah lah.
Seperti biasa, pergaduhan hari raya berlaku bila dah ramai-ramai ni and by 11, bertolak to Perak. I was so happy along the way, I love balik kampong and luckily my husband also likes to balik my kampong because he is rather fond of my family.
Arrived in Ipoh around 2 pm. Not going to Batu Gajah this year as Wan’s house was closed the whole of Ramadhan sebab maid dia balik kampong (tak jauh, Kg Kepayang je, kat Simpang Pulai.. ha ha). Actually bukan Wan aku ada maid, more like a companion, macam Mat Salleh kat Britain zaman dulu-dulu.
Sampai Ipoh, si Kamil lupa lak cara-cara nak pergi rumah my Uncle Kamal, so called my cousin and he asked us to wait after the third traffic light for him to come and fetch us. Tunggu punya tunggu and when he finally arrived, he parked behind us much to Kamil’s consternation. “Dia park buat apa ?” He asked me. Entah le, mana lah aku tau. Rupa-rupanya dia stop to salam Raya, sepupu ku itu sebelum membawa kami ke rumahnya.
I love going to my uncles’s house in Taman Istana. Walaupun dia adalah garang, I love him because he is kindness itself. Keduanya, aku sayang akan bininya iaitu Aunty Ana ku yang sangatlah sporting, understanding and penyayang.
Menu : Nasi lemak cun, rending daging hitam, laksa and mee sup. Of course kuah kacang and ketupat and lemang and kuih raya.
Us eating. The one in white shirt on the sofa is my uncle Kamal. Next to him my Aunty Ana. Please note Kamil with a balang of kuih raya next to him. Hisshh.....
The food was really good. Kamil belasah satu balang chocolate cookies which he informed my very impressed Aunty, is made of Cadbury chocolates. He apparently loves the kuih goyang too and kept the 2 balangs close to him. Sembang and sembang and melingkor and tunggu Ian datang.
Kamil with balang kuih goyang which my Aunty Ana thoughtfully kirim for him when my cousin Fathiah balik Shah Alam. Ian who is going to Perak next weeks wanted to find the same kuih. Hmmm....
Ian sampai and Tok Su datang and Pakcik Zul anaknya Opah Tom datang and berlambak-lambak lah lagi orang datang. Murah rezeki rumah Taman Istana tuh. We planned to stay over at my cousin Linda’s house somewhere in Simpang Pulai, but at Aunty Ana’s insistence we changed plans and crashed at her house instead.
Tired after the 2 hour journey and playing with his aunts and uncles. At the end of the day, you will always look for your Mummy...
Next trip was to my Mak Nyah’s house. I love her house because it is the only kampong house that I am able to visit. Ian loves it. He toured the house, led by my son funnily enough and had a good time conversing with my grandma.
Nampak macam kena lecture aje. Or... boring listening to Wan singing the moon and the stars about Ian.
“Suka Wan dengan kawan si Kamil tu… Cepat mesra orangnya…” Said my Wan, big smile on her face. Mana dia tak suka. Nak tahu kenapa Wan aku gemor sesangat dengan si Ian tu, sila baca conversation di bawah di antara Ian Rashid McQuistan dengan Wan ku.
Wan : Bla blah blah… Kampung ni… blah blah blah… luas tau…. Blah blah blah
Ian : Ada sungai ke kat sini ?
Wan : Sungai ? Ada tapi jauh ke dalam kat tanah Mummy Meyra (that is how she pronounced my name) sana.
Ian : Apa lagi ? Jom lah kita mandi sungai…
Mana tak suka Wan aku. Kami pun idak le peronah ajak dia mandi sungai. Baru beberapa jam jumpa, Ian dah ajak Wan aku bersuka-ria… Mana demenya tak gemor… Kah kah…
Eventhough Ian proclaimed that he had never had his Raya in a kampong, but half Malay he is and therefore what do anak-anak bandar yang perak balik kampung buat, belasah motor sedara and bawak keliling kampong. Keh keh…
I
Ian having a feel of the motor first. 'Clutch dia rosak sikit..' explained my cousin Hafiz.
My aunt was a bit apprehensive to let Ian drive the motor because the clutch is a bit off, but my cousin gave the keys to him anyway and off Ian went. He was having a jolly good time on the bike, ronda-ronda kampong but back at Mak Nyah’s house, the situation is different.
Tau ke dianye jalan balik kemari ?
