wowee!!

lama tak update blog, tetiba update about birthday pulak hehe

just wanted to capture this moment so that i will remember it always...

its the first time he sent flowers delivery for my birthday!!!

was super surprised of course, and even more surprised when i got two flowers!!

(^_^)

happy birthday to me! (^_^)

Day 1 - Your Favourite Song

Terbang

its a tough one to choose, since i loved so many songs but this one i especially love because it reminds me of road trips and driving with your best friends with the window open and singing on top of your lungs. reminds me of a time where life was simpler and less complicated and we were so young and naive and ambitious, wanting to do everything and go "terbang" everywhere :)

Bicester Village yg berhantu!

two years i was studying there, never once i stepped foot on Bicester Village, mainly because people always say tempat tu berhantu! kenapa berhantu? sebab kalau pergi, macamana takde duit pun MESTI akan terbeli jugak sesuatu!! and then bila balik rumah, akan tertanya2 sendiri, eh betul ke beli nie?? what was i thinking?? i cant afford this gorgeous Gucci bag! mesti tadi kat Bicester kena rasuk and made me buy this!!

hehe...

ok lah, betul la berhantu tu, so dats why masa student tak pernah pergi, nanti terguna duit rent, jadi homeless pulak nanti :p :p

so when i went there last winter, baru la ada berani sikit nak pergi, itu pun credit card bawak satu jer, bahaya oooo!!

muka sangat sangat sangat excited untuk memula kan peng-shopping-an :p :p

this was on the 28th December, there were so many people there! even bumped into some "local politician and celebrities" there, shopping sebelah2 lagi :p

the pathways are super icy see! and it was freezing cold! but it certainly did not stopped anybody from shopping to their heart's content!

our loot! sikit jer :) and saja ambik gambar depan Gucci but didnt buy anything there, can u believe when we arrive just an hour after it opens, the shop is almost empty! the shelves are bare! they said almost all the sale items are already sold, we were late! tsk tsk...

but i got what i wanted and managed to shop for some cool stuff for everyone back home and they are all happy with their gifts, semua tu kira birthday present dua tahun hehe :p :p

jalan-jalan tepi marina di plymouth

missing plymouth so badly :(

i know i know, i have an obsession with that place :p

here are some pictures taken from my visit few months ago during New Year :)








where we are going?

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here!

beli kicap cap kipas udang manis :p owner dia M'sian and students dapat discount, so ok la jugak nak jalan jauh2 tu kan :)

miracle monday #5

i am grateful i have a friend who who tell me every single detail about her experience of giving birth naturally!no epidural for this amazing mother! it was scary and funny and poignant and she loved every moment of it!

and me, at first i didnt wanna hear any of it, was scared shit of course! was soooooooo not grateful at first hahaha but in the end, guess it was ok and we women, we need to hear these things eventually right? so im glad it was her who told me, cos i think, coming from anyone else, i would have run out of the room faster than you can say 'diaper'!

to Wawa, congratulations on the arrival of your baby girl, Zahra!

to Zahra, may you grow to be as pretty, as graceful, as kind, as gentle and as an amazing friend as your mother (^_^)

the holiday

was reading Chic's blog on the her favourite movie, Love Actually and got me thinking of my current favourite movie..

so yeah ok, its a pretty old movie, i think it was released during Christmas 2007, cos i remembered walking through the cold winter night from our house to the cinema in plymouth which in itself is still an amazing experience for me, there you kinda can walk everywhere, cinemas, bowling, the bank, the post office, to my classes, the bookshop, the keysmith, to the shopping mall, to the beach, to the best halal fried chicken....everywhere is fantastically a walk away! and i love the weather there, its never too hot to walk, tho it does sometimes gets too cold, which i really dont mind, i prefer the cold compared to being hot, ive always thought I was been born in the wrong country hehe

anyway, i digress...

the movie was starring cameron diaz and kate winslet, with the ever so handsome jude law, and the ever so charmingly (sometimes weird) funny jack black, and its about two women who just got their hearts broken and wanted to get away from it all, you know, move to another country, get a makeover, shoot somebody, make a movie, any life changing event will do kind of get-away-from-it-all, but decided to go on a holiday instead, where they switched houses!

so amanda (cameron diaz) who lives in sunny L.A, switched with iris (kate winslet) who lives in cold snowy london the movie itself, was of course really great, i mean the line up itself makes it a guaranteed hit, but the best thing i like about the movie was the kate winslet character, who is in love with a man, who never actually loves her back, but cant live without her, thus not allowing her to let him go..which is selfish and unfair of him..

