My First Karipap

It was so tiring at work today. I took off at 6.00PM and headed to Dunnes Store. All of a sudden I had this instant out-of-the-blue idea to make my FIRST karipaps. I have never made them before. I remember that I have some plain flour at home, butter etc.

As soon as I am back at my place, I put down my laptop bag, I took out all the ingredients and browsed for the recipe on the net. And my maiden attempt to make karipaps began with much enthusiasm. The outcome - they are not perfect but still, it is STILL something. Prior to that, I invited Lockz and Ramz to sample them while watching the top 20 acts of Britain's Got Talent ;)

Check out the pictures!

+ What an attempt - the dough, the filling, the effort...

+ I guess they looked nicer when they are raw, it is completely different story when they are fried, hehe

+ 17 karipap's altogether

+ Take your pick. Haha. The skin is crispy really. The secret - the warm butter/oil. "Zits" come out if the oil is too hot apparently - based on the tips on the Net

+ Please take notice of the model's hands/fingers

That is all for today! :)

What a bloody good Monday!

What a day. I am knackered and wrecked. It has been a great day at work. My Monday started good. Real good really. Typically, I never look forward too much for a Monday - it is always draggy and long. But not today. For a starter, as I stepped out of the flat, I did look forward to embrace the day. And it turned out to be real good, really. It started slow in the morning, but it peaked after lunch. All in all, I can say - I held my chin high and I have no other direction but to move forward! Zul has so much to look forward to!

+ Sir Alan with his apprentice candidates. I was thinking if the show is to be done in Malaysia, who'd be the "Sir Alan", or Trump?

In a nutshell, the whole story began with me having my appraisal (mid year) with Aongus at 3.00 pm. I felt like I was in The Apprentice show really. It was really good justifying for those Outstandings, Excellents etc. I felt good. At times Aongus find it hard to fight back with me. I am setting completely different goals this year - doing more Sales and to be able to impact the company at country level. Yes, I am not kidding.

Well, it is all done when I followed by interest and passion of selling something. So one thing led to another, before I know it - I am selling consulting packages to three market units; South America, Ireland and Estonia. Alhamdulillah, that my lead for South America led to them spending on me to compose the proposal. That is awesome. In time hard like this, instead of complaining I step up to the mark and deliver something out of my competence area. So that is cool. Tomorrow, I will head to the market unit office here locally trying to sell the business case package for a platform - looking at how operator can maximize the Capex on the platform and recoup over time. Financial feasibility really. For all these efforts, I was given "Outstanding", awesome. Nothing much I can say, but to be thankful to God.

Overall it was a great Monday. The appraisal that lasted for 3+ hours yielded the results that work to my advantage really. And then followed by conference call to South America - the art of doing Sales. It feels good even to be recognised for doing something really good for the company in time like this. And Lockz already booked me for Sales skill transfer. I am not saying that I am damn good, but I was just following passion ;)

And now that the day is done and dusted, I am ready to have my dinner. I just got home. Now I will reheat the food from yesterday - plain rice, sambal ikan bilis, ikan masin, beef rendang. And in the meantime, I will wait for another Semi's of Britain's Got Talent. I will pray for Lockz's Jamie to go through ;)

Britain's Got Talent show

Tonight is the semi finals of Britain's Got Talent. To the uninitiated, it is another reality TV show in UK, unearthing talents. No age limit, and can be any talents that you have. As you may have expected - a lot of singing.

So after tennis, 2 sessions of tennis today - I invited Ramz and Lockz to come over and watch the show together. I cooked. Anyway, at first me and Lockz we planned to cook anyway. And I bumped into Ramz on the way back at 7.00PM by the tennis court. So I asked her to come around too.



I was fantastic affair really. And our favourites (Susan Boyle and Diversity) are sailing through to finals this Saturday. I hope I will be able to catch it this weekend. It is a bit unfortunate that the talented violinist Su Son, did not make it to the final. She is awesome and had to part with her best friend in order to realise her dreams!

