244. Clean, Clean

This is what I do every morning after breakfast at home. Cleaning my cats' cages and litter bins.

My gloved hand,and in the red basin are litter sands.


Armed with gloved hands, and after letting them out in the kitchen, I spent almost 30 - 40 minutes at the back of the kitchen, cleaning their cages, sweeping the cement floor there and cleaning their litter bins.

I used these scoops to throw their 'pooh pooh' into a plastic bag and add more litter sands into each of their rectangular basins. Afterward I would wash their food and water containers and dry them out in the sun. When dried they are ready to use again when the cats settle back into their cages.


Their cages at the back of my kitchen






While I was cleaning, I will let my 5 cats free to run about in my kitchen for a while.
I'll put a large litter bin for everyone to use in front of my kitchen toilet door.



Nearby I leave some Wiskas & some fresh water ready.



Wiwi my oldest male cat would be the first one to help himself to the Wiskas :)


While Baby another male cat would find himself a good spot to just sit down and relax


Cemi would wait for his turn to eat his Wiskas



These 2 brother & sister, Melo (left) & Mili (right) will not sit down but will play with anything they can find on the floor


After finishing with the clean up I turned to take my laundry from my washing machine and hang the clothes up. And then I will put them all back into their cages with fresh food & water before I turn to my cooking for lunch.

Hah, quite a handful right? Breakfast, Cats, Laundry and then cook for Lunch. By the time I finished with these it would be time for me to go upstair and get some rest for the afternoon.

When I see it is still early to go up I will turn to do some other cleaning, like washing the kitchen sinks or the kitchen toilet. I have stopped taking my weekly maid so these are other extra work which I want to do myself now.

That will be another long list of course :)

I think housework is like your paperwork in the office, they never ends.

Cheerio.

243. Some Local Fruits

Today I suddenly feel like wanting to eat plenty of fruits. Local fruits.

So by midday, after I took a good shower and dressed up, I used my motorbike (btw, I can ride one) to go to the nearest Pasar Tamu where I stayed, to buy some.

By the time I got home my hands were full of plastic bags of fruits.

I got all these:

I bought 2 types of bananas. This is 'Pisang Keling' my favourite. I do not know what other name it has but that is what I called it :) and I also bought these green local oranges. It has been quite a while I have not eaten it.



This papaya is quite ripe ready to eat but I'll put it in the refrigerator for a night and eat it for breakfast tomorrow. Next to it is another type of banana, found abundance in my hometown called 'Pisang Hotel', that's what I called it as I do not know any other name for it. My grandmother called it 'Pisang Hotel' too.
I'll be glad to know if there is any other names for these 2 bananas :)


The pineapple was not in the pictures. I have already eaten it before I took the pictures ha ha... I couldn't wait :p

BTW, the price for pineapples has gone up at the moment here in my hometown. a small one would cost me RM2 to RM3, whereas before I could buy them for RM1 or RM1.50 each.

Nevertheless, local fruits are still much cheaper than the imported ones like apples and the Sunkist oranges.

And they contain as much vitamins, so eat local fruits!

Cheerio.

242. Soy Sauced Chicken Livers

Today for lunch I cooked chicken livers.



This is one of my favourite food. I find many people do not know how to eat this, including my girl Noormy. I kept telling her this is good for her especially after her menstrual period.

I cooked it adding some of this local soy sauce to it.



Simple, cut and clean the livers. I cut moderately small and not too big. I make sure I do not cut the gall bladder but throw it away in one whole piece. Cutting the gall bladder and letting the juice seep out will cause bitterness in the dish later.
So be careful :)

4 - 5 pieces of garlic
2 stalks lemon grass
2" ginger
2 - 3 tablespoons Maggi tomato sauce or chilli sauce
5 tablespoons of our local soy sauce or any soy sauce (can add more)
1 - 2 teaspoons sugar
Pinch of salt and ajinomoto to taste
Some water

Sliced the garlics and the ginger thinly. Ground the bulb of the lemon grass a little.
Heat some cooking oil in a saucepan.
Throw in the sliced ingredients and the lemon grass
Stir well
Add in the cleaned chicken livers
Stir, add some water and let the livers turn brown
Add in the soy sauce and the tomato sauce or the chilli sauce
Stir again, meanwhile adding some water until the livers are cooked
Preferably the sauce are just enough to wet the chicken livers when they are cooked.

