halloween 2008

Aisyah went 'trick' or 'treat'ing with her friend Lauren, accompanied by Lauren's aunt. she was made up at Lauren's house and when both of them appeared at the door, we were pleasantly surprised ...

foggy & frosty

this morning, we woke up to this...

last week, temperature was still in mid teens, this morning it dropped to 2 deg C.

makan keropok

we love eating keropok..but most of the time, malas nak menggoreng tapi bila ada orang gorengkan, cepat aja habis!

last sunday, weather was not that good, we just stayed in. bila sejuk, perut asyik lapar aja. kakak (my sis in law) goreng keropok ikan which we bought in KT masa balik msia last summer.

both kids just love them... aliyah siap dipped into thai sweet chilly sauce, macam kakak dia!

whats for lunch?

for one month during ramadhan (and also few days in syawal), i didnt have to crack my head, what to prepare for packed lunches.

now that things are back to normal, pagi2 perah otak apa nak buat for our packed lunches.

last weekend hubby bought paninis from morrisons, 45p for 2. his packed lunch yesterday was panini with grilled chicken filling. hari ni pulak, panini filled with seafood in prawn cocktail sauce. i had mine in 'mini submarine'.

sekarang ni sekolah cuti mid term for 1 week, so less headache cos tak payah pikir aisyah's packed lunch.

normally her lunch box will be filled with beef burger or cheese & onion sandwich or chicken sandwich, fruits and drink.

Robin Hood Pageant

yesterday we went to Nottingham Castle, for the Robin Hood Pageant. bukannya peraduan ratu cantik Maid Marion...

robin hood topiary

this is an annual event, stepping back in time to re-live the life of Robin Hood. the castle ground was transformed into medieval village with musicians, stalls, archery, jousting, entertainment; with people dressed up in medieval costumes.

jousting event & robin hood won!!

we enjoyed the 'robin retired' comedy play

robin & maid marian

we just spent less than 2 hours there cos it rained...

bunga api

last weekend i bought some sparklers for Aisyah. menjual bunga api is legal here but one has to be over 18 to buy. now tengah banyak orang jual bunga api to celebrate the upcoming 'bonfire or Guy Fawkes' nite on 5th November.

aisyah playing sparklers with Lauren

a bit of history of Bonfire nite

Bonfire Night is celebrated across the UK on 5 November. The date marks the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament by Guy Fawkes along with a group of co-conspirators in London in 1605. The intention was to kill King James I and wipe out everyone in government. The group were Catholic extremists who wanted to return England to the Catholic faith.

Guy Fawkes and friends, having formulated their plan, known as the 'Gunpowder Plot', had rolled 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellars of the Houses of Parliament, and were waiting for the king to arrive when guards broke in and arrested them. They were tortured and executed.

Nowadays on Bonfire Night people organise their own parties or attend big organised fireworks displays. They stand around the bonfire, set off fireworks and eat lots of nice warming Bonfire Night foods, like sausages and jacket potatoes. They might also remark...

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot,

We see no reason,

Why gunpowder treason,

Should ever be forgot!

...Which sort of suggests that people rather admire the cheek of Guy Fawkes, trying to blow up Parliament, and that's why they celebrate Bonfire night, rather than celebrating the fact that his plot failed and he was caught! (www.bbc.co.uk)

tv dinner

tadi we let the kids have tv dinner; dinner depan tv. we normally have sit down dinner in the dining room tapi malam ni, aisyah was going to her best pal Lauren's house for sleep over; esok pagi2 nak gi Skegness (or Skeggie), a coastal town with her parents. so she had an early dinner.




both of them makan on the small table which their Aunty Yan bought for Aliyah at ikea last weekend. Aliyah seemed to enjoy the food - grilled chicken & grated cheese in tortilla wrap; which actually was Aisyah's dinner.

x factor 2008

the xfactor fever is back. x factor is something like American Idol or Msian Idol, but of course miles better than msian idol or AF ha!ha! used to be called British idol but the format is slightly different - 4 mentors/judges for 4 categories, 3 acts from each category - girls, boys, over 25 and groups. the judges are Louis Walsh, Danii Minogue (Kylie's younger sister), Cheryl Cole (Ashley Cole the footballer's wife and a member of Girls Aloud), led by Simon Cowell of course.

we've been following the show since we came. live show began in october and final is normally before xmas. in 2006, the winner was Leona Lewis who eventually made it big in the US and became famous worldwide. last year it was Leon, an 18 year old scot. his first single is coming out soon. this week is the 2nd week of live show. so far 2 groups have been sent home which causes quite a blow to Louis who's the mentor for the groups. tonite, they have to sing Michael Jackson songs. quite tough.

