Gulp

Me: Ma, I think the date we're getting married is xx/xx/xxxx. 

Mom: Hah? Eh now dah we need to plan. You need to tell me now or else this this this. That that that nanti dah fully booked dah bla bla bla. And dewan semua kena tahu..... All my friends said this this... (non-stop talking for 15 minutes)

Me: Ok ma. Tak nak kawin la..

Penyakit TAKOTia NERVOUSa tiba-tiba datang.

Almari Baru

Raya advertisement that ACTUALLY made me WAILED  in the office today.

To my mom and dad, whatever you want in this world, I'll give it to you.

Perantauan 2010

My Ramadan and Raya in 2010 was a unique and memorable one. It was not at home-sweet-home KL, in fact it was actually a HOME to me back then. Not so much of bazaar Ramadan and kuih-kuih tradisi, but it was fun and interesting indeed with great companies around us.

These are my reflections of Raya and Ramadan in 2010.

  We were actually main-main hantar our picture to Berita Harian, kononnya nak salam di perantauan. Over sungguh.

Packed my bag, and off we (Sheena and I) to London during Ramadan. We arrived in London at noon, and managed to visit the British Museum before we had our Iftar.

Our new housemate of Hubert Road arrived just a day before Raya and because he had to stay at Malaysian Hall, we had Iftar with him there as well.

Malaysian Hall with Sheena.

It was also Adila's 25th birthday the same night; so right after Iftar-ing at Malaysian Hall, we had dessert at Villandry near her home.

The creme brulee was to DIE FOR.

 Adila and hommies were so sweet that they let us stayed at their house for Raya. Most of us didn't sleep and cooked for Hari Raya. Zeileen was the head cook of course, with her cute apron and all. We had lontong. I made this macam tak jadi terlebih kuning.

We also had ketupat and lemang ok. (Instant lemang pun sedap kot)

And rendang and kuah kacang by Zeileen and Adila. Ni memamg sedap la. 10 kali tambah kot.

Zeileen and her helper, Sheena.

Adila and Ammar di pagi raya . Double As. Nak kahwin dah depa. Alhamdulillah. Amin. ;)

Zeileen and moi. ;) 

Right after breakfast rendang ketupat at Chiswick, we went to the ambassador's house somewhere in.. Aiyo, I can't remember, but it would be somewhere where people like Jude Law and Leona Lewis would live kot. ;-p

Mak-mak datin sekalian.

 Chiswick hosts :)

One for the memory!

Fara and sister had Eid in London as well in conjunction of Alyaa's graduation ceremony.

During the second day of raya, Sheena and I flew to Paris for three days.

During the same week, Malaysian Culinary Association (if I'm not mistaken) hosted an event of Pasar Malam, where most restaurants in London opened up stalls selling their food. Some of the food were..ok je. But millions of Malaysian, Thai as well as British came and actually bought the tawar Teh Tarik just because.

Azizul obviously doesn't want to miss the food galoria...

Miss Marriam Bajunid and ehem. It was really good seeing her.

Sheena and her tawar Teh Tarik

Tak paham gambar ni.

Beraya with lovely housemates takkan dilupai. This was in Selly Oak, second week of Raya.

Last but not least, one picture with cousins all the way from Singapore, Kak Sasha and Naz Chia. At Nandos, Bayswater.

So what do you have in store for 2011? Bring it on!

Predictable Much?

10 things I just discovered about myself:

1. When I'm overwhelmed with something, rasa nak muntah. or bers.

2. I thought I'm not the confrontational type, but I am. 

3. Sometimes, I just can't curb my emotions in public. Mr. Z has a problem with that. Be it POSITIVE or negative. 

4. I'm not that affectionate. Huggy-huggy-kiss-kiss is just not me. Ada orang complain. 

5. I have minor OCD. Someone pointed out to me. Did some research, and yes I have OCD. That's my conflict right now.

6. People love my massages. I didn't know I have it in me. 

7. I drive very slowly. The car that I'm driving now doesn't deserved me.

8. I think I'm gonna hate wedding preparations. I thought I'm going to love it, but..CAN WE GET MARRIED ALREADY??

9. Organized. Even though I don't look like it because I panic easily.

10. Defensive.

Betol ke tak? You judge. :)

Hornbills with Hornbills

Wanna challenged yourself with Malay proverbs that are direct-translated to English? I had a hard time translating it back to Bahasa Melayu though because all of these are hilarious.

Here's one short story by a local writer, Amir Muhamad. Never dull, but tasty, crunchy, spicy and juicy, as what he claimed.

The Breakup

To the front of Wati who is now in Bukit Tunku, whom I hope is well.

