spread the jam

Real Magic

2011-05-16T18:37:00.002+03:00

I visited Izani's class one day and observed how his teacher managed to lure a group of 5-year-olds to sit on a mat around her in a calm and orderly manner by engaging them in a song about goldilocks and the 3 bears. It was really amazing.
So I listened really closely and managed to learn the song by heart.
At home I tried to sing the song to Izani, hoping for the same results.
It didn't work.
I suspect that teachers either have really good skills or have magic powers.
I believe that if there's a real Hogwarts, it's a teacher's college.

Happy Teacher's Day to all the teachers I know!
You are amazing!

Lost in The Focault's Pendulum

2011-04-28T11:06:00.005+03:00

For several weeks now I have been reading The Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. It's a diabolical book. I would describe it as The Davinci Code written by/for nerds on crack.
The beginning shows promise, drawing you in, then the middle part just throws at you all sorts of stuff about the Templars, the occult, obscure references to secret societies. There is a murder, which led the protagonists (3 editors at a publishing firm that had been looking at works from scholars writing about the Templars, whom they call the Diabolicals. I agree.) to believe there is a secret plan involved and there are people who are making sure the plan remains a secret. So they embark on uncovering The Plan. They researched and consulted and hypothesised, and concluded that The Plan was to control the world (what else) by controlling telluric currents, which controls how the earth behaves. To control the current, the 'King of The World' needs to find out where the Umbilicus Telluris, the command centre of the earth. The Plan, is elaborate, it spans 600 hundred years involving 36 'invisible' agents every 120 years which they suspect is disguised as the Templars quest to find the Holy Grail, which is actually to finally locate the Umbilicus. But how do they locate it, and how do they keep it a secret from everyone else? They must use some kind of secret map and secret way to identify the location. That's where it get's interesting.

From Chapter 82:
"A map? But a map would be marked with an X at the point of the Umbilicus. Whoever held the peace with the X would know everything and not need the other pieces. No; it had to be more involved. We racked our brains for several days, until Blbo decided to resort to Abulafia [their computer]. And the reply was:

Guillaume Postel dies in 1581. Bacon is Viscount St. Albans. In the Conservatoire is Focault's Pendulum.

The time had come to find a function for the Pendulum.

[they read texts about Templars and the church and Galileo etc]

"All right, let's assume the Templars used the Pendulum to indicate the Umbilicus. Instead of the labyrinth, which is after all, an absttract scheme, on the floor you put the map of the world. The point marked by the tip of the pendulum at a given hour is the point that marks the Umbilicus. But which Pendulum?"
"The place is beyond discussion: Saint-Martin-des-Champs, the Refuge"
"Yes," Belbo replied, " but let's supposed that at the stroke of midnight the Pendulum swings from Copenhagen to Capetown. Where is the Umbilicus? In Denmark or in South Africa?"
"A good observation," I said. "But our Diabolical tells us also that in Chartres there is a fissure in a stained-glass window of the choir, and at a given hour of the day a sunbeam enters through the crack and always hits the same place, always the same stone on the floor. I don't remember the conclusion he draws fro this, but in any event it's a great secret. So here's the mechanism: in the choir of Saint-Martin there is a window that has an uncolored spot near the juncture of two lead cames. It was carefully calculated, and probably for 600 years someone has always taken care to keep it as is. At sunrise on a given day of the year ..."
"... which can only be the dawn of June 24, Saint John's day, feast of the summer solstice ..."
"... yes, on that day and at that hour, the first pure ray of sun that comes through the windows strikes the floor beneath the Pendulum, and the pendulum's intersection of the ray at that instant is the precise point on the map where the Umbilicus is to be found!"

When I read this part, the first image that came into my mind was this one:

The pendulum at The Dharma Lampost station in Lost.

I googled and discovered that apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so too.
Who would wanna bet that the writers in Lost had read The Focault's Pendulum?
No wonder the show was so good. They are DIABOLICAL!!

So diabolical that I had to categorize this post under both Literary and Transmission Jam.

Meeting Eoin

2011-03-20T09:19:00.004+03:00

Of all the times I have said 'tee hee', meeting Eoin Colfer (pronounced as 'Owen', by the way) would probably be the most 'tee hee'-ing time of all :)

Eoin was in Dubai for the Emirates Literary Festival and on March 11th, he gave a talk on Celebrating 10 years of Artemis Fowl. Describing the event as a 'talk' would be a gross understatement. It was more like a stand-up comedy set. Eoin is as witty and funny in person as he is in his books, or even more so. (Now I wonder if Terry Pratchett is the same way).

He started by explaining that he got the idea for Artemis Fowl from his 3 younger brothers, especially Donald (?) which is like a diminutive James Bond and could get his way out of anything. His other brothers were more like goblins, which he gladly killed off in awful ways in his book (like getting their heads blown off by an exploding fart in The Lost Colony). And one in particular (Neil?) was actually the inspiration for Mulch, due to his expertise in farting.

Someone asked him whether there's ever going to be an Artemis Fowl - The Movie, and he said that 'they' have been discussing it for years, so excuse him if he's a bit bitter about it. He said it'll probably come out in 3 weeks. After he's dead.

He really kept the audience in stitches. I had to fish out tissue paper from my purse because I was laughing so hard that all manner of bodily fluids were threatening to gush out.

After the talk, almost everyone lined up for a book signing. He smiled welcomingly at Anis and Anis gave him a blank look, so I had to own up that I was really the fan, not my daughter. He laughed at that. Anis took a picture of Eoin and I together, and if he's reading this, I would like to apologize for smelling like curry, coz we just came from lunch at an Indian restaurant. (It was really good lunch, if it makes a difference)

I think he looks a bit like Mike Myers, don't you?

read

2011-02-16T10:17:00.001+03:00

Photo from 5X1 Pearl Jam through the eye of Lance Mercer.

Dedicated to Didi, the sister who's too cool to facebook.

One hundred and twenty seven

2011-02-11T18:27:00.003+03:00

127 hours

-Contains spoilers-

I haven't read the book "Between A Rock and A Hard Place" by Aron Ralston, so I am basing my conclusions solely based on watching the movie.

From what I gathered, Aron Ralston started out as someone who thinks that he is self-sufficient and almost omnipotent. He lives alone, doesn't return his mom's phone calls, he doesn't tell his colleagues where he's going, he just takes a drive off into the canyons of Utah for a hike and climb to Big John canyon, with just a pack filled with a climbing kit, a made in china multi-purpose tool (pliers, short knife and a shorter knife), a bottle of water, some munchies, a still camera and a video recorder. In fact he was so confident of himself that he even brags a bit about making it to the canyon with a shorter time than anyone else.

God had other plans for him though.

While climbing down one crevice (don't ask me why, maybe he was trying to get across it? Maybe he just wanted to challenge himself? *shrug*), he slipped, knocked over a boulder while he was going down and that boulder pinned his right hand to the canyon wall. Unable to move, Aron spent 127 hours trying out several ways to set himself free. Unable to move, Aron also spent 127 hours reflecting upon his life and how he had spent it. The realization that he is literally all alone, that no one knows where he is and no one would come looking for him anytime soon and that by the time they did he would probably be dead, made him almost ready to give up on his life.

Dehydration getting the better of him after a few days without food and resorting to him drinking his own pee made him see visions, and in one, he saw himself playing with a little boy, which he concluded to be his son. That vision gave him the courage to do the inevitable - cut off his own right hand to set himself free.

That scene is excruciating to watch, to say the least. It only lasted for perhaps 10 minutes, but in my opinion, it must be one of the most powerful moments in the movie. To see Aron so determined to live, almost giving up at one point but finally motivated to continue with what he started was an epiphany to me. It's like a metaphor to life, really. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of yourself, to do or experience something that you might not really like, just to set the rest of yourself free and come out a better person.

I think this was the lesson that God was trying to teach Aron. He didn't get the lesson when his girlfriend left him for being selfish or something (I don't really get why, but that's what I figured). So God had to teach it to him the hard way.
So Aron came out of that crack on the earth surface, a better man. Less a hand, but more of a person. More humble, more appreciative of the human connection.

I think if Aron believed in Allah and had seen the blessing Allah had given him, just as I had seen it, it would have made him a really good muslim :)

"Allah is Al-Jabbar, the compeller. He compels you to His will and you cannot resist Him. His will is, however, decreed with great wisdom, knowledge, justice and compassion, so you can be assured that it is for your own good, to make you a better person in this life and the next" - the gist of a lecture on Names of Allah - Al-Jabbar

Wallahu-a'lam.

Parental Engagement Week 2011

2011-01-27T10:14:00.002+03:00

This past week, all GEMS schools around Dubai had their Parental Engagement Week.
'GEMS' is a corporate body that runs and owns several private and international schools in Dubai. 'Parental Engagement' is their effort in encouraging parents to be more involved and engaged in their children's development.
It was a hectic week, but boy, was it all worth it.

I had the opportunity to sit in Izani's class to see how he's learning to read and write using the Phonics method. Watching how attentive Izani was in class raised my confidence that he is going to do okay in school :) Watching how creative his teacher was in engaging her young students was really inspiring. It was also a little intimidating, because when it came to when it was my turn to sit with Izani and engage in some learning games, he totally ignored me! I tried using the sing-song voice, the freddy fingers, the exaggerated expressions, but no go. I finally threatened to leave, and that worked in making Izani sit down and play with me. *shame*. I definitely am not teacher material :( I don't know how I got through all the readaloud sessions I had been doing before, without pulling out my hair. Perhaps I was more patient before?
Anyway, back to Izani's learning, I really love the learning environment. They truly truly believe in learning through play over here. (Now here it comes ... ) I hope that Malaysia has something similar to this, in Alor Star.

Then I got the chance to sit in Anis's class and see how she's learning to write better. They call the session 'Big Write' and the children were taught how to expand their writing using the principles of V - vocabulary (using different, descriptive and 'exciting' words), O - openers (using great and appropriate openers to start a sentence and engage the reader), C - connectors (using relevant and appropriate connecting words to relate to sentences or ideas together), and P - punctuation (using the correct punctuation and speech marks to control the flow of ideas). Masya-Allah, I really don't remember when I learnt how to write like that, but I don't think it was when I was only 8 years old. I remember learning words, I remember learning writing sentences and paragraphs, but I don't think anyone ever taught me writing this explicitly. I really hope Anis remembers all of this when we leave this school.

I also got to sit in Ihsan's Math class where he showed to me the different methods he was taught on how to do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. He showed me which were his favourite methods and why he liked them and I shared with him mine. We then had a race in solving a few SATs questions. No guessing to who won. (me. tee hee) I really liked it that the teacher said there are no wrong or right method, just use one that you are most comfortable with, because our brain works differently. As long as you show you understand the problem, show that you know how to solve it, you get points, even if you get the final answer wrong. The final answer costs only one point. What an epiphany.

Aside from classroom sessions, they also organized talks with renowned speakers and authors.
Dr. Ron Clavier, a neuropsychologist, talked to parents how a child's brain develop from being childish to adolescence to adulthood. He explained the limits of a child's ability to process information, and how to handle it. He revealed what to expect in the future years of our children turning into teenagers, how their 'changing' mind would affect their perspective of the world and their behaviour towards it, and how we could reason with them. He also explained how to tell when your teen is ready to be an adult, and ready to accept adult privileges and responsibilities.
Another speaker was Mr. Bill Lucas, an expert educator, who tackled the topic "How to help your child to succeed in school and in life". He said that though schools may teach a child the curriculum of the 3 Rs (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic), both schools and parents need to also teach them a curriculum of these 6 new Rs - Resourcefulness, Remembering, Reciprocity, Resilience, Responsiveness and Reflectiveness. In short, we should teach our children not just WHAT to learn, but more importantly, HOW to learn, so that they continue learning throughout their lives. It's really just like the old adage, "Give a man a fish, then he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, then he'll eat for a lifetime".
Masya-Allah, so enlightening and enriching.

It wasn't all academic and boring, they also had fun sessions like the Art Carousel, where school staff offered parents and students a chance to try 3 different 20 minute sessions of activities ranging from Indian Paper Folding, ballroom dancing and beginner guitar. We did Mask Designing (which is basically gluing sequins, plastic jewels, glitter and feathers on paper masks), Bookmaking (where we learn how to make an 8-page and 16-page book just by folding and cutting paper - no glue involved at all!) and we joined Rock Challenge (dancing in groups! Izani had a blast!).
The highlight of the week had to be the drumming session with Dubai Drums. They brought in 200 african drums and had 3 half an hour sessions of teaching parents and children how to play them! This was the only time I had thought to bring the camera, so this was the only activity I had pictures of:

We enjoyed the drumming session very much! I am seriously thinking of getting an african drum the next time I go to Global Village! :D

Overall, it has been a tiring and enlightening week for me. I am so inspired and motivated at the moment. I have learnt so much about my children and how to handle them. I just hope I remember it all and can put it into practice.
This also makes me wonder if schools in Malaysia have something similar to this. The week had really made me feel like the teachers and I are a team, and we have one goal, that is to groom our children to become not just information guzzlers and spewers, but to become learners, do-ers, investigators, creators ... adults who can survive in any situation and have healthy and fulfilled lives.
Please God, give me the strength to keep at it!
Insya-Allah!

Ben&Gwen

2011-01-25T10:10:00.004+03:00

Izani got this Ben10 Colouring book in a party goodie bag one day.
He opened the first page of the book and went, "Eyeewwww... love hearts!!"
His siblings started crowding around him to see and I heard them all expressing disgust one after another.
"What??? Ben&Gwen???"
"Why are they hugging??"
"and what's up with her tummy??"
"eyeeewwwww... are they married??"
"Eyewwww"
"Eyewww"
Ilham finally took a look at it, and being the eldest, tried to tone it all down by offering an explanation, "I think Ben just gave Gwen a piece of cake and she's so full that's why her tummy is like that. And she's happy and is hugging Ben to say thanx"
They were quiet for a bit until someone said
"You know if Ben married Gwen, it's like abang marrying aliya"
"eyeeeewwwww!!!!" they all went.

No offence to Aliya, coz she's a gorgeous girl, but marrying your cousin is. just. eyew.

Who came up with this picture anyway?? sicko.
I can never watch Ben10 the same way again.

Long Way Home

2011-01-23T08:17:00.004+03:00

If you've been reading me before (or if you just browse through my archives), you'll notice that I have been talking about going back home for good for a long time. When I mentioned our intention 2 years ago, our time in Saudi was extended by PokCik Smith. Then we were told we were moving to Oman. While preparing to move to Oman, PokCik Smith then told us we were moving to Dubai instead. Here we still are, one year later.
Suffice to say that I've been telling people I am going home so many times, but never get around to it, that it's getting kinda embarrassing. I have almost come to the point of not telling people about my 'schedule' anymore. So you are forgiven if you think, "Yeah , right... she's never going home" when I tell you this time that I will be going home this July.
This time we are sure, because this time, we are in control. Come July, Taufik will quit PokCik Smith (Insya-Allah), and we will be able to go wherever we want to go, and it will definitely back home to Malaysia (again, Insya-Allah).

The prospect of retiring at the age of 40 can be quite scary, especially with 4 school-going children, but we've been planning this for almost 20 years, I think we'll be okay, Insya-Allah. We have been saving up ever since we started working, and Alhamdulillah, we now think we have enough for the children's education, for emergencies (Na'udzubillah) and for living out a simple lifestyle for the rest of our lives.
The life that we are looking to live for the rest of our lives is not the life of luxury. I am not eyeing fancy cars, designer clothes and to be draped in jewelery. We plan to live in Kedah, where the low cost of living there would probably stretch out our savings further compared to if we were to live in a big city place like KL or PJ.
To sustain ourselves financially, we have a small fruit orchard and Taufik had also acquired some palm oil land. We will do our best to maintain these two small pieces of land and pray to Allah to bless our land so that we can reap what we sow ourself into the earth.
I'm gonna be a farmer, y'all.
Perhaps you would see me at my stall by the PLUS highway one day, selling my durians and rambutans and manggis :) (While facebook-ing, of course).

Am I looking forward to this change in lifestyle? I have been asking myself the same question, and you know what, I actually am.
I wasn't really looking forward going back to KL, because compared to Al-Khobar and Dubai, our capital is actually quite a scary place to live and raise a family in. I get stressed out just thinking about the traffic, the potential of being road-bullied, or the possibility of my house getting broken into. I am sure it's not really *that* bad, since I've lived most of my life in PJ and Alhamdulillah nothing untoward has ever happened to me, but I still find it kinda tiring to always be on-guard, after 6 years of not worrying about it.
So moving to the less metropolitan and more laidback state of Kedah is definitely more appealing to me.
I long for those days when an afternoon walk does not involve dodging traffic or dogs and you'd encounter a huge patch of nature in five minute's time. Taufik longs to be able to just go fishing whenever he wishes. He also longs to teach the children how to live a simple life, be self-sufficient, not be too dependent or distracted by technology. We long to teach our children to appreciate whatever they have, no matter how little and we found that to be very difficult in the current environment where so much is available.
I know we would probably get a few (a lot) of protests from the kids at first, but I am sure after a while they'd get used to it. Well, they better get use to it, coz they would have no choice.

The one thing that worries me the most is the children's education.
After being exposed to such an independent style of learning, would they be able to cope with the regimented Malaysian school environment? Will they lose out in the future because of the drastic school change?
My worries, however, are alleviated by looking at the children of other friends who have moved back to Malaysia. Alhamdulillah, they seem to be doing well. I think it all boils down to parent's attitude. We have to know when to push our children and how much. We are the ones who have to make sure that they turn out to be a well-rounded person who are comfortable and confident with their own selves, and not always comparing them with other children.
Insya-Allah I will try to do that. I will try to stay calm and not freak out too much when it comes to exams. ;)

Well, that is our plan. Only Allah is the disposer, so we will pray that our plan comes to fruition, and be accepting of whatever He decides is best for us.

Makcik Blogger Gathering, Dubai 2011

2011-01-05T16:49:00.004+03:00

Well, the inspiration to re-start blogging came from the makcik blogger gathering we had on New Year's Day.
Lollies was on her way back from Iran (she had driven from Qatar, left her car at my house while she flew to Iran from Dubai) and had arrived that morning, so we decided to gather up all the makcik bloggers that we know are in Dubai for a New Year's Day picnic in Safa Park.
As you can see from the picture above, there were only Lollies, Makcik Melopong, MakNenek and me. Unfortunately Theta and Blabarella couldn't make it :P
We had Nasi Kerabu, assorted baklavas and sweets from Iran, sambal belacan kow-kow, roti beowan (spelling?), puding buih and drinks, all pot luck. The agenda was just to eat, chit chat and have fun :)
Towards the end of the gathering, we makcik-makcik turned into model-model lah pulak, thanks to the coaxing of my husband. *LOL*

I think it was a great and happy start for the New Year :) and hopefully is a reflection of things to come :)

Welcome 2011

2011-01-01T17:12:00.001+03:00

I don't usually make new year resolutions, but I think this year I'll try to make and keep at least one.
Guess what it is.
:)

The Curious Case of Casey James

2010-04-21T11:48:00.004+03:00

If you haven't been watching Amer1can Id0l Season 9, and do not know who Casey James is, please go ahead and google.

Casey did not have a good start on American Idol. During his audition in Denver, Simon said he didn't have a good voice, Kara thought he did, Posh Spice made him untie his ponytail and said he had a 'good look', and I think Randy had to say yes because the 2 lady judges got him (Casey, not Randy) to take off his shirt.
So you would be forgiven if you thought he was just the male version of the bikini-girl.

During Hollywood week though, he wow-ed everyone with his bluesy voice and guitar playing. Suffice to say he got through to Top24. First week, he made all the girls swoon with his rendition of 'Heaven' in a white cowboy shirt, and he continued to do so, week after week, culminating into the emotionally electrifying performance of 'Jealous Guy' during Lennon-McCartney week.
Tall and lanky in tight jeans and cowboy boots, with his flowy blonde hair and shiny smile, he would surely be a favourite among the ladies. His talents are nothing to be scoffed at either. Randy called him "the best guitar player this show has ever seen". But is he good enough to win American Idol?
If the past 2 weeks' performance is anything to go by, I think not.

Contrary to popular belief, Amer1can Id0l is not merely a singing competition. Looking at past winners, you will notice that they had more than a good voice and star quality. They had talent in turning any song into their own and making us believe that it is their own. Doing that is not as easy as it looks or sound. You have to pick a song that you not only can perform well, but that you believe in, so that when you perform it, you perform it with your heart and soul, and audiences will not only enjoy it, but they will believe in it.

Take David Cook for instance. Every single week, irregardless of whether it's his 'genre' or not, he manages to pick a song that he can work with and that he can sing with all his heart, and you can see it in his eyes when he does put his soul in it. That's how he made Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" become a David Cook song, and not a Mariah song.

Has Casey James done that? Maybe on a few of the weeks. Several times, he has chosen songs that were kinda obscure, so no one could really tell. His latest performance of "Don't Stop" was perhaps his most disappointing because, even though I hate using this Simon Cowell catch-phrase, it sounded very karaoke. There was nothing unique, nothing that was identifiably 'Casey' in it. I have an inkling that Casey might be a little scared and is playing it very safe. He would rather choose songs that he knows he can perform well, than choosing songs that he believes in with all his heart but is a little difficult to pull off.

Everyone knows 'playing it safe' will not cut it anymore. Not after they've seen Adam Lambert. I'm not saying Casey needs to start wearing eye make up and trade his jeans for leather pants, but he really needs to realize that after people have been wow-ed week after week by Adam Lambert's ever changing persona and passionate performances, it would be what everyone expects from future Id0l contestants. It's not enough to entertain. They want to be knocked off their seats. Casey doesn't even dance when he plays fast songs (probably the most 'passionate' thing he ever did was roughly pull out the amp jack out of his guitar at the end of a song). He needs to be more rawkin'!

Comparing Casey James to Crystal Bowersox, I think MamaSox has a better chance at being the Id0l this year. We see her changing things up week after week. We see her baring her soul week after week. Her emotionally charged rendition of 'People Get Ready' brought me to tears.
I think, if Casey really wants to win , or at least wants show the audience all he's got, next week (if he's still around), he needs to put down the guitar. Pick up a tamborine or something. Pick a song he believes in, then sing it with all his heart.
And for gawds sakes, move around a little!

Good Luck, Casey!

One man's loss is another man's gain

2010-03-28T08:53:00.002+03:00

"One man's loss is another man's gain" is very true to me, because I have benefited a lot from other people's losses.
Sounds very sinister, eh? Let me explain.

After the March 2003 terrorist attack in Khobar, there was an exodus of expats from that small oil town. PokCik Sm1th decided to turn their Saudi office into an all-muslim one, so they started pulling in folks from other regions to replace the westerners that were now leaving. One of folks that were pulled into Saudi was my husband. I don't know whether Taufik would have been offered something similar if the need for a specific type of replacement were not required. (Given his performance, I'm sure someone would've offered him something eventually, but I don't think it would've been that soon).
The exodus of westerners also resulted in lower house rents and availability of places in the already limited number of international schools in Khobar/Dhahran/Dammam area. When we were leaving Khobar after 5 years of living there, our house rent had increased by 50% (with possibilities of further increases in the future) and we heard numerous stories of children of friends who were not accepted into their school of choice due to it being full.

We believe that we are experiencing the same thing in Dubai. As we are all aware, Dubai is also currently experiencing a downturn. If we were to move here a few years ago, the rent would've been much higher than what we are paying now. There would be less houses available. I don't think we could have even had the chance to look at a villa like that we are currently living in, much less rent it.
In terms of schools, even though Dubai has so many international schools, a few years ago they still could not cope with the large number of expat children in the city, so a lot of new international schools started popping up. Due to that, when more expats started leaving, more places are available at more schools (even though the schools would tell you they were full if you asked).

But rent and schools are not the only thing we are benefiting from. With expat families leaving almost every week, there is an abundance of used furniture, and *that* is like candy to bargain hunters (read: kedekut taik hidung masin) like my husband and I. Through our used-furniture hunting escapades we had met a few very interesting folks with different and interesting situations.

Adrian, who organizes polar expeditions (yes, believe it or not), sold us a set of 3+2 seaters and a what-i-hope-is-milo-stained sofa bed, for Dhs300. He had to downsize, send his family back home and move to an apartment.
Jill, who sold us a set of like brand new red 2+3 seaters for Dhs800 and 2 gigantic desert rose plants for Dhs100 each, was going back to South Africa because that's where her husband's work is taking him.
John (Actually, I can't remember his name), who sold us an extremely like brand new Ektorp 3-seater with matching stool (with storage space) for Dhs750 and his TV cabinet for Dhs200, had the saddest story of all. He was retrenched from his bank job. They had to empty the house by end of the month, and his family has to rent an apartment while he tries to look for another job. Failing which, he would have to go back home, survive on his savings and stay with his brother while he gets things together.

Sometimes I leave these houses with mix feelings. I feel sad for the situation that they are in, but I also feel grateful for the cheap stuff that I got. So it's like, "I am sorry that you are leaving, but I am glad that you are leaving me your stuff".

Sick?
Not if you see who else benefits from the numerous garage sales that pop up around this area every weekend.
Garage sales usually starts around 8am, and as early as 7:30am, you could already see people hanging around the residence's gate. Most of them would be filipinos and indians/pakistanis/srilankans and 2 malaysians (*raising our hands*). Apart from the 2 malaysians, most of them are what one house-owner we talked to would call "Professional Garage-Sale Buyers". They come in, go through the stuff, grab what they want, pile them in front of the seller, and place their price. It is then up to the seller to agree or not agree and bargain for a higher price.
Most of them would buy used clothes, kitchenware and cutlery, decorative items and sometimes furniture and toys. I am guessing some of them would buy them for their own use, and some would buy them to bring back to their home country on their next holiday (I know my cleaner buys used clothes to give to an orphanage in her hometown). So I guess it is a good thing, because unwanted items do not go to waste and people who couldn't afford (or don't want to pay the high price) to buy certain types of items could have a chance to own one (albeit used) at a more affordable price.

As I said, one man's loss is another man's gain.

Dubai Drama : House

2010-01-31T11:50:00.007+03:00

I just realized that I have had it easy when it comes to moving.
When we moved to Saudi, Taufik had gone 6 months ahead of us to look for houses. He had the freedom to look wherever and whenever without having to haul all of us in the car. Plus, most of the houses were in a compund and came fully furnished. When we finally arrived, he had had everything ready - a fully furnished house, washer&dryer, even a television. We only had to put our clothes into the cupboards and I remember cooking rice and making omelletes for dinner on the very first evening we arrived.

