Saturday 22 November 2008

Something fishy - again!

Hi everyone! All three of you that is still diligently reading auntie's blog (well maybe the other 7 visit from time to time, so that's quite a few of everyone) because there must be more interesting thing to do like finding out what your friends are up to on facebook. Hehehe.

Anyway, something fishy today at auntie's is the second cookout of ikan patin yang masih berbaki from auntie's last trip back to Kuantan (auntie blogged about the first cookout a few entries ago). And sorry, the gambar is still not the genuine article since you guys know about auntie's kong camera. And auntie did not have my phone in the kitchen to take even a substandard picture. So, auntie 'pinjam' this picture from the website of Puspanita SPA. Thank you tuanpunya gambaq and sorry tak mintak permission directly. Walau bagaimanapong, auntie punya ikan patin hari ni ada iras2 yg ni. Yum! Yum!

Auntie hope satu hari nanti auntie dapat cook this for kengkawan especially gang badak and kawan auntie kat Melaka tu (yg bersedia meredah tasik cini nak pi makan ikan patin kat kuantan- now ni ada highway dah tati, so you are spared the wet adventure! Hehe). Sorry la kengkawan, cukup2 untuk keluarga AH je and parents AH so love this dish which is why auntie make sure they could eat it a few times while the patin stock last. They have been discussing if they want to open up to the possibility of eating tesco's patin again. You know la senior citizen, a bit particular about this. They need authoritative people to tell them it is ok. (those authoritative people do not include auntie and AH la).



Anyways, together with that patin, auntie also prepared sotong goreng tepung for dinner. So far, adik beradik auntie macam suka je sotong goreng tepung auntie so auntie rasa this is one of my signature dishes la jugak in the family. Kalau sesape nak try, ie. if you don't already have a tried-and-tested recipe, this is how auntie does it:

10 ekor sotong (medium sized, cleaned and cut into ringed pieces, cut the heads into two)
4 sudu besaq tepung gandum
2 sudu besaq tepung jagung
(mommy kata, kalau add 1 tbsp tepung beras to the whole mixture ok jugak)
1 egg white (it's ok to use whole egg but kena increase flours measurement a bit coz yolk makes the batter less crispy, i think)
seasoning (suka hati- other than garam auntie bubuh a little bit of pepper and kunyit to the sotong)
minyak to goreng

Add egg white and a sprinkle (about 1 tbsp) of the flour mixture to sotong and mix well. Refrigerate this for some time (so best is to prepare the sotong about half hour before cooking then pop it in the fridge). If you don't have time, no need to refrigerate. Cuma auntie rasa kalau refrigerate, it will make the sotong crispier. Don't know the science of it, but when auntie tried a few times, they gave better results. When ready to goreng, put flour mixture with seasoning (easy on the seasoning if you already seasoned the sotong) in a plastic container with lid. Add a few pieces of sotong to flour mixture. Cover the container and shake to flour-coat the sotong. Shake off excess flour and place sotong on plate before frying. Put just enough oil to cover about 10 pieces of sotong at a time. The oil will burn quickly because of the semi- loose flour coating so no point to have too much oil at a time and it won't do the sotong any good if we fry too many at a time. Fry and voila! Sotong goreng tepung ala Auntida!

That's it. Happy trying!


On another fishy note, something not quite kosher is going on with Auntie's tukang rumah, A Seng. He has not been coming to continue work with our renovation for a few weeks now and we can't get hold of him on the phone. His tools and paraphernalia is still in the apartment but he's MIA. Auntie and AH dah mintak tolong Pak Mat, a good neighbour who introduced us to A Seng to go to his house. No one there, so Pak Mat went to A Seng's dad's place. The dad said A Seng has got another job somewhere and had not even been visiting him when he was ill. But he assured Pak Mat, A Seng is still around. So..., we need a plan. In terms of physical money, if A Seng has abandoned us, we may not have lost that much since most of the work had been done. If auntie can live without downlights in the bathrooms and wall-hanging cabinets in the kitchen for a few weeks, auntie could have moved in. Tapi auntie teramat geram kerana A Seng did this to us despite us cutting a lot of slack for him. Tadi auntie jumpa seorang pakcik neighbour dan dia kata, "kita ingat orang lain honest macam kita in our dealings, so over and over again we get conned". Well, pakcik, thank you for that thoughtful insights! Perhaps auntie already know that lesson like a week into the renovation when Abg Sahak buat hal tu?

