to my one & only

Happy 34th Dear Darling Hubby!

Je t'adore énormément!

celebrating eid

So Hari Raya has come and gone (well for us at least). We spent the first day of Syawal in the warmth and quietness of our home.. just the two of us.. "yeayy!" (kesian kita tau). I missed my family and all the relatives I usually meet on the first day of Hari Raya... missed all the festivities and the wonderful atmosphere that is Hari Raya. It's the second year in a row we didn't get to celebrate Syawal in Singapore. It's especially hard to be apart from your loved ones at times like this.

But at least we get 'to be' with my family on the first day of Hari Raya - via online. We woke up at 3.30 am to log on in time to see and chat with them before they left for the ritual first day house-visiting. It's great to see everybody in their fine bajus and to be 'in' the atmosphere even if it's just for a brief, virtual moment :)

Hari Raya or Aïd-El-Fitr as it's known here, is not as joyous and festive as it is celebrated in Singapore or other Muslim countries around the world. To begin with, this day is not recognised as a national holiday, even if Islam is France's second religion and that is a sad fact indeed. Hence the Muslims here take a day off from work or absent themselves from school to celebrate this day with families and friends. So it's a good thing that the first day of Syawal fell on a weekend this time around.

Well as it was planned ahead that we'll be spending Hari Raya here, I made a list of what to cook and managed to put together a few dishes especially for this day, to have some semblance of Hari Raya-ness. It may took me hours to prepare the food but the satisfying end result is worth all the effort.

our humble Hari Raya feast & us in our "festive" Hari Raya gear

So to all our family and friends, have a joyous Eid and do think of us when you feast upon those yummy Hari Raya spread. Happy visiting and digesting, you guys!

Īd mubārak!

big buys

Our baby car seat is finally here and it's sitting in the corner of our apartment for the time being. It's one of our big buys so far - big in terms of size and the amount of cash we put into it. Well it's something we can't do without... a must have item if you have a car and a baby in tow. But it's a good investment since the car seat can last until the child is around 4 years old.

We recently received a letter from the social security company here, saying that we're eligible for the birth prime, whereby couples who're expecting a child, would receive allowances for their newborn. So that was a very welcoming surprise for us. And that's not all.. the people from this company will be providing monthly allowance once the baby is born, and will keep the cash flowing until the child is 3 years old. So to that I say, merci! you generous people... who by the way, paid the bulk of my medical expenses since I had my attack a year ago.

mari memasak

So I was complaining about how I miss the kuih Melayu in my previous post. Then I was thinking, stop whining and go get busy in the kitcen.. and got busy I did. Bought some keledek, mashed it around and voilà, my kuih keria is born! (terubat rinduku). That was I think, my second attempt at making this kuih. Wanted to make onde-onde but I ran out of gula melaka and chances of finding one here is as much as trying to find roquefort cheese in Geylang Serai.

For our main dish, I tried my hands at mee bandung, which was my first attempt and it turned out just fine. I wasn't sure how an authentic mee bandung tastes like so I had no past memory to compare mine with. Well as long as it's edible, palatable and hubby gives the thumbs up, I'm good. My next maiden dish will be seafood hor fun, which I like and am missing it as well.

counting down

I'm in the last leg of the pregnancy race. Went for my monthly ultrasound today and Alhamdulillah, everything is fine.

We're pretty much geared up for the baby's arrival but at the same time, we're enjoying the few weeks we have left, living as a couple and doing things like staying up late and sleeping in during weekends. As we've been told many times here - "Profitez-en bien avant que le bébé arrive!" (lit.= profit well before the baby arrives). Yes, profit we are but nonetheless, we're impatient to see our baby and welcome her home.

We get to see the baby in 4-D for the first time today and it was such a thrill to see a lifelike version of our baby! It's too bad that they couldn't print out a photo of the 4-D scan. Well insya'Allah the next time I put up a photo of the baby, it will be in virtual flesh :)

ramadan chez nous

Ramadan here is not as exciting as in Singapore. No big fanfare, no bazaar or the likes.. no lampu kelap-kelip, no kecoh-kecoh. In short, there's none of those festivities atmosphere.. things are just like every other day... tak best.

The only hint of Ramadan you get here is when you see dates on display on the racks of the hypermarkets and also, arrays of middle eastern desserts titillating your tastebuds when you enter the halal store.

I saw a kuih Arab I know well and bought it for myself (hubby doesn't like it as these desserts are too sweet for his liking). Oh how I miss the kuih Melayu.. especially at these times..

what we had for berbuka