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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Kek Pisang

Kebetulan ada beberapa biji pisang yang dah terlampau masak. Nak makan mentah memang dah tak kuasa, jadi buat kek pisanglah jawabnya. Ini pertama kali buat kek pisang, padahal rasanya inilah kek yang paling mudah. Ooopps, kek yang paling mudah tentulah Kek Batik, kiranya Kek Pisang ni yang kedua termudah kot.
Bahan:
125g mentega
150g gula perang
2 biji telur
3-4 biji pisang masak
250g tepung naik sendiri (atau kalau guna tepung biasa, campurkan dengan 1 sm baking powder)
secubit garam
sedikit marjerin untuk menggris acuan

Cara:
1-Panaskan ketuhar pada suhu 180C.
2-Pukul mentega dan telur hingga sebati. Kemudian masukkan gula. Pukul lagi hingga sebati.
3- Masukkan pisang yang telah dilenyek.
4-Ayak tepung ke dalam adunan. Kaup-balikkan tepung sehingga adunan bergaul rata. Sebaik-baiknya jangan putar.
5-Griskan acuan dan masukkan adunan ke dalam acuan.
6-Bakar untuk tmpoh 50-60 minit atau cuba cucuk dengan garfu bahagian tengah kek. Jika garfu yang dikeluarkan bersih tanpa adunan melekat padanya, bolehlah keluarkan kek dari ketuhar.
7-Makan. Sedap ni :)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

We Missed U

Minggu kedua bulan Julai hari tu, dapat email dari supervisor, nak buat meeting katanya. Hah! Saya dah rasa tak senang hati. Sebabnya memang saya dah lama tak jumpa supervisor saya, adalah dalam 2 minggu kot. Nak kata saya menyembunyikan diri tu tak jugak, cumanya saya sangat tertekan sebab nak tulis laporan 9 bulan ni. Saya dah ada sketch camana nak tulis, tapi bila nak start tu macam tak reti. Pastu saya jadi murung. Murung sendirianlah, tak tunjuk pada suami.

Pastu pergilah jumpa supervisor hari Rabu, 8 Julai. Memang betul pun sangkaan saya. Diorg kata dah lama tak jumpa saya. Rasa nak nangis pun ada. Bukan sebab supervisor marah tapi sebab diorg ala-ala caring gitu. Hahaha.. Lepas bincang-bincang, dapatlah idea macam mana nak tulis. Saya betulkan semula sketch yang saya dah buat tu. Actually I totally scrap it. Ganti baru. Pastu mulalah menulis.

Ya Allah! Susahnya nak start ayat yang pertama tu. Saya tengok research proposal saya, saya tengok presentation yang saya dah buat beberapa bulan lepas, semata-mata nak cari idea camana nak start tulis ni. Alhamdulillah dapatlah jugak tulis beberapa helai. Tak sampai 5 helai pun. Sedihnya.

Semalam, saya e-mail supervisor, minta nak jumpa. Saya memang dah tersangat kecewa dengan diri sendiri. Tak tau nak proceed camana. Kalau nak hentam keromo saja bolehlah, tapi saya tak suka. Kata supervisor saya, "Your problem is you are a perfectionist. Please don't. This is a learning process, you have to accept criticism." OKlah, saya akan cuba untuk tak jadi perfectionist.

Tadi jumpa supervisor, tunjuk apa yang saya dah ada. Kata mereka, semalam mereka dah bincang setakat mana details yang saya perlu tulis. Lepas dah bincang-bincang, rasa lega sangat. Bijak betul supervisor saya ni memberi motivasi. Katanya,"I know you are facing a writer's block now. I can see it in your face." Hahahaa.... Memang pun. Pegang jurnal tu tak kena, buka section ni tak kena. Eeeii... sungguhlah rimas!!!

Kata supervisor saya yang seorang lagi, "It's OK tu take half day off rather than staring at your computer doing nothing. You might get idea in themiddle of the night and end up writing pages." Betul, saya tau semua tu cuma saya tak praktikkan.

Dan kata-kata akhir kedua-dua mereka yang saya tak lupa, "Writing is the hardest part. We know you have a lot of information in you. You just need to put it in writing. It's OK to take a lot of time. But once you've done this, you'll be more confident to proceed with your research."

