For a brief moment, I wish I knew how to play a guitar and looked THAT cute while doing it...

Sighhhhhhhhhhhh .... Alhamdullillah nonetheless with what I own but sighhhhhhh still... Hahahaha... Manusia memang tidak pernah cukup!

I hope you'd enjoy this video as much as I did ...

Good thing that came to me recently was Ikan Cencaru aka Ikan Jaket aka Ikan Kronghe (Tranung speaking).

I am not so much of a fish eater. I do eat fish but limited to a very few types only. Tenggiri, kerisi, selar, parang, kerapu and siakap, just to name a few, was my kind of fishes. Ermmm I always thought my father was a super fussy eater, but as I'm typing this, I can help but feeling that I am no any different. I am indeed my father's daughter :). Other types of fish can be easily found here on weekly basis except siakap. They ( fisherman) either don't fish siakap here or I just missed it this whole time. I don't usually "miss" fish under normal circumstances, however being far away from home, sometimes craving for things you don't usually appreciate before can be as some sort of temporary cure for homesickness, no? As a good example, I miss my father dearly last year, hence I bought tempe with fully awareness that neither me nor En Muddy will actually eat it. I missed my mom so much, I skyped her! Ehhhh... hahahaha.. terbuat kelakar plak :)

Anyway, I kinda craved for Ikan Cencaru lately. It doesn't help that K. Sham posted a picture of Ikan Cencaru Bakar recently on her FB and for that I held her responsible for my crave hahaha. Eversince, we've been on cencaru-hunting but to no avail till few days back. Takde rezeki. Suffice to say that, each time my husband went to market, I would gently remind him... " Kalau ade cencaru, tolong beli eh barang sekilo dua .. " and you can just imagine my excitement when he told me ....

" Ade cencaru kat pasar ari ni. Dee beli sekilo! ".

Thank you Allah ..

The Cencarus came out pretty big, 1/2 kilo each so sekilo dapat dua ekor sahaja. As big as my husband's lengan and according to him, he picked the smallest of em' all. Alhamdullilah nonetheless.. With cencaru that big, I can only see one image in my head, Cencaru Sumbat Belakang that is.

Mari kita menyumbat.... Owh to those who might wondering, I just put lemongrass, garlic, fresh tumeric ( can be substitute with powder one should you don't possess any), shallots and red chillies as my "sumbat". My mom's style! You can do it your way up to your liking..

:: The kicap-bawang dip would be nicer with some cili padi and perahan limau but to make it kid's friendly and since kicap was among bahan catuan here, kite berdikit2 dahulu, bersenang2 kemudian lah yer. Janji ade kicap! ::

:: Ahhhhhhh to-die-for! Tu diaaa sumbat sampai membuak-buak. Anyway, yang hangus-hangus tu lah yang setapppppp kannnn ::

Brrrrpppppppppppppppppppppp.... Alhamdullilah... eh luper, jemput makannnnn .........

Last Friday, I had an opportunity to join another annual event by them called Sukan Rakyat. This is my 1st sukan rakyat experience and 2nd for En Muddy. I don't really have much to expect since it's my first but I was hoping to bring back tonnes of fun and good memories... ermmmm and a few extra kilos heheh. The event was held at Ahmadi Park. Despite a hype about weather being forecasted to be 0 degree with strong wind and sand storm, the turn up was pretty impressive.

Lives up to it's name - Sukan Rakyat, attendees were encouraged to don Baju Kebangsaan as in Baju Melayu and Baju Kurung, you know, to reflect the image of suasana kampung and despite temperature being circa 17 degree and below, many showed up with full baju kurung and baju melayu to shows support to the organizer.

Breakfast and lunch was potluck theme and everyone, everybody chipped in something and as a result, we had a spread of foods worth a small kenduri. Heaven to stomach but definitely hell to waist.

Me as usual, with my old same dilemma every time I had makan makan invitation. I am contemplating of what to bring and with my limited culinary skills and number of food I'm actually know how to cook being limited to maybe 10 kah kah kah, the choices was not that wide yet still I'm having hard time to decide. Anyhow, final top pick was Nasi Lemak ( yeah yeah I know, very cliche) ha ha ha. On attempt to make my dish looks or at least sound fancier and have a feeling of gerai2 dekat kampung to suits the theme, I prepare 2 type of Sambal. Sambal Udang and Sambal Ikan Bilis. My initial plan was to prepare more variation, like ayam rendang, sambal sotong, paru goreng, sambal daging, therefor people can choose what they like.. alah macam kita beli kat gerai tepi2 jalan..

