FaTiNi UnD KaTzE...

Ok, this is how they like spending their days, sit on my lap, watching TV together, playing together... which means, I can't do anything else, but just spend all the times I have with them..

Anyway, the weather was great, so I decided to go to a nearby shop, and Fatini was soooo happy and excited! Look at her and her pink skirt.

I rarely go out on weekdays, I usually wait till weekend to do so and my Hubby would take care of the kids, so I culd go out alone or just with Fatini. But today, I had to, there's nothing left in the freezer and plus the weather was too great, sunny, warm, rugi kalau x keluar.

This was on our way home, I was trying to capture a nice photo, but suddenly Fatini refused to look at the camera which was so unlike her.. I didn't bother to find out why... but when I started walking again, she suddenly exclaimed,

"Mama!! ape tu??!!"

I looked at the direction she was pointing.... from afar, I saw something furry running along the road.. so I said indifferently,

"Dog la.."

"Bukan mama!! Look!"

So I looked again, closely now... owwwhhh... guess what it was....?

A cat!!

Or Katze in Deutsch.

She doesn't know a cat??

This is the cat!! And believe it or not, this is the first cat we've ever seen since we reached Deutschland!! First ever!! Like I've said before, neither stray cats nor dogs were found loitering around. But, we've seen lots of people took their dogs for a walk, everywhere we went.. but cats? Never...

Cats were kept at home I believe. And because of that, my daughter here has no idea what a cat is... hehe.. So, this one, appeared out of nowhere, who's the owner I have no idea..

And I am a huge fan of cats, so I sort of 'beramah mesra' with it, and I noticed that she's a female cat. After 'beramah mesra' she followed us and I had to shoo her away coz Fatini got scared all of a sudden and started screaming.. too bad.. pity the cat, she seemed a bit hurt when I shooooed her away...

When we reached home, Fatini had done something I didn't expect, she had gone to her room and hanged her jacket herself! This is an improvement. She's never done this before! Usually, I had to remind her over and over again. Two thumbs up for her!!!

NaSik BiRyANi la PuLak...

Skali lagi mencuba recipe dari blog Nieza, Nasik biryani kambing.. Nieza buat cantik kuning, saya buat tak tau la nape x mo jadi kuning hehe.. tapi jadi la, rasenye sedap..

For the complementary dish, I'd prepared kerabu mangga and kurma ayam.. oh sungguh lengkap!! Anyone nak cuba, bole check out Nieza's blog ok..

Not bad huh? For first timer..

NoThiNg In CoMmOn...?

"We have nothing in common.."

This is the typical answer when asked why their relationship never worked out, or why they've ended up divorced. Typical typical, other than 'we were never meant to be together'..

Is this thing about having something or many things in common truly important??

To be honest, I used to think the same way, but now no more. I have come to realized that 'Having lots of things in common' does not guarantee happiness. Let me tell you my story...

Me and Hubby have almost nothing in common, seriously, almost nothing!!

I love musics, playing piano is my passion, guitar or any kind of musical instruments, and he loves them not haha..

I love horror and romantic movies, he loves action movies..

He has such passions for world issues, talk shows, and he could sit for hours in front of the TV listening to the news and I have no interest in them.. hehe

He loves all the scholastic reading materials, I only read novels.. haha

I have passions for food, new recipes, cakes, but he never cares bout how they taste like, he just eats them as long as they were edible.

I'm crazy bout coffee, and he loves them not..

I prefer to stay at home but he loves travelling, go out and see the world!

He loves all kinds of sports, I on the other hand prefer to be the spectator hehe..

He goes out to town only when we have things to buy, but I love window shopping haha!

He has positive attitude towards anything and always was so sure of what he wanna become, whereas I always find things difficult to deal with and still uncertain of what I wanna become..

