Ramadhan Kali Ini

Organized a small makan2 at home last week sempena menyambut kehadiran Ramadhan chewahhh! With some help from Aida, who came for a visit that weekend, I made nasi ayam, mee bandung, pulut kuning and rendang for the main dish and bought some fruits for dessert. And our guests brought a chocolate cake and cocktail pudding to add to the dessert. All in all, memang malam yang mengenyangkan, Alhamdulillah.

It was my first time making pulut kuning, sangat jakun - usually I let my pulut retains its natural color je which is white hehe. Baru ku tau kuning tu comes from soaking it with air kunyit. As usual, selama ni memang tau makan je, tak pernah amek tau pun how the pulut turns yellow hihi!

(Asked dear SRB to take some pics of the food I made and this is what I got.

Food cover pun tak bukak. Adoi pakcik tu mmg dah hilang mojo amek gambar =p)

This year is gonna be my first Ramadhan as a full-time housewife. So waking up early to prepare sahur should not be a problem at all coz I can ganti tidur kejap di siang hari if I want to hehe. Since it's summer now, Subuh is as early as 4.20AM, so gotta start eating sahur around 3-ish AM pergh! Dahlah selalu tido pun usually close to 1AM, then about 2 hours later nak kena bangun balik huhu! Today, SRB got back a bit late from work and we didn't eat dinner until about 10PM. And in about 5 more hours, nak kena bangun and makan nasi again pehhh!

And oh, dear SRB is going to Iraq tomorrow (#@$%&!), so I'm gonna go through my first week of puasa here all alone. You hear that dear - ALL ALONE. Kasi dramatik sikit di situ =p. Of course I'm sad, but am not gonna dwell on it too much coz by now I'm already used to him not being around during certain important occasions, e.g. my birthday thehehe, and I have accepted that it's one of the sacrifices I have to make in this new life. Oh yeahhh, I'm a big girl now bebeh, very mature hahah!

So anyway, Selamat Berpuasa everyone dan semoga Ramadhan kali ini membawa lebih keberkatan, Insya Allah, Amiiiinnn...

Around Town

So apparently there was a 5.2-magnitude earthquake in Marmara Sea last 2 days which caused some mild tremors in certain parts of Istanbul. I was reading on a sofa by the window in our hotel room when it happened - dear SRB went out for dinner with his colleagues. Felt the floor shook a bit for a few minutes but thought it was just the building's normal vibration, macam selalu rasa kat Suria KLCC tu, so I wasn't really worried about it. The next day, dear SRB told me about the earthquake and I thought, damnnn, wasn't it a bit dangerous to sit right by the window during an earthquake? Nasib baik gua tak tau that itu adalah gempa bumi masa tu, if not, adalah agak cuak di situ dude, urksss!

Dear SRB took my precious camera with him to his group dinner last night and came back without it. At first I thought he was joking and was waiting for him to say "Acah jeee!" like he always does. But when I realized he was serious, he actually left it somewhere, at the restaurant, in the taxi, he's not sure, I actually meraung satu bilik hotel hahah! A bit childish I know, but I love my camera and the thought of someone else (the one who bought it for me plak tu) hilangkan dia made me very sad. While pakcik tu panik, walking back and forth tak tentu arah, trying to find the restaurant's phone number etc, I sat quietly on the bed, contemplating whether to merajuk, marah or menangis - hahah drama kan? Turned out he left the camera at the restaurant and went there to get it back. Nasib baik jumpa balik, if not, D90 satu, no question asked okay, dear?

I went to Sultanahmet (where the main historical monuments, the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, etc are located) via tram yesterday to see how the place looked like in the summer. It definitely had a different look - more greenery, more people, more skin ahah!

Look at the queue to enter Hagia Sophia in the summer - ngaaa memang give up beb! During winter aritu I think the longest was just 1/4 of that je kot.

Hagia Sophia was the only place that I wanted to visit again in this trip but unfortunately, I didn't have enough patience to queue that long, so instead I just walked around, snapped some pictures and did some people-watching (a lot of Chinese tourists this time around) while dehydrating myself on a bench, sambil bermandi peluh and membakar kulit huhu.

Adehhh, memang tak sempat nak putih again before balik Msia if camni =p

Istanbul 2.0

Blue Mosque in Winter vs. Blue Mosque in Summer

I bet it's gonna be even more gorgeous when the leaves turn yellow/orange in Fall.

