Aidiladha & Aqiqah

Kami sekeluarga planned untuk pulang ke kampung NS selepas solat Aidiladha pada hari Jumaat 27 Nov memandangkan hubby berkursus dari hari Isnin ke hari Khamis. Hari Rabu sebelumnya 25 Nov, aku telah mengambil cuti untuk menyediakan cupcake untuk diberikan sebagai buahtangan untuk kenduri aqiqah my 2 grandnephews,Rayyan & Syakir. Mak bapak serta uwan(nenek)baby 2 orang ni bercadang untuk membuat kenduri aqiqah mereka & qurban pada 28 nov. Alhamdulillah aku berjaya membuat 100++ biji cupcake. Pada malam raya pula aku membakar cheesecake untuk dibawa pulang ke kampung pada keesokkan harinya. Selepas hubby & Naim pulang dari solat Aidiladha kami pun bersiap2 untuk balik kampung. Sebelum itu, kami singgah sekejap di PJ's house untuk melihat perkembangan terbaru renovation rumah kami tu. Dalam pukul 12 kami bertolak ke kampung. Kami mengambil lebuhraya LEKAS kemudian keluar di Mantin sebelum masuk ke highway baru Bkt Putus. Kami tiba di kampung lebih kurang jam 2 lebih. Cuma ada Mashy & Rayyan sahaja di rumah. Akak & anak2 lelakinya pergi menguruskan penyembelihan lembu qurban & aqiqah. Pada petang itu, selepas akak bawa balik bahagian lembu untuk diagihkan ke penduduk kampung, kami ambil sedikit untuk dibuat sup & masak kicap. Malamnya selepas dinner, pukul 9 kami duduk mengadap TV tengok episod akhir Nurkasih, dalam 5-10 minit lepas tu acek & family berpakaian serba kuning(hobin jang hobin) pun join sekali tengok. Lepas tu barulah diorang makan & pekena sup tulang. Sambil2 tu mak mak baby buat buaian gula2. Naim & Sarah tolong buat party packs (favorite activity)...siap tinggal PSP sebab nak join buat party packs. So sapa2 nak child labor (free) untuk buat party packs...you know who to contact!.

Hari Sabtunya, acara berandoi (naik buai) bermula 11 pagi diikuti tahlil & doa selamat. Kemudian tetamu dijamu makan tengahari secara buffet. Alhamdulillah semuanya berjalan dengan lancar walaupun nasi tak cukup, yang datang lambat tu kena tunggu sekejap sementara tuanrumah masak nasi tambah.

Addiction

It has been like 3 weeks since I posted the last blog. Wasn't in the mood of writing and reading (I was on my half way through kate atkinson's when there will be good news)...well probably I got a new toy to play with :P. I've been following the 707 & 703 channel especially Jamie Oliver's & Nigella Lawson's shows for years... I also have their books. While Jamie demonstrates mostly main dish or starter meal, nigella is known for her very easy peasy delicious-mouth watering-like desserts & snacks. The nigella's book that I own is called domestic goddess with a photo of cute pink cupcake with a flower fondant icing. I've tried some of recipes and they are really really good. But that is not the whole point here..you know..hehehe.
Jeng!..Jeng!...Jeng! What I like most about nigella's show was the red color mixer that she used in the kitchen. It is called KitchenAid mixer. I've never seen it being sold anywhere in the departmental store in KV, I've searched J**c*, MJ, Pa*ks*n etc but to no avail. There is an online store that sells it but of course I want to have a look & feel on the good that I wanted to purchase, right?. When Rob*ns**s opened in The Gdns a couple of years back, I found it!!!. But OMG! it was too expensive..RM2800 a piece..it's gonna burn the whole pocket!
I was thinking about it early this month and told my hubby that I've got to spare some money for it and buy it early next year. A couple of days later, out of the sudden my hubby told me that he wanted to buy the toy for me. I was like...huh??? Is he joking? But after that, I just keep quiet about it until last week when I was jokingly asked him on when he's going to buy me the mixer. And he said, let's go now!
Well to cut the story short, I got my KitchenAid mixer and been exploring baking pleasure with it. So far been using it for meringue, cookies, moist choc cake, double choc cake and cheesecake. It 's like an addiction!!!

Energetic Weekend

This my-so-called energetic weekend started on Friday night where I baked 60-70 pcs soft choc chip cookies for no particular reason...just Sarah & hubby like them so much. The recipe can be found in one of my older posts. Sent an sms to Fas to drop by and take the cookies home as her son Faiz liked them too. But I guessed she didn't read it that night as she only replied in the morning...well not too late though. She came around 10 on Saturday morning to pick them up. After doing our weekly Giant's trip, went to BWY to get some baking stuff...well I planned to cook spaghetti bolognaise with chickenmeatball for lunch so need some breadcrumbs for the meatballs. Back at home around 12 and straight away prepared the meatball before cooking the sauce and later the pasta. After Asar, baked a moist chocolate cake which the two girls ate it while it was still warm...tak menyempat2. Let the pictures explain it all...

Lunchtime Today

Walk Down Memory Lane - Diploma Level

I was reading one of my friend's posting the other day. She has been blogging about her life experience during her college days in UiTM (formerly ITM)Dungun, Terengganu. I think she could be in her early or mid 40s so she must've been my super duper senior I guessed...as I was also studied there after my SPM. Her post felt closer to my heart (and mind) as it somehow commemorates my student life in the same place almost 20 years ago. I was 18 then, just lost my father a few years earlier and if I further my studies my mum would be left alone at home. I was happy and sad at the same time. I was happy when I received the offer to study there, first beacuse I don't have to do STPM. secondly the cost of studying in ITM at that time was much much cheaper than any other local universities, at least my sponsors(you-know-who)can afford it...alhamdulillah. I was sad because I've never been hundreds and hundreds miles away from my family ever and alone. My mum was sick at that time too. Nevertheless, pulled myself up and go with full of expectations and great spirit!...yeay!

When I think about it now, I can't believed that it has been nearly twenty years now and look at where I am now. I took Diploma in Banking Studies merely because I like the idea of being a bank officer, you know...nice officewear, counting money...hehe, good pay...didn't really care about what are the syllabus or subjects that I will be dealing with. First 3 semesters, my favorite subject was accounting..got straight As for it for the 3 semesters. Kinda blur with economics...dunno why do we need to study curve la, demand vs supply la...boring2. The last 3 semesters, my favorite subject was Finance...loved doing time value of money & capital budgeting and stuff...really had fun doing the trial and error to find IRR..at one point it became a hobby just doing the trial & error thingy. At this time was contemplating and reassessing whether I really wanted to work in a bank???..hmmm. Loved Business Law too as it was kinda reading a novel with all kind of cases...hehe macam Jeffrey Archer's short stories la kiranyer.

