2010..

Salam..

Looks like this will be the last entry for the year 2009.. Alhamdulillah.. I thank Allah for still giving me the chance to breath the air, for keeping me in a good health and for giving me a good life filled with the people I love - my husband, my family and friends....

Nothing much has happened since my last entry.. winter is still here.. no more snow for us in Limerick.. but we have frequent rains here.. and strong wind makes it colder than before.. now i have to wear long sleeves t shirts inside the house.. plus fleece robe, socks and wrap myself with an extra fleece! it is so cold that i feel so lazy to do anything! huhu..

Despite the cold & wet weather, I managed to get out of the house last weekend.. k.aida invited me over to her house for lunch + farewell party for along & k.islah who will be moving to Dublin.. my dear husband was working last weekend,so k.yana gave me a ride and we were later joined by k.riza & ustaz wan.. there were lots of foods and believe me, they were all yummylicious!! i brought a choc fudge cake over to her house.. k.aida made a blueberry cheesecake.. i just had a slice of that because i was already too full that day but i wish i can have more:) i never managed to make a soft crust for cheesecake.. that is the main reason why i made cheesecakes that didn't need a crust base!

The next day, we (me, k.yana, k.riza, ustz & 2 other students) went to Kildare Village.. it was the first time I went there.. it is kind of like designer outlets village.. there are other shops as well.. the ones that caught my attention are clarks & home & cook (tefal).. they were having massives sales.. but i've succeeded in restraining myself from buying too many things (of course i bought a few things but they were a lot less than what i would usually buy;p).. seriously i'm running out of space in this house..;p

Tomorrow will be a new day, a new month and a new year for us.. my dear husband is working his last shift in A&E tonite.. next week, he'll be going back to the wards, working in the rheumatology team.. i know he'll miss A&E.. he likes the adrenaline rush especially when managing severe cases in the resuscitation room.. he likes the surgical side of A&E -the stitching, reducing fractures, pulling joints.. he's seriously considering to pursuit A&E for his long term career.. but i think he's keeping his options open.. the next 6 months will help him to choose.. and I pray may Allah guide him in every step he takes.. go abang go!;)

2010.. may it be another great year for us.. may we be given the chance to improve ourselves and may we be granted the strength to strive hard to achieve our aims and dreams.. and hopefully,whatever the outcome is, we will not forget to thank Allah.. what's laid for us further down the road is a mystery.. and the mystery what makes tomorrow and the days that follow interesting.. happy new year 2010!

Snowy winter..

Salam,

Snow!!! everybody gets excited when it's snowing.. especially for people who rarely get snow like us in Ireland.. I like it when it's snowing although it'll be very cold before the snowfall.. but once it's snowing, it's not so cold anymore.. for me, snow actually makes the coldness well worth it..

It was snowing last night in Limerick.. we didn't realise it until this morning when my dear husband went out to the car.. no wonder it was freezing cold last night.. we had to turn on the electric heater on top of the central heating that was already functioning.. anyway, I love seeing the snow.. the view was magnificent.. everything turned white.. the downside is that we need to 'defrost' our car plus the roads are slippery.. please drive safely people.. also for the pedestrian, be extra careful.. winter is the time when the orthopedics and geriatrics get extra busy.. as people keep falling plus the rising number of road traffic accidents..

Well, lets see some pictures that I took this morning..

The slippery stairs..

The 'frozen' car.. it's actually not as cold as it looks like.. I wore slippers to go out and took this pictures and it wasn't too cold..

Getting ready to drive.. he had to wear gloves coz the steering wheel was ice cold! and we had to 'bath' this car with hot water to get rid of the ice.. see, cars also have to bath early in the morning!;p



That black space was our parking spot last night..

Even the 'lake' in front of our apartment was frozen.. actually there was a swan trying to swim at the time I took this pic.. poor swan.. hopefully the ice will melt soon..

In a way, I'm glad that my parents canceled their flight to come here this winter.. we won't be able to go anywhere in this snowy winter..

Yesterday, we did our last round of shopping before this Christmas.. My husband is working from today up to the new year without any break.. poor him.. hopefully it is not too busy in A&E.. people, go and enjoy the snow.. don't go to the hospital unless there's true emergency please! back to my story, it was crazy packed at the shopping centre yesterday.. the crescent shopping centre probably has more than 700 parking spaces.. and they're all full!! there were people who actually parked in the trolley lane! and we ended up parking at the side of the road.. I felt like it was exactly the same as the raya shopping back in Malaysia.. except it was freezing cold here plus lots of santa around!;) we didn't shop much for ourselves.. we bought a present for my husband's colleague as they're playing the 'Secret Santa'.. We also bought 2 serving bowls, a mini fountain (pottery fountain) and the groceries for 2 weeks' supply.. hopefully they're enough.. I can't stand the crowd and the queue to pay! my kitchen is full for now.. we actually don't have enough space to keep our food supply.. I felt like we're getting ready for world famine or something.. hehe..

I guess that's all for now.. till we meet again in the next post, InsyaAllah..

Happy New Year!!

Salam,

As I'm writing this post,I'm actually at a private clinic, doing a locum job.. gosh,it is so quiet here.. I'm doing this locum job for a friend of mine who should be here but she had to go to Dublin instead.. I must say after nearly 6 months of 'holidays', I was quite worried to do this locum job.. i was worried that I've lost my skills.. plus this is a cardiac centre.. and they did ask me whether my ACLS certificate still valid or not.. do I still remember my ACLS? hope so.. hehe.. but I did some reading to refresh my memory before I started this locum job.. but it was surprisingly quiet yesterday.. my work all day was surfing the internet!! hehe.. to those that i've buzz yesterday, thanks so much for keeping me company;) in a way, Alhamdulillah.. there was no emergency cases that needed my intervention.. ;p

well,this post is intended to wish all of you happy new year 1431H!! I wish that I'm more aware of the Islamic Calender.. to be honest, I forgot about the new year until some people was tagged in the FB yesterday on the do'a for the end of the year and the new year as well.. thank you for those who have reminded me.. I wish we're using the Islamic calendar much more.. so that we won't miss the important dates in the Islamic calender.. or else we're just aware of the 1st or Ramadhan, or the 1st of Syawal.. and more sadly when we missed to appreciate the significance of a date or a month in Islam..

I hope you have a blast new year! let us all start our new resolution(s) beginning this new year.. let us make the Islamic year more significant in our life! till we meet again in the next post,InsyaAllah..

When the husband dominates the TV..

Salam,

As I'm writing this post,my dear husband is watching 'Match of the day' on the TV.. as we didn't subscribe the sports channel, he would catch up with the results of football games later on at night time.. luckily they have the 'Match of the day' - they show highlights of every game including all goals.. he would sleep late to watch the program.. sometimes he fall asleep on the couch.. he is a big fan of Man Utd.. so whenever there's a match oh his fav team, he'll get excited.. football is like the second wife to him!

