Eezie cafe

jumaat baik

2009-04-12T04:38:00.003+02:00

got a long weekend break with sarawak celebrating g.f. went over to brunei for daytrip stuffing face with good value sushi, yes you'd never link brunei with sushi, but there is a very good chain there that serves up pretty plump sake for a couple brunei bucks. its really a makan angin for the family, they have been cooped up in the house for over a week as our munchkin got the fever and now lingering runny nose (she calls it leaky nose). also dropped by to get some kain for baju raya, yellow is the theme this year. got some stuff for the munchkin for swimming and playing at the beach. next break will be the gawai week off, still deliberating on where to go, most likely to kk. we enjoy that place and flights are still reasonably priced. we thought about visiting a friend in indon but the flights are a bit too prohibitive now close to 4k for the 3 of us. if our friends are still there, we will certainly do indon but not from miri lah...

mighi

2007-08-03T17:14:00.000+02:00

4 months have whizzed past since we landed in the new place, phonetically pronounced as the title of this blog post. i've always known it as a place to go for end of term hols during my boarding school days, and know we have pretty much settled in. the fact that i am now signed up for my first monthly medal at kgm is testament to it. it will be my first ever monthly medal, even though i have been a golf club member for some 8 yrs now. will be cool, just hit and hope and see what happens.
the mrs is getting into the rhythm of things, and will start to enjoy exploring this 'city' since we now have the crv here. our lievert is doing well, its amazing to think it is now over 9mths now since the day the nurse popped her into my arms with her screaming hello world. she still screams now and again, punctuated by some other noises.
its nice to be back again, sort of back, its not quite home, but close enough. hope its a place we will miss when its time to move on, we'll see.

tak leh tidur lah

2007-02-10T04:41:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe
been a long time since i find myself unable to sleep. lil l nazeefah's mum has put the white flag up and needs me to take over the duties...its the weekend so its no problem, except that i am getting a cold as well. took some lemsip, and hope it will help. since i cant sleep, thot i scribble on this page, my first for 07. life has never been the same since end october last year, but it has been much better. enjoying this dad thing a lot, it comes with its own set of challenges, but the reward makes you forget about it all. its great to see the progress they make...will do it again :), but not so soon lah ok..
just got our new passports from the london high com, after almost two months. i am not very lucky with passport renewals, always takes forever. means now i can progress my work permit appl for miri. indeed we are heading there next month, this will prob be my last blog on this side of the world...gonna miss the life here, but theres always something to look forward to. it does mean that the mrs has restarted the london trip talk again...well, as they say, satu empat jalan.
wouldnt mind doing the london things again for the last time in a while, lobster noodle, nahar, ayuthiya, selfridges sandwich, yo sushi, fortnum mason cookies...seeing a trend yet? of course, we will be getting books for the lieverd, not sure what the stock will be like in miri...prospects are not too good for that sort of thing...my mate lan might be in town as well...wud be good to catch up again since his last trip last summer.
so, till the next time, tot straks.

New chapter

2006-11-02T22:09:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe

its daddy izi in the house, as i write this with my new status as a dad...the little one has alhamdulillah arrived on 20 oct bersamaan dengan 27 Ramadhan. imanee nazeefah is her name and she is now doing fine after a little rough and tumble start to her new life. we celebrated raya this year with only me allowed out, with the wife and baby in the hospital recovering from the birth. it all went so quick, i was in a daze for a good couple of hours after it. the whole thing took just over 4 hrs, from the first real contraction, to me saying Ya Allah, the baby is coming out! it was an indescribable feeling to see your own flesh and blood joining you into this world....luckily there was plenty of help in the OR (last counted 9 of them excl us!) so i didnt have to fumble with the camera. she looked so fragile, i have a little phobia about holding newborns, but man, when its your own for the first time, all that is put aside.
she is now almost two weeks old, and already starting to make an impression of her own...she must be:
- warm (toasty)
- dry
- fed properly
the first i attribute to being an anak malaysia. none of this cold weather business...mind you it was very warm in the ICN unit at the hospital, so she could have gotten a quick liking to that from there.
nuff said for now - i havent blabbered for a while, not sure when the next one is, so till the next time.

