They are just not meant to be together

One fine day, there was a reasonably handsome alien from Mars and a considerably cute alien from Venus happened to bump into each other.

 

After a very short meeting and the so-called-love-at-a-first-sight or whatever they called it, the two aliens decided to settle down together. 

As they are both from two distinct planets, there is a hugeeeeee gap between them. They speak different languages, they eat different things, they perceive and dealing with problems differently and they always get into the never-ending arguments!

Things don’t seem to work out well between them and the journey doesn’t seem to have a certain destination. They came to one point where they decided that they should have followed their own path and the best way is....to be separated.

Ouch, that is freaking hurt man! 

Maybe, they are just not meant to be together..

Truth hurts huh, but lies worse. The soft-hearted alien from Venus was a bit confused at first but after a long-rational-deep and thorough thought, she knew that life must go on. She decided to give it all up and accepted the fact that it was all fated…

 

 

THE END…

Adapted and completely modified from the novel Men from Mars, Woman from Venus by John Gray

Kerachut Beach, Penang

  

Last Tuesday, Jiayi, Nadiah, Andy, James and I headed off to Kerachut beach, which is famous for its turtle hatchery. Kerachut beach is located in Penang National Park. We departed at 7.30am from Bukit Mertajam. We had a quick breakfast at warung by the road side and we reached the destination after a total of 2-hour driving.

When you first arrived, you are required to register in/out at the main office, just  in case you do not make it back to the starting point =D. The best part is that, the registration is absolutely FREE!! weeeee.

The registration center

Welcome to Penang National Park!

Here, you have two options, either to walk/hike OR to take boat to Kerachut beach. As we claimed ourselves as the true nature lovers, we decided to walk/hike to the beach using the jungle trail and come back via boat.

A smooth pathway at the starting point

There are two main trails; one leads you to Muka head (2.5km) which will take you 45 minutes to 1 hour walk. Another route will lead you to Kerachut beach (3km) which is about 1 to 1.5 hours walk. 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I couldn't travel both XD

The trail is mostly flat with a few steep slopes. Staircase is built in certain parts along the trail for convenience. Personally, I think the staircase makes things worse as you need to make small step each time lol.

The track heading us to Kerachut beach

As you walk through the jungle, you will come across Bukit Belah a.k.a Dug Out Hill. Back in those days, the hill was used to transport timbers using buffalos. For easier access, the trail was built across the hill. According to the info board, 7 workers dug out the passage just by using hoe and it took only 10 days to complete!!! How impressive is that?? 

Bukit Belah

The natural fauna

We are going down the hill. Wear proper footwear 
as it is slippery

A steep flight of steps going uphill

Finally, after 2-hour walk, we made it to Kerachut suspension bridge. Pheewwww~

Kerachut suspension bridge

Photo time

Different angle of Kerachut suspension bridge

Just a few meters walk from the bridge, you'll arrive at Meromictic lake. This is one of the main attractions in Kerachut beach. A meromictic lake has two layers of water and they do not intermix! The saline water from sea which is normally warmer than the fresh water forms the bottom layer whilst the fresh water makes up the top layer.

Meromictic Lake

A picturesque view of Kerachut beach

Jump peeps! A must do pose

This is the main attraction of the beach, the Turtle Hatchery and Sanctuary Center taken up by LKIM. According to the staff at the center, normally, the eggs take about 2 months to hatch. To be honest, I didn't even know that the place exists until I reached here XD.

Turtle Hatchery and Sanctuary

The newly hatched baby turtles are kept in a big tank, before they are released to the ocean

The newly hatched baby turtles are kept in a big tank,
before they are released to the ocean

Some of the eggs and dead baby turtles
are preserved in formalin for display

Now, it's time to head back to the jetty

We didn't spend long time by the beach as it was about to rain. We took passenger boat to get back to the jetty. One boat will cost you RM100 per trip and it can take a maximum of 10 passengers. So, it is roughly RM10 per head.

Children playing by the seashore

Can you see the crocodile-like stone?

The Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies 
(CEMACS) USM (if I'm not mistaken)

The fisherman boats

The fisherman pier

Last but not least, to the nature and beach lovers out there, do give Kerachut beach a visit as it is a fantastic place to stop over =).

Sushi rolling time

G’day mates!! Today we gonna learn how to roll sushi. Well, having said that, I’m not a professional sushi chef like the one you have seen on the AFC. As long as the shape and the taste is there, it is considered as good enough, right? In the end of the day, who cares? hihi. So, here we go!

First, cook the sushi rice just like you cook the normal rice. Then, mix the hot cooked sushi rice with a lil bit of rice vinegar (it’s not compulsory). This portion of rice  should be enough to produce 5-6 sushi rolls.

