Raya 2009 - Family Potrait

This pics were taken when we came back from Batu Pahat, the 4th Raya and we had this Raya gathering @ our house in BSP. All of us were there, the first pics were everyone is in the picture.

My parents, my 2 brothers and their family and of course my better half with the cuties.

And this is all the grandchildren my parents have. Of course there's Anis's mother(Iwan's wife) to hold Anis.

Now you know why I did not blog at all during Raya. I was really enjoying myself and this is one of the best raya I ever had!

After long silence, I am tempting you with what we cooked throughout Ramadhan

After long silence, I am blogging from Putrajaya while waiting for the afternoon session of this programme. Yup, still working despite Raya is just few days away....Sedih...

Moving on...

Let me share what we cooked during this fasting month, some of the menu lah yer

One night was declared as Italian night, we cooked Pizza and Pasta. We even tried doing our own dough

Another nite was also declared as Western food night where we had fried chicken ala KFC, grilled burger and grilled lamb. We also had salad and soup.

There's one night where the house smelled like bakery. We baked few types of bread and alhamdulilah, it turned out well.

Another night, we cooked Char kuey teow, with additional ingredients like fish cakes, fish balls and lots of taugeh!!!!

And of course, my better half being a true Johorean, of couse want to have Johor style food and I cooked Lontong to satisfy his cravings. Accompanied with sambal sotong, sungguh lazat!!!

We did other dishes too, like Nasi Beriani, Nasi Minyak to name a few. But, laterlah, nanti ada yang nak buka pose azan zohor!!

Look out for more food entry ya!

Iftar Menu - Mee Hoon Soup

Very simple iftar indeed. Just some kuih bought at Pasar Ramadhan and shredded chicken for the main dish. Also chocolate roll bought earlier from a bakery.

Other condiments can be seen as well, daun sup with cili kicap.

The end product....a simple iftar menu, mee hoo soup...

Yang penting masak sendiri yer....

Iftar Menu - Nasi Ayam

I will start this email with a disclaimer, I did not cook this. This was the iftar we had last Friday where my parents came over to my house the day before and they did all the cooking. Kira, when I reached home, tinggal basuh tgn jer lah....

But, that day jer lah...The rest still sinsing lengan bersilat kat dapur segala....

One time is better than nothing kan???

Iftar Menu - Let's Go Western

This entry was long over due as this was the Iftar menu we had during the first few days of Iftar. I don't think I have to remind you the cuties came up with the menu kan.

That night was declared as the western food nite. We had many dishes ala western which were all home cooked and prepared by us, the family of 5.

Here we have fried chicken with potato salad

Burger - grilled not fried

Garlic bread - home baked

Grilled lamb - self marinated

A helicopter view of the dishes....ok lah, I have to confess, the mushroom soup came out of a can. Manalah sempat nak masak mushroom soup from scratch kan....we also made cekodok kurma and some sambal since my hero won't have appetite to eat if there's not sambal like dish.

So, to all, Selamat Berbuka Pose!!!!

Iftar Menu - Mee Rebus

When it comes to Ramadhan, one of the difficulty we faced is to know what to prepare for Iftar. So this year, we have changed our MO. We let the cuties decide what they want ot have instead. They will prepare the list weekly so that it's easier for us to prepare the ingredients.

One of the items in the menu was Mee Rebus. I know they love this hence was not that surprise this was in the menu.

The condiments, consists of daun sup, green chillies and lime.

The gravy, panas menggelegak dalam kuali.

The cuties couldn't wait to get their hands on the mee rebus....Yummy....

So, esok iftar aper pulak yer...Tunggu!!!!

It's good to have help in the house

It was a long weekend for all of us. That's what we thought when we entered Friday, with one addition leave day, that is a luxury to us.

However, when we entered Sunday morning, we felt the weekend was fading away......

There were still a lot of work to do around the house. Alhamdulilah, my cuties are big enough to help.

My princess was doing the dusting to make sure the racks and TV are dust free. While my hero was doing the vacuming....

And where's my baby....

Tiduqlah, mana lagik!!!

My Merdeka Day Plan

Being married to someone who works in a hospital, one of the sacrifices that need to be made is not to have your better half home with you on Saturdays and at time public holidays. And this is what will happen today...

So, what's my plan for the day.

After sahur, and subuh prayer, I plan to have my very own DVD marathon. The house has been cleaned over the weekend and the cuties schooling needs for Tuesday are ready. So, I finally get to relax.

The chosen movies :

Ghost of Girlfriend Past

I Love You Man

Public Enemy

in no particular order.

