It's official ... Ramadan has come again!

31 August 2008

Finally... after nearly a year waiting, the fasting Ramadan has again come upon us. From tomorrow, fasting will begin in Brisbane (not sure about the other states since Australia is a huge country). For myself, I might try and give fasting a go ... perhaps until noon, as a training. Mummy, nini laki and nini bini will definitely be fasting from sunrise until sunset, as a devotion to Allah The Almighty.

To all Muslims all over the world ...

Happy Ramadan
Ramadan Mubarak

Especially to Muslims in Australia, here is a website that is very useful:
www.ramadan.com.au

By the way, as a side note, Happy Independence Day to Malaysians!

Our night activities

30 August 2008

Tonight's activity ...

First, watch the fireworks which was held as part of the Brisbane River Festival 2008. Sadly, we didn't go to the river, but we can get a glimpse (and the loud sounds) from our balcony. It's also broadcasted live on the television, and here are some images that we took ... hahaha... from the television of course! We'll post links soon when the real pictures are loaded on the internet.

Then, mummy made some chocolate muffins for her tea time tomorrow ... thankfully, that would be her last class on weekends! Now we can spend the weekends together. Click HERE for the recipe. Yummmmyyyyyy.....

# 1 or 2 days more to go before Ramadan #

Chicks hatching at my school

29 August 2008

I looooooooove my school! Part of our learning activities, the school has arranged that a chicken hatchery be put at my school for two weeks, so that we can see the process in person. Right now, we already have a number of chicks, and some more eggs are still waiting to hatch. The chicks are so cute!

Now you understand right, why I love my school so much? Hehehe... Finding good teachers like Miss B and Mrs Miller will definitely be tough!

Stir-fried mussels with soy sauce

28 August 2008 (Part III)

Nini bini's new culinary adventure.. In Chinatown, mummy bought some New Zealand mussels since the price was really affordable, around AU$2.99 per kilo. We never had mussels before, not even in Brunei. So what do I think of it? Hehehe... I love them!

Here's a video of me enjoying our new dish, and sorry about the "earthquake", Safiya was shaking mummy's hands... Hehehe...

Finally... meeting folks from Brunei

28 August 2008 (Part II)

Alright.. enough about the sad story. Mummy fetched me from school a little bit earlier today, and we walked straight to mummy's university to attend an afternoon tea hosted especially for Brunei government sponsored students. It's really nice of the host to allow me to come along. Although there are more than 100 Brunei students at the university, but not everyone came... but it's definitely still worth it.

Finally, we meet lots of students from Brunei! All this while, mummy felt a little bit isolated because she rarely see Bruneians around, especially at the university. Mystery solved: that's because mummy's the only one taking Masters of Law! Most of the students are taking medicine, while some others are also taking postrgraduate Masters, only in other faculties.

And interestingly, I saw a baby. One of the students (Yati) has a 9 month old baby and she is taking her Masters. The baby's father is also in Brunei, like daddy. So brave of her, like mummy! From the pictures, the mother is actually the one with the grey scarf.

We spent around one and a half hour mingling around, and had phone numbers and email addresses exchanged in order to keep in touch. Here are some pictures of the event:

Minor misfortune at the city... :(

28 August 2008

After sending me to school today, nini laki and mummy together with Safiya went to Chinatown in Fortitude Valley ... as usual, to buy halal meat and also seafoods. The fasting month of Ramadan is just around the corner, and so it's convenient to have the supply ready by now. Mummy and nini laki bought quite a lot, since we're planning on hosting a small 'tahlil' and 'Iftar' ceremony sometime next week.

Anyway, about the misfortune ...

Sadly, mummy told me that while crossing a road at the city, mummy and Safiya tripped and fell. Apparently, Safiya was holding hands with mummy when Safiya suddenly tripped ... and pulled mummy down with her! Nini laki was shocked, and at first thought that mummy felt dizzy and lost her balance. The scary thing (I didn't see it but I can picture it from mummy's story) is that they tripped in the middle of the road at the traffic lights crossing. Thankfully, people around them were helpful and felt concerned, and offered help. One even helped pick up Safiya's hair clip that fell on the road. To anyone out there, if this story rings a bell, thanks a lot for your help!

To daddy, don't worry ... both mummy and Safiya are alright, except for little scars on Safiya's forehead and mummy's knee. Oh gosh, I wish I was there to help them out.

See that red scar on the right?

Talk about a misfortune! Another memory to bring back home!

My school viewed from the satellite

This morning, mummy was browsing through the internet, and showed me the picture of my school viewed from above. I was confused at first, how could she take that picture? Then mummy explained that it is taken from a satellite (thanks to all those documentaries, I know what a satellite is). We became excited and started to look for other satellite images.

The following are satellite images of some of our places of interest, courtesy of Google via the GOOGLE MAPS website.

Generally, that big circle is mummy's university, and just above on its left is my school. Not far from there is the street where we live. It takes around 10 - 15 minutes walk to reach my school from home.

A close up view of our house in Brisbane.

A close up view of my kindergarten.

Now, that's interesting... satellite image of nini's house in Brunei.

That would be the house of nini green, around 2 minutes drive from nini's house.

Unfortunately, we were unable to get the image of our NEW HOUSE that is still under construction... but basically that is where it is located. As you can see, our land used to be a 'forest'.

Mummy attended lunch with the UQ Law School

26 August 2008

Today, mummy was invited to attend an informal lunch at her university, hosted by the TC Bierne Law School. All international law students were expected to bring traditional food to represent culinary wonders of each country.

