Kek Idola

Kek ini adalah antara kek lapis yang sedap dan tidak melibatkan pewarna. Risau jugak bila buat kek lapis yg berwarna, kita sebenarnya tak berapa perhatikan had warna yang dibenarkan.Kalau letak pewarna sikit, tak cantik pulak.

Ok, kek ini telah dicuba di Dundee, menggunakan resepi ini, but of course with a little bit of modification.


KEK LAPIS IDOLA

Bahan;
10 biji telur
16 oz mentega
200 gm horlick
50 gm serbuk santan
80 gm kaya
400 gm coklat masak ( dicairkan )
1 tin susu manis
1/2 gelas milo
1 1/2 gelas gula halus (kurangkan kalau tak nak manis)
2 gelas tepung gandum
1 sudu teh esen vanila
sedikit browning dan warna kuning








Cara;
Pukul mentega dan gula hingga putih dan gebu
Masukkan telur satu persatu. Pukul sampai kembang
Masukkan horlick, kaya, serbuk santan, susu manis, tepung gandum dan esen vanila. Gaul rata.
Bahagia adunan kepada 2 bahagian.
Bahagian pertama diberi warna kuning. Adunan ini dibahagi 2 bahagian ( untuk lapisan bawah dan atas ).
Bahagian kedua, campurkan milo, browning sugar dan coklat masak tadi.
Bakar adunan kuning berlapis-lapis. Lepas itu bakar adunan coklat juga berlapis-lapis. Akhir sekali, adunan kuning lagi, bakar berlapis-lapis.

Pengalaman Berpuasa di Dundee

Pengalaman berpuasa di Dundee adalah sangat menarik. Maha besar Allah, beribadat di sini sgt mendekatkan kita dengan kebesaran Allah swt dalam mencipta bumi ini. Waktu solat dan berpuasa berbeza begitu ketara sekali mengikut musim. Kali ini kami berpeluang berpuasa pada musim panas. Jumlah jam berpuasa di sini adalah lebih kurang 20 jam. Maknanya, hanya tinggal 4 jam sahaja untuk berbuka, tarawikh dan sahur. Semalam contohnya, waktu imsak adalah pada pukul 2.09 pagi dan maghrib pada pukul 9.00 mlm. Lebih kurang 5 jam extra berbanding berpuasa di Malaysia. Alhamdulillah ala kulli hal. Tapi Allah juga maha adil dan kaya, sungguhpun musim sekarang adalah summer, panasnya tidaklah seterik jika berada di Malaysia. Cuacanya Alhamdulillah, sejuk dan sentiasa hujan, terutamanya pada hari-hari awal berpuasa.
Perbezaan tempoh masa berpuasa membuatkan aku mengimbas semula ilmu geografi yang tak seberapa tentang pergerakan bumi mengelilingi matahari. Aku juga semak kejadian ini melalui internet.

Bumi kita seperti yang kita tahu berpusing mengelilingi matahari (365.25). Bumi juga berpusing pada paksinya (24 jam). Paksi tersebut adalah sedikit condong sebanyak 23.5 degree. UK mengalami musim panas apabila bumi condong kearah matahari dan siangnya menjadi lebih panjang kerana kedudukan UK yang sangat hampir di utara. Pada musim sejuk pula siangnya akan menjadi sangat singkat kerana kedudukan UK yang berada jauh dari equator. Di Shetland Island UK, tempoh siang boleh mencapai sehingga 23 jam dan di utara Norway yang dikenali sebagai ‘the land of the midnight sun’, 24 jam.

Jadi kita boleh bayangkanlah bagaimana waktu solat boleh berubah dengan begitu ketara. Dikatakan di sini, waktu isyak tidak dapat ditentukan dengan tepat kerana matahari tidak hilang sepenuhnya pada musim summer. Jadi kami solat isyak sebaik sahaja selesai solat maghrib. Kalau kita tengok ke langit pada waktu itu, kita akan dapati bahawa malam di sini tidaklah segelap Malaysia.

Saya pasti teruja melihat perubahan waktu solat pada musim sejuk nanti. InsyaAllah.

