Cek Mek Zue

Morning madness

2011-02-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

A glass ( or rather half full ) of milk and a few slices /squares of brownies with walnut dusted with icing sugar , next to my laptop in my small 'office' in my little kitchen next to my baking area, to start the day or rather to calm the hectic activity which took place earlier on.

"Hurry up! it's almost seven! ( am)"
the ever so familiar sound almost every day from Sunday to thursday in this household. what would happen if we started our journey after seven? jam and more jam, names jotted down by the school prefects, that's what's going to happen.

somehow today something else happened. As usual, if we left the house before seven or seven on the dot, I would drop my eldest daughter first which was on the other side of the town , followed by my youngest, the other way, nearer to home. My son, he cycled to school daily except when it rains. When i reached Batrisyia's school, just in time before the bell rang, to my horror, her school bag was not in the back seat!I must have left it when I locked the front door! OMG!!! Sign of aging? Must be, through the chaotic and the morning madness, time was wasted. time which I could use to do many other things like laundrying, watering the plant, etc, etc....
Now I have to go back and bring the bag to school .

Now, i am in my 'office', clicking away on the keyboard, the washing machine is on, and I am staring at the mess in front of me, the mess that we did last night after dinner which I was too tired to clear up immediately after. Still, I wouldn't want to change this for anything else....

After a long and tiring day of conducting the cupcake deco session during the day , an offer to cook dinner by hubby was music to my ear. thank you kids and hubby dearest for the lovely dinner last night, spanish omelette, grilled chicken and ribs and salmon. I only ate the spanish omelette specially prepared by my other half.It was marvellous!

What's Up Doc?

2011-01-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

2 am teh tarik, " Ma, tarik tinggi-tinggi sikit kay"

one out of six bunnies in the making for the six banana walnut cake

this chocolate moist cupcake was to be filled with a bunny

make a little hole in the middle, just enough to put in the bunny's head half way in

pop the head in

put thw two tiny paws

voila- 5 cups of bunnies in a hole for five sets of Chinese New Year cupcakes

sambal sotong with eggs

2010-10-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

telur sotong membuak-buak sampai nak terkeluar...yum...sedapnya.
dari kecil, umi mesti masak sotong rebus dan umi akan pastikan sotong2 tu semua ada telur. Umi masak simple sahaja
sotong rebus, direbus je dengan bawang merah, serai, halia, lengkuas I think, tapi rasanya sangat sedap. rasa-rasanya ,masa kecil dulu umi tak pernah buat sambal sotong dan sekarang ni pulak, I have never made sotong rebus in this house
How I ate my squid when I was young, I would cut them into smaller rings and put them on my fingers, macam pakai cincin.then makan satu-satu, the parts with most egg in it, I would save it for last, saved the best for last..

2010-10-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

I want to make the roses too!

2010-10-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

"Kemana tumpahnya kuah kalau tidak ke nasi", so they said or for spaghetti bolognese lovers, where would the spaghetti sauce be poured into if not into the plate and onto the spaghetti! ...hehe........

My daughter, would always be beside me whenever I am sitting in my kitchen. I am like a magnet to her, she would be drawn to me the minute I put on the apron or place the bandana on my head, she knew that I was about to start on my cakes and brownies , and so on.
When she saw me taking out the cream chesese, she knew that I'd be making marble cheese brownies, if no cocoa powder involved, it'd be vanila cupcakes.
That night, I started rolling some fondant to make fondant roses for a sweet lady's order for fondant and buttercream roses deco for her cupcakes

Mama, can I have some too? Batisya nak buat roses jugak. I was making the white roses and so I gave her the light purple fondant for her to play with.Seen in the two pictures above was her trying her hands on making a cat as per the instruction in the book.

Batrisyia's handmade fondant roses. These were the ones she had prepared before starting on the cat, unfortunately she didn't finish the cat,maybe next time.

What was I doing when I was her age? I didn't even know or heard of fondant! let alone playing or making something out of it! never heard of buttercream or piping bags and nozzles either!
The closest I got to be involved with the baking was helping my mother with the cookies, the plain ones.Little did I knew that I'd be doing them now!

