Food

I have been cooking since my husband is still on holidays.  Capati and the tomato yogurt chicken , ladyfingers and eggplant. Yesterday it was the same recipe using meat . We tried to make yogurt but it was not quite successful. So I finished the yoghurt . I bought some more today.  I  am trying to read Emma and Middlemarch which I bought years ago. Maybe I will get another book.

I saw 'Coco before Chanel' last night.It  was a sad story.  It was a wonderful true story of a woman who became very rich despite her being an orphan and humble upbringing .  Coco Chanel. I love her bags. She loved to read.. She never married. The man she loved  was married to  another rich woman and  he met an accident one day. He died . True stories of successful  ones  are often tinged with  sadness . So are  the classics. 

I wonder if I will be able to buy some wallpaper for my bedroom. I saw the french style bedroom set from John Lewis . Closer to home , there  is another white bedroom set advertised in " Pengantin"  or Bride magazine. Fella has white furniture . I am into white furniture . 

I thought of having pink wall paper but that is too feminine. Blue , well blue or maybe butter since I realised that  I love rooms with  cream walls. I am into creamy , golden . I also like blue or duck blue . A blue room. I intend to have a blue room one day with some chinoseries.   Well , a nother day for dreaming.

Capati and Emma

It took me about 18 years to learn how to make capati. A famous  flat bread. I don' t know, I am not sure how to knead or how much flour to add.  Last week I asked my husband to buy some atta flour. Since I know how to make well a decent looking pie sometimes , he did.  I looked up at the You tube. Tried doing one and then my husband showed me how to make a capati. He made a huge batch yesterday , he is still not sure that I could make the proper mixture. I rolled the dough . When you have knead the mixture and let it sit. Make a small ball and then make it into a round shape and pat both sides into some flour . That will make it easier to roll . So now my husband is very happy to eat the capatis at home every day.

I loved watching Emma by Jane Austen  I saw the latest one in 2009 at the YouTube where else .What a breath of fresh air and away from the real world.  How I love to see Emma having dinner and watch her antics. I love period movies.  I bought " Pride and Prejudice '' with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet. I especially love the part when they were having breakfast. I love watching food. I do not know where I place it. I have to search for it again.

Well, Mr Darcy is always dashing and aloof and tall. I have bought "Sense and Sensibility "  last two years. I have enjoyed it immensely. When I was a teenager , that is I used to watch a programme called " Affairs of the Heart ". It was everything about love in Victorian England. I used to love the large bird cage .Sometimes it is very nice to escape from the 21st century and doodle in times when things are less complicated or was it ?

I have also watched Fransesca Annis in 'Lillie ' the life of Lilie Langtry with my mother and sisters.

The Hand Affair

Once awhile I will look at my hands.People  say they  tell your age. Sometimes I would scrub my hands with a mixture of sugar and olive oil.  Whenever I  remember I would put olive oil ,almond or castor oil or some hand lotion.Tupperware has an exfoliating hand scrub and cream. I would love it  if my hands are soft and not dry or coarse or wrinkling.  Ouch .

There is a dot on my hand . I wonder if  the  dot is  some oil splattered  or an age spot.  I  wonder how I can  diminish the spot. There are some bite marks  from my cat Jingga . I especially like to look at hand creams . Especially those with shea butter.

I read that ROC hand cream does wonders for the hand especially those with age spot. I was thinking of  buying  a  hand paraffin  machine. The one that you put your hand and envelope with paraffin wax for  soft, youthful hands. I was thinking of those. You can purchase the machine locally. Beauty equipment  shops sell them for around RM 200 and above . Here are some local shops that I  found which sells the hand parrafin bath . They are   .http://ahtienterprise.com/products-paraffin.html ,http://veemanbeauty.com/store/product.php?id_product=1229 and from http://www.magicboobeauty.com/beauty_product/09.html.

 This has to be one of my wish list. To scrub my hand , spray the hand sanitizer and add the cream .  And gently put my hands in parrafin. My mother likes to use for her feet. Sometimes it is sold separately , one for the hand and another  for the feet.

I saw some other parraffin bath  from overseas. One of them is from Therabath. It does look good with the accesories and all . It is sells for USD 199 . Here is the website http://www.therabathpro.com/treatments/hands.php . Another is from the Artemis woman and from Remington. So one of these days I might indulge myself in of a perfect hand spa at home.

Jadayel Hair oil

 I have been using Jadayel Hair tonic from Abdel Samal Al Qurashi for two weeks now. It is a hair tonic without any chemicals . It does not have any strong smell.  It feels cool. My hair looks shinier and softer now. Sometimes I will share the tonic with my husband.  The price is AED 50 when I bought it  from the  Abdel Samad Al Qurashi store in the Mall of Emirates in Dubai.  I use it twice a week.  Usually my hair will be coarse after washing and I use to pin my hair all day long now with this wonderful oil  I  now let my hair loose.  My sister Yati had  bought the hair loss oil. There are two other oil , one for dandruff and another red coloured box for hair lengthening . I asked my sister to buy the hair lengthener  for me , it  could also  volumize the hair.Yippee !!! The hair oil is very gentle too . You can also buy this oil from perfumezahras  for USD 20. This is their website :http://perfume.zahras.com/ under Abdel Samad Al Qurashi catalogue.