End of 1993, I passed my final exam and continued to do my Degree on the following year...that's another story of Hogwartslah..hehe

Cookie Decorating Project

Baby Shower Theme @ Cake Connection 24 Oct 2009
I wasn't so lucky with cut-out cookies. Been trying a few recipes for raya but the results had been quite pathetic or should I say...disastrous to my own standard. However my soft cookies were always, always excellent and delicious and yummy and something that I can be proud of and definitely can jual one!..hehe:)
Last Saturday I went to cake connection for baby shower theme cookies class mediated by Azrina....mainly because it was so cute and thought of doing it for my grandnephews' aqiqah next month. It was fun, the baking and the decorating...but when it came to dry the cookies off..here comes the problem. It has to be dried in an aircond room @ 17 degree for at least 5 hours. Wow! very expensive cookies mehh!!...having a second thought about the aqiqah>>>

Cupcake Decorating Classes

After searching, google-ing, asking people and stuff on cake decorating classes, I decided to enroll myself into classes held by Nancy & Shymala of cake connection @ Jaya One. The website www.cakeconnection.com.my seemed nice and quite informative so ok...decided to try one of the classes first. Actually I didn't know the existence of Jaya One, I know the collapsed Jaya Supermarket, I know Digital Mall... so, where the heck is that place??? Googled the place so it is near the old IIUM, seemed easy to find and yeah!...it was very easy to find it!
Went for the Cupcake Level 1 class in the middle of fasting month and Cupcake Level 2 last week. Wow! it wasn't that hard at all. Look at the outcome!

My MBA Convocation 15 Oct 2009

One fine Saturday morning in the last weekend of June 2006, I registered myself in U**M SA for MBA program. The very same morning, I got a call from kampung that my brother in law had peacefully passed away. A couple of weeks later, I received a much unexpected yet anticipated news that I was pregnant for the 3rd time after waiting for more than 4 years. The reason that I enrolled myself into the Masters program was just because my 2 kids have grown up, still no luck for no. 3 and I had quite free time for myself during weekend. Why don't I further my studies? So when I found out that I was pregnant, it was a mixture of feelings...yeah I was happy, definitely! but..will I be able to complete my MBA? Will I be able to manage time between the little baby & assignments? 2007 was a challenging year where I was in my second semester when I delivered Maryam and I dropped 2 subjects that semester. During the 3rd semester I had to juggle between classes, tons of assignments, exams and the baby. Always brought 2 bags to the class, 1 for the books & the other one was for the breast pump. During lecture breaks, I went to the surau in the faculty to express breastmilk. One of the classmate (Abe Mi) used to ask me one question that I will remember for the rest of my life...nak buat ape bawak camera tu? OMG! but yeah the spectra breastpump bag do look like a camcorder bag...hehehe.
Well...after 3 years, finally I had my convocation on Thursdy morning 15th October 2009. Received my scroll from His Majesty himself. Alhamdulillah.

Food tasting

Was browsing @ I***an@ The Gdns on one Friday with you-know-who-my-shopping-buddies, when suddenly felt like trying one cafe infront of that departmental store. Hmmm..the menu looked really nice with stuff that we could not be able to pronounce. Well, we decided to give it a try. Here what we had;
1. Scones - I can tell straight away it was horrible the moment I cut it into halves. Took a really tiny bite and that's it. No thanks!
2. Liegeois Chocolate - well it was an ice cream with cereal and cream on top. And that costed us about 12 bucks??
3. Lavazza - A typical milk shake with a shot of espresso on top...it was ok!
4. Cupidon - A waffle with ice cream & love letter with strawberry sauce...paddington pancake is better

The verdict: It was my first and my last! Thanks for the experience.

Kids's duit raya

Naim is in Year 4 and Sarah is in Year One in primary school. Both of my schoolkids bring their lunchpack to school everyday and were never given any pocket money as their 'duit belanja' except for some special cases like tak ada gas nak masak or nothing to masak. So the only money that they can keep for themselves and allowed to spend is their duit raya collection. Every year after raya, we will normally make a trip to Toysrus to buy whatever they want using their duit raya collection. Most of the time, the choice of toys would be a bunch of hot wheels for naim and barbie doll for sarah. The balance will go to their individual bank accounts. This year they did something different.

It started when we got back to my kampung in NS. One of my nephew, a 20 year old Asrul has a PSP and everybody (Naim, Sarah, Ina, Arfah & Ika) is taking turn playing with it everyday (..or every chance they got). Some took a longer time to finish their turn ( sebab terror sangat, tak mati mati!), some like 5 minutes only game already over ..hehe esp yang Year One tu! Naim has been like an expert already in PS2, XBox and PS3 since 4 years old, so what is PSP la right???? And of course he hold the gadget longer than everybody else...Bangun tido pulun PSP dulu sebelum makan sebab 12 yo Arfah bangun very the lambat.

On the way back home after spending 4 days raya in NS, hubby asked the kids whether they are willing to combine their duit raya to buy a PSP. And of course as expected both of them were thrilled and trying to remember and counting how much money that they will have altogether including maryam's...ewah..ewah. I told them Maryam's portion is out of reach and definitely untouchable.

As promised we went to digimall to buy the PSP on the following day. As for Maryam, we got her a fisher price musical & activity table from toysrus.

Aidilfitri Celebration Part 2

Pagi raya keempat tu lepas subuh jer rumah dah riuh dengan pelbagai agenda among the 50 over people in the house. Ada yang sibuk di dapur menyediakan sarapan pagi, ada yang menyediakan anak2 mandi... bilik air tak pernah kosong, ada yang berkemas nak balik, ada juga yang berborak dan sebagainye. Rasanya since balik kampung yesterday, aku cuma nampak Sarah & Naim masa nak tido jer. Most of the time samada diorang berlari keliling rumah atau main kat atas rumah. Maryam je yang rajin masuk ke dapur tu sebab banyak makanan. Maryam suka makan kuih tradisional macam putu kacang (what????) aku tak pernah berminat dengan putu kacang, kuih samperit...aku pun suka, kuih bahulu & kuih goyang. Lepas breakfast tu, the Johorian berangkat balik Johor around 11ish. Lepas diorang balik barulah we all pulak gi beraya. Start with rumah Acek kat KP untuk lunch. Kak Ana masak gulai sardin...lauk wajib lepas raye...hehe, telur dadar , sayur and sambal belacan kaw punye!. Naim tanya ada sambal tak?...ekele! tak sudah2 anak montel aku ni dengan nasi campur sambal. Takde sambal tumis boleh aje makan nasi ngan kuah gulai & kicap. Siap sampai 2 pinggan tu. Lepas solat zohor, beraya pulak ke rumah Pak Ndak H and Pak Lang K. By then it's already 6 and we headed home. Malam budak2 main bunga api and mercun yang kecik2 tu which tak leh lawan jiran sebelah tu rumah polis pencen anaknye pegawai kastam, berdentum dentam tuuu...takpelah mungkin tolong govt demolished barang seludup kot. On thursday beraya lagi, gi rumah a few of my cousins around NS. Balik rumah petang tu, suruh asrul take away pizza (2 large, 1 regular & 2 spaghetti). Apart from that akak goreng pulak mee...makan ajer le! Baru teringat tak jumpa lemang pun sepanjang raya ni. Akak kata dia pun tak tempah & orang pun takde bagi. Hmmm...not that I like lemang so much cuma bila nampak lemang atas meja tu baru rasa suasana raya. Instead ada pizza hut pulak..hehehe. Zaman dah berubah dunia dah maju kot. Lepas isyak budak2 main bunga api lagi lepas tu naik atas main, ada yang main psp & ada pulak yang main hantu2, guessed who's the hantu???...Maryam le!. Me perabih biskut kelapa & kuih samperit. Abang cik & kak L tempah tiket first class dok depan tv tengok jangan tegur...tak tau pun wujudnye cerita tu....layan jer.

