On Her Birthday

today, my little princess turns 4. she claims that she's 6, sometimes she talks and act as though she's older that her age. she is talkative like a 'mak nenek', who would have doubt she's 6 except when they saw her physique and suara halus dia. but she is only 4. 4 maybe a big number for some kids. with fahmi, he was a big boy when he turned 4 last year and each year i can feel him growing up, moving away from my cucoon. but it is not the case with yaya... 4 is still a small number for yaya.

perhaps because she's small in her physique, thus i still sees her as my little princess, my baby
perhaps because she's the most 'manja' between my two child - she still need to be cuddle to sleep and always insist that i put her to sleep
perhaps because she's the most dependent one - which is translated as 'malas' to her brother because she always ask for help bila nak kemas toys or the mess that she make
perhaps because she still couldn't fit in to a 4 year old's bajus (she wears 2yr old pyjama's) and shoes
perhaps because she loves to mimicked baby's voice - much to her brother's irritation
perhaps because she's still on diapers at night
perhaps because of the fact that she's the youngest one

for whatever the reason may be, no matter how strict i am (want to be), no matter how 'bekeng' i am with my children, there will always be a time when they are deep in their sleep, i will still look upon them as my babies.

i have so much hopes for her, all the things that i dreamt of as a child but could not achieve, i would not impose those things on her, but me being me - as any other mothers out there i would want her to have the best in her life, to make the best out of her life, to live her life to the fullest. i pray for her bright future, i pray for her best of health, i pray for her being a good daughter and sister and i pray for her to grow as a good muslimah. amin.

a pity daddy couldn't be around for her birthday and i could only managed to get her a small chocolate cake. but she's happy, as happy as i want her to be, on her birthday.

Time For Another Party

dalam pada malas memasak coz kakak bercuti weekend lepas, sempat juga aku mengerjakan cookies untuk kiddies treat masa besday yaya nanti. we plan to have it at my mom's place, again and again. dapat juga buat sikit, itupun mula membaking dah petang sangat. tak sempat nak iced the cookies, aku terus simpan dalam container.

punyalah tension kali ni mencari idea nak buat birthday cake yaya. dahlah aku tengah jiwa kacau dek hal kerja sampai jadi blank habis takde idea nak buat kek fesyen apa for her birthday. kesian yaya.

the fact that she requested macam2 theme for her birthday cake doesn't help either. jadi lagi susah aku nak decide. bila aku suruh dia sendiri decide aku pulak jadi tak puas hati dengan jawapan dia. she has been asking for doll cake sejak dari tahun lepas lagi. tetiba baru2 ni she was torn between kitty cake, doll cake and ladybird cake. i make her choose one theme out of three. dia pilih kitty... sudahnya aku pulak tak puas hati dengan pilihan tu, aku yang terhegeh2 nak doll. heheh ni kes impian zaman kanak2 tak kesampaian lah ni.

so, on saturday morning lepas hubby hantar yaya ke smart reader aku pun keluar hunting for barang2 untuk buat cake & hidangan birthday dia nanti. i already made a list of things to buy and the 20odd things in my list kena dapatkan bukan dari 1 tempat tapi 4 shops. phewww! sampai almost 3pm baru siap shopping. dari subang perdana ke sect 14 PJ, patah balik ke subang jaya then ke kota damansara baru balik semula ke rumah.

but after hours of shopping and endless time taken to browse the australian women's weekly magazine, aku masih belum boleh decide design apa nak buat for yaya's cake! oh my... mental block habis kali ni. huwaaaa... dah kecut perut ni. tolonggg!

the cookies yang dah iced. yaya helped me to iced the cookies petang semalam before we went to fetch kakak from her aunt's house.

boring sebab kena mengemas rumah sendiri, semalam aku buat mee kari je untuk brunch. tak sempat buat breakfast sebab berlumba2 nak pakai dapur dengan hubby yang sibuk dengan projek tempe nya lagi. sudahnya, mee kari tu we had as late breakfast cum lunch. the kids had their sunny fried egg on toast.

