Where The Money Drops and Farewell

While attending a farewell lunch last Thursday for a colleague due to retire  this week the conversation round the table led to the Astro's program 'Where The Money Drops' when one of the ladies and supported by another said this program is pure gambling.  It had never entered my mind that this program harbored gambling of any kind. To me this game show is just a healthy educational game bent on testing the participants knowledge on their chosen categories of questions. I encouraged my kids at home to participate by playing it online whenever the show is on.   I decided to google on this program and was surprised to find out lots of local muslim bloggers out there who are of the same opinion as these two ladies. 

 From a layman's view such as yours truly, gambling normally involves two parties who wage money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods.  In this game show the participants do not have to wage any money and the RM1,000,000 is provided by the organizer and 'given' to the participants to play the game and  'invest' the money on the answers they think is correct.  If indeed this program is unknowingly encouraging gambling then why are the higher religious authorities keeping mum over this? 

Anyway we had a nice lunch at the Oriental Restaurant just a few steps away from the office (for ladies only) for the soon-to-be retiree and of course there was some free flow of tears over her departure after 30 years of good working camaraderie.  It is only farewell and not goodbye....we will all miss you for sure RM!

Lunch was held here

The Lunch Spread

A farewell speech from her and her boss dabbing her eyes..sob sob

Sustenance for the day

Only One Move :: Awesome Short Story

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

"Sensei,"(Teacher in Japanese) the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament.

Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out.

He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament.

He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.


:: Moral of the Story ::

Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame God, the circumstances or ourselves for it but we never know that our weaknesses can become our strengths one day.

Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!

Lakso Siyae

Sudah lama tidak makan lakso ni...pagi tadi my sisters specially ordered lakso siyae (siam).  Kuah lakso ni a bit different from the normal lakso kelatae, its green, maybe a bit like the thai green curry with chicken or meat and fishball in it.  Add in cucumber slices, long beans, taugeh, daun pucuk teghe (daun pucuk gajus) and fried bird's chili (cili padi) for a bit of spice.  Kebetulan ada daun ketumbar so we add it in too.

Lakso Siam

Kuah Lakso n Lakso

Tak pernah belajar nak buat kuah lakso ni...reti makae jah.  Tidak ramai orang jual lakso ni di KB , yours truly ni memang jarang ke market untuk membeli barang-barang basah, tapi dengar khabarnyo lakso ni ado dijual di kedai kubae pasu (dekat doh nga rumoh tapi jaghe gi) dan mungkin ado di PSK jugok. Yang tahu kalau kita pergi ke Rantau Panjang ada orang jual di sana hari-hari.  

Untuk manisan dia orang tempah kuih serimuka...sedak blako.

'Kuih Kerok' (pic above).... I have not eaten this since God knows for so long..it was when I was a teenager and visiting my aunt who lives in Golok.  I followed her to the market the next morning and there was this old siamese lady, her head partially bald and muttering (pokpek pokpek) in siamese, cooking  this kuih not unlike the way we make kuih akok...the taste is both crunchy and lemak.  Teh....the next time you are in RP, don't forget to buy kuih kerok for me :)  Kuih ni gerenti tak dok di KB, ko ado jugok tok tahu la ambo..hehe

Beef Salami

  Salami is the name given to a family of 'cut and keep' sausages made from a mixture of raw meat such as pork, beef or veal flavoured with spices...

A halal beef salami....never eaten or seen it in the 'flesh' before and thanks to my first girl who brought it back home over the maulidurasul holidays.  Thanks to various foodie blogs, had the idea on how to prepare and eat it.  Really simple....

Grill the salami

The Wrapper

 Slices of tomato, butterhead lettuce, salad and mayonaise...ready to be eaten.

Ujian Hidup...

In honor of my sis Teh, the 'someone' who had fought  and won against The Big C ....Alhamdulillah!

Gloom... Scoliosis!

Google Image

A new word was added to my not that advance vocabulary  last week...SCOLIOSIS! Mood ceria nak update blog pun dah entah kemana.  A visit to one of the office's panel of doctors introduced me to this word...my youngest boy (he is 17) might be suffering from this abnormality (scoliosis) due to his spine curving to one side.

We were first aware of this problem when afiq was squashed beside his abah in the car (four of us crammed in the backseat) during our visit to JB last December.  'Eh bakpo belakae afiq alik kiri ado isi, alik kanae takdok isi kepek jah ni', afiq was always bending his upper body forward and slouches when he sits.  But like any good and loving abah, he said..'gapo-gapo pun abah sayae afiq' while hugging afiq's thin frame and that brought tears to my eyes....huhuhu.  Upon returning home it was on our mind to take him to a clinic that we always frequent if the kids had any health issues but it was not until afiq brought back a form from his school that sped up things a bit.  The form was for an extra-curricular activity in school and he wanted to join the kadet bomba and of course need to have a clean bill of health in order to join. Interestingly enough  while blog-hopping  I read about  a not so straight backbone  here and  had mentioned it to hubby and so we had a certain inkling on what the doctor might tell us. Kebetulan lah pulak doktor  hari tu memang takde mood nak layan our questions on the why and  how this could happen.  Memang pun cos her clinic has the most outpatients in this town everyday and it is normal for patients to grab a number and wait 1 to 3 hours to be attended by her.  After checking afiq's backbone, the doc say  'keno gi jjupo pakar orthopaedik kat hospital pasal ni, saya tok leh nak oyak lebih sebab sayo bukae pakar hal ni, tengok doktor pakar kato gapo dulu'...adush gelabah mok pok ni!   She wrote a referring note for us to make an appointment with the specialist at HRPZ2.  I glanced at her note and saw the word 'scoliosis'.  The doc added that a chinese school in KB always do a screening on Year 1 pupils to see if their spines are ok, must be due to the burden of their heavy school bags.  Thanks to the not so friendly and tak nak senyum cik kerani ke apa di Jabatan Orthopaedik HPRZ2 we had an appointment with the specialist on 9 February 2012.  As for  afiq, I am glad that at the moment he  seem to be unaffected by this problem and is still laughing watching spongebob on tv and happily playing with Cindy, his bundle of fur joy... we will just have to wait and see the outcome  after our visit to the specialist.....sigh.  Semoga dipermudahkan Allah segala urusan...