# HARI RAYA VISITING.....

As usual on the first day of Raya, our family will visit a family friend cum my children 'keluarga angkat' cum my former baby sitter. They have been like family to us especially my two kids who called the mother, 'mak' and father,' bapa'. The kids will spend the entire day with these family and sometimes the night too. They were very excited when comes Raya cause they know that they will be receiving ' duit raya'. My son is saving his money as he has something in mind, so this is a good time for him to achieve his target.

This year we only visited two houses, but a few years back we did visited at least four to five houses. But to me visiting this one house is just enough cause we will have our lunch here. All my favourites like ketupat, ayam masak merah, daging masak hitam, sambal kacang and nasi minyak/tomato. And normally kakak J will tapau some more...hahaha...so I don't have to cook dinner and lunch the next day.

REUNION WITH CLASSMATES OF '76....

On the night of 16th August 2012, I was finally able to meet a classmate who was in the same class that was Form 1 (9) in KTSS in 1976, whom I haven't seen for more than 30 years. She managed to traced me and a few others through Facebook about a year ago and she has been keeping in touch since then.

My friend Dot, is married to a British man and has two grown up children. They reside in the UK but she usually comes home to visit her family every year.  She told us every time she came back she will try to locate us but to no avail. But this year she was very,very happy because she managed to track down a few of us. Actually there was another friend who wanted to join us but she couldn't make it  due to some unforeseen circumstances as she staying in another part of the country. Hopefully she can make it the next time round. Really missed her and wanting very much to see her.

There were about five of us at the reunion that night. Wow, we really had a fun time reminiscing about the good old school days. One of her friend's brought a few old class photos. Hahaha....we got to laugh at ourselves when we saw those old pics....with our bushy hair style and our innocent look. Geeee....one of them did not recognised herself in the photo. So you can imagined how different we were back than. Two hours seemed to fly by without us realising it as we have a lot of catching up to do.

 

 I was very happy to note that two of my former classmates are doing very well in their career. Quite sad too as one of them is a single mother, but her kids are doing very well in their studies. Dot has left for UK yesterday and I hope that she can bring back all the sweet memories that we had. She promised that the next time she's in town she will round us up again for another reunion and hopefully with a few more long lost classmates.

A SHORT BREAK BY THE SEASIDE......

During the Hari Raya holidays we decided to have a short break at a popular resort. The moment we drove to the entrance of the resort I was very impressed by the new buildings. It wasn't there when we came here about three or four years ago. Since it was taken over by a new management a lot of new changes have been taking place.

the restaurant/dinning hall..... very impressive.

 The front building consist of the lobby and a lounge. The lobby was quite spacious and when we came at about 2.15pm there was already a  queue at the check-in counter. After waiting for about 15 mins I was able to get my check-in done by the courteous front line staff. But she told me that I have to wait for a while as my room haven't been clean yet after the last guest left, because they were very busy. I said ok, as I assumed that at the most they will take about 15 to 20 mins to clean up the room.

But how frustrated we were,( the kids were already restless and my boy just changed into his swimming trunk and jumped into the pool.) when the room was only ready at about 4.30 pm. Almost 2 hours of waiting. I understand its Hari Raya and maybe the room maids had their off days but pleaselah can't they make arrangement for other helpers to assist them during this peak season. It was a long weekend break and as it coincided with the school holiday, a lot families who can't afford to travel overseas would normally bring their children to those nearby resort. It really spoilt my mood and I noticed that the resort was not really well maintained. There were no life guards on duty at the pool side and we could see all kind of attires being worn by the swimmers.

The same thing happened when we went to a nearby food court that night.  We planned to have our dinner at a seafood restaurant. The restaurant was packed and  there were only a few waiters and waitress in sight and there were very busy taking orders and serving. It was not a pleasant sight or atmosphere so we decided to leave the place and not take any chances as we could foresee that it will be another long wait before we can have our food.

