Ramadhan 1429 and forgiveness

Ramadhan is just around the corner. It is a special month of the year for Muslims throughout the world. A month full of blessings for inner reflection, devotion to God and self-control as well. An intensive time for worship to coming closer to God, reading the Quran, charity, doing good deeds etc.

Here, we would like to take this opportunity to wish Happy Ramadhan Mubarak to all our friends. Hoping that, this Ramadhan will purify our behaviour to be a good Muslim. Last but not least, we are asking the forgiveness for whatever wrongdoings done by us.

Happy Ramadhan 1429.

Azizul, Niza and Farrel

Farrel, 6 months!!

Happy 6th Months Old to our precious Ahmad Farrel Daniel. Really happy for your progress and development till today. You are an apple of our eyes. Time flies so rapidly and we couldn't believe he is already 6 months today. I still can remember feeling him in my belly and seeing his feet poke out my belly. That's 7 months ago. However, the memory still fresh in my memory. What an amazing experience it was, now he is a big baby. In 6 months ahead he will become a toddler. And we are really hoping, all the reminiscence to raise him since newborn will remain forever in our memory.

As he's grown up now, we are starting to feed him solid food. Actually we start gave him Bledina baby food when he turned 5 months. At first I wondered how do we know our baby is ready for solid food? I began to google the information through internet and here are some tips from my reading about signs of baby readiness of solid food:

• As a mom, we can feel our baby may ‘need something’ more than formula or breastmilk. Yeah.. my biological clock is ticking. Farrel need something more!!

• Maybe our baby is beginning to awaken more often at night or eat more often than 'usual' and we wonder if introducing solid foods may be what he/she needs. But pls keep in mind that a growth spurt will occur between 3-4 months of age (the earliest stage). But bear in mind, he/she may also be waking due to illness and teething. Yes.. Farrel woke up more frequent than usual (usually he didn't woke up till morning since he 3 months old)

• Ability to know she/he is full from a 'meal' with signs such as turning away from bottle or breast. This is important so that baby able to self-regulate the amount of food being eaten. This helps stop baby from accidentally overeating as parfents may continue to feed baby thinking she/he is still hungry.

• Doubling of birth weight. Huhu... Farrel is 8kg now compare his birthweight was 3.21.

I'm a big boy!!

He learns to crawl..

He learns to sit up..

Congratulation

Congratulation to the new Permatang Pauh MP, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who won the seat with a majority of 15,671 votes. He polled 31, 195 votes against Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah's 15, 524.

Apple Picking & Petit Paris

Last Saturday we went to Le Verger des Azemars near Buzet Sur Tarn. It takes about 30 minutes from IAS. The objective we went there was to experience “Apple Picking” and besides to taste the sweetness and the freshness of the apples. It’s an activity that almost everyone can do, promotes healthy eating and is affordable. Not to mention the many different recipes you can make with apples. Homemade apple pie, apple tart, apple chips and apple cake, all can be made easily with a sack full of freshly picked apples. Me?? Huhu.. just make an apple caramel cake which is not bad at all. Next recipe will be Apple Pie or Apple Tart, Insya Allah.

Kalaulah saya ade gigi....

Next destination for Sunday was Petit Paris (Little Paris) which is 70km from IAS. We slowly cruise to the destination as we don’t want to miss the sign board as it a bit difficult to find the place. Actually this is the second time we try to find the place and the first time drove us to lose but fortunately there was an attractive village on the way back. The idea for Petit Paris was 14 years ago when a little boy, Gerard Brion decided to build Paris in his garden.

psstttt: sgt tension sbb internet lambat giler, nk upload gambo pun x leh.. huhu.. seksanya saya..

Jendela Hati

Aku ingin hidup secerah mentari

Yang menyinar di kamar hatiku
Aku ingin seriang kicauan burung
Yang terdengar di jendela kehidupan
Aku ingin segala-galanya damai
penuh mesra membuah ceria
Aku ingin menghapus duka dan lara
Mengubat rindu di dalam dada
Sedamai pantai yang memutih
Sebersih titisan embunan pagi
Dan ukhuwah ini pasti berputik
Menghiasi taman yang harmoni

Mendengarkan lagu ini benar2 membuat diriku termenung jauh, tersentuh dengan setiap bait lagu tu. Yes.. I admit, everything begins from our heart. Sincerity is the answer for everything we do in life. ‘Aku ingin segala-galanya damai, penuh mesra membuah ceria’. Huhu.. that’s what my bottom heart tells me every single day. However, everything is predetermined by God and definitely He knows the very best for us. Every hardship given by HIM is ‘tarbiyah’ to test our patience. My hubby and I believe everything happened or gonna be happen is HIS ‘tarbiyah’ which gave us valuable lesson and this will fade soon. Every cloud has a silver lining and we are really grateful on what we’ve been going through. We still can smile and act like nothing happen. Hypocrite? Erm.. maybe that the best approach for everyone pleasure. Okay.. that’s all for the preface. Huhu.. a bit ‘emo’ intro.