Moving to Dubai is a totally different story though.
They don't have compounds just like in Saudi, and with PokCik Smith's budget, all we could afford was an empty villa. We had to start looking from scratch, scouring through advertisements in the property section of the paper, calling up whoever advertised their number. We also drove around the area we were interested in, looking out for 'To Let' signs. (Even now, the kids and I still perk up whenever we see a 'To Let' sign). While doing this, we were also looking for schools. We had to find a school that is close to residential areas and then find a house that is close to the school.
When the kids got accepted into Jumeirah College and Jumeirah Primary School, we set our sights on a few villas in the neighbourhood.

Our first choice was a 4-bedroom double-story villa located 5 minutes (15 minutes walking) from school. We called this house "Villa 118". The first time we looked at it, we liked it for the huge backyard and mature garden. Taufik was already seeing himself doing lots of gardening in it. The house was a little dilapitated though. A few doors were old and rotting, the walls had nail-holes in them, a few marble tops and tiles were broken in the bathrooms and some parts of the concrete fencing was crumbling. We left the house feeling dissapointed that it wasn't in as good a condition as the other houses we saw.
The second time we looked at Villa 118, we went with Sharliza (whose house is 5 doors away). She pointed out its good points : All bedrooms had built-in wardrobes and ensuite bathrooms, the fittings were relatively new, the kitchen had built-in cabinets, a washing machine and a fridge and the living area is quite a huge space. We really didn't need much convincing actually, because despite the dust and dried leaves on the floor, we felt at home the moment we stepped into the house.
Taufik called up the real-estate agent, Mohsen, who was unfortunately away on vacation, but was able to negotiate rent via phone calls and emails. We met with Khaldoon, the maintenance supervisor to itemize what needed fixing and he assured us that the villa would be ready by Feb 1st.
We thought our house is settled, but a day later we got a call from Mohsen's associate who demanded that we pay the rent in full before they proceed with the repair work. We refused, of course, because they have not given us an agreement in writing on whether they were going to fix anything and we have not even seen any lease contract. What is the guarantee that we won't end up living in a dilapitated house? Taufik tried to discuss and negotiate with the associate but he was so rude (shouting and not listening) and insistent that Taufik decided to CANCEL renting the villa right there and then!

On to plan B, which was another 4-bedroom double-story villa a little bit further away (10 minutes by car, 30 minutes on foot) from Villa 118, which we called "Uzma's house". This house was almost as big as Villa 118 and had almost the same emnities, but the backyard was tiny and the yard was void of plants except for a coconut tree in front. Unlike Villa 118 though, Uzma's House was fixed and cleaned while waiting for a tenant, so we could move in right away if we wanted to. Taufik managed to negotiate with Uzma, the real-estate agent, to rent the house at a lower price than Villa 118. So, we flew back to Saudi with a secure feeling.
Unfortunately, a few days later we found out that PokCik Smith has a problem with Uzma's House. Uzma wasn't really a real-estate agent with a real real-estate company. She was just an individual acting on behalf of the landlord. PokCik Smith (or actually, the finance folks) were a little nervous about writing out a cheque to an individual. After days of discussing back and forth, we had no choice but to agree with PokCik Smith.
So, cancel Uzma's House.

There we were, packing 5 years of accumulated stuff into 81 boxes, with no idea where to put them when we get to Dubai.

Cue an SMS from Mohsen : "Sir, are you still angry, and are you still interested in Villa 118?"
:)

Mohsen was back from vacation (and I hope he fired his associate's ass), and he managed to convince us to reconsider Villa 118 (We didn't need much convincing, really, but of course we didn't show him that). He said they will start working on the house, and that he only needs the refundable security deposit (which we can pay once we are in Dubai), before he draws up a lease agreement upon which, the full rent will be due. We agreed, but only after he sent us an email commiting to the list of items that needs to be fixed. When we returned to Dubai and visited Villa 118 again, we were happy to find people working on getting the interiors of the house ready. The supervisor present assured us that work will be completed on the 1st of February.

Oh Happy Joy Joy?
Not quite yet.
(Today is the 1st of February and I am still living in a hotel)

For the workers to complete the cleaning of the interiors, they need water and electricity. DEWA (Dubai Water & Electricity Authority) services are applied and paid by the tenant, not the landlord, so the moment the previous tenant left, the water & electricity was cut off. We needed to apply for DEWA services, and that requires a signed lease agreement and proof that the latest bill was paid up. These documents will only be provided to us by the landlord when we have paid the rent due and sign the lease agreement. Since PokCik Smith is paying the rent, we have to wait for a cheque from the PokCik Smith Finance department. Some joker in finance 'forgot' to sign the approval form, which delayed the issuing of the cheque, which delayed everything else. We only got the cheque on Thursday afternoon, therefore we could only get the lease agreement completed and a copy of the last paid bill after the weekend wasover (read: Sunday).
Yesterday we went to DEWA with all the required documents to apply for water & electricity. After waiting for 2 hours for his number to be called, Taufik discovered that he needed more than the required documents that was stated in the application form, something that someone (or a properly printed form) could have told him 2 hours earlier. They could build the tallest building in the world, but could not think of having an information counter (or at least a notice board for instructions) in government offices. Go figure.

So here we are, still living out of a hotel, which is seriously overrated, if you ask me. At this point we are so fed-up that we are thinking that the moment the house is cleaned and liveable, we're gonna get mattresses and pillows and move right in, with or without furniture.

I don't think I can handle anymore drama.

What's Going On?

2010-01-13T07:20:00.003+03:00

These stuff:

1. I am not going back to Malaysia for good.
2. We were originally planned to move to Oman.
3. A few days before christmas, we received a call that we're moving to Dubai instead.
4. Since Christmas, I have been frantically searching for schools and potential homes online (thanx Dayah for loaning her laptop and broadband thingamajig). ALhamdulilllah, we managed to enquire and get responses from a few schools even though some of them were closed for the holidays.
5. We drew up an action plan for the move. (you know me... control freak)
6. 30th January we flew back to Saudi, got necessary documents copied/printed and ready for submission.
7. 4th January we flew to Dubai and started school visits and Ilham took his placement tests.
8. After visiting 2 schools, we decided on Jumeirah College and Jumeirah Primary School for its location more than anything else. Alhamdulillah all of our applications were accepted! yay!
9. After viewing at least 6 houses a day for several days, we finally settled on an independent villa that we liked, but the agent/owner was horrible, so after a few days of quarelling, we decided to scrap that house and picked another one, 1.3 kms from school. (I'm gonna walk to send/pick up the kids from school on good weather days. Taufik is hoping I can kurus. Yeah right.)
10. Yes, the villa has a guest room. Please do come and visit! :)
11. We're now back in Saudi to settle some stuff with school and do last minute shopping (I am STILL eyeing that kitchenaid tee hee) and PACK & MOVE.
12. We will fly to Dubai on the 20th, and kid will start school on the 24th.

I'll write more later, like what I think of Dubai and that drama with the real estate agent.

My Holiday Plans

2009-11-15T11:07:00.012+03:00

just like when video killed the radio star ...

2009-11-02T11:47:00.001+03:00

... Facebook-ing killed the blogging star.

Called my mom

2009-10-19T09:29:00.002+03:00

I called my mom yesterday.
I wanted to tell her first before I blog about it and in effect, tell everyone else.
I told her I had good news and bad news.

Good news:
We've bought our flight tickets home, and our flight is on November 17th. (Lunch Ladies sila ambil perhatian).
We'll be back before raya haji, and will be spending raya haji in Kelana Jaya. I'm planning a small kenduri with sedara mara. (Honeytar sila ambil perhatian)

Bad news:
We are flying back to Saudi on December 30th.
Why are we flying back to Saudi, you ask?
Well, the thing is, there is a possibility that we might not be able to go home for good just yet. We are sure we'll be leaving Saudi though. We're just not sure where we're going next. The upper management haven't made their minds (or they have, but have not officially informed us) yet.
So we're kinda in a limbo.
That's why we decided to just book our tickets home first. Whatever happens, we would come back to Saudi end of December and pack our stuff and go wherever we're supposed to go.

I hope we get firm news before we go back home though. Coz if we could go home to Malaysia (Taufik and I are still really hoping!), I would have to make time to visit schools and register the kids and stuff.

So right now, we're just going with the flow, living day by day, see what happens.
The tiny control freak in me hates not being able to plan ahead though :P

What I will and will not miss

2009-10-13T09:22:00.002+03:00

Well, it's about a month and a week and a few days away from the date we plan to leave the kingdom for good, so I guess it's about time I come up with this list.

What I will miss about Saudi
1. Not driving - believe it or not, I love being treated like a tai-tai and being chauffeured around ... tee hee.
2. Dates - the fruit. I love the crunchy half-ripe ones.. I dont know whether I can get them back home. And I love the variety and availability of the varieties.
3. Living in a compound - I love the security of living in the compound. I can just chase my kids out of the house and let them play outside without worrying that some stranger is going to grab them into an unmarked white van. We can have walks and bike rides around the compound without worrying about getting run over.
4. Speaking arabic and being spoken to in arabic - My arabic is nothing to be proud of. I find myself always having to explain to the other person "Ana kalam arabia shuey shuey" (I speak arabic only a little bit), but I like being able to speak, even though a little bit. I also like it when I learn a new word just from listening to and trying to decipher the arabic words being spoken to me. My one regret is not being able to enroll in arabic classes when I was here.
5. Being in a foreign land - where even just stepping out of the house is an adventure, an opportunity to experience new things, new cultures. :)
6. Going for umrah whenever I want - something that we really took for granted. Thinking that "we can always go later", we postponed one trip after another, and now I'm not sure whether we'll be able to go again. But, Alhamdulillah, I am thankful for the opportunity that Allah has given me, I have at least done umrah once, and have managed to perform my Hajj. Alhamdulillah.
7. Fresh fruit juices - and I mean, FRESH fruit juices. YUMS.
8. Free gifts for little kids - I am sure Izani will miss getting toys, candy (once even, a falafel!) and fruit juices from shopkeepers when we go out shopping.
9. The smell of arabian incense - in new clothes, walking down the malls and souq, from arabian ladies walking past.. I am sure the next time I smell it, it will bring on a flood of memories :)
10. The teachers in DBGS - who dont care about tests or exam results or who's smarter than who.
11. The sand dunes - how something so barren and stark can be so beautiful and the mysteries it holds under its mounds (i.e. desert roses and the singing dunes). It always amazes me how fertile the desert can be with just the right amount of water. Subhanallah. I love the sense of awe, realization and motivation that I get when I stand on top of the dune and look at the vastness of the land, feeling small, yet purposeful, so alone yet not.
12. The leisurely pace - Not worrying over traffic jams. The lull of activities between noon and 4 (when all the stores are closed).
13. Ladies/Family Sections - I just find it convenient that I am ensured a table for me and my kids, almost anywhere I go. I like it that I dont have to wrestle over places/spots in queues with men. I like it that they give priority to ladies with children over single folks :)

What I will not miss about Saudi
1. Not driving - I do miss the lack of freedom and I hate feeling dependant on my husband all the time :P
2. The way other people drive - *shivers*
3. 'Saudi Service' - which is practically non-existent if you don't pay for it.
4. Being hit on by store helpers - nuff said.
5. The sand every where every where - even up your nose and in your ears during Shamal (sandstorm) days. I will definitely not miss dusting and vacuuming up sand in every nook and cranny of my house.
6. The rather inconvenient business hours - Even after almost 5 years here, I still havent gotten used to not being able to just pop into my favourite store whenever I want during the day, without having to check if it's 5 minutes before or half an hour after the call for prayers. I still find it inconvenient to shop at night.
7. Being judged by the way you dress or look - eh, come to think of it, this happens every where. But in Saudi, more bling gets you respect and service, not mugged. No bling gets you unnecessary attention from the shop assistants. The more you cover, the more you are treated like "the ma'am". The less you cover, the more you'll get in trouble. And as a universal rule, Blondes always have more fun.

hm.. looks like I have more things I will miss than I will not.. :)

Eid Mubarak 1430H !

2009-09-19T13:02:00.002+03:00

"Happy Eid, Forgive me for any wrong doing"

Have a safe one, everyone!

Innalillah

2009-09-15T13:00:00.000+03:00

Taufik came home today with an extremely sombre expression on his face.
I should've known something was wrong.
"I have to go to Taif", he said.
My brain started to list down all the rigs I have ever heard him mention, trying to recall if any were in or near Taif.
Thinking there must've been a problem with one of the bits or something, I gave a disappointed "hah???"
He responded in silence.
unusual.
He called one of his colleagues and talked about flight availability.
His tone sounded different. Not pissed. Not business like.
"What happened?" I finally asked.
A few smith staff members decided to drive to Makkah yesterday, he started.
Uh Oh, I thought.
"Dah tu, accident?", I asked, recalling the other time when an inexperienced staff member rolled a brand new truck into the side of the road.
"Hm." he said, very controlled. "Rahim injured, his son in ICU. Rayiz is dead".
I stopped short with whatever I was doing.
"Rayiz???? Serious??", not meaning to disbelief him, but still hoping I could disbelieve.
"Hm" was all he could say.
I rushed over to hug him.
I felt his pain even though he didn't show it.
Rayiz is probably the one reason why he's still sane while working in the Saudi office.
I know how much Rayiz's friendship meant to him.
Throughout iftar, maghrib and isya', I watched him tackle one phone call after another, getting updates and relaying it to the VP and District Manager.
I see the emotions stirring right underneath the stiff exterior. I know it's trying to come out. I know it's being suppressed by more pressing matters. Protocols, procedures, paperwork.
During one rare private moment, I hugged him tight and whispered "you can cry if you want to", and cried on his behalf. He was quiet, but I think I heard a sniffle. It wasn't long before the moment was broken by my kids begging attention and assistance with homework.
After Isya', I helped him choose clothes and put them in a backpack.
He is now on his way to the airport, hoping to catch a flight to Jeddah.
He hopes to be able to see his friend for the last time.
Knowing the regret of not saying goodbye to my own friend, I let him go with an open heart.

Innalillah hi wa inna ilahi ro ji oon.
Al-Fatihah to Rayiz.
May your soul be spared from the tortures in the grave, be saved from the fires of hell and may you be placed among the pious in jannatul firdaus, ya sadiq.

Oh Allah, please protect my husband.

Realizations

2009-09-14T10:06:00.004+03:00

In searching for schools back home for my children, I realized a few things.

Firstly, how much I took formal islamic education back home for granted. The adage "You dont know what you've got till it's gone" could never be more true. I only realized how much I had learnt from the religious classes I had to attend since Year 1, when I compared what I knew at that age to what my children know now.
The absence of formal religious lessons in their international school had robbed them of the knowledge they could have gained if their were to be schooling back home.
I worry how they will cope when they go to school in Malaysia. Will they be ridiculed, will they be seen as 'unislamic'?
However, I realized that going to an international school has also made them more analytical, outspoken and not shy to ask questions and seek understanding, traits that I see lacking in some malay muslims. I hope that they will continue with this trait, so that they will fuly understand Islam, Allah and His infinite wisdom and become a well-rounded muslim, rather than one that just follows without understanding why. I hope that with these traits, they will be able to recognize the wrong path when they see one.

I also realized that as parents, we have also tried our best to instill islamic values in our children. We have taught them the basics, how to pray, fast and right from wrong. Is that enough though? I feel limited in my own knowledge that I am afraid I have not provided them with enough, or worse, if I had provided them with wrong information. Na'uzubillah!
However, I realized that in teaching them, I am improving myself. With every question that they pose to me, I am learning new things as well. It also made me look at the world in a different way. I now see everything around us as an opportunity to teach, to show how a real muslim should think and act and to point out the beauties of Allah.
I also now see that every single thing that I do, from brushing my child's teeth, to making them breakfast, to putting them to bed, is an ibadah, for I am raising muslims, someone who will in turn, dedicate their own lives to pleasing the Almighty. (Insya-Allah).

Masya-Allah, what a blessing children are.

First of Ramadhan 1430

2009-08-23T09:56:00.005+03:00

If you've read my blog in previous years, you'd know that my first day of Ramadhan usually ends in chaos. I would usually still be cooking when the adzan maghrib is called.
Well, guess what, this year I was all ready!! I actually got to sit at the table to break my fast :) yay!
What's different?
This year all my kids helped out.

I got Ilham and Ihsan help me make the samosas (Ilham made the potato ones, Ihsan made the cheese ones). I laid everything out on the kitchen table - the samosa leaves, a bowl of water (to soften the leaves and act as glue to seal the edges), the cheeses and curried potatoes at different 'stations'. I showed them how to carefully peel the samosa leaves, how to position the filling, ow to fold it into a neat triangle, how to seal it and how to arrange then neatly in tupperwares. I now have enough samosas to last me .. maybe 3 days.

Anis helped me peel garlic for the sambals (sauces) and bumbu (spices) for chicken rice. She also helped out in miscellaneous tasks as in taking out required ingredients from the frdige, and re-arranging the samosa in the tupperwares because somehow her elder brothers do not have the aptitude to 'arrange neatly'. She also helped prepare the salad to go with the chicken rice we were having, and helped me make air cincau (grass jelly drink).

Most suprisingly, though, was Izani. I guess watching everyone help out, he wanted to help out too! His motor skills are not adept enough yet for folding samosas, and it took him forever to peel one clove of garlic, so I got him to do something I knew he'd enjoy thoroughly. I got him to pound garlic and ginger with the mortar&pestle.
You should have seen him, sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding the mortar with both hands, just pounding away. After a few minutes of pounding while sitting down, he decided to do it while lying flat on his stomach. I kept asking him if he was okay or if he needed any help, but he said he was doing fine. At one point Anis asked if she could try pounding and he possessively said "No! I do it!". He did quite a good job, actually. I only needed to pound it a few times more to make the ginger&garlic finer, but he definitely did most of the work. While I did the actual cooking, he went upstairs and fell right to sleep!

At the dinner table, everyone was so proud of their work. They pointed out to Taufik which dish they helped make. (I had to point out to Anis which dish had her garlic in it).
Alhamdulillah.
Perhaps I could have them make murtabak today.
tee hee.

Ramadhan Kareem, everyone!

Staying In Love

2009-08-20T16:32:00.002+03:00

A few weeks ago someone asked me how I could still be so in love with Taufik even though it's been almost twenty years since we've known each other.
Hm.. sometimes I wonder too. I mean, after knowing someone for so long, and seeing him day in and day out, how is it that I never get bored of him or being with him? (but then, I also wonder why he's not bored with *me*)

Rather than giving you tips because I don't feel I'm qualified, let me just share what I do and how I feel about my husband Taufik. If you see something you can learn from, then, go for it. If not, consider it just entertaining reading (if it doesn't make you puke *lol*).

Focus on the good stuff
. I love looking at Taufik. He's very easy on the eyes, especially when he was younger. Even now that he's older, I still look at him as if I'm looking at a superstar heartthrob. I admire his good features and try not to dwell on the less appealing ones (not that he has a lot). I think if you look at person long enough, I'm sure you will be able to see the beauties in the person and appreciate them more.
. I look at him when we talk. I notice that sometimes I forget to look at him when we are having a conversation, perhaps because I'm doing something else. I recently make it a point to really look at him and absorb every little thing he says, not just with his voice, but also with his eyes, with his mouth (smiling? frowning?), the tilt of his head, his gestures. I think it makes me understand him more.
. During gatherings, sometimes I take a peek at him when he's across the room. I like watching him interact with other people, sharing a joke or discussing a serious topic. I give myself bonus points if I catch his eye and we exchange even a little smile or a slight twitch of the eyebrows.
. My most favourite thing to watch is when he's physically working on something. Be it mopping the floor, building me a closet, plumbing, gardening or mowing the lawn .. something about watching his flexing muscles just turns me on :). Sometimes even watching him hold a pen and write seems very appealing.
. I love listening to him chat with the kids. Especially when he's teasing them or sharing a joke. His laughter sounds so happy.
. Even though sometimes I complain about it, I am actually comforted by his snoring at night. Irregardless of whether it's just the sound of his breathing or the all out thunderous snorts, I would rather hear that than silence.
. Even though my husband may not be the sexiest man alive, it doesn't matter, because *I* think he's the sexiest man alive. I don't need other people to think so, just like I don't need other people to think I'm the most beautiful woman on earth as long as my husband thinks I am :)
. I don't know whether it's pheromones or his deodorant or what, but dayummm my man smells good...!

Keep in touch
. Whenever I miss Taufik, I would just open his closet and pick out one of his 'worn but clean' shirts (he has this habit of putting a shirt that he has worn for only one day but is not really dirty yet, back into the closet, to be worn another day), and bury my face in it and inhale. Heavenly.
. I love snuggling up to him just to get sniff.
. We're not the lovey dovey text messaging kinda couple. I would usually send Taufik an sms saying I've reached my destination or home, but mostly I would send him the list of groceries for him to pick up on the way back from the office. He would usually just reply with a short 'Ok'. Occasionally though, I send him a message that would make him reply "Be back in 15 minutes" and he would really be back home in 15 minutes ;)
. I believe in the power of touch, so I try to touch Taufik at every opportunity I can. I mean, who else can I touch but my husband, right? I don't grope him in public, of course. Even just tapping the tips of our toes under the table would satisfy me.
. Whenever I need a hug, I would just hug Taufik. I'd be guaranteed a hug back. :)

Communicate honestly and sincerely
. During the early years of our marriage, I used to be scared of telling Taufik how I really felt, because I was not confident of his love for me. But ever since moving to Saudi and having no one else to talk to but him, that fear slowly eroded away. I am now more honest and forthcoming about my feelings and opinions. I think Taufik appreciates it, because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of loving me :) and I am more satisfied in the relationship because he knows exactly what makes me happy. (Sounds easier said than done, but I keep working on it)
. I tell Taufik I love him, all. the. time. I use to care, but nowadays I don't, whether he says I love you back.

Take the time, and savour every moment
. Maybe it's because we were apart most of the time during our courtship and before Ilham was born, I have learnt to treasure every moment we spend together. If things needs to be ironed out, I try not to drag it for too long and resolve it as soon as possible, so that time is not wasted on arguing over something. With his job, I don't know when he'll be away next, and I don't want to regret not saying what needed to be said when he is away.
. When we were both working (me in PJ and him in KL), I would apply for half-day leave about once a month or so and ask my sister to pick up my kids (or pick up my kids and leave them with my mom or sister), then take the train to KL and have a date with Taufik.
. I don't have the luxury of leaving my kids with anyone in Saudi, so we haven't been on a date for a long time. We can still do activities together in the privacy of our own house, though. It can be simple things, like watching TV or reading together, but I take that opportunity to cuddle up or bermanja ;) (gedik dengan husband sendiri, dapat pahala tau!).
. I also love weekend mornings, when Taufik need not rush off to work and I need not rush the kids to school, and we both could spend a few minutes in bed talking about anything we want.
. I love taking it slow, savouring every moment, every single sound, every single sensation, every single scent ... just breathing and swallowing everything in.

Don't compare, be aware
. Just as no two people are the same, neither are two marriages the same. Things that work for other couples might not work for Taufik and me. I don't expect Taufik to treat me the same way my friends' husbands treat them, because I am not like my friends, and Taufik is not my like friends' husbands. I just have to accept that Taufik loves me in his own unique way, just like I expect him to accept that I love him in my own unique way.
. We've had our share of arguments, outbursts and sulkings (and we probably will always have them), but what I noticed is that, if I remind myself of what the goals of our marriage is, I don't waste my energy on arguing about stuff that does not lead us to that goal, and focus on resolving stuff that would.
. Whenever Taufik does something to hurt my feelings, I try hard to remember that he loves me, and that he doesn't do it out of malice, he's probably just not aware that he's hurting my feelings. I think it has saved me from a lot of resentment.

Hm .. this has been very interesting, writing all of this down.
I hope that it has been as much fun for you reading it, as it was for me writing it :) Hope you didn't puke too much.

p/s Happy Anniversary, Sayang :)

La Dolce Vita

2009-08-14T08:58:00.001+03:00

I've been watching this Korean Drama Series on mysoju.
It's about a housewife (Hye Jin), who upon discovering that her husband is having a long-standing affair with a younger woman, decided to go to Hokkaido, initially to kill herself. There, she is relentlessly pursued by a younger man (Jun Soo), who made it his mission to save her life, whilst in turn, saving himself. As the story progresses, I watched who these two people were prior to the trip, how that few weeks in Hokkaido absolutely turned their lives upside down, and how they worked on living on with their lives. It's a love story and psychological drama all rolled into one. I found it quite intriguing.

From an ahjumma (makcik) point of view though, I was thinking, wahhh this must be the ultimate fantasy for a housewife lah kan? I mean, even though the housewife acts all aloof and reluctant when seduced by this younger man, you know deep inside she's really very flattered. It's Lee Dong Wook, siut. It's no wonder why this drama was so popular.

Jun Soo's (Lee Dong Wook) character was very interesting. Being so used to watching one-dimensional characters on TV, initially I didnt know what to make of him. Is he a psycho? Why is he pursuing this older woman with such passion and determination? He definitely had demons and a sordid and tragic past. He seems to be looking for a mother figure, or something. Maybe he's just out for revenge. One thing for sure, he definitely knows how to capture Hye Jin's heart (and the viewers'!).

This series is also different from other Korean series I've watched (though I haven't watched many) in terms of public display of affection. Most Korean series I've watched only implied sexual tensions and at most would show closed-mouth kissing scenes, usually towards the end where the boy finally gets the girl. But this one had kissing *and* bedroom scenes as early as the third episode. Nothing expicit lah of course, they were all very arty and respectful, but I must say they were quite sensuous and must've caused quite a sensation with the very conservative viewers in South Korea. Incidently, I think the most sensuous scene of all occured when the two were fully clothed, and they were only touching their faces. (Episode 16, if you're going to look for it. Tee hee).

Aside from Lee Dong Wook's success in showing his range of acting capabilities in this drama, I also began to realize another reason why I liked watching him so much. He so reminds me of Taufik. I mean, he is pale, thin, tall and in this series, rides a CBR. How crazy is that lah.
After every episode I watch, I couldn't wait for my husband to get home. Macam nak terkam aje. ha ha ha.
(Please dont get me wrong. Lee Dong Wook reminds me of Taufik ya, not the other way round. I dont think of LDW when I look at Taufik. Anyways, I think Taufik is way hotter. tee hee. )

Unfortunately, there are some episodes missing on mysoju. So I'm kinda 'lost' in certain story lines in the drama. I hope I can get a DVD of this drama when I get home. Ada tak?