There are many many more, in short, whenever I listen to this song by Juliana Barnos, I will think of us, as if this song tells a story bout us;

"Ku ke kiri, kau ke kanan,

ku di belakang, kau di hadapan,

Bila ku marah, kau ketawa,

Dengan selamba, kau berkata,

Kita berdua jauh berbeza, Langit dan bumi tapi serasi,

Mencintaimu, mencintaiku,

Itu saja yang perlu kau dan ku tahu..."

I was aware of this facts long time ago even before we were married and I used to wonder,

'Could we ever make it? We have almost nothing in common..'

and now, after living together for more than 7 years, I've come to realized the absurdity of that 'we have nothing in common' statement. And if given a chance that I could somehow go back in time, I would still marry no other but him. Even though we have nothing in common, we've learnt to respect each other's interest, and learned to love them too..

Then again, hubby has what it takes to be a good husband and father.. he's a very responsible man, fulfilling our needs in every single aspects, love us, care for us, he's the family man...

he changed diapers for the kids, bathed them when they were only a few days old, stayed up all night with them when they were sick, and I know there are lots of  other men out there that do the same thing but there are also many others that don't, and I'm thankful for he is in the first category.. and most importantly, he'd never asked me to be anything or anyone else but ME.... To hubby, insyaAllah you are the only LOVE of my life...

NaSik GoReNG USA!

Teringin sangat nak makan nasik goreng USA, was craving for it, teringat Restoran Ayuthaya kat Kuantan, nasik goreng USA nye memang sedap. Salu teringat. Memang my favorite dish masa kat Kuantan duu... found the recipe on Nieza's blog (Our Journey Begins).

Sape2 yg nak try bole la check it out kat Nieza's blog ye.

Memang sedap, though I didn't have all the ingredients, like green capsicum and carrot, but still was delicious!

Next time nak wat lagi yg complete version nye hehe.. Thank you Nieza for the recipe, memang marvelous!

Next try, nasik biryani Nieza plak :)

HaNgInG OuT..

Last Saturday's activity, other than 'main game', was hanging out with Hubby's friend. This guy's name is Nureddin, I'm not sure if I spell this correctly hehe, but he is one of hubby's closest friend here, he's from Turkey but been living in Deutschland for a long time and he just got married a few months ago. That's his wife, Humaira, a very nice and friendly lady..

Nureddin is able to speak three languages perfectly and fluently, English (with American accent lagi tau!), Deutsch and of course Turkish. Can you believe it? I found that utterly amazing..

ok, anyway, Nurredin had helped us a lot on our 1st few days here. He was the one who lent us a temporary stove before our kitchen equipments were installed, and also provide us with mattresses and also took hubby to the Supermarket with his car and helped him identify 'halal' foods.

And all this he's the one yang belanja... and hubby said, he's always like that, always want to be the one who spends for others.. Very generous of him, may Allah bless him and grant him with more...

We had a great time, Thank you so much to both of them.. may both of them live happily ever after.. macam fairytale la plak haha..

WeEkeND's AcTiViTy...

Activity di setiap hujung minggu... khusyuk btol kan...

Abaikan la rumah yg bersepah ni, kemas kemas pas 2 saat bersepah balik hehe.. nak vacum pun salu trgendala coz ade budak kecik yg akan menangis sekuat hati bile vacum di 'on' kan. Kena tunggu papa ada br senang nat wat ape2 keje.. nak wat camne kan, dari tiga anak, yg ni lah paling clingy. mama x bole jauh dr die.. kdg2 x dok atas riba pun, tp tangan tu msti satu letak kat riba mama nak make sure mama x pegi mana2 huhu...

Tido pun atas riba, kalau nasib baik, letak atas tilam die x jaga, tp kalau nasib x baik and memang salunye x baik, die akan jaga and mula la nangis.. huhu.. Kena la dodoi2 lg atas riba sampai tertido balik.. ngade2 btol nih..

Today papa is not around, gi Universiti, jadi budak brdua ni je main game, mama join kejap tadi, tp sbb clingy baby ni bising sgt, mama trpaksa berenti. Kalau papa ade, papa join skali, bertiga diorang akan main game bersama, camtu lah tiap2 wekend..

