All in all, we're doing rather ok...!

Di atas: Pada Malam Khamis Oct 14th Oct 2009, saya sempat bertemu Tuanku Raja Muda Perlis - di Majlis di Consulate of Malaysia di Jeddah. Saya berbaju putih membelakangkan kamera! Di sebelah kiri Tuanku ialah Dr MAZA! On my left is Mr Kamil - Director with the Jeddah Municipality.


Di bawah: Hari Jumaat 16th Oct, makan2 udang bersama kawan2 dan anakanda Amirul!
A plateful of deep fried prawns!

Living with Amirul in Jeddah for the last three weeks has been quite an experience. It has made me more rajin ke dapur...ia lah to prepare a meals or two for both of us. We have also built quite a nice routine; for instance we do our grocery shopping on every Thursday afternoon after Asar prayer, and if we don't go to Macca we will have friends over for Friday lunch, a bit of relaxation, and ending our weekly social get together with swimming. Mr Kamil, who is a Director for the Jeddah Municipality has been our regular Friday companion - and the fact that he is a very accomplished cook, makes him a much awaited and welcomed guest.


Amirul himself has turned into an independent young man. He has to, since due to my work there are times when I leave him all alone at home for a few nights at a stretch in a week. He has learned to cook rice, and are able to cook a few simple dishes such as honey-chicken, spaghetti bolognaise, besides the usual fry this and boil that!
Fortunately, we have a maid who comes twice a week to clean the house, do our laundry and check our fridge for any expired food items. The last chore, I am quite sure, is an instruction from my wife to her.


A snap shot look into our fridge reveals that we are over stocked with proteins; chicken breast, lamb chops, beef steak, king fish steak, and prawns! We have quite a good selection of fruits; banana, apples, oranges, and pears. There are just not enough vegies! Except for cucumbers, I have just realized that we do not buy, cook, or eat vegies as much as we should! Point noted though, and on my next visit to a supermarket, I will pick up a good mix of leaves, stems and root vegies. My favorite is broccoli ~!


Last night, we surprised ourselves by cooking steak and baked sweet potatoes! It was a walalala dinner. Simple to prepare, fresh and tasty. The sweet potatoes, steaming hot applied with some butter was an exquisite discovery last night, and we both said we will repeat the menu again in the near future. We learned one lesson though last night! For good taste, the steak has to be adequately marinated first. Last night we simply applied some black paper source to the meat and cook it a little too quickly - hence a little bland on flavour. Oh well...


I guess there is a subconscious reason why I over emphasize on food and cooking in my write up and also in my phone conversation with my wife who is in Dubai. The reason simply is for her to know that both of us, father and son, are looking after our food rather well. There is little reason if at all, for her to worry. We are more than coping...in fact we enjoying the opportunities to experiment with 'things' in our kitchen.


All in all, we are doing ok!