Book Sale.

I have been rather busy with the kids final exams whole of last week. Last minute revision.  Just pray that they will do well.  Did not cook anything during the weekend instead we ate out. Last night we treated ourselves with Johnny's Steamboat at Alamanda Putrajaya. It was raining and what a nice way to have steamboat for dinner. Yum!

Last Saturday, I passed by a shop lot where we had lunch and notice a warehouse sale banner in front one of the unit in Bukit Puchong. They sell books, all sorts of books. So dragged the kids to check out the place and awesome, there were thousands of books on sale. Yay!!!

I am a sucker on autobiographies. The Manager asked whether I was a journalist since I purchased mostly autobiographies. Flattered but I replied no.....hehehe....thought of becoming a journalist at one point of my life....I bought myself 4 books and it cost me RM25.00! Good deal. I have started reading Bill Cosby's Fatherhood. Some of the book content duplicates most of his stand-up comics performance. They were hilarious!

Shakira saw what she liked. She found a spot among the book shelves and sat quietly flipping through the pages of ' You can draw Manga!'.

But Shakiel who wasn't sure what he should get. Walking along the shelves aisles he was not happy that he couldn't find a single book he liked. He is not an avid reader. Mostly he reads malay comics. I told him that he does not need to buy if he does not find what he likes. We can check out other places another time. However he insist on getting one and he selected a book on Lighthouses!

Did he read it? Well, let me tell you that the book has been sitting on the dinning table ever since we brought  it home!

Pandora Box.

This postcard was from my dad when he attended a special branch training in London. That year, 1981, also we saw Prince Charles wed the beautiful Lady Diana Spencer. Yes, I still keep this postcard in my Pandora Box.

Pandora Box

I have so much crap and history which has sentimental value in their own ways in the Pandora Box. I tell you, that I still keep my Disney world ticket when I was in Orlando, Florida, 1993. I still keep the air ticket and boarding pass when I visited my Aunt Aishah in Adelaide in 1987. Haaaa....terror kan? I have my favourite sun hat, bags and lots of paper bags, scrap book, magazines/books (mostly on the Kennedy's and Princess Diana-dated back 1990/1991), mementos of places I visited when I was studying in the States. I found my stamp album, oh yeah,....that's very, very old maybe from my secondary school days....hehehe....a few stamps which has double or triple the original value today....millionaire nanti tau!

But the postcard meant so much because my father is not the kind of guy who likes sending mail. I am pretty sure he had to squeeze his brains out of what to write on the postcard. Hahaha....Even on birthday cards, he would just signed and seal. I guess most men are like that kan....Lately I have been dreaming of him a lot in my sleep. It is as though he is a live. I missed my dad. Al fatihah....

Saturday Brunch - Italian Fried Calamari

This is what we had for brunch. Chinese Fried Rice with Italian Fried Calamari. Foo....yoo...... glamour nya,..wakakaka...Anyway it was good cooking and langsai in 15 minutes.

Don't you just love calamari? I love them. Sometimes kalau tengok ada fried calamari in any restaurant's menu, sure nak order as appetizer. I have tried cooking calamari with various ingredients but by far this is the simplest way of preparing fried calamari. I've seen my sister-in-law cooked it using almost 10 different ingredients. She added various types of flour, chicken granules, egg white,...and so on. It is tasty but too many ingredient involved just in one, what is supposed to be a simple fried calamari.

So I am quite broke and cannot afford to eat out. I felt like eating fried calamari this afternoon and checked out several recipe on You Tube and I found what I liked. Slipped another 30 bucks from my other half's drawer and dash to my local grocer. Picked out the most fresh looking squid. Got home, clean, and dry them on paper towel.

To prepare all you need is all purpose flour, salt and pepper for marinating and oil for frying. Put them in a plastic Ziploc bag and toss the ingredients inside. Make sure all are evenly coated. Then use a strainer to separate the calamari and the access flour. Fry it. Once the calamari is golden yellow, put on paper towel and sprinkle with salt all over. Just a little will do. Place them in a platter. You can squeeze cut lemon and dip it into a marinara sauce or accompany it with vinaigrette salad. Its simple and delicious.

Since my children were very hungry, I prepared Chinese style fried rice to go along with the fried calamari. I scrambled 2 eggs and rest it on a paper towel. Fried garlic, shallots and anchovies granules in hot oil. Add diced long beans and rice.  Must use over night left over rice which I refrigerated for best results. Mixed them thoroughly add salt and white pepper. Lastly I add the scramble eggs and cut green onions before I switched off the stove.That's it!

So habis memasak, split all into 3 plates and makanlah kita tiga orang beranak...yum, yum, yum....(Feeling guilty did not leave some for my other half....)

He loves me, He loves me less.

