Ariz has morphed into a full-fledged Ben Tennyson .. he thinks about what alien he would turn into in every situation .. the night before, we read the Prophet Ibrahim’s story when he was about to be burned by the disbelievers and he lit up and jumped up the bed loudly declaring he’d turned into HeatBlast.

The night before he whizzed into XLR8 when we were reading how the ‘Ad suffered 7 nights and 8 days of violent wind.

But the worse is when he’s CannonBolt. He throws himself on the floor, walls, doors thinking he’s a powerful destructive CannonBolt. I cringed everytime I hear a crash and I pity my bed’s headboard. It’s been crashed into so many times.

But eating times are a little easier when I ask him to be UpChuck who eats rocks and stones 10 times its size. Hahaha ..

Having scraped through my teensy-weensy baby food processor, I’m finally ready to move up the bakers’ ladder and get me a real, full size food processor. *don’t I just sound baker-ish already?*

Whatever I decide or I find will be replacing this baby. *blows kisses*

So, I’ve been google-ing and bing-ing and amazon-ing, reading thousands *exaggerating* of reviews and forums and been writing down little notes and addresses and I’m down to these 4 models.

Mind you. I’m right here in Malaysia, not that far from Singapore but the prices are sure exorbitant, enough to pop your eyeballs.  Easily 3 times more expensive if I were to get it in the States or the UK. Blame it on the excessive import duty they slap on us, mere poor citizens needing some sane powerful food processor.

I digress.

Option 1 : Magimix 4200.

I called Eurochef this morning and behold! they carry the brand. Not so sure if they have the right model that I want. Am excited to go check it out soon. This doesn’t appear in most reviews but I’ve read blogs and forums discussing it and they’re quite loyal to it too.  Nicola is advertising this too.  I think Rose too once mentioned Magimix.
Price is gonna be at least RM 2000, I think.

Option 2: Kitchenaid KFP770 (in black or chrome)

Now.  Now. Now.

I’m a great KitchenAid fan and am still kissing my sexy red Artisan Mixer. This model comes head to head with Cuisinart and it should be a no brainer for me. Except that I read a lot of comments on the way the small bowl sits inside the big bowl and spewing processed food all over BOTH bowls. Yeah. Stuff like that. And something about the blade come whirring out and stuck permanently. Apparently Kitchenaid’s support is superb wherever I’m not which is questionable right here in Kuala Lumpur.

Apart from that, I really want this for its kneading muscles and looks. Price wise RM2399 for a white and RM2699 for the chrome. Which is very very disheartening when it retails at just USD170 and converts to RM578. Mind-boggling! I know. *pulls hair out*

Option 3: Cuisinart Data Prep 11 Plus.

So, according to the review, it’s either KA or Cuisinart. According to the prices, both will kill me. I can’t find Cuisinart anywhere except at Robinsons and they only carry the rollsroyce of cuisinart i.e. the chrome-plated machine with 20 year warranty at a whopping RM2999.

Trust me. I’ve been to Robinson’s 3 times in this week alone touching the sleek machine, imagining it sitting right next to my red KA mixer and it works for me.  And it breaks my heart to leave it once I realise the salespeople have started to congregate near me, like vultures ready to strike.  *rolls eyes*

My only problem is that Robinsons don’t carry the more practical and cheaper DataPrep 11 Plus instead of this RollsRoyce. After-sales service would be tricky I guess. Kitchenaid is more well-known here than CUisinart, I guess.

Last Resort : Kenwood KFP 925

This is by far the cheapest at RM 1099 and widely available here. Opss I take that back. Not that widely available but I found 2 places that carry the model. But at least Kenwood is very well known here so service would be okay, I guess.

But I need a food processor as I want it to knead dough too and I have a feeling that that could be tough for the long run for this machine. And the last time I checked the thing, the stick that the bowl needs to sit on comes loose i.e. can easily be misplaced. KA and CUisinart have their sticks (for lack of a better word) fixed but rather precariously placed as it can be snapped broken.

For all the good reasons for researching any topic, it sure beats me when I’m back to square one, still unsure.

So there. I’m confused. And it’s so hard to get it here anyway.

Yesterday I decided to just get the Kenwood but today I learned about Eurochef carrying Magimix. Back to square one.

Help?

