Sunday, April 26, 2009

Jalan jalan - Melaka


Good morning melaka.....
Arrived saturday, we went to Jonker St to have a quick lunch. We had asam laksa & the famous cendol at one of the eateries.

.......... and checked into a hotel along Jalan Syed Aziz, with Mahkota Parade just within walking distance.

Dinner was seafood at Quayside Cafe, the food was good. We were entertained with songs of the 70's and 80's by a live band from the Melaka Municipal Council.

Immediately after, we went on a 45 minutes river cruise at RM10/ person. Sorry, my pictures were blurred, so I c&p from tourmalaysia.com and mywisewife.com that I found in the net, thank you.


After breakfast the next day, we drove to Masjid Tanah to visit Pak Andak who lives in a typical Melaka-style house. He was alone as his wife was away on a 3-day holiday trip to Langkawi.

While there, we browsed an old album and found a few yester years photos of MIL during her bloom years.

........stopped by roadside stalls selling local goodies

Came back to hotel, had lunch and all four of us slept all afternoon....(funtastic four huh??)
Manage to shoot, Masjid Selat Melaka 
Had dinner at a stall along the road in Klebang. The food??? let's just say that we've chosen the wrong stall to sample local food.....
27th april- checked out, along the way stopped at the crocodile farm.

Pictured below is Jonny, the real buaya that has been 'preserved'
....and the caption

So long melaka, we definitely have many more places of interest to visit the next time round.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

something anything


Have you ever been in a situation where you cannot contact someone, just because your call or message did not get thru....who to blame? The phone? service provider? or the weather? It happened to me the past two weeks. When we finally met, she decided to change her handphone. He he he, ingatkan pasal tak dapat contact kite je, rupa rupanya dia tukar handphone sebab husband dia dok sound tak dapat contact dia. Anyway, sis, I googled as you say and here it is....(ada betoi ka?).


 
At the same time, on friday, went to a neighbour's house to see her daughter & friends preparing goodies for their school's carnival. Just chip in to 'ice' a few cup cakes and here they are....syok pula...nanti nanti makcik nak cuba buat lagi lah.

Sambil sambil tu makcik dok packing nak ke Melaka minggu ni....jumpa lagi....









Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sepagi di Kuala Sepetang


Saturday morning...hubby prepared to go out with his photography kakis,together with alif, our eldest.
At 7.15 he asked me and adil to follow, saying i can 'jog' around while he took the shots. We were ready in 15 minutes! How to persuade adil to follow? He jumped out of bed immediately when his father said he could drive.
Hubby drove one car with alif and two of his friends while adil with me in the other car.
Stopped briefly for breakfast, journey took about one hour.

We reached Kuala Sepetang Mangrove Forest Reserve before 10am and were the first to arrive that day. 
There's a long under-canopy walkway into the mangrove. There's also chalets for those who wish to spend the night. 


I walked along the wooden walkway, reading notices about whats, whens and hows of the area and plant species.

The guys were busy with their cameras.....you can see in the picture that they're fully absorbed 

After one hour they decided to move on to the charcoal factory nearby. I was like.. 'what r they going to shoot there?' perghhhhh.
As we were coming out of the 'forest', we saw more people, including a bus load of kindies entering the area.
While the guys were shooting (i did so with my camera phone), I talked to the owner, Ah Chin about the trade. I realized now that it is not as simple as i thought. 
It started with logs (kayu bakau) being brought in by boat,via the stream within the premise. 


The logs are then arranged in the igloo-shaped chamber. It has an opening that they break and seal accordingly. Then the firing started. The first fire has to be big. When it reaches a certain temperature, the opening is made smaller by sealing it with bricks/clay. This process slowly dries and "bakes" the logs and will take about 20 days during which temperature inside the chamber is monitored.

When the desired temperature/condition is met, the whole chamber will be sealed, and cooling down process begins naturally. This will take another 10 days. Ah Chin described this time as "cuti 10 hari", but i see they have 3 chambers so where got cuti maaaa.

Photo below shows the chamber fully closed. The logs are waiting to be loaded in.
10 days over, the chamber 'door' will be broken to enable the logs-turned-charcoal to be taken out. I asked him if it's hot, he said "panaslahhhh sikit tapi sudah biasa maaa..."
The charcoal is then transported to be packed for export. Ah Chin said 75% of his charcoal are for Japan export, woooowwww. 
And the whole process starts again.
Photo below shows McK talking to the young, handsome Ah Chin (in blue t-shirt). When asked if he browse the internet(konon nak bagi lah add blog makcik) he has this to say..."wa tak pandai baca apa macam mau buka computer? dulu mak suruh pi sekolah, wa cakap ok, bila mak pi saja, wa lari" (i cannot read, how to surf? my mum ask to go to school, i said yes, when she turned, i ran away)
  
So long Ah Chin, nice talking to this humble guy though i don't get everything he said.
To those out there who'd like to find experience and have free sauna, i suggest you contact Ah Chin....wa garenti lu punya lemak semua cair maa

It's time to go home....we had lunch at a roadside stall in Juru, sorry i don't know the exact place but my hubby said its called 'Ikan Bawal bawah pokok'....hentam sajalah...good food, hot fried ikan bawal +other dishes. Pick your choice, head to the tables under the trees,order your drinks and walllaaa. Gendang gendut tali kecapi, dah kenyang perut sukalah hati... 