OKlah. Saya akan cuba. Saya dah pun minta kebenaran diorang untuk buat kerja dari rumah. Saya lebih selesa menulis di rumah. Padahal sebenarnya, dua minggu lepas pun memang dok rumah saja. Work at home.

Sampai suami saya naik pelik dan bertanya "Tak gi school ke sayang?"

Walaupun saya duduk sendirian menghadap laptop dalam bilik-memerah otak menulis reportlah tu, dia risau agaknya kalau-kalau supervisor saya marah saya tak pergi ke univerisiti.
"Selagi tak siap report ni memang nak duduk rumah."

Ya Allah, tiada sesuatu pekerjaan yang mudah kecuali sesuatu yang Engkau jadikan mudah, mudahkanlah urusanku.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Using Excel To Create Flow Chart

Sebelum ni bila buat flow chart saya menggunakan Microsoft Words. Ada juga menggunakan Microsoft Excel tapi tidak sistematik. Semalam selepas mencari dan mencari akhirnya jumpa satu website How to Create a Flow Chart in Excel yang menunjukkan cara menggunakan Excel untuk membuat flow chart. Memang mantaplah caranya. Rasa rugi tak tahu selama ni. Prosedur yang diterangkan dalam website tu adalah untuk Excel 2003. Memandangkan saya guna Excel 2007, ada sedikit perbezaan. Sikit je tak banyak.

1- Create a flow chart grid.
Walaupun optional tapi setelah saya cuba, saya memang rekomen langkah ini. Senang bila kita nak gerakkan atau susun blok-blok dalam flow chart kita.

Click at the Top Left Corner to select all cells - Right click on one of the columns - Select column width - change to 1.71


2-Enable the Excel 'snap to grid' feature.
Insert - click on any shape and draw (which will bring Drawing Tools Format Ribbonto appear) - Align - snap to grid

Selebihnya boleh tengok website yang saya letak link tu. Dua langkah di atas saja yang lain sikit.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Birthday Bersama -Mocha Chiffon Cake

2 tahun lepas sewaktu baru berkenalan dengan suami, saya bertanya,
"Boleh tahu bila tarikh lahir?"
Saya sebenarnya ingin tahu umur suami. Yelah, orang yang mengenalkan kami terlupa nak bagitahu (si Maleklah tu).
"Penting ke?"
Aduh! Begitu jawabnya.
"Saja nak tahu. Tak boleh tak apa."
Oh! Mungkin dia fikir saya mahu celebrate atau beri hadiah agaknya. Malunya, tapi perasannya dia. Hahaha... Maaf ye Abang.

Bila diberitahu, saya pula yang terkejut bila tarikh lahirnya sama dengan tarikh lahir saya. Mula-mulanya ingat dia bergurau, manalah tahu mungkin mendapat idea dari Malek. Rupa-rupanya betul.

Untuk birthday kali ni hanya sempat buat kek saja. Seminggu selepas tu baru dating pergi tengok wayang dan makan-makan. Tapi bukan filem romantik ye, cerita Ice Age 3. Nasiblah suami saya dapat isteri yang suka menonton filem kartun. Ini kek yang kami buat sempena birthday kali ni.
Mocha Chiffon Cake
Bahan-bahan:
2 auns serbuk koko
4 sb air kopi pekat
3 auns tepung naik sendiri
secubit garam
6 auns gula
3 biji telur -asingkan putih dan kuningnya
1.5 auns mentega yang dicairkan

Untuk hiasan:
10 auns(cecair) whipped cream
Berries sauce
Boleh juga guna coklat masakan yang disagat

Cara-caranya:
1- Panaskan oven pada suhu 350F.
2- Griskan tin kek dan alas dengan kertas minyak.
3- Larutkan serbuk koko dalam air kopi dan biarkan sejuk.
4- Ayak tepung dan garam.
5- Di dalam bekas lain, pukul gula dan kuning telur sehinga sebati. Kemudian masukkan mentega cair berserta campuran kopi/koko.
6- Masukkan campuran sedikit demi sedikit ke dalam tepung menggunakan sudu besi.
7- Pukul putih telur hingga pekat dan masukkan ke dalam adunan. Gaul sebati.
8- Masukkan adunan yang telah sebati ke dalam tin kek dan bakar selama 45 hingga 60 minit.
9- Terbalikkan kek di atas bidai penyejuk sebaik sahaja ia dikeluarkan dari oven. Motifnya supaya senang nak hias. Kalau tak nak buat macam ni pun tak apa.
10- Siram berries sauce ke atas kek. Kemudian sapukan whipped cream yang telah dipukul hingga pekat hingga rata.

