• It’s been an interesting week. Road is clearer than usual in the morning, but I see accident almost every morning. Langgar sampai bumper jatuh, kemalangan maut on Grand Saga on Wednesday morning and a flaming van on Cheras roundabout this morning.

 

  • Today is the last day of work for year 2011. Not that it makes any difference to me, really.

 

  • I am turning 34 in exactly in 4 days, InsyaAllah. A year wiser, Amin! :)

 

  • Orientation for Afiq’s primary school will be held on January 3rd. There’ll be some kind of an assessment test as well. I am naturally nervous about this. People told me not to worry. Akak told me I’m just putting pressure on Afiq, hehe. Isn’t that what mothers are supposed to do anyway? Hehehe

 

  • So far, we have only brought 2 pairs of school uniform for Afiq. Itu pun beli kat Jelebu. Lepas tu konon2 nak tengok harga kat KL (Mydin/Tesco etc). Tapi bila tengok, jauh lebih mahal. And what’s the hype about Canggih? The ones I bought at Jelebu cost me only RM8.50 per piece (white shirt) and RM17 for a dark blue pants. Cotton of good quality, can’t remember the brand. Bila tengok baju2 lain RM20 and above, rasa tak berbaloi nak beli. So, we’re going back to Jelebu tomorrow to buy 3 more pairs. Boleh ambik buah2an sekali.. I don’t eat durian, but Shahril, kids and Bibik love it.

 

  • Mariessa will resume at Little Caliphs on the 5th of January. Agak risau nak bagi anak dara sorang ni naik van without Afiq. But what can I do, kan?

 

  • We have successfully transferred Adreena to sleep in her own room since 2 weeks ago, thanks with the help of a baby monitor (thanks MomsterNins !). Dah 3 orang anak.. baru la nak invest in a baby monitor. Hehe. 2 nights after that, we transferred Afiq to his own room, separating him from the girls. His only complaint is, there’s no air-cond in his room. Looks like an air-cond (or 2 – one for the living room, hehe. Alang2 kan?) is making a comeback into our to-buy-list.

 

  • Oh, we are now Unifi-ed! :D TV has been on Boboiboy Youtube almost non stop, except last night. Shahril watched Maharaja lawak. :P I was happily and peacefully watching Castle on Astro downstairs. Yey

 

  • On the work front, I am recently given a new jobscope. One that’s finally making me feel more useful – as I said to the new boss. I hope to achieve what is expected of me (and more). At least when I leave, I’ll leave happy. (This leaving topic, is another matter that shall be discussed on another day. :) )

 

  • A question for mothers who have schooling children: What do you give them for bekal, if you do…and how much duit belanja do you give them? Can I just bekalkan Afiq with.. say a corn bun, an apple and bekal air? Kat kantin sekolah jual apa and what is the price range for kids’ food these days?

 

  • Another question: Anybody knows where I can donate clothes? I have plenty tapi tak tau nak hantar ke mana.

Dah 2-3 hari, mood utk me-roti tiba2 datang balik. Tapi since whipping cream is an item I don’t normally have readily at home, makanya niat agak terbantut la sikit. 2 days ago, bila pegi kedai, ada yang 1L aje. Punya la banyak, resepi guna 150ml je. So tangguh lagi sekali. Semalam bila singgah di Giant, baruuuu la jumpa. A small box of 200ml.

 

The recipe is everywhere on the net, actually. I copied mine  from here.

 

Hokkaido Milky Loaf
original recipe taken from Angie


1. 540gm Bread flour
2. 60gm cake flour
3. 10gm Instant yeast (the packet I used was 11gm)
4. 30gm Milk Powder (cilok susu Adreena, hehe)
5. 80gm sugar
6. 9gm salt
7. 1 large egg (since I dont have large ones, I used 2 small ones but the 2nd egg yolk I kept for the egg wash later)
8. 250gm fresh milk( I used Low fat Milk)
9. 150gm whipping cream.

