32 and counting

They say that a year older, a year wiser…hmm makes me ponder, does the expression has some ring of truth behind it? How come I don’t feel any wiser then? What have I got to show for the 32 years of my existence? A thinning and graying top, a rounder middle and heavier bottom, that’s showing now. Wonder what I would feel like another 10 more years. The only thing that is acting my age is my waistline, that also is about a year older.

This year my birthday falls on the second day of Eid, and with that I declare it as a public holiday to all the masses in Malaysia. My birthday is sandwiched in between the Sultan of Pahang (24^th October) and my mom ( 26^th October). So this year we had a double celebration, and if we were to put all the candles it would be 90 on the cake.

The age difference between my siblings is as follows:

Me to my 2^nd brother : 2 years

My 2^nd brother to 3^rd brother : 3 years

My 3^rd brother to 4^th sister : 4 years

My 4^th sister to youngest sister : 6 years

Almost everyone birthday would get celebrated, mostly it’s a family affair. I can’t recall the last time we had a birthday party with guests around. I think for my birthday maybe it was in 1985/1986, man that was way long ago. Maybe they had it when I wasn’t around. For me, at least for now, age is nothing but a number.

I leave you all with a quotation from Samuel Ullman : -

Youth is not a time of life—it is a state of mind.
It is not a matter of red cheeks, red lips and supple knees.
It is a temper of the will; a quality of the imagination; a vigor of the emotions; it is a freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a tempermental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over a life of ease.
This often exists in a man of fifty, more than in a boy of twenty.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old by deserting their ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair—these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being’s heart a love of wonder;
the sweet amazement at the stars and starlike things and thoughts;
the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what comes next, and the joy in the game of life.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt;
as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station.
So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, grandeur, courage, and power from the earth, from men and from the Infinite—so long are you young.
When the wires are all down and the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then are you grown old, indeed!

Samuel Ullman (1840-1924)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Iklan Raya Petronas 2006

Selamat hari Raya Aidilfitri 1427H/2006

In light with Eid, I would like to wish all those who celebrates Eid-Mubarak and to those who didn't to have a great festive season. This year we'll be celebrating it in KL first before adjourning to Pahang.

On behalf of my family, I would like to say this " Maafkan kami sekiranya terdapat kesalahan yang dilakukan samada secara sedar atau tidak serta halalkan makan minum".

Have a great one everybody.

Happy Deepavali

Happy Deepavali

I would like to take to wish all my friends Happy Deepavali for this year. May you have a great festive season and try not to gorge down on all those nice food in one seating.

Whilst we were filling out the greeting cards to be sent out to friends and acquaintances, my son was also busy doing up one for his friends. Upon finishing he came over and proudly shows it :

Bless him, sometimes we were astounded of what a 5 year old could conjure.

BTW, here are some Deepavali adverts for us to share and ponder upon. Happy Deepavali to all.

Tales of 3 Buka Puasa

International Islamic Art Museum (IIAM)

Set in the café of the IIAM, the Ramadhan buffet spread is a mix of Middle Eastern dishes such as lamb kofta, Lebanese bread, humus, falafel, moussaka and local dishes. The food and setting of the place was wonderful, with just the right number of people seated, unlike some outlets which would maximize their floor space during Ramadhan buffet.

Their chef is also of Middle East origin, hence all the dishes are as authentic as they could be. From what I gather, they rotate the set menu. Noted dishes for that particular day was their sup tulang ( two thumbs up), roasted lamb, grilled salmon ( lurve it) plus the rice dish (couldn’t remember the name) and otak-otak was excellent.

The dessert spread ranges from local dishes such as sago gula melaka, bubur kacang, various local kuih to puddings, baklava, cakes and fruits.

Overall, the buffet spread is not that extensive but the quality of the serving top notch. Would recommend it over the normal off the mill buffet.

Bagan Seafood, Tg Harapan

Every year, we have this arrangement with another couple to break fast with seafood galore. This year is no exception, and when they mooted they idea, we quickly agree on the date. All the arrangement has been set even down to the special table, where they gave us a long bamboo chairs instead of normal ones so that we could sit back and relax after gorging down the food.

Menu is as per usual – 2 kg of crabs, 1 kg of prawns, lemon chicken, mixed vege, tofu, kerapu & kalian ikan masin. There are some kuih buffet thrown in for starters. ( all this is for 5 adults and 3 kids ).

The trick is to have the kids fed first, and after they’re full, they can go wondering about while the adults enjoy the food. They say that the proof to the pudding is in the eating, and I believe almost everything was cleaned off the table.

Crab shells

Pride of India, Desa Sri Hartamas

My sidekicks and I decided to have a small, last of the month breaking of fast. Having read good review about the place, we decided to give it a try. The day was set on Thursday, 2 days before the long festivities break.

The atmosphere was set to offer an authentic Indian restaurant, with see through windows to see what the Chefs are doing. To my surprise, the place wasn’t packed and it offered a serene atmosphere to have your food and enjoy the conversation. The buffet spread is not that extensive, but what they lack in number the made up in quality. Free flow of poppadums and nan bread kept being sent to the table, along with refreshment.

