Colors, colors and colors everywhere......

Its started on Friday morning. I baked carrot walnut cupcakes. The theme requested was gold. Quite popular color theme. The lady requested this via sms and phone calls only. The cuppies were for the sister's wedding. I started dressing up the cuppies after settling the boys' need like fetching the youngest from school, served him and the angah lunch and angah went at 1.00 for Friday prayers and to school after that. The lady came and collected the cuppies at 4.

After the gold theme, i made up the pastels colors butter cream hantaran. The cuppies were carrot walnut so i only did the baking once on Friday. This order was from PD and was collected at 7 pm due horrendous traffic jam in Seremban town that evening. The promised time was 6.

On Saturday morning after the Suboh, i baked vanilla cup cakes. I received the call for this order on Thursday morning. The deco and color were left at my whims and fancies, and i titled this set as Pink fantasy ha ha ha....my boys asked me why and i told them there were no real flowers which look like these. I walked 3 houses away about 9 am to deliver this set. She is my neighbor. This set was going to travel to Shah Alam.
Later that Saturday evening, the layering of this agar-agar was made. Its a bit time consuming but i just love the color. This agar-agar was requested by Kak Ezza together with the below hantaran cupcakes and a box of cupcakes with simple deco for makan2 after her daughter's engagement ceremony.

Saturday night, i baked vanilla and choc cuppies for the hantaran set and makan2. I am a minimalist in many ways and thats reflects in my cake deco too. Less is more to me .This last set was sent to Taman nearby my house on Sunday morning before going to Klang to deliver Kak Ezza's order. This set was requested by Kay, for makan2. Then off my husband and i to Klang. We made it at sharp 11 o'clock as the traffic was good. Chatted for awhile with Kak Ezzah and best of all we were the first to eat the food for her kenduri. I was segan to take picture of the food, dah lah first to makan nak ambik2 gambar pulak. She cooked a mean gulai cili padi salted fish with nenas, the kurma daging was really fantastic, kerabu kacang botol was superb, i saw ayam masak merah but i didnt taste it, fried ikan masin and the sambal belacan made my ears red ha ha ha.......love it Kak Ezza, a few kenduri food which i took second helpings dengan tak malunyer he he...
We made our move just after lunch as she was getting busy with other guests and all. We went to an old friend's place near Klang town. He was my hubby house mate when we were in the States. And as usual when old friends met, we lost time just yakking and yakking about things going on with our life, the kiddos, the work, the politic and the raising cost of living. Not to miss was the reminiscing of old times. When i looked up at the time on the handphone, it was just after 3.00 pm and they were supposed to leave for Muar for a kenduri ha ha ha. We made our way out but between getting into the car and saying goodbyes it took another half hour by the time we were on the road, it was almost 4.00.
We decided to go to Ikea, lama tak ronda he he....for a day before Chinese New Year, the place was quite crowded. Did some window shopping and left for Penang Village in Taman Tun for prawn mee. The hubby was so like craving for that dishes. I ate the mee curry and we had same drink of the Kalamansi thingy. We headed for Seremban shortly and was home sweet home an hour later, almost 8.00 pm .....and lo and behold...after a shower my legs started wobbling and i just felt so tired, i konged out on the bed before the head hit the pillows ha ha ha......When i woke up it was 6.00 am Monday morning and its Chinese New Year.

Rantings or ramblings??........

Yesterday morning while driving my 2 boys to school, i heard on the news that the sugar price will increase after the Chinese New Year. Heart dropped on the floor for awhile. It is not my house consumption that i worry about as we are very low sugar users, it is my little home bakery business which would be badly affected. Only in my last posting , someone mentioned that my pricing is very low, and that was not the first time. I thought about increasing the price a little after last Hari Raya, but i didn't. However, with this incoming increase of sugar price i really had no choice unless i do the baking for charity.....enough about that...i had a pleasant teh tarik session with my big boy yesterday evening. He shared what just happened during the supposedly trial debate. He was not very keen to participate but when the topic was "Same gender marriage should be allowed", he just walked out. And I support his action there as i think that was not an appropriate topic for a school debate. He also told me thats he is coping well with the new subjects such as Physics, Chemistry and Additional Maths. He must be having his father's brain he he.....i pray he will continue to enjoy his school years.

