In my new cake stand with clear glass top.

I think I can guess that the Designer name must come from the silver liner and the smooth sparkling look of the lacquer glaze. The Grands, I guess maybe because of all manners of chocolate that goes in it.

Anyways.

I wasn’t too sure of Rose’s instruction to use a silver foiled liner with the inner liner in. That puzzled me a little, but sinmce baking supplies in Malaysia tend to be quirky, I just imagined she meant silver liners. In the end, I placed the glazed cuppies into another silver liner. No two ways around it as it’s was a little smeared.

The cupcakes themselves was kinda simple. I was suprised that the 12 cupcakes filled to just barely half the cavity, rose well above the pan level that I had to trim the bumps off.

I realised that I didn’t have any milk chocolate at home and rushed to the nearest 7-11 for a bar of Cadbury’s. It’s close to 10 at night and I already had the cuppies in the oven, so Cadbury’s gonna have to do.

Well, it’s one thing to be brushing sugar syrup on cakes, brushing chocolate syrup was a different experience altogether. No rushing here. Talking to the cuppies so they get absorbed faster sure helped.

I kept them in the fridge overnight and woke up to find them looking gorgeous with pools of milk chocolate on top. I had a small container of 2 months old lacquer glaze (glad I labelled and dated all baking things that go into my freezer) and by nuking it in 10 seconds bursts, they thinned out perfectly.

I brought some of these babies to my parents’ for a gathering and they were just excellent. My mom liked it because it’s just decadent but not too sweet. The kids love them as they’re just chocolates.

I initially had reservation because I remembered my not so great taste of the lacquer glaze, but somehow it worked well for these cuppies. The same batch of lacquer glaze. They got better frozen? Maybe.

The glaze didn’t set which was perfect for eating with a spoon. And it tasted just perfect. I love the cake. I love the milk chocolate syrup and the glaze made it extra special. Yup. Definitely will bake again.

Just an update.

The house reno (seems to be on for forever) is finally picking up steam in these past few weeks. There was a slow period of about 2 months which rest assured MrGart has thrown some serious adult tantrum to the contractor, using words I can’t write here.

At the moment, both houses’ front gates are missing. The huge 12-yr old red palm tree is being uprooted in the left wing to make room for a car porch. The tree will join its cousins, some green cha-cha ruffles palm trees on the right wing where we will have a gazebo and a garden. Right now the garden looks like a warzone.

All the plaster ceilings are done. The kitchen’s tiling is ready. The master bedroom’s done. The walk-in wardrobe is being built. The spacious black-white split level huge master bathroom is ready minus the window frames. Kids’ bathroom Number 1 is ready.

We’re waiting for the window frames, door frames and kitchen cabinets and in the mean time they’ll do up the car porch and garden and the gates. Then only we’re able to move to the right wing for them to work on the left wing where the kids’ Bathroom 2 is to be done and my existing master bedroom to be converted into a study. Our sodden bathroom will be knocked down and just be a room. The kitchen is to be converted into utilities area with specific area for laundry and ironing, taking things away from Andes’ room outside. Won’t she just love us more?

Ayisha meanwhile is doing fine. This month she starts her Quranic recital every weeknight instead of her afternnon KAFA classes. She’s happier too. We’re making solid grounds in her Maths work with me. I, in fact started everyone on this. Not just Asha. We may not be seeing As just yet, but I have faith that the day will come.

Adani meanwhile has been a little emotional these past few days. I think there are some friends issues at school. I came home from official dinner do last night to her red, swollen eyes and I got her to the clinic. Her very first allergic reaction to something. Nothing that a dose of Zrytec and some Prednicolone couldn’t help clear. Academically, she’s been oustanding. While we’re doing some intense Maths with Asha, Adani’s doing a grade higher than where she is, at ease. Alhamdulillah. Both Adani and Ayisha are really into reading these Diary of a Wimpy Kid books for reasons I can’t quite fathom.

Anyways.

Aliya is currently in a mad dash to UPSR. The dreaded public examination for any 12-yo in Malaysia. She did very well in her exams and her teachers have all praises for her. Just need to keep the momentum going. I’ve been doing some doodling work with her from DeepSpaceSparkle just
to help her to destress and unwind. She does wonderful PileUP Name Design and seems to enjoy doodling. At 12, self-awareness and conciousness is really affecting her and that was why last weekend’ hair trimmings was a big deal to her. She nearly cried when the first few snips were made, but I assured her that wait till its over, it would be alright. And it did. She beamed afterwards, admining her long layered hair do. Very stylish, I thought. We need to get those hair straightener. Aliya’s hair is wiry and rather stubborn. Ayisha’s jet black and very straight. Adani’s dark brown, very soft and easy to manipulate. Ariz’s uhmm .. just cropped short and rough, like stubbles.

Ariz these days is so hard to snap a picture of. He refuses to pose and runs away whenever a camera is nearby. He’s into ToyStory3 and is often caught role-playing with Buzz and Woody in cars with dinosaurs. All’s great. His reading is amazing and he takes reading practise very seriously. Of late, he’s been quite upset that his Malay Language reading is not as good but he wants to improve and makes me read with him. Alhamdulillah. Otherwise, he’s still a tv-addict but only to Playhouse Disney and Disney Channel, and the super heroes he loves are Ben10 and Batmans and Phenias and Ferb and the funny platypus.