Mixed Nuts

2009-08-04T13:09:00.002+03:00

I have no excuse for not blogging.
I mean it's not like nothing is happening in my life that I've run out of blog fodder. Lots is hapenning. Just that .. hm.. I dont know where to start and nothing in my head is coherent. On top of that, every time I try to blog, a part of me tells me I should be doing something else.
Maybe I should write in point form.

. Our last day here is going to be November 22nd. We'll prolly drop by Dubai for a bit and visit Sharlee and her clan. And then we'll head home, just in time for Eid Ul Adha. I hope my mom is around and won't be off somewhere again.

. I still dont know which school my kids are going to :P
Except for Izani. Izani is definitely going to Salsabiila.

. Business is doing okay. I am so happy to see that there are people out there who likes my taste in clothing. I tend to pick stuff I like, so it's kinda hard not to take it personally when something goes un-sold. I know I shouldnt really do that to myself, but I still do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for this.
FIGHTING!

.Oh, I am also trying to figure out how I can still do this when I go home, but I'm kinda a control freak. How now brown cow lah.

. I have lots and lots and lots of ideas in my head, but I do not have the drive to make it come true :P I sit here in front of the computer and become lost in it.
Something needs to be done about that.

. I wish I did more stuff with my kids during the holiday :P They are kinda neglected and I am tired of telling them to clean their room, so I just ignore ignore ignore and drown myself in other stuff.
Something needs to be done about *that*.

. I am amazed at how my husband is still in love with me.
I am not amazed at how I am still in love with him, coz dayum... he's hawt.
*tee hee*

ok lah ok lah. dont puke.

Gonna go masak maggi for lunch now.

Self-ness

2009-07-14T11:24:00.003+03:00

What is it about women that makes them always think about everybody else first then only themselves? Men has no trouble putting themselves first, it's almost an instinct.

Take this argument I had with Taufik last night:
I have been discovering that he gets up and goes to sleep with the kids almost every night in the past few days. When I asked him why before, he said our room was too warm and the kids' room was cooler (which is true.. our airconditioning distribution is a bit wonky). But last night he told me that I snored too loud, so he had to get away to get some sleep.

Okay, I admit that I snore. Especially when I have a stuffed nose and is forced to breathe through my mouth. Sometimes the snore is so loud, it penetrates my dreams. Sometimes it even blocks my breathing that I wake up because I was suffocating.
BUT.
Taufik snores too. (In fact, i think it's a genetic trait, because everyone in this house, including Izani, snores!). His snores are probably as bad as mine, because there were times when I would wake up just to adjust his head and pillow so that his breathing is not obstructed. Or I would try to turn his body sideways so that he could breath easier.

But that is the extent of how I would handle his snore. It never crossed my mind to leave the room to get a better sleep, no matter how sleepless or groggy I felt in the next morning. Maybe because I thought it would hurt his feelings if I did, just like it would hurt mine.

He didnt even need to think twice about sleeping in another room though. To him, he comes first. He needs his sleep, and that's the bottom line.

He comes first.

Now why is it that I can't bring myself do that?
Is it some internal wiring or what? Can I re-wire myself, and if I did, would it make me a better person?

Losses

2009-07-09T11:09:00.003+03:00

These past few weeks I have been crying almost every other day.
It's not just about MJ's passing.
It's not just about watching Nur Kasih.
It's not just about mourning the assasination of Warrick Brown (I know, it's like so old news ... what to do, I'm a little delayed)

Last week I read about ben's mom-in-law's cancer.
Today I learned that she has succumbed to the disease.

I have never met Ben in real life, nor have I met her husband and his mom. But having read Ben for all these years on modblog, efx2, and now wordpress, (five years?) I felt like I know Ben and her family. I have grown to care for them.
I am saddened for her loss, just like I was saddened by the losses suffered by all of my other friends these past few years.
From what I have read about Heiny (ben's husband), and the 21 years of their marriage, I have concluded that ben's mom-in-law must have been quite a woman to have raised a son like that.
May she rest in peace and may her memories be forever cherished by her family.

*sends lots and lots of hugs to ben*

Got Some

2009-06-13T11:44:00.001+03:00

Is it just me, or is Eddie starting to look like Grissom?

p/s can't wait for Backspacer to come out! Yay!

Dare

2009-06-07T08:22:00.002+03:00

I think continuing to build settlements after the US President called for its halt is a defiance, but calling it Givat Obama, is like them thumbing their noses at you while doing it.
It's an outright dare.

Do you dare to walk the talk, Mr. Obama?

Izani's Itsy Bitsy Spider

2009-05-26T14:30:00.003+03:00

At last...
Somehow this video couldnt be uploaded into Yootoob. I kept getting "Uploading failed". I almost gave up totally. Then today I visited salt&vinegar, and discovered vimeo.
Thanx PB!

Enjoy :)

izani spider song from elisa taufik on Vimeo.

Shawls for School

2009-05-25T13:55:00.004+03:00

As some of you may or may not know, our friend Nonah is trying to finance her way to school.
She needs to raise at least the registration and first semester fees by November.
You can go read "help me raise my fees" to find out how much she needs and how she's planning to save up for it.

To help her along, I am launching SHAWLS FOR SCHOOL on my Barang-barang Bonda online store.

For each shawl you buy, Nonah's College Fund will get 75% of the profits.

These shawls are divine! They are 100% wool, and are lovingly hand embroidered by kashmiri hands.
They are perfect for the coming fall/winter months, or even worn off the shoulder with your sleeveless spring/summer dress. Exquisite and elegant enough even for a dinner party. It would look stunning against a black dress!
Buy it for yourself, or as a gift.

If you see something else you like on the Barang-barang Bonda store, you could also buy them, because 50% of the store's profits go to Nonah's College Fund as well :)

The store's profit is not much, but I hope it'll be enough to help her along.

Thankyou in advance for your support!

Muscat, Oman

2009-05-17T16:10:00.006+03:00

Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission: Travelots) - UAE and Oman, Spring 2009
Part 7

April 6th, 2009.

As early as 9am we were already out of our hotel in Muscat and was heading towards Muttrah Souq. While searching for parking we decided to drive along the corniche and check out the view. We finally found a parking spot (note: get your coins ready, you need to buy parking coupons at a machine) and walked towards one of the few restaurants that was already opened for business. The restaurants along the corniche serve typical fare that would attract arabs and westerners alike : Fast food like burgers, hot dogs and pizzas, much to the delight of my children :)
After a quick breakfast, we entered the souq.

The souq was a bustling place, but I was relieved to find that the shops were quite well arranged, not arranged in a maze like Khan El Khalili (Cairo). Shops in the souq sold all sorts of souviner items, from wooden frames (for pictures, mirrors or windows), to statuettes (camels, elephants, cats, etc), to urns made from all sorts of material (clay, brass or silver, painted or embellished with glass beads or precious stones), to perfumes, to embroidered skull caps, to t-shirts, to shawls, to textiles, to khanjars (the curved daggers), to all sorts of boxes and containers from metal or wood with mother of pearl inlays, and there were also the ocassional knick-knack store that sells cheap made-in-china items.

Coming from Saudi, I have seen most of the souviners sold in the souq, but I suppose if this were your first visit to the middle east, you would be spoilt for choice.
I would suggest:

Khanjars - the curved dagger usually made from silver, either on it's own, or readily framed. This might cost you a tidy sum of money (prices are usually more than OR100, depending on it's size and decorations), but if there's one thing that is a symbol of 'middle east', the khanjar would be it. If you are not ready to invest in the real thing, you could always buy khanjars in other forms, i.e. smaller replicas and as key chains.

Silver items - be it jewellery, coins, incense containers or pill boxes. Oman is renowned for its silversmiths. Silver is sold by weight though, and prices fluctuate, and they are not cheap. A small pill box about the size of your thumb could cost about OR2.5(SR25). Bracelets with semi-precious stones would be about OR10-OR25.

Camel figurines - comes in all sizes and adornments. Some even have small camel bags with mock treasures tucked in , on them. Price vary, depending on material (wooden ones cost less) and of course size.

Middle Eastern teapots - my husband's favourite. You can get them in either brass or silver, but the brass ones looks more traditional. Try to find one with the distinct pointed spout and a pear shaped body. You get bonus points if the bottom of your teapot has a stamp in arabic (this means it wasn't made in china or india or indonesia).

Embroidered Skullcap - the trademark of an Omani man. These skullcaps are distinctly Omani. They come in different colors and different patterns. The handmade ones are more expensive and can cost from OR8 up to tens of Omani Riyals, but you can get machine made ones that costs as cheap at OR2 riyals. One size doesn't fit all, so measure the person's head before you come to Oman if you're planning to buy it for someone else.

Dish-Dash - the traditional Omani male robe. In Saudi, it's called a "thaub". This comes in different colors and materials and you can even find one that matches the color of your skullcap, but white is traditional. I don't know exactly how much this will cost, but I am assuming that it's almost the same as in Saudi, so a comfortable cotton dish-dash would cost around OR3-5, depending on the material and tailoring.

When I got bored (and confused) of looking at souviners, I enjoyed the souq's architecture. It is quite a stunning building, with exposed rafters decorated with carvings, middle eastern chandeliers with colorful glass panels and 2 'courtyards' covered with stunning stained glassed domes. The colorful domes are decorated with pictures of traditional middle eastern items like the khanjars, teapots and jewellery. The courtyard provided me a much needed respite from the calls of the shop owners to step inside and check-out their wares.

We left Muttrah Souq to meet up with Taufik's Omani friend for lunch. Mohammad lives in Barka (an hour from Muscat, and he drove all the way to meet us!), and he doesn't know any good Omani restaurant in Muscat, so he brought us to a Turkish seafood restaurant instead. Seafood is really fresh in Muscat, and the fish are exported even to Saudi. We were treated to fish that were grilled and also fried, and they were all so yummy. The fish was served with a starter of lentil soup (my first time trying this, and I loved it!), and the usual side dishes: arabic flat bread, rocket salad in balsamic dressing, hommous (chikpea and tahini dip), spicy dip (i dont know the name) and rice. Suffice to say, we were stuffed!

After lunch, we followed Mohammad's car to Al-Bustan Palace Hotel, which boasts a really grand architecture, but we couldn't go in to look because there was a ministers' function going on. So, we drove on to Qantab instead, a small fishing village nestled between mountains. It was quite amazing to drive up and down along the mountain road, to first see nothing but rocks, go around a turn to suddenly see this little village with its stark white houses against the blue of the sea and sky. We spent a few minutes here because Taufik wanted to see if he could find a vantage point where he could take a picture of the Al-Bustan Palace Hotel. We picked a few interesting pebbles and Izani managed to get himself wet before Taufik came back, dissapointed.

We followed the signs to Shangri-La's Bar Al-Jissah Resort and Spa (picture above), which is a beautiful beautiful hotel that I'm sure I could never afford to stay in.
By that time, it was already a bit after 4pm, and Mohammad needed to go home to pick up his wife from school (she's a teacher), so we said our thankyous and goodbyes, and parted ways.

We headed to the other side of town, to the famous Sultan Qaboos Mosque, for solat.
Sultan Qaboos Mosque is huge (the biggest in Oman) and grand, you could see it from the highway. It is a relatively new mosque, built in the 1990s.
It is reputed to have the biggest chandelier in the world, standing at 14 meters tall. It also has the biggest single-piece handmade carpet in the world, which took artisans 4 years to make over a million knots, using 28 different colors of vegetable dyed wool. The intricate detailing on the main dome alone is mind boggling.

The toilets were modern and very clean and well maintained, and the best part is the ladies prayer hall is actually a huge hall, in it's own building, so unlike most mosques I've visited in the middle east. We had to walk a bit to get to it from the ablution rooms, but we walked under grand arches and crossed a marbled courtyard lined with shady green trees that added to the already peaceful atmosphere, so we didn't mind.

After solat, we did a little grocery shopping for the next morning's breakfast. We were still quite full from lunch, so we decided to have a light dinner, and the kids were screaming for 'civilized' food after days of eating traditional fare, so we stopped at a McDonald's :P
Thus ended our trip to Muscat, for the next morning we left early for Dubai, with a short detour at Rustaq and Nakhl.

Useful Information:
The accomodation we stayed in was nothing to shout about, but it was one of the cheapest accomodation we found in Muscat. We rented a two-bedroom apartment in Darsayt, a very convenient location for it was just a 15 minute's drive to Muttrah Souq, and has a hypermarket close by. Rooms were okay, but the water pressure was a little bit low, and I discovered too late that the oven doesn't work. The electric stove worked, but they did not provide pots/pans (nor plates & cutleries), so I had to use a baking pan (came with the oven) to 'fry' nuggets for breakfast.

Nuzha Hotel Apartments
http://www.safeerhotel.net/english/nuzha/nuzha.htm .
Two bedroom apartment OR50/night, room only.

Next: Muscat to Dubai.

School Searching

2009-05-13T15:56:00.006+03:00

We are pretty sure that we'll be moving back home by this December the latest.

So now, we're starting to search for schools for our children.
Ilham will be 12 (Year 6), Ihsan will be 11 (Year 5) and Anis will be 8 (Year 2). Izani will need to go to a Taska.

Personally, I would like my kids to go to an English-medium school.
It's not that I don't want them to speak Malay, but it's because I want them to have an easier first few months of school, without going through class not understanding lessons or instructions, or worse, being teased by their friends for not being able to speak Malay. I want them to be able to feel confident in a new environment. I want them to be able to make new friends.
Furthermore, Ilham would be taking his UPSR (a national level exams, not unlike SATS). I dont know how much of the syllabus he has to catch up with, but I think his pace would be slower if he has to do the catching up in a language he doesn't really grasp. At least if the classes are in English, he only needs to be up to speed with the topics, not the language, right? If I don't have to worry about the other papers, at least I can concentrate on helping him with the Bahasa Malaysia and Agama papers (less work and worry for me. Yay!)

I would also like my kids to go to an Islamic Integrated school, the kind that combines the national curricullum and the religious curricullum.
When Ilham was in Year 1 for the 6 months before we moved to Saudi, he had had to go to the national school in the morning, then on to the religious (KAFA) school in the afternoon. I had to pick him up from school, rush through lunch, then poke and prod him to change into his KAFA uniform and walk to school. Even though the KAFA school was practically at our doorstep (my mom's front gate is right in front of the mosque's gate, where the school is), I still found the schedule pretty tight. I can't imagine what it was like for kids who lives a little further away from us. By the time Ilham came home from KAFA, he's pretty pooped out and just wants to play. He would be too tired or too fed up with anything to do with school for homework.
I think having the religious lessons incorporated into their regular school would be less of a hassle, for the kids and also for me. I don't have to worry about two uniforms, two school bags, two schedules, two exams..
The religious school is not compulsory, but I would like my children to at least have the basic knowledge of the religion they are practising. I am ashamed to say that even though we are living in Saudi,(which is supposedly the epitome of an islamic country), my children have had very little religious education because they go to an international school that is not allowed to have religious classes by the Ministry of Education.
We do our best on our own of course. Apart from the Qur'an lessons three times a week by a Pakistani imam, most of their religious lessons were informal. We've taught them how to properly perform solat and the recitations involved, we've taught them how to properly fast and the rules about it, we've taught them the components of umrah/hajj and its significance, we try to instill Islamic values as much as we can, and point out the greatness and wisdom of God in our every day life and activities but these were all done by example and by doing. There were no notes, no reference books, no lapbooks. If you ask my children to list out the five pillars of islam, the six pillars of faith, Allah's names and attributes, the 25 messengers, the obligatory steps in solat, they wouldn't know. If you ask them to take a test, they would fail. I want their knowledge to be complete, to be at elast at par with other students who have gone through formal religious classes.

So, in conclusion, I am looking for an English-medium Islamic Integrated School.
Preferably within driving distance from our current house in Kelana Jaya (assuming we don't move elsewhere).

Unfortunately, most Islamic Integrated Schools are way over on the other side of the Klang Valley, in Gombak, Bukit Antarabangsa and Ampang.
There are only 3 on this side of the Klang Valley (that I have found):
Integrated School Shah Alam (ISSA - http://issa-primary.com/)
Integrated Islamic School Kota Damansara (IISKD - http://iiskd.org/index.php)
ITQAN Integrated Islamic School (ITQAN - http://www.itqan.com.my/index.htm)

ISSA currently only accepts students up to Year 5.
ITQAN somehow doesn't teach Islamic or Qur'an lessons (?).

So my best bet right now would be IISKD. It has a primary school *and* secondary school. I don't know how much they'll cost me, since my queries via their website have gone unreplied.. :P
Perhaps I should call them.

If you have any information on any other schools around PJ/Damansara/Taman Tun, please do drop me a line ;)

Nizwa, Oman

2009-05-09T12:05:00.003+03:00

Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission: Travelots) - UAE and Oman, Spring 2009
Part 6

April 5th, 2009.
We left Al-Mintirib, the small town bordering the vast desert of Wahiba Sands, at around 10am and reached the town of Nizwa at around 12pm. By that time, the adzan for Dzuhr prayer had been called, and most of the shops in the souq are closed. In one of the souviner shops that was opened, though, we coincidently met with one of our friends who happened to be holidaying with his family. Zarul and Kak Rosnah had just come from Muscat, and they were spending the day in Nizwa and Al-Hamra. Zarul had hired a local guide and from him we found out that the souq is closed from 12pm to 4pm, just like in Saudi :P Since the souq is closed, we decided to have lunch with Zarul's family in a restaurant on the outskirts of Nizwa.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and safe journeys to Zarul and his family, and we returned to the center of Nizwa. We performed our solat at the nice Nizwa mosque that had a not so nice little shack at the back as an excuse for the ladies' mussollah (prayer room). After solat, we decided to explore the Nizwa fort. Fortunately the fort was open till 4pm. I can't remember how much the entrance fees were, but they were not expensive.

Nizwa fort is bigger than its facade presents. Inside there are several stairs that lead to the different levels of the fort. On the ground level is the courtyard with stables and such. There's a basement level with storage rooms and a prison. The mid-level houses the kitchen, sitting rooms and bedrooms with secret hiding places. Then there's a rooftop where the guards would sit and look out for approaching enemies.

The fort had quite sophisticated defense mechanisms, with secret peepholes to view who's at the door, to hot oil/water/date syrup channels that runs from the roof to the entrance to scald enemies, and trap doors on the stairways that gives way and plunges unsuspecting intruders into deep wells below. Looking out from the fort to the date filled valley surrounded by mountains, I could imagine why someone would guard Nizwa like a precious jewel.

I'm sure Nizwa has a very strategic historic significance, but meh.. I'm not Lollies... you can go read her entry on Nizwa, if you want to know :) All I could think of is what the blueprint of the place must've looked like, how they constructed the place with all the channels and trapdoors and wells and hiding rooms. I imagined what life in the fort must've been like in those days. I wondered what noises and smells must have wafted around when it was bustling with all the different activities, both military and mundane.

The Nizwa fort also has a small museum that displays artifacts on daily Omani life, from how the falaj works (i.e. how water is pulled out from wells or springs and distributed along channels to irrigate the plantation), how metal smiths forge their wares and the different potteries and weaved items. It was interesting to note that much of the traditional way of life is still practiced in Oman today. I also got an idea of what souviners I want to get ;) tee hee.

After exiting the fort, we had a drink while waiting for the souq to open.
The souviner shops sold a lot of pottery ware, and I would've gotten one of those earthen water jugs, but I kept thinking of how it might break on our drive home (we still had 4 days to go), so I decided not to. Taufik got another teapot for his collection and Ihsan bought some stamps and a postcard to mail to his Nenek.

By the time we were done browsing and shopping (more browsing than shopping), it was almost 6. We had promised to drop by a friend's house for dinner in Muscat by 7:30pm, so we decided to make a move.
As with any highway in Oman, the view was breathtaking.

As we reached Muscat, we had our first view of 'modern civilization' after several days of seeing traditional houses and unspoilt nature. We waited for our friend at a McDonald's and encountered a traffic jam on the way to his house. Sutan and Fatimah treated us to a wonderful dinner, and we regtretfully had to say goodbye at 10pm to head to Nuzha Hotel Apartments in Darsayt.

Next: Muttrah Souk, Sultan Qaboos Mosque and around Muscat.

Wahiba Sands, Oman

2009-04-28T11:19:00.005+03:00

Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission: Travelots) - UAE and Oman, Spring 2009
Part 5

April 4th, 2009. Evening.

This was the part of Oman that I was most anticipating about.

After leaving Wadi Bani Khalid, we drove for about 30 minutes to the town of Al-Mintirib, where we had an appointment to meet the driver who will bring us into the desert to the camp. Sukhairi had to hire the shuttle (4WD plus a driver) because his car is a 2WD, and we will just follow his 4WD. We only took what was necessary for an overnight stay, and stowed the rest of our luggage in Sukhairi's car which will be parked and left in Al-Mintirib.
After a quick toilet stop, we drove deeper into Al-Mintirib, which already sits at the edge of the desert, to enter the Wahiba Sands, a vast body of nothing but orange sand in the middle of Oman.

Driving to our camp was actually not as challenging as our previous desert driving in Qatar and Saudi. The sand was quite compacted, providing enough traction for the tyres, even for a 2WD. Perhaps it's because many vehicles have driven through this route before us. But at one point, we did have to climb over a huge dune , and that portion of the drive would necessitate a 4WD.
Along the way we passed a few bedouin tents, Al-Raha camp (another site that provides overnight accomodation, but in concrete rooms covered with palm leaves) and miles and miles of orange sand dunes.
After about 45minutes or so of driving through and up and down sand, we finally reached 1000 Nites Camp. At the really rustic reception (a concrete desk, a concrete bench, under fronds of date leaves), we were served with really strong arabic tea and halwa and dates. We were then brought to our accomodation for the night, a room fashioned out of a bedouin tent, but equipped with the very basic modern amneties (bed, bathroom, lights).

The tent is made out of thick wool, and ours was right under a tree.
Arriving that afternoon, I found it to be quite hot and stuffy, so we had to open up the 'window' (flaps that are secured by a metal hook), but I was sure it would be very nice when it gets colder that night. They had laid 2 extra mattresses for our kids.

The tent had one big main beam in the middle of it, supporting the roof (also wool) and several smaller and shorter beams at the edges of the tent, supporting the walls, which gives it its distinct shape. The edges of the roof and the walls are then secured together with big metal pins. The floor is laid with carpets which are quite comfortable. The tents are equipped with lights, but they only turn on the generator in the late afternoon and switches it off at around 3am.

Fortunately, the bathrooms were not bedouin bathrooms :). They have proper sit down toilets and sink and shower with complimentary toileteries. The pipes run hard water though, so it tasted a little salty (definitely not for drinking) and there is a little sign that says "We are in the desert, please conserve water" :)
The bathroom is open air and ours was partly covered by a tree, which provided somthing to look at while you... uhm... whatever. Taking a shower under the blue skies really reminded me of shower times in my late grandmother's open air bathroom.

After a quick solat, we headed for the dunes which was just in front of our tent, to watch the sunset.

As usual, the kids found little trouble in climbing up the dunes, but I found myself huffing and puffing not even a quarter of the way. Izani was a little frustrated coz he kept sliding back down, so we went up via an alternative and relatively easier route. Even then, it was still a challenge, and Izani kept saying "I cant do it.. help me" and I had to motivate him (and indirectly, motivate myself) to keep on going and Izani's triumphant "I did it!" when we finally reached the top is as much a boost for me as it was for him.

Izani and I decided to stop halfway to where the rest of our party were because the wind was too strong and being that high among that much sand, we had sand blown into our eyes. Taufik, who had gone ahead with the other kids, managed to take the picture shown above.
Coming back down the dunes was much easier :)
Anis lost her faux crocs, though.

We went back to our tents to wash up, change, solat and get ready for dinner.

Dinner was served buffet style in an open air (but roofed) majlees. The food was really good (or maybe we were just really hungry after dune climbing). They served briyani rice with lamb or chicken curry, an eggplant dish, the usual salad and yoghurt, arabic bread, and they also had grilled meats - lamb kebabs, chicken wing and lamb chops. For dessert there were fresh fruits, halwa and a really yummy custard dish. They put canned and bottled drinks in two huge freezers in the majlees and you can take whichever you prefer.
While we eat, we were entertained by two men playing the traditional middle eastern guitar (gambus) and singing traditional songs. One of the songs sounded so much like zapin, a type of traditional music popular in the southern states of peninsular Malaysia, that we almost got up and dance :)

After dinner, we hung around the majlees just chatting about the plan for the next day. The two families exchanged riddles but my kids keep coming up with toilet ones, so then we played the 'shopping list' game. Someone starts with saying "I went to the market and bought ..." (the first item), then everyone else take turns to say "I went to the market and bought ..." (the list of items said before) and add their own item to the end list making the list longer and longer and more difficult to remember.
The night breeze started to get stronger and colder as the night progressed, so we decided to end the games and walked back to our tents and retire for the night.
We were lulled to sleep by the sound of wind and crickets.
Izani fell off the bed a few times. tee hee.

Early the next morning, the first thing Ilham and Ihsan did after brushing their teeth was ask if they could go on the dunes on the pretext of searching for Anis's shoes.
After doing my morning routine and getting dressed, I went out to find them tirelessly climbing up and running down the dunes, only stopping at intervals to have a drink of water at the bottom. They said they couldnt find Anis's shoes. I wasn't suprised, because the wind blew pretty hard yesterday, and it would've been buried under tonnes of sand by now. Plus, they werent really looking anyway.

I walked around taking pictures of dead bushes, sand dunes and insect trails on the sand (pics on my flickr).

At around 7, I called Ilham and Ihsan back to tent for their shower and woke up the rest of the clan for breakfast. Ilham and Ihsan snuck in a game of 'Who could toss a stick the farthest' while waiting for everyone else to get ready.
Anis had to walk to the majlees barefoot, as she did the night before for dinner.

On offer at the buffet breakfast was cereal, bread with assortment of jams and butter, arabic bread with foul, sausages, and eggs cooked any way you want.
There was a bedouin woman selling souviner items and trinkets while we were having breakfast. Items were quite expensive but I understand why, because they were all handmade by her. Even a small square of wall hanging must have taken her months to complete.
She was very smitten with Izani because he kept coming to her and ask "What you doin?". Before she left (because it was starting to drizzle), she gave Izani a string bracelet (2 for OR1). I offered to pay, but she said it was a 'hadiah' (gift). Izani was so happy, and he wore the bracelet every where he went. (I dont know where it is now though, I'm sure it's somewhere around the house).

