Life as a student, ;)

 We just came back from visiting a close relative. She was discharged from hospital yesterday after a mastectomy. The term itself is something that we don't really want to explore more, it doesn't sound interesting but believe me, when you encounter someone whom has been going through or about to go through the procedure, your life will change. For those who do not know what is mastectomy, please go and google yourself about it. After all, education counts, ;) ..

Talking about education, I've been spending half of my life on being educated. I think more, maybe third quarter of my life and another quarter goes to sleep, dream and doing something else that I enjoy most and of course, that'll be between me & Allah. ;), ....

What fascinated me about being a student is the capability of you being manipulated almost all the time. I'm doing my post-grad degree and friends still came to me, to borrow my student ID card for discount to movies, books and some even to dine at restaurants. And I'm not talking about being manipulated by peers, but by those younger than me. And I succumbed to that manipulation, I will just surrender my student ID to them and smile. After all, it doesn't hurt me. It pleases me more than ever to be able to help them to get discounts. Especially on food....food glorious food.

What is your favorite snack when you need to do some revision or finishing your assignment in the middle of the nights, those sleepless nights? I, for instance, I love instant noodles. Not that I don't care about my health, I do. I'm scared of death. But I just can't ditch instant noodle. It makes me happy. During school days, I used to boil water and dip my instant noodle (Maggi, Indomie during those years) and mixed it with the seasoning. A friend taught me about squeezing a kaffir lime into Maggi chicken instant noodle. And since that day, my instant noodle never taste the same. I became more addicted to instant noodle. But, it works only with Maggi, should you squeeze kaffir lime into another instant noodle's it won't give you that exquisite taste. This addiction has become staple food for me until I went overseas somewhere in the early new millenium. Reason being, I can't get a decent guaranteed halal instant noodle back then. That's when I started to love spaghetti & pasta. And that'a another story to tell.

Today, I'm going to write about MAMEE Chef series. Featured here is the MAMEE Chef Tomyam. 

MAMEE Chef Tomyam bought at Giant hypermarket

I can't find MAMEE Chef at Tesco or any other hypermarkets or grocery. I can only find it at Giant supermarkets. I don't know, maybe you can find it but I can't. I didn't and I've tried so many supermarkets but no to avail. 

Wallap this while finishing my paper

 I cooked this instant noodle with an egg. It's super easy, just boil 2 cups of water and dip in your instant noodle, let it simmer for 30 seconds and pour in the seasoning and let it boil, and add in what ever egg, or vegetable or even meat slice of your choice. 

Most of the time, I only put an egg, but in this review here, I add in some chicken slice. The thing with this MAMEE Chef series, it already carry the extras. For example in this Tomyam version, they already have dried shrimps and chillies and spring onions to go with it, and dried cabbage.  

Blue oval is dried chillies & spring onions and the red one - dried shrimp

It cost RM5.99 for 5 packets of instant MAMEE Chef noodle any variations. They have Tomyam as featured here, Chicken Mushroom and I can't remember another one.. The taste? Better than any other instant noodle so far for me but my sparring partner says the other way, so it depends on your preference. Tomyam, for me, spicy and kicky as it should be compared to Maggi or any other brand. 

I had that while I was trying to wrap up my writing. I was writing a journal. And I need to chill and it's a day before Ramadhan. I just need to have instant noodle!

That mug was very loved. Seriously, I love that mug, bought in a place where I first fall in love with my sparring partner now, ;)

I usually will have hot lime juice or at least hot tea after an instant noodle treat but it was a scorching hot day that day, so I decided to have ice lemon tea instead. Why lemon? Lime? Simply because I need and I want to get rid of those wax layers that have been diluted during the cooking of that instant noodle. Learn more about the making of instant noodle ok..Google it. So lazy to give you the link here.

My advise, don't do this and make this a habit especially with children. Instant noodle are meant to meet your hunger desperation and not as staple food. You will never satisfy your hunger with instant noodle, it'll only alleviate the hunger for a while. It has no nutrition, please do not buy the Information details written on its packaging. They lie. The manufacturer lie. And the seasoning, it's not good at all. To those with kidney, liver problem, this is a hazard to your health. But should you really have to consume it, please drink lots of water, warm plain water or warm lime juice, lemon juice or orange juice to go with it as these substances from citrus fruit helps to flush the fat and acid out of your system. A glass will do. Because too much citrus will add another problem to your kidney. So be wise with food. Eat to live and it's never LIVE to EAT...use your brain peeps!