Apart from that, all’s well at the Gart’s dwelling.

And of course, the “car” is days away at arriving at our yet-to-be porch. Yippee!

I’ve gone mushy as I age.

I read Rotidua‘s blog yesterday about Raden Galoh i.e. Dalilah Tamrin’s battle against breast cancer. Hence the blog’s title One Breast Bouncing.

She was feisty and bold and didn’t whine or complain about the intense pain that she was in. Who am I to even try to understand her pain, her suffering ? We can imagine, but nowhere near what she felt. The frustration and the pain.

Instead she wrote about what steered her in the straight path. She wrote about her husband and her children, often reeling when it came to her children.

I read most of the posts with eyes tearing up last night. Her last entry was 3 weeks ago and she spoke about going for an Umrah, a minor pilgrimage to Mecca.

I came in this morning, tearing up listening to the Cheryl Crow’s Fight For This Love. And am sitting here, adding her blog in my burgeoning list of Reader’s subscription, and googling about her, wanting to know more about this strong, stoic woman.

Only to realise that she has just passed away this morning at 8:50am. I was too late, I guess. I was drafting a heartfelt comment for her for her to be strong and that she’s giving us, the ignorants, a real slap in the face for being for ungrateful for what we have. But she’d never knew that that.

To MH and her two sons Adam and Idris, there is no word that I can ever say to ease your pain or even to describe your loss. But have faith that Allah’s promise is true. I pray for Allah’s mercy for her and for Allah to grant her Jannah.

Al-Fatihah.

I turned *counts* 28 30 37 28 37 yesterday.

A big number, I should say.  Thank you to all who who wished me all the great things in life, in the virtual world.  Thanks to the Facebook, I had an avalanche of wishes from friends and families all over the world.

Friends I knew from primary school when I hardly had boobs sent me their wishes.  Friends I knew during the wild days at Manchester sent me their wishes too.  Even families strewn around the world sent me their wishes.

I have no idea how we all ever survived pre-Facebook days, seriously.

But not a single birthday card.  A physical card.  One you can touch and trace over the quirky hand-written message.  The cute tiny hearts drawn as a signature or even the smiley face drawn with a circle and 2 dots and a smile, instead of the automatically generated smiley face.

I guess that’s 2010 for us.

Anyways.

Happy Birthday to GartRed too!  She’s exactly 10 minutes younger than me.

Or cupcakes.

As expected, I couldn’t find any of those cute hole-y paper cases.  Am still smiling from reading Marie’s post of those stalagmites forming on her oven floor from those tiny holes and thanks too for the education.  I never understood why, but now I know.

Anyways.  I turned mine into 21 cupcakes.   My cupcake pans have 12 cavities and 3 of them unfilled, so I filled them with water.  I read somewhere that if I left them empty, the pans would be misshapen due to uneven heat distribution.  Is that true ?

A friend, Mosh gave me her unused red checkered cupcake liners and they were really cute. I wish I’d taken some pictures of the cupcake but I didn’t have the opportunity.

I made them on Sunday, after MrGart’s unfortunate date with the bitumen on the road. That afternoon, my parents and sisters came to visit and the cuppies disappeared into eager tummies much too soon.

I had on hand half of the chocolate ice-cream cake left in my frezer and they were eagerly waited on and chomped on promptly, with calls for seconds.  It was such a great hit with the kids, especially my kids.  Adani proudly helt 4 of her fingers telling me that she had 4 slices.  Aliya raved about it and dogged me to make it again.  Ayisha pressured me into making the fudge sauce only, minus the cake.  Ariz just smeared his face with teh fudge.

BTW, the hot fudge sauce did well , frozen. I let it thawed and warmed it in the microwave and it flowed magnificently.

I

I didn’t have any vanilla pods with me, especially when they’re super expensive here in Malaysia.  But I had this tub of vanilla bean paste.  1 tsp is equivalent to a pod, so I used 2.  Dark seeds are just so good to look at and they smelled heavenly.

The cuppies were easy enough to make and it was rich, buttery and vanilla-y.  It’s a little plain, on its own but that’s the power of pound cakes, I guess.  I meant to whip some cream but like  said the mob just cleaned the plate.  Not even time for a picture.

Next up :  Chocolate Stud Cake.  (who would’ve thought there’s bananas in it)

MrGart and I have taken up this hobby or rather a sport about 6 months ago and it involves bicycles.  The kind that has slender, light frames meant for roads, not for hilly or moutainous terrain.

These road bikes are fast, especially downhill if you’re heavy like MrGart.  I would outrun him on slope and he’d catch up downhill.  Anyways, it’s one of those things we both enjoy doing.  We’ve always been an adventurous couple all these years and this was just waiting to be picked up.   Did I tell you guys about the 4 weeks we spent backpacking around Europe when we were 19years old?  That is not something I would want ANY of my kids to ever attempt, now that I know how silly it was,  for us.