If I recall correctly, they have some sort of soup (similar to rasam), with raita and some salad with cottage cheese, choice of briyani or plain rice, vegetable bhajee and pakora, chicken jalfrezi, mutton rogan josh, aloo goobi, fish, fried brinjals and dhal, with assortments of kuih and fruits with ros gulla (an Indian sweet dessert – sort of ladoo immersed in syrup). Made me miss breaking fast in the UK.

I was told that they rotate the menu and in some of the days they would have tandoori chicken, palak paneer and gulab jamoon. Would definitely recommend the place for those seeking some sort of spicier buka puasa fare and also some place quiter than the overpacked and overprice offering at most hotels. And at RM22 nett, it is a steal.

IQ Test Survey

Somebody asked me to do the Tickle IQ Survey. Upon finishing the test, I was astonished with the results. Does a few minutes of your time taking the test and the result could determine the state of your Intelligence Quotient? Do anybody actually go out and compare their IQ? Would the ranking have any reflection on how you would fare in real life? What good does the test do anyway? Lots of questions, springing loads more question. At the end of the day, anybody cares about your IQ?

State of Perpetual Haze

What’s a good topic to talk about everyday? Most people would rant about the weather, whether is too hot, too cold, too rainy, to dry etc. It would not fail as an ice breaker to start a conversation going on. And why not? Since it is a common factor to all living in the same locality. For the past 2 weeks, Malaysia has been besieged by the haze due to open burning from our neighbour. This situation has been happening for the past X years, and every time it happens, our elected government would make a big hoohaa regarding this. But it keeps repeating year in and year out..

Now the most followed after index is the Air Pollution Index next to the key bourses. The magic number is 300, where it would be declared as a state of emergency and everybody gets the day off. I pity those who have respiratory condition. Some of them have been reported to flee to other country where the smoke would not reach them and vow only to return once it cleared.

For me, I’m seething to the point that smoke is coming out of my ears – better not as it will worsen the haze – but I definitely feel something had to be done. We are inhaling secondhand smoke people! Maybe our CSI could get the sample of the haze, synthesize them and know where exactly they came from, and slap them with a big fine that they’ll think 100X to commit open burning. Some radical suggestion is that we nuke them to kingdom come, but since we’re so close with them the radioactive fall out would affect us as well. Others would be erecting giant fans and blow the smoke back where they came from.

It goes to show that all our actions have consequences, even though it would be minute and far away from us, it might become major and closer to somebody else.

Balik Kampong for Buka Puasa

With both parents being born and raised in KL, my only experience of a kampung life is when I visited my relations in Kampong Baru, Kuala Lumpur. Being in an urban area, it hardly qualifies as true blue kampong as it’s flanked by the development in KL e.g. KLCC, Vision City and the edge of the Golden Triangle. There’s no stream that you could swim in or bushes where you could play combat in. The Klang River ran beside it, which hardly qualified as a river due to the level of pollution, more like a big drain. You could still have an adventure but it mostly has to be the urban type.

I still remembered my mum’s advise, when looking for a partner find somebody with a kampong so that at least your offspring could experience the kampong life. Luckily my nearest and dearest fits the bill as she hails from The Royal Town, Pahang.

The house was built by her grandfather, being a typical traditional Pahang house. The design has been modernized with zinc sheet roof instead of attap roof, some of the part has been strengthened with bricks but most of the original features are retained. The house is spacious, could accommodate at least two badminton courts in the common area with plenty of space to spare.

The house sits beside the mighty Pahang river, where one could spend an afternoon dozing off in a hammock facing the river with the breeze blowing, watching the river lazily flows into the Pahang Estuary. During the dry season, sandbars would appear and you could actually walk to the middle of the river on foot and the water would only be ankle deep. The atmosphere is calm and cool, with chirping of birds greeting you in the morning and the sounds of crickets and toads could be heard at night.

The compound of the house is big, with parts of it being kebun for variety of plants such as pomelo, dragon fruit, corns, sugarcanes, coconuts, rambutans, durians, mangoes, bananas, quinine, longan etc. There’s a coop for chickens with the big rooster, 1 ½ times bigger than the normal rooster, ponds for fishes such as red tilapia, keli, patin, baung where they would be caught and grilled on special occasions (sadly their numbers have diminished due to theft). The grounds are extensive, and if there’s a get together would be filled by kids running around until they tire and they do not tire easily unlike the adults. My favourtite pastime would be lounging on the hammock facing the river, with a good book in hand and slowly reads and the day would just pass on blissfully.

Oh BTW, they have this wonderful murtabak known by the name of Murtabak Mengkasar. It’s has been featured on Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan previously and several national newspaper. Is been said that even the Sultan buys from there. A word of warning thought, in Ramadahan, you have to call in or otherwise be prepared for an hour wait just to get your orders (walk in). It’s different from what you could get from anywhere, hence made it a point to have it almost everytime we went back to kampong.

Signboard of the place

Customers queuing for orders, have to take numbers

Busy preparing orders