Aglio olio that can kill

Apis had an interview yesterday where he went to met Bang Long right after and later both came to my place. They were waiting already when I reached home. Seeing my brief smile, Bang Long said; “Eh kenapa gigi ko berkilat?” Smile wider then he notices the braces.

I was preparing the ingredients to cook spaghetti bolognese when Bang Long came to the kitchen. Learning that I’m cooking spaghetti bolognese, he asked me to put back some of the ingredients because he want to cook something special. Spaghetti based too. Bang Long loves to cook but he don’t cook the normal masak lemak, masak kari or asam pedas but more to Chinese dishes (his girlfriend is Chinese) or other non-Malay dishes. I guess it run in the family; everyone can cook very well, err except me of course. Since there nothing much at home, we went to pasar malam. Luckily it was Tuesday yesterday.

Bought some vege’s and lots of prawns. When he asked about the chilli flakes, I knew then that he’s cooking aglio olio. Called Eman and invites him to join in for dinner. Went home and get busy preparing. Bang Long do most of the work, I just help cutting the vege’s and the prawns.

The finish product looks tempting but it’s too hot. Pedih-pedih mulut ni makan tau. In between munching and sipping drinks to reduce the hotness, managed to complaint lagi tu; “Ni boleh mati kepedasan ni”. Hahaha…

Eman came by the time we almost finish ours (everyone had 2 big helping each including me despite my non-stop whining pedas…pedas….pedas…). While Eman ate his dinner, we continue with rambutan pulak. Eman not feeling very well though; kesan from the Ijtimak event he joined last weekend, kene berjemur tengah panas etc. As usual when we met, macam-macam benda keluar. All the funny stuff. We planned to go home together next week but we’ll see how la coz Bang Long work schedule is a bit odd. They left around 10pm.

The chef

The product

See that large portion? Siap bertambah ok

Finished ours, teman Eman pulak and listening to his story on the Ijtimak event he went last weekend

My tired vege's

This boy went to a 3d 2n camping trip somewhere at Taman Pertanian; a routine for the extra-curricular activity that all standard 4-6 have to join. (can’t remember the name though)

It was raining heavily the night before so I bet he can’t sleep well. Normally he would sleep with Mak and Abah at the posh bed yang sangat heaven itu. Pity him huh. I tried to wake him up but he was so tired he can’t even open the eyes. Told us that he slept at 12 and wake up around 2am. Then kene jemur kat panas plak tu. Sian but it’ll toughen him; my sayur lembik (that’s what I called him).

At times when he learns the knot, he would carry the string everywhere practising again and again. A big boy now with a small and weak body but with very strong will. Missed him for I went home but hardly have times to borak-borak, usik-usik and sakat-sakat him.

  Cladding only in his underwear, letih sangat la tu. I have tonnes of his picture sleeping like this

Gelang gigi

I decided to go home last Friday. Push-off after Maghrib, around 8pm and arrived home around midnight. Driving alone, at night some more and way past my bedtime, I had hard times to concentrate but Alhamdulillah I reach home safe and sound. Ate some mangosteen before sleep. Ayum (my youngest sibling) was not home, he went to his school camping trip. Less one people for me to usik/sakat/teased.

Didn’t do anything on Saturday beside sending Akak to school and buying some breakfast because I was hooked on TV, specifically KBS World. There’s this Korean drama, Hello God airing from 9am to 2.20pm. I even skipped breakfast and lunch too. But the drama was halfway thru with no end yet. Got to find copies of it la.

My first meal of the day was durian. Later on I had rice, my 1st in 2 weeks. Not a pleasant experience though. At night we went to night market. It was raining heavily when we reached there so just bought some food stuff and went home. Mak and the girls were baking some cakes for me but instead of helping (or at least teman tengok and borak) I went to sleep. You know what, in my 31 years of existence, never once I baked a cake whilst my mom and all my sister baked seriously delicious cakes. Cooking is not my thing but living alone changed me a bit. If not I died starving la.

I was still sleeping on Sunday morning when Abah asked me to follow him to his kebun. At first macam malas but then bila lagi right. So immediately bersiap and off we go. My breakfast was chocolate cake. Oh heaven ok.

Abah’s kebun was not like before. Semak-samun and lalang banyak. The boys used to help him before but now that they lived so far away (Eman in KL, Apis in Sg. Petani, Mamat & Taha in Sintok) with not much time to spend, the kebun was left unattended. Abah would still go there sometimes but how much can he do alone at this age with body that not as strong as before. Sedih rasa tengok kebun. If only I got lots and lots of money to spend at that kebun, surely it'll be a place for all of us to rest and relax during holidays.