Gantung Kuali

Baru ingat nak gantung kuali bulan ramadhan ni, tapi tadi pergi Mathews (kedai menjual makanan oriental)terjumpa pulak kepala ikan kod dan salmon 50p dan 70p sahaja. Kalau convert RM dalam lebih kurang RM3, murah tu. Buat kari kepala ikan atau masak lemak cili api mesti sedap.Ehm,simpanlah dulu dlm peti, sebab malam ni nak berbuka puasa di masjid.InsyaAllah.




Kepala ikan di sini murah sebab orang putih memang tak makan benda ni. Dulu, kepala ikan ni memang tidak ada harga dan dibuang begitu sahaja, tapi apabila mereka dapat tahu kepala ikan dimakan oleh orang asia, mereka mula menjualnya.

Antara barang yang aku angkut dari mathews ialah tepung beras, tepung pulut, beras pulut, santan, lengkuas dan serai. Stok ramadhan dan raya kot.


Setakat ni, barang masakan yg biasa digunakan di Malaysia boleh didapati di kedai mathews tu, sebab kita share bahan masakan/makanan yang sama dengan orang Thailand. Ada banyak produk Thailand di situ. Aku selalu tanya kawan Thai aku kalau ada barang-barang yang aku tak jumpa. Dia yang cdgkan, contohnya kalau nak dapatkan udang yg besar,murah dan belum dimasak, aku patut pergi ke Freshfarm.Memang sedap, tapi udang tu dah dikupas dan tiada kepala serta ekor.

Barang yang masih belum dijumpai disini ialah daun kesum, bunga kantan, sayur keladi, daun pisang..atau aku yang masih belum explore lagi.

Buku sudah sampai

The books have arrived at my doorstep.Duit biasiswa memang patut diperuntukkan sebahagiannya untuk membeli buku.Di sini buku lebih mudah dibeli. Buku-buku tersebut adalah buku-buku terpakai yang saya beli di Amazon.Harganya jauh lebih murah dan kualitinya masih baik. Menariknya disini, orang putih tidak menconteng buku-buku mereka malahan nama juga tidak dicatatkan. Sudah menjadi budaya mereka untuk memelihara barang-barang mereka agar kelihatan baru kerana barang-barang tersebut boleh disumbangkan kepada kedai-kedai kebajikann (charity shops) atau menjualnya di car boot, gumtree atau ebay.






Saya sedang mengumpul buku-buku di dalam bidang pengajian sedikit demi sedikit. Undang-undang percetakan di sini adalah ketat, sehingga tidak membenarkan percetakan/ photocopy dalam jumlah yang banyak. Kemudahan mesin fotostat juga terhad dan proses cetakannya amat lambat. Justeru disini adalah lebih economic jika buku-buku dibeli sahaja, biarpun diatas tangan.Kalau di Malaysia, sudah tentu buku-buku tersebut sudah selamat dihantar di kedai-kedai fotostet dgn bayaran yang murah dan hasil cetakan yang amat memuaskan hati.

Its teasing me now

This is what I do if I can’t think of proper sentences to write, or the sentences I make are not ‘academic enough’ or too ‘layman type’…

In between my paragraphs I would write:

[create a para that describe the …… ,… and …. share the same common economic philosophy. That there is a strong nexus amongst them, and that they are worth to be studied together. Highlight that the convergence is needed and that each discipline would contribute to another.]

(instructing myself)

I am right now reading the same articles again and again, I just don’t know why it is too slow this time. I must get this hurdle passed before the end of the week!

Come on proper sentences, come to me now…

London Tour

Our first trip to the south was to meet my father at Manchester during his few days stay there. This was our second trip, basically to get to know London and a few major cities. This time, our route was through Durham. We didn't stop to take pictures. It was breathtaking, Subhanallah...just like the Terengganu road along the coastline. I was able to snap a few, to remind me how it looked like.



We stopped at Durham for lunch at Chester-le-street Riverside. A brief one, just to regain energy. The kids wanted so much to play at the playground, they did'nt have time to.


This is a glimpse of a castle which caught our attention from our picnic spot.

We were supposed to park our car at Hillingdon Station but Garmin lost its signal in the middle of the highway. We convoyed and gathered at Uxbridge before moving on manually to Hillingdon Station.


The first must-must place that a person visiting London should go is the Buckingham Palace. We were able to watch the dispersing procession, if not a little bit, far away glimpse of the changing of guards procession.


Eye of London..


An old building on the way to Trafalgar Square:


The Trafalgar Square:



Typical London. But next time I may consider to have a ride on this tour bus..


