Happy 10th Birthday, Hasya :)

I meant to post this on the day itself, but, exhaustion and stuff at work had other things in store for me in the last three days.

We had another makan-makan session on Wednesday night at my MIL's to celebrate Hasya who turned 10 on that day - 8th April 2009.

I am always reminded of the hikmah (which I wrote here) which had given us the gift of Hasya 10 years ago, and how the grave sadness that we felt when we lost our second baby after a miscarriage in 1997 has been compensated by Allah SWT many, many, manyfolds when HE gave us Hasya in 1999. Syukur Alhamdulillah. God really works in mysterious ways...

Of all three of our kids, Hasya is the choleric one. I wrote about it here. She's a perfectionist. Very determined. Strong-willed. Knows what she wants. And very set in her ways. So much so, sometimes we feel like she's the boss :) But, she listens to reasons well if they are valid :) She's a very bright girl. She NEVER cried (not even once) when she had her immunisation jabs when she was a baby. In fact, she never cried/cries when she got/gets a scolding from us. It's quite frustrating sometimes when you want to get some kind of reaction from her after a round of scolding! The only times that she cried/cries (or rather, merengek) would be when she was/is really sick. That's our Hasya :)

For her 10th Birthday, we didn't plan for any big parties, etc, but she did ask if she could have a couple of friends for a sleepover this weekend. But, after the makan-makan and after I explained to her of how packed our weekend would be - what with the school replacement AND also another makan-makan session at Aunty On*ir and Uncle Sh*dy's new house this weekend (Ya...hidup kami memang sentiasa dipenuhi dengan sesi makan-makan. Anda ada masalah?...;)), she was okay with not having the sleepover today (but, she did ask if she could have it in May, instead. And I said - depending on her Mid-Year exam results :))

Anyway, this time around, I goyang kaki ajer, coz' I outsourced everything. I gave a free hand to my SIL - Ya*re*n a.k.a Aunty Adek, to organize the birthday dinner. She just finished her exams and was/is on her Semester break, and so, she jumped at the opportunity to mess my MIL's kitchen up :) I only asked her -

i - to come up with the menu
ii - to list out the things she needed to whip up the dishes
iii - to follow me to Co*d St*ra*e @ Ja*a33 to buy the stuff, and
iv - to cook everything

I only paid for the stuff. One thing I realized - Co*d St*ra*e has EVERYTHING, I tell you! Considering that the menu she came up with was pretty much a western spread, and she's the type who follows the recipe to a T, we actually managed to get EVERYTHING she needed (including those pelik-pelik and rare ingredients!) from there. Pretty impressive (and pretty expensive, too, if I may add...but, sekali-sekala tak per...And it's for our daughter's birthday pun, kan?)

And she came up with :-

Mushroom Soup and Garlic Bread
Cheesy Jacket Potatoes
Pizzas (a myriad of those!)
Beef Lasagna

and

Roast Chicken (she made FOUR, in fact - and obviously she over-estimated, as we were having roast chicken until Friday. Hehehe!)

And, oh ya - for desserts, she made some Baked Poached Pears.

How cool was that?! :)

Thank God, for a SIL who's a gem in the kitchen (and she's only 20-y.o., okay?)

The food was REALLLLLLY good. And everyone was stuffed to the max that night.

Thank you so much, Adek. Nanti Kak Shana and Angah belanja you somewhere, okay? :)

(Errrrr, another thing - maybe you should block the weekend of Hilman's birthday in September? Because I think he has already planned a similar feast to celebrate his 9th birthday! Hehehe!)

Anyway, here are some pics.

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY, DARLING HASYA. WE ALL LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH...

MMMMMMUUUUAAAAAAHHHHSSS!

AND

((((((HUGS)))))))

Lazy Sunday...

Last Sunday was a lazy day for the whole family.

While Ayah, Hanna, Hasya and Hilman were whiling away the time in the living room and/or family hall, waiting for berbuka -



Ayah & Hanna lazying around on the sofa



Hasya watching TV upstairs



Hilman engrossed with his PS2


Yours truly was whiling away my time in the kitchen cooking -




The end results -



Spaghetti Bolognaise/Moussaka



Ayamas Hot & Spicy Fried Chicken with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy




Hilman's berbuka plate




One very simple meal which made this bunch one very happy family :)

Happy 8th Birthday, Darling Hilman...

