Dance Malaysia: Our Culture in Pictures

it was the launching of Merdeka-themed exhibitions at BSC in partnership with the NSTP this morning. the reason why i was there~ just like last year's Merdeka exhibition of works from renowned cartoonist Datuk Lat for the “Lat 1 Malaysia” Merdeka exhibition., this year's designs were also done by FW (Fusion Werks Sdn Bhd)~ mehubby & brother's company. obviously, i wouldn't want to miss it for the world! ;P

the official opening was by YB Dato' Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil 

here are all the pics that i managed to snappy snap-snap...

 

the flip panels

 

the banner...

the view from 1st floor..

the on stage panel..

the bunting...

the stage...

Wan Zaleha Radzi...the reason i watched TV3 news long time ago...

 

the gong..

the dance...

 

the dancers...

A legacy for the young
RECIPIENTS OF THE BRDB NST DANCE MALAYSIA TRIBUTE

Mek Jah Derih

Mek Jah Derih is one of the few remaining activists of the Mak Yong, a performance that is heading for extinction.

Vatsala Sivadas
Vatsala Sivadas remains among the most understated yet stalwart teachers and practitioners of the Indian Classical Dance tradition of bharatanatyam.

Wong Kit Yaw
As a young lad interested in the study of dance in the 1970s, Wong faced a major stumbling block as there was no one teaching Chinese classical dance in Malaysia in the 1960s and 1970s.

Marion D’Cruz
Better known for her role in spearheading the Five Arts Society, as well as a producer, Marion D’ Cruz’s role in pioneering the concept and establishing a tradition of contemporary dance in the country is unrivalled.

Prof Mohd Anis Mohd Nor
Prof Anis is a dancer and academic and previously Director of the Cultural Centre at the University of Malaya. He is among the most renowned scholars of Malaysian and Southeast Asian dance internationally, but is also credited for establishing dance studies as a principal area of research in cultural studies.

 

the message  written on the wall by YB Dato' Seri Shahrizat

a quick tour through the exhibits...

 

with the Odissi Guru Ramli Ibrahim...

 

during press conference...

Exhibition starts from today 27th August through 17th September...

do drop by at BSC for the exhibition...

 Have a great weekend all!!!

Recipe: SLR Fried Chicken Rice

cooked this for buka puasa at home last sunday. it's my own recipe, tried, altered & tested a few times before & here's the recipe to share.

Ingredients for Fried Chicken:

3 chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, minced/ crushed
2 egg white
2tbs 'Mukmin' salsa sause (from Tesco)
1 tsp. chilli powder or chilli sauce
salt & pepper seasoned to taste
Seasoned flour for chicken coating which i used Puas brand (bought from Tesco) 

for Garnishing

cucumber, tomatoes & lettuce
2 Tbsp. fried shallots

Ingredients for Rice:

2 cups rice, washed and drained
1 small piece ginger
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
(blend all 3 ingredients above)

2 tbsp. butter
2 pandan leaves
chicken broth & chicken stock

Ingredients for Chilli Sauce:

6 fresh red chillies
¼ cup lime juice / vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
salt and sugar to taste
2tbsp Mai pranhom ~ thai chili sauce

Ingredients for Garlic Soy Sauce
2 cloves garlic
soy sauce both light & dark
1 tabsp oil

Ingredients for Chicken Cucumber Soup

parts of chickens
3 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
a thumb of ginger
celery stalks
cloves, cinnamon & star anise
slices of cucumber
salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Step 1: sautee mixture of shallot, garlic & ginger in a pot with little oil, add parts of chicken that u would use to make chicken stock. put in celery stalks & slices of cucumber. not to forget throw in the cloves, cinnamon & star anise. season to taste.

step 2:  wash rice and drain the water, put aside. heat some butter in a pan and sautee  shallot, ginger and garlic mixture till fragrant. remove from heat and pour this mixture and pandan leaves into rice cooker pot,  add rice. add sufficient chicken broth & chicken stock if using to cook according to the rice cooker measurment. don't forget to add salt for taste.

step 3: blend or pound red chilies & mix all ingredients for the chilli sauce. season to taste with sugar and salt. heat up in a saucepan until thicken.


step 4: saute minced garlic in oil, add both light & dark soy sauce until it starts to bubble. 

step 5: mix the ingredients for chicken in a bowl. clean chicken and pat dry, prick with a fork to allow seasonings to penetrated. marinate chicken with seasonings for 1/2 day or leave overnight in refrigerator.

step 6: heat oil for frying. dip chicken in a bowl of beaten egg white & coat them in the seasoned chicken flour, &deep fry till golden brown. remove and cut into serving pieces when cool.

step 7: serve rice with chicken, sliced cucumbers, tomatoes & lettuce, chilli sauce and dark soy sauce. garnish rice with some fried shallots.

