The Weeks in Pictures

It's the rainy season, until October. It rained every day, and I like it very much because I prefer the cold. This is taken at 730 am in the morning, when the school was about to start. My plants get more than enough water and the weed grew like, oh well, weed. Have to pay somebody to have them cut soon... 

The bane of them all.... Science presentation. I took the month off teaching and forced my students to do it instead. The result? TERRIBLE. But they appreciate me a lot more when they understand how difficult it was to make people understand, making the complicated, simpler i.e. be a teacher.

(Most presentation were show-and-tell. They read from texts and were not able to describe the process clearly, or even methodically)

I am teaching again as usual, after warning them to never ever get in my way again while teaching. 

They agreed, readily. Lesson learned.

Students at the assembly square.... on a Friday.

My multi coloured chili plant. I love this plant, as it flowers and produced chilies everyday.  My thai basil and mint are doing ok. But my basil plant died of fungus infection (damn it!). I may want to but some flowering plants soon.

I love sunflowers, but was not able to grow some. 

This was taken during a fire drill sometime ago. The firemen talked about how to extinguish certain type of fire, using two types of fire extinguishers. I was chosen as the teacher representative to extinguish the petrol-fueled fire in the picture.

It's a 'meh' experience. (Arson was a childhood hobby).

Me and my niece at a wedding reception. I drove my mom here, her friend's son had this ceremony at a new university hall.

My niece Qasrina is having ice cream as dessert. When I was her age, we couldn't get any ice cream., because it was never part of the menu. But as weddings got bigger and more exorbitant, the menu and decor reflect thus.

People eating in the hall, wedding reception.

The place where the bride and groom shall take their place for the guest to admire, see. This is also called sitting-in-state ceremony @ 'bersanding'. 

The set up in this picture in typical for a big wedding, where smaller weddings may have 1/3 of this size.

The ultra luxury weddings may even have living flowers and armies of followers to company the newlyweds on stage.

(I rarely wait for the bride and groom, I like to leave early before the rush) 

The food. Typical high cholesterol, glorious blood clotting food!

Fat is flavour!

And lastly, some of my students accompanying me to eat at some nearby food shop. I do this sometimes when I stayed in school as warden for the day.

To answer why I am infamous to some people.... it is mostly my own fault. I was a fiery teacher who spewed profanity whenever I don't get my way, even in class. Not only my words were harsh, I ruled all my classes with an iron fist.

Students tolerate me, hate me, or whatever.

And these students will tell their parents, and their parents will contact the people above - why is this monster teaching our children?!!

I don't know where you come from.... But if a teacher cannot scold you for anything... what will you end up being? Spare the rod and ruin the children.

But no worry. The new Government, with the new Education Minister is accelerating the rot by restricting teachers a lot. "The students cannot be harmed emotionally. The students cannot be scolded. No punishment will ever meted. etc "

Don't worry, it was the end of Fiery Ramzu. Well Hello Docile Discipline Teacher!   

Coleslaw and Carnivorous Me.

I love eating (who doesn't?) and I am a passable cook myself. Usually I prepare food for myself and seldom cook for others. This is because I hate to listen people criticizing my dishes. My friends who had the fortune to taste my food know to keep the comments to themselves (I am infamous for being brutal to unwanted critics). Hey, I never said I am an amazing chef! That's why humbly I admit I am only passable. 

Maybe because I am more interested in easy food preparations. Can't understand why we need to slave hours at the stove and oven. It's hot over there!

 I cannot say I love western food that much. But once in a while I made coleslaw out of scratch. The one in KFC is rather good and I was inspired to make it better by adding more stuff that I like. White cabbage, carrots and mayo might be the usual ingredients, but I added bellpepper, cherry tomatoes and onion. I also substituted the regular mayo with the Japanese one (Japanese soy sauce and mayo taste a lot better than regular, try them).

So that's why my coleslaw looks way more colourful. Once I tried purple cabbage, and found out while the stuff is more expensive, the taste remains the same. So why bother? 

 I love meat. I could have it with everything (except cakes, that would be silly). Beef, veal, mutton, lamb, buffalo, yum! (I don't do pork or any of its derivatives because I am a Muslim). 

Every month I'd buy a huge hunk of meat from Tesco, and sometimes snatch some bargained portions too, and these usually would be cooked the same day. I'd cut the huge piece of meat into portions that I can cook later and freeze them. 

Slowcook, soup, stirfry, with veges, with pasta, in chilli, (Not roasted though, because amazingly I don't have an oven) I put meat in anything I fancy. I do love my meat to be a bit raw, because that's the second point I like about meat, other than the taste - its texture. (So I am so perplexed WHY people overcooked their meat till the meat falls off the bone / butter-soft / fork-tender?!! Why don't you just put it in the blender and obliterate it to mush instead?)

I love my carbs to be overcooked though.

Anyway, the pieces of meat above were drenched in lime juice. I read it somewhere that this is a way to preserve without refrigeration, and tenderize the meat a bit. Before cooking, I have to wash the pieces of meat or they will taste bitter. [Anyway, it does work. The acidity in the lime stop microorganisms dead] 

And this artery clogging meal above is actually a rarity. I had some lamb in the freezer and decided to have a fry up. I added some sliced raw onion and a huge dollop of the coleslaw I made. From the crusts in the pan, I made some gravy with black pepper. 

