HALF MOON BEACH

Aktiviti weekend ni ialah ke Half Moon Beach bersama geng-geng Malaysia... Perjalanan asal kami dari Jubail bersama 2 other families iaitu Kak Latifah/Abg Khairi n Yas/Nizam. While the other 4 families - Kak Zura, Kak Jah, Kak Maznah n Kak Noor dalam rombongan lain as they're going to visit a friend in hospital first, then only will join us at the beach.

Disebabkan dalam rombongan kami tu mmg takde sapa2 pun yg pernah pergi ke sana, maka we all mmg depend sepenuhnya lah on the GPS. Jarak perjalanan seperti yg ditunjukkan oleh GPS ialah 97km dari rumah.

Malangnya bila sampai di pertengahan jalan (dah kt Dammam), banyak jalan yang sedang under construction. Dan jalan-jalan yg dicadangkan oleh si GPS semuanya tidak boleh dilalui. Kebanyakan jalan meletakkan signboard "DETOUR AHEAD", bermaksud kena cari tempat U-turn (and usually it takes about 4-5km) utk masuk ke jalan yg dikehendaki.

The road condition makes our journey agak tak smooth. We have to stop by few times kat tepi2 jalan for discussion between the drivers. We asked people here n there, which most of them yg ditemui just know to say "yamin" (kanan) n "shimal" (kiri).

However, when others are getting stress sbb dah sesat entah ke mana2, and no sign of beach yg nampak instead of desert, I ni pulak have another feeling :) Hehehe....

Know what? I really feel excited! Excited to be lost! Hahahaha... Seriously I really like it when we have to stop for discussion, reading our own map n draw it on the sand, instead of just follow the gps. I was so excited to go on adventurous journey, guna jalan2 yg ada cabaran sikit, compared to just guna highway yg lurus n membosankan mcm tu jek. (Well, I was a member of Kelab Kembara in school and we went for camping in jungles n caves... :))

So setelah bersesat-sesatan selama 3 jam (supposed to reach in 1 hour jek!), akhirnya sampailah jugak ke tempat yg dinanti-nantikan. Actually masa dah last2 minit before sampai tu, almost all of us (maybe except me sorang je!) dah berputus asa and decided to just pergi jek picnic kat mana2 tempat sebab perut dah berkeroncong dari pagi tak makan (kami bertolak pukul 8 pagi...just imagine..) Tapi Alhamdulillah... dgn berkat kesabaran dan usaha semua, Half Moon Beach kini di depan mata.

Tempatnya Subahanallahhh.... mmg cantik yg teramat sgt indah! Air lautnya biru kehijauan (tak mcm pantai PD n Langkawi yg skrg dh nampak mcm air Sg. Korok je). Pantainya pulak mmg bersih dan cantik sangat. Kalau berdiri kat tepi pantai boleh nampak air yg sgt-sgt jernih.

Di seberang jalan daripada pantai tu pulak ialah desert yang jugak sgt bersih dan indah. Di sini tempat orang (lelaki) main ATV. Yang ni I tak nak cerita lebih sbb I jeles takleh join sekaki!

Facilities are quite satisfying - ada paip2 air, ada pondok utk piknik yg selesa, ada toilet (toilet je yg kureng skt), and yg penting ada petunjuk kiblat kt pantai nih, I loike! So amat recommended utk pergi ke sana cuma bersabarlah dalam mencari jalannya buat masa ni sbb jalan yg mudah mmg tak ada sbb under construction. Tapi tak le bleh pegi tiap2 minggu mcm Fanateer beach kot sbb agak jauh :)

Agenda pertama bila sampai - kita makan dulu!

Pondok utk piknik. Ada tempat bbq sekali...

