Sketches of Life

I was “hating” someone (you know I love you. ) coz she is always very lucky when it comes to grabbing opps. Always manage to grab the big ones.

Well, today, luck is on my side (although I don’t believe in luck). Not getting big opp but chosen to be the Blog of The Day in Cari Makan. This is good enuf for me. Got a lil bit publicity for this humble and simple blog of mine.

Since I got extra income now, must not be stingy to spend money on my beauty. I ain’t getting any younger, you know. Must start to apply some kind of cream on my face again. So that when my son is older, he can brag to his friend that he got a pretty mommy.

So what brand to buy. The first place I go, not shopping centre, not Google search but my youngest sister’s cupboard. I found the above. Bio-Essence Face Lifting Cream.

A lifting and firming cream for mature skin old lady skin lar tu, that works effectively to restore the elasticity of skin
especially around the cheek and mouth areas. eat and talk to much, loose already.

Since it works well on both my sister’s skin, maybe it will work on mine too since we are from the same parent.

There are so many Credit Cards in the market now and I am gonna blog about it again. But this is for a different company, AirAid.co.uk. Yes, Credit Card UK for the Britons. Due to the high cost of living, many of them have poor credit history that hinders them from getting Credit Card. However, this company offer Bad credit credit cards for those who wants to repair their poor credit history.

You Are 81% Addicted to the Internet

The internet is your life - seriously. You spend so much time online, you should be a dot com millionaire!

Sweetypea passed the Blogitivis virus to me. To confirm whether I am really infected, I took the above test. 81% addicted to the internet. In my case, blogging.

Purposely wake up early to blog.
Sacrifice my sleep to blog.
Beg & bribe to use the PC.
The 1st thing I do after coming back from shopping, blog to make money to cover for the amount spent!

You say, I am very sick or not?

Now is my turn to expose others that I think are also infected by this virus.
1. Michelle Sau
2. Jess
3. Immomsdaughter

Every Thursday is hubby’s off day and a day for us to date. However, last Thursday we planned to bring the girls along but their cousins dropped by and they prefer to play with them. Plan postponed. On that day also, all 3 of them did not nap. Once all the cousins went home, that around 8.30pm, I got them ready for bed. By 9.15pm, all of them were sound asleep. So, we took this opportunity to go out for supper. Something that we have not done since we got our first child.

We just hang around at one of the stalls near the seaside. Eat, drink and chit chat. Then we went to look for DVDs. I found my Mukhsin and Music & Lyrics!

Hubby was quite worried that the children will wake up but this time, I’m cool coz I know that they are too exhausted from playing to wake up.

We were arrived, the bedroom door was slightly opened. MIL told us that our boy cried and after giving him some water, he fell asleep again. Thank God MIL is around.

Everyone wants to save especially when going for holiday. Tell me who don’t? Even the rich would want to save whenever possible. That is why there are so many cheap holidays to search and book online. Friends and relatives who are living in UK, this is a great chance for you people to come home more often. Holiday Hypermarket offers the cheapest Package Holidays and cheap flights to destinations all over the world. o, be sure to use the holiday search engine to find bargain holidays and late deals from the UK’s leading brand Tour Operators including First Choice Holidays, Thomson and Thomas Cook when planning your next holiday.

In my kampung, there are a few drug addicts. They are quite harmless though but we can’t take things for granted. I wish I can report about them and get them rehab in one of those drug rehabs in the state. One of them come quite often to my place going thru our rubbish that we threw to look for metals and bottles to sell so that they can have some cash to buy drugs. I am quite worried about my children’s safety though. What if one day, they are really desperate for cash?

When talking about vacation, or at least when others ask me about my dream vacation, my reply would be the beautiful and scenic New Zealand. One day… I tell u… one day… God willing… I will go to New Zealand for a holiday. Why New Zealand?

