Another sweet moment in my life as a mother

My hero....
or one of my heroes, there are two heroes in my life, one big one and one little one. The big one, of course, my other half.
.............receiving his certificate for his achievement in last year's PMR during the " Hari Anugerah Cemerlang' at his former school..
Hopefully the next function would be for my daughter who will be sitting for her SPM this year.It doesn't matter actually whether they receive any award, certificate or recognition as such, what matters is they excel in life, as a person and as good Muslim and Muslimah. that is my doa for my children. Tsara', Ameer and Batrisyia.
 It doesn't matter if you get 10As or 1A in your exam, they are good on papers and yes, of course, they are good when applying for scholarships and for a place in the institute of higher learning, but that alone does not guarantee a successful future.
Work smart and not work hard, is what I have heard everywhere nowadays. Unlike, many many years ago, people always say, work hard, study hard...well not anymore.being smart is the way forward.
So my dearest kids, work smart okay. you can watch TV, surf the net, FBing, Tweeting, all you like, as long as you know how to limit yourself and know your boundaries and divide your time wisely. but until then, I will continue being your 'monitor', watching and guarding your every moves......hehe....
love you guys.....muahhh......

simple yet scrumptious dinner

my dinner for the last few nights or was it weeks? i can't remember cos it's been a while since I last cooked a proper meal, wait a minute, last night i did, with ikan termenung masak asam pedas, but no picture for that unfortunately.

What can be seen in this picture are: 

terung goreng cabai and bawang, very simple dish, as simple as can be, frankly i don't eat 'terung' but hubby does, so I made this specially for him.

dinner is incomplete without sambal belacan and the easiest and simplest, and almost available ulam anytime in the fridge is cucumber.if i want to use other types of 'ulam', I would have to plan in advance and go to the market to get the fresh ones like, pucuk daun ketereh or ulam raja, etc.

d

this meat curry is a modified version from the leftover gravy of the 'kari tulang rusuk' from yesterday's dinner. It was so delicious and i still have some gravy left and why throw away something that can still be consumed and so i cut my 'daging batang pinang' into thin slices and boil them before mixing it with this gravy and i got myself a new dish, still as delicious and can also eat this with roti canai.

sambal udang, or if i am bored with udang, i just change it with squids, using the same recipe.

this fish, i am not sure what its actual name is but we call it 'bawal emas' probably because of its 'stiff' price per kg or perhaps because of its goodness. This fish is a favourite among us, best fried when you are about to serve the rice, eat it when it is still hot, within minutes, you can see just the bones, we eat like piranhas, eating their meals.......one minute its there, the next, gone.......so delicious......

last but not least, the steamy, hot white rice, nothing beats a home cooked meal, eat among your family in the comfort of your own home. bon appetit!

budu dll

"BUDU' with shallot slices and cili api, and a sprinkle of lime juice, best eaten or as 'pencicah' to cucumber, kangkung rebus and ulam -ulaman. "best eaten" which i only took the words from the people who actually do eat this , cos me, myself and I, am not a fan of 'budu' despite the fact that it originated from the state which I originate from.....:-)
ikan terubuk masak sambal bakar ( grilled terubuk )
ayam masak kicap, sotong goreng, terubuk bakar, sayur kacang goreng telur and timun cicah budu.....
blueberry cheesecake with slightly less sugar.thank you Sis.

soooo cuteeeee......

amboi! santainya!

A surprise but wonderful visit from a fellow baker

I am finally able to put a face to a name. i have known her for quite a while, to be exact since I started this baking and cake decorating craze. her name was mentioned to me by one of my customers. It was her teddies that brought me to her blog, and since then I always make a point to visit her blog as and when time permits.

Her creativity was captivating and her fluency in the English language just blew me away.several times I called or sms whenever I was in KL hoping to get to meet her in person but as it was not meant to be, we never had a chance until recently, on a clear and hot day in December when I received a simple text from her saying that she's in Alor Star, visiting and holidaying with her family.

I invited her over since they were very near my house and even though it was just a brief visit, but it was enough to embrace the warmth and kindlness from her and her family , just as she sounded in her blog.

I have a few photos of her as a remembrance of this special visit but I have to save the photo first because I seldom see her own photo i n her blog, and afraid that I might offend her if i put it in here.

Glad to have finally met you dear and hope we will meet agf ain, insyaAllah ada rezeki, I will drop by at your place , take care and keep those beautiful work and writing coming.

thank you for the beautiful flowers

Ramblings on one Friday morning

whoa! hello and welcome back everyone, who has been visiting my 'kitchen'. where have I been? it's been close to one month since I last updated my blog. I came across terms like" dah bersawwang" blog whenever a blogger had left it too long and should i say the same about my blog? just figure of speech i suppose.

so many reasons , so many excuses, internet slow, internet dowwn, yeah yeah, blame it on the IT.PMR is over, raya Haji just over, been baking, been decorating, been going to KL for a class in figurine, that was fun, been to a Srikandi dinner and gathering, been staying the night an old schoolfriend's house for a couple of days and enjoying her beautiful home and hospitality, been lying low or trying to because of my arm, yes, come to think of it, that was the reason why i had been away from writing. I hurt my hand/arm and it is still hurting and it made doing things less fun anymore because it was quite painful. I can type on the keyboard alright but when it comes to heavy work, it hurts.but life goes on......kids to send to school, laundry to do, house to look after, meals to prepare, cakes and cookies and brownies to make and decorate...

I am rambling, aren't I? It's just that i have missed wwriting so much, felt good to let go of the wwords and alphabets that's been jumbling in my head, so much thought, so much , so much.....it gives me a headache! I am experiencing one right now, it's throbbing and just made me want to lie down , wishful thinking, with all the things to do, you gotta be kidding me!




