Drafting My Acknowledgements

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” ― Elbert Hubbard

Finishing my MBA soon. I'm drafting my acknowledgement and I wanted to include everyone but I do not want to write extra pages because people do not do that in their thesis. Don't they??

Here comes the draft;

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

First of all, I would like to acknowledge and convey many thanks to my good friends and family members who have been there for me from the beginning of this journey until the end. The list is endless but here a special “shoot-out” and heartfelt thanks to Soon-To-Be Dr Wan Yonsharlinawati, Dr Nurul Ain, Mdm Suriani Hassan, Ms Suhara, Mr Valen Goh and Ms Nur Hidayuni. You guys are my heroes and the little angels that I needed when I lost my ‘footing’ in the study. Lucky me, I have enough saviors to guide, motivate, inspire and support me for my enthusiasm and eagerness towards this study.

I would also like to wish my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Dr HJA, for your guidance, critics and understanding in dealing with a working adult student like me.

Finally, my special gratitude also goes to all my respondents, lecturers and staffs at Putra Business School UPM, Department of Public Service, Department of Malaysia Immigration and everyone who have made the effort to contribute and assist me with the study. Any assistance rendered is highly appreciated. I would not have been able to make this journey possible without each and everyone of you. Thanks again for all your prayers, may Allah grant you a beautiful and happy life.

With this, I salute and I say “Terima Kasih Daun Keladi, Harap Sudi Bantu Lagi Kerana PHD Masih Menanti”.

So, tell me whaddaya think?

Bilik Sumber UPM, 2.33pm

Resepi @alumnimmp92 Via 'Wat Sek'

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman


TAPAK IKLAN PERCUMA;

Pening hendak masak apa hari ini? Kini tidak lagi. Dengan adanya '@alumnimmp92' saya tidak lagi mempunyai masalah memikirkan resepi untuk masakan setiap hari.

Sertailah @alumnimmp92.  Kami semua masterchef tersohor !


**This alumni is exclusively for those who speak fluent kelantan slang ONLY. Excuse my French, I will be speking ONLY loghat kelate for this entry**

Sapo nok sangko batch MMP92 buleh reconnect semula dengan teknologi "Wat Sek". Syukor alhamdulillah akhirnya pakak jjupo belako sek kito hok lamo terpisah selepas skoloh. Ado lebih 20 tahon hok tok penah jjupo. Banyok ceghito dale watsek masing2 tokdan nak ambak sapa satu tahap 500 unread messages pung ado. Parrok nnise belako dok mabuk watsek. Walau sebuk denge komitmen kijo, anok, dan tugah2 rasmi seoghe isteri :), masih buleh menjengok skali skalo. Hok berjawate CEO gak lebih la skit maso. 

Sebenarnye teknologi nih banyok kebaike kalu pandai guno. Semo bergantung pado kito nak bawok kok mano. Jange dok wat mmugo kokse gak setel la masa'aloh. Jange dok lagho.

Berbalik kepado cito resepi nih lagu nih..Sek MMP92 ni ghamai la msterchef. Bilo soghe mmasok tepek gamba ado la slaluh hok mintok resepi. Pahtu nyo jjadi kijo sek dio pakak dok buak la. So pakak koya masterchef la belako. Antara resepi sek ni dari resepi resepi tradisional kuih muih barat dan mace2 lagi contohnyo hok penulih cubo buat doh ialah resepi nasi daging McDah memey sedak. Ado soghe lagi McHae ni resepi Pavlova & Tiramisu dia menjadi pilihan. Jadi gak untuk hari ni sayo akan tepek tigo resepi ni. Mudoh kakloh belako, buleh pakak buak la lepas nih bui ko cik abe make tokpun sedekoh ko jighe.

Resepi 1

Resepi 2

Gambar Atas Pavlova
              Bawah Tiramisu

Selamat mencubo uols!

More recipes @alumnimmp92 coming soon!

8.57pm BSP

Hak Sebagai Pengguna Part I

“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” 
― John F. Kennedy

I am never known to be a serious person but looking at the title of this posting kind of scare me. :)

Damn ! Serious and Scary should never be in one sentence. It put people off to read further. Dah la topik giler dry. But please do go through this posting for your own future reference.