casema digitale

2006-06-05T11:30:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
got this digital tv set top box installed at home recently, with the grand expectation of not missing the 64 games to be dished out during the world cup. the experience so far is below par, and i think this dutch tv company is screwing their customers...especially when you are used to what astro offers. they have 8 sports channels, and so far i have only seen 2 of them being used, showing the same thing! call me a grouch, but there is more value that can be added.
talking about football, we took my brother down to cologne for a weekend break, and made a quick stopover at the stadium..the stadium where we gave up our place in the queue hoping for some tickets to the last 16 game there...had to give it up, with the state the mrs is in right now...at least we have seen the place. plus we got a real bargain with some world cup jerseys...if you want a good deal when buying in volume, go to the footlockers store in cologne...the chaps there almost halved the price on the jerseys when i picked up 4! wouldnt dream of that in nl, i can bet an arm on that. unfortunate for the weather, its all going haywire at the moment...i think we had our summer 3 wks ago, and its gone backwards towards winter again! anyway, x the fingers for some more better weather. all this points to how we are treating the world right now, and my favourite gripe about kl not having enough trees to cool it down! considering that we are insya'Allah having our first, it makes you think that bit more about what the future is going to be like, and perhaps that turns into some form of action rather than rhetorics...
going for our next scan this week, another piccy to add to the new album!

hello spring

2006-03-27T22:08:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
i managed to perspire on the walk to the office this morning, and that with a light jacket on. its 11deg today, double digit after being buried in low single digits for months. but the wind is blowing today, i had a real boost walking back home that i wished i was on roller blades, i could have coasted home....but the side effect is i arrived home looking like wolverine out of x-man. indeed, time for that long awaited haircut...been procrastinating for weeks, i think i will get 'rimas' from all that bundle of hair. our tulips are already starting to peek their tips, soon we will get to enjoy our patience, and it will be for a week or so, but its worth it. gonna try to get to the keukenhof this year, might well be our last in this country.
waiting for the cova to be ready, heard from lan the man that it'll only be end april - i just wonder whether it is worth it or not...always got doubt at the back of my mind, but insya'allah it will be ok. at least lan is there to be my eyes and ears, unless he of course moves out of kl..then it will be tricky!
looking forward to wearing less layers now...my bicycle might actually get to finally come home after hibernating in the office the whole winter!

torino

2006-02-24T21:19:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe
the olympics may lead this city to have a 'new' name...its original name actually...funny how you forget to ask the locals themselves what their own city is called....it puts into light whose perspective you are enforcing. just like the katuns...the reactions are cartoonic in nature too...had a good khutbah today talking about rights, freedom which must be protected but not abused. how it highlights the weakened state the muslims are in at the moment..
just me ranting coz the idea tank is running dry this month...dont know what to write about...too many things happening that i am not sure what to put in. theres the winter olympics with its myriad and twists of outcomes, the rugby 6 nations, FA cups, its a bit of a sporting heaven...an old colleague is dropping by, nice to catch up with him and of course reminisce. nanti lah next time, will have the ideas tap opening again.

hit the ground running

2006-01-17T20:33:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe
time flies when you're having fun. 3 wks in kl went in a flash...and i didnt log in even once, not even tempted! we had a good break, even though we spent some time shuttling between kl-seremban to visit my aunt who is still in a coma after a severe stroke. her chances are not good, but Allah knows best. we pray for her and her family. i pity her son who has to be strong to handle this by himself.
didnt manage our proposed makan trip to penang, but we did get a good range of food covered...nasi lemak, roti telur, laksa assam...the list goes on and on...
got wallopped by the local buayas at the bukit unggul gcc who took away our ringgits from me and my friend whos down from nz.
well, back in cold and wet nl...the weather was perfect in the weekend...for once we had train problems getting back to den haag, took us 2hrs instead of usual half hour...great timing. decided to give a raya haji open house a miss, and we also forgot a farewell do of our neighbour who is leaving for belgium.
thought that i would have a nice easy start back to work, but instead got a jolt at work with all the mad rush deadline...so got down to it running at full speed...looks like i need another holiday already!

