The long overdue posting........

Baby of the house birthday on 1st Nov...
Uploaded the pictures long ago but really I was suffering the "M" sickness at the largest scale.... When asked if he wanted a party for his 11th birthday, he said no....he only wanted to eat Chicken Chop in Co*y C*or*er Ampang Park. Hmmm good enough. so we went on Saturday a day before his actual birth date. But on Sunday i just baked a choc cake and cooked my signature rendang cili api to mark the occassion and the grand ma made pulut kuning to give to next door neighbors. Honestly, he is the easiest boy out of my 3 boys to take care of so far even when he was inside me for the 9 months...Alhamdullillah.....

At 9 months old
At 11 years old

Lucky me......

When i first saw him more than 20 years ago, i was warned to stay away from him. I chose to ignore that warn and fate has it i ended up marrying him ha ha ha......Saw him first time with a group of friends, and by the time i talked to him the first time, his hair was longer than mine. I knew he cooked but only knew he cooked quite good a few months before i left for home from the States. He in fact introduced me to cabbage curry, never eaten that before i met him.

Why lucky?....When we got our first son, we never really discussed how to tackle the daily house chores as both of us were working. We had a wonderful baby sitter at that time. We send our first boy to her in the morning, and fetch him home mostly around 6 - 7 pm daily, depending on the traffic on the notorious Jalan Genting Kelang that time....if we felt like eating out, we would have our dinner first, then fetch the boy. If we wanted to eat at home, after fetching the boy, we would stopped at one of the many shops near our place along Jalan Gombak and bought the necessary to cook for dinner. Most of the time, i would do the cooking, and he would play with the son. Or he would cook and i would be the one layanin the boys. I heard so many ladies complained about the hubbies just sat on a sofa reading newspapers when they had to cook and took care of the children at the same time. So, dear hubby is quite at ease in the kitchen or take care of the boys. On and off when the mood strike, he would volunteer to cook for the whole family. And he cooked this wonderful nasi lemak and the eggs sambal from the many eggs that we got on one weekend last month from a few weddings that we went to. He cooks a lot actually but i just dont have the picture except for these ones......Enjoy the pictures ......

My style of cooking......

I had an interesting short chat with a blogger at gmail chat yesterday. After the normal salam and hi....the topic went to food...he said maggi mee is not good to eat. I agreed with him because i am not a fan of instant mee or any instant food. Even if i was craving of cokodok ikan bilis, i wont be making from Adabi instant mix....of course to all working mothers, these instant mix/spices are a God send after a tiring day in the office. I am not saying they are bad or anything of the sort....its just not authentic to my anak tekak....

anyway....the next topic was the use of Pak Ajinomoto in cooking. I never bought a packet of Ajinomoto before and i surely will never buy one in future. To me if all the spices and ingredients are enough in one recipe, it doesn't need the Pak Aji to make it taste better. Both my parents never approved of Pak Aji in the cooking at home and i continued that way when i have a family of my own. But really we have no choice if we ate out kan?? He suggested to replace Pak Aji with sugar...i am ok with that but i use sugar in certain dishes only, even that i use brown sugar. As for salt, i use fine salt only to fry fishes, tempeh and vegetables, but coarse salt in everything else. My fishes would only be fried crispy except for meaty fishes like tenggiri or bawal.

Here i am sharing recipes for my masak lemak coz someone in the Facebook asked me for the recipe and also my sambal belacan.

Crispy fried mackerel/kembung


Lemak cili api daging with potato.
The recipe;

500gm beef ( best use batang pinang) - cut bite size crossing the grains
200gm coconut milk
1 piece asam keping
one lemon grass - lightly bash the bulb
10-15 small bird eye chillies* ( more if you want it hotter)
an inch of tumeric*
*pounded or blend together
2 - 3 potatoes -quartered

Wash the beef, put it the deep pot, throw in the pounded chili and tumeric and the lemon grass. Let the water dry a bit, if the beef still not soft add a bit more water ...then put in the coconut milk, let it boil, put the potatoes and asam keping in and let it boil till the potatoes softened. Put some coarse salt to taste and do stir frequently to avoid the coconut milk become 'curdled' (separated?? any better word for this?).

Lemak chili api tenggiri with bittergout.