Kanak-kanak riang ria di tepi pantai

Ada boat yg boleh disewa utk round2

Geng bapak2 n anak2 lelaki main ATV

Geng ibu-ibu ditinggalkan - refreshing ourselves with latest gossips :)

Zuzu & Yaya - enjoying the cool breeze n "pure oxygen" :)

With their lovingly ibu angkat :)

Ok, dah ready nak balik... (dah dekat Maghrib nih)

Oh, one more thing I nak pesan, kalau sesapa yg ke sana time musim sejuk camnih, silalah pakai baju 2-3 helai (or better if u hv long john) dalam abaya, and bawaklah sehelai lagi sweater utk pakai kt luar. Muka I nih dah takleh senyum. Memang beku I tell you...!!!!

ZUZU YAYA UPDATES

The weather seems to be unpredictable these few days. About 4-5 days back, it was freezing cold; during wake-up time it was 6⁰C, then increased a bit to 8⁰C by noon, and might either increase or decrease at night. But seems like today and yesterday, my home-temperature-logger shows 19 - 20⁰C during day time, and 22⁰C at night. And it's been heavily hazy these 2 days as well. We're pretty sure it's not thunderstorm, but haze.

Eh, thought I wanna update bout the princesses? Tetiba jadik weather updates pulak. Mcm tu lah I ni, kdg2 masa tgh basuh pinggan, bukan main lagi - so many things and words dancing in my mind tp bila dh online apa pun x ingat dah. Sign of aging? Huhuhu...



AIN ZULAIKHA

Kakak is 3 years 6 months and 2 weeks old (to-date). Known as the most talkative and pot-pet in the house. Able to berleter non-stop and potentially to drag small matter to be huge one. Hobi ialah mekap, mekap, mekap. And so in-love with girly stuffs - baju cantek, shopping, barbie, shoes etc. Her current most favorite quote is "Orang cakap dia pun tak paham" - and we are yet to understand it either....

If I ask her to count 1,2,3....10, mmg sgt malas. She will say " Kakak penat laa bu...Kakak ngantuk ni.." and buat2 pejam mata nak tido. But it's ok if ada learning aid mcm flash card or so. Itu pun kadang2 mmg kena paksa baca, and ibu has to transform to "guru disiplin" at times.
She can now hafal few simple doa like doa makan, doa nak tido, etc. And I'm currently training her on doa penerang hati.

We are planning to send her to school this year. But school semester here starts in September, and they only accept kids with minimum age of 3 years 9 months. Just a right time for kakak.

Kakak is no more drinking milk from bottle. A big applause for kakak, and for ibu as well hehehhe (pada hal ayah yg buat hardcore training nih). During day time, most likely kakak dh x pakai pampers. She can go to the toilet on herself. Except for poo-poo time, dia akan mintak I pakaikan pampers "Ibu!!! Cepatlah pakai kan pampers kakak ni!!!" Haaa.. klu dengar dia dah menjerit mcm tu, means adalah benda nak terkeluar tu!

So far, bolehlah dikatakan kakak is quite a big girl already. She eat by herself, tido on her own. Not very much depends on ibu dah... Alhamdulillah...

ALEEYA ZUBAIDAH

Adik pulak is almost 2 years 2 months. Adik is more famous with her super-loud voice. Seriously, she dont speaks but shouts! And we know that adik inherits this from Amet's late grand-grandfather, Tok Mat Guruh (he's been called "Guruh" sbb suaranya yg kuat :-))

Since being here in Jubail, adik has suddenly "membesar". Just like mcm eh tiba2 jek adik nampak besar! We was so worried that her teeth pun mcm xnak grow. But just almost to her 2nd birthday, mcm tiba-tiba jek gigi adik semua keluar!

Hmmm.. the only one more suprise we are waiting from adik is : cakap lebih banyak and tanpa pelat. Now looks like she knows n understand almost evrything, cuma x boleh nk sebut penuh jek sesuatu word tu but sebut yg hujung2 jek. And she starts almost everything with "A", contoh : Awah (Buah), Abu (Ibu, oh...) Alur (Telur), and so. She understand hampir semua arahan, except the word "sekejap". Means if she wants anything, she wants it NOW as really NOW! (especially susu lah...)

