Handling Holland.. (and now aidan too!)

There’s absoultely nothing more i like doing than spending the weekends with my two favourite boys - let it be going out to town or simply staying at home.

I normally cook something special during the weekends. we normally have cornflakes, bread and spread on working days - not much time to prepare anything. but on the weekends, its slightly more than that, either nasi lemak, full english breakfast with baked beans, french toast, roti canai or if it comes near to lunch time, then we’d have an elaborate brunch. i’d try to cook, or come up with something different as well, either a new dish or i’d try and bake something  (whether i succeed or not is besides the point), but in most cases, even i surprise myself! (ehem!)

Last saturday, was a difficult saturday tho, as one of my boys (you guess which one!) felt a little bit restless, unsettled, uneasy and simply everything tak kena and cried most of the time. i felt hopeless, yet again (the first time being 7 days after he was born, was left alone as the other one went back to work). it was a handful saturday so i just managed to do kerabu su-un with a tak jadi ikan 3 rasa which turned out to be just ikan 1 rasa, to go with our now favourite programme - Dancing On Ice.

The next morning, on sunday, i woke up to the beautiful voices of my two boys, laughing and giggling. the feeling was simply unbelievable, surreal. and to be able to witness them two playing together, on the bed, with all 3 of us tak mandi, in our baju tidur and our messy hair, really made my day, completely!! totally!! hardy’s been busy finishing up the house during most of the weekends, but last sunday he took the WHOLE day off, leaving all his drillings and hammering and simply be with aidan. as they discover more and more about each other, i was left floating, flying, with such a proud feeling and happy mood.

We then had a good outing, and enjoyed a good healthy dinner, and our not so healthy dessert.

A phonecall to my 4 month pregnant sister, laughing, comparing notes, gossiping sealed my day.

Another great weekend.. hope yours was equally good!

After a month of routinously sitting infront of the telly at 10pm to 11pm every night watching a bunch of celebrities living together, (locked under one roof, with no contacts or clue whatsoever to whats going on in the outside world), waiting for one action after another, one task after another, one by one evicted/walked/escaped from the ‘house’…this much talked reality programme, yesterday, came to an end. last night was the FINALS.

One by one got booted out starting with Jade’s boyfriend Jack, and Danielle. the very unpopular duo was greeted with booes from the live audiance. up next was Ian or ‘H’ in 4th place, followed by the A-Team Dirk, and then.. jeng jeng jeng… the final 2. as predicted - Jermaine & Shilpa.

And.. the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (my first ever watching Big Brother) is……

SHILPA!! i was not surprised at all, she deserved to win after the whole fuss on the bullies and racist attacks she had to endure. I was hoping for Jermaine to bag the title tho, a very cool, calm, spiritual, wise man indeed. we love him! Shilpa was greeted with cheers from the crowd, followed by fireworks display. I’m pleased she won, it says a lot about the british public, and how one should conduct oneself. and yes Davina’s right, all her earings are a sure knock out!

It’s gonna be dull nights from now on.. Celebrity Big Brother has ended and we’re done with our second season of Prison Break. thank God for American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy AND Dancing On Ice! hehehe oh zaza, get a life!

I have just found out about a week ago that it is the law for all migrants, all newcomer to the Netherlands should require to take up a Dutch Language Course, followed by 2 exams. it is compulsory. the reason to this is because they want all migrants to be "integrated", learn the dutch language, culture and society and not feel isolated thus might lead to some strange behaviour or violence. i dont know, the last part, i just made it up.. but anyway…

I went for an interview with one of the officer in charge, and betold of this situation. a moroccon migrant himself, Karim, now settled down here. he spoke to me in dutch almost all the way! it is difficult to grasp, understand what he was saying since the 20 lessons i had was such a basic one, and we almost didnt practice it after our course ended. thus, i stood there with a somewhat blur face, trying to catch a few familiar words. the reason why he spoke to me in dutch is because he claimed his english wasnt that good, but i told him, lets try, and i’m sure his english’s way better than my dutch, so lets just both give it a shot. it became a rojak conversation and both trying to understand one another. after almost an hour, i almost got the picture, and he almost got what i was trying to tell him.

