50 Years Young

I am 50 years 10 days young today... Yes, celebrated my 50th birthday 10 days ago. Well, not exactly celebrating it as such because birthdays are usually quiet affairs in our family - maybe a home-baked cake or a special home-cooked meal or sometimes eating out; when the children were younger... Anyway, coincidently, 12th January was also an Open Day at the colllege and there was a blood donation drive by the local hospital at the same time there. For 50 years of my life I've never donated blood so I thought it was about time I did and so there I was, the first person to register... The fact that I haven't done it before isn't because it scares me but the opportunity just didn't arise. And I was right, it was no big deal and not very painful at all; so for all of you out there - donate blood and save a life! Here's a picture of the memorable event...

And below is a picture of the cake my colleagues bought to celebrate those of us whose birthdays fall on the same month - for 3 of us: Am, Nita and I (thus the 3 candles... it would have to be 50 if it's just for moi - would probably melt the whole cake lol) Thanks - appreciate it!

New Year Happenings

We went home to Klang New Year Eve - reached KL just in time to join the traffic jam caused by New Year revellers.. The main reason for us making the journey even though 1st January is not a public holiday in Terengganu :( (I had to apply for leave) was because a niece was getting married that day. She's actually my brother's stepdaughter, and I had promised to bake a blueberry cake for her. We were late for the 'nikah' ceremony though, because we had to visit another niece first (my sister's daughter), who was warded for dengue in Seremban Hospital. Her father had actually caught dengue - twice - before this! (they should declare Seremban as a 'dengue-hazard' zone or something) Anyway, she seemed fine and was released the next day. The wedding reception was at a hotel on Saturday night but we had to leave for KT Saturday afternoon as we had to work on Sunday... (still can't get used to the fact that Sunday is a working day, well... can't get used to "working" actually!) The students at the college were sitting for their finals on Monday and I had a class on Sunday for last minute revisions...

At the 'nikah' ceremony "someone" wanted to give us a surprise but what he hadn't realised yet was the fact that a mother always knows everything (after God, ie)... The second son came back from Melbourne without telling us intending to give his mom a heart attack but his uncle (my brother) unwittingly let the cat out of the bag just before we arrived at the 'kenduri'! He'll have to get back to Melbourne in a couple of weeks time, though. Anyway, here's a pic of the happy couple on their wedding day:

And below is obviously not the picture of the blueberry cake that I had baked... (forgot to take a picture; in fact I baked 2 blueberry cakes, arrgh..!) anyway, this is a Terengganu's 'bubur asyura' which one my colleagues brought to share in the staff-room. It's a traditional dish but this one's particular to Terengganu (never tasted it before). Not bad though, only you couldn't decide whether it's meant to be sweet or savoury!