Ibu to Hannah & Sophie

I know it's been too long.....

2012-02-02T20:30:00.002+08:00

Salaam everyone,

Many has happened this past year.... The ups and downs.. Even the sides...

I'm writing again as this recent event has asked me to...

As much as we are devastated by the news, I know Allah has His plans...

My dear sister in law, Liyana (also known as Nana G) was just diagnosed with Stage 3 Lymphoma. She had just habis her confinement on the 18th Jan. She's currently in a hospital waiting to start chemotherapy tomorrow....

My brother Syafiq, I know you're stronger than you think... Kuatkan semangat and kami semua akan terus doakan Liyana...

I'm reaching out to each and everyone of you... Mohon semua doakan Liyana....

May Allah help her and our family to always be strong to go through this...

Wassalam,

Hawa

From Kolget's Desk: A Bus Ride to Remember - A Tale of The Animal Kingdom

2011-06-18T05:25:00.006+08:00

Sitting on a bus, on our way back home..

Ayah: Hannah, which animal has a huge trunk?
Hannah: Elephant!

Ayah: Good job! Hannah, which animal has a long neck?
Hannah: Giraffe!

Ayah: Well done!Which animal has wings?
Hannah: Bird!

Ayah:(wohoo.. need to make it harder then) Hannah, which animal swim under the water?
Hannah: Crocodile!

Ayah: Gooood job! (I was expecting a fish! More difficult question then) Hannah, what animal gives you milk?
Hannah:*Look confused. I.. I don't know..

Ayah: OK, let me help you. Remember the milk for breakfast? Where does the milk come from?

Hannah: Ibu's t#t#k! *Shouted excitedly!

Ayah: *Pengsan!(Nasib baik takde orang melayu dalam bas!)

Family Day & BBQ

2011-06-15T04:30:00.005+08:00

The Glasgow Malaysian Community had a family day & BBQ last Sunday. It was AWESOME! The weather was rather chilly but we enjoyed ourselves with great food and great company just the same...

The first game, Kols was in

The second one, I was..

Until I got super competitive Monica-like, making alliance with Alid

Second game, still so competitve, won second

Third game, still super competitive got us second again and we quit! hahahhah

The Day We Spent At The Park

2011-06-05T02:10:00.004+08:00

After what felt like ages of gloomy, It was a beautiful 23 degrees yesterday and we spent the whole day at George Square and then the Queens Park. We ( as in Kols and the girls while I just sit on the mat) played ball, bubbles, and masak-masak. The girls were totally knackered by the end of it they spent 14 hours sleeping at night!

And today it was that white clouds again.... haiseh!

Happy Birthday

2011-05-26T05:13:00.004+08:00

Today's is Kols birthday and we didn't have anything big planned. Just thought a nice meal at home would do it as he's so busy himself. I made nasi kerabu, my very fist attempt at it. Taking his first suap he said to me, Happy Birthday We....

hahahhahah... I laughed my head off! You know why?

He then said, "It's my birthday and you cooked YOUR favourite meal! "

Was I insensitive? I thought we could both enjoy the meal... well, of course he did, but still I think how insensitive of me to cook my favourite meal on his birthday. The least I could have done is whip up something special from HIS favourite list. We did make his special Watermelon & Pineapple Punch! Justified???

Ahhh well, nevertheless, it was a wonderful meal... =)

Happy Birthday Sayang. I Love You to the moon and back!

Mexican & Cheese?

2011-05-07T23:09:00.005+08:00

I made this yesterday for dinner. Combining two of my many favourite dishes, Mexican and Mac & Cheese. I know some might gag! but it's truly honestly delicious. Super simple to whip up and you get a dinner in 20 minutes.

Serves about 2-3 hungry tummies
Ingredients:

200-300gm macaroni ( I used fusili)
200-300gm boneles chicken strip
1 Onion - diced
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 cup sweetcorn
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or any amount to your liking
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
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1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
2 cups of milk
1 cup of cheddar/parmesan/any cheese you like
1 tbsp mascarpone or you could use any cream cheese ( I know absurd kan? but I like it) hahaha

Method:

1. Boil the pasta al dente, drain and set aside.
2. Heat a saucepan and fry the onions with olive oil until soft then stir in the chicken until cook.
3. Add the cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt pepper and oregano then the peppers and corn. stir fried until slightly soft then add the pasta into it. Set aside
4. In another saucepan, with medium heat make a roux from the flour and butter, pour in the milk and stir until thicken (will take about 6-8 minutes), add the cheese.
5. In a baking pan, add the pasta mix then the cheese sauce and fold evenly. Sprinkle some more cheese on top if you like
6. Bake in the oven for 20minutes at 190 degrees or until the cheese are brown

p/s: To my sister Sarah, I know you don't like the Mexican Chicken Dish, I'm gonna make them into these whenever you are here. =)

I'm Super Excited!

2011-04-29T03:03:00.010+08:00

Here comes the long awaited weekend....

It's the Royal Wedding weekend, and I'm super thrilled! Absolutely over the moon for the couple, such handsome couple I hope they'd bring more joy to the world!

If I've had some time to plan, I'd have a pre-wedding, wedding day and post wedding party for us all to enjoy while watching them on tele! hahahhahah... siap nak menyibuk kan?

To know that she was once just like us collecting posters of the Prince growing up.... but look at her now, actually get to marry the prince of her dream... it's just Amazing! Aha...! I'm that big of a sucker for fairy tales....

I think we all know she'd make the perfect people's Princess just like her late mother in law

Have a lovely lovely weekend everyone!

I Want A Pink Mole

2011-04-27T17:50:00.003+08:00

We were watching tele all four of us one evening. Hannah was sitting on Kols's lap and Sophie on mine, when Hannah looked at her left hand and said to him

'Daddy, I don't want this mole' while rubbing on it as if it will go away if she keeps doing so.

Kindly Kols explained, Allah made you the mole and you cannot wash it away or rub it away and showed her that ayah and ibu also have moles well Ibu mostly as I tend to get more every time I was pregnant, especially on my face where I used to only have one.. I had 4 when I was carrying Hannah and 3 more carrying Sophie.

Anyway, she then understood that it's permanent but then asked if she could have it in pink! hahahahhaha.

'Can I have a pink one, daddy?' ape2 je la hannah....

It's a long holiday and guess what we are doing?

2011-04-24T17:32:00.004+08:00

It's a long Easter weekend starting on a Good Friday ends with Bank Holiday Monday and give a while guess what we've been doing???......

Nothing! A Huge Humongous Gigantic NOTHING! hahahhahah...
We are just so lame that way! I know.....

I totally blame it on Kols as being so psychotically involved with his work, he doesn't exactly know when the holidays are! psychopath! now we have nothing to do... If I knew I would have planned a short getaway ke ape... But I'm not complaining too much as I have some packing of shipment to do anyway, and my dateline is closing in.... so hey, we are embracing doing nothing!
Thanks sayang!! heh!

Next week is another long weekend with the royal wedding and everything...So, we are planning for a Safari Trip & BBQ InsyaAllah. So, we have something to look forward too.... Lets just continue doing Nothing for now! heheheh

What?! Again?!

2011-04-20T01:33:00.004+08:00

Do you remember that show 'What's so Raven' ? Yes, I saw her get bigger every season and every episode.

Or, maybe you might remember her from The Cheetah Girls?

Remember how big she was? She was always so funny though.....

Wait til you see this..........

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She's still hilarious just skinnier!

If you need some inspirations, this would do it for you I guess. All the best ladies, it's still not too late... She reportedly lost about 35 pounds and one thing for sure, she did it the all fashion way, the exercise and healthy eating, not a single premium beautiful on site! *wink

Right after looking at her photos, I munched on every snacks I can get my hands on! hahahah...

*All photos are credit of Mr Google

Sarah's Going Home

2011-04-18T06:23:00.005+08:00

My little sister Sarah is going home tomorrow and we had just finished packing. She's so psych about it, been missing everyone so much she said but I think mostly looking forward for the Justin Bieber's concert she's going to on Thursday!

We'll be sending her to the airport in the morning and I was telling Kols how tonight's dinner was the last one of us three, tomorrow it'll be just the two of us again on the dinner table...

Anyway Sarah, I hope you'll have a safe journey tomorrow and send our regards to everyone at home...We would love to go home ourselves but Kols is in his important part of his study.

The girls would definitely be missing you, but lets hope Tika will come here soon! *wink

She's Graduated!

2011-04-14T05:05:00.003+08:00

It's that time of the year again and this year it's Sophie's turn. We embarked on the journey last Thursday and by Sunday she's officially potty trained!

Remember how proud I was when Hannah graduated just after 15 days both day and night nappy? I was mentally prepared for a whole two weeks of work and just imagine how chuffed was I when Sophie managed to do it in 3 Days! I'm not kidding, 3 Days! That's on night nappy as well! I know?! best kan?

I was beyond shocked but nevertheless very very very proud. That's a world record of its own eh? Today's a week Wednesday and we are very much with two nappy-less girls. I'm just over the moon! Well done my darling...

It's really amazing how it seems almost too natural to her. I bet, Hannah being nappy less played a big factor in her following the sister's footsteps. Now we have about two plastic bags of nappies to give away.

p/s: On a very different note, Kols are away for a week conference in Spain and we are missing him dearly.

The Apartment we stayed at In Paris

2011-04-11T17:38:00.008+08:00

As promised, here's the post on the apartment I was bragging about. It's a small cosy self catering and absolutely affordable apartment in Paris. It's situated on the 16th Arrondissiment, more the border of 8th and 16th with access to 2 metro stations which are Trocadero and Brasserie.

It's along the Rue De Longchamp just off Avenue Kleber which has the Arc De Triomphe at one end and Trocadero at the other. Still emphasizing how close it is to everything, with only 5minutes walk to Troacadero, 10minutes to Eiffel Tower, 10minutes to Arc De Triomphe, and 15 minutes to Champs De Elysees.

The apartment can accommodate up to 5 people. There are 2 rooms with 2 sofa beds, one fully equipped kitchen, one bathroom and a toilet.

Room 1 with bathroom and small dining table on the left

Please excuse the messiness as we arrived quite late and all we thought about was going to sleep. The girls were in the bathtub hence why their sleeping wears are lying about. hehehe

Room 2

These are the only photos Sarah managed to get so, I'll include the photo of the kitchen and the bathroom from the owner's website. Although the fittings of the cabinets on the bathroom and the kitchen looks a little bit outdated but the apartment is spotless and very clean. We were very very pleased with the conditions. The carpet looks almost new and the rooms were decorated rather tastefully.

The kitchen has all the utensils and appliances you'd need for a short stay or even a long one. A microwave, toaster, washing machine, oven, fridge freezer and even a hand-held vacuum. Every sizes of pots and pans, plates, glasses and cups for 6-8 diners. With only the ingredients and rempah to bring and buy, I've managed to do some wonders in this kitchen. I've made scrambled eggs, burger patties, pancakes, fried chicken and fries, chicken curry and cooked steam rice as well.

The proud owner of this apartment is Benoit which I called Ben who's very friendly and speaks English really well. He's been very helpful from the early stage via email and throughout our stay. He stayed with his family just on the opposite block which made it easier for him to allow late check ins (we arrived around 9.30pm) when most rental apartments that goes through an agent would charge a hefty Euro50 for check ins after 6pm and check outs after 2pm. He even allowed us to do a late check out at 6.30pm if there's no booking on that day.

He did leave his personal mobile number with us in case there's anything we need which we just used to tell him about our late check out.

Another plus point about renting from Ben was the payment method. Most rental agents would ask for agent fees within 24hours of confirming your stay which is to be paid via Paypal then full payment to owner within a week of confirmation via bank transfer which could be quite costly (about GBP20 here per transfer) and they also need about 50-60euro for Insurance which they made compulsory. Some even charge you for the gas and electricity you use. While Ben usually quoted the full price you have to pay with no hidden charges such as electricity insurance etc and he accepts cash upon arrival, so your only cost is the currency exchange!