we have our favourites this year. for the girls (15-25), we like Diana and Laura. Diana is like a pixie, nyanyi barefooted. she's very contemporary, suara macam Duffy pun ada. Laura's got big voice.

for the boys, i like Eoghann (pronounce Ewan), a 15 year old irish lad. so cute. teenagers will vote for him. tonite he sang Ben.

the over 25, we like Ruth who's spanish, sexy and voluptous senorita. the group, we think JLS can go far in the competition. they are so soulful.

the best part about this show is that the audience (at home or in the studio) have only 1 hour to vote and we get to know who gets booted out on the same night. we only watched the show, tak de la sampai nak vote!

photos taken from itv.com/xfactor

nostalgic

found these pics from my sis' facebook. i think she got them from one of our relatives house masa balik raya naru ni.
this picture must have been 40 years old now. i was about 5 yrs old and my sister, kak min was 7. cute kan??? that was our late dad's volvo, bearing the plate no TA 3444.

ni mesti gambar raya sebab siap dgn handbags..

this is a picture of Hajjah Che Rafe'ah Bt Abdullah, my late greatgrandma, my mom's maternal grandma. she was fondly known as "Cik Anyah" to all. asal from Johor, her father was a mufti. dont know how she met her late husband Nik Yaakob, asal from Kelantan. dulu we said she bore a resemblance to the late sultanah aminah, sultanah johor especially the 'small sanggul'

Cik Anyah or 'nyang' would go to her children and grandchildren or nieces or nephews houses kalau sapa2 bersalin and looked after the baby & mom during confinement. her clothes have always been 'berkanji', neatly pressed and folded in her wardrobe. after she passed away, tak ramai orang boleh pakai baju dia cos she was so petite!!

cheeky pose

took this earlier. Aliyah was playing bounce bounce with aisyah. then when she saw me taking the video, she decided to stop and make this cheeky face... what a character!!

little devils jelly beans

dah lama tak gi my fav 'boutique', tkmaxx; even tho its just 5 minutes walk from office. yesterday i was so penat at lunch time and wanted to have a breather and decided to go for a walkabout.




didnt intend to shop pun but found this jar of 36 flavours gelatine free gourmet jelly beans. yummy!!



and this cute trolley bag for my nephew Adam; belated present for his 1st birthday. cheap cheap maa....saja jer nak bagi tension papa dia, peminat MU tapi masa dia kecik2 dulu tak merasa benda2 ni...tapi sorry la ya, aliyah dah melaram dulu

say cheese...

aliyah took my camera phone and 'snapped' some photos ....

now dah pandai buat wooden puzzle, plays with lego/click-its and wooden choo choo train, 'baca' buku, 'speaks' on the phone tapi bab bersepah tak payah cerita la..

Raspberry & Apple

today tak ada class and i decided to work at home in the morning. before going to the office in the afternoon, sempat buat 'Raspberry & Apple cake'. i bought raspberries for Aliyah (she loves them and can finish one punnet all by herself) but the ones i got from Tesco 2 days ago were slightly masam. so decided to bake the cake and she loves the cake as well !!

new books

i was at whsmith bookshop this afternoon and couldnt resist buying these hardcovers... pretty good bargain they are having.

i also bought this paperback for my friend, mommythelawyer. it was an offer at £3.99 from original price of £10.99. superb book, tearjerker... i bought one way back in 2006 after watching/listening to the book review on Richard & Judy show on telly. Richard & Judy are hubby & wife talkshow hosts and they invited guests to review the newly published books. memang very reliable punya review lah... i read the book on the bus to/fro work and bila ada free time (masa tu pregnant with aliyah) and managed to finish it in less than 1 week.

when my friend Ijun came early this year, she bought me a book, the kite runner, also recommended by R&J bookclub. good book but i only read 1/2 way thro. kakak (my sis in law) has finished reading it and she said it was good.

M.U.

went thro some old photos and found these....
a week after we arrived in notts back in 2006, we got 2 free tickets courtesy of Air Asia where hubby used to work, gi tengok M.U lawan Liverpool FC.

hubby met up with his old friends

and i got to take a pic with this man; long before he got his datukship.
before the match.

the match was ongoing.

we didnt stay till the end. masa tu belum ada kereta, took us 3 hours on the coach to get to manchester. so kena balik awal otherwise it would be too late. kalau drive about 1 1/2 hours aja from notts. MU won the match tapi tak ingat the score.

autumn leaves

last sunday we spent most time at home, had nasi lemak for brunch, hubby mowed the front & back garden, i was working on my coursework, kids were minding their own businesses. then at around 4pm, we went to Wollaton Park. weather was good, orang pun ramai.

wollaton hall - front elevation (gambar senget, bukan hall yang senget)

wollaton hall - rear elevation

opposite wollaton hall front

we spotted a hot air balloon