Day out and more domestic stuff

Yesterday we went to town centre again for some grocery shopping and just to get out of the house.. Mr Hubby knows I was bored at home so he took me out. And yet spring has not arrived even though it is already end of March. I dare not step out of the building especially at night given the weather now. Fortunately the snowing has stopped but the cold wind is still unbearable!

To warm up after walking in the cold, we stopped for a cup of yummy caramel macchiato of course in Starbucks. But what really fascinate me was the interior of the shop. It was lavishly decorated. Apparently the shop previously was a bank and they did not change much from the original interior of the building. Something different as compared to the usual modern wood and green deco of other Starbucks I have been to.

If you are a Harry Potter fan, then you must know about The Shambles. It is an old street here in York, since I don't know... 13th 14th 15th century?? According to my husband, it was featured in Harry potter's, I wouldn't know.. (More of an LOTR kinda girl). Nevertheless, the place was really cool with really old-looking buildings. Hehe.

In regards to my domesticated self, I am now polishing on my skills on desserts. I used to bake all the time when I was in Cork but as I mentioned previously, I am sticking to unbaked and microwaveable stuff due to the lack of an oven. So far, I've done 'kek batik', Eton-mess and unbaked apple cheesecake. I would usually half the recipes and that would last us for a week worth of tea breaks and desserts after dinner. 1 week!!!!

Another thing is, we are in love with Italian food lately, especially pastas. Apart from the bolognese and carbonara, hubby made me tried out the seafood olio aglio which turned out great! Just love those olives and Parmigiano-reggiano!

If you have any more ideas for great oven-less desserts, please do share. ;)

Okay, I think that should be enough talk. Now some pictures.. Laters~!

Pancakes!!!

Just noticed my dear friend Aziah requested the recipe for pancakes. Here's a post dedicated to u, momsie-to-be!!
Actually, it's from Jamie Oliver's #1tweetrecipe! If you are not following him on twitter maybe you should start! He tweets full simple recipes in just 1 tweet, as the hash tag suggested.

1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup milk
1 egg

That's all you need! And you can improvise using your own imagination. I've tried them with blueberries, bananas and strawberries. I even made banana pancakes, just mash 1 whole banana and add to batter. Top off with maple syrup/honey/choc syrup.. U name it.. Vanilla ice cream even!
I usually got 6 pancakes with this recipe, just nice for the 2 of us..

Happy cooking!!

Now, I'm thinking of desserts now, but since we don't have an oven yet and a mixer for that matter, I'm sticking to microwaveable and unbaked desserts... Any suggestions?

Here are some pictures to make you salivating again. May seem like I prefer Western food but nah.. Chicken curry and black pepper beef don't look as appetising as home-made spaghetti carbonara and full English breakfast. Hehehe

*all the food in pictures posted are home-made by yours truly.. ;)

Hello from York!

Time passed by so quickly!! I have been here for more than 1 week now. ;)

So what's the story morning glory?

After I finished by housemanship in PPUKM, I was placed in Pahang for my MO-ship. I specifically requested for Temerloh to be reunited with my lovely Carriglea housemate, Kasusi! Such a sweet reunion but sadly it lasted for only one week.. Once my leave was approved by the MOH, straight away I bought the earliest ticket out to London (drama, I know..).

So I arrived here on the 23rd of February 2013. Since then I have been a full-time housewife and I am loving it! We are renting one of the studio in campus. Nice little cosy place we have here.. As u enter the door, to your right is the bed, to your left is the bathroom. Then you will see the dining area straight ahead. If u walk 5 steps ahead the kitchen is on your left and the study area is on your right. Perfect for just the two of us. Hehehe. This is only temporary until the end of term in September, we will be renting out a new place soon.

Since I arrived, mr husband has been quite busy with lectures and assignments. But he took the liberty of entertaining me with shopping trips in between his work. Weee-hoooo!! My 2nd day here we went for grocery shopping, then Wednesday, he took me around campus and we went to a retail park here in York for more shopping. Last weekend he took me to the city then to Leeds to buy some stuff from Ikea! I am a happy happy woman.. ;). Love you to bits darling!

Coming back to this side of the world made me realised that I kinda miss Ireland.. York reminds me a lot of Cork.. (Yeah, just change the first letter). The weather, the friendly people... Everything! And to have the familiarity of the lifestyle and atmosphere is really something I really appreciate..

