Food for the lonely one.....

Here we go....food again.

An ole friend of mine, trying recipe to kill of the extra time he had on hand. To my knowledge, he is a good cook hence it is not a surprise to see him coming up with such delectable dish (compare to my pathetic pancake miahahahahahahha!!!!!!)

I could not find any recipe together with the pictures, perhaps it was not attached together. Oh well, let me ask for it then I shall try it once my throat is better.

Outing with the Amins

In light of me not able to eat properly due to this swelling in my throat, I have some pictures of food that I had when I went out with the Amins' sisters. This outing was a few months back after the BBW thingy in Oct, if I'm not mistaken. The younger sister has moved back to Kuantan as she was transferred there. So once a while she will be coming down to KL and we will have our food feasta together.......ngeeeehhhhh.....

Our lunch

What's left of our lunch



Teatime



Excellent coffee

Just another day.......

I'm still feeling under the weather. The swelling has reduced but the pain is still there...a bit. I don't have the energy to cook any extravagance kind of dish nor I have the mood to eat outside. Hence I settled for a homemade rice porridge with crispy fried anchovies, spicy chicken flossy and some frozen beef dish that he bought from his office mate. Surprisingly, the kids enjoy this simple dish and as for me, I just shoved whatever in my porridge bowl so that I could get it over with. And as usual, he doesn't mind the simple dish too as long as his dinner consist either crispy fried anchovies or anything spicy and extra hot.
Anyway I took my medication and call it a day...or more like trying because I still couldn't sleep.

Swelling

Yesterday I woke up with a pain at my right throat. Not the normal sore throat that we usually had when we caught flu or experiencing tonsillitis. It is more like swollen and painful. Thought it might go away after a good exercise, followed with a good rest. Though I couldn't sleep after the vigorous exercise. I was like fatigue and restless. Desperately needing some good sleep but couldn't close my eyes, I ended up watching some nonsensical movies on the telly. And I was only able to close my eyes around 2am.

This morning I woke up with a feeling like I've swollen a golf ball and it got stucked somewhere at my right throat. Had a slight headache and I notice my face looks like a bread.
Well ok, I exaggerated on the face part. But my male colleague did say that my face looks more rounded today.

I didn't manage to complete my weekly report as I was supposed to. On top of that, I can feel that my throat is getting bad. Knowing that this swelling won't go away by itself, I went to the clinic and the doctor ask me whether I'm having toothache because he said that my lymph node is swollen. And it is kinda funny because it swell just at my right throat.
He prescribed me some antibiotic which I must finish and some painkiller. Had dinner with the kids and gulp down the medicine with a bottle of water and now I feel better.

Sherlock Holmes 2 : A Game of Shadows

The ever witted Sherlock Holmes and his close friend Dr. John Watson are back to stop the evil plan and capture his arch enemy Professor Moriarty . This sequel is heavily influenced with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Final Problem. But it is an independent plot rather that strict adaptation from the book.

"The Final Problem" is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Strand Magazine in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle later ranked "The Final Problem" fourth on his personal list of the twelve best Holmes stories.

Loves the movie and worth watching. And now I plan to read the book.

Picturesque Post #5

Is it a holiday or is it a boot camp?

We had the Monday off due to public holiday falls on Sunday. Hence we have been planning not to go away for these three consecutive non working days. We went for movies for the first two days and the third day, we did some marketing at Tesco, Curve. Not that I could find all the things that I wanted there but mostly it is available there. For the rest of the things, I have to go either Cold Storage or Giant to get it.

Ever since my son joined a badminton class every Saturday, my daughter wanted to play as well. Since we have these three off days, they wanted to play badminton every afternoon. I was thinking it is a good family outing on top of the movies and the mall trip for the first half of the day. At least we got to sweat after all the food that we consumed.

Indeed it was a sweaty days, they got me running left and right trying to catch the shuttlecock. Not just left and right, it went front and back as well. And my daughter couldn't stop giggling all the times as well.

This morning I woke up with my back aching and thigh sore from the running all over the court. Nevertheless, it is fun.

206 Bones - Kathy Reichs

Synopsis:

There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can read in them stories of brief or long lives and use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. 206 Bones opens with Tempe regaining consciousness and discovering that she is in some kind of very small, very dark, very cold enclosed space. She is bound, hands to feet. Who wants Tempe dead, or at least out of the way, and why? Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct…

Tempe and Lieutenant Ryan had accompanied the recently discovered remains of a missing heiress from Montreal to the Chicago morgue. Suddenly, Tempe was accused of mishandling the autopsy — and the case. Someone made an incriminating phone call. Within hours, the one man with information about the call was dead. Back in Montreal, the corpse of a second elderly woman was found in the woods, and then a third.