All reviews here were intentionally to spread good things. Good things are meant to be shared, ;)

When Malaysia loses to Barcelona

..it felt like the end of the world? Nope, it felt like winning! On the 3rd raya night, I watched the football match between our own Harimau Malaya vs Barcelona a.k.a Fabregas a.k.a Messi.. We lost 3-1 to Barce and personally, it's a winning game for me.

I am not an avid fan of football, not even a fan. Football is a mere field game for me. A game in which 22 men fight to dribbling a ball. With 11 players in a team on field, the men run like crazy chasing after a small round ball. But when Harimau Malaya played against Barcelona that night, I feel the heat. Felt the heat. It is still hari raya, the third day of Syawal and peeps were flocking to flood Shah Alam Stadium to watch the game earlier that day. I guess nothing can beat the heat of a football game. I watched it over the television. It was a good game though Malaysia lost to the infamous football club. Even my husband, the one who never knew any local player, whom never ever bother about the local football arena, lend his voice to shout for Harimau Malaya, which in the end, Harimau Malaya will never discover him as a supporter...*sigh*

It's a great feeling when you win, but it's not always bad when you loose on something. It's a chance for you to improve yourself, and maybe, you are not ready to win, and maybe, Allah wants you to be better. To win in a better situation with a bigger win.

I put myself to test this Ramadhan. I was determined from the beginning of the year to not spoil myself during Ramadhan as what I always did in the past. I told myself to spend Ramadhan in the most moderate way and to give out to the needy as much as I can afford to. That means, no visit to bazar ramadhan to buy food for break of fast, no lavish baju raya, no fancy expensive raya cookies, and to allocate at least a quarter of my earnings for the needy. I consider myself a winner. I didn't win big but it's a win for me. I managed not to buy anything from bazar ramadhan for break of fast. I did went to a few bazar ramadhan selling dishes for break of fast but it was to chaperon my mother and assist her. And, I successfully talked into my mom as not to over spend. We bought what we felt like we wanted to eat in a small quantity and I cooked over the weekends for my mother and sibling to come over and break fast at my place. That's one thing that I took as a really big win for me, preparing berbuka puasa dish for the whole family.

But what I'm going to review here is nothing about what I cook for my family, but my visit to a bazar ramadhan in Damansara Damai. It was my first visit here. I never knew there is a nice small town called Damansara Damai with so much peeps and nice bazar selling good food! 

McDonald's Damansara Damai, the strecth of bazar along the front road

It was still early as at 5pm that day, the bazar was not too crowded

 

 There was rows of stalls selling good food. The sellers were far of friendlier than that of my favorite bazar in Shah Alam Section 13 and Tabung Haji Kelana Jaya. So friendly that whenever I captured an image, they will wave back gayly to my camera phone screen.

Drink stall, RM 2 for each plastic in front of the big tumbler

A stall selling soy drink, fresh & hot. RM 2.50 each. It's clean, the stall's clean..

And, the most interesting part was, the cleanliness of the bazar area. Seriously, it was really clean. In fact, this area was way better than the bazar in Kelana Jaya, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Shah Alam and the prestigious Mon't Kiara. Way cleaner. The surrounding was dense with high rise flats and low cost apartment. The peeps? Nice working people, most of them were young couple I guess, newly married since I don't see many families here. I mean, I do not see many parents with children or baby pram. There was a few parents with children walking in the crowd. But not as many as I can see in any other bazar. I did went back the next day, early in the morning to the area to check on the cleanliness, and walla, I can't find piles of garbage piled up as what I can easily find in the site of bazar ramadhan in Kelana Jaya and Shah Alam. However, I won't be uploading the images captured here the next day because of personal reason, sorry peeps....:)

This stall sells burger malaysia, karipap and cucur udang and a few sweet delicacies. Quite a favorite I guess, there was a long Q...

Murtabak King at RM 3.50 each for chicken & beef.

A long Q here at Pasir Mas Sup 69 @ RM 4 per packet of all those-ekor, tulang, gear box & daging

I find the price cheaper than that of my area. I, however didn't buy anything of the above so I can't say about the taste. But judging from the queue, they sure taste good.

Lack of sensitivity

Talking about good peeps, friendly sellers, clean stalls and cheap price, I was very upset about a few incidents. Lack of sensitivity of drivers such as the above was way too much to be patience with. I will be label racist should I comment further on who is driving this car arrogantly through the crowd. Not limited to car, there was an MPV and few motorcycles raving about through the crowd. What a pity brainless people!

Nice roti jala @ RM2 each packet comes with a curry of choice. My mom bought this a packet.

