Arrivederci 2005

I managed to return home from Rome before the New Year, so I had New Year's Eve dinner with Fairuz at De’Kampung and we ordered 5 dishes.


Never missed the TomYam soup, Vegetable sauté with salty fish, Thai style squid, egg omelet and “Yellow Chicken”, which they seasoned with the turmeric powder before they cook.


I am glad to have my last dinner for year 2005 with my own Kampung taste, while saying Arrivederci to Rome, I am also saying goodbye to 2005.

Happy New Year!

Tag: Food, Malaysian Food, Malay Cuisine, Vegetable, squid.

Andiamo per mangiare Spaghetti

How could you miss spaghetti when you visit it’s country of origin? I almost did, because too much variety of food to try, too little stomach to eat.

However, I managed to cook Spaghetti here in Rome, with its original sauce and ingredients, I had my bellisimo spaghetti, yummy.

Oh yes, not forgetting the pork sausage, just deep fried and eaten with spaghetti.

Tag: Spaghetti, Rome, Italy.

Mini for Two

I envy most about the Romans is their small mobile gadget, a smart car for Two.

The size of the car is even smaller than the Perodua car KANCIL series in Malaysia, which has got only 2 seaters but the design is better, KANCIL or other else is too ugly, you can either park parallel or at a tangent, as long as there is space.


I really wish that Malaysian companies will import this car soon, as I will absolutely buy one with no second thought, yet it can moves real fast as I have witnessed it in the street of ROME.

Tag: Car, Gadget, Mobile, Rome, Italy.

Double Cold Action

I got flu on the third day of my visit in ROME, what’s an unfortunate event.

However, the cold didn’t stop me from going out; the worse was it rained in the afternoon, so I have to do my sightseeing indoors, TERMINI station will be my only choice.

Not much shop here but it cost me 0.70 euro to pee (excuse me), if converted to Ringgit it would be RM 3.15, @_@

So after the expensive toilet time, I found one ice-cream stall in the corner, I do not understand Italian so I was confuse with the flavors, yet the shopkeeper was not helpful being their well-know reputation, and also stopped me from taking any photo, but he didn’t know I already did, unfortunately I got the wrong flavor which I thought is vanilla but it ended up something else.

Anyway, I just remembered that a doctor told me to eat ice-cream, which will help me getting better from the flu, so I still has to finish the “Don’t know what flavor” ice-cream.

Tag: Ice Cream, Rome, Italy.

Giant Doughnut

The buildings in Rome are huge, the peoples here are “HUGE” too, so don’t be surprise to find HUGE food here, LOL.

Yes, I found this giant doughnut in Piazza Navona, this is about 5 times larger that the doughnut in Malaysia, but the price is more than 20 times compared to the price in my home town.

This giant Doughnut cost me 3 euro (USD 3.60), about RM 13.50 which I can buy at least 27 Doughnuts in Malaysia, but the taste between the doughnuts in the 2 countries, I can’t tell the difference.

Tag: Doughnut, Food, Rome, Italy.

Good Morning Vatican

Seeing Vatican City from the DOME on top of the Basilica di San Pietro, on the right is the piazza San Pietro.

Although it was raining on and off, but today is much better than last night, so I decided to visit the whole Vatican city before I going for shopping, the stewardess told me that today is boxing day, crazy sale everywhere.

Part of the piazza San Pietro.
So I can only write briefly here because I don’t want to be late for the sale, and hoping you bloggers enjoy the photos.

Tag: Piazza San Pietro, piazza, Rome, Italy, Vatican.

Merry Christmas

The white arrow indicates the projection screen & the red arrow points to where the pope actually was standing.

Adesso io sono in Roma, Italia.

Yes, I am now in Rome, Italy. Just managed to learn my first phrase of Italian.

After all the troubles of traveling, I meant the airport in Kedah being closed, I needed to drive about 2 hours to Penang airport, then transit in KLIA and finally reached safely in ROME early in the morning at 5.15am local time.

So I had my Christmas countdown on board and managed to rush to Vatican City to see the new POPE giving his Christmas blessing in Vatican, sounded great, but was raining whole day and I was sleeping like a PIG. LOL

Tag: Christmas, Pope, Rome, Italy, Vatican.