As I'm writing this, the rainbow cake with soft colourful pastel colour deco is on its way to KL via the express bus, hopefully it will reach its destination safely, with the Teddy, mini cake and mini gift sitting on top of the fondant covered rainbow cake , and reached its owner in good condition and will make someone with names starting with I and N very happy.

ok, that rather "short notice" order is out of the way and I should be on my way to my kitchen as we speak to get the three tiered marble cheese brownies started. yup, you heard that right! marble cheese brownies on tiers, not just one but three.

I have 1001 things to do, it's going almost haywire up there, thinking and organising and reorganising on what to do first, and I decided that what i wanted to do first is updating my blog! only this time, this entry will be photoless for I have trouble with my other laptop. Worry not, those photos will be loaded as soon as i have cleared all the outstanding things unticked in my "To do "list.

feel like making bihun goreng this morning, so i am going dowen to my kitchen and will get started on the 1001 things to do, hopefully, at elast a few will get doen today, insyaAllah.

just want to thank everyone, you know wwho you are, for the endless and continuous support, and wishing everyone a happy Friday and hope the sun will shine on you today!smile!

Happy 50th anniversary abah dan Umi

one rainbow cake covered with fondant and decorated with gumpaste flower, surrounded by eight vanilla cupcakes which represented their eight children and 22 mini chocolate cupcakes for the grandchildren, blue for grandsons and pink for granddaughters, and I think more are on their ways, err.... but not from me :-), the next arrival would be from Sg Buloh, I think , and probably from Puchong too.

This is me, one blue and two pinks....

slicing the rainbow cake

"Umi, I think this one has your name and Abah on it" That must be what Kamila said to my sister

a cup of Nescafe that I look forward to everytime I go to my sister's place

and a 'bungkus' of nasi kak wok for breakfast

Batrisyia playing chess with her cousin, while her house is still in the renovation stage

these mini cakes and cake were driven all the way from alor star to machang, Kelantan for my uncle's son's wedding ( the son is my cousin )

fortunately they survived the five hour journey , unlike my parents' anniversary cake and cupcakes

which I had to do some touch up and repair works before they end looking as good as before they left Alor Star

abah and Umi dearest, Selamat Menyambut Hari Ulangtahun Perkahwinan ke 50 , semoga berkekalan hingga ke hujung nyawa, and I would make more anniversary cakes for Abah and Umi., insyaAllah.

Malaysian Irish in Taman Stadium

melting moments.... cooled on the tray , hot in the stove but melts in the mouth

red, err I mean pink velvet and blueberry and strawberry cheesetarts

Amira helping out with the BCT/SCT

Slurpp.....yum....

teh O panas

sambak belacan dengan timun

sirap bandung special with ice cream soda

roti bom from Bazar ramadhan

jeruk maman

air kelapa muda

sambal udang

ikan bakar

buah melaka, cempedak goreng and kurma

murtabak daging ( from Bazar Ramadhan)

roti john ( from bazar Ramadhan)

lauk -pauk for berbuka puasa when my sister and family came to visit

Seronoknyer Batrisyia.....

Batrisyia enjoying her cousins' visit , can polish up her English with these Irish born gals.....aka my nieces and nephew

let them deco their own cupcakes

showed them how to make the roses using fondant, just for the fun of it

cookies to bring back to gombak

and petai too.......... ( and macaroni au gratin for berbuka, just in case they have to berbuka on the way )

NASI LEMAK....

still am and has always been a fan of nasi lemak. it began during my school days, living and studying in a boarding school, every Friday morning, we were served nasi lemak for breakfast . Friday is a weekend, and thus it is not compulsory for us to go and have our breakfast in the dining hall and therefore most of us, chose to sleep in on that day.That was the only day that we were free from classes, preps, or any other school activities. However, for some of us we looked forward to Friday because of the nasi lemak, nevertheless, some of these "sleep-inners" I should call them , actually did love the nasi lemak too, but it's just that they value their beauty sleep more but in order not to miss out on the nasi lemak, they would ask those who went., to tapau back for them, well, that's what friends are for.....after all, we had each other and had to look out for one another while we were there, far away from our families ( for most of us), some of them were locals, johorean, who had parents and families visiting them every other weekend if not every weekend.

nasi lemak, preferably use basmathi rice, more fragrant and aromatic, if no pandan leaves, I would just use sliced ginger, added with coconut milk and salt, cook it like cooking normal rice.

sambal ikan bilis is a must , to go with the nasi lemak, and sometimes, I made other sambal too, like sambal udang or sambal sotong.

additional dish but not a must, ayam percik with very thick gravy.

not forgetting, slices of cucumber and hard boiled eggs.

I prefer my nasi lemak simple but must have all the "must' dish, and I seldom add extra dish to my nasi lemak. But sometimes, we bought the 'nasi lemak bungkus'. They used to sell it for 50 sen each in the 90s, late 90s, but I don't think they are still selling at that price nowadays.We used to like to buy this particular 'nasi lemak lima kupang' we called it ( 50 sen nasi lemak ) at Jalan Datok Kumbar, very simple, the small portion of rice with very small slice of egg but just nice with the nasi and sambal ikan bilis and the sambal was really tasty, the right pedas, the right masam and manis, the rice , perfectly creamy / 'lemak; not to thin and not too thick, just....perfect! We could finish more than one bungkus in one go, unfortunately, they didn't sell it any more and till today I don't think there is any other nasi lemak which can match or can come close to that one.

this nasi lemak set was for our breakfast cum lunch, many many weekends before.looking at this nasi lemak makes me hungry, I'll start preparing for lunch soon.

ciao!

the complete nasi lemak set