My sisters are also into  oil treatment. My sister Nas has bought an olive oil for the face from Laleli Perhaps I have mentioned it before. The store is in Queensbay Penang. It is world renowned olive oil. It is good to use oil. I used to add some essential oil to 30 ml of  sweet almond oil. Sometimes I would add geranium, ylang ylang and sandalwood if  I can get my hands on them.  I used to buy sandalwood essential oil from Bioessentials which is available at the British India stores. 

I have stopped doing so because it became expensive and I love to use it on my body. So I stopped.   I might try to find some essential oil  again.  I saw  a bulgarian rose essential oil being sold at Just Life store in Ikano, Mutiara Damansara. The last time I saw the price was about RM 200. It will be wonderful to add to a face oil with rose ,ylang-ylang and sandalwood. I am not a trained aromatherapist but rose is divine.

Life as it is

Now life is back to normal. It has been ages since I travelled. My cat Jingga refused to eat the kitten and active adult cat food from Blackwood.  He likes the adult one. So I have been feeding him fish . It is difficult to carry him as he will cough. Yesterday my mother made a Pakistani dish with chicken and tomatoes. It is the variant of the lamb tomato dish  my husband  had taught me. She learnt this from a Pakistani lady years ago.

Chicken with tomato and yoghurt recipe
Slice some onion and garlic
Heat in oil
Add curry powder for chicken
Then add the cut chicken and  add  5 to 6 quartered  tomatoes
Allow the tomatoes to become tender - This will take quite awhile
Add  a few spoonfuls of yogurt and  then salt to taste sometimes my mother would add milk . The lady said it is also tasty with meat.. My husband loves the dish with a lot of yogurt.

Photos of Dubai

The last three days I have not been well. I have stomach upset ,wind and heatiness . Perhaps it is because I have been eating lamb every time we eat out. My sister Yati  made roast lamb the other day. It was very tasty with the beriani rice. I hope to make one similar at home. The next two days we went to Bur Dubai again to see the souk but there were many textile shops. We went browsing into the jewellery shop. One is Joyalukkas. Then bryani fare at Joysr restaurant nearby. After that a short trip down and about the water taxi. The next day we  went to the Mall of Emirates , my favourite shopping mall. We had lunch at the food court . Had Beirut fare. This time I took the red coloured chicken. At night we went to Dubai mall. We saw the fountain show and off to the souk Al Bahar. The atmosphere was romantic. Then we went to have dinner at Abdel Wahab restaurant. Another Lebanese restaurant. It was pricey. Most restaurants are pricey . Well the food are memorable. The next day my sister had a surprise for my mother. And then we are off  home.
How time flies. The time spent at my sister's place  is very  nice and memorable   with some moments . He he he. Here are some pictures that  I am able to share. The mosque is in Abu Dhabi , the grand mosque. My mother and I on the boat ride from the Marina Mall. Most photos at the Indian court ,Tunisian court in Ibnu Batutta Mall. Beirut fare at Mall of Emirates , tea time at Lime tree Cafe , Ibnu Batutta Mall.Lunch at Hatam and the Fountain show at the Dubai Mall.

Mall of Emirates and the Jumeirah Beach residence

In the morning after breakfast , the four of us went to the Mall of Emirates. My father likes to talk to the taxi drivers. It was a short ride. We went to buy the gifts at Al Jabeer gift shop. I like the eyes as I told yati. Before that we saw the perfumer Abdul Samad Al Qurashi's shop.  I wondered how much the bakhoor or agarwood powder would cost. I thought of not buying any because Yati had bought for many bakhoor but that does not stop me for buying another bakhoor. It cost me AED 80 for 50grm of agarwood powder.  There some other which is AED 150 and 300 but I know there would be more expensive bakhoor . Yati bought the Jadayel hair oil for AED 50. Then we went to buy gifts.
For lunch my mother cooked masak lemak ikan or fish in yellow gravy which tastes very homey , two fried fish and some mustard greens. Then at 5.00 pm we went to Dubai Marina Mall which has some fine shops . The blouses in Dubai start at AED 199 and there are some bargains. Most of the pharmacies around these area sell upmarket brand. We went to buy some salad at Waitrose supermarket and one garbanzo salad from Carluccio's. After that we went to the Jumeirah beach residence and ate the salad on the beach. After that we  browse along the restaurants. I still have wind . Then my sister Yati treated us at Bazerkan restaurant  for lebanese food. I have been eating lamb most of the time. Perhaps that is why I feel the heatiness. My mother and sister is out again to see her office.