Missing mum’s cooking

I went back to Kota Bharu recently for work. As there were 3 meetings to attend spread over 2 days, it was an opportunity for me to spend the night at my mum’s place and to savour my mum’s delicious cooking. Just writing this is already making my mouth water! LOL!

I was in Kota Bharu on the 7th and 8th of March, 2011. I took the 10.00am flight on the 7th and arrived at my mum’s place slightly after 11.00am. My meeting was only at 2.30pm, so, it was an opportunity to have lunch with my mum.

I actually sent a message on FB to my mum telling her that I was only going to be arriving at 11.00am, but alas, she did not read the message and assumed that I was arriving very early in the morning via the 7.30am flight, and would be in time for breakfast before going for my meeting in the morning.

I would usually do that if my meeting had been in the morning. But, since this time, the meeting was to be at 2.30pm, I did not want to have to get up at 4.30am to get ready to catch the very early morning flight.

Due to the miscommunication, my mum had prepared breakfast of Nasi Belauk, one of my all time favourite Kelantan breakfast food. Sorry, Ma! But, by the time I got to her house, I was already full from the breakfast I had at the airport, and I did not want to spoil my appetite for lunch of Kuzi Kambing, one of my favourite dish. Yum! My mouth is watering again! LOL!

Too eager was I to dive into the yummy Kuzi Kambing that I forgot to snap a photo of the food.

However, I certainly did not forget to snap photos of the dinner food! Yum!

I went to bed satisfied from eating mum’s delicious food! LOL!

Lunch the next day was another yummy spread. I could still taste the budu on my tongue and wish that I could have eaten more. Oohh! I miss my mum’s cooking!

Thanks, Ma, for all the delicious meals! Sorry I could not stay longer in Kota Bharu. The office was hollering for me to come back! LOL! Noticed how I was mostly on the phone when I was in Kota Bharu? That’s how work is these days. *sigh*

BTW, while I was in Kota Bharu, I noticed that my mum had been busy keeping herself occuppied (like as if she's not busy enough running her Kenari Villa Guesthouse! LOL! *wink*) by doing and re-doing up her house. *grin*

The latest addition to her condo is this two lovely wing chairs. Very english and I just love it! I spent a lot of time sitting there in the evening as I watch TV.

I also love her new set of lights.

I think it matches her two new flowery wing chairs to a T, but she said that she bought it because it matches her cast iron grille. I think so too.

You got the house looking lovely, Ma!

Off to the Etsy Market!

Tini sent me a message on FB to let me know that she will be setting up a stall at the Empire Shopping Gallery on the 5th of March 2011.

In support of her business, and also, to check out what else are being sold, I made arrangements with Aiman’s art teacher to shift his class to the afternoon instead of at the usual morning slot, as the Craft Market only opens for business after 1.00pm.

However, as it turned out, my hubby decided to take Aiman to an open day in Dataran Merdeka in conjunction with ‘Hari Tentera Darat’.

When I got there at about 2.30pm, Margaret, Jackie and Jo were already there, busy shopping! LOL!

There were many stalls, and unlike the one they had at Jaya One sometime back where it was done outside, this time, they had it indoors at the Lex center, which was good as regardless of the weather, the market can go on.

At Jaya One, before I could even make my rounds, it started raining. I pity those who had opened up stalls then as I am sure they would have been worried that the rain would damage their handmade products.

I spent a long time there and truly enjoyed myself. I had so much fun that I lost track of time. Before I knew it, it was already 5.00pm!

I met up with our new NNC member, Sally, who was selling handmade bags, bag handles and very cute owl keychain pouches.

I wanted one in pink but she ran out of it, so I made an order not for one, but two owl keychain pouches! *grin*

Just look at all those bag handles! I want them all! LOL! But I managed to resist! But, will I be able to resist them later? *wink*

I featured Sally’s bags in my blog earlier when I visited her stall at the Etsy Market at Jaya One, but I did not know her then. She pointed it out to me that I have her bags featured in my blog! LOL! How embarrassing to have featured someone without you even knowing about it! LOL!

I hope I had helped promote your product, Sally. *smile*

I can’t remember the names of all those who had opened up stalls that day and from whom I had bought some things from them, but, I think the photos will be able to tell a lot already on who they are and what they were selling.

