North, East & South

“Reaching Up” Mural, Cannon Street, George Town, Penang

Travelling has never feel any safer.

Ben's Vintage Toy Museum, Penang

Old mosque in Pekan, Pahang

Teluk Chempedak, Kuantan, Pahang. 

Early-July. And the new school term has finally begun. We were finally home after three weeks escape to the North, East, and South of Malaysia. It was merely a vacation, more like a tag-along trip (visiting relatives, husband's client's meeting plus, etc) with my parents, but boy I/we had a whole lot of FUN with them. I believed that was one of the longest time I managed to spend with my parents, this year alone. Yep, the bitter part of married life- living away from parents. But then, two weeks of vacation is a par for me, else I would die of ecstasy aka pure laziness of doing nothing. I guess routine-life has finally engulfed me after years of being SAHM.

Like always, a week after my return from a so called 'vacation' would turned me into something that I, up until now, don't understand it. A post-vacation syndrome is what some people labelled it. I'm nor bored neither angry, nothing interests me, and I'm at loss over what to do next. Sleep is just a short-term solution. But slowly, it fades away like nothing ever happened. No remedy needed. 

Anyway, there's only a week left for Ramadan and I feel slightly panicky for not being aware of it earlier. I was so occupied with nothing (read: pure leisure) for the past 3 weeks, and I always felt I still got a month before Ramadan. I. was. wrong. Sigh. Time is sprinting across our life rather than tick-tocking like a normal clock does now. 

Adam will turn 4 in the next 10 days. Gubra. I dont care bout the celebration party whatsover. It make me slightly gabra to know that my son is going to be four. I got a four yrs old in my pocket people!! I feel rojak inside. Partly proud of myself for raising him this far, sad for he's not going to be my little guy anymore, happy as he is what he is now, and excited for what else can he put in his plate in the near future. I love him. My little man has got his own mind and saying nowadays, so I have to be very careful on how am I behaving towards other people around me, and not to forget the way I talk- bottom-line, the way I live my life. There were lot of things I wished I didn't do back then, but we would not be in this state of life if it's not for those mistakes we made on the past. Kan?

So these are some of the photos which I've captured with my iPhone during our trip to Penang, Kuantan, KL and Melaka. :) Cheers! 

Cannon Street, Penang.

“Boy on a Bike” Mural, Ah Quee Street, George Town, Penang

Little India, Penang

Ben's Vintage Toy Museum, Penang

Telok Chempedak, Kuantan, Pahang.

Jam as usual in KL.

I love this pic even-though it's a bit blur. (Little India, Penang)

Beef Rendang

Rendang always reminds me of home. Of my mom. She makes terrific rendang, you named it; beef rendang, duck rendang, cockle rendang with snake beans, chicken rendang with maman/pegaga (some kind of kampung herbs).. I just love all of her rendangs. My husband claims her mom's rendang is the best. I'm not going to argue about it. We all grew up with mom's cooking. :P (my mom's is still the best.. :P -Let's just pretend I never said that)

Whenever I asked my mom for a recipe, she would go on and on, telling me the list of ingredients needed without the exact measurement and way of doing it. She has everything inside her head and she just threw everything inside her stew pot. Campak-campak. I know how to cook her version of rendang. Mine-the taste is somehow different. Her way of doing it probably just the same as your mom's or like the rest of rendang recipes available on Google. The only different would be her air tangan a.k.a a magic touch. Sob. I miss her.

Frankly, I never cook rendang before I was married. I just helped my mom making them (and eat'em of course) during Eid festival. That's all I did until last year. Last year marked the first year we had to prepare everything on our own. From A to Z. Thank God for Google (TGFG). 

There are plenty of rendang variations out there. You just have to choose them wisely. Cik Mat Gebu has quite a number of rendang recipes and mine here is based on his Nyonya Rendang-slight variation on the spices. Tastewise, finger licking good! I love his rendang recipes. My taste buds kindda agree with it, it's idiot proof and it almost has the same taste as my mom's. Almost. Sob.

Someday, when he grows up, Adam will say that his mom's rendang is the best in the world. Hopefully. Err..on second thought, I don't want that to happen so quickly :p Please don't grow up so fast my little one...

