Selamat Hari Raya and Eid Mubarak! September 29, 2008

I will be starting my short holiday starting today, so Selamat Hari Raya and Eid Mubarak to all Muslims!

I would also like to apologise for any of my wrongdoings, intentionally or unitentionally. Thank you for you big heart and compassion towards me.

Have a great celebration with your family and friends. If you are travelling to ‘balik kampung’, do recite a short prayer/dua before starting the journey, may you’ll be guarded by His love and mercy, and of course, drive safely!

The rendang’s cooked the stove is clear
The tummy grumbled, oh the feast is near
It’s only once in every year,
So Selamat Hari Rayear!

huhuhu. a very merepek Selamat Hari Rayear (get it, get it) pantun. one more extra thing I can apologise for then! ehehe.

Last minute shopping September 28, 2008

Since both of us were on strict diet, we didn’t buy ourselves any further calorie-adding food because we knew we will be getting a looot of thus from other sources (houses) during the Raya celebration. So we just went to get a little something for both our parent.

I am not a natural ‘relationship’ person, hence there are many things that some women find natural to do – for me it’s almost like skiing (because there’s no snow in Malaysia?). You know things like giving gifts, catching up, calling to say hi, small talk?. I learnt a lot about this from, yes you guess it right, reading blogs. I am thankful that there are some people people out there who wrote about this kind of things. They became my guru!

When I read about them buying gifts for their loved ones during the festive season, I thought mmm..that’s a good idea. I should do that too! I can never come up with that on my own you know. I have one ‘housekeeping guru cum relationship tutor’ to tell/teach me things, but I haven’t seen her for a while during the Ramadhan so my skill is getting worse than ever!

I know I have a long way to go and since these kind of things, like I mention, didn’t come naturally to me. I have to keep on learning and doing. But it’s all good. I will keep improving myself!

Of Salmon Skinroll and a good stroll September 28, 2008

Me and Big Z had our break fast at one sushi place in Subang last Friday. For the whole month, besides going to our parents and in-laws, we ate in all month! That is a record truly (and one that contributes to the weight loss as well ).

But to go there. My, the traffic. Adoila. I don’t know how other people do it everyday.

Anyway, I have been craving for my Japanese food since forever and finally I get my hands on that Salmon Skinroll Handroll! Yum yum double yum! Big Z is not a big fan of the Japanese cuisine, but he seems to be enjoying himself with his chicken-something-fried, and tofu-something (I can never get the names of the recipe). He can’t really tolerate the uncooked of half-cooked meal, so I am glad that his meal were more of the fried ones with tempura and what nots.

Oh, but the Salmon Skinroll. I have to talk more about it. It is so delicious I am glad we brave the traffic to get to it. Crunchy and sweet, with fresh vegetables on soft warm rice, wrapped in seaweed. So sedap! (err, perhaps I should learn how to take pictures of food like some other bloggers who did it very well eh?)

After we did our prayer, we took our time and just stroll around for a bit. Just taking a slow lazy walk  amidst people wanting to do last minute raya shopping before ‘balik kampung’, and it was nice. It was very, very nice. Reminded me of the days when we were younger, in boarding school, going ‘outing’ (not dating aa, although some people took the ‘outing’ opportunity for dating as well..ehehe). In Big Z’s word – all we ever did back then was ‘jalan2, lapar makan, balik’. Completely goal-less and point-less.

So, it’s kinda nice to just be point-less and goal-less for a bit. It’s easy and nice and somewhat calming.

Updates updates September 27, 2008

Ok the below entry is supposed to be about ’self-esteem’, and I have written a whole entry, tertekan something and it went ‘whoosh’ – hilang. Great. It must be for a better reason. Maybe I am meant to write that ‘hey you’ note. Maybe there’s somebody somewhere need to know that they are the ‘hey you’.

The casting went great. It was a lot of fun. When you see me then you’ll know I get it. If not, you’ll still see my mouth up there in the header. ehehe.

I promised tips of my konon2 miraculous weight-loss. Well, it is rather miraculous for me because I have never lost even 3 kg before. It’s always 1kg, 2kg and yo-yoing back up again. The reason why is I don’t have enough muscle.

I have rather strong lower body and leg muscle due to my belly dancing teaching, but my upper body is whole mass of fat only. It might not too bad if you are in your early 20s, but when you are nearing the end range of your 20’s you gotta up the ante! So that’s what I have been doing. Working on building the upper body muscle.

And oh, cardio. MUST do cardio.

I don’t buy the whole slimming pills/slimming centre concept. Now la. I don’t know maybe 20 years later I changed my mind. But I believe the Creator has given us perfect marvellous body that will know how to re-adjust itself with natural process. Unless you have some physical condition that disable you to work out, or some medical condition, I say, please do your work out. You’ll gain many benefits on top of your wieght loss, you gain muscle – which means you will be fitter. To think of it, you are supposed to have muscle, if not why did God created it right? And you’ll also gain from the endorphin released from working out. So do work out!

Eh ok, I need to bersiap to go for class.

