Boleh ke tak boleh?

Sebenarnya memang takde idea nak tulis apa. Nak cerita pasal gathering semalam, macam takde apa nak cerita sangat sebab almost every week ada gathering macam tu. Pengisian ceramah agama dan makan-makan selepasnya. Alhamdulillah, food cukup dan berlebih seperti biasa. Ada ramai yang tak datang. Masaalah transportation lah. Memang ramai yang baru sampai tapi bukan senang nak dapatkan transportation di sini. Takpe, nanti bila masing-masing dah berkenderaan, dapat lah mereka hadir. Insyaallah.


Ni pasal benda lain pulak. Ada satu isu yang bermain dalam kepala Neeza sekarang. Ianya mengenai merancang keluarga dari perspektif Islam. Kalau nak menjarakkan anak, ada pelbagai cara. Macam mana pula untuk menghentikan terus dari mendapatkan anak? Maksudnya stop producing. No more baby, Insyaallah (semuanya bergantung pada Allah kan. Kalau kita buat macam mana pun, kalau Allah kata jadi, akan jadi juga).


Ada doctor disini bagi tahu, boleh guna family planning tapi bukan ikat terus (ligation). Maksudnya, boleh makan pil, guna IUCD, implant dan mungkin cara-cara lain. Tapi cara-cara yang tersebut itu ada risikonya. Contohnya, kalau makan pil, mesti ikut schedule. Kalau terlupa sekali, sangat parah. IUCD dan implant pun ada percentage juga. Bukan 100%. Cuma, ligation saja yang boleh dikatakan 100%, Insyaallah.


Kalau tak silap (may be Neeza silap), family planning diboleh kan atas sebab-sebab kesihatan. Kalau dah 4 kali beranak Caeserian, perut tu dah dibelah 4 kali. Kalau takde masalah mungkin takpe. Kalau selalu saja sakit masa pregnant dan mungkin menjejaskan lagi kesihatan, macam mana pulak ya?


Persoalannya ialah, adakah ligation (ikat) dibolehkan kalau kita dah 4 kali menjalani pembedahan Caeserian dan pregnancy yang ke4 memang selalu menyakitkan dan menjejaskan pergerakan?


Lately banyak pulak entry Neeza yang berbentuk soalan. Bukan Neeza tak boleh nak g00gle untuk jawapan ni. Boleh saja. Cuma, Neeza nak dengar daripada orang lain. Orang lain mungkin pernah dengar pasal ni daripada experts di tempat masing-masing.


Siapa yang sudi, bagi tahu lah pendapat ya. Terima kasih :)

A feast for our big family

We rarely, rarely... had our gathering with all of us in Al Jubail are invited. Recently, the guys (of course it has to be the men - since when women have a power of saying here? - okay, I am just kidding) have launched our own communitee in this small city . . It happened spontaneously in an occasion whereby they men decided to have a Malaysian Club in Al Jubail.


Firstly, I don't know if the club's name is right. Second of all, I don't really know who were appointed as who and who (the committee). What I do know is, everytime 'the men' decided on anything, 'the women' had to settle on preparing the food.. uuuwwaaaa!!! Oh well, I know there are a few (or perhaps one or two) who let their wives relax, don't do anything about the food. They prepared the food themselves. Bravo!!


I just gotta know from someone in the club, the actual name of our club is 'Kelab Rakyat Malaysia Jubail'. Notice the word rakyat malaysia? Currently, we have Indians, Chinese and Malays. Not to forget Melanau. We do have 2 of them here :). We are so Malaysian ;).


For everyone who doesn't know much about us, the malaysian communitee is getting bigger in Al Jubail. More malaysians are coming. The exact figure is not finalized yet. Let the committee does the tedious work - locate them, get the names and bla bla bla..


Yesterday, we had our first gathering (after the club launching). We planned to have it at a beach camp but all are fully booked. So, we had it at a park very close to our president's residence. In fact, it was actually next to the house - how convenience...


