Mid Night Blaze

I had a great time at my hometown during the recent CNY celebration. The reunion dinner was great and the food were just awesome. However, our CNY enjoyment was short-lived. A mid-night call on 27th January at 1.30am woke us up from our sleep. The news from the other end of the phone had sent us to the state of shock and speechlessness.

My wife's factory, our investment using our hard-earn money, was caught in a furious blaze. The fire was ignited at a neighbouring factory, and had spread to ours. Trying to rescue some of the documents in the office, several calls were made, and some arrangements was planned. But it was too late. At 3.00am, five connecting factories were declared total lost. We embraced each other in grief. In the midnight silence, we prayed, seeking for God's intervention and guidance.

My wife took an early flight home that morning, while I tried my best to spend another day with my parents. I too, took my flight on the next day, feeling sorry to leave my parents on CNY celebration. Though understood my situation, Mum was in tears when I left.

The mid-night blaze was reported on major newspapers. The Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pao, Berita Harian and Metro.



Once got home, I went to the factory with my wife. We were in disbelief, staring at the charred ruins. God is testing us. We prayed to God again and again, not asking God why such thing happened to us, but seeking His mercy and guidance. For we do believe, somehow, it's gonna be God's blessing in disguise.



My wife and I are okay now. More things to be done, and the factory is in the process of recovery. Though slow and difficult, we can manage. With God's help, our spirits are high. This incident had taught us one important lesson: No matter how we plan for our life and our future, It's God who has the last say. May God help us to hand over our lives and our future to Him, and let Him guide us instead.

My thousand thanks to my friends and relatives for their words of concern and support. Great appreciation to fellow bloggers Wahaza, Yaz, Dr. Syuk, Saharil Conten, Azizi, Budlee and non-blogger friends Hairie and Fazlimy for their supports.

Away For CNY. Gong Xi Fa Cai

Am celebrating CNY at hometown.

Wishing all my blog reader Happy N Prosperous New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Some interesting updates coming soon!

Putu Tag Peti Sejuk

Keliru kejap nak letak title apa.... Putu Tag Peti Sejuk, or Tag Peti Sejuk Putu? Ada cikgu BM yang boleh tolong tak?

Josh kena tag Putu, nak kita tunjuk peti sejuk kat rumah. Dengan gembiranyer Josh gi amik gambar peti sejuk, sebab kat peti sejuk Josh ada BAAAANYAAAAAK benda!

Ni peraturan tag tu:

1. Memula.. tangkap (or snap..omputeh kata) gambor peti ais rumah korang
Ni dia pandangan depan peti sejuk Josh yang penuh dengan accessories.

2. Explain le ape yg ada kat depan pintu peti ais tu
Fuyoo... ni kena explain satu-satu ni... banyakkk......
First, me and my wife's favourite..... magnetic soft toys. Semua ni wife yang beli. Kekadang Josh boleh main patung-patung tu letak bermacam-macam formation and style selama 10 minutes. hehehehehe... Segala jenis binatang ada!! cute oooo...


Yang confirm, sesiapa je masuk dapur Josh, sure diaorang kata .."Eeeeee, so cute." and terus spend berminit-minit main binatang-binatang tu.
Next, satu keluarga kura-kura. hehehe... ni all hand-crafted tau. Kawan tolong belikan. Very cute.

Beside the soft toys, ada jugak magnetic stickers yang kita beli masa gi jalan-jalan kat luar negeri. Some of them are from friends.

There're some photos too. This is one of them.

Yang paling tak tahan kan, ada lah satu hari wife dengan riang-gembiranyer kata ,"perasan tak ada magnetic sticker terbaru yang letak kat pintu peti sejuk tu??" .... Terus Josh gi tengok... Dengan sengeh-sengehnyer wife cakap... "Baca lah ayat tu.."

Aiyooo......

3. Peti ais brand ape yg korang beli
Peti sejuk ni brand LG. Rumah dok dua orang je, tapi peti sejuk besar gedabak... boleh pulak wife mintak .."kita beli peti sejuk yang lagi besar lah... ni kecik sangat..." Nak pengsan Josh dengar.