One thing for everyone to note about most European rentals that they are very strict on how many people their apartment or rooms can accommodate. As for us, myself, Kols, Sarah and the girls are already 5 people. It doesn't really matter how small your baby is, it's still a one.

And one of the most important factor I love about the apartment is how safe it is at night. With lots of restaurants and cafes opened til late nights, they are always crowds around the area, so having going home around 11ish at night with the girls was a no brainer. There are also a Carrefour city market about 3 blocks away and a few pharmacies around the corner just in case.

Oh yes, the apartment is not equipped with wifi but there are plenty of cafes and restaurants around there that has free wifi.

To contact the owner Ben, just email him on this email address rent@flatinparistrocadero.com and it certainly wouldn't hurt if you tell him you were recommended by Hawa. hehehe.. Ben was so thoughtful to even provide us with a cot for Sophie. So, it's always useful to inform him who are you traveling with and how old they are. All that hospitality and convenience we paid him Euro670 for the 5 nights we were there.

With that, I wish you all the best on your trip to Paris and hope that you'd have as much fun as we did!

Our Amazing Trip To Paris

2011-04-07T22:10:00.028+08:00

Yes, I'm back and let's hope it last eh?...This is going to be a long one. I'm determined to fill this whole page with the post. Back with vengeance I shall say?

We just had a wonderful week last week in Paris all five of us including Sarah. And yes, with the kids. Who said you cannot do Paris with two kids? We did it and I'll tell you all about it. Will also include some tips and tricks in doing so.

It was a 6 days 5 nights getaway to the City of Love. I've managed to book us all a lovely 2 bedroom apartment in the 16 Arrondissement called Villa De Longchamp which is the best choice I've ever made. I did a little research and was assured that it's a close stay to the centre but only upon arriving in Paris realised that it's super close to everything that Trocadero is only 5 minutes walk, Eiffel Tower is 7 minutes walk and the ever so famous Arc De Triomphe and Champs De Elysees is just 10minutes walk. I'll have one dedicated post to this apartment very soon.

From the very beginning we never really planned to visit the museums and historic places, we promised ourselves because we didn't want to exhaust the kids we were only going to do Eiffel Tower, Musee De Louvre (since Kols is a very big Dan Brown Da Vinci Fans) and Champs De Elysees (the shopaholic in me insisted this is more important than the Notre Dame)!

But the very one thing we planned was to enjoy the cafes, patiseries and the food over there. And we did just that. We stuffed our faces absolutely ridiculously silly with all those carbly croissant, freshly baked baguette and yummy fruit tarts and hot chocolates too thanks to this wonderful cosy patissier just around the corner of our apartment which only took a few inches of steps to get to, that I know feel like a walking Bread LOAF! I'm not kidding. I was so sure I gained 5 kg from it but was over the moon to know I only gained 500gm! hahahhahah.. I know! berlagak moment!

We are silently grateful we decided to do Paris on foot and leave the girls buggy at home since many said Paris is not exactly buggy friendly. We brought their carriers and ended up carrying them like a mommy and daddy kangaroo everywhere. I swear my shoulder blades almost snapped out their sockets when I had to carry Sophie. And I could feel my arms muscles growing apples on each sides! But thanks to them for being so heavy Ibu was able to eat like a monster and still do some good to herself.

The second day was really when the trip started. After some delicious breakfast from the patissier, we went to find a halal butcher near the Mosquee De Paris (Metro stop Place Monge) which was our first trip by the metro. Took only 15 minutes despite being 15 stations away.

Bought some chickens and halal meat for our dinners just in case it gets too tiring at night for the kids to go out for dinner. The apartment has a small kitchen well equipped with all necessary utensils, pots and pans that I had already samak upon arriving.

Then we went to savour some Crepes specifically the Nutella Banane as they call it which just means diabetically-half-kilo of Chocolate Nutella spread and a few slices of banana on thin pancakes. We could not get enough of it...

We head home to get the kids their rest and went out again that night to see the Eiffel Tower at night. It was breath takingly lovely. Strolled down the Avenue and find ourselves in Haagen Daaz having some ice cream and hot chocolates on the windy night.

The next day started out a bit cloudy, we had freshly baked baguette with scrambled eggs for breakfast from the patissier and off we went to get Ibu some retail therapy along the Champs De Elysees. Spend a few hours browsing through and acquired a few. *wink*

Was later served with a beautiful sunny evening and spend half the gigabyte in our camera snapping away. Sophie wasn't feeling too well that day though so we wrapped up the day early and decided on a home cooked dinner, chicken curry with steam rice.

The next day was when we were blessed with a beautiful beautiful day of 22 deg C. We planned to visit the Musee De Louvre which is on the 2nd Arrondissement which is about 3km from where we stay and we walked! yes, we walked again! We were sceptical if we could even make it on that sunny day but was confident when along the way we found a Saturday market and had the time to stroll through it and bought more patisseries. We strolled along the river Seine from Trocadero to the Musee De Louvre with the girls picking flowers on gardens along the way which was just perfect.

It got a little too warm when we reached the Tuilleries Garden leading to the Museum and the girls became a little too cranky. Got them some ice cream to cheer them up and finally after an hour walking we reached the Museum.

The place was quite crowded being a Saturday so we thought just a background picture of it would suffice but Hannah insisted she wanted to touch the Pyramid as she calls it. So, we made that few metres very hot walk to the crowd. Snapped a few more pictures and head to Longchamp and spent a fortune! We went home by the metro, dog tired after that whole day. Had another home cooked dinner, macaroni and cheese.

The Sunday we spent visiting a few flea markets (Porte de Clignancourt) to just get some vibes of the Parisian. So much to see with really good bargains, we still ended up binging on the street foods again with Nutella Banane Crepes and 2 Euro Stack of Arteries-clogging Churros. Heavenly Scrumptious! hahahah...how ironic eh?

Had a good walk around the market and headed home to lepak at cafes near our place.

Other than the food, I think the market was not exactly for me as it's just like any other flea markets with antiques and clothes, clothes and more clothes. The only kind of market I enjoy is the one that has food stalls. heheh...

Keep in mind, by this 5th day, we have not yet visited the Eiffel Tower, which we later concluded that we took it for granted for being so close to the apartment and leave it to the very last minute. We did however visit Trocadero again that night to enjoy the lights on Eiffel Tower and the flashing lights at every change of the hour. Awesome!

And there we were at the very last night in Paris and my heart was damped knowing that we'll leave the next day. We woke up early that last morning to have our last breakfast and head to Angelina Cafe along the Rue De Rivoli which is famous for the best Hot Chocolate in The World according to the reviewers. We managed to grab some souvenirs for our family at home beforehand.

With pretty high expectations of the hot chocolate, I ordered 2 pots of it with one pot actually serves 2 people. The waiter then came with a tray consisting of a medium pot of very very dark hot melted chocolates like the one you do over a bain marie before you mix it up to make a cake, a very small bowl of cream which we later also concluded as to why the Parisian never get fat, as they eat everything in little pots, even their coffee is only like a few mililitres more than a sip! and 1 medium pot of cold water with 4 glasses which I was then thankful for because oh heavens! the chocolate is sooooo chocolatey I couldn't get it down my throat after just the first gulp.

Too sweet and too thick it hurts my brain to finish my half cup full of it. The only think that helped me through it was the cold water which I added to the cup to thin the chocolate. Despite being the most famous Best Hot Chocolate in the world, it's not exactly my cup of tea. I'd rather do a Venti Classic Hot Chocolate by Starbucks! But if you are out seeking the best hot chocolate, maybe you should give Angelina's Chocolate L'Affricain a try and Good Luck. Don't get me wrong it's really just personal taste as Sarah loves them so much she managed to finish mine, Kols and the whole pot! I do however absolutely adored their Mont Blanc and Caramel Macarroons which I wished I had bought more.

Went to Longchamp again afterwards since it's nearby just to make a few more acquisitions before we head to the Eiffel Tower. Finally on the last day and with just a few hours before our flight back, we visited the tower, went all the way up despite me being so gayat.

And what do you know?! After spending more than an hour queuing for the tickets and getting on the lifts, we were trapped at the peak of the Eiffel Tower for another hour! There were apparently some problems with the lifts and they hold the 100 of us up in the summit! I was so claustrophobic I could feel the oxygen thinning out and could already imagine myself dying up there. Nasib baik la the girls was ok and didnt make much fuss! I shouldn't have terpedaya-ed by Sarah and Kols who wanted me to go up there with them. I paid 14 Euro just to get stuck on the tower! serious psycho! There was this one group of singers from mana ntah started singing while waiting for the lifts maybe to just cheer everyone up but I totally blamed them for the thinning out of the oxygen I felt. nasib aku tak pengsan! heheheh .. I know! I know! Exaggerating is in my genes!

All is well though once we got down. We quickly head home for some lunch and last minute packing up before we had to catch the bus to the airport at 7pm. It was already 4pm. Our flight was at 11 though but having Kols as a husband, late is not exactly an option when it comes to catching a flight. Terpesong jap, there's this one time when we were just married, I was so late getting to board our flight home from London because I was busy browsing through for some last minute shopping at the Duty Free, he went silenced on me the whole freaking 13 hours journey! punye la he sakit hati I lambat! After that, never again!

So anyway, amidst the rush I managed to cooked some berlado ayam to eat for lunch and made some fried noodle to bring to the airport, well mainly to clear the fridge. We said goodbye to Paris and head to the airport at 7pm sharp. What a beautiful holiday we thought!

Reached airport and our hell began when Sophie decided to throw tantrum out of nowhere, cried her lungs out for a whole 1 hour through our check ins, security, and waiting at the lounges. I kept reminding myself what a wonderful time we had in Paris never mind the lookers I refused to give in to her tantrum which she later on stopped and made peace. Ahhhh bliss eh?

So, there you go, one long entry on our brilliant amazingly out of this world trip to Paris! I love Paris so much now that my first experience to Paris which was so bad some years back are totally compensated!

The trip was so laid back I think everyone should give it a try. There's no need to rush from one museum to the other like there's no tomorrow or one historical place to the other, well that's just me who isn't exactly keen on historic places, architectures or those similar kinds which is a total opposite from Kols who adores the museums and history. Maybe next time Sayang, we'll do Paris your way k...

I've Lost It

2011-03-23T16:48:00.004+08:00

I've totally Lost it and seems to be unable to find it anywhere...
I'm not sure how to find it and where...
Untill Then, take care everyone...

Please excuse my horrid looking scarf.
It's not easy to get a nice decent pictures nowadays with Sophie very much influenced by Aunty Yah, pouting all the time and Hannah who prefers to look everywhere else but the camera.

Joining The Bandwagon of Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-03T05:41:00.003+08:00

Learning Bahasa 2

2011-02-25T01:43:00.000+08:00

Ya Allah Sedapnya!!!!

Fashion Crippled? Says Who?

2011-02-23T02:41:00.005+08:00

This is such an inspiring video in it's own way. The songs are just as nice on the ear as the casts are nice to the eyes. I was busy looking at each one of them, how they are fantastically styled with every bit of humbleness of a Hijaber Muslimah. Just Wonderful...

Maybe Yuna can feature our very own hijabers community like the Scarflets in her next video...

Never Say Never Bieber Manic

2011-02-21T23:30:00.007+08:00

Sarah dragged me to watch the film last Friday...Literally dragged as I was still not well and she really wanted that limited edition pair of purple Never Say Never 3D Glasses which are conveniently only for the first few customers who bought the tickets. Oh yes, she's one of those millions bieber frenzied fans.

Long story short, there I was standing in line waiting to get inside the cinema after almost 2 years of cinema break. I haven't been to the cinema since we welcomed Sophie to the world. With me in line were a bunch of teenage girls with either purple shoes, purple jacket, purple T-shirts or even purple bags. How I feel old... And some were still in school uniforms. Mak Aih, lagi la tuo den ni...

