New Year Eve Menu

Starters Menu:

Coconuts ball
Prawn Pepper Bruschetta

Main Course:

Garden Salads with goat cheese
Beef Goulash
Saffron Rice

Dessert:

Baklava with Creamy Vanilla Ice cream

The Crowd:




Did nothing much. Watching TV2. Making fun of Jeanne and her hideous dress/baju kurung.

The recipe (Baklava)
===================
Source: Taste Australia: baklava

Ingredients
* 375g (1 packet) filo pastry
* 180g butter, melted & cooled
* 2 tsp water

filling
* 150g walnut pieces
* 150g unsalted pistachios
* 55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
* 1tsp ground cinnamon

honey syrup
* 1 375g jar honey
* 165g (3/4 cup) sugar
* 250mls (1 cup) water
* 1 lemon, rind finely grated and juiced

Method
====================
1. Preheat oven to 180°C To make the filling, spread the walnuts on a baking tray and lightly toast in the preheated oven for 5-8 minutes or until aromatic. Cool.


2. Combine walnuts, pistachios, sugar and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor and process using the pulse button until they are finely chopped.


3. Remove the filo pastry from its packet and lie flat on the work bench. Cover with a dry tea towel and then a damp tea towel. (This will keep the filo from drying out while making the baklava.)


4. Brush a shallow 18 x 28cm cake tin with some of the butter. Take 1/3 of the sheets of filo. Brush the top sheet generously with butter and fold into thirds to make a rectangle the size of the tin. Place in the base of the buttered tin and brush surface with butter.


5. Continue layering with the left over 1/3 of pastry. Spread 1/2 of the nut filling over the filo to cover. Layer 1/2 of the remaining filo sheets as before. Spread left over nut filling over filo and top with the remaining layered buttered filo sheets. Lightly brush top with remaining butter.


6. Using a sharp knife, cut a diamond pattern into the top layer of filo and sprinkle with the water. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes longer or until the filo layers are cooked through.


7. Meanwhile, to make the honey syrup, combine honey, sugar, water, lemon rind and juice in a saucepan and stir over high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and maintain over medium heat for 10 minutes or until the syrup has thickened slightly. (Well, better skip the lemon juice/rind. It tasted sourish/funny)


8. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When cooked, remove baklava from the oven and immediately pour the cooled syrup evenly over the surface. Stand to cool completely. Cover with foil and store at room temperature in the tin for up to 2 weeks.

Bahana Facebook

Reasons why this blog is being neglected:
1) No mood to update.
2) Insane workload (was).
3) New found love, that is the Facebook / Cintahati baru yakni Facebook.

So hooked into the FB games like the Car Madness, Wordscrapper / Transformer / Word twist / Pillow fight, plus many much more. Could just spend hours playing them.

Car Madness - Now im in level 41 already with 1.6million on my bag :p

You could play some of the games with your friends, such as Wordtwist or Scrabulous (like Scrabble)


Word twist: I just dont get it. She never played a game, and yet she ranked 1st. Like wtf?


Scrabulous (New Name - Word Scraper) - Another addiction. If I couldnt get your friends to play with you,


or in my case, my buddy is so darn slow :p, you could play with strangers. Just choose any stranger you feel like playing with. To be fair, you should choose the one with similar ratings.


But there are also a plenty of weird people with weird requirements. Like you have to be a nice looking female, etc. Downright ridiculous, while they themselves are lest much to be desired.


Facebook also can become a source for row amongst good friends. Like in this example, someone got offended when she didnt include her in her "Top Friends" application. Being meroyan, that girl removed this girl from her friend list. Hi hik. And in the office they no longer talk to each other.

Not being added to your friend list also would make someone sulks for days. Like hey, I only added friends I really knew. Not just some strangers. Plus, even if you work in the same building, doesnt mean I will automatically add you into my list. And I expected likewise. No sweat lah. It's just facebook, get a life!

To conclude, go crazy with Facebook but dont literally "go crazy" like this guy
====================================
SourceBBC News

Man killed wife in Facebook row

A man has been jailed for life for stabbing his wife to death over a posting she made on the social networking site Facebook.

