Savoury Bread Pudding (Puding Roti Berlauk)

You know I always cook up something for Monday night's Tajweed class... so on Tuesdays expect a Culinary Jam post :)
(But actually, I'm thinking of cooking something not so special next week coz I'm afraid of being labelled Muka Puding Roti (The bread pudding lady) .. I better vary my dishes a bit.. tee hee)

Okay as usual, background story:
Everytime I see a bread pudding, I had always wondered whether we could make it savoury instead of sweet. So once I got a reliable recipe for a sweet bread pudding, I decided to try to modify it to make it savoury.. substitute fruits with meat, sugar with cheese and vanilla with salt&pepper. And the result is as follows..


Tested an approved by Ar@mco Tajweed class of 2006 :laugh:

Savoury Bread Pudding (Puding Roti berlauk)

Filling:
500grams mince meat I used beef, but I guess you can subtitute with chicken or even tofu
1 tablespoon curry powder or any other spice of your choice, like seasoning for chilli or kurma
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 medium sized onion chopped roughly
1 can pieces and stems of mushrooms saves time ;) .. you may use fresh mushrooms and chop them up
100grams cashew nuts or your choice of nuts, chopped/ground roughly
1 tablespoon or 1/2 a cube of stock beef, chicken or vegetable.., dissolved in a bit of water
salt&pepper to taste
a handful of raisins (optional)
olive oil for sauteing

Bread pudding proper:
6-8 pieces of bread
cream cheese I use Kr@ft
shredded Mozarella cheese I used a whole packet of 200grams
250ml Evaporated milk
250ml whipping cream
3 whole eggs
salt&pepper

Method:
Prepare the filling:
Marinate the mince meat with the curry powder and oyster sauce for roughly 30 minutes. Saute onions in a bit of olive oil till wilted and slightly browned, then add in the meat. Add the stock liquid. Cook well before adding in the mushrooms, cashew nuts and raisins. Season with salt&pepper to taste. Can be prepared a day before and kept in an airtight container in the fridge. (also good in toasted sandwiches.. yummy)
To make the bread pudding:
In a bowl, mix well evaporated milk, whipping cream, 3 eggs and salt and pepper. Set aside and ready to ladle.
Butter well your baking dish at the bottom and sides. Spread cream cheese on one side of the bread, cut off the crust (save the crust) and then cut the remaining bread into small pieces. Arrange bread in a layer, cheese side up. Ladle on the milk+egg mix till bread is covered. Layer on the meat, then the mozarella cheese. Then put another layer of bread (cheese side up), ladel milk+eggs, meat and mozarella and so on till you almost reach the top of the baking dish. Arrange the bread crust on the very top layer, pour the remaining milk+eggs mixture over.
Let stand for at least an hour while you pre-heat your oven to 350deg Farenhite.
Put a few dollops of butter on the top crust, then bake for 45minutes to an hour.

The arranged crust gave an interesting look to the finished dish, and gave a crunchy texture.
I made some gravy to go with it, but my friends said it was good enough to eat without the gravy. (Gravy: saute finely chopped garlic till fragrant, add half a cup water, 2 chicken stock cubes and a bit of soy sauce for color. Add cornflour mixed in water - adjust for your desired thickness. Season to taste. Strain before serving for that smooth texture)(Or use a gravy mix that u can find in the supermarket .. tee hee)

We had the savoury bread pudding for supper, but I guess it could be eaten for breakfast or tea or even dinner (with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables on the side perhaps?). I had some leftovers for breakfast with some ketchup.. :p

Am I raising sissies?

Reading the comments on yesterday's post about Ihsan's lost shoe reminded me of the time when he came home from school crying.
I did not get on the bus to pick him up that day, so I don't know what exactly happened, but he came home and said Hyun Bin and Ziy@d had called him 'nugget boy' and laughed at him.
After calming him down, I asked him what he was feeling and he said he felt like hitting those kids. I told him that that was not a nice thing to do, irregardless of what those kids did to him. If he had hit those boys, the boys' mothers and I would be very mad at him. We finally settled on walking to the boys' houses and me having a chat with their mothers. That made him feel better.

The next day I rode the bus to pick him up from school and chatted with Noran (the other bus monitor) about what had happened to Ihsan and I told her about Ihsan wanting to hit the boys and what my response to Ihsan was. It was meant as a funny anecdote, but I was really suprised by her reaction to it.
She said "No.. you should let them have their revenge. It will make them feel better".
I, of course, disagreed with her, but only in my heart (because being a Malay, we are often taught not to offend other people).

I am the kind of person who believe that being defensive is better than being offensive. So I would rather equip my kids with skills on how to avoid a potentially dangerous situation and how to handle being 'attacked', rather than how to exact revenge.

Once they get on the bus, I tell them to keep their hats and jackets in their bags, so that the other kids won't even think of playing with their hats or jackets.
I tell them to keep their toys in their bag till they get home, not only because I don't want them to lose them, I want to spare them the heartache that they will get when other kids see it and take it away from them.
I try to teach them how to ignore teasing and taunts by thinking good thoughts in their heads instead of talking back to the teaser (though that does not always work).
I tell Ihsan to wear sandals to the park so that his feet doesn't get sweaty and hot and he won't have to take off his shoes (and other boys won't play with his shoes and throw it up a tree again).
I teach my kids how to 'trade': when they want something some other person has, offer them something you have that they might like.
I try really hard to teach my kids that hitting someone is very very bad. (unfortunately I am not very good at teaching them this)

Sometimes I wonder if I am raising my kids to be sissies. Am I?

But then again, when I watch the news nowadays, I think I'd rather be raising my kids that way rather than see them burn buildings just because some bully somewhere rattled their cage.

The 100th day of School and The Lost Shoe

The 100th Day of School
Today is the 100th day of school and the kids are allowed to go to school in plain clothes. Since this whole week was Book Week, they are also expected to come as a character from their favourite book or a fable/tale/traditional story that they like.

Keeping in-line with the frog prince bookmark that Ilham made , he went to school dressed as The Frog Prince. We don't have a frog suit, so Ilham just put on khaki-green pants, a green t-shirt and we made a frog prince hat.



Ihsan had brought "Have You Seen My C@t?" to school as his favourite book, so he decided to dress up as 'the boy who was looking for his cat'. (I asked him whether he wanted to be a cat instead, coz then I'd make him a cat hat or mask or something, but he insisted on being the boy). So he put on regular clothes and I made him a sign saying "Have You Seen My C@t?" and he drew a fat cat on it. He brought it to school instead of putting it on straight away, because he was afraid he would accidently tear it on the bus. He's going to ask his teacher to help put it on his shirt when he gets to school.
(oh, Ihsan also went to school with a tupperware of cucur keria (sweet potato doughnuts, which he will share with his friends).

The Lost Shoe

I was in such a bad mood yesterday, I don't know why.. I think I'm still a bit off today.
Anyways, the kids went to play at one of the playgrounds while I was preparing tea. When they came home, I found Ihsan missing one shoe. He said one of the boys threw his shoe up a tree and now they can't get it.
I told them to go to Moham@d Jund1's (that's the boy's name) house and tell his mother about it. From my kitchen window I saw them run past the boy's house and towards the park instead. It was starting to get dark and I was starting to get really irritated that they didnt follow my instructions, so I put on my head scarf and went out to look for them.
They really got an earful from me. It was like question after question and their answers were too slow and were never good enough.
They showed me the shoe up the tree. It was really high up on the date tree. They had propped up one of the plastic slides against the tree but they couldn't reach it.

We went to the boy's house, but nobody answered the door and the house looked dark. I guess they had gone out while we were at the playground looking at the shoe.
I berated my kids again.

Why did you take your shoes off in first place?
Why did you let Moham@d Jund1 play with your shoes?
Why didnt you go to his house like I told you?
That's it, you're never going to the playground again.
Wait till your father comes home.

Well, Taufik came home and injected some rationality into the whole situation. He suggested we call the parents and just ask them to retrieve the shoe for us, in a calm and rational way. I said okay, but he would have to be the one making the call, because I wasn't in the mood to be calm and rational.
Unfortunately, the Jund1 household were out the whole evening.
damn.

This morning I was mulling about the the shoe, and I decided, I am definitely not in the mood to call Moham@d's mom. I don't think I am in the right mood to be able to talk to her without sounding accusatory and creating animosity.
So I decided to call the grounds security. I told them what happened and asked them whether they could help me get the shoe. I had to go to the playground and show them exactly where the shoe was. They said they will ask one of the gardeners to help get it and send it to our house.

A few minutes ago the doorbell rang, and there was the gardener with Ihsan shoe.
:)

*phew*

But wait till I see Moham@d Jund1.... I hope I will be in a better mood by then

Serunding Udang (erm.. dried fried shrimp floss?)

If you also read lollies, you'll notice that we expat mommies are always cooking up something. As she said, we really don't have a choice, coz
1) We can't really stand eating ar@b fare day after day. We very the melayu one!! nasi kena ada kuah, masak kena guna bawang.
2) We have nothing better to do anyways. Dok saja karang.. gemuk lak
3) If we don't cook, who will? Our moms are so far away from us. Kalau tak I dah lama telpon or jalan kaki pegi rumah mama aje.. which was exactly what I did when I went back home last time
4) If you're pregnant, like me, and you crave for something that's not even sold here, you have no choice but to cook it yourself.

Another point that lollies brought up was that whenever there are a gathering of Melayus, you are usually expected to bring something. I don't really feel the pressure of being judged by my cooking, but I do know that I get slighted very easily when I see my dish go unfinished (even at home). Plus, I try to vary what I bring, for fear of being labeled as the Makcik Cekodok, or Minah Nasi Goreng or the Pasta Lady.
So that is why you see me trying out new recipes almost every week. Usually I would crave for something, then I would search for the recipe and I would try it out and if I think it's edible, then I would bring it to gatherings to show off test it out.
Slowly, slowly, my repertoire is building.. :)

Anyways. This week I was craving for Cucur Badak (sweet potato balls with spicy shrimp+coconut filling) coz Ihsan asked for Cucur keria (sweet potato doughnuts) so I made some and I had leftover filling, which in turn made me crave for Pulut and Serunding Udang (glutinous rice with dried fried shrimp floss ) ...
Long story short, I ended up making lots of Serunding Udang, so I brought it to my tajweed class last night (together with glutinous rice) and found that my test subjects classmates really liked it. Well, at least they liked it enough to ask me for the recipe.

So you can say that what I will put here is the tried and tested recipe for Serunding Udang..