It was a one and a half hour movie, well more of snap shots of how he became what he is right now. How he get to sell out the Madison Square Garden just after one and a half year in the business which is pretty amazing for a sixteen year old. And the tickets were snatched up in 22 freaking minutes. What? mental ape? They said most singers get there at least after 5 years so he's right up there with the big names now.

Through the one hour looking at how he was when he was a little boy and how he is now, I can't help but think how proud his parents must be. Even I was proud, just knowing someone's son could achieve that. Super Amazing! And doing it with all the cuteness in the world.

OOOpsss, I feel like a pedophile! See, I told you I'm old!

I have a couple of his songs in my Gym Workout Playlist. After that movie, I can see myself downloading more... hahahha....

still feeling like a cougar. My God!

So Sarah, I can now proudly say I'm a convert Bieber Fan! Now I can see why you're such a Big Admirer. No wonder they call it Bieber Fever which I think is really a pandemic.

And I have the purple 3D Glasses for keeps which I'll proudly wear to any 3D movies that comes along after this. Hah!

O.K Go On, you can puke now! hahahahahhahah

Du Du..

2011-02-19T18:31:00.000+08:00

Thank You Allah

2011-02-18T01:22:00.002+08:00

Both sitting proudly on each other's trunki bags

`Ya Allah, Can You Please Help Mummy buy me and my sister a Trunki Bag'

Those words has been her mutterings these past 3 weeks before I surprised them with the Trunki Bags yesterday.

Hannah has been insisting on getting a trunki bag after she saw the ones I bought for my customers. I asked her to make loads and loads of doa to Allah and sure enough that's what she did for a whole three weeks. She'd asked to be taught how to take wudhuk and will pray with us everyday so that she can make doa at the end of every prayer for that Trunki she really wanted..

Even sweeter when she asked one for Sophie as well...Despite their everyday bickerings and differences, when it comes to rewards, she wanted her sister to have them too.. *awww....

As soon as we opened the box to it and she saw her Bernard The Bee Trunki, she went mental with screams! Once daddy came home from the Uni, she asked how to sing the 'Thank You Allah' song which Kols thought her months back.... So, cute ke ape tu?... aduhai...

Now she knows, what ever you want, ask Allah for it..
You're such a big girl now Hannah...

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Identity Crisis?

2011-02-17T04:28:00.001+08:00

Poor Sophie...

Expressing Love

2011-02-15T23:26:00.002+08:00

How do you quantify love?
Giving loads of hugs?
Showering them with tonnes of presents?
Based on the number of eating out?

Let us hear from Hannah and Sophie..

Learning Bahasa...

2011-02-15T02:48:00.003+08:00

These past few weeks, the girls has been learning a few Bahasa words, taught by Cikgu Hawa. This was the first lesson, "Sesi Berkenalan: Tadika Kemas Jalan Kebun Teh"

My Condolences To The Family

2011-02-12T04:34:00.005+08:00

I just have to write about this, Mojo or No Mojo....

Remember THIS?

I just read his mother's post on the blog tonight and got to know that he's passed away. Innalillah hi wa inna ila hirajiun. InsyaAllah Mas will be with those He Loves.

He has definitely in his short life inspired many of us. The most inspiring photo in the post was the one of him performing Maghrib on the bed sitting down when I'm sure at that stage of his health even blinking the eyes are such painful acts. MasyaAllah...

Always remember this my friends, when you are tested with a little fever and think it's okay to conveniently opt out the prayers, It's NOT. Remember him.....

Al-Bukhaari (1050) from ‘Imraan ibn Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I had haemorrhoids, and I asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about praying. He said:

“Pray standing; if you cannot, then sitting; and if you cannot, then lying on your side.”

I've Lost My Mojo

2011-02-09T18:11:00.003+08:00

Ohh my....

That's exactly what happened. I've totally lost my mojo to write. I'm not sure when will it be back. I have some beautiful photos and hilarious videos of the girls to share but I think I need to meditate and find that mojo again...

Until Then....

I wish all of you the best of health

When Did That Happen?

2011-01-19T04:21:00.003+08:00

What a good way to rise up my spirits during these early days of 2011....

I was watching Season 2 Glee on tele yesterday and was gobsmacked to see how tiny Lea Michelle was! Even smaller next to Cory Monteith her boyfriend in Glee! Seriously almost like an ant next to a giant!

Oh Man!! Another weight loss success rubbing on our faces...

Look at the photo below...The left one when she was on Glee season 1 and the right one is Now..!

Seriously.. What?! I know she looks a little too skinny almost anorexic-like in that green short dress but I think she looks just gorgeous on many of the other photos...especially the last photo from the recent Golden Globe Awards...

Well Done You!!

Now where are that gym gears of mine?...

What Was That?

2011-01-18T03:52:00.008+08:00

That was officially a total abandonment to the blog. I'm sorry, InsyaAllah I'm back.

The girls will be starting school again this Wednesday after a whole month of holiday. Both are super excited about it that they keep asking to be sent to school everyday.. Whenever we go out to the city centre, Hannah would always asked if we were sending her to school..

Sweetie, not yet...just enjoy your holiday..

The photos are from our recent visit to the Queen's Park trying to tackle the slope with the sledge we borrowed from our neighbour. Absolutely excited to get on it and finished it with even more excitement to do more but had to head home because the girls weren't digging it...so to say...Or maybe they were just so cold by the end of it..

Mama & Babah, I'm sure you just missed them.. so here you are..

We had an amazing time tackling the slopes but it didn't beat the fall of the season by Sarah...
We laughed our heads off...laughed seriously so hard you could almost only hear our voices in the air... pecah2 perut no kidding

EPIC!!!

Dedication To Diyana Azman And All The Wise Out There

2011-01-08T16:42:00.002+08:00

This entry is dedicated to my dear friend blogger, Diyana Azman.
Despite all the throbbing pain, I still wish you could find some laughter in between them..

And To All The Wise Men and Women Out there who's lucky enough to gain wisdom by the tooth.

Have A Beautiful Weekend Everyone...

Quoted from YouTube:

this is my friend after she got her wisdom teeth removed...the drugs may have been a little strong "who's in the house?"

"I feel like a unicorn just took me on a ride to a magical palace, to the land of the blueberries. And we eat onions all day...mushrooms... sometimes if were lucky we get papaya. He flies me around and I hang on to the unIcorn, and we float away to the land of the ease... and we float float float... who's in the house? JC! tell me who's in the house? JC! He was born to a virgin named Mary on Christmas day, he bled and he just died on the cross to take sin away, you take him high, you take him low, you take JC wherever you go, now tell me who who who who who tell me who's in the house? JC! Tell me who's in the house? JC! Jesus Christ is in the house today. Are you okay? Are you okay?! I'm Okay. I'm just (gibberish) gospel. You got a mouth full of cotton. I'm so thirsty. It's peculiar. It's quite peculiar! ...

Our Chocolate Treats

2011-01-07T01:02:00.007+08:00

Being a sweet tooth, I have such wonderful relationship with chocolates...

Either for a little mood boosting, a quick bite or just for the sake of it, I'd eat chocolates all the time. In fact I make sure I have chocolates everyday and I allow the girls to have them everyday as well.

I know I know... how absurd eh?... I'm sure some may not agree... But wait til I tell you how we do it.

Each of us however are only allowed one piece of chocolate a day, that's how. We have a pretty awesome collections of them...

This will last us at least for the next six month

We'll usually have them right after lunch and we look forward to this everyday. The girls are so used to idea of it... and since they know it's only one a day, nowadays they take an awful long time to decide which one they'll have for the day. I guess to make it all worth the wait, It's just got to be the right one.

It's like a battleship for them... hahahah...

Hannah will suggest one to Sophie and Sophie would refuse and Hannah tries again and she refused again and it goes on....and on...and on....

And when you thought, they've decided, as soon as I say that's what you want... ohhh no, it goes back into the tin and it starts all over again....

This goes on for the next 3 minutes before they settle on one chocolate each

I always believe that a little goes a long way....

p/s: This tin of chocolates is from last Ramadhan...

The Stylo And The Mellow

2011-01-06T02:53:00.003+08:00

You'd expect growing up together with ages so close to each other's they will adopt each other's style and likings. Despite almost all the time wanting to wear the exact same clothes, playing the exact same toys and eating the exact same things which always make me buy twos of everything, they still have a different taste.

Playing dress up between them this afternoon proved it all... While Hannah dressed herself so trendily and current with a hat and a pink scarf....

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Guess How Sophie styled herself?

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So chic kan this makcik?

With the new tudung, present from Aunty Ayu, she paired it with an oversized sunglasses. So cute!

I can't believe they pulled those look by themselves... Sah ade style! heheheh

Requesting Your Jasa Baik

2011-01-05T20:37:00.003+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

My dear Kols has been pestering me for days now to have this posted in the blog.

He needs your help to answer a small survey for his PhD project. I'm humbly requesting all your jasa baik to please find 5 minutes of your time to complete the 14 questions survey, InsyaAllah ye?

Thank you so much in advance to all of you...

Click HERE to access the Survey

Offer On Avent Products & Baby Bjorn

2011-01-03T22:19:00.003+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

Check out Elegantly Chic Muslimah Facebook E-store for promotions on many Avent products.

And Save RM100 on Many Baby Bjorn Active Carrier

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-01T05:47:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year 2011 Everyone...

I wish you all the best of everything for the year to come with much blessings all the way InsyaAllah. May this year presents us every opportunity to be a better person and enjoy a beautiful life...

My best wishes and hope for everyone to have a wonderful wonderful year ahead you all truly well deserve..

She's Here

2010-12-31T04:47:00.001+08:00

Alhamudulillah, Sarah has safely arrived here in Glasgow. We picked her up from the airport this afternoon.

She's now asleep due to a horrible jet lagged after 3 hours complaining of how cold it is. She even named each part of the house Russia being the kitchen, Iceland is our room and Alaska being the toilet. Apparently according to her, each part is cold in their own way, hence the name. At the moment we prefer to just stay in the living room she called Malaysia, thanks to our electric heater...

How am I thankful she wasn't here last week when negative 10 to negative 12 were the norms. The weather is getting much better seeing an average of 3-4 degrees on the last four days.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Super Occupied

2010-12-30T04:03:00.004+08:00

It was Christmas holiday then came the long awaited boxing day and then that week after boxing day.... pheww! I just finished purchasing all the orders from my customers today. That's a four day marathon of personal shopper's services. I feel like I've lost 5kg from all that running around in the city centre, up and down all kinds of shop..... oohhhh, how I wished. Ntah2 1kg pun tak blah... cet!

I'm ready to pack all the orders to be shipped this Tuesday. InsyaAllah all of you will be informed personally via email.

Anyway, I'm expecting my sister Sarah tomorrow afternoon from KL. She'll be here for a few months so I could assists her on her home schooling. I hope she'll have a great flight and can't wait to see her tomorrow. Oh yes, as well as Ayu & Family who has kindly let Sarah tagged along... InsyaAllah see you all tomorrow...

Mosturising's The Key

2010-12-24T01:52:00.008+08:00

It's that time of the year again when my skin starts flaking and presenting a rather unpleasant sight. And that is even after two session a day of body buttering myself.

Since I can ever remember, I always have to moisturise my dry skin even when we were back in sunny humid Malaysia. Although then, a normal lotion would do the trick, but here, it's a different story. The normal lotion like Nivea or Vaseline just wouldn't do it for me. The composition is too thin for my flaky dry skin.

During my undergrad years in London, my best friend P introduced me to Body Shop Body Butter which turned out to work wonders for me. And since then, I'm a convert from body lotion to body butter. I stock them like it's gonna be war tomorrow. It can never be less than two tubs in my wardrobe before I start buying more of them. I use about a tub a month if not more so that's a good justification eh?

I've tried many of the flavours but absolutely fell in love with the papaya which apparently have been discontinued and replaced by mango. So, last summer sale I had Ayu bought me 12 tubs of them because we were back in Malaysia for my brother's wedding. hehe.. Anyway, hopefully this boxing day, they'll have more for me to buy. I'm only left with 6 tubs and I'm hyperventilating.