Tengok la minah yg pantang nmpak camera tuh..

Yang ni plak mmg khusyuk.. Sangat suka dgn game nih, a few days ago die merayu kat mama,

"Oh bitte mama (dat means, oh please mama), bagi la Afeef jumpe Aunty tie skali je, afeef nak sangat tunjuk game ni kat Aunty tie, nak sangat main game ni dengan Aunty Tie! bitte mama bitte!"

mmmm... Aunty tie, kalau baca ni, dtg la Germany cepat ye.. ade budak ni dah rindu sangat...

Masa kat Malaysia dulu pun, Afeef mmg rapat sgt ngan Aunty tie nih, ape2 je msti nak tunjuk kat Aunty tie. Hopefully bole terus rapat wlupun jauh.. Jauh di mata, dekat di hati kan..

Ni la die game Mario Bross yg mnjadi kegilaan bdk2 nih, juga orang2 tua dlm rumah ni hehe. Maybe kena beli lg satu remote, biar berempat bole main kikiki..

JuST ThE WaY ShE iS...

I always believe that psychological approach wuld always work for all children and I've been using that method in educating and bringing up my children for the past 6 years and it has always worked for Afeef... unfortunately, it is not as easy for Fatini as it was with Afeef ***sigh*** well, I guess Fatini is too special??? hehe..

She loves to snatch away watever Aleena's playing with, usually I wuld persuade her to return it back to Aleena, but she rarely listens.. aiyooo.. and always has something to say... like today, as Aleena was happily playing with her princess necklace, Fatini came to her and snatched it away;

"Ni Fatini punye rantai!"

Aleena started crying, so I said to her, "Fatini x baik ambik adik tengah main, sian die, Fatini baik kaaaannn??"

She just stood quietly, shaking her head..

I said again, "Fatini suke x kalau Fatini tgh main toys, tibe2 ade orang ambik toys tu?"

She looks thoughtful for a moment, then said,

" Sape ambik toys Fatini?"

Ok, now who should I say?? Afeef never snatch anything away from her, in fact, he would give in to her in anything! Even if he was playing with something and suddenly Fatini wants it, he would give it to her, sometimes without complaining!

So I said, "Kalau tibe2 mama ambik toys Fatini tu, Fatini suke x??"

Grinning she said " Ye suke.." hahahahhh

Ye la tu, she knew I wuld never snatch anything away from her!!

Anyway, she culdn't help herself sometimes, especially when it comes to her princess's stuffs.. but many times also, I noticed how she strokes Aleena's hair and back and hugs her when she was crying and I was in the middle of something couldn't come to her immediately for comfort. And Fatini was there to offer her one. There were times also, when she could restrain the urge to snatch away watever Aleena was playing with, and get something else from the toy box and offer it to Aleena for exchange. Hahaha smart kan? and sweet too..

Watever it is, no matter how notty she may gets sometimes, I always make sure that I hug and kiss her as much as I do for Aleena everyday.....

Ambik gambar Aleena ngan crown ni pun kena cepat2, sebelom Fatini nmpak Aleena pakai crown die hahah.

A WoNDeRFuLL StORy...

As I was browsing, I came across this wonderful story bout friendship, just wanna share it with everyone who reads my blog...

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

The message it was trying to convey was quite obvious, bout how we should forgive and forget one's mistake and also try to appreciate more on the good deeds rather than brooding over one's mistake. Frankly, I'm not sure if this kind of situation really happens in real life, in between friends in particular, but I'm sure it does happen between a mother and her child and definitely between Allah SWT and us, human. A mother will always forgives her child wholeheartedly no matter what. Allah SWT is definitely forgiving.. even when we av been a bit prejudice toward HIM and let ourselves got carried away with all the business in life, He'd still grant us with all the wonderful things in life, still forgives us for all our mistakes. Nevertheless, it is truly wonderful if we can forgive everyone the way Allah forgives us and the way a mother forgives her child...