Under the old law (up to 2006), the language course is provided by the Gemeente (like majlis perbandaran back home) GRATIS (free). everyone should attend the course for 600 hours Mandag tot Vridag (monday to friday) 9am - 12pm, followed by 2 examinations. i have to start the course as early as possible. course will be for a year.

Begining 2007, the new law applies, the Gemeente no longer provide the language course, but expect us to pay on our own, which i’m sure will cost a bomb and we should find our own language schools ourselves. (which isnt a problem for us since we have gone for 20 lessons before i had Aidan, however, paying is). we could start this anytime, the number of hours might be different, there will still examinations, and were told we should check this with the language school.

But anyway, Karim then showed me a letter, stating that the letter was stamped on the 27th December 2006 and therefore i have a choice. to choose which one - free or pay.

I would love to go with the old law, where i dont have to pay a single cent. but then, i must attend the class every weekday. it doenst allow any examptions. he was implying that i could not delay or postpone it. not even if you have a 4 month old baby. and his advise is to take them privately.

I wanted to cry out and say "bloody hell!"

Dont get me wrong. it is a good thing but it requires SO much of my time! 600 hours? a year, its ridiculous!

Thanks to the Dutch Integration, Youth, Prevention and Probation Minister, Rita Verdonk, i now have this problem.

Rita, or as they call her here ‘Iron Lady’ is well known for her toughness, outspokenness and her very strict policies. she is the most criticised minister here in the netherlands and i would think a controversial one too.

What i would like to say to dear Iron Rita is, how on earth is it possible for me, who had just moved to your country dear Holland almost a year ago, who endured a painful 24 hour labour with 2 failed epidurals due to some inconsiderate and plain sick-o doctors in the hospital in your dear country Holland, who just had a baby 4 months ago and now experiencing motherhood for the first time away from my family, who had experienced a ‘mishap’, big mistake at one of your dear holland’s consultasi bureau due to carelessness of your dear dutch workers, could attend a 3 hour class monday to fridays for a year when my husband goes to work on those days? who then should look after my baby? I still need to hold my him, i still want to! i want to enjoy my child. i havent even pass that post-natal thing (and dont let me start on that topic!). now tell me how is it possible at this stage to be integrated even more with your dear holland country and dear dutch people?

I would understand why people from the EU countries are excluded but what about the Americans, Canadians, Japaneese, Australians and the Kiwis? is there some sort of bias against us, the rest?

Now-now Rita, i’m sure you have a solution my problem. i’m sure there’s some way for us to at least put the free course on hold for a bit. i’m sure you’re a mum yourself and wouldnt want to miss out on your child growing and his hundreds of ‘firsts’.

Funny Hardy does not need to go tho. not even for an hour!

I’m going to write to them, seek help and assistance from our friend Sheila at the Gemeente. *sigh*  wish me luck.

I’m gonna start voting in the next elections.

Anyone wants to move to holland?

I just HAD to write about this. but do refer to my entry ‘I’m Hooked’.

BIG BROHTER has turned into BIG BULLIES! the Big Brother Babes have turned into Bullies, the Big Booby girl being the Biggest Bullier is Bullying Bollywood’s Babe.

It was clear since the day the Goodies - Jade, Jackiey (Jade’s mom) and Jack (Jade’s boyfriend) first came in that something, or someone would burst!

True indeed. Jade isnt as GOODy as the UK public would have wanted her to be, infact now, she is called a biggot, a racist, a bully and a disgrace to the british public.

Jade Goody’s stardom kicked off when she was a runner up of the reality programme Big Brother. the public loved her ’stupidity’ so much till she became a millionnaire - having her own perfume (outsold beckhams, b.speers, sarahjp and Jlos) an autobiography, her dvd fitness workout and her own column in a gossip magazie (i wonder if she writes).  allow me to share some of her road to fame and fortune:

1. she doesnt know where East Anglia is

2. she thinks Rio de Ganeiro is a footballer

3. Saddam Hussein is a boxer

3. she cant even say the word ‘influential’ (but claims she’s one of UKs top 20 most influential people)

4. she doesnt know half of her vocabularies

and

5. now, she puts 4 cubes of chicken stock in her pasta, i hope she wont have her own cooking show or be the face of any supermarket names!

