December 2008 resolutions

I have been slacking in my baking and gardening for the past 5 months or so. The laman is now such an eyesore that my aunt winced when she saw it last week. The oven has gathered more dust than my bookshelves. I couldn’t even remember what I baked last. I am not going to come up with an advanced 2009 resolutions. For a change, I’m making a checklist of things to do for December. Let’s not be so ambitious now, I know my limit and capability. I also can anticipate the sudden rush of laziness that can come without warning.

Between 1st and 31st December 2008 I plan to (notice the word ‘plan’ is used instead of ‘will’ because I don’t make empty promises, even to myself.)

1. Bake at least 1 cake or a batch of cupcakes. Will also attend a cake decorating class.
2. Cook at least 5 meals for dinner (5 proper meals – heating up murtabak segera or boiling sausages don’t count). Heh, I’ve been slacking in cooking meals for my family too.
3. Give the TLC needed by my garden including getting rid of the weed that has grown bigger than some plants, replace the soil for most of the pots, buy and feed the plants with fertilizer and most important of all get rid of some of the potted plants (because they’ve been dead for more than 3 months!)
4. Make more room in the kitchen cabinet by relocating most of the old plastic containers, bottles, pans and whatnots. I know it has never been about storage problem; it’s always housekeeping issues that cluttered my mind most of the times.

Well, okay… enough for now and even those 4 items are way more ambitious than my 2008 resolutions. Anyway, did I make any? I’m still trying to remember.

If kemalasan masih melanda, I'd just settle with fake flowers aje lah...

By the way, that's the night stand flower in Che'gu Yati's kamar pengantin. I went to her wedding in Skudai, JB on Saturday, and was really glad to meet a few of my friends from college days. The girls have grown into women. We started gossipping right after the handshakes and cipika-cipiki (that's Cium Pipi Kanan, Cium Pipi Kiri uols!) Yeah, we are that mature now.

While the bride and groom was busy with their makan beradap, the girls and I  crashed the newlyweds' room.

Well, you know what they say.... old habits die hard. I used to crash Che'gu Yati's room during my college days, I found it appropriate to crash her bilik pengantin. Hehe. When we were 18 we used to cram in Che'gu Yati (and Nyah's) room whenever we felt like it. They had the most welcoming room in the whole of UPM. Food was always available, and whenever they ran out of stock, one of us would go down to the small college co-op convenient shop to buy bags of keropok, kerepek and biskut. No need to ask the secret of balooning anymore now, will you?

Nyah didn't change a bit. All smiles and laughter and warm as ever. Besides being one of the permanent 'musafir' in her room, I also used to borrow Nyah's sweater when it's chilly. (UPM was ever chilly? I must be kidding myself then.)

Took picture with Che'gu Yati after the makan beradap. I like her make-up, very natural and made her look like herself. I just hate some Mak Andam who always tried to make the bride look different. At times, I couldn't even recognize the brides. No wonder some people went to the wrong wedding.



Che'gu Yati and the lucky groom. Hey, it was not easy winning Che'gu Yati's heart, okay! Like they say - best man win. Hope to meet Che'gu Yati junior soon.

Yeay yeay! Nak Raya!

Yoohooo! I’m still in the office while most of you are already masuk hutan mencari buluh lemang. Since we’re celebrating raya in Melaka and only going there after the Raya prayers, I don’t take extra leave before Raya. Instead, I will be taking extra days off next week.
So, this year’s puasa has been the most sempoi yet still meaningful. Puasa is when we will be doing some soul searching and count our blessings. Learn a new thing or two (like how to prepare sambal goring Jawa style!)
This year’s preparation for raya doesn’t involve much shopping as we’ve done a lot of it during the holidays. I also didn’t buy any raya cookies except for Kuih Lapis Sarawak from Kak Ieka. Well, actually I missed the deadline to order cookies from my regular bakers this year. How stupid. I actually went for their cookies tasting, but forgot to place the orders. So, I decided to bake a few simple recipes that I was so sure won’t go wrong.

Oatmeal raisins cookies. I found the recipe somewhere in the net. My SILs love this one. They called it The Healthy Cookie.

The superheroes were down with fever on Monday, so I had to take the day off to look after them. But they were sleeping most of the days.


So I baked these cashew nut cookies. The recipe is from DSUS recipe book with a little tweaking here and there (to match with what I have my pantry). Well, the pantry is just 2 shelves of the kitchen cabinet which I used to store plates previously. Now there are stacks of MFM flours, choc chips, cocoa powder, castor sugar, nuts etc. I have been dreaming to have a pantry like the one in Chef At Home. Hmmmmm… plus the huge refrigerators too.

