What is Friendship?

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one." C.S.Lewis

It has been over a year since I started recording our memorabilia in this blog. Up till now, I still am faithful with the same green template and its minimal look. Also almost a year ago, I wrote an entry concerning my/our beautiful friends. Anne left her first comment in that entry and we became friends (if she agrees to that term calling) since then.

To continue the same subject of friendship, we made lots of peers just through blogging. In fact, through blogging I was united with a few of my long lost school friends. I am fascinated by this world of blogging where people still able to gain trust and form a special bond between them.

In my case so far, Pycnogenol is spot on with his comment also from the same entry mentioned before. He said;
"I hope that your mum and the rest of the family will be happy to ALSO know that you are surrounded by equally good, interesting and mysterious blogger-friends!!"

Indeed I have not met the majority of my blog friends and some remain anonymous but as long as they leave positive comments, then that's fine by us. Once I was surprised to receive a square envelope with stamps from Turkey. It was a Hari Raya (Eid greetings) card and some family photos from non other than our beloved Simah.

Just a week ago, Kak Elle was on a tour around the Europe and she happened to be in London as her final destination before heading back to Singapore. From London, she gave me a call just to have a chitchat. That was so sweet of her to remember to call us!

Two of my earliest blog friends are DITH and Ikelah. Ardent DITH writes just about anything and everything that evolves around her and creative Ikelah takes phenomenal photographs. Early this year, their son came for a short visit to London. Through Muhammad, DITH and Ikelah sent us a HUGE parcel comprised of lots of ikan bilis, a fuchsia coloured scarf and a couple of magazines.

True that we were ikan bilis deprived for several months at that time. But it didn't even cross my mind to ask for anything from Malaysia. Especially because of the recent food restrictions at the airport and their at that time was not quite appropriate for us to take advantage of. Somehow, thoughtful DITH still got us the goods for which we are eternal grateful. We had an ikan bilis fiesta immediately after receiving them. The above photos are sambal ikan bilis, sambal ikan bilis kering and fried ikan bilis made from the ikan bilis sent by DITH and family and still plenty more left. No more rationing our ikan bilis after that.

Sometime in March-April, Ajzie of Wilhem~Achtzehn asked me to do a favour. It was only a small one that I agreed to give her the assistance. About a month later, a postman came with a parcel from Germany. It was beautifully and neatly wrapped containing two lion soft toys wearing football jersey and another box wrapped in red hearts embellished with red ribbon.

I was perplexed but ecstatic for the gift of a perfume set was too special compared to what I've done for them. As we all know, doing a favour is meant to be done f.o.c. But Ajzie chose to repay it with such bounty (which was absolutely unnecessary) and I thank her and family very, very much.

Of all mentioned here, LoveuJordan is the most recent friend I made through blogging. I feel very fortunate to know her as her blog entries are mainly about her experience in Jordan and her beautiful family. Most of her entries regarding her family inspire me to become a better person.

Through one of the many comments I left in her blog, LoveuJordan replied that she wanted to send me a jelbab from Jordan as a present. I did intend to ask her to buy some jelbab or abaya from Jordan. To get one as a present is too much. The parcel was received last month, and there were a beautiful abaya with maroon embroidered details on the front and two t-shirts for the children too!

It did not end there. Two weeks ago, Maklang's sister and her husband came to Europe for a holiday. Maklang asked if I wanted anything from Malaysia since her sister (Alang) will be in Coventry during the trip. At first I declined, but then our rempah kurma and kari Adabi were running very low. The Asian shop in Coventry has recently been closed! So I asked for a packet each of rempah kurma and kari Adabi.

To meet Alang was not as straightforward as I anticipated. There were a few obstacles on Alang's side and on the day she was in Coventry - our phone decided not to ring. We missed to meet Alang and her husband but they left our parcel with another friend who also lives in Coventry.

My full adoration to Alang and her husband who in spite of their tight schedule on the road, they made an effort to come back to Coventry and search for our house two days later. They really surprised us that fateful afternoon who just came to say hello!

By the way, the parcel Maklang sent us was no ordinary 10kg package. In there were smaller packets wrapped in assorted and colourful wrappers enclosing not just rempah kari and kurma but also all sorts of spices including perencah mee rebus, mee bandung, rempah laksa johor and rempah soto. A big pack of keropok keping and at least a kilo of ikan bilis (yippee yeay!!). There were some ready made sambal ikan bilis and kacang made by Maklang herself packed nicely in plastic bags.

The kids received lots of goodies too, a pair of spiderman outfit for Amar, a couple of tudung and hairclips for Sarah and a beautiful brooch for the Mama. Plus, there was a specific parcel for D too, which I gladly dropped it at her house. Dearest Maklang and family, you have not only made lots of us happy but you have touched our heart too.

