MY: Beginning of Weekend

Since I arrived back in KUL on the October 1, I have not been having a proper iftar as per like "sit down and facing the food" during the iftar time. It was either a sip of water inside the car or at home then, went out for dinner or a delayed iftar - which is not really encouraged in Islam.

In the evening I managed to go to the Bazar Ramadhan at TTDI. Joining me were Zal and his housemate, RY. Zal just arrived back from DOH in the afternoon. It felt like you want to buy every single thing there when you were buying food on empty stomach!

We ended up with mutton and chicken beriyani , and few local kuih -> popiah basah, popiah goreng, tepung pelita, putu piring, cucur udang, and tofu fah. Drinks to quench our thirst were air buah mata kucing and air soya.. hmmmm ....... yummy...

Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car. Hence, no photo of the bazar ramadhan itself... but I do have these photos for The Yummylicious Family and other friends in Doha... :-))

p/s: Thank you for the polo tee. I like it.. :-)

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Kota Damansara, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Ramadan Bazaar

A group of us participated in Ramadan Bazaar at the Malaysian Embassy compound. Our stall, named MBQ which stands for Malaysian Bachelor in Qatar :-)). I think the most appropriate is MBAQ where "A" stands for Available... :-p

The menu were Nasi Dagang, Roti John, Mee Goreng, Bihun Goreng, Bubur Lambuk, Popia Goreng, Popia Basah, Seri Muka, Pulut Panggang and Pengat Pisang.

Alhamdulillah, within the two hours allocated to us to sell, all our stuff were sold out! :-) The gross revenue this time is a lot more compare to the three day sale we made in Dukhan few months back.

Enjoy some photos of preparation and event. You can read more details at Zal's blog.


Preparation

Hari jualan

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Sadd, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Project Dukhan (Day 3)

Today was the last day of the festival. It started at 10am until 6pm. Last night, we reached home around midnight and stayed up until 2am to prepare for today's sales. We did not cook earlier because we want tomake sure our stuff are freshly cooked few hours before the sales.

Unfortunately, due to lack of stove for cooking, we were not able to be at Dukhan before 10am. There were few stuff that needed to be cooked that morning. We reached there around 11am and our customers were already there waiting for us. Yes! Our customers were waiting for us when we got there. I felt so honoured :-)) There were people who wanted to eat our Nasi Lemak. The sales were not as good as Day 2 due to the fact that the crowd were locals and not many new faces.

We wrapped up around 4pm and left Dukhan with a very sweet memories and valuable experiences. Now, time to count the money :-))

~ MT @ Qat4r
~~ Dukhan

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Project Dukhan (Day 2)

Luckily the day 2 sales started at 3pm. And this gave us the whole Friday morning to prepare the food. In the morning, the time was devoted to prepare "Roti John" ingredients, bihun and sambal for Nasi Lemak. Although SK has to work today, he did join us around 5pm with AI. So, leaving me and Zal to prepare all these while NZ joined us after Friday prayer. KM came just before we left for Dukhan. There were lots of visitors today and majority of our customers were Malaysians longing for nasi lemak and "Roti John". To the foreigners, we introduced "Roti John" as Malaysian Kebab :-). Else, it will be a bit difficult to explain what it is.

We put up our menu in Malay with a translation in English. However, couple of the menu were not translated and one of them was "Roti Jala". The funniest translation of "Roti Jala" that I heard was "Fishing Net Bread".. ROFL.... It was translated by one fellow Malaysian to his foreign friend.

The Malaysian group performed "Dikir Barat" which I missed to watch it. Heard they won an award for the performance. Congratulations!

Same goes to Mrs. KAZ and Mrs. J for winning a title each in the cooking competition.

In fact the whole day was filled with enjoyment and fun. It was a tiring day, but at the end, I feel worth it...

Stuff for Day 2











Sales in progress












~ MT @ Qat4r
~~ Dukhan

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Project Dukhan (Day 1)

Since my working time on weekdays is from 8am till 5pm, on this Day 1 of Project Dukhan I have requested to leave early. I still have to clock 8 hours a day - which means I have to skip lunch in order for me to leave office at 4pm.

Rushed back home and changed into the "uniform", picked up some stuff that Zal and SK have asked me to bring and drove to Dukhan. Within an hour, reached Dukhan - the road is terrible. The highway is still under construction - by our very own G4muda W-C-T joint venture. So, you cannot really go beyond 100km/h unless you dont really care about your car. Potholes are everywhere.

Reached there after Maghrib and KM, Shah & Dom were already there. Same with NZ, Zal and SK. Shah & Dom helped us bringing some stuff and decorating the stall. Thanks a bunch guys... MR also came to help us - selling her home made donut :-)

Menu for the day includes Nasi Lemak, Roti Jala, Air teh bunga (kekwa), keropok ikan, bahulu, karipap and home-made donut.

Majority of the crowds are local people. Not much sales but our teh bunga has its own attraction. This is something new for some of them.

By 9.30pm, we started to pack things for the day. We had another long nite today to prepare for tomorrow. Nasi Lemak need to be cooked, bihun need to be fried and roti john ingredients need to be prepared.

Definitely going to be a tiring and hectic weekend.

Enjoy some photos on the first day.....

~ MT @ Q4tar

~~ Dukh4n

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Project Dukhan - Sneak Preview

After few days of planning, Project Dukhan is going to be materialised... soon :-) Couple of days of late night sleep and driving hear and there looking for stuff, we finally come to the end of planning. Now, entering the implementation stage :-))

Let's enjoy the sneak preview of Project Dukhan....

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Sadd, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Asean Bazaar

Embassies from the South East Asia countries in D0ha joint hand together to organize the first ever Asean Bazaar. According to the newspaper, this was a brainchild of our ambassador, Datuk Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari. So, to play my part in promoting Visit Malaysia Year 2007 (although am hoping I get something from it...) - nampak sangat tak ikhlas.., I 'personally' disseminate the information via email to my friends in D0ha encouraging them to join me at the bazaar.

Alas.. indah khabar dari rupa! Brunei section can be considered empty, same goes to Thailand - suppose to be a country full of cottage industries / handicraft. Philippines comes third while Malaysia has some M A Q members selling soy bean drink for QR4 per glass and QR10 for four stick of satay, and a stall selling some clothing (probably half are Malaysia-made) and women's accessories. In my opinion, Indonesia appear as champion.. the most handicrafts on sale and some delicacies - bakso, air bandung and few more... No rep from other countries in S E A since their embassies are non-existence in the country.














On the way back, bumped into Bernama rep in D0ha, Ms. LL (if you read bernama.com, you will find news from D0ha on the happenings in the Middle East are all supplied/written by her). When I was an office-bearer with M A Q, I normally supply the press release to her for publication.

So far the best bazaar I have attended in Qatar was organized by Americ4n W0men Associ4tion. A lot of participations from vast comunities in Doha and received overwhelming response from the public.

Hopefully next year the organizer will notify the communities far in advance to able them to better prepare - more items promoting Malaysia and more participation from the communities, especially Malaysians. I pun nak rent one stall... :-) boleh jual keropok lekor and batik....


~ MT @ Q4t4r
~~ Rayyan, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself~