Me and my trifle

I love food. No question about that. And because of that I enjoy being in a kitchen. Though I don't cook that much, seeing that the wife is somewhat an expert there, I do have one or two dishes where I think I can make it as good as she does. One of which is a fruit trifle. Yeah, I know.... it's horribly easy to do a trifle but still.... (there's a reason for this and I tell you why in a minute).

Anyway, for the uninitiated, a trifle is an old English dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruits, sponge cake, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge cake on the bottom, and custard and cream on top. See, how easy it is to make a trifle... just put all the ingredients on top of one another. I learned to make trifle from my very close cousin Iza (herself a wonderful cook) when I was still a bachelor.

Once, when I was still engaged to my wife many years ago, I brought a specially made trifle (prepared with love,of course) to her mom's place when I went visiting. Apparently that was the first time the wife ever encounter a trifle. I felt so pandai then (though I was told later that she wasn't that crazy with the trifle but her niece Faizah and nephew Zaki polished it off from the casserole).

However, over the years, the wife has acquired the liking to trifle (she even shared the recipe with her sister and relatives) but for some reason she always prefer me preparing it. It's always: "You make it much more delicious la!". Always. Even when I ask her to do it instead. Always that same line. Hmmm.... now I wonder why!!!!!

Trifle, anyone?

And we went out..... what else is new la...

It's Mother's Day yesterday, which if you ask me, was quite apt as it gave us good enough reason to go out and partake in one of our favourite things - makan-makan. Yes, despite the pervasive influence of commerce on the observance of Mother’s Day, we do take our time to ... urm... celebrate the day but of course in our own way la... not the fancy and lavish and expensive kind of celebration.

So off we went to this makan place that we just discovered, right after my SIL and MIL left our place around 3pm.

Here're some of the pix:

The Mother waiting for her....
... awesome platter of grilled lamb, beef, chicken
Both Asma and I were having sizzling steak... and it sizzles in our mouth, I tell you.

and I find even its Iced Lemon Tea was sensational... can you imagine that?

And this Iced Milo was nice to look at...

The eldest and the youngest went for their mandatory pastas, of course. Here's Arissa enjoying hers. Btw, that gentleman sitting in the background.... that's Mazlan --- our sub-editor at Malaysian Business where I work.

AMCORP MALL
After stuffing ourselves, we then decided to jalan-jalan ke Amcorp Mall - now one of our favourite haunts especially on Sundays. For those who do not know, Amcorp Mall literally comes alive on Sunday because of its Flea Market. We can just walk around aimlessly looking at all the wares and knick-knacks on display.

See, the girls walking around tanpa arah tujuan... (that's after their mother successfully haggled her way to buy some Pokok Daun Kari at one of the stalls)

Oh by the way, one of the traders at the Flea Market is Halim, Nisa's husband (our niece). So naturally, we went up to his stall. Halim sells all these stuff for hobbyists.

That's Halim (with cap) - his stall is located on the top floor of the mall. Do drop by as he has quite a selection of stuff that will surely be of interest for you hobbyists out there.

This is the boss' wife - Nisah and my wifeThe best thing about Halim's location is that, it is fronting this book shop. Book Xcess is definitely the place to go for cheap good books....and mags too

... where Alia went crazy buying all her foreign fashion magazines at real low prices.

All in all, Amcrop Mall is really a cool place, in our book la, as the girls also bought some dresses at dirt cheap prices.

As for us, we were just happy to walk-walk with the girls. Aaaah, life!! Alhamdulillah.

The Boys of 2010!!!

This past month or so.... our family welcome two more new addition - both boys.

Just recently, my cousin Anom and husband Nasir became proud parents to Muhammad Zikri Mohd Nasir. This is Zikri...

And a few weeks before that, another young cousin Razif and wife welcome their second boy - Aisar Marzuq.

Well, if you ask me, they do look somewhat alike, no? But then babies tend to resemble each other kan. But then again, they're second cousins anyway!!!

Congratulations to both parents and enjoy the ride!!!!

(Trivia: the two boys are cicit number 22 and 23 to Allahyarham Tuan Haji Mior Mahmud and Allahyarhamah Hajah Yang Kamariah -- whoa that many already!!!!)

And then....

Wait... its 2010 oredy and this is my first entry of the year!!!! Hrmphhhhhh!

I'm making a comeback... soon... just you wait. I just need to get my bearing back. I think!!! And I'm going back to FB now... got 5 tanks to take care. Taaaa.

Finally... my last three state capitals

The year 2009 is pretty special to me. This year I finally achieved my life long goal to set foot in all of Malaysia’s state capitals. Yeah, after 45 years of being.

I’ve travelled quite extensively over the years (due to my work) but for some reasons, three state capitals – namely Johor Baru, Kuantan adn Kota Kinabalu – escape me.

Funny thing is I’ve been to all the states in Malaysia even Sabah (went to Labuan two years ago and took a ferry trip into the State and went river cruising somewhere) but never managed to visit the state capital - KK.

But somehow 2009, I was presented the opportunities to finally menjejakkan kaki at these three state capitals (and in my book it means the city centre itself and its famous landmarks).

Johor Baru – I’ve flown over JB countless of times especially in the 90s when we at Computimes have to take to turn to attend events in Singapore almost every other week. I even flew into Senai Airport once but instead of going into JB city centre, I went the opposite direction into Desaru. And that’s about it. And that's the nearest I've ever came to JB until May this year. So it was real pleasure when P1 Wimax held an event there and I was fortunate enough to join them. And I finally saw the Tambak Johor with my own two eyes and enjoyed the sea breeze in Danga Bay.

Kuantan – Okay, I’ve skirted around Kuantan a couple of times on my way to Terengganu and Kelantan (somehow you don’t have to go through Kuantan town to get further into the east coast). And this year, I’ve been to Kuantan twice. And the seafood by the beach.... aaaahhhhhh!

Kota Kinabalu – Finally KK. Was there in November. More seafood thanks to Veena. And its pretty there (well I was at ShangriLa Tanjung Aru and of course the view from my hotel room is simply breathtaking). I didn't get to do much while here (wished I've joined the rest for Island hopping sojourn on the last day though) but I'll would love to come back. But more importantly, this trip completes my dream.