Kalau sesat nanti tau ke dia alamat kite ?
Biasa ke dienye naik moto ?
Kalau dia jatuh ke nanti, reti ke kamu nak bagitau mak bapak dia ?
Dan answered, “Pandailah dia, Mak Nyah. Kalau tak balik tengah malam nanti, pandai-pandailah kita cari dia…Telipon polis ke” keh keh…
Tapi, keluarga aku masih kerumun kat pintu tunggu mat salleh separuh itu balik. And when they spotted him, everybody gave a loud cheer, clap-clapping their hands. Tergelak teman… Tak jadi loghat Perak aku rasenye… Ha ha
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While waiting for Ian to return, we borak lah.
Success !! Safe return. My relatives can now breathe in relief. Ian busy telling about his experience. Keh keh.. Alahai, mamat ni dah biasa bawak high-powered motorcycles lah... Risau bebenor...
Before I forget, menu : Mee kari sedap giler and of course kuih raya.
Eventhough we were full, we still have to eat a little so not to dissapoint the host. jamah sikit kata orang Melayu yang penuh sopan dan adat budaya. Especially if she is family. Didn't regret it though as it was super duper delicious.
Next stop, rumah Uncle Mat near the Ipoh Airport.
I love Uncle Mat’s house. A good sized bungalow at a very windy location. So peaceful, so cool, so … nice. Ian loves this house too. Especially now since Uncle Mat extended the kitchen and his dining room. Plus a patio at the side of the house, adjacent to the dining room.
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Berebut masuk dapur baru yang exceptionally beautiful and bright and airy. Baru siap tuh. Sejak Gong Xi Fa Cai hari tu...
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Sayang sungguh Uncle Mat kat hang Mail... Buat curtain pun nak matching ngan baju hang. Patutlah hang beria suruh aku basuh baju tu selepas terkena gasoline..kah kah
Menu : Mee goreng, kuew tiaw goreng, kuah kacang excellent, ketupat and lemang.
I who loves kuah kacang, tak pi mana dah, mengadap kuah kacang aje, sambil makan kurma and dried fruits yang cousin aku Syazwan bawak balik dari Mesir (my Wan’s fourth doctor grandchild. Farhan, Marlin, Mail and Syazwan are doctors and future doctors. Aku jugak tumpang gumbira sebab mudah-mudahan, mereka akan bermurah hatilah dengan sepupu dan kakak mereka… Medical planning bagus).
Ian too was busy slurping the kuah kacang, so we sat side by side kemaruk kuah kacang, while my Uncle E ate kacang Ngan Yin in front of us. What a very nutty affair. Kamil and Uncle Mat sibuk berbincang pasal kereta. The rest of the family were all over the house.
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Ian and me were still there long after everybody had left and did other things. The one in cream jubah standing next to my brother is my Uncle Mat. Next to him in the white jubah is his son, my cousin Syazwan.
Note : Why do I have to be so detailed ? Why ? Why ? Why ?
By 11 we left the house. Kesian kat Aunty Aisyah, who thought that we were gonna crash at her place like last year. Sorry Aunty ku sayang, segan sebab last year dah sepahkan rumah Aunty, tahun ni kita orang sepah kan rumah Aunty Ana pulak ye. Tahun depan, rumah Mak Nyah kot… Tapi, thank you so much for wanting us to stay over.
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The male cousins and 1 nephew. My brother menyorok kat belakang buat kelakar bodoh but was not captured by this camera.
We sent Ian to his friend’s house. Aunty Ana had wanted to take us out melepak makan puri somewhere, but when we got home, weariness took over so we settled down for a chat instead.. until 4 am !! Wahahahahahahahah ! That is what I call lepak.
Raya 3 sambung yeah.. ?
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Mama Miaow
I had luch with my mom and sister today and somehow I was reminded of an incident that happened when I was ooh…. I don’t know…9 ? 10 ?
Well anyway, Mummy made chillie corn carne that day. I remember sitting down, just me and her having lunch. She had chilli dog and I chillied a burger. Yumm…. Fat kidney beans, glistening diced onions mingled with beef and tomato sauce.
Lovely.
I remember sinking my fork in the burger and my knife poised to cut when I heard a miaow. Looked at my mom and she was already looking at the source of the noise, somewhere behind us.
I turned and there it was, Mama Miaow a stray cat that mum 2-3 days ago sent to the market (kes buang kucing lah ni).