Friday morning, me & my family siap2 balik rumah. Drove off after solat Jumaat, pun tak jam kat mana2. A really good raya, pergi balik tarak jumpa traffic jam, makan banyak, jalan2 rumah sedara and catching up with family...oh ya..got 2 new nephews!

Balik Kampung & Aidilfitri Celebration Part 1

Balik Kampung
Today is my first day in the office after 10 days leave. It was a good raya, started with balik kampung trip on friday morning 18 sept @ 9am. All the way to hubby's kampung, the trip was extraordinarily smooth probably because a lot of people made their journey between midnight to dawn as there was a toll free balik kampung promotion by the highway operators from gombak to lpt. So we arrived kg minutes before zohor. Sampai je, the kids got their new baju raya from nenek, mak ngah & mak cu. As expected, for baju melayu, naim couldn't fit into the pants...jadi cam tight superman with bulging tummy...OMG!. Sarah with a size 6, got a steng kain kurung, baju ok. So mak ngah kena pegi tukar saiz. Sarah oklah boleh pakai one size bigger tapi kainnye terlabuh la pulak tapi boleh lipat, oklah. As for naim, he can say bye bye to the bajula, seluar saiz 14 ok but baju pulak cam guni beras. Well, simpan la baju tu nanti mummy alter lah somehow. Thanks nenek & mak ngah!. But confirmed tahun depan I have to tailor made for Naim's baju melayu. Casual shirts & dress yang makcu kirim ok la. Thanks makcu!. Fitted the dress for Maryam terus tak nak tanggal & pegi main pasir with that baju lawa...oh well!..That day mil prepared bubur lambuk & nasi lemak for buka puasa. On Sat night cooked rendang ayam, daging & nasi impit for hari raya.

Aidilfitri Celebration Part 1
First day raya, hubby & naim went to masjid for solat aidilfitri after breakfast. After they came back around 9.30am, had a photo session together then bersalaman raya plus $$ before beraya to tok long bedah's house, norli's parents house, mak ngah endon's & ami alim's. By then it's already 2pm so we headed back home. Tak keluar dah lepas tu, letih, sambung kane & abel. The kids after counting their duit raya, as usuallah aktiviti main pasir petang tu. Second raya, the menu was laksa pahang catered from one of the neighbour. After breakfast around 11 we went to long mi's house @ B.K'tan. Reached there around 12.30pm and stayed there until 3pm. De & Pak Teh's family came to the house just before maghrib, stayed overnight. Third raya, the menu was nasi dagang ubai. Packed up & got ready to go back to NS after zohor. Shot off around 2 and reached kg around 5. Sama pulak sampai with the Johorian, more than 5 cars rasanye with almost 50 people in the house!...campur kak L & family.

Catching up

It has been quite a while since I last updated this page. Been pretty busy with business plan 2010 consolidation where weekend was no longer being looked forward as we had to work on sat & sun and yesterday, there was a challenge session with our ctio g***gio. This is his first experience in business plan preparation since he assuming the post in may. He's not very happy about the first cut figure so there's a lot of things to do next...hmmm...that'll be another story.

On the other notes, I attended a cake decorating class 2 weeks ago. It was fun. Thought it probably might be quite difficult considering i am not that creative but it is actually all about techniques. Once u grabbed the technique, then it is up to your creativity to improvise and make the decoration more appealing and mouth watering...hehehe. We did some hands on on a few wilton techniques i.e. star, rosette, swirl, swirl drop flower, balloon and leaves. I had a good times doing it...thanks nancy of cake connection. I took home all 6 iced decorated cupcakes. Sarah & Maryam were thrilled to see those beautiful flowery cupcakes tapi maryam sapu icing jer...cake tinggal cam kena gigit tikus.

We also had some raya shopping @ alamanda & s.parade. Bought a baju melayu, sampin, butang & songkok for naim, raya shoes & jeans for sarah, hubby got himself a baju melayu & i bought a baju kurung. Maryam tarak...sebab tak pose. Actually her nenek already got the girls a baju kurung and a baju melayu for Naim but since Naim's waist diameter is quite huge...not so confident he can fit in so to be on the safer side, we might as well bought another one that pretty well fitted. Shopping for his baju melayu is like....most important factor is SIZE!janji seluar dia muat...color comes later!.

Tomorrow will be taking a half day to fetch the indonesian clan that will touch down @ KLIA around 2pm. Naim dah book nak ikut sebab sekolah agama dah cuti...oh well..let's see!

Balik Kampung Ramadhan

Dah lama rasanya tak balik kampung. Kali terakhir adalah pada bulan Mei lalu di mana pada masa itu aku baru menamatkan pengajian ku di peringkat sarjana. Sarah asyik bertanya bila Adlina nak balik dari Jakarta sejak aku memberitahu anak-anakku tentang rancangan untuk pulang ke kampung pada hujung minggu menjelang hari kemerdekaan. Rindu benar mereka kepada Adlina, maklumlah itulah teman sepermainan mereka bila balik ke ampung.

Pagi Sabtu lepas aku membakar brownie dan juga kek cawan coklat beraising untuk dibawa balik ke kampung pada petang itu. Kami bertolak lebih kurang jam 2.30 petang selepas solat dan membeli sedikit barangan runcit di G**nt. OMG! susahnyer nak tulis full in BM!...I can understand how my kids are doing BM in school. Kita ni dah terlalu biasa dengan bahasa campur, ni le akibatnye.

Well, back to my balik kampung story. Sampai Bkt Putus, jam sikit lah sebab banyak kereta but moving. Nasib baik tak ada accidents kat situ kalau tidak, malam la sampainyer!. Sampai kampung around 5.30pm. Keluar kereta jer...Maryam tanya, nenek maner? hehehe...nenek tu Mak Ngah dia le. Sape yang berambut putih tu adalah nenek pada dia. Still confused. Takper hubby kata, nenek Suhail (her cousin's son).

Sarah & Naim tanya lagi bila sebenarnye Adlina nak balik ni, la...tak paham lagi rupanya? So I tell them the exact date i.e. 16 September...oooooo!!! Akak (my sister kat kampung tu) masak lemak cili api nenas + kerang and ayam masak merah for buka puasa. Lama tak makan masak lemak cili api akak. Dessert off course my brownie and cupcake. So berbukalah we all with akak, asrul and fadhlie. Faizah balik rumah mil nya, Sunday morning baru they all bertolak balik kg. Naim suka sangat le ayam masak merah, cuma Sarah jer tak berapa makan sangat sebab selalunyer berbuka dengan nasi ayam. But after solat maghrib, banyak la pulak makan cupcakes and snacks sambil tengok tv.

