New Year 2010

How’s the first week back at work and school doing? My top priority this year is to be more disciplined in terms of punctuality and meeting deadlines :) No ‘losing weisght’ resolution as I’ve been keeping taps on that for years and it never ever was ever achieved.. huhu..

Anyway, hopefully 2010 will be much kinder to me … family and career wise.

So what have I been doing? Been preparing work plans for my staff, since I have three units under me, I’m having a ball making endless plans. I just hope that we are physically able to do it since there are new stuff that I’m thinking of introducing this year. I pray that we will be able to meet the expectations and excel :)

Besides that, saw this book at Popular and been trying to finish it. China’s history has always amazed me, so reading about Terracota Army is just as fascinating. It helps that John Man is a good story teller, makes it easier to comprehend more of China’s history and about the army itself. So if you have not read it, I do recommend it is a good read especially for your leisure.

2010
01/06
CATEGORY
Books
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Long weekends

I realised my last post was in November and it is only two days away to 2010 :) My bad… been so busy with work and my health has been a roller coaster in December and I am still recovering from bad coughs.

Month of December is definitely a month of holidays, with the school out for a whole month, many are taking their leaves too to spend some quality time with their children both spent either locally or abroad.

And now here I am, envying those around me just because they get to go on leave. Hehe!

Anyway, it is a good thing though because there have been two long weekends in December and another one coming up soon for New Year. Went to Miri also last week, so the least it could do rejuvenated me somewhat.

Last Sunday was a nice day, spent the afternoon with my husband, my brother and his wife cruising around Serasa Beach. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most popular spot for families and friends. The newly improved beach now accommodates more parking bays too.. a much needed facility as the way the beach is, it is long and narrow and people would have difficulties in find a good parking spot due to the size and shape. But now, the authorities had widened the beach and parking bays are easily available.

Serasa Beach has made its own iconic label to the locals, for one, when you mention Serasa Beach, there is this long stalls selling food and drinks. A good Soto (noodle soup) is available too. People selling kites and now there is also a guy selling rabbits, hens, rooster, cats (somewhat like a mini petshop). Huhu!

I’ve always liked going to the beach. Much of the younger days were spent at Serasa Beach, barbeque, attempted to make sand castles and many more. But somehow as everyone grew older, family gatherings of this kind became less and lesser until almost to never. So maybe we should revive this activity again…

About to enter the beach, as you can see, there's already a long line

Long line heading and exiting the beach

Cute kid having fun at the beach

Only for $2??

The young ones playing with the sand

These were among the items for sell. Other items include different shapes and sizes of kites.

A family having a picnic

Enjoying the fresh air

Relaxing ...

Playing with the water

Wouldn't it be nice to own a boat, and enjoy the windy breeze, harbouring just by the beach?

2009
12/30
CATEGORY
70-300mm f/4-5.6 G
Brunei
D90
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Borneo Games III 2009

I can’t believe my last entry was the 15th of November, life at home has been busy and the last three days had been spend for mass prayers performing fardhu and hajat prayers as the parents performed wukuf and other haj obligations where the last three days are the crucial ones. By performing these prayers, we hope that our prayers for them to implement their obligations to run smoothly would be answered.

And now, here I am typing away at the Media Centre for the Borneo Games III 2009.

Brunei Darussalam is currently hosting the biennial Borneo Games III 2009 with teams from Borneo comprising of Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia (Sarawak, Sabah and Melaka), and Indonesia (Kalimantan Timur, Kalimatan Tengah).

Ayam Padi, this year's games' mascot

The official opening took place this afternoon at the National Indoor Stadium at Berakas and the first game to be played today is lawn bowling. The games will run from today to December 6, 2009. So if you are nearby or are interested in the games, please do drop by. There are no entrance charges imposed.

2009
11/29
CATEGORY
Brunei
Dailies
Sports
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Wet season

It’s been raining almost every afternoon now, just hoping that there will be no major floods like what happened last year and early this year. It’s been gloomy that I have not seen these shades of golden clouds in awhile.  Pic was taken right out side of my house.

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Golden clouds

I have not been feeling well for the last few days, had a sore throat and slight temperature which the doctor gave me a one-day leave yesterday. Now the hubby is feeling under the weather too.

My parents have been away for 10 days now and today marks the day they would be off to Mecca. It is about 5 to 6 hours journey from Medinah and they should be arriving soon.

So another 20 days left before they are back. Meanwhile I just need to get my head straight and try to run the house as efficiently as possible :)

 

2009
11/15
CATEGORY
18-105mm
D90
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Bean Curd with minced chicken

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Colourful and tasty

It’s been awhile since I last cooked a proper dish, so there I was trying to cook a simple one.

Presenting Bean Curd with Minced Chicken.

Ingredients;

1. Shallot

2. Red Onion

3. Capsicum (Red and Green)

4. Chilli

5. Minced chicken

6. Tofu or Bean Curd

7. Oyster sauce

Methods;

1. Fry the Bean Curd. Slice it into thin pieces. Put aside.

Sauce

1. Saute the shallot and red onion until fragrant; followed by the capsicums

2. Next add in the minced chicken.

3. Add in chilli ( I used the really spicy one)

4. Add in 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce.

5. Add in the fried bean curd and mix well.

I didnt use any seasoning as the oyster sauce was enough to taste.

And you are set to go!

2009
11/08
CATEGORY
Food
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Haj season

It is the Haj season again this time around. Unlike the recent years, this year has more significance to my family and I as my parents plus my uncle and aunts are joining the pilgrimage.

