I'm So Emo

panas seh pagi ni. bila bulan april mula menjenguk i know the hottest and dry season has finally graced this particular earth i'm standing right now, which i learnt from my geography class back in school was supposed to be a country yang takde 4 season i.e. no such thing as summer, spring, autumn and fall.

but for me, malaysia do have its 4 season. this is how i define 'my' four season. april till august is the hottest with april/may/jun/july being the hottest and dryest months in a year. september to october the temperature would have started to drop a little bit. i just love it kalau bulan ramadhan falls during these 2 months and towards end of the year sebab cuaca sejuk jer takdelah cepat kering tekak or badan rasa penat.

while the monsoon season would have start by october, kat tempat aku tinggal ni hujan berselang seli mulai september tadi would have developed into a full month heavy rain by november, december and january. while winter may lasted sampai end of january/february di negeri2 4 musim, 'my winter' kat malaysia ni would also dragged sampai february but you get less rain compared to bulan 11 & 12. so, i always believe that malaysia too ada musim2 panas, luruh & sejuk.

i guess sebab cuaca terlalu panas sekarang yang aku sesekali rasa macam pening2 sikit. tau jelah kepala aku memang sensitif dengan cuaca panas. maklumlah my mom cakap i was born masa musim hujan mencurah2 sampai cuci lampin pun tak mau kering2 at that time. patutlah aku cukup suka bila hari hujan, suka 'bau' hujan, bau tanah & rumput ;-) okay enough ramblings about cuaca.

aku baru balik menyinggah 'rumah' puan sally. baru terperasan ada tag dari dia.


1.Admit one thing you feel awful about (involving being a mom). Once you have written it down, you are no longer allowed to feel bad. Remember you are a good mom!
oh man. there's one thing i know i'd always feel awful about till the rest of my life. i would never be able to forgive myself for not taken a very good care of my little yaya when she fall sick, she was only 6 months old at that time. she had high fever at that time. i tried my best to cool her down but her temperature just keep on shooting up. we had to bring her to the hospital but by the time the doctor wants to admit her, she was okay a bit. and i refused to let her be admitted. reason no.1, because we couldn't afford the bill and reason no.2, I couldn't afford to stay away from the office for too long. i hate myself for reason no.2. then the following year on the some month she got high fever again. i only took one day off to take care of her, the rest i let the bbsitter to help me. so you see, i'm not a perfect mother. i would always feel bad about this. that's why recently when a colleague at work feels bad about not turning up to work for 2 weeks because her baby son is terribly sick, i just told her don't bother kalau boss marah, just be with your baby coz he needs you more than your boss need you. i've learn from my mistakes, i regretted it and i wouldn't let anybody to repeat my mistakes.

2. List 7 things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you.
(i) just love to engage them in a conversation about anything they'd fancy. i'd let them voice out their feelings and thoughts and i'm surprise that at times diaorang bercakap macam orang dewasa, so matured. (except when they choose to play the 'child' and start throwing tanturms)

(ii) no matter what i did: kalaupun mama selalu marah kat diaorang, kalaupun mama smack diaorang, kalaupun mama masak tak sedap, they just love me. they just love me for who i am. that's the most honest and pure love i've ever known. (god! it brought tears to my eyes)

(iii) every morning before i sent fahmi to school, yaya would quickly run down the stairs just to salam and kiss him on his cheeks and forehead. everyday without fail. kalau we left before she wakes up sure petang nanti dia akan membebel kenapa tak kejutkan dia coz dia dah termiss cium & salam abang. she's so cute!

(iv) setiap hari bila aku balik kerja, sebaik saja aku park kereta depan rumah, both fahmi & yaya bertempiaran lari menyorok belakang sofa, the same spot everyday except now they found new sopt for playing hide & seek with me, under the coffee table! they did this everyday. and the best thing is that they only did it with me. man, they just made me feel so special.

(v) they simply adore me and they are very good at making me feel good. "mama ni pandailah masak", "mama ni pandailah lukis", while yaya use the word pandai, fahmi would go one step further by saying "mama ni hebatlah"... "mamalah mama terhebat sekali"

(vi) i love to pamper them. tau jelah aku kan mama yang garang. sesekali i would surprise them by bringing home kek caramel choc kegemaran diaorang, or a new pencil colour for fahmi. just love seeing their eyes shine with happiness.

