Friday, April 3, 2009

Baked Portobello Mushroom

I am a big fan of mushrooms. Have always loved these little fungi, be it Portobello or button mushrooms or even Enoki mushrooms. Whenever I eat out I would surely order a plate of mushroom as my appetizer. I remember once I ordered a baked Portobello mushroom and it cost me whooping RM 15 for just ONE piece of it. Expensive and overcharged indeed. After that experience I decided to try to bake my own Portobello mushrooms instead of letting them charged me such expensive price.

The other day, I bought myself a packed of Portobello mushrooms from supermarket. It only cost me RM 9.99 for a pack of 8 pieces :) And today, I'm just in the mood for some baked mushrooms. After browsing for some recipes online, I decided to follow a simple recipe from a blog I read. I did add additional ingredients to the original recipe as per what I have in my fridge ;P

Baked Portobello Mushroom (My way!)

Ingredients :
8 Portobello Mushrooms
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
3 strips of bacon, chopped
a dash of mixed herb (it's up to you whether you want to put this or not)
a pinch of salt and pepper to taste
Mozarella cheese

Methods :
1. Removed the stem of the mushrooms.
2. Heat up a pan and fried the bacon till half cooked.
3. In a bowl, mix in the tomatoes, onions, half cooked bacon, mixed herb, salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. Meanwhile, heat the oven in moderate temperature and grease a baking tray.
5. Stuff the mushroom with the mix and place it on the baking tray. Bake for 15mins.
6. Half way through, spread some cheese over the stuffed mushroom and continue to bake for another 15 mins or until cheese melts.

The verdict :
A yummy-licious baked Portobello mushroom at a much cheaper price at the comfort of your home and not forgetting, with all the ingredients that you love.
The photos might not look so nice as I am only using my phone camera. Nevertheless the taste that is most important

Sunday, March 22, 2009

An Ugly Side of My Country

This is something which I just got to know about. How corrupted this country is. Yes, the country which I'm staying in. Corruption not only happened in the government but to the everyday lives and this one, to the matter of life and death which really disgust me.

Recently a friend's father got hospitalized. Her dad fainted in his house. Naturally, her brother calls for help. He called his friend to help him get an ambulance as he was trying to help his dad regain conscious. The ambulance is from PBSM which is our Red Crescent Society. I have no idea how this friend get an ambulance from PBSM.

Apparently, it took sometime before the ambulance arrived and the ambulance even lost their way and tell the caller they can't find the place. Is this how an ambulance should provide their services when human being's life is depending on them??? I suggest the company provide them with a GPS system so they have no excuse to be lost or can't find the place.

It's known that whenever we need the ambulance services, we would have to pay a fix sum if not by mileage. What astonished me is that when my friend told me that the ambulance guy actually asked for 'kopi money' before they sent her father to the hospital. Her father is already inside the ambulance and waiting for the ambulance to sent him to the hospital and yet this guy is outside demanding for 'kopi money' before he drive the sick guy to the hospital. This is day light extortion! How can he asked for money when my friend are already paying for the ambulance service? This is a matter of life and death as my friend's father is in critical condition. A minute delay means a minute less for the doctor to save him life.

From some blogs which I just read, it seem that most of the ambulance services are privatised. Even if you called up the hospital and request for an ambulance, you will be told that all their ambulance are out and refer you to a private ambulance service provider. Privatization to me is not a bad idea but when it is privatized and there's no service delivered then what is the use of privatization?? Apparently this seem to be the case whenever a person call up for ambulance services and this is not the first time such issues had been highlighted. I told my friend to write a letter to Ministry of Health and the newspaper to complain and make known about this issue. But she's reluctant and said 'suan ba' (forget about it) and don't wanna make a big fuss over it. But that's not what I see, if everyone who received such services and just forget about it, then these situation will keep on repeating itself. These people will get away easily and keep on doing their daylight extortion. It's sad to know that people are taking advantages out of such situation.

