nothing like a good plate of murtabak...

It all started with an invite by my cousin, to head for Sultan Mosque, early that Saturday morning, for some Zikirullah (Quranic prayer recitations alongside praises for Allah), with aims directing at medical benefits.

And we eventually got down to a more Islamic way of exercises & stretches - not unlike the much-hyped Yoga, which leaned more towards Hinduism - spiritually. I'm amazed that I can still stretch well, even touching the floor-going beyond my toes, when bending down. All that under the glaring sun (we sat outdoors), with solemn prayer recitations and aptly-timed deep inhales & exhales, it (naturally) got me pretty hungry.

Doesn't help that I only got 1/3 of a boiled sweetcorn for breakfast. MIL packed me 4 of those, but I decided to share with the others. Oh, and the fact that we're surrounded by many many eateries o'there. So what do we have later... Murtabak @ Zam Zam? Nasi Padang @ Wisvry? Or mediterranean food?

The choice eventually became imminent, as we were greeted by the aroma of freshly cooked murtabak wafting out of the famed institution, Zam Zam from across the road. We literally let our noses lead the way.

It was packed, as usual and seeing that there were nine of us, we waited a lil' before getting our seats and making our order. Murtabak it shall be. I mentioned about having the chicken one as well, but many disagreed. Well, I'm all for variety and 3 plates of similar mutton murtabak will definitely be an overload.

So 2 meat & 1 chicken murtabak it is. All large.

They eventually served the condiments of sliced cucumbers (sliced a tad too thin!) with ketchup and 3 varieties of curries, i.e. dhal, fish & chicken curry.

meat (usually mutton) murtabak

Look at how crisp that is! Most of us lunged for the edges. And the excess minced meat sprinkled on top was equally crunchy.

This is still my favourite location to satiate any murtabak craving...

chicken murtabak

Looks like any other murtabak, though the edges are crispy, one can see that the center, (where the filling is), seemed a lil' soggy and dense....

the chicken meat inside

...due to the gravy that comes with the chicken pieces.

I later realised that the chicken seemed similar to the one on my cousin's plate of chicken briyani.

Truth to be told, I even end up spitting our small bone fragments in some pieces of the chicken murtabak.

No wonder it wasn't THAT popular with many.

my cousin and her chicken briyani

She the case of, 'must-have-rice-to-be-full'. She was aghast to hear that we'll be eating ONLY murtabak and immediately placed her order for this.

We walked out of there very much appeased. It seemed that most of us must have been craving for this for quite some time!

oh, brother!

Here's a piece of the conversation that I had with my brother recently:

Bro: Hey, I wanna watch Angels & Demons. Looks good.
Me: Oh, you should have read the book 1st.
Bro: What's it about?
Me: The pope died and they are going to nominate another at the Vatican and the 4 cardinals got kidnapped and this guy gotta help the Church find them. I can't tell you what happen in the end. You should have read the book...
Bro: Doesn't matter. So tell me, who won at the end...?
Me: Erk...?! Huh...?
Bro: Who won? The Angels or the Demons???
Me: ......??

Me: Woit!! If you thing this movie is like those knight's tales or something like Constantine or whatever, you are SO wrong. It's about religious conspiracy and history, la...!
Bro: Cheh!!!

sticky

I'm totally digging their acid drops. So addictive were they that I can't stop popping one after another. Ditto for my colleagues.

My colleague Jim had been huffing and puffing about this candy shop that his friend opened and he told me that their stuff are 100% handmade.

Handmade taffy, actually. With cute little patterns inside, to boot. As you can see, these are long pieces that's been cut up.

Whose curiousity won't be piqued by that kind of information, tell me?

So when he came in one morning with numerous packets of various flavours, I was quick to see that they have a WEBSITE.

Check out the video they had there. Be amazed by how they make these babies!

Aside from colours and flavours (most likely artificial), I'm glad to see they have no preservatives or other additives whatsoever.

But my female boss has been at me to watch my sugar intake.. Haizz....

Krisdayanti @ Esplanande

This one here was sure a good enough excuse to finally meet up with my mates.

Man, those times when we wound the car windows down and blast her music over the audio and sing out loud - to the wind... Songs like 'Mencintaimu', 'Menghitung Hari', 'Cinta' And 'I'm Sorry, Goodbye'. We sang them like some crazy b****** while whizzing down the highway.

