~nonnah~

A New House

2010-02-11T17:30:00.003+03:00

Hi everyone. I'm still in Germany. This is my 4th and last week. I cannot wait to get back home. I really miss my fiance and my usual activities with him...yey! Really excited.

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.

February 5th

2010-02-05T21:12:00.001+03:00

Today's my birthday, so happy birthday to me :)

Ta.

In Germany

2010-01-24T17:50:00.004+03:00

Hello everyone.

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.

China and Lost Memories

2009-12-26T15:01:00.004+03:00

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.

Som Tum ~ Green Papaya Salad

2009-12-08T21:10:00.012+03:00

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.

BBQ Night

2009-11-27T01:27:00.005+03:00

Happy holidays everyone =)

I had a wonderful night with my family. It was an amazing night with an amazing weather of 24 degrees C. What's better than BBQ in this great weather.

I got out all the grilling utensils from our storage room, cleaned our Weber grill, and set up our outdoor dining table. I even lit some candles to give it a romantic ambiance.

Initially, I was so enthusiastic to do the grilling all by myself -- I didn't think I needed help. But when my fiance showed up, I thought I could use his help a little. Poor him, he ended up grilling everything. I confess, grilling after all, is a man's job.

We only brought jumbo burgers and lamb chops. The burgers were frozen and the lamb chops were freshly marinated from the supermarket. I selected 3 different kinds: Australian BBQ sauce, Arabian spices, and "marinated" lamb chops (I wish I knew what spices they used. It was the best out of the 3).

Just before the charcoal turned into ashes, we were able to bake a potato. I drizzled some olive oil and put salt on the skin of the potato. I made sure to poke the potato before I wrapped it with aluminum foil. After 50 minutes of waiting, we unwrapped the foil, cut the potato in half, put some pepper Jack cheese and -- it was heaven! We ate it all before I had the chance to take a picture of it.

I had pretty much grilled all kinds of meat except for fish. What is the best way to grill fish? I'm open for suggestions :)

Ta.

Time Out Bahrain

2009-11-17T14:45:00.009+03:00

One of my greatest monthly fixes is reading Time Out Bahrain Magazine, cover to cover. The magazine lists every event, information, restaurant reviews, basically everything in Bahrain in a month. People who have just moved here would find this magazine very helpful. And it's only for 500 fils ($1.3).

I've lived in Bahrain my whole life (minus the 4 years I've lived in the United States), and I still have trouble choosing a good restaurant to dine in with my family or friends. There are just too many good restaurants in Bahrain! So you'd usually see me contemplating and hovering between 2 or 3 restaurants. Until I started reading Time Out Bahrain.

In this month's issue, my favorite page is the Cheap Eats. I never knew we had that many variety food restaurants that are good yet cheap! My husband and I usually spend $100 on one dinner outing. So, a $10 meal is a bonus for us! We get to save and have 10 equally scrumptious meals.

Tonight, I'm taking a break from restaurant foods and decided to eat our cook's home cooked food. But I've already decided where to go tomorrow--it's Thai night! :)

Bahrain's Match and Eggs

2009-11-14T21:46:00.005+03:00

Today was New Zealand vs Bahrain match. Bummer. My team lost :( It's so sad not to see them win their very first World Cup entry dream. I think our team is truly jinxed. I can't remember ever really being happy and ecstatic for them. Maybe because they haven't won anything, yet. I think they need another 50 years to enter the World Cup. Oh well.

The match started really "early" today. Around 10:00am. Yes. Early. I am a person who loves her long, lazy, 10 hours plus sleeps. I usually get up in the early afternoons, like 1:00pm. So, today was realllllllly tough getting up. My girlfriends and I got together at one of our friend's house to watch the match. It was so sweet of her to make breakfast. She made pancakes and eggs. There were fresh juices, yogurt and tea as well.

