Home is where the heart is..

Where is my heart? Has my heart been split into two?

I was at a birthday party today. Sean's 5th birthday. Kawan Aiman. Got talking to his grandmother.

She asked me whether I have any family here, I said no.

Then we got talking about my parents, I was explaining to her how my mum misses the children so much,I could feel it each time we talked on the phone. I feel very guilty for depriving her off the children and vice versa. But she couldn't visit for long because my dad was bored out of his mind each time he visited us. No friends, different culture etc etc..and I said 'back home' , referring my DAD and 'home' being his 'home' country.

Now, I haven't used that term for myself in a long time..I hadn't realised that.I used to in the past..now I just said 'malaysia' not 'home'. What has happened? Do I love malaysia less now? I don't think so. I guess I've been abroad for so long now, I just feel as comfortable here as I am back in Malaysia.So both are 'home' now

Auntie Kamariah was right..she once told me and Ezlin, the longer you stay abroad, the harder it is to go back for good and both me and Ezlin are still abroad.Of course she was talking from her own experience. I keep thinking about her lately, I haven't been in touch with her since I left Aberdeen. Must give her a ring..

Bahasa rojak anak-anak ku..

Aiman's vocab

Baju maker

News khabar

Aliya's

Aliya dah boleh cakap hindi sikit2..dia memang paham hindi pun selama ni sebab baby sitter dia Indian, Fijian Muslim. I let them speak hindi with her sebab pernah tanya speech therapist dulu will it affect her language development, dia kata x pa..

Tadi baby sitter bagi tau, since husband dia cuti (husband dia cuti 3 bulan sebab baru2 ni operation cardiac bypass) Aliya makin byk cakap hindi, tadi Aliya kata kat husband dia "Abu, challo" sambil tarik tangan ajak keluaq..betui ka eja macam ni??

So tadi balik rumah, saja test tarik tangan Aliya sambil kata "aliya, challo" She looked at me, muka heran + terkejut and then she laughed!! Amazing!! How kids can differentiate between different languages, she knows that we speak different language at home and they speak different language there!

Exam...

To my dear darling husband I wish you all the best for your exam tomorrow and on monday. InsyaAllah boleh buat. You've done the hard work, so tawakal and do it. My prayers will always be with you. May success be on your side. Amin

Why the cake is GREEN???

It has never occured to me than Pandan Cake should be any other colour than GREEN, well that is if you're Malaysian I guess. Today was my turn to bring morning tea for our weekly Wednesday Seminar Programme and I decided to bake PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE . I thought, cake is not so alien to mat salleh's tongue, but yet I can subtly introduced the asian flavour of the cake.I baked 2 cakes, but only brought 1 and 1/2, partly because I selfishly want to keep some for me to enjoy at home but actually it was because my lovely Aiman had peeled and eaten 1/2 of the crust from one cake!

Lakshmi, who is malaysian was the 1st person who saw the GREEN cake in the kitchen and she immediately asked if it was my turn to bring morning tea and did I bring pandan cake. So I said yes.I should have realised then since it was that obvious!!

Then when it came to tea time, Amy 1st saw the cake and she had this weird look on her face and she immediately asked why the cake is GREEN, LOL..Then I realised that whilst it is very common for us to have GREEN bingka, ketayap etc..mat sallehs don't really 'do' green cakes LOL..

Then I had to explain about how we traditionally juiced the pandan leaves to add it to our dessert for flavouring hence we get the tinge of colour

Peter, our visiting teacher even asked me,why the crust is brown, not GREEN?? LOL, I don't know, never thought about that!

At least they all love the cake, to Laksmi's disappointment, not even a crumb left! She was eyeing for some leftover to take home..I need to bake more for our playdate this weekend

Sorry, I am too lazy to take new pictures..you just have to make do with pictures from my foodie blog

Feijoas

Feijoa ni sejenis buah yg so far kami hanya jumpa di New Zealand. Sedap...mula2 mai NZ dulu x berapa reti makan, sebab beli dekat pak n Save, x sedap plus x tau nak makan macam mana. Then satu hari ni nurse ward 58 bawak mai satu beg letak kat kitchen, depa yg ajaq makan, terus jatuh cinta he3.. waktu tu baru lagi sampai NZ, back in 2007.Buah ni bentuk n saiz macam teloq ayam, ada yg besaq ada yg kecik, kira macam teloq ayam gred A, B, C la.Buah ni bermusim, time autumn saja ada

Rupa2 nya yg beli x sedap sebab buah ni kena tunggu dia luruh, kita kutip kat atas tanah, yg beli tu dia petik dan peram, tu yg x berapa manis

Cara makan pulak, belah dua macam gambar kat atas tu, then scoop out the soft fleshy middle part, yg tepi2 tu buang, kami pi hentam kopek kulit and makan macam tu saja..patut la x sedap he3..feijoa ni adik beradik jambu, tapi more aromatic..

Aiman and aliya suka sgt...alhamdullilah tahun ni murah rezeki depa, byk sungguh feijoa yg kami dapat..sampai ngilu gigi makan, sebab dia masam2 manis, will defo miss this fruit bila dah balik malaysia nanti..

Maybe this is part of the reason why I am feeling down lately??

Tadi chat dgn Tehsin, kawan kat university dulu, kebetulan dia tegoq kat FB . Before I left Scotland dulu dia baru nak start buat GP training, so dah a few yrs jugak la dia jadi GP.

