Special Dedication

this is a special entry dedicated to my beloved niece. she hit 7 today. her birthday was celebrated in advance together with yaya's recently. i made this entry because she is particularly special to me and because of something that she wrote on yaya's handmade birthday card touched my heart and emotion.

she was named farah alya - most highest joy (or something like that) because her arrival this day 7 years ago into the family was anticipated with so much pride and joy by her parents, first time grandparents, aunt & uncles. she was our sun & moon, our intan payung since her birth until today. even after we (me & my bro) have children of our own flesh & blood, the special place that she claimed in our heart would always remain hers and will always be a special daughter to all of us. in my heart she will always remain as my 'first' baby.

like her namesake (most highest joy) she was the centre & source of our happiness for a long long time since her birth. she is so special because despite not knowing her father whom passed away when she was only 7 months old, the father figure was quickly replaced my her grandpa & her uncles; who despite having no experience playing a father figure and despite their immaturity (they were both young) quickly matured into responsible young men. the day she lost her papa she acquired 3 papa instantly. she was left with only her mama but at the same time she claimed an aunt as her 'mummy' (a title that she gave to me) who is ever willing to accept her as her own flesh & blood.

she spent her first 4 years of childhood in my parents place, where my mum & myself alternatively played a mother figure to her in my sister's absence (she lived 35mins away from mum's place). until my sister re-married. along with a 'babah' she also acquired a stepsister & a stepbrother. i witnessed her difficulty to adapt to the new situation; having never experience what a true nucleus family like. the siblings rivalry and having to accept the fact that she has to share her mama with 2 other siblings; it was a difficult time coz she had been the only child for a long time. a 'babah' that she could not quite connected to. it during the early days, my father and brothers would always engaged in what i refer to as 'snatch & run' thing. having getting used to have farah around in the household (read, pampering her ke tahap princess!), i guess my father & brothers somewhat missed their special girl so much that sometimes they would find their ways to bring farah back to mum's place. it hurts for them to see her trying hard to fit into the newly formed family. they have to get used to the new situation, and alhamdulillah they did 'cool down' sometime after that and after witnessing that farah finally happily settled in the new environment. she's happy now that she have friends to play with. and we are happy for her if she is happy.

until recently when she made a special birthday card for yaya. i'm so touched by what she wrote in the card. she is baring her feelings to my 3 year old daugther who is too young to understand her loneliness. the instant siblings that she acquired, stayed on for 2 years only. they were taken away by their grandparents. just imagine she just started to get used having siblings but out of sudden they were snatched away. it was so abrupt. farah is now left with her baby sister & brother who are too small & too young to play with her. i felt angry with whoever did this, how could they put their personal interest above these children's feelings. obviously she missess her step siblings, and they missed her too. and my maternal instinct just couldn't let me be a bystander. that is why hubby is fetching her tonight to stay with us for the weekend.

It's Tuesday Night

it's tuesday night, which means it's Ugly Betty's night.
what is so significant about tuesday night is that we always hang around a little bit late to watch ugly betty on tv. even fahmi & yaya would stay to watch ugly betty.

and what else is so significant about ugly betty; is that i made enchiladas for dinner. it is a mexican dishes that mr suarez (betty's father) always made for the family. and he used it to tempt betty should she choose to skip dinner at home.

i bought a packet of tortillas last weekend; thought of making tortilla wrap for dinner sometime this week. i was looking in to light & simple meal and i think tortilla wrap would be perfect. then i thought i'd make it a little bit special, instead of just a simple wrap, i'd make tortilla toasties (something similar to KFC's cheezy melt). but then i remember that i had some bolognese sauce left-over in the fridge and thought i can use them as filing for enchiladas. so i use bolognese sauce, salad, diced tomato, diced capsicum & shredded cheese for filing, rolled up and topped with bechamel sauce. put in the oven for like 15mins until the cheese melt & bubbly & the wrap soft & crispy at the end.

served warm & fresh with salsa sauce. perrrfect!

