Eid Mubarak - UAE Revisited

Happy Eid everyone and Selamat Hari Raya Haji.

We're lucky this year to have cave,an parents and my in laws for hari raya, although we didn't have any ketupat, rendang or kuih muih but we had each other and were together and of course that made me miss my family too...sob..sob..sob.

The arrived from KL and we met up with them in Dubai to spent a few days visiting Dubai and Abu Dhabi before heading back to Dtown.

The 1st time i was in Dubai was back in 2003 and the last time was sometime in May for a very quick trip...we drove all the way from Dtown to Dubai ( took us 9hr with immigration etc.. ) just to grab a few things from IKEA and to test the car....and we sure did test the car though....we ran out of fuel between UAE and Saudi border....another loooonnng story....

On this trip, we did all the touristic activities and we enjoyed it and my favourite has always been the Old Dubai, its amazing. It was unfortunate that most shops was close the day we were there due to eid but the was still buzzing as always but the highlight for me was the trip Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

It was truly majestic and magnificient. Never had I visited a mosque so emmaculate in my live. I knew this mosque was a mega structure but having to be there myself, it was breath-taking. Everything was well built, well designed and flawless.

The only thing that i wish i had that day was some sunlight! it had been raining in the UAE during the eid  and as we were driving to Abu Dhabi it was pouring! :). With some sunlight, it would had been glimmering from the white white marbles.

If your are every there, its worth to take the free tour the mosque conduct daily. We took the 1st tour, wise choice not too many tourist at the time but the later tour is jam packed! 

White domes of the mosque

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi

Hand weaven carpet from Iran ( its one piece carpet covering the main hall)

Egyptian inspired minarets

North Entrance Arcade - where the tour starts

The passage leading to the tomb

Doha Tea Party :)

Love bday's...esp when its not mine and I haven't thrown any since the April babies bday so when it was two of my good frens in Doha birthday was coming up...i saw an oppurtunity!!! a few days a part...i managed to convinced their hubbies and our friends to a suprise 'Tea party'.

( Birthday girls with girl pals :))

I have never been to a tea party before but read and watched it too many time and I always like the idea of a tea party although I'm coffee lover. One of the bday girl did mentioned that she always wanted to have a tea party but never had an occasion or a reason to. Everyone was onboard and got together for this party. Since it was a 'suprise' party, I was being very notty...telling lots of tales all week to the bday gals.Babes...please forgive me, it was all for the party :D.

Ms.N grinning at my not soo sconey scones,these must be the good batches coz these actually do look good :).

Birthday Girl 1 - Ms.S and hubs Mr. N

Birthday 2- Ms. N with hubs Mr.Z

Although there were sticks and bumps along the way plus it happened to be a very busy week at school and it was also the last weekend before the Eid hols, and I was on a verge of getting sick but thanks to advil and strepsil I managed to keep it at bay. Everybody contributed...from the food, the deco, the cake and the hosting. The husbands given a task on what to get and do and they were super!!! .They came well ahead of time with all the things they were asked to bring and help to decorate for the party while me and Ms.S was busy getting everything ready in the kitchen with our own little disaster!. Originally I wanted to have traditional english tea party but it was way too much to do in a week plus I don't have enuff tea set for everyone ( reminder - must get a tea set for keeps ) so I had to tweak a little and rebrand it to an 'Oriental Tea Party'. I got this floral tissue paper and got totally inspired and everything else was coordinated to this piece of tissue paper ( i also went crazy making tissue peonies til 2am !!! ).

So we had mini chicken shawerma ( which i must say was pretty damn good, probably beginner's luck !) , chicken wings , blueberry cheesecake, tea sandwiches , of course we had to have scones and clotted cream ( unfortunately some of them was a bit burnt and turn out to be like rock cakes instead but nonetheless was still yummy, but Ms.N was heading to London for the hols, so i told her to get the real deal in over there :D ) , chocolate cuppies with chocolate and raspberry frosting, chips & dips , grapes, sparkling ruby orange drink and hot earl grey tea. Cake was made my Ms.E and Ms.Z lent us this beautiful white table cover which was exactly what i wanted!. We missed you at the party.

We had planned a game too 'Charades" but that never happened, we just sat and stuff ourself again and again :). My camera decided to go dead 1/2 way thru so didn't take much pictures Mr.N had all of the photos on his camera, these photos here are probably the best i got on mine. The girls was pleasantly suprised and they seemed happy :) soo mission accomplished and a pat on the back for everyone that made this party happened.

Thanks guys....me love u lots ....xoxo

Til next birthday....Happy Eid Everyone!!!

125 million

If your wandering what this figure is....don't be jealous its not the balances from my bank account :p ( i sooo wish is it !!! ). It is actually the number off people worldwide that has psoriasis and I am included in this millions.