Some dinner dishes we had a few days ago.....

Telur itik masak lomak cili api with belimbing buluh.
Sambal ikan bilis with terung
Sotong goreng tepung

Gold theme and chocolate moist cupcakes again....

I received a call for this gold theme hantaran request last month, when i spend a few days of the holidays with my siblings in PD. After talking briefly on the phone i asked the girl to follow up through email with details of her request. The next day she smsed me saying she did mail me but no reply .....ha ha ha....a bit impatient weren't we? But , i understand as she wanted to make sure i would accept her request. Told her, no net acces at the place i stayed in but i already slotted her request, so it was as good as done. She also requested to put the cuppies in the nice case and me being very bad at this hantaran case, i went to a few shops selling craft thingies for wedding and all copied design on the shelf he he....it was selling at RM30.00 in the shop and mine i just sold RM20.00 for it.


Closed shot in the car under the tree while waiting for a pick up at Tesco, Sban 2. I tak shop pun .....
This is the best spot to put a box of cuppies in the car for delivery. On the floor at the front passenger.The birthday cuppies was an adhoc request, since the hantaran was chocolate cuppies too i accepted the last minute request as i only need to bake extra cup cakes. Her request was simple deco for a birthday guy. The deco was done using thin royal icing.

Brownie....

Two Sunday ago, after my lunch guests left, a young couple came to my house. They were my prospective customers who wanted to discuss their wedding package. While discussing their requirements i served them fruit and blueberry tartlet and some muffins. I was happy to see them enjoying the sweet treats. Suddenly the guy asking if i made brownie and of course i said yes. So he ordered one just for makan-makan and to make it at my convenience ...nice customer ya...I made the brownie for them yesterday. I used the recipe from one of the many recipes books that i have. Lightly topped with chocolate ganache. A cut brownie
In a box
Ready to be collected

Too many idiots on our streets.....

This morning i saw a car did a U-turn on the one way road and drove against the traffic to avoid a road block by the police i just felt sick to the stomach thinking of what might happened. And then, as I stopped at the red light, i saw a motorcyclist with 2 toddlers and the wife across the road. The older kid sitting in front the father, and the younger one was in between the dad and the mum standing up. The kids had no helmets but the parents had them on. I just feel like screaming obscenities to the couple...how stupid can the parents be... Later in the afternoon, as i was making a U-turn, i stopped to check the incoming car from the traffic light, out of nowhere, came this Wira on the outer lane and the driver had to slam the brake so hard to avoid going under a long trailer. I just watched with amazement how little that guy value his life. He was so shaken, the car engine went dead and still not moving even after i reached the parking lot at the complex near by.

Enough about roaming idiots on our roads, just to share our menu for today. I fried rice for lunch today. i used birds eye chillies as the boys like it hot. I just pounded one red chillies with about 2o birds eye chillies with 3 red onions, 1 garlic, a bit of shrimp paste and coarse salt. Then i heated up 3 table spoons of oil, fried the anchovies till crispy and set aside. In the same oil, i fried the pounded ingredients until fragrance, put the rice in and mix well....then i broke an egg in, mixed it well....i threw in the fried anchovies, mixed and turned off the fire and lunch was served......my 2nd boy finished half and the youngest one the other half...i ended up eating bread ha ha ha....my eldest came in late in the evening, so he ate the curry puff i made for tea using ready made puff pastry.

Do what we can and give what we can....to the children of Gaza

I just do not know what else to say, just please do what we can and give what we can.

"I ask from you Ya Kareem. I seek from you Ya Rahim, have mercy on these innocents.Help them Ya Allah, help them Ya Rahman..... "

I copied this from kak Teh

"Mercy Malaysia has, on 30th December 2008, formed an Emergency Response Assessment Team to face the humanitarian crisis in Gaza strip. The team has been promptly dispatched to Egypt led by President, Datuk Dr. Jemilah Mahmood and Exco Member Norazam Ab. Samah.