As for my face, Olay has always been my first choice since I was 16 and in fact the whole family use Olay. Well, except for the one year I used Bobbi Brown skincare which did nothing remarkable or outstanding for me despite the expensive price tags.

And at the moment, I'm using Olay Regenerist 3 point Cream. The cleansing and toner can be anything I have in the cupboard but moisturiser has got to be this Regenerist. I'm still in the early stage of wearing it but has started to really love this product. Well, I figured approaching my late 20's I owe it to my skin to have a little pampering everyday and the Regenerist does exactly that. It's the red tub in the photo below by the way.

As for the girls, they too have their moisturising rituals everyday after shower which includes a double base lotion and hydrocotison cream for sophie's dry patches. Vicks for their horrible flu they have at the moment and the sudo cream for everything else in between.

Boxing Day & Me

2010-12-20T18:08:00.004+08:00

I know I know.... shushh..

Anyway, boxing day is in exactly 6 days from Now.. This year I'm offering more personal shopping service than last year, InsyaAllah up to five individual services. Meaning the first five that emailed me their orders will be served. Cannot banyak2 because I'll have guests at home this winter, a couple of friends from Muscat. I can't exactly do the 11 hour shopping spree I did last year, plus my boxing buddies are in Malaysia, Can't wait for you to get back ayu n yayah.. heheh

So, family, friends and fellow readers, anything you want from here, email me what you want, I'll quote you, I'll get them for you and InsyaAllah the shipment will push off to Malaysia on the 4th January. Please allow 4-5 weeks for shipment to arrive to you...

The service includes brands such as:

ZARA
MNG
NEXT
LA SENZA
GAP
OASIS
MOTHERCARE

And everything else in between, just name the brand, I'll get back to you with confirmation and quotes.

And here are the fees I charge: (percentage are of total order of merchandise) Please note that the charges are slightly negotiable. Just email me...

Below GBP100 25%

GBP101 to GBP250 22%

GBP251 to GBP500 18%

Above GBP500 15%

Above GBP1000 12%

So, you now have exactly 5 days to have a think about what you want from here and email me ok..

Wassalam,

What?!!

2010-12-17T06:32:00.008+08:00

I first read about it at LadyofLeisure and had the absolute shock of my life! I couldn't believe it... Remember this? Oh yes, I owe you the inspirational story but I still need a few more guts to put it here. heheheh...

As for now, lets just enjoy how super-kurus Jennifer Hudson I feel super awful for not visiting the gym these past weeks. I'd really like to blame it on the weather but I know better. Just some weak moments I guess... --yeah, yeah whatever makes you sleep at night.. (I could almost hear my sister Sarah saying these to me). I really need to get my act back together.

But I wasn't entirely hibernated this whole time. I had to do all those personal shopping for my clients and that burns calories I'm sure. Anyway, back to the topic. Kudos Jennifer for the job well done on becoming a size 6 from a size 16. If she can do it, believe me everyone can! Just drool and fill your heart with envy looking at the photo below... spend the next few days thinking how in the world did she do it, get the inspiration worked out in the brain and start working out...! Oh yes, reminder to myself just as much...

OK now, I'm just rubbing it on your face... Look at that tiny eeny meeny waist! I really want to believe it's the incredible photoshop.. =(

Have A lovely weekend everyone....

My Warmest Wishes

2010-12-16T06:34:00.003+08:00

To my dear best friends Arina and Nanie, Happy Birthdays...
May Allah Bless you...

I Love you two so much...!

Facebook E-Store

2010-12-14T04:23:00.004+08:00

Salaam everyone,

Feel free to browse through my Facebook E-store. You might find something you like..

Other than those advertised, I also provide a personal shopper's service at a fee. Check my Notes on the Facebook E-store for more details.

Wassalam

Wisdom?

2010-12-13T08:01:00.008+08:00

The weekend was quite agonizing for me as I realized my bottom right wisdom tooth is making it's way out and hurting me like there's no tomorrow. My head pounded for everytime it ached and had to take ibuprofen every six hours. Thanks to our dentist for not being available on the weekends. Sheesh...

The kids weren't helping either with all that commotion between the two of them. *sigh

And it was made worse when the supposedly supportive Kols came out with this:

Kols: "We, No wonder you only passed with a second upper from IC, if your wisdom tooth came out just a few years back, you might just be able to graduate with a first class!"

Oiiii, Psycho ke ape???!!!! Adoii... bertambah sakit kepala makcik!

zLeqha

2010-12-11T17:08:00.004+08:00

I was doing a little browsing this morning when I stumbled upon this amazing designer, zLeqha (I think is pronounced zelikha). Their collection are so inspiring and definite must haves.

As I read on, I believe they have a shop only in Kuantan so Kuantan-ers you have a real Diamond among you. But they do accept orders online. So, yay to that! What a talented young designer. A job well done. And oops I almost forgot, here's the link to the Webpage. They also have a Facebook fan page.

Currently, they are having promotion on many of their gorgeous skirts. So, visit them now and be inspired...

It's Looking Good

2010-12-10T19:26:00.003+08:00

Alhamdulillah, the weather has settled in quite remarkably. With a negative 6 yesterday, today we are breathing in a warmer 5 degrees weather. Not that cold anymore, many services are back to normal especially the buses which are our main transportation. The girls are back to school also today.

But I'm stuck at home waiting for a few parcels to arrive which had been delayed since last Friday due to the severe weather condition.

InsyaAllah we'll have a sunnier better weekend to look forward too. We might pop by George Square tomorrow to visit the winter festival we've been dying to go to...

Have a lovely wonderful weekend everyone...

Best Way To Serve Your Tummy

2010-12-07T01:19:00.004+08:00

After a beautiful sunny day yesterday, we had high hopes for a better week this week with the weather. But it decided to snow and boy.. it snowed! The whole day.

By 2pm, only one bus service are still on the road which is the no.5, the rest just parked theirs at the garage. I don't blame them as the road were absolutely covered with snow that they had to move at no more than 30mph if not a lot less. Kalah makcik kura2 tolak double buggy.. Baik jalan kaki la orang kata... hehe

During this winter month, where most animals hibernate, I think we should too. Stay at home for our safety just in case it got worst. And staying at home means you need to feed on food every two hours.. we are hungry all the time... but it's too cold to cook too long in the kitchen..

So tonight I made the super easy Chilli Con Carne to make our Enchiladas Meal. The look of the oozing cheese in between the spicy red tomato sauce and kidney beans.. aduh..heaven! Don't believe me? try it out yourselves. It sure served our four rumbling tummies really really well....

Ingredients:

3-4 tbsp Olive Oil. Extra Virgin is just fine.
1 Medium Onion - diced
2 cloves garlic - diced
1 tsp cumin (jintan)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika - or more if you like them spicy
2 medium Carrots - diced
2 tinned chopped tomatoes
500gm minced meat
1 tinned Red Kidney Beans
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Saute onion until they are soft and add on the spices then the carrots
2. Add the tomatoes and leave for 1 minute or so
3. Add the meat and beans, add salt to taste
4. Meanwhile warm your tortilla wraps in the oven.
5. Once chilli is done assemble with tortilla wrap, sour cream, sweetcorn, tomato, peppers and cheese.

The Winter Has Not Even Kicked In Yet

2010-12-03T05:05:00.008+08:00

I was absolutely appalled as I read on today's newspaper.

Even after all those snow and negative 16 degrees, they had the heart to say the winter has not kicked in yet. Quoting and rephrasing, the paper said, the freezing Scotland will continue until the 27th December and only then the winter will starts! What?!! Thank God I was on the bus when I read it if I were at home, I would have packed my bag and get ourselves on the first plane out of here.

Malaysia sounds really good at the moment....

Ayu and family had gone back to Malaysia for a month holiday last Sunday, the day the snow storm started. They were delayed by 10hrs at Glasgow Airport before they got to fly to Dubai.

The girls got the chance to play in the snow with Sofea on the Saturday and smiled for a photo or two before we said goodbye.

As for ourselves, the past week was unbearably cold that we stayed indoors almost too afraid to even open the front door of the flat. Not even to taste the snow like we used to excitedly do whenever winter comes. It'd been snowing almost non stop from Sunday through to Tuesday that the snow are now at more than 12' tall. It stopped but the freezing cold lingers.

The next few photos are the view from our living room window on Monday...

Psycho ke ape?

Most schools are closed but the girls still go to nursery. I insisted on it as they keep saying they missed their friends. And I really don't want them to miss out on some fun activities nearing Christmas.

Just Imagine us braving through that thick of a snow with the double buggy in the morning. hehe.. Memang macam makcik kura2 la nak merentas the snow. The 10minutes walk from the bus stop at the city centre to the nursery now becomes a freezing-buggy-takmau-gerak 30minutes walk. But we managed...

The girls with their wellies in front of the nursery on our way back

Despite the cold, we are enjoying all the decorations and beautiful lights around the city. People are going crazy shopping in the cold with only 3 weekends left to Christmas. I admire their courage... And the jolly spirits...

It's like non other you'd see the rest of the year...

George Square Winter Festival just before it snowed

I'll be 21 Soon

2010-11-29T21:51:00.005+08:00

Tomorrow's my birthday so as Sophie's. I have not been well these couple of days. Poor Kols, he really wanted to treat us to a special dinner today but I can see us postponing it to some other time. The weather is not permitting, I don't feel like going out at this negative 6 weather with snow everywhere. The girls wouldn't enjoy the weather either.

Hopefully we can just have a little celebration at home tomorrow. My best friends prefers to label me in denial but I think it's a bliss to be 21 every year! hehehe..

Urban Decay Primer Potion VS Too Faced Shadow Insurance

2010-11-26T04:57:00.005+08:00

Don't even bother thinking about it as they are exactly the same thing with the same ingredients. Just that the Too Faced is a much better value for money because it comes in a tube of 11g while the Potion comes in a tiny bottle of 10ml. The biggest difference is when you are half way through the potion bottle and you cannot have the brush reach the rest of the 5g because it's too deep into the bottle. And when you so cleverly cut the bottles to get them, they dried up and became useless. While the Shadow Insurance can be squeezed out of the tube to its last drop.

What am I talking about? Oh, it's this great invention by the beauty industry's brainiac to help keeps your shadow crease proof and last longer. Just like a face primer, it's specifically for the eyes. With it as a base, you can really experiment with any kinds of eye shadows even the cheap ones. My super cheap 120 palette comes out just as brilliant colour as my MAC. They work wonders on your eyes by giving a vibrant colour to your shadows and the shadows last like forever that is of course until you wash it off. Those with oily lids, this is your saviour but I must say, these primers works well with loose powder shadows or loose pigments. If you use cream shadow, I don't think you need this at all.

As for me, I've plenty powder shadows in my collection and I've never put on any eye shadows without them anymore nowadays.

Christmas Lights Switch On

2010-11-26T04:37:00.004+08:00

We went for a Christmas Lights Switch On last Sunday which just means a celebration for switching on all the christmas lights around the city centre. It was a ticketed event so we had to be there and que up to get in with our four tickets. The girls were wrapped up in 4 layers of clothes and jackets to keep them warm through the 3 degrees that day.

An hour of musical acts later, we got to see some beautiful fireworks to celebrate the switch on. The girls were great, enjoying every moment of it with a little dancing and singing. What's really cool about it was so family friendly almost everyone came along with their handbags of kids.

And now, we have a very bright Glasgow nights with beautiful lights hanging everywhere counting down Christmas Day. They will soon fix the ice rinks and carnivals around George square and we'll see ourselves there again of course.

She had to eat

Vitamin D Anyone?

2010-11-25T00:55:00.003+08:00

I don't take multivitamins because I believe I eat a balance diet everyday. I don't need Omega-3 pills as I can just eat kilos of fish every week. But the only supplement I do take and insist Kols and the girls to take it too is Vitamin D.