I found out today that the 29th Oct is the World Psoriasis Day and the National Psoriasis Foundation in the USA, are looking for 500o signature to get the President to proclaim this day. This is a super afford.I do believe pll should know more about this disease and i hope they get this number. I have had it since i was 18 and I've been lucky so far, its been good and bad. Last year after moving to D town, it got bad, probably the worst flare up i had in those 13yrs but alhamdullilah I'm getting better, im not cleared but its been improving.

Having psoriasis is a challenge.

It hard for me to answer pll when then ask me what i have, coz most of them have no clue what it is, some have never even heard about it and of course some are scared when they see my skin but I'm soo use to it by now that their reaction doesn't effect me but of course, I'm only human and this is what i tell myself everyday - as long as my family except me for who I am and what I have, I'm happy and I know that what I have doesn't kill and that there are pll that are in worst situation then me and this is from Allah S.W.T. This makes me feel better about my P. Unfortunately there is no cure for this illness there are only ways to control it and for each individual its different because its effected by their autoimmune system, yes psoriasis is a auto immune system disease but it is not "AIDS"..so don't worry and also it is not contagious, it is however hereditary. My fear is that my girls will inherite this from me and I hope they don't. But if they do....it will be a way of life...just like me. My girls love me even when my skin is red, sore and ugly and i will love them all the same.

Hopefully with a official day like this that pll have more of awareness of this disease, because its not had bad as it seems although it can be quite daunting and difficult of the suffer to handle at time, physically and emotionally. Psoriasis suffer needs loads of support and i do hope that with the afford that the pll with psoriasis are doing will open up the public eye. To my dear family and friends whose been supporting me and my p...thank you very much :D

Staying positive....a psoriasis sufferer.

Kueh oh Kueh

Since we moved to Doha, I must say my culinary skill has improved esp on cooking asian/malaysian dishes...for example, I made lompat tikam before the summer hols! I know now that its not rocket science to make this yummy desert,but nonetheless its an accomplishment to me :D.

What makes it more motivating is that when you cook and you have friends to eat it...good or bad! What we usually do, we gather over the weekend and cook up something for lunch and we all would bring and share a dish and enjoy a great lunch. It's a good way to spend a weekend when there is limited activities to do here esp during the hot summer season.

So last weekend we got invited to a friend's house for lunch and I had some sweet potatoes in the fridge that will go bad if I didn't use them up soon. I usually fried them like goreng pisang but Ms.N suggested that I make kueh keria instead. Hmmm....tricky one. Never made this before, so I googled a recipe and tried.

(Gorgeous Sweet potatoes)

It was suprisingly easy..

Kueh Keria

500g sweet potatoes ( diced , boiled til soft and mashed )

100g plain flour

30g rice flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar ( i had very sweet sweet potatoes so didn't need much sugar )

a pinch of salt

oil ( for frying )

For the sugar coating

1/2 icing sugar ,a pinch oh cinnamon and nutmeg. Seive them all together.

(I change the frosting on this one just to see how it would taste like and they turn out good but a traditional kueh keria is coated with sugar glazed.)

Ok here goes,

Add everything ( flour, rice flour, baking powder,salt and sugar ) to the mashed up sweet potatoes. Knead well till everything is even and you are able to mould to balls. It will be a bit sticky but don't worry even i panic for a moment there, so all you need to do is to put some flour on your hands while making them balls, then flatten them a little and a make a hole in the middle. I cheated a little and used a donut cutter (must be powdered with flour too ) mama gave me and make life easy :D. Next fry them til they are golden brown, on low heat preferbly coz you want the inside to cook thru. Once it is all done, powder all of them with your sugar coating front and back.

( ready for frying )

( Powdered with sugar mix )

There you go...my first timer kueh keria :D

Our 1st Family Tree

I'm still getting used to bubbles having homework this year and so far i've bee on track with her reminding me whenever she has homework. Last week Adek was down with fever and it was abit kalam kabut for me and i totaly forgot that she need to do a family tree due on the 2nd Oct.

Last saturday we had lunch at Ms Z's house who daughter is in bubbles class and she asked me if we have done the family tree.....and im like...ohhhh buggers...i forgot!!! and just then bubbles came in the kitchen with her friend's tree and asked me why haven't we done ours??? ohh dear...

So we came home after lunch...after all of us had good nap from a good lunch ( Ms. Z tres leches is the killer :)) we started on our family tree, luckily i still have leftovers from the girls party..papers, stickers, etc.

We had a strawberry tree family tree, it was her choice of fav fruit. Mummy help with the drawing and cutting, she did most of the coloring and sticking, daddy did the big tree and Adek was just mocking about with everything...sticking everything everywhere! It took us a good 1 hr 30 mins to finish it up and as a result, our 1st ever family tree.....tadahhhhh!!!

