It took us nearly one and a half hours to reach SD from SS* just now.
I left the office at 5:50p.m, and reached the kids' school about 6:05p.m - inching away until I reached the Balai Menunggu at 6:15p.m. Once Hasya and Hilman got into the car, we started our journey home. In the pouring rain. Through the jam. So, banyaklah topik-topik menarik which surfaced in the car. We only reached home at 7:30p.m.
Topic 1 (Started when we saw the new James Bond Movie Billboard near Eastin)
Hilman : Why is the James Bond character different, Mommy? (translated - why is it that it's a different person playing James Bond every time?)
Me : They're just actors Hilman, playing the same character - James Bond.
Hilman : Why do they have to change the actors?
Me : Well... the previous actors are all quite old already, Hilman. They cannot be running and jumping over buildings, and what nots. Not realistic la nanti.
Hasya : How old are they, Mommy?
Me : A few nearly 70, maybe over. A few over 50.
Hilman : What about the James Bond in Quantum of Solace, Mommy?
Me : Hmmmm, I'm not sure - he's 30 something, I guess?
Hasya : Which is your favourite James Bond, Mommy?
Me : The current one - Daniel Craig.
Hasya : Why?
Me : Hmmmm, I think he's the best Bond so far. His portrayal of Bond has been the most realistic so far. I think.
Hasya : Do you think he's good looking?
Me : Well, he's not THAT good looking. But, I think he's really attractive. He's got piercing blue eyes.
Hasya : They look like snakes eyes la, Mommy!
Me : No lah...He's got VERY nice eyes.
Hasya : Eeeeeewwww... Mommy?!
Me : What?! And he's very muscular, too!
Hasya : I don't like muscular men...
Me : ?????!!!!
********
Topic 2 (Still on Hollywood Stars)
Hasya : Mommy, who's your favourite actor?
Me : I have a few.
Hasya : Who, Mommy?
Me : Well, I like Tom Hanks.
Hasya : Because you like Forrest Gump, right?
Me : That, and he's a VERY good actor. I also like Bill Murray.
Hasya : Bill Who?
(And I started naming a few movies which Bill Murray starred in. All met with blank looks)
Hasya : He must be VERY old.
Me : ????!!!! No! He's not THAT old! Have you seen "Groundhog Day"?
Hasya : No.
Me : Oh, never mind. Oh yes, I also like Steve Martin.
Hasya : Oh ya... He was in Cheaper by the Dozen, right?
Me : Yes - and he's also in The Pink Panther Movie. Remember?
Hasya and Hilman : Oh yaaaa!!! He was the one who was trying to speak proper English right? The part where he wanted to say, "I would like to have a hamburger", tu kan, Mommy?
And both of them gave the cutest French accent macam Inspector Clousseau tu. Hehehe...chomei!
Me : Yes, that's the one!
Hasya : Oh, I like him, too. And I also like Nicholas Cage.
Me : ???!!!! Errr, how did you know Nicholas Cage, Hasya?
Hasya : I saw The National Treasure. 1 AND 2 - BOTH of them.
Me : When was this? Even Mommy have not seen them, tau?
Hasya : Dah lama dah... He's cool...
Me : ???!!!
********
Topic 3 (Still on Hollywood Stars)
Hasya : Mommy, do you think Angelina Jolie is nice?
Me : Yes, I guess so. I think she has a good heart - adopting and taking care of all those poor children from all around the world, etc.
Hasya : Yeah, I think she's nice, too. Too bad she's going to H**l...
Me : ????!!!!!
********
Topic 4 (STILL on Movie Stars)
Hasya : Mommy, do you like Daniel Radcliffe?
Me : No, not really. I don't think he can act. I like Rupert Grint, though.
Hasya : Yeah, me, too. I don't like him. And I read somewhere that he acted in a play - naked! I'm never going to see it!
Me : Me neither. And you are MOST definitely NOT going to THAT play, okay?!
Hasya : I know. I just told you what?! Anyway, I also like Emma Watson - Hermione.
At this point, Hilman butted in -
Hilman : I like Cedric Diggory, Mommy!
Hasya : HILMAN!!! He's a guy la!
Hilman : I know. But, I like him in Harry Potter la, Kak Ngah.
Me : ????!!!! (Hmmmmm, THAT'S IT - He's definitely NOT going to Ayah's alma mater!)
HAHAHAHA!
********
TOPIC 5 (STILL on STARS. What else? But this time - singers)
Hasya : Mommy, do you like Rihanna?
Me : Nope.
Hasya : Me neither. She's so lembik like that... (and Hasya started imitating the way Rihanna sings, etc.)
Me : Yup. Lembik!
Hasya : Who else do you like?
And she started listing down the names of all singers which came to her mind. All of which got a straight "NOPE" from me as replies.
Me : But, I kinda like Avril Lavigne and Pink, though. And Fergie and Black Eyed Peas.
Hasya : Simple Plan?
Me : They're okay. And I like Bon Jovi.
Hasya : Who?!
Me : Bon Jovi. They, oh well...never mind.
Hasya : Are they old?
Me : ???!!!!!
SABO AJER LAAAAAHHH....
* Anyway, to those who are new to this Blog, Hasya's 9 years old, and Hilman's 8 years old, by the way :)
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Ooops! She did it again...
Syukur alhamdulillah. Ayah, Hasya and Hilman have completed their Puasa Enam today, and myself - I've also completed my Puasa Qadha'. So, that leaves Hanna as the only one who has not completed her 6th day.
Hanna was supposed to fast with us today so that we could all "celebrate raya" together, but, she and her friends had plans to go to the movies, and then lunch in between today. The Form One pupils of her school were given three days off because of the PMR exams, and the girls had been planning for this outing since last week.
The plan was -
(i) I would send Hanna, Hasya and Hilman to their Wan's house in the morning, before going to the office.
(ii) Na*ia Ra*li would fetch Hanna (with her Mom's driver) from Mak's house and they would go to The Cu*ve and Ci*el*isure together.
(iii) There, Ni*a's Mom would be waiting for them - and she would be their chaperone for the day.
(iv) They would watch one movie at 11:00a.m.
(v) Have lunch
(vi) Then - another movie at 2:45p.m.
(vii) Hanna was then supposed to go back to El*nna's house with El*nna's Mom, and they would go to their Tuition Class together.
(viii) Ayah and I would fetch Hanna from Tuition and bring her home with us to SD.
Everything from (i) until (vi) was okay, and Hanna was sending text messages to me throughout the day updating me on her activities with her friends, and every now and then she would call me, or I would call her just to make sure that Ni*a's Mom was there with them.
I was suppposed to call El*nna's Mom yesterday to confirm (vii) above, and ask if she was okay with the afternoon's arrangement, but, I was so bogged down with work and stuff, I totally forgot about it! And I only managed to call El*nna's Mom at around 4:15p.m to ask if she was okay with the arrangement, and if not, I would fetch the girls myself.
Imagine how surprised I was when SHE was surprised to know that SHE was supposed to fetch the TWO girls from The Cu*ve. Apparently, El*nna had NOT asked her whether Hanna could follow her home, and SHE did not even know that she was supposed to be at The Cu*ve at 5p.m to bring them home! But, she did say that El*nna would call her when they were done so that she could fetch her from The Cu*ve.
Even though she was okay with Hanna going over to their place, and sending Hanna to Tuition with El*nna and all, I felt like an idiot. I guess, it was also my fault. I should have called and confirmed everything yesterday...but, as I said, I was just too bogged down with stuff, and only managed to call her today.
Right after speaking to Da*in Fu*iah, I immediately called Hanna, and she got a mighty SEMBUR from her Mommy, right, left and centre. But, Hanna herself was surprised because according to her, she had asked El*nna whether her Mom was okay about the whole thing, and El*nna told her that she had asked her Mom and her Mom had given the greenlight!
Hmmmmm, I really don't know.
This brings me back to a similar incident last year.
