Pasar Krismas...

In Germany, the build up to Christmas officially starts on the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the new church year. Advent starts on the first Sunday after November 26th. This time is devoted to preparations for Christmas. After the four Advent Sundays are over, there follow Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Advent calendars with their bright Christmas pictures hang alongside children's beds. There are small numbers in this picture. One, two, three....up to 24. Wherever the numbers are, there are small paper windows. When you open these windows you find a little picture on transparent paper: it can be a candle, a ball, a snowman-whatever children like. The children open a new window every morning, and then they know that there are still twenty three days to Christmas, twenty two, twenty one, and so on. It's a countdown to Christmas. Today the most popular version of this calendar is the candy-filled variety. Instead of mere pictures, the windows open to reveal pieces of chocolate shaped to resemble stars, fir trees, and other Christmas symbols. Also during Advent, advent wreaths (made of Holly flowers) are placed on a table and four red candles are placed in the center of it. One of these candles is lit on each Sunday preceding Christmas and the last one is lighted on Christmas Eve.

From the beginning of Advent, booths and stalls are set up on the market-places in all cities. Market names also varies: Weihnachtsmarkt is Christmas market in High German but in Dresden it is the Striezelmarkt, in Rothenburg Reiterlesmarkt, while in most of Bavaria Christkindlmarkt (spelled in various forms) is more common. One can buy everything you need for Christmas: decorations for the tree and candles, crib figures, Lebkuchen (gingerbread), Stollen (fruit bread), marzipan (made with almonds and sugar), Christmas trees, and presents for Christmas Eve. The Germans will indulge in Glühwein (“glow wine” which is the German version of hot mulled wine) which will warm them up in the cold wintry weather while enjoying each other's company standing out in the open.

Bread on a stick....with dollops of nutella....baked in an open fire...yummy!

We too are drawn to these Christmas Markets as it lends a warm and festive atmosphere. We've been to the one in front of the main train station, in the old part of Hannover as well as some 70 miles from Hannover, at an old castle, Schloss Oelber. One can't help but see some similarities to our very own Bazar Ramadan....especially food prices. Although the food offerrings include those not usually available on an ordinary day, they are rather pricey. I remember buying hati ayam masak rempah at RM1.00 a piece many, many years ago at Pasar Ramadhan Pandan Indah and I thot it was such a rip-off especially bulan Ramadhan when kita sepatutnya menambahkan amal jariah like bersedekah. It's almost the same here! We love to buy the honey-coated almonds, still warm from the roating pit. Mahal at Euro 2.50 for 100 gm but soooo.... sedap! As I walked and soaked in the atmosphere, I just know that Ija especially would luv it... it's just her cup of tea. For now, do enjoy the pics....

Of Christmas and Oldies...

Introducing Herbie…the long-legged lamb and WB...my colleague.

He’s part of the deco brought by WB to brighten up his table with the onset of Christmas. Christmas is definitely in the air with houses and shops starting to be decorated inside out and Christmas Markets mushrooming around town and villages. I’ll do a special post on Christmas in Hannover with pics this weekend when the snap-happy man aka hubby dearest dah habis snap sana snap sini.

Talking about my colleague ni…he is a very sweet old man of 60, very tall with legs as long as Herbie and like many other Germans his age, is still working at the office as their official retirement age is 65. Although very the baik hati, always telling me the history of this and that, teaching me itu dan ini and reminiscing about his past…..sama macam most other old German people that I have encountered, he can be grumpy too. Kalau dia dah start marah, berjela-jela dengar dia membebel in German on the phone with whoever it is on the other end of the line. Sabor je la....

The only thing I can deduce is that the oldies are lonely and depressed sebab orang tua kat sini mostly duduk on their own without their kids. Their culture dictates that once the kids move out, then it’s bye-bye forever. And because of that too I think they are very active even though dah tua sebab dah terpaksa…and when I say tua, it’s really, really tua ok….bertongkat and pakai walking frame support tu…You can see them going shopping all by themselves kat supermarket….jalan terhencot-hencot, slowly but surely…kalau saper pernah tengok episode Mr Bean yang ada lelaki and perempuan tua turun tangga kat hotel and Mr Bean trying to overtake them…teruk lagi dari tu slow nyer.

Ada one morning while hubby was sending me to the office, we saw one very old and frail lady, kecik molek tapi masih bergaya with long coat, topi all, walking her dog. Actually more of the dog walking her bukan dia yang walking the dog..ha..ha....punya frail nyer dia, terhoyong-hayang dia ditarik dek anjing tu yang menonong-nonong charging ahead. Mana nak control anjing lagi, mana nak jaga topi jangan jatuh lagi. Both hubby and me looked at each other and we burst out laughing…..it was totally and absolutely funny especially when we were chit-chatting about kedaya-tahanan oldies here just the day before. Kalau kat M'sia, dok rumah diam-diam jer la, tak der nyer nak gallavanting around.

So…back to the issue of parents staying by themselves in their twilight years, WB’s mom is also destined to the same fate. Umur dah dekat 90 and yet she still lives alone hobbling along fine as WB’s dad passed away some time back. She still does her shopping and enjoying life, not just confined to the house. Hats off to them!

For paranoid me, I have been trying to coax my kids into staying with me bila dah retire and tua nanti. Trying my luck with each one of them…..kadang2x resort to bribing. I will say “saper duduk dengan Mama nanti I give the house plus I pay all the bills”…setakat ni response yang dapat macam tak berapa menggalakkan despite the carrot…Syirah says “Nanti I ask my husband first” and I’m like thinking.... Amboihhhh…ni dah very teradvance in becoming isteri mithali (I would like to think that I’m isteri mithali…betul tak Yangggg?……so it must have rubbed on Syira too). Imran pulak…initial reaction selepas mendiamkan diri beberapa lama dengan slow nyer kata, tengok la dulu…bertuah betoi!…aper yang dia tengok2x tu huh…b*n* ler tu….so tak take after his Abah who just barks his orders to Mama aka moi….Hakeem pulak still too young….maybe I can usap2x his head and say “Hakeem mesti duduk dengan Mama” like a hundred times every nite masa dia tengah nak tido and while his sub-concious mind is taking over….ala-ala hypnotise gitu…

Syaza I must say is the most level-headed one and most responsible….she didn’t kick-up a fuss and said ok but better if it’s a different house next to ours but she’ll take care of Mama/Abah. She also said that we can stay with her if she decides to migrate…a plan she’s considering with my blessing…yabedabedoo….kalau boleh UK ok….jangan Mongolia sudah… so Yanggggg....better make sure one of them stays with us, if not I follow you go play golf...want or not?

Al-Fatihah Untuk Mak Ngah

Al-Fatihah.... Kami doakan roh Mak Ngah (Adik Abah, kembali kerahmatullah 22/11 @ 415pm) ditempatkan bersama-sama para anbiak and orang-orang solehah. Amin Ya RabbalA'lamin....

Laksa anyone ?

Daun kesum never smelt so fragrant before, a whiff of its smell is enough to remind me of laksa especially my favourite Laksa Jangguih in Penang. After 5 months in Germany this is the first time I made laksa purely because I never thought I could get all the daun here. Nak bawak from Malaysia was not easy due to the strict regulation on food items brought into Germany. So while blog-hopping, I saw bowls of laksa complete with the daun in them, me and my tak malu face minta tolong beli and postkan to me although tak pernah jumpa seumur hidup. This lady, Fasha, (may Allah SWT bless her....) is a Malaysian staying in Stuttgart and married to a German. She has such a wonderful blog in which she shares her life here with her husband and two adorable kids. She then out of the goodness of her heart immediately posted 2 big packets of daun kesum to me and told me that it's a present, so it's FOC. This to me is an act of kindness to a fellow Malaysian that makes me all warm inside. Terima kasih daun keladi yer Fasha.....Anyway, I told her to open a buku 555 for me in case of future orders, to be settled when I see her.

So balik dari office on Friday tu masaklah laksa yang telah sekian lama dinantikan untuk makan the next day.....ingredients all complete except for bunga kantan which memang tak ada kat sini as confirmed by Fasha (tapi no kantan no hal....kesum lagi important). Masak a big pot sebab the peeps in my family semuanya hantu laksa...boleh makan dari breakfast sampai dinner. Masak malam ingatkan bagi mesra kuah esok tapi by the time masak dah tinggal dekat setengah periuk as hubby hirup sampai berpeluh-peluh..balas dendam nampakkk.....

Lain-lain menu hari Sabtu is veg. moussaka.....layers of grilled terung, paprika, tomato puree as well as mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Bila dah masak tersangat la menggoda with the gooey cheese (low fat ones ok...).Itu yang seronok dok kat sini...bermacam-macam cheese ada semuanya murah and almost all ada the low fat version. Kalau kat Malaysia nak beli cheese....it can burn a hole in the pocket especially the gourmet ones. Since hubby ni perut Melayu and memang kena pekena nasi at least once a day masakkan la dia masak lemak sotong/udang with buncis, telor goreng and sambal belacan. Berpeluh lagi dia makan.....esok breakfast macam nak masak nasi lemak and since apples nampak tak luak since beli sebab tak brapa crunchy, it's time for apple crumble again.

Looks like weekend ni project masak jer la coz malas nak jalan2x....kena conserve duit...baru2x ni dapat bill telephone....nak tau brapa? Euro800 which is equivalent to RM4000....terduduk dibuatnya and terus tak der selera nak makan sekejap. Didn't realise that roaming charges for calls to Malaysia to talk to Jaja when we were in Netherlands and UK can be that high. Aper nak buat....makan aper yang ada dalam freezer, rebus sayur and colek sambal belacan jer la till the end of the month!

Syirah & Imran's report cards...

Mama & Abah during one of their weekly dating session stop-over dekat the only bookshop in Hannover selling English books. As usual, Mama so engrossed looking at the books...habis hati kalau dapat buku cerita...the thicker the better...Abah pulak with his newfound hobby...asyik snap gambar here and there....kalau tak der benda nak tangkap, gambar muka sendiri pun jadi....

Autumn & Clear Blue Sky...

Since the beginning of Autumn, the sky has been grey except for the morning of 10/11, the sky was true blue...itu pun for about 2 hours, by 11am dah back to grey and drizzling...

Imran in action during his International School Football Tournament in Munich....all matches played in foggy condition. They got 2nd placing...itu pun kalah via penalty shoot-out..frust menonggeng...

Imran jersey's no. 3...

Happy Birthday Hakeem......

Happy 7th Birthday Hakeem.......

Autumn @ Herrenhausen Garten....


Mee Kari....

Restoran Taiping.......??

At IKEA....

Kaunter bayar selfservice...scan sendiri and bayar pakai debitcard...anak pokok kelapa, harga satu pokok 5 Euro...bole buat bisness..?? and our berbuka posa menu last Saturday @ IKEA...

Autumn Night @ Hannover, sementara tunggu Angah balik dari Munich last Saturday...

Keadaan Lake depan rumah early Autumn....