MY HOMETOWN GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE - PETALS AND BAKES CAFE

Attending a meeting is something that I despise so knowing there was one I had to attend at District Education Department, a lunch date was quickly arranged with two more friends right after the session. Puan Mazzelina Mahmood, who is now attached to the Office aforementioned, chose "Kafe Petals and Bakes" located in Nong Chik, Johor Bahru. The other partner in crime was Puan Koh Poh Tan who was also attending the same meeting.

It was a small place which could accommodate about 32 people at one time. However, it was a comfortable place and most importantly, very clean.

I got excited to see the cakes on display once I entered the place.

Someone ate Lontong - compressed rice with coconut milk gravy and many other things inside. Her response when asked how was it: it was alright.

I chose Laksa Johor - spaghetti in fish gravy, also with many other condiments. Unfortunately, that did not taste like Laksa Johor at all. The ingredients and spices were just not right.

cheesecake for dessert

brownies

Surprisingly, someone was on diet and ate a brownie, topped with chocolate ice cream.

I had set my eyes on the carrot cake earlier and I knew I must have it. I must say it was superb. I don't mind coming back to eat the carrot cake again, or try other dessert available.

We are having another meeting next week and I wonder if there is another you-two-can-gossip-while-I-eat-my-cake session.

WHEN THE TEMPERATURE GETS A BIT TOO HIGH

When the temperature gets a bit too high, my bougainvillea plants start to burst bright and colourful flowers. Many people have actually noticed this when they refer to my house as the one with many big flower pots, or the house with a lot of flowering plants.

They might look just similar to each other but under close inspection, each plants bear flowers with distinct characteristics. I should have chosen agriculture, horticulture or landscaping for my first degree.

These flowers would soon fell off from the branches so this should be the best way to preserve them. The heat might get too extreme these few days but we should enjoy the blooms while they still last.

MY VERY FIRST SONG ARRANGED AND PLAYED ON ANGKLUNG

The Angklung Group of SMK Taman Universiti, Johor Bahru

This was my first attempt in trying to convert the musical notes from a keyboard/piano into the numerical notation so that the song could be played on angklung, with the help of Youtube and people publishing on how to play songs. Starting with a simple composition of the children's song "Baby Shark", putting the right notes at the right place was definitely not an easy task. I had to stare long hours at the computer screen and keep rewinding the frames so that I would not miss any notes, and at the same time writing them on paper.

All the hard work paid off when the boys, both the junior and senior teams, managed to play the song during the practice session. This should be a very small step in my attempt to arrange notes for songs for the angklung group on my own. We have been depending on Pak Edhi, the music teacher who was once a keroncong trainer in Johor but has now gone back to Solo, Indonesia. I still request for music notes from him (thanks to the Whatsapp we are still in touch) but he seems too busy these days and we have not been getting new songs to play for quite some time.

How I wish I have nothing else to do but just to sit down to arrange and write notes for angklung.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY NUR HANA NABIHAH

There was a birthday celebration for Nor Hana Nabihah's first birthday today. The event was held by the parents, Mr. Hisham Abdullah and Puan Nurhafiza Zulkifli, who are my ex-colleagues from SMK Taman Universiti. The "party" was held at their house in Taman Mutiara Rini.

a prayer session

As usual, I met many old friends there and I think, I had eaten more than I should. With all the different kinds of delicious food served, who could resist such temptation.

Hopefully I will still be invited for Hanna's upcoming birthday parties after this.

MY COLLECTIBLES - PRAYER BEADS

One of the most common souvenirs given by people coming back from the holy land Mecca will be the prayer beads (locally known as "tasbih"). Nowadays, they are also given as door gifts at weddings or functions. Consequently, I have a large collection of these prayer beads in my keeping, which would be something that I could not use all of them all the time. 

people might think this as a bangle

... or a pearl necklace

the largest prayer beads I have

We will see whether my prayer beads collection will multiply in the future.