( Nur Safeia's Family Tree )

The proud owner of a great family tree, she was soo happy with it that she kept looking and complimenting it hahaha. I kept it in her bag so that we wont forget it in the morning and just before bed time, i saw her opening her bag and admiring her tree. Her very special tree :D.

Of course if kakak had a picture with it Adek must have one too....:).

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Today..me and adek baked! ( ohh bubbles would be soo jealous if she knew !! )

She was not feeling too good last couple of days and had to stay home with mummy. So this is what we did!!! We made cupcakes :D and we loved it!

( Adek with the whisk )

( After a trip in the oven for 20 mins )

I have been helping out Ms.E with some baking and the last couple of weeks and my oven has been baking cupcakes. Chocolate cuppie are not my fav things to bake, as I can remember the last time I baked them was in Cairo..long time ago and it didn't turn out soo good and since then I stopped and only baked vanilla, lemons everything else beside chocolate cuppies. This time I was requested to make both vanilla and chocolate ones...hmmm...feeling quite nervous I ,did it. This time I used a recipe from a very cute cupcake book I have by Elinor Klivans and they turned out fantastic! well..Ms E was happy and so was her client and im a happy camper...hooray!

( A little dressing )

( All ready !! )

So I had some leftover sour cream in the fridge from last week baking and I thot if didn't use them up this week they will be bad...and sour cream are not cheap. I knew I wanted to make chocolate cuppies but I didn't want to make the same one again, i looked up on the internet and found these ones....Dark Chocolate Cupcakes (www.browneyedbaker.com) and frost it with the basic american buttercream frosting.

It was a really easy recipe and I didn't even have to take my mixer out. This recipe makes 12 dark yummy chocolate cupcake, I gobble up 2 before i could frost it although I promise myself that i would wait! ,bubbles had two in one sitting and for my little baker Adek..she just likes the process of making it and the licking the whisk part...she didn't have any, but she sure make my cleaning up much easier with all her licking!!

( A proud baker/helper )

the babies at 6 months

I was posting some pictures of zafir on my FB and 1 particular picture caught my eye, and i thought didn't i took the same picture of bubbles on this same bed and sheets? hmm so i went looking to the archived and there it was...it was taken on the eve of Eid 2006, she was 6 months old. Same place, same props and same pose...i did look for a picture of adek...but nada, the picture i had of her was taken in our old flat in cairo at 6 months...same pose though :)

Looks like they are all spot on the milestone :D

(bubbles)

(adek)

(baby zafir)

My new baby boy

(Zafir and Mak Na)

Dont be jumping now....hahaha...nooo.....i did not have a new baby. the baby i was referring to is my lil ahmad zafir...my lil brother and sil son....my new nephew. Why am i not called Mak long? Well we did try for a few days but some how it doesn't sound rite when i refer myself as Mak long so we decided that i am Mak Na...but caveman is Pak Long hehehehe...( he didn't have a choice!)

Ain't he cute? Mashallah....this one is happy one and very generous with his smiles...geram sangat!

Bubbles said that I am his aunty mummy, and that we are not now 2 but 3, zafir is our lil brother :D...very sweet rite and visa versa my sil and lil bro also has 2 girls now...bubbles and adek :D.

We miss him alot! we wish we could take him back with us but of course that would not be fair to his parents and grans. I'm glad now my mum has someone to play with at home, although he keeps her on her toes, he also makes her very happy.

Zafir makes everyone smiles..

Its the end of the world as we know it...and i feel fine!! goodbye REM

music to me are memories and inspirations, im sure to many of us out there. there are songs that has significant impact and when u listen to it, it just takes u right there at that moment in time, that particular incident, that special mood that comes with it. although i must say that not every song does that to you...some you just cant live without...

this morning while having my morning breakfast the newscaster on BBC announced that REM is calling quits! im like...Oh man!!!! not them,and all of the sudden all their song flooded my head and the memories came back.

i 1st heard REM when i was 12 and thats as the start of me listening to music of this genre and it hasn't stopped. they had always been and will always be one of my ultimate band. its sad that my girls don't get hear music of this kind growing up instead they listen to Lady Gaga and the sorts, that are just noise to my ears.

they are a great band, but after 3 decade they have made their mark and their song will live on like many other great songs.

i would luv to post all of their vid here but i will not....:D.

these are just some of the songs that will embedded in me for always..

there will not be another REM but im glad that there was once a band called REM.

I heart you REM

Selamat Hari Raya

Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir dan Batin to all of beloved family and friends near and far.

Happy Holidays

Cafe Lui - Hulu Langat Little Treasure

I love coming to this place, its beautiful...the air is fresher.. its calmer and its one place where i know the food is always fab, its my fav kind of food and i grew eating them. This little weekend cafe is run by my aunt and her family and it is also a a sanctuary for ikan kelah, yes big healthy ikan kelah.