I'm not gonna bore anyone with the nitty gritty of medical science on Vitamin D. As many must have known that this vitamin is actually free because the body generates it once our skin get exposure to the sunlight. But residing here in the UK makes us sunlight-deprived for more than 6 months. There's no diet that can provide us with enough vitamin D unless we're willing to drink 1000 glass of vitamin D supplemented milk. *lets just die

As for most of you who are in Malaysia getting almost 10 hours of sunlight, please know that rays don't exactly penetrates glass. If you spent most of your days in the office and driving in your cars, there's no way you're getting enough. Those with veil are even more vitamin D deficient as our clothes and veil prevent the skin from getting enough Rays.

We need about 25micrograms (1000IU) a day. Supplement is a much easier way. Don't take this for granted, you might be thankful for it in later days. I come from a family with osteoarthritis which makes me more likely to develop this along the way. I'm not taking my chances, so why should you?

I'm not trying to impose any idea into anyone's head. Read about it yourself and decide for yourself.

We get ours from Boots

How They Weigh?

2010-11-22T19:26:00.003+08:00

I just weighed the girls this morning. Sophie who's going to be 2 in a few days with mummy turning 21 hahaha weighs impressively at 10.6kg. Well done Sophie!

Just to be laughing my heads off finding out soon after that Hannah weighs at a mere 11.0kg! That's just about two whole butter between them or half of my fist. It's OK Hannah, you did well nonetheless.

Our Aidiladha

2010-11-20T19:52:00.002+08:00

We celebrated it very modestly. I cooked some lamb briyani with Chicken Masak merah and had The Clan came over to feast on it. Kak Ira brought some acar and chicken and Ayu brought Lamb Curry and Nasi Hujan Panas.

The Girls with Unc Amien

Wajib, A photo of Sophie with food all over her mouth

Fragrances at Elegantly Chic Muslimah

2010-11-20T19:41:00.002+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

Feel Free to visit my Facebook ELegantly Chic Muslimah for Fragrances, Avent, Medela and many more.

Salaam AidilAdha Buat Semua...

2010-11-15T23:20:00.003+08:00

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha buat semua.
Maar Zahir Dan Batin

InsyaAllah we'll be celebrating it tomorrow, a day earlier than Malaysia. By the time we ate our last meal tomorrow you'd only be waking up to get ready to go for Hari Raya Prayers. Have a lovely Hari Raya everyone.

Autumn & Winter 2010 Tie Rack Scarves & Avent Medela

2010-11-13T20:14:00.006+08:00

Salaam everyone,

Please check out my blogshop for the latest Autumn/Winter 2010 Polyester scarves collection to be shipped soon arriving Malaysia Early December.

Elegantly Chic Muslimah Blogshop

or
Elegantly Chic Muslimah Facebook Page

And for soon-to-be mommies, new mommies and Just Mommies, I have Avent and Medela Items for Pre-orders and shipped End of December.

Elegantly Chic Muslimah Facebook

Three Little Peppa Pigs And The Big Bad Wolf

2010-11-11T04:08:00.008+08:00

This book had been their favourite for a whole three months before Kols started reading the Monty See Monty Do and Albert The Crocodile for their bedtime stories.

The que is.... Suddenly....

Knock, Knock,
Peppa Pig: Who's There?
Wolf: I'm the Big Bad Wolf, I want to eat you... Open the door Or I will blow your house down... aahhhh foooooo (blowing the house)

Chocolate Chips Cinnabon Pudding

2010-11-10T03:19:00.006+08:00

I had some Chocolate Chips Cinnabon lying around in my bread bin from a few days ago which are going stale. They are just perfect for this recipe. So easy to make you'd be shameful to be ordering this at a restaurant. hehe...

Please Do not mind the burnt bits, I was occupied in front of the PC that I didn't hear the oven timer went off. But it certainly gives the pudding a lovely crisps. Edibility was still 10 out of 10

Ingredients:

5-6 pieces of Cinnabon
2 tbsp brown sugar
200 ml milk
250 ml single cream or whole
2 eggs
1 tbsp custard powder
25gm butter - soften
30gm Chocolate chips
30gm white Chocolate bars/chips

Method:

1. Tear the Cinnabon into small chunks and place in a 9x9 baking pan or anything you have in your kitchen and sprinkle the brown sugar
2. In a measuring cup or bowl add all other ingredients except for the chocolate chips and whisk away.
3. Pour onto the Cinnabon and let soak for 20 minutes.
4. Bake in the oven at 175 deg Celsius for 40 minutes. Let cool and serve with a swirl of single cream

Notes:
If you're allergic to eggs, substitute them with another tablespoon of custard powder

What Money Can Do To You...

2010-11-08T23:43:00.016+08:00

I am no expert, but if he spent that much time to research and produce this he may not be entirely wrong about it. Read into it while keeping an open mind, maybe you can see what he's really trying to do. Maybe to help most of you out there.

Click HERE and HERE to read about it.

Well done Aidid!

Inspired by Aidid amazing enthusiasm and research skills I'm starting my very own research on another product that is very famously known and sold to Malaysian. Lets see how far I can go and how much I can find. I'll come out with updates every now and then InsyaAllah...

UPDATES:

HERE's another one coming our way. What's more embarrassing is it's on BBC News to be viewed by the entire universe. Don't let the world later labels us the Malaysian a great bunch of scammers rubbing shoulders with the popular Nigerians and Africans. Looking at it now, we are on the right path to becoming one starting with all the so called pop stars of the country leading our way.

I'm sure Dr Fazley isn't the only one behind it, he must have had some help from some very powerful people of the country. But I'm not pointing fingers to anyone just quite yet.

SHAMEFUL SHAMEFUL we are Malaysians. Don't let these few culprits ruined the credibility of the well deserved others. Some of us had to work our poor souls and squeezed every bones and nerves to make ourselves recognised educationally and these awful awful people are pulling us down like the under-the-bed monsters. SHAME ON YOU!

Don't bother building those sky scraping buildings to stand tall with the big countries when we have these people insulting our intelligence.

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On an unrelated note, I managed to get a new shipping date for the Tie Rack Scarves which is the end of this month. InsyaAllah will be arriving in Malaysia by the 1st December. So to those who missed out on the November shipment which I just closed last week, this is your chance. You can place your orders by emailing me at hawa012@gmail.com

This Is For You....

2010-11-05T06:18:00.002+08:00

Everyone especially Unc Apit who's been pestering me for them. I'd quit the cooking lesson for now...

A cup of Hannah's cheeky-ness, add to it a spoonful of Sophie's softness, a pinch of sourness and a jug of Dramas, I am set to be the luckiest mommy in the world.

They who makes my everyday. I love you girls..

And here's how Sophie would sleep everyday... with that same book covering her face. Since been trained to sleep on her own, even after two bedtime storybooks read by Kols everyday, she'd still insist on reading that book again until she felt asleep. Yes, even in the dark.

Baby Anabel and bear-chan have been her company to sleep nowadays.

How scary does that baby Anabel looks If I were to wake up at night and saw that.

November Shipment

2010-11-04T00:22:00.001+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

I'll be packing up all the scarves ordered by you to have them shipped tomorrow. Should be arriving in Malaysia by the 15th November if not earlier.

If any of you are still interested in placing orders please do so by emailing me at hawa012@gmail.com by Thursday November 4th, 5pm Malaysia's Time. All orders beyond this would be brought forward for my December shipment.

Wassalam..

Introducing The Kaki Makan Clan

2010-11-03T21:30:00.008+08:00

All four of use weren't well the whole of last week, started off with Sophie then everyone follow suit. We had to stay home nursing our fever, flu and awful chesty coughs. I blamed the weather as we were served with a low negative four at night and shimmering shiny 8 degrees during the day. Our body weren't exactly fit to accommodate that huge gap of Celsius.

Anyhow, we felt a whole lot better came Saturday so we decided to join the Kaki Makan Clan at Panda for a buffet brunch as well as celebrating Kak Ira's birthday. We had a fantastic time savouring some chinese cuisine with artery clogging ice-creams with raspberry sauce. Psych!

I shall now introduce to you what's left of the kaki makan clan after the return of Mira and family to Malaysia.. Lets hope we can add more tummies to our ever expanding waist lines clan.

Abg Fariz & Kak Ira, the birthday Lady

Ayu & Syahrir: The Sengets

The Men: Amien, Syahrir, Kols, Abg Fariz

The Ladies: Ayu, Kak Ira, Moi, Alid

Sofea, Ayu's & Syahrir's

Hannah

Sophie

The youngest one yet at only six month old and are eating like a champ, Maryam (Amien's & Alid's)

The Whole Clan

Cinnabon Twin For Your Bread Maker

2010-11-02T06:28:00.004+08:00

Yes, this time I've worked out the perfect measurement for a delicious cinnabon for my breadmaker. I'm such a sucker for cinnabon that it came rather naturally. It resembles the one sold in the shop except they are from my kitchen. hehe...

So, here you are ladies, just let your bread machine do the work, and you'll have an impressive serving for tea for when your friends are around. Being a health freak that I am, I had to opt out the cheese frosting. You can still have them poured on top of the bun if you want.

I had to make a chocolate version of it for Kols who's not a big fan of cinnamon.

Original Cinnamon Bun

Chocolate version For Kols

Ingredients:

1 cup of water/milk
2 tbsp milk powder
1 egg - beaten
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cup bread flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast

2 tbsp Cinnamon powder
5 tbsp brown sugar
(Add more if you want)
Butter Spread

Method:

1. Place all ingredients into the bread maker in the order of ingredients. And press Dough for setting
2. Once done, turn onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into 1 cm sheet Or sheets if you prefer more than one flavour.
3. Spread butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the sheets Or chocolate chips for chocolates flavour
4. Roll up and cut into rolls about 1 inch thick. Let rise in a greased pan for 30minutes, cover with kitchen towel
5. Bake at 180 deg cel for 18 minutes.

Notes:
Optional: Pour cream cheese frosting and serve.

You could also use chocolate spread instead of chocolate chips.

November Shipment - Tie Rack 100% Italian Silk

2010-10-28T21:40:00.003+08:00

Check Out My Blogshop for newly uploaded 100% Italian scarves from Tie Rack. Also for my November shipment InsyaAllah.

Caramel Kaya

2010-10-27T17:42:00.008+08:00

Since many have been asking how I made them, here's the recipe... Easy peasy, you'd never want to buy from the shop again. This recipe was adapted from the Sri Kaya Pandan by Kak Ros.

To store, just sterile some glass jar with hot boiling water and refrigerate. They are perfect for our everyday freshly baked rolls and loafs.

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp custard powder
350ml coconut cream (santan pekat)
3 egg yolks

Method:

1. Cook sugar and water in a pan to make caramel or famously known as gula hangus
2. In the meanwhile, mix the custard powder with a little water (2-3 tbsp water) to make a paste.
3. In a different bowl, mix in the coconut cream, egg yolks and custard paste and whisk away.
4. Add the coconut cream mixture onto the caramel and stir to your desired kaya consistency

**Notes for Perantau:
I use coconut blocks in all my cooking that involve Santan. It's easy to use, to store and cheap too at only 27 pence per box from Tesco or Asda. It's a concentrated coconut block that one box of 200gm can make you 500ml of santan pekat which is equal to 3 tins coconut milk.

For this recipe you can use 2/3 of the block and add 330ml of hot water to make 350ml of santan pekat.

This is the brand I use but I think the brand doesn't matter that much. Any coconut block would do.

Visit Us Today

2010-10-26T03:05:00.010+08:00

Please feel free to check our our PAGE on facebook and 'LIKE' us. And maybe you can share with your friends.

I've uploaded some newly acquired Tie Rack scarves on my blogshop. Please also check them out HERE

Creamy Milky Loaf and Cookie Hearts

2010-10-22T02:42:00.004+08:00

After that successful attempt with the Roti Naik, I wanted to try a different recipe. This time it's a loaf called Creamy Milky. Hahah... how lame... I'm still to come out with the righteous name to justify how delicious this loaf is. As for now, I'll stick to Creamy Milky. I substituted the butter in Roti Naik with some heavy cream. I know it's a recipe for a muffin top, but everything in moderation wouldn't hurt. The cream might scare some people but use just as much as you could tolerate.