Well, MrGart has already clocked like more than 1000 km on hhis bike and I’m still around 250km.  He rides 40-50km every Sunday and Saturday with this band of cyclists from Bukit Jelutong and I do get a little intimidated to ride with them, so I often just ride with MrGart whenever he does solo, to keep him company.

Anyways.

Last Sunday, coming home from my weekly salsa/mambo/bollywood aerobic session with Adani and MissKLSentral, Ayisha rushed out to meet me saying Daddy fell off the bike and was bleeding all over.

I was worried and finally spoke to him to know that his cycling buddies have despatched a guy to pick him up some 40 km away (they were going to Ijok, like 45 km) and he was about to reach the clinic at Bukit Jelutong.

We waited for him and when he arrived, bloodied and all, I whisked him straight into the treatment room and the gash over his eyebrow was long and deep.  He had long scratches from his left eyebrow down to chin.  Face is face and turning blue black.  His jersey was torn at the left side, leaving his back lacerated.   The doctor came and he had 9 stitches to close the gash and get cleaned up.

Apparently, they were riding in peloton and the rider in front was avoiding a dog and swerved, causing the riders behid to avoid crashing into him, which 3 didn’t have time to.  MrGart was actually eating a banana at that point in time, re-energising with his right hand and he hit the brake on the lefti.e. front wheel which sent him somer-saulting in the air.

Alhamdulillah, they all landed on the safe side of the road instead of the oncoming car stream.  The helmet and the glasses protected his injury from getting much worse and proper riding jersey helped too.

So, the Colnago is not too bad, just a little out of alignment, must to MrGart’s delight.  I doubt this could dampen his love of riding.  But I guess this would make him be a lot more careful in future rides.

In the meantime, he’s mending at home with 2 days of medical leave.  I for one, was late this morning from watching the World Cup final at 2:30am.  Kudos to Spain for winning it and I feel for you guys Netherlands.  I was rooting for you guys, but I guess, Snejder,  it’s not your day.  And to Diego Forlan, great play and even greater hair.  Good jon on winning the Best Player.  Whoohoo!  I heart you!

This time for Africa!  It’s over now, think I’m gonna go into a WC-induced withdrawal mode.

Made these last Sunday for Umar’s 8th Birthday World Cup themed party.  His mom made meticulous preparation for the party and even held a match of football among the guests.  It rained in the morning and the football field was a little slushy, but it never did deter boys and “bigger” boys from playing, getting all mucky and yucky, including my two boys.

BTW, am a little dozy this morning from watching the defeat of Germany to Spain in last night’s semi.  The semis and the final are shown at 2:30am here in Malaysia and that resulted in many many sleepy heads in the morning after.  Anyways, YAY to Spain!  And sorry Klose, the end is here.  You’ve been wonderful, but let Villa and Sjneider steal the match in the final  aye!

I digress.  I’ve always wanted to make pavlovas but I failed both times I did.  The last try was inspired by the Delicious cafe’s Choc Pavlova with Strawberry that Dayang is still dreaming and smacking her lips, remembering.  I googled for a recipe but threw the whole batch away since it was so so so so sweet.

Then I remembered in my Nigella Lawson’s Domestic Goddess book, she mentioned the Mini Pavlova and that  it makes for a great dessert.  But that book is nowhere to be found in my house.  Did someone borrow it from me?

Anyways, that was superb!  I think i beat the cream a little too long and it’s seconds from turning into butter.  I sliced some strawberries and for effect, I spooned on some of my thawed frozen Raspberry Sauce from Heavenly Cakes book.  And that sauce made the pavlova, seriously.  I would keep making the sauce and freeze them for moments like this.  Serious comfort food.

The picture was taken from the leftovers broken pavlova at home with what remained of the raspberyy sauce and the stawberries.  There were some 10 pieces left and they quickly dissappeared.  Aliya and Asha were so in love with them, making me promise to make them again.  No worries girls, I have plenty of frozen eggwhites in the freezer.

Here’s the recipe.  It does work and not too sweet, but I’d be lying if I’d say it’s not sweet at all.  It’s a sin food.  *throws hands up in the air*

From ACatInTheKitchen

Mini Pavlovas
(Makes 18. Recipe Nigella Lawson)

8 egg whites
a pinch of salt
500g caster sugar
4 tsp corn flour
2 tsp white wine vinegar (makes the meringues chewy inside)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I didn’t have any so I just substituted 100 gram of the above 500 gram caster sugar with my own vanilla sugar, which basically is a jar of caster sugar to which I add scraped used vanilla pods instead of throwing them in the trash).

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 3 baking trays with baking paper.

Beat the egg whites and salt until the mixture form satiny peaks. Keep beating the egg whites while adding sugar little at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the corn flour, vinegar (and vanilla extract, if using). Fold in gently.

Form round meringues on the trays lined with baking paper, around 10 cm a cross and 1.5 cm high. Make an indentation in the middle of every pavlova with the back of a spoon. Put in the trays in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 150°C. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the Pavlovas inside for 1.5-2 hours.

Serve the Pavlovas with whipped cream, fresh fruit and a nice fruit syrup.

