Feb 2011

February kita kira2 begini...

Ada ultah Aunty Is.. Tantenya pasha di shah alam..

Kunjungan tante Ika, tante nun, om davy dan om Atta dari Jakarta..

Pasha mulai ikutan koku Tae kwon do di TK nya..

Edisi wiskul dihijung minggu.. Gak jarang bump  in sama tmn2 indo kl juga..

Kunjungan ke kota warisan yg berakhir sipakcik  wira ngadat and kena tow sampe desa pandan..

Nasi Kerabu Pasar Malam

If you live in Shah Alam or are familiar with Shah Alam, you might have been to the Pasar Malam (night market) in the compound of the Seksyen 6 Wet Market. It may not be the biggest or best or most spectacular night market in Shah Alam but it is the nearest to where we live and a good source for having something different for dinner on Friday night. This is what I got tonight...

I am pretty sure that by reading the title, most of you would already have been expecting the picture of some blue rice. Blue is the distinctive color of Nasi Kerabu aka Nasi Ulam aka Rice Salad. Traditionally, the blue color comes from from petals of flowers called Bunga Telang (Clitoria). Nowadays, I am not sue whether that flower is still being used or not. This is a Kelantanese specialties normally served with Grilled Beef or Fried Fish or Ayam Percik (ChickenBarbecued) and usually accompanied  by Solok Lada tohether with the Ulam (salad). The Ulam is combination of fresh aromatic herbs; local mint, basil, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric leaves and raw vegetables; bean sprouts, long green beans, shallots, cucumber, are combined together with strong flavored ingredients such as salted fish, dried prawns, fish crackers, kerisik (fried grated coconut) and other savory garnishing.

Look at the solok lada above. I love it! It is a chilly or pepper stuffed with mackerel. Simply hot and delicious. It is the best companion for Nasi Kerabu. It adds some spiciness to it. Yummeh! Have you tried Nasi Kerabu before? P/s: I have met some people who are turned off by the blue rice... Too bad, it's their loss...

Sun and Sand of Bagan Lalang

We were supposed to leave the house after Subuh. Papa Bear had his own definition of the said time. It was a Sunday. What do you expect? Nevertheless, we made it quite early, even though not as early as some people had planned but early enough to get a nice spot for our picnic stuffs and places for parking our cars. It was a picnic with families of friends at the beautiful beach of Bagan Lalang, which is located in  Sepang, Selangor. Just Google it and you will get a whole lots of information on it. The kids. Well some of them. There're a few more that did not get into my lense. They are Pasha (you know him), KayLee(wearing pink pants), Tanisha (from the Wet and Wild post), Alif (wearing black T but not sure about the spelling of his name), ShunLi (wearing sleevless red T), Dienta (wearing pink T) and Naddim (wearing yellow T) The sun was shining brightly, most of the time, but it was not too hot and the muddy sand became the best playground ever for the kids and a few moms and dads as well.. The adults. Well some of them again. We had mats and tents. We had lots of food as well and while the kids were having a blast at the beach, the Moms and Dads surrounded the food and some of them hardly left their spots. That's why you can't see the food clearly... The Bears. We had a great time at a great place with great people eating great food! That should summarize it all! The beach. The tide was low. The fauna. An angry hermit crab. Just look at his face. The flora. The beautiful fir cones. The end... [Click the photos to enlarge...]

Delivery from Jakarta

Last Saturday we went to LCCT. A few friends came from Jakarta for a holiday and on top of that, there was a delivery for Pasha from our family there. Pasha was all excited knowing that we're going somewhere and he's going to get something. Where and what were not of any concern to him... Things have changed quite a bit since we were last there. The airport was more crowded than it used to be and the usual parking spaces were full. We had to park at the new space called Zone C and it was quite a long walk to the International arrival hall. Not to mention that it was a hot afternoon.. Left Pic: Intan, Papa, Mama and Pasha. Right Pic: Intan, Papa, Pasha with a high peace and Atta. Left Pic: Ika, Intan, Mama and Pasha. Right Pic: Mama, Ika, Davy, Intan and Atta holding Pasha. And when finally Pasha got his package, he could no longer wait to open it. He tried and tried but he could not get the tape off. In the end he agreed to open it in the car... To our family in Jakarta: Thanks, we have received the package. To Ika: Thanks for bringing it over.