But, this time around I know that Hanna had genuinely thought El*nna had sought her Mom's permission, etc. I could sense her exasperation towards El*nna while I was semburing her just now. In a way, I should have called El*nna's Mom yesterday just to be sure. My fault, my mistake.
By then, it was too late to come up with an alternative plan as at the last minute, Mak's driver SMSd me saying that he could not fetch Hasya and Hilman from school. Meaning I would have to fetch Hasya and Hilman at 5:50p.m. Obviously I could not go and fetch the girls from The Cu*ve at the same time, could I? And I was just about to ask my SIL to fetch them when Hanna SMSd me saying that El*nna's mom would drive them back.
Anyway, at 6:05p.m, while driving back from SS* to Mak's house, I got an SMS from Hanna telling me that she and El*nna were on their way back to El*nna's house with Ka*'s Dad! Lagi lah I bengang...coz' I had not called Ka*'s parents pun to ask if they were okay to bring Hanna to El*nna's! Macam I ni tak ada adab lah pulak. Even though, I know both of Ka*'s parents quite well, tak sedap la when benda-benda macam ni happens.
It is just so not me - not calling the relevant parents in advance. But, I guess after what happened last year, I was so sure that Hanna would make doubly sure that all the arrangement for today's outing would be air-tight. My fault.
Right at the moment of writing this, Hanna is still at the Tuition Centre.
And Ayah and I have decided to tell her in the car nanti that she's not allowed to go for any outings lagi - INDEFINITELY. Until further notice.
Hmmmmm.... macam deja vu pulak...
Hanna was supposed to fast with us today so that we could all "celebrate raya" together, but, she and her friends had plans to go to the movies, and then lunch in between today. The Form One pupils of her school were given three days off because of the PMR exams, and the girls had been planning for this outing since last week.
The plan was -
(i) I would send Hanna, Hasya and Hilman to their Wan's house in the morning, before going to the office.
(ii) Na*ia Ra*li would fetch Hanna (with her Mom's driver) from Mak's house and they would go to The Cu*ve and Ci*el*isure together.
(iii) There, Ni*a's Mom would be waiting for them - and she would be their chaperone for the day.
(iv) They would watch one movie at 11:00a.m.
(v) Have lunch
(vi) Then - another movie at 2:45p.m.
(vii) Hanna was then supposed to go back to El*nna's house with El*nna's Mom, and they would go to their Tuition Class together.
(viii) Ayah and I would fetch Hanna from Tuition and bring her home with us to SD.
Everything from (i) until (vi) was okay, and Hanna was sending text messages to me throughout the day updating me on her activities with her friends, and every now and then she would call me, or I would call her just to make sure that Ni*a's Mom was there with them.
I was suppposed to call El*nna's Mom yesterday to confirm (vii) above, and ask if she was okay with the afternoon's arrangement, but, I was so bogged down with work and stuff, I totally forgot about it! And I only managed to call El*nna's Mom at around 4:15p.m to ask if she was okay with the arrangement, and if not, I would fetch the girls myself.
Imagine how surprised I was when SHE was surprised to know that SHE was supposed to fetch the TWO girls from The Cu*ve. Apparently, El*nna had NOT asked her whether Hanna could follow her home, and SHE did not even know that she was supposed to be at The Cu*ve at 5p.m to bring them home! But, she did say that El*nna would call her when they were done so that she could fetch her from The Cu*ve.
Even though she was okay with Hanna going over to their place, and sending Hanna to Tuition with El*nna and all, I felt like an idiot. I guess, it was also my fault. I should have called and confirmed everything yesterday...but, as I said, I was just too bogged down with stuff, and only managed to call her today.
Right after speaking to Da*in Fu*iah, I immediately called Hanna, and she got a mighty SEMBUR from her Mommy, right, left and centre. But, Hanna herself was surprised because according to her, she had asked El*nna whether her Mom was okay about the whole thing, and El*nna told her that she had asked her Mom and her Mom had given the greenlight!
Hmmmmm, I really don't know.
This brings me back to a similar incident last year.
But, this time around I know that Hanna had genuinely thought El*nna had sought her Mom's permission, etc. I could sense her exasperation towards El*nna while I was semburing her just now. In a way, I should have called El*nna's Mom yesterday just to be sure. My fault, my mistake.
By then, it was too late to come up with an alternative plan as at the last minute, Mak's driver SMSd me saying that he could not fetch Hasya and Hilman from school. Meaning I would have to fetch Hasya and Hilman at 5:50p.m. Obviously I could not go and fetch the girls from The Cu*ve at the same time, could I? And I was just about to ask my SIL to fetch them when Hanna SMSd me saying that El*nna's mom would drive them back.
Anyway, at 6:05p.m, while driving back from SS* to Mak's house, I got an SMS from Hanna telling me that she and El*nna were on their way back to El*nna's house with Ka*'s Dad! Lagi lah I bengang...coz' I had not called Ka*'s parents pun to ask if they were okay to bring Hanna to El*nna's! Macam I ni tak ada adab lah pulak. Even though, I know both of Ka*'s parents quite well, tak sedap la when benda-benda macam ni happens.
It is just so not me - not calling the relevant parents in advance. But, I guess after what happened last year, I was so sure that Hanna would make doubly sure that all the arrangement for today's outing would be air-tight. My fault.
Right at the moment of writing this, Hanna is still at the Tuition Centre.
And Ayah and I have decided to tell her in the car nanti that she's not allowed to go for any outings lagi - INDEFINITELY. Until further notice.
Hmmmmm.... macam deja vu pulak...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Of smelly pasar and green packets...
We left the house just before 11:00a.m yesterday to send Hasya and Hilman to their Chess class at TT*I. While waiting for them to finish their class at 12:30p.m, I brought Hanna and Dar to the market to get some groceries. It was supposed to be ONLY chicken, but we ended up buying vegetables, some dry stuff, some seafood, kuey teow etc., much to the annoyance of Hanna. Hehehe... She kept on going on and on and on about it.
She said she could not stand the smell of the Pasar, and I told her, as a girl she needs to get used to all those smell because more often than not, it'll be us women folks who would have to do THAT chore, because most men are just like her Ayah - either they'd be too busy to go to the market OR even if they're not busy, they would not know what to get - what fish, what sayur, etc. (Hehehe...no offence meant, dear ;)) I should have told her that if she thought Pasar TT*I smelled bad, she should go to the other markets...
Anyway, the whole time we were at the Pasar, she would ask me -
Hanna : What ELSE are we getting after this, Mommy? Can I just stay in the car, Mommy? Do I HAVE to follow you to get the fish? Can I just sit here at the bench?, etc.
Naik tension lah jugak I...But, then again, I told myself (sometimes I have to REMIND myself!) - "It's okay, she's only 12 years old. What do I expect?!"
We fetched the kids at 12:30a.m, and went to Mak's house to send all the groceries there. Ayah only reached Mak's house from the hospital about 2p.m, and we started our Open House marathon by going to Mak An*ak/Ro*ie's Open House in Section 14. We left just before the sky opened up at 3:15p.m, and made our way to Al*ng's house (Ayah's big brother) in Ar* D'sara in the REALLY heavy rain (and I mean REALLY HEAVY. Sampai langsung tak nampak jalan!). We only left Al*ng's house at 5:40p.m and made our way to Ayah's Pak Long's house in Kajang. And as expected, after the heavy downpour, everywhere was jammed, and we only reached Kajang just before 7p.m.
After Kajang, we left for my Wanchik's place at 7:50p.m. She stays in Pu*ak Al*m. So, you can just imagine how renyuk everybody was when we finally reached Puncak Alam at 9:20p.m - from one end of the world, to the other end of the world! I finally met my cousin's wife, El*ne, and their two kids. The last time I saw him was before he got married (and his eldest daughter is now 5 years old!). I also met another cousin (from another Aunty), Ji*a. The last time I saw her pulak was when she was 9 years old. She's in her final year at UI*M now! So, it was nice to have met her again after all these years.