This weekend I thought I became a super-baker and I was so glad that this kinda falls into the quick and easy ones for me. Not because it was that quick or that easy, but more because it can all be done ahead of time. Well, maybe not the chocolate fudge sauce. But that was super quick, especially when I used my microwave for all the heating. Yikes!

Which was a boon considering I needed to bake about 200pcs of cookies, assembled and delivered a wedding cake, made some lemon cheesecakes for a Lynn’s eating place and 2 trays of mini pavlovas for Umar’s World Cup Themed Birthday party.

But things did work out for me, although I needed some PCM later for the headache that I had from all the running around.

Anyways.

We just had the cake an hour ago, for supper once the girls were home from tuition and whatnots. The kids just adored the cake. Ayisha loved the fudge and licked and licked her plate. Adani, who was sleepy had no problem cleaning her plate and Ariz asked for seconds.

MrGart who has now become sugar-concious because his glucose level was high during his medical checkup today complained that I wasn’t helping his case. I nicely retorted to him that I was testing Rose’s recipes and he should garner some resistance.

Anyways, he almost slyly got seconds until I pushed the plate to Ariz instead. *wags finger*

BTW, since it was too big of a mathematical puzzle for someone who has a degree in Computation *grins* to bake 3/4 of the cake, I just halved the recipe and baked it in a 8×3 pan. Since I started baking from the HCB, I have a calculator installed in one of my kitchen cabinets. Sad eh!

And I didn’t make my own ice cream. I really should since i have a new chest freezer. *gloats*

Verdict : The cake was really really good and the ice-cream and the fudge made it even more special. My chocolate is only 66% and although I reduced some 30g off the sugar, it was very sweet. Maybe because I omitted the cocoa powder. No because of my sudden inspired moments in baking, more like I ran out.

I wrapped about 3/5 of the cake and stashed it back in the freezer and wonder how long does the fudge keeps in the freezer. It says 2 weeks refrigerated, but no mention about freeezing. I’m your new freezer-freak girl, so these facts, I must know now. *grins*

I’ve done stacked cakes before, but always for friends and family, never for a full blown wedding reception. But since this order is kinda right down my alley, I figured I could do it.

And I was so glad I took as it gave me great pleasure. It’s steamed fruit cake inside, with home-made marzipan underneath the white fondant.

She wanted a simple cake deco, with an olive green ribbon, draped with fresh orchids. Green. Okay. A phonecall to a florist friend, Farah shocked me to know that orchids cost a bomb. Like RM75 per stalk of 10 flowers. Wooo! And worse, she could get the orchids but the exact shade of green is not something she can promised, nor the suppliers. Especially when these are imported from NZ.

When it arrived, I was pleasantly suprised. Phew!

Assembling the cake tiers at the site proved challenging as it’s a garden wedding but my imported flowers need to take shelter in a cool place unless they wilt. Yikes!

Anyways. Glad it went well.

Episode 1:

At school ground, picking up Adani and my twin’s kids.  A white Harrier, double parked behind a row of school vans blocking them and delaying them from sending the kids home.  One of the vans was the Manjit van my kids go on.

The guy came and arrogantly moved his car and blocked off another part of the road.  I walked past and gave him the utter disgusted look at him.  He got off his car and came to me, demanding what’s wrong with me.  I told him off that this was a school ground.  Be considerate to other people.  At least show some great example to the kids.  He arrogantly said that he’s picking his kids up and has to go the hospital.  I told him, what did he think we ARE ALL doing there?  Having a picnic?

He then said that I should behave like a woman and not do what I did.  WHAT?  SAY WHAT? Just because you’re a man, that makes you, right?  Puhleeeze!  Clearly, you’ve gone no further than the year 1983.  You scum!

I decided that he was no match for me and that I hold a much higher emotional control than him and I actually think with my brain. After all, you can’t win with idiots who think they’re right all the time, even when they’re dead wrong.

So I preserved my sanit and left by saying “harap kereta aje besar, otak cetek, hati sombong, dah salah, naaak menang jugak” which means “so much for your big car for you have such little brain matter  with a huge arrogant mind.  you’re not worth my time”.

After all, he couldn’t even speak a word of English when I was berating him.  All uttered were some dialect Malay words of little class whilst I was in my hard-negotiator mode.   Sheesh!  The world is so full of these I-am-so-special people.  To the driver with the white Harrier registration DAS xxx, I’ve got my eyes trained on you. *wags finger*

Next time, you think you’d want to cross words with me, do learn a thing or two about ethics and morale, and probably learn to speak some adult words too.  Malu lah!

Result:  FLIGHT with pride.

Episode 2:

MrGart’s away on work stuff and I was doing Maths exercises with the girls.  I had Asha doing her Maths, a level lower than hers is.  She’s been really really under performing, failing her tests and all.  In fact, today I decided to stop her from her KAFA in the afternoon to focus on her school work.

Anyway.

I lost my cool.  I lost my temper.  I pulled her ear.  I ticked her earlobe.  I slapped her on her shoulder.  I turned red.  I yelled.  I lost it.  On a person I love.  She sobbed.  She cried.  She blew her nose on a tissue and had teardrops on the math page.