'ere we go

2005-12-21T20:38:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe
we have another day and a half before we board the mh flight backto kl for 3 wks. my mind is still in the office, and i think it will not leave until the plane actually leaves schiphol! lots of things to bring back and hope the flight check in staff are in a friendly mood. lots of things to get done...but we heard some sad news that my aunt suffered a stroke. not sure how bad it is , but today she has fallen unconscious. we hope she will get well soon, insya'Allah. penang might look like another miss since it is pouring out there right now, its apparently flooding out in the north....dont think we will ever get there whilst we are out of the country...
had a nice long weekend in hamburg last week with the mrs. it was cold but we manage to keep warm with hot drinks, but not the gluhwein lah...it is a good place for shopping, lots of passages and the more upmarket shops. we caught the xmas market and they those dotted around the town, mostly the same things, but the one at the rathaus (rumah tikus) is the biggest. they have lots of snacky stuff, seafood, potato, bretzels, quite filling. overall a very pleasant and modern city.

La shokran

2005-12-03T10:38:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe
just got back from our one week whirlwind trip of egypt...quite a trip and also eventful when we got back when the boiler in the flat decided to play up on us...no heating and hot water...and we just got back to a freezing holland from 30C egypt! my ears nearly fell off whilst waiting for the tram home!
we preferred luxor above cairo and aswan more for its calm beauty as opposed to the chaotic cairo and asphaltic aswan...but the sights are really amazing, the pyramids and the mummies will always be a symbol and reminder to all men as stated in the quran and it has reaffirmed our belief even more. all that bling found in king tut's tomb, the sheer size of the blocks of stones moved, and the tall columns in the temples shows the achievement of people who had a belief in something...semua boleh lah..
with the sights comes the people of egypt..who bring their own brand of madness to an art form...everything is up for grabs and negotiable...number one rule is, everyone has something to sell to you, so be aware...these are some poor but highly resourceful people...and they have been receiving tourists for thousands of years, so there is nothing that they havent tried in trying to extract money from you....after a while we got a bit tired of it all, so about the only thing we muttered to anyone approaching us is La Shokran!!!

breather

2005-11-23T13:58:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe
we're just sorting a few things out before heading out on our first proper hols this year...to egypt, land of pyramids and mummies..thanks to my airmiles points...sekejap only, one week, but we hope to get in cairo and luxor in that time...armed with tips from friends who lived and been there, we hope it will be a breeze navigating thru the people and places....they are quite a character, apparently they are really into tipping they make the yanks look like rank amateurs....lets see how it goes, quite looking forward to it now...
am on my 4th day of puasa 6, banking on the last 2 days of syawal to reach my 6...insya'allah will be healthy enough to do it.

roo mare tear boo car

2005-11-14T23:27:00.000+01:00

Eezie cafe
being away from home means that you sometimes try harder at recreating the atmosphere that you normally take for granted back at home....and so we have not missed a weekend day without going over to a friend/colleagues open house so far this syawal. we just had ours last weekend, and i am thankful we managed to do it, started at 1 and the last guests left after the holland italy friendly at around 10.30! alhamdulillah all went well, even our neighbours showed up and enjoyed themselves...one was born in indonesia, the other worked there for 2 yrs, so no shortage of keen supporters of the old spicy food...not to mention the extra pedas masak lomak cili api that the mrs whipped up...it really needed its own warning sign! i even had a guest who happens to be a committe member of my golf club in kl, the krtu...so we caught up a bit on that front...he happened to be visiting attending a chemical weapons conference...and also completing the last of his puasa enam! i was impressed considering he was completely surrounded by people who were stuffing their faces from meehoon goreng down to kek kukus...respek brader...
all in all, a good fun..lets see if we are up to it again next year...but certainly not sure if it will be in holland.....from now its just cruising to other people's open houses...and of course to egypt in less than 10 days...time really is flying...
sir lump mud mare lump all!