2010-10-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

posted in dental office:

"Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings too."

from Reader's Digest,'Laughter the best medicine 'collection

gomol kelate gomol....

2010-10-20T04:15:00.000-07:00

yellow and green everywhere, mostly worn as t-shirts and some opt for yelllow and green wig. Saw them as I was driving along JAlan Tun Razak going into Jalan Stadium, my car was moving rather slowly for there was only one lane left instead of the normal two. The other was used as parking for football supporters coming from all over for tonight's match.

it's the semi-final tonight,between Kedah and Kelantan, according to hubby dearest. As I was approaching the traffic light near my house, suddenly I saw red and white on my right, so many of them and suddenly, the state spirit in me was lifted. I felt like shouting at them, "go go Kelate go" or gomol kelate gomol! but that wouldn't be proper would it, unless I was in the stadium cheering them.

I am not much of a football fan except for the recent World Cup and this red and white team which had a not so nice experience/ incident in Selangor recently when they met with red and yellow theme, where both clubs were fined by the FAM for their supporters unruly and violent behaviour. I don't support such violent act. you can support your team all you like but please , no violence.

My house is not far from the stadium, in fact whenever a goal was scored, I could hear the loud cheering from the stadium.
I found out this morning that red and white team beat the yellow and green team. Yeay for Kelantan! and I supposed they are thru to the final.

Oh no! what's that smell.....

2010-10-18T20:04:00.001-07:00

Today's lesson:
they say that you should never leave your baggage unattended at any time whenever you are travelling , at the airport, railway station, bus station or whatever mode of transport that you are using, for fear of people putting a little unwanted something into them
but today what I am going to say is:

never.....ever.....leave your cake unattended
trust me, and you will thank me for it....
actually this is a reminder for me
I learnt my lesson this morning.
The old folks used to say and I don't know if they are still saying it today in this borderless, IT era,
" Don't sing in the kitchen when you are cooking or you will end up marrying older men"
the reason being they are afraid that those girls will burn their cooking if they are busy singing their hearts out.Dunno if the saying is still used or not and I guess nowadays perhaps some ladies wouldn't mind marrying older men, for whatever reasons and it is not for me to decide or criticise. It is a matter of the heart( and money and security and many many other reasons ).
in fact, some prefer marrying younger guys...........

Baked my MCB, marble cheese brownies, so happy with the design, very simple cos I planned to write a birthday message using fondant alphabets later on today .
Leaving the MCB in the oven, I set the timer for about 25 minutes, went upstairs to check my e-mails, to do my morning blogwalking ,visiting my cyber friends and I got carried away, especially if I visit my Ontario friend whose humour and wits always brings smiles and make me see two moons ( like he always put it ) after reading his entries. Today , this morning was no exception.

Not only that, I received a call, a customer ordering some cupcakes and me, as usual, would be too absorb in my conversation when it comes to cakes and cupcakes. After ending the call, I went downstairs to check on my MCB but the smell coming from my kitchen was not too promising, it was not the usual nice cheesy aroma which I got from my baked marble cheese brownies, but it was a strong burnt marble cheese brownies smell and to my horror, it actually was burnt! it was much darker than the usual colour that I liked it to be.There is no possible way that I am giving this to my customer tomorrow.

I wasn't singing in my kitchen, nor was I listening to any music from either the radio or the TV and I for sure am not afraid of marrying an older man cos I already have a man in my life and yet I still burn my MCB! there goes one block of expensive Philadelphia cream cheese, one block of butter, amongst other things, fortunately I still have a few blocks of cream cheese and butter in my chiller and I would have to make another one, of course, nothing but the best for my customer.

lesson's learned, hopefully.

How do I......

2010-08-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

Can love be so hurtful?

How can something so beautiful and yet be so painful?

love and hate

beautiful and painful

how do I
get through one night without you
if i had to live without you
what kind of world would that be
oh and i need you in my arms,
need you to hold,
you are my world, my heart, my soul,
if you ever leave, baby you will take away everything'
good in my life,
and baby
how, how do i live, without you,
i want to know
how do i breathe without you,
if you ever go,
how do i ever, ever survive,
how do i
how do I.......live.....

last scene from con Air and I cried everytime I hear this song.what can i say, i'm a softie.....

