love never dies

i was at kotaraya londeng today, bukan suka2 nak jalan2 but for placement visit; visited a student who's on placement/year out practical. he's on an interesting project - demolition and refurbishment of The London Hippodrome; a grade II listed building built in 1900 which will be turned into a casino & gaming centre.

the building is actually adjoining to the leicester sq tube station. Leicester Square (sebut betul2..Les-Ter , bukan Ley-Ches-Ter) is famous for theatres and some plays run for years & years..

looking at the facade outside the building seems like nothing is happening, but massive scale of work is actually going on behind those walls.

i was taken for a tour & very impressed with the student's knowledge & confidence. his supervisor is very happy with him and its always good to know that what he learned over 2 yrs at uni proven beneficial and helps with his work.

it was fun

we had fun this afternoon...one hour of tickling, giggling, laughing and smiling for the camera..the girls enjoyed it, got to wait for a week to choose the best shot !

http://www.venturephotography.co.uk/

innocence of a child

this morning's conversation with my almost 4 y.o

4 y.o: mummy, connor is my boyfriend
mummy: last week you said atan is your boyfriend
4 y.o: but atan is my friend
mummy: ooohhh
4 y.o:maybe when i'm bigger, connor will make me his girlfriend..

AIYOOO YOOO...

khuda hafiz

found a new cooking blog...titli's busy kitchen...all ingredients used are halal and she's very cheerful, siap nyanyi2 in her cooking video which makes it very interesting..

thanks to cik nai in canada for introducing this website..nai said her son faris selalu gelak bila Titli Nihaan cakap khuda hafiz at the end of the video clip..

i've added her blog in my fav bloghop at the bottom of the page..

new school

big missy went riding last saturday after 2 weeks tak pergi due to bad weather. she's done quite well in dressage, even though still at the early stage.

i like her new school which is on a big farm in a nice small village not far from where we live.

superstar...

little missy wearing elton john's superstar 'glasses' - freebie from the magazine of her fav tv programme..tak leh sebut nama magazine/programme tu, nanti semua orang ber-istighfar panjang..dont want to create anymore negativity...

cuti2..

students dah start cuti hari ni and will only be back to classes on 10/1. when i was at work tadi, the campus was so quiet and peaceful..cikgu2 belum cuti lagi, semua sibok marking courseworks and test papers. most of us start cuti next week till after new year. the best part is, cuti 5 working days dapat total of 15 days off work!!

we havent got anything planned yet, nak kena tunggu tetamu dari msia sampai this sunday then we will make plans for day trips, weather permitting. they will be here till the new year. so on saturday kena mengemas rumah & bentang red carpet haha!

weekend feast

saturday morning i baked choc fudge cupcakes with white choc frosting for tsyia's 10th birthday and coffee walnut cake for mimi's belated birthday. saja lah pun. and coincidently they were going to invite us for dinner to celebrate tsyia's birthday that nite. malam tu, wan mun masak pulut kuning makan dengan sambal tumis ikan bilis and roti jala with kuah durian and kari ayam. marvellous!!

sunday morning i made the wonderful gingerbread cupcakes; got the recipe from pink whisk, one of my fav blogs. they are really easy to make, simply delicious - neither too spicy nor too sweet. instead of making the meringue frosting sebab tak jumpa cari meringue powder, i made citrus frosting instead - mixed icing sugar with lemon juice & orange juice + orange colouring. nak buat gingerbread man macam pink whisk buat, memang i dont have the patience. but i got iced snowman beli kat tesco.

petang tu suruh kamar hantar a box of 9 cuppies & xmas presents to richard & jane.

another 6 pieces letak dalam cake tin for gill.memang lah rupa cake nak kena lawa but for me, yang penting the cake must be full of flavour. yang banyak orang buat jual either kat kedai or homebased are nicely decorated tapi mostly vanilla cupcakes saja. beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and i'm proud of my produce so far. i'm still not good with decorating and i couldnt care less.

gill arrived on sunday afternoon on her way up to derbyshire. i asked big missy to bake scones for hi-tea. memang aunty gill dia puji habis.. mula2 plan nak keluar for dinner tapi tak jadi sebab nak tengok xfactor final showdown..kamar masak mee odong or nama glamer mee udon, siap dengan tempura prawns & fish balls & fish cakes; macam kakak selalu buat. terlupa nak buat dessert, so we had cheese board - cheese crackers with assorted cheese and pickled walnut.

