Around KL with Brother Kaptan

Kaptan is my hubby's cousin's son. Or hubby's uncle's grandson. He lives in London and came to Malaysia for 10 days to visit this side of the family. He brought along tapes of families in London. Looks like Anuar has a whole clan of family living over there. The looks are unmistakably the same although they dresses differently. Anis and Aiman resembled some of their cousins over there. So does little Ariff, who at this stage looks a lot like his brother Aiman.

We had to speak in English most of the time as Kaptan only speaks in English. He is also fluent in Urdu and Hindi. Well, the only Hindi words that I can know is kuch kuch hota hai which means what will be , will be....or something like that.

Anyway, we brought him to KLCC which seems to be the'must see, must visit, must buy something as souvenir' place. He took a lot of photos over there, with Nuar being the official photographer. Not unlike the tourists swarming KLCC on that day, he took every possible angle of the tower and surroundings. He also did some shopping, buying watches, digicam, some jeans and shirts.

We took through a whirlwind tour of KL. Instead of shopping in KLCC, we took him to Giant Batu Caves instead.

BTW, he's the one in the white shirt in the picture of me and kids in front of the water fountain at Istana Budaya. Nuar was, well, he's the photograher...

Port Dickson - Glory Beach Resort

BBQ New Year's Eve 31/12/2006

It was an impromptu idea. I thought instead making chicken rendang for Aidiladha, why don't we just grill the chicken. It will be less hassle for me. I was in no mood of cooking.

I came across some frozen satay at the local supermarket and bought it. Manalah tahu tak cukup ayam 3 ekor ayam kat rumah tu. And also bought some burger buns. Nuar suggested that we prepared spaghetti as the main meal.Note, we refers to me as he is only capable of boiling water. He cooked rice once, I had to threw the rice pot away. He burnt the rice and the pot as well. So, he went to buy ingredients for the spaghetti meat sauce and the barbeque marinade sauce. Again, I was in no mood to make the marinade sauce from scratch and opt for the easy way.Buy the bottled ones.

Kak Wan brought in some nasi minyak. We also brought out the leftover lemang, nasi impit, kuah kacang and laksa. So we had bbq chicken,burgers, sausages, coleslaw, spaghetti, satay, fries with leftover Aidiladha lunch.

The kids had a jovial night, eating and playing around. The older kids manned the bbq pit together with their uncles. I just laze around, chit catting and enjoying the food. There was not much washing up required as we used styrofoam cups and plates. After tidying up the place, we went to bed around 11pm. I didn't even realise that the year was ending and a new year is beginning. I hope that the new year 2007 will bring much joy and laughter, such as the one that I had on the last night of 2006. Amin, InsyaAllah.

AidilAdha 31/12/2006

Visit to the National Zoo

Although we lived only around 5km away from the zoo, it has been years since I last visited it. It has been so long that I totally forgot that I have ever been inside the zoo.

Anis has been the zoo twice before. Once with Baba and the twins and another one, a school trip. This time round, we are bringing along her cousins from Dungun. I have to tag along to be the 'jaga' to all the kids. MIL is coming along too but she will an exclusive 'jaga' to one of the manja one and with her her bad knee, I think it is quite an effort for her. Kesian dia tapi nak buat macam mana, cucu kesayangan punya pasal.

We started out around 11am after brunch. Barely half an hour into the zoo grounds, it rained cats and dogs but as it is in the zoo, it rained ziraffes and elephants. Luckily, I brought the leftover brunch plus some coney dogs bought at the zoo entrance. While waiting for the rain to stop, all the food disappeared quickly. Trust these kids, to have such a big appetite but not put on any weight. I think it all translated into energy, looking how much they jumped and run here and there.

We took the tram around the zoo.MIL did'nt talk much. I think it's because of her knee. We only walked a short distance here and there and took the tram most of the time. We caught the 3pm animal show and have our tea later. All in all, it was a very educational visit for the children. The twins were quite engrossed with the hippos. Baby Ariff was left behind with Bibik at home. I don't want him to catch any animal borne disease as he is barely 6 weeks old.

Well, we will back for sure. When Ariff is big enough to run and catch up with his brother and sisters!

New department, new division, new boss, new cubicle but the same company

I have transferred to a new division hence I have to move to a new cubicle on another floor. Today is my first day here. In this new place, my neighbours will be these two male engineers, one sitting behind me, the other one sitting direct in front of me. I have to put two pieces of cardboard on the glass panel to block his face from my view.

But I miss my old place sorely. I miss all the makciks chit chatting and gossiping. Although I still join them for lunch and be updated through the YM, it is just not the same.

I miss you guys and I will bug you when I get bored up here!

Ariff Ikhwan Anuar

Introducing the latest member in the Anuar Yusof Ali clan. Baby Ariff Ikhwan bin Anuar born around 6pm on 9th October 2006. He tipped the scale at only 2.9kg although mummy weighed around 83kg with him inside the tummy!( see picture of Mummy with the twins, posing before going to the hospital for the c-sec)

Welcome to the World Ariff! Hope the world will be a much better place with you around.