Happy 50th Malaysia, Mum & Dad

50 years ago, while the nation celebrated its independence, while Allahyarham Tunku proudly faced the nation with cries of Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!......

..my Dad & Mom was marking their own history.

Happy 50th Merdeka Malaysia!

Happy 50th Anniversary Bapak & Mak!

Sabrina Week

My niece Sabrina stayed over during the school holidays last week. She's 9. Her Abang and Kakak are studying for UPSR and PMR, so she had no one to play with. Sabrina just discovered that i'm working from home, and to her it means i dont work at all...!

The good auntie took the whole gang minum-minum, a breather from their studies;-)

Macam tak sedap je...

Laptop kena takeover budak kecik ni.....playing games and even answering my YM messages..

A McD Happy Meal treat for dinner (reads the night aunty malas masak).

I had to join the other poolside mums and 'bibik-bibik' because she insists on having a dip every morning....berjam2.

Me:"You want 2 doughnuts?"...

She:"No, one for you...you are too thin, you have to eat".

Pandai je budak ni....

Her daddy and mama came to reclaim her thrusday nite...phew!

p/s:It was fun to have you around little girl;-)

The Party, The Presentation, The Trip

The Presentation

I sensed forced politeness as we were introduced, and sat down at the meeting room. They had a tired "you better have something good to say" look written across their faces. I dont blame them either. Apparently before 'The Firm' look us (me n Jill) up for this project, they had other consultants present to this Lady Boss a.k.a mulut laser...twice mind you, and both times they went off the mark sending Lady Boss to a lasering spree of sorts.

I started off to cold reactions the first 3 slides, then i got warmer and warmer, and bang...hit the nail on the head by the 5th slide....Lady Boss loved it...she had a Eureka moment...She was saying she's had so many consultants come to present, and this is the first time anyone made any sense!

So, everything went well, better than expected. I was really worried because we didnt get a proper brief of the work scope, and they were not willing to talk to me .... "berapa kali nak cakap", they said.

We havent landed the job yet, there will be another round of presentation to Lady Boss' bosses...but its a good start.

The Trip

Abang brought his youngest kid, Sabrina along for the trip...dah cuti sekolah kan. Dad was extra cheerful to have her around. He's doing allright but i hope he gets stronger by the day. He tires so easily. I managed to grab 1/2 dozen of my favourite Ikea currypuff before we left, and dad loved it.

Mom's still keeping busy with her renovation project. Its almost complete and we helped her decide on the paint color and outdoor tiles.

Traffic's a bit busy along PLUS due to the school holidays.

The Party

This one is definitely a party pooper of a story. My friend who works in London, and who i havent seen for 10 years invited me (and Jill...our college friend) to a party at her place for dinner. We have been keeping in touch on YM, right to the day before the party. The invite was for Thursday (or so i thot).

So Jill picked me up at The Curve, and drove us to this friend's place. Its one of those condos with immigrant securities yang over-over... The visitor sign-in book had no one signing in for that address, i started to doubt if we got the date right. Jill and i was joking what would we say if our friend's cousin (she takes care of the place while our friend is away) opens the door and goes....ya, cari siapa???

I thot its best we sms this friend of ours, i only have her London mobile number....the reply came, "i'm still in UK". And the exchanges that follows i would rate 18SG;-) heheh

Miscommunication disaster....she kept reminding "aku balik thursday, come over malam..." What she meant was i leave london thursday, which also means at the time Jill and I arrived at the party, she's still working at her london office.

Bodoh betul kan....Jill and I had a good laugh about it, and this friend got a good bashing on YM and she's taken for the longest guilt trip of her life. The actual party is of course Friday, the day she arrives in KL...but i couldnt have made it anyway...dah balik kg.

Note to Alex: Sorry dear, no pictures to show obviously! There was a jaccuzzi and all by the poolside. What a party that would have been hahaha;-)

Memo

Its almost 5 am and i'm going thru my presentation slides....In 5 hours time i am making a presentation to a govt department on a consultancy proposal. The catch...1. This rather technical presentation must be in Bahasa Malaysia (jill had a hard time translating the terminologies!!! kesian dia), and 2. I was warned this woman i'm presenting to ,,,to borrow the exact words of my contact "mulut laser".

Hoping for the best, insyaallah....

Am also leaving town right after with my big bro, Abang ...balik kampung again to see how Dad is doing. I'll be back blogging on Monday with stories of the presentation, the trip and a bonus feature on a most happening party Jill and I attended last night!

Have a good weekend my blogger budds!

Nasi Lemak Penantian Hidup

My lunch today, Nasi Lemak JomBali from JomBali kopitiam. If you are a kopitiam-hopper like me, then this is worth a try. One of the best kopitiam nasi lemak i've had, and the serving is generous.

(Warning: have it when you are super hungry, i felt like i was about to explode right after)

Nasi lemak, freshly fried chicken marinated with spices (almost a quarter chicken), sambal ikan bilis (literally...not sambal bawang), fried ikan bilis, hard boiled egg, cucumber and crunchy peanut tempeyek.