Sunday morning around 10, Faizah & co muncul. Suhail cam biasa merayau-rayau usik sana usik sini, angkat bakul kain, bukak cabinet, keluar isi cabinet tu...hehe...kerja keras. We planned to buka puasa at Acek's house in KP. Already called them earlier that night and he said ok. So akak prepared some sambal tumis udang and some pengat pisang to be brought to their place. We left the house 10 to 6pm and reached KP 6.15pm. The menu was nasi minyak, nasi putih, kari daging, ayam masak merah & jemput2 bilis plus what be brought from home i.e. pengat, sambal udang and brownie. After berbuka, solat maghrib & isyak berjamaah. Around 9.30pm, we all pun balik setelah makan dengan kenyangnye, kecuali Sarah yang cuma makan 4 biji pisang & air kosong saja. Balik rumah, buatkan maggi goreng for her.

31st August, we headed home around 10 to 11am. Sampai Bkt Putus, Maryam yang tak berapa sihat muntah dengan hebatnya dalam kereta luckily dia muntah masa we all tak jauh dari area mata air bukit tu. So singgah jap kat mata air tu untuk basuh badan dia & kereta. Mak ai! sejuk betul air dia. Maryam memang tak suka mandi air sejuk so just lap jer dia, itu pun dia merengek. Lepas tu dia terus tidur sampai le ke rumah. Petang tu beli nasi ayam kat G**nt for buka puasa...happy le Sarah dapat nasi ayam!

Ramadhan

We started to perform our puasa on Saturday 22th August. It is also coincide with the school holidays. Even better, so that the kids won't be that tired during the day especially Sarah. Naim is looking forward for puasa because he can eat dadih coklat during buka puasa. During sahur on the first day puasa, we had rice & some ayam goreng & sambal. Sarah just ate some cereal & milk. Naim has already told us what he wanted to eat during sahur the following day and on Monday morning, and I was like ...Hari Raya dah tau dah nak makan apa? He grinned.

After solat subuh around 5.55am, everybody tido semula. During the day nothing much to do, Naim played with games, Sarah played Barbie Doll with Maryam and me with my book. Alhamdulillah, not even once Sarah was complaining that she was hungry or thirsty. Around 6pm we went to Pasar Ramadhan. As it was Saturday and school holidays, I guessed a lot of people came early to the pasar and seemed that not many food left by the time we arrived. No dadih coklat for Naim as well...sold out. We ended up going to G**nt to buy the kids' favorite chicken rice. So chicken rice for the first day buka puasa.

On the second day, asked the kids what they wanted to eat for buka puasa...both wanted to eat Maggi...OMG!..of all the things. So we went to G**ant to buy Maggi and other groceries. Nevertheless hubby also bought kfc variety bucket for the kids. Me bought nasi dagang and hubby laksam from the pasar ramadhan. Naim also got his dadih coklat.

Malam tu, Naim siap cari balik wallet dia untuk simpan duit raya...OMG!..kids!

Disney's Up with the kids 20/8/09

Yesterday i was a bit not-in-the mood to go to the office. As there is nothing much pending in the office, decided to take leave. The kids were already unofficially holidaying since one of the sekolah kebangsaaan nearby already closed due to h1n1. The same infected kids probably went to the same sekolah agama where naim & sarah is also attending. So to minimize the risks, we tell them to stay at home since wednesday. The school holidays were supposed to be started this saturday.

Since the kids were at home and I was on leave, we checked out TGV for matinee show. Booked 11.45am show for Disney's Up 3D at S.Pyramid. Got the kids ready and drove to the mall around 11. Not many people there so very easy to get parking and after getting the kids to wear masks we went to the cinema to get our tickets. Maryam was quite restless because she thought we were going to her ultimate favorite spot i.e. G**nt BK5 (he!he!). Naim bought some popcorn and mineral water before going to the hall.

The first 15 minutes of the movie is a prologue, on the life of the grumpy old Mr Fredricksen. Though there was not much dialog but it was really touching. It is a must see scene because from that scene we understand the reason why he decided to take up the adventure on the balloons.

The character that I like most is the scout boy, Russell. He's really cute and all his dialog in it reflects how innocent our kids are. He can't tell lies, he's direct, he's curious, honest..I mean who won't like him? He's adorable!

One of the scene that I liked most was when Russell found the big giant bird who really like chocolate. Russel wanted to keep the bird and bring it throughout the adventure as a pet. He named the bird Kevin. Along the way Kevin responded to some squawking birds from their nest. Mr Fredricksen told Russell that Kevin has babies...so Russell was like...huh! Kevin is a girl?..hehe so cute!

Maryam was a bit scared because there some thunderstorm scenes...mummy!ujan!kut!

After movie, singgah McD drive thru for lunch.

Fairy Cupcake

Heat oven to 200 Cel. Cream 250gm butter with 200gm brown sugar using electric mixer. Add 2 tsp vanilla essence. Add 4 eggs. Beat until fluffy. Set aside. Sift 1.5 cup of self raising flour. Fold in the flour into the butter mix with 3-4 tbsp milk in between. Spoon into cute cupcake mold/muffin cup. Chocolate chips & almond optional.
Bake for 12-15 min depends on oven/size of cup.

EMBA 8B Gathering

The class of EMBA 8B organized a gathering on 25th July at TGCC. The mastermind behind the event was Syarin, thanks pal!. She basically did the venue reservation, chose the food, get everybody to pay (the leceh one this one), plan for the backdrop, photographer and macam2 which I also didn't know what else la. Doorgifts were sponsored by Mark & Samseah, nice la all the things u guys gave us! appreciate them very much...ada pens la, notepad la, post it, water tumbler, pouch, canvas shopping bag sampai dua!

We booked one function room for that event so that we could have more privacy with ourselves. Thought somebody wanted to karaoke or something but dunno what happened..The turnout was really really good where if not mistaken 25 out of 28 yang dah confirmed datang. Syarin, Samseah & Mark were the early birds and myself & Mas joined in a little bit later. Then bila Gee came, she & me jaga the registration counter. Mylord was the first bee yang muncul around 12ish...I heard that he actually went in and tasted the food eventhough event belum start...ishk!iskh!iskh! Cik Pah kite datang terhencut2 sikit sebab jari kaki patah tapi sanggup jugak drive tu, tabik spring! Pian datang with a bodyguard ...hehe...takpelah...layan jer.

At a little bit after 1pm, syarin started the event which actually start makan ler...no speech or whatever because the main objective is to gather and catching up sambil makan. The food was excellente. With RM75, we were served with pasta (bolognaise, penne & alfredo), rice & lauk2 yang sedap, ada ayam masak lemon, roasted beef dengan kuah apa ntah kuning cam masak lemak cili api tapi sedap, veges etc. For appetizer ada salad, pecal, oyster, soup, roti and ulam2an. Dessert ada bubur kacang, ABC, cakes, brownies, jelly etc. Tak dapat nak makan sume sebab banyak sangat....rugi...rugi.

