Food Friday: Salted Fish (Ikan Masin)

Fried salted fish, topped with sliced shallots and birds chilli and drizzled with the salted fish oil  that I used to cook it in. 

All this time, I have been buying Pharmaton, Appeton, This-ton, That-ton, and my children still don't put on weight. They have healthy appetites, especially Buddy, but Allie eats like a bird. So yesterday, I finally got around to frying some salted fish -- ikan masin ikan merah -- that my mom bought from Tawau (Monica's hometown -- so ask her to bring back for you if she goes back this CNY! hahahaha) .

Apparently, this was the ultimate appetizer for the kids. Despite putting bird's chilli and shallots on it, they still walloped the food. Sometimes, I cook enough rice to last until dinner (when the hubs is off at work), but this time, it didn't last half an hour. The kids had 3 plates of rice each! Amazing.

Today, Buddy asked for more salted fish. And he says he wants it the same way, with the "bawang and cili". Ohhhkay then, I just hope it won't give my kids high blood pressure. As for the husband, he ate 4 plates, and I am definitely hiding this from him if I cook it again. I want him to eat, but I don't wanna kill the man!!

I, on the other hand, HAVE to go jogging today. A half marathon won't be able to burn the amount of calories I consumed!! Oh and whoever wants to join me jogging at Subang park, just holla and we can run together-gether. New mommies out there, you can join me and jogging, with the new baby jogger city select 2012, you can bring your baby with you, too!! ;)

Salam Jumaat and have a great weekend, everyone!

Thankful Thursday: My Gratitude List #8

My Thankful Thursday segment is a little late due to the frustrating internet connection I have at home. I was writing this last night but I wasn't able to post it. So anyways..

This week, I'm grateful for:

Coffee. Sometimes when you're stressed out and you just don't know where to resort to for that little pick me up, the answer is always coffee!

The little things in life. A smile from a stranger. A neighbour's helping hand. A hug from a friend. My children's spontaneous kisses. Beautiful quotes. A nice blog comment. A funny tweet. Smell of fresh laundry. A thank you. Great conversation. Passion. Fairy lights.... the list can go on forever.

Gift from my best friend, Moose. Haven't even finished Anna Karenina yet!  Haha

Books. Need I say more?

My internet connection. It's been acting up this past week. I know I always take my internet connection for granted so maybe after this it'll behave after I show how grateful I am for it. haha

Well, that's about it for this week's entry. To all my friends celebrating Chinese New Year, I hope you all have a wonderful time with your family. May this year be even more prosperous than the last! Gong Xi Fa Cai!! Enjoy your holidays, be safe and be good! ;)

Music Video: Baru - Estranged

As you can see from the lack of posts here on my blog, I have hardly been online lately.. But when I finally got around to going online, I was thrilled to know that the music video for Estranged's latest single, Baru, is already out. I really couldn't wait to see the outcome of the video since Bella and I "busy-bodied" ourselves behind the scenes of the 2nd day of the video shoot.

The song has cool written all over it and I dig it. A lot. There just aren't many local bands as good as Estranged. So check out the music video for Baru by Estranged:



I gotta say though, I would be a helluva lot less calm than that if my bag was snatched. Just sayin'. Oh and wouldn't it be cool if the biker snatch thieves wore gmax motorcycle helmets? Haha you know, just for kicks. Haha. I guess that's why I'm a homemaker and not a music video director.

The music video was directed by Nadia Hamzah from Wayang Works.

Nadia Hamzah

She's young and amazing. As is Mo. Adam Sinclair was also on hand to assist the directing of the music video. Director of Photography was done by Wan Chun Hung, who, if you must know, was DOP for the film Seru. The lead stars in the music video is Omar Yunus, a newcomer and actress Tunku Norhanis.  

Tunku Norhanis and Omar Yunus on set

Hanafi, Din, Rich and Andy were all awesome guys and my deepest thanks to the band for indulging us and our  inane conversations and questions. Especially crazy ones like me asking Andy for his Foo Fighters tee (as seen in video). Yes, I am not ashamed to take a shirt off of someone else's back. But of course Andy didn't give it to me. I wouldn't give it to me. You know, if I were him. But, it was worth a shot.  Haha. My mom always says, "Ask and you shall be given". It didn't work this time, but hey.. can't blame me for trying.

Estranged getting ready to rock it out on Carrefour rooftop

ANYWAYS, I had a lot of fun with Bella on that set thanks to the crew. We were fed, we were plied with drinks the whole evening, we were entertained... at a rooftop no less and it was my first time being behind the scenes of any shoot. I had a pretty good time.

Yours truly and Bella with the band

Thanks Levis for the opportunity.. especially to Paolo and Carmen.

Also lots of thanks to Afiq and Azzad (the biker guy in the video) for being so hilarious and entertaining. Thanks to Fadhil and Teoh (who I call Steve, coz he looks like a Steve -- suka suki je tukar nama orang) for the pictures and videos taken on set.

Lots of fun. Hope to do it again. Hear that, Estranged? Call us. I'm dead serious, yo. Haha.

p/s: All photos taken by Bella Enveeus and check out more photos of what went down behind the scenes.

The Domesticated Life

Oh wow. This is only my second post of the year and it's already approaching the 3rd week of Jan. I haven't been on Twitter or Facebook much either, but for what it's worth, I miss my online buddies.

I was just catching up with my buddy Ane yesterday and was telling her how moving to this new place of mine has made me so domesticated. Not that I wasn't before, but really, I can rival these aunty-aunty living on my block. I'm already up by 6.30am, do my morning prayers, get the kids ready, make breakfast, walk my son to school, then come home, and immediately start with the chores.. which includes...

wait for it... wait for it.....

brace yourselves.....

GARDENING!

 I remember telling Marzie before that there's no way I'm gonna be doing any gardening and now...

YES. Time to EAT my words.

And not only am I gardening, I'm starting to become Madam Fix-alot too. Perhaps my husband is rubbing off on me more than usual, but I don't really need the husband to come to my rescue nowadays when I need some minor fixing done. My husband has everything from a hand drill to cutting tools and I'm beginning to appreciate the handyman in him even more.

When I was staying at my old small apartment, perhaps the small space made me so chillaxed that take my time going about things. Most probably I'd go back to sleep after sending my son to school and start only around 10am and take my own sweet time doing them too.

Anyways, if you can't tell, I'm happy in my new home. Now, I can't even fathom why I was sentimental about leaving my apartment.