Actually his interest is not only in football.. he loves sports as a whole.. rugby, ashes/cricket, swimming, tennis, even darts (which I never knew there are big tournaments for that!).. you name it, he knows them all (well, probably not all but most of them anyway).. when we watch 'Question of sports', he usually knows a lot of the answers.. I must say I've learned a lot about sports from him.. the game, the rules, the players.. I think he is getting tired of answering my questions on sports.. especially if he is trying to concentrate on a game.. what else can I do.. I can't just stare at the TV watching a game without knowing anything about the game, can I??;)

Tonight is the final game of the snooker tournament.. so you can guess what are we watching now (Match of the day has just finished).. I haven't got a clue about snooker before.. now I'm starting to know the game.. and they actually make snooker fun to watch.. the players have their own personality (I like to watch their different reactions, it can be very funny sometimes), and they showed interesting clips to watch.. and of course, a lot of input from my dear hubby makes a lot of difference.. now I know what 147 means in snooker!;)

I'm impressed on how much guys know about sport.. me and my sisters are regularly become the victims of bullies by my husband and my brother in laws because of our lack of knowledge in sports.. when they all watched a game together, and we popped out a question about the game, they actually gave us a made up answer! and we ended up being laughed at! hmph.. ;)

The snooker game has just finished.. Ding won!!

Addiction..

Salam,

Silence has been quite apparent lately.. I really don't have anything interesting to write.. but my dear husband kept asking me when will I write in this blog again..

So,today I'll write about my current addiction.. I'm now an addict! opss.. nothing serious.. I'm addicted to baking.. If I'm bored, I'll bake.. If I crave for cake, I'll bake.. If my husband ask for a cake, I'll bake.. my hands are itching to bake again.. I've made 2 cakes this week.. 3 cakes last week.. not included the 8 cakes I made in the previous weeks.. I'm trying to get out of my addiction.. I would have probably bake more cakes this week but I'm running out of flour & eggs in my kitchen.. and I'm restraining myself from buying any more supply in the near future.. I need a baking rehab!

The source of my addiction!

We bought this beautiful Kenwood Chef Premier last month.. I broke my previous mixer when I was trying to make pau.. my husband has been asking for kaya pau.. so while he was at work, I tried making the pau.. but my mixer broke down in the process.. then I planned on using my hand mixer but it 'blew' right after I turned it on! with both of the mixers broken, I kneaded the pau manually ie using my hand! it was a hard work (luckily I managed to get good results ie good pau!).. when my husband came back form work,he found me in a bad mood and the mixers were in the bin! being an understanding and a loving husband, he offered to buy me a new mixer..;) thank you abg!! and a few weeks later, he bought me a Kenwood hand mixer too:) my friends have suggested either Kenwood or Kitchenaid brand for mixers.. to be honest I've never heard of Kitchenaid before.. but it is actually a popular brand.. they're pricey (twice the price of Kenwood mixers) but they're surely beautiful and strong.. and I heard they're hard to find in Malaysia.. but as I'm not a professional baker nor going to be one, I figured the Kenwood mixer is more than enough for me.. popular brand and the price was reasonable (we got 80euro off for the mixer).. I must say I love my new mixer very much!

Well,to be honest the Kenwood mixer didn't come for free.. it was actually a trade - my hubby bought me the mixer,I bought him the Xbox..;) his xbox broke down a few months ago.. as Christmas sale has already begun, we figured it is the best time to buy the things we wanted.. he has been eyeing on the FIFA10 game for a while.. we were planning to buy Xbox 360 and the FIFA10 game only.. but there were special offers for Xbox.. the price of the Xbox with the FIFA10 game was the same as buying Xbox elite 360 plus 3 games (including the FIFA10) and an extra console.. so I got him the Xbox elite instead.. and of course it makes him happy.. he spends most of his time at home playing the Xbox game.. he can spend hours on the game.. and when he is trying to concentrate on his game, I'm banned from going near him coz I like to distract him.. hehe.. but of course, I still do it..;)

The source of his addiction!

Although he is addicted to his FIFA game and I'm addicted to baking, we still spend some time together.. well, we're addicted to each other as well;D.. he will check on me if I'm out of his sight, and so do I.. people have said to us that we're like playful children in the house.. yes, we do get crazy sometimes.. and I love it!:) it keeps us young and happy,I guess..;)

I better stop now.. till we meet again in the next post, InsyaAllah..

Eidul Adha..

Salam..

I'm hoping it's not too late to wish everyone Eid Mubarak! this Eid has been quite a busy Eid for me.. my dear hubby is working in the night shift this week (12midnight-8am weekdays & 8pm-8am in the weekend).. hence his sleep pattern has gone haywire! poor him..

Because of that,I made the Eid preparations myself.. for the Eid day, I made a moist choc cake, dahlia cookies & pasembor.. as usual, we had our raya potluck session at K.Riza's house.. :) this time, we have invited almost all Malaysian families here in Limerick to join us.. the last time that I saw many of them was last Eidul Fitri.. we had great time catching up with each other.. I was the last to leave her house at 11 pm that nite!

The next day I 'fainted' as if I was working the night shift;p hehe.. we were planning to go to Asyik's & K.Lin's open house in Nenagh.. but we woke up late & K.Riza invited us over for lunch.. so, we went over to her house again!

Yesterday, Fairuz & his family including his parents came over.. as we have been to K riza's house twice, we suggested to have potluck lunch at my house this time.. I made simple chicken rice, dahlia cookies (again.. the ones I made before has finished) and a marble cheese choc cake as requested by Asma' not a long time ago.. my dear hubby also asked for a cake to celebrate his Specialist Reg's birthday.. so I made a cream cheese buttercake too.. I've made 8 cakes in less than 2 weeks!! a zebra cake, 3 x layered cakes (kek lapis), marble cheesecake, moist choc cake, marble cheese choc cake and cream cheese buttercake (don't worry, we just had a slice or two of each cake.. the rest were given away;)..) I think that's enough for now.. will let my mixer rest for a while;) anyway, our lunch went well.. thanks to K.Riza & Ustaz Wan for the unbelievably delicious nasi impit with sayur lodeh & to K.Yana for the yummylicious kuah kacang!! alhamdulillah.. our Eid has been quite happening;)

***

Our Eid has been extra special this year.. my hubby's little sister (who is definitely not little anymore;p) has passed her final exams! Alhamdulillah.. well,of course the news was not so surprising for us as we always knew she would made it.. what makes it extra special is that she has been invited for a prize giving ceremony.. she herself has no idea of what prize or why she was chosen and apparently the university has been secretive of what prize she will be receiving.. I'm sure they're trying to make it a surprise! We're so happy for her.. we're very sorry that we can't be there..

CONGRATULATIONS DR INTAN SAFFURA!
WE'RE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!
LOVE YOU!

***

In this last part of this entry, I'll be focusing on an issue that has been quite concerning recently especially just before this Eid.. It was about the Eid prayer, whether it is sunat or wajib.. apparently there was an online kuliyyah about this issue and somehow people got the impression and made the conclusion that Eid prayer is wajib from the kuliyyah.. I was quite surprised when I heard about this issue.. after reading on these 2 articles, I can't resist myself from writing on this issue..