(vii) yaya couldn't sleep without me and fahmi couldn't go to sleep without hubby. and i couldn't sleep without hubby & the children. yaya would be bored without fahmi around, fahmi would be bored without yaya around. when they are together they'd chat, play and fight like there's no tomorrow. but when one is away the other couldn't live.we just need each other.

3. Send this to 5 other moms of the year that deserve a reminder that they too are the best moms that they can be. Remember to send them a note letting them know you have selected them, and also add a link to your post that directs people back to the person who nominated you.

i'd like to tag nadiahkhair - the fantabulous mom, azie - mummy rajin melayan kerenah anak, ila s2m3r - hardworking & creative mom, puan nolie- mummy pandai cari duit & puan LG - the cooking wizard mom. my greatest thanks to puan sally for sharing this tag with me, for making me sit down and appreciates that i'm surrounded by a bunch of people who love and care for me i.e. my family & friends. you guys are supermommies.

and whoever created this tag, he/she is a brilliant! i'm so moved i have unshed tears brimming in my eyes. thank you.

emo nya aku hari ni.:-P to myself

AB oh AB

sunyi sepi blog ni bila tuan rumah tak larat nak berblogging. ni semua penangan bersuka ria kat AB ahad lepas lah ni. buruk benar lah perangai, bersuka ria dah seminggu lepas tapi melayan penat sampai nak bertemu ahad seterusnya pun tak habis-habis lagi. alasan!

tapi sebenarnya memang betul pun. entah kenapa lepas balik bersuka ria tu satu badan rasa sakit2, kaki aku ni jangan cakaplah bisa dia sampai terpaksa pujuk hubby minta urutkan tapak kaki. ni gara2 lama sangat berdiri masak mee rebus & siapkan kek last week. pelik sungguh kenapa lah macam orang tua kerepot je badan aku ni. lagipun petang masa kat AB tu aku ada juga terkena tempias hujan. budak2 pulak start batuk2 sebab duk pulun minum air sejuk kat gathering tu. time tu minum memanglah sedap sebab hari tengah panas, tapi akibatnya sendiri tanggung ler.

asyik duk bercerita pasal AB ni, kawan2 yang tau kami beli rumah kat sini ramai jugak yang dah bertanya bila nak pindah masuk. even jiran sebelah rumah sewa sekarang pun dah bertanya sebab nampak kami rajin keluar pi melawat AB almost tiap weekend. segan pulak rasanya ;-) jawapan kami, entahlah tak tau lagi.

banyak faktor yang menyebabkan kami belum pindah lagi. hubby sendiri pernah cakap tak happy ke kita duduk rumah (sewa) kita sekarang? bila difikirkan memang aku rasa takde sebab untuk aku pindah dari subang perdana ni (melainkan rasa cuak pada landlord!) kat subang perdana ni sekolah pun banyak, kedai bersepah2, kedai makan jangan cakaplah sama banyak dengan rumah, bengkel servis kereta pun banyak, maybank pun ada kat sini, public transportation memang dah berpengkalan kat jalan besar nun, surau pun ada 2 buah dan paling buat hati makin terikat dengan subang perdana ni sebab masjid baru dalam 10m je dari rumah. damainya rasa hati. tambahan pulak jiran sebelah rumah baik2 semua. huwarggg cam mana ni?

tapi bila join gathering kat AB ritu rasa macam tak sabar2 pulak nak pindah. maklumlah itulah rumah idaman aku... the perfect ideal house pada mata aku sendiri.
dalam berbelah bagi nak pindah ke tidak, kami dah buat preparation sikit2. hehe kena beransur2 sebab fulus tak tinggi gunung... kena kais sana sini sikit ;-)

grille dah siap pasang. corak pada grille ni rekaan aku sendiri. sekali tengok nampak macam kelakarlah pulak sebab kat atas tu berselirat dengan jalur melintang. kami tempah kat welder kawan hubby. he had to add besi melintang tu for safety reason. aku ni cuma pandai reka jer...heheh
tapi bila tengok lama2 nampak lawa jugak kan? kawan hubby cakap ada orang berkenan corak ni tapi dia taubat tak nak buat lagi sebab susah nak lentur besi tu nak dapatkan corak daun. idea asal aku nak buat corak daun pokok birds of paradise tapi mahal lah pulak kalau buat gitu. tu yang akhirnya dapat daunnya ajer hehehe

anak2 pun dah excited nak pindah rumah baru coz tetiap hari dapat main kat mini playground yang terletak di hujung jalan blok kami ni. letihlah kakak nanti nak melayan kerenah depa berdua ni.

