Hazy Days...

I think I ought to change the title of my blog since we've been in Malaysia for like, ages now...well actually nearly 2 months. The hubby is still waiting to be called back to Iran to commence with the project but it seems like we'll be in Malaysia for another month or so.. However, at the moment we're not too anxious to go back to Iran, though - what with the political turmoil going on over there. We wouldn't like to be caught in the clashes between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi supporters! Anyway, I hope we'll manage to get back to Iran before summer ends or else we'll be greeted with a dreary wintry landscape! Although.. I'm not terribly excited about the hot, scorching weather we're having in Malaysia at the moment. (Praise be to Allah..but O God, please give us some rain..) It was quite hazy, too a few days back. I caught some pictures then, while we went jogging.. er.. walking.. in the Setia Alam Park. You can see how hazy it was that day. I thought it was silly to be going out for some exercise if you're going to breathe in some foul gasses, but there you are...the hubby said I need the exercise. (anyway, I always manage to get him buy me breakfast; thosei today, nasi kerabu next...hey, those are healthy breakfast you know!) By the way, for all fathers out there: Happy Father's Day! Check out Luther Vandross' 'Dance With My Father Again' - lovely song..

Weddings

It's school break time.. and that means wedding invitations! Last weekend, we attended two weddings. On Saturday it was the wedding ceremony of my good friend Ainon's son Ahmad Zubair. The couple looked lovely in blue... It was also a delightful surprise to meet our daughter-in-law's parents there as well! They came down from Sungai Petani to visit their eldest daughter for the school holidays. We stayed for sometime catching up on the latest news...

The next day, we attended another wedding. The father of the bride is a cook and he cooked for our son's wedding three years ago. And naturally the menu was quite extensive... although they were mostly Javanese-oriented. Anyway, here are two pictures from Ahmad Zubair's wedding and one from the other one (I wanted to take more from the second wedding but my phone camera suddenly refused to cooperate after the first pic - darn!)

Spring Cleaning

I haven't been writing these past few weeks - caught the lazy bug! No.., I was actually a little bit busy with housekeeping; tidying up the old house which has been accumulating junk over the years. The primary school which my children used to go when they were young holds a jumble sale about twice a year for school report day and it is a good opportunity to get rid of stuff and donate to the school as well. So, I have been quite ruthless and got rid of most of the childrens' clothings which I suppose they wouldn't need now that they are not living here anymore.. Except for the daughter who accumulates clothes and shoes and insists she needs all of them even if every inch of her wardrobe and drawers are filled to bursting point! Anyway, the attic certainly looks much tidier and spacious now.. with a little help from the hubby of course.

By the way, thank you Nur Diyanah for the suggestion on yogurt making. I'm sure the hubby will find the tip useful indeed!

I'm posting some lovely pictures of my cute and adorable grandson (any grandmother will say that about her grandchild..). Here they are:

Yummy Yogurt

My husband is as pleased as the cat that's got the cream.. or in this case, yogurt! He has been complaining since coming back to Malaysia that the price of his favourite food; the humble plain yogurt is atrocious compared to in Iran. So he has been surfing the internet for make-your-own yogurt recipes. He got one which requires heating 8 parts milk until just before boiling and then letting the milk cool until about 100 degrees F. Add 1 part yogurt (starter) and then keep warm for 10 hours (he wraps the pan with layers of tea towels and placing it in a prewarmed oven). His first two tries were well.. not exactly disasters but watery and not as sour as it should be. I thought he was going to give up but.. anyway, on his third effort; he forgot about the cooling milk and thus it was left longer than the previous experiment (that's how I got most of my pans burnt when he starts warming leftover food..). He added the starter anyway and surprise, surprise the yogurt turned out firm and tasted, well.. like yogurt! It turned out that he got the temperature of the cooled milk wrong - instead of 100 degrees F; he added the starter at 100 degrees C! So now, we have endless supply of yogurt to our hearts' desire.. And that's why my darling husband is as pleased as the cat's that got the erm.. yogurt!