This is a link in which I read about this issue..
Solat Aidilfitri & AidilAdha

And another post written by Ustaz Irfan..
Adakah ijma ulamak solat eid itu wajib

As a person with not as much knowledge as they have, I'm just presenting the two articles on this issue.. I like the approach & explanations by Ustaz Irfan.. the 2 conclusions that he made are very valid points.. of course discussing about mazhab is definitely out of my league.. I'm still trying to learn myself.. somehow I got the feeling that more people are towards 'holding on to hadiths sahih' regardless of what mazhab they are following.. I'm not saying that it's wrong.. even nowadays we sometimes adapt the practise of other mazhab in certain things.. of course all mazhab are acceptable.. and of course Al-Quran and Hadiths are the two sources we always need to refer to on any issues.. what I'm worried is for most people who has not so much knowledge about hadiths (like me).. we can't just find any sahih hadith and hold on to it (especially when we're not experts in interpreting hadiths) without knowing that there maybe another hadith that is sahih as well but have different approach to the same issue.. then we will start saying one party is right and one party is not.. Alhamdulillah we had the 4 great Imams who had provide us with their teachings.. they have studied Islamic knowledge extensively and has made life as a muslim much easier for us.. of course there are issues that are called khilaf between the mazhabs.. but as Ustaz Irfan said, khilaf issues should be debated as khilaf issues.. it is better to present these issues from the point of view of the 4 mazhabs rather than black and white as if one mazhab is wrong and the other is right.. I hope we all can be rational in this issue.. and I pray may Allah guide us in every step we take.. we, as muslims definitely have to broaden our knowledge in Islam.. just need to be careful in our steps.. Wallahua'lam..

Till we meet again in the next post,insyaAllah..

Life Goes On

Salam..

As you may have noticed, Ina has been the one updating this blog since my last entry sometime in September.. Indeed, much has happened since then.. In fact, much were of great significance that they mark dates and book memories..

Since my own last entry, we had an almost-three-week break in Malaysia, which in that period there, I bought myself a digital SLR camera.. A D90 more specifically.. Of course, within that three weeks as well, I lost the lens hood of the camera! Silly me.. But, it was a bargain and I enjoyed my new toy more every day..

While back there as well, we spent time in Pangkor Island with my family, in Ulu Yam with Ina's family.. To be honest, I never saw Ina's dad having so much fun in the river.. It was almost as if there was nothing bothering him.. Maybe I am wrong, but that was what I saw that day..

Within that break as well, I had made it clear that I wanted to spend some time with my grand-dad.. I had a twinge that Tok had gone down so much since I saw him last year.. He was not as energetic, his memory was bad.. But he still rode his motorcycle daily.. Indeed, I had a bad feeling..

I was not far off.. Tok died in Ipoh Hospital on 7th of November.. Needless to say, I was already back in Limerick, working.. I received a phone call from mom on Saturday 6th, telling me that Tok was very unwell.. He had been suffering with fever and abdominal pain since Wednesday/Thursday.. Pakcik Fakhri brought him to hospital and within the next 12 hours, he declined rapidly.. Mom had told me that all had agreed that he was for conservative treatment only.. He died the next day.. And I received the phone call 30 minutes into my 12-hour-long Saturday shift.. (I thank Rachel and Jason who gave me some time off that day to gather myself)

Last weekend, I received a call from Donald Grant, an old friend of Tok's.. He was Tok's boss at the time British was in Tanah Melayu, some time in 1940's.. They had quite some experience together - Tok leading his boss running away from the Japanese was the story that pops up every time! Also, Mr Grant's son, Roger, was born in Batu Gajah and my grandma had looked after him for a while as a baby..

May he rest in peace, among the people of Jannah..

Ina also had a new toy - a mega mixer! Yup, the one I call 'Transformers'.. It is a Kenwood mixer but has multiple attachment outputs that you can actually attach different other things.. Of course, each attachment is sold separately, like Transformers' gadgets! Hehe..

Well.. I have babbled a lot this time.. I should stop.. Till later..

Salam..

Life is a rollercoaster..

Salam,

Sometimes I wonder what's life going to bring to me in the future.. or what will I bring to my life.. where will I be in 5, 10 or 15 years time.. sometimes there are to many of 'what if' questions.. is it a good thing? probably.. sometimes..

We may be too scared to face the truth.. to face the future.. we may have so many doubts in taking each step.. but I guess in the end, we need to have a little faith.. stay brave & strong and take every challenge coming at you.. and believe that He has the very best plan laid for you..

We may not get everything that we wanted.. we may lose the very best thing that we owned.. we may not reached our goals.. we may be tested in every step we take.. should we stopped? should we continue? should we take a break & take time to ponder upon ourselves? there is no definite answer.. when we need some signal or a little direction,we have Him to ask to..

What if we want something so much.. just one thing.. and we keep asking again & again for it.. and without this one thing,we just can't go on.. should we stop asking? should we passed on and forget about it.. what if we can't? what if there is no way that our wish can be granted?

"Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower,"

"Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire!"

Al-Fatihah..

Salam,

Yesterday we were given a very sad news.. Tok (my dear hubby's grandfather) has passed away.. He was sick on Friday and was admitted to the hospital.. and my inlaws decided that he was for supportive care only, given his age and overall fitness.. they were told to be prepared for the worse.. and on Saturday,he passed away...

When I got the news from Erin, Shaz has just left for work.. I tried to call him but at the same time my mother in law was actually on the phone, delivering the news to him.. and then he called me back and there was sadness in his voice.. he told me that mum (my MIL) has told him.. and I don't know what else to say to him other than asking him,'are you ok?'.. and he replied, 'I don't know'.. and there was a long pause.. I wish I was there with him when he got the news.. I wish I could find the right words but my mind just went blank.. he was trying hard to calm himself and so was I..

Tok has played a big role in my hubby's life.. I would say I didn't get to spend much time with Tok.. in fact, I just met him for a few times.. but I've heard a lot of stories about him from my dear hubby (and from my MIL & SIL as well).. all the happy & funny stories.. and from the way he told the stories, I knew that Tok is part of his happiness.. and of course part of his life & his memory since childhood..

Last picture with arwah.. taken a few weeks ago..

I remember the story that he told me, which happened when he was in the boarding school.. Tok went visiting him when he was in MCKK.. Tok came by the gate (not the front gate) and ask one of the schoolboys to find my hubby.. and when he arrived, Tok threw a durian over the gate for him! Tok would asked my MIL about my hubby every now and then.. he would cook his ever famous & delicious lamb curry every time we went back to visit him.. I know for sure that Tok loves his grandchildren very much.. my dear hubby also told me about how Tok would make sure that his grandchildren have their dinner.. there were times that he would dragged them and sat them beside him and he would feed them himself.. one of the funny things that Shaz could not forget was that Tok liked to watch the tamil news, a long time ago.. Shaz was merely a boy at that time, and with his cousins,they would sat in front of the TV to watch cartoons.. but as soon as the Tamil news started,Tok would switched the channel.. and nobody could switched the channel back.. ;)

Tok has been a very independent man.. He would do anything he wanted in his own way.. he was a strict man.. his 'best friend' - his motorcycle.. countless times people offered him a ride but his choice would almost always be his own ride.. even until just recently, he still ride his motorcycle, at the age of over 80.. he was the treasurer for the death khairat in the kampung for 23 years.. he has been close with the people & the mosque.. for 23 years, he did his work efficiently..

we'll miss you..

I love to hear stories of his youth.. When he was young, he used to work with a British man, Tuan Grant, who became a close friend of his.. he used to work as a 'pongkah pola' (fan curve puller)- I think!.. and that was the era of the communists.. If I was not mistaken, his work have a lot to do with taking care of the estate/forest.. whenever he went into the forest with Tuan Grant, there was always the danger of being attacked by the communists.. he remembered Tuan Grant very well.. when we went to see him last month, he did again tell us some story about Tuan Grant..

