(Firstly, TQ Arin for the valuable info.)

Referring to this article, this is the situation that really2 gets most Muslims mad. I for one am very2 pissed off at the level of neglect shown by the suppliers of such products. If you really2 want to cater halal chicken for Muslims, please do it properly. Of course JAKIM will come once and give you the certificate, but please do maintain the standards demanded by Muslims, since you are catering for Muslims! (I am refering to Hy-Fresh here, whose chicken was found to be NON HALAL!!!)...
(what is NAVIFATION btw??? - refer to the Hy-Fresh website (rhetorical question iya...))

If you see from Hy-Fresh's group of companies, two names that pop out are non-Muslims

1. Perniagaan Ah Siong Sdn. Bhd. (583473-A)
2. Pua Tian Siong Sdn. Bhd. (684588-V)

I realize that they must have really2 worked hard to achieve JAKIM's standards to be certified halal. But based on what has happened before (with TESCO also), these companies are really getting on Muslims' nerves as they are continually performing below standards! I realize that maybe they don't fully understand what halal means. But please... KEEP to the standards that you have shown to JAKIM! This halal haram thinggy is not a game for Muslims! If you don't understand it, that's OK! But don't slack off and do cincai cincai work in ensuring the halal-ness of the product!

Halal and Haram are not things that gets irrelevant over time. Muslims made a pledge in the form of the Shahadah (declaration of faith), and we intend to keep to that pledge by trying our best to live our lives based on the terms set by God (Allaah)! And eating HALAL food is one of those terms.

So, TESCO! This is the I don't know this is kali ke-berapa that you've been caught selling haram chicken. Get your act together lah TESCO weh!!! And as for Hy-Fresh, please do employ proper Muslims to semeblih ure chicken... and please, respect Muslims' beliefs!

Anywayz, I think it's time that it's made compulsory that all halal food suppliers (raw meat that is), that require slaughter, are Muslims. I don't mean Malay... but Muslims... So that insyaAllaah, the quality and standards can be more confidently maintained....

Marah lagi ni.... dah le aku dok penang? Marang perapu keponten parang skeper betul....

I remembered a few months back... I was talking to one of my friends and one of our topics was about the many varieties of nasi goreng (fried rice) we have in Malaysia. Nasi Goreng Cina, Nasik Goreng Kerabu, Nasi Goreng Ayam, Nasi Goreng Pataya (or simply Pataya)... and of course Nasik Goreng USA.

We touched a bit on Nasik Goreng USA. I was thinking about the "side dishes" of sliced meat (sometimes hot/spicy, sometimes not) and one bull's eye egg. Sometimes, on very2 rare occasions, you might get chicken instead of meat... Anywayz, it seemed similar to what Mat/Minah Sallehs in the USA might eat for breakfast? Or brunch? Maybe that's why dapat nama Nasik Goreng USA!!! (Dulu pernah dengar nama Nasi Goreng America, but somehow nowadays macam not used anymore that term).

Rembatted from http://mamawandiha.blogspot.com/. 

(please goto http://mamawandiha.blogspot.com/search/label/Nasi to get nice-nice Malay nasi recipes)

Anywayz... last night I went for take out. Was going to order the normal Nasi Putih Daging Black Pepper. But alas, my favorite shop was de tutup. So went to kedai depan dia and ordered Nasik Goreng Ayam (for my fren) and Nasik Goreng USA for myself. Dapat2 je tengok the price was RM8.00. Wallweh? Kok takkan both of them cost RM4.00 each? I was ecstatic lah, since Nasi Goreng USA normally costs RM4.50-RM5.00. On the way back, I was thinking... that kedai was good! Price is ok. Maybe can go again. Murah2 nasi goreng dia.