A picture paints a thousand words, so, I think I shall let the photos do the talking and I will interject when I see necessary to explain anything.

This is Kelly’s stall, but I can’t recall the name of her Etsy shop. I bought quite a number of things from her stall. I just love all her lovely pink fabrics!

At the Pupurin Stall, I also bought quite a lot of things (like, what’s new, huh? LOL!) .

At Love and Craft, I bought some lovely buttons.

Paul was there too to help Tini open up her stall.

I spent a lot of time chatting up with Tini and Paul, and ended up buying quite a lot too from her. LOL!

I just love this cupcake cotton but had to resist the temptation as I already have so many cottons in my stash (hah! The guilt finally crept it! LOL!)

Jo in front of Sally’s stall showing off her lovely matching handmade bags.

I came back home very pleased with myself, albeit feeling a little bit (just a little teeny weeny bit) guilty for buying again. *grin*

Who wouldn’t be feeling happy looking at the stash I bought at the Craft Market. LOL! *grin*

I think, if not for the fact that I only had RM100.00 on me; I would have ended up spending more. So, it must be a blessing in disguise to a certain extent! LOL!

Ok, time to go play with my stash! *grin*

NNC 4th Anniversary Celebration Teaser *wink*

We are having NNC’s 4th Anniversary celebration on the 19th of March in Shah Alam this year. Everyone going for the Meet is excited and it has been a hive of activities trying to get things ready for the Meet for the last few months for everyone at the board.

We have the Anniversary Gift Exchange to be made as it has to be handmade, and this year, the extra item is a gingham heart, which had created a lot of excitement for everyone at NNC.

Here’s a peek of my Anniversary Gift....

There were also the door gifts to be made. Though it is not compulsory for members to contribute, but we welcome very much any form of contribution just to inject more excitement into the Meet.

I spent the last 3 months making mine, and just as a teaser, here they are, all packed and ready to bring to the Meet on 19th March 2011.

I was also busy making the posting prizes to give to the members who posted the 1st and 30th message at the board on the 30th of October, the day NNC was born.

Want to take a peek? *wink*

Can’t wait for tomorrow. I hope everything will turn out well.

A weekend with 3 boys and a man

My son has been wanting to have a sleepover with his cousins for the longest time, but we were not able to make it happen as my son was still sharing the room with us. I promised him that when he is sleeping on his own in his own room, he can have the sleepover.

Ever since then, he kept pushing for us to get his room ready so that he can start to sleep on his own and thus be able to have a sleepover.

So, at end of last year, we went through a series of renovation and headaches, stress and frustration to get his room ready.

I blogged about the frustration, stress and the headache that we had to go through to get his bathroom ready in an earlier posting. I will blog more on the final look of his room in a later posting.

As soon as the room was ready, all he would talk about was the sleepover. He had many plans but we would not discuss it until after his exams which was just before the 1st semester break.

The evening after his exams, all he could talk about was the sleepover. There were so many activities that he wanted to do, but we had to limit the number of activities due to the time constraint.

We finally agreed to a list of activities, and to add some fun (like as if all the activities that he wanted to do was not enough fun already! LOL!) to the sleepover , I sent out a formal invitation to my sister Lin for her son, Miki, and to my brother, Ayis for his son, Ayin.

Besides injecting more fun into the sleepover, I made the invitation so that I can use it later as part of a scrapbook which I intend to do, which, God knows when I will have the time to do! LOL!

All the activities are all of his own ideas. My hubby and I only help set the time.

Come Saturday, 12th March 2011, Aiman woke up early all in excitement. We head on for breakfast at Chawan in Bangsar before sending him for his Saturday classes.

Roti Jala - Aiman's favourite

Yummy Nasi Kunyit with Rendang Ayam

For the sleepover, we set a few rules for Aiman to follow and for him to make sure that he takes good care of his cousin guests.

We told him that he still has to do his daily cat chores, his workbook and read his daily dosage of classic books. Not wanting to be left out in the fun with his cousins while he does his workbook, Aiman came up with the idea to have me buy his two cousins workbooks too. So, the Saturday before the sleepover, we went out to buy the two workbooks. Smart eh? If he has to work, he wants his two cousins to work too! LOL! *wink*

Here you see the cousins doing their workbook together, with Ayin and Aiman tutoring Miki, the youngest of the 3 to do his workbook. Who says that doing the workbook couldn’t be so much fun!?LOL!