Sunday Fun

gathering kat AB memang hebat. walaupun sorang pun kami tak kenal but everyone had fun. we enjoy the great company; yes we make acquintance with a few future neighbour, we enjoy the sukaneka and we relish the great food!

the registration begins at 9.30am. since i haven't done with packing the mee rebus, i had to set my alarm so that takdelah terbabas bangun lewat. kalau tak hari2 minggu begini memanglah memerap dalam selimut jer. we packed the mee rebus before we leave home at 9.30am which is late considering the program should begin at 9.30am!

dalam excited nak join gathering tu ada jugak small incident yang menimbulkan rasa cuak sikit. rasa kelakar pulak penat2 aku & kakak packed mee rebus tu ingatkan nak mudahkan orang makan just ambil, peel off the plastic wrap & tuang kuah. tapi bila sampai kat AB ada pulak urusetia makanan yang comment kenapa buat macam ni & implies that mee yang aku bawa tak cukup! geez, first i didn't know there's a rule on the presentation of food coz it wasn't mention in their email, when i told them i'd bring mee rebus & carrot cake; their reply was thank you. and they never said that who ever wish to bring food should bring enough to feed the whole community! i thought that everyone should contribute ikut kemampuan; kudrat & tenaga if not wang ringgit. had i know that my contribution would be ridicule for not being sufficient to feed the whole 300 over people i would not do so sebab aku pulak yang rasa kecil hati. okay forget about the small incident. i'd like to share photos of us from the event.

mama jadi guru besar monitoring the kids mewarna. kurang satu je; rotan kat tangan, else i'd be the perfect candidate for the headmistress of the day with my serious look. kalau dapat HM macam aku harus semua kanak2 lari bertempiaran.

the kids took a few seconds off from their colouring to smile at daddy. see the deep pink stripe on my tudung? it tanda nama & the colour mewakili kelompok rumah jenis bayu & anggun. warna ni nanti yang akan divide kami kepada team rumah sukan
subject mewarna for the day were 2 parrots duduk atas ranting pokok. just gave them a few words of encouragement and recommend which colour suits best to yaya only when i saw her keep on pulling out purple, green & black from her pencil colour box. black for parrots? but i didn't scream at her for her weird choice of colour. it's her in the competition, not me. i don't want her to keep on turning at me, i want her to just play with her imagination and be confident of herself. it's her parrots.

fahmi's piece of art. seems like he still remembers the colourful parrots he saw twice at malacca zoo. we even had a picture of the parrots. and he has great sense with colours.
yaya's piece of art. kakak said her parrots sangat murung. i told myself it's not right for me to critique her arts but i couldn't help wondering which one of my two kids yang mewarisi my flair in arts?
hubby in action. he joined the caterpillar jump mewakili rumah merah (that is pemilik rumah bayu & anggun). he hasn't been in any sports for a very very long time. i was having fun cheering & jeering for him & his team.
hubby exchanging big 10 with his team mates. his team won the caterpillar jump. horrayyy! dan aku menang bersorak. owh wow lamanya tak rasa seronok bersorak untuk orang. just love doing it ;-)he escaped daripada acara tarik tali though, sungguh tak adil. he chicken out coz all pink team mates kurus2 semuanya except for... him. they decided to pull out. such a spoil sport tak dapat aku nak bersorak lagi. ;-P

and i apart from sharing the kids and hubby's happiness, i met an old friend dari tempat kerja pertama aku di port klang dulu. of all the places in the world kami bertemu semula after 7 years di AB. wow... kami bakal berjiran rupanya. she bought a house di lorong belakang rumahku, dekat sungguh. i had a really great time catching up with her.

all in all it was a great day. everyone having such a great time. the kids despite not winning the colouring competition brought back stationery set sorang satu. phew at least that would stop them from whining why they didn't won the competition. good night!

