how to entice my best friend?

senang.... my bestest fren yan loves shopping. i took this photo especially for her, at Leamington Spa train station on the way to Haddenham to visit my placement student.

Bicester designer village is a shopping heaven for people like Yan dan people seangkatan dengan nya. when my fren Suraya came in April last year we took her there. i'm not a brand concious person (tkmaxx is gud enuf for me) tapi seronok temankan kawan2 shopping....

we didnot take Yan there when she visited us in may 2007 cos tak sempat. tapi sempat la jugak bawa dia shopping kat East Midlands Designer Outlet at junction 28. promised Yan that we'll definitely take her there hext time she comes to UK.

me & yan at EM outlet in may 2007; check out the sunglasses bought at tkmaxx the day before

needlework

kakak or aunty yan to my kids loves cross stitching. her place in sg buloh was like a 'cross stitch gallery'. last visit, she brought the pillow cases for the girls. now evry morning when aliyah wakes up, she asks for the pillows and 'reads' her abc.

when kakak was here in jan/feb, we went to bakewell, found the needlework shop and she couldnt resist buying the cross stitch pattern - picture of horses for aisyah.

she made 2 big & beautiful cross stitch of horses for aisyah last year. will post them later.

earthquake

topic of the day.. we felt it at 1am for a good 5 seconds when we were about to doze off. it didnt occur to us that it was what it was; until we spoke to our neighbour Brian this morning. he wasnt awakened by the quake but heard the news on the radio this morning.


it sounded like something fell from the sky and hit the roof. so many possibilities cross our minds - strong wind, burglar in the ceiling, tv aerial fell, ufo, US spy satelite ...nothing moved though. some places were badly affected.

it was scary then .... Alhamdulillah everything's ok. now at least we can say we have experienced an earthquake

hearty meal

tonite hubby cooked dinner. for main course we had roast chicken ala jamie oliver - whole chicken rubbed with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme, lemon juice and olive oil; with roasted vege - brocolli, cauliflower, carrot, mushroom, courgette, aubergine, brussel sprout and aunt bessie's chips.










dessert - caramelised banana, fresh blackberries, blueberries and strawberries, with dollop of raspberry ripple icecream and drizzled chocolate sauce.. yummy!!

hate paying loads

hate paying loads.... new caption by tkmaxx.

we went on a 'shopping spree' at my (and mimi's) favourite 'designer boutique' this afternoon after aisyah's riding class. should have taken a photo of the shopping trolley filled with goodies. we were shopping for presents for our friends and relatives who will be getting married, expecting babies, just moved houses etc. the goods will be shipped to msia in march.

most of the stuff we bought were on clearance; from household items to bed linen to leather jacket to toys and shoes. kalau nak shopping tak boleh in a hurry. nasib baik aliyah tidor dalam stroller... that explained how my friends onnair and kerry spent 5 hours in the store when they visited us in november. kedainya bukan besar pun, just 3 levels.

i bought Disney Discovery Ride-On for aliyah. yesterday i saw the ride-on at ELC (early learning centre) which cost almost double the price i paid at tkmaxx. hubby got his early birthday present - a pierre cardin leather jacket and aisyah got a pair of pink Xti leather ballet pumps.

hubby looked like 'Y.B. - wakil rakyat bahagian Wollaton' in the picture - demam pilihanraya sampai ke sini...

winter is still here...

just when we thot that winter's been and gone after the warm and sunny weekends... i spoke too soon..its been frosty since last weekend and this morning we woke up to this thick fog and it lingered the whole day.

frosty hedges

learning french

Today I tried to read some french in my book. It was really difficult because I am bad at reading, especially in french. Probably tomorrow I will get a chance to help Tisya ( my friend ), and she will help me. We are going on the laptop if we are allowed.

Learning french is hard, so I tried many many webbies, but all too complicated ( when I say it I MEAN it!!). I can't speak, nor read french especially when i have forgotten.

Today I will search up on french websites for kids.This will be the last blog of the month from me ( not my mom, or dad!) and will recieve from me, in March/April!