Last weekend we got 2 invitations, birthday party for our friend’s daughter Aqilah (Happy 4th Birthday Qilah) and get-together lunch from Mdm Penin (Farrel’s foster auntie). We just swung by Aqilah’s birthday party for a while and then we led to Mdm Penin’s house. Almost 2 hours wasting our time in car to search for Mdm Penin’s house and at last we met up at Carrefour Purpan and she brought us to her house. At first Farrel was so clingy but when he gets familiar with Mdm Penin he becomes friendly and begins to explore the house barefacedly. Huhu.. buat mcm rumah sendiri pulak ye sayang..

akhirnya sampai jugaa..

Lambatnya train ni daddy..

Daddy.. kite nak gi mana ni pagi2 buta??

On Sunday, we went to ‘pasar hari’ in town. The market was happening with lots of fresh veggies and fruits. Almost every stall sold grapes and melons but no durian laa.. huhu.. Tak sabarnye nk blk Malaysia makan durian. Nyum..nyum.. My mom already keeps some in fridge for her beloved daughter. Huhu.. Tq mama.. Jawabnya raya ni melantak durian je la. Hihi.. Okayla.. banyak pulak membebel hr ni. Till then yaa !!

20082008

A short posting for a special day 20082008. Hehe.

No update

Sorry if no update lately. Coz the internet is not stable yet and my hubby now using the laptop for writing his thesis. So I don't have the chance to pen something here. But I'll update as usual soon.

Sorbet d'Amour and Farrel

Sorbet d'Amour's ice cream... nyum nyum..

To fill up my day without internet, I just ‘layan’ my new novel by Nicolas Sparks while my hubby keeps himself busy to finish his internship project. Sometimes I lend him a hand in MATLAB script though I forgot a lot about it. Special thanks to Nurul and Am because help him a lot in order to accomplish the project. He determined to finish the project before Ramadhan if possible; even the time is not against the clock. For Farrel, he doesn’t bother either internet is OK or not as long as he can rolls his body on the carpet boundlessly and watching his favourite cartoon Oggy. Actually me n hubby enjoy watching Oggy as well. Hehe.. At present, Farrel likes to lift up his butt as high as he could, we think he puts a great effort to the next phase (crawling) which normal for baby developmental milestone. C’mon babe!!! Allez allez!!! You can do it. Latest achievement for him, he successfully gets out from his car seat by himself when we didn’t buckle him. He truly ‘hero’, just like his name (Farrel = warrior).

Last weekend, we went to Capitole (city centre of Toulouse). One of our favourite activity, walking around the city and of course we swung by our favourite ice cream restaurant (Sorbet d’Amour) which is must visit place when we are going to Capitole. The ice cream’s taste there is like a heaven and we sure we are gonna miss it when back to Malaysia. We’ve been introduced to this ice cream restaurant after watching the documentary in television. Believe me; the taste is yummier compared to Jeff de Bruge’s ice cream. Then, we went to MIDICA the boutique for household equipments which we ‘happily’ spend an arm and a leg for our new ‘Old Country Roses Tea Set’. This was what my hubby said right after paid it: “Za.. nanti kalau kita tak cukup makan, kita rebus je tea set ni ye”. Soooo kejammm la abang!! Huhu.. Owh yea.. Farrel managed ‘to seduce’ one of the aunties there by his smiling. As consequence, he got a white fuzzy Polar Bear from his ‘foster auntie’.

First step

Voila...

Cheeky face...

Serius..

Huhu, see what he's doing with...

Rambling

Welcome to the new world for Nor Amalina Maisara. Alhamdulillah everything went well even my sis in law had to went through operation for this time. Congratulation to my sis in law and now our son, Farrel has 3 cousins from Azizul’s side and 1 cousin from my side (another one is coming this November). My heart beats pounder cause couldn’t wait the moment to meet with all our family members. Another one more month to go.

Alhamdulillah, finally, Azizul’s family managed to get the house for us in Nibong Tebal. This is just the temporary and we’re waiting our dreamt house soon.

The internet still not in good condition and I’m really hate being in this condition. What else’s to rambling here? Got no idea at all. Happy Holidays to Nurul and Zara. Hope you all have a nice trip.

080808

Today is 080808. Its not bring any meaning or any significant event in my life. Simply 080808 is just a unique number, special number for this year.

