this weekend

on saturday after aisyah's riding class, we took hubby's niece Raudah to the water sports centre at Pierrepont Holme, near the equestrian centre.

lots of water sports enthusiasts were training white water rafting and slalom canoeing. probably some kind of competition coming soon...last year we joined the crowd cheering at the European Canoe Slalom Championship.

on sunday went to sheffield to send Raudah to her 'new home for the next 4 years'. from Chesterfield to Sheffield on A61, saw this crooked church spier; apparently one of the attractions in Chesterfield. http://www.visitchesterfield.info/dms-derbyshire.asp?dms=13&venue=6012303

kedai runcit

this is our kedai runcit. despite being small and fit only one person, it can store a fridge and freezer and you can find anything from rempah kari to belacan to baking stuff.

kuih raya? baju raya? cuti raya?

in malaysia, by this time, 15th ramadhan, most muslims must be busy preparing for raya - baju raya, kasut raya, kuih raya, nak apply cuti raya, where to spend raya - either parents or inlaws kampung etc... do i miss those preparation chaos? NO!

raya may fall on friday 12th oct (if ikut arab saudi) so, i've informed my team leader that i'm gonna apply for one day leave. its the first week of lecture but i suppose the students will be happy, not having to attend my lecture & seminar on their first week back.

raya is just another one day off for us. nothing much to prepare. my fren Naza had sewn baju kurung raya for aisyah and dress for aliyah which she kirim thro my mom in january. as for me & hubby, pakai baju kurung & baju melayu which we brought from msia dulu. bukan nak kemana pun, cuma to mimi's house after sembahyang raya.

hubby hinted some home made cookies this year. apa2 pun, we got our kuih raya already... all the way from msia. yayy!! hubby's niece just arrived to do her masters/phd in sheffield. her mom kirim 4 balang kuih raya - 3 balang tart nenas and 1 balang kuih makmur. 1/2 balang tart dah dikorbankan last nite.. we do not plan to keep the cookies for raya. today Aisyah puasa and asked if she can berbuka puasa with tart nenas. so the kuih raya becomes kuih buka puasa...

my masterpiece

last sunday i attempted baking pineapple upside down cake and i was so happy with the result. been wanting to bake it for a while tapi takut tak jadi. found the recipe in nigella express, bila baca method macam senang aja, so decided to give it a try... indeed it was easy (and yummy too.)

my masterpiece sitting pretty on my royal doulton dinner plate - bought the 'look un-used' 20 piece dinner set from 'cancer research' charity shop in oakham at £10 ! herlina quoted charity shop tu kedai barang orang mati !! she loves that shop cos it sells lovely stuff - cheap and good. oakham ni kampung orang kaya so barang2 sent there for sale pun barang orang kaya (yang dah mati...) .

full moon

full moon thro our misty window... taken this morning, after sahur

everything's put to use

its tuesday - karate day for aisyah and daddy but daddy's been having back pain since Friday and had been off from work. nevertheless, he took aisyah to karate class at 6pm, which should finish at 7.30pm and they should be home by now.. yes... they are back!! (picture taken in june)

what's for berbuka/dinner? supposed to be Lamb Cutlets with chilli and black olives, recipe from Nigella Express. but... i use ribs, minus black olives (none in the pantry) and dried chilli which mimi bought on her italian trip last april. also i made roasted vege and baby potatoes, grilled chicken wings and mashed potatoes for my dearest daughter (Aisyah doesnt like roasted potatoes)

how did i manage to do all those? soon as baby's gone to la la land at 6.30pm, i dashed to the kitchen. lamb and chicken were marinated since 5pm. everything was put to use - lamb cutlets on the stove, chicken in the grill and vege & potatoes in the oven. voila! everything ready in 1/2 hour!!

academic year 2007/2008 ....registration week

i went to office this morning and noticed that the campus is buzzing. when i walked into the office building which we share with the student support services office, saw few students around - new students start registration today.

was informed at the department meeting that 175 Level 1 students have been accepted for 4 courses in the Construction Management group ie Construction Management, QS, QS Construction Commercial Management and Property Management. that basically means i will have 175 Level 1 coursework scripts to mark in May !!

after meeting's over, we had a small farewell do for tony trevorrow who retired after teaching at the uni for 31 years. it was kind a sad for pete, having to make 2 farewell speeches in a span of 4 days !! tony was buying drinks at 'the orange tree' pub at lunch time but i had to pass due to puasa. otherwise i wud have joined them, drinking orange juice of course..

