masterchef Kelana Jaya!

today i decided to cook lunch because my brother Idzhar will be heading back to the United States tomorrow and his request was for me to cook this! One of my favourite dish to cook...

Lemak Cili Api Crab! its a family favourite. everyone of us knows how to cook this although i have to say today's lemak cili api wasn't spicy enough, which was weird because i had put 13 cili padi, 1 red and green chilli in it?! Ok la, i normally put 15 but i thought by putting red and green chilli it will compensate the remaining 2 cili padi....and so, i was wrong. oh well, it still tasted GOOOOD if i do say so myself!

it was quite a crazy day for me. early morning at 2, i had to accompany a friend to send a friend to the airport. she was going to cambodia with ther family. just before that, i had a meeting with another friend which ended at 1230am. so i only had an hour sleep. after coming back from the airport, i managed to get 2 hours of shut eyes before heading out again to CHOW KIT ROAD to do marketing (talk about old school-not cold storage or village/jaya grocer yo!). so i was like half zombified when i was there to look for crabs and fish and etc...it's been a while since i last went to chow kit. when i was in school, my parents used to get my brother and i to follow them to do marketing every sunday. we would get our feet and clothes dirty and not forgetting coming out from the market smelling like a dead fish! my parents would introduce us to their "people", so they would say, "ok this is where we buy our chicken and meat, if you want to buy crabs, this person here has the best price and for vegetables you go to this aunty here....." and so on and so forth.  then as soon as i got my driving license, everything changed. my brother and i was given responsibilities to go to the market every sunday without them! it was quite an adventure! hahahahahah of course i'm very grateful and thankful to my parents for doing what they did because now i have an extra advantage.

nowadays, its hard for you to hear a modern girl say "yea i go to the market to buy groceries for the house" or "yes i do know how to cook a meal". we are more focused on other things such as work, play, holiday and most of us eat out most of the time. well, maybe after MasterChef people are starting to change their ways???. besides making us go to the market, they also made us cook every sunday. my late mother said she wanted all her children to be an all-rounder, and that includes knowing how to cook for our wives and husbands. :)

i started cooking quite early because lunch had to be served before the Friday prayers. got my ingredients ready...

and im ready to cook! and yes, i haven't slept yet... straight to the kitchen after marketing....

the menu besides the crabs were fish in soy sauce and fried vegetables...

simple yet satisfying! YUMMEH!! bom apetitie!!

might cook again tomorrow too..

i hope you had a great a lunch and dinner just like i did... remember to always drink lotsa of water ok! :P

love, me.

Friend for Life!

This person is special. Her name is Yeoh Ee Ping and u can follow her on twitter @eepings. I first met her when she was 9! And she was a big fan of Disney Buzz. I remember reading her letters to us where she would send in without fail! She was there at every Disney event to show her support and she STILL does in whatever I do, be it work or personal! We got connected again through a phone call she made to Hitz.fm when I was a radio announcer then and that's when our relationship changed from a fan to a friend. And with that I love u babs! Even though you're a decade younger, but it doesn't keep us from being friends where we can share about anything. On this special day, I wanna wish u a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR and besides it being prosperous, I hope our friendship will prosper too. :D 

I'm a beautiful butterfly!

it all began here....

this is a picture of baby Anatasha Abd. Halim. The cute boy who was holding her is my baby brother Imran. She was born on the 8th of August 1994 and she was the first grandchild. And now she looks like this.....

this gorgeous girl is now a beautiful butterfly who has left her cacoon and flown off to Abu Dhabi to stay with her father. She just finished her SPM and she's there to look for good colleges to further her studies. We are all very excited for her because i feel she is very lucky to be able to have the option of "looking" for the best college outside of Malaysia. another reason she's lucky is that SHE GOT TO TRAVEL BUSINESS CLASS!!! hahahha this is because her father is the Captain of Etihad Air! :p

i mean, she and her sister Athira would always fly off to see their father in Abu Dhabi at the end of the semester break and would stay there for a month until school starts again, but this time, Tasha had to travel alone for the first time, and she's not coming back until the end of February to get her SPM results.

                                               (my sister with her beautiful daughters :p)

i still remember how small she used to be! how she used to be afraid of the sand, coz she didn't like the way it felt on her feet. She refused to go to the beach for the longest time!! She was also afraid of the dark for a while, but now she's ok. :) time really flies and can't believe that she will be eighteen and she is legal to be taken to the clubs! arrrhhh!! how awesome is that?! mum, aunties and uncles can take her out dancing..... FINALLY!! hehehe

its funny how everyone was at the airport to send her off because its not like she's going for good just yet! her friend Zhou Han was so sad that she was leaving, he teared! hahahahahah. its funny but its also fun to just go to the airport and have Mcdonalds before sending people off...yea, we are weird that way!

yes! food was expensive but thank mickey my younger siblings are with MAS, so we were able to get discounts! haaaah but it was still expensive! so happy faces everyone.....

when the time came for her to go, we were quite sad, coz that means, 1 less person to pick on!

c'mon, that's what uncles and aunties are for!? to make your nieces and nephews' life fun, miserable and exciting! hahahahaaa!

tasha!! we're all gonna miss you heaps! all i wanna say is, dont forget to have fun and explore as much as you can. you are young only once so live life to the fullest. take care and love you!!
here's a picture of Tasha and her siblings, including Zhou Han.... :D

love, me.