16-Oct-2013 was my mentor's birthday. I mentioned her in my Ramadhan postings that she was the initial person to pitch in the 'dadih' business idea. Hence, I referred her as my mentor.

That day she was on annual leave but there were 2 bouquet of roses delivered to her. Obviously every one in the office were very excited or rather curious who the sender was......Hihihih...hey, bukan apa, its not everyday we see colleagues receive flowers. So tumpang excited nak tahu for what occasion was it for, who was it from....bla bla bla and so on.....Oh come on, for any woman it will be a natural reaction.

This was the first bouquet.

And this was the second bouquet.

They were beautiful. Love notes were attached to the bouquet and created suspicious mind among colleagues. Basically the whole of 4th floor stopped by her cubical (which was next to mine) to take a look at the roses....Huaaaahhaahaha....

My last bouquet of roses was from my other half. It was sometime in November 2009. As I was already feeling guilty about forgetting our wedding anniversary, to top it all he sent a bouquet of roses a week later. As I walked back to my work station, I was so touch almost teary eyes when the bouquet of roses arrived. My supervisor then, Divina, teased,..."Wonder if he has done something wrong". We laughed but it made me think...hmmm....last week he gave me some costume jeweleries....and today flowers...? I must have meant so much to him to be appreciated in such a way. So that was the last time I received flowers from him.

Don't know where my other half found the idea that if he gives me flowers made from plastic or cloth material or even glass, it will last much longer compared to the bouquet of roses which wilt after a week. There goes 100 buckaroos down the drain! And one day, I got this....

A stalk of rose made of glass.

Does that means he love me any less?

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha

It's a day of food and more food. What can I say. Syukur Alhamdulillah for the food we enjoyed on this special day.

Started the day at my sister's and she served the usual beef and chicken rendang. There were also lemang and nasi impit (pressed rice). It was filling since we did not have breakfast at home.We were there because I wanted to accompany my mom to Klang. Both my aunt and my grandmother reside in Klang.

I have an issue with my mom....whenever she comes down from Perak she will always stay at my sister's place. The last time she stayed at our house was in 2011 for one night before we left for our holiday to Penang. My sister didn't join us so mom was stuck with us. We invited her several time to sleep over at our house up to a point, it was not worth inviting anymore.  It's like, if you wanna come, just come la...my doors are always open for you. Of course I can't prepare the guest room with a television and astro for your private viewing, like at my sister's. We only have one television and Astro subscription of RM150 monthly in the tv area upstairs. This was purposely placed like that for so many reasons. That will discuss later.

Anyway we were talking about our raya celebration. From my sister's we left in two cars, mom's and mine, to my aunt's house in Ambang Botanic, Klang. The kids opted to ride with their Mima (grandmother - my mom). When we arrived there were more food. Lasagna, Spaghetti, garden salad, Rendang 3 rasa (consist of limpa, hati and paru lembu - cow's internal organs), nasi impit and later fried chicken arrived, cakes and other desserts. Phew! melantak la kerja nya. Saw my grandmother who is 92 years old. She was sound asleep. She has no terminal illness but due to her age and lost of appetite she is bedridden. She looks so frail and my aunt Inon takes really good care of her.

My grandmother.

We stayed until lunch and left for Ampang to visit my in laws. My father in-law was out of town but my 3 sister-in-laws were around. We were served with Tomato Rice, Sweet & Sour Chicken and baked Macaroni. Then relatives started to arrive and while enjoying the food most of us 'layan' The Voice on the television until 4:45 pm. Then we were invited to my other half's cousin open house and...what else? Makan again.

Laksa was served. Hmmm....but this is the not Penang Assam Laksa. Its the Malay version of laksa.

Some may enjoy this version. I took a try but it was a little bit salty but I finished mine anyway. One or two other relatives drizzle kicap pekat saying it tasted better. My preference will still be the authentic Penang Assam Laksa.

We left about 6 pm and on our way back to Puchong. That night Shakiel complaint of stomach-ache. Tu la, makan tak ingat dunia.....he said he ate lots of watermelon.

Curry Laksa

More on food I like.

Last weekend I prepared Curry Laksa for lunch. It has been a while since I had one and I decided to check out some recipes in the Internet. Finally I found one which is to my liking.

Curry laksa - Coconut milk, curry paste and daun kesum is the main ingredients. Condiments include fish balls, fish cakes, veggies (long beans and beans sprout), cockle (a must) and mint leaves for the pungent flavor of laksa.

Here I added tempura prawn. The soup or stock was made from boiling chicken bones and the prawn shells.

Of course I enjoy eating it. I know the kids did not favor the curry laksa. Tough! Life is not easy...muahahaha....

