Eid Mubarak 1430H !

"Happy Eid, Forgive me for any wrong doing"

Have a safe one, everyone!

Hajj Moon

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.

Saudi Moon

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

Famous Ahy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Eversince rotikacangmerah promoted her brother's cookies on her bloglast year, I had been drooling over these cookies. Reading her describe it, (and she does have a way with describing good food), you get the impression that it's the best chocolate chip cookie in the world.

So, when I was back home for the holiday,I decided to order some to bring back to Saudi. 'Some' is an understatement. Ahy said one 'batch' yield about 8 packs, with each pack containing 50 cookies. That's 400 cookies, ladies and gentlemen, and I ordered them ALLLLLLLL.

The very moment Ahy passed me the cookies in IK3A, we (Dory, to be exact) had opened one tupperware right there and then, next to the pine shelves. The aroma that wafted out once the lid was pried open (we were that gelojoh) was a telling preview of the chocolatey goodness we were about to taste.
The moment I bit into one, I had to agree with rotikacangmerah, it was one of the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.
The cookie had crunch, it had the slightly chewy oat bits, and it had the gooey chocolate chip bits. It wasn't too sweet, yet sweet enough, just the way I like it.
My only complain is that they were small, and it made it too easy to eat!!
Ahy had put the cookies in 2 huge tupperwares, and 2 days after I opened the one tupperware, that huge tub was empty!

That was why it took me awhile to put this post up. I had hesitated for a loooong time from breaking the seal of the last remaining tub of cookies. I knew, once I opened it, I (or the kids) would be tempted to eat it. I finally opened it coz it is impossible to tell you about how yummy they are without showing you how yummy they look.
Even Izani couldn't help drooling over the cookies while I was taking pictures. I was so scared that he would jump all over the cookies, but fortunately he did not. He did ask "I want, cooties, please?" over and over again, though.
For his patience, Izani was finally rewarded with some ;)



Ahy is accepting orders for Eid, so if you're interested to try some of these delicious cookies, do give him a call at 012 314 2353 , or email him at farhi_rosley@yahoo.com.
If you cant reach him there, also try emailing f4527_r@yahoo.co.uk

kitchen window

A few weeks ago I told myself I would try to take at least one photo a day to sharpen my picture-taking skills.
So far I've only managed to take one picture a week, more like it.

Anyways, here's my kitchen window, from the outside and inside.

Those flowers are fake,
but their color provide enough cheer for me while I'm cutting up chicken or draining pasta or washing the dishes.
Worth the 9 times SR6 (SR54) that I paid for, and I don't even have to stress or worry about them dying on me when I go on my vacation (or forget to water). The only care they need is a little rinsing now and again to wash off the sand/dust, especially after a sandstorm.
It also makes my kitchen window unique when you look for it from the street :)

Sole Survivor

I've tried to nurture many many plants in the hostile saudi environment.
I have tried basil, rosemary, lavender, various flowering plants, japanese roses .. all of them died. Some due to lack of water when I went away for holidays. Some due to too much water when I got overzealous and thought I could counter the dryness with lots of water. Some due to the extreme heat outside. Some due to lack of sun (when I decided to bring them indoors to escape the heat). Boring tulll .. dah lah pokok kat sini mahal.(I am frustrated coz plants are expensive over here)
I know there are many books out there to tell me how to take care of plants in this extreme weather. I have read them in bookstores (read:I sneak-read them without buying), but none of the tips worked for my plants. (Perhaps I need to buy the books and read them properly instead of trying to remember as much as I can. tee hee.)
This is my only surviving plant :

That's the kalanchoe plant that went missing a few months ago.
I had been keeping it by the kitchen window before, but it has grown bigger so I moved it into a bigger pot and now it looks nice enough to be in my living room. I water it every other day and put it by the sliding door every morning to make sure it gets enough sun.

