If babies could choose

Mine will choose not to have me as their mother.

Or maybe if they could express their feelings in coordinated words, they'd say :

" Well, we need love, instead you whine, nag and yell, and you spend minimum time with us. Spanking us for mistakes that all babies do. Even toddlers do. Don't you know what we are? Babies, for God sake. Why can't we have a sweet mummy like others? Why can't you be good as other mummy?"

Image from Mike Scott's Blog

Maybe.

God please, I'm turning into a monster.

Smoking is bad

It is, no matter what your reasons are. It is as bad for woman as it is for man. Takdelah macam kalau pompuan isap rokok lagi hina dari man, actually both are equally bad.

And I disagree when some men looked down on smoking women, when in fact they smoke too.

I do understand that some of the smokers, made mistakes. They try it, enjoy it, and after 10 years, it's like there's no turning back.Macam Shahrun, I believe he do want to stop smoking, tapi tak boleh..

So, itu pasal lah aku belikan yg ini .. :

Pic credit to PeejBurhan

SmokersHaven that is. Walaupun the item is still pending delivery, I am excited ! Hopefully Shahrun pun.

Owh for reference, I know this from here and here, and I am buying SmokersHaven from Edan (Nonoy's Fiance), go find his contact details here.

I'll update the effectiveness later.

Doakan ye?

Shoes craving

Had never had cravings for shoes, but maybe sebab my scholl dah koyak (its a 5 year old shoes, my only shoes).


Am thinking of choices :


1. Lydia Winter from Crocs - currently top list; maybe sebab purple kot, lawa. Plus aku jarang ada high heels due to takut tak comfy and aku akan bukak kasut bila turun tangga, so agak malu. But this one, sure comfy one, kan?

2. Funky Style - Walnut Leather from Clarks. This, is surely my taste. Tengok pun tau. Tapi 2nd choice sebab hopefully I can change to heels

3. Crave Delight - also from Clarks. Very nice, but i don't like the penghadang kat tengah2 tu, nanti susah pakai kasut.

4. Coven Leather Shoes from Scholl - I've always love Scholl. Tapi Shahrun kata, belilah cap lain pulak.. Tapi yg ni mmg cantik kan?

5. b.o.c. by Born Women's Kana Leather Sport Flat - dunno if this is available in Malaysia, but if i cud find something similar, best nih..

6. Privo Berry Sport Slip-On - but i don't think this is an appropriate office shoes.

Isk.. lagi byk choice lagi ke arah kasut flat, comfy yang ala2 budak2 U. Bila nak grow up? Actually memang nak grow up.

Tengoklah, nanti ajak Shahrun shopping. Dah dekat setengah tahun kot tak shopping syok2 nih..

Owh, pics credit to : Clarks, Scholl, Crocs and DSW Shoe Warehouse.

Jamie's Broccoli Salad

In my attempts to eat more green and at the same time shedding away those tummy extra bulge, I tried this recipe last night, courtesy of Jamie Oliver.

Pic also courtesy of Jamie Oliver, remember my HTC rosak kan..

You can find the original recipe here. But I do it differently, putting whatever I have in my kitchen (plus aku pemalas nak beli bagai2 benda), and of course substituting bacon with tempeh. Remember this ?

So, here goes my altered recipe of Broccoli Salad :

Ingredients :

Broccoli, chopped according to Jamie's tips.

Red Chillies, seeded and finely chooped (i guess lagi sedap kalau bubuh capsicum)

Tempeh - marinated with turmeric powder and salt and fried with oil until a bit crisp.

Honey

Lemon

How to :

1. 
   
   Easy peasy, blanch the broccoli in boiled water and as advised by Jamie, really quick; to ensure the broccoli is still crunchy.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   For the dressing, mix honey with lemon juice, and of course salt to taste.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Lastly, put everything together and dress it all well in your salad bowl.
   

Sedap.. tak caya trylah!

Foodies best destination

If you're a Malaysian you'd know that Malaysian food heaven is Penang. In fact the New York Times did their survey on "Top 44 places to go in 2009" and under category of food, Penang is the 2nd best destination behind Marrakesh (a.k.a Al-Hambra, somewhere in Morocco).

Blame Penang for my increased body weight and unattractive figure lately. Heh :)

Shahrun, he love curry (not the mamak style, the malay style), so we always seach for the best Malay curry house in town, these are the ones that we have visited :

1. Pen Mutiara

• Inside LKIM Batu Maung, around 15-20km from Penang Bridge exit.
• Serve very nive fish head curry, thick gravy and various choices of fish.
• The restaurant environment is super nice - superb view, superb landscape, bangku cantik, ada piano, etc etc.
• The price - hmm.. boleh tahan mahal (expensive), match the view lah!

2. Restoran Minah

• Located near Maybank Gelugor. Around 3-5km from USM main entrance.
• The fish head curry taste different, sebab dia bubuh bunga kantan, but very nice.
• The restaurant is and old shop, nothing fancy.
• The price - not as pricey as Pen Mutiara, but in the expensive range.