To cut a long story short *moodgilerdirektranslate*, I have been having problem with my car for quite sometimes and my workshop guy keep saying they could handle it and now it has been almost four long sleepless months I am without my beloved car. 4 months ago, I sent my car to this 'workshop' and they claim to be a specialist for this kind of make (brand). However, yesterday I know I had enough of their excuses for not able to finish repairing the car as they promised. 

Just imagine, how would you feel if you are carless for 4 long months. How do you go to work? How do you go out? How do you even plan your ordinary life without a vehicle to bring you around? Think about that! Now you know how I feel. After all the frustrations, I called the workshop and asked them to tow my car to another workshop and the head mechanic promised to do that ASAP. However, 'amazingly' after a few hours, the mechanic called back saying that the car should be ready by tomorrow. Hmmm..why now? Why only when I decided I no longer need their so called 'expertise' my car is now ready to come home. *@&#^$&$&*($)($ Thats how I carut. 

Seriously??? Seriously??

Mashaallah, I have had enough of people lying, scamming, performing malpractice and taking advantage on others and make us look stupid as if we do not know what they are doing to us. I hate it when it happens. As a single lady, I do not want to create more problems in my life, I'd rather just keep it quiet and settle it in a normal way. Pay and let go!

But, am I being fair to myself?  

I will leave at this for now till next posting. I have been talking to Tribunal Pengguna and some lawyer friends about this. Will write soon for updates.

BSP 3.56pm

Samsung Aircond RM999 Free Installation AEON Alamanda

Salam semua.

Sehat-sehat hendaknye.

Semalam saya ke AEON Alamanda formerly known as Carrefour. AEON dah took over ye saudara saudari. Pelannya nak ganti dapor yang rosak tapi tup tup terlihat ada promotion free installation untuk aircond jenama Samsung. Dalam hati kecik berkata2 "buat aircond pulak si Samsung ni". Tapi memang ada y'all. Aircondnye sungguh cantek molek cutting badannya tak semacam aircond buruk yang kakra pakai sekarang.

Nak tengok? Tengok je tau jangan kutuk. Ni hah!

Dah 2 tahun pakai ni tak serbis lagi. Tapi masih ok sejuknye.
Cuma yer la tak berapa nak buleh control climate macam aircond jenama ler.

Mintak maap ler ye kakra pakai jenama tak gelemer lansgung, ELBA jer uols. Kalau geng Diva tengok mesti kutuk ni. Yang penting sejuk sama cam ekon hok lain jugok. :)

Aircond Samseng ni kecik comel y'all. Regenye pun murah aje RM999 sebab 1 hp (kuasakuda). Kebiasaannya installation RM170 di AEON tapi dapat free installation sekarang. Jadi, cepat-cepat ke kedai AEON berdekatan untuk membuat pembelian sekarang. Lupa plak nak bagitau, boleh buat EPP (Easy Payment Plan) ye from 6 - 24 bulan bergantung kepada nilai pembelian. So, tunggu apa lagi, kalau ada duit tersepak tu bolehlah bersegera. Tapi kakra ni sebenarnya takler selalu on hekond ni sebab mudah terkena selesema nanti. Jadi pandai2 ler mengkontrol situasi untuk tidak memudaratkan.

Oh ye terlupa nak tunjuk gambar hekond si Samseng ni.  Kalu nak tengok model-modelnye boleh intai di sini http://www.samsung.com/my/consumer/home-appliances/air-conditioner. Kakra buat promosi percuma jer ni, Samsung atau AEON tak teringin pun nak bayar.

Cute tak? Sangat kan!

Dinner at DoubleTree By Hilton Kuala Lumpur

"It's the times we're so crazy, that people think we're high. It's the times we laugh so hard, we can't help but cry. It's all the inside jokes and "remember whens". Those are all the reasons that we're best friends!" - Unknown

I have one word to describe tonight get-together raya dinner -  'royalty'. 

First, I was wearing yellow baju kurung.

Second, we were treated like kings and queens.

Third, the foods were amazingly fabulous like you are in a palace.

Fourth, everyone (the head chef, the cooks, the entrance girl, the waiter and the rest of tonite's crew) kept greeting us with smiling faces.

And finally, all my royal friends (oopss did I say royal? I meant loyal) were all able to make it tonight and our 3 hours together felt like it just started.