Where, What & Why?

jengah blog orang semua buat entry dated 28.03.09 dan 29.03.09 tentang 60 Earth Hour. i have mixed feelings about 60 earth hour ni dan since dah terlalu ramai buat entry pasal ni, i'll pass.

ehhh tak boleh, tak boleh diam... nak cakap jugak pasal 60 earth hour day semalam. so, where were we and what we were doing at 8.30 til 9.30pm last night? and why? we were at secret recipe, bukit jelutong... heheh rumah puan sally sepelaung je dari secret recipe tu, malas nak kacau puan sally yang dah tentu tengah mengepit anak teruna dia. what we were doing? having our dinner of course... semalam hari cuti kakak, kami hantar dia ke rumah mak cik dia untuk berehat. jadi aku malas betul nak masuk dapur kalau takde pembantu ni. maklum je aku cuma rajin masak tapi tak cukup rajin mengemas. biasalah ala2 chef kan? konon! and why? we purposely left the house before the 60 earth hour begins, so that we don't have to stay in the dark for 1 hour. nak ikut sama rasa macam tak kena, tak ikut sama padam lampu macam tak concern pulak. in the end we left the house dalam gelap and go somewhere terang. hehee cheat!

why i had mixed feelings about this 60 erath hour thing? sebab kalau tak silap memory aku pernah terbaca somewhere yang amalan duduk dalam gelap, padam lampu semua ni adalah ritual penganut hindu bali. cuma aku tak ingat apa nama ritual ni. dia panggil hari sepi ke apa ntah, kurang ingat pulak. pasal tu yang aku bena tak bena je pasal kempen 60 earth hour ni. tapi aku padamkan juga lampu kat rumah sebagai sokongan, half of me believe this is for a good cause. it may not help untuk kurangkan pemanasan global tapi untuk mencetuskan kesedaran, maybe.

p/s: pardon my spelling, i know there must be plenty of spelling error in this entry coz i was not wearing my glasses while typing. dah nak masuk tidur sebenarnya!

Banana Cake

in our attempt to take more fruits and fibre in our food intake, i made this banana cake for 2 weeks in a row. yang ni buat malam tadi, keep it in airtight container and sliced bila2 terasa nak makan. banana cake ni juga kubekalkan untuk fahmi makan kat sekolah. i just want to get him to eat more healthy food sebab sekolah serve nasi jarang2 sekali. you see, my son ni lepas habis kindy class terus sambung kelas agama at the same school sampai pukul 2 petang. kelas agama ni is optional, thus student pun tak ramai, termasuk fahmi just 4 of them aja. morning break selalu sekolah bagi biskut or kuih, sesekali bihun goreng. for those staying for kelas agama they said they'd serve nasi tapi jarang sangat.

like yesterday i packed for him nasi goreng which he ate for lunch, while the banana cake he ate during morning break. i packed extra for him so that he can share with his friends. the day before kakak made toasted slice bread kepit cheese for him. sometimes dia bawa nasi lemak without sambal of course or mee goreng. kalau time kekeringan idea sangat bagi je dia bawa roti krim.

hubby terlebih2 pulak beli pisang masak ranum terus beli sekali 2 sisir pisang muda. daripada membazir aku buatlah masak lemak pisang muda. pernah makan? sedap tau. so makan nasi malam ni terasa macam makan healthy food sesangat, konon! ada lagi satu sisir pisang nangka muda. yang ni boleh buat pengat, tapi kalau rasa tak lalu nak belasah pisang based food je tetiap hari peram jelah sampai kekuningan skit buat pisang goreng. tak gitu? :-)

Projek Tempe

as my mil says i am more jawa than my other half and his family. why? because i just love to eat tempe so much. when i was a kid, my mum tak payah susah2 goreng ikan, goreng ayam or any other dishes yang susah just to make me eat nasi. all she has to do is goreng tempe and that was all, i can eat nasi with tempe and a little dash of kicap (soy bean sauce, konon!)cheap kan? very low maintenance aku ni...hehe.

