My Birthday Girl

my sweet little girl is 3 today.

wow... time flies fast. especially when you've been busy juggling between your demanding career and raising two ever demanding kids. but don't get me wrong. i enjoyed every moment raising my kids, i enjoy see them growing up in front of my eyes. fahmi is 4 now. and today, sweet yaya turns 3.

she seems so little for a toddler her age. she's the smallest among her cousins. my sister's daughter yg baru 1 1/2 tahun pun taller and bigger than yaya. i always said to hubby that yaya took after his father (my fil). kalau ikut my side semuanya tinggi2 dan besar... maklumlah darah pak arab. tapi walaupun nampak yaya ni kecik cinonet jer baru2 ni perasan banyak seluar dia yang beli masa raya last year dah makin singkat dok atas buku lali!

Yaya at 3:-
she's still on milk... 5 times a day, sometimes more. kekadang pelik juga sebab dia ni boleh tahan kuat makan nasi.

she's a picky eater, she don't like veggies but she loves potato... kekadang mau juga dia makan carrot but most of the time she will scream kalau nampak carrot dlm pinggan dia... macam nampak alien!

she's a nenek kebayan... banyak cakap! suka membebel & kuat merajuk...siap dengan muncung!

she's the most manja one... paling manja, paling suka menempel tapi paling tak mendengar kata. geram!

suka baca buku walaupun yang membaca tu mama dia sebenarnya, rajin menulis tapi macam cacinglah

ada satu yang tak best she's still on diapers..... huwaaaa dah 3 years old tapi masih pakai pampers.

we plan to register her for smart reader tutorial class in june, that is after fahmi been upgraded to kindergarten class. she is so estatic about this school thing, i think she will adapt to it well, better than his brother. she's been calling the smart reader as her 'strawberry school' . she even told me yesterday that she's going to bring the party favours that she help me packed to her strawberry school and she's going to distribute them to her friends. kesian pulak tengok dia so excited.

oh ya... preparation for yaya's birthday party is progressing. so is my schedule setiap malam at home is full. last night buat party favours, ada skit lagi tak siap, continue tonight. last night prepared fruit tart pastry, simpan dalam fridge. malam ni start buat tart shell & bakar dan simpan... menunggu untuk diisi custard & fruit filling jer. jumaat malam prepare chicken pie filing, buat pie crust & simpan dalam fridge. sabtu masuk dalam oven. sabtu nak kena collect cake dora on the way ke rumah my mom. fuhhh banyak lagi benda nak buat yang tak tertulis kat sini.

meh take a sneak peek at the party favours

dah siap packed... ada coklat zip, ballon, hershey chocolate, jelly, choc chip cookies, pencil dora & apa lg ntah...

Osso Bucco

this recipe is courtsey from madam lemongrass. thank you for the recipe & thank you for the link provided. i made this the italian way... omitted the wine part, of course. tapi cara makannya tetap tak boleh lari daripada kebiasaan melayu... heheh hubby had his osso bucco with white rice which he said didn't do justice to the superb osso bucco. sapa suruh dia makan dengan nasi...heheh. i had mine just on its own. kalau sesiapa yang suka rasa masam2 manis tu mesti suka hidangan ni. italian celup dalam diriku ini memang suka! ;-)

i made this dish in a hurry sebenarnya. dah masak semua atas dapur i transferred the whole dish dalam oven, sambung masak for another 1 1/2 hour. dalam tempoh ni ku berkejar ke office kejap sebab ada hal urgent. ishhh hari minggu pun nak kena gi ofis. elok sampai kat rumah dah siap!