And i’m sure those who have been watching will back me up and will probably have more other examples as i have only been watching her closely these past 2 weeks. funny how and why the brits find her so amusing before till she could make a fortune out of the public!

A person who supports anti bullying campaigns is now gangging up with danielle lloyd, teddy sheringham’s girlfriend, a so called WAG (wives and girlfriends), a model, ex miss GB) and s club’s Jo. togehter, jade being their ‘leader’ bullying a fellow housemate, bollywood actress shilpa shetty. there are claims that it has become a racial issue, and serious bullying. some of the stuff mentioned are extremely harsh and i’m simply appaled. the trio attacked, and belittled India’s Shilpa, viciously and with such cruel behaviour.

Allow me to share a little bit of insight of some of the things were said to the bolly beauty:

"You need a day in the slums. (Swearing) go in your community and go to all those people who look up to you and be real. You (swearing) fake."

"i think she should be (Swearing) off home", adding: "she can’t even speak English properly."

"she wants to be white"

"thats why the indians are skinny, they dont cook their chicken properly"

and shilpa was being referred to as "the indian" and a few more other names

and… so SO much more!

They we laughing at her, at her accent, and how she eats her food with her fingers, taking a piss at her cooking, basically, tak ada pasal, carik pasal and the petty things became such a huge issue.

It has brought to the attention to a lot of people with what’s going on in the house. Big Brother would love the publicity of course with ratings as high as 5.7m from 2. something million. i cant believe channel 4, the producers, and big brother, are not doing anything about this. it has been going on for way too long and more and more rude comments, derogatory comments, harsh, are being made. people are watching this, and i bet children, teenagers too! how can they can allow such a thing? its like endorsing bullying is ok. now, channel4 wants the public to vote and decide who should go. basically, they just want the public’s money.

Complaints have reached pass 30,000. whether or not it is racial, there are still questionmarks, but it is definitely ignorence in embracing and accepting other people’s cultures, definitely bullying and would probably lead to racism, if there isnt.

The programme now is the headlines of many UK papers, as well as indian papers. not to mention on the news in so many other contries. i agree with what shilpa said, "if this is what today’s UK society is, it’s scarry". in fact this is what is happening in the real world. just unreported..

Poor shilpa. she has been coping really well, being extremely strong so far, handling this with support from some good housemates like Jermaine Jackson Mohammed Abdul Aziz (now a muslim) as well as Dirk and the ‘on the fence’ friends Ian and Cleo. she is indeed a very proud, strong indian, asian woman i must say. showed her solid background and upbringing to practice.

I no longer have favourites, i just want to see how they would all react once they get out of the house and be told of the situation they’ve caused, and the scale of it! (cant wait to see what jade has got to say about all these and see what shes got to say once shes got to know that she had been dropped by the anti bullying charities and her perfume now off from the shelves.) her multi million pound carreer is now down the drain. this is afterall, a reality tv, see if reality hits jade baddy and fellow bulliers!

And as for teddy sheringham, i’m sure he’d be so ashamed with dear danielle. with football promoting anti racism, his girlfriend is all out potraying it! and teddy, there’s more to just looks! such a beautiful girl with such a bad heart, with no intelligence whatsoever. (you gotta watch it to witness it and.. guys, learn from this, tak semestinya cantik kat luar, hati tu baik!).

I’m glad i watched it from the beginning, from the moment they walked into the house. look what it had turned into! india’s now on protest. even parliament’s talking about it. MPs has signed a protest and tony blair’s now a fan! its getting serious.. i suppose this is broadcasting, this is television, but i’m sure there’s laws and guidelines to it. how powerful tv and the media is today! making money out of all these.. its sad.