And both El*ne and Ji*a who had never met our kids before, thought that Hanna was in Form 5! Can't blame them. They were not the only ones who thought that. I think some people even thought that Hanna was already working coz' yesterday when we went to the Open Houses, she didn't get her duit raya at one of the houses! Kesian dia... But I promised her that I would top up her duit raya to equal her adek-adek's, which we normally do anyway :)
If the hosts sendiri yang distributed the packets, for sure she'll get one. But, because the hosts had delegated the task of distributing the duit raya to their staff who didn't know her, can't blame them for thinking that Hanna's not a kid anymore!
They wouldn't know that there would be at least 11 years more before she starts working (if she starts right after getting her degree) and 15-20 years more (basing on current average age of getting married that is) before she would be going to the smelly Pasar herself to do the groceries for her own small family. ;)
Heck, even I sometimes forget that she's only 12 when I look at her. Only when she starts fooling around with her adek-adek, and I see how childish she can be, that I would then realize that she's still a kid...
But come to think of it, Hanna dear, no matter how old you are, you will always be our Baby, anyway... Our FIRST Baby :)
Here are some photos - and you'll see what I mean about Hanna :)
She said she could not stand the smell of the Pasar, and I told her, as a girl she needs to get used to all those smell because more often than not, it'll be us women folks who would have to do THAT chore, because most men are just like her Ayah - either they'd be too busy to go to the market OR even if they're not busy, they would not know what to get - what fish, what sayur, etc. (Hehehe...no offence meant, dear ;)) I should have told her that if she thought Pasar TT*I smelled bad, she should go to the other markets...
Anyway, the whole time we were at the Pasar, she would ask me -
Hanna : What ELSE are we getting after this, Mommy? Can I just stay in the car, Mommy? Do I HAVE to follow you to get the fish? Can I just sit here at the bench?, etc.
Naik tension lah jugak I...But, then again, I told myself (sometimes I have to REMIND myself!) - "It's okay, she's only 12 years old. What do I expect?!"
We fetched the kids at 12:30a.m, and went to Mak's house to send all the groceries there. Ayah only reached Mak's house from the hospital about 2p.m, and we started our Open House marathon by going to Mak An*ak/Ro*ie's Open House in Section 14. We left just before the sky opened up at 3:15p.m, and made our way to Al*ng's house (Ayah's big brother) in Ar* D'sara in the REALLY heavy rain (and I mean REALLY HEAVY. Sampai langsung tak nampak jalan!). We only left Al*ng's house at 5:40p.m and made our way to Ayah's Pak Long's house in Kajang. And as expected, after the heavy downpour, everywhere was jammed, and we only reached Kajang just before 7p.m.
After Kajang, we left for my Wanchik's place at 7:50p.m. She stays in Pu*ak Al*m. So, you can just imagine how renyuk everybody was when we finally reached Puncak Alam at 9:20p.m - from one end of the world, to the other end of the world! I finally met my cousin's wife, El*ne, and their two kids. The last time I saw him was before he got married (and his eldest daughter is now 5 years old!). I also met another cousin (from another Aunty), Ji*a. The last time I saw her pulak was when she was 9 years old. She's in her final year at UI*M now! So, it was nice to have met her again after all these years.
And both El*ne and Ji*a who had never met our kids before, thought that Hanna was in Form 5! Can't blame them. They were not the only ones who thought that. I think some people even thought that Hanna was already working coz' yesterday when we went to the Open Houses, she didn't get her duit raya at one of the houses! Kesian dia... But I promised her that I would top up her duit raya to equal her adek-adek's, which we normally do anyway :)
If the hosts sendiri yang distributed the packets, for sure she'll get one. But, because the hosts had delegated the task of distributing the duit raya to their staff who didn't know her, can't blame them for thinking that Hanna's not a kid anymore!
They wouldn't know that there would be at least 11 years more before she starts working (if she starts right after getting her degree) and 15-20 years more (basing on current average age of getting married that is) before she would be going to the smelly Pasar herself to do the groceries for her own small family. ;)
Heck, even I sometimes forget that she's only 12 when I look at her. Only when she starts fooling around with her adek-adek, and I see how childish she can be, that I would then realize that she's still a kid...
But come to think of it, Hanna dear, no matter how old you are, you will always be our Baby, anyway... Our FIRST Baby :)
Here are some photos - and you'll see what I mean about Hanna :)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Puasa Enam...
It's 9th Syawal today.
So far, including today (insya Allah), I have puasa four days of my Puasa Enam. Syukur Alhamdulillah. So far, so good.
Ayah and Hanna had managed to fast three days so far as Hanna only started on Tuesday, and Ayah had to break fast in the afternoon as he was not feeling well yesterday. But, as I also have extra days to ganti puasa which I plan to also do during Syawal, insya Allah, they can "catch up" and we'll get to "raya" together.
Hasya and Hilman - so far, two days. Hasya had a school trip to Dominoes yesterday, so she couldn't possibly puasa, could she?! What with all those yummy Pepperoni and Hawaiian Chicken pizzas beckoning her?! And because his Kak Ngah Hasya was not fasting yesterday, Hilman decided not to fast, too. So nanti, they, too, will have to "catch up" in order for us to "raya" together.
Apparently, Hasya's teacher asked her class the other day who amongst them Puasa Enam, and Hasya was the only one who put her hand up. And the teacher asked her if the whole family was doing it. And when she said, "Yes", the teacher asked, "Even your brother yang Standard 2 tu??!!" I think, looking at how montel and how kuat makan Hilman is, she couldn't believe Hilman would have the will-power to puasa outside a Non-Ramadhan month, especially when he would be surrounded by friends who would be munching away all the goodies foodies at school! Hehehe!
Ayah and I had never asked or forced the kids to perform the Puasa Enam, but syukur alhamdulillah, they wanted to do it themselves. It all started last year when they were curious as to why both Ayah and I were still fasting when it was already Raya! So, when Ayah explained what Puasa Enam was all about and betapa besar ganjarannya, insya Allah, the kids decided to puasa with us.
So, this year is the second year we all Puasa Enam together as a family, insya Allah.
The initial plan was for everybody to finish Puasa Enam by Tuesday next week. (Weekends tak boleh puasa coz' there are so many Open Houses to go to! Hehehe!). But, now that dah tak "synchronised", I will have to adjust everybody's puasa schedule so that we can puasa the 6th day together, and celebrate together - maybe berbuka at a place of the kids' choice outside on the final day?
Anyway, for sahur, I decided not to kacau Dar and so, for the past four days, I've been getting up at 4:45a.m to siapkan our sahur. Ayah asked me to just ask Dar to do it coz' he didn't want me to wake up and prepare everything. But, I kesian pulak kat Dar if she has to wake up just to siapkan sahur when she's not fasting sekali.
But, Ayah and I realized - after Raya, Dar has been slacking a bit. MAYBE, because she had spent too much time mingling with my MIL's and my SIL's maids in PJ over Raya, and dah berjangkit with their "malas" attitude. We (ourselves, my MIL and my SIL) had each given all the maids some Baju Raya and bonus raya. And we also gave Dar IDD cards worth RM60 for her to call her family during Raya. Maybe dah "naik lemak", kot ?
This morning, after sahur, I didn't go back to sleep, and tengok-tengok sampai 6:20a.m, Dar tak bangun lagi! Lawan tokey betul. Normally she would wake up at 5:45a.m. and prepare breakfast for Ayah. Ayah normally wakes up just before 6:00a.m and would leave the house with Hanna by 6:40a.m. And I suspect, when I leave the house to go to work, and send the kids to my MIL's place in the morning, she would continue with her chores, and then have a looooooong nap in the afternoon because we normally only reach home earliest at 7:00p.m every day. Nobody at home. Nothing much to do.
Hmmmm...maybe for the rest of our Puasa Enam ni, I should ask her to prepare our sahur kot? Tak boleh bagi muka sangat... And I'm sure I will not be depriving her of her beauty sleep as she would have the whole afternoon every day to sleep anyway.
Anyway, to those who are performing the Puasa Enam, selamat menyempurnakannya. Semoga ibadah kita diterima Allah SWT, and semoga kita diberi ganjaran yang berganda, insya Allah. Amin.