We left 1000 Nites Camp at around 9 because dark coulds were beginning to gather and there was a light drizzle and we didnt want to be caught in the desert in the middle of the rain. We need not have worried though, because as we were driving out, the drizzle stopped and the sun started to come out.
The drive out was more exciting that the drive in, because we had to go (more like, slide) down a really steep dune before going on the compacted sand route again.

We got back to Al-Mintirib by 10am, retrieved our luggage from Sukhairi's car, refilled our tyres and gas tank and headed towards Nizwa.

Thus ended our unforgettable adventure in the Wahiba Sands of Oman.

A friend of ours had spent a night at 1000 Nites Camp in the deserts of Wahiba Sands when he came to Oman in December and looking at his pictures, we were inspired to do the same. Initial research and inquiries led me to a package tour that would cost us OR120 per person. The package would include transport from Muscat, a visit to Wadi Bani Khalid, a bedouin camp, a night in the desert at Al-Raha Camp, then the next morning a drive along Sur-Muscat highway. At first it seemed reasonable, especially for a once in a lifetime experience, but after considering that we will be coming from Nizwa, not Muscat, and that we have our own cars to think about, and that we would have to pay for 8 persons ... erks... we sought other (cheaper) alternatives.
My googling led me to emptyquartertours.com, which allowed me to book a tent for each of the families, and a 4WD for Sukhairi's family, for less.

Useful Information:

1000 Nites Camp
http://www.emptyquartertours.com/nightcamp.htm
Double tent OR67/night, OR7/extra person/night (Child under 5 free)
Price includes dinner and breakfast, freeflow of water/juice/soft drinks.
4WD shuttle to/from camp is OR45/car
They also have a car escort service (In case you want to drive on your own, but dont know the way) OR20/car.

Next: Nizwa

Killer Among Us

2009-04-26T15:32:00.003+03:00

Yesterday I caught Larry King Live and the topic was 'A Killer Among Us', discussing about how sociopaths and psychopaths think and how difficult it is to understand and identify them before they start killing people.
Suddenly one of the members of the panel came up with this gem:
"In fact, the most dangerous psychopath is the one that appeared on this show, and I'm talking about M@hmoud Ahmadenij@d ... wants to destroy Israel, etc etc."
(or something to that effect).

I am not a supporter nor fan of Ahmadinej@d, but mister member of the panel sir, should I point out to you that Ahmadinej@d has not started any wars and has not directly caused deaths of any citizens from his own country or another country, but I can't say the same about your former president.
If you put your former president against the same standards, who's the psychopath?

Wadi Bani Khalid, Oman

2009-04-23T22:53:00.007+03:00

Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission: Travelots) - UAE and Oman, Spring 2009
Part 4

April 4th, 2009. Daytime.

Before heading for Wadi Bani Khalid, we needed to stop by a supermarket to buy supplies. We had planned to barbecue some chicken for our lunch at the wadi, after having a swim. Taufik bought some charcoal and a griller, but could not find any raw chicken. We ended up buying some half cooked barbecue chicken, along with some rice.
Again, the road signages in Oman guided our way to our destination, because most of the roads do not appear in our GPS.

We drove up spectacular mountains and then down again until we reached a small town. At first we were not sure if we were even at the right place, but we just drove on again, past houses and date trees until we reached what looked like a road washed out by a small stream. We followed a local truck to cross the stream for a bit, until he turned around and told us something like "Khamsin" or something and pointed to a gravel road ahead of us. We guessed he meant the wadi is about 50meters ahead of us on the gravel road. We thanked him and drove on, and sure enough at the last turn, we were greeted by two huge green pools of water in the middle of lush date trees. Judging from the white range rovers parked along the road, there were quite a few tourists who were already there ahead of us.
Getting off the car, we were greeted by the croaking of frogs, something that I haven't not heard in a very very long time. I cherished the sound then, oblivious to the premonition.
We unloaded our 'supplies' (food, water, tents, mats, a change of clothes and towels)(oh and cameras) from the car and proceeded to climb the steep path up to the top of the wadi.
Part of the concrete walkway leading up to the wadi was destroyed during the typhoon in 2006, so we had to carefully cross it. The dads took turns to carry over kids, supplies and wives.

The rest of the path is still intact though. Looking forward to swimming in cool waters flowing fresh from the mountains, we lugged our supplies and walked up with some other tourist. Everyone was carrying something, even Izani, who had to carry the aluminum griller (the lightest item). Halfway up, a few boys about 7 or 8 years old asked us in broken english if he and his friends could carry our stuff for us (for a fee). Of course we said yes and lightened the load for some of our smaller children.
Our stuff looked big and heavy for them but when I asked them "Bas?" (Okay?), they said they were okay.
(Omani children not in pictures)

Along the sides of the paths are date plantations that are irrigated by the waters flowing down the wadi. The water is chanelled down narrow canals called 'falaj'. Even though I've seen it many many times (even in Saudi), I am still amazed at how a seemingly barren and dry land could become so fertile with only a litte supply of water. Masya-Allah.

The water flowed in a steady stream along the walkway and at points, it flowed across the walkway and we had to walk through the mini waterfalls. The amount of water we saw was not as much as we expected, but we were encouraged by the stories from travellers before us and the urging of the young porters that the pools at the end of the long walkway is nice.
One of the porters stopped by his house (which nestled in a grove of date palm trees) and emerged with a shopping trolley, which he then used to carry the more bulky and heavier stuff (our juice & water and the mats). He happily pushed the trolley while half-walking, half-running, singing some arabic ditty. Several times along the way the trolley toppled over, which amused me, but agitated Taufik a bit :P

We finally reached the end of the walkway, but saw no pools. Apparently the pools were much further up and you had to balance yourself on the concrete canals to go up. The dads and kids decided to go check out the pool, while Kak Faridah, Izani and I spreaded a mat under a mango tree and had a chat with the porters.

With my limited and broken arabic, I asked them their names, "ma ismuka?".
"Muhammad, Saeed, Ali" (or something) they answered.
Saeed, in particular, was very chatty, and seems to be the leader of the porters, always shouting instructions to the other boys.
"Mafi madrasah?" I asked. (No school?)
"No, school closed" Saeed answered, "raining, teacher say go home".
"Where rain? Mafi rain!" I teased him.
"Madrasah kalam ingleezi?" I asked (School speaks english?)
"La.. arabiya" he said.
"Where learn english?" I asked, getting into my habit of imitating another person's way of speaking.
"here" he said, pointing up and down the walkway, indicating that he learnt english from the tourist whom he carried bags for. I was impressed :)
"masya-Allah!", I gave him a thumbs up sign, "Anta, *points at him and his friends* ukhwat, au sadiq?" (You, brothers or friends?)
And he went into this long explanation how they are friends but Ali's father is his mother's brother and their houses are just next to each other in that grove of date trees.
The boys threw Saeed's sandals up the mango tree to retrieve young mangoes and offered us some, but they looked too green (thus sour) to me. Saeed and Izani also tried to chat and share a sour mango.

Taufik came back and reported that he saw pools, but the water was kinda stagnant and to his alarm, he also saw leeches! Erks...
So he decided to camp at one of the spots we passed by on the way up.
Hearing this, Saeed exclaimed "Lahaulawalla!!" (err I dont know how to translate this, but it's usually used to express frustration or tired of something), which made me laugh :D mainly because it was also my sentiment.

So we all walked back down the walkway, searching for the perfect spot to pitch our tent. We found the perfect spot, but it was a bit away from the walkway and had to then search for a safe way for us to bring the kids and our stuff to the perfect spot.
The porters helped us carry our stuff to the picnic spot. For their trouble and patience, we gave them each some juice and water and a bag of marshmallows, on top of the OR1 that Taufik paid them.
They sat on the bank of the walkway, drinking juice and munching on marshmallows while watching us pitch our tent, start a fire for barbecue and our kids going for a splash.

Our kids didn't spend too much time swimming, mainly because even though the sun was shining bright, the water flowing down the wadi was really really cold! They were also getting hungry and thirsty. Furthermore, the kids that were snorkelling saw many many frogs. And not just frogs, frogs spawning! With trails of eggs behind them.
Eyew.
It's a good thing we bought half-cooked chicken, because it didnt take that long before we could have lunch of rice and barbecue chicken, which tasted so yummy after such a long walk and wait.
We had promised to meet up with the driver who was going to bring us into the Wahiba Sands at 2pm, so as soon as everyone had finished their lunch, we packed up and carried all our stuff and trash down the walkway back to our cars.

Even though Wadi Bani Khalid was slightly dissapointing because there was not as much water as we imagined there would be, the interaction with the local boys and the adventurous experience was still enjoyable to me, and I am sure both of our families will remember this picnic spot for a long time.

Next: Spending a night in the desert!

Ibra, Oman

2009-04-21T16:50:00.004+03:00

Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission: Travelots) - UAE and Oman, Spring 2009
Part 3

April 3rd, 2009. Evening.

We still had another 3 hours drive ahead of us before we reached our accomodation for the night. We did not want to drive at night because even though the larger highways are well lit, the smaller roads are not. Tarmac retain heat very well, therefore are warm and comfortable rest areas for wandering animals, especially camels. You DO NOT want to encounter a camel on the road at night. Especially when the camels are as black as the night itself.
We reached the town of Nizwa at around 5pm and we got a peek of the Nizwa Fort and the souq surrounding it because the GPS told us to drive that way even though it was jam packed with people. I took the opportunity to call the accomodation and tell us what time we were estimated to arrive.

The GPS brought us through really mountainous road that was like riding a rollercoaster at times. Too bad my pictures didnt turn out so good because it was getting dark. We had to drive on really winding and dark and empty roads to reach Ibra (not to be mistaken with Ibri, which we passed earlier in the journey). It was quite creepy and scary, because not only did Taufik need to watch where the road is going, he also needed to watch out for any huge obstacles in his way (read: camels).
We finally reached Nahar Tourism Oasis at 7:30pm and was very happy to find dinner waiting for us.

We were served halwa muscat and dates with hot arabic tea while we wait for them to bring out the buffet items.
'Halwa muscat' is a type of sweet unique to Oman. The closest thing to it in the west would be Turkish delight (except it's not rolled in powdered sugar) and the closest thing to it for malaysians, would be dodol. The difference is that halwa muscat is very very fragrant, from the spices and rose water used in its preparation. It's almost like dodol spiked with arabic perfume. In fact, i felt as if I was biting into the ample flesh of one of the fragrant arab women I often pass by at the mall. It is really an acquired taste.
Dinner was quite good, or maybe we were just really hungry. They served rice with lamb curry, fried chicken, salad, and this really nice fried eggplant dish.
After dinner we were directed to our rooms. It was a little bit away from from reception/restaurant area, so we had to drive a bit there.

I had booked two 'Omani House Suites', and they were just as the name implies, the suites were fashioned and decorated, I assume, just like a traditional Omani house.
Our suite had a long living room with a settee made of wooden cabinets with cushions on them, a cabinet with a TV (with a sattelite decoder), a small coffee table for two, and a smaller side table with an electric kettle and tea/coffee making sachets. Two single beds are situated in an enclave in the 'house', with an antique looking side table and a mirror on the wall in between them. The closet was also an old looking cupboard. The bathroom, fortunately, was not old looking and had hot water :)
On the walls were old potteries and an antique looking shotgun.
I slept that night looking up at these rafters and wondering what the phrases mean..

The next morning we got to see what we didnt see when we arrived that night. Our room was surrounded by rocky hills! There was even a lookout point on a hill behind our Omani house where we could climb up and look at the view. This picture really does not do justice to the scenery.

Looking at the surroundings of this 'hotel', with its traditional concept and antique decorations, I see a potential of it being a tourist attraction. We were the only customers there that day/night, however, and I don't know why it is so. Perhaps the location is not conducive? Ibra is situated right in between Wadi Bani Khalid and Muscat/Nizwa, and it is only a 2-3 hours drive between them. Perhaps people would rather drive straight through to these locations instead of stopping halfway at a small town.
I am glad that we spent the night there though, because it gave us a chance to leave and reach Wadi Bani Khalid earlier than if we were to stay in Muscat or Nizwa, especially since we were travelling with children, who can be unpredictable in their punctuality.

At the hotel's Al-Kous Whisper Restaurant, we were served breakfast of arabic bread, sausages, foul (beans in gravy), scrambled eggs, coffee/tea and juice.
After taking pictures of the old doors near the restaurant and the tented majlees (middle eastern sitting room) and settling the bill, we left Ibra and headed towards Wadi Bani Khalid.

More pictures on Facebook Photo Album: 2009 Spring Road Trip - Oman : Ibri, Bahla, Jebel Shams, Ibra

Useful Information:

Nahar Tourism Oasis
http://www.emptyquartertours.com/nahartour.htm
2-bed Omani House Suite OR38/night, OR5/extra bed/night
They also have rooms.
Price includes dinner and breakfast, freeflow of water/juice/soft drinks.
Clearly the cheapest acommodation during our trip.

The Fountain, and death.

2009-04-20T16:10:00.003+03:00

After receiving news of the passing of a young man yesterday, I needed distraction.
I dont know why the news affected me so, since I dont really know him. Perhaps the thought of the loss that his family is feeling reminded me of my own loss.
I tried sewing. An online quiz gave me relief, for a short time. I made chicken soup for dinner, and made a spicy chilli+soy sauce to go with it, but that reminded me of Lollies, which in turn reminded me of the boy and the grief the family must be going through.
I decided to watch TV and discovered The Fountain was on. Surely Hugh Jackman and the always beautiful Rachel Weisz would be able to cheer me up?
This movie started off really confusing, but I kept on watching believing it is going to be a love story with a happy ending and I was going to emerge warm and fuzzy at the end.
This movie was really really really sad.
I kept crying and crying, even long after the movie was over. Even when I didnt understand the ending.
I tried to sleep but I continued thinking about the scenes in the movie. The sense of love, of loss , of extreme grief, of loyalty, of tenacity, of what you would do for love that was potrayed in the movie really affected me. Perhaps more so with the current news still lingering in my mind.
I finally slept, and couldnt remember what I dreamt of.
When I woke up though, I had a sense of peace.

I think I know now.

Death is inevitable. No matter how much you try to avoid it, no matter how much you try to prolong your time (or somebody else's time), you will, eventually, face death.
This does not mean you should stop trying to prolong life, it only means that you need not fear death so much so that you stop living.
And when death does come (to you or your loved one), and you suffer the loss, we need not fear the loss, because it is not the end.
Death is not the end of the person.
The end of the life does not signify the end of the loving.
Thus we should not wallow in grief or regret, because it does nothing to the dead, nor the living.
Continue loving, and continue living.

Knowing this, I am ready to let go.
I love you. I am ready to let go now.

Jebel Shams, Oman

2009-04-18T17:41:00.005+03:00

Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission: Travelots) - UAE and Oman, Spring 2009
Part 2

April 3rd, 2009. Day.

After breakfast (around 10am) we left Al-Ain and headed for the UAE/Oman border.
Getting out of UAE took longer than expected. We had to fill up a form for each person and pay an exit visa. By the time we were done, it was almost noon.
Next we had to go through the Oman immigration. The dads took care of everything while the moms and kids hung around the beautiful immigration building. Taufik said they looked at a person's work permit before issuing a visa. If you're a mere 'technician' or lower, most likely your visa would be rejected. I guess this is a way to control illegal immigrant workers. At the customs, they could also be really strict. From what I read, if you're a non-muslim they'll check for liqour, since UAE has no restrictions on alcohol. When it was our turn, the custom's officer's girlfriend/mom/someone called on his mobile and he saw we were muslims, so he just looked at our visa receipt and waved us through. tee hee.

By the time we entered The Sultanate of Oman (trivia: one of only 2 sultanates in the world)(Pop quiz: what is the other one?), it was half past 1pm, so we decided to hurry on to Ibri for lunch and break for solat. We couldnt really drive so fast because like UAE, Oman has a lot of stationary radars placed along their highway. Furthermore, the road from Al-Ain to Nizwa is not really a big highway, but a two-way lane.
The scenery during the first part of our journey was mostly flat rocky land with a few orange dunes and trees that resembles the ones in Africa. As we pass Ibri and drive towards Bahla, mountains started to appear. By the time we reached Bahla, the road started to wind and ascend as we drive into the mountainous region.

Bahla is a really small town, but it is home to the Bahla fort, which is an official UNESCO heritage site and currently going under restoration. We couldnt go in, so we just took pictures of it outside. It looks huge, bigger than Nizwa Fort, I'm sure it'll take more than hour to walk through it.
We pressed on to Jebel Shams instead.
The signages for Jebel Shams are quite clear, so you can't really miss the junction to turn into the mountains. Just a few minutes from the juction, you are greeted by the majestic mountains of the Jebel Al-Akhdar range. I dont know if it was the weather or if it was the region, but the air here was very clear and cool. The view of mountains and more mountains were fascinating to us who have seen nothing but piles and piles of sand in Saudi. Some parts of mountain range have deep gashes in it , as if God had traced a finger through it, and in these valleys you could see some vegetation. It was really amazing to see how plants could survive in the rocky terrain that was seemingly barren.

On the way up we reached WadiGhul, which looked like a dry river bed, but with a very fertile plantation nearby, you could imagine the water flowing through in the wetter seasons. On one of the cliffs, clung the brick (rock?) houses of the town of Misfah (i assumed). As you can see from the picture below, it is quite a spectacular sight to see these houses on the steep cliff, with the lush date and herb plantation right below it.

We stopped for pictures and was greeted by 3 boys who were selling key chains made of braided colourful wool yarns. We politely said "La, Shukran" (No, Thankyou) and the boys respectfully stepped away but still watched us take pictures. They were barefooted and looked no more than 10 years old and were really fascinated with Izani. I asked for a picture and they obliged, and Taufik gave them all the change we had in the car. One of them offered a keychain, but we didnt take it, hoping the next tourist would buy it from them.

We saw some people in 4WD inside the wadi, and some people hiking, and I'm sure it would be really nice to be able to do that, but unfortunately, we did not have time to do that :P
We drove on towards Jebel Sham (Another half an hour according to the signs) along ascending road that snaked up the mountain.

For a place that looked remote and barren, the road up to Jebel Sham is quite liveable, as evident by the number of houses we passed by. I am guessing most of them raise goats, because I saw several houses with pens, and several people walking with what looked like goat feed balanced on their heads. We even passed by some people picnicking among the rocks and trees in one of the valleys.
When the road started to look very steep, we decided to turn back, because our friend's car is not a 4WD. Our car was a little delayed because Taufik slowed down to let a boy cross the road to run after his soccer ball.
Taufik stopped by the soccer 'field' (because there weren't really any grass, just rocks) and I stuck out my head and camera and asked, "mumkin? *points to camera* wahid?" (May I? One?) and they were like "Okay!".
I wanted to take a picture of them playing football, but the boy who had chased after the ball excitedly called out "Sabr! Sabr!" (Patience! or Wait!) and that gave them time to assemble and pose. :D

I gave them a thumbs up and a "Shukran!" and hurried off to catch up with our friend. As we drove off, one of the boys yelled "Barcelona!" and I just raised my hand in acknowledgement, because .. er.. I dont really watch professional football :P
Taufik stopped for another time to take a picture of this handsome fella:

Aparrently, this is one of the many wild mountains goats that roam freely in this area.

We reluctantly left the road to Jebel Shams to head towards Nizwa and onward to Ibra.

To be continued : Ibra

"If you like it, save the rainforest"

2009-04-18T09:31:00.005+03:00

Anis was going 'round the house singing "If you like it, save the rainforest", over and over again.
I thought that she had developed a love for the environment.

We were listening to the World Chart Show on Radio Bahrain when I realized that she was singing the chorus to Beyonce's Single Ladies.

tee hee

That song makes me wanna bop and jiggy.

p/s
Have you seen the Envirosax(r) at Living Wing? They are *SO* cute!! I want one!!! I want four!!!

Izani is 3!

2009-04-15T14:47:00.002+03:00

Izani turned three today.
I had taken a video to show you how much he has progressed in terms of his speech, but it's taking forever to upload into Yootoob, so I'm just gonna write about his progress.

This boy talks alot.
Sometimes you can understand him, sometimes you can't. I am pretty amazed at his understanding of the applications of certain words and phrases though.
Like he knows how to use 'because'. He knows when to use "You're so mean!" and that it's the opposite of "You're so nice".
The other day he was arguing with his dad and he said "You're so mean!" and Taufik said he won't take him to the pool and he retracted and said "You're so nice, ayah. I want to be your friend".
tee hee.

He has quite a good memory too.
During our vacation in Oman, we played the shopping list game where everybody take turns to recite the shopping list before adding their very own item at the end of the list (thus making the list longer and longer as the game progresses). Izani joined in and he not only understood the rules of the game, but he could remember most of the items on the list, (even the unusual ones, like MountainDew) albeit some not in order.

He is somewhat toilet trained.
He only wears diapers for bed and during long journeys (just in case). So far he has been very good at holding it and telling us when he needs to go. Yesterday he even went himself. He climbed up the toilet, sat, did his thing, grabbed the sprayhose thingy, washed himself, climbed down, dried, flushed and ran out quickly from the bathroom. I only heard the flush and saw him running out when I realized that he had done it all on his own.
The other day he had an accident, though. We were at a friend's house in Muscat. I had brought him to the toilet the moment we arrived, but about an hour later the bigger boys came complaining that Izani peed in his pants. Apparently he was playing with a bag of ice. I never knew that affected your bladder somehow. But oh my god the embarassment!!! I wanted to die. I had to wash off Izani and apologized profusely to the lady of the house. :P
He still has the habit of taking off his clothes whenever he wants, though, and now that he's not wearing diapers, it's worse , coz he'd be dangly all over the house. I had bought him tiny underwear (which he correctly calls 'underpants') but he seldom wears them.

I can't wait to send him to school in September. I think he'll love it.

Happy 3rd Birthday Izani!!

Khobar to Al-Ain

2009-04-14T14:28:00.003+03:00

Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission: Travelots) - UAE and Oman, Spring 2009
Part 1

April 2nd, 2009
The first day was filled with driving, and more driving.
We started the day at 7:30am and had to have breakfast (turkey and egg salad sandwiches) in the car. We reached Salwa (near the border to Qatar) around 11am.
Taufik filled the car up at Salwa because he was told there would be no petrol stations from then on and the gas prices in UAE is double. He was misinformed though, because we found a gas station in Batha (on the border of UAE), right before the Saudi immigration checkpoint. By that time we had used about a quarter tank of gas.

The immigration in Saudi took only about 20 minutes, but the immigration in UAE took more than an hour. They recorded our irises (?) and took forever to stamp our passports. The kids (especially Izani) had fun running up and down the long immigration hall though. By the time we were done, the kids were hungry coz they had finished almost all of the food we had packed in the car, but the dads decided to press on, thinking there would be a rest area a little further up along the way.
Boy, were we wrong! There were no rest areas on this side of the highway that leads to Abu Dhabi! It also didn't help that there were no signs telling how far the next gas station or rest area would be.

By 3pm we decided to make a U-turn so that we can stop in Mirfa, at one of the mosques on the other side of the highway. After solat, we looked for a restaurant, any restaurant, and had lunch of white rice, really thin curry and fried chicken. It wasn't the best, but it was okay. We were thankful that we had food.
The next gas station we found was about 300 kms from the UAE-KSA border.

Mirfa Mosque

The highway from the border to Mafraq (right outside of Abu Dhabi) and then to Al-Ain was actually quite nice. They are lined with small bushes and growing date trees, sheltering our vision from the vast barren desert behind them, giving us the illusion of lushness. The trees also acts as shields against crosswinds and sandstorms. Pretty smart :)

We finally reached Al-Ain at around 7:30pm local time (6:30pm Saudi time). We had dinner at a Pizza-cum-KFC restaurant in town, then searched for Al-Ain Al-Fayda Chalets, near a mountain called Jebel Hafeet.
Our chalets were located in a huge garden filled with trees and looked pretty creepy at night, but looked so awesome during the day. I felt like I was staying right in the middle of Lake Gardens, KL.

The chalets were nice and clean, albeit a little dusty. It had 2 bedrooms and a huge living room that could probably fit a few more people. There's a dining table, but no kitchen. At night the water pump was a little noisy, but in the morning I was greeted by the chirping of birds, which sounded so peaceful.
I took a morning walk with Ihsan and Anis and took some pictures of the grounds.

The gardens looked very well kept, the lawns immaculately green, trees are thriving and flowers are blooming, but some of the facilities (the boating and picnic areas) looked absolutely rundown. I wonder what it looked like during its heydey or when it first opened. Apparently the 'resort' is government run, so.. perhaps it did not get as much promotion as the commercial ones does? Such a pity, because it is quite a nice place to spend a weekend in.

The boating and picnic area

I wish we had more time to explore Al-Ain, because I heard the Zoo is quite nice, but we still had a long drive to go into Oman. So soon after breakfast, we headed for the Oman border.

Useful information:

Al-Ain Al-Fayda Hotels and Chalets
Phone: +971 3 7838333
They have Hotel rooms and 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom Chalets.
When you call, you have to tell them whether you want the Hotel or Chalet, because they have seperate reception areas.
Our 2-bedroom chalets were AED511 per chalet/night, Room only.
The restaurant at the hotel offers room service to the chalets but is quite expensive (AED5 per cup of tea!), so if you can avoid it, do.

More pictures on my Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84798&id=581327114

Ops Jalan Sakan : Road Trip to UAE & Oman

2009-04-13T11:02:00.005+03:00

12 people, 4 adults, 8 children, 2 cars, 8 days, 2 countries, 6 hotels, thousands and thousands of miles and 1800+ pictures, most of which did not make the cut.

Lots and lots of driving. We had a long distance drive almost every other day. We drove through rocky deserts, mountains, sand dunes, on small roads, three lane highways, roads that look over cliffs falling into the sea, pass bedouin tents and small villages, towns, cities and skyscrapers. At one point we even drove underwater!

As usual, I wish that we had more time. We had to just skim thorugh some places. We had to scrap visiting Sur so that we could have time to visit Nizwa. We extended our stay in Dubai for 3/4 of a day and then drove down to Abu Dhabi to spend a night there, so that our drive home would not be too long.
If I had a chance for a do-over, I'd probably just spent the whole 8 days in Oman and save Dubai for another trip.
But then in Dubai I met a lot of friends (old, and new, and one that felt like an old friend even though it was the first time we got to meet face to face *grin*), so I can't say I did not enjoy my time in Dubai.

Click for a larger map.
Blue lines are what we planned and purple ones are what we actually did.

To come: more detailed stories on each of the places we visited!