Ouch! It hurts!

2010-07-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

ouch!That hurts!It's not like I had never cut myself before, many , many times, knife cut , A4 paper cut, broken bottle cut, cut which I didn't know from nowhere and I'd just put a plaster over it. Actually what I wanted to show was how deep the cut was but it seemed like my car got the centre stage here and not my finger!remind me to take some photography lesson

it looks kinda weird....

but yesterday, the cut was deeper than usual, small but deep...I was making my cookies. the green tea was already in the oven and I was going to start on the semolina which required minyak sapi.Minyak sapi didn't come in blocks like butter but it came in a can. Somehow, on that fated day, yesterday, I tried to lift up the lid ( silly and careless me tried to lift it using my finger instead of spoon like I normally do) and in a split second, I could feel the sharp blade cut into my finger.

Ouch! that was deep!Blood started tricking down nonstop. I quickly grabbed the First Aid box in the toilet and took out some cotton wool to stop the blood from coming out. After awhile, it did and I put on the acriflavine lotion ( or the ubat kuning which I knew from I was very young, luka aje, ubat kuning)

Arrest than green can! Guilty! As charged. looking innocent and schmuckly there.

Just a word of caution to me and everyone reading this, please..please be careful with canned items. I threw this can away and took a new tin of minyak sapi for my cookies. don't want anyone to become Raja Bersiong ( just in case traces of blood was in there )after eating my cookies:-)

Lesson learned. Whatever you are doing, focus and concentrate, especially when dealing with sharp objects. Don't let your mind drift elsewhere. I guess, my mind was elsewhere when I tried to open the can and look what it got me.

reminds me of the song 'cuts like a knife' by rockwell

2010-07-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Acara Lompat Dalam guni or was it lari Dalam guni?

2010-05-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

should I run or should I jump? My teacher taught us to jump in the guni but I saw all those kids running...... so which is it?

jump Batrisyia, jump!

or was it run, Batrisyia run!

I wasn't sure and a bit confused too. I thought it was an acara lari dalam guni but I saw other kids ran in their gunny sack, so which is it?

My Batrisyia jumped or hopped at first , then decided to run half way, then
jumped again and finally..........

what the heck, just run! out of the guni.......

though you are not the champ this time dear, but you are still "The Champ" in mummy's heart.

love you heaps.....

JANUARY TO APRIL BABIES' BIRTHDAYS

2010-04-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

Chocolate cake with ganache and colourful sugar sprinkles scattered on top and cololurflu smarties arranged on the sides.

Happy Birthday to January , February, march and April babies of the pra classes at my daughter's school. Her teacher ordered the cake the celebrate the kids' birthdays. How sweet and thoughtful of the teacher. I was informed that each quarter, the kids will be celebrating their birthdays and by doing this, at least each one can experience the birthday celebration with their friends.

I made this MCB, complimentary from Zue's Oven since my daughter was one of the birthday babies.

birthday kids with their cake, eagerly and patiently waiting for the green light to cut their cake.

the cake was shared with the birthday kids from the other class too. love is sharing!

it's makan time! umi prepared laksa for the kids. kek ada, MCB ada, chiffon cake ada, keropok goreng pun ada. seronok budak2 ni. kalu hari2 biasa, makan satu jenis sahaja, but hari ni extra special.

Thank you Cikgu and Happy Sixth birthday Kids. Semoga menjadi anak2 yang soleh dan solehah.

GARFIELD

2010-04-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

"I hate Mondays" was his favourite phrase.
Lasagna was his favourite food
Jon was his master
Odie was his mate, ( for bullying)
Nermal ( he hated this cute little cat)

Me....... his fan! and so are my kids!

I started reading Garfield during my Uni years. His books were readily available and was affordable too for students like me. I normally bought them at WHSmith in Ilford where my friends and I would sometimes go during our free time. Ilford town was the nearest town to our place. My first house as a student was in Windsor Road, only walking distance to Ilford, where I shared with three other Malaysian students. We rented the place from a nice Pakistani landlady called Jamila .