Christmas Eve

My table setting for the Christmas dinner last year.
Finally, the floods gone with the wind (I hope so), although we don’t have winter here in Malaysia, but the cold wind blowing from China is Damn freezing and its been understood than the wind is the main reason of causing the unusual raining in the region, which had brought us the most serious floods in the decade.

Now, due to the airport is still close, I need to travel to other state to catch my flight to my holiday destination.

However, Christmas Eve as a holy night, I was very busy to serve my friend a good Christmas dinner last year, but today I am not going to do it again because I am on board.

So Merry Christmas to all of you, see ya!

Tag: Christmas, Christmas Eve.

Rice With Coconut

Don’t be surprise, if you cook rice with a little bit of coconut milk, then you will know what I mean by Nasi Lemak.

Nasi in Malay means rice, and Lemak is fat or A.K.A coconut milk, it is served either with anchovies plus egg, or just a small fish, sometimes you can get chicken, but Nasi Lemak with Chicken is a lot more expensive.

However, the hawker here in Kedah sells Nasi Lemak all day long, the most popular choice is anchovies plus egg, they are packed with the rice in banana leaf, to give it a more exotic flavour, and it only sells for RM 0.50 (USD 0.15) per pack.

I used to have 2 packs, but most of my friend can eat more than 4 packs at once.

Tag: Food, Malay Food, Nasi Lemak, EGG, Rice.

More Food Less Flood

Although I still cannot drive to my office due to the only way there is flooded, and the airport still closed which can affect my flight to my holiday destination, but somehow I am more relaxed now.

I suppose I am already used to the flood, or maybe I had gotten over the initial trauma, yeah it has reached a TRAUMATIC stage.

So on the way back from the flooding area, I stopped by a Malay food stall and bought my dinner, a fried egg, some vegetables and a fish only cost me RM 2.50 (USD 0.70).

Anyway, I had packed my luggage tonight and am ready to board my plane on Saturday, of course I pray to GOD which I hardly do, please no more disaster or rain.

Oh yes, today I received a nice Christmas Card from UK, thanks Philip.

Tag: Food, Malay Food, Fish, EGG, Rice.

Wish for the GOOD

Tomorrow is Dong Zhi, which translates as Winter Solstice.

As I mentioned before in my previous post, it is a big day for the typical Chinese family, because the whole family have a reunion and children will have to eat Tang Yuan, in terms of “EARNING” one more year of life.

However, the flooding is getting worse. I don’t expect the chinese families here will be able to have their colourful reunion dinner and the eating of the Tang Yuan, because the water doesn’t want to leave and there is more to come.


I really hope the water will recede soon. It's so tiring to talk about it.

Lets talk something funny. I lost my car’s number plate today. Now finally I understand the reason why there are so many cars on the road without number plates.

I wasn't even aware that it was lost, until I found out it had been swept away by the WATER whilst I was driving in the flood area. Interesting. So I will have to pay RM 12 (US 3.30) to replace it.

Tag: Rice, Dessert, Food, Dough, Flood, Raining, Tang Yuan, Malaysia.

Is the Worst Over?

The flood is coming to town.
How long does it have to FLOOD? Another day of flooding, what a boring topic.

There is no sign of water level receeding and it looks threatening, that at anytime it will flow into the town, the road outside my office was almost covered by the yellowish river water, yet it is forecasted to rain more this week.

Damn it, Can I managed to leave the town in time for my holidays? If due to the floods I am forced to stay put, who will pay for my thousands Ringgit lost in airfare?

My brunch,McDonald Grilled Chicken Foldover.
I sound sick, so I started to calm myself down and try to see things positively, just hoping everything will be alright and I don’t need to have only one meal a day, oh thanks to Alina and Fairuz for buying me a set of McDonald Grilled Chicken Foldover, that was my brunch for today.

Never miss to thank IZ Reloaded for mentioning me in his blog too, yeah I had been blogged, LOL.

Tag: Flood, Raining, McDonald, Chicken, Malaysia.

Still Flooding

The water is now moving from north to south, the town that I stay and work in is now in danger, but I guess my house could be safe from the flooding problem.

