homemade pizza

Last week, I was feeling extra hardworking that I wanted to make my own pizza. I bought the ingredients the day before so I could have homemade pizza for dinner on Friday. I bought a Betty Crocker pizza crust mix, not the frozen, ready-made ones. All you have to do is add 1/4 cup of warm water to the mix and mix together and let it sit for about 5 minutes. The toppings on my pizza was simple. I put some tomato puree, chicken hotdogs, mozzarella cheese and cold chicken lyoner. I used Gourmessa brand. This is the type of meat where you can make cold sandwiches with. Once the dough has rested, I spread it in a round baking tin before putting the toppings. I baked the pizza for about 15minutes.

 Before the pizza went into the oven.

 Pizza fresh from the oven. Just look at the cheese!! The house smelled so good when the pizza was baking.

The almost-finished pizza.

Taste-wise, it is not as great as Pizza Hut, I must admit. Maybe because of the minimal ingredients and I simply used tomato puree anyway and not some fancy schmancy tomato sauce. If I had Prego spaghetti sauce, I would have definitely used it but I didn't have any. As for the cheese, it was not as gooey and stringy as Pizza Hut's mozzarella cheese.So next time, maybe we'll just call Pizza Hut Delivery.

home made donuts

Towards the end of Ramadhan, my aunt hosted a berbuka puasa. Obviously I can't be going empty handed, right? A cake came to mind and I did bake a custard sponge cake which was very easy to follow and required very little ingredients. But unfortunately, I misread the oven temperature. It reads 90 degrees celcius but I mistakenly set the oven to 190 degrees celcius instead. So the top of my cake was burnt and the cake ended up 'bantat' because I kept opening and closing the oven door to check. The cake went straight to the dustbin. So sad. 

That didn't stop me. I opened my scrap book and searched for a recipe of something that I can make, something which I have all the ingredients in my kitchen. i stumbled upon a donut recipe which I kept years ago so I decided to give it a try. I have a packet of instant dry yeast in my kitchen along with other ingredients. I then started working on the dough. Working with yeast can be tricky because you want a fluffy donut and not a stiff and dense donut. AS i mixed the ingredients, I kept chanting, please make this work or else I'll have to resort to buying some kuih along the way.

After the dough was ready, I covered it with a cling wrap and waited patiently for it to rise. This will make or break the donuts. You know what they say about a wait kettle never boils? Same goes to a donut dough. 30 minutes feels like forever! I let it sit on the kitchen counter and kept myself busy. When I checked again, I was so thrilled to see that the dough has doubled the size, which is exactly what I wanted. Phew. So step 1 was a success. Step 2 was making the donuts, which proves to be very tricky because the dough keeps sticking to my hands. I thought that it doesn't 'jadi' because the recipe says it should be a clean dough and it shouldn't stick. I then put some flour on my hands before I shape them. My fear is that the donut will become hard. I've no picture of the shaped donuts because my hands were sticky. 

Transferring the shaped donuts into the frying pan is yet another tricky task. It stuck on my fingers again.Who would have thought that the donuts actually rise and spread even while frying? Luckily I didn't shape them into really big donuts or I'll end up with giant donuts. I find it easier to use a tong to pick up the donuts than using a ladle.

I ended up with quite a lot of donuts. I covered some of the donuts in caster sugar while some were covered in a mixture of caster sugar and cinnamon powder. When I pressed the donuts, they feel fluffy. I can't taste them because I was fasting so I just tawakal. I even gave a few pieces to the security guards at our condo (the one in the blue container). I hope they liked it.

As for my donuts, it was a hit at my aunt's house. Everybody loved it! They said it sure looks and tastes homemade all right. ;) I only get to taste half of it but I was so happy that it worked out well and everybody was happy. Yeay! Irene too loves donuts so I will make it again one day, Insyaallah.