500 gm tenggiri
200gm coconut milk
1 piece asam keping
Half of big bittergout - sliced thickly(abt half cm ) and soak in salted water
10-15 small bird eye chillies* ( more if you want it hotter)
an inch of tumeric*
*pounded or blended together

Wash the fish, put it in a deep pot, throw in the pounded chili and tumeric. Let the water dry a bit, then put in the coconut milk, let it boil, put the sliced bittergout and asam keping in and let it boil again. Put some coarse salt to taste and do stir frequently.

My kangkung belacan

My mix vege
My lala in hot oyster sauce.

My fried bihun with secret ingredient..the minced touchu
Simple tumis french beans
Sambal belacan
2-3 red chillies
5 - 10 bird eyes chillies
1 inch roasted shrimp paste
salt to taste
juice from one lime
Pounded all coarsely except the juice. Add in the juice and serve.

All of the dishes were cooked without the Ajinomoto.

Weddings, open houses and etc.......

Purple was never my color, so when anyone requested for my cakes to be decorated in purple, it would be a bit of a struggle for me to let my creative juices flow ha ha ha...macam la creative sangat. So for requested purple silver, i came up with these deco, the blue was actually another shade of purple but looked blue in the pictures. These cupcakes travelled to Pasir Mas 2 weeks ago.


Combination of purple and pink on white was requested which i found a bit easier to come up with...the flowers roses roses, rolled and petaled, i cant remember the name of the yellow flower. These cuppies went to Kajang.Then, on two Saturday ago, we started our journey to Johol for dear hubby's cousin wedding. The rain was so heavy during the solomnised ceremony. Picture was taken by my youngest boy.


From Johol, we drove down to Senawang which actually quite near to our house, for my cousin daughter's wedding. The newlyweds were distributing the wedding cake to the guest.In the middle of last week, Wednesday to be exact, i baked 700 pieces cute little cupcakes for wedding favors. The cakes were collected by the bride herself on Thursday night. Selamat Pengantin Baru to Maz semoga kekal ke anak cucu.
Since the heavy baking was done by Thursday, i was looking forward to spend time with my 3 rascals and the father. We were invited to a Raya do in Tanjung Malim and in KL on Saturday. So we left for TM late morning that Saturday, and we were in TM until about 2.30 and stopped by Sungai Buaya to see an old friend. Chatted and had nice Laksa Johor (moi) and Carbonara Spagetthi (the boys), we left for KL at almost 5 o'clock. Lepakking in KL(Cheras) until 7.
We reached Seremban at 8pm, rushed for shower and went to another open house hosted by a young neighbors just infront of my house. Yak for awhile and went to bed so early. I was told that i started snoring at 10.30 that night ha ha ha.....that was way too early for me....must be too exhausted.

Because of the early night, i woke up at 6 am on Sunday morning. I did some cleaning up in the kitchen, and was suprised that hubby was up too. So we decided to have breakfast at the stall near Seremban Hospital. It was almost full, we had to share the table with another couple. Both of us had nasi lemak. I actually wanted to eat the kuih that they had, but all were finished by the time we reached the stall. Most of the patrons ate curry mee there but to me the mee is not up to my standard he he.....then we decided to check out some clearing sale in a shop in Seremban Parade. Poor us, by the time we arrived the shop, there were not much things left. Then we just went around the ground floor of the complex enjoying the Coloring and Drawing contest held there.


I like this girl's work. See his face expression.
Saw this boy almost crying face and yet still vigorously did his coloring. Apparently the siblings were enjoying McD meals and of course he wanted to have some too...i heard the mother/grandmother was 'pujuking' and best was when he started coloring the face looked quite calm but the moment he saw the mum, he started grimacing.....but he was so cute....

Belated Raya story....

Ramadhan was gone in a jiffy and Syawal swooshed to the 9th day today. Last night bade goodbye to hubby at the door as he got into the cab to KLIA. He would be in Kuching and Bintulu until Friday. Been awhile since he went outstation longer than 2 nights....the kids missed his wake up kisses this morning. His habit since the big boy was born...he would wake up, had his shower, said his prayers then made his round to the boys' rooms and kissed them on the heads.....aahhhh.... i am getting sentimental since Raya mood is still lingering. However, normal routine started today as i send the boys to school in the morning...

Our Raya this year was as routine as pass Rayas....the boys decided not to get new Baju Melayu so they wore the old ones with jeans to Masjid Negeri ....rugged weiii.....as for me, in spite of not making any cookies Raya sample, i did received a few orders of the cookies and cupcakes...alhamdullillah and fruit tartlets seemed to be the hot item on sale since Ramadhan...Saturday before Raya, i still delivered Raya cookies, cakes and cupcakes. I only started cooking my signature Beef Rendang Chili Api with Long Beans at midnight....by the time the rendang was cooked and packed in a few microwave containers, it was already 3 am......