The things people watch on telly these days eh…

(i am now however begining to think if i should not support channel4, and not watch the programme, but it is all too hot to miss! but at least i’m not voting and i’m not in the dark with the outside world! hehe)

Now, i bet those of you who said Big Brother’s boring are watching it too heh?! heheh… its not that boring anymore!!!

(p.s: oh, on other news, europe’s been hit by a bad storm. quite serious too! haha)

To all our cousins, and close close friends who knows us and my family personally, and those new friends as well. i’d like to share this wonderful news with you. some might heard of it already, some havent. so here it is..

My sister was told of her thyroid problem that she wont be able to get pregnant, well, difficult to conceive. she’s been closely monitored, she’s been going to the doctors, consulting other people, she’s under medicaiton, doing her ovulation checks everyday, trying.. but nothing. they were given an option to remove her thyroid by doing a surgery. they’ve thought about it - long and hard. and after almost a year of putting the surgery on hold, they decided to go for it. kakak went to the specialist to discuss the surgery. i supppose they were both mentally prepared for the surgery, but in the meantime they didnt loose hope, they were still trying. a couple of days later after seeing the doctors, setting the dates, etc. they then decided to do a pregnancy test.

On one fine saturday morning, early november (and early morning too) we were awoken by the sound of my handphone - 1 NEW MESSAGE. (contents will not be disclosed!). the stick showed positive!!!!!!  and we were ecstatic!

AIDAN’s GONNA HAVE A COUSIN!! insyaallah! and i’m gonna be an aunt!

My sister and my brother in law’s having a baby! how exciting! i simply cant describe my feelings. its different when you yourself’s pregnant, this is a totally different feeling altogether! i can only imagine how they were, at her home, with my parents being there and all.

Redza and mum then hurried to town, to Boots to get another pregnancy test for kakak to do. mum said they rushed, ran along the aisles to get it. i know i would too!! got back home, and yes, the same results showed.

Fifi now has passed her 1st trimester with flying colours! thanks to dad, redza and mum for cooking! hahaha. (hope you’ll get back in the kitchen soon eh fi).

Hardy received a call from redza couple of weeks after the good news. he told hardy "tell adik subtlely" - kakak couldnt get up, walk and nearly fainted at the office. so ambulance came to get her and she was sent to the hospital. another check, and now its 3 times positive. she’s ok. so much for keeping it quiet, now the whole Volvo knows!!!

I’d love to see my sister being pregnant. i’ve never heard or seen fifi wore a size 12 in her life, so i’d LOVE to see her! from what i see (photos) and heard, there’s a bump already! and please do not worry of the weight fi, coz it will all go away once baby’s born (or one would like to think of it as ‘gone’, mine’s in the process!). besides, you of all people can never not loose weight. so enjoy it! it is the best experience not being able to carry things, not being able to walk as fast, not being able to eat sushi, not being able to cook, waking up in the mornings to the loo, best!

She is due in july, and i wouldnt miss it for the world.

Syukur Alhamdulillah, God really love you both. amazing!

It’s gonna be tough at times, especially with your thyroid diet, what to take, what not to take, to reach a balanced level, with your medication, but kakak, its all going to be worth it! thank God you’re in UK kan? hahaha…redza… good luck! hehehe..

Congratulations kakak & redza!!

I miss baking. i miss baking my chocolate prune cake. I’ve been wanting to bake since i got here, but we didnt have an oven back in the hotel we stayed in last year. now, with a kitchen of our own, and a bloody good oven, i can now bake, and grill and roast!

I’ve decided to give cheesecake a try - baked cheesecake! i remembered a dear friend of mine, dayat, taught me how to do a basic cheesecake some 10 years ago. not the baked one but the simple cheesecake just whip, freeze and eat! hehe. and i remembered it being ’sapu-ed’ by my then housemates in oxford.

Sunday afternoon, aidan napping, hardy putting the carpet in the store room, i then start to gulung lengan and… ready… steady… BAKE!