Cuci Mata

nak rasa takleh kan? so meh lah cuci mata tengok pic carrot cake yang aku buat untuk majlis ramah mesra penduduk alam budiman. eh... kami belum pindah lagi tau tapi sesaja nak menyibuk join gathering tu jugak, since dapat invitation apa salahnya kan? kalau ikutkan hati terasa sangatlah tebal 8 inci kulit mukaku tapi bila tengok aturcaranya ada peraduan melukis & mewarna for kiddies tu yang terus berkobar-kobar nak join sekali.


close up sikit
makan minum untuk majlis ni dibuat secara potluck. jadi kami yang masih belum jadi penghuni rasmi AB terasa segan lah nak datang tangan kosong je, semata-mata nak masuk peraduan mewarna. maka aku buatlah carrot cake tu dengan mee rebus. aiseyy mee rebus lagi! jangan marah ye ni tengah musim kemaruk mee rebus... esok kalau dah kembang tekak baru nak berhenti buat mee rebus. plan asal nak buat untuk 30orang makan jer, tapi hubby plak cakap mana cukup nanti orang tak sempat rasa dah habis. amboi incik hubby sungguh confident mee rebus ku akan jadi rembatan. ku turutkan jelah. aku bukannya kedekut tak nak buat banyak, tapi adat buat potluck kan memang gitu, si A bawa nasi, si B bawa mee, C bawa pizza ke, masing-masing bawa sikit2 sorang bila dikumpul banyak le, tak gitu?. tapi nak puaskan hati incik hubby takpelah buat lebih. esok pagi tinggal nak celur mee & siap pack individually je.

okay, dah cuci mata kan? nak masuk tidur dulu esok nak bangun awal. sure ulat dalam batu terkejut dengar aku kelentang kelentung kat dapur pepagi buta esok ;-)

Tag Dari Mrs Rimo

dalam panas hati sebab tak dapat cuci rambut coz takde bekalan air sempat juga terjah blog kawan2 & jiran. saja nak tenang kan hati dan nak distract attention dari hal air maka aku kutiplah tag dari blog mrs rimo nih.

4 names that friends call U:
wa - kawan2 zmn kekanak & school yang kamceng punya coz nama ni asalnya hanya family aja yang panggil
wawa - kawan2 sekolah yang masih malu2 kucing... citt poraahhh!
pah@seripah - ni ada 2 org je yang tak makan saman 1. 'twin' zmn sekolah 2. cikgu BM yang selalu konfius campur aduk nama aku dengan 'twin'
lia - nama glamor dengan geng2 tenet

4 most important dates in your life:
my birthdate
my soulmate's birth date
my prince birth date
my little princess birth date ... and the list goes on

4 things you've done in the last 30 minutes:
intai blog orang
babab tangan little princess coz dia koyakkan magazine women's weekly aku
ambil A4 paper untuk fahmi buat melukis
itu je... aisyy tak cukup 4!

4 ways to be happy:
memerap kat dapur main masak2
layan kerenah anak2 (time pe'el dia molek je)
spent time with my loved ones - my family & my big family
susah2 nak buat aku happy so just leave me alone

4 gifts you would like to receive:
oven baru yang lebih besar
pakej interior deco for our new house
ada orang yang offer nak settle all my debts
a new job!

4 of your favourite hobbies:
frown
baking
reading
window shopping... hehehe


4 things always found in your bag:
purse
car keys, office keys
trash
lipstick


Top 4 u love so much:
cium my little princess berkali2...wangi bau dia sangat wangi
makan secret recipe's caramel choc cake (for the time being)
gomol my niece si tembam syahrin
my escape perfume


Top 4 things 'special' for you:
my m&B collection
my mcnaughts collection
my childrens photographs
my wedding photos

Top 4 who you would like to answer this survey:
must i name them? sapa2 yang sudi silakan:
1. jaja @zaireenqistina
2. anna @ my story
3. ami @ ami-honey
4. shida - please update ur blog

Tempe & Lasagna

malam ni just nak share resipi tempe atas permintaan puan rimo@nolie & yan. minta maaf banyak2 coz lambat respon, menyibukkan diri dengan preparation besday tuan puteri. sekarang baru boleh bernafas.

the most important ingredient untuk membuat tempe semestinyalah kacang soya dan ragi tempe. ragi tempe ni tak taulah kalau kat KL ni nak dapat kat mana. mine was courtesy from mil, maklum je mil duduk kat kampung so senang nak dapat stok ragi ni. itupun ragi yang diberi buatan indon, imported you ;-). apapun rasanya mesti ada jual kat mana2 kat KL ni, kalau ada sesiapa yang tahu share kat sini ye. meh kita tengok resipi. sukatan yang saya letak ni sesuai untuk kita2 yang baru nak berjinak2 dengan eksperimen tempe. proses membuatnya agak renyah terutama masa nak buang kulit kacang soya tu.