As usual, Raya morning, hubby and the boys would go to Masjid Negeri in town for Eid prayer. I would bring all the cookies, cakes and rendang to my parents in law's house across the big road near mine. There i would prepare the food for morning Raya breakfast. This was the routine for the last 17 years since i got married. My in laws always sort of reminded my hubby that the routine would be different if my mum was still around. Anyway, since my kampung is in KL, the traveling time to KL from Seremban with no jam would be a breeze especially on Raya holidays. So, I really had no complain on this arrangement. Hubby with only his 2 siblings as compared to 8 of mine.
After the makan2 , the bermaaf2an and the duit Raya session in Seremban we went home for a while to give Raya food to our Chinese neighbors. They have been good neighbors and would have something for us every Raya since we shifted in this Taman. This year one neighbor gave a basket full of fruits and the other one gave us Raya hamper. We gave them 1 lemang and 1 bekas of chicken rendang and 1 bekas of cookies. Then we left for KL. As usual, our way to KL was a breeze but the opposite way of the highway was badly jammed up. We heard on air that the jam was until after Senawang and mind you it started from just after Nilai R and R......

We congregated at my younger brother's apartment in Ampang after the visits to my dad and mum resting places. There we had our makan2 again with all the lemangs, 3 - 4 types of rendang and KFC chicken too......Then we adjourned to my older sister's house and lepakking there until after dinner. We only headed home Seremban at almost 9 o'clock.




On 2nd day, my brothers and sisters, decided to have lunch at my house. Special request from my youngest brother for me to cook daging lomak cili api. He saw one of my buka puasa dishes in the earlier posting. Him being married someone from the north missed our style cooking he he....so i cooked that, cabbage with squid, deep fried red snapper in light soy sauce but unfortunately i forgot to snap picture of the food served on that day. Then as usual we yakked and yakked and remisnisced old times.

3rd day, we were back in KL visiting my hubby's people in Gombak. 4th day, we went to Kuala Pilah for Raya lunch at my sisters. 5th day, we visited uncles and aunties around Seremban area. I also managed to bake 2 types of cookies as my Raya cookies were finished on the 2nd day. On Friday, hubby and the youngest boy went up to Cameron Highland for a brief family vacation with his cousins and sister. My 2 older boys decided to keep me accompanied at home as i had committed orders of fruit tartlets. And rezeki from Him was aplenty, a blogger friend also requested a set of hantaran cupcakes for Saturday. My dear friend, the 2 boys and i went down to Melaka on Saturday to deliver the cupcakes and to ber-Hari Raya with the Harts.....Late evening, hubby and the baby boy came home. Apparently, hubby was suffering from a tooth ache due to a crack teeth and had to extract the teeth in Cameron Highland....oh oh...what a vacation...I got him a whipped potato from KFC and later at supper he took a bowl of rice porridge....pity him.....and yesterday Sunday, hubby packed for his Kucing - Bintulu trip and we went Raya to a friend house in Seremban 2. Then back home, lepakking and nagging the kids to prepare for school today.......

A bit long and late about our Raya story but hey....Syawal is one month kan?....Selamat Hari Raya to all of you...

Selamat Hari Raya

To the Muslim visitors, Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin.

The phone call and dangerous thing to do if you were fasting......

Woke up by a phone call from my 2nd round slumber land at 9.30 am on Friday morning. When i looked at the caller ID, my heart beat faster. "Ahhhh...at last" told myself.....a bit excited but at the same time struggled to steady my voice from sounded groggy ha ha ha.....afraid ter-sound sexy pulak pasal terbangun tido tuh. " Naper tak update blog?" the caller's asked. Adoi lah....if the caller was near me, i might go berserk ha ha ha.....I was waiting for the call or at least an sms from the caller for the past few months and that was the question i got...hisssshhhh...sensing a warm feeling in my ears, i counted till 10, just to calm my self down...so friend sorry if you could feel a bit of my sarcasm in my tone/words that morning, but i was just a bit p**sed off with your "elegant silent" he he....you learned that trait from our beloved former PM very well. Apology my friend, i just could not help it but I was really glad you called........