I like eggs. But not the smelly, not-cooked-well kind of eggs. I usually use a mixture of spices and herbs to cook my eggs. I would put cumin powder, coriander powder, fresh chopped parsley and of course a little salt and pepper. Mix it all together and then pour it into the pan. Once both sides change into golden color, take it off the heat. Bada baam bada boom. It really tastes good. You could eat it with a naan (Indian style) or with a bread (English style).

How do you like your eggs?

Ta.

New Beginning

2009-11-11T20:48:00.004+03:00

Wow! It's been nearly 3 years since my last post!
So much has changed, both to the good and bad.

Starting with the b.a.d. news, I got sacked from work -- it wasn't that I wasn't performing well (I was performing really well actually and submitting deadlines way before they're due), but due to the inevitable of something called "financial crisis", our company was affected really badly. It does not exist anymore :(

The g.o.o.d. thing is .. I am engaged and soon to be married. It happened so unexpectedly..I promise I'll tell you (if anybody is reading this) everything about.

I was watching Julie & Julia the other day...and I have to thank Julie Powell for giving me the boost and encouragement for writing again. I adorrrrrrred her idea of blogging & cooking! What's better than that, especially for someone, like me, who does not work :)

So, good bye for now..and more to come :)

Ta.

Yakkity Yak..

2006-07-26T08:26:00.000+03:00

This post goes to MJD for being so enthusiastic and eager to read my new stuff ;p

Well, they say women are complicated. A friend sent me an e-mail of a light-hearted cartoon portraying how women are--difficult.

On the contrary, this cartoon rocks my socks! It just shows how women could be smart and witty. Smart in the sense that they can maneuver any conversation and put the blame on You! So watch out boys;p

~*~

So ya, the other day I was driving home from work. You see, I work in the Diplomatic Area, where all the Ministries and Banks are, so it is normal to spot half of the people I know either driving from work or walkin around. Anyway, I was stopping at a red signal, and I saw this really tall, slim, swimmer's body, shaved man crossing in front of me. I don't see a beautiful creature very often, so being snoopy me, I checked him out! Seconds later, I found out he used to be my High School classmate! How embarrassing ;p But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, and this includes checking out your ex-goofy classmate ;p

~*~

For a long time -- like 2 yrs now-- people have been doing my living, my breathing, my eating, my loving, my washing, my sleeping, my thinking..oki I'm pushin' it ;p But I've been so lazy that I gained 10 kilograms since I came back from college. I couldn't find the will to start working out...until I saw Beyonce's and Jay Z's video clip "Deja Vu". She was wiggling that booty of hers, and I was just breath taken and j.e.a.l.o.u.s. Right there and then, I have decided that khalas! No for mashed potatoes and cookies, and yes for broccoli and steamed veggies.

This will be my new gym enshalla =D: La Fontaine

~*~

People who are leaving to London or who are already there, there is this Future City exhibition. For any avid architect or architecture-lover out there, they're displaying weird houses, buildings etc that had been constructed in the past 40 yrs. I really recommend it, don't miss it!

Ta-Ta!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup - Panera Bread® Style

2006-05-22T08:46:00.000+03:00

This post goes to all broccoli lovers and healthy food watchers!

I got this recipe from Panera Bread. It used to be my favorite snack place during my college days. Here ya go! ;)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, chopped (very small)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half (It's hard to find half-and-half here, so mix milk & double cream together)
2 cups chicken stock or bouillon (or just dissolve one cube of chicken Maggie in 2 cups of water)
1/2 pound broccoli (add more if you love broccoli, but make sure to cut it in half for good presentation ;p)
1 cup carrots, julienned
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (powder, or you can buy a whole nutmeg and grate it)
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar (buy the ready cheddar cheese from Kraft)

Directions

Sautee chopped onion in butter (to make it tender). Set aside. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. (I always cook it in low heat since we use gas ovens and not electrical). Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half (this is called making a roux). Add the chicken stock whisking all the time. Simmer for 20 minutes (10 minutes would do).