We had a huge meal with lots of dishes. Everyone was assigned on a task. On top of that, they also brought pot luck! From the main dishes to the most light one like 'bledho'. Hey! That's the name of my blog!! hehee.. but, it wasn't me who prepared the bledho. By the way, 'bledho' is jelly or some people call it as agar-agar. There were BBQ (the best part) done by the men! Beef, chicken and seefood were BBQed. There was beef sate too! I can't write all food here since they were a lot.


I didn't even take a picture of the food. I guess to fill my tummy is much more important than taking pictures nowadays ;). My mister took the pictures (that explains why he wasn't in any of the picture taken). The committee has assigned a photographer (a young and available one hahaha!! - he's in Grade 8..) to capture the event.


Almost a day was spent there. We started at 12 noon (many, including us came much much later hehehee...) and ended at 10.00 pm. There were still a few who mingled around to do some accounting job - calculated money in and out (yikes!!).


We (a few of us) also invited our friends in Al Khobar but some of them couldn't make it. Perhaps, we would able to invite many of them to join our feast in the future. The more the merrier right :).


Overall, we especially the ladies had joy and fun yesterday. I don't need to mention that, only in that kind of event all ladies are able to meet with each other and exchange our daily activities (gossiping??) Naaaahhhhh!!!


Lets look at the pictures. Do you recognize any of them?

Driving license 102 and Eastern Province gathering

DRIVING LICENSE 102
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you're heading to a place that is alien (never been before) to you, kindly follow these steps:

1. Look for the place in a map. If possible, get a detail one so that you won't miss any important landmark.
   
   
2. Ask someone who has been to the place before. Let him/her describe to you the feature of the location that you're looking for. This would help especially if there's no building name featured.
   
   
3. Make sure you carry the map with you.
   
   
4. Be careful by looking at every road sign. By missing 1 road sign, there would be a chance for you to end up in nowhere. You may also have to make a long turn back to come back to the place. This will not be good to others especially if you lead a convoy of many cars.
   
   
5. Driving in peace. Do not rush and never get too excited because overdose of excitement may lead you to miss any important landmark.
   
   
6. Have a telephone number of the correct person handy. You may need to ask a person who is familiar with the place once in a while while you're driving. You may look like a standard 1 child by keep asking whether you're at the right path. But, you will look like the dumbest person in the world if you take 5 hours of time for a 1/2 hour journey!
   
   
7. You may take into consideration your wife/husband/co pilot thoughts/suggestions. That is the used of having 2 brains instead of 1.
   
   
8. If you lead a convoy, it doesn't mean you should know everything. If you think you're lost, stop. Discuss with the rest. They may have a different idea or understanding. You're not a superperfect anyway :).
   
   
9. A GPS navigator is helpful provided the place that you're looking for has a name. If it doesn't (like many buildings in the Saudi), it won't be that helpful.
   
   
   

***********************************************
***********************************************

Malaysian in Saudi Arabia Eastern Province Gathering
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Malaysian Embassy in Saudi Arabia has organized a gathering with Malaysian in Eastern Province, yesterday evening. The ceremony is meant to have Iftar together and to observe our 51st Independence Day. I guess, about 100 guests came, inclusive the kids (which is not many). Perhaps people were comfortable to have Iftar at their own houses.


All of us came from different places - Al Jubail, Al Khobar, Rastanurah and Ad Dhahran. I hope I didn't miss any other place. There were nurses from Saad Hospital too. I met with Elisataufik, one of the bloggers. Gee, who was a junior of mine in PPP who is also a blogger, was there too. Not everyone from Al Jubail was around because a few of them had to work.


Lots of food was served. We didn't finish them all. So, the caterer packed the food for those who wanted to bring them back. I know the 'Jubail bujangs' (wife is not here) did bring the food back ;).


Let's look at the pictures :).

