weekend project part 25

i found a recipe for eggless chocolate cake and i decided to give it a try. i recently bought some cupcake cups from Pusat Bekalan Bakeri Bagus at Seksyen 13, Shah Alam. It sells almost anything and everything you need for baking.

the recipe was found online when i was bloghopping. these are some of the ingredients needed.

actually the recipe called for the cake to be baked in baking tin but since i just got the cups, i baked them in the cups instead. i managed to fill 13 cups only.

i don't know why the cake did not rise evenly though.

i have some leftover melted cooking chocolate which i used for making topping for banana split so i reheated it and poured it on some of the cupcakes. i then sprinkled with coloured sprinkles to add some colour. i only managed to top 8 cupcakes with the chocolate.

4 cakes was left plain.

Recipe from Secubit Garam.

world walking day

did you know that yesterday, Sunday 21st November 2010 was World Walking Day? did you know there was an event held at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa? you didn't know? neither do i. that is, until i reached there at 8ish in the morning with mum. she woke me up at 8 a.m. on a lovely Sunday morning and asked me to join her jogging. to be honest, i was lazy as hell to wake up, especially that i slept at 3 the night before watching trash on Astro. however, i know that i haven't been doing justice to my body the past few days by eating like mad, so i dragged my lazy ass and woke up and got ready.

we arrived there at 8ish and the area was packed more than usual. there were no parking, cars were parked by the roadside causing a massive jam but we were lucky that one car went out and my clk squeezed in at the corner and parked comfortably. that was when i noticed the buntings and posters hanging around. how come i never heard of this event on the radio or seen of it on the internet? a few radio stations were the sponsors/organizers of the event btw. a lot of people were wearing a bright green t-shirt, which was free for those who registered at 6.30 a.m. i guess and the field was buzzing with activities. mum & i went on and jogged (or rather brisk walked) around the lake, twice. we then decided to check out the event as it was still on-going.

we bought three packets of nestle yogurt drink for RM10. a good bargain.

there were many booths giving out drinks-milo, nesvita, nescafe, nestle cereal, omega plus and maggi. that's mum in the blue t-shirt. she was going to queue for maggi mee i think. we didn't get to eat the cereal though as they were already packing and closing their booth boohoo~

milo was a favourite. who doesn't like ice cold milo on a hot sunny day, right?

we thought of having nasi lemak or roti canai (kinda defeats the purpose of working out, i know) after our walk but we were full with the free drinks & stuff. maggi for breakfast? what the heck. at least it's not nasi lemak and it's only a puny cup of maggi ayam. :P

malaysians. enough said. it is disgusting to see rubbish everywhere. it is the duties of the management and organizers to prepare enough bins & garbage bags. there were no workers in sight to collect the garbage but it was not a reason to throw the used cups anywhere you please. what an eyesore!

preloved item number 1

i've started clearing part of my closet and i found quite a lot of unused items that's been lying in the cupboard, consuming space. i buy new ones but i hardly, or ever clear out the old ones. no wonder why my cupboard is almost bursting!
most clothes will be donated to charity or the less fortunate but there are some items which are not suitable to be donated, for example this long halter top dress.

i mean, i don't think it's appropriate to give away this dress to the less fortunate, right? so i thought, i should try my luck at selling it. who knows, somebody might be interested in it and i could use some cash. hmmm....
the dress is purple in colour. i bought it many years back for one of my uni dinners. i can't remember how much i bought it for.

the halter part of the dress is made of chiffon, the lower part is velvet and the dress part is lycra so it is highly stretchable.

i was size 8 back then OMG! that's number 8, not size S. (how i wish i'm a size S!) damn, how the hell did i get this big today??? pfffttt!

hohoho but i can still fit it all right! phew! but then again, it is lycra, which is highly stretchable but i've to suck in my tummy all the time or else you can see the unsightly bulges. bleugh~ the front part is sexy, yes? it is advisable for you to wear a nu bra or a nipple tape or the bare lifts. since the material clings to your body, please make sure there are no VPLs ok?

excuse my messy mak nenek hair. *embarrassed* it was late at night and i just have to show the back part of the dress. the dress is still in good condition, even though i've worn it a few times, to dinners and vain purposes.

