Blog Addict

I come across of this test of how addicted am I towards blogging. It turns out that am not that bad. Meaning am equally balance between my life and blogging.

But I just love to see whoever reading this entry to do it as I love to know your rating......

Especially to Salina, Nazlyn, Abg Azlie and Deary hubby.

55%

Ikan mentah...

In the last cooking class we learned to ‘cook’ Umai Sarawak. However, it is actually raw fish mixed with ginger, onion, chillies and importantly, lime juice (limau nipis) – the acid in the juice actually cooks the fish!

It was really weird at first thinking whether it would be nice to eat and if I can swallow it! But it turned out to be delicious and I finished mine within minutes. It’s really nice to enjoy it by itself, with rice or together with ambuyat (a sticky glue made from tepung sagu).

I attempted to make the umai myself – it didn’t taste exactly the same as I only had limau purut. Yelah, living in Sudan – we don’t have all the ingredients right, so we have to make do.

For those interested in trying it, here is the recipe.....

Bahan-bahannya:-

1 ekor ikan tenggiri (isi di hiris)

1 sudu makan kacang tumbuk

1 sudu makan cuka

10 biji limau kasturi (perah)

1 inci halia muda (hiris halus)

1 btg sawi asin (hiris halus)

10 biji cili merah (hiris halus)

2 biji bawang besar (hiris halus)

garam secukup rasa

Cara-caranya:-

1. Isi ikan yang telah dihiris halus, di masukkan garam, cuka dan air limau. Biarkan selama 10 minit.

2. Kemudian masukan semua bahan hiris dan kacau sampai rata.

3. Akhir sekali masukan kacang tumbuk.

4. Simpan didalam peti sejuk sebelum dihidang.

Birthday Wishes

This entry I dedicated to 3 wonderful person in my family who will be celebrating their birthday every other day. Wishes them a happy time without us around.....

Farah - 19th February (29th Anniversary)


I wish I weren't
So far away
Then I could help
Celebrate your birthday

Even though
We're far apart
You're always close
In my heart








Mummy - 20th February (67th Anniversary)

I always knew I was loved
By all your hugs and kisses
Even now that I have grown up
And became a Mrs.

When I acted up
Your punishment was fair
You've given me my self esteem
By all your loving care

Thank you mom for everything
I truly do love you
I'm hoping that my children
Feel the same in everything I do

Baba - 22nd February (62nd Anniversary)

This loving message I send to you
Is filled with gratitude
For all the loving things
For me that you do

The special things that you say
In your quiet way
Always manage somehow
To brighten up my day

I send to you warm wishes
That your happiness will be
As wonderful as the happiness
You have always given me

Seri Muka attempt

My first attempt of my entire life making seri muka turns out well. Ehsan love to eat it especially the upper layer. Hubby loves too even though he is not so much fan for the sweet kuih. The only slack is the upper layer is more thicker than the below one. The thickness is suppose to be just nice between the two.

The reason of me making the seri muka is as buah tangan for a house warming party hosted by hubby's boss. Since I just learned it from the cooking class plus kepingin ingin merasa that I tried it. And bravo to me that it turns out nice.

Thank you to Kak Yati for sharing the recipe with us. Enjoy!!

Lapisan atas

8 biji telur (8 kuning, 6 putih)

450g gula pasir

2 ½ cawan santan pekat

1 cawan susu Ideal

1 cawan air pandan/ 1 cawan air + esen pandan

4 camca besar tepung gandum

4 camca besar tepung kastad

2 penutup botol esen vanilla

2 penutup botol esen hijau

Lapisan bawah

3 cawan pulut direndam semalaman

1 ½ cawan santan

1 cawan air

1 ½ sudu kecil garam

Untuk pes gam

3 sudu besar tepung gandum

5 sudu besar air

Cara-caranya:-

1. Kukus pulut dengan air sampai empuk.Setelah empuk, gaulkan dengan santan yang telah dicampur garam dan kukus semula sehingga masak.