selamat hari raya aidil fitri

2005-10-29T08:13:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
wishing all my family and muslim friends a selamat hari raya aidilfitri - eid mubarak all. the mrs and i will be in den haag this year to celebrate 1 syawal 1426, taking the day off, starting at the embassy and who know where after that...am sure there will be some open houses kindly organised by the diplomatic community here...considering whether to do one ourselves actually....got some pushback, need to work on that one! will need to check whether the baju melayu is washed or not.
cant wait for the takbir, that is the best part of raya, next to my mums ketupat and kuah kacang, and my dads ketupat daun palas. theres a cool website that hosts some raya songs that you can play online...all the raya faves i know of are on it - try it http://www.myfavouritesongs.com/laguraya.html
tomorrow is when the clocks move back by one hour, so dapatlah rasa buka puasa awal sikit...at 5.15 or so...sahur will be earlier as well, finish at 5.30 as well...gonna miss this routine when ramadhan is over, its been a good month spritually (better be!)...enjoy it all, di mana anda berada.

what autumn?

2005-10-18T21:54:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
the wind from siberia is passing through this week...its the wind that creeps through all the layers of clothes and gets to you...at least it has been dry, the trees must be confused right now..cant i shed my leaves in peace? we had an outing to a garden centre last weekend (yes, garden, not shopping) to look for stuff to plant the tulips in, and get the bulbs as well of course...the things is the bunga is only 1/20th of the cost of the whole thing...you gotta get the pots, the earth, the tools, wow...i guess it matters not by the time they spring out in 6 months time...hope they better well do!
we had some visitors from home last week, workshops, etc..great to catch up and also the wife got her guava and 'powder' that goes with it...courtesy of our friend...sad to hear about the fallout between her bro and another good friend of ours...over some deals that had gone sour or something...this will matter little in 20 yrs time i suppose...the friendship matters more...

kenyang bodoh

2005-10-11T22:30:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
finished one week of puasa oredi...must say it has gone real quick...trying hard not to suffer from the kenyang bodoh syndrome after buka...when you just nod off in front of the tv and realise that you have to go to bed and missed terawih...the mrs and i try to terawih as much as possible, at home....good time to brush up on those ayat muqaddams....my longest one is surah al-a'laa (the highest), i quite like that one....and of course the usual tiga qul's that gets frequently repeated everywhere! we do 8 only lah...plus 3.
tonite we had soto, thanks to the guvnor....buka with keledek goreng and dates of course.....still got keledek since we bought a rather big piece (that happens when you buy food during puasa!)..we also have our weekly majlis berbuka hosted by the embassy..good time to mengeratkan silaturrahim...and feast on the range of food..thats when you feel more like at home, with lots of choice of kueh muehs and the different dishes being prepared by all the wives...you also get better surahs for terawih since we have a better imam than me! one of our colleague's wife lurves to give us food (cant complain now can we!), and in rather large quantities for the two of us, so we have been taking our time finishing them off...the last one took us three sittings to finish the lompat tikam dessert...which reminds me that i actually learn more about malaysian food whilst out of the country...(things like lompat tikam, laksam, nasi kerabu etc, actually kelantanese food, since there is this kelantanese lady who is an excellent cook)...
lets hope i dont get too kenyang bodoh too often for the rest of this holy month..

selamat berpuasa

2005-10-02T23:09:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
wishing all selamat berpuasa in this holy month of ramadhan..i always look forward to this time of the year...lets me bod take a breather from the daily pummeling of food down my throat. its also when we have our daily schedule shift earlier, coz i dont bother going back to bed after sahur...so this year, will log in, or just head straight out to office. i will also have 20 work hours extra from the lunch hour spent not on eating...so even more choice as to what i can get done with time...who says we dont have enough time! will try the bike to work when it gets cooler...the temp is falling steadily to around 12 during the day now..so sikit lagi lah..
had a lunch/dinner thing (lunner?) at a friends place...nasi lemak with sambal sotong and ayam rendang...the mrs made banana cake, my fave...kenyang bodoh for a while...gonna have some major dumpster in the morning..also booked the restaurant for a farewell do next week at an indian at javastraat...its gonna be a buffet, perfect coz i dont wanna be waiting for the food to come, especially when we are fasting! we can bring our music along...and they do have kuch kuch hota hei in stock too just in case...!
yesterday was dim sum at the escalator restaurant in the hague...our friends wife over ordered coz she ordered with her stomach...so we had two of everything! it is like a deja vu of the royal china in st johns wood with carl/harmeet couple years back! we all live to tell the tale...
selamat berpuasa again...