My kitchen window sill is decorated by a row of fake flowers in small pots (Daiso - QR/SR6 per pot). These are more my style. They don't need watering and can withstand the heat :)

Note: Taufik has been better at keeping his plants alive. He has a jasmine tree and a frangipani tree on our front porch. He also has these really hardy creepy leafy plants that could live out of just a bowl of water. They now sit on either side of my kitchen sink.

what we did on friday

Cooties!!!

Tried making Deceptively Delicious' Chocolate Chip Cookies (with chickpeas) today.

oh man, they were so yummy.
I think I could've told my kids I had put worms in them and they would still eat them.
Izani kept chanting "cooties!! cooties!!", while munching on his. When he had finished, he'd come to me and say "cooties?"
The other kids would swarm and ask for another one too.

I had to make another batch for the spring fair.

DBGS Sports Day 2008

I tried out the D40 at the kids' sport day on Sunday (Anis') and Monday (Ihsan and Ilham's). Just set the dial to the running man and shot away.
The results were .. bleagghhhh.
Most were blurr.
Any tips?

Original pictures on my flickr

p/s Auntie rozie, do you recognize Izani's yellow shirt? He finally could fit into it! (after almost one year)

behind the camera

Here's the reason behind the purchase of a new camera:

We bought this N1k0n C00lpix 5100 before we moved here. So that makes it almost 4 years old. 2 years ago, somebody (I dont know who, coz nobody wanted to own up) broke the mechanism-thingy that closes and covers the lens when we switch the camera off.
Though 'broken', the camera was still working fine, so we did not feel the urgent need to buy a new one. It still took okay pictures. They're not professional looking, but good enough for undiscerning people like us. We just needed to make sure we wipe the lens clean before we take pictures, is all.
Can you imagine, we went to Italy with this broken down camera?

I had always marvelled at the clarity of the pictures my dad takes on his dslr camera, and had always dreamt of owning one, but we've always thought it was too expensive for us. Anyways, we already have the c00lpix, it's still working, plus it fits in my handbag.
When Lollies came to visit us, I copied some of the pictures she took with her D70 into our computer and Taufik was amazed at the difference in quality, in terms of clarity, focus and also color. It just so happens that a few weeks after that, one of our friends over here bought himself a D80 and told Taufik that the shop was having a sale. Motivating us further was the prospect of taking pictures of the pyramids.
So we went to check the shop out and Taufik tested out the D40 and D40x and we still thought the D80 was out of our league (dayummmm you could buy serious bling-bling for that amount of money!)
After a few more days of mulling and pouring over user (professional and amateur) reviews on the web, Taufik finally settled on the D40. (If it were not for the impending trip, I think we would have waited for a few more months/years before we got one)

He is now hooked!
The first thing he grabs when he comes back from work (after kissing the kids and I, of course) is the user manual, and the camera. The other day he even came home a little early to test out the camera in daylight.
Even I was not as enthusiastic about it as him.
The first picture I took with the camera was the one above.
Picture of the Nik0n D40 below, taken with Nik0n c00lpix 5100.


Can you see the difference in picture quality?


We can't take pictures like Grom yet (and I doubt we ever will), but I think we are getting a little closer :)

I still think it's bulky though.

testing, testing, 1 2 3 4

Guess who acquired a new toy? :D
Pity I dont know how to use it properly yet. :(
I have at least one week to learn! *tee hee*

Projek Sekerap

I'm too busy to blog coz I'm making this:



What is it and who's gonna get it?
I think it's easy enough to guess.

tee hee.

last few pictures of 2007

These are a few of the last pictures that were taken in 2007.

Izani relaxing by the pool. The water was too cold to swim in, so he decided to just chill...


Taufik and his 2 new girlfriends. I have to admit, they were more docile than me! :)


Me, shivering inside Bahrain Fort. Read lollies' post for more information on the fort.


Family picture in my living room, just before we said our goodbyes. All of my kids tak mandi pun lagi.
Note: look look.. I finally got my Kilim rug!!