As I read more blogs about ambulance services provided here in M'sia, mostly are complains about their delay in reaching the locations. Especially huge accident location where the victim/s are in really bad shape. I felt bad and ashamed for my country. Ambulance are supposed to help us the 'rakyat' and yet they let us down and some even cause unnecessary death especially to accident victims. I wonder how these people view the value of life. I really hope the Ministry can do something about this and not to let our 'rakyat' down again.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Girls Trip to Lang Tengah Island

My annual girls trip recently is to Lang Tengah in Terengganu. It's one of the less popular islands in east coast Malaysia. In fact, I'm surprised that not a lot of people know of this island, not even Malaysian. I encountered a few fellow Malaysians who asked me where is this Lang Tengah and they only know of the infamous Redang and Perhentian island.

Well there's 5 of us in this trip, supposed to have 6 but one of the girl couldn't make it last minute, what a pity. Nevertheless, 5 of us is more than enough to have good jolly fun in a secluded island hehe. Early Friday morning, we make our way to Subang Airport for our flight to Kuala Terengganu. Ever since KLIA was built, I have never step foot into Subang Airport anymore and I am surprised that they are renovating it and it's so brand new and stylish. Only one disappointment, the entrance to this building is still under renovation and is so small that we nearly missed it. Anyway, the flight was early so we reach there way ahead of our actual arrival time. This is the first time I set foot in Kuala Terengganu's airport and it surely does look good. Better than the one in Kuching. The last time I was there, the airport look very old to me. Anyway, 5 of us shared 2 cabs to Merang Jetty. It was only a half hour drive from the airport. I can see a lot of development undergoing near the airport as we cruise along the way. Before I knew it, I'm already at Merang Jetty. It's a very small jetty with a few wooden stalls selling souvenirs and food. In fact there were only 2 food stalls. As our boat to Lang Tengah is not due untill 11am, we have plenty of time to ourselves and we decided to have our breakfast while waiting for the time to pass in one of the stall. We tried their ready packed nasi lemak which doesn't taste that nice to me and another ready packed of nasi minyak. The nasi minyak taste better with it's curry and some pickle vegetables. The stall owner was very nice to us, attending to a bunch of very demanding ladies and of course we did sweet talked him a lot. Calling him 'handsome' and 'sayang'. hehehehe .

After breakfast, we feel even more sleepy as some of us did not sleep last nite. We couldn't wait to be in the hotel room so that we can take a nap. The boat ride from Merang Jetty to Lang Tengah is another 45 mins or so. By the time we reach the resort, we are all so tired and so wanna sleep (afterall we did not have a good sleep the night before). So we checked ourselves into the resort and went for our lunch (which is provided. All the meals are provided). Surprisingly after lunch, no one wants to go back to the room for a nap. Instead everyone was excited about the beach and water. We had a slow lunch while waiting for the time to pass by as our snorkelling session is at 4pm. Everyone changed into their bikinis and head off to the sun bed out at the beach. Trying to get a nice bikini tan.

Snorkelling wasn't that bad but I don't see as much fishes as compared to when I went Perhentian Island. Praises must be given to CY, cos she finally managed to overcome her fear for water and follow us snorkelling. Although she's very scare but still she give it a try. The instructor were there to help her. Pulling her hand and bringing her around. Kudos to CY! The rest of us just swim around once we jumped into the water. Second day snorkelling was slightly better cos I managed to see some sharks. I did saw a school of them. Not a huge school but a few of them swimming in pack. Silly me wanted to chase after them but of course I can't swim as fast as them. Oh, I did my discovery dive in this trip. My first time ever in diving. It's been my wish to take up diving course but until today I have yet to make it realise. So, this time I took up the discovery dive just to see if I like diving as a hobby or not. Well, turns out I do like diving but I do have some problem with pressure too.

