Hari Raya Haji weekend

Selamat Hari Raya Haji !

It was a long weekend but a boring one. Boring sebab Kamil had to work. Benci.

I was busy on Thursday as I had an order of 200 tarts to fulfill. I rushed home, picked up my kids from their class and started with the chocolate cream and the cheese filling. All in all I filled 80 tarts with the chocolate cream and the rest with cheese. Oh, made about 40 extra tarts for my in-laws as they had a makan-makan for raya haji that Thursday night.

Since I was busy fulfilling orders, PIL came to pick my kids up for the makan-makan after Maghrib as Neti and I slowly decorated the tarts with strawberries, peaches and blueberries.

The customer whom ordered 150 tarts came to pick up his desserts about 8 pm and I sent the other 50 to its owner around 8.30, arriving at my in-law’s around 9. The makan-makan was done and they were cleaning up but they stopped to eat my tarts and took some home. Oh, Kamil was working. He came home about midnight. I inhaled him deeply when he crashed next to me. One because I missed him. Two because I had wanted to make sure he actually went to work. Ha ha…

Woke up early Raya Haji to send mom to the mosque. I didn’t join her sebab ABC (Allah Bagi Cuti). Balik golek-golek with Kamil and the kids on the bed sekejap. Went to pick up Mom again, this time coming home with rendang and ketupat palas. Had breakfast with Kamil before waving him goodbye.

Boring.

We didn’t go anywhere as I was feeling a bit under the weather. Badan tak sedap sebab boring Kamil had to work sebenarnya. I was dreaming of a leisure day of watching the telly together, playing footsie and whatnots sekali… pi kerja… Benci tau !!!

We did nothing, okay. Nothing. Lunched on rendang and ketupat and the kids and I watched the telly and … well… that was it.

Kamil came home and had more rendang and ketupat. Pergi Shah Alam Mall and Kamil bought his kids Wii to assuage guilt I think because he has to work the rest of the weekend. We had a lovely time playing the rest of the night, the kids refused to sleep. He he… Especially since mak bapak hambat budak-budak tiduq tapi sambung main.

Saturday send the kids to their class after waving Kamil goodbye. Cili Merah tutup so we made do with toasts. Picked Amelia up and came back to the house to book tickets for our girly trip to Jakarta so yeay ! Sent her back to sek 9 for our kids then home. More ketupat and rendang.


Sebab ad Wii, we had a new activity so we played and played and played. It was fun. 3pm went to get my mom and my nieces and by 3.30 was in front of Bab’s house for a visit. Stayed until about 6 when Kamil called pleading hunger.

He was home before we did, chom sikit sebab lapaq and penat so while he slept, I prepared dinner.

Next day, hambat Kamil keluaq awai sikit sebab had a breakfast date with Amelia. At McDonald’s. Yucky sure but wherelse can we talk while the kids played ? We were there from 9.30 am till 1 pm but still cerita tak habis.

Balik and played more Wii. Maybe I was energized a bit after 2 absolutely lazy days so I baked cookies. Kamil came home excited at the smell of baked goods but he hated my Nutella and Peanut Butter cookies. I didn’t manage to sorok the Peanut Butter while I was making them from Abang so he definitely didn’t want to touch them. Adik who loves Peanut Butter didn’t even take a bite. Hampeh.

So sekarang aku ada 40 pieces of cookies yang my family tak nak. Aku rasa sedap aje…. Hmm…. Maybe akan ku bagi kat Eja and Mynn bila kita berjumpa masa tengok wayang nanti. Hangpa ndak tak ?

Kamil was waaaayyy tired after working non-stop since Thursday so not 30 minutes after arriving home, he fell asleep. So aku balik melayan anak-anak main Wii. I tried waking him up numerous times but to no avail and finally at 8, he managed to open his eyes. After bathing he took us for dinner at Cili Merah. I took my Sunday paper to bed immediately after returning home and tau-tau, tidoq, to the sound of Adik chattering while playing with the Gameboy in the dark.

Bangun pagi ni aku chom.

Of Roast Chicken

Yesterday I left the office quite late. I stopped by Tesco for potatoes and mixed vege and on a whim bought Tesco’s roast chicken. Maybe to go with mashed potatoes or rosti ? Or maybe au gratin ? Err…. Maybe mashed lah… senang sikit. Ha ha…

Anyway rushed home as it was quite late by my normal standard. On the way home though I was rather confused because I went to Tesco specifically to buy the tatters and mixed veg. Takkan lah I thought of the side dishes first before deciding on the main course, which now happened to be roast chicken ? Jenuh aku dok cuba ingat… apa benda yang aku nak masak to be paired with the tatters and the veg ?

Lantaklah.

Arriving home, I inhaled the wonderful aroma of the roasted chicken. Yumm… I could smell it in the car sure but to be smelling it outside on the open air dah kira bagus dah ni. Must be really fresh chicken.

Opening the door, I was slapped with such a strong smell of roast chicken that I frowned in bewilderment. Which then turned into resignation like a second after that. Baru aku ingat. Baru sekarang nak ingat. As I entered the kitchen, I could see the light that emaninated from the oven. And I know what was in it. Chicken. Roasting for about an hour now, flavoured with lemon and rosemary.

So now I remembered that I went to Tesco to buy accompaniment for roast chicken which I already marinated in the morning and asked Neti to start roasting by 6pm. Mungkin dalam kepala hotak aku ni dok ingat roast chicken, roast chicken and bila lalu and nampak roast chicken aku pi terus beli.

So Kak Puteri, apart from OCD, apakah nama penyakit ku ini ?

.

At 9.30 pm while I was slowly trying to digest the fact that we would be having roast chicken sarnies the very next day, I saw Kamil rummaging for snacks and feeling guilty I asked if he wanted cookies. He of course nodded his head and so I opened up the fridge and spent a long time looking for butter.

Yilek.

Fullamak. For the first time ever, there is no butter waiting for me in the fridge.

Kamil said, “Itulah awak, guna butter tak ingat…”

Aku karate jugak mamat ni karang. Kalau aku guna butter tu bukan untuk kau ke yang makan ?

Haa…….

Dia kena jugak bercakap.

.

Orang tengah overload roast chicken ni tau dak, jangan buat pasai.

Semalam busy... tak sempat post

Yawnnn ! It must be Monday.

Okay. So…. Hmm….. I have to start with Friday, I think.

It has been a very hectic week for me. Tuesday night had dinner with Noreen. Wednesday night had dinner with Ian. Thursday night met up with an uncle. Lunched with Noreen on Friday where a street cone and a carjack were involved. Don’t ask.

So by right come Friday night I should be tired but instead I was ecstatic as friends were coming over the very next day. I was smiling contentedly when I took out the flour and beat up the white eggs. Okay I cursed a bit (read : a lot) when 4 egg whites were spattered with yolk. Sure lembik second batch meringue aku. But it did not dampen my spirit for long as I was sure tomorrow was bound to be a happy, happy day. Made the soup.

Tengah syok-syok berangan tiba-tiba I remembered an order of 25 butter cupcakes and 25 chocolate ones to be filled. Tu dia aihhh ! I quickly made the batter and only slept at 1 am. Apalah. Nasib baik ingat.

Early morning I made the filling for the chicken pie. Left Neti at home then went about our usual round of classes. Before I went home, nipped by Tesco’s for strawberries and a few other stuffs I had forgotten to buy.

When I got home I was stumped for what to do. I can’t make the cheese tarts yet as I have no space in the fridge to keep them. Carbonara lagilah kena last-last minute. Ditto to the cream for the meringues also as it might deflate if I had them prepared too early. So I hulled the strawberries and kept them in the fridge.

What now ? Okaylah… dealt with the puff pastry and made the pie. But… hmmm… Then kosongkan fridge to find a place to keep the pie. Masalah sungguh fridge tinggi tapi kurus kering. Boiled the quail eggs and prepared the minced chicken. Before I left the house to fetch the kids, showed Neti what to do with eggs and the chicken.

Went straight to Anu’s house when my babies were safely in the car. For a get-together he said. Sampai-sampai tengok ada khemah berbagai. “What is going on ?” I asked. Dah lah aku mai sorang ditemankan little people only as Kamil had to work. Kawan-kawan ku yang lain mana ? Waaaa !!! Inilah first time aku segan pi rumah Anu. Kissed and hugged his grandma, his cousin, his sister and his mother and makan. Saw Nik Sari so more hugging and kissing.