So... what did mummy bring? With nini bini's help, mummy created a modernised version of "Pulut Panggang", which is glutinous rice with sambal filling, wrapped with banana leaf and smoked / grilled. We were lucky to find glutinous rice at the Asian foods section in the supermarket, and nini bini used the smoked dried 'tahai' fish that we brought in from Brunei for the filling. With no banana leaves at hand, mummy moulded the rice into small muffin shaped bites... and they taste delicious!

Here are pictures from the event:

The surroundings during the informal lunch.

Mummy's good friends (from left): Sharmel from Sri Lanka and Nanai from Papua New Guinea.

Mummy's creations is in the middle.. hehehe, presented in mummy's newly bought Pyrex glassware.

International culinary adventure...

Mingling with one of the lecturers

Congratulations to Brunei's qariah

26 August 2008

Like any other year, Brunei has always participated in the yearly International Qur'an Reading Competition in Malaysia, and this year is of no exception. Brunei usually sends one male and one female Qur'an reader ('qariah) to represent our country.

Apparently, the finals was last night, and we were eager to find out from the newspaper websites for the results.. and we're glad to learn that our qariah managed to achieve third place. Here's the full results, as obtained from BERITA HARIAN.

	NAME OF WINNERS (MALE)	COUNTRY	%
1	H Mu'min Mubarok	Indonesia	91.5
2	Abdul Karim Mubarak Elbaki Allah	Morocco	89.33
3	Reza Mohammad Pour	Iran	88.92
	NAME OF WINNERS (FEMALE)	COUNTRY	%
1	Fatimoh Harati	Thailand	92.83
2	Sharifah Khasif Fadzillah Syed Badiiuzzaman	Malaysia	91.5
3	Nurfaezah Emran	Brunei	87.67

Congratulations!

The olympics games is off to London

After days of the Olympic Games in Beijing this year, the sports are finally over... for now that is! It would be interesting to watch the Olympics in 2012 which would be held in London. Ohh boy... London will have to make great efforts, because Beijing surely has set the bar up high! Really looking forward to what the British will come up with! Now, come to think of it, where would I be that time?

So daddy, any plans yet for 2012? Hehehe...

More pictures from Toowong Village

25 August 2008

Hmmm... We're trying to remember the last day we went out to do shopping with mummy... I think that would be the day when we got our bamboo floor mats, around 20 days ago. Mummy needed a day out today too as well, after intensive classes from Friday until Sunday.

At noon, we went by bus to our favourite hang out spot. This may be like the hundreth time we went there, but don't worry, mummy always try to take shots of pictures from different angles. Especially to daddy, enjoy these pictures! Wish you were here!

Taking picture with nini laki and nini bini in front of the entrance close to the train station.

Ladies from two generations busy shopping... Look at Safiya!

Safiya checking her feet size, but didn't "buy" any footwear

After shopping at K-Mart, we got hungry. Good thing nini bini was prepared and brought our lunch from home... fired rice with eggs.

Daddy sometimes complain that mummy is seldom in our pictures... so here you go daddy, a self-picture by mummy..

I guess Safiya was feeling full after lunch, and got sleepy.

Posing while waiting for nini laki and nini bini buying fruits and vegetables

Kuih Jelurut

24 August 2008

At one time in this blog, I did mention that nini laki and nini bini are actually mummy's adoptive parents. However, we are also in close terms with mummy's natural parents, whom I call as 'nini green'. Anyway, the reason why I bring this up again is because nini green is a maker and seller of various Brunei delicacies (a small-scale business), and one of her most famous and highly demanded products is the "Jelurut", or also known in Brunei as "Selurut" or "Celurut" (depends on the village I guess).

The original version of this delicacy is green in colour, and is comprises of home-made rice flour, coconut milk and sugar as the basic ingredients. With the demand of various flavours, nini green's recipe has now evolved with hints of either durian or yam. It's nice to note that nini green uses the 'real thing', rather than artificial flavours or essence that is available on the market.

Here are pictures of the process of making durian flavoured Jelurut:

The first process (and usually tideous) is curling up the special leaves to make casing for the filling. Needs a little bit of expertise, this one.

Coconut milk, stirred for a while over low heat.

Home-made rice flour (in Brunei, we call it 'dadak').

Obviously ... sugar

Nini green usually uses yellow-flesh durian (fruit exclusive to Brunei and some parts of East Malaysia) and this is the most favourite. Since the fruit is seasonal, nini green stocks them in the freezer to maintain year-long supply. Normal white-flesh durian is also usable, depending on the customer's preference.

The mixture...

The curled-up leaves are neatly arranged, filled with the mixture, and steamed.

The end-product... Walllaaaa!

A little advertising wouldn't hurt, right? Anyone (in Brunei, definitely) interested to buy nini green's Jelurut, call 2680493 (Hjh Damit)... and in Malay language, please... Hehehe... Ohh.. and the price? 10 pieces for $1.00 for the original flavour, and 8 pieces for the same price, for the durian flavoured ones.

Apple Muffins

In the last two weeks, mummy had intensive classes on Fridays, from 9am until 5pm. However, this weekend as well as next week, mummy has more classes even on Saturday and Sunday, within the same time frame as well. Looking at mummy every time she arrives home, we're very certain that she's really tired.

Nevertheless, I guess as a way of her relaxing her mind, this night mummy decided to do her favourite... baking! As a result, mummy has produced delicious apple muffins. The recipe was obtained from this great website (click), and there are more recipes there that mummy wants to try out. Definitely good news for me!

Patiently waiting in front of the oven... Or sleepy? Hehehe...

Apple Muffins... easy to make, and quick too!

Yummmyyy!!!


As a side note, I would like to share with you my most grand design to date. I'm so proud of myself that I even invited Safiya to share the 'fame'. Hehehe...