Seafood Gala

The family of 'S' invited all of us (Malaysian in Al Jubail) to their residence yesterday afternoon for lunch. Wow!! another day of eating out. Alhamdulillah. After the Jumaat prayer (at 1.00pm), we moved on to their house and reached the place at about half an hour after that.


Kak M (the wife) had cooked all the main dish by herself. She didn't prepare any dessert though. I guess she kinda expecting that everyone else would bring the desserts (since that was what being practised so far. The guess usually brought desserts - it's NOT a MUST though!). It turned out that, many of us brought desserts, namely Caramel Pudding, Caramel Pudding with cake, Marble Jelly, Sweet Corn porridge (bubur jagung) and cheesecake. A lot huh! As we can expect, we didn't finish all of them. So much leftover and some got to be packed back by a few of us ;).


As for the main dish, there was no red and white meat (no beef nor chicken and not even camel heheee..). We ate seafood and to name - Ketam Masak Lemak Cili Api, Sambal Udang with petai, Sotong goreng kunyit and Ikan Kembung Goreng. Yummy!! We also had ulam-ulaman like Kacang Botol, Cucumber and another kind of leafy item which I couldn't recall the name. We had sambal belacan too :).


Overall, we enjoyed the meal. The kids and a few of adults were having ice cream later. Now I realized that Kak M did prepare dessert - the ice-cream! I was so full that I didn't take the ice-cream at all.


By 4.30pm, all of us left the S residence. Thank you to the S family for inviting us for the lunch. We really had a great time eating and mingling around with our Malaysian community. I also hope we'll be able to eat meet again in a near future :).


By the way, this is the cheesecake that I made. I am glad that after 4 times of trying to make the cheesecake using 4 different recipes, this one turn to be the best! Kak Ummi, I used the recipe that you have recommended. However, I had to alter a bit since I can't find the brand that the recipe suggested. Also, the amount of cheese is slightly different. Anyway, I'll put the recipe that I've used in my recipe blog soon ;). How soon? It will very much depend on my 'kerajinan' hehehee...

Sepakat membawa berkat

Hehehe.. saja je gempak dengan tajuk tu. Sebenarnya semalam ada jamuan di teratak kami. Memang semalam birthday Sophea. Kalau ikutkan hati, bukanlah nak celebrate sangat sebab badan tak berapa larat. Ingatkan beli cake saja cukuplah dan kami ambil gambar kenangan aje satu family. Tapi Sophea kata,

"tak aci lah Ummi. Dulu masa Coan, panggil kawan2... Kakak pun nak jugak.."

Oooo.. nak panggil kawan2 rupanya. Dia seronok bila kawan-kawan datang. Dia seronok bila bagi jajan (goody bags) pada kawan-kawan. Budak-budak kan. Bila tengok orang buat, dia pun nak juga. Bila Neeza fikir balik, lately ramai orang baru di sini. Ada diantaranya yang belum lagi kami jemput makan dirumah. Molek juga kalau datang dan berkenal-kenal dengan yang lain-lain. Sambil borak, sambil makan. Lebih menarik daripada borak kosong dan perut kosong. Jadi, terlaksanalah beberapa agenda dalam 1 majlis.


Tapi... hehee.. ops! ada tapi pulak? Tadi kata tak larat kan. Neeza tak larat nak masak banyak-banyak. Apa nak buat ya? Kita lihat siapa yang kena? Jeng jeng jeng... Ada 2 orang sahabat kami di sini yang rajin dan sedap kalau memasak. Siapa lagi kalau bukan As dan Leeza. Neeza plan untuk masak 1 @ 2 benda dan selebihnya cater (order) dari mereka. Kiranya, Neeza bayarlah untuk harga masakan mereka tu.