 

I dumped everything into the breadmaker. (Always starting with the liquids  followed by the flour etc). Just remember not to mix the yeast and salt together as this might affect the yeast. At least that’s what I read. :). What I usually do is, put the yeast at one corner and salt at the other corner. Set the function to no 8 on Kenwood BM and wait for 90 minutes.

 

After 90 minutes:

 

Hokkaido5 Seronok tengok doh dah naik kembanggggggggggg macam ni. Bangga, bangga.. walaupun sesungguhnya saya tiada kena mengena dalam proses pengembangan tersebut.

Lepas tu, keluarkan. Tumbuk2 untuk keluarkan angin2 and bahagikan kepada 6. I actually weighed the whole thing first so senang nak bahagikan. Kalau by visual aje, mesti ada terkecik terbesar kang. The whole dough beratnya 1200g.. so senang la nak bahagi. Congak, jangan tak congak. :P

 

Then roll and fold it as shown in this link.

 

I put the first 3 portions into a loaf pan, like so:

 

hokkaido4

Yang lagi 3 tu.. since I only have one loaf pan, kena la letak dalam bekas lain. I divided them further into 6.. and rolled/folded macam tadi, and arranged them like so:

 

hokkaido2

The next thing to do is wait until the doh naik double, that takes about 30 minutes.

 

HokkaidoDouble

After 30 minutes, gini la jadinya.

 

Lepas tu, sapukan dengan egg wash (2 tablespoon of milk + 1 egg yolk, kacau2 sikit)

 

HokkaidoWashed Ni dah di-egg washed kan. :D

 

Pastu masukkan lah dalam oven (yang dah dipanaskan terlebih dahulu). 180 C for about 30 minutes, kata resepi.

 

HokkaidoOven I set mine at 170C.

Tunggu lagi 30 minutes sambil tengok James Bond. :) By the way, I still think Pierce Brosnan is the most handsome Bond ever.

 

HokkaidoDone Bila oven dah bunyi ‘ting!’.. cepat2 la lari ke dapur and take them out.

Bukan lari sebab takut hangus, tapi sebab excited and sementara Bond tengah berhenti for iklan.

 

HokkaidoDone2

Take them out and biarkan sejuk sebelum diuji kesedapannya. Sabar…

 

 

HokkaidoOpen

Bila agak2 dah sejuk.. ataupun tak sabar lagi dah… sila lah jenguk ke bahagian dalam roti untuk tengok betapa menjadinya roti tadi. :D

 

 

HokkaidoSliced

And finally, when sliced.

My verdict – sedap! Lembut, although mine did not really turn out as cottony as the recipe said it would be, but still soft. In fact, I believe this is the softest bread I’ve ever made so far. I would prefer it kalau manis sikittttt lagi. Tak tau la kalau kurang manis tu mungkin sebab saya guna Low Fat Milk instead of Fresh Milk ke.

The next time I bake this, I’m thinking of putting in perasa butterscotch and maybe add some raisins. Kalau benar lah apa yang di fikirkan, maybe la nanti ada rasa2 Gardenia’s butterscotch yang sedap itu. Bila plain mcm ni, it tastes more like Potato bread. Yummy nonetheless!

 

Begitulah seadanya. ;)

So on Monday Shahril & I went for the prenatal checkup.

I was more nervous and excited than usual, because at 21 weeks, it was highly possible that we would be knowing the baby’s gender. We decided not to bring the kids with us this time sebab 1. we anticipated ramai org and 2. if it’s going to be a girl, I KNOWWWWW I have a lot of explainations to do to Afiq and Mariessa time2 tu jugak. Haha. Karang make a scene pulak tak pasal2 dalam bilik doktor.

We were finally called at about 8.45 or so. Dr A starts her duty at 8 but the first patient took so long, I think she was with Dr A for more than half an hour! We were the 3rd to be called in.