Camping Trip

I just got back from a 'camping' programme. It was at G7 in Perak. We left Klang at about 3.30am on Friday 1st May (Labour day holiday) and arrived home about 9.30pm. We didn't exactly camp, we stayed at Rindu Alam Motel - a dorm-like accomodation, simple, but reasonably clean. I was one of the facsilitators.. the participants had to build rafts, go orienteering, attend workshops, learn self-defense etc. Anyway it was tiring - even for me who didn't have to participate in all the events.. Came back with a sore knee but getting better today. It must be through drinking iced water (or it may have something to do with age..). Have been trying not to drink any iced beverages since coming back from Iran (something easy to do over there with the cold weather). Anyway, have been kicking myself since just now when I remembered I have a blog; for not taking any pictures of the trip (not one!) to paste in here.. aarrgh

Back Home

I'm back in Malaysia now. It's so good to be back. The climate is warmer though - much, much warmer! We arrived on the 18th. I went on Iran Air but the hubby came on Emmirates. I arrived about 6 hours earlier and waited for him (his flight was delayed; so was mine - when it was still in Tehran..) Anyway, when he arrived at about 3.30pm we went home on Qussam's taxi that I called when I arrived in the morning. Well, life is getting pretty busy now that we're home. We attended a daurah last night and met most of our friends. And I'm going to the school tomorrow for an iftar. Plan to bake a cheesecake tomorrow to take there.. And on Sunday, I hope to attend the SMWI at Shah Alam. I still need to go and see Aniz and have a little chat. Anyway, here are some pictures of our travels that I promised:

Adik at the Malaysian Embassy in Cairo

Father and son moment..

Adik and his 'big' friends (two are 'wardens' at the 'hostel')

Street in Cairo (a mix of modern and ancient means of transportation)

Shopping for groceries at supermarket near Adik's 'hostel'

Rumah perlis - where we stayed

Having to cross the tramlines to get to Adik's place from Rumah Perlis

Cairo city

This was taken near the biggest library in the African continent in Alexandria..

With Basyir (my ex-student) who was our guide in Alex

Taken from inside the Citadel in Alex

Taken near the Library

In front of the Citadel

Statue of Alexander The Great near Library

This is one of the entrances into the famous bazaar in Cairo, Khan Khalili

Sights in Cairo..

At Khan Khalili Bazaar

Trip to Tehran

Yesterday, we went to Tehran. We had to go on a weekday as the shops would be open. So, after the hubby got back from work in the afternoon we rushed to the bus station only to find it already full. Therefore we decided to go on the 'microbus' - the first time for us. The vehicle stopped at 'Harem-e-Motaher' (I hope I got the spelling right) metro station which goes to Mirdamat. That was great but the fare was just about RM5 less than a taxi and it was taking us still further from Tehran (about half an hour ride compared to one hour on the bus). However, the cheap metro ticket fare offset the amount... And part of the journey was overground so we got to see some countryside view... And the train was almost empty when we got on so we got seats.

Anyway we stopped at Shouys and got cuttleries and a teapot. It was starting to drizzle then. Then we got on the metro again and stopped at Saadi and yeah... I got myself a new leather handbag! My feet were starting to kill me then so we headed on home. By the time we got to Sadighieah bus station, it started to rain heavily - there was thunder, too, and cold (thank God I brought along my sweater). Well, we reached home about 9.20, tired out...

So today, I stay home but the hubby has gone to Tehran for his Friday prayers.

I want to post pictures but alas with dial-up internet it just takes ages just to post a picture and after the first posting which I have no idea why it was more successful then my later attempts, I have almost given up! Anyway, never fear, we are going back to Malaysia next week and when I get home (sweet home...), I'm going to post lots of picture cos' we have streamyx down there...!

So..here are updated pics:

The metro - underground train

Queuing for tickets (please ignore the terribly misleading date at the bottom..)

Hubby shopping

Hubby enjoying pizza

Farmer's market near home

Walnuts - usually sold whole

More nuts

Gigantic veggies..