let me

aiyoo. dunno where to start. ishhh... should i say assalamualaikum wbt or salam? or hello or holla? aih. small matter. n i still keep on mumbling. huhu. let see... it's Friday? eh? it is Friday. cepatnye mase berlalu. aiyooo.

my result 4 this 3rd sem. it should b better, but i guess, mine would b worse. cuz x study & x dpt nak focus! i know it's a stupid reason, but that's da truth. oh men, jgnla ade ygteruk or failed or repeat! i dont want to. that would b da worst nightmare ever!!! haha. should maintain my 3 pointer n above... or mama n abah would be very disappointed. so do i. hurm...

owh, yesterday. thursday huh? well. woke up early. as if breakfast pagi2 bute with fmly. not la pagi2 bute. kul 7 lebeyh. haha. makan bee hun goreng panas2. ade banyak udang n lauk2 dlm bee hun. mama mmg suke masak bnyk lauk... rumah kami mmg mewah dgn mknan. sape duk sini seminggu sure gemuk! haha. =D

then, on9. on9 til 12pm if i'm not mistaken & take a nap. haha... baru kejap mama sudeh bising. t hee. mama kate boring! hehe...then siap2 pas zohor & we went to oasis spa. uh-huh... sgt best. it's a small spa but, layanannye best. as usual, gi buat facial resdung. oh my, facial mmg best. tp i plg x suke time stim muke sbb panas & time buang black/white head. wahlaa... pedih! sampai mengalir air mate. hee...

n da best thing is, tgh promotion. so mcm murah skit. eh...murah bnyk! thats 1 of the reason y we went there. me, mama & cik [my grandma]. haha. cik pun buat facial taw!!!

normal facial - rm 35, now rm 19 [cik buat nie...]
resdung facial - rm 55, now rm 35 [i did this!!!]
whitening facial - rm 55, now rm 45 [mama nak putih lg...huhu]

then nnt ingt nak buat manicure & pedicure. t hee... next week maybe. depends dulu la kot.

the jakuzi

tmpt rehat & waiting room

manicure & pedicure dkt dlm

then balik rumah dah isya'. haha. but semua dah solat dkt spa ni... ok jerh. comfortable & puas hati. tp time mama nak solat maghrib, mama jatuh & almost pengsan. sbb dah penink & gelap mate. mama mmg x blh baring lame2 sambil tutup mate except time tidow. huu... then blk rumah, tgk tv beramai2 sambil makan roti. i makan roti dgn serunding [menu fav dkt asrama] haha... then sume pon dah tidow dkt ruang tamu. kejut mama, abah n cik suruh tidow dlm bilik & i pon on9. haha. tu je la keje. lately bnyk g youtube dgr lagu2 yg i ske. haih~ tp sume lagu cinta. haha. i tgh mengong. dont bother. okay? =D

happy birthday my dearest nadia izzah!!!!!

babe. thank god u x merajuk! huhu...

ingt. i mmg gurau je. t hee ...

owh yar. i did main comment dgn amirul, ur brother babe~~~ oh my. die reply. tp skali je la. haha. i asked him bout spm. n he called me 'akak'! hahahaha... =D

n then sempat ym with few unexpected ppl. let see, hadi. owh. but just 4 a while. he's bz with his korean girls. haha... then, kambink. less than 5 minutes. used to it~

and then... afiq! t hee. i could say, he's 1 of my close boy friend. and he knows me well. and die sgt baek okayh...die lelaki, bukan jantan! sume bnde pon die taw. x de sorok2! cuz i trust him. muh families pon sume suke & ingt die. eheh... thanks 4 being such a nice listener & friend!

