Adeh.. raye besok daaa

Si kenet ingin mengucapkan selamat hari raye aidilfitri kepade semua ahli keluarge di Malaysia - atuk, nenek, Tok mummy, tok daddy, paklong maklong, pak ngah mak ngah, pak teh mak teh, pak usu mak usu, cousin2 seangkatan; Qarmiela, Ashraff, Isabell, Kak Lyssa, Abang Ariff dan Kak Tisya, kawan-kawan (eh dak besar ni dah ade kawan ke?) dan sume auntie-auntie and uncle-uncle (kawan mommy & daddy)...

Ok, Saye nak continue send sms.

Sape2 nak hantar duit raye kat saye di london, bleh la mintak address kat mommy saye.. mekaseh

My Chaos week

This week has been really tiring but interesting. Believe it or not in my 3 days off (from 24-26th) I've managed to bake some raye cookies, packed to move to the new apartment, moved to the new place, unpacked & clean up the new home (85% done hehe) & cycled to IKEA to get a suitable curtain (which is 3.2 miles away from my home). All in all it was AMAZING!!

We've got way too many junks, and too little space to store em. It's like pushing an elephant through a mouse hole!! Although the new home is much more bigger compare to our old place.. but the storage area is much smaller.. tambah pulak with the 2 bikes.. lagi penuh rumah! adeh..
Anyway, before I forget.. thanks again to Karl and his brother that help us move.. kesian korang.. sorry la.. didn't know that we've got that many stuff while living in that small 1 bed apartment! Penuh satu van!! hehe

Anyway, I'm loving my new life in my new home.. cycled around to find LOTS and LOTS of kedai2 seafood, halal butchers, and just about anything that I need to get by. I wil update the house pictures someday ;)

And to add to my chaotic week, from yesterday I've had all my after-work-hours planned out.

yesterday, 27th - went to do a lil bit of shopping for Myra's bedday prep. Then, came home to bake tart nenas (turns out to be too big a size!!! hahaha klakar gile.. tapi sedap!)

today, 28th - I plan to bake another biskut raye (just to bring the malaysia-homy-raye-ish sort of feeling, bukan nak makan sangat pun! haha)

tomorrow, 29th - By hook or by crook, need to finish off with the unpacking business and do lil bit of Myra's party packs (but this time .. i'm afraid, due to the time constraint and with lots of stuff to work on, can't really take the risk to use my seni hand (seni sangat laaa hehe) to do the favours meself.. so mostly beli je :(

Tulat (30th oct) - To start with the raye2 preparation - Byk ni nak buat!!! (I'm inviting few family over to do the HariRaye-Myra's Birthday-HouseWarming celebrations all in one wrap on the 1st of Oct). Ambitious tul.. harap2 berjaye (but if no post about it, you can just take that my plan did't work out quite well hehe)

Skali raye jatuh on 30th of october.. haha.. kalau jadi, tak raye la beta.. coz I'm due to work that day. Anyway, that evening also the long-waited guests are due to arrive from Doha.. so hopefully anak bulan tu tahan-tahan la nak kluar sampai 1 hb! hehehe

So, sekian.. doakan plan saye berjaye! Bak kate Aizal: Nandayooo!

And.. oh yeah.. I cycled to work today.. took me 20 minutes ;) (BEST!)

Main masak-masak anyone?

When I was younger, I didn't recall if I ever played masak2 or mekap2 like a normal lil girl. I was more prone to play galah panjang, batu seremban, hide&seek, and bile dah besar sket.. my favourites lompat getah & Rounders..hahaha bes gile laa bile teringat balik! guess it was my nature not to be interested on all those normal girlish-toys. That is until now!
So, hari ni jom kite main masak-masak.. As requested from my sister, I'm gonna share the resepi for ayam percik (courtesy of Ros Delights & co a.k.a Ibu mertuaku -which I have to stress ere is the total opposite of the P.Ramlee version of evil mother-in-law hehe).

::AYAM PERCIK ROS DELIGHTS::

Bahan-Bahannya

1 ekor ayam - belah dua
5 biji bawang merah
3 cm halia
Kunyit serbok
3 - 4 sudu lada giling
1 cm belacan
1 sudu asam jawa
1 biji kelapa (buatkan santan pekat)

Caranya:-

Ayam dipotong dua, kelar atasnya, sapukan garam kunyit. ( Kukus ayam sampai lembut)

Untuk membuat kuahnya:-

Tumbuk bawang merah,halia dan belacan,kemudian campurkan lada giling,masukkan kunyit serbuk 1 sudu
Masukkan bahan tumbuk tadi kedalm santan dan kacau bersama dgn asam jawa, masukkan gula 1 sudu, dan garam.
Masakkan sekejap diatas dapor kacau jgn berhenti sampai pekat.(Kalau nampak tak pekat sangat campurkan sikit tepong jagong)
Bila dah pekat angkat dan ketepikan.

