Mystery Man - Bill

Hehehe... I have no idea who this man is...
Erm, actually, maybe I do....

He's a man from this website... http://thepioneerwoman.com/confessions/?s=bill

But, gosh, he's so.... damn good looking (hey, beauty in the eyes of the beholder... and he's indeed a beauty to me!)

And he's not married!!! OMIGOSH!!!! (Well, at least as of July 25th 2009 he was not)

Too bad, he don't even know my existance... kahkah!!

note:

Hey Ree - thanks for the pictures ;) (macam lah kenal ini orang kan?)

Hey Bill - if you ever google yourself up and end up in the site - hi there? Care for some coffee? (Kahkah, nang gila oredi me this)

Happy Dragon Year!!!

Nice kan our CNY tree? Hehehe... this is the result of Christmas being so close with CNY. We just took down the Christmas deco and put up some CNY deco.

Happy Dragon year!!!

---according to the Chinese, this is a good year to have babies! Haha... selamat mencuba then! :) Abundant prosperity and most importantly great health be everyone!

Note: I super love this tree. It's just depan my table and I really love the beautiful summer blossoms on the tree!

Feeling like a Lion

Rarely do I post 2 times a day, but been really frustrated since morning and need an outlet to vent! Feeling so much like a Lion!! Grrrrrr!!!! Not a dignified, graceful one at that!!


Blame it on the hormones!! There are some days every cycle - without fail, I'd feel like a Lion - no matter how "clean" your hair is, it's puffed up and soooo messy! No matter how nicely iron, nicely fit your outfit is, you still feel YUCKS, my sense of fashion is SO UGLY!!! No matter how polite your language is, you still succeed at saying something dumb and you go - GOSH, LION TO THE CORE!!!

Today is that day. ROARRRR!!!!

On the 12th day... Jan 2012

On the 12th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...... Eh, wrong song... :) It's Jan already... on the 12th day of Christmas anymore / yet!

This is a bit late (mid Jan already?!) But, I was just sitting down and wondering... what are the things that I want to achieve in 2012... not as in, resolution or anything coz that would be totally something out of norm for me... so, I'm coming up with a list of 12 things to achieve in 2012. For the physical things, this is actually so that I too have better financial control and aim towards what I want to have. Else, the money just disappears and I don't know where they go!

Instead of coming up with a list immediately, I'm breaking it up to once a month so I don't get too overwhelmed... (erm, sebenarnya belum really sit down and think!) So, on the 12th each month, I'll put in the "to-do" for the next month and update status on the month before (eh, me also confused with this sentence!)

So for Jan 2012.... Jengjengjeng...

A Philips handheld mixer.

We've already got one Kenwood mixer which is quite good but at one point, after being overworked, it got "sick" and even after "medication", it didn't get back to 100% (says the same about our body!) And also, some of our bakes requires a meringue or something, somehow to be beaten up in a separate bowl - which we can't do with our fixed stand mixer. It's a chore to beat one mixture, take it out to another bowl, clean the mixing bowl / legs, dry and start all over again. So, having a handheld mixer is a good backup / addition to our gadgets.

Why not get a stand one? Erm, more expensive and we're already got a standing mixer, so it's OK...

Stay tune on Feb 12th to see if I can achieve this "to-do" item :)

Oat Groat

Oat groats are a whole grain that can be used as a breakfast cereal - Wikipedia

I have no idea when I started liking to a verge of loving oatmeals - but I do. I love them sweet, I love the savoury and now, I love them as cookies! I made a batch of Oatmeal Raisin Cookie "sample" for CNY - trying to tap into a percentage of health concious buyers and I feel in love with these. Crunchy, chewy with a lovely touch of cinnamon, these even smells like Famous Amos to me, but hey, it's so much healthier! Love love... I'll bake another batch soon for sure!!

