yeaaaaaaaaahhh!!! akhirnyer aku da benti keje da pon....hihihihihh

Christmas Eve @ Raymond & Mary Daniel house

We went to Raymond house last night for their Christmas eve party. Raymond is Amin's senior officer at Cerner. He is also a Malaysian, used to live in Kelantan. He got married with Mary, a native American, and they recently got a baby boy.


Mary and Raymond with their son Brandon.

I unfortunately got sick since I went to the Eid Festival. I shouldn't have come because I don't want other kids and the baby to get sick either. But since I told Raymond that I would come and Amin wasn't interested to go by himself, I decided to go. But when I was there, I just looked at the baby and took pictures, I didn't dare to touch/held him.

The gathering was great. They catered halal food from a Malaysian couple. I actually made some karipap for the gathering, but it wasn't enough. In 2 hours all my karipap were gone! A few sisters hadn't get a chance to taste my karipap. So I think I'll make some more if we have another gathering.

Eid Festival @ Olathe, KS

The weather was terrible on that day. It was kinda like a small blizzard, so windy and snowing like crazy. But since I've participated, I gotta go. The festival took place in Olathe, KS which is 40 mins away from our house. But it took us an hour to get there because the traffic was quite slow. There were lotsa accidents involving trucks and vans along the way. We counted 5! Fortunately our car was heavy with foods and drinks, so alhamdulillah we got there safely.

There were not many people when we came. The other vendors were still setting up their booths, and some just arrived.


Our booth - Malaysian cafe.

Eventually, lotsa people came, mostly from Pakistani community. They estimated 2000 - 3000 will come, but only 400 people showed up. And half of them were teenagers, I guess they got nothing to do at home, so they came to hang out with their friends. They didn't buy anything much, just talking and watching the performances.

The other vendors that sold food, they are from restaurants. We were actually the only one who sold homemade food. So since they got some sort of reputation and people knew them well, they sold more food than us. Also, it was hard to sell Malaysian dishes because these people were not familiar with our food (we even gave them to sample our food!)


So basically it wasn't a successful event. I came home, rugi banyak :(

I spent $220 to buy all the stuffs, and I only got around $90 from the sale. But when I think about it, I knew other vendors from the restaurants also didn't make money at all. They had lotsa food left at the end (one of them had food for 35 people left), and they also had to pay for labor cost (because they brought their employees with them). It was like, semua org rugi la, so I didn't feel that terrible.

I was thinking about going to Alamo Bowl to watch PSU football game with Texas A&M on Dec 29. But since I didn't make money at all at the festival, I can't go anywhere, takde duit. Hmm tinggal angan2 saja la.

cant no longer wait....

phuuuhh~da x sabanye nk stop keje....haihhzzz br terase bosan coz every do the same work jer...every morning kne lap tingkap laa...meja laa...hahaahaha sampai nk terberak aku wut keje 2 every day...x dapat bygkan kalo keje cmtu for the whole life....janet...ko pon keje cm2 ker???everyday repeat the same thng???boringnyer...hehehhe n nk tergelak bce psl janet tulis...about the reward O annual fund...the idea was great...tp yg lawaknyer psl kne fill in form....huhuhu tp bgs gak laa...ntah erkk...pelik....sumer cousin2 kt x der yg dpt top2....haiihhzzz...yg ok cume athirah jer laa kot....mmmm btw gem....nape every function ko mesti amik gamba mkanan!!ehh den ko nak jual 100+ kuih tart 2 ader ker orng yg order???byk btolll business ko....ok2 nnti aku post pic ngn indon2...actually da lme amik tp x sempat ltk jer....hehehe =)

Hari Raya Korban

Amin and I went to Kak Safiah's house on the day of Hari Raya as she hold an open house. It was a great gathering, especially because the food she cooked was superbly yummy. Believe it or not, I had 4 plates full of food, the most so far I had at one time. Hahaha crazy.. (no wonder the day after the gathering, I gained 2 lbs when I checked on my weight! Argh!)

Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera (cursed myself for that !&#$@!%). So these are photos from kak Safiah's camera.


The official Hari Raya kek, courtesy from Kak Lily.


Me and Julia were gossiping (in a traditional way ahahaha).


The ladies (sorry the picture resolution is so small, that's why it's blurry).

Anyway tomorrow is the Eid Festival day. I haven't finished baking and making kuih. The last few days I wasn't so productive, hehehe dah malas. My target is to sell 100 of cookie containers, but as of right now, I only have around 80+ , way way off the target. Well whatever lah, I'm just going to have fun tomorrow I guess.

Ice Storm

We haven't gotten any snow until last week when the ice storm hit this place. Here are the aftermath:


Our Directv satellite receiver on the roof was frozen (this is the main problem when you subscribe satellite instead of TV cable). So we couldn't watch TV the whole night. Next day, Amin had to shoot some water from the hose, and finally the receiver's back!



Even the phone and electric line were frozen... and the trees too.


All whitey, no more greeny


Our neighbor's frozen pine tree


A closer look...

So... this is what they called ice storm. I haven't seen anything like this in Pennsylvania. Usually the winter starts with heavy snow and snow... and some more snow. Sometimes there's hail (hujan air batu), but nothing like this (winter starts with ice storm??).

Blabbing again..

Hey Hey.. I think I'm the only one visiting and actually writing something at this blog. Meng & Enol have been busy with their jobs. Gem shouldn't be busy.. but maybe she's trying to finish up another chapter of Harry Potter hehe.
This week has been a very exiting week for me. On Monday, Cessna IE Manager was here. He's a great guy, very down to earth and easy to work with. I was a little nervous at first, thou I've met him few times before. We had few meetings this week. We went over ramping up plan, capacity planning, manpower, bottleneck, scheduling etc. The plan is to make as many planes as possible without killing ourselves. Heh..I'm not sure that's the best way to put it. They wanted to make sure that the company can crawl before they can let us run.
Oh did I tell you that the company's name has changed too..it's Cessna Aircraft Company- Bend. I likey it!
I was taking shower last night and started to think that I need to make a change. I just realized that not many people in my extended family is doing well. For instance, I can hardly find a college degreed relative, not even a cousin. Then I'm trying to think who has excelled in any big exams; pmr, spm..maybe a few. And who has become doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers or any other professions...maybe one or two. This is sad. So...crazy thought..I'm thinking about creating an annual fund. Maybe RM 1,000 per year for any of my relative yg excel in school. Hopefully this will help family yg susah for bying books, tuition fees, and it might boost up their spirit ti study too. They will need to fill in forms, report their academic progress and also outdoor activities etc. I'll pick the best. What do you guys think?

Better Together

Yesterday was the Cessna flag raising ceremony. Around 8 AM, we gathered around the company's flag pole. They brought down Columbia flag and naikan flag Cessna. It wasn't fun to watch, but I guess it was ok thou it was a big lost for Malaysia. Later that evening, we had another meeting and we got these.

Today, I enrolled in Cessna benefit program. I won't get free insurance anymore. Hundreds will be deducted from my paystubs from now on. Makin sikit la gaji ku....hadus. Anyhoo..the benefit is great. The best part is it covers orthodontist service, mmg diidamkan selama ni tapi tak mampu. Now I can have braces and fix my ugly tooth. I really really need braces.
Today, I got my last paycheck from Columbia... and a termination letter too. I was a little shocked, didn't expect that. So, I looked around to make sure that everybody else received the same letter too. Phewww..sume org pun dapat.
It's official. I just got terminated by Columbia and hired by Cessna. How long can I stick around?

