Sunday, July 25, 2010

Cuti-cuti Swiss Atuk, Opah, Mak Teh & family

We were in a typical Swiss hut, high up (1350M) the Alpine meadow with breathtaking scenery. I can just picture Heidi and her grumpy Gramps. Getting there was pretty scary, up very narrow winding road. We nearly gave up hope in locating the house with no proper address until we met the owner who came down the hill searching for us and guiding us back up. What greeted us was a very quaint farmhouse complete with its own cows (which Syirah (and everyone else) said smelled like sh*t..ha..ha..), fresh milk from the cows, its very own CRAPPLE CAR (crappy cable car, nick-named by the awesome Syirah ;) (she wrote this by the way)!!! Oh, what joy it was hearing Mama shriek at every squeaking sound of the Crapple Car swinging on its line.

The cows belonging to the owner of the hut we rented. They wore bells around their neck so we can hear the cling-clanging all the time. Somehow sweet music to the ears.



Aren't they pretty? Flowers on the Alpine meadow.

Buying fresh milk from the owner....surprisingly tak bau lembu and tasted real good. However, kalau nengokkan lembu tu masa tengah being milked harus tak lalu minum susu tu.

Our hut....
Mama, the flowers, the awesome scenery ala-ala Salem High Country advert and the Crapple Car
Hakeem wanted to look at the cows being milked but couldn't stand the "pong" dalam kandang lembu. Mana tak "pong", all the montots facing him with the ekors melibas sana sini
After Crapple Car session we had steaming hot mushroom soup and oven baked french loaf...yumm
In front of our hut
Top of the hill at the other end of the Crapple Car
Clear skies..lepas hujan...
Senja...
One of the cable cars that took us from Engelberg up Mount Titlis
Up Mount Titlis. Just our rezeki, it snowed while we were up there at 10,000 feet. Pak Teh was so happy.
In the glacier cave

The Swiss Family



Sunday, July 18, 2010

Welcome to Hannover

A very warm welcome to Atuk, Opah as well as Mak Teh and family.They arrived on Saturday from Bahrain and these past 2 days it was catching up days. Lepak-lepak, makan-makan, just lazing around enjoying each others' company. The kids had a blast playing with cousins they have not seen for almost 2 years and the perfect summer weather made it all more wonderful. The sun has been kind by not showing it's full strength and the soft wind made everything all so nyaman.... hopefully it stays that way for the next 3 weeks that they are here as there are many places to cover and sights to enjoy...Berlin, Switzerland, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Bratislava, Amsterdam.....

Arrival at Frankfurt Airport

Barbeque Sunday...Pak Long on duty here but he had his fill straight off the grill as the food tester

After searching hi & lo for ready made birthday cakes at the shops here and finding none Mak Long aka moi got her not-so-creative juices working and the result is this simple cake for dear Nashwan. Nasib baik ada lagi stok edible cake stickers posted by cuzzy Wiz...thanks a bunch Ija.
The birthday boy Nashwan is 8
Berkelah ala-Malaysia atas tikar after doa selamat lead by Atuk

Boys will be boys, go kick some ball

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Beach and birthday




The weather has been scorching hot lately, temperature reaching 40 degrees at its height during the day. Dekat office and rumah sama jer panasnya sebab no air-con. Days are normally without any wind so rasa macam duduk dalam oven. Bukak tingkap, pasang kipas, doesn't help much sebab the air itself is very warm. Kalau tak tahan sangat pergi lepak kat supermarket frozen food section...nyamannnnn.....

Yesterday, on the recommendation of my German colleagues we went to the beach to escape the heat. The nearest to us is the one in Timmendorfer Strand on the coast of Baltic Sea some 2 hours car drive away. It's a calm stretch with sandy beaches as compared to the more notorious North Sea beaches. True enough, there were hardly any waves, kalau ada pun just small ones. Pantai yang landai sampai ke tengah so much that it feels like you're in a lake. Weather was super hot the day we were there, tak terpijak pasir kalau tak berkasut but the water was still wee bit cold. However once inside after the initial plunge, it felt good berendam. If only we brought pelampung tilam then can baring-baring, being lulled to sleep by the minute waves.