guess we all have been there, falling in love with someone whom you knew would never love you back, but at the same time you just seems never could let him go, and sometimes, well, actually most of the time, is because he does not let you..

anyway, the movie was beautiful, it seems natural to be nodding away in understanding at watever that iris or amanda did, gasping in amazement that someone understood you and made a movie out of your life! saying repeatedly over and over again ‘yes! that’s exactly how i feel!’ and ‘oh, i know, ive been there/done that before!’ and reaching for the tissue at the end of the movie feeling thoroughly satisfied that even someone as gorgeous as cameron diaz and kate winslet goes through the same problems as you do and restored your faith in men, and having hope that one day, maybe one day you’ll find a man with jude law’s devastating good looks and jack black’s charms :p

the movie Chic was talking about, Love Actually is also actually one of my absolutely favourite too. when days are particularly hard and you just wanna curl up with a good movie and watch it with a box of chocolates under your duvet, here are some of my personal recommendations;

1. Emma - the one with Gwyneth Paltrow in it

2. While You Were Sleeping - Sandra Bullock at her best!

3. French Kiss - Meg Ryan super cute in this..

4. Pride And Prejudice - the one with Colin Firth in it, BBC version..not the lame Keira Knightly one..

5. My Best Friend's Wedding

five enough for now :) :)

ps : i still havent found the kuch kuch hota kai dvd, will someone help please!

where to eat in Plymouth?

i lived in a small little town called Plymouth when i was studying in UK few years back. not many people have heard about it and yet many people have been there. hehe confused yet?

xpe2 slow2 :p

plymouth is prounounced plee-meth...lebeh kurang gitu la, asal kan jgn pronounce plai-muth sudah like i did zaman tak tau bende dulu okey! :p

so aaanneewayyss, when i was back there for a quick visit last christmas, i tried TWO new restaurants that ive never been too! yep! ingat kan bandar kecik boleh tawaf and try semua benda dlm masa dua tahun? semesti nya tidak! so here are the two places :)

LA TASCA

la tasca ni franchise, so mmg ada banyak tempat kat all over uk, food is spanish tapas, and the best thing about this place is it has the all-you-can-eat deal, so for students like us, its totally worth it!! mula2 kena register dulu dlm website dia, and then bebila dia ada offer all you can eat tu, cepat2 print and call the place to make a reservation ok :) oh, the all-you-can-eat is ten pounds only! murah kan!

ni rupa coupon dia, everyone must have one, print it out and show to the waitress kay :) gambar seterusnye di bawah tidak mengikut turutan tapi tidak sesama sekali meng-effect kesedapan makanan di situ :p :p


salad ni serious sedap!! its slices of pears with spinach, basil, tomatoes and cucumber and i think the dressing ada olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon, simple jer tapi sedap sangat!

haha mmg tak ikut turutan, tetiba gambar dessert plak, this is black and white brownies, nampak tak gambar separuh tu, tangan rakan semeja tgh genggam garpu tak sabar nak dig in but i wanna take pictures first :p

mula2 tgk gambar pinggan yg dah licin...kemudian........

tada! of course we only ordered seafood la kan, so there's fried calamari, prawns and fish, vegetarian paella, garlic mushrooms, omellete and lots of salad!




the decorations in the restaurant, pretty spanish kan?

so anyway, the deal here is per order you can order up to three dishes per person per round, so kira if there's 4 of you, you can order up to 12 dishes per round, then dah habis yang tu, order the next round and the next and so on and so forth until you are so full you hardly can walk home :) :)

okey, next place :)

THE PLATTERS

ade orang kata, south west i.e. devon cornwall onwards is where you can get the most authentic real british style fish and chips! orang kata la, im not so sure myself, tapi emang nya fish and chips di plymouth mmg terbaik! just be careful to check the batter tu diorang tak letak beer cos traditional cooking diorang mmg letak beer nak bagi fish tu nice and crispy tapi kat platters nie, owner dia muslim orang morroco (eh owner ke sangkut paut gitu la) dia pun tau la halal haram kan, which is a good thing cos this place nye food is super yummy!

we ordered a few stuff to share but my favourite has got to be this fisherman's pie, sedap macam nak nangis okey! seriously!!!!!! we went there twice and also tried the grilled fish platter, the creamy seafood pasta and of course the fish and chips and all of it is super delish! im not sure if this restaurant ade franchise ke tak kat tempat lain BUT if not, if you are planning to come to plymouth, harus pegi kedai ni makan tau!

oh lupa nak cakap;

LA TASCA - is in town centre, walking distance from the main high street near the ice skating rink.

