Happy birthday Nabil!

It was Nabil's birthday celebration last Saturday. Since his dear aunt yang selalu marah dia tapi he still very much loves me because I feed him nicely with all the foodies, yang dak tak kaki bangku when it comes to baking....I made him these little gems, vanilla cuppies with edible image of disney princesses and superheroes....

The cakes....
It was as if the cakes were meant for him alone, he was glued to them and probably finished one third of the cuppies!

Happy Birthday Nabil...mak long sayang Nabil, tapi mak long marah Nabil if you were naughty!!

Sembang dengan anak and some cake stories...

I just love that little teddy, don't you? Mini cuppies for Zira's niece.
Much as I have been trying to have "louder" colours, I still love this soft hues...
Happy birthday Mamat! Carrot cake with cream cheese topping.

Ibraheem and Johan (SW's only son) indulging in vanilla cuppies with fresh cream...heaven on earth for the boys!

Yusof...oh Yusof...

My son Yusof looks very macho and handsome, tough and manly but, deep down he's very manja...this morning while we were having breakfast, he blurted, "Mom, I tak sabarlah nak kahwin!" Say what??? So, I replied, "Hmm, boleh kahwin, but make sure dah ada rumah, ada kereta, good job as you are not running to me and ask me to SOS you!". "Oklah Mom, and she must pandai masak and gosok baju and kemas rumah macam you...". Actually, Yusof''s wife better be a good cook as Yusof has already started his cullinary skills, his telor goreng braised with bawang goreng and kicap manis makan with nasi panas will definitely please your taste bud even if you have already had your meal!

And Khadijah pulak, the other day said she wanted to have her wedding at Balai Perdana Felda....what mummy had in mind is just a very private function with closed friends and famil....ha ha!

And back to cake stories.....last week a dear lady, very humble in her occupation of preparing drinks to us all in the office, ordered 2 carrot cakes for her son's birthday... a lady whom I borrowed a lot of wisdom especially in the experiences of bringing up children. This lady is a tea lady but 2 of her children are accomplished engineers, and this is one lady who "lent" her daughter to her childless brother. I always ask her on how she has brought up her children to where they are now. The birthday boy now works with an mnc! I wanted to do nice decor for the cakes, she refused, malu she said...well what can you expect from someone who is really down to earth, thank you Kak Ana for the orders, the advice and the coffees! Next year, cheese cake ye Kak Ana!

The other order was from Zira, my pasar tani buddy, who would take no for an answer . The cakes were for her niece who graduated last week...actually it was more for her to makan-makan! Yeah, we love to makan-makan!! Thank you Zira for your continuous support!

What's life without friends!

I used to be a lone ranger, engrossed in what I do, am not selfish or self centred, I was just doing the things to get me to where I am today....even though I have begun to realise that this is really what I want to do for the rest of my life...

I have missed so much of friendship along the way due to my behaviour, so at this forty something age, I would not want to miss anymore of this precious time as I realise what makes you is your family and friends....enjoy these photos!

Friends from my office savouring the DeepaRaya dishes during our open house recently, I was busy clicking away my camera!
Some of the guys from my office, they all love to melantak!

My big big boss, I admire him, he's a "nike " person...Just Do It!!

Marina and myself, she's a lot happier where she is now....in Branch Supervision!

Of course, Mrs N, always there for me to lend her listening ears...

And my life wouldn't be complete without these people.....

Serena, Sham, Elina and Norita, the St Nicks' girls. Kopi and roti kaya at Oldtown Coffee after lunch!

Except for some fione lines, we haven't changed a bit!

Sham, the story teller, the crowd pleaser, then until now!

Lunch that day was nasi berempah with ayam berempah....yumms!

I believe I can Fly.....

So many things are playing up here......but I know that I need to run before I could walk......

Perplexed!

Lately after I gave birth to my no 6, and despite having huge challenges with time for myself...I have been doing a lot of thinking, thinking about the goals that I set for this year for myself and most importantly...the kids! More about what I have achieved and not, later...

But today, right this very moment...I just don't know how to describe my feelings...think it's way past the anger threshold...this morning after logging in at work and having a quick coffee, I dashed to Bangunan Mara to get the forms and details for Khadijah's application into MRSM. To me that was a real hassle as first and foremost I hated Jln TAR and thereabouts, don't care about the kedai kain there, but, I just can't stand the traffic there. Secondly, I hated the parking there, or rather not so convenient and enough parking lots...so I ended up having to park in B2 at this new gloomy looking building next to Bangunan MARA...the entrance and exit to the parking was through side doors, I was almost running in my platform sebab takut!!! Got the forms and ran back to my car...

After all that and I got a call to say that my daughter who's sitting for her PMR, yeah the much harapan mak bapak, the clever one, the multi talented one, who said no to me if I wanted to send her lunch today, had gone off to Carrefour with her friends for lunch!! I sent lunch to her last week, you see! And she still has a paper after lunch, and going out of the school premises during exam! Dah tak sabar nak jadi adult gamaknya!

And last night we heard from Yusof''s ustaz about one occasion where he actually slept in class under the table while his teacher was teaching....and of course many more stories, the not so nice ones...

Sometimes, I wonder if the sacrifices that we have been making have been worthwhile after all...I know back then and until now I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt the feelings of mak and ayah....

Kitchen Guardian Food!