Did I mention I had dinner at DoubleTree by Hilton KL (DTBH) tonight? A friend of mine (who is friend No #4) who is a member of Hilton KL was going to expire his DTBH membership soon. Did I mention we have a whatsapp group called "Edinburgh Club"? Yeah, we do and that's not up for discussion for now. We'll talk about it later. Friend No #4 kind of suggested for us to have a get-together raya dinner at DTBH and we kind of agreed because it has great discount for members, up to 50%. Isn't that exceptionally great? And I just found out tonight that it costs only RM500++ to be a member (that was last year rate and it might change from time to time, but still, surprisingly affordable right?). The foods were awesome, the crew were warm and great and the service was top-notch. 

It is kind of unfair to just say all these without some proofs right? So, let me validate my points by sharing some photos captured by my sister iPhone using 360 apps and my old Samsung normal camera.

The restaurant was called Makan Kitchen. For international readers, makan means eat.

There are 3 stations available : main station (more of  malay dishes + desserts ) and the other two are Indian and Chinese food stations. This picture is a noodle station which was set up at main station with three choices of soup, tom yam, chinese herbal soup (which I had and it was amazing) and chicken soup.

Indian food Station which is located behind the main station. Look at the dips. Gosh, I love all these colors. Don't know why there were not many people seated at the station. I guess it was kind of bit gloomier (maybe because of the lack of light) and the decoration was not as cosy and welcome and the foods were not as variety as the other two stations.

Chinese Station which is on left side of the main station. We were seated at this station since the guy who is in black shirt (a Mount Kinabalu shirt or something) chose it. I like it here. Felt like we had the best seat in the house. Though we kind of seated a bit far from the main station (less than 1 minute of walking), we did not mind at all since it was so cosy and beautifully decorated. But, once I heard friend no #4 asked "kenapa ko pilih sini?". I jumped to answer and defended Mt Kinabalu guy "I like it here. We had the best seat in the house. The chair is so comfortable and my sweet little niece who was not an eater like me (because she said *in her own words "adik tak nak gemok". Yes, sometimes I crash and burn!) seemed to be enjoying foods so much so that she visited the restroom twice for big cause :).

Fondue everyone! If I were a kid,
I will not move my feet elsewhere.

ABC was great. Most of the times hotels do not produce good ABC but I like it here.

Choices of salads. So many. This is just a teaser.
Go there and you know  what I meant.

Desserts everyone. Creme brûlée, strawberry cheese cake,
caramel, chocolate walnut and
many choices of malay kueh
 were in the house.
There goes my diabetic diet.

This is a nice surprise to all of us. A fortune cookies! A closing to our great night. It was fun to have this at the end of our dinner conversation. Let see who gets what!

Mine was the first from bottom. Followed by Friend No #4, Lady in Red Scarf, Sweet Sensational lady in Kebaya, Friend No #2 and Mt Kinabalu Shirt Guy. Of course, we do not believe any of this but it was fun what! What a great night.


Till next get-together y'all. Where else to go next time ya?
DoubleTree by Hilton KL again? Yeah, why not.

Business Is Not My Forte

“My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's.” ― Oscar Wilde

Let us begin with the 'flash backward'. When I was small, I lived in Kampung in Kota Bharu (yess kampung but in KB), mom rajin plant vegetables for our own consumption and sometimes sell to neighbors. I was always the sweet girl who followed mom and went around houses to sell whatever vegetables mom plucked that day. Years later, I entered Uni and the notion that business is not something easy to get yourself into and with many business failures lying around, I started to see that working with the government is the best choice one could have. Secured, stable, no failure. 

I am now an employee with a secured job, a nice little saving, able to travel once in a while, can afford doubletree by hilton with 50% discount (since I have friend No #4 who is a member) and travel by Airasia because Now Everyone Can Fly. But off late, I have been contemplating. 

Nak niago mende ni! 
(image courtesy google)

See, Islam encourages us to get involved in business activities. There are few ayah and hadith mentioned about this.  In fact, business is considered as the highest source of income.  Rasulullah SAW said in one of the hadiths, (translated in bahasa) “9/10 rezeki itu adalah datang daripada perniagaan.” (Hadith Al Tirmizi).