After arriving at my lab to enjoy my food with a movie (kat komputer tapi), I was terkejut when I opened the polisterin bungkusan... UIT??!! Where's the meat? Where's the egg? I saw some chicken... but other that that, the usual meat and telur were missing. The rice was also kinda fair-n-lovely... macam kaler Nasi Goreng Cina la pulak. Then I saw the other stuff as I dug thru the rice. Kok ada udang? Ada sotong?... And like I said, ada ayam? UIT? Macam familir keadaan ini. Kok experience di mana iya?... Then tetiba.... WALLWEH!!! The second part of the conversation with my friend came to mind...

Nasi Goreng USA ni sebenarnya stands for Nasi Goreng with UDANG, SOTONG and AYAM!!! Pasal tu la U.S.A. ... Udang, Sotong dan Ayam! Ada faham? -- Faham cikguuu 

Originally it was meant to be like that, according to my fren lah. But somehow, something happened along the way, and most USA Fried Rice nowadays tak ikut model ni dah... which I think is true based on all of my restaurant and gerai visits... except last night tapi. This is the first time I got what I asked for... but not exactly what I wanted! :P Hehehehe... Patot la RM4.00. Finally, I got the actual Nasi Goreng USA!!!

Anywayz, now I know this and will be more careful in the future so that I get the sinful telur mata kerbau, slices of daging and also the darker colored fried rice :D Hehehehe... Any of you had a similar experience? Anywayz... Thanks for reading and Assalaam aleykom WBT.

It's been quite some time since I last did my laundry @ the desasiswa Bakti/Permai hostel. Last basuh2 guna commercial type washer was when I stayed @ desasiswa Restu dengan Dr. Azrul (masa tu lom Dr lagik). Anywayz... since I have nothing much to blog about, I will paste some pics that I took of the wash area :)

Borrowed some powder detergent from roomate Mr. Ehsan Abbasnejad, got some change for the machine, and tarus gi basuh. In all it took 20-minutes ++ :D Oraits. Tq for reading n looking at the pics :D Assalaam aleykom.

The washing machine. Yang dalam pail tu baju sapa ntah. Lepas basuh lambat pulak dia bawak keluar.

50-cents and 20-cents only please... and also notice the ferum 3 sulfat

Kinda cekik darah gak RM3. Tapi nak wek camno? Industrialists Capitalists!!!

Beginilah caranya anda membasuh baju iye tuan? (macam Istana Takeshi pulak main tuan tuan iye?)

Maytag Commercial Washing Machine

My clothes... tak banyak ye dok for 1 week :P

Outdated sign board saying boys/men should not pass here

Assalaam aleykom WBT. Actually, dari zaman dolu lagi, I wanted to test the food @ Manhattan Fish Market. Tapi tak tertest-test due to it not having the halal certification from approved bodies/organization. Some may say, "Aiyoooo!!! Ikan pon takkan la leh haram?" ... maybe true, but you never know what's in the ingredients ye dok? Anywayz... now it's confirmed that Manhattan Fish Market food premises have halal certification. You can try out this link to check... but in case it doesn't work:

1. Go to http://www.halal.gov.my

2. Click on the DIREKTORI HALAL MALAYSIA image (should be on the right hand side of the webpage) 

3. Key in your search term, in this case - manhattan. There are a few tabs showing the halal information for the company itself, the food premises etc.

Anywayz, it has come to my attention that some people think that some people (such as myself :P) are too particular about this halal haram thinggy. That I make my life difficult by being too selective, strict and paranoid! 

For discussion's sake, let me clear up a few things by giving two main arguments:

1. It's imperative for Muslims to seek halal food. Clear and simple rule. Not difficult to follow, not burdensome on the soul;
2. For myself, I categorize food outlets into two:

• If it's operated by Muslims, then no problem. I won't seek any certification. We as consumers can also judge by the place's cleanliness... and  All Mighty God gave us a brain and heart so that we can 'feel' whether or not there's something wrong with the place,
• If it's a franchise and owned by Non-Muslims (or even Muslims), then I'd seek certification. Because we never know how the food is being processed. Dah banyak dah kes2 pelik yang berlaku sebelum ni ye dok about halal certs. being revoked... Learn from the past bak kata RAFIKI dalam Lion King :P So kalu ada certification yang buleh dipercayai kalo... then ok la, bules makan :D Tapi kalau setakat 'HA LAM ALIP LAM' tulisan kaler ijau atau itam tu je... haaa, then U'd have to think that there's something wrong. Asal takde proper halal sign? Orang tak reti jawi can oso come up with the sign by copying any existing halal sign ye dok. So, kalau takde badan yg mengesahkan... then I think it's best to avoid lah. Betui dok? :)

Tu je la pon the strictness level that I apply. Idok le strict sangat ye dok? Logik pon logik rasanya.

