Another German fix........Königsberger Klopse

It's that German fixation moment again for me ;-)

Trying to self-teach myself German so far has not produced any good result despite trying since 1998. So, let's see what I can do in the culinary department.

I have always been a little wary of trying Western food especially European ones as the taste is usually too rich and heavy for my Asian taste bud. But a little bit of something wouldn't hurt.

I decided on this recipe. Koenigsberger Klopse. German food, as I have noticed from poring through recipes has similarities with many Eastern European recipes. I think it's the history which goes back to old and even ancient times. These meatballs are named after the formerly German city of Koenigsberg which now belongs to Russia (Kaliningrad). So, there you go.

I first saw this on YouTube (about 2 years ago I think) when Bill Kaulitz declared that Koenigsberger Klopse was his favourite food. That boy sure has a strong willpower when he gave this up to turn vegetarian. Been wondering what the dish must taste like as I believe he wouldn't eat something if it wasn't appealing to his taste.

Yes, he's a vege now.

I do have certain challenges when it comes to cooking International dishes as I am restricted by religious dietary requirement. So, I have to adjust the recipes a bit to suit my 'halal' and non-alcoholic rules.

You can find good guidelines for alcohol substitutes here on About.com and here on What'sCookingAmerica.com.

After searching for many recipes, I settled for this one I found at Recipezaar.com by user BecR.

Koenigsberger Klopse Recipe (My non-alcoholic version)

I served mine simply with boiled potatoes and parsley :-)

Meatballs

3 lb ground meat (I used ground beef. BecR mixes sirloin, pork and veal)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cups fine plain breadcrumbs (I used plain white bread shredded and soaked in milk, BecR uses Progresso plain breadcrumbs whereas her grandmother used a ground up hard roll)
1/2 cup milk (to soak the shredded bread in)
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 lemon, zest of, finely chopped
1 lemon, juice of
3 tablespoons capers, chopped
3 tablespoons anchovy paste or crushed anchovy fillets (Alternatively you may use sardines or herring. I'm a Malaysian, so I used ground 'ikan bilis'. That's the Malaysian anchovy! Now available in powdery granule form.)
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt (any salt will do really)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Flour (for rolling the meatballs)

Broth

1 (32 oz) box chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup cider vinegar (I used apple juice as that was what I had in my storage)
1/2 cup good quality dry white wine (I used sparkling white grape juice)
10 black peppercorns
2 tablespoons capers

Sauce

The remaining broth after simmering the Meatballs
1 lemon, zest of, small finely chopped
1 lemon, juice of (extract the whole juice)
1 cup good quality sour cream (I replaced this with evaporated milk. I mean, fruit juice, lemon and sour cream? How sour do you want this to be?)
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley, for garnish


Directions:

For the Meatballs

1. Shred the bread and soak in milk. Then add to the ground meat.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients (except the flour) to the meat.
3. Mixture should be sticky.
4. Shape into balls and roll in the flour.
5. Carefully place the meatballs into the simmering Broth (DO NOT BOIL! The Meatballs will fall apart)

You can see the a few look better. The breaking ones were cooked a little bit too high on heat. The good ones were simmered on the right medium heat.

For the Broth

1. Heat all the ingredients in a pot.
2. Simmer over medium heat.

For the Sauce

1. Take the remaining Broth after cooking the meatballs.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients for the Sauce
3. Simmer and stir gently.
4. Pour over the Meatballs

Serving suggestions

Garnish with parsley
Serve with Potato Dumplings (if you have too much time in your hand) or simply boiled potatoes (if you're too lazy to make dumplings....xD)
Normally served with Rotkohl (Braised Spicy Red Cabbage)


So, my verdict?

Not bad.

I won't eat the Meatballs without the Sauce honestly. After all, the lemon juice made them a bit sour. Sour meatballs don't taste very nice to me. With the Sauce, the Meatballs tasted good.

However, I was a bit disappointed that after all the PRICEY ingredients I put together for the Meatballs, they actually tasted a bit like our CHEAP Malaysian 'chekodok bawang' or 'onion/anchovy fritters' which is a recipe for breakfast we make when we don't have that much money. Just flour, water, salt, dried anchovy and sliced onion. Fried and eaten with chili sauce.

