Winter holiday

Now is school holiday start from 18th December 2008 until 3rd January 2009. Last weekend, 19th December 2008, we went to Mall of Dubai, the first place we went to kinokuniya bookstore, it huge compare to borders and kinokuniya in Malaysia, i like it very much since most of the book i like are there. I bought a decorative painting book by Priscilla Hauser(now i'm practicing the roses based on this book...so far ok but not exactly the same), a cup of comfort for women and health book, my childred bought their story books. Now decorative painting become my another hobby instead of quilting and baking. I think i like to draw, example the best part of doing quilt is during design the top part, i have so many designs (more than one sketchbook) but still not turn it into quilt, since to finish one quilt its takes me months

We been there from 2.00pm until 6.30, still feel not enough time, a lot of books more to browse. In the Dubai mall there have a tallest christmas tree in the UAE, it is 94 foot tall from the ground to the ceiling with over 8000 deorative ornaments, and the colours keep on change from white, blue, red, green and orange. One funny thing happened, we met Alan and family, Alan is a chinese guy from Malaysia, his wife Pam from Hong Kong and have one daugther name Lauren, they are very nice people. However we only met each other at the bookshop or at the park (by co-incidence), other than this two places we never see each other. I didn't met them since last April, i think...

This month also Farhan's and Fardan's birthday, Farhan was on 14th December, so he become 9 years old, Happy 9th Birthday. I made orange cupcakes, caramel pudding and steam buns only, since that time they had their first term exam so, everythings simple and short.

Today 24th December is Fardan's birthday, i make caramel pudding, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw together with fries, based on requested by the birthday boy.

Finally, last month on 25th November 2008, i finished my wall hanging quilt, it took me five months to finish it since, well i did it when i really free, and for the last few months i'm quite busy with Kak Long.

By the way, now she in Islamic Internationally University in Malaysia doing her foundation, fardan and i went backed to Malaysia on 28th Oct for two weeks. Her registration on 8th November and we came back to Abu Dhabi on 11th November 2008. Now, i hope she is settledown and busy with her studies. Next week her sementer break for one week.

Just to add photo of my super mini garden at home.

Eid Mubarak

Happy Eid Mubarak to all muslims, we had our Eid Mubarak celebration for the fourth time in Abu Dhabi, but this year a little bit difference compared to previous years which was always had a picnic at the park, since the weather still hot so we had a planned to visit from one house to another (acara kunjung-mengunjung dari rumah ke rumah) just as we usually did in Malaysia. This the spirit of Eid Mubarak to visit each other, forgive and forgiving. There were eight families all together my family, Ina Khairul, Faizah, Hamidah, Za, Fadzillah, Norizan and Ziana.

In the morning my family had a photo sessions in our house, we went to the ambassador's house for Eid Fitr solah, we had a pot-luck there, so i brought nasi impit, rendang, swiss roll and carrot cake, then we went to Ina's house she cooked nasi dagang (Terengganu specialty dish), rendang and lemang, after that at Hamidah's house we had mee kari and nasi impit also, in late afternoon we went to Norizan's house and had laksa johor, at the evening we went to Za's house at mafraq, in there we had satay, nasi kerabu and also nasi dagang. So almost the whole day we eat and eat and eat,.... so during the ramadan i loss only one kg but first day of Eid add another 2 kg, this terrible....

At Hamidah's house, everyone in mood of posing, Faizah, Ina, Hamidah and my daughter Farihin.
At Norizan's house.
Last house of the day, at Za's house in Mafraq.

On the second Eid, again another eat outing, we went to Faizah's house, she made satay, soto, gado-gado and tempe goreng, so delicious, she such a great cook. So the last at my house, i made fried noodle (mee hoon goreng), rendang daging and nasi impit,blueberry and strawberry pies only, but i made a lot of cookies - london almond, chocolate chips, coconut biscuit , honey cornflake, kuih siput, biskut bunga cina (it like a carnation, that what my friend said) and pineapple tart.

At my house, all the husbands happy chatting with the lastest gossips, i think and
the boys enjoying played with PS2. For the mums, what else another round for eating.

