Surprise Bday for Hubby

Update: Since I finally d/loaded the pic, im moving this post to the actual date of Michael's bday.

I like organising things. Be it birthday parties or just a party. I remember back home when I was still working, my friends would ask me to organise them. I dont usually pick the place, time and what not but what i would do is send the memos/invite to all the invitees and making sure they rsvp-ed me. Trust me, id practically hunt each and everyone in the list for their answers since rsvp is really not a Malaysian thingy. :P And im very persistent!

Michael's bday is not until this fri but with the dental appointments/works, he's only free fr taking the medicine last week and can finally consume alcohol. So I decided to surprise him with an early birthday party last fri. Since it was on a friday, (working day for most) I can only invite a few friends who live in close vicinity with us. I apologise to those who werent invited. Not that I dont want to but I know its impossible for you guys to come right after work if you live more than 10miles away from us.

Anyways, I thought it was going to be easy planning the 'surprise' thing for him. I mean, its just getting a few friends to come over and make sure they dont tell him anything, right? if only it was that easy. For one, we live in the same apartment (we are afterall, married :P) Secondly, we only have 1 car so its not easy being discreet in buying stuff. Lastly, he usually leave work at 4pm and got home around 4.20pm so i told everybody to come around 4. At 2.45pm, his co-worker called to let me know that they're being released from work 1hr earlier. OMG! I started to panic since Shirley & Kevin were only coming at 3 to take me to the store to get some stuff. I called BeeYinn, and she too couldn come earlier since she was making egg tarts for the party and they're still in the oven. I called Shirley and she told me to get Michael to go to the store and get something just to buy some time. The problem was, I have to wait for him to call me since i wasnt supposed to know that he's coming home early! So, that cant work. And he didnt call since he wanted to surprise me. The call finally came at 3.20 asking me where I was since I wasnt there when he got home. lol! He didnt suspect anything until the guests started coming.

I made nasi lemak (sambal udang, fried ikan bilis, boiled eggs and cucumber) and beef satay (marinated w onion, ginger, coriander seed, salt and sugar for 36hrs and grilled on the electric grill). Kevin and Shirley brought the cheesecake from cheesecake factory (yummy yummy) and BeeYinn brought some homemade mini egg tarts ( i want more!). Unfortunately nobody remembered to take pictures of the food before we ate. Duh me! lol!

I did take some pics of that night and going to upload them on my fotopages (with the same username as my blog) when Iv sorted them out. It was a great day and Michael and I had such a great time. I hope everybody had a great time too. Thank you to all my friends who came to the party and helping me in organising the party! I love you guys/gals.

Lat the Cartoonist

From wikipedia:
Mohammad Nor Khalid or Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid (born 5 March 1951) is a well known cartoonist in Malaysia. Also known as Lat, many of his cartoons appear in the editorial pages of the Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times. Lat was born in a village called Kota Baru in Perak, not to be confused with Kota Bharu the capital of Kelantan. He had a wonderful talent for drawing as a child and drew excellent comics. At the age of 9, his gifted talent began to yield his family income. His first real book was Tiga Sekawan, a story about 3 friends who banded together to catch robbers. The book was published in his sixth year at Jalan Pasir Puteh Primary School in Ipoh. His publisher paid him 25 Ringgit for his service. By 1968, Lat was earning 100 Ringgit a month from his work. He later moved to Kuala Lumpur to become a cartoonist. Lat later joined the New Straits Times as a crime reporter but he later became a cartoonist. His first book Kampung Boy, an autobiography of his life was published in 1979 and sold thousands of copies within 3 months. His cartoons have been published in several cartoon books in Malaysia. He is famous throughout Malaysia. One of his books Kampung Boy was published in France by a French publisher. His latest book is Dr Who?! which is dedicated to Mahathir bin Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia and his wife Dr Siti Hasmah. An English-language edition of Kampung Boy was published by First Second Books in August of 2006. This was the first of his books to be published in the United States. His second English-language book, Town Boy, is scheduled for release in October 2007. His cartoons reflect his view about Malaysian life and the world.

We went to the library a few days back and I dont know why suddenly I remembered about Lat. I grew up reading his books/comics and can even remember some of them. The 'tin kosong' (empty can) game tht he played, the 'sunat' (circumcision), the move fr kampung to the city and etc. He captured his life as budak kampung and say it all in a simple drawings and words and yet, even if you're not a Malaysian, you would have no trouble understanding the story.