So now comes the question. What have I/we done to deserve all this? I have not met them all in person but strangely enough Allah has opened their hearts to be kind to us. Their gifts must have cost a fortune and we are so grateful for their sincerity and generosity in our friendship.

No words can describe our feelings towards their altruism. Nothing I can purchase will match their kindness. The best I can do is to pray that Allah will grant them easiness, happiness and plentiful of rizq in their lives. And I pray that Allah will give us the same in our lives and hope that we can emulate them by their munificence.

Hari ini Dalam Sejarah

How do I go round with this entry without sounding like I'm ballyhooing a relative's business? Well, she didn't even ask me to do this in the first place. It was just me who was flabbergasted early this morning when I received an email from my brother. It was not so much of an email really, just a link to NSTonline today.

May be Malaysian are rejoicing with the news of the front page of many newspapers today. But jakun me is proud to have an enterprising sister-in-law and family, that I think it should be recorded in this blog. Well done you guys, hopefully your business will continue to flourish and blossom to its full potential.

For those who happened to be in Section 8 or 10, Shah Alam, do visit Restoran Azira. If you meet my sister in law or my brother, do send my regards to them. Who knows you might get a special discount ;)

Full story here.

The growing list

Time for a quick update. I have not given up this blog yet and I still have not ran out of ideas. Haha! It's just that finally I realised that I can actually live without having to blog or bloghopping everyday. Especially when there were more pressing matters to be dealt with recently.

These following posts are way behind schedule. Not that I have to meet a certain dateline, but I do get occasional hint from my spouse when I am going to update this and that event? Well anyway, here are the delayed posts:

• Stratford upon Avon day trip - 28 April 2007
  
• Picnic and kite flying at Longford Park - 29 April 2007
  
• Barbecue at Rutland Waters - 5 May 2007
• Day out to Longford Park again - 14 May 2007
• Coventry town centre and Memorial Park - 19 May 2007
• National Sea Life Centre, Birmingham - 20 May 2007
• Longford Park Playground - 24 May 2007

Besides that, I also wish to make a special entry on each of the following;

• Amar's special development assessment at Gulson Hospital - 8 - 16 May 2007
• Follow up on Sarah with her nursery/playschool
  

I also have to update my pondok-pondok site. We've seen the cheesecake photo and recipe far too long now! A few more relatives birthday wishes coming up in the near future that need special entries in here. And today, we are all invited to a birthday party. I know Sarah couldn't wait for that.

Since this morning, I've been trying to create a special layout with Sarah's photo. But the computer is behaving rather funny and restarted itself whenever I tried to save the project. That has happened at least FOUR times! Too many files in this computer, I think! Do you think Babah will notice if I just delete some of his files? I will just post this up first and include Sarah's layout when it's ready later.

updated: We have just came back from the birthday party, and I have managed to do yet another layout for Sarah. Finally the computer did not act up like before. Now I am not sure which entry to write first - the belated ones or the party we have just attended earlier this afternoon... hmmm...

Coventry: 9-21 April 2007

Demam 09.04.07 - 20.04.07

Two days after we came back from our get-away, Sarah and Amar were down with fever. Their temperature rose especially in the evening and when they were asleep in the night. Whenever they are ill, I hardly sleep myself.

Sarah was as flat as a pancake for a few days. She slept continuously and got me feeling sorry for her. Upon my discretion, she was rested at home and missed going to the nursery.

Amar was equally unwell. He lost his appetite and basically ate nothing apart from his regular milk. Even that, he hardly finished his usual dose.

Alhamdulillah they are much better now. Sarah has resumed her attendance to the nursery (more update on this particular matter next time).

On Saturday (14.04.07) Babah felt unwell too. That made three of them who just slept through the whole day and night. Luckily we were still blessed with plenty of sunshine the next day. And better still the three of them seemed slightly better. We immediately took the opportunity to go out and enjoy the daylight. Nowhere spectacular, but just at 'our very own' town centre.


The not so Lunch
Arep and Dina were kind to join us that sunny day and met us at the Old Cathedral. It was noon time and Amar was really cranky, (I suspected) he wanted his bed for his afternoon nap. We all felt very relieved when Amar finally fell asleep in my arms. Then, we quickly found our way to the nearest restaurant for a quick lunch. When the food was served, Amar woke up and started to make a lot of fuss. The restaurant was a bit too posh for a poorly child, so I decided to leave the restaurant before Amar create a bawl infront of the public, while the rest finished up their meals.



