Sorry for the hiatus, blame it on En Muddy and my busy-ness. He forgot to topup my broadband prepaid. Furthermore, they're so many things happening around lately, I can't really find time to meet and greet my lappy long enough to post something worth to be called post although I've been meaning to write at least something short here everyday.

Without further due, let see what we had for sahur and Iftar. We had few Iftar invitations and been in and out to buy Hari Raya stuffs, hence my kitchen was not very productive lately.

{ Kobis goreng telur kaler kuning. Konon konon nk creative mcm mamak nasik kandar, dh macam kene jaundice kobis haku tapi sodappp wakkaa}

{ Grilled beef - sahur En Muddy}

{ Red snapper sup aka Sup Ikan merah}

{ Laksa Penang. Kuah was given by Ati so I just prepared the raw and sides like laksa, telur salad, bawang and cili padi. Owhh I want daun kesum badly uhuhuhu}

Talking about daun kesum, actually before I come here, I've asked En Muddy whether he saw any daun kesum here and he said : Aderrrrrrrrr... Jgn risau. Bile dah sampai, my worry came to reality as no daun kesum sell here anywhere. So my 4 packet laksa was kept in store till I had daun kesum. It's no mystery that Q8 has a reputation for a very bad postage service. Despite it's jaw-dropping cost involved to sent something here, the parcel was not necessarily reach you. I had friend here, whom haven't received her birthday handbag sent by her sister from Malaysia to Kuwait since last May till now. Till this post was submit, no sign of handbag. May the handbag rest in peace I must say.

Therefor, no one here dare to trust postal service anymore, hence if anyone need to kirim something, we will just wait till we go back to Malaysia or kirim to or from colleagues that going back to Malaysia. Safer that way. However, knowing me, I need to learn from hard lesson hehe. So I asked my mum to try send me anything un-important. Ermmm important is not the word. I mean things that will not make me bang my head to wall if it get lost on the way. After thinking and discussing, I asked my mum to send me daun kesum, daun kunyit, kicap and any other cheap stuff around 2 kg weight, just for the sake to give it a try. At least if it was meant that my daun kesum will be buried in the Arabic sea, I will not feel so much pain, and my mum agreed to participate in my experiment. Isn't she the best?

She used Telco & Post Service for that matter. All in all, the parcel weight around 5 kg and she was charged RM 300. Pretty affordable and logical. Considered cheap among it's class. So what do we do now?

We wait and wait and wait. 6 days passed by and no status yet. My mum gave telco collection centre a few follow up calls and was told that there's delay in our parcel coz it's contained liquid( Kicap kipas udang to be exact hahah). I've wrote bout it before about Q8 customs are quite particular about any liquid in bottle-like, afraid to be alcohol as Q8 are free-alcohol country. I even made my own follow up by checking inside poslaju website ( ehh kata cam x heran kalau x sampai heheh) . It's quite straightforward and hassle free actually. Just open the web and enter the trekking number. The status written was Attempt to delivery - Location Pejabat Pos Laju Kuala Lumpur. I was not hoping at all that my parcel will reach me, not before Hari Raya.

During casual talks with pioneer here, they said Q8 had no home delivery service. Any parcel or packages will need to be collect at collection centre which quite a hassle. Holding to that statement, I reminded my mum to ask the Telco office how we go about retrieve our goods and she was told that it will be send to the postal address given. Hmmmm let see...

After 6 days, someone knocked my door around 4 plus in the afternoon. It's the TNT parcel guy. Yeayyyyyyyyyy... I'm so happy I practically running to the package and can't wait to tear the wrapping paper. Apparently they had open my parcel for inspection so the wrapping was not in their perfect shape. Beside that, other stuffs was intact. Not a single thing missing. Double yeayyyy...