If my maths are correct, I should be able to complete before Zohor prayer and then will start to prepare for Iftar.

The menu of the day

Bubur berlauk...nope, it's not bubur lambuk. Will blog about that later.

For now, let me put my feet up and relax while I enjoy this movies. Will blog about the review, that is if I don't doze off in front of the TV....

A Merdeka Entry - Why Merdeka Means A Lot To Me

After few days of silence, I finally got the chance to do an entry, and this one is not an autopublish entry. While typing this, my better half is sitting next to me watching Demi Moore in action in the movie Indescent Proposal, one of her best acting.

Yup, we have just entered the Merdeka Day and let me share why Merdeka Day means a lot to me.

Merdeka Day......

This is my parents wedding anniversary. They were married 40 years ago on that day. Very convenient, so every years celebration, no need to apply leave, a celebration is totally guaranteed.

This year, we have to delay the dinner bit later, since it's Ramadhan and my dad don't really like to eat out or even eat that much during iftar cause he don't want to miss even a day of Terawih. So, perhas we'll have a good celebration later.

Merdeka Day also marked the 1st year we moved to our new house. A very easy date to remember....

And my real Merdeka, was back in 2003, when all the loans we have were settled and we lived for 5 years debt free until 2008, when we bought our new humble home and the new car, that was done after long hard thought.

So, Merdeka don't have to be 31st August, it can happen to us everyday....Just that whether we are willing to look hard enough for it.

With that said, Selamat Menyambut Hari Merdeka and Have a good time with your family....

Home made pizza

I made a pledge this Ramadhan to cook as frequent as I could. I guess I have come to a point where I realised the cuties are getting older and there will be a point they will live of their own. I hope they will still remember my cooking and make a point to come back and eat as one family whenever they can.

Last Tuesday, we decided to make pizza for iftar. Recipe was courtesy of Maryam and it made making pizza seems very easy and cheap.

Just get a pita bread, as the pizza base.

Spread the tomato paste and add toppings, in our case, we had sausages, mushrooms and cheese.

Bake in the over for about 10 minutes until it's because golden brown and crispy.

On top of that, I also cooked spagheti bolognese and bought some kuih and ayam percik at bazaar Ramadhan Bandar Seri Putra.

We are also training the cuties to start iftar with kurma. I am also training myself, yup I confess, I don't eat kurma, but I do know it's good for me...

Recipe for future iftar??? Just wait and see....

Iftar @ Home - Mee Bandung

Though it's the second day of fasting, it was actually the first day of fasting for us. We had the first day of fasting @ Batu Pahat which I will blog about it later once I figure out how do I transfer the photos from my berry to my desktop.

The menu yesterday, Mee Bandung. Actually, this year Iftar, we empowered the cuties to choose all the menus they want for this whole month. Which is also a good exercise for us as we don't have to think about what to cook.

The ingredients in the wok. Resepi rahsia turun temurun.

I also bought some kuih @ Bazaar Ramadhan Bandar Seri Putra, karipap and kuih lopes. Not forgetting the tamar.

Hot and cold drinks - hot for the old people like me and my better half and cold for the cuties lah.

The end product, sorry if make you all terliur....kuatkan iman yer....

I am so proud of my baby, last year she managed to complete one full month of fasting and she is determined to do the same this year. This was her pic taken at 6.30pm, still smiling.

We are trying to train the cuties to start the Iftar with tamar, my hero don't really like it, but willing to give it a try...

What's for iftar tonite....hint hint...going western!!!

What a great breakfast

Last Sunday, again, we had breakfast in our garden. We thought that was a good idea considering it rained the night before and that gave us the assurance the air will be cleaner in the morning.

The difference from the last session was this time around to tapau food. The kitchen was open early that morning and I cooke fried meehoon, with sambal tumis ikan bilis and fried eggs. Of course, how can we leave the Nescafe Tarik from the menu.

The cuties enjoyed the breakfast, they finished the whole bowl of the mee hoon.

While baby, still a bit feverish and had to take the medication after the meal.

I was doing some self reflection over the weekend and thinking about the direction of my life. That's when questions like what do I really want in life pop up.....Time to re-allign and re-adjust the aspiration and be reminded....my priority will and should always be my family, the cuties, as they are my investments for the life after death.......

Growing up with 7-11 slurpee

I don’t know about the rest of you but when I was growing up, I love going to 7-11. I felt it’s like a trip I look forward too. I remembered back then, I would save the money my parents gave me and have a 7-11 splurge at the end of the week. Apart for the sundae cone(which I and Iwan-my brother called patuk2 due to the shape), we love the Big Gulp(which we called Big Glup) and who can the Slurpee.