Kuah Spaghetti Bolognese (Ragu)

Sejak di Malaysia lagi, kalau teringin makan spaghetti(camana nak eja spaghetti dalam BM ye?) saya lebih suka buat sendiri, 'start from scratch' kata orang putih. Adalah jugak sekali dua mencuba kuah spageti ready made tapi rasanya lebih enak buat sendiri. Ini resepi kuah spaghetti saya. Asasnya sama dengan kuah spaghetti bolognese tapi saya ubah suai sesedap rasa. Kalau ikutkan nama sebenar (macam artis pulak kuah spagetti ni), kuah spagetti ni dipanggil ragu. Bila baca resepi-resepi Barat, saya fikir apa kebendalah ragu ni. Takkan ragu-ragu (was-was) ataupun Ragu seperti nama lelaki India. Rupa-rupanya "ragu" ni merujuk pada kuah spagetti bolognese tu. Untuk lebih lanjut boleh tgk pautan-pautan selepas resepi ni.

Bahan-bahannya:
500-600g daging cincang ~sebenarnya saya tak pernah timbang pun, agak-agak saja
4-5 ulas bawang putih -dicincang halus
1 labu bawang besar -dihiris nipis
1/3 batang lobak merah -dipotong dadu atau ikut suka tukang masak.
2 biji buah tomato -dipotong dadu.
1 batang celery -dihiris sederhana nipis
1 tin tomato puri
1-2 st serbuk oregano
1-2 st serbuk thyme ~optional tp mmg terasa lebih sedap bau bila letak thyme
1-2 helai daun bay ~optional
2 cawan air ~lebih baik kalau guna air rebusan spaghetti
garam
serbuk lada hitam
minyak zaitun ~tak perlu extra virgin kerana extra virgin kalau dibuat menumis agak pahit rasanya. Kalau orang Pahang sebut 'peda'.

Cara-caranya:
1- Panaskan minyak zaitun dan masukkan daging cincang. Goreng sehingga daging jadi keperangan.
2- Masukkan bawang putih dan bawang besar, dan tumis sehingga naik bau.
3- Masukkan lobak, celery dan tomato, dan gaul untuk kira-kira 5 minit atau sehingga sayur-sayuran nampak layu.
4- Masukkan tomato puri dan gaul.
5- Masukkan serbuk oregano, thyme dan daun bay.
6- Masukkan air, garam dan serbuk lada hitam.
7- Biarkan di atas api sederhana kecil untuk 10-15 minit. Kalau lebih lama direneh lebih sedap sebenarnya, janji api perlu betul-betul kecil.
*Resepi sesuai untuk 4 hidangan.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragú
Ragú is a brand name, marketed version of an Italian-style sauce known as Ragù. The Ragú brand was first sold in 1937 - and currently one of many consumer brands in the portfolio of Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever. It is the best selling U.S. brand of pasta sauce. Ragú was acquired by the Lipton and Bestfoods companies before merging with the Unilever portfolio. It has a sister brand under the Knorr trademark in the UK.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragù
Ragù is an Italian term for a meat-based sauce, which is traditionally served with pasta. The word is the phonetical Italian spelling of the French ragoût, a noun derived from ragoûter (to revive the taste).

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

FEAR being the NEXT PREY?

Back in 1990s, there was this film titled Jurassics Park (JP). At that time I don't know what's the hype is all about. I can't remember whether I watched JP at the movie theater or through TV tube. The only thing I remember is I don't understand why the fuss over JP. I mean no disrespect to Steven Spielberg directing talent but I don't feel JP is a great movie.