So far, including today (insya Allah), I have puasa four days of my Puasa Enam. Syukur Alhamdulillah. So far, so good.
Ayah and Hanna had managed to fast three days so far as Hanna only started on Tuesday, and Ayah had to break fast in the afternoon as he was not feeling well yesterday. But, as I also have extra days to ganti puasa which I plan to also do during Syawal, insya Allah, they can "catch up" and we'll get to "raya" together.
Hasya and Hilman - so far, two days. Hasya had a school trip to Dominoes yesterday, so she couldn't possibly puasa, could she?! What with all those yummy Pepperoni and Hawaiian Chicken pizzas beckoning her?! And because his Kak Ngah Hasya was not fasting yesterday, Hilman decided not to fast, too. So nanti, they, too, will have to "catch up" in order for us to "raya" together.
Apparently, Hasya's teacher asked her class the other day who amongst them Puasa Enam, and Hasya was the only one who put her hand up. And the teacher asked her if the whole family was doing it. And when she said, "Yes", the teacher asked, "Even your brother yang Standard 2 tu??!!" I think, looking at how montel and how kuat makan Hilman is, she couldn't believe Hilman would have the will-power to puasa outside a Non-Ramadhan month, especially when he would be surrounded by friends who would be munching away all the goodies foodies at school! Hehehe!
Ayah and I had never asked or forced the kids to perform the Puasa Enam, but syukur alhamdulillah, they wanted to do it themselves. It all started last year when they were curious as to why both Ayah and I were still fasting when it was already Raya! So, when Ayah explained what Puasa Enam was all about and betapa besar ganjarannya, insya Allah, the kids decided to puasa with us.
So, this year is the second year we all Puasa Enam together as a family, insya Allah.
The initial plan was for everybody to finish Puasa Enam by Tuesday next week. (Weekends tak boleh puasa coz' there are so many Open Houses to go to! Hehehe!). But, now that dah tak "synchronised", I will have to adjust everybody's puasa schedule so that we can puasa the 6th day together, and celebrate together - maybe berbuka at a place of the kids' choice outside on the final day?
Anyway, for sahur, I decided not to kacau Dar and so, for the past four days, I've been getting up at 4:45a.m to siapkan our sahur. Ayah asked me to just ask Dar to do it coz' he didn't want me to wake up and prepare everything. But, I kesian pulak kat Dar if she has to wake up just to siapkan sahur when she's not fasting sekali.
But, Ayah and I realized - after Raya, Dar has been slacking a bit. MAYBE, because she had spent too much time mingling with my MIL's and my SIL's maids in PJ over Raya, and dah berjangkit with their "malas" attitude. We (ourselves, my MIL and my SIL) had each given all the maids some Baju Raya and bonus raya. And we also gave Dar IDD cards worth RM60 for her to call her family during Raya. Maybe dah "naik lemak", kot ?
This morning, after sahur, I didn't go back to sleep, and tengok-tengok sampai 6:20a.m, Dar tak bangun lagi! Lawan tokey betul. Normally she would wake up at 5:45a.m. and prepare breakfast for Ayah. Ayah normally wakes up just before 6:00a.m and would leave the house with Hanna by 6:40a.m. And I suspect, when I leave the house to go to work, and send the kids to my MIL's place in the morning, she would continue with her chores, and then have a looooooong nap in the afternoon because we normally only reach home earliest at 7:00p.m every day. Nobody at home. Nothing much to do.
Hmmmm...maybe for the rest of our Puasa Enam ni, I should ask her to prepare our sahur kot? Tak boleh bagi muka sangat... And I'm sure I will not be depriving her of her beauty sleep as she would have the whole afternoon every day to sleep anyway.
Anyway, to those who are performing the Puasa Enam, selamat menyempurnakannya. Semoga ibadah kita diterima Allah SWT, and semoga kita diberi ganjaran yang berganda, insya Allah. Amin.
Monday, October 6, 2008
It starts with the letter "K"...
We were on our way to Ayah's cousin's Open House in Saujana Impian yesterday, when we had a trivia on which country manufactures what car makes, etc. And suddenly Hilman asked his Ayah -
Hilman : Ayah, do you know which is the fastest car in the world, Ayah?
Ayah : Hmmmm... Naza?! (obviously - because he drives one! Hehehe!)
Hilman : Noooo! Not Naza!
Ayah : Mommy's Kembara?! (Hahaha! Yeah, right...)
Hilman : NOOOO!!! (He was getting annoyed with his Ayah already :))
Then Hasya chipped in -
Hasya : Is it a Ferrari?
Hilman : NO! You know the answer, Kak Ngah. It's Bugatti Veyron!
Ayah, Hasya, and Me : Ooooo...okay...
Then Hilman came up with another trivia -
Hilman : Now, do you know what's the second fastest car then?
Ayah, Hasya, and Me together : No. What IS the second fastest car then, Hilman?
Hilman : You guess la!
And Ayah started naming all the Protons and Peroduas Mak Nenek, much to Hilman's annoyance.
Hilman : No! No! NOO!!! It starts with the letter "K"!
There was a 10 second pause, before Ayah came up with -
Ayah : Hmmmmm... KONDA?! Kyundai?!
Hilman : NO!! (And he started laughing)
Me : Koyota?! Kazda?! Kerodua?!
Hasya : KMW? Kercedez?! Kerrari?! Kroton?
Ayah : Kaudi?! Korche?! Kodge Kiper?!
And Hasya came out with : KINI KOOPER??!!!
And we all just couldn't stop laughing after that. Ayah sampai tak boleh nak drive lah lepas tu bila tengok Hilman and Hasya berguling on the backseat... :)
Hilman : (in between his laughs) NO!!! It's KOENIGSEGGEGGEGGEGGEGGEGG!!!
Ayah and I : Huh???!!! Koenig what?!!
Apparently there IS a car by THAT name (or something that sounds like that??!!)
Hilman : Ayah, do you know which is the fastest car in the world, Ayah?
Ayah : Hmmmm... Naza?! (obviously - because he drives one! Hehehe!)
Hilman : Noooo! Not Naza!
Ayah : Mommy's Kembara?! (Hahaha! Yeah, right...)
Hilman : NOOOO!!! (He was getting annoyed with his Ayah already :))
Then Hasya chipped in -
Hasya : Is it a Ferrari?
Hilman : NO! You know the answer, Kak Ngah. It's Bugatti Veyron!
Ayah, Hasya, and Me : Ooooo...okay...
Then Hilman came up with another trivia -
Hilman : Now, do you know what's the second fastest car then?
Ayah, Hasya, and Me together : No. What IS the second fastest car then, Hilman?
Hilman : You guess la!
And Ayah started naming all the Protons and Peroduas Mak Nenek, much to Hilman's annoyance.
Hilman : No! No! NOO!!! It starts with the letter "K"!
There was a 10 second pause, before Ayah came up with -
Ayah : Hmmmmm... KONDA?! Kyundai?!
Hilman : NO!! (And he started laughing)
Me : Koyota?! Kazda?! Kerodua?!
Hasya : KMW? Kercedez?! Kerrari?! Kroton?
Ayah : Kaudi?! Korche?! Kodge Kiper?!
And Hasya came out with : KINI KOOPER??!!!
And we all just couldn't stop laughing after that. Ayah sampai tak boleh nak drive lah lepas tu bila tengok Hilman and Hasya berguling on the backseat... :)
Hilman : (in between his laughs) NO!!! It's KOENIGSEGGEGGEGGEGGEGGEGG!!!
Ayah and I : Huh???!!! Koenig what?!!
Apparently there IS a car by THAT name (or something that sounds like that??!!)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Dua Raya...Tiga Raya...Empat Setengah Raya...
We didn't do much on second day Raya. The kids woke up very late, as did their Ayah.
I managed to do a bit of (office) work in the morning, and prepared breakfast (or rather - brunch) of boiled sausages, some potato wedges, sauteed button mushrooms, and some baked beans. And Hilman, after finishing his brunch, immediately requested for breakfast of cheese omelette for the next day.