Hanis is my cousin, the youngest in my MakLang’s family.  Shaiful meanwhile is attached to cars and sun glasses.  Opps, sorry !! Is a looker and adores Hanis.

And last weekend, we the clan of Tok & Wan drove up north to help out and be there for the wedding.  A tiring event indeed.  We had a homestay for some and some took refuge at the nearby hotel but we all pulled our weight during the nikah ceremony, the tahlil ceremony and the main event i.e. the big kenduri when we had close to hundreds of friends and neighbours come to pay visit a visit.

Here’s Hanis is her resplendent nikah attire waiting for the groom for the put the ring on my finger ritual.  It was held at the new, huge and uper beautiful new Al-Bukhary Mosque.  There was a fountain and we later found the kids, all wet from the knee down.  Obviously they’ve been dipping their feet in the fountain.  Unfortunately, my only hero Ariz came up wtih his jeans dripping wet from the butt down! Sheesh!!

Adani, Annissa and Ayisha at the masjid’s compound.

These are the cookies that I made for the wedding, meant as doorgifts for close family and friends.  Her theme was silver and I was short of time, so I hoped that she was happy with these.

We’re at Kedah at the moment. This is one of the states in Malaysia located at the northern part of the country.  A state where it was famous for its laksa and its paddy fields.

Another wedding we’re attending, but this time it is a very close cousin’s of mine. Hanis. We’re a very family with many aunties and uncles with respective children who quickly become our cousins and second cousins and whatnots.

Kedah is also the birthplace of my mother and when both my grandparents were alive, we came home for Eid every year and it was a blast, year after year.

The Kedahans too, at least the ones I’m related to by blood are great cooks. You will not get through a day without stuffing yourself silly. The Laksa Teluk Kuchai, white plump noodles in spicy fish broth, served with shredded vegetables are by far my favourite. As well as fried ikan pekasam and kacang poi and ubi kemili and a myriad of other dishes.

All of my aunties and uncles are generous people and the dinner tables seem to refill itself all day long.

I can’t wait.

We’re going over there tomorrow to join my clan.  The kids are whining that they should spend a night here when their cousins are already there.

BTW, a little note on the cookie picture.  It’s one of my favourite cookie design and cutter too. I love the Topsy Turvy Wedding Cake .. but sadly it’s not a typically common choice.  So, when Azzu requested for them, I chanced upon it.

It took a bit of time to make since I have to fill in the different colours in the bottom tier, one by one. But the rest were so much fun to make. She wanted lime green and purple and the rest was up to me, she said. Whoohoo!!

It’s been close to 3 months already since the day she left us. My grandmother, Tok passed away of old age.

It was hard as she was bedridden in the last few years and I could see her slowly slipping away. Her cushy body shrivelled and her bones went crooked. She used to be very fleshy, a great big bear huggy kind of a grandmother. The kind that cooks your favourite dishes for you, at the mere mention of you coming to visit.

Not one to sit still for longer than 5 minutes, she used to drive my mom crazy whenever she came by and rearranged her cabinets. I was more than happy to have Tok at home with us when I was growing up cos it meant more food, even in our plentiful food state already as my Mak is as good a cook as my Tok was.

I cannot remember when was the last she came over to my house and fussed over the kitchen and rearranged stuff.

And I cannot remember how she used to sound like.

That makes me odd and saddened to realise that I’ve forgotten how she sounded like. Is it always like this? Does moving means forgetting?

Well.

We, the clan held a little kenduri for her, where we read Quranic verses and made a lot of du’as that Allah will forgive all her sins and bestow her His blessings.

I brought the Classic Carrot Cake I made and since it was a grown up cake (even I don’t eat carrot cake) and Ayisha’s birthday has passed without me baking a special cake for her, I made this.

My very beautiful Ayisha, who is finally 9 years old! We waited THAT long.

A German Chocolate Cake with Dark Ganache as a filling and frosted with Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache.

Ayisha and cousins and aunties all gathered around the cake. Truth be told that I was supposed to level off the tops of the cakes before filling them, which clearly I didn’t do. So the cake kinda tilted to the right, very visibly too! Arghhhh!!

Since a few well-meaning relatives asked, I just came out with it can called it the Senget Chocolate Cake. Senget means lopsided in Malay.

We sang the Birthday Song and Ayisha blew her 9 candles, 3 times.