Setelah berbincang, mereka tak nak pulak macam tu. Mereka nak sumbangkan saja makanan tu untuk jamuan. Neeza rasa tak sedap hati sebab apa yang nak dimasak, especially oleh As tu, banyak. Tak sampai hati pulak kan. Kalau buat makan di rumah As, lain lah cerita. As kata, kira dia kenduri aje lah. Maksudnya As sumbang kenduri (orang utara faham lah kot) dirumah Neeza. Leeza pun gitu. Dia sumbang makanan saja. Tak perlu bayaran. Alhamdulillah. Terima kasih As dan Leeza. Semoga As dan Leeza dimurahkan rezeki oleh Allah. Lain kali Kak Neeza pulak sumbang kenduri ya. Tunggu Kak Neeza sihat sikit hehehe ;).


Jom kita layan gambar-gambar sepanjang majlis. Malangnya tuan rumah lupa nak ambil gambar tetamu lain (dewasa) yang datang sebab sibuk dengan entah apa apa aje. Sibuk makan lah tu agaknya hehehe...

Anak dara En Shahril potong kek yang cantik tapi tak sedap :P serta gambar-gambar dengan kanak-kanak riang

Lagi gambar kanak-kanak riang dalam bilik dua anak dara En Shahril

Anak teruna En Shahril sibuk main senduk hehe..

Jangan tergoda tengok ya. Memang sedap apa yang As masak ni. Karipap dan Seri Mukanya terkenal seluruh Jubail ni..

Sorry sebab tunjuk ni tapi Leeza memang pakar buat meehoon Siam dan puding kastard ni

Yang ni tak payah tengok pun takpe sebab ala kadar saja...

That's what friends are for...

I've got 2 entries in the same post today. Its about friends. Having friends in life is a wonderful thing. Good friends would make you happy and appreciated but not so good (bad? mean? take advantage?) friends would give you a lesson to learn. Life is a process of learning, I suppose...


A few days ago, I've got a friend who's life was in a bit misery (only a little and I think he's much much better now) due to something. Though I never met him personally, I could sense his uneasiness about 'the issue'. Hehehee.. some of you must be very eager to know who's the guy and what's the issue. I'm not gonna elaborate more though (care to read more, you may visit his blog)


All I wanna say here is, I am so honored with the award that he presented to all his concerned friends. What would you say if you receive the above award?

Touched?
Appreciated?
Thankful?
Never thought of it?
Delightful?

Perhaps, all of the above and plus some more. Thank you 13may for the award. I never thought simple words from your readers are meant so much to you. May Allah bless you. Do continue with your writing coz' they're the reasons why many of us always made it a point to go to your blog and can't wait for the updates. Forget those insults coz' they don't make you any stronger. Remember those who appreciate coz' they're the one who will make your life cheerful..


Again, thanks so much 13may!

***************************************************

I've talked about good friends will me happy. I should say, Alhamdulillah... Though we have a small community in Al Jubail, each of us is concerned about each other. In fact, they are really thoughtful. Whenever someone throw a party, each of us will be invited (of course I refer to a party and get together - it doesnt mean, whenever they cook, they have to invite all of us hehehe.. pengsanlah tuan rumah cam tu)


2 days ago, we have a get together at Leeza's house. There's not special occasion. She decided to invite everyone for dinner buffet since we've got new members in town (a family of MN).


The host (Leeza) had prepared Plain white rice with so bunch of food. As also brought some desserts. Kak M brought something too. Oh dear.. the table was occupied with food! I think picture below would describe the evening better ;)














Wahhh!!!! That makes me hungry again... hehee..


I've got to taste the Sup Merah (originally from S'pore but was cooked by a Johorian). Too bad, I can't show you the scrumptious Kuih Seri Muka by Chef As. I only remembered to take picture when the dinner almost over. I guess I was so excited to eat the food until I forgot to take pictures.. hehehh..