Turkey Day Pics

Hye Hye I totally forgot that I took some pictures of Thanksgiving dinner. We had the dinner a week earlier before the T day because we were planning on going to SF on the T day week. But we didn't :(
I cooked a complete Thanksgiving meal, (minus turkey). Instead of turkey, I made roasted chicken. We couldn't find any halal turkey here. I made some pasta too, my first trial and it was really yummy. The rest of the dishes: potato salad, mesh potato, gravy, stuffing, mac & cheese.

keje!!!!

huhuhuh hye everybody....quite long time i din open this blog..think last time was b4 i went home....hehehhe yer laa per tak nye...i start working the day after i went home...coz malam tibe bp...trus cari keje...ahahhahah meng yang da 1 week kat bp...siap x dpt...huhuhu dia giveup cpt sgt...soo ive a great experience workng as a waitress..phuuuhhh...pnat glerr....my 1st day was so challenging...aper x nyer..coz aku start keje on sunday....the busiest day...mmg kekok n malu gak actuallynyer....tp da lame2 da get use ok laaa....hehheh my 1st week workng...mmg mcm taik...coz kne adapt ngn environment br...sooo hard...pekerja len indon...tukang masak 2 orng indon sorng malay man..waitress indon sorng n the rest chinese...they r actually younger thn me..sme umo ngn mira...br mek PMR...n they do part time...biase laaa chinese ngn chinese ckp mandrin...indon pon tau ckp mandrin..haihzz mne laaa nk msk cm2...mm mmg bosan...slalunyer aku g kdai sblh o x pn bual ngn tukang msk je laaa...den ari ke braper ntah....aku bual2 ngn kedai sblh...."chiken rice shop" ngn asstant supervser dier...tanyer laaa ader keje kosong g x...4 meng actually...den dier ckp ader...so ari2 gak aku suro meng g interview....actually meng start keje kat piza hut kat bukit pasir ari2 petang....hahahaha tp bler interview kat chicken rice shop 2...dapat plak...so lg snang kalo keje same tempat ngn aku kat bpmal...huhuhuh pnat aku goda asstant sup 2 bia accept meng...meng nyer salary da laaa lg byk...akunyer sket glerr...tp x per laaa mmm aku ni gaji same level ngn indon jer....rm600 per month N rm20 ony perday!!!hahhaha byngkn laaa....ntah aper laaa boley beli...da laa kje 4 12 hours...pnat wooo...mmg x der life langsung!!!pegi keje mlm blk..2 jer laaa...kalo keje mcm 2..mmg x de future.....mmm hey guys...ive 2 stp here laa...nk siap2 g keje...pg ni tbgn awal....so de mse laa bkk blog nie...ni br beginning keje..lom msk part len!!!hahahhaha rmai gak pemnat2 aku ni..ahhahahaha miss u siss n luv u 2!!!!!!!!!mmmmuuuahhhxxx

Columbia to Cessna

The auction was held yesterday. And today, it's official. I'm no longer working for Columbia Aircraft anymore.. new name, new look; Cessna Aircraft.
I feel a little intimidated. Transaction from a 400-employees-company to a 15,000-employees-company makes me feel awkward and scared. The new owner will have a lot of expectations, or should I say impossible expectations. Huh...I need to start and fire up my brain.
We had a company lunch earlier today. The president of Cessna was here at our company giving his speech. His speech was very comforting, and very very business oriented. I must admit that he's one articulate man. For once, I have a very good feeling that the company is moving to the right direction.
For myself I still have some doubts that the new owner will retain me. I don't know...I just don't have the confidence. I think I have wasted my 2 years doing hardly anything. Zuhri keeps convincing me that without realizing it, I've gained experiences like many others.
OK OK positive thinking. Here's the start point to move forward..big company, big challenge, big $, vast experience waiting.

T-Day Trip

Finally it was the Thanksgiving week, I was so excited I couldn't sleep the night before. Been busy packing stuffs and cleaning here and there. Our flight departed at 8.20 am, but we went to the airport right after Subuh pray. Alhamdulillah we didn't have any problems along the way, just that the weather was so cold. It was snowing the day before, so no wonder..


