Potpourri too

It's a lazy holiday posting:-

• Yusof : He got back from school last Wednesday telling me that his English teacher ( a retiree from Government school) Puan Nor*** was suspended from teaching his class. She's an experienced teacher and an old-school-of-thought-disciplinarian (which I soo like). Reason for the suspension was that one parent complained that she is too strict. What's wrong with parents nowadays? At one end we bemoan the indscipline of school kids nowadays but on the other.......(fill in the blanks yourselves....). I was about to make a fuss with the school administration when Yusof told me that Pn N is back teaching him....!


• Festive Holiday : Apart from wifey's brother's engagement trip, we have been doing practically nothing. Brought the kids (minus Missy K) to the pool yesterday and perhaps again today (along with my nieces who slept over last night). What a boring holiday so far....I need adventure! Wifey much prefers lazy holidays.....reading mags and books. I'm totally the opposite....We'll be going up north next month during the school hols..and have some interesting activities up my sleeves (including white water rafting) for the kids and I (minus wifey, of course!)


• Ruby Anniversary: Went to view RiverStone Eco Resort on Friday. I like the place as it is very cozy and open (quite romantic ambience in the evening when they turn on hurricane lamps and light up the pelita (little kerosene lamps)! The owner's wife, Kak Hamidah is truly a PR person and very warm and we clicked almost immediately). She'll close the restaurant for us if we have about 90 attendees despite the restaurant's maximum capacity of 150 pax. My sis and I are viewing another place 3o minutes' drive from the city for alternative. My sister is back in our hometown for the break and personally inviting all our aunties, uncles and cousins for the do. Response has been encouraging although they are about 2 1/2 hour drive away!


• Personal: Been bingeing over this holidays...I have deviated from Adelle Davis' maxim "Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince and eat dinner like a pauper” . It's more like "Eat as if there's no tomorrow". Cant help it if you have a wife who loves cooking and enjoys it when her dishes get devoured to the last bit. This was our Sunday lunch (from top right : fermented shrimp with onions, chillis and lime juice; fried sardine, smoked beef cooked in coconut milk and stir fried french beans ----- fattenning or what?)

Potpourri

It's going to be a slightly longish post, to my standard at least, as I'm trying to cramp everything in one posting - the holiday/festive mood has sunk in (feeling lazy in other words) and why not do it in one shot - a potpourri post!

Firtsly, lemme wish all of you out there celebrating Lunar New Year a very happy and prosperous New Year and may great things in abundance await all of you out there (I need that wish too.....LOL).

Got a text message from a friend, this morning, whom we are supposed to visit today (our yearly ritual during Lunar New Year) that her first child got infected with HFMD. Oh dear, what a way to celebrate Lunar New Year - cooped up at home; less hong bao to collect! He obviously did not contract it from Ib and Umar as they were not in contact when my kids got it. Apparently there is an outbreak of HFMD here. It was reported that a kindy in Shah Alam had to be closed temporarily because of HFMD. And my friend's sister in Johor Bahru told her that there are some kids in the school where her sister is teaching are also down with HFMD. My advice is, if you have kids, try to reduce their exposure to the public at large at times like this......!

It's my sister's birthday today. She's 30! By jolly....how time flies. I still remember the day she was born 30 years ago (I was in primary three). It was also First day of Lunar New Year then (year of snake).

The delivery was at home (we were all born at home btw....) assisted by a mid-wife. Geez....I don't think I'd be able to cope if I was in my dad's shoes..Giving birth at home? Thank you very much, not my cuppa tea! The labour pain was more than 24 hours... She's the rose among the thorns in our family and naturally the centre of attention!

I wasn't a good brother (I'd like to think I'm a much better brother now but this you have to ask her! LOL!)..... almost killed her twice!

The first incident was when she was about three or four month old. I was carrying her behind our house going to our next door neighbour's. There lies a one metre (in depth) drain behind our house.....I accidentally lost balance and dropped her in the drain....She got stuck half way at the bottom of the drain. A few days later she was hospitalised because she was constantly crying. The doc did not know what was wrong with her and scheduled her for an op. An old lady who was visiting her grandchild next to my sis' bed offerred to "examine" her. She's a traditional masseuse/healer. I don't kn0w what she did but my sister stopped crying after she massaged/caressed her tummy. Apparently her intestine was a bit misplaced/entangled (must be due to the fall...right?). A close call for an op all due to my clumsiness.

Second incident was when we were on holiday in Desaru when she was about 1 +/2 y.o. She was already walking, I'm quite sure. My brother, my cousins and I were playing with a reclining chair (the ones in the 70s you'd buy from Padang Besar, Thailand) brought by my parents. I was happily pushing the back seat of the chair back and forth without realising that she inserted one of her fingers into the gear (which controls the angle of inclination) and I almost got her finger severed! I was so scared (scared to be reprimanded or scared for her life - I'm sure it's more of the latter) that I cried.....! Luckily she didn't need stitches.....

Well, after those two incidents I was away in a boarding school and hence no near-death- incidents after that! (I'm sure she was thanking her luck star like crazy! LOL!) She's 30 today.....and for you, dear sis, enjoy this poem (lifted from the net) & HAPPY BIRTHDAY :-

From where love came, we cannot see: Perhaps, within us, born and bred

Or taught to us at parent's knee

Or instilled by God in heart and head.Perhaps it sprang from some kind deed

Which, long forgotten,yet has grown

To dazzling heights from one small seed

In the fertile soil of distress sown

Respect rises up so far above

The pettiness of separate viewDifferences bow before a love

And friendship that is blood-bound, too

May the bond between us stronger grow

May I prove the fondness I confess

Which my hand's service cannot

Nor my simple words ever express

by : FLORENCE SHERRILL FERREL

We drove all the way to Pelong in Jempol, Negeri Sembilan yesterday for wifey's brother's (Mus) engagement ceremony to Ain. It was a loooong (but interesting) drive of about 3 hours from Kuala Lumpur. The tranquil and serene sceneries along the way (especially at Kampung Terachi and Tanjong Ipoh in Kuala Pilah) evoked many of my chilhood memories - I felt like I was in a time warp! What was interesting along the way - the stalls selling local produce ranging from dragon fruits, honey, palm sugar, smoked catfish and beef etc etc. There were many dragon fruits farms as well! The traffic was thankfully kind to us as we headed down south at about half eight a.m.

