Monday, October 29, 2007

Nimono - simmered dish

This is one of my favourite... healthy meal, no oil needed. I love the one with bamboo shoots, lotus root, carrots, shiitake... yumm yumm..

Nikujaga

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/4 pound thinly sliced beef sirloin
  • 4 potatoes
  • 1 onion
  • 4 tbsps soy sauce
  • 4 tbsps sake (Japanese fermented, mildly alcoholic beverage made from rice. For muslims, ignore this / take out)
  • 4 tbsps mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine used especially in cooking. For muslims, ignore this / take out)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 8 snow peas
  • 2 cups dashi soup

PREPARATION:

Cut beef slices and vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Boil snow peas lightly and set aside. Put oil in a pan and saute beef quickly. Add potatoes in the pan and saute them together. Add dashi soup stock, soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar in the pan and simmer for 10 min. on medium heat. Add onion in the pan and simmer on low heat until the liquid are almost gone. Sprinkle snow peas over the simmered beef and potatoes.
Makes 4 servings

Wujudkah hantu?

BHarian onLine - Satu artikel yg menarik utk dikongsi, tapi sayang ... artikelnya pendek sgt.

Macam-Macam: Saintis gagal bongkar misteri buaian berhantu

BUENOS AIRES: Sekumpulan saintis Argentina diselubungi kebingungan apabila gagal merungkai misteri buaian 'berhantu' di sebuah taman permainan yang bergerak secara sendiri.

Akhbar The Sun melaporkan kelmarin, penduduk di bandar Firmat, Argentina, mendakwa salah satu buaian itu bergerak tanpa henti selama 10 hari berturut-turut sebelum tiba-tiba berhenti.

Ketika pakar terus berteka-teki punca misteri berkenaan, kalangan ibu bapa dan kanak-kanak sebaliknya mengaitkan kejadian aneh itu dengan hantu.

"Bagi kami, buaian itu berhantu," kata seorang guru, Maria de Silva.

Ahli akademik menolak pembabitan medan elektrik dan magnetik sebagai puncanya menyebabkan pihak berkuasa kini terpaksa memanggil pemburu hantu. - Agensi

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Saya masih ingat masa dok di USJ3 dulu, depan USJ 3 nya main road ada satu playground (depan sekolah USJ4). Shereen (my hsemate's friend) yg dah lama dok USJ3 bagitau, kalau nak tgk hantu, pi la dok main buai kat situ. Sure jumpe sorg budak perempuan main buai, pukul 3-4 pagi. Kalau 'nasib baik', nampaklah buai tu hayun sendiri...

Lepas dgr cerita mcm tu, saya yg bukanlah seorg yg penakut tiba2 naik seram kalau lalu situ. Saya tak percaya pd hantu, tapi tak nafikan adanya makhluk halus (selain syaitan) ciptaan Allah yg tinggal berdekatan dgn kita. Rumah USJ3 (dirahsiakan lokasi sebenar)... yg saya sewa tu pun sebenarnya ada 'penunggu'. Abah Noor (pakcik saya) pernah berseloroh dgn saya, masa dtg melawat kami adik-beradik, katanya, "kamu pasang air-cond di dapur ke? Kat toilet atas tu pun kamu pasang air-cond, ya?", sambil menunjukkan bulu roma dilengannya yg meremang ... Tu bahasa kiasan yg dia guna utk benda2 yg tak dpt kami lihat thru mata kasar. Cepat2 saya jawap, "ha'a, mmg air-cond dah terpasang sebelum kami masuk." Since takde gangguan pd saya, adik & hsemate, kami tak pulak suruh Abah Noor 'buang' penunggu di situ.

Pernah 'adik' Nonin (kucing warna kuning peliharaan saya) merenung tepat tak berkelip2 di tangga (to 2nd floor). Masa tu saya tgh dok leka tgk tv. Nonin dok antara saya dan tv, so gelagatnya yg pelik tu mmg menarik perhatian saya. Saya pusing belakang, cuba mengintai di tangga, tapi tak nampak apa2. Saya pandang Nonin, saya tanya dia "adik nampak apa?" Of course la dia takleh nak jawap (kalau takat 'meow' tu boleh la). Agak2 dlm 5 minit dia stare tak berkelip2. Ish.. masa tu dah terasa ada yg tak kena, dah saya malas nak pandang belakang lagi. Tiba2 mata Nonin bergerak menuruni tangga, terus menuju ke pintu depan. Saya terus toleh ke belakang, tapi tak nampak apa2 pun. Utk menyedapkan hati, saya cakap dgn Nonin, "adik, dia dah keluar, ya?" Nonin pandang muka saya, terus duduk atas riba. Confirm! 'Benda' tu keluar sekejap, ambil angin agaknya....

