planting bulbs

its just a bit too early to plant the daffodil bulbs but i got excited, especially after buying the bulb planter at Bardills nursery last saturday. we shall see if the bulbs grow and bloom nicely by april.

cara2 menanam bulbs menggunakan bulb planter (apasal la dulu tak jumpa benda ni??)

push the planter into the soil,

remove the soil (intact in the planter)

6 inches deep hole is formed

put the bulb into the hole

release the handle on the planter into

the hole and cover the bulb with soil

indoor garden

ina amanahkan we 'pokok-sit' her orchids & bunga raya and other plant - tomatoes, strawberry, beans; sementara dia balik msia/brunei. so now our window sills in the living, kitchen, bathroom, toilet penuh dengan pots of flowers - hers and ours combined. few of the orchids dah nak keluar bunga baru.. i like...

ramadhan update

dah 8 hari berpuasa, so far so good. aisyah pun belum tinggal puasa lagi. daylight is getting shorter by few minutes each day. juadah berbuka memang simple2 aja, ada la one or two days yang mummy tok masak something different. other than that, juadah berbuka is like dinner dish, the way we prefer anyway.

yesterday mum cooked nasi biryani, lauk dalca daging & perut lembu with all the usual vege - carrot, nenas, bendi, terung and i prepared salad & dressing of mayo plus sweet cili sauce. hari ni mum made caramel pudding for dessert and kamar (who is taking a nap now) is making fool (or org johor panggil kacang pol), accompanied by scrambled egg fried in minyak sapi, makan dengan baguette..

this morning after aisyah balik riding, we went to decathlon to get aisyah's new riding gear cos she's outgrown the ones we bought a year ago - jodhpur, boots, gloves, crop and also trainers for PE at school; all cost me £75!! mahal betul modal setahun sekali.... back from decathlon, i went out with kamar, he went for a hair cut (rambut raya ke??) at the barber near our old place. then pergi tesco at long eaton but stopped at bardills nursery, lansung sangkut beli daffodil bulbs (lagi...) and bulb planter, a device that could help to dig the holes to plant the bulbs which i find useful and clever.. i said to kamar that we've got to go back there sometime next month, nak beli hyacinth bulbs, heather plants, small green house dan lain lain lagi..

my second home

this is where i've been spending my days for 5-6 hours daily, since last week's monday.



last friday i handed in strategic finance assignment; a 'sub standard' piece of work, a module
i find so stressful and made me lost my confidence to continue with this programme. i spoke to my best friend yan on monday morning, then to my other half; both adviced me not to give up so easily. so i made an appointment to meet my colleague chris who's also the programme leader. he knows how tough this module is for me to comprehend. i told him that i was on the brink of giving up but he told me to hang on.. so i resubmit my paper; hoping that it would be accepted and made some difference. we shall see when the result is out in september..

then on monday i started on organisational behaviour assignment; tons of reading to do before i can start writing up/typing for completion on friday. once that's done, i'm going out to the city to take photographs of buildings to prepare for Design & value assignment. both assignments to be handed in on 4th sept.

dulu masa jadi undergrad student, boleh kira dengan jari berapa kali pergi study kat library. kalau tahu library kat mana pun dah good enough. now its a different ballgame; its hard being a 'matured' part time student and full time mom.. nasib baik sekarang ni tengah cuti, tak payah nak pikir pasal kerja/teaching as well. so i need that escapade to my cocoon-my second home

mummy tok's patch: the sequel

last july, i wrote a post on mummy tok's patch.. after a month the geraniums have bloomed, ada macam2 colour - salmon, deep salmon, red. i should have bought some white ones. last saturday i bought 2 dozens of multi coloured pansies and planted them at the front and also on mummy tok's patch. i've also planted some bulbs for spring bloom.