indian summer

2005-09-24T21:52:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
we were up at a friends place today, enjoying the last of the warm sunny days before winter sets in...we had weber bbq'd meat cuts and salads..luvly..cycled it there and back so we dont feel guilty stuffing our faces in. our friend is heading back to m'sia soon, there is more heading back than coming in to holland this time around..
we're also looking around to see if we can close the exposed chains on the mrs bike...not possible, so now its likely we have to replace that bike...i now take another step towards dutchness, have now installed a saddle bag on my bike...now i really have no excuse not to cycle everyday to the office...barring football injuries of course...yes, i have also joined a local footie team, based near kijkduin...the 'internationals'..i.e foreigners team...and no, my enthusiasm to continue even after injury is still high..still have that 3kg to go before hitting my total year target...before kl of course...in kl it doesnt count..hopefully ramadhan will deliver, insya'allah.
the mrs also finally got her res permit, a 10mth process! we can actually leave the country now...my burgeoning hols balance needs to be sorted out...so we start with egypt hopefully...our umrah plans is still on as well...

dutch farm

2005-08-28T19:55:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafemy dept vp invited the whole dept to a barbq on his farm yesterday, it was a very enjoyable experience for us both, the place is very much in the sticks, but not too deep in the sticks..nice drive up past the countryside and managed to drive along a dijk which is flooded with modern windmill...holland is a very windy place after all...the host has a nice old tractor, a '135' for those tractor experts..tapi tak dapat drive...but his wife reckons it could be arranged if they do it again...its cycling to badminton today...enjoying the brief nice weather, got a workout on the courts today....justified a little oily pesto chicken pasta...right now munching on freshly roasted cashew nuts...straight out of the oven...very tasty!

perfect dutch summer

2005-08-19T23:44:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
the perfect dutch summer....rain...cloudy...cold north winds...
but that wasnt how the day started, took a day off today, for once....we pergi to a town in the north called alkmaar, famous for its cheese market..ni bukan macam pasar taman tun, tapi a ceremonial presentation of how the belanda do a show menjual cheese....menarik jugak the show...lots of people surrounded the town square in front of the cheese museum, where it takes place every friday from april to september...mostly germans actually, some other europeans, japanese/asians incl. us. the town is actually very nice to walk and visit...worth adding it to the list to bring visitors to...we got some cheese, of course, a huge ball of edam...apparently you shouldnt get the red coloured ones, those are factory made...you should get the farm made ones...yellow coloured waxy cover...tenguklah how it tastes like though..
we also got a wok steamer from a cooking shop having a small sale...hmm..look forward to some nice steam fish or kueh pau...i quite miss the pau tanjung malim...during those days on the way down from penang to kl...i used to buka puasa with those pau's as well....heavenly stuff...
lets hope the weather is not so perfectly dutch this weekend...plan nak pergi tenguk some kapal in amsterdam...ada show this weekend...boleh check out at htttp://www.sail.nl/english

my new toy

2005-08-03T21:28:00.000+02:00

my new toy, thanks to my wife...so far 12hrs of song uploaded, lots more to go!

