Ole..ole..ole..ole...kita menang, kita lah juara... *woot*

It really shouldn't come as a surprise that Malaysia takes the coveted AFF cup, but watching it sure makes my heart beats faster and my throat calls for mercy for being overused (screaming, that is ;p)

Anyway, the whole family watched the match last night, and dare I say, we enjoyed it more than watching the world cup a few months back. Hihi...even though there was no Ballack, but Fahmi (Malaysia's goalie) really stands out. That bloke deserves an award of his own. He saves lots of goals, and heartbreaks.

My MVP

And, out of admiration, I googled him today, and guess what I found out? His heart is taken, to a charming girl who has a very entertaining blog.

And, thanks to the Malaysian team, tomorrow is declared as a public holiday. Yeay! Isn't it thoughtful that Friday was declared as public holiday (as opposed to today?). Long weekend ahead, people :)

Thank you to you too :)

This is the reason why I enjoy baking :

The face of a truly satisfied customer (her words, not mine). Soooo glad she likes it, makes all my effort worthwhile.

Sophie, thank you to you too :)

After the long hiatus *__*

Hi *small voice*

Yeah, after all the big talk on updating the blog more regularly, there I go again, MIA for almost 1 month. Huhu.

To those who've asked, yes, I'm still taking rvc orders :) And, speaking of rvc, last two weeks I've managed to bake the largest cake I've ever baked : A 32cm two layer round cake. Okay, this might not be a big deal to some people, but I had to bake twice as the first one collapse as I tried to layer them together. I just hope that the bride and groom enjoyed the cake.

Besides that, I've also managed to make hantaran cuppies for engagement and wedding. And, speaking of cupcakes, I'm going to impose a new condition : my cupcake design will strictly consists of chocolate ganache topping and buttercream and/or fondant deco. Like this:

Or this:

But, I'm open to any suggestions and recommendations :). And for those who've asked, below is the packaging for mini RVC, in an upside-down plastic container (reason : I can't seem to find a box that can fit the cake as its quite tall for the size)


Okay, moving on to other things, last week I was away on a course and when I reach home, I was seriously struck by Sara's development. But, I'll leave that story to tell in another post. :)

Aidiladha 2010

Aidiladha 2010 is the best one so far :) Majority of my mum's side of the family came to KL and we had a blast. My cousin each have 4 boys so, that totaled up to 8 boys, in the house. Oy, that itself resulted in chaos and mayhem. Sara was delighted to see them, she kept tugging me to play with "abang". I taught her to say "Abang, Yaya nak main". She confidently went to them and said those words and then came running back to me. Haha.

Oh, did I tell you she can jump? With both legs up? She has been doing that since last month actually.

We had our usual festive dish "nasi minyak" and the best "soto" ever. I was working the day before, so I had no part in the cooking whatsoever (Ohh, the beauty of living with my mum ;p) But, I did bake a cake and I succeeded on making chocolate chip rolls (more on that later, promise!) We just lazed around the whole day, taking pictures, eating, watching telly and it was a very fun and relaxing day. I mean, good food, good company, what's not to love, right?

The "quiet" picture

The "noisy" picture

Later that night, one of the boys came to me and said that they miss my choc chip cookies. It's almost 10pm, I protested. But, seeing their hopeful faces, I just didn't have the heart to say no. But, I imposed a condition : They have to help me. And so, there I was at 11pm, making cookies with my two nephews. They are yawning every 2 minutes, but they helped me all the way to the end.

Some of the boys :)

The next day, everybody went back to Kuantan. Sara woke up and was somewhat disappointed to see that there was no more abang. I, on the other hand, had 300 cupcake to do for a solemnization favor. :)

It's been....a while

From: phatmummy@yahoo.com
To: phatmummy.blogspot.com
Sent: Wed, November 24, 2010 2:03:03 PM
Subject: Sorry

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 11:07 AM, Phatmummy -- wrote:

Dear blog,

I know. I'm sorry that I've neglected you. Its been a while and I seriously am losing my mojo to write. There's much to tell, much to record. Its just that work have been piling up. And there have been some major changes here and there and I just couldn't find the time. Sorry. Will write again soon.

-- Phatmummy --



Re : Sorry

From:phatmummy.blogspot.com
To:phatmummy@yahoo.com
Sent:Wed, November 24, 2010 2:04:04 PM


Dear Phatmummy

Hmm, why am I not surprised? I know that all bloggers are allowed to have a blogger's block, but I know in your case its more of lazyness rather than busyness. Ha! Start writing back, take it slow and I promise you, I will be here, waiting patiently for your words to fill me in.