Serunding Udang

Pound/Blend:
5-8 pieces of dried chillies (or 2 tablespoons of chilli powder, adjust for spiciness)
5 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
1 stalk of lemon grass
½ inch gallangal root
3 handfuls of dried shrimps (the fat ones, roughly 80grams, but the more the tastier)

Don't pound/blend:
50-100grams dessicated coconut (or freshly grated coconuts if you can get them)
½ can coconut milk (err.. roughly 1 cup, i guess?)
2 handfuls of the thin dried shrimp (udang kepal? They are very tiny and thin and almost transluscent)
salt and sugar to taste (I used brown sugar coz it gives a great color in the end)

In a big wok or frying pan, saute the pounded ingredients in 2 tablespoons of oil till fragrant. Dump in the coconut, coconut milk, and the dried shrimps and stir to mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Under the lowest heat you can possibly manage*, continuously stir ingredients until all the liquid is dried up and the ingredients are fried to your desired crispiness. (Personally, I prefer it really crunchy and crispy). Just before everything is totally dry, taste again and add salt/sugar if necessary.

*Note: You have to constantly stir the ingredients to avoid burning it. Believe me, it takes a while for it to dry up and get crispy. Choose a heat level that you have the patience to handle (The lower the heat, the longer it takes to dry up).
At some point you're gonna feel like it's NEVER gonna dry up.. don't give up, coz a perfect end result is so rewarding!
If you need to stop for any reason (e.g. to go watch American Idol, for instance), turn off the heat, take the pot off the stove, and stir until the pot is cooled before leaving it. When you're ready to continue, stir everything while the pot is heating up on the stove.

Eat with cooked glutinous rice (1 cup glutinous rice, 1 cup coconut milk, cook uncovered under high heat till boiling, then cook covered under low heat until it's tender) or even on a buttered toast. YUM YUM YUMMMY!

Variations of this dish that I can think of:
Use anchovies instead of shrimp.
Make it entirely out of the un-pounded thin dried shrimp.
Add fried peanuts? hm.. could be interesting.

Happy trying! ... and don't forget to tell me if it turns out great. (Or not).

Learning to write

We were in the kitchen and Anis was practicing her writing while I was cooking when she asked me,
"Bonda, double you macam mana?" (Mom, how do I write double-u?)
"Turun bawah, naik atas, turun bawah, naik atas" (Go down, then up, then down, then up again), I said.
"oh macam ni?" (oh like this?) and she proceeded to write the letter W successfully.
"Yes! that right! pandai anis.." (Anis is smart..) , I patted her head.
"macam shey eff see shan?" (it's like shey eff see, right?), she grinned at me.
"KFC? macam mana lak macam KFC?" (KFC? How can it be like KFC?) , I was confused
"macam shita mashan burger, fries.." (like where we go to eat burger, fries) , she explained.
"oh... you mean macam McDonald's!! That's an M, sayang" (oh you mean like McDonalds!! That's an M, love.)
"Bonda, M macam mana?" (Mom, how do I write M?) she made a quizzical face
"macam double-u tapi terbalik. Start dari bawah.. naik atas, turun bawah, naik atas, turun bawah.." (it's like W but upside down. Start from the bottom.. go up, down, up, and down again) I showed her how
"Yay!! Shey Eff See!" she raised her hands in triumph.
"M lah! Bukan KFC" (it's the letter M, not KFC)
"oshay...." and she starts to scribble something else.

"Bonda, cuba tengok, apa anis tulis.." (Mom, try and see what I wrote) and she held up her writing book to meand guess what, next to her M, she had written an E, an O, and a W.
"Meow?? Anis, you just wrote 'meow', sayang! Pandainya!!" as I pointed to the word she had inadvertantly wrote
"Yay!! Meow.... masham shat" (Meow, like a cat) and she went off and started meowing all over the house.



my little cute kitten

Shedgum

Last Thursday there was a football (soccer) match between the team of under-9 year-olds from Mal@ysia and the team of under-9 year olds from Ar@mco. We woke up really early to go to Ar@mco. I brought a tupperware of cucur keria (sweet potato donuts) for breakfast. As always with any gathering of melayus, there will sure be plenty of food and it turned out to be a picnic of some sort. We ate fried rice and kuihs and drank hot tea before we went to cheer the team.
Even though the team lost 6 to 1, the kids had a great time coz later on someone brought over a huge pot of fried noodles and orange juice, and yoghurt..
(Ilham did not play in the actual game, by the way, coz he only started learning how to play soccer at school, but he did play with some of the other boys after the game was over)
(sorry, no pictures.. I am too embarassed coz I am SO huge!)

After the game we had to send one of our friends to his office on the highway to Abq@aiq. After dropping him off, we got on the highway to make a U-turn further on, but Taufik said, "Hey, why don't we go for a drive?". Anis and Ihsan was asleep by then, and Ilham agreed, so we stayed on the Abq@iq highway.

So there we were, on our tiny trip to the middle of nowhere...



Roughly in the middle of the journey, we started seeing huge rocky outcrops (which was quite stark compared to the dunes and desert), so Taufik took the junction to Shedgum, and when he saw interesting hills (and when the terrain looks safe), he drove off-road. Thank God for 4-wheel drives..
There were patches of sand, but the rock formations were amazing!
We saw rocks that has been eroded by the sand and wind that was shaped like an elephant, a short man with a big head, and a head, among other things. Ilham saw faces in almost every rock urm face.

The kids woke up just in time to take pictures :)


and I managed to take some pictures of the more interesting rocks (and the very blue sky)

(can u see the elephant and the short man?)

After all the running around, we got a bit hungry, so we drove to the nearest town, which is Ud@iliyah, but the town is so small, it only had one traffic light and 2 restaurants. One restaurants was closed, so we had no choice but to go to the only restaurant that was open. This restaurant did not have a family section, so Anis and I couldn't eat there. Taufik bought us burgers and juice and we ate in the car instead, while he and the boys ate rice.


I didn't mind, actually, coz I didnt feel like eating rice anyways. The burgers were quite good. They served it the ar@b way: tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, fries, ketchup, meat and cheese, all in a toasted sesame bun. Yes, the fries are served in the burger bun.

After lunch we made the hour drive back home, where everybody but Taufik slept all along the way...

All in all, it was a good adventure. The kids just loved looking at the pictures we took.
I wonder where our next detour will take us next...
:laugh:

Bread Pudding (Puding Roti)

What a coincidence!! Lollies made bread pudding too!!

Okay this is my first attempt at baking something. Suddenly I was craving for bread pudding, so I decided to browse for some recipes and found one that was labelled 'Pasti Sedap' (Guaranteed Delicious), so I decided to try it out.
You can find the original recipe at Mesra.net, but here's my version (coz my baking pan is smaller and I have my own taste..)

Easy Peasy Bread Pudding

8 pieces of white bread (I guess you can try it with wheat or pumpernickle if u wanted)
Butter I used I Can't believe It's Not Butter, coz it's easier to spread and I don't have to wait for it to soften
1 can pineapple bits The original recipe said 'mixed fruit', but I don't like the cherries in the mixed fruit
brown sugar roughly 6 tablespoons
300ml evaporated milk
200ml whipping cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence.
raisins (optional)

Butter your baking pan on it's bottom and sides (mine was like, 4" by 6" i think). Butter the bread and then cut them up into small pieces. I buttered my bread on one side, cut them up, then arranged/laid them butter side down into the pan, and then butter the un-buttered side. On top of one layer of bread, distribute the pineapple bits and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.
Arrange another layer of bread, then pineapple, then sugar. I did three layers. My top layer was the pineapple and sugar exposed. I spread out some raisins on the top layer coz I had some lying around.
In a bowl, beat/mix well the evaporated milk, whipping cream, eggs and vanilla essence (it smells so yummy!). I used whipping cream instead of fresh milk coz I wanted it to be more creamy, less watery. Pour mixture bit by bit over the layers of bread, allowing it to seep and soak down. Let stand for at least an hour. (in the meantime, you can preheat your oven to 325 Farenhite).
Put a few dollops of butter on the top layer before you bake in the oven for at least 45minutes.
You will see that the bread will expand like it's gonna flow out of your pan, but don't worry it will shrink once it's cooled down.
Let cool, then cut up, scoop out and serve!

This turned out to be just to my taste. Creamy, custard-y, not too sweet, with the slightly tangy-sour taste of pineapples. The top layer of pineapples, raisins and sugar got a little caramelized/burnt so it gave it a nice edge.

I didn't make any custard sauce to go with this, perhaps Lollies can give us her recipe ? ;)

Don't just drool, go ahead and make it.. !

Ilham's Frog bookmark

For Book Week (which is next week), Ilham was asked to design a bookmark of his favourite character from a fable or a traditional tale. Then on wednesday the 8th Feb, he's supposed to come to school dressed as that character.
So we thought and we thought about what character would be appropriate and possible.
At first I was thinking of Hang Tuah or someone from a traditional Malay story, but Ilham's traditional malay costume had gotten too small for him and he had worn that the last time he was supposed to go to school in traditional attire and the other kids laughed at him and said he was wearing jammies.

It just so happened that that day, his reading book included a story about The Frog Prince.
So I thought, okay.. I can always make a frog hat coz I've done it once before, and we can make a bookmark in the shape of a frog.
Ilham totally agreed and we drew a sketch of what it's gonna look like and Ilham came up with a catchy phrase to put on the frog's tummy.
The final frog looked slightly different from the original design, but we stuck to most parts of the basic idea:

When I bought material for Ihsan's poster, I bought stuff for Ilham's bookmark as well.

Initially, making the bookmark was easy.
I took a picture of a frog that we liked from the web, traced it, added a crown on top of its head, then transferred it onto a green plastic folder, one part at a time: 1 body+head+crown, 2 hands and 2 legs.
Then we cut out the parts.

The tricky bit was gluing everything together.
I had bought normal PVA glue for Ihsan's poster but somehow it didnt work so well. The hands and feet keep coming off.
I bought super glue from the local mini-market and it was also useless. I managed to glue my fingers together, but not the frog.
I bought another brand of super glue and finally got the hands and feet to stick, last night.
As you can see, we had designed the bookmark to be able to 'sit' on a page, by inserting the page either in between its legs or its hands.



