Eid Mubarak 2011

Eid Mubarak to everyone. We here in Oman celebrate Eid on 31st August which is a day later from some of the country in the world including Malaysia. If you ask me, any preparation? Well.. nothing much actually. Just a simple celebration.

We woke up in the morning excitedly as today is Raya. Made a few phone calls back to Malaysia. We put on our nice best clothes, gathered around to salam raya. Taking photos and talking about what are we going to do after this? Hehehhehe..

The kids especially are excited most because of duit raya. So bersemangat to salam raya..

I've started cooking from the night time. Rebus ketupat, rendang daging, acar buah and making sambal kacang. In the morning of Eid, I woke up early made nasi briyani ayam. I also made kek lapis and couple of biscuits.

We had our first guest after solat raya. A couple of bachelor guys who happened didn't go back for Raya. Meriah ah sikit rumah.. So good to see them here to share the joy with us.

Later on one Malaysian family came for Raya too. In the evening we went to the Malaysian Embassy for the Raya gathering. There were many actually who didn't go back for Raya especially non-muslim who work here. It's good to see and be with the crowd.

Well.. that's it our Eid. Though we don't do like we normally do back in Malaysia, but we still enjoy our Raya.

Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Dzahir Batin to everyone.

Happy Birthday My Dearest Hubby

Today is my dearest hubby's birthday. Since it's Ramadhan, we celebrated after Iftar. I cooked nasi lemak and made hubby's favourite Oreo cheese cake. It's just a small family celebration. We later went out pekena teh and shawarma!

To my dearest hubby.. I dedicated this lovely birthday poem to you.

Your birthday marks another year together;

Such happy times, I couldn’t ask for more,

Spending precious minutes, hours and days,

With you, my love, whom I cherish and adore.

We’ve shared so much, we two, in love and friendship;

Each year our bond just seems to grow and grow.

I always want to be right next to you;

To be with you means more than you can know.

You’re always there for me with a loving smile;

I’m never happier than when I know you’re near.

I thought my love for you could not grow stronger;

And yet I love you even more this year.

By Karl and Joanna Fuchs

Iftar Gathering Again...

I've been quite busy lately. We organized another two Iftar gathering. The first one was from the same group of "orang bujang". It was held last Tuesday just before a day all of them went back for Eid holiday.

For that Iftar, I prepared quite a challenging dishes. Well.. to me actually :) I was stucked in the kitchen since morning till evening. Memang melepek ah.. I cooked gulai tulang, sambal tumis sotong, otak-otak ikan kukus, sayur, sambal belacan. As for dessert I made cucur udang, bubur kacang durian and karipap.

But it was really worth my effort as my guests were totally enjoyed the meal. Memang habis licin..

As for our second guest, it was held two days after that. This was a small family, our close friend. I cooked lemak cili api talang nenas, sayur kangkung, ketam goreng, ikan berlada and sambal tempoyak. As for dish I made cucur udang (again as it was everybody's favourite and perasan mcm dah terror buat ni...) and also kek bakar pisang. This Iftar was more relaxing as I could joined the guests eating.

I guess these would be our last Iftar gathering with guests. Today I've started my baking. Yes! finally I got one kenwood mixer. My first project which is currently in the oven is kek lapis cokelat. I planned to give this to one of our Omani's friend.

Though I only have limited ingredients and items, my kek lapis as for now looks good. Excited ni.. I planned to bake a few more and also biscuits.

Esok.. oopps Next Week Hari Raya

In a week time, InsyaAllah our Ramadhan will be end and we are all celebrating Eid. How time flies so fast. Well.. actually I feel this year’s Ramadhan, day by day has gone so fast. It’s probably I am very busy from day one settling the house shifting and daily cooking. Preparing dish and food in this month must always be a special one.

Eid this year will be special for me and my family as after three years parted from hubby we are now be able to celebrate it together. Last year I celebrated Eid at my hometown, Kedah. It has been since eight years that I’ve not celebrated Eid in Kedah. I was really looking forward and excited. Furthermore all my brothers came back too. For the first time too, we had the opportunity to celebrate Eid together.

Since my mom is not around anymore, I did all the cooking for Eid. We had non-stop visitors till evening. I was quite busy on the first day. When it came to night time, I’ve started missing something and someone. Yes.. my husband and my mom.

The next day I felt more miserable. Honestly I felt that the Eid won’t be Eid without my husband. I realized that all of us actually needed to be together to create the happiness and the excitement. I don’t know.. probably I am just getting old or what but nowadays I feel that if I go anywhere without hubby, it won’t be as much fun as it used to be. EXCEPT shopping.. this is to avoid the guiltiness of buying things in front of him!! Hahahahhaa...