Dreamgirls DinDin

so yesterday i orgnized a dinner with the cast of the Dreamgirls. invitation was fired on twitter and was hoping a lot of people could make it but not many responded to the tweet except for Rydee, Dina, Alia and Nadrah...it's ok ( their loss :p) we had fun anyway, more personal.. :)

we had johnny's steamboat at one utama...YUMMEH! i just love the chili dip served there. johnny's steamboat was my late mother's favourite place. i used to remember how she would make me go to the waiter and ask them to pack the chili dip! it was so embarrassing but i did it anyway. :p 

we had a lovely time there, just the 5 of us and mind you we ate so so much! the usual things happened like gossipping and catching up with everyone. i had a picture taken but right now i cant upload it coz i dont know why im not able to open my iphoto (very very annoyed). once im able to i will put it up ok!

after a wonderful dinner and catch up session, dina took us to her friends' coffee place in taman tun to have desserts called mukha...OMG the cakes that we had was to die for! we had hazelnut chocolate brownie..i think also known as the "aaaaa" cake! hahah, and we had super chocolate cake mud pie ala mode! OMG! i can actually still taste the goodness of them! im sorry for not taking the pictures of the desserts coz i was to immersed in the whole experience while indulging the chocolatie goodness! AARRRRRHHHH SEDAP GILER..im sure you're thinking it must be super duper sweet, but surprisingly it's not! it is just right! Garsh, just writing this makes me drool and craving for more!

mukha was a good ending to a good night, our next girlie session will be a day of mani and pedi. cant wait! hehehehe

love, me.

Hello 2012!

I cannot believe 2011 has left us....a good year it was. I had good working times. New experiences and making new friends..

The year 2011 started out with a brand new show with Astro Prima. Finally I got to do a show with Zainal Alam Kadir, very knowledgable and talented man, and it's called "Langit dan Bumi". It's the brain child of Zainal Alam. When he first shared with me the idea of the show and wanting to present with me, I didn't put high hopes on it. But when the time came, he kept his words, and the next thing you know, I got a call and and we're on the road shooting the program!

We grew really close, as our shooting dates were blocked for 2 and half months! We travelled in a van which Alam likes to call the "Scooby Doo" van. The van travelled all over Malaysia, from one city to the other, north to south and east to west...and how can we forget the pathetic make-shift towel curtains for the van. We bought the towels from Maidin Terengganu. hahahahahaha (long live Maidin!)

A lot of stories, experiences, hilarious happenings during the period of shooting that I will keep with me for a long time..I do plan to share it with you, provided that i discipline myself to write on this blog! hehehehe

Right after "Langit dan Bumi" i went straight for the Dreamgirls rehearsals. That was an experience i wont forget. Firstly, when will we ever get to be or play a role from Broadway??? Then, get to work with a theatre person who IS from Broadway?? And then, meeting new people in a new "industry" ie theatre??

I was very pleased that I was able to showcase my talent in acting, singing and dancing. Who would have thought that I was able be perform in Istana Budaya!

Working with people from different working background is amazing. You get to learn so much, especially when we were told our Jimmy Thunder will be played by a black guy from Broadway who actually left "Jersey Boys" to come to Malaysia! I was extra lucky because my role as Lorell Robinson (Jimmy's girlfriend) gave me the opportunity to work along side Kris Coleman even more! He shared with us a lot of his experiences from Broadway and giving tips on our performance as well.

I totally enjoyed my role and my experience in Dreamgirls, I think that could be one of my proudest moments...*tears* :)

After the Musical, I was offered to do A DIVING PROGRAM! Oh my gosh! I've been wanting to do a show like that in a long time! hehehe the power of manifestation?? :p

I got even more excited when they (Screenart Studio) told me that we will be staying on Mabul Island for a whole month! DANG!! Who would've thought??! It was soooo gooood! Now, I don't have to imagine what it would be like to stay on an island for a whole month! hahahahah

Everyday i woke up, got my gears and ready to dive...it felt like i was home..the sea was my playground in my backyard. I got to dive in Sipadan a total of 8 days! We even came to a point where we were willing to let go 1 of the days in Sipadan! I mean it's not easy to get there, everyday resorts are given a quota of 120 people a day including snorklers to be in Sipadan, and we were just spoilt! hehehehe

Thanks to Scuba Junkie for all their help and hospitality during our stay there. Not forgetting the people in Mabul, the Suluk people especially Abg. Mokhtar, the sweetest and most helpful man! We even got invited to weddings...yes more than once..we didn't feel like strangers at all! Im wishing for season 2 of 13 Hari Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai.. *crossing all fingers*

And now 2012 is here and I'm hoping it would better and more awesome opportunities come my way. A lot of ideas and things to do not just for me as a TV Host, but branching out into other areas. Time to grow my company Gumblow Cabxi (M) Sdn. Bhd.

I wish you the best in 2012, be sure to come and check on my blog k! I WILL make it a point to blog more! hehehehe *blushing*.

Talk to you soon!

love, me.