Berbuka With ‘Single’ Malaysian Men in Dubai

the long winter break for school always starts way before ramadhan, so during this time in previous years, i should already be back in ipoh preparing for ramadhan while mr. khairul stayed back in dubai. he would only come back a few days before hari raya.

however, this year ramadhan 2014 was only a week away after the school holiday started so i decided to postpone my trip back to malaysia so that i can finally have a full week of ramadhan with mr khairul before balik kampung – dah lama tak berpuasa berbuka sama-sama di awal ramadhan!

when i go back to malaysia without him, he would sometimes be invited over at a friend’s house for berbuka – since he’s ‘single’ during ramadhan haha and THAT is the ‘single man’ that i’m referring to here – *single* men yg married actually tapi wife and kids sume dah awal-awal balik kampung because of the school holiday.

i’m always grateful that there are kind souls out there who would offer delicious malaysian dishes for my husband, so i gladly returned the favor to other *single* men that ramadhan. delicious lauk-pauk from syigim’s kitchen!

 

* * *

 

ayam masak lemak cili padi – a classic favorite of mr. khairul & my eldest boy khaleef

 

 

ikan kembung belado – to spice things up!

 

 

the sambal was later smeared all over the eggs *yum!* and for veggie dish i made tumis sayur kacang.

 

another yummy appetizer – ikan bilis ngan kacang goreng cili, love it!

 

for after terawih – crispy crunchy popiah daging – resepi mak tersayang.

 

and dessert of course – a sweet, simple pulut jagung

 

* * *

 

 

alhamdulillah, nothing satisfies a cook than to see people enjoying their meals and taking 2nd, 3rd helpings!

 

alhamdulillah, solat terawih at our humble home with saudara mushil as the imam. may it adds berkat to our home.

 

masyaAllah saudara mushil ended the terawih with a short tazkirah. may we all benefit from his brief words.

 

 

more dessert! thanks joe for bringing this black forest cake. more yummy stuff to jamu people!

 

* * *

 

 

old boys of malay college kuala kangsar in dubai – abg nizalman v90, my kay v96 and abg mushil v90 – thanks for coming!

 

 

 

thanks for coming guys berbuka and terawih sini! insyaAllah 2015 kami host lagi! hihi

 

* * *

 

hadith Rasulullah SAW : ‘barangsiapa yg menjamu seorang yg berpuasa untuk berbuka puasa, maka perbuatan yg baik itu, menyebabkan ia di ampunkan dosanya dan menjadi penebus dirinya dari neraka dan ia pula mendapat pahala seperti pahala org yg berpuasa yg dijamunya itu, dgn tidak mengurangkan pahala org itu sedikit pun.”

insyaAllah. Allah knows best. salam ramadhan 2014.

Chicken Rice for Biker Dads

it was fathers day, and i was hosting 6 biker dads (including mr. khairul hihi) for their monthly motorcycle club meeting. two of them from dubai, and the other four came all the way from abu dhabi. it was a pleasure hosting, since usually it’s held in abu dhabi.

 

from left : my mr. khairul in blue, mr. prez syamsulfaiz, bro helmey, bro ezam, bro che we and bro manx

 

they came for lunch, so i made nasi ayam (chicken rice), spaghetti, and we had dominos pizza too.

it’s been so long since we open our home for makan-makan. the last time was probably for khaleef’s 5th birthday – which was so long ago. also, we didn’t have any raya open house last year like previous years so that’s why it felt like ages.

well, that’s why we were pretty excited about hosting! welcome, welcome!

 

 

when you look at the picture of the wives above, you’d never guess that two of them have just passed the superbike riding licence in abu dhabi. *shocked* petite, feminine and graceful – yet they’re ready to hop on and take on any rough tough harley davidson that their husband rides!

mr. khairul even had the nerve to ask me about getting a licence too!

i had never even been on a bike as a pillion rider, let alone trying to RIDE one myself! (ok, perhaps only once with my assignment teammate, and that’s just from my college in uia to the main gate to send an assignment – and that’s just about it!) absolutely ridiculous notion!

nways, well done to ira and zira – ride safe on the road, and have fun!

 

* * *

 

my chicken rice was so super-duper delicious that they all tweeted about it and dedicated elaborate facebook status just for my chicken rice – haha!

 

 

* * *

 

it’s so nice when before all the guests arrive, khaleef asked me, “the uncles and aunties who will come to our house – do they have children? will they be coming?” and when i said yes, he was so excited. the boys (manx’s kids in striped Ts) are 9 and 7 so khaleef had no problem getting along with the big boys!

 

even kazim found himself an awek to impress with his talent in xylophone! hihi. here’s kazim with marina (che we’s daughter)

 

* * *

 

behind their rough tough harley davidsons, black vest and riding boots – they’re just a bunch of dads with screamin tots and slobberin kiddos!

 

 

* * *

 

future rider?

 

* * *

 

happy fathers day to my dearest abah in ipoh. thanks for everything, more than this blog can handle. i’ll see you soon, abah!

 

Homemade Steamboat @ Abg Shon & Kak Muna’s

one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me happened the day we came back from malaysia to dubai. we were invited to abg faisal shon and kak muna’s lovely home to savor their delicious homemade home-prepared steamboat dinner.

yum.

we were in the kitchen, preparing the dishes, and i told kak muna how i dreaded going back to dubai, leaving my beloved family, but at the same time, somehow i felt that i’m also going back home to dubai…and then we held hands, and she finished my sentence, “..because you’re coming back to your family in dubai!” referring to her family…

i wanted to cry! sayang kak muna! *hugs!* thanks for making us part of your *family*!