Oldest Friends

"A good friend is cheaper than therapy."

We miss you, Fatma!

On Repeat

...until I'm ready to come out of my cave.

Not Guilty, Your Honor

For the past few months, I've been diligently following the trial of Casey Anthony, who has recently been acquitted in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony. The trial has been filled with tears, lies, twists and shocking revelations that it's been said to be America's summer obsession this year. It's wayyy scandalous than reality TV shows that even reality TV stars like the Kardashians were hooked to it hehe.

Many people were 'sick to their stomachs' by the 'Not Guilty' verdict - some blamed the prosecution team for failing to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, while some blamed the jurors/system for letting people in the country get away with murder. If Casey were found guilty, she would have faced the toughest sentence in American Law: death by lethal injection - perghhhh tu memang lagi drama beb! Suddenly teringat plak the horrifying electric chair scene in The Green Mile movie huhu.

So, do I believe she's guilty? Well, as a Google-based trial watcher, my answer would be a big fat gigantic YESSSS! I definitely think, without a doubt, that she did it. Whether it was accidental or pre-meditated, we will never know, but the bottom line is, she killed her daughter. If she didn't do it, why wait for 31 days before reporting Caylee missing? If she has nothing to hide, what's up with all these elaborate lies about the non-existence nanny, the rich boyfriend in New York and the job at Universal Studio? Psycho-ness okayyy. I agree 200% with the prosecutor, no one else benefited from Caylee's death except Casey, the party-loving mother. And now that she's been found not guilty, she'll be free to live the partying, fun-filled life that she always wanted. Argghhh marah lah niii!

However, in America, everyone is supposedly innocent until proven guilty. And unfortunately, in this case, the evidence presented in court was just not enough to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that Casey killed her daughter. There were just too many questions left unanswered, especially the most important one - how did Caylee die? There were no witnesses, no cause of death (it couldn't be determined coz the body was too badly decomposed when found), no DNA or fingerprints of Casey found anywhere near Caylee's dead body, so couldn't 100% link her to the child's death booo! Maybe if the body was found earlier, they could get some traces of DNA, but oh well, I think it's lucky that it's been found at all.

So based on that, I think the jurors did the right thing with the 'Not Guilty' verdict - it doesn't necessarily means that they think she's innocent, it's just that there's not enough proof to convict her. Dahlah nak kasi death penalty, lagilah kena ada hard evidence to support the charges kan. I am truly disappointed with the verdict of course, but I realized that it's a fair decision, made based on everything presented in court rather than personal feelings or emotions. If ikut perasaan, pehhh kalau boleh the next day kasi teros inject sampai mati kot huhu!

Some experts say that the popular TV show CSI may have influenced how jurors think in recent years, "giving them a false impression that every case has the same clear-cut forensic evidence featured in that fictional series. Jurors have now gotten less likely to convict because they are under the false impression that every case is going to have some sort of forensic smoking gun."

Hahah funny but I think very true at some point. In CSI, selalu macam ada je dia jumpe setitik darah or serpihan tulang whatsoever among percikan minyak or serpihan batu or kaca and I have always wondered - is it that easy to detect in real life? Tipuuuuu~

P/S: I just read this from People.com - Apparently, in a letter she wrote to an inmate while in jail awaiting trial, she said she dreamed of having another baby once she's out, she wanted to get pregnant again or adopt. What the BLOODY FFFF???!! Who in their right mind would let her near a child after this? She's crazy and delusional!!!

Curiosity Killed the Cat

** Spoiler alert for those of you who haven't seen Paranormal Activity and plan to watch it someday (I'd very much advise against it though) **

First and foremost, let me tell you that I am NOT a horror movie fan, not ever. But I heard about Paranormal Activity being the scariest, most haunting horror film ever made in recent years that some viewers even walked out in the middle of screening because it scared the hell out of them and they just couldn't continue watching. Definitely not the kind of movie for a penakut like me laa kan.

But this movie has been on repeat for a few months on our cable channels that I became increasingly curious - "Apa yang takot sangat pasal movie ni? Rupa hantu dia ke? Or tak nampak pun hantu dia?" As far as I know, hantu Indon ialah hantu yang paling menakutkan sekali di dunia, so I don't think an American ghost could be THAT scary.