Muffin Affair

we had a mother-daughter-son quality time late afternoon yesterday after coming back from ikea shopping trip (another family quality time... if shopping counts ;-P). yaya had always pushed her butt in the kitchen whenever i'm busy preparing meal for the family. she would bring along her pink mammut stool which she used to stand on it to compensate her lack of height in the kitchen. fahmi though he doesn't have a curiousity nature of what's going around in the kitchen but lately he did voice out his intention of cooking mama a special meal one day. so, i decided to include both of them in my baking session. we baked blueberry muffin.

there's an incident behind this whole muffin baking affair...

since my kitchen is extremely small, we moved the baking session to our dinner table. fahmi & yaya made their special blueberry & strawberry muffin, the only 2 double berries muffin among the 21 pieces made. everything was ok... walaupun comot muffin ku tapi takdelah bersepah. everyone behave & everything goes well until yaya touched the hot wire tray that i just removed from inside the oven. i was holding another tray on the other hand, i thought i'd placed it on the table for a while before cooling it off under running water. tapi yaya is much more quick in her move; she tought that she could give me a help to remove it from our small dining table to a proper place without realising how freaking hot the wire tray was. poor yaya, she got her finger burnt that she cried until eventually she fall asleep. and yes i did put her finger under the running water for like 20 mins sebelum sapu krim gamat. i feel guilty; yaya pays the price for my carelessness. dia tak sempat dinner pun. makan muffin double berries dia pun tak sempat. huhu...

moral of the story... cepat2 lah pindah umah yang kitchen besar skit... hehe. no lah... mama jangan careless lagi, you have 2 hyper toddler in your house.

i choose the cake-like-method for this muffin. it is light, fluffy & yummy. the strawberry muffin that i made sometime ago, was made using traditional muffin-like-method, with less egg so it is chewy & agak keras. and ignore the almost 'rentung' colour, despite warnanya yang agak rentung skit it doesn't effect the taste one bit. i'm still adjusting to the new oven, seriously oven ni ter'over' power compared to my old one. it's like 10% lebih panas from my old one. so next time, either i have to low down the temperature or cut short the baking time.

the small accident just now, won't stop me from including them in future baking session. i have to be extra careful & more attentive. safety comes first!

Early Rise

mee kari yang sarat dengan condiments sampai tak nampak mee

we had mee kari for breakfast. the first ever heavy breakfast we had in many many months after i opted for light meals , kononnya nak go on helathy dietlah ;-P. after experimenting with macam-macam resipi, i think this one is the best i ever made. i'm no chef, ada resipi yang sekali buat terus menjadi ada yang sampai berjanggut pun belum tentu menjadi. i think the secret is simplicity. i didn't overdo it with macam2 ingredients for the gravy. i just made it the way i make chicken curry, cuma cairkan sedikit. and i've been making it using macam2 rempah kari, this time around i use rempah gulai terengganu cap bunga rose. i've been using rempah gulai ni for a year now, to make chicken curry or beef curry, memang puas hati. rempahnya memang semulajadi berwarna agak gelap, so don't expect your curry to look 'hot' coz walaupun mix dengan chili paste the colour just wouldn't turn hot, but it taste hot if you put extra chili in your ingredients.

everyone woke up early this morning. remote aircon dalam bilik rosak so kurang sejuk so masing2 tidaklah bergulung dalam blanket sampai kol 9 pagi. hehehe... lagipun semua bangun awal sebab pagi ni nak keluar. ada misi penting di ikea! ciaoooo...

psst... want to know the honest reason behind this heavy breakfast meal? i felt guilty coz i abandon my cooking for the whole week last 2 weeks sebab occupied with yaya's party preparation. and also becaouse kalau tak masak something special sekali seminggu tangan mulalah naik gatal2 & tidur pun meracau2 terbayangkan resipi best2... kuang kuang kuang

My Sweetheart

a-DORA-ble yaya posed in her new 'telekung' with abang fahmi; a gift from mama on her birthday. dia suka sangat nak solat. ntah berapa kali dia mengerjakan telekung mama. nenek gave her a makeshift telekung which was originally my hijab masa sekolah. sebab dia ter'amat' sangat suka nak bersolat siap bertelekung, so i bought her sepasang telekung kanak2. biar berkobar2 lagi semangat dia nak beribadat. moga2 anak mama ni rajin solat dari kecil sampai dewasa. amin...


















