taking for a spin

A sneak peak at Lamborghini Sesto Elemento.

Dare to get behind the wheels of this new Lamborghini car? Take a spin and you'll see the difference. This car is freaking awesome. It can accelerate 100 km/h in just 2.5 second! So fast aye? Its going to be conquering any racing tracks soon. 

What makes Sesto Elemento so special is that this car is made of carbon fiber, giving rise to its overall weight of 999 kg. So far, this is the lightest car Lamborghini had ever produced. The name, Sesto Elemento (Italian which means Sixth Element) stems  from the extensive use of carbon, being the sixth element in the periodic table. 

Why carbon  fiber by the way? Carbon fiber is a material used for many sports cars due to its lightweight property and stiffness. The stiffness is said to be important for high speed performance. Nevertheless, this car is said to be illegal for road (maybe because the very high speed is deadly dangerous) and for your information, the price is about $2.8 million! Wow, very expensive! I definitely can't afford that (that comes without saying).

Yesterday, I took another 'driving class' with my father in order to refresh my memory on the  lessons in Akademi Memandu Nilai, AMN. I drove so dangerously that my father seemed to be scared of my way of driving. Why did I become so lousy when it come to driving? I so don't know. I already took the class and even got a driving license (though still a probationary one) but my skill seemed to be lacking. Poor me. Maybe next time I should always practice being behind the wheels of a manual car. 

Still my father wanted me to practice again today. (-_-')


Sesto Elemento rocks!

Korean Dumpling NOOB Malay Version

Assalamualaikum y'all.

Yesterday, I was foraging for food in the fridge to feed the extreme hunger I was having (padahal duduk umah je, bukannya buat keja pape pun, tehee). Then I found a pack of minced beef inside my mom's fridge. Hm, my mom asked me to make some curry puff the other day and that was when I realized that we were out of potatoes and some curry powder to make the inti karipap. When my mom bought those things, I started surfing the recipe to make this very famous Malay traditional snack (a.k.a kuih). 

While surfing, I came to remember myself watching an episode of the popular Korean television show We Got Married; Khuntoria Couple last week. In the episode, Victoria-shi was making some dumplings for his 'husband' Nichkhun and some guests (the guests were 2PM members who came over to visit their house). The dumplings looked really tasty. Seriously! For your information, Korean dumplings look similar to Malaysians' karipap, despite the fact that the dumplings are usually steamed but our super delicious karipap are deep fried (no such thing as steamed karipap I guess). The filling for Korean dumplings is usually a mixture of meat (such as turkey) and vegetables (zucchini). That sounds pretty much like our own karipap filling right?

Spot any difference? (picture of Korean dumplings is a courtesy from Google)

Hm, I was thinking, why don't I try making dumplings instead of karipap? But then, where to find turkey? Maybe I can try it next time. Then I found this recipe and I believe that its gonna be really good since many people had commented positively after trying the recipe by themselves. Firstly, I cooked the filling and left it in the fridge for a night. This morning, I started making the dough. Actually it was a bit tiring making the food alone. Still, better than doing nothing (buat kuih bleh gop makan, iye dop?).

After I completed making the dough, then only I realized how stiff the dough was! What a noob karipap maker. Maybe that was because I didn't put enough water while making the dough. Well, it was quite a big problem since it makes it harder to knead it. That's why I took quite some time to complete all the process of karipap making (huhu, siyes berpeluh). The filling was made of minced beef and potatoes together with the spices and onions. I don't know whether the filling is good or not but I hope it's going to be okay. It should be okay.

Due to my careless mistake, I get to make around 25-30 pieces karipap only, instead of 50 according to the recipe. Maybe the crust was a little bit too thick so the dough was not enough to make 50 pieces. Alas, what a waste! I even failed on making good kelim karipap although my housemate, Izah, had already taught me how to kelim karipap. Due to my lack of skill in making good kelim, I tried to imitate Korean way of making their dumplings LOL (konon-konon nak tiru stail Korea, ngehngeh!) because it looks a bit simpler than the usual pattern we see for karipap. Still, it looked a little bit different from the original pattern.

However, to do kelim just like Korean dumplings, we need to spread some egg white in order to make both end neatly attached so that the filling won't come out during frying (got what I mean, folks?). Unlike the original kelim pattern for karipap, we don't need the egg white (as an edible glue) because the kelim is good enough to avoid the filling from bursting out. Using white egg was a bit troublesome though since I had to spend more time to brush it along the pastry before putting in the filling.  