My upset was loosened upon seeing these beautiful colorful jelly. Didn't buy it, however. RM 2 mix of 5 types. 

Air Air Air, selling @ RM2/packet in the early hours but went for RM2 for 3 packets of drinks during the last 30 minutes before break of fast

My mom ended up bought a packet of roti jala (5 pcs) comes with chicken curry at RM 2. And along the way, she bought 2 packets of bubur jagung from 2 different stalls, 1 pc of ayam percik panggang at RM4/pc, 2 types of fruit juices - dragon fruits juice at RM2/pk and carrot juice at the same price.

Sedap bubur jagung makcik ni, murah dan banyak!

Dragon fruit juice - not that sweet, just nicely sugared for energy

Oh yes, my mom bought 15 jars of dadih mix of flavours @ RM 1 each

After spending quite some time, I decided to tell my mom to stop spending before she go berserk with the bazar's offers. And our last stop was at this satay stall selling lamb satay. I bought 5 pcs of lamb satay from this stall. Because my mother told me 'eh nampak sedap', merely because of that and we wallap everything all 5 of them, hehehe..

Above & below : gerai satay jual satay kambing @ RM0.60/stick

Another interesting gerai selling satay

I never saw any deserted stall selling beriani especially Gam Maharani but this stall was quite deserted during my visit

Nasi Ayam Beragas, far as I'm concern, 'agas' is something I hate because their bite itched..but this one smells nice, ;)

A pakcik, a blind man selling tissues. What can't we peeps just buy the tissue whenever we see these blind person hopping from one restaurant to another..instead of complaining ?? they need to live, that's how they made income, be nice...

Another interesting drink stall

Piles of Tam's Roti John

My mom bought ayam percik here. Was quite nice...

So peeps, should you want to visit bazar ramadhan, be wise and do not over spend. This bazar was located along the stretch of front road in front of McDonald's Damansara Damai. I may go again there next year to review them second time perhaps. Till then, have a nice day & Syawal ahead.

Be Grateful & Magnanimous

Salamun 'alaykum, Alhamdulillah, I have been granted to live and experience another Ramadhan. I should have written this at the beginning of Ramadhan, but I was pretty occupied with work and several personal stuffs that time forbid me from writing this entry.

..Be grateful. Have you ever forgotten to be grateful?I did, I always did and how ignorant I am. I have been boastful during the last Ramadhan and this year, I am determined to change my bad habits. Maybe not all but I will and am trying to change all my bad habits. And I am very proud to say that I have successfully hindered myself from Bazar Ramadhan. I have successfully hindered myself from spending too much on extravaganze clothing, jewellery and handbag. Instead, I recycle my shoes, my handbags and my clothing for this coming Aidil Fitri. My other half bought a pretty modest baju kurung and well, that's the only new baju for my Aidil Fitri this year. The rest will be old clothes revamped with the addition of embroidery and beading on the sleeves. I'm giving a 'new me' to me this Aidil Fitri..;)

Anyway, talking about hari raya. For those who may not know what I'm babbling about here, briefly, hari raya means 'festive celebration'. Aidil Fitri is celebrated my Muslims around the world to mark the end of our brave fight against all evil and greed. We fast during Ramadhan, prevent ourselves from food and drink and control ownself from all evil deeds. The Muslims have to behave and control themselves from all the greed. Ramadhan trained us to have patience. It will last for a month and Aidil Fitri will mark the end. I'm not going to preach about Ramadhan in this entry. I want to save it for later. What I am going to fill in today is my review about getting bargains for Aidil Fitri...

Kenanga Mall

Cotton baju kurung with beads @ Kenanga Mall, Kuala Lumpur

 Good bargains at Kenanga Mall. You can get a decent baju kurung which will rob you off for RM250 above at any other outlet but only suffer you for RM 99/pair here at Kenanga Mall. Most of the shops here offering wholesale price for their goods as Hari Raya promotion. Some even offer a baju kurung with full linen lining & embroidery on sleeves and neck area at RM 75/pair shoudl you buy 2 pairs. And even less if you buy more than 3 pairs. Not limited to the traditional baju kurung, Kenanga Mall spoilt customers with heavens loads of choices ranging from kebaya, modern kurung, jubah, abaya and you named it for the sake of raya! For those with many children, it is pretty convenient to shop here if you're quite meticulous about price. The goods? Clothing have quality of par with those prestigious boutiques, you can go for very low prices but a less good quality. But all together, Kenanga Mall does offer better than the malls I'm going to review much further ahead..

