Tahun kuda yang tensi

Rachmat who did my fruit basket

teasing Ivy

laksa Penang which was so yummy

Satay Billy (org Melayu)

Nasi lemak

yummy

families and close friends

as a child, I would stand watching the ABC man do this

We are family (lucky people..beli rumah kat Kenny Hills rege S'pore)

Tak puas mata memandang tengok how this is prepared

Me and Margaret with our spouses

Potluck CNY at Lina's

Yee Sang and other jazz

KFC

Sambal sotong Margaret

kuay teow kegemaran ramai

I was having a great time moving from one open house to another (ada dua je pun) when I came home and caught my mom's maid tengah bertelefon with her boiferen (kata mak I lah). Never in all my married life with so many maids, depa menggatal depan2 I mcm ni.So I naik satu hanginlah.I set the tone (my fav slogan now) and told her my house rules: nak kerja, kerja betul2...not easy to get a maid.Not cheap to maintain two maids in one small place! Growl! Must be all the lambs I ate today...temp sudah naik woh.

I thought I would not have to deal with this kinda issue anymore. Gelenyar sungguh!

Now the happier update:

Margaret rang me yesterday inviting me to her sister's CNY open house at Kenny Hills. M is from Spore but many of her siblings live in KL. So we decided to meet up at the open house.I went to get some CNY gifts.Semua kedai tutup, you. Haiyo! But lucky the fruit stall tak tutup.In fact I had everything I wanted under one roof.They even make you your fruit basket.I was thinking get the fruits first then drive everywhere to find a nice fruit basket. Bdk Rachmat tu buat mcm David Copperfield.Kejap je siap. Now I know where to go for my fruit basket gifts.Alhamdulillah.

We had a good time talking about families and jobs.Budaya yg berbeza kan? Topics mrk: when did we get our first Lotus, first Porshe etc.Tapi family ni baik2 and peramah. One of the younger boys is studying at Adelaide so you can imagine the little noise we made over the table.Haha. Yang sorang tu nak jadi penyanyi despite a respectable degree in Engineering.Uncle dia musician terkenal di London.Duduk kat Kensington, OK? Took some naughty pics to tease Ivy in Paris sbb dia suka put her food pics on her fb.Mentang2 we all tak pandai memasak mcm dia. :))

Mlm: Khairil and Lina decided to do a yee sang dinner again at their plc so after Maghrib kita semua potluck apa yg patut.We did the easy way...order kfc for the kids (or rather Khairil pi beli on our behalf cos he was still out masa tu). Too much food.Spoilt for choice.Sebenarnya Allah sgt sayang kpd kita org Msia.Ini yg a friend dok perli I sejak bila I sound so PERKASA and so UMNO. :D Nasiblah kau labu....

I hope the horsey year won't gallop so fast but am feeling the heat now.Marilah kita berdoa agar cabaran serba serbi will not affect us too much.

Tea with our ADUN

Every new year, Francis would send us

New Year wish and an update of his family in the form

of postcard pic mcm ni.A great idea indeed.

There's something about our ADUN that makes people love her despite much resentment for the party she represents.And she told us how she got nominated as a calon in a hot area and finally won the seat.I percaya by will of Allah.

Even how we met.I ni nak kata superstitious, taklah.Or syok sendiri, tak juga kot? But mcm juga IWFF which wanted to happen, kali ni I dpt projek baru yg nmpknya ingin juga berlaku.If I tell you the sequence of events, mesti they will make you think.

It all started when I emailed YB pasal potholes kat my area.Tak lama mana she replied my email.Waaaa..I macam tak percaya...ADUN baca dan jawab emails penduduk! So I asked if we could be of any help to upgrade standard of living in the area.She ajak I minum tea kat luar.I ajak dia minum tea at my place...ramai sikit can join and more casual.And food is free. Parking is also free. :))

So I had batches of people to my tea without inviting the YB cos' YB tak responded on my offer.Then one day, she text-ed me and asked bila nak tea kat rumah I.Wahhh...I pun networked with all my friends on the three areas I had identified we could work on.

Getting the right people to advise you will save cost and energy.My friends yg dtg ni bkn sembarangan..semua experts of the three areas I outlined earlier and gosh...I learnt much as well. The lake project is the best.Dr. S from Architecture came and gave many brilliant ideas.

Nik kata: jgn hangat2 taik ayam dah ler.I takut juga ni.Besar kerjanya dan melibatkan byk agencies.Duit takda.YB dapat RM300k je for one term's budget.Hadoi...ciputnya.Mcmana ni?
But we know that for anything to succeed, you first have to believe in it.I think IWFF taught me that.
Our strength is we have the expertise and the network.Selebihnya doa agar Allah permudahkan.

Watch the progress and if you have ideas (money!), moh sit with us and be part of our team.

Two certs for BoD

I enjoyed the three days' training session for board of directors.I got two certs now and I'm happy to say that I am now able to read statements of financial positions (formerly known as balanced sheets). They have changed terminologies....lama2 kita akan jadi illiterate! That is why it is so impt to keep learning new things.

I loved the sessions on corporate sustainability, internal control and risk management.Ingat ni Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet, Profit...semua mesti ada value and impact on the people, econ and environment.But I posed the question which the speaker didn't address: sustainability ain't cheap and you need a strong R&D Dept.Bkn dtg from thin air mah.Example digunakan ..tukang jual kuay teow yg boosted his kuay teow sales by doing a kung fu dance while memasak and tau pau using environment friendly materials (not plastic bags)  : brown paper and daun pisang.Ek eleh...gerai biz lain dari Double A biz katakan (they farm trees to make quality papers and that also creates employment to paddy planters who help plant the trees on their paddy fields in between seasons..kan lain scale of biz tu.Yg satu hanya perlu gelek2 ..yg satu perlu high tech and R&D)

But still, new knowledge for me.I loike.:)

Malaysiaku

I had a very interesting encounter with a Chinese taxi driver hari ni.Semalam an Indian taxi driver.Dua-dua tak tipu I.Dua2 very nice people.Yg semlm kita sama2 dengar rangkaian radio Tamil.Dia ketawa.I ketawa.Dia faham.I just made up my own story.But agak tepat..it's a prank call to this van driver.The prankster said he called to complain this guy bawak laju sgt and will go to his house to rampas the van.The van driver said kalau berani, datanglah! :))

Anyway, byk juga groups yg nyanyi lagu Tamil make it big in Bollywood..check out Yogi B, Jaq Victor pun nyanyi Tamil and is mengetop.I must look up the video clips.

Today punya taxi driver beritau I Cina kalau tak menipu bknlah Cina.I asked Cina tipu Cina juga ke? He said mesti! He said ibarat India kalau tak minum, bukan India.Cina kalau tak judi, bkn Cina dan...(ini yg agak mengejutkan) Melayu kalau tak merogol, bukan Melayu.Mak oii! He said mana ada Cina rogol anak sendiri, etc.Iyala Awe weh.

But we had a good conversation on the Allah controversy too. :)
The training sessions were good and fun today.Will share later.

Sultan Abu Bakar Museum, Pekan

We loved this place.Santik!

sebelum wheelchair ada

these are food containers (like your tupperware) which fishermen

stored their food while at sea

You see the compartments? Mcm tempat letak sireh

dan pinang (your chewing gum today)

My grandma had one of these kacip pinangs

and my mom the tepak sireh, belanga etc