Seamlessly weaving between Tempe’s present-tense terror as she’s held captive and her memory of the cases of these murdered women, Reichs conveys the incredible devastation that would occur if a forensic colleague sabotaged work in the lab. The chemistry between Tempe and Ryan intensifies as this complex, riveting tale unfolds.


My View :
Though the personality or character is somehow similar with Bones  but the scenario is different. For me, where there is Bones, there must be Booth as well. Both tv series as well as the books are good in their own ways. And the way her mind click in order to solve the mystery is still fascinating even though the terms used are somehow left me puzzled looking for dictionary.
A good book to read during the holidays for those who loves crime and mystery.

Picturesque Post #4

Already Gone Lyrics

Remember all the things we wanted
Now all our memories, they're haunted
We were always meant to say goodbye
Even with our fists held high

It never would have work out right, yeah
We were never meant for do or die
I didn't want us to burn out
I didn't come here to hurt you now I can't stop

I want you to know
That it doesn't matter
Where we take this road
But someone's gotta go

And I want you to know
You couldn't have loved me better
But I want you to move on
So I'm already gone

Looking at you makes it harder
But I know that you'll find another
That doesn't always make you wanna cry
It started with the perfect kiss then
We could feel the poison set in

"Perfect" couldn't keep this love alive
You know that I love you so
I love you enough to let you go
You can't make it feel right
When you know that it's wrong

I'm already gone, already gone
There's no moving on
So I'm already gone
Ahhh already gone, already gone, already gone
Ahhh already gone, already gone, already gone

Remember all the things we wanted
Now all our memories, they're haunted
We were always meant to say goodbye

You can't make it feel right
When you know that it's wrong
I'm already gone, already gone

There's no moving on
So I'm already gone

Picturesque Post #3

Cucur Udang for Tea

I took this recipe from Mat Gebu blogspot . He has an excellent range of recipes of which I did try a few.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 tb instant yeast (mauripan)
1 3/4 cup water

1 small bowl mung bean sprout - washed

1 small bowl chinese chives - washed and cut
1/2 small bowl spring onion - sliced
1/3 tp turmeric powder
salt for seasoning
20 pcs medium prawn cleaned

Dippings
8 nos chillies
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup  vinegar
3 cloves garlic
salt

Method :
1. Mixed and stir flour, turmeric powder, instant yeast and salt into a big bowl.

2. Gradually pour in water until the mixture thickened (not too watery).

3. Add in mung bean sprout, chives and spring onion then mixed well.

4. Cover the mixture with tea towel and let it rest for 30 min so that the yeast can do wonders.

5. While waiting for the mixtures, blend chillies and garlic then combine those two ingredients with sugar and salt in small pot.

6. Cook with slow fire and add in vinegar. Stir until it has thickened a bit. Thereafter let it cool down.

7. After 30 min, heat the oil in a wok (make sure the oil level is about half of the wok. This is to ensure when we dipped the ladle in the oil, it will be totally covered in oil)

8. Dip in a metal ladle in the boiling oil for 1 min. Take the ladle out.

9. Scoop about 3/4 of the mixture into the hot ladle and put a piece of the prawn on top of the mixture.

10. Then dip it into the boiling oil. Let it hardened a bit then try to flip it out of the ladle into the oil and repeat until all the mixtures are cooked.

Food Feasta Pt1

I have been meaning to upload the pictures of all the food that I have been feasting when I was in the land of down under. Most of the food has been prepared by my brother in law who is an excellent cook as well as his wife and son. I actually did gain weight during my two week stay there.

Here are some of the pictures :



Beef brisket sizzling away for our breakfast




And top it up with cheese...Bega's the name...yummeehhh!!!



These are among of the breakfast that I managed to take pictures before I lost my mind enjoying it. There were like 9 of us hence the portion is as such.

The above breakfast is prepared solely by myself and for myself only. In that household, only my nephew and I are a hard core fan of salmon. We pratically fought over a slice of smoked salmon. How I miss them !!!

Salmon scramble for my breakfast. I did bring back one big packed of smoked salmon and oh boy!!! how I enjoyed those delicious smoked salmon for the next 6 months.

These are just the breakfast...more to come on other food as well.

Quotation by Virginia Woolf

“I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past. ”   

My Rambling Thought cont.

