my late maternal grandma is one great chef in local kampung dishes and one of it, is perut ikan.

here is the recipe. had to “tweak” ah ma’s recipe a little as the main ingredient - the perut ikan can be toxic if it’s not properly cleaned.

spice paste

• 1 tablespoon of belacan
• 1 stalk of bunga kantan
• 5 chili padi
• 3 slices galangal [lengkuas]
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 6 shallots
• 1 inch of turmeric
• sugar for taste

ingredients

• 1 kg of mackerel
• 3 cucumbers/zucchini, cut into small wedges
• 15 long beans, cut into about 2 inch length
• 1 packet of oyster mushroom
• 1 packet of button/white mushroom
• 1 pineapple, cut into small wedges
• 1 tomato, chopped into small cubes
• some kaffir lime leaves, chopped finely
• some basil leaves, chopped finely

method

1. grind the spice paste in a food processor. set aside.
2. put cleaned whole fish into the oven. grill or oven-bake for 15 minutes or until it’s cooked. carefully remove fish, let fish cool, remove and discard bones. flake the fish meat, set aside.
3. add cucumbers, long beans, mushrooms, pineapple, tomato and herbs into a pot, together with the spice paste. add some water.
4. bring to boil.
5. add the cooked flaked fish meat. simmer until pineapple/cucumber becomes soft.
6. serve hot.

the end result…

yum yum ~

received a call from Celebrity Card Center yesterday. The caller was a malay lady. according to her, Visa International and Mastercard are giving out VIP discount cards (discounts for accommodations for all hotels in Malaysia) to all existing credit card holders. she then asked me if i have any credit card, and if i do, from which bank. i was a little suspicious about the whole thing, so instead of me giving her the details she wanted, i gave her a whole lot of questions; like where the hell did she get my details from, yada yada yada. i’m still not convinced with all her answers, i told to her to give me a call back once i get the confirmation from the bank if there is such promotion or whatsoever. she quickly end the call. no return call ever since.

smells like a scam to me. proves me right when i did a search online. it seems this Celebrity Card company is located in Jalan Ipoh. no idea if it’s a legit company or not.

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pleasant Friday although rained the whole morning. was in bed till late morning. my 1-week off starts today! fun fun fun!!

was suppose to accompany mom to town to get her glasses fixed. cancelled the plan later on, coz of the rain. hehe.

went outside to clean the shoe rack, when i heard a buzzing sound. searched for the source and it came from the electric power meter and the next thing i saw, sparks coming out from it!! panicked, i yelled for mom. mom advised to switch off all electrical appliance at home and give a dad a call. dad told to call TNB and so i did. they came 2 hours later. changed the MCO 30 amp - no freaking idea what MCO stands for, although the technician said it’s “Main Cut Off” - that doesnt seem right. advised us to upgrade to a higher amp.

i guess, that could be the cause of the frequent flickering? i’m just thankful that it’s fixed. god knows what will happen if the flickering continues or if i have not spotted the sparks.

i wonder, why do they send at least 3 technicians (the last i had issues with the telephone port, they sent 2 technicians over) over to my place, i asked mom and she said, “there’s another to fix the thing if 1 is electrocuted”.

that's what the technician change.

got this forwarded email from mom. very true. read on.

You can grumble because roses have thorns,
Or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.

This is quite interesting.
To women - Please take time to ponder.
To men -Just enjoy the story.

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom.

The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur’s youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question was: What do women really want?

Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man. And to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch’s proposition to have an answer by year’s end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men, and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer. But the price would be high as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but first he would have to agree to her price.

The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table, and Arthur’s closest friend! Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunch-backed and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc.

He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.. He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden.

But Lancelot, having learnt of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur’s life and the preservation of the Round Table. Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered.

Arthur’s question thus: ‘What does a woman really want?‘
She said, ‘A woman wants to be in charge of her own life.‘

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth, and that Arthur’s life would be spared. And so it was. The neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom. And Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

The honeymoon hour approached and, Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen was sitting by the bed.

The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened. The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth become her horrible and deformed self only half the time, and be the beautiful maiden the other half.

‘Which would you prefer?’ She asked him. ‘Beautiful during the day …. or at night?’

Lancelot pondered the predicament.

During the day he could have a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch!

Or,

Would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day?
But by night a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous moments with?

If you are a man reading this - What would YOUR choice be?
If you are a woman reading this - What would YOUR MAN’S choice be?

And Lancelot’s choice is given below.

BUT… please make YOUR choice first before you scroll down below… OKAY?

h
h
h
m
m
m
m
m
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Knowing the answer the witch gave to Arthur for his question, Sir Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time.

Because, he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

Now, what is the moral to this story?

1) There is a ‘witch’ in every woman, no matter how beautiful she is!

2) If you don’t let a woman have her own way, things are going to get ugly!

So, be careful how you treat a woman and always remember:

IT IS EITHER ‘ HER WAY ‘ OR IT IS ‘ NO WAY ‘ !!

now, Gen, it’s MY WAY or it is NO WAY!

Ikea shopping this weekend.

Top 10 Embarrassing Halloween Costumes

10. Bat Child – All Grown Up

9. You Tube Video – with Penis Transplant

8. Maternity Room

7. Creepy Bert & Ernie

6. Retired Hooter Girls

5. Elvis with Camel Toe

4. Free Mammogram Test – Feminist Look Away

3. Sheep Molester

2. Spider-man – Nice Package

and the champion goes to…

.

.

.

1. Hot Dog with an Afro?

what has got into their minds? madness!!

more top 10 list here.

i havent been able to blog for the past few days because the flicker was more frequent than before.

it all started 2 weeks ago, when my brother Andri noticed the living hall light flickers. we didn’t give much a concern as we thought it could be due to loads at neighbours’ houses. it then continue for days, more frequent at night and when we turn on the heater. i got really freaked out. all the worst-case-scenarios has been floating in my mind. i dont dare to even switch on the computer, afraid the flickering might cause my computer to explode or something. we told dad about it and he got it fixed (i assumed) and the flicker stops for a day.

and i thought it was over.

i was wrong.

the flickering came back and when dad turn on the heater for his hot shower, puff! the entire house blacked out. my brother went to check if the neighbours are affected. apparently, not.

dad went to check the switch board. all seems perfectly fine. we waited a while and the power came back.

could the power point that the heater is connected to is causing the flickering? or could it also be this? freaky. i reckon dad (or the technician) to fix this as soon as possible.

in the mean time, no hot shower in the morning. sigh…

and if i wanted hot shower badly, i would have to turn to the conventional way of a warm bath - boil water, pour into bath tub, mix with cold water and bath.

a long process but worth the effort when it’s always raining in the evening.