Last Day of Summer Session

Today's the last day of my summer classes. The students, led by Limon, was good enough to throw a little farewell party for the class. Cake, samoza, a few rounds of juices and soda, brownies, papadum and chutney, garbanzo dip, peruvian chicken...

Good food, good times, good students. I'll miss them all.


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Side Mirror Installed

The focus was in need of a new side window when the ori one was hit by a mustang's door. We ordered one off ebay. The mirror costs $11.00, but shipping and handling was $17.00... Anyway, today Pah and I found the time to install it.

Pah pulling out the broken part...


Contact urface cleaned for optimum effect..

Here's the new mirror...

Zip it in...


Funny thing was, at the end of the process, we found that the adjuster's nub was of a slightly different design. But I went ahead with what works..
Placing the inside cover. It's a 2+1 snap on deal..
Here's the puzzle. Nub can't be screwed onto the mirror adjuster...

Ori had threadings
New part looked like it needed a snap-on ring..
So? Tack glue and masking tape for 24-hr temporary hold.. Hehe...

Looks good??

The casualty..

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Trailers For Hire

Today I finalized the rental dates for the two trailers. The bigger, two-axled one will be used for moving Amin's stuff from SC. The smaller one will be used for the long haul trip to KC. Hope I can keep up with the trailer's max speed limit, which is 45 mph..

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Yum Mee Bandung

During this time of the year, Pah and I like eating outside. It's probably because we're Malaysians, and in Malaysia, we can eat out(side) practically anytime for a few dollars. This day's meal was Mee Bandung, crafted to perfection by Chef Muz. It's a delight to the buds. And iced tea, my own mix.
Us outside...




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Done Read It!

Yep,

wasil and luqman finished reading "HP and the DH" yesterday. Wasil took 8 hours to read it, while super speeder reader luqman did it in five hours. Holey Suffering Catfish, Batman!!

Now Pah has started reading it, so I'll probably have to cook the whole week... (aaaa lari....)

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Visitors from Regency

Ayman, the UIA Master's grad who is finishing his PhD in Literature, and Nurmin came by for some tea yesterday. They had with them their kids -- Hana's age, and younger. We stayed in the yard until sundown, talking about matters of mutual interest. It's Ayman's final three months before he takes his family home to Gaza. That's his plan, anyway.
Tea for Two...

KIds on the swingset..

Mina on the slide...

Last donut standing..

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Accidental Chicken...

I was cooking my usual roaster oven butterflied chicken, and had set the time for 45 minutes at 425F. After a while, I asked Hana to check the timer, and she said it had expired. So I went ahead and turrned the chicken skin up to roast for another 30 minutes after basting it with some Pam and more ground black pepper. But then (horrors!) I saw the timer showing another 15 minutes... ahh, Hana had looked at the wrong timer (we had two). Pah suggested that I add that 15 minutes to the 30, making it 45 minutes for the chicken to roast skin up.

The result? Perfect Roasted Chicken, melts in your fingers... The recipe is now called Accidental Hana Chicken... :)


Recipe?

Accidental Hana Chicken

One whole, medium sized chicken, cleaned, dried and butterflied along the middle of the breast. Ground black pepper, salt, tumeric, two tbsp mayo, one tsp lime juice, one tbsp sambal olek, a dash of dried chives. Smoother the whole mess all over the chicken and put in ready heated roaster oven set at 425F. Skin down. A spray of Pam before closing the lid and timing it for 30 minutes. Flip chicken skin up at the bell. Baste with Pam and a bit more of the ground black pepper. Time for another 45 minutes, same 425F. Switch off at the bell, and wait 15 minutes before lifting oven lid and taking chicken out.

Good Luck..



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Getting Hitched...

We are pulling a U-Haul trailer to KC next month. To do that, I need a hitch on the van. Well, Amin has agreed to pay for one installed on the caravan, so last Friday, I went to this store for a brand new Class Two Hitch.

At Bob's and Bev's...
Cravan jacked up high...
Getting the wiring from left rear lights..
Close up of hitch...
All done! Down it comes...

Not bad!
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Today is Potterday

Today, the kids woke up earlier than me. Why? The Indiana Free Library was hosting their "Book Breakfast" at 8:30 am in conjunction with the launching of the newest, and last book of the HP series, and the kids wanted to be there to borrow one of the eight "Deathly Hallows" the library was getting. So I left them there.

Here's the herbalogist wizard at Hogwarts School of Magical.., Professor Sprout cum librarian, on her way to join the event...
At 10:30, they came back, with one of the books (yay!) and two t-shirts! The tees were prizes won! One, when Wasil took 4th place in a Harry Potter quiz, and the other, when Luqman won a door-prize on a raffle. They were beaming ear to ear as they entered the house.
Here's Wasil curled up with the book..

The L-sized tee..(mine, mine!) they want Amin to have...

It was good Potterday for them!

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Community Picnic at Mack Park

Last Saturday, the indiana muslim community organized a picnic at Mack Park. It was a good day, breezy and sunny. The food was abundant. Everybody brought a dish native to their country. There were cous-cous, grapeleaf rolls, basbusa, pizza, cornchips with salsa, cheese sticks and even a cake. There were also ethnic drinks; saudi coffee, pakistani tea and also arab tea. Pah prepared bihun goreng as the Malaysian representative food. It was a hit with the ladies! Nations represented were: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi, Malaysia, USA, and Niger.

Getting the food...

The young'uns having their fill of the goodies..

Playground for the little ones...

Stuck babies on highrise playthings...

We stayed for over two hours before calling it a margrib.

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