cuba try test

2005-08-03T20:55:00.000+02:00

My personal world map

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Create your own world map

lets see if this works or not

Eez getting older

2005-07-31T21:31:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
its me birthday this week....had a quiet time with the mrs, who whipped up one of my fave, masak lemak cili api udang and tauge ikan masin! hoo lala...it was one of the best masak lemak i have had, the kitchen must be fantastic! ;-), no just kidding, my wife's cooking is really getting to be really good. we also had claypot chicken rice when the mrs' friends arrived for the weekend...they are here for a work/leisure trip in europe...
also treated the wife to a football game, the amsterdam tournament on fri nite, and we saw arsenal won over ajax amsterdam, and porto over boca juniors. it was a good evening of live football, even though it was a friendly, but the atmosphere was still lively....cant imagine if it was a charged up game, like an important league or cup game...
did some touristy stuff this weekend...kinderdijk, rotterdam, amsterdam...also went back to our favourite turkish restaurant, harput, baru repair after they had a fire...the harput special is still great though!
gotta do some workout this week, start cycling again to work!

crouching tiger

2005-07-17T21:42:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
summer is extending its stay here so far, dah over 1 wk of warm weather, short sleeve and shorts in the weekend...aaah beeesst....had some friends over for brunch...more like lunner...nasi lemak and then vegging out in front of the telly to tenguk tiger woods win his 2nd british open. he came out good today, or rather everyone else chasing him failed to even break par, typical scenario when woods is leading into the final round.
we finally walked to the rose garden at the westbroek park..the one papa mentioned when we were here in 90. the roses are not as nice, the hague rose competition is on there right now...maybe tengah break in the competition....just got some new wheels the last weekend, sad to say goodbye to my old RJ, now its the 97. gotta be done, otherwise i will have nice maintenance bills...so far am very pleased with it. dropped by a friends house who is leaving for pd soon, the antique roadshow is coming to seremban2!
counting down the weeks before we go for our umrah, looking forward to it a lot.

malaysia boleh

2005-06-29T22:26:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
we just came back from an exciting hockey match between malaysia and south africa....at the junior world cup in rotterdam..malaysia the underdogs took on the tall south africans and came out 4-1 winners! what a match...the score would have been 2-1 to the malaysians, but because of the brilliant supporters, we felt like we added to the 2 extra goals...haha..
sultan azlan shah was there to give his support and sarjit & co delivered a match worthy of potential champions....its a breath of fresh air compared to usually seeing our national teams thrashed at almost every sport known to man...the next game is tomorrow, against argentina who also won their game against germany today...and on saturday sarjit & co will take on germany, we might well go there and watch that match to add to the goals...and after that to a nice british school summer food fair...yum yum...
well done to the malaysian jr. hockey team!

Cirque du Soleil

2005-06-20T00:09:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
there are no animals in this circus we went to see today....we caught the cirque du soleil on their european tour in rotterdam. it is an acrobatic display with a theme of the orient...i.e lots of chinamen and women..thoroughly enjoyable and recommendable if at least once. the show we saw today is called dralion (dragon campur lion lah...seriously), it has clowns, acrobats, trampolines, 7 ball juggling, walking on giant balls and even a character who pretended to be a visitor but turned out to be one of the clowns. luckily the air con was working in the giant tent, it was 30+C today, feels like malaysia, but you dont sweat so much. on the way home, went up the euromast, which is a ketot version of the kl tower...it has a nice revolving lift which turns quickly for you to see the whole flat landscape...and a big bonus of a cloudless and clear day...(i think we saw kl...haha!)..a tiring but fun day...we also had a visitor from kl...he also knows my bro..so we showed him and his wife around scheveningen..this is the time of the year when you want to be in this country..

family and friends

2005-06-05T23:14:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
lots of happenings this last few weeks...we learnt about the sudden passing of our uncle last week. arwah pak badik was in mekah doing his regular umrah assistance work that he has been doing for quite a few years now. this time he will not return. he succumbed to his heart attack/coma. though it is a sad and shocking event, we felt that he left us at probably the best place on earth, in the holy city. to his family our deepest condolences, we hope they gather the strength to overcome this loss. al fatihah to pak badik. i miss him dearly. on hindsight it all made sense when he was adamant about sending me and my wife to the airport earlier this year. he never came to the airport to send me off, i guess he already knew it was his way of saying his goodbye.
it is also a busy period in our flat this week. my in laws have just returned home to kl today, whilst we welcome my wifes best friend and her family who just arrived from brussels. we did the usual tourist package in holland, volendam, herring with bread, oysters and amsterdam/the hague to come.