then...shahli! waaaaaaaaaaaaa... shahli. ym~ finally. actually yesterday, tibe2 rase nak tgk profile die. then hantar comment ckp die sombonk! pastu x lame, shahli muncul dkt ym. waaaaa... mmg sedeyh la! huhu. die baru on9 kot time tu sbb die tataw pon ttg comment tu. then chatting mmg sgt sekejap, out of sudden je senyap. internet die dkt indon problem!!! huu... jaat pnye internet. tp die sempat ckp, hp die kene rembat. tu lame x contact. ye ke? hurm. anyway, hope 2 chat with u again. ;[

then start bz cuz buat keje skit. time tu baru babe on9. x sempat nak chatting. huu... syafiq hakim, sorry ye bucuk. bz semlm. shakir, sherry, jai, ili, semua. sorry. huu... nnt kte chatting lg okayh! i bukan sombonk. t hee... sherry! thanks sbb buat webcam. haha =D

eh. mcm pnjng je blog i? aiyoo. haa. akid!!! ngade2 x jd follower aa... =P hehe. this guy pun satu. sgt diam bile jmpe face2face. sampai i pun tataw mau ckp ape jgk. haha. tp dlm ym n myspace ok je. haha. siap kamoo kalau sombonk2 lg. haha...

erm. then kambink muncul blk. that girl, masuk icu. cuz of him. OMG. i'm speechless. i ade bace blog die, she really3 loves kambink. but, plz girl, dont do something stupid just because u love him. we shouldnt do, cuz it hurt us more. he dont even bother. hurm... but i guess kambink x blh nak dipersalahkan jgk cuz die x buat pape. hey girl... b strong. dont harm urself. kambink, i hope u do really jujur sejujurnya dgn i okayh? i dunno. seriously, couldnt c da truth between this situation. just, trying not think of this anymore. cuz...

mama said. everyone said. i deserved to be happy.

and i guess, i am.
so, just let me be. happy.

i can see rainbow! No.... rainbow don't go...

Hello, miss me?

I am now free as a bird. I feel so liberated now that the exam has ended. I have marked the papers, keyed in and validated the marks. Now I am waiting for the validation meeting to check and compare marks with the rest of the lecturers for different subjects. Mostly validation meetings are held to formally confirming the marks as a faculty's decision before it is brought to the discussion of the university’s board of director or otherwise called the senate meeting.

But it wasn’t an easy task. In one of the code, the paper was supposed to be marked by 3 lecturers. One of them flew to Australia to pursue her PhD right before the exam. The other markers is one of the very-very senior officer, i.e the vice dean who is always busy and on the run. Since the july-november semester is rather short, we were only given a very short time before the deadline to finish all the markings.

Before i continue, i want to introduce my nephew.

This is azmir, we call him amir. He likes talcum powder very much. He use it everywhere, on his face, the body, hands, leg, under the table, on the carpet, at the sofa. That is his picture before my mom (his grandma) found out and wallop him.

Hik.


this is one of the exam hall. Unlike other universities where they have exam building, we don’t. Each faculty have to be creative and try to find own ways to do the exam. Sometimes we wonder what is the function of the exam department, when the faculty has to do everything on its own.

This is actually a moot court where we rearrange the room and put table in it. Other than that, the exams are held all over the place. Smaller groups are very lucky because they get to do it in an airconditioned room, such as this one. A larger group, such as my students had to do it in the lounge or the dewan makan in the student dormitory, were it is hot and stuffy and you will feel hungry the entire course of exam because you can smell chicken being fried in the kitchen.

That is why this university is said to produce very strong graduate because they are always being tested, and they are being tested while they are being tested.




Understand?




The lecturers are also being tested all the time.




like for example....





Do you know what this is?


This is the last paper from the bunch of papers that I need to mark. It took me almost 11 days to mark all the papers. When you reach the last one you will feel so bliss you almost cry. And I did cry, because mind you I feel very tired marking the papers this semester since I am taking over the bunch from the other lecturer that managed to get away. Lucky bitch.



And when you finally finished the last paper you feel a rush of joy, and stars and sun suddenly appears out of nowhere and you feel like dancing and singing, and if its rain, you would just run out the field and sing a song from the sound of music.

Do a dear, a female dear

Re, a drop of golden sun

Me, a name I called my self….

Bla bla bla.

You feel like rainbow suddenly come out of nowhere celebrating the gush of blood through your head and feel high. Somewhat like what drug addict gets when they take heroin I think. I swear on the way back home, I saw rainbow. I even took picture of it.



Lets take a closer look.




Do you see it? or i am going loco and imagining seeing a rainbow.



But, suddenly....



Not all movies, end up with happy ending. And you realised then, there isnt a pile of gold at the end of the rainbow, but a pile of dung.




Do you know what these are?