Balik rumah feeling like I have a million and 1 thing to do but just couldn’t do them. So grabbed my very, very important Harian Matro and of course lena. Saja cari pasai.

When I came to it was like 4 and sesungguhnya masa tulah I realized I do have like a million and 2 things to do. Again I forgot the cupcakes and with a speed of lightning quickly made the topping. Nak 3 flavours pulak tu, strawberry, grape and chocolate. WAAAAAA !! Why did I sleep ? Luckily the customer came while I was icing them and he was kind enough to wait for me. Pheww !!

Then a mad scramble to prepare everything ! And I mean everything. Buatnya pulak the blueberries for the cheese tarts tak cukup. Aku punyalah kedekut letak besaq taik idung to spread it further but still tidak berjaya. Since I didn’t flavour the cheese with lemon I can’t serve it naked. Rummaged the fridge for inspiration and Alhamdullilah, I found it. Blitzed some chocolate peanut butter cups in the microwave and jadilah topping yang I must admit is rather good. Kembang hidung chek sat. Macam lah kilang Reese tu aku punya. Ha ha..

My first guest, Nadia and her lovely, lovely kiddies arrived at 7.30 while I was still smelly and… smelly. Dan who just came back from work pulak pi bantai tidoq kat dapuq. Lantak hang lah labu. I went up to bathe and when I returned to the kitchen enlisted Nadia’s help with my meringue. She shaved some chocolate inside the basket, I put in cream yang tak jadi (I will not buy that brand anymore !! Hawau sungguh…) and then piled loads and loads of strawberries on top. Neti at that time was frying the scotch eggs.

Cheese tarts, strawberry meringue, chocolate muffins, garlic bread and chicken mayo sarnie. And of course sweet Dhaniya. Oh kena sebut jugak Pak Sheik ... satgi chom... ahahahahahha.

Chicken mayo sarnie again, chicken pie, carbonara, chocolate balls from Amelia, Scotch eggs. Not in picture, the minestrone soup.

Then Amelia came which made my heart sing because I miss her, my BFF. She has been gone for a loooongg time and to see her again was tremendously wonderful.

Then kak Puteri arrived. Hearing her voice made me wanna cry and when she actually was in front of me, I felt so bereaved. We hugged each other close, thinking about this very special person that we had lost. She came with Dhaniya, her extremely gorgeous 3 year old.

Slowly, my friends started trickling in. Jaja, Kamalia and her family and Ami plus family too. Tengah syok-syok bercerita then teringat, eh bunga padang pasiaq tu mana ? Pasai dia ngan Jaja lah kami buat perjumpaan ini tetapi dianya tak muncui tiba. When thinking about her, aku terus teringat bestfriend bunga padang pasiaq iaitu bunga Austria itu. Ha-ah na… mana pi depa ni ?

After 10 minutes of my sms to her, barulah dia sampai. Lega… Bunga tak rasmi Switzerland sent her regrets. Okay, takpalah. Next time na… The house became merrier as soon as she stepped in the house. Why ? He he he….. We girls talked about many, many things. Mainly childbirth horror stories yang memang tak lapuk dek hujan, tak ditelan dek zaman.

Eja baru sampai. Wei hang, kak Puteri tulih dalam blog dia hang soft spoken... Pandai hang berlakon na... Aku sungguh tak percaya...

I was happy as I love seeing mereka-mereka yang baru jumpa first time dah boleh gelak-gelak and bertepuk tampaq and usik mengusik.

Best kan, dapat kawan baru ?

10.30 pm dapat pulak sms dari Anna Maria asking if she still can come. Of course she can because nobody showed any sign of wanting to leave the party. Semua orang yang at that moment dah tahu dah macamana si Eja and Anna Maria buleh berkawan itu telah gelak sakan bila mereka berjumpa untuk pertama kalinya. KAH KAH KAH ! And the merry making went on.

Anna dah sampai... Sorry aa korang, aku prefer tangkap candid supaya kita boleh tengok apa kita buat masa dan ketika itu...

Finally, about 11.30, my guests started to take leave. Tupperwares and plastics were taken out and filled with food. Kak Puteri nak balik tapi Anna tak bagi and ajak dia bersembang. Aku lari sebab aku tahu what is gonna happen. And I guessed right and like a coward I steered myself clear from it. Why ? Maybe next entry.

I cried when I hugged Kak Puteri goodbye. Darling, we really should stop being like 2 watering pots when we meet. We really should.

Nad and Inez yang dah beberapa kali tiduq bangun, tiduq bangun.. Sian darling... Makcik is very sorry okay.

I love the fact that the house was filled with people. The kids were upstairs doing God knows what. The men were in the kitchen watching Nigella (hmmm………….) and the babies were milling about us. With Inez totting about eating loads of garlic bread, Emir who kept throwing smiles and Muhammad (I hope the spelling is right Ya) who kept saying, “Nak air….” He he.. so cute. Jaja dah chop Dhaniya untuk anak dia. Aku dah chop kakak so Aiman tak kisah. Eja… kah kah kah.. kena kerap hantaq anak naik ataih.

Kaum bapa yang busy nengok Nigella hisap jari... Korang nengok si Kamil orang mai rumah pakai seluaq pendek. Sungguh kurang sopan.

Selepas Nigella habis dan ada tambahan gang baru.

Lesson learnt ? I need a bigger fridge. Or another fridge to work side by side with my old one. Fridge lama ni kena simpan… sayang… a gift from my Bapak. The thing is right a lot of the food I like to make has to be cooked nearer to the time so it is prudent for me to just prepare and freeze or refrigerate them in advance in order for the kitchen to be run smoothly, with minimal fuss and kelam kabut-ness.

* Orang putih cakap kelam kabut kemende ? Aku dah stuck lama tang tu sebab tak keluaq2 dalam kepala hotak aku… Thank you.

We woke up early the next day. Not for tennis though but for Adik’s kindie graduation. Dah besar anak Mak. Tahun depan masuk dah sekolah Darjah 1… Satu kelas ngan Aufa. Aku kesian kat cikgu depa ini. Not because of the children, but because of the moms. Sorry ya cikgu.

We had breakfast first because we know from past experience they would not start on time. And they didn’t as we had to wait what felt like hours. Kalau aku tau, aku pi jogging dulu. I got a bit sebak when Elsa walked past with her graduation robe, feeling unnecessarily proud.

Super bosan. Kalau aku tau, pi jogging ka, pi KLCC dulu ka...

My little girl never told me what she would be doing for her concert so imagined our surprise when she played the melodian and then danced beautifully on stage. He he….

Main melodian... Nasib baik belajaq piano, na...

Alahai comelnya anak Mak ni... Ada bunga besar kat tepi... Yang tak comei, seluaq tu getah dah hauih so terpaksalah beberapa kali anak aku tarik seluaq naik ataih... Sorry...

Then it was time to join the throng of parents who rushed to the stage to take pictures of our little ones when they marched to graduate. Again, I was beaming with pride. Hmm… belum dapat degree tuh.

My little girl !! Waaa !! Pejam celik pejam celik kang nak kawin dah.

While waiting for the kids to be kitted in their robes again, out came last year’s nasyid group. They were horrible last time and Kamil wasn’t convinced they had turned into Raihan this year so he suggested going out for some air. The school bibik stopped us though, thinking we were going home (at this point parents with not graduating children had left), offering food. Imagine my delight when upon inspection we found that it was nasi tomato ! My favourite…..

However knowing Adik would be hungry, I suggested that we wait for her. Kamil agreed. Then I changed my mind when the aroma kept bugging my senses and recommended we just take our fill and save some for Adik. She can always eat hers later kan ? But Kamil disagreed this time. Tunggu jelah dia, he said.

So after all the pomp and fancy was over, we quickly took her out tetapi …. malangnya nasi dah habis. Tinggal nasi putih !! Waaa !!! Tak nak !!! Tulah Kamil !!!!

Kamil and I of course played the blame game. Percayalah, my version of event is accurate, okay.

We asked the little girl for lunch ideas and she opted for sushi. Yuck ! Kmail and I seriously have sushi overload that is no way near over yet but we went anyway as it was her special day.

Dah penat. Babah kena dukung, Nasib baik haluih, Abang at this age dah kena angkut pakai crane dah.

=

Nice... her favourite, prawn tempura sushi.

Abang and his kanikama.

The rest of the day was spent leisurely (read : no baking. Nobody asked for cookies or cakes…). After Maghrib we quickly went to Subway and then raced home to catch Twilight.