I thought it was pretty cool :)

This morning Ilham checked on his frog again (which was sitting in his homework folder) and guess what? Its eyes fell off!!
Frantically I went to get UHU glue (coz I don't trust the super glue anymore) and stuck them back on.
Then one of the arms fell off!!
aaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhh
So i stuck it back on with UHU, put the frog in between the pages of a book and sent Ilham off to school, praying that nothing else falls off..

stooopid stooopid stooopid super glue.
why is it that super glue 'bonds skin instantly', but do not bond the stuff they were supposed to bond, properly? :confused:

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of the year 1427 Hijrah, also known as [I]Maal Hijrah[/I] or the Islamic New Year.
It is not as widely or jubilantly celebrated by the masses as the Gregorian or Chinese New Year, but it is observed by most muslims. Actually I am quite suprised that even the S@udi government did not observe this day as a public holiday, when Malaysia does.
Individually, muslims can choose to fast and/or recite special prayers for the new year, basically asking Allah to continue blessing our lives and accepting our good deeds.
Anyways.
'Hijrah' literally means 'move', because on this day 1427 years ago (based on the Islamic calendar which calculates months by the moon) , was when Allah instructed the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to move from Makkah to Madinah. It was a necessary move to escape persecution. So basically, it was a move for the better.
So every Islamic new year, muslims are supposed to reflect on whether they have made moves (physically or spritually) towards the better.

Looking back on the past year, I think I can say I have made several moves. Physically, I had moved to another country. I had moved from being a mother of 3 to soon to be a mother of 4. I had moved from being a technical worker to a housemaker.
Spiritually, I had started concentrating on developing my family's emotional and spiritual well-being (since I don't have to worry about work anymore). I had started taking tajweed classes (lessons on how to recite the Quran in the way Allah had meant it to be recited). I am reading more and learning more from these reads.
I won't go into details, but I guess some of these moves are for the better. Though I must say there are some parts of my life that I wish I could move forward with (my state of [I]iman[/I], for instance), and some that I felt had moved backwards instead of forwards (my health and weight!! I really need to exercise more.. maybe after I give birth. And all this free time to cook does not help!).

I hope that this new year will help me be even a better person and a better muslim, and along the way I hope to be able to help make my husband and kids better persons and better muslims as well. I want to make full use of all the free time that I have blessed with due to to the move I made in the previous year.

Which reminds me of a hadith that I have heard many-many times, but was only reminded of its significance when I heard it again last night. Roughly translated, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once said:

"There are 2 of Allah's gifts ([I]nikmahs[/I]) that humans are often fooled with, the time of health and the time of leisure".

Which basically says that we are often deceived that our health and leisure time is granted, that it is not a gift from Allah, that it will never be taken away from us. Therefore we postpone doing things that we could've done when we were healthy and when we have the time, because we think that we will always have 'tomorrow' to do it. We forget that we might get sick, or we might get busy, and that we have missed the opportunity to do something good or even great for ourselves.
or in short, he is saying "Just Do It!"

heh heh.. and I thought the Nike people came up with that idea..

Happy New Year everyone!

[IMG]http://re2.mm-c1.yimg.com/image/1129141553[/IMG]

The Wedding Date

I just saw The Wedding Date in full. A few weeks ago I saw it half-way, coz I had to leave to go pick up my kids from school. Today, I finally caught it in full, without interruption.

It was kinda weird actually, to watch Dermott Mulroney act all suave and charming when I just saw him chewing and spitting tobacco and screaming "Have you seen the chicken??" in Young Guns a few nights ago.

When in the world did Dermott Mulroney get so appealing?

Perhaps it was that movie.. m.. the one with Bridget Fonda playing a drug addict trained to be an assassin.. originally a french movie "Little Nikita". What was the name of that movie? I can't remember the title, but I remember that it had a lot of Nina Simone in it. (and I am too lazy to go search on imdb).
Or perhaps it all started when he sang The Way You Look Tonight to Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding.
Aaanyways.. he looked very yummy. [URL="http://mokciknab.blogspot.com/2006/01/frowns.html"]I can imagine why someone would miss her husband after watching Mr.Mulroney[/URL] in this movie.
(okay I'm gonna stop mentioning his name now, coz I think I'm spelling it wrong)

Back to the movie, though.
I thought it was dissapointing. The story is all funny and romantic and all, but I somehow failed to see why Nick and Kat could fall for each other. I mean it was obvious that Nick liked Kat after some point in the story, but Why???? What was it that made Kat so special? (It was obvious why Nick was special though.. ehem).
Somehow the movie lost me there.
Perhaps because prior to watching The Wedding Date, I was watching The Notebook, which was such a poignant story that it made me cry (but then again, it might just be pregnancy hormones, but the point is, it was good enuf to make me cry). (You can look for it on imdb, it has James Garner and James Marsden in it).

But you have got to admit, the "I think I would have missed you even if I had never met you" line in The Wedding Date was beautiful. :)
Corny, but beautiful.

Ihsan's 100 Poster

For 100th day of school (which is on Wednesday , 8th February), Ihsan had to make a poster out of 100 things.
He had chosen an 'airplane' theme, so we were gonna make a poster of an airplane flying in the clouds with some trees/plants underneath. We were gonna use dried flowers and leaves (which we have plenty of in our front yard) as the plants/earth, cotton balls as clouds, a yellow post it cut in a circle as the sun with toothpicks as the rays, and we were gonna cut out some paper to make the plane. All these things were going to be pasted on a blue poster board (so that we don't have to paint the sky).

Key word: were.

So Thursday we went and bought all the materials required and Taufik drew the plane's body and wings on silver paper and we cut it out and we laid out everything on the blue poster board to see how it looked.. silver plane, cotton ball clouds and dried flowers+leaves trees and all. Ihsan got all excited about gluing everything on, but we told him we better do it on Friday so that there are less chances for someone (read: his little sister Anis) to mess around with it and pull something off.
So Friday came, and by Saturday morning Ihsan brought this to school:

[IMG]http://usera.imagecave.com/elisataufik2/ihsanposter.JPG[/IMG]

I did say the keyword was 'were'.
Somehow during breakfast of toasts, sausages, eggs, sardines and baked beans on Friday morning, Taufik went "oh you know what, we can make a fish instead". So he traced an Arowana from the web, transferred it to a silver paper, made the scales out of yellow post its, cut out gold and pink fins and pasted it on the fish, and pasted the fish on the blue poster board.
Ihsan kept annoying me with "What happened to my plane?" and I gleefully asked him to annoy Taufik instead.
I wanted to wash my hands off the project since our original plane idea was scrapped, but it would've made me a bad sport...
So after watching Taufik paste bits of yellow plastic bag that Ihsan had cut up into seaweed and then tiny flowers made of post-its, I decided to rejoin the poster team. I made rocks out of an old cardboard box (which the boys helped paste), then tiny pink fishes out of pink post-its (can you tell that we have lotsa post-its lying around the house?). After dinner I finished the poster with a blue plastic bag cut into wavy strips to simulate water.
Ihsan and Ilham put on the final finishing touches by drawing faces on the tiny fish, and put dots on the rocks. Ilham also added a drawing of a crab, and Ihsan drew a clam (he called it a clam, but he also drew a pearl inside the clam, which then , technically makes it an oyster).(But to hell with technical discrepancies, Arowanas don't live under the sea anyways).
Ihsan named his poster "Under The Sea", and we carefully rolled it up for him to bring to school.

So here are the 100 damages:
1 silver cut out fish body
1 'googly eye'
53 post-it scales
4 gold fins
2 pink fins
6 plastic seaweeds
7 post-it flowers
10 cardboard box rocks
6 small pink post-it fishes
10 plastic wavy water thingies.

count 'em if you like.. :)

100 days of School

The 100th day of school is coming soon (I don't remember the exact date. I think it's in February).
I don't know what the big deal is, but the school is definitely making it a big deal. I think it's just their ploy to keep the mothers occupied because they think we have nothing better to do at home...
*snicker*

Ihsan has to make a poster out of 100 things.
He has chosen an 'airplane' theme, so we're gonna make a poster of an airplane flying in the clouds with some trees/plants underneath. We're gonna use dried flowers and leaves (which we have plenty of in our front yard) as the plants/earth, cotton balls as clouds, a yellow post it cut in a circle as the sun with toothpicks as the rays, and we're gonna cut out some paper to make the plane. All these things are going to be pasted on a blue poster board (so that we don't have to paint the sky).
We havent started anything yet.. and it's due this Saturday. Ihsan was very excited when we drew a sketch of his poster on paper and marked all the materials we needed. He kept asking when we're gonna start. We still need to go to the bookstore and get the stuff.

Ilham has to make a bookmark.
The bookmark has to be based on a character in a traditional story, and on the 100th day of school, he has to come to school dressed as that character.
Ilham has chosen to be a frog prince (since that would be the easiest for me to do..). We're gonna make a bookmark in the shape of a frog with a crown on top of its head, that could be 'clipped' on a page and on the frog's tummy we're gonna write "Read it, Read it" (get it?). We're gonna look for a green sweater for him, and I'm gonna make him a frog hat (with a crown of course). The bookmark's due next Wednesday.

On top of that, they're also asking for recipes because they are trying to compile an International Cookbook. I think that's easy enough.. I can just take a few from my blog, I guess, heh heh..

They're also asking some interested parents to come and read/tell a traditional story from their home country. I was initially piqued, but then I started thinking of all the Malaysian traditional stories and I think they're all a bit morbid, don't you think? I mean, there's one where a mother was swallowed by a stone, then one where a son didnt acknowledge his mother and was turned to stone, then the one where a girl's mother got thrown by the 2nd wife into a well, turned into a fish, then the 2nd wife caught the fish and fed it to the girl... I'm trying to think of a fun traditonal Malay story fit for children.. any ideas? Hm.. maybe one of the Sang Kancil stories, perhaps?

Then on the 100th day, I need to send ihsan to school with a plate of something that he can share with his friends.. this is going to be tricky coz i would need to prepare it early in the morning and it has to be easy enough for ihsan to carry..

Oh man.. and next year Anis going to start school.. would that mean I'd have to do stuff for 3 kids then??

Easy Peasy Potato&Egg Salad

---

This is the recipe for the potato salad that I made for the modblogger's gathering in FRIM last december. It is actually pretty easy, the only tedious part is the boiling, peeling, and cutting up of the potatoes and eggs.
You can actually dump pretty much anything you like inside a potato salad, so feel free to experiment and play around with the ingredients.

