Aglio Olio

Panfried fish. A non-fancy name that tastes fancy to my taste bud. The most succulent and tender dory I have ever tasted. Sumptuous.

Kamal and I had an urge for a western cuisine. Pizza San Francisco it is then. Its wide selection of menu also offers free Wi-Fi. That for appetiser, please.

Kamal ordered Spaghetti Aglio Olio.

Divine dining for two extremely tired minds. Work, work, and work. As for me, I have not recovered from the ironing ordeal, too. And premenstrual syndrome. Heh.

Breakfast was with the usual chums, Fique and Ayue. It would be so again for lunch had the latter not been busy. Birthday lunch, later, Ayue?

So, lunch hour was spent in Alamanda. Fique would like to buy a camera while I simply needed to escape the office. Moreover, I got to ride on Fique's scooter. Yay.

Oh, yes. It is definitely premenstrual syndrome.

1/2005 is 1

Happy first anniversary to 1/2005 chums.

To celebrate, here is a toast of Banana Daiquiri for all of you.

Cheeky Monkey

Don't judge Kamal by his innocent look.

He is cheeky, really.

A Kiss, A Magic

Early in the morning, before Kamal went out to pass the items for Ayoh and Mak to Ayah and Mak, who stopped by on their way to Kelantan, he kissed me. I woke up to smile at him and drifted back to dreamland.

I dreamt a merry gathering of Chez Chembong members. Happy family. Him included. So were my sisters-in-law. Dressed in pure sparkling white with similar colour for the setting, everybody was delirious. So delirious was the dream that I woke up again with a heightened spirit.

I sat in silence. Appreciatively.

Kamal's kiss, it never failed to bring magic.

Choo Choo Chuck a Chuck a Choo Choo

Ayah and Mak are on their way to Kelantan and how I wished Kamal and I could be with them. Just hop on the train and choo choo our way to the land of the cheapest delicious dining and gorgeous clothes. Of course, primarily we long to meet our family.

For now, we could only send our love to them, telepathically.

I Owe Ayue

To Ayue, I owe you much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Gathering IV

On Monday morning, Kamal received a call from Ayah. The latter shared that a father figure within our community, Ayah Soh, was scheduled to be in Rembau in the evening.

Throughout the journey to Rembau, Kamal and I talked . Upon reaching the destination, I reached a new level of consciousness. I pray that I will be able to welcome any negative energy that boils within me. To tame it with love.

Ayah Soh arrived minutes earlier than us. He was accompanied by Latif, who drove, and Pak Lah, who always committed his best to be where the wisdom was.

Mak, despite arriving home rather late from the bone-scan appointment in Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, cooked a storm. Cilan was a great help. Ayah was, too. After a day of managing a construction site, while waiting for Mak and Cilan to reach home, he went to the market and bought the raw ingredients for dinner, prepared them accordingly to be cooked, and afterward, cleaned the house.

Post dinner, everybody proceeded to the patio. I joined the rest after completing a number of tasks from work. In time to listen to Ayah's conclusion: walk the talk.

In this sense, I truly respect my parents for their devotion and commitment to discover their true selves. Besides love, they are also bequeathing this passion to us, their children.

To quote Kamal,

"Nothing could be more important to one's emotional and spiritual growth than the need to know thyself. To realise who we really are, what are we made of, where did we come from, where we are going to, and why are we here, is the basis of our fulfilled and joyful life."

Gathering III

When I kissed my mother-in-law on her cheeks before she boarded the bus back to Kelantan, she hugged me tighter than usual. And, when I said we will see each other again during the Aidilfitri holidays, she replied, "lambatnya, nanti Mok rindu."

I love you, Mok.

Gatherings, I&II

The first gathering was on Friday.

It was a busy day, but my colleague and I managed to complete our work at 6:00 p.m. rather than the anticipated late hour. Great, because Kamal and I would love to meet my parents-in-law, my eldest sister-in-law, and my nieces at my brother-in-law's new place, for a Kenduri Doa Selamat. Note to both Kamal and I: Chocolate Indulgence next time.