Sambil2 makan tu ada juga yang baru datang macam hj ghazi & abe mie. The 2 couples were the last to join in around 3pm. Yati & Sham brought their 8 mo baby together, she's really cute and baiknyer! Orang dok pegang here and there, dia diam jer tengok...agaknyer dlm kepala dia "Ape ke halnyer diaorang ni tak pernah jumpa baby ke ape?" Around 3.30 camtu, we had group photo taken by the photographer and after that some of us had to take a move. A few stayed and listened to a so-called press conference by sham & yati. Never seen yati seceria tu when we were in the class.Nice!

We called it a day around 4pm. Hope to see you guys in the next reunion.

Birthday @ Chilli's MV

Some of my close friends in the office (Fas, Aiza & Gee) treated me a lunch on one of the Friday afternoon at Chilli's MV. We ordered the famous and yummy tostada chips & queso dip of course!..itu wajib. We also ordered chicken & steak. Makan hidang la kira maklum la sume small eater. Thanks guys and thanks to all of you again including yati, hanum & ziham for the sweetest birthday gift (pilih sendiri tapi!).

Aiza did ask me whether I know how to prepare the dip, I think I know how but haven't tried it. Kalau aku nak buat aku nak cecah dengan ape? Kepok ikan? ke papadom? sedap gak kot.

HK Trip - Day 4 (15 July 2009)

The last day of our trip happened to be on my birthday 15 July 2009. Hmmm...turned a year older in HK!..

The flight home was at 2.45pm so we didn't plan anything for the day except packing up and just get ready to the airport. We checked out from the hotel around 10am and took 2 cabs to the airport. Aiza, Fas & their luggage in one cab (the most number of luggage!) and another cab had me, gee and hanum as well as our stuff. The journey to the airport took around 45 minutes and the fare was $240 (fuyyyooo...mahalnye). During the journey, Fas called me from their cab asking me what was our cab fare meter like...laju macam ayaq la, takut tak cukup duit! Don't worry la, already in my budget. We reached the airport at 11am but the airline check in counter will only be opened at 11.45am so we just wait at the bench in front of the counter. Ada yang gi toilet ada yang pening pi beli panadol kat farmasi, me dok sebelah kevin costner. Sambil sambil tu dok tengok this one groupie for one Japanese artist dok berkumpul kat belakang we all. What was the name of the artist???...nama dia ada M and ada K but can not recall mehhh..was it Mai Kuraki? Tapi one thing kan, the boys in that groupie sume cam nerd or geek jer. It must have something to do with computer gaming stuff kot or probably anime. When that artist came, the groupie lifted up their banner and cheering up. Yang bestnyer, that event looked tersusun, mula2 diorang teriak nama minah ni pastu minah ni pi dok in the middle of the groupie for photo session. Takde sekalipun, susunan groupie tu tersenget ke or ada yang buat havoc nak peluk2 ke. Bila dah abis bergambar baru le the press and the fan tu berkerumun for interview and sign autograph. Confirm! geek!.

Back to our story, once the airline crew came in, the 5 of us just barged to that lady and checked our things in. Maklumla nak masuk duty free cepat2 ni. After getting our boarding passed, we entered the departure hall and checked out the duty free shops. I found a nice elegant Gucci sunglasses, bought some perfume miniatures (CK for hubby and EL for me) and J'adore EDP also for me. On the way to the boarding gate, Fas & I dropped by at Coach boutique. They were having sale for summer for some selected items up to 50%...hmmm...Well!got each of us a slingbag...same design but different color. Can be coach slingbag buddy one!

We finally boarded the plane at 2.15pm , and thank god it was a bigger plane with individual inflight entertainment. Tried watching Duplicity but half way felt so tired and not in the mood to watch it anymore. Shut it off and took a nap. Nampak Aiza tekun menengok movie tu, cam professor kat dalam conference. Nasib baik movie tu tak interactive kalau tak, confirm mesti ada Q & A session.

Arrived at the airport just before 6. After taking our luggage, stopped by to buy some chocolate for our kids and colleagues before heading back home.

Harry Potter - My Review

I've been a fan of Harry Potter since the first movie...only the movie! no thanks to the book collection. The latest installment of HP is The Half Blood Prince which was released on July 15th 2009 (my birthday!) so went to watch it on the 16th with Aiza. It was an emotional movie and to me it was also a fill in the blank movie for the next installment i.e. Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2 (2010 & 2011).

In the last scene of the previous movie Order of Phoenix, everybody in the magic world has already awakened by the resurrection of Lord Voldermort and finally proving that Harry wasn't lied about it when he told them that the Dark Lord killed Cedric in the Goblets of Fire. So in this new movie, the scene started with the Death Eaters creating a mayhem in the muggle world pulak la.

HP has grown up a bit (got after shave effect some more!), but still a bit ketot compared to Ron, Hermoine & Ginny. Ron has been working up and tone up a lot I guessed, got some muscles already. Hermoine has grown to a very beautiful girl with great body..really suit up the Burberry style! Malfoy was very tall and lanky with black suit in almost all the scene...looked great as a villain especially his face expression. Fred & George has graduated from Hogwarts and they opened up a magic stuff shop. Fred the shorter one is more handsome than George eventhough they look alike....can't believe the twin with temenggung jugah hair in the earlier movies looked so different now. Ginny was...hmmm...still look like Ginny lorrr...

This movie has very minimal actions and spell & charms. As I said, it was an emotional one where the main characters developed more romantic feeling towards each other. We can also feel/see the jealousy between Hermoine & Ron, self conflict (Malfoy), betrayal (Snape), loyalty (the 3 bestfriends) and sadness (Dumbledore's death). It is a must see movie, however it is no longer suitable for under age kids.

I actually watched it for the second time last week with Fas...hehe...just to see Ginny kissed Harry again!

HK Trip Day 3 - 14 July 2009

The day started with a ferry ride to Hong Kong island. From the pier we took a bus to Victoria Peak. I guessed it has been like more than 10 years since the last time i took a town service bus. I would say our rapidkl is much much better bus. The bus here is like... if I'm not mistaken years ago there was a MetroBus in Klang Valley, that's the kind of bus condition that i can compare with.

The Victoria Peak is the highest place in HK where we can see the whole city from its viewpoint. The entrance fee is $48 (RM24). From the entrance we have to take a tram to the peak, it is the same as our Bukit Bendera in Penang but I guessed the railway is slightly steeper....or was it the same? Hmmm...I think it's a bit higher than BB la....I don't know. From the tram exit, we had to take ...6-7 escalators (can't really remember exactly) to reach the peak. Before going up, we went to Madame Tussaud to pose with Michelle Yeoh and Michael Jackson statues. We didn't go to the gallery as it was quite expensive $300+ per person just to see wax people! So long OBAMA!..Yeoh & Jacko...that'll do!


When we finally reached the peak, the view was spectacular...it was beautiful however it was really REALLY hot up there. We stayed there for awhile, took photos and enjoying the view under the sun then we moved downstairs where there were a number of outlets selling souvenirs and other merchandise. After some quick shopping & snack, we went back to the tram to go down. From there, we took a cab to Stanley Market.