The WATER is coming to town.
However, today I went to another critical flooding area, luckily I got a lift from a Land Rover, my car is safe from the disaster, but when I went into the flooding area, I saw lots of cars FLOATING or covered by the water.

Still Flooding.
This is the most serious in last 30 years, but why the water LIKE to come in the end of the year? Last year I was sent to Indonesia right after Christmas on 26 December,Withnessed the outcome of TSUNAMI.

This year before I leave for my Christmas holidays, I have to cover the story of the most serious flood in the region.I think Christmas next year I shouldn’t plan any holiday, just in case!

Tag: Flood, Raining, Malaysia.

Flooding and Aching

Canoe-fun in the floods.
I went to cover a story of one of the most serious FLOODS in the North of Malaysia today, Not only was I WET but also aching all over after having the adventure of the WAR of waters.

Everything was covered by yellowish water, I couldn’t see the road, and was not sure whether I would fall into a drain, praying to GOD to take good care of me, when my car was almost stuck in the middle of the flood area.

Fortunately the engine didn’t stall but was emitting lots of smelly smokes, something was burning and I had no idea, I had no other choice but to keep going, “life of Journalist, what else can I expect”, don’t even think your company will pay for the car damages, SUCK!

Rising water level
However, after I took all the risk to drive in the flood area, my car could not move due to the flooding level keep going up, I thought I had to spend a night there and cry for help.

Guess what, an angel (local resident) told me there is another way to go out, but I have to take a risk, FUCK IT just give it a try.

I went for my next adventure after having crossed over a flooded area, now I have to fight with the water again, although I got the direction from the "angel", but everywhere was flooding, I had to keep asking along the road.

Finally, after I was driving for almost 2 hours in the rural area, I managed to get back to the town, you won’t believe, I almost cried. Thank God, I am finally home, I miss my home.

Although its just a day, but I am so exhausted and tired, yet my body is aching, now I remember, I was walking in the water for almost the whole day where the water level was above my waist (about 4 feet).

You can read the news here in Malaysia News Agency.

Tag: Flood, Raining, Malaysia.

FISH oh fish!

This is the most delicious Alor Star food to me, but the name is the most difficult to translate too, how do you translate Chai Por（菜脯）? Some say is salted carrot, or salted/preserved radish or 'minced pickled lettuce'.

However it is a preserved vegetable with sweet and salty taste, and they use Chai Por to serve with the fish, then named it as Chai Por Hu (in Hokkien, mean fish with Chai Por).

Firstly, they steamed the fish with hot water, and then pour the deep fried Chai Por on top of the fish, without any other ingredient, you can taste the original taste from the fish, yet it mixes with sweet and salty taste from the Chai Por.

One whole fish like what you see in the picture mostly cost you around RM 15 (USD 4), cheap, fresh and tasty, and they say you can only get the PURE Chai Por Hu in Alor Star.

Tag: Food, Fish, Chinese Food.

Draw for Personality

Thanks to *Lynne*, I had some fun for drawing a house with a MOUSE, didn’t know how I made it, but I did it, although it looks ugly but the summary of my personality based on the drawing shock me for life.

Here is the summary:
You are sensitive and indecisive at times. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You are shy and reserved. If you've drawn a cross on each of windows, you always want to live alone. Once you have a problem, you need a friend with you. son.

You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You have a strong personality and you like to command, influence and control people.

You added a flower into your drawing. The flower signifies that you long for love. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself.

Draw one for yourself here.

Tag: House, Blog Fun, Blog Game, Personality, Drawing.

Just 100

Where do your visitors come from? And what are their nationalities?

Thanks to Neocounter, I can track the location of all my visitors, and finally I have received visitors from over 100 countries to my blog.

As I had mentioned before there are about 193 countries in the world, and now I have received visitors from more than half of the world, I know this is no big deal, but I kind of enjoy it.

Although I don't know who they are , but somehow they were here for a moment, maybe I don't even know about their country at all, but now because of their presence, I learn more about their country than ever.

Just sharing my thought.

Tag: Counter,neocounter,World, Country, Countries.