4. Tag pulak org lain utk sama2 tampal gambor peti ais depa pulak..
Erm... Josh nak tag siapa ek... tag my colleague and ex-colleague je lah.
1. Dr. Ain-ain.
2. Puan A
3. Puan Tod-tod
4. Cik Moshee
5. Cik Diamond

p/s Nasib baik Josh tak ambik gambar peluk peti sejuk macam orang tu... nanti kena carut tak habis-habis.. hehehehehe

Distribute Limau

CNY is only a few days to go. Can't wait to pack our luggage and head home. But before I can do so, I must do the 'compulsory and necessary' limau distribution at office. This practice has been customary to me every year.

I bought a few boxes, and distributed them to everyone in my office.

As much as they enjoyed the limau (mandarin oranges), I enjoyed the pleasure of sharing my festive mood to them too. Puan Jiah was among the first to get them and was more then happy to pose for a photo.

While others, well, were too busy. They 'ignored' me when I handed over the oranges. Hahaha... nah.. they received with joy, and continue their busy schedule.


This is the least I can do, to share the 'kum' (mandarin oranges in cantonese), hoping that everyone's pocket will be filled with 'kum' or gold this year.

Happy Chinese New Year everybody.

There IS Free Lunch ~ Nasi Kerabu Sedap

Who said there's no free lunch in this world? There IS, and I'd experienced it myself yesterday.

They served authentic Kelantanese (authentic because it's prepared by a Kelantanese sifu) Nasi Kerabu!

The food were beautifully displayed, and all the raw vegie (bean sprouts, long beans, ginger flowers, kesum leaves and cucumber) were cut into small sizes. All we had to do was to take a plate and fill as much as you like. And refill was allowed. Great huh?

Hehehe... actually, the nasi kerabu was served at Puan Ro-ro's place. She'd just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last week and a few of us paid her a visit yesterday. She's married to a Kelantanese and the mother in law, a restaurant owner, prepared the yummilicious nasi kerabu.

Yang baju hijau tu Puan La-la ye, bukan Puan Ro-ro. Cik Suw was there too.

Others were (left to right) Puan Tod-tod, Puan La-la, and Puan Nora.

The eldest son of Puan Ro-ro was adorable. Those charming eyes would sure attract many attentions.

Talk about Puan Ro-ro, she's an amazing mother (really, i tell you, really, really amazing). Believe it or not, she gave birth to four babies in two years. Tabik spring to her, for she gave birth to three babies, two boys and a girl last year. And now another addition. Healthily productive yah?

Puan Ro-ro said, "Dah cukup, nak tutup kilang dah lepas ni."

Congratulations Puan Ro-ro.

Kedekutnyerrr

Note: Entry in Malay (tiba-tiba)

Hari ni adalah burung kakak tua tu mengidam sup utara. Kita pun pergi lah kat kedai tu bertiga. Kalo pergi makan tengahari kat kedai tu, Josh pasti order sup daging.

Tapikan, nak dijadikan cerita kan, sejak belakang ni kan, kedai ni kan, macam semakin kedekut (hahaha... banyaknyer 'kan'). Mai josh tunjukkan gambar sambil bercerita sikit. Kawan-kawan semua judge lah sendiri diaorang kedekut ke tak. Tapi sebelum tu, Josh tunjuk gambar kita bertiga dulu. Gambar kita ni ambik masa lain, kat kedai yang sama. Yang ni, siapa lagi? burung kakak tua tu ler.

Ni Ah Josh pose mereng.

Ni pulak Puan Sue-sue yang kekadang senget-senget tu (banyak citer kelakar pasal dia yang Josh x sempat citer kat sini).

Ok, masuk topik balik. Ni dia, sup daging yang Josh order. Daging yang kat corner seco'et tu kan, tu ler banyaknyer isi yang ada, lain sup.
Limau nipis yang diaorang bagi pulak macam taknak bagi je. Sebijik limau dipotong sepuluh kot, kalo kita nak perah jus pun tak semestinya ada, buat kotor tangan je.
Tengok tu, daging yang diaorang bagi. Sedih tengok macam cebisan sisa daging je.
Ni dia nasi dia. Haii... mahal sangat ke timun tu, sekeping je dia bagi.

