Today is a public holiday in conjuction of Kuwait's Liberation Day. As much as Independance Day is important to us Malaysian, it is exactly how Liberation Day to Kuwaitis. Schools and most government offices closed till Tuesday. Anyway, below are some info about Liberation Day borrowed from asiarooms dot com.

" The Liberation Day in Kuwait marks the end of the Iraqi occupation of the country which began from August 1990. The preparations for the liberation of Kuwait began from January 17. The first raid over Kuwait began at around 4 am and within hours full-scale attack began. The Kuwaiti resistance was no less in comparison to the Allied attack and they were constantly trying to weaken the Iraqis with their guerilla fights and giving information to the Allied forces. The invading Iraqi army was routed by the Operation Desert Storm within 42 days on February 26. Thus, from 1991 this day marked the beginning of a new life for the Kuwaitis. The flag of free Kuwait was raised in celebration, and people gathered in groups enjoying their long lost freedom."

Yesterday, I was blessed to witnessed how this historic day celebrated with huge rejoice, and am still awed by the spirits it shown. As a start, it's like necessity for every locals to wear something that representing their national flag colours. There's no single locals passed by me without having red-white-green-black accesorize their clothing that day. What amazed me was, how they wore it with such pride and joy, not to mentioned level of creativety displayed. Childrens can be seen wearing dress and coats, youth and teenagers were spotted around in their vest, bracelet, necklace, tops... all customized with the colours of their national flag. Adults also were pretty co-operative by wearing customized shawl, hats and whatnot. It is indeed quite a scenery. I didn't dare to snap photo inside the mall, to respect the locals custom. However, my husband managed to capture few snaps while we were outside.

Shadap not shadap ( diam tak diam version Zizan Raja Lawak ), it's been a year since I started this blog. Happy anniversary dude !

Most of my stories I believed revolved around my girls, my families and friends, events I attended and invited and also my kitchen repertoire, not really much about me myself and I. I believed I haven't properly introduced myself so as a kickstart, today I'm going to share 5 things about me to which I believed others didn't really know. I may do this 5 random stuffs daily or regularly depends on my mood hehe.


1 ) I have a very serious constipation problem. Hahah baru nak berkenalan terus tak jadik. Belom pe pe dah citer pasal berak.

During good months, I may have a "go" once a week, however during most normal months, it will be more like once or twice a months. I eat just like normal people does, sometimes more than normal people do, but I just don't know where all the foods went. It definitely went somewhere but my digestive system. I don't feel bloated or having stomach upset or something. I just feel normal. I gained weight if I ate extra that months and loose some if I ate less. Berak or no berak, this pattern are pretty much remained. Most women will facing this issue during pregnancy and after deliver. To me, pregnant or no pregnant, the issue stays, it barely an issue to me anymore

2 ) My feet expanded a size everytime I deliver. Before married, my shoe size was 6 depends on brands, after Alis it was 7-8, depending on brands and my recent shoe size after Erin are 8-9 on most brands. The things is, it doesn't grow bigger or wider, but longer. Sighhhhhh.... I really need to check with Ronald McDonald where he get his shoes customized coz I will definitely need those by the time I deliver my 5th.. Wahhh sampai kerrr nombor 5???

3 ) I dun eat red meat in whatsoever forms it may come. However, McDonald Cheese Burger was an exceptional case. That was the only meat I ate. I think their beef patties in Cheese Burger doesn't taste like beef. I had an uncle like me. He don't eat meat but exception given to McDonald burger. Genetic maybe ??

4 ) During my pregnancy with Alis, I have this weird cravings. I ate Mc Egg breakfast set every day without failed. Having McDonald drive thru in my housing area was not helping either. I would rather coming late to office than miss my McEgg doses. I will also have 2 packs of Nasik Lemak from Esso nearby my house for my dinner almost daily except for the day when my husband at home. A day will not started without my McEgg and a night will not ended without my Esso nasik lemak. Pretty much explained my almost 80 kg weight before deliver. Anyhow, the routine stops immediately after I gave birth.


5 ) I don't eat cockels, clams, mussels, oyster and whatnot, even if you pay me too. That's pretty much sums up all hard shells animal in seafood kingdom. The only seafood I ate was prawn and crab. And I am picky on fish too. I love seafood ever so much but I don't eat most of em heheh.