I shamefully did that to my 10-year old daughter, over some math questions.  I am ashamed and haven’t I vowed that I would persevere ? Didn’t I promise Asha that I would work on my anger?

I listened to a talk on the radio this morning, about how anger is ingrained in humans.  It’s not about eliminating anger, it’s about managing it.  Too little, you become a coward, too much, you’re out of control.

So, I’m making a pledge today that I will try the best that I can to have this anger under wraps.  I so need to do this.

Result:  FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT.  For Asha, it’s worth battling this.

Boys do the most unthinkable things. Like hopping and knocking himself against the table’s edge which has been there like before he was even born and had a nasty cut on his nose bridge. Any lower, it would’ve resulted in a broken nose.

That was Wednesday night.

Last Friday, we had a wedding dinner invitation and the kids showered. Ariz just came out of the shower and I was just finished praying Asr. Suddenly he leaned backward with a loud thud and started to shake with eyes rolled up.

I picked him up, calling his name again and again with no response. Carried him to the tap to sponge him down. He had fever the night before and he’s had 3 febrile seizures before and I knew the drill, but the last one was more than 2 years ago.  I honestly thought he’d outgrown it.

When he came to, he was still listless and I rushed to get more tap water to wet his head and body and I put him of the bed. I slipped and fell in the toilet and hurt my ankle which I never felt until all was over.  It was pure adrenaline at that point in time.

Ayisha was at tuition. Aliya was my pillar of strength when MrGart was not home. She asked me whether to go to the clinic or straight to the hospital or to call for an ambulance. She called my twin for advice and Adani grabbed Ariz’s clothes. Decided to go to the clinic for the much needed voltaren  suppository to lower the fever. My stock has expired.  Turned out his temp was 39.6C. Very high.  Spiky high.

He was talking by then, protesting to be sponged down. I was able to speak then, instead of choked with tears. Writing this brings tears to my eyes, still.

We were asked to go straight to the ER of SDeeMC and I refused admission after securing an appoitment with the pediatric neurologist today. Ariz had no noticeable fever then on.

We went to see the neurologist today and although she was sure that he would grow out of the seizures by the time he turns 6, she cautions us that some kids do develop epilepsy. And most cases may be controlled with drugs.

Since its hereditary, we went through the family history and it was clear that it’s MrGart’s side again. With the eczema, the sinus, the athma and now the seizures. I felt like crying there and then. I didn’t know hat I was thinking. I smiled confidently at the doctor but my heart sank.

I’ve been reading about febrile seizures and epilepsy and am not entirely comforted either.  I felt like I should have him under my eye all the time.  I felt helpless.  I felt so scared of the what-ifs because those are serious what-ifs.

O’Allah, I seek refuge in you. I ask of your protection on Ariz. I ask of your mercy on him. Grant him good health.

I need a good cry. The kind that makes you sob and you sob and sob again before you pick yourself up, believing that you can do this. There’s a reason for everything. Then I found Kelle Hampton‘s blog. In February, she gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl called Nella Cordelia, who has Down Syndrome. I cried reading this post and I felt so moved by her honesty in the way that she writes.

I took strength in her and if she could shoulder up and face the world, then I can do it too. After all, my problems are so so much pettier than hers are.

Do pray for us. Only time will tell and that only Allah knows.

I nearly danced a little jig when I read about this cake making the list.  Especially after life has been not unlike a  tumble dryer causing all manners of ruckus.  That’s set aside for fresh posts later, I guess.

I read Marie’s post and this is tops on the Easy List.  All made easy as I was able to reach into my super-crowded freezer and get out a small container of beurre noisette.  Hah!  Even if I didn’t make the cake, I would just make it so I could write that line.  Made me feel super domestic and super baker-ish.

Anyways.  I had 2 containers of the frozen beurre noisette but I thought that it was 37g each, as I remembered the last genoise used 37g.  I was either gonna add more butter or chip off the other container.  It turned out that it was exactly 50g, with 1g to spare.  Whoohoo!

The batter was uneventful.  I think I beat the eggs & sugar close to 7 minutes and it billowed magnificently and silkily.

In went the beurre noisette and the flours.

Unfortunately I didn’t own a fancy tube pan and only one i have is  typical round.  Next time, I will.

In the oven and close to end of the 25 minutes the middles began sinking a little, all around.  I gasped.  Aliya did too.

I let it in for 30mins and when it was out, turned in over but it wouldnt budge.  Uh-oh.  I used my cake tester and loosened the cake at the sides.

Turned it over again.  Nope.  Double uh-ohs.

Opps.  Forgot to loosen the middle inner ring.  That done.  Nope.

By this time I was resigned to just throw the syrup in and eat it with a spoon.  I decided on one last push.

I literally shook the cake, the kind of action you’d be arrested if the cake was a baby.  And I felt it bobbed on the tray.

I cringed expecting to see shreds of cake pieces all around but miraculously, apart from a few pieces of loosened inch-size pieces, it was intact.  Whoohoo!

On the syrup went and it got a night in the freezer.