Well we call her Mama Miaow because she likes to breed and mum must have had enough of her litter… errm… littering around.
Anywhere, there she was, mewing at us, announcing her arrival home.
I looked at my mom, she sighed and we resumed eating.
Then mum took out some ikan bilis, fried them and mixed them with rice before giving it to the stubborn cat.
I tell you, I thought she would get more food at the market, wouldn’t she ? Why did she come back ?
So that is why, every time I had chillie (even bolognese) I would suddenly think about that day with my mum.
He he…
Well anyway, Mummy made chillie corn carne that day. I remember sitting down, just me and her having lunch. She had chilli dog and I chillied a burger. Yumm…. Fat kidney beans, glistening diced onions mingled with beef and tomato sauce.
Lovely.
I remember sinking my fork in the burger and my knife poised to cut when I heard a miaow. Looked at my mom and she was already looking at the source of the noise, somewhere behind us.
I turned and there it was, Mama Miaow a stray cat that mum 2-3 days ago sent to the market (kes buang kucing lah ni).
Well we call her Mama Miaow because she likes to breed and mum must have had enough of her litter… errm… littering around.
Anywhere, there she was, mewing at us, announcing her arrival home.
I looked at my mom, she sighed and we resumed eating.
Then mum took out some ikan bilis, fried them and mixed them with rice before giving it to the stubborn cat.
I tell you, I thought she would get more food at the market, wouldn’t she ? Why did she come back ?
So that is why, every time I had chillie (even bolognese) I would suddenly think about that day with my mum.
He he…
Monday, October 05, 2009
My weekend, part 100
My weekend was busy (Please ignore my still missing Second Raya report. Got the pics already, just that it is not in the right computer… Ha ha).
Early morning was busy preparing for Abang to go to Genius camp, organized by his class teacher and the Physics Faculty of UiTM at Bukit Cherakah. Therefore it was just me and Adik in the car to Cili Merah for breakfast. But luckily when we parked, saw my siblings waving excitedly at the sight of us, having their breakfast so I had a jolly time gossiping. Left it to the very last minute before I dashed to Adik’s piano class.
While she was doing her art, I was having the time of my life at Kakiku with darling Jubei. Tension wei pegi ngan Jubei being as soon as the masseuse touched my feet, I was jolted with pain. Jubei pulak masih boleh gelak-gelak.
“Tak sakit ke Bei ?” I asked.
“Tak de…” and I screwed my eyes at her enviously.
She was happy, talking and all, not even once wincing in pain. Until finally when Sarah touched her calf. He he… baru aku happy sikit. Keh keh…. I do have a mild sadistic nature apparently.
Picked up Adik, waited for Kamil to come home, then we went to Kamalia’s house for Raya. Met Bei again and hubby plus children there and had a happy time talking. We left their house close to 4.30 and headed to Nadia’s house pulak. I called darling Nadia on the way, asking for directions to her place. However when she slowly told me, I gasped and apologized for not being able to accept her invitation after all. She was very sweet and understanding and I sighed in relief.
At home, Kamil was antsy waiting for his son to return. Hmm… The number of ants in his pants must have doubled by 5.30 as he went earlier than it was stated in the programme. And came home an hour later. Itulah. Ha ha…
We actually were invited to an open house being held at Concorde Hotel, KL but Kamil was too tired to drive all the way up to town so we went up halfway until Uptown and had dinner. I was really hoping to go to Concorde as from previous years, I know they serve ketupat and lemang . I was so craving for them. I don’t think I have had my fill of them yet. Emm…kuah kacang…. lemang.. But what to do. It was not meant to be. Seems like I have to make them on my own lah… But to find the dauns is a bit hard, okay ..
We had a late night Kamil and I, watching the Proposal which was quite good. Sandra Bullock looked old sadly. I think you could never be too thin as a little fat makes a woman looks younger. Look at Madonna and Dana Delaney. Same age, but one looks miles younger than the other. Deeply hollowed cheeks is not sinonymous with youthfulness. Blue veins, protruding from your skin aren't either. I was too busy looking at Sandra, trying to remember her as she was in Speed or While You Were Sleeping. She definitely looked healthier then. It is a good movie although again, the ending is a bit too predictable.
