Best Effort

Okay I have to warn you, this entry is gonna sound a bit vain. I'm sorry but I just have to give myself a little pat on the back coz I did it woot woot!!!

What I'm gonna show you next my friends, is not an ordinary mushroom soup. It's a bowl of mushroom soup made from SCRATCH bebeh! Yesss, I'm talking about when it first looked like this...

Until it turned into THIS!

And the main course, introducing...my homemade mushroom sauce!!!

Saya berjaya dear woohoo! I feel like I've won an award or something. So yeah, what the heck, I AM gonna pretend like I've won an award for the Best Effort for today. I would like to thank Michael Smith and Chuck Hughes for being such a huge inspiration and of course a big bear hug and thank you to Mr. SRB for being the sole motivation for me to do this - cook like a chef at home =)

If one day, in the distant future, this hobby of mine turns out to be a full-time job (chewahhhh), I'd like to think of this moment today as how it all started, the starting point of my full fledged affair with cooking (if this is not poyo, I dunno what is hahahah!).

Okay, that's enough of berangan for today =p

Go Azzurri!

It's time for the World Cup again and which team am I supporting this year? Of course lah none other than the Azzurri woohooo!!!

Not because they won the previous World Cup (I'm not that lame okayyy) but because this is a team that has always managed to recruit the MOST BEAUTIFUL people on earth and yesss, the tight jerseys did help to bring the hotness to a whole another level hehe (okay let's face it, I AM that lame hahahah!).

Zambrotta has always been my favourite eye-candy during World Cup fever - macho giler beb, second place goes to Cannavaro. But based on my little research, this year I should also look out for another Italian hottie as well - Claudio Marchisio: piercing blue eyes bebeh, aduh tertusuk jantungku =p!

Okay, I'm not gonna pretend like I know a whole lot about football or the strengths and weaknesses of each team, the different tactics they plan to use and what not. I just play a little bit of futsal, tu pun usually main belasah je without any rules or strategy =p. And I don't watch the English Premier League, Champions League or any of that.

But during World Cup, I will scream at the TV if the players make some stupid moves causing near-misses or if the ref mistakenly throw red cards to undeserving players, as if I'm the boss, the coach, the pro and I know wayyy better than any of them hehe. Biasalah...time2 camnilah everybody suddenly become an expert in football tactical drills and I'm definitely gonna be one of them hahah!

Tsamina mina eh eh, Waka waka eh eh, Tsamina mina zangalewa, This time for Africa!!!

Poetic

If movements are words, then your dance is poetry.
- Showdown 2010 -

Pergghhh...what a compliment!

Darndest Thing

SRS: Dear, you really have to pikir panjang before you do things.

You have to pikir the consequences, you know.

SRB: I bukan tak pikir panjang, babe. I tak pikir langsung.

There's a difference there, you see. Theehehehe...

SRS: *Not sure whether to shout, laugh or cry*

Men, like kids, sometimes they say the darndest things *sigh*

Birthday Shout-Out

"Age is an issue of mind over matter.

If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

- Mark Twain -

More of trying to tell myself THAT instead of you actually hehe.

Am so jealous that you're so cool and 'zen' about getting older.

Well, one of us has got to be =p

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

'Nostalgia Di Rantau'

Last night, got an sms from little brother in UK asking me to go buy the June edition of REMAJA tomorrow coz apparently he's gonna be featured in it. I was like, What? How? When? Where? Sejak bila adik aku ni berkecimpung dalam dunia selebriti? Was afraid that it's gonna be one of those 'Eligible Bachelor' thingy, in which case I would've laughed my ass off lah kan =P

This morning, pagi2 lagi terus pegi 7-Eleven, desperately searching for a magazine with Tiz Zaqyah as the covergirl, memang first time in my 28 years of living lah hehe. Once I paid for it, straightaway tore the plastic cover, flipped through the pages frantically while walking thinking, 'Manalaa page ni tak jumpa2, Pojie ni tipu ke?' Memang sikit lagi nak langgar tiang dah. And then finally...tadaaaaa!!!