I'm not surprised though, you never had a diary (okay, you had maybe maintained a diary for two weeks??), you can barely keep up to a routine, you don't even have a routine beauty regime (in fact, you hardly ever wash your face before going to sleep), so it makes sense that you just can't be trusted to keep blogging. You promised to record Sara's milestone and now she's practically a toddler...shame on you!

Okay, I have done enough blabbing. Now take you lazy fingers and start typing. NOW!

--the blog--

Hantaran cuppies

I was so nervous regarding this order. 1) She's a return customer 2) She wants fondant deco. I really suck at making really cute little things. Let's just say, I lack the patience required to deal with such minuscule proportion. Anyways, here it is, a blue-turquoise-white hantaran set. Hope she liked it.

What's with the I-dont-vote attitude?

Firstly, let me make this clear that this is not a political blog nor this is a hate statement. I'm merely writing this as a gentle reminder to myself, my child, my family, my friends and yes, to those who read this blog. Lately, I have been witnessing lots of people (friends included) that are openly admitting that they don't vote. Hmm, let's see...

Since primary school, we have been voting whether we realize it or not. We vote for the head of sports house, we vote for president of various clubs and we even vote for our favourite teacher for Teacher's Day. This tradition continues until secondary school and throughout our university life.

Okay, fine, one would argue that those were made compulsory, so now that they have a freedom to choose, they choose not to vote. BUT, bear in mind that some time in our life, we are attached to some kind of groups or association, be it our sports house during primary school, any clubs during secondary school, any college during university or any sidang during DPA. We are a part of this associations, whether we like it or not. The same way we are a part of this country.

We b*tched and praise about the presidents of our club and the chairman of our association because deep down, we care. We care because these people were elected to lead us. The same way should apply to the nation, no? I am a Malaysian, so I should vote because I care and I love my country, right?

Well, I don't know about you, but I care about who lead the country and who determines the future of this beloved country of mine. Not only that, I am concerned about my future's generation well-being, therefore it is only logic for me to vote and exercise my right as a responsible citizen.

As a colleague of mine eloquently said (pohon izin ye Puan Didi) "Passion of doing your work not only comes from sound ethical background, but also the love you have for your country. I believe working for the government should come hand in hand with at least SOME feeling of patriotism. You work for the government yet you don't care who rule the country? I say that's pretty messed up :("

Do vote...if not for ourselves, then at least think about what kind of future we are leaving our descendants. I vote, I made sure my family does and I think you should too.

Tips on toilet training

Hi, my name is Mama. I was given to Sara on her birthday by my Mummy's best friend. I would have preferred other name than Mama, but Sara thought it was my name, since I say "Ma...mama" when she squeeze my chest.

At first, Sara was scared of me, but as she grows bigger, we became friends. She would give me milk, put powder on my face, take out and put on my clothes, put me to sleep and lots more fun stuff we do together.

Right now, my current role is to motivate Sara to go to the toilet. For example, Nenek and Mummy often come to me and ask "Mama nak ci-ci?" and I'd nod my head. They'll then ask Sara whether she'd like to come along. If she agrees, Nenek or Mummy would ask her to take out her pants, in case they got wet and all. When we arrive to the toilet, we'd pee together. Okay, I stand and watch while Sara pees.

So, yeah, I am officially the toilet trainer for that little kid. Sometimes, she'd carry me to her Mummy and said that I wanted to pee, when in fact, she's the one who wanted to go to the toilet. Yeah, just blame it on me, the mute doll ;p

Presenting : The MINI Red Velvet Cake

So, I've been getting a lot of inquiry to do the cupcake version of my red velvet cake. I did try a few times, but it turns out not as good as the cake version. Somehow, the cupcake turns out to be quite dense and nowhere near the velvety soft taste of the cake.

But, I do understand that some of my customer wanted a smaller version ibarat kata cik tini "Order satu velvet cake makan sendiri adalah racun kepada diri" ;p

Without further ado, I present to you...mini red velvet cake : a five-inch two-layer cake with cream cheese frosting. Price is only RM30.


Forgive the picture, can't seem to rotate it. The above image is mini RVC and the below image is regular RVC. To order, email me at phatmummy@yahoo.com :)

Red velvet cake

These were ordered from Farhan, Nad (My sister's friend who is now out of confinement) and Erna (return customer, currently at her 8th month and looks positively glowing). Thanks for the orders and hope u like it :)

My tutu little girl

"Sara, come Mummy hold your bottle, Mummy want to take your photo"

"NANAK! NANAK! YAYA NAK HOLD!"