{ My safely arrived it's home parcel}

I was exactly like 5 years old being given her birthday presents. Can't wait to open it. My heart beats fast and my palm sweating. Hahahah serious.. Although I pretty much knew what awaits me inside. Daun kesum and kicap ! Receiving a parcel never failed to excite me. They can send me ubat gigi yet I will still get excited heheh.

{ The invoice}

Funny thing happened though, my girls asked me what was that so I replied, Nenek antar barang and they thought it was birthday present so as I am opening the parcel, they went :

Kah kah kah kah.... Cute !

We were charged another additional of KD 3.750 ( Around RM 30 plus) for custom duty fee. Anyway, since the long delay, some of the thing inside already rotten. My daun kesum already turning into air-berlendir like since my mum sent the fresh one instead of the dried one. Nothing I could do to save it, hence still no laksa for me huhuhu. My tart nenas was turning to crumb but my other kueh raya survived the custom's torture apparently. My daun kunyit and bunga kantan was still in good shape although some of it already turned yellow and blackish. There's few more good one left so it looks like I will be having rendang with daun kunyit after all this year raya heheh.

Okay enough with my successful postal bits, let's move on with more food story hehe..

{ Nasik lemak+sambal ikan bilis+ikan kerapu goreng for iftar}

Remembered my cik mek molek picture I posted few post before? My husband uploaded it into his FB and somehow he received a lot of request and sad messages from " bachelor" here hahahaha. So we invited 4 of them to had Iftar at my home on Friday last week. All 4 are former Petronas firefighters whom now working in Q8 local companies. We had doctors and now firemen. Malaysia did produced quality and sought after manpower after all

They had few requests for what we will be serving that day. They specifically said they wat cik mek molek and Malay dishes. Very affordable request I must say, so this is what I managed to prepare for them with my both hands. Luckily my leg was not needed in this case.

{ Sup tulang - hubby request}

{ My staple food - Sambal Udang}

{ Kangkung belacan, malaysian enough? }

{ Cik mek molek menggerutu. I started fry this at 5pm, with intention that I can served it hot to my guest, totally forgotting the fact that Iftar time was at 6.15pm and I still have tons thing to do, so to speed things up, I turned the cooker to max. Urghhhh .. Despite it's a bit ugly appearance, I didn't have chance to taste a single one. Gerai cik mek laku ari tu. DUN JUDGE CIK MEK BY IT'S SKIN}

{ Ayam goreng and puyuh goreng rempah. Sorry for the un-attempting photo. This photo was take when the guest already leaving, sort of leftover for tuan rumah. It's already azan and I haven't done fry my puyuh. They have to start eat 1st without puyuh. However, it's consider plus point coz I can served them puyuh goreng rempah fresh from my wok. Furthermore, I think having Iftar with puyuh and ayam rempah smelled filled the air, just boost your appetite to the max, definitely bring out the Malaysian crave in you}

In my calculation, the guests was supposedly 4 adults men plus 1 tuan rumah plus one exhausted cook cum blogger plus 2 kids. However, our invitation reached few other bachelors hence, total person coming was 6 adults men. Ngam ngam for our 6 seater dining table. Pahala besar menjamu orang berpuasa, the rewards was equal to seorang muslim berpuasa so we let our guests eats 1st and insisted them to eat as full as they can. We can always eat later. I'm not worry if there's no leftover for me and hubby as I can always cook maggee after that or order something else, but alhamdullilah, there's leftover just nice for two of us after that :).

Moving forward...