Unfortunately, we woke up fashionably late, say about 7:45 am that morning because of 2 reasons. One is we reached home from KAFA class quite late the night before and the second reason being, Erin was throwing midnite tantrum. She'cried and mumbled and screamed and being difficult for only Allah knows why. Maybe suka and active sangat main with her friends after KAFA class. I had to dokong her around the house for almost half an hour to get her to sleep. She finally slept at 1 am only to woke up and crying like mad again shortly after that. The second phase of "Erin buat perangai" episode was taken care by my husband cause I really have no energy left and I need to wake up early to cook and yada yada yada yada. As a result, we ended up with only 2 sambals heheh ( alasannnnn sangattt)

:: I pre-packed 20 packs like this also for 2 reasons. Eh kita main nombor 2 jek arini eh heheh.. 1st = to make it easy for everyone to eat when everything is assemble in one container. 2nd = to make it easy for me so I don't have many containers to wash later on after the event. Win-win situation ! ::

:: Picnic site ::

:: "Istana Hinggap". A must have for outdoor activities ::

After done with makan makan, few game were started and the rest of it will be continued after Jumaat prayer. Some of the games they had that day was all with kampung-theme of course which is Ting-ting, konda kondi, batu seremban & congkak.

:: Ting ting junior ::

:: Ting ting senior. However there's no acara ting ting for ladies for something I believed to be "safety" reason. As we know it, this game involved few difficult steps that needs the player to melompat and terkangkang hahahha.. Since the venue was at open public park with other visitors roaming around, plus most of mak mak came with baju kurung, sebarang activity yang melibatkan pose mengangkang, meloncat, menonggeng adelah amat tidak digalakkan. Takut ade yang budak-budak nightmare lepas balik dari Sukan Rakyat muahahah ::

:: There's 2 team that day. Rumah Merah and Rumah Hitam. We're in team rumah merah and as you can see above, Panglima Muddy was on his way to "berjuang" mengalahkan musuh dalam konda kondi :). Paaaaaaaa... fighting! ::

:: Game for ladies which consists of game sopan sambil duduk bersimpuh. Congkak and batu seremban. I menang u' olls! Lihat lah duniaaaaaa. Pic credit to K.Sham ::

:: Ija, champion Batu Seremban. Also pic by K.Sham ::

:: The Makciks ::

:: This game called Baling Selipar kan? We had this and also baling tin ::

:: I had my tried on konda kondi and failed big time. Acik tak reti laaaa.. Acik kecik-kecik main monopoly dengan scrabble... muahahha..haktuihhhhh. Padahal main lompat getah yo! ::

:: My 1 minute of fame and failure. I successfully embarrassed myself in front of at least 20 viewers hahaha. Takpe takpe takpe, at least I tried :). Can you see the stick? Jatuh adelah around 5 metre in front of me kah kah kah. My opponents team definitely had an easy time with me ::

:: Some funny moments by Seri. We all laughed till our jaws numbed. We definitely had a good time laughing at each others's silly moments ::

The events was adjourned around 3 pm as the weather started to gets colder and uglier. I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time despite little hiccups here and there. Looking forward for my next Sukan Rakyat experience next year Insya Allah.

Till the time comes, I can definitely see a lot of konda kondi practice session needed.

Bring it on!

Let start with our picnic post. If my mind served me correctly, this is the 3rd picnic/Bbq we had so far. This time was only small and intimate affair with closest friends of ours. To me, sincerely, Ayu and Kak Ida are like my right and left hand. Life can never be the same without either one of them. I can talk to them about almost anything sans worrying about being judged or back stabbed. Period!

Our small picnic session was held at Egaila Beach, Fintas. The same place we hold Alis & Erin's birthday party last spring.

Care to see what we had that day?

:: Nasi Kerabu hasil kerjasama Kak Ida & Ayu. Ayu was incharged of Nasi, Solok Lada, sambal belacan, sambal kelapa ikan, ayam bakar and telur masin while kak ida prepared tumis, daging bakar and ulam ulam. The outcome ? Owhhh so yummehhhhh ::

:: Spreads of ayam bakar, Riyash ( lamb) and udang ::

:: Mee goreng by me. Hahahahah asik mee goreng je bawak kan. Dah takde modal lain. Nak buat camner, itu je yang reti :(.. Owh anyway, to my defense, I did bring sate and ayam percik too. Boleh laaaaa kan hehe... All 3 pictures above taken from Ayu's page as per watermark. ::

It was so freaking cold that day and we kept hoping and praying for sun to show us some mercy tapi gagal. From the moment we arrived, cuaca mendung, then drizzle for few minutes and mendung again. Sighhhh... Tu ade hati nak pergi main snow tuh hahah..

Cold or not, kids were having a blast day nonetheless. It's indeed a well spent day.

:: Our picnic site yang berselerak ::

:: Sate and grilled stuffs ::

:: Perempuan2 kesayangan ku ::

:: Our girls ::

:: The boys ::

:: Shisha was available for rent ::

:: Pa, cuba eja wawa guna asap tuh ! ::

:: The entrance fee for this park is KD1 per adult. They didn't charge for kids. Table, chairs and Bbq pit was available to be use without any charges. My assumption, it's already inclusive in the entrance fee. However, should you need to use umbrella, you need to rent it with a very minimal cost of 250 fils ( RM 2 +/-) per umbrella. We rented 3 that day ::

:: Stray cat yang tak macam stray cat pun. Bulu lawa, tembun lak tu. Pandai de pilih tempat nak bergelandangan. I bet derang ni makan mewah lagi dari home cat yang ade tuan ::

:: Iman and ummi ::

:: Iman budak tomeiii ::

Done with picnic story but still related to makan makan topic. During coffee morning at Aza's house recently, I had the opportunity to eat murtabak prepared by Kak Anis. Memang dah terdetik nak buat murtabak after that, but was put on delayed sbb malas nak google recipe and takde minced meat at home. Alasannnnnn sangat... Anyway, today Kak Anis posted her murtabak recipe so I've decided to prepared those square-ish delicious thing for dinner.

