Happy 5th Birthday Alysa

You are a great joy in our lives

We love you and cherish you and treasure you
and wish that every one of your birthdays
will be the happiest yet.

We wish you fine and simple pleasures

We wish you many years of laughter

We wish you all of life’s best treasures

We wish you happily ever after

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweetheart, Alysa. May you have good health and bright future.

Initially Hubby planned to celebrate Alysa's birthday this Friday since it's a public holiday. But, we later decided to celebrate today as we had other plans for her this weekend. Furthermore, most of her friends won't be able to come if we do it on Fiday as it's a long weekend. They would be out with their families as we normally did on weekends.

Since we only decided to celebrate her birthday today, on monday afternoon, the preparation was quite hasty. We started inviting limited number of her friends yesterday. I started making her cakes & bread pudding last night & continued baking muffins this morning. Then, went shopping for goodies to her friends just before going off to work.The main dish was prepared after i got home from work at 2.30pm. Memang kalut. But, Everything was ready by 5 pm..of course with the help of K.Jun & her family. Farah fried the nuggets & sausages while Siti prepared the goody bags. Hubby & I made the final touches to decorations, putting up balloons and arranging furnitures. K.Jun also prepared fried meehoon & agar2 pandan. Ila made peach pudding.

When asked what kind of cake did she want for her birthday, she said " I want white cheese cake!". So , after tercari-cari resepi yang sesuai, i decided to make 'White Chocolate Cheese Cake'. The recipe was a combination of a few recipes. But, it's too sweet for my taste. Tapi yang penting the birthday girl loves it. She also raved about the bread pudding.. " Sape masak ni?.. Pandai mama masak.. Hmm sedap.." Hehe..kembang mama dia. Hilang penat memasak dengar anak puji..

White Chocolate Cheese Cake

Cutting the cakes & blowing the candles

All in all, she's happy with the celebration. Got to play with her friends. But she said the tricycle we got her is too big for her! ( Hubby bought the gift after lunch, main beli je..) .Actually dia yang penakut..:-) So, Abang Aman yang rasmi tricycle dia. Her old tricycle dah mmg kecik le for her.

The princesses posing with Alysa's new tricycle


With her friends

With Adik & the food served

A Wedding @ Bendang d' Kelubi

Congratulations to Ismadi & Wahyu on their nuptial. Menantu sulung untuk kak & abang. Mak & Ayah happy teramat tengok cucu sulung selamat diijabkabulkan. Ada sorang tu pulak gabra / kalut terlebih macam dia yang terima menantu, tapi anak sedara yang kawin. Kalau anak sendiri nanti in about 20 years time, tak tau le camne punya gabra..hehe.. sape lagi kalau bukan cik la..my one & only adik ;-). Dia yang berdebar & tak lalu makan ( surprise, surprise! ) on the wedding day masa pengantin sampai.. :D.

Since the wedding took place at a restaurant, rumah tak le kena hias sesangat. Tapi bilik pengantin tetap kena cat baru. We had 4 different kenduri, starting with kenduri doa selamat/ baca Yaasin on Thursday 11 Feb. The next day, akad nikah at Masjid Bukit Tinggi after asar. On Saturday kenduri kat rumah pengantin perempuan. Then the climax on our side on Sunday, kenduri at Bendang d' Kelubi.

Bendang d' Kelubi ni kat tengah sawah ( or Kedahans said bendang ), kat tepi ada tali air. Nice spot. Tak panas... Hiasan pun kampung style using old woods with carvings. Food lak, sedap la to my taste. Hari tu after 2.30pm, diaorang serve laksa siam. First time i makan laksa siam, kuah lemak ala2 laksa johor. Tapi guna laksa beras. Memang sedap. Pandai chef dia masak.

Jemputan from 12 to 5pm. Masa 1.30pm tu orang punya le ramai, food dah separuh habis. Memang penuh le meja2. Tapi alhamdulillah, semua sempurna. The food was enough for everybody & siap boleh bawak balik. Tak le membazir or tak cukup. The downside was Ayah tak dapat attend the wedding yang dia salah sorang tuan rumah coz tak sihat. But now, he's better.