season change

its the end of summer and autumn is approaching. the tree leaves in front of our house start turning yellow. so its time to keep the summer wear and take out/buy the warm clothings.

yesterday we went shopping for the kids autumn/winter wear. nasib baik ada Primark which sells cheap but good clothes. i dont see any point in buying expensive clothes for aliyah cos she outgrows her clothes so fast! we bought 3 body suits, 3 pairs of trousers, 1 cardigan, 1 pullover, 2 long sleeve tshirts for aliyah and 2 pairs of flannel pyjamas for aisyah; all for £23.

when aliyah was born, my colleague gave a pair of 'snow suit' size 12-18 months as hadiah bersalin. masa summer sale in july, i bought the maroon winter coat from Next which was going for 1/2 price at £13. the sleeveless parka cost me £2 from H&M. so, that will do her till january. aisyah can still wear hers from last winter.

8 months

Aliyah is 8 months old today.. so fast!! she's up to lots of cheekiness, weighs 8.5 kg, is 72cm long (grown 20cm/8 inches since birth), has 4 teeth, stands up by herself while holding on, loves pulling people's hair (especially her kakak's).

i introduced her to solid food since she was 6 months old. she loves strawberries and bananas with creamed oats porridge for breakfast. every weekend i make her meals, rice or potatoes with chicken/beef & vege, puree and freeze in ice cube trays.

riding together

yesterday Aisyah went for her riding class and was joined by Daniel and Tisyia (mimi's kids). they started riding not long after Aisyah, at the same riding club. we normally block book the riding classes in advance, and coincidently yesterday the kids had their classes at the same time.

there are many instructors and 40 horses/ponies at the riding school but we have our preference. mimi always booked Moira to teach her kids (Moira has very loud voice and strict but fun) and i book Julie for Aisyah. Julie had been really good with Aisyah who has improved a lot since she went with Julie. she always make sure that we book Pippin for Aisyah to ride on cos Pippin loves to run and takes instruction well.

yesterday Julie had to teach 2 disabled girls to ride and Lucy took over. at the same time Moira was teaching Daniel and Tisyia and she & Lucy decided to have a combined class with Aisyah. it was good though and the kids enjoyed it. they had few challenges such as holding both reins in one hand and bend down touching the feet with the other hand, while trotting. also she had some kind of quiz while the kids were riding.

see who can dismount from the horse, the fastest!

new lidded roaster

today is Saturday, the 10th Ramadhan and as usual, we took Aisyah for her riding class. after that we went out to the shops... ramai nya orang. met few melayus. new academic year begins in october and most students are back or just arrived.

we were in need of new roasting tray and frying pans. we went to tk maxx, the shop that sells designer goods (from clothes to shoes to handbags, household items, furniture etc) at low prices. NO its not Reject Shop.. they sell out of season stuff but who cares !! i just love the stuff there cos the prices are normally 60% cheaper than the original price.

we bought an Anthony Worrall Thompson (AWT is a celebrity chef) 36 cm lidded roaster for just £7. i've checked the original price on the web, its a frigging £18. i'm not the 'beli and simpan' kind of person. so, the roaster was put to use this evening.











for berbuka today, i made Roast Chicken with veges and baby potatoes and hubby made mashed potatoes and grilled flat mushroom with cheese & herbs for accompaniment.

my roast chicken recipe - easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

what do you need?

1 whole chicken

garlic, coarse salt (garam kasar), lemon juice, black peppercorn, olive oil (lots), rosemary & thyme (fresh or dried) - all tumbuk with batu lesong and rub on the chicken and boiled/fresh vege.

veges - carrot, cauliflower cut in big chunks, whole baby potatoes with skin - par boil for about 5-10 minutes and drain off water.

other veges - fresh button mushrooms, capsicum, tomatoes, courgette.

put the whole chicken, boiled vege, fresh vege in the roasting pan, drizzle more olive oil and shove in the pre heated oven, gas mark 8 for 20 minutes. then reduce to gas mark 5 and roast for 1 hour.

for mashed potatoes - boil potatoes (skin off), mash and add butter and fresh milk. season with salt and pepper.