Overall, I can still understand though why Bill Kaulitz raved about this dish and Ingo Schwichtenberg was proud to be a German homeboy.

Proud of their homeland and the food :-)

SONY, SOEM and SOME SOMEN

Whoah! Am I trying to be a tongue-twister writer here?

Nah! We used to just call them SONY but in a management reshuffling move, they are now known as SOEM.

Opened the email this morning to find a notification from the Admin people that I, along with a colleague, had been invited to a VIP meal at the 'conference room'.

Oh, dear*sigh*, I'd been dreading this day since they emailed me about it last week. The SONY people again. It would be another presentation for the running blu-ray model. They have a thing for 'grilling' you with questions after questions till they're satisfied with your Quality performance.

I went with ZERO preparation. Like 'd normally say it in my native tongue "I bring my body only". No, there's nothing sexual about that idiomatic expression. It is a sarcastic way of saying 'not doing or taking any preparation'. So, you basically go as nothing more than your 'body'.

I knew that there would be that special Japanese dish SOMEN, the cold noodles they like to eat in the hot Summer months to cool the body down. Since Malaysia is basically 'Summerland' all year round with some 'monsoon showers' towards December, the Somen can be enjoyed here any time they want.

Let's talk about the presentation first. It was so humiliating as I had to present the 'old data' from last presentation when it is obviously already 2010. So, "bring my own body" next time, huh? It was so embarrassing when they asked "Can you show the latest Data?" and I had to turn to my colleague for help. Thank the Almighty as the SONY people were not interested in dragging the presentation and were content with the fresh hard copy Data we frantically told our Technician to take from the cabinet way back at our Division office.

Now about the SOMEN, I didn't eat it as I discovered last time that the dark sauce they use has wines listed on the label. I used to eat BOWLS and BOWLS of Somen before I read that label before. Muslims aren't allowed any alcohol in food and drinks.

But I did manage to make my own Somen at home using Light Soy Sauce and Apple Juice. Here's the picture:

My 'non-alcoholic' version of the Japanese Somen. Hey, not bad. Similar to
the real thing :-)

Half an hour sketching.......sorry Chris DeGarmo

Not being a laptop owner does have its drawback when traveling. I thought long and hard about what to do at night in my hotel room as I packed my bag on Wednesday.

Thought about bringing some clippings from my old metal mags but decided not to for fear of the stuff losing at the airport. So, I made quick colour copies of the pages I wanted on my printer.

Then, I remember a pencil drawing that my new friend Natsumi from Japan emailed to me. She said she did it in an hour.

My new Japanese artist friend Natsumi sent me this Ingo Schwichtenberg sketch because she knew I love Ingo.
One hour sketching. Wow. See more of her amazing work here.

So, I packed my pencils, sketch book and colour pencil set wondering how close to that could I come up with in 1 hour.

It had been a long time since I last did a proper sketch of anything. It was tempting to draw Ingo but I needed a proper drawing session for him as I want to present him as beautiful as I can. One hour in a hotel room is NOT that time.

So, I moved on to another charming man. Propped on the hotel comfy bed, I sketched the face of a man I have long admired for his distinctively masculine super sharp angular features....Chris DeGarmo.

Chris DeGarmo sketching. I made him look like a girl!
This is 1/2 hour work. Natsumi's is way better.
It's Chris DeGarmo with his old permed long locks. I didn't finish the hair making him appear like a blond here.

Sorry Chris. I'll try to finish that drawing properly. For now, you kinda look a little feminine.

Penang.....the 'pearl' island

Just got back from my trip to Penang. Fab place!

First of all, there's no 'pearl' in Penang. It's just a nickname to describe what a treasure the state is. Apart from the much higher cost of living over there, in most other aspects, Penang is very much a close cousin of my home state Melaka. Especially the old Chinese shophouses and the way of life there. Except you can't find people driving Ferraris or Porsches in my home state.

Me and a colleague went there for a business trip but what I have always looked forward to the side activities we would do once we get there in every trip.

I'm a sucker for window-side seat.

I don't know why ALL my plane seats are at the WING side!

Remember Final Destination first movie?
Those at the wings were supposed to die first. Freaky!