The similarly decorated cake. See the but bits in the frosting? I was supposed to use creamy peanut butter but only had the chunky jar. Haha.

Senget Chocolate Cake. I really like the whipped ganache and peanut butter gave a great zing to it. I will surely make it again, but it kinda melted a bit in the hot weather.

The cake was a success. The even crumb told its story alright. AT the insistence of the girls, I made MrGart went and got me a bunch of bananas and put some slices in.

Happy Birthday AYISHA!

It’s a pretty laid back time of the year, this is.

I’m finishing off remaining leaves and having completed the school stuff shopping weeks ago, we wanted to go and watch the Dolphins and Sea Lions ..

But a little googling later, I think not! It’s like RM50 per adult for a ticket and RM30 per kid. And it’s not like it’s a proper place. It’s a makeshift tent at the open car park. Unbelievably expensive! I can’t believe it’s so exorbitantly priced.

Last week we went here and it set us back about RM200, and that, mind you is already very much discounted as I had some discount cards my brother gave me. It would’ve cost us actually double that, seriously!

But the kids had tremendous fun. Ayisha was upset tough. She’s 9 and at an awkward age where she’s too tall for the kiddies rides and still shorter than she wants to for the big rides. So, she was refused for the rides that she wanted. A few more years, dear!

Aliya in the meantime had a blast. I learned from my previous mistake that I should bring some daredevil person like Aliya along too. So, we brought along Nor, her cousin. That saved from from having to ride those white-knuckle rides she longs for but Daddy refuses to and Mummy has no choice but to comply.

Well. Off to the zoo now!

I think we’ll go to a zoo instead or get some stationeries.

Alhamdulillah.

It has been quite a whirlwind, this girl of mine.

She’s passionate. She’s highly temperamental.

She’s kind to animals.  She’s intense.

She’s quick to smile.  She’s quicker to lose her temper.

Regardless. We love you just the same. Even more.

Ayisha is just the most vivacious girl I know. Her name is borrowed from the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) wife, ‘Aisha (ra) who was known for her great personality, a joy to be with as well as a great scholar among many other great qualities of a muslimah.

Our Ayisha meanwhile is very bubbly, a joy to be with with her bright smile and her oh-so-wide eyes. But those same round eyes can turn to slitty, don’t-mess-with-me eyes in an instance, if things don’t go her way. I’m happy to report that those days are defnitely far and few in between these days.

She’s more agreeable and more accomodating these days, being easier and more able to reason with.

She’s grown taller but still as slim as always. She complains that no matter how much she eats, she never puts on any weight. I keep telling that most people would love her weight. Like me, for instance!

This year, she gets a phone all to herself and she’s busy texting and calling her friends more. Something she really wants for the longest time and we succumbed to it.

Ayisha is a cat’s champion. Always. If we’re away from home, she talks about missing Rexx and Bubbles and how she thinks Rexx is missing her too.

Ayisha dearie. Happy 9th Birthday! Mummy loves you very much.

btw, This is a belated entery as her birthday fell on the 1st December 2009. She came into our arms on the 4th anniversary of our wedding and that make sthis year, our 12th! WHoohoo!!

We would be walking in ..

233 combs and hairbrushes,
45 thought to be lost swim goggles,
4326 colour pencils,
12 sets of water colour sets,
176 erasers,
561 pencil sharpeners,
431 bags of various sizes and shapes,
551 bracelets, chains and necklaces of different shapes, colours andn materials,
423 arms/legs of some batmans, spiderman, ultraman etc ..
145 wheels of a car,truck, planes, fighter jets ..
56423 hair clips and hair bands and those stuff.

sigh!!!

If you live in this particular latitude and longitude as I do, you’d notice how it rains a lot the last few weeks. In case you’re not sure where I am, I live in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia in the region where monsoons are rife.

It rains in the mornings.

It rains all through the afternoons, ripping branches off tress and sent them sprawling on the roads, stalling traffic.

It rains at nights, ever so welcome so we all can climb onto beds, into our plush comforters and turn on the air-conditioners for that continued creature comfort.
Note: Duvets aren’t entirely welcome here cos even the lowest tog is too warm.

And for house owners, these rainy season is about discovering new leaks on your roofs. Sigh!

We found lines of slowly dripping rain water on the walls of our master bedroom. In the girls’ room. Next to the PC. Even one drip managed to soak through a whole box of non-stick grease paper, I use for my cookies.

