hrs

hibiscus rose seide (silk)

what awaited me when i got back from Raya holidays... legacy wrap for Dayana.

stashified?

gourmandis

we went out with the in-laws this evening. fil is back for Raya so the whole family had dinner at this new place at Chitta Mall. have you been there? it's somewhere near Ara Damansara. i've never heard of it before. if you pass by it from the main road all you can see are some abandoned-looking buildings... you really wouldn't notice it until you enter the area. lotsa interesting shops are open here. didn't have time to explore, you tend to lose quality shopping time when you have kids =P~.

i think the owner was a friend of fil's. i've never heard of the restaurant either. first time trying. based on what fil heard was good, we ordered - spaghetti, chicken chop, rice, to name a few.

i liked the starter that they ordered (forgot what they were called), but the rest of the food was so-so (ok scratch that, i didn't like it, sorry!). no wow factor there. i think i will stick to TGI Fridays / Chillis / Italiannies for my Western food fixes next time. unless someone can recommend me otherwise =).

photos of our dinner escapade (there were so many of us, our table was pretty darn long lol). Dayana had more fun running around and stealing Uncle Aifaa's ice cream i didn't manage to get her on camera that night T_T.

where we had dinner

Auntie Enn melayan Dinara in her Trudy & Teddy dress <3

the setting

Kak Long and her not-so-newborn =D

Uncle Amal loves his niece as usual

suka bangat Strawberry milkshake! see her baju comot edi? T_T

the heroes. 2 out of 3 are married to their phones

the in-laws sitting far far away

Auntie Enn buat muka spastik

the ambience?

eid 2011

much awaited photos from this year's Aidilfitri celebrations. til we meet again, Ramadhan =)

my two blessings

the four of us... for now

us

the mother-in-law's side

the Ikhlas siblings

the father-in-law's side

ramadhan 1432

ok so this is seems to be a delayed post, because today is technically the 22nd day of fasting in the holy month of Ramadhan. i've been having one helluva roller coaster month, no kidding.

Significant Other is currently going through mid-life crisis - just joking! =P he decided to embark on a different career path which require alot of sacrifices and effort on both ends.
- i had to let got of my 5-year old car which had served me well. if she were 4-door, she'd be perfect!
- cutbacks on major spenditure, meaning my dream to live in our own home will need to be temporarily pushed back further into the future. sigh.
- Significant Other's preparation and registration, yada yada... hi- taste suami aku nih, once tasted the finest, there's no turning back!)
- selling isn't what it's used to be, what with the US currency dropping... (tp syiok lah beli, haiya~).

and all those small-small things that needed to be looked into. haih. first week of Ramadhan and already i remember losing my temper on the petty things (poor Dayana, asyik jadi mangsa). money kept flowing out like water. the kids' birthdays are coming up, which we decided to celebrate on a small scale this year.

recently certain circumstances have changed, so we have alot of decisions to make, especially after this morning's phone call. when to proceed? would it be a good idea? how to go about it? aih, kepala pusing betul (tambah2 lagi, Significant Other's Vaio brokedown and he's dreaming of iMac. chis. i pun baru berangan nak iMac jugak for my birthday! lulz).

the various mode of transportation. submarine je takde nih

all things set aside, i got to spend a week at my parents, Ashu came back for the holidays, so the kids had great time bullying their aunties. we opened the bakery shop for three nights that i was there: tiramisu, red-bottom cuppies and oaty chocolate cookies (ahhhh now i really feel like getting my own mixer now). managed to empty out a box of old clothings (1 down, berlambak2 lagi kotak to go T_T). threw out a couple of rotted shoes in my closet (eeeee sayang lah. ok i changed my mind. Aya, jgn kasi mommy buang kotak2 tu kayh!).

actually, the above ramblings were not intended to be in this post, haha. i actually wanted to share this website called Islamic Thinking which i chanced upon in twitter (you can't imagine what people tweet about this days!). i'll copy paste the contents here for easier reading.

A Checklist for Ramadhan

1. Ask Allah to enable you to reach Ramadan and to get the most out of it as the Salaf (early generation of pious people) used to do.