Sigh….

I admit that Edward Cullen is super gorgeous but Jakey can hold the fort on his own too, you know. He is also devastatingly handsome. And beefy. And not pasty.

Ha ha….

Munira, I love you so jangan marah okay.

Terkurung dalam tandas...

This is the proof that I am the most bangang woman ever !

Ever !!

Why am I like this ? Aku rasa inilah masalah aku, masalah tiba-tiba naik segan tak bertempat.

Wanna hear my story ?

Okay.

For months since I moved to this new outfit, I have been using the loo at the shareholder’s office. The problem is, to get to the loo, we have to sipi-sipi lalu CEO’s office. And CEO adalah amat garangnya. Once right he told off one staff for having loud footsteps !

Since the distance between my throat to the errm… bladder is very, very short, or… my bladder is super-efficient in filtering the liquid in my body, I need the loo a lot. And I mean a lot. My afore-mentioned bladder is always, always full. And therefore minding my footsteps everytime I needed the loo is seriously something that I can do without, okay ? Bosan. Plus, I am sure I looked comical when walking the short marbled way, trying my darnest to stifle the sounds. Err… did I mention my footsteps are like super loud ?

Masalah sungguh. Super loud footsteps coupled with a CEO who has acute aversion towards it plus a small, easily filled bladder. Oh yeah, plus the marbled floor. Couldn’t happen to a more undeserving person, okay ?

Actually there is a loo next to my boss’ room. But I had never used it because of the male picture stuck on the door. Until last month that is because I have never seen anbody else uses it except for him. And since he is a cool guy, I knew he wouldn’t mind.

So, I had a happy month, using the loo that only took 5 strides from me. Muted steps I must add since the floor is beautifully carpeted. I used it mercilessly. You noticed the had, eh ? Yup. Good things never last. Monday there was a leakage so at this moment it is under repair. The door is firmly locked.

So I had to tip-toe my way back to the loo, at the shareholder’s outfit, cursing the bloody marble. And my inability to walk daintily. Tak kuasa aku weii….

Then one day as I was about to go to the pantry, I bumped into my colleague taking the lift down. And when I went down myself immediately afterwards to go to the surau, I saw her coming out of the small loo near our auditorium. Hmm… So she took the lift to go to ground floor to make use of what looked like a very slow traffic loo. It should be since there are only the 2 auditoriums there. The Logistics Department is at the end of the corridor, nearer to a bigger loo with like 5 cubicles. So I assume this isolated loo is more for the people using the auditoriums.

Hmmm…. interesting.

But…. Can the staffs use it ? I mean staffs that were not nipping out from the auditoriums ? Well… I saw M used it. Should be okay, right ?

However, there is always a however, I saw Kak N, our receptionist who is like the nearest person to this lovely looking loo used the far end loo near the Logistics Department. I know. I saw her there once.

But when I think about the marbled floor and the what nots, I thought lantaklah. Don’t think there is a CCTV minitoring the damn loo.

Next day, I was antsy waiting for my bladder to make its presence known. Bukannya apa. Aku tak mau lupa. Selagi aku tak buat aku tak ingat. Karang menonong pergi tempat yang diharuskan berjengket itu. Bila dah sekali buat sure ingat punya kan ?

By 9, sudah mula ada ura-ura aku kena pi tandas, so I went down and mustering enough courage and selamba badakness, went in. Happily I locked the door of the single cubicle. But belum sempat aku buat apa-apa, I heard the main door opened.

“Eh ! Ada orang ke ?” It was the voice of one of the cleaners. I know this lady, we are quite friendly. She is also quite kepoh.

I winced. Aiseh.

Before I answered, she asked “Sapa kat dalam ni ?” Ada ke tanya ? Waaarrrgghhh ! Tensennya aku. Dan masa inilah aku naik segan. Why ? I don’t know. The mysterious inner workings of my brain dah buat perangai. I really couldn’t justify why I was too embarrassed to answer. Is it because my fear that this is a no-go toilet ? Or the act of visiting the loo itself is embarrassing to me ? Or…. Aku adalah hampeh.

I strongly believe it’s the latter. Bongok ! Ha..

Jadi apakah orang bongok ini buat ? Bila akak yang aku tak tahu kenapa perlu tahu siapakah gerangannya dalam tandas pada tika dan saat itu tanya lagi, “Siapa dalam ni ?”, aku…. he he…

He he… aku… aku jawab begini, “Kenapa you mau tau ? Jangan kacau saya lah….” Dengan suara yang sengau, dan… errmmm…. ala-ala orang Cina cakap Melayu gitu.

Auuwww !!!

Kak S asnwered with an “Ohh… okay….”. But she didn’t leave. I heard her moving about, rustling things. Sounded like she was cleaning the place.

O-oh…. If that is true, then… how can I leave the blasted place then ? Karang aku keluar kang nampak aku yang sememangnya bukan Cina camno ?

WAAAAAA !

Eh… Come to think of it, why is she cleaning the toilet ? I know for sure that the toilet was just recently washed. Nak kata tertinggal barang dalam cubicle tu pun tak gak because there was only the john, sanitary towel disposal bin, tissue, water hose… and me.

But I had no choice apart from waiting it out. And she took such a bloody long time doing her supposed chore at that. And so I waited some more. After about 10 minutes, she stopped moving about but did not leave the toilet. What was she waiting for ?

So aku pun masih membatukan diri di situ.

Minah ni, is she waiting for me to come out ? Dia nak kena tahu jugak ke sapa kat dalam ni ?

I think after about 5 minutes, she finally left. I was smart enough not to get out immediately as I suspect she is waiting outside. So I remained there for another 5 more minutes.

When I got out, nobody saw me and I scrambled madly upstairs. All in all, I think I was in the stupid, stupid loo for close to 20 minutes.

I asked Kak N after that if it is okay to use that particular toilet and she said yes, of course. When I queried why she doesn’t use it, her simple explaination of , “Laa… kalau dah ada orang guna, pergilah yang belakang punya…” was.. well very logical.

Benci !

Masalah Kamil

Okay… let me tell you apa masalah Kamil dengan my mother.

My mother is a damn good cook. The plus point, she loves to do it. So it is a win win situation for everybody. She gets to do what she is very, very passionate about and we get to eat what she made. Which hardly ever disappoints.

And because of that, Kamil is very used to filling his belly at my house. Since the very beginning when we got together… er actually since aku kecut-kecut perut selalu suruh Kamil datang rumah, as a hint to my parents that inilah boipren ku, adakah anda marah ? He he he…

Well anyway you get the gist kan, since in his late teens Kamil had been lunching and dining and supping at my house.

My mother pulak ni bila dah siap 2-3 dishes, she will call us to eat, eventhough she is still cooking the 3rd or 4th dish in the kitchen. We are used to this so sometimes we would have a look at the kitchen to see if there is anything else burbling on the stove. Or kalau dah lapar tu, makan lah dulu… itupun makan slow-slow sebab nak jugak tunggu lauk kat dapoq.

And therefore we are used to eating with new food appearing and what not. Tetapi si Kamil ini adalah tak sukanya. Dia suka kalau dia dah duduk, makanan semua dah siap. Which is very understandable really as he would like all his choices spread before his eyes.

When he first started joining our table, I thought nothing of it. Yelah, it is something I am used to but to a newcomer like Kamil, maybe a bit weird. And probably frustrating. Each family has its own idiosyncrasies kan. Dah lama-lama baru aku dengar dia cakap something like, “Laa… ada lagi ke ?” Baru aku macam tersedar tapi aku biaq pi kat dia lah.

Dah makin mesra dia mula bersuara, “Kenapa kalau mak you masak tak boleh keluarkan sekali ? Kenapa tengah makan ada je lauk baru yang datang ?”

Dan sejak itulah aku perasan mamat ni punya muka bila nasik dia dah habis, barulah Mummy bawak keluar sayur, or rendang or kalau paling sadis, kari. Bagi aku, didn’t you ever learn ? Eat slowly. He heh. Bila dah kawin, sudah ada berani, dia akan cakap, “Dah habis makan pun Mi….”

He he…. Sapa suruh… Lantak kau le…

And bila-bila masa ia terjadi, aku akan pandang muka dia and akan ku nampaklah kekelatan ia. Sehinggakan ada suatu hari dia complain kat aku. “Kenapa Mummy suka buat macam tu ? Lain kali cakaplah supaya I boleh tunggu…”

Dan aku being aku, aku cuma bantai gelak berdekah-dekah tak ingat diri.