I need to be studying too for my entrance exam.. But let me savour the joy of thinking of what dish to cook for dinner, doing the laundry and cleaning first okay? Okay. ;)

Later~!

Salivating much? ;P

Innocence

I could not comprehend how a 2 year old holding a toy gun considered as understanding jihad.. It's simply called VIOLENCE and you have taken away his INNOCENCE.. And you will be the one who will get angry when other people started calling you terrorists..

Disappointments

Scene 1
I just don't understand how parents could be so ungrateful. I am working in Paediatrics ward now and it is so heart-breaking to see all these fussy and cocky parents. The medical staff are trying so hard to do the best for their children and yet they still complain and claim that we are not doing anything for them. Some even demanded that we change the medications and insisted to be transferred to private centres just because their children's conditions are not improving. And you think they would manage your child differently and would miraculously cure your child overnight? Think again, think hard!
For the past 2 years since I have been working in medical field, I have learned that if your family members are admitted or even if yourself is unfortunate enough to be hospitalised, never ever ever EVER be fussy.. It will only lengthen the healing process. The nurses will hate you, the doctors will slowly start building barriers even the specialist would dread seeing you during rounds. And you only have yourself to blame.
This is one of the reason why I would not become a Paediatrician. I am truly disappointed.

Scene 2

My English is not perfect and I know that I need to practice more as there is still a large room for improvement. But it is such an eye sore and an insult to the brain having to read all the grammatical error on status updates on Facebook. It is still forgiveable if it is from primary/secondary school students or even colleagues that you know don't have a good English language background, at least you know that they are trying. But when the 'culprit' is a doctor who previously spent 5-6 years studying AND working in an English-speaking country with language and grammar of a 10 year old, it is truly unforgivable. Could not even understand what he was trying to say. I wonder how he survived the 6 years.. *face-palm*.

p/s: If I have some grammar mistakes here, please do forgive me. But at least I think you are still able to get my point.

Console

I need to be consoled too, once in a while..
It is tiring to be the one who is comforting most of the time..
As I may break and shatter, and I may no longer shine..
For what I'm keeping inside is no longer fine..

Pretentious

My greatest gift is I'm so good at pretending...
I'm always smiling, laughing and joking around in public..
But what's really inside, only Allah, me and my pillow understands..
Keep everything bottled up inside but when the right time comes, everything came pouring out..

So please dear Allah, give me strength.. To keep things together.. And allow me to be pretentious for just a little while longer..

1 month passed by so slowly...

December couldn't come much sooner..
And this heart can hardly wait much longer..
Come home quick my dear..
And make your lady much happier..
Guess what they say couldn't be any truer..
Distance does make the hearts grow fonder..

Yeayyhhh!! Found it!!

Alhamdulillahx3!! Well, it wasn't really me who found it. Must be my parents.. I misplaced my watch (which was my wedding present from hubby) and I have been looking for it for almost 2 months now but all the while I've been keeping it to myself bcos I don't want mr hubs to know.. Hehe. (Hope he's not going to read this tho) ;)

Long Distance Relationship (Phase II)

My husband had flew off to the UK on the 30th of Sept 2012 (more than 3 weeks ago), continuing his studies in Engineering. Even knowing the fact that he is coming back in 2 months time for a few weeks, still it was so hard to say goodbye..

I was in denial for quite some time before he flew off. The aftermath was worst.. The first week I cried myself to sleep almost every night. For the past 10+ months I was so used to having someone who was always there for me, sometimes would sent and picked me up from work, always the one who held out the door for me, someone who always made sure I had something to eat especially whilst busy working. The hardest part was to sleep and wake up with no one by your side. And the arguments of who would go and take a shower first in the morning especially during the weekends.. hehe. And then to come home from work and saw his car in the driveway, gave me false hope that he's waiting for me in the house.. *blood tears*

Now, both of us are trying to keep ourselves busy to keep our minds of being apart.
I sincerely would like to thank Apple from the bottom of my heart for creating the iPhone.. especially FaceTime! The greatest invention of all time.. We've been FaceTime-ing almost every night these past few weeks. It keeps us both staying strong and looking forward to see each other again soon.

Yes, by God's will I will be joining him soon.. In February hopefully. I am in the process of applying my unpaid leave and settling whatever need to be settled before leaving the country.

So I guess this blog will be updated more frequent next year! Haha.
Later~