O-kay.

"Sara, sara, look here. Mummy want to take your photo"

"Yes. Good girl. Sara do the peace sign."

How?

"Look at Cik Ngah. Follow Cik Ngah"

Like this?

"Sara, look here. Smiillleeee"
Like this?

"Mummy, Yaya tired"

"Okay, okay just one more picture. Please"

*P/S : We couldn't pry the bottle away from her. She insisted on wearing the bottle on her neck all day long.

*P/P/S : My dad says her leg is gemok!

Hitting the big Three-Oh

Yesterday marks the day I hit the big three-oh. I've been stalling for the longest time, but no amount of power can make the clock stop ticking, so yeah, I'm thirty. 30. Ugh, even typing this makes me feel old. Hehe.

For whatever its worth, I did check few items on my life checklist.
Marriage : check!
Baby : check!
A stable job : check!
So I guess all in all, I am indeed blessed.

We didn't do anything special yesterday. Hubby brought me out on Sunday to celebrate and bought me a cake. Honestly, when you've been married for 5 years +, both of us just wished for practical birthday presents. And, this year, I have nothing that I REALLY wanted, and I just bought the two handbags, so no present this year. I just hope that he'll finish his studies, and get that scroll for my birthday present.


Okay, I have another confession. I've been late for my period and I was thinking well, maybe, I am pregnant and what a wonderful present that would be on my own birthday, so bright and early yesterday's morning, I checked and it was negative. Again. :(

Gosh, this post sounds downright depressing. Better stop before I make everybody feels gloomy. Thanks for all the wishes on my facebook and SMS. What better way to cheer me up than the little kid, right? Hihi, see this pic? She got soooo big, her wrist is almost as big as mine...ngeee

The guessing game

Everytime Sara sees a pen/pencil or paper, she'll insist "Mummy, Yaya nak daw" *daw=draw and minutes after that, she'll go to anybody willing to entertain her and demand the person to "Daw cat" or "daw bird" or "daw fish".

So, last night, her CikNgah drew this:
Guess what that is? Err, its a bird.

According to Sara "CikNgah daw bird. Bird cry. Bird big poo-poo. Pain. Bird cry"

You would have thought that CikNgah, a 25 year-old professional would draw something more educational. ;p

More red velvet cake(s) and cuppies

I've been busy. Alhamdulillah ;)

click on image for better view

She likes it. She does too. What about you? :)

Datuk Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Dr. Harlina Yusof

Wedding of the decade. Seriously?? Even the events that my batch handled during DPA was wayyyyy better than what I witness on the television last night. After these beautiful pre-wedding pictures, THAT was the best that you can do? Seriously?


Don't even get me started on the so-called "Istana Kayangan" concept.The first wedding dress? It was just o-kay. The second ensemble for the cake cutting ceremony? Lame. The cake? Lame with a humongous capital L. They have got to be kidding me. I watched the live telecast all the way, hoping for some miraculous transformation of event but I was left hoping. And screaming profanities on the telly. Heh.

pics from here

Congratulations to TV3, you have managed to ruin what little respect I have for you. The only thing that saved the wedding from total disaster was the bride and groom. They were soooo beautiful and they looked so happy and contented. At the end of the day, I guess that is what matters most, right?

Disclaimer : All views and opinions stated above are of my own. I wish only the best for the bride and groom, this is not a hate statement. This is just my frustration towards the organizer of the wedding event.

Sara : 21 months

Okay, I know I might be jumping the gun here, but I believe that my dear little angel has started talking. Talking as in constructing complete sentences! *Gasp* I kid you not, she really can talk, and most of the time, we understand what she says!!! Okay, there are a few circumstances that led me to believe this fact, and I'm sharing it here as one of her many milestone :)

Example 1 : We were in the car, I was driving and she was happily watching barney on the dvd when suddenly she looked up and said with clarity "Mummy, Baba put frog up there".

The frog up there ;)

Example 2 : She ran up to me holding her doll (which she calls Mama, by the way - don't ask me why, Sara believes that the doll's name is Mama because when you squeeze the doll's chest, the doll will squeak "Ma, Mama"). Then, she would thrust the doll to me and said "Mummy, Mama cry. Mama nak milk. Plis. Plis. Mama, don't cry. Emmm-mmaaah". I would pretend to make milk and give her an empty bottle to give to Mama. Sara will politely say "Thank you" and put her mama on the pillow and gave the bottle to Mama.