The 3 of us took up the discovery dive and boy, were we a bunch of panic queens. The instructor was kinda surprised as he did not expect those who can swim turns out to be panic queens. Yes, including me! In fact, the only friend of mine who does not know how to swim seem to be quite calm about diving first time in confined water. I went panic when I first dive into the water and my friend who swim very well too. She complained about her mask which water keeps flooding in and I complained that my mouth piece is too loose till I drank a lot of chlorine water. Eventually we did managed to settle down and do our balancing and dive in properly in the pool. But once we are under the water, we are like kids swimming in our different directions and not listening to what our instructor had to said. Poor instructor had to shout out to us like little kids. (I did not aware of this until we were told about it by CY who did not participate. She said it's a very funny scenario.) After lunch, it's time for us to go try out our little diving skills in the open sea. With all the gears attached to us (the tank is very heavy for me!) we walked out to the open sea from shore following our instructor. Once in the sea, we float ourselves before wearing our fins and swim out further. Everyone puts on their masks, checked their mouth piece, make sure the mask is not blurred and in we go into the water. As I sink further into the water, I feel kinda excited that finally I get to do a real dive. haha. As we are just beginners, the instructor keep us closed to him so we wont get lost. He held on to our hand and together we swim under the water towards the big open sea. Well, after awhile I was a bit sad cos there is not much to see. Mostly are dead corals and a few fishes. Yes, the distance between me and the fishes has become closer but I still cant touch the fish haha. After about half hour or so we turn back and swim toward the shore. While the instructor were holding my 2 friends, I swim alone following closely or so behind them with him always turning back to check on me. I do enjoy the moment when I am swimming alone following behind them.

That night, everyone was very tired except for my 2 friends as they got to try night snorkelling with the instructor. He had promised to bring them out in his canoe for a night snorkelling. The rest of us just hang out at the big huge rock while waiting for them to come back. All we do is just lye down and look up to the stars and moon while enjoying the night breeze and the sound of waves. Such a soothing moment. The next day we had to get up early to catch the early boat ride out of the island. Back in KT town, we called up the cab and asked them to bring us to the famous keropok lekor in KT town. Turns out we need to join the already long Q in order to buy these famous keropok lekor. Everyone bought enough for family and friends as souvenirs before heading toward the airport.

We had a great time at the beach and everyone has got a new sexy tan look. As for me, I have extra. I have a 'deaf' ear. My right ear feels like as if it's still under the water. Doctor said might be due to the pressure and there's also a slight perforation in my ear. My hearing is still not fully recovered yet and meanwhile I'm on medication to heal my 'deaf' ear. So, no more diving for me I guess. Sad.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Urging Public to Donate Blood

Saw in the recent news that our blood supply in the blood bank is running low. Would like to help blood bank to urge public to donate their blood in order to restore the supply and to save lives. You will be surprised how a pack of blood can do wonders in a person who really needs it and of course, in saving their lives. These blood supply are normally used for patients who undergo surgery, those involved in accidents, thallasemia, dengue, fire victims, babies, high blood loss for women during delivery, etc. Yesterday as I was driving, overheard from the radio that our National Blood Bank is extending their blood donation operating hours from 7.30am -8pm from Mon to Fri and 7.30am -4pm on Sat.

I have alway think that donating one's blood is kinda noble job. As blood is only self produced in ones' body thus make it even more precious. Besides, there are benefits in donating blood. It helps to reduce the risk of heart attacks by eliminating excessive iron in the heart, stimulates the generation of red blood cells and most importantly, knowing that your blood can save someone's life. I personally can not donate blood as I'm a 'vampy' and so I would like to thank all who have done this noble job of donating blood and may God bless u all.