The thing is I have a big plan to explore more of Ireland this weekend - so I am not sure I will be able to watch the finals, what a shame. As for the trip, all is sorted and I will be off to Kerry with Lockz. We will rent the car and be away for 3 days and will stay at a secluded country house in Killarney, adjacent to the national park. We will also be off to the Ring of Kerry, Dingle etc. It will be fantastic. We are commemorating our first anniversary of our first trip together last year - that happened around this time last year. It will be fantastic.

+ The stream in Killarney National Park - it is going to be phenomenal trip

As for yesterday, what was I up to? Well spending the whole day in city really. Lockz and I decided to start early - getting our brunch and shopped. I wanted to get the Nike shirt I laid my eyes on last week, but they do not have the colour that I like. It will only come in on Thursday. BTW, I have not taken the PS shirt from Brown Thomas either (will have to wait for payday, haha). It will be on this Friday, since I got the car (so I will get both shirts this Friday). I will drive to city with Lockz, pick up the shirt and have dinner with Claudine and Paul (our monthly get-together). So that will be awesome. I decided not to post the PS shirt - since it can get lost in the post really. But the Nike shirt is fine, no prob in sending that off via post.

Lockz, Xavier and I caught a film called Syndoche New York. It is bizarre really. It is of an 'acquired' taste type of picture really. But I did enjoy it. The plot revolves around one dreamer and his confrontation of life and leading his life - what makes him happy, what motivates him, and what love really means to him. We left the cinema with loads of discussions really. It was fantastic. It is almost like the experience of watching Revolutionary Road.

Lockz and I ended up at Charming Noodles before taking the ride home. We had sumptious meal indeed. What a great way to end the day - real good food and we arrived home at 12 midnight, only to know that there's plenty to look forward to on Sunday. Now I am finding myself dragging myself to iron the office shirt, as tomorrow another reality, which is not a show, will hit me.

But bring it on!

The weekend's here

Yes, the weekend is here. I do not know what I will be up to. But I will surely go to Brown Thomas to pick up the PS shirt that I have ordered. Huh, ordered? Well, I saw a very nice shirt (as a present) and I ran out of cash. Since that was the only one left, I left behind Euro50 - so that they will not sell it to anyone else!


Yesterday, alhamdulillah, I got some kind of reward and recognition thingy from the office. So I plan to go to BT again and pay in full and own the shirt. That is going to be the plan for the weekend. Haha. Other than that, if the weather permits I will be off to Pheonix Park with Lockz for some kind of picnic. She and I - will buy sandwiches and bring our books and read in the sun.

Will also be looking for a pair of these...


So, I pray for lotsa sunshine this weekend ;)

Note: I have made a huge mockery of myself today. Picked up the phone and sent a text to Carlos for today is his birthday (according to the reminder by Birthday Alarms.Com)! And then he replied "You are 2 days early. Thanks for making me feel lousy that I am much older that what I thought!" Haha!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

I just finished the book last night. The book is by Aravind Adiga. His first. It is a journey of understanding India - regarded as one of the biggest emerging economies in the world. But, what's not told in the media is successfully woven in The White Tiger.

It surrounds the narration of a driver called Balram, writing to the premier of China who is due to visit India. He wants the premier to know the 'complete' picture of India, from the people who live in the light (the rich) and to the people who live in the dark (the poor, the vast majority of the pyramid in India). Balram is unique. He belongs to both. It is not fair to tell you why he is a bit of both - go read the book.

Adiga is genius with his wits and accurate citation of life in India. It attracts me to be in India really. It is not tourist guide, but it is guide to reality. Adiga is good with his words till I can picture the workers leaving the building of call centres in Bangalore. He is great in that sense. For a first novel, he has done brilliantly. His description of scene and sites is sometime bold - take for example the way he demeans Ganga - being a dark mass not because the embodiment of sins poured by people who redeem their sins, but more of pollution created by the greedy rich.

This book is similar to The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, in terms of first account narration but I prefer the Reluctant Fundamentalist. The journey was great in the book and the ending was bomb-drop impact, so to speak (I stopped momentarily to digest the ending for I did not expect that). Whereas, as for Adiga's White Tiger is more of a woven representation of how the weak will be oppressed and how the strong will get away with murder.