I know

2009-04-01T09:00:00.003+03:00

I know
that I have been neglecting this blog for a long while.
It's not like I have nothing to write about. I've got this rant I want to get off my chest, but everytime I want to put something down, I start to worry about something else I should be doing, and then I'd be distracted by something else totally different, which will then lead to a different distraction... and before I know it, it's time to cook. then eat, then feed (izani), then clean up, then the cycle goes on and on again.

Anyways.

I know
I've got to iron some of the clothes I'm bringing to the roadtrip.
I've got to finish sewing the edges of my purple tudung munah. (Why lah do I keep procrastinating till the last minute).
I also need to sew a button on Taufik's pants
I've got to make sure the kids choose and pack their clothes (and the right ones)

I know
I am really excited about this trip!

I know
I also need to plan for a family-only pool party for Sya and Izani. woo hooo!
I am out of ikan bilis, so need to figure out what to make for breakfast. Something heavy so that they have to delay their departure the next morning. *mwahhaahha*
(any suggestions?)

I know
I have to get off this computer now.

NOW.

NOW!

Now, Elisa.
Scoot!

EFX3

2009-03-15T12:39:00.003+03:00

Yes folks, E.F.X. THREE.

After the demise of efx2, a few of the more capable folks tried to do something to save it, but with no help from the original developer, they couldnt do much, so they decided to start anew with efx3.

I don't know how many of the fellow refugees would go back. But I feel obligated to tell you that at least some of the old community is back. And, I feel obligated to tell you that if do want to go back, you can.

I have started to build my place in efx3, but I'm still uncertain of what I'm gonna do with it. I might end up blogging on three places - Here, there and FB.
To tell you the truth, I really miss the modblog/efx2 folks, but, BUT, I'm kinda like in a "twice bitten many times shy" mode right now. I am sure many of you are as well.

I am a pessimistic and hopeful person though.
I can't promise you the same wonderful modblog/efx2 experience, but I'm sure if we give it a little time, we might get pretty close :)

Just wanted to share this with you guys, so that you know that if you're still looking for a home, there's a place where you can go :)

Ops Jalan Sakan : Planning for Road Trip

2009-03-10T11:32:00.005+03:00

We've been talking about wanting to go to Oman for years. YEARS!

Ever since Taufik was stationed in Muscat for a short time even way before Ilham was born and came home with pink shells that he collected on the beach. When he was offered the job in Saudi, the first thing he thought of was how we would have a chance to visit Oman. But then I got pregnant (hey it wasnt my fault alone, k?), and we had to wait for Izani's passport. I was so jealous when Lollies went there a few years ago, but we chose to go back home for the winter holidays instead. Then we travelled somewhere else instead (not that I'm complaining). Finally, finally, prompted by our impending return home, we decided to make this trip happen.

We are making this trip with a good family friend whose kids stayed together in the same house with my kids when we were doing our Hajj together. Heck, we spend so much time sleeping in each other's houses, we're practically family. I think my kids are gonna be glad of the company, and I am looking forward to having some complete family pictures taken (instead of Taufik taking a picture of just me and the kids or me taking a picture of him and the kids).

Aaaanyways..
Kak Faridah borrowed some books on Oman&UAE from the library and gave me one to read and I also browsed the net alot. I was put in charge of accomodation which will then govern the activities that we get to do and places that we get to visit.
Now basically we're 80% done with the planning. We've got the general idea and timeline and I've booked all of the accomodations. We've just got to work on the details.

So here's The Plan:

Click for larger map.
Blue line is our route. Numbers in orange dots are dates in April.

April 2
We'll drive from Khobar/Ras Tanura really early (so early that some kids will need to be carried to the car in their jammies), stop for breakfast in Hofuf, then hope to reach Abu Dhabi by lunch time. I had planned to stop at a friend's house for lunch, but we'll see how it goes. If we dont get to, maybe we'll stop by on our way back instead.
We'll drive on to Al-Ain, and spend the night there.

April 3
We hope to be able to drive to Highway 21 to Nizwa via Al-Qabil (and not go through Buraimy), but we're not sure whether we can do that. We hope to visit the Bat Tombs (if we can find it), Bahla fort, Jabrin Castle, then Jebel Shams before going to Nizwa for lunch. We'll spend the afternoon in Nizwa before heading to Ibra to spend the night there.

April 4
After breakfast, we'll shop for some stuff for lunch and head for Wadi Bani Khalid for a swim and a picnic. After Asr we'll drive to Al-Mintirib where we'll meet the guy who'll drive us into Wahiba Sands for a night in the desert, sleeping in a bedouin wool tent. I am *so* looking forward to this.

April 5
We'll drive out of Wahiba Sands and drive towards Sur, where we hope to take a look at some traditional dhow making, then head towards Muscat via the coastal road, with stops at Wadi Tiwi or Wadi Shabs if we have time.
Sleep in Muscat.

April 6
Full day to spend in Muscat to sightsee, shop, visit friends, etc.
Must. See. Muttrah Souq!
Sleep in Muscat.

April 7
Travel to Dubai, with detour thru Nakhla and Rustaq. Hope to reach Dubai by lunchtime (if we're not detoured by anything else) or at least the afternoon.
Sleep in Dubai.

April 8
Full day in Dubai.
Wishlist items here are Madinat Jumeirah, The Aquarium in Dubai Mall and meet up with Nazrah somewhere, anywhere.
Sleep in Dubai.

April 9
Maybe visit a few friends for breakfast, then head home.
Maybe visit that friend in Abu Dhabi if we didnt get to visit her before.
Important: Must get into Saudi border by noon, and reach home by dusk because Saudi highways are very poorly lighted!

So that's our plan..
Would appreciate if you have any suggestions or tips for our travels. :)

High Five!

2009-03-05T12:28:00.003+03:00

I just finished cleaning the house (read: the bits that are visible) and thought I'd give myself a little pick-me up.
I would like to high five these people. If you're one of those people, high five me back!

*high five* If you have a messy kitchen!

*high five* If you have dusty shelves!

*high five* If there's junk and dust bunnies under your bed!

*high five* If you wrap the round metal thingy under your burners with foil and they.. well.. look like they are wrapped in foil !

*high five* If you have enough bread crumbs under your toaster to coat a chicken!

*high five* If your store room looks like a store room, and not a store front!

*high five* If you let your clean laundry sit in their baskets long enough to leave wrinkles!

*high five* If you always think about clearing out your closet but never get round to it!

*high five* If sometimes you just feel like vegging out!

*high five* If it's noon and you're still in your jammies!

This is not a tag, but if you feel the need to high five people too, go ahead, knock yourself out.
hey, you might even find me high fiving you back!

Anis is 7 :)

2009-03-02T11:38:00.003+03:00

Anis had been counting down to her birthday since about a month ago. She had made this calendar at school. It had her drawing of the four seasons and a month-to-month tear away calendar stabled on it. She had been crossing out dates and reporting to me "its something-something more days to my birthday!".
Even then, I still forgot to make some cupcakes for her classmates on the day, and I forgot to plan a party.
I didn't forget to wish her though. That was the first thing I did when I saw her in the morning. She was all smiling and excited, humming tunes for an upcoming school production.

Even though Taufik was out at the customer's office from 9am till 4pm that day, he managed to squeeze in some time to make Anis a birthday card before he came home.

I thought that was really sweet of him. :)

I asked Anis what kind of cake she wanted and she said she wanted a chocolate cake and that she loved the walnut brownies I made last weekend. So I decided to make a brownie cake, in a round pan, slap on some whipped cream and arrange some marshmallows as decorations.

We had to wait for her to finish her dinner before we could cut the cake (because or else she'd be full on cake) and it took her forever! I had time to come upstairs, check on messages and read friends' FB statuses before she came up to tell me she was done with dinner and we could cut the cake.
She liked how the marshmallows look, but didnt like to eat it :P Izani, on the other hand, would happily help eat other people's marshmallows.
I cut up some leftover brownie-cake and put it in a tupperware for her to take to school the next day.

I hope she feels as special for the rest of her life like she did on her birthday.

Happy Birthday and I love you, little bear!

16+9 things you didnt know about me.

2009-02-28T10:43:00.002+03:00

PD had tagged me (a long long while ago) for 16 things, and then a few other people tagged me for 25 things. Since I lack blog fodder these past few ~~days~~ ~~weeks~~ months, I decided to do this tag.
I'm not gonna tag anyone because I think everyone but my mom have been tagged to do this, either on blogland or on facebook.

1. I am not a very good housekeeper.

2. I find using tools with long handles (read: brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners) extremely cumbersome.

3. I bribe my kids with 'stars' (convertible to spending money) to help me clean the house.

4. I only help clean my kids' rooms about once a month.

5. I am allergic to dust, so if you find me sneezing and sniffling, it probably means I did some dusting that day.

6. I would rather be down on my knees scrubbing than mopping.

7. Taufik does all the mopping around the house. My older boys do the vacuuming.

8. I bought a handheld vacuum just so that I can do spot vacuuming during the week.

9. The best time to come and visit my home is Thursday afternoons because that's when my house is the cleanest.

10. I am prone to addictive behaviour, but fortunately, not to anything illegal, mostly puzzle games (on my phone or the computer)

11. I am easily obsessed with new things, but I also lose interest as easily. I hate having incomplete things hanging over my head though, so I usually finish whatever I started, eventually.

12. When I am focused though, I can do great things. (I think lah)

13. I don't mind waiting if I have something to watch, read or do with my hands.

14. I like to travel, but I get motion sick.

15. Once, I puked on an LRT because my friend wanted to talk and kept me from looking outside. We were on our way to a meeting, so I had to stop at a mall to buy a new outfit.

16. If I can walk to anywhere, I would.

17. I love crunchy food.

18. Taufik cuts my hair.

19. I have never been to Thailand or Singapore. Or Sabah, for that matter. I hope to change that soon.

20. I have never been to a Pearl Jam concert even though they've been to venues that are about an hour's drive from where I was.

21. Once, I talked to Amy Search on the telephone. *embarassed* So, that's about the closest I ever got to meeting a rawkstar.

22. I like to sing in the shower. (but I think anyone who's lived in the dorm with me would know that).

23. My favourite songs to sing in the shower are 'Wash', 'Hikayat Penuh Ranjau' and 'Joget Kasih Sayang'.

24. I like watching cartoons, or anything animated.

25. My current favourite phrase is "You don't know what you're missin' if you aren't in the kitchin'" (Chowder).

The Kite Runner

2009-02-24T13:15:00.002+03:00

I caught this movie 45 minutes into because I was busy with something else. By the time I watched, the childhood bits were already over. It did not stop me from crying at a few scenes further on in the movie, and I was crying more than 5 minutes after the credits have rolled.

If you have not read the book yet, this story is about Amir, a boy from a well-to-do, well-respected family in Kabul, who has a lifelong bestfriend in Hassan, a servant's son. On the surface, Amir's life is all hunky dory but inside he is a little turbulant, and he is riddled with a guilt that he carries to his adulthood. Hassan, on the other hand, looks like he has a hard life, rife with tragedy, but as evident from his letter to Amir at one point, you will see that his soul is very much at peace. They seperated ways when Hassan moved away and Amir has to flee Kabul when the russians took over afghanistan, but they were destined to be reunited (in a way) later in their life.

I guess it helped that I have read the book, because I knew what was going on in Amir's mind. Taufik, who have not read the book, found the movie slow and had trouble following the conversations because he had to weave in and out between listening to english and reading the subtitles. I had to explain things to him a few times. This did not deter him from watching the movie from start to finish, and I guess he did enjoy it.

The acting were also okay. It helped that I didnt know any of the actors. :)

The cinematography is quite good too. Very nice kite scenes.
You could see the stark difference between Kabul before the russian occupation and after. There are a few violently shocking scenes though (like when someone got publicly punished for adultery). And please be aware that the story does touch on a few adult subject matter like fidelity and child abuse. So, be discreet when watching with children.

All in all, an enjoyable movie. If you liked the book, I would recommend watching this. They stayed quite true to the book, with a few omissions for brevity.

Introducing Barang-barang Bonda!

2009-02-14T13:05:00.002+03:00

My latest project - an online 'store' where I can sell my latest discoveries in the ladies' markets in Saudi and also anything else I might be able to make in my own house.
Please do visit Barang-barang Bonda.

Note to non-bahasa malaysia readers:
Barang-barang means "things"
Bonda means "mother" , which, as you may know, is what my kids call me.

Wish me luck :)
Comments and suggestions are most most welcomed!

Riding Alone ... , Stardust and Holiday

2009-02-11T12:45:00.002+03:00

Here are a few of the movies I caught on TV last few weeks:

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
Happened by accident. I was flipping the channels and saw this movie just started. It piqued my interest and kept me hooked for the duration of the movie. Very interesting storyline, very interesting actors. I love watching foreign films coz they are not tainted by the tabloid, and you dont have to suspend your belief. You just watch it and enjoy it. I cried at the weirdest moments in this movie. I cannot look at a boat whistle without thinking about the father. And I so wanna watch a chinese opera before I die.

Stardust
Been waiting to watch this coz I loved the book so much. Maybe coz I've read the book, I was a bit bored and impatient with the first twenty minutes when they were sorta introducing everyone. I know the ending is all a little corny and dickens-like, but the journey getting there is a lot of fun!
I love claire danes.

The Holiday
Corny corny corny, but interesting. Good light entertainment for when you're bored. My favourite bit was when Amanda (Cameorn Diaz) called out for Graham (Jude law) and he came out with wiping the tears out of his eyes. I really believed him. Good acting at that point :)
And I have always loved Jack Black. Even when he was only in his underwear in Orange COunty.

se7en

2009-02-06T10:16:00.002+03:00

7 facts you may not know about me:
When I was 7,
1. I was in Sekolah Rendah Sultan Sulaiman Satu, Kuala Trengganu. My teacher was this really sexy chinese woman who has a thing for spaghetti straps.
2. I borrowed a classmate's textbook, then she got scolded for not having her textbook, and I just kept quiet.. :P If she is reading this, know that I am truly sorry for not telling the teacher that I was the one in the wrong.
3. I tried to steal a packet of chickadees from the canteen, and got told off.
4. I pooped in my pants while waiting to be picked up because I was too scared to go to the millipede infested girls' toilet alone.
5. One day in Bukit Kecik, we lost a ball in the shrubs that lined our fence and I went looking for it but found a python instead.
6. I cried every time 'Sealed With A Kiss' came on air.
7. I think I also borrowed some money from friends but didnt get a chance to repay them coz end of that year we moved away. I hope they halal-ed my hutang.

7 things that scare me:
1. Lightning. The first thing I do when I move into a new house is identify a spot or room that no lightning can reach.
2. Losing my faith.
3. Losing Taufik.
4. Losing my kids
5. Losing a friend.
6. Swimming where I can't see the bottom (or what's in it).
7. People who find pleasure in inflicting pain (physical, emotional or psychological) on other people.

7 songs that I like the most:
English- (I'll try not to include too much pearl jam)
1. Viva la Vida - Coldplay (i like the melody more than the lyrics though)
2. Zephyr - RHCP
3. If I Fell - The Beatles
4. Stuff And Nonsense - The Eddie Vedder and Neil Finn version
5. Best Friend - Queen
6. And So It Goes - Billy Joel ( just coz that blind guy sang this song during AI auditions.. tee hee)
7. anything by Pearl Jam (suprise suprise)

Melayu -
1. Hikayat Penuh Ranjau - Wings
2. Uji Rashid - Ku Ingin Selalu Di Samping Mu
3. Nilai CintaMu - Sudirman
4. SriKandi Di Sisi - Belantara
5. SriKandi Cintaku - Bloodshed
6. Sayang di Sayang - I dont know who sings this song, but the old version, not the ones sang by current artistes.
7. Anything sung, written or produced by M Nasir.

7 phrases that I say the most:
1. Dayyuummm
2. Oh Noes
3. aaaanywayyys...
4. Sorry
5. Lauk dah habis, beli ayam/daging, roti, susu and telur.
6. Khalas (as a question, a statement or an order)
7. Astaghfirullah, MasyaAllah, InsyaAllah, Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, wala-ilaha-ilallah, Allahu-akbar. (dzikr mahhh... )

7 of my precious things: (things ya, does not include people?)
1. Engagement ring
2. Wedding ring
3. Watch (It was a birthday present from Taufik)
4. The only diamond bracelet (hopefully it won't be my only one for long. tee hee)
5. The murano glass pendant I bought in Florence.
6. Passport.
7. Notebook(s) that contains all my recipes (huyooo tak makan lah kalau takde ni)

7 memorable first timers:
1. First time I saw Taufik. I still remember where & when. I can't remember what he was wearing though.
2. Taking a Greyhound, to Tulsa, Oklahoma on labour day 1991. I arrived early in the morning and the bus stop was covered in fog. I heard the rumblings of a motorcycle engine, and down the road, amongst the billowing mist, appeared Taufik on a motorcycle, just like a hero in a manga. I nearly fainted from swooning.
3. My first kiss with Taufik. Mind blowing, I tell you. Macam nak meletup jantung. (The other first tu, tak yah cerita lah kan)
4. My first snowfall. I think my american friend (her name is Jennifer Cassidy) thought I was crazy for jumping around with joy.
5. Looking at my babies. (Does that count as 4?)
6. Seeing the Ka'abah. Masya-Allah.. macam nak nangis!
7. Wukuf di Arafah. Indescribable.

I think most people have been tagged with this. So if anybody hasnt and wants to do it, go right ahead.

somebody out there still likes Pearl Jam

2009-02-04T15:50:00.002+03:00

I dont know if you remember, but during the previous Olympic games (not in Beijing, the one before that), I was watching the promos on TV and heard them using Spin The Black Circle as the background music.

Well i was watching MBC4 (I think it's a Lebanese station. betul tak Lollies/Nazrah?), and the promo for an arabic soap opera came on and it had this guitar thing going on and it sounded so familiar i had to wreck my brain to think what it was until I realized it was Dirty Frank.

go figure.

Ops Jalan Sakan: Digging For Desert Roses

2009-02-02T08:51:00.003+03:00

This is the latest installation in our Mission:Travelots.

Last weekend we went digging for desert roses in Abqaiq. It is just off Highway 10 heading towards Abqaiq. After the exit labeled 'Desert Access', there will be a small road that is currently used as a detour due to highway construction. Take the first junction on your right off this detour road (follow the garbage trucks). Drive to the very end of the asphalt road, deflate your tyres before entering the sand. You have to drive off road a bit till you reach N26deg 11'30.9" E049deg 50'52.5".

You can really tell the site not only by the signs of recent digging, sand mounds and desert roses scattered on the ground (rejects from previous excavations), but also from the crackly ground, indicating a very high content of salt/minerals.

Taufik explained to us how we could tell a hole is a good site to search for desert rose. The sand should still be distinctly layered, if not, it means that someone has dug a hold there before. There should also be a layer of crystalized salt in the hole, and the salt also indicates the direction of growth. A thicker layer of cystalized salt would indicate better chances of finding a desert rose.
You really need not dig too deep to find a desert rose. The ones we found lied about 2 feet under the ground. You do have to be careful when you dig though. These crystals has petals that are very fragile and could easily break when you hit it. So once you think you found one, use a spade or even your hand to carefully extract the rock. Brush off the sand using a hand brush, then continue washing off the sand by dunking the rock into water to examine the beauty of the petals.
Mature cystals have really huge petals that could get 6-8inches wide, but immature ones look just like wrinkly rocks. The best ones are of course that has petals that grow in a circular formation and look like roses.

Digging the hole may take a bit of work, but the discovery of a desert rose is thrilling enough to make it rewarding, and actually quite addictive. You end up wanting to dig up more, to find a better one.
If you're not up to digging though, there were plenty of specimens lying around on the ground. They may have been rejected by previous excavators, but as they say, "One man's garbage is another man's treasure". You might find one that you like.

The children really enjoyed digging for desert roses. Usually the dads would start digging a hole, and the kids would then jump in to help in the search. They felt really helpful with their small spades and I'm sure the excitement of finding a desert rose is as exciting to them as to adults. I was humming the theme for Indiana Jones through out the excavation :)
Izani's favourite part was dunking the rocks into the bucket of water and brushing the sand off. I think it was more because he gets to play with water than because he liked to see what it looked like.

TIPS for digging desert roses:
1. You need a 4 wheel drive to go into the desert.
2. Have a tyre pressure gauge and a tyre pump handy. (Though a tyre pump may not be necessary, since you only release 1/3 of the air and it's still safe to drive slowly to the next gas station on asphalt).
3. Bring a big spade for major digging, but small ones for searching for desert rose once you've dug a hole. Also bring a brush to gently brush sand off the rocks.
4. Bring a bucket and a small tank of water to wash the sand off the rocks and also to wash your hands off in the end.
5. Bring a tarp to line your car boot or a box to put your rocks in. It is advisable not to stack your roses on top of each other coz they may break, so if you need to, bring rags/cloth to cushion them.
6. If you're bringing children, bring hats and extra clothes. They will get dirty!
7. The winter is warming up, but we were there from noon till after 2pm and it wasnt that hot. It was bright, but cool. I wouldnt recommend digging during the summer months, and of course when there's a sandstorm. During spring and fall, you might want to schedule your trip for really early in the morning, and never in the afternoon coz you dont want to get stuck in the desert when it starts to get dark.
8. Bring lotsa drinking water and some food if you like. We parked our car against the sun and laid our picnic mat in the shade and had our snacks there.

Note: Desert Roses are considered as national treasures and are restricted from being taken out of the country. It makes a pretty decoration/paper weight while you're living in the country though :)

Next trip on Mission:Travelots - hm... dont know yet.

January 20th 2009

2009-01-21T09:07:00.001+03:00

I just want to remember this day.

When Barack Hussein Obama was giving his inaugaral speech as the 44th President of the United States of America, I had just finished having dinner of Briyani Rice and Honey Chicken with my family, and was sewing Yan's deep purple tudung munah, which from now on I will refer to as "Tudung Obama".

It's a new day indeed.

A Mighty Heart

2009-01-19T09:12:00.002+03:00

Do you remember that song "Video killed the Radio star"?
hm.. maybe you're not that old.
Aaaanyways.
I think Tabloid Killed the Movie Star.

So I watched A Mighty Heart yesterday.
It is actually a very powerful story about the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. But I had trouble suspending my belief for a few moments and feeling sympathy for his wife because I kept thinking about her frolicking around in a trishaw with Brad Pitt.
I managed to do that only at 2 points in the movie -
When she sms-ed "I love you" to him, in the middle of the night, even though she doesnt know if he'll get it.
When she screamed in grief after receiving the news (I had to actually mute my TV because it was too excrutiatingly painful to hear)
I cried both times.

I dont know, if it were not Angelina Jolie, I think I could've absorbed the movie better, but if it were not Angelina Jolie, would this movie get as much attention/promotion as it did?

I think this is why I like actors like Christian Bale and (uhm.. I'm trying to think of an actress that I like that is not over-exposed in the tabloids...) .. Selma Blair. You don't know what's going on with them in real life, so when they play a character on screen, they become believable as that character on screen. When they kiss their on-screen partner, you dont think about their off-screen partner being jealous.
Think about those years when tabloids barely existed. We believed Rock Hudson really loved Doris Day. We believed Cary Grant really loved Audrey Hepburn. We believed James Dean was really a rebel without a cause. We believed John Travolta was a struggling dancer or a teenager with an identity crisis. We believed C. Thomas Howell had big brothers as good looking as Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe.
Now with the onslaught of too much information (on paper, on TV, on-line) about actors off-screen, it is becoming quite difficult to believe them when they are on-screen.

Anyways.
I liked A Mighty Heart. It is a good movie. I would buy and read the book if I have the chance, but I dont know if my heart is mighty enough to endure what she's gone through, even through empathy.

Instead of Complaining, Do Something!

2009-01-12T09:16:00.000+03:00

The hottest current issue right now seems to be the Palestinian-Israeli issue, even though it is not really a new issue, in fact it's an issue that is older than most of us. It only becomes a renewed and hot issue (to the masses) when there is military action going on.
I know it makes some of you feel helpless and angry, and some of you are wondering "Why are there no one doing something?". Well, here I am to tell you to stop wondering and stop feeling helpless, because you CAN do something.

1. You can contact your local red cross/crescent society or Mercy malaysia or malaysians for peace and see if they are organising an aid mission, and find out how you can help out. Sometimes all they need are people who can help man the phones, or make phone calls, or type up reports, or fill up forms, or pack boxes. Help out with anything you can. No job is too small or too menial.

2. If you can afford it, donate some money so that they can fund their mission. No amount is too small.

3. For the same amount of time it takes to finish a Sudoku Challenge game, you can type up a short email directing your friends to the above websites and encourage them to help out in any way they can. For once, use spam for the good of mankind.

4. You can donate your saliva and tell your friends about the above things while you're chatting at the water cooler, coffee corner, kopitiam, waiting for your nasi ayam/goreng pisang at the roadstall.

5. Now, this last point might be a little a difficult for some of you, especially now that money is a little tight. But if you're willing to sacrifice a portion of your salary on this, instead of buying that new blackberry/iPhone or that LV handbag or that set of blueray discs or forgo that trip to that exotic location or new sports rims for your car, I assure it will be extremely rewarding, not just in this life, but even in the afterlife, InsyaAllah.
For as little as RM1640 (or (RM2210 if you want to include some duit raya), you can sponsor a palestinian orphan who is a refugee in Lebanon.
Your money (less than RM200 per month), will allow the child to go to school and get an education so that he/she can better the lives of his/her family. Your money (which you will receive a receipt for and can be deducted from your tax) will help ease the burden of the mother who has lost her husband and now has to support her children with her measly salary as a house cleaner.
You can even make your niat as zakat if you want, thus fulfilling your obligation as a muslim.
Your letters (because you will treat the child like your own child and write him/her letters) will give him/her hope that his/her lives did not end when his/her home was forcefully taken away. It will show them that someone out there, still remembers them, and still cares for them. In return, the child will write to you, and to have a child call you 'mother' or 'father' even though he/she has never met you, is an indescribable feeling.
Your efforts will not be just for palestinians now, but will be for palestinians of the future.
To do this, you can contact the Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, at msri.sponsorship@gmail.com or call (6)03- 4257 8649 .
You can even tell them you heard it from me, if you want. I dont mind at all.
If you think you can't afford to sponsor a child, do number 3. Forward this email to someone who you think can. Or do number 4, tell people that this program exists.

May Allah reward you justly for your efforts.