We were aiming for a lazy Sunday, rolling around the bed reading newspaper and being logged into the net when my cousin called early morning to announce his intention to visit. Called my other cousin and so a makan-makan was planned. I was very ambitious, wanting to this and that but when cousin Zuri arrived 1 hour earlier than expected, all hell break loose as I only had the crème caramel in the oven, the pasta cooking on the stove and the meehoon for my mother to turn into Meehoon Singapore soaked. The cake and the carbonara sauce and the cottage pie for Mail were still raw ingredients.
Never mind, I ploughed on doing things one by one and by 6, everything was ready except the cake that was still in the oven and the cottage pie still very much minced meat.
Noreen came too, bearing Rojak Karim (Hmm…. She must have read my previous entry…) and delicious pineapple tart. So I had a nice time really, in the kelam kabut-ness, cooking and talking while my cousins and my friend peered over my shoulders.
Then my siblings descended upon the house and everything was just lovely. While my family ate, I sat with Noreen in the living room and when the carbonara was gone, panic set in amongst the merrymakers but there was nothing I could do about it anymore. Mail came and demanded for cottage pie so Noreen and I entered the kitchen again.
By Maghrib, my cousins left so we settled for a nice chat while slowly polishing off the food. The cottage pie was delicious while piping hot so I encouraged everybody to eat right there and then. Mummy by then was upstairs in the blue room, beradu as she put it to Noreen, tired from her day.
My siblings and my Mummy slowly left the house and then it was just Noreen and Kamil, alternately watching football and cerita hantu while I cleared the kitchen. Noreen went home about 11 pm.
So it was good. Again I slept with very tired feet but I am happy.
Early morning was busy preparing for Abang to go to Genius camp, organized by his class teacher and the Physics Faculty of UiTM at Bukit Cherakah. Therefore it was just me and Adik in the car to Cili Merah for breakfast. But luckily when we parked, saw my siblings waving excitedly at the sight of us, having their breakfast so I had a jolly time gossiping. Left it to the very last minute before I dashed to Adik’s piano class.
While she was doing her art, I was having the time of my life at Kakiku with darling Jubei. Tension wei pegi ngan Jubei being as soon as the masseuse touched my feet, I was jolted with pain. Jubei pulak masih boleh gelak-gelak.
“Tak sakit ke Bei ?” I asked.
“Tak de…” and I screwed my eyes at her enviously.
She was happy, talking and all, not even once wincing in pain. Until finally when Sarah touched her calf. He he… baru aku happy sikit. Keh keh…. I do have a mild sadistic nature apparently.
Picked up Adik, waited for Kamil to come home, then we went to Kamalia’s house for Raya. Met Bei again and hubby plus children there and had a happy time talking. We left their house close to 4.30 and headed to Nadia’s house pulak. I called darling Nadia on the way, asking for directions to her place. However when she slowly told me, I gasped and apologized for not being able to accept her invitation after all. She was very sweet and understanding and I sighed in relief.
At home, Kamil was antsy waiting for his son to return. Hmm… The number of ants in his pants must have doubled by 5.30 as he went earlier than it was stated in the programme. And came home an hour later. Itulah. Ha ha…
We actually were invited to an open house being held at Concorde Hotel, KL but Kamil was too tired to drive all the way up to town so we went up halfway until Uptown and had dinner. I was really hoping to go to Concorde as from previous years, I know they serve ketupat and lemang . I was so craving for them. I don’t think I have had my fill of them yet. Emm…kuah kacang…. lemang.. But what to do. It was not meant to be. Seems like I have to make them on my own lah… But to find the dauns is a bit hard, okay ..
We had a late night Kamil and I, watching the Proposal which was quite good. Sandra Bullock looked old sadly. I think you could never be too thin as a little fat makes a woman looks younger. Look at Madonna and Dana Delaney. Same age, but one looks miles younger than the other. Deeply hollowed cheeks is not sinonymous with youthfulness. Blue veins, protruding from your skin aren't either. I was too busy looking at Sandra, trying to remember her as she was in Speed or While You Were Sleeping. She definitely looked healthier then. It is a good movie although again, the ending is a bit too predictable.
We were aiming for a lazy Sunday, rolling around the bed reading newspaper and being logged into the net when my cousin called early morning to announce his intention to visit. Called my other cousin and so a makan-makan was planned. I was very ambitious, wanting to this and that but when cousin Zuri arrived 1 hour earlier than expected, all hell break loose as I only had the crème caramel in the oven, the pasta cooking on the stove and the meehoon for my mother to turn into Meehoon Singapore soaked. The cake and the carbonara sauce and the cottage pie for Mail were still raw ingredients.
