little dinner @Bangi Kopitiam

Adam was a little unwell Friday last week. Been coughing with little fever. Neb sesssion scheduled twice daily for 3 days. Morning and night. 

We normally have some family-time dinner outside every Friday. So before neb session, it was makan-makan session. I was craving for nasi arab and tried to persuade everyone to go to Barada, Iman protested. Eventhough his meal selection has expanded considerably, nasi arab is not (yet) included. So we ended up eating at Bangi Kopitiam, opposite Barada, just across an alley.

My latest favorite drink - limau suam!  Not too hot, and most importantly not cold. As long as no bitterness, I'm okay. In another glass, Tebby ordered soursop juice, if I'm not mistaken.

 

Barada - seen from Bangi Kopitiam *look with longing feeling*

This was my dinner. Chicken curry with quite a commendable portion of a chicken drumstick! Eaten with steamed thick bread. Bolehlah. I was still hungry after dinner btw :P

Iman attacking his egg-on-toast. No matter what drink he ordered, he always finished with plain water. And he doesn't drink carbonated ones. Good boy Iman.

Kakak and Tebby ordered the same thing. Some kind of megi looking noodles with fancy name written in the menu.

Alhamdulillah everyone came home filled and fulfilled. Except for me since that portion was too small for my gastronomic desire :D


Have a great weekend ahead peeps!

stairs & staircase part 1

Staircase is one of the subjects we discussed in length. Original plan was to keep the hand-rail but to change those parquets into timber planks. But changing into timber planks would mean changing the whole flooring upstairs as this extends from upstairs.

Personally I have reservation having open hand-rail like that as guests could actually see our second storey easily. I wanted to wall it up but Tebby had some reservations as that would block that area from natural light. 

Stairs and staircase - then. Metal railing with its top part made of wood. Yang berlonggok tersandar tu are bits and pieces from my wardrobe.

Alas, we settled for this. Walled it up, with three square openings for lights to get through. Of course it will not be as good as before (the natural light) but okaylah I think. Afterall, there will be a lamp there.

We still need to have hand-rail. Now can say lah no need kan, later when sakit lutut already, must have that one la kan nak naik tangga. That one, reuse the one they've pulled out, the wooden part.

Plan to place our TV cabinet along the wall, throw few big cushions on carpet (which I have yet to own *hint*) and voila... resting area. I think this will be our most used area later :D :D Especially the kids and Tebby. I am not so much of a TV-person myself.

So far so good. Alhamdulillah.

little western dinner

Little western dinner the other night.

Went to Alamanda earlier that day and did some groceries shopping at Cold Storage. If it was a full-blast groceries shopping we would have opted for Carrefour actually. More selections and most importantly, affordable. That day we just needed to buy some provisions to fill up the fridge. So we went to Cold Storage. A promo stall with samples of lasagne was there. Kids tested and liked. Ahhh.. thank you. I've been thinking on adding more variations to kids bekal and dinner menu. Allah Answered my prayer! :D Lasagne it is then.

 

I don't own a microwave oven. Not yet. *ahem* *hint*. I set my little oven to 185d and pop these into it for around 20-30 minutes.

Pan fried beef. Bought a pack of marinated beef at their reduce to clear section. Half of its original price and perhaps half of freshness as well. Ala... pekasam ikan lagi lama perap, sedap jugak kan. Shown above in its original color, no lighting technique whatsoever. Gelap tapi sedap :D

Some greens and reds. Too lazy to whip up fried vegetables so here's kerabu mat saleh or better known as salad. Butterhead lettuce with cherry tomatoes. It was all healthy until I splashed ceaser's dressing and added slices of marinated beef, carefully choosing ones with fats attached!

hands tied down

The proposal I worked on has been rejected.
I guess it's time for comfort food.

This..

Or this?

 

Or both? 

 

If you tie my hands and feet, please don't expect me to run.

ps - Thanks Farrah for the super-yummylicious cake. It mends my broken heart :D

mini karnival PIBG SK BTHO 2

Kids were super excited last week. Although the event took place last Sunday, at their school the joy-fullness and merry-ness started earlier. They went into the rumah hantu during recess time, to be exact. Kakak reported to me tho, an eyewitness saw Iman kicking, punching and poking one of the ghosts out of fright!

It was a fund-raising event held by the school's PIBG. Before I go on rambling - my heartiest congratulations to all people involved especially the school and committee for making it happen. Truly, it was the very the happening. I was quite surprised at the turnouts. Ramai!

Kakak was pestering us on buying the food coupon for days! I think that was her strategy in making sure that we will all go. Food sold mostly via coupons except for few items only.

I don't know what these are called. Basikal lantai? :D Don't quote me. These kids, Ya Allah, so laju! None of my kids can cycle actually so we passed this one.

Shamsul Ghau Ghau oso got! He was MC-ing and cracking few jokes which I could not make out what and what. Later we had that abang from Geng Bas Sekolah. He sang and cracked joke. Err... I think he should stick to cracking jokes :D

While other people were busy playing, layan-ing kids, some extra-excited kids go and play with fire extinguisher!