These are few (i wouldn't say a few) papers that i need to mark again, because one of the very-very senior person could not finish it.



While attending a train the trainer (tot) training (yes, i need to go to a 3 days training while marking my papers), i got an sms.



"can you continue marking on one of the question because i could not make it, i have another paper to mark"



I just said oke, because i thought how hard could it be. Only one isnt it.

But when i took the bundle from the exam strong room, it was actually one the most famous and easiest question of all. Meaning to say, everyone answered that question, meaning to say, i need to remarks the whole bundle of answer scripts.



Well again, i am not complaining, just sharing stories. It is better to be stressed because you have a job, rather than being stressed unemployed, and since this particular person have enough authority and can elevate my stress level to another stage, i just keep quiet and do my job.




Kacang putih lah...







So with a lots of packets of kacang putih, i continued marking and marking and marking, counting the overall marks, keyed in the marks, validated the marks, and now i am as free as a bird until early January when the new semester starts.



Well, it may sound stressful but a lecturer's work is actually is not stressful at all. We are only busy at the early and at the end week of each semester. while the rest of the 4 months period we are basically talking and making sure the students get hell and sore ass and being a pain in the neck to the student and get paid for it. But of course there is also research that you need to do and some reading just to make sure that you know a little bit more from the students.



If you are lazy, but you have the credentials, and wanted something easy, be a lecturer. Trust me, i am one of them.

the one with credentials, not lazy oke!

anyway, the day i finished all the works, i called Za and Raz and we went to celebrate. We had steamboat for dinner last night.

This is the cheapest steamboat restaurant you will ever find. Only RM19.90 per person, this Flaming Restaurant in Sunway Pyramid served the best affordable steamboat in town. Do not expect lobsters and soft shell crab, but they have almost everything.

And they a lots of dessert too, like ice cream, those marshmellow dipped in chocolate sauce, ice kacang and bottomless drinks.

I just love buffet. Although you know, buffet keep you closer to the heart doctors, but because it is cheap and since you can eat like a cow, you dont really mind about heart attack. Really...

Anyway, it is a steamboat dinner, it is supposed to be healthy.

This is the TOT training session.

As usual, the rule stay, sit as far as possible from the trainer so he won't ask you question or ask you to participate in the activity.

hik.

The one standing is the trainer.

the fat one looking rather bored is me.

These are some of the pictures of the porridge i cook last week while having flu. Since mom was not around that time and since a friend of mine was also sick, so i cook some porridge and fried some anchovies, shallots and grounded some black peppers.

Nice.

Just put 1 cup of rice, and 6 cups of water. Bring it to boil, put some coconut milk, and throws in some slice ginger and simmer it until the rice all lembik already. Put in some salt to taste. Eat with fried anchovies and what ever lah you have in the fridge.

Of course, i went down to buy Nasik Goreng Kampung a couple of hours later.

I am sick, not on a diet.

This is a picture of a half day round table discussion with the Ministry of Youth and Sports which i attended while busy invigilating exams and marking papers to discuss the political issues among youth. That is the life of a public servant, you have to make time when duty call. The discussion focuses a lot on the voting trend in the last election, where one of the reason said for the very interesting election result was because of the youth voting.

They are easily manipulated, they like shiny things, and they like drama and excitement, but they don't really care about politics.

sad.

But, then again it is a good thing because it shows our political thinking are getting more mature each day, and the political partisans are getting bigger, which is good for democracy, as long as they know what they are doing and where they are heading.

I was not intrigue so much on the discussion, but rather was looking forward for what will be served for lunch.

Oke that is about it, for today.

daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Sup Hakusai sosis

28 November 2008, jumat

Punya daun sawi, bingung juga mo bkin menu apa ya...biasa deh, ngebrowse dulu di inet, ketemu bkin sup ini...kayaknya lumayan enak...so pengen nyobain juga..
bisa liat resepnya disini.

Game on...

It’s only recently that I’ve been aware of game. Not in a completely blinkered way where I was totally blind to its existence but in a more immediate fashion. I’ve always known that pheasants and rabbits and venison were available but rarely did they feature on the menu at home and even when they did, they invariably came pre-packaged in neat little portions, in no discernable pattern at various points in the year.