But every time the plane is taking off (my favourite part of flying), I'll be exhilarated again

because........

I will think of this man......



...... my favourite pilot in the world......Mr. Chris DeGarmo ♥


Got my taste of a very tall ice-cream combo at Swensen's in Auto-City.
I don't remember the name. Might Nutty or something. I couldn't finish the bottom bits. What an indulgence this was.


They also sell this waffle ice-cream combo. Wahey!

On the way the hotel, I saw a shoe shop and the secret Carrie Bradshaw in me reared her head.


I bought this beautiful pair of dancing shoes.

Is this the shop owned by Jimmy Choo's first shoe-making teacher? I know his teacher is a Penangite and still makes custome-made shoes and dancing shoes which he once showed on TV here.
I hope it IS his shop. I cannot afford a Jimmy but getting a pair by his teacher is a huge step ahead!

What did I do to keep myself occupied in the hotel room?


Brought my artist's tools with me ;-)

My colleague had his laptop. Well, this is what non-laptop-owning people do. This was my Wi-Fi for the night :-)

2010.......I'm going green with 'Green Bags'

Yup. That's true.

I know that this resolution thing is somewhat a clichè now. Everybody wants to have a resolution every new year which they end up not following till another year comes.

However, the subject of 'green bags' has always been dear to me since my childhood. I LOVE seeing those paper brown bags that people use for grocery shopping on American TV shows back in the early 80s. In fact,when I was a kid, grocery shops used to have stacks of paper 'bags' to fill in the goods bought by the shoppers. Sometimes, I got to see the shop owners make their own from old newspaper. Oh, I miss those days.

I hadn't been very active in 'participating' in the green bags movement admittedly. My first 'green bag' is from Jusco shopping centre. Then, Tesco. Bought the bags but always forgot to re-use them when I went shopping there.

However, this particular bag from Tesco changed my mind to really get serious. This would be the only designer bag I could ever afford, I must tell you xD

This bag is PERFECT.
The blue colour combo is fab!

That's the most beautiful 'r' alphabet I have ever seen.
Oh butterflies 'r' beautiful.

Designed by renowned Malaysian designer Rizalman. His blog here (it's in Malay though) and his Official site here. Famous for designing fabulous one-off dresses for local celebrities and the rich. What seems to set him apart from most Malaysian celebrity designers, to my eyes at least, is his ability to create rich opulent designs AND simple elegant ones. Most designers are either one or another.

Rizalman's bags' available quantity is limited to 50,000 pcs only. Oh, I have got to grab more.

So, here's my collection of 'green bags' so far. Jusco, Cold Storage and Tesco.

Here's to 'greener living'..... :-)

Got my year-end bonus!

Yesterday was 'bonus' day. Yeah!

I desperately need the money especially after having to replace the cooling coil and air-cond compressor of my dear old car.

Bad news, I don't think I got an A. I heard some people got 2.0 mark. C being 1.7, I think I'm far from A. Well, as long I'm not rated C, I'm fine. I know I'm not an A+ employee but I certainly am NOT a C grade employee.

Good news is I got 1.85 which is far from 2.0 but quite a bit of a distance from 1.7. I'm grateful to the Almighty that I'm still visible to the Management. Who knows, after my near-outburst over the organization re-shuffling, they might want to 'erase' me? Apparently, they are not cruel people. So, I'm ok.

For a bit of butt-kissing moment, oh, I even thanked the Manager for my rating like I used to do with the previous Manager. Hey, it's important to keep this etiquette at workplace. Besides, I'm truly thankful for the money I didn't have the day before but today sitting comfortably in my
bank account.

So, off to my online shopping in full-gear. Ha...ha...!

December Calm after the November Storm

Can't believe it's already December.

Another year shall be in soon and I still have the Looney Tunes 2008 Desk calendar from last year in front of me. It is too cute throw away.

So, I'm trying to have a December Resolution. 2010 can wait. Another chapter of my working life is already beginning with my friend's departure and my heated arguments against the Management about it. There's nothing I can do to turn back the clock. So, it's better to just make peace with myself and the people left behind. I'm working on building a new working relationship with the Management. Well, it won't be the same as what I had with the previous fatherly Manager but you can count on me to treat colleagues as respectful co-workers.