It took me less than half an hour to whip everything up, and another good 40 mins in the oven.. then another 30 mins in the fridge (the longer the better). not bad ey for someone trying it for the first time, and who doesnt even like cheese.. let alone cheesecake!

And this is the result…

Now i do like cheese…

If only you lot can taste them! i’ve got only one ‘mangsa’…….. so.. did i pass?

(p.s: yat, i do know now why you love baking)

I rented an apartment during my stay in KL couple of years back together with one other friend. our landlord was a kerabat raja, and a friend of one of my aunts, and a friend to my mum’s friend. she was so soft spoken, pijak semut pon tak mati. but to be fair to her, i cant judge her, i dont know her. maybe i just did judge her… hmm.. but she was very soft spoken and nice, first impression i had during our meeting at her shop in KLCC.

We agreed to the rental, and took her word for it. and the day we signed the agreement, she added another hundred bucks to it. but we signed it anyway coz we liked the place.

She had promised us to put a new cooker. but she did not.

Towards the middle of the tenancy, her son took over. apperently, she had given the apartment to her son. a 29 year old boy now is our landlord.

We then faced a few other problems as my housemate’s dad did a kidney transplant, thus, she decided that she didnt want to stay at the apartment anymore. she (also a royal, but from a different state than the landlord) had to look after her dad. i could understand. we couldnt get any replacements, so she agreed to pay rent till either one of us would find a replacement. it was difficult coz i was stuck in a situation whereby my housemate didnt feel that she ought to pay since she’s no longer staying there, altho her stuff was still there. but i understand her situation. but it certainly wasnt my choice and wasnt my fault. i tried helping her by looking for another housemate but couldnt find any.

I still bank in my share of the rent, while my housemate agreed to bank in her share. but sometimes, she was late. and this landlord of ours had told my mum’s friend, then told my aunt to tell us to pay up. but it wasnt me. but anyway.. what has it got to do with them, these ladies? WHY is it so difficult to deal with us tenants? the landlords have our numbers. WHY must she go through other people? WHY must she tell others and not go straight to us?

The son then took over, and my housemate didnt pay, or forgot to pay her share, so this ‘royal’ took it to his hands and had a locksmith over to change the locks. luckily, at that time my dad was in the apartment. and the locksmith apologised saying that the ‘royal’ asked him to change the locks as the apartment is empty, vacant. is that fair, asking the locksmith to change the lock without informing us?

I paid all the rent and i have proof. every single one of it. i took some responsibility coz the both of us did signed the agreement together. it was just a little bit unfair to me. towards the end of the tenancy, i was seriously affected by all these and it was driving my crazy, drove hardy nuts too!

Tenancy ended in october 2005, i moved out first, somewhere in september and then my housemate. in november, i got married. we then went for our 1 week honeymoon to holland. in december, my sister got married, her nikah, and our reception. in january, i was so buzy with the dutch visa (it was hell) and getting ready to move to holland. hardy left for holland first (not intended but like i said, getting the visa was difficult). i then was hospitalised, infection. two weeks later, my turn to leave malaysia, being 5 weeks pregnant.

I received an sms during those busy december days. in his own words: "zaza, i will bank in your deposit money next week".

The thing is, i just remembered couple of months back that he had not paid in a single cent. i’ve checked with my maybank2u and nothing from him. i know it is late, and so i called but got his machine, and then text him last couple of months..

"hello iznan, this is zaza. i hope you’re doing good, if not great. i’m sorry this is late and long overdue, i’ve moved to holland and just had a baby, and i just remembred. i still have not received the deposit money from you to which you have promised to bank in. can you please do so? thank you"

almost 2 weeks had passed and nothing from him. and so i told my mum about this, and she said, she’ll try and call him for me.

mum spoke nicely to him and this is what he replied:

"WHY THE HELL DO YOU CALL ME AFTER ONE YEAR?"

And believe me there were some very rude remarks that he made to my mum, a person of 30 years older than him.

If he was a man of his words, why didnt he bank in the money as promised? and as someone who is yonger, is that how you talk to someone who is older than you? and not to mention that you are a royal, does that make you superior to all of the human beings on this earth? just because you’re a nephew to one of the sultans, does that makes you the right to speak such a way? or does it mean that you’re a landlord, i’m the tenant, you have the right to be rude?