Easy Peasy Potato & Egg Salad

6 large potatoes (I used russet's coz they're tender and get all crumbly and helps thicken the salad more. Boil, peel and cut to your preferred size and shape)
6 eggs (u can use more if you want, my rule is one egg per potato. Hard boiled, shelled and diced)
Mayonnaise (one medium sized bottle, depends on the amount of your potatoes)
Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup (one can, unmixed. You can use other kinds of creamy soup to vary the taste, but not the ones with pasta in em)
Celery (about 3 stalks, cut up into small pieces. This adds great taste and crunchy texture)
Sweet corn niblets (one small can will do, can omit if your kids don't like corn, or add more if you like them)
Sausages or bologna (as much as you want. cut them up into small pieces and fry them till they're crispy)salt and pepper to taste

In a huge salad bowl, mix well mayo and canned soup, season to taste (use salt sparingly coz your sausage/bologna bits might be a little salty). Dump in the potatoes and eggs, stir till well coated, then add the celery and sweet corn and stir. Can be left to chill in the fridge.
When you're ready to serve, stir in half of the sausage/bologna bits, and sprinkle the rest on top.
Can be eaten on it's own, with bread, fried chicken or barbecued meats.

Other yummy suggestions:
Add chopped nuts for the nutty taste.
Add chopped chillies for a hot edge.
You can also add diced apples.

Squids will be Squids

Squids will be Squids by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.

Ilham borrowed this book from the school library and I had enjoyed it as much as he did (maybe even more than him, since I understood the sarcasm).

Its foreword went like this:

Fables have been around for thousands of years. And it's no wonder. Because thousands of years ago people were bright enough to figure out that you could gossip about anybody - as long as you changed their name to something like "Lion" or "Mouse" or "Donkey" first.
Aesop is the guy most famous for telling fables...
[and he goes on telling abt Aesop]
...
These [fables in the book] are beastly fables with fresh morals about all kinds of bossy, sneaky, funny, annoying, dim-bulb people. But nobody I know personally.
Really.

Moral: sometimes the names are changed to protect the not-so-innocent.
heh heh

And the afterward goes like this:

You have just finished reading fables about all kinds of bossy, sneaky, funny, annoying, dim-bulb people .. i mean animals.
"What fun," you are thinking.
"I should write some of those myself," you are thinking.
But before you get started, it just occured to me that you might want to know one more little bit about Aesop.
Aesop used to tell this one fable about a real bossy jerk "Lion" who ruled a city. When the real bossy jerk guy who ruled Aesop's city heard this fable, he didn't like it.
So he had Aesop thrown off a cliff.

Moral: If you are planning to write fables, don't forget to change the people into animals and avoid places with high cliffs.

One of my favourite stories in this book is the one titled "Straw and Matches":

It was the end of summer vacation. Straw had done everything he could think of. He was bored. So we went over to play with someone he had been warned to stay away from.
"Let's play checkers," said Straw.
"Okay I'm the red ones I get to move first I get two moves and you get one," sain Matches.
"Forget it," said Straw. "Let's play ping-pong instead."
"Okay I get the good paddle you stand on that side I get to serve first and you have to close one eye," said Matches.
"Never mind," said Straw. "Maybe we should just watch TV."
"Okay you sit over there on the floor I'll sit on the couch I get the remote and we have to watch my favourite video," said Matches.
"I think I hear my mom calling," said Straw. "I'd better go."

Moral: Don't play with matches.
hm... maybe I could give writing fables a shot ;)

Weather with you

Today we had a strange sandstorm.
Strange, because I had never experienced a sandstorm before, and I had always imagined there'd be really strong winds and the sand would be scraping your face like sand paper and you would have to squint your eyes coz else the dust would get in them.
I stepped out of the house to take the bus to pick the kids from school and I saw that there was like a brown mist hanging in the air. There is a light wind, but it wasnt that strong, and it didnt scratch my face. There was definitely some dust floating in the air, but it's still breathable, though after awhile you do feel like there's something in your eyes and you start rubbing your nostrils in irritation.
Visibility is like 100meters. Further than that, you couldnt see a thing. Our bus almost hit another car at one of the junctions because that car did not stop coz maybe it didnt see us. Good thing the bus driver was very cautious so he need not stop the bus too abruptly coz we were moving quite slow and he had noticed that the other car did not seem to want to stop.
The weather is quite cold nowadays. The other day it was hovering between 10 to 14 degrees Celcius (about 40-55 degrees Farenhite). I know mamasparks is probably scoffing and calling me a wimp since 50F would be a good day in Minnessota. But I come from tropical Malaysia and I have forgotten the cold winter days in Illinois ... Good thing I stay in most of the time, and my heater works :) I've taken to wearing socks though, especially in the tile-floored kitchen.

meh.. I should count my blessings. At least we don't get our house covered by 6 foot of snow like +nectar.
:)

Made in Malaysia

My opinion on things made in malaysia that I encountered during my trip back home.

Adibah Noor's Terlalu Istimewa

I got this as a gift from Mdm Y, my lunch buddy friend. Am I glad I did, coz later I found out from my sister that this CD is pretty hard to find. I am not suprised. Adibah produced this CD herself. There are probably just a few copies in the market, and to me, it's pretty good, despite 6 out of the 17 tracks being minus-one tracks.
I love almost every single song in the album, with the exception of Terlalu Hina, which is Adibah's attempt at Heavy Metal. No dahling.. your voice is too beautiful to waste it on Heavy Metal.. please don't (It was quite horrific). Otherwise, Adibah's voice is superb.. I think she is one of the most under-rated performers in our country. It's a shame that the big companies are not taking notice of her (or maybe they are, but don't think she has any commercial value due to her size.. she looks great on the album cover though). I really hope that she will come up with another album. 11 lagu je tak puas lah kak!! (11 songs are not enough to satisfy me, sister!)
I know it's probably too obvious, since it's the one song that gets the most airplay, but Terlalu Istimewa is my favourite. I actually cried listening to the lyrics of this song. Perhaps it's just pregnancy hormones or my motherly feelings, but this song really really touched me.
I have been a fan of Adibah Noor since I saw her compete for the Suara Nescafe in 1994, and this album has sealed me as a fan for life. :)
For more information on Adibah Noor, you can visit her website : http://adibahnoor.tripod.com

That mobile phone commercial
You know that mobile phone that is supposed to be so stable? Its commercial shows this guy on the beach and a woman jogs past and he secretly takes a picture of her. And then later they bump into each other and they find out they have both been secretly taking pictures of each other? and they laugh it off and supposedly hit it off?
I'm sorry, but I don't find that romantic in the least bit. I actually find it disturbing.
The first words that came out of my mouth when I saw that commercial on TV was "Pervert!!". In real life, the guy would probably get a slap in the face, if not a summons. If i find out someone has been secretly taking pictures of me, I woulds walk away with them, I'd probably run the other way.. I mean, would you date a stalker? If he stalked you before, what makes you think he'd stop or won't do something worse after you had ended the relationship? Talk about alarm bells.
And what message are they trying to teach the public? That it's okay to secretly take pictures of other people? Or perhaps, "It is now easier to take pictures of other people secretly with our super stable camera". I can think of lots of other ways they could've promoted the stability feature of their camera. What about taking a picture on the train or in the car? Or during a family picnic? Or during a head bopping rocking your boots off concert? I bet nutty, our resident modblog copywriter can come up with a few.
Sheesh.

Mawi Mawi and more Mawi
Man... this guy was everywhere!!
We were driving up north and along the highway we saw a huge billboard of him promoting instant noodles. Almost all the Malaysian entertainment magazines on the rack had some bit of story about him. He even has a column in Harian Metro. Even Mastika (the magazine that devotes itself to bizzare and religious stories) had an article about a scandal he is supposedly in. And guess who is the face to promote the first Malaysian Mobile phone, M-Mobile? yup, you got it, Mawi.
I know he's like a rags to riches story and he has earned it, but damn, is this guy over exposed or what?

Gerak Khas and Black Metal
My father-in-law is a huge fan of Gerak Khas. On Monday evenings(?) we'd have our dinner in front of the TV just so he could catch this Malaysian police show. Just so happens that the 2 weeks we were at my in-laws, it was that double episode on Black Metal.
I don't know, everything about the show seemed unreal.. is this really how the police work? And is this what the Black Metal threat really is? So it's not like it's a bunch of teenagers wearing black clothes and congregating and having a chat eh?
I really can't tell, what's truth and what's fiction from watching Gerak Khas, so all I told my kids was that these kids probably don't have the proper skills and support structure to cope wih whatever problems they are facing, so they go into whatever is currently available and popular... (at least that's what I gather from watching lotsa Oprah and Dr. Phil.. hee hee)

Baik Punya Cilok!!
I SOOOOOOO wanted to watch this movie.
Everyone was raving about it, saying that it's really good, even reminiscent of the classic P.Ramlee movies.
but alas.. time and opportunity did not permit.
I know that we'd probably be able to watch it during Hari Raya the next one or two years, but I had wanted to catch it on the big screen and laugh with the crowds. Ah well.. i guess I'll have to wait for the VCD to come out.

Roti Canai
North South East West
Roti Canai is the Best!
I had roti canai almost every morning during the 4 weeks I was home. I dread to see what my cholestrol level is...



What is it about listening to The Cure's Catch on cold days that makes you feel so melancholy?

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Blog Comments

Posted by: LoLlieS
Date: 01/17/06 at 8:50 AM (5M2d ago)
adibah noor is a very popular choice for jemputan kahwin at hotels. Yeah she is good. She was singing with Ning once, a strong powerful song, and she is no contest.

Yeah mawi is everywhere. Kat kedai buku toleh kanan kiri somanya muka dia.


Posted by:+nectar
Date: 01/17/06 at 11:48 AM (5M2d ago)
last year there was another ad also featuring a guy taking photo of a girl he liked using his phone camera. and then they hit it off. was it Pond's or something I can't remember but I totally dislike that ad promoting phone as intrusion of your privacy. what if you happen to ambik gambar gf or wife orang, tak kena penumbuk sebijik?

Posted by:TheCharmedOne
Date: 01/17/06 at 11:48 AM (5M2d ago)
akak.. iklan handpon tu sebenarnya iklan kamera ler.

i hate Nawi. dah naik muak tengok muka dia, dalam paper pon asik cite dia jer. Ade sekali tu, semua muka dia dalam paper saya conteng (paper tu kawan saya punyer) hahaha..... meluat sungguh!!!

Posted by:fiammepersempre
Date: 01/17/06 at 10:04 PM (5M1d ago)
Hey Elisa!
Well so far it's been pretty stable.
I like it :0) Thanks for coming by.
- Lindsay



Posted by: lion3ss (View Website)
Date: 01/18/06 at 12:17 AM (5M1d ago)
Glad you're back online. Memang lah muka budak over exposed tu mana mana sekarang. Dalam paper kata AF4 dah nak start audition, so maybe by this time next year we'll get less of him.