{ Dua ketul ni bukan makanan walaupun kalau grilled ni sedap gak sbb isik banyak haha }

{ Grilled salmon with dark soy, sesame and ginger sauce for En Muddy's sahur}

{ Bendi goreng cili hidup}

{ Macaroni with bolognese sauce for girls lunch}

{ Gulai Ayam Padang style. Sangat sedap wehh walau terlupe letak lengkuas dan takde daun salam hehe. Nanti nk wat lagi coz Alis Erin suka bangat. Nanti aku post recipe kalau ade yg berminat}

{ 1st time jumpa ikan parang kat sini so beli sekor. Kurus je pun so tak la byk sgt dpt. Kelakar dowh orang arab ni potong ikan parang ni, cam potong kacang buncis hehe. Serong2. Intention nak buat sambal ikan parang so goreng dulu. Tak sempat masak sambal, alis ngn erin dh gatah sampai tinggal 2 keping jek, camno? Maka jadik lah Ikan parang goreng saje for Iftar.}

{ Mee Asam pedas or some people called it Mee bandung ek. Tataw la actual name de, yg penting sodap- Iftar for today :)

{ Nasi Goreng Cili Padi for sahur. I like my nasik goreng cili padi this way. Simple with not much sampah sarap, not even sayur. Udang or ikan bilis goreng is acceptable. Else it would overshadow the taste of cili padi. Normally my nasik goreng will be greener than this, however since it's fasting month and we gradually have empty stomach till iftar, overdose of cili padi is not a good idea. As in we will be getting dehydrated during the day due to fasting, let's not add more reason to get more dehydrated. Diarrhea = dehydrated}

{ owhh I didn't made this one. Lina my neighbor did. I am going to learn how to make one very soon from her, since sushi here cost me my arm. Okay a bit exaggeration here, my arm definitely cost more than KD 6 heheh but still, it's way too expensive. Note to myself : learn to make sushi soonest !}

Well I guess sushi photo ends my post today. However I still have one more photo to show you before I say goodbye. This thing in my photo was something I purchased from Friday Market last friday. It has sentimental value since it could be the last time I would go to friday market during summer. The heat was unbearable, the people flooding like crazy, Alis and Erin was cranky, Mummy gets grumpy and grouchy, all of us got really sweaty, papa got moody.. Ermm I think I had provide enough reason already hehe. So next visit to Friday market will be during winter Insya Allah.

{ Taraaaaaaaaaaaaa... decided I could add up of a little bit of Arabic touch and sentiment in my house for Hari Raya. Nice or not? I bought a real nice rug with same abstract pattern too. Totally a steal. Although we had to adjust our not very big living hall for this cushion, I don't really mind .Totally Love It ! }

This is the time when almost FB was updated with " balik kampung hohoho balik kampung" status. This is also the time when my former office turned into ghost town as everyone was practically on Raya leave. Under normal circumstances, during this time of the year, my FB status also will reflected as balik kampung and I will also be participating in menambahkan kesesakan jalan raya @ PLUS hiway.. with my family. Never I had any Raya passed by, spent without my family, be it my blood related family or my in laws. I will at least spent my raya with either one or both. I remembered spent a Hari Raya or two without my husband, occasionally because of his work demand, but never ever without my family. Sighhhh..

This year.. is an exceptional. Even if I want it so badly, I just can't celebrate 2010 Eidul Fitri with my family, under same roof, in same continent. Not that I can blame anyone as I'm here practically by choice, but I certainly have no idea the sadness can at times be unbearable. I haven't reach "that" level where I shed a tears just yet ever since our separation, but I'm pretty confident I will, on this forthcoming Eidul Fitri eve or the morning when takbir bergema. So, as I already in the sad mood, I wanted to dedicate this post to my family. We dun really say outloud that we love each other but only Allah knows how I love them. They're my family for cry outloud hehehe..