since the year is coming to an end and there will be parties, dinners, prom nights and what not, i am selling this dress at a very reasonable price. to those who are looking for a sleek long dress at dirt cheap price, you've come to the right place. how much you may ask? i am selling it at a mere RM25. just add RM7 for postage. so what are you waiting for? i'm sure you're not gonna wear the same dress to different parties, right? so why need to spend so much on 1 dress? if you are interested, email me at izyan_darlina@yahoo.com

that colourful thing

how often do we notice a rainbow in the sky? not that often, right? so when we see a rainbow, we tend to get over excited. we tend to look in awe. we tend to slow down our cars (if we're driving) and we tend to point and take a picture of it. by we, i mean me. myself.

this was taken many weeks back, while i was driving on my way home. if i'm not mistaken, this was about 7 something in the evening when it was still bright. told ya i would slow down and take a picture of the rainbow. *sigh* i never get to see a rainbow before because most of the time, if not every time i go back, it was already dark. pffttt. it only lasts for a few minutes though but i am lucky to have seen it and captured it.
anyway, speaking of rainbows, suddenly the images of rainbow cakes came to my mind. grrrr.

don't you just love the colours? i have never tasted a rainbow cake before but i bet it tastes like butter cake, only with colours. but it sure looks fun to eat, right? maybe i should try baking one. but then again, i've also wanted to bake a red velvet cake but that has yet to happen. LOL. i wonder if this rainbow cake idea will materialize in the near future. next weekend is a long weekend due to Deepavali holidays so that may be a good time to try one. i think it's just as simple as baking a butter cake. the only thing needed are lots of colouring and patience since it needs to be baked layer by layer, unless i want to have a marbled effect like this.
this is so much easier but of course the layered ones look prettier. colouring can be easily bought at the supermarket but patience? that is something i am lacking of. i also need a few baking tins if i were to do the layered type. hmmmm...

while i was googling for the images of the rainbow cakes (go ahead and tell me if you are not blinded by the colours), i came across these wedding rainbow cake. aren't they simply gorgeous? now that is not a typical wedding cake all right! it would be so much fun to have a rainbow coloured wedding cake, don't you think? it's definitely something to consider but then it might not suit my theme colour. and who in the world needs 5-7 tiers of cake? i know it won't be cheap too! a 3 tier wedding cake can easily cost RM700 and above, depending on the design. *sigh*
oh well, i better focus on my theme colour then. unless, of course someone wants to sponsor a gorgeous 5 or 7 tier wedding cake for me, i wouldn't mind having one like the above.

ten.ten.ten

the date 10th October 2010, 10/10/10, 10.10.10, 10 Oct. 2010 (or whichever way you put it) was one of the most special date in our calender. as most people would know and assume, a lot of people chose the special date to be their special day especially for engagements and weddings. i was one of the many people who managed to secure the above date to be my engagement day. i knew it was not gonna be easy to book services i.e. catering, make-up, mini dais etc on that date since most are fully booked but alhamdulillah, i managed to secure them all.
oh, the purple shoes was for this purpose by the way. i wouldn't have gone on a massive shoe hunt if it were not for this special day.

my outfit for the day

mini dais

after i was done with make-up and nervously waiting for his family to arrive

this was while waiting for his mother to put the ring on my finger
checkout the purple shoes!

his mother putting the ring on my finger. i am glad i did a manicure the day before, thanks to my bestie.

asking for his mother's blessings

thank you auntie for giving us your blessings

candid shot by my sister

ohhhh i'm a bride-to-be OMG!!

alhamdulillah everything went well. i am now in a new phase of life and i am definitely looking forward to the future. i pray to the Almighty for our eternal bliss and may our journey from this day on be a smooth sailing one. to my readers, i may not know who you are but all i ask for from you is your prayers for me and my fiance's well-being and everlasting happiness.
btw, these pictures are from my sister's and my friend's cameras. i haven't received my official engagement pictures from my photographer yet. more pictures are on my facebook. if you are my friend, you might have seen it.
now that the engagement is over, i shall now start fussing and start preparing for the wedding. heck, i might as well lose some weight while i'm at it too!
better start now than later, right? ;)

the purple shoes

women and shoes are inseparable. i am not so much of a shoe-holic but i love shoes and i love looking at them. i love to try them on in shops. and i love the way they are nicely displayed on the racks. it can make me go crazy. some shoes look so good that they instantly caught my eyes and i get this feeling that says "i just HAVE to have those shoes!" i bet a lot of women out there can relate to this, right? however, buying a pair of shoes is not necessarily an easy task, especially if you have decided that you want a certain colour. you will find every other colour BUT the colour that you want.