BOGOF

hubby enjoys groceries shopping especially when there are BOGOF offers.. NO its not a swear word. its the abbreviation for Buy One Get One Free. most supermarkets will have BOGOF offers which we just love....

today we went to Morrisons Supermarket after being lured by an advertisement placed at the bus stops for their BOGOF offers. we end up filling our trolley with lots of BOGOF stuff but i think our best buy for today is Goodfellas Margheritta Pizza selling at £1.29 each - Buy One Get Two Free. BOGOF offers in most places are genuine and the goods are not near expiry date. there is price comparison with other supermarkets too (which is very much allowed here..).

Farewell

my colleague Balkees, a fellow lecturer from Msia is leaving NTU for a greener pasture at Reading Uni School of Estate Management. Balkees graduated from NTU in mid 80 and had been the 'tenaga pengajar' for 15 years. cakap omputih berabuk, sounds like the locals but bila cakap melayu, melayu habih...

we had a small farewell do after the referred exam board meeting this morning; and she wasnt let off easily without giving goodbye speech.

Ramadhan is here..

Today is the 8th day of Ramadhan and i have not been able to puasa yet... not for the 'usual pompuan reason' but i've been on medication for shingles which i got few days before puasa and was only diagnosed by my GP on the first day of Ramadhan when i got to see him. i had to take the ubat, religiously, 1 'big' pill 5 times a day at regular intervals.

now the worst is over and i felt so much better. hopefully i can start my puasa tomorrow.

doodling about puasa, Aisyah managed to scrape thro the first day of ramadhan quite easily. but not for the few days after. on tuesday she had to go for karate lesson with daddy at 6pm and she insisted that she wanted to puasa and she managed to last till berbuka time at 7.20pm. karate classes are from 6pm-7.30pm. for that, her daddy promised to give her £2 !! she didnt have much problem waking up for sahur.

on 1st Ramadhan, i told her class teacher, Miss Sarmah that Aisyah is observing fasting month but if she cant continue, she will have to tell the teacher if she needs to drink cos i didnt prepare any lunch boxes. at school, during the mid morning break, the teacher will offer the kids scooby snack in the form of pretzel sticks. so Miss made a deal with Aisyah. if she's offered scooby snack and she tells the teacher that she's still fasting (she can't lie), she will be rewarded 2 positives. at her school, they have this 'positive/negative' system where the kids will be rewarded for good behaviour, doing well in the subjects, etc. and penalised if they did not do their homework or being naughty.
at the end of the week, if the kids get 5 positives, they will then get 'lucky dip' (something like lucky draw). this week, so far Aisyah had collected 6 positives for puasa and answered correctly in mental maths.

now what she does every evening after berbuka, is jotting down on the calendar, how much daddy or me owes her for her good deeds and puasa. daddy promised her £1 per full day of puasa and nothing if she berbuka before time. on top of that, she will get 50p from her aunty yan (my sister in law) if she puasa full day and also another 50p if she helps me with the chores such as setting and clearing the dinner table, washing dishes, etc. she's working hard to save for her dream 'barbie game' which costs about £50 from Argos.

weddings ..

last August, 2 of my dearest cousins, Widad and Azlin got married. if we were in msia, i would probably have to take few days off to go back to Kelantan to attend their big days as i am close to their parents who are my mom's siblings. the irony is, the akad was held one day after the other. so my mom had to juggle between 2 houses.

these are pictures of Azlin

the blushing bride
before akad... merenung masa depan.

officially husband and wife...

looking radiant in her lilac wedding outfit on the kenduri day

& Widad

before .... and

after the akad. lega....

after the kenduri in KB. sampin pun dah hilang... bunga manggar tu boleh simpan. recycle for the other sisters' wedding...

reception in Klang

both brides looked really good. they never done any face painting before.. we hope to be around for their sisters' wedding, whenever that will be.....

and all in the family...

widad & her sisters

with cik long, my mum

my nephew Afham & my cousin Nizar

widad & her siblings

azlin and her sisters

my brother & future wife...

my eldest niece CT Sarah the entertainer, karaoke-ing at Widad's wedding reception in Klang

the newly weds at azlin's wedding kenduri, the day after theirs.

come rain or shine...whatever, wherever, whenever the occassion, the busiest, most glamorous and important person is..... MY ONE & ONLY SISTER!!

after all that the kenduri & hard work....

'siti' and 'sidi' (grandma & grandpa in arabic) took their grandchildren jalan2 ke Menara KL...