Now my kids like to read Garfield too, especially Ameer. Even my six year old Batrisyia loves to look thru the books . Tsara likes to read thicker books, like the Mr Midnight books , Harry Porter or the Twilight series .

These are just the few collections that I have and my son has started to collect them now.I used to cut the cartoon comic strip in the papers ( where did I put them?)Perhaps, if and when I have the time I would bind them nicely and make a book out of the paper clippings for my kids to read.

I love reading, I have read most of Sidney Sheldon's book from 'The other side of midnight" to "The sand of Time" ( I think there are a few more newer ones), a few of Stephen King's novels; Misery, Tommyknockers, just to name two, Jeffrey Archer Kane and Abel, Prodigal Daughter, a more romantic books by Danielle Steele and many many more.

I still like reading but have less time to do them now. I must try to make the time because when I read, the satisfaction is overwhelming, something that could not be achieved by watching the novel turned movie version on TVs. the feeling is not the same. Whenever I started holding a book, its difficult to put it down and the story would transport me into its world. I could imagine how the place looked like and made me feel as if I had been there, it shows just how great these writers are.

I remember reading "Gone With The wind" and they have made a movie out of that novel and it's nice to be able to actually visualise the characters , to actually see Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'Hara on the big screen, such a handsome and beautiful pair, unfortunately, "Frankly my dear, i don't give a damn".Ego vs passion and ego won , I think. How did it end. Did they end up together? Did they live happily ever after?

Nowadays, I have added a few more writers and more books in my collection, a different kind of book, neither mystery, nor horror but more delectable in another sense. I am talking about cake decorating books by Martha Stewart, Debbie Brown, Peggie Porschen, Mich Turner and a few more. These people are talented too, with their beautiful and intricate cake collections and they are so inspiring. Not to mention, my cookbook collections. Let's not go into that. I would go on and on about books because I have so many books at home, books from my students days, my working days and now my stay at home days. Books and magazines are everywhere in the house.

Reality calls! house chores to do. I'll leave my books for a while. Happy reading everyone! Reading is good, reading is educational, reading is fun, so keep on reading!

Lari dalam guni Champ

2010-04-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

face of the "Champ" ...for lari dalam guni......:-)
she would show the little trophy to anybody who comes to our house and this evening, when I was talking to my sis on the phone, she

whispered to me, "lari dalam guni" ...okay, okay , I got the message, you wanted me to tell aunty that you won first place for that event , okay, I'll tell her and I would even put a photo of you with your trophy.....:-) Everybody say Cheese.....

Batrisyia and her classmates who were involved in the "hari Cergas Minda " last 14th April. they represented their school in the " Lari Dalam guni"
and a few other events too. guess what, they would be representing the district after this, so the teacher said. Wow! My daughter, representing the district?

That reminds of my childhood.......let's walk down memory lane a bit, shall we, humour me okay.....

the year was, in the 70s,the bellbottom years, the DJ Dave Uji Rashid, Hail amir era, in a small village called Pulai chondong, there was and I think still is, a school called SKPC, my school, I think 1977 or 1978, can't remember much but I do remember that I represented my school not for tracks but for short play competition, that was when I was in Std Six, story telling, ( now you know how old I am....ancient! ) when I was in std 5, ceramah ugama, was it Std 4 or 5?, that was during the primary school days, what about during my secondary school era, hmmm let me think...I was in the 4 X 400 metres relay, you know, lari berganti-ganti, kena tukar baton tu, I represented my house, rumah kuning or rumah Mahsuri and I am proud to say that we always won first place among the houses.those were the days,now, i can't even run the 100 metres, I think.

Suddenly i am remebering something, I think I won the first place for table tennis or ping pong during my uni days when we had a friendly match among us, the malay students there. I guess i was the best among the worst....hehe.....