Example 3 : "Mummy. Yaya nak baba. Yaya nak yu-na-mi. Come, go upstairs. Plis. Plis" Okay, you might wonder what yu-na-mi is, I did too, at first. She'd come to me whining, wanting to sing or see yu-na-mi. She'd said yuuuuu-na-miiiii (with a sing-song voice - rhythm to "This Old Man" song) Turns out she's singing the ever-famous Barney song "I love you, You love me, we're a happy family...bla...bla" The part You-love-me is Yu-na-mi. Heh.

Example 4 : I was taking out all my bakery stuff to start baking cake. She'd come running to me and said "Mummy, Yaya nak mick-mick cake" *Mick = mix. And true to her name (Qaisara in Arab means "Queen"), she'd put her hand out and said "Mummy, hold hand plis" to help her to climb the chair and mick the cake.

Example 5 : We always complimented her when she did something good (i/e throwing rubbish in the dustbin, ci-ci in the toilet, finish her milk). We'd say "Sara, good girl" and clap our hand. One day, I caught her playing with Mama "Mama, dink milk. Finish. Good girl." and clapped her hand. *dink=drink

Example 6 : We'd always tell her nicely "Sara, don't do that" whenever she does something naughty. The other day, I came back from work early and went straight to her, and kissed her repeatedly. She got agitated and pushed me away and say "Nanak Mummy". I went to the kitchen and later she came to me and I asked for a kiss. She kissed me half-heartedly. Suddenly, she went all patronizing on me and said "Mummy, don't do that. *kissing sound" Don't do that. Yaya nanak". Wait, let me get this straight. Did she just scold me? Did my 1 year-old daughter just reprimand me?? Haha, who would have thought I'd live to see the day ;p

Road trip to the North

I'm not a big fan of traveling. Especially when I have to pack not only for me, but for Sara as well. And her toilet training will definitely go haywire if we travel. However, how can I not go to one of my best-est friend's wedding, right? So, off we went to Kedah (Alor Star to be exact).

We slept at my cousin's house in Kulim the first night. My cousin have four boys; but all of them are so well-behaved and treat Sara like their baby sister :) I really look up to her as I really respect the way she raise her children. I hope I can be as patient-but-stern as she is if I ever have a son.

We went to Alor Star the next day and I managed to see the beautiful bride before the bersanding ceremony. We have been friends for more than 10 years, and I was so happy for her. She looks gorgeous and positively radiant in the ravishing purple/mauve.

After Alor Star, we decided that it was way to early to retire to our next stop, hubby's uncle's house in Pendang. So, we decided to give Bukit Kayu Hitam a try. On the way there, hubby's uncle called and told us that we might as well go to Padang Besar since Bukit Kayu Hitam have nothing to offer. He said that it'll only take us extra 10 minutes. So, we drove past Bukit Kayu Hitam and I can assure you, IT WAS NOT A 10 MINUTES JOURNEY OKAY. Even I was getting cranky in the car. Luckily Sara was captivated with the Barney video we put on.

I bought Sara two pajamas, and another two for my sister and that's about it (I suck at shopping). We went for a bite and grudgingly drove back to Alor Star. Since the house we're going is in Pendang, that adds up another hour in the car. Ugh. We reached the house around 11pm.

See the little kid running away from everyone?

The next day, we just lazed around because we were planning to go back around noon. Well, knowing us, the lazing around temptation was too high, we ended up going back at 5pm. On the way back, hubby said he wanted to try the ever so famous mee udang, so I called my cousin and we met up at the mee udang Sg. Dua. I keep reminding myself to take pictures and take note of the route to come here, but once the sizzling hot mee udang arrived, all was forgotten. As usual.

We head back to KL from Sg Dua around 7.00pm. After numerous stops (one that involved all three of us sleeping in the car at the R&R), we safely arrive home around 1am. Conclusion of the whole trip? NO MORE ROAD TRIP IN THE NEAR FUTURE. Too tiring. :)

Even though Sara hates stranger, she has a thing for "ATUK" figure. She'll run away from any nenek figure but will be sooo manja and mengada with an atuk figure. Heh.

Red Velvet Cake(s)

Thanks to her, I've been getting my hands full with RVC order. Alhamdulillah.


I know, I know, the deco is nothing to be shout about, but I was happy making them, I can only hope the person on the receiving end was happy too.