Random Rambles of Lotfi

This would be the ideal me...carefree, no worries, a walk in the park, all the greens around..best kan? kan?kan? This was taken by Aisyah after last Sunday's Foodgasm Fest in TTDI Rimba Park. This picnic setting food fest of sort, with clothes, shoes and other nick knacks thrown in as well, for sale that is. We came towards the end of the fest, as we had other prior engagements. The rain just stopped and it was cool and nice to be able to walk the park with the family. The whole carnival like atmosphere, combined with the outdoor setting was a refreshing change to walking around in a mall, and the music, yes the indie music was great as well. Families, hipster, kids flocked the otherwise quiet park for the food tasting, people watching taking welfies and selfies. If only we can have the same number of people running and walking in the park as a form recreation. Now, that's something!!  Maybe we can organise a run, walk and eat carnival..hehe ...

Yesterday, I found myself back in my alma mater, the main campus ground of UiTM, Shah Alam. The last time I was there was for my own graduation. The ceremony was held at DATC, short for Dewan Agong Tuanku Canselor, a new auditorium for all formal university functions. The truth is, I didn't know where the shuttle bus took us from where we parked our car at Section 7, Shah Alam. Bimbo moment, made worst with the heat of the day and the fact that we didn't know our way around the area plus we were late...(which is not unusual based on our track records). The grand DATC So Aisyah completed her Diploma in Artistic Writing last year. We're all glad that part of her life is over and done with.  I attended the ceremony with the hubs and her grandfather. Got there in the nick of time. All her course mates were already in the hall, and she was 'inserted' into the line. And less than 15 minutes later, I heard her name being called up. My first born, recipient of...

After Mount Irau, we decided to explore FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia). I have been there twice for a run and some work activities but have never tried the Canopy Walk or hiking the trails. Didn't do much research on the place. This is one of those 'redah je' trip. We reached FRIM before 7.45am. Just a 20 minutes drive from home in the weekend traffic. To park your car in the park, you need to pay RM7, otherwise you can park outside and walk your way in. Waited for the rest and after much deliberation because we know very little about the place decided to head to the waterfall route. The  9 of us walked at leisure, took lots of pics and marvel at the greenery around us. Since we were there early we decided to just walk around the area. FRIM was already bustling with activities. Walkers, runners, cyclers, cyclists, picnickers with families and friends in tow. I saw that they had bicycles for rent too. Cool! We walked into the trails to the waterfall,...

I don't remember ever celebrating Mother's Day with my own Mak. I don't even remember people talking about it when I was a kid. Maybe old age is getting to me, but yeah, I don't remember. It's only when I became a mum of 4 that all these talks about Mother's Day came about. And we see the commercialisation of the whole thing. The flowers, the cards, the gifts, the whole jing-bang. Nothing wrong with it all. If all the kids and dads in the world need a day to remember to celebrate us mummies, so be it. Bask in the attention, eat all the delicious food, indulge in the desserts, cherish the gifts, flowers and make them feel good celebrating us. My own Mak in JB is oblivious to Mother's Day. Even more so now, 2 years after her stroke. I called just to speak to her and asked her how she's doing, which is rare coz she doesn't answer the phone herself. I get updates from my sisters. I would rather sit with her to ask her how she is. But she sounded ev...

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...