Anywayz... for the Manhattan Fish Market halal status thinggy... Yeous. I waited for it even tho it took more than 2-3 years (first wanted to eat in 2007 kot? tapi takde halal cert :P). Now dah ada, insyaAllaah buleh pi makaan... Okes, sapa2 ada cadangan atau recommendations on what to order? 

Oraits... Assalaam aleykom WBT.

==========================

Side note... sometimes pelik apa pasal dia orang guna itu jawi punya huruf utk. spell the abbreviated tulisan Rumi. This actually happens with Maktab Perguruan Islam also... MPI is also written as 'AIN YAA MIM PAA YAA ALIF YA (of was it 'AIN YA)

Assalaam aleykom... If some of you remember, I blogged about buying a new handphone as a replacement for my dying (now almost dead, phone-wise that is) Sony Ericsson (SE) K550i. Firstly I thought about the SE C901... the JPEGs were quite nice, but when I actually saw it... the phone was a bit plain. Too monotone (satu kaler), jadik tak jadik nak angkut. Then was introduced to the C902 by Amy... nampak macam cun lagi... but saw some not so good reviews on GSM Arena and oso Mobile88.com. Tarus tak jadi... Lepas tu, saw reviews about  C903. Remembered that Mat Nabil Tajudin Nasution guna tepon ni and asked him about the quality. He told me it was a good hanpdhone and the online reviews confirmed his claims. So, semalam went to Mines Shopping Fair and nak beli C903 la... :D

Sampai2, tengok2 C903 berkilat sangat. Tak sesuai pulak ngan citarasa mamat 33-tahun yg ada premature gray hair :P Had three colors this SE C903. Red, White and Black. All kilat2 which can become fingerprint nightmare. So, dah rasa macam tak jadi... tapi henpon kena mau beli juga, pasal K550i dah nak kong pai kong...

Then, mamat kat kaunter tu who went by the name of Vincent (Loong) showed me the Sony Ericsson Elm. And wallaweh, the A.P. version was within my budget of below RM700. Saw it online, tak nampak menarik. But when depan mata macam cun la pulak. The curvy design (at the belakang) seemed very appealing to me, and the keypad (compared to the K550i) is marvelous! Nak tulish SMS pon senang :D So, after tok tek tok tek belek belek henpon tu, tarus la daku angkat. RM650 in the end... Tak pandai tawar, so mmg terkena harga yg agak tak murah la in the end :P

Setakat ni, alhamdulillaah, the phone is working quite well. Yang pelik, kadang2 it shows bad reception... but tak efek pulak bila cakap? Maybe cuz its Green Heart (environmentally friendly), so kurangkan power consumption until effects the reception (but I say again, tak perasan pon apa2 kekurengan masa bercakap).  Harap2 it will be ok sampai many2 months and years to come insyaAllaah. BTW, ada WIFI phone ni, which is a new feature for me. Dah try tadi kat rumah, and the browsing experience is quite good.  Will frequent kedai2 mamak yg kasik free WIFI lepas ni, hehehe. Orait... TQ for reading iya :D Assalaam aleykom WBT.

Assalaam aleykom WBT. A few days ago, while I was in the toilet doing some very lucrative business (:D)... I saw this ant that was crawling on the floor. Lagi sikit nak sampai kaki aku, seb bek tak sampai. It was very2 de big one! Tengok pon macam konpius campur takut campur taajub! It's a species that is jarang2 dapat lihat.