We picked up Miki at my sister’s condo after Aiman’s usual Saturday classes, and brought him home.

The first agenda of the day was to have a round of badminton. Alas, when we got out of Carrefour on our way back home to buy the shuttle cork and badminton net, it rained cats and dogs.

So, the boys ended up just playing indoors, which was fine by them, for as long as they get to play the PSP. In fact, for the most part of the sleepover, they played the PSP, even in the car! It must be this modern day way of a sleepover. LOL!

Gone are the days when you come around to play all those old fashion games together, but instead today  it's to come play the PSP on your own and compare what games you have and compete with each other in the game.

Miki making funny faces

Notice the PSP on the table while the boys had their tea? Will I ever understand! !!???? LOL!

Seen here are Miki and Aiman having McD for dinner while we wait to meet up with Ayin to join us to go to the movies.

They look so cute together. *grin*

Capturing the moments as we wait for Ayin

We watched the must watch movie if you are into epic movies and history, “Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa”.

It took some convincing to get Aiman to agree to watch the movie. He kept saying that since it is a local movie, he immediately made the assumption that it is going to be a boring movie. When I told him that he will enjoy it since it will have a lot of action and there are some fighting scenes, he said that it will still be boring since they don’t fight with guns. Oopps! Shall I start getting worried? LOL!

He wanted to go bowling, and a local epic movie just doesn’t sound like a good trade off. Understandable, huh, for a 10 year old boy? LOL!

Anyway, we managed to get him to agree to go to the movies when we promised him that he will still get to have his round of bowling the next day, with a slight change in his plans of activities.

I am glad that we managed to convince him to watch the movie as now, he can’t stop telling us how much he enjoyed the movie and kept asking my hubby to retell the story to him! LOL! Now he gets excited when he sees the trailer for the movie on TV and smiles when he sees the adverts and promotions in the newspaper. He even wants me to buy the DVD! LOL! 

The next day, the boys got up and still in their pyjamas, it’s the PSP again! LOL!

For breakfast, we had homemade pancakes and lempeng.

After another round of doing the workbook, my hubby took the boys swimming. I have no photos to show as I did not join them for swimming, but the boys came back very hungry! LOL!

We sat down to a simple meal of Spaghetti Carbonara.

After my hubby had a short nap to regain his energy (he did, after all, had to take care of 3 very active boys at the pool! LOL!), we left to go to the bowling alley at The Summit.

I did not join them for a game of bowling. I instead went to pamper myself with a manicure and pedicure at the same shopping complex. *grin*

My hubby did not bowl either, but instead brought along his laptop to work on while he kept an eye on the boys. I thought I would be done with the manicure and pedicure in time to meet up with the boys to snap some photos of them bowling. I thought that the game would at least last an hour since my hubby said that they will be playing two games.

Guess what? They finished both games within 40 minutes! According to my hubby, they all got overly excited, and just simply threw the balls with no regard to the proper way of playing that most of the balls ended up in the gulley! LOL!

When I got to the bowling alley, they were all already sitting down for a drink. *grin* Here they are, after all the excitement of bowling, having a massage! LOL!

No, seriously, none of the massage chairs were on. *grin*

All the throwing of the balls in the gulley must have taken up all their energy, because, even though it was only 5.30pm, all the boys were hungry! LOL! So, we decided to have an early dinner before sending the boys back.

Here you see them again playing their PSP while they wait for our order to be served.

For dinner, Aiman chose to have Chicken Chop, which, Miki, as usual wants to just follow Aiman whom he looks up to like a big brother.

Ayin had Tom Yam Rice which was really delicious. I think next time I will order this dish if we have our meal again at The Garden Cafe, The Summit.

My hubby and I had the Portuguese style grilled fish. No photos though. I must be so hungry that I forgot to snap a photo of the dish. *grin*

It was time to send the boys back. In the car, on the way to my sister’s house, again it’s another round of PSP.

Looks like it is a sleepover weekend of playing PSP! LOL!