Well, one thing for sure is that I like beautiful sceneries. Did you watch the movie “Lord of The Ring”? Wah… so beautiful the sceneries…. taken in New Zealand. Places like that can bring tranquility of mind and heart. Now that my job gives me lots of stress, going to these places would definitely be of help. No… the stress is not so bad until I go depressed or anything, just that it has increased recently. But who knows, when the stress level is really high, I will really go for a holiday in New Zealand.

There is one problem though. I asked my husband and he said his dream vacation would be Canada. What! Canada! What about Canada that is interesting? Well, he said that he would like to see the Northern Lights. I really do not know what is this Northern Lights is all about. At first, I thought it is just a beautiful park with many lights. But when I googled search it, WOW…. it is beautiful. Makes me want to go to Canada too and watch this Northern Lights. Well, if ever hubby and I were to go to Canada, maybe we will stay at Vancouver Hotels. Of course, besides the Northern Lights, there are many more interesting places to visit in Canada. After holidaying in Canada, then we will go to New Zealand.

The owner of the haunted house rear goats and cows. He is a retired teacher. Recently he did something that got on my dad’s nerve. He ordered his Indonesia worker to build a small bridge across a small river at the back of our house so that his cows can go across to eat the grass there. He thought that he is doing us a favor by building the bridge. He did that without even asking us for permission. Hello, you are trespassing you know.

My dad confronted the Indonesian worker. He told my dad that he will inform his employer but until today the employer did not even show his face at our house!

My dad went into his orchard to catch bird before but he scolded my dad (not directly, but he instructed his Indonesian worker to tell my dad) and accused him of destroying his trees. All my dad did was squat down under a tree and watch his bird woe another bird. No plant was injured. Nama saja cikgu, kurang ajar!

Each one of us is created uniquely by God. And it is definitely not an accident that we are alive today. We definitely will leave an impact on someone else’s life, be it small or big. The question is what kind of impact do we want to leave behind.

My father-in-law has passed away more than 10 years ago. I got to know my husband-to-be when his father is still alive. What I know about my late father-in-law is that he is very strict and hardworking. Strict with his 11 children, always disciplining the children when they are naughty. And I know that he is hardworking because he had to work at two different plots of paddy fields to make ends meet. Now, all his children are well educated and have families on their own.

If ever I would say something to my father-in-law, I would say, “thank you”. Thank you for bringing up the family in such a way that they are who they are today. And “thank you” especially for bringing up my husband to be who he is today. Like father, like son, so the saying goes and that is definitely true to my husband and his father. My husband is very strict with his children and very concerned with their characters.

Now I can write my words of thanks to my deceased father-in-law at Registry of Life. It is an online service to those who wants to create a living memorial to their friends or loved ones who are deceased. So, if you know of someone who had left a powerful impact in your life and would like to pen something beautiful for that person, you can do on at Registry of Life.

One of my BIL don’t believe in using credit card. Maybe, he is scare that he could not control himself and overspend. One must have discipline and self-control to hold a few Credit Cards. I have a few of them, never overspend before. I make sure I have sufficient cash in my bank account to pay for my expenses when the bill comes. My main purpose of using credit card is to collect the reward points and get cash back rewards when spending. Rather than pay cash and you get nothing in return right? If you need to find out what kinda credit card that suits you spending style, check out CreditCardSearchEngine.com, one of the Internet’s longest running sites for online credit card comparison.

This is a typical Nyonya food. Prawn plus pineapple cooked in coconut milk. This is my favorite; I will usually eat them with fried salted fish. Sometimes when there are no prawns, my mom will replace it with salted fish. (must get the ikan sepat masin).

Ingredients:
(A)
1 Pineapple sliced it 1.5″ by 1.5″ around 0.5cm thickness.
Coconut Milk from 1 Coconut. One bowl from the 1st squeeze (thick) and another 2nd squeeze (diluted).

(B)
10 Dried Chilli
10 Shallots
0.5″ Fresh Turmeric
1 inch Belacan
Some Anchovies

Blend the above (B).

Methods:
Bring to boil the thick coconut milk then add in ingredient (B). Let it boil for 10 minutes. Then add in the ingredient (A) plus sugar and salt to taste.