Have a try, or blog me another recipe of cooking these chicken livers!

Cheerio.

241. Missing Words

I was waiting for Aya to come off duty when I took this picture while sitting in the car I was driving. I could hear some nice music when this fountain of water went up and down, that is following the tempo of the music being played.

I parked too near the fountain that some of the water got splashed onto the wind up windows of the car. I didn't get wet and I didn't mind :)

I wasn't the only one enjoying the water fountain and the music, I could see many young people sitting on the cement partition on the other side too. I guessed they were like me, waiting for someone either be it parents, friends or love ones to pick them up from work. Or some of them were just enjoying the view and the surrounding.




After a period of time, the water fountain and the music stopped. My eyes ran over to the entrance of the big building and my heart/semangat went down.

Do you see what I see?

I believe the name of the building is 'Bintang Mega Mall' and has been for the past several months ever since the new wings and the parking lot were built. 'Mega' means big hence why 'Bintang Plaza' (it's original name) was changed to being called 'Bintang Mega Mall'.

Even it's new parking lot is called 'Bintang Mega Mall Parking Lot' and not 'Bintang Plaza Parking Lot'.

It's name 'Bintang Plaza' at this entrance even has a 'P' missing.

I know I've been complaining about the queue and the airconditioning at the post office and now this but common man! Miri is a city now and I am proud of being a Mirian.

Cheerio.

240. In a Situation

305pm

I am now at the Post Office, queuing to deposit some cash into Aya & Noormy's ASB account books. I have 95 people in front of me! Isn't that so frustrating?

Hmmm... luckily I have my SONY Walkman with me, so it isn't that frustrating :p

I can see only counter 3, 4, 6 & 8 are open. Counter 8 is for those people who are buying stamps and for registered mails only. Meanwhile counter 3, 4 & 6 are multipurpose.

I have finished filling up the deposit ASB forms and waiting for my turn. Now the voice is calling for no.2359, and my number is 2413. Another 54 people I said and I may have to wait for another 20 minutes I told myself. Hence why I took the time to write this in my small notebook which I always carry around in my handbag. It sure comes in handy at a time like this :)

Fortunately, the voice calling the numbers is going quite fast but...I have not taken my lunch yet!

Anyone ever been in a situation like this?

Help...! my stomach is rumbling lol...

I told myself, after this is done I must head to the SRC (Singapore Chicken Rice) Restaurant. Ahhh...suddenly, I have this desire, longing to eat SRC!

Come 20 minutes, the voice is calling for 2375, another 38 customers to go...

Almost finished writing this, I bide time taking some pictures around me.

Have a look.

The counters, and a man trying to pass his time looking at some posters while waiting for his turn


The crowd of people and the airconditioning is not so good. Probabaly it is such a hot day


The entrance to the Post Office


BTW, I am standing up perched heside the table where we took the numbers. The seats are all full :(

Till next time,

Cheerio.

239. Chicken Feet Anyone?

Many do not know how to eat chicken feet. I do.

It is best boiled and cooked into a soup. That is after chopping off the claws, throwing off the skin over the feet and cleaning them thoroughly of course.

Boil some water in a pot.

Throw in grounded ginger (2" long), grounded small red onion (1 only) and grounded garlic (3 or 4 only) into the boiled water.

Add in the chicken feet and boiled until soft.

Add salt, ajinomoto and pepper to taste.

Eat while the soup is hot.