Actually dah lama jugak Mummy tak buat perangai or coincidentally these past few years, we only arrived when Mum had finished cooking. However it happened again on the surprise party day. We waited for the delicious sayur kobis goreng to arrive before we start to eat. While eating we heard kelentang kelentung from the kitchen. Mum was making omelette. Nasi goreng with omelette kan best…. And aku pandang Kamil, muka dia biasa aje. But when the delicious golden eggs arrived, aku kalih tengok, dia dah pejam mata penuh tensen.

Hahahha…

And at that moment lah I rubbed his back, memujuk berbagai. Of course everybody saw and so I have to explain. Mummy sengih aje with one of her eyes closed. Dalam kereta Kamil bukak mulut, “Kenapa Mummy tak cakap awal-awal dia goreng telur. Kalau I tahu I tunggu !!”

He he… alahai Kamil.. Lain kali, only eat when Mum is alreasy seated, kay ? Then you know that it is safe to eat.

PS : My Mummy ada a bit pelik punya perangai. Kalau kita bercerita and dia nak concentrate, she will look at us with one eye closed. Macam winking gitu. Tak tahu kenapa…

Panjang giler entry ni weii....

Time travels super, super fast as suddenly it is time for me to write about my weekend again. Hmmm….

Anyway… what happened Friday ? Nothing much I think because I couldn’t think what I ate for dinner let alone my activities. I remember going to pasar malam… and then.. did I cook for dinner ? I remember buying Neti’s dinner at the pasar malam so must have eaten outside… But kat mana ye ?

Damn I am old.

Anyway, after a very unremarkable Friday was a Saturday that started off like always. Except that I had to prepare an order of cream puffs early morning. While having a headache. Hmmm…..how is that gonna work out ? Don’t think it will very well so I told my maid what to do, and left her to it. She had seen me making cream puffs oftentime enough anyway so I had no real cause to worry.

Except well… it is hard to make cream puffs. The choux pastry is a bit mengada-ngada and frankly speaking, out of 3 batches, 1 would not make the cut. Worse, langsung tak jadi.

But there is nothing I can do about it so I swallowed a couple of panadols, went back to sleep and woke up just in time to send the kids to their piano class. Went back home, send Neti to her aunt’s then sleep some more. Woke up about 12 and tasted the puffs. Err….. the prognosis was not good.

Called the client to apologise but she said she still wanted it as it might go to waste. So filled in the custards, opened the door to the kids who came home with their Babah, waited for the client to come while watching Babah catch the hamsters and then off we went to IUtama for Kamil’s nieces’ birthday party, totting the hamsters in a new cage to be given as birthday presents.

I have forgotten the name of the venue, but it is where Dahlya does her indoor rock climbing. So the party apart from very, very good food included a round of rock climbing for the party-goers. Abang naik 1/3 of the wall dah keras bontot. The same with Adik but she was a bit better because she kept trying to conquer her fears. He he..

I did mention good food right ? We were served lovely pizzas, amazing sandwiches and the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted. Seriously, it was so good and yummy and it hit you at all the right places. I wish I could bake like that…. Hmmm….

Balik rumah and I really had to bake. My sisters were throwing a surprise birthday party for both of the partners and guess who is the chief cook again lah ? My mother is thanking her lucky stars that I love to cook as much as she does.

Sejak pandai masak daging merah, I cooked 2 kg worth of it. Asked Neti to fry her delicious nasi goreng from her aunt’s place and then desserts. Made chocolate tarts and some custard blueberry ones. Hyrul who didn’t know we were celebrating his birthday too, came to offer his assistance. At the same time he ate quite a number of the chocolate tarts which he helped to fill. Never mind, as long as you like them.

My sister meanwhile baked the chocolate birthday cake. Mom doesn’t like chocolate so I made strawberry cake.

By 8 pm, the situation became chaotic. My sisters planned for us to be at the house before any of the birthday boys. Daniel was on the way to mom’s house but we were still at mine decorating the cake. Kamil was piping the letterings on the confection but had to stop halfway since Hyrul was standing next to him, looking at his work. Camno nak tulis Happy Birthday Hyrul ? He he..

Kemudian pulak since Daniel was already on the way, Ita sent him to pick the kids from my house. He came, and we took such a long time to prepare the kids, just to buy a bit of time. But no point really as Hyrul was still with us. Kids went with their Mamu then came the realization that Hyrul was around. And Daniel was already on the way to Mom’s house.

Damn.

My sister at that point was fidgeting like mad, not knowing what to do and how to bloody handle the situation.

So I sent them out to buy drinks. As soon as we heard the bang of the front door, Kamil finished writing on the cake and we started cleaning up the kitchen. Rumah aku banyak semut okay and we were playing with sugar and butter the whole day. I do not want to throw the ants a party. I hate them. Passionately.

We left the house with a heavy heart to go to Mum’s …well because, not doing anything in an empty house felt like such a waste. He he… Saw Hyrul’s car parked outside of mom’s house when we got in and we were ushered by my other sister to a very dark patio. And the waiting game began. Marlin told Hyrul that they can only go inside the house when Daniel arrives. Kalau aku jadi Hyrul I would be thinking, what the heck for ? Hmm.. lantaklah korang.

Mum voiced her concerns that Daniel had the kids with him. “Ini mesti ada orang pecah rahsia..” A very wise person indeed my mother because as soon as the words escaped from her mouth, Ita received an sms from Daniel that simply said, “Ha Ha..”

Silap strategy. Ita accused Abang. Mummy pointed her finger at Ana. But my heart laid the blame on Adik. Minah tu is the biggest tattletale if ever there was one. Ther is nothing we can do about it now plus we still had to hold the fort as Hyrul was still clueless. Probably.

The waiting game. Duduk dalam kegelapan with the confetti poppers.

Ada orang ambik kesempatan dalam kegelapan kegulitaan itu. Tapi masih kantoi. Ha ha

And then they came, and Kamil and Ijat released the poppers full of confetti with a huge bang and we yelled “Surprise !!”. Hyrul was indeed surprised and Daniel was grinning from ear to ear.

Hyrul terkejut ! Marlin happy giler...

Who was the culprit ? Ana.. Tok Mi was right. How did she say it ? “Mamu… Mummy masak birthday cake untuk birthday Mamu tau …” Eeei…… budak ni. But Adik went “Eh.. takdelah Mamu.. Takde apa-apa.. Mana ada….” Kah kah…. Sorry Adik as I thought you were the one who were gonna blabber.

Birthday boys with the kids. Yang kat depan sekali rambut tebal tu yang blabber mouth nya... Nasib baik comel..

On the table were the desserts and the nasi goreng and then a huge ikan siakap masak kicap which is our firm favourite. We waited until the kobis goreng that came like 10 minutes after the unveiling and we started eating.

Birthday cake buatan sendiri. Hasil tulisan Kamil yang memang suka main benda-benda cam ni.

The chocolate tarts and the custard blueberry ones. The strawberry cake he he... terpecah dua sebab tak pegang betul-betul... Sungguh tak lawa.

As we ate, we heard Mum still clanging her wok in the kitchen and upon inspection, she was frying omelette. We slowed down our chewing and Kamil sighed, shaking his head. When Mum brought the omelette over to the table, I looked at Kamil and saw his very, very unhappy face. I will tell you why in the next entry, as per my explaination to Daniel and Hyrul as newcomers. Arwah Shera dah memang well acquainted with Kamil’s bone of contention dengan Mummy ni. Ha ha..

Blowing the candles. Please see the gorgeous food on display especially my mom's delicious fish.

Daniel loves the strawberry cake. So does my Mummy who kept picking at it. So it was a success and I am glad. We talked while enjoying the very breezy and cool night. It was heaven. We left the house close to midnight. Yawn… whose birthday is it next ?

Makan adalah acara paling best bila-bila dan di mana saja kita berada.

Ada witch yang tersesat... Penyapu dia terjatuh kat rumah kami so kami ajak dia join. Dia kata dia kenai Harry Potter. Satu sekolah depa dulu-dulu.

How we looked like from the dining room.

When I got home, bones creaking and very, very weary I noticed an sms with the best news ever ! No tennis class the next day sebab coach ada exam ! Thank you, coach’s uni !