Valuable you September 27, 2008

Hey you,

Do know that you are one valuable you. There’s only one you in this whole world and that made you very,very special.

Do know that all your good, and all your bad are given to you by your Creator for a reason.

Do know that if you want it bad enough, you will find all that you want. All that you dream of, and all that you hope for.

Do know that even on your loneliest days, the days you feel most unloved by people around you, the days that you feel people don’t understand you, the days that everything goes wrong -

you are still very special and your Creator will always love you, no matter what.

Maybe.. September 26, 2008

Maybe..just maybe that I am still not in Raya mood is because while everybody is ‘malas-malasing’ and having ‘badan di sini jiwa di sana’ syndrome..I am still working and..loving it?

I just finished my Personal 1-1 class this morning, and tomorrow I still have my weekend class.

and after this, I have to go for a casting?

casting apekah pulak raya-raya ni..

(nanti I will update more..eheh)

The Raya mood September 26, 2008

I can’t seem to find my Raya mood anywhere. Where, oh where is my Raya mood? When I sulked to Big Z, his nonchalant response was ‘raya kan seminggu lagi?’. Haih. (just because it’s minggu depan, he said it’s seminggu)

I guess when you are an adult, there’s not much fun and anticipation anymore. Especially if both of our kampung is right smack in KL, we stayed in PJ, and Hari Raya is just like pergi balik ordeal. There’s no ‘balik kampung’ kecohness. No preparation segala because we do not receive guests (yet) at our ‘home-office’ house.

I don’t even buy any kuih yet. I am having second thought on the tart nenas. I have bersusah payah lose this weight, I am sure if I buy the tart nenas, I will eat the whole balang. Not good.

There’s one thng I can’t wait though for this Raya, for finally – after 5 or 6 years? – all my 7 siblings will be in the same place, at the same time during Raya – at my folk’s home. My doc sis, wil be arriving a day before Raya from UK. Ho-yeah!

Mmm..maybe to pick up my Raya mood I’ll make a list of fun things we adik beradik can do! I’ll start with Charades..ehehe

or pertandingan menganyam ketupat?

(lelaki baju belang tidak berkepala tiada kena mengena dalam ini entry)

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Image from here

Things that I searched and read about today September 25, 2008

After watching one documentary about ancient library in Alexandria in one of the series of Ancient Egypt, I searched for Cleopatra and that turns into a surfing spree of hermeticism, Sabians, which leads to searches about Al-Ghazali and I found this. I think this is the documentary that they showed a few months ago in KL. And that I missed

I don’t know much about Imam Al-Ghazali. Which is a shame. I should take this opportunity in Ramadhan to learn more about him.

Islamic Arts and Crafts September 25, 2008

Last 2 weeks, me and Big Z managed to visit Islamic Arts Museum. I have been wanting to go there since forever, but as the usual case of people living in KL, with ‘bila-bila pun boleh pegi’ attidude – the wants keep being postponed until this year’s Ramadhan, Alhamdulillah.

I especially wanted to visit the Beyond Orientalism exhibition ‘How the West was Won over by Islamic Art’. It was a very interesting exhibition and I learnt a lot that day!

One very cool finding is how Tiffany (yes, ladies – that Tiffany!) was also influenced by Islamic art in creating their jewellery. No wonder, when I watch ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, I couldn’t shake this feeling that there is something quite ‘oriental’ about a few jewellery that I seen in the movie. It was around that era that the Tiffany designers were very much influenced by the Oriental and Islamic arts and design.

As I marvelled at the craftsmenship of Islamic people of before, I imagined all the effort, the concentration, and the skills required to create such masterpieces. How much they must have love doing what they are doing, if not, they would not be able to create such beauty! I also imagined, how they must have pour all their heart and soul into doing the pieces, the pantings, the ceramics, the brass and wood carvings – think of all the time spent creating beautiful things, now wonder Islamic arts were able to influence other culture!

I am very thankful I have the opportunity to visit the exhibition. Just looking all the beautiful creation alone gives me a very peaceful feeling.

So if you haven’t go already, do visit the Islamic Arts Museum. You can still catch the exhibition, it’s until 25th October. We didn’t manage to cover the whole museum because we underestimated their collection and it closed at 5pm! So we will definitely be going there again soon!

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Image 1 from here

Image 2 from here

Tart Nenas, please? September 24, 2008

Can anybody recommend me where can I order goold delicious homemade Tart Nenas for Hari Raya? (I hope it’s not too late!). The thing is, I am rather choosy when it comes to my tart nenas. So please good people help me.

I like classic ones with jam on top. But kalau takde sgt yang gulung pun ok jugak. But not the tepung keras type. Or not the too buttery type. It has to be the perfect balance of soft inside and rather crumbly crispy on the outside. Also, not the too manis type. The jam must have perfect ‘masam-manis’ balance.

And…have I mention that I am choosy when it comes to my tart nenas?

(I used to have the perfect tart-nenas supplier a few years ago but I don’t know where she is and can’t locate her until now. I even order from her off-season!)