Baking Experiment III

it's carrot cake this time. actually it was my 3rd attempt. i got the recipe somewhere on the net. most of the recipes are quite the same, same ingredients and baking method. and i'm surprise at how easy and fast the whole process takes to get the final product. no machine required except for an oven, just beat the eggs and sugar with the egg beater (no need for the mixture machine). other ingredients are measured by cup or spoon. sangat mudah.

and the result.... worth reproduce.



it took me less than an hour from preparation til the cake is ready. on my 3rd time i made the cream cheese topping, need extra time to let the cake cool before spreading the topping. easy kan?

Baking Experiment II

i made chicken curry bun this afternoon. my first experiment after many many years, i used to make sausage bun and cinnamon roll during my teenage years, but i've discarded the idea of baking sebab i don't have an oven in my kitchen before.

i omit the dough enhancer from the recipe, jadinya bun tu tak lah selembut mana. makan panas2 sedaplah, dah sejuk agak keras & dry. next time i'll add the dough enhancer.


saw the brown spots? tu sebab sapu dengan egg yolk


Bahan:
500 gm tepung, 30 gm susu tepung, 50 gm gula, 1 paket ibu roti (mauripan), 1 biji telur, 1/2tsp garam, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 250 ml air & 80 gm mentega (lembutkan). klu letak bread improver 1 tsp only.

sift together flour, milk powder, salt & bread improver. in a bowl, combine together with sugar, yeast & egg. add softed butter and water, mix well dalam 10mins. leave the dough for 15mins-20mins to rise. bulatkan kecil2, put it aside to rise. leperkan dgn jari, letak inti & bulatkan semula. panaskan oven to 200deg, and let the dough rise sementara oven panas. bakar for 20mins.

Bedtime Stories

i used to dream that if i have children one day i'd make time to read them stories before they go to sleep. i like the idea of parents (mum or dad) reading stories to put their children to bed. in fact i wanted to do a lot of things with my children like turn baking into fun time with them, build sand castle bila balik kampung, etc but none had ever materialised. okay maybe i exaggerate, some i did do but there are still many many things that i plan to do but never did. like reading bedtime stories to them, i have never do anything of the sort until recently. very recent, just 2 nights ago i've started reading them bedtime stories.

alhamdulillah, they enjoy it. and i enjoy it too. we (me & hubby) always had problem to put them to bed. we never put them to sleep at the same time every night. we just let them linger around us, watch tv with us until they started to yawn or until they beat us to oblivion. it is always either they fall asleep first or we fall asleep. but alhamdulillah after 2 nights i can see the difference. but i would have to read them at least 3 stories and had to make all the sound effects that i can, the moo moo, the buzzz buzzz, and etc or else they would not be satisfied. my bedroom turn into a kindy at night. after i finished reading the 3rd story i'd told them that mama will tell them more stories tomorrow night if they'd listen to mama and go to sleep. which they did eventually.

so now takdelah anak2ku tido lewat sangat. sedikit improvement...

Counting The Day

everyone is counting the days towards Malaysia's 50th Merdeka Day.
i'm counting the days as well, looking forward to the days off from work inconjuction with the merdeka celebration.
me & hubby is in dire need of rest... we thought of going away, nothing far or luxurious. as long as both of us can rest peacefully... away from the house, and from the children for one day. maybe we stay overnight at a hotel nearby... still i couldn't imagine leaving the children for a whole day and night. we might chicken out to the last minute.
plus hubby haven't said anything yet. he's the one who had been talking me into it.
wait and see...

Pajama Hunting

i wanted to buy new pajamas for yaya. she has certainly grown up, grown taller thou in my eyes she appears no difference from the little midget she was masa 2nd birthday party dulu. i noticed recently when i pulled out her last raya jeans, the jeans came a few inches above her ankle. so does her pajamas, she has outgrown them and in need of new ones.

instead of taking my own daughter for shopping, i asked my niece, farah to tag along with me today. apart from needing someone slightly older than my own children to accompany me shopping, the other reason for bringing her along was because i promised her sometime ago that i'd buy her something that she'd like. so i let her choose to her own liking. she choose a few activity books and a very cute girls sleepwear bought at f.o.s.

i bought 4 pairs of very cheap mix and match pajama selling at the price of rm9.90 each. one of it is very eye catching and very very cute indeed. it is a cat stripe printed pajamas, it makes yaya looks like a lil kitten in disguise. and she purrs like a kitten everytime i tease her about it.