The size is quite big. I think around 1/3 of my ring finger. That's very2 big for an ant aye? It has very2 big 'tweezers', the but is fluorescent green and the way it moves sorta suggests that it calculates where it wants to go. Took some pics of the insect... anyone ever seen this type of ant before? Alhamdulillaah, sekor je jumpa. Sib bek tak datang segerombolan....

UPDATE: Ok. Alhamdulillaah. Got the answer from Azwad... ini 'ibu' kerengga ghupanya :] - reference:
http://www.thehindu.com/fline/fl2502/stories/20080201508309400.htm

It's been quite a while since my last medical certificate or MC :) But now, I think I am ill, with cough, cold and fever. As Muslims, no matter what the predicament, we say Alhamdulillaah... and Alhamdulillaah I say :D Actually bukan apa, it's been so hot in the past few months, that when I finally catch cold, it means that the cold weather has finally caught up with me! So kira bagus la tu... selama ni panas, now I am succumbing to the cold... this means that the weather is getting better :D It's getting cooooler. Makin sejuk! Hahahaha! Bagus la tu ye dok? It is now cold (for a while...)!!! And I am catching cold!!! It is not hot anymore!!! :D Alhamdulillaah...

Anywayz... Ok, I know I am not making sense, but I am thankful nevertheless as I am now being ill-ed by the cold, and not the scorching heat :D Orait, all I have to do now is to keep warm and eat ubat batuk cap ibu dan anak, ramuan yang asli rasanya enak, sudah terkenal sejak berzaman, menambah seri membawa kebahagiaan.... :D

Oraits... Assalaam'aleykom.

Assalaam aleykom WBT. First and foremost, Alhamdulillaah, today's weather is not hot :D Ok... now to the topic of the post.

My beautiful wife has recently upped her gears in cake making :) I see that her passion has gone up quite considerable in the past few months, and now, in her spare time, she's baking like crazy! Kengkadang tu, balik dari lab, sampai rumah je I get all the wangi2 smells of cake ingredients... Tapi takpe, sebab last2 sekali aku gak dapat makan ye dok? Hehehehe...

Wannywayz, now she's actually just learning. Playing around with ingredients to get the best match. At the moment, she's been taking small orders (yes...already taking orders) for carrot cakes. I have to say, sedap gak bini aku buat kek carrot! (ok kot puji bini sendiri dalam blog sendiri ye dok? :P)... Besides that, moist chocolate cakes pon she is baking also. And now, kuih2 raya pon dia balun buat... Ish, suka sangat dah dia benda2 ni, baik aku soh berenti belajar dan konsentrate je masak kek n cookies ni :) At least she'd be doing what she likes... what makes her happy :D And you know how the saying goes.... "A happy wife leads to a happy husband!".... ok ok... I know there might be no such saying, but betul apaaa :D 

Okes. anywayz... ni ada a few snapshots of her "work". Alhamdulillaah... all half eaten oredi tapi :P Carrot cake n cekelat moist cake :D Salaaam aleykom WBT

Nor Shazwan's Carrot Cake

Nor Shazwan's Chocolate Cake

Sometimes, we tend to write lengthy comments on people's blogs. Ntah le orang tu suka atau tak, kita komen gak panjang2 :D Tapi takpe, because blogs are meant to be read, and once read, some are inclined to comment. Today,  would like to talk about comments :D ... But I won't be talking about the types of comments, or how to comment, or how I respond to annoying comments, or how to determine who's behind some anonymous comments etc. I would like to share my experience on how to NOT GET ANNOYED AFTER POSTING SUCH A LONG COMMENT, THEN TETIBA  BROWSER ERROR!!!! ... eh, emo pulak. Hehehehe...