i was in a search of a pair of purple shoes, preferably one in soft purple/lavender/lilac or whatever shade you call it as long as it's soft i.e. not the real purple or Barney the Dinosaur purple. my search began way before raya. during the raya sale, i was already on the lookout of THE PURPLE SHOES. but like i said earlier, there are every other colour BUT soft purple. why do they have soft/baby pink shoes, baby blue shoes, fluorescent orange shoes, electric blue shoes (you name it, they have every colour there is in the colour palette) but not soft purple/lavender/lilac shoes? i have also set a certain budget for the shoes. it shall not exceed a certain amount because i know the shoes will be lying in the shoe rack collecting dust. so no high-end, branded or designer shoes for me.

ohhhhh they do have in the colour that i wanted! *sigh of relief*

however, it did not appeal to me. it's a bit too simple and the heels are less than 3 inches tall. bummer. i continued my search from Parkson Grand KLCC to Parkson Grand Pavilion to TANGS in both Pavilion and Empire Shopping Gallery to Subang Parade to Sungai Wang to Isetan to Ampang Park and to God-knows-where else. phew~

i found these two shoes at Parkson Grand, Pavilion. there was a glimpse of hope and a ray of light shone upon me. however, when i tried them on, they are not comfortable (heck, no pretty shoes are comfortable anyway, right?) and they are very hard. i still have time so i thought i'd KIV these shoes. at least i know there are shoes in these colour.

the search continued even after raya.

i almost gave up but i can't. i just HAVE to have a soft purple/lavender/lilac shoes. then i thought, ok, i could do with purple (as in Barney purple) shoes i guess.

this was at Isetan KLCC recently. there was a wide array of shoes that i became crazy. i fell in love with many shoes but i resisted myself from trying other shoes. i've set my mind not to go astray as i am in the search of THE PURPLE SHOES.

i tried on a few purple shoes. some fit me nicely, some doesn't have my size while some was not comfortable. i only tried them on not more than 5 minutes and i can already feel the pain. not a good sign. and they don't come cheap too. there comes a point where i almost go way over my budget. time is not on my side to dilly dally any longer.

then i remembered a shoe shop in Ampang Park (i can't remember the name but it's some chinese name like Syarikat Kasut Yoong or something). yeah, nothing fancy, i know. i'm sure most of you have not heard of it. i've always been in and out of this particular shoe shop without even knowing the name. i only call it Kedai Kasut Neva. wanna know why?

because the brand name of the shoes are NEVA SHOES. what the heck, right? :D all i know is that this shop sells pretty shoes and they have almost, almost every colour you can think of. i kid you not. but of course they don't have a soft purple/lilac/lavender shoes. and then one purple shoes caught my eyes.

TA-DAA!! presenting THE PURPLE SHOES. nothing fancy, right?

they're not that cheap, mind you. for a brand-less shoes and for a simple (yet elegant) looking shoes, they costs RM99.90. and of course that was the last pair in that size. pfffft. i always get the last pair, i don't know why. those shoes look plain so i took the lrt and went to Masjid Jamek and bought myself two little brooches.

each brooch costs RM3. very cheap. i almost bought a bigger brooch but boyfie said that it's a bit too big for the shoes so i settled with this one. i also almost bought the ones with purplish stones but they did not stand out because the colour of the shoes is already in deep purple.

i went home and i simply pinned the brooch onto the shoes and voila! a whole new shoes at only RM105.90. other brands would cost no less than RM150. was i satisfied? definitely. am i happy with my purchase? of course! was it still within my budget? i could get another shoes with the balance of my budget!

so i guess it pays to go on a massive hunt. but of course you must have the time to shop around. it also pays to blog-hop to get ideas from bloggers and from the internet. D-I-Y and you can save a lot! unfortunately i did not take a pic of me wearing those shoes. but they are pretty, yes?