Happy Birthday from JB...

Today Pesara menyambut hari lahirnya di sebuah hotel kat JB bersama AA. Semalam keluar makan mee rebus ( famous kat johor ) sebagai acara penamat lawatan jalan2 cari makan dalam Malaysia. Pagi ni kita orang akan bertolak balik ke KL. Semoga perjalanan dilindungi Allah SWT.

Sebagai tanda ingatan hari yang bermakna ini, disertakan gambar2 celebration yang telah diadakan earlier bersama family di Cosmic Bowling, Mid-Valley pada 24 Disember...

Ho Chi Minh and his beloved Viet Nam...

We just got back from HCMCity last nite. Today I thought I wanted to share with my blog visitors my experience in Vietnam. So I went through more than 700 pictures that we took through out our 4D/3N stay in HCMC. Tengok punya tengok, I couldn't find any breathtaking scenic pictures to share. The only nice things in the pictures are the two tourists ( hahaha, just kidding). What I enjoyed most from any countries that I 've been to is normally the beautiful sceneries dan bangunan lama yang mengkagumkan dari segi arkitekturnya atau keunikannya. Di Vietnam ni, nothing like that is there for me to admire.

So kenapa pilih Vietnam? Dekat ( meaning flight tak lama ) and murah. Anyway, the trip was not a total lost. Besides the cheaper than most places things to buy, I did learn something from/ about the vietnamese people.

We had the opportunity to see for ourselves the undying love that the vietnamese communists ( VC )people have for their motherland, in those days. Kepandaian dalam mencetuskan idea dan kesungguhan mereka demi mempertahankan negara daripada penjajahan, pada mulanya daripada tentera Perancis dan diikuti oleh tentera Amerika. Bagaimana mereka menggali underground tunnels ( di Cu Chi province)yang begitu complicated for survival yang mengambil masa 20 tahun untuk dibina ( menggunakan cangkul semata-mata ) dan di mana mereka tinggal untuk selama 30 tahun sebelum kemerdekaan dicapai dalam tahun 1975. Banyak lagi cerita yang boleh dikongsi, separuh that was told by our tour guide and dari pengalaman kami, tapi kalau nak share kat sini, panjang pulak nanti entry ni. So cerita boleh di share bila ada kesempatan berjumpa.

Another thing that was pelik to me about Vietnam is, macam mana orang yang begitu sayangkan tanah air masa penjajahan dulu, boleh menghasilkan bandar yang begitu bercelaru dan bersepah/kotor ( tapi hotelnya, Alhamdulillah bersih ). Setiap penjuru bandarnya penuh dengan permandangan yang menyakitkan mata. Manusia di mana-mana asyik minum kopi dan berborak di tepi-tepi jalan. They have alot of " portable cafes"( a few small chairs and pembuat kopi ). Bila datang pihak berkuasa, they just run away with their things, just like some illegal stalls in Malaysia yang lari daripada DBKL. Bangunan yang macam tak siap, tapi merupakan tempat mereka melakukan perniagaan mereka. Yang paling ketara, kalau di China banyak basikal, di sini banyak motosikal.

Pengalaman naik sampan di Mekong Delta agak menarik tapi bau sungai boleh tahan juga harumnya dan yang paling menarik ( atau scary is a better word ) pengalaman dikejar anjing semasa nak mencuba hammock, tak akan dapat dilupakan ( walau pun I would rather lupa that part of it ). But I still buy a hammock from the dog's owner. Ini yang akan forever remind me of that fearful moment.

Anyway, I hope you can appreciate the pictures which I have picked ( from the more than 700 taken )to share with you from our short stay in HCMC, Viet Nam. To see more pictures boleh ke facebook AA.

Uniknya Singapura....

Last Thursday till Saturday I had the opportunity to spend somedays in Singapore, courtesy from my AA who was there to attend a seminar. We were thrown at a resort on an island called Sentosa. I nak share with my readers some of my experience there.

Firstly, when we arrived, we were greeted by heavy rain, sebaik saja mendarat di Budget Airport, Kota Singa. Nasib baik that was the only wet thing, as we were not caught in Singapore's traffic jam. It took about 30 minutes to reach the short bridge to Pulau Sentosa. The room we had was great with the view of the ocean and ships ( most pictures already published in AA's facebook ) but I will put some here for the benefit of those barred from opening facebook hehe..

Everything was fine until it's time for makan time. AA has seminar dinner to attend, so I browsed through the hotel menu for room service dinner. Adalah dishes that is familiar to my palate. Anyway, just to be sure it's halal, AA called the hotel management and was given the upsetting news that it was not halal. Perut terasa lapar ni and kat mana nak cari makan. She decided not to attend the given dinner and we walked out to the nearby bus stand, just outside the resort. Luckily for us the Delifrance serves halal food..pheww!!( the only eating place that's halal outside the Rasa Sentosa Resort ). So it was Delifrance for dinner and the next morning breakfast. Itu aje lah the scary experience that I want to share, cos food is very important to me..hehehe .How I love Malaysia.

