Alternative....

Love food, hate waste?

I think I prefer Cookie's version better: eat at home, save some money!

BPL: Match Day 5

So it took a penalty and an own goal to tame Arsenal at Old Trafford? Well, yes and I am not that bothered!

Manchester United overcame a one-goal deficit to spoil Arsenal's perfect start to the season. A 40th-minute strike from Arsenal Arshavin gave the Gunners a half-time lead. In a space to five minutes in the second half, two goals, one a penalty and the other an own-goal, turned the match match around. United's goalkeeper made a string of saves to keep the Gunner's score to that sole goal. The end of the game was no less dramatic. With just 30 seconds remaining on the clock before the end of the injury time, I remarked to a friend that it would be cruel if Arsenal scored. Imagine my horror, not long after that, when I saw the ball hit the back of United's net. All sorts of expletive came out from my mouth and colours must have drained from my face. When the camera focussed to that raised flag, I was glad that it was raised. And the sight of Arsene Wenger being ushered off from the dug-out was a sight I could not forget easily. And the look of the Gunners' fans, who cheered and pointed at the Red Devil fans' faces as the ball hit the net, when they realised that the Gunners had lost was priceless.

The win continued Manchester United's revival from that unnecessary loss to Burnley. The win also returned them to the third spot in the table.

Manchester United's next BPL match will be against the league topper, Tottenham Hotspurs at White Hart Lane on Saturday, 12 September. That should be another cracking match!

Happy B'day Sis!

Happy Birthday to our eldest sister who celebrates her birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Sis. Moga panjang umur dan murah rezeki.

UEFA Champions League 2009-2010

The draw for the group stage of this season's UEFA Champions' League has been made.

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich
Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL Nicosi
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: Barcelona, Internazionale, Dinamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni
Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiacos, Standard Liege

How do I rate Manchester United's chance of progressing to the next round? The toughest opposition would be Besiktas; Manchester United does not have a great record against Turkish team. CSKA Moscow may be another potential difficult team to play against. However, I would not bet against the 2008/2009 Champions' League finalist not qualifying to the next round.

The toughest group is Group F, with defending champions, Barcelona, being grouped together with Inter and Dinamo Kiev. All the other English teams seems to be in easy groups.

The first round of matches will start on 15/16 September.

Trivia

How far can a dog run into the woods?

Halfway..... because beyond that, it would be running out of the woods!

The X-Factor: Danyl Johnson

The British version of American Idol, The X Factor, has just started a new season recently. A new format has been introduced, where auditionees have to sing in front of an arena audience, in addition to the four judges.

One of the more memorable acts in the first episode was a teacher, who went by the name of Danyl Johnson. Yeah, he could sing and he could perform. He was moving across the stage and looked like a pro. I have never seen such audition before, but I could not help to think that he was showing off a bit. The act looked a bit too overdone. Nevertheless, he got a standing ovation from Simon Cowell, who said it was the best first audition that he had ever seen.

The song was The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends". If it sounds familiar, it is because the same song was sung by Joe Cocker and used as the opening theme song of the American television series "The Wonder Years".

Muslim only sungkai buffet?

I came across this post on that local website.

Not too sure how to exactly react to this, but I would not be applauding the writer. It is selfish of the writer to think that there should be a separate set of rules for non-Muslims who frequent sungkai buffet. There is nothing wrong with it. And stop moaning!

Just wondering.....

If you are stuck behind an emergency vehicle that is running at 80km/hour, you know are running faster than it and you know for sure that you can overtake it, would you?

BPL Match No. 3

Not bad! After that unexpected defeat at hands of Burnley, Manchester United resumed its normal service with a 5-0 demolition of Wigan Athletics at the DW Stadium.

The match did not start well. Perhaps haunted by that defeat at the hands of the Premiership new boys, the first half was nervy. Passes went astray. Chances went unconverted. The players must have gotten the hairdryer treatment during the interval; they came out in the second-half with their guns blazing. Then came a period of three minutes which settled it for United. On the 56th minute, Wigan's old boy, Valencia, crossed the ball which Rooney met and headed into the goal. It was a monumentous goal for him; it was his 100th goal for United. One-nil up and United was lucky not to concede a goal almost immediately. An on-the-line quick thinking by Foster kept the ball out; had he not released the ball, it would have ended up in the net in his hands. Not too long later, Berbatov, who got a lot of stick for not performing as well as the fans would have wanted him to, scored brilliantly. Rooney then bagged his second goal of the game, via a Wigan defender's shin. The fourth goal came in from Owen who scored his first competitive goal for United. It must have been a huge relief for him, after his misses in the Burnley game. Getting that first goal for United lifted off a big burden off his shoulders, something that many strikers new to a club always dread. The final goal came from Nani's free kick. Having unfairly compared to the now-departed Ronaldo, it looked as though he was compelled to take over United former no.7's place in the squad.