I am now considering going back to my roots (chewahh!). During my last trip to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, I found a lot of business opportunities there and I even bought extra stuffs for sale later to potential customers. I also met a supplier by the name Dany who brought me and my 2 friends to visit their factory or maybe I should say their rumah kedai. Masha'allah, dan dan I feel like this is what I want to do. Be a businesswoman, but hashtag a muslim kind of business person insha'allah.

However, I know I do not have the skills and the experience, and since my blogging days has restarted, lucky me I just found out about this Konvensyen Usahawan Muslim 2013. If you are like me and having the same thoughts as I am and been contemplating long enough, why don't you just get on with it. 

Here is the link www.KonvensyenUsahawanMuslim.com . Get further info from the website and make yourself drive you there. 

Register yourself here – Pendaftaran Konvensyen Usahawan Muslim

Here is the campaign ads;

All smiling faces. Sweet but meant business.

Hey, bussiness persons to-be, 

Promise me we will see each other there? If you happen to bump into a sweet sensational not-so young lady in yellow baju kurung made in Vietnam suited with a cream double tone scarf carrying a Oroton handbag, yes that is me (and yes I already know what to wear. so, sue me!)

Till we meet there!

Best Tuna Sandwich Recipe For Diet

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” ― Charles M. Schulz


WHO DOESN'T LOVE TUNA?

I am a huge fan of tuna. Don't care about the smell. Once inside, what smell smell?

During my happy days (hmm) when I was living in Kangaroo Country, I love their fresh produce. OMG foods are heaven, magnifique (cakap omputes kena ala french baru cool), unbeatable, but that does not mean I do not appreciate what I have here back home. It is just that I was happier because food is my everything. And that is also why I miss COLES, ALDI & WOOLWORTH (*like carrefour, giant and tesco la kat sini) so much. Everything is so cheap, yet so tasty & delicious. So, please do not believe the notion that cheap stuffs are of lesser quality or in my case less tasty.

Well, my friends if you happen to visit down under, please and please do not miss the chance to pay a trip to all these stores. Not only you get the experience of touring the stores (which I always do) but you could save some meal/food budgets during travel because they have a lot of amazing and fabs microwavable foodstuffs and what I love most is they have many halal labels. Crazy best, right? (translated as giler syok, kan?)

At home (where it is so aman these days..hmm), we have quite few brands for tuna like Ayam brand and TC Boy. But I prefer Ayam brand. Before, it just cost 3-4 hengget. Now already jumped to RM5+. Imagine if TPPA settles in. Weii..don't take it the wrong way, I have nothing against it, but we got to study all pros and cons and make sure we profit and benefit. Do not work in haste, nothing goes smooth in haste. I know cos I am a hasty-type of person and nothing good ever comes out of it. So, are we cool?

Melesia Mari*
(*This is obviously unpaid campaign for Ayam Brand)

Aussie Mari

INGREDIENTS

• Whole-wheat or white bread or croissants (whatever you like)
• canola or olive spread or butter (mana-mana ada dalam esbok)
• Tuna in cans (ada mayo, pedas dsbgnye)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (jika suke)
• 1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise & chill sauce
• Some cheese (use whatever type you like)
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (not necessary to have)
• tomatos, salad, cucumber (up to you, you like what you like)

PREPARATION

1. Preheat grill/oven/sandwich maker.
2. Lightly brush bread slices with spread. Add tuna in and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon chili powder.  
3. Arrange the salad on your bread, combine mayo, lemon zest, lemon juice and chilli sauce and then spread on your bread as much as you like. Then add some cheese.
4. Now, go put on your grill or sandwich maker. In a minute, it is ready to be ngapped!

Never did this style, why don't you try.

My kind of sandwich 

This looks amazing

*all pictures obtained from google images.

TIPS

See, I like to cook but I do not like preparing the ingredients. But I have a sister, who is small (cos I'm plump so I'm stating this point as FYI) and sweet and pretty and she helps me in the kitchen a lot. When she prepares, she does it like a pro, so neat and beautiful. Everything is cut nicely like you are having a contest. Sometimes it annoys me because I do not like to wait and this cutting stuffs is taking sometime to finish. However, let me tell you this, it is worth the wait. Who would have thought that sandwiches with good cutting and arrangement taste better? Thats why I tell ya when you have sandwich at your 5-Star hotels, breakfast ala Diva, it taste so d*** good!

Hey, enjoy your sandwich. Tell me how do you find the recipe.

Taman impian putra, 12.15pm