I am weird like that !

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Husband requested for karipap daging few days back so I made them today. I bought curry-puff mould from Daiso quite sometimes ago and only today I discovered that I'd bought chinese dumpling mould instead.

Blearghhhhh

My kelim or anyam talent memang legendary because I'm just so bad at it. I can't neither kelim karipap nicely nor anyam a decent ketupat. It's been a while since i accepted this as ketentuan hidup ha ha ha. Last 2 years, I was helping my mum in law anyam ketupat palas. There's ketupat betina and jantan yet mine was unsolved mystery. They're not both membuktikan betapa bangku nye tangan ku hehehe.

Well, back to currypuff story, I proceeded anyway since i had prepared the filling.




Cubaan utk modify by kelim balik gagal secara besar- besaran. Demi allah, makcik mmg tak pandai kelim karipap. Sumpah hodoh, jadik kite biarla de rupa tak siap cenggini ehhh




Nombor satu tu hasil kelim-an makcik, yang no 2 tu hasil acuan dumpling. Senonoh lagi pakai acuan kan? Muahahaha




Stok simpanan untuk masa hadapan.




Hasil nyer... Biar la rupa tak semenggah, rasa karipap jugak.

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Venue : Fahaheel fresh fruit juices stall..





One fine night, due to no other better things to do at home, we decided to have a stroll purpose-lessly alongside Fahaheel city. After sometimes, we stopped by at our favourite fresh juices bakala for our weekly doses. The shop located next to Al-Ghanim Eletric and Eletronic Centre. I ordered Mango Juice that day and the kids as usual, requested for Green Tuffah ( Green Apple). My husband just discovered his passion for Avocado Juice recently so he ordered that, just like our other visits. After order being made, my husband took out his Iphone as usual and start facebooking. This scenario of his staring, touching and smiling to his Iphone lasted about 5 minutes or more, it surely brings out the sarcasm in me so I said this to him ..





" I believed this is your quality time with your family and kids. You supposedly spend it with your kids and wife, instead of your Iphone "











Much to my dismay, he gave me this heavy sigh and eyes set back to Iphone. I rest my case..





Out of sudden, out of nowhere and out of the blue... Alis blurted this with her most calm and composed tone..





" Tu lah papa niiiii, Asyik main game, computer dengan Iphone jek. Takde main pun dengan budak budak "








I couldn't believe my ears at first but soon gather myself back and laughs so hard my jaw hurts.





My husband on the other hand, stopped his Iphone thingy and tend to the girls almost immediately, I'm actually amazed.








If only I knew earlier that's all it takes. Ermmmmmm....





I'm soo gonna use Alis in future as my messenger aka my little nagger.







Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ( *evil tone* )

It has been going say about 3 weeks since we started our no-rice-for-dinner diet regime, and still counting. Although, not having to cook rice with it's lauk pauk sounded and looked easy at 1st thought, I must admit that I am constantly having moments where I just didn't have any idea of what to cook and found myself staring clue-less at my fridge for good 10 minutes or so.

Last night, I cooked Curry Mee with Clams and Prawn. The origin recipe used kerang. I had the idea of cooking Curry Mee during our grocery trip recently. I think I saw something that looks like kerang, I mean the meat, without the shell. However later on, I decided that it was not kerang but clams and left the shelves. My husband on the other hand, insisted that it was kerang despite the label written on the pack was clam. I recalled him saying this.. " Saya yang makan kerang, saya tau lah. Awak tak makan kerang awak mana tau "

Okayyyy fineeee !

And so I bought 2 packs of those and decided to cook curry mee. Before that, I had to made the MEE of course since yellow mee or noodles mee was nowhere to be found. I learned to make home-made yellow mee from my neighbour Sue. It's so kind of her to share the knowledge.


Anyway below are the steps on how to make home-made mee taken during my learning session.

Disclaimer : The views, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this post solely those of the author which is me based on what I heard, told, read and do not necessarily represent those of involved parties. It has no other hidden agenda or politically intention. Genuinely my 2 cents.