Because we balik kampung soo close to ramadhan, we had to cramp everything in 2 weeks..the trips with the atok's and auny and uncles, visiting my aunts, uncles and frens and haunting our fav eateries, it was pretty hectic. I'm glad i get to bring the kids to Cafe Lui for some "kampung" feel and they absolutely love it everytime we come here...of course they like the pool and the company of their cousins the most.

So we went....a few days before ramadan,early one saturday morning to catch the morning mist and fresh air.We packed the kids and baby...drove up to Hulu Langat via Ampang/Bukit Belacan...up the hill and straight to bt. 20. Picked up 20 packed of nasik lemak bungkus in a warung just before the bridge in bt.18 and they were very good...1.20 bucks well spent! :D. It was a fantastic breakfast...great coffee, i had my fav soto ayam of course, the kids had fries and fish and chips and but most of all i get to see my aunt and her family.

It was very unfortunate that me and the girls couldnt stay longer ( we had a dim sum lunch to go too---- ohh delish!!! ) , coz later i heard that there were durian and manggis on the table and they had asam pedas too...demmit i missed it again but we will come back..insyallah and next time we stay longer :D.

( the owners and my parents )
( having breakfast and chatting away )
( lil miss aliya )
( a lil romantic nookie )
( where it all started...kopi oh kopi )
( adek and her mak pa )

For more pictures of Cafe Lui>>>>>>click here

2011 Summer Vac - Singapore

I had always have fond memories of Singapore. When we younger living in JB a trip to Sg is a big treat and t something we all look forward too. I remember i always get my barbie dolls in Sg and shoes too for some weird reason and once all of us, uncles , aunties and cousin when to Sg on a trip and it was lots of fun. Then I went a few times for work and many airport transits but the last time we went on a hols to Sg was 4 yrs go, when bubbles was only 16 month. We did the zoo...the duck ride..the nite safari and visited caveman's aunt and uncle. This time around...we thot it be nice to take the kids to Universal Studio for some fun just before we start ramadhan and we really enjoyed it and we saw some more of Singapore.

We were lucky to watch the National Day rehearsal fireworks at MBS ( Marina Bay Sands ). It was spectacular!

View of Clarke Quay from the boat we took ( the hippotour ). Excellent way to see Singapore in a glance. Goes all the way to MBS and back to Clarke Quay for a drop off.

The majestic Fullerton Hotel and Marina Bay Sands.

Clarke Quay Promenade , is one of my fav places to go. I love how they had retained the old buildings and gave them a new facelift, very exciting. This little fountain in the middle is super cool and useful on hot humid days, i was having a hard time trying to stop Adek from getting herself wet!

The famous murtabak singapura....finally had it fresh from the plate!!!

We also get to meet up with caveman aunt,uncle and their lovely grown up boys now and my bestie Poe with her adorable kids!! soo cute....and also our dear family in Doha....Aunty Sarimah and Danish that came to the airport to send us off back to KL. Thank you soo much for having us over, the girls and i really enjoyed it.

Click here for more of Singapore

Balik Kampung!!!

Its that favourite time of the year again...time to balik kampung! this time we will be home for ramadhan and eid...hooorraaayyy

We are all very excited...it's been almost a year since we last went home and this time its special...we finally get to meet our new family member...Ahmad Zafir in person! i hear that he is very lovable and generous with his smiles, ohh i love him already.

The not to good news is that we will be going home without daddy this time, daddy will only be joining us 2 weeks before eid but daddy get to go on a special trip that mummy is soo want to go too!!!!

We hope daddy don't miss us to much but we sure will miss daddy in KL!!

So before we leave....Selamat berpuasa and selamat hari raya to our friends and loved ones! \

See ya in September!

Gabbie and Livvy farewell

( a sweet farewell )
( Adek and Livvy )
( Bubbles and Gabbie )

This summer we had to say farewell to one of Bubbles and Adek's fav fren...Gabbie and her lil sister Olivia.

To the Penry's safe journey and good luck in you new home!

Bubbles 1st ballet recital

(Our lil pirate!)
(The Pirates >>>>> click here for the show! )
(Guest of honor :D)
(Backstage shot before the show)
(Mummy and bubbles)

I mentioned sometime ago that Bubbles has been taking ballet lesson with her group of little friends and is really enjoying it rite...so just after school ended, their super sweet teacher Ms. Tove made a lil ballet recital for all of her students..there were about 70 girls all together.

She put on a fantastic recital and the girls are just amazing. Two thumbs up for Ms.Tova and her little ballerinas!! Each class had a different story line . Bubbles was a pirate, she and the other pirates found a box of treasures in the Arabian gulf and brought it to shore. When they opened it they found sparkling diamonds!!!! and becoz there were too much of it, they decided to share it to everyone in Qatar ...:)