My daughter was sulking because she wanted to go to the Fine Dinning Seafood Restaurant but eventually we were able to persuade her to go to another seafood restaurant or eatery nearby. The small road leading to the restaurants were jammed packed with cars going in all directions. But we managed to manoeuvred our way through to find a seafood eatery which was also packed. This place, if I was given a choice I won't put it in my 'must visit' list, but ....... we were all so damn hungry. Pity the kids, they were very exhausted,tired and hungry after a long day.

 

The next day we just went to the beach, the kids and daddy enjoyed themselves swimming while I just jogged along the beach.  My hubby, my daughter and I did not enter the pool cause of  the unappetising sight. Only my son went for a swim cause he has his friends who were there with their families so he did enjoyed himself.

The lessons we have learnt from this trip is to avoid popular resorts during peak seasons.

OH MY OVEN.....

I've been telling myself that one of these days I will get a brand new oven. And that one day finally came about a week ago. I can't make up my mind which brand I wanted. All I wanted was just something bigger than my present oven. The one that I have been using all these years is quite small about 12''x11'' and whenever I wanted to bake anything in large amount I have to bake it twice which is a nuisances.

 See the brand of this oven...for your information, you can't find it in the market anymore.

 The old oven has been my faithful companion for the past 20 years.(+-)...... mind you! I bought it when I was still single (and available...hihihi..) and haven't met my hubby as yet, and now my eldest child is  13 years old ,so you can imagined how long it has been with me. But in the earlier part of my marriage life, the poor oven has been sitting in the store room collecting dust for quite a long time.  Back than I was still working at the bank and was pretty busy with the kids who were still very young, so I don't have much time to do baking.  It was only recently that my old hobby surfaced again and the oven is still as faithful and as long as I can remember it hasn't let me down. I'm still keeping it in case anytime I need to bake/grill anything in small amount it is still dependable and also for sentimental value.

Actually I just need a little push to make the final decision. It started when my sister asked a favour to help her to bake some cakes for their church sales. She's opening a stall and she needs a variety of food stuff to sell. I agreed cause I just love baking but the problem was that my present oven is too small to accommodate the amount that I needed to bake. So no more excuses and about time too to

make the purchase.

So hubby and me started oven hunting and we managed to find one at Kota Sentosa. Its not my dream oven caused my dream one is the built-in type but I can't get that as my kitchen is sooo ...Tini Winny that a built-in just couldn't fit in. The one I bought was a 55L conventional and the price was quite reasonable and...and...hubby is paying for it..... Thank you Sayang...Love you..... So beggars can't be choosy,huh!!... I"m quite happy with the purchase cause it's big enough for me.

That's the opening ceremony for my new oven.

Belated Ivory Anniversary at BCCK....

As I had mentioned in my last blog that we'll be celebrating our anniversary after my hubby came back. So finally on 10th August I managed to booked a table at the BCCK for dinner (coincidentally BCCK is having the ramadan buffet ...YESSS....) so you can imagined the spread being served there.

The moment we entered the dinning hall I was very impressed with the ambience's which was awesome, the decoration and lighting's were just great. There was a large crowd that night and I wondered whether it has been like these for the past few weeks. I'm glad I choose BCCK because for the past few years we normally celebrated our anniversary at hotels so this year for a change why not try something different, and I was not disappointed.

The children enjoyed themselves, mixing with the crowd and tasting the varieties of food. The food were great and we were spoiled for choice. I love the fresh prawns though can't take much. And the popular bubur pedas was quite good, which only make its appearance during the ramadan month and only in Sarawak. There were nasi beriyani, ayam masak merah, bubur lambuk, lamb,beef, waffle, char kuih, and varieties of dessert, just to name a few. I can't remember all cause the spread of food was uncountable. One funny incident that happened to me that night...malunya!! .. was I almost lost myself in the crowd, couldn't find my way back to our table, cause the dinning tables where the food were served were identical and after doing my rounds, I got a bit confused. Luckly I found my children who were still at the dinning area to lead me back to our table. Hahaha...that was funny. Padan muka ngerayau jauh gilak!!!