Posted by:bertique
Date: 01/18/06 at 2:09 AM (5M1d ago)
haha mawi, malaysia ..
ikon la katakan .. ish ish ish ..

eh wait, u dah balik alkhobar ka ??


Posted by: ondeonde yang dah pindah (View Website)
Date: 01/18/06 at 5:06 AM (5M1d ago)
I love adibah noor!!!! memang tak ada tandingan..
as for mawi, kat instant noodle Mamee pun ada muka dia..
Baik Punya Cilok pun belum nengok , nak jugak nengok but first I want to watch Memoirs of Geisha..


Posted by: zan
Date: 01/18/06 at 5:33 AM (5M1d ago)
kat mana2 pun mmg mawi, boring...
mdm Y byk buat promo pasal adibah heheh ;) dia tgh vacation kat langkawi.
elisa kalau u lama kat sini, kita dah boleh buat Mommies Day out tgk Baik Punya Cilok but u'r not here, tak cukup quorum.



Posted by: rotidua (View Website)
Date: 01/18/06 at 6:39 AM (5M1d ago)
u have adibah noor's CD??? sungguh dengki.


Posted by: famygirl
Date: 01/19/06 at 1:54 AM (5M19h ago)
adibah noor.. i like! i cried listening to Terlalu Istimewa too


Posted by: WebMasterAN (View Website)
Date: 01/25/06 at 8:59 PM (4M3w ago)
Thanks for your support to Adibah Noor. For more info, simply visit www.adibah-noor.com , the official website.


Posted by: redplanet (View Website)
Date: 04/18/06 at 6:08 AM (2M1d ago)
yes she is very good..think tower records at klcc also have her cd..

check out some stories at this website www.kahwin.tk

all the best to her


Posted by: czaree
Date: 05/25/06 at 8:42 AM (3w3d ago)
mawi is the current malay icon.....cool or not is beside the point. singing ability not perfect...but so was p.ramlee ...and mick jagger sings out of tune until his 60's

Lord of The Blog : Return Of The Pink

oh boy oh boy
where do I even start..
well, I guess this is going to be another collection of random ramblings about what went on the last month.

-----------------------------------

My flight to Malaysia was horrible.
The Doha-KL flight was delayed for 3 hours and we had to spend that 3 hours in the small and cramped Doha airport. I read a bit of The Mill On The Floss and had a short nap and watched people. The kids sat on the floor and drew. There were a group of Malaysian students who Taufik described as peghak, coz they kept cheering and clapping for something. Why do Malaysians have to be so beriya?. They made the wait more annoying.
The flight was full and I sat next to Anis who kept kicking me in her sleep coz she couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't get comfortable either coz of my 'condition'. I couldnt even watch Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
I puked when we landed. The Malaysian students clapped and cheered for the pilot. *roll eyes*

----------------------------------------

My checklist:
1. Settle house loan - done
2. Get my RHB card - done
3. Pay MSRI - done
4. Makan, makan, makan dan makan (eat, eat, eat and eat) - done done done

Under item 4, I managed to eat almost everything that I had wanted to, except for satar. I even got to eat Dim Sum, which wasn't on my original list, thanx to my girlfriends.

-------------------------------------

I didnt get to meet up with as many friends as I hoped, mainly coz my schedule was kinda tight, and there were 3 public holidays (christmas, new year and Eid-ul-Adha) during this trip and people had other plans. But i treasure those that I did get to meet (especially The Elusive Mr R and wife, and Zharif and Izzah) (I think Izzah looks a lot like her grandmother lah..)
ah well.. maybe next time.
And I think next time I'll invite people to my house instead.

-----------------------------------------

I had to pack most of my 'supplies' (maggi mee, keropok, ikan bilis, ikan masin, udang kering, rempah2 etc) in 2 extra boxes. And I still didnt get to bring back all of it! I didnt get to bring home my soy sauce and oyster sauce :P coz Taufik didnt wanna risk bringing back bottles. bummer.

---------------------------------------

I didn't get to see Baik Punya Cilok!!!! aiyahhhh
Chief Kodok if you're reading this, bila itu VCD original keluar, lu kasi tahu sama gua, okay?

-----------------------------------------

Ilham cried when we had to say goodbye to everybody... hee hee hee... he is is so emo.

---------------------------------------------

The flight back was worse.
I puked at least 6 times. I couldnt eat a thing. Everything I tried to eat came back out.
I think my body was avenging the 4 weeks of stuffing myself.

-------------------------------------

It was weird how when I stepped through the door of Villa 251, Canary Village Al-khobar, it felt more like home than my real home.

I am still slightly jet lagged. I get sleepy by 7pm and wake up by 5am. But all in all, things are getting back to normal.

I only started real cooking today. I made naemy lamb soup, and fried a piece of tenggiri jeruk with sliced onions and garlic. YUMMY.

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Blog Comments


Posted by: sevenwaysfromsaved
Date: 01/16/06 at 3:02 PM (5M3d ago)
"Ilham cried when we had to say goodbye to everybody... hee hee hee... he is is so emo."

You are the coolest mom ever, ahahahaha.


Posted by: +nectar
Date: 01/16/06 at 3:03 PM (5M3d ago)
yay, you're back. Kesiannya muntah banyak kali, mesti sakit, kan.
ramai orang dah pindah either blogspot or efx2. sunyi rasa modblog. I don't know abt Al-Khobar but I managed to send food supplies to Japan through sea mail. Botol kicap and sos selamat, tak pecah and semuanya lepas tak kena tahan. plus masa my parents-in-law dtg they brought some supplies including lesung batu. Allah bless my parents-in-law.


Posted by: ciknort
Date: 01/16/06 at 4:04 PM (5M3d ago)
Alhamdulillah~ everything's OK! tuh la kak, tk ajak saya jumpe..ehehehe. it's ok, lenklai boleh jumpe. hope that you are happy and always happy~ take care! muwahs muwahs..

p/s: i'm still thinking what to write to you. hehe :D


Posted by: The Angel Islington (View Website)
Date: 01/16/06 at 8:04 PM (5M3d ago)
La..dah balik dah rupanya. Yeah, it's funny how the Home Away From Home can feel cosier sometimes..

Posted by: Leez (View Website)
Date: 01/17/06 at 3:18 AM (5M2d ago)
poor you! oh well, at least now you're back home n can start stuffing up again hehehehehe :)


Posted by: zan
Date: 01/18/06 at 5:24 AM (5M1d ago)
kesiannya ilham...ihsan tak nangis ker? tenggiri jeruk...yummy!

Yoo hoooooo!!!

I am at my dad's.

We cancelled the phone connection at our house before we left, so no internet connection at home... bummer.
I don't know when I'll be able to get on-line again, so a few guidelines on how you can contact me (for gathering invitations and such.. hee hee):

1. My mobile phone still works, so you can call/sms me on my previous celcom number. (Nekbat: aku talipong mung semaley. Guano tok jawab...)

2. I will be in KL probably till Dec 23rd. We plan to drive up to Alor Setar by then. Then I will be back in KL by Jan 4th. So if you wanna meet up in KL, those are the dates I'll be around.



Oh, in other news. First thing I did when I got home was went to my mom's for lunch. I had Udang masak lemak cili api and tempe goreng.. yum yum yum. Then I had Lau Wan Char Kuey Teow for dinner. Then roti canai, then dim sum, then nasi lemak cikgu, then .. mm.. can't remember anymore. Suffice to say that I am fulfilling my gastronomic fantasies.


Oh more news, I also went to see my Ob&Gyn (Dr. Idris in PMC), and he confirmed I was 20weeks, and he scanned for the baby's condition and development (All is well, alhamdulillah) and the kids was so excited to find out the baby's gender...
It's a boy!
Ihsan was so happy, he exclaimed "Yay!! We did it!!! We got a boy!!"


On Sunday I went to the Malaysian Modblog Gathering in FRIM, expecting a lot of people and KFC so I made a HUGE bowl of potato salad.. but alas, only a few could make it..
Takper, we had fun anyways. The kids enjoyed themselves despite us thinking that they'd be bored. What do you expect when you let kids loose in a semi-forest?
The gathering was abruptly cut short due to rain, and I didnt even get a chance to say a proper goodbye and thankyou.. Sorry guys!



okay we're gonna have lunch in Chilli's Mid Valley now (My dad, Mimi and my kids and I) so.. laytur, whenever.

You guys have a good holiday!

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Blog Comments

Posted by:bertique
Date: 12/19/05 at 6:46 AM (6M1d ago)
yay!

i must talk with ilham again when we meet, MUST. haha .. with his fantasy and such, ada ker unicorn kat saudi .. he was so funny, and confused at times ;) .. doesn't help lak an when you have me to talk to .. hahaha

lupa lak, the potato salad was superb! best giler ok. tapi at 10 am, KFC mana bukak sis .. kalau tak, mmg i dah bli dah berbarrel-barrel ;) .. it was a good outing anyway kan ??

if you wanna try chinese food - ala carte eat all you can (no kidding!) .. try kat xing zhu cyberview lodge cyberjaya .. rate dia dlm RM55++ if am not mistaken .. it's ala carte style (means that they have like 30 set of masakan yg u buleh pilih) but eat all you can .. hehe whatever it's - mmg best.


Posted by: zan
Date: 12/19/05 at 7:40 AM (6M1d ago)
you masak sardin makan dgn roti ker? cyberview lodge, jauhnyerrr...but i guess mesti sedap giler..


Posted by:bertique
Date: 12/19/05 at 8:11 AM (6M1d ago)
masak sardin letak kentang potong dadu, tomato pototng dadu ..
ikan sardin tuh digoreng terlebih dahulu ;) ..
then perah sebiji lemon .. sedapnya ..

err apa soklan u tadi??

aaa betul, mkn ngan roti. i penah try mkn ngan spageti - best gak actually ;)


Posted by: zan
Date: 12/19/05 at 7:40 AM (6M1d ago)
ayoo...dah lama tak makan kat chillis...


Posted by: BerryBear
Date: 12/19/05 at 2:48 PM (6M1d ago)
yup.. poor turnouts but great event, nevertheless... love the salad and the cekodoks! bert's sardines was great too! and great to see you again!

XXXXX Nak kena gigit ke? XXXXX


Posted by: yellowcabbie (View Website)
Date: 12/20/05 at 7:18 AM (6M13h ago)
congratulations on your new baby news... jaga diri bebaik..eat well.. dah start think of names ke?


Posted by: lion3ss (View Website)
Date: 12/20/05 at 8:12 AM (6M12h ago)
I pulok yang terliur baca. Anyway, too bad I couldn't make it hari tu. Family matters. Missed out on ur potato salad lah kang?


