I'm Alive!

Hello beautiful people! No I did not fall of a cliff. Nothing much happened since my last post warranted an update, hence the silence. Well, except for my Istanbul holiday in October, which was a blast. Some photos from the trip :)

            The gorgeous Blue Mosque

Tableware and decorations with Iznik motifs. We managed to snag a few from the Grand Bazaar

Us at Topkapi Palace. You cannot not spend at least 2 hours at this beautiful palace

The Grand Bazaar. We bought quite a few things here at great prices. And we met some of the nicest sellers here

Me and hubs at Galata Bridge. In the background is Galata

Best Turkish coffee can be found at Mandabatmaz in Istiklal. We had two cups each of the strong brew.

Uncle Altan here is definitely my favourite seller in Istanbul. His shop sells the yummiest candies and Turkish delights (lokum)

We saw the whirling dervish show here. Amazing.

Our favourite carpet sellers. Such nice people

Us in front of Dolmabahce Palace. A magnificent monument. Attaturk used to live here. He also died here

Another amazing building, Hagia Sophia. A church turned into a mosque turned into a museum. I must have stood at this spot for a good few minutes with my mouth open, gaping at its splendor.

We shopped. We ate. We walked. We went on ferry trips. We made new friends. We had the time of our lives. Cannot wait to start planning our holiday for next year. 

Hubs and I also celebrated my birthday last weekend with a bang. He took me to Mamma Mia the Musical on Friday (I took the day off), brought me to the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale and got me a mountain of books (in addition to the haul which I already got a couple of weeks ago) and treated me to Japanese food at Kampachi. Good stuff.

In other news, I'm seeing Dr. Adilah tomorrow. If everything goes well, we'll do FET Insha Allah in January. I've missed my doctor. Seeing her face always gives me comfort. I'll have more updates after tomorrow.

Have a good day chickadees!

Happy Birthday To Me!

So last Thursday was my ehem 27th (read 34th) birthday. It was a pretty low key day for me. My good friends from the office took me out for lunch at Acme Bar & Cafe at Troika. It was my first time dining there and the food was quite good. I haven't been seen one of the friends who transferred to another department early this year, so lunch was a good time to catch up on all the latest gossips LOL.

Later that night, DH took me to a Japanese restaurant in town. I've been wanting to try this restaurant but never got around to do it. So what better excuse than my birthday to check it out? I ordered the sashimi set and for RM110, it also comes with appetizers, a mini tempura, miso soup, chawan mushi and dessert.

These are our appetizers. And they were all so good! I loved the presentation too. The one in the glass was the salmon jelly, which was soooooo good. DH also got a complimentary appetizer of salmon salad which was also so good. 

Now I don't normally like and wouldn't touch chawan mushi with a ten foot pole, but this one was really good. It was silky and smooth I can taste so many elements in my mouth. I would definitely order this again.

And here's the star of the show. My sashimi platter. So many good things going on on the plate. I saved the salmon and tuna for last coz those were my favourite. There was octopus and yellow fin and something else I forgot. Everything on that plate was awesome. My only complaint was that there were only two salmon slices on the plate which was not nearly enough for me. 

DH's niku soba was also good. And in a huge bowl which was a big plus. I had some of the broth and it was yum!

Now this is Goma or black sesame ice cream. This I would order the next time I come here. I've never tried goma before. I find it weird that they can turn something like black sesame into ice cream but I loved it! RM18 is pretty expensive for a scoop but it was worth it. I had to restrain myself from licking the bowl LOL. For Japanese food lovers, check this restaurant out. It's pretty pricey than what you normally get from kaiten belt restaurants, but the food is worth the price you pay. Trust me.

All in all it was a great birthday. I loved spending it with DH. He really does pamper me which I adore. He had already given me a pair of diamond earrings earlier this year and spent so much on our Japan trip so I know better than to expect another present. And I know that he's planning something pretty big for me next year and I can't wait to see that happen. I've had so many ups and downs this year and this dinner was a good end to one heck of a roller coaster year. 

Thanks for reading! Toodles!

Let's Celebrate!

Right. Enough of angry posts. Lets move on shall we? Cool. So DH and I celebrated our 8th anniversary two weeks ago. It was pretty low key, in a good way. DH is never one for grand gestures, so I know not to expect any, and that's totally fine by me. He had already gotten me a pair of diamond earrings a month in advance. I'm still trying to figure what to get for him. I'm a terrible wife, I know. The thing is, it's very difficult to get him a present. He's very picky and if he doesn't like it, it will stay in our dressing table drawer for eternity. Oh well, I'll figure something out, hopefully before next year's anniversary :P

He took me out to a Korean dinner at Koryo-won, which I have been craving for for so long. We had bulgogi and BBQ meat wrapped in lettuce. Awesome awesome stuff. 

Little sister also came home from Sabah for her Eid holiday, albeit a week after we celebrated Eid. But no matter, we still had tremendous fun when she was around as always. Us sisters took mom put for a dim sum lunch. Dad was out of town so that was a bummer. Again, awesome awesome food (I love food. Can you tell?) 

A day before little sister flew back to Sabah, we met up for lunch. This time the whole family (minus husbands and kids) were there. 