Adam so wanting to go into this pool but we did not layan. Knowing him, he'll be there for a long long long time. Each person is allocated limited minuted splashing, rowing and getting wet.

Pony ride! RM6 per person per round. A round took about half of soccer field. My elder two were so excited when they first heard that pony ride would also be available. Whatmore when they saw those ponies real life! When we first arrived, the Q was super long. We assured the kids we'd go after we some meals and visits to stall.

Afterwards, nevertheless, the Q was still super long. What to do meh. Just Q up. It was scorching hot I tell you. Bertabah betul Q up for almost 1/2 hour!

Iman was first to go among the three. He was so excited and afraid. All at the same time. When he finally got on the pony, he was as stiff as a log! Ha ha.When budak jaga pony tu tried to adjust so that he'd sit comfortably, he gave a jelingan tajam and said jangan!

Kakak mula-mula tak mau naik but as we Q up she got excited and went on trying.

Adam pun! I had reservations at first. What if the pony decides to run? What if it decides to stand on its hind legs? Alhamdulillah everything went so well. In fact, Adam acted so au-natural, as if he's used to riding pony :D

We redeemed nasi ayam for kids. Had to buy another set of coupons. We needed 3 nasi ayam but 1 coupon set came with 2 nasi ayam only.

Iman & Adam had fun jumping and sliding while me, Tebby and Kakak bracing the hotness and squinting our eyes under the sun.. For 15 minutes I tell you. 

Quite surprise when Kakak wanted to do mendi. Selalunya dia tak suka benda-benda macam ni. Layannn. RM5 for one hand.

Iman pulak opted for sand-art. RM3 for small piece and RM5 for bigger one. Luckily he picked the smaller one. Good. More jimat and lesser time spent peeling and sanding hihi. Adam pun dok tolong tu ha.

To be frank I didn't expect we'd be so happy at the carnival. Most importantly the kids had fun.

Oh ya, apart from long Q for pony ride, this one also super loonggggg! Nak redeem keropok lekor! Tebby Q-ed up (you can never take Terengganu out of him :D - usually long Q puts him off immediately but not this one). Keropok was super good that we bought 2 extra packs.

Yang, next time if got karnival like this, we rent a stall la jual keropok lekor. My only fear is, tukang jual yang lagi banyak makan :P

fence & gate part 1

credit - google image

I have always adored (wanted) wooden fencing. Something similarly with photo above (only smaller!) Cantik kan.

credit - google image

Or something like this. But obviously it will not materialized. My neighbor on the left started renovating his house last March (if I am not mistaken) and he has erected brick wall between his and our house. To balance the whole look (more like not wanting to look weird actually) we just 'copied' that and erect something similar between our house and our neighbor on the right. Not really my cuppa, the design. But can do lah. When you live in intermediate terrace house, you have to forgo some things right.

Right side of fence. Photo taken from neighbor-on-the-right's house (which we are currently renting). They use 'sand brick' for fence while walls from 'clay brick'.

 

Left side of fence. This is taken from our house front door. This side yang share dengan my left-neighbor tu. This side was left 'brick-y looking' so the workers lepa simen here. Tengok tu siap ada kucing buat stretching ha ha. That's Tebby supervising the site, (which he does everyday!)

As for front gate, we haven't really decided yet. I am more inclined for wrought+wooden gate. But see la how. (More like see la wallet later :D ).. We're sticking to the budget InsyaAllah...

little archeologists

Three of them to be exact! :D

Kakak bought this crystal mining kit last weekend. The boys tumpang as well (much to her irritation actually) :D The kit is actually man-made mine with 3 crystals embedded in some kind of plaster. No worries, hammer included.

16:46 - Started mining. Head archeologist hammering with her two assistants looking and waiting for their turns. At the back of the kit, it said it may take few hours to finish. Not wanting them to get impatient, I told them the fact that real archeologist at times takes days or months or even years in doing their work.

16:55 - First sight of two crystals. After 9 minutes. Not bad at all. The plaster is quite hard I was tempted to rummage through Tebby's toolbox for bigger hammer to expedite the whole process. Kakak reminded me to be patience and told me that real archeologist at times take days, or even months yada yada yada..

Only after the first sight of two crystals, Iman was given the chance to hammer. Ketuk Bang, jangan tak ketuk :P

16:56 - Adam's turn pulak.

17:13 - Not so much progress since the last 20 minutes huh?

17:28 - Finally! The first crystal! Brown. The kids were super excited :D

17:39 - Second crystal. Color similar to rose quartz. This is the biggest one of the three.

17:50 - Head archeologist is still working on extracting the second crystal. Degil that one, I tell you hihi. Adam looks on.

17:56 - 3rd crystal! At that time we were not sure if it was brown or black or purple.

17:59 - The 3rd and final crystal. Purple.

Washed with warm water with little soap and they gleam afterwards. Much to Kakak's delight :D I need to find way to attach these to necklace.

I am glad they had good time doing that. As for me it was like waiting for birth :D Checking every 5-10 minutes to see to the progress and got excited everytime they managed to dig a piece out.

Just now she reminded me that she still has crystal growing kit, still in box. It's been years actually since she bought that. Okay okay, Ummi got the hint.