Batrisyia's turn to receive her trophy

proudly, this mother of hers stood there, with her canon EOS 1000D, looking like a pro....I said, looking like a pro but not necessarily a pro....:-) taking the picture of her daughter receiving the trophy...... being watched by other students and teachers ( perasan....) what the heck....I am just being ....... a proud mum.......

jejak kasih.....Srikandi di Utara

2010-04-19T23:58:00.000-07:00

orang duk sibuk nak ambik gambar, sibuk plak dia cakap on the phone.....:-)

side view is a no, no,....barisan depan, barisan 90s, yang belakang to 70s and 80s. bagilah yang muda2 duk depan, sat gi kalu geng 70s and 80s duk macam tu, silap2 takleh bangun, but never fear..... our Kak Normah is here!, our ex-warden ...

still the same people but different view, background.

maju, maju, maju segera maju,

berbaris menempuh rintangan,

TF maju bersama maju,

mencapai cita-cita dan harapan ibu pertiwi...

kamilah penuntut TF,

mendukung cita2 yang suci,

bergerak maju cita dituju,

di bawah semangat dari urat nadi,

Srikandi TF.........

nostalgia....

Thank you to Kak Fid for FBing me and informed me of the event and Lynn for smsing me to join. Thank you Kak Fid, Kak Orchid, Kak Ija dan semua2 yang terlibat menjayakan mini reunion ini.

gotong royong

2010-04-18T03:50:00.000-07:00

me, not in the photo, but my JK old Beetle is.....:-)

jackets and blazers for sale!

2010-03-29T02:06:00.000-07:00

more input, pliz....

2010-02-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

input, more input....
Number 5 said to Stephanie, from the movie, "short Circuit"
I think that's what Batrisyia is asking for now, more input, she's so hungry for knowledge that she would ask me to teach her how to spell, how to count, at every available oportunity, even when I was baking and cooking!
Mama, what is 1 + 1? what is 2 + 3? and the questions goes on and on and from what I know, based on my readings and findings that kids absorb knowldege as early as they are in the wombs!the early years of their lives is the most crucial and the most perfect time to teach them things, that's why I tried my best to entertain her every time she comes to me even when at that time, I was already half asleep on the sofa!

"She's so much like your wife", hubby's friend commented .

I guess he's right. When I look at her, she reminds me a lot of me when I was young. So I said to my hubby, if you want to know what I was like when i was young, just look at her, what she does, how she speaks, how she is when she sulks, when she insisted on something, that's me..alright.She would get away with almost anything....

.After I had finished drawing on the MCB, it was her turn to draw

According to Batrisyia, it's a drawing of her and Adam, holding hands in the rain, Adam, hubby's nephew's son who's in Damansara but whenever we meet, these two are inseparable.

new members in the family

2009-12-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

Tsara' and Batrisyia with their new cousin, alisya

tok Abah and tok Umi with their grandchildren

Cucu yang ke 21 ( Pi and Ayu's ALisya)and yang ke 22( Yin and Mimi's Haiqal).

before they went missing

2009-10-31T19:50:00.000-07:00

there's nothing wrong with your computer or laptop screen...they are in black and white.
yup, no other colours but white with black spots or all almost black
these photos were taken when they were barely a few days old, before they went missing.

feeding time . I think they are the third generations from this mummy cat.

the two big sisters( I think they are the second generation ), napping time or rather relaxing time.

manjanyer, mother and daughter, not for long, you have those four other baby kittens to share your mummy's love with, love is sharing, love is caring.......

They are back.........

2009-10-27T04:02:00.000-07:00

They have been gone for more than two months.The mother took them away from the comfort of the tiny cupboard of our home to "'don't know where" until today, out of the blue, we heard baby kittens meowing somewhere.

Suddenly, i heard my son cried, "They are still alive!".i rushed to my kitchen, opened the folding door and the grill and true enough, there they were, only three of them ( there were four) standing at the edge of my neighbour's house's roof.

I guess, the mother finally decided that it was safe for her to bring out her babies in the open. no wonder she was acting kinda weird lately. She kept coming to the back kitchen and meowing her heart out to us, which was kinda strange because we had put her food outside, so she couldn't be hungry, but we didn't know at the time.

newborn

2009-08-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

the look...the hug....the warmth.....the tenderness......
captured in these few shots taken by my kids last nite

we discovered that the mother had given birth to four new kittens. looks like the two ( earlier four )kittens ( now kittens no more ) have new brothers and sisters.

the love of a mother, even cats have feelings and protective over their newborns. How snugly close she held her babies in her arm and leg too!

love at first sight...