Bammm! Amek kau betapa besarnya gambar adikku hihihihi! Was quite in shock seeing my brother in a page of a magazine. Maklumlahhh...none of our family is the glamor-kind yg sampai masuk2 magazine ni hehe.

Turned out, it's an article in 'Nostalgia Di Rantau' section, about a local student's experience of studying abroad. And and and, it was also mentioned in the article, "Peluang untuk belajar di luar negara adalah impian sejak kecil didorong oleh kakak yang ketika itu sedang belajar di New York, Amerika Syarikat," kata Shahril. Sape lagi kakak itu if not meeee??? Muahahaha it's stupid but excited sekejap hihihi! Too bad he didn't mention my name cisss!

But whatever it is, I am SOOO proud of you dude and can't wait to show this to everyone in the family and bikin kecoh satu kampung wahahahaha!

Dinner @ Mandi Mandi

At least twice a year, SRB and I love to indulge ourselves in some sort of exotic dining experience for birthday or anniversary celebrations. You know, places where the lights are really dimmed sampai you have to squint your eyes to read the menu and sometimes, you can't even see clearly the food you're eating hehe.

I have to give most of the credits to dear SRB coz he's the one yg selalu rajin buat research or drive around to explore new restaurants for us to try (most of our favourite restaurants were discovered by chance). I know this is gonna sound lame but it's kinda thrilling to get ready, dress up, not knowing exactly where we're going for dinner since usually he won't tell me until we almost reach the place.

Haaanyway, this year we went to a place called Mandi Mandi in Taman TAR, as you can see, a restaurant that serves Thai and Malay cuisine.

Had duck salad (surprisingly yummy eventho the thought of eating duck made me squirm), seafood tomyam, squid sauteed in garlic & oyster sauce, dried chili BBQ chicken and kailan ikan masin. The price was a bit expensive but everthing we ordered was super delicious, tak tipu, and served in quite a generous portion. We honestly struggled to finish it all up.

The ambience, memang memenuhi criteria 'a romantic dinner for 2'. In fact, I thought it was too romantic coz it was too dark, quiet, you could hear nothing except for the flowing water nearby and cengkerik, agak self-conscious to talk or laugh at the normal pitch we usually do hehe. Service was great, waiters were extremely attentive and friendly - too friendly coz they kept asking us ada kena gigit nyamuk tak hahah! Nope we did not thanks to the strategically-placed traditional ubat nyamuk mcm kat kampung tu, comel!

They also have a place for group events at the upper deck, great for birthday parties, family reunions and what not. So girls, any upcoming farewell parties or anything, we can try here if you feel like eating out =)

And of course, THANKS A LOT dear for the birthday treat!

The Help

"Mississipi is like my mother. I am allowed to complain about her all I want, but God help the person who raises an ill word about her around me, unless she is their mother too."

Aduhhh! Uhuk uhuk termakan cili di situ uhuk uhuk =p

Fajita Craze

Favourite food at the moment: homemade chicken & veggie fajitas. Been eating it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and sometimes even as snacks. Sorry dear, you just have to bear with this fajita craze till it's over coz you know you have no choice but to eat whatever I put on the table hehehe.

IKEA Inspired Home

You can never say I didn't try, IKEA hehe.

I tried to display books that will show that I only read materials with substance instead of the shallow, superficial chick lits, chewahhh! Sorry Marian Keyes, Candace Bushnell, you have to stay in the cupboard upstairs hehe. Maybe I should buy like a whole set of encyclopedia and put them here. Or or or better yet, buy different kinds of dictionaries to show how 'smart' and 'knowledgable' I am. Hahaha AS IF!!! Poser giler =p

Fact is, I already lost so many points by having the Twilight Saga books there. (Eclipse is still missing in my collection though, anybody nak kasi birthday present? No dear, not you. Tu tak aci hehe.)