Wati,

I think our relationship should end here. My love for you was real but I have been clapping with one hand. You were so mean to me at your becoming-day party, just because you were with your rich friends while I'm from a difficult family. I never knew there was a prawn behind the rock all this while; you were using me to make your ex jealous. How my liver hurt when you showed your true self. I guess what they say is true: hornbills with hornbills, sparrows with sparrows. Let me now bring myself.

    Maybe it was the Satan-water talking, but why did you have to call me such names? You dropped my face-water and scribbled charcoal all over my face. Once is enough. I don't want the banana to fruit two times.

   I know I am just a dispatch guy but I still have feelings. I thought you were my liver-fruit but you saw me as just a pick-up brother at best and a joke at worst. All those times that we ate the wind at Lake Gardens, feeding the ducks and rowing the boats, I thought a love was blossoming. But you were planting sugarcane at your lips. I gave you my body and soul but after the honey had been extracted, the husk was thrown away.

What your friend Suzy said to me still plays in my ear: " Your fish-hook is so small, don't try to contend with the ocean!" How did she get this information about my fish-hook? Have you been telling stories from inside the mosquito-net?

I know my school is not as tall as yours. But I still have self-price. So just pretend I never existed in your life.

Yours in sadness,

Sham

Haha.

Can you figure out the peribahasa and simpulan bahasa in this short story?

Rojak, Muhammad, A (2010), ZI Publications Sdn. Bhd

Iftar Jogoya Style

For this Ramadhan, Mr. Z and I decided that we should indulged ourselves ONCE for some buka puasa feast, mainly buffet, but being me; cheapskate, I wouldn't want him to spend RM 120++ for food right? So, during one of the days I was doing a 'research' on reasonable buffets, I stumbled upon.. Jogoya Japanese Seafood Buffet deals by Groupon!

Excitednyaa saya!

Jogoya situated in Star Hill and instead of paying the usual RM 110++, we only paid RM 65 per pax. Not bad huh?

         Mr. Z and his all time favourite appertizer: Oyster with tobasco sauce.



More oysters for him

Me and my sushis. All mine!

Salmon freak

Had tons of these..

 Though this is a Japanese Restaurant, they also serve some good ol' western cuisine as well. The one thing I could not forget is the pastry mushroom soup. Buttery!

Lamb steak. Ok-ok je.

Baked potatoes with cream cheese and spring onions

Teppanyaki Grill. From chicken to lobsters!

They do have dimsums as well. Mr. Z had some though, I was to focused only on Japanesy.

The dessert selection. Ok je. Tasted better.
But one dessert that we actually looked for was...

Bottomless!

Jogoya is soo hugee that you could not cover all the things that they served in just two hours (Oh did I tell you that since it's peak hour, we were only given 2 hours to eat). The restaurant is huge and they scattered the food in every corner of the restaurant. 

Mr. Z didn't enjoy it as much as I did because the services was quite bad. Due to the fact that we are only paying RM 65, it was pretty reasonable. I would give 5/10 for Jogoya. If you are looking for great Japanese Buffet, I would suggest Tenji or Kampachi. 

Selamat berbuka! ;)

Jump!

'Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about'

Oscar Wilde

Style Icon 2: Rizalman Ibrahim

A lot of people have asked me before on who's my favourite designer..truthfully, I can't answer that question as my knowledge about the fashion world is limited. Don't get me wrong, I love fashion, I love clothes and accessories, handbags and what not, but to be an expertise on that area and for me to give fashion advices to people, nope..I'm still not there.

So, favourite fashion people? For me, it is not Vera Wang or even Alexander McQueen. I can't relate to their designs. (See, I told you I'm not there). But what I love to see everyday, it's the designs by one of our prominent local designer, Rizalman Ibrahim. Fabulousity by Rizalman. He is fabulous!

The thing is about me, I don't fancy too much frills, laces, beads, colours, etc. Too much of everything is not good. I love simplicity, fresh and clean. I love traditional and modern to be combined, but not over the top combination, and I find that quality in Rizalman's creations.  

To me, Rizalman's creations are epics. He's a real couturier. Not everyone who sells and designs clothes are couturier. Bukan calang-calang orang boleh di label as couterier. This label is an establishment and I think Rizalman has already established himself  as Malaysian couterier since long ago before any other new local fashion designers were even born. One of the first in line of the greatest Malaysian fashion designers alongside Bernard Chandran, Zhang Toi, Radzuan Radziwill and many more.

I shall not elaborate more and let the pictures do the talking. Pictures are taken from Rizalman's blog, which is full of his stories and insights on fashion designing, life, travel and living and also his son. Such delighful tales. Oh, did I tell you Rizalman does interior designing as well?

Some of my favourites:

                        I like this one the most!

Thus, this will be put under my wish list. *cough*