Two more days.

Today, while driving, I asked my son, Adam as to what will be the first thing he'll do when its Hari Raya. "Playground."

Manukka Honey

Su has been sick with a sore throat the past few days. So I have been making her honeyed drinks like honey tea, honey lemon etc etc. I have been using the honey that comes in small glass bottles that was given to her as teacher's day gift. They smelled awful, sourish, but with a fairly sweet taste.
So today, while I was reading the newspapers, saw an ad showing the cost of two of those glass bottled honey. I did not know that they could be so expensive. I mean $49 for two? And these are on offer! I mean, I think those $5 bigger bottles of honey sold in Prime Supermarket should be fine right?
And they come with instructions too, like don't use hot water, don't use metal spoons...Wah!!!

Chicken Rendang

Been trying out this recipe for chicken rendang. My family seems to love it.
If you guys are interested, I can have it done for you.
$12 for a whole chicken cut into 12 pieces.
Good for a family of 4-6 people.
$8 for half a chicken with 6 pieces.
Delivery can be arranged.
Its good if you can give me a two hour lead time.
Accepts cash, personal cheques, but prefer funds transfer through internet banking.
Oh, local orders only ya.
Either leave a reply here, or email me at norsalman@hotmail.com or call me at 96988429.

Chicken Rendang

Been trying out this recipe for chicken rendang. My family seems to love it.
If you guys are interested, I can have it done for you.
$12 for a whole chicken cut into 12 pieces.
Good for a family of 4-6 people.
$8 for half a chicken with 6 pieces.
Delivery can be arranged.
Its good if you can give me a two hour lead time.
Accepts cash, personal cheques, but prefer funds transfer through internet banking.
Oh, local orders only ya.

KPE

Oh man, I love the KPE. Today when I woke up, I was prepared to pay through my nose the ERP charges. I planned to use the KPE for the first time. And I did. It took me just 5-10 minuutes to reach Su's school and the whole trip, to and fro took me less than 30 minutes. No ERP! I went in at tound 7.10 and reached home about 7.45am. It was fantastic. No traffic and I could doodle along at 70km/h. Its a god send! I was so ecstatic seeing that it took me more than an hour to make the same trip to and fro.

m5

I failed my M5 paper. Boo Hoo. Feeling very low now. Feeling very dumb. Supposed to be the easiest paper. Dumb dumb...sigh.

Take Stock

It has been about two months since I resigned. What has happened in my life lately. Well the thing that triggers this reflection was the song I heard from the radio on the way back from JB. I think the chorus starts with here without you baby..da di da..
Oh well.
Anyway, if I were to follow the schedule, I would be a licensed financial planner by the end of next week. That would mean that I would be able to do one of those things that I believe in. Hey, insurance may not be a everyone's cup of tea, nevertheless, it'll helps when you are thirsty right?
But then, my mom's chemo and radio schedule interferes with my class timings. So, I had to forego attending the class. One has to pass 2 papers, M9 and M5 and attend two ITC class to be licensed as a financial planner. I passed my m9 and in a few hours it'll be m5 paper. But I'll have to sit for the ITC class in November though.
Received a letter from LTA, regarding my taxi vocation classes and bus driver vocational class. Did not know that you have to take classes for both. For bus drivers, it is 3 nights followed by a test. To be a taxi, one needs to take classed for 30 days plus an excursion. Hooray, an excursion. Requirements set by the STA, Singapore Taxi Academy. See, even taxi also got academy. So all the taxi drivers that you see out there are actually graduates.
Managed to coach adam better for the past few weeks. Actually, only to a certain extent. For example, his knowledge in piano playing AND history is far better than mine, and his Iqra is at least 5 times better. My role when it comes to these study sessions, is to make he is on task and nod my head as and when needed. But his Math and English is much better now and his Science is fantastic. He got a telescope for his birthday, but yet to be able to make use of it yet because of the cloudy night sky nowadays.
A friend of mine, Su's colleague and friend too pass away on Sunday. He died in his sleep, while sleeping next to his fiance. Scary huhh? I mean, I don't know about you, but when I wake up at 3.00 am, I would like to squeeze my partner before falling asleep again. So, in this case, what actually will you be hugging? Anyway, she only realise he has passed away the NEXT MORNING.
My friend, was Scottish and they finally shipped his body out to Scotland on Wednesday. It was a shock to me. NOT the shipping out part, the dying part. I think he was in his thirties. I'm in my thirties!
Its ten past 2 in the morning, and it sure is a warm night. I'm practically saunaing in the dining room.
Finances are a bit tight, but I think it's livable. Could not spend as much as before though. I mean, I could not buy a new h/p, a new set of wheels for my car. I used to be able to though. But then, it comes in a package.
So here's to me, all the best.
And to you, take care.

Rembau.

Its the first of Ramadan. And I'm so happy I made it through. I mean, I really do not have an excellent record for Ramadan. Adam made it through the day as well! Hooray. We were kept busy though. We went shopping for shoes in the morning and that took us up to 3 in the afternoon. Reached back home at 4, and went to Afghanistan for things to eat to bring to my mum's place. A bit sombre though. My sis is not in KK, thats Kota Kinabalu and my youngest sis was working. She is a web designer.
Anyway, we were at Rembau the day on Saturday. We visited the graves of Su's grandfather and grandmother. Apparently, Su's grandfather design the houses there and thus, if you've seen one, you've seen them all. We were really looking forward to staying over. Especially Adam. You see, the house was right next to the train tracks and seeing those big KTM trains whizzing past with all their audiotory glory is really something to to boy who has always thought that trains go tweet, tweet. But 5 blind baby mice put a stop to the "staying over" idea. Almost everyone went eeeek when we found the 5 blind baby mice. All except me and my sis in law who took pictures. Me? I just sat there stunned and not able to move. They reminded me of the show, Bizarre Food in channel 16. I was thinking whether I should smother them in olive oil and sauteed them. Too bad; no olive oil.

Met some relatives I did not know about. The cutest one was called Ah Moy while the elder one was called Akak. Their real names are Aquilah and Aqidah. Don't remember which is which though.


As were driving out, we saw a few cows, and boy, they sure could run. One thing I know, accidents with cows are not covered by my insurance. So there we were, taking photos of them. They were very polite though. Not a single one, shitted while we were there. When while driving we saw what's left of two of them.


I'm sure they died and made someone happy. I'd never did get to experience fresh meat.
It's getting late. I've posted some pictures in the rembau album. Let me know what you think.