BelangZ

Hasben's first conference is at UTS, University Technology Sydney so Kimi and I tagged along to give him the moral support he needed... As well as sightseeing of course! As a Malaysian on budget, we chose to stay at Malaysia Hall in Alison Road, Randwick. Here, Kak Nani and some UNSW students welcomed us and made us feel like home. For those Malaysians who are looking for a place to stay in Sydney, this is definitely the most cost saving choice! Some tips worth mentioning: 1) Send an email to Kak Nani to book a room. 2) Bring cash for payment and AUD100 for downpayment (no cards). 3) No cooking allowed so forget about frying some chicken. But a common microwave is available on the ground floor. 4) Laundry and ironing room available. 5) Rooms have 2 single beds and private bathrooms. Carpeted floors. 6) Kiblat direction available in the cupboard, as well as a praying mat. 7) Located near a bus stop but most of the busses require PrePaid passes. Anyway, it is suppose to b

Eazy Peasy Pizza! This snack is absolutely special to me as it reminds me of my childhood, when my mom would make them during the weekends. Despite the fact that it was responsible for my addiction to Mozzarella cheese, and eventually my fatness (!!!), I still love it. It is so easy to make and keeps the tummy full. Ingredients: French bread, Tuna spread and Mozzarella Cheese Steps: Slice bread, spread tuna, sprinkle cheese (you can do this with your eyes closed!)  Place in oven at 180 degrees C until cheese melts (5-10 minutes) Serve:   Crunchy crunchy! (May need more cheese I think [^ u ^] )

... To Malaysia! Ewan, my BIL was getting married on 7/7/12. To honour him, Hasben and I had to *smile and pretended it was no biggie* fly ourselves home to Ampang. We decided to spend 2 weeks with our families and let Kimi mingle and bond with his beloved grandparents. So this post is about Kimi's little adventure in a land we call Ampang! Flying with AirAsia and made some new friends: Went to his first wedding ceremony in Banting: Visited Ibu's favourite malls: Ampang, Point, Spectrum, Galaxy Ampang, KLCC, Pavi, and Mid Valley. Mid Valley Mega Mall! Went to his first PC Fair: KL Convention Centre - Pengsan sudah ...~ Met Ibu's gorgeous friends: ... and vidabayu!! Wore his first baju melayu: Was able to wear sexy outfits like all Malaysian babies: ... and drive a car... " Ekele.. Merah brentila bro! " Last but not least, spent some quality time with his much loved extended family: With Uncle Hadif! B

At Long Last... These fingerless mittens are finally completed. I started this project about 2 to 3 months back and for a while, I had only the right one that was wearable. My crochetting was taken a step further. Kimi's pillow case was straight forward, perfect for a beginner's project... (Am I saying that I am no longer a beginner?? Perasannye ...) I decided to save $5 by making my own mittens for the winter but guess what... It's now nearly spring! It seems that I have to wait for next year to fully utilize them. I had a vision to show off this pair in front of the Sydney Opera House.. So I brought along my crochet needle and the blue wool during the Canberra-Perisher-Sydney road trip. It was not effective to crochet in a moving car (migraine inducing activity!). So yeah, no picture of the blue mittens anywhere in Sydney... Bummer... It took forever!!! However, the mission to save $5 - success. I struggled in the cold and refused to buy any mittens or

Apples Everywhere! Date : 3 March 2012 Stanthorpe is about 2 hours from Toowoomba, a lovely place with quite a few tourist attractions - considering that this part of Australia is not actually comparable to Gold Coast, activity wise. However, the country side boast many farms - apples, vineyards, lavender... So it is a must for us to try picking fresh apples from the tree (instead from the supermarket). Coincidently, on the day of our trip, Stanthorpe was organising an Apple and Grape Festival for three days. We dropped by to join in the fun but... seriously, I was expecting a lot of fresh apples and grapes for sale but instead, there was a parade, some fun fair games and food (other than apples and grapes). I must have missed something... *thinking hard* There were a few places for apple picking but we chose Sutton's because it was exactly by the main road: Each person was given a red bag for $2 to fill it up with apples. At the end, the bag with the app