Let It Be Fried

If you like crispy and fried food, Malaysia could be your heaven.

Perhaps I should say Kedah (northern state of Malaysia) would be your best choice, because you can get fried banana and fried potato almost in any area.

Convenient, cheap and fresh but very oily, if you do not worry about fever or pimples, then you can go ahead.

There are two types of Fried bananas you can get here, Higher or Lower grade, of course you have to pay more for the “Higher grade” where they deep-fry the whole banana with better grade “Flour”, which will cost you 30 cents (less than USD 0.10) for one.

However, most of my friends prefer the “low grade” fried banana, they will cut the banana into slices and deep-fry in oil, for only RM1.00 (USD0.30+-) you can get about 20 slices, my friend from Penang was surprisedly shock!

Come on, we are now in Kedah, LOL.

Tag: Banana, Fried Banana, Food, Dessert.

Birthday Surprise

I used to do shopping or paying my bills with HSBC bank credit card when I was staying in Penang, but after I moved to Alor Star where they don’t have a branch here, I stopped using it since then.

So I thought since I am no longer their loyalty card holder (the worse is I want to cancel it due to the annual fee), will not have any more privilege reward to surprise me, which I am so damn wrong until I received a birthday card from them.

Guess what? This is not just a card but with their complementary gift, I can go any Ogawa shop in Malaysia to collect my RM 88 worth birthday gift, they are so thoughtful and I am so touch.

However, my friend told me they might have term and condition apply, therefore I forced myself to read everything in the card, but they didn’t mention I need to pay or do anything, as long as I collect my gift in 30 days from my birthday.

So instead of doubting any hidden agenda of the gift, I went to collect my gift, they just asked me to fill in the form and the massage pillow is mine, furthermore I am entitle to their lucky draw competition.

Well, I guess HSBC got me again, despite there is no HSBC bank here in Alor Star, I will still using my credit card, because I just found out I can pay through my other bank account.

Thanks for the gift, HSBC!

Tag: HSBC, Bank, CreditCard, Reward, Credit Card.

Roti Time

Roti means bread in Malay, but The Roti that I am going to mention here is an Indian-bread.

In Malaysia, you can get all kinds of ROTI, Roti canai or roti Chennai is the cheapest and common Roti you can get, normally it is eaten with boiled chickpeas in spicy gravy, or just plainly with sugar.

As long as there is a 24-hour Indian-Muslim restaurant, you can order whatever Roti you want, we have Roti Telur (egg), Roti Sardine, Roti Planta (margarine and sugar), Roti Bom, Roti Jala etc.

Now I am showing only Roti Telur, I will show more if I get to eat more this week, LOL.

Tag: Roti, Indian Food, Bread, Food.

More about Tang Yuan

Do you remember I posted The Chinese Winter which I mentioned the Tang Yuan.

Okay, the photo in that post is multi-colored pearl-like thing in the sweet syrup, and now I am showing you the salty way of it.

Most of us used to have this glutinous rice dough with sweet syrup, but we seldom get the rice dough with pork or chicken flavour soup, due to the preparation of the “salty Tang Yuan” are more trouble, if compare to the sweet one.

Honestly, I prefer the salty way, tasty and more like a proper meal, the sweet one is just a dessert.

You can see from the photos, the salty Tang Yuan will have fish-ball, all kind of mushrooms and vegetables, never miss pork or chicken, even their inner organs, LOL.

Tag: Rice, Dessert, Food, Dough, Tang Yuan.

I Got TAGGED

Thanks to *Lynne*, I got TAGGED on my birthday, fortunately she only TAGGED me for food, if she TAGs me for personal stupidity like what I got TAGGED in my Chinese blog, I will KILL her, LOL.

This MEME is all about 5 childhood memories of food, what did I like the most, need to figure it out.

1. Drumstick

You know what I mean, right? We can only have chicken’s drumstick for birthday back in 70s and 80s, we were too poor to have drumstick in a daily meal, only when you were celebrating something big, the whole family will look at you when you were enjoying your BIG MEAL.

Of course I don’t need to wait for BIG day to eat drumstick now, but because today is my birthday, so it brings me back to memory lane.