Rezeki di hujung minggu

Amboi! Dah 4 hari Neeza tak update blog. Entahlah, makin hari rasa makin malas nak update blog. Idea banyak, cerita macam-macam tapi mood takde. Mood untuk menulis. Tapi, hati Neeza memang bosan bila tengok blog tak update. Kalau tak buka blog ni, takpe pulak sebab tak nampak. Ini, bila buka aje dan tengok topic lama, menyampah aje rasa hehee...


Semalam, seharian Neeza tak masuk internet. Line internet okay aje. Neeza yang tak okay sebab dari pagi sampai malam, ada saja aktiviti. Bukan dari semalam tapi dari hari Rabu lagi.


Pada hari Rabu tengahari, handphone berdering. Masa tu, Neeza tengah bersantap di dapur. Masa handphone berdering, Neeza tak tengok pun caller tu sebab time2 macam tu (about 1.00 pm), biasanya bas sekolah Sophea akan buat 'missed call'. Missed call tu bertujuan bagi tahu Neeza (dan semua ibubapa yang terlibat) yang Sophea (atau anak-anak mereka) akan tiba di rumah. Jadi, boleh lah turun ambil Sophea. Macam tu lah biasanya.


Jadi, Neeza pun buat tak tahu aje lah bila hp berdering. Tapi, dalam hati berkata juga, "eh! lama pulak bunyi ni. tak macam missed call ni..". Neeza teruskan makan sampai habis. Lepas tu, tergerak hati untuk tengok handphone. Manalah tahu lady conductor tu sebenarnya nak call untuk bagi tahu Sophea balik lambat dan bukannya buat missed call. Bila tengok balik, laaaa... rupanya bukan lady conductor tapi As yang call. Neeza pun call As balik, cerita lah dari A sampai Z heheee.. As kata, patut lah dia call rumah, tak angkat. Call hp pun tak angkat. Kalau Neeza di dapur, memang tak dengar bunyi house phone sebab letak dalam bilik. Memang tak dengar especially kalau pintu dapur tutup.


Dipendekkan cerita, As jemput makan di rumahnya malam tu. Memang Neeza dah masak untuk hari tu. Tapi, rezeki jangan di tolak kan. Kami sekeluarga dinner Nasi Tomato di rumah As malam tu. Sedap As masak. Ada agar-agar dan apam gulan hangus lagi. Memang kenyang teramat. Siap As bagi bawak balik lagi. Terima kasih daun keladi As. Kalau sudi, jemputlah kami lagi hehee..


Semalam ada jemputan makan lagi dan kali ni rumah Kak M pulak. Kak M jemput untuk breakfast dan lunch tapi mula pada pukul 10.00 pagi. Jadi, breakfast bertukar menjadi brunch la. Kami makan meehoon Sing@pore yang dimasak Lieza. Memang yummy!! Ada jiran Kak M, Indones1an yang dah 15 tahun duduk di sini (sebab kawin dengan S@udi) bagi Samosa. Banyak betul dia buat. Dari luar, nampak sebijik macam karipap. Mdna pula bawa home made pizza dan kuih bakar. Brunch tu dah jadi macam lunch sebab perut kami memang penuh especially myself lah yang bertambah sampai 3 kali hahahaha!!!.


Lunch tetap ada. Lepas zohor, lunch dihidang. Masyaallah! Macam-macam makanan ada. Dari masakan melayu hinggalah masakan tak melayu hehee... Rendang Ayam Padang, Kari Ikan Bawal, Daging Goreng, Sayur Campur, Solok Lada, Ulam Raja Arab, Bendi kecik masak style Arab (tak ingat dah nama masakan tu), Spagetti dan macam-macam lagi. Tengok lauk aje rasa dah kenyang. Bila dah makan, tentulah nak rasa semua kan. Neeza makan dengan tak tengok orang hehee.. Alhamdullillah, kenyang sungguh.


Lepas tu, Kak M serve dessert pulak. Pada sebelah petangnya, makan Cendol Homemade dan Bubur Kacang. Kak M Buat sendiri Cendol tu. Tak cukup. Kesian budak-budak yang tak dapat makan Cendol. Hopefully, Kak M buat lagi Cendol tu untuk mak budak-budak nak makan hehehh...