You are done. Simple right.

FYI, I only tried this once!

After having 3 children, I am totally stuck at home most of the time. It’s either office or home. My social life is ZERO. Don’t imagine me as a sloppy housewife. I am still the hip and trendy women I was 10 years ago. Well, where do I get the latest updates on latest fashion styles, you may ask. Online of course, since I am on the net most of the time when my children are asleep or playing.

I found this fabulous website, HerFabLife. It is the latest social lifestyle community for young urban hip and trendy women who are interested in the latest fashion styles, the newest restaurant, bar, spa, salon, retail store openings. Be a member today. It is free and start contributing content to the site, voice your opinions and vote on content you like or dislike and be the first to discover the latest finds or hotspot.

Wow! I just watch how a Japanese lady fold a t-shirt within second from HerFabLife. Amazing! I must really learn how to fold like her. I believe there is more that just folding a t-shirt tips in the website. I am gonna sign up and check it out.

I seldom cook so I can’t remember the ingredients to all my recipe, especially those that I got from my mom. I jot them down in a small notebook. Since it is small, it went missing a few times but God is good, I managed to find it every time it went missing. Yesterday, I panic again. I wanted to blog about those recipes but I couldn’t find the recipe book. Oh No! Not again! Search high and low for it. Finally I found it in a pencil holder. Someone must have found it and put it there. I am going to post ALL the recipe in this blog. Backing it up here.

If my mom is no longer in this world, I won’t ever get to taste her dishes without the recipe book. Eh…my youngest sis can cook as good as her. Maybe I’ll bug her to cook for me.

I have never thought of buying any dishwasher but when the family returns for a holiday, a dishwasher will really helps to wash all those plates, pots, pans and spoons. At least 5 families with kids will be in this house. Just imagine the amount of washing that needs to be done. With this amount of washing to be done, I doubt the maid can wash them clean. If you too are considering to purchase a dishwasher, here’s a list of Maytag Dishwashers that I got from Krillion.com. Krillion delivers local search results that combine very specific product information with very specific locality information. It means that when consumers have completed their Internet research, they can grab their keys, hop into the car, drive to the store and buy the product.

If you are looking for designer sunglasses, your search ends here. Check out Eyeglasses Contact dot com. Below are the list of sunglasses by 22 designers:

Baby Phat
Boss/Hugo Boss
Carrera
Diesel
Dior
Emporio Armani
Fossil
Giorgio Armani
Gucci
Juicy Couture
Kate Spade
La Strada
Marc by Mjacobs
Marc Jacobs
Max Mara
Nine West
Oxydo
Safilo Design
Saks Fifth Avenue
Titanium
Valentino
Yves St Laurent

Besides that, you will find article for each brand, telling you the story about them. When and how they were born, their made and their range. Ok lar…in English, you can find review for each of the designer glasses in the website too.

I am really a rice eater. I can survive without rice. I bake my own bread too. I love making and eating sandwishes. With just a few bites, my hunger is satisfied. Here’s my favorite recipe:

3/4 pound cooked Peppered Pork Roast, thinly sliced
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1/2 cup creamy Caesar salad dressing
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Sliced of Bread

A daughter of a former church member of mine recently was introduced to Cari Makan by me. She was so happy to know that she can get extra income thru blogging. She wanted to be a globe trotter. I am sure she will be glad to know about educational student travel organizes by Hemisphere Travel. Not only they are affordable, their tour and travel specialists are former educators and are highly qualified to organize the best student tours imaginable. As she loves music very much, I am sure she will be extra excited to know that they also have Chicago Musical Tour.

Meaning, pork cook in soy sauce. To those who does not eat pork, you can swap it with chicken but it won’t taste as nice as pork.

This is my girls favorite. Must get the meat that has some lard on it. I dunno what you call it in English. My mom calls it “Samchan”.

Ingredients:
Thinly Sliced Pork
Dark Soy Sauce
Salt
Lots of Garlic
Mushroom
Water

Method:
Throw in everything in the water and let it simmer for 1-2 hours till the meat become very soft.

