Majlis Tahlil and Yassin

This morning I received shocking news from our friend in Malaysia stating that Professor Dr Jamiliah has passed away. Inna Lilla Hi wain na illai hi ra ji un.. "Sesungguh nya daripada dia lah kamu datang dan dari nya jua lah kamu kembali... " No one knows the destiny of our life and death except Allah the Almighty. Only He who decides and knows what is to happen next to the living creations in this earth.

Professor Dr. Jamiliah was our close friend when we were staying together in Muscat, Oman. She was a very nice and humble person and we always treated her as our eldest sister. She liked to talk and contribute ideas and never failed to continuously give great opinions on whatever issues discussed amongst us. She really liked to eat the Malaysian food whenever there were makan-makan sessions within our community. I can never forget she will giggle happily whenever Haji made jokes upon her.

So, in respect to Arwahyahamah Dr. Jamiliah, last night we all gathered for a tahlil at my house. Everyone participated and offcourse all the housewives never failed to fill the event with wonderful offerings. Hope Kak Prof will be put amongst the good and pious.

Dates ....dates...

Today, I felt quite moody because I have a backache. I intended not to cook since my hubby was not coming back for lunch. Besides, I still have some leftover from last night. I only needed to cook the rice.... dah... no serving business, anybody who wants to eat just do it by themselves.

In the afternoon while I was having my nap my hubby called saying that our Omani friend Mohamad Wahiby invited us to his house to pluck fresh dates. Such a good invitation! Last weekend, we went to one of the nearest mosque with an intention to pluck ripe dates. Unfortunately, could not get any because the trees were very high, furthermore we did not bring any jolok equipments. At last my hubby said susah-susah beli je lah... I guessed he must have had complained about it in the office, therefore dapatlah invitation..

As soon as we reached Mohamad's house he immediately brought us to the backyard. I saw there were 5 rows of date trees of different types, yellow, black, red ones etc. The trees were much shorter thus we managed to pluck it easily and we ate on the spot. Ummmph... yummy... date is one of my favourite fruits! He even cut a few bundles of dates for us to bring home and I was thinking what shall I do with these whole lots of dates...

Home Made Sharwarma

Sharwarma, a middle-east food (pita bread filled up with meat or chicken and french fries) is one of our families' favourite food. I can still remember the first time I came to Oman, when my friends introduced me to this unknown food. I wondered and asked myself "what is sharwama?". After trying it once, I tend to like it.

Whenever the weekend comes my kids will start to nag, asking for this particular food. Yesterday evening, when I wanted to go out to buy my groceries, my daughter Aida asked me to buy Sharwama for her, thus an idea popped in my mind: Why not I try and make my own sharwarma? So this morning, with all the ingredients that I have, I managed to do it step by step. It was indeed a success as my kids kept complimenting it.

The ingredients are pita bread, chicken breast (I used instant shish tawook), french fries and garlic sauce.

To..The Noodle House

If you're feeling tired and hungry, at the Muscat City Center, to find a good place to fill up your croaking tummy, just swivel around towards the east wing, top floor, where a pretty lady standing and waiting for customers can be seen, with a sweet smile plastered on her face.

The Noodle House, which was opened a few months ago, and is operated by the Chinese chains, is a place where spirits gets elevated with their magical potions of asian foods. Once you enter the large hall, the first thing you noticed are the impressive decorations and setting, with chinese motives reflected on the long stools and tables.

Just place an order and upon waiting you can smell the aromas emanate from a few metre away, suggesting that you've walked into the right place.

Leisure day

As usual, during the summer holiday Muscat city is getting terrifically quiet. This is because most of the local citizens are having their vacation to the desired destination whereas the expatriate residents are going to their own respective countries. Last night our dearest sister Oja and her 3 cutest kids finally made their way back to Malaysia thus headed towards the departure hall with full of excitement. Have a safe journey Oja.

Feeling tired of doing the housework , since my kids are still on school holiday and most of my friend members are away so this morning I decided to spend my precious time with them by going to the Muscat City Centre. Apalagi sebut je MCC semua terus bangun.

After having our breakfast at one of the nearest restaurant, Al Hoorty which are specialty in it's Indian food we forwarded ourselves towards the highway thus hurriedly making our journey to the one and the only one biggest shopping mall in Muscat city.
Reaching there around 10.45 a.m and as soon as we stepped into the entrance I can see the "SALE" sign hanging at each of the shopping mall. (Bahaya ni...) I told my kids that this time no shopping but just having our leisure time tapi tak boleh percaya kat dia org ni.. tershopping jugak. After roaming around the mall and having our makan-makan suddenly we realised that time is limited because after this we need to send Aida to the cineplex.