Super mom-est of all super mom I've known. Me myself, was called supermom by my colleagues or by those who knows of just what I had to endure being working-husband-far-away-mom-of-2-grown-up, but my supermom was nothing compared to my mum. She will always put her kids in priority in anything she do. During Ramadhan, before my married life, all I know was my mum will wake me up, sometimes 2-3 times since I'm not a very morning person, dragged me on my feet to table full of freshly cooked meal for sahur. She will make sure, there's at least one fresh cooked food for sahur, even if we already had 2-3 heated left over from Iftar. She also will cater each one of our family unique request with no complaints. I was never a nescafe person, but my father was. So everyday, be it for sahur, or breakfast, she will prepare at least 3 different hot drinks. Teh O, hot milo and Nescafe. There will be at least something for someone. Such a goodwill. Me ? I will just prepare one hot and one cold drink, anyone that doesn't like it can always go for air kosong hahahaha...She will also willingly granted our leceh requests like roti jala for sahur and such without complaint. Me? Let's see. I asked Alis the other day, what's for breakfast, frosties or cocoa Pops and she replied roti jala. What did I do 1st thing 1st? Mengadu to my husband at office hahaha. Of course I made roti jala for her that morning. Dun worry, I am not that mean. I just postponed their lunch to 3pm hahahaha..

When I was still schooling, primary school of course, my mum will wake up at 5 in the morning, and cook for our breakfast and lunch even we had maid that time. She did all the cooking herself and still had time to make sure our house was tidy and not forgetting to look presentable at all time. I remembered she never let her hair down without clipped it nicely or tied it neatly. She will also make sure to always smells nice and powder her face frequently. Too much job if you ask me hahahah.. If I had to cook, spring-clean, handling the kids... at the same time, trust me, clipping my hair was the last thing in my to do list, left alone powder my face. There's time when I just dun have time to comb my hair kah kah kah.

Even when all of us are grown up now, married and have kids, she still very much doing the same routine. There's no time in my life that we get short of food, even when she was away for outstation. She will cooked 3-4 meals, frozen and labeled each tupperwares with post it. All we need to do was pick what we want to eat that day and heat it up. She will even go to an extend of marinating/preparing our fish and chicken in advance, so no hassle needed on our side. Just de-frost and fry. I hope someday, I could awe my girls the same way my mum awed me.

Now that I'm a mummy myself, having had to get up early and prepare food in advance before waking up everyone all served and ready, I can't help but realized how hard work and tiring it is to be in my mum's shoes. I can never be like her, period. Even if I'm willing to gave up my two arms and both legs in trade, there's no way I could reach her level of awesomeness. Best I can do was to follow her trail close enough, maybe someday I could at least achieve 20 % of her, Insya allah.

{ Me Mama with Me Kiddos}

My father known as Ayah amongst 3 of us and Atuk amongst the grandkids was a very small frame men. Our tall trait however inherited from my Atuk Rimau ( my father's father). My father, like any other father I've known, can be very protective considering he owned 3 grown up girls. U know the saying " Jaga sekandang lembu lagi senang dari jaga sorang anak pompuan". During random talks with my girlfriends back then during school dan masa work time, I always have like "pelik" reaction when I told them my father still the one apply minyak to our legs when we got bisa bisa or cramp, instead of our husband( applied only to me and my elder sis, small sis still in the husband-less status hehe). Biggest wowww, ohhh, really? reaction I got was when I told my friends that beside my mum, my father will be the one who accompany us to BeeDees or Kotex section whenever we need to buy one hhahaaha.

I had a very happy go lucky father that loves to joke around. Kids love him so much they prefer my father over me if he was around. Everything also want atok. Being an independent mother of two small kids, I can say I won't survive without my parent assistant. They will always be there for me, when my husband can't ( tuntutan kerja of course). They will be the one taking care of my girls when I had to work full day on rotational Saturday. They was always there when I needed them to. When I was too sicked to even lift up a spoon, when I had to bring Alis for heart appointment at SJMC alone or to DSH for appointment with dermatologist, my father will always be there to lend me extra hands which I'm pretty grateful.