Anywayz, sometimes I write lengthy comments. Ok, not sometimes, most of the time. Don't angry aa. But at times, after writing so panjang2 one, when click submit comment... TANG! Browser error, or page error or whatever error the browsing world has to offer. End up, the comment gets lost (unless sometimes we get lucky that upon pressing the BACK button, the comment is still there.. alhamdulillaah). So, after writing lengthy (or even shorty) comments, please just select all and then COPY... or CUT. Of course, COPY is better cuz if you CUT then U'd have to paste back the text. HAHAHAHA!!! (apa aku cakap ni... anywayz...). Itu lah dia the point that I want to convey :D 

MAKE SURE YOU COPY!!! :D Then kalu2 browser error, you'd still have the original text... Wallaawehhh... 

Hmmm... could've said all that in 1-short paragraph ye dok? HAHAHAHA! You see what I mean about lengthy comments?

Oraits. Salaam aleykom

Every semester, every postgrad student is supposed to fill in the semesterly progress report. Of course, I am not exempt. There are a few questions in the progress report such as, "Does your supervisor provide enough supervision time", "Does you supervisor give good quality supervision"... etc. Sometimes I wonder how some students are supposed to answer this without lying. Because I do know of some who actually have sucky supervisors. Anywayz... isi saja la, as this is U*M's Inst. of Postgrad Studies to show that at least they're doing something with regards to keeping progress of the students.... (wringko waranko parapatung Smitso junkga Achtung rivendelle ... I am speaking Swahili backwards now...) 

Anywayz, most studs just get fed up filling in this supposedly useful form. There's one question at the end... and I answered as shown below. Ada buleh ka?

I am no liar :D Dah betul... soklan2 dia simple2 je... So betul la :) No need to ask my SV :D Okes.... Shelamaat....

Today, I have learnt new Arabic words. The are:

1) بسكويت

2) طري

3) بالتمر

The first one means BISCUITS :) Alaa... Biskottt? 

The second word means SOFT and the third word means (WITH) DATES :) As in buah korma...

So by combining the words... you get  بسكويت طري بالتمر

which means... Soft Biscuits (filled) with Dates :D The brand name of the biscuit was Softie Softie anywayz... weird name, but what to do. 

Ok... Here's another one... بسكويت ديمه بالتمر

Meaning... biskut cap deemah ber-korma. Quite sedap :) But the softie softie one is better. Ok. Tq for learning Arabic. Assalaam aleykom WBT and happy eating tamar...

Just finished talking with Akma around 30-minutes ago. Who is Akma? Akma is the Direct Access credit card representative who helped me cancel one of my credit cards :) Previously I had three... Now the Direct Access VISA is gone!!! According to her la... You know la these CC companies. Kang aleh2 two three months after this, ada pulak CC orang pos kat ghumah kite... Aiyaaa... Anywayz, previously I used to have:

1. Maybank VISA
2. Direct Access VISA
3. Direct Access MASTER CARD

It's not that I wanted three... but for the Direct Access deal to go thru last time, I had to agree to receive both the cards. So tu la pasal jadik sampai tiga :) Anywayz, since the government is already imposing the RM50 credit cards tax starting January 2010, I'll potentially have extra (3 x half-a-hundred ringgit) to pay cum my next credit card "anniversary". So, instead of paying RM150 for three cards... I feel more at ease just paying RM100.

Anywayz, now that I have two credit cards... I wonder also... Do I really need TWO? I mean... yeah, the Maybank one only has like RM5,000 credit limit... whereas the Direct Access one has a bit more. So maybe la can have extra credit in case of emergencies....

But then again... betul ke perlu dua ni? All my gaji goes into Maybank actually, so it's very easy to pay off any outstanding balance on the Maybank card before ada interest/riba' kicking in. But the Direct Access one... (a sub of CIMB now DA ni...), perlu ke? Since CIMB account not that active... kalau2 ter-chas, then I need to pay thru Interbank transfer from Maybank. Daah kena RM2 charge (ke RM1 ek? forget...)