I'll miss his story & I'll miss the sight of him.. sitting on his favourite chair in front of the TV.. doing his own things.. no matter how hectic it was around him, with kids screaming, running or jumping, or when we were chit chatting like crazy, he would stay relaxed in his chair.. like nothing could bother him.. he didn't say much, he made a few remarks sometimes.. a few small cit chats.. but his presence that was important.. and I guess the house will never be the same without him..

I'm glad that we had the chance to visit him last month.. when we were paying a visit to Opah's grave, he showed us some empty spaces nearby and said that he would like to be buried in the same graveyard.. as if he knew that his time was near..

We all will miss him.. he will stay dear to our hearts.. we were told that he passed away peacefully.. with no difficulty.. and so many people turned up for his funeral.. alhamdulillah.. it gives us some peace in our hearts.. in this midst of grieving, everyone is still trying to cope.. the sadness will surely stay but hopefully it'll heal with time.. we will keep him in our hearts and remember him in our prayers, insyaAllah.. he has raised his children and his grandchildren very well.. he has done lots of good deeds throughout his life..

'O Allah! Forgive our living and our dead, those of us who are present and
those who are absent, our young and our old, our males and our females,
those of us who are present, and those who are absent. O Allah!
Whomsoever among us You keep alive, make him to live in Islam, and
whomsoever You cause to die, let him die in faith. O Allah! Do not deprive
us of our reward for (supplicating for) him, and cause us not to go astray'

I'm probably not the best person to write about Tok.. what I've written here is just a small part of his life.. and I'm sorry if what I wrote is wrong or not accurate..

Home sweet home..

Salam..

Oh God, today is the last day of October & I suddenly realised that we haven't post anything this month.. the reason is that were in Malaysia from 6-24th of this month.. it was actually kind-of-a last minute plan.. at first we thought that we're not going back to Malaysia at all this year given that we have other plans made up.. but of course plans changed.. and we bought our tickets last month..

Luckily my dear hubby managed to changed his annual leave.. Alhamdulillah.. (adding another week to October, so we had nearly 3 weeks of holidays.. yeay!!).. we had planned our 3 weeks carefully to make sure that we would spent quality time with our family..

We left Ireland on the 5th October,departing from Cork.. my hubby finished work at 8am that morning and our flight was at 4.30pm on the same day.. (we were desperately want to maximise our time in Malaysia;p)..

Alhamdulillah our journey was uneventful.. we had a few ours of transit in Heathrow.. we were so tired - my dear hubby was up all night working the 12hours shift and I spent the night packing our stuffs and cleaning up the entire house.. it was a big relief when we sat in the MAS airplane.. with the 'Selamat datang' greetings by the flight attendants and raya song played in the flight,my heart was shouting "Malaysia,here I come!!".. how I miss home so much!!

We arrived an hour ahead of our schedule.. and I must say that the pilot was a very good pilot.. for the take off and landing,we didn't feel a thing!.. thanks Mr Pilot! ;)

We definitely had a blast back home!! there are so many things happened.. and I'll keep it short here.. the first weekend we had an open house at my home in Kundang.. and guess who did the cooking? my father!! (owh,i forgot to mention that my mum is still in mecca..).. he prepared the undeniably delicious beef curry to go along with the lemang and beef soup (sup tulang!!) for the bihun soup.. my eldest sister also came home over the weekend.. it was like a very busy nursery,with all of my nieces & nephews fighting with one another,nearly non-stop.. hehe.. but I guess it would be so quiet and gloomy without them!!

2 of my aunts came all the way from Perlis to spend some time with us.. they brought so much food ie pekasam & fresh fishes.. and they've cooked so much dishes (all were yummylicious) plus the traditional kuih as well.. thanks very much mak tam,mak njang & pak tam!! I was planning to bring them for a short getaway at a resort but unfortunately syamil had a fever.. plus the timing wasn't very good.. so we went to a picnic instead.. I can't remember when was the last time I went swimming (or rather bathing) in a river.. the water was ice cold! it was so much fun.. the next day we went for shopping at Nilai 3.. I didn't buy anything but just to accompany my aunts & uncle..

the second weekend, we went back to my hubby's side.. we spent a night in Batu Gajah, one night in Pangkor Island and a night in Taiping.. pangkor beach was really beautiful.. it was clean and the water was clear.. we stayed in coral bay resort.. and that night we had seafood dishes at a ikan bakar stall just outside the hotel.. the next day we left pangkor at noon and headed to taiping.. that night,we went to night safari at zoo taiping.. later on,we had our dinner at Doli kuey tiew goreng.. it was kind of funny of how we tried to find the restaurant.. it used to be a small stall.. but now it has become a fairly big restaurant.. they only serve 6 types of dishes but the restaurant was full!! and when we arrived there, there were on 2 types of dishes left.. wow,they really make a good business!! I was so amazed of how successful they've become.. in the restaurant,the put the pictures of their old small stall.. and now it has become a lovely restaurant..

the next day we went to the Maxwell Hill.. we went up to nearly the top of the hill in a jeep.. the drivers are well trained.. 93 corners with some sharp corners and small steep road.. i was quite afraid of the height- going down was more frightening than going up.. it was more than 1000++m over the sea level.. but the scenery, Subhanallah.. it was breathtaking.. beautiful & calming... love it!!

apart from the weekends, we also had dinner at acik Hisham's house & a BBQ dinner at acik nuar's house.. acik Yan said she hosted the BBQ specially to celebrate us.. thanks very much!! we also hosted an open house in Seremban for the TKCians.. we didn't expect that nearly half of the school would come over for the open house.. but understandable as they're students.. reminds me of my students years in a boarding school - almost always hungry..;p

There's so much more that I wanted to write.. probably at some other time.. will try my best to update my blog regularly.. insyaAllah we'll meet again in the next post..:)

Eid 2009

Salam..

As you may all aware at this stage, I have not blogged a word for quite some time.. Nevertheless, my lovely wife has been keeping this page rather active and alive over the course of my silence.. Enough said on our first ever open house, it was a memorable moment.. To my wife, Ina, I am really sorry I was no more of a help.. The only think I did was literally cleaned up the front (including vacuuming and mopping the floor) and did the trash.. I'll try to do better next time, when we plan another open house or similar gathering at our place..

Eid 2009 - What's Different

To be perfectly honest, I enjoyed so much of this Eid.. The reason was as simple as I had missed THREE Eids prior to this one.. In fact, I actually thought that I missed only two.. Not that one was not significant to remember, but all three were missed because I was working..

Eid Al-Adha 1429 - I woke up that morning in the smelly and stenchy hard bed of the Res.. Washed myself and bought a cup of coffee to-go and on with the post-call ward round.. When every Malaysian women in the hospital wore bright-coloured baju kurung and the men had looked fresh and smiley, I had to spend the day in my, possibly, MRSA-stained scrubs, until I got home that evening.. Of course, I missed the Eid prayer that morning..

Eid Al-Fitr 1429 - Waking up that morning was definitely different.. It was the the first day of October.. I had just finished my rotation in Palliative Care and was then back based in the Regional.. HR had called me and asked me to be on-call on that day.. Despite strongly declining and refusing, their argument was that I would be the only one in the rota for that consultant on-call to know the run of the hospital.. Two new colleagues came from Cork and had never worked here.. So, the best option was to have one 'oldie' to show the ropes to the 'newbie'.. It also meant that my own new team was expecting me to turn up at 9 o'clock that morning..

