29.9.11

change is a good thing...right?

this week has been interesting. the wheels of change have been definitely set in motion - perhaps by the arrival of my husband - i'm not sure. i've never been one to accept change so easily, even if you know it's for the better and for the greater good. it's weird because i'm generally pretty flexible and a go-with-the-flow type person with everyday decisions, but when it comes to changing something that's a constant in my life, i find it difficult to let go (read my earlier blog entries for further evidence of this behaviour)

picture credit


i have been working at my current job for over 2 years and i love it. i love the people that i work with, the job, the owner, the suburb it's in - everything. but another opportunity has come up and literally fell into my lap. it's a really great job for another great company, working right near one of my best friends, and pays a lot more, so i don't understand why it's so difficult to leave. i've been out of the 'real world' for a few years and haven't worked full time for a while. i'm sure that has something to do with my not wanting to let go of my safe, casual, easy job and move onto something more challenging.

i know what i'm going to do, but even that knowledge doesn't make it any easier to leave...

21.9.11

welcome home festivities

these past few days have been just perfect.

friday my husband came home after 6 long months. it's so silly to say, but i was almost a little bit shy when i saw him. it was a really nice feeling. i made one of those welcome home/name signs in arabic for him.

rami in arabic

i decided to have a surprise party for husband at kaza blanca grill in fremantle to show him that although he left his large, warm and wonderful family to come here just for me, there's another family here for him too. we had a whole mix of people, including my wonderful friend mademoiselle s, who was so kind as to round the troops, distribute party poppers and snap photos of the happy occasion.

customised banner
and, of course, there must always be cake. i ordered this one that i usually make rami share with me from greens & co in leederville.

delicious
i may have to make a trip to greens & co after work for more cake...

8.9.11

marhaba husband

in just over one week my husband will finally be in perth. finally! after 15 months of waiting for his spouse visa (yes i did type 15 that's not a typo) it's finally been approved. what a great ramadan and eid present it was for us both to receive word after so long. it's been almost 2 and a half months since we've seen each other, which is fine because i knew the next time we would it would be on a more permanent basis.

the last big stint we had away from each other is for 3 months almost to the day from march to june, which wasn't easy especially as i was dealing with the absence of many things - my nonno, husband, stomach, old lifestyle, energy. but i would almost do it all again to meet with him in paris as we did.

we stayed at the marriott champs-elysees, which upgraded our room to an amazing suite. we holidayed around europe together, visiting family along the way, enjoying every single moment together, celebrated our third wedding in algeria, honeymooned again in istanbul (i figured every wedding should be followed with it's each honeymoon - makes sense to me). it was wonderful.

people ask me all the time how is married life, but to be honest i don't really know. it's always been in limbo and now finally we can start it together.

i can't wait.

istanbul

6.9.11

nobu perth

i think my favourite pastime is dining out. i blame my mother - it was her enthusiasm for going out lunching and high tea she took me on as a child. i couldn't even guess how much money i've spent in my lifetime on meals not cooked at home. and it's all totally worth it in my mind. plus i love any opportunity to add to my personalised signed copies of cookbooks that i'll never actually cook from.

last night was the opening night of nobu perth with my mum, sister and friend (it wasn't the official opening but i'm hoping to get invited to that...!)


menu cover

the service was outstanding! our waitperson, yooki, was so lovely and helpful, and made great suggestions.

seafood soup


i started with a seafood soup, while the others all had miso. this had just the right amount of chilli in it, the mushrooms were delicious and the seafood was perfectly cooked.

entrees - tiradito octopus, tuna tataki with tosazu and shiromi uzusukuri.

since my surgery sashimi has been a very good friend to my new stomach. i tend to eat it everyday while at work so i was more than happy to devour these. the octopus has a slightly chilli and very lemony sauce. it was the definite winner for the entire table. my mum is usually squeamish with raw or 'squishy stuff' as she refers to it, but actually tried the white fish and liked it! i should have told her not to so that there was more for us...

salt and pepper squid

this was a part of the token cooked section of our dinner - just for mum. the squid was so deliciously soft and very flavoursome. it was just the right mix of salty and chilli (i love how everything was just the perfect amount of spice)
prawn butter ponzu


this was delicious, i liked the prawns were cut up into bite size pieces (the menu at nobu is too extensive to just order one dish each - sharing is the only way to go!) you could definitely taste the butter and ponzu sauce. nice, but i much prefer the raw.

pork belly miso caramel

oh. my. god. i don't even know how to describe how insanely delicious this was!!!! it was so super, super soft and just delicious. this is an absolutely MUST! pork belly for me after surgery (yes, i know it does defeat the purpose of having weight loss surgery in the first place...) is a little difficult to eat because it's a bit tough, but this was as soft as butter. and probably contained the same fat content as butter. but so worth it.

black cod miso


this was a late addition to our dinner after a friend of mine who'd just dined there ordered it and said it was to die for, as did yooki. i know it looks like a piece of chicken teriyaki or something, but i can assure you it was the most buttery softest piece of fish that i have ever eaten in my life! i have another couple of reservations coming up at nobu in the next month, but i'm thinking of going in just for this. and the pork belly.

wagyu beef tataki


now i am a massive fan of beef tataki (especially wagyu) but have stayed away from beef as it's quite acidic for my stomach. this was unbelievably delicious! the taste was perfect. even mum tried some and really liked it. i am literally almost salivating just thinking about this.

we did order some other things that in my haste to put them in my mouth, i didn't take pictures of them. such as the scallops with spicy garlic sauce - perfect amount of garlic and chilli. they came served with a bowl of steamed rice. my sister and friend also shared a serve of prawn tempura sushi roll. the desserts looked very interesting, but we headed to rockpool instead. i will definitely give them a go next visit though.

nobu perth is the perfect place to dine for any post-weight loss surgery patients too (as long as you don't order the fried stuff and pork belly!) everything was so soft and the portion sizes were decent enough to share, but still small enough to order a few items and pick a variety.

all in all, i loved my experience. the service was excellent, the food was outstanding and i can't wait to return.


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1.9.11

spring cleaning

today is officially the first day of spring, and as i have the day off work and the quest to procrastinate my university work as much as possible, i've decided to resist the urge to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather and (yet another) spot of shopping, and stay inside and clean out my room.

exhibit a - evidence of hoarding


my husband will be coming home in 2 weeks so i want to make him feel like he married a great italian wife and clean our room, which has become a breeding ground for my hoarding habits. his bedside table is now home to my printer, so tomorrow will bring a very exciting trip to ikea with my friend miss hijabi. i love to ikea even if i don't have anything to buy, so it's even more exciting when there's a reason to go other than half price meatballs on tuesday.