Otak-otak Place Restaurant, One Utama

We were at the One Utama Shopping Complex and before going home, we thought of having lunch at one of the restaurants there. Otak-otak Place Restaurant caught our attention because it reminds us of the old days of Malaya/Malaysia. Even the menu is shaped like an exercise book, complete with its 'Rukunegara' and multiplication table at the back. I tried 'Nasi Lemak with Otak-otak' and Ilyas went with anything with Milo, which consisted of hot Milo drink with Milo on the spoon and toast breads with Milo and condensed milk spread. Jo tried out their 'Kuey Teow Goreng', 'Cendol' and 'Rojak Buah'. Overall we like their food and also the interior design of their restaurant. They even selling stuff like Tora chocolate box, paper plane glider and several tidbits that we used to have when we were children. What a nostalgic experience!

Captain Marvel in KL

I heard in the radio that Bryan Robson will be coming to Malaysia so I took the opportunity to meet him in person. He came here to witness the sponsorship agreement between TM and Manchester United. It was a huge crowd so I could only managed to take pictures of him from far. But it was OK as I managed to bring my children to see the legend of Manchester United.

Paintball, anyone?

Eela Sports Day

After the gotong-royong event, we went to the Kompleks Sukan Seksyen 15, Bandar Baru Bangi to watch Eela participate in her school sports day. When we arrived, she is about to start her race so we were able to cheer her on. Although her team lost the race, I don't think she mind it at all because taking part itself is more rewarding. Besides, everybody still got a medal even for the fourth place.

Gotong-royong

This morning my neighbourhood organised a gotong-royong event to clear up one area nearby. This place will eventually be the place where our community cook their special dish, bubur lambuk, during Ramadhan to be distributed to all Muslims in that area. This is my first time joining them since we moved into our new house as I was always away during the weekend. And it was a memorable one too because we encountered a black cobra snake among the bushes. It was about 1 metre in length and we had to kill it because when we found it, it was accidentally injured by one of us, and the injury was quite bad. When we finished clearing the area, a short meeting was  held to discuss the affairs of the neighbourhood. One of us brought a basket full of nasi lemak and I don't need a second invitation for it.

My brother is on the TV.

I was in Mama Tok's house this evening and the television was on. Suddenly, this RTM channel we were watching shows this one reporter visiting the UK. Turned out that RTM did a profile show on the PAL Shipping, a shipping company operated by the Malaysians in the UK. My brother, Awa works as a operation manager there and soon enough his face appears on the screen as he explains to the audience the operation side of the business. They got his name wrong though, Anua instead of Annuar.

Official Submission

Letto - Sebelum Cahaya

Liga Alumni Division One second match - ANSARA Taiping 1 MCOBA 1

Two weeks ago we managed to get a draw with SJAA, the defending champions who defeated us 4-1 in the last season. This time we are facing our old enemy, MCOBA who humiliated us with a 5-1 drubbing in the last meeting. So revenge is definitely on the card. With the new black jerseys sponsored by one of our players, Rizal, we definitely look intimidating. However, right from the first minute we were completely overwhelmed by the slick passing and relentless pressure by the opponent. So much so that we had to make one tactical and one injury substitutions before the first half ends. 

The same thing happened in the second half where our chances are quite rare. However I sense something is about to turn into our favour when one of their defenders was unable to take part any longer in the game due to a hamstring injury. And they have no other substitute! We introduced fresh legs and started to spend more time in their half. MCOBA started to slow down their tempo and began to make mistakes. We kept on pressuring and finally Jose managed to score his first goal of the season by capitalising on the keeper's mistake. I calculated that there was only less than 7 minutes left to play and the opponent sensed this too. So they became more aggressive and the shots were flying from various directions towards our goal. Suddenly I saw another MCOBA player entering the field to replace the injured one. Apparently he has just arrived and when I look at the watch it's already 7 o'clock. We were defending like mad but the lady luck is definitely not wearing black on that day. With few minutes remaining one of the MCOBA players hit a deflective shot which our keeper has only managed to palm away at the last minute but not enough to steer it away from the goal post. 

In the end the match ended 1-1. Naturally the players were quite disappointed. Twice already we have been denied victory by the last minute equaliser. But to look in a positive way, last season we lost our first five matches but this time we already collected two points. Next week we will be facing SMACH who beaten us 3-1 in the last season. I can sense our first victory already.

ANSARA Taiping merchandise

Even though we don't know how many ANSARA Taiping supporters we actually have, I decided to produce our new season merchandise in form of T-shirts and caps. The shirt costs RM10 each and the cap RM20 each. Next product? Car stickers.

Simple Ignorance or Plainly Stupid?

Metro Shopping Complex, Kajang

Dewan Merak Kayangan Felda, Kuala Lumpur

Faculty of Management, Multimedia University. Simply unacceptable.

Congratulations Iliyas (Lopes) and Faezah

Today we attended a wedding reception of my junior undergraduate in the Lancaster University, Lopes. We used to play football together and he was the Malaysian Students Society president. Currently he is working with the Selangor government as their economic adviser. I wish him and his wife a blissful wedding and may they live happily ever after.

My helpful children

Gigi - 11 Januari

Relatives from The Netherlands

Over this week my auntie and her family will be coming down to Malaysia for a holiday. They have been staying in Holland for more than 20 years and the children are more comfortable speaking in Dutch than Kelate. They brought with them a Moroccan lady named Layla and fortunately she understands some English. For the next few weeks they will be very busy meeting friends and visiting various places in Malaysia and the neighbouring countries. I'm sure they will have lots of fun and I hope they will have plenty of happy memories to talk about once they get back home.