 

everything just looked wonderfully tantalizing. when i was helping kak muna prepare the food, i felt like preparing for breaking fast – can’t wait to just pounce and eat!

 

 

there was yellow noodle, fishballs, seafood and such for the steamboat as well as veggies and mushroom too! i love the details in preparing the items for the steamboat!

 

..and in another corner, all the deep-fried in a batter mixed by kak muna herself. i especially love the mushroom, but what i find weirdly inviting was the prawns – because i don’t even like to eat prawns, and yet i was so drawn to eat this one! and it was so delicious! good one, kak muna!

 

 

…and on top of it all, there’s even nasi lemak! yum! this is too much! but we’re SO welcoming it!

 

where you have good food, it’s even better when shared. thank you so much abang faisal shon (mr. khairul’s MCKK senior) and sisterly lovey kak muna for your endearing hospitality. we felt really loved and cared for, and surely life in dubai is never lonely with people like them around.

 

thanks abg faisal shon & kak muna! *BIG HUG!* maybe we could do this again – our place? now what shall i cook…

‘Haunted House’ Made of Chairs

from the responses of my facebook friends, i can say that most of them has done this as a kid. flipped chairs upside down, packed them with pillows, pulled a comforter or bed sheet over it and voila ~ a haunted house, a tent in the middle of a scary forest, or a dark cave with the mysterious unknown!

my boys did exactly that this weekend, and oh boy – it sure did bring a lot of childhood memories!

 

 

 

first khaleef took the extra dining chairs and flipped them sideways like in the picture (of course with the permission of mak). then he placed a comforter over it like a roof.

exactly like what i did with my four sisters when i was younger. only i used old bulky sofas in my room, and it was one of the best games i’ve played with my sisters. sometimes we bring in torchlight into the ‘tent’ because it’s to delightfully dark inside!

the sofas were placed close together to avoid any gap. from outside, one of us must be the ‘monster’ who will try to catch the people inside by squeezing a hand through the gaps. who ever got ‘touched’ must take the turn to be a monster! it was SO scary, but SO much fun!

sigh!

 

 

fast-forward to the present…

since it was placed in such a way that the leg of the chairs acted as walls to a little maze inside the ‘house’. the effect was really awesome. with their small little bodies wriggling in and out of the ‘house’, it really did seem like a maze!

 

 

 

it really was quite cozy in the tent especially when khaleef took all his pillows and stuffed ‘em all inside the tent. then he said, “mak, tonight i want to sleep here.”

bagus lah!

 

Khaleef Found Dinosaur Fossils!

boys and dinos are inseparable.

it’s a complex relationship that we would never understand. how could these massive reptiles that roamed the earth hundreds of million years ago possibly be COOL? i mean, they see a cicak pass by and they don’t go – awww awesome! it must be the size, or those ‘extra-parts’; protruding backbones, or having three horns, or a metal-like ball at the end of the tail – and the claws, razor sharp teeth and the roar!

if they were to exist together, sure they could hang out with the herbivorous triceratops, or hitch a ride on the towering brontosaurus – but they would definitely be yummy appetizers for the mighty t-rex!

 

khaleef & his new friend the stegosaurus

 

since khaleef LOVE dinosaurs so much, i bought him a dino excavation kit – and he could pretend to be a paleontologist – complete with a block of dirt where the dino bones are, brush and chisel!

 

 

he was supposed to work through chiseling the block of hard dirt and gently brushing away the excess in order to get to the fossils. the process is supposed to be painstakingly LONG, but worth it.

yeah, right. khaleef wanna wait THAT long? i don’t think so.

there is a ‘cheaters’ manual inside the box (haha). so i submerged the whole block of dirt into a bucket of water, let it set for a few minutes and it will just crumble to reveal the dinosaur bones!

 

 

it was pretty exciting seeing bits of the dino ‘fossils’ emerging from the dirt! main tipu pun main tipu lah! haha. since the dirt is already soft and crumbly, it’s easier for my junior paleontologist to dig through and get all the dino parts.

 

 

halfway through, khaleef decided to put on a creative cap and takes his green soldiers to ‘guard’ the dino bones while he takes a rest.

the green beret looks so cute standing on the block of dirt, against the bones. he role-played for awhile before continuing his ‘excavation’.

 

 

when all the bones had been ‘recovered’, i washed them off the dirt, and khaleef began to put the pieces together like a puzzle.

 

 

the end result was pretty cool. the parts didn’t connect so securely though, so i think we need to use UHU glue or something to keep them together.

siap kasi backdrop lagi!

 

 

this is NOT a paid advertorial guys, haha but if you’re looking for some fun for your science-geek kiddos, i got this at geant ibn battuta mall for a surprisingly cheap price! there are other science kit, like building your model of the solar system and stuff like that.

i’m probably getting another dinosaur!

 

 

what khaleef learned from this activity :

patience : he was very, very patient. not only did it take so long for him to chisel his way in, he was also asked to take this out ONLY when both his brothers are asleep, or else they might step on the dirt and habuk or he might lose some dino parts!

what a paleontologist does : he might not be able to pronounce the word yet, but he has a rough idea that there are people out there whose job is to find, and dig up dino bones so he could learn about them in school!

stegosaurus : a herbivore dinosaur with the very recognizable tail spikes and plates. its name means ‘roof lizard’, and it exists about 150 million years ago. how big is it? it’s 9 meters long, and 4 meters tall!

 

* * *

 

i feel like watching ‘jurassic park’…