Missing the Miri Apam

Went to Miri for a short break recently.... when I say "break", I literally mean it... really really took a break - doing nothing except sleep, eat, sleep and eat some more. What's not to eat eh? I HUGE pot of "Uncle Andy's famous beef curry" were waiting for us... HUGE really that it lasted us till our last day there... YUMSSSS!! *No pix as I only cared about DEVOURING the whole pot!*

I really went for Rest and Relax but I can't say that my bestie did! Haha... Poor sister... and despite knowing how tired and sleepy she was, I dragged her to make these Apam with me!! Hohoho... we had to circle Miri town (erm, it did feel like circling to me ;P) to get the grated coconut for the filling but Lo and Behold, the little princess didn't like the inti!

I got the recipe from here. The apams were incredibly EASY to make - just dumpe everyting in the mixer and voila! No steps required! The result? Oh so light and fluffy and oh so YUMMY!

The filling - it was easy to make too - but I think, if I were to make these again, I'd totally leave the filling out (unless I'm making for a party or something that is!)

But the real APAM who got to our heart was this beautiful Baby... Bestie's Anak

When she was younger, she used to hate us (I think!) and she'd cry and cry and cry.... Bestie says she generally fears crowd.... but poor little gal... it must have been scary having us around for days! But this time though, she quickly warmed up to us and got our hearts from the first minute.... See how cheecky she can be?

She and Ather Noel became good friends by the time we left and those so cute hugs they give each other... Awwwww....

I miss her so much... now more than ever, wish that those miles and miles that separates Bestie and I would disappear....

Frid: Thanks again for having us over.... Nang benar - benar R&R lah di rumah kau... R&R for kamek orang... but more work for you I guess oh... hehehehe... nasib lah nak... siapa suruh jemput kmkorg dtg :)

ND: Thanks masak "Famous curry" mu itu... sungguh - sungguh makan sampai sik hengat :) sungguh - sungguh gumbira, bahagia and puas ati!! NYUM NYUM!!! lain kali buat lagi yer... :)

Sha: Hi Baby... you won't be able to read this yet, but Apu', Nenek, Ather and Aunty send our love to you... we love you so much... grow up well and don't break our hearts ya... love you Darling!

Christmas 2011... Part 5.. (STILL??)

Hi Mates!! 2nd day of the New Year.... again, too fast!! Time really flies TOO fast!!

Yes, I'm STILL on my Christmas entry, just simply because I want to keep all these in memory. I didn't do any entry for last year's Christmas trip to Lawas - Long Beluyu - KK holidays - which now, come to think of it, I should... perhaps I will!

Anyway... we didn't have any open house for Christmas this year, but called in our family for dinner gathering on 25th night.

Finally... I got the chance to use (and to show off) this beautiful fruit platter that a family friend bought for us from KK. It's so so so beautiful!! We saw one equally beautiful in Ikea but since it was too heavy, decided not to buy it. And for all the good reason because soon after, we were blessed with this magnificient Italian designed platter!

One thing that I refused NOT to bring back from Ikea was this beautiful simple serving tier!! As a matter of fact, I carried 2 back... And of course, it was put to good use :) Lower layer was carrot cuppies with cream cheese (which the family didn't fancy! ERK!), 2nd layer - pineapple rolls, christmas tree butter cookies and mum's raisin cake (YUMS!). Top layer - prune pudding... Mom would bake this each year without fail when we had our open house. She'd decorate it even nicer and since I was craving for this last minute, decided to whip this up (thank God for ready pitted prunes!!! - I used to spend hours and hours pitting those prunes back then!) I super love this simple serving tray!

Our "compulsory" Christmas spread - Fried Bihun, Chicken Curry, Satay (beef & chicken), nasi impit, kuah satay. And addition - mango tilapia fish & small oranges - which we went all the way to Kota Semarahan to get (coz they were really cheap there!!)

It seems that everyone knew how to play the guitar!! All 3 guitars taken out that night while waiting for dinner to start.

Oh, and we had steamboat too (pot can be seen on dining table below :)

It was really nice to have everyone around....