Ops Jalan Sakan - Duneful Doha

2009-01-11T13:49:00.002+03:00

Part1 of our Ops Jalan Sakan (Mission:Travel-alot) - Duneful Doha

Since we (tentatively) have 6 or 7 months left to our stay here in the Middle East (and we dont know if and when we'll come back again), we decided to launch 'Ops Jalan Sakan' or 'Mission:Travel-alot', where the objective is to explore at least one new part of this peninsula per month.
We decided to launch this mission with a trip to Doha, Qatar for a duneful weekend, right after we got back from our Hajj. Lucky for us, Qataris were having a 3-day weekend starting on Thursday (their weekends usually start on Fridays) so it was just nice for us.

We arrived in Doha just in time for dinner on Wednesday, and woke up really early the next morning to meet up with the rest of the 11-car convoy at Seafront, Doha at 8am. I met other Malaysians in Qatar and was delighted to discover Suria, whose father was good friends with my father in law. We've never met them in Alor Setar, but had to meet them in Qatar, of all places. Taufik deflated our car's tyres to create more traction on the slippery sand of the dunes.

The drive towards Khor Al-Adaid (look it up) wasn't that treacherous. There were plenty of dunes to gett stuck in, but as long as you keep a steady driving speed and dont stop or accelerate suddenly, you shouldnt face any problems. We were lucky to be guided not only by people who have driven there before (and therefore would know the terrain well, or at least have previously proven safe routes stored in their GPS), but also by a local (a friend of one of the malaysians) who showed us a safe route. Driving in the sand dunes on your own is not advisable not only because there would be no one to help you if you get stuck, but also because you can never tell how steep a ridge might be and where they are and you do not want to get caught teetering over one!

We had a picnic by the in-land sea, which is actually a lagoon that creeps in land in between south-eastern-most part of Saudi and the south-western part of the Qatar peninsula. From where we were picnicking, we could see the other side of the lagoon, which is in Saudi territory. I'm sure there's a way to get there from Saudi, but we don't know how and Qatar is 'smaller' and therefore easier to reach Khor Al-Adaid from.
After a picnic of Nasi Lemak and Fried Rice and two types of fried chicken and yummy malaysian cakes, the kids went for a dip into the freezing waters while the parents try to figure out how to adjust the tents and tarpaulins so that it doesnt fly away. When the kids had their fill of splashing about, they changed into dry clothes and rolled around in the sand for a bit while parents took pictures. I noticed that almost every family had an SLR of one model or another. Seems like a trend these days. (Not complaining, just noticing). But when you come to these kinda places, you *would* want to capture the moment the best you could, wouldn't you?

We explored the dunes around the inland sea a little bit more before we decided to head home. We went to the part of the dunes that looks over the lagoon, and on the way back helped a few people who got stuck in the sand. Taufik, whom, I guess, were feeling like this would be the last time he would be able to go dune bashing, tried to hit almost every bump he could find and drive up on the side of dunes just for the thrill of it. When we saw Lollies' husband drive their car down a steep dune, we were hesitant to try at first, but my boys were complaining about how I wish they were in the other car, so I held on to izani, tightened my seatbelts, and said "Rawk On".
As the car neared the edge and the edge dissapeared and all we could see was the sky and the tiny, tiny horizon, I felt like I was at the very top of a very steep rollercoaster ride, except this was not a rollercoaster ride. This was a car that is not secured to any tracks and there was no computer program that created this ride and no engineers manning it and controlling it to make sure nothing bad happens. As the car tilted over the ridge I felt like falling through the windshield and all I could hear were the boys screaming "wooohoooooo!!!!!" (and I think I screamed too, but I wasnt sure it was out of excitement or fear) and Lollies' lover's voice on the walkie talkie telling Taufik to "keep the steering straight keep the steering straight". What felt like forever was actually quite a short ride to the bottom of the dune. Of course someone said "Let's do it again!" but the sun was already setting...

The next day after Friday prayers we had a quick lunch and headed towards the singing dunes.
We drove down Salwa road as if we were driving back to Saudi, then took the exit to "Mesaieed" and drove on until we could finally see some dunes on the flat and barren rocky terrain. We took a junction labelled "Al-Kurrarah" and headed towards the dunes. It was as if someone and carried dump trucks full of sand and just deposited it on a your gravel driveway, coz the area surronding the dunes were really flat and rocky, and suddenly there were piles and piles and piles of orange sand. The kids instinctly climbed the dunes the moment we shut the car engines, and Lollies' kids showed my kids how to create the sound. I didnt hear much at first (maybe coz their butts were too small? ha ha) but when Taufik gave Ilham the carboot tray to try to slide down the slope with, we could distinctly hear a very low pitched sound. It was almost like a mixture between a hum and a drum. The pitch/tone being very low, like produced by hitting the drum, but it was elongated and vibrated, as if you were running your finger over the skin of the drum.

When you try to produce the sound yourself, the sensation is extraordinary. Just simply sliding down doesn't really produce the sound, you'd have to move quite a fair amount of sand and the movement of sand produces a reverbation that felt like it was coming from deep inside the dune itself, and even after you've stopped moving, it will still produce the sound until no more sand is sliding or moving anymore and everything will become quiet again.
The kids climbed up and slid down the huge dune with such ease, that I thought it'd be the same for me, but let me tell you: I found climbing to the top of the dune harder than performing my Hajj! I kept chanting to myself to have faith and keep on trying everytime I took a few steps up slid down a few more steps down and saw that the top is nowhere nearer. My lungs felt like it was about to burst, my legs felt almost numb from the exertion and also from the coldness of the sand, but Ihsan was right there beside me, cheering me on, telling me "You can do it, Bonda!". At last, when I finally reached the top, I was rewarded with the pink, orange and violet hues of the sun setting over the vast undulating sands of the dessert. Too bad I didn't have the camera with me, and there was no way I would slide down and climb back up to take the picture! After taking in the view, I race down with Ihsan, and was joined halfway in by Lollies, our ample behinds vibrating the sand and giving out hums that I bet, would have echoed loud enough to wake up any scorpinoxes or sandworms lying asleep beneath the dunes.

The evening was colder than we expected it to be, but luckily I married a boy scout who could start a fire using whatever burning material we could find and the car cigarette lighter. Plus, he's much cuter than Bear Grylls, if you ask me. *wink* We happily gathered around the campfire and shared whatever cold food and hot drink that was left and exchanged riddles and jokes, before we packed up and headed for some hot and yummy Thai food.

All in all, it was a duneful weekend and we still had sand in our shoes a week after we got back. Qatar certainly has a lot to offer if you look hard enough. I think I need to plan another trip, maybe this time to explore Zikreet ? :)

slow and bumpy start

2009-01-07T11:30:00.004+03:00

I hope it's not too late to wish everyone Happy New Hijrah year 1430 and Gregorian Year 2009!

This year started a little bumpy.

My internet is intermittent :P, really killing my mood to blog.
I got a little sick on new year's day, perhaps due to my over enthusiasm of having a few Hajis and Hajjahs over for a potluck high tea. After almost a week, my nose is still blocked and I am still coughing a bit, but at least I'm not woozy all the time.
Then I heard about someone who barely know me accusing me of talking bad about her behind her back and that she'd never forgive me ever.
wth.I dont know whether it's true (that she thinks of me that way) because the last time I met her she seemed okay and friendly, and this piece of news did not come from the horse's mouth.
I dont know what to make of it.
Perhaps this is my punishment for reading so much piah before I went for Hajj. (Tu lah dia.. seronok sangat baca orang lain mengutuk orang lain, sekarang kita pulak kena kutuk.. mmmrasakan!)

In other news though,
I am determined to get meself a sewing machine!!
I have set my eyes on a bernina, but I havent visited the shop yet coz of the cold weather and my health. Thinking of asking a friend to come along and help me choose, coz I know zilch about sewing machines.
We have officially launched Ops Jalan Sakan (Operation Travel Lots). It started with that trip to Qatar (I will blog about it soon, I promise!). We're trying to go somewhere interesting and new at least once a month, if health and weather permits. I already have a Desert Rose expedition in Abqaiq, visit to oasis in Hofuf, visit to Old Diriyah in Riyadh, camping in Udailiyah and the week-long road trip to UAE and Oman in our list. Insya-Allah, we'll explore this peninsula as much as we can before we move back home!

So what's up with you?

always be my baby

2008-12-28T15:22:00.001+03:00

When your husband tells you "You will always be my baby", it doesn't matter that he's not crooning or strumming a guitar, you still melt.

cair babe...

Hajj Tips

2008-12-23T12:19:00.003+03:00

I better write this before I forget.

Unlike Hajj packages from Malaysia that usually covers 45 days of travel to and stay in Makkah, Arafah, Muzdalifah, Mina and Madinah, the Hajj package from Al-Hamra (the name of the company) that we took covered only 9 days of travel and stay in Makkah, Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina. Basically our package were specifically for Hajj, and does not include extra ibadah.
Our itinerary:
We left Dammam in our ihrams on Thursday 4th December (6th Dzulhijjah), completed our Umrah by Friday morning (5th December, 7th Dzulhijjah). We took off our ihrams (we did Haji Tammatu') and rested for a day in a school-turned-into-hostel in Awali (in between Makkah and Mina) before putting on our ihrams for the Hajj proper on the 6th December (8th DzulHijjah), and prepare for a very long day ahead of us.
We left our hostel for Arafah before fajr on 7th December (9th DzulHijjah) and left it by maghrib (sundown). We were tested by heavy traffic and only arrived Muzdalifah after midnight, so we just drove through and arrived in Makkah at about 4am on 8th December (10th DzulHijjah), did our Tawaf Ifadah, solat fajr, did our saei, solat Eid ul-Adha, then Taufik shaved his head. We then returned to our hostel to pack for Mina.
We left for Mina after Asr, and did the stoning of the big pillar (Jamratul Aqobah). We stayed in Mina on the 9th, 10th of December (11th, 12th DzulHijjah) to stone the 3 pillars, and left after Dzuhr on the 11th December (13th Dzulhijjah) after stoning the 3 pillars for the last time. Went back to the hostel to pack our bags so that they could be sent ahead of us to the airport. We left our hostel and headed for Makkah for our Tawaf Wida' (farewell tawaf) in the middle of the night, then headed for the airport right after. We arrived home on the 12th December (14th DzulHijjah).

I imagine that the itinerary for pilgrims from Malaysia will be quite similar during the 5-6 days of Hajj. You will be travelling between Makkah, Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina, and your schedule will be quite packed on the 9th and 10th Dzulhijjah, with respite only on the 11th, 12th and 13th days of DzulHijjah.

Here are some tips I would like to share with regards to those 5-6 days:

1. Drink lots and lots of water.
I know you'll be afraid that it will make you want to go to the toilet often and you're afraid if the toilet facilities will be bad, but drink away! Your body will lose water in other ways (sweating, and from reciting the Qur'an and dzikr), so dont worry about overloading your bladder. If you do have to go to the toilet, pray to Allah so that it will be easy.

2. Carry Pocket/Purse sized Tissues, WetWipes, Vaseline, Spray Bottle, your favourite cough drops and Snickers, all in a small sling bag.
These are essential and will make your journey more comfortable. The tissues&wetwipes are really good for quick clean-ups and freshening up. The Vaseline can be used to maintain moisture on any part of the body (especially your lips! Lots of reciting/supplicating will make your lips dry). If you cant find a travel size vaseline, a non-perfumed chapstick will do. I carry a spray bottle of clean water (fill it up with zam-zam if you like) so that i can make wudhu' anytime, anywhere. Suck on a cough drop the moment your throat start to feel scratchy. Eat a snicker to stave off the hunger pangs.
I carry this sling bag everywhere I go. Also in this sling bag were my handphone, some money, a credit card, my insurance card, a copy of our iqama , a copy of our hajj registration, a pair of socks, and a small book of supplications.

3. Have a backpack that can fit 3 days' clothes.
I used this backpack for our trip to Arafah-Muzdalifah-Makkah and our 3-day stay in Mina. It is easy to carry, especially if it just so happens that you have to get off the bus and walk to your destination.

4. Layer your clothes.
The weather can be quite erratic, so if you're not sure if it's going to be cold, make sure you bring layers of clothes instead of thick items. Bring one thick jacket/cardigan/shawl if you have to, and underneath them use layers. I wore my abaya everytime I went out, so on cold days/times I wore thermals underneath them, on warm days I wore a thin t-shirt. On the last day, when we stoned the 3 jamrats right after Dzuhr, I wore my abaya like a dress. Bring socks, wear 2 pairs if it gets cold. (Note: Pullover abayas/jubahs are recommended as opposed to button-front ones.)

5. Tawaf/Saei with gripped socks.
You know them socks with rubber dots on the soles? Just like the ones for babies but these are for adults? They are really good for tawaf and saei. Masjidil Haram's marble floors can be quite cold and normal socks are slippery so these socks give you some grip and the extra friction makes it less tiring.

6. If you can, have your MP3 player filled with Qur'an translation.
I really should've bought an iPod lah. I only had a few selected surahs on my phone. I found it really helpful, especially when it's not conducive to read (i.e. in the bus, at night, noisy surroundings, you've lost your wudhu'). The translation helps you understand the meaning of the surahs. I got my surahs with English Translation from www.dhikrullah.com.

7. Write your supplications (dua) in a small notebook (buku tigalima).
I wrote all my supplications in a small flip-over notebook so that I don't forget, but I found flipping over a little cumbersome. I think a regular notebook (that flips left/right) would be much much easier to hold and flip as you move along.

8. Take your medicines.
You don't know what's gonna happen, so no matter how confident you are about your health or biological cycles, take your medicine! You do not want to fall sick during these 5 days.

9. Do lots of dzikr and supplications.
Take this time to really remember the Almighty and all that He has given you and reflect upon yourself. 'Istiqamah' bak kata lollies.. :)
Rasa macam rugilah pulak bila dah susah-susah pegi buat haji, tapi membazir masa buat benda lain... :P (Especially for me lah, since I feel like this is my last chance to buat haji).

I'm sure there are more tips.. feel free to share. Hopefully I can go again and make full use of the tips here :)

Hajj Moon

2008-12-13T12:35:00.003+03:00

Which one is the moon?

This was taken on the rooftop of Masjidil Haram, Makkah, early morning (1:30am) of 14th DzulHijjah, after we completed our Tawaf Wida' (farewell tawaf).
My husband's bald head has grown a stubble by then (he shaved it on eid morning, 10th Dzulhijjah), but I think it was still shining as bright and is shaped as round as the moon. ha ha.
We didnt lug our SLR during this trip, so, excuse the picture quality.

Hajj Lessons

2008-12-13T11:54:00.003+03:00

Alhamdulillah, I am back home safely.

If you don't mind, I won't be writing much on my experience. Not because I dont want to share, but because I am afraid if I write too much, I would be prone to riak (boasting?) or might induce other people to make fitnah from misconception.

But I do would like to share this:
Performing the Hajj is truly like going to battle. You leave your family behind, you take along only the essentials and you make do with whatever we have.
But the battle is not only physical, it was also emotional, psychological and spiritual.
I believe that Allah gives you lessons to learn everyday, irregardless of whether you are on Hajj or not, but somehow during that period, perhaps due to the situation, lessons seems to be more intense and you are somewhat forced to learn it.

I learned a very shocking thing about myself during this hajj.
I learned that even though I consider myself to be a very open minded, understanding and polite person, deep down inside I am actually very presumptuous and judgemental.
My mom's main advice to me was to watch what I say and to try to keep my mouth shut and refrain from giving my opinion whenever I feel the need to (for she surely knows her daughter well). I did not heed my mother's advice. I admonished someone close to me for being judgemental, only to realize that I myself was being judgemental of her. I hurt her feelings and was wrecked with guilt until I approached her for forgiveness. Truly we are meant to be friends, because she forgave me, masya-Allah.

I realize that each and everyone who went for the hajj has their own private battles and private lessons to learn. You really need to learn the lesson on your own, no one is going to take you aside and point out to you what you need to learn. Being confined in terms of space and schedule really force you to really look into yourself and discover and think about who you really are and what you want to become.
They tell you to do alot of dzikr and reading the Qur'an and think about Allah, and even though you do it for Allah, I discovered that all those actually benefited me more than I can explain. It kept me away from doing wrong things, it reminded me of what was important in life, and masya-Allah, I even found a verse that provided a solution to a dillema that I have been struggling with for most of my life. Truly, Allah is great.
Even when I thought a situation is bad, friends all around remind me that Allah is All-knowing and he's trying to teach me a lesson, I think about Allah and try to find the lesson in the bad situation, and Alhamdulillah, I got through it.
I never understood it when people come back from Hajj say they had a 'beautiful experience', but now I do. Masya-Allah.

Insya-Allah, I have prayed for all of you to have peace, happiness and good health.
May Allah grant my prayers and accept my hajj. Amin.

p/s I'd do another post on tips for Hajj (i.e. what to bring, what to do). But maybe in a few days, okay, coz I still need to do laundry then pick up my kids (Gosh, I missed them so much!!)

Preparing Myself - Ready to go

2008-12-04T12:04:00.002+03:00

Alhamdulillah, I think I have everything I need.
I leave everything else to Allah.

Please pray for the safety of my children.
Please pray for Hajj that is mabrur (accepted by Allah) and a safe return, for my husband and I.

my number is on my FB account if you have last minute requests for me to make du'a for you.
Insya-Allah, I will pray for all my family and friends, happiness, health and baraqah, and if you are a muslim (or will be become one in the future), I will also pray that you will get the opportunity to perform your own Hajj & Umrah.
Insya-Allah.

p/s thankyou for all the well wishes and advice you have given me via this blog, FB, email and sms.. forgive me if I have not had time to reply to you.

Preparing Myself - Leaving the kids

2008-12-04T11:30:00.002+03:00

I've been preparing the kids about being away for us for 10 days since the day we decided to go for Hajj (about 2,3 months ago). I consulted them on who they would like to stay with. I told them why I needed to go and why I couldn't bring them along like when we were going to Umrah. I briefed them on what was the acceptable and expected behaviour at someone else's house (make the bed, clean up messes, help wash dishes, take care of your own laundry). I told them to pray for my safety after they solat. I also told them that their dad is going to come back home with a surprise (bald head). They keep urging to me to tell them what it will be, but Taufik and I said it wouldnt be a suprise if I told them.

Izani had been watching me pack these last few weeks and he's been asking me
"Yee goin?" (Where are you going?) and I've been telling him I was going to Makkah and when he says "I wan go makah" (I want to go to Makkah) I would tell him "You will stay with Auntie Ana, and I'd tell him he'd get to eat currypuffs and watch TV and watch Ben10 and Dinosaurs and he was happy with the response.

So yesterday we sent the kids to Kak Ana and Ahmad Shah's house. We spent about 3 hours there, assuring ample time for the kids to know the family and their kids, telling them how to prepare Izani's milk, what my kids like/dont like to eat and such. Kak Ana and Ahmad Shah have been helping to take care of people's kids many times before, so I was assured that my kids will be safe.

When it was time to say goodbye, Anis and Ilham came and hugged me tight. Ihsan, however, was bawling his eyes out. He was asking why he could go with me, he promised he'd be good and would hold tightly to my hand so that he wouldnt get lost. I tried to explain to him why I thought it would be dangerous for him to come along, but yet I was also reluctant to tell him of all the dangers coz I was worried if he would think that his parents would be in danger. SO I tried to appease him by telling Ilham to let Ihsan play with the computer. Ihsan finally calmed down after Taufik gave him 10riyals for pocket money. hee hee.

Izani ...
was totally hunky dory! He kissed me, hugged me and said "I laf yew bodha" (I love you Bonda) and went back to eat his carrot. When I was waving the kids goodbye as we drove away, Izani was all smiles and waving at me "bye bye, bye bye!".
Sheesh.

I didn't cry.

Until it was time for bed, and I was checking my alarm on my phone and saw izani's face on the screen saver.
dang.
I lay in bed looking at the empty spot in between Taufik and I where Izani usually sleeps, and I could almost feel him hugging me and his tiny peck on my lips as he would say "goo nite bodha, i laf yew bodha". I could smell his lotion and powder on my pillow.
I lost it then.
I asked Taufik whether he thought the kids would be asleep then. We had been re-packing our bags so it was almost 11:30pm, so Taufik said it'd be too late to call.
*sigh*

I called them at 9am this morning.
Izani was still asleep, only Ilham wanted to talk to us. Ihsan and Anis was at the computer and couldnt care less.

hokay.
One less worry on my mind.
Now, concentrate on hajj!

Preparing Myself - 4 days to go.

2008-12-01T12:53:00.003+03:00

So ..
logistic wise, everything is confirmed.
We're leaving on 4th Dec (Thursday, 6th Dzul-Hijjah), coming back on the 12th (14th Dzul-Hijjah).
We'll be performing Umrah (Tawaf Qudum & Saei) at Masjidil Haram the night we arrive, then only go to our hostel. We'll be staying in Awali, a suburb of Makkah, for the 2days.
On the 7th (9th DzulHijjah), we'll move after fajr to Arafah and spend most of the day there. After maghrib we'll make a move to Muzdalifah.
After midnight on the 8th (10th DzulHijjah), we'll leave Muzdalifah and head for masjidil Haram and perform our Tawaf ifadhah and saei and tahallul and be free of our ihrams. (Taufik is going to shave his head! eeeps!!)
In the afternoon we'll leave for Mina to stone Jamratul Aqobah, then rest for the night at the camp.
We'll spend the 9th (11th DzulHijjah) in Mina, hopefully using up the battery on my handphone reading Qur'an and reciting dzikir, insya-Allah, then stone the 3 jamrats after Isya'.
On the 10th (12th Dzulhijjah), after fajr, we'll return to Awali, or maybe not, depending on the camp conditions in Mina (if it's comfortable, we may just stay). If we do go back to Awali, we will travel to Mina at night to stone the 3 Jamrats for the 2nd time, and spend the last night there.
On the 11th (13th DzulHijjah), we will stone the 3 jamrats after dzuhr, for the last time, then head for Makkah for Tawaf Wida'. That night we will head for Taif Airport.
Our flight will leave Taif at 7:30am and arrive Dammam around 11:00am, Insya-Allah.

I have packed my bags. I've bought socks and other essentials. I have sewn a few slip on tudungs. All I still need is a cardigan, and a small bag for the nights in Mina.
I have written all the du'a-s everyone have asked to make for them. I have yet to write down my own (and list everyone who have passed that I want to pray be placed in jannah).
I have downloaded dzikrs and some surahs with translation into my phone for me to listen to while on the bus or if I feel like sewing instead of reading.

I still have not finished writing down my will. I am procrastinating for some reason.

My kids will be staying with a family friend. They have 4 children of their own, 3 of which are older girls. The wife is a good cook and she loves to cook, so I am assured that my kids wont go hungry. Incidently they will also be taking care of 4 other children from a friend of ours who are coming with us, so they will have 12 children in their house! Allah bless their souls for being so kind and helpful in our time of need!
I havent packed their bags, will do that on Wednesday. I have written a note to their teachers to excuse them on Wednesday (It's the last day of school anyways).
Still need to buy cereal and snacks for the kids.
I have bought activity books for them to use so that they dont get bored.
I have trained Ilham to basuh bontot izani.

I have been dilligent in my solat and making sure I do it on time.
I have performed Solat Tawbah.
I have sent an email to a friend whom I felt I have wronged. She forgave me.
I have called my mom and family to ask for forgiveness. I will call my dad on Thursday before I leave. He always knows how to assure me.
I have stopped reading piahzadora and pray I will not go there again.

hm.. so why do I still feel like I am not ready?
It's normal to feel nervous, yes?

fishing for ideas

2008-11-23T10:38:00.007+03:00

Hypothetically speaking lah kan,
if I am compiling my easy peasy recipes into a book,
what (which or what kind of recipes) would you like to see in it
and into what categories should I divide them into?
Would you like pictures?

P/s
please take a moment to vote on my poll ------------------------>
p/p/s
If you think my recipes suck, please do leave a comment on why it does and how it can be improved.
Dont be a d*ck when people are trying to be productive.

Easy Peasy No Bake Chilled Cheesecake

2008-11-20T15:13:00.004+03:00

I made this for Neeza's birthday, and was planning to go to Jubayl to give it to her, but unfortunately Taufik had to work, so we had to cancel the trip :P (Sorry Neeza! Next time, eh?)

Caught Nigella making this on TV but I didnt have time to write down the recipe so I just winged it. Turned out not so bad, except for the topping which was too sweet. Next time I'd use fresh fruits or maybe just drizzle chocolate over it.
The texture of this cheesecake was really light and smooth and not so rich. You probably have to serve it chilled though, because it doesnt use any gelatine.

Easy Peasy No-Bake Chilled Cheesecake

Ingredients
10-12 Marie biscuits (Nigella used digestives)
2 tbsp soften butter/margerine
2 tbsp ground almonds, with 1/2 tbsp extra
300g pack of philly cream cheese @room temp
1/2 cup icing sugar (more if you like your cheesecake sweet)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp lemon juice (more if you like your cheesecake tart)
1 cup whipping cream (I used vegetable whip topping)
Fruit topping (I used 3tbsp mixed fruit jam which is waaaay too sweet for me)

Method
Brush sides of a round 8" springform pan with butter, then sprinkle some ground almonds, shake to distribute evenly and remove excess.
In a food processor, ground biscuits then mix with 2tbsp butter and 2tbsp ground almonds, to form crumblike dough. Press biscuit mixture on the bottom of springform pan. Leave to chill in the fridge while you prepare filling.
In a bowl, mix well cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla essence and lemon juice. In another bowl, whip cream till soft peaks form (not stiff).
Fold cream into cheese mixture till well incorporated.
Pour filling into spring form pan.
Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
To serve, run a knife on the sides of spring form pan before releasing the cheesecake.
Top with your favourite fruit (I carefully spreaded a thin layer of jam)

Notes:
I find the layer of ground almonds on the sides help ease the release of the cake.
I also made my own cake board (the size of my spring form pan) so that i dont have to serve my cake in the bottom of my spring form pan. That also helped in making it easier to remove the cake.
I dont know how long this cake can last outside of the fridge. So far mine have been out for 2 hours and it's still standing.

Happy trying and tell me how yours turn out!

Bus Rants

2008-11-19T13:31:00.002+03:00

I just need to vent this out.

My kids go to school with the bus service provided by the compound. We mothers of the children that go to school on that bus take turns to become the bus monitors. Bus Monitors have to make sure that children are following the rules to ensure their safety, i.e. take attendance (to make sure no child is left behind), put their seat belts on, no eating/drinking in the bus (though I do allow them to drink water during the hot summer months), no shouting, verbal/physical abuse or bad language on the bus.