So much tastier if I dip the chicken feet into this bowl of soy sauce with cut cili padi!



Cheerio.

238. Beautiful Blogger Award - continued

Ok, I am back! Now to do the rules...after accepting the award :)

But first, I'd love to share and nominate each of these bloggers with the beautiful blogger award because I have enjoyed reading their blogs and I think the contents of the posts they write is really beautiful to read :-

Megan
Suanie
CK
Scilla
Norana
Wendy
Manuela
Kak Nora
Temuk
Mira
Patt
Coretanmayaku
In Passing Malaysian
Masak -Masak
Sarawakiana@2

Here are the rules to accept the award :
1. Link the person that gave you the award.
2. Pass this award onto 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered and think are fantastic.
3. Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won the award
4. State 7 things about yourself.

To all 15 bloggers I nominate above, please accept the award :) I am sure it will give us reciprocal links.

Do share your award with 15 other bloggers and you and I will definitely find more blogger friends!

Good luck!

7 things about me :

1. I love my family and pets, my children are very close to me and I am blessed that we can be friends and have the mother and child relationship at the same time.

2. I believe each of us need our own space and freedom at times.

3. I am quiet spoken, but can be fun when I am in the mood to crack jokes or make decisions spontaneously.

4. I like tidiness and comfort, I prefer things kept or put back in their own place and wear clothes which are comfortable rather than put fashion on top of the list.

5. I love eating and trying new food at the same time brisk walks trying to keep healthy. Disappointing at times, because eating can be more often than brisk walking .

6. I prefer typing than writing with a pen or a pensil.

7. I have a black big mole on my right upper arm, a birthmark.

There, you know my secrets already :p

Cheerio.

238. Beautiful Blogger Award - part 1

WOWWwwww....I opened my blog and surprise! surprise! I got this 'beautiful blogger award' from a very charming lady named Viviana. Vie is a WAHM and I've yet to learn more about her (I have not finished reading her blog :P )

Thanksss sooo much Vie for being so sweet and awarding me the wonderful award! (you can see I have put it up on top of my blog). You can just CLICK ON THE AWARD and it will LINK me to you (Vie).

But I've yet to do the RULES when accepting the award, and I will!

I'll be right back!

Thanks again, Muahhsss... !

237. The Hill

I went to the hill next to Taman Awam to brisk walked.

It has been quite a while I had not gone there. I can see some changes. Miri City Council(MCC) has taken the initiative to plant some tall trees alongside the road where we used to brisk walked.

I can see these trees here, they surely will give shade to us brisk walkers soon.









Chairs has been set up too. Nice.




Some parts of the hill still has long grass on both sides of it. As I brisk walked, I saw these 2 familiar plants. Do you recognize them?

Locally, this leaves are called 'Daun Simpor'. I used to see my auntie make 'Kuih Tapai' in these, I did too until now :) In town 'Tapai' are folded in nipah leaves instead.


I called this flower 'Bunga Engkodok' (purple flower) I do not know it's correct name but when I was small, my auntie used to tell me it is good to rub it's petal and juice on scars on my legs. It helps heal and the scar will go away.


I do not know how far this is true :) but I can foresee that if MCC is going to clear the area one day, all these plants will diminished totally because they grow wild.

Cheerio.

236. Char Grilled Lamb Chop

Char Grilled Lamb Chop at Siamese Secrets Restaurant still remain my favorite lamb dish so far. It is grilled lamb in black pepper sauce, decorated with cauliflower, carrots, short beans and french fries. I could sit and finish it all in no time. I can ask for extra black pepper sauce too, plus some chili sauce to eat the french fries with.

Noormy and I went there on Wednesday evening.



We thought it opened at 6pm as usual but when we reached there, the girl said now they opened at 2pm but the restaurant food will be served not until 3pm.

We drank lots of hot Earl Grey tea together with our lamb chops.


The food were good. I recommend if you are a lamb chop lover, try it there!

Cheerio.