When we first entered the beach area I rubbed my eyes hard. Almost everybody was not only topless but stark naked. Nak tak nak redah jugak but cautioned Hakeem not to make any funny remarks. Rupa-rupanya we took the very entrance for nudists...heee...heee...so we moved quickly to the "normal" beach section sebelah. We just wondered tak der perasaan malu ke with the "thingies" bergayut-gayut here and there. Siap main beach ping-pong berlari ke sana ke mari. Nenek as old as my Opah pun tak ketinggalan...terketor-ketor with kedut seribu berjalan towards the water in all his/her glory. Actually "normal" part of the beach pun still ramai yang topless tapi better la kan dari tak pakai apa. Apparently according to my German friend it's quite a normal thing for some to go in the nude dekat beach here. She herself has parents-in-law yang like that so whenever they have a beach holiday she has problems tak tau nak letak mata dia kat mana bila bercakap dengan pa-in-law dia...ha..ha...

Here are some of the pictures we took :

These 2 are the "normal" part of the beach where we were seated. Tak sanggup nak post the more interesting part of the beach.
Ada sorang tu yang sayup-sayup tu rasanya tak berbaju dan seluar. Sila teka yang mana satu?

Look at the water....sungguh tenang, quite clear tapi banyak seaweed. Hakeem agak geli so asyik nak duduk atas riba Mama while Mama happily berendam. Air kurang sikit sejuk dari air peti ais but once in it feels good especially with the hot sun above.

The seaweed
Enjoying our picnic bekal...nasi lemak daun pisang on the beach.
This is the Ostsee Spa located right on the beach with slides, jacuzzi and all types of swimming pools. We chose to go there so that senang nak freshen up after melengeh-lengeh mandi laut. Happened that we spent more time here than the beach coz they have lots of fun stuff plus we were shielded from the scorching sun. Entrance fee pun amat reasonable if you take the Family Card, 43 Euro for the five of us. Abah sempat tidur almost 2 hours beside the pool on the deck chair.
My baby kepenatan after a day in the water. He slept all the way back to Hannover. He played non-stop dengan Angah. Such joy to see these two brothers. Adik very much look up to Angah, sikit-sikit ask Angah's opinion and Angah pulak so sabar melayan soalan2x and kerenah Adik.


Today is Imran's 15th birthday. Hadiah dah beli 3 months ago so hari ni dapat kek jer. We had baked cheese cake with melted Daim chocolate topping, chocolate fondue with strawberries, cherries, apple and tembikai as well as Ben & Jerry chock fudge brownie ice-cream. So in short, it was a very, very chocolatey day which added to our flabs. Urghhh....what the heck! After the guilt, Syirah and Mama brisk walking around the lake in the hope of melting away some fat....ha..ha...fat chance ler kut, more like jalan lenggang kangkung macam itik pulang petang. Syirah asyik suruh Mama increase speed and lari...haihhhh...Mama tak larat ler! Stopped by the lake yang ala-ala Tasik Permaisuri tengok Mat Saleh swimming there alongside the ducks and swans. k-anak depa yang girls siap lumur badan with the green slimy mud from the bottom of the lake....adakah boleh melicinkan kulit??? Idak ler teman nak cuba! After sun-bathing (yes, ada yang topless) ramai yang had a dip in the lake although the water looks quite murky. We all tak sanggup lagi setakat ni nak mandi kat situ but tadi macam dah tergoda sebab weather was especially hot. So setakat rendam-rendam kaki. Weather forecast kata this is just the beginning, it'll get worse. So maybe next week who knows we'll pick up the courage to go for a splash....mud, taik itik, lumut all.

The cake is 3/4 Daim topping and 1/4 mixed berry topping sebab Mama like the sour sweet berries.
Birthday boy cutting the cake
Strawberries are the best dipped with chocolate. Next time we'll attempt cheese fondue pulak. Yummm...

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Foodie weekend

This weekend is all about food, a celebration of sorts with Germany's victory I suppose. Plus asyik-asyik craving to eat this and that yang setengah tu mana nak dapat kat sini. Nasi dagang la, strawberries la (nasib baik yg ni pergi kutip jer), and just yesterday cinnamon rolls, burger Malaysia and barbequed meat and sausages. Inilah dia hasilnya.....


Calorie-laden heavenly burger. Meat patties bought from Turkish grocery shop. Not as nice as Ramli's patties but enough to satisfy our cravings.

These turned out very nice especially with generous dollops of cream cheese frosting. Another calorie-laden heavenly treat. I used the recipe from allrecipes.com - Clone of a Cinnabon.

Really luscious strawberries and cherries, super cool watermelon and mega masam peach to help quench our thirst during this full-blown summer weather. The last 2 days it touched 40 degrees. Today lil bit better at around 35 degrees. Panas no hal, kat Malaysia pun panas. Yang jadi hal is kat sini tak der air-con as they absolutely don't believe in them.

Bila lagi la nak makan ni? See the kelat face.

Tukar shif
Kenyang nampak? Alhamdulillah....