Went to Cili Merah for breakfast and bumped into Marlin and Hyrul as usual. He he….Had the opportunity to see Hyrul tersalah tepuk orang which was very, very memorable. Very handy as something to laugh about whenever it surfaces. Keh keh

Went straight to Meru to pick up my baju kurung from a tailor there. Terlompat-lompat nak try when I got home, only to be disappointed as the baju was too big. Hairan. Contoh ada bagi tapi masih besar. Tapi sebab kain lawa, which I bought from Jubei, pakai jugak pi office hari ni. Besaq pun besaq lah.

I was just telling Kamil that since it is near 1pm, we have to think about feeding the kids when tak sampai 1 saat, Adik came running to us, asking about lunch. Since Mummy and Babah were still full from breakfast, Babah went to buy nasi ayam. Then Tok Mi came to lepak. Yahoo !

Mum left after an hour. She was just passing the house when she decided to stop. The day was cool and breezy, and a bit lembap, the sky was a bit grey .. Felt like I was in England. I was feeling very nostalgic and was thinking about my days there when suddenly I felt my face a bit wet. Laaa… dah terlena… Drooling siap.

I could feel Babah looking at me a few times when I came to. Hmmm….. why ? Yesterday’s conversation re-played, got a vague idea what was what and decided to try my luck. Hangpa tau kan dia ni suka main teka-teki. I looked at him and asked, “You nak cookies ke ?”

He looked relieved.

“Yelah… semalam janji nak buat….” Moncong a bit. Aduhai lah suami. Aku semalam buat cream puff lah, cake lah, tart lah and hari ni you still want me to open up my bakery ?

Took the butter (I really keep a lot of butter in the house….) and the other ingredients and started baking. Soon the house was filled with the delicious aroma of chocolate chip cookies. As I took out the first batch out from the oven, a familiar face emerged from the darkness of my dining room.

“Ami !!” He he… Finally here to take the hamsters. She came with her children, her husband, her sister and her cousin. So we sat, I had Emir in my arms, talking and eating the still warm cookies while the children and her sister and her cousin tried to catch the hamsters. One remained stubbornly in one of the spiralling tubes so Kamil and Nikman who was talking outside while Kamil washed the cars, had to come in and dismantle the tubes to take it out.

Their daughter Ain loves cookies so when I offered to tapau some for her, her eyes widen and she slowly nodded her head. Sweet. I will remember that look forever. Gave her the rest of the first batch to take home.

Mandi and prayed and then we went off to have dinner. Picked up Neti and then home. I washed the dishes and when I turned around, Kamil was already asleep on the sofa. Sigh. What is new ?

Korang.. sorry... Aku pun tak sedaq it will be this long. Patut buat 2 parts tadi...

My melancholic musings

Last time when I had wanted more children, I had taken the liberty to choose the names of my babies first. Trust me, when naming my children, I had never consciously planned to choose only 4 letter names like mine.

I only noticed it when introducing my babies to my mom’s closest friend Aunty Nah, she remarked to her daughter, who is one of my oldest and closest friend Tati, “Look Tati.. M only chose 4 letter words for her children…”

Aunty Nah, really !

Ha ha… she meant well okay peeps.

Anyway, I chose Abang because of my utmost admiration for Umar Al-Khattab, a feeling that developed when I was still in high school. Amelia was well aware of this and when I first announced I am having a boy she went, “M !! You are getting your Abang !” Yes I am !! And I did and he is wonderful, my baby boy.

Adik I chose from one of my favourite books when I was little, Born Free by Joy Fielding. It is the name of a lion, but takpelah as I found out it meant Devotion To God. In fact it was suggested in an Islamic Baby Name website I found.

And then when I was 29 and was ready to have another baby, well my husband was not. Sad. As I had dreamt of my Lyla or my Noah.

And now at 33… I feel like I am just too old. That the phase has passed and I am ready for something else. Of course if Allah ever said Kun Fa Ya Kun, I will be counting my blessings.

But I still think of Noah. And Lyla. Sometimes. And the what ifs.

I remember when...

Semalam aku mengukur jalan lagi.

Hai…

Kamil came home and announced excitedly that 2012 is opening today. Aku pulak langsung tak berminat nak tengok cerita-cerita macam tu so I told him to go and watch it with Ian.

He was surprised and aku rasa nak ketuk kepala dia sebab he has been my partner for 17 years .. 17 ? 16 ? well… for many, many years lah and still cannot fathom what movie genre I don’t like ?

Aku ni tau dia takkan punya nak tengok Time Traveller’s Wife itu yang bila DR ajak aku terus kata yes. And when I kononnya mintak permission dia dulu, tekaan ku tepat. Langsung tak berminat. Pergilah, he said.

Anyway he tried to pujuk me but I stood my ground and at the end, he called Ian. After sending the kids to bed, we went out to Summit to meet Ian and buy the tics for today. Summit by the way sucks big time.

Ian too tak puas hati aku tak mau join depa and dok sibuk memujuk. Ini lagi sorang..tapi takpelah dia tak tau…he has only been in the picture for a year. Anyway after getting the tickets for the 2 jantans, takkan balik rumah, so we went to have ice-cream at Naili’s in Taipan.

This is one of Ian’s favourite spot and I have to admit it is rather nice. Although a bit gelap (as soon as aku masuk and masih tergapai2 dalam kegelapan, aku suspect giler owners Naili ni mesti Melayu sebab hanya restoran orang Melayu saja yang style makan ala-ala takdak elektrik.. Ian confirmed my suspicions.. he he…).

Kami duduk. I ordered quite a good mocktail, Kamil had banana split and Ian had 2 and I mean 2 Longan Surprise or whatever. It was that good. Anyway we were talking, and Ian was teasing me about my refusal to watch 2012 and hoards of other stuffs. I do not know how or when in the course of the night it happened, but something triggered quite an unpleasant and I have to say frustrating memory to surface.

My friend Mimi (bukan nama sebenar as usual) at that time was recently married. And she married a wonderful guy of course. But then, nobody is perfect right and the dent on Jamil’s (I don’t have to state the obvious at this point kan ?) perfect demeanor is that his inability to support his wife. Or defend her.

Mamat ni kalau ada orang usik bini dia, dia akan tambah usik. If a topic came up that got something to do with Mimi that he didn’t like, well he will use her as an example. God help her if he disagrees with her opinion, dan dan tu jugak dia taruh bini.

If the wife made a mistake and kawan-kawan good naturedly kutuk, he will be the chief kutuk-er. Me as a perempuan noticed his habit and I also sensed that Mimi ni sengih dalam tangis. But I didn’t say anything of course sebab karang jadi benda lain pulak.

Therefore I was not surprised when one day Mimi came to me, crying about Jamil’s behaviour. It transpired that the night before they were playing games (I have forgotten masa tu Play Station ke, PS2 ke atau Sega ke..). She played with Jamil while Jamil’s siblings and cousin looked on, macam tengah buat tournament lah ni.

That is not the problem. The problem was Jamil kutuk dia kaw-kaw punya bila dia kalah, di khalayak ramai. Sampai kan, sepupu and adik-beradik Jamil groaned whenever she lost. His own family could not take his bullying and was rooting for her to win.

That was the last straw for her and she hatched a plan and required my help, to teach him a lesson. And method dia sangat ku suka sebab it is the same methodology that I hold oh so dearly. To teach, we have to first put them in the same situation. Bagi dia rasa apa kita rasa. Baru orang jantan boleh sedaq.

We were scheduled to go out with a group of friends and so she told me all I have to do is start to tease her husband if he ever ada tersalah cakap. Kalau takde pun, aku kena ada-adakan. After that, she will take over.

Muuhahahahahhahah ! Kilat sambung-menyambung. Guruh berdentum-dentum.

He heh….

I was torn between wanting to help and not wanting to get involve in this shit. Plus, I am the worse actor ever !! I wasn’t convinced I could pull it off. Plus my inadvertent and guaranteed red face would have informed all our friends something wicked were a-brewing.

So the dreaded day arrived and I had forgotten what it was, but somebody beated me to it and made Jamil the brunt of his jokes. Mimi seized the opportunity, happily joined in. The night went on beautifully as far as Mimi was concerned. One taruh after another si Jamil kena dengan bininya.

After that, Mimi got bolder and managed to deliver put downs on her own. She was on a roll.

Sadly though things did not exactly go her way. She did not take into consideration the spectators, the witnesses, the friends. Unpleasent remarks were thrown and heard. Friends began to discuss Mimi’s appalling behaviour.