Easy right. Very tasty too. Whenever my mom serve this to my eldest, she will go, “Mmmm, this is my favorite.”

I found another recipe using Tuna. This time with chilli, my children can’t take it though but hubby would sure love it. I got it from Ayam Brand Singapore website. It is more simple than mine. I wonder whether it taste nice or not. Once I tried it, I will blog about it.

Ingredients:
1 pack (400g) of Vermicelli/bee hoon
1 can Ayam Brand Chilli Tuna
6 shallots, finely chopped
1 cucumber, sliced
1 red chilli, sliced
1 lime, extract juice
Small quantity of Cooking oil
Pepper, salt and sugar

Methods:
1) Soak vermicelli in boiling water for 3 minutes and drain water to cool
2) Fry shallots in cooking oil until golden brown
3) Add drained vermicelli, chilli tuna into frying pan. Stir fry.
4) Add pepper, salt and sugar to taste.
5) Remove from heat, add in cucumber and lime juice
6) Garnish with parsley and lettuce. Serve.

Can someone send greeting card to me? It has been quite a while that I did not receive any. Please make my day. It’s will not cost you a single cent, just a pinch of your precious time to choose from a selection of flash greeting cards from FlashGreetingsCards.com. Let me tell you what I like, those cute teddy bears. Btw, don’t forget to add the music ya. Send it to cencalukbelacan at gmail dot com. Thank you so much. (very thick face huh?)

Oh ya! Btw, if you are very talented, why not design one for me plus entering a contest at the website. Quick, contest ends on the 1st of August 2007.

Yesterday as I drove from work, I saw a lorry full with household items. I guess that the owner of the items is moving to another house. Even the potted plants was transported in that lorry. The make-up cupboard with the mirror was stacked carefully with the other cupboards and sofas. The sofas are made of leather and black in color. Almost all of the items look expensive. However, the lorry used to transport these things is just the ordinary old lorry. I don’t think the owner of the items engaged a licenced transporter to transport all his household items.

This reminds me of the time I had to study in another state. In order to save money, I had to bring in a lot of things from my home. My father had to engaged a lorry owner to transport all the items as it could not fit in one car. No, it is not the big lorry but a small one which can carry more than a car. And it is not licenced either. By the time the items arrived its destination, some of the items, especially the fragile ones suffered damage. Thank God that the mirrors are intact. Maybe when I need to move again, I would engaged a licenced transporters like International Movers. It will definitely give me peace of mind, knowing my items will reach the destination safe and intact.

Sunday is a Bee Hoon Day. I must fry Bee Hoon either of breakfast, lunch or dinner. Normally, I’ll do it for breakfast then pack some to church for my girls lunch. The church service ends quite late sometimes.

This week, I tried something different besides my “famous” Stew Pork Bee Hoon. Long long time ago, one of my MIL fried Bee Hoon. It tasted different and nice. She told me she used Tuna. On Sunday, I took the risk and tried frying my Bee Hoon with tuna, hoping that my girl will like them.

Once it is ready, I get Belle to eat it. She smell it first! “Emmm, nice.” she said and proceed eating it. What a relief. The trick is, I sprinkled some fried shallot on it to get the nice aroma.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 can of Tuna flakes in water
500g of Bee Hoon
Chopped Garlic
Sliced Shallots
Carrot & Cabbage
Dark Soy Sauce
Salt
Water

Method
1. Fry the shallots till brownish. Remove it. Set aside.
2. Fry the garlic
3. Add in the tuna. Stir fry for a lil while.
4. Add in the vege. Stir, stir, stir.
5. Water comes next. Bring it to boil.
6. Add salt and the dark soy sauce.
7. Lastly, the Bee Hoon that has been soaked in water.
8. Fry till all the water dries up.
9. Sprinkle the fried shallots and serve.

Happy Cooking!