Here's wishing for more pictures in 2008 :)

Princess and Prawns

Anis's halloween costume
kebaya bandung bought in jakarta last raya haji, hair net to make a bun, silk flower hair tie from CityPlaza, a small faux tiara (so small you cant even see it from here)


Today's lunch
Leftover sambal tumis udang (prawns in thick spicy sauce), chickpeas , chopped cilantro and crunchy celery, tossed with spaghetti.
Yummeh. *smacks lips*

L@cy White Indonesi@n Keb@ya

There you go.

(sorry for having to mask the title with aliases. I dont want this post to get unwanted attention *grin*)

Ihsan's glowy undies

It was after lunch, about 3 in the afternoon and we were on via vittorio emanuele II, waiting for our bus. We had taken shelter in a small alcove, which was really an entrance to an apartment building. On the wall was a brass plate with the names of the tenants of the apartments. Ihsan was playing on the sidewalk when he realized that the brass plate was reflecting the afternoon sun on the sidewalk and that if he positioned himself correctly, it'd look like his shadow had glowing undies.

We noticed too late that the reflection also looked like a transformer logo, because as soon as I told ihsan to position himself so the logo falls on his chest, we saw the bus coming.

ah well, the magic undies was cool enough :)

Ramen Tempura

Which is the hoity toity way of saying "Maggi Mee dan Sayur Celup Tepung"

Sungguh sedap dimakan sambil menonton Amerikan Idola

p/s This post was inspired by PB's hungry post.

Mother and Son

This is a cop out entry of this one.

But my silhouette is wider and bigger lah of course.. tee hee.

Happy Mother's Day to all the yummy mummies out there!

spring is here

Edited to add more pictures

Eyeing my kids

Better write this before it gets old.

Before we left Mal@ysia for S@udi, we made sure that we go on the Eye on Malaysia. Basically, it's a high-tech ferris wheel that the government decided to have to help promote Visit Mal@ysia year 2007. It's like The Eye on L0ndon, but slightly smaller.
We went to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa (Titiwangsa Lake Garden) right after I had lunch with The lioness in KLCC. It was mid afternoon and it had started to drizzle a bit. We were delighted to find that the queue wasn't that long at all. Perhaps the fact that it was a working day and that the school holidays were over, helped.
It was my first time on a ferris wheel and I do have a sliiiight fear of heights so it was kinda freaky. ketor lutut jugok lah. The pod swayed everytime it stops and starts to board passengers, and my heart kinda lurched when we got to the very top.
"this is kinda high, huh?" i grinned nervously at Taufik, trying to hide my feelings so that the kids don't freak out as well. Izani was oblivious to everything and Anis and Ihsan was like going "woah, woah.." like it was some kind of a roller coaster ride , but Ilham had this panic expression on. So Taufik started pointing out the sights to distract everyone. KLCC, his old office, Istana Budaya, The Library, PWTC. Taufik also took the time to look at the traffic and plot our exit from the park. Izani got a bit bored after awhile so I entertained him with my 'ubat segala penyakit' (multi-purpose cure-all), otherwise scientifically known as my mammary glands. I wonder if they give out certificates of recognition for breastfeeding at the highest altitude.
The ride felt like forever, but I think it was only for 15 minutes, plus maybe an additional 5 minutes to wait for our turns to board off.


Keep an eye on it

All in all it was kinda fun. I bet if it wasnt raining and I wasn't so woozy with vertigo I could've taken some pretty awesome pictures.

Did I have any complaints? As usual, the signboards could've been clearer. We almost got lost coz this was our first time to the garden. The intercom in the pod was really really noisy coz it was broadcasting static. It's like someone forgot to switch off something in the control room or something. And I have the same complaint as my dad: what in the world are the water ski-ers for? Sometimes I wonder about the amount of thought that goes into promoting our country as a tourism destination.*

Have you been on The Eye?

*That's me trying to be thought provoking... tee hee!