Tips: soak peeled shallots with a pinch of salt in water for about 5 minutes. Slice thinly and deep fry in hot oil till crisp and brown.drain on paper towel.

serves: 4

Happy cooking! ;D

Recipe: Chinese Lemon Chicken

every time i went to the supermarket for my monthly grocery trip, lemon is something i can't resist buying. thinking i'll make something (food) out of it but without fail it always ended up as lemonade drink! :P

so while browsing thru some recipe blogs for some ideas, i found this highly reviewed recipe from here. it sounds & looks simple enough so i tried.

here's the  original recipe & the writing in orange is my variation. *cooked this dish with my eager assistant cook~Laith. ;P

Ingredients:
 
2 1/2lbs boneless-skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” cubes)
 
Marinade
 
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon salt
 
Batter
 
2 large eggs
¼ cup cornstarch
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch white pepper
oil (for frying)
 
Sauce
 
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chicken broth (i used chicken stock + water instead)
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice (half a lemon equals to 2 tablespoon)
¾ teaspoon salt
3 slices of lemon (peeled) (the remaining half of the lemon equals 3 slices)
2 tablespoons oil
yellow food coloring (optional)  (i went au naturel)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Place cut chicken breast pieces into a bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and ½ teaspoon of salt. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. (i had less than 1 hour to prepare the dish, half hour in the fridge was not a problem)

Step 2: To make the batter – beat 2 large eggs with ¼ cup of cornstarch, a pinch of white pepper and baking powder.  Coat the chicken with the batter.

Step 3: Heat deep fryer to 350 degrees and deep-fry in batches until chicken is fully cooked. Drain on paper towels and set aside. You can also cook the chicken using a wok if you don’t have a deep fryer. (i didn't have a deep fryer, so wok was the answer) 


Step 4: Now, to make the lemon sauce – combine 1/3 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 cup chicken broth (chicken stock & water) , 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and ¾ teaspoon salt (if using food coloring you can add it now). Mix until well combined and add 3 slices of lemon to the sauce mixture.

Step 5: Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in your wok and stir in the lemon sauce mixture and heat until well mixed and sauce becomes clear. Remove lemon slices and pour the sauce over the chicken and mix. Best served with rice and broccoli. & dish ready to be served. unfortunately broccoli was not in the menus yesterday but it tasted good regardless.

well they don't look as presentable as the original recipe pix but it was yummy all the same & everyone loves it. 

this recipe is definitely a keeper.  

Happy cooking!!! :D

Baby / Bayi= Sampah!?

i guess sekarang ni kalau belajar synonym / kata persamaan or definition / thesaurus for the word baby / bayi , u'll find all sorts of definition like Sampah, Buang, Bakar, Longkang,  Sungai,  Tandas,  or just simply Mati.:'(
*sigh* apelah nak jadi dengan manusia ni, dah balik zaman jahiliah dah nampaknye. yang sedih tu, most of the babies yang jadi mangsa tu baby melayu. bila somehow the person or probably bagus dipanggil "oven" yang buat the baby tu (sebab tak sesuai langsung nak dipanggil emak / ibu) pompan yang pakai tudung. bila kene tangkap pandai plak malu. tutuplah muka~ ko hengat ko tu hape, Ostrich!!?? hish emo betullah!

tu pasal malas nak baca paper, or tengok local news. takdalah cerita lain, lagi2 cerite baby jumpa kat longkang, kat dalam beg, kat dalam laci, kat bawah katil dalam kotak dalam plastik beg, dalam dumpster, kat tayar lori?...& the list of dalam ape people found the baby tu go on & on & on..... :'(

kalau orang dulu-dulu suka namakan anak diorng ikut peristiwa yang berlaku kat sekeliling dorng. like when lahir hari Ithnin, Rabu, Khamis or any day for that matter, itulah nama the baby. sometimes ikut bulan islam, like Rejab, Syaaban, Ramadhan, Syawal & the like. i got a neighbor yang name anak de Aidil & nama de Fitri~sebab dua-dua lahir masa Raya. some tu kes coincident (my brother's friend)~ nama mak dia Jam, bapak dia Saat, so nama dia~ hahaha...yeah u guess it~ Minit) seriously no joke.  i remember dulu someone from my kampung yang nama dia Ribut sebab de lahir masa tengah ribut. sorang tu pulak, nama de or simply nick de ke i've no idea, is Pungut, sebab he was adopted.