That victory took United to third in the table, the rest of the top five teams were still on their second game.

Manchester United's next game will be a huge home game against the in-form Arsenal on Saturday, 29 August, at 12.30am Brunei time.

Ramadhan Mubarak

Ramadhan is here again.

Selamat Berpuasa. Moga amalan kita diterima Allah SWT. Amin.....

Birthday Greeetings...

Here's wishing our youngest ssiter a very Happy Birthday, which falls today. Hope you have a good one. And good luck in your future undertakings.

Happy Birthday Sis!

First Defeat of the Season

Was it supposed to happen?

Manchester United slumped to its first defeat of the season, in their only second game in the less-than-a-week old season. A first-half strike from Burnley's Robbie Blake and a missed penalty by Carrick were enough to record a probable Burnley's famous victory.

Tottenham Hostpurs continued their good start to the season by beating Hull City 5-1. Liverpool recorded their first win; a 4-0 win over Stoke City.

Tottenham Hotspurs now lead the table, while Manchester United now sits at the tenth place.

A Winning Start

Manchester United began the 2009/2010 Barclays Premier League campaign with a win over newly-promoted Birmingham City. Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the game on the 33rd minute.

The defending champions joined, among others, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City who registered their wins on the first day of the new campaign. Liverpool lost away at Tottenham Hotspurs.

Litterbug...

I could not understand the behaviour of some mindless people.

This morning, I witnessed a man who was throwing an empty cigarette pack into the drain. I stopped him and told him what he did was wrong. I even told him that the rubbish would not clear by itselt and it could eventually end up blocking the drain. The man had the cheek to tell me that it was his job to clear the drain anyway. As he walked away, I was even more pissed off when I notcied that the drain cover was fixed permanent and the drain was full of rubbish; there was no way the man cleared the drain ever.

And I am not xenophobic, but the thing that I was really disappointed about was that the man was a foreign worker. Did it matter less that he was littering in someone else's country?

Old Pictures....

As I mentioned in my last post, there were these two other pictures that I only saw for the very first time.

Below is one with a grandfather that I never met. He was my mother's father. He was more known as Mandur Apong and lived in Kampung Pekan Lama of Kampung Ayer. My father could not recall who the three boys are.

Here is another picture that I never saw before. It was taken at the Old Airport when one of my father's cousins was leaving Brunei to study overseas. In the picture was our eldest brother, who died when he fell and drowned in Kampung Ayer (marked X in the picture). The girl behind him was my eldest sister. The man in the 'topi haji' (or white skullhat) is my father's uncle, who is one of the Pengiran Cheterias.

Old photo....

I was handed this picture by my dad. It was a picture of my parents when they were young. My dad could not remember when this was taken, but my dad looked like he was in his early thirties. The picture was embossed with the name of the photo shop in Kuala Belait. From these, I would think the picture was taken in the first half of the 70's; my dad was born in 1941 and my family only moved to Kuala Belait in 1971.

There were these two other pictures of great significance. In one, there was a grandfather that I never met. The picture was taken in Kampung Ayer and it was probably taken pre-1971 as my dad said it was their house in Kampung Ayer.

In another, there was a brother of ours, who died when he fell and drowned in Kampung Ayer. I recalled being told that he died when he was two or three, and in the picture he seemed to be of that age. The picture was said to be taken at the Old Airport, where the government buildings are now located.

I'm excited already.....

So the English football season is starting again, with the annual curtain-riser being played yesterday. Last season's champions, Manchester United, lost to the FA Cup winner, Chelsea, in the penalty shoot-out. The game ended 2-2 after normal regulation period. Nani and Wayne Rooney scored in either end of the game. So, Manchester United lost the first silverware to Chelsea, but I was not that bothered. It was only the Charity Shield.

I am quite exicted with the Manchester United squad. It looked like the departures of Ronaldo and Tevez were not missed by the other players. New singings in the forms of Valencia and Owen looked set to storm through the first eleven quite easily. The players from yesteryears all seemed to be quite keen to keep their places in the team. Last night, some of them seemed to try to show the Boss that they were up for any challenges coming at them. Nani seemed to show that he might be the replacement for Ronaldo. His goal, which came on the tenth minute, was spectacular, something that Ronaldo would score himself. The backline looked to be solid; Rio Ferdinand commanded the line very well and Evra and Evans reinforced the line solidly. Up front, Owen looked to be back in the form that made him household name many years ago. Rooney looked sharp as ever. The midfield held on tightly and Carrick was in good form. However, Ben Foster looked nervous and fumbled quite a lot. If he was eyeing the top goalkeeping spot, he would need to do much better than last night.