Eid Al-Adha 1428 - Honestly, I could not remember anything from this day.. Was I to preoccupied with work that I missed this one too?

This Eid

I had calculated the days and found out that I would be working that weekend of Eid.. And it was not as if I could turn up late for work as I had to relief the guy who worked the long-hour night shift.. It would not have been fair for him for me to ask him to stay for another couple of hours just so I could go for the prayers..

Alhamdulillah, Allah blessed me with an opportunity and I managed to break a deal with a colleague - I would do his 8-hour shift on Friday (when I was supposed to be off) and he would cover me on that Sunday for eight hours and I would come in to finish the last four hours of my original shift.. That turned out very well, despite me oversleeping and only left home for work just after 4 o'clock!

* * * * *

The morning breeze was cool enough to chill the so-thought semi-brittle bones of mine.. But the warmth from the bright ray, just peeking from behind the cotton-thin cloud was just about sufficient to counteract the coolness felt on skin.. The day was bright, the weather was perfect, the day was Eid again.. A small drop of tear pooled at the corner of my eye on the very morning takbir was humming inside of me, praising Allah for the opportunity to meet Ramadhan again, and meet Syawal again..

It was a perfect morning..

Though.. Deep inside of me, maybe I had dreamed of something better.. What could be better? Allah only provides the best for His servants, and what we deem better for us may not what He deem best for us.. And He is the All-Knowing..

I had hoped to celebrate and welcome Eid with my children with me.. But they are not with me today.. They are in Jannah, celebrating Eid.. I was here with my forever beloved wife, my soul companion, making the most of Eid here on earth.. Her love for me is undoubtedly the fulfillment and definition of love itself..

Maybe next year, maybe next time, insya-Allah..

O Allah, give us the strength to face the coming days together.. And maybe one day I will have my family with me on the morning when we would all gather and welcome Syawal.. As for now, this is the best for me and for us as seen by Allah, not as seen by me.. Ameen..

Salam..

Our first official open house for Aidilfitri..

Salam..

Alhamdulillah, we managed to host an open house yesterday (26/9/09).. it was actually a last minute plan.. as I've written in the previous post, we celebrated 1st day of Eid at Ustaz Wan's house only.. I wanted to have the feel of Eid, like I used to feel during my student years.. went from to house to house.. meeting old friends and making some new friends.. so I suggested to my hubby, why don't we host an open house and invite all our friends?.. but somehow I got the impression that he wasn't too keen on my idea (maybe I was wrong).. but probably because we only have Saturday free and he was going to finish work at Friday midnight.. probably he was worried that I would be left alone to prepare all the food..

So I discussed again with my dear hubby and he agreed on my plan.. and on Thursday, I began to send invitations to my dear friends.. I realised it would be on me alone to prepare all the dishes so I decided to cook something simple with less work needed to be done.. so on Friday morning, we went out to buy the groceries.. we went to Harun's shop to get the meat.. when I walked into his shop, the first thing that he told me was that somebody broke into his shop the night before.. poor him.. he lost all his sales from the day before & all of the calling cards that he left in his shop.. when I got there, the police haven't even come yet.. hopefully they will be able to catch the culprit..

So that evening, I started to cook.. I started early coz I knew that I needed quite some time to finish my cookings.. firstly, because I was cooking alone and secondly, I was trying out new recipes.. I started off with baking the cheesecake and making the rendang.. and the list went on.. when my dear hubby came back from work at 1 am, I was still cooking.. the next morning, I had everything on my table - pulut kuning, rendang, mee, kuah bandung, sup tulang, baked macaroni & cheese and cheesecake.. plus my raya cookies... Alhamdulillah, I managed to cook the main dishes in time.. my dear hubby woke up early that morning to clean up the house.. thanks abang!;)

When I first sent out the invitations (through text and facebook), not many people could come.. but on the day itself, many of our friends turned up at our open house.. it was a bless!! some of them I haven't seen for months and many of them came over to our (rented) house for the 1st time.. Alhamdulillah, it was a great day.. I would to thank all of them who came over to our open house (especially those who came a long way from waterford, galway, ballinasloe, cork & nenagh) - abg zali ( k.kin) & family, khaironi (k.azah) & family, asyik ( k.lin) & family, hafis (azraa) & family, fitri (k.yulia) & family, syieza, zai & husband (rifqee) , syakira & husband (fendi), ustaz wan & k riza, fairus & asma', jamilah & the gang, kay reen, fadzrul.. thank you very much!! it was our first official Aidifitri open house.. we didn't get the chance to do it before as we were busy working and we were in Malaysia for our first Eid together:) after all the guests left, we went over to Ustaz Wan's house (for 2nd time this Eid) as abg amin & family were there.. it was quite late & they couldn't come over to our house, so we went over to meet them instead.. we haven't seen them for over 2 years as they were in UK.. we got to meet so many friends in a day! yeay!! Alhamdulillah..




Today, we extended our 'eating activities' to abg zali & k.kin's house.. they hosted a birthday party (Huda is 7 years old now!) plus Eid open house.. we met new friends there.. now I know, Limerick is not that bad after all.. there are quite a number of Malaysians here.. it just that we don't get the chance to meet each other that much.. hopefully there'll be more gatherings to come, insyaAllah:) after the birthday party, saadah & the gang from Cork came over to our house.. we had a few hours of chit chatting & a quick evening tea before they went back to Cork..:) thank you to them as well for coming over to our house.. I am blessed with bliss of friendship!!


I better stop now.. need to get a good rest tonight.. I haven't clean up my house yet;p will do that tomorrow insyaAllah.. till we meet again in the next post..

Eid Mubarak 1430H!:)

Salam..

Ramadhan has gone and now we're in the 3rd day of Syawal.. All praise to Allah who has blessed us with the holy month of Ramadhan.. I pray may we be given the chance to meet Ramadhan again..

We spent this Eid in Limerick.. my dear hubby had to go to work for 4 hours on Eid day, hence the decision to stay in Limerick.. as there were only a few Malaysian families left here (and many of them have plans on Eid), we had a potluck session in Ustaz Wan's (& K.Riza's) house.. so there were me and my dear hubby, Ustaz & K riza, Mas & K Aini.. and later that day, Fadzrul joined as well (after we left K riza's house)..

I cooked a few dishes - the usual dishes - soto, nasi impit, rendang & pulut kuning.. I also made a choc cake & few raya cookies - makmur, suji badam, almond slices & tart.. all of these dishes were my 1st try except for nasi impit & makmur.. God, I barely could stand on my feet on Eid morning after spending the last evening of Ramadhan in my kitchen.. now I know, cooking can actually be exhausting.. I don't know how did my mum able to cook ( in large quantity) by herself.. usually for raya, she would made ketupat daun palas, rendang, kuah kacang, and the main menu would be different from day 1 to day 7... I remembered when we were living in Kepong, mum's laksa was very famous as that was the main menu for the 1st or 2nd day of Eid every year (without failed!).. Arwah Uncle Safari (a family friend & my school van driver) was amongst the 1st to come over to my house.. he was one of the biggest fan of my mum's laksa.. He would make sure that he came over to my house on the right day;) I can't deny it was yummylicious! not only the gravy, but the laksa itself, she made it from scratch!! I would sat beside her, watching her making the laksa.. she used a special mould for that, and I liked seeing the laksa falling down nicely.. it was like playing with play dough;p hehe.. for me, cooking laksa is quite a hassle.. making the gravy is another long process.. we need to boil the fish first, then separate the bones before blending them.. sometimes they ended up in my mouth first;D hehe.. but the end result, is worth it! I guess most people would say mum's cooking is the best!! same goes to me.. mak is very good at cooking.. even until now, everytime I go back home, she will make sure that I get to eat my favourite dishes..

