How do you like your coffee?

I wasn't so much into coffee even in college days, which I believe were the times I needed it the most. Looking back, a cup of coffee every now and then would have helped me stay awake during classes because I was always sleepy. When I started working, that's when I developed the habit of drinking instant coffee in the morning to keep me sane all throughout the day. A cup of my preferred 3-in-1 coffee sachet gave me enough boost to handle the day's work.

It had always been like that until I realized that the 3-in-1 coffee sachet was just sweet to my liking, so then I shifted to making my own with instant coffee powder, a teaspoon of sugar and some creamer. It's convenient and easy to prepare. That had been my preference for years until not so recently, a friend brought a French press and ground coffee while we were hanging out in a friend's house. That friend who works as a barista in one of the stores of a well-known coffeehouse chain, prepared coffee for all of us using his French press. When I saw my husband keenly observing how he used it, I knew that we would try it sooner or later. And we did - we bought IKEA's Upphetta coffee/tea maker (French press) and have been enjoying our coffee even more and all thanks to that friend. 

By the way, this is  CJ, our friend who somehow influenced us to try the French press and he recently celebrated his birthday (let me insert a quick message for him☺️) :

Happy birthday CJ!  I hope that you had a great day. 
I am proud of everything that you have accomplished and I pray for more achievements in your career 
and happiness in your relationships. 
Keep safe always and have an amazing year!♡

With our new French press came some experimenting and exploration of what coffee ground we should use. Out of all the coffee grounds that we tried which were only few so far, we like the medium roast coffee ground from IKEA.

There are a lot of differences between instant coffee powder and coffee ground. In terms of preparation, instant coffee powder only needs hot or cold water since it dissolves completely while coffee ground requires some equipment like the French press or a dripper. When it comes to flavour and aroma, coffee ground is richer and stronger than instant coffee powder. I especially love how our room smells after preparing coffee ground!

How do we like our coffee now? We like it cold brew. Cold brew coffee is made by steeping coarsely ground coffee in room-temperature water for hours - we prefer to leave it for 24-36 hours. Unlike hot brewed coffee which only requires a tablespoon of coffee ground and a few minutes to prepare, you have to use higher ratio of coffee ground to water thus the caffeine level between two different preparation is barely the same. Since cold brew coffee has to be made in advance, we always make it a point that we have enough coffee stored in the fridge.

10 tablespoons of coffee ground

Sewing Materials in Riyadh

It is never too late to try new things - to discover something that you might love. I learned a new skill last year and I'm hoping to improve on it. I love this new craft that I even made a separate label for it in this blog. Guess what it is: it's sewing!

When I was starting out in sewing, it was a kind of struggle to find materials to try different techniques with my home sewing machine. Everytime we went out to shop, I would look if there's a sewing materials section in the supermarket to find needles and other accessories. I would search online to see if someone else have written about where to find sewing materials in Riyadh, and yes, there were a few but they seemed limiting. So here is a list of place that I've found if you are looking for sewing accessories and materials.

 Al Sharq Bookstore

 Sewing supplies in Al Sharq Bookstore

Al Sharq Bookstore is located in Souq Taibah. It is easy to spot because it is quite big. This is a place to go to buy school materials, stuff for arts and crafts, and yes, sewing supplies. There is whole aisle or two for sewing materials. You'll find needles, seam ripper, tape measure, fabric chalk, thread, some buttons, yarn, and more in affordable prices. If you want to check out this store, find it in the map here. And if you're looking for fabric, just walk around Souq Taibah and you'll find the shops.

Simple tips for UAE eVisa application for GCC residents

Visiting neighboring countries of Saudi Arabia would be in our to-do list, if ever we had one. As long as visiting other countries won't cost us a fortune, we are glad to take that adventure.

Last 2016, we toured around Bahrain for two days and traveled by road through the King Fahd Causeway. It was definitely a long drive but we loved that experience. And this year, we carefully allotted some funds to travel to the UAE - by road! We planned to go there during the Christmas weekend.

Like some GCC residents planning to visit UAE, one of the first questions asked was the need to secure an eVisa prior to arriving in UAE. Since 2016, expatriates living in the GCC will need to get an online e-visa before arriving in the UAE. You can read it here. So upon confirming that information, we went ahead and found out how to apply online for the eVisa and how much it costs.

To apply for online eVisa, you have to create an account in the online portal of UAE Ministry of Interior (MOI) here. The website looks like as follows:

Watching Lunar Eclipses

Observing the night sky is fascinating, especially with less light pollution. I have seen quite a number of astronomical phenomena and they all required some amount of patience, but the experience was worth it.

I had my first Geminids meteor shower almost a decade ago and I counted at least a hundred meteors from night until dawn. It was a public observation by an astronomical organization I was applying to back in college. I recall most of us (still awake) would point and give a shout as we see a meteor, while lying on our backs and trying to fight sleep. I could have made a hundred wishes that night but the experience itself was already magical.

I have seen quite a few eclipses. There was one time as a child when I purposely woke up around 3 in the morning to see a lunar eclipse. I only watched from our bedroom's window and saw the moon turning pale red. I thought that time that a roof deck would be nice. Fast forward to today when I am still on the lookout for eclipses visible where I live. My husband gladly joins me in watching eclipses when I ask him to.

It would be nice to own a good camera to document our observations. It's not in our priority so our smartphone cameras are enough for now. Here are some lunar eclipses that we have seen here in Riyadh so far.

Total lunar eclipse | 0457 H September 28, 2015 | Al Nahda Park

Total lunar eclipse | 0502 H September 28, 2015 | Al Nahda Park

Guitar and ukulele wall hanger ideas

My husband and I were looking for wall hangers for our guitar and ukulele since last week because they were just lying around in a corner. We thought that these musical instruments deserve more love so we were really glad when we found the right items to hang them properly.

After some tour and search in IKEA, we found the Betydlig wall/ceiling brackets and Grundtal hangers. They worked perfectly fine with the guitar and ukulele and didn't cost us much. Here is how they looked like after Michael fixed them on the wall.

They look neat!

Read, cook, eat

I love eating. I like trying out new and familiar dishes with my husband. Sometimes, I would prepare food for meals back in PH. Most of the time, I was the one assigned to prepare the ingredients for certain dishes - preparations such as chopping, mincing and washing the vegetables and meat to be used. My mom or brother do the cooking most of the time.

I haven't thought that cooking dishes on a daily basis would be such a challenge. Thinking of meals to prepare is a lot harder since I have a limited knowledge on food preparation. Oh, I remember a requisite course about food nutrition I took in the university and I had the same role in our group works, which is measuring the ingredients needed. I never led our group in following cooking and/or baking steps. Thus, preparing meals can be a tough task of a housewife. Who else thinks that being a housewife is underrated?

Anyway, I have tried cooking some dishes for two weeks that I've been here. I would look at what's available in the fridge and what I can prepare with it. Sometimes, we go to the grocery to buy what we need for something that I'd like to try to prepare and eat. The internet (oh, yes) is such a big help in food preparation. Thanks to all the recipes that are budget-friendly and easy to understand. Haha. I can just search keywords and voila - I can scan and choose the recipe that fits.

I'm sharing the photos of some foods that I prepared. Most often than not, the dishes turned out good.

Fish fillet