Posted by: famygirl
Date: 12/21/05 at 1:22 AM (5M4w ago)
potato salad itu memang yummy. i nak makan banyak-banyak tapi *malu*

you know me, anything sweet chocolate-y, or cheesy, or mayonnaise-y hee hee


Posted by: roserose
Date: 12/21/05 at 4:02 AM (5M4w ago)
Tahniah!
Alor Setar tak banjir ke?



Posted by:nick898
Date: 12/21/05 at 9:45 PM (5M4w ago)
You just ramble on about all different things as I was scrolling. It's interesting to read. Keep up the good work!


Posted by:
shumagorath
Date: 12/23/05 at 8:33 AM (5M3w ago)
bert....u masak sardin utk sume org...u dr dulu janji nak buat sardin roll kasi i...huhu...nak najuk la cenggini


Posted by: Leez (View Website)
Date: 12/29/05 at 1:42 AM (5M3w ago)
hey welcome back!! wowww... looks like you got your hands full with gatherings! wish i could join! hehehe.. as if i'm invited!!

anyway, have fun!! and take it easy ye! have a happy new year :)


Posted by: marinadelrey (View Website)
Date: 01/04/06 at 8:27 AM (5M2w ago)
hey u like all the same foods i do! from lauk lemak udang to Chilli's...and can u post up ur potato salad recipe por favor? another boy huh? congrats n take care mummy-to-be! got any advice for a first timer like moi?


Posted by: Ripcord (View Website)
Date: 01/07/06 at 6:44 AM (5M1w ago)
Your blog seems to be taking ages to load up lately... =(

Posted by: The Angel Islington
Date: 01/13/06 at 6:46 AM (5M6d ago)
Kak elisa I miss you and your postings! Glad you're back.

Signed,
The not-so-active-commen ter on Spread the Jam

Well, whaddaya know..

I still have my internet connection.. hm.. maybe they'll cut it tomorrow.
While it's still up, some ramblings:


If you visit somebody's blog and leave a what you think is a really friendly comment, and the next time you come you see that the blog owner has deleted your comment, would you be offended?
I think I would be. And I am.
It made me think, either this person has a personal dislike for me for some reason (even though it was my first time visiting), or this person is intensely private and just wants her friends to leave comments.
Either way, the message I get is "Go Away".
And you know what, I probably will.


I never knew skanky tops are so difficult to choose. I mean.. you don't want your little sister to look like a slut.. How do you find a skanky top that's not .. well.. so skanky?


I just watched The Man Who Cried the other day, and Johnny Depp looked so yummy. He was scooping horse shit and looked delectable.
And I wonder, when has he ever NOT looked yummy?
Okay maybe in Jung, he looked a bit revolting to me, but even in Pirates of the Carribean where he looks so stinky that you could almost smell him, I found him quiet appealing. In Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, he looked as good enough to eat as some of the candy in his factory, even with his false teeth. He even made that guy in Corpse Bride extremely attractive by lending it his voice.
And don't even mention Don Juan. I couldn' stand watching that movie coz he looked so good it was depressing.
I don't think anybody but Johnny Depp could pull that off. Nope. not even Brad Pitt (he looked absolutely horrifying in Kalifornia, he didnt look good bald in Oceans 11/12).


What in the world do people do with saffron (besides cooking paella) ? They're damn expensive.. but it seems to be something some people want from over here..


Ilham has his Musical Concert today. Taufik can't go coz he's been taking time off at least once for the past 2 weeks. last 2 weeks, for a walkathon. Last Week, for the Snow Queen. ANd next week we're already on our vacation.. so today he's just gonna send me and Anis to school and go off to lunch before going back to work.
I'll take pictures. If we're lucky and the internet connection is still up, maybe I'll post some here!
oh, which reminds me, you can see what goes on in the boys' school at http://www.dhahranbritish.com. Look for the galleries andd you can look at pictures of all the activities in school. It's quiet good. You might even find a few pictures with Ilham or Ihsan on there.


Okay gotta go now.

Last Day On-line

Well, today is the last day that my internet connection will be active.. so I guess today I'll be trying to catch up with potential lost time.


My tentative itinerary:

Dec 14th : Get all our bags all packed and ready. When the kids come home from school at 3pm, get them showered and changed, pray Asar, then off we go to Bahrain. Check in, have a bit of dinner, then board the plane for Doha. At Doha, get on another plane for KL. I am banking on the kids (and me) to sleep all the way to KL.
Dec 15th : arrive in KLIA around noon. Take a cab to Kelana Jaya to my mom's house to pick up our house keys, then return home. HOME!! I'm sure Taufik will be checking on the plants and all. The kids will probably rummage thru their toy box first. I will be changing my bed sheets. We'll have abite to eat, hm.. where..? I'm thinking maybe nasi ayam hailam if the redemption letter for our house loan has arrived, else, either FAM (mee kari!!) or Sri Pattani (Tomyam!!). Afternoon will be spent cleaning up the house (if it's not already cleaned by my brother in law), and dinner will definitely be Jaya (Char Kuey Teow, Nasi Ayam, Rojak SIngapore, Laksam.. and sirap bandung).
Dec 16th-Dec 17th: settle stuff .. my house loan, my RHB acount, pay all the fees for the condo, go to MSRI to pay my sponsorship for Israa. Eat and eat.. maybe if I get a chance to, meet up with the lunch ladies for Friday lunch. Oh, and shop for food for the gathering.
Dec 18th : cook for the gathering, go to the gathering, eat eat eat. talk talk talk. take pictures. play with kids.
Dec 19th- Dec22nd or so: Spend quality time with my mom. Visit my dad.
Dec 23rd: Drive to Alor Setar, maybe stop by @ my friend's for dinner.
Dec 24th to Jan 2/3rd : In Alor Setar, go to the orchard (work work work), maybe have a family picnic at a waterfall, eat laksa, meehoon sup. Make a trip to Penang, eat mee udang.
Jan 4th - Jan 9th : back in PJ.. settle more stuff if needed. Visit Mokciknab and her brood. Go shopping. Go jalan2. Go makan2. Maybe Ladies Day Out if the ladies are up to it. If we have time, drive to Kemaman? (Eat some more)
Jan 10th: Eid Ul Adha. Go Sembahyang raya in Masjid Al-Hidayah. Visit relatives around KL.
Jan 11th: Shop and pack.
Jan 12th: Fly back to Saudi.
Jan 13th: Do Laundry, clean house, shop for groceries, prepare for school.
Jan 14th: Kids go back to school. Pay internet bill.
Jan 15th: Back on-line, I hope!

But then again, with me, nothing is ever fixed.. aside from my arrival and departure dates, and the Dec 18th do. Things may change. We take detours (which I just love!). All of us are on a holiday, including Taufik, so that means no office appointments! We can do antyhing we want! We are truly truly truly on a vacation, all of us. I am most certainly looking forward to this holiday.


Yesterday I helped to wrap gifts for the school's Santa's Groto. Next week , 'Santa' will be coming to the school to give out gifts to the children from 4 to 8 years old. The way these parent volunteers handle this project.. it was like a CIA operation. Everything was kept a secret. Shopping was done in secret. They covered all the windows in the Groto room so that no kids can peek in. If any students saw toys being carried, they would say they're for a charity. I couldnt even tell my own kids what I was doing in school. When I accidently mentioned it to Ihsan's teacher in the presence of one of the kids, she actually covered the boy's ears.
We painstakingly removed price tags off each toy. Ignorant me suggested that we just used a marker to black out the prices and the mommies cried out in unison "But Santa doesn't buy toys, he makes them!". Err.. okay.. he would barcode them as well, eh..?
They discussed about who to get to be Santa and when. They had to schedule things just right so that none of the students would come in and suddenly realize that Santa is actually their Dad in a suit. So Katie's class need to come when Katie's dad is not santa.
They even wrote an elaborate letter to each class, telling them that Santa would come to visit in a few days, after the visas for the reindeers are cleared by immigration.
I hope I don't offend anyone when I say that I found it funny how they took so much pains in protecting the idea that Santa is real. I mean.. he's not even a real religious element of Christianity, isn't he? Is believing in Santa equivalent to believing in God?
Ah well.. I wasnt there to preach. I was just there to help (and to take a peek at what my boys would be getting)(Ihsan's getting a punching bag, Ilham a remote control car)(kinda cool, huh?).
I brought ANis along and she was unbelievably well behaved and nice to everyone! She would go up to everyone (but me) and ask "Can I help?". She was so sweet, they decided to give her a present when we said our goodbyes. She got hair accesories, in a plastic carry case, which she is carrying everywhere she goes now. I was so proud of her (and relieved that she did not embarass me.. tee hee!).



oh well, I guess that's it for now. While I'm gone, you're welcomed to visit my archives, or check out my links .. there are very interesting people out there!
You know I'll blog whenever I get the chance to.. :)

Season's Greetings, Happy Holidays and have a Happy New Year!

---

Blog Comments


Posted by:TheCharmedOne
Date: 12/06/05 at 8:38 AM (1M1w ago)
Selamat kembali ke Malaysia.


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 1:35 PM (1M1w ago)
terimakasih MrCharmed..

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"


Posted by: marinadelrey (View Website)
Date: 12/06/05 at 8:45 AM (1M1w ago)
wow! that is one DETAILED itinerary! i'm gonna have 2 learn how 2 plan like u once i become a mom...have fun back in jolly good ol' malaysia!


Posted by: elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 1:40 PM (1M1w ago)
detailed ke? I thought it was pretty general..
I like to have a plan, so that we don't end up wandering around aimlessly and not achieve anything during our time home.
but the fun thing about having plans is also being able to break them.. tee hee

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"


Posted by: ondeonde
Date: 12/06/05 at 9:30 AM (1M1w ago)
you can quench and gobbled (excuse for my choice of word) on whatever things you mengidam while in tanah air tercinta!


Posted by: elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 1:44 PM (1M1w ago)
oh I wish I would achieve that ! :)
but most importantly, I also want to meet all the people that I miss, be it family or friends :)

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"


Posted by:+pizzofmine
Date: 12/06/05 at 10:11 AM (1M1w ago)
The holiday schedule awed me, awed I say!


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 1:47 PM (1M1w ago)
i bet if you told us *your* itinerary, we'd be awed too..

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"

Posted by:+pizzofmine
Date: 12/06/05 at 2:04 PM (1M1w ago)
well i don't think it will awe anyone if the route is between to the work desk - toilet -work desk -toilet - work desk -toilet and back to the work desk again


Posted by: rotidua (View Website)
Date: 12/06/05 at 10:25 AM (1M1w ago)
eh..tak nak jumpa kiter ke?