My happy and sleepy face :D


Our plane: Midwest Airlines. We got a pretty good deal. $550 for 2 tickets.



The waiting area was almost vacant. Nobody wanted to be here on the Thanksgiving Day, except us!

We changed flight at Milwaukee, WI around noon, and finally arrived at Pittsburgh Airport at 2.50 pm. Ayah Amin, Luqman and Hamzah were there to pick us up, then we went straight to Indiana.

We didn't eat turkey until the next day for lunch (after black friday crazy shopping).




Happy faces..


And here was my plate. Yum yum yum...

It took 2 days to finish all the 20 lbs turkey. And the only thing remain was the wishbone. This time, it was Amin and Muhsin's turn to see who would get their wish.


Amin fought for his half wishbone.


And he fought again... and he finally got his wish!!! :)


On Saturday, we went to State College, just because it was 2 hours away from Indiana. We just did some more shopping over there, bought some Penn State merchandises, some clearance clothings and other stuffs. We also went to the Penn State Creamery to buy ice creams, but it was closed. No luck.


Me and Hana. I bought this dress for Hana, and Amin bought her the teddy bear (for her birthday present). Bye bye Indiana, see ya next year insya Allah!

"never ever forget"

hehehhe saje jer wut title 2...as u guyz knw tat ive won 4 tckets of peter pan d musical..sooo now im gonna wrte bout tat precious moment...1st in mylife....hehhhehhe =) i felt really grateful coz everythng was smooth n almost perfect...dr segi pjlanannye..transport...tme management..mmg x lewat sgt nn x awl sgt ktorng g....accmodation n pas2 yg pentng...x sesat langsung even it ws our 1st tme 2 get there...mase show 2 mmg2 btol2 ngam2 ngn tarikh ktorng habis exam....pg abis examm mlm berronggeng ngk teater...bapak best...hehhe ive learnt somethng...nver say no b4 try...b4 pegi rser cm ssh gler jer nk g kl.,.istana budaya...mcm nk cancel g pon ader....tp bler da pg...adulaa kacang jer...tuka2 train pon x ssh sgt laa then bout d cost 4 transport pon mmg reasonable....below rm10 jer pon....pegi n blk...basically ktorng ptt btolak dlm kol 4..tp tme 2 laaa ribut petir...hahah so dlm 4.20 br laaa terkedek2 kua hostel...ok laa pas2 nek ktm sume pon biase jerr..tbe kt titiwangsa...uncle n aunty kwn aku y jemput..so we direct went 2 istana budaya 2 claim d tckets...i found tat there were about 145 winners n luckily..i won type A category...soo our seats actually quite front..but most imprntant was the price!!!!hahah guess how much per tcket????high-sky price : rm223 for type A..4 VIP rm263...but i thnk....its worth 2 buy the tckets even its too expensve coz the show was really2 grate n amzing...everyone n not certain only show their talent n did well...all of them cn act..sing as well as dance...i love all the songs they present that nite..besh sgt..ngn menarinyer lg...peter pan was frm japan...he's 13 ony...n mmg talented laa....one more thng..bout the props n settng...mmg tip top...advanced gler2...we all wonder how it works...coz background yg besa2 n berat katil n all that dier move sendiri....mmg best laa ngk..pas2 the show end at 11 pm...after tkng pictures ktorng pon blk n overnite at my fren's uncle n aunty's house....da laaa aku x mandi pon..hahhha sok pg br laa terkedeks2 blk..eh but lpe mention jz b4 ktorng ngk show 2...actually ktong g "i on msia" whch is quite near istana buday..jln kaki jer...mmg lawa n i've snap few photos there....mm ok ngk laa pic2 nie...

Eid ul-Fitr @ KCMO Part II

So it was another gathering last Saturday (actually the third time for Raya celebration). I wasn't that excited anyways because we met the same people, only a few newcomers. We volunteered to cook the main dish which is ayam percik. The organizer, Kak Emmy, told us that she estimated 80 people to show up for the event, and some people were asking about ayam percik. So they were kinda expecting us to cook a really good ayam percik. Hehehe..