Our take on A Seng is that dia sedang diburu Along (the loan-shark kind), which explains the MIA bit. What we want to clear is, if he is going to finish the job, give us the ballpark time. We all takut nanti we all cari orang lain tetiba dia mai balik and kata he has all the intention of finishing his work. In any case, AH akan tulis surat cinta pada A Seng (hopefully with Hokkien translation since A Seng is rudimentary in his Malay and perhaps buta hurup in English- he only ever said 'jubin' for tiles and 'sinki' for sink- who said 'sinki' nowadays?) to panggil mai bincang by the end of this month. After that we have to get a new tukang to keep our life going. Auntie has a more evil plans like hiring thugs to go beat the c--p out of him when they can find him (hopefully auntie get thugs who can find people la). Tapi of course AH being the mild manner rounder version of Clark Kent talked auntie out of this. So auntie is going to do one less evil thing. Auntie nak pi letak notice merata Brown Garden and gelugor about A Seng's uselessness so that orang tak ambik dia lagi. Tapi AH takleh tau plan auntie ni. Nanti dia buat cubaan to dissuade auntie lagi. However, both AH and auntie agree we shall go make police report (walaupun we have to be creative about which section of the Penal Code this should be, lawyers out there, help me) and also complaints to whatever tribunal we can find. Halfway through the renovation, auntie wrote a lengthy contract for A Seng to sign (without discussion or explanation, just force him to sign) but AH kata it would be unfair to force him to sign kalau A Seng don't even understand the word 'agreement' in the contract. True. Because in contract law, such contract may fail. Tapi, in any case, kalau pun A Seng sign contract knowing full well its implication, and he decided to lari, there is still not much we can do about it coz kalau dia takdak duit, there will be no question of taking him to court pun. Rugi duit sendiri jek. In the end, we realise that houseowners in Malaysia do not have much protection against this kind of contractor's slacks. Cuma we all bersyukur, the possible monetary loss is beareable compared to various stories of friends and acquaintances we've heard. Cuma it knocked our plan out about moving in by 2 months, which is a great bother.

Anyways, untuk menghibur hati auntie, auntie nak letak some pictures of the apartment to date. Auntie ambik gambar guna auntie punya rustic phone camera so not so good. Here goes:



The 'famous' bathroom. All design ideas are AH's. Yang tak siap is ceiling with downlights.


More of bathroom


Auntie's favourite sinki

Check out the tap items and tempat tonyoh kain!


Kitchen top (A seng owed us the missing doors and wall- hanging cabinets). The tap is retractable, like the one used by CSIs to bathe the dead bodies. Hehe.

Auntie's rustic looking laminated wood-flooring. The person yg deliver fridge to our house said, "Lantai belum cat ka?". Nasib baik sudah kenai lama. Kalau tak harus kena ketuk ngan kotak fridge. O, auntie lupa nak ambik gambaq fridge. Fridge ni is so big, nak masuk dalam rumah sampai kena unhinge pintu depan. Kalau AH merajuk dia boleh tidur dalam fridge. No need to go outside and sleep in the boxes. Nanti next time auntie put pictures.


More of flooring and sofa. At the background, AH admiring his office.


Lagi lantai. So far masih berkilat.

AH in the office. There will be some kind of screen later between the office table and sofas so that AH tak kacau auntie tengok TV.


Esok auntie kena pi Ipoh for some work.

This has been a long entry, maybe enough to last a few weeks.

Good night everyone!

Wednesday 19 November 2008

QIN IS FOUR!!

Auntie was in an important meeting whole day yesterday and the day before and did not have time to wish a little someone Happy Birthday! So here goes today: HAPPY BIRTHDAY QIN!!!!


Qin with Kakak


Qin with one of beloved 'princesses'

Qin turned four yesterday. Two weeks ago Auntie saw Qin and took the pictures above. What does being four mean to Qin? Auntie nak tag Mommy to answer this question from her perspective as Qin's taskmaster but sometime pushover. Mommy doesn't blog but she can use auntie's blog to do this. So, mommy, when you are ready to give the answers, call me to get the PW.

From what auntie sees of Qin, at four, outwardly she doesn't seem to be into studious stuff (which is a blessing because I think many four year-olds in Malaysia have are already been pushed into academic excellence at the tender age) but surprisingly, she is quite competent in the reading, counting and writing stuff at kindy as evident from some test results she brought home. Still, thank God her kindy does not overly emphasise on these kind of tests for their four year-olds.

Auntie thinks Qin may have developed some leadership qualities because kids at school appear to converge around her and think her opinions and decisions (about play, of course) matter. She is a bit bossy with Kakak so auntie thinks she needs to be 'polished' a bit about this (teehee). She is a warm and pleasant toddler although tends to be initially very shy with new people or people she seldom see (except Auntie, of course). But when she's comfortable with an adult, she is very open about expressing her feelings. She has no qualms about saying "I love you" to Aki and Wan, which sometimes made the grandparents (who can be quite abashed about these things) silently blushed, I think. When she misses auntie, she would on her own dial auntie's number (Mommy has got auntie's number on speed dial and she knows this) just to talk and tell auntie about her day.

