Yummy ikan terubuk

 

What's your favourite fish? For me, the shad, or ikan terubuk, would be amongst the top of the list.

The terubuk is an estuarine fish. It is full of bones no doubt, but its white flesh is soft and tastes quite unlike any other fish you'd find at the market. I don't know how to describe it (i just know how to eat) but its kinda lemak and ohhh...

But because of its bones, some people would never even take a second look at terubuk. They find it too difficult to eat! Which is just fine by me. I'll just have them all to myself, thank you very much :)

My love for terubuk started a very early age. I remember when we were staying in Bota Kanan, Apak used to bring fresh terubuk home for Emak to grill. The smell of the fish oil as it drips off in the grilling process was enough to make me drool in anticipation of a fine feast. We used to take the terubuk with some air asam. Mmmm..I'm starting to salivate now just thinking about it.

Sarawak terubuk is very famous for being amongst the tastiest in Malaysia. Their salted terubok is also much sought-after by visitors and tourists to the state. Where to get them? Just head to Pasar Satok and take your pick.

The photo above shows salted Sarawak terubuk at a market in Miri.

Quaint little Behrang

Pekan Behrang? Behrang Stesen? I'm not quite sure what's the official name of this little  town. But you can't really blame me for not knowing. This town is located off the way main transport routes.

My experience with Behrang is by way of the fact that Sakinah used to study at the Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah which is located close by. Even then I didn't get to discover the town until she was well into her second year of her three year stay at the polytechnic. And that was also only after being alerted to its existance by Pak Non.

Behrang is a rustic, quaint little town located about 2km off the Federal Highway Route 1. As a general reference, it is somewhere in between Tanjung Malim and Slim River. If you pass by it, you'd hardly notice anything special about it really. But once you decide to take the right-turn and drive into it, Behrang will turn its charm on you.

For one, Behrang has a cute little rail station serving the trains of Keretapi Tanah Melayu. Thus, the name Behrang Stesen, I guess. But what really strikes me is the atmosphere and its general ambiance which harks back to the little towns of the 1960s and 70s.

The shops are all of wooden structures. And they all have bamboo blinds on their front exteriors. The pace of life and activities are decidedly S-L-O-W and steady. Old gentlemen while their time away in kopitiams and there are definitely no traffic jams, of course.

Some attractions include the fishing shop which is well-stocked with fishing paraphernalia, the apam balik stall, and the Orang Asli-owned stall which sells petai and durian.

First convocation for the family: Tahniah Sakinah

My eldest, Sakinah - or Keenat, as her friends would call her - had her convocation at the Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah last Monday.

Three years of toil and hard work has paid dividends and brought her a diploma in accountancy. On top of that, she was also awarded the Pingat Ketua Jabatan for her excellent result. That's my girl.

My heart pounded heavily as I got excited and mighty proud at the sight of my first baby striding forward to receive her scroll.

Tahniah my dear Keenat!!

Skyscrapers in Putrajaya

It has been fifteen years since construction first started in Putrajaya. For the first ten years, most developments have been for government office buildings and government residential quarters.

Over the last five years though, one is able to witness commercial office developments come on line. And this trend looks set to continue.

As the development of government buildings come to a tail end, and especially as the population size of the city continues to rise, the private sector has finally got Putrajaya on their radar.

This is surely a sign of the city maturing. For it is now capable of attracting private commercial investors big time. Well, almost.

I am sure that it won't be long before Putrajaya will be able to give KL a run for its money and boast its own beautiful, high-rise commercial buildings. When that happens, MNCs (multinational corporations) will be making a bee line towards Putrajaya...so eat your heart out KL.

For now, Putrajaya already has its first four skyscrapers - albeit in the form of government ministry buildings.


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Pameran 1 dekad kecemerlangan Putrajaya

Sempena Karnival Wow! Putrajaya, suatu pameran sedang diadakan di Presint 2 Putrajaya bertemakan 1 Dekad Kecemerlangan Putrajaya.

Karnival serta pameran ini berlangsung dari 11 hingga 13 Februari 2011, iaitu sempena sambutan Bulan Wilayah Persekutuan.

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Dream debut for Luis Suarez

It's been a hectic week at Anfield as the Reds welcomed Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll to the club.

Not to forget, the Reds also booted out want-away Torres for a record fee of £50m to Chelsea. That’s more than a 100% profit out of what we paid for him in the first place.

Thank you very much Abramovic for the big ang pow!!

And it seems that all the hardwork in the January  transfer market has started to pay early dividends too.

Suarez required just 16 minutes after entering the action as a second-half substitute in the match against resilient Stoke last night to find the back of the net on his Reds bow. Talk about a dream debut.

Afterwards, Dalglish revealed the 24-year-old has not even had the opportunity to train with his new teammates as Liverpool awaited the completion of paperwork on his transfer from Ajax on Monday. But already he seemed to have adapted seamlessly into the team.

Once Suarez gets into training with his fellow Reds, I’m sure he will go from strength to strength as he settles into Anfield life.

Welcome Suarez.

And who needs Torres?

Happy birthday Syafiq

Today Syafiq, my second child, turns 20.

My, how time flies.

Seems like it was just a while back that I used to ferry this cute little boy to and from his youchien (Japanese kindergarten) in Tsukuba. Now, he's a strapping young man studying to be a landscape architect at a university.

Happy birthday Syafiq, my boy. And all the best in your future undertakings.