I think only Slurpee still available at 7-11. One fine hot day, I took the day off and took the opportunity to fetch the cuties from school. The weather was so hot so I offered them a treat of Slurpee at 7-11.They love the fact they can help themselves to put the Slurpee in the cup. Self service works for the kids, adult like me would prefer to be served.

My childhood was not a luxury childhood. I was brought up to earn what I want hence I trying to culcate the same behavior to the cuties. However, sometimes I do spoil them occasional. Can’t blame me, I work hard for them, so the most rationale thing to do to spend the hard earned money on them. But, I will always remind them to be prudent with our spending….something I think all mothers would remind their children.

The day I felt like an incompetent mother

I never had a maid. Not that I am against those who have one, but that's just the choices that me and my better half decided. We felt, both of us still can manage the chores and so we decided, not a necessity to have a maid. I am blessed to have a better half who is very hardworking to help me out.

However, like I have mentioned thousand times how workload is really overwhelming nowadays. Most of the time, after I sat down with the cuties to help them with their homework and after I cook dinner, I have to go to my mini office in my room to do office work. I still manage to do some of the housework but not the cleaning part.

Last weekend, I had to make a difficult decision, that is to hire people to clean my house. It's not something I like doing because I felt may be it's a waste of money. Maybe they don't really clean the house up to my expectations. and may be....a whole loads of may be....

But, I know I have to be realistic. There's no way no matter how I juggle, I can do everything.

Alhamdulilah, the decision was really worth it. They did this spring cleaning package where they send 3 people to scrub clean the whole house, from the kitchen to the bathroom to the rooms and halls. Memang berbaloi baloi!!!

After this would be the maintenance part where they will come 4 times a month and clean the house again.

And the good thing is I got to spend my Sunday with my better half and the cuties, talking and playing games in our garden. That makes the spending much more worth it!

Best Breakfast Session

I think too bad the cuties have a crazy mother who likes to do things when she feels like it. Doesn't really matter whether it's a common thing to do or it's out of extra ordinary.

Like last Sunday, the morning weather was very nice, so I suggested (strongly suggested that no one else have a say) for us to have breakfast outside. Since I have declared the kitchen was close that day, we just tapau Nasi Lemak.

Of course, a must to have Nescafe Tarik.

Apparently the cuties love it. They felt this was better than having meals at the dining hall.

We stayed for a while and read the morning paper. Then, off to a wedding.........

Kentucky Fried Chicken - My saviour!

One thing about malay culture, they felt they should not inform when they want to drop by friends or relatives houses as they don't want to inconvenient them to prepare food or snacks for the guest. Truth to be told ; as the host, I don't really like surprise visits. I would prefer to be given at least a day notice so that I can make sure the house is clean and I have food to serve the guest. I feel real bad if guests start coming to my house with nothing to eat and house is a mess.

That's what happened last Friday. My brother who lives in Melaka and now working in Kuantan pending his transfer approval back to Melaka wanted to drop by my house before making the journey to my parents house. I got to know about this at 4pm when he text me while I was in a meeting. Akak apa lagi, ribut huru hara and stepped out from office to get some snacks at Cold Storage. Since I only had one hour lunch break compared to 2.5 entitled hours, to go down for 15 minutes, made the guilt go away.

And on the way back, dropped by KFC drive throught at Sungei Besi to buy the family combo enough to cater for the crowd.

My brother has four kids though he got married much later than I did. His eldest daughter is the same age as my youngest aka my baby.

It was really a fun feast despite the last minute arrangement. Food was enough to feed everyone and the kids were happy.

Moral of the story - if you want to drop by your friends or relatives, bagi ler notice. Kesian kat tuan rumah, ribut nak prepare segala bagai. And look at the positive, Insyaallah, you will get better food..........

Game of Twister - The cuties

The cuties never failed to amaze me. They are good at giving remarks which I am always caught off guard, asking clever questions and giving justification(more like excuses) when they did something wrong. And one more thing which I have to add to this long list is they are also very creative in inventing games.

Though they have board games accumulated after all the birthday parties they had, computer games and outdoor games, they still love to invent games on their own.

The latest craze is the game of twister minus the twister mat. They were using the mat we have in our house and started playing with other kids in the neighbourhood. One will give instruction like "tangan kiri tapak biru" or "kaki kanan tapak kuning". This will also put their flexibility to a test.

And while I watching them sleeping last night, I was thinking....WHY DO THEY HAVE TO GROW UP SO FAST!!!!