Anyway, we managed to pluck a whole bunch of rambutan; not us though. Monkeys ate everything we had. So we plucked from Mak Cik Hawa’s; jiran kebun sebelah. And I managed to help Abah plant a new pokok nangka. Now I know, to plant a trees or anything, have to face kiblat, selawat and prayed that the trees would grows healthily with lots of fruits etc. No wonder everything Abah plant would be very fertile; Abah’s secret on having green hand.

Went home, rest and kemas my stuff. Abah went to pick up Ayum from his camping site. He was so tired that he didn’t even say hi to me. Terus terpengsan tido. Had my lunch and left home at 4.30pm with a bonnet full of rambutans. On my way home, I send some rambutan to my big boss and finally reached my place around 8.15pm. Back to my boring routine.

My niece, Adah. seeing my new braces, went to her mom and said; Ummi, gigi Cik Ngah pakai gelang Mi. Hence the title.

Believe it or not, instead of the handsome and cute guy on the right, I fell for the one on left. Bila nak dapat boyfriend Korean ni.

Abah sedang gigih memetik buah rambutan

Dik Man, pembantu yang setia (sebab lepas tu nak pow upah)

Well I helped too ok. Macam peladang jaya je....

Gigih merentas paya etc dengan memakai boot Abah yang besar gabak itu. Masa pegi Abah pimpin tangan tapi balik macam dah pro la kan. Di tangan itu adalah pucuk gajus yang sangat heaven di makan dengan tempoyak. Tapi tak dapat nak dimakan sepuasnya kerana besi yang menghalang kesedapan makan itu

Durian lagi

Abah called me just now; asking whether I’m going home this weekend or not. There’s lot of durian waiting for me. Aiyooo very tempting la. I seriously want to go home but I’m broke (got only RM200 to last till the next pay day) and that journey would cost me around RM150 (to and fro), I got big meeting next week in which I normally need some relaxation before that so called war (poyo statement, I know), and I don’t want to go home alone. Driving alone for like 3 hours is seriously boring. Oh make it 6 coz I’ll be driving back here alone too.

Bang Long and Eman, although lived here but they rarely want to go home like me. Bang Long works in F&B line thus he work at odd hour, weekend and all public holiday. Whilst Eman is busy with all his ijtimak and stuff.

But I want to eat durian. How huh? Balik… tak balik…. balik… tak balik… sigh…..

Tunggul - t = UNGGUL

Due to my big meeting next week, I missed the team building course this week. I love this team-building thingy but who’s going to prepare the paperwork if I’m gone so I’ve to excuse myself from going.

Then there’s this official visit to Gahai Agropolitan Programme and Prosdet Kg. Pantos (in which I myself don’t know what that Prosdet stands for) event where as usual our department is in-charge of protocol matter and I can’t join too because of the same reason above.

So, despite not having my immediate boss and my clerk with me today, the papers are still not done yet, I’ve decided to join the half day talk, Program Kendiri Unggul. Heard that Pak Din is the speaker so I wouldn’t want to miss this session. Pak Din is from Psychology Department, JPA. I went to his anti-stress talk once and I just love this man. He’s very knowledgeable, fatherly and superbly funny. Besides acquiring new things, this would be a good time for me to release the build-up stress accumulated lately.

I’m leaving that “t” behind to become “unggul” today.

Durian oh durian

I’m yearning to eat durian. Very much ok. Saw durian everywhere but I don’t know how to buy good durian (well not only durian but almost all kind of fruits). And eating durian alone is no fun. Ramai-ramai baru syok. When I called home, they kept telling me about durian, rambutan (my no.1) and all. Buat orang terliur je. And reading on durian session updates while bloghop semakin menambahkan keterliuran ok.

We (peoples at office) had planned for a durian session during weekends (after one of the driver heard of me whining to eat durian) but the plan seems to halt because everyone is busy with all kind of event, meeting and ad-hoc thing.

I’m yet to eat any fruit during this fruit season. Besides that 3pc of durian that I bought at Carrefour (and shared with Fad & Dayah), I haven’t had any. Not even my favourite fruit; rambutan.

Fruit session anyone? Jom laaaa.....

Sedapnyaaaaa.....

Birthday dedication

I’m so busy with my own thing (mostly works and personal stuff) that I totally forgot the birthday of my sibling until it’s later on that day (read: night) and it’s kind of late to wish them. What a bad sister I am. Dah la tak bagi present (for I am really broke all this while that I can’t even buy present for my own birthday like I used to do every year), wish pun lambat.

Siti’s birthday is on 3rd of July (she’s 19) while Akak is on 7th of July (she’s 15) which is today. Siti got free call on that day so she called me and that’s when I remembered. Well same goes for Akak. She called me around 6pm (while I’m still in the office with my boss at my back) and when I heard her voice I suddenly remember. But instead of wishing her happy birthday, I told her that I’m at office and asked her to call me later at night in which I immediately regretted but too late already to keep on talking. She called again just now so I sang her a birthday song.