I've had a displayed of anger outburst this evening. It wasn't a pretty sight but then was anger outburst is ever a pretty sight?. I kinda trembled when I voiced out my point of view in an loud manner. I didn't expect for it to happen. Come to think of it, I feel it was uncalled for.
For me, it feels kinda un-professional though in a way I believe some people needs to see my emotional side or else we would be taken for granted.
Looking back, I remembered my emotional times in one of the MNC that's operating in the heart of KL. Cursings and swearings were part and parcel of my daily vocabulary back then. Without it, people would think that you are the soft spoken lady who would not dare to raise your voice hence nothing would happen. Delivery would not be on time. Your regions will keep on failing. Your counterpart will think that you are not doing anything. Life is hard but in that place is harder.
I told myself I would not go down that lane anymore. I would not use these bad words in my daily life (though this habit is kinda hard to break nowadays) I would not spent more time in the office than at home as my family is more important. I would try to exercise more in order to get a healthy life style as my previous work has cost me my health (high blood pressure, high bad cholesterol, migraine and etc).
Life was fun for me when I was in PJ until the economic downturn cost me to leave this company and handed over myself to a so called stable and established company.
Well I always believe things happen for reason and so I shall beared with it.

Picturesque Post #2

Breaking Dawn the book.

I have never read Twilight series before. My niece said, it is as good as Pride and Prejudice. Being a fan of Jane Austen, I really would like to see whether it is true or not. I have watched the first 3 series of Twilight Saga and it is not my cup of tea. I don't know why but I could not feel like how I felt when I watched Pride and Prejudice. I could not connect with the character in Twilight. Though the P&P movie is nothing compare to the novel. I mean the P&P movie is as much good as the novel itself.
So I decided to just grab a copy of Breaking Dawn during the BBW sales recently. The Breaking Dawn movie is due to be in the cinema on 24th Nov 11. So I started reading last week in order to ensure that I will be able to finish it before the movie started. The wording is simple. Nothing complicated or so englishy like P&P novel. The book is divided into two point of view, Bella and Jacob. I guess it is because the first section is to stress more on the wolves conflicts hence the movie is having part 1 and part 2. And when I reached the second part of the book, I thought there might be a great massacre between the vampires themselves with the help of the wolves. Or maybe someone might die tragically to defend their loves one.
But it does not happen as I have presumed. There were a bit of poking here and there and the conflict was resolved gracefully...chuckle!!
Oh well, it is a good light reading anyway and perhaps it is nothing compare to P&P.

Picturesque Post #1

Picturesque Day

I'm thinking of having a scenic and wordless day in one week. Posting just picture without word. Sometimes picture can paint thousands words....or so that's what people always say. Oh well, let us begin....

Never Give All the Heart - William Butler Yeats

Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem

Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is

But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,

Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?

He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.

My Lost Youth - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Often I think of the beautiful town

That is seated by the sea;

Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,

And my youth comes back to me.

And a verse of a Lapland song

Is haunting my memory still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I can see the shadowy lines of its trees,

And catch, in sudden gleams,

The sheen of the far-surrounding seas,

And islands that were the Hesperides

Of all my boyish dreams.

And the burden of that old song,

It murmurs and whispers still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the black wharves and the ships,

And the sea-tides tossing free;

And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,

And the beauty and mystery of the ships,

And the magic of the sea.

And the voice of that wayward song

Is singing and saying still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the bulwarks by the shore,

And the fort upon the hill;

The sunrise gun, with its hollow roar,

The drum-beat repeated o'er and o'er,

And the bugle wild and shrill.

And the music of that old song

Throbs in my memory still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the sea-fight far away,

How it thundered o'er the tide!

And the dead captains, as they lay

In their graves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay

Where they in battle died.

And the sound of that mournful song

Goes through me with a thrill:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I can see the breezy dome of groves,

The shadows of Deering's Woods;

And the friendships old and the early loves

Come back with a Sabbath sound, as of doves

In quiet neighborhoods.

And the verse of that sweet old song,

It flutters and murmurs still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the gleams and glooms that dart

Across the school-boy's brain;

The song and the silence in the heart,

That in part are prophecies, and in part

Are longings wild and vain.

And the voice of that fitful song

Sings on, and is never still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

There are things of which I may not speak;

There are dreams that cannot die;

There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,

And bring a pallor into the cheek,

And a mist before the eye.

And the words of that fatal song

Come over me like a chill:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

Strange to me now are the forms I meet

When I visit the dear old town;

But the native air is pure and sweet,

And the trees that o'ershadow each well-known street,

As they balance up and down,

Are singing the beautiful song,

Are sighing and whispering still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair,

And with joy that is almost pain

My heart goes back to wander there,

And among the dreams of the days that were,

I find my lost youth again.

