Project Raya Cookies Part 2

My second cookie for raya is peanut butter cookies. It is really simple to make, I don't even use butter and flour. For someone who has a very active and bubbly baby to tend to and also wanting home made raya cookies, I need a simple, easy and quick recipe that doesn't require much work and time. 

 

They're not the prettiest but they're really yummy and peanut-buttery, perfect for peanut butter lovers.

Alert when shopping at Giant

The above title says it all. I've read and heard of complaints from Giant hypermarket before this and it is true. In fact, this is the second time this is happening to me. The first incident was a few months ago, at the same Giant hypermarket in Section 13 Shah Alam. I bought Rafferty Garden's baby food pouches. The price for 1 pouch is RM7.99 but the promotion price is Buy 1 Free 1 so I took 4 pouches. By right I should only be charged RM7.99 x 2 but when I paid for the items, they charged me RM7.99 x 3. That means they did not count the second Buy 1 free 1 combo. The cashier can't undo the mistake so I had to lodge a report at the customer service center. I had to fill in a form and waited almost 1/2 an hour to get my money back, which is a total waste of time but heck, it is my money and it's RM7.99 mind you.

Another incident happened just yesterday. I dropped by Giant because I needed to go to the bank. Then I went in and bought some stuffs, including this pair of pants for Babycakes. It's hot pink, the material is good and it's only RM9.99. 

 A hot pink lycra pants for Babycakes. There are other colours too but obviously I chose this hot pink.

Check out the price tag. It is only RM9.99.

 When I went to pay, guess how much they charged me? RM12.99. Ridiculous isn't it? I asked the cashier, "seluar tu bukan RM9.99 ke?" She then looked at it and mumbled something. Then she called another staff who verified it. Duhh, clearly it is written RM9.99 and the price tag was on the pants itself.

The other staff then keyed in something and then deducted the RM3 from the lycra pants as shown above. Sorry for the low quality of the images but I hope you can see it.

I also bought three cans of ice lemon tea at RM1 each (should have bought more, so cheap!) but when the items were scanned, it shows RM1.29. I just have to ask, "Air tu bukan RM1 ke?" The cashier replied, "Dia akan tolak sendiri". If you go to Giant hypermarket, at the entrance there are some items for RM1, RM3, RM5, RM10. This was where the ice lemon tea were. There was also bath towel for only RM10 and I took one piece. Again, when it scans, it was RM11.99 but luckily it automatically deducted RM1.99.

So please be careful and be alert of the prices of the items you take. The shelves may note different price but the cash register may note another price. I am lucky I caught this mistake before sales was concluded or else I will have to go through the hassle of claiming my money at the customer service center.  Know your price and know your right. Let this be a lesson to all of us. It is our hard earned money be it 30cents or 3 ringgit.

CIMBclicks suck

Online banking/Internet banking is supposed to make one's life easier and hassle-free, yes? Shopping online is made so much easier with online banking. But how frustrating can it be when you have to call the bank customer service every.single.time when you are performing a transaction? It is very, very frustrating and not to mention, annoying as heck. 

This happened to me once last week and another one today itself. I wanted to perform a transaction via CIMBclicks for the purchase of some stuffs. I filled in the relevant details and when I clicked on the TAC, nothing happened. I waited and waited and had to make sure that my session did not expire. The small window would pop up every now and then reminding me of the session which is about to expire. I then called the customer service and of course I had to give out my details, atm card number yada3. They asked me to clear cache yada3 and the next day, I managed to perform the transaction.

And then today it happened again. The TAC was not delivered to my blackberry so after several waits I gave up and called the customer service, yet again. And it's like deja vu. I had to give my details yada3 that at one point I blurted to the representative "This is why I hate calling customer service! I had waste my time calling you and give you my details. Online banking is supposed to make lives easier. Every time I had to call and waste my time. Don't you think I have nothing better to do?" The representative asked me if I changed telco. trust me, the questions she asked me were the exact same questions I was asked last week. It is annoying. Yeah yeah bersabar di bulan puasa and all. Don't give me that talk. I just can't tolerate this kind of nonsense. Of course the matter was not resolved. The representative even had the cheek to tell me to keep on trying. Right. Like I have nothing better to do than menghadap your website all day long and keep on trying. Great.

project raya cookie part 1

So I have already made my first cookie for raya on Friday. I made it after Babycakes has gone to sleep so I can bake in peace. I ended up sleeping at almost 3am! And of course I woke hubby up for an early sahur of bubur lambuk which I took from Masjid Wilayah earlier that day. My first cookie is Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, the recipe which can be googled. The ingredients are very minimal but it takes quite some time to make as you first need to refrigerate the cookie dough for about an hour or more before you shape them in tiny balls. After that, roll the balls in icing sugar before placing them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. The first batch I made, the cookies turned out huge as I did not know how to gauge the size. The recipe calls for the use of baking powder so naturally the cookie will rise and expand. So the subsequent batches were made smaller and make sure you spread them evenly or they'll stick together, like what happened to my first batch. I did not take any pictures of the cookie in progress as my hands were messy from rolling the dough into tiny balls. It has to be cold so you have to work quickly as the dough will get soft due to the warmth of your hands. While one tray is baking, I refrigerate the remaining dough until it is ready to be baked. This process was repeated several times as I can only bake one tray at one time, thus taking a lot of time to finish baking the whole dough.

Fresh from the oven

The end product. It tastes very chocolatey and sweet. It sure looks pretty too with the contrasting colours of chocolate and white.

raya cookies

I've always baked chocolate chip cookies for raya so this year will be no exception. But I have yet to find the time to bake them. Time is ticking and I don't have much time left. I've been wanting to bake on a weeknight but I find myself too tired even before 10pm. Sometimes I fell asleep along Babycakes when I put her down to sleep. This process of getting her to sleep also takes about 45minutes to 1 hour, sometimes longer.

I haven't been cooking much for berbuka because we would normally buy 2-3 types of lauk, some kuih and I would just cook rice. We've been breaking fast outside too so that also saved me from cooking. It's not that I do not want to cook but it just takes so much time and hassle. I also need to entertain my Babycakes. On some days, she would be content in her walker running around or play in her playpen while watching her nursery rhyme dvd. On some days she would be very clingy and seeking attention. By the time I reach home after picking up Babycakes, it will be almost 6pm so I have about 1 1/2 hours to whip up something. I know frying a fish or chicken takes less time but the thawing, preparing and the cleaning up after takes so much time and effort.  So I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ramadhan bazaar vendors near my house for without you guys, I would have to cook! haha. But so far alhamdulillah the foods that we bought were satisfactory and we haven't gotten sick or anything *touchwood*. The other day I asked hubby to buy kuih lopis and guess what he brought back? Kuih lapis. FAIL.

As for sahur, we take oats every day. And it's the instant kind. Just pour hot water and you are done. We would mix with honey or dates and milk.

That being said, I will bake my chocolate chip cookies, no matter what. I am also being ambitious of trying some new cookies recipes I found online. We shall see how many types of cookies I will bake this year. I will probably start tonight since we have no plans and tomorrow is a Saturday. Hopefully Babycakes will cooperate with Mummy and be a good girl tonight.