The Update on Dr Azmi..

I called our Dr in the House earlier on.. she told me that Dr Azmi Alhamdulillah has had a succesful operation.. insyaAllah by thursday, he will be out of the hospital.. Dith sounded so tired..but relieved when she spoke to me... she must have gone thru a lot of trauma... our prayers will always be with u..

On another topic... a special dedication to mama sarah... hehehehe ni ha mee goreng udang yg i makan tadi heheheh ..i tak reti masak mee goreng (to think again..i tak reti masak langsung makanan malaysia hahah).. so i main tibai jer (luckily sedap with loads of chilli).. udang kat sini cuma ada during winter... the same thing with fresh local fish.. ketam memang dalam dream la i boleh jumpa... tarak langsung huwaaaa.. since halil makhruh makan udang... i sorang ja tibai udang kat dalam rumah ni..yippie!!! jom makan!

p.s .. banyak sangat pulak.. i makan pun tak habis pinggan tu.. malam nanti sambung makan balik heheh

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..

Till we meet again...

With a heavy heart full of guilt within me..i stepped out of the flat.. guilty because i was not bringing him (he would get cold!!).. guilty because i would be leaving him for hours while i would be enjoying myself..guilty because i knew deep inside to go to the other side of the bridge and to return before 2pm was an impossible task.. ..guilty becoz by 2 till i reached home, mahture nene would be looking after him...the mother would be out...out to join the 4 single girls for a day outing....

but then..hey!!is it often i get to have their company?is it often i leave him alone like that? is it often that i get to relive my youth?? ( hey! i am not that old!!) ..and just look at the day!! Nice isnt it?

A view of Kadıköy from the ferry

Anyway, they reached our home from yolova on wednesday evening.. We went to the other side of the bridge on thursday since they needed to do their last minute money finishing shopping for the last time...but i returned earlier since i needed to buy a new monitor for our pc..(yeay!! we r a proud owner of an lcd monitor..phew we r broke!! lepas ni makan tanah je larrrrrrrrr).. and my own most guilt of the day... baddin was with mahture yenge..
..
and now....it is almost half an hour since their flight is scheduled to fly... Safe journey my dear friends..please do come again.. hatice and baddin have enjoyed ur company so much!! Can u imagine? hatice's bed time was supposed to be at 8.30pm last night but both kids.. with loads of scolding only went to bed at almost 11pm!! why?? because they wanted to spend time with the 4 ablas!(sisters!!).. sabar aje laaaaa...

It is nice..i got to meet my once upon a time roomate at ukm hostel....that would be dydy (budak yg asyik dok selamba aja.eeeeeeeeeee tension akuuuuu.. expression la sikit weiiiiiiii :0))... and i got the chance to meet Shida..KC (not keçi (GOAT) -hahahaahahaha - the two unseparable girl friends)....and of course the one most huggable person of all vim..sedap dipelukkkk!! hahahah..

i notice one thing too.. i am the type that..if i use one glass, i can use the same glass to drink coke and fruit juice (for example).. that usually end up with halil giving me a weird disgusting look..because if he drinks coke, he will need another glass to drink his fruit juice.. and the glass used during dinner will not be used for later (ie.. the glass of water he drinks next to his coffee)..many many usage of glasses.. while my friends were here.. even when i provided 2 glasses for each person.one for cola turka..one for fruit juice, dengan selambanya they drank both types of water using the same glass.. that makes me wonder.. is this a malaysian trait..or is this a matter of similarity of life habit? what do u think?

At one time during our conversation, being curious about indian curries, i asked vim(indian indian) and shida (indian muslim) of the recipe....from what they told me, i discovered that indians do not use any coconut milk inside their curries...and in the olden days, they prepared their own curry mixture..(though they suggested that for normal people like us we stick to the already packed curry powder...and when i asked them about why there r different curry mixture for fish..chicken..meat.. i was told that..for chicken curry for example, some spices (cant remember which) within the curry mixture r added more as to counter react to the smell of fish..

.this one question strucked me as i saw vim putting on make up on her face.. If u notice from the color of her skin.. her skin tone is very dark...call me ignorant but the fact that a dark colored skin wearing makeup is a very new field to me.. people doooooo wear make up right?? so just because u r very dark.. u r not an exception, right? thouusands of people r dark..

