Random Rambles of Lotfi

We had a family lunch of Dim Sum and Chinese food today at Unique Seafood, Petaling Jaya. Hard to find Halal Dim Sum and when I found out about this one; and 50% discounts on Dim Sum during lunch, I have to go! After we dropped off my son and father in law at home, we went around looking for a big rice cooker for me to use for cooking big batches for catering. After a few shops, we finally found one at a shop in SS2. Well, made a deposit but hubs would have to collect the pot tomorrow. Then when to get some baking supplies at Bake With Yen in Taman Mega, PJ. Cake orders coming in for year-end parties annd such. Alhamdulillah! When one go to Bake With Yen in Taman Mega, one must not NOT drop by Joy Bakery  just beside it for old fashion, home made cakes, I'm a baker that enjoys discovering and eating other people's bakes. Senang cakap suka makan laaa. All that eating and then dinner...Haih makan lagi. So I thought ok lah let's settle for a simple dinner. Brough...

I haven't had Monday blues in a while. The perks of working from home. Well, perhaps the only blues I get on a Monday, these days is ironing Zaim's school uniforms. When the two kiddos and big bro leaves for school and Uni, the house will be quiet and peaceful. Time for that cuppa OR... perhaps get that extra shut-eye, most of time the latter wins.  Today, we had brunch outside, and I settled some paperwork i.e invoicing. And then a client whatsapped to get advice on copy for their outdoor ads, which thrilled me. I love looking at creative ideas and  how they will materialize on all the medium, outdoor, TV and prints. Btw, invoicing is something I have to remind myself to do regularly. One month, I overlooked invoicing and realized that I wasn't about to get paid that month and panicked. The downside of working for yourself...have to keep up with all the paperwork on your own. So I downloaded an apps called invoice2go  . Have yet to exp...

Went for a quick walk this morning with #therunningkaki , despite the coccyx episode. Every step is painful but still bearable. I hope moving around will improve the blood circulation and speed up healing no? I'm taking it easy...Hope this will heal before 1st November's Viper Challenge! Hub's at work so just me and the kids at home. Trying to finish off some articles for a client. Taking this quick break. So, we did a quick compost box just now.My main reason for composting is to reduce waste. Ever since I quit full time job, each time I clear the fridge or wash the dishes, a lot of food waste gets thrown away just like that. So I figured the waste has got to be put to good use instead. A meeting with PPSPPA (Perbadanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal & Permbersihan Awam) under the Ministry of Local Government, a while back while I was still working, opened my eyes to the possibility of composting. They used a very simple technique for doing it using a Japanese...

As a typical self-proclaimed foodie I always post pictures of things I cooked onto Instagram which most of the time gets linked to my facebook and twitter timeline. A lazy cook, I usually cheats my way around recipes I like, adjusting and adding based on what's available at home.  Except for my youngest son, everyone in the house are not fussy eaters. I cook, they eat. Youngest son must have rice, everyday, all meals preferably. Sometimes, I can get away with feeding him bread and eggs. Most of the time, not. Lunch yesterday afternoon, was leftover day, which means we eat leftover from the fridge. I try not to waste food and will upcycle leftover pastas into fritata, some days we'll have fried rice, or just sandwiches from leftover chicken. I try not to waste food but of course some stuff just get thrown away. I'm trying to revive a compost box so that I can make better use of my food waste. That's for another post. Yesterday's dinner was CHICKEN PI...

I had a good weekend. Attended a 3 days business seminar which was phenomenal! Ran 5km on Saturday and 8km on Sunday which was just as phenomenal, being the lazy ass that I am. After the Sunday run, I was too lazy to go out for dinner and decided to whip up a simple dinner of pesto spaghetti since, I barely have enough ingredients for it at home. Just thought I share my version of it here. Here's my sweet basil plant after I have taken all its leaves! So kesian!! I figured I have enough stuff for at least half a pack of pasta...so there goes 2 and half handfull of basil leaves, a handful of toasted pine nuts, a little wee bit of parmesan and salt.  And the right bottom pic shows a clove of garlic about to be chopped in the dry blender . Once the leaves are nicely chopped, which by the way you can also use the good old pestle and mortar, add the pine nuts. Give them a good whirr after which, you can mix in the parmesan into the gooeyyy...

Just got home from picking up my helper at LCCT. Her flight arrived at 10.10pm but it was 2 mins to 12am when she and her husband finally came out. We have decided if at 12am, they are still not out, we would go home walaupun when I checked with Air Asia, they said her name is in the list. Hubs and imran gila cuak seyh...ingat dia tak balik...Dah terbayang hantar Zaim pergi nursery...hehehe...Pengsan!!! So, she's finally back! Lega...What have 2 months of being maidless taught me? 1. Kerja rumah memang tak akan habis so I should think twice about not working and staying at home without a helper 2. I hate ironing and folding the laundry...(which made me aware how much ironing clothes cost at the laundry and Hubs is a pro at folding the laundry...I lapchiew!!) 3. I don't mind doing the laundry...yeler...bukan aku basuh pun...machine yang basuh! 4. We should consider getting a clothes dryer. It would make life easier for everyone. 5. Imran is the least affected member o...

