The Sky Is Everywhere

"It's the easiest thing to be lost if you don't want to be found."

Young Adult books are kinda lame with all their "Oh my god! I was, like,...and then he was, like,..." dialogues. But right now, I'm kinda, like, loving them =p! 

Open 24 Hours

Starting today until 2nd Nov, the Dubai Mall will be opened for 24 hours straight during weekends. This includes Dubai Aquarium & underwater zoo, Kidzania, Sega Republic (an indoor theme park), the cinemas and the ice skating rink. (If adalaa parents yg bawak anak dia gi Kidzania at 3-4 in the morning, pehhh tak taulaa den nak cakap apo.) 

Personally I think it's a little extreme, kot yea pun nak increase tourism kan, but oh well, this country is known for doing 'extreme' stuff - tallest building, palm tree-shaped islands, ski resort in a mall, white water rafting in the middle of the dessert - so I shouldn't be surprised anymore. 

But just for the heck of it, maybe I should go & check out the mall at 3-4 in the morning nanti hehe.

Keluarga Iskandar

Dear SRB and I are currently totally hooked on 'Keluarga Iskandar'. Back in Msia last month, I was a bit reluctant to watch it at first coz I didn't like the obvious fact that they tiru Modern Family's mockumentary style of shooting. 

But on my last night at home, there was really nothing good on TV and I was forced to choose between some lame, trying-too-hard-to-be-funny game show featuring Raja Lawak's rejects and an episode of this Modern-Family-wannabe 'Keluarga Iskandar' series. I chose the latter coz I just couldn't bear watching all those Raja Lawak people endlessly trying to prove how they can be funny at any given situation. 

Managed to watch it till the end (Zain Ruffedge was in it - didn't know that he could act!) and you know what? It's actually a pretty good show! Agak kelakar with sempoi and true-to-life dialogues which made it soo relatable. 

The usage of 'The Silent Treatment/Layanan Senyap' after an argument - relatable. 

Lines like "Alaaa nanti last2 memang semua kena ikut cara mak jugak." - very relatable. 

"Yelah, takpelah. Biarlah mak mati sorang2..." - ohh so veryyy relatable kehkehkeh!

Phil's-osophy

Dance until your feet hurt.

Sing until your lungs hurt.

Act until you're William Hurt.

He's just...HILARIOUS! LOL!

The Psychopath Test

"Maybe it was the trying so hard to be normal that was making everyone so afraid they were going crazy."

Whoaaa...dark & deep, huh? Thought this book was gonna cheer me up during my lonely flight back to Dubai (the intro was witty enough and when I flipped through the pages I saw a chapter on Scientology. Psychopathology and Scientology? I was intrigued hehe), but turned out I was wrong hahah! Next time, go with chick lit Rina - you will never go wrong with chick lit =p. 

But it's quite an interesting book - kinda reminds me of all those psychology classes I took in college. And it will teach you how to spot psychopaths around you or maybe evaluate yourself hoho! But don't worry, "if you're beginning to feel worried that you may be a psychopath, if you recognize some of the traits in yourself, if you're feeling a creeping anxiety about it, that means you are not one." Coz if you are one, you won't be having all these feelings at all jeng jeng jeng hehe.

I Hate Goodbyes

Said too many goodbyes for the past days - to our home, family, friends in Msia and friends in Dubai who are leaving for good pulak. Personally, I think this is what sucks the most about living abroad. You're happy & excited to live this carefree life abroad but at the same time your heart breaks when you have to leave and say goodbye to your loved ones back home. As I said many times before, you win some, you lose some.   

These mixed emotions will usually leave you feeling confused and moody and overwhelmed - all in all, not a good feeling lah. And it usually takes about a month or so for me to sort of 'stabilize' my emotions back after balik from Msia. But oh well, as The Beatles said, Oh bladi oh blada, life goes on braaa, Laa laa how the life goes onnn...