 Wanna see how a noob makes karipap? Lets check it out, peeps!

Firstly, you gotta roll the dough into a circle

A rolled pastry in its uneven shape. 

After you roll it, use a mold to make a circle pastry. I used a container cap to make this circle. 

Pretty pathetic but it worked. Then, spread some egg white evenly on the pastry. 

 

Next, put in the filling according to your own preference. If you want to have that full taste of the filling on your taste buds, put more filling. Maybe tw0 to three spoons but I do not encourage that folks, coz you may have your karipap bursting when you fry'em. You wouldn't want that happen, trust me. 

After putting in the filling, clamp both ends. Make sure both edges are attached tightly and neatly. The usage of egg white really does the trick as it acts like a glue to stick'em together.

Okay, now we make the kelim. It's quite easy I think. Starting from the middle part of the pastry, press the edge using your index finger (finger, not FINGERS) of your left hand and pull it out using your  finger of your right hand until it pointed out, like this................. 

Good one, eh?

Continue pressing the edge until the pastry looks a 

little bit like this (I don't know why but my pastry definitely looks like a shell)

Continue making other pastries until all dough are finished. Then, put them layer by layer but never put them on top of one another because karipap pastries can easily stick to each other, making it hard to separate them for frying. And don't forget, if possible, lapik lah guna plastik, macam orang berniaga karipap segera tu. huhu.

That's it! Easy right? Now, all you gotta do is deep fry them.

comment: karipap engkao ni keras la. lupa nak letak air ke?

miss noob: (terdiam sedih dan sakit gigi sebab kunyah karipap keras, wooo~) 

woo, keras wooh!

p/s: result da kuar da, bedebor la jugak rasenye sampai sakit perut.

it scared the hell out of me!

It's creepy you know? Having to be all alone at home and suddenly happen to be hearing things. I try to be positive. Maybe it's just the rustling sound of the rats having some kind of marathon-like sport up on the ceiling. It gets even much scarier when the weather turns bad, with all the lightnings and thunders.  At first it was just an ordinary rain falling from the dark sky. 

Suddenly, the rain gets heavier. The air is getting colder and colder and my heart beats even faster whenever the thunder strikes the ground so hard till I could feel the tremor. Honestly, I'm scared! I'm doing some motiveless activity with my laptop and deep from my heart, I feel like crying lol. I'd never gotten chickened out like this before. I'm surprised with myself.

Boooom!



opocot mak engkao!

Right after that loud thunder sound, the light goes off! Just imagine how freaked out I am. Nevertheless, I don't scream like some random chicks although I have to face the kegelapan alone. I just get way too nervous over the sound. In no time, I got up and took my lappy into my room and locked the wooden door. It was a really nerve-wrecking moment. I stay put inside my bed; silent. Only the sound of various Surah from Quran playing via WMP that keeps me accompanied. 

I turned on the highest volume but still the sound of thunder outperformed the sound of my lappy (p00r ac**). Whenever the loud sound of thunder stroke my eardrums, I kept chanting "La hau la wa la quwwata illa billahil aliyyil azim" (meaning =  there is no power or strength except through Allâh."), asking for protection from the Lord of Universe.



Wooo, woo, takutnya...!

Along with the heart-throbbing sound of thunders, I could hear something much more terrifying. I even got goosebumps all over. It sounds like as if there was someone walking outside my room. I got so afraid. Was it just my feeling? My body got stiffed over that sound. Actually, I always hear such sounds; the sounds made by people walking on the wooden floor of the house but the sound usually come up at night, and just now it was daylight. It was so weird, as if there was someone else with me in this house.

 I don't know. Is the house haunted or what? Coz whenever I'm alone, I feel like having other person (s) watching over me. It's spooky, seriously. 

La hau la wa la quwwata illa billah....

I texted my chichi, saying that there was blackout. I was hoping that my dad would come home sooner. After 10 minutes, he arrived home with my lil bro who came back from school. Alhamdulillah, that feeling went away at last...

lesson : always remember Allah no matter where you are and whatever circumstances you are in...

Robocon Final

Lets get robotic!

Petang tadi semua tengah duk bersiap-siap pegi stadium untuk perlawanan akhir Robocon. Cuma tinggal sorang je makhluk Allah ni cam liat sket nak bangun lepas short nap. Nak tak nak, kena bangun jugak coz seme nak pergi. Takkan nak duduk sengsorang iye dok? Dah la esok dah nak balik kampung, at least hari ni pergi la keluar jalan-jalan ngan kawan-kawan hosmet tersayang buat kali terakhir. Tak ke gitu?

