Gluttony,the ugly side of Malaysians during the fasting month

I haven't done this in a bit--sharing my opinion on my blog about certain issues or things I see happening around me.But this time I just had to because not only is it bugging the hell out of me but my mum shared the same view as I does and so does my other family members and the boyfriend as well because we discussed it during iftar tonight.

My family and I are not really into buffets as dad prefers to eat at home.So we frequent them only a few times in a year.During this Ramadhan I've had my iftar at 2 buffets.One was at Bora Asmara for Razin's Starian reunion and the other was a few hours ago at Restoran Tasik Indah,my treat for the whole family (the floating restaurant at Tasik Shah Alam).

And during both times,I am APPALLED by how greedy Malaysians are about the food at the buffet.I'm sorry to my fellow Muslims but it is so 'buruk' and appalling to see people piling up their plates with so much food like 30 minutes before iftar and then end up NOT FINISHING a lot of them.That is just wasteful and shameful!urghhhhh

Me & the boyfriend came late for iftar just now because we had to wait for his car to be fixed at this workshop near my house(ayah got some pull with this workshop & they charge 1/2 the price compared to workshop near my boyf's house!) so my family went first without us.

And when we came there around 8.20 pm,a lot of the food was almost wiped clean.But luckily the very nice and attentive staff,particularly Miss Lew make sure that I got a plate of butter prawns and chilli crab on our table as my mum told her we were late.Such great service made such a difference & left a very good impression on me so I certainly will go back there again..:)

*Mmmmm..all mine!Wouldn't have been able to eat this if I didn't have allergy medicine!*

Anyhoo,mama told us just as we were about to tuck in to our food that there was this table near us(whom had left already)and the couple took a mountain plate of butter prawns but they were only a family of 3 and then didn't finish a lot of it!Tsk tsk tsk.

One of the staff,a man who was very nice and came & talked with my family and even made fun of my lil brother Raffiq for being too skinny said that,if there's anything we want to eat that has already finish at the buffet,we can cook them for you,provided that you don't waste them to which I pointedly turned to this other table next to ours that had lots of plates of unfinished food signalling like--He meant you guys by the way!ahaha(Yes there are lots of people like these at buffets!So geram!!)

Seriously,stop being greedy at the buffet and think about others as well and stop wasting food when there are others around the world who can't even afford to eat!

A few pics from iftar tonight..

*7 people altogether*

*Raffiq being interrogated on why he is so skinny!hahahah*

*My dad sharing his many tales..haha*

*FOOOD that didn't go to waste as I shared these with the boyf*

Iftar here and there

During this month of Ramadhan I had my iftar at a lot of places.Recently I had my iftar with the boyfriend's family with all the main dishes cooked by his mum who's an awesome cook(she makes the best daging dendeng!).

We had rice pilaf with fried chicken,pickles and this briyani beef dish.Dessert was bought by his dad & also a dozen of Krispy Kreme that I bought because I didn't have time to cook anything as I came straight from work!

And then a day after that I went to Vios Chosen One dinner as Izza's plus one which was held at MyCookbook Sunway Giza.The food was so-so,not good and not bad but this one dish which was just stir fried kailan was so bitter because they burned the garlic but they still serve it..tsk tsk.Not good!

Lepak with Izza afterwards at Fullhouse after I bought a few stuff at Village Grocer(found red chilli flakes for my pizzas!) and man theirs was so huge and pretty.It was 3 storeys high!Walked a bit after sharing 3 desserts and then the boyfriend picked me up home!:)

*A favorite snapshot that I took of her..Love the Dorothy Perkin's dress that she bought during our iftar+shopping spree at Empire a few days back!*

*Creme brulee..yummm!*

*Love the ring!:)*

Sweet

The night when I was being all sad about my WD harddisk malfunctioning,the boyfriend said something that was so sweet that goes something like this.."Syg,masalah you bukan masalah you sorang je,dia jadi masalah KITA.Dah takde dah masalah you sorang je.".It's not hard to love him at all.:)

*Awwww..I took this pic of him & Noah,a son of is friend.

Funny story:I told him to change his FB profile pic to this one cos it look so sweet & plus his prev pic was getting him inappropriate & suggestive messages in his inbox..-__-

*Pic of us after berbuka at Bora Asmara with his Starians schoolmate*

The ambience of the place was spot on but the food was nothing to shout about.I was appalled when it was like 30 minutes before berbuka & lots of people there had already taken their food.Tsk2.So greedy & no manners.

That night I wore a studded maxi dress from Honey Pumpkin.The pink shrug & butterfly belt is from Old Blossom Box.:)

I loveeee cherry print on clothes and I have 2 cherry necklaces(both from Old Blossom Box).My faveee ice cream is Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.Ate them ever since I was a teen.Pity they don't have an ice cream parlor here although they do have em' in Singapore.Their ice cream are super yummy and there's so many cool flavors--you can click HERE to see them!