I know Aiman enjoyed the sleepover, spending time with his cousins. I hope Miki and Ayin too enjoyed themselves.

All 3 boys were well behaved. They did not miss their prayers, and helped Aiman with his chores. Even doing the workbook became a fun time when done together. *smile*

Thanks, Lin and Ayis, for letting the boys spend the weekend with us. I am sure Aiman is very appreciative of it. Hugs to Ayin and Miki.

It's been a long time.....

.......since I last did any proper blogging. The last few posts were those that I had posted at Facebook first when the incident happened. I then copied and pasted onto my blog here so that I can still share some of my thoughts and events with my blog readers who aren't my friends on FB (I limit who I approve on FB as I consider FB to be more private).

I haven’t had the time to blog much lately. My life has been terribly hectic these days.

To blog-write, I need to be relaxed where ideas flow easily. I could still write when I am mad about something, and I need to get it off my chest. LOL! I can also still write when I am extremely sad, and writing helps calm my nerves and soul (like the posting A Nervous Wreck - http://nikainunza.blogspot.com/2011/01/nervous-wreck.html).

But, to really make sense of what I am writing, my mind needs to relax. But, trying to be relaxed when the work schedule is hectic added to the stress of Aiman’s toilet not yet fully completed to this day certainly is no formula for a relaxed mind. Do I make sense? LOL!

I have lots to write, report, blog, whatchamacallit, call it what you like. I always have lots to say and tell, but when the body is tired, so is the mind. I don’t know how many times already that as I drive home from work, I have so many things that I want to do when I get home. But, once after dinner is over, I sit in front of the TV, and before I know it, the TV is watching me! LOL!

Do friends still read my blog? Some people say that everyone (who’s everyone?) now prefers Facebook to blogging. Is that true? Will you still find reading my blog interesting? Do you find reading blogs in general interesting? Do you yourself still blog, or have you too moved on to other forms of social networking to communicate what’s on your mind, to write your thoughts and ideas? Would love to know what you all think.

OK, OK, I am digressing from my original intention to report on the last few events of our life which I to need to write, as I like said many times before this, not only is this blog for my friends to read, but this blog is a diary for my son to read some day.

Anyway, I am way behind schedule in the events that I want to blog on, starting from the holiday in Penang when my hubby participated in the International Penang Bridge Run to my bag making class at Corine’s, to the renovation work in my house which never seems to end (blogged about it a bit in short postings during my time of frustrations, anger and anxiety), my father-in-law’s Birthday BBQ and many more small events which still has some small significance to our daily lives.

I think I’d better get started. I think I will begin with the latest event first, which is my FIL’s Birthday BBQ held recently at his house on 20th February 2011.

My FIL’s birthday was on the 17th of February, but it being a weekday, it would be difficult to gather all his working children together, so we decided that Sunday would be a better day to celebrate, and that it would be a BBQ since my FIL loves BBQ. Eerr.....who doesn’t, right? LOL!

Kids playing a round of Monopoly while they wait for the chicken to be barbequed

My brother-in-law, Mahfiz, prepared the spicy fried macaroni, potato salad and chicken.

Mahfiz preparing the Potato Salad

Spicy Macaroni

Love this Potato Salad!

My hubby did the chicken too, but in a different style. He said his is Mediterranean. He also did the normal style. All 3 styles were delicious!

Yummy!

My sister, Lin, did her famous cream caramel custard. She came with her 3 children, Miki, Kuyasmin and Kuya, who came together with her boyfriend, Raphael. These two cannot be separated. The malays would call it “macam belangkas”, meaning that they are inseparable. You invite one, and you get two! LOL! *wink*

From left, Raphael, Kuyasmin, Kuya and hubby dearest

My sister, Lin with her daughter, Kuyasmin

I can’t recall who brought the drinks. It must be my SIL, Eina, as Adeque brought the birthday cake for the birthday boy.

Halfway through the barbequing, it rained cats and dogs and we had to carry the grill onto the terrace. Luckily my FIL’s house has a terrace big enough to fit in the grille yet still have tables for us to sit around.

There was so much food that even though it was already time to go home (it’s a school night so we couldn’t stay longer), there were still plenty of food that we could even take home for our next meal. *grin*

  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ayah! May you live a long and healthy life.