Wayne Forrester, 34, told police he was devastated that his wife Emma, also 34, had changed her online profile to "single" days after he had moved out.

The Old Bailey heard Forrester drove to her home in Croydon, south London, and attacked the mother-of-two.

He stabbed her with a kitchen knife and a meat cleaver on 18 February.

Forrester, who pleaded guilty to murder, was ordered to serve a minimum term of 14 years.

Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, told him: "You committed a terrible act. There is no possible excuse or justification.

"This is a tragic killing and what you have done has caused untold anguish."


What on earth could Emma have done to result in such a brutal, callous attack?
Liza Rothery, victim's sister

Forrester, an HGV driver, was drunk and high on cocaine when he attacked the mother of two in the early hours as she slept.

He beat her, tore out clumps of her hair, and repeatedly stabbed her in the head and neck.

Neighbours were woken up by her screams. They found him sitting outside the house covered in blood and called the police.

The court heard Forrester thought his wife, a payroll administrator, was having an affair and had threatened to kill her.

The couple, who had been together for 15 years, had a "volatile" marriage, jurors were told.

'Devastated and humiliated'

The day before the murder, he called her parents and complained about his wife's Facebook entry which he said "made her look like a fool", the court heard.

In a statement to police Forrester said: "Emma and I had just split up. She forced me out.

"She then posted messages on an internet website telling everyone she had left me and was looking to meet other men.

"I loved Emma and felt totally devastated and humiliated about what she had done to me."

In a victim impact statement, Mrs Forrester's sister Liza Rothery said the murder had had a "devastating" impact on her and parents Frances and Robert.

Miss Rothery added: "What on earth could Emma have done to result in such a brutal, callous attack on a defenceless woman?"

While I Was Away,

the company had had the annual dinner. For the second year in a row, I missed it. I heard it was a blast, and from the pic I saw, I believe that it was a blast indeed (dalam bahasa melayu, meletop!)


Every year there will be a theme, and this year, the theme was 'Fantasy'. The crowd came in every forms and shapes imaginable.


Some made it to the final, some left empty handed; all had jovial, unforgettable time nonetheless.


Some spent a fortune for renting, some just being creative and DIY their own costumes.

The dinner was held at the Palace of the Golden Horses (another reason why I was shying away.. too far). The entertainer were Farawahida (who?) and Faizal Tahir. And a lot of Emitian won the lucky draws.

Nothing much to say, just enjoy these pictures below:

Spot the MCOBA boy(s).


The wizard and the witches.


The fans need to get things out off their chests, that is by telling Faizal how huge a fan they are.


"Aku berlindung daripada syaitan yg direjam". She devil.


Mother nature. People, we need to respect mother nature and stop polluting. Look what happened to her. It will take years to undo what we did, but it doable. So, starts now!


Wonder woman. Makes you wonder is that a real woman.


Malaysian Fairies. Or should I say, Feri Malaysia.


Hah ngko, baju tidor jer dia pakai. Fantasi juga tu.

Steamfish with taucu (fermented soybean)

Preparation Time: 15min

Ingredients:
Chilli
Garlic
Ginger
Fish - Any white flesh fish
Fermented soybean (tauchu)
Oil


Cook the rice. Can skip this step if youre using the steamer.


Heat the oil, put in the garlic an chili. Fry till aromatic. Add tauchu. Stir in till the fragrant of the tauchu permeate.


Remove from heat. Place the fish on the steamer / foil. Scatter gingers around.


Pour in the sauce onto the fish.


Put them into the rice cooker. The fish is done when your rice is cooked.

Enjoy!


After lunch we went and watched Australia. Good movie 4 out of 5 stars. And after the movie... we walked around th ecurve, gagaing over the deco there. Better than Pavilion and KLCC. As you can see here, I was trying hard to imitate the elf. Try again, harder!

Nyanyi-Satu-Lubang (Sing-a-pore) Part 2

Cont:
On the way back, we made a stop to fill the gas.


I was impressed when I saw speedpass (automated payment) system was being used in Singapore. Wish they have it here in Malaysia too. Speedpass also have a sentimental value to me, because back in 2004, I did the WTP for eBusiness and got to study this system in details.