Sometimes my logic is this. At times, some credit cards fail due to some 'valid' reasons... Magnetic strip damaged lah, chip kotor and unreadable lah, kad patah lah etc. Tapi sometimes tu, mmg macam no reason at all! Macam time bayar beli baju or something kat Jusco ke.... daah orang2 kat queue belakang ingat kita ni jenis tak bayau utang. So in times like these, it would be a bonus to have a second card, aye? (or at Jusco, can use Maybank ATM card oso... Alhamdulillaah)... :D

Another reason is because sometimes (ni dulu2 la orang cakap, donno whether it still applies nowadays), only VISA is accepted at certain places. Kadang2, only MASTER CARD is accepted. So, by having both handy, we can avoid this problem if it ever arises :D Ada botoi ka? ... Tapi kan, in all my years owning CCs ni, belum pernah pulak melalui detik detik cemas sebegitu. Hmmmm....

Anywayz, apakah pendapat dan opinion para readers (harap2 ada la readers aku ni :P)....? Should I maintain two cards? Or is one enough? Or... was it a mistake to destroy that third card I had???? Okes... anywayz, tq for reading iya? Assalaam aleykom WBT...

Potong, jgn tak potong... hmmm, this pic kinda looks like the CC that I just ripped to shreds...

I think many of us have seen some sort of advertisements promising loads and loads of cash just by 'logging' in to Facebook. Recently, I had to remove one 'friend' (not an actual friend la... just someone who I randomly accepted to 'befriend'), due to her constantly tagging me in cash-laden pictures, as well as because she was promoting something that went against proper way of making $$$ online (while at the same time believing that it's actually legal).

Anywayz, making money online is indeed a reality. It's just the way you go about doing it hat makes the difference. Going through proper learning channels such as creating a niche website, researching keywords, links exchange etc. actually guarantee long term income... whereas QUICK MONEY and GET RICH FAST techniques normally blow out as fast as they blew up (what ever that means :P you get the idea...). With regards to making money on FB, one of the persons was promoting a program called Infinity Downline. Basically, members pay a USD25 fee every month... and in return, members get access to loads and loads of e-books and courses. By recruiting new members to join under you (who in turn pay the USD25 per month), once you get more members in, the USD25 goes directly to you. Seems like a no brainer right? The more the merrier... which translates to... the more you get, the richer you become!!! :o

But the actual thing that bothers me is the whole concept of such programs. According to the founders, people are supposed to benefit from the super cheap courses and e-books... but in reality, no one actually cares about the courses (and I doubt anyone has ever actually REALLY used any of them). All the members would most probably only care about getting in more recruits. So in the end, its just about getting ure pockets filled at the end of the month, while actually ignoring the main (supposed) benefit of the program. This program is sort of similar to another program called Global Domains International. In GDI, members basically pay USD10 per month for a dot ws (e.g. www.mysebsite.ws) domain hosting. And according to the sales pitch, dot ws is still new and can be a thing of the future (ws for website! better than dot com? don't think so). Of course, some tools are provided and ure given some web space. But in reality, the problem is similar to Infinity Downline... where people don't actually care about owning an online presence (with a dot ws domain), but are more interested to get more downlines, who will eventually start paying the USD10 per month fee as well (where I think, USD1 goes to the upline). Furthermore, USD10 per month for web hosting is a crazy amount!!! But people still join and members still pay... Why? Because the potential to rake in massive income is far more enticing than the fact they're paying in overdose for the web hosting.

For all these programs, at the moment they have managed to 'legalize' their operations by camouflaging behind some supposedly beneficial products. I don't even know whether they'll ever be considered illegal since no laws have been passed to go against them. The sad thing is that, people get sucked into such "businesses", while sacrificing their own values. If you really2 look deep down inside (sometimes you don't even have to go that deep at all) you know that these types of business are not really genuine. 

Anywayz... those are my thoughts. Kalau nak buek bisnes, I think it'd better be honest with no hidden strings attached (dah la ada strings, tersembunyi dan hidden dan invisible dan halimunan pulak tu :P)... With that said, let's hope that people get smarter and not let $$$ take precedence over everything else that is in essence, pure :) - again, whatever that means... :D

Oraits... Assalaam aleykom WBT