It must be our lucky day...

Me and wifey were at a hypermarket doing our weekend groceries shopping yesterday. We bought some chicken, prawns, squid, veggies, breakfast stuff for the kids, some fruits for juicing (apples, berries & kiwifruits) and some fruits to eat (jack-fruit, longan & watermelon). While looking for some other stuff, we came across a contest counter. The staff was very persistent asking us to participate in a "Look for Us"contest where we have to find some stuff in the fastest time and also guess the weight of 2 dressed chickens. "Why not, I thought?". Since we had some time to spare we entered just for fun.

1. Eggplant 
2. Peria katak
3. Dragonfruit Size "L"
4. Argentina Mandarin orange
5. Coconut (old)
6. Red onions 1 kg pack
7. Kobis Beijing
8. Baby carrots 250g pack
9. Mangosteen
10. Russet Potato

We didn't expect to win but we managed to beat 9 other contestants for first prize....Guess, what's the prize? A bit of  sheer coincidence or what but we won 3kgs of chicken drumsticks, 2 packs of kiwifruit, 1 pack of apples and 1 watermelon. Those are exactly some of the things we picked up earlier, so out they go and in goes the prizes. 

... must be our lucky day

Cak Lempong

Last Saturday, I attended a wedding reception @ KGNS. The bride and groom looked resplendent in their white themed attire. The food was great, especially liked the chicken dish  but what I like most was the entertainment.

There's this group of musicians playing a traditional instrument called cak lempong as well as a female singer singing old Minang songs. Some of the songs I remembered singing when I was young. There was also this old guy blowing the serunai, another traditional instrument akin to a recorder. The melody was haunting and it sounded a bit like a Scottish blowpipe. Indeed a very refreshing and entertaining evening.

Ondeh iyo, bugih lamo
Mainkanlah bugih lamo tu

Hitam bakilek kudo balang
Pasangan bendi bugih lamo
Urang maliek lai sanang
Konon kok pulo awak nan punyo

Ondeh iyo, bugih lamo
Mainkanlah bugih lamo tu

Anak cacak diateh manggih
Cigok cigok kapalonyo
Surang rancak nan surang manih
Samo gadang kaduonyo

Ondeh iyo, bugih lamo
Mainkanlah bugih lamo tu

Ramilah urang ka pacu kudo
Rami dek urang mudo-mudo
Tasirok darah di dado
Basobok jo jando lamo

Ondeh iyo, bugih lamo
Mainkanlah bugih lamo tu

 Here's a vid of the group performing another famous old song "Ayam Den Lapeh" literally meaning "My Chicken is Hungry".

....loving these song

No Plastic Bag Day

I was buying groceries recently at a major supermarket and noticed their "No Plastic Bag Day" campaign. Every Saturday, customers have to bring their own bags to pack their purchases. The campaign aim to educate consumers to use recyclable eco-friendly bags instead of plastic bags to pack their purchases. It is hoped that in future the usage of the non-biodegradable plastic bags could be minimised as consumers become aware of the damage to the environment caused by the plastic bags. Did you know that plastic bags do not readily break down in the environment? Scientist have estimated that the time it takes them to decompose range from 20 to 1000 years.

I totally support the supermarket's initiative because every little bit counts. However, if you were to look at the products on the supermarket shelves, almost everything is plastic wrapped from rice to oil to bread to soap. Ironic, isn't it?

I remember in the old days we use to get brown paper bags to wrap up our groceries. We even bring our own glass bottles to fill up our coconut oil & kerosene. A lot of the stuff was packed in cans, gunny sacks, paper bags or boxes and glass bottles...all biodegradable material, now everything is packed in plastics...

For a GREENER EARTH