~work & lunch~

Assalamualaikum lovely readers,

I don’t have the mood to write these few long weeks.

But something just came across my mind after what happened yesterday.

My office is located just next to a large shopping complex. So there’s a reason to go there during lunch break. Usually going there is to eat lunch.. well, duhh! There are 3 places I regularly buy my food, be it dine-in or take away, which is McDonalds, the food court and Dunya Kebab.

So, I’m going to talk about the services.

First off.. McDonalds.. As usual, no fuss at all. Sometimes the lines would be so long, but the wait is reasonable. So it never disappoints me.

The food court.. Well, the Soup stall is always fast and the food never failed you. And then the goreng-goreng stall, though always packed with people ordering, but the time is reasonable, and the makcik is really nice.

But Dunya Kebab..

Before, I seldom go there. Its kebab is too large, and I don’t like to waste though I think it’s delicious. But then my friend showed me another food, the Hot Salad. I tasted it, and it was without surprise, to my liking. Because I like vegetables and the portion is just nice (reminds me of Goldilocks). But I can’t eat vegetables alone, so the chicken kebab included in the salad really compliments it all.

After that I always went there alone. There are 3 permanent girls who handled the booth. One of them is quite pretty, but none of them, even the pretty girl smiled, they even frown most of the times. What was sad was when I ordered Hot Salad, they would say it’s not ready at the moment; the chicken is not yet cooked. That was around 1 pm. Twice that I observed they were making hot salad at around 1.15 pm for someone else. Before, they didn’t even ask me whether I want to wait. That really frustrated me most.

A straight face.

This is a frown. They did give me this face.

 So yesterday I went there again. I can’t help it. Though I have to confront them ‘frowners’ again, and each time I gave them a wide smile which was never returned, I want to have hot salad so much, I have to be patient. There was a new girl, and she was quite polite. She told me it was not ready yet. They were chopping the salads. Though she didn’t ask me whether I wanted to wait, I didn’t mind. She’s not arrogant (no frown). So I told her I’ll come back to take the food. So I walked around the shopping complex without any particular objectives (besides the hot salad). So at 1.15 pm, from level 2, I looked down to the ground floor, and saw the polite girl putting in the sauce into something obstructed from my view. Wow, I guess that’ mine. (because the food stall didn’t receive that many customers). So I went down and peeked at the counter, and there it was ready next to the cash register J So I got my hot salad, just in time. I can still eat it in my office before lunch time ends. Alhamdulillah.

So the conclusion is to SMILE, no matter where you are or to whom (lady to lady especially). And then to always work sincerely, with all our heart (not just WORK work, but also other tasks and actions we do).

And remember to make others happy. Like the case above, to make the customers happy.

Sincerity is what we’re hard to do. I remembered that when shaking hands (bersalaman), we should hold the hands firmly and really mean it, and look at them and smile. Because sometimes I encounter people who shook hands while their face is looking at another direction. Weird! But no hard feelings.. because we should always forgive people.

So that’s all folks. This is somewhat a reminder to myself. To always smile no matter what, and also not to look down on others. Be patient with one another. Maybe with time, we’ll change for the best, anyone can change with Allah’s will. Don’t deny that.

Wassalamualaikum.

- excuse me for any grammar mistakes :)

~why don't you like macarons~

Assalamualaikum.. A lot of compliments and sweet talks have been going around about the colourful confectionery, the macarons. People had blogged that this food is so delicious, and nobody could resist the taste. Why are macarons so famous? Is it the taste? The colourful appearance? The price?

Source: Wikipedia

My first macarons was about two months ago, when my mum decided to do aqiqah for my new niece. I doubt that any of our guests would know what macarons are. The menu during any kind of feast at our place usually include fragrant rice, chicken, lamb, acar, or laksa, bihun goreng, some traditional kuih, something like that. You get the idea, it’s kind of old fashion. But we like it that way. But this time, I’ve thought of adding a new menu into the ‘old-fashioned’ menu. I was thinking.. yeap.. macarons. Came the idea of ordering them from my sister’s friend, who also made a chocolate moist cake. I never ordered food via post before. So, when the food arrived, they were all messed up, the cake was covered with ants, and the macarons, some of them were crushed and falling apart. So both of them can’t be served to the aqiqah guests. That’s disappointing, but that's not the story. We still get to taste the macarons.

The macarons were made in tiny round shapes, the size of a mineral water bottle’s cap. We tasted it, and we agreed that the macarons were too sweet, and the texture was quite hard. After the tasting, we concluded that my sister’s friend… don’t know how to make macarons. Still, we never waste any food, the macarons were finished in 4 days.