They’re everywhere. Sinister lines. You just have to go and touch them and hope that it’s dry and not still drippy-drip.

Sigh! I guess the house does need a makeover. It’s after all 12 years old and it’s high time for a major overhaul too.

Well. Must keep an umbrella at all times now.

Note: I pray for the folks up north in Terengganu and Kelantan and Kedah and Perak for their flooding woes. Here I am complaining about dripping, leaky roofs while they have their houses being swept off by gushy and rushing floodwater, parking itself some 200m away from its original location. *eyes buldging*

And the stories about a housewife killing a large snake just sent shivers down my spine. I wouldn’t want to wade through the floodwater imagining of what sort of creatures are swimming to save themselves in that murky water. But if you’re stricken by the floods, you have not much choice I guess.

And the boy and the girl who drowned. How sad it must have been for the parents and relatives.

I pray for you and for your losses on your house, livelihood, ruined paddy fields and the hardship in these coming months. Amin.

I had a blast. These were the girls I hung out with some *counts* 19 years ago.

Somehow, it didn’t feel like 19 years had passed. Felt like we’re 17 again and we rocked!

The CBN’ers 1990 batch, you girls were just amazing!

Before things got crazy!

In fake lashes and all. I’m the one in the middle.

Batch of 1990. Let it all out !

Let me tell you this.  Friends all around me have all succumbed to this game called CafeWorld on FB.  Raise your hands, people, if you’re one of them !  Now, tell the truth for I can tell if you don’t.

*wags finger*

Anyhow.  Tales such as of a friend cringing through a signing ceremony of a very important interconnection all because her roast chicken was ready and cannot be served since she has no access to the FB.

Stories too of a friend attending a course and mourning over her stale 3 dishes, unattened.

Gosh!

These people are obsessed.

Now, should I join them ?

p/s think Ayisha’s internet priviledges need to be curtailed since she left an honest but rather crude remarks on my FB picture .. trust a 9yo honesy eh?  something about me and fake eye lashes.  go figure!

I can’t believe how fast time flies.  And Adani’s graduating from kindy already ?  In 2 months’ time she’ll be walking in a real school, making her mark in the real world and before long I’d be making her bunga telur for her wedding.  Arghh!!  *freaking out bigtime*

*breathing in.  out.  in.  out*

Okay.  One day at a time, woman!

In her robe, face a little made by the teacher.
Note: I would never put blue eyeshadow on my kids. Ooh! I don’t have blue eye shadow, or red or orange. Ah well!

This year the graduation ceremony was done separately from from te concert which was held last week. We were a bit late and I had time to do 4 braids on her hair. She wanted all her hair to be braided in at least 8 braids. I wonder if people get pinched nerves from braiding hair ?

Adani’s class HMS Bounty was up first and alphabetically, she was the 3rd. She walked up very gracefully and salam-ed the hands of the teachers and walked out. Face gleaming out of pure excitement, she asked if she would be attending school on Monday. Hmm. Patience, girl!

It was a very hot day and although it was held indoors, it was hot nevertheless. Adani and 2 of her BFFs. Eyes squinting from the hot sun.

The heat apparently did nothing to dampen these boys’ spirit. Ariz and his classmate, Jed were happily runnning around their school, proudly showing off to us, parents. Seronok!

Adani, MrGart, Ariz and Ayisha. It was so hard to get Ariz to get into the frame and this is the best I have. Aliya’s not around as she’s attending her rehearsal for her Khatam Quran ceremony next week.

Ayisha carrying Arissa, with Adani and Annissa. Both Annissa and Arissa are GartRed’s daughters. BTW, GartRed’s my identical twin, but I guess you guys know that already.

There! I’m gonna go now and continue freaking out.

This post will convince Mosh that I miss him.  But let’s not give him that pleasure.  Maybe I do, or maybe I just miss my lunch buddy.  He’s been seconded to a place where yuppies congregate and my only advice to him was :

If you get cocky when you come back, I’d skin you alive.

See?  I do love him.  In our crooked, wicked ways.

Anyways.

He smokes, you see.  The kind that never walks into a building without first lighting up a cig, not unlike a swimmer taking a long deep breath before that dive.  But he makes no qualm over the fact that it is bad and that in Islam, smoking is forbidden as it is harmful to the body.