And satu lagi tabiat adik yg famous ialah dia akan pegang telinga org bila nak tido. Kadang2 time tak tido pun tangan dia bleh jugak merayap ke telinga org (terutama ibulah, sapa lagi).

Hmmm... anything that the sisters share or have in common? The only thing I can see is suka sangat-sangat berebut benda. Tak kira be it toys, books, food, even telekung pun boleh jadi, or berebut nak buat sesuatu bila ibu suruh, contoh : Ask kakak to buang sampah, and adik will also berebut to do that.
Oh ada satu lagi yg both of them suka ialah watching cartoons - Barney, Thomas & Friends, Bob the builder, Shaun the Sheep dan sebagainya. Setiap hari, at 9-12, the tv belongs to them :)

But somehow, ada jugak time yg I can see that they do have fond sisterhood. Bila kena marah dgn ibu, both of them will hug each other, and cry together and then pujuk-memujuk session heheh... I'm just so grateful to see my sweethearts grow up. Sure, its been headache on-off looking at the mess they make, but having their little hands hug me and their little sweet lips kiss me.... everything just melt away....

ASK-I MEMMNU

Sapa tak paham tajuk tu, angkat tangan!!!

Hehehe... klu ada yg paham, mmg terer gile lah! Itu ialah bahasa Turkey. I bagi maksudnya dalam beberapa bahasa lain :

Arabic : العشق الممنوع

English : Forbidden Love

B. Melayu : Cinta Terhalang

Well, ini sebenarnya ialah sebuah drama Turki yg amat hangat di pasaran Middle East sekarang. Dan ini jugak ialah projek I sejak sekian lama ; now dh episod 81, and I've been following this series since episode 1. And sebenarnya, kt KSA ni, cerita ni dh ditranslate dalam bahasa Arab (mcm cerita Lalola dll. kt Malaysia). And I've been focusing too much and layan giler, just like I understand every single word they are talking! Hehehee...

Actually, the main factor yg buat I terpikat nak tengok this series of course lah sebab pelakon2 nye yg lawa n hensem giler. And their clothes, and dresses, and make-ups, and their super-lavish mansion at the seaside, ohh.... mmg cannot tahan lah! (Alaa... just spend 1 hour per day berangan... it's ok kan?)

Can u resist (watching) him? Hehehe... tp yg lawaknya, nama hero ni ialah "Behlul". If they ever know what does it means in Malay kan? Hahaha....

Heroinnya, Bihter (yg ni I tak kesah sgt....hahaha)

And yg paling lawak, bila baca about how people are so crazy on this series dalam paper and websites. Well, you all mesti baca kt SINI. Mmg lawak gila how people can easily meniru of how the characters dressed-up, and the tokei2 kedai semua kalau nak jual baju just cakap je"Haa.. ini design yg Ask-i Memmnu pakai" and sales will easily shoot up! Hehehe... And sampaikan sabun n perfume pun orang berebut-rebut nak beli asalkan ada tulis tajuk cerita nih! Arab punya crazy nih mmg lain mcm sikit... Nasib baiklah setakat ni I belum sampai tahap gila mcm tu! Hehehe

And magazine2 kat bookstores pun mmg letak cover diorang ni jek lah sejak sebuan dua nih.
Even Zuzu & Yaya pun tergedik-gedik jgk bila nampak cerita nih! Hadoi... sebok!

Oh, ada website rasmi jugak okeh.... kalau nk tgok wajah pelakon2 yg mengancam tuh, tengok SINI.

Wikipedia pun ada! Hehehe....

And just yesterday masa I buang2 masa browsing (amboi byk sgt ke masa makcik nih???), terjumpa la pulak ada org yg sgt baik hati buat subtitle in English! Aaaahhhhhhhh..... harus lah kena repeat tgok balik. Tapi tgok part2 yg penting je lah. Otherwise, tak berasap le dapur rumah ni!