Today I get a call from the bus coordinator (she's like the 'head' of the bus monitors lah), telling me that the management asked her to remind us of the bus rules and remind us to enforce the bus rules. I agree with all the bus rules accept for one - in the past few months my children have been complaining that they are not even allowed to TALK in the bus.
My children get stressed out every time they have to go to school (especially if they see that the bus monitor on duty is going to be one of these two particular moms) because they know it's gonna be 2 long boring, rigid bus ride to/from school.
I mean, these are children, and you expect them not to talk? come on.
I argued this point with the bus coordinator, and she says it's distracting the bus driver, and she pointed out that I seem to be the only one who's complaining about this rule. She said the kids need to only keep quiet for 20 to 30 minutes, that's all. Knowing my kids (and myself), keeping quiet for even 5 minutes is torture! Especially when you've just come back from school, and looking forward to chucking your books and playing outside. Especially when you're sitting next to your friend.

Am I really the only one who thinks this rule is too much?
Or am I being unreasonable about it?

How can I implement this rule when I don't believe in it?
If I flout it, I would be setting a bad anti-establishment example to my kids. But if I enforce it, I'd be going against my own principles.

Perhaps I need to find a way around it.
Teach the kids (not just mine, mind you, the whole bus!) how to have fun, without talking (too loud). Whispering game? hm.. maybe that would actually work.
*light bulb*

Easy Peasy Poutine

2008-11-18T14:02:00.003+03:00

Declare your diets over, girlfriends. This is absolutely, sinfully yummy, and so easy to make, you and your kids would want it ever.ry.day.

The first time I heard of poutine was on PB's blog.
Being a person who's easily tergoda (tempted) by anything remotely edible (especially if it's cheesy), I googled for the recipe. Turns out they are pretty easy to make. You only need fries, cheese curds and some kinda gravy. I can do the fries part. I can even wing the some kinda gravy part. The cheese curd part was a little tricky, but via the wonders of the book of face, i got a tip from an authentic Canadian that I could subtitute it with mozarella cheese (Thanx, Ben!).

My first attempt at poutine turned into chilli cheese fries instead.
A few nights a go, entah apa dia mimpi malam tu, Taufik asked me to make steak for dinner. To go with the steak, I made mashed potatoes, and to go with the taters, I made some mushroom gravy. I had some leftover mushroom gravy and the first thing that popped in my head was "Poutine!".

Here's the recipe for the mushroom gravy (you can omit the mushroom if you're not a fan, then you'd end up with just gravy).

Easy Peasy Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients
1 tbsp cooking oil or butter
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
a handful of mushrooms roughly chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
1 cup stock (Chicken, beef, vegetable, whatever you like)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Heat oil/butter and saute garlic, onions and mushrooms in a saucepan till wilted.
Add in flour, saute till flour is brown.
Pour in stock and bring to a boil while stirring.
Add salt and pepper to taste , let simmer to desired thickness.

I kept the leftover gravy in an airtight contaner in the fridge.
Of course you could always modify the recipe to suit your taste. Omit mushrooms, add other spices (curry powder?), add a little dark soy sauce for coloring, or a little sugar for sweetness. To each, his own.

Easy Peasy Poutine

Ingredients
Frozen fries
Mozarella cheese (cut into small pieces or shredded)
Prepared gravy

Method
Prepare fries per instructions on package.
Heat up gravy.
Place hot fries in a serving bowl/plate.
Sprinkle as much cheese as you like.
Pour hot gravy on top.
Let sit for a few minutes for cheese to melt a bit and fries to soak up gravy.
Dig in!

I used shredded mozarella because I think they are easier to 'spread around' on the fries. I cant even begin to describe how the creamy and salty flavours meld together, or how the crunchiness of the fries, the gooey-ness of the melted cheese and the silky gravy just overloads your senses. Some fries got soggy, of course, but it's okay, coz it was soggy with yummeh gravy.
I can imagine sitting with a big bowl of this with my girlfriends and moaning with ecstasy with each mouthful, just like we did the first time we shared a bowl of beef queso.
Simply put, YUM!

PB, you MUSTI cuba ni!

today ...

2008-11-16T15:44:00.000+03:00

She would have been 37.

Does the grief ever end?

Saudi Moon

2008-11-15T11:44:00.005+03:00

Dedicated to RotiKacangMerah.
(If you dont know yet, cik lin kita ni likes to collect pictures of full moons)

We saw this moon on our way back from our daily walk (in preparation for Hajj)(Maklumlah, kita dah gumux dan lama tak exercise) last Thursday.
When we(read: Taufik) were taking this picture, we heard a whirring sound from the back of the houses and saw these smoke columns billowing up. Rupa-rupa nya diorang tengah buat fogging kat luar.
"Ambik gambaq cepat!!" I told taufik and he took a picture before the smoke engulfed the moon, thus catching it in this thriller-like creepy looking pose.

I wish I had a zoom lense.. the moon looks so small in pictures. :P

Kita beri laluan untuk iklan..

2008-11-11T14:10:00.004+03:00

(Click for bigger picture)

Maybe some of you would be interested.
You can also contact my good friend Haslina at haslina@yapeim.net.my for the forms to fill out and details on how payments can be made.

Jazakallah-hu-khairan.

Easy Peasy Ayam Percik

2008-11-10T18:34:00.005+03:00

Dedicated to Nazrah

"Ayam Percik" ("Ayam" - are-yum is chicken, "Percik" - purrrrr-cheek is sprinkle/spatter) is the East Coast Malaysian version of barbecue chicken. Instead of a spicy, tangy and sweet sauce though, they use a spicy, creamy, sweet and sour sauce to marinade, and to baste the chicken with.
If you try and g00gle for the recipe, you'd find many many versions of the recipe, ranging from complicated to easy. The one I'm using is one of the easier ones coz as you all may be aware, I am a lazy cook and is always looking for shortcuts. This one is actually based on my mom's recipe for the sambal tumis nasi kerabu (the gravy that goes with rice eaten with salad of a combination of leaves, shoots and herbs). The ingredients are easy enough to find, and it requires very few steps, but on the scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the easiest), I would prolly rate this as a 6, because it does require a little bit of patience to wait for the gravy to thicken up and cook properly.
The result, however, is worth it ;)

Easy Peasy Ayam Percik

Ingredients
5 dried chillies (you may use chipotle if you like, soaked in warm water to soften)
5 shallots
2 cloves garlic
a thick sliver of fresh garlic
1 can (about 2 cups) coconut milk
1 chicken stock cube (or 1/2 cup of chicken stock)
one lemon grass (only use bottom 5 inch, bruise with the back of a knife)
1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp sugar
1 medium sized chicken cut into quarters or eighths.

Method
Blend or pound chillies, shallots, garlic and ginger.
In a saucepot, combine all ingredients except chicken and stir to mix well.
Bring to a boil then add in chicken.
Let simmer till chicken is 3/4 cooked.
Take out chicken pieces with a thong, set aside and prepare griller/broiler.
Simmer gravy till it is thick and oil starts to break out.
Baste chicken pieces with gravy and grill/broil till chicken is done, turning once and basting it again.
Serve with remaining gravy.
Can be eaten with rice or bread.

Ayam Percik with Almost Nasi Kerabu

I had my ayam percik with white rice, a salad of thinly sliced long beans and water convulvus, and crispy fish crackers. It was only a sambal ikan & kelapa short of nasi kerabu, but it was enough to satisfy a rambler away from home like me ;)

Edited to add:
To make sambal nasi kerabu, subtitute chicken stock with ikan bilis stock or 1/4 cup budu (or anchovy sauce).
This sauce also goes well with fish.

Preparing Myself

2008-11-08T14:11:00.003+03:00

I'm preparing myself for hajj. It excites me, yet scares me. I'm excited that I will be able to carry out the 5th pillar of my religion, but I am scared if something happens and I will not be able to do it for some reason. I am scared that even if I was able to do it, it is not 'as good' as others.

I keep thinking of things that I have done wrong, or I have not yet done (like, bila nak start ganti puasa nih? isy isy isy). I keep thinking about what if I had unintentionally hurt someone's feelings through my jokes or sessi menyakat or if I am tak sedar diri ter-mulut laser... will that bear weight on my hajj? Will some sins i've commited in the past be my obstacle to my journey?
Then again, I've managed to do my umrah before, so perhaps I should be confident, that I will once again be accepted to be a guest in His 'house'?

Sometimes I feel the need to distract myself and while I'm clicking on sudoku numbers I tell myself have faith have faith, don't get discouraged by your fears, just do your best, he is Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim, loving and forgiving. You take one step towards God, and He will repay you ten-fold if not more. Right?

Easy Peasy Chilli Cheese Fries

2008-11-03T13:40:00.003+03:00

I was drooling over PB's post about poutine yesterday, and decided to make some myself.
Unfortunately, I couldnt find cheese curds at the grocery store, and I had been craving for chilli con carne for a while now, so I thought I'd make chilli cheese fries instead. (In respect of my canadian friends, I won't even call it poutine).
I used this brand of seasoned french fries that is the name of a presidential candidate.
I made chilli using this recipe, except I omitted the beans and cheese sauce.
I grated some cheddar cheese and mixed it with grated mozarella.

I started making the chilli right after I had put the fries in the oven, and it was done by the time the fries were crispy.
Ladeled the chilli over the fries and sprinkled a really generous amount of cheese. YUM.
I had to eat these with a fork.

Layers of sin. Try not to think about the calories.

If I'm lucky, I'd have some chilli leftover so that I can eat it with corn chips tomorrow!

Easy Peasy Chunky Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

2008-10-31T08:20:00.003+03:00

Got this recipe from Lily, on faceb00k.
I usually use the box mix from b3tty cr0cker, so I never really bothered with making brownies from scratch before, but Lily's looked so easy and so yummeh, I just had to try it.
I modified the recipe a bit because I think 2 cups of sugar is just a little too much, and I had a hankering for dark chocolate and I had some peanut butter to finish off. I also modified the method a bit because I only have one measuring cup and I wanted to use it without washing it too often.

Easy Peasy Chunky Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 cups sugar (I just use granulated sugar)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter (or smooth, or more, if you like)
200gram of your favourite dark chocolate bar (cut into chunks)

Method
Preheat oven to 350degFarenhite. Grease, flour and/or line the bottom of 9"X9" square pan or 11" round baking pan.
In a bowl, mix well flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cocoa powder.
In another bowl, mix well oil and eggs.
Add flour mix into oil+egg mix bit by bit and stir to mix well. Add vanilla and peanut butter and stir till well incorporated (you dont see peanut butter streaks anymore).
Fold in chocolate chunks.
Pour into baking pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until your cake tester (read: toothpick) comes out clean.
Let cool completely before cutting.

Like Lily said, this is a very good recipe to make with your kids. Anis helped me make mine, by mixing the flour and then later mixing the batter. Since my method requires two bowls, you can have 2 kids helping with each bowl if you want.
This recipe was so quick to make, by the time I was done measuring and mixing, I still had a few more minutes to wait before my oven was properly preheated.

The result was a brownie that wasn't too sweet, and had all the different yummeh tastes, textures and dwarves - chocolatey, sweetie, salty, softy, chewy, gooey and crunchy.

I had cut mine into half inch squares and put it in a paper cup because:
1. I do not have a square pan so I used a round pan instead, but brownies just dont look good in wedges.
2. I wanted to bring it to a party and felt guilty about it being so easy peasy so I felt the need to put in the extra effort.
3. I wanted to make it look less threatening to the waist for the lady guests who were watching what they eat.

Try it out with your family and friends! ;)

Side Story:
To tell you the truth, my brownies didn't cook properly at first. After 20 minutes in the oven, I found out that my batter was still wobbly. It was as if it wasn't cooking at all! I checked the oven dial to make sure I had set it properly, and it was. I thought maybe it was because I had added peanut butter, so I decided to let it bake for another 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes it still wasn't cooked! I started to think that I had contracted the Nazrah Baking Curse (Sorry Nazrah!). It was less than 2 hours to the party and my brownie wasnt done, and I still needed to let it cool, then cut it, then put them in paper cups then take pictures... I was starting to panic. But I calmed myself down, put on my engineer hat and started to think about how this could happen.
The only reasons a cake would not cook well is if there's too much moisture in the batter, or if there's not enough heat in the oven. I had not added too much extra liquid (a mere 4 tbsp of peanut butter couldn't have done this much harm!), so it must be insufficient heat. The thermostat is saying 350degrees, so the heat must be escaping somehow. I checked the oven door and I discovered it was skewed, and was not closing properly. I had to adjust it a bit to close it properly, and after 20 minutes of baking with the door properly closed, voila, my brownie was done! (Though the edges were kinda hard and crusty, my kids just happily ate those bits).
I've got to call the maintenance folks to fix my oven. If I'm lucky, I might even get a new one! woo hoooo!

Anis the Scarecrow

2008-10-29T08:24:00.003+03:00

I don't really 'celebrate' Halloween. It's not in my culture (nor religion) and I don't really believe in it. I also don't like the idea of giving children cavities. I mean, how is it that you tell them "not too much candy" on other days, but then shower them with candy on this one day? No wonder they're confused.

Every year towards the end of October though, kids in KeyStage1 (ages 4 to 7) at my children's school gets a letter that they get to wear costumes to school on the very last day of the very last week. The idea of going to school in normal clothes itself excites the children, what more costumes! So for a few weeks in October, I get bugged with costume ideas and whines about why they cant go to school as this, or that.
I try to play it down, make them wear their normal clothes and tell them they are a librarian or an army guy in covert operation so they must be disguised in plainclothes. Last year Anis wore her lacy kebaya from bandung and I stuck a fake plastic crown on her head and told her she's a Malaysian princess.

This year Anis wanted to be a princess again, because (whine) "But Hanna's going to be a princess!!!!". I balked at the idea. I mean.. I dont want her to stereotype herself. I actually thought of getting her a hardhat and make her go as a drilling engineer. But I'm too lazy to go look for a small hardhat.
So looking at stuff I had around the house and her existing clothes, I suggested to Anis that she could be a scarecrow. She was excited enough to not bug me everyday with her "What can I wear? What can I wear?".

She went to school today looking like this:

The overalls, long sleeve t-shirt and hat were all from her closet.
I cut up square pieces from remnants of the baju kurung & dress I made her (I swear, I wont mention it again), and sewed them on the overall and tshirt with exagerrated stitching to look like patches.
I cut up strips from yellow plastic bag, tied them on rubber bands to create 'straw' bracelets for her hands and feet. The same strips of yellow plastic bag were also used to line the hat to make it look like it was filled with straw.
This morning I braided her hair, put some foundation on her face, and drew the scarecrow smile, eyes and nose.

She was so happy!
As I watched her walk to the bus, her friend Hanna was dropped off by her dad. I could hear her scream excitedly to Hanna, "I'm a scarecrow!!"
I hope she has fun in school.

Mee Kari Leftover

2008-10-27T13:39:00.002+03:00

As you may or may not know, I have this habit of using last night's leftovers to make lunch for my kids and I. It's not only environmentally friendly (reduce waste, re-use), it is also economical and time-saving. I don't need to throw away food, I save money on groceries, and I cut my cooking time by at least half.
Every night after dinner, I would look at what i have left and plan for tomorrow's lunch. Sometimes I don't even plan, I just stuff everything into tupperwares inside the fridge, then look at what I have the next day, and try to figure out what to make for lunch. Most of the time, dishes turn into fried rice or porridges or sandwiches. Some time though, like today, I would hit the jackpot.
Yesterday I made goreng pisang (banana fritters) and had leftover batter. I fried the leftover batter into crunchy bits. I made fried chicken and vegetable soup for dinner and had some leftover. Looking at the fried chicken and crunchy fritter batter, I instantly thought of Lollies and had a craving for mee kari (curry noodles).

How to turn your leftover soup into curry gravy for noodles

1 pot of leftover soup (chicken/vegetable/fish)
5 shallots
2 pips garlic
half an inch fresh ginger
half an inch galangal (lengkuas)
2 tbsp curry powder
more water/stock if needed
coconut milk (1/2 cup, or more if you like your gravy thick)
meat/prawns/fish ball or tofu if there's not enough 'stuff' in your leftover soup.
salt to taste

Slice shallots, garlic and ginger into thin strips. In a frying pan, saute in a little bit of oil till fragrant.
Add a little liquid from soup, then add curry powder and galangal. Saute till a thin film of oil rises to the top (add more soup if it gets too dry).
Add into soup, add water/stock/liquid if necessary, bring to a boil.
Add meat and coconut milk, bring to a boil.
Taste and season as desired.
Serve with noodles (egg noodles, rice noodles or spaghetti) and garnishings (spring onions, bawang goreng (crispy fried shallots), sliced chillies, boiled eggs, fried chicken, sliced fried tofu, crispy bits) of your choice.

I had some fish cake and spring onions, and was too lazy to boil eggs and slice chillies and forgot I had bawang goreng, so here's what mine looked like:

Amacam Lolls, ada pass ka?

Happy cooking!

Relationship Realization

2008-10-25T14:52:00.003+03:00

After my husband gently crawled over izani to snuggle up to me on my side of the bed, I realized something:
Just as he is my only source of comfort and pleasure, so am I his.

The Tunguska Treatment

2008-10-22T11:28:00.004+03:00

My husband has this really bad habit of reacting to my anger instead of addressing it.
Instead of getting understanding and comfort, I would often get scolded for being angry. This of course, makes me all the more angry. Sometimes initially I would be angry at something or someone else, but when he scolds me for getting angry, I would start feeling angry at *him*.
I have told him so many times how this habit of his makes me feel. I feel like he is saying I have no right to be angry. I feel like he is dismissing my feelings. I feel like he is dismissing *me*. I feel unsupported and uncomforted when he's the only person I could turn to for emotional support and comfort. It makes me feel unloved.

When this happened again for the umpteenth time, I decided to give him the cold shoulder. (Coz expressing my anger would only mean I'd get scolded again, so what other choice do I have?).

Every morning we have this ritual we do before he goes to work. I 'salam' (something like shaking his hand) him, kiss his hand, kiss him and give him a hug and we say our "I love you"s.
This morning, the effort came mostly from him. I still salam-ed and kissed his hand (coz I want his forgiveness even if he's not asking for mine), but the kiss was not as passionate (just a peck) and he was doing most of the hugging. I didn't bother replying to his declaration of love, even almost replied "yeah... right". I just turned around and got back to cutting up vegetables for making stock.

As I was chopping the butts off the spring onions, I thought of what he was wearing to work. Coveralls, boots and he had carried his cardboard box of hard hat, nozzles, gauges and what not.
It occurred to me that he's going to the rig. That would take at least an hour or two of driving. I felt kinda guilty. I can't let him drive that long and that far with a heavy heart as a result of my behavior this morning. I don't even know where he's going off to!
I checked that he had not driven past my kitchen window, so I ran to the front door hoping to catch him. Sure enough, I opened the door to find him reversing the car.
I held up my hand, but he thought I was saying goodbye, so he waved back and turned the car to move forward. I held up my hand again, and he finally rolled down the window.

"Where are you going?" I shouted from my front door to him out on the street.
"Manifa", he replied, and put up three fingers, meaning 3 hours drive away.
"Drive carefully!" I said to him.
And he smiled a smile that even I could see from that distance.

I bet he's thinking "Sayang jugak dia kat aku" (She loves me after all).
Ces.
Ya lah.. memang lah sayang. (yes, of course I love him)

I'm still angry though.
*pout*

Homeward Bound?

2008-10-19T16:49:00.005+03:00

The most common question we get during our raya open house rounds was
"Dengar cerita, Elisa dah nak balik, betul ke?"
"I heard that you were going home, is it true?"

Yes, it's true.
The last time we were back in Malaysia, Taufik made his annual visit to his old office in KL, and his former boss asked if he could come back. They wanted him back end of this year, but to be fair to his team in Saudi, Taufik negotiated a later date, most probably in July next year.

When we told everyone we were moving here four years ago, we were asked how long we were planning to be away from home. Our standard answer was "Sampai kaya, atau sampai boring" ("Until we're rich, or until we're bored"). Well, you can be assured that we are not 'kaya' yet. Even though our definition of 'rich' is very simple, i.e. be debt free (and not necessarily own lotsa stuff), we are still a long way from there.
So I guess you can say that we're moving back home because we're 'bored'.
Well, Taufik is, at least. Not that the work is not challenging, it is VERY challenging. Not that he's not up to the challenge.. it's just that... hm.. I guess he just misses home. He misses gardening. He misses his parents. He misses the weather.

If you ask me, I have mixed feelings about moving.
I am really going to miss the laidback, almost pampered life in the kingdom. I'm sure when I go back to Malaysia, I'm going to be expected to drive again. I know it means 'independence', but it also means 'commitments'. I would have to drive the kids to/from school. I'd have to buy groceries myself. I'd prolly have to do alot of stuff myself, and not be able to 'bermanja' with Taufik anymore.. :P
Having to drive would also probably mean I'd have less time for myself. Would I have time to bake? Would I have time to blog? (How in the world did I do it before? Especially when I was working? I have forgotten!)
I feel like I have not done enough travelling. There's still so much I want to see, within the kingdom and also within the region. I still have not been to Shaybah, Madinah, or gone dune bashing. I still have not been to Jordan, or Lebanon. There's still so many things I want to experience and buy...! Trivial things, really...

The main thing I'm worried about is my children's education. Will they be able to cope with the demands and pressure of the Malaysian Education system? Will I? Will they enjoy school as much as they do here? Or will they get bored and discouraged?
We checked out a few schools the last time we came back and most of them stress on academic performance, citing their achievements in nationwide exams. They told me to prepare my child for the BM paper from *now*, and not wait till they take UPSR. When I ask the teachers here in DBGS about the SATS exam, they all said the same thing - "It's just one little exam, we focus more on the total development of your child, so don't worry about it". I'm going to miss *that*!!!

Otherwise, I'm pretty psyched about coming home.
I miss my family. I miss my house. I miss being able to go to the mosque whenever I want. I miss friday lunch dates with my girlfriends. I miss burger special daging garing bungkus telur sayur lebih taknak bawang sos hitam. I miss being able to find food anytime I want. I miss being able to shop anytime I want. I miss taking the LRT. I miss looking at billowy clouds. I miss the rain.

Well, I still have 8 to 9 months to enjoy this place I've called "home away from home" for the past three and a half years... so I'm gonna make the most of it :)

Easy Peasy Bubur Lambuk (Mixed Porridge)

2008-10-15T13:48:00.002+03:00

Every time I cook bubur lambuk (mixed porridge), I feel like that guy who cooked nail soup.
You know the story - a vagrant asks a miser to make some soup using only water and a rusty crooked nail, then he starts adding more and more ingredients to 'make it better' and ends up with a delicious nutritious soup.

The basic ingredients for my bubur lambuk is simple - water, rice (raw or cooked, the only difference is the time it takes to become porridge), fish stock, shallots and pepper, and a ladle of coconut milk. I might replace fish stock with pounded anchovies/dried prawns or a stock cube or actual fish flesh (pounded to a pulp) or even last nights leftover vegetable soup or even sayur masak lemak, but the other ingredients cannot be subtituted. What else I put in it depends on what I have in the fridge. If you want it authentic, put pucuk mmiding (a kind of fern shoot) and budu, but kangkung (water convulvus) would also do. I have put cabbages, potatoes, carrots, celery and ground beef in mine and the kids just ate it up.

Though this rice porridge is usually eaten un-garnished, I have picked up a habit from my pakistani friends - I brown some onion slices (until crispy or not, depends on how you like it) and add it to my porridge. Yum.

Easy Peasy Bubur Lambuk
(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients
1/4 cup uncooked rice or 1/2 cup cooked rice
4 cups liquid (water or stock)
3 shallots
half teaspoon black peppercorns
a handful of anchovies or dried shrimp
hard vegetables of your choice (cubed or cut into small pieces)
leafy vegetables of your choice (preferrably sliced thinly)
meat of choice (optional, minced or cut into small pieces)
one ladle coconut milk (roughly 6 tablespoons?)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Pound shallots, peppercorns and anchovies/shrimp till fine.
In a huge pot, put in ground ingredients, rice and liquid, bring to a boil.
Let simmer, stirring ocassionally, till rice has fatten up.
Put in the hard vegetables and meat, if using, and cook till vegetables are tender. (add more liquid if it gets too thick).
Put in the leafy vegetables and coconut milk, stir to mix well.
Simmer till porridge is thick, add salt and pepper to taste.

If your kids don't like fried onions like my kids, serve it seperately as a side dish.
This porridge is also a good way to sneak in veggies into your children's diet ;).

p/s For my non-asian friends who uses the anchovies they put on pizzas, you might want to use only like half a tablespoon of it, and taste it first before adding more salt.

Easy Peasy Sausage and Cheese Croissants

2008-10-14T07:47:00.003+03:00

Inspired by Kak Nora's lunch box efforts, I, the ever malas (lazy) bonda, ventured to make an easy peasy version of the sausage roll, using ready made cheese croissants (available at any bakery/grocery store, plain also can) and some mini sausages (look for it at your frozen food section. I guess normal sized sausages will do too).
I just fried the sausages, slit the croissants on one side lengthwise (do not cut through), squeezed sauces per the child's preference (Anis wanted ketchup, Ilham wanted chilli sauce, Ihsan wanted nothing), then stuffed the mini sausages (3 or 4, depending on the size of the crescent bread) into the slits.
Wrap the croissants up in wax paper lined foil, and campak masuk lunch box.

Habis Cerita.

This is the adult's version, with mayo, lettuce and chilli sauce

son sleeping solo

2008-10-06T13:04:00.002+03:00

Taufik was still on holiday on saturday while the other kids had to go to school, so Izani got some precious one-on-one time with his ayah

Somehow I feel like Izani is growing up faster than my other kids. Perhaps it's because he has older siblings to teach him stuff. I think he talks faster and better compared to my other kids when they were his age, and he is also more physically adept (he can put on his shoes on his own, even knows how to switch and put the right one on the right foot) compared to the others.

What is most obvious at the moment is he is sleeping seperately from me at an earlier age than the others. If you can recall, it was a battle to get the older ones to sleep in their own room. With Izani however, he was the one who initiated the move.

One night, we were in bed, he asked "I wan seep, iham hoom". At first I thought he meant 'home', and I kept telling him we were home and that his abang Ilham is home as well. He kept insisting "Iham hoom!" till he was almost crying, when I finally realized that he meant he wanted to sleep in Ilham's room.

So we let him.

