my favourite sushi neta

I love salmon! Or it's japanese name 'sake' , sometimes 'shake' (no.. not pronounced as sake as in for your own sake or shake as in shake the bottle.. but like sun and cake.. without the 'n' and 'ke'.. and shunt and cake.. minus the 'nt' and the 'ke') and i also love Ikura.. salmons roe.


Awesome combination for donburi. I absolutely recommend everyone to try these 2 fabulous items. These are the pics of nigirizushi with sake and ikura as neta which i bought at midvalley's jusco.. tasted quite good. Almost as good as those that i used to have in Tokyo. Of course u can not beat the freshness of the sushi sold at Tsukiji market.. but this one is definately a great deal considering we are now living in the tropical Malaysia.


So, what are u guys waiting for? Go! Have a try..

For the uninitiated:

donburi- japanese rice bowl dish

nigirizushi- a type of sushi, hand form clump of rice with toppings

neta- sushi toppings.. like raw fish or fish eggs..

Tsukiji- fish market in Tokyo.

Sushi- oohh.. come on, don't tell me u don't know what sushi is..

Korban

I had a great time during the last eid -adha. My sisters bought a few parts of cows for their sons 'aqiqah'. They also bought a goat , just for the meat though. It was really fun to work together . actually, I just watched them do all the work. I am so used to having 4 elder sisters and not doing any housework ever since I can't even remember. Thank God my sisters' daughters are a very helpful lot. The menu for that day was 'gulai kambing' and 'ayam merah'. And also 'daging singgang'. We invited our neighbours and relatives to come by for lunch. Even my in laws came all the way from Kuala Terengganu to taste my sister's 'gulai kambing'.
My sisters gave away most of the uncooked meat to our neighbours. But since most of the neighbours also sacrificed cows and goats.. we got back almost everything that we gave away. Nevertheless, it was a good thing to do I guess.
The main chef whom i fondly call "kak" had the worst headache of a life time after eating her own 'gulai kambing'. I took her blood pressure reading and it was disturbingly high. 168/110. OMG! No wonder ... She was down ,sleeping for the rest of the day..

This is Kak, preparing the meat to be given to our neighbours

My brother in law and his daughters. Very rajin.

My husband savouring a goat's mandible. Complete with teeth.

Kari kepala Kambing

A few weeks before that, my lovely daughter was diagnosed with 'head-lice'. gross.. we tried 'A-lice' shampoo. It worked for a few days. But after one week, the nits re-appeared. We shampooed her hair again with the same thing. Still, her lice were very stubborn . as stubborn as she could be at times.
My whole family was very relaxed to hear the news that my daughter has lice on her head. Her cousins even enjoyed looking for her lice and nits.

But my husband and I hated the whole lice and nits thing.

We decided to shave her head. My husband once had a friend whose hair was so full of lice that her scalp was always red and smelly. Of course, we don't want that to happen to our daughter.

But,our daughter has one of the shortest attention span I ever knew.

The result is this.

Her cousins, enjoying the 'kutu' hunting.

We tried again. Much better this time..

Then my husband decided to shave his head. He said 'teman anak'..


And guess what, a few days later, I followed suit. Oh yeah.. believe it or not.. I had the shortest hair style ever ...Only a few mm longer than Sinead -O- Connor. My husband said I look like one of those monks from Tibet. Amazingly, at the time I am writing this .. ( it took me almost three weeks to write this entry for I was busy preparing reports and plan of actions for my department) my hair has grown to a considerably decent lenght.

Ok.. stop scrolling.. nope.. sorry to disappoint you.

I am not posting my photo here.

I'll let ur imaginations run

Instead... here are my daughter's pics from her pre-lice era.

Syasya.. don't hate us for doing this. We Love You! and ur hair will grow back! Promise.

Consider it as our korban for this year's eid-adha.

Cemerlang oh Cemerlang! *sigh...

A few days before the new year break, I was called by my boss to sign my 2006 performance appraisal. She gave me a very good mark for someone who just worked for 3 years. And she also said that she 's going to nominate me for the Anugerah Khidmat Cemerlang . Wow, truthfully, I am very honoured. Even if I don't get the anugerah, at least my boss thinks that I 've done an excellent job through out the year. Looking at my records, she said that I am a strong candidate and most likely I could get the award. But on the other hand, ... ahhh.. this 'on the other hand' thing really made me sad.
Well, on the other hand, she said she doesn't know how to defend me if the state director doesn't want to reward me for I don't portray a good image to the department. Most of u will be wondering by now, what kind of person this naa is? hmm ..performed excellently in her work but her image is not good?? hmm.. ok.. , it so happened that i am working for a department where we are all supposed to be very healthy people. why? because our job is to treat sick people, and i guess being unhealthy or not having a healthy look is going to tarnish the name of the department.
And now u must be wondering how bad my image is?
Brace yourself for ..guys, actually....
>I don't have the ideal weight for my height!!<
ok.. stop laughing .. enough... yeah.. really funny..
but this is the truth, whether u want to believe it or not.
We have goals for body mass index and mine is a far cry from the new ideal BMI for asians.

maybe the state director is right.. i should shake off some pounds for a start. that would make a good new year resolution!