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 1:52 PM (1M1w ago)
eh MUSTI lah jumpa...
you're bringing fruits to the gathering kan kan kan?

Mama mesti buat makan2 punya lah.. paling kurang, on Raya Haji..

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"


Posted by:bertique
Date: 12/06/05 at 10:41 AM (1M1w ago)
have a good flight home ok.

and, pergh! packed giler schedule nyer :D

see you on sunday.

kalau sesat, call saya - hehehe

Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 1:55 PM (1M1w ago)
Kalau dia takder tukar jalan ke Putrajaya in the past 6 months, Insya-Allah tak sesat..
apa2 pun, nanti kita calling2..

please follow up on nekbat. Kita nak dia datang!!

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"

Posted by:nekbat
Date: 12/06/05 at 5:00 PM (1M1w ago)
Oh pressure, pressure


Posted by: hannaidea
Date: 12/06/05 at 3:16 PM (1M1w ago)
Have fun during your holiday. We're going to miss you.

hanna's mum


Posted by: shadesofblue
Date: 12/07/05 at 4:30 AM (1M1w ago)
I can feel the excitement...balik kampung..ooo..balik kampung.
About the Santa thingy...they do take things seriously and go into details huh...read about how some of the other mothers in US prepare their childrens birthday Mak Oiii...mcm2 ada

Wondering about writing

LoLlieS asked me a long long long time ago, how my family and I became so good at writing.

Well, firstly, we don't think we're that good. At least I don't think I'm that good at writing.
But I would agree that I like writing, reading and telling stories, and so does most of my family members (even The Sister Who Does Not Blog', henceforth to be referred to as TSWDNB, or maybe DNB (Does Not Blog), for short). So maybe I could shed some light on how we became this way.
damn.. i make it sound like it's some kind of affliction..

My siblings and I grew up telling or listening to stories. When we were young, sources of entertainment was limited. I remember that TV shows only started at 5:30pm or so. If you switched on the TV before then, you'd only see the test pattern. So we had to occupy ourselves with other stuff. When we're not gallavanting in the bushes (Trengganu was filled with bushes then), we're probably hanging out on some wooden platform (gerei) with our friends, or hanging out near the huts where the adults were cooking (nasi dagang or keropok lekor) and listening in to their conversations. Sometimes we made up our own adventrues and stories. I remember one time when mokciknab and I drew elaborate diagrams and made up complex processes on how to turn shit into ice-cream. I am not kidding.

My grandmother's house in Pantai Merang was worse. It didn't have any electricity until the generator was started at dusk (around 7:30pm roughly). So again, we occupied ourselves by playing or hanging out among the adults and listening to their stories. I remember killing at least half of the day watching this old woman who lived in front of my grandmother's house making nissang (sugar made from cooking coconut milk ..err so, 'palm sugar'? *shrug*). It was pretty fascinating to watch her patiently stir the coconut milk in a huge wok, watching it turn from white to sticky brown and then seing this thick gooey stuff being poured into the round moulds and harden up. Then we got to ate the bits that stuck to the bottom of the wok. Yummy. But I digress.
My grandparents would tell us all sorts of stories. Sometimes it was stories about how they or my dad grew up. Sometimes it's silly made up stories, like the one about 3 guys, one with big ears, one with a sharp bum and one with a lot of discharge in his eyes (taik mata), who got on a boat and how the guy with the sharp bum made a hole in the boat when he sat down and the guy with the eyes patched the hole up with his eye-discharge and the guy with the huge ears was used as a sail.
During blackouts in our house, we would sit around my father's feet and he would tell us jokes (some dirty and unfit for young ears) and stories about his childhood or travels. My mom would tell stories about her childhood too, about how she and her 8 siblings lived in a one room house that doubled as a tailor's shop (her parents were tailors), how she got a chance to study in England, her travels around Europe, how we lived in remote Kuala Berang.

My parents were avid readers, we had tonnes and tonnes of books in our house. In fact I remember we once had a whole wall of bookshelves filled with books. So I guess it was only natural that my siblings and I enjoyed reading. Some of us are more voracious than others: me being the worse, because I am quite picky about the books I read and DNB is the slowest (she took forever to finish Lord Of The Rings). Mokciknab is prolly the most well-read in terms of breadth of subjects coz she reads all sorts of technical books, while TulisJe would be the more literature-concious and artistic one, and the male rotidua would be the more adventurous one, appreciating both the well-written and well-drawn stories. I am not sure about Mimi, since I don't get to observe her reading habits first-hand. But I think you can't part a Bustaman from his/her books.

Except for Tulisje, none of us had any formal education in writing. Mokciknab took law. Male-Rotidua went into the visual-production field. DNB took Teaching English as a Second Language. I took engineering. Mimi .. is still in highschool, and it looks like she's leaning towards the performence arts. TulisJe was the only who has a Degree in 'English', which I guess involves alot of writing and reading..

Our backgrounds are reflected in the way we write, I think.

My dad, for instance, used to work for the information ministry and then moved on to the Prime Minister's Department to develop informative documentaries. So the posts on his blogs are mostly like Public Service announcements or documentaries on the Trengganu culture, catered to appeal to the masses. And from the popularity of his blog, you can tell that his writing do have a massive appeal.

Mokciknab tend to be very journalistic in her posts. She tends to write about issues (or makes issues out of the goings on of her everyday life). Her writings are always concise and focused, fit to be in a 5 minute slot on the evening news. Her 'connections' also has given her the ability to look at things from a lot of different perspectives, and listen to the same story from all the different sides. It also sometimes make her a bit jaded and sceptic about things.

The Male Rotidua, when he does write, simply blows you away with his eloquence and his perspective on things. In person, he is just like the way he writes. He doesnt say much, but what he says mostly matters, is rational and makes sense. (Note: The Female Rotidua, though is only related by marriage, suprised us with her eloquence and quirky sense of humor in their blog. We're proud of her :) )

Tulisje is the accomplished writer among us. You can tell that her posts are well-thought out, and probably went through a few drafts, coz they come out so perfect. She tends to write about deep things (except when she talks about college football and the UMich Wolverines) and I am often amazed by her imagination and her ability to convey stories in such a beautiful way.

Mimi .. is still young, and writes like a teenager should. I live vicariously through her shopping trips, teenage-angst and adventures on stage.

Me, having an engineering background, has made me very technical and analytical about things. I think I am best when I am writing instructions and procedures (like when I give out recipes). Ask me to write about one thing and I will break them into little pieces and analyze them bit by bit (like I'm doing with this one). I am always asking Whys and Hows, trying to figure out cause and effects of things that happen around me or that I'm doing. Very Boring.

So, I don't know whether this has given you an insight on how to be a 'good writer', but I hope it has given you an idea on why my family and I write the way we do :)

---

Blog Comments


Posted by:+PrimaryBasic
Date: 12/04/05 at 10:58 AM (1M1w ago)
if everyone writes in the same style, we would be better off reading just one from the same group.


saya suka blog ini.

and

"In fact I remember we once had a whole wall of bookshelves filled with books. So I guess it was only natural that my siblings and I enjoyed reading."

we also have tons and tons of books on the bookshelves. but, kenapa my younger ones tak nak membaca? :(


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 5:40 PM (1M1w ago)
I wasnt that keen on reading when I was younger too.. but I saw everyone in my house reading and I got to thinking, "Apalah yang syok sangat baca buku cerita ni ya?" So I started picking up one of my dad's books (I think it was Robert E Heinlein) and was hooked. Thanx to my siblings' 'adventurousness', our family was introduced to Tolkien, Pratchett, Gaiman, Garcia-Marquez.. kalau tidak, jangan harap I nak beli kalau tak kenal..


Posted by:famygirl
Date: 12/04/05 at 11:30 AM (1M1w ago)
this is very nicely written. saya rasa terinspired.

i hope my kids will grow up being ardent fans of books and become good writers like you and your siblings... as you've known, i have started my own collection of tons and tons of books on the bookshelves (I wish I have the luxury to read each and every one of them right now)


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 5:44 PM (1M1w ago)
well, judging from Sofea's talkativeness, if she doesnt become a good writer, she'd definitely become a good pengacara or penyanyi nasyid.. ha ha!


Posted by: Tengku Sheril Amirah (View Website)
Date: 12/04/05 at 3:25 PM (1M1w ago)
performing arts all de way man!!

muahahaha, oh yeas, and you asked me to leave a "not" here, so here it goes.

I don't really want anything frm The Land Of The Sand(my friend is already bringing me back melted snow in a bottle from UK) but I don't mind a shopping trip back here in Malaysia. *grin*

but den, its the thought tat counts so juz hantam and get me anything you think mite be nice *pssst scanky tops and bras*

Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 5:52 PM (1M1w ago)
okay.. a skanky top it is then.. I hope I have the time (and money) to go shopping before next week..


Posted by: ninuk (View Website)
Date: 12/04/05 at 4:01 PM (1M1w ago)
and i can vouch you are also good at "writing programmes/sql scripts" dan yang sewaktu dengannya !


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:01 PM (1M1w ago)
oh.. I don't know whether I can still remembr how to do that.. the only 'serious' writing I do nowadays are notes to the boys' teachers..


Posted by:LoLlieS
Date: 12/04/05 at 4:37 PM (1M1w ago)
I see I see. I am very intrigue with the storytellings and listening to stories that you folks had when you are little. it definitely runs in the family. simply amazing


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:07 PM (1M1w ago)
I am sure your kids will benefit from your love of storytelling as well :)



Posted by:+pizzofmine
Date: 12/04/05 at 8:01 PM (1M1w ago)
hmmmmm.....*nodding sagely*



Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:11 PM (1M1w ago)
encik namra.. kamu akan datang ke gathering tak????
heh heh .. i'm gonna bug bug bug you like a ghost haunts and abandoned house.



Posted by:+pizzofmine
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:21 PM (1M1w ago)
I'll have to take a massive rain check on that. Got so many datelines all lining up screaming my name as if I am some rock star


Posted by: The Elusive Mr R
Date: 12/05/05 at 1:49 AM (1M1w ago)
Joe, who's Mimi?
There's kak long, u, megababe, didie, firhad...so who's mimi??

*confused*

/rz


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:17 PM (1M1w ago)
Mimi is my youngest sister. Eh I never told u about her meh?



Posted by:nekbat
Date: 12/05/05 at 2:31 AM (1M1w ago)
Am always enthralled at your stories, however mundane. And you are creative other ways too. I istill remember your upside down signature masa kat maktab, which I thought was real cool.