But one thing that I'm not comfortable with was the background music was blaring and way too loud. I almost jump out of my chair when out of the blue they tune on the birthday song (guess it was on the diner's request) I don't mind the raya songs but please tune it down a bit. Make it like a fine dinning atmosphere with soft music in the background, that would have been more appropriate Other than that I should give it a 5 Stars. OhOhOh.......  it was quite pricey, thought of going again but hmmm....if there's four of us.....$$$..nayyy....maybe next year. (hopefully our anniversary coincide with the ramadan month AGAIN so we can splash ourselves without feeling guilty...hihihi).

   SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI TO ALL MUSLIMS FRIENDS AND READERS.

#HOT.....HOT ....HOT....DAY

Nothing much happening today...just feeling quite tired running around fetching the kids from school and tuition in this hot weather.

So while waiting for my son to finish his tuition class, my girl and I went to the Bazaar Ramadan at Stuttong. There were not much crowd today as we went there at about 3.30pm to avoid the rush hour. The food were still in abundance. Managed to get a few different types of kuih and nasi lemak for the kids dinner tonight. I bought some karipap pusing, donat, tapai pulut,keropok lekur and kuih 'bongkol' (sorry,is that the right spelling?)   Memang rambang mata nak memilih makanan yang ada. Lauk pauk juga semua nampak sedap-sedap, yang nasi kerabu, nasi ayam penyek, bubur pedas (ni memang famous di Sarawak) dan bermacam-macam juadah,tak payah cakaplah, semuanya ada. Aduh....kesian mereka yang berpuasa memang amat payah hendak menahan nafsu hendak memborong semua makanan yang ada. Cubaan........

Dua tiga hari yang lepas ada kakak yang pernah menjaga anak-anak saya suatu ketika dulu telah menghantar bubur pedas yang dia masak sendiri. Berebut kami anak beranak hendak merasa. Pada fikiran saya anak-anak tak nak makan bubur ni sebab mereka tak pernah makan bubur pedas sebelum ni.  Hish.....habis semangkuk digasak dua beradik ni sampai daddy yang lembat turun dari atas,hanya tinggal tak sampai semangkuk kecil saja. ....Tak pa mungkin lain kali ada rezeki lagi. Pernah juga saya membeli bubur ni semasa ramadan dua tiga tahun lepas tapi tak berapa nak sedaplah sebab tu saya tak teringin nak membeli semasa dibazaar tadi.

The heat is really getting to me, I think I need a shower now, so guess that's all for tonight. So ...sweet dream, peeps!

# 14TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

1st August is our wedding anniversary, which also coincided with Kuching City Day. So there's no excuse for either of us to forget it .  Early this morning I msg my darling hubby reminding him (with a tongue-in-the cheek) 'ingat dai?'  Hihihi...what else can he say if not for "Yes I still remember.bla..bla..bla...."  and we'll be celebrating it after he comes back.  Yayyy.....Great^:^

It's has been a great 14years...well..we do have our ups and our down but who doesn't, rite!

I bought a card for him a couple of years ago but  haven't given it to him yet???... I'm still keeping it so today I thought I'll share it here.  So here goes.....

     UNTIL I MET YOU,
     I NEVER KNEW THAT LOVE COULD BE SO WONDERFUL.
     I'VE LEARNED FROM YOU
     THAT TRUE LOVE IS LASTING
     AND SINCERE.
     
      YOU'VE SHOWN ME
      WHAT LOVE IS MEANT TO BE,
      AND ON OUR ANNIVERSARY
      I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO YEARS
      OF JOY TOGETHER
      YEARS OF SHARING OUR LOVE.
       
      I TRULY BELIEVE THAT THE BEST YEARS
      ARE STILL TO COME.

       HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

      

     'And now abideth, Faith, Hope and Love, But the Greatest of these is Love
                                                                          1 Corinthians 13.13

    #   May the Good Lord bless our marriage and our family. Amen.