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.