Harga dia camner pulak? Josh taknak citer, kawan-kawan tengok la sendiri. Tu harga untuk sup je ye, harga nasi putih dengan telur masin tu belum kira.

So, kawan-kawan semua, kedekut tak kedai ni??

Tapi kan, disebabkan ada "orang tu" suka sangat sup ni, bila Josh tanya dia nak ban ke tak, terus dia jawab "susah la.. kalo ban nanti mengidam nak cari sup camni kat maner pulakk??" siap buat muka kesian lagi tau. Ye la, sedap lah jugak sup dia, cuma kedekut sangat.

So, tak jadi ler ban. .....'sigh'.........

Bujang Meals

I was temporarily 'bujang' for the pass few days as my wife went outstation.

Soups, and noodle soups will be my choice if I cook for myself. My wife taught me the survival skills. I usually don't go for instant noodle for they're not healthy. Cooking a meal for one is simpe actually. Begin by preparing the soup base using drumsticks, mushrooms, dried oysters and all, and add the noodles once the soup is done.


Simple and nice (and nutritious too), enough to keep my stomach full.

Why On Earth....?

Spending RM10 for a decent meal in Klang Valley is considered reasonable nowadays. While for some, RM50 for a decent buffet is enjoyable. Even spending RM100 once in a while for a sumptuous Japanese buffet at Jogoya@Starhill KL is considered as affordable.

But if you were to spend RM50 for a small bowl of this, would you?

Many Chinese would! Gosh..... what on earth....??

It's a famous FooChow dish called '佛跳墙' or translated as 'monk jump over the wall'. A soupy dish with many 'good' stuff as Chinese says, that's include shark-fin, abalone, sea cucumber, dried scallop and high grade mushrooms as main ingredients. This dish was served in the wedding banquet I went to last weekend. The restaurant is situated at Nilai, and is known for this particular dish.

I was upset seeing this dish. Not that it's because it's expensive, but because it contain parts of endangered species. The gene-pool (the treasure of future survival) of the sharks is running thin, while sea cucumber, once found in abundance in Malaysian sea shore, is now rarely seen. They're at the edge of extinction. Yet, many Chinese just couldn't understand this simple fact that once these species are gone, their valuable genes (and probably very valuable for future survival as cure for diseases) vanishes with them.

Chinese, especially the older generations, will still insist that shark-fin soup or similar to be served in their son or daughter's wedding banquet, a sign of prosperity. What on earth.....??


As I go to the wet market every Saturday, I noticed that many stalls had put up their 'precious goods' for sale. Since Chinese New Year is around the corner, people will spend on these items regardless of the price. The sea cucumber of bigger sizes are sold at RM500 per kilo, while the smaller ones are priced at RM450 per kilo. Would you buy those? They would, but I won't. What on earth.....?

My fellow Chinese (and others), if you're lover of these items, I beg you to stop, for my future generations need to survive on these.

Should We Ban this restaurant?

There's this Kopitiam from Bangi opening up a branch in Seksyen 7 Shah Alam. Another venue for us to have lunch, I thought. We checked it out just now.

The ambiance:
Not bad. With oldies decor (there're too many restaurant with such theme). Cooling, but the chair was too small that I felt like my buns were hanging down to the side. No, I don't have huge butt like.. like.. erm.. never mind.

The price:
Prices for food are reasonable. but the drinks are a bit pricey. A glass of ice-water is charged 80 cents, while others ranged from RM2 to RM5.

The taste:
We ordered nasi putih ayam masak merah. The chicken tasted like cinnamon rolls, with little resemblance of the normal ayam masak merah. Out of three, none of us think it tasted good. In fact, it tasted weird.

As for the drink, I was the only one ordered hot lemon tea, the ladies ordered plain water with ice. The lemon tea was blunt. I order HOT lemon tea, but they served it in a tall glass. How was I suppose to hold the glass to drink?? 