"Bersegeralah beramal untuk mendapatkan keampunan dari Tuhan mu, dan meraih syurga seluas langit dan bumi yang disediakan bagi mereka yg bertakwa, IAITU mereka yg selalu menafkahkan harta, pada saat senang atau susah, dan yg SELALU MENAHAN KEMARAHAN DAN MEMAAFKAN KESALAHAN ORANG LAIN..." Surah Ali-Imran, ayat 133-134.

Dah jelas kan? Layakkah kite untuk meraih syurga Allah??

DeUTsCH CLaSS AgAiN...

2nd week in 2nd module of Deutsch class, this time, different teacher, waaaayyy boring from the 1st one. I kinda miss Nino, my previous teacher, who's got a melodic voice and laughter also a great way of delivering a lecture. However, the class is quite lively for the great people in it, including me hehehehe..

hehe.. ambik2 gambar ni cam x fokus je ek?

That's Nadia, we were in the same class before, Nadia speaks neither English nor Deutsch... so just imagine how struggle I was to speak to her in Deutsch.. ngeh ngeh

That's Alan and his wife Cynthia. Alan used to live in Malaysia for 4 years hahaha!! I dun know why I always meet someone who's somehow related to Malaysia. I mean, here in Deutschland alone, I've so far met 3 people who had once lived in M'sia! I wrote about this before;

"Ther's no such thing as a coincidence??"

I was in a hurry and couldn't dig up more stories bout them, maybe next time I'll learn more bout them. Maybe more surprises for me!! He mentioned something bout working with Malaysian Airlines, maybe he knows my brother who used to work with MAS also.

That guy with the red striped shirt, he's the Plastic Surgeon. mmm.. The rest were mostly teachers. This time around, the class consists of mostly American. At one time, I felt like as if I was in America hehe..

RoAsTEd CHicKeN WiTh PoTaTo SaLaD..

Yesterday's Lunch, Roasted chicken with gravy and potato salad. The highlight for this menu is the potato salad, recipe was obtained from The German Cook book. I'm sure everybody knows how to make roasted chicken with gravy, so I don't have to elaborate more on that.

What we need, is a variation for the complementary meal.

I think, for those who love potatoes will definitely love this recipe too.

Super einfach! (very simple). All you need:

Onion, potatoes, a lil bit minced meat, salt, white pepper, lemon juice and sugar. Amount needed, ikut suke hati :)

Method:

- Wash the potatoes without peeling the skins, put in a sauce pan and add water just enough to cover all potatoes.

- Bring to boil, then lower down the heat and cover the pan and allow to cook for 25 minutes.

- In the mean time, prepare the sos. Dice the onion and fry the minced meat.

- Once the meat has cooked, remove from the pan, and fry onion in the same oil used to fry the meat.

- When the diced onions has turned brown, add in water and bring to boil. Stir in the minced meat, and allow to cook for a wyle. Add in salt, sugar, lemon juice, and a lil bit of white pepper.

- Drain the potato and rinse with cold water.

- Peel the skin while the potatoes are still hot.

- Then cut the potatoes to pieces and arrange in a heat resistant dish.

- Pour in the sos on top of the potatoes, bake for 15 minutes at bout 180 degree.

Done!

A vEry SpEciAL BoY..

I think I'm truly blessed... if Fatini often gives me a hard time, then Afeef on the other hand always touches my heart and always make me feel genuinely loved..

The other day, I culdn't remember how I got my hands all yellow, and even after I washed them several times, still the color remained. Afeef got all anxious bout it and thought that I got some sort of a disease.

It was past his bedtime at the time, so I asked him to go to bed, stop worrying bout me, and I assured him that the yellow color was just a color and it wuld eventually disappear.

But, when I checked on him a few minutes later, he was still awake with this worried look on his face. So I asked him,

"Nape x tido lagi?"