I bet everyone knows from head to tail what had happened to Egypt recently. It's been on front pages of most news paper and aired during prime time on CNN. It turned out that those protest in Egypt fast becoming starting point, the sparks that ignite the bigger flames which indirectly triggers other Arabian from others countries to start their own protest, of course with different agenda and mission. First Egypt, then Bahrain.. and now Kuwait. What happened in Egypt obviously rooted from unsolved internal affairs issue that being dragged for so many years, to which sadly had to resort to this protest involving large numbers of casualties.

Anyway, I was supposed to be flying to Bahrain on 1st March for my visa renewal and also for my husband medical checkup matters. Too bad things happened the way it's happening now that we had no choice but to cancel our trip, or shall I say re-route to another GCC country. Egypt is way out of question apparently. I was thinking about Dubai or Qatar. Never been to Dubai before so this is a good opportunity. However, my husband can take only 4 days leave which not sufficient if we were to travel to Dubai. It is Dubai we're talking about people !! There'd be so much things to do, to see, to taste and to explore. So I had ro say no to Dubai this time.

Looks like Qatar was our only/best/safe option, there is. My uncle is working and staying there for a start. Lodging and foods won't be any problem. Plus it is much more safer travelling to a place where we have acquaintances and someone we can rely on in case of emergency. Anyhoo, so far we're still undecided about where we would go. You'll know soon once we decided.

Well, back to the topic, from what I know, Egyptian started the riot because they wanted Hosni Mubarak to step down since he had been holding the throne for 3 decades and I guess he failed to deliver good job or didn't work hard enough causing majority of his people lived in poverty. In fact, in Q8, majority labour and general workers came from Egypt. Of course they're Egyptian doctors and other professionals here but the number are way too small. Same case with Bahrain, whereby Bahraini started the protest to demands for their rights and better life. However, protest in Q8 was slightly different in terms of protester.

Recent protest in Jahra, was made happened by this group call Bidun ( Bidoon). From what I was told when I first came to Kuwait, Bidoon was a group of state-less Kuwaiti. Remember The Terminal where Tom Hanks got stucked in the airport and not allowed to neither going out to New York nor going back to his country because his country was in war and he was then declared citizen-less? Ring any bell? This Bidun situation was also the same. Below are what wikipedia has to say about Bidun..

"The term bidoon (alternative spelling: bidun) is short for the Arabic phrase meaning "without nationality" (bidun jinsiya), and in Kuwait refers to longtime residents of Kuwait who, under the terms of Nationality Law 15/1959, some should be eligible for Kuwaiti nationality by naturalization but who have not been granted it. In the 1920s there were no border control between neighboring countries, other people from other countries resided in Kuwait and want a Kuwaiti citizenship. The main concern of the Kuwaiti government is that some people are not "Fully Kuwaiti".

Biduns may be people who did not fill in proper citizenship paperwork (perhaps due to illiteracy, xenophobia or ignorance) prior to 1920, have illegally entered these nations to avoid poverty or war, or those who have settled in Kuwait since 1920 but who have not been recognized by the state. They are not afforded the rights of a full citizen of the country and cannot vote. The children of bidun fathers are themselves considered bidun."

In short, they're nomadic group of Arabic that was denied their citizenship and by saying that means, denied the opportunity to better education, marriage, career and social needs like driving license and such. Baby of Bidun was denied birth certificate. They may dressed like Kuwaiti, they talked like Kuwaiti, they looked like Kuwaiti but they're nothing but Kuwaiti.

On lighter and more jolly note, I've read recently a report in Kuwait Times that said government has decided that a baby from Bidun women whose tied a conjugal ties with Kuwaiti man will be given a birth certificate, unlike previously. However, the mother's nationality in the certificate will remained blank for that matters. At least the baby will finally get to enjoy full benefits.

As can be seen now especially in my residential area, most Bidun turned out to be driver ( maybe illegally) or security or labourer to earn a living. Basically the lowest level in society. There's not much choice I guess since they were denied education for they didn't have birth certificate to register to a school. As sad as it may appear, most young Bidun resorting getting involved in many crime case such as robbery, man slaughter or drugs traficking, due to tekanan hidup, lack of education and opportunity, I guess.