Masa tgh buat ultrasound:

 

Dr A: Kita dah tengok gender ke last time?

Me: No, not yet. I’m hoping we can see it tonight.

Dr. A: Ok…. let me see…..

………………

Dr. A: Ok.. that’s the heart… let’s measure the head first….

Dup… dap… dup… dap…

Dr. A: Haaa…. can you see that? Do you see what I see?

Me: Is that what I think it is?

Dr. A: I think so. See? That thing sticking out?

 

She then proceeded with other measurements…

 

Me: Doctor.. Confirm ye? Are you really, really sure?

Dr. A: Ok.. Kita check lagi sekali ok? I’ll show you..

Me: Yes please..

Dr. A: Haaa.. tu… that one is the tali pusat…. yang niiiiiii… definitely a penis.

Me: Alhamdulillah…

 

Agaknya sebab saya 2-3 kali tanya sure ke tak… bila nak print the image out, siap Dr. A tuliskan XY lagi. Hehe

 

BabyA_21

Can you spot the XY?

 

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. I almost cried then. We are truly, truly blessed. I looked at Shahril and I swear he was beaming!

 


رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي إِنِّي تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

 

“Ya Tuhanku, tunjukilah aku untuk mensyukuri nikmat Engkau yang telah Engkau berikan kepadaku dan kepada ibu bapaku dan supaya aku dapat berbuat amal yang soleh yang Engkau redhai; berilah kebaikan kepadaku dengan (memberi kebaikan) kepada anak cucuku. Sesungguhnya aku bertaubat kepada Engkau dan sesungguhnya aku termasuk orang-orang yang berserah diri”. (Q.S. Al-Ahqaf : 15)

By the time we got home, the kids were already asleep, so tak dapat lah nak share the news. The next morning baru bagitau. Their reactions?

Afiq: Baby boy kan, Ma?

Mariessa: Mestiiiii lah baby boy! Kan Kakak dah cakap kat Mama? Mama dah tau ke nama dia apa?

(Agaknya dia ingat boleh nampak nama baby sekali apa, dalam perut Mama tu? :P)

Kesimpulannya, their reaction was something along the line of “tell us something we didn’t already know” lah sambil roll eyes. Haha. Mama je excited nak break the news, padahal in their minds, they had no doubt that it’s going to be a baby boy. :)

 

“…Kemudian apabila kamu telah membulatkan tekad, maka bertawakallah kepada Allah. Sesungguhnya Allah menyukai orang-orang yang bertawakal kepada-Nya".

 

"…When you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah. Indeed Allah loves those who rely (upon Him)"

[3:159]

 

Indeed

Normally on the nights that we have prenatal checkup, Shahril & I would have our dinner before seeing Dr. A but tonight we decided to postpone our dinner until after.

So after the checkup, we went to a kedai mamak and I ordered cheese & garlic naan with tandoori chicken while Shahril asked for nasi goreng kampung.

My order arrived about 10 minutes later, so we shared that first. Tiba2 datang sorang makcik jual kerepek2. Without really looking at her, I gave her my default reaction which was geleng2 kepala and cakap terima kasih. Entah kenapa, malam ni lepas buat macam tu, terasa menyesal pulak. Tapi by the time nak panggil makcik tu semula, she had disappeared.

So I silently prayed: kalau sungguh la rezeki makcik tu and mine, I prayed that she would come back to our table.

Shahril's order came very late. Naan dah habis 10 minit agaknya, baruuuu la nasi goreng sampai. Shahril habis je makan nasi goreng tu, tiba2 makcik tu datang semula. Alhamdulillah, sukanya hati saya! Cepat2 saya panggil makcik tu.

She came to our table...bila saya pandang aje muka makcik tu, MasyaAllah! Berderau darah saya!

Ummi!

There was something about her face that reminded me of Ummi. I don't know what it was exactly. Maybe it was the way she smiled or the soft way she was talking to me or maybe it was her sad eyes. For a few seconds, I just looked at her, mesmerized.