"Kalau mama sakit, Afeef harapkan Afeef sakit macam mama jugak.."

Ayat sebijik camni ok, I culdn't help but feeling amused, dah la ayat power, pastu worry bout unnecessary stuffs haha! But still, I knew what he's getting at, I was kinda feeling touched already..

So I asked again, "Ye ke... nape cakap camtu?"

Then he said wholeheartedly,

"Sebab Afeef saaayang sangat mama, biar la Afeef pun sakit jugak.."

Owwwwhhh... so sweet of him..

When he was 4 years old, he had once refused to finish his meal, he said he was full, and then without realizing it, I had somehow made a sad face..

He quickly asked,

"Nape muka mama camtu?"

"mmm, mama sedih la, makanan x abis, membazir je.."

Then suddenly, he said.. "Mama, tiba2 Afeef rasa lapar, afeef nak makan lagi.."

I looked at him in surprise, and culdn't help smiling, and my face must av lighten up!

But, as he was chewing, suddenly he looks like as if he was going to gag.

"Afeef nak muntah ke? Nape?" I asked.

He nod his head with this sad look on his face... I quickly guessed,

"Afeef x lapar pun kan?? Nape makan jugak? mama x marah pun klu x abis.."

"Tapi mama buat muka camtu.."

"Muka cammana?" I asked.

"Muka sedih.. Afeef x nak mama sedih..."

Adoi, he was only 4 years old, and already he was so concern bout me being sad.. I culdn't even remember myself worrying bout my mother at such age!

Even if it's common for all children to behave like this, I still think my boy is very very special in his very own way... :)

Books, books, books...

Last Saturday we made a trip to a nearby bookstore called Thalia, actually I just wanted to look for a Deutsch course book, since the 2nd module for Deutsch course had started last week.

This is us getting ready to go..

Ambik gambar dulu kikiki..

The bookstore remind me so much of Kinokuniya in KLCC, it has this sitting area where people could spend their time reading, I loved it instantly.. very comfortable and cozy.

mmmmm.. looks like the she's delivering a speech or something...

The best thing was, there was quite a selections of English books available, not much but at least these much by Sophie Kinsella were available.. Most of them I've read, but there were other books too by other Author. I wouldn't have shipped any story books here if only I had discovered this before.

This is what I'm reading now..

Ok, guess what? that was not the whole story yet, there were only few choices of english books available because German's people, they don't really read english books, maybe some of them do, but the majority still look for books in Deutsch language, so, all the English books were translated to Deutsch!! Can you believe it?? I hardly believed it myself...

Look, this is the famous novel kan?? I'm not a big fan of this, but I know it was famous. This is the translated version.

And also almost all books by Sophie Kinsella in Deutsch version were available..

Check this out, 'Mini Shopaholic'... I guess books by her were always a hit anywhere, thats why they were displayed here at the most wanted section.

This one, I'm not sure which one, the title is something like "I'll tell no more, Darling", is there any book by Sophie Kinsella with that kind of title? I've never seen anything like it.. the closest possible could be "Can you keep a secret?"

This, I'm sure everybody knows, Khaled Hosseini only wrote two books so far, if I'm not mistaken. This is the Deutsch version of "A Thousands Splendid Suns".

And also, my favorite "The Kite Runner" also by Khaled Hosseini.. this book has touched my heart deeply.. not only for the wonderful story itself but the realization of the hardships those Afghanis had gone through...

Haaaaaa.. there were several books available by Nicholas Sparks, Deutsch version of course. He wrote the famous "Message in the bottle", for those who love "jiwang karat" version, books by him are highly recommended.

I guess, it's an opportunity for me to learn Deutsch better, if I could only finish one of these novels, since I've read the english version, I might not totally be at a loss.. hehe

we'll see...

Ehehe.. This is "The Kite Runner" on the inside, hehehe bole faham ke? I could only picked up some, here and there.. hehe... Ntah ler...