Then last two days, I went to KLCC. Walking from shop to shop, outlet to outlet, my aunt and I were already exhausted. We need somewhere to relax. What can I eat during a humid afternoon. So I remembered macarons! Someone informed that the best macarons are there in KLCC. I won’t tell which cafe, guess it yourself. So I ordered a set of 6 macarons, a total of RM 23. The flavours, blueberry, pistachio, chocolate, strawberry, and 2 orange. They also have pineapple’s, but I don’t like pineapples, so no pineapples. The size is like the top picture, about 2 times the size of my first macarons. The appearance is much nicer. But..I was so shocked when I tasted it. The taste was exactly the same with the one’s my sister’s friend made, super sweet. So she is a good cook (or baker), tererla siap boleh compare dengan the famous macarons in KLCC. The texture was slightly softer compared to the first macarons, but not too soft. I read that the texture should be hard on the outside, and soft on the inside, and it melts in your mouth. But not this one.

Actually I was disappointed with the taste. I can eat sweet tasting food, but this.. was just TOO sweet. I could feel a diarrhea coming from the moment I taste (no, I'm not exaggerating). I don’t know why anyone would like to eat this food. Even if you get it for free, but would you be able to eat the oh-so-sweet-macarons?

Go and get a taste for yourselves. You might like it, my tooth might not be sweet enough J So, if you’re a sweet tooth, try them. But for me, they’re just over-rated. I’d better have ice-creams instead. Baskin Robbins or Haagen-Dasz.

Ps: Among all the flavours tasted, chocolate is the best, because instead of just sweet, it has some bitter taste to it.

I know I might be quite late to review about this delicacy, but better late than never right? J Oh, and this might not be a review, it’s just an experience I’m sharing, maybe a different point of view from other people. Or maybe I’m just old-fashioned?

Oh, and speaking of ice-creams, I haven’t tried Tutti Frutti yet. But that might not be to my liking, because I don’t like to mix fruits and ice-creams. I’ll try them later (without the fruits), and that’ll be a different post.

So, ciao!

~starting to cook~

Assalamualaikum ladies,

This is a late entry (yesterday's to be exact).

A lot has been going on lately. Most of them are my office work, planning for vacations (yay) and then the renovation of my house, although the latter one is mostly handled by Mister Partner. But I feel him, he’s been quite worked out lately too. 3 straight weekends of going to KL (driving) by us both since late April and that only had already worn us out. And it’s been 3 days he stayed at Juru till today, as his boss visited him from KL. So yeah, I’m lazing my *ss off, taking naps after work, haven’t done any cleaning up this 3 days. So hopefully this evening I’ll have the will to get my room tidied up J cheer up for me guys!

I’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows on tv, and they've really driven me to cook. My mum seldomly stores a lot of raw ingredients. So it was quite limited to try out the recipes from the cooking shows. I’ve already bought my own preference of ingredients from Pasar Tani or the ‘farm market’ last weekend, and I cooked them all up in just a day. Pasar Tani is a convenient place to buy raw ingredients, be it wet or dry. Last weekend I bought half chicken, carrot, tomatoes and parsley. You know why just those ingredients which I bought? Haha, actually that was my first time buying them at Pasar Tani. My colleagues and I often go to Pasar Tani first thing in the morning to buy something to eat. There are various of delicious food, namely porridge (can choose the fillings – minced chicken and meat, salted egg, scramble egg, salted fish and pekasam), spiced chicken with coconut rice, rice herbs (I don’t know what to call nasi ulam – which is white rice mixed with different types of herbs or ulam), satay, and kuih (various of them, namely apom lenggang, doughnuts and pak tongko, and also puddings in more than 10 different flavors). Aren’t you tempted? J But last weekend was when I bought the things for me to cook. The hard part is actually bringing the stuff into the lift and up to the twelfth floor. Some of the older colleagues always bought raw ingredients. So this time, the freezer at the pantry was almost full, with me wanting to join the group. If not now, then when can I cook right? Shouldn’t stop myself from learning to cook for my family right?

This weekend I think I want to try out cooking fish (big ones like Siakap, Kerapu or Jenahak). Sorry for the Malay language, I’m quite poor remembering which name is for which fish. Seabass? Grouper? Help me here guys :p To cook a fish, maybe I need to look up the Youtube, and find one easy enough yet has a different taste for my family. Maybe I’ll try something European? Love the simple cooking from Nigella of Nigella’s Kitchen or Nigella Bites at TLC. So, I’ll end this post for you to enjoy the following video (ain’t she a beautiful makcik?)