think i would stop experimenting with pasta sauce after the one (the tomato basil sauce) that i made last month? no way. tanganku yang sentiasa gatal nak mencuba resipi baru ni won't stop until after i've tried all pasta sauce recipes yang ku jumpa. ahad lepas masa lepak2 merehatkan badan sambil menonton tv, i saw this cooking program on AFC. the chef claimed that this is the original bolognese sauce that he got from a 85-years old italian man. the chef is an italian himself. the recipe is very simple. all you need is mince meat, tomato paste (i use tomato puree), beef stock or vegetable stock ( i used beef stock), celery, rosemary sprigs, salt & pepper to taste. i had a packet of fresh rosemary in my fridge; left-over from making chicken pie last week, and also thyme so i add thyme because i love the flavour ( i could never follow any recipe 100%; would always add or omit something to my liking). and of course, the original recipe requires some wine which i omitted. cooking time takes longer than using ready made sauce. you have to let the sauce simmer under low heat for at least 1 hour to get the desired flavour. simple tapi kalau dah tengah kebulur memang tak kuasa nak tunggu 1 hour! ready made jelah jawabnya... hehe

The Day After

Were spent leisurely trying to recover our energy from the exhaustion of cleaning up the house after yesterday’s kenduri cum birthday party. After the party when the guest had gradually left masing2 tukar costume and immediately do the cleaning up, remove all the sampah sarap, food left-overs, washing dishes, sapu satu rumah until all of us were extremely exhausted. Alhamdulillah walaupun adik-beradik ku masing2 ada anak kecil tapi semuanya dapat luangkan masa berkemas. Just imagine while the adults sibuk berkemas, our children (ada yang ditidurkan) were left inside to play on their own sebab ibu2 & bapa2 serta atuk & nenek sibuk berkemas. Nasib ada sorang dua anak buah yang besar skit dapat tengok2 kan adik2 yang kecil. And as it was approaching dark semua kerja kena pantas. Fuhhh… flat giler.

Dan rasa seronok sangat tengok anak2 sendiri & anak2 sedara walaupun bingit telinga; they enjoy themselves very very much, bukan semata-mata sebab party tu, tapi sebab dapat berkumpul ramai2.

This is the first ever combined birthday party for 3; yaya's celebrating her 3rd birthday, so does nana her cousin also celebrating her 3rd's and farah, another niece who's celebrating her 7th birthday. So, the mommies & daddies masing2 sepakat contribute hidangan hasil tangan masing2. We were grateful to my mom, walaupun tak berapa sihat dapat juga hidangkan nasi minyak, ayam masak merah & kari daging. Since i had to delay going back to mom's house only after fahmi's saturday class is over, hasrat nak buat hidangan yang lavish terpaksa tukar kepada chicken pie & fruit tartlets sahaja. My brother, hmm ingatkan bihun goreng tu hasil tangan wife dia, rupa2nya ada bakat terpendam jugak my bro ni ye... heee not bad. Satay ayam kami tempah from my uncle yang memang ambil tempahan satay. Tengahari tu sebaik sampai kat rumah my mom, tugas menghias khemah & collect satay, we leave it to hubby since the rest of us were busy kat dapur (dia aja yang takde bakat di dapur..hehehe). Other delicacies mom ordered from her friends... some courtesy of her friends juga.

My dad was over excited by this party; being given the honour to host his grandchildrens party. I had some reservation about asking my parents to host this party. I thought that it will be a troublesome event for them. I didn't expect my dad would be over joyed with this party thing sampaikan dia nak drag my mom to go shopping for party decorations!

majlis dimulakan dengan bacaan surah Yaasin

my darlings

my fruit tartlets

the crowd

the kuihs

tadaaa... yaya's birthday cake

chicken pie

sweet yaya clad in dora's blouse. my lil nephew in blue shirt stole the limelight bila dia buat aksi ganas merobek cake farah... tengok tu traces of chocolate icing atas alas meja

my childhood friends... fiza & shida. sorry shida ku lupa nak bagi party favour tu... ehehh

the only mother & daughter pic taken... ni pun lepas kepenatan berkemas

the party favour memang jadi rebutan & terhangat di pasaran. tak sangka lah pulak sampaikan mak cik2 pun minta nak bawa balik. ehehhh maaf ye cukup2 untuk kanak2 riang je... hehehe

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...