However, semua ini hanyalah drama/lakonan. It's all about sweet-pain of love, family affairs and so. So easy to watch it on drama... huh?

Apa-apa pun, klu rasa nak cuba tengok, bolehlah KLIK SINI utk preview. Satu lagi yg best ialah OST nya yg amat megasyikkan... (Isk isk isk... bila la nak bleh hafal doa-doa Umrah kalau mcm ni makcik oii.....nampaknya Tawaf sambil tengok buku lagi le..)

NASIB LAH...

Entri ni kena tulis sepenuhnya dalam bahasa Melayu sbb nak kutuk org filipina. hahahha... sungguh berterus-terang.

Semalam kami pi makan kat restoran ni kt pekan Jubail, nama kedai ni Pansitan. Sebab utama saya tergedik2 sgt nak makan sini ialah sbb encik Amet yg pi makan dgn kawan dia minggu lepas balik dok cerita lauk-pauk kt situ sedap gila mengalahkan restoran Pattaya. Saya ni mmg x boleh org cakap pasal makanan :)


Bila sampai depan kedai tu, tetiba saya merasa mcm sedikit geli. Taktaulah, tp saya mmg tidak boleh melihat geng filipina ni berkumpul ramai2, nampak belengas semacam! Dalam dok fikir nak turun, tak turun tu, Amet dah pun bersedia nk masuk dalam kedai tu.

Bila masuk... oh! family section kt tingkat atas. dan utk naik ke atas tu, anda kena melalui lorong di celah2 meja yg sgt ramai lelaki2, then kena pulak naik tangga yg sempit lagi curam, cukup tangkap muat utk sorang jek.

Bila sampai family section, agak ok jugaklah ruangnya. tp open dan takdek bilik2. kami pun orderlah makanan - sup tulang, sotong sweet sour, sayur kangkung n nasik putih.serta air teh o ais limau.

bila makanan sampai, bijik mata saya n Amet hampir nak terkeluar! Saiz hidangan ni masya Allah.... boleh makan 10 org! Betul, bukan saya nak buat lawak kelakar kt sini. Mmg baaaaaaanyaakkkkkkkkkk gila!!! Bila kami panggil waiter tu, nak tanya saiz portion utk berapa org, dia pulak x paham cakap omputih. Masalah betoi! So kami pun telan je lah...

Dah masuk mulut, supnya rasa mcm sayuq singgang masak asam. Dalam sup tu dia campur sekali bendi, kacang panjang, ubi keladi, kangkung dan cabai besaq. Tulang langsung x ada, tp dia boh daging jek. Sotong tu pulak entah berapa kerat jek ada badan sotong, lain2 semua janggut sotong jek. Sayur kangkung mmg rasa mcm celur air panas jek. Dan banyak gila sayur ni, klu bagi arnab makan pun mmg satu minggu la baru bleh habis!

Dah sudah makan, waiter tu offer nak tapaukan lauk sbb byk lagi tak habis. OKlah kami pun setuju. Datanglah bilnya...... tau berapa? Utk lauk kampung mcm tu harganya SR130!!!! Sungguhlah saya merasa amat sgt geram! Kalau sedap takpe jgk. Ini nak mkn pun tak lalu. Amet yg biasa mkn bertambah 3-4 kali tu, just mkn setengah pinggan jek. Punyalah tak sedap. Mmg kena sumpah la kedai nih!

Bila masuk dlm kereta, bau hanyir sup yg ditapau tu membuatkan kami muak. Amet pun terus membuang lauk itu. Sedihnya... tp apa nk buat, baunya mmg pelik sgt...

Huhuhu... dgn itu saya nasihatkan, sekaligus membari amaran kpd kawan2 kt sini, JANGAN pergi kedai tu. Klu nampak jek papan tanda mcm gambar kt atas tu, jauhkan diri anda dari situ! Sekian.

