An Italian dinner

28th December 2009

Hehe... Like we said before, daddy and his food cravings although mummy's the pregnant one. For dinner today, we had an Italian menu. No, we didn't eat out, all were homemade by mummy with daddy's helping hand. We had spinach and beef lasagna, Hawaiian and tuna pizza, mushroom soup and homemade garlic breads (using normal toast bread). We also invited nini laki, nini bini and bungsu Hazim to try out the dishes and everyone had an enjoyable meal.

Hmmm... now that we think about it, having a person with food cravings in the house does have a great advantage! Hehehe...

A fun cycle ride

25th December 2009

Our new afternoon activity... riding bicycles around our home. It's really fun since now Safiya is a confident cyclist (with a little help now and then). Good exercise too!

Spending the day with daddy

24th December 2009

It's Thursday and good news for us; daddy is on medical leave today after his dental extraction yesterday. Thankfully, daddy is not in lots of pain anymore and as such we were able to spend quality time with him. Today, we visited some showrooms and tried out some models of motorbikes just for fun. At noon, we picked up mummy from her office and spent her lunch break at Giant.

Daddy's visit to the dentist

23rd December 2009

In the morning today, daddy went for his appointment with a dental surgeon at Panaga Health Centre. For quite a while, daddy had been suffering from toothache as well as occasional headaches resulting from his wisdom teeth that are pushing into his cheek and gum. So today, with the moral support from mummy who accompanied him, daddy bravely went through the extraction of one tooth, located at the upper gum. The doctor said that daddy was a bit tense but did great and the procedure went smoothly. Daddy's next appointment will be early next year for the extraction of another wisdom tooth, located below the one that has been removed.

Mummy took these pictures below to show us...

Some more new recipes

15th December 2009

We would like to share some more new recipes from mummy's kitchen. Hehehe... mummy said that as also during her previous pregnancies, the one with food cravings is daddy!

Lau Si Fan - a Chinese type of thick noodles - fried with clams

Stir-fried "udang galah"

Roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots

Mini ring toasted sandwich

15th December 2009

Here's a good idea for kids' snacks. Mummy used a mini donut cutter to cut out these lovely shapes out of normal bread slices. Then, coat with butter and toast on medium heat until brown. Then, spread jam of you choice and make mini sandwiches. Interesting and delicious!

Seafood mania

13th December 2009

After our afternoon exercise yesterday, we stopped by the Gadong fish market. The initial plan was to buy only fish, as daddy intends to have steamed fish for dinner. Well, what do you know? Once we were there, some other seafood also caught our eye. It seems that crabs are in season (huge ones too!) and so as not to disappoint us, daddy bought three crabs. Then, as we were onlooking, I spotted clams and they look delicious too. We also bought some stingray and "udang galah" but mummy decided to reserve those for the next few days. Hehehe... at last, we ended up having three types of seafood for dinner last night!

And oh my! What a special dinner it was! Just look at these delicious dishes!

Daddy's speciality, honey soy sauce crabs

Chinese style steamed fish by mummy

Steamed clams. Mummy also prepared two types of dippings; spicy tamarind sauce ("air asam" - Malaysian style) and soy sauce with lime

Yummmyyy!!!

Tasek Lama Recreational Park

12th December 2009

Today in the afternoon, daddy brought Safiya and I to Tasek Lama Recreational Park to join mummy and her office mates in their weekly work out. This is the first time that we decided to come, and the decision is surely not one to be regretted. Apart from the good opportunity to exercise, we also enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the park which was recently upgraded with beautiful landscapes. This park is also where His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei consented to invite Malaysia's former Prime Minister to during the latter's visit to Brunei early this year.

Warm up session with daddy

Starting our afternoon stroll

We were mesmerised by the beautiful nature surrounding us

We climbed up a hill and saw a dam

Then, down the hill we went...

Taking picture in front of the beautiful waterfall

Safiya "assisting" mummy during our trek exercise

Hehehe... after all that, Safiya and I were really thirsty!

Butter cupcake with icing glaze

07th December 2009

I am having an end-of-term party at my school tomorrow and mummy had volunteered to make cupcakes for us. This time, mummy makes butter cupcakes and adds icing glaze as a finishing touch. Delicious!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients: 125gm butter, 2 eggs, 2 cups sifted self-raising flour, 1/2 cup caster sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence, 1/2 cup milk

Directions:
Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Beat further until creamy. Then add flour alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Bake in a 180 C preheated oven until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.

For icing glaze, mix 15gm butter, 2 tablespoons hot water, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and 1 cup icing sugar until smooth. Spread over cooled cake(s).

Bungsu Hazim's birthday celebration

6th December 2009 (Part II)

After attending the mandi belawat ceremony, we gathered at nini's house for a small doa selamat to celebrate bungsu Hazim's birthday. Since everyone was full, we only had a hi-tea. Mummy made some raisins scones earlier in the morning and we were delighted to share them with everyone (especially Machar who made the request... hehe...).

The ice-cream cake was delicious too and is definitely perfect eaten after a long and hot afternoon.

At night, as a last-minute plan, we all had a dinner treat by nini bini at Aminah Arif Restaurant. This is a famous place to eat among Bruneians especially for the Brunei traditional dish called ambuyat. We have tried the dish at other restaurants as well, but so far the dipping (in Malay called 'cacah') at this place is the best. We heard from a reliable source that it's freshly made everyday by the owner herself to ensure the quality and taste stays the same. Thanks nini bini for the treat... Love you lots!

Two gatherings in one afternoon

6th December 2009 (Part I)

In the afternoon today, we attended firstly a birthday party of our cousin, Jazmeena who is now 1 year old. We were the first ones to arrive but were most welcomed by the host. Shortly afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and at the same time more guests started to arrive. Then, we played some party games. Safiya came third in a musical chair game, while I was so close to winning a dance-and-freeze game.

Then at around 3 pm, we attended a mandi belawat ceremony of mummy's cousin. Aunt Saleha gave birth to a baby boy before Hari Raya a few months ago and the baby is also a first grandchild to the family. Baby Elmaan Rayyan looks cute wearing his tiny baju melayu and dastar. Congratulations to the new parents!

A fun busy Saturday

5th December 2009

Before anything, a special birthday shout out goes to mummy's youngest brother, bungsu Hazim, who turns 16 today. We wish you all success and happiness...

So, what have we been up to today? At around 10 a.m. daddy brought Safiya and I to attend my classmate's party at Sheraton Hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan. It was held at the hotel's poolside and we had a really great time. After a bit of swimming, we enjoyed making and eating our own pizzas. The party ended at noon and we definitely left with big smiles on our faces. Thanks Catherine for the great party.

After a short rest at home, we then ventured all the way to Seria in the Belait district to accompany daddy who was on duty today. The original plan was to leave Safiya at home with the maid since daddy and mummy was concerned that she might get tired during the 1 hour drive but Safiya insisted on coming along. Thankfully, Safiya wasn't creating any trouble, and I was being a good boy too! Hehehe...

While daddy was busy working with his colleagues (with slight interruptions from us now and then), we enjoyed making use of a huge tv screen available at daddy's office. It was connected to daddy's laptop and we played computer games and watched Transformers dvd.

Then, we went home and arrived at around 6 in the afternoon. We were greeted my mummy and the smell of her delicious cooking for dinner.