2. Intend to fast every day with Iman and pure intention seeking the reward from Allah alone. The Prophet peace be upon him said, “Whoever fasts in Ramadan with Iman and seeking reward (from Allah) his past sins will be forgiven”. (Bukhari)

3. Read the whole Qur’an at least once as the Prophet peace be upon him did.

4. Have Suhoor as the Prophet peace be upon him said, “Have Suhoor because it is blessed”.

5. Make Du’a during the fast because the Prophet peace be upon him said that three people’s supplication is not rejected one of them is the fasting person. Ask for the good of this life and the next for yourself, your family and Muslims in general.

6. Make Dua before opening the fast. The Prophet peace be upon him said, “The fasting person has a supplication that is answered when he opens his fast”.

7. Give Sadaqah and be good to people. The Prophet peace be upon him was the most generous of people and he was most generous in Ramadan.

8. Avoid anything that diminishes the fast such as, lying, backbiting, cheating, getting angry. The Prophet peace be upon him said “Whoever does not give up false statements (i.e. telling lies), and evil deeds, and speaking bad words to others, Allah is not in need of his (fasting) leaving his food and drink.” [Bukhari]

9. Do not eat too much after Iftar.

10. Ask for forgiveness since this is the month Allah frees people from the fire.

11. Pray At-Tarawih with Khushoo. If you pray in the Masjid complete the Salah with the Imam. If you pray at home prolong the Salah as long as you can. The Prophet peace be upon him said, “Whoever prays during Ramadan with Iman and seeking reward (from Allah) his past sins will be forgiven”.

12. Feed the poor and invite others for Iftar. The Prophet peace be upon him said, “Whoever gives Iftar to someone fasting he will have the same reward without decreasing the reward of the person fasting”.

13. Try harder the last ten nights especially the odd nights. The prophet would strive in Ramadan more than he would in any other month and more so in the last ten days.

14. Say this Dua in the nights that Laitul-Qadr is likely to fall on: Allhumma innaka afuwun tuhibbul-afwa fa’fu anni (O Allah you are Forgiving and love forgiveness so forgive me).

15. Ask Allah to accept all your good actions during this month.

O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may attain salvation. (Quran, 2:183)

i have one more day of work before i'm off for the raya hols. will be bringing the kids back up North to visit their great grandparents (and also to pick up their Daddy), something i'm looking forward to (i love road trips! =D). so i think i'll save my raya wishes for later =)

i ordered some cuppies from NinazCakes, have you tried them before? i swear she does the most yummiest moist choc cuppies ever. i'm hoping to have a small mini birthday celebration for Dinara's birthday up North, no presents yet but cuppies would at least cheer up the day right? =) and she practically eats anything you offer her bwahahahhaha... Dayana's birthday falls on the second day of Raya. i doubt anyone would be around, semua orang sibuk balik kampung (makan nasi dagang, nasi minyak.... Su... courier some to KL boleh? aiiii nakkkkkk!!!).

i am sooo missing Riverland and Kuey Teow Iman. agaknye bulan puasa bukak tak? (okay this is the hungry ME talking. if i'm rambling nonstop about food, it means i'm hungry =P). oh, i also miss my grandma's bubur lambuk =(

in the meantime, i hope your remaining days of Ramadhan are blessed with all the good things imagined!

an early birthday present for him

have you heard of JFK before? i haven't. until kennysia blogged about him. that was about the time Significant Other decided he wanted to pursue a career in flying. i didn't really give it much thought until i came across JFK's name again via Munirah's blog.

i wasn't supposed to get him anything for his birthday this year, last year's birthday present was already whoppingly expensive, enough to last for 3 year's worth of birthday presents, no kidding. Significant Other was dead set on making this drastic career change but i realized despite being passionate in flying, he has never literally flown a real aircraft before (minus the simulator, and even that doesn't count :P). soo... being the little miss curious, i emailed this JFK person.

it took me several arrangements with JFK before we actually set the date to fly, mainly due to the lousy weather (what luck eh? @_@). Significant Other was going to enroll on the 11th so i had to schedule the surprise wayy before that, didn't help that it was already fasting month, so no eat no drink. we finally settled on the 4th (i expect by now he was also bored of me bombarding him with emails hahaha). the weather was still as lousy as ever but JFK was really patient. i had despair written all over my face that morning when i checked the skies that morning hahahahah.