Besides that, we tried not to spend too much for buka puasa this year. Everybody is saying that the political climate is one of the reasons why this year’s puasa and raya are not as meriah as usual. Although the fuel price has been reduced further but people could feel the world economic is not doing any better especially with the current condition with US – those bail out and everything. 

So, we only went for Ramadhan Buffet at Kelantan Delight, which was among the cheapest in KL. This restaurant used to be in KLCC, they've moved to Sooka Central. I sooka sangat because of this strategic location, only 20 minutes from Puchong.


Mr. Hubby also sooka coz we got to makan bersila in the middle of the restaurant. And we met Fa.rah.Fau.zana there too.



The weekend before that we went for buka puasa at Bubba Gump at the Curve. Well, actually there's nothing to shout about. Beverages were quite pricy, but I love the Clam Chowder because they served it with the packed chowder biscuit. It tasted just like the one I had in Boston.



Went out for buka puasa with Queen, Alien (plus family) and Jade at Restoran Salero Negori, Kelana Jaya too. However, I totally forgotten to take any pictures because I was so busy doing parenting. The kids were running around buat macam rumah sendiri.

The only Hotel Ramadhan Buffet I attended this year was at Grand Blue Wave, JB. I planned to go to LC catering, but we didn't have much time that day as it was just a short trip to JB. It was also one of the cheapest (kalau compare dengan KL memang lah murah gile). Anyway, my friends and I succeeded in our effort to boikot all Hotel Ramadhan Buffet in KL due to the price. Ya lah kan, we all know that harga ayam naik, minyak naik.... but RM95++ for buka puasa is just 'tak masuk akal'. How much food will I actually eat? Just a plate of beriyani, small pieces of murtabak, fruits, 5 kuih, keropok and a few glasses of drinks. All those for Sembilan puluh lima hinggit? Pembaziran di tahap BFF with syaitan, ok!

So, tonight and tomorrow I'll be busy hunting for daging lembu, ayam, serai, santan, lengkuas, halia, kerisik and what nots at Carrefour, Giant, Pasar Borong etc. Just wanna wish you Selamat Berhari Raya sakan, bersedekahlah kepada saudara mara dan rakan taulan yang sangat-sangat memerlukan dengan ikhlas. Maaf Zahir Batin.

Lastly, Jangan Emosi Di Jalan Raya!

Bakar jangan tak bakar!

My tiny oven has gone back into production mode after being put in a few re-evaluation phases (with high hopes of getting a bigger and more expensive replacement.... hehe). Since I'm only baking a few types of Raya cookies maybe I don't need those big ovens yet. This one is good enough, it's just that have to learn a few tricks to make sure the cookies placed at certain position won't burn.
This month is this oven's first anniversary. I bought it during puasa month last year at Jaya Jusco for a very attractive prize (read: murah gile okay...)
Since then, I've learned to bake cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pizza, grill meat, chicken and even healthy chicken patty (I copied the recipe from AFC).



This year's baking drills started with this Honey Flake cookies using a simple recipe found at the back of a cereal box, I kid you not. No improvisation. I followed the recipe exactly. One recipe can yield about 70 pieces of cookies. Since molding is not a skill I ever attempted to polish, I used the mini muffin pan for baking. Well, at least the soft dough will turn out fine regardless of how you shaped it. To my surprise this recipe was excellent, the cookies have a sensational honey, orange and corn flakes taste. Worth the 3 hours sitting on the kitchen floor.



The second project was Choc Chip Cookies and the recipe was from the internet. I just love all the online recipes with reviews from all over the world. Although some of them are without pictures, from my experience those with good reviews are usually really worth trying. This recipe brought in about 100 pieces of cookies - depending on the size. Lazy bakers like me would just go for bigger size - cepat sikit doh dia abis. However, you must really love chocolate to enjoy this cookie as the chocolaty taste was quite strong. Anyway, by this morning there was only half of the container left as Wazif and Shawqi have been gobbling this into their mouth day and night. They made excuses like, 'Mak, tadi makan nasik sikit... nak makan cookie...' or 'Mak, tak boleh tido lah... nak makan cookie...'


After slaving in front of the tiny oven for hours, came iftar time, I treated myself with this seriously irresistible bandung soda (inspired by Jazz's blog entry title on Monday). It's really easy to make and taste 100 times better than those sold at the PaRam or restaurants. Johoreans should know this recipe too.

So, this weekend I'll be baking some more. Not sure which cookies yet. Need to Google tonight.

We'll meet again in 2008

Today marks the last day of 2007 and also the last day Wazif and Shawqi going to the Taman Kinrara daycare. Both of them seemed rather reluctant to start going to a new daycare near the house. Although Wazif will only be on transit between Kelas Agama and primary school, he doesn’t look like he’s excited with the new arrangement. Shawqi has made it clear that he’d rather go straight home after his classes. He told me that the new daycare has a ‘certain’ smell that he dislikes.

