I'm so in LOVE

I have a good news. i am proud to announce that i am in a healthy relationship. that's what i believe. we met few times before but i never really think of it. then, last weekend we met again. this time. i finally admit my feeling. yes i am so in love with...HUMUS .hahahaha LOL

in fact Harumi also feels exactly the same. we are ditching those fatty spread and dips.

the love story goes like this. on one particular one hot sunday noon i brought her to enjoy lil middle east cuisine. so we ordered a large chicken kabsha and mix appetizer wit humus dip. the restaurant was very crowded. we dint expect the main dish arrived on time..the same time as the appetizer. guess what? we ended up eating appetizer and forgetting the main dish. the rice was a lot. it's like we could feed the whole entire apartment block with it. to note,we're forcing ourselves to finish it and i swear..next time im just going to share a regular kabsha wit 2.

humus...my mind was fully occupied with the thoughts of eating it..i like the creamy..sourish taste..a good alternative to mayo or cream cheese. i pictured myself wrapping it in lettuce leaves..yummy. perhaps i could buy ready made in the hypermarket near my office.

monday noon. i was all set with a mission to hunt for humus...NO! i couldnt find it anywhere..only the same western dipping sauce..the solution is to make my own humus. i had no choice but to learn it now...i mean NOW or never. I browsed for online recipe..wow easy..very easy and i mean it..just chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice and tahini. hey wait, what on earth is TAHINI...so i had to click the word tahini and so much relieved to know that basically it just a blend of sesame seed and olive oil.

tuesday noon..i went to get all the ingredients.still trying to look for ready made tahini..but to no avail . undoubtly, i had to start from scratch and i opted for canned chickpeas. i am craving for humus at the very moment, i'll be all frustated to actually soak the chickpeas for a night and cooking it will take some time too. maybe next time i'll buy the dry chickpeas, it's cheaper.

i finished shopping the ingredients,

1. chickpeas
2. lemon juice
3. sesame seeds
4. olive oil-no need..still have at home

still..i have this feeling "i want humus now!"
i remembered there's new middle east restaurant opened in the mall they must have humus. so i went there..specifically ordered humus and Sahara chicken which i dont really care...i want humus only..but chicken be okay too..i was super hungry anyway.

i almost did a happy dance when the waiter brought my humus."yesss i got my humus". i went back to office...walked as fast as i could. finally when i arrived at my partition ...and took the pita bread included ..dipped it inside the humus..what a life...i imagine myself being cleopatra..stuffing my beautiful face with the humus with the servants looking and admiring me..(okay..that's too much) i was totally immersed in my "humus experience" when my boss came to my desk and told me..meeting at 230.yikes..it's 2.00 and i needed to go and pray and get ready...so i said " see you soon...my dear humus" and off to the ladies for whuduk.

the meeting ended at 4.30 pm. it's time to go home. once i reached home, i continued eating the humus..and harumi was more than happy to join. we dipped the slices of carrot, wrapped it with lettuce..aaaa heaven.

Today..wednesday night..finally i got to try my experiment.
first, i toasted the sesame seeds for 5 mins..almost burnt it :)
blended it with olive oil..so there was my TAHINI.
then, blended the chickpeas, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and some salt...
tadaaa..in less than 15 mins i got my smooth creamy texture of HUMUS.
i think its better than the one i bought from the restaurant.. love it!!!
harumi totally agreed with me.well, she always does ;P

honestly..both of us were almost hysterical..proud to be able to prepare our own HUMUS. i asked Harumi to decorate it a lil bit..so i cut some carrots and took out some water crackers. hahaha. we put all in a plate..too bad we dint have suitable bowl that could look more presentable. it's okay even though harumi ended making a "semi-constructed" well for the olive oil..

here are three photos..since it's phenomenal (according to our dictionary..), we decided to post it in the blog..

pretty lousy decoration but it's a good attempt

Harumi presenting mr.Humus-san

almost empty plate in less than 20mins..BANZAI!!!

by the end of the day, my conclusion is..our love for HUMUS..will go on..i'll make it more next time and keep it refrigerated.i even promised Harumi to make some for her to take back to japan.

owwh..i put labels on the bottles, one is HUMUS...another one is TAHINI..just in case my brother thinks those two are mayo and peanut butter.better label it now..before he complains crankly and wasting my "humus' down the bin.

it's gonna be a "humus affair" for a while. "have dinner at home tomorrow" i told harumi. but no rice will be served. i got marinated shrimps and chicken..so guess, what salad we're going to eat tomorrow? rite! you are totally rite, HUMUS salad of course.hahaha

a humus affair updated

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

This is a random post on friendship.