Mus has really grown in to a very fine gentleman. When I first got married to wifey. I almost became a victim of his temper. He was probably about 12/13 then. I was about to leave my father in law's house and was at the front door when Mus and Boy (Mus' older brother) had a tiff. The next thing I knew - one of Mus' sneakers came flying in my direction from his....! Lucklily I ducked and missed the flying sneakers. Boarding school made him more sedate and obviously a good training ground for him in anger management! He's now a chef (his interest was glaringly obvious since he was in Primary school) at KL Convention Centre (BTW he was the one who carved the ice platter on which the strawberry and choc dessert was placed on for Datuk Siti's wedding) and specialises in food and ice carvings. He just returned from China recently for an ice carving competiotion and Malaysia won 3rd place!

Hey, you can order from him ice and fruit carvings which he does freelance! Give me a shout if you are interested!

Anyway, it was his engagement yesterday and glad that he decided, finally, to get hitched.

One of the hantaran (gift) to Ain accompanying the engagement ring which is a telekong (Muslim women prayer garb) with wifey's floral arrangement.

Three of the hantaran all done up nicely by wifey (Yusof looking bored and hungry in the background).

Our divine lunch - traditional malay food (Yusof ate three plates of rice)
Our dessert - traditional kueh-mueh (cakes).

For an update on my parents' ruby anniversary and our visit to Riverstone Eco Resort - please read here. I'll probably expand, if the holiday bug doesn't get me!

Bidan Terjun

What was supposed to be a quiet and uneventful weekend turned out to be a rather frenzied and a frantic one for me. It all started with a phone call from my best friend (pictured above) on Thursday saying that he needed some kueh, fruits and a cake for his cousin-in-law's engagement Saturday morning. I was like.....excuse me.. it's two days' to go?

No doubt he did mention to me a couple weeks back that he would need my (rather wifey's) help for three trays of hantaran (gifts) for the engagement-but it was not a firm request. It was difficult to say no (you now how you may-be-at-the-other-end-some-day kinda feeling - that's how exactly I felt) and I said yes of course without wifey's cocurrence (since she will be doing most of the decorating the hantaran etc) which incurred her wrath obviously (for not too long though).

First stop was the Bakery ( a french bakery in Ampang Jaya), owned by this lovely french couple which they opened a few years back. They fell in love with Malaysia when they visited their offsring here, that they sold off their bakery in Paris and currently making Kuala Lumpur their place of abode. Breads are freshly baked daily- our alltime fave is the sundried tomato bread (can be a bit spicy) we normally have it with kacang pool (mixed beans cooked in kurma paste with minced meat; this dish is quite famous in Johore and Singapore among the arabs especially. How it's eaten - kacang pool with fried shallots, spring onion and sunny-side-up put a dash of ghee and have it with a baguette or any type of bread..yummy!). Oopsie I have digressed.... Their quiches are nice too - three types (salmon; chicken mushroom and rattatouille- the last one is my fave). They serve good breakfast too! Anyway, we ordered mixed fruit tartlets and chicken mushroom quiche for the hantaran. A bit different, I must say....(the future-bride parents were expecting jala mas, akok etc.....as their future son-in-law is from Kelantan). BTW, apparently the owners have opened a new lunch place opposite Ampang Point which wifey and I are going to check out one of these days.

Second stop was Alexis bistro at GEM coz they have nice cakes and desserts (nice Sarawak laksa too!). We placed an order for a mixed fruit pavlova for the second hantaran. Wanted to order Charlotte au fruits from Chef Jerome but as it's not summer he doesn't do it ( I suspect that he only uses fruits from France - talk about being patriotic! - it's summer in OZ!)

Last stop was Petaling Street for fresh flowers and fruits......That completed the assignment. No, not really....the most difficult one was to break the news to wifey.....Truthfully, it wasn't that bad or that difficult..... : )! The promise of helping her did the trick...LOL!

The first tray above comprises of the tartlets and quiches with the floral arrangemnet done by wifey! Unfortunately, I didn't snap pics of the other two trays..... That was not my friend's only request - he asked us to attend the engagement ceremony the following day....Not really...it was the same day as wifey only finished doing all the decoration about one a.m. saturday morning! He pleaded like a little doggie in the window... Of course wifey refused as she was tired...she had to go to pasar tani like 5 hours later. Well, iI really had nothing to do in the morning anyway...(since Khadijah's French class was cancelled for DELF training) and I said yes.....

So ya....we spent one day of the weekend as bidan terjun (literally translated - the jumping mid-wife; its actual meaning is a person who is asked to do things on a short notice despite not having any experience).

All in all the engagement went on smoothly. My friend had to be the spokesperson for the ceremony (I would have p**** in my pants if I was asked to do that; which initially I was to which I had to refuse coz I knew nothing of this sort of thing.).

The icing to the cake was the nice pilaf rice which was served...not oily and kind to my tummy....had it with beef stew, beef briyani, sweet and sour fish, acar buah (pickled preserved fruits) and jelantah (a mixture of pineapple, onion and cucumber soaked in vinegar with a dash of sugar). And of course the traditional kueh served was brilliant too - not soo sweet.