My only suggestion in reading this book is to take the ride as it is with no expectation of bizarrely strong ending or something. What kept me going was to understand why Balram killed his master, Mr Ashok who is not typical rich man in India for he is nice and kind. I will not spoil you with details, but what's stuck in my head is Adiga's accurate of account of India and his razor-sharp wits gelling the characters and stories to represent what India is. There's still massive hidden plot that only Indian would know, and only certain quarters of Indians would want to scream out loud so that the world knows.

Paul Smith

+ Paul Smith being one of my favourite labels. I do not know what it is about the design, but the whole Englishness, the stripes and the roses - create a collective affinity towards the design, comfort as much as the brand itself.

Happy in the rain

+ One of my favourite artists - Salvador Dali. This is one of his works (1937) 'Swans Reflecting Elephants'

I do not know. I am very happy today. First, I made my maiden visit to Embassy of Malaysia in Ballsbridge. It was an OK experience, not bad - not much hiccups although I could use a bit of courtesy really - but it is OK. I had to get a few documents signed. They were not ready by 5pm today as the consular only came in at 12.30noon. I guess I need to go again tomorrow. Well that really is OK. I have never been to the embassy ever before, besides attending one function in 2007. They got me to fill the registration form again today - what the heck, I filled it up, a few scribbles I was done. No harm. So that was a done deal. They were happy, so was I.

Office - again nothing much. Except some follow up with projects that I support i.e. Estonia, Uruguay and local Irish project. So three projects (predominantly sales) that I need to support. Spoke to Michael in South Africa for IMS project definition and how to build business case out of that. I POLITELY declined the offer to assume a post in Sweden. I said to Aongus (my big boss) - I am rather capable to combine marketing and technology knowledge and skills in this role, but I do not see the advancement in terms of competence for I do not see myself carrying on after three months. I said "Open it up to other consultants". Anyway that is that really.

Spoke to Tom from Operation Consulting about the project that I prepared with him. It was an eTOM (process) project for Iran. It was so funny the way Tom described his experience entering Iran. I told him "I told you to master some Farsi" He was laughing and said to Aongus and me - "To judge the maturity of a country, we need to gauge how many stamps the custom officer needs to do on your passport and documents". It was great follow up chat with him.

After work - Anuar (ex colleague from Finance Div) visited me. He brought rendang. His girlfriend cooked and Anuar took that along to return my container. It is nice. We did some catching up. It was pretty much about work and politics in M'sia. He wants to return to Malaysia and still contemplating. I wish him well really. I hope all goes well for him. So we had the rendang with roti canai that I had in the fridge.

Right after that, I got a call from Lockz. She wanted to get me to come over to have dinner with her - salad and ravioli. Arghhh more foods! So I decided to go over to her place, at the same time to review her slides for a presentation at 7am tomorrow with a customer in Australia (over phone). On the way to her place, I stopped by at Ramz's since she had some beef rendang for me - from my parents. Yes Ramz just returned from Malaysia visiting her uncle who is currently hospitalised in Subang. I took the chance to get my mom to make some rendang for me and send it across the sea via Ramz. She was back in Malaysia for 2 weeks. I must make a point to visit her again after she regains her energy and recovers from jet lag.

That is all for today. I am getting ready for shower. I was in the rain. So I do not feel so good. I can feel slight headache lingering about - so I need to wash.

2009 Eurovision Song Contest

I just finished watching the electrifying performances in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. It was indeed fantastic show or ensemble by Moscow. Well done. The winner, was kind of clean sweep to Norway's Alexander Rybak performing his own composition of Fairytale - scoring the highest point of 387 for a winning song in Eurovision history! That means - next year, Norway will stage the show.



+ Alexander Rybak

Lyrics of Fairytale

years ago, when I was younger
i kinda liked, a girl I knew
she was mine, and we were sweethearts
that was then, but then it's true.

c/o, I'm in love, with a fairytale
even though it hurts,
cause I don't care if I lose my mind
i'm already cursed

every day, we started fighting
every night, we fell in love
no one else could make me sadder
but no one else could lift me high above

i don't know what I was doing
but suddenly we fell apart
nowadays I cannot find her
but when I do we'll get brand new start

+ Jade Ewen - isn't she divine! Do know this; both of her parents are blind.