3. Kedai kat Jelutong.

• I do not know the stall's name, but it is located at the side of Jelutong Expressway, accross the Nusmetro Building (Bank Rakyat)
• They serve mainly Sembilang fish curry. Very nice, because the fishes are fresh (kan kedai tepi laut..). 
• The view is nice, sea side eh.. 
• The price - cheap, and berbaloi-baloi..

4. Kedai makan pagi-pagi (owh yea, Penangites; we eat curry for breakfast, lunch, dinner and sometimes supper, super saiko kan?)

•  This is a must go, located in Bayan Baru, Jalan Tengah. (if u are working with T* - the stall is just 1KM away from our exchange). If you're from airport, head straight to Bayan Baru, and turn left upon reaching the first traffic light (simpang empat). The stall is just at the corner.
• This stall only serve curry from around 9:30am to 11:30am. Fresh fish served, with variety of fish choice. The curry is very home style, and the cook; they  are super friendly and nice.
• View - hehe, jalan sesak.
• The price - also cheap and berbaloi-baloi hebat.

5. Paksu Curry House.

• This one is Shahrun's favourite. Located very near to our house. If you're from airport, head to Sungai Ara, just after SK Sungai Ara, turn left when u see Taman Pagar Buluh. The restaurant is actually a house turned into restaurant.
• This restaurant opens at around 5:30 pm to 11pm. Serve home cook fish curry and all other dishes (sambal prawn, chicken rendang) taste home cook.. yummy!
• View - normal, housing area, ada kids, etc. But I notice that this restaurant is clean.
• The price - super berbaloi. Murah..

Ha, sorry my HTC rosak. So no pic, walaupun aku pernah snap all these kedai's food.

So, now you know where to enjoy good malay style fish curry!

Boleh tak ambik cuti?

I mean away from kids and husband?

Tak, i don't hate them. I just need a break.

Pic from : Superstock

I literally drag my leg and my daughters leg every morning to the bathroom. Dah la lambat bangun, heret kaki lagik.

And no, work doesn't count as a break. My office ada banyak anak2 dan husband2 yang sama je dengan kat rumah, whining & mengadu.

So, dosa kah taking a leave from all that? I know every mother face the same issue with me, letih, jadual full and all. Aku tau semua mothers lepak je buat semua benda. But consider me weak, i just can't take it anymore, sudahnya aku marah anak aku je. Tak de motif pun.

I'm a person that can't have a schedule/routine. Aku mesti berusaha nak skip. But bila dah ada routine tetiap pagi aku jadi pening sket. Memanglah boleh je adjust hidup.

Tapi aku pun macam electronic devices, sekarang tengah hang mode. Tolong lah reset So I could be fresh again, bila aku fresh, aku happy and excited. Anak2 pun suka, husband pun, boss pun.

Again, dosakah? Seriyes, aku letih lah.

Waking up

I watched We Were The Mulvaneys on Hallmarks (Astro channel 702) yesterday.

And conclude undeniably that, "Fall seven times and stand up eight" and "Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom" is indeed very true.

Pic from Post-Gazette.com

Yasmin's cognitive

Ilhan Yasmin, my eldest daughter shows signs of growing up recently. She'll be 5 y.o this december and it is time for her to show emotions, understand gestures, understand simple ada-udang-disebalik-mee type of talks, ability to rationalize simple acts and ability to detect pembohongan sunat.

It's fun to take one step together up in her ladder of life development. Though shamely I must admit that I'm not a good mother. I spank, yell and if i list it here, you people might equalize me with my depressed neighbor.

For me, she did quite good. Although she has a lot of touch-up to do to groom herself but she has lots of time for that. I'm easy to be pleased, kan?

When she's 1 y.o

How do I know she has move one step up? Well she did these :

1. It's 7:30 am, school day, and she supposed to take her bath, instead she's still laying on the sofa. After a few times of soft spoken pujukan, I raise my voice (I was in the other room, ironing). Still not moving, she answered -

"Kakak robot, bukan orang. Robot tak payah mandi" immitating robotic voice.

When normally, she'll just cry and let me drag her to the bathroom, this time she shows that she knows some reasoning, walaupun a bad idea. At least I'm not changing my mood to marah sangat.

2. After watching the no smoking campaign advert (alah, yg ada org kena amputate kakilah, cancer mulutlah, sakit paru-paru tu..), she looked at Shahrun in the eyes and said :

" Ayah janganlah hisap rokok, kakak taknak ayah mati.."

See? Tak ke rasa nak tersentap disitu? She shows her good effort of composing the right phrase untuk menyentap hati orang.

The ayah does tersentap beberapa saat, and we looked at each others for at least 30 sec. Sebab rasa pilu.

But after that night, best je ayah hisap rokok balik. Tak insaf langsung.

It feels like baru last year Ilhan was born, tetiba tahun ni pandai buat ayat sentap.

This year's smile.

And I just hope she'll grow up to be a good human, obedient muslim and all good things. Despite having such a yelling mother.