After the wedding, malam tu i dah chow balik Penang coz MIL datang for the wedding. So, bawak dia balik Penang lak. That's the good thing of having a kenduri somewhere else. Lepas kenduri, tak payah susah2 kena kemas rumah or basuh periuk belanga..:-)

Akad nikah on Friday 12 Feb 2010

With parents on both sides

@ Wahyu's place

@ Bendang d' Kelubi






The newlyweds with family members

Chocolate

The princesses love chocolate especially Alysa. She loves chocolates & candies. But, normally we'd control her consumption. Otherwise, she'd finished the whole big box in 1 go. Tu kalau i terlupa nak sorok la. Their favourites are Ferrero rocher ( now dah kurang sikit), Kinder Bueno & Cadbury's. Previously, we don't let her eat candies coz not nutritious & kengkadang tu tak de logo halal pun. Ni especially kalau dapat masa wedding. Kalau i tak nak dia makan certain candies, i akan tapis dulu & sorokkan. Dah le gigi dia dah nak start rosak. But my friend, zuraida said kesian le pulak kalau tak bagi makan candies. Hilang nikmat zaman kanak2. Nanti gigi rosak boleh tumbuh len. Betul gak..so we let Alysa & Adik indulge themselves once in a while.

Baru ni tengok kat daput JC & K.Inahar nampak diorang buat homemade chocolate nampak menarik je. JC punya creation lagi le impressive. Terasa le pulak nak buat sendiri. Punya le mencari resepi. At last malas nak buat from scratch. May be later bila mood i rajin betul2 boleh le cuba. So, i shortcut je..

Home-made Chocolate

Ingredients

250gm bittersweet grade A chocolate

250gm white chocolate

almond slices, roasted

raisins

mould

Direction

1. Melt dark & white chocolate seperately using double boiler method.

2. Pour dark chocolate into the mould. Put white chocolate in the centre followed with almond & / or raisin. Pour more dark chocolate to fill up the mould.

3. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Asam Pedas Ayam

Actually dah lama nak buat asam pedas ayam ni. Ni masakan Johor. But the funny thing is Hubby tak pernah makan pun. Yelah..orang jawa le katakan. My MIL tak pernah masakkan untuk dia dulu..hikhik..Kesian kan? On the other hand, asam pedas ayam ni mmg weekly menu masa I study kat STF dulu. Pandai betul makcik2 dining hall masak. Ada macaroni sup ayam, lontong, nasi daging ( sampai now i tak pernah jumpa / makan nasi daging yg sedap cam tu using minced meat ), Nasi hujan panas, dll. Melalut le pulak! Tapi, i pelik le bila bebudak boarding school len esp my niece dok complain food kat dining hall tak sedap. Nak kena pegi makan kat kantin gak. I dulu seingat I, masakan kat kantin yang tak sedap. Mee goreng cam plastik je..hehe..

Back to Asam Pedas Ayam I, actually masa mak dtg hari tu dia ada tanam daun kesum kat depan rumah. Hubby pulak rajin membelek pokok tu, so hidup segar bugar le. I tanya le dia what to do with daun kesum tu? Nak tak makan asam pedas ayam? I know dia ni actually mmg jenis yang tak suka asam pedas. He's a curry man..Kalau tak de lauk lain je kut baru le dia mkn asam pedas ni. He said why not. So, i pun masak le tadi. Masa nak masak tu K.Ju ada tanya nak wat apa daun kesum & chicken? I told her Asam Pedas Ayam. Dia pun tak biasa mkn. She said klau sdp nnt dia nak try kat rumah. Lepas lunch & sedap le tu, masa nak balik siap ambik serai & daun kesum nak masak asam pedas ayam for dinner. hehe.. Hubby pun sampai bertambah nasi. Sedap le tu.. Resepi tak ingat le amik dari mana but i modified a bit.

Asam Pedas Ayam

Bahan:

1/2 ekor ayam, potong sederhana

* 1 bawang besar

* 1 ulas bawang putih

* 1 inci halia

* 10 tangkai cili kering

1 st halba

1 sb asam jawa + 1/2 cawan air

1 btg serai , dititik

1 biji tomato belah 4

gula & garam

Minyak untuk menumis

air secukupnya ( 1/2 L )

Cara:

1. Kisar bahan bertanda *

2. Panaskan minyak. Tumis halba bersama bahan kisar sehingga garing / pecah minyak.

3. Masukkan air asam jawa bersama ayam. Diikuti air & serai. Masukkan garam & gula secukup rasa.

4. Biarkan mendidih. Masukkan tomato. Tutup api.

For the pincesses since diorang tak makan pedas, I made MFC ( aka Mama Fried Chicken ). By the time i balik kerja dah licin diorang ratah as expected.

