Handling Holland.. (and now aidan too!)

I cant help it but to feel a little bit ‘merry’ this christmas! its the holidays! of course i’d be merry! most shops are on sale! and most importantly, hardy will be on leave till the new year’s! looking forward to spending time together, the three of us!

So as a result of being ‘merry’, i decided to cook us something special - Roast Chicken! it was my first attempt cooking roast chicken, my first time cooking a whole chicken! didnt have that much confidence in myself so i told ez and khaizul earlier that day that i’ll be doing some roasting, and told them i needed some luck!

I began my quest by searching for a good site on the net, for a good recipe. found a few and compared them. basically, it all comes down to the right tempreature, olive oil, salt, pepper, butter and garlic! oh, and i added some lemon slices as well as lemon juice. didnt follow the receipe 100% tho, only the important stuff like, the key ingredients (or the only ones that i have in my kitchen), the tempreature and most important thing, do not open the oven door for at least 45 mins! the rest, i followed my heart… 

Boiled some carrots (i never did like carrots but i swear, these ones are absolutely the best carrots in the whole wide world!) not to mention they look gorgeous as well! look at the colour!

Grilled the potatos (with their skin on) with some tuscany blend herbs and olive oil. (sorry no photos, i forgot to snap a single shot of those lovely potatos).

Grilled 4 trostomaten (tomatos). i must say i’ve never been a fan of tomatos. there are quite a few choices at the supermarkets, i should have tried grilling the tiny cherry tomatos instead. i do however love tomato ketchup but as for the real ones… well, its a struggle for me to have them, but i still do try!

Did a chicken pepper gravy.

AND………… voiiiillllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! It was just the 2 of us, enjoying our meal.. with no interuptions (aidan sound asleep). and what a meal it was!! as we would say it back home, whenever we’re full - "se-eh"! (se-eh means kenyang sangat sangat!)

And later, we had our christmas snowman ice cream for dessert! we only had their bodies…their heads were way to sweet! poor mr snowman..

I’m beginning to like baking and grilling now! and i’m begining to bond with my oven!

Thanks for wishing me luck guys, it was a success! next time you guys are here, i’ll cook you some roast chicken k? cooked from the soul!

Its such a shame we didnt have the right serving plate for my beautiful chicken tho! next on my bodschappen list (shopping list) - a good serving plate!

Do you think Gordon Ramsey would want to try my roast chicken? or maybe i’ll get featured in his ‘Kitchen Nightmares’? heheh… sayang?

THE 1st - 23rd December 2006

Happy 1st wedding anniversary kakak & redza!

May there will be more laughter, more joy, more happiness, much care, more sakat menyakat, more merajuk and pujuk memujuk and making up and out (hehe), more manja manja, more giggles, more fun, more love, more patience, continuous good health, good mood :P, more fond, happy, loving memories together.

To my dearest kakak and redza, happy anniversary, and here’s to more anniversaries to come!

I love you both SOOOOOOOO VERY much!

The 35th - 24th December 2006

Happy 35th wedding anniversay mum & dad.

I admire the love that you have for one another, i admire the unconditional love that you have for each other, i admire the strength that you have for one another, i admire the support that you give to each other, i admire the faith and trust that you have, i admire the happiness that you bring to each other even when times are hard, money are tight, and when the world seems to be unfair. i admire all the laughters that you have shared, i admire the bedtime laughs you share, i admire the joy you have given to others. i admire you both and i admire the way you love each other so much and so deep. i admire and respect you both for all that you are!

To my dearest mum and dad, happy anniversary and here’s to more anniversaries to come!

I love you both SOOO OOOOOO VERY much!

It has been slightly more than a couple of weeks, and we thought we should follow up with our passport matter. it is almost year end and we need to go somewhere, now, anywhere for our holidays!

We planed to visit my dear sister and my brother in law in Warwick, and of course our dearest friend ez, adam and family, the newlyweds k.na and nigel, thus we needed the passports ASAP!

After calling the Malaysian High Com in london several times (i’d say more than 6 times, left 2 voice msgs) i failed to speak to the passport and immigration officer (no one ever picks up the phone). hardy then called our Malaysian Embassy in The Hague and pak armand (the receptionist) said… "dah boleh datang! passport dah siap!!"

THAT WAS FAST!! it didnt take that long as i anticipated. credit goes out to them for being efficient! (or perhaps i was lucky?) hmm…

And so now my passport’s been renewed till 2011 and aidan has got his own malaysian passport!! yeyyy!! i stared at his passport for a long time, i almost couldnt believe it that: firstly, i have a son, secondly, i have a son who has a passport, third, i have a son who now has a passport and his place of birth - the netherlands! hehe.. gosh! who would have thought!

I WASNT pleased with my photo, i’ve never been pleased with any of my passport photos anyway! but what the heck, i’m not going to look at it everyday! and it was of no one’s fault but mine for putting on weight eversince we got here. (i blame it on the weather and the potatos!) i do however love my ic photo! thats besides the point… anyway…

SO THAT WAS IT! WE GOT IT! we got our passports! oh! and if you guys were wondering about that guy i’m pissed with at the embassy (read recent post ‘Serving Malaysians’), well, he didnt even bother to come out or down wherever his desk was, and see us. he didnt even bother to hand the passports to us. he just left it at pak armand (who is actually quite a nice). HMMMMMPHH!