Yesterday, my hubby and I performed a ‘puasa sunat’ for Syaaban. And the menus for yesterday were Nasi Lemak Kukus, Sambal Ikan Bilis, Boiled Carrot with Mayonis and the desert was Kek Gula Hangus. Alhamdulillah my first try for the cake was successful. And the best part was my hubby willing to give a hand to cook the Sambal Ikan Bilis. Frankly said, he seldom helps me in the kitchen. As far as I remember, he did cook for me when I was in prohibiting period. He tried his best even he need to search a recipe for ‘sayur bayam tumis with egg’ through internet. Haha, for me ‘sayur bayam tumis with egg’ is just a piece of cake. Wowo, so arrogant huh? No lah. Just to my hubby. So funny because he didn’t know that egg and spinach is prohibited for me at that time. However to show my appreciation to him, I just eat it. Alhamdulillah nothing happened to me. Below I attached also the recipe for Kek Gula Hangus.

Bahan-bahan

• 1 cawan gula - untuk karamel
• 1 cawan air panas
• 1/2 cawan gula
• 1 cawan tepung gandum
• 1/2 cawan susu segar
• 2 sudu teh soda bikarbonat
• 4 biji telur
• 2 sudu makan butter/marjerin

Cara-cara

1. Panaskan 1 cawan gula dalam periuk sehingga menjadi karamel(perang dan cair semua gula..jangan sampai hitam legam hangus)
2. Padamkan api. Masukkan 1 cawan air panas (air gula karamel nanti akan meruap, jadi berhati hati dan pastikan periuk cukup besar untuk megelakkan tumpah. Air mesti air panas, kalau sejuk, nanti karamel akan terkezut dan terus keras). Kacau dan masukkan butter dan 1/2 cawan gula lagi. Biarkan sejuk.
3. Pukul telur sampai kembang. Saya guna blender saja. Masukkan tepung, susu, soda. Blend hingga sebati.
4. Akhir sekali masukkan karamel yang telah disejukkan tadi dan blend lagi hingga sebati
5. Perapkan lebih kurang 30 minit. Masukkan kedalam acuan yg telah disapu sedikit butter. Bakar selama 30-40 minit (oven 160 darjah)

Snippets about the Internet

Internet = Flip flop. That’s all what could I comment on our internet connection. Yea, perhaps we don’t need to pay so the internet administrator could do whatever they want to the internet connection. I admit I would have a limitation to the outside world without the internet. Hmm what else could I say about so-called internet.

First time we arrived here, I'm used to live without internet and television for about three months. And at that time, we went to one of my friends who live in city centre specifically St Michel once a week just to use the internet and also watching television. Huhu.

Without internet, I couldn't update my blog, read my friend's blog, read newspaper, watching drama series, and etc. So many things I couldn't do. Huhu. Don't know what to do except just playing around with my son, Farrel, watching television and my favourite activity, cooking. Hehe.

The clock is ticking and time flies so fast. The 'soldes' just finished. We already start packing our things and we are ready to be back to Malaysia. My hubby just send the email to USM ask for the return ticket. I really hope we can celebrate Aidilfitri in Malaysia with our beloved family.

Keropok Lekor

Tadaa... Kopok Lekor from Toulouse

This is my first entry about cooking. Be frankly, I not really good in cooking, but since year ago my cooking skills keep improving. Hmm.. I think.. Heheh.. Got the idea of making this ‘keropok lekor’ after read Nurul’s blog. Heheh.. it's not difficult in fact. However, my 1st try keropok lekor a bit ‘liat’(my hubby said like chewing gum) and it’s good for mouth exercise. Hihi.. actually I put more starch sbb I dah terlajak letak air. huhu.. But the taste still likes ‘keropok lekor pasar malam’. Thanx Nurul for the recipe. Below I attached the ingredients.

Bahan-bahan

• 1 kilo ikan kembung/selayang/mackerel
• 500 g tepung ubi/tepung sagu
• Garam secukup rasa
• Ice cube
• Air (agak2 le)

Cara-cara

1. Asingkan isi ikan dari tulangnya, kemudian tumbuk @ cincang halus2.
2. Sambil tumbuk halus isi ikan tadi masukkan kiub ais tadi sikit demi sikit.
3. Gaulkan tepung bersama dengan isi ikan tadi sambil masukkan sedikit garam dan air (agak2 le).
4. Akhir sekali uli bahan2 tadi bentuk kan menjadi bulat memanjang dan rebus kedalam air mendidih. bila dah timbul angkat , sejukkan dan bolehlah goreng dan makan..

Happy Friendship Day

"Dont walk in front of me,
I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me,
I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my FRIEND...

True friendship is about putting your feet up and knowing that someone is there to bail you out when the world may out on you.

A good friend is like a computer. I 'enter' in your life, 'save' you in my heart, 'format' your problems, 'shift' you to opportunities and never 'delete' you from my memory.

To all my friends, 'Happy Friendship Day'. Thank you for being there when time got rough and make it easier when times get too tough. Thank you for everything.