Hmmmm...bila dah habis puasa ni, anak-anak macam nak qadha' balik all the breakfasts they had missed during Ramadhan pulak...
We went to Mak's house around 4:00p.m as my Abah and Mommy wanted to bertandang raya and ziarah Mak, and Ayah's cousin and her anak-anak were also planning to visit her that afternoon.
So, it was a tussle between the coral peach or the pink bajus to wear. The pink attires finally won :)
We were at Mak's house until about 9:00p.m, and by the time we reached home, everybody was flat out, and yours truly (for the umpteenth time) fell asleep on the 2-seater sofa, only to wake up around 5:50a.m and found Ayah sleeping on the 3-seater sofa! I woke Ayah up, and we went up to the room. After solat subuh, we went back to sleep.
The morning of third day raya, I was not able to make Hilman's Cheese Omelette as I forgot to get the eggs the day before. I ended up making Nasi Lemak with Sambal Udang and Goreng ikan bilis instead (sans the eggs and timun!) which still went down very well with Ayah and the kids.
Later in the morning, Ayah had to go to the hospital to attend to an emergency and he only came back after Solat Jumaat. In the meantime, yours truly managed to do a bit of grocery shopping to stock up the fridge - just in case somebody comes over to bertandang raya at our humble abode, there's something I could prepare in a jiffy to jamu them - meehoon goreng, instant currypuffs and cucur badak, etc. And oh ya, we also have a couple of chocolate cakes in the fridge. Just in case.
By 3:00p.m Hasya was asking if I was cooking anything special. Apparently she said she seemed to be feeling hungry AAAALLLLLL the time after puasa ni. And I noticed that she has been eating a lot the last couple of days ni. Every now and then she would open the fridge, with a bowl ready in her hands - taking whatever there is in there to satisfy her hunger pangs.
I remembered that we had 3 Ayam Hutan (Wild Fowls) stacked nicely at the back of the freezer - given to us by one of Ayah's patients. As I had got the basic ingredients for a Malay dish from the shops earlier (Serai, Daun Kunyit, Lengkuas, and Daun Limau Purut amongst them), so what else but Rendang Ayam Hutan for the day's menu then.
As Along (Ayah's eldest brother) and his family were on their way back from JB that afternoon, and they were planning to see Mak that night, we decided to see them at Mak's as we all belum beraya with him and the family yet.
So, yours truly just whipped up some Laksa Asam to bring to Mak's house that night for yet another family raya gathering.
The kids wanted to wear the coral peach attires, but, as both Ayah and I didn't feel like wearing our Baju Melayu/Kurung, we just asked them to wear their baju raya 'moden' :). We left the house after Maghrib, and spent about 3 hours at Mak's.
By the time we reached SD, it was already 11:40p.m.
And after assuming our normal positions on the 2-seater and 3-seater sofas respectively, both myself and Ayah fell asleep almost immediately, only to wake up just in time for Solat Subuh this morning!
And it's the fourth day of Raya today, and Ayah has to go to work for a couple of hours this morning. Hanna has an Open House to go to at 11:00a.m, while Hasya and Hilman MIGHT have their chess class this morning. I will have to call Grace to find out if their class is still running as usual. But, even if it is, I think I will allow them to skip it this time. After all, it's still Raya what...
And tonight, insya Allah, we're going to Ayah's cousin's Open House in Taman TAR. We might just serbu my Sis Lala's place in Keramat before that - depending on if she herself is not going beraya anywhere, that is.
But, for now I'm going down to the kitchen to whip up some Raya Cheese Omelettes for the kids and their Ayah.
Myself - I'm having some Nasi Impit with my Rendang Ayam Hutan for breakfast :)
Cheers!
Here are some pics :)
I managed to do a bit of (office) work in the morning, and prepared breakfast (or rather - brunch) of boiled sausages, some potato wedges, sauteed button mushrooms, and some baked beans. And Hilman, after finishing his brunch, immediately requested for breakfast of cheese omelette for the next day.
Hmmmm...bila dah habis puasa ni, anak-anak macam nak qadha' balik all the breakfasts they had missed during Ramadhan pulak...
We went to Mak's house around 4:00p.m as my Abah and Mommy wanted to bertandang raya and ziarah Mak, and Ayah's cousin and her anak-anak were also planning to visit her that afternoon.
So, it was a tussle between the coral peach or the pink bajus to wear. The pink attires finally won :)
We were at Mak's house until about 9:00p.m, and by the time we reached home, everybody was flat out, and yours truly (for the umpteenth time) fell asleep on the 2-seater sofa, only to wake up around 5:50a.m and found Ayah sleeping on the 3-seater sofa! I woke Ayah up, and we went up to the room. After solat subuh, we went back to sleep.
The morning of third day raya, I was not able to make Hilman's Cheese Omelette as I forgot to get the eggs the day before. I ended up making Nasi Lemak with Sambal Udang and Goreng ikan bilis instead (sans the eggs and timun!) which still went down very well with Ayah and the kids.
Later in the morning, Ayah had to go to the hospital to attend to an emergency and he only came back after Solat Jumaat. In the meantime, yours truly managed to do a bit of grocery shopping to stock up the fridge - just in case somebody comes over to bertandang raya at our humble abode, there's something I could prepare in a jiffy to jamu them - meehoon goreng, instant currypuffs and cucur badak, etc. And oh ya, we also have a couple of chocolate cakes in the fridge. Just in case.
By 3:00p.m Hasya was asking if I was cooking anything special. Apparently she said she seemed to be feeling hungry AAAALLLLLL the time after puasa ni. And I noticed that she has been eating a lot the last couple of days ni. Every now and then she would open the fridge, with a bowl ready in her hands - taking whatever there is in there to satisfy her hunger pangs.
I remembered that we had 3 Ayam Hutan (Wild Fowls) stacked nicely at the back of the freezer - given to us by one of Ayah's patients. As I had got the basic ingredients for a Malay dish from the shops earlier (Serai, Daun Kunyit, Lengkuas, and Daun Limau Purut amongst them), so what else but Rendang Ayam Hutan for the day's menu then.
As Along (Ayah's eldest brother) and his family were on their way back from JB that afternoon, and they were planning to see Mak that night, we decided to see them at Mak's as we all belum beraya with him and the family yet.
So, yours truly just whipped up some Laksa Asam to bring to Mak's house that night for yet another family raya gathering.
The kids wanted to wear the coral peach attires, but, as both Ayah and I didn't feel like wearing our Baju Melayu/Kurung, we just asked them to wear their baju raya 'moden' :). We left the house after Maghrib, and spent about 3 hours at Mak's.
By the time we reached SD, it was already 11:40p.m.
And after assuming our normal positions on the 2-seater and 3-seater sofas respectively, both myself and Ayah fell asleep almost immediately, only to wake up just in time for Solat Subuh this morning!
And it's the fourth day of Raya today, and Ayah has to go to work for a couple of hours this morning. Hanna has an Open House to go to at 11:00a.m, while Hasya and Hilman MIGHT have their chess class this morning. I will have to call Grace to find out if their class is still running as usual. But, even if it is, I think I will allow them to skip it this time. After all, it's still Raya what...
And tonight, insya Allah, we're going to Ayah's cousin's Open House in Taman TAR. We might just serbu my Sis Lala's place in Keramat before that - depending on if she herself is not going beraya anywhere, that is.
But, for now I'm going down to the kitchen to whip up some Raya Cheese Omelettes for the kids and their Ayah.
Myself - I'm having some Nasi Impit with my Rendang Ayam Hutan for breakfast :)
Cheers!
Here are some pics :)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Salam Aidilfitri...
I was supposed to post this last night, so that the posting would be dated 1st October/1st Syawal.
But alas, by the time Hanna finished transferring all the photos to my notebook, I was already in Dreamland - dreaming of all the glorious food we had on our first day of Raya, and later having nightmares of the uphill task of shedding all the kilos I gained within 1 day of Syawal...