We then fed aidan there at the waiting room, we then changed aidan there, at the waiting room, we then burped aidan, there at the waiting room, we then threw aidan’s poo poo and pee pee-d pampers, sembang with k.noriah’s husband and pak armand whilst doing all those, and headed to k.noriah’s kedai makan for our early dinner. she’s been here for almost 25 years, have 5 children. she cooks excellent food, her nasi kerabu is a killer!

Entered her shop and we said, "kami orang jaoh, kami lapo! nak makan!" (a mixture of cakap penang & johor). we stuffed ourselves with her glorious food, nasi kuning, ayam kicap, telur sambal, sayur kacang, some surinamese dishes, kuih lapis (the pink and white layers) and two cups of tea while aidan looks on. no nasi kerabu coz the locals dont know how to eat them, so she had few surinamese dishes as well as malaysian dishes which are, to us malaysians, tak cukup ‘power’ but good enough to hilangkan rasa teringin! borak borak, and we were given goreng pisang and ayam goreng for us to tapau back home! how nice!!

Singgah at our dear friend noreen’s cozy, cute, cool apartment and showed off aidan’s new passport!

Aidan was so restless (sorry noreen). he didnt even smile… i guess it was a long day for him.

Now that we got our passports, we dont know where to go! aidan’s been crying a lot lately and i’m not too keen to put him on a plane, even for an hour to UK. apart from that, in my opinion, he is still too young. besides, we’re going there in june, insyaallah for 2 deliveries! (will inform who REALLY soon so watch out!) so.. we’ve decided to go somewhere else, driving distance.. explore germany, belgium or maybe luxemburg.. or buy us some furniture… do some DIY… i know we’ll be missing out on the winter sale this boxing day’s gonna be a bummer, but there’s still summer sale in june/july! yeaay!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! BE SAFE, ENJOY YOURSELVES, HAVE A GOOD ONE!

I love presents, let it be giving them, receiving them or wrapping them!

Over here, whenever you buy something at the high street shops or departmental stores, you can ask for them to be wrapped! most of them will ask whether if it is a gift, and if it is a yes, they’ll start wrapping it free of charge! some very simple, and some shops offer quite a wrapping i tell ya! even the DIY shops have a counter for free gift wrapping with papers and ribbons!

Flowers in vases will be wrapped too! Go to any florists and they’ll wrap them up, most in clear pastics, just like the one we use as book covers back in primary school!!

We were at Maasmachelan, Belgium last Sunday to get our halal meat. (since we’re in the netherlands, dont let the word ‘belgium’ scare you, the halal shop we usually get our halal meat is just 20 mins drive from home!). there was this Bloemen shop (kedai bunga) along the same road. i’ve been passing the shop for probably 10 times, been wanting to go in but only managed to last weekend. and after countless times admiring their displays, i just HAD to get something! everything was SO beautiful (and pricy). REALLY beautiful arrangements, playing with colours, height and variety! didint get the nice arrangements tho coz they were a little bit pricy for me. i then selected a garland of pink baby hydrangeas with tiny tiny pearls in between them and a square low vase. they couldnt accept my dutch debit card, so i went back to the car to get some cash from hardy. got back to the store, and i saw my stuff being wrapped! and they didnt even ask me whether it was a gift! how nice!! complete with ribbons, stings of beads and a sticker of their shop.

Back when i was working at GAP in oxford, we had special boxes if the customers wanted to give the stuff they purchased as gifts. they were really cool boxes with a huge print of G A P on top. their baby Gap boxes are even cuter!!! Free of charge, but in the UK, you have to ask for it. and i’d say only certain shops offer such service.

Why cant they offer such service back home?! i guess most people would take advantage of it, but it’s just paper and a few strands of thin ribbons! its nothing fancy really, its just simple wrapping, some can even call it cikai!

I love creating things. i love flowers, i love boxes, i love ribbons, i love gifts, i love papers, i love paper bags, i love craft! that is why law is not for me and why i started my own business in kl (briefly before settling down here).

Gifts are endless here, i’d say more variety but i do miss the stuff we have back home too, and not to mention they are much cheaper in malaysia! i’ve started doing things again. i’ve started gathering stuff now, i’ve got my glue gun on and still filling my toolbox. quite difficult having to start to build your toolbox again, now that i had to leave my precious toolbox behind. will get my own table soon where i can do my stuff. did a few gifts for the nurses who helped me during delivery, some pressies for the neighbours, now, i’m trying to gather some ideas for noreen’s castle wedding in june as well as baby favors for those coming to visit aidan (appently its like a tradition here). doing it alone is not as fun as doing it together with mum tho!

I havent come accross any good craft shops here, like the one we have back home - SSF. i get my stuff here and there, you have to really open your eyes. Mum told me of the craft shop in coventry kakak and redza brought her to. she went crazy! www.hobbycraft.co.uk she told me of how big that place was and how half a day wouldnt be enough! hopefully will get to visit this summer.

I miss doing things. i miss it very much. aidan is still a handful. only recently i’ve just started watching telly! how could i possibly have the time to do everything! guess i have to wait till he gets slightly bigger, no wait, older, to get to do as much as i want to. in the meantime, i’ll just enjoy him!

Wait till we go home! i’d probably fill up our container with supplies of ribbons, beads and not to mention the stock i already have back home!