GOODBYE 2013... THE YEAR THAT WAS...

sun setting final day @ Sri Kinabalu

2013 is an eye opener and soul searching year. Recalling my 2013 resolution with a twist, a twisted year it was, note to self. Be very careful of what you asked the universe! The universe listens to your wishes. On a brighter note, many beautiful memories were made along the way and I thank all for their positive input in my life.

January 1^st, had lunch with LL, at my Club, KDE after the place that we wanted to go was closed due to the night before. January also welcomes home my cousin NS from New Zealand and we went on a makan-ing (eating) spree all over Kuala Lumpur for her to get reacquainted with authentic Malay dishes.

February see me holidaying in Kuala Terengganu as usual to be with my sis’ family. Another opportunity for me to taste, experienced and savor the local delicacies. And I go all out in interviewing the stall owners. It was a great adventure and my sister Dr S, supported my inquisitiveness and go out of her way to places for me to take a photo shoot of the midin shoots (a kind of ferns). And here in Terengganu too, my other sister SAH showed her skilled and expertise in cooking the fish head curry!

midin shoots

Yong's fish head curry

March and April were a busy month doing the taxes, assignments and presentations and of course house hunting for I am leaving my abode of 13 years for good. May was another busy month packing my 13 years of accumulated treasures and trash, memorables and tokens, keep sakes and clutters. The month of May also saw me burning the mid night candles for my final examinations while at the same time house hunting, packing, labeling, snapping photos upon photos of my condo at every all opportunities and reminiscing my days at Sri Kinabalu Condominium: Period.

empty ~~~ adious~~~

Finished my final on 9^th June and moved house on 10^th June with the help of my beloved nephews Kamil, Aiman and Ezwan. My sis, Dr. S and family came over for a week end to help me unpacked and rearranged my furnitures to an acceptable order. A big thank you from the bottom of my heart!  Attended two beautiful heartwarming weddings in June, oh what a beautiful June’s brides they were!

Celebrated my birthday in July with a bang with a pre 2^nd July dinner and birthday breakfast with my BFF, followed with another two birthdays’ dinners with Id and HH and closing it with a blast in Bangkok, Thailand with my Glam buddies! This is a 360 degrees contrast compared to my uneventful day in 2012 when everyone thought that I was celebrating with someone!

 

breakfast birthday bash!

Observed Ramadhan in July. Eid was celebrated quietly on the first day and with a blast on the 5^th day of Eid and organizing an impromptu open house at my rented condo and inviting the usual clan plus my close cousins, few friends and my office staffs. Savoring delicious such as Yemeni chicken rice, fried macaroni, fruit cocktail puddings and truffles all courtesy of the chef, my beloved sister, Dr S and sous chef, NN. Also on the menu were my eldest sister, Yong’s mouth watering sambal lodeh and lemangs, courtesy of my nephew, Awa.

Welcoming a brief stay of a little sparrow in my life in September and experiencing full throttle pain in the gum hence bidding goodbye to my wisdom tooth. October is a month of Foodie adventure. And November saw me cruising over the horizon to Phuket and Krabi via Penang. It is a life time adventure to say the least.

As usual, December was pretty busy with vocation commitments and socials engagements. December also witnessed me starting on a strict diet which I observed religiously much to contentment and reflected in me managing to slip into my black baju kurung just in the nick of time to attend to my UiTM BFF’s son wedding in Tasoh Lake, Perlis while having fun getting lost close to the Malaysia-Thailand border!

Lost- <> 7 km from Malaysia-Thai border!

Had lunch finale with my BFF at Ruzz Aladin Briani Gam Johor and dinner finale at Jiran café with my all time, always there persona, SAY. In conclusion, the most significant event in 2013 was me moving from my 13 years abode with such a heavy heart wrenching feelings. But life must go on and I understand that was my pass and I had to learn to let go. In fact I had.

mee rebus- Ruzz Aladin

teary teary year

~Acepaizah~

Tasoh Lake Resort & Retreat, Perlis- A Wedding's Adventure

wedding dais

It was a travelling adventure that I am unlikely to forget till the end of time. So much memories were made along the journey that solidified our decades of friendship between my BFF, HH, NAR, [the groom's mom] and yours truly. Well the journey itself is entitled to its own post on another posting. We received invites for a wedding reception from my ITM's BFF (then, now University Technology MARA, Uitm). So, off we went to Tasoh Lake Resort & Retreat which  is situated next to the Timah Tasoh dam about 15 KM from the border town of Padang Besar, Perlis. The wedding was held on 21st December 2013. This would be my third time to Perlis,[first-NAR's wedding, 2nd - sending my nephew to UiTM, Arau branch], smallest state in Malaysia situated northern of the Peninsular sharing its border with Thailand up north and the Andaman sea on the eastern coast.

cake cutting ceremony

Upon entering the Reception Hall at the Tasoh Lake Resort & Retreat, we were greeted by our host and promptly ushered us to the buffet spread which to our pleasant surprise consists of authentic traditional Malay northern cuisine beyond the usual "standard" wedding menus that were very synonyms to Klang Valley's wedding reception.