Conrol laki Mimi ni...

Tak hormat laki siot…

Kalau bini aku macam tu dah lama dah…

Aku tak sangka dia ni teruk macam ni... Dulu tak de pulak.

Sehinggakan ada one time tu, Mimi confided in me that one friend accosted her and said, “Please don’t scold your husband in front of people lah...”

Tiba – tiba mamat ni pulak victimnya. Si Jamil tu pulak pandai lak diam bila Mimi belasah dia, until people only saw Mimi as the agressor, as the dominant one.

Poor Mimi, strategy tak jadi.

Why ?

Because I think society still feels that men are lords and he can do ANYTHING to his wife. Or society categorise Jamil's behaviour under ‘Biasalah lelaki’ and Mimi did not conform to how society deemed it the right way for her to react. Which was terimalah dengan rela. Sebab, biasalah lelaki. See ? A closed loop.

For months I have been seeing Jamil disrespecting Mimi, just like how Mimi olok-olok treated him, but nobody said anything, nobody protested. But when it came to her, queen control. Suka malukan laki depan khalayak ramai. Garang. Tak sayang laki.

Jamil buat tak sorang pun cakap apa. People failed to see that he was being mean to her. But when she did it, all hell broke loose. Why the double standard ? I don’t understand.

Being me, I tried to explain whenever my friends started talking about Mimi, pointing out that Jamil treated her that way first. I suggested that since it is a side of Mimi that we have never seen before, maybe it is all just an act, her bid to try make Jamil taste his own medicine, to put him in her shoes.

All I get was skeptical looks.

Yeeesssh !

And so Mimi up to this day lives under the brand “Perempuan garang tak hormat laki”. Aku frust.

Girl's Night Out

Aku pergi mengukur jalan semalam. Ngan Desert Rose (aku selalu lah nak tulih hang Dessert Rose... he he…) ngan Edelweiss. Tepat pukui 5.45 aku cabut keluaq office pi ambik Pn DR pastu zoom teruih pi 1U.

Aku bawak kereta ayu-ayu gitu sebab kereta baru satu, belum besa. Sebab kedua ialah laki aku bayaq kereta tu, kalau aku bayaq tak pa gak… Ini yang malaih kalau orang belikan sebab kena ambik kira orang tu jugak. Dapat pulak dapat laki yang acapkali buat inspection bila aku balik… Haii….

First time jumpak Edelweiss teruih serasi. Alhamdullilah. Kami duduk bersembang depan Kebab King while waiting for Maghrib. Punyalah rancak berbual diselang-seli dengan hilai tawa seperti langsuyaq, orang lalu lalang dok pandang. Aku rasa orang yang dok makan kat Kebab King tu pun tak buleh concentrate dok tengok kami.

Dah lama aku tak buat review wayang na ?

Well here goes.

Movie : Time Traveller’s Wife

Aku benci cerita ini sebab sungguh lah sedihnya. Aku benci… aku benci. Kalau lah si Kamil tu yang kejap hilang kejap muncui.. aku rasa muka aku berkedut lepas 5 taun kawin ngan dia, punya stress. Bak kata Mynn, sasau aku.. Pastu asai muncui telanjang, asai muncui telanjang… aku mesti naik hijau punya. Dahlah Eric Bana tu hensem ya rabbi... (Hmmm kebetulan Eric Bana pernah hijau masa jadi Hulk. Terbukti sesuailah kami berdua ni sebenaqnya). Ni nak bagitau hangpa.

Bila tengok cerita ni, timbul sedikit (the operative word is sedikit.. so don’t know how long this will last) penyesalan dan keinsafan di dalam diri ini. Aku meluahkan perasaan aku kat DR. Aku kata kita sebenaqnya tak buleh lah nak bergaduh lama-lama, berdendam lama-lama, chom lama-lama… Every second, every minute is precious. Don’t take for granted lah your loved ones kan. Pandai aku berkata-kata.

Yang aku paling tak puas hati ialah, walaupun lelaki itu adalah mengatakan kepada bininya “I do not want you to wait for me forever” or something of that effect, aku sedih giler bila si bini itu akur dengan kata-kata suaminya tadi and ambik baju tu bawak balik masuk rumah.

Kalau aku lah, aku lipat elok-elok and letak atas kayu tu balik. Pastu letak telepon sebelah supaya dia buleh call. Itu lah part yang aku paling tak boleh terima langsung. Dan part itu jugaklah yang buat aku keriau sebelum aku tiduq malam tadi. Aku dok terbayang Eric Bana itu dok terbogei dalam hutan tu, dok sorang-sorang sebelum dia travel balik. Dok termenung tang tu. Hai... tak sampai hati aku.

Eric Bana wei, Eric Bana ! Ada ka hang buat lagu tu kat Eric Bana ? Tom Cruise tak kisahlah gak. Ini Eric Bana !!! Sampai hati minah ni…. Aku dendam ngan hang.. Jaga..

Lepas sok sek sok sek srrooot srrooot pekik-pekik sikit sebab minah itu adalah lembabnya berlari, lampu terpasang dan kami pun harus pulang. Terima kasih Mynn kerana belanja. Next time aku bayaq pulak na….

Pulanglah kami kepada anak-anak dan suami masing-masing, terkenangkan Eric Bana. Hai…

Nak dijadikan cerita, sambil dok driving malam-malam tu, buatnya pulak hujan. Pastu dok sibuk mulut ni pot-pet pot-pet, mai kereta dari belah kanan pecut pastu habih melimpah ayaq kena kereta, mem blurkan cermin depan aku. Dalam masa tu jugak ada kereta Kembara dari kiri yang nak masuk jalan. Aku punyalah panic sebab belum hapai lagi belah mana windscreen wiper punya switch. Adalah dalam 10 saat aku bawak kereta cermin depan tak nampak, sambei dok tergapai-gapai nak activate wiper. Pastu nak kena jugak perhatikan kereta Kembara tu yang macam tak nampak aku yang dok ada tang tu. Nasib baik hon kereta universally kat depan mata. Bagi sekali hon.

Bak kata DR, defensive driving namanya ni.

Haram sungguh !

Sebelum itu, bila ada kereta lain yang keluaq dari simpang, aku hon awai-awai supaya dia nampak aku ni nak lalu. Haa tu dia… aku punya tensen.

Dah sampai rumah DR, cerita tak habih lagi so kami duduk lah berdua berdating dalam kereta bercerita berbagai sampai lah pukul 10.35 malam baru aku berangkat pulang. Dan aku adalah masih penakut ropanya sebab dalam kereta, aku mengaji kuat-kuat…

He he…

Again... my weekend

I have to admit that I sometimes malas gila nak chronicle my weekends. But when I think of the days when I re-read my blog and the events of the weekends were re-freshed and made me happy… well… so I take a deep breath now and begin my story …

Sometimes my weekend started on that very Friday. Don’t think I did anything special… Well… Kamil did ask me to have ice-cream at Burger King with him. But seeing my very dimpled thighs made me a bit reluctant to go. We talked and argued about going, at one point I blinked then I saw the sun.

He he… terlena rupanya…

My friend Jubei asked if I had wanted to go to pasar with her but I declined because the last time we went on a Saturday, I didn’t get to feed my children before their piano classes. But that didn’t stop me from ordering from her though. Imagine my surprise when she rang at 7.30 am, saying she was in front of the house.

La… last time we made it back by 9.30 ! If I knew she was going around 6.30 then I would have gone with her. The sight of Luqman sleeping at the back seat of the car made me feel really guilty.

Okay next time we go together okay Bei… pukul 6.30 pagi sempat lah…

Went to Cili Merah driving my new car. Saw a very familiar face, grinning at me by the side of the road, in front of the restaurant. Hmmm…. macam kenal je minah ni… Tapi sapa yek ? When my children yelled “Cik Yin ! Cik Yin !” happily barulah aku perasan adik aku ropanya. Terlompat-lompat tepi jalan, tak sabaq-sabaq nak test drive kereta. Left the vehicle to her and Hyrul to drive while we ate. Bumped into Kamalia and Sheik and their adorable children. Sheik though declined to test drive the car. Banyak masa lagi, he said. True, true.

I made lunch then started baking. I had an order of chocolate muffins and cottage pie to fulfill. Made extra for dinner with my family. Ita came with cousin Tia and we baked somemore. Chicken pie, vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing and buttercream icing and cheese tarts.