Kitorang pun set off dalam pukul 3.30 ptg. Cuaca agak panas, macam biase. It's Nilai okay? Pernah ke Nilai ni turun salji? Kat sana, banyak gile keta dan ramai giler orang! Lagi ramai dari hari itu. Penuh seat stadium. Bergema satu stadium bile audience tepuk tangan. Hari ni perlawanan memang sengit sebab dah sampai final dah, so team yang masuk final mesti yang gempak-gempak punyalah wa cakap sama lu. Jadi amatlah rugi kuasa 4 ribu kalu anda tidak menyaksikan perlawanan berprestij ini. ehehe...

Untuk final Robocon 2011 kali ini, gelanggang menyaksikan perlawanan antara dua saudara iaitu Team UTM B dan UTM C (skema ke ayat aku?). Memang. Memang UTM conquer habis lah tournament ni. Team UTM yang datang nak sokong pun cam gempak je bagi semangat kat kawan-kawan diorang. Siapa yang menang? Agak-agak sape ye? Ce teka, ce teka. Mestilah UTM! Gane-gane pun UTM gak lah yang menang lol. Ngiahahaha!

Keputusannya adalah, UTM B yang menjadi johan dan membawa hadiah bernilai RM10,000. Banyak tu. Boleh makan steamboat berapa kali agaknya tu ye? (udoh-udoh la tu makan steamboat) Team dari UTM bawak pulang RM20,000 kalau tak silap la. Sebab diorang menang 3 awards. Tiga! They really were awesome, seriously. Ahjushi pengacara tu pun cakap UTM memang otai lam sukan robotic nih (by the way, otai means old timer, macam 'orang lama' dalam arena robot lah).

Team UTM B (merah) melawan UTM C (biru)

Pentas bertemakan Bunga Raya

Mengail apa tu pakcik? Nampak cam best je pakcik cameraman ni amek gambar 

guna 'joran' tu. Cool la ahjusshi, cool~

Persembahan kebudayaan daripada penari-penari Sarawak

So many people ma...

Persembahan lagi....

Peserta-peserta bersedia di garisan merah dengan robot masing-masing

At last, majlis pun tamat. Kitorang pun balik dengan tenang sebab dah tahu pemenang pertandingan tu. Esok dah nak balik Ganu. Hm, nak buat apa ye dalam jangka masa 2 bulan nie? Ada apa-apa cadangan bernas dop? Bosan kot duk  umah jek. Wuhuhu.

p?s: Tahniah kepada team UTM!

Jom Tengok Robocon!

Pertandingan robot peringkat kebangsaan, ROBOCON 2011 telah diadakan di Stadium Tertutup Nilai, USIM. Bersalah jugak lah rasanya jikalau kami pelajar USIM yang mendiami rumah sewa yang hanya sekangkang kera dari stadium itu tidak hadir memeriahkan acara peringkat internasional itu. Jadi, memang tak salah rasanya untuk kami beramai-ramai pergi memeriahkan acara tersebut. Hehe, skema pula rasanya statement bersalah itu. Persetankan saja.

Suasana sekitar pentas pertarungan

Ramai juga manusia bertebaran di stadium tertutup itu. Mana tidaknya, acara peringkat kebangsaan itu sudah semestinya dihadiri oleh para peserta institusi pengajian tinggi dari seluruh pelusuk tanah air. USIM, UIA, UTM, USM, namakan saja. Tidak lupa juga para penyokong yang tidak jemu memberi sokongan padu kepada pasukan yang bertanding. 

It is so interesting *tukar mood bahasa inggeris jap* They were given some kind of assignments to be completed in a given time, like putting those pieces of styrofoam into its places to form hibiscus. At first we thought they were building a cake replica with those candles on top, but alas, it was actually a hibiscus lol. Hahaha. Well, it was the theme of the event; Hibiscus as 1 Nation emcee Flower? Something like that I guess. Wuhu.

I didn't even think that it would be so much fun watching the robot contest. The students looked so enthusiastic controlling and maneuvering their robots. We were so excited to watch the team from UTM and UIAM who got high marks for their awesome performances. They even received a big applause from the audience. There were not so many people but they were enough to make the hall echoing with those frantic screaming and shouting. The team from USM was also impressive with their robot performance. Salute! What about USIM? Well, when we arrived, the team from USIM already finished performing. Alas, what a close shave!