Second, place your nori/seaweed sheet on the bamboo mat. Spread the cooked rice over the nori/seaweed sheet and pressed it with wet rice scoop, leaving about 1-inch border at the far edge. Don't put too much rice as you will barely taste the filling.

Third, arrange the filling. The selection of filling is totally depends on your preference. In this case, I used tuna, crab meat, eggs, mayonnaise and cucumber (basically everything that I can find in the fridge). Put the wet ingredient first, followed by the dry ingredients for easy rolling.

Next, roll up the sushi tightly with the sushi mat to form a neatly packed cylinder and slice the sushi roll to equal size. Remember to wet you knife before each cut for easy cutting.

Finally, serve with either soy sauce or wasabi. Be sparing with wasabi cause it’s hawtsss! Happy trying and don’t forget to clean up the mess peeps =)

p/s: All the ingredients used can be found in Tesco.

Unleash the creative genius within you

People say if you want to avoid yourself from putting too much thinking on something that can only make you feel like it is the end of the world, you gotta try something new (not to mention retail therapy!). Something that can distract your brain from processing too much information about the 'crappy things'. So, what I did was cross stitching! It helped me to improve my patience level because I kept miscounting the holes..Errghh!!Well, at least, I did forget about the problem for a lil while ;)).

Now, I present to you the greatest piece of art from Princess Fiona ceng ceng ceng! (the background music)

 A sexy blond-haired girl and a goose..

Pretty impressive isn't it?? It looks simple but I spent like a month to finish this. Well, it could have been faster if you have strong will and determination hihihi. Last but not least, unleash the creative genius within you hiksss~ (^__^)Y

Turkish Cuisine

I was browsing the old photos, and I came across the birthday celebration folder. Normally for a typical  birthday celebration, we will indulge the one celebrating it with a nice birthday treat. Back in Melbourne, that's not how the system works for my housemate and I. We were thinking of changing the paradigm (cewaah) and decided to make the one celebrating birthday to treat others. Thus, birthday celebration is not a-look-forward thing for me when it comes to my turn to treat the rest haha (just kidding!).

One of our favourite restaurants would be Alasya, a famous restaurant that serves Turkish cuisine at a reasonable price. Now, let's take a look what they got to offer. See the scrumptious dishes on the table, it's a purr-fect way to gain weight though. Let's zoom in!

This is MOUSSAKA. It consists of several  layers of lamb mince, eggplants and potatoes served with Alasya’s sauce on a sizzling hot plate. For those who's planning to control the calorie intake by ordering this eggplant and potato dish, just forget it cause it won't work! Look at how thick the cheese on top of it, terbaek!!

The next dish, FIRINDA MAKARNA (what a nice name). A traditional dish consisting lamb with herbs and cream combined with layers of macaroni/spaghetti. It is baked in the brick oven and served with Alasya’s sauce.

Here is the all time favourite, CHICKEN BURYAN;  rice, topped with grilled chicken and cream.

Okay this is my personal favourite, the traditional Turkish pastry, BAKLAVA. Baklava is made from crispy filo pastry filled with nuts either cashew, walnut or green beans with sugar syrup on top. The price is normally depends on the filling and the size. During my undergrad year, I normally pack up about a kilo (or more) of Baklava and bring it back to Malaysia yoshh!.

Not related to Alasya, this is another unique dish known as DOLMA. Dolma is stuff vegetable dish; rice, herbs and spice wrapped in vine leaves. The stuffing may or may not include the meat. I tried Dolma for the first time when one of my Turkish friends insisted me to try it. The taste is pretty much like the Turkish version of sushi, maybe?

That's all that I wanted to share with you readers. It's pretty interesting to test your palate with something that is out of the norm, at least once in a while ;). Chiow~

I'm Princess Fiona which princess are you?

My friends keep asking why do I change my FB name to Princess Fiona? Well, I always thought that being a princess is pretty cool. Okay let see, if I were Cinderella <wink wink>, I'll have a chance to hop on the pumpkin carriage and head off to the workplace with style XD. 

Err, pumpkin carriage traveling at the speed of 20km/h in the middle of the traffic? Nah, it's not so cool.

Or perhaps, I can be Rapunzel? A princess with the extraordinary-long-multi-purpose-golden-hair that has the magical healing power. Pretty cool isn’t it? 

