Clock is ticking so fast I didn't know where the chunk of my time goes! I mean it feels like a few days ago we welcomed Ramadhan and suddenly its already Zulkaedah and we are all gearing up for Eid again. Where did the time go?

But that aside I am and still making memories with my small family so all is good.

Speaking about memory, I went to the newly opened Mr DIY at Presint 15 a couple of weeks back and was transported to my time in Cardiff circa 2005 looking at a knitting kit. Because 13 years ago, a lovely friend from Lyon taught me how to knit. Her name is Rosaline and until now I was scratching my head trying to recall her last name.

She was an Erasmus student and would be studying in Cardiff for at most one and a half years. I remember vividly when she excitedly came into the kitchen showing me 'Look! I finished my sweater!' and I was like, okay, why the excitement.

She was all 'I knit this myself!'

To tell you the truth, I was super impressed because knitting has long been associated with older women a.k.a. grandmas and there she was, a 20 years old who knit her own damn sweater! Turns out excitement is contagious and soon I was out buying my first pair of knitting needles and skeins of yarn.

I didn't remember her teaching me the knitting terms but she taught me two basic stitch, knit and purl. She did the cast on for me, and taught me 'okay, you need to do this twice, and do this twice. Know you make a scarf first and I will teach you how to knit a sweater. Okay?'

A year passed and I haven't finished my scarf. Roseline went back to France. And my needles and yarn laid in a box, conveniently forgotten.

That kit resurfaced again after 8 years when my mom did a major spring cleaning and in another box it went again. Till date, I had no idea where that new box went. Did my mom accidentally threw it out? Or did I?

Standing in the aisle, looking at that DIY kit, my thoughts were churning like crazy. Let's learn again. I said. Right from the start. So I grabbed the kit and on that very evening, I was diligently searching on the web on how to knit. What are the basic of knitting and so on.

After 13 years of formal-informal lesson from Roseline, I finally knew the first step of putting yarn on the needle is called cast on and there were a range of ways to do it. From easiest to the hardest. Pick one and you are good to go.

Learning on, I find out the pattern Roseline was teaching me is called 2x2 ribbing, which consists of two knit stitches and two purl stitches. The funny thing is, it finally dawned on me that Roseline had tried to explain in details but all her term was in French so she gave up and taught me the easiest pattern she could think of!

But in the end of the day, I am very thankful to Roseline for teaching me how to knit. I do agree that knitters usually knit things to be worn during winter time and yet here I am on the equator knitting away a scarf. As long as I am happy with what I am doing, I guess.

I knit a hat.

Casting on 20mm needle

Finished product

I graduated from straight needle and am trying circular needles and loving it.

on size 7 circular needle

I bought double pointed needles and can't wait to try it when the time came. And I am happily casting on a scarf which I didn't know when would I finish. But when I do, I'll post it in here.

Until then.

Kejadian ni before PRU14 ye kawan-kawan...

Kedai ni terletak di level LG, bersebelahan Haagen Dasz

Presentation out.

Dua batang gigi atas anak saya yang sulung, Haifa dah terlalu teruk goyangnya. Sebenarnya Haifa ni jenis penakut sikit, dia takdelah nak goyangkan sangat gigi dia tu. Satu hari, masa tengah sedap makan Chupa Chups anak saya yang kedua tu datang tarik lolipop tu daripada mulut dia. Memang tercabutlah sikit gigi si Haifa, cuma tak tercabut terus je. Ada lagi akar yang masih tertanam kat dalam.

Dua minggu jugalah saya berzikir, 'jomlah pergi cabut gigi Haifa...' 'jom cabut gigi' tapi bila nampak dia macam agak takut saya ikutkan saja rentak dia.

Baru-baru ni saya tengok dia main dengan gigi yang bergoyang teruk tu dan terus beritahu suami, 'Sabtu ni jom bawa Haifa cabut gigi'.

Kawan tu mulalah jebik buat muka takut tapi kalau dibiarkan, sudah dia nak makan. Nak gigit biskut lembut pun punyalah payah. Akhirnya Haifa setuju setelah dimomokkan nanti mak beli ais krim mahal untuk Haifa.

Klinik pilihan kami ialah Klinik Pergigian Alan Adlan di Bandar Baru Bangi, sebabnya Haifa pernah ke sini sebelum ni untuk cabut gigi bawah. Dan sebelum tu pun saya pernah baca review klinik ni yang mengatakan doktornya mesra dengan budak-budak so eloklah kan. Takdelah Haifa nervous sangat nanti.

Sebelum pergi saya call klinik buat appointment dulu sebelum pergi. Nak walk in pun boleh sebenarnya, tapi takut juga kalau appointment penuh nanti kena tunggu lama. Maka pada jam 10.30 pagi, kami empat beranak pun pergilah ke klinik tersebut...

Klinik di tingkat bawah jadi tak perlu naik tangga.

Masa kami sampai, ada seorang patient di dalam so kami menunggu di luar sambil menonton siri kartun Mr. Bean yang ditayangkan. Haifa macam biasa duduk tak diam sambil menunggu, yang si adik pun ikut sama. Agaknya itu cara dia meredakan keresahan, wallahualam.