I'll be supporting my friends whenever and wherever I can. Well, those I deem the most deserving only. Ha...ha.. I'm no angel ok.

Talking about outdated calendars, my friend left behind a few new ones for 2010 that people gave her as parting gifts for us. There are TWO on my desk now. One is a series of 'appetite-whetting food photography' and another is the normal 'scenery & inspiring words' kind. Flipping through, I found this gem of a quote which can be my December Resolution.

"The art of being wise is knowing when to overlook ~ William James"

May that one light burn for me.....

I'm truly unhappy at work.

It's hard for me to swallow it that my colleague has truly left us because of the management.

Things didn't get better this morning.

I'm still hoping for that light to burn bright for me.

So, for now, let me console myself with this song which I first heard when I was probably 18 or 19. I was at a low point and this lifted me up.

One Light Burning from Richie Sambora

All alone in the dark
No walls no windows
Trying hard to define
Heaven from hell

Standing out in the rain
With just one shadow
Nothing to see or believe
Beyond myself

See my life going by
Each moment I am alive
I keep reaching out, holding on, hoping

Somewhere in my life
There's one light burning
I feel it like my heart beating inside

Somewhere in my life
There's one light burning

All alone with my fears
No words are spoken
A story yet to be told
Locked in my mind

Hope is somewhere ahead
Shining brightly
But the past is always following close behind

See my life going by, each moment I am alive
I keep reaching out, holding on, hoping

Somewhere in my life
There's one light burning
I feel it like my heart beating inside

Somewhere in my life
There's one light burning

Somewhere in my life
There's one light burning
I feel it like my heart beating inside

Somewhere in my life
There's one light burning
Leading the way, leading the way

Me and the retail therapy.........

I did something I never thought I would do last night.

I went for retail therapy.

So, how did I end up with this? Let's begin by saying that I'm not feeling happy at work lately.

A very close colleague has made up her mind to leave the company heartbroken when our current Division Management decided to 'erase' her Section on the silly ground that all she did was paperwork and that her Section did not live up to their name of 'developing our suppliers' ( Read my story on the office space relocation which was the result of this sad event). Those were the shocking words said to me by the Management.

Hurt by the sudden move by the Management, my colleague did the drastic thing of taking up a similar job at a rival factory even though we all know very well that the rival company has a not-too-favourable work condition either. She said, at least the pay is better, the place is nearer to her house and most importantly she doesn't have to look at the face of the.......'eraser'.

Truth be told, she is not the only one hurt by the Management decision. I am one of those badly affected by this as well. My colleague and I have always been co-operative and supportive of each other at work. I know the hard work she has done. Even our Customers praised her for controlling our Suppliers so well. Isn't it sad that outsiders can see what you do and yet your own management are blind to it all?

Even from the moment the Management decided to 'erase' her Section by placing them under another Group ( notorious among the Division for their failures & lack of co-operation with each other ), she and I have come to a stumbling block. As the person who is in charge of procedures and Quality standards, I suddenly found myself with 'ghost figures' for the rules, job responsibilities and guidelines we have set up together. My colleague suddenly found herself having to report to at least THREE different people for different tasks. The Management has dropped onto her lap all the unfinished tasks by those people for her to follow up and conclude. It's crazy. So, now how about the jobs that she and I and the previous Management had discussed together and agreed that she was officially assigned to do?

I went to our Management complaining how disappointed I am that we, the middle management people, we were NEVER informed or consulted before making a major decision like this. I told him that at the end of the day, we are the people who have to perform the jobs and why were our opinions and views never taken into account?

Feeling frustrated and broken, I drove to a Shopping Mall on the way home and walked to a perfume shop. It's true that I'd been eyeing some designer perfumes lately but I had never felt really compelled to buy any till last night.

So, I approached the counter and asked to smell Nina by Nina Ricci, Love by Nina Ricci, Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker and Glow by JLo. The lady at the counter also recommended a Ferré Limited Edition perfume whose name looked like Rossé to me. At least smelling those perfumes took my mind off the problem at work, even only for that moment. It was a nice dilemma to have. Making up my mind which perfume to choose with the little money I have.

What a pretty packaging!