but the truth is.. deep down in my delicate heart.. ( ouch.. why am i being touchy here?) it hurts.
it hurts when people do not want to recognize your good work and effort just because u don't have the ideal weight.
it hurts.

banjir

i used to like banjir. why? maybe because i've never experienced a real one yet. I grew up in Terengganu, a state famous for flood during the rainy season. But my parents' place were never affected by flood. Not even flashflood. I used to envy those who got to ride boats for evacuation, those who didn't have to go to school because their schools were flooded. To my tiny little brain, they looked like they were having fun splashing in the water.
Silly, huh.
After I grew bigger and older, I realized how bad and dangerous flood can be .
Seeing all those damages done, and some even claimed people's lives.
Like what we have in Johor and Malacca now. I feel sorry for all of them.
I wonder, will the government give any financial help to those poor people?
Or will the media starts collecting donations from the public? I hope they do, and do it fast for the new school semester is going to start soon. And do it fast for they are Malaysians!
I believe that we must put Malaysians need before everyone else in the world. Don't go helping other people when your own people is suffering.
This reminds me of one Malay saying-
" kera di hutan di susukan, anak di rumah mati kelaparan"
( Am I right or not Mr Karam Singh Walia?)

So, kids, listen to ur mums and dads. don't play -play ah..

but i prefer my roti canai - banjir.

between 'pullah' and 'biyyuk'

I am proud of bearing the number 11 in my IC number. Well, proud to be born in Terengganu that is. And I thought I am one hard core Terengganu citizen. But I will have to take that back for now I realized, at the age of almost 30, there are still a lot of things I don't really know about my beloved state. I just have to upgrade myself I guess .

It all started with this;

mom-in-law: Aku tengok, K.XXXX mung tu pullaaahh je nok tido sining

me: pullah tu mende mok?

mom-in-law: Pullah tu.. mmmm macang 'biyyuk'

me: (more confused than before) haaa??

I used to laugh at my Terengganu friend for not knowing
what 'jo-ong' (not Ju-on ok!) meant.
Now I know.. there are still more things to learn.

"mada-mada da naaa..." ( This one is in Japanese)

Those who wish to know the translation of what was being dicussed between me and my mom-in-law, can try ask other Terengganu bloggers who are definitely more expert than me like awang goneng or rangikangkering.

budougari

I have to say, I love Fridays! It is the day when I usually have sometime to myself.
Thanks to the more than 2 hours lunch break. And thanks also to the remoteness of the area I currently work at. There is literally no place to hang out. Well, I have to admit I am not that young to 'hang out' anymore, but heck, it's just an expression ok .Of course we do have everything that is necessary to live a decent life, but there is nothing fancy about this place. Just the basics. Maybe if I say it this way it would be easier to comprehend.
Nothing to do and nowhere to go means: during the Friday lunch break, if u r in big cities, u can just go window shopping, or just sit at any of the coffeshops like starbucks all by urself witout getting stares and glares from other people around you. ( unless of course u r alone, naked or doing something ridiculous.. then that is another story). But here, I don't think so I have the guts to go to the warung, order a coffee or teh ais , and sits there for hours, killing time . I don't think so... Can you?
Back to my appreciation session, one more thanks to my previous boss that is now happily working in Sri Kembangan. Thanks Dr V for installing the broadband internet service in my office. Life has never been better.

And why am I being very thankful today?

Because of these factors, I am able to update my blog, to check my emails, to surf whatever it is on the net.

Once again,




the slideshow below are pics taken during my visit to a vineyard in Yamanashi, Japan.

My prayers are for you, ayah.

Innalillahiwainnailahirojiun.
After 8 days in the ward and 8 days in the ICU, my father in law passed away last Thursday, December 7th,2006.
The cause of death as stated on the death certificate was " multi organ failure secondary to lung sepsis" . All his children were there for the burial ceremony. How tough all of them were. I could only see pools of tears in their eyes. But none actually did cry. It must be very hard to stop yourself from crying when someone who is very dear to you leave you, never to return, forever.
His wife, children, cousins, relatives never ceased to leave his side during the 16 days of hospitalization. They continously read the Yaasin verse by his side, day in, day out. I think he must be one of the luckiest man on earth to have such a great family who was always there for him although they knew that hopes for him to get better was almost nil.
One of the specialist at the ICU was my cousin's daughter. She told me that there was nothing much that the hospital could do for him. When I told his family, one of the brother suggested they bring 'ayah' home. But bringing him home means cutting him from his life support machines- in meaner words- killing him. Because, at that point, most of his organs failed to function, except for his heart and brain. He was on dialysis machine and ventilator. And his heart- depended on 3 drugs administered to help it beat. The brother said it's not that he wanted to end 'ayah's life. He just didn't want to see him suffer anymore. He was the one who barely left 'ayah's side. He was there when 'ayah' struggled to breathe, he witnessed the painful look on 'ayah's face everytime the nurses had to change all the tubes. He just couldn't bear to look anymore. But the two sisters strongly opposed the idea. They didn't want to 'end' their father's life. At last , they all agreed to wait, and continued praying for him.
At the age of 61, 'ayah' died leaving behind a widow, 5 sons, 2 daughters, 4 daughter in laws, 9 grandchildren and countless family members and friends who love him dearly.
I hope 'ayah's soul will be in peace and blessed by Allah.
My prayers are for you, ayah.