Plaster Ceiling (Contractor)

I didn't do any major renovations, only kitchen cabinet, and plaster ceiling. I don't faced any problems with my kitchen cabinet (with tv cabinet, shoe rack). Thanks to Artak Kitchen. But what I want to share here is regarding my plaster ceiling.

Initially, I had engaged one contractor, to do my plaster ceiling at 3 areas, i.e. Living Room, Dining Room and Family Room. They did the Family Room first. Then when they wanted to start doing at the Living Room and Dining Room upstairs, they noticed that the ceiling above the original plaster ceiling (by developer) was not plastered. Therefore, the initial price that they have quoted has increased tremendously! Patut lah this guy quoated very much cheaper from other contractor. But we were not happy with that, because the contractor have agreed with the price, they cannot just simply increase in between project. They have to bare the cost! Therefore, we cancelled the contract and asked them to leave after finished the Living Room!

Then we engaged second contractor, to do upstairs's plaster ceiling. This guy pulak, pergi hire sub-contractor to do the job. The commiunication between us and him were not transfered to the sub-contractor. That's not the only problems, when the sub-con knew how much we are paying to the main-con, which is double from what they received, diaorg boleh went off without finishing the job! Huh...so many dramas... Siap gaduh2 lagi between main-con and sub-con. But at the end, main-con yg very selfish ni, went missing pulak. Luckily the sub-con still baik hati, and finish their job, and luckily we have not fully paid the main-con, so we still have the money to pay the sub-con.

My family room, with TV Cabinet. I'm not very happy with the size of
this TV cabinet, in the end, Artak Kitchen has replaced to a bigger board.
Photo will be shared later.

80% completed. The T5 lighting and the downlights have not been fully installed yer.

Some may not agree with my statement here. But both contractors (in fact all 3 contractors) are Malays!!! Since I am also a Malay, I wanted to give some jobs to help our people, but they are greedy and unprofessional people. Lesson learned : To engage Chinese Contractor .... bukan taknak menolong org melayu, but they have given me hard time, which that is why contractor melayu tak maju. Dengan sesama Islam pun nak menipu.

Show House

This is the actual show house of my house. I like the simplicity of the interior, but yet refreshing. If you notice, people tend to choose safe colour for the curtain, like cream, white, brown, and even black. But not for this house....

Dining Area

Living Room

Living Room. Family room is downstairs.

And since I like it so much, that the reason I looked for Turqoise Curtain Colour, eventhough it is very difficult to find.... Seriously, it was not easy!!

Soto

Divert sikit cerita pasal rumah. Semalam menu buka puasa aku adalah soto. Bibik aku yg masak. Seriously sedap! Soto mmg favourite food aku skrg. Susah nak jumpa soto yg sedap kat kedai, tak faham aku sebab soto lah masakan yg paling senang dibuat.... Dulu zaman aku belajar dulu, rajin gak aku masak soto and ajak kengkawan makan. Kalau ajsk maksn doto kat rumah ni pun, mesti ada org tanye macam mana nak buat. So kat sini aku nak share the recipe, the simplest soto recipe ever.

Bahan-bahan utk 2-3 orang akan :

1. Ayam - ikut suka lah berapa byk nak pakai. Tapi kalau nk buat utk sekali makan, ideally pakai setengah ekor, utk dapat manis kuah nanti. And kalau boleh, biar lah ayam yg dipotong besar, senang nak dicarik nanti.
2. Bawang merah - 3 ulas, dihiris.
3. Bawang putih - 3 ulas, dihiris.
4. Mixture of rempah : bunga lawang, kayu manis & buah pelaga - separuh genggam.
5. Sebijik bawang besar - potong 4.
6. Kiub ayam - secukup rasa.
7. Garam - secukup rasa.

Cara memasak :
1. 2 liter air, dipanaskan dalam periuk.
2. Masukan ayam dan rebus selama 20-30 minit (lagi lama, lagi manis kuah nanti).
3. Masukan bawang besar yg dipotong 4 bersama-sama ayam tadi.
4. Masukan garam secukup rasa.
5. Selepas ayam sudah siap direbus, toskan ayam tadi.
6. Panaskan minyak di kuali, separately.
7. Tumiskan bawang yg telah dihiris, bersama rempah. Bila dah agak kuning, toskan bahan tumis tadi, dan dicampurkan bersama air rebusan ayam.
8. Campurkan sedikit kiub ayam, utk lebih sedap. Tapi if ayam dah byk, air rebusan tak perlu lagi dicampur kiub.
9. Ayam yg telah ditos tadi, lumurkan dengan sedikit garam dan serbuk kunyit, dan digoreng. Selepas sejuk, carikan ayam tadi. Tulang2 ayam dimasukan semula ke dalam air rebusan.
10. Dah siap!!

Sambal kicap :
1. Cili api
2. Sedikit bawang putih.
3. Tumbuk kedua bahan di atas, campurkan dengan sedikit gula. Kalau suka, boleh campur sedikit asam limau atau cuka.

Accesories :
1. Taugeh yg direbus
2. Daun sup dan daun bawang yg dihiris
3. Kacang tanah yg digoreng
4. Bawang goreng
5. Soon goreng
6. Pregedel

Kalau emergency, item 2, 3, 5 dan 6 takde pun takpe. Yg penting kuah dah sedap. Tapi aku mesti ada taugeh, my favourite! Resepi pregedel akan dishare di lain waktu. Ada tugasan yg perlu diselesaikan....

Jgn lupa rebus nasi impit tau! Kalau kuah je, bukanlah soto namanya....