And I love those moments.... Sigh.

So when the diva herself comes down for a gig at The Esplanande... Oh wow! Kerplunked some $80++ which only seat us at the less-desirable upper terraces. But hey, we get to hear her... Live!

And despite coming in a tad late, we actually got our seats upgraded - a WHOLE level down at the side terraces. Where most of the Indo celebs chose to be.

No joke! BCL was in our row and the riotous zone next to ours turns out to be Shanti & friends. There's more who came but I only find them familiar. My knowledge on them still raw, la. Melly Goeslaw and family was at the terrace across from us.

Seeing her first costume/dress, I was in awe, seeing that it was indeed elegant. And she was 'covered-up'. I wasn't being conservative but she said so herself, that she wanna 'improve' on her wardrobe when performing. Improve as in more 'covered-up'. Supposedly inspired by Siti Nurhaliza.

Second costume was cute. Very lolita-esque.

And then she unzipped the ballooning skirt. And frisk around in a short dress. Oooookaaayyy.... I had previously whispered to Khamz, "Wow, she finally did cover-up."

Prior to that unzipping, I whispered back to him, "errm.... I take back my words."

Well to each, her own.

And choosing to sit while wearing that short dress was seriously, a bad choice. I can sense the discomfort on having to keep her legs tightly together seeing that they were in full view of the audience right in front.

And the shoes. My gawd, the SHOES! Gorgeous as they were, I can't help cringing with every time she skipped, hopped and danced in them. Especially the 3rd costume change, when the black pair had some really KILLER heels. Like 4 inches of less-than-1cm thick spikes.

And she danced to P.Ramlee's 'Bunyi Gitar' and even did a salsa dance in them! Oh, my heart wasn't good that day. I kept gripping my seat, my eyes transfixed on her heels (almost) the whole time.

And then there's her daughter who came on stage to perform, playing on the keyboard alongside her mum who was crooning 'Mencintaimu'. That poor girl need to learn a thing or two from her mummy, especially when it comes to gathering her guts. She came on stage with her head hung (really) low and and the end, when she came out her family, she had her eyes cast down the whole time.

Some serious self-esteem issues, there.

Despite the really short duration of 1.5hrs, I believe that her no-less-than-powerful voice and great showmanship made the steep ticket price pretty worth it. Now that's a diva there. What do we expect? Unregrettable, definitely.

Thanks a lot, KAi for the invite!

Suzi's engagement

Many congratulations to my cousin Susienna Anwar, on her engagement!

Hope all will be smooth-sailing till' the big day, aiite? ; )

























































































































And also on the same day was her dad's birthday.

Counting the candles in the picture, all I can say is that he's a year shy of getting his $!!! =P

cotton bud (literally!)

My neighbour, who works at Sarimbun Camp, (which is literally surrounded by a forest) brought back some cotton seedlings for my mum, knowing my mum's hobby for planting various types of plants.

Little did we expect it to thrive in a little pot and it actually have buds after some months! Quite an easy 'plant' to 'plant', after all!

Quite a cute-looking cotton-bud, huh?

kinda look a little like a strawberry!

a ripe one

Check out one of the ripened pod.

peek-a-boo!

The cotton had filled its pod and it's bursting at its seams.

Can you imagine a whole field covered with burst cotton pods? Gorgeous!

nice or not?

The 'bunga manggar' at my neighbour's wedding. It's the first time I see coloured feathers being used.

something from a recent bbq

What does this look like to you...?

crispy on the outside, soft & chewy inside.

ouwh, look at that!

Nothing does it for me like bbq-ed marshmallows... mmmmm.....!

that and also chocolate fudge birthday cakes

Cakes are just soooo overrated nowdays, aren't they? They make you really excited, always in anticipation.

And yet, after the first bite, you felt like you've had enough.

(burnt) bbq chicken wings

It's amazing that these wings taste different when bbq-ed at social gatherings. You can have the same marinade and all but only at such gathering do these chicken taste really good, albeit a little undercooked.

Those manning the grill should undergo a crash course by Robert Rainford, sometime. But then again, to be able to have the option of having yours charred at the edges, that beats everything. EVERYTHING.

Carcinogens notwithstanding.

Oh, I love family barbecues....