so kalau kes buang baby sekarang ni berlaku masa zaman orang namakan anak de ikut keadaan semasa or peristiwa what would be suitable for some of the lucky babies that are rescued~Kutip? Jumpa? Beg? Batik? Laci? Tayar/ Lori?Kotak? Sungai? Sejadah? Surau? Masjid??? takkan nak namakan Tandas or Jamban plak kan!??

motif tulis this entry sebab sedih denagn ape yang berlaku. yang boleh beranak tapi belum masanye sukati buang-buang cam sampah, yang takleh ada anak for whatever reasons...nak sangat ada anak.... :'(
sebenarnye nak usulkan punishment yang sesuai untuk orng-orng yang sukati buang baby ni bila kene tangkap cuba buat balik pada dorng camana dorng buat kat baby- baby tu, kalau dorng bakar baby, mari kita bakar de plak, kalau sumbat dalam jamban, kita sumbat de plak dalam jamban, kalau de tanam baby idup-idup, kita tanam dorng idup-idup gak, kalau masuk beg buang dalam sungai that's exactly what their punishment should be.biar de rasakan camana the baby rasakan.
nak seronok pandai, tak reti plak malu, tak ingat dosa dah tentu dapat, lagi mahu bunuh the result of ur 'Fishing' dosa! :'(

akhirkata, tengah-tenagh bulan pose ni for the unmarried, rapat-rapat kanlah kaki  & zip-ziplah seluar tuh TimaSih.

Hikayat Sang Kancil & Monyet yang sangat klasik

hahaha...a friend posted this link on fb & i laughed till my tummy hurts....xD
i used to watch this on TV Pendidikan @TV2 long time ago when i was a kid..later on at my old work place, it  used to be one of my ex workmate~ Nuyahs' favorite citing, bila ade je cite pasal orng tamak, she started citing this particular hikayat~"awas monyet "  & "jangan monyet, jangan..."hahaha....xD
it certainly brings back good memories....
hehehe...i like....:P

Brad Pitt & Jeniffer Aniston had 2 kids together !??

so mehubby & i were living in this palatial mansion somewhere off semenyih belonging to one of the richest person in town as a couple of caretakers to the mansion while he was away. he is just so generous that he even has his own gas/ petrol station at his place where family & friends are always welcome to fuel up FOC! ~WOW!!!
on top of that, he also owns a top notch high class restaurants adjoining the house for all the A class celebrities to come & dine where i, wait tables. :(

 pic from here

last nite while i was on my shift, Brad Pitt & Jeniffer Aniston dropped by for dinner (without reservation) along with their two adorable blond daughters, Blinky~ 4 & Keisha~ 2... weird thing about it was, neither Brad nor Jennifer bothered much about the two. so while they waited for their food that they've ordered to arrive all the way from Melaka (which of cos took quite awhile to arrive) the couple decided to go for a tandem bicycle ride around the area leaving the 2 kids playing at the restaurants kid's corner all by themselves but of cos under our~ the restaurant's staff watchful eyes.

minute after minute, hour after hour (borrowed from coolio's gangster's paradise lyric)  pass, the food (that was flown all the way from Melaka) had gone cold, the bubbly had no bubbles left, the kids had gone tired playing but Brad & Jeniffer were no where to be seen nor found! as the caretaker of the mansion & the restaurants, mehubby & i were responsible for the well being of the two kids...two blond kids...adeh apelah nak buat dengan anak omputih dua horang nih!?? we wondered.
suddenly, tu tutt tu tu tutt tu tutt tu tu tutt tu tutt tu tu tutt tut tutt tut... the alarm when off for sahur.... dang, aku bermimpi rupanya!!!

that was one weird Hollywood celebrity dream that i ever had! the irony about the dream~ Brad Pitt & Jeniffer Aniston are no more together & to have 2 kids together & not care about them??
told mehubby about the dream this morning & he was like.....hmmm....:P

Happy Fasting all!!