I settled for Love by Nina Ricci as it was a Limited Edition item, the packaging was just me and I knew that if I didn't get that pretty bottle and packing tin, the images shall stick to my mind for the rest of my life. It's bad enough that what we had held on to at work had been snatched away from us but at least, here in my own world, nobody can take this sweet pretty Love away from me.

Thank you Nina.

Happy Halloween from a Single Lady!

Yeah!

Halloween is here again.

It's Halloween!
Now where's my pumpkin cake?

It's the one day I look forward to every year but never really celebrate.
*Note: How on earth would i celebrate Halloween here anyway?

This year I couldn't be home for it. I had originally plan to try making some mini pumpkin shaped cakes. Just my personal celebration. However, I wasn't home today. Instead I was there with 90% of my fellow factory workers having our Annual Dinner. I was the host and I made myself dance onstage to this song..........

All you single ladies.......put your hands up.....woo.....hoo..... :-)

Sure.....I made a total baffoon of myself. In front of 90% of my fellow factory workers no less! But at least I was a cool baffoon.....ha.....ha...

The only thing that made me sad was the way I looked. I was slapped with this vampire-wannabe makeup. Silver eyeshadow with black accent, fake lashes and pale lips. It was awful. All the other girls who got the free makeup from our event sponsor looked beautiful but I ended up looking like I just stepped out of a failed audition to impersonate Lady Gaga.

Well, many people said they enjoyed it. So, I do have a reason to smile. Now I'm home sitting in front of the PC and it's Halloween. yeah! So, I'm happy.

So, the old folks' tale says that the spirits of the dead come back to visit us on Halloween. So, in case any of them comes back, I certainly want this Teutonic cutie to visit me. Love u Ingo :-)

♥♥Ich liebe dich Liebling♥♥

Introducing.........my new office workspace

I have a new workspace in my office!

Let's just say that when my Division management instructed us to 'relocate' our workspace according to our Sections, I was far from thrilled to hear it. I was happy with the location I had been occupying since 2005. It was perfect. I could see people at the corridor. I had easy access to our pigeonholes. The air-conditioning vent wasn't too cold. Also, most importantly, I was surrounded by my closest officemates whom I shared banters and laughter with everyday. 'Relocating by Sections' meant we would be separated.

I came on Saturday on OT hours and helped around with the relocating. The guys had already 'relocated' our desks accordingly.

I am now seated by the door to the gent's room. That's restroom if you're American. That's the boys' toilet if you're from the rest of the world.

Got to tell you, the new location was my own request as I refused to sit right under the air-conditioning vent they originally planned for me. I can't stand cold temperature. My years in the UK had failed to take the Tropical girl out of me.....ha....ha.

As a compromise to my 'unwilling move', I cunningly asked for a computer at my workspace. The Management had no problem with it as my title actually had given that privilege which I never took advantage of. I shared PCs with everyone else.

The floor is dirty coz apparently the synthetic tiles have been there since mid-90s.

Anyway, this time I asked for a PC for my own use with the excuse that the new location did not have enough space for 5 PCs. Only 4. So, 1 had to go to my desk. Yes, with the LCD screen too. Yes, our factory can be such cheapskate that CRT monitors and 1st Generation Pentiums from the 90s are still used. hey, they ain't broken. So, why throw 'em away?

So, here comes the surprise.

I think I actually like my new workspace despite loathing the idea originally. This is why.....

I finally get to have my chosen wallpapers on the Monitor after years of staring at that blue Windows standard desktop display.
Wahey...!

I think I'm going to change wallpapers everyday. I think anyone who's familiar with my ramblings here will know that those wallpapers will definitely feature some Teutonic cuties named Ingo and Tom and a Seattle-ite named Chris.

♥ Tom, Ingo, Chris ♥

I think it's fair to celebrate. Yeah!!

Seriously......the Alien needs to be deported back to his Planet!

Everyone, it's OFFICIAL!

Today is the day that I declare that the Alien shall be deported back to Planet Zeug that he came from for good.

Oh...I wish.

For those who are new to this blog, The Alien I'm referring to is my HR Manager.

I should have ranted about this weeks and weeks ago. I tried to think that it's not important but today I have reached the almost-breaking point.