I was also hoping that someday, our smiles card could also be used in Singapore and Thailand, so that we could have extra edge vs Shell and Petronas.

Last few weeks I visited the Petroleum Convention in KLCC, saw the hybrid car and fall in love with it. Then here, I saw it on the road. Hmm.. this car would only be available in MY in 2010-2011. Should save money from now :p

We headed to Plaza Singapura to meet Sherene for tea. Little did we know that the traffic would be horrendous. We should have called her and pick her up from any MRT stations instead.


We arrived quite late and I had to rush for dinner with other friends. My schedule was so pack, I barely had time to shop (excuses).


Had quick tea and did some catch up with Sherene. After a cup I said goodbye and rushed to Bishan.


There I met Lusi(again), Lina and Kwang. I hadnt met Lina nor Kwang for almost 10 years, and boy, they didnt changed much.


But they said I changed a lot, and if they were to bumped into me on the road, they wont recognized me, probably ran away if I said hi... heh heh. Yeah I know back then I was only 110lbs (48kg).

Later we went for the movies. The day the earth stood still!

My review? CRAP. No matter how charming you might thought that kayu keanu would be, he's not worth RM10 (or SGD10). Not even worth RM4 for pirated dvd. Better torrent that movie instead.

The movie is/was annoying with weak characters development and fuzzy ending. One advise to Will and Jada, keep you kid at home. you guys are rich enough. Make him a doctor or something. He's just a plain annoying brat who cant act.

And the ending. Keanu vanished into the thin air without having a chance to meet with the world leaders. How are they going to believe that Jennifer Connelly managed to persuade him to abort the attack? Plus, if Keanu could communicate with those nano bugs, how come they still eat him? Stewpid.

Went back home pissed and broke that night.

Did nothing much on the day after. Lazing around int he morning. Drag my ass to the museums in the afternoon. Saw an accident. She (the driver)must be drunk of something to hit the pole in the middle of the day.

National Museum of Singapore
=============================
Nice building from the outside. Went inside, saw the fee, turned back. SGD20 dammit. Better read abt Singapore in Wikipedia.

There are free period though. Kindly visit after 6pm or on Friday (whole day free)

Singapore Art Museum
=============================
Again, at the lobby I turned back. SGD10 (or was it SGD8)

Peranakan Museum
=============================
Paid discounted rate of SGD10 (for both Peranakan and Asian Civilization). nice collection of peranakan stuff, but by the 3rd floor my feet was killing me (4th storey museum).

Didnt take any pic though, because the ah pek manning the floor looked fierce. Like he would bark at you in Hokkien if you cough or stretch your legs.

And he hovered around like those kanina salesgirls in Parkson/Jusco whenever you browsed through the items, on which, they would also immediately rearranging the whole rack with attitude, although you barely touch the jacket. You get the idea.

To make the matter worse there were only two of us in the museum. The anonymous ang moh guy and myself. That ang moh guy also didnt dare to tak eany pic, even though he has the Nikon D90 SLR.


Browsed the map at the lobby to the ACM. Hmmm, pretty near, I could walk!

WRONGGGG... after like 20 minutes walking, the ACM was nowhere to be sighted. Saw this Fire brigade Museum though. And its freee.. Yippie.


Went to Armenian church next door and continued my journey. Urghhhh.. I've been walking from Orchard. And the ACM is in Boat Quay, in front of the Maybank.

Should have taken the bus, because I still have like SGD20 on my ezlink card. And I forgot to return the card for refund. next year could no longer use that card anymore. Thy are changing the card to the newer one.


Spend like 3 hours in ACM. So many things to view so little time.

Nyanyi-Satu-Lubang (Sing-a-pore) Part 1

As you guys might already know, I celebrated eid down south this time around. Touched down at Changi around 10am. Took the train to the arrival hall. Saw the immigration counter. Quite puzzled when there were no crowds (in fact I was the only one).

Okayyyyy.. this is weird. Nonetheless, went on and submitted my passport.

"Do you have luggage?"

"Yeah"

"You arrived on Terminal 1. This is Terminal 3. I can stamped your passport, but you wont be able to retrieve your luggage back there then."