Thank you all for the Anniversary Wishes and Do'as. Ayah and I are touched by them all. Thank you again.

A day after our 14th Anniversary was Hilman's 8th birthday - on 10th September 2008.

We threw him quite a party last year knowing that his birthday would fall during Ramadhan this year. Ayah and I had already told him since last year that we would not have any parties this year, and we explained to him why.

And he was "okay-ish" about it.

"Okay-ish" in the sense that every now and then he still would ask me - "Mommy, can I have my friends over at night after berbuka for my birthday party?" - this he asked at least 5 times in the last month or so.

Anyway, Ayah and I felt guilty pulak if we didn't plan for anything at all, so we decided to just have a small do at my MIL's last night, and all the uncles, aunties, and cousins on Ayah's side were there.

In a way, it was a hush-hush thing as we didn't tell Hilman about it.

I was pretty busy yesterday, and thank God both my SILs (Ayah's sisters) came to the rescue. Ly** had gone to get all the ingredients that I needed to make Roast Chicken (or as Hilman would call it - "Big Chicken"), and I had SMSd Ad*k on how to marinate the chickens that afternoon.

I went back to Mak's house at 4:30p.m yesterday and found that Ad*k had already marinated 3 BIG chickens. Nasib baik I asked her again on how she had done it, coz' I then realized that instead of asking her to marinade the chicken with blended ginger, I had wrongly SMSd it as "blended garlic"! No wonder there was a strong pungent smell of garlic when I went into the kitchen. So, we had to wash all the chickens again and re-marinated them.

In the mean time, Ayah had also got a cake from Secret Recipe earlier on.

At 5:30p.m, Hanna, Hasya and I went to fetch Hilman from school, and from there we went straight to their Piano class. I had put A**k in charge of the chickens while I was gone. Hilman was the last one to finish his piano lesson at 7:45p.m, and he asked me where we were going for a proper buka puasa after that, as all of us only had some kurma, bread and water waktu berbuka earlier.

And I asked him,

Me : Where do you wanna go?

Hilman : I want to go to Nasi Kandar Sedap, Mommy. I want to have their Mihun Tom Yam.

Me : Hmmmmm, what if we can go to somewhere better and have something that you like better than the Tom Yam?

Hilman : Where, Mommy?

Me : Can we just berbuka at Wan's house?

Hilman : At Wan's house? YESSS!!! I want! Can you tell Aunty Ly** that we all berbuka there? Coz' she said she would give me my birthday present tonight!

(So, it was more because of getting his present than anything else actually! Hehehe!)

Anyway, when we reached Mak's house, you should see how BIG his grin was when he saw TWO BIG CHICKENS on the table and one more roasting in the oven! All thoughts of Mihun Tom Yam gone by then!

After berbuka with his Big Chicken, he went up to have his shower (as Aunty Ly** told him that he would only get his presents after taking his shower :)), and when he came down, it was "opening-his-presents" time, and later it was the "blowing- the-candles-on-the-birthday-cake" session.

It warms my heart to see how happy he was even though it was just a small birthday do for him :)

I asked him to say thank you to Aunty A**k and Aunty Ly** for the roast chickens and also to Wan, and his uncles and aunties for the presents, and he went around hugging each one of them.

We decided to sleep at Mak's last night as everybody was pretty tired by the time the "party" was over. And Hilman decided to sleep with Ayah and myself, and before he slept, he said -

"Thank you, Mommy... Thank you, Ayah..."

And both Ayah and I hugged him and said, "You're welcome, Hilman..."

Ayah looked at me and said, "Hmmmm, dah besar anak kita..."

(Hmmmmm...time to have another one??!!) Hehehe!

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY, DARLING HILMAN...

Mommy and Ayah do'akan semoga Hilman menjadi anak yang soleh, berbudi pekerti mulia dan berjaya dalam hidup dan semoga dilimpahkan rezqi yang halal, insya Allah. Amin.

Here are some pics!

My cooking weekend...

Hati ni dah tak bengkak dah.

Thank you so much to all my blogosphere friends who had given me a few angles and perspectives on how to look at my phone-less situation. Yes, it was just a phone. We have friends who lost TWO CARS in one night, and I can't even begin to imagine how they must have felt then.