One lunch date, he regaled us with the conversation he had with one of our ustaz (religious scholar) at the office.  This guy is very diplomatic and he started by saying that smoking is the only act of putting something is your body without saying Bismillah (In the Name of God) which Muslims are stronghly recommneded to do before any act.  I thought he did great but not going straight for the gut, but beating round the bush before he nails his point.

Mosh could only smile his plastic smile and nodded.  He told us, he simply had no answer or could  not even come up with any plausible argument to counter that.  True.  True.  True.

Then he said, after that, every time he feels like smoking, he feels that he should recite Bismillah.

I burst out in laughter because gosh, mosh!  You’re completely missing the tree for the forest.  You’re not supposed to baca bismillah before smoking, you’re supposed to stop it altogether.

But then again, he’d smell like a normal person.  What fun would that be eh?

Borrowing from Screw’s words, the burial for our former CEO, Dato’ Pian alhamdulilah went well yesterday.

I personally never knew him but most of my bosses did and my colleagues too. At the Kiara cemetary, scores of people thronged the burial plot.  And it was a sad event indeed.

I hitched a ride with my old friend, Idham and after all was done, it was time to catch up with everyone since the industry we’re working in is pretty small and everyone and anyone knows almost everyone.

I caught up with the KLCC boys, both from the oil and gas and the not so oil and gas guys.  It was kinda refreshing to meet these people over the many years and to find out that they are still the same souls they were before, even when they have moved up the ladder.  A tad of envy though, but that was quickly squashed by the thought of life ends, anyhow.

Ah well.

Al-Fatihah.

I could’ve been in Hanoi today.  In fact, I should be in Hanoi today in a posh hotel, travelling business and this morning should be decked out in my full business suit delivering a presentation to a roomful of ASEAN delegates and that should elevate my reputation professionally.

But.

I have forgone all that to attend my 4yo Ariz and 6yo Adani’s annual  kindy concert.  Well, the decision to not attend the meeting has not come without a price to pay.  But after yesterday’s outstanding performances of my beautiful kids, not price is higher than missing it.

My mom and my niece, Nor came for a sleepover the night before the concert and the house was extra meriah.  MrGart is in Bandung for a golfing trip and missed it all.  I hope he can live with the guilt.

Anyhow.

We got there and waited and waited.  The thing about kindy concerts is that it takes forever to set up.  Finally when the curtain was raised, the show began.  Kids in all manner of colourful costumes danced and moved and jumped or stood there, too lime-light struck.

Ariz’s class of Brittania did a Kadazan dance, involving the boys in black and headgear holding green bamboo sticks.  The girls will then dance in between the bamboo sticks the boys are holding and clapping on the ground.  The dance didn’t bring the boys out, just the girls.  Am a bit dissapointed.  Ariz and his friends were so focused on not hitting the girls’ feet that they just zoomed out of focus.

This is the best I could snap of him.  He waved and smiled sheepishly at me when he spotted me in the audience.  Oh!  Anak jantan ku!  I’m so proud to see him on stage.  He’s only 4 but suddenly he appeared big.

*choking on emotion*

Ariz then had fun zipping here and there with his friends.

Adani’s class performance was the finale of the concert and what a FINALE it was.  Gosh!

When she came out to introduce the class, her costume was really nice.  A tad too fleshy for my mom, but she’s 6, I argued.  She spoke eloquently and held the mike well.

Then when she came on and gracefullly twisted and turned and glided in her contemporary Indian dance, she mesmerised me.  It was really good.  The steps were very complicated and the moves were challenging but the 6 girls (the rest of the class did Malay dance and a Chinese dance) were really really good.  The choreography was superb and my baby was so beautiful.

*eyes glistened with tears*

Since it’s so hard to get Ariz to stay at one spot for 3 seconds to snap pictures of him, I thought this picture is enough to silence people who think I am biased towards Adani.  That’s to you, you and you.

This is Adani, who really really loves to pose, with her favourite Teacher Jaya and her best friends Nabihah and Nabila.

I am, going off now to cry over how my babies are growing up far too soon and far too fast.

*srooottttt*

Wow .. How the week whizzed by this time around !

I have no clue where Monday went, or Tuesday twinkled out, or Wednesday whizzed by or Thursday flapped away.