Amin was up for the challenge. We practiced for two nights, altering the recepi here and there. And the results...


The guests said ayam percik was really good, it had all the taste. So I think we nailed it. (Amin did most of the cooking actually. I was just assisting him ahahaha. Some sisters/ brothers mcm terkejut tgk Amin masak dgn pakai apron sume. They never thought Amin was really good at cooking. Unfortunately I didn't take the picture at that time, since I was busy helping Amin. But Kak Emmy's husband, Madi, did took some pictures of us. Will post them whenever I got them).


Those who were at the gathering (ladies' side). Not many actually, only 50+ people came including the kids.

Another thing, I finally sold my kuih raya on that day after a week of hard work.



The sisters were very pleased when they received their orders. One of them told me that she had been waiting for that day to get tart nenas since her kids love it so much. Hehehe such a compliment!

Actually, two other sisters are also interested to buy my kuih raya, but I didn't have enough time to make it. I don't know when I'll meet them again, so will see. I also managed to make some kuih for Janet, but only half way done, hehe maybe I'll make some more kuih tomorrow/ Tuesday.

Aidilfitri

Ok it's raya time. I don't have the mood to elaborate much. Too much stuff going on right now, work is like hell. Now I really regret for not study betul2 time college dulu, especially on subjects like physics and chemistry. Too late to I guess, but rasanye google boleh tolong la. :(

Last Saturday we had raya gathering. So the night before (Friday), masak mcm org gile. I made

lots of nasi himpit and rendang on Friday while Zuhri made roti jala. Both of us stayed up late until 3 AM, COOKING! I thought this would never happen after college life but I was wrong, ye la kat Purdue dulu kena masak for PUMSA (Malaysian Association). So the raya day (Saturday), went to solat raya. Back from solat raya, continue cooking like a zombie. The whole day rasa mcm zombieeee. Later that evening we had our open house at Comfort Inn. We rented a meeting room. A lot of people from muslim community and work came. We had a great time although I felt like a zombie most of the evening.

That's all about my raya. Waiting for Enol's and gem's.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the webcam project didn't work. Bummer meng's laptop cannot handle their webcam. The firewall has been disabled but still tak boleh play the webcam. Stupid laptop. I was so frustrated that day.

1. Pagi raya with Kak Mai's family

2. Three of us from Purdue

3. The hosts and guests

4. The hosts all together

5. My favorite boy Naqib. hehe

Eid ul-Fitr @ KCMO

I made some more kuih raya on the last two days of fasting. First time I didn't cook any dish for Hari Raya (like nasi empit, lontong, rendang, etc.) because I was so busy baking kuih raya :D
Kak Emmy, the host for raya gathering on Saturday, asked me to bring lotsa kuih raya to her house. The thing is I didn't plan to make it earlier (konon2 nak kasi kuih yg fresh la kan), so the last two days before Hari Raya was like a marathon of making kuih! Pagi - petang - sampai malam menguli doh. (Fortunately Amin tak complain ape2 hahaha)


This is rose tart (simply because of its shape) . The red jam is actually a strawberry jam. Very sweet kuih.


Mama carries...! My favorite one.


This is the second version of my tart nenas. A little smaller and much sweeter.


Me and my kuih raya :D Everyone at the gathering loved my kuih, even the kids (they ate it like they ate rice!) So I'm very pleased with the outcome. My effort tak sia2 la.

Now, I need to make kuih raya for this coming Saturday and next Saturday. Ade tempahan :D So skarang ni I tgh busy balik hehehe.