My colleague's idea to bring pudding to the do sounded delicious, but having an incomplete kitchen at the rented place, Kamal and I opted to bring a Secret Recipe cake instead. Oh, no matter what we brought, The Ketereh Clan would surely appreciate it. I truly enjoyed myself being with them. Particularly when we gathered in the kitchen later at night and enjoyed the sinfully sumptuous Gear Box Soup amidst chat and laughter.

Came Saturday, Kamal accompanied me to Awin's wedding in Putrajaya, where I met other Seri Puteri chums. To the gorgeous Awin, selamat pengantin baru.

From Awin's wedding, we proceeded to Abang Mashri's place for the another do. This time around, another sister-in-law's family members were there, too. Nice. At 6:45 p.m., my parents arrived from Rembau. My favourite moment was when all the women gathered in the kitchen to prepare two special Kelantanese dishes, my sisters-in-law's recipes respectively. Later, we chatted and laughed, and chatted and laughed again.

Thank you, everybody, for the wonderful day.

Happy 49th Birthday

Changing handbags for different occasions has its setback. I left my camera in the other handbag, thus here I am, blogging about Kempen Mengibarkan Jalur Gemilang Sempena Bulan Kemerdekaan Peringkat Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi although I would like to blog about The Ketereh Clan's reunion.

About Kempen Mengibarkan Jalur Gemilang Sempena Bulan Kemerdekaan Peringkat Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi.

The Minister and the Vice Chancellors launched a cycling activity from the ministry's main building to Universiti Putra Malaysia, in conjunction with the campaign. Of course, we sang patriotic songs. My favourite was Jalur Gemilang, which I first learned and sang for Patriotic Song Choir Competition during the ten-day introductory course to Administrative and Diplomatic Officer service. It was held on Merdeka day.

Merahmu bara semangat waja
Putihmu bersih budi pekerti
Kuning berdaulat payung negara
Biru perpaduan kami semua

Yes, may we remain in peace and harmony.

My Best Female Chum, Syida

I had a fantabulous weekend, thank you to Syida, my best chum (after Kamal, of course). Thank you to Amir, too, for sacrificing your spaghetti-date, to let Syida be with me (after ages of not seeing each other).

We updated each other with our stories over cheesy stories on television in the hotel room and later, at Pizza Hut. I did not really like Pizza Hut nowadays for the decreasing quality of F&B. Nevertheless, the outlet in Sunway Pyramid offered scrumptious spread, to our delight. It must be the company. too :)

Thanks to Kamal as well for the Click tickets.

Syida, Kamal and I are free next weekend for your spaghetti and currypuff. Miss you!

Yes and No

This is my second time attending a seminar in Equatorial Bangi. I might come again for the buffet lunch. Not for the RM 9.95 slow Wi-Fi though.

Memohon Mi Jawa dari Bahagian Kewangan

They made a dash into the auditorium lobby, only to find the meeting attendees pouring out of the exits. She saw what she wanted to see. The Officer from the Finance Division. Being desperate, she grabbed her aside. The Officer was hungry, which was obvious from the early exit from the meeting, but seeing that her captor was actually famished, she suppressed her hunger. She only needed to nod a yes. The captor's sidekick anxiously waited. Yes.

"Saya tak tahu pun Puan Aishah tukar kerja."

It was unplanned, but somehow, both of them were wearing turquoise traditional attires. He, in baju Melayu and she, in baju kurung. Together, with trays in hands, they did look like a waiter and a waitress from a local caterer.


"Misi selamat, Puan X. Saya dan B sedang bawa Mi Jawa ke bilik jamuan sekarang." That was Puan Aishah, reporting to her boss.

☙

An excerpt from a hilarious drama, 'Memohon Mi Jawa dari Bahagian Kewangan', co-starring Puan Aishah and B.

The excerpt is actually longer, but Puan Aishah needs to go back now as Encik Kamal is downstairs, waiting for her in his car, which she can view from her corner-lot cubicle.

Chech Gump

It only affects me if the truth not spoken. Yet, I am still cool because the moment I am not, you will be listening to silence.

By the way, I still need to buy a new pair of black court shoes after the six-month marathon in INTAN Bukit Kiara and INTAN Wilayan Tengah, followed by this mini marathon in E3. Soon, I will be running in the Parliament.

Run, Chech, Run!

A Little Something About My Father

Ayah is easily fascinated with fish.