The Art of Day-DreaMinG

i am..Bulan. a day-dreamer. i day dream almost anywhere, about anything minus the erotic dreams. it's humiliating when i was caught day dreaming in a meeting. yes, the nature of my job involves lots of meeting. there were times i have to attend meetings almost everyday. honestly, most of the meeting are draggy enough which making me find ways to amuse myself. i dream of flying on a flying carpet. yes literally. no kidding. climb the highest mountain or just normal ones like what o eat for lunch, what drinks, books i wanted to read etc.
i have attention deficit which i tried to deny before. it's like denying my natural being..the worst part is the fact that i am denying myself, not letting me to be myself.

Me as Princess Jasmine with my "Aladdin" taking a ride on the flying carpet

finally, when i was in varsity, i started to acknowledge my "day-dreaming" behaviour. so what i do is to give myself 3 mins to dream after every 30-40 mins. amazingly, i dont feel that im being left in my own lala land. i can just get back to the "real" world in a blink. it's a fun thing to do and ease my tension. im not missing anything..not missing any important details of the meetings. surprisingly, i could jot down more details compared to my colleague. it's proven when few times after meetings, when me and colleague need to write reports. i found out that they are missing some very important details. hahaha

my mind always wonders. it's like there are bubble of clouds on my head every now and then. however i dont let it out. it's safely secured in my rusty brain. i think one of the problem with them missing details and rambling nonsense is that they dont allow themselves to think nonsense. so they end up saying it. i think nonsense but i dont say it aloud..oh well maybe to some "lucky" friends :) it's hard when people judge me for being nonsense..i am not crazy, i dont hallucinate. i just have colourful dreams and i dont think it's a problem. i realised i dont want to stop day dreaming, i dont have too. my life is perfectly balanced. at least, that's what i think..

"I never bother about that. Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter." (Dr Suess)

"hey just focus on the main details..this is not a literature class and we dont need to write a 350 words essay"
perhaps blogging does help me to limit my day dreaming..but NO..i do enjoy it and glad that Allah gives me such thoughts. i dont have many friends..not that im "unpopular" but i always been entertained by my "wanders". i have no problems in socialising. people do enjoy my company..it just that i enjoy my own company too. it's a way to avoid gossip and backbiting. i do know some gossip before others but i dont feel the need to spread it. it's just a like a wind passing through.

i like to feel "smart" every time i go to Parliament to supervised other officers on duty. so mine is to approve the details that have been prepared by them. guess what, they always missed some details. how could it be? they seemed very serious..paying all attention to the speaker and sit properly most of the time. Me? i was slouching most of the time. napping once awhile. the politicians could be darn boring at times and who could sit straight for the whole day.


I am happy to claim that..

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL DAY-DREAMER"

Skirts? Dresses? Who cares...

i have this great interest in frilly flowing summer dresses/ skirts. always do..but being a "European size" lady in a petite Asian culture always turns me down. the dress/skirt is either too small or too short for me..way above my ankle and as a hijabi..it's way too inappropriate for me.

one day, i saw this frilly floral smocked dress with small strings as straps..it's nice but not long enough, plus i dont have suitable cardigan to wear with..anyway..cardigan is not so practical in this boiling weather of a tropical country..i'll get all sweaty in less than one hour and i''ll get super conscious with my body odour regardless excessive sprays of perfume. Stinks..stinks Bulan ;#[

somehow, i let my hands ran through the dress..mmm..this smocked here could treat as elastic band..perhaps a little bit high..but comfortable enough since it wont stuck between rolls of my "cute" belly.. hahaha. so i need to give it a little bit of experiment.