So, this group of Bidun was the one responsible to start a commosion in Jahra few days back with one and only demand which is to get a better life, for their voice to be heard and to claimed back their rights as a Kuwaiti and redeemed benefits they're entitled for. I can understand their frustration actually because being declared and acknowledge as Kuwaiti could only means better prospect, brighter future and decent life for them. Kuwaiti government that I know was very generous. Below are among benefits as a Kuwaiti ( that came to my knowledge. This was not official facts, please take note! )

- Young Kuwaiti who wants to get married will be given a gift by the government because they wanted to encouraged young people to get married and get children. In statistic, total up of Kuwaiti people was only about 1 million yet expatriate in Kuwait has reached to a whopping 3 millions . An option of a villa or cash money equivalent to a villa. Nice ehhh !

- Parents will receive around KD 50 per child every month as a child allowance.

- Government had allocate certain subsidi for Kuwaiti who own a maid. The subsidi comes in terms of beras and such. This is why it's a norm view in Kuwaiti families to have 1 maid for 1 child which means 5 maids for 5 childs.


- This is for good news for a man. There'll be an allowance for wife/wives. They more wives they got, more allowance they'll receive monthly. In Malaysia, in most cases, most man will get in trouble for having more than 1 wife. In here, they're given a bonus :)

- In conjunction of Independance day, each Kuwaiti will receive KD 1000 ( RM 11000. Last year I heard KD 200). Means if you're a Kuwaiti with 1 wife and 3 kids, you'll get KD 5000. You do the aftermath for those Kuwaiti with 2-3 wives. You haven't heard all yet. Apart from KD 1000, they'll also receive 14 months of food supplies starting Feb 2011. Every month all they have to do was visit the appointed Co-Op and collect their supplies. Very thoughtful rite ?

And many many many more miscellanous benefits that I didn't know off. So if you're asking me, honestly.. it's not bad at all being a Kuwaiti. It would be nice be born as a Kuwaiti which explained the frustration and anger of Bidun because most of them was born and bred in Kuwait but was not treated like one.

To end my long winded , I would like to urge all Muslims out there to pray for the best to those protesters. We may failed to understand their intentions for we are not in their shoes, and we may not necessary agree with their chosen method of raising their voice, but at least we can pray for them. That's the least a Muslim can do for each others. At least that's what I can afford to do given I was actually living among them and in country neighbouring to them. So technically, I am involved.

May Allah shower us all with His bounties, bestow upon us His blessings , lead us to the righteous path and protect us from harm.

Amin.

When it comes to food, I have to admit that I am not that adventurous. I would categorised myself as minimalist yet fussy. I rather stick to certain menu I like, familiar with and suits my taste bud than ordering food I never try before and regretting it later. For those who knows me well, will agree with this. On the contrary, my husband was the adventurous one in my home. I think he eat almost everything eatable which makes my life so much more easier.

I am pretty predictable though. Predictable enough that every time we went for eat out, my family doesn't even bother checking with me what drink I would like to order. Just Teh O ais and teh O ais only, thank you very much.

My and my husband are indeed one great team because I love to try something new but I refused to eat it which will resort to pembaziran. This is where my husband part comes. The tester. Plus, he'll constantly suggesting interesting menus that he love to try, heard from someone or read about it in the net, and I will try to cook it. Most importantly, he's always supportive even if at times, the results was way far cry from what he anticipated.

So, below are some of my-1st-attempts foods I would like to share.

If you guys recalled, I made ayam percik before during Ramadhan and that time, I was using recipe from Kak Hanieliza. Few days back, I had few pieces of this chicken leg so I've decided to make ayam percik, but using another recipe. Below recipe was taken from anjungcafe.com. Thanks a lot to the owner for sharing her lovely family recipe. The outcome was outrageously delicious. Definitely goes to my bookmark !





RESIPI :

1 ekor ayam yang agak besar (dipotong 4 dan di kelar-kelar sedikit supaya masak di dalammya dan ditoskan airnya)

In my case, I used 5 pieces of chicken legs.