Eating fresh cherries will make you sleepy and sleep better and I need that because a times I find it hard to sleep.Thus when I saw this big bottle of fresh cherry juice(no sugar at all in it or even added water) at Jaya Grocer,I grabbed it--it cost rm27.90 but I think it's worth. it.Plus,they were out of fresh cherries at that time
Aren't these cookie tins above look so cute and pretty?I bought them so that I can fill em' up with my homemade choc chip cookies to give to my family and the boyfriend's family as well.
Berbuka at Rakuzen,Empire with the boyf and I ordered too much food that we had to pack a lot of it and even the boyf couldn't finish his.It was my 3rd or was it 4th time eating there and I tried the spider roll,cranky salmon roll and also agedashi tofu for the first time.I've to say I prefer the tofu at Sushi Miyake.

A few months back I participated in this article in The Star but never thought about it until I saw something in the newspaper a few days back that looked like what I wrote.Though they change a few things.

2 days ago I received this gift and I have to say that it is the most expensive facial wash I ever have.I certainly wouldn't fork out rm178 just for a facial wash!haha And oooh they gave me 2 caviar eye mask--like eye cream actually because you just dab it on.

Can't believe Raya is just a few days away & I still haven't found the baju raya that I want yet!Nothing appeals to me..*sigh*.Never mind,I still have a few more days to go.

Sunday!

I was really bummed out and sad recently when my external harddisk suddenly malfunctioned & I can’t even format it!I just bought it a few months ago and from a reputal brand at that,WD(Western Digital).

Thankfully,there’s still the warranty and the boyf so ever kindly drove to their HQ after berbuka a few nights ago so that we’ll be able to see where the place is & go there during working hours.

There’s so many things in it and stupid me for not backing up everything.Urgh.Razin was trying to cheer me up and when I said that there were lots of pictures in the harddisk,he was like “Syg,it’s okay we’ll make new memories..I’ll take pictures of us everytime we go out from now on”..haha.

Cookies in the oven!

Been busy baking raya cookie orders—I only bake one kind which is chocolate chip cookies.This is more of a hobby than a business since I am working from 9-5,5 days a week so I only bake during my free time.

I also made homemade pizza for sahur for my brothers as I’ve made the sauce a week back when I bought the pizza crisper at Bagus Baking shop(I can go crazy there!Look at the picture below,of the things I bought there!).The dough & sauce is made from scratch..nothing store bought!If I had a cow,I’d milked the milk and made cheese out of it as well.hahahah.

Bagus Baking haul!

Pizza topping &sauce(there's meat in it so I don't have to put meat on the pizza)

Below is a picture of the pizzas.I made 7 pizzas in 2 days as the next day my mum said the boys wanted pizza as well.It wasn’t hard to do anyway.Just have to knead the dough and THIS recipe from Wolfgang Puck makes a very smooth and easy to work with dough.Remember to use a dough hook and not the normal hook that you use to mix cookies/cakes.

The dough!

Into the oven!

I made a half/half pizza--half tomato base sauce & the other,white sauce!

I also made garlic croutons to go with French onion soup for my sahur.I got hooked on the soup when I first tasted it a few weeks ago.The garlic croutons is so good that I ended up snacking on it after I made it.

The recipe is so simple.Take a baguette and cut into cubes.Melt butter in a pan with minced garlic.A bit of salt & sugar to taste.Mix in the bread and bake in the oven at 175 degrees for 15 minutes.

Yummy garlic croutons!

A few days back,when me & the boyf was find a place for berbuka at Empire & everything was full.Initially we wanted to eat at Rakuzen but that didn’t happen so we walked around,bought a drink to break our fast and went to Jaya Grocer as I told him that we can choose ingredients and they cook the food for us.

So we went and was surprised at the quality of food.It was very food.We had this(pic below) along with a chawan mushi,rice and this super good agedashi tofu.I gobbled it up that didn’t get a pic of it.

I would go there for that dish!Salivating now that I am fasting..haha.The vegetable kakiage was so good as well that the boyfriend was like what is this dish?It was way better than Sakae Sushi(they have the worst soft shell crab temaki—lemau like).

Sushi Miyake at Jaya Grocer

For cheap and fast sushi/bento,the boyfriend & I still prefer Sushi King as the quality of food is consistent.We’ve eaten at Yuzu and Rakuzen as well.Yuzu has great set meals but the food there was pretty salty.Rakuzen is good in terms of variety.A reader of mine commented on my past post that I should try the cranky roll which I haven’t yet.

Various flavor of macarons from Whisk!