At night we spend our family time again by swimming at the Intercontinental . As usual after swimming everybody started to complain that they are hungry then we ended up at D'Arcy. While enjoying the food we started to plan for our tomorrow activities.

Thank you

Now, it's been 3 days since I've been back in Oman, though it's a bit late, I still would like to take this opportunity say THANK YOU to you my dearest friends for your willingness to come and see my family when we were in KL (for 2 consecutive days!). Also, a personal THANK YOU to Intan for being so kind, bringing us to your new house and sending us to Kak Prof's place.

I can still remember the sight of your happy face holding your two darling kids and rushing towards us. We hugged each other ooh.... my goodness that is the happiest moment ever since you left us. Unfortunately your hubby was not around kalau tak happening lagi lah.

Never forget that even though we are far apart, your family will always be in our hearts and will remain there forever. Hopefully we will meet again some other time ....insyaallah.

To Believe or Not

Last night I received news from my sister saying that my maid suddenly wanted to go back. She said she must go back to Indonesia on that day because her grandma is ill and needs someone to take care of her. She even told my sis that actually her grandma was admitted a week ago while I was still in Miri. I was disappointed that she didn't tell me earlier, otherwise I would've stayed back or at least I have time to look for someone to take care of my mom. Maybe she purposedly waited for me to go back. I was thinking that everything were fine and felt satisfied that I had done a good deed towards my mom, but things unexpectedly turned to be the other way round. 

It was hard to know whether her words were true or not, or if she was just making legitimate excuses so that nobody can stop her from going home (all the maybes started to linger in my mind).  Luckily my hubby managed to call her yesterday and she said that she will come back if her grandma gets well. I just pray that I can hopefully take her word.

Sudden Tragedy

I was sitting alone inside my son room, trying to explore the internet, checking my email, and viewing blogs then suddenly my daugther Aida came in with her shocking face. I was thinking that she just want to make fun and wanted to surprise me. Showing her misterious face and acting as if something goes wrong down there, she told me someone is coming to our house crying and asking for help.

At first I didn't bother about it (because I always knew that she sometimes behaves strangely). Furthermore my hubby and his brother were talking in the living room. But then I feel suspicious because suddenly I heard a havoc sound. Aida, Aina, and I went downstairs and we saw that my hubby was trying to help a young girl to lay on the sofa. I told them what's happening then my sister in-law said that while my nephew was about to enter our house he saw a girl fainted in front of our gate and her boyfriend was trying to carry her.

Seeing them in that situation , my nephew brought them into our house. I panicked and

started to ask what was going on. Apa lagi otak ni pun macam-macam lah fikir. Why, what and how tu semua lah keluar dalam kepala ni. Oh this girl must've ran away from her house or she might've jumped from the window. She told us that she's having her back pain and might be broken . (bertambahlah panic nya aku) Then her mom and the other family came to our house asking for apology but she did not tell us the real reason. She also told us that her daughter had a slipped disc before so they did not dare to carry her because it might injure her. Soon after that the ambulance came.

In my heart I prayed to god hopefully my kids always behave well.

Balik Kampung

Eversince my parents in-law passed away we seldom went back to my hubby's kampung as a family. It was either my hubby alone or us both without our kids. They will give many reasons, tak best lah nenek dah tak ada or sunyi lah tak ada internet macam-macamlah. But this time their father said everybody must go since this is the only time that we are here together. Lepas kena bagi syarahan semua lah pegi dengan muka monyok . hehehe.

The fastest way to go to Marudi is by plane which took us 20 minutes to reach there, but for those who likes adventures they may go by express boat that took 2 hrs. This time we went there by road since my brother in-law is willing to fetch us. Waduh... The road is not as expected and maybe this is the 1st and the last I'm going by land. Not unless "Orang Kerajaan" builds a good road, like the one going to Bintulu.

Marudi is situated on the furthest upriver trading post on the Baram District. Most tourists only stop in Marudi to have a cold drink before catching the next express boat upriver.

Nothing much can be found here except for the Fort House, which was built by the British government during the Rajah's Brooke colony. The fort now is used as an administrative office. Marudi is also famous for it's Baram Regatta which is held annually.

At night we were given a great treat by my sister in-law , barbecue, best nya.

We only managed to stay there for 1 night because the next day we need to send my mom to the hospital for her medical check-up. My husband and sons visited my parents in-law graveyard (unfortunately I could not follow because tak boleh) , so I stayed lepak-lepak kat rumah sister in-law lagi then after lunch we went back by express boat and reached home around 6.00 p.m.

At night everybody are tired and we slept early.