This year, my management had chosen me to be in the company Annual Celebration committee. So, with a heavy heart, off I went and immediately got picked by The Alien, who heads the team this year, to be the Secretary as he was familiar with my work as the Secretary for
Canteen Committee some years ago.

Then, my nightmare began when The Alien also picked me to be one of the Emcees for the Event. Pairing me up with a guy who is so quiet and untalkative. By the next meeting, I managed to fight to get my colleague, who's loud and lively, to be the other Emcee. Thank God, the Alien relented. I thought the problem was over. I was wrong.

So, today we have our hmm....8th(?) meeting? I remember the Alien telling us, the Main Committee members, to do some sort of a performance this year as it was something that had never been done in previous years. Damn it! He also had the nerve to suggest doing this mega stupid "poco-poco dance" that has now become some sort of a staple in the itinerary of many government and state functions in this country. That fact alone is enough to trigger "allergic reaction" in me. Every nerve and every piece of hair on my body must have resisted the idea that each of them seems to have sent information to my brain that says "vomit, vomit, vomit".

What angered me was that he asked us in previous meetings for ideas of what to do for the performance.

I did the initiative and picked a song I thought would be very easy for us to do. No singing, just waving our hands and clapping. Length of the song is just several seconds over 1 minute. It's the TV theme to the show Happy Days. That one with the Fonz and Richie. It's a great happy song. The best thing is, the song is short and sweet.

Happy Days Theme song

ABBA - Thank U 4 the Music (on Swedish TV)

Then, somebody in the committee replied to say he preferred something without dancing. Just singing. So, he and I agreed on ABBA Thank You For The Music. Classy song. No need to fool ourselves onstage.

I even emailed to EVERYBODY in the committee last week about the two proposals. I thought they would get discussed in this meeting. I was wrong again.

The Alien had the nerve to say in our meeting that "No choice! We have to do the poco-poco".

I felt like bopping his head with an anvil. I tried to speak up. Thankfully some members did try to back me up. However, The Alien kept on talking and talking and totally shoving his words down everyone's throat. I was livid. See, I'm not the type who likes to hide how I feel. I'm sure my facial expression was obvious to those who saw me at the time.

After the meeting was almost over, I finally got to butt in asking for my proposals to be considered. Only then did he loosen up a bit. But it was useless because the people from the Entertainment company were already gone by that time.

It's so annoying that here is someone who can barely walk straight. Limping all over. He has a few serious illnesses. He also is hardly here at the company premises. It's always business trips to Indonesia, the South, the capital city, the government offices bla...bla... He can barely stand like a human. Let alone have the time to practise how to dance. Now he thinks he can dance the "poco-poco" which is basically line-dancing for people who can't afford real dancing class.........and
WITHOUT rehearsals. Yes, he flatly refused to let us have full-rehearsal the day before the Event to cut on cost as using the Hall even the day before still incurrs cost. Unbelievable!

What about my emails? Wait, come to think of it, he never replied to my emails. Everytime I sent him the meeting reports, he'd just call me instead to tell his comments. His fingers probably limp too that he can't type. I don't know.

Should I say that the example video that the Entertainment company showed us was a decent one. However, this Chairman conveniently ignored the fact that the people dancing in the video were a group of young female lawyers with tiny waists and flowing dresses. Of course, they looked good!

Now, the HR guy thinks he can do what those ladies did. He really thinks he blends in when he sticks out like a sore thumb. He really IS an alien.

OR......

Maybe he already knows he looks silly and he just wants to drag everyone else to look just as silly along with him. Hmmm....

To top it all off, he crushed my spirits when I found out in the meeting that the radio-controlled helicopter gimmick I was excited about was slashed from the agenda due to his refusal to make way for extra cost. I'm so sad as that helicopter thing was the one I was eagerly looking forward to in this year's celebration.

The helicopter gimmick was initially planned as we wanted something extra special for the 20th Anniversary. The copter would be flying carrying the number 20 to the MD for him to put it on the backdrop of the Stage. I had already prepared the script and the scenario for it. I even had prepared the theme song to the TV show Airwolf to play during the copter entry into the Hall. Wouldn't that be cool? A copter (albeit a tiny one) flies into the Hall to the stage with the Airwolf theme playing? It's never been done before at any of our Anniversary. Then, I'd love to have Van Halen's instrumental version of Jump to mark the Grand Opening as the MD put the No.20 on the wall. Hey, even the national media station uses excerpts of that song sometimes.