I also managed to taste Whisk’s macarons that night as usually during none fasting month,it will be sold out by mid afternoon.I have to say that they’re the best tasting macarons because they’re not too sweet and not soft.I’ve tasted macarons from Thatlastslice and Delectable by Su and Whisk wins!

Hope you guys are having a great Sunday.I will break my fast with the boyfriend and his ex- boarding schoolmates at this place called Bora Asmara.Hopefully the food will be good!:P

Less words

Lately I've been filling up my post with lots of pictures and less words probably because I'm busy!Work,love,raya cookie orders and also the fact that new semester will start soon for my masters & I need to come up with a great idea!arghhhhh So I'll leave you with pictures of pretty,delicious and lovely things..:)

Will try to blog more soon..so many things to write about but no time!No time to even get atleast 6 hrs of sleep each night..:((

The best murtabak,ketam masak lemak(cooked by my mum) & daging dendeng(cooked by my boyf's mum) for sahur!

Love that shirt--cos' I got it for him.hehehe

Love this huge chunk of beautiful salmon!

Pretty prints from Dorothy Perkins..got both dresses for 50% off!:)

Iftar at La Bodega with Izza!

Mama's yummy corn fritters!

Old Blossom Box beautiful black diamond heart clutch for raya.

How I spend my Sunday..:)

So how did you guys spend your Sunday?Well mind started at 2pm cos that's the time I woke up.Mind you,I woke up late not because of late night partying or whatnot..It was because after sahur I will spend my time watching episodes of Masterchef US Season 2 and slept at 7 sumtin in the morning!It is so addictive!hehe.

Woke up,made mango pickles for the family and prepped the meat for the burger that I will be cooking with the boyfriend after breaking our fast with my family.

Went to Old Blossom Box Store late afternoon to get me some pretty clothes because they stocked up their new arrivals right on Sunday.There were so many pretty stuff!Arghhh it was so hard because me + pretty clothes=empty wallet.hahahaha.

I settled with 3 outfits and a pair of super adorable sunnies which I saw Jezmine(the owner of the shop) tweeted a pic of it days before & told her I want it.She only sold 2 of it & I managed to get mine!Weeeeee.

Me in the adorable Chanel-inspired sunnies with a little bow on the right..My boyf said(while I was taking this pic) that I looked like a bee superhero aka a bug.To which I pooh pooh him cos' I like it!hehe

The 3 outfits from OBB--A rhinestone encrusted red chiffon tank,a deep blush chiffon jacket with pockets & a heart lace/mesh dress.Can't wait to wear all of them!:)

Had nasi briyani for berbuka with my family and also the boyf was there.I was a bit nervous because although he has met my parents a few times,this was the 1st time that they sat for dinner together.But he is charming and even after berbuka,he & ayah was still talking..on boring stuffs that I didn't partake in..hahaha.:)

*so like a boss..hahaha*(mama behind him,setting up the table..hehe)

After breaking our fast,me & my boyfriend attempted to make our own burger as I have been meaning to make my own burger for a long time and plus,I always want to try what's the fuss with In-n-out burger in the States.So we tackled this recipe from Serious Eats.

*The burger!We put the knife in such a way because we saw it on AFC awhile back..hehe*

It was a success!!Just follow the recipe to a T and also have all the right ingredients with you.I even made my own burger sauce from the recipe given(a pic of it below,along with a shot of the recipe on syg's iPod touch).The burger was yummy and juicy.Will definitely make it again..:)

That's about it.So it is back to work tomorrow but Wednesday is a public holiday..so yeay!:P

It goes on..:)

Last year,I thought I'd never be okay again as my heart was torn into pieces.Until one day,came this guy who took me by surprise,swept me of my feet,picked up the pieces and changed how I looked at relationships and life too.Never in a million years I thought we'd end up together and things started to look up after that.

He showed me what love was all about.That if you love somebody,nothing will come in your way.You'd make time,you'd surprise them once in awhile,you'll always make them feel loved and so many more.

The best thing about this is the communication and the chemistry that we have and how comfortable we are with each other and how everything becomes effortless.We celebrated our anniversary a few weeks back & it was perfect.I'll remember it whenever I feel stressed out at work and it will bring a smile to my face.

I mean,when you can have fun even when you just go to Tesco to buy groceries or just hang out and listen to music with him,you know it's something special.:)

So to those of you out there,I just want to say that if you haven't found love yet and you think that it will never come your way,just hold on,have faith and one day it will find you.You just have to believe.And when it does,welcome it with an open heart and arms.I think this quote below exemplifies exactly how I feel about life:

Love these words!

This is so me!hahaha

This applies to most Teslians as we are a bit anal about grammar..:P

To all the twitter-addict out there..I get an earful from the boyf everytime I tweet during dinner together..hehe Sorry syg!

Yes,I am quite messy!haha