Ni masa mula-mula masuk stadium. USIM vs UMP. Da habis da tyme ni.

 Tak sempat nak tengok robot rekaan budak USIM. Wuhuhu, melepas lol.

I tell you what, there was even a crew from RTM filming the annual event. Yelah sebab acara ni pun conjuction antara SIRIM, RTM dan USIM. Bangga kot sebab stadium nilai USIM gak yang terpilih jadi pentas pertarungan. Bangga. Bangga. 

p/s: bukan senang nak buat robot nih. nak kena excel dalam Physics and Computer Science (ye ke?) 

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack...

                              

 ... or should I say, a haystack

 in the needles?

                                                                

p/s: keep searching.

misteri rumah sewa yang ditinggalkan

Pernah dengar orang kata, mana-mana rumah kalau ditinggalkan tidak berpenghuni, akan ada ‘makhluk’ yang akan datang menumpang? Macam apa yang berlaku kat rumah sewa aku di Nilai ni la. Sebulan je pun rumah ni tak berpenghuni (sebab penghuninya semua balik kampong cuti sem) tapi dah pun dihuni oleh sejenis makhluk ciptaan Allah ni. Siap buat sarang lagi. Cuba teka kat mana dia buat sarang tu? Jeng, jeng, jeng. Anda barangkali terkejut. Barangkali tidak. Yang pastinya, aku dan room mate memang agak terkejut.

Mula–mula masuk bilik terkedu jugak bila nampak something yang berbonggol kat celah langsir. Aku juih mulut aku kata arah tingkat, “Ce tengok tu,” Room mate terkejut giler. DIa ingatkan rambut (rambut?).  Rupanya itu ialah sarang burung. Besar pulak tu. Yang tak tahannya, nape nak buat sarang kat celah langsir tepi tingkap? (macam burung bleh jawab soalan tu).

Aku pun amik la sarang burung tu lepas roommate pastikan takde telur burung lam tu. Takkan la kitorang nak tinggal sebumbung ngan burung iye dop? Kang dia membuang kan naya. Sebelum ni slalu gak sang burung bertenggek atas tingkap nako tuh, siap berak kat atas cermin tu lagi. Tapi tak sangka burung tu ada niat di hati nak buat sarang. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Sarang burung tu terpaksa dipindahkan ke lokasi baru. Huhu.

Nilah dia rupa 'rambut' yang dikatakan room mate

Sarang burung yang menumpang tingkap bilik kami tanpa kebenaran,

 apatah lagi membayar sewa dan bil air dan letrik.

Kesian dia penat-penat buat rumah. Last-last kena alih ngan tuan rumah.
Ngeee~

the dirty little secrets of 2PM

Last night, I went surfing the internet about the favourite famous K-Pop group, 2PM. We were so shocked to know that all the members were totally different behind the scene! (except for Jaybeom, the previous leader of 2PM, and Nichkhun) . Why did I say Nichkhun is excluded? I'll explain later. 

How did I come with the idea to surf about 2PM? Actually, I was kind of wondering why does Junsu look a bit different in 2PM's latest videos compared to his appearances in their old MVs. I  typed "Junsu's plastic surgery" on my browser and to my surprise, all gossips about 2PM popped out. The gossip was leaked by Sasaeng fans (sasaeng fans are those who act like stalkers to their favourite idol groups since they'd follow their favourite artists wherever they go 24/7 so most of their words are like almost 99.999% true!). And it was deadly shocking coz the fan themselves, not antis, revealed about the dark sides of 2PM.

When me and my sister (who also happened to be fancying 2PM a lot) were scrolling down the  article on the web, we were so surprised. Everything we saw on the videos in YouTube were all fake. It was like they go 180 degrees outside their working hours. In YouTube, it seems like all the 6 members were so friendly and they act like they are real brothers. Well, you can spot this easily through many Korean variety shows which portrayed the so-called sacred "skinship" among the 2PM members. Don't ever let them fool you coz all of them are just fake. 

The truth is, I get quite disappointed with what I saw with my own two eyes. According to Sasaeng's fan (you can read it here 2PM Dirty Little Secret) all 2PM members (except Nichkhun) like to treat their fans harshly. Some say that some members have low lifestyle. I am not an anti of 2PM. I'm just saying this coz I know the one who wrote the article is also among the die-hard-fans of 2PM. How come someone who's really into something they like the most become the ones who turned away from it? There must be strong big reason behind it, aight?