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender for 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper (I usually eyeball it, then taste). The soup should be thickened by now. Pour in batches into blender and puree. (You don't need to do this step if the soup is already pureed from cooking. I usually omit this step). If you decided to puree the soup in the blender, return it to the pot over low heat and add the grated cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in nutmeg and serve.

For garnish, add a bit of cheddar cheese on top, and voila! This soup serves 4. (Double the ingredients for 8).

Mochness, tell me how it turns out ;)

Enjoy =)

Youth Culture...Street Style

2006-05-09T13:37:00.000+03:00

Personally, I do like the new street style. It's very creative, glitzy and just colorful. The new style has a long history behind it. Ever asked yourself how these styles came up to existence?

Well nowadays, you see youngsters wearing torn jeans of different washes, plaid-flowers-tartan skirts, pantyhoses worn with socks, golden cinderella flat shoes, scrunchies as hair bands, and vintage t-shirts that say "wanna lick my breasts"? Not to forget the 80's style DMC glasses. Most of whats in the closet are worn in one-go. Just throw hoola hoop earings and 10 neck chains of different colors and voila! You got the new FUNKED up style.

Last fashion season people were obsessed with Indian style attire--sari's tailored as tops or handbags etc etc.

This season people are obsessed.. not only with Japanese products ..but obsessed with being & looking like Japanese as a whole! lol that just cracks me up.

Cocue skirts
Tabio socks (from Japanese word tabi, meaning split-toe socks)
Eating sushi
Shu Uemura make up (to turn u into Japanese "Memoirs of a Geisha" style)
Monkey Business (created by Japanese designer called Nigo)
...and the lovely Hello Kitty

Now, how many of you out there purchased at least 2 of these products? I know I did ;p

I think dressing up is an art. One who comes up with new styles and not someone who just copy-cats the latest trend. Being compulsive obsessive about it is a no-no. I know I bought maybe 2 or 3 Japanese products, but I never wore or used all of them at once.

I bet next season's style will be the "peasant look" ;p

Anyway, the best Japanese fashion label for me is Tabio. It's like the best thing created since sliced bread! ;p

Seyounara people! ;)

Wait Till You Hear

2006-04-21T16:20:00.000+03:00

I have been dreaming very weird dreams lately. Last night, Regis Philbin was in my dream. I really cant' remember what happened exactly, but I invited him to Lilou's Cafe ;p

Thursday morning was great. Had brunch with my sister and aunt at one of my favorite places. But waited for 20 minutes for our food to be served. I don't know what's up with these restaurant kitchens, it wasn't the first time for our food to be brought late. I remember 2 weeks ago in London..I'm not kidding..my sister, friend and I waited for a whole 45 minutes! The waitress told us they forgot to put our order in. Stupid, how could that happen.

Anyway, so just while we were eating, a very cute couple enter the cafe. The lady was an Arab; a Khaleeji to be exact. Her husband was either European or American. They were sitting far from us, so I wasn't able to pick up his accent. But oh boy, the people inside had bulging eyes once they saw them walking in LOL. I really liked how he treated her! He was holding her hands the whole time. Just before she sat on the chair, he cleaned it for her! He even escorted her to the lady's room. Oh, I forgot to mention she ws pregnant. How adorable.

My aunt was raged and full of jealousy. Not because of how racially different they couple were, but because of how she's been treated by her husband ;p She huffed-and-puffed and said, "Malat 3la ryayeelna, hamhom el6al3at m3a rab3hom. 6al esawoon lina chthy" LOOL. Men these days keep constructing escuses to stop goin out with their wives or taking the kids to Magic Island or going to the Grocery Market to get food for the house. (taken from my aunt's mouth).

Most of the time I dont agree with my "unhappy" aunt or any woman's replusive attitude toward her husband.

I still believe there are men worth marrying =p

Speaking of marriages, my youngest uncle who is only 6 months older than me, is getting engaged to a 20-yr old. I am very happy for him and I hope he treats her fairly-- we dont want more women criticizing their husbands =p

Lastly, I would like to know your opinion about interacial marriages. Are you with or against them?