I thought it was like 10 minutes drive, it turned out to be longer than that. I think more than 20 minutes baru sampai to the market. Stanley Market is almost similar to Ladies Market in Mongkok but i would say it is more...comfortable and civilized(???) as the target market is more towards tourists. However, the price is slightly higher than Mongkok, Aiza said Stanley Market is similar to Rantau Panjang in Kelantan, in what sense I don't know as I never been to Rantau Panjang..Kelantan also never jejak kaki one. The difference or I would say the attraction is the art gallery. If you loved paintings or artworks, you can get them here. Though I didn't really look at the price, I don't think they are that expensive but they are really nice piece of work!

From Stanley Market, we took an intercity bus back to TST. It was an hour long ride. We finally reached TST around 4pm. The bus dropped us somewhere near the space museum and since most of us had to answer nature calls so we just barged into the nearest hotel i.e Sh*r*t*n Hotel. We met Fas' other half, Hasrul & Raj overthere. After everybody was ready, we walked to Harbour City but before that pegi dulu H&M. Since I don't have anything to cari in H&M, I went to Gucci & LV's boutiques with Fas. Gucci was having sale,hmmmm...let's see how much?. Interested in one big brown bag, asked that old emotionless customer rep lady to get it for me. She took it then handed it over to me and when asked about the price..she said got 50% discount so the price now is $199,999! Wow! very cheap one maaa...can buy myself another Latio sport with that money maaa!!! Thank you very much kirim salam!

I was exhausted by the time we headed to HC and so was everybody else. Rested for awhile in HC before taking the ferry cruise at Pier 3. Took the cruise at 7.45pm and watched the symphony light show. I guessed everybody was too tired to enjoy the show. Just waiting for the cruise to be over. We finally reached Pier 3 around 9ish and hailed a cab to the hotel. Back at the hotel, after everybody had freshened up we called Shalimar Restaurant to deliver our dinner. We ordered beriyani, naan and fish curry (AGAIN!). They delivered the food within 30 minutes and apalagi...hantam sajalah!

HK Trip Day 2 - 13 July 2009 (Hong Kong Disneyland)

The second day was all dedicated for Disneyland. Woke up at 6.30, some of us yang solat already tertinggal subuh because subuh here is very early like 5.18am...tula ,tak nak tanya aku!

Got out around 9ish, bought Disney's tickets at the hotel. The fee is $310 equivalent to RM140. To ease of the journey to our $$$..hehehe..we took train. We walked like 3 minutes to the nearest MTR station, Jordan Station and we bought tickets to Lai King Station where we transfered to another train going to Sunny Bay. From Sunny Bay we took the Disneyland train to the last stop which is? DISNEYLAND la...The Disneyland train was quite nice, it has windows with the shape of Mickey trademarks, the seat was comfy in the shape of U and each corner has disney characters statues.

The weather was really REALLY hot there, hmmm...no wonder most of Chinese here using umbrella and mind you the umbrella has all the beautiful kerawang(embroidery) and sequine, you know...just like our baju kurung..hehehe. The park opens at 10am, and if i were to go there again with my kids i think i'll be going in the late afternoon like 3-4 pm because in the morning there are a lot of people and we have to queue like 10 minutes to pass the ticket machines. There were also security check because no food allowed in the park, but from what i observed they quite lenient to non Chinese tourists. The security actually opened my big bag and there it was a big pringle and some chocolate but he's like okay...welcome to Disneyland!!!

Masuk aje, terus le bergambar. Posing here and there. Then masuk kedai at the Main Street, by the time masuk Park ..everybody dah letih dengan panasnyer lagi. The first park that we entered was adventureland where we watched the lion king show. The songs in the musical show was performed mostly by the african (probably african american) and the dancers mostly, i think based on their look are hawaiian. Handsome2 belake and body mengancam...hehehe. Nevertheless there are some Chinese elements embedded in the show.

Then after that we went to Fantasyland where we watched the Mickey Mouse 3D show and take a boat ride in the Smallworld. Actually all the souvenir shops in the theme park sells the same merchandise like key chain, bracelet, tshirt, watch, stationery etc but we ended up going into each and every stores in the park that selling the same merchandise! How lunatic was that? I bought myself nothing from the store but bought hubby and naim disneyland tshirts. Got maryam and sarah a bracelet, ring & earring set and tshirt. Also some other souvenirs for close family.

Once in a while,there was a parade in the street where all the disney characters like mr incredible family, stitch, mickey, donald, toy story characters etc waving at us. The last park was tomorrowland but by then everybody has already very tired and muka already cam tempoyak.

We took train back to the hotel at 5pm. Back at the hotel, solat and had tea. Around 7pm took a cab to Chungkin Mansion which was like 5 minutes from our hotel. Chungkin Mansion is a building where there are many Muslim halal restaurants can be found. As Fas's dearly beloved recommended one, we just went straight to it which is located on the ground floor. The name is Shalimar Restaurant. It is a quite small and cosy air conditioned restaurant. It served all kinds of beriyani, roti and other northern indian cuisine. We ordered 2 chicken beriyani, 1 chicken tandoori, 2 naan bread and fish curry. OMG!!! It was the best beriyani ever! and the fish curry was excellent! I thought Insaf Beriyani back home was nice and being me who didn't really enjoy Indian/Pakistani cuisine, well it was worth it!Yum!Yum! While we were finishing up the food, a familiar face suddenly appeared outside the windows...sebok je dearly beloved Fas ni! hehehe...

After makan valued at a good $190, took a stroll at Parklane Boulevard, bought a handbag for myself and a purse for souvenir. We finally rest for the day at 11pm at the hotel.

HK Trip Day 1 - 12 July 2009

The flight that morning was at 9:15am, already checked all of us in prior that night via MAS online check in, printed boarding passes. Hubby sent me to airport at 6:45am, reached KLIA 7.20am. Went straight to check in baggage, Gee was already there, then a few minutes later Hanum, Aiza and Fas was the last to arrive. Boarding the gate 8.45am, alahai kapal terbang kecik & lama la...Everybody were so excited & full of energy. Reached HK airport 1.10pm, took airport express to Kowloon Station, the fee was $310 for 5 people. The airport train was quite nice. From Kowloon Station we took a cab to the Novotel Hotel in Nathan Road....5 people in one cab plus 5 luggages...hmmm...imagine!,but the cab is quite big macam cab malaysia zaman dulu2 yang volvo or mercedes tu.

Sampai hotel, check in...thank god they responded to my request to have connecting rooms. Our room was a corner lot, quite nice with modern design but a bit sempit for 3 people (me, aiza & fas)...hanum & gee shared another room. First thing first makan, masing2 had a maggi in a cup each & tea before going to Harbour City around 4pm. Took a cab from the hotel, got a nice cab driver who can speak a little and understandable english. He actually snapped our photo in the cab masa berhenti kat simpang, siap bas kat belakang tu honking sebab tak jalan2 lagi dok sibuk amik gambar we all..

Sampai Harbour City, ronda ronda all the boutiques. Harbour City is like Gardens Midvalley where designer products are available, some brands are not available back home. Seems that most of the boutiques are having sale, singgah nine west, got myself a pair of circa joan & david shoes 40% off. aiza bought a 50% off anne klein bag, nice color. Then masuk fcuk, ralph lauren, mulberry...not worth buying. Masuk one kedai dunno the name, tak jumpa kat msia...berkenan a pair of sunglasses...cantik GILER!!!...brand? Tom Ford....price? $3900!!!...mahainyer! tapi cantiknyer!!!oh well, byebye!