I'm beyond happy to be reunited with dear SRB after almost 3 weeks apart but I'm also beyond sad to leave this cheeky little darling after spending 1 month constantly playing with her...

But on another cheery note, it's now time to catch up with all the new fall series yeayyy! HIMYM, The Big Bang gang, the Modern Family, hope you guys don't disappoint this season!

Teman Pengganti

This song is just soo heartbreaking, it makes me literally want to cry in the car whenever I hear it on Hot.FM or Era. Maybe because I imagine all those rumors about Malique's poor state of health (some said he's now very thin sebab kena buatan orang, some said brain cancer ngeeee) are actually true and this is his way of confirming them and saying goodbye, like, for good isk isk isk! 

Bilik dah ku kemas, katil dah ku rapi

Cincin, kunci, dompet dalam laci

Ada sikit wang, itu saja baki

Moga-moga cukup untuk majlis itu nanti

What more can I say except...HUWAAAAAA!!!

In-house Param

Achievement so far 

Yeah, I know, I know...most of them are of the goreng2 kind - not so healthy. But these are the easiest and most-likely-to-menjadi ones thehehe. That's why I made them first. In a way, it motivates and gives me courage to try making the other more complicated kuih tradisional. Sort of like, if I can do this, certainly I can do THAT. Know what I mean? 

So after this, perhaps it's time for me to attempt to make kuih yg manis2 plak. But most of my favorite kuih manis kena buat guna steamer - ngaaaa...high chances for the kuih to turn out lembiks di situ tidaakk! I'm also having a hard time finding daun pandan here in Dubai. So, that kinda limits my options for recipes that I can try coz apparently, like coconut milk, pandan juice is an essential ingredient in almost all kuih melayu.

Oh well, wish me luck! 

P/S: I did manage to buat murtabak, but murtabak segeralaa hehe. Coz kulit buat pakai the frozen kulit popia. Who knew we can make murtabak using that?! *Jakuunn*

Ramadhan 2012

The holy month of Ramadhan starts tomorrow (Friday) here in Dubai. Nasib baik dah buat groceries today, so I am all stocked up and fully prepared to do some creative cooking for berbuka for at least a week. My goal this year is to learn to make at least 1 kuih tradisional every other day (nak buat everyday macam ambitious sangat laa pulak kan hehe). Kuih apa nak buat  tu belum research lagilah hehe, but if by end of this year's Ramadhan I managed to successfully buat murtabak from scratch, that'd be AWESOME! 

Subuh is around 4AM this year so gotta get up by 3AM the latest to prepare sahur meals. Usually I'd cook nasi and lauk before I go to sleep and then just reheat everything before sahur, so by waking up at 3AM, memang sempatlah sepatutnya utk makan dgn tenang and tak terkejar2 before habis waktu. And as per every year, my hope and goal this year is, again, not to miss sahur. Didn't manage to do that last year, so this time around I'll try harder not to ignore my alarm clock.

There are also some other goals but I want to keep those private - nanti niat dah salahlah pulak kan if semua benda nak publish heh. Nevertheless, let us all pray that Allah grants us ease & patience to perform more ibadah and may Allah accept all our ibadah & good deeds in this blessed month of Ramadhan, Insya Allah Amiinnn...

Ramadhan Mubarak everyone!

Serenade

Just posted pics of our recent trip to Venice in FB. So now tgh jiwang, reminiscing about the good times we had strolling along the long, narrow streets (sampai sesat tak jumpe jalan pulang while kaki dah rase nak tercabut), eating pizza or pasta almost 3 times a day (deliciousss but arghh gemoks!) and of course the best of all - the romantic gondola ride on the small canals of Venice. I want to live in Venice just for the gondola rides!

Anyway, here's a video of a gondola ride with serenade (which we did not take because no.1 it's crazy expensive and no.2 we prefer the slow and quiet ride - I think it's more romantic that way). I found both the song and singer very cute heheh!