Party Favours Hunting

i wanted to have an all dora-themed birthday party for yaya, which is due next month. this time around we decided to hold a small party at my mom's house. kebetulan bulan april nanti two of my nieces also shares the same birth month as yaya. so, nak mudahkan all my adik-beradik berkumpul, we'll have it at mom's house. this small party might turn out a little merrier coz my mom decided nak buat kenduri kecil sempena Mauludur Rasul sekali. Alhamdulillah...

i went searching for dora party favours and decorations at the mall but couldn't find any. i went on the net, was captivated by the range of dora products at allaboardtoys.com but the shipping charges was ludicrous. ikutkan hati maunyer balun semua, tapi rasa membazir pulak. just imagine per item that i wanted to buy cuma berharga sekitar US$4.47 je, tapi shipping charges 10times daripada harga barang... huhu rasa hampa juga.

but thanks to autine syerah yang very resourceful. jumpa juga satu dealer ni kat

http://www.wanitamelayu.com/. tapi agaknya dah bukan rezeki kot, most of the item that i want dah kehabisan stok. yang ada cuma loot bag & balloon dora jer. balun jelah...

dah order barang ni tetiba terjumpa plak loot bag dora ni kat toys r us. cute jugak... mama yaya dah rambang mata... balun lagi.

loot bag banyak2 ni nak buat apa? makan? heheheee...

Balik Kampung

Maulidur Rasul falls on thursday last week and i decided to take the rest of the week off. it has been quite sometime since i took a day off. initially i wanted to go back to my 'kampung', my real kampung in KT, rindu kat kampung sebenarnya. but for such a short holiday rasanya tak berbaloi, terkejar2 sangat. yes we can take the flight tapi $$$ kurang mengizinkan.

finally, i decided to go back to hubby's kampung after many2 months avoiding going back there. rasanya maulidur rasul ni bawa cahaya kesedaran jugak kot kat menantu hantu sorang ni! and i'm so surprised that this time around takde rasa berat hati or anything of the sort. the kids were overwhelmed with the thought of going back to kampung. walaupun fahmi mulanya kata tak suka coz he said rumah atuk banyak katak but once we reached mil's house macam tak cukup tanah he & yaya chasing the chicks. yup, chasing the chicks was their favourite past times kat rumah mil. maklumlah rumah mil takde toys... so ayam jelah jadi mangsa.

walaupun mama diaorang ada sedikit masalah to fit in to the family, apparently the kids have no such problem. they went straight to capture their grandparents heart with their mischiefs & sifat 'mudah mesra' diaorang tu. i think they are probably the only two grandchildren yang berani ter'over' mesra dgn atuk & nenek. i never seen any of my nephew or niece panjat atas atuk, or usik2 kedut kat perut atuk or even dare to ask why muka nenek & atuk banyak bintik2 & kedut? mana ada cucu atuk yang berani kacau atuk tidur? cucu mana yang paling banyak berborak dengan nenek if not these two cucu anak aku? dan mana ada cucu yang berani kacau ibu ayam tengah mengeram telur pastu ambil telur tu baling atas lantai? this one really remind me of my own childhood. my two younger bros pernah bertapa dalam reban ayam nenek mengerjakan telur2 ayam sampai hancur semua. myself & my two bros juga pernah kejar anak2 ayam baru menetas & penyek dengan kayu umpama orang tumbuk padi tu. the only thing yg takde kat umah mil hanyalah kambing jer. sbb kami masa kecil pernah kejar kambing & panjat atas belakang dia. i don't dare to imagine fahmi & yaya doing exactly the same thing! regardless of whatever they were up to, obviously my mil & fil rasa terhibur & adore them so much.

dan hasil daripada chasing the chicks with a stick, yaya dapat luka kat jari akibat jatuh. i had to threatened them that i'd tie them to the mango tree depan rumah if they don't stop chasing the chicks, but budak berdua tu tak serik juga. it was a short trip. we came back home on friday coz fahmi had to attend his class on saturday. it would have been easy to skip his class and extend our stay but after 2 weeks off from the class i don't that would be a good idea. nanti makin malas pulak my boy ni.