Then habis ronda setengah harbour city, got out and went to H&M across the street. Bought myself a tunic & a tshirt for sarah. Around 7+, took a cab & went to Mongkok. Mongkok is a place where we can get souvenir and good imitation branded products. It was a place that I really do not want to go sebab kat msia pun aku takkan pegi places like jln TAR or petaling street kalau tak perlu. But the stuff here is really cheap & really like real one. Stuff like branded watches, branded handbags like gucci, LV, coach...sebijik macam original. But you have to really2 bargain sampai dapat 1/4 of the price. Bought myself a bvlgari watch at $250...dalam RM100. Got some HK TShirts & cermin for souvenir. Got myself tiffany &co and chanel charmbracelets for $40 each. By halfway of the market, started feeling very tired...budak2 ni tak ghupe nak balik lagi ni...

We finally reached the end of the market around 10pm and headed back to the hotel. End of Day One.

Weekend Getaway - JB

Dah 2 minggu tak post sebarang cerita. Dua minggu lepas the last weekend of June, we packed up our things and go to JB. Sebenarnya dah plan lama untuk pergi ke wedding budak office husband. Already booked M-Suites resort for a nite, tak tau pun hotel apa elok ke tidak tapi sebab lokasinya di tepi laut which is betul betul facing danga bay and the only one kat area tu yang ada 2-3 bedroom apartment & kitchenette, so amik jer around RM400++. Lagipun ada spa...hehehe, booked jugak spa tu for an hour massage.
Bertolak agak pagi around 9ish. Sampai pasar borong sgor, jumpa a couple of other cars to convoy, ours dok depan sekali sebab ada the most reliable GPS..hehe. One of the friends siap bagi walkie talkie to facilitate the journey. After making a few stops at the r&r, we reached the rumah pengantin dalam pukul 1.30pm. Pengantin lum bersanding lagi, dalam kad kata bersanding jam 2.30pm. Kawasan tu cam previously high class punya area la kira kat jb, hilly area cam bukit tunku tapi sekarang ni too many construction so hilangla sikit ke'ekslusif'annye. Rumah pengantin tu single storey bungalow, kat parking tu dia setup the pelamin and then kat depan pelamin tu cam ada garden sikit dia dirikan 2 khemah. Another 2 khemah lagi dia setup kat rumah jiran dia, so we all gi la kat rumah jiran tu untuk menjamu selera.
Fulamak!!! best tu makanan dia. Ada nasi ayam and laksa johor. Nampak pun memang sodap,especially laksa johor tu. Sengaja amik banyak and makan laksa johor tu dengan tangan, traditional johorean style ....fuyyoo!!bestnyer!, kalau pengantin tu sedara, lama dah mintak bawak balik satu tupperware. Disebabkan banyak ngat makan laksa tu so makan sikit jer nasi ayam dia, sedap gak!.
Around 2.30 pengantin pun datang, lepas diorang bersanding and hubby & friends jumpa the pengantin, around 3.30, we all made a move. Sampai hotel tu around 4pm, rupanyer hotel tu formerly ming court. The view was nice. The hotel also nice. Booked 2 bedroom suite tapi actually 2.5 bedroom sebab ada satu bilik kecil for maid. Tapi sebab maid tak ikut, so bilik tu untuk naim tukar baju. Sampai2 jer, hmmm...asyik kena tanya bila nak pegi swimming. Around 5 hubby took the kids to pool and at 6pm me with the spa...hmmm...best!
After shower and getting the kids ready, went out around 7.30 to the nearest gerai kat Jln Sg Chat, beli ikan bakar, sotong bakar, murtabak & otak2....sedapnyer otak2 dia. Semua take away. Makan kat hotel, start with ikan bakar....fulamak bestnyer!, sotong bakar!...delicious & yummy & tasty. Budak2 as usual lah, apalagi kalu their fav nasi ayam. Mek yam, makan nasi ayam with soup. Pukul 9 sume tido, keletihan.
Esoknyer, breakfast kat hotel...hmmm...biasa jer la makanan dia. Around 10 budak2 gi pool lagi, kul 11 naik mandi & siap for journey home.

Presenting paper in a conference - an experience

Last wednesday, came back to the office after taking a few days off. Received a call from UiTM saying that one of the journal paper that my group (me, mai & anum) prepared was selected by the committe to be presented in the parallel session during the global biz conference in the uni next week. I know Mai won't be presenting as she'll be happily touring London and Paris at that time. Called anum and tell her about it, she asked me to present....hmmm...as always lah. Setakat present kat uni ni...hmmm I'm ok with it but a bit malas to review the slides tapi ku gagahi jua reviewing and re-arranging the slides into something that I am comfortable enough to present it. How come this paper got accepted? If I were the selection committee, I won't consider this paper..hahaha..hmm...I've got nothing to wear but who cares?

Come the day of the presentation, reached there around 9 for registration & opening remarks from Dr FH and that African guy. Actually we didn't register because the committe asked us to go straight into the auditorium because the registration is on the upper level. So ok, we just go into the auditorium and after the opening remarks we were ushered to the upper level for registration. Met Dr NA our thesis advisor, she asked us about the result and she's happy because we can make it to the end of the course.

At first,I wasn't actually understand what does it mean with parallel session. A parellel session is a 20 minutes-presentation for academician or students to partially present their PhD paper or to present journal paper for publication. The purpose of the presentation is to get as many comments as possible from the facilitator or the audience in order for them to proceed with their PhD thesis. Oooo...I thought for PhD, we just do it all out and only present once during the defence session. Wow! they actually have to pay & attend these kind of conference in order to get comments/views from different people in different uni. No wonder it takes 4 years! I don't think I want to do PhD lah...

The presenters for the parellel session was divided into a few sessions in 5 different rooms. My session is at 10.45 - 11.45 am and there are 3 papers to be presented in that session. Mine was the first one in that 10.45 session. I think we are the only one with journal paper, the rest was doing their PhD papers. I think my presentation was the fastest one...hehe...well it wasn't as comprehensive as PhD thesis! Got a few questions from participants from India (can't remember what uni was it but they reminded me of Shenkar GEMS), Mr Reza (an Iranian guy), Dr SAR & Dr RM. Me as usual, confidently kelentong some of the answers but who cares! Well, we were the ones that doing the paper and we know better...hahaha.

It went pretty well actually. What an experience!

Soft Choc Chips Cookie

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (tepung cap sauh pun boleh)
1 tsp baking soda
1 (250gm) butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup instant vanilla pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups choc chips

Method:
1. Preheat oven 175C
2. Sift flour & baking soda
3. Cream butter & sugar until fluffy. Put in pudding mix until blended. Stir in eggs & vanilla extract.
4. Blend in the flour.
5. Put the chips in.
6. Drop cookies by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
7. Bake 12 min.

Balik kampung nenek

This is Maryam at the porch of her Mak Ngah's new house. Happily makan keropok on Sunday morning.