so the night before i told Significant Other to get up early, i had somewhere i wanted to bring him. he knew something was up but i didn't indulge him. he thought it was something (forgot what, i need to check with him, dang me for procrastinating this entry). but when we drove through the morning traffic to get to SkyPark, i think some of his suspicions were confirmed. lol.

so we met JFK at mcDonalds (i guess he did his homework on the total stranger that contacted him through email, he seemed to instantly know who i was. for all he knows i could've hired a serial killer to meet him... ok just joking =P). if you love listening to hitz.fm you would've known by now who this JFK person is (me, i only know John F. Kennedy, hahah i haven't been listening to the radio much). jovial person. you didn't have to say much, he's pretty good at keeping the conversation going, even when we're at a loss of words. heck, it's hard to not like him, even.

one of the few things he asked me was 'what star sign are you?' T__T. he's a Leo, same as Significant Other (Leos, they're really stubborn people hahahah).

we met Captain Andreas as well, his mentor. and so began the conversation of convincing Significant Other why he should or should not pursue his flying career in the first place. hahahah. speechless, he was. i guess the idea was pretty grand, but the actuality of it? still in grasping mode.

while waiting for the skies to clear, we signed some death warrants, answered a few life-and-death questions, got read out our rights, and then we're good to go.

the plane (Cessna kan?) was reaaalllly tiny i was suprised two adults could actually fit in the front seat (while i was squished at the back ahahahah).

at the SkyPark terminal

aaaand... off we go.

taking off

with JFK!

at one point JFK handed the controls to Significant Other ('you have control, wahahahahah') and i'm like, argh?

wegonnadiewegonnadiewegonnadiewegonnadiewegonnadiewegonnadie...

ok i'm exaggerating =P. fortunately nothing happened =P. Significant Other told me later once we were on the ground that he kinda freezed at one point T__T. well anyway while we were up there apart from enjoying the cloudy view JFK demo-ed the top gun spin for us (or was it the loop? i'm lost with all these flying jargons) where i felt like my stomach literally got left behind behind. he also showed us what the plane would do if he angled the plane at different degrees. hoo-boy, the aircraft sure felt like paper!

flying over KLCC

the one thing Significant Other was most amazed about JFK that day was he was able to multitask while maneuvering the plane over the skies of KL/Selangor: crap with us, handle the controls, crap with the ATC... =D pergh. i told him it's just like driving a car and he looked at me like i was crazy. not second nature meh? =P~

breathtaking view indeed. JFK calls it the city tour. took us about 30-40 minutes to round Selangor-KL and back again.

the view from above. cloudy to the max

and here we are back safely on the ground lolz.

camwhoring with the plane

with JFK

us!

right after his first flying experience, Significant Other started doubting his decision of pursuing a flying career, hahahahahah. but he went through with it anyway, and he's currently in HMA pursuing his CPLIR, and now doing his JAA Phase I having completed his PPL theory (as of 24/11/11). many more long months to go. fuuuh~~.

i don't know if JFK still personally does those city tours since he's reccently attached to Berjaya Air (i just love following his flying tweets) but if you're interested or have any inquiries, just email jfk@hitz.fm

ETA 24/11: since this is a delayed post, here's a clip in which JFK actually got gotcha'd by his team, lulz.

duct tape

oh, that's what Dayana calls em - cupcakes i mean. DUCT TAPES. lol.
yesterday i made red bottom cupcakes. thanks to the recipe and the link Pah pasted on her blog. i wasn't that adventerous to try Pavlova yet so i decided to try something abit easier - red-bottom cuppies: a combination of Joy Of Baking's red velvet cupcakes and black-bottom cupcakes. squeee~!

i ammended the recipe for a couple of reasons:
- Pah mentioned that the chocolate cuppies that resulted from the recipe wasn't so nice, my mom also agreed that chocolate cake without the usual mix of butter and eggs would be less yummy
- i didn't want to add swirls on my cupcakes becaue they would spell messiness when eating and storing them. so i decided to bake the cream cheese together with the red velvet instead.

so yesterday evening i dragged my sister and Dayana to 'Yummies', a little bakery in Bangi. ramai gila orang dok membeli belah, sibuk nak buat kuih raya la tu @_@.

writing the recipe here for my reference (which is identical to Pah's):

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature (i used Philadelphia cheese)
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Red Velvet cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (15 grams) regular cocoa powder
1/2 cup (113 grams) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
*pre-combine 240ml fresh milk or evaporated milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice, mix together, wait for 10 minutes before use (or you can use Buttermilk!)
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Method:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and line muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream Cheese Filling:
- In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth.
- Set aside.