But am just glad that today is Friday.

It’s one of those rare weekends I can just sit around and just wind down.  Well, not too comfortable cos I have a Birthday cake to do a 5th year old birthday boy Saturday morning.

Letsee.  He’s a Transformer’s fan.  Well, who isn’t eh?  Megan Fox is really hot, man!  If only I could have her tummy.  Dang!  Is that even possible?  Tummies that flexed and toned.

I digress.

He’s a Transfomers’ fan and I’ve gotten an edible image for it.  Now’s the cake.  I’m thinking an All-American Chocolate ButterCake, filled with Ganache and iced with Mousseline Buttercream.  Hmm.

Anyhow.  It’s Ariz & Adani’s year end concert this Sunday and they’re counting the days to it.  That excited!  Adani is always caught practising her dance moves and Ariz talks about some green sticks he’ll be dancing with.

Last night I was at the PC and a chat came through from Mimi, Aliya’s friend takking about her break up with an Azmirul.  Yikes !  Before I could type, does Aliya has a boyfriend, Aliya spooked me out!  Gosh!  She’s 11.  Boyfriends ?  I should be worried.

It’s only 10:31am and I’ve answered about 23 of Ayisha’s sms-es.  Thank God for free sms-es.  She has a spelling competition today and got cold feet and crying.  I made her go anyway but she could skip Ad-Daris this morning.

Then a series of messages about the meanings of the words in her list.  Enchanted.  Hexagon.  Analgue.  Emulsion.

There!

I should start planning for the weekend now.  MrGart is away at Bandung for a golfing session.  *seething*

Felt a little green this morning.  All is well, in the health department, alhamdulillah.  Just need to get out of this stuffy office and get some air and much needed new perpectives.  Haha.  I so understand how screw’s felt before he left the company.  Err, maybe not entirely, but a good sum.

Anyhow.

This is what I have planned.

I need to pick up some edible image supplies from Arie at KLCC.  Maybe meet up with Mathu to pass some sampels.  I should really pick Cake Bible book for a neighbour.

What do I do for lunch?  Maybe I should call up Sarahpiss and Ken for a lunch date.  Hmm let’s have a think.

Then I think I’ll hop over this place called One Warehouse at Jalan Raja Botwhere apparently it has a huge selection of baking pans.  I’m hoping that they have a selection of cookie cutters too.   Then since I’ve heard about the great Bake With Yen outlet at ChowKit, I might as well drop by.

Stop right there!

2 weeks ago, an itinerary like this would require MrGart in the driving seat.

But heck no!  Not today.  I have this. *gloats*

Hah! MrGart finally got sick of me asking him for directions to EVERYWHERE for the umpteenth time that he got me this. I’m still in the process to start believing THAT voice that asks me to turn HERE and THERE. Somehow, I always ask, is this this turning or the next one. And almost always I’d miss the turn and then the voice would boom “RECALCULATING”. SOmetimes I detect some rejection in the voice.

Anyhow. I’m also shopping for a netbook/book. And I want this or this. Suggestion ?

From Razzle Dazzle Cookies

Traffic seems a little lighter these days and I’m so relieved! It’s the end of the year and people are taking their kids and parents and maids to Disneylands and Hong Kong and Bandung and wherever else my kids have been itching to go, that we have not gone before.

But the most important thing is that the traffic is lighter. Mega important since I’m a Just-In-Time person when it comes to clocking in at work. I can tell you this. The time between 8:00 t0 8:05 can be dissected into many time zones, the most popular and hectic is known an injury time.

Anyways. The whole point of the post is to tell you that I woke up late today at 6:44am and yet managed to swipe at 7:59am. Phew! Major relief!

Ooohh .. the baby pram cookie (see picture) are ordered by Noreen of Little Favors for her client’s cukur jambul.

Let me tell you this. I normally sketch my designs on paper and plan everything. I make a note of how many colours I need, how much flooding icing and how much piping icing. The bags and the box and the ribbons. Very well-planned, even I was impressed sometimes.

But nothing beats sitting in front of a tray of blank cookies with icing bag in hand and start to decorate. This is where the actual differs from the plan and sometimes it works and sometimes it sucks. But for the pram, I was mighty happy.