 I think what Sasaeng fans said about the members are mostly true coz they had been tailing 2PM most of the time so no way you can say that they are bluffing. Don't you know entertainers would do anything (which may include acting to be good in front of the fans) it takes to become famous? Just think about it.

Instead of 7, now 2PM got 6 members only after Jaebeom left the group

What makes me feel so mad and sad is when I read on how bad Nichkhun and Jaybeom were treated. For Jaybeom, his departure doesn't mean anything for most of 2PM members. It was just rumours when they say 2PM were so heartbroken over his departure which resulted from Jaebom's statement in his MySpace account. The ones who seemed to be really compassionate over the incident that happened to that 2PM leader were probably only Nichkhun and Kwon (2AM) .

Nichkhun was being abandoned most of the time (since he is the only foreign member from Thai and definitely their cultures do not easily mix and match) and although he is the oldest among other members, no one seem to respect him much. Even in an incident, Nichkhun was said to be hit on the head (poor Nichkhun!) with a 1.5 L soft drink bottle by Junho after Nichkhun was kind of mad at Junho and Chansung who were talking badly about fans (Sasaeng fans who follow them 24/7). It seems like Nichkhun really love and respect their fans, unlike those two brats. That what makes me like Nichkhun even more. (>_<)

Nickhun Buck Horvejkul yang naturally handsome (no plastic surgery okay?)

Some other infos I read were so humiliating. It's about the lifestyle of some of them. I just can't say it here. It's way too awful. You may read the rest through the link above. You can choose whether to believe it or not. I bet most 2PM fans would be disappointed if all of what had been written in the article happened to be the naked truth.

All I can say is that, 2PM members should respect and love the fans because without their fans, they will never become famous. 

footnote #1: All lies make 2PM a dull group.

footnote # 2: To all devoted 2PM fans out there, if you happen to read any part of this entry, don't be mad at me. I'm just giving my own review according to what I read and there is no definite answer to whether they are true or false. It depends on either how ready are you to face the truth and accept it wholeheartedly, or how could you thicken the fine line between what's bad and good to drag you b*** out of the qualm.

footnote #3: you can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all people (lol, is this even a right quote?!)

forgive me when i whine

Kadang-kadang emosi orang pompuan ni macam tak tentu arah sikit. Sekejap dia okay, sekejap lagi dia KO. Macam aku lah tadi, mula-mula rase marah. Pastu, tetiba je aku nangis. Membuak-buak pulak air mata aku tadi. Laju benar air mata mengalir dan aku macam tak boleh berenti menangis.. Mujur tak abih tisu satu kotak. 

Actually aku nangis sebab satu masalah jer. Tapinya, sejibik macam apa yang aku baca dalam novel feymes "Men are from Mars, Woman are from Venus", perempuan lebih suke mengaitkan satu masalah dengan masalah yang lain.

 Air mata yang keluar tu sebab masalah yang satu ni je pun, tapi tetiba jew otak aku ligat berputar lalu kotak-kotak memori pantas mengaitkan masalah tersebut dengan masalah-masalah yang lain. Apa lagi, makin deras lah air mata masin aku ni turun.

 Lagi satu, perempuan ni lebih cenderung untuk menceritakan masalah yang dia ada kat orang lain, rather than finding ways out of the problem. Tapi dalam kes tadi, disebabkan aku tak luahkan perasaan bengang yang melampau tu kat sape-sape, keadaan jadi lebih parah. 

Kalau kaum Adam, lain pulak ceritanya. Orang laki lebih prefer fokus pada satu masalah dalam satu masa. Dorang akan cuba selesaikan masalah tu baru nak pikir masalah lain.  See the difference? Perempuan ni lagi suka melayan perasaan la aku rase. Macam aku la. Huhu. Terlalu emotional. Memang satu masalah besar. 

Rasanya hari ni aku dah banyak kali da kuar air mata. Tak tahulah macam mana nak keluar dari masalah ni. The thing is, I am mad at someone but I failed to show my true feeling and thus, the bad feeling had grown rapidly, making a large hole inside me. The larger the hole, the more agonizing it become, which eventually made me cried.  Aku sebenarnya tak tahu salah sapa dalam hal ni. Salah aku ke salah dia. 

Aku pun buntu nak cari jalan keluar. Ya Allah, tolonglah hamba-Mu ini. Aku sedang terseksa jiwa raga. Argh!