Hyde Park and Royal Albert Hall.

KFC from my kitchen

When my kids asked for KFC, I had to tell him them that there is no halal KFC around. I then gave it a try to order fried chicken from a halal restaurant, but it was quite expensive and the taste was not that good. That gave me the urge to make them myself...and guess what, its far cheaper (GBP2-3 for one whole chicken as compared to GBP9 for 8-9 pieces from the restaurant)and of course, yummy tummy chicken lickin'good! It only took me the effort of surfing the recipe and patience in marinating and frying....on the KFC thing, its very rewarding to see the kids eat.

marinated chicken

ingredients

in a plastic, to shake

with flour

mashed potato

ready, as you call it

with coleslaw, curry rice and mashed potato

I have to start somewhere…

Different to what almost everybody thinks, if you are doing a PhD, you must have a solid background on your research area before you even embark in the programme. Well I think I am the opposite. I have travelled in quite a number of research areas / areas of interest before I end up abruptly in International Investment Law as my area of concentration. And before I realize it, I have to catch up quick, very quick.

I see masters students here have undergone their investment law classes, and thus it is quite weird introducing yourself during the first two months after enrolment that ‘ I am doing my PhD, in investment law’, when you have almost no basic on it. And so, I started to audit classes. I have audited Investment Arbitration Practice, which is meant to be an advanced class. My supervisor said that it doesn’t matter if you have not audited the prerequisites, because you are a PhD student. On that juncture I knew that I have to work extremely hard so as not to seem so apparent to be ‘one who is very new in the area’.


This is the picture of my classmates.


My Singapore friend gave me a remark, ‘well, you have to start somewhere’..

It appeared that the whole class was actually a mooting activity, organized systematically by the instructor. The instructor was a prominent figure ( I have googled his name, and it appeared on top of the list), an American lawyer from an international law firm who has represented in many arbitration cases and has also the experience as an arbitrator in many investment tribunals. When I say many, I really mean ‘many’ cases….he seemed to have a role in almost all of the cases. Just imagine how lucky we were in his classes, as we suddenly believe that the long, winding ICSID cases we read seemed very close and real with all the spices of details from the instructor.

We got our group, we did our memorial (or rather, skeleton of arguments), submitted it and got ready for our presentation the next day. The whole thing seemed smooth, maybe because of the way the instructor conducted the course, we practically were able to present our arguments well, using the key cases correctly ( at least not in haywire). I compared this to the days my students were preparing their memorials for international mooting competitions, they had all the difficulties to understand the moot problem, researching the materials etc and always led to tears of emotions and conflicts.

These are the cases that we started with in the one week course:

Azinian v. Mexico
AMT v. Zaire
CMS v. Argentina
CMS v. Argentina (Merits)
CMS v. Argentina (Annulment)
Enron v. Argentina
Inceysa v. El Salvador
Loewen v. United States
Metalclad v. Mexico
MHS v. Malaysia
MHS v. Malaysia Annulment
Mitchell v. Congo (Annulment)
Parkerings v. Lithuania
Romak v. Uzbekistan
Salini v. Morocco
SD Myers v. Canada
Tokios Tekeles v. Ukraine
Tokios Tekeles v. Ukraine (dissent)
Wena v. Egypt

One quite interesting part was that the Malaysian Memorial for MHS v Malaysia, was prepared quite well. The instructor said that it was quite a good example for a country like Malaysia which has no experience in ICSID, could prepare like that. (Well, the main reason the Malaysian memorial was taken as an example was because the parties – Malaysia-UK had consented that all the statements/ documents issued are transparent and would become public domain, unlike other disputes) . And of course, there are other memorials which were better, except that they are not available on-line. From my quick glance of reading, I have came across a few other Malaysian cases like Gruslin.

The MHS v Malaysia Annulment was controversial as well. Especially on the point ‘ whether the investment contributed to the economic development of Malaysia’…

The course was fun.

PhD Expectations

I consider myself in these first one and a half month as in the exploratory stage of PhD. I was lucky to be able to participate in the Easter Seminar where there were talks on Research and Methodology in Law, Generic Skills for PhD Students, Critical Thinking and The Challenges of Doing a PhD Thesis.