However, im ashamed to admit that I dont personally own any of his books. Yes, it is indeed embarassing since i just love his work. So, from now on, im going to commit myself in collecting all of his books for my own collection/reading pleasure and hopefully 1 day, I can share them with my children.

Ringgit Malaysia vs US Dollar, updated

The first time I made the comparison between these 2 currencies on my blog was on April 5, 2007. Then, it was RM3.449 for every USD1. As I read thestar.com.my yesterday, Ringgit's value has increased and is now trading at RM3.382.

I dont know about other people but that, for me is not a good news. :(

Sweet and Sour Crab

I, like most Malaysian, just love seafood. Be it fish, squid, prawn, clams or snails. I dont however eat escargot. The only type of snails that I eat is "siput sedut" or balitong, as the chinese call them. What theyr called in English, I have no idea at all. It doesnt matter anyways since Michael dont eat seafood and I wudn know how to cook them either. hehe.

Anyways, when it comes to crabs, (it doesn matter what kind they are since im the type who's not fussy about their names) i like them in sweet and sour with a little bit of spiciness sauce. The basic ingredients for my sweet and sour crab would be shallot, garlic, ginger (to reduce the fishy smell) and chili paste and lastly an egg. to me, thts what make it sweet and sour crab.

Ingredients

1-2 crabs (cleaned and cut in 2-4 pieces)

• 3-4 red chilies
• 3 shallots
• 2 garlic
• 1inc ginger (pound or blended together)

3 tblspoon of vegetable oil, 4 tblspoon of ketchup, 1/2 cup water, salt, sugar and an egg.

Heat the oil in a wok or skillet and put in the blended ingredients. Stir until they'r fragrant. Add the water, ketchup and continue stirring. Put in the salt and sugar (to your liking) once its boiled. Add in the crab and flip them until theyr well coated with the sauce and cover for about 2-3 min. Lastly, break an egg and keep stirring/flipping the crabs until the egg is cooked.

I like to eat them with steamed white rice but you can eat them ala Fatty Crab (seafood reastaurant in Malaysia) which is with toast.

Love for Ibu (Mother)

I havent been online for a few days now until today. So the first few hours after I got up, Id do the usual things i.e. read emails and thestar.com.my. It was Mother's Day last Sunday and this article about 2 young sibling's love for their nearly blind mother just brought tears to my eyes. It reminds us that a mother doesnt need an expensive gifts to make her happy. All she wants is for her child/children to be a good person, succesful in whatever they do and be happy with their lives.

Brothers’ vision of comfort for mum

With all our love: Mohd Syafik (left) and Mohd Syarul Nizam giving their mother a plastic flower for Mother’s Day in Sungai Petani yesterday.SUNGAI PETANI: A stalk of a plastic flower for their mother was all that two brothers could each afford to give to their mum on Mother’s Day.
But the two – Mohd Syarul Nizam Yusuf, 13 and Mohd Syafik Yusuf, 15 – dream of being able to give all the comforts of life for their mother Che Yang Sudin, 50, one day.
“Our mother is not physically perfect like others, yet we will protect her and shower her with love till our last breath,” they said at their uncle’s Paya Nahu flat here.
Che Yang, a divorcee, has poor vision and her tears flowed uncontrollably. She quit as a production operator in a factory after a fall about three years ago.
The two boys and their mother are currently staying with blind uncle Md Desa Sudin, 55 and blind aunt Zaiton Lazim, 47, both factory workers at Bakar Arang near here.
Mohd Syafik, a Form Three student of SMK Taman Ria Jaya, said he wakes up at 5.30am every day to wash the dishes, adding that he also helped his mother do the laundry, sweep the floor and prepare breakfast before going to school.
“I will study hard to become a policeman and buy a beautiful house and let my mother enjoy all the comforts of life. She will be the queen of my house,” said Mohd Syafik.
Mohd Syarul Nizam a Form One student at the same school, wakes up at 8am to go to the market. He cuts the fish and vegetables and helps his mother to cook. He also irons the clothes.
“I too will study hard to become a fireman,” said Mohd Syarul Nizam.