My Comot Girl

My comot girl Hajar after lunch last Saturday

Trying to log in to LHDN's website for e-filing for wifey..luckily mine is only due end June! Password re-set by LHDN somehow does not jive with the system..Hence this posting came into being.

We have two khenduri to attend this weekend - one in Johor Bahru and one in Ayer Baloi...

I'm knackered...need to sleep....

Happy Birthday Yeop

Just came back from a surprise dinner for my bro-in-law, Meor a.k.(affectionately)a. Yeop at Intai Intai....

Wifey made the cupcakes above...heavenly and sinful Valrhona Chocolate Mudcupcake. Yumms...I'm stuffed!

Wishing Yeop also known to his nieces and nephews as Papa Yeop a very Happy Birthday!

Will upload more piccies when free.

Plagia.... eh wha'?

As I brace myself for yet another frenzied weekend, I discovered that one of my postings was striking enough to have one third of it plagiarised. A whole paragraph from it was lifted and pasted in somebody's blog...A lady from the red dot down south to be exact! How did I find out, you say? I keep track of new visitors of my blog and would reciprocate by visiting theirs. Thanks to free widgets available in abundance!

My initial reaction was one of angst but then, hey....somebody actually thought that my composition is worthy of being published elsewhere! It then, morphed to one of euphoria.

My work partner even suggested that I left a comment in her blog and see what would happen then...I however, in adopting my personality of phlegmatic, opted to espouse the attitude of "so, be it!".

That aside, it's busy busy busy for me. Nothing is really new...I'm psyching myself for a 6.00 a.m. - 10 p.m. of non-stop buzz tomorrow. I have told Khadijah that I would not be driving her to the centennial celebration of the scouts movement in Malaysia and she has to give it a miss. But then again, as always, I would relent in the end...We shall see. In the mean time.....where is that multi-vitamin tablet which I need NOW!

It remains a notion

Last weekend kicked off, on Friday night, with a b'day dinner Mrs N, Mr N, wifey and I hosted for superwomanwannabe, my work partner at Il Tempio . It was cosy and intimate. The ambiance was, according to wifey, like in her kampung - well, she's right but with a luxe-touch; the tag-line of the restaurants of tamarind group is after all "Jungle Luxe". It was meant to be a surprise dinner for SW but we had to really inform her and huby ahead of time as they are one active family...one might end up surprised oneself to spring such dinner! We also got her "wrapped" presents which she hinted..he he he! I enjoyed myself very much..the food was slightly below my expectation but good nonetheless...most of all it was great company! Happy ....th b'day SW!!

The following morning I was dead exhausted (for lack of calories throughout the week, I think) to wake up for the pasar tani-weekly-ritual and gave it a miss. I asked Ib to accompany wifey to be her caddy boy. Saturdays at our household is spelt madness with a capital m! Ferrying the kids around to and fro as far as Taman Tun, Damansara Heights etc and we, as parents only would clock out about 9pm (i.e. after fixing them dinner). Last weekend, however, we were too dead beat that we asked them to give everything a miss (which is so unlike us) to prep ourselves for the big event the Saturday night. We even missed Umar's sports day! For wedding dinner pictures, click here. Oh yes, Khadijah sprained her ankle while playing volleyball that Saturday morning which dashed her hope to put on her heeled slippers for the wedding...She substituted them instead with a pair of crutches! It was a sight to be immortalised; alas she did not allow us to.

Surprisingly I successfully got out of bed pretty early that Sunday morning...Breakfsat was on the table by half seven....! More driving around later part of the morning; sent Yusof for his tuition and Khadijah to mak cik urut's house! Brought my two younger boys to a hypermarket to get their badminton rackets; assisted wifey baking carrot cupcakes etc. By five pm, I decided to give the garden its long due tending. I finally decided to prune and lop my ficus tree which wifey has been irritated with! Anyone out there who wants a matured ficus tree which currently stands (after the lop and prune) at about 10 feet in height, do contact me! I'm re-landscaping the garden with may be bucida variegated and/or my all time favourite plumeria (I just love the foliage of this tree). I retired from gardening after we had Ibraheem...Last weekend may mark my return, I think..(to the relief of wifey!). All this while I have been relying on Rahazi, my plant supplier! Ah...that reminds me, I have to do the courtyard this weekend....orchids may be? We'll see the transformation soon! I pray I will persevere and finish this new project!