The main thing in PhD of which I understand, is to find gaps in the existing knowledge, potential issues/ problems and then contribute in the area. It is all then stem to whether or not you will succeed in the viva. In viva, a PhD student is supposed to potray:
i- adequate knowledge in the field
ii- significant contribution to the knowledge
iii-evidence of originality
iv- publishable material
v- presented in an acceptable academic style

My centre adds the sixth criteria:
vi- practical impact (to the niche interest of the centre- oil and gas/ energy / policy/ international investment and the like)

And woops, another one:
vii- to EXCEL! Stand out / be different from others.

That's quite an expectation I suppose...
So as they always say, the first six months is very crucial to identify the gaps/potential area of study from the literature reviews done. As in my case, I have to succeed the upgrading process before I am actually allowed to continue as a PhD student.

Among the things I took from the talks were phrases like:
1. Remember, the clock ticks!! (brr...that's scary)
2. Don't mess about! (as the clock ticks of course)
3. You should'nt have time to do other things!(in this context, the presenter referred to publishing/presenting papers...he said, publications can wait, but PhD can't...but there were other views on this by other presenters)
4. Don't be Mr. Deaf or Mr. Slow! (showing no progress)
5. Don't waffle! ( especially when people ask you 'whats your topic?' and you go like 'er..er...bla..bla..', it should be clear, short and precise)
6. Write and throw away!(the more you write, you don't mind of throwing them away if people criticise your work for betterment, but if you write too slow, you'll get heart attack when somebody suddenly say that your work/ approach is inaccurate, because your work becomes too sacred for you. In PhD, get ready to throw your writings away, that's normal)
7. Don't apply the magician approach! (in selecting your topic, it must be from literature reviews, not suddenly from your head like magic)

And then came the group activities on legal methodology terms like empirical, deductive, inductive, normative, positivist..bla..bla..

The conclusion was somewhat powerful: THE WORST STAKEHOLDER AFFECTED IF YOU FAIL YOUR PHD IS NO ONE BUT YOU...
and I understand that fully.

And during the two days seminar...I slept very early at night, without fail.

Study has begun

There are so many things to tell, but i will do it slowly as time permits.

I'm busy now reading investment cases for our investment arbitration practice classes next week. I am very fortunate here that there are many interesting classes that I can audit,those expensive ones if you are not from the centre. I have already took a course on contracts in oil and gas. It is worth of USD 2+++ outside. I have to however be careful that the classes dont take too much of my time. I need time for my studies, but as my supervisor says, its good to get exposure from the classes on the terms / concepts/ concerns that may be useful in my topic area. This course, in particular (investment arbitration) is indeed the first in my sv's list.


No wonder my sv says that it is interesting..its mooting!! No wonder he says that I will be benefitting a lot from it...I am practically reading / have to read eight arbitral awards, BITs, 3-4 regulations in just 3 days!! And on the first day, we were reminded that whether or not we are registered or audit students, participation comes first!

As I could envisage, in moot activities, reading alone is not enough. Reading must be in the view of presenting it. And presenting it must be co-related to the moot problem, the treaties, rules and other relevant cases. This definitely remind me of my students in their mooting trainings. I'm in it now guys! Wish me luck!

Wookay, got to continue reading!

Mengutip gambar

Apabila merekod semula apa yang telah saya lalui sepanjang berkhidmat (apabila mengisi LNPT), saya dapati banyak peristiwa yang tidak sempat saya rakamkan. I started searching for pictures from the university website. I found a few, well enough for my album. Cuma terasa juga terkilan apabila gambar-gambar mengacara majlis tidak ditemui. Gambar pengacara-pengacara majlis untuk majlis lain juga jarang ditemui.

Pictures do speak by itself. Semalam, saya bersembang dengan abah saya tentang pengalaman-pengalamannya. Satu hari nanti, jika diberi kekuatan, ingin saya menulis semua pengalamannya. Alangkah lebih mudah jika pengalaman-pengalaman tersebut dapat dirakamkan melalui gambar?



Ini adalah gambar sewaktu saya menyertai Bengkel Pelan Integriti Nasional oleh universiti saya.


Ini adalah pengalaman berharga saya. Audit Keserakanan. I just couldnt believe it that I actually took part in the process of defending the university in the audit. I was quite passive at first ( as the more you speak in audits, the more you make mistakes). But when it was my turn to present, I had to be seen confident enough. Oklah kot. Well, somebody had to do it.