They are on the last flight from the four chartered flights to the holy city and should be landing in an hour plus. They took off at 6.20am this morning meaning we were already at the airport by 3.00am and it was like day time as many people turned up to send off their loved ones.

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Huge crowd despite it being around 3am. Soon there werent any space left as it got really crowded.

It was a tearful farewell despite knowing they will be away for just a month. I’ve never really experienced this when I am an adult, last was my dad going for Haj when I was a little girl, so I never really knew how it felt. And this time around, my mum is going too with her elder brother (with wife) and youngest sister.

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We were watching until they entered the door.

So here I am with the responsibility to take care after my brothers, my sister-in-law,  and the housemaid. To start with, I’m going groceries soon…

ps: Yes, I changed the template again. Got bored with the previous one. Maybe I should just open up my own domain… hmmm

2009
11/06
CATEGORY
18-105mm
family
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Mangrove Paradise Resort

Huge colourful sign welcoming us

Big colourful sign welcoming us

This is a long overdue post. I’ve been so tied up with back-to-back trainings, courses and seminars, there are barely a number of hours spent in the office. I am so out of touch with what is happening back there, or probably it is a good thing that I am away. Haha!!

So this post is dedicated to the latest talk of the town, the Mangrove Paradise Resort. After the many news coverage, bloggers talking about it too, we decided to hop on the wagon and see what the huha was all about.

So off we went.

The resort is situated at Kampong Sungai Belukut. If you do not have the slightest idea where it is, you will have to pass Mentiri if you use the Muara/Serasa/Salambigar route or you will have to pass Kota Batu if you use the route from Bandar. You will definitely not miss it as there is a huge sign by the side of the road indicating the resort’s location. Above is a picture of the welcoming sign at the resort itself.

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The jetty or the hallway which will branch out into three main areas

So how was it? I have to say when we stepped out of our car, it didn’t feel like we were in Brunei. There were ponds for fishing with a number of huts provided for the guest’s convenience. They also provide fishing rods for rent or you can bring your own.

Stepping inside, the hallway will branch out into three main areas; the resort, the restaurant and the jetty.

We only went to the restaurant though. So my reviews will only be based on our experience there.

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On our way to the restaurant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our experience was, I’m afraid not the one we want to remember as its service was rather slow. It demanded a lot of patience from us and the food itself weren’t that great either.

But fair to say, it was only their first month operating so there are more rooms for improvement which I hope they will or they risk losing their customers.

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Many many many tables...

A patron two tables away from us couldn’t take it as their food was also served rather late, so the whole family left.

On the good side, pushing aside the bad service, the view was actually nice. Although it was night, we could see it would be a beautiful picture during day time as the resort overlooks the river. We were given one of the private huts so we ate next to the river.

From the restaurant we could see the chalets but one has to pass through the reception to enter the chalet so we didn’t enter. But we could see there are swimming pools too which is good for the kids. And there is a jetty that maybe provides transportation which I am not sure where too.

So yeah.. overall, it was a 5 out of 10 just because the service was not that great. I hope they will rectify it a.s.a.p!!

2009
10/28
CATEGORY
Findings
family
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Busy month

It is a month full of trainings for myself including my staff this time around. In total there are four different trainings I must undergo with each different from one another. It is a coincident as it falls right after one another.

The first short seminar was on the importance and guidelines of updating an official government website. As part of my job is also to update the department’s website, I alongwith my other staff including our public relations officers and those related with IT matters in our department attended this held at the Civil Service Institute.

The seminar itself was alright but I was hoping that the organisers would give more emphasise on cooperation between IT and PR people in updating a website. I mean let’s face it, it is the PR people who has most of the information and the IT people with their technical aspects. The matter was discussed but only on its surface. The guidelines given were good and I hope to get the full version once it is endorsed. Matters on security were discussed but I was also hoping that they’d give recommendations on what types of anti-virus that ought to be used to avoid being a victim of malicious activities.

The panel of presenters. Picture taken from Pelita Brunei (picture taken by Hernie Suliana)

The panel of presenters. Picture taken from Pelita Brunei (picture taken by Hernie Suliana)

Overall, it was a good step by the relevant authorities and hopefully they’d improve the content for the next batch.

The other course I attended was on CS4 Adobe Flash… now that was a very knowledgeble and beneficial learning session. It was a three-day course held at Micronet, and fully sponsored by our office. It is very useful and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

rtblogoaibd_logoAnd at the moment, I am attending a five-day course on web journalism. A program organised by our official tv statio, Radio Televisyen Brunei with AIBD/IBU. Today is the third day of the course and so far we’ve learned quite a number of new interesting things. I’ve used Google before but never to such an extend and that’s because I didn’t know there are such features; discovering new search engines; RSS and many more. I am also enjoying this… thank you RTB for remembering us although we are from a different department. I hope we’d get more invitations from RTB in the near future :)

And the last course for this month, which will take place at the end of the month will be a course on Dreamweaver. I’ve never used this program before so I am looking forward to this course too.

So there you go.. my schedule for this month.

On a personal note, my parents will be leaving for haj in November, so a doa selamat will be held somewhere end of this month. I’m not sure how it will be as the last time my dad left for haj was back in the 90’s and this will be the first time for my mum. I pray to Allah, safejourney and that their haj will be a meaningful and blessed one. Amin…

 

2009
10/21
CATEGORY
Findings
2 comments

Recipes

Chicken Burger
Fried Mee Hoon
Peanut Butter Pudding
Mee Mamak
Nutella Muffin
Blueberry Muffin
Mini Popia
Biskut Lapik Milo
Chocolate Riz Rice Biscuit
Honey Mixed Cereal