yes..i bought the dress for less than rm50 and yes again..any clothes cost me above that is considered expensive. so can you imagine how did i look like when my mom told me that she bought 2 batik cloth worth rm300 and rm100 including a cotton cloth for rm5o..minus the tailor's cost. Wow!!! i nearly dropped my jaws..what the...Please Mom..stop buying more cloth. i have more than enough clothes for Eid..of course she said that i need not to pay for it but I WILL..i think everything will cost me rm1000..huh!!! i'm still a little girl to my mom and she loves to dress me..still.

the truth is.. im a cheapskate which i believe that i never failed to make a cheap stuff looked cool on me :) so, back to my dress's story.

i matched the dress (which is now a skirt to me) with a loose man's shirt...tadaa..the result is a modest look which im pretty much satisfied. i do have matching blouse that i could wear with it but just feel like trying to fit the baggy man's shirt in my wardrobe for my own convenience. Easy to look for my size and i could just kidnap from my bros' closet..:") talking about being an immoral cheapskate!!!! LOL

i have some pics of dresses that can be converted into skirts which mostly suitable for casual outings, classes or just for weekly grocery shopping at a nearby supermarket.

I simply love this red dress. you can just detach the strings off the dress or just hide it inside. you never know..you might want to wear it as a dress at the comfort of your home for "his" eyes only. ;P

Seriously, who could tell if you're wearing a skirt or a dress. This strapless dress is definitely destined to serve as a skirt for me.

This "innocent" look can be worn with almost any colour of tops.

I'm going bananas for these floral printed Hawaiian theme cotton dresses. It's summer all year here :) cotton keeps me cool
on a hot, hot day


another cute strapless dress, but this one is a long dress that can be worn with pink tops (my fave) or slip on a long cardigan and off you go for a day outing with your friends or even taking the children for a day out in the park. *in my case..taking my wabbits out for a walk*

RAW fruit Pie..I'm So Gonna Try this..this weekend

There are only three ingredients:
2 cups raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, etc) – don’t soak the nuts
1 cup dates, pitted
1/4 tsp sea salt (optional)

Put the raw nuts in a food processor, and blend with the S-blade until the nuts are reduced to small crumbs. (This will be very noisy when you first turn on the machine.) Add the dates and salt, and blend again until there are no more chunks of dates. The end result should look like loose crumbs.
Pour the crumbs into a 9-inch pie plate, and use your hands to press them into the form of a pie crust. It may take a little practice to get it to look symmetrical, but it isn’t difficult. I usually start by pressing straight down to get the bottom flat, and then I press around the sides as I turn the pie plate. You can make the pie crust flush with the top of the pie plate, or you can create a lip around the edges. The strawberry pie shown above has a lip; the other photos show pies without the lip. Sculpt it however you like.

Put the pie crust in the freezer for about 15 minutes. This helps it become more firm and solid. Fortunately this is just enough time to prepare the filling.
There are countless variations on the ingredients you can use to make the crust, but generally the best place to start is with raw nuts and some kind of chewy dried fruit. Instead of dates you can use raisins or figs.

The salt is optional, but I find that a little salt in the crust makes for a nice contrast to the sweet fruit mixture that will fill the pie.

You can also add some spices like cinnamon or nutmeg. If you like the taste of coconut, try adding some shredded coconut as well.

How to Make the Fruit Filling
Making the filling is quite simple and only requires three ingredients:
6 cups fresh fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, cherries, peaches, apples, etc.
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 cup dates, soaked about 10 minutes

Blueberry pie is the easiest to make because the blueberries don’t require any prep work other than washing. If you’re using larger fruits, you’ll need to cut them into smaller chunks. If you’re making strawberry pie, cut off the stem part, and cut the strawberries into quarters (into sixths or eighths if the berries are very large). For cherry pie, pit the cherries and then quarter each cherry. For apple pie, cut the apples into thin slices or small chunks.
Put 2 cups of the fruit, the lemon juice, and the soaked dates (minus the soak water) into a blender or Vita-Mix, and blend until you have a smooth liquid. Put the remaining 4 cups of fruit into a large bowl, and pour the blended mixture over it. Mix it together.