July in a nutshell

I just realized that I did not write a single post in July. That shows how busy I was. Right. :P

Anyway I know we only have a few days left before Ramadhan bids goodbye but I believe it is not too late to wish everyone Salam Ramadhan & Selamat Berpuasa.

OK truth be told, I only went for terawih once (so far) at the mosque near my parents' house. At that time sis and sil stayed home so they helped look after Babycakes. I wore my pink telekung which my friend Sara gave me, which she bought in Jakarta. To my surprise, I was among the few ones wearing coloured telekung! There were probably 3-4 other people wearing coloured telekung but the rest were white. So it made me think, I saw all over the internet all kinds of telekung being sold from pink to green, colour blocking to denim. But at the end of the day, I think people still prefer white for their telekung.

On a different note, we have been breaking fast a lot at home and I would cook simple dishes. Thank God my husband is not a picky/fussy eater who wants gulai/kari/sambal at every meal. He's already happy with just chicken or vegetable soup and fried fish and omelet. Alhamdulillah. We do break fast outside too but not at the hotels because the prices were just ridiculous. We've been to Tropicana Golf & Country Club, Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club (KLGCC) and Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club. We also went back to Ipoh to break fast with mil on the 2nd weekend of Ramadhan. And we had my grandfather's 100th birthday celebration and break fast at his house on 27 July 2013. I must say that the month of Ramadhan brings our family closer because we would all break fast together and when we are all at our own homes, we would whatsapp each other of what we are having for break fast. I only managed to take a packet of bubur lambuk near Masjid Wilayah on the 1st day of Ramadhan. The bubur lambuk is really nice.

Last weekend too, sis, mum and I went to get our hair done. It is our 'annual raya thing' to do where the three of us would go and have a nice hair pampering session at the salon. Babycakes too had her hair cut by the hairstylist. It was her first trip to the salon. The story behind it was, the previous week, my hands were itchy so I took the scissors and started cutting her fringe but I am a lawyer, not a hairstylist. Plus, it's not easy to get her to sit still (even though I cut her hair while she was eating roti canai). I ended up cutting her fringe a bit too short. Poor kid looks like Temenggung Jugah. If you don't know who Temenggung Jugah is, shame on you! I'm sure we learned a bit about him in history classes. Since I freaked out upon seeing how short I had cut Babycakes' fringe, I decided not to continue so her back hair was quite long she ended up like having a mullet. Oh my poor child. After her visit to the salon, she now looks like she's sporting a pixie cut. I must say that her hair is a bit too short to my liking but oh well, hair grows, right? Hopefully she'll have a nice hair come raya time.

I did travel outstation to Muar for work, once during Ramadhan. The drive to Muar in the morning wasn't that bad because I had a nice mug of kopi-o for sahur. I was fresh the whole time. But coming back from Muar, I went to Mahkota Parade for a while. I left Melaka at about 2pm because I don't want to get stuck in traffic by the time I reach KL. I eventually reached home at 4ish and I straightaway went to take a nap. 

As for shopping, thank God for the  convenience of online shopping. Only thing is, you must make sure that the size fits. In my case, I had to return an item I bought from thepoplook because the size was a bit too big for me. Too bad they deducted 5% for 'restocking fee'. I ordered the same thing again, only in different size and different colour. I still haven't bought my raya shoes yet and I am in dire need of a nice pair of court shoes. This weekend will be the 'last kopek' for shopping so let's go all out, full force, shall we?

Till my next post, Insyaallah. Bye for now!

O Wise One

Two weeks ago, on Saturday, i got my wisdom tooth extracted. Oh boy it was such an unpleasant experience. It started a few days before that when I felt a slight pain in my tooth. A few months back, I had a filling done at the wisdom tooth. Now it has started to feel painful for whatever reason. 