Akak and Siti are so into cupcakes nowadays so I’ve been eyeing the cupcakes box now selling at MPH. Or do you have any other suggestion? (on cupcaking thingy)

Anyway, happy birthday to both of you. Semoga panjang umur, murah rezeki, dipermudahkan dalam segala urusan dan sentiasa dalam rahmat Allah. Amin.

Lunch punya cerita

Just come back from lunch with Pn. Azura and En. Afnan where I stumbled upon Yanti and Um. (what a gorgeous dress you got there Yanti) It’s been a while since I last met these girls. We read each others blog but we rarely met. If everything is according to the plan, I’m gonna have a follower (again it’s you Yanti) in wearing this brackety thingy.

Last week, at the same place with Pn. Azura I had roti john with syrup. Bad combination coz the syrup changed the bread to red and believe me, you wouldn’t want to see me with red things stuck in between the bracket. It’s gross ok. This week, add another member, En. Afnan, and I had the same bread but with iced lemon tea. And I bring my mini mirror too. It can be very uncomfortable having some food particles stuck all over the mouth, you tried to removed it using your tongue (with the help of some drinks) and all, and being stared at (yes it’s you En. Afnan). Quite embarrassing too ok. But with this people, everything can be funny.

But the best part was when I teased Yanti and Um about my difficulty. Sorry girls, I know I can be gross sometimes but its funny ok seeing Um getting ewww and Yanti, please think about your decision because I know how you love food so much. As I said in earlier post, food would never taste the same and eating can sometimes be torturous if not embarrassing.

P/S: Hey girls, invite me la sometimes to hang out together-gether. Miss you all la.

Car, burger and doughnut

I was on emergency leave yesterday. Don’t worry, I’m ok. I went to repair my car key; the alarm button was not functioning. Since I’m already there, told them about the jerking too. I thought it won’t take too long. How wrong I was.

The service centre was at Shah Alam so the night before I slept over at Hanim’s; after a long drive from Putrajaya-KLIA-Shah Alam. As usual, changing place means I hardly sleep at all.

The appointment was set at 8am and since I don’t actually know where the service centre is, I drove all the way following behind Hanim in a congested highway and heavy rains. Hanim went off to work right after that leaving me all alone, hungry and sleepy waiting for my car. I was in my batik ok. I smsed my boss telling him I’ll be late.

I waited till 12 something when I decided to ask about my car. Apparently they’ve checked the car and found nothing wrong and drove and the car and found nothing wrong too and they decided to wait and checked again later. A hungry man is and an angry man. I was hungry and a bit moody and I just can’t wait any longer so I told them I’ll just take the car. It's not the first time I'm complaining about the jerking problem but they can't seem to find the problem. Geram ok. Luckily they already did the alarm thingy.

Everything was settled around 1pm so I decided to just take emergency leave since its too late already for work. Since I’m in my batik, I went home first to change clothes, not wanting to be caught by some flying squad when they see me in my batik, during office hours browsing things at Alamanda.

I managed to settle my car instalment and the utility bills yesterday. As for lunch, I bought Burger Kings Whopper Black Pepper and 3pc of Big Apple Doughnut. I had a sundae con too and it took me hours (not really la) to finish it. I can’t bite so like the dentist told me; I managed to adjust my eating skills.

Like the one we practice during our protocol class, I now eat everything using knife and fork. Burgers and doughnut is no exception. I cut the food into small pieces and chewed slowly. There’s still some pain while chewing but I’ll survived that. I didn’t finish the burgers but to be able to eat 80% of it is such an amazing achievement to me. (statement tak bleh blah… makan pun nak budget achievement gak)

As for loosing my weigh with this bracket, I now see that it’s seem impossible. I don’t eat rice anymore but I had big appetite on fattening food like burgers and pizza. Although I never tried pizza yet but with that ability to eat burgers, pizza shouldn’t be any problem, right?

Ramblings of here and there

I’m hungry (yup you’ll hear that from me again and again) and to make things worse, it’s my menstrual day today. I feel so weak with this hunger and aching-everywhere body. I really want to lie down, or to take a nap and just forget about all this.

But July is my busy-as-bee month. With 2 big meeting, some additional meeting with JKR in which no date has been specified yet, some seminars on asset management and some backlogs of works that I can’t seem to deal with. Meetings mean paperwork, minutes and stuff. Arghh….

I want to go home. I miss my family. Well at least I can be crazy with them talking rubbish, laughing like idiots and be totally nuts with jokes and stuff and can temporarily shut off all this stressing thought of work (the never-ending of it), of money (I’m seriously broke but with many expensive desires), of debts (my PTPTN, credit cards – eh this one comes under money la right) and I’m just plain bored with all this routine thing. I need a break.

Sigh…… (a long ones)