buffet counter
bamboo shoots curry-1st tray

The menu consists of curried sweet young bamboo shoots cooked with diced beef. The bamboo shoots were crunchy and soft at the same time and you can play with your food by eating layer by layer. I had seconds for them! There were also talang fish (a big kind of fish akin to tuna) cooked with chili paste. And in my wildest dreams, they also served grilled chicken. Imagine, grilled chicken served at a wedding reception, a pleasant mind boggling encounter indeed to me and I cannot stop myself from going for seconds. I was also told that it is not unusual in Perlis or northern state like its neighbouring state of Kedah, for the host to serve salted fish too with all its accompanying salad, shoots and leaves together with varieties of sauces and dips. I was pleasantly shocked when I took a large bite of the salted fish which in my wildest dream thought was simply a fried fish!

salted fish and salad +shoots+leaves

sauces n dippings

seconds

Overall, the food were simply delicious luscious sweet melt that teases our every senses. It was a pleasant and out of the world wedding reception experience for us. Thank you Nor Adibah Abdul Rahim and husband Ku Hamid Ku Daee for inviting us. Oh my foodie scale, of course it is a perfect 10!

northern waves
~Acepaizah~

desserts
watermelon slices-kuih karas-cup cake

Dieting starts early @ Naili's Place, Ampang Point

sin-less grill chicken?

December is fast approaching like a runaway train on a downhill track. I am trying to get my bragging right of losing my kilos as per my New Year's resolution which seems blurring now. I have no time to waste after my gastronomic adventure on Libra Star Cruises.  Like the NIKE saying, I Just Do It, I started my die-t on Monday, 2^nd December. However, I am not well verse in the kitchen and depended heavily on street fares and on mercy of buyout food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Notwithstanding, I have an enormous appetite that need tantalizing mouth watering dishes to appease my daily needs. One of the places that are willing to substitute their fries with lots of coleslaw is Naili’s Place situated at one corner outside the Ampang Point Shopping Centre just opposite the Ampang Putri Specialist Hospital, Selangor.

I ordered the Grill Chicken which is topped with black pepper sauce that is not spicy. In fact the boneless chicken practically swimming in the sauce. My chicken is accompanied with fries which I politely requested it to be substitute with coleslaw. In fact the coleslaw too was swimming in its own sauce! The chicken is well grilled, crispy and tender and moist. In my quest against the weighing machine, I discard the crispy chicken skin. Not bad. I should get a pat on my back.

dried up fish & chips

My BFF ordered Fish and Chips. The Fish is quite dry and is too thin,  may be being deep fried too long. Of course it is accompanied with coleslaw and the mandatory fries. BFF’s son ordered Chicken Chop and again the Chicken was swimming in the mushroom sauce. I guess, Naili’s Place is very generous with their sauce, though the sauce were very diluted and watery! No short change here.

chicken chop swimming in mushroom sauce

I observed that Naili’s coleslaw is quite tasty considering that I am not a fan of cabbage!

So, for all wannabees - yo yo dieters, Naili’s Place is a good place to start your diet, if you are not preparing your own food. On Acepaizah’s scale, the Grill Chicken and Chicken Chop is a 7, but the Fish and Chips may be given a 6, I reckon. And I am being generous here. The ambiance is great with an outdoor rustic setting in the city which Acepaizah’s scale tipped to an 8 and value for money, I will give a cool 7. 

fast track dieting
~Acepaizah~

Cruising on Libra Star Cruises with Pak Nil to Phuket & Krabi

Lunch wt Captain Aznil @ Spices
Libra Star Cruise

I had been harping to KN that I wanted to go on a cruise on a big ship. It is beginning to sound like an old record playing over and over again. By chance, Pak Nil is planning for a cruise with his fans. We jumped to the idea, and the rest as the saying goes, is history. Travelling from Kuala Lumpur in a tourist bus before the break of dawn to reach Penang Port before 12 in the afternoon was a very tiring and body aching adventure to say the least.

Upon embarking the Big Cruise Vessel we were ushered to our tiny cabin on one of the deck which later we had an exhausting maze time! Dinner was served at 6 in the evening. It was a barbeque dinner and the lines were so long. However, due to the efficiency of the crew, we breezes through them with our plate full to the brim. (N.B. we missed our proper lunch!)

Crustacean battalion
ready to serve

My favorite crustacean delicacies were waiting for me in a big round steel pot. And they were not simply soldiers or majors of the crustacean battalion, they were brigadier generals! My oh my. All my tiredness and aching symptoms simply vanished at the sight of the well grilled prawny crustaceans.

grilled whole lamb

My companion, KN on the other hand was eyeing and feasting her attention to the grilled whole lamb. Without much thought and hesitation we heaped our large dinner plates to our delights, throwing lifetime  acquired table/buffet manners to the wind @ open sea!

grilled juicy corn on cob

It was one dinner to be remembered and cherished to the end of time. The prawns were simply delicious, fresh, with succulent and sweet flesh which does not need any additional dipping or sauce to unearth its sea-worthy taste.  It was a prawny affair for me, praying hard my allergy does not come in between me and the crustacean units in my plate.

my humble plate
1st serving...

As the result of our sinful dinner greatest adventure, we had light breakfast the morning after and a quick session of morning dance (en route Phuket)  with the star cruise crew on deck 9, which yours truly escaped in the nick of time.

day after breakfast wt my dose of caffein fix

The Acepaizah’s scale on this cruise is temporarily switched off but somehow it managed to make a reading scale of 10 for my crustacean buddies!

cruising crustaceans

~Acepaizah~

morning dance (KN in the red/black)