My favourite was Mamo (mother) from Russia and for technical, I gave it to UK and Sweden. UK is so concentrating their effort to win this year. Not only they did a reality show select the singer to represent the UK; Jade Ewen, they got Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the living legend behind a lot of the big musicals in West End. They did not do too bad - they came 5th, overall (with 173 points).

The show was undeniably grand - opening, to the filler-shows and to the stage. It was all grand. It would be a tall order for Norway to host it next year. The most that caught my attention and still stuck in my head - when a few pools were suspended from the roof with dancers playing with the water. It was amazing. No one would have thought about that. No doubt audience had to nurse the neck pain, but it was simply amazing.


On top of the live telecast from Moscow, Graham Norton doing the commentary for UK. He is so hilarious. I just love his show, Graham Norton Show. And having him making fun of many things about Europe was so much fun! Oh by the way, by now I have downloaded all mp3's of my favourite songs, haha! They will be in my iPod, and Fairytale will wake me up tomorrow, and David Bisbal's, Amy Winehouse's and Andrea Bocelli's will have to make way! ;)

The Loss

I was in shock today. When I got to the office there was this shocking news about the passing of Marian's mom. I am quite close to Marian in the office, and I occasionally ask her about her mom's condition. I know that her mom went through hip replacement last year and Marian did tell me one of her reasons to relocate to Ireland is due to the fact that she wants to be closer to her family and especially her mom and dad.

Marian was on holiday in Denver, USA when she got the news about her mom's passing. I can imagine how traumatizing it could have been. Having to cut the holiday short, having to call the airlines, having to deal with the loss alone, having to endure the painful flight back realising that your mom is no longer around for you to spend the last minutes with. Poor Marian.

+ That is how far we had to drive today, from Dublin to Cloonfad, in Co Roscommon.

Today, at 4.30pm I decided to join Aongus (my superior) and Michelle to go to the Removal (from the funeral home, before they place the body in the church). Michelle in the canteen asked me "Zul, you are close to Marian, don't you think you want to go to the Removal?". I was thinking of going really. Thanks to Google Map, they managed to get us all lost by locating a different Cloonfad on the map. So, Aongus bought a map and I read the map to lead us to the place - Cloonfad, in Co Roscommon. It's easily 2.5 hrs drive (but we got lost, and add 30-40 mins drive on top). We decided to go straight to the church, for we knew the procession had begun from the funeral home. As we approached St Patrick's Church of Garranlahan, the service had begun. I joined Aongus and Michelle to pay my respect. The followed the service while I was just there respecting them, and slowly glancing at the solemn faces.

Right after that, I joined the many to proceed to the front of the church to shake hands - and to convey my condolence to the family. I wanted to see Marian. The moment Marian saw Aongus and us, she broke down and slowly appreciated our presence. She cried. She was touched I guess. I was quite sad. I would never guess, Marian, that strong girl that I know from office, the girl who made my first few weeks in the company so bearable and so welcoming - was so fragile and vulnerable. I would be too. But to be able to be there meant so much to me, and to her hopefully.

She has grown to become one of the closer colleagues and friends in the office. The trip means so much to us all as well - esp me, Aongus and Michelle. We got to bond in the midst of all this, and to see the other side of Aongus outside office - who's a fun lad to be with. More importantly, it's struck me once again - the subject of death hits me again!

It is 12:15 am now, I am off to bed with my prayers that Marian and her family will be blessed with the much needed strength to face this huge loss of theirs.

I don't want to be a bad sponge

[edited]

I do not know. Perhaps I am feeling rather weird as of late. I do not know. I am not depressed, far from it. I feel that I am ready to go. You may ask, How do you mean? What do you mean? Are you sure what you are talking about?

I will talk about what I mean. And, am I sure? I am not sure. Yes, I am confronting death. The issue at least. My logic is not simple, and it is a feeling really rather than an opinion.

I look back at my life. I have reflected on things. Do you know what, I consider myself being very fortunate and lucky. For that, I thank Allah for that. I have been blessed with so many things, for which that was not the case for my parents, or parents of my parents.