Never mind, I ploughed on doing things one by one and by 6, everything was ready except the cake that was still in the oven and the cottage pie still very much minced meat.
Noreen came too, bearing Rojak Karim (Hmm…. She must have read my previous entry…) and delicious pineapple tart. So I had a nice time really, in the kelam kabut-ness, cooking and talking while my cousins and my friend peered over my shoulders.
Then my siblings descended upon the house and everything was just lovely. While my family ate, I sat with Noreen in the living room and when the carbonara was gone, panic set in amongst the merrymakers but there was nothing I could do about it anymore. Mail came and demanded for cottage pie so Noreen and I entered the kitchen again.
By Maghrib, my cousins left so we settled for a nice chat while slowly polishing off the food. The cottage pie was delicious while piping hot so I encouraged everybody to eat right there and then. Mummy by then was upstairs in the blue room, beradu as she put it to Noreen, tired from her day.
My siblings and my Mummy slowly left the house and then it was just Noreen and Kamil, alternately watching football and cerita hantu while I cleared the kitchen. Noreen went home about 11 pm.
So it was good. Again I slept with very tired feet but I am happy.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Sorry
There is this person who is waiting for my Second Raya description. Ha ha... not entry anymore as at the rate I am going, it ceased to be anything but that, or worse it has become a report.
I have written everything so as not to forget the details (yikes !) but am still without the pics to go with it.
When I submit a report, it has to be complete, so wait for the pics I must. Sounds a bit like Yoda, I know.
Sorry, yeah kawan ku ?
By next week, with or without the gambars, I will post it.
I have written everything so as not to forget the details (yikes !) but am still without the pics to go with it.
When I submit a report, it has to be complete, so wait for the pics I must. Sounds a bit like Yoda, I know.
Sorry, yeah kawan ku ?
By next week, with or without the gambars, I will post it.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Gerai-gerai yang perlu dielakkan
I know I owe you my Raya story, but the pics tak daklah to accompany the story. Semua gambaq dalam tangan adik aku si Mail kat Melaka nun. Nanti aku tunggu dia e-mail buang kat aku na…
So, sementara itu, sila baca essay di bawah yang telah aku karang sebelum posa lagi tapi belum post and tambahan cerita baru di perenggan-perenggan yang terakhir. Minta ampun kepada kawan ku yang separuh Melayu separuh Scottish kerana this entry, I wrote in a mixture of English, Malay and Penang. Words you don’t understand, you can always ask me for clarification.
Masalah-masalah yang timbul bila masa aku pi tapau kat Giant.
There is this one stall that sells popiah basah. Very suitable for me who has problem digesting carbohydrates. The filling is nice enough but the skin is a bit tough and chewy. But since I do not exactly have much choice, I find myself frequenting them, the budding entrepreneurs of 2 young boys and a girl.
Initial visit I ordered 2 pieces but found it was not enough for my, well… I have to admit, extended stomach. I should really make do with 2 since I am desperate to say goodbye to the flabs, but…. If I go hungry, then… I will start reaching for more forbidden stuffs… Alasan….
So next visit, I ordered 3. “Alah, kak… tambah lah lagi satu sebab 4 keping RM 3…” Siap dengan muncung-muncung lagi, head to the side, kata si dia yang kerjanya membalut tempahan pelanggan.
“Errr… tak pe lah… karang tak habis pulak….”. And I meant what I say as my tummy is happy with 3. However after that everytime I go and order 3, the muncung will come and the head tilt will swiftly follow.
I resisted and resisted with the same excuse. So one day, which was last week actually, I closed my eyes and said okay. Balik office, and I could only manage 1 piece of the very much pushed 4th popiah.
Next trip ? Well before he could say anything, I told him, “3 je ye adik, 4 tak habis … buang aje….” And the boy said nothing.
Success ! Well I have to wait for my next purchase lah kot to see if it really works. (Latest update : It didn’t. I still have to endure his …. ermm….manja-manja persuasion. Yuck.. Tapi kalau yang perempuan tu punya turn bungkuih membungkuih or budak laki yang lagi satu tak pa... depa tak serve pelanggan dengan muncungan manja... He he)
Masalah kedua came from this new stall selling Sarawak food, which I adore. I love Mee Kolok and Laksa Sarawak, which this stall sells. So tak nyempat-nyempat, I ordered 1 Mee Kolok. It all looked innocent enough initially. She prepared the noodles and the condiments and put them in a huge bowl. Then the dressing for the noodles. In went kicap, chillie paste, 1 spoon of garam and…… 1 equal sized to the garam spoon of ajinomoto.