champions league final

2005-05-25T22:52:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
we are witnessing a fantastic comeback from liverpool tonite from 3 down to go into extra time that cisse just kicked off. i guess willpower will take you further than skills alone...they were outclassed in the 1st half but with the milan players suddenly deciding to forget how to kick a ball early in the 2nd half, the liverpudlians took advantage. i can imagine the mamak stalls and astro kitted homes are abuzz with shouting and swearing....but the manager must realise he needs to take out those useless spanish players on the pitch...
started the 1st week at the new office in rijswijk, have been good enough to cycle to work for a second straight day...got lost on the first day, as expected, and enjoyed a scenic route along the vliet before deciding to turn back. weather getting warmer now, and you do work up a sweat, and of course appetite when you get home! we are scheming our way for the weekend, in law duties, most likely an outing to luxembourg for couple of days. so far it has been in holland, and with the pm visit last week.
had another round of poffertjes and recommended it on adly's website..hope i get a free foodster guide ;-)

chocolatey

2005-05-17T20:38:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
swiss hot chocolate, chocolate cake..its a treat this weekend...for forgetting his camcorder, the result is an informal formal sit down dinner malaysian style at chez foz's with some friends on sunday night in amsterdam. the sambal belacan from bintulu was a fine accompaniment to the roast chicken and nasi goreng kerabu...
all this capped a good long weekend courtesy of a twist of a pagan cum christian celebration..the whitsun holiday. it started with a discovery of the zoetermeer golf course, a la rotterbergen, nice greens, undulating fairways and challenging sunday pin positions. the chilly start delayed getting into the groove, warming up only into the second nine, having to supplement with jogging on the spot...
shops were generally close :), though amsterdam was pretty much open for business...got ready for the in laws who arrived safely today, badminton on sunday and checked out this sushi joint in leiden...not bad, though the waiter said he will try to do the miso soup with tofu coz normally the dutch prefer chicken with the soup...go figure...

Mountain air

2005-05-11T20:50:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
the mountain air and the sight of tall natural creations was a nice fresh change for us last week in interlaken in switzerland..took advantage of the long weekend to get away and stopped over at frankfurt. we stayed at this cheap hotel - the 'friendly hotel'. must say it lived up to that name, the guy at the reception was certainly friendly. frankfurt is nice with the contrast of old and new...it is also a city that smells of money! lots of nice expensive cars and shops and you can tell people could afford them. the interlaken hotel didnt disappoint, except that they completely fooled us with their address...but they made up for it, we had a room with a fantastic view of the jungfraujoch, one of the tallest mountains in the alps. it also has the highest train station in europe at 3575m. the journey up took 2hrs, but we were let down by the weather...couldnt see jack with the rain and strong winds :(
the altitude sickness got me worried, the mrs and i couldnt breathe after climbing some simple stairs...
interlaken town was very nice, it had a quiet village feel but with enough spoils of a town, though we also found out that this is a popular place for indian tourists...
also stopped over at bern, the capital and also luzern by the lake. beautiful cities. very clean.
also managed to find the bally factoryoutlet...well, nuff said, pokai now....it was no surprise that we bumped into some melayus there as well, though a bit sombong lah...
the trip was too short....maybe a revisit who knows...

Happy Brithday Beatrix...

