Foodie part three.

Many more food attempts..

Cheesy pasta with sausages and onions

Baked bolognese wheat pasta with minced meat

Garden mozzarella salad

Tuna pasta with pan-fried cod fillet

Mee suah with egg and crabsticks in vegetable broth

Fried pasta noodles, with lightly salted haddock fillet and lettuce

Toasted bread and celery sticks accompanied with...

Sardines!

Poached egg with toasted bread

Flat Rice Noodles cooked in prawn sambal sauce

Mee soup containing flat rice noodles, in ikan billis broth

Salmon fingers (they are divine)

Foodie part two.

Celery and tomato cuts in broth

 More foodie pictures...

Egg noodles with beansprouts

Charred egg noodles

Comfort food

Cod battered fish with garden mozzarella salad, garlic bread and peppered tartar sauce

Fish with seasoned celery sticks and broccoli and brown rice.

Homemade burger (not the patty though :p)

Pratha and Philadelphia chocolate cheese spread

Half-boiled egg seasoned with soy sauce dipped & cheesed bun

Haddock fillets in black, spicy, bean sauce.

Brown Rice, scrambled eggs and lettuce

Contentment.

Done, free, finally, over! Alhamdulillah, simply to just tawakkal now. InsyaAllah! May everyone get outstanding grades Amin!

No more late nights, consuming bitter coffee every 3-4 hours, feeling guilty checking any social networking sites, eating takeout and oven-ed frozen foods, taking short naps... May these sacrifices made is worth every minute and second! Okay and I reckon its my call to start doing some post-exam workout after living in such unhealthy regime! Nonetheless..

Foodie part one.

 These are some of the many cooking attempts during my many months' stay at Keele. I forgot to take a shot at some of my pasta dishes though. Hoo well. I play with food and all the seasoning that I have, hoping that they would turn out edible. All combinations seem to work on most days, Alhamdulillah. For me, I exceptionally love stocking up on celery because:

1) It has negative calories.
2) It lasts long than other vegetables.

3) It tastes good as it is as a snack and even better in soups.

Cherry Tomatoes Omelette  with Seasoned Cauliflower and Celery Sticks

Sausages in Chilli Coriander sauce, Broccoli & Celery broth with Brown Rice

Mackerel in Tomato Sauce, Seared sausages and Cauliflower, baked Wedges and
Salmoncakes with Brown Rice (dinner for two with Wida)

Grilled niblets, Egg Salad in Seasoned Olive Oil and Brown Rice

Half an Avocado in condensed milk!

Chicken in seasoned black peppercorn batter with seared Avocado, celery and coriander salad.

Grilled niblets, Egg Salad, Brown Rice and Sauteed bbq (dinner for two with Jan)

A true quote from a good friend of mine:

"I love the F word, Food" - Dalila

I also miss my mom and dad's cooking, so when I cook, I think of them and what they'd put to elevate the quality of taste! Thank you for the inspiration dear parents :D

Today, the second.

Wednesday, the second of May.

What was supposed to be an hour nap turned to be an hour and 30 min nap this morning. Yes I failed to sleep properly again for countless number of times already. But this is because, I fretted. Today was my Marketing Management group presentation and boy was it nerve-wrecking at first. Miss T said to the first group that presented that they set the bar really high, and she was right, they did phenomenally well in comparison to all the others including ours. However my group, consisting of Natalie, Jannah, Nathea and Jazilah were probably the only group in that time slot (9 - 11) that included humour! Alongside that we managed to include the necessary information in our marketing mix analysis. The best part of it all, we managed to make Miss T & Miss A (the beloved two assessors) laugh, twice! Overall the presentation could not have been better, Alhamdulillah it is over now :)

Soon after the presentation, Tay and I decided to have brunch - the usual salmon sweetchilli sandwich from Le Cafe. The other girls didn't join as they needed to rush off somewhere. Tay and I had the longest catch-up. It was an overdue catch up session..and interestingly enough, we got talking about the deep stuff i.e. spirituality. It was a conversation that, you know when you have memorable conversations that are... mind-numbing in a good way? Yes those kinds - because it makes you think, and reminds you about life and death. It's an opinionated conversation :D aside from that there are the updates of 'things we did over the Easter'. Not that mine was any interesting as I stayed in Keele but I did have my share of fun with the girls, so no complaints.

I then went back happily to my room and sit myself down to revise Spanish. My Spanish listening test is in about 14 hours from now. Took two one-hour naps during the day which were necessary.

My sister came on Skype, my mom and the cats too! Got to talk to my dad for a short while before he left for work. I miss home and so I blog my troubles away. It's just the time of the season - the exam season.

Cupcakes.

 I could use a cupcake, or two. Best cupcakes in London town, Lola and Hummingbirds.

Fight.

When you know you are full already, but there are more scrumptious food on the table, you fight by not helping yourself to another serving.

When you know how attractive the guys/girls in Hollister is, you fight by not looking and lowering the gaze.

When you know how some things annoy you, you fight by controlling your anger.

When you know how comfortable it is to sleep in till sunrise, you fight by taking wudhu straightaway for Fajr.

When you know how easy it is to make unnecessary conversations (i.e. gossiping) with friends, you fight by staying still and silent.

When you know how you're better off watching series or playing games, you fight by storming through your readings.

When you feel lazy, you fight for productivity.

When you feel like giving up, you fight and say "no, I will never."

What is this you fight with? What is it that every human being struggles with on a daily basis? It is the battle of themselves, the nafs, which lies in all of us. May Allah strengthen our Imaan to continue fighting this battle. A reminder to myself first and foremost.

When enough is enough.

What is ever enough to people?

Gandhi does have a point on (along the lines of) "earth unable to provide or satisfy humans greed." Nothing can satisfy a persons' greed because nothing will ever be enough to them. As humans living on a temporary scale called the world; contentment should found from within. No one can ever feel content if they are unhappy with what they have because it does not lie in material, tangible things.

Oh mothers.

Oh mothers, the strangest creatures according to Abdul Nasir. They are strange in the sense that mothers have the capability of loving their children unconditionally even when they don't say it. We inevitably cannot live without them. We were once helpless. There is nothing we can do on our own.

This is a video that really touched my heart how we as children have to be obedient. I will always love you for the sake of Allah mom. Reminders are always good.

"If your parents are displeased with you, Allah will be displeased with you too." - (Narrated by Abdul Nasir)

Summer 2012.

Exams then Summer in Brunei! InsyaAllah, it's all happening too fast. So eggsiting!

The 15th.

Un mes. One month :)

My heroes.

Caption says, "our father, our hero."

I love you daddy and mommy for carrying me. Literally carrying me into this world, from the day I was born. Shukran, jazakallah khayran <3

To keep up!

A pleasant unexpected surprise.

I didn't understand how, what and why?! Two weeks have passed since the 5th of March and to my surprise, I was surprised... again. This time by Nathea for going out of her way to organise and gather the people close to me to a celebratory dinner :) Time and effort guys, thank you so much :')
Alhamdulillah, and I've family therapy already with Geah being the best roomie I could ever ask for. I miss her already as she left for Liverpool on Sunday but we'll reunite soon when I visit her in Liverpool this Easter! Yeaaay! :D

One sunny day with Geah :-)

The celebratory dinner that evening :-)

Flight flight.

I am beyond content because I just discovered that one of my closest friends will be in the same flight with me. It is none other than Miss Dalila! SO EGGSITING :D