On Saturday morning, got up quite early. After solat subuh, packed up kids clothes and then fried some meehoon for breakfast. Hambat all the kids for shower and get them to eat breakfast. Around 11ish we started our journey to kampung nenek in Town (wink) and reached there before 4pm . They have moved to the new house so the kids are pretty excited checking up all rooms, bathrooms and the surroundings...

hmmm a lot of pasir we can play with!!! So from day 1, celik mata jer main pasir, petang main pasir...

On Sunday, hubby busy drilling here and there to put up the bathroom mirror la, bedside lamp in Mak Ngah's room, decorative mirror in the living room and stuff. Me with my books la, the family area was nice with breezy wind coming from the swamp. A lot of bangau in that swamp, mak kata dah lama dah takde bangau ni lately ni ramai pulak... I would say that, with that bangau it was a panoramic viewla kira.

Monday, we went to Pantai Lagenda. Not many people in that beach. Surprisingly, the beach has a very clear water. We can see baby fish swimming, and all kinds of tiny snails and baby crabs on the shore. They didn't run away when we approached them. When we walked through them, they just selamba je terkedek2 jalan near our feet. Nice experience. Only Sarah cabut lari but Maryam slowly into the water and then slowly squating while playing with the wave...ewah2. Ajak balik tak mau. She picked up 4 clams yang masih hidup lagi and she hold on to them until we got back home. At home we put the clams on the table and after awhile the clam slowly open up themselves. Esok paginye mati.

Tuesday, after breakfast we headed home. Tired, lena sekejap and around 6 went to pasar tani to buy fresh stuff for the week.

TV Series - A review

Since last weekend, I've been glued to the TV where I watched all the new TV series that was downloaded from the internet. I've finished Criminal Minds, the best episode was where this couple has a ritual when their son reaching 10 years old, he must select his so-called soulmate that will become his future wife. When the young boy pointed out one girl that he likes, the boy's parent will kill the girl's parent at night and kidnap this girl. The boy's mother was also kidnap victim in the past through the same ritual. When the BAU team finally caught this sick family, it turned out that they have a tribe and nobody knows how many of them out there, so I'm sure we will encounter this psychotic family again in the future. The other one is a 10 year old boy who is a sociopath. What is sociopath? It is a person who is psychopath, he doesn't have a sense of moral responsibility, he doesn't have remorse or feel guilty. In that episode, his 7 yo brother broke his model aeroplane and he angrily stuffed the broken aeroplane into his little brother's throat until that poor little brother dead. It was an interesting season until Hotch was shot at the end of the season finale!!!

Yesterday, I finished watching House. Not that bad but I was expecting more. The Kutner's suicide episode was a bit loose. Not convincing. Behind the curtain, the producer ended Kutner's role since the actor (Kal Penn) was offered a position as an assistant director in Special Assistant department for President Obama in the White House. Chase and Cameron finally married. House is hallucinating and finally admitted into rehab at the end (was it in the 3rd season, he was also went for rehab??). The producer & scriptwriter must think of new ideas lah!

Now, next one would be Bones and Prison Break...to be continued.

Come school holidays!!!

Saturday 30th May, the school holidays started. A day earlier, already booked movie tickets via online. The movie? Night at the museum 2. Naim is a fan of the first night of the museum. Took the 10.40am show. On Saturday morning, Sarah & Naim already up before 7am (actually 6 for Naim). Showered & ready by 8am. Maryam was also up by then and ready to go as well. Reached A'manda by 9.15, had breakfast at McD. Ronda2 kejap and then by 10.30 already took seats in the movie theater. Naim loved the movie a lot, Sarah kinda bored and Adik totally bored...lompat2 sana sini bukak kasut bukak stokin...oh well...luckily she didn't cry or scream or whatever. She did whatever she like to do but always stayed closer to us.
Actually the lawak of the movie is more towards dialog punye lawak and for those yang don't really understand english like Sarah could not appreciate it so much. Well after the movie, went to T.Warisan and bought nasi ayams to go. Had lunch at PJ's house. A bit dusty in Naim's room because the developer did some works in the kids toilet. Still haven't finished.
After Zohor prayer at d house, went to Giant for groceries and then went home exhausted.

Kids' Happy Days

It was a busy morning on saturday, started with buying fresh stock for the week ikan udang ayam & stuff. Then after goreng mee and had a small portion of it at home, went to the bank to bank in the cheque. After that drove to b-w-yen to buy some stuff for the brownie orders that to be delivered on monday. Finished with baking stuff, check in into ConcordeSA for the weekend, the kids have no idea yet! Sarah went to Taman Rama2 this morning with her sekolah agama trip, she'll be back by noon. Got the key and checked out the room condition, went straight home. Alamak some of the chocolate chips were melting, cepat2 masuk dlm fridge.
Around 2.30 sarah came back, and around 4 took the travelling bag downstairs. Naim was like huh? abah ngan mummy nak gi mana? His abah said we're going to the hotel...BOLEH NAIM IKUT? BOLEH SARAH IKUT? #%#%ADIK$#*&KUT?..
Sampai the hotel, everybody was so excited to go to swimming pool. At 5 everybody was ready with their swimming suit including the kenit one. So main air la till 6.30pm, adik sampai kecut. Balik bilik, after mandi, adik pun padam sampai la kul 8 lebih. Dinner kat sect10, the usual restaurant that me & my friends normally have lunch klu pegi sekolah. Naim & sarah had nasi ayam, and then naim minta lagi burger to go as well, mana ntah dia letak makanan tu. By 10pm everybody tido.
Bangun pagi, bought some nasi lemak & roti canai at sect11. After that splash lagi till 11.30. At 12 check out and went straight home. Baked 4 trays of brownie for tomorrow.

Family Outing

Afters weeks and weeks of weekend classes, assignments, discussions and thesis, today the whole family went to Subang Parade. Got an sms from ToysRUs a couple of weeks ago saying that there is a STAR member clearance sale. So we go la shopping. Sarah got a 50% cinderella barbie doll with a glass slippers, adik got her winnie the pooh doodle, naim as usual the cheapest toys(hotwheels kete kecik), and I got a heli for Akmal, Kak Su's son who celebrated his 4 th birthday last month, tak sempat nak gi because tengah class and byk assignment. Rosmah gave birth in March, so got her a Lamaze sotong with sound. Adik is very very happy main pondok pondok at the entrance of the toysrus, she's kind of very berani with people la lately...compared to dulu masa kecik kecik where she will cry like nobody's business bila orang usik dia. Now she can pegang or sometime tolak or jelir lidah kat budak lain...ayo..very nakal la ini budak sudah.
After I get the customer service to wrap all the present, we went to Kenny's for lunch before balik and at home by 2.30pm.

Baru start

Seems that I have more time now to do alot of things since I've completed my MBA last week. I've lined up a number of books to read...the latest jeffrey archer's paths of glory(start reading it yesterday), john grisham's the appeal, dan brown & kim edwards' ..can't remember the title already. A few downloaded movies are also available in this laptop. Thought of copying the second part of criminal minds' latest season from Fas.