Usually for the open house, while my mum would be busy in the kitchen, abah would be busy tidying up the house.. making spaces for the guests, and taking out the serving plates & casseroles.. that was his specialty! and on the Eid night, he would be busy following the group reciting the takbir from house to house.. I miss to hear abah reciting the takbir & I miss to perform the Eid prayer with my family.. made me more homesick!!

Writing about Eid, I can't stop myself from reminiscing about the unforgettable memories of Eid.. there was one time when I spent my Eid with scars all over my face ( my forehead, my chin & some on my nose!).. due to my 'stunts' riding a bicycle without a brake! hehe.. I didn't realise that the bicycle actually didn't have a brake (or probably it wasn't working), not until I was riding it down a hill.. I was so terrified cause I was riding it in the middle of the road (which was quite a big & busy road).. and I have no idea at all how to stop the bicycle.. and I ended up hitting a tree (I would called it a 'head on' collision except that trees do not have head;p).. You can laugh about it but it was actually a horrible accident.. sore, a little dizzy and scared, I went home walking.. I didn't even remember crying probably because I was scared to death! when I reached home, my plan was to hide myself (haha.. of course it was truly a failed plan).. abah noticed I sneaked in slowly and ran upstairs, and of course he could sense something was wrong.. ;p so abah was the first to know about my accident.. it happened during Ramadhan and that Eid, I had a few extra 'features' on my face ;D hehe.. my mum was worried about the scars on my face, but Alhamdulillah as I grew up, they disappeared.. but if I touch my chin, I can still feel a small scar.. the scar that reminds me of how 'adventurous' (ie naughty) I was!

Another incident that happened around Eid was an injury to my big toe.. that Eid, my mum cooked satay-styled chicken (ayam masak sate).. and I was the only one who really like it.. there were lots of leftovers of that chicken.. so after the guests went home, as usual mak & abah cleaned up the table & kept the leftovers in the fridge.. then we all went for a quick evening nap.. but I woke up earlier than the others and I was hungry for that chicken.. I knew that my mum kept them in the fridge, in a beautiful casserole ( a white casserole with some small flowers decorations - I can still remember it!).. I didn't want to wake my parents up and I thought I would manage to get them myself.. so I went down to the kitchen, opened the fridge and pulled out the casserole.. and suddenly.... pranggggg!!! the casserole fell onto the floor (actually onto my foot!!).. Oh God.. I didn't expect the casserole to be so heavy that it could slipped away from my hand.. my good intention of not waking up my parents obviously didn't turned out well.. my parents was shocked by the noise and they rushed down to find me standing in front of an opened fridge with pieces of chicken and shattered casserole at my feet.. haha.. but of course their reaction was more on concern rather than anything else.. and of course i wasn't scolded as I was hungry and was just trying to feed myself! pity me.. not only I didn't get the chicken, I hurt my big toe! I had quite a big cut just underneath the toenail.. it was so sore.. and the next morning, it got swollen and I could hardly walk properly.. so for the next week or so, everyday abah would put the gamat oil and massage my toe, to reduce the swelling until I managed to walk properly again.. both of these incidents happened when I was in primary school..

Hmm.. what a nuisance I was;p hehe.. but my parents have been so patient with me.. that is what we called parent's love.. A love that is given whole-heartedly, not asking for it to be returned.. and all I can do is to try my best to keep them happy, in every way that I can, so that they're not worried about me or my siblings too much anymore.. it's time for them to rest and enjoy their time.. they have done so much and I know anything that I do is not even close to what they have done for me since I was born (or even before I was born!).. but all I can do is to try my very best.. I pray may Allah bless them always.. and I pray may I be a good daughter to them..

All in all, this Eid has been a moderate celebration for us.. we spent the Eid day at one house only and we spent the rest of the Eid day on the phone, calling our families in Malaysia and my mum in Macca.. and on Monday, we all went back to our usual routines.. maybe this weekend, we'll host an open house.. to all of you, I wish Eid Mubarak.. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.. Maaf zahir & batin.. may the spirit of Ramadhan stays alive.. may we meet again in the next post, InsyaAllah..


A special thanks to mama (my mother-in-law) for the beautiful baju raya.. you really made my day!:)

Blogging..

Salam..

Today we broke our fast in the hospital as my dear hubby is working over this weekend.. I cooked chicken padprik with fried potatoes & egg and brought them over to the hospital.. it was actually a nice feeling going to the hospital neither as a doctor nor as a patient;p hehe..

There were 3 of us breaking fast together - me, my hubby and a colleague/friend.. we were having small conversations and we came to a short discussion about blog & blogging.. he asked us why do we write blog.. and I actually have a very long answer for him.. now my friend (you know who you're and I know you're reading this;)), I'm going to give you the reasons why I started blogging..

I don't remember exactly when I was 1st introduced to blogs but I do remember a few years back, when I was a medical student, I had a roommate who loves writing and owns a blog.. I probably knew about blogs way before that but she sparked my interest on reading blogs.. In her blogs, she put quite a number of links and somehow I ended up reading a blog written by a senior of mine from high school.. but sadly enough she passed away at a very young age in a car accident, leaving behind a son who was just a few months old at that time.. I was shocked by the news and I felt so sad and so sorry for her husband and her son.. Allah loves her more.. she passed away not long before I found her blog and her husband continued to write in her blog.. he wrote about their memories together and how he missed her dearly.. reading her blog from the start, she has documented her journey well.. and I know that someday, when her son grows up and learn to read, he will be able to know his mother through her writings... he will be able to read his mother's wishes for him.. he will know how much she loved him and how much she was loved and missed by her husband, families and friends.. and that's the beauty of writing..

We started this blog a year after we got married.. and my very 1st intention of writing this blog was no other than to write to myself.. I figured out that with documenting our journey together, I hope to live in the memories and to cherish the important moments in my life.. now and again I read my previous posts.. some of which I didn't even remember writing them! and I love reading my hubby's posts especially if it involves me in it;) hehe.. reading what he wrote about me makes me realise that he did notice the small things.. and the small things make things big! I would say reading them makes me fall in love all over again;) so I guess I can say it's a good therapy for married couples (at least it's true for me!)..;)

Another reason why I started to write is to express myself.. I can surely say that I'm not very good at expressing myself.. I like to keep things to myself.. and I think that a healthy way to deal with it is through writing.. it's not really in our culture to say 'I love you' to our parents everytime before we hang up the phone, or to our friends before we bid goodbye.. or to our spouse before we go to bed every night.. but we know that we love them and they love us too but we just don't say it.. why? I have no idea.. when I was little, my mum like to ask me, 'do you love mak (mum) or abah (dad)?' and my answer would always be 'I love mak & abah'.. and somehow as I grow up, the words are no longer mentioned.. I know action speaks louder than words but what harm can it do if we also say the words? So I guess my to go around it is to write.. I love all of you!!