Without a maid in the house, I am left with no choice but to send them to this new daycare which is only about 300 meters from our house. The one in Taman Kinrara is about 10 minutes drive and the fact that Wazif will be going to KAFA and primary school in Bandar Kinrara, it doesn’t make sense if I still send him to Taman Kinrara for transit.

I still have 2 more days to influence them. Hope everything will turn out okay.

So, today Wazif and Shawqi brought these cuppies for their farewel at the Taman Kinrara daycare. ‘Until we meet again’ is the song (almost) all kindergarten kids would sing on their graduation day. When I handed over the cuppies to the daycare owner this morning, all the other children were so eager to have a look at the cakes. I could hear some of them struggled to spell out the words. Heheheh…. Next time maybe I should pipe words like ‘sumptuous’, ‘alternative’, ‘humungous’ and ‘conversation’ on the cuppies. I think that might help improve the children’s spelling skills and vocabulary. Hehehe.




This batch of cuppies is also my first attempt doing swirls. Aiyo, very tiny, because I still have to sprinkle the colorful confectionary sugar (by popular demand!)



I'm taking this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year 2008! May the force be with us.

Of Luck and Love

You're gonna need a lot of luck to find love. Some people have love staring in their faces, yet they are unlucky enough to not notice it.

Shawqi is one of the luckiest kids in town this year as The Mummy decided to bake him birthday cupcakes. The Mummy is not so well versed with all this frosting thingy, thus he gets the runny yet yummylicious chocolate syrup frosting to cover the Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes.



The Mummy was planning to save some money so that she could afford to pay for Shawqi's school fees next semester, that's the main reason she decided to have homemade cakes this year. But, when The Mummy brought the two siblings to Jusco to buy the Jalur Gemilangs, they insisted (while stomping their feet) to have afternoon tea at Secret Recipe. The Mummy had no choice and the three of them had 3 slices of the celebrity cakes with fresh juices that rainy afternoon.

That just defeated the purpose of The Mummy slaving herself in the kitchen.



Anyway, the Celebrity Cakes turned to be just so-so. The two siblings were so excited to see the packed Jalur Gemilang Peanut Butter Surpise that night. However, Wazif asked, 'Why so small?'. As usual, The Mummy's answer was 'Kecik lah best...., semua orang boleh dapat satu. Nanti kakak tu tak payah potong-potong...'

They celebrated Shawqi's 5th birthday at the nursery with their friends on Wednesday morning.



Last night The Mummy baked again but this time it was a different recipe (which she stumbled upon in the internet during one of her 'mengular' sessions.)



At first The Mummy thought she could bring the cuppies to office the next day as the previous batch of b'day cuppies were just enough for the kids at nursery. Then the Two Siblings entered the kitchen and insisted (stomping their feet again and again) they get to bring some for their friends, too.



Finally The Mummy had to divide the 30 cuppies into 4 goodie bags. One for the kids, one for Mr. Hubby (who's getting even more famous now in the office... hahaha), one for The Mummy's friend who celebrated her birthday on Tuesday and one for the officemates.

Then, The Mummy cilok one cuppy from one of the goodie bags to have a taste. Hmmmm.... yummmm... the buttercream was one of the best ever. Nothing like the ones usually found in local bakeries. Thanks to WWW!

Note: The Mummy also realized that her piping skills suck. Need to attend one of the cake decorating classes once this Pasir Gudang project is closed.

These aren't from Jusco frozen food department.....

I told Sarcy during our 'mengkopi' session last week that baking is fast becoming another hobby and an escapism to me. Although baking and gymming rather rhyme, they don't go so well hand in hand; especially when the same pair of hands are involved. Well, let's just say the pair of hands have not been lifting weights doing body pump ever since the Ramadhan month, hehehehehe.... Stop visualising my out of shape biceps, will you! I did burn a few hundreds of KCalories during those lunch hour gym sessions, but I need to go back doing Body Pump - mainly for toning. It's just me, I hate things that are not properly in place (e.g protruding bellies.... hihihi).

My Facebook friends have probably seen these pictures I put up here in this entry. Well, there's no interesting story whatsoever behind each of them. It's just that one fine Saturday morning I happened to ask Mr. Hubby whether he'd like to have homemade pizza. He said Yes. So, I baked some Hawaiian Chicken pizza, with the dough/crust (I knead myself), tomato base, cheese, pepper, chicken, pineapple and more cheese.