The air strike and ground offensive on Gaza - as reported by AlJazeera - have killed more than 700 Palestinians, 219 of which are children. More than 3000 have been wounded.

Therefore, Mercy Malaysia appeals to generous Malaysians to send it cash donations. Contributions will support Mercy Malaysia to procure emergency surgical kits, medicines and hospital equipments to help the hospitals in Gaza.

• Cheque is to be made payable to “MERCY MALAYSIA” and addressed to Mercy Malaysia, Level 2, Podium Block, City Point, Kompleks Dayabumi, Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, 50050 Kuala Lumpur.
• Cash donations can be made via on-line transmission or deposit at CIMB Bank Account No: 1424-000-6561053.
• Donation form can be downloaded from here.
• Further enquiries are to be directed to +603-22733999 or info@mercy.org.my

Let us make a difference by whatever little we have. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your generosity."

Al Fatehah.

Pleasant Sunday but hectic and painful Monday ........

On Sunday i hosted a late lunch do for a fellow blogger and baking enthusiast Boxhousestudio when she and the family came down to Seremban to send the oldest son to one of the boarding school near here. I served a simple dish of rendang cili api kerang, my version of spices fried chicken and fried cabbage 'bodo'(named by dear hubby ). The cold drinks were tropical juice mix with soda water . I only got 1 pitcher of that and i mixed mango cordial with soda water when the juice finished. After lunch we had Starbuck coffee from my coffee maker to go with banana choc chips muffins, blueberry crumble tartlets and pandan muffins(courtesy from my guest). She ordered fruit tartlets for the son, and i assembled the tartlets with her help and i used fresh peach, strawberry and kiwi. What i loved so much about this lunch do was how the boys so enjoyed the simple food that i served. I felt guilty not serving something more elaborate. They left for the boarding school just before 5 .00 pm . Thanks Boxhouses and i hope you ' tak serik' to come over again.

Spices fried chicken
Rendang chili api kerang(cockles)



Fruit tartlets
Monday morning i woke up with a very bad pain on my left back just below the shoulder blade. The pain was so bad if felt like i was getting a fever. Still gotta send the kids to school. But since the children are all familiar with the routine , I only need to do that. Thank God....but as my Angah was just started Form One, i needed to be with him for awhile and worst that hes in evening school. While sitting under the big mushroom in front of his classroom building before the students went into the classroom i wondered why theres a need for the classrooms to have curtains for the windows. The materials were torn apart and it looked so untidy . Later i found out that no school fees to be paid as yet , i left the school. Went home , had a short nap hoping the nagging pain would go away but it did not. I could not slept a wink, so i worked on decorations of wedding favors containers for my month end project. I keep all the ribbons and tools for this kind of work in this nice basket given by a fellow blogger the darling ms.hart. Thank you dear , just what i needed and the other things too.

Request from London to Bangi.......

I delivered the cupcakes and muffins to Bangi for kak Teh yesterday. When she left words in my earlier posting comment box about ordering the cupcakes i was very excited at the same time nervous. Her request was simple, to have her nieces and nephews name on the cupcakes. I started baking the cakes at 7 in the morning, followed by the muffins. Topping of chocolate ganache i made the night before because it needed to be set for at least 5-6 hours. I made it while watching the Hindi movie, Bobby during the advertisement. By 10.00 am, the cuppies and muffins were packed in the boxes. We went up to Bangi to deliver the goods and we went to a shop selling baking stuff near the area. Got my baking ration and was back home at 2.30 pm.

And this morning, when having breakfast with my 2 younger boys, the conversation went like this
Mama: You know last week i send the cake to Pd sorang coz none of you nak temankan i...order tu dari Moscow.
Baby: Moscow tu kat mana Ma?
Mama: kat Russia
Mama: And semalam i went to Bangi dengan Ayah, order tu i dapat from London...
Baby: Uuyooo....mama nyer cupcakes go internationalllllll.......

The Angah couldn't be bothered as his nasi lemak was more important than talking about my cupcakes he he.....he went to get a second helping of nasi lemak.....then off we went to the schools to get their exercise and activity books.....