Bila ayam yg dikukus tadi masak curahkan kuah tadi diatasnya. Bakar sekejap dan ulangi curahkan kuahkan kuah tadi sampai dia sebati dengan ayam tu.

Sekian dan selamat mencuba. Kalau tak faham hubungi ibu.
(Memang bulat-bulat copy paste dari email Ibu.. hehehe so, sape2 tak paham BM, translate sendiri laaa )

P/S: Thanks again Ibu!!

A silly question..

Does anybody watch Desperate Housewives Season 4 Ep 17? What the heck happened? Is that the end of Desperate Housewives? It is sooo not great.. looks like the pay-back version from the script writer! I am sooo tak puas hati. Ok.. end of story. Sekian.

Simple math equations

Baru je nak menapak kat Stratford.. dah kene pindah. But in a way, it is for our own advantage... We are thrill, (Specially for me.. I am like jumping up & down my imaginary bed.. hiks). We will move closer to work (Insyaallah) thus, below equations applies;

Equation 1.
Closer to work = < time to commute = > free time

Equation 2.
< time to commute = > confident to cycle = > exercise = > happy me (leh kurus.. yay!)

Equation 3.
> free time = > family bonding = > lurveee

Oleh sebab itu (no symbol for the three dots.. shoot!)
Final equation,
> free time + > happy me + > lurvee = > happy baby = > happy mommy = > happy family ;)

See, it is all about doing the right math. Work out well for most.

And then we turned 2..

Pejam celik pejam celik dah due tahun dah we've been married.

Of all the ups and down... you know me best.

We went through good and bad,

Shed tears together

Had our laughs

You are just the most amazing husband in the world.. and i'm the most lucky wife there is .. i hope it continues for years to come! muah muah muah!!!

And best of all.. thank you.. for the lil gift that I'd treasure for eternity....

My lil nottie-pie!

Favour Returns

For Melayu, in order to get to know each other better, they have to exchange their hospitality. The phrase 'jemputla datang rumah' is quite commonly used. So, like any other ordinary melayu.. I've invited people over to my house.. (ermm.. btw this pic is NOT my house..it's ibah's -lady in black)
I'm sure some of my friends (and my sister specially) who happen to know me from before would feel that I've changed.. A LOT! And yes.. indeed I did. Being abroad, far away from home has taught me a lot. More in London than Doha.. in Doha.. we were kinda spoilt, so we don't really feel the need to exhaust ourselves over for something that we could easily buy. In London.. it's all about getting things done by yourself. Jimat sket.. hehe
So, what happen was, Saturday we went to Ibah's house for berbuke.. (having had them over to our home before - quite good example of the melayu-culture that I was talking about.. hiks). Had delicious briyani, kueh2 traditional.. but not so much of intimate chat (although all of them were quite friendly and nice to talk to) as I was running around to chase the lil rugrat up and down the stairs!!! cobaan tul Myra ni..

And.. it's our turn on Sunday, but this time - we invited another two family over for berbuka - as their first time visit to our humble home... hiks
..The menu..

::Nasik Lemak sambal udang, sambal ikan bilis, telur rebus, some timun, kueh gulung (which lesson learnt- to make the filling using desiccated coconut, you need to add water to get the right texture!).. and as a side dish, AYAM PERCIK (from my-mother-in-laws-famous-recipe..thanks Ibu!)::

How on earth did I manage to pull this off, god knows! But that's me now.. living my life away from Mak.. Pasar Ramadhan and everything that make me life so simple before.

Then, on Monday, we invited another two more guests -my old colleague Karl and his aunt for some thai night in - there were tomyam, padprik, telur bungkus and fried veggie plus Aizal's famous cheese Samosa.. (but no pics taken- terforgot). Hehe.. boleh tahan jugakla rase..

