Mind power

It was a fresh Friday morning. The air was crispy and dewy. Aishah and I set off from PR at exactly 6.35a.m. Our targeted destinations were the new High Court at MSC port building, near The Zon, JB, the Wisma Persekutuan and Nusajaya.

"I am worried that we may not make it to the Court on time" said Aishah, breaking the morning chill. I could sense her being worried from her voice. She is worried that we may not be able to find a place to park the car in the building!

"We will make it on time" I convinced her. I was relieved to see her putting back that sweet smile of hers back on her cute face.

"We will make it on time, get our matters heard and move on to our next destinations" I repeated to her.

We recited the "traveling prayers" (as we always do) and started our journey. Aishah sat quietly in her seat. Maybe thinking along with me that we shall be able to make it on time. I understood her concern for being on time as it was a Friday. Friday seems to be the shortest day and we have a handful of things to clear before the weekend!

We reached the Court without much challenges at almost 8.15a.m. Way too early before the new time fixed for all Courts to begin the day. She did not notice the outcome from the input she has been feeding her mind! ;-)

On our way to the escalator, I was asking Aishah whether she realized that all the traffic lights turned green as we approached them, hence our smooth journey to here!

"Indeed! I never realized that!" said Aishah, with a pleasant surprise in her voice. I smiled.

I sat with Dr Wendy Ooi at the court lobby, exchanging news. We had not met each other since she moved to JB. She was as jubilant and cheerful as I could remember. Aishah was busy key-ing in her cases particulars at the kiosk. Then she came and joined us. After waiting for about twenty minutes, I saw her case number flashing on the big screen being the second case called for the day!

"Aishah, your case has been called. You can go to cubicle 7 now" I told the startled Aishah.

She was too happy to notice that her case was the second on the list to be called for today. She hurried to downstairs to cubicle 7 to get her application heard. While she was there, I saw her second case number appearing on the big screen. And I knew we would soon disappear from that place to go to our next destinations.

Dr Wendy was curiously questioning me as to how Aishah managed to get her cases called prior to hers, despite she being at the Court an hour earlier than we did. I was just smiling and keeping quite!

Aishah finished her matters in no time. We had coffee and curry puff together at the Cafe before we proceeded to Wisma Persekutuan to attend to my matter. I couldn't get my matter done, however. I was told that the lady officer who were in charged was having her break from 10a.m. to 12p.m.! (To be equal to the male staff who would have long break on Friday!) Hmpphhh... nothing can be done there. Fine. So we decided to proceed to Nusajaya.

We managed to finish doing what we needed to do at Nusajaya before they stop for that long Friday afternoon break. That was made possible for one kind young man who gave me his number which is smaller in digits to mine. I was pleasantly grateful. I managed to finish my matters at exactly 12 afternoon.

Since it was still early, we decided to return to town for lunch. We had a great lunch at Singgah Selalu before we came back to WP.

"Are you sure that there is people at the office?" asked Aishah doubting that there would be people to attend to me during that hour. (It was about 1 p.m. when we reached there).

"Oh yes, I am sure that someone would be there so that I could get this done" I replied without hesitating.

Aishah was waiting in the car while I went upstairs. After about half an hour I came down to the car.

"Did you manage to get it done?" Aishah asked me, inquisitively.

"You bet!" I answered, unhesitatingly.


"That was awesome!" exclaimed Aishah, unbelievably, but with pleasant laughter.

"I told you!" I answered, tongue in the cheek.

On our way back, Aishah was still talking eagerly that she could hardly believe what we went through that day.

I repeated to Aishah all that we did was thinking and talking positively. And what actually happened was we were attracting all the positive things to us that day. And this was the day Aishah and I proved to ourselves how true that was. We definitely can use our minds to control the situations and not the other way around!

I want to thank Aishah for giving me that opportunity to experience such great Friday! Thank you, Aishah!

What women do best!

This young man was very happy to sell his merchandise to us womenfolk. Did not waste the opportunity to contribute to their economy (!!!) in return for their ever beautiful telekungs and batiks!