Hari Merdeka ini disambut meriah oleh pembantu rumah saya yang balik ke Jawa Timur, memerdekakan dirinya dari kerja rumah, anak-anak saya dan anything that comes in between those two... Yang tak berapa nak merdeka ialah kami anak beranak sebab Ana, pembantu rumah Indonesia yang telah hampir 10 tahun bekerja dengan kami ni, memang telah cukup-cukup 'menaikkan lemak' kami... 2 bulan ini bermulalah perjuangan kami untuk buat segala-galanya sendiri...padan muka kita orang! Haru!!! I looked forward to 31st October when she comes back. That's my Merdeka!!

I normally look forward to Mondays...Walaupun orang selalu kata Monday Blues lah, Black Monday lah..but I always find that I look forward to a fresh start to the week. Not so true this moring though. When the alarm went off at 6am , I could have kicked myself for turning in late at 2am last night...Sms'ed to my gym buddy, Kak Pah, if she wants to go to the gym, half wishing that she's down with stomach ache or something ...but just not my luck.. . so got up and when reached the gym at around 7.30am...when through the normal cardio stuff.. After about 15 minutes on the treadmill and discussing with Kak Pah on the possibility of taking MC today, hehehe...I felt better, a bit energised and made it to work after all, but not without vowing that I will leave the office at 6pm sharp today! And I did, well, not exactly at 6pm lah...but before 6.30pm. The sun was still there!!! Yeay!!! I did it!! When I reached home the purple wall in the room near the bathroom has transfo...

Haida doing the gua.com crossovers Last weekend was our Sunway Pyramid mall tour. I was on duty on both Saturday and Sunday...Oh...what a way to spend the weekend. The only consolation was we were in a mall instead of in the sun like Jom Heboh. Mati kerin la aku kalau kena gi macam Jom Heboh!! Sunway was ok lah...I've been to enough of our mall tour over the years to predict what kind of crowd we can expect, whether the same people who turned up at almost all our mall tours will make their appearances again...but nevertheless, my hope is that we have somehow reached our audience in some ways and they will continue to support the network. There goes the vermillion wall in the hall. On the home front, my lil sister has been hard at w...

Ngantuk nyer...This morning when the alarm went off, dengan cargasnyer akak bangun sembahyang Suboh and got ready for gym and when I looked at the time it was only 5.19am!!! Mak!!! Salah set alarm!! Apa lagi? Terus kiewww tarik selimut hubby kieww itieww dan tidur balik and I end up arriving at the gym about 20 mins late. My PT called while I was parking the car. Ye, ye.....I was walking to you la...weh...tak boleh lambat sikit. My sis and hubby came to stay over on Saturday, with the intention of helping us paint some of the walls in our home. My sis really love all this DIY stuff. She used to drag my abah to the hardware store to buy lots and lots of paint so that she can do stuff to my parents house. We did go to the hardware on Saturday, but got so cuak about the colors so we waited for hubby to come back on Sunday, not that he was much help in that department lah... tapi dia tolong bayar tau??...My sis was done painting in an hour and this is how our staircase wall looks li...

There's a few written signs outside Aisyah's room. One says: "SARANG KUCING, MUZIUM JUNK, KEDAI SECONDHAND, TEMPAT PEMBUANGAN SAMPAH......That's her abode, her sanctuary...we let her have her space...and in time hope that she will remember and appreciate that we truly understand her...(and hope that none of our guests have to bunk in with her when they visit)

Gosh! It's been so long since I last merapuing in this bloggy...In that span of time so many, many things took place. My maid called me while we were in JB and informed us amidst tears and kemenggigilan yang melampau that our house has been broken into the nite before...Mak!! Abislah laptop mak!!! And the my 80gb external hard drive full of info of the last at least 7 years of my life and work. Sedey yang amatz... And then I remembered I have some jewellery lying around and when I asked her to check she said it' s still at its place. Alhamdulillah...Tapi at that point of time, I felt, kalau penyamun tu took my jewellery instead of my lappy pun aku rasa ok lagi kot?? Nanges!! Making a police report was another kesakitan hati yang amatz!!! If I elaborate here, I'd probably start a cursing frenzy so daripada aku buat dosa kering baik aku simpan jer... I am now using a temporary laptop loaned by the office, dunno till when, dun care lah..as long as work gets done. I wa...