Mesyuarat di buka oleh NC saya. Memang post NC adalah satu jawatan yang mencabar. I saw how confident he was explaining on the visions of the university...etc..everything seemed to just fall in its place.


Bergambar kenangan dengan auditors.


Ini pula adalah gambar di Port Dickson untuk pembentangan bajet 2010 dan 2011. It was quite awkward at the beggining to mingle with top leaders of the university. I had to get use to it. I am afterall helping these top leaders...sebenarnya setiap pensyarah itu sangat signifikan kepada universiti.


Ada juga gambar saya sedang berbaris di dalam perhimpunan bulanan universiti. Bagus.

Pemadam, apabila amat diperlukan.

Jarang saya gunakan pemadam. Hanya untuk aktiviti-aktiviti tertentu apabila simulasi pengisian borang diperlukan. Saya menjangkakan minggu ini saya akan menggunakan pemadam lagi, utk isi borang-borang cuti belajar.

Lihat sahajalah pemadam saya ini dari brand new sampai tinggal sedikit.Dalam hanya setengah hari! Terpaksa saya panggilkan cleaner untuk vacum bilik saya selepas itu.

Pertandingan Mahkamah Mut Syariah PMMS2009

It was a relief that we have just finished organizing the first ever Syariah Moot competition.We claim it the first done at the national level because it was funded by the Malaysian ministry of higher education, involved by most higher learning institutions offering law / syariah (offer was extended to all) and the fact that the moot problem was prepared by the Malaysian Syarie lawyer association or council(PGSM), at par with the Malaysian Bar Council for civil lawyers.

As it was the first of its kind, it was quite a pressure to explore and experiment its execution. To be on the safe side, we had to follow the established standard, rules and even the counting of marks to be the same of that of the Jessup Moot competition, well known among the legal faternity. If this was to be the first, and if it was us to organize it, we decided that we will definitely have to do it properly. Looking at the people around me, I feel confident that we will manage to do it, although that means there are a lot of preparations to be done. My friends constantly gave me the support I needed and was always there reminding me on the standards of Jessup or LawAsia. We dared not to change or create the rules, fearing of disputes that may rise.

It began when the PGSM agreed to draft the moot problem. I was so thankful to friends at PGSM for their willingness (old and new friends) , and of course ex-students at PGSM. They came up with the moot problem although at quite a short notice. As having an affiliation to USIM, we refused to look at the moot problem, what more to meddle with what was prepared. The moot problem was only made known to all teams when it was supposed to be made known.Considering syariah moot was new, we only gave some samples of Jessup and LawAsia moot problems to PGSM to come up with sort of the same standard.

And so the meetings began. (Woops, I have not done the last minutes yet).
The venues, the budget,the teams, the exchanging of memorials, the judges.
Here, my friends took their parts efficiently - arrangement of the judges, rules and countings, management of the teams...etc.

The syariah moot was also promoted through Nasi Lemak Kopi O one saturday morning. It was the first experience for me. Our students- Hameezah, Hazimin and Azim also made their first tv appearance by their moot simulation. Well done!


This is an example in the moot court.



The judges were real ones from syariah courts and syarie lawyers in Malaysia.


Judges were ushered to the moot courts.


This is the counting room where team representatives make decisions on penalties and audit the process of keying in the marks. In picture were representatives from UIA,UM,UUM and USIM.Others went for a rest.


Judges in the briefing room before each session. (oops, what was i doing at the back?)


In mootings, the mooters are trained to 'submit' to the judges, with full honour and respect, assisting the court to come to a decision. As compared to debates, the debaters debates with the opponent.Sebab itulah kadang-kadang kita lihat gaya dan bahasa debat sedikit agresif kerana gaya dan bahasa yang agresif boleh mengurangkan motivasi pihak lawan. Di dalam mahkamah, mooters perlu beradab sopan dan menggunakan bahasa yang sopan dan tepat kepada hujah-hujah perundangan. The role of the mooters is to ask from the court the best relief their client deserve. Mooters are supposed to bring submissions based on questions of law.

Well, there are many more to tell on mooting.
I find it the best activity for a law student.
Harap mooting dapat berjangkit kpd semua student di FSU!

ISCOM is just around the corner!

Well..this has been a one whole year job.
And next week, we are expecting fellow presenters from all over the world. I hope that the faculty could give them the best hospitality. ohhh..too busy to even update the blog. gtg....