Okay, enough said. Those are just fairy tales that make us think that being a princess is all about dreams come true with the typical-and-expected-happily-ever-after ending. In real life, challenges come from every corner. Sometimes, we get frustrated when thing doesn't turn out the way that it is supposed to be or as soon as we want it to be. My friend once told me this

 

"You can be whoever you want, and certainly you will get whatever you want. You are intelligent, happy and smart, there is only one virtue we all lack... patience. You have everything to be successful, don’t limit yourself being down... Go for the challenges!" HG

Life without challenges would have been bland and freaking boring. So, put some patience and go for the challenges peeps! You can achieve whatever you want without having to be a princess lol. Well, having said that, I'm gonna leave the princess title on my FB account at least for a lil' while cause it sounds great isn't it? ngahaha.

p/s I'm Princess Fiona, which princess are you?hiks~

  

Perfect weekend getaway

                                              

           ::Starring::

 

Minggu lepas adalah minggu yang sangat best sebab dapat peluang 'catching up' with the girlfriends!!Rasanya dah setahun tak jumpa kawan-kawan yang sama-sama study di Melbourne dulu. First activity was having breakfast in KL Sentral with Tim and Aini. Jumpe je Aini terus dia cakap "Fizah, apesal badan cam dipam-pam nih?". Err, dah agak dah mesti kena perli, tapi bila kitaorang berdiri kat cermin  rasa cam kita sama  besar je kan Aini?hihihihi.

Then, we headed off to Plaza Rakyat to catch up with the others at the meeting place, Sogo. Bila dah sampai kat stesen and along the way to Sogo, faham-faham je la kan, rasa cam nak singgah kat semua kedai yang ada sepanjang jalan tu. Tak sampai 15minit jalan, kitaorang dah pon beli barang pertama. Kasut burberry!

 

Cute kan??hehe

Kitaorang jumpa Bit dekat Semua House. Mula-mula seyes tak prasan Bit berdiri dekat pokok depan Semua House. She wore a black blouse with dark brown pants and green lycra shawl. Sama je colour cam pokok tu, sampai tak prasan haha. Bit, seriously u lose a lot of weight! Nak tips please. Then, we walked to Sogo and met LiyUna, Nadia, Azza and baby Maira. Finally, dapat juga jumpa dengan baby Maira secara live. Kentalnya Maira, rasa cam sangat kagum bila Azza cakap, time memasak, she will cuddle Maira by one hand. That wasn't easy okay sebab kitaorng pegang kejap pon dah lenguh hihi. Cam biasala bila da jumpa ramai mesti la nk begambar kan.

Klik klik!!

Next, we went shopping. Cuaca pula tak menentu ari tu, kejap hujan, kejap panas. Tapi semangat shopping tetap maintain. Bit pula sampai tercicir barang kat tepi jalan. Nasib baik ko tak kena langgar keta Bit semata-mata nak kutip barang yang cicir tu hehe. We walked along the so-called pasar malam Jalan Tar. We bought quite a lot of things like shawl, tudung, inner and the list goes on and on.

The most interesting part was that, I managed to find this book "Bila Allah Menduga Kita" by Syed Alwi Alatas. The book was recommended by Tim. Buku nih sesuai la untuk sape-sape yang rasa cam agak-agak down and need some kind of motivation. Olahan buku nih simple dan menarik untuk diikuti. Susah gile nak cari buku nih sebab slalu je sold out. Alhamdulillah dapat gak beli lepas cari dekat 4 kedai buku yang berlainan pheww~. There's one beautiful sentence from the book and it goes like this "Jadi berhentilah menangis, relakan apa yang baru saja menimpa dan beramallah untuk waktu-waktu yang terbentang di depan kita". Nice isn't it?hihi.

It's a must read book

After shopping, kaki pon dah sakit sampai kena beli plaster for muscle ache  dekat Guardian. LiyUna cakap dia ada plaster but ended up dia keluarkan plaster untuk luka err....haha. Next, we went to try the nan cheese. Aini memang promote habis-habisan nan cheese yang kononnya leh dapat kt KL je nih :P. Well, memang sedap pon. Tapi yang bestnya, semua orang excited nak posing sambil tarik nan cheese. Pastu kuar la cheese yang bertali-tali tu dari nan. Kat Melbourne dulu lagi banyak cheese kot, tapi xde pula wat perangai cam nih hihi. Sambil makan nan-cheese, kuar la macam-macam cite time kat Melbourne dulu seperti insiden pau hangus Aini, gempa bumi Melbourne, cermin mahal landlord pecah dan yang paling best, insiden makmum mendahului imam time solat LOL.

 

Cheesy nan cheese

Thanx for the treat Bit :D

The Royal Parade family. Note that tudung Bit and Aini dah betukar hihi

Overall, it was a wonderful outing that was filled with loves, fun and laughter. I am looking forward for our next meeting. Till we meet again girlfriends!!. 

Lots of luv, 
Fizah Ahmad