And the strange and beautiful song,

The groves are repeating it still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

Experimenting Pizza

My kids love eating pizza and knowing how picky my kids are, I'm thinking of making my own version of pizza. Well, there are so much of ready made pizza base, pasta sauces and such available in the supermarket. What I need to do is just pick and pay.
Furthermore someone once told me too much experimenting will risk much time and effort on. Rather than failed after putting much effort in it, might as well we do the instant way.
I kinda agree with it. Anyway, I am certainly not a chef, just a mummy of two. And my kids love to pick food that they don't like. Rather than wasting it, might as well I made food that they will eat.

Seafood pizza, where I uses frozen pizza base, spread on some pasta sauce. Topped with some diced crab meat and loads of prawns. Then I drizzled some thousand island sauce for more taste and covered with manually grated cheese...loads of them as my kids love cheese.

For my preferred pizza, I uses tortilla bread for the thin and crispy effect. But because I put too much sauce, the based became a bit soggy. This pizza is having chicken pepperoni, pineapple , loads of black olive and covered them with cheese which I manually grated.

p.s. this picture is taken with my hp hence the quality is as such.

An Afternoon at the Street Market

Last Sunday, Alya and I went to the Curve. The purpose is to find things for her school project. Not that I couldn't find the things that she wanted around my area but being me, Curve is always the place for me to look for "things". Well, I called this "mother - daugther bonding time".

After tired walking around the market, we shared Ice Shaken Lemonade with a cake for our afternoon tea.

Al Rawsha Restaurant

First time I had dinner at Al Rawsha was 2 years ago. My ex-schoolmate invited me for a gathering at Al Rawsha and during that time the restaurant was located somewhere along Jalan Aman which is quite near to our old alma mater.

Then I got to know that it has moved to a bigger place near Jalan Kg. Pandan. And I'm really impressed with the new building and how they decorated the place. It is much more spacious and the ambiance is really nice.

This restaurant is name after a famous legendary rock in Beirut, Lebanon. It is said that the cliff overlooking the rock is famous for its restaurants, which serves exquisite Lebanan cuisines.

I took this picture from inside the car hence you can see a shadow overpowering the building.

It is like walking into an Egyptian neighbourhood and it smells so nice. What is missing is just belly dancers performing to the guests.

They have an upper level seating area if the patronage exceeded the capacity for the lower level seating area.

At the middle of the building is the place for the drinks to be prepared.

List of delectable food for those who like middle eastern cuisines.

When the food arrived, I forgot to snap a picture so what's left is just the pan fried chicken and the bread.
The bread is excellent and the chicken is really nice.

Al Rawsha Restaurant

No 8, Jalan Kampung Pandan
55100 Kuala Lumpur
website: www.alrawshakl.com
email: rawsha.restaurant @ gmail.com
Tel : 03-9200 6600
Fax: 03-9281 4585

Pancake Anyone?

My kids have started complaining about the lack of  their mummy preparing breakfast. They said canteen food is too little portion for them and cannot satisfy their hunger.

Ok...ok.. I know I haven't gotten the energy to make breakfast for them recently. So I tell myself, this has to stop. So for the past few days, I have been making something for them.

Last couple of days, I cooked porridge late in the evening so that they could eat before go to school and bring some for their break.

Yesterday evening, I prepared extra rice and some dishes so that they could bring in the morning. And this morning, I made some pancake for them using the premix that I got from Cold Storage.

I got some small packet of maple syrup for them to eat with.

I know, it doesn't look appealing enough compare to other online cooking that had been blogged. Will try to improve them.

Anne Klein Watch

Bought myself a watch via online website. It is a pre-order purchased and I waited for only couple of weeks for it. Nothing fancy, just something simple.

Come to think of it, I didn't actually plan to purchase anything when I was browsing the net. I was bored to the skull when I came across this particular watch and it striked me that this piece maybe the one that I want. Funny isn't it how we tend to justify things that actually is not essential for us.

Garlic Toast @ ChillaCup

When I feel like having some unconventional garlic toast bread. Off I went to ChillaCup (as this is the only coffee shop that open from 7am besides mamak's restaurant) and I order garlic toast bread.

From my observation, ChillaCup is using the big toaster (something like what the hotels are having) hence the toast comes out looks like it has been oven baked.

For this garlic toast bread, they cut the thick bread into two slices and slide in cheese (not sure what type but it is delicious). Then they toasted it with some parsley sprinkled on top, thereafter they drizzled some maple syrup. I believe the maple syrup gave the distinguished taste that differentiate their garlic toast bread from others.

But hey, I think we have our own taste bud. What may seems delicious to me might be so and so for others.
You gotta experience it yourself.