Next was a friend's wedding last Saturday. I had great great fun at the wedding. After the stressful week I had, that wedding was all I needed. My best friend flew home from Jakarta to attend the wedding and as usual when she's around, hilarity ensues. Lots of laughs, lots of giggles. Just perfect. 

The wedding cake. Isn't it gorgeous? Made by my best friends's sister :)

While waiting for the solemnization ceremony, we painted our nails. Because why not :P

Best friends

With the gorgeous bride and her new husband

On Sunday DH and I celebrated his 35th birthday. I took him out for dinner at La Risata and my goodness, the food was truly to die for.

This sea bream with spinach and mascarpone cheese was truly to die for

Zuppa de pesce. Very light but quite filling. I die.

So that's what I've been up to last two weeks. Oh and DH and I finally made our hotel bookings for our Japan holiday, but that's another story for another entry.  Till more updates, toodles!

Hello 33!

So I turned a year older last Wednesday. It was a pretty uneventful birthday for me, to be honest. Mama was admitted to the surgical ward for her knee replacement injury on Tuesday, so I basically spent my birthday in a hospital room. Not a great way to celebrate your birthday huh? But the good thing is, my little sister came back all the way from Sabah to be with Mama and our family and I got to spend a bit of time with her. I haven't seen her since Eid this year and it was nice having her around. We always have a good laugh when we're together. Mama's surgery went well, by the way, and aside from a slight inflammation on the surgical area, she is doing pretty good. She was supposed to be discharged yesterday but because of the inflammation, the doctor has ordered her to stay another night. But she's getting out today yay! Thank God she was in a private room. Since Baba kept her company at night, it's a good thing that the room was pretty comfortable. A stark difference from the general ward.

Anyway, on Friday DH took me out for dinner at Las Vacas. I was craving for a good slab of medium well steak for quite some time, and since I won't be able to eat anymore medium well meat when I start my IVF, I thought, what the heck. We (I especially) had a lovely time. The food was good and with DH sitting next time, it was lovely dinner date. The week before we went to Ampang Point (I can't remember for what exactly) and parked in front of Habib Jewels. And then DH told me that he wanted to have a look around. He went in and straightaway went to the Pandora section. I was looking around when suddenly DH said, "pick one." Whoa!! He said it's a birthday present from him. Yeehaa!!! I know that he had been looking at Pandora for quite some time, but I didn't expect to get one from him. He must have been thinking about my birthday present for quite some time, bless his heart. So I picked my bracelet and my charms and when I was happy with my selection, the sales assistant calculated the total bill and showed it to DH. He didn't even blink, thank God :P It was truly a surprise and I love him for that. So that's the story of how my birthday present came to be.

Beef wrap for appetizer. Yums!

DH's lamb chops. Also yums!

My rib eye steak. I asked for medium well but it was more of a well done :( It was still good though :)

My present from DH 

Me & DH. Thanks for dinner and the present love. xoxo

Ok back to last weekend. Little and big sisters took me out for lunch along with DH, BIL, DS and DD at Sushi Zanmai and we had a blast. BIL is not really a fan of sushi and he went for rice with chicken curry (boo!). Little sister is a lot more adventurous and went for raw oysters (yikes!). I for one cannot stomach raw oysters. Heck I can't even stomach sashimi. DH had a go at one of the oysters and the look on his face when he tried to swallow was priceless! I wish I had taken a photo of him while he went through the torture. His eyes started to water and he really looked like he was going to throw up. Next time BIL started to laugh uncontrollably. Lucky for DH he managed to swallow it and downed it with his green tea. It's safe to say that he won't be eating anymore raw oysters LOL. And then little sis and I went for some shopping. I got these for my friend who will be giving birth next time. Aren't they adorable? I love baby clothes!

Me, big sis & little Jasmine

What I wore for lunch. I was feeling a bit psychedelic :P Scarf (Uniqlo), blouse (MNG), jeggings (Uniqlo), shoes (Lacoste)

That night DH and I took little sister to the Big Bad Wolf Sale. I already got my haul the previous weekend (100 books in total. The books were RM8 each!) and was thinking that I probably won't be getting anymore, but I ended up buying 6 more books. I also got a couple more books for Jasmine and Dani. Jasmine decided to tag along (she's a bookworm like me) and colour me surprise, she actually behaved. I was hesitant to bring her along and made her promise to hold my hand the entire time and she actually did. While I was browsing she picked up a couple of books and started reading while walking next to me at the same time.

How much I spent on the first day of Big Bad Wolf Sale. Eeeekkk!! Money well spent though :P

On Sunday, I took little sister back to the hospital so she can say goodbye to Mama before I send her to the airport. She said she wants to go back in March, but with her busy schedules, we'll see. As usual she and Baba had the usual banter on where she was gonna go after her housemanship is over. We all want her to come back to KL but she seems dead set on staying on in Sabah. I'm gonna try to talk her out of it, but I don't think it's gonna work.

So that's how my birthday week went. And I just realized yesterday that I haven't even had a single birthday cake yet :( Maybe I'll get DH to get me a slice tomorrow tihihi.

Also, my good friend from Babycenter, Melissa gave birth to her bundle of joy on 21st December. Congrats my dear friend. Little Pete is a real cutie :D

Totally unrelated to this post. What I got from Kwerkee last week. Love it!!