the cat girl is sleeping


the pink pants ada renda trimming kat kaki seluar, soo girlie & sexy ;-)


i bought 2 pairs of cartoon printed pants for fahmi. he's not in dire need for new pajama to replace his old ones.


limited sizes for yaya's age, had to take the ones for a 4yo, it fits anyway, besar skit je

What Would I Do This Weekend?

hubby had a very busy schedule this weekend starting from tomorrow, leaving me and the kids with nothing to do. he'd be leaving to johor tonite, attending to the necessities for a 2-days worksyop for the secondary students which he organised together with his long time buddy.

i'm a bit unhappy that he had chosen the dates without considering that it will be my off day from work. which means we could have quality time together with the children. ughhh i'm too clingy kan? with an ever busy schedule on weekdays, who wouldn't be. okay enough and grow up big girl :-P

so tomorrow i'd be sending fahmi for his last TT class. i'm not sure about the arrangements thereafter, despite whatever plannings i've drawn up, i haven't made any visit to the nursery or smart reader centre yet. mama fahmi ni pandai planning jer, bab execution tu hancus! kehkehkeh...

afterwards, i plan to take my children to their grandma's home. we'd stay overnight there, and let the children run loose sambil tu mama boleh lah catch up with some more shopping. uhhh it makes me sounds like a terrible mother. but honestly, kalau nak bershopping, biarlah all by lonesome self, habis semua section boleh cover in 3 hours. if i bring yaya along (only yaya) would that make me sounds less terrible? ha...ha...ha...

i still haven't forget that we have a birthday bash invitation by azie. thousand apologies to azie & co, we might not be able to turn up, faham2 jelah berdua dengan hubby pun kami sesat jalan, apatah lagi me alone driving. nak sangat pergi, maybe next time ye.

and another invitation for a wedding reception adik rosyam nor, dekat jer seberang jalan di subang. this one also i'm not sure i'd be able to go, not without hubby. tengoklah dulu.

so that's it. i hate to leave my house for the weekend, but with hubby not around i'm afraid i'd slipped into boredom.

Ikano Shopping Spree & The Story Entail

i am no angel
i'm not 'immune' to temptations

it was supposed to be a 'survey' jalan session because we've never been to ikano before despite the close distance from our place.

so one fine sunday evening when we have no idea where to go for our usual outing with the children, i suggested to hubby why not we go to ikea, just to survey jalan je (konon!). it was already late, around 6pm kalau tak silap. hubby was reluctant to go, but as usual i used my persuasion power to make him agree to it. at least my communication studies dulu ada juga guna nya ye?

once there, i told hubby why not we take a quick peek at the 'brands' outlet yang sally dok sebut2 tu. hahah hubby gave me one kind of look "memang tak leh caya bini aku nih" hehehe

akhirnya, the result of saja2 survey jalan is these

there were many selection of kidswear, semuanya cantik2 belaka especially for the girls. rambang mata dibuatnya, if only i had tonnes of $$$ i'd buy each design offered. but price wise, not as cheap as i expected... i bought a pair of 3/4 pants and 3 blouse/t shirt for yaya from various brands i.e. oshkosh and tks. as for the boys, the selection were not as 'meriah' as the girls', i bought only 1 oshkosh t shirt for fahmi.

i'm supposed to save some money for the 'balik kampung' trip, instead ku hamburkan my saving for that month untuk baju2 si comel. godaan...

dek kerana sakan bershopping, we couldn't figure out which way to take to reach home. yang peliknya why every turn we took we'd never get back to where we come from? *frown* any answer sally? it took us an hour plus to reach home, we went from damansara to kepong and selayang, we almost emptied the petrol tank in search for the correct route if not for the petronas station in the middle of nowhere. seronok bershopping semua terbang, i'm tired, the kids were tired too... hubby pulak gelisah mencari jalan.

we reached home anyway, it was very very late, the kids were asleep. i myself could barely open my eyes to climb out from the car. we decided that next time if we ever go to ikano/ikea again, we'll makesure that we'd go during daylight. hubby tak puas hati, he said he'd be able to figure out jalan balik if only we went during the day.

so right after the picnic at tasik perdana last 2 weeks we went to ikea again. the funny thing is that even in the broad daylight he still couldn't figure out jalan balik. macam mana tu? :-) me and hubby, we laughed at ourselves.

moral of the story:

1. i'd stick to my usual shopping place, that is subang parade, confirm tak sesat!
2. kalau dah tak tau jalan tu, siang ke malam ke, tetap sesat!