Random

Wow! It's been over a month since my last post! Actually, there's not so much going on in the world of the Bumblebeez either. But since someone did actually ask me to write more *wink*wink* I figured I should make a quick update =).

In a whirlwind, here's what has been going on around recently...

1. Today is the last day of midterm exam for Emir and Farhan. Yay!! The boys are looking forward to have their 2 weeks break especially Emir. Sometimes I wonder if school is not that exciting for him. I know for a fact that the system here is too exam-oriented and everything is counted based on the exam result and sometimes it creates stress on the children. Is it a right thing to ask a kid how many As can he/she produce everytime the exam is over? I think not.

2. We're at the last stage of our visa application. It's been over 6 months now since we first submitted the paperwork for the K-1 visa. I already got the last important document, which is the police report for my background check, and that alone took almost 2 months! I am waiting for the last package to come from the U.S Embassy in Kuala Lumpur which will contain my interview date! Wish me luck =)

3. And hence, I've tendered my resignation letter last 2 days, and my last day at work is on June 18th. That would give me more time to spend with the boys before going to Hawaii most probably in July, hopefully. The not so good part is that I have to be away from them for a couple of months until everything is ready. And I think that is very important.

4. Here's a Peach Yoghurt Flan that I made last night. I made one last week too but it didn't turned out that great coz the fresh mangos that I used were rather light in flavor and it turned out pretty bland for the flan. Mom said I should use mango concentrate/puree. Using peaches (canned) turned out much better. I never bake or do any of this kind of stuff until just recently, specifically for the past 2 months. I was never interested to help mom in the kitchen whenever she's baking. But last months, I was putting all my magazines and books in the box and I saw all these pretty pictures of mouth watering recipes and I am really interested to give them a try now. This one below, is a still a WIP.

5. We had a sleepover at the orchard last weekend. It's actually our first time spending time at night there. My friend, Cheri joined us along with my parents. We had BBQ and me and Cheri spent some girlie time after that watching some chick flicks. And I love morning time there!

At 7.15am

Sunrise at 7.30am!

View from the hall.

Farhan with Auntie Cheri.

Doe-eyed boy.

And here's a video that I took while waiting for the sunrise.

The Orchard

The renovation at dad's house at the orchard is completed now and he bought some second hand furnitures to fill it up. It's a simple, no frill sort of house which dad bought from someone and he transferred it all the way from Alor Setar to the orchard by a huge truck probably. I don't exactly like the color scheme but at the end it looks cosy enough for us to hang out whenever we feel like it especially during fruit season which is coming really soon. So looking forward to hand pick mangosteens!

The front view of the house.

The pathway leading to the house. Those trees you see are a mix of fruit trees like Cempedak and Dokong.

Views from various angles from the front porch.

Dad staring at the river from the verandah.

This is the kitchen. I took this picture when we had a small sort of house warming gathering/feast last 2 weeks. Not sure what to call it in English. What we did was to call some relatives, my parents's friends and some nearby villagers and we have a special Quran (Yassin) recitation that evening to show gratitude and ask for blessing and then some simple feast after that. By the way, it's also held because dad and mom were going to Mecca a few days after that to perform minor Haj.

I love these old plates that dad collected.

And this old painting too! See the frame with chipped paint? Dad just want to leave it as it is coz he said it makes it look more authentic.

Some of my aunts who came earlier than the rest of the guests, sitting at the verandah. It's nice and breezy that day since it rained earlier. And we had a really heavy downpour later that night but the guests still came =).

The boys as always love to goof around and that night, they really had their time jumping on the bed and running around the house.

A more subdued Farhan later on. And the guests at the back were having their meal. In villages, most of the time, we just sit on the floor to eat. This is actually an old picture from last year during fruit season. I totally forgotten about it until I browsed my picture folders recently and boy I have so many pictures that I have not put up in here. Anyway, since these pictures are all related to the orchard, I might as well put them up now. So these 4 pictures above, I took them when I got lost on my way to dad's orchard. I got confused between the 2 exits at the highway and I ended being at the end of this one road which lead me to this waterfall. So I took a quick tour to see what it's like.

Always take a mosquito repellent with you. Mosquitoes are just so mean.

Abandoned huts ; 2 extra tanned boys.

A bird eye chili tree.

I love the smell of lime leaves.

Dokong trees and fruits, which is a variety of another fruit called Langsat. I'm always confused between these 2. Anyway, they're abundant! Last year we simply gave away bags and bags of this fruit to simply everybody. The fruit itself is sweet, just be careful not to bite the seed from the bigger pips coz that part is pretty bitter.

How it looks like without the skin.

Here's some rambutan.

These are cempedaks.

I love when they're made into fritters. The seeds are edible too.

And here's one of my favorite fruits!

Mangosteen anyone?

Random

Tired!

A dragon fruit farm nearby. I love the one with red flesh instead of the white as the white flesh fruits just taste pretty bland to me. The red ones are so much sweeter. Anyone has ever tried it before? They also has a restaurant inside there and once mom bought this deep fried garoupa with dragon fruit sauce and it's really nice!

A random picture of Ezzat at the orchard on one of his visits.

And a video of him helping to sweep the floor. When he's in his good mood, he is one really helpful boy.

Tok Wan's Orchard (2)

Here are more pictures from the trip. And the same video, only this time it's from Youtube coz it has bigger screen.

Here's dad / Tok Wan again, working real hard. During Japanese occupation during WWII, tapioca was the main source of food here as rice was scarce and very expensive back then. There are abundant of tapiocas here in this orchard.

What shall we make this time?

The jungle as our backyard.

Emir was doing his bit.

Tok Wan's Orchard

I forgot about a short visit we had when we went to Tok Wan's orchard a few weeks back (Tok Wan - nickname for grandfather). I just remembered about it when I took a look of some pictures taken with my phone. I recalled the date well because that was D-Day Uncle Dan was supposed to go for his BIIGGG ADVENTURE too - on May 9th. He didn't go until the next day though.

Farhan didn't want to go because he was really into cartoons that morning. So it was only me, Emir, Ezzat and Tok Wan. Tok (Grandma) was doing her gardening, and besides she was never really into stuff like this. Tok Wan took his really old van (see pic) and it was one hell of a ride in it, just imagine being in a tin box which is drivable.

That van is probably older than me.

Anyway, when we got there, the place was covered with wild bushes as tall as Emir, so dad decided to give it a trim and we just spent most of the time wondering around the house and didn't dare to venture far. And I've only been here twice since dad told me he bought this place last year.

Dad at work. You can see some tapioca trees.

Still busy trimming.

Wo hoo ma, look at what I found! A banana flower!!!

Sweet!

Mangosteen is one of the local fruits which one can find in dad's orchard, apart from durian, dokong, rambutan, and banana. I saw some tapioca plants too the other day. Here's a cute little mangosteen which unfortunately fell down before it got riped. Riped ones will have deep purple skin and that's really sweet and nice.

From the balcony.

During high tide. Dad's gonna built a jetty here.

Can we go back now?

Youtube is not cooperating today, and I'm not sure the quality of the video by Blogger. But here's a video taken while we're there. Can you spot a lizard on the tree?