This loaf is absolutely gorgeous you'd want to eat them all at one go. You could also make them into the small bun like I did with Roti naik.

Ingredients:

1 egg - beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup of heavy cream or whipped cream
2 tbsp milk powder
3 tbsp sugar
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup self raising flour/cake flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Method:

1. Put everything into your bread maker in the order of the ingredients and press the setting Dough
2. Once done, roll into a log and place in a greased rectangle baking pan. Cover with cling film and then kitchen towel. Leave to rise for 30mins to 1 hour
3. Bake at 170 deg cel for 40 mins.

And below is a batch of sugar cookies I took two days to make. I made a batch yesterday and Sophie munched down some of them leaving me 4 short to feed Hannah's whole class. So I had to make some more today. Why hearts? Well, that's the one and only big enough cookie cutter I have.

There are for Hannah's friends and teachers at school to celebrate Hannah's birthday tomorrow. They are comotly decorated with some royal icing I tried my hand on for the first time ever and came out slightly runnier than it should be. Hence how they have their own mind even after I meticulously piped them onto the cookies.

Despite their modest appearance, I hope the children will like them..

Determination Is All You Need

2010-10-20T15:49:00.002+08:00

I'm going to brave the negative two degrees outside and walk to the gym after lazying and thinking of not going.. Thanks Anne.. Let's hope I don't freeze by the road. I could almost feel my brain shrinking to freeze. Matila...

Hannah Is 3 Today

2010-10-19T01:41:00.003+08:00

We had a little celebration this afternoon with everyone at home in Malaysia on webcam. We sang and cheered for the newly three year old. Hannah was so excited that everybody was there to see her blew the candles. I made a Red Velvet Cake, though not as red and thickly filled, it was nonetheless a hit with Kols and the kids.

Presented Hannah with a birthday card myself and Kols made so modestly with my crippled creativity in art. Her favourite characters were all we needed to make her appreciate the little art attack.

Happy 3rd Birthday My Darling Hannah. We all love you so much...

Red Velvet Cake

Art Attack

The Birthday Girl so moyok because Sophie comotkan her card

Easy Dorayaki

2010-10-16T16:10:00.004+08:00

Today, we'll be going to Alid's house for the kaki makan clan's lunch. The theme is Everything Japanese. And Alid wanted some dessert, so I thought The Dorayaki would be nice.

It's so easy you can be done with a nice batch in 30minutes. I've had some homemade red bean paste from three days ago which I made to eat with our dinner rolls. So, that was convenient. You can easily get prepacked red bean from the shop if you want.

Dorayaki is just a variation of pancakes differed from the American or English, they are rather cake like. To do that you need more eggs. It's good for Sunday Breakfast or a quick tea dish. Try them out.

Make about 12 sets of dorayaki

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
½ cup sugar* ( you can more if you want)
3 eggs
1 tbsp maple syrup
2/3 cup of water

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and soda into a bowl. In a different bowl whisk sugar,eggs,syrup and water.
2. Gradually whisk in the liquid mixture onto the flour
3. Lightly grease pan (under low heat) with vegetable oil and pour in the mixture as small or big as you want the pancake to be. Mine was about 2.5 inch diameter. hehe
4. When bubbles appear, flip over and cook the reverse.
5. Transfer to a plate and lightly brush the top with butter. Spread a generous amount of red bean paste and layer with another pancake.

My Love and Hate - Mommy's Time

2010-10-14T16:21:00.008+08:00

Alhamdulillah, since both girls are at school now I'm so blessed to have three mornings to myself. We've managed to sort out the perfect routine to it where Kols would send them to school in the morning and I'd pick them up later in the afternoon. That means, I have just over five hours to spend on my own to my needs.

First thing on the list has got to be sorting out my gym time. I used to go early in the morning around 6.30 and had to be home by 7.30 so that Kols can bring Hannah to school and went to Uni. Although the gym is just under 10 minutes walk from the house, I still had to cramp all my work outs in 45 minutes or less and totally hating my gym sessions because of the rush. I hated going to the gym.

And now....

Bliss is all around. I'm enjoying the sessions more as I have all these time on my hand to spend it there if I want. Except of course I won't, I'm not exactly an exercise freak like you Anne! you know who you are... I'd spent maximum of two hours in the gym which is plenty for me and will have to come back to cook lunch.

Although sometimes I hate the aching back, tummy and thighs, I still love the fact that I'm doing myself some good. Thanks to Kols who's been absolutely brilliant agreeing to send the kids in the morning so I can stay home and do my things. I'm less of a monster mommy because of it. What more could you ask for...

I've always believe that the only way you could lose any weight and be a healthier, better mommy to your kids, a better wife to your husband and of course a better person to yourself are through getting some good exercise. Believe me, it's the best way to make you less cranky or monster-y. And It'd do wonders to your parenting.

I know it's not easy to get the motivation to go but give it a try, you have nothing to lose. Everyone knows how important some 'me' time is, and going to the gym is one way to spend it. And you'll reap off all the benefits. So, mommies.. this is your chance.. I shall share with you some inspirational stories in my next post InsyaAllah...

p/s: To my dear friend Mrs A, buat ape lagi tu? Get up and go!

PRELOVED Kids Clothing

2010-10-12T21:59:00.000+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

Feel free to check out Elegantly Chic Muslimah's Facebook page to view some newly uploaded preloved collection for sale.

Wassalam,
Hawa

Perfect Roti Naik for Your BreadMaker

2010-10-12T05:31:00.006+08:00

It has been a roller coaster ride in my experience making these wonderful bread with my breadmaker since I found the recipe about two months ago. I believe it was from here. I made the modified version by Kak Ros for breadmakers and somehow found them tasting not quite right compared to the roti naik I was first introduced to by my Ibu Angkat, Aunty Niman some 6 years back when I was in London.

I used to come to her house and she'd make these lovely rolls for dinner and I would eat half of the batch. And she'd sometimes lure me ("Aunty will make Roti Naik for you..." with her sweetest smile) to her house with them which I'd more than often gave in even during exams weeks. Yes, that's how delicious her roti naik was. I used to think she put drugs on them to make them taste that finger licking good.

Anyway, I tried to modify the recipe by Kak Ros to suit my taste and failed a few times now. The mixture were always too moist, runnier or doesn;t rise as properly as I wanted them to be. I made another failed batch yesterday and that had me sitting on the table with my pen and recipe book for 1 hour dissecting what went wrong and spent another hour calculating the solid/liquid ratio for my breadmaker. I jotted down the recipe I thought would work onto my book and went on making them again this evening. And What do you know? IT'S THE PERFECT ROTI NAIK I've tasted in years! Yeayy!!

So, here I present to you my perfectly baked roti naik recipe to make using your breadmaker.

Ingredients:

1 cup of water
2 tbsp milk powder
3 tbsp butter - melted
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 3/4 cup white bread flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Method:

1. Throw everything into your breadmaker with the flour and yeast being the last two ingredients to go into it. Use the dough settings.
2. Make into rolls and arrange in a lightly greased baking pan
3. Cover with cling film and let rise for 30minutes to one hour
4. Bake at 180 Deg Cel for 20-25minutes

Mexican Treats

2010-10-11T18:13:00.003+08:00

Just savouring your eyes with what we had on Saturday. The little Mexican treats I put together to celebrate Amien's victory.

Menu:
Tortilla Wraps
Rice
Grilled Chicken & peppers
Chilli Con Carne
Nachos

Tortilla Wraps

Grilled Chicken & peppers
- This is a photo just before they go under the grill
- Eat these with a wrap and you'd have a FAJITAS

Chilli Con Carne with Red Kidney Beans
- Can be eaten with rice or Wraps
- Eat it with wraps and you'd have an Enchiladas

The Condiments that go with the wrap or rice

A snack of Nachos and Salsa

And That's You Done!

2010-10-09T05:45:00.002+08:00

Our dear friend Amien had just submitted his dissertation and that's a real big yeay for him and family and somehow for us too. Kols had been dreaming of chess-a-thon with Amien for days now.

We are going all out this weekend. We'll be having them around tomorrow and I'll be cooking mexican to celebrate. Right.. now where is that recipe book of mine?

If it's a sunny beautiful day tomorrow we might even throw in a little picnic and a game of chess at the park. We'll see...

Congratulations Amien from all of us and to you to Alid!

How Exactly Do You Tell Them?

2010-10-08T05:43:00.011+08:00

We were at the bus stop waiting for a bus home. Softly on the background was a sound of a little a girl talking to her mom.

Hannah: Mommy, what's that noise?

Ibu: It's that little girl.
and I pointed to the little girl's direction

Hannah: That black one, mommy?

Ibu: Wait, What?

Yes, the girl is a dark skinned, but trust me, I've never ever thought my girls to differentiate people. I've never said anything is fat, skinny, ugly, black or even white or asian. NEVER. It's always, look she's pretty, she's lovely.

I know she meant no offense.. She had been learning colours and everything is either, white, black, brown, red, pink or etc. So, how exactly do you tell your little ones, no colours applied to the homosaps?

Then.. a bus stopped in front of us with a big poster on it of a new movie showing in the cinemas. I'm sure the marketing officer or the artist behind it or even the one who thought of putting these posters on the bus was a good idea meant no harm. But there I was speechless when my Hannah pointed to a half naked woman's behind wearing only a swimming bottom on the entire stretch of the bus and started shouting with excitement, look it's a bum mommy, it's a bum!

Again, I know she didn't mean obscenity, she'd shout if it was a poster of a belly button.... or an ear! It was right in front of her.

And here I am naively thought there should just put a piranha to market a piranha movie. Why the bum?

You Call It Bad Luck

2010-10-06T22:31:00.007+08:00

I call it nasib badan.. haha..

Today, picking up the girls at school was a breeze but the buses declared war on me that I had to wait a whole hour for NO BUS at all! And I wasn't at Royston Road that it'd take ages to wait for a bus.. I was at the city centre.

We had to let three buses passed as they were either stairs buses, or there were already a stroller on it. Driving a double buggy is not exactly easy during lunch hours. But I thought, I'm at the city centre if three buses passed there are sure more to come. Ohhh how I was wrong.

The fourth bus came and there's again a stroller on it, so I decided to walk to a different bus stop with much more possibilities of me getting a bus, with a 5-minute apart schedule for a bus. 20 mins into it we were still standing there braving the wind and light rain. Psycho ke ape tu?

So, I quit waiting for the bus and drove the stroller to Buchanan Gallery before I start going loco by the side of the road. I need some time to get my MOJO back, the kids had a run around and a yogurt each. Kols joined us out of pure sympathy of me when he initially planned to stay at Uni til 5.

2 hours later from the first minute I waited for a bus, we are home.. Phew! Nasib makcik tak gile tunggu bas!

And after that unpleasant experience, It's amazing how you tube can turn your day around. I watched this over and over my abs thought it just went through hundreds of sits up. I'll be smiling to sleep tonight.

That poor man was so scared, he screamed, thought there's no way out and just fainted! hilarious!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Kols And The Kids's VS Ibu's

2010-10-05T04:00:00.008+08:00

I'm stone bored with my usual oat porridge breakfast and I need to have some quick breakfast to start my every eventful days. heheh.. So last night I decided to improvise my rolled oats and make some homemade granola. I googled many many recipes of them and found that they are really made to your taste. So, I experiment with the ingredients I have in my cupboards. And here's what I came out with. Seriously, sedap gile... And I'm sure they are slightly healthier than the many versions I googled as I cannot help the urge to reduce the amount of butter and golden syrup used.

It's amazing how easy it is to make and you'll never have to buy them again prepacked from the stores. Trust Me.