Verdict:  Tasted super light and silky smooth.  It was moist and the orange tasted wonderful.  What made it even more special is that the kids were carting the cake slices off one by one.  And my kids don’t eat a lot of cakes if it’s not chocolate.  So, this was a success, made even better with it being super-easy.

Street shopping in typical Asian cities would definitely require one to bargain for at least 50% off the quoted price of anything at all.

It is rampant in Bangkok, Bandung, Cebu City, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and the likes.

Being Asian, one would imagine that I have the skill to negotiate for a better price for that bangle or those pearls at the  Philippines Market at KK.  Heck!  I sit in teams to negotiate power agreements worth billions of ringgit.  Surely, I could bargain.

Sadly.  I don’t.  It’s not that I can’t.  It’s more that I won’t.

I mean I would bargain for some significant purchases like a car or a house.  But for a cheap souvenirs or t-shirts, I don’t think so.  Even though the travel agent or drivers would always remind us to do it.

I keep thinking that if the bangle is RM5, winning a negotiation for a discount of a further RM2 is not going to make me any richer.  But it makes that seller RM2 poorer.  And she’s already down and out.  And the ways some people bargain, are just pure extortion.  They whisper, and they pout and they throw tantrum for a mere RM10 off their purchases.  Heck!  Woman!  Look at yourself with your branded sunnies and you travel Business Class and yet you’re beating this seller for a mere RM10.  Please!

So, people, that’s why I don’t bargain.

People tell me too that these sellers or peddlers make a lot of money anyways, so we might as well bargain for a better price.  Well, if they do, then good on them.

p/s my freezer is stocked to the brim with fish and prawns and squids from Sabah fish market, super fresh and at unbelievably crazy prices.

Maybe ?

Probably not. But I plan to catch up.

Instead we were here for the last 4 days. At Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, the state where the Mount Kinabalu looms high.

Fun fun trip, except that I came home with a bad heat rash on my face (seems to happen on my every island holiday), a sore throat and a sickly self and a feeling that I can’t eat another crab or huge prawn for at least 5 months.

A very similar boat we went on at the Klias Wetlands.

WHile we were there, we went on a Klias River Wetlands Safari, looking out for these proboscis monkeys with funny noses and after a BBQ dinner, switched all lights from the boathouse, oohing and aahinng over the thousands of fireflies, illuminating the trees. Really magical. I actually felt the scene in The Princess and the Frog, when Loiuse the crocodile and Raymond the firefly took them to the Mama Odies’s place. The boat house we were in was similar.

We went island hopping, well 2 islands. Manukan was kinda dissapointing as the water’s not clear. It rained the night before apparently.

Manukan Island, Sabah

Sapi Island meanwhile was just idyllic. Water’s clear, we snorkelled and spotted more fish and some corals. We lingered and by the time we were to leave, the sky darkened and there weren’t a lot of poeple around. Then it rained, a raging storm. We waited for our boat in the howling wind and huge raindrops in our wet clothes.

I was getting really worried about the boat trip back to Kota Kinabalu in that rain. Luckily the boatman came and asked us to wait out for the rain. Finally, we left the island, shivering cold as the strong wind blew. I was relieved when I saw the jetty.

Ariz, Adani, Aliya and Asha were all shivering and their fingertips were wrinkled. But I was glad they took it in good spirit.

Sapi Island, Sabah.

More later, folks.

1. Yesterday’s interview for a senior post in the Kompeni went pretty well, I’d say. I was calm enough, I hope and the essay that I did was I felt alright. Though, some said that I didn’t get some of the facts right. Yikes! Anyways.

2. Rear car type popped this morning and I never realised it. It took a cute young guy to tell me after I’ve parked my car that my tyre’s completely flat for me to realise that it had tears in it. Gosh! What did I run over? A curb? Definitely not! Dang! *counts money*

3. The lump under my arm stays in, says the doctor. *phew*

4. Despite the many wedding invitations, I haven’t been to any, not even Aeni & Fairuz’s. Shame on me, I know!

5. Met Ariz’s classmate at MissKLSentral’s new eating place, Ayers Rock at d’Bayu, Bukit Jelutong which is superb for fresh grilled stuff. Anyways, a chat with the mother, (Ariz’s friend, not MissKLSentral) revealed that the friend was breastfed for 4 years too. Hey! Lega! I thought I was alone in breastfeeding Ariz for 4 years and 3 months. That long!

This is one of those days when you wish that the days would just whizz by you and hope that you’d wake to a Saturday morning, looking out to the sea, the breeze in your air and the kids’ laughter in the background.

That I hope, insyallah will be on Saturday.

Meanwhile. This is Wednesday. And tomorrow is Thursday. Yikes!

Nothing mega-sensational happens today, except that I’m seeing my friendly doctor to remove a lump under my arm. The swelling’s all gone and the lump’s gotta go It’ll be a day care thing and I’d be out the door by day’s end. Insyaallah.

What is a lot of worrying is the interview I have tomorrow morning. There’s been a lot of drama culminating in me finally submitting my application for this career move a month ago.

This would a new place, a new environment, a whole of of new people and a new set of work of which new management skills are needed. Out of MY box. And it was out of my mind until it dawned on me that I just had to do it.

And it’s here. The letter calling me for the interview.