2009-07-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

It was love at first sight. the minute I lay my eyes on these gorgeous plant, I fell inlove with it instantly. I had to have it.

Similar but not the same

2009-07-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

What do you think, any resemblance?

well..almost...

My daughter came up to me with the kitten inside the bag, don't worry, the cat is not suffocated in the bag. She just wanted to show me that our cat looks like the cat on that wh*skas bag.

I think it does, don't you?

kittens in the garden

2009-06-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

There were four kittens initially.After a while, one left the group (to the other world, but not to worry, cats have nine lives right, so they keep coming back)

Then, there were three as shown in these pics, but not for long, cos this is not their latest photo. As I am writing this, there are only two of them left. Princess, the white one, my youngest daughter's favourite died recently.

The mother is not seen here in the picture. she came to us not long ago.everytime she comes, we feed her. She is not ours and we do not know who she belongs to. We didn't take her in for health reason., not her health but our kids'.

This is in fact not her first batch of kittens but the second I think. None of her kittens survived , not during the birth but after. From that experience, she became extra cautious and over protective over her babies. She always tried to bring them into the house but we couldn't allow that, so what my hubby did was if they couldn't come into the house, so why don't we bring the house to them? Really, we made a house for them, using our kids tent and placed it on our front porch.

I have always liked cats and kittens alike. Ever since I was young ( many, many years ago.....)our house ( my parent's ) was never catless. There was Chomel, Tompok, Putih, Tamtih,and so many other names which I cannot recall.

they are such cute and adorable creatures and they would just melt any hearts who see them ( for most people but not all ).however, As I have my first baby in 1995, cats were no longer allowed into our house for health reason as I had mentioned earlier, so that is why they , the kittens are only allowed to play outside.

Is that a tree house?

2009-05-18T21:39:00.001-07:00

There's a big purple house and i noticed that there's another house, much smaller with purple roof this time but it's on a tree! Is it a tree house? Is she trying to tell us something? We did plan to build one for the kids, but which tree? we don't have that many trees in our small compound, let alone a tree big and strong enough for a tree house, so i guess she can only have her treehouse in this picture of hers.

I like this drawing, so colourful, so happy, so ....every thing that it should be ....coming from a five year old who has no worries in the world.

Batrisyia drew this yesterday, 18th May 2009.

The three darlings

2009-04-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Kakak, Abam( this is how she called her abang ) and Batrisyia herself as seen through her eyes.....
My youngest daughter's drawing.

simple yet yummy...

2009-04-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

I have to write this down before it slips from my mind.I tend to change my recipe every now and then and when I get the right taste, ( right taste means it gets nice reviews from hubby dearest)I have already forgotten what I actually put in there, that is why this time I am writing it down so that the next time I want to cook the same dish, I would know what to put in. Reason being, our dinner was a success last night, my hubby didn't just have a second helping but a third and a fourth. I was so happy to see him eat last night. He is not easily pleased when it comes to cooking. Actually he is, when you know what he likes and dislikes. If he likes it he will say it straight to your face and if he doesn't like it, he would do the same. Ouch! sometimes the word hurt a bit but at least I know what I did wrong , with my cooking that is, so that I can improve the next time.

I was a bit famished yesterday for I did not have my lunch. So, upon reaching home after fetching my youngest daughter from her kindie cum daycare, I rushed to the kitchen, still in my working attire, i started pounding the onions and garlics, while de-frosting the squid, chicken, and fish.

I have already asked my eldest daughter to cook the rice before I left the office, so that is already been taken care of. Now, what shall I cook? Something quick yet delicious. My stomach is already grumbling , so I decided to make sambal sotong , the easiest and fastest.

Turned the cooker on, put some oil in the pan and sauted the onions and garlic, add some chilli paste, when it is cooked, add asam jawa paste with some water, followed by salt and sugar. I also added some oyster sauce and soy sauce, Habhal Kipas Udang Lemak manis, a favourite among us in the house. After all the ingredients were blended in, add the squids and leave it for a few minutes. you can't cook seafood too long.