Pasha starts Taekwondo

We enrolled Pasha in the Taekwondo class as one of his co-curriculum activities apart from Iqra'. We wanted to see whether he likes it or not and so far he seems to be enjoying that. Actually, I was the one who insisted that he joined that class. Not so much about giving him the advantage in a fight but more for his social interactions and physical exercises. He needs that as he loves to spend hours on the net playing games and watching videos on YouTube. He got his do-bok (uniform) today and he was so thrilled that he could not wait to show it to me. I was at work and therefore, he asked Mama to take photos of him wearing it. He insisted that the first photo that I should see is the one showing the word Taekwondo at the back. Looks like he is associating well with the uniform. The second photo is a photo of a champion in the making.. My hope is for him to learn the following:

1. Focus
2. Mental discipline
3. Ethical discipline
4. Justice
5. Etiquette
6. Respect
7. Self-confidence

Since he starts at a very young age, he can take his own sweet time to master the above. No rush my boy!

Wet and Wild Swimsuits in Kota Warisan

It was a hot Sunday in Kota Warisan, Sepang. It was hot enough to fry eggs on the tarmac. No, we were not at the Sepang F1 circuit but we were in a house taking shelter from the blazing sun. Nobody in his or her right mind would want to go outside and get burned. As if we were not dark enough already... Then he got his new swimsuit. The blue color suited him very well. He could not resist the temptation of donning it right away. Why wait for it to be washed first when you can make it wet now and wash it later anyway? He took off all his clothes and put on the new shining blue swimsuit. He's ready to make things wild... She saw him with his new swimsuit. She just refused to be outdone by him. There's no way for him to have all the fun. She wanted to be a part of it. She went up the stairs to her room to look for her favorite swimsuit. She searched and looked and eventually she found it. It's red with patterned skirt and she knew that she would definitely look gorgeous in it. She came down and went straight to him. He was already waiting with lots of water. Enough water to make things wet and wild. Let the splish and splash begin...

Here are Pasha and Tanisha. Pasha with his brand new Upin and Ipin swimsuit and Tanisha with her favorite Barbie swimsuit. This was taken right before the wet and wild fun began... They were all wet when they were done... Kids really know how to have fun!

Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath Long about a saturday night, yeah Rub-a-dub, just relaxin' in the tub Thinkin' everything was alright

p/s: Not sure what some of you had in mind... This is a family blog okay... :P

Maulidur Rasul

Today Muslims all over the world celebrate Maulidur Rasul. Maulidur Rasul refers to the observance of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. who was born on 12 Rabiul Awal, Tahun Gajah (23 April 571) and this year 12 Rabiul Awal falls on 15 February 2011. Among the significance of the celebration are about reminding the Muslims of the Prophet's way of life and the true teaching of Allah as per the Al-Quran, which is for the good of all mankind. It is also about renewing and strengthening our faith and kinship of the Muslims in our religion as well as to foster greater friendship ("ukhwah") with everyone regardless of race and religion. May Allah bless us all and have a great Maulidur Rasul.

Text of the Selawat Nabi

*Text from Ensiklopedia Muslim. P/s: From the previous years... Maulidur Rasul concert? Seriously? Unable to compute... Change to Playhouse Disney Channel...

Neighborly Act

Wanna see what our neighbor did? By neighbor we mean every soul that lives in our area. This includes humans, cats and ghosts...