2. Fried Egg

Fried Egg is my all time favorite, I could finish the whole plate of rice just having it with a Fried Egg, and of course Soya sauce is a must.




3. Ice Cream

Who can resist Ice cream if you were a KID, I love Ice Cream, yummy!









4. Char Kuih Kak

In Singapore they translated as fried carrot cake (Chai Tao Kuih) but in Penang, we called it Char Kuih Kak, don’t get it wrong, they are not going to fried the “Carrot Cake”, just the ingredient for Char Kuih Kak is carrot. LOL


5. Soya Bean-curd

Soya Bean-curd or more Familiar they are called Tau Fa in Malay, the soft Bean-curd is eaten either with sugarcane-made sugar in white, or the coconut-made sugar in brown, I prefer the white one. ^_^







The instructions of this MEME
1) List down 5 childhood memories of food.
2) And in the tradition of this meme, list the 4 previous taggers before yourself and then your own name at no.5.
3) Tag 3 (or more) other bloggers to continue this meme.

Four previous taggers and myself:
1. Beer Brat, 2. Single Guy, 3. Burgwaki, 4. *Lynne*, 5. New Journey

Three bloggers that I'm tagging:
1) Handsome Marco, sorry guy, you are the best choice to me. ^o^
2) Masak-Masak, since you are the expert of food, I am sure you got plenty ideas.
3) Rambler, talk about your favorites, please!

Tag: MEME, tag, Food.

Busybody

Every time when I need to cover a story on an accident, a fire or any other news , there is always a bunch of busybodies.

They do not bother about their safety, just wanting to get nearer to the scene, even standing in middle of the road is not a problem, in the photo above you can see them standing just next to the dead body.

Sometimes I just wondering what businees for them to be there, this is none of their concern, yet they disturb the policemen and journalists like myself from carrying out their job, sometimes they even cause a traffic jam.

So if you are one of them, mind your own business and get lost!

Tag: Busybody, Accident, Police.

The Chinese Winter

Well, this little multi-colored pearl-like thing in the syrup is called Tang Yuan in Chinese, which is made from glutinous rice balls in sweet syrup.

In China or Taiwan, Chinese normally have this on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year celebration, but in Malaysia or Singapore, the Chinese will have this chewy stuff in Dong Zhi, which translated as Winter Solstice.

Although we don’t have winter here in Malaysia, but the Chinese still celebrate Dong Zhi on 21st or 22nd of December every year, and it is a big day for the typical Chinese family, because the whole family have a reunion and children will have to eat Tang Yuan, in term of “EARNING” one more year of life.

The glutinous rice dough are normally in white and pink, but most of the children like the colorful dough, so mommies will try to make as many colors as they can, and don’t be surprise to see a bowl of rice dough in multi color.

However, Tang Yuan is not only served in sweet syrup, but you can have it in salty soup or even coconut syrup, it depends on what do you like.

Now, I have few photos to share in advance, because the local Chinese association organized a Tang Yuan making competition today, and I managed to take some photo to put in my blog.

Have fun and I will put more on 22nd December.

Tag: Rice, Dessert, Food, Dough, Winter.

Mushroom Crisps?

I got a friend to pose for the Mushroom!
Yes, this is Mushroom crisps, no mistake.

I doubted when I bought it from the Guardian pharmacy, but when I opened it and took out a very first piece of mushroom crisps, you know very well about my reaction, Oh My GOD! I screamed loud and clear as usual, LOL.

Mushroom on hand, later in mouth.
They actually deep fried the mushrooms before they were packing it, so when you have the crisps on your hand, and actually you are having a piece of mushroom.

I like the original flavor which is oyster mushroom, and it cost RM 3.68 (USD 0.99) per packs, affordable and healthy.

Tag: Crisps, Mushroom, Food, Junk Food.

Pasar Malam Surprise

Pasar Malam is a night market in Malaysia, as long as there is a residential area, there will always be a Pasar malam for you to visit, and its only once in a week, is a good place to get cheap stuffs.

7 packs of round crackers only cost RM 2.00 (USD 0.53), no kidding.

However, I hardly go to the Pasar Malam for shopping, not only because there are too many peoples around, But also I am not really comfortable to do any shopping next to a street.