Art of the Cockroach

I snapped a few of Shakira's art work when she was into Oggy and the Cockroach.

Kalau tak disebabkan sentimental values memang dah lama I threw all her sketch books away. Shakira has tonnes and tonnes of note pads, sketch book, diaries full of her art work. I noticed once in a while she will flipped through her old art work...perhaps for inspiration....or entahla, don't know what she may be thinking. May be in her La La Land....which is cut short. "Shakira, make sure you simpan balik buku tu....Jangan tinggal merata-rata,...on and on...and on...by the way, mummy ni bukan orang gaji ye...ya da ya da ya da....". Does my plea made any difference? NOPE.

Sunday Brunch

I ni bukanlah pakar memasak. Buat suka-suka. Kadang2 tekak ni rindu nak try masakan yang I nak makan. Beli senang je but preparing it gave me more satisfaction. Asal ada ingredient yang tak cukup, zooommmm I will dash off to my local grocer. Macam tu la 2-3 kali zoooommmm pun adakalanya. I am not good at improvisation when it comes to cooking. I must have the complete ingredients, kalau tak semangat memasak tu pudar.

So, last Sunday this is what we had for brunch.  A simple dish of Bee Hoon Goreng.  This time I add a bit of ' tauchu ' or dark soybean paste. I used squid sebab squid lagi manis kuahnya. Add sawi and kobis but skipped the beansprout. Sedap jugak sebab memang dah lama tak masak bee hoon with tauchu. I soaked 2 square pieces of dried bee hoon for 3 hours, toss a few extra ingredients and the result is......

Presentation is important but with the kids, hummm....they do not appreciate the art you display on the food. Nak resipi, search in You Tube. Berlambak. What I would suggest, you pick a few videos. View them and make one recipe which is YOURS. Get it? Boleh jadi your signature dish. Alaaaa, chef-chef tu semua pun lebih kurang macam tu jugak.

Anyway, been hoon goreng langsai and the kidz enjoyed it. Of course I got good review from my #1 food critic, my son,....sedap mummy masak! 2 thumbs up. Hehehe..... ok ok asalkan jangan ada yang sakit perut sudahhhhh.

Cyclethon and Mother's Pep Talk.

Wow what a day it has been for me.  I woke up early yesterday morning and prepared a simple breakfast for the kids. Cereal. Breakfast of the champions. So they say...

Woke up the kids and made sure they are dressed for school.

Yes, its Cyclethon Day. The kids have been looking forward for this day!

The kids hardly touched their breakfast. They were excited. Send them off to school and gave them a short pep talk. You know the talk....listen to instructions, focus, if you are not sure ask the teachers,...be careful and don't dirty your clothes,..on and on and on. Why do we mothers do that? Because as mothers, we think of everything....our head are loaded with information!

Shakiel entered the Most Beautiful Bicycle Competition. It was a hobby my other half picked up 2 years ago. He designed and built the bicycle. It is,...very unusual looking but as an individual he may have his creative side of looking at things. Initially a representative from the Cyclethon organizer approached my other half. They wanted to use the bicycle as a model for the art competition. Oh my, when I heard my heart sank. I wonder if they would allow Shakira to enter the drawing competition? She had been talking about entering the art competion this whole week. I mean its her father's bicycle. Don't you think it will create a conflict of interest? You see what I mean?....Alhamdulillah, God is great. We found out after the facelift my other half and Shakira did to the bicycle 2 days earlier, placed the unit in the Most Beautiful Bicycle Category instead. And yay, it won 2nd Place. Winners were determined by counting votes in a container placed in front of the bicycle.

The bicycle that my other half built.

2nd Prize.

As for the bicycle model, the organizer maintained the rustic classic look.

Bicycle model for the Art Competition Year 4-6.

Listening to instructions.

Focus and concentration.

Meanwhile, Shakiel had a lot of fun.

Finally, the finished product.

Winners were announced and Shakira won 2nd place in the Art Competition. Congratulations!!

Her first achievement in an art competition.

Alhamdulillah, so many accomplishments I see this week.

When people say, " Always listen to your mother aaahhh!" I smiled. Because the truth is mother's knows best.

When words fails, music speaks.

http://shs-shark2.blogspot.com/

Yay! She passed.

A follow up from Grade 2 practical exam.....

Yayyyyy.......Congrats to you girl! She's happy. Of course I am relieved. 109/150. Ok la. Janji pass. 2 points more than her Grade 1 results.

The good news came 2 nights ago via sms from her piano teacher, Ms Lee.

Now she is serious about sitting for her Grade 3 piano practical exam next April.

Pieces selected:
1) Allegro in G by Bach
2) German Dance in A by Schubert
3) Zur Sonnenuntergangsstunde by Schmitz


Go for it girl!!