Phew, hectic week it is. Full clinic on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday was spent at Ipoh scouring last minute things for my sister's wedding. Only today the clinic seems to slow down a bit. Heck, I spoke too early. The patient's cards is just flowing in now. Guess this will be a quick entry then. Oh, did I mention that my youngest dearest 'busyuk' sister is getting married in one week?

The next few weeks will see me tripping back and forth from Taiping to Seremban to Kuala Lumpur and to Seremban again. Why? Because my sister and his sister decides to get married together. Well, not 'together' in term of word. It's together in this particular month of this particular year. The 'kenduris' will take place every weekend of December until early January. So it's not only the brides who spend the bulk of money getting married, Fazrul and me will also burn a hole in our pockets paying for his flight tickets. Haha!

But the situation makes it a really good fate to be meeting my husband again and again. In fact, I'll be heading to Seremban tonight with him too arriving from Kuching. Oh, be still my heart till you lay eyes on your love :) 

The first meal

Oleh kerana saya dan Fazrul masih duduk berjauhan, saya belum pernah berpeluang betul-betul memasak sepenuhnya hidangan lengkap untuk santapan suami saya. Bila di rumah sendiri selalunya bekerjasama dengan mak. Bila di rumah mertua pula mestilah bukan tukang masak dominan juga. Bekerjasama dengan ibu mertuaku pula. Rasanya peringkat awal ini tidak sesuai pula kalau saya take over dapur kan. Tak senang duduk ibu mertuaku nanti menantu sorang-sorang kerjakan dapur dia. Haha.

Semasa bertandang ke Kuching tempoh hari, kami menetap di homestay yang boleh kata lengkap perkakas dapurnya. Saya akhirnya berpeluang mengerjakan dapur secara dominan demi suami dan sesuap nasi (Huh?). Pagi-pagi ahad pergi pasar pagi untuk beli barang mentah. Dari malam sebelumnya dah pening berangan nak masak apa. Mungkin terlebih excited juga. Tema ialah makanan laut. Seronok juga pasar Kuching ini. Boleh tengok apa produk kampung tempatan. Gamat mentah-mentah pun ada jual. Ikan terubuk jangan cakap la. Tomato pula pelik sikit. Agak kecil dan kurang bulat. Lagi ada sayur pelik apa namanya saya tidak ingat dah. Akhirnya beli udang galah 2 ekor, udang sederhana setengah kilo, ikan bawal 2 ekor, kubis bunga, batang saleri, cendawan tiram, sayur kailan dan ikan masin jeruk. Apa menunya?

Adakah sama besar tapak tangan saya?

                                        Udang galah sedang galak dibakar.

Saya seronok hendak cerita percubaan menu di bawah ini. Antara makanan kegemaran Fazrul. Seronok sangat sebab kali ini jadi. Pertama kali cuba di rumah emak tidak berapa jadi bentuk bebenangnya namun rasa sudah mantap. Kali ini cuba sampai jaya. Hehe. 

Nyum nyum butter prawn. Er, bahagian atas itu agak garing sedikit. Tapi apapun rasa dia memang best. Terima kasih kepada kawan saya Ayin. Saya belajar dari blog dia lah. Cuba la jenguk. Gambar-gambar makanan dia sentiasa menggugat jiwa. Hehe.

Dekorasi cili bagai itu oleh Fazrul. Rajin eh :) Suami saya boleh tahan juga bab memasak ni. Dia la tukang masak tak berbayar di rumah sewa dengan rakan-rakan bujangnya.

Menu: Butter prawn, ikan bawal goreng halia dan bawang putih, kailan ikan masin, udang galah bakar. Kami bersantap penuh selera.

Eh, tadi kata beli kubis bunga, saleri dan cendawan tiram? Oh, itu saya buat rencah nasi goreng tomyam. Sarapan keesokkan harinya. Marvellous!

Seronoknya masak untuk suami dan masak-masak bersama suami. Saya harap tidak lama lagi akan dapat berita gembira tentang pertukaran tempat kerja suami. Saya boleh saja ke Sarawak tapi tiada posting pula. Dilema penjawat awam. Huuu.

Twirling around in skirts

I have a fondness for skirts nowadays. I guess finally the feminine side of me is revealing more. Begging to be shown. But don't get me wrong. It's not like I am not before. It's just that I was not so keen because I love pants and jeans too much. Plus I don't easily find skirts that suits my height and liking. I was so confident I'd look like a duck. The short legs, get it? Not pretty.

Anyway, as time passed I'm more mature and I feel ready to embrace skirts as one of my attire. I am so in envy of the tall ladies frolicking around in nice skirts looking all sweet and pretty. But it wasn't that easy. In fact, I bought a pretty white skirt that I only wore a year and a half later.

The pretty white skirt. The first that I bought.

I bought this one in New Zealand. I was tempted because I love the colour and design of the fabric. Again, I only wore it 10 months later. Haha.

In preparation of getting married, I got determined to start wearing my skirts. I especially wanted to look pretty when I went for my honeymoon. Who wouldn't want to look beautiful for her husband right?

I was lucky enough to found this stunning blue skirt that exactly suits my height. At 5 ft 1 inch, I don't stand very tall. The great thing is that it's really cheap. Bought it at an outlet that sells Thai clothing. The skirts there are really fancy and vibrant. I wish I had found out sooner!