Webcam Raya

Yoohoo..dah nak raya.
So kite dah ready ke nak berwebcam di hari raya ni? Nya ko kena ckp la pukul bape ko nak online n boleh berwebcam. Maybe mlm raya and also pagi raya la kan, provided ko dah beli webcam.
1. Kalau ko nak online malam raya (Friday night in Msia), kat US is Friday morning. Aku boleh join kejap dlm kul 9:00- 9:30 PM kat Msia. After that nak pegi keje.
2. Kalau online pagi raya (Saturday morning in Msia), kat US is Friday night. Aku boleh je online anytime. Let say before and after solat raya kat msia, which is pukul 9:00- 10:00 AM.

Let me know nya! I'm all excited.

Demam Kuih Raya :D

Surprise.. surprise.. I'm finally done making kuih raya. Actually I will call that as a practice because I might need to make some more kuih raya for the coming Eid gathering. I made four different kuih raya: semperit and biskut seribu kemanisan (these two I have already tried last year, so it was quite easy). And the other two are tart nenas and biskut arab.


This is semperit. I bought the semperit mold last year in Malaysia. Unfortunately, it was so hard to use it (maybe I bought the crappy one ahahaha). So I just used a flower mold. Anyway, biskut seribu kemanisan looks similar to this semperit since I also used a flower mold to make the shape (but it's a five petals flower). So no need to show off ehehe.

Now, comes the tart nenas. I wasn't able to find jem nenas here (actually it's very rare to find one, probably sold at Indian store and it's very expensive), so I gotta make it from scratch. I did some research, and I found out the easiest way (Cara tipu): just bought the crushed pineapple in the can, cooked it with a slow heat, mixed with a lot of sugar and some yellow coloring. Taadaa, here's the result:


Still cooking, have to stir it frequently, tak mau hangit.


Well cooked jem nenas. I made it into small balls so that it's easier to put it in the dough.


Again, I didn't have the mold for tart nenas. So I just made up the shape, like nenas (Amin keeps calling it dinosaur's eggs :( Not funny! )

And the last one, biskut Arab, I made it this afternoon. This is also a very simple kuih raya (only 3 ingredients!). But I wanted to make it interesting, so I put some colorings in the dough. That was the tedious part, because I had to kneel it for quite some times to make the colors even.

Amin took this picture. Red, Yellow and Green dough (guess what, they look like traffic lights ;) )


Final product: biskut Arab.

Since si Janet dah kasi hint2 dia teringin nak kuih Raya, and I am in Raya mode, I will send some of these to her (takut Janet kempunan). If she is lucky, she might get it on the first day of Syawal. To Meng and Dik Noi, sori la korang kena buat sendri hehehe.

Update

Ok ok..ramai yg tanye ape dah jadi dgn my company...mmg confirm dah bankrupt. Haiyakss...manyak susah sekalang. But seems like there are a few company yg interested of buying. We'll see..most probabily Cessns will take over. For those who do not have any idea what Cessna is..maybe this will help http://www.cessna.com/. Cessna is a very well off company in general aviation industry with more than 10,000 workers. I hope I can be one of them..huhu berangan.
In a way, it might be good for most of us. Malaysia dah tak payah spend billions, no corruption anymore and now we're back to business. But yeah mat saleh pun banyak politicsnye..it's way too early to tell...

Ok I'm switching to 'fun mode' now. Raya stuff pulak...we will be celebrating raya thou we're having some company difficulties..I'm planning to make raya movie yeppie! Maybe our last raya here in the states. Ok still planning..kalau sape2 tau kat mana nak tgk sample home videos/movies, bagi tau la ye. I need some inspirations.

Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga

When I was writing the phrase above, it sounded so weird to me.. Malay phrases are all weird especially when you try to say it out loud.
Anyway back to real life, my company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. I don't really know what to do at the moment. I might look for jobs, or maybe just stick around and see whats going to happen.
I'm so tired of all these bull shits...but to look for job?...grrrrr...honestly i don't know where to start

Bye bye Columbia.. thanks for the great bumpy ride.

1. One of our model, Columbia 350

2. The company: view from top. I'm gonna miss the facility

3. Planes parking