ULIK MAYANG GUEST HOUSE

A place to call "HOME"

ULIK MAYANG GUEST HOUSE,

your 'home' during your 'stay' in Alor Star

Situated in the heart of the City, Alor Star , off Jalan stadium in Taman Stadium, along with other residential homes.

less than ten minutes drive to Sultan Abdul Halim airport in Kepala Batas,

less than five minutes drive to the Muzium, Pekan Rabu and Telekom Tower,

about twenty minutes drive to Kuala Kedah jetty ( if you are plaaning a trip to Langkawi )

about forty five minutes drive to Bukit Kayu hitam via the North south highway,

and if you bring your passport with you, you can cross the border to another country and greetings " Sawadikap" will welcome you.

it is a fully furnished single storey, semi detached house with three bedrooms .two bathrooms, one living room, a dining area and a kitchen. All three bedrooms are equipped with air-conditioned and and bathrooms with water heater.

this tiny but cosy kitchen comes with basic utensils, plates, cups, mugs, etc, all the things you need to enjoy your 'take away' food, cos i don't think most of you would feel like cooking while on holiday, right?
this full length ( well, almost) is a "MUST' for bride or groom to be, or for the father of the bride , not forgetting mums too, to do their final inspection before leaving the house for the akad nikah ceremony or the convocation.

sampin dah disusun dan diikat dengan rapi ke?

tudung match tak dengan baju,

make-up okay tak, etc etc....
master bedroom with luscious pillows, could make a perfect second honeymoon setting
snuggle close together under this comfy comforter and pillows
and sleep like a baby................
photos of cupcakes neatly framed and become part of the deco ( courtesy of Zue's Oven)
at this small table, all the family members can sit down for discussion and planning, planning on where to go , what to do

shall we go to the Muzium ( and Muzium Padi too )tomorrow?

or visit the Pekan Rabu, and buy some ikan pekasam

or perhaps go up the telekom tower and have lunch at the revolving restaurant


sambill duk relax malam tu , layanlah this big screen flat plasma TV
before leaving this place, don't forget to write down any comments or suggestions in the 'Guest book' on this small table by the door
there are some old magazines for you to just browse thru,while killing the time waiting for the ladies to get ready, why is it always the ladies who are getting ready, guys nowadays take their time too to look good too....

Whatever your reasons for visiting Alor Star, be it to attend weddings, kenduris or children's convocation,

whatever the plans may be, be it eating ikan bakar in Kuala Kedah, or eating laksa at Teluk Kechai,

or watching 'proudly' with tears of joy rolling down your cheeks, your sons or daughters receiving theirs scrolls on graduation dsy,

or buying 'totos' in Bukit Kayu hitam or Padang Besar,

this is the place for you , to rest, and sleep soundly before making your way back to your own HSH.

When you think of Alor Star , think of ULIK MAYANG GUEST HOUSE, grab your phone and call us at this number: 019-4786100 ( zue ) for reservation.

Address:

1914-D, Taman stadium,

Jalan stadium,

05100 Alor star

for more info, log on into our blogspot at www.cekmekzue.blogspot.com

or e-mail me at zurianikadir@yahoo.com

Morning madness

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?

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

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..

I want to make the roses too!

"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!

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....

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.....

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......

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!

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

Acara Lompat Dalam guni or was it lari Dalam guni?

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

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

"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!