KEDAI SIAM

So after the kejadian yg agak mengganggu-gugat ketenteraman jiwa I tu, I decided to always put my niqab especially bila keluar ke Jubail town. And I just feel safer, comfortable with it.

Hello! Hello... it's me! Not Darth Vader lah! Ni masa pi kedai elektrik kt Jubail town.
Oh, finaly Amet bought new washing machine sbb jeans dia asyik lambat kering jek. Huhuhu...

But bila keluar ke Khobar, I think it's ok if I took it off since kt sana the people is not as narrow-minded as in Jubail. However, I still carry it in my handbag, in case I need it.

So last Friday, we went to Al-Rasheed Mall (again!) as Amet wanted to "tengok-tengok" some watches, but finally end up buying his admired Tissot! Ohhh .....

And the girl got their own watches also... SR10 each hehehe...

Kakak with Fulla watch... (gambar tak focus kt jam pun)

Adik with Barbie watch...

Too bad, for me, I wanted to buy jeans. Sebab now the kesejukan adalah amat melampau and I really need another pair. And there are year-end sales with 70% discount and so. But unfortunately, most of the shops here DO NOT HAVE FITTING ROOM! Not even for men. But they allowed men to use their store.

Oh... I wonder mcmana the minah2 arab sini beli baju n pants? And I can remember, I tak pernah beli seluar without trying it out first. And I tak pernah dgn sekali try jek, boleh terus get the right, fitted size for me. Mesti nak kena 5,6 ,7 helai try baru ok (OK means beli 1 je out of that :D). Teruknye lah kedai kat sini oi!!!

Quite frustrated, I ask Amet to try cari the kedai runcit siam. Menurut kata sifu I, Kak Leeza, the shop is just belakang2 Al-Rahmaniya Mall. So kami pun cari and Alhamdulillah we found it! It's triple yeay!!!!

Ok sapa-sapa yg nak pergi sini, just ambik lorong yg betul2 tepi building Al-Rahmaniya Mall tu, drive terus dalam 500m, tengok sebelah kanan, ada Thai House Restaurant. Ok stop situ. The shop is just next to the restaurant. Ada 2 buah kedai runcit. Satu namanya "Thai Supermarket" (yg ni tutup masa I pi hari tu), the another one namanya "D'Chiangmai Supermarket - Thai, Filipine Food Supply". So sgt gembira riang ria dapat beli barang-barang idaman hati kat sini. Cuma petai jek yg x dapat. Sob sob sob.... Oh, ada jual cengkerik utk digoreng jgk kt sini! Hahhaaha....

Penutup tirai ialah makan kat Malaysian Kitchen :-)

COOKING MENGUBATI BORING

Note : This entry ditulis pada 30/12/2010

Actually, sekali sekala time xleh online ni bagus jugak. Why? Sebab... masa ni lah I nak pulun buat keja remeh-temeh yg tertangguh sekian lama. Contoh : Jahit butang-butang baju (butang abaya ni selalu sgt tertanggal), cuci n re-organized balang2 rempah ratus (dh tebal minyak n debu melekat kt situ), and..... yg paling i suka ialah main masak-masak!

Nasib baik I ada few recipe baru yg dah save dlm hard disk. So bolehlah cuba try time ni...


Okeh yg ni I jumpa kat fotopages Kak Hanilieza (klik utk resepinya), pakar masakan terkenal kat Malaysia... mudah sgt nak buat. Dan... walaupun rupanya nampak mcm ugly duckling (yg I punya version le hehehe), tp rasanya insya Allah.... sgt lazat berkrim... very highly recommended utk dicuba. Yang I punya tu nampak buruk sikit sbb gatal tangan tambah susu lebih, maka lembiklah ia.... Lain kali, folow recipe betul2... :)

Okeh yg ni tak pakai mana-mana resipi. Sebab dari zaman sekolah rendah dah dok masak benda nih. So masuk jeklah bahan-bahannye dalam periuk. Rebus dan siap. Oh, thanx a lot to Cik Rosse yg bagi I laksa ni. Siap jalan kaki datang hantar rumah I. Terharu you.....tima kasih daun keladi...

