Sunday Lunch

On sunday, my dear friend invited us over for a big lunch at her gorgeous new house. We made our way to south Dublin after Aidan’s midday nap, hubby couldn’t make it as he was on call yet again on a Sunday. I think he’s been working back to back the last 3 weekends, how insanely crazy!

With the great hosts and Aini whom I have not met for over a year, and btw Aidan was dangling onto me hence the funny pose!

Aidan, Alea, Aishah

Restraining the hyper boy in the bumbo

Watching the bigger kids play dart

The new house is really beautiful and bright in a highly sought after address, 4 bedrooms, a very spacious kitchen with a breakfast bar and separate dining. I took a tour and really loved how she decorated Ayman’s bedroom, just like a scene from ikea.

There was a sumptuous spread of  food on top of the yummy cupcakes made especially by the lovely hostess, which reminds me I must get hold of that Hummingbird recipe book.

Another worthy Sunday,  we went home happy and content. Thank you for inviting us and also  for the lovely birthday presents Aunty Shahnaz, Aidan loves them all!

Early Birthday Surprise!

Bitha and family paid us a visit over the weekend,  surprising us with a lovely gift, cute cards for each of us and even a cake.

It’s amazing how she remembered both our birthdays! 

The surprise birthday cake for the both of us

Funny thing is even I didn’t buy a cake for Aidan! Bad, bad mum!

Birthday boy, birthday mum and Aidan's new toy

Looks like we’ll be sharing many, many more birthdays together Aidan, whether you like it or not!

with the lovely guests, Bitha and her bouncing baby. Thanks dear!

Have I ever mentioned that Aidan’s EDD was supposed to be on my birthday ?

BUT, of course he wanted his own special day and came 3 days early!

Garden BBQ

So finally yesterday we met up with 3 of our friends, they have been tied up with work and oncalls lately that it was difficult to gather everyone.

Woke up early saturday morning to sunny weather and a couple rounds of text messages and calls later, we decided to go ahead with a BBQ.

Hubby came home midday after a night out oncall and headed straight to the nearest halal shop.

Few hours later we got the bbq running in our back garden and feasted on beef burgers, lamb koftas, garlic butter mussels, lamb chops, flaming hot chicken with coleslaw and potato salad on the sides.

Good food, great company, fabulous day!

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Aidan’s Little Visitor

A friend dropped over yesterday bringing along her cute little 3 month old.

Aidan was so smitten with the little one that he couldn’t take his hands off him,

here’s the both of them watching Playhouse Disney together.

Aidan and Aiman

Okay Aidan..errr....no hair pulling please!

Back To Normal!

I just realized  my last post was 10 days ago.

Life has been a little crazy lately, Aidan was down with Roseola last week and kept us awake for 5 nights in a row.

And during the day, it didn’t help that he became completely listless with the constant temperature spikes.

And this was despite me giving calpol and neurofen continuously!

He refused every bottle offered and no amount of Playhouse Disney could cheer him up.

Let’s just say, he was just plain cranky! And I was getting frustrated. And tired.

We were on the brink of bringing him to the hospital when suddenly …walaa!!!

He became  a happy kid again!

( And thank god he was not admitted, I am pretty sure some people would be questioning my skills   )

You gave us a big scare Aidan! ( That's him yesterday )

So now he’s back to what he does best – jumping on  the jumperoo.

I swear if there is a competition out there for babies, this boy could easily win the gold!

Here’s proof :

And since he’s back to his normal self again, we went to visit Aidan’s new friend, baby X!

Uji safely delivered a handsome baby boy last Thursday. Big congratulations to you both!

He had no name on Sunday so we were calling him X. The parents have finally decided on a name today and it sounds very much like Aidan I'll let them do the official announcement.

Open House 2009

The little one is taking his morning nap now giving me about 20 minutes to do up this post.

As promised here are some photos from the open house. After browsing through my camera, it turned out that I didn’t have that many photos after all *LOL*

To be honest, I was pretty nervous at the thought of  inviting friends over as the house was nowhere near ready. All we had was a kitchen that was 70% complete and a bedroom which only had a bed and a wardrobe. I only knew mum had placed her old furniture when I arrived in KL.

So that was why I handed out those invitations 3-4 days before, talk about last minute!

It was great to meet-up with all of  you after all these years especially Raz whom I haven’t met since those London days in 1998 or was it 1999??

And to Miss Cream who drove from KL- Ipoh for a friend’s wedding,  back to KL and arrived just in time for our do. I’m amazed that your kids are so well behaved after that really long road trip!

First to arrive was Mother of 3!

Princess Kiki has grown a lot since I last saw her

i've known her since our CBN days

Ithink I have like 10 shots of this particular photo. Didn’t know where to look, there were far too many cameras!

See what I mean ? ( Behind - Is that Imtiyaz having a go at the drum ?)