A Disappointing Food Experience

We normally spend our weekends going shopping or to picnic spots. Tapi since weather kat Penang ni is so hot nowadays, alamatnya kepanasan & kehitaman le the princesses kalau pegi picnic gak. Panas & macam nak terbakar je especially kalau tengahari buta. During weekends le we normally try out new eating places coz during weekdays I masak je.

Since kitaorang diamanahkan oleh mak untuk jemput few friends & sedara ke kenduri kawin anak sedara I , Ismadi on 14th Feb, so, kena le menjalankan tugas. But, before that kena le lunch dulu. We picked a new cafe to try out at Pusat Bandar Bertam. We are so sick of fast-food restaurants ( Hubby & I je..) coz kat sini le Alysa & Ayra selalu request nak pegi during weekends. Tgk cafe / kopitiam ni nampak decoration macam menarik je. Tapi heran gak sbb tak de orang lunch kat situ. So, hubby said why not we try out this restaurant without judging from the lack of customers. After eating, then we knew why there was no customer from the moment we step in until we finished our lunch. I ordered mee sup which was so bland & tasteless. Hubby ordered mee kari which the colour & smell made me so scared of trying it out. Nampak tak cedap langsung! For the princesses we initially ordered chicken chop but they ran out of it. So, I ordered fish & chips. Tapi fish tu macam keropok coz it was so dry & over fried. So, conclusion mmg le kitaorang tak kan ke cafe tu lagi..& wouldn't recommend to friends..:-) Sometimes rasa disappointed betul bila cuba kat restoran baru & the food was prepared by the so-called chef tapi food tak sedap. Even I yang tak de culinary skills can prepare much better than that! ( Perasan lak..hehe..). Food tu punya le unimpressive sampai terlupa nak amik gambar.

Baby tengah tunggu our lunch

That nite I had a tummy ache, a symptom associated with too much MSG in food that i ate. So, I told Hubby, next time if I ordered mee sup again anywhere, please forbid me coz I had a tummy ache too when I ordered mee sup in Kuala Kedah a couple weeks ago. Lagipun kat rumah we never buy mee kuning. Takut masuk boric acid le ni. Tapi kat luar bedal gak...haha.. Kat rumah guna spagheti je ganti mee.

Sometimes it's soo difficult to choose a place to eat where everyone can really eat. Kalau pilih ikut tekak we all, the princesses tak makan le pulak. Like last week we tried restoran nasi Kandar near Jalan Raja Uda... Diorang tak jamah langsung. Minum je. Dah le mamak2 tu asyik datang dekat diorang nak main. Lagi le hilang selera diorang..hehe.. So, lepas tu we headed to Jusco & pegi Chicken Rice Shop. Baru le diorang makan. Dah buang masa kena pegi 2 tempat for lunch! Kalau ikut choice diorang manjang KFC & McD. Tapi good thing gak pegi Jusco. Dapat le ke Library ( while bergilir solat dgn Hubby coz library tu just next to surau ) & shopping clothes & shoes for the princeses.

"K.Ngah baca apa tu?"



Alysa & Ayra with books that they chose

Kasut kat atas ni ada cerita..:-). Not mine, but Alysa's. Macam kasut adult je kan? Ni CNY Promo le ni. Buy 1 pair & get the second pair at RM0.88. So ni le rega kasut Alysa..:-) Actually we've given up on buying shoes for her in Jusco. Susah nak cari kasut untuk kaki dia yang chubby tu.. So, after dah beli kasut kat Baby & Adik, kesian lak kat dia tak beli. Masa tu Alysa cuma dapat new pants je. Nasib le jumpa kasut ni..& it's soo..cheap. Boleh beli berpuluh2 pasang kasut Adik & Baby..hehe.. & I pun dapat sepasang to get kasut Alysa at that price haha..Good deal huh?