And what do you think about young married couples?

Cheers.

~nonnah~

I smell something fishy…

2006-03-05T08:13:00.000+03:00

Well not literally.

I work in a very congested place. In a Porta-Cabin. Since I'm always on-site, I have to tolerate all the bad naughty men, their misbehavior, their bad smell, and whatnot.

I'm the only local girl, and the ONLY female in this hell-hole, aside from the two secretaries. I do like my colleagues: two from Philippines, one Canadian, two Britons, and one Indian. But I don't like the visitors we get from outside. Our office holds $500,000,000 worth of projects, and we lack in staff…talk about managerial order, not.

But never mind that, I can handle anything that goes around in this hell-hole, but what I cannot stand and put up with is the smell... Smell of bad breath and perspiration that come from that filthy body of theirs. Especially our janitor. Whenever he comes into my office (well I don’t have an office per se, but a small space) I try to hold my breath as long as possible. I even choked on my own breath once. I cannot describe the smell. It's strange, never have I encountered such smell.

The thing that agitates me the most is that I cannot force myself to tell him about his bad odor…I'm too sweet ;p.. He only hangs around 2 hrs every morning. So, I promised myself to have patience .... And to get a grip ;p.

Now I start bringing air fresheners and candles (not allowed) to the office.

Good thing, we will all be allocated into a different office…except for the poor janitor.

Bits & Bobs

2006-03-04T15:16:00.000+03:00

Hey guys! I'm announcing my come-back =)
I have been neglecting my blog space, simply because I don't know what to write in it.
I do read several particular blogs, and I could relate to some of them. But I just can't seem to start blogging.

I'm a lazy bum =p. But I promised my nagging sister, N.A., that I'll be a good girl and keep my space running.

I don't like sharing my personal experience with anyone, especially when it means publishing it on the World Wide Web =p I mean, for all I care, I might be scrutinized for what I write and maybe tracked down by a psychopath ;p

Anyway, I thought of beginning writing about random things about myself; bits & bobs.

1. This weekend, I have been pulled over by a cop and given a ticket for passing a red signal. I know for sure I passed the YELLOW signal--not red. He didn't stop the driver behind me. Chauvinistic to the core. And to let everyone know, I hate driving, but I'm obliged to...occasionally.

2. I like Waterlemon's crepe. So on Wednesday, I deliberately went and ordered one to go. It was around 11 at night. When I got home, I was too tired to eat, so I stuffed it in the fridge. The next morning, I cursed myself for doing that--the crepe was all soggy and bad ;( But I ate it anyway.

3. I once took interest in nail care. I never grow mine to be long and glam. They always break. So I thought of trying fake nails (I thought I had to since it was my aunt's wedding, I wanted to look all glam & shimmery from head to toe). Anyway so I sat for around 1.5 hrs to have them get fixed and glued. When I got home I couldn't stop tapping on anything infront me, and I liked the sensation of running my fingers (with long nails) through my hair. Anyhow, after two weeks of having them, they grew longer and started to irritate me. This is when i started using a pen to dial numbers from my phone ;p.

4. I have a hip that makes a weird cracking sound, shall I have it examined?

5. Once, In a mid Pennsylvanian harsh winter, I walked to the bus stop with wet hair and no beanie or skully to cover my head (very stupid idea). Five minutes later, my hair got all icy. Without any exaggeration, icicles started forming at the end of my roots.

6. I don't have any leisure pursuits or any other kind of personal interests (according to n.a. ;p)

7. I'm scared of any creature or moving thing other than human beings. But I try to be friendly around them. (I'm not scared of insects)

This is about how long I could stand writing about random stuff.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed it.
More to come....

Meet-and-Greet

2005-12-14T09:12:00.000+03:00

Hey all. This is my first post in Bloggers' Land!

Hope you make me feel like home and help me keep my posts runnin'!

Cheers =)