The Raya mood has been in the air for the kids since Monday when I finally had the time to bring them to One Utama to search for their kasut raya, and of course when they saw their new baju raya all ironed and neatly hung on Daryati's make-shift 'wardrobe' using an aluminium pole stretched across a step-ladder and the window of her room. Anyone who comes over to the house may mistake her room for a boutique, I tell you... Hehehe!
And today is only 2nd Syawal, and somehow the mood raya (at least for me, that is) is no longer there. Well, at least, not as much as a full-swing raya mood that I had hoped to have this time around. I don't know why...
I woke up at 5:30a.m this morning. I guess, my body or rather, my tummy is so accustomed to waking up for sahur for the last one month. Ayah went back to sleep after solat Subuh just now, and he's snoring away beside me. Raya holidays would be the only time Ayah would have the chance to sleep in this late. So, I'm not going to disturb him...well, at least not until 11:00a.m maybe? :)
And the house is so,so quiet as the kids are still asleep. The truth be told, I don't even know what time they went to bed last night. All I remember was, after asking Hanna to transfer the photos, I saw them watching Naruto (or one of those anime cartoons) on ASTRO, and asking them to brush their teeth before sleeping. That was met by their noddings, with eyes still fixed on the TV screen. And then, off I went to bed.
We have no specific plans for today. We're just waiting for Mak or Mommy to call us. If they're going on a ziarah Hari Raya today, I guess we'll be joining the convoy. If not, we'll just rest at home.
Ayah will probably spend half of the day replying the hundreds of Hari Raya SMSes he got the last couple of days. One thing about Ayah - every year he would come up with his own pantuns to send to his friends, colleagues and also his patients. Some of his pantuns 2-3 kerat had been pretty original and hilarious, but, I think his pantun could never beat this one pantun he got from one of his patients. This pantun surely takes the cake -
Gamat dari paya
Perap dalam tin
Selamat Hari Raya
Maaf Zahir Batin
This really got us and the kids in stitches. We were like, "What???!!!"
Anyway, I hope it is not too late to wish all of you -
And if any of my writings or comments had hit some raw nerves, or if I might have been insensitive towards the feelings of my blogosphere friends and readers in my ramblings -
Sepuluh jari disusun
Mohon kemaafan
Mohon keampunan
Dua tangan ditadahkan
Semoga diberkati
di Aidilfitri
Maaf Zahir Batin.
Hmmmm, I'm still trying to think of pantun 2-3 kerat to counter the pantun gamat above...
In the meantime, here are some raya pics.
But alas, by the time Hanna finished transferring all the photos to my notebook, I was already in Dreamland - dreaming of all the glorious food we had on our first day of Raya, and later having nightmares of the uphill task of shedding all the kilos I gained within 1 day of Syawal...
The Raya mood has been in the air for the kids since Monday when I finally had the time to bring them to One Utama to search for their kasut raya, and of course when they saw their new baju raya all ironed and neatly hung on Daryati's make-shift 'wardrobe' using an aluminium pole stretched across a step-ladder and the window of her room. Anyone who comes over to the house may mistake her room for a boutique, I tell you... Hehehe!
And today is only 2nd Syawal, and somehow the mood raya (at least for me, that is) is no longer there. Well, at least, not as much as a full-swing raya mood that I had hoped to have this time around. I don't know why...
I woke up at 5:30a.m this morning. I guess, my body or rather, my tummy is so accustomed to waking up for sahur for the last one month. Ayah went back to sleep after solat Subuh just now, and he's snoring away beside me. Raya holidays would be the only time Ayah would have the chance to sleep in this late. So, I'm not going to disturb him...well, at least not until 11:00a.m maybe? :)
And the house is so,so quiet as the kids are still asleep. The truth be told, I don't even know what time they went to bed last night. All I remember was, after asking Hanna to transfer the photos, I saw them watching Naruto (or one of those anime cartoons) on ASTRO, and asking them to brush their teeth before sleeping. That was met by their noddings, with eyes still fixed on the TV screen. And then, off I went to bed.
We have no specific plans for today. We're just waiting for Mak or Mommy to call us. If they're going on a ziarah Hari Raya today, I guess we'll be joining the convoy. If not, we'll just rest at home.
Ayah will probably spend half of the day replying the hundreds of Hari Raya SMSes he got the last couple of days. One thing about Ayah - every year he would come up with his own pantuns to send to his friends, colleagues and also his patients. Some of his pantuns 2-3 kerat had been pretty original and hilarious, but, I think his pantun could never beat this one pantun he got from one of his patients. This pantun surely takes the cake -
Gamat dari paya
Perap dalam tin
Selamat Hari Raya
Maaf Zahir Batin
This really got us and the kids in stitches. We were like, "What???!!!"
Anyway, I hope it is not too late to wish all of you -
And if any of my writings or comments had hit some raw nerves, or if I might have been insensitive towards the feelings of my blogosphere friends and readers in my ramblings -
Sepuluh jari disusun
Mohon kemaafan
Mohon keampunan
Dua tangan ditadahkan
Semoga diberkati
di Aidilfitri
Maaf Zahir Batin.
Hmmmm, I'm still trying to think of pantun 2-3 kerat to counter the pantun gamat above...
In the meantime, here are some raya pics.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Second day in Sendai - some observations
More photos from Sendai - but not as many as before as there were so many photos of me with my round face! Pantang menjadi tontonan umum... Hahaha! So, I took the liberty to post some round-faced pics of Ayah's here instead ;)
We spent some time shopping in the morning until about 12:00p.m when Ayah had to attend the afternoon live procedure session as one of the commentators. Ayah came back just after 3:00p.m, and we went out to shop (again!). I noticed that they have LOADS of shops selling ladies/girls fashions and accessories, but not many for men and kids.
Bermacam gaya... but, I don't think they'd be well-received in Malaysia. It's more of a Mix 'n' Match thingies and the Japanese can be quite OTT with their accessories. And oh, they have so many different kinds of cool hats here. Unfortunately, neither of my girls are into hats. If not, it would have been easier to shop for them! And they also have amazing designs for their socks, stockings, and leggings. They're just fantastic! And Ayah and I noticed that the youngsters here are more "westernized" than the westerners (well, at least in their dressing-up sense, that is).
And it is just so difficult to communicate with them as virtually all of them do not speak English. We've given up trying to speak English with them, and Ayah finally resorted to just speaking in Bahasa Malaysia (with sign language, of course!) when we wanted to enquire on stuffs. It makes no difference really, whether we speak in English or BM. Both are very foreign languages to them. And it is just so amazing to see them to be so advanced technologically without having to rely on or know the "so-called" global language! As they say - only in Japan...
Anyway, we went back to our room just before Iftar at 5:30p.m. And we had sushi for Iftar. Maybe not that appealing to some, but, Ayah and I were okay with it as this is actually the second time we experience berpuasa in Japan. The first time was in 2002 when I was on a 3-week Research leave in Nagoya, and it just so happened that Ayah also had a conference in Kobe around that time and he extended his stay to join me in the last one week of my stint in Nagoya. And we had Sushi and Sashimi nearly every night for iftar then.
Seriously, I can't imagine if we were to spend our Raya here. No suasana langsung... I really feel for those Malaysian students who have to go through the festivities (or rather, the lack or non-existence of it!) here. At least when we were in the UK dulu, the suasana was very much alive, albeit in an ala-Pakistani way.
Yesterday, while waiting for iftar, Ayah made a 'lawak tak berapa pandai' by kononnya trying to find the channel which aired the Azan Maghrib...(Harharhar, Ayah...), and we ended up watching Sumo wrestling during iftar.
Seriously, how did them wrestlers turn out to be SOOOO huge?!
I asked Ayah, if he had any idea as to the life expectancy of the Sumo wrestlers as I didn't think it would be that long, considering how obese-looking they were. Ayah said, he didn't know. All he knew was that, the Sumo wrestlers are filthy rich here in Japan.
Hmmmmm... If it was me, I would rather be not-so-rich, but have a longer and healthier life to share with my family.