A gift from Jill from her Jakarta trip, Samson's latest album Penantian Hidup. I love the entire first album, lets see if their second is just as good. Thanks Jill...eventhough not an autographed copy, but bought in the band's home country...mesti bunyi sedap lebih sikit kan hehe:-)!

Dad's Up

I woke up to this sms from my sister

"Dad's moving on his own. We found him sitting on the sofa-bench in his room. I turned on the tv and went back to sleep. When i woke up he has moved to the chair near the tv. Alhamdullilah"

Dad's been confined to his bed for the last few days because he was feeling too weak. So this is indeed good news.

Dad's favourite spot....this orange chair facing the driveway...he waits for the morning paper to be delivered, has his coffee and even catch some snooze here after breakfast till midday.

The Science of Cucur-Making

Its been almost a decade since i last fried a batch of cucur ikan bilis. Well, maybe i did a few times back at mom's place, but Mom or Sally (the maid) made the batter. Yesterday i was craving for some and decided to give it a go.

Back during my Uni days, cucur bawang or cucur ikan bilis is an almost everyday comfort food. Whenever we get together to chat or goss, we'll cook up a batch...of course more bawang than ikan bilis as its as good as gold, and you tend to skimm on your stock. With all the practice, after 3 years, i got the hang of making the perfect batter. Not too watery..which will make the cucur limp and flat, not too heavy...which will make the cucur a golf ball hard enough for a tee-off.

There's no exact recipe to cucur making, no exact measurements...its all about the consistency of the batter....and i like to add a pinch of baking powder for a better fluffy texture.

Yesterday's batch...not too bad.

The outer skin is crunchy just as i like it

But the inside texture can be better...

more flour perhaps, or more baking powder.

Only practice will make perfect, but i cant be having cucur too often which defeats all the gym workout. Hmm, how la...

Kena Saman!!

I woke up all fired up to get to work. Yesterday, i received a request for proposal for a new project, and today the plan is for me to do research and draft a broad outline of the approach and system design.

Then i got a call from my mum. Usually mum only calls where there is something important, or if i havent been calling for a while. This time i owe the call to a Majlis Perbandaran Klang notice that i owe them RM50 for an alleged parking offence, details of which were not disclosed. This is a final warning failing which-by my mom's understanding- i'll get sent behind bars.

After i calmed mom down, and convinced her i will sort it out (mom being mom prefers that i be a law abiding citizen and get to MPK right now and depart with my precious RM50)....i went to the website and see if i can get any information there. Apparently there is a "Kempen Penyelesaian Kompaun Letak Kereta Sebelum Tindakan Mahkamah" going on until 24 August. (should i be jumping for joy?). I also found a E-Kompaun portal where you can key in your car registration number..i thought brilliant, at least i can see when and where i committed this hideous offence.

What do you know....

So which is which now? There is a small print that says their database goes back only to 2001, which is fine because i only bought the car in 2001. In fact i've sold the car 9 months ago!

Then i thot let's give a call to the good people at MPK and see if i can sort it out on the phone. The operator on the general line gave me 2 other numbers to call, and i havent been able to get through since.

Now i am just irritated and distracted, and i thot maybe if i blog my rantings, i would cool down and can get back to work. You know what, since i pun puasa hari ni, lets put this aside to tomorrow, tak kuasa nak gaduh2 with anyone today!

Pictures only, No story

Jill's lunch: Big Fish Head something

Anne's Lunch: Stingray Asam Pedas

Green apple & lime juice for Jill, Honey Lime Green Tea for Anne

Rock Sugar Lime Juice for Jill, Jombali Blend Iced White Coffee for Anne

New Hangout

Jill's friend introduced us to this new hangout at The Curve - The Teh Tarik Place. Its a cross between a kopitiam and a mamak place, and serves malay food (nasi campur) as well for lunch. Nice airy ambience for a quick drink or lunch that doesnt cost you a bomb.

Today i was there again with Jill to meet up with Shal, who just came back from a 20day holiday in England and Scotland. She was there for her brother's graduation with her entire family at the University of Sheffield - Shal, Jill & I graduated from the same uni, so we were keen to know what the place has become after so many years...Shal has loads to tell of her travels and pictures to show.

Shal, u should have a blog, or at least set up a fotopage.

Jill is all ears

After lunch, we had coffee at my current favourite starbucks in the area. There are 3 Starbucks outlets at Ikano/ The Curve. One in Ikano, another at The Street of The Curve and a small, intimate outlet inside Borders. Its less noisy and i was told the Baristas are cute...(so far, havent detected any cute ones, so dont take my word for it yet..hehe).

Wasn't a very productive day, but at least we sat down to finalise the artwork for our new name cards that will go for printing this week.

All About Death

I was flipping channels on tv after dinner last nite,..so called prime time TV. I was watching CSI: Miami. Then in occured to me how every night my form of entertainment is watching something death related....CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York (and they come back to back), The Closer, Criminal Minds, Bones...even in Grey's Anatomy last nite Meridith's mum died...she almost did. Rather ironic aint it....

In my younger days, prime time is for The Cosby Shows, Full House, The Nanny and those kind of sitcoms...

Then i found refuge in E Channel, not that watching news on Britney & Kevin's divorce was anymore entertaining.....