I’ve always struggled with the prams but I am so glad that the design took off. The ruffles by the side of the prams look contemporary. Hehhe! *feeling smug*

It’s Akma Akid’s 4th birthday and Arliza (who once has attended my Cookie Class) ordered a whole set of HAPPY BIRTHDAY AKMA AKID and an accompanying circus of dinosaurs an other less mean animals, like hippos, elephants and sheeps.

I think I’ll call this design Patchwork Alphabets.  Truth be told, before I jumped into this cookie-business, I was once and still am an accomplished quilter.  Okay okay!  5 quilts do not necessarily earn me the title.  So sue me!

Anyhow.  The alphabets gave me a reason to tinker with a huge box of alphabet cutters sitting on my shelf.   MrGart has already given up asking me about utilising things that I buy.  Yikes!

Truth be told too,  although the alphabet cookies were simple enough, I ran into a cookie disaster.  Seriously, ppl do get complacent.  I did.

You see, the white patch I did on every cookie, that turned out to be too thin and even after 6 hours of air-conditioning, it just won’t dry.  Not the whole cookie, just a little teeny-weeny patch.  I threw out the whole happy-ness and started again.  Alhamdulillah, the second round went well, except that I missed out one “H”.  *ampun*

These are a sheep that I did, using the rosettes to mimic its fleece.  I never liked black icing, feel that black on food seems a little sinister, so that explains my sheep has blue eyes.  hahaha.

The elephant.  Okay okay.  Maybe elephants have long, swishy tails instead of curly ones like a piglet’s.  Yikes!  Should really listen to my 4-yo Ariz then.  Sorry Arliza.

The place. Fina and Yus called me for a little “discussion” over roti canai this morning. I was already at the local eating place and said yes, promptly. So, they picked me up and out tummies had a discussion over some gas pipeline issues and we just discussed matters close at heart. Hahah.. Ye la tu!

The choice of kuah/gravy. Sometimes if you’re lucky, there’s tomato chutney too. Yummeh!

The best roti canai around. Seriously. The only snag is that it’s so small that even a small eater like me can rip apart 2 pieces and still can smile.

I don’t take hot drinks. Not in the mornings, not during pantangs, not during anytime at all. Hmm maybe during the coldest winter nights, I would, but in this hot tropical humid weather. I need ice! The more the merrier. So. I always, always wherever I go order a teh ais (ice white tea). Why tea when I’m such an avid fan? Simple. I’m saving my coffee quota of the day for my favourite Nescafe. An addict. I know. *hangs head in shame*

I’m not sure about you. But if you’re a parent and you have kids between the ages of say, 7 to 12, then I guess you’d be hit by this cube craze.

Apparently, it’s going around. Aliya reported that every *exaggerated obviously* kid in her school has one and is busy cube-ing. And she only wants the one from the pricey toystore .. the Toys R us.

I did try to accomodate her. But even the pricey toystore ran out of the cubes. Not just the one here at MidValley. Even the one at KLCC. Gosh! The only ones I could find was RM89.90. *eyes popping out*. You serious!! For a twisty cube? You’ve gotta be kidding me!

So, I googled around and found a cheaper option here at http://kids.net.com.my. MrGart hopped over and picked them up. Phew.

Anyhow. True enough, AFTER we’ve bought them, apparently there are shops nearer to my place that sell them, cheaper and closer. Hmmmpph!

This is the final post I did at my previous blog at http://gartgrowls.blogspot.com. I’m switching over to this blog permanently, insyallah.
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Dear fellow growlers,

Alhamdulillah, my blogging years have touched 5 long years and although I’ve changed platforms a few times and names too, from modblog to efx2, efx2blogs and wordpress and blogspot, it does not stop me from blogging.

Well, the rather sad part is that, I think I may need to just jump ship and abandon this blog and continue my blogging at blog.razzledazzlecookies.com . No particular reasons why.

Just that it gets hard to put up 2 different presences, one where I’m blogging as myself, unadulterated. And the other, the baker part of me. So, it’s time I guess, I realise that why 2 blogs ?

It’s the same me. I may bake, but I still pick fights with the tailgaters (in my dreamworld). I may decorate cookies but I still abashedly spill all about my misfortunes. Who can forget, the incident when I forgetfully and mistakenly left 2-year old Adani in the car under the hot afternoon sun ? And to you and you and you, who looks up to me as a benchmark of a Queen of Murphy’s Law, I still am me.