Trying not to sound like a racist..i approached her on the matter..she said that it is really difficult to choose a make up ..For instance.. for a lipstick..if there r 40 colors on display.. after trying all of them, only let say 2 will match her skin...normally, she wears the brownish one.. and she strongly suggest.. for dark colored people like Vim here..she said *BOBBY BroWN* brand is the best... it is very expensive as well but the brand caters specifically for the dark colored people -indian..african...that lot in the beauty range...interesting discovery huh?

I also notice that some letters in turkish r difficult for us, malaysians to pronounce (orang india like vim lagi la kan ..lagi la mulut dia terbelit hehehe..)..last night while Dydy and KC were playing with hatice and baddin...hatice was trying to teach them how to pronounce the things in the flash card in turkish...letters with ö,ü ... r sooooo difficult for them to follow.. practice ladies practice :0).. practice makes perfect...

And before taking a cab to the airport.. shida brought back to malaysia buah delima 6 biji!! (pomogranate)!! hehehe as if we dont have that in malaysia, right? But then, i dont blame her...we have wonderful pomogranate here in istanbul... merahhh delima menyala menawan hatii...

Halil thinks that they r sweet people as well....he doesnt mind being *thrown* out of his own home for a few nights..i think to him... to see that bigggggg smile on my face...to hear me laugh mcm nak rak in the living room (he told his bro selim that we had a fight n i had thrown him out of the house.. hence the reason he had to stay at baba! hahah)... made everything all worth it!

dont get me wrong.. i love my turkish family.. i laugh with them as well.. i talk to them as well.. Alhamdulillah..i have a wonderful family in turkey..but when u have someone from ur own country...speaking the languages u know (semua budak tesl...so u can imagine 5 tesl grads chatting with halil at dinner..asking about the phonetics bla bla bla)...especially when u r in the midst of missing ur own family (thanks joe for the satellite map)...u feel better..for a while..

They r gone.. i am back to my normal routine... i miss them already... no more hiruk pikuk in malay and english in this house..duit raya yg korang kasi utk hatice n baddin tu nanti kitaorang masukkan dalam bank account diaorang...*cheekyyyy cheeky friends u guys r!!*..u guys guessed right that aku tak leh tolak duit tu if u bagi atas nama diaorang...grrrrr cheeeky..siap letak atas meja kat bilik lagi...!!

People were staring at us..perhaps it was from the noise we made.. or perhaps from the language we spoke..or perhaps they were trying to decide from which country we came from (being the united colors of benetton and all)

DyDy and I
Two old friends..


Before leaving for the airport..the last pose in front of our Apartment

The taxi they took...

Thank You for stopping by...We really really hope to see u again one day

...be it in Malaysia or in Turkey..till next time..


P.s hatice manangis teresak esak bila dia balik sekolah dan dapat tahu the 4 sisters dah balik..

Of Dydy..Shida..Vim.. and ...KC

I was laughing hard last night n this morning when i checked my prevous entry's comment section.. it has become the *tumpang lalu laksa johor and laksa penang recipe exchange section*.. no hal.. feel free ladies! :0)

Here r the recipes..

Resepi Laksa PEnang by Mama Sarah

1. Rebus (atau bakar) ikan mackerel hingga lembut kemudian Blender/tumbuk isi ikan. 2. Blend bawang besar dgn cili kering.3. Masukkan blended bawang + cili kering, bunga kantan (kalau ada), serai, daun kesum, cili padi (kalau nak tambah pedas), asam gelugur/asam keping, otak udang (optional) & air ke dalam periuk. Biarkan mendidih. 4. Kemudian masukkan isi ikan, garam & masak lagi selama 10 minit. Saladnya: timun, daun salad, bawang besar, telur rebus.

p/s: serai tu pun optional! (hehe pecah rekod lagi nampak nya aku ni!)

and here is the Laksa Johor Recipe by Kak Elle

u need udang kering,curry powder,big onions,garlic and serai for main ingredients blend them then add fish meat...use dessicated coconut(steam it first and blend with main ingredients) and it will make yr gravy thick and ofcourse packet santan.Try lah ok my recipe always campak2 and alhamdulillah turn out good.If u have oriental shop look for thick bee hoon and after soaking it s just like laksa and I did this when I visited my sis in states and she couldn't believe that it can be done....try lah ladies... ... ladies I'm sorry in a hurry forget to type add cili paste or powder and kalau nak sedap lagi add powder ketumbar and jintan sikit.I think u can get all these under mcCormick labels.

