Wedding Invitation Cards Delivery

Primary school from the back.

"Sent wedding invitations card to SGI teachers, jogged around Lake Gardens, bought tau sar pneah to take back, gonna make peanut biscuit tonight haha!"

That was the message I put up in my Facebook wall last night, which immediately attracted the attentions from other friends. They were asking where is their invitation cards. I am thinking to email them only-lah. Save cost and time haha! Anyway, since so many people were curious about that wedding thingy, I will explain the real story here.

School has reopened from this week onwards after the Raya break. Schools as in the primary and secondary school in Malaysia, not Japan. I returned to my secondary school yesterday morning to deliver something to the teachers. The stuff I wanted to distribute to the teachers were readily inserted inside some white envelopes. I walked into the staff room, and went to one group of teachers. Miss Ng, Puan Liang, and Puan Choo were there and I passed the mysterious white envelopes to them.

"What is this? Getting married isit?" asked Miss Ng.

"Haha, no-lah, just the pictures we took few weeks ago", I explained.

The canteen that still remain the same until today. However, I am not really a canteen-boy.

Perhimpunan for the afternoon session boys.

However, that statement from Miss Ng gave me an idea to pull some pranks to the rest of the teachers. I tried on several other teachers and some really believed that I was giving them my wedding invitation card haha. They were in disbelief state, kept on asking me if I am sure I am getting married at this young age, only to see their pictures inside the envelope. The one who kena the worst must be Puan Kunavathi, our Pendidikan Moral teacher. She laughed out so loud when she found out it weren't wedding cards, but pictures we took together lol.

I think she would now say I am a "budak tidak bermoral", not practising the "Nilai Kejujuran" haha. Wow, never thought I can still recall one of those sisteen "Nilai-nilai Murni" after so many years haha.

Talking about marriage and wedding stuff, I got something interesting to tell here. No, not that I am getting married, that is still some time to go. Besides, if I mention about this matter to my Mom, she will surely say to me, "You very hiau (gatal) aready isit? Wanna kahwin now?" haha.

Which SGI student doesn't recognise Mr Onn.

Okay here is the story. I was talking to Mr Onn, one of our favourite teacher who told us whoever who never get an A1 in Mathematics (not Add Maths), then that fella is considered failed in that subject. But I guess he is more famous for his (dirty) jokes told in the class during our Maths lesson than the lesson itself. Perhaps Mr Onn overheard the wedding invitation cards prank I was doing to the other teachers and while I was talking to him, he asked me if I am sure I am getting married already.

"You know or not, getting married is the first step towards suicide," he told me, which I think is quite true haha!

Fast forward several hours later, I was back home and after postponing the plan to make peanut biscuit for three days, I had my Mom to help me make them. Actually I am quite proud because this is the first time I bake something at home. Back then, I only helped my Mom whenever she bakes. Help as in helping her to spread egg yolk on the cookies before being bake, using the skills I acquired from helping my Dad when he paints the house haha.

I know Raya is over, but didn't they say that it lasts for one whole month? So, this can be considered as kueh raya also, no?

Ingredients needed: wheat flour, ground peanuts, sugar and cooking oil (not in the picture) in 3:3:2:2 ratio.

Mix everything in a huge bowl.

Knead until it turned like baby's poo.

Roll the poo into small balls and use toothpaste cover to indent the balls in the centre.

Spread egg yolk on top and bake for ten minutes. I know they look kinda gross here haha.

The outcome - successful ones.

The ones that got into two separate disastrous accidents haha.

I am taking four boxes of these back to Japan. Who want some of these can email me haha!

Seafood Dinner At Matang

My summer break is heading towards the end sooner than later, something which I try not to think about it.

Before I head back to Japan, my family and I, along with my grandma went to have a dinner together. The place was exactly the same place I went a week ago. Even the table we sat was the same table haha. The moment we walked into the restaurant, the workers already looked at us as if we are regular customers there. But we were there for the second time in less than a week, so I guess we can consider ourselves regular already-lah haha!