The kids were happy licking the green, purple and pink coloured icing. Took the whole lot to my mom’s house and we started eating by 9. Kamil was complaining by then as he was already hungry. Ravenous in fact… he he…

The cupcakes and the lebihan chocolate muffins and the very sikit cheese tarts. Most of the tarts were in Hyrul's tummy by now. I love the pink icing as it has a very mild taste of strawberry.

Mum made Meehoon Singapore (Ah Zee… betui tak ada kat Singapore ? Sebab Mee Bandung tak dak kat Bandung.. Aku tau.. Aku dah check dah….) and we had a grand time eating. Hyrul kept popping the cheese tarts in his mouth. He loves all the desserts and was very, very complimentary. Thank you future bro-in-law… I know you will fit right in with us.

Makan..

We were a bit tired of the cottage pies really but since Ayah wanted some, so I made some for him but this time, I made it ala-Italiano. The rest of the family though attacked Mum’s meehoon and the chicken pie.

My parents and their girls...

My parents and their cucus...

After our bellies were full, we moved to the living room and talked and gossiped, reluctantly leaving the house at 12.30 am… Biasalah kan…. It was too late for Tia to go back to her dorms so she followed us home and made use one of the empty rooms. She and Kamil spent some time sorting out the hamsters first though. We retired close to 2 am.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that we had fought hard to wake up for Subuh. Big mistake was we went back to sleep and it was harder still to rouse ourselves from the bed to send the kids to play tennis. Went straight to Cili Merah for breakfast and bumped into Yasmin and Farid and their family pulak… HE he…. Farid and Min took a turn driving the car while we ate and had a discussion about it when they came to return the key. I do love my life. Not the car okay, but my friends that I keep bumping into.

Kamil's mom called as soon as we got into the car for home. She suggested Awana Genting for lunch so by 10, we made our way back to the kids, fetching them earlier than we should in order to get to Genting before lunch. MIL called again just before we get to the kids, canceling Genting and changing it to Sari Ratu Kelana Jaya instead.

Since we were already in the car, we went for a drive, checking out new housing areas at Sek 23. After feeding the kids, Kamil took Abang and Adik to the barber. Abang badly needed his hair trimmed. Dah kembang macam mangkok dah… He he… itu Cikgu dia cakap... When he told us he was laughing but then mid-story he got upset and started blaming us for allowing his hair to grow like that.

Iyelah….

While they were gone, I quickly took out the ingredients to try a new chocolate chip cookies recipe, intending to surprise my family with the smell of baked good. At the end, I was the one who was surprised as I was just measuring the flour, my family returned to me, hair unshorn. “Ramai giler orang kat situ….”

Hmmm…. Tak jadi surprise. But I continued baking and 30 minutes after that the house was filled with lovely smell of sugar and butter and chocolate. Yummm… My kids tak sabar-sabar nak rasa so they wolfed down the still warm cookies.

“Mummy, these are really good….” Said Abang. Alhamdullilah. Tak payah lah aku campak buku resipi ni.

“Mum… you are the best mother in the world… You really like to make me happy….” He he… thank you Adik. I strive to make you and your brother permanently on cloud nine.

Kamil also loves the cookies so I was glad. Budak-budak ni semua sedap. Nak ambik hati Bapaknya tu kadang-kadang susah sikit. Ada aje yang tak kena… So his stamp of approval took all the tiredness away.

We didn’t realize that it was almost the time to have lunch with the ILs. Hambat budak-budak pi mandi, I covered the rest of the cookie dough and I too got ready. My PIL was already seated and soon my SIL and her family arrived.

I had my normal Ais Teler (nangka and kelapa only okeh.. sago merah tu and benda putih2 tu I dowan. Please hold the avocado too… But I got one with everything in except for the avacados. Okaylah… what to do….), my very crispy sambal ubi, gulai ikan (I usually ordered gulai sotong but my knees sometimes feels funny so malas aku nak menambahkan lagi rasa funny nya itu) and sambal terung. Nasik ¼ sebab lauk berlambak. Plus budak-budak bila dah jumpa sepupunya, mana ingat makan so Dan and I had to finish off their very lovely fried chicken.

Balik the kids wanted to be with their grandparents so we went home and watched the telly. Well that was Kamil, I had to finish baking. By 5 went out again to collect my mom and my sister and we shot off to visit the tailor.

He he… sukanya ada baju baru… Bahagia hidup. Cun pulak tuh… Baju bukan aku. Kena cakap awai-awai sebelum hangpa kutuk aku…

Picked up Neti on the way back, sent my mom and sister back before going off to Kamil’s sister’s to pick up the children. Exchanged the kids with a jar of cookies as a thank you and went home. After Maghrib Kamil and I went to Giant for supplies. But when we got home, Adik was already asleep ! Without dinner !!

Siannya.

I russled up a quick dinner of chicken sandwiches. My family were just peckish as we had a huge lunch so the sandwiches was just nice. Tia came with her many, many hamsters and took the blue room again for the night. “Kak… offer lah sapa-sapa yang nak hamsters…” Sian dia. Ialah she lives in a dorm so she can’t keep all her lovelies. Okaylah Tia, I will try to find them a good home.

Watched Babylon AD a bit, intersperse with watching the hamsters madly scurrying about then sleep. I left Kamil at the couch to watch football.

Then… well, here I am, on a Monday writing an entry for my blog.

Oh honey.. Sweetheart...

It is here, friends. My 10th anniversary gift from my Kamil.

Thank you, darling.

Actually.. I just let him choose what he wants. After all, he is paying for it.

I was already bored looking at various models in the market and when we finally went to look at this one, I was glad that he found something that he really likes. Me ? Well… whatever lah… Aku dah bosan. This is not my forte pun kan… I have put all my trust on him when he first voiced his intentions anyway.

When it came, I was quite floored by its beauty.

But to see his excited face, which turned a bit worried, looking for my reaction, well I fell in love with it. And with him all over again.

He spent the night in it with Ian, getting acquainted with it.

He looked so happy.

So I baked this immediately. Which he loves.

This is the only way I know how to show my appreciation and my thanks.

This morning before I left for work, he dropped a light kiss on my shoulder and when our eyes met, he asked worriedly “You like it, right ? Right ?”

I smiled.

It is wonderful Kamil. Thank you.

I especially love the zoom-zoom and the vroom-vroom. And the colour is not bad too (although I did order red… tapi lambat sangat nak sampai).

Whatever it is, the clincher is that it came from you.

Muaaahhh !

Noreen got me thinking....

As a rule, I love to cook. And I love it if people come over to the house and eat my offerings.

A great recipe to open an eaterie ?

Well not necessarily as my cooking is not constant. Sat sedap sat tak sedap.

Noreen suggested last week that I should open up a place like Wundermilk.

Hmm…

I like to cook. Two days ago I made chocolate cake from a recipe given by a friend. It didn’t turn out well. It was my second attempt from the same recipe. Just didn’t turn out as nice as my friend made it. I made a lovely creamy chocolate forsting to go with it… I had to keep it in the fridge as there is no point icing a cake that was intended for the bin.

Ian came yesterday. I had asked Kamil to buy ingredients for a new recipe earlier so I still baked. Mainly because I still have the said frosting. Sadly though since it had been in the fridge for a few days, plus I didn’t keep in a plastic container properly just in a bowl and then wrapped in plastic, the frosting now has a very fridgey taste. Sayang kan.. really hate to waste. As I baked I explained to Ian my predicament. He advised that I should stick with what I am already good at, which is my butter cake. Ian loves my butter cake. He had it once and raved about it a lot. Hmmm…. was that a hint, Ian ?

Anyway, I sort of agreed with him but I would like to be able to bake other types of cakes too. Hence you would always catch me baking if you drop by my house. And I love to hear your comments seriously. People have to tell me if it my baking in edible or otherwise.

So my chocolate cake yesterday was loved by Adik… Well nothing new from that front. Kamil was asleep on the sofa but I still put one in his hand. He ate while sleeping... Cute. His sleepy predicament was it wasn’t sweet enough…. Well… since the frosting was rather sweet… so okaylah kan. Just have to remember to put in more sugar if I ever decided to serve it naked. Ian said it was very moist in the middle but a bit burnt at the bottom.

Yeah… ha ha… the recipe stated the baking temperature in Fahrenhait. So aku belasah aje … It turned out the temperature was too high. Luckily I didn’t bake them all. So tonight will bake the rest at the right heat.

Hopefully it will turn out okay.