Seharian di rumah Kak M, mata pun seakan-akan membuat lambaian bantal.. hehee.. Sudah agak lewat juga, kami buat keputusan untuk balik. Kalau tak sebab dah nak masuk Maghrib, mungkin tak balik lagi la kot.. ish ish.. tak malu betul... hehee.. Balik tu, Kak M bekalkan Kari Ikan lagi. Dia bagi Rojak M@k Bee juga.. Boleh lah beli mangga buat Rojak.. sedapnya!!!


Itulah kisah makan-makan kami di sini. Takde apa sangat pun tapi saja nak menulis sebab takde mood nak tulis tentang benda lain. Gambar makan-makan, takde langsung sebab lupa bawa camera. Entahlah, sejak 2 menjak, semuanya malas. Tak tahu lah kenapa... Dah tertelan Vitamin M lah ni... Sape lah yang bagi agaknya Vitamin M ni kat Neeza... hahahaa!!!

Nasi Dagang in S@udi??

Yuhuuu!!! I ate Nasi Dagang!. Though it was not really my favorite food (I like Nasi Kerabu better), I missed Nasi Dagang especially after being out of country for already 6 months. Nasi Dagang is best served with Gulai Ikan Tongkol/Kayu/Aye (hehee.. since the pronunciation is Aye and not Aya..).


The cutie Rian's ibu, Lieza had organized a dinner at her house on last Wednesday. Most of us in Al Jubail were invited. She cooked Nasi Dagang with Gulai Ikan Tongkol. Though she claimed the nasi was not quite 'jadi', I personally think it was almost perfect, considering ourselves were in S@udi Ar@bia and not M@laysia.


Besides Nasi Dagang, Lieza also prepared Fried Meehoon for the kids, though most of it was actually eaten by mommy and daddy of the kids hehehhh..


What else that we had on that evening. Aha!! We had Chicken curry (almost like Rendang - yummy!!) brought by Kak Sharimah. By the way, Kak Sharimah also made Kuih Lapis (I didn't get to eat - I think I forgot to eat). We also had Kuih Seri Muka, prepared by Kak Nor. A new friend of ours (she was in S@udi for quite sometime actually but I just met her), Ayin brought Creme Caramel. The kids loved As' crunchy potato fries. I love her butter cake (lembut - unlike my bantat sponge cake). Kak Mala brought Kek Lapis Zul@ikha (made in Med@n) and Kerepek Ubi Pedas (m@laysian made - sedappp..). Myself? As I mentioned earlier, I brought the Bantat Sponge Cake (ada ke cake tu? - ada... bila bantat, macam tu lah nama dia hahahha!!)


I think the women kids really had fun that evening. I think I did mention in a few previous entry that it's not easy for women get to meet with each other. We really enjoyed our time. Though the husbands already gave us hints to leave, we pretend we're still busy (busy berborak hehehe..). The kids, sorry to say that they had fun making Liza's room like a kindergarten (sorry ye Liza - hopefully jangan lah serik buat makan lagi hehehe..)


Unfortunately, I forgot to snap any single picture. I brought my camera but I guess I was too busy munching and munching again. Shahmey behaved very well (macam tau tau aje Ummi nak makan banyak hehehe). He just sit on a couch quietly playing with toys and ate As' potato fries. Of course, many others had become his entertainer. He likes be surrounded by people as long as his tummy is full :)


Thank you Liza for the hospitality. We went back with bloated stomach that evening. I wonder who's gonna be the host for our next get together. Hmmmmm.. (hehehee..)

how can the ladies meet?

People rarely ask this question in M@laysia. Women can go anywhere at almost anytime (with proper supervision of course). I can just get my car key, start the engine, be on the wheel to anywhere I like. In S@udi, there are many restrictions. I'm not that free anymore. I can't drive since no driver's license is given to a woman in S@udi. I can't go out alone because the rules say so.

