Monthly Archives: December 2010

Oman Trip

The kids’ winter break started on 16 Dec 2010 baru2 ni and I was really looking forward to this break after 3 1/2 months of really hard and tiring school work. My husband and I decided to take a short break (5D4N) and this time we agreed on having a relaxing holidays. Biasanya, our holidays will be packed with activities and places to visit… so this time it will be something different. Destination of our choice was Muscat, Oman. Why? Well, some friends told us that Muscat is beautiful place to visit.

 

Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort comprises of 3 hotels : Al Waha (“The Oasis”) which is ideal for families with kids, Al Bandar (“The Town”) and Al Husn (“The Castle”) which I was told that no kids are allowed… suitable only for honeymooners and couples. We obviously chose Al Waha and it was perfect for us, the swimming pools were great and the food was excellent.

Haqeem and Jasmine enjoying the kiddy pool

Sofea and hubby in the pool

The resort also has a lazy river that connect Al Waha and Al Bandar. Our kids and I really enjoyed this half km of lazy river very much…

Lazy river at Al Waha side

The Lazy river

The resort is situated in a stunning bay looking over the Gulf of Oman and nestled against a backdrop of rugged mountains.

Al Waha beach

Aina and Nurin went kayaking

Kids playing chess in the middle of the night

The only time we went out from the hotel were when we visited the Matrah souk and Dolphin watching. When I said dolphin watching, I meant we went to see the wild dolphin and took us over an hour to finally found them and it was totally worth it.

Searching for the dolphins

Searching and searching

Finally we found one

and another one

On the way back from the trip, the driver bawak kita orang tengok tengok scenery yang breathtaking….

Homemade Mee Kuning (Noodles)

Homemade Mee Kuning

First time I heard about people making mee kuning was from my husband’s friend. He told us that his mum who was at the time working in Riyadh made her own mee kuning and sometimes sell them to asian family. I was so impressed… and since my sister has a friend whose mother makes mee kuning for a living, I decided to go and learn how to make  it. Most recipes that you see in the internet use air abu but this lady uses sodium carbonate in her mee kuning and since she was nice enough to give me about 1/2 kg of that stuff, I just use sodium carbonate instead of air abu for my mee kuning. With 1 kg of flour, it will yield about 2 kg of mee kuning and if you store it in a fridge, this mee kuning can last more than a week.

Ingredient:

  • 1 kg flour
  • 400 – 450 ml
  • 10 g sodium carbonate
  • 10 g salt
  • yellow colouring
  • Oil

Method:

  1. Place the flour in a big mixing bowl.
  2. Mix together salt, water, sodium carbonate and yellow colouring into a measuring jug. Slowly add the water mixture into the flour  until dough is formed.
  3. Pass a piece of dough into a smooth roller of a pasta maker machine. Repeat for 5 – 6 times until you get the desired thickness. Now, pass the dough into a cutter roller that make the noodles. Repeat until the whole dough completed.
  4. Bring a pan with salted water to a boil. Add the noodles for about 30 – 50 sec till the noodles float. Drain the water and then coat the noodles with cooking oil. Let it cool.

This was the mee kari that we had for lunch on Tuesday.

Mee Kari

Ini pulak mee goreng… dinner semalam…

Mee Goreng

David Winter Cottage – Derbyshire Mill

 

Derbyshire Mill cottage

David Winter is one of the most talented miniature sculptor in Great Britain. Born 1958 in Catterick, Yorkshire, David was inspired by his Mother, famed British sculptor Faith Winter. The first David Winter Cottage – ” The Mill House ” was introduced in 1979.

I just got to know that one of David quaint habits is to sculpt a mouse or an owl onto most of his cottages. The first time that the mouse appeared was on cottage called “Brookside Hamlet” in 1982. This mouse is very tiny and you really need to search for it in order to find it…. Can you see in the photo below????

 

The mouse on the base of the chimney

One of the David Winter cottages that I have in my collection is from The Midland Collection called The Derbyshire Mill, inspired by Richard Arkwright’s mill at Cromford…the world first water-powered cotton spinning mill. The cottage is a four story brick building with stone arches, an engine house and a tall brick chimney.

 

Thai Mango Salad

 

Thai Mango Salad

Mango is really an amazing fruit…you can eat it when it’s ripe or unripe, not to mention that you can make a dessert as well as a dish or side dish out of it…. and one of my favourite side dish is Mango Salad. The best Thai Mango salad that I’ve tasted so far was at a restaurant in Kg Baru- Restaurant Ali Tom Yam… and if you are in Kuwait, you can go to Oriental Cuisine Restaurant to have a taste of this great side dish.

Ingredients:
1 green unripe mango (125g), peeled and shredded
1 small onion, sliced
1 red chili, seeded and sliced
1 tbsp briefly chopped coriander

Garnishing:
2 tbsp dried anchovies, rinsed and fried
Some roasted peanuts

Dressing:
1 tbsp dried shrimp, rinsed
2 Thai chilies
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sweet chili sauce
1 tbsp sugar (+/-)

Methods:

  1. Slightly crush the chilies and dried shrimps in a mortar. Then, put in fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and sweet chili sauce. Mix well.
  2. Pour in the above mixture into the shredded mango, sliced onion and chili . Mix well. Garnish with fried anchovies, roasted peanuts and chopped coriander.