Selamat berpuasa!

It's Ramadhan month again. Alhamdulillah, many thank to Allah, for giving another chance to experience another Ramadhan. Selamat berpuasa to Mush and family in Gent, Pak Alang in Loughborough and all my family members and friends, wherever you are.

Today is the second day of fasting, and it's my first time in eight years fasting with my aunt and her family in London. This early morning, we had a nice curry and ayam berlada, cooked by my uncle, Tuk Din. For our first buka puasa, I bought a big box of fresh and natural cream puffs from Beard Papa's. I didn't know that it's Tuk Din and Auntie Midah's favourite, if not, I've had bought another extra box.

Anyhow, will be going home to Manchester this afternoon, therefore, will do iftaar and sahur on my own for the next five or six days.

And today is the birthday of my beloved younger sister, Lia. She's currently in Sintok, doing her practical training at one of the secondary schools in Kedah. Happy birthday, Lia! Good luck in your undertakings and may Allah bless you with more rahmat, berkat and joy. Aamin. And thank you for being a cool and supportive sister.

Like I said earlier, there was a carnival last Saturday and my uncle had a stall there, selling his infamous char kway teow and mee goreng mamak. There were a couple of jejak kasih scenes, whereby I met, among others, Azuan (who I last met in Summer 2000), his surgeon wife and his cute little boy.

The weather was so nice and we had a good crowd too. I did take some pictures for your viewing pleasures.


















Since I will be a bit occupied for the next few days, with the submission of my dissertation (printing, binding, etc.) and might not have time for blogging, I would like to extend my birthday wishes to Mus, who will be celebrating his second birthday in his 30s. Good luck in your future undertakings, and semoga berbahagia with your family and TTM. Hehehe...

London... here I come again!

Guys... I'm about to depart for my final trip to London to visit my aunt and her family before going home to Malaysia. I'm taking the coach because (1) I want to save money so that I could spend more on souvenirs and (2) I want ample time to finish reading one of the novels that I bought from carboot sales in Loughborough.

In London, I will be helping, insya-Allah, my uncle with his stall at the Merdeka Bazaar, which will be held this Saturday. And I plan to do a photo shooting on Sunday, hopefully with Izza.

Izza is from my uncle's side (in other words, not from my side) and, surprise... surprise... her father and I used to involve in a project or two a few years back. What a small world!

My bus is on 5pm and my stomach is screaming for food. Since there is nothing in my fridge, I guess I need to go now to have a nice chicken briyani at the Aghan Cuisine in Rusholme.

Adios!

BBQ, Strawberry Picking & Picnic

When I was in London last week, my aunt said something about fruit picking. Oh, my... I can't remember when was the last time I did fruit picking. It was so, so long time ago. About nine or ten years ago and it was an apple farm.


This morning, I was taken to a strawberry farm by Anne, my friend from my MARA College Banting days, who is also a superb cook. With us, there was a group of lecturers from Malaysia who are currently reading their postgraduate degrees in Loughborough and Nottingham. I'm the only one, which is NOT an academician.

After an hour in the strawberry farm, we went to a carboot sale in Gotham. As usual, I bought myself two novels, namely, The Da Vince Code (yeap, I've read this book, but at 10 pence each, I'm so tempted to read it... baby, one more time!) and No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson. This is my first time reading his.

We didn't stay long there, not because there's nothing to buy, but one of our friends, Fit, was so "carried away" to the extent, he even bought a candle holder! But it's a nice one, very huge and I personally think it's meant for a private garden or in a gazebo.

On our way to send Fit home, we stopped @Nottingham Uni for a casual picnic (ada ke picnic yang tak casual???). Oh, my... Anne made me one of my favourites i.e. lempeng with sambal sardin. She also cooked fried meehoon. Ad and the gang brought along karipap special and burgers while Nurul and Zai cooked for us nasi goreng.

While waiting for my coach, Harris has been so sweet and kind to bring me to his Uni for a brief tour and photo session. If I'm not mistaken, this is where Danny was supposed to go for his Master degree. Unfortunately... tak ada rezeki kot.






Millions thank you to Anne, Harris, Ad and the gang for your generous hospitality. And special thanks to Kak Pari and her friends for a lovely barbeque yesterday. Also, Anne, Ad, Fit and the gang for a wonderful dinner last night. Terima kasih daun keladi, jemputlah lagi...

And please do invite me for your next karaoke session. Fit (budak in the middle in the picture below), you really have a nice tone!