With tears in my eyes, I handed her some money for the kerepek I bought.

Then it hits me: today is December 19th, which means tomorrow would be Ummi's 63rd birthday.

Semoga Ummi tenang di sana, Mi. Doa Uda tak pernah putus putus buat Ummi.

Al-Fatihah.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Tonight, earlier than her usual bedtime while I was watching TV Adreena came to me, rubbed her eyes and asked for “fufuk” (susu). Ini kira menyerah diri untuk tidur lah ni.

 

So, I made her ‘fufuk’, took her upstairs and laid beside her waiting for her to finish her milk and fell asleep. As always, I just closed my eyes, pretended I was asleep. Kalau tak buat macam tu… panjang la sembangnya Adreena ni. After 5 minutes or so, I turned towards her, saw that she was just playing with her hands.

 

Put on my hand on her forehead, caressed her hair and then her eyes just closed and she fell asleep.

 

And that, makes me feel like I have superpowers or something. :)

We sent the kids to 443 last week for them to spend time with Atok and their cousins. They were really excited about it, tapi Mama as usual terlebih nervous. Hehe. Ayah cool lah macam biasa.. :P

 

Between the  5 of them (Kitreena, Edrick, Afiq, Mariessa and Adreena) and the two Bibiks, they had PS2, PS3, 2 IPods and Disney Channels all ready. Kids these days eh? Itu pun sempat diorg demand Uncle Lang belikan 2 bijik bola lagi! On the very first day they were there pulak tu. Macam2.

 

We sent them to 443 on Sunday and promised them we’ll come and pick them up the next Saturday. Baruuuuuuuu aje sampai kat 443.. Afiq terus tanya…”Mama, bila Mama Ayah nak balik Kajang?” Hish, tak sabar2.. kecikkkkkkkkkkk hati Mama.. :P

 

Shahril and I arrived in Kajang at 5pm, then it rained sooo heavily sampai Astro tak available. Out of boredom, I cooked dinner, lepas tu dah tak tau nak buat apa. Shahril tido. Men! :P Tinggal la saya sorang terkebil2…baru je sekejap dah mati kutu.

 

So that was a longggggggg 5 days for us. :) Sempat lah tengok Ombak Rindu (the 2 of us), Breaking Dawn (just me) and a few James Bond movies lama2 now playing on HBO. I have to admit that I’ve never watched any Bond movies earlier than Pierce Brosnan’s time, so they were actually… entertaining. Kelakar la tengok movie orang dulu2. Macam kartun pun ada, haha.

 

I called the kids a few times a day when they were at 443. One time I called at 8.30am, Afiq picked up the phone and told me that dia belum mandi lagi pagi tu which was quite surprising sebab selalunya pukul 7 diorg ni dah siap mandi. When I asked why…”Afiq sibuk main la Mama.. Mandi tu kejap2 lagi lah”. Hehehe..  Entah apa yang sibuk sgt entah.

 

On the 3rd night, Mariessa asked, “Mama.. Mama nak ambik Kakak hari ni ke?” Mama pun berbunga2 lah hati kan, anak rindu kat Mama… Bila I told her it’s going to be another 3 days… she answered, “Ohhh.. lagi 3 hari…Kakak ingatkan hari ni. Nasib baik bukan!” Nasib baik okay? Haiiii lah anak!

 

Adreena je la yang rajin nak cakap ngan Mama nya. I don’t understand most of what she’s saying but that’s not the point. :). By the 5th day though, her first question would be..”Mama, Mama nak apaaaaaa?”. Hehe

 

Deena443

Adreena practising batu seremban coached by Atok.

