Winter 2016 : Comfort food

Nothing can beat a bowl of warm rice porridge, crispy salted fish and fried sambal in a cold winter morning.

Winter 2016 : THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

30 January 2016.
A day after the Storm Gertrude.

We were chatting with my parent via Skype when the guests started to arrive. My sons were so happy to see other kids came to their party. New friends in Manchester! They loves the cakes (of course!) and the M&Ms disappeared long before the whole cake finished, as I expected. haha.

 

We had a really fun art and craft sessions. I didnt mind seeing our living room like this as long as the kids were having fun and the guests were enjoying themselves, helping the kids to do some artworks.

My neighbour (who is also my junior in IIUM), a PhD candidate, was struggling to meet a submission deadline that day, therefore, she couldnt make it to the party. I asked her if she could send over her kids to my house and let them stay here until Maghrib so she could focus on her writing. I truly understand what she went through and that was the least I could do to help. And she did! 

It was good to see Naufal & Aesyah really enjoying themselves with crafts and the loud & colourful party poppers :) The kids made these, toilet roll ninjas (in our case, they were actually kitchen rolls cut into two) and straw sculptures.

I had so much fun baking, cooking and entertaining the guests! It is a good break from my study. Cleaning up that evening was a breeze.

I read the news online and surprisingly we are expecting Storm Henry the next day!

Winter 2016 : The day somebody spilled his milk on my laptop

I left my laptop in the rice container overnight so it could soak up the moisture (of course, after I wiped the milk first). Flaked and basmathi rice are capable to absorb a high percentage of moisture compared to other types of rice. I am using basmathi.

The laptop is good to go the next day.

Winter 2015 : Maulidur Rasul celebration in Manchester

There were built up events on Saturdays before the main Maulidur Rasul celebration in Malaysian supplementary school in Manchester. The kids participated in poster and card design competitions, learned about the Prophet Muhammad, watch educational movies and learned the selawat. 

On the real day, they participated in nasyid competition and Maulidur Rasul quiz. And they bring home a lot of present from the competitions and quiz. Well done! 

Our first photo in baju kurung and baju melayu together, taken in front of our house. It was freezing cold outside!

Winter 2015 : Shoes organiser (Manchester)

We have an issue with a large amount of shoes, especially the growing number of BOOTS in the winter. They were everywhere. We have a narrow mud room and putting a shoe bench/cabinet there is not even an option.

Until one day, my husband found this timber frame (maybe from an old baby cot) in our room, waiting to be disposed and he decided to do something about that. 

A few minutes later, VOILA :) 

We have made similar project in Malaysia (here).

Winter 2015 : The day someone threw a battery to the TV screen

It was written (Muslims believe in qada and qadar - the fate and destiny), so we were not frustrated or mad at all. We just watch whatever left on the screen and imagine the rest.

Fall 2015 : Kids' bedrooms - the before and after

They were so excited. Well, me too.

….and we slept really well that night.

Everybody woke up at 6am. Everyday, for the next two weeks.

Fall 2015 : Our first meal in the new house

Chicken curry rice.

It feels so good to be able to cook for my family after a very hectic week. We finally got to sit together and eat proper hot home-cooked meal, in our house.

*we brought our rice cooker from Malaysia. 

Fall 2015 : The day we moved in

I booked an MPV online. He came on time, around 11am. The whole process was a breeze. Nabil and Nazreen helped me to handle the luggage and boxes. 

19 September 2015.
Welcome home.

Raya 2015 : Nabil's friends

(it was in the draft folder for quite some times)

This was the first time Nabil had friends over for Raya. He seems so happy.

Since the food is aplenty (rojak mi, brownies, quesadilla), I also invited my cousins and they finishes 15 quesadillas in a blink! I love having people over.

 

Nazran's kurma plant

Nazran plant the kurma (date) seed a few months before we left for Manchester.

Nothing happened. He watered it everyday until he gave up.

I keep checking the vase and continue watering the pot everyday until I saw the bright green tip surfaced from the black soil, a few weeks before we came here.

I hope the kurma plant survive at our house for one year so Nazran could see you grow later!

Raya 2015

Raya dah habis. Baru nak upload.
Maaf zahir dan batin, all.

Raya Landscape

I have spent a couple of hours gardening last Saturday. It was truly therapeutic. I helped Nazreen to grow his onions, plant some coriander and transfer all decorative plants as well as ulam raja from the poly bags to proper vase. Re-planting the decorative plants into small vases took longer than I expected, but I satisfied with the outcome (far below) :)

My husband was busy trimming the grass in front of our house, then he laid two bags of soil before putting the new grass we bought a week before. We planned to buy three unit but they only have two left, so Nazran and Nazmi helped to arrange the river stones and pebbles to cover the soil around the grass.

Our green wall, before and after. 

Mini Samosa with whatever-left-from-last-night fillings

I took the leftover from dinner last night, fried it with a bit of onion, garlic, carrot and pepper, to give it stronger flavour. I cut each spring roll sheet into three long strips and start wrapping the filling.

And turned it into mini samosa. My kids' favourite.

Apart from those fillings, I also made scramble egg filling and cheese. I cut the cheese slice into triangle and wrap it with the sheet, then fried it. The cheese will melt and find its way between the sheet layers. 

Jemput...

Ok, now I am hungry.

Saturday Art: Masks

Mask.

It is easy to SOLAT

We made this poster together. 

This is how I teach the kids that SOLAT IS EASY.

This is how much time you actually spent to solat, compared with 24 hours Allah gave us daily. So little. So there is no excuse not to solat.

Lesson learned

I have told them not to play at the neighbour's house.

I have no choice but to call them home. Ask them to take a bath, wudhu' and sit there (and zikir) for half an hour until Maghrib.

Fun @ Atok's

Full of activities at Atok's house.

Now you know why they love to stay at Atok's.

Sweet revenge: food

I was feeling under the weather for almost two weeks. 

I didnt do much house chores during that period. My neighbour came and helped me to fold three baskets full of clothes and after that she hanged another basket of newly-washed clothes. What would I do without you, Maton :)

Good neighbour is hard to get.

No, that's not what this entry is all about.

(Well, I have this tendency to talk about something else first whenever I blog about food)

After two week having lunch/dinner at my parent's because I was not feeling well, last weekend, I woke up and the first thing I did after Subuh prayer was mixing pizza dough. Nazran helped me to bake pizzas. This is the second one. The first one finished in a minute. I spread tomato puree with Herbes de Provence, capsicum, tomato, chicken bits marinated in barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese.

Then we had what Kelantanese called colek.

My mom went to the market and bought us young mangoes. 

My version of colek (fruit dip) is the mixture of soy sauce, coarse sugar, shrimp paste and grounded bird's eye chili. You'll taste sweet, sour, salty and hotness from the chili in every bite. 

At night, I made fruit cocktail with mango pudding. No photo.