On 7th October, the school is started, so i'm alone but tomorrow kak long will be around since today her last day doing the volunteer work at school. By the way she got a offer to futher study doing Bachelor in medicine and bachelor in surgery (MBBS) at International Islamic Univerisity (UIA) in Malaysia , she will do her foundation course for two years at PJ campus, then she will further do her medicine programme in Kuantan for another five years. All the best kak long, i know you can do it, mama and bapa always berdoa you will success in what ever you do, insyaAllah.

Ramadan Kareem

Today is 16th of Ramadan, so another 14 days more to go, Adik dah start with his fasting but only until 4.00pm, so far his ok only complaining a bit thirsty. (Anyway his fast only on weekend because his goes to school on the weekdays and the weather still very hot now).

Last monday (8th September 2008) Farhan had a surgery to remove his tonsils. His felt very bad until today, still cannot eat hard food and this morning i brought him to see the ent for follow-up check-up, now his get an infection so have to start with another cycle of antibiotic, kesihan kat dia, hoping he will recover soon, insyaAllah.

The school started on 7th September, everyone goes to school except kak long, but last sunday she started doing the voluntary work helping at the kindergarden class also in cambridge, good for her since she likes children very much. Anyway kak long good result for her IGCSE last August, she's got A* for Physic, mathematic and business studied, A for biology, chemistry and infomation technology and B for English and geograpy. Congratulation!!! kak long, may your wish come true.

My quilting project still on hold, since i'm very busy with Farhan and during ramadan time seems very short, most of the time fills by baking and cooking only. Hope after Eid i can make something...wall hanging or baby quilt...

Summer time

Now in here is getting hot and hotter, today the temperature was 41 C, feel very lazy to go out, anyway, my kids start again with their exam, the third term exam and my eldest daugther still having another five more paper to go, her last day of exam will be on 11th June 2008 and for the rest kids will be on 12th June 2008. After that we will go back to Malaysia for two months, such a long holiday and everyone is so look forward. Actually two months are a very short time since i am going back to my hometown in Pahang and my husband hometown in Kedah, then we plan to go for a holiday at Port Dickson and Penang, just a few days left to some shopping (mostly foods) before come back to Abu Dhabi. Hope we can enjoy every minutes we are there.


Last month, i had finished a quilt for my parent-in-law, their 50th anniversary, hope they will like it, each block was designed by my children and my husband, and each drawing will tell how they think about their grandparents, such as Fardan drew the cake for the 50th anniversary, each candle represent 10 years, and i just followed the drawing he made. Fariha drew the sweet corn since in front of their house has a sweet corn stall and everytime we go back to Gurun, my mother-in-law will give us a bunch of sweet corn. So each block has its own meaning.














The cake designed by Fardan





Sweet corn drew by Fariha

I aslo made another quilt, it called a puff or biscuit quilt for Fardan. Just for him to lay-down while watching the tv.

Now i'm in the process of finishing another quilt, a wall hanging actually, hope can finish it before go back to Malaysia, still have another three weeks to go.

Last few weeks, i'm also in the mood of baking so did tried a few recipes from the internet, i tried fancy or decorative cookies, oatmeal cookies, black pepper steak, shawarma and jeneket ( recipe from Pn Zarina, thank you), my children loves them all very much. This the decorative cookis i made, but the decorations are not very nice. hope next time i can decorate it better.

Mid Term School Break

Almost four months i did not updated my journal,....where to start...nothing much happened actually, this few months seem very slow and quite, my time mostly spend at home and with the children. Adik had a chicken pox, but now almost fully recover, so last term exam selamatlah dia tak payah ambil periksa...seronoklah tu..., result are based on the internal marks only, whereas the rest have to study. This one week school holiday tak pergi mana stayed at home, most of the time i kat dapur prepared food for the children who always hungry, i tried a few new recipes, i made pau, triffle, sponge cake, fruit tart, muffin, popiah, sardin puff, coney dog and dougnut most of the recipe i got from the internet...especially from hanieliza and mamafami. Anyway, i sempat jugak buat quilt, tapi the top part aje yang dah siap, once i complete it will post it here. Last week a bought a new sewing machine Bernina Bernette 90e, so supposedly cepatlah sikit i buat quilting...Kak Long will seat for the IGCSE next month, hope she will get a good result, insyaAllah.