White trees

Ever been to a shop and wondered why they decorate or sell twigs which are sprayed white for Christmas?

I always thought that snow on trees don't look like that until one day when the temperature was about -7 degrees celcius I saw the trees at the office.

This is not snow on trees but actual frost which had turned the tree white.

personal touch

this year, i decided to give cookies and cakes as xmas presents..last weekend i tried making speculaas - Dutch cinnamon gingery biscuits and sparkling vanilla xmas cookies which can be hung on xmas tree. they are nice - speculaas are sweet & spicy and the vanilla biscuits are creamy just like butter cookies.

will be baking more this weekend, plan to bake more traditional cakes such as ginger cake & choc fruit cake (replace brandy with brewed tea) and going to try making 'stained glass biscuits'.. entah jadi entah tidak. cake tins & boxes dah beli at my favourite shop..

bitterly freezing

2 days ago, temperature plunged to -10 deg C in the morning, even the cobweb at our gate was frosted.

the picture may look nice but waiting for the bus which came 10 minutes late was not nice at all. i couldnt feel my toes and fingers despite wearing thermal socks and gloves and my nose was in pain!! this, by far is the worst winter since we came 5 years ago.

angel

there's an angel in the house..all set for her preschool concert next week.

just for fun

i know i would be sending the wrong signal to family & friends back home by posting this video and photos on fb and blog..but what the heck! we did this just for fun and will not make us less melayu or muslim or dah jadi kapir or dah jadi macam omputih pulak.

little missy was born here so the only festive celebration that she knows at her young age is xmas.. big missy never missed a day of puasa since she was 7, understands the reasons why she has to puasa and celebrated raya to mark the end of ramadhan. but then, she's also almost a teenager who's brought up among the omputihs and her friends are omputihs, with few asians, arabs who are muslims too. when she was at primary school, she joined the xmas sign-ing choir (singing using sign language) and performed at the local church & the mall to raise fund for the school. this year, she's in year 7 at secondary school. she & her friends Lauren & Emma joined the year 9 students in the sign-ing choir to perform before the Old Age Pensioners @ senior citizens @ orang2 tua at their school hall. we encouraged her to do this as part of community service. if anyone wants to make a big fuss out of this, i suppose we have to see this in a different perspective...banyak lagi benda2 the malay & muslim teenagers/kids kat malaysia (or muslims worldwide) buat yang tak senonoh and detrimental to their faith, culture & well being.

this year we decided to get a xmas tree..reasonable height and price. we got this 4ft artificial tree for £10, the deco - tinsel, baubles and lights all cost less than £10 and i plan to make xmas biscuits to hang on the tree.

and we did some xmas shopping for the kids and close friends with a bit more to do. buying xmas presents are not easy mind you cos we have to know them well and know what they would like to have and enjoy the presents. i also planned to bake some cakes and cookies as xmas presents - ingredients, cake tins & cookie boxes dah beli. i find it very therapeutic besides adding some personal touch.

Schools Closed

School's closed due snow. Unlike in the States where snow depth is measured in feet and the temperature has a wind chill factor of at least -20 degrees C, the UK struggles with extreme weather because it is not supposed to have such; therefore our daily routine is disrupted.

And since mummy has to teach and has a meeting in the afternoon (university in town where snow melts easily), daddy has to take the day off. At least the kids are having fun even though it is quite cold.





Outside on the pavement:



Mummy going to work (manja - daddy kena hantar)



After sending mummy to work, we went to Wollaton Park - where as usual kids from the neighbourhood go when school is closed. Aliyah loves to sled down - "I'm brave now", she says, although she only stayed about 1/2 an hour due her feet getting too cold.



Aisyah and Aliyah going down the slope.

winter wollaton-land

some pix i took last weekend at wollaton park

swans walking on frozen lake

deers grazing 'frozen' grass..

and these were taken around our house...

and the snow just keep on coming..