Anyway, there is always an exception, last night when I was on the way back, I saw a Pasar Malam in a car park somewhere near to my house, and since there were not many people, I just stopped by and to have a look.

This potato crisps is just a biscuit with potato flavour.

First, I got 7 packs of round crackers for RM 2.00 (USD 0.53), no kidding, I asked twice and got the same answer for twice, 7 packs of any round crackers for only RM 2.00.

Then I got 3 packs of potato crisps for RM 10.00 (USD 2.64), in a pack of the crisps contains 14 separate small packs of crisps.

So I happily brought home all my cheap cracker but was disappointed with the awful taste, have you ever eaten a bitter cracker? I do now. >-<

Tag: Biscuit, Snack, Food, cracker ,crackers.

Fish-Ball in Shape

Have you tasted a fish-ball before? It is a yummy little thing and I still prefer the one I kept eating in Hong Kong.

However, the picture above is not just a fish-ball, but a combination of fish-ball with bread crumbs, so the little cubic things on the “surface” are the crumbs and covered the fish-ball inside.

I got these ball things in the dinner I went last night, my friend told me it was made from crumbs, I was kind of doubt because it doesn’t taste like a crumb, but it doesn’t taste like a fish-ball as well.

Since I cannot get the answer by tasted it, I have just believe to my friend.

Tag: Fish, Fish Ball, Bread, Crumb, Crumbs, Foods

Gmail Giveaway

If you haven’t applied for a Gmail account, and wanted to create one, just leave your email in my comment, I will send you the invitation; I still have 100 invitations to send out.

Although Gmail has been launched for quite some time, but I assume a lot of bloggers haven’t notice this useful and faster free mail service is so wonderful, yet you can email Mp3, photos and movies without worrying that you will exceed your storage limit and that your mailbox will get full.

Just leave your email, and you can get your early Christmas present, LOL.

Tag: Gmail, Email, Free Mail, Google.

Something Crunchy

Rempeyek is the Malay name for this snack, there is no way of translating as the name Rempeyek is a noun.

Don’t bother about the name, this Rempeyek is a crunchy snack made from peanuts and anchovies, it is a perfect snack with beer, it's spicy and a bit salty that would really get you eating.

However, Rempeyek used to be a favorite snack in fishing villages back in the 19s, which only can be found there, but now they are commercialized so much so you can buy them anywhere here in Kedah.

So if I happen to visit you bloggers one day, a packet of Rempeyek will be as gift from the East.

Tag: Snack, Food, Peanut, Anchovies.

Cube Shield

If you are working in the “cube”, this product might help you to get more privacy and you are safe from the “light-burn” risk, LOL

I don’t know the office working environment in the West, but in Asia, especially in Chinese’s company is mostly not allow their staffs to have PRIVACY in the office, it means you cannot COVER or HIDE yourself in the corner, just to make sure your bosses can keep their eyes on you.

However, when I found this Cube Shield, I am impressed with their creativities and thoughtfulness.

The cube shield says:

CubeShield™ blocks out bothersome overhead lights while providing added personalization and privacy to office cubicles.

CubeShield™ improves employee comfort and satisfaction in the workplace while preventing potential vision problems caused by excessive overhead lighting and glare.

CubeShield™ attaches to the top of cubicle walls -- four velcro strips make it easy to install and remove.

CubeShield™ is easily folded and stored in an office cubicle drawer.

Tag: Cube, Shield, Cube Shield, Office.

Vege-fruit Appetizer

If you go to a proper Malay restaurant or attend a dinner in Kedah, you can always see a plate of cucumber and pineapple in pieces, give you a “Hijau-Kuning” (green and yellow, which is the colour of Kedah’s flag) passion.

However, this local appetizer not really a salad where they used to mix it with chili and vinegar, something like an innocent girl having a hot dance on your tongue, while a sourly bite will remind you to behave.

Interesting isn’t? Cucumber and pineapple are just a fruit and vegetable, but you never know they can be so difference until you try the Hijau-Kuning, LOL.

Tag: Fruit, Vegetable, Appetizer, Food, Malaysia.