Random Rambles of Lotfi

The plan to hike up Mount Irau in Cameron Highlands was mooted by a brother, Anep last March. I've never heard of Irau but we told Anep to make plans. Police permits are needed to climb the highest peak in Cameron Highland. Due to clashing schedules, our climb was delayed from March ti April and finally this month. We didn't give it much thought until our assigned guide, a chap called H created a group whatsapp a few days before the climb. Not only it dawned on me that we're physically unprepared, we are also not ready with the right gears for hiking. I started scouring blogs and websites of hikers to find out what we should prepare. Figured that even if we're not physically prepared at least we're dressed for it! This was the list given by H, as per his whatsapp message, 1- hiking shoe (rubber better) extra socks, waterproof hand glove, poncho and slipper 2- windbreaker or fleece (it's cold outthere) like freezing. Haha 3- trekking pole, wet n dry tissue, a k...

I had the opportunity to sample the Biryani at a newly opened restaurant in Subang USJ. CLASSIC BIRYANI has just opened for business this week. Anyone who knows me, would be aware that I am a food enthusiast, who loves trying out new restaurants, cafe and stalls. Suka makanlah, senang cakap. So when a relative of the owner invited a group of us, orang-orang Johor to the restaurant for lunch, I couldn't say no. More importantly, of course was to meet these fine ladies and gentlemen from my birth state. The food was a bonus. We tried the mutton biryani which was served in a tray for 4 people. The mutton was cooked in the traditional Biryani gravy, which was both sweet and nicely spiced. A boiled egg in the rice, the dhall gravy  and the acar completed the set. The aroma of the biryani cooked using my favorite basmathi grains was really, really good. This picture does not do justice to the biryani We sampled the Rojak Tahu (salad of bean curd, bean sprouts and cucumbe...

There... I was just lurking around looking up stuff on the www and then I remembered this place. My last post was last year. So I told myself, why not? Maybe this is just a visit, maybe I will stay. Time will tell. Alhamdulillah it's Friday! TGIF!! Last day of the work week. The weekend's looking busy, as always.  Life as a full time employee. You only have that two days weekend for yourself and you try to squeeze in as much as you can. Monday you go to work like a zombie. Hehe, sounds familiar? I've done that for the last what? 17 years!! Giler la..crazy life!  So that's gonna change for a bit. I'm figuring out how to have more Me time, more home time, more kids time, more hub's time, more cat's time and above all more time for the Almighty, Insyaallah. Here's looking forward to a life full of blessings, more berkat. Is it possible to have more by having less? I would like to think so. Ini pengorbanan namanya, tapi cuma pengorbanan dun...

I was asked by a friend who saw that I had layers of gears and clothings on after a run and so I thought I'll list down some of the stuff I wore, in this post. She must think that all these stuff I had on plus the hijab will give me some kind of heat wave while running, coz she did looked kinda worried when she ask. After a certain distance, I am quite sure most runners would go butt naked if possible, what with the sweat and the heat. Alhamdulillah, the heat has never got to me and constant fluid while running also helped. COMPRESSION SOCKS Mine is the pink one - pic taken from www.cepcompression.com My first compression gear was a pair of shocking pink socks. It is knee length and cost me about a little less that RM200, which at that time, I felt was quite a sum to spend on a pair of socks! It was at the fair of the Borneo Marathon in 2011. Have heard about the boon of compression gears from again, my dearly departed friend TSB and later read a lot about them o...

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...

When I first started running, I bought myself a pair of Nike. Nike has always been my favorite brand since my school days more because I can't afford them. Y'know how it is when you crave for stuff that you can't immediately have and the minute you can , that will be the first thing you grab. So my first shoes I bought was one of the running shoes in the Nike Bowerman series, which turned out to be the wrong fit, perhaps because I was buying in a rush. After that first pair, I had another one, the Nike Pegasus, which served me well , before I moved to Asics. We made the trip down to Singapore just to get that pair of Asics Gel Cumulus 12. The Asics boutique in Paragon, Orchard Road. Those were the days..now they are up to version 15. These are cushioning shoes which are perfect for my high arched feet and neutral running. Asics is big on their Gel pod technology and this one has plenty. I remember it being nicely soft but at the same time the...

So yeah, after a series of injuries..that somehow all happened post Raya two years in a row on the same side of the foot (right side) I am back running. Taking a break every year,  for 4 months each, have proven to be a bane for my run time, which was not that great to start with. Had to forego 3 earlier runs, The Adidas King of The Road in September which Fairy ran for (she wrote about this here and here ) the Nike Run in November  and the MPIB Run in January. Darn! That' s a lot of money! I wouldn't say that I have fully recovered but I feel less sore with each weekly run that I did. So there was the Brooks Half Marathon 2 weeks ago. A come back run of sorts, which has proven to be a slow, heavy one. To start with, the running vest was ORANGE!!? What gives? This colour is after me! The starting line was very narrow, what with almost 12,000 runners, I was told. So at gun off, we had to let the faster runners start, followed by the rest of us mere mort...

In case you've not noticed the blog has turned orange. I have this thing about colours. I love them...too much.. I'm surrounded by things orange these days. The company, after the take over , now has an orange colour logo..and suddenly I keep seeing orange stuff all around. Talk about the law of attraction. I'm drawn to orange now..the colour..I used to work in a place where the company logo is Purple and suddenly I found my wardrobe full of purple stuff! Is there anything that explains this affinity with a certain colours? What does your favorite colour say about you? I googled and saw this interesting infographics on colours from urbantimes.co At least, we got some things right. ORANGE is the colour of excitement and warmth. It's also good for signage, and to draw attention. Hmmm...perhaps I shouldn't be wearing too much orange. But, yes a business would want this. Here's hoping that more people will warm up to the Orange and a some sort of brand affin...

Assalamualaikum and hello, Yes, yes...am back...how long for, I don't know... This blog has been long idle...I'm beginning to question its existence...so many times I have contemplated looking for the "delete blog" button and then I re-read my past postings, decided against it. This is my syok-sendiri sanctuary when I need it..what gives? So many times, in the last 6 months since my last posting, I had wanted to revert to it...alas..with so many things happening that needed my limited attention, I have to admit that this santuary of mine has taken a back seat. Life goes on..with significant and insignificant happenings...some worth mentioning, some totally not worth any attention. Just to share what's been up or down with my life, if you care to read.. MAK Mak turned 73 in June last year. She has always had heart arryhythmia since she was 40 with blood that are too thick and an abnormal valve condition (which we only discovered recently)  She is slow i...

More than 24 hours after a half marathon...I had visions of writing this blog post as I ran yesterday. Figuring out exactly how I was going to write this. And now, I can hardly recall the stuff that I wanted to say. I totally enjoyed the run...Keseronokan total! I thought I wouldn't. Ever since my friend TSB passed on last year, my running pattern has suffered...not that I am putting the blame on what has happened. I got busy and the mileage somehow got tapered along with the rut of life. This Japanese guy ran a full marathon playing that horn...Amahzinggg!! (pic by Teh EngTiong)  My RunningKaki and I try as much as possible to run regularly and in May, we even managed to travel to Sabah for the Borneo Run, albeit just a 10k for me. We stayed in a hotel near the starting line just to avoid the early morning rush. Wise decision, indeed. Citin Hotel at Jalan Masjid India is a nice, comfy inn. We came down for the 6am gun off at 5:45 am and s...