So my friend, I hope you can find some answers in this post of why we started and continue to write in this blog.. as you can see, I didn't put any links or list of followers in this blog (although my dear hubby kept asking for it;p) and the reason is the same reason that I've mentioned earlier - I initially wrote this blog to myself.. but I'm more than happy to share my thoughts and my stories with all of you and as time goes by, we've put in a few posts dedicated to our readers.. I welcome all of you (with all my heart) to read this blog & to leave any comments.. and I'm honoured that I do have some readers:) thank you very much.. do visit this blog as you wish:) till we meet again in another post, insyaAllah..

The memories of Ramadhan..

Salam..

Alhamdulillah.. all the praise to Allah who has given you & me the chance to meet Ramadhan again..

This Ramadhan feels different to me.. maybe because I feel that I have more time in my hand.. more time that I hope I will spend to improve myself..

Ramadhan brings a lot of memories.. since my childhood until now.. Alhamdulillah, Allah has given me the greatest chances of spending Ramadhan in different environments & with different sets of people..

I don't remember at what age I started to fast properly.. I started fasting for a few hours a day, initially, just to practise.. all that I can remember is that I was so weak on the day that I managed to complete my 1st proper fasting.. towards that late evening, I just laid down, having no energy to do anything else.. and my mum asked me a few times whether or not I want to break my fast early.. but my determination was above all.. but there were also days that I sneaked up on the munchies & pretend that I was fasting.. hehe.. they're all memories that makes me smile.. how cheeky I was!!

Getting up for sahur was another story.. Usually my dad would wake us up.. abah had different ways to wake us up.. he would 'sing', he would tickle and he won't stop talking until we were up.. hehe.. and after finish eating, while waiting for the azan, he would teach me the niat.. everyday until I was able to mesmerise it myself.. I think I was 5 or 6 years old at that stage.. but of course, by the next Ramadhan, he had to teach me again;)

How time flies.. now I'm all grown up & married.. and seeing the pictures of my parents, I realised that age have taken its toll on them.. how I miss them! all the childhood memories of my Ramadhan will be remembered.. this Ramadhan, we celebrate it in different parts of the world.. I'm here in Ireland with my husband, my mum is now in Mecca until after Eid, while abah & the rest of us are in Malaysia.. that doesn't make this Ramadhan less special than the usual.. thanks to the technology.. they're all a phone call away.. but of course, I miss spending Ramadhan as a whole big family, together.. hopefully someday.. insyaAllah..

How is my Ramadhan so far? Alhamdulillah, everything is going good.. and hopefully it will stay good,if not better, until the end.. I guess I better stop now.. need to prepare for breaking fast..;)

Third Ramadhan..

Salam..

Since my last entry about the Riverdance, which was quite a week ago, nothing much has happened.. Yet, it would be ignorant for me to say that I did not intend to write about Ramadhan which has come to greet us again this year..

This Ramadhan marks my third Ramadhan since I became a husband.. We have gone through so much since the first one, back when we were up in Letterkenny - me not working and Ina was doing her first doctor job.. The cold and misty mornings and wintery wind of North were things I could remember from that Ramadhan.. Not that I have no other recollections, but I would rather keep those to myself.. In this entry, I would just merely share the commons.. We had our Eid prayer in Dublin (even though the Eid prayer in Letterkenny was one day early!) and flew home to Malaysia the same day..

My second Ramadhan was already in Limerick.. That was a tough one for me, not because of the longer fasting hours compared to the last one, but I could remember clearly that it started on the first day of September and ended on the first day of October.. The matter that Eid was on October 1st meant that I was oncall and had to spend the day in the Emergency Department admitting patients, not even having the chance to go for Eid prayer that morning.. I spent most of the fasting month when I was working in Milford, which was not a busy job.. I had the chance to write and distribute an article I wrote about Ramadhan to my colleagues in the centre.. It was a blessing and, indeed, was a da'wah opportunity for me as a Muslim.. 1429 was also the Hijri year that I was post-call on 10th of Zulhijjah, on Eid al-Adha.. I missed both Eid prayers that year..

Starting on the 21st of August this year, Ina and I welcome the third Ramadhan together.. Sadly, it is still just the two of us.. This year, maybe I will have the opportunity to greet and celebrate Eid with my wife.. Insya-Allah, God's willing, Eid will fall on Saturday or Sunday - both days of which I will not be working.. Ina is also not working.. Maybe I will take some time off later in October to go back home and celebrate the remaining of Syawal with our families..

O God, whiten my face with your light
On the day You would whiten the faces of those dear to You
And do not blacken my face with darkness
On the day you would blacken the face of Your foes

Salam..

Riverdance - Irish At Its Best

Salam..

As promised, I will share my experience having witnessed the great Irish Riverdance in Gaiety Theatre in Dublin last night.. As far as honest is concerned, I had wished to see the show since I first saw and heard of them, and that was quite a few years ago.. In fact, I realised that I like different culture that I would take every opportunity to experience and watch them.. I suppose that statement would now be apparent and evident throughout our travelogues.. Well, here is for sharing..

Riverdance

Where the river foams and surges to the sea
Silver figures rise to find me
Wise and as daring
Following the heart's cry

Feel the magic and power of surrender to life
Uisce beatha
I am living to nourish you, cherish you
I am pulsing the blood in your veins

The show started at 8 o'clock but we were already in there by 7.30pm.. The fact that the hotel we were staying in was so close to the Gaiety Theatre, it was no rush to get to the venue..

The show consisted of two parts, with a fifteen-minute interval in between.. It started off with a very gentle instrumental music and then with a more upbeat dance.. Throughout the show, a mixture of great dances of soft and hard shoes, awesome instrument displays and even magnificent vocals.. I have to say, I enjoyed the hard-shoe dance better than the soft ones.. Maybe because the echo of the strum of steps made by the dancers excites me more - such precision and punctuality..

In between the shows, we refreshed ourselves with some cold drinks and ice-cream, a little bit sugar for the next half..

At the end of the show, the crowd stood up for a standing ovation and, in all fairness, had hoped that it was not the end of the performance.. Overall, I thought it was a magnificent show.. However, I was a bit 'disappointed' by the length of the show (hoping for more, obviously) and quite a small theatre.. Maybe because I had watched Michael Flatley performing in larger centres and had hoped that the Gaiety Theatre would equal them.. But, other than that, it was worth every penny!

Maybe someday I will invest more and watch the troupe perform somewhere else.. Maybe even see Mr Flatley in action..

I loved it!

Salam..

Birmingham : The Leisure Vacation

Salam..

Clearly for most of you, this blog page has been, for most of the time, very very quiet.. To the point that even myself started to wonder whether it was actually worthwhile having a blog but not updating it on a fairly regular basis.. Of course, being busy is almost always the party line for any excuses.. Well, I am indeed terribly sorry.. I may well vow to update this blog on a more regular basis than the occasional 'sorry' introductory lines, but I will not, because it seems that it would probably be a false promise anyway.. Either way, I can only promise to do my best..

Anyway, the last week was fantastic.. Of course, it was the complementary week off after the week of nights.. The seven-day midnight-to-morning shift was drenching.. It was exhausting.. But enough on that.. After the shift ended, that same morning I got home and took a couple of hours of nap, then got ready for the trip.. Ina had booked our flight around 5pm that evening, so I did not have much time to rest.. Plus, let's be honest, after that week of nights, I was a Batman - waking at night and sleeping during the day.. In fact, 5pm was just around my bedtime!

