new look

I am giving this blog a new look for 2014 by adding a few bright and colourful links on your right --->

The colours scream "CLICK NOW!!"

Hotel Review : Holiday Inn, Malacca

I have spent 3D 2N in Holiday Inn Malacca during my office's top management meeting. I was there not because I am one of the top managers ;p I was there because of a unique assignment. Anyway, let's talk about the hotel first. 

Love the room. Love the colour combination. You can choose between SOFT or FIRM pillow. 

Linear arrangement. Just like most of the hotels I went to before (except for Tokyo, Singapore, Adelaide and a few others). Since I didnt have to do work at night, it is fine. Or else, doing work beside a huge television is quite a struggle.

The food is great.

Es.sense Kitchen.

Invisible Pen

Nabil requested for an invisible pen for quite sometimes. I bought it for his birthday earlier this month. In fact, I bought 6 for my other sons, nephew, niece and cousin Jaja. I just drew something on the brown paper. Can you see it?

Click the light and voila! 

Then, they were experimenting with other materials such as wood, MY LEATHER HANDPHONE COVER and of course, SKIN. (Aunty Ani started it first ;p)

Some observation

During a wedding last weekend... A wedding photographer made a rude remark to the wedding cake maker in front of me and a few others,"You shouldnt put too much icing on the wedding cake. I could only taste the icing when I ate it. That kind of cake is only suitable for a birthday party".

First, the baker never commented on your photography technique especially when you captured a shot from below and make the groom's nostril as huge as a sinkhole in Bosnia.

Second, you should respect others' area of expertise. As far as I am concern, the baker has been on TV a couple of times and featured in newspapers and a lot of magazines. 

Third, MAYBE the groom ordered that kind of cake? 

Fourth, why on earth did you ate the wedding cake while no one else touched it, not until the event ended later that evening?

What I like most about the baker is...he just smile.

Food : Chicken Fajitas. Again.

My parent-in-law staying over at our home last weekend. I really like it when they are here. I love to see them playing with their grandchildren and perform congregational prayers together. Everyone seems so happy and I felt so blessed.

I made them chicken fajitas for breakfast. I grilled chicken keels and caramalised some onions. I also made honey mustard sauce with black pepper.

I put in a lot of green and tomato. 

Usually my husband is the one folding the tortilla whenever we made chicken fajita but that morning, he was entertaining my in laws so I have to fold it myself. First try. They were terrible. LOL. 

Meet Elly, the Box Monster

Nabil made this on Saturday.

I keep empty breakfast cereal, toothpaste boxes and all type of boxes in the kids' room so they could do something creative with it anytime. 

Nabil googled some cute monster images on Saturday morning and he came across a cereal box monster art project for kids. He straight away gathered necessary equipment and start working on it. I helped him to wrap the box.

He coloured the eyes, cut it off and pasted it on the orange box. Then, he drew the mouth and the stylish hair.

After that, he added six i-dont-know-what. Fins? Hair? Ears? But, it is so cute.

The end product, meet ELLY.

I am proud.

United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities

3 December every year is United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I have soft spot for United Nations since I have been working with/for them for almost 8 years.

I am sharing interesting photos during my trip to Perth, Australia. Unlike other people who enjoy shopping or eating while traveling abroad, I personally love to capture the details and observe the locals. 

Some interesting details for person with disabilities at Point Fraser, Perth. Upon entering the park, I was impressed by the folded space adopted by the designer which in the same time, accessible for the person with physical disabilities and wheelchair. All ramps are of perfect gradient! I went there with my Deputy Minister and I could tell by the look of her face that she was so surprised seeing me running up and down the ramp, whenever there was a ramp (it is A LOT when you have a folded space).

The repetition of railing and tactile pavements makes a good visual impression and does not seen as a facilities for persons with disabilities. 

The reason being is that they use a lot of repetitive elements in the park, so the special facilities appear to be as part of the concept.

I love the fact that they use different colour, texture and material for the pavement.

Story-telling about the past, in Braille, for persons with visual disabilities. I love how they turn the seat into an interactive element in the park.

They also have the history-telling in Australian aboriginal language and English. 

Another subtle presentation of the history. They even have it on the ground!!! Awesome idea in turning history into the landscape element. You will learn a lot as you walk further into the park, regardless if you are a person with disabilities, aborigine, local or tourist (provided that you understand English ;p)

And lastly, of course, the famous Liberty Swing for wheelchair users. 

Happy International Day of Persons with Disabilities!

Let's have more of these facilities in our country!

Lazy Saturday : Apple crumble

I was bored and I WA-ed my friend telling that I feel like eating apple crumble. In the next five minutes, I found myself peeling apples in the kitchen +__+

Nabil, as usual, in-charge of dicing the apples. (yes, there is a pear in the photo but we didnt put it in the apple crumble. Nabil ate it). I used 2:2 ratio (red : green) so the sourness of the green apple will balanced out the sweetness of the apple+sugar.

Nicely diced apples with a hint of cinnamon powder.

I prepared the crumble. I still need a lot of practice. I never made perfect crumble. It is not even near-perfect ;p

After 45 minutes. Tada!

Lazy Saturday : Special beef gulai

My late grandma used to cook this special beef gulai.

(From wikipedia - Gulai is a type of food containing rich, spicy and succulent curry-like sauce commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia. The main ingredients might be poultry, beef, mutton, various kinds of offals, fish and seafoods, and also vegetables such as cassava leafs and unripe jackfruit.)

I am so fortunate because I was living with her since I was small and throughout secondary school (after my grandpa passed away), I cook dinner with/for her every single night. We will discuss on recipes and ingredients or sometimes, she asked me to cook whatever she feels like eating (most of the time - spaghetti bolognese and nasi goreng belacan). Sometimes she will asked me whether I am up for a challenge. It means that she wanted to cook something difficult and it usually takes a longgg time. I never turned her down :) That was when my passion for cooking started. And it was not easy cooking for the expert. 

Traditional food, in particular, Kelantanese dishes are quite hard to make, well, at least for me. I manage to learn a few from her. This is one of them. I made it last Saturday. Special beef gulai. nope, it's not kerutup, it's not gulai darat. i dont know what it is. that's why I called it special.

Early in the morning, I started to prepare the ingredients. It took me almost one hour to process the meat.

I made the paste from scratch. This is the key process. The whole thing will go wrong if you are not doing this process right.

After blending everything and cook it for a few minutes in the pot, I put in 2kg of diced beef. Then I add some water and coconut milk before let it simmer for 3+ hours. I checked the gulai in between doing laundry, mopping and feeding the kids.

Done.

I sent some of it to my parent's. If my aunt knew I cooked this, she will arrived in 5 minutes with a huge tupperware. lol.

It supposed to have more dried chillies, but considering my kids will eat it, I use less. BUT, it doesnt taste the same. It should have more chillies.

Al-Fatihah for my late grandma.