Mia : Before & After

Well, I only have one daughter. And she has three brothers. Not any help at all at times. She has to battle her way every time. And Mia is not a prim and proper girly girl - growing up with three brothers toughen her I supposed. Well, the only other girl in the house is her mother and not that her mother is girly either - having three sons with different ideas and their own mind on almost everything toughen the mother too.

Anyway, it has been a year or two now, that I have been winning over the frequent request from her father to cut her hair. Messy as she is - well, Mia does not like to comb her hair. And everytime I call her to comb it for her, she will run a mile or two away. Every morning it is a battle between me and her to get her hair combed and made presentable for school. But, between so many things that I have to do and combing her hair, I am fighting a losing battle. And one fine Saturday, after asking her permission to cut her hair for what seemed like a zillion times, she's finally capitulated.

                              Mia still with her long hair

                                     Long hair no more

      

                           The man responsible for her short hair

                                      

                           Doesn't look like she's happy with it

Another unhappy customer. Aqil's hair was also trimmed that day

Finally! And a Dedication to My Friend LG :-D

It seemed like ages before I last key in an entry. Classes resumed after the Reading Week with a few alterations to our timetable. I have been going to classes, lab session and presentations almost on daily basis now. But that is not the reason why I don't blog. My blog was somehow corrupted! I was sent to other sites every time I tried to log on. And as my last desperate efforts I deleted all the extra gadgets and voila! I can now log in happily.

And first, I would like to apologise to my friend LG as before the "incident" I promised her the recipe for Abbas' Pilao Rice.

So, my Dear LG, here goes :

Nasi Pilao

1 ekor ayam

2 biji bawang besar, dihiris (untuk 1 kilo beras basmathi)

2 biji tomato (potong dadu)

4 sudu besar tomato puri

1 inci halia (hiris halus)

1 sudu besar paste bawang putih

Coriander leaves

Rempah

11/2 sudu besar Garam masala

4 helai bay leaves

1 sudu besar Mixed Masala Whole

Chilli powder (ikut rasa)

4 biji Black cardamoms

Saffron (5-6 urat)

Minyak untuk memasak

Air

Cara membuatnya :

Panaskan minyak dalam periuk. Tumiskan bawang besar sehingga naik bau (warna hampir perang). Masukkan tomato, halia, tomato puree dan paste bawang putih. Tumis dengan api perlahan dalam 3 minit, kemudian masukkan semua bahan rempah. Tumis lagi sehingga naik bau rempah. Kemudian masukkan ayam ke dalam tumisan selama 2 -3 minit.  Next masukkan air (nisbah 3 : 3 dan tambahkan 1/2 lagi. Eg. for sukatan 3 beras, 31/2 air; if 2 beras, then 21/2 air). Pada kadar air akan mendidih, masukkan daun coriander. Setelah air mendidih, masukkan beras. Perasakan dengan garam. Kacau sedikit dan tutup sehingga masak dengan  api sederhana. According to Abbas, never open the cover until the rice is cooked - this will make the rice fluffy!

Hmmmm... what a relief.  Now I can sit back and relax a bit as I have fulfilled my promise. Sorry for the delay, yeah! 

Look Who's Cooking :-D

I have been busy lately.  Time flies quickly. I am already into the sixth week of Semester 2.  And it is Reading Week this week meaning there is no class, no lecture to attend and no lab session.  Reading Week is designed for us students to revise what we have covered so far. So, in order not to be left out and as an early preparation for the coming Exam after the Easter holidays, it is only wise to do the revision now.  Well, I did and still am revising - which means I have a lot more questions to ask the lecturers the coming week than before. And I have progressed in my Minitab exercises too - too bad my 30 day trial period will be over tomorrow. Anyway, life has to go on - Minitab or no Minitab.  Why do I bother so much about Minitab? Because the Minitab application will carry 60% of the overall 5QM assessment.

Well, enough for that.  One of my husband's colleagues at the Two Sisters Factory is Abbas - He came to Dundee about 7 years ago - right from the foot of K2 in Pakistan. His full time job? Hmm... he's a Chef with The Gulistan House.  My husband had on numerous occasions told me how good his briyani and pilao rice are. To which I made no comment - he is a Chef - of course he cook good food.  Hey! I never tasted his briyani or pilao rice before....

But yesterday, my husband managed to kidnap him from the comfort of his home to our little kitchen.  And, guess what? We (my husband rather) managed to get a first hand free cooking lesson from the kind Chef.  And the verdict? I have never tasted a pilao rice so soft and tasty - Abbas also taught my husband how to cook Chicken Curry (yeah.... the one without coconut milk which we were used to back home). The Curry? Fantastic.  Would you like a peek?

                                        
               Azmi and Abbas strike a pose while busy cooking

                                          Pilao Rice

                                          Chicken Curry

Well, due to our enthusiasm of trying Abbas' pilao and curry, none of us remember to take any snap of the food on our plate! Burrrppp!!!

(Source of Image : K2 Peak from news.bbc.co.uk)

An Afternoon at Broughty Ferry

Hmmm... studying is the big chunk of my life now - Anyway, it is my decision to go back to school - So, it is me who has to make sure that I got through - and well! But, when the pressure is UP - Yeah.... like I still can't get a sensible result for my Minitab exercise even after more than 6 trials (which seems like a zillion to me!), I do need to chill out.