I should had a lot to blog about as a lot of things happened to me in the month of August, like the birthday of my eldest boy( 1001 apology ya Abang and hope you understand why the lack of enthusiasm abt your 16th birthday, i will make it up to you soon ), thank God being the eldest and my closest confidante, he understood. August also was the month i started being a wife to a man 17 years ago. It was also in August that i joined the corporate world in 1990 and ended my service a few years ago which was in August too. Many more to write about but the mood was just not there. Reason being 3 of my siblings were in and out of the hospitals last month, my 2 brothers and a sister.
I was still ok when the brothers were admitted almost at the same time, but when one of them was re-admitted and followed by my sister near collapsed after breakfast in one of the shop near her house and was "ambulanced" to Ampang Hospital, i just felt so down. My sister had been taking medication for hypertension but after a bout of high fever, her blood pressure was so low she almost fainted. It was a good thing that her college going son was with her, she was not alone as everyone else was in the office. Though on medication , she was never hospitalized as far as i remember except of course when she delivered her only son. I send a teasing SMS to her that morning. When it was not replied after half and hour, i was curious. Just about i was to call her, the son called me crying and told me that the mum was in the ER. I froze for awhile. Then i picked myself up, send my boys to my in laws and called a friend to give me a ride to KTM station. I took the train to KL on that day...it was 5 years ago i last took a train ride. Alhamdullillah she is ok now, it was suspected the dreaded H1N1, but until today, we never get the test results...Whatever it is I am thankful that my sister is recovering well and so are the brothers.....


Fasting month order....Choc Moist Cupcakes with strawberry. This time it was quite tough for me to remember not to lick the choc ganache from my fingers ha ha ha....

Selamat Berbuka everyone...............

What a classic....

see the back ground dancers he he....i sang this song with a band on a fren's birthday once upon a time ha ha ha....



What a song...



I was given a nick name of 'Katun Berjoget' because of this song .......maklang mid betul tak??

All ended well ...... so i thought

My younger brother was discharged from HUKM last week, and now hes in the border of Thailand - Cambodia, getting goods for his Bundle businesses. So, hes doing just fine, Alhamdullillah....those who are into Bundle goodies, you can visit his store in Chow Kit and Danau Kota. If you need direction, feel free to contact me.

However, the older brother though he was discharged a day after the other brother from Ampang P**te*i , he was re-admitted 2 days ago. I pray he would be ok in a few days and would be able to start the Ramadhan with the family this coming Saturday. Since my dad passed on, this brother is our strenght and our point of reference.

I had one interesting order of cupcakes this week. Handed over the cuppies to the customers on Friday evening infront of KTM station. I just love to see her face expression when she saw the decorated cuppies. I really hope they enjoy looking and eating these cupcakes. When i was told of the theme, and send a few pictures of cupcakes for reference, i wondered if i could come up with the deco. So, i browsed the net but i didnt find the how to.....so i figured out myself he he...weather its the right way of doing it or not i am quite happy with the outcome.
This is chocolate cheesecake with chocolate ganache for engagement hantaran(gift).

Made local savory kuih karipap for tea last week.

The boys' favorite dish, Shrimp in serai sauce.

One of hubby favorite dish, Lemak Cili Api Telur itik with pucuk ubi and belimbing buluh......

Trying to be positive part 2 ......

Apology as the sound of the title is a bit down. But thats how i am feeling from Saturday until now. The main reason for this was that 2 of my brothers were in hospital since that day, my coughing still persist and i vomited a few times yesterday. No worry, i went to see the doctor again, my 2nd time in 2 weeks. What making it worst is that Indah Water is doing their upgrading work around my area and the water supply is cut from 5 am until 6 pm everyday, even on weekends. From the board the work is expected to be completed only at the end of the year......haiiissssh what a stressful thoughts.

However, I am still thankful with the rezqi blessed by the Almighty, and it had been so long since i shared our dinner/lunch dishes here, below were our last night dinner. I only started cooking after 6 pm when the water supply came and only after washing all the dirty plates accumulated from the morning....yikesss. Simple dishes though.

French bean 'goreng bodo' ha ha ha.....bcoz its so simple.

Sambal belacan for the deep fried bawal goreng...
Ikan bilis and kentang berlado..............
Chocolate moist cake for my grandniece 3rd birthday in Cheras. FYI, i have 3 beautiful grand daughters.

A mix of orange and vanilla cupcakes for Lynn in Wangsa Maju.