So I made a "brilliant" decision one night to watch Paranormal Activity from the beginning till the end, but not before reading the detailed plot from Wiki so I could anticipate the 'sakit jantung' moments hehe. Yeah I know, memang kinda ruin the feel, but that's the only way I'd be able to make it through a scary movie, so sukati aa kan.

It turned out, BLARDYHELL citer ni memang takot nak mamposss!!! They say, curiosity killed the cat. Well, I say curiosity gave me nightmares huwaaarrgghhh!!! There was no gory, scary-looking ghost or anything like that in the movie, just some shadows lurking here and there je. But the things done by the possessed Katie tu yang extremely disturbing and haunting, especially when she stood by the bed, doing nothing except staring at his sleeping boyfriend in the middle of the night, for several hours - OMG horror! I slept with the lights and iPod on coz I kept imagining someone standing by the bed watching me sleep urrkksss!

And to make it worse, I watched the movie a night before dear SRB left for Iraq, leaving me all alone at home - memang sangat "bijak" kan? Yup, ternyata saya sangatlah "bijak". Luckily he's making just a short 3-day/2-night trip this time so he'll be home tonight, thank God.

But now I am really curious about Paranormal Activity 2 pulak. So how? Hihihihi =p

Anniversary Getaway: JBH + Wild Wadi

I was too lazy to plan for any overseas getaway for our wedding anniversary recently, so suggested going for a 'Cuti-cuti Dubai' instead. And since my idea of a perfect vacation always includes a beach and water-related activities, we decided to book a 2-night weekend stay at the wave-shaped Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which offers private beach access and most importantly, FREE access to the neighboring Wild Wadi Water Park, oh yeahhh~

Upon checking in, the hotel receptionist asked whether we're there to celebrate any special occasion; weddings, birthdays, graduations (do we look like we just graduated from college or something?), etc, so we told her yes, we're celebrating our wedding anniversary and she kindly upgraded our room to the one with a balcony yeay! But to be honest, I believed she would've given the upgrade even if we're not celebrating anything coz it's not really a peak season, hence, they had a lot of room-with-balcony available, so they used it as an opportunity to make hotel guests feel great - by giving them upgrades/free stuff hehe. Well, whatever the reason, we appreciated the nice gesture since the view from our balcony was just fantastic!

The hotel's private beach was right in front of the 5-star Burj Al Arab Hotel - kalau swim dari tepi pantai memang boleh sampai lah Burj Al Arab tu. And it made me realized, semahal2 Burj Al Arab tu, dia takde private beach on the island itself, instead you have to cross the bridge to get to the beach, tak best ahh. Should reduce 1 star di situ hehe.

The Wild Wadi Water Park right beside the hotel was smaller than Atlantis' Aquaventure Water Park, but the rides were much more awesome than those in Aquaventure. Unlike in Aquaventure, Wild Wadi didn't have water escalators to take you up, instead, they used something like water-boosters to push you and your tube up the slides. Kinda fun coz they made the rides seemed longer tapi adehhh, sakit bontot weh!

Dear SRB got stuck halfway once, somehow the water-booster didn't manage to push him up the slide and they had to stop the water flow and start it up all over again while the rest of us waited and wondered, "OMG am I heavier than that guy who's stuck? Will I be able to make it through?" ahaha! Well, I think it was a technical glitch sikit kot, coz ramai je orang lain yg lagi bapak besar compared to SRB and they berjaya je naik hehe.

Besides a variety of slides, another awesome-factor of Wild Wadi was their surfing simulators called Flowriders, one for beginners, one for those with a bit of experience. SRB tried the one for beginners, after queuing for almost 2 hours and ended up with some bruises. I guess surfing on artificial waves was not much easier than surfing on real waves.

And oh, this time we did try the tallest free-fall slide in the water park. Setelah survey2 and kaji2 sikit, we decided that it's less scary than Aquaventure's Leap of Faith since dia banyak lengkung2 so it's not really a vertical drop, hence do-able sikit laa. Agak lemah lutut while climbing up the tower (ada org tu dah nak patah balik turun pun hihi) but in the end, it was not so bad. NOT gonna try it again though hahaks!

So peeps, if you come to Dubai and want to cool yourself down to beat the brutal Middle-East summer heat, I'd recommend going to Wild Wadi Water Park instead of Aquaventure. (Free advertising sedikit di situ hehe).

Silly at the Grocery

*** I heart you with a potato ***

*** I heart you with the tomatoes ***

Okay readers, you can go puke now. Thehehehehee...