Haaa... ni pulak roti canai home made punya. Kat sini susah sikit nk dapat roti canai. Ada tu ada... tapi ermmm...ntah lah nk komen pun susah hahahha. Lagipun kedai mamak x le banyak bersepah mcm kt KL tu... asal jalan sikit kedai mamak.

So, dh teringin sgt nk makan, uli le sendri... Resipi ialah dicopy-paste dari SINI (klik utk resepinye, I malas nk tulis...). Mmg purposely I cari resipi yg x pakai telur. Tapi utk kawan-kawan kt Malaysia, x payah lah penat-penat menguli, pi jek kedai mamak jerit "Roti Canai 5 keping!". Siap.

Kuah Dhal tu pulak, 2 hari buat baru siap dapat rasa yg sebati. Kalau buat sehari, mmg x sedap. So, kalau yg amat sgt sedap hingga menjilat jari kt kedai mamak tu.... I wonder... berapa hari punya ek??? Hehehehe... kidding! Don't worry, makan je dgn Bismillahirahmaanirrahim....

Okeh till then. Nak masak lagi!

BAD HAIR DAY

Note : This entry telah ditulis 5 hari yg lalu : 29/12/2010

Amet is away for teambuilding for 2 days. So last night, we were out to do some groceries, as like he will be away for 2 weeks.

Lagipun this last-minute-man nak beli sleeping bag and gloves as they will be trained in the desert of nowhere.

And this makcik, has her very own plan too. Thought that I can be a couch-potato for 2 days, spending the whole time watching Siti Kelembai and Geng Surau without worrying to cook special gourmet for my boss. And not to worry about the mess until he’s in front of the gate in next 2 days. Yahoooo!!!!

So my shopping trolley are mostly filled with 2 packets of Doritos, 2 packets of Cheetos, a toasted sunflower seeds, Kinder Buenos, Kit-Kats and all those junkies. Maklumlah.. nak enjoy tgok movie sepuas-puas hati kan…

And on the way back home, I asked Amet to tapau Khabsa so that I can just re-heat for tomorrow’s lunch. I don’t want to spend a long time in the kitchen and pause the movie. Very well-prepared and super-ready, I am.

So this morning I woke early as usual. After waving Amet goodbye to the camping, I started to turn on the modem n my laptop, attached it to the tv and waiting for Firefox to appear on the screen.

I can see that my Skype is continuously making the circular arrows, which means the internet is not fully connected. And after a while the homepage appears with “Page loading error.” I tried to re-connect.

I click again on the Firefox, and I was so-o shocked to see this….

Huwaaa..!!!

What am I gonna today for these 2 days??? Oh of course I do have house chores to do. But I wont treat myself like a slave, mopping n washing all day long. No-no. This is my home.

I would love to spend this free time reciting Al-Quran, but I’m on my “off” day. (Boleh je kalau nak berzikir ke ape kan… alasan!)

Hmmmmm…. Macam magic, tetiba jek expired. Without any notification. Betullah pak arab nih! Thinking about last night, just before we were out to Panda, we just successfully booked the tickets n hotel (will be performing Umrah soon, Insya Allah…). Then, when we come back home, mmg tak online langsung sampailah pagi ni. And… this happen when Amet is already in the middle of the desert. Yeahhh!! Nice!!!

My precious BlackBerry? Ah haaa.... I just terminated the BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) due to bad service, and I dont think I have to check n reply any urgent emails now. Hey I'm a housewife! Nobody will email me forms for my verification to release products or whatever! And I thought why should I membazir to pay for the service that cost me 100 ryal monthly. I'd rather spend it on my other things..... more food? Hehehe... Ok, now, I really think that I must have to re-consider it.

So, what can I say. Tengok jek lah tv yg x best tu… Oh, by the way, I’m typing this in MS Word. Huhuhu….