They had a tournament on the 2nd last day they were there organized by ‘anke yam’ (Uncle Lang). :)

 

I’m glad we decided to send the kids over to 443. They obviously had so much fun! Tapi limit memang 5 hari tu lah, kalau lama2 sangat nanti jemu (Mama yang tak tahan sebenarnya, rindu!) Now that they’re back in Kajang, the house is alive again Alhamdulillah. :)

afiqSekolah

Afiq trying out his new school uniform. Big boy sudah. :)

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Afiq called.

 

Afiq: Mama… Abang ada satu idea lah.

Mama: Idea? Idea apa?

Afiq: Mama nak dengar tak idea Abang?

Mama: Mestilah Mama nak dengar. Idea pasal apa ni?

Afiq: Biar Abang terangkan. Pasal nama baby.

Mama: Oh… nama baby. Hari tu kan kata nak letak nama Alex?

Afiq: Ha-ah. Tapi Abang dapat idea baru lah. Tak nak lah nama Alex.

Mama: Ok.. so idea yang baru ni, nak letak nama apa?

Afiq: Hmmm…. Boleh tak…. kalau kita letak nama baby……………Junior?

Mama: Haaa? Junior??

Afiq: Ha-ah la.. Junior. Sedap la nama Junior tu!

Mama: Mana abang dapat idea ni?

Afiq: Hehehehe.. Adaaaa lah!

 

For the record, after much persuasion, I found out where he got the name Alex from. At first I thought it was Alex of Madagascar… (that’s the only Alex I know anyway)

 

AlexM

Wrong!

 

Rupa rupanyaaaaaaaaaa…….

 

AlexNC

Alex from Nada Cinta.

Aiyayaiiii…. Hehehe. I’ve never watched Nada Cinta ni, I think budak2 ni tengok sebab Bibik tengok. It’s a musical drama, so byk2 nyanyi.. suka la diorang. Ngan Adreena2 sekali terlopong tengok selalunya. (Nasib baik hensem. Muahaha)

 

Junior ni.. tak tau la mana dtg ideanya pulak. :)

 

AdreenaIdolaKecil

Gambar selingan.. Adreena mmg suka nyanyi2.. This is her imitating an Idola Kecil contestant. Hebat tak hebat microphone dia!

I made this cake for Adreena’s birthday last weekend (the entry on that soon, InsyaAllah). The cake turned out to be really good, so I thought I should put the recipe here so that I’ll have a reference for next time. (I’ve been so disorganized lately with my recipes. *sigh*)

 

The cake recipe is from TTM who got it from Mak Lang Azie. :)

BLACK BEAUTY CHOC. CAKE

Ingredients (A) :
2 cups flour (I used self raising flour)
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Ingredients (B) :
2 cups castor sugar ( I reduced this to about 1.5 cups)
1 cup evaporated milk (I used fresh milk)
1 cup cooking oil or melted butter
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon chocolate emulco
3 eggs

Method :
1. Sift together all ingredients in A. Set aside.
2. Mix well all ingredients in B.
3. Pour ingredients B into A and mix well.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Oven temperature and time of baking may differ.

 

Note: The mix is pretty ‘cair’ for a cake. I contemplated on adding some more flour but in the end decided not to. Nasib baik! The cake turned out just nice and moist. :)

 

For the choc sauce, I used this recipe (sebab senang and malas nak gi beli krim macam most choc sauce recipes require)

 

Utk choc ganache:


150gm coklat masakan
1 sudu besar susu pekat
1/4 cawan air panas/susu cair
1 sudu besar butter

Untuk membuat choc ganache: masukkan coklat masakan yg dipotong kecil2, susu pekat dan air panas/susu cair kedalam periuk dan masaklah cara double boiler hingga cair. Padam kan api dan masukkan mentega. Kacau hingga mentega cair. Biarkan seketika supaya ganache tak terlalu cair masa curah atas kek.

 

CakeAdreena

Errr.. I didn’t wait long enough masa nak curah ganache tu.. Tu la cair semacam.. pastu sayang pulak nak transfer ke bekas lain, sebab ganache tu sedap. Hehe

Amateur baker, mcm ni la. :P