PKNS @ Shah Alam

I visited this mall quite in the early Ramadhan. Reason being, I wanted to avoid heavy traffic. I want to be able to walk gayly and not banged into peeps most of the time which in the end, the action will contribute to mass deterioration of my shopping mood. So the price were quite an extra to what I expected, usually the price will be much lower approaching mid Ramadhan and bargains will be bursting with extra cheap bargains ending of Ramadhan to boost sales.

Children peplum @ RM75 - RM150 depends on style

At the time of my visit, I can hardly find a decent baju kurung at tags lower than RM100. But a second visit in the second week of Ramadhan interestingly met my expectation. I got a decent cotton baju kurung at RM69/pair. I think the kurung was tailored for the last year Raya and that's why the price is cheap. I figured this out due to the fashion, it was a polka-dot plain cotton kurung. I've always wanted a polka-dot plain cotton kurung, ;)

Brooches @ RM20/pair

I also bought brooches for my head scarves @ RM10/7 pc. And as I'm writing this entry, one of the brooch has been damaged, cheap things come with casualties...

Not limited to women apparels, PKNS also offers selection for men. We were used t plain baju melayu, I, in specific...but these days, men were also into fashion and colours. Fancy baju melayu can be obtained here. Bold and fancy were both flocked by men.

Baju Melayu for metrosexual men ranging from RM150 - RM250

Mothers were also spoilt by choices of children kurung. I still prefer the children to go with plain kurung but looking at offers at PKNS, I conclude that, children has also became the victim to cruel fashion. Imagine your children in peplum or abaya? Why should you speed your child's growing? Don't you want your child to remain a child a little bit longer before you can hand them over to their husband? Crazy world it is now, ....But still, for those who are so into the sprang of runway, abaya and peplum for children is something you cannot avoid here at PKNS..

Lots of choices for children kurung

Peeps flocking to one of the promo kiosk in PKNS, Shah Alam

What is raya without your blink blink..or is it bling bling? hehehe. There were two gold shops in the mall. I photographed Tomei here. Not that crowd as what I witnessed last year. Maybe, peeps were going for moderation this year which is a good thing. Besides raya promotion, Tomei were also having sales for wedding and engagement promotion. What fascinated me was, looking at one of the offer for diamond engagement ring. There was a 'Buy One free One diamond ring' for engagement. Ring would have to cost RM3k and above. Wow...hahaa

Tomei outlet @ PKNS, Shah Alam

I like this promo kiosk, good quality and yet affordable men's selection

A nice, good quality kebaya @ RM 189

This promo kiosk offers one of the best bargain with quality material

And this year, I saw a shrinked quantity of cookies promo stalls outside PKNS. As for me, I bake my own this year as was last year and I bought a few items at a supplier outlet which offer a much cheaper price on the same items here at PKNS. This year, we have the VIP Series cookies - specialty cookies made from finest ingredients, mostly imported nuts such as almond, cashew, pine and cereals. PKNS offers RM35/48 pc box. I bought the same from a wholesale supplier outlet in Kuang for RM18/box of 48 pcs.  ;)

Marsmallow promo kiosk located outside of PKNS building, beside the bazar ramadhan

Marsmallow were also the limelight of this festive season. I bought online with a cheaper price. I will upload my review on their service and the blogger here later on in another entry.

SACC MALL, Shah Alam

I visited this mall most of the time for MPH. And I am very familiar with this outlet, too familiar that the parking officers knew me well. They even remember my car and it's plate number. The model, the plate number, the colour - they wow aren't they?Awesome brains!

Nice, colourful tudung at quite an expensive tags @ SACC Mall

Unlike it's counterpart, PKNS, SACC Mall offers a high end fashion boutiques. But tell you what, my favorite shop to shop for my head scarves and 'anak tudung' is here. I can get a good quality 'anak tudung' at RM10/pc and whenever I bought in bulks (and that's the case most the time), I can get it at RM7/pc. Awesome! So, be wise when it comes to shopping. ..

These promo kiosk were located approaching SACC entrance offers couture from Indonesia

SACC offers Jedan, Embun and so on. This is an expensive boutiques which offers you a tailored made couture.

Jedan as usual @ SACC Mall

For me, Hari Raya is all about giving and receiving. It's all about moderation and thoughts to loved ones. You don'y have to spend much just to be able to enjoy your hari raya. You don't have to be rich to able to looking deadly drop gorgeous on hari raya and you don't have , ..pls don't ever have to listen to others when it comes to shopping for your fashion. Look into your budget, look into what has more priority rather than spending all your saving or that month's salary just to look awesome. Mix and match last year's couture and revamp! Be wise please...

Till we meet again, chiao!