Last weekend was topped of with a dinner of greasy and fatty food. I had read about it winning the best stret burger award in the 2009 Fried Chillies award here and completely ignored it until wifey, whose colleague had shared this piece of information with her, brought up the topic of Burger OM, a street burger stall (of course Ramly burger it carries) located in Ampang Jaya, last Friday. So we braved the night and drove to Ampang Jaya which is less than 10 minutes away. It was an easy find as we always frequent this place for Mak Jah's breakfast and the nasi kerabu stall next to Mak Jah's. Had to wait for quite a bit as there was a long queue..I ordered three double burger specials and three hotdog specials. The buns are slathered with sinful amount of mayonnaise, the burger pan fried with a whole year supply of margerine (ok this is a slight exaggeration - but if you are a health freak - don't bother coming here), the cooked burger is then wrapped with lightly pan fried egg with melted cheese and this ensemble is then dashed with chilli sauce not before shredded cabbage and sliced onions is strewn over the ensemble! My verdict......the cheese and sauce just ooze out of the burger and it made me feel like I was on the gastronomical seventh heaven! My weekend ended with the movie Inkheart....Off to snoozeland thereafter!

A quiet weekend remains elusive till this day....and it remains a notion.......

Khenduri in Muar

Early this month my sister and parents held a thanksgiving khenduri in my hometown, Muar, for my sister's recent negative diagnosis of the big C and to celebrate the addition of a new family member, my sister in law. Initially I was supposed to take a lift from my sister since it made no economic sense to drive alone when one could car pool!

But, as always, my mom (who always knows best....: )) had other plans for me! I was to pick up my uncle and aunt, who were en route to Johor Bahru, so that they could attend the khenduri and they would then take one of my dad's cars for them to drive back to JB and return to KL the following week. As wifey and my sons had extra classes over the weekend, I dragged along Khadijah as I did not want to travel alone during the return trip! I hate driving alone...That reminds me, I have to drive alone to Kuantan next week as I'll be the star witness in a trial! What a drag!

As I was loading stuff in to the car, Hajar came and put on a puppy face.....To bring along or not to bring along? That's the qustion! Following a dad's instinct (which can lead to serious repurcussions, in most instances) I immediately packed her stuff and chucked them into a holdall and strapped her in a car seat and drove off, without consulting wifey as she was already in her cupcake 101 class! Along the journey..the "what ifs" kept running through my mind and my imagination really ran amok (the diaper changing, bathing, bottle feeding, tantrums, ........)!

Surprisingly, Hajar was an angel throughout the journey and the overnight stay...She slept well, socialised amiably, ate heartily...I give her full marks! Khadijah also was very helpful taking care of her little sister throughout; thumbs up to her!

This was my first time away with an overnight stay with my two girls...I definitely will do this again...! Will post of my authentic kopitiam breakfast with the two, when time permits.


* all pics captured by Khadijah

Nabil, my nephew, the gymnast

New sis-in-law in black scarf


Uteh Ros, the briyani gam Executive Chef

Hajar & me


Hajar socialising

The ladies


Berzanji

Briyani Gam

The Gents

Beautifully imperfect partner

I wanted to post my trip back to Muar with my two girls over the weekend but Yasmin's posting in her blog made me defer the entry. Yasmin's work never has failed to touch my heart. And this latest installation just did it again this morning

"Little imperfections that make them perfect for you"...Isn't this so very true..! Life is too short to dwell with and complain about the imperfections. Embrace them; for you will miss the very imperfections one day and it would then be forever!

Smell the bed of roses along the way, enjoy the lifetime journey and do tell them that you love them, now, in case you have not done so today or ever.....!

Oh Ib!

Rushed home last evening after Maghrib, and left my partner alone in the office, to send Khadijah for her tuition only to be greeted with a frantic phone call from the maid halfway through my journey home. Coming from a drama-queen ("darah banyak, sir...kulitnya terbuka"), I just assumed it was just another normal-part-of-growing-up-boy-thing accident and took my time home.

He was pressing a couple of tissues on to the wound, when he wnet in to the car, and I didn't bother loking because Ib can be quite a drama-king himself. I thought I just brought him to the nearest GP to get a tetanus jab as he had hit a steel bracket in the bathroom after having his bath in a pail under, believe it or not, the wash basin!

When I took a look at the wound upon arrival at the clinic...there was about close to 2 inches of opening at the back of his head...Okay...I was just getting ready to bring him to APSH when the GP told me that they could stitch him up at the clinic. I don't have to elaborate on the ensuing drama. Suffice to say that the clinic registered a low end Richter magnitude scale reading.

I could feel what Ib had to go through and understand why he was screaming, even after local anaesthesia was administered, as almost every inch of both his arms have been poked and jabbed due to at least twice-a-year-hospital-stay since he was a 5 month-old-baby. Of course it broke my heart to see him in agony and pain...Giving him words of encouragement and holding him with tlc was the least I could do....The minute the GP completed the suture, he was already up to his usual mischief...What can I say...boys! He's overjoyed for not having to go to school today and I pray that there will be no more frantic phone calls from the drama queen today!