Who did it then? We really have no idea. Let's do some elimination process. We should start with the ghosts. Ghosts do not really touch or break things. They just like to scare you a bit and that's about it.

That leaves us with only two suspects. The humans and the cats. Let's look at the cats. The pot is really quite heavy and the biggest cat in the neighborhood would not be able to topple or break it. Even if that cat lunged at it from 20 meters away (the only available distance for quick dash) or even if the cat brought his whole gang to terrorized the pot, it would still be difficult to damage the sturdy pot.

So, the only suspects left are the humans that live next door. They are the only capable species that could do  such serious damage to a defenseless pot. Did anyone come forward and apologize? None! The thing is, if it was done by them, don't you think that they would be brave enough to come forward and admit what they did? After all, they are students of a local university and some of them even frequent the local surau. It is hard to believe that their education and religious affiliation do not teach them anything about respecting neighbors or being honest... May be it was not the humans as well then.

Who or what else? Any idea?

Well, since we do not have any solid evidence  to blame anybody and our assumption is based solely on our own theory of elimination, we have to leave this in the hand of Allah to deliver the justice. If in fact this was done by ghosts or cats, they are forgiven but not otherwise.

Pasha's New Hairstyle

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.When I got back from work yesterday, I was greeted by Pasha with the usual lots of smiles but minus lots of hair... And, he proudly asked me to look at his new hairstyle and told me that he likes it a lot.

He hates having his hair cut and would never want to go to any barber. If he really had to choose, then he would choose some fancy hair saloon with some pretty ladies doing the hair instead of the regular Indian barber shop usually manned by some guys... So, to make life easier,  Mama Pasha used her cake shaping skill and worked on his hair with an electric shaver. That's the result up there. Neat and tidy. Don't you think so?

Well, Pasha loves it since he knows that celebrities around the world love similar hairstyle as well. Here are some examples..

Sharifah Amani had similar hairstyle when she acted for the movie Muallaf. The King of Rock, Amy Search is known to enjoy the same hairstyle as well. Faizal Ismail (FBI) from Hot FM and David Beckham, the famous English soccer player,  love the same style too... And lastly, Dr. Evil and Mini Me from the movie Austin Powers and our very own Upin and Ipin are better known without lots of hair... No wonder Pasha is happy about it. P/s: Teachers and fellow students at school wanted to touch his hair today but he said: "Stop! Do not touch!"

There are Seven Days

There are Seven Days performed by Pasha. This is one of the songs that he learned at his kindergarten. Here is the lyric for those who want to sing along. Enjoy! There are seven days There are seven days In a week In a week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday And Sunday And Sunday You can hear Mama Pasha said Sanjay in the video. Sometimes Pasha would say Sanjay instead of Sunday. Sanjay is his classmate. This is one of their regular conversations. Pasha: "Stop!!!" Sanjay: "Ayoyo!!!" Well... Kids...

Yogi Bear from Cik Peah

First of all we would like to say thank you to Cik Peah for selecting our entry as the winner for her recent "Love to me is..." contest. We did not have any plan to go for a movie at the cinema since that would be talking crowded places and limited parking spaces. However, the prize that we got gave us an excuse to go for a movie at the cinema again and the fact that it's on CNY, we were expecting the place to be practically empty. Gong Xi Fa Cai! That's what we won from the contest and we decided to go watch Yogi Bear at the Cathay Cineplex e@Curve. Pasha was very excited especially when he got his box of popcorns! The movie was OK. It was quite dry in the middle but the starting and ending was quite hilarious. Pasha loves fountain and right after the movie, he insisted on visiting the fountain. Look at the place. Empty as expected. Just the way we like it. We had lunch at the Bumbu Desa, The Curve. We were sitting outside when we first came but the smelly smoke and ashes came flying from that woman wearing the tudung, in the pic, drove us inside. What an inconsiderate smoker! As for the food, it was so-so. So, don't really feel like writing about that. All in all, it was one great family outing!