Ikutkan klinik ni selesa dan cantik, mungkin kebersihan tu nak kena improve sikit sebab lantai rasa sedikit berpasir. Hehe.

Kaunter yang cantik. Tengoklah Haifa tu... memanjat sana sini.

Ini pula laluan menghala ke bilik rawatan

Agak lama juga kami tunggu, dalam 15-20 minit (memandangkan ada seorang saja patient kan). Yang mula tak senang duduk suami... sebab risau pula kalau lambat nanti susah pula Haifa nak makan tengahari. Si kecik tu pun dah mula berjalan sana sini, bosan agaknya.

Nasib baik ada rumah kecil ni, bolehla main masuk rumah keluar rumah

Di klinik ini juga ada jual produk penjagaan kesihatan gigi, bolehlah juga cuci mata sementara menunggu giliran.

Lepas tawaf klinik dua tiga kali, barulah Haifa dipanggil dan saya tinggalkan Hana dengan suami dan menemani Haifa ke bilik rawatan. Polisi di klinik ni, hanya seorang sahaja yang dibenarkan menemani pesakit.

Baca dan hadam.

Mulanya awal-awal lagi saya dah minta suami yang masuk bersama tapi agaknya dia rasa ngeri kot. Last-last saya juga yang temankan Haifa, sama seperti masa pertama kali mencabut gigi dahulu. Mulanya Haifa macam berani je tapi sampai je dalam bilik rawatan muka dah berubah. Naik kerusi pun merangkak. Aduahi anak.

Doktor kali ini doktor perempuan... yang mencabut gigi Haifa sebelum ni doktor lelaki. Umum tahu kalau doktor gigi ni... stigmanya ialah doktor perempuan kerjanya kasar sedikit sebab tenaganya kurang daripada tenaga lelaki. Saya pun tak berapa pastilah kan... tapi Haifa memang agak nervous kali ni dan ketegasan doktor tidak begitu membantu.

Dia dah meronta-ronta lepas doktor sapukan ubat kebas sampai suami datang ke depan bilik rawatan. Cuma tak masuk sahajalah. Intai dari luar. Lama juga memujuk si Haifa untuk bertenang... doktor pula buat-buat 'merajuk' dan honestly, it doesn't work. Haifa lagi meronta-ronta dan saya terpaksa menabur janji manis sekali lagi.

Sepatutnya saya kena minta doktor naikkan kembali kerusi tapi entahlah, waktu tu saya macam 'apa-apa jelah asal gigi cabut'. Huhu. Entah macam mana, doktor minta Haifa nganga, dia menganga, sekejap, waktu dia nak tutup mulut doktor dah ambil plyer dan cabut sebatang gigi. Cekap jugak doktor ni. Haha. Then dia cabut lagi satu, and its all over....

Lega!

Haifa dah meleleh air mata, adik dia pun dah jadi takut kat luar so kitaorang pun cepat-cepatlah keluar dari bilik rawatan. Tapi nak cepat pun saya masih sempat berpesan yang saya nak gigi Haifa yang dah dicabut tu. Simpan untuk kenang-kenangan.

Total damage: RM140 untuk dua batang gigi. Tak kisahlah nak oi, asalkan cabut gigi kamu tu. Kesian memang kesian tapi apakan daya. Mak dulu pun cabut gigi tau, saya cakap dekat Haifa.

Sebenarnya rasa berat hati sangat menulis pasal kisah cabut gigi ni, sebab saya susah hati dua gigi kekal Haifa bahagian bawah dah tumbuh. Tapi gigi susunya masih tak bergoyang sikit pun. Doktor dah cadangkan untuk cabut, tapi maklum sahajalah kalau nak dicabut, perlu local anaesthesia dekat situ. Means cucuk... dan maknya faham sangat sakit gila kot nak cucuk.

Oh anak... bertabahlah!!!

Sampai jumpa lagi.

If you do not salivate looking at this pic, there must be something wrong with your eyes. And brain. And your salivary gland.  Haha

The burger looks so yums and tempting. That 100 Plus and fries on the back doesn't help. So off we go to have a taste at Mc Donalds in Alamanda. Bear in mind, we are not that hungry at that time but you see, it is  just the power of marketing. We or rather, I, am hopeless against it.

First impression. Smells good. Okay. Lets take a bite.



I tried other version of burger nasi lemak at other fast food joint (which I decline to name) and it was plain disastrous. Why? Because of its sambal. Just like nasi lemak, what ever makes or break it is the sambal. It's okay if the fried ikan bilis is chewy. It's okay even not to have the bilis altogether. It's still okay if the nasi lemak taste like old plain nasi. But when it come to sambal, NO MERCY.

McD's sambal is 👍 

I was half expecting nasi lemak somwhre but who am I kidding, right? Haha The bun taste like regular bun. Lots of caramelised onion (which gets two 👍👍 from me, but not from hubs) and crunchy chicken breast. I'm not really feeling the chicken because of the cornflakes but I do appreciate the effort to make it crunchy. No ikan bilis and ground nuts, which is totally understandable.

My verdict? ⭐⭐⭐/5 stars

I was about to give four stars but the price, oh THE PRICE! Too exorbitant! RM14.95 for ala carte and RM16.95 for a medium set. Would I purchase it again? No, not in near future.

Till then.