Bali: Sate Lilit & recipe~Cooking Mode ON.

the first time mehubby & i tried sate lilit was when we were in Bali where it's originated from. when we got home, i kept thinking about it & it kept on haunting me... last couple of weeks while flipping thru the cable channel (while mehubby was away, obviously ;P ) i saw Bobby Chin - Discovery Travel & Living, World Cafe Asia was making them sate lilit~. haish tak leh jadi nih, but since i missed the 1st part of the program i didn't get to see what he used ta make them & try to put it at the back of my mind, after all my cooking mode was still OFF then. last week plak, while flipping thru some old magazines at my FIL's... @ the recipe section...they showed the pics of  them glorious sate lilit & for some reasons they have the same recipes on two different categories~ if that's not enough hint to make me try it, i don't know what would lah...:P

however i don't really trust recipes in magazines cos they bound to omit certain things & the instructions would either be confusing or there would be some missing link somehow, somewhere...these sentences seem redundant don't they... oh well....;P
so i googled. found lots of postings on the recipe with lots of variation.so i used this recipe below as a main guide with several other recipes combined.to create my own version...hehehe...

yesterday after finalising the recipe with my cooking MODE went ON again, i left the office~ told mehubby & meFIL that i'm going to make them Sate Lilit for berbuka puasa....

so here's the recipe, the writing in orange is my variation;

Recipe: Sate Lilit Bali 
Ingredients:

250 grams shrimp (cleaned and deveined)
250 grams mackerel or any firm white flesh fillet
50 grams desiccated coconut -i used fresh shredded coconut.
65gm coconut milk
6 pieces kaffir lime leaves (thinly sliced)-i mixed it in the process ingredients
2 tablespoons palm sugar (gula jawa)-mixed it in process ingredients
Red capsicum (tiny cubes for sprinkles)-didn't have any.
Bamboo skewers or fresh lemongrass may be used-i used both

Processed Ingredients:
red chili- depending on ur taste, how mild or hot or super hot u like.
8 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 cm galangal or blue ginger
2 cm kencur / cekur or lesser galangal- i love this but no one else at the house likes it so i skipped.
1 teaspoon coriander seeds-somehow i missed to use this one...oops!!:P
1 cm fresh turmeric- didn't have any so i used powdered turmeric instead.
3 kemiri-or buah keras- candle nut
1 stalk lemon grass / serai
some recipes use belacan/ terasi or shrimp paste but i didn't
Mince all ingredients until they turn into a smooth paste- some recipes say~do not fry / saute-
some say~ Saute.over medium heat. i prefer the later. let is cool then mixed in the fish & shrimp paste.

Method:

1. Mix both fish & shrimp in food processor until smooth. Mix in coconut. Add the coconut milk.
2. Add processed ingredients, mix well. Add salt & sugar to taste.
3. If the mixture is still too dry, you may add 1 egg white and a bit of olive oil.-with the coconut milk it should be ok.
4. Shape the mixture on sate sticks/lemongrass stalk, flatten slightly.- use a bit of  olive / cooking oil while shaping to help it stick to the lemongrass or skewer & that also make the uncooked sate not stick to each other.
5. Charcoal grill sate until light brown and cooked through.- i used bbq electric grill.

 the sates after i'ved shaped around the lemongrass

 

on the BBQ electric grill

please note that those serai that i used were taken from my FIL's back garden hence the various sizes. ;P

so here are my Sate Lilit Bali ala SLR ready to be tried & tasted during berbuka yesterday~ forgot to take the pic of the sambal matah (something like sambal belacan with a twist). sate lilit are usually eaten with nasi, pasal tulah ade sambal matah.

Recipe: Sambal Matah


INGREDIENTS:
15 shallots, peeled, cut in half and finely sliced
4 cloves garlic, cut in half & sliced
15 small sliced chilies
1 tsp roasted shrimp paste (terasi)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice-i used limau kasturi

2 tsp palm sugar

PREPARATION:
1. Combine all ingredients & blend.
2. Season to taste with salt

sauté mixture for two minutes over medium heat to enhance the flavor.

the verdict: mehubby said, it tasted like the ones that we tried in Bali..hehe( kembang jap), laith said it tasted like otak-otak~ he loves otak-otak & the rest simply loved it...including my picky eater nephew mike whom hardly touches anything he is not familiar with. so i guess either it was actually good or it simply different from the normal food that we always have...hahaha...:D

happy fasting & happy trying  the recipe sate lilit Bali ala SunnyLovesRain.:D