That's one dish done. What next? I boiled three eggs because I thought of adding them into the prawn gravy, but changed my mind. Instead, I used the "ikan kembung" instead. so I had my ikan kembung gulai in a jiffy, a ready made gravy from yesterday's prawn gravy. Why waste it when it is till tasty and edible.

That's not all. I had my ( just me ) dinner early at around 6.30 pm. At 8.30 pm I went down to my kitchen again to prepare the dinner for my kids and since my husband is not going out tonight, he specifically asked for "ikan bakar' which I am more than happy to oblige because I like to cook this one. My son likes ikan bakar too, especially siakap. My eldest daughter, she likes everything, so I am not worried about her. Furthermore I had prepared the paste earlier so all I need to do is just de-frost the ikan siakap, clean it, put it on an aluminium foil , rub some salt and squeezed some lemon juice on it and turn the oven to grill mode. The final ingredient, spread the paste which I had prepared earlier on the siakap and grill it away . About 20 minutes later, it is done.

For the paste, I pound together some onion, lemon grass, belacan,salt and sugar, chilli paste and some tomato sauce.

So, there you go, our dinner:
1. ikan siakap bakar with sambal
2. sambal sotong with oyster sauce
3. ikan kembung in prawn gravy curry
4. boiled eggs
5. mixed veggie
6. ikan gelama masin
7. sambal belacan and cucumber

Bon appetit!

Unfortunately I don't have the photos to show all these dishes., they are in......err... our tummies........

A brief visit by my youngest bro and SIL

2009-04-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Batrisyia with her teddy and her Aunt's teddies....

BBQ corner

Masa yang ditunggu2, saat2 untuk menikmati the plain bake cheesecake. He likes to eat it when he was young and his schoolmate, nama Muniandi kan yin, would join him when they returned from school ( primary school) in a small shop house, in a small kampung, about 10 minutes drive to the capital city of " Negeri Cik Siti Wan Kembang".

saje2 topped the cheesecake with the bride and groom teddy on the cheesecake for the not so newly wed. Adik tinggi, kakaknya tak berapa tinggi , itu pasallah dia kena tundukkan kepala..hi..hi...

" kak jue, one cheesecake please, we are coming over", well those were not his exact words but meant something like that. My youngest brother has been one of my number one supporter for my plain bake cheesecake, that was way before I ventured into Zue's Oven.

Just married barely 3 months with the lady of his choice, a sweet petite Mimi from Skudai whom the sales person at Pekan Rabu mistook for his sister....she's carrying ( in her tummy) their first baby barely 3 months old also.....

A few to do items on their list:
1. nak makan cheesecake kak jue
2. nak cari ikan pekasam di Pekan Rabu
3. nak BBQ

I am glad I am able to fulfil all those wishes esp that SIL is pregnant, however the visit was so brief that we barely have time to sembang2( noticed that this is the third time I used the word " barely"). They arrived around 2 am on Thursday ( Friday night) and by the time they arrived, the cheesecake is ready, fresh from my oven, only waiting to be cooled off and chilled in the fridge.

We only slept at around 3.30 am and hubby woke me up at 4.30 am cos we planned to go to the morning fish market to get our supply of fish, chicken, prawns ,etc for the family cos my freezer is almost running out of stock.

Bought nasi dagang, roti canai and some pulut sambal for breakfast and since it is Friday, our off day, most of us slept in but not Mummy dearest, after packing the fish, etc into individual plastic bags for each servings, had my bath ( actually Mummy did take a few minutes to doze off ), came down to the kitchen to prepare today's lunch and the menu for today is
1. kari ikan kembung ( fresh from the market)
2. Ayam masak minangkabau ( the recipe which i learned back in the school days)
3. ikan bawal emas goreng ( the favourite fish among my family , kalau makan ikan ni mesti licinnya)
4. sayur kacang and carrot
5. sambal belacan and budu with timun

very simple menu, after lunch off hubby went to KL for his Architectural seminar ( he only just found about it at the last minute, if not he would have stayed ) That leaves me and my three kids with my bro and SIL.

After marinating the chicken, my SIL and brother went out too and they were going to Sg Petani to see her father angkat and I continued fiddling with my fondant figurines because the cake is promised by 3 pm tomorrow.