Yup, this week will be a recipe week. I will blog about my favorite recipes throughout this week. My recipes are usually very simple and can be prepared in less than half an hour. If there are so many ingredients to prepare, I’ll request my mom to cook it for me. Yes, I am LAZY. hehehehe.

I didn’t know that Burung Murai Kampung (Magpie Robin) is a protected species in Malaysia. You need a license to catch them. This bird is also a national bird in Bangladesh and they are living in my letterbox! This time with babies.

This is my letterbox. We used a biscuit tin for it.

Can you see the baby birds?

Here’s a close up one. I think there are 3 hungry babies in it.

This is the second time the Magpie lay egg in it. The first time, they egg was sacrificed by the boys during CNY. We made a mistake by telling them that there are eggs in it. The next thing we know, it is G.O.N.E. This time around, we kept quite about it and it is S.A.V.E.

You know why the rich gets richer and we, the poor stays poor? Because the rich will try to find ways to save everything that they can. For instance my boss, even though they are millionaires, they buy second hand books for their children. Like recently, their dial-up internet bill shoot up because his daughter uses it more often recently. They only need to pay minimum RM66.00 for Streamyx but they get us to ask whether they can apply for student rate. To them, every single cents count, even 1 cent. For their coming Disney World holiday, they told me to look for Cheap Universal Studios Tickets. Where ever can save, must save.

Time to bathe my girls. Saw some rambutans. I wanna eat rambutan too but my girls are in the bathroom waiting for me. Brought some to the bathroom, soak myself in my boy’s bathtub (hubby just finished bathing him). Peel one rambutan each for my girls who is standing in front of me then one for myself. Sit back and enjoy eating the rambutans while soaking my butt in the warm water. kekekeke. My DIY SPA.

When it comes to packaging materials and where to source for them, you can ask me. Whether your need metal drum, plastic drum, pails, bottles, cartons, stretch films, bubble wrap etc. Even though some of them like bubble wrap, we hardly use it but I know where to get them locally. Once you have good rapport with the supplier, they will surely help you source for it even if they do not carry the item.

If you are living in UK, I also know where to find packing materials supplier. That is the beauty of internet. Have you heard of Packing Station? They are the official online distributor for FlexiCare. All you need for you packing needs can be found in the website. They have packaging materials, packing for your mails, for storage and removals purposes, packing tools and equipments and gift and retail packaging. However, they only deliver to the UK Mainland only. All orders valued over £70.00 are delivered CARRIAGE FREE.

They say that taking a little bit of wine a day helps to improve our health. Even Paul in the Bible asked Timothy to take a bit of wine to help with Timothy’s health problem. But with all other kind of drinks or food, too much of wine is detrimental to the body. I too loves to take a sip of wine during certain occasions. My mother-in-law normally take a bit of alcoholic drinks before she went to bed especially when the weather is cold or it is raining. It helps to keep the body warm.

My sister-in-law keeps a few bottles of wine in her house as her husband often cooks special food with wine added for special flavor. And she puts all her bottles of wine in one Wine Rack . Its kinda of a small wine rack that she placed in the kitchen corner, together with all the other bottles of herbs and spices. When you enter the kitchen, that wine rack with bottles of wine will surely catch the eye. It reminds me of the wine cellar in the wine-making basement or dungeon.

Well, if you go to TheVineStore.com you will see many designs of wine rack. You can choose any designs that suits your kitchen or wherever you want to put the wine. Some prefers to put the wine rack at the dining hall while others prefer the kitchen area. There is one wine rack design where you can hang it on the ceiling. Looks cool and really eye-catching. The wine racks even comes in different types of material. I prefer the hanging wine rack made from wrought iron. Its kinda gives a bit of modern touch and creativity to the wine rack.

And to add to your special taste for wine, TheVineStore.com also sells nice beautiful wine glasses. These beautiful wine glasses will definitely add a special touch to the ambiance when you have a candle-light dinner for two.If you do have different types of wine in the house, make sure you have wine glasses that goes with it. Different wine glasses are made for different types of wine. You might even consider buying the wine cooler if you do drink wine regularly.