Come on already; Manchester United's opening game in the new season will be a home game against newly-promoted Birmingham City on Sunday.

Actually, it's not.....

This morning, the DJ of the morning show asked if her listeners preferred ice-cream or cupcakes. One of her listeners replied and said that he preferred ice-cream because he knew his secret admirer also liked ice-cream.

It does not make sense to me. If you knew who your secret admirer was and you even knew that he/she liked ice-cream, would you still consider that person a secret admirer?

I know I have my own 'secret' admirer. But I do not know if she knows that I know. So, hello there, my not-so-secret admirer!

Haze in Pictures

Just some pictures of the Seria bypass road, which was blanketed with haze. The pictures were taken this morning. Visibility was greatly reduced. Areas in Kuala Belait are even more badly affected.

Welcome to the Family!

It was a cause of double celebrations at home yesterday. New additions to the family were welcomed; a nephew was born in the morning and in the evening, a niece was then born.

Many congratulations to Abang and Hajah on the birth of their third child and their second son; and Darren and Gbeh on the birth of their second child and their first daughter.

Now, my dad has 25 grandchildren!

Another interesting fact: the second child of the first couple (above) shares the same birthdate with the first child of the second couple!

Worsening haze

The haze is the Belait district area is getting worse. It is only 4.00pm now, but it looks like the sun is setting and the day is getting a bit 'yellow'. Just had a quick check on the PSI reading; the current PSI reading indicates that the PSI is 100, which is unhealthy. Even the indoor air quality is affected too. I had to use the air purifier in my office, as I could smell 'smoke' in the office.

With the current condition, it is not wise to be outdoors. Please refrain yourself, and your children, from being outdoors unnecessarily.

First we have the economic crisis, then the swine flu and now, haze. Sabar saja; it's cubaan.....

Food, glorious food!

One of the many highlights of my recent trip to Manchester was food, and lots and lots of them. Manchester had a large population of Muslim, so finding halal food was not a problem. South Asian, Arabian and Mediterranean food was abundant, so much so that a one-mile stretch along Wilmslow Road in Rusholme was dubbed the Curry Mile, where there was a large concentration of South Asian restaurants anywhere in the world outide the Indian Subcontinent. There were

also halal branches of well-established food outlets, such as Subway Sandwich bar (which we missed) and Nando's (which we went to at the magnificent Trafford Centre). I was also glad to see that one of the big names in supermarket now sells halal meat, which were certified by the National Halal Board. A special counter, manned by Muslims, was available, where one could get fresh and marinated meat, which would be ideal if you fancy cooking your own chicken tandoori

at home for example.

It was a delight to be able to try the many Indian, Arabian and Pakistani dishes. And the portions of meat that came along were normally very generous. If you go to Jazeera, go for the Chicken rice, which comes with half a chicken; at Afghan, go for the kabuli rice, which comes with half a chicken; at Nando's, go for this meal, which comes with a half a chicken and at Saajan, go for the lamb briyani; it was a good thing it did not come with half a sheep!

It was also a time to take a trip down the memory lane with fast food places, such as Kansas, Krunchy and Pizza & Co, where you could feast on spicy wings, bbq ribs, and chicken and chips. These were the staple food during those years where money were scarce while studying for that piece of paper called the university degree.

Jester also took me to this Indian restaurant, where a lavish buffet spread was available every evening. Seats were always difficult to get hold of, and you would need to wait for a table. We did for more than half an hour. No reservations can be made. We went on a Saturday and the place was packed to the brim. The whole place belonged to the restaurant and it also had two halls, which could be used for weddings; there was one when we were there. The crowd came out in the Saturday evening best; teenagers came out in groups, wearing their fancy dresses, which were glittering from all those sequins. I went for the appatisers more than once; how would I be able to resist roasted chicken wings, sesame fried chicken wings, various other varieties of chicken wings and lamb cutlets? The main dishes consisted of many varieties of curry; korma, jalfriezi, tikka masala and balti. At the end of the evening, my tummy felt bloated and I could not sleep well with that inflated tummy!

And no trip to the UK would be complete without a visit to the fish and chips. Strangely enough, we could not find a decent place for it, so we went to Harry Ramsden's instead. It was pricey, but not necessary as good as the chippy down the road.

After all those times spent indulging during that 8-day trip to Manchester, it was not surprising that I was taking some excess luggage back home. No, I am not talking about that the extra weight above the 30-kg baggage allowance! I am getting porky and it is not helped either with the fact that Ramadhan is in three weeks' time. How am I going to lose this 'kitil'??