They're small, because my oven is small, my tins are small and I don't even have enough round tins to bake, have to use the square one that day. So, we had square Hawaiian Chicken pizza for a change. And the tins are not even Pizza pan, hantam sajalah apa yang ada...

The round and the square pizza slowly cooking after resting and rising. Baking pizza and bread is funny. They're just like human; must be rested enough in order to give you the best.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, I suddenly decided to bake some chocolate chip mini muffin (yes Ku_E, this is from the link you put in your baking blog. Hihihihi....)

Later on Sunday night, I suddenly thought why not bake some more mini muffin. It was strawberry mini muffin. The picture was taken during the dramatic moment of the strawberry jam struggling to submerge itself into the slowly rising batter.

Well, I guess this new hobby brings me into a win-win situation. I get satisfaction from baking, and then everybody gets to eat/bring to office/bring to school some fresh homemade pizza/cakes/cupcakes/muffins.

Hmmm... now I need a LOT of motivations to go to gym 3 times weekly and have a look at that long neglected 'laman'. Hubby just told me that house mice has started 'berkampung' amongst my 'pasu bunga'. Huaaaaargh! Tension.

My (version of) Cupcake Story

If you’ve frequented the (hot) girls’ blogs, chances are you’ve read about cupcakes. When I first started blogging, I made a theory that many (hot) girls blog, and almost all (hot) girl bloggers bake cupcakes. You can find all sorts of cupcake stories especially first attempt of baking the sweet little devils. You’ve probably seen all kinds of mouth watering cupcakes covered with enticing sugary frosting, topped with colourful signature(or copied from the books) garnishing.

It’s a cheap therapeutic hobby. Even gardening is more expensive than baking cupcakes. Baking is not only cheap, but if one starts to master the art and produces impressive designs and unforgettable cake taste, it can be turned into a lucrative home business. A few people I know in real life have turned baking into a side income generator.

My sampan is way behind the other boats; my first attempt in baking cupcakes was last night. That was after reading the first 50 pages of Cupcake book written by The Cake Mix Doctor. I bought the book to kill some time to allow my tummy to digest lunch before I headed to the gym. It’s still a mystery to me how books can change and inspire us. Hmmm…

I must say that the baking was a success although there are a few techniques I wish to master soon. FYI, cooking success in DNAS’s dictionary means the food is presentable and edible. It does not necessarily have to look like the cupcakes displayed at the famous bakeries’ windows.

So, here are some tips I’d like to share with cupcake new-bakers:

- never over-beat the batter. Always follow the instruction in the recipe.

- If you don’t have ice-cream scoop to scoop the batter into the cups, just use the plastic measuring cup (yang ada pointed muncung tuuuu).

- If you find it difficult to estimate 2/3 of the cup, pour the batter slowly and recite ‘Bismillahirrahmanirrahim’ with the proper Tajweed. By the time you finish, the cup is 2/3 filled with the creamy batter. (Ni contoh Islam Hadhari ni…… hihihi)

- If the oven user manual says you don’t need to pre-heat the oven, then don’t. Disregard what’s written in the recipe.

- Cake tin placed on the baking tray inside the oven produced cupcakes in better shapes than the ones put on the roasting tray (ni yang ada palang-palang tu le). I’m sure there’s a scientific explanation for this, it’s related to the heat distribution. Will have to Google further. (I’m damn curious about this. I’m sure Zetty is too. Iyelah, after the raya cupcakes yang senget 45 degrees tu. There has to be some explanation, right? We can’t be that bad in baking, can we?)

- Greasing and lining the cake tin is the most challenging part, get your sister/daughter/son to help out.

- Never over-eat the cupcakes. There’ll be only a few pieces left to bring to office the next day. (In case you over-eat, don’t forget to recite ‘Alhamdulillahirabbilaalamiin’ with the proper Tajweed. Islam Hadhari lagik …. )

I am sure there’ll be more cupcake projects soon. Hey, already bought the cake tins, spatula and what-nots. Takkan nak simpan dalam gobok aje, kan? So, good luck to Wazif, Shawqi and dear Mr. Hubby who will have to help with the baking and bring the cupcakes to school/office.

Did I ever tell you that when I was in primary school, I sold limau manis to my school friends. I also sold ikan haruan and kangkong to the neighbours. Some ex-schoolmates called me Budak Sayur. So, Wazif, Shawqi and Mr. Hubby might be called Budak/Abang Cupcake soon. Hehehehe.

Cakap lebih-lebih pun tak guna, kan.... Ini dia gambarnya.... The red lines are pointing to the first batch of cupcakes yang telah menjadi mangsa heat distribution yang tidak sekata.



My first ever mini lemon cupcakes. Boleng aje, takde frosting or garnishing .... sebab belum belajar.