Take your pie crust out of the freezer, and pour the fruit mixture into it. Use a rubber spatula to spread the filling into the crust.

Viola! Your pie is done. You can actually eat it right now, but it’s best if you refrigerate it for at least an hour or two.

The blueberry pie is easiest and tends to come out best because the blueberries hold their moisture well. If you use strawberries or other fruits and cut them into small pieces, they’ll release some of their moisture as the pie sits in the fridge, so the crust will become wetter. This isn’t a big deal for my family because our pies rarely last more than a day anyway.
You can make pies with frozen fruit, but you’ll need to thaw and drain the fruit first. Personally I prefer fresh fruit pies. One time I made a blueberry pie for a potluck with organic frozen blueberries, and everyone still loved it.

Use your imagination to create different flavors and textures for the filling. You can add other ingredients to the sauce, like adding cinnamon for an apple pie. You can also mix and match different fruits. For example, you could use a strawberry sauce for a blueberry pie and vice versa.

The author's version of raw fruit pie..i'll post my version SOON when i actually do it :)

This recipe is taken from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2009/06/how-to-make-a-raw-fruit-pie/

LOL :P

Eyes WiDDDeee OPEN

i couldnt sleep...huhuhu
i slept around 1030 last night. set my alarm at 2.00 with the intention of waking up and watch Algeria vs England. after delaying my wake up..i finally rose. went to the bathroom..had a lil bit of refreshing face wash and of course emptying my bladder. hey..what dont do 2 rakaat naf prayer? yes..why dont.. so i did it..its not that every morning i'll be able to wake up at such wee time..
i turned on the tv and....wat the..what was the channel airing? Mexico vs France. hey its almost 3 and time for the current game. maybe a bit late..so i ended up dragging a basket full of clean laundry and started to fold it. yes..my least fave chore. had to do it anyway. so within 20 mins..im done with it. still..no sign of live telecast of the match. the host keep on talking..blablabla.

gosh..im too lazy to on my laptop..i thought finally i got to watch a smooth telecast. last time when i was watchin korea vs..i dont know..forgot already..the player was aboiut to kick the ball...then..the screen was frozen..me and hirumi were frozen too. yesss...frozen of amusement. "is it in or not?" Harumi asked..i heard a roar of cheers from my upstairs neighbour..yes..it's in..the guys were cheering. so there goes..my not so smooth World cup experience.

the tv channels do not provide all the game and sadly i dont install suscribed tv..too lazy to go and watch it at the cafes nearby..must be full of male population..i wouldnt feel comfortable being ogled at the wee our ..im not a big fan of football anyway..just that it's world cup..only once in 4 years and Hirumi is Japanese..from JAPAN..Muhammad is Algerian from ALGERIA of course..they are two my good buddies so..im just giving a lil support here..yeah fair enough, after messing their life with my craWziness :P

so i had no choice but to on my laptop and watch the game online. it was the lucky Pinnoy channel. well..not so smooth. it's ok. i was watching while doing my ironing for next week..i had a piece more to iron while the game ended. so i kept on ironing and tried to watch movie online. not so interesting..jennifer's body. watched half of it..and it was time for fajr. so i did my prayer and continued reading some news. Tahirah texted me and asking me to join her for spa-ing tonite..so yipiee..im going to be as clean as white sheet..not so white..but better..mmmm i just like to touch my skin after spa-ing..oh so lovely..soft..scented..aaahhh i could fall in love with myself. hahaha..talking about self obsession :) i replied with a big OK..she must had just arrived back from her "canada" work..tough job at odd hours. so better let her have a rest.

okay..that's it! i went to see the rabbit and fed them. now..time to feed me. brown rice...vege..mmm..i ended up cooking dont-know-wat..Hirumi finally woke up and asked me..wat r you cooking? Dont ask...however..we ate a tasty breakfast. still couldnt sleep..so i downloaded madagascar...then..my eyes...getting sleepy and sleepier...the website was slow anyway..Hirumi was getting ready to go out..yes..for a football game tonite with her fellow japanese friends.