I guess what started off as "pembawakan budak" like so many has called it when I started baking in my early pregnancy, has turned into what I call my calling, not truely yet, but close to it...day by day. So, I can't put off this anymore, no more excuses as my heart beats faster towards my calling........so, announcing the opening of Kitchen Guardian Food!! Please feel free and browse http://kitchenguardiantoo.blogspot.com/ to see how I can satisfy your palate!

Thank you all who has been giving me the support, you know who you are......loves, Yani.

Memories of Raya 2009, Part 2

Back in KL, adik and ayah came visiting...
Adik's girls Anis and Nadia...
Yusof and Khadijah at Mrs Nordin's house.
Enjoying mint tea after the scrumptious rendang and kuah kacang, and laksa utara prepared by Mr and Mrs Nordin!
Mrs Nordin, Madam Tai Tai, a firend and moi at Mrs Nordin's house.
In JB at Pak Ngah's house, moi was busy doing work using BBerry when network went numb...the wonders or not wonders of Berry??
Umar and Hajar kerok kueh raya!!
At Atok Uda's house in Pontian, bebudak main "one two zoom", reminds me of my zaman bebudak in Baling...
Atok Uda's cucus..
Atok Uda's mom and neighbour.
Nabil, Umar(crying, kena usik by Ibraheem), Ibraheem and Yusof at Kak Lin's house.
Yusof and all the other kids playing mercun and bunga api...
Lin (waving) and Ryana her daughter, our dear friends from KL, whose kampung is Parit Ibrahim in Benut also came over to Ayer Baloi open house!!
3 dara pingitan, ish yang paling kanan (Fihmi's wife) and paling kiri are already mak to anak dara!!! The anak dara is the one sitting in the middle, Fihmi's eldest girl.
Raya at Uncle Pathor Rahman's and Auntie Kamariah's house in Senggarang. They are MIL's and FIL's family friends since forever...
Moi, FIL and Uncle Pathor Rahman listening to stories by Fihmi, Fihmi and hubby went to the same secondary school in Seremban.Uncle Pathor Rahman is an avid golder, di mana dia main golf in Senggarang!!??

Family photo at Kak Lin's, Arwah Kak Lin's mom who is FIL's youngest sister, lived in the Ayer Baloi house until she passes away.

My youngest brother Mus and wifey Aein and moi at Uncle Yem's and Auntie Milah's house in Parit Besar, Batu Pahat. Uncle Yem and Auntie Milah are also MIL's and FIL's member ketat (best friends...)!! Aein's kampung is in Tangkak, about 1/2 hour's drive from Muar, thay came visiting the Muar house and we dragged them to join our convoy to raya, yeehah!!

A group photo of Aein and Mus and Aien's sisters with us in Ayer Baloi before they continued beraya and exploring Pontian, Rengit, Batu Pahat and drove back to Aien's kampung Felda Palong ....

What a wonderful raya we had with relatives and friends...my aim is to restore the house in Kampung Seberang, Kupang next year, so that we can jalan-jalan my kampung pulak in Baling, inshaallah!! As of now, I am struggling to accomplish a few goals at home with kids, work and my life....more updates later!

Memories of Raya 2009, Part 1

Today is the 15th day of Syawal, but the memories of Ramadhan and Eidul Fitri just felt like a dream to me ...I have been super busy in the office and also at home. Where and what I do, the thing that I dread most is for something major to take place with the network, as it would have a direct implication as to whether I return home early from office or the other way round!

Everything was alright with the network until the fourth and fifth day of Eid....due to massive traffic, the "hlr" which is core to any telco network became heavily congested and went "numb"! And because of this I suspect that the network guys will have to tweak the system, which moi as the executor of the contract documents will also be implicated in churning new or supplementary documents....which also means that there will be more workload to the already heavy workload...sigh....

Anyway, we celebrated raya in Muar on the first day and moved towards Batu Pahat, going down south to Senggarang, Pontian and Johor Bahru. After what I went through with the "kampung" folks...well they are not so kampunglah as compared to me, but the suasana kampung was definitely more merry than here in KL's open houses. I notice there were no open houses, but the families that we visited actually prepared dishes as if waiting for guests...unlike here in KL, open houses have become like a special event, and for years moi have also been part of this open houses events...we should do it like how the kampung folks do it-lah, I think......so inshaallah, from next Eid, I will prepare heavy dishes like rice and stuff even without gusests informing me first that they are coming over.........

In the mean time enjoy this photos that will tell its stories..... Yusof and Hajar, one week before Eid in Ayer Baloi, hubby balik kampung to clean up the house for raya!
Moi...perasan ayu! Photo taken by Khadijah during our one and only buka puasa outside @ Dome KLCC with dear friends Bad and Liza and our kiddos...no Naz I was not on the phone :-)
It was more borak than makan for me and Liza, we hadn't met for close to a month after she saw me a week after I delivered Muhammad, she had been busy with her preparation for finals Masters exam due in November. Liza will be a fine family medicine pratitioner, I hope she will join my sister's team in UMMC!
As soon as I arrive in Muar on Saturday morning, the day before Eid, MIL mintak tolong I bake sandwich cakes and upside down cakes...since, I now bake hi hi!!

All in Ahmad Umar's family minus Azura and family who raya-ed in Lenggong this year!
My kiddos didn't want to salam with me, because they said I had and said so many don'ts to them...I'm the evil one at home, that's how I thrive !!
Kitchen Guardian and Dad of Four +1+1, emm, we can't have another baby in future, it won't fit a picture -:))