and when i was on my first job in port klang, i was renting a room back then living far from my parents. gaji bukannya besar, i had to rely on public transportation, so i had to have enough cash everyday to keep me going. kena berjimat nak cukupkan sampai hujung bulan. i wouldn't spend more than RM1.50 for my lunch which was sejemput nasi putih with tempe and loads of sambal cili minang - everyday the same menu sampai anak teruna tokey kedai pun dah tau taste aku. and you guess what was my dinner back then? easy, seringgit tempe goreng dengan kuah lada as pencicah. if i'm lucky mak cik jual tempe goreng akan bagi aku extra, sometimes bagi lebihan kuih donut to her most loyal customer ni.

i should have guess there's a reason behind my ever growing fondness towards tempe. i'm destined to be married to a jawarian. yes, now i know why.

okay sudahlah ceritera tempe. let's get back on track. so disebabkan aku punya minat terhadap tempe telah menyebabkan aku teringin sangat nak buat tempe sendiri. i look up on the internet and found this shortcut way of making tempe on myresipi. hubby been gloating about his way of making tempe which he never ever do by himself but observed and participated in packing tempe masa dia kecil dulu. my mil masa muda dulu buat & jual tempe as her side income.

hubby tried his version first. his version took a long process. unfortunately after completing the whole process which led to 1 week, tempe dia tak menjadi. aku pun ketawakan dia. macam mana anak tokey tempe tak tau buat tempe? eh samalah macam aku anak tukang jahit tak reti menjahit!

so i told hubby i'd do my version of tempe, the shortcut version. i made them twice, both time tak berapa menjadi... kulat tak menyelaputi seluruh kacang soya.

both of us were not satisfied with the results and adamant to make it right no matter how many times it takes to make it right. so last week i let hubby do his version another time. this time around he brought back some banana leaves to wrap the soy bean. and the result... wallah! gebu you...




okay, so the anak tokey tempe wins. but if not for all my tease and dare i don't think he will ever get around to do it... hehehe :-) chewahh nak credit gak tuh!

Mee Udang Trip

i have been meaning to update a few entries this week but due to internet settings problem i can only type entries but couldn't upload them. hubby is one itchy hand who went to update something that makes the whole internet setting goes haywire. urghhh!!!hence, my blog has been very quiet but in reality my life, not.

while my blog has remain quite the whole week last week, my life was not. on friday we decided to drop our hectic and mundane life behind for the 4 hours drive to Penang to fulfill my curiosity and quench for mee udang. well, as you know we have been planning for this trip over and over for the past 2 years but never came close to do it. we were supposed to go for it last 2 sundays but had to drop in the last hour coz everyone was down with cold and cough.

and i have been meaning to take some day off from work just to relax and relieve a bit tau2 ajalah things has been very stressing lately. and it has been ages since i last took some rest from work. so on monday last week, i told hubby that i want to take off day on friday and saturday, doing nothing but just stay indoor. hubby said ok and added if that's the case he might want to take friday off as well. well, pucuk dicita ulam mendatang, bagai orang mengantuk disorongkan bantal maka aku pun dengan sukacitanya ajak hubby to materialised our mee udang trip yang dah berulang kali been postponed. all of this exchange of word was done through email. yes, we (me & hubby) speak to each other at work through emails. we plan our holiday, our children's birthday, our raya and house renovation plans through emails. this way at least dua-dua pihak ada proof of what been said and agreed (minuted as in a meeting) during the discussion so that nobody can just simply pull out or change their mind by saying "no i didn't say that..." hahahaha teruk, kan?

okay so back to our mee udang trip. so, on friday morning after our heavy breakfast ( i made nasi lemak wrapped in daun pisang) we left home with the kids and kakak heading north. we travel light with the kids spare clothes in a small bag coz it was intended as a day trip only. hubby offers to book us a room somewhere but i refused. it was school holiday, the room rates may double up and it is not a good time to spend more money on unnecessary expense. with the exception of this trip, of course. i keep on telling myself while booking a room somewhere may incur unnecessary cost, this delayed trip was not, it was a must do thing, taking advantage of current fuel price and the yet to take effect new toll charges. so we have to do it now or never.