My Homemade Granola or simply toasted Muesli

Here's how:

This recipe has been modified to suit me. You can add or reduce any ingredients to your likings.
Made 3 breakfast servings

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats - not instant
1/2 cup mixed nuts (hazelnuts,almond,walnuts or etc) - chopped roughly
1/4 cup mixed of sunflower seeds and sesame seeds
25g butter - melted
1 1/2 tablespoon golden syrup or maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cups mixed fruits (dried raisins, apricots or etc)

Method:

1. preheat the oven at 165 deg cel
2. Mixed the oats, nuts and salt. Mixed the butter and syrup.
3. Fold in the butter and syrup mixture into the oats and nuts. Try to cover all the oats with the syrup.
4. place them on a baking sheets and bake for 30-35mins
5. Half way through baking, stir the misture around with a fork. And continue baking.
6. Cool them and mix in the dried fruits. And keep in an airtight container.

These are the kids's and Kols'. They'll have their own version of Granola every morning with all three cereals mixed in one bowl. It's got Kols written all over it kan? So....him

Looping Spider

2010-09-30T06:28:00.006+08:00

She is two months shy from being a 2 year-old tomorrow. She's been absolutely amazing despite some signs of the terrible two phase which I'm ready to embrace with a pinch of salt.

She has a favourite song at the moment which is the Incy Wincy Spider that she sings through everything. She even tuned them to different words and hums, just like nenek and ayah eh sophie? The one trade I find rather amusing is how she sings herself to sleep. My mom said, she got that from me. ahhhh...

And she's been singing the Incy song forever now. The time she took to fall asleep might be just below 10 minutes but it felt a lot longer with the loopy song. She'd sing it over and over again.

Incy Wincy spider climbed up the water spout,
Down came the rain and washed poor incy out,
Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain,
So Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout again..
Down came the rain and wash poor incy out... on and on and on

And she'd fell asleep at the 100th loop. I'd laughed so hard trembling every bone in my body almost everytime, except of course for when I fell asleep on the edge of the bed by her fifth loop. Why I slept on the edge of the bed? well that's another story. I'm sleep training both girls again now. They've been going to sleep on their own without me or Kols having to put them to sleep. We're onto our second week and doing really well. InsyaAllah will be in some other post.

Daa for now..

Degrading Clan

2010-09-29T05:46:00.003+08:00

This time next week, there will only be four families left in our kaki makan clan. Yes, we are losing Imran, Mira and Nabila to Malaysia. They will be going back this Sunday after a year of spreading Imran's sweats and tears at Strathclyde Uni.

They are almost packed and ready to go home. But we will surely miss all of you so dearly especially Mira who had been very dedicated and generous at making many kinds of desserts at every makan2 event we ever held. And we will never forget who brought us into the world of bread making.

We've had a lovely year with all three of you and thank you for being a part of our memories. Take care and all the best in your future endeavors.

The lads without Amien

The ladies with Mira & Nabila

My Face is Numb

2010-09-28T01:26:00.004+08:00

I just got back from the dentist for some fillings on my teeth. He gave me two anesthetic shots on the gums before he started drilling on me. And now, the whole of my left face is numb. It's so numb that I wouldn't feel a thing if I start munching my lips like Kols did when he had his done last week. I can't even feel my left nostril breath in or out.

Second Day Is Much Better

2010-09-23T15:45:00.003+08:00

Oh yeay! Right now, it's 8.25am and I'm already at Kols office having breakfast.

What a really productive morning started at 6.45am, waking up to the smell of fresh bread. I threw some ingredients into my breadmaker last night for a 50-50 white/wholemeal bread. Delayed the cooking to this morning. Harum satu rumah.

Got the girls ready in lightning time. Prepared some bread for the girls and Kols and we were out from the house 7.25am. pheww.. Despite the 15 deg weather and the rain, I was sweating like a horse.

Got on the 7.29am bus and today I drove the double buggy on my own through the 10 minutes rather adventurous walk to the kids' school. By this time I was sweating like 10 horses. KEPEL tak hengat! I'm glad I'm better equipped today with a pair of sports shoes compared to my knee high 3 inches boots yesterday. What was I thinking eh? And the time we took was substantially shorter. Only 25 minutes for the whole journey! yeay to me! And Supervisor Kols of course for watching over me like a headmaster.

And for Sophie, she did really well on her first day at school accroding to the teachers. But she didn't bother to get her afternoon nap when everybody does. She was busy playing with a doll when I picked her up yesterday while everyone else was sound asleep. Let's hope she considers a nap today.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Sophie's First Day

2010-09-22T16:29:00.003+08:00

Today is Sophie's first day at school. I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm everything.

Reached the school in the rain at 9 instead of 8. I found it three times harder to get the two girls and myself ready to be out the house any earlier. So tomorrow, I'm starting my day at 7am If not 6.30am. The journey took me 40 minutes alltogether this morning, 5 minutes walk from the house to the bus stop, 25 minutes on the bus and 10 more minutes walk from the bus stop to the school. I think with the rain and all, that's what took me longer but It's Glasgow, there's no chance of not getting any rain this time of the year. heh!

I'm relying on Kols to assist me this first week to bring the two to school with the double buggy, and show me the short cuts. Next week, I'll be running solo. I sure need all the luck in the world.

They are now both at school. While I initially planned to enjoy a little time browsing the shops today, I find myself sitting in Kols Uni's library. It's the rain! hehe.. Maybe tomorrow. I hope Sophie will do great and can't wait to hear all about it when they finish at 1pm today.

The Moment She Became..

2010-09-20T21:57:00.002+08:00

A Wife..

My Heartiest Congratulations to my dear best friend Arina who are now married to her soulmate of 5 years was it na?

Our prayers are for you to have a wonderful life together as husband & wife, InsyaAllah.

How every minute I wished I was there to celebrate your moments with you..

How To Cut Your Daughter's Hair At Home

2010-09-15T16:34:00.005+08:00

Last week Kols came to me with heavy hearts I'm sure, "It's OK we, you can cut Hannah's hair" FINALLY! After almost three years.

And I only managed to find the time to do it yesterday. So, here's how:

1. Get all your tools ready; scissors, fine-toothed comb and a cover.
Find a good quality hair scissors. It has the right sharpness for hair. Don't ever use paper scissor, It's not sharp enough.

2. Clips are very useful to section the hair

3. Get your child ready on an eye level chair or table in my case.
Hannah, BEFORE.

4. Make sure a good entertainment is provided to reduce fidgeting.
Hannah's case: Upin & Ipin

5. Sectioned the hair with clips and leave a small section where you want to start cutting
Make sure you do a small amount at a time to prevent uneven cuts

6. Cut an inch longer than your desired lengths to compromise mishaps.
If you wish to make bangs, section the hair from the beginning of the scull and forward. In Hannah's case, I prefer her to not have any bangs. Kols totally hate bangs.

7. Continue cutting until all sectioned are done and VOILA!
Hannah: AFTER

Hannah's new look after shower and blow dry

Rear view

She seems to love her new haircut so much she calls it 'My New Bouncy Hair'.

Our Raya Celebration

2010-09-13T17:14:00.004+08:00

We had just as a wonderful time as any other raya, Alhamdulillah, despite being kols-less. Thanks to Ayu, Alid and families.

I spent the the whole day before Raya making raya cookies and cooking. Managed with much difficulty making kols favourite pineapple tarts for the first time. They came out looking rather sloppy but they taste exactly the same as her sister's. So, I was glad. And he munched them all at a blink. I also made some awkward looking fruit tartlets using the muffin baking pan. There were a hit with the girls. There were also my aluminum foiled lemang and lemang pulut hitam, some Nasi Impit, Chicken rendang and kuah kacang.

The day of Raya itself were celebrated with other Malaysian at a hall with solat and some food. And the rest of the day were spent beraya at five open houses, we came home stuffed with all sorts of food it felt like I've gained a whole 10 kilos just by the end of first Raya!

Kols came back that night from Cardiff to see us all so buncit he almost cried! hehe

Kols favourite pineapple tarts

My strawberry tartlets with cheese cream filling

The ones with custard fillings

Lemang pulut putih and pulut hitam

Homemade kaya eaten with lemang. yummy

Nasi Impit, rendang and kuah kacang

Aidilfitri Solat

Halida and Maryam

The Girls

Ayu & Family and Halida and Family

The Clan going beraya

Raya Cookies

2010-09-08T17:05:00.007+08:00

We spent a few hours last weekend making two batches of biscuit Sarang semut. Managed to filled up four medium containers. Kols and the kids were really helpful that we had them all done in just under 2 hours. I call it being very helpful while Kols prefers to call it cheap labour. haha.. Either way, the cookies are successful made.

This biscuit has always been the only biscuit wajib to be made every year for Hari Raya as we don't really eat any other. We would make batches after bathces. But this year, I'm gonna make a few more biscuits. Yesterday, I made biscuit Arab ( setelah berkoyan2 makan di rumah Ayu) and InsyaAllah, I'll be making biscotti, pineapple tarts, fruit tartlets and some cakes in the next few days.

Kerahan tenaga

Recipe is courtesy of Aunty Liza and mom.

Biscuit Arab recipe from Kak liza

I've also been making rolls everyday now since a few weeks ago. Thanks to my wonderful breadmaker. I've made Sri Kaya Pandan last week to compliment the rolls and last night, kols favourite red bean paste. He was ecstatic. I insisted on making them as last night was his last night of iftar here at home. He left for a conference this morning leaving us three to prep and celebrate raya without him. =(

Red Bean Paste, Kaya Pandan recipe from Kak Ros

Salaam Aidilfitri Sayang.. We'll miss you...

Ramadhan to End..

2010-09-03T17:21:00.006+08:00

Alhamdulillah, these past weeks of Ramadhan had been wonderful. We've got used to the long fasting time by now. There's only one week to go and my heart is heavy. One week left to make as many pahala as you can, to make as many ibadah as you can, one week left to try and ask for His forgiveness, InsyaAllah. Don't forget to make lots of Dua's so He let you see and have another Ramadhan next year.

Aidilfitri is just around the corner, I'm sure in Malaysia the Raya vibes are through the roof, just madness. Here, we are thankful for the Muslim community to share the Eid with.

This raya, there will only be myself and the girls, Kols will be leaving for a conference in Cardiff the day before Raya and will be back Raya night. That certainly will not taint my spirits of raya. The kids need to know how meriah raya is, and I'm keen to show them how we had it those days. They will be helping me make some raya cookies next week InsyaAllah, just to start them off. After a whole week of bickering between the two of them and almost made my head explode! They still are!

Anyway, to those who are going back home for raya, have a safe journey home. To those who drives, be savvy on the road.

And I shall leave you with our favourite raya song by Anuar & Elina. What's your's?

p/s: To my dear bestfriend Arina, be strong.. InsyaAllah Atuk will be with those He loves. I love you sayangku...

My Vow

2010-09-01T18:03:00.013+08:00

This Ramadhan month sure makes me go loco over food. All those cooking series on tele and the cooking madness going on with all the bloggers made me drool over everything including tap water!

Every time salivating over the food porn, I'd always get all excited to try it out but got really discouraged once I saw the Ingredients and Methods. One thing about my cooking, It cannot be more than five steps to the method, anything more, I'd be easily demotivated. And the list of ingredients especially for Malaysian food are so local to Malaysia that it'd shy away all kinds of perantau like us.

So, I've decided or rather vowed to myself to post out one recipe a week if not more that has been tried, tested and altered by myself to suit the perantau limitation of ingredients and kemalasan.. hahaha.. And maybe share some of my family's recipe including nenek's, mama's and mak's (Kol's mom I'd refer as Mak Jube in it's entry)

I shall start you off with a kueh I made yesterday for Iftar amongst others which are Noodle Soup, Roti naik and even kaya pandan. My enthusiast self get the best of me just to be disappointed getting my menses one and a half hour before Iftar. Baik punye!! I should have just drank that tap water while showering!