Then late last year, I discover Michael Crichton's novels. I was browsing through the novels at IIUM library and out of curiosity I picked his book, Disclosure. It is about:

A brutal struggle in the cutthroat computer industry; a shattering psychological game of cat and mouse; an accusation of sexual harassment that threatens to derail a brilliant career...this is the electrifying core of Disclosure. At the center: Tom Sanders, an up-and-coming executive with DigiCom in Seattle, a man whose corporate future is certain. Until: after a closed-door meeting with his new boss -- a woman who was his lover ten years before, a woman who has been promoted to the position he expected to have -- he is accused of sexually harassing her. Now he finds himself trapped between what he knows to be true and what he knows others will assume to be the truth. And, as he uncovers an electronic trail into the company's secrets, he begins to grasp just how cynical and manipulative an abuse of truth has actually occurred...

Then I got to know that he is the writer of the JP novel. Plus he is also the scriptwriter of ER, the most popular TV series back in late 1990s which I was one of its millions fans. His in depth knowledge about science and the way he interweave it with his storyline plus his style of writing get me hooked. Since then I've been searching and reading his novels.
The latest in my collection are Next, State Of Fear and Prey. I'm reading the latter at the moment, I've finished the previous two novels few months ago. I encourage you to read these novels. If you are interested in biotechnology, Next is a must read. Not just these novels offer us new perspectives about what's going on in our world but much more. As a researcher, I'm at awe Michael Crichton's extensive research for each of his novels.

However, through his novel Next, I have a feeling that he views human being as part of the animals clan. I might be wrong but if I'm right it is an unacceptable view. Anyway, if you have a chance, try to get hold of his novels. If you love science, I believe you'll fall in love with his novels.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Alhamdulillah

This is my second year of follow up after the chemo in second half of 2007. Last year, my follow up schedule is for every 3 months. Since everything is well so far, this year Dr. Murali schedules me for a half annually follow up. So a blood test is due in June. I have been putting it off since early June because I don't feel I'm up to it. I know I've been under stress lately so I don't want to mess up the blood test with false alarm.

There was this one time when we got a false alarm. It was 4 months after the chemo when my blood test showed a spike in my CA125 level. Dr. Murali instructed me to do another blood test 1-2 weeks later. If the level is still rising, he'll put me under another cycle of chemo. Alhamdulillah the reading went down again even not much. We figured the pressure at work contributed to my stressful condition.I still remembered Dr. Murali advices that time;
"Don't get stressed out"
"Jangan marah-marah suami. Kalau marah-marah suami pun itu reading boleh naik."
*Mana ada marah doktor, merajuk tu ada le.
"Walk for 30 minutes everyday. Bila you walk, 'feel good hormon' keluar."
"Makan buah & sayur banyak-banyak."
"Minum air putih banyak-banyak."

I've been following his advice as closely as I can so far. In addition to all that, I take Yemen honey and habatus sawda. I should take them everyday but sometime I'm just so lazy to prepare them. Yemen honey and habatus sawda are the only supplement I take when I start my healing process. You know, when you are sick people around you will suggest every sort of supplement there are. Cuba minum itulah, cuba makan inilah. I appreciate their concern but sometime it's just very overwhelming. So what I usually do is I just smile and pretend to listen.

My husband was put in the same position. People who knew that I'm sick will tell him to make me try this and that. He'll later ask me to which I'll say something like "I'm not very sure of this." or "I never heard of that". It must have been frustrating for him to have such a stubborn wife like me. I know he meant well but I just don't feel like trying. Then a senior colleague of mine suggested Yemen honey and habatus sawda. Tak taulah camana boleh terbuka hati nak cuba. Maybe the way he suggested it(he ask my permission before giving me his suggestion, isn't that super polite?) or because he is a living proof that the Yemen honey& habatus sawda works or maybe simply because Allah bukakan hati.

Last Thursday I went for my blood test and I got the result yesterday. Alhamdulillah! Praise to ALLAH, it's normal. Yeay!!! Another 6 months before I can be declared clear. It is not that long but knowing that anything can go wrong in such a short time sometimes worries me although I'm not a worrier. In fact I rarely think about it.

Thanks to all of you who've render me your prayer for my health. Thanks a bunch!
May Allah be with you too. :)