2005-05-01T22:49:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
we were walking along badhuisweg yesterday when the queen and her entourage drove past us in her coach waving at the crowd ligning the road. we were decked out in our oranges, and i even had my rambut orangefied! some dude had a spray can and decided my hair didnt match my shirt. i stopped by to take a piccy of number 55 badhuisweg, where we were 15 yrs ago! time flies..picked up my 'new' bike on the way home, look forward to rides to the office. its a ladies' bike, something you need if you want to look after your crown jewels, know what'i mean...:)
it has been a nasi lemak weekend for my wife, surviving 3 straight days of this delight. we had the warmest day so far this year, shame the golf was yesterday, but a round of golf is always worth it regardless of the weather. had brunch at niks place, in between the in-laws this week. we are getting our minds over to the alps, before we physically arrive, insya'allah....it will be a bit of frankfurt on the way down, and few days of fresh mountain air in interlaken....hope the weather cooperates for us to enjoy the views from jungfrau and schilthorn...tune in next week to find out what actually happens...

hari jadi and inauguration weekend

2005-04-24T22:21:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
we are enjoying the wonderful weather this weekend, a nice round of golf with yus and an outing with the guvnor in amsterdam for the famous vlaamse friets (belgian fries) and green peppersaus! there is always a queue of people waiting to get their dose of that crispy cut of potato and a choice of 24 home made sauces.
this weekend is also a religious one with a small celebration at the embassy to mark the Maulidur Rasul. we were treated to a small ceramah, tahlil and bacaan rawi with berzanji...always lifts the spirit! the usual faces were present, and a majlis makan caps it all off nicely.
the new pope (he beat popeye, pop ye ye, and popedum to it :)) is also inaugurated today with his first service - lets hope he continues a similar tact of JPII on inter religious issues and working towards peace, and realises there are others beyond his jewish brothers. lets see indeed.

open huis

2005-04-10T18:53:00.001+02:00

Eezie cafe
the bijenkorf is having an open huis (house) this weekend. interesting that this open house applies to an upmarket department store than what we are more accustomed to back home. of course everyone is welcome, but in this case you have to part with some cash before you can leave with something.
we are beginning to see the nice weather that we have been promised by those nice men in the met office, skipped golf yesterday as it was just that bit too cool for me....the mrs has a friend over here, she brought some other friends along and the usual small makan at our place...tea actually, malaysian style. mungkin the agar and rambutan dessert will end up at our friends place nearby tonite...and a karaoke or bollywood vcd session thrown in for good measuer. we'll see.

open huis

2005-04-10T18:53:00.000+02:00

i am full

2005-04-03T23:04:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
today is a rest day from the kitchen for my darling wifey...i made the breakie of french toast (i love telur anyway), and we savoured the rare nice weather in the den haag centrum today..to look for our friends kids 1st bday pressie. that was a breeze in prenatal, also saw this new bugaboo strollers, maaann...they are nice, but the price even nicer @ EUR700!!
got totally stuffed at niks house with 'finger foods'...the tempuras are becoming a trademark at that household. my wifey's agar2 also went down well, but at the end of it, i was struggling to climb up the stairs, let alone sujud for asar prayers..discovered a new toko, this time a halal one, pak amir has been in nl for over 30 yrs, and even worked in the msian emb for some 3 yrs, and knows the longtimers here..so we now have a new place to go to for our halal grub, in case we need it. there is even an albert heijn thats open till 11pm every night...things are looking up for this tight arsed bunch in den haag...

Eezie cafe

2005-04-02T10:08:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe

warmer climes

2005-04-02T10:07:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
nice weather is topping this weekend....bright sunny 16-17c, of course not as muggy and blistering as back home in my. the main objective is to be outdoor, so we are heading to the pasar to get some fresh seafood and then out to ikea...ironic that we are heading out to be somewhere speacialising in being indoor.
a bday party is on the card, a friend of ours has a 1 year old - how the time flies when you are having fun. hope your time flies too.

happy easter

2005-03-27T08:55:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
we are enjoying a nice rare long weekend here in nl, with friday and monday off...yesterday in bruges, the place my wife doesnt mind going to 10 times in one year...had some guests who i think had a great time, they just went back home today...neighbour siti nurhaliza in k.lipis!
havent decided what to do today, we'll see.

Eezie cafe

2005-03-27T08:45:00.000+02:00

Eezie cafe
hello helloo

knackering week

2005-01-27T23:27:00.000+01:00

the ind cibai does it again...usual cibai answer.

have a nice weekend

2005-01-22T08:02:00.000+01:00

trying out this blog for the first time, hope it works....