Weekend...

My weekend was good.

Best !

It started 2 weeks ago I think when Kak Ezza e-mailed (or messaged through FB) wanting to plan Kak Kay’s birthday do.

It was a tad difficult to do so because of everybody’s schedule so we changed time, and number of attendees a few times but at the end, at the appointed date we all met up at Sahara Tent on Friday.

When I heard the gathering was to be made in Shah Alam, I eagerly suggested Tahara Tent. I love the food although a tad pricier than other Arab joints. I was further excited when I saw there were like 9 of us because with 9 people, I can finally request for the khemah !!

Yehaa !!!!! Well… when there were like 6, dia orang tak bagi…. Sian I.

I was entrusted to book and when I did, I drummed into the person on the other side that I WANT the tent. I NEED the tent. I positively HAD TO HAVE the tent. Nak berangan punya pasal.

Anyway, I baked the birthday cake the night before and refrained from refrigerating it. I dunno why this particular cake macam tak best when it has done some time in the ice box. It tasted lovely out from the oven where I left it overnight when I arrived home on Friday and waited to the very last minute to put cream on it. Punya tak nak refrigerate.

But alas when I got there, they still have to put in the fridge kan sebab nanti cair pulak the cream on top. WAAAA !! Planning tarak bagus punya. But what can I do kan ? It is to be a surprise birthday party. Kak Ezza managed to persuade Kak Kay that the do was a farewell for darling Kak Naz who is flying home this very week. So the cake must be sorok-ed first. Wished I had told them to keep it somewhere cool outside the fridge. It should be okay….

Anyway when I arrived, Kak Yatt was already there. He he… malunya…. She who lives in Puchong pun sempat sampai on the dot. However problem lain pulak mai. The tent is nice… it looked very cosy and definitely can highten my berangan-ess of eating and dining in Morocco (I so wanna go to Morocco). But then since it is a U-shape kind of set up with tent walls surrounding on 3 sides, it only has 2 ways to enter, both from the front at the legs of the U.

So therefore, once you go in, there is no going out again unless you want to trample on your friends along the way or you want to see your friends who were already comfortably ensconsed on their seats get out one by one before you yourself can. Dok situ diam-diam and if you feel like terkucil, tough luck.

Kak Yatt and I discussed a bit on the seating and I felt so guilty as I didn’t realize it was gonna take a bit of work just to sit.

Nak masuk while the place was still empty pun payah as being Malays, we get a bit susah hati pijak atas tilam and bantal. But trudged upon them I must as how else can I get inside ? And there I settled for the rest of the night. Inconvenient sure but….. bestnya……..

Ha ha….

That was my first time meeting Kak Yatt. We spoke on the phone before but still I got a bit self-conscious. Luckily she is lovely. We settled to talking and finding out a bit about eachother until the birthday girl arrived. After laughing while looking at her terhoyong-hayang walking on the soft tilam to sit next to me, we took the restaurant’s manager to task, suggesting ways to improve his tent, so that his customers, especially the ladies, can afford to sit down gracefully and with dignity.

“Maybe you can make a walkway between these two middle tables ? Push it a part a bit so that people sitting in the middle can just walk from the middle ?”

“Maybe you can make a flap at both sides of the tent ? So people wanting to sit in the middle can just get out via the flap ?”

Sian mamat tu. In his defense he said, “In my country, we have no tables.. so we have no problem…” He he… Okaylah, we Melayu can eat without the table also, we are used to it what… so take out the table lah…. Sorry aaa for complaining.

Anyway, Kak Ezza came next followed by Eja then Kamalia. Kak Yatt happy tangkap gambaq those yang baru datang struggling to sit. I as usual ada aje problem ngan camera so I can’t take undignified pictures of my friends. Ha ha.

Dah selamat duduk...

Minah pakai tudung keler biru and merah tu happy sebab Abang Yahya.....

The food was superb. Nasi briyani, the kebabs, the humus and the tonnes of soft, hot flatbreads. Hmmm…. macam nak pegi lagi.

Then it was time to take out the cake. I mean I knew the cake was coming as I asked for it but then the rest of my friends knew it when we heard the familiar melody of Happy Birthday being played on the radio. WAAAAAAAA ! Mati gelak kita orang because CD tu tak sophisticated langsung... Budak-budak yang nyanyi... macam buat birthday kat tadika..

Table cleared to make way for the cake...

And I took picture of the cake ... and someone's posterior.... Ha ha.. Anyway I think cik kak ni lah yang tanya kak Kay... how old aaaa ? He he.... hey....nak buat surprise pun tak leh...

HA HA HA ! Okay, that one I didn’t plan.

The cake was urrrghhh ! It hardened a bit and lost its charm. It tasted really nice at home at 7.30 pm before I slathered cream on top. Dah masuk fridge lain pulak jadinya....As usual I despaired.

We went home about 10.30 when the mall has closed. But we were happy and had a good time. I got a bit worried driving home alone in the dark night as topic hangat malam tu was cerita hantu, but then seeing Eja driving in front of me and Ya behind me I stopped reciting my Ayat Kursi.

Busy as usual on Saturday. Kamil came home chom a bit for some reason. I ignored it. Made kuew tiaw Cantonese for lunch, goreng pisang for tea, jogging with Amelia at 5.30, went out to BSC at night as I had wanted to check out their new food hall. Okaylah… There were sides of beef yang susah sikit nak cari kat Shah Alam but other than that, nothing much lah. Bought some durum wheat to make pizza though so I'd like to think that it was not a complete failure.

Met Ian and Haziq there. Ian wanted to eat at Saga but then my kids moaned in the car when they learnt where we were going. So called Ian and switched to Up Town. Apparently my children prefer gerai food than upmarket Indian food…. Hmmm….

Bought a CD that Kamil merely grunted his approval of. Dunno what was wrong with him. Didn’t get to see it though as kids slept and Kamil also took his dark clouds to sleep so I too sleep. Bo-ring.

Sunday jogged with Kamil. Chom still very much visible. Rasa macam nak ketuk-kepala his chom away (not kiss it all away....)but considering I so want to go to syurga, I changed my mind. Balik to mandi, picked up the kids then Kamil dropped us off at McD sek 3 for mommy and me time. Mommies sembang and me’s semua main together so not so much mommy and me but us and them then.

Had a lovely, long chat with Amelia and Yasmin there. Satisfying ones. Sometimes, girls just need each other to wind down and make sense of the world. That is it. Since the kids ate at McD, I made roast chicken sandwiches on ciabatta for lunch. Kamil still chom and I just don’t want to care anymore.

Baked the same chocolate cake again because I need to find away to make it nice once more after holing it up in the fridge. Found the solution, which is heating it up just before serving meaning no more whipped cream on top if I want the whole confection to survive the microwave. Tried with chocolate ganache and it behaved well in the heat so my problem was solved.

While preparing dinner, Kamil asked, “You tahu tak I marah dengan you ?” Hawau sungguh ! I thought you chom pasal office matters. "So what did I do ?" tanya aku. “I don’t know… I am just angry….” adalah jawapan bernasnya. Yeah, pelempang ndak ?

So what did I do ? Aku pun marah but then the beauty of my marah is, I am AWARE of the bloody reason !

Marah-marah pun, telan gak my delicious ravioli in tomato sauce and garlic bread. I know it was delicious because my children kept saying so.

So…. I think you know what happened lah… now aku pulak CHOM.

So actually, my weekend was not that good…

Hmmm…..