Yesterday was .......

September 30th 2006
Budaiya

Yesterday was.......
a lazy friday
but I spent a good deal of it chatting with a friend.
The internet connection was playing up again and it was slow
to even open up a page, and we would lose connection intermittently.
Anyway, I managed to cook something for iftar.
I have been thinking about making the glutinous rice balls for a while and
decided to try them yesterday. Luckily they turned out okay and the chocolate filling was really nice.Normally the traditional recipes would use red beans or green beans paste, coconut or just brown sugar.
For dinner i had rice with prawns sambal, fried chicken wings, egg and vege salads.
The apricot juice was a bit too sweet for my liking.
And as usual, my favourite tea to round it off.

That was yesterday.
But this morning,on the way to the office, I am bracing myself for a hard day ahead.

ooops.......my little secrets.......

September 28th 2006
Budaiya

Two secrets.......!

This morning......
I set my alarm clock at 3am for my syahur.
The alarm went off dutifully, but I turned it off and wanted another few winks. I thought to myself...its still early, after all I just need to make a cup of tea.
Then I lulled back to sleep...and when I woke up again...I thought..it was just half hour later, that I must wake up and make my tea...
Then suddenly I saw the window so bright...the sun was already up and it was 5.30am
There goes my syahur...! Somehow I feel that I am going to have many more mornings like it during this Ramadhan.
So the whole day I was feeling a bit hungry but managed to sustain it till adzan sounded and the canon was fired. Saved.
For iftar I had dates and figs, followed by a dinner of rice with some dhall curry, my stock of sambal tumis and chicken wings and cucumber.
A simple fare.

Now ... the other story...
I met a new friend on the eve of Ramadhan. Something that touched my heart.
Is that a good omen ?
I will keep you posted.

Its time for my comfort food now.
Tea.......glorious tea.
After a nice mug of hot tea.......my head can think straight again.
Ah.......life.......we never know what tomorrow brings !

I have been critiqued by billymac

September 28th 2006
Budaiya

Ammoontie

http://www.ammoontie.blogspot.com/


Ammoontie brings us this afternoons blog. Tidy and well maintained. Interesting perspectives from another country.

posted by Billy Mac @ 9/27/2006 0 comments

Thanks Billymac for visiting my blog.
I have just changed the background theme only recently, and I like this one better
since it gives me the clean pleasant look and I love the ochre colour.
It sorts of brightens my day... adding a speckle of gold to my life...!

Another day trip

September 26th 2006
Budaiya
Was in Qatar again yesterday.I guess these day trips will be a part of my routine for the next two months.
These are the pics of the building that I was talking about. It is the Lagoon Plaza, which is still under construction. It will be a nice development, no doubt about it. Its wavy form will make them stands out from the rest of the tall towers.
On the way back, I noticed the view of both Doha and Bahrain, and it looked so beautiful from above, with all the lights, looking like a fairy land. Couldnt help remembering those places that I have frequented before, where we used to spend evenings on the beach.When you can remember something without having any feelings any more, but with just a smile in your mind... that means you had let it go.

Ramadhan Kareem

September 23rd 2006
Budaiya

An exerpt from Bahrain Tribune:

Ramadan Kareem
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs last night announced the advent of Ramadan beginning today. Since no moon-sighting reports were received from Bahrain, the moon-sighting panel in the Kingdom followed Saudi Arabia and declared Saturday as the first day of Ramadan. Bahrain Tribune extends its warmest greetings to His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Commander-in-Chief of the BDF, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and its esteemed readers for the holy month.

Last nite, after my late dinner, a colleague called to inform me that Ramadhan starts tomorrow. Oh boy...that means I had to syahur tonite and I got nothing much prepared. I thought Ramadhan would start on sunday. Anyway I was glad and pleased as well. No matter what day it falls on, it is a blessing.

It is going to be a long day today, the first day of Ramadhan is always tough, and then it eases into the system, and I'll be fine. Officially we work until 2pm, but that is not going to happen, since we have a lot of work to finish. But with the blessings of Ramadhan, I hope I will survived it all.

Ramadhan Kareem to all Muslim friends.......

Mooncakes .......

September 22nd 2006
Budaiya

A busy week that was...mooncakes...and all...!

The past seven days have been hectic, with all the projects going on
at the same time.Since this is the first time that I am handling a project,I need to ask a lot of questions, learn every bit,try to be nice to everyone...and learn...and learn...
Was in Qatar last wednesday and visited the heritage library.
They have a good collection of books, manuscripts, maps and antiques. The guys are very passionate about their works. When their new building is ready, we will see a good collection of Qatari Heritage on display.It opens up our minds with all that we have since the beginning of time. I remember some from our history lessons in school.
I havent touch the history books for decades, and it just reminded me of how much I have missed about history.Perhaps this is a good time that I brushed up on my history lessons again.
We had a full schedule that wednesday, but managed to squeezed in a good breakfast of chapatti/curry and chai.That was a good start..since we had the 6am flight from here.
Our next meal was at 3pm and luckily I managed to change my flight and came back the same evening.
The airport was and is always crowded, but it looks much better than before. Hopefully by the year end, they would finish all construction works and we'll have a beautiful airport.I can imagine how crowded it will be, during the Asean Games.
The sports city is coming up beautifully and noticed that most of the buildings are very modern in design. Near the Ritz Carlton, there is a new development, two towers that are looking like curves, the guys thought that the contractors were drunk, thats why the buildings are not straight.But I should say that it is an interesting design and it may be an icon in the future.
Apart from the trip to Qatar, we had some gatherings at a collegue's house.We enjoyed the mee rebus and the grilled seafoods. Fresh seafoods like shrimps, fish, crabs and vegetables when grilled are lovely. We were served with a special drinks of lime with basil seeds which taste interesting. Must go and buy those drinks which is specially good for breaking fasts in Ramadhan.

We had some mooncakes too...
This is the eight month of Chinese Lunar calendar, and they are celebrating the Mooncake festival.
Our colleagues from Singapore brought over bags of moonkaces... so we are able to taste some.It is rich in taste, with egg yolks in the middle.

Lets see what the rest of my friday brings...

Que Sera Sera .......

Amarantine

September 15th 2006
Budaiya

A nice friday here, the weather is a little cooler.
The harleys are back on the road, could hear them revving it up.
My normal friday chores were done. And cooked some sambal tumis, a whole big kuali of it, and gave some to my colleagues. I overate at lunch...
And spent the whole afternoon watching music videos.
What a day... anyway... found this lovely song by Enya... Amarantine.