Yesterday (Saturday) though it snowed the night before, turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.  My son Hakim had on many occasions nagged his Baba to go fishing. So, yesterday, taking advantage of the sunny day, we made a short fishing trip to Broughty Ferry.

And here some of the shots taken :

                 Dad & Children - May looked sunny but it is cold

                                       All the four of them

             Hakim pretending that he's a co-Star in Robson Green's
             Extreme Fishing!!!

           Actually I am not quite sure what this structure is for :-D

                                         Mom & Children

So! Where are the shots on fishing? Well,... it is cold there sitting by the sea waiting for the fish to nib at the bait - So.... I took Danish, Mia and Aqil to the town ( about 10 minutes walk and that's counting Aqil's small steps).  We managed to get ourselves five books including Doctor Who Annual from Cancer Research UK and Oxfam - all for £2.09p.  Too bad, we can't managed to check into Sue Ryder, PDSA and Children 1st - wonder what we can get from these shops - oh yes, by the way, all the shops mentioned here are charity shops.  We love to pop in them - you can get a real good bargain for the second hand books!

And for our next trip, I will take shots of the town - it is small but somehow, it feels like something out of a children's storybook.

Ahhh... back to fishing... No luck this time! Perhaps the fish are enjoying the sun too! Bah..!

Just as we left yesterday, I managed to capture this. It may not be a good shot but this kind of scenery sure makes my day! :-D

A Very Brief Unplanned Trip

It is Sunday today and since it was re-opened a few weeks ago, we were back to our previous Sunday trip - where else but Errol Airfield - the Most Happening place to us - at least it is true as far as our household is concerned. :-D

And this time, we went there with two other families - Taufik/Aeni (our Tok Penghulu) and Azhar/Fiza (who finally got their car yesterday - such, it was a first family trip for them).

Well, enough said, our trip to Errol went without incident - everyone was excited as there are more car booties this week than the previous.  And the weather? Sunny though a little cold - but not as bitter - in short, bearable. My best find today? A three-tiered wooden drawer for £4. We also managed a large size Teddy Bear, a smaller pink rabbit, two duvet sets, four pillow cases, two new pillows, a pair of brown pants for Aqil, a newish sweater for Danish, a purple notebook, a collared T-Shirt and a pair of trousers for Mi - Guess what? All these for just £1 - not bad huh? It's a stall which sells everything-you-can-fit-in-a-bag for £1. And today, we were given the big garbage bag by the stall owner and we went crazy! Trust me - it's kind of theraputic! And finally, Mi managed to get himself a new pair of trainer to replace the one which was stolen at Edinburgh Mosque last Boxing Day.

Just before we left Errol, Tok Penghulu suggested for us to detour to St Andrews before going home. Everyone agreed.  So, off we went to St Andrews. And this time, the weather is so much better and we stopped by at the beach.  Here are some of the photos taken :

                                          All 6 of Us! :-D

                                          Taufik/Aeni's Lot

                                          Azhar/Fiza's Household

                      
                    Letting our hair hangs down? :-D Technically
                                                    

                             I really love the above two photos!!!

              Fathi - He refused to leave until his photos were taken
              Cute huh? :-D

               Aqil - Wanted to strike a pose but worried as his
               friends were leaving

Well, though it was not a planned trip, which we did not prepare any picnic basket, we have to leave early. But enough to keep the children happy - you see, short as it may be, they were quite eager to get into the car - it started getting colder.

Sleeping...not so Beauty

I am not sure if I had earlier mentioned that Aqil will sleep any time he is sleepy.  And it doesn't matter where. One time when he was about a year and a half old, he slept while I was bathing him - Nope! I am not lying! Until now, I found it quite unbelievable - how could someone sleep while bathing??? Well, anyway, Aqil could.

Aqil is into playing the pc games stage now. It is so.... difficult to get him to eat while he is in front of the pc - he refuses to stop (every time!) - how I wish he will continue having this kind of concentration when he is studying later. 

Anyway, last night, after a few "battles" with him, he finally agreed to have his dinner.  And not five minutes later I found him like this  :

Closer...

Yes... his right hand smeared with rice and curry and as he fell into that position (he was sitting earlier) his left hand dropped into the plate!

And not so long after that....

Felt like a sleepy spell was blowing into our home.  But Mia has an excuse - she is down with fever. Hopefully she will get well before school re-opens next Tuesday.

Not so perfect birthday & Certificate of Merit

Well, Mia's birthday fell on Tuesday this week. But instead of having a cheerful clear face she had a bruised although still cheerful face.

The story? She fell while running with a few friends in the playground - what more can I say? She came back that day with cuts on her face and knee.  Gladly the teachers had cleaned the cuts and put a band aid on her knee.

Did I mentioned about the Burns Week? Among the activities are recitation of Burns' poems. Though Mia entered as well, she did not win for her category (but she's OK with that - she forgotten the two middle lines of Cat & Mous.  However, Danish & Hakim are much luckier - they received the Certificate of Merit from the Robert Burns World Federation Limited.

Danish did not just won the Certificate but also chosen as the Pupil of the Week.  He recited the Robert Burns poem entitled "Address To A Haggis".  Hakim recited "A Dug A Dug"

This makes me wonder though.  Perhaps, our schools back home should celebrate our own Sasterawan as well - how many of our younger generations today have read the writings of Usman Awang, Tongkat Waran, Khadijah Hashim and Arenawati to name a few? Maybe some efforts has to be taken to do these Sasterawan justice....