So, there you go.. the new me- a mother and a cook (apparently.. hehe). By the way.. if any of my guest happen to read this, thanks again for coming! It's our pleasure to have you around.. and sorry kalau ade termasin tertawar and any other ter... ;)

Satu malam di bulan puase

Yesterday I dunno why, rase tak keruan.. it s'pose to be our day off together, but Aizal had to attend some 'Upfront' course - he even got a free night stay at Ramada Jarvis hotel, so that leaves me and Myra home alone (cam tak biase jek..hiks).

Actually my plan is to go out for lil bit of shopping raye, then maybe meet Aizal up in Bayswater before going to the hotel.. I've got myra all dressed up, but as if she can sniff the tension air, she too had her mood swing. Takmo tido, takmo duk lam pram.. asek jeritt jer when she can't get what she wants.. geramm tul!

So.. at last, I give in, and ended up couch-potatoing meself. It's a chilly day anyway. I even let Myra play on her own (at least most of the time.. until she scream her heart out for attention that i gotta layan die jugak hihiks..)

Until towards the very end.. there's no call from Aizal.. not until 7-ish pm that is. Almost time for berbuka. So, after all the waitings over, Aizal finally ring and said I so have to come and see the hotel.. it's beautiful.. rugi tak tido situ.. But since it's late.. and soooo after Myra's bedtime.. I contemplated. With her being cranky, plus Mommy yang malas tahap dewa.. I tot of cancelling. But then Aizal, as sweet as he always be called and said he'd be home to pick us up to the hotel.

So, dapat jugakla merase tido kat hotel that cost GBP250 a night..

Ramada Jarvis - Hyde Park.. niiiiice!

Wah Senangnye!!

Since yesterday, abah keep asking me to give him my IC photocopy so he can arrange for my road tax claim through pejabat pos. All these while I tot I'm not gonna get it since I'm away and all. Then, today my sis just shared this useful info with me.. from 1st of August.. you can make the claim ONLINE! how great is that? Malaysia sudah maju!
So, if anybody happen to come across my blog, please feel free to try out this link... there are few other pos-material stuff that you can access online too.

POS MALAYSIA SUDAH MAJU

Preeti darn good Iftar

We were invited to our very first Iftar majlis at Kak Preeti's house. I know.. I'm a bit blog-greedy, 3 posts in one day? takde keje ape yeen ni.. hehehe.. tapi since I'm still in my bloggin mood.. why not? Besides.. all that happened today worth a share ;)

We were last to arrive and 10 minutes past the break, due to some taxi-situation and me coming home late to swing by the festival earlier (I hope my boss won't find this blog and caught me going home early.. hehe).

Coming in, there were like more than 10 families in her house!! Mann.. i thought it gonna be small.. but then again, it's never small when it comes to Melayu gathering.. Kak Preeti was sweet enough to invite us so she can introduce more of her friends to us here, so we won't feel that home sick anymore ;)

The foods are great! We were served Nasik berlauk; ayam masak kicap, rendang daging, bihun goreng, kueh-mueh and best of all is Nazrul's special murtabak buatan sendiri...hebat!

To top it all up, so are the crowds. They are all friendly and nice.. most with small baby like ours. So, we blend in quite alrite... specially Myra; waving both her hands up and down excitedly.

Then when everyone started to leave, Ikmal n farah (which we just met) being so sweet to offer us a ride home.

So, here are some of the pics that I managed to capture..

Thank you Kak Preeti and Nazrul for the warmth & homely Iftar! Yum yum! Kenyang..

::Street paR-tay::

On my way from work to home, I bumped into Regent's Street festival (well actually was told by Aizal about it, so I'm all set with my camera! hehe) I have been meaning to go to one of these street festival in London.. and finally.. something is happening so close to my office.. hiks
So, this has make up my frustration for missing that infamous Notting Hill festival last month..

Apparently according to the brochure, the theme this year is 'A Great British Experience' (duhh..). There s'pose to be marching bands, fanfare trumpeters, pipe bands, live music, dance performances, a veteran car display, gourmet food stalls… and bla bla bla.. well.. where the heck is all that? As I passed through Regent Street, all I could see were some empty tents labelled 'face makeup' then some 'chokia' fun-fare wheels.. Hurm.. maybe I am too late after all.. it's 6pm and the festival was meant to last till 8. So, what left is some british band performances (which actually sound rather fab ..hiks.. talking lika brits already), pipe bands- which was surrounded by too many curious tourist including myself hehe.