She can identify various emotions of adults around her. She said: "Mommy, Uncle AH tu kelakar la..." when she realised that Uncle AH was pulling a fast one on her on the phone. Qin observes detail things around her. She asks questions that baffles her like: "Mommy, kenapa Auntie Ida call Uncle AH 'abang'? Kan daddy yang "abang" [to Mommy])?"

In short, Qin is a generally well-rounded person for a four-year-old and Auntie would not have her any other way.

HAPPY FOUR, SAYANG!

Friday 14 November 2008

Shasha and Aiman


The cheery boy on the left is Aiman and the seemingly subdued girl in red in the middle is Shasha (Auntie needs to explain this because Auntie is imagining that there are more than 10 people reading my blog and the 11th or so person don't know about Auntie's family). They are two of Auntie's kiddies. By 'kiddies' means they are the 'little' (not so now as they grow) extensions of Auntie even if they do not come from Auntie's womb. They are auntie's first children even if auntie and AH may get little ones of our own in the future, Godwilling.

Anyways, today's entry is about Shasha and Aiman. They are cousins. Aiman's dad is Auntie's old bro (can see his blog in my blogroll) and Shasha's mom is Mommy, Auntie's non-blogging -but-FBing sister. Aiman is second amongst his siblings (Along/ Ya, Jijin and Ajmal) and Shasha is elder sister to Qin.

Yesterday was a great day for Aiman and Shasha and a serendipitous start to their long school holidays. They have done very well in their UPSR. What should make their success a more prideful moment for their parents and family, in auntie's view, is the fact that they have gained this success not at the expense of their enjoyment of their childhood. Auntie have observed that many children are so pressured to be academically excellent (within a very narrow Malaysian-education context), that sometimes they become deficient socially and in their personal developmental wellbeing (mamachupan, betul ke pyscho-language ni, ke psycho-babble je?). Auntie observes both Aiman and Shasha have deep interests and excel in non-academic things also. They generally know what they like and don't like and they can express themselves pretty well. Most importantly, they are comfortable expressing their thoughts and anxieties to their respective parents and close relatives. Auntie rasa these are things that are important in children. Their academic achievements are then a bonus and auntie hopes the adults around them don't expect these to be the be all and end all of their young lives.

OK, enough serious pondering. CONGRATULATIONS Aiman and Shasha. Many more exams to come but Auntie is sure you both will take them in your strides. For Aiman, don't sweat the Science grade. Auntie tak terror science pun boleh jadi doktor. Tapi of course la auntie boleh treat ill birds and cats jek (tu pun illegally). Kalau treat manusia sakit, harus manusia tu jadi tak sakit tapi...mati! Kekeke. In any case, auntie tak rasa Man nak jadi doktor kan? Ada banyak lagi profession yg lebih interesting, kan, kan? On the other hand, maybe Man is too smart for primary school sciences. Nanti kat secondary school and university maybe more interesting sciences to learn and you'll excel.

OK, to all Auntie's kiddies and pseudo-kiddies, enjoy the long school holidays. Looking forward to kiddies' Penang trip (hopefully jadi!).

Lotsaluv,
-Auntida-

PS: The other two people in the pic are Along/ Ya and Uncle Joe. This was taken during a treasure hunt game (for duit raya), an emerging family tradition on raya morning.

Sunday 2 November 2008

Slapped with a summon

No, no. Auntie did not break any traffic rules. It is the marriage rule that auntie has broken. Our (auntie's and AH) marriage rule, to be precise. AH adalah orang yg mempunyai phobia kepada semua benda tajam termasuklah gunting. Jika gunting itu diletak merata-rata seperti di atas katil. Masa awal2 kahwin dulu, AH pernah mendapatkan khidmat marriage counsellor aka mamachupan, utk mengadu hal auntie's carelessness with auntie's sewing items seperti gunting dan jarum. Nampaknya kejadian berulang dan kali ini AH tamau negotiate lagi. Dia terus keluar polis report buatan sendiri. This is a copy of the report (Hopefully you can click on the picture and get to see a full sized version):

(sorry, after a week or so of it being on the internet, auntie has take out the pic so that our 'sacred agreement' cannot be used for immoral purposes by irresponsible people- teehee)


Please excuse the semak-ness of auntie's katil. The photo evidence was taken before any attempt to kemas the katil coz AH nak make sure the evidence was not tainted in any way. All the messiness is, of course, AH's doing (kekeke, another couple-issue).

And I had to sign this document, you know.

Oklah, darling. Promise tak buat lagi....until the next time! KAKAKAKAKAKA.