Our grandparents' orchard

11th January 2012

We have mentioned about the orchard a few times now. It's only fair that we publish it here to give our hard working grandparents some credit. We actually visited the place during the new year holiday recently and took lots of fruits back home. So what types of fruits do we have?

Firstly, pulasan or also known as maritam. Its similar to rambutans, except that its skin is thicker.

Secondly, buah tarap. According to nini laki, this fruit is quite fragile. It must be picked at the right time and it cannot fall on the ground (it'll break). When stored, it's best hung using a string rather than sitting on its own skin since the flesh may become ruined. The taste however is worth all that tender loving care!

We also have jackfruits...

... as well as rambutan. This is called "rambutan budak sekolah" or translated directly as "school kids rambutan". Nini bini says that its named that way because it doesn't take long to bear fruit after planting, and more importantly because the fruits grow close to the ground, making it easy for small kids to pluck them.

We also have durian trees ...

... and membangan too!

Local fruits "fever"

10th January 2012

As we Bruneians must have already realised by now, local fruits are in abundance. Here are some more fruits that we enjoyed recently...

The first is of course "buah tarap". Luckily, our grandparents' orchard produce lots of these. As a result, we can happily say that we eat this fruit almost everyday!

Another fruit that is in abundance now are local durians, which comes in assorted colours and flavours!

In addition, we are also lucky to be able to taste "durian sukang" which is quite rare. Even according to some people, it's almost extinct. Coincidentally, a local newspaper had just published an [article] about this type of durian yesterday.

The fruit is small in size which can almost fit the palm of one's hand. Interestingly, this type of durian has to be cut in half because it's difficult to open unlike other types of durian, which means that it's almost impossible to plant since the seeds are already cut as well. However, mummy didn't know this and opened the fruit the usual way (and succeded!). Our family's mission now is to try plant the seeds and hopefully future generations can also taste the distinctively sweet and delicious flesh.

Which is who?

26th December 2011

Look at the pictures below. Can you identify which picture is mine (Syafi) and which is Safwan's?

What a striking resemblance, right?

Relaxing at the beach

11th December 2011

It's been a while since our last picnic at the beach. Finally in the morning today, our parents brought us to Muara Beach for some playtime fun. Unfortunately some of the roofed seating areas were under renovation, as such we chose a shady spot under a few trees and had our picnic.

We didn't go for a swim because of strong waves. Instead, we played with the sand using toys that we brought from home. We then searched for sea shells to put in our fish aquarium but luck was not on our side. What's important is that we had a great time!

It was baby Syifa's first time at the beach and she seemed to enjoy the sea breeze.

Safiya's belated birthday party

3rd December 2011

As promised to Safiya, we finally organised her birthday party today. Mummy has fully gained her strength and our baby sister is also big enough to receive lots of visitors at the same time. Like last year, Safiya's party is held separately for her school friends and family members.


The afternoon session is for her school friends and we were all happy that everyone had a great time. The castle and pool bouncers prove to be a big hit and we were lucky that the weather was fine.

We also had a "fishing" game for different treats and presents.


For the afternoon session, we had crunchy chicken in pita breads, spaghetti with meatballs, fruits and milo tiramisu for dessert. Safiya's birthday cake was in the form of vanilla cupcakes with fresh cream icing created by our one and only mummy!


In the evening, we had Safiya's second birthday party especially for family members. We also had doa selamat for the arrival of our baby sister. Since it's dinner time, we had heavier meals. We had rice with grilled chicken, udang rebus (fresh prawn soup) and sayur rebung. Mummy made lots of the spaghetti from the afternoon and so we served it as well.

We had two birthday cakes, one for Safiya and another for mummy's brother, bungsu Hazim, who's turning 18 in two days time.

To our surprise, Ngangah presented another "cake" for daddy, mummy, Safiya and baby Syifa ~ a lamb shawarma in a gigantic burger bun.

Oh my! Safiya was the happiest at the end of the day because she received lots of birthday gifts this year. Just look at the picture below!

Milo tiramisu

2nd December 2011

Originally, our family is not a huge fan of tiramisu. Of course another downside is because of its coffee content which makes it not suitable for kids our age. However, mummy now finds a way to make kids-friendly version using milo in place of the coffee. It's also easy to make since no baking is required.

As for the taste? Its yummy-licious! Everyone loves it!

Mummy turns 30

29th November 2011

Happy birthday to our beloved mummy!

We are all proud of her for all her achievements and most importantly we are very glad that she is our mother. We love you very much, mummy and we hope that you will have a great year ahead and many more to come.

Syifa Hana's latest looks

27th November 2011

Our new baby sister is one month old yesterday. We are happy to say that she has grown well. She can now smile when engaged in a conversation and can tell who are those familiar to her. When "strangers" carry her, she seems uneasy and may cry a bit, but she will soon be comforted when being carried by either mummy, daddy or the maid. Another achievement is her ability to support her head when she's enjoying some tummy time.

Durian polo

17th November 2011

Just want to share a different species of durian which in Brunei we call as durian polo. It has a sweet smell (rather than the pungent smell normally associated with durian) and is less sticky. Good for beginners and the taste is delicious.

My study partner

15th November 2011

As a student, one thing that I cannot avoid is homework. It can be tiring sometimes, but it really helps to have a partner beside me, especially when he is funny and adorable. A bit distracting at times, but I don't really mind. What's important is that my work is done. Who am I talking about? Look at these pictures!