Tanya dia macam mana, dia suka tak jadi GP, dia kata ok but sometimes it can be a bit lonely..yesss..that is what I am experiencing right now..sekarang ni, apt only 15 mins, mana boleh spend lama2 borak kosong, byk lagi patients dok tunngu kat luar, sekejap sgt, ngam2 untuk sort out the problems ja, no banter

Kat hosp dulu, even busy, there are lots of people to chat too,time clerk in patients, ada gak masa borak2 merapu dgn patients, with nurses..borak2 yg geng2 Dr lain at lunchtime..tapi sekarang, people have their breaks at different times..kalau borak pun..aduhai..cerita pasal news. weekend activities..sekadar berbabasa..that's why we all love our Wednesday Seminars..apart from mmg th teachings are normally good, tu la masa kami catch up sesama sendiri...gossiping etc..

I think I enjoy Anglesea a lot more. So maybe next yr buat half Anglesea half permanent kot?? Tapi Anglesea kira macam locum, only 1/4th of the hr saja kot contributed towards my training hmm..need to find out more about it..

Normally I know if I like my work or not based on how I feel bila bgn pg, kala rasa looking fwd nak pi kerja, ok la..so far..belum rasa macam tu..tapi x la x suka, just not excited..not like when I did Home Hospital or Psych..time tu best, good bunch of nurses and collegue. I like tues and fri sebab my teacher ada, tapi hari dia x dak, macam boring sikit, sebab semua org lain busy with their things

I guess that's why I am turning into FBing and blogging a lot more now..I think I crave the social interactions

Happy Mother's Day..

To all mothers out there esp to my mum and MIL.

To my Dear Husband , thank you very much for the Pandora bead, much much appreciated..tahun depan buat lagi he3..a massage voucher like last time would be even better :) he3..x jumpa la pulak gambar bead tu nak letak kat sini..x larat dah nak cari..da ngantuk..Lepas ni kalau nak beli lagi, get a murano one pulak tau he3...nak bg balance..

Hasil rondaan petang tadi..

Antara benda tak berapa perlu yg diperolehi petang tadi adalah..

Wall decals untuk bilik aliya and aiman. Dah lama aim nak beli, nak hias bilik depa cantik2, nak menarik depa tidoq dalam tu la konon...beli sikit2, mula2 duvet cover. Selalu jumpa decals ni either terlalu mengikut 'theme' atau mahal sgt..malas la nka ikut theme sgt sebab, selalu theme dia either theme untuk 'girl' atau boy..tapi depa dua ni share bilik..susah sikit..

Decals ni beli kat Warehouse, kedai kegemaran masyarakat di sini..sebab barang2 dia murah heheh

Ni bilik depa setelah mummy and daddy gigih dok main pelekat-pelekat, gambaq kelam la pulak, sebab x pakai flash kot..curtain tu pun x matching, nantilah, ada rezeki lebih nanti nak pi cari curtain kaler kuning ka..sekarang ni dah makin sejuk, tu yg ada heater dok menyibuk tgh2 tu, bilik depa kami dah start on heater, our room belum lagi, still ok with just the electric blanket, tapi budak2 ni kesian pulak sebab asek dok keluaq dari duvet saja

Ni aiman punya side..123



Aliya punya side..ABC








Aiman kata tadi.."wow mummy..the wall looks really cool" Dia suka sgt2 la tu..Bila pasang aliya punya pulak, dgn broken englishnya dia kata "Aliya one's is only nice a little bit"

Kami rasa apa yg dia nak kata sebenaqnya adalah " It's nice, but mine is nicer" heheheh

Bila ada masa..

Jadi mati akai x tau nak buat apa pulak dah..

Harini have been awfully quiet for most of us..so my boss yg baik hati sudah kasi balik awal, dia dah mintak receptionist blocked all my appoinments for this afternoon. Yippeee

BUT

since I didn't expect this to happen, jadi mati kutu pulak..The only thing that I could think of is nak pi Pak n Save, do some grocery shopping! How boring! Selalu dok kalut sgt x dak kids free time la bla bla..call incik suami kata nak pi grocery shopping n then amek aliya balik umah..dia plak nak p amek aiman, bawak pi semayang jumaat then balik umah..

Maybe I should go to Miller's? Konon2 nya ada sale sempena mother's day

Mornthong ohh mornthong..

Mornthong ni durian dalam bahasa siam kot, sebab selalu dok beli durian frozen kat packet tu dia tulih frozen mornthong
Tadi bila balik kerja tiba2 teringin nak makan durian, ajak incik suami singgah thai shop, beli la 2 bungkus..sekilo $10.80..

Dah dok oversea ni..mornthong pun mornthong laa sob sob..

Kalau kat malaysia silap la nak pandang durian siam ni..jeling saja..sebab my grandparents ada byk kebun durian..kecik2 memang main bawah pokok durian, manggis etc..siap eksyen lagi, siap boleh pilih2 pokok mana peberet, pokok mana x berkenan, pokok mana isi tebal, pokok mana lemak manis..durian jantung la, tembaga la..semua ada..mana main durian siam, isi x best, texture x best, x wangi etc etc..sangat mengada hokayyy

Ohh sedapnya Durian pokok Kampung Paya (kebun peberet ku!!)


Durian masih dalam peket..

Closed up sikit, x nampak la pulak dia tulih siam mari tu..

Dah masuk pinggan, sedia untuk dinikmati..x la sedap sgt, tapi Alhamdulliah, tuhan masih bg rezeki + appetite untuk nikmati frozen mornthong ni..



La ni jarang2 balik dapat kena musim durian buah kebun, baru2 ni saja dapat rasa buah kebun Kampung Paya, tu pun yg frozen, mak simpan..