We missed the BBQ because they came back quite late and even if they were home early, it wouldn't be fun BBQing in the rain, it was raining cats and dogs and even some parts of Alor Star was flooded.

Despite the shortcomings, we had such fun time eating the chicken BBQ on Saturday ( marinated by SIL the nite before) ). Brother and SIL prepared everything themselves from scratch ; from making the bara, to grilling till we saw the end result, chicken, some prawns, and satay too..... on the small dining table in the wet kitchen.

Back to the BBQ lunch, we shared silly jokes and exchanging riddles like this one :)
Q: gajah lalu, patah titi, kambing lalu, patah apa?
A: patah balik......kuang, kuang, kuang......

Q: There's a fire in an orchard, all the fruits got burnt except for three kinds of fruits, what are they?
A: i) buah cempedak - di luar pagar
ii) buah keranji - di dalam perahu
iii ) pisang emas- dibawa belayar........

Q: Kenapa kalau orang main golf, lepas dia pukul bola tu, dia letak tangan above the eyes and dongak ke langit?
A: Takkan dia nak tutup mata, nanti tak nampaklah bola tu jatuh ke mana......

Those are some of the jokes and riddles that we shared and that brief moment at least something for us to remember the brief visit by.

After lunch, waited for my first 3D/novelty fondant figurine Snow White and the Seven D... Dolls chocolate cake to be picked up by a lady, fellow colleague, who has three sons and one daughter and she wanted this cake to be very special indeed for her 3 years old, one and only little Princess . I slaved ( exaggerate a bit ) myself over the cakes the last few days making sure that I've got everything just as she wanted it, colourful, girlish only that I made it extra special by making it 3D instead of just 2D drawings on the cake. ( see my other cekmekzue blog for full photos of the cake)
Off we went to Pekan Rabu in search of that ikan pekasam and at the same time bought ' baju pengakap" for my son and also on the way back, dropped by at Bata to get him a new pair of shoes.
Dinner was very simple, bihun goreng with generous portions of prawns and squids matched with keropok goreng. After taking a few minutes rest because my SIL is still having her morning sickness, they drove back to KL at around 11 pm bringing back some of the cheesecake with him. Speaking of morning sickness, i remembered my condition when I was pregnant with my youngest, I was hospitalised and put on drips for a few days. It was a difficult pregnancy and a difficult birth too but out came a beautiful angel weighed 3.25kg. more about this later. So, Yin, take good care of the little missus, some pregnant women tend to be difficult to live with especially if they have all sorts of weird cravings, likings or dislikes but you must learn to accept the condition and be very patient for this is one of those times that they need their other half most.

received an sms this morning that they've arrived safely in Puchong at around 3.30am . i guess my brother will only have a few hours rest because he's working at 8 am!

As a sister, I am very happy and berbesar hati cos my brother comes over to visit us even though we are living about 4 to 5 hours drive from one another. just like my sister who is living in Ireland, when she came back for last raya, she made a point to visit us during the fasting month last year and that time I made chocolate cake for her hubby since it was his birthday. I'll write about Da's visit in the next post, insyaallah.My other sister too who lives in our hometown nearer to our parents house came over for a visit once in a while.

No matter how busy we are, with work or with children , no matter what the distance is, it only takes a small step to bring the distance closer, to make the relationship stronger, make time to visit them, if you can't afford the time,give them a call, e-mail them or sms them, the least you can do is include them in your daily prayers, that will bring them closer to your heart, insyaAllah.

Princesses and Prince of the house

2009-03-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

the three jewels in my life. Now where is that other gem? The tall, dark and handsome Prince Charming in my life

The other Princess...

2009-03-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

zoom in my wet kitchen as seen from outside, whilst my other Princess is busy watching TV.

Disney on Ice Princess Batrisyia

2009-03-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

She skates like a pro, like "Disney on Ice" Princess, wonder where she got the skill from...hmmmmm.....

A new beginning

2009-01-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Assalamualaikum, pembuka kata.

Wow! That wasn't so bad. Been contemplating on creating this blog cos I am not really a computer savvy or an IT person. OK. I am going to take one step at a time, now that this is done, I will explore and experiment further later..