hubby had second thoughts about going. i almost burst at him. i may not be the most spontaneous person on earth but sometimes i do like to do things at the spur of the moment. to just let yourself go, follow your instinct, don't look back or think twice.

so here we were, at last. by 3pm we were having mee udang and nasi goreng udang at Sri Tambang restaurant located by the river at Sungai Dua. it was raining by the time we reached the place. it was not quite a proper restaurant, it was more like an extended warung. we chose our udangs and let them cook the dish. ermm... having tasted what mee udang Penang is like, ermm i must say that the taste didn't quite live up to my expectation or the stories accompanying it. bukannya tak sedap, sedap juga tapi entahlah i was expecting it rich with flavour. but it wasn't bland either. i found myself enjoying the nasi goreng udang more than the mee udang. maybe it is just that selera aku beralih angin that day. or perhaps i should go to the more famous mee udang at Teluk Kumbar as recommended by ami. but the problem is, hubby kata dia tak arif sangat jalan kat pulau. kalau tak tentu kami dah sampai sana.

semangkuk besar mee udang enough for 5 people

muka kesian laparlah kononnya tu

on the way back kami berhenti rehat & solat kat R&R bukit gantang. we bought some tropical fruits, durian belanda, kundang masak ranum, jambu air yang manis sangat and some lemak manis mangoes. suka benar yaya makan buah2an tak reti berhenti... dia memang hantu fruits, sampai at every stops kena bawa dia ke washroom sebab perut dia memulas. akhirnya the next day barulah tercoroi.



dua orang hantu buah

puas hati finally dapat pergi juga. dan penat sakit badan duduk dalam kereta satu hari. we arrived hone at almost 10pm malam tu. the kids memang dah tak tahan asyik duduk je tak boleh melompat & terkinja dalam kereta, they end up fighting in the car sebab bosan. well, memang macam tulah most of the time bila travel jauh, either they get so chirpy bercakap & bernyanyi tak berhenti, fall asleep atau bergaduh.

so, does this trip worth it? yes, sebab puas hati dapat rasa sendiri what mee udang is like but i prefer nasi goreng udang. and no, coz sakit badan asyik duduk dalam kereta dan my earlier plan to just relax tak kesampaian. i know i promised hubby that i'd take turn driving, but you know me hubby, i'm much better as a co-pilot keeping you awake with my chat rather than risking everybody's life. but i did finish half of the stretch on the way back kan? okay maybe not half but a little bit more than a quarter :-)

but i promise next trip to batu pahat in search for the authentic nasi beryani gam i'll drive 1 whole stretch. if he ever get around to get us there first ;-)

So Long... Farewell... Adieu

i never shed a tear or two when a colleague left. perhaps because i was never that close to anyone.
i was never sad when my staff left. not because i never care for them, which i do so much but perhaps we never actually touch each others heart.
thus, i don't understand why this time i feel so devastated
nor do i understand why this time i cried
when my secretary left, today

my heart ache with every minute ticking away
when i realised the time to say good bye has finally come
so i wait in agony inside my room
praying and hoping the clock would stop ticking
so that there will be no good bye

if i could turn back time i'd like to go back to the time
when i was on my own
had i know saying goodbye was this hard
i would never welcome another soul to stand so close to me

so here i am sitting here in my small working room
in the aftermath of a farewell
seeking solace over the lost of a dear working partner, a protege in the make and a friend
i recall my welcome was so cold when she first stepped in to my room
but the farewell was so... wet when she left
now i know for sure i'd be missing someone doting on me
as there will be no more "puan, ada apa2 nak pesan..."
and no more reply from me "...chipsmore jelah"

and because i was busy willowing in myself, the thought of taking a snap or two photo as memento was forgotten
but for a sweet young girl who warms to everyone i gave her a pair of kain ela
the multi coloured clothe and the multi coloured brooch reminds me of her colourful character
as John Gay says:

"We only part to meet again"

i sincerely hope that we shall remain friends.
owhh... i promised myself i will not cry, i never thought i would felt so moved this time that i cried so hard.

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
~Irish Blessing

good luck, live well and take care.