The signboard you should look for before turning left into Matang.

I will not be doing anymore introduction of this restaurant because I have done it in the previous entry, including the directions to the place. This time around, the numbers of customers were far lesser than a week before mainly because it was a week day, and also because most of the people from outstation had gone back to their cities.

A week earlier, there were old man who would guard the parking areas and demand for RM2 for each car after the customers had their dinner, before they leave. Clearly they were just trying to earn extra pocket money and I just ignored them. This time, they were nowhere to be seen demanding money from people but I still saw that same uncle sitting down by the drain. Perhaps he knew we were locals, and there would be hardly a chance for them to collect parking money.

Before our orders came, here are the list of casts this time around lol.

I often make full use of my camera whenever I have free time, especially when I wait for the food to be served. Making full use of my camera here refers to taking random pictures of other people without their knowledge; although some knew I was taking their pictures, so they purposely pose at the camera =.=||

Actually, that refers to me-lah.

Pretending to talk to my sister (although kena ignored =.=||) so that I won't look like I'm posing to the camera wtf.

Mom started to emo 'coz the food aren't served yet haha.

Second Sister tried to cover her mouth from screaming too loud. a cat was underneath her chair haha. Kucing pun takut =.=||

Collecting ice cubes to throw at the cat lol!

Cold war between Mom and Sis haha!

Mom telling a secret to ah mah haha!

When I went to asked my grandma to tag along us, she told me she had had her dinner. That was only like half past five. But I insisted on her following us and treat is as a family outing. When I asked her later why she had her dinner that early, she told me something that made me LOL-ed.

"Actually I haven't eaten yet one. I bluff you only-mah. Hehe", she replied me with a smirk haha!

Like I have mentioned before, you will not made to wait too long before food are served.

Cabbage soup with eggs, seaweed and fried onions.

Stri fried dou miao (pea sprout) and bean sprout.

Stir fried big prawns.

Steamed fish with ginger, dried chillies, garlic and ien sui as garnishing.

Curry squid with onions.

Bird-eye chillies with soya sauce and chopped garlic.

Five-course dinner haha.

After 30 minutes, this is the outcome.

A family picture taken before food were served.

I think I should demand some payment from this restaurant for doing as many as two free writing-ups for them haha.

Family Outing At Matang

Short note: I just noticed this is my 601st post woott!!

While the Muslims were celebrating Raya last Sunday, my family and I had our very own celebration as well.

I joined my family for a seafood dinner at Matang, a small village situated about 15 kilometers from Taiping town, famous for its seafood. The way there is pretty simple; no turnings are required and you just have to go straight for about 10 kilometers from the crossroad in Simpang and you would come to a signboard which shows Matang on the left. Another 5 minute-drive and you should see several seafood restaurants. One of them is this restaurant on your left - Restoran Ghee Seng. There is a Chinese temple just next to the restaurant, just in case you are unsure of the right restaurant.

A friend of mine first introduced me to this restaurant a couple of years ago, and my uncle's friend told him the same thing too. So, I guess this should be one of the well-known restaurants in that area. The price and quality of the food are satisfactory and I would recommend anyone who pays a visit to Matang to have a taste of the local seafood here.

Just to avoid the huge crowd, it is better to go before seven in the evening. We were among the first to be there and in just a matter of few minutes, the restaurant was already full-house. Another advantage to be early birds is that you would not have to wait long for the food to be served. We got our first dish in less than ten minutes and the rest followed continuously.

The lady just done cooking our spicy chilly crab.

Fish and other seafood being prepared for cooking.

Customers can choose the seafood on their own if they wish to do so.

Randy should love this a lot, he himself being a great crapper haha!

Like I have just mentioned, no more empty tables available by half past seven.

My uncle and aunt did all the ordering and in all, there were seven dishes. Something like seven-course dinner-lah haha! Alright, time for food pictures. Just for your information, I am not very sure of the dishes names, so I just guessed their names only haha.