Au revoir! See ya!

chocolate creme brulee

tadi i made chocolate creme brulee ... emmmm... yummy! hubby said it tastes like 'kuih gunung sari' - kuih melayu lama which his aunty, halimah aka mok, his mom's elder sister made when he was a young boy. aisyah loved it, she said its like chocolate mousse.



senang aja buat nya. got the recipe from bbc goodfood magazine. next time i'm going to try the white chocolate creme brulee which i found on www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk... looks yummy and easy to make.

brrrrr

we woke up to a very frosty morning. temperature was down to -7 deg C last nite and currently its -5 deg C outside. its very sunny too with clear blue sky. definitely a day to stay in..

bye bye aunty yan

kakak left for msia at 8.30pm on emirates. we drove to Birmingham ( 1 hour from notts) after maghrib, everything was ok. 'banjir' sikit aja kat airport - aisyah will definitely miss her aunty; cos she's been sleeping with kakak most nites that kakak was here for 5 weeks.

tadi after aisyah's riding class, we went to morrisons to get some chocolates, varieties of cheese and crackers for mummy tok and we also bought breaded fish, breaded scampi, aunt bessy's chips, canned mushy peas for our lunch (orang sini panggil dinner; kalau dinner time dipanggil tea or supper). before going out this morning, i baked apricot crunch cake.

then i finished off packing kakak's baggage, with 'help' from aliyah. poor baby, she's got a temperature.

starting from monday, we're back to our daily kelam kabut routine of getting the kids ready in the morning, off to work, frozen pizza or fish n chips or pasta or simple dish for dinner, piled laundry .... 4 more weeks to go before 3 weeks easter break!!

recycle

over here people take recycling quite seriously. the city council provides 3 bins to each house FOC - green bin for domestic waste, brown bin with grey lid for recyclable stuff like boxes, containers etc and brown bin with brown lid for garden waste. bins are collected every tuesday, alternate week for green and brown bins. bottles and jars are sent to bottle banks which can be found near local supermarkets like tesco, morrison, co-op, sainsbury's.

we do play our part in saving the environment - selagi boleh. kalau kat msia, orang jual botol to the indian man on the bicycle; jual newspapers to cina 'surat khabar lama...'. masa student kat glasgow dulu, jual botol soft drink irn bru (made in scotland from girders..) to the man in the icecream/sweet van, dapat la 15p per bottle, boleh beli 2 fingers kitkat.

valentine's day

i dont give a toss about valentine's day. hubby & i even forgotten about it, alih2 dah 14th feb. apparently, on the radio, it was reported that money spent on flowers and gifts for this day alone in the UK is £2Billion of which £250M was on flowers...crazy or what???

i just said to hubby last nite, after watching tesco advert on telly - beli la bunch of roses kat tesco at £4.95. emm.... dia kata tak payah lah cos nanti i would be suspicious... what has he done wrong? i would buy flowers when i visit friends or for the house and aisyah would ask, who's coming mummy? i only bought flowers when we were having guests and its normally chrysanthemums cos tahan lama. i would prefer chocolates to flowers ... kenyang sikit.

my students from QS Part time 1 gave me a hand drawn valentine's day card/A4 paper to cheer me up cos i was quite mad at them this morning for making too much noise in the class.

day out at nottingham castle

today we went for a day out at nottingham castle, courtesy of aisyah... runner up prize for the castle colouring competition (see our nov 2007 post) which she entered at school was a ticket for 2 adults and 3 children into the castle and also robin hood exhibition.

the first (and last) time we went to notts castle was when we first arrived in nottingham in jan 2006.

this week the kids cuti sekolah - mid term break and i took leave as i'm not teaching on wednesday. weather was dry, sunny and fresh. we ajak tisyia and her grandma as well, took the bus to the city.

lincoln revisited

its kakak's last weekend before she goes back to msia next saturday. so yesterday we drove to lincoln for a day out.

the last time we went to lincoln was in summer 2006, to watch the airshow in waddington, near lincoln. it was a really hot summer day.

photos from summer 2006 waddington airshow - the red arrow

yesterday was lovely, tak macam winter lansung..it was sunny and dry, cool macam spring pulak. most people ditched their winter coats, including my kids.

we left notts after aisyah's riding class, berbekalkan 'mee + su'un goreng bodoh' yang sedap..(sendiri puji), coffee in thermos, crisps and soft drinks. sampai lincoln in the afternoon after 1 hour drive, makan dalam van at the parking lot before jalan2.

we walked round lincoln castle and the kids loved the day out.

kakak treated us to icecreams. aliyah really enjoyed it; first time makan icecream sendiri. mula2 suapkan choc icecream then she wanted raudah's vanilla icecream and wouldnt let go...

then kakak and raudah went into lincoln cathedral to see where 'da vinci code' was filmed. hubby and i went in last time, so tunggu kat luar aja.

view of lincoln cathedral from the castle

in the cathedral (photo from summer 2006)

balik notts, singgah our fav kebab shop for take away dinner.