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:25 PM (1M1w ago)
you know what, I still sign upside down.. but now instead of 'elisa bustaman', I now sign 'elisa taufik' :)
people always ask if my singature siamese, and I always love the expression of wonder on their faces when I turn it around and they could read it.


Posted by: AzeedA
Date: 12/05/05 at 3:39 AM (1M1w ago)
Hi, Kak Lisa! I'm one of most prolly many others who hops around ur 'blood blogs'.. really enjoy reading u + family's creative entries.. KEEP IT UP!!! and... luuurrvveee PJ's Alive sign up there... ;)


Posted by:
elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:30 PM (1M1w ago)
On behalf of my family, thankyou for visiting us.. datang lah lagi.. :)


Posted by: Alsa aka Ayu lol (View Website)
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:27 AM (1M1w ago)
My goodness gracious! Mata terbeliak baca entry ni. I to love to write but ill never be as good as you - Syok baca ur blog- ever thought of blog em up in a book? oi bukan nak bodek yer... its true! hehe suka ati u la nak call i ayu ker, ape ker, np .. hmm do u hv IMs? can i add u? my yahoo id is ayulinro n my msn is brit_millennium@hotmail.com - take care


Posted by:elisataufik

Date: 12/05/05 at 6:35 PM (1M1w ago)
I have msn, but.. ermm.. jarang on-line because I think it's slows other stuff up.. but I'll add you in. You'd never guess what my msn id is..heh heh


Posted by: Tengku Sheril Amirah (View Website)
Date: 12/05/05 at 3:00 PM (1M1w ago)
to The Exclusive Mr R - *i brought it upon myself to answer dis comment* ehem, I'm mimi. The youngest of the Kustamangs.


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:37 PM (1M1w ago)
maybe I should right about you lah one day..


Posted by: TheCharmedOne
Date: 12/05/05 at 4:11 PM (1M1w ago)
Turn shit into ice cream!!! It's disgusting!!! Nothing to talk about ke that time?? :)


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 6:43 PM (1M1w ago)
wehhhhh I was maybe 6 or 7 and mokciknab was 10 or 11. We were just fooling around, probably while waiting for the kuba bala (kerbau gembala) to walk past our front yard (behind our house was a paddy field).
Fun apa...

Posted by: JoKontan (View Website)
Date: 12/06/05 at 2:43 AM (1M1w ago)
Elisa,

This post answered a wholelotta questions, I had earlier. I've been reading and enjoying all Kustamangs delicious posts sejak azali lagi. Ek, dunno male rotidua has one ?.

But this is the first time commenting, feeling inferior, terasa 'seperti dua darjat'. I, simply cannot write.

When Modblog went Posa 6, few days back, I was busy looking around,."Bila nak on nih ?"


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 5:40 AM (1M1w ago)
Your writing okay what... very enjoyable reading. Especially bila terkeluor loghat pahang sket sket.


Posted by: The Elusive Mr R
Date: 12/06/05 at 3:03 AM (1M1w ago)
Joe (and Mimi if ur reading),

I swear to god i tak pernah tau the existence of *your youngest sister* ni until now. I'm beyond astonished that only now I discover that there's another sister. I dah pegi rumah u banyakkkkk kali dah, and tak pernah pun jumpa Mimi ni. Either I was stoned everytime I was there, or you have never mentioned it to me, or something doesn't add up. It's like Sydney Bristow finding out that SD6 were the baddies...heheh.


Posted by: elisataufik
Date: 12/06/05 at 5:22 AM (1M1w ago)
and I am astonished that you have the time (and energy) to watch Alias..
Dah lah ada anak kecik 2 orang.
ini mesti kes laki-bini dua-dua suka tengok Alias nih...



Posted by: marinadelrey (View Website)
Date: 12/06/05 at 7:32 AM (1M1w ago)
so that's the story.. i've been wondering the same thing all this while...i applaud the fact that u and ur whole family are so expressive in ur writing and can freely let forth ur thoughts via blog and it is something that all of you can share among family members as well...writing for me is a very private part of myself..and i find that there are things i can't even express freely, without worrying that the rest of my family may be reading it...thus, the anonymity... kudos to u n the whole Bustaman clan 4 ur excellent blogs! I'm a great fan of all of u...:-)


Posted by:zan
Date: 12/07/05 at 7:23 AM (1M1w ago)
saya pun terinspired...thanks for the entry, moi very bad with languages, let alone writing...

fyi, mr zul pun selalu puji your style in writing.



Posted by: Tengku Sheril Amirah (View Website)
Date: 12/10/05 at 2:38 PM (1M4d ago)
to The Exclusive Mr R(again) - I like to lead a quite life. my sisters are always so busy with their kids and everything that I just sink in because I'm family. and usually, family members need not be mentioned. *winks*

I am back home...

Back home at modblog, that is.. Latest update as of today is about Ilham's participation in his school play.

If you're interested in joining the Malaysian (mod)blogger's gathering on Dec 18th, 3pm in putrajaya, please join the discussion here.

We need to know how many people are coming and what you're going to bring.

See ya! :)

Ilham in Snow Queen

Last Tuesday (29th November), Ilham participated in his first play. The students in his stage, 'Key Stage 2' (7 to 10 year olds), performed a musical of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Snow Queen'.
Ilham was a flower! A Flower??? *groan*
Early in the month we got a letter asking us to look for a long green t-shirt and green tights.
"Tights??" I asked, "You mean leggings?"
"No, we mean tights." they said.
I told Taufik and he said No way in the world is my son going to wear tights!
So we searched around and finally bought him a set of green pajamas: Green Long Sleeved T-shirt and Green long pants. What are they gonna do? Expell him? heh heh

A day before the performence for parents they performed the play for Key Stage 1 kids (4 to 6 years olds), so Ihsan got to watch Ilham perform. I asked Ihsan about the play and he said he was scared when the snow queen 'attacked' Kay (the boy who got his heart frozen), but he enjoyed watching Ilham sing on stage.

On the day of the performence Taufik took some time off work and we went to see Ilham perform, with Anis in tow. I was quite excited, coz I've heard Ilham singing the songs in the shower for almost a month now, and this was like his first stage performence (Taska Salsabiila school concerts don't count).
It was a little while before Ilham's scene came and Anis was already fidgeting and kept asking "Mana abang Ilham?" (Where is big brother Ilham) and I keep having to point out to her that Ilham is sitting on the benches in front of the stage and is singing the chorus when he is not on stage.
So when his scene came on ("In the Enchanted Garden") Taufik took pictures. He started in a crouched position and he slowly rose as the 'sun' continued to shine and the Garden Witch came out to water the plants. His face was so serious though. It was obvious he took his part seriously coz he made sure his leaves (hands) unfolded gracefully and his head would sway gently as he sang.

He had only one spoken line really, "But here inside the garden walls, time is standing still", but the proud mother in me could've sworn he said it with such gusto and prose that even Sir Laurence Olivier would be put to shame.
tee hee!
(But after Ilham recited his line, I saw him make this shy face he often makes)

Anis was fretting all through out the play, I guess coz it was kinda long. She kept asking for her milk, but all is forgotten when after the play was over, we saw one of our Malaysian friends who also brought their daughter who is Anis' playmate and the two of them hugged and ran off to play.

We then went out to take pictures with Ilham and his friends.


I hugged Ilham and told him that he did a really good job and that I was so proud of his performence. Taufik told Ilham that he couldnt hear his voice when he was singing.
I think Ilham enjoyed himself. I hope that this experience will make him more confident and outspoken.

The kids are now singing the songs from Snow Queen everytime they shower..

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Blog Comments


Posted by:+nectar
Date: 12/03/05 at 3:32 PM (1M1w ago)
Oh, that's so sweet. Well done, Ilham. I don't see anybody wearing tights pun. Semua org tak ikut arahan ke?

Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/04/05 at 4:54 AM (1M1w ago)
Two of the boys who are standing beside Ilham (partially hidden by the boys standing in front) are wearing tights. They looked kinda weird .. like they weren't wearing any pants.. hee hee.
Isnt the head dress cute though?? They made it themselves and got to take it home.

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"


Posted by:famygirl
Date: 12/04/05 at 4:21 AM (1M1w ago)
hee hee, during sofea's last concert, the boys were the flowers too :) the girls were the butterflies.


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/04/05 at 5:00 AM (1M1w ago)
the weird thing is, almost all the flowers were boys and they also had trees, and they were all mostly girls.
I am just glad that the flowers didnt have to wear any make up.. kih kih kih

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"


Posted by:nutty
Date: 12/04/05 at 7:24 AM (1M1w ago)
alah cutenya. yay ilham!


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 5:33 PM (1M1w ago)
bonda Ilham tumpang bangga... ;)

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"

Posted by:jalommah
Date: 12/05/05 at 2:28 AM (1M1w ago)
so cute.... tapi perasan tak yang pakai black gloves kat belakang Ilham tu.. Dia nyer butang baju senget macam Zami Ismail dalam Pi Mai Tang Tu..hee..hee


Posted by:elisataufik

Date: 12/05/05 at 5:17 PM (1M1w ago)
ha ah lah.. i didnt realize it until you pointed it out.. hee hee



Posted by:nekbat
Date: 12/05/05 at 2:42 AM (1M1w ago)
The spotlight seemed to be on Ilham je. Macam star performer gitu. Comel la.


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 5:22 PM (1M1w ago)
actually it was just a coincidence that the spotlight fell on him. His position was in the middle of tha 2nd row, but the kid that was supposed to stand in front of him fell ill, and couldnt make it, so it looked like he was standing alone.


Posted by: mokciknab (View Website)
Date: 12/05/05 at 8:52 AM (1M1w ago)
Awww.. Ilham looks so cute. It's ok that he's a flower -- shows that he's confident about hus masculinity. Your husband must hae freaked out, though hahaha.

BUT, I have to say my kids gelak guling guling to see Ilham in costume. Never mind. Wait till its their turn.


Posted by:elisataufik
Date: 12/05/05 at 5:30 PM (1M1w ago)
Actually Taufik went "Oh no no no... he's not gonna wear tights"
and I said "Because you yang tak nak ke, or what?"
and he said "You think Ilham is gonna agree to where tights?"
I thought for a bit and had to agree with him..
Ilham saw his friends who were wearing tights and said they looked like they were running around naked. And even on stage, one of the boys turned around and I could see his undies thru his tights! I'm glad I spared Ilham that embarassment.

"we were but stones, ... your light made us stars"