THE PLATTERS - is at the Barbican, near the marina, next to the Mayflower theater.

ps : im writing this based on memory, kalau ade tersilap (cos i know ade org plymouth baca my blog hehe) sila correct me okies :)

dining at harrods

last week we decided to try out the restaurant at harrods klcc. we loved the macaroons there (its RM15 for 6 pieces ya'll) and the sticky toffee pudding.

its suppose to be a fine dining restaurant with simple meals like fish and chips at RM48 and pasta at RM120 and tiny sliver of chocolate marquis-something-somethin at RM38 (dont order it! it doesnt taste nice and SO NOT WORTH the RM38 price tag ok!)

seriously expensive!

but the place is gorgeous and private, worth checking out if you want to go for a valentine's dinner.



that drink that looks like air ulam pegaga (haha) is actually virgin mojito. i didnt try it but Saza said its nice! i was more interested in the macaroons! looks at those vivid colors!

Han with her roast beef and yorshire pudding. this is RM68! but super yummy!! beef and veggies and the yorkshire pudding was perfectly cook! but is it worth the high price tag? u can get this meal at 7 pounds in a normal pub all over uk. but of course susah nak carik a place where the beef is halal la right. so if u wanna try how the brits eat it and u dont mind the cost, this is the place to try it.

my blueberry macaroons!

and because i couldnt resist - here it is again via instagram! gorgeous! it looks as good as it tastes!

forgot, tuan punye blog :p

btw, dats my first time trying the whole shawl-inner style thingy, what do you think?

Niagara Falls

one of the places we knew we must must must go on this new york trip is Niagara Falls. its not that near actually, about 9 hours drive but of course only an hour plus by plane. in view of the short time we have, we decided to take a flight there via Jet Blue (US equivalent to Air Asia but so so so much better!). the flight and hotel costs us about USD120 per person, not bad right?

ive been trying to get the pictures in the correct order but it kept disappearing and i had to upload it again! so i gave up :p but the order is in no way would deprive you of the pleasure of seeing the gorgeous beautiful pictures of one of the seven wonders of the world :)

the boat that we will be using, its called Maid of the Mist - about USD 14 per person (i think, cant remember, go google for exact price ok) the boat does not run every day throughout the year, in fact, the week we were there was the last week it will run for the year, it ends in late october, guess then it will be too freezing cold or too windy..

we were each given a blue rain coveralls, its so funny when we were all wearing it, we couldnt find each other, everyone looks the same! like a big blue bear hehe :p

its freezing cold there! and be prepared to get wet, despite the rain coats, and for those who wears a scarf, bring an extra, mine got thoroughly soaked!

the boat!

we look comel kan kan kan :p :p

gambar berterabur! this is actually the first picture i took, at the jetty while waiting for the boat :)

the first glimpse of the magnificent falls!

after the boat trip which takes about 20 minutes, we took picture around the park as the late evening sun descent...

the gorgeous view of the falls will really really takes your breath away. for a while i was literally speechless of the wonderness of it all and it makes you think, makes you humble and makes you feel small and insignificant but happy and great at the same time. its a weird feeling, your heart just kinda of overwhelmed with the beauty and greatness of the it all.

seriously, dont just read my words for it, go there.

other bits and pieces of this place;
1. we took the flight to Buffalo International Airport, there is a shuttle bus that goes to the falls directly about 6-7 times a day, and it will return to the airport as well. the timing is available if you google buffalo airport. the cost is about USD3 dollars only return (very cheap!) and it takes about 45 minutes
2. a day trip to the falls is sufficient if you do not want to stay overnight in Buffalo, about half day in the falls is more than sufficient
3. Buffalo city itself is not much, we went around a little bit but there's no major attraction to do
4. if you are like us, who had a day to spare, go and checkout the Niagara Falls Fashion Outlet, its like Woodbury Factory Outlet but its in a really large building instead of a large village. to get there, use the same shuttle bus from the airport and it will make a stop at the outlet, same way to return. note; some shops like Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors - are BIGGER and BETTER than woodbury outlet, so if you have plans to go there, its worth the time.
5. if u can, time the boat ride to be in the late afternoon, because there are less people, so the boat is not so crowded, otherwise there will be a push to get the best spot to take pictures.
6. there is a food court in a nearby building and there's is one indian shop that has halal food. otherwise, there's always pizza and such.

so that the Niagara Falls Trip! i only have Washington DC to upload, better do it before the yr ends hehehe :p