Friday, October 26, 2007

Okonomiyaki

Tiba-tiba teringin sgt nak makan okonomiyaki @ Japanese pancake.

japanese pizza

Japanese pizza is basically pan fried flour mixture with lots and lots of shredded cabbage (the more the tastier!) topped with seafood like squid, shrimp, tako (octopus), and virtually everything you want, as long as you like it. In fact, “okonomi” means “whatever you like”, so you can’t go wrong with the ingredients.

Dah jumpe resepi, nnti boleh la cuba. Haaa... Missed by old days in Oita!!!

Jie kata boleh letak yama imo, nak bagi lebih lembut & sedap. Mane nak cari yama imo kat M'sia nih?!

Ingredients:

Base:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup dashi, water or grated yam
1 egg
1/8-1/4 of a cabbage

Toppings - any of the below:
Chicken
Squid, Octopus, other seafood
Corn
Mushrooms
Onion

Garnishing - any of the below:
Katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flakes)
Sakura-ebi (dried shrimps)
Beni-shoga (red ginger)
Ao-nori (green seaweed)

Sauces:
Okonomiyaki sauce & Mayonnaise

Method: (cut and paste from other entry)

Mix the flour, eggs and dashi or water or grated yam until the mixture is smooth and lump free. Add in the cabbage and mix thoroughly.
cabbage n mixture

Heat oil in pan. When the oil is hot enough, spread the mixture into the pan, forming a nice round shape. Let the underside brown before adding the toppings on top and turnover, brown both sides nicely.

Dish them up and spread mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce and all the toppings you want.

japanese pizza

Remember to eat it while its hot!

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Nak beli brg2 utk okonomiyaki ni Masaya (my Jap colleague) suggest pegi Jusco MidValley. Kat sana lagi byk brg2 compared to Jusco 1Utama. Hem... bila pulak nak ke MidValley nih...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

DiD i MARRY THE RiGHT PERSON?

This is a very good article. For those who are still single may learn something from here.... And for those who are already married may take it as a guideline to improve your marriage....











DID I MARRY THE RIGHT PERSON?

During one of our seminars, a woman asked a common question. She said, "How do I know if I married the right person?"

I noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so I said, "It depends. Is that your husband?"

In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?"

Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind. Here's the answer.



EVERY relationship has a cycle.
In the beginning, you fell in love with your spouse.
You anticipated their call, wanted their touch,
and liked their idiosyncrasies.
Falling in love with your spouse wasn't hard.
In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience.
You didn't have to DO anything.
That's why it's called "falling" in love...
Because it's happening TO YOU.
People in love sometimes say, "I was swept of my feet."
Think about the imagery of that __expression.
It implies that you were just standing there;
doing nothing,
and then something came along and happened TO YOU.
Falling is love is easy.
It's a passive and spontaneous experience.
But after a few years of marriage, the euphoria of love fades.
It's the natural cycle of EVERY relationship.
Slowly but surely,
phone calls become a bother (if they come at all),
touch is not always welcome (when it happens),
and your spouse's idiosyncrasies,
instead of being cute, drive you nuts.
The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship,
but if you think about your marriage,
you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage
when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.
At this point, you and/or your spouse might start asking,
"Did I marry the right person?"
And as you and your spouse reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had,
you may begin to desire that experience with someone else.
This is when marriages breakdown.
People blame their spouse for their unhappiness
and look outside their marriage for fulfillment.
Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes.
Infidelity is the most obvious.
But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, a friendship,
excessive TV, or abusive substances.
But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your marriage.
It lies within it.
I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else.
You could.
And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better.
But you'd be in the same situation a few years later.
Because (listen carefully to this):
THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE
IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON;
IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND.
SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience.
It'll NEVER just happen to you.
You can't "find" LASTING love.
You have to "make" it day in and day out.
That's why we have the __expression "the labor of love."
Because it takes time, effort, and energy.
And most importantly, it takes WISDOM .
You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage work.
Make no mistake about it.
Love is NOT a mystery.
There are specific things you can do (with or without your spouse)
to succeed with your marriage.
Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity),
there are also laws for relationships.
Just as the right diet and exercise program makes you physically stronger,
certain habits in your relationship WILL make your marriage stronger.
It's a direct cause and effect.
If you know and apply the laws,
the results are predictable.... you can "make" love.
Love in marriage is indeed a "decision"...
Not just a feeling.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Blog saya!!!

Alhamdulillah, keinginan utk memiliki laman blog sendiri tercapai akhirnya. Insya Allah, blog ini akan dimanafaatkan sebaik-baiknya utk tatapan anak-anak dan sesiapa yg berkenaan.

Tu ari ada nampak pelawat 'view' blog saya ni... Minta maaflah ya... Blog still under construction dan saya masih merangkak2 merangka & menghias blog ...

Harap2, lepas ni boleh terus menulis, insya Allah.