Ramadhan 1430

This year is our 4th ramadhan away from homeland; missing the rows of foodstalls at pasar ramadhan bkt antarabangsa, taman setiawangsa, tmn melawati, oppposite texas instrument and of course, the suasana orang berterawih at surau addiniah.

ramadhan this year falls in the summer, so basically long daylight=long fasting hours. imsak at 3.30am, maghrib/iftar at 8.15pm on the first day but the day will be shorter by a minute or two as the days go by.

first day of puasa is always the most difficult & most trying for children and aisyah is no exception. yesterday she went riding in the morning, then we took her to the shoe store to get her school shoes - school reopens in 2 weeks and when we got home at 2pm. she looked tired but with lots of encouragement from her mummy tok, she managed to last till iftar.

aliyah insist 'nak sembahyang' with her kakak.

that's aisyah at 6pm yesterday, about 2 hours before iftar.

penat betul aliyah puasa...sampai terlena!! aliyah in her pink telekung which her aunty yan kirim from msia..

i made her favourite dish & dessert for berbuka - nasi ayam & konnyoku jelly and mummy tok fried some plaintain bananas. i even bought her a new 'cow piggy bank' to put in £1 reward from me, for each full day that she puasa. i know i shouldnt reward her with ££ for doing the good deed but at least she understands that she has to be patient and 'work hard' to earn something.

its a real blessing to have my mom around this ramadhan, just like having kakak/aunty yan around last ramadhan. apa terasa nak makan, sebut aja.. if she can make it, she will oblige.. provided we have the ingredients. yesterday she made 'kerabu perut thai style' to compliment the chicken rice. kamar bought perut lembu at our usual butcher few weeks ago.

this afternoon, kamar & i drove to Fresh Asia, our local asian grocery store and bought lots of stuff, sampai £47 ??!!! betul ke? well, these are speciality food you are talking about..

• bottles of kicap manis kipas udang, thai fish sauce, lingam chilly sauce, oyster sauce
• cans of santan kelapa, yeo's canned soya bean & cincau - nak minum soya cincau macam yang jual kat pasar taman tun,
• sirap merah Halo (from thailand) - today's menu - sirap bandung with biji selasih which my mom brought from msia,
• 1 dozen of small tubs assorted fruit flavoured pudding, (the kids love them)
• 2 packets of thai dessert jelly (halal !!),
• beras pulut hitam, beras pulut, tepung beras pulut utk buat ondeh2.. today mum buat bubur pulut hitam..dah lama tak makan seri muka pandan & seri muka pak aji...i really have to learn how to make seri muka or bingka - never knew how. ni semua gara2 spoilt kat msia selalu makan seri muka kak wan abg yeb (hubby's bro & sis-in-law yang sememangnya expert...)
• sotong kering giling - nak buat kerabu mango
• telur masin - kamar nak try masak crispy chicken with salted eggs just like what we had at oodle noodle halal chinese restaurant at bayswater
• popiah skin - mum nak buat popiah inti minced meet macam her sister buat, and also my normal filling of taugeh, carrot, udang kering + basah and also crabsticks
• egg tofu
• and the most exotic food - vacuum packed ikan tenggiri jeruk .. voila!! boleh masak dengan kale, ala2 kailan ikan masin...

mum brought with her, the dried ingredients for ling chee kang.. she said she'll boil them tomorrow.

she's 10

our first born turned 10 on sunday the 16th. umur dah masuk double digit, her daddy said. one more year, she'll be a teenager.

we spent the weekend away from home, it was a long drive but we had a good time indeed.

more yorkshire coast

pastel coloured houses on the cliff at whitby

whitby pier

whitby seaside

on the way to staintondale farm

lighthouse at scarborough harbour

scarborough harbour

more jalan2 to yorkshire

on tuesday morning, we left scarborough at 10am for Robin Hood's Bay, about 30 minutes drive north. ternampak pulak signboard Staintondale Shire Horse Farm on the way, so diverted for a good 5 miles on a narrow road towards the coast, as a surprise for aisyah.

we arrived at robin hood's bay at 1pm and the small town was so busy. carpark is at the top of the cliff and we walked down a twisting cobbled street to the ocean.

from robin hood's bay we moved on to Whitby, just over 15 minutes drive north. we had our fish n chips lunch before wandering at the harbour and also at the seaside for a good 4 hours before leaving at 6pm and got home 3 hours later.

whalebone arch