When we decided to move from Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, to Chembong, Rembau,  he had the fish ponds ready even before the new house was completed!

Those were for raring fresh water fish. There is another pond that he and my younger brother made for Japanese koi.

Once in a while, he would hold a barbecue dinner for the members of Chez Chembong with the fresh water fish from his ponds as the main dish. I remember having barbecued Lampam Jawa.

Then, there is Patin. The Patin tale commenced with this passion for that particular fish which was bequeathed by my late paternal grandpa. It used to be purchased from rearers along Sungai Pahang, near my paternal grandparents' place in Kerayong, Pahang. As my father loves patin much, he decided to become a rearer himself, thus the replacement of Lampam Jawa with Patin in the fish ponds at the backyard.

Early Sunday morning, I heard my father asking my younger brother to bring a pail to the little orchard at the back of our house where the fresh water fish ponds are. When I entered the kitchen, my mother was cleaning familiar-looking fish.

"Isn't that Patin?" I asked.

"Yes" my mother said. Knowing what my next question would be, she added, "they are from your father's ponds."

I quickly went out to find ayah cutting the Patin into parts. They definitely looked like the Patin from Sungai Pahang.

For lunch, we had scrumptious Ikan Patin Masak Tempoyak.

Mek Bungo's Haven

Mek bungo. That is my mother's nickname in Chez Chembong, given by my father. Having passion for flowers, she has even planted a selection for our new place.  Now, Kamal and I must learn to take great care of the flowers like Mek Bungo does.

I strolled around Chez Chembong on Sunday to practise the first art of nurturing flowers: talking to them. They reacted well to my gestures.

My mother loves orchid the most. I do, too. Not only because they are uniquely gorgeous, they are also easy to care for. Then, there are flowers there that I did not notice before. I am sure the surau-goers would appreciate the beauty as my mother planted these near the fence bordering the house and the surau.

Her collection also includes kiambang. She used to wade through a big pond belonging to a relative just to get a water lily.

Then, there is a particular cactus with an interesting story behind its existence in Rembau. My mother actually landed her eyes on this plant while having her hair cut at an outdoor salon within a Thai village in Tanah Merah.

Oh, and many more!

I will come with more collections in Mek Bungo's haven.

My Extended Limbs

Drawing, to me, is a passion, rather than a talent. Most of my fellow Art classmates back in Seri Puteri were the true talents - incomparable to my below amateur sketches.


When I was five years old, Mak found my doodles in her old notebook. They resembled my baby brother, Cimi, very much, with his spiky hair and all.



In primary school, I took orders to design clothes and home interiors. Of course, the were strictly for amusement. So, Mak, this explains why I kept on buying new notebooks although it was only a week ago a new one was bought.



In secondary school, Nini showed Mahathir's portrait I sketched to Kak Elly, who was considered an art maestro in our school then. It was only natural for her to laugh as Mahathir's serious countenance turned out to be funny. Thanks to my decision to choose Art as my elective subject for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, as well as interesting assignments from Cikgu Hadi, I got to hone my skills both in drawing, painting, sculpting, and crafting for two years, alongside those talented chums.



In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, the only time I could practice with art was for Literature assignments in Semester 1, during which we were to design a book cover for Charles Dicken's Great Expectations and enact a scene from The Death of a Salesman through drawing. Then, there was a night of severe addiction in my final semester, and I asked Mas, my housemate, to scour for her favourite picture for me to sketch.



Aside from those, there were also sketches done in monotonous classes. Uh oh.

The last time I sketched a good portrait, at least at my below amateur level, was in 1998. Afterward, as I had that severe addiction to sketch again despite the busy schedule during the Diploma Pengurusan Awam program, the portrait became tormented in every way possible. All because of lack of practice. Told you it is not a talent. Heh.

Recently, I found a newspaper clip of Rocco, a cook show host from Ace Ventura fame, and decided to draw it. I replaced his face (the pillion passenger) with mine and his friend's face (the vespa rider) with Kamal's. The result: I have extended limbs in the drawing.



My limbs will be normal next time :).

My Nirvana

It was simply heavenly to be with Anis and Haris, whom I met during a mini Kelantan trip last weekend. Yay!