I got to say, I am not at all impress! Maybe because my attention was more to the rows and rows of shops (Burberry, Hermes, Jaeger, Jigsaw, Banana republic- to name a few, in such a BIG block) alongside the street rather than the so-called festival. Yup, it was my first time to walk on this street.. usually I'd go towards Bond Street.

Anyway.. since I got the camera and all.. let me just share some of the onsite scenery;

And alang-alang tu.. why not I share also a lil bit of the street that i walk every other day to work.

Pic: Mind the statue on top of my office block entrance. That boy is showing off his fly!!! hehehehe

Resepi Tepung Pelita aka Flour lantern

Craving to eat tepung pelita (i.e: direct translation flour lantern..kekekeke). Got the recipe from my mom.. but u know how mom dunno the exact measurement n all and let we figure it out all on our own..hecks..

So last night when I came back from the office around 11:40-ish and still got a left-over energy, I decided to try it out. But I didn't quite have all the ingredients.

Mom said, senang je.. kacau je tepung beras ngan air pandan atas dapur.. Tapi orang takde daun pandan? perise pandan boleh? Bolehlahhh.. satu cawan tepung beras 3 cawan air.. Lepas tu kacau santan ngan tepung gandum.. kat bawah skali taruk gule... Hurmm.. sounds easy enuff!

So here goes.. the outcome of my own secukup-rase-recipe;


Pics: Proses-proses pembuatan: how do you know if its over-cooked? I think mine is a bit well-done cos it sticks even before i pour to let cool..hahaha
Since i don't have pandan leaves nor pewarne hijau, i used gule melake to make the bottom part colourish. Well people always say the key word to get a home cook food is to improvise! so jadila my kueh 'flour lantern' versi london kaler coklat hehe...
So what left now is the taste? The topping is just the right taste but the bottom is urghhhh.. yekk.. puhtuiii....hehe..maybe i put too much pandan flavour? haha
All in all the experiment is not a total success..although now i know it's really easy to make.I'd do it again, but next time I'd do it with the right ingredients!

Proudest moment

Aizal came home just now. Proudly declared his success to cycle to/back from work (@Oxford Street). It took him 1 hour (++) for each way.
So, I conducted a lil interview with the proud cyclist;







Me: Tahniah! Ape perasaan anda?
Aizal macho: Letih sikit, tapi bangge sebab boleh cycle pegi balik dalam bulan2 puase ni.. dah la hujan!
Me: Apekah cabaran terbesar mase encik berbasikal tadi?
Aizal macho: Dalam perjalanan, saye terpakse berhenti untuk 2-3 kali sebab GPS saye macam hang. Cuak jugak la..
Me: Adakah anda akan berbasikal lagi?
Aizal macho: Sudah tentu. Badan rase sihat!
Me: Besok?
Aizal: Err.. rilek dulu la.. letih! hehehe

Well, of course the interview wasn't real. Duhh!
But the journey is real. And he did it! We are so proud of you!!

But I'm not sure if I'm ready to try just yet.. ;)

How to?

Was playing with the lil one just now. Been trying to teach her few basic stuff like;
::pointing to me when i ask ''where's mommy?'' (and as always die buat dek je)
::pointing to herself when i ask ''where's Myra?'' (same result- buat dunno jer)
::kiss her teddy bear when i ask "kiss bear bear" (she'll sayang the bear by putting the bear's nose tip in her mouth)
::wave bye-bye -(which i know she's tired of already.. dah malas dah nak wave to me.. but if to strangers.. she'll volunteerily wave herself out! terlebih ramah la pulak!)
::dance when I sing (which she naturally picks up- I noticed that she loveeee to dance to the music.. aizal was a bit concious -takut anak die jadi kaki clubbing..hahahaha which is really cute) Myra will clap her hands then try to shake her hips to the right-n-left before falling over due to her cute-imbalance stand.
::kiss Mommy - this is the most dangerous part.. instead of kissing me.. she'll bite my cheek so hard! Everytime! adehla.. so... how do i train her to kiss me, not to abuse me? hehehe...

wish I could share the moment here.. but this kind of things.. is really hard to capture! Just need to treasure it in my heart.. hurmmm..

Pic: Don't be fool by the cute look. She bites!!!

(Disebabkan gambar tadi penuh kontroversi.. I've changed the pic with her showing off her full-front-teeth..grrrr)

The cycle vow continue...

I think it's autumn now...

We took Myra for a ride earlier.. the wind is quite wild and chill.. at first I felt like turning back home as I'm scared it'll be too cold for Myra to handle. But since it is bright and sunny.. i figured, why not? the wind might go away after we passes few block.