Bloody hell! i was so crossed! i felt so guilty and so sorry for mum. i blamed myself for this is totally my matter and i dragged her into it.

People would expect that coming out of a royal from my state, johor. yes we have a weird royal family down there with some reputation as well. but bear in mind that not all of them are weird and unfriendly and rude. trust me, i grew up with some of them, i had the priviliged to do gifts for one of them (she is very kind and humble), we did their wedding favors, and mum is closed to most of them, and trust me, they are not all bad!

Funny how people would want to help the ‘royals’, take their sides, even when i’m not in the wrong, even when it’s not their business. funny how they’d willingly help this ‘royal’ of theirs. and now that they have not paid my deposit money, its funny how these people (who previously constantly kept on bugging me with the rent money), now didnt even want to help me in getting my deposit back. they just kept quiet.

Status counts huh? no matter how much money you have, how high up of the corporate ladder you are, how successful and how royal you are, at the end of the day, you’ll have to surrender to God. we will all die one day, and God would judge us the same, regardless whether you are a royal or not.

I would expect to get the full amount since there’s hardly a scratch in that apartment, let alone a nail! but then again, they are royals, they can do whatever, as they pleased.

I dont think i’d ever want to go to kelantan. boycot!

Yes, it is indeed. i am indeed. and i cant believe it. it is now official. i’d never thought i’d fall for it. i’d never thought i’d find it amusing. i’d never thought i’d be into it. thanks to our SKY digibox, we now have UK satelite, we can watch UK programmes.

I am now, able to watch telly! yeayyy! altho only limited times but i’m thankful enough. aidan seems to be very kind indeed to allow his mama to watch her favourite programmes.

And for the past 5 days, i have been watching that show. it was made popular some years back, six i think. i’ve only read and heard about it, but never actually watched it till mid last week. and now, IT IS OFFICIAL, i am into CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER! *sigh*

For you who dont know what it is, well, if you have watched AKEDEMI FANTASIA back home, well, it is something like that, minus the music lessons and the concerts. one of those reality tv shows, cameras all around you, its just basically showing how strangers live under the same room, roof for a period of time, not knowing anything and have absolute no contact with the outside world. what so special about this is these people, well they are celebrities! altho some i’ve never even heard of!

This year, the house contains, now, 14 housemates. those that i know of:

Jo (from the s club 7)

H (from the group steps, and yes, it is a ‘tragedy’ having him in there, i dont quite fancy him)

Dirk (from the show The A Team)

Jermaine (michael jackson’s brother. and for some reason, i think the jackson’s are flooding the UK. tito jackson is one of the judge for one of BBC singing contest ‘just the 2 of us’. i think they want to regain back their popularity in the UK)

However, sadly (in my case), 2 of them had left the house.

Donny (i reckon he is the coolest of them all, and the wackiest, a singer for a rock band called towers of london.. hmm.. never heard of it. he climed up the wall of the house, and walked himself out of the show after they were being asked to be ’servants’ to the new housemates)

Ken (an 80 year old snorer, or film producer shall i say is so old, my heart goes out to him, kesian punya pasal, i like him)

Now, my favourite’s are:

Cleo (an actress i dont know of, who  has the best personality (ies), with a wicked hairdo. she brings life to the room, she is ever so positive and she’s good company and gets along well with everyone, and everyone loves her!)

Leo (singer, songwriter, 70s, most famous for songs like ‘when i need you’,’ you make me feel like dancing’ and now his remake hitsong ‘thunder in my heart again’. i think leo’s a good soul. he even gave up his single bed to jo and shared a bed with donny!)

Danielle (a blur model but extremely enjoyable to watch her. she was miss great britain last year, but the title was stripped off her after she stripped off for playboy AND she’s teddy sheringham’s girlfriend. a real babe, she’s cute, and of course gorgeous, no wonder ted let her won the pagent, ey?)

