Syawal calling
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The month of Ramadhan is approaching. And subsequently, Syawal, the month of Eid celebration. With that, sales promotion are everywhere; from household deco to food to attire and everything else.

I remembered when I was small, I used to help my mom bake cookies. Those were the good times. Sanggup tak tidur lepas sahur semata-mata nak buat kuih d'oh. Then I grew up and stayed away from home most of the time. When I was still single, I used to stay with friends and we did some baking too, secara berjemaah. Dan makan secara berjemaah jugak happy. The thrill of baking the cookies ourselves beats the thrill of buying them.

When I got married, I still have the determination and the kerajinan in me to bake cookies. Well, with only 1 child at that time, everything was under control. Then after a few years and 3 more kids later, I gave up baking cookies, due to 'tak kuasa'ness. Now, the situation reversed. The 'tunjuk-tunjuk kuih' is more thrilling big grin.

And recently, I have 'tunjuk'ed a few cookies for Raya preparations. Some friends from school and I got together one Saturday for cookies and Sarawak layered cakes tasting. We met at Emma's house who was kind enough to offer her place for the event.

Laily Salleh, who came from Ipoh, Perak brought her samples of Cheese Bangkit. It was very yummylicious.


The cookies are available in 100 or 50 pieces pack. I forgot the price already. Jangan nanti lupa nak bayar sudah...winking


Mastura Malik, who stayed in Shah Alam, also has a business in food, specifically cupcakes. Tengok jari tangan pun dah tau pandai masak ni happy.


She is also selling 2 types of cookies: Snowy Almond and Chocolate Chip. I really like the Snowy Almond. I brought back some samples home for my kids, and they love it. And I'm seriously considering of doubling my order...thinking


Another tycoon in this business, is Mas Atika Jaafar. She's the owner of Randau Cafe which has appeared in my previous blog posts. Ni gelak orang kaya ni...laughing 



She brought samples of Sarawak layered cakes. Here are some shots of the cakes. More info is available in her website.


And besides tasting the delicious cakes and cookies, we had a great time chatting and dining. We had Laksa and fried vermicelli provided by Emma as well as the famous Laksa Sarawak from Eika's cafe.


Good food with good friends. Tengok-tengok, jam dah pukul 5 pm...surprise I left my house before 12 noon...

This is a picture of us. The 2 verse Malay Pantun: 'Gendang gendut tali kecapi, kenyang perut senang hati' is reflected in our faces big grin.

Sitting down from left: Zaira with her youngest child Ian, Emy (the madam Principal) and Mas (of Mastura Chomel Cupcakes).
Standing from left: Emma (the hostess), Laily (Ipoh mali), me, Azuwa (who has just conquered Mount Kinabalu), Zie (who brought delicious dessert for us), Aiz (bidadari di awan biru who has just got back from London if I'm not mistaken), Eika (CEO of Randau Cafe), Ani (co-owner of Garage boutique) and Sherry (who is preggy with her second child).

I headed back home with a sense of satisfaction (and fullness in the belly). At least a small percentage for Eid celebration is already achieved. Will think about the rest later. Apa-apa hal pun, puasa dulu tongue.
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Blackberry vs iPhone (FB matters)
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I had the privilege of using iPhone previously and is lucky to be using Blackberry now. Since the application that I most often (or always?) use is Facebook, here are some differences between these smartphones in terms of FBing.
Pic from here.

1. The large screen of iPhone is wayyy better than BB which has a very cenonet screen. The larger the screen, the better to see the photos in FB.happy

2. The FB interface for iPhone is much more lively and colourful than BB's. Dull semacam je BB.yawn

3. iPhone will alert you of all notifications including the 'Likes' but BB will miss out on the 'Likes' alert. Unless you go to the Mobile site which is redundant if you think about it.rolling eyes

4. I don't like the quality of the photos taken by BB. Very poor. Yes, of course, my BB may lack some pixel as compared to the other BB models. Pics taken by iPhone looks much better.thumbs up

5. What I hated most about the BB (in terms of FB) is when uploading photos. There's a limit on the number of words you can type for the photo's caption. Unlike iPhone. And for someone who realllly loves to write long sentences and long captions, that limitation is realllly frustrating.frustrated

6. I looveee the iPhone's touch screen which makes the world an easier place to live in...winking Easy browsing, easy zooming and easy segala. With BB, the track pad which is very small in size, works just like the track pad on your laptop. Well, kinda easy to use but sometimes I may overscroll and accidentally click on something that I did not meant. For instance, I accidentally click 'Like' on somebody's activity and had to 'Unlike'. Asyik terbabas je...