That morning I went to dye my hair at Solaris Mont Kiara. At that time I can feel the tooth aching but it was still bearable. After I was done at the salon, I went to Guardian pharmacy to look for a painkiller. The pharmacist suggested that I go to the dentist because painkillers are a temporary relief. She pointed out to Solaris Dental Centre which was nearby. I was contemplating to go but I am pretty sure that it will cost me a bomb. I called hubby and he asked me to go home first. I eventually bought a medicine from Guardian. It's a traditional medicine and has a picture of watermelon on its box. It's a powder substance and you are supposed to spray the powder onto the affected area. I went home and did it but it didn't give me any relief.

I can't focus on anything and the slight movement by Babycakes would irritate and annoy me to the max. I told hubby, that's it, I'm going to the dentist. There is one dentist in the area where hubby always sends his car for servicing so we went there. I went up only to be told that they don't accept walk-ins. You have to make an appointment but if I want to wait, I can wait but it'll take about 2-2 1/2 hours. I was so angry. I started searching for nearby dentists on the internet and made phone calls to ask if they accept walk-ins. Thankfully, one dentist in Kepong does so off we went. 

So there I was at Lau Dental Surgery and there was one patient inside the room while another was waiting. My turn came and I went in. The dentist checked my tooth and immediately said "kena cabut" I was like "cabut? hari ni? now?" He said 'Yes. kalau tak cabut, you tak boleh tidur malam ni" I was like whoaaaaaaaaaaaa but I don't have a choice, do I? He then injected me the numbing gel on the gums and left me for about 5 minutes. In my mind, I kept telling myself, it's gonna be ok, it won't hurt, childbirth hurts even more but of course that didn't work.

When the dentist came, he poked my gum and asked if I feel any pain. He told me to let him know if I feel pain. He then started to extract my tooth and at one point I can still feel the pain. He was surprised and said "sakit meh?" -___- He then said to the nurse "tambah ubat" to which he injected more numbing gel on my gums. Then he continued to extract my tooth and within seconds, craacccck! the tooth was out and he immediately gave me a cotton ball to bite on. phew.....

This was the view from the dentist's chair. As I was lying down, all sorts of things came to my mind.

As you can see, the dental clinic is not the most sophisticated dental clinic. It is very basic, in fact it is located in an old building by the Kepong main road. But they practice hygiene as how it is supposed to be and they did the job well so I am not complaining. The best part is, they accept walk-ins and they don't do appointments. I don't get why a lot of dental clinics must be by appointments anyway. What if someone was in severe pain? When I paid for my fee, the uncle asked me "ok or not? walk-in better or appointment better?" I said to him "of course walk-in la. If i wait for my appointment date, I'll be pengsan already coz of the pain." 

Do you know how much was the fee? A mere RM60 for a wisdom tooth extraction. I was surprised, but good surprised because I was prepared to pay RM100 or more (from what I know, dental works are always very expensive) so I was more than happy with the fee. I walked out of the clinic with a numb face and a happy heart.

What makes me wonder was, WHY IS WISDOM TOOTH CALLED WISDOM TOOTH IF IT ONLY BRINGS PAIN, SUFFERING AND MISERY AND NEEDS TO BE EXTRACTED ANYWAY?

sane but insane

The title sounds a bit off, isn't it? Well have you ever thought how something could keep one sane and insane, at the very same time? Impossible you say? Let me tell you how it is possible.

A couple of nights ago, we went to KL Tower after hubby bought a deal on Groupon. So off we went and reached KL Tower at 8pm. There are a few attractions now that it is the school holidays. Not sure if they are available all the time or only during school holidays. Anyway, we went up to the viewing deck to have a magnificent view of KL. However, I must say that the beams kinda obstructed the views.

  

Unlike Sydney Tower Eye, the glass windows are all clear and there are even seats all round.

At least the beams/frames at Sydney Tower Eye did not obstruct the view, right?