Trying to read things and understand more things so I can ace it. But above all, I hope that if I get it, it’ll be for my benefit and if I don’t, then there’s a silver lining to it too.

Life’s never fair, that much I learned already. That’s why we’re here. If it were, we’d be in Paradise.

Anyways.

*goes back to wiki-ing and google-ing for info*

For two weeks that is.

Lucky for me, I have work. *evil face*

Well, not really. Tomorrow am taking a day off to take the girls Adani and Ayisha for a clay-craft class. And this Saturday, we’re off to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah for an island holiday. WHoohoo! It’ll be sun, boats, beach and snorkelling.

You know how families evolve, in the manner of things they do, which always abide by the youngest member of the family’s readiness for anything at alll.

Since Ariz (now 5 and a half years)’d been of the boobies and is able to stand, sit and relatively able to take instruction (am still teaching him to walk instead of run, hop, skip or even dragging himself of fthe floors), we’ve embarked in more adventurous stuff.

Like movie-watching. Adventurous? Try bringing a 3yo into a cinema. You’d be shooed-out or dished with angry glares and stares, and not to mention, the many loo trips and whatnots.

And of course, island holidays. We live in a country where islands are abound and what a waste it is to confine ourselves to the safe beaches. So, since Ariz has more or less shook off his dislike of sand on his feet and water that moves on its own (like waves and the runs of waterfalls), we tried Pulau Redang last year.

A blast it was. So, here we go again. To the land Under The Wind (eh, ye ke? in Malay it’s Negeri DIibawah Bayu).

*makes a long list of things to get before we get on that plane*

Any ideas?

Taken from the tireless AsH.

Indeed.

*counts wedding invitation cards on my table*

6 invitations and the holidays are only 2 weeks long. My parents would I imagine, have at least double mine. My 6 is probably minimal by Malaysian standard, I guess.

For what its worth, I’m happy that these friends and families are tying marriage knots and I pray for their happiness and blessed future together.

Wedding cookies for a wedding. Shirin’s I think.

Close-up 1

Close-up 2

Today I will love my child unconditionally, and I will try my best to express that love, at times which are most beneficial to my child.

Taken from Parenting Tips from KhalifahTraining.

Taking the cue from Amber Fischer who, by the way phenomenally gorgeous pictures of babies, toddlers. mischievous boys and sweet girls, along with their mummies and daddies.

How I wish I could do something like that. Explore photography and make printed and cherished memories. Sigh!

Anyway, Amber does a Ten On Tuesday when she lists 10 completely unrelated things on a tuesday. And since I feel like I sometimes or rather most of the times have no interesting events happening to me in my not so exciting life, I guess I should bore you with my 10s. And since ten begins with a t, which makes great phrase with tuesday or thursday, but tuesdays are too hectic, I’ll take thursday. So, here goes.

1. Took away Ayisha’s phone last night as a punishment for crying and skipping Ad-Daris. She said that she has a headache and all which I don’t think she does because she was ready for the night classes which she likes. The Ad-Daris she dreads. Sigh!

2. I love electric green

3. My friendly breast surgeon wanted me to have a minor surgery to remove an infected lump under my armpit, thursday next week. Yikes!

4. The moulds on my office walls are back. They painted it but now they’re back, yellow and raised and heck! My infected lump must have had some connection to the sick building syndrome.

5. Have an important career progression interview next Monday and I’ve learned nothing at all. Panicking! There’ll be an essay writing exercise too, just to gauge the applicant’s ability to coherently and articulately write things. Yikes!

6. The world in indeed a small place. The surgeon I saw yesterday was a super senior at school, the glorious Convent Bukit Nanas and she also lives at Bukit Jelutong. Indeed!

7. There’s not a lot of people in the country who have rooms as messy as mine. Organised chaos!

8. House renovation in its 6th month and hitting a stumbling block. A lot of sms-es around. Waiting for kitchen cabinets to be installed and then we can move next door and let the contractors work on the left side of the house.

9. The “car” which has arrived from Bristol for the past 3 weeks is still sitting in the holding yard at the port, while waiting for clearance from Immigration and whatnots. *getting impatient*

10. thursday already?

A state crime.

A terror inflicted upon a peace mission.

I am appalled at the arrogance of the Israelis soldiers.

I feel for you Gazans and I pray for you and your peace seekers.

Insyallah.

BBC News

Free choice week is back! *glee*

And I am far behind, I know. *head hung low*

But as an excuse, all my leg muscles are aching from the 25km cycling I did with MrGart on Friday. BTW, they are right. Clipless pedals on roadbikes are just amazing. Footworks are easier and I actually felt less stress. And of course, not falling off the bike at all, was a huge relief. I had nightmares thinking about it, actually!

What my foot would look like in its cycling shoes. Mine’s white, BTW.

Well, despite that, I had real issue choosing which cake to do this weekend. A case of spoilt for choices, methinks. That deep an issue that I almost ditched a Free Choice Weekend. Sad eh?

Anyhow. Decided upon a the Gateau Breton midway through Sunday after realising that I have not a lot of fancy ingredients in my fridge and I was just lazy to traipse down to the bakery supplies shop.