Airwolf Intro

Van Halen - Jump

Can you believe what they had as alternative to the copter? Someone carrying the number 20 on a tray and hand it over to the MD to pin on the wall. Boring-a-mundo and Crap-tastic if you ask me.

OK. So, now there would be NO Airwolf supercopter to save the day. My Happy Days seem to go down the drain and there seems to be slim chance of Thank-ing You for the Music.

So what is my only way of saving myself from this misery? OK. The Committee members shall be wearing dark trousers and black vest. We will be just a-jacket-and-a-pair-of-dark-glasses away from being "Men In Black". Maybe I can try infusing THAT into it.

Now......where is that deportation space ship?

Nostalgia and memories of 30 years ago

I was made the driver today as my family went to visit my father's elder siblings.

Couldn't help feeling all nostalgic as 30 years ago, the trips to their houses were the some of the highlights of my childhood. We all did not have a lot of money back then but we were rich when it came to family ties.

A lot has changed of course.

We used to be able to run around on the wooden floor. Now we have to tip-toe around and still feel worried that the house might collapse. A lot have been renovated especially the kitchen. But their houses are still beautiful to me.

I couldn't capture the natural light coming through the windows. This picture had been retouched but still the soft light I wanted wouldn't come through. Well, I'm no pro.


I fired the flash for this one. That's my nephew btw.


Now this is what I wanted to capture!
This is another section of the old living room though. The natural light beautifully brings out the colours.

The gathering we did not really ..........(I can't find words)

There was a 'gathering' at my grandmother's house yesterday.

For some reason that nobody can fathom, someone in the family had chosen to have her engagement ceremony at our matriarch house instead of her family's very large house.

Well, if you ask me, I'd say, it was to save on cost as it's the holidays and the rest of the family are here. So, free labour. It so happened that we have more males in the family. Imagine the money that can be saved from having to pay caterers to do the works. Oh, btw, the cooks are our close relatives too, from my mother's side.

The 'throne' where she got her ring.


The 'floweries'.


The pot pourri which they didn't perfume.......surprisingly.
(Truth is we were not bothered to make the 'pandan leaves' pot pourri for her)

Enough about the ceremony. I want to talk about the food.

I thought I had seen 'decadence' at all the hotels I went to during Ramadhan. I never thought that I would see abundance of food like that now that the Ramadhan is over.

The ones I faced when I went to the kitchen to help out


The trays and trays of food for the guests


So, what were in the trays?
Asam pedas, Javanese beef ungkep, Percik grilled chickens, stir-fried veges, Javanese 'sambal goreng' which is a dish of savoury hot and rich tofu and tempeh combo with chillies and certain parts of cows.....he....he....


The Javanese 'ungkep' beef


32 chickens in the giant pot!
I can't believe it myself.

Would I want something like this for my ceremony someday (though highly unlikely to happen)? Hmm....maybe not. Most of the family members were NOT smiling. They were tired. It's the holidays and we wanted to chill out. Not working our asses off for some 'ceremonies'.

In the end, I was grateful for just one thing. My auntie's Tako. She makes the best Takos in the world. So, any family gathering would normally mean I get to devour these lovelies. Yumm! Yumm!

My fav Eid Mubarak treat this year

The month of Shawal is here according to the Islamic calendar.

Now we're talking :-)

As usual, all I want to do every year is to go to my maternal grandmother's place and see what delicacies that my aunties have brought home to the village.

This year, my favourite is this. A delicate tasting cookie the Samperit. It's the Spritz if you're European. However, I'm so sure that we Malaysians make the best version.

The princess of all Samperit cookies I've ever tasted.

Not that I never tasted or baked Samperit before but the ones at my grandmother's house this year has got to be the princess of all the ones I've tasted. The texture is so delicate and fragile. The colour is so light almost like uncooked newly spritzed dough. The taste is only lightly sweet but still with the hint of rich 'undertone' as a result of mixture of custard powder and regular flour.

I am so going to make some soon. I have found a recipe I think would be close to this one at my grandmother's. Well, judging from the picture anyway.