(Sorry...terlupa pulak nak ambik gambar the Sumo wrestlers on TV. Terlampau engrossed tengok they all berSumo semalam!). Hahaha!
Anyway, here are some pics of our second day in Sendai.
Note : Please do not confuse Ayah and myself with the Sumo wrestlers, okay?! But, one thing for sure, if we had their pics here, they would have made us feel so good about ourselves weight wise. Hahaha!
We spent some time shopping in the morning until about 12:00p.m when Ayah had to attend the afternoon live procedure session as one of the commentators. Ayah came back just after 3:00p.m, and we went out to shop (again!). I noticed that they have LOADS of shops selling ladies/girls fashions and accessories, but not many for men and kids.
Bermacam gaya... but, I don't think they'd be well-received in Malaysia. It's more of a Mix 'n' Match thingies and the Japanese can be quite OTT with their accessories. And oh, they have so many different kinds of cool hats here. Unfortunately, neither of my girls are into hats. If not, it would have been easier to shop for them! And they also have amazing designs for their socks, stockings, and leggings. They're just fantastic! And Ayah and I noticed that the youngsters here are more "westernized" than the westerners (well, at least in their dressing-up sense, that is).
And it is just so difficult to communicate with them as virtually all of them do not speak English. We've given up trying to speak English with them, and Ayah finally resorted to just speaking in Bahasa Malaysia (with sign language, of course!) when we wanted to enquire on stuffs. It makes no difference really, whether we speak in English or BM. Both are very foreign languages to them. And it is just so amazing to see them to be so advanced technologically without having to rely on or know the "so-called" global language! As they say - only in Japan...
Anyway, we went back to our room just before Iftar at 5:30p.m. And we had sushi for Iftar. Maybe not that appealing to some, but, Ayah and I were okay with it as this is actually the second time we experience berpuasa in Japan. The first time was in 2002 when I was on a 3-week Research leave in Nagoya, and it just so happened that Ayah also had a conference in Kobe around that time and he extended his stay to join me in the last one week of my stint in Nagoya. And we had Sushi and Sashimi nearly every night for iftar then.
Seriously, I can't imagine if we were to spend our Raya here. No suasana langsung... I really feel for those Malaysian students who have to go through the festivities (or rather, the lack or non-existence of it!) here. At least when we were in the UK dulu, the suasana was very much alive, albeit in an ala-Pakistani way.
Yesterday, while waiting for iftar, Ayah made a 'lawak tak berapa pandai' by kononnya trying to find the channel which aired the Azan Maghrib...(Harharhar, Ayah...), and we ended up watching Sumo wrestling during iftar.
Seriously, how did them wrestlers turn out to be SOOOO huge?!
I asked Ayah, if he had any idea as to the life expectancy of the Sumo wrestlers as I didn't think it would be that long, considering how obese-looking they were. Ayah said, he didn't know. All he knew was that, the Sumo wrestlers are filthy rich here in Japan.
Hmmmmm... If it was me, I would rather be not-so-rich, but have a longer and healthier life to share with my family.
(Sorry...terlupa pulak nak ambik gambar the Sumo wrestlers on TV. Terlampau engrossed tengok they all berSumo semalam!). Hahaha!
Anyway, here are some pics of our second day in Sendai.
Note : Please do not confuse Ayah and myself with the Sumo wrestlers, okay?! But, one thing for sure, if we had their pics here, they would have made us feel so good about ourselves weight wise. Hahaha!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Hello - from the Land of the Rising Sun...
Hello from Japan!!
Hmmm...Ayah did it again. Remember, in January this year when he came to Japan, all the while thinking that his flight was for Kobe, when it was actually for Tokyo? Nasib baik lah he was travelling with his sponsors that time. If not? Aiyoooo...
Well, this time around, he told me that his meeting was to be in Tokyo - BUT, we found out at KLIA last night that it's actually to be held in Sendai, about 1 1/2 hours train ride to the north-east of Tokyo. That's about the same distance as Tokyo-Nagoya!
And again, nasib baik the sponsor's Malaysian rep, Mr. Gu*n was travelling with us last night. If not, sure terkial-kial we all.
Hopeless betul lah laki I ni... Hehehe! (But, I still love you to bits, dear :))
We touched down at Narita at 7:38a.m, and was met by Ayah's Japanese sponsors - Mr Os*wa, and took the train to Tokyo Central. From there, we took the 10:56.m train to Sendai,and reached Sendai at 12:37p.m.
Why am I giving all these exact times? Well, simply because the Japanese are SO punctual! Not a second more, not a second less! Tension gua...nyaris-nyaris missed the train pagi tadi.
We were only able to check-in into the Sendai Me*ro*oli*an Hotel at 2:00p.m, and after checking in, both Ayah and I fell asleep. We were supposed to meet up with the sponsors and another couple (from Indonesia - Dr. Mu*aw*ar and wife) at 5:00p.m at the hotel lobby, to have our iftar, so Ayah set the alarm for 4:30p.m. But, horror-horror - we only woke up at 5:05p.m!! Apparently Ayah forgot to take into account the 1 hour time difference, and 4:30p.m in Malaysia would mean that the alarm would only go off at 5:30 p.m Japan time!!!
Hopeless betul lah laki I ni...Hahaha! (But, again - I still love you to bits, dear :))
So, we were 25 minutes late just now - not a good impression to set with Ayah's Japanese sponsors, huh?
Today's berbuka in Sendai was at 5:32p.m, but, due to our tardiness, we only berbuka at 6:05p.m. No big deal - it was still more than one hour earlier than berbuka in KL, right? (And Hanna, if you're reading this, Mommy just have this to say to you - "JANGAN JELES, OKAY??!..." Hahaha!)
We went for a Teppanyaki iftar tonight. And as always, whenever we travel abroad, it's fish and seafood for the whole trip for us. And for sahur, we've equipped ourselves with a few packets of Maggi Mee :). Imsak is at 3:55a.m, by the way.
We had a mixture of Seafood and Fish Teppanyaki which was served with Garlic Fried Rice, only to find out that there were tiny bits of beef in the rice after tasting it!! We had earlier asked our Japanese sponsor if there was any meat in it, and he said "No"! Well, tak sengaja. Tak per kot? Nasib baik it was just about the amount of a tip of the spoon.
Anyway, we're going to have loads of seafood and fish for the next 3 days or so, and that would mean that Ayah would also be taking loads of Ar*oxia as preventive measures - in case those yummylicious sea creatures trigger his gout ;)
Ayah will be one of the commentators for a Live Cardio Procedure tomorrow afternoon, and he's chairing another session on Saturday afternoon. Nasib baik lah wi-fi kat hotel ni FOC! So, while he's at the sessions, Insya Allah I'll be in the room, surfing and hopping the blogosphere with my Portege.
I just love the wi-fi here - it took me only about 5 minutes to upload the pics to this posting, whereas it would have taken me nearly half an hour to do the same back home! Jepun, oh Jepun...
In the mean time, here are some pics of our first day in Tokyo/Sendai.
Errr....is it just me? But, do I LOOK round in my new tudung style, OR I AM INDEED ROUND (despite having lost 3kg this Ramadhan?!)
Hmmm...Ayah did it again. Remember, in January this year when he came to Japan, all the while thinking that his flight was for Kobe, when it was actually for Tokyo? Nasib baik lah he was travelling with his sponsors that time. If not? Aiyoooo...
Well, this time around, he told me that his meeting was to be in Tokyo - BUT, we found out at KLIA last night that it's actually to be held in Sendai, about 1 1/2 hours train ride to the north-east of Tokyo. That's about the same distance as Tokyo-Nagoya!
And again, nasib baik the sponsor's Malaysian rep, Mr. Gu*n was travelling with us last night. If not, sure terkial-kial we all.
Hopeless betul lah laki I ni... Hehehe! (But, I still love you to bits, dear :))
We touched down at Narita at 7:38a.m, and was met by Ayah's Japanese sponsors - Mr Os*wa, and took the train to Tokyo Central. From there, we took the 10:56.m train to Sendai,and reached Sendai at 12:37p.m.