Lastly, if you still have not donate your blood, please do go and help our blood bank regain their full blood supply. It does make a difference in someone's life.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Spring Cleaning for CNY

As Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I'm sure everyone is busy with spring cleaning and CNY shopping. Me, like most of them, am a last minute kinda person. I dragged my spring cleaning till the very last minute ie a week before first day of CNY. I did clean up here and there but you know there's still plenty to clean. It's the time when I usually 'found' back all those 'forgotten' stuffs. Be it my bags or clothes or accessories etc. I just realized that I haven't been using a lot of my bags and am surprised to know that I even own a certain bag. It's also the time to re-design my room per say or time to tidy up the over packed wardrobe. Yup, time to take out those clothes which I have not been wearing but not willing to part with and donate it to the charity. Since I'm not willing to part with ... how to donate it out le? Sigh, I have a very bad habit. I just like to keep a certain things thus my room is fully packed with a lot of 'rubbish'. Rubbish to others but to me, it's those little cute stuffs or souvenirs or miniature perfumes etc that 'I think I might need/use in the future' ... Only thing is, that future seldom hardly come by and these things always ended up in the rubbish bin after a few years down the road. No wonder the recycling business is so good. Thanks to a lot of people like me :p

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Year 2009

What a way to start my new year! Just yesterday, the car which we just bought is badly damaged due to accident. Yup, second day of the new year and already I'm in bad luck, literally speaking.

It was mid day and I got a call from my dad (he's using the car) telling me that he had an accident and asked me to go with him to the workshop so I can bring him home while his car is left in the workshop. I asked him who he bang and he told me it's a taxi. Why do I get a not so good feeling after hearing this ??? I'm sure most of you would know. It's pretty typical and common here that whenever you had an accident and if the one you knocked is either a cabby or motorbiker, you will tend to have to go through some dramatic phrase from these people. I don't mean to be harsh on them but it's proven case. Ask around your friends and you will know by means of dramatic scenario.

My came when we reach the workshop. One look at my dad's car and I told him to just make a police report and claim insurance for our and the other party's car damages. The cab's back bumper was broken and there's no major damages and the cabby claims that when he got knocked it caused him to got his toe hurt and it was bleeding. I told him that we will go make a police report together and claim MY insurance. I've called my friend and he advised me not to pay him a single cent and let the insurance company settle it. Come to think of it, I should cos I have been paying my insurance every year. Only thing is I will lost all my NCB but it's better to have to fork out my own cash.

Before we proceed to make our report there's the whole dramatic scene with the cabby and his wife both voicing out their dramatic stories. Firstly, I don't understand why he have to go pick his whole family to go to the workshop with us and secondly, I think they expect us to give them some extra money. Why I say so ? It's cos both of them keep on emphasizing that the cab is their only means of income and once the cab is in workshop he can't work. Then there's some story that school is starting soon and his kids need money to buy books and clothes and per day his earning is about RM 200 and that we should compensate his income loss. I was like ... WTF

Accidents happened and nobody wants it. I already agreed to pay for his car damages and now he wants more? Compensation of loss of income? What about my dad? Without his car, he too will be loss of income. Both hubby and wife keep on lamenting their dramatic stories and even said I'm being mean. If I'm being mean I would not have bother to talk to much to him. My dad somehow got soft hearted and gave him them RM 100 for compensation. I was like ...ggrrr should not have given them a single cent as we already agreed to pay for their CAR damages. So, eventually I told the cabby, we go make the police report and he can write everything and anything about him being hurt and compensation for his loss of income in his report and send the report to the insurance company. I told that the insurance company will settle it for him.

Finally, we managed to make the police report and when he was seeing the sergeant in charge, I guess he lamented his dramatic stories again to the sergeant. When he came out, he told me the sergeant intro a runner to help him settle his problems. The runner will bring the cab to his workshop and will do all the documents for him and will also liaise with my insurance company. I told him good! Of course cos I don't have to deal with his dramatic stories anymore! After that send the car to the workshop (recommended by my friend) and now my dad is without car for 2 weeks. So who's gonna compensate his loss of income I wonder ?

Come to think of it, the cabby told me he earn RM 200 per day, RM 200 x 30 days and it's a RM6000 per month. Wow! better income than me provided if he works everyday of the month. Anyway, it's all over now and I do hope my new year will be a blessed and fruitful year ahead.