Kaswi recipe from Kak Liza. Originally made with gula melaka altered with light Brown Sugar/Muscovado. Originally cooked in a steamer which I don't have so I made a bain-marie in the oven covered with foil at 200 C for 55 minutes. I think the foil made it take longer to cook, next time I'm gonna omit the foil and see if it can cut short the cooking time to half hour.

Also, I used dessicated coconuts. Most of them here are too dry, just pop them into the microwave for one minute with a few tablespoon of water to steam them and it should give you almost the same consistency as the freshly grated ones.

Ingredients:
5 cups of water
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of granulated sugar
Boil everything in a pan and let cool

2 cups of plain flour
1/2 cup of tapioca starch (can get from any chinese shop)
1 tsp air kapur (I think it's called lime water,but if you cannot find it anywhere,omit.It's optional)
Dessicated coconut + salt (mix in)

Method:
1. Preheat Oven at 200C and get you bain-marie in. Grease a square baking pan with some oil
2. Mix all the ingredients along with the liquid and sieve into the pan and cover with foil
3. Bake on the bain-marie for 55 minutes
4. Let it properly cool and use a plastic knife to cut.
5. Cover with the coconut and serve

Freshly Baked Bread Everyday

2010-08-27T22:21:00.004+08:00

I bought a breadmaker just before we went back to Malaysia in June. Only now do I have the chance to experiment with it. Since Sophie suffered from this penjahat eczema, she has become so fussy in taking food. Eating rice has been quite a challenge when just a month ago, the Indonesian in her would ask to have rice for breakfast on top of two other serving of rice during the day. Now she'd usually only take 2-3 spoonful of rice and decided that she's full. But Alhamdulillah, she has no problem eating bread.

So, I've decided to bake bread freshly for her everyday. I remember how I love the smell of freshly baked bread when mama used to make it every other day when we were all in Glasgow 10 years back. And of course, that time, she preferred to uli the bread herself, no breadmaker. But I sure do not mind the shortcut and just chuck all the ingredients into the pan and have the breadmaker do all the work for me except for when I made dinner rolls and potato bread. I'd take the dough out and mould them myself. heheh.. ok ape? I love my gadgets in the kitchen. They make life a lot easier.

So far, since beginning of this week, I've made two loafs of white bread, a banana bread and some potato bread. And Sophie ate them all licin berkilat. I'm going to try and do something more challenging in the weeks to come InsyaAllah

Just another gadget in the kitchen

Just the normal white bread

Bad Bad Eczema

2010-08-26T05:27:00.002+08:00

This past week had been rather stressful for myself and Kols. The kids are with flu and Sophie is accommodating a really really bad eczema.

She has tiny little dots all over her body that are a millimeter apart from the other. At some places, they are so closed together that they decide to camp out and form big red itchy patches. My heart goes out to her, I absolutely empathize and plead guilty to all counts of passing this skin problem to her. Poor Sophie... She's so cranky that even a teeny weeny push from kakak would cause her to cry on top of her lungs. And that makes her cry almost every 5 minutes except for when Hannah is at school.

We went to see a doctor on Monday and she's now on a twice daily routine of double base bath cream, double base lotion and hydrocotison cream. Aiyoo..kesian gile, I almost cried everytime I went to bath her.

Anyway, just a reminder to myself and all mothers, I know sometimes the hard work of taking care of your children especially cranky ones really gets on your every nerves. And when we're angry, it's not exactly swimming to control what comes out of our mouth. Remember, as mothers those are all Dua's. So, as a friendly reminder, during this holy Ramadhan month, get ourselves use to the idea of saying 'bertuah' instead of 'degil', 'taknak dgr cakap' and etc. That's what my grandma had always thought me to say to my kids. Which reminded me of one evening at 4pm when I had been battling the cries between the two of them, I shouted at the most nyaringess of my voice, 'bertuah bertuah bertuah' like a crazy lady! serious psycho to the max! Both of them went quite thereafter! hehe..phewww!

Salaam Ramadhan to all...

Thoughts to Share

2010-08-23T20:38:00.003+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

I'd really like you to think about this... Just some thoughts..

If you pray to Allah to have more patience, do you think Allah will give you patience? Or...
He'll let you have the opportunity to be patient..?

If you pray to Allah to have a loving family, do you think Allah will let you have it? Or..
He'll let you have the opportunity to love each other more and be a loving family..?

If you pray to Allah to become rich, do you think Allah will make it rain money on you? Or..
He'll let you have the opportunity to be rich...?

If you think about it deeply..
InsyaAllah life will not be that difficult for you...

Salaam Ramadhan

Five is A Magic Number

2010-08-20T20:11:00.003+08:00

We had a special three course meal at home for Iftar last night. I also made Kol's favourite drink, Carrot Milk.

It was such a lovely gesture...

First Course/Appetiser: Prawn & Clams Linguine

Main course: Grilled Steak with Mashed and Vege

Dessert: Frozen Strawberries in White Chocolate Sauce

Praise to Allah for these 5 wonderful years..

We sure had our downs once in a while..
But the laughter, smiles, and especially your stupid jokes in between
made all the sorrow disappears
helped us aced every bit of it
InsyaAllah, I look forward for many more wonderful beautiful years with you..

Syafiq & Liyana's: Our Reception

2010-08-18T22:18:00.007+08:00

Despite the usual dramas of putting a wedding together, Alhamdulillah the event was a success. Credit and many thanks to everyone who were involved directly or indirectly in making the night a wonderful celebratory night.

And I shall feast you with the photos around the reception.

The Flower at the Foyer which has it's own story*

The reception ladies, The Planner and The Pengapit

The ladies with the Bride

Pengantin Lama

The Bride & Groom with Makcik planner at the end of it all..phewww..hats off!

Anyway, here are the list of the excellent people we worked with. Thanks again...

Venue: Damansara Heights Community Hall
Dais and hall Deco: Arma Abd Rahman & Team
Guests Table Deco & Utensils: Madetill Event Management (MEM)
Photographer: Ministry of Moments
Videographer: CST Videography
Montage for the night: En Kolget
Waiters & Waitreses: Din & Team, and UITM Hotel Management
Door Gifts: Homemade Chocolates by Aunty Zu, The Box Shop
Outfits of Bride & Groom: Syaiful Baharim
Bride's Make-up: Sue Cantik

Being a true minang at heart and soul, mama insisted on getting a minang caterer which had been successfully catered for a few of my cousin's reception. We truly take pride in our food especially the rendang and acar bijan during any kenduri. Thanks Kak Yah & Unc Shukri and Team.

Many many thanks also to org kuat, Kak Farah & Aunty Liza and semua kakitangan..

The Door Gift in a box I designed and printed by The Box Shop

* Mama secretly went to Arma and requested artificial flowers used instead of fresh flowers because she wants to keep it in the house. MasyaAllah it's so gigantic that it has no place inside the house it has to be sent outside on the lepak table. The giganticness got onto babah's nerves everyday since. And mama, she had to justify it everyday with him. So funny!!..

Syafiq & Liyana's Nikah & M.O, Reception

2010-08-18T21:32:00.009+08:00

Yeah yeah.. It took me long enough.

Hantaran by ARMA

Serba kekecohan of the Dulang Boys

Everything in place

Looking rather nervous eh?

Alhamdulillah...

And this marks the beginning of multiple gazillion poyoness by us

The rombongan

And below are some photos from Liyana's reception at M.O.

1st Ramadhan and It's Very Own Challenge

2010-08-12T23:42:00.002+08:00

Firstly, correction. It's 19 hours instead of 21hr. We received a new timetable from the Glasgow Central mosque. Imsa' is at 2.15 and maghrib at 9.10pm. So, that's a saving of 2 hours. haha..

Anyway, we managed to get a nice sahur despite me being so full by our supper just a few hours before. Kols had long planned to send hannah to school in the morning and comes back home to relax but ditched the plan and stayed at Uni until Hannah's done with school. As for myself, the clock seems to be moving rather slow. But I was occupied with Maryam & Sophie at home. I tried to get some nap but there was no success in that area.

The day went quite alright except for the last hour of fasting. I was already feeling absolutely hungry at 8pm and Kols wasn't of much help when he tuned the tele to a cooking programme. MasyaAllah, the ultimate kesengsaraan.

But all in all it was OK. Except for the part that I find the most tricky, which is sahur time. I was still so full from buka that I could not eat a single thing during sahur and just had water and milk while Kols gracefully had another helping of meal. I seriously need a better plan as water and milk, I don't think can sustain the 19hours of fasting. And that means I only eat once during the day. Well, although some might say, you'll lose the weight but I'm really not looking to lose that many. I'll try again today and see what happens.

InsyaAllah by the 30th Ramadhan we'll see a 4.21 Imsa' and 7.55pm Maghrib. Not bad at all eh? I can only imagine how it will be the next year or two when maghrib is only at 11.30pm and subh at 1.30am.

Ramadhan

2010-08-10T04:17:00.001+08:00

This year will be the first Ramadhan the four of us celebrate in the UK. And it had to be the longest fasting days we'll ever go through. Imsa' will be around 1.15am and Maghrib is not until 9.40 at night. That's a total of almost 21 hours of fasting.

We had just bought our collection of dates this evening for the month and I'm rather nervous because of the long hours of fasting that I could feel my stomach shutting down on me.. I'm very very hopeful they'll turn out to be not as bad as I thought..InsyaAllah with His help.

We've been trying to come out with the best plan on how to have our break fast and sahur between the just under four hours we have. I suggested we sleep after Asar so we can stay up for tarawikh and sahur. But the kids only go to sleep at 7pm. So that plan is rather tricky..

We're still burning our brains off to get the best plan but Kols is very sure on having rice both times despite me telling him he's gonna be too full..

Anyway, Ramadhan Mubarak everyone.. Mohon ampun dan maaf sekiranya ada tersalah kata and laku.. Selamat Berpuasa..

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Baju Kurung Moden & Telekung

2010-08-04T21:32:00.002+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

Please feel free to check out my blogshop. I've uploaded my collections of Embroidered Telekung and Kurung Moden for this year's Ramadhan & Aidilfitri.

ELEGANTLY CHIC MUSLIMAH

Wassalam,
Hawa

We've Safely Arrived and Are Adjusting

2010-08-04T14:35:00.001+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

Alhamdulillah.. we've safely arrived in Glasgow last Monday afternoon. Greeted with a good weather, we were generally happy to be home.. but of course missing everyone in Malaysia..

I managed to clear out our 105kg baggages right away and had the most crazy 12 hours sleep that Monday. After that refreshing rest, we visited the city centre yesterday to get some essentials..

Today's another day in Glasgow. Kols will be going to Uni in a while. Alhamdulillah the kids especially are adjusting well to the weather and the jet lag is wearing off pretty quickly. They woke up at 7 this morning and already had cereal while I'm still covered with duvet writing this.

To our family and bestfriends in Malaysia.. we are missing you so much already. And to my sister Ika, we pray that you'll get better soon and the operation goes well. Take care evryone.. we love you all so very much..

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

We're Flying Off Tonight

2010-08-01T22:15:00.003+08:00

In one hour, we'll be pushing off to the airport. Our flight is at 2 am.

The holiday is over and it's time to get back to Glasgow. My heart and soul are totally damped with tears to part with everyone at home.

I'm sure they are just as sad to see us go especially after over a month having the kids screaming and jumping about in the house. It'll be very very quiet.. Takpela.. InsyaAllah, God permits we'll come home again...

To all family and friends, thank you for the most lovely time we've shared while we were home.. Mohon ampun dan maaf menjelang Ramadhan yang dah dekat ni... Selamat Berpuasa..

We love you all very much..

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Check It Out...

2010-07-31T18:56:00.006+08:00

Salaam Everyone,

Please feel free to check out my blogshop for some new collections for Ramadhan & Aidilfitri. I've uploaded some collections of Baju Kurung Moden with Lining and Telekung Cotton Sulam. There are also the last few Italian silk Tie Rack scarves I have left with me.

ELEGANTLY CHIC MUSLIMAH