i was asleep from 11 am till 3.30..feeling so much cramped on the couch...not enough space for my legs..but better than sleeping in a hot boiling room. my room gets the sunrise..so..it'll be so darn warm most of the mornings.

i jumped into shower and had a brief one..hahaha..dont need to do the scrubbing since i'll be paying people to do it tonite. i texted Syarifah..was thinking to drop by at hers and give hamzah's present. too bad she's going out. but we planned to get together at Aminah's tomorrow. so mission almost accomplished.

i continued watching Madagascar and had some lil bit brown rice. now im blogging and thinking that i should off to Tahirah's house now since i wanted to get some fruits at the supermarket and withdraw some money..or maybe not..lazy bum..
now..im feeling sleepy but too late to take a nap..it's 6 pm...
i guess i'll do some reading.

Leena texted me around 630 asking me out for drinks..sorry gurl..im spa-ing tonite..so we set a "date" tomorrow night..
my sunday be fully occupied..with food plus girls' talk (NOT GOSSIP)

updated: i met Syarifah..gave the present to Hamzah ..they were 4 hours late..huhuh. Leena had to cancel our "date"..perhaps next time

The Kite Runner

I bought the book last week..discounted for MPH members sale..hohoh but havent read it..

i watched the movie online last night. i love the story. it made me cry and i think the novel is better. so..my nxt salary will go directly to the bookstore. perhaps i should buy his second book too. hopefully these two books are good enough and will give me the joy of reading again. yess..i'm going wild...wild about these two books..it's like I WANIT..I WANIT..I WANIT..keep on playing in my head.


perhaps i should stick to my genre. as my niece always questioned...why do you need to read all those serious book? books suppose to make you happy. aahhh...it depends..i read watever i wanted to.

out of the stock in MPH near me so..i'll grab it as soon as i find it

A teacher's teacher

it's interesting when you finally realised that life is too beautiful to be wasted. there are so many things can be done in your life. me?
i always like to learn and maybe that's the only thing that keep me motivated. learn could be in formal situation or informal. doesnt mean that a well-learnt person is someone who has certificate from learning institution. being a teacher myself..reminding students to keep on learning makin me realised that i should learn too. so alhamdulillah. now, i have a teacher teaching me. the comment that i could give at the moment. LOVE IT...it's irony..a teacher for a teacher. im a teacher but with my "teacher" im just a student who's learning and always make mistakes :P
if she has task sheets to mark..i'll surely get lots of "red marks". probably the weakest student ever but as i told my students before.never afraid making mistake..learn from it.
to my teacher..Miss Solehah..thank you..too bad you'll be leaving soon but insyallah there'll be a replacement. yes her friend..miss Jannah..so the class will go on.

you could never be too young or too old to learn, perhaps just too lazy to do so

What FreeDoM meant?

a Day at the Museum

me and Hirumi were at the museum..yes..i dragged her to the National Museum for Coffin Exhibition..she was all excited although a bit scared. i was all awake since morning but took ages to wrap my scarf. we went for heavy breakfast...i gotta stuff my chubby cheeks and empty tummy :) good to feel all full and focus on our educational trip. the coffin exhibition was okay...i expected it to be more than okay. cool anyway to see skeleton in a clay pot. anyway..i was 6 years old the last time i was there..so been loooooooooong time since i kept my brain updated with the historical background of my beloved country. it's all rusted...

the national Museum..always love the mural
Old bike..we had that back in my hometown

The Samurai's Occupation
Croco Money..hahaha..no wonder the rich people needed to be fat and strong..to carry the "heavy load"
Thai Coffin with such exotic details
Let me Sit in Peace
Indonesian taking a Buffalo ride..Beware! dont open it

14 carat death
I am sailing to the heaven
PeeKaaBoo!!!

Indulging ourselves with ice-cream sandwiches

lemongrass Crab, duck eggs in spicy coconut gravy and some greeny :)

this pic worth 365 days since i havent cooked crab for a year or so..so better keep the pics.