My rezqi to have that phone with me was just until 5:55pm of 2nd Sepetember 2008. And insya Allah, I will be getting a new one, which may be better than my HTC in its own way. Syukur Alhamdulillah, my kids and I were not harmed during the culprit's attempt to steal the phone. And maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt (?!) as to why he stole my phone. And whatever it maybe, he will get balasan yang setimpalnya - if not di dunia, di akhirat nanti.

Thanks again, guys, for mengempiskan balik my hati :)

Tonight, we'll be breaking our fast in SD for the first time. Well, at least for me and the kids. Ayah will be breaking fast with his PRIMARY school friends (Boleh?!) They're planning a Reunion Dinner for the end of this year, and after berbuka they'll be having a meeting to discuss the proposed event.

So, I will be cooking for berbuka. And as Ayah will not be around, I'll be cooking some campak-campak dishes for the kids.

Hasya has requested for "Ayam Hotel" (which is actually Szechuan Chicken).

Hilman wants "Ayam Pedas" (which is actually Ayamas Hot and Spicy Chicken).

And Hanna has yet to request for anything.

I'm in a dilemma, coz' Hasya and Hilman just had Szechuan Chicken and Ayam Pedas with rice respectively for sahur this morning. I think I should not layan sangat their tekak, especially when they just had those dishes for sahur. I think what I'll do is cook something else which are also their favourites.

So, insya Allah, I will cook Sweet & Sour Lala (for Hilman), Ayam Masak Halia (for Hasya), and Japanese Tofu for Hanna. And oh yes, I also have a few Ikan Terubuk Masin (which I brought back from Kuching that day). I can just steam one of them up, and squeeze some lime on top. Settled.

The only problem - Hasya and Hilman finish school at 5:30p.m, and the traffic going back from PJ to SD on Fridays is always crazy. If we can get home by 6:30p.m, insya Allah, I will be able to have everything on the table by the time berbuka. Later than that, the kids will have to berbuka minum air dulu. (I don't think we even have kurma at home! Aiyoyoooo...Teruknyer...)

Hmmmm, a note to self - better get some kurma for the house tomorrow, coz' we're having my side of the family for berbuka at our place tomorrow night. The truth be told, we have yet had the chance to berbuka and see my parents' this Ramadhan even though they're just sepelaung away in KD! I feel so guilty, but both Ayah and I have been rushing here and there the whole of this week.

As both my Mommy and Abah pun are not that well, I'm having them and my sisters and brothers over instead. Kalau berbuka at my parents, I'm very sure my Mommy will insist on cooking something - which is not a good idea as she's not that strong anymore (even though it would be heavenly if we could taste her chicken chops, ikan masak lemak putih, gulai tempoyak, her fish curry, pechal, gulai tauchu, sambal tumis udang petai, her daging kicap, her kueh sepang, her tepung talam, and the list just goes on!) But, I'd rather have my Mommy to just come over, put her feet up, and enjoy her cucus, while I do the cooking. If at her own place, sure she cannot duduk diam one...

Menu for tomorrow night, just Nasi Ayam, and Kuey Teow Goreng (both are big hits with my kids and my nephews and nieces), and maybe Ayah will get some Roti John and Desserts from Bazaar Ramadhan.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night. Best, best, best!

Selamat Berbuka, y'all, and here's wishing all of you a great weekend!

Get-together at The Z**e & Emerald Rawang...

My apologies. This posting is one week late due to my hectic schedule at work the last seven days. But, as the saying goes - better late than never, huh?

The gang had a get together in KL last Saturday (16th August 2008) - the occassion : to meet up with our friend Kmar who was back home in KL from Barcelona with her hubby, Jose, and their gorgeous kids - Daniel and Aisha. They were back for 5 weeks and only flew back to Spain last Monday.

I last met Kmar and her family when I menempek ikut Ayah who had a conference in Barcelona in 2006. The rest of the gang, apart from Sal and Awin, had not met Kmar since we left school in 1985 - that was 23 years ago!

Kmar and co. normally come back home every 2 years, and her parents would visit them in Spain in between. As her hometown is in Ipoh, and as everybody was always pretty tied up with things and stuff, we rarely got the chance to meet up with Kmar in KL before this. This time around we decided to make a point to have a get-together just a few days before she flew back home to Barcelona.

The venue was The Z**e in KL, where they were putting up for a few nights before their flight home. As it was the first day of the school holidays, there were still many of our friends who could not make it. Most of them had balik kampung that day. But, we went ahead with it, as realistically, it would never be possible to get everybody gathered together at any given time anyway.