Spicy chilly crab (actually not spicy at all, but I just wanna make the name sound nicer wtf)

Squid in black soy sauce with dried chillies, onion and spring onions.

Some kind of green vegetable Yao mak in sesame oil.

Big prawns fried with some sauce (I suspect it is oyster sauce).

Salted cabbage (kiam chai) soup with tomatoes and Japanese tofu.

Fried small fish with soy sauce and bird-eye chillies (cili padi) as sauce.

Steamed fish with ginger and some weird smelling vegetable (ien sui) as garnish.

I think I sucks in giving random names to the dishes haha. Finally, a group picture of us.

We come from a rojak family haha.

The aftermath lol.

After our dinner, half of us decided to drop by Kuala Sepetang, a fishing village surrounded by mangrove forest along the Straits of Malacca. It is just a small little town about 5 kilometers from Matang but the atmosphere is certainly a new thing to people who are used to living in big cities and town.

People here live their life on their own slow pace; you can see the youngsters cycling around the town, while their parents repair their fishing nets inside the house, and the old folks sitting at coffee shops and having chats with their peers. Seeing the people here spending their past time doing these simple stuff makes you wonder, they can still survive without Facebook. So, instead of poking each other and feeding your pets at Facebook, better go get some gasing and play it behind your backyard haha.

One of the main roads in Kuala Sepetang.

The station is no longer there, only the board that shows the spot where the station used to be.

Credits to KTM Berhad for putting down this piece of information for tourists.

Hidden between the old wooden houses in this town is a piece of our country's history, going back more than a century ago. Try recalling the tin-mining chapter in History and you should be familiar with the name Port Weld, the old name for Kuala Sepetang. This is where the birth of the country's railway system when the first track in Tanah Melayu that links between Port Weld (Kuala Sepetang) and Taiping were launched by Sir Hugh Low, formerly Perak Resident at that time.

The track served as a connection between quarry area in Larut to the nearest harbour, Port Weld. The track construction however make the Taiping Railway Station along Jalan Stesen as the first station ever in this country. Now I realise I have been passing through a historical place since I was young almost every day; just like how Michelle have walked pass A'Famosa Fort every day when she goes to school. I wonder if that makes us a historical couple haha.

Okay, lame joke haha.

Please ignore Mom's silly pose haha. But she is sporting enough to do such stuff lol.

From what I was told by my Mom, students during the olden days get to attend Jawi lessons. My Mom attended that class for some time and she can actually read simple Jawi characters. How true is that, I also dunno-lah; but that is what she claimed haha. She sensed that we doubted her, so she walked to the board and tried to prove to us her ability lol.

There were some Jawi on that board, so she began showing off her skills.

If you noticed, she took a short break at the end because she had forgotten how to read the last syllable haha. So, she simply came out with some random pronunciation and somehow, the word "Port Weld" came out automatically lol. She purposely pronunced it as fast as she could 'coz she wasn't sure of the correct pronunciation and to cover that up haha.

We later walked through the fisherman's houses and come to the jetty that connects to another part of the fishing village. There is a boat service for people who wish to go across the river, but we didn't take the boat across the river. Instead, we only took a few shots at the jetty. Doing that got us weird stares from the locals haha.

Bicycles, the main mode of transportation for the locals, parked along the small lane to the jetty.

The guy makes endless trips between the river for the locals who wanna cross the river.

Ladies of all generations posing at the jetty.

Me being the only guy there, but still wanna pose haha!

I will make another entry on what is interesting on the other side of the fishing village in my trip with Ah Fu recently on another entry. He felt that this place is even better than Clam Jetty in Pengkalan Weld, Penang because it is more lively and bigger. I guess that is because the one in Penang has been listed as one of the World Heritage Site by UNESCO and there has been too many tourists who flock the area, hence making it too commercialised and the real feeling of a fishing village is no longer there.

Anyway, while waiting for that interesting entry, here is something no less interesting to make up for that.

Add size and get free iPhone. Not a bad deal at all.

If you think you need the service, faster go call Dr. Lucky haha.