The first few nights, he'd be playing instead of sleeping. One night he even managed to convince all his siblings to wake up and watch TV. I woke up to find all four of them sprawled on the sofa in the TV room, and they all blamed Izani for 'making them watch TV'. I told them to be firm with Izani and say No the next time he asks. They also got nagged about it everytime they complain about being sleepy during the proceeding day.
He doesn't make them watch TV anymore, but sometimes he does bug them to play or read him a book, but I just told them to go to sleep and ignore Izani (for I know how they can sleep like a log and ignore distractions when they want to). Sure enough, after a while, Izani would fall asleep as well. It's kinda cute watching Izani pull up the covers up to his chin and repeat "goo nite bonda, i love you" after his older siblings.

So nowadays I have my bed and my husband all to myself. tee hee.
I can't help but feel sad sometimes, though. I miss having Izani sleep beside me. I miss getting a little hug from him in the middle of the night. I miss his tiny kicks to my back or tummy or face. I miss his squeaky snore. I miss him nuzzling under my armpit for comfort. I miss reaching out at night to hug his tiny purring body.
I gained a good night's sleep, but I feel like I lost my teddy bear.

*sigh*
Kids grow up so fast, don't they?

hectic hari raya

2008-10-03T19:20:00.003+03:00

'Hectic' would be an understatement.

Juadah pagi raya, ketupat, ayam masak merah, kuah kacang, serunding daging, serunding ikan. Nostalgia betul

I made a list of my raya itinerary:-

First raya (Dhahran):
Abg Zaki & Kak Siti (laksa kelantan, nasi briyani)
Abg Azizi & Kak Ita (spaghetti, mee kari, home made banana chips)
Abg Riz & Kak Aida (nasi dagang, satay and ketupat)
Abg Ma'il & Kak Khamsiah (miscellaneous kuih raya and I got to bring home some ketupat bawang that Abg Ma'il woved with his own bare hands)
Abg Mat Shah & Kak Ana (nasi briyani johore, ubi rebus with sambal tumis ikan bilis, pizza)
Abg Affendy & Kak Zaleha (ketupat pulut just like cikgu munah makes, rendang ayam, mee udang power giler)

The only kuih raya I made - rice krispy treats (chocolate and peanut butter) and easy peasy kuih gunting from leftover samosa leaves

Second Raya (Ras Tanura):
Abg Harun & Kak Su (nasi minyak, lontong)
Abg Razali & kak Sue (er.. makan apa ya? i remember very nice kuih raya..)
Abg Zul & Kak Izah (ketupat, rendang, kuah kacang)
Azmi & Gee (mee rebus)
Samsudin & Jo (entah apa I makan pun dah tak ingat .. oh yes, Laksa Johor!)

Third Raya (home & Dhahran):
6 cars from riyadh came to my house for lunch (white rice, fish head curry, fried chicken and assortment of other lauk brought from riyadh)
Abg Bakar & Kak Faridah (nasi goreng kampung, laksa sudan)
Raja Azlan & Kak Zie (I ate tooo much!)
Abg Khairy & Kak Nas (I was so full, I only ate tit bits and kuih raya)

Fourth Raya (today):
Ashok & Kak Aida (yummeh mee bandung and I brought white rice, fish head curry, sambal tumis udang and omelletes as 'support dishes')
I have a dinner invitation from Haji Nawawi and kak Azizah, but I dont think I'll be able to make it.. :P

my tit-bit station - store bought banana chips and mixed nuts

It is no wonder that my tummy hurts.
Looking at the decreasing trend in invitations, I am expecting to do nothing tomorrow. :)

Krispy Lessons

2008-09-28T07:29:00.004+03:00

Lessons Learnt from yesterday's session of making rice krspy treats -

1. You cannot add chocolate chips to your rice krispy treats. The heat will just melt the chocolate and all you have is messy, ugly looking treats that tend to crumble coz the chocolate get in the way of the marshmallows. (But they still taste yummeh, so don't worry, your kids will eat them up in a jiffy)

2. If you want too add other ingredients to your treats, try nuts or raisins.

3. A pizza cutter (the wheel kind) is a good tool to use to cut up your treats into strips. Pull the cutter towards you instead of pushing it. It's easier to apply pressure on the blade that way.

4. A knife still works best for cutting your strips into squares. A flat blade, tapped hard on the treats works better than a serated blade, because the sawing motion might cause the treats to break up.

5. Using pink marshmallows with white rice krispies creates pretty girly treats.

6. The cheapest rice krispies you can find is at the indian grocery store, sold in plastic bags, not fancy boxes.

7. Always make your rice krispy treats at the last minute, because they dont last long. They can keep long in an airtight container, but some will magically dissapear before Eid day. You are forewarned.

I want to ...

2008-09-26T18:54:00.003+03:00

... be Yves Rossy when I grow up.

... get Anis's baju kurung over with coz I need to make cookies!! :(
but,

... take a break sometimes, so some of you might be a target for my sudoku fix. My apologies!!

... reply to comments, but don't really have time at the mo. Will get to it soon, ya?

... blog about 'Syawal in Trengganu', but again, (read above).

... wish all my muslim friends and family -

Eid Mubarak ya habibi!

Maaf Zahir Batin sekiranya ada salah dan silap, sengaja atau tak, sedar atau tak, kecik atau besar.. rest assured that I would do the same to you :)

Drive Safe, Celebrate Well!
Think of me when you're eating all that yummeh malaysian dishes!

Trying to thread

2008-09-26T04:49:00.003+03:00

I have never learnt how to sew. Whatever sewing skills I have, I had picked up from my mom, who taught Home Science and used to sew our Eid clothes. She showed me how to do that criss cross stitch that keeps that flap that form the kurung's collar in place. See, I don't even know the proper terms.

Being an engineer by training though, I love to build things, and I decided to apply that passion into sewing. I took one of Anis's old baju kurung pesak and did some reverse engineering. I drew a diagram to visualize what the seperate pieces of the dress would look like and how it would be constructed. I measured Anis, calculated and wrote down the figures on my diagram and figured out how much material I needed. I brought material, then re-drew the diagram to find out where I should cut the material to minimize wastage.
I put my education to good use after all. It may not be an aeroplane, but it's close enough for me.

So now I'm sewing. By hand.
There were moments while I'm sewing that I look at the clock and think gosh I haven't cooked yet or looked at the basket full of laundry to be washed/folded/ironed or looked at my ignored kids or thought of the cookies I haven't baked for eid or when I get poked for the umpteenth time by the needle, that I think I'm crazy to be doing this.
Sewing by hand!! Just go buy a sewing machine for gawds sakes! but I think about how I've got to get ready and go out and go look for a sewing machine and then read the manual to learn how to use it and how during all that time I could be doing actual sewing, I would tell myself, Fergeddit. I'll just keep on sewing by hand.
I am malas (lazy) but rajin (not lazy) that way.

Body and collar done, sleeves and kekek done. Now need to put them together, then on to constructing the skirt.

Wish me luck and somebody please tell taufik to buy me a sewing machine for my next birthday.
tee hee

Kid Friendly Asam Pedas

2008-09-22T13:32:00.004+03:00

I love asam pedas, but because I am allergic to belacan (fermented shrimp paste), I am often wary to eat it at restaurants, coz most often than not, they would put belacan in it. But I luuuuuuurrrve asam pedas.
I had some fish the other day and was bored with the usual curry, so I decided to try making asam pedas. Furthermore, I just brought some bunga kantan and daun kesum from Malaysia, so what better way to use them other than for asam pedas?
I browsed for recipes and found one that doesn't use belacan, here.
I didn't have some of the ingredients and I had to make it kid-friendly, so here's my modified version:

Kid Friendly Asam Pedas

Ingredients
Ground:
3 shallots, 2 pips garlic
3 pieces dried chillies (more if you like it spicier), cut up and soaked in hot water to soften
1/2 inch ginger
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp blackpepper corns

3 tbsp oil
1/2 large onion, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp mixed spices (fenugreek, poppyseeds, cumin)*
2 stalks curry leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp tomato paste
water (depends on how thick/thin you want the sauce to be)
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 medium sized fish (or 2 small fish), any kind you like
1 large tomato, cut into wedges
1/2 bunga kantan (?)
as much daun kesum as you like
salt and sugar to taste

Method
In a saucepot, heat up oil and saute sliced onions, mixed spices and curry leaves till fragrant.
Add ground ingredients, turmeric powder and tomato paste, let fry till a little dry and oil rises to the top.
Add water, tamarind pulp and oyster sauce, bring to a boil.
Add in the rest of the ingredients (fish + leaves), let simmer till fish is cooked.
Add salt and sugar to taste.
Serve with steamed white rice.

Asam Pedas Ikan Kembung (yang tak berapa pedas)

* This mixed spices are the same ones I use to make fish head curry. You can find them sold in packets at Giant or any grocery store in Malaysia. Outside of malaysia, though, it can be quite difficult to find so you might have to mix your own based on the seeds/spices I mentioned above.
The list of ingredients is long, but when you look at the method, you'll see that it's pretty easy.
I added oyster sauce to substitute for the belacan flavour. It worked :)
Like all Asam Pedas, this tastes better after reheating the next day, because all of the ingredients would've simmered and melded together for a while.
I know a certain family in Qatar that eats their Asam Pedas with bread, pancakes or paratha. *wink*

Happy trying, and I hope I have inspired you :)

Ramadhan in Trengganu

2008-09-20T12:38:00.003+03:00

I don't know how it is now, but spending Ramadhan in Trengganu was a lot of fun to me. Perhaps it was because I was a child and need not have to worry about what to cook for iftar. tee hee.

The beginning of ramadhan is marked by the sound of the cannon (from the top of Bukit Puteri?). The sound would usually be followed by someone or other saying "hoh! Esok Posa" (hoh, tomorrow we start fasting). I guess the end of the fasting month would be marked the same way, but I never know because we were always somewhere else, either in Merang, where my dad's side of the family lives or in Besut, where my mom's side of the family lives.

Iftar (the breaking of fast at sundown), during Ramadhan was almost always done with special fare, though not necessarily with Trengganu food. My mom's offering during ramadhan would include western dishes like Chili Con Carne, beef stew, these meatballs with peas eaten with bread, and spaghetti bolognaise, things she doesnt normally cook throughout the rest of the year. Once in a while we'd have malaysian food like rice and noodles, but it's those special dishes that we look forward to (and still crave for till now) every Ramadhan.
Hm.. was there any special food that Trengganu folks eat during Ramadhan? I'm not sure.. as far as I can remember, the food was great throughout the year, so I can't recall anything special for the month of ramadhan. Except maybe for Air Nira and Nekbat.
Air Nira is the nectar from palm flowers. Expert climbers would climb up a palm tree, cut a bit off the flower and hang a container of some sort to collect the dripping nectar. The collected nectar is sold by the roadsides at small wooden stalls, and my dad would not fail to stop if he sees one.
Nekbat are these tiny oval shaped cakes made of flour and eggs, I think, and it is usually served cold in clove spiked syrup sauce. They are cool, soft, creamy and sweet at the same time. Just the thought of them makes me drool. Unfortunately I couldnt find any the last time I went home.
The above 2 items are available throughout the year, but somehow we only have it during ramadhan, perhaps because they are considered to be quite indulgent food, and we could only have it as a reward for fasting.

I started learning to fast when I turned 7, I think.
Like all kids, I started fasting for half a day first, breaking my fast at noon instead of sundown. After awhile though, you get tired of the taunts "Posa yang yok, pagi pagi bukok puyok" (fasting you're not, early morning opening the pot) and you would try to fast for the whole day. Achieving this was okay when school is in session, but when the school holiday starts and we go back to my grandmother's place where all the other kids are also on holiday and they ask you to come out and play and you play all. day. long, it's quite a feat to keep yourself from breaking your fast. I must admit, there were a few times, after a session of rounders or deghghak (walking around) somewhere, I would come home and sneak a drink from the payyang koko (the brown earthen vessel) at the foot of the green steps of my grandmother's house (Sorry, Papa! *sheepish grin*). The cup may just be a chetong made out of rusty milk tin, and the water may just be un-cooked well water put there to be used to wash your feet before you come into the house, but at that moment, it tasted like the cool nectar from heavens.

I loved going back to my grandmother's house during Ramadhan. Aside from her ttuppat sutong (Stuffed squid) and the numerous friends I could play with, there was also Malam Tujuh Likur, probably the highlight of a child's life in the month of ramadhan. "Malam Tujuh Likur" is celebrated on the 27th night of Ramadhan. During this time, most of the houses would be busy preparing eid cookies and the night air would be filled with the sweet smell of baking. People would begin decorating their house for eid, by hanging lapu nynyeceh nynyembor (them twinkling lights), if you can afford it, or just the pelita, lanterns made out of milk tins filled with turpentine and a piece of rag or string as a wick. You'd get to try on your raya clothes for the first time. You'd get to walk around with your friends with lanterns, either the milk tin kind or the storebought paper ones with a birthday candle, to light your way while you deghghak meghata (walkaround everywhere).
Fireworks haven't been banned yet when I was growing up, so we would also light the skies up with them. There were the long thin ones that shoot multicolored balls of fire (together we would all count out loud how many there are), there were ones that would release a parachute at the end of the explosion, and then there were milder ones- like the hand held bunga-api (sparklers), or those shaped like a snake and would leave a crumbly ash in a coil when it goes out (macam ubat nyamuk). For those of us that can't afford fireworks, we would go around, lanterns in hand, and look for ppurong (Coconut shells). We'd stack them up on a pole (erected by an adult for that purpose), then when we've covered the whole pole, an adult would light them up in a tower of bonfire. Doesn't sound like much now, but at that time, it was like the best fire show ever. I guess there's a tiny closet arsonist in all of us.

I wish my kids could experience all this, but unfortunately the environment nowadays is different from what it used to be when I was growing up. I would never let them walk around in the dark on their own, unless it's in the compound.
ah.. the good old days. *sigh*

juvenile jiggy-ing

2008-09-19T13:20:00.001+03:00

My kids dancing to the new radio:

I don't know what they ate to make them so hyper that night.
And Izani was just his normal cheeky self.

"Fantamorgana"

2008-09-17T11:09:00.000+03:00

"Denial"

pegilah tidor.

Interesting Iftar

2008-09-16T09:42:00.003+03:00

First, let me explain to you why I did not post the picture of my raspberry cheesecake:

1. There was no raspberry cheesecake. I thought I had bought raspberry topping, but it turned out to be strawberries in syrup (Note: Never shop while you're hungry, coz the lack of glucose affects your eyesight and brain capacity). There is nothing uglier than un-fresh stawrberries. It tasted okay though.
2. I had procrastinated so much (I played Sudoku!! *hangs head in shame* I think I have a problem. Dr. Phil help me), that I was late in baking the cheesecake. By the time the cake had cooled down sufficiently for me to slap on the whipped cream and arrange the strawberries on top, it was time to leave for my friend's house. I did not get a chance to take any pictures before it was all cut up and eaten.

So there you have it. No raspberry cheesecake pictures.

Yesterday we got an invitation for iftar with the folks at Sm1th at Le Meridian Hotel (again). Taufik had wanted to go to the Holiday Inn this year, and I was excited about it coz from the outside it looked like they erected traditional bedouin tents or something (or maybe it's just the entrance? *shrug*), but then Holiday Inn couldn't accommodate the whole office+families, so they bought tickets for Meridian instead.
Food was okay, same like last year. I ate lotsa salmon (so did Izani). I had these yummeh grilled eggplants, and a stuffed eggplant baked in tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella. I so want to eat that again, but i'm afraid if I make it myself, no one else would eat it, coz no one else in my house likes eggplants. Maybe I should try to make it at the next gathering, whenever that may be.

Just like last year, they had a lucky draw at the end of the evening. Last year we didn't win anything, so we weren't that hopeful this year. The prizes were mostly crap anyways (electrical items, lotions from a neighbouring spa), except for the final grand prize, which was one return ticket to Abu Dhabi. That never stopped the kids from being excited about the possibility of winning something though. Ihsan and Anis eagerly held on to their tickets and checked their numbers every time. Ihsan kept asking me, "if I win, I can go up there and take my present?" and I would exasperatingly answer "Yes....".

So we were listening to the guy announcing the winning numbers, and he said "Four, Wahid, Two, Sifar", but the mixture of english and arabic numbers confused us and I thought it was 4127. We waited for the announcement again but somehow the guy went on and on about the rules and regulations for entering the lucky draw for a car pulak dah. At taufik's table, one guy had 4119, the other had 4121 so taufik thought, "the winning ticket must be among us". I asked him what the winning ticket was and he said "4120".
I asked Ihsan what his ticket number was and he said "4120!".
"4120! You won, Ihsan!" I said excitedly.
"I won? So I can go?" , he was equally excited and unsure at the same time.
"You won! Go!" I urged him, coz they were about to pull another number.

You should've seen the way he skipped to the stage and take his prize. It was just a small portable cassette recorder FM/AM radio thingy, but he held it like it was gold. He brought it around everywhere he went. He only put it down when he went to get more dessert (He said my cheesecake was better than the hotel's cheesecake. *wink* such a charmer), and even then he asked me several times, to seriously, look after his radio.

We went home and tried it out. Ihsan was so happy as he danced to Sultans of Swing in the living room.
We pointed out to him that maybe this is Allah's way of rewarding him for fasting for 15 days straight.

"What's a 'cassette'?" he asked me. :D

*rolls eyes*
I feel old.

Not a food post.

2008-09-14T10:43:00.003+03:00

I thought it'd be good to take a break.
Plus I'm gonna make a raspberry cheesecake today, so I'll save that torture for tomorrow. *mwahahaha*

Let's talk about mundane things like politics and tv and such.

I didn't get to catch the democratic convention on TV, but I did get a glimpse of Rudy and Sarah talking at the Republican Convention.
It was chilling.
It was like watching a devil worshipping cult movie or something, especially when they were chanting "Drill baby Drill".
You citizens of america better make your choices carefully.

What in the world is going on with my country lah?
I dont understand why you keep voting for these ***holes when they are so obviously ***holes.
*geram nih*

I saw Spiderman 2 for the umpteenth time and only recently noticed something - that receptionist chewing gum and refusing to pay for her pizza order because it was late, she's Bones!

During Ramadhan, MBC4 shows Americas Funniest Videos instead of Oprah. My kids and I are hooked! We sit together and laugh our ***es off at the really funny videos. Izani loves anything with animals and babies so he enjoys it too.

I really should take a break from Sudoku and return to catching up with my tadarus.

My husband is on Facebook. *horror*
but he doesnt have time to maintain it, so I had to help. *leeerrrrr*

I'm gonna go mandi now.

Homemade Naan

2008-09-13T08:16:00.003+03:00

It's Saturday and it's weekend for the rest of the world, so I guess it's safe for me to put up a food post, no?

I made my own naan yesterday!! I am so proud of myself!!
I got this recipe book, Malaysian Favourites: Best Recipes from Noted Malaysian Cooks
from Kinokuniya (RM45.90) the last time I went home and had been eyeing the naan recipe ever since. On Thursday I got some leftover thick beef curry from an iftar gathering with the folks from the Malaysian Embassy in Riyadh (where I also met Neeza from Jubayl *grin*), so I finally had an excuse to make some!
In the span of 3 weeks, I had slowly slowly bought the required ingredients - yeast (in small individually wrapped packets so that they don't go dead on me so quickly), ghee, flour (I bought 3 1kg packets in anticipation of having to make lots and lots of prawn fritters) and only yesterday did I ask Taufik to stop by the mini market after friday prayers and buy me a cup of yoghurt.
The recipe wasn't that complicated. I guess the only tough part would be the 15 minutes of kneading it required. With good yeast and good mixing or kneading, however, you will be rewarded with fluffy naan ;)
(Recipe modified a bit from original coz I dont have a kitchen scale).

Naan

Ingredients
2 teaspoons dry yeast
250ml lukewarm water (just a little bit more than 1 cup)
4 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons yoghurt
4 tablespoons melted ghee
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups all-purpose flour (I will explain)

Method
In a big bowl, dissolve dry yeast in half of the water. Add sugar, mix well, and set aside for 10 minutes till mixture gets all bubbly and frothy.
Mix in yoghurt, melted ghee, salt and remaining water.
Add in flour into the mixture bit by bit, mixing and eventually kneading until dough forms a stiff ball and does not stick to the bowl or your hands (I used roughly about 3.5 cups at this point). Continue kneading* for 15 more minutes.
Preheat oven to 220 deg C or 440 deg F.
Cover bowl with a clean, dry cloth and let sit in a warm dry corner of your kitchen for about an hour, or till it has doubled in volume.
Divide dough into two, then 4. Divide each quarter into another 4 and form balls (So you eventually get 16 balls).
Flatten each ball with your hands or a rolling pin to form thick discs the size of dessert plates.
Place in the pre-heated oven for 7-10 minutes or till edges are golden brown.
Remove from oven and keep warm under a napkin.

I served my naans with yesterday's thick beef curry and a plain salad of chopped lettuce and chunks of carrots and cucumber. The naan was just slightly sweet, salty and creamy (from the yoghurt i guess) and goes well with the spicy curry.

*Kneading
I am not an expert in kneading, so what I do is fold the dough into itself and push with my knuckles as I go. Repeat until tired.

Baking
To simulate the conditions of a brick oven, I used a Pizza Stone (bought at Stokes, Mall of Dhahran for about SR60 or so) and baked my naan on it. Put the stone in a cold oven before pre-heating to avoid cracking. Flour your naan well before placing it on the hot stone (Do not add any oil). The result is a naan with a crunchy crusty bottom, and a soft fluffy top, just the way my children likes it.
The original recipe instructed me to brush the tops of the naans with ghee and sprinkle it with chopped garlic before baking it, but since I didn't want to get any oil on my pizza stone, I omitted that ingredient/step. You can try it if you want.

My only complain is that these naans are really only best eaten while warm. When it's cold it tends to get quite hard and chewy.. :P
Haven't tried reheating yet, coz I didn't have any leftovers. I had some leftover dough though, and have kept it in the freezer for later use. Will tell you how that turns out.

Now, if only I could figure out how to make Shrimp Sizzler, then we wouldn't need to go to Mughal Restaurant anymore...

Happy trying and tell me how yours turn out!

Extremely Easy Peasy Cheese Samosa

2008-09-12T15:47:00.005+03:00

It's so easy it's almost like cheating

Really. I mean, the ingredients can be bought ready-made at the stores. All you have to do is wrap them up, then deep fry.
But here's the recipe anyways. I'll add some tips/notes at the end of the recipe just to give this post some substance.

Easy Peasy Cheese Samosas

Ingredients
1 500gram packet of ready made samosa leaves
3 round boxes of cream cheese wedges
Some water for sealing

Method
Cut cheese wedges into half lengthwise (so you get a thinner wedge).
Take a samosa leaf carefully so as not to rip it. Put a halved-wedge at one end at a 45degree angle, fold into a triangle. Keep on folding the triangle until you reach the end of the leaf. Seal the final end by rubbing some water onto the leaf.
Heat some oil for deep frying. Deep fry the samosas until golden, drain on a paper towel. Let cool slightly before serving to avoid burns from hot cheese.
Can be kept in a tupperware in the fridge/freezer for one week.
Makes 48 (4 dozen).

Samosa leaves -
Not all samosa leaves are created equal. Some tend to absorb more oil than others and some has a slightly bitter aftertaste. You've really got to try them out to find one brand that you like. I like 'BintiAlBalad' or something. I fry them in really hot oil. It usually results in ugly blistery samosas, but they're crispy and I'd rather have ugly samosas than soggy ones.

Creamcheese Wedges -
You know which ones I mean, right? They usually come in round boxes and contain 8 individually wrapped cream cheese in foil. Though some brands offer flavoured cream cheese, I found the plain ones work best. The picture above shows what the cheese looks like unwrapped.

Timing -
I make my samosas in advance (a lot of them) and keep them in the fridge till I'm ready to fry them. This keeps the cheese inside it cool and won't seep out when you fry them. (Incidently, also try to fold the triangles as tightly as you can so that you don't have holes).
Fry at least 45 minutes before serving so that the cheese inside has sufficient time to cool down. There is nothing worse than getting your tongue burned by hot cheese.

This is really my children's favourite tit bit for iftar (breaking fast), only second to cucur udang (Prawn fritters). I have to make sure they get at least 4 each. I end up frying 2 dozen per day, so 48 pieces doesn't stay very long in the fridge. :)

Happy trying :)

Panic! not at the dancefloor

2008-09-09T12:23:00.007+03:00

Today was my first day as the bus monitor ever since the school year started. It being Ramadhan and me having to wake up at 3am to prepare sahur for everyone and only go back to sleep at 4:15am after fajr prayers made me worry if I could wake up again at 6:15am. On other days, Taufik would be the one waking up the kids and I'd wake up at 6:45 to prepare Anis' lunch box and braid her hair. Today I have to get myself ready as well.
My anxiety had me dreaming that I woke up late, didn't shower or brush my teeth and dragging my kids in their jammies to the bus. So the moment some sunlight seeped through the curtains of my bedroom window, I shot up and checked the time on my handphone. I saw it was 6:45am. 6:45!!! Dayumm my alarm didnt go off!! Or it did and I didnt hear it!! Or maybe I heard it and I switched it off in my sleep!!!
ohmygod ohmy god ohmygod I ran to the kids' rooms and woke them up in a frenzy. "wake up wake up wake up we're late we're late you've gotta get ready for schoool! Anis you just brush your teeth and wash your face and get ready and go down and have breakfast Ilham and Ihsan you have time to shower (coz they are skipping breakfast)". I half-screamed instructions as I myself reached for my toothbrush.
Ilham woke up hair all disheveled looked at the clock with one eye and said "It's okay, we still have time"
"*You* still have time. I have to get ready and then make anis' lunch" I dismissed him , and added "Go go go!! GO brush your teeth!!".
While searching my wardrobe for a decent outfit, Taufik asked me from under his pillow "What are you late for?"
"I'm the bus monitor today, remember.. it's already 6:45!!" I answered.
"It's not. It's 5:45. Cuba tengok jam betul-betul", he said (asking me to look at my watch carefully).
No. Way.
I went to look at my watch and lo and behold.
It *was* 5:45. Not 6:45.
oooops.
"You guyyyssss...." I grinned sheepishly at the boys who just came out from the shower, "I made a mistake. It's still early.. Sorry!".
God bless my kids, they didn't complain a bit.
They put on their uniforms. Ilham combed his hair then got back in bed. I heard Ihsan turn on the computer. I heard Anis get in the shower and taking her sweet time, then after awhile, I heard her switch on Cartoon Network.
Me, I went back to bed, of course.
Only to be woken up at 6:15 by my alarm.
heheheh.