{ During out trip to Bandung. Errrmm you supposed to know which one is my father aite? }

My father that I know of, was a very fussy man when it comes to food. He demand to have freshly cooked rice every meal time, never the heated one. He's the nasik lembik type of person. He can eat very less or not eating at all in occasion where we or my mum termasak nasik berderai. However, he had no one to share his liking for nasik lembik as all of us, including the cinonets doesn't really favor nasik lembik. He's the only person I've known all my life have hatred for so many leaves. He hate daun kunyit in Rendang, he hate daun kari in any curry, and he hate daun kesum in Asam pedas. My mother had fair share attending to his special needs hahaha she get used to it already to even bother. He love sambal very much, too much actually, he have this need to have sambal everyday. So my mum will cooked different type of sambal daily, without failed. Sambal Ikan, sambal telur, sambal ayam, sambal udang, sambal daging, sambal kerang, sambal belacan.. all type of sambals there in the book, U named it, we ate it !

That is why, I grown with a need to have sambal or at least something spicy in my meal and so did my other siblings. Can never have none, it's a must. Blame it on my father.

Among all three of us, I think I am the one inherited my father looks the most. My elder sis was more like my mum, more on chinese/japanese look, while my baby sis, combination of my mum and my father- more like westerner look. However in terms of habit and behavior, I think my baby sis resemblance my father the most no matter how in denial she is kakakakaka.

If talking about skills, my father was not so much of a gardener or cook or painter or carpentry but he's very good in technical, mechanical and electrical/electronic stuff. Explained why most of the topic between my husband and him was revolved around engine, steam turbine, gas turbine or any mechanical jargons I've never heard of. He's basically my unpaid mechanic as he will voluntarily godek-godek my car, check the engine, bring TAT to wash, check the water tank, oil tank, battery and all those recommended blah written in the manual. My car will never be the same without him around, I think my car missed him dearly, more than me, when he doesn't come to visit heheh.

Apart from my teachers at school and college and Sweet Valley High and Sweet Valley Uni, he's also the one who responsible to teach me English as he was born and bred in a country where English was their mother tongue. There will be a very serious communication problem with my cousins if I can barely understand English as they started converse in English ever since they're in my aunt's womb hahahah. He's the one responsible to stress out importance to be at least average in English if not superb, something to do with the fact that he was an English school background product himself. I knew I had to at least be good in English because every time I came to him with intention to ask for some help with my chemistry assignments, I got more confused that before I approached him. I would occasionally asked him, "Ayah : Sulfur Dioksida bla bla bla.. and he will answered me with Sulfur Dioxide, Carbon Dioxide, Natrium Sulfate thingy".. Urghhh

So yeah, my father may not the greatest father to other people, but he's a great man to me. Man that brought me to this world definitely deserved a post.

[SISTERS]

I have 2 sisters, eldest and youngest considering I am the middle child. Let's talk about my eldest 1st.

She's by far, the most manja of all among us. Maybe due to the fact that she's the 1st child. She was attached to my mum most compared to others. I'm more like daddy's girl but my Along indeed are Mama's girl. However I cooked the most delicious meal among us three hahahahah. (perlu ker??) She's very soft spoken in person and always be the one get bullied by us hehe. She doesn't like make up or play dress up. She's the most simple girl I've known, explained why she always play the role of banker. Our banker hahaha. She would bought one decent jeans and she can be very happy for the next 3 years I tell you. It's so easy to please her. She doesn't really like to throw money on un-necessary clothes or any girly stuff, unlike us the hungry shopper, hence she always the one we ran into in any case our wallet got thin before pay day.

{ Me Along on the left. Yeahh our kids might share same age but we dun share same waist line. She always the skinnier one in the family, and me the thicker one * slaps forehead*, but I always categorized myself as the curvier one hahah. In denial indeed !}

My along, like any big sister should be, always the responsible one. Normally if all of us sleepover at my mom's house, she will be the 1st one in the kitchen helping my mum in the morning, or the 1st one touching the broom to sweep the whole house or tidying up the cushion and so on. Me and baby, 2 lazybums, normally will spent our time giggling, gossiping or doing facial to each other face till my mum starts her nagging. My girls also adore her very much. Same case like Atuk, I was pretty abandoned by my own kids when they had mak long around. A welcome abandon I must say since they will insisted Mak Long for shower, get dress, feed them and even sleep with Mak Long, left mummy with plenty of free and rest time heheh.