7. Posting a status or a comment is comparable for both I think. Both kinda easy. And of course the tendency for typo exists for both. I used to hate the iPhone autocorrect and switched it off but then I switched it back on. Coz sometimes it helps, a lot... I'm aware of BB's autocorrect but I think it is not as extensive as iPhone. Ke aku yang tak pandai guna? tongue

8. One thing that I noticed when I was using iPhone was that there's no option to find friend and add the friend. While BB allowed you to send invitation by email. Well, you need to know the email address of the person to be able to use this option. sigh

9. One plus point of BB is the alert. Even though the application is already closed, the alert still comes in. Thus you don't have to constantly open the app and check whether there's any notifications. But with iPhone, once you have exited the app, the alert does not show sad. Well, the iPhone I was using was an older model. Maybe newer iPhones have been improved in this sense.

10. Something about non-FB. I like the way you can download BB's  templates and layout for the main screen. Many designs to choose from, and it's free. For instance from Crackberry. Cool...cool Not sure if iPhones allowed you to do that. My research is limited. (Malas la pulak nak buat research). And not forgetting the BBM. Well, that's another story.

There you have it. Ten points and most of them sided with iPhone. Well, what can I expect? iPhones are designed for entertainment purposes but BB is meant for the corporate, business  and busy (like me big grin) individuals that need to be contactable at all times. Thus, the dull appearance but very practical.

So, why the heck did I let go the iPhone and decided on BB instead? Well, it's free. Who am I to resist...happy
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A Warung in the Valley
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Hubby and I went to MidValley shopping complex the other day. We have been searching for Blackberry Curve casing which has a front flip cover. Something like iPhones casing. And I saw a colleague has one and I was told that she got it from MidValley. Well, we did find a shop selling those but they are currently out of stock. The ones that are left were pink or white colored. Sungguh tidak memberangsangkan.sad

We were thinking of catching a movie while we were there. But, unfortunately, we spent quite some time going from one telecommunication store to another that we had to forgo the movie. Double upset.frustrated

We had lunch at an outlet named The Warung. Nice place and nice deco too.


However, this is no place for Cik Kiahs' meeting. The chairs are so not comfortable. I know, they have to live up to their name, Warung, hence these stools. But can you imagine chit-chatting for hours on that chair? raised eyebrows


Hubby ordered Nasi Ikan Cili Padi. Rice and fried Dory Fish slices with cili padi sauce, and vege and fish crackers. The mention of Dory fish made me recall of the animation movie Finding Nemo. But not to the extent sampai tak sanggup nak makan ikan tu. Quite nice. But the fish was a little bit too salty. Garam tertumpah kot... winking


I ordered a dish called Nasi Tumpang. This is how it looks in its package.


And tadaaa... when the package is opened. 


Nasi Tumpang is composed of layers of rice with serunding daging/ayam, rendang ayam and sambal telur. A total of 11 layers. We counted 9 layers at first. Then we visualized the other 2 layers. Buat2 nampak je la... tongue The dish also came with vege and fish crackers. The sambal telur is actually omelette with chili. The taste... not bad at all.

Hubby said, the ethics of eating Nasi Tumpang is you have to eat it layer by layer. If not, you will miss out on the pleasure of the whole dish.

Okay, that was a joke...laughing Suka hati la nak makan macam mana pun. Makan layer by layer pun, dalam perut tunggang terbalik jugak.big grin
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One side of Cherating
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My family and I were in Cherating, Pahang few weekends ago. A cousin from the hubby's side was getting married on a Sunday. The journey from KL to Cherating may takes about 3.5 hours. Instead of going for a day-trip, we thought, why not stay overnight somewhere so that we won't be exhausted. It was school holidays and most places in Cherating were all fully-booked. And we aimed for the small hotels/chalets/resorts and we were not very particular if the place got swimming pool or not, thinking it's just going to be a one-night affair. So we booked a place called Riverside Beach Resort Cherating.


We went there on Saturday. And arrived at the destination safe and sound, thanks to the Holux GPS devicethumbs up.

The place is quite close to the beach. And the surrounding area is quite nice.


You can either book one of these room units.

Or you can book the family suite chalet.

We booked the former. Despite the nice surrounding area and fresh air from the sea and presentable outdoor view of the room units, the inside was a major turnoff thumbs down. Sorry to say... The room is poorly maintained; closet with door broken, skimpy mattress, flattened pillows, lousy towels, TV with very poor reception, air-cond that almost did not work and ill-maintained bathroom. 


Okay, I'm not becoming pompous and high and mighty all of the sudden. I'm quite used to 'kampung' lifestyle and had my share of living life in an environment with limited necessities. Well, maybe I'm so used to luxury and have been to too many star-studded hotels so that facing a place like this was a shock to me. Okay, maybe it's time to call Norazlina back to Planet Earth tongue. But then, I think the management can do better.

Anyhow, thank God, the kids were not that complaining. And they enjoyed the short stint they spent at the beach. 



We had a nice dinner in one of the restaurants near Kemaman. The seafood and sata were excellent. Sorry, pics of the food are not available.


We managed to sleep that night, well, at least I did... and we checked out early the next morning. We had a wedding to attend kan....? winking

And finally, a trip to Cherating won't be complete if you don't make a stop at one of these shops.
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