And whenever we ate it, I enjoyed it. Venison steaks are an absolute joy, especially when served achingly rare with a sweet sauce. Game casserole was also a favourite although it never made it onto the table more than two or three times a year.

It was only when I started writing about food and in turn reading more about the joys of cooking, seasonality and provenance that I became more aware of the importance and pleasure inherent in game.

Seasonality, an aspect of cooking that is of paramount importance to me, is perhaps most prominent with game. Fruit and vegetables exist at the fickle whim of the weather – too much rain, too little sun or a late frost can push back or bring forward the first potatoes of the year or halt the rise of the young and tender asparagus stems. We know broadly when spring lamb is going to be ready or the time of year when trout is at its best. But there are no absolutes.

The appearance of game, on the other hand, is so firmly set in the calendar that you could set an atomic clock to it. It is not just certain months or weeks when you can expect to see the first few partridges or pheasants – you can be sure of the exact day, days that are set in stone in The Calendar and are as important to some as Royal Ascot, The Henley Regattta or The Wimbledon Final.

‘The Season’ kicks off on August 12th, the Glorious Twelfth as it is known, which marks the first day you are able to shoot grouse. Duck, goose and partridge follow on September 1st and pheasants are fair game a month later.



By the end of February many of these are once again off the menu until the months roll around and the whole thing starts again.

For an enthusiastic cook, this is indeed a glorious time of year. Game is everything food should be – slow bred, wild, able to wander around the countryside and free from any insidious hormones and growth promoters. It is a world away from the intensively farmed, pre-packaged meats that have come to dominate the supermarket shelves and now form most people’s idea of what meat is.

With game, even if you buy it ‘oven-ready’ there is a connection to the land and an awareness that what you are about to consume was, until recently, running or flying round rural Britain. There is a purity to it and an almost unfathomable desire to treat it with respect.

This desire is only accentuated when you get hold of something only recently dispatched – head, feathers and guts in tact. This is hands-on food that offers an experience that every meat eater should consider trying if only to appreciate the moral implications of consuming the flesh of another animal.



I’m not going to pretend I am an expert at this. The only time I have been shooting was with an air rifle whilst in the Cub Scouts and then the target was round, paper and lifeless rather than bird-shaped, fleshy and living. Nor am I going to moralise on the rights and wrongs of being a carnivore. My personal belief is that eating meat does come with a necessary need to think about animal welfare and the connection between a burger and a cow or a pork chop and a pig but that is for another day.

What I would suggest is trying to get hold of a complete bird, just once, to experience what it is like to turn something that looks like it was once alive into something resembling a meal. Because it is a great experience that only gets easier with time and practice.

The first time I did the necessary prep work on a pheasant was a few months back (you can read about it here) and, I am happy to admit, it was not an easy process. Like Lady Macbeth frantically and desperately washing her hands, I tried for two days to remove the smell from my fingers although I am sure that it was almost certainly psychological. The mental images, too, are still strong and I approached the whole process with a degree of some fear and trepidation.

But nevertheless I was ball-bouncingly excited when I heard that a colleague of my girlfriend’s was going shooting last weekend because I knew what the result would be.

Sure enough, on Monday evening she arrived home with a heavy bag containing two freshly despatched pheasants: one young hen and one hefty cock whose large spurs and considerable size suggested he was something of a battle weary veteran.



They hung in the garage for two days before I decided to settle down and ‘do the deed’. Fortified with nothing more than strong coffee (last time required wine, much wine) I settled down and started plucking, a process that is almost therapeutic and quickly transforms a recognisable bird into something that resembles meat.

Once naked and the head has been removed, the gutting is a grim inevitability but, honestly, after the first time it presents little problem and within moments I had two birds ready to be washed and butchered as well as a plate of giblets, perfect for making a rich stock along with the bones.

The whole process from start to finish took close to an hour, not bad considering that I managed to prevaricate for almost two the first time I was presented with a complete pheasant. At the end of it I had four sizeable breast portions and a large handful of meat, ideal for creating a rich winter pie to eat in front of a crackling fire with a large glass of something red and warming. Game on indeed.

Radish Wraps

I got this idea from here
http://mykoreankitchen.com/tag/radish-wrap
These are great and I also Marinated some in Pomegranate vinegar they are so fresh.