Another cam-whoring session in the house - oh so many babies!

Am envious of these 2 who have a full mop of hair whilst Aidan has none!

Momster and Dydd, I hope you didn’t go home hungry

To the rest : Coffee-junkie, Krezijexx, Nadio, Mummy-O, Tun – Thank you all for coming, I know some of you had many other obligations with the raya season going full force at the time.

And not too forget the lovely gifts and duit raya for Aidan, it was very much appreciated!

Hope to see all of you again next year!

ps: For some stange reason the quality of the photos are not great when I upload them here. Hmmm…

Heatwave

Love the smell of sun dried laundry

Last week’s 5 day heatwave was certainly unusual for the month of June with temperatures soaring into the mid 20s.

But this week we are back to experiencing the typically insane Irish weather that I have given up drying my clothes out in the garden as one minute it could be all sunny and bright and the next minute, it’s all gloomy with drizzling rain.

Once again I began comparing photos in my album and you  could clearly see how the warm sunny weather brought most people out of their homes.

Sizzling June 2009

The weather makes such a big difference to a scene.

The exact same spot. Bitter cold and wintry December

Anyway, on a separate note, last week too I received the worst possible news one could ever ask for. It was devastating to hear that one of my work colleagues whom I used to have daily lunches with at the hospital was one of the unfortunate passengers on that ill-fated flight 447 enroute to Paris. While last week’s sunshine may be an uplift in someone’s spirit, hearing news like this would definitely set you down in the lowest of moods. I kept thinking of her fate everytime I wake up in the middle of the night.

My heart goes to her family, I cannot imagine what they are going through now. May you rest in peace.

Picnic in the Park

Birdie mid-flight

Birds flying high,
You know how I feel.
Sun in the sky,
You know how I feel.
Reeds driftin’ on by,
You know how I feel.

It’s a new dawn,
It’s a new day,
It’s a new life,
For me.
And I’m feeling good

( Micheal Buble )

Another birdie

We’ve had such a nice return of glorious spring weather recently that we spent a good 5 hours in the sun, walking along the pier, enjoying the gentle sea breeze and taking photos of old rusty boats and sea gulls. It’s true that having a camera does make you extra aware of what is around you.

The scenery behind us exudes a sense of calmness and serenity that we felt refreshed after the walk

I made him climb the steep steps so that I could take a photo of the cloudless sky

Our usual weekend haunt would be the fishmonger and we bought sea bass, salmon and prawns. I was tempted to buy the live crabs and lobster but as our freezer is currently packed to the brim, we had to settle for the fish.

Spoilt for choice

Friends joined us for a spur-of-the-moment picnic in the sun and we had another dose of fish and chips. It is always handy to have a picnic mat ready in the car with summer coming along real soon.

My RM10 tikar came in handy

I wonder where we should go next ? I just hope the weather will be kind to us for the next couple of months and my idea of the perfect picnic should include Nasi Lemak too.

Come Dine With Me

Last Friday night I had this sudden craving for Chicken Rendang and so we rushed at 8pm to the local Malaysian/Asian store looking for ingredients.

We couldn’t find any galangal or tumeric so that dampened my mood, I could make a simple version of it but I knew it wouldn’t taste the same. We did find some frozen crabs though.

The very next day which happened to be Valentine’s Day, a few friends decided to pay our new home a visit.

Luckily I was in the mood to cook and with our kitchen well stocked with food, I made ‘Nasi Lemak with Sambal Ayam and Sweet and Sour Crab’.

Food prepared with love

I should have taken a close-up of the Sambal Ayam and Sweet and Sour Crab, as always hubby was too busy munching away! And that is why we never have photos of home cook meals…heheh.

Time for dessert!

The meal was followed by tea and New York Vanilla Cheesecake which wasn’t homemade by the way

I-know-I-look-like-a-WHALE-at-29-weeks!

I was tired at the end of the day, but it was all worth it!

Bonne Chance!

To My Dear Friend,

I never had a chance to bid adieu or give you a proper farewell, and I really hope you are settling well back home in the warm tropical sun. Who cares if a freaking frapuccino costs rm15, for you should feel grateful that you are now surrounded by your loved ones

I am going to miss our Nasi Campur sessions in Malaysia Hall

I will certainly miss our little road trips in Dublin and UK and I can never thank you enough for going that extra mile for me everytime I am down in London. What will I do without you now? Heheh.

A rare Dublin moment and feeling young in 2006.

Wishing you all the very best in your new career in HUKM and you will probably find that the grass is always greener on the other side. Perhaps one day, I will be joining you too.

As each new gate opens and new paths unfold, may you find the best of all things that a lifetime can hold. Here’s a toast to a new life and a very successful career! Amin.

ps: You still owe me that cupcake trip in Nottinghill.