Longford Park

Amar was still restless, we thought that we should just head home immediately after lunch. We made our separate ways and once we were in our car, Amar was smiling and calmed down. Instead of going straight back home, we made a detour and went to Longford Park.

Longford Park was "founded" by D and her family. It's funny that they have just been in Coventry for less than a year but they knew so much more than us. We sometimes asked her for directions in the area where we ourselves have lived in for three years!

We fell in love with the park instantly! There's a little river running through the park.

Weeping willow trees lining along the stream and specially designed track for a pleasant riverside walk.

There were lots of flowerbeds with different colourful flowers.


A huge space for the children to run around.


And enough greens for Amar to bury himself in.

There's a little bridge crossing over the river, leading us to the children's play area, football pitches and a skatepark.

It was obvious that both our children loved the park. (Thank you D!) They automatically became much, much better after a good run around in the open space.


Be warned you all, we visited the park again and again after that. More updates (yes I'm slacking with my entries) in the future.


Long lost friend: 21 April 2007

I became aware about Azura's whereabouts from EM's blog. With EM's help, I obtained Azura's email address and managed to get in touch with her. Azura and EM were my school friends that I have not met since many, many years ago. (Notice the word "many" used?) Azura who was also my ex dorm-mate, is married and currently residing somewhere ("somewhere" merely means I do not want to be specific) near London.


To cut the story short, Azura came to Coventry to visit us. She brought with her lots of buah tangan for the whole family! Obviously she still remembers her 'adat ketimuran' even though having lived and 'probably' married to this country permanently.

We had a really pleasant time with our "you ingat tak ..." and god knows how much fun we had, reminiscing the good old time. By the way, thanks to Babah too for letting me spent some time out with my long lost friend.

I only took Azura to Nandos for dinner and didn't get to show her the real beauty of our little town as it was already getting dark. Hopefully some photos in this entry are good enough to represent Coventry.

Update!

Dear all, we've been away for a few days during the Easter break recently. We had so much fun at:

Then, a revisit to:

Finally, we basked under the sun here:

We came back on Sunday night, tired but happy. On Monday night Sarah and Amar were down with fever. Hence the reason I was unable to update earlier.

Now that they are slightly better, I will update with more photos. Will be back soon!

Wintry showers on Mother's Day

It wasn't too bad in the morning. Bright blue sky. The weather forecast must be wrong. Reported to be snowing again, but where was the thick white clouds? We took the opportunity to go out on Mother's Day. Not to celebrate but to buy fresh milk and nappies for the kids.

Once we were out, we felt the instant chill. It was bone freezing cold! We stayed outdoors only for a while. Everyone started to have runny nose, best to go back and stay in the warmth of our own home.

Once we reached home, it started to sleet and later became something like ice storm. (Hujan air batu?) They were not flaky and fluffy snow. It felt like you've been hit by hundred of white icy stones, seriously. We didn't take much photos when it "snowed" again recently. The photos with Amar and Sarah were taken when it was snowing in February.

It was supposed to be Springtime already but it snowed on Sunday and it was Mother's Day too - but instead of putting up my feet, I worked double hard that day. I was on my knees cleaning the oven and scrubbing the bathroom. Not complaining, a clean home just gives me the good feeling. Also after a good meal of Kung Po Chicken (which I prepared too) and Babah's constant reminders asking me to rest, all have channelled the good vibes in me.

It was around 8pm, Sarah was already asleep. Amar was still up watching Toy Story the movie. Babah has just made me a mug of Milo, and I was just about to sit down and relax when suddenly Sarah woke up and cried.

Accident happens. She must have dreamt she was outside soaked in the wintry showers.

There I was giving Sarah a change of pyjamas, putting her back to sleep, rinsing the thick duvet and hanging it on the heater. By then, my milo has gone all cold.

But it's OK. It's all good. It's Spring and it snowed.

Bertuah betul!

Initially I wanted to write about Amar's progress. But there are still a few photos and "video-clips" to be edited. So I thought I could squeeze a short story about a few things first.

On Sunday, Babah went to London to meet up with Muhammad - our very close blog friends' son. Babah stayed in London for two nights, while Muhammad will be going back to Malaysia on tonight's flight at 10pm. I'm sure Babah will be updating his fotopages in good time with lots of photos from London.

At home, the children and I had some fun too. We went out for a short trip to a "fast food restaurant" (guilty!). We baked yet another Banana Cake for tea and watched lots of "Flushed Away" movie.

I have also called K.Ros to see if we could visit her on Monday afternoon. She has given birth to a baby girl on 13 February 2007. I didn't manage to take Husna's photo when we were there. But she was very fair and cute just like her sister, Huda.

