Thursday, February 11, 2010
A New House
I really have some exciting news. At last, my fiance and I received the keys to our new house. It's an old one and needs major renovation - from ceiling to floors and wall to wall. It's a big house for a newly wed, but my fiance always talks about how much he wants to fill it with children..hehe. I haven't seen it yet (I've only seen the layout plan). My sweet fiance took a video of everything; every room, every corner and every flooring for me to see. :)
Let's start with the ground floor: There is a living room that is open to a dining room, and a big "majlis", which is Arabic for a special room where people can gather. We are thinking of opening the wall of that room to the living room. I like it to be more spacious. I might add an interior glass door instead, to give the place some character. There are two bathrooms downstairs. One of them will be changed into a powder room with two wash basins and a big mirror. The most exciting thing of all is having two kitchens. Yay! One indoor and the other is outdoor and both are big. I'm really having trouble choosing the right color of cabinets and floors. Shall I go light color inside?
Upstairs is huge. There are 4 bedrooms, and another living room/hall. I'm thinking of making the the upstairs living room/hall into a library; and make it look very urban-like. Our master bedroom has 2 windows (which I'm thinking of changing the frames--they're very old). I don't encourage having a closet area inside the bedroom. Since we have rooms that will not be occupied soon, I'm planning to utilize one for a big closet area. Both my fiance and I have so many clothes -- some that need to be thrown or given to charity soon.
My fiance has gym equipments, so another room will be utilized for recreational purposes. The fourth bedroom will be left vacant, until hopefully, we have a baby.
We also have a big garden. We'll remove all the trees and grass, and create a nice patio. We'll keep the palm trees in front of our house to give it some nice landscaping.
That's about it. The renovation will take around 3 months (I'm crossing my fingers here). But until then, I will keep updating you :)
Ta.
Labels: decorationg, house, renovation
Friday, February 05, 2010
February 5th
Sunday, January 24, 2010
In Germany
I'm in Germany which explains my being away for a month now.
I'm in a small village called Shonberg in Germany's northern state, Schleswig-Holstein.
I can't begin to tell you how cold the place is. Today is -10 degrees C feels like -15 degrees. I'm not used to such weather, but with the layers and layers I wear, its tolerable.
My parents and I came here to treat my brother who has sickle cell anemia -- an inherited blood disease. It does not have a cure, but with the right treatment a person can avoid complications in breathing, pain and anemia. The doctor we are seeing uses alternative medicine for my brother's treatment. So far, he is treating the infection in my brother's body and the organs that are dysfunctional.
Anyhow, my dad and I took a stroll to the center of the village, to explore some restaurants with global food other than Dutch. We discovered a Turkish and a Chinese restaurant--we ended up eating shawarma from the turkish resto.
I really wanted to take pictures of the beautiful red brick buildings -- but I couldn't get the camera out of my handbag due to the freezing weather. But I promise I will, once the weather gets a little better.
For now, I attach a couple of pictures that show the snow, taken from our flat.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
China and Lost Memories
My first visit to China was for a Demolition and Blasting Technical Support Seminar in November 2007. I stayed for a month and visited 4 different yet lovely cities.
Nanjing was where I mostly spent my time in a dingy hotel, surrounded by the Chinese Army. My Chinese language was nada. I had to "talk" in sign language most of the time. We did have a young interpreter, who I had to correct her grammer every now and then.My favorite person was the seminar coordinator, who was an army man. His English was weak, but boy oh boy was he a great bargainer. I used to take him with me shopping. Because of his army attire, the sellers would respect him and wouldn't turn his bargained price down. That way, I saved a lot of Yuan:)
When classes are done at 6:00pm, I'd take a cab downtown Nanjing. I discovered an underground shopping center (totally forgot what it's called). The shopping was great and cheap. I really stood out with my tanned skin, dark hair and big eyes. They used to call me "Miss Princess". I remember once 10 Chinese ladies circled me to touch my hair and to look at my eyes. They thought I was a celebrity and wanted to take a picture with me with their funky mobiles. When it first happened, I was scared, but then I got used to it. On my last days, I learned to smile and walk away. I'm not surprised if I found a picture of myself with a Chinese lady on one of their websites hehe..what an experience.
My second city was Hangzhou. They call it "heaven on earth". I just can't explain how beautiful and serene it was. Just breathtaking. I wish I can share how it felt, but no matter how descriptive I am, it won't give it credit. You need to be there to feel its beauty :)
Shanghai was great. It felt so European. I used to call it "home" when I was in China. The diverse culture made me blend perfectly. It's a great city to walk around. Shopping for brands was great, but I preferred the Chinese authentic bazaars.
My last visit was Suzhou. It's an old city. The coordinators had to take us there to show us the real Chinese culture. I didn't like it much; the rain ruined everything.
I still cherish every moment I spent it there. The sad part is losing all the pictures I took. I couldn't retrieve a single picture. Oh well, there's always next time.
So long, China.
Ta.
Labels: China, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Souzhu
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Som Tum ~ Green Papaya Salad
One of my favorite salads is the Thai Som Tum. I just can't describe how delicious it is. It's spicy, citrusy and has low calories! Just perfect for a meal. It really doesn't have a lot of ingredients in it, but the main ingredient is unripe papaya. Unripe papaya is hard to find in places like Bahrain. But I have discovered a couple of Thai stores in town that have wonderful Thai stuff =D
(This picture is taken when I was @ Monsoon last week)
Ingredients (good for 2 servings)
- 2 cups green papaya, shredded
- 5 green beans
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 chili peppers
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3/4 of lime
- 2 tablespoons of toasted peanuts
It's best if you buy a shredded papaya, but if you could not find that, just peal the skin of a whole papaya and shred it with a cheese grater. Using a clay mortar, crush the garlic and add the green beans and halved cherry tomatoes. Make sure you softly pound on the tomatoes to get the juice out of it and maintain it's shape. Add the chili peppers and start crushing. If you don't like it hot, remove the seeds from the peppers and crush them tenderly. Add the shredded papaya, lime juice, fish sauce, peanuts and palm sugar. Use the pestle and the spatula to push the mixture up and down. This way, the juice will seep through the mixture.
Really easy to make, isn't it?
Enjoy.
Labels: Bahrain, monsoon restaurant, som tum
Friday, November 27, 2009
BBQ Night
Labels: BBQ
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time Out Bahrain
Labels: cheap eats, time out bahrain
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
