Everything and many things

Firstly, I am deeply saddened to announce that I have lost Momot.

I think when we took them in, they were barely 2 weeks old, NOT the suitable time at all for kittens to be separated from their mummy cat. But for a while, they looked okay. Subsequently Abg bought a cage for them since we can't leave them in the room like we do Bubu. Bubu has been toilet trained (well, that's what we thought until we found a heap of kitty excrements under the old table near the toilet, but that's another blog entry, or maybe not) and Bubu tends to bully the two younger kitties so we thought they'd be okay in the cage.

For the past week, they sort of stopped eating, regardless of what we gave them - kitten milk, Whiskas wet food, Royal Canin for kitten, IAMS for kitten - and we brought them to the vet. She told us they were healthy and recommended supplements. Mimi sort of recovered, but Momot just went downhill. On Friday, he resembled how a kitty would look like if it lived in Ethiopia. Then things got worst when he followed me to the kitchen and a bowl of cooking oil (sejuk punya tau!) fell on him. I heard that you shouldn't really bathe a small kitty but I didn't have much of a choice. I sort of knew that night that he might not survive till the morning but it didn't stop the tears when I carried its limp body to the hole Abg dug for me.

As corny as this may sound, I hope Momot felt loved staying with us.

Secondly, I somehow managed to find another stray kitty! We had just gone to Machang Hospital to visit Abg's relative and had dropped by the pasar ramadhan. Abg was just maneuvering the car into a space when we saw this wet tiny bundle of dirty white fur on the ground. I went out to move him away and its blue eyes looked sooooo sad! I looked around to see if the mummy cat is around and even asked the nearby shop owner if it belonged to her. Since we already have everything we needed to take care of cats, we decided to bring it home. Name suggestions anyone? Pictures later, I hope.

Thirdly, if you haven't heard or might have heard about Facebook, I urge you, SIGN UP NOW! and forever enslave yourself to the addictive world that is Cyberspace. With Facebook, you can hook up with friends, look up old long lost friends (if they're on it) and share photos and videos and compete against each other in Quizzes and such. At first I only signed up because a friend invited me and now, I'm on it whenever I can! Arrrrghhhh, someone get me away from my PC! I've been looking up friends from the JPA group and from my former MRSM, and recently managed to come into contact with a dear old friend from 10 years ago! You....you read my blog and never leave comment aa you! Bad one!

Fourthly, I get ultra weird when I'm in the hospital as a visitor. Do I act like a visitor or as a doctor? Can I fiddle with the IV fluids or will the staff nurses shout at me like they would other people? Would it be out of line if I went up to the nurses' counter and asked to look at the patient's records? Would the nurse in charge think me pompous if I introduced myself as a medical officer?

Finally, I'm on call tomorrow. It's a public holiday and I'm expecting DROVES of people. The palpitations and chest pains are starting already. But the good news is that it will be my final on call before Raya; so even if my casualty beds are full and my legs can barely stand, THAT will keep me going.

Post call jumble

Today is my last day in the OPD. Hip hip hooray! At long last I am free of its merciless grip! I can now run up and down corridors to my heart's content and finally learn new things!

On call was eerily not so busy last night, it gave me the creeps. I'm always worried that one of these days, luck would turn her back on me and rain on my casualty and labour room the weirdest and most horrendous of cases. It doesn't help that I'm on call this Sunday, which will be the last day of the long weekend. I just hope all the weird cases will get referred straight away instead of simmering away in the ward like a time bomb waiting to explode on my on call day!

Despite my terrible temper tantrums and emotional outbursts while being in the OPD, I kinda felt sad about leaving it. Some of the J/Ms are really nice and definitely made my job much more bearable. But I know I had to leave it. I was getting too bitter for my own and my patient's good.

Man, I'm sleepy. Sahur was a mug of Q Vital cereal drink. I can't eat rice during sahur, it gives me colic. I felt really guilty looking at the two tiffin carrier with the meal provided for the MO on call. Wasted. I ate only half of the rice designated for iftar and barely looked at the other container. I think it had sambal tumis udang, vege soup and fried fish.

Went to Perodua Machang to get my lights changed. Managed to complete two flowers on my latest beading project when I was called by the guy attending to my car. Apparently my plastic bumper needs replacing as the light can't be screwed on properly. I didn't really get what he was saying, because my eyes were focused on the space behind the light fixtures - it seriously looked like termite was nesting there! Seriously! Eww, okay?

Abg said to just put on the other light and he'll get my car fixed at his regular mechanic. Sayang Abg - I'm an independent girl (can I even call myself 'girl' anymore?) but sometimes having someone to do things like this can be so reassuring especially on a post call day.

Well, I'm off for a nap. Watch out for my next masak-masak entry in the next few days!

Meh buka puasa - Baked Macaroni

Nak buat entry masak-masak la plak...

Makaroni Bakar Special

- kalau guna amount as stated below - maybe dlm 8 org makan rasanya.

Ingredients:
250g makaroni - boil till soft
Minced chicken (or beef, whatever your preference) - about 300g-400g
Mixed vege - about 300g

3 ulas bawang putih
2 bawang besar

seasoning:
ground black pepper
white pepper
about 3 tspn of salt
2 tablespn of tomato sauce
-basically whatever you like

Cheese! LOTS of cheese! I happened to have some Mozarella left over so I put that into the mixture and then sprinkled shredded Cheddar on top.

About 4-5 eggs

See, when I cook, I basically just feel my way round. NOT to say I'm an expert; things don't usually work out the first time. Like when I first made this, I discovered I didn't put in enough eggs to bind all the ingredients together, so it didn't hold. Nevertheless, it turned out edible and presentable enough to be shared with my neighbours and my SIL's neighbours and her family. I did use the whole pack of pasta, mind you. Letih gila nak kacau ingredients in the kuali.

Basically, what you do is sautee the garlic and onion. Then add in your meat. Next, put in your seasoning - tomato sauce, salt, black and white pepper - you may of course fiddle with this and perhaps add chilli powder to add a little bit of zing. Then comes the mixed veges.

When thoroughly cooked, mix into the already boiled pasta. At this stage, I added about 3 handful of shredded cheese and some chopped parsley. Let it cool for about 15 mins before adding in the eggs (lightly beaten before pouring).

Line your baking tin with butter and pour into it the above. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of it, as much as you like and then just shove it into the oven to be baked at 180 for about 20 mins.

So there you have it, Makaroni Bakar. I'm planning to substitute the meat with tuna flakes and shrimp next and maybe some pineapple pieces and thousand island with the cheese topping.

Cooking aside, this year's fasting month have just whizzed by. Last year I remember commuting from Machang to Permaisuri - about an hour and 15 mins each way. I wonder now how I managed it. During the week, it's rather quiet, with just me, Abg and my FIL so I look forward to Thursdays when my SIL comes over with the brood.

Workwise, of course, it's the all important issue of who shall be on call during the Raya holidays. This year we've got 2 non malay MOs so basically they'll be doing the call on the first Raya. But personally, I'd rather be on call on the first day. People are usually too busy celebrating to come to the hospital; it's the 2nd and subsequent days which are a total nightmare. Since it's predominantly malay people here, there aren't any private clinics open during the holidays so basically the casualty is the only place to seek any sort of treatment so, boleh bayang la kan.... sampai tak cukup tempat duduk org beratur nak jumpa MA.

But anyway, I know I won't be on call so here's to a fun filled, joyous and tragedy-free Raya to everyone!