Why am I giving all these exact times? Well, simply because the Japanese are SO punctual! Not a second more, not a second less! Tension gua...nyaris-nyaris missed the train pagi tadi.
We were only able to check-in into the Sendai Me*ro*oli*an Hotel at 2:00p.m, and after checking in, both Ayah and I fell asleep. We were supposed to meet up with the sponsors and another couple (from Indonesia - Dr. Mu*aw*ar and wife) at 5:00p.m at the hotel lobby, to have our iftar, so Ayah set the alarm for 4:30p.m. But, horror-horror - we only woke up at 5:05p.m!! Apparently Ayah forgot to take into account the 1 hour time difference, and 4:30p.m in Malaysia would mean that the alarm would only go off at 5:30 p.m Japan time!!!
Hopeless betul lah laki I ni...Hahaha! (But, again - I still love you to bits, dear :))
So, we were 25 minutes late just now - not a good impression to set with Ayah's Japanese sponsors, huh?
Today's berbuka in Sendai was at 5:32p.m, but, due to our tardiness, we only berbuka at 6:05p.m. No big deal - it was still more than one hour earlier than berbuka in KL, right? (And Hanna, if you're reading this, Mommy just have this to say to you - "JANGAN JELES, OKAY??!..." Hahaha!)
We went for a Teppanyaki iftar tonight. And as always, whenever we travel abroad, it's fish and seafood for the whole trip for us. And for sahur, we've equipped ourselves with a few packets of Maggi Mee :). Imsak is at 3:55a.m, by the way.
We had a mixture of Seafood and Fish Teppanyaki which was served with Garlic Fried Rice, only to find out that there were tiny bits of beef in the rice after tasting it!! We had earlier asked our Japanese sponsor if there was any meat in it, and he said "No"! Well, tak sengaja. Tak per kot? Nasib baik it was just about the amount of a tip of the spoon.
Anyway, we're going to have loads of seafood and fish for the next 3 days or so, and that would mean that Ayah would also be taking loads of Ar*oxia as preventive measures - in case those yummylicious sea creatures trigger his gout ;)
Ayah will be one of the commentators for a Live Cardio Procedure tomorrow afternoon, and he's chairing another session on Saturday afternoon. Nasib baik lah wi-fi kat hotel ni FOC! So, while he's at the sessions, Insya Allah I'll be in the room, surfing and hopping the blogosphere with my Portege.
I just love the wi-fi here - it took me only about 5 minutes to upload the pics to this posting, whereas it would have taken me nearly half an hour to do the same back home! Jepun, oh Jepun...
In the mean time, here are some pics of our first day in Tokyo/Sendai.
Errr....is it just me? But, do I LOOK round in my new tudung style, OR I AM INDEED ROUND (despite having lost 3kg this Ramadhan?!)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Mee Rebus & another birthday do...
Hmmmm...what else but a posting on makan-makan AGAIN. Hehehe!
After more than 6 months of hinting to yours truly, Ibu finally got her Mee Rebus last night. Hehehe! Sorry, kawan, for having to wait so long :) Gua manyak busy maaa...
Anyway, we had a berbuka do at our place last night, and the main menu was my Mee Rebus.
But for those who have to eat rice for berbuka, we also had Nasi Briayani, courtesy of J* and Iz*am (who also brought some Tauhu Sumbat with them.
Yours truly also prepared some Nasi Putih to accompany the Ayam Percik Kelantan - prepared by Re*a and Ta*s (Errrr....more of the latter actually. Hehehe!) who also brought with them satu GUNI keropok yang sangatlah sedap!
For desserts, I prepared Custard Pudding, while Ibu and Sa*a brought those yummylicious Big Apple Donuts.
There were also some popiah basah which Ayah got from the SD Bazar Ramadhan - one of the better popiah basah around.
I also asked Dar to fry some Ay*mas Hot & Spicy Chicken, and for the kids who could not take spicy dishes, I also made some Kuey Teow Soup for them.
For drinks - we had Sirap Bandung Soda and some Teh Tarik.
Ab*d and On*ir and their cos came slightly later as they had their proper berbuka somewhere else first. Kengkawan lain - Yu*, Et* and Aw*n could not make it as they had prior engagements somewhere else :(
We also had another birthday do for Hilman. The other day it was at Mak's and he was surrounded by girls. This time around he had a REAL fun party because there were boys, boys and more boys around!
The highlight of the night was of course Hilman's birthday thingy, but us Mommies (and Daddies) had our own highlight in the form of reminiscing the Mommies' culinary (or lack of it!!) skills. Hehehe... We even came up with our own Charta and ranking (results of which shall remain within the group sahaja, okay?! Hahaha!)
Later, we (or rather - the hubbies) had a field day gelakkan the wifeys when we went through my album of old photos from zaman sekolah dulu . Masa zaman jahiliah. Even the kids gelakkan mak-mak they all yang posing maut. Cissss...
The last of the guests left just after 1:00a.m - adjourning to Na*i Ka*dar Se*ap for their sahur. Ayah and I didn't join as Ayah was supposed to drive up to Ipoh this morning for a meeting, and he needed his sleep so that he would be fresh.
But, as I'm typing this (and it's 12:23p.m!), he's still sleeping beside me, as he's not feeling that well.
Too much Mee Rebus last night kot?! :)
And as I'm typing this, too, the rest of the MT are (on their way to?) at KLCC for a ladies day out/shopping tak ingat laki... Hahaha!
Anyway, enjoy the pics!
After more than 6 months of hinting to yours truly, Ibu finally got her Mee Rebus last night. Hehehe! Sorry, kawan, for having to wait so long :) Gua manyak busy maaa...
Anyway, we had a berbuka do at our place last night, and the main menu was my Mee Rebus.
But for those who have to eat rice for berbuka, we also had Nasi Briayani, courtesy of J* and Iz*am (who also brought some Tauhu Sumbat with them.
Yours truly also prepared some Nasi Putih to accompany the Ayam Percik Kelantan - prepared by Re*a and Ta*s (Errrr....more of the latter actually. Hehehe!) who also brought with them satu GUNI keropok yang sangatlah sedap!
For desserts, I prepared Custard Pudding, while Ibu and Sa*a brought those yummylicious Big Apple Donuts.
There were also some popiah basah which Ayah got from the SD Bazar Ramadhan - one of the better popiah basah around.
I also asked Dar to fry some Ay*mas Hot & Spicy Chicken, and for the kids who could not take spicy dishes, I also made some Kuey Teow Soup for them.
For drinks - we had Sirap Bandung Soda and some Teh Tarik.
Ab*d and On*ir and their cos came slightly later as they had their proper berbuka somewhere else first. Kengkawan lain - Yu*, Et* and Aw*n could not make it as they had prior engagements somewhere else :(
We also had another birthday do for Hilman. The other day it was at Mak's and he was surrounded by girls. This time around he had a REAL fun party because there were boys, boys and more boys around!
The highlight of the night was of course Hilman's birthday thingy, but us Mommies (and Daddies) had our own highlight in the form of reminiscing the Mommies' culinary (or lack of it!!) skills. Hehehe... We even came up with our own Charta and ranking (results of which shall remain within the group sahaja, okay?! Hahaha!)
Later, we (or rather - the hubbies) had a field day gelakkan the wifeys when we went through my album of old photos from zaman sekolah dulu . Masa zaman jahiliah. Even the kids gelakkan mak-mak they all yang posing maut. Cissss...
The last of the guests left just after 1:00a.m - adjourning to Na*i Ka*dar Se*ap for their sahur. Ayah and I didn't join as Ayah was supposed to drive up to Ipoh this morning for a meeting, and he needed his sleep so that he would be fresh.
But, as I'm typing this (and it's 12:23p.m!), he's still sleeping beside me, as he's not feeling that well.
Too much Mee Rebus last night kot?! :)
And as I'm typing this, too, the rest of the MT are (on their way to?) at KLCC for a ladies day out/shopping tak ingat laki... Hahaha!
Anyway, enjoy the pics!
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