It was a pot-luck thing and some of the dishes we managed to whip up (or got somebody else to whip up for us...Hehehe!) were Kuey Teow Goreng (moi :)), Ketam Masak Lemak Kuning (who else if not Ibu, who also bought with her some VERY juicy tembikai - but alas, NOT from TES*O! Hehehe!), Yam Cake (Awin), Satay Sa**ri (Sal), Cheese Cake (courtesy of Onair with the help of Sec**t Re**pe ;)), and those yummy Roti Boy buns (Abid).

Myself and co. were the first to arrive, followed by Ibu, Awin, Onair, Sal and Abid and their families. Suffice to say, when the gang got together, tak ingat dunia semua...

To Kmar,

It was really good to have met up with you and the family. And thanks for the ole-ole from Barcelona :). I hope next time Daniel will not be too shy with his Mom's VERY loud friends...Hahaha! And I'm so impressed with Aisha's Bahasa Melayu (or rather - Bahasa Perak! Hehehe!). It was quite interesting when we saw her automatically changed her language from Bahasa Perak to Spanish/Catalan when she spoke to Jose. And when she had to be the interpreter for Daniel and your parents - SOOOOOOO CUUUUTTTEEEE!!!

We should do this again next time when you're back in Malaysia, and hopefully we'll get more people to join in the fun, insya Allah.

Anyway, we said our goodbyes to Kmar and made our way home around 8:30p.m.

About an hour later, Ibu sent an SMS which I only read way after midnite-

"Guys, how abt teh tarik session at rawang 2mrw petang? Latest challenge in secret chamber for men n boys. Ladies...err...cabut rambut gatal?"

(Ibu's secret chamber is really an 'underground room' beneath her first floor garden, entrance to which is from her groundfloor garden)

The next morning, I texted her -

"Sorry, only read SMS late smlm. Jadi ker ptg ni? If all ok, we're ok, too. But, haizal nds anor secret chamber 2 work in. Can? What time nak serang rumah u?"

And she came back with -

"Ok 5pm. Teh/nscfe tarik, krpk lekor, sotng ball, roti smbl telur. badminton, carrom, fsball, scrble. Mic? Then watch chng wei vs lindan. Haizal can use mini libry or guest rm, free wifi"

But alas, only Onair and myself could make it as Abid was already heading her way to Penang that morning, while Jo was still in JB, and Reha was still in KB. Kengkawan lain pun semua out of town.

It was another pot-luck thingy, and I fried some meehoon for tea, while Onair bought a yummy Sec**t Re**pe cheese cake. (Errrr...Onair you ada share ke kat SR??!! Hahaha!)

The new challenge in Ibu's "secret chamber" turned out to be a pool table - much to the kids' delight! I lost count of how many rounds of pool, and how many games of badminton they played that evening. Suffice to say, all the kids were drenched with sweat by the time we made our way home that night.

Everybody was glued to the TV when Choong Wei played against Lin Dan in the Men's Single Finals that evening...Well, not for long though. Halfway through the game, a few of us were already having palpitations and found the game too much of a stress to watch, and we decided to just peep in every now and then. So much so, that we forgot to take pics of all the muka-muka tension that night. Everybody knows what happened to Choong Wei, so, let's not go into that, huh? :(

Anyway, later that night, Onair had a baking session in Ibu's kitchen, and surprise, surprise - MY Hanna helped her out! Hmmmm, IF only she is as helpful in MY kitchen! Hehehe!) As it turned out, Ibu had never used her new oven since she moved into the new place, and the racks were all still TIED together. (Errrr...why am I NOT surprised?! HAHAHAHA!!!) And the user's manual was just too much to absorb in 10 minutes. Last-last pakai the mini oven in the wet kitchen :)

Unfortunately, we could not wait until the cake was baked as we had to go and visit my biras who was involved in a cycling accident earlier on at DSH. Su**ian had his nose broken in three places and had to spend a night at the hospital. Syukur alhamdulillah, it was not serious (in fact, by Thursday morning he was already on his way on the plane to Hong Kong with L**n - my SIL, and their kids!) And check this out - one of the reasons they're there (besides bringing the kids to Hong Kong Disneyland) was, get this - to get ANOTHER bicycle! Sigh...

Anyway, that's that for now, ya...

In the mean time, here are some pics.

Enjoy!