Anyway.. this year I have him around. Not just me alone who are looking forward but my children too. We will celebrate our Eid here in Oman. Yup.. here.. and as far as I know, all Malaysians are already went back celebrating their Ramadhan and Eid back in Malaysia. So tinggal kami je lah one family.

We do not feel so left out or mati kutu as I believe and can guarantee that our Eid will still be fun and full with excitement. We already planned what to cook and to go. As others back in Malaysia busying hopping for Raya and balik kampong, we too do the same – except tak balik kampong ah...

Well.. we are all now counting days..

NIghtlife in Ramadhan

Nightlife here I mean specifically during Ramadhan is really happening! During the day time the town is very quiet. The restaurants and food shops are closed. The offices only open half day. Most of the Omanis will take leave during this holy month.

The town will only be lively and bustling after Iftar. It’s totally an opposite scenario. We love to go out at night during this month. Nothing much to do or not many places to go, it’s just we normally wondered around and joined the crowd! Orang sebuk shopping raya, we all just sebuk meramaikan orang.. J

The Mall especially, will close at 12am – 1am. Normally after Terawikh the crowd will be more packed. Sometimes when we walked and wondered around, we didn’t realize that the time was 11pm or 12pm. Memang tak terasa.. People are still busying shopping and some even just arrived at that hour.

Well.. that’s the Mall. The restaurant or food shops are also crowded with people. Including us too.. dah makan Iftar still sometimes wants to chill out at the food shops. Be it either shawarma or probably coffee still we want to do it!

During this Ramadhan most of the shops are also having sales. In this month also Omanis like to buy new car! Kereta raya!! It is actually a good deal and the shops normally offered a huge suprise package for buyers. We had experienced before when we bought cars during this month. I still remember when we bought Prado, the whole boot of the car was filled up with the electrical goods.

Some of the electrical goods were still in the box and never being used! This time around we’re lucky as we came at the right time. We recently bought a car and got a free laptop, 500litres petrol, electrical goodies and free service. Good deal right.. And that’s why people here buy new car every year !

Anyway.. not every night we go out. There are not many places to go and we don’t want one of us to start mention the word BORING. We sometimes keep going to the same place over and over again but hey.. you would not believe if I say that we enjoyed every bit of it.

I always believe that sometimes it is not the place that you go but the “crowd” that you are with that make the place more interesting and lively. We have years ahead of us here in Oman so we better make sure that we will live here to the max!!

One Month

Today has been exactly a month I’ve been in Muscat, Oman. We are all settling down well at our new home. Alhamdullilah that everything has went smooth as planned. Half of the month was spent for house hunting and half of the month was settling down and started our Ramadhan. Yup.. today is our 16^th day of Ramadhan. Cepat kan...

The weather now has getting better as it’s now towards winter. It’s not that hot anymore and sometimes it’s also windy and breezy. We mostly just stay at home during day time and only go out during night time. My kids sometimes feel bored but at the same time they were all happy hooked up to their laptop.

The school has not started yet. It will be on 5^th September after Eid. Many asked why I don’t come after Ramadhan. Well.. first hubby has been here almost a year without us. We also need to find a house as before this he stayed in a small apartment. Then it’s Ramadhan. I don’t think I want hubby or me to be apart again especially at his side. Kesian makan minum dia..

That’s why we came 2 weeks before Ramadhan in hoping to get a house as quickly as we can and settling down fast. So now my kids are having their leisure summer break which almost 7 weeks. As for their school part, more or less we have settled everything. Now they are just waiting for the day to come.

As for me, I’m busy day to day with the house chores. I am glad that I have my maid with me as it helps a lot. Most Malaysians are not here as they went back for the summer holiday and will be back after Eid. So no outing and hanging out with friends yet for me. Am just chilling and hibernating at home.

Nevertheless I am happy here as I have my family with me and looking forward each brand new day.

Cooking Skills in Ramadhan

I tend to be creative and adventurous in cooking when staying abroad especially during Ramadhan. I love to cook and also like to try out new dish. Over here there is definitely no Pasar Ramadhan or any shops that you can buy foods or kuih. As usual during Ramadhan ah nafsu nak makan itu ini membuak-buak..

So nak tak nak.. kena ah masak sendiri... Since day one of Ramadhan, i will make sure I have at least one kuih on the table .I started with karipap. Ni dah expert ah.. Pasal dah banyk kali trial and error! Then I made murtabak. I had no problem with the inti tapi nak buat kulit tu.. I know that I can use kulit popia instead tapi nak gak try buat from scratch. Well.. it turned out not bad. Tak ah selembut murtabak mamak tu tapi bole ah makan!!

Then I dig out all the recipes and tried out the one that the ingredients are easy to find here. Well.. some turned out quite buruk – luaran je.. but the taste was not bad at all.