Day 1 : Cadbury World

We did not plan to go to this chocolate factory until the day we flew to Birmingham.. Not that we did not want to go, but we were unsure when to go.. We took the train from Birmingham New Street to Bourneville, which was about 15 minutes away.. Even the train station at Bourneville was coloured purple.. As a matter of fact, Bourneville is the hometown of Cadbury chocolate.. The trip included shows of the origin and travels of chocolate, free chocolate sampling in the factory and fun with chocolate! Honestly, I avoided playing with the dairy-milk chocolate 'liquor' since I did not want to risk my T-shirt stained!



Day 2 : Drayton Manor Theme Park

For some reason, both myself and Ina have become a big fan of theme parks.. As a matter of fact, I don't even remember a fan of theme parks until just under three years ago.. Of course, I have been to many theme parks before we got married, but I don't think Ina had been to one before we hooked up.. I can still remember the first time I brought her to a mini theme park in Salthill, Galway.. She was scared as a cat in a tin can the first time she was in a ferry's wheel.. But, believe me, it was the trigger of her thirst for theme parks!

Drayton Manor was somewhat a consolation as the original plan was to travel by train to Alton Towers.. But the journey was a little bit to far and ('luckily') the weather was not permitting either.. In fact, even in Drayton Manor, the weather was in the category of 'horrible'! It rained all day that we had to buy a raincoat.. Maybe, the weather was the factor that deterred us from taking all those crazy rides.. We only rode some of the coasters, but avoided most of them..

Drenched in rain, only the cheap plastic raincoat as cover

Either way, it was a wet day but a fun one..

Day 3 : Warwick Castle

It was undoubtedly a better day.. The sun was out, the breeze was soft and the clouds were invisible! We took the train to Warwick and gambled our way to the castle, which was about 10 minutes walk from the train station..

We were greeted by Jolly Jester, the Princess and a knight (in shining armour!).. Paid the ticket and off we went to the castle.. There was a lot of scheduled performances that we did not want to miss and inevitable resulted us entering the Warwick Dungeon later in the day.. My personal favourite was the trebuchet and 'fireball' trebuchet shows.. We also climbed the 255-step towers and witnessed Ina breathless like her lungs had collapsed! That was a scene!

Archery class for 5pounds!

Day 4 : SeaLife & Walking with Dinosaurs

By this day, my sleep cycle has already come to terms with normality.. We headed towards the NIA on foot.. It looked quite far in the map, but was only about 20 minutes leisure walk from our Radisson SAS Hotel.. Ahh, the weather was gloomy but we were indoors.. No bother.. The SeaLife building was next to the theatre where we would be for the dinosaur show..

SeaLife is just another name for aquarium, as far as I was concerned.. Not that it wasn't fun, but at this stage it has all become the same to me.. Later in the afternoon, we walked to the NIA again and watched the ultimate show of our vacation - Walking with Dinosaurs.. The show had only one word to describe it - extravagant! Our seats were on the second row from the front and the view was great.. We had so much fun that the five days there were just a matter of flying time..

SeaLife Birmingham

T-rex in action

Riverdance

We arrived in Limerick around one o'clock on Saturday.. We have about two days to sort ourselves out - rest and wash all clothes.. We will be traveling to Dublin on Monday to watch Riverdance in Gaiety Theatre.. I have always wanted to see this performance but only now I have the chance..

I will let you know the details after I come back..

Salam..

Learning The Hard Way

Salam..

Indeed, it has been quite some long time since my last entry.. As a matter of fact, my last entry was from our day-2 journey in Paris.. Even that is still not finished yet.. I still have another four days to complete that series.. Oh, dear! I am very lazy, am I not?

New Phase Of Learning

I am pleased to tell you that since the start of July, I am no longer the in-house officer for medicine, but now working in the Emergency Department (ED, or A&E).. To be honest, I was terrified at the start, and in fact still am.. The thought of seeing a patient face on with pretty much nothing but their words was a horrifying one.. But, I was eager to take the step.. In fact, I had once said to a colleague that I would want to spend some time in ED to know the feeling of not knowing and making the best guess for what was happening..

My wish came through.. I am now posted to be an ED officer for the next six months..

I knew it would be hard, but I was (half-) ready to make the leap, run the course.. Alhamdulillah, as of now, I have made it through the first month.. The learning curve for this job is magnificent - from the straight forward unstable angina and pneumonia to the 'I'm not sure what's going on' stuff and multiple-problem cases.. And also, I am learning loads about the surgical stuff that I would never thought of doing as a medical SHO - suturing, dislocations and fractures..

As the days go, I become more confident with my decisions and making judgment calls - stabilising patients before I refer them to the appropriate services or sending them home if I feel they would be safe to be discharged.. To my own benefit, I made a presentation on one of the teaching days pointing out the difficulties I faced to make the appropriate referral.. My boss was present and, in fact, he thought it was a good! I was pleased with myself but also feel relieved that my SHO colleagues were also facing the same and similar challenges..

As of today, I have done few suturings, staplings, reducing dislocations and casts.. I am proud of myself, but also realise that there is still much to be learned.. I don't want to rush myself, so I am taking cases as they come to me.. Hopefully, I will be alright..

I am starting my night duty shift tonight and, to be truthfully honest, I am terrified! There will be only one SHO (me!) from 2am to 8am tomorrow.. I am up to my 90's at this moment and really freaking out.. I hope it would be okay..

Salam..

Cream cheese butter cake..

Salam..

A few of my friends have been asking the recipes of the cakes.. and I'm more than glad to share them with all of you:) the biggest problem is I'm not a good keeper of my recipes.. hehe.. Sometimes I copied them down, sometimes I printed them out.. and to make things worse, I have about 4 chiffon recipes, a few choc cakes recipe and I couldn't make up which one has the best outcome! I need to have a better way to keep my recipe.. posting them here is a good idea..

As I'm still trying to find the recipes, I will post the ones that I've found.. so, this will be the first recipe.. cream cheese butter cake..

The first recipe that I came across can be found in this link Naz Rinn Chan. Then I came across another very similar recipe (which I'll post in this entry) but I couldn't remember the source of this recipe.. credits to both..:)
the 2nd recipe was really similar to the first one except for the ingredients.. the steps are exactly the same..

here is the 2nd recipe..

200gm butter
200gm cream cheese
250gm castor sugar
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
250gm multipurpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (sift together with the multipurpose flour)
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1. Mix butter & cream cheese until smooth & creamy
2. Add in sugar gradually
3. Add in egg yolk,one by one.
4. Add in the flour. Slow down the mixer speed, add in vanilla essence.
5. In a different bowl, beat the egg whites until it gets bubbly. Add in cream of tartar.
6. When it has reached its peak, take 1/3 of it and add into the mixture of cheese/butter. Fold in gently. Repeat again until finish.
7. Pour into a buttered and lined cake pan. Bake in a preheated oven 170 degree C for about an hour.

*what does stiff peak of egg whites mean?
It means that the egg whites are beaten to the extent that it gets fluffy.. when you scoop it & try to pour it, it won't pour/ it will hold a stiff peak.. it will takes about 15-20mins using the mixer to reach the peak.. don't overbeat..

It is a fairly simple recipe especially for the first-timers in baking and the outcome is nice.. my husband doesn't like fancy cakes, and he did enjoy eating this cake.. the taste was just nice.. good luck!