These r their own words.. :0) Thanks mama sarah n kak elle for the recipes.. i hope syikin..and ajzie..and myself especially plus all the readers of this blog can benefit from this.. :0) ..waaaaaaaaaaa kat turki tarak bahan bahan semua ni..memang tak boleh buat apa pon..mana nak carik serai...etc..etc... sabar jer la ..

******************************************************************************

Anyway... back to my 4 friends .. Yup.. they have made it to my house..Yup.. i had brought them to pazar (half pazar i toured with them..the rest half they had to make it on their own..)..Yup..i had invited them for lunch...cooked many many things...Yup.. baddin is now very friendly towards them..

They have finally met my hatice which they think look like madonna's child..n a suprise entry from halil from work... terjerit dydy n shida bila nampak halil kat pintu.. (or was it we were too noisy in the house that we didnt hear him unlocking the door? hahahahah)..
My kids enjoyed their company... and i certainly had enjoyed their hiruk pikuk n jokes...

ahhhhhh... i thought i am a recluse..i thought i hate socialization.. but meeting them... i am reminded of a piece of myself that i had forgotten....a part of simah that enjoys having her friends over...

Thank You for coming u guys!! i was laughing thruout the day.. and i think they had endured the turkish food i cooked very well!! hehehehe

By the way...sesapa yg nak carik jodoh.. Dydy..Shida..Vim n KC are still single!!! simah nak bukak agency mencari jodoh.. sesapa yg nak berkenalan dengan minah minah ni..pls contact me at refcobass@rocketmail.com ...ni serious ni (dydy..shida..kc n vim..jangan marah baca entry ni heheh).. the thing is.. i just cant believe how these very nice..sweet girls r not snatched up yet..*beauty is in the eyes of the beholder* and i think they r simply beautiful inside :0)
Enjoy the pictures!!

The true United Colors of Benetton is in turkey! hehehe

baddin, hatice and Vim

Kami ada tanduk 2 batang heheh

Dydy,baddin and hatice

Hatice, baddin and KC

Hatice, Baddin and Shida

(ops shida..tersilap lighting!! lupa nak bukak lampu sebelah lagi satu..sorry..)

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..

Have a Nice weekend Everybody!!

Long time no see

I woke up a bit earlier than the usual. Eyes all red from sleepiness coz i slept at two that night. Woke the kids up...bla bla bla.. we said bye bye to hatice n my little guy and i got ready to leave for our destination...I am not used to going out on a bus this early. Managed to catch the 8.45am vapür (ferry)..It was quite foggy. I decided to sit at the seats at the exterior part of the vapür so that we could enjoy the beauty of the morning..(with the risk of the sea water splashing on us heheheeh)..i decided to snap a few snaps using my new toy.. it doesnt look that foggy in these snaps but it was...with technology u can do many things, huh?..

A vapür heading somewhere..perhaps beşiktaş?

The birds were chasing the vapür all the way though i was not able to snap that one picture

Hoşcakal (Bye Bye) Asia...

Hoş geldin (welcome) Europe!

I promised her that we would be there by 10am.. We found the place quite easily. I was all excited inside...but i kept cool.Found the place! Found the room! Found the old friend!! And i also made friend with my friend's 3 other friends! :0)

Yup.. my friend DYdy is in istanbul indeed..!!!She is with her friends from the master programme..Shida, Vim and Casey.....Semua satu otak..semua gila gila..maybe our age gap is not that much ..that was..is the reason we could get along well in the first place..Of course, i was the only odd one there.. though dydy n i r the youngest.. i am the only one married with kids!! hehehe

Baddin, Dydy,Shida,Casey and Vim
With the tombstone as the background..

Eh korang tak nampak ka hantu kat belakang tuuu???

Showed them around the basic streets in the area.. baddin tagging along me.. at times crying wanting to go home coz he didnt know my friends..but in the end.. he was a *bit* friendly to them..he even said *i love u too* before we were all to part..

My beloved *by force* companion hehehehe

kesian mamat ni..habis hidung dia merah sebab sejuk

I have invited them for lunch this thursday..We will see what happens..I hope they wont get lost while walking around.....

Ahhhhh..it is wonderful to be able to see old friends again.. the last time i saw dydy was on my wedding day.. n at that time i could not really anyone coz i was not wearing my spectacles!! (ala..konon kononnya nak nampak cantik tak pakai spec hehehehe)..i couldnt really chat with her coz my *hero* was with me with his tantrums..hopefully we can chat more when they come over for lunch..I just cant wait!

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..