Well, I'll be darn. Went back to the correct gate, saw the correct arrival hall on which I missed just now. And lo and behold, the line was long too.

Took the MRT to the CBD. Around 11.30am sms Brandy. I'll be there in 10 min.

Arrived. Sms her again, "I'm downstair."

No answer! Forgotten her house number too. Great! Okay, had my lunch first and walk around Orchard. Still no answer. It was 3pm. Something happened to her?


Finally around 5pm she called me. Haiyah, having so much fun last night. Went to her place, take a shower, out for dinner with other friends and left her to catch up with her much needed slumber. hi hi. Had spageddi for dinner. Somehow this time it tasted different.

Walked around Orchard gaga-ing over the Christmas deco. Makes you wonder were there that many Christians down here (google up, turn out abt 15% of its pop are Christians).


Anyway, woke up, late. Had some cookies. Lazing around, then we decided to have lunch with CT.


CT already had her lunch. So we proceed to have ours. I have the salmon while Brandy had tuna. her tuna was good (the red meat in front of my plate on the pic above), but my salmon was superb. albeit the repulsive name of the dish.

"Pan seared salmon in banana curry gravy" something like that. Like banana and curry? Let alone banana, curry and salmon! Turned up it was great :p

CT arrived later on.


Then, I had to leave, to meet the other nyonya. The best thing was that the other nyonya left her phone at home. So we ahd to rely on pre-mobile meeting method. Set a place to meet at specific time and hope for the best.

Promised to meet her at the grand piano at the Paragon at 3pm. I was there on the dot with some spare time to go to the restroom. Talking abt the restroom, they no longer use the waterless system loo. Maybe the urine stench was too much for those macrobacteria to chew on.


So yeah, I waited and waited. 20 min went by and I almost left. Then she arrived. Typical Indonesian... :p

Watched the piano recital for a while. Then she had her lunch (and I had bread for dessert?!)

Walked around shopping high and low. Someone asked me to buy something at specific budget. So I had to go to almost all shop for the item. To no avail obviously. Gucci was out of the q because:
1) The queue was insanely long. And those singaporean were willing to q up, what's up with that?
2) According to Brandy, only auntie2 bought Gucci.


Later that day we decided to head for the Performance Arts Center (Durian building) to watch the play. But neither of us were wearing appropriate attire (as pic above), leaving us with the only option available. Free show at the padang behind the PAC library.

Bad choice. It was painful. Its the children performance. And when I said children, its not like Malaysian children, choir, fashion show and such.

These children performed Beyonce numbers, pussy cat doll, rap, high school musical, you get the idea.

And of course I badmouthed every performance. Children or not, if you performed badly, youre doomed.

And one performance in particular caught our attention. Not that it was great or anything, but because i was loooooong. Like 15 minutes stage time for herself.

I told Lusi she has got to be a daughter of the Director of something in PAC. Her mom must had threatened, either her daughter performed, or there wont be any show at all.

.... Lusi said I was mean!

Then we headed for boat quay for dinner. i wanted to go to the Lau Pa Sat, but she was too tired to walk. Susah jalan dengan orang2 tua ni. Hi hik.

Went back.

Woke up, late again. Wanted to go for a swimming.. but too lazy.

We went to somewhere for lunch. It was halfway orchard and holland village. Dont remember the place name, but i believed it was an Army barrack before they converted the whole place into rows of restaurant/ pub. And damn, the food was expensive.


The place literally took me back into my childhood in the army camp. And the sundry shop resembled Naafi, on which when I entered transported me back into the 80s. The biscuits, the canned food, everything..


-- dont really get the answer/jokes. the question in front of the tissue was "What is a Ben & Jerry chunk spelunker?"

Anyway, Brandy suggested ben n jerry for lunch.

"Are you nuts? eating ice cream for lunch.. I'm hungry &%$#@%^& " I mumbled to myself.


"What you said?" she asked.

" Oh, I said, that's the cutest looking dog no?"

"Yeah it is, come come, take picture.."


I reluctantly sat and opened the menu.

Voila!!! Got real meal.. Happy again.


Then we had ice cream. Too bad CT cant join. She's too high class for Ben n Jerry.. Kiddin. She had to go back already.