I gulped. And began screaming hysterically….inside. Err….. manyaknya mak aji dia letak. My head in a frown as I watched her stir the dressing and then dump the whole lot on the noodles. Dah lah banyak, pastu tak masak pulak tuh ?
Shall I remain courteous, maintaining my smile or do I say something ?
Watched her packed it all up, passed it to me and I in return paid up without saying anything. Went back to the office and opened up the package and looked at it for the longest time, daring myself to eat it. When I finally did, I was wholly disappointed as bukannya sedap sangat pun… Actually it was quite tasteless…. Laa… kalau tak letak mak aji tu ntah apa-apa rasa ntah..
I threw it away, turun bawah and made my stomach larger by scoffing down pisang goreng. Damn !
Now talking about that reminds me of something that happened ... well more happened because my lil bro Mail was the perpetrator. Ha ha... it is funny...
Anyway one day Mail and another sibling went to a gerai somewhere in Sek 8 to buy mee goreng. The scrumptiousness of this said mee goreng has traveled far and wide and reached our ears. So we dispatched Mail and another one (sorry whooever you are.. Ala cannot remember because Mail was the one who told the story...) to bring it home.
Mail said while there, he observed that the tukang goreng mee was so Ajinomoto happy, he has no doubt now why people has been raving about it. Mail, bless him tried to be sarcastic.
“Bang, saya punya ajinomoto lebih ye….”
Abang tu punya jawapan ? “Okeh…” and double up his msg, khaaaaaaas untuk Mail.
Kah kah ! Padan muka ! Buat lagi, adik oii…
Mail tak terkata apa, diam seribu bahasa…
Untuk menambahkan cerita sebab ada kena mengena dengan karangan ini, Monday kelmarin, my first non-puasa day after Raya, where else to go except to Giant for lunch. Pusing-pusing and spotted a new stall selling pasembor. Don’t know whether my family being Penangites has anything to do with it, but I do love pasembor (and I also love Sarawak food kan ? Banyak cerita sungguh aku ni, Kesudahannya, I love eating… he he…)
Again, tak nyempat-nyempat I asked for one pasembor. Sian jugak tengok pakcik tu bila dia cuba nak ikat kuah rojak. Beberapa banyak kali pusing, tak jugak jadik. Rasa macam nak mintak bagi aku ikat buang pi untuk dia. Last – last, dia berjaya jugak lah ikat, although to my very expert eyes (he heh) it was a rather flimsy tie.
Anyway, brought it to the office, had a taste and closed my eyes. As I put it to my mom later that evening, “Sapa lah habaq kat pakcik tu pasemboq dia sedap… Depa saja kenakan dia tuh….”.
Menyesal okeh sebab punyalah tak sedap, aku tutup mata kerana tak sanggup melihat dunia ini yang sungguh kejam. Sampai hati dia juai pasemboq dia yang manih and cayaq tu kat aku. Sapa yang tipu hang kata kuah pasemboq hang buleh buat juai ni pakcik weii....
So, don’t say that I never warned you !!
So, sementara itu, sila baca essay di bawah yang telah aku karang sebelum posa lagi tapi belum post and tambahan cerita baru di perenggan-perenggan yang terakhir. Minta ampun kepada kawan ku yang separuh Melayu separuh Scottish kerana this entry, I wrote in a mixture of English, Malay and Penang. Words you don’t understand, you can always ask me for clarification.
Masalah-masalah yang timbul bila masa aku pi tapau kat Giant.
There is this one stall that sells popiah basah. Very suitable for me who has problem digesting carbohydrates. The filling is nice enough but the skin is a bit tough and chewy. But since I do not exactly have much choice, I find myself frequenting them, the budding entrepreneurs of 2 young boys and a girl.
Initial visit I ordered 2 pieces but found it was not enough for my, well… I have to admit, extended stomach. I should really make do with 2 since I am desperate to say goodbye to the flabs, but…. If I go hungry, then… I will start reaching for more forbidden stuffs… Alasan….
So next visit, I ordered 3. “Alah, kak… tambah lah lagi satu sebab 4 keping RM 3…” Siap dengan muncung-muncung lagi, head to the side, kata si dia yang kerjanya membalut tempahan pelanggan.