I have been blessed with many good moments. I was not born with silver spoon, somehow I manage to maneuver my way to get the best of education, with that, I charted the path to secure some of the rewarding jobs if not the best-paid job. When I talk about rewarding, yes, monetary (maybe) is one little aspect of it, but the ability to prove that we can stand as tall as other citizen of the globe. You know you have a rewarding job when you come home late and still feeling content and satisfied.

With the job I have got, I have been able to see the world - for which I believe, the top part of the family tree was not able to. For that I endlessly thank Allah and of course my parents for investing their patience and time on education. If I was asked at the age of 6, would I be in Africa, or Spain or South America doing the work that I did or still doing now? The answer was going to be a plain no. But, the job and work have taken me places.

Not that many people are privileged to be in the position. Then again, "privilege" is an over-rated word in the life I lead - at the same time, not many people are privileged to be able to memorise which airlines is the best to go to certain parts of the world, at what time? Which airlines have the loyalty programme? Which airport has reclining chair to rest and it is for free! You get all fidgety (a little impatient) when in you are line at the airport security, some people before you are not prepared at all - when you are all liquidless beltless, coinless, watchless ready to make an entrance! It all comes in a package, until to certain extent it is a curse and no longer a privilege when you realise it is costing you your back and spine, and not to mention private life.

For all these, I am thankful. Alhamdulillah.

Looking back - I have been blessed with a close-knit family that takes care of the bond beyond anything else. Along the way, I hope that I have made them proud, and secretly I hope some have been impacted with what I have done. I like that. Perhaps I start with the family rather than trying to be role model to others, for which I feel those are too big of shoes I need to fill. Enough with my siblings. Thankfully, my distance apart from them has only brought us closer. Every time we get to talk, it feels like every single second is cherished.

As much as I have been blesses with many things - I have yet to undergo some other experiences that other people get to experience. While many of friends at my age have a family they can call their own, I am still on my own. Funny enough, I am rather content. I do not know what I am missing from not having kids to greet me at the door once I am home from work, or what it is like to miss a wife when I am abroad - well, hey I can't win everything. I have never felt short of love. I am loved and I have love to offer.

The subject of love - I love to lend a help, where ever possible, whenever appropriate. Do not get me wrong. It takes me a few states of denial to come to term with the fact that I would drop things to help people that matter to me - it can be friends, or family members.

Now, let's get back to this weird feeling of ready to leave. There is a saying, or was it not a saying - when you are at the top, it is time to ease out or away, when it is at the best form. That is how I feel, sometimes. For some strange reasons, life has a lot to offer, and it has offered me a lot too. I have been this sponge, taking it in, and taking it in - endlessly. But, I do not feel that I am a selfish soul, for I give back as much as I can, in whatever form. Perhaps the feeling that I have lately has something to do with the "sponge effect". I don't want to be sponge. I do not want to become villain sponge - absorbing endlessly. Hence, I want to stop.

But, looking through the lines on this page - yes I have been receiving a lot and I have been trying to give back too. All that I have to do now is not to stop thanking Him for what I am blessed with. That is the way forward I guess. But I will keep on glancing at the issue from time to time, I like to keep my feet close to the ground while my hands stretched out high!

Painting is Complete

I am glad that the painting is now complete. Time to start a new adventure. I plan to do abstract next, on larger canvas. Perhaps that is my purchase this month - a large canvas. Haha. Let's see whether that will materialize.


Now the Portrait_2 sits proudly against the large painting from Nigeria - the yellow buses. Perhaps this is just beginning, so my future house will be full of my own paintings, and the ones I collect when I scale the planet as well as mine.



Today I played tennis for 04 hours. Goodness me. And after the tennis, all of us - Akbar, Alberto and Lockz went to People's Park to unwind. I was hammered by then. Then the weather was so nice, we quickly decided to go to Killiney Hill. As soon as we got there the struggle started to hike the hill. After minutes we got on top. And it was nice to see Dun Laoghaire/Dublin on one side and Bray/Dalkey on the other. It's breathtakingly nice.