Instead of trying out shoes, yours truly
took advantage of the free stool to rest
and gave her tired feet a little massage!

The friendly shop assistant - sold me a Rp500,000 telekung!

Madam Jaleha, a very warm and motherly
woman that captured my hear completely!

Enjoying Lake Toba

We had a simple yet tasty breakfast before we took the simply but enjoyable boat ride on the Lake. The air was cool, refreshing and superbly clean! For once my lungs had that luxury! These are the women of leisure (yours truly included - only during these time though! ;-)

Weighing instruments

Peculiar looking weighing instruments that caught my lenses. Awesome!

Zupa-zupa soup, anyone?

Sup buntut or Zupa-zupa soup, anyone? ;-)

Travel & Living

Travel really broaden one's horizon. Oh how so true. This was the maiden trip to our neighboring country. The culture amazed me. The sceneries are absolutely breathtaking. Their hospitality really charmed me. The food, hmmph.. I think nothing beats home country food. But the avocado drink is simply superbly delicious!.

Revisiting S2

Since we were there, I wouldn't want to miss re-visiting the old makan place in S2, SA. I used to have my meals here. This Rojak Ayam seems to be simpler than what I can remember it was. The dip is less gao compared to then. I am sad that the rise in costs of raw materials to make a really great dip has taken the better of this dip! Sigh!~ ;-(

Enjoying the gift

This is Ikin with her mother enjoying the gift of Upin & Ipin cupcakes. She celebrated her 6th birthday last week. Glad that she likes the gift.

Bingka ubi kayu - The secret that never was!

1. 750gm finely grated tapioca
2. 1 egg yolk slightly beaten 
3. 50gm melted butter
4. 2 pieces of palm sugar (or to personal preference)
5. 1.5 cup of water
6.  3 cups coconut milk/cream
7. 1 piece screwpine leave
8. a pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celcius.
2. Oil generously a ring pan suitable for this kuih.
3. Boil palm sugar with water and screwpine leaves until the sugar is dissolved. Cool.
4. In a big bowl put finely grated tapioca, add cooled dissolved palm sugar (minus the screwpine leave!), cooled melted butter, coconut milk/cream, slightly beaten egg, salt.
5. Mix until combined.
6. Pour mixture into ring pan which has been properly oiled and bake for about 50-60minutes or until you can see the crust forming.

Note: This is not the perfect recipe.. actually I always made this without the recipe. Just agak-agak sahaja :-). The above recipe is just a guide to the basic must have ingredients. Feel free to improvise according to your own preferences. If you prefer a more crusty bingka, you can adjust the timing of the baking to slightly longer. Be careful not to burnt the bingka! Happy bingka-ing! ;-)

You can use these ring pan or individual aluminium muffin moulds. For these ring pan, the kuih comes out like a giant doughnut!

Fruit basket - KL style

We found this the moment we opened the door to our room. Not that bad lah! The rest of the stay was a ok. This place really in dire need for a good refurbishment! Some of the items really in bad condition. Hmmph.. Malaysia boleh.

Fruit basket - Seremban version.

We checked in at this great hotel located near the Lake Garden at Seremban last November. The following day, I had to attend the Seremban High Court for a Foreclosure matter. I was jokingly asking the front desk people if they would give me some kind of discount on the hotel rate because it was my birthday. The front desk personnel said, the hotel does not give any discount on hotel rate for birthday, but he could get someone to send me a fruit basket instead. My son and I had a good laughed when we came back to our room from dinner to find this on our table! What a fruit basket it was! LOL.

Little people offer big fun!

Enjoying the little ones company at the BP Wet World. The place was nice from far! But these children knew only one thing : playing in the water = fun! The sun was mean!

Acquiring the knowledge

I was glad I could attend Min's class even after losing my way to her place. Thank you to my husband for patiently driving me all the way! He was kind enough to tip the taxi driver who  led us the way back from Cyberjaya to Cheras! And the knowledge acquired at her class was priceless! Thank you Ms Yasmin for your generosity and hospitality! Wish you all success all year through!