2. Setelah masak, tekan pulut dalam loyang sehingga rata dan licin.

3. Buatkan pes gam dan ratakan atas pulut tadi dan kukus semula selama 10 minit atau sehingga panas.

4. Pukul telur dengan gula sehingga gula hancur dan masukkan santan dan susu. Tuang tepung perlahan-lahan dan campurkan kedua-dua esen dan air pandan. Tapis.

5. Tuangkan adunan kastad ke atas pulut tadi dan kukus selama 1/2 jam sehingga masak.

Erica Sick

Erica was up in the middle of the night coughing non stop. At first we thought she was having a normal cough until I heard the loud wheezing. Waked hubby up to look on her condition and he decided to attempt to draw out the mucus thru her nose. We tried the 'sucker' instrument, but no success. However, Erica was fine when I held her up but the wheezing continued once I put her down. Since she was feeding and looked comfortable we tried not to worry.

But it was a traumatic incident for me that night - I just couldn't continue sleeping. All the bad memories when Ehsan was sick a year ago started to haunt me. I started telling hubby that I wanted to bring Erica back to Malaysia. Being sick here is no joke for me! I was really afraid if the kids fell sick and I still have doubt over the facilities and the equipment they have here.

Early in the morning hubby and I went to our nice Egyptian paediatrician - Dr. Amanda. After she did her check up, she said Erica had bronchitis. Dr Amanda had Erica on the nebulizer and a prescription. Dr. Amanda gave us 5 days until the next check up to see Erica's improvement. Until then we just had to make sure the medicine was given to her accordingly.

In the mean time both hubby and I were praying for her to get well soon. I hate looking at my kids being sick. I wish I could just take away all the pain...

Pity her....

Bowling

Hubby had a family outing organized by Country Office today. They had a bowling tournament at the only shopping mall available in Khartoum -AFRA (hehe also the only bowling alley in Sudan!). We arrived at the center at 9.30 even before the center was open. But we were kept waiting for the rest to come and also for the owner to fix the bowling alley machinery - so we only started at 11.00 am.

It was really sad to find the alleys not being well maintained. They had 8 lanes but only 4 can be used at a time. The pin machine wasn't working properly. The pins will come out 9 or 8 at a time instead of 10. It was really frustrating but we just try having fun with the facilities available.

They also had pool tables and an old Daytona racing video game - but again the machines weren't in good condition. So while hubby was busy playing I tried to brush-up my skill in pool. It was really difficult to push the 'stick' (hubby tells me its called a 'cue'!) while at the same time aiming to shot the balls. But we were doing something different, and that was exciting!

We had lunch with the rest of the staff after bowling. Hubby's group was announced as 3rd place winners (hehe there were only 4 teams pun) and he was named 5th top scorer overall.

Strike !!!!

Hubby's team - from left: Ezal, Sarah, Sally, Nusral (Hubby's big boss), Abd Rahim, Amin Hashim, and Shariff

Full of style

Buang Tabiat

Harini entry pendek je on my hubby. I guess masa sekolah he never had the chance to do this that today he just done it. Tapi nampak sangat tidak professional...

p/s Taken during the bazaar today.

Gaya lelaki macho...

Apa tengok-tengok???

Tak nampak asap keluar

Rida Modern School

Today Petronita got an invitation to visit by a school for students with special needs in Khartoum; the Rida Modern School.

It is a non-profit organisation, established in 1993. Their focus is on pre-education level up to higher secondary level, and it is the only special needs school in Sudan that adopts the mainstream curicullum as a policy for education. They have 23 staff members and 135 students to care for.