“Errr… tak pe lah… karang tak habis pulak….”. And I meant what I say as my tummy is happy with 3. However after that everytime I go and order 3, the muncung will come and the head tilt will swiftly follow.
I resisted and resisted with the same excuse. So one day, which was last week actually, I closed my eyes and said okay. Balik office, and I could only manage 1 piece of the very much pushed 4th popiah.
Next trip ? Well before he could say anything, I told him, “3 je ye adik, 4 tak habis … buang aje….” And the boy said nothing.
Success ! Well I have to wait for my next purchase lah kot to see if it really works. (Latest update : It didn’t. I still have to endure his …. ermm….manja-manja persuasion. Yuck.. Tapi kalau yang perempuan tu punya turn bungkuih membungkuih or budak laki yang lagi satu tak pa... depa tak serve pelanggan dengan muncungan manja... He he)
Masalah kedua came from this new stall selling Sarawak food, which I adore. I love Mee Kolok and Laksa Sarawak, which this stall sells. So tak nyempat-nyempat, I ordered 1 Mee Kolok. It all looked innocent enough initially. She prepared the noodles and the condiments and put them in a huge bowl. Then the dressing for the noodles. In went kicap, chillie paste, 1 spoon of garam and…… 1 equal sized to the garam spoon of ajinomoto.
I gulped. And began screaming hysterically….inside. Err….. manyaknya mak aji dia letak. My head in a frown as I watched her stir the dressing and then dump the whole lot on the noodles. Dah lah banyak, pastu tak masak pulak tuh ?
Shall I remain courteous, maintaining my smile or do I say something ?
Watched her packed it all up, passed it to me and I in return paid up without saying anything. Went back to the office and opened up the package and looked at it for the longest time, daring myself to eat it. When I finally did, I was wholly disappointed as bukannya sedap sangat pun… Actually it was quite tasteless…. Laa… kalau tak letak mak aji tu ntah apa-apa rasa ntah..
I threw it away, turun bawah and made my stomach larger by scoffing down pisang goreng. Damn !
Now talking about that reminds me of something that happened ... well more happened because my lil bro Mail was the perpetrator. Ha ha... it is funny...
Anyway one day Mail and another sibling went to a gerai somewhere in Sek 8 to buy mee goreng. The scrumptiousness of this said mee goreng has traveled far and wide and reached our ears. So we dispatched Mail and another one (sorry whooever you are.. Ala cannot remember because Mail was the one who told the story...) to bring it home.
Mail said while there, he observed that the tukang goreng mee was so Ajinomoto happy, he has no doubt now why people has been raving about it. Mail, bless him tried to be sarcastic.
“Bang, saya punya ajinomoto lebih ye….”
Abang tu punya jawapan ? “Okeh…” and double up his msg, khaaaaaaas untuk Mail.
Kah kah ! Padan muka ! Buat lagi, adik oii…
Mail tak terkata apa, diam seribu bahasa…
Untuk menambahkan cerita sebab ada kena mengena dengan karangan ini, Monday kelmarin, my first non-puasa day after Raya, where else to go except to Giant for lunch. Pusing-pusing and spotted a new stall selling pasembor. Don’t know whether my family being Penangites has anything to do with it, but I do love pasembor (and I also love Sarawak food kan ? Banyak cerita sungguh aku ni, Kesudahannya, I love eating… he he…)
Again, tak nyempat-nyempat I asked for one pasembor. Sian jugak tengok pakcik tu bila dia cuba nak ikat kuah rojak. Beberapa banyak kali pusing, tak jugak jadik. Rasa macam nak mintak bagi aku ikat buang pi untuk dia. Last – last, dia berjaya jugak lah ikat, although to my very expert eyes (he heh) it was a rather flimsy tie.
Anyway, brought it to the office, had a taste and closed my eyes. As I put it to my mom later that evening, “Sapa lah habaq kat pakcik tu pasemboq dia sedap… Depa saja kenakan dia tuh….”.
Menyesal okeh sebab punyalah tak sedap, aku tutup mata kerana tak sanggup melihat dunia ini yang sungguh kejam. Sampai hati dia juai pasemboq dia yang manih and cayaq tu kat aku. Sapa yang tipu hang kata kuah pasemboq hang buleh buat juai ni pakcik weii....
So, don’t say that I never warned you !!
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