Two days ago I made cucur udang. I took the recepi from one of the blogger – cucur udang tembam. Huh.. memang tembam.. Sekali hadap je habis masa Iftar. I also made bubur kacang durian which I used lempok to add the flavour. Ni me and hubby je yang makan as kids don’t really like it. Yesterday I made roti john... Walllaa... and everybody likes it.

Every morning when I woke from sleep, the first thing that pop up on my mind is “what to cook for today?”. Seriously sometimes dah takde idea.. In this house, they must eat rice for Iftar. So kena ah pelbagaikan lauk pauk..

Hmm.. I think today I want to cook Nasi Lemak with sambal sotong. I plan to give some to our Omani’s neighbour. I wish I have daun pisang so I can make nasi lemak bungkus tu... As for kuih... still thinking..

Cheers everybody and selamat berbuka puasa.

Iftar with Guests

Yesterday we invited “orang bujang” for Iftar at our home. It’s our first guests after settling down. The day before I went to the wet market but came home disappointedly as there were not many people selling fish. It’s probably on the weekdays.

So menu kena ubah ah.. I cooked ikan talang masin + nenas masa cili api, ayam goreng berlada, ikan bakar and some ulam with tempoyak and sambal belacan. I also made roti jala and some kuih.

There were ten of “orang bujang” who some wife went home for summer holiday and some were here without family. I was very glad that they really enjoyed the food.

Though our house still looks bare, but importantly our guests still feel comfortable and enjoy the crowd.

Insyaalah probably I and hubby will organize another Iftar during weekend.

As Expected!!

I lived here before and I’m supposed I know this is what to be expected! Well.. I thought after so many years probably things might change but I was wrong. I am talking about when you BUY things here and then when they want to DELIVER the goods, it’s always not as what they promised.

Damn.. memang naik darah jadinya.. My first expecting delivery was bedrooms set and our dining table. It was supposed to be send on the 30^th July but it ended up on the 1^nd August. It was not just the delivery delayed, but all the furniture here when you buy it comes in loose parts and the people have to install and fix it at your home.

They arrived at 9am and finished at 9pm. Just imagined the whole day they (two workers) were in my home. I saw they were still looking at the manual on how to fix it and sometimes took a break which a few times. Hmm.. mmg ah slow sangat... Even after we finished our Iftar they were still working.

As for my second delivery, came on the promised date but time sesuka hati mereka. This shop has an experience workers so cepat ah sikit kerja.

As for other delivery, my mind had been set for all the consequences that might happen. Currently I am still waiting for the water dispenser delivery since two days ago. I’ve been calling them on and on but the answers are still the same.

Dah ah panas kat sini... and now memang panas with this people. I seriously don’t understand why are these people are not committed with their work. Understood.. I know some locals have this ‘malas’ attitude and takes thing all so lightly but till when?

I wish I could just shout out loud to them – WAKE UP or else you will lose what you are having now. Huh.. lantak ah kan.. what I want now is my WATER delivery!!

Ramadhan Mubarak

Hope it’s not too late for me to wish everybody Ramadhan Mubarak. Today is our 5^th day of Ramadhan. How time flies so fast. Since the first day of Ramadhan, I was being very busy shifting to our new house. After a week staying at the hotel we decided to move to hubby’s home. The small one bedroom apartment, but hey.. we managed n survived!

On the first day of Ramadhan, we shifted our entire huge luggage which full with our clothes and a few boxes of food stocks. On the same day also, our furniture and a few electrical goods arrived. The house was not actually proper cleaned yet- well not up to my satisfaction actually but ok lah... While the workers busied installing furniture, we too busied cleaning up the house.

I thought of cooking for Iftar on the 1^st day, but tak larat sangat and we just bought nasi briyani. Since we already had our bed room furniture ready, we slept at our new house with bags unsettled around on the floor! On the 2^nd day, I went out to buy a few things to fill up the kitchen and the house. On the 3^rd day, we received another sets of furniture.

Yesterday people came to fix the TV and satellite and yalllaaa.. as for now.. our house now is now our home sweet home. Well.. kalau ikutkan hati.. there are still lots more that I want to buy but hubby warned me to slow down a bit.. hahahahaha.. mau semput kalau nak beli semua sekali gus!

Anyway, today I woke up settling up a few things unsettled. My maid has started washing clothes – pending still 3 days ago! We’re lucky as its summer and the laundry were ready and dry within 2 hours. So mcm kedai dobi lah pulak...

Alhamdullilah.. everything has settled as planned. Now I can start planning cooking more interesting dish for Iftar. Our neighbour has been kind giving us everyday dish for Iftar. I haven’t balas anything yet.. Aduh.. malunya.. Now nak kena brush up my skill back making kuih traditional!