Solar System

Yesterday, I taught the kids about our solar system. It was difficult at first because there are too many components in the solar system (apart from the planets). I decided to focus only on the eight planets. (No, Pluto is not a planet anymore since 2006 - it is a dwarf planet now).

First, I showed them the arrangement of planets in the encyclopedia. Then, we watched the whole solar system moving (planets orbiting the sun, the moons orbiting the planets, asteroids come and crushed planets, etc) in the internet.

And the fun part begin. They searched for nine round-based/cylindrical items and trace the circle around it, to drew the planets and sun of different sizes. They coloured it according to the photos on the internet. Then they stick the planets on the inner side of a box. #recycle

Nabil wrote the name of each planets, cut it and stick everything onto the wall.

Tada!

Our little solar system in the kids' room. To make them memorise it easier, we listened to The Planets Song all night. It kinda stuck in my head until now.

Another Artwork from Art Class

Nabil's

Pineapples

I am a huge fan of pineapple. I eat pineapple everyday. I ate double the amount during my pregnancies.

I am glad to travel to Kluang every two or three weeks to visit my MIL and FIL because there are a lot of fruit stalls selling all sort of pineapples, five minutes away from their house. 

My favourite is Josaphine. Last week, I taught my 5 years old son, Nazran, to cut the pineapple (I peeled it, of course).

And we enjoyed it with my signature soy sauce + sugar + shrimp paste dipping sauce. Yummy.

Wait.

It has been a while. I know.

I just completed my roadshows all over Malaysia.

I need to work on 20 pending works on my table, then I am ready to blog. Again.

I know many people wanted to be my follower since I am sponsoring the prizes for organising competition at susunatursioca, so I have added follower widget.

The old version is no longer available so it leave me with only one widget - Google+ follower widget.

I know it is tedious to create a new account, etc, just to be my follower, but, you know what, if it is too difficult, you can just be a regular reader, just like you did all this while.

I dont mind at all.

And yes, you can win the competition eventho you did not follow me.

I can accept technical difficulties as the reason of not following me. Dont worry :)

Have a nice January!

Charge your car

A view of an electric car charging at my office's parking lot. Thank you for living a greener life!

Long and baggy clothes

One of the reasons why I always wear long and baggy clothes when we go out. It is Nazran's favourite hiding spot.

GSW : The Motorcade

What is a motorcade?
(via here)
mo·tor·cade  (mtr-kd)

n.

A procession of motor vehicles, as in a parade.

I have been contemplating for nearly 6 months whether to blog about this or not.

It is the most interesting event along MEX (Maju Expressway) every time I commuted from Gombak to my office in Putrajaya between 2011-2012 (most of the time I took 2 buses + 2 trains - here). I love watching motorcade. There were long motorcades , sometimes there were only three cars. On lucky days, I could see the Prime Minister's car and his Deputy's passing through MEX.

But you know what is more interesting than the most interesting event?

TO BE A PART OF THE MOTORCADE.

TO BE IN THE FRONT-MOST CAR IN THE MOTORCADE.

I got the chance when I was appointed as the Liaison Officer (LO) for the First Lady of Republic of Namibia in June 2013. Previous entries - here and here. I was tasked to manage the whole motorcade team. 

This is the motorcade arrangement. This is the part that scares me so I just covered the rest of the texts, leaving only my car and the police clearance riders. It is just like looking at the motorcade on the road, but in diagram - without any indication who is in which car. Normal motorcade did not have LO car, like the one I was assigned to. It only happens during international events. So, I dont think it is wrong to post this photo.

I was assigned to the first car. In between two riders. Their sirens were like a music to my ears. So loud but I love it very much. The riders truly had my respect because they controlled the [huge bike and] traffic very well, especially when we were passing through the busiest streets in Kuala Lumpur. They have worked so hard from morning to midnight. They ride in the rain. Some of them fell down because the road was slippery. But they got up and ride again, like nothing happened. It was an eye opener to me. I never knew their job is THAT tough.

My team in action. I took almost 50 photos of our motorcade in action in 5 days but these are the clear ones. The rest are blur because we moved fast.That is our prestige rider, Panjang. He will be in that position every time the First Lady got in and out of the car.

These are my great riders/teammates, resting at the airport waiting for the First Lady to depart for Namibia on the last day.

Let's do it

Dear readers, let's perform Solat Sunat Dhuha everyday.
It is so powerful.

Serigala Besar & Jahat 2013

We went there at 1.30am. The kids were so excited traveling in the middle of the night to the Big Bad Wolf. I met my best friend, Nur Azah who was my roommate in IIUM for a few years, my partner in silat since matriculation until the final year and my trusted teammate in IIUM archery team. Yes, our world revolves around each other for six years.

Since my sons keep having a trip to the restroom and I have to spend a lot of time waiting at the kid's section outside the restroom, so half of the book bought this year are theirs. I was too tired halfway. My husband done with his books in 45 minutes and the bag was full with the kids' books, so I just made a few quick rounds for MY BOOKS pulak. I manage to get only 8 books this year.

Nazreen helped me to pull the trolley bag. He made a few stops to read some books.

We went back at 4.30am and we went to work a few hours after that.

Road show : Central Region

I was one of the four speakers for a road show on the recent amendments of the Customs Prohibition Order in Construction Industry Development Board Convention Centre, KL. It was a nerve-wrecking experience since I was informed that we are expecting around 800 participants. 

I was nervous for the first 2 or 3 minutes but it turned out okay for the remaining 30 minutes. I asked someone to snap a blurry photo of mine since I want to put that photo in my blog, as a record, although [you knew that] I didnt like to put up my photo here.

As I was busy replying a few emails towards the end and happily packing my stuff, ready to go back, little did I know that I supposed to be the moderator for the final session. OH MY GOD.  I was the most junior officer that time, but Alhamdulillah, I nailed it. Phew. Tak baik tau buat terkejut macam tu.

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.