Yang lain-lain tu biasalah, gi shopping complexs called Vivo City and tak beli apa pun on the second day there tapi got to eat nasi padang ( after naik turun escalator looking for halal food ) and visited the beach in the morning on the third day there. Oh yes, malam kedua tu we went to see "Song of the Sea" show which I decided to share a portion of it with you all. Have fun watching the video!

p/s By the way, when AA was busy attending her seminar in the morning till noon on the second day, I was busy spending autumn with this guy in my hotel room...

Leonardo da Vinci, The Genius

Today after sending my car for it's 60,000km service ( after almost 6 years of usage.. hehe), we headed to Pusat Sains Negara for the above exhibition. Eventhough I was excited to see the exhibits from the beginning but my excitement was more when I discovered that I did not have to cough out RM25 for the entrance fee ( and my AA had to pay for hers ). Now my readers must be wondering " How Come?"

Just like the Da Vinci code, the answer is in one of the pictures. I will not reveal it just yet. The exhibits were great but sad to say we were not allowed to take any pictures. Today both of us felt that we got to know Leo ( on first name basis now ) a lot more after reading/seeing what he had accomplished in his lifetime. Very interesting indeed. The man is a Genius.

Above are 2 pictures taken from the brochure ( hehehe ) showing some of his inventions that were exhibited. There were also movies regarding his life and his inventions and paintings shown at the exhibit. A whole section was dedicated to knowing about the famous Mona Lisa with analysis done on the painting involving the use of a 240,000 megapixel camera ( very complex analysis ) just to reveal the actual colours on the various parts of the painting. Anyway, I was not that interested in the Mona Lisa. To know more, please visit the exhibition at the National Science Centre ok ( don't forget to bring RM25 for the entrance fee for adults and RM 20 for children ).

ACT 2.....

Pesara as usual will always be looking for ways to cut short on cooking to many dishes ( more than one ), so for raya ni I decided to combine masakan meat which is rendang with masakan sayur which is pucuk paku. Jadi untuk pertama kalinya ACT 2 mempersembahkan masakan " Rendang Daku " ( singkatan untuk rendang daging campur pucuk paku)

Macam biasalah, orang yang boleh komen tentang rasanya tak lain tak bukan AA yang forever bersemangat untuk mencuba apa-apa aje yang dimasak oleh MAnya. So apa komen AA? Gambar yang sempat dirakam untuk tatapan semua ( air liur menitis tu jaga-jaga sikit..hehehe )

p/s Kalau ada lagi rendang daku tu, insya'Allah sesiapa yang berkesempatan dapatlah merasainya....Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri kepada yang melawat blog ini. Maaf Zahir Batin!

ACT 1.....

It's been a while since I last wrote in my blog. My penjengok setia pun dah nak naik fed-up. Buka blog, no new entry. Bukan apa, takde cerita menarik nak dikongsikan. Anyway today rasanya nak share something with my family and friends (cum my readers hihi..)

Semenjak berpuasa di Ramadhan ni, baru sekali pesara pergi ke bazar kat Danau Kota tu. That's because I have been cooking for my breaking fast and sahur dishes. Azam tahun ini tak nak makan nasi for berbuka. So, untuk tidak merasa jemu, kenalah creative sikit. So far dah masak kari daging, masak lemak udang, sotong masak hitam, ayam masak merah, spageti, bihun goreng just to name a few..hehehe

Anyway, berbalik pada topik today " ACT 1". Sounds like nak berlakun, tapi sebenarnya ACT tu singkatan pesara untuk Acu,Cuba, Try....

Tadi pesara cuba for the first time to buat karipap. Intinya adalah inti yang pesara buat untuk berbuka dengan roti pita sebenarnya, tapi tiba-tiba teringat nak makan karipap. Selepas gagal mendapat resepi kulit karipap dari kaum keluarga, pesara pun apa lagi surflah the internet. Jumpa banyak sangat pulak dah. I decided just to go with the simplest one.

Mula-mula tu doh jadi keras, tak cukup minyak and butter, then tambah air pun tak nak lembut. Terpaksalah pesara panaskan minyak and butter lagi. Now dah jadi berketul-ketul pulak. Tambah air lagi, now dah jadi lembik pulak. Gaul punya gaul nampak orait pulak. Pesara biarkan selama 1 jam to see if it is usable. Berkat bulan Ramadhan, dapatlah juga pesara berbuka dengan karipap ACT 1 malam nanti...

Gambar sebagai kenangan..

p/s Tentang rasanya pula, kenalah tunggu komen daripada sesiapa yang berpeluang merasanya..