But I needed almond, 42g of those slivers. Rummaging through my freezer, I found a small bundle and miraculously it weighed exactly 42g. Taraaa!! I felt like dancing and skipping around after this small achievement. Guess that was the hardest step in making this.

Anyhow, I’ve always wanted to try the similar recipe in the Cake Bible but have never gotten round to it and I guess now’s the perfect time, since I missed the week it was baked.

It was pretty easy, seriously and in the mixer the butter and sugar and the yolks. BTW, eggs in Malaysia are always always larger than the LARGE eggs in the book. Theyr’e always like 60-65g per egg, instead of 50g. But some of them have small yolks. Hmmm .. surely I can deduce something about this correlation. *ponders* NOT!

Well, Marie was right. The kitchen bloomed in the wafts of the cake. It felt homey, almost domestically goddesyy in all its glory, if you ignore the mess on the coffee table and the bickering kids and the toys on the floor. *yikes*

Well, here it is.
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The gateau, all shiny and gloriously yellow.

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The close-up. I’m not sure if I’ve underbaked this but it went for 40 mins (than suggested 35-45mins). Look in the center. But it sure tasted wonderful. Buttery and cakey but yet crunchy.

Aliya and MrGart finished their slices and were picking up crumbs. Adani and Ayisha picked at the crunchy bits and Ariz poked at his. It never amazes to see other people’s kids lapping at every baked stuff and mine turn their noses at them. Spoilt for choice, again, I think. And why is it that with all this fattening, buttery, cakey stuff in the house, my kids don’t seem to put on weight when some kids are just brimming on the verge of obesity ? I should be thankful. I am. *ponders again*

I sent some to Ninuk and MissKLSentral while the gateau was still warm in my fancy flowery paper plates and great feedbacks I get. Yay!

The other cake. Lemon-syruped sponge cake, part of a wedding cake.

I’ve never been an enemy to Mondays. All days come and all days go, then they come again and they go.

*free tip to blogging: reiterate wordsto lengthen your post effectively, whilst looking clever*

But I had one of those whirlpool, blitzy Mondays ever.

Day started fine and chaos began in the afternoon meeting I had with PJ. Felt like a real Lost in the 80s moment. People in jackets, speaking real Malay in perfect tense and politeness all around. I felt suffocated and by 4pm, I had a blinding headache from all the niceties.

Ooooo … traffic home was horrendous today. The opposite lane was completely blocked off by the police and I learned later that a fatal accident involving a pedestrian and a gleaming Alphard, with its nose all dented occured. One pedestrian and they clsed the whole 4-lane roads? And the cleaning of the road? Sounds like gory pirces of flesh on the road. Gory gory gory! Well, some think they can outrun cars downhill. Think again, peep!

Didn’t have time to cook proper dinner and just fried some german sausages with herbs and chives, tossed them in the oven with a sprinkling of cheese, since Aliya mentioned she loves cheese better than any herbs, or any greenie stuff.

Lily came short after to pick her cookies for little Mikail and we had the most animated chat ever, ot’s as if I’ve known her for years. And of course, she said that I didn’t look my age at all. *gloats and in a bubble*

Today is SKBJ’s Teacher’s Day celebration day and I was so busy sorting out gifts for the teachers which the kids picked out last weekend. Those printed chocolates which I thought was a darn good idea. Not to mention, cheap too. I paid RM50 for about 10 pieces of loose boxes of chocolates about an inch in size, 2 ribboned gift boxes of choclates and a box of teddy bear choc. In the midst of it all, we lost one to Ariz. I tried to pry the chocolate off his molars, but it’s a goner alright!

That done. Adani decided to bring a smaller bag to school since she’s going in the morning. Instead of picking a bag from the mountain of bags we have in the house (I swear, if I were to tip the house upside down and shake it all around, 1034 bags will tumble out, 699 hair brushes and combs will emerge), Adani demanded to use the pretty white with beaded flowers slingbag I bought secondhand at Pasar Tani for about RM3.

Only problem was it’s too long for her. I had to stitch it all up for her. I thought Desperate Housewives was on last night and after much heckling and failed negotiation with Ariz-the-Remote-Control-freak, I gained control of the tv only to realise that it was Monday and not Tuesday. Darn! Back to Oso then. BTW, what’s with this OSO inspector. I mean, he flies all the way from a cave somewhere just to help a kid button up his shirt? And always always in 3 SIMPLE STEPS ? Listen Oso, life’s more than 3 simple steps. hokeh!

And of course Nonah and Nina read my post today on the Lemon Cheesecake and out of my goodheartedness, I offered to bake some for them and I had a wonderful email exchanges with Nonah. Esok okay, babe?

That was, fellow readers how I just spent my Monday. Blitzkrieg!

p/s Just heard that a good friend’s house was broken into (more like the thieves jumped over the gates) and raped her maid, whilst the 3-yo girl hid under a pillow. I felt really bad for the maid and my friend. The maid’s going home for good after her ordeal on the 30th. If you feel like donating to her, email me and I can pass it on to her. The maid protected the baby girl and ensured that those men didn’t hurt her. Astaghfirullahaladzim.