Wake me up from this nightmare

My beautiful manja girl crossed the rainbow bridge suddenly and unexpectedly while in my arms at 1230am as we were rushing her to the clinic just now.

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She gave me 453 days of unconditional love, a cat that turned up at our gate one day and chose me as her person, clinging to me every second she sees me, sleeping on my chest, back and side every opportunity she gets, pulling my hand so that she can use it as a pillow as she sleeps by my side on the bed, nibbling on my fingers if I try to pull away. Constantly pulling up her body unto my chest to kiss my face,  jumping onto my lap to make cookies just like she did the first day I saw her in our garden. There's no denying it was love at the first sight for both of us.

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That's 1 year, 2 months and 25 days that she filled our lives with joy and love. Never have I felt this much love and affection from a cat.

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Everything happened so quick, she looked like she was recovering well from the simple procedure, this afternoon she was beginning to eat and using the litter box, then by nightfall she has started to become restless, and everything just went downhill by 1130pm.

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Goodbye darling Cleopatra Grey, thank you for everything you've brought into our lives. We love you so much Theo, my beautiful  manja girl. Thank you for choosing me and our home, for allowing us to care and love you. Thank you for letting Uncle, Jaddu, Jeddah, Abang H, Abang Q and Shereen share the love too.

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Latte is going to miss you so much Cleo, she had a very confused look just now when she saw me cradling your lifeless body, she was sniffing you and looking at me, like she's asking what's going on.

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I'm devastated. We are all heartbroken. 

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I'm still waiting to wake up from this nightmare.

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Till we meet again in heaven.

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Cleopatra Grey

2019 - 25 February 2021

How to Clean Dirty Copper Pots & Pans

Got this french vintage copper pan along with a couple of pots + lollipop-style lids about a month ago. Started cleaning the two pots and lids immediately using Bar Keeper's Friend paste + powder & scourer pad - I prefer powder to the paste, seems more effective to me.

This pan however, was just not getting clean. The burn marks seem embedded onto the surface, three rounds of scrubbing was just not working. Our go-to degreaser solution for cleaning stainless steel stoves didn't work either, all I ended up with was a pair of peeling palm that were 'catching' on to my fleece blankets & a pan still covered in burn marks all over! I was almost ready to part with it, someone already offered to buy the pan from me 'as-is', for the price I paid for the set.

Lucky Zz saw a video of someone cleaning a very stained stainless steel pot using just baking soda and water. As we are big fans of baking soda in this household - we always have at least a couple of kilo on standby, I knew I must try this!

I placed an 18" aluminum 'kuih' tray on the stove, then filled it with some water, place the copper pan into it, then turned on the heat and topped with more water so the the pan is completely submerged. 

Added a generous amount of baking soda into the water. Let the water come to boil, be aware that the baking soda will bubble up & may boil over, just prepare a thick towel to soak up any liquid spilled.

Let it boil for about 5 minutes, then lower the heat & continue to simmer for another 15 minutes. You will notice at this point that some of the burnt bits would start to come off & be seen floating in the water. The rest will come off easily with just a gentle rub with the scourer.

Once the pan cools down, the remaining stains and tarnish can be effortlessly be cleaned with a bit of BKF powder applied to the pan with a moist scourer pad.

It's amazing seeing how effortlessly the gunky pan transforms into the thing of beauty in these photos! 

I have a huge cauldron ready to boil the two pots & lids plus all the other abused cookware in the kitchen next weekend!

Nasi Kandar - Lauk Bawah Meja

13/6/2020

1:02pm

Kedai nasi kandar yang legend kadang kadang ada lauk 'secret' specialty yang tak ramai yang tau, contohnya Nasi Kandar Tamil Street dulu ada limpa and Nasi Kandar Sirajudeen (depan Caltex Transfer Road - kedai asal bapa Deen Maju) ada gulai sembilang - yang ni kena pi awal, kalau tak tinggal kuah saja.

Yang penting, lauk special tu kena memang exceptional sedap baru boleh diambil kira, macam gulai sembilang, limpa dan perut kambing dan teloq sotong yang memang syur. Kalau takat kobis goreng, sotong, ketam, atau udang goreng tepung, or sausage masak sos(!), tu semua bukan lauk hidden specialty nasi kandaq!

So, memang betui lauk asas wajib nasi kandaq adalah daging hitam, gulai ikan, telur dan bendi, setiap kedai akan ada special dish dia sendiri, jangan lupa ayam goreng dan ayam gulai pun bukan lauk asas nasi kandaq, tapi dah evolve cukup lama untuk diterima sebagai lauk asas nasi kandaq.

Harap hampa semua jangan triggered na, tapi adik abang kakak semua, hampa toksah dok buat lecey kata lauk nasi kandaq gulai sembilang tu merepek semua na, sebab lauk specialty memang wujud sebagai tarikan tambahan.

Tepuk dada tanya selera.

(Tambahan)

Kalau nasib baik, ada masa mamak tanya nak tak lauk underground yang dia simpan bawah meja, sembilang karang atau teloq ikan!

p/s: weekend ni kami rehat sat makan nasi kandaq, bagi peluang pada yang rentas sempadan cari nasi kandaq selepas tiga bulan kena quarantine 😉😅

Life, regret?

Funny thing this regret, given a chance we will always go back and have another go at it. It must be coded into our genes to relish in the memory of pain.

Betrayal can only come from a friend

...at the end of the day darling, you've got to trust to learn about betrayal.