Sometimes, I feel like talking to my friends - meaning having a face to face conversation instead of chatting (typing actually) via internet. Perhaps some women are created that way. We have to talk (that may explain why women blab a lot). I'm not the kind who like to spend time only chit chatting (like Che' Mon and Che' Temah - my own created figure) though. I think all bloggers are like that (otherwise, we wouldn't be blogging :)). But, having a gathering once in a while is good and quite releasing too. However, since there are constraints, we cannot go out by ourselves that easy.


How do the ladies (like me) get to meet then? We have to drag our husbands with us! Of course, the man can just drive his wife to the place and go back. But, if it involves so many women, naturally many men have to leave their wives there, right. So, its better for them to have their own gathering there too.


That was why I was pretty busy these few days. I had a potluck party on Thursday and dinner at Kak Sharimah's house on Friday. Heheee.. (to my adik-adik who wonder where 'Kak Neeza had been missing', now you get the answer :P).





The details of our potluck party:

Venue : Ne$ma Compound (Tan's residential area)
Date : 27 March 2008 (Thursday)
Time : 6.30pm - 10.30pm
Menu :

Roy's (prepared by As) - 2kg Beef and 2kg Chicken Satay

Joe's (prepared by Lieza) - Sambal kacang, potato salad c0ncorde hotel style, marinated chicken wings and black pepper sausages

Shariz's (prepared by Madina) - Tuna and Egg Sandwiches, marinated chicken wings

Tan's ('prepared' by Amy at kayefc) - 2 big bucket fried chicken, fries, coleslaw and buns

Shahril's (prepared by Neeza) - spagetti bolognaise with mushroom and creme caramel

Pok Li (wife's not here) - purchased many kind of juices


Wow! Different kind of posting this time huh! Thanks Fadzila for teaching me to use pic@sa :) (I'm a computer moron... huhuuuuu..)




Needless to say, the ladies had been busy cooking since early morning (Lieza started much earlier since kuah kacang need sometime to well blend). Upon arriving at the place, all we did was BBQing, munching, talking and running around the pool to catch the kids (hahahaha!! we don't want anybody to get wet..)


From the picture, I could say that women enjoyed the party the most (except for having to run around the pool part heheheee..). If its not due to some of the guys had to work on the next day, probably we could have been sitting there longer (pantang jumpa... ;))

Wow!!! Pretty tulips huh.. These are a courtesy from Kak Sharimah. She just came back from Sw3den that noon. She brought us those tulips. We divided the tulips to 5 - As, Lieza, Madina, Amy and myself! Since the tulips won't last long, I took some pictures of them, hoping they will live longer in my eyes :)


On the next day, which is also yesterday, Kak Sharimah invited us to her house. She prepared cinnamon rolls, sw3dish honey biscuits and waffles. She taught us to eat them in sw3dish way! I only took pictures of her purple tulips (tulipurple, cantik tak? hehehee..) and cinnamon rolls :)

That's all folks! I need to cook for lunch early since the girls are home (it's spring break now).

Eveything is a first time for Coan's Ummi :)

I can't remember the last time I cooked for my kids birthday party. I think, it was about 7 years ago, when Sophea celebrated her 1st birthday. Thanks to Ma who was the main cook for the party. Otherwise, I don't think it'll be materialized at all.

The 2 cakes - a gift from Auntie As and Uncle Roy


The busy Birthday Girl

I'm not a good cook, worse be, not even a cook!. Ma knows me very well. Between me and Bada (my younger sister - her name is Shima but we call her Bada hehee..), I think Bada is more rajin than I am. Whenever I went back to Kemaman, I always asked Ma to cook with a very sly reason - I miss Mom's cooking! Hahahaha!! And my mom would say something like,

"Ye la tu. Awak tu memang malas.."