Bahan A: (diblender dengan sedikit air)
3 batang serai
2 inci halia
3 biji bawang putih
4 biji bawang merah

Bahan B:
1 1/2 cawan air asam jawa pekat
7 sudu besar gula ( I just put 4 since I prefer my gravy to be less sweet )
garam secukupnya

Bahan C:
6 sudu besar cili kering yang sudah di blender (kalau tak nak pedas kurangkan sikit)
1 cawan santan pekat

Cara2nya:

Panaskan kuali dan masukkan minyak. Tumiskan bahan A sehingga agak kering dan wangi. Masukkan gula, bila agak pekat masukkan air asam jawa. Biarkan mendidih dan masukkan ayam. Kacau rata.
Tambahkan garam, biarkan ayam separuh masak baru masukkan cili kering. Bila mendidih masukkan santan pekat. Bila kuah separuh pekat, keluarkan ayam tadi kedalan bekas lain. Kacau lagi kuah percik yang tinggal sehingga pekat. Tutup api.
Sekarang bolehlah di bakar ayam tadi sambil dicurahkan sedikit kuah percik keatas ayam tadi.(Jangan dibakar terlalu lama kerana ayam tadi telah pun pun dimasak)



Bila sudah siap bolehlah dihidangkan ayam percik special bersama kuahnya.



I must say, I am much much more happy with the outcome. Please dun get me wrong. Both recipe are pretty much the same. What makes it different this time was the method I used. Previously I baked the chicken using oven hence my chicken tend to be a bit dry. This time, I used portable eletric griller, resulting to a very charcoal like burnt on the skin which is sangat laaaaaahhh sedapp compared to oven one. Owh one more thing, my gravy previously was too thick I guess. This time it's more runny and nicer in terms of the texture.

Lesson learned here was everyone can cook. All it need was a lot of practices. There's no I CAN'T, just I WON'T...

Ehh emo pulak tetiba di situh :)

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Alis and Erin are rather two different person with different character. Alis more ladylike and self composed while Erin, ermmmm let just say hillariously funny.

This funny story ( maybe korang tak rasa kelakar but it is to me I just have to post it here) happened while she was doing her "big business". This thing about Erin, she loved to berangan in every possible chance she got. She'll make up story, create character and dialogueing about stuff only she'll know about and many more.

One day she told me she wanted to poo so I take her to toilet, make sure she seated properly on the toilet bowl and left with door left ajar. She just hates company while poo poo so in most of the cases, I will remain invisible from her sight until she announced that she's done.

Few minutes after I left her, I started to hear her talking, of course to herself., which nothing new and most of the time I just ignored. However, that particular day, she caught my attention. This is how the "conversation" goes .....

Erin : Awak duduk diam diam ehhhh.. Nanti mama datang dokong..

Erin with another tone : iyerrrr, nanti mama awak datang dokongg okehhhh..

Erin : aperrrr??? Bukannn dekkonggg lah... DOKONG !!!

Erin : Aper?? Iskk awak nyihh, bukan DUKUNG!! ..... DOKONG lahhh.. Cuba awak tengok muyut cayer nihh... DOKONG ! Haaaa cuba sebut.. DOKONG !!!

And her teaching " her mysterious friend " on how to pronounce word Dokong goes on and on and on until she finishes her business.

While cleaning her, I just can't restrained my curiosity and so I asked her to whom she's talking to anyway while berak just now....


Do you know what's her answer siap dengan toye-selenge-tak bersalah kind of look?


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Erin : Dengan TAIK LAH !!!!

Mummy : -_- .....

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaha...





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Not so long ago, I had this huge craving for Roti Jala, so I made one batch of it. Knowing that Alis and Erin also are a big fan of roti jala, 1 kg won't be enough plus I also decided to gave some to my neighbours, 5 families in total. It's been quite a while since last time I cook something decent worth to be share with my neighbours.

I started menjala around 4 pm and finished 2 hours after that. I've made the Chicken Curry with potato beforehand so I just have to prepare the roti jala in the afternoon.

The thing is, i'm using only one pan and knowing me, I have tendency to do things slowly and taking my own sweet time so I had prepared some entertainment to keep myself occupied while "menjala". My pan already heated, my batter ready, I then tuned in Sinar FM online capsule which had been installed in my Ipad by my husband, specially for a time like this. He's sooo genius he knew I would need this stuff some day.

And so I begin....

During first quarter hour, everything went smoothly. I'm beginning to keep up with my pace and get comfortable with my rhythm, menjala happily while singing to whatever song played on my online radio. Then I started to have back pain.. continued with cramp in my calf's muscle then my shoulder started to ache. I'm just halfway through my batter but things started to get less fun compared to the earlier stage.






Suddenly, this rounded-yellow-net stuff that I used to love doesn't fascinate me anymore...