We brought a little gift for the newborn and roasted chicken with lots of black pepper for the mom. Both Sarah and Amar were treated heavenly with sweets and chocolates. Huda was shy at first, but later I saw Sarah and Huda playing and whispering to each other in one corner. I hope she understood what Sarah was saying!

About half an hour later, I announced that it was time to go. You know who protested, right? Yes, our dear Sarah - jumping up and down - she said, "Tak nak balik lagi. Kita belum makan nasi lagi!" (Our host jumped to his feet, and went to the kitchen and gave Sarah a plate of rice)

Aduhhh! It was very embarrassing. Kids will be kids, yeah?

Pondok-pondok

As if I have not enough things to do already, I have started another blog specifically for recipes that I have tried before. So those who have asked for sushi, custard pudding, cupcakes and other recipes from my previous entries, please feel free to find them there.

---> CLICK ME <---
to get you to my personal collection of recipes

Come and join me play "pondok-pondok". See you there!

Brrrrr~rr, bring the snowman inside, Mom!

It's no ordinary Thursday. It's been snowing since early in the morning. It was only yesterday when the sun shone brightly. I managed to hang our laundry outside. I even changed the curtains and bedsheets for today's laundry. Oh dear, I have so much washing and nowhere to hang now!

Sarah and Amar woke up quite early this morning. Groggily, Sarah asked where her jacket and boots are. She wanted to make a snowman!

So, we let Sarah and Amar play in the snow for a while. Babah said that it's a once a year thing and who knows, this might be our last opportunity to see snow before our very own eyes.


It's not that thick, but the thickest we have ever experienced in Coventry.


Babah managed to spend five minutes with the children before going to work this morning. We didn't expect to witness another 'heavy' fall as this again. It snowed last year, but it didn't quite settle on the ground.

Amar was 'frozen' when we first took him out in the open. He was still too little when he first witnessed his first snow. This time, he stumped all around the backyard wearing a smile on his face.


You might all noticed that both were still wearing their pyjamas that morning!

Later this morning, after everyone has had a quick shower, I took the children out again. Only about 50 steps away from our house is the Blue Ribbon roundabout.

It was still snowing, I was quite scared to use Babah's camera in such weather. So I brought along our old and faithful Sony. At the set, I didn't waste any time. I just snapped photos of Sarah and Amar at different angles. Only when I checked if I got the right setting that I found out that there was no CF card in the camera. (Buang karen aje!)

Nevermind, our little but hardwearing Sony came to the rescue immediately.

Sarah has enjoyed tremendously the 'short trip' to Blue Ribbon. There were lots of 'untouched' snow. She gathered some snow and formed them into snowballs. I showed her how to make little snowman.

Not long after that (we were there for at most 15 minutes! Seriously.) I said it was time to go home. Sarah said, "I want to make snowman." But it was too cold and it was still snowing. I promised her we will be going out again in the afternoon. So she dragged her feet and obeyed my instruction. But then she stopped and said, "I want to bring the snowman home. Kesian dia. It's very cooolddd"

Oh dear!

We're going back to the same place later after Amar wakes up from his nap. Hopefully I remember the CF card this time.

________________

As I'm typing this entry, I'm chatting with D via googlemail. We were just about to say our goodbyes, when she said something like this "You know how people joke about snow - buat ABC.."

5 minutes later...

Haha... I didn't wait for her further instructions nor did I ask her if she was serious. Amar was still asleep, so I could afford the time to materialise her wish. (In other words, kerja yang tak pernah dibuat dek orang! heh heh!)

Anyway, for further reads about this ABC, go here. And additional snow stories at our place, click here.

Roaming around with Hila and her family

It ended up that we had a merry time during the weekend after all. When we came home from D's house that night, we saw Hila and family in their car at our house. We knew they were coming after we have confirmed with D that we were going to her house for dinner.

Hila and family looked so exhausted that night after the long hours of travelling. Everyone went to bed shortly after we had a light snack for supper.

The next morning, Hila suggested to go to Bicester Village. Bicester is only 8-10 miles from Oxford, so we went to Oxford after a short spree at the village.

We've been to Oxford at least twice before. But this time, it was not as straight forward and easy. It took us some time to find parking alone! It was quite ridiculous although it was on a Sunday.

Luckily, there was Alynn who studies in Oxford. We have troubled her to meet at a different place. But later changed the venue to another place due to lack of parking availability and we were more or less 'sesat' in Oxford town. We had our lunch cum tea at Chicken Cottage (a Halal fast food restaurant).

Then, we stopped by at Alynn's house. Chit-chat for a while and then we went back separately to our own home. Yes, it was a short meeting with them all but as usual it was a pleasant one. Jemput datang lagi ya, Hila?!!