:: First time buat bawang jeruk my whole life and alhamdullilah En. Muddy cakap sodapppp. Alah tak susah mana pun kan sebenarnyer and there's certainly nothing to gloat about tapi takperlah, bangga jugak la sebab self-achievement gituh ::

Now moving on to non-related to food topic.

My husband company was among a few very generous company I've known and we are truly blessed and eternally grateful for given the opportunity to become apart of their big family. I've had experiences working with both local and international company before but never ever get treated generously by my employer the way his employer treated him and other staffs. Let see, there's paid overseas trip every 2 years. On the 1st year we joined was Bandung, the next two years was Vietnam and this year was Korea. Super nice righttt ? Apart from the overseas trip, there's also annual dinner, family day, sports day and whatnot in between. Staffs was constantly showered with gifts. There'll always something from the company. Be it small small momentos like calendar, organizer, thumb drive, umbrella, jacket, pen, bag pack and such to big items like Coleman cooler case and medium size Polo trolley bag.



Few days ago, my husband came back from home with a big paper bag. Apparently, even we're currently out of the country, they still make some efforts to deliver to us whatever gifts the domestic staffs are getting. This year was towel, embroidered towel to be exact.

:: His & Hers :) ::

It may not much to some and appears petty to others, but the thoughts from the company was very much appreciated by us and honestly, I am touched and moved. Agak berlebih2 di situ sebab yang keja nyer ade lah En Muddy, not me hahahah tapi takper lah, since man was not very good in showing their emotions, let me do his part.

To the company :

Thank you so much for the towels and other gifts dengan pesanan tahun depan bagi lah lagi ..

:: All pictures credit to Tudung Mel's FB page dengan pesanan, Kak Mel mintak halal eh saya copy cambar :) ::

Lawa jugak anak Pak Mail ni bile dah mekap2... Mcm tak percaya adik sendiri.... Dulu comot je rasa nya kah kah kah....

So peeps, please browse and like their facebook page if you haven't. I didn't promote their page and product because they're my neighbor, or because my baby sis was featured in their page or because it'll be beneficial to me whatsoever and I'm very well aware probably there's not even 10 person will read this post ha ha ha. Nevermind, the efforts that counts. Joke aside, I posted about them because they deserved the recognition and I just knew how hard they work to achieve what they are as at today. I wish Tudung Mel many more success to come in future.

P/S : Model was not for sale so I won't entertained any request regarding the model. Don't play play, Pak Mail garang!

There's so many type of discrimination out there and today I'll show you one good example.

In my home, it goes without saying that En Muddy will took care of anything related to technology, gadget, IT or anything that goes along those line while me on another hand is in charged of everything else but the above. So, normally I would tell him what I would like to have in my laptop or how I like my TV setup to be and he'd did all the dirty works.

When it comes to movies, he would download whatever movies he likes, mostly revolved around his favorite genre. It goes the same with the kids movies. When it comes to my type of movie, romantic comedy genre that is, I would suggested the titles and he would download it for me, search the subtitles, and so forth until it's ready. Under normal circumstances , I would not be involved in the earlier parts of the process, be it downloading, extracting, looking for sub-scene and all those blah. My part will only started when the movie is just one click away and that click is PLAY button :).

For the better part of this week, he downloaded The Smurfs for the kids and The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn for me, of course upon my request. I planned to have a movie-marathon today since he'll be away working, Smurf first and Breaking Dawn latter and so we did. Don't worry for any spoiler as I'm not gonna do any movie review but something else related to the movie hehe.

You see, while setting up the subtitles, apparently my husband did some editing, some notes to be exact for us into the subtitles. Aren't he sweet?

Let see... As for The Smurfs, he left this note for his girls...

:: Helloooooo Brainy... ::

Owh no no no, that's not the one hehe. The note from him was below, exactly when the movie was started...

:: Okay Alis Erin... Selamat Menonton. PAPA Love You ! ::

Awwwwwwwwww sweetness isn't it. The fact that both his girls can't really read yet kinda defeat the purpose altogether but it's okay, that's what mummy are for isn't it????

Do you wanna see what notes he left for me?

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Taraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......

Tak nampak??? Worry not. I'll do the honor by zooming it out for you.

- _________-

Ooo Mami oiiiiii... Awww I felt all romanticccc already ( sarcasm involved ) ...Sekian terima kasih!

This is sooooo plain unfair don't you think?

I don't know about others but to me, this is definitely, clearly smurfing discriminating! Where is the love ?