Across the Land

A weekend trip to Penang on Independence Day, to get away from the little stress of work. :)) A FINE MORNING along Gurney Drive

Copying from my fb post, these are my comments on the newly opened Cafe Jiran in Kuang. " Trying out the menus at the new Jiran cafe at Jln Melati, Kuang. The atmosphere was more lively compare to the previous tenant, Attap cafe. More western oriented with the usual menus but offers local varieties as well. The creamy cheesy fish (dory fish instead of salmon) stands out from the rest (dont u really trust my taste). I dont want to point out the negatives (if u dont like, keep mum or tell the chefs, which indirectly I did :)]. " Located off Jalan Melati, about a few hundred meters from the traffic lights junction of Jalan Melati-Jalan Kuang-Jalan Sg.Plong-Jalan Kundang, the cafe is housed in a wooden, traditional design premise.  The exterior design is pleasing to the eyes and enticing enough for us to try it out. Out of curiosity.

When I was small, besides eating fried mee for breakfast, I also took 'nasi kuning'. But fried mee was more frequent. I remember very well eating nasi kuning  when we went out to the Tawau town. Young kids peddled these two main food at the jetty, selling to the boat passengers. I dont know the origin of this yellow rice but I grew up with it. It's the mixed chilli paste, bumbu bali  ( sambal bali)  which produce its distinctive taste. The sambal should be dry not watery . Since my mother did not have a blender, all ingredients were pounded in a mortar. Thus, the pounded dried chillies were quite coarse. The types of fish used are the smaller ones, not the mackerels or red snappers. A condiment is added which is the  serunding kelapa, a savory grated coconut, fried til dry enough to not get spoilt easily. We may also add plain boiled egg to the rice. What actually made it aromatic and delicious is because the yellow rice is wrapped in banana leaves, after bei...

It is about 3.30 am, the 4th of Syawal today and I have just woke up from my sleep about half an hour ago. There was a blackout in my MIL's house last night that made me go to sleep early. I was thinking about the dish I cooked yesterday and perhaps going to do it again today for our raya guests.

Ramadhan is here again. I have been fasting since I was a kid, perhaps around 9 years of age. However, I can't remember much except that my mother prepared and cooked all the foods for iftar (arabic word) or sungkai (a Bugis word). No buying of food or eating out. Those practices were non-existence when I was small. I used to be the messenger in the customary exchanging of food with our neighbors. We made only one kind of kuih but when the iftar  was drawing near, there would be several kinds of  kuih on the table.

Hari ini semua sekolah di KL dikehendakki menghantar ketua pentaksir Kerj Kursus Geografi PMR ke mesyuarat penataraan KKG dengan membawa 10 set hasil KKG pelajar yang telah disemak. Hasil kerja pelajar cemerlang, sederhana dan lemah. Guru-guru mata pelajaran geografi tingkatan 3 telahpun menyemak kerja kursus tersebut sebelum di bawa ke tempat mesyuarat.

When the 'authorities' talked about the school closure due to haze, nothing or rather no one was clear about it. School or no school? Which states? Teachers and students or only students? Whose authority it is to give directive, PMD or MOE? MOE's website was out-dated for urgent issue like this. They seemed very slow in making decision. Should it be called 'cuti berganti' or 'cuti darurat jerebu'? Then, the night before the next day. 'Teacher, got school or not?' The TV1 highlighted, 'school is still closed'. Another, 'schools may open tomorrow'. Statements are contradictory. I just want the MOE to be the only one giving one fast, short and clear announcement through its website and on television.