Friday, April 17, 2009

selingan hari jumaat


I'm getting ready to go to my sewing class....
I'm grateful to have blogger buddies who, looking at their beautiful blogs inspire me to be a blogger myself and i'm still learning.
The first comment I got from a blogger, Nicole made me decide that my blog will be written in english (campur campurlah); most people can understand english but not all can read bahasa malaysia.
Ummi(home sweet home) was the first one who got me UP when she accidentally visited my 'house', thanks ummi. Since then, I have never stopped, with mr abang encouraging me to make this blog a diary (though he teases that i'm always at the computer, calling me makcik blogger). Other bloggers; mamaFaMi, linahilmin, ummuhanis.....(just to name a few), who sometimes posted comments & others who quietly drop by and also non-blogger friends who read this blog. Thank you friends.
Eh eh melalut pulak, feeling habih makcik no....
As promised, dah balik dari class, here is my other project...from the remnants of my cenille bag...
Multi purpose pouch i would call it...measures about 20cm x 18cm, mau ke makcik buatkan...he he he....

The above is the patchwork, before shaping....

This is the finished product, camera lighting caused the different tones.
And as i also promised in my posting on 15th april, I want to share with you my cikgu beautiful quilt hut as seen from outside and inside. Currently, cikgu, with the help of her other students yang dah expert is busy doing projects for sales; bags, purses dan sebagainya....and part of the proceed goes to charity, alhamdulillah.





Friday morning....


16th April: Happy Birthday  Yati. One of 'ahli mesyuarat tingkap'(he he housewife lah tu); we will meet almost everyday for breakfast & other activities, if situation permits. Now that she's moved to another state, the chances for morning coffee is almost nil. 
Hope that our other plan (nak petik strawberries with gang?) would materialized soon.

And this morning, mr abang suddenly wants mango pulut as he bought mango yesterday on his way back from KL. just to share...nothing special about it as it's just steam glutinous rice, coconut milk & mango...



 ......and i'm getting ready to go to my sewing class.....see you....



Wednesday, April 15, 2009

made in penang


I managed to explore my other passion this week......crafting. I learn this craft from an expert,a hobbyist who has a hut (fully air-conditioned) within her house compound; just to put all her hobby stuffs. When I entered her hut, all I can say is...WOW! She does quilting (bedspread, table runners, tea cozy & such but I prefer bags as of now)

My first project was a simple (so cikgu says) patchwork bag;



...and my second project is also a bag, they called it cenille. This one is a little complicated as it has a total of 7 layers of cotton fabric + 1 layer (forgot the name)
I took a total of about 8 hrs to complete. I do not own this special machine (I have a normal that I use to sew curtains, remnants & other straight, simple stuffs) but that does not hinder me from doing it as i start & finish at cikgu's house. Thanks cikgu.
Cost of doing it?? Hmmm boleh tahan juga, tapi suka punya pasal......hentamm sajalah labu....




Brief steps to make this bag;
1. Layer the materials together, then quilt it (sew diagonally) at 1/2" interval.
2. Then slice (cut thru) the materials in between the quilt lines. That makes those inside materials visible, hence those pinkish diagonal lines that seems peeping.
3. Shape the bag.
4. Install handle.
5. Fit inside layer; hand-sewn.
6. Finish-happy...





I intend to put photos of the hut inside out if she permits it plus my other project which is on the way. till then have a nice day.
I

Mencuba sesuatu yang baru buat ku.....

makcik harini melilau/merayau kat 'rumah-rumah' yang tak ada 'grill' & terjumpa sesuatu yg makcik nak try, ie slideshow. tak pernah pandai nak buat tapi kali ni nak cuba.




Friday, April 10, 2009

Steam Chocolate Cake

Want a home made cake? No oven? No cake mixer? Don't worry...try this one and you'll never regret.
(Excuse me, i just noticed a typo error in my picture)


I want to share  a very simple yet yummylicious steam chocolate cake. 
Source: zaima, cari.com-FnR forum, thanks zaima.

Ingredients:
A - mix and stir under low heat until sugar melt
1 cup sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk
1 cup oil (i use 1/2 cup melted butter & 1/2 cup oil)
1/2 cup condensed milk

B - sift
1 1/4 cup self raising flour
1 tsp soda bicarbonate

C - beat lightly
3 eggs

Method:
- Boil water in a steamer.
- Beat C (eggs) lightly, add A followed by B. Make sure all ingredients are well mixed.
- Place mixture in lined cake tin and steam for about 45 - 60 mins 
- Cool cake on wire rack & top with melted chocolate (ganache)


Besides the cake, I also tried  Talam Keladi, the recipe I got from bro rozzan's blogspot.
My first attempt, it was good but the colour doesn't look 'appetising' as seen here, the nice coloured one was by bro rozzan and the 'pucat' one was mine. Thanks bro, lain kali akan ku cuba lagi. 




        McK's talam keladi..............................................bro rozzan's




Monday, April 6, 2009

New Premier







Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had taken the oath as the country's sixth prime minister on 3rd April 2009.  
It was done before the Yang di Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana Negara.
I read the facts in a newspaper and thought it would be good to have it here in the blog for future reference....for me and for others, as this is part of history of Malaysia.


Lists of Malaysia's prime ministers;
1. TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PUTRA AL HAJ (Father of Independence)
     (Aug 26 1957 - Sept 21 1970)

2. TUN ABDUL RAZAK HUSSEIN (Father of Development)
     (Sept 22 1970 - Jan 14 1976)

3. TUN HUSSEIN ONN (Father of Unity)
     (Jan 15 1976 - July 16 1981)

4. TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD (Father of Malaysia's modernization)
     ( July 16 1981 - Oct 31 2003)

5. TUN ABDULLAH AHMAD BADAWI 
     (Oct 31 2003 - April 03 2009)

6. DATUK SERI NAJIB TUN RAZAK
     (From April 03, 2009...)