East meets West Macarons Tower/Sireh Junjung for my sister engagement

My sister got engaged last weekend! Yippee!! :D 

I made this macarons tower as her Sireh Junjung. For those who don't know, Sireh Junjung is a must have gift in every hantaran gifts in Malay wedding/engagement. The traditional Sireh Junjung usually consists of sireh leaves and flowers, aesthetically arranged in a decorated tray. So instead of the same o same o sireh junjung, I decided to fusion it with macarons tower. My dad loves the fusion idea and called it East meets West Sireh Junjung :)

The macarons tower consists of two parts. The bottom part was pinned with Sireh leaves, I folded it to make it looked like a pineapple skin (sort of). The upper part was the macarons part and I arranged arrays of mini roses of beige and pink in colors in between two parts.Oh how I wish I have detailed pictures of this tower to show you.

I think the macarons arrangement on the tower was a bit loose. Time wasn't on my side. Sigh. I was so busy in the kitchen, I didn't have extra time to fix the mac tower...and the saddest part is... I didn't get to snap any photos from my camera. tsk tsk. double sigh.

These photo were taken by my soon to be my bro-inlaw, Azfar. Thank you, STBMBIL. he he 

My sister, Dya and her fiancé, Azfar.

 Hantaran gifts from our side. My sister did her hantaran gifts all by herself. The macarons tower was my gift to her. 

 Hantarans gifts from both sides.

 Salam mitak restu dari my mom. 

My parents and my sis. 

 Isn't she lovely?

 Both families. 

 The engagement dais. More like a wedding dais if you asked me. hihi My sister did this by herself. 

My sister, Dya. She's taken guys. ;p 

Congratulations Dayah & Azfar!!

On Family and Food IV

We spent the long weekend in my hometown. The Eid weekend. Raya Haji was still a Raya Haji to us, nothing fancy like the real Raya. The same ritual of Raya food feast and morning pray. No new cloth etc. We didn't do any qurban this year, but my my Andak's family did.  They chose to qurban one big buffalo and I got a small chunk out of it. Alhamdulilah. For me, buffalo meat tastes better than beef. I love them in kurma. 

Adam,  as usual, being frappy all the time, chasing his grandma chickens around, and being chased by his aunties after that. Good news. My mom is a grandma to nine Boer's babies this year. Bad news. We didn't get to check out the newborns. I bet they're all adorably cute.  

We got back in Singapore on Wednesday, with a loaded trunk of goodies. My mom homegrown's, of course. Kaffir lime leaves, the blue ginger, curry leaves, stalks of lemongrass, pandan leaves, more and more.....those which cost $ for me to buy here, and free to my mom. I wish I could plant those in pots. Dream on. 

Anyway, here's some photos of food I made from my mom's homegrown. 

Kampung eggs. I love half-boiled of them. I cooked some as masak lemak kuning, for Adam. 

Masak Lemak Kuning with eggs, garnishes with turmeric leaves.

Prawn sambal with petai. Make sure you listerine your mouth twice or more after you eat petai. 

Petai.

and my mom's rendang itik (duck rendang). She cooked it. I bought the itik only. he he 

Husband is away again. Sigh. It's 8:30 am. I had to wake Adam up for his playgroup class. He'll be a bit mamai

and hopefully I get to persuade him for a bath... without tricks. 

Oh my. Here's come my routine without him.

Monday-The Classic Songs

I spent half of my Sunday in the kitchen, making Spiral Karipaps and Jellies. Those are made for my MIL's birthday celebration at my SIL house. I really took my time while preparing the food.. And listening to the classics while doing so was very relaxing. I was trapped in my own world for few hours. A blissfull hours indeed.

Switched on my iPod,  and P. Ramlee's voice quavered into the whole kitchen:

Getaran jiwa

Melanda hatiku

Tersusun nada

Irama dan lagu..

Next, Saloma and P.Ramlee's version of Begawan Solo:

Bengawan Solo

Riwayatmu ini

Sedari dulu jadi

Perhatian insani..

Followed by renditions of Bengawan Solo, sang by various artist in many languages. One of them is a lullaby-esque version of Begawan Solo, performed by Siti Nurhaliza and Noh Hujan. Definitely my favorite. 

After done with those food, we packed and left home for the party. (and Begawan Solo kept playing in my head for the rest of the day. He he)


Happy Birthday, Mak. :D Semuga pjg umur and bahgia slalu...


Another well-spent weekend. How was your's?