We ended the day with fish and chips from a place in Dalkey, by the sea. It was nice greasy chips, in the dying sun. With that, we left as everyone was knackered to carry on.

ayat - ayat - cinta

ayat - ayat - cinta

desir pasir di padang tandus
segersang pemikiran hati
terkisah ku di antara cinta yang rumit

bila keyakinanku datang
kasih bukan sekadar cinta
pengorbanan cinta yang agung
ku pertaruhkan

reff:
maafkan bila ku tak sempurna
cinta ini tak mungkin ku cegah
ayat-ayat cinta bercerita
cintaku padamu

bila bahagia mulai menyentuh
seakan ku bisa hidup lebih lama
namun harus ku tinggalkan cinta
ketika ku bersujud

bila keyakinanku datang
kasih bukan sekedar cinta
pengorbanan cinta yang agung
ku pertaruhkan

Food, Exercise & Painting - Bank Hol weekend

Another weekend's gone. It has been a long & relaxing weekend - with a lot accomplished. Lockz had just got back on Fri, delivering a project in China. So I took the chance to catch up with her - On Saturday, 02 May, we went for a walk to Dalkey and lunched at Nosh. It is a small, personalised cafe/restaurant. It is brilliant experience in small little town of Dalkey. We stopped at a fruit/vege shop on the way back. I love Dalkey, not only it is small and beautiful, our very Bono lives there too. So it was nice sunny day we spent in Dalkey. We walked back to join Claudine/Paul who came for a walk in Dun Laoghaire.

+ Nosh - from outside

+ Nosh - la nourriture, les poissons

+ Nosh - interior

We went to Kingston Hotel for a drink in the sun - it was peaceful since the big rugby match was on - between Leinster and Munster! Then, we decided to walk (there was so much walking done on Sat). We went to Blackrock. We then took the bus to come back to Dun Laoghaire. We could not do it anymore. It was too much.

+ The family day - to help the kids in Tanzania and Kenya. In the spirit of that, I bought a book titled "Man and Boy"

+ The family day - to help the kids in Tanzania and Kenya

Sunday, 03 May - I took it easy. I was cleaning up some work documents. Other than that, I cooked Nasi Lemak. All of a sudden I had this crave for nasi lemak and it turned out great. I was amazed myself. I did not take any pics, since there was not time for it. I was starving to death and all of us digged in as soon it's on the table.

+ The fruit and vege store - cute innit!

+ The dark dark dark purple tulips

Monday (Bank Holiday), 04 May - I wanted to take it easy. Barry called the day before for tennis, which I looked forward to, of course. So at 11.00 AM I was headed to Herbert Park, close to American Embassy, in Ballsbridge. I love playing at Herbert Park, since it is grass court. It was fun. I was wrecked. I was very very tired. But the tennis was good. I stopped by at Lockz's when I got to Dun Laoghaire and in the afternoon, we decioded to tennis - my 2nd for the day.

+ The park - green and lovely lawn bowl area. I did not get the chance to snap the tennis court itself since there were kids playing when I got there - I didn't want to be mistaken for pedeophile.

When I got back, it was already 8.00 PM and I was in the mood to start a new painting. It has been months since the last "pots". I was looking for fresh canvas (I could not find any). I forgot that I have used them all. So I had to reuse the one that I had started (the fruits). I decided to use acrylics and this time around, I am painting a portrait again. I am not sure how it will all turn out, but I am amazed how far I have got with it. Goodness me, is it the painting, is it the paints or is it the creativity? One thing for sure, I have been wanting to start my 3rd, but this time around the idea was just flowing.

+ Mysterious portrait_1 - My 2nd portrait I think. I am not seizing perfection this time around.

+ Mysterious portrait_2 - I am going to have to stick to Acrylics again for it is so easy to play with the paints. Oil really tested me!

+ Mysterious portrait_3 - that's where it will end up! Haha. Luke if you notice, I reused the canvas!

This week will be a slow week. But I am starting a new project on "process" and another one on "pre sales". Well there are TWO running at the same time. That will be massive, in the sense that - hmmm, I need to juggle. I hope these people won't be demanding. The "pre sales" project was my own idea that I proposed to the management and now, a few parties (depts) are interested to "help". So, let's see where this will go. I have stated that, given this materialises into project, I want to manage the project. Let's see.