The Not-So-Spherical Ball~ Date: 29 July 2012 Watching my lil one play, I noticed that he was enjoying his little red ball... Crawling and chasing after it around the room. It wasn't exactly a ball, but one of the shapes from his Lamaze sorter. Since both Hasben and I are yet to find part time jobs, we have been quite frugal in all aspects. So I decided to make Kimi his very first ball. He is after all a boy and everyone knows that boys and balls are related in some ways. There are many tutorials for cloth balls in the internet... And those crafty mommies sure know how to make them! This particular tutorial is superb and it comes with a printable template for 3 sizes: small, medium and large. I chose to make a medium sized ball. Choosing a decent colour and pattern combination from my collection of dull scrap cloths: Cutting them out into 4 pairs: Half of a ball ready: Time to destroy this old cushion for the stuffings: Yeah!!! It's

My New Toy! Date: 13 July 2012 Fuhh.. Ha... ~ I am currently breathing the warm Malaysian air. Having a break from shiverring and hiding under thick duvet for 2 weeks to attend my BIL, Ewan's wedding. One of the items in my to-do-list is upgrading my iPhone 4 to iPhone 4s. Yup, the sweet present from Hasben was being replaced due to unsatisfactory performance. However, my decision was met with a few raised eyebrows from my brother, the salespeople, and Hasben. IPhone 5 akan keluar September ni... Rugi wooo beli 4s! Samsung S3 was the obvious choice but it is too wide for my small palm. I imagine it will easily slip away when I answer a phone call. Being clumsier than the average human being, I am not willing to take the risk. Now that S3 is out, S2 price has significantly dropped to RM1450 during PC Fair at KLCC. So yeah, much cheaper than 4S. From my personal point of view, Android is more fun and user friendly. I can customize the theme and transfer files easily. Th

A Taste of Malaysia in Canberra~ Date: 27 June 2012 It is hard enough to find good halal food here, and it is a whole other story to find halal Malaysian food. At first, we were planning to go to Mamak Corner but since the tauke of Roti House informed us that Mamak Corner sells pork and is not halal, we changed our mind (obviously). Some non-food related info: The Malaysian Chinese tauke had no problem speaking Malay although he has been staying in Australia for 11 years... So order in Malay if you wish or don't try to ngumpat ! The chef is a Malay man from Kedah. The deco is classy. The menu is typical mamak food but the price is WOW ! Orang putih ordered 'sambal ikan bilis'... Impressive~ Interviewing the Kedah Chef: Halal logo ada maaa... Ini kakak was-was meh ? Nasi goreng pataya: Roti canai, kuey tiaw goreng and teh tarik kaawww!! Roti tisu pon ada : Nasi goreng kampung: Some cravings were definitely satisfied tonight... But o

Seriously... Fuh!!! I have to record this milestone... My first ever serunding daging , which I never imagined I would actually even try to make. We are planning to go on a road trip to Sydney next week and apart from sambal ikan bilis , another common Malay food for on-the-go is serunding. I remembered JuliZac's mom made a bag full of homemade serunding for our trip to Hong Kong. And it was really good - we ate it with nasi impit separa basi and macaroni. Since nobody's mom is going to make it this time around, I have to make it myself! Browsed the internet and used this recipe as a guideline. Naturally, I didn't follow the steps exactly, made a few changes: 1) Did not bother to siat-siat daging ... Used minced meat instead. 2) Did not have any ketumbar (which I know is the most important spice for serunding), so replaced it with curry powder ( memang suka hati! ) I also read from another site that it takes about 2-3 hours to make this cuisine. However...

Brisbane, Again and Again! Date : 12 May 2012 About 1 year ago, my friends and I hopped on Air Asia, visited Gold Coast and Brisbane. The depressing story  here . At that time I was 2 months pregnant. I was not sure then that I will be back. So now, with Ju Jr. out and about, Hasben and I re-visited Parkland. It is sooo much better than the last time, because: In 2011, it was recovering from the horrible flood. All this time I was wondering what was all this construction site and swampy area about?! We arrived in Parkland in the evening, parked our car underground ($15!! But better than taking the risk of saman ), and excitedly pointing out here and there.. "Dulu kita lalu sini!" City of Brisbane: The boys enjoying the sunset: Free public pool: Street Beach: Aquativity - If only we had out bikinis on, haha! Aquativity at night - colourful lights on! River cruise - we went on one of these last year: Carvings on the Nepal Peace Pago