The categories of students that are accepted are:

1. Normal children
2. Mild and moderate hearing children
3. Slow learners and students with dyslexia
4. Physically impaired
5. Mentally challenged

Recently the school sent 5 participants to the Special Olympics held in Beijing, China. They won 5 medals, including a gold. Although, this is the 1st time that Sudan sent athletes to the Special Olympics, they managed to show that their physical impairments do not limit their chances of achieving success in their life. Besides that, 8 of their students will be sitting for the Sudan Higher School Certificate as well.

The students that won the medals

The students that will be sitting for the Sudan Higher School Certificate

Being handicapped also doesn't stop them from being creative. They are not only learning on the curriculum taught but also making handcraft.

Some of the handicrafts

We had such a nice time with the kids. They were really appreciative and they entertained us with their shows and offered us refreshments.

It makes me realize how lucky we are to be born healthy and have normal lives. We left the kids with fond memories...

Illaliqouk ... 'til we meet again........

With the children and staff

Me with Mdm. Hind Mamoun Baheri (The Governor of Khartoum State's wife)

Potty Train

We went to Khartoum Jubilee Fair last 30th January. There held an exhibition and had lots of small booths along the hall selling things from cutlery to clothes to toys. Ehsan's couldnt resist but to buy all the toys displayed. And we end up buying a potty train for Ehsan...

I told hubby that one of my resolution for this year is to potty train Ehsan before he reach 3 years old. Hmmmm we'll see whether it can be achieve or not.

So here are a few pictures I snap while Ehsan is trying to do his 'business' last night. It turn out he gave a false alarm. Anyhow it is a nice try for the beginning.

Ehsan with his new potty

Just like the father.....

p/s Today also is my nephew's birthday....

HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY TO MY HANDSOME NEPHEW

MOHAMMAD IZZUDIN HAFIZ

Bijrawia, Shendy

At last after 2 years in Khartoum, we finally went to one of Sudan's famous pyramid in Bijrawia, Shendy. We went there yesterday morning and the journey took us the whole day. The archaeological site of ancient kingdom of Shendi at Bijrawia are the remains of a royal cemetery from Meroetic kingdom between 300 B.C and 300 A.D. The pyramids are much smaller compared to their well-known counterparts in Egypt.

The journey to the pyramid took 3 hours plus as we had to stop at 3 check points for us to pay the entrance fee and also for them to check the passports. Ala-ala macam nak masuk Siam gitu...There were 5 families on this trip; Mahmood Hisham's, Shafino's, Zapri's, Zabuddin's and us plus 5 vehicles including 3 vans, 1 4WD and 1 car.

We started the journey at 9.30 am. Since the journey was so far, we had to take our breakfast in the van while the kids were so boring that they went to sleep. There is nothing much to look along the way. It was just like traveling across the desert.

Some of the sceneries along the way.....

We arrived there at 12.30 p.m and spend an hour from camel riding to walking and sliding to taking pictures. It was so tired to walk across the sand and dune but it was great since the weather was so nice. But for Ehsan, it was a happy moment for him as he could be walking freely without any disturb.

He had an exciting moment by himself...

The excavations at Bijrawia started in the 19th century, when the Europeans made their 1st archaelogical expeditions into Nubia. When the British took control over Sudan in its new boundaries, part of the treasury had been brought to Paris, Munich and Berlin. As most of the remains was left unprotected at that time, it experienced severe damage by the steady action of winds and dust storms over the decades of this century.

Today the most urgent preservation work is done a by small group of specialist and supported by the Sudanese government and some international aid.

One of the pyramid...

My 1st camel riding experience with Erica


Me with the kids


Hubby & Erica


The four of us...

Me sliding down the dune

We then stopped at the near by village which has a huge tree and a small river bank and had our lunch over there. It was great as all the families brought along lots of foods to be shared. We ate and pray and later continue our journey back to Khartoum at around 3.30p.m. We safely arrived home at 6.45 pm.

Lunch time....

We are not only had such a tiring day but also happy time plus we also bring back some sand in our shoes, jean's pocket and inside Ehsan's diaper for 'memories'. LOL