Oh and I found a chocolate babycake recipe that is supposed to have melted chocolate flow out of the individual cake once you cut it. Can’t wait to try that one out… although I need ramekins to bake them in.

So … I do love to cook… But is that enough to warrant me to open up a café ?

Nak juai apa ? Chicken pie ? Lasagna ?

Ha ha… so when my friends come over, what will I serve them then ?

Whatever it is Noreen… I have to say, I am rather intrigued.

But the fact remains, am I good enough ?

Hmmm…………….

Tak pasal2 aku naik hijau...

You know, the phrase, “Sometimes I amazed myself” is so me as I am always very much amazed at what the happenings in the course of my life can reveal about me. And yesterday, I learnt that I can be a bloody jealous harridan. Okay maybe harridan is a bit too derogatory to describe myself. Plus I didn’t make an issue about it, just diam membisu memendam perasaan.

We were eating happily at a kenduri kawin. The food was good, especially the sambal udang… Kamil rued the day he only took 1 piece… pastu malu nak pi tambah.. Ha ha. Most of the friends that matters were there too, sharing a table.

The host came by, the male one that is… or should I say the mini host as the do was at his parent’s house, resplendent in his baju Melayu. As Kamil shook his hand, he jokingly said, “Hey selamat pengantin baru !”.

Khairil (bukan nama sebenar) jokingly of course said thank you.

It was nothing isn’t it ?

Just two grown men joking about getting hitched again.

In front of one wife.

Aku sebenarnya tension dengan men yang suka bergurau pasal kawin lagi satu.

Ada banyak benda lain yang boleh bawak gelak cik abang, kenapa tajuk ini jugak remained to be tajuk utama dan tajuk favourite ? I am suspicious, those who like to joke about this thing is actually secretly habouring the desire to do so ?

Tambahan pulak laki sendiri yang buat joke tak kelakar langsung ni.

So aku balik memendam rasa. He he... jangan tak tahu... Aku nak menapouse agaknya ni. Teramatlah sensitifnya aku sejak menjak ni… And yes to my darling friends who are always speculating about the contents of my uterus, I am having my menses right now… So bukan pembawakan ibu yang mengandung….

Si Kamil berkali-kali memandang Cik Puan Kamil, wondering apa lak salah aku kali ni ? Like what you always like to say to me darling husband, you should know what you did wrong.

Aku tak suka. Nak buat kelakar, jangan buat kelakar bangsat macam ni, aku ni insan yang sensitive tau tak ? Awat hang tak tau ? Dah 17 taun dah together-gether…You still don’t get me ?

Atau memang aku yang mengada-ngada…

Lantak lah... my prerogative.

Especially sebab sekarang aku rasa si Kamil ni yummy sungguh sejak dua menjak ni… So kalau aku rasa dia yummy, kemungkinan besar ada pompuan lain yang rasa dia yummy jugak dak ?

Is it wrong if I think my husband is super duper sexy ?

Hmmm……

Especially with this rough look that he is sporting right now ?

Excellent, really.

True he is no Keanu Reeves or heavens… Colin Firth… but he is yummy enough to me….

Harap-harap aku aje perasan yang laki aku yummy... To other women, he is damn ugly....

Tengok gambar ni memang tak yummy pun sebab penat balik kerja... so aku soka !!

My weekend

Is it Monday already ?

Damn.

Must be since my eyes just refused to open. On the days I am not required to park my butt here at the office, I would be up and about by 6 am, full of energy and vigour and what nots.

But come weekdays, I suddenly need a rest.

I had a wonderful weekend. In fact, I had a fun weekend friends.

Nice.

My fun weekend started Friday. I had a date with my BFF Amelia for a jog at 6. Sadly it was cancelled because she was stuck in KL due to the very massive jam. What is new ? I shudder at the thought okay ?

Noreen sms-ed me around 7, dangling a nice girls’ night out since she knew Kamil was working late. I jumped at the chance. I fed my kids with their favourite dish, announcing Mummy’s plan to go out while they ate to lessen the blow. He he….

Adik insisted on opening the door to the friend who was taking her Mummy out for a good time without her, reminding Mummy not to be late. He he… cute.

Noreen took me to Wundermilk and I have to say the place is wonderful. I love the mismatched furniture and the deco. The ambiance was friendly and very informal while maintaining a bit of class. The cupcakes were delish too. I love the vanilla and choco orange.

We had a good time talking and I was so relaxed. Then Babah called to ask for my whereabouts and his desire to join us. Hmm…. Tak boleh tengok orang senang. But good thing too as we were kicked out of the shop promptly at 10.30 and as soon as I got out of the cool night air, Babah arrived with who else, Ian lah., fresh from their work event.

We took the night to Showru in Kelana Jaya next where we bumped into lovely Tunku Tini and her family. Kamil had to send Ian to their office for his car so Noreen and I had quite a good 20 minutes for more girly chat, stuffs that no men want to hear. Ha ha…

We talked and looked at other diners and talked some more, leaving the place way after midnight.

Saturday was another fun filled day for me. After sending the kids to their classes, I rushed to SACC for a reflexology session with darling Desert Rose pulak. We talked non-stop and I mean non-stop because I was 15 minutes late from picking up my children. I really wished we had more time as it was not enough ! After the session, we yapped our way to the escalator and stopped at level 1, totally obstructing the traffic to talk for another 20 minutes ! DR, lain kali aku akan paksa Kamil balik awai ambik anak-anak dia sebab cerita tak habih lagi !!!!!

I made a very quick lunch of sandwiches, corn and cold potato salad, of which that I shoved in the freezer for 10 minutes to make it cold… ha ha. Baked chocolate cake, tried out a new chocolate frosting that I have to admit was amazing as my kids and my husband polished of the frosting and left the cake bare. The cake wasn’t that good anyway, was trying a new recipe. Remind me to throw that piece of paper in the bin. What a bloody waste.

Amelia arrived at 5.30. I jumped in her car while her son jumped out. We made our merry way to a jogging track nearby and I talked some more. We came back sweating and happy, resuming our chatters in my kitchen while drinking loads of water and looking at Amir and Adik, engrossed in their own conversation.

“We should take pictures…” said Amelia. I though was busy planning their wedding. Maybe this time we get to be family after many failed attempts. He he…. I know, too soon but a mother can hope, can’t she ? My daughter would have the best mother in law ever and the best of husband (because he is being raised by that best MIL ever just now). That is all I ever want for my child….utmost happiness.

Kamil wanted to catch a movie so we trooped of to The Curve after Maghrib. Sadly the show we wanted to see was only available at midnight so we went to have a nice dinner instead.

Noreen and Ian dropped by around 10 bearing home made chocolate cake and we settled again to chat until close to 2 am. Kamil as usual was asleep in front of the telly, oblivious to the huge amount of langsat peels (courtesy of Amelia… thanks darling) and conversation going on around him.

Early Sunday as usual due to the children’s tennis class. Kamil and I had breakfast and sent the cars to be washed while waiting for them. We feasted on nasi kenduri kawin for lunch, thanks to our darling Yasmin’s invitation. It was her brother’s wedding, just to be clear. Ha ha… The food was super delicious by the way.

We had another round of fun as most of our close friends came one by one and shared our table. We only left the wedding when I realized there were guests who were looking for an empty place. Better make a move on then.

Balik and terus masak laksa. When it boiled a bit, not fully cooked, we rushed out to our club for a game of bowling. Dearie me, Kamil and I hadn’t played in a looooong time so our game was horrible. Kamil couldn’t accept it as he was quite the bowler, really. Abang was crying buckets as he didn’t manage to knock any pins at all. Adik though had better luck. By the 6th frame, she had managed to score 22 points, Abang nil. Luckily at the end of the game, Abang managed to score 22 points. Adik though won by 2 points.

Adik was in a such happy mood, not caring if she managed to knock any pins off. At one point after my second nil frame, I turned around to be greeted by Adik’s, “You suck !” Aku penampaq sekali padan muka. Jaga hang.

We went to 1Utama to jalan-jalan after that. We hadn’t been there in the longest of time as a family. Had dinner at DeliFrance then home.

Then sleep. Seriously, I slept immediately afterwards as I was too tired. Tak tengok pun apa habaq kuah laksa. This morning I heated it up and forgot to tell Neti... I only remembered about it when I got to the office. I quickly sms-ed her… Hope she read it. Kalau tak… I have to secretly make a new batch. Kamil sure bising if he knows.

Hmmm………