So, there. If it’s ain’t soppy yet, I don’t know what will. This is as soppy as Gartblue would ever get.

Conclusion. The layout of this blog is screwed and I’m jumping ship over to my blog. So, come with me and discover more mishaps.

Ideally, I would be writing about cookies, posting pictures of decorated cookies, ooh-ing and ahh-ing.

But nope.

Not this morning. I’m just gonna yak about the weekend of nothing by binge-ing on food and more food.

In my defense, it’s the last weekend for Syawal, the celebration month in Islam and it’s the last call for folks to hold open houses and next weekend, we all go back to cooking lunches and normal sunday lunches again.

So, Saturday, we had 2 open houses and funnily enough my first Laksa Johor this year. I didn’t have any the whole month, neither did people make them anymore. Funny! Then we hopped over to Mosh’s open house and Athyra’s birthday bash. My girls were holed up on Athyra’s big sister Alyssa’s room throughout the 2 hours we were there with their girlfriends and mummy and daddy had a blast cathing up with friends and food.

Sunday, was a bigger binge-ful day. The Bukit Jelutong masjid held an Open House and from experience, food would bejust excellent!

We had a table for the 3 hours and hardly moved, except to get more food. Haha. I think I had about 5 bowls of sweet cendol, a plate of the most scrumptious kuey tiow goreng and many many sticks of truly tender chicken and beef satay.

My twin, Nobita baked baked macaroni the way my mom would and although we kinda gate-crashed her house, we had a tupperware for dinner.

So there. I am guilty.

I’m still here, folks!

Just a little bit busy with .. what else, cookies!

I have a gazillion of pictures to upload and stories to tell. And most importantly, I have a new Cookie Boutique design which is about, but not quite ready to be live. Hence, the quiet.

Anyhow, this blog will be transferred to http://blog.razzledazzlecookies.com as the main address will be dedicated to the Razzle Dazzle Cookies Boutique.

So, you can still follow my rants and my disastrous.

Talking about disastrous. Even after more than 1500 cookies, I managed to have a disastrous night last night. I thought I should know how to make my icings to a T but NO! .. my white icing turned out too thin and after 5 hours of drying, my alphabet cookies were still wet, while their counterparts, the dinosaurs and dry and ready to pack!

Arghhh!!!

So, must start over tonight. *pulls hair out*

Anyhow.

Just a last minute annoucement.

The next Cookies Class will be held at Cake Connection next Saturday, the 24th October 2009 at 10:00 am till the 12:30pm. Last check, there are 8 confirmed students. Max is 10. So, hurry and register with CakeCOnnection.com.my.

In the meantime, I shall wallow in self-pity for my disastrous night. Haha.

Yikes!

Almost a month of not updating the blog. Gosh! I must have been in a daze.

*thinking of an excuse*

*thinking hard*

Ah well! No excuses, really. Just plain M-A-L-A-S !

Anyhow.

To recap the last month. Ramadhan is over quite uneventfully for us this time around. I wanted to focus on more of ibadah this Ramadhan hence the lack of anything else. Not even kuih raya or cookies.

Hari Raya was kinda muted. We spent the first Raya at my parents’ in Gombak and hopped over to Seremban where the rest of the clan congregated. We had a big family meeting in view of the looming crisis in the family and insyallah things are sorted out now. Unfortunately, we did not take a single Raya photos this time around. I wonder why.

2nd Raya to the 4th, we spent it at MrGart’s hometown.

Came home on Friday to a messy house and no maid and a 300 pcs of cookies to do. Alhamdulillah it workd out fine. Being without a maid means picking your battles. It’s okay to step on stegosauroses every few steps but at least they’re on the floor, not beneath a mound of dust. Eh ?

Anyhow.

Andes came home last Monday. Alhamdulillah. We are so blessed to have her with us for the past 7 years and although not without trials, we are better off than most. Insyallah. What I can say here is that, it’s hard to get a good maid, but to maintain a good one takes effort. Seriously!

My meeting at Danang, Vietnam on Tuesday was postponed due to Typhoon Ketsana and I am just thankful that the meeting was called off at the very last minute especially when I saw a picture of Danang, flooded this morning.

The Earth was indeed angry yesterday. I pray for the peoples of Indonesia, Samoa, American Samoa and the Ketsana stricken victims. Life indeed is a test.