Hehehee... When I told Ma that I cooked almost everyday in Saudi, she couldn't believe me. In Malaysia, whenever Ma called me, it was either we (the family) were outside having dinner or we ordered pizza. It showed that I rarely cooked in Malaysia. Of course, Abang I cooked sometimes, when we really tired of outside food.


I called Ma a few days back, asking a few recipes and telling her that I'm gonna hold a birthday party for Coan. Actually the birthday party is just another excuse. After being for about 4 1/2 months in Saudi, I never invited all Malaysian friends who live in Al Jubail (Elisa, Nana and Kak Rozie..., Khobar and Riyadh friends are welcome too. Just give me a call but please prepare for my uncertain food quality hehehee..). We did have a family or two coming to my house before but not all Malaysian in Jubail which I think we have about 30 - 40 individuals (that is inclusive of families).

Seronoknya borak.. tak yah jaga Shahmey ke Abah?

Ma was worried I would not have time to cook since I told her I wanted to have Nasi Kerabu, Sate and Meehoon Soto for the party. She said, it is tedious to make Nasi Kerabu since we need to prepare the Sambal Penumis, Sambal Kelapa, Ulaman, Solok Lada and Daging Goreng Kelantan style (a replacement for Daging Bakar). Anyway, Nasi Kerabu has always been my favorite dish since I was small. Abang was the one who suggested it and I thought, why not?

Be careful my dear Kakak...

I've been preparing for the party since 2 days earlier. The party was held last night (16 March 2008). I started preparing since 15 March morning... cutting, frying and marinating the ingredients that I would be using to cook all the 3 dishes!

I finally managed (Alhmadulillah...) (though the rice turned to be lembekkk) to get everything done by 6pm last night. The only thing was, the food was not on the table yet when a few guest have arrived. Blame it on Abang who told them to come after Maghrib instead of after Isya' hehehe...

Roy (Mr Zachary) is making sure the food is enough heheee...

All in all, I was glad everything went smooth though I was having a panic attack at first that was due to not having many assistants to help (when I held a party in Malaysia, many students came to help - I could sit comfortably talking to the guest instead of thinking what need to put next on the table). Fortunately, all my guest were very helpful. They helped me arranging the dishes on the table.

Coan the birthday girl with Ummi's helpful friends (As and Liza)

When all guest went back, Abang and I had our 'post-mortem' about the party. Everyone enjoyed the party (especially the kids, including mine, who went messing up my daughters' room - well, kids are kids. My 2 girls are like that too and even worse sometimes :)). Both of us love having guest at home. The 'guest spirit' really cheered up our home. Alhamdulillah...

The women conquer hehehhh...

A special note:

1. That was my first time making sate, marinating them using my own ingredients mix that I blended by myself and grilled them using the grill that I bought using my own money (wow! everything is I and I again huh! heheee..). By the way, thanks to Mr and Mrs Zachary (Roy and As) who helped me to cucuk sate a night before. Also, thanks to Abang who also assisted in cucuk sate and grilling them. (Ops! a few other people also involved rupanya. hehehee..)
   
   
   
2. Thank you again to Mr and Mrs Zachary for sponsoring the really expensive mouth watering Chocolate and Tiramisu Cheesecake for Coan's party. They also helped me in preparing the ingredients a night before the party. Only Allah could compensate you guys for that...
   
   
3. Thank you to Liza who brought the delicious pudding, Kak Nor who brought an appetizing Pulut Serunding and Madina who brought her home made pizza.
   
   
4. Abang and I were so pleased with the party, though I didn't eat even a stick of sate (tak selera makan food masak sendiri) and Abang didn't get to taste the meehoon soto (sebab dah habis).
   
   
5. While I was typing this, a kind and friendly blogger, Manje had given Coan a surprise gift. I put the gift in Coan's blog. Thank you Manje... Cantik gift tu.. akak memang tak reti buat *malu*