250gm kacang soya
1 sudu kecil ragi tempe

Cara2 pembuatan:
1. Rendam hingga tenggelam kacang soya selama 3 malam tanpa perlu menyalin air rendaman. Harus diingat bau tempe yang terendam 3 malam ni memanglah tersangat masam, ala2 bau muntah gitu.
2. Setiap malam cuba kaup dan buang kulit kacang soya yang tertanggal. Pada hari ke 3, basuh kacang soya sambil pecah2kan kacang soya tujuannya supaya soya terbelah dua dan dalam masa yang sama membantu mempercepatkan pembuangan kulit. Lagi satu cara nak buang kulit adalah dengan menggelek kacang soya dengan penggelek kayu tu.
3. Dah bersih buang kulit semua, rebus kacang soya. Matikan api selepas 10-15min air mendidih. Toskan air dan sejukkan. Kacang soya mestilah betul2 kering sebelum digaul ragi. Kalau nak jemur pun boleh, atau goreng atas kuali sekadar nak keringkan airnya aja.
4. Di dalam bekas besar, gaulkan dengan 1 sudu kecil ragi hingga rata.
5. Bungkus dalam daun pisang atau plastik. Kacang soya mesti cukup padat & mampat, kalau letak sikit sangat & jarang2 tak menjadi.
6. Dah siap bungkus balut tempe dengan kain sampai betul2 kemas. Put aside untuk dia berhibernasi sampai kulat memutih sepenuhnya.
7. Kalau bungkus malam, insyaAllah pagi esok intai sikit mesti kulat dah memutih tapi belum cukup padat. Waktu ni tempe akan 'demam' (panas). This is a good sign. Hari kedua sepatutnya dah sempurna dan boleh dimasak.

puan rimo & yan dan sesiapa saja, silalah cuba ye. cuma kena banyak bersabar sikit sebab adakalanya mencabar juga nak buat kali pertama terus perfect. :-)

for those who asked for lasagna recipe, please browse the Food Galore list and click Beef Lasagna title. i did in my previous entry put up the recipe. you can subsitute mince meat with mince chicken to your preference. for quick link please click here. selamat mencuba!

Statement Tak Sayang Mulut

tonite we had chicken lasagna for dinner. the preparation was a quick one coz i have the chicken bolognese ready in the fridge. just need to thaw them and lepas tu layered alternately with instant lasagna sheets. the bolognese was initially intended for yesterday's makan-makan. but in the end, ended up in my mum's fridge sebab dah banyak sangat hidangan lain. elok juga tak membazir, at least i can use them to make our dinner tonite. maklum jelah penat drive dari seremban tadi rasa tak kuasa nak berperang kat dapur lagi dah.

yaya had 3 helpings, in small portion of course. which is much to my surprise coz selalunya fahmi would be the one to have more when it comes to pasta. agaknya kelaparan kot coz today neither of them had nasi kat rumah nenek. they were too busy playing with their new toys and cousins sampai tak peduli nak makan.

hubby pulak tak habis2 memuji lasagna malam ni. lain kata dia, sedap sangat and the sheets were lembut tak macam biasa. he asked me kenapa lately ni masak sedap semacam, like the mee rebus that i made yesterday pun sedap sangat kata dia. then he said something that buat aku geram... "are you pregnant, sayang?" huwaaaa menghina lah tu. bukannya apa... aku rasa terhina sebab before this dia kata masa aku pregnant kan yaya memang masakan aku berlainan benar, buat apa semuanya sedap & menjadi. kiranya statement dia tu seolah2 aku ni tak pandai masak lah! nak kena pregnant baru sedap... huwaaa tak sayang mulut lah tu.

aku bilang kat hubby... ni resipi rahsiaaa... hehehe