The Red Velvets:
- In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
- In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- In a measuring cup whisk the pre-combined milk and vinegar with the red food coloring.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the pre-combined milk and vinegar to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
- In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
- Working quickly, spoon the batter into the paper cups until ½ or 2/3 full.
- Whallop abit of cream cheese on top of the red velvet mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until the cream cheese filling has set and the cupcakes feel springy to the touch (a toothpick inserted into the chocolate part of the cupcake will come out clean).

red velvet mixture, and cream cheese

into the oven they go

i bought small muffin cups so i ended up making 3 batches - 63 cuppies. i scooped in the red velvet, my sister whalloped the cream cheese, and my other sister naik atas tido sebab sakit perut. first batch turned out with the cream cheese looking a little bit tanned because i left it in the oven abit longer. second batch i experimented with less red velvet and more cream cheese, but the cuppies didn't rise all the way up (and summore we realized we were running low on cream cheese). the third batch was the best i guess, because i was quite generous with the red velvet so the cuppies rose to a pretty looking height.

first batch on the left (tanned haha), second batch on the right (too little RV)

the third batch. the best among the three LOL

we started out quite late because my dad had to set up the oven, so by the time we finished and cleaned up, it was 3am. oops. Dayana got bored and decided to sleep in front of the TV. for the record, she hasn't even bothered trying one of my cupcakes. hmmph.

norley wants to make blue-velvet for a change. my sister suggested green T_T.

taste-wise, not bad lah for first try. i was rather alarmed at the sight of the sugar quantity needed for the recipe, but it turned out ok lah. not as sweet as macarons, ugh. worksmanship sucks tho. for a private family party, boleh la lepas. mine doesn't look as nice as Pah's hahahah. takpe, janji sedap =D

budak bangun tgh2 malam buta cariek susu

tira misses u

yesterday my sister mimpi siang nak makan tiramisu. i planned to make Nina's premix cookies but rupa2nya my sister potong line dulu, haha. tiramisu didn't require baking, i didn't know that =P summore Aya already knew what ingredients we needed to get (i forgot to check what i needed for the cookies), so ok lah, tiramisu pun jadilah.

took me quite awhile to get the ingredients ok. penat i pusing satu Carrefour cariek.

- 500g italian mascarpone cheese <- i finally found this at the cheese / butter section - 100g icing sugar <- i had to call my friends to find out what icing sugar was, hahaha. i only tau gula kasar jerk =P~
- 5 eggs <- mom's eggs sudah lama, suruh beli yg baru hahahahah
- 1 pack of pavesini biscuits (recipe used 59 pavesini) <- paling saiko nak dicari. they didn't even carry sponge cake, an alternative for ladyfingers. i wanted to substitute them with biskut keras, but luckily my friend stopped me. i seriously didn't understand how the biscuits related to the cake until i actually made it. in the end i ended up buying this at Cold Storage. seb baik jumpe.
- 200ml strong expresso <- pffft, espresso mahai. i beli nescafe jerk. hoho.
- cocoa powder for dusting <- we used my mom's Van Houten cocoa powder to dust the top of the cake
- dark chocolate shavings <- listed in the recipe, but we decided to forgo it

(recipe to come later, Aya nak link!!!)

we didn't use up to 59 ladyfingers, since the dish we used was small (buat banyak2 takut takde orang makan nanti, and i'm no coffee lover). comots habis. and we managed to dust not only the top of the cake, but the top of my mom's dinner table and the tudung saji as well *kggal*

we officiated the cake the next day during buka puasa. turned out to be quite good actually, although it ain't look nuts like the ones you buy in stores, haha. the bottom part of the cake was abit soggy because Aya oversoaked the biscuits for the bottom layer T_T. but still yummy and edible =D.

Aya's masterpiece! i jadi tukang gelak wahahahahah

want a slice? =D~