Shilpa? shil whaaaa’? hehehe.. nice bollywood body, nice hair. if she could be more of a sport, she’d be fun to watch.

BUT nothing can beat watching Michael Scofield/Wentworth Miller and Lincoln Burrows/Dominic Purcell *awww* (heart melting) in PRISON BREAK! i’d be on the edge of my seat the whole hour! and we dont need to have SKY to watch it (dutch channel RTL5 is wayyyyyy ahead from the UK) wanna know who got caught? who has the money? we know! we know!  hahahha *evil laugh* and he (wentworth) was born in chipping norton in oxfordshire! i’ve been there!!

Well, it was a long holiday for hardy - a whole week! and how time flies SO fast! we thought we might take a drive somewhere, GENT to be precise, just to go on a short break, perhaps a day trip since aidan’s been crying a lot these days… but we didnt! we were ready, packed aidan’s supply of milk and bottles, extra clothes, extra jacket, extra pampers… like his bag was going to explode! and after a short visit to our huisarts (house doctor) on friday, we then got into our car, still undecided whether to go or not…… and lastly, i said, we might as well finish up the house! at last, we didnt go anywhere, apart from the usual places we’ve been - Leen Bakker to get some carpet and check out their sofas, Ikea to get more railings and storage, Albert Heijn and C1000 to get our groceries, oh.. and Roermond (our favourite  shopping outlet) http://www.designeroutletroermond.com/

I was more than happy to stay and not go anywhere, especially in this weather!

By the way, Gent is about 2.5 hours drive away from us. it is the 4th largest city in Belgium. it is the flower city of Belgium. most popular with their begonias and azaleas. perhaps it might be more worth it to go during those flowers are in bloom.. oh well, we have plenty of time. insyaallah…

We celebrated Aidil Adha a day earlier than Malaysia. we were at home, hardy finished up the laundry room (which now looks absolutely fab - clean and clutter free!), whilist moi, took care of aidan and did a little bit of cooking. We had Soto Ayam for raya haji. having our own home now feels so so complete, eventho we still need to do a few more things to it.

I hope everyone had a good raya qorban, with your families and friends.

We had our next door neighbours over for coffee - john and angelie. two very nice people, they came with pressents for aidan as well as oliebollen, translated as oil balls! (its something like doughnuts). over here, its their tradition having it on the new year’s eve and the new year’s day. lekker! they also came with a moving in gift for us, crafted chocolates in a hurricane sort of glass. absolutely beautiful. (will try to snap a good shot of it!)

New years eve, still, we stayed home. did the tiniest room in the house - the cloakroom. the whole neighbourhood started to fire their fireworks around 5ish, when its already dark like 8pm back home (now that it’s winter) but the peak was obviously at 12 midnight. i cant begin to tell you how meriah it was! it was spactacular! absolutely brilliantly beautiful, we were surrounded with fireworks all around us, look out of any windows, you’ll surely see them! and the sound!! good god, the sound was just unbearable (thank god for our double glazed windows!), it was like being in a war (altho i’ve never been to one but.. you get the picture!). its a shame aidan was asleep, otherwise he would have loved it! i had no idea that night would be full of fireworks and i can say in almost every one in three houses light up their sparks! amazing, simply amazing! depa kaya betui la kat sini!

And.. that was it! we didnt go nowhere (i envy those who gets to go to NEXT sale, M&S and all those shops in the UK - yes, you anne, kakak, k.yanti, crazy rachael and who else.. k.na? dayat? hehe). i remembered queuing at 6am back in those years, and now, as i was told, they start opening their doors at 5am! madness! hope you guys had a good shopping spree! but i had a really good time, having both my boys at home, and with me at all times for the past one week. it was better than NEXT sale

Today, hardy went back to work… and this year’s gonna be a busy year for him. i’m gonna have to deal with it being alone with aidan since there’ll be more travelling for him.. but hopefully it’ll be a better year, a good year for all of us.

Here’s wishing everybody another good year, filled with every good things one can possibly think off!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR - SELAMAT TAHUN BARU

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?