Notice the black steak knife. I have it for several years and even bring it whenever I try steaks outside. (I was never satisfied with the knives provided, they are either dull or just flimsy. Once I got a butter knife to eat my steak with! Steaks are still new in the food scene here).

p.s. - I am not very adventurous with my food, and prefer to stick to the same dishes, even when ordering in restaurants. Maybe because most of the time when I tried something new, I was a bit disappointed with the taste. Yes, i am judgemental, and i don't want people to judge my food too. Hahahahaha!

To the Seaside With Friends

Living in a small diverse state has many advantages for me. I can go anywhere from the mall to the mountains in a short period of travelling time. Heck, we can go shopping at Parksons and then be at the foot of the highest peak in less than two hours! But this post is not about malls or mountains... 

 I love the beach. But I stopped swimming in the sea for a very very long time, mainly because I hate the heat and the sand. (So why the heck you are there in the first place?!)

I go there to unwind with friend(s). We just sit under the trees, take in the scenery and enjoying the sea breeze. Oh, and do some people watching too.

Above is a friend who insist me take his picture with the small banner-thingy soccer fans bring to the matches (I am SO not into football). 'Pahang' is his home state, some 200 km away from here.  

What else we do by the beach? Mostly we talk, while NURSING to our own smartphones. (I hate this, sometimes I asked them to put down their phones and look at ME).

What we talk about? Anything. from local crime to why-is-he-wearing-such-an-ugly-pair-of-shorts-to-the-beach?

In this photo, it was about 6.45 pm, and the sun set at 7.05 pm (info from my smart phone). There were still people swimming and doing activities by the beach. The place was not sparkling clean, but ok. If I come to the beach in the afternoon, I can witness some municipal workers cleaning up the beach, and they do this daily, methinks. 

The sun is setting...  and behind clouds. There were still people. And my friends were cranky because they were hungry. We only stay at the beach for an hour, and rarely more than that. Usually after, we may seek food at the nearest restaurants. Some of the best dishes I know are from these eating places by the sea. But this is NOT a food blog :)

I had something minor done to my kitchen and will blog about it soon. I was unable to cook for a few days because of this, it made me miss my own cooking, ha!

Cakes

Testing testing....
Is my blog still useful?

Murderous carnivorous me

This only happened some few hours before;

The bandit leered from under his curved horned helmet. A miasma of unholy stench could almost be seen emanating from his unwashed body. In his arms, swinging lazily under expert control, was a huge broadsword. Every bit as ugly as its master.

"You are unarmed, boy. And alone. Tis a most wonderful opportunity to strip you clean of any valuables. And then mebbe we let you go unharmed, boy," Mr Smelly said, walking unconcerned towards me with the huge, huge meatcleaver of his.

"Oh come on Bobo, just get over with the kid." The bandit had a woman partner, who stayed further back, near the rock crops of this fantastic scenery. Unlike Bobo, who was heavily armoured like a rhino, the woman only wore leathers, with a cruel bow ready in her hands, a dagger at her hips, and quivers ready.

She may stood further aback to avoid smelling her fragrant partner, but I knew better, she was ready to support Mr Bobo with her arrows if the victim got creative....

"So what shall it be, boy? Put down everything you own and as I am feeling rather charitable today, we shall let you go. We are feeling charitable today, eh Agnes?" the big boorish man nodded to his partner over his shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever Bobo," Agnes put her right leg upon a rock as she un-notched her readied arrow and put it back into the quiver. Easy target, me.

I unhitched my backpack from behind, but I refused to let it drop to the ground. Bobo the Smelly Bandit was not impressed with with this silent bravery. Agnes shifted her legs and waited with arms crossed further behind the advancing bandit.

"Now lookit here boy... We can do this the hard way if you want."

I dropped the bag.

"Good boy. Now...."

And Mr Bobo was slammed backwards by a double dose of fire and lightning from my outstreched hands.

"I am not your BOY, Bobo!" as a larger gout of flame erupted from my left palm. And for good measure a deadly slew of sparks from my right electrified the bandit's armor. He lit up like a Christmas tree.

It only took seconds to turn the bandit into a pile of ashes and molten steel.

Agnes screamed and turned to run.

"Battle mage. NO!"

A petrification spell hit her hard on the back, lifted her well of the ground for a couple of feet, before crashing among the bushes."

I dragged the late Bobo's broadsword to where Agnes lay unmoving. Her eyes were wide with horror, pleading me for mercy.

"I bet you that I don't feel so charitable today, eh Agnes?"

I swung the black sword towards her neck.


---------------------------------------- end.

So you may guess that I spent a lot of time with my games, and you are right. Games are being horrificly more real these days, to the chagrin of many parents and responsible adults. But heck, I thank the people who made dreams come true to many guys out there. It's an outlet, you see?

Or you prefer me out there with a machete, cutting people for money (after school)? :P

Anyway, just got back from Tesco, and bought myself a few kilograms of beef. I have my freezer stocked full with meat. I love my veges, but cannot suppress the T-Rex inside of me.

I love meat. Yum.

p.s. - Sorry for neglecting to visit your blogs dear friends. I promise to remedy this soon.