It was my first time exploring the ''other'' side of Stratford. I always turn right on Romford road.. but this time we turned left.. aizal said there are few interesting places that I should see. And he was right. Not far from our flat, there's a recreational centre which has swimming pool, gymnasium and i bet some other facilities too. They even offer lesson!
Then.. after riding for few more blocks, there it was... a green green park- in front of my eyes. Oh god, what took me so long to discover this? All this while I was busy feeling down, complaining about our dodgy surrounding.. and today, after seeing that park, I know I was wrong. There's a hidden gem here.. the West Ham park is an absolute beauty. Big-greenish and peaceful... (which to be honest, looks even better than Hyde park or Regent's park). After seeing rows of big maple trees, sideways covered by brownish leaves and the red cherries (err.. i think it is cherry-not quite sure though), I am all bright and happy again. I know there's always a positive point to anything.

What even better is that how Myra enjoyed the ride. I can tell that she's enjoying it because she didn't cry to be released and she actually clap her hand for few times. It just the most perfect evening.

We passed the park to go to the nearby shop in Plaistow, which happen to sell few Malaysian products. I stuffed over some tepung beras, bihun and udang kering then head back. On the way home, when I was ready to go through the park again, I saw the big yellow print on the road - NO VEHICLE OR CYCLES ALLOWED. FINE 200. Alamak! it's a cycle-free park! So, I was thinking, should I just go and pretend that I didn't know? Besides.. i saw few people with their bike passing by. They seems not to bother too?
But, biasela.. as skema as i am.. i didn't. I turn around and cycle from the outside... but then curik jugak masuk on some part of the park.. hehehe.. luckily takde polis! So.. we are back, safe and sound.

Pic: Myra and her enjoyable riding experience. Basikal Aizal jugak tak sampai2 lagi sampai sekarang! Terpakse la gilir2 jalan ngan cycle. hehe..

::TAG'd by Verde::

Errmm.. am really new at this.. so i hope it works.. hehe.. happy Merdeka day!

so here goes.................
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Walk the walk, talk the talk

I couldn't sleep. Woke up around 430am..and has been wide awake ever since (which explain the sudden rajin-ness meng-update blog hehe).

My ups points today;

::1::When Aizal is going off to work earlier, I asked Myra to say bye-bye daddy.. and she actually said it! Both of us think we heard it right, so i guess she does really said it in her own cute-baby-way (Note: she can call her Dad for quite sometime actually.. but i still can't accept the fact that her first word is daddy not mommy! I'm so jealous!)

::2::Myra was crusing along the furniture when she suddenly turn and make one step ahead without holding to anything. What a progress! Yay!

UK Road trip

Some friends from Doha are coming over for short break holiday during Raye. We are so excited. Can't wait to see them and actually discover UK by road.

So.. we got to start planning and budgetting for them considering the following:

::Point 1::
We've got 1st Oct till 10th

::Point 2::
Need to spend at least 1-2 days in london (plus first day raya and myra's 1st birthday partee - can't wait!)

::Point 3::
One of them is preggy - not to stress her out! ;)

::Point 4::
Need to cover them all (greedy greedy hehe)

::Point 5::
I'm open for suggestion

Ramadhan datang lagi

Hurm.. the most sought-after month of the year, used to be very happening - that is when I was in Malaysia. Bazaar Ramadhan, Iftaar, Terawih is just everywhere.. so you can really feel the spirits and enjoy the holy month. But being abroad.. we hafta puase sendiri2 je kat sini. If we are lucky, we'd get invited to buke puase to some friends we met here.. but dunno.. still too early to tell. And if we (we; as in me, aizal and i don't think myra would?) crave for some kueh, I hafta do it from scratch. Thanks to internet - any kind of recipe is just one click away.

Time time puase ni la.. we feel the urge to go home to Malaysia.. rindu family.. kawan-kawan and suasane. Nak nak raye nanti.. huwarghhh.. lucky you Myra.. u're not missing out anything (yet).

Hurm.. The few of the many sacrifies that one need to commit when being abroad.

Anyway, just here to wish you all Ramadhan Kareem.. just appreciate the time you have with your love one.. you never know when it'll end.

Just got this link from my hubby.. (maybe a hint to cook more of his favourite food? hehe) http://www1.bharian.com.my/Misc/RamadanAlMubarak/Puasa/resipi_html