My baby sis on another hand, was called a baby for very obvious reason, reason for being last child. She was rebellious at time specially during her young age, but can appeared very funny and of course, the most beautiful among us 3.

{ She's pretty aite? Our aunties and uncle always jokes around saying that she was Bosnian baby my father adopted during the war heheh. No offense to the Bosnian}

She's my biggest helper nonetheless especially when it comes to the girls matters. As clear as sunny day, my girls love her to bits and pieces they makes her role model nowadays specially when it comes to fashion wise. Wanna hair like Acu, wanna lipstick like Acu, wanna clothes like Acu, everything also wanna look like Acu. Being a young aunt to 4 small kids, she deserved a credit for being so patience with them. When I am expecting, I know she will be great auntie. By saying great auntie, I meant cuddling them, singing to them or spoiling them. Cleaning their poo poo was never in my list as I knew her too much. However, she prove that she loves her nieces and nephews beyond everything she will took part and helping my mum handling and cleaning the kids including when they poo-ed. Such a remarkable improvement heheh.

{ She deserved extra picture since she's still single heheh}

Among all 3 of us, it is safe to say that she's the one with great fashion sense and great taste. I would refer or dragged her along if I wanted to buy any new clothes or handbags or shoes. She could really play a great shopping buddies. We also share same wardrobe, errmmm at least during last time when I can still fit S size which is very very long time ago *sob* *sob*. Norm things for girls siblings I guess. If we get bored with our own sets of clothes, we would just swapped our clothes or shoes or handbag. Save money somemore. Between me and her, we shared same taste in term of dressing or handbags or shoes, so normally we would end up having same pair of shoes, or shirts or handbags or clothes. Last 2 years of Eidul Fitri, we shared same fabric of Baju Kurung just because we both wanted the same piece and none wanted to mengalah hahhaa. Dh macam kemborrr.. In fact we had a lot of people asking if we were twin, despite our age was separated by 7 years apart. Ehemmm ehemm does this meant I look younger or something hehehe..

{ Picture of anak anak Mail during Alis & Erin birthday celebration @ Puti Bungsu Restaurant. Excuse my gedikness pose, I just can't find any other picture with all of us in it heheh}

{ With mama during last year Raya. Along spent Hari Raya with her in laws explained her absent. Arrangement we purposely made so my mum and father will at least have 2 grand kids celebrating with them each hari raya}

{ 3 orang kesayangan ku during Hari Raya ke 3 2009}

{ Meet my uncle, also Ismail. We had two Ismails in my house. Pretty confusing specially when it comes to mail part. He stayed with us since he was Form 5, till now. I dun remember what was exactly the story I was telling him that moment for he and my sister came up with that reaction. Must be something juicy hehe. I always know I am good story teller in the family aka the keypohchi-est haha. Look at my hand gesture, so bedah okay !}

{ So vain. Girls gotta do what girls gotta do. Touch up make up lepas lunch and they was just 4 and 2. Am I in big trouble?}

After all have been said and done, I just wanna say I missed my family much more now, especially when digging and looking at old pictures while typing this post. Even though we've been in and out with arguments and differences, and some times we can't help but being mad and angry at each other, one fact for real was I love them very very very much for they're the most important beings in my live, apart from En Husband and the girls indefinitely. Nothing can change that, no matter how many miles were put between us, no matter how many fights we've been through.

They're simply my person !

This is one of many Alis and Erin's favorite Arab song . It's catchy and very likeable. It's about random talk between this girl and her family. Below are the translation for 1st paragraph, I think :

In conjunction of Ema's leaving Q8 for good next week, Yan and Hazeem decided to throw some farewell party aka iftar event at her place. We decided to make it as a potluck and everyone will contribute 2 types of food. After brief discussion, we decided that the finalized menus are as off below :-