I asked the waitress to change the glass into a mug. The answer was, "sorry cik, kita takde mug." Duuuhhh??? The glass was so hot that I got to wait untill it cooled down before i can drink.

The services:
Erm... no comment. They hired foreign workers who don't really understand what we want. "Dik, kita nak drumstick."... the girls went blank. " Peha, nak PEHA AYAM!"... baru dia faham.

The verdict:
One thing I dislike about the decor, there's this huge mural depicting friends gathering for a drink in the sixties. What's wrong with the mural? EVERYONE in the photo was holding a cigarette (Smoking) regardless of gender. Takde gambar yang lebih elok ke?? I'm not trying to down-grade smokers, but having such mural in a restaurant just kill my appetite.

The burung kakak tua wanted to ban this restaurant. They dislike this place. While I thought they deserve a second chance.

What do you think?

Thanks A LOT UiTM, Thanks A LOT!

I woke up early every morning and left home right after 7am, hoping to reach office early, or on time at least.

But THANKS to UiTM for their strategic entrance and stringent security checking every vehicles that passed through the narrow entrance, hundreds of cars got the taste of traffic jam every morning.


UiTM had two major entrances, about 2 km apart from each others facing different directions. Ironically, both entrances were causing massive jam to the area, ignites anger and frustrations from the road user of that area. Most of my colleagues were late every day because of this phenomena.

And a traffic policeman was on the spot this morning, trying his best to ease the congestion. But THANKS to UiTM again, the cars that passes through the main entrances were crawling like snails. The policeman's effort was in vain.

I was supposed to clock in before 8.15am, but was stuck in that short stretch of mere 500m for more then 20 minutes!

I was late again this morning. I was disgusted by the way UiTM handling things. They spent millions on unnecessary fencing and structures using tax payers' money, but slow (or did nothing??) in solving problems that causes inconveniences to the public.

UiTM, thanks a lot, really, THANKS A LOT!

Hands

Somehow I find it quite fun to look at other people's hands. The hands can provide some information about the personality and status of the person.

I took these pictures quite some times ago, while we were waiting for our breakfast.

Pic. 1: Obviously she's married. Displaying her slander fingers in a neat way shows that this person is very careful and can be particular sometimes.

Pic 2: Married too. By judging the appearance of the hands, they belong to a lovely man. With 'ketot' fingers and meaty hand, this guy has a lot to share, and can be funny at times. Most of all, he's proud yet conservative. (ye ke??)

Pic 3: Showing the hands in a blunt way, she is very confident and comfortable with herself. She's single of course, and available (judging at the simplicity). She got strong will.

Pic 4: Aiyooo.. this one... erm... this one..... very the control ayu type. The crystal bracelet shows she like attention, and suka benda-benda yang lit-lap, MEMANG PUN! Soft spoken when necessary, otherwise can be a loudspeaker, anytime.

See? it's fun. How about the feet then??

Atas permintaan ramai, entry ni diupdatekan dengan beberapa gambar tangan lagi: Aiyooooo....

Pic 5: Curvy fingers leaving spaces in between, a clear sign of a person who like to spend, spend and spend. Tangan berporos, jenis yang boros.. Fingers with equal width from base to tip, a person with determination. But, subtle sign of inconsistency observed (others can influence her decision)

Pic 6: Aiyoyooooo... tangan ni.... jenis tangan datin yang sukkaaaaaa sangat berbelanja ntah apa-pa. Very curvy fingers. Her untidy display of fingers reflects her fluctuating behavior. Senang dipengaruhi orang in other words. Betul? But nevermind, the Datuk can provide her with all the money she wants. Kaaannn?

Pic 7 & 8: This one aah.... mula-mula tak nak, tapi sebenarnyer NAKKK! Malu-malu kucing behaviour. Motif sorok tangan bawah ketiak?? nak tunjuk jam Bonia tu kooot.

However, this pair of hands shows simplicity with easy-going attitude. Short finger nails, ni tangan orang rajin.

Tudiaaa, dah jadi ahli nujum dahhhh. (ahli nujum ke?)