Penne In Tomato Basil Sauce

how can something so simple like this dish be so irresistible? maybe simply because all of us just love to eat pasta, with tomato sauce of course. this is the first time i made a pasta dish with penne. never tempted to try it before, we always go for spaghetti or lasagna. i bought a packet of penne last 2 weeks. i wanted to try out madam lemongrass's recipe of alfredo pasta, but never got around to make them. the heavy cream that i bought to make alfredo sauce was utilised for creamy mushroom sauce eaten with grilled chicken.

my kitchen has run out of supplies. but i have plenty of tomatos & basil in the fridge. i don't know what to do with them, but i must use them before it become rotten. so i surf for tomato & basil recipe and eureka... i found the tomato basil sauce recipe at allrecipe.com. yeah i found plenty other recipes too i.e. stuffed chicken basil, grilled chicken breast with basil and so on. but i don't have chicken in my fridge, and i have a packet of unused penne. so penne in tomato basil sauce would be perfect for tonite's dinner. ;-)

as for the ingredients, it is so simple. all i need were chopped garlic, 4 tomatos, fresh basil, fresh tarragon, fresh thyme, some dried herbs, pepper, salt & a pinch of sugar. and remember, always use olive oil . sugar can be omitted if the tomatos are ripe enough. first, sauteed the garlic until golden, add diced tomatos & fresh and dried herbs at once. let it simmer, until the tomatos soften and dissolved. when the sauce thicken add seasoning, adjust the taste to your liking and ready. the tomatos does plays an important role in this recipe though. i used momotaro which is not really suitable to make a tasty pasta sauce; it's hard texture and guava pink color really didn't do justice to the sauce. but that's all i have, and still taste good so i make do with it this time.

when fahmi and yaya screaming for a second & third helping, and hubby keep on returning to the kitchen, i knew by then that this simple recipe is worth reproduce! so, i guess we can stop hitting the counter for canned pasta sauce for a long long time, yeah?

McNaughtized!

i went for my books shopping spree last weekend and bought 2 books for myself and few other activity books for the kids. one of it is a novel from my all time favourite author Judith McNaught. i've been waiting for her new release called "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You", which expected to come out somewhere end of this year (lama tu!). rindu punya pasal i bought "Someone To Watch Over Me", a contemporary title to my collection. am planning to complete my collection soon with 'tender triumph', 'double standards' and 'night whispers' which i skipped sebab excited mengejar her historical romance novels. bila historical punya dah complete baru ku kejar her contemporary ones.

paperback release in june'08, hardcover in dec'08

just got to know that there's a special edition of 'every breath you take' with extra pages elaboration on the main character. i'm gonna get that one too... that will make 2 same titles in my collection. ;-) (i already have one!) i also bought a stephen covey book, for a more serious reading.

i'm sooo... mcnaughtized!

Chicken Pie

this is the chicken pie that i made on saturday (sorry photo update was delayed coz i was overwhelmed by the wind of change).
tak susah rupanya nak buat the pie crust. selama ni ingatkan susah yang amat, that's why i never got around to try it, walaupun sebenarnya suka sangat makan pie, apa pie sekalipun, be it chicken pie or fruit pie semua suka. i copy the pie crust recipe from allrecipe.com. bahan2 crustnya sangat simple & senang sangat nak buat. and the taste... wallah! tengok pic pie yang dah masak kat atas tu nampak macam garing & kering kan? maklumlah amatuer punya keje, rupa tak cun tapi sebenarnya it taste sedang elok jer, just the way a pie should taste...flaky.

next time gonna use the same pie crust recipe untuk buat pie strawberry or blueberry pulak. yumm...yumm.
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for those asking for the pie crust recipe please go to http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Basic-Flaky-Pie-Crust/Detail.aspx
i double the recipe untuk hasilkan chicken pie kat atas.

as for the filling i use this recipe (more or less dengan sedikit perubahan). sorry lupa dapat kat mana recipe ni so copy & paste jelah.

INGREDIENTS:

6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup half-and-half (i substitute with milk or can also use cream)
3 cups chopped, cooked chicken (i grilled the chicken breast coated with pepper & olive oil, siap masak shredded)
PREPARATION:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan; add flour and seasonings and stir until smooth and bubbly.

Add liquids and cook slowly until thickened; add chicken. Pour into pastry-lined pan. Roll out remaining pastry; cover chicken mixture; pinch edges together. Bake at 425° for 35 minutes, or until pastry is nicely browned. Chicken pie serves 6.