Before I bought the blue skirt, I was really keen to have another skirt especially in black coz it will easily match any color of the tops. I want the flare type and not the work type skirt. But where could I find it. Then I came across this beautiful fabric in black at Nagoya which suspiciously look like it's meant for a skirt. The salesgirl confirm my suspicion. So I decided to sew a skirt myself!

Oh yes, I sew it myself :) With the knowledge at the tip of my finger (read: Google), I knew I could pull it off. There's various site on the net to show you how to sew your own flare skirt that I got dizzy reading all of it. I have a basic in sewing thanks to my mom. I just need to find the right pattern and instruction. In the end, I kind of combine the instructions here and there. Oh, and also here. To be honest, I read a lot of site but I feel these three provides the best and easiest way. It was in Ramadhan and I got it done in just a few hours after sahur. It feels great because it's tailored exactly to my height and body shape.

I am not about to begin a sewing class here. But I'd be happy to help if I can. I was so estatic completing the skirt that I thought maybe I could take custom made order for it. Ha ha. Well, maybe this should go into my notes of future plan.

Tips:

1. Simple elastic waistband is easier as a start.

2. Adjust flare accordingly. Too much flare won't look good on a petite person. You'll look like an umbrella.

3. A skirt usually requires fabric more than 2 metre. At least 2 1/2 metre. It's not the same as 'kain baju kurung'.
4. Don't be too ambitious and went for chiffon or satin or laces. Start with nice cotton fabric first. Hehe.

I'm learning to let go

I've been decluttering and making a mess of my room last weekend all for the sake of throwing away old stuffs and making space for new ones. I'm not good in parting with things. I love my stuffs. I would hold an old brownish scraggly teddy bear and said 'no way! That's from a dear friend in high school.' Or I will frown at a white tooth-like bead necklace and reason with myself 'hey, I might wear it someday' when in fact I know I won't. I did took back an old broken silver anklet from the bin just for one last lingering look. And there's a whole box of paper bags from various brands and boutiques which I find is just too nice to be thrown away.

That's why things keep accumulating in my room. Because I think I've done this before. I have declutter and throw away things not that long ago. Still there seem to be so many stuff yet again. But I can't keep going on like this. I have to be firm and let go of the old-not-so-useful (it's so cruel to say useless) things and tidy up this crammed room already.

*sigh* I am. I'm learning to let go.



I miss you darl..


- Posted using BlogPress from maiefa's iPhone

That's NOT Hijab!

Check it out. Interesting. Kind of sum up what I feel too about this issue. Kudos to this brother for his concern and effort.

Ber'iPhone' di Sabah

Testing. Testing. I so love this phone. The aps are really cool and we could spend hours just playing an 'Angry birds' game. Hehe. We just got us both the iPhone 4 and it's about time really. I've been using an old Samsung, for the past 5 years. It's only rm200 and now you can imagine the tackyness of the phone. Much like 3310 nokia. Mind you it has served me really well but it's just time to upgrade. I rarely splurge on gadgets so this time I might as well go for the best and I know I'll be using it for a long time.





Waiting the transit flight to Bintulu.





The view from our room, Imperial Boutec hotel in Sabah.





Marvellous seafood at waterfront.





Basking in the sun and sea at Manukan Island Sabah.

All these photos were taken with iPhone. Perfect, for me. I love it that now I can blog and post picts from anywhere and at anytime! Provided there's internet line lah ;P

- Posted using BlogPress from maiefa's iPhone

Of foods in Kuching

Among the things I love about Kuching is the local delicacies. Last time I had the yummiest mi kolok in town. It's at Kopi O Corner near Satok. I was really looking forward to another round of it on this trip but the restaurant was closed for renovation. Aiseh. So we search for the yummiest laksa sarawak in town instead.

Damn good! Definitely the most delicious I've tasted so far.

A bowl of 'laksa sarawak special' includes bigger prawn. Squeeze the lime and dip the sambal. Pergh, the taste is simply superb.

If you ever come to Kuching, head to Patingan. Just a small distance past Satok market, make a u-turn under the fly over and turn left at Petronas. Head on straight and find this home-based eatery on your right. Oh, JJCM has been here too.

With fully satisfied stomach, we head on to Digi Centre for an errand. Then we drive to Lundu for a programme that Fazrul and his housemates were organizing. To be specific it has something to do with extreme motor sports. But that story could wait later.

Later that night and I mean really-really late, we went to satisfy the craving for ayam penyet next. We got lost on the way back from Lundu and was simply starving.

Snap! Iphone 4, we love you ;)

Looking at this picture makes me salivating again. Yummeh. There's a few version of ayam penyet and last time I had the fried one at Raja Ayam Penyet. This time Fazrul brought me here where the chicken is grilled instead of fried and OMG! Perfectly grilled with perfect sauce and perfect sambal. Now I'm begging Fazrul to dine here again before I go home. Hee.

So, head on there! At My Village Barok, just across the river from Waterfront Kuching. You can either drive there or simply take the boat or sampan from waterfront. It's just a little walking distance from the jetty after that.

Now we've just arrived at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. It's raining and we're stuck in the hotel. But that won't dampen my will to hunt for the yummiest food here next. Ciao!