Anyway, back to the sane/insane story. There were a few stalls selling souvenirs, snacks, toys, and goodies on the viewing deck. One of the stalls sold a wand with a transparent globe which has spinning led lights in it and below the globe is a figurine of Psy. Wait, there's more to it. There is a small button where when you push it up, the led lights will spin AND play the famous Gangnam Style song. Well, not the whole song but only this line where Psy sang "heyyyyyy.....sexy lady....opp...opp..opp...oppa gangnam style". Which kid doesn't know or like Gangnam Style, you tell me. And that particular line happens to be Babycakes' favourite part of the song because her daddy would sing and she would start doing the gangnam. Now she can even sing that line by herself but it sounded more like "eeyyyyy...tey yay yay yay...opp..opp..opp". So when she hears that particular line and see the spinning bright lights, she got excited and the salesgirl gave the wand to her.

 We had to buy it for her because when we tried to return the wand to the salesgirl, Babycakes would start screaming "oppp!! opppp!" Kids nowadays. -___- It was only RM15 so not bad.

 Look how mesmerized she was with the wand. We didn't remove the plastic cover yet at that time. 

Now here comes the annoying part. That Gangnam Style song is already annoying as it is so imagine if you have to listen to it a thousand times! It doesn't help that it is also one of the songs in her cd that I compiled, which we had to listen to every.single.time we get into the car. -___-  Add that to the never ending "heyyyyyy.....sexy lady....opp...opp..opp...oppa gangnam style" and you have a recipe for insanity. It made hubby and I go insane BUT it kept Babycakes sane. When we couldn't take it anymore, we switched off the wand and said to Babycakes, "Opp tido!" And she would be like, "Oppp do?" "Yes, Opp tido. Dah malam, Opp penat, dia nak tido ok? Esok pulak kita main Opp." She then didn't ask for it anymore. So at least we had a peaceful drive home that night. It worked!

newsletters

Subscribing to online shops' newsletters are dangerous because not only will they flood your inbox, they would also send you updates every other day, if not every day. And if you have itchy fingers like me, you will be tempted to click on the links and open the websites with the intention 'just to take a peek, you know, in case they have something great on offer or if they are having a sale or if the item(s) that you have been eyeing for is on sale.' It gets worse when you subscribe to newsletters from online shops selling baby clothes. There is always one or two (or several!!) items that would catch your attention immediately and the items seem more attractive when the price is very reasonable or the items were on sale. If you have a daughter/baby girl, it gets worst because baby girls' clothes are just so freaking cute and adorable and pretty and sweet gaaaaahhhhhh and you would imagine how pretty your little girl would look like in that particular dress. To comfort myself, I would tell myself 'the thing is on sale! I might as well buy it now than later. What if it's sold out? I can always keep it for future use, right? When else to buy if not now?' and the list of justifications just get longer. Now that raya is near, I would tell myself 'Baik shopping untuk raya dari sekarang, kalau tangguh nanti takut tak sempat/harga lagi mahal time puasa/kalau beli sekarang, takde la terasa sangat bila duit keluar sebab nanti lagi banyak benda nak beli. Beli sikit2, lama2 jadi bukit.' Yes. I am wise like that.

Sigh it is bad for the bank account. Bad bad bad.

crazy over videos

You know how the Japanese always comes up with something unique, weird, out of this world, cute. quirky and creative creations and inventions? I mean, just look at the stuffs at Daiso. They have practically everything and the best part is everything is sold at RM5. Everytime I go into Daiso, I will surely come out with something. 

Anyway, I came across these videos on Youtube and I was in awe.  This is the edible version.

And this is the non edible version.

If you have the time, go ahead and watch other videos and see how amazing those things are. It sure takes main masak-masak to a whole new level, isn't it? However if I'm not mistaken, the edible ones are already banned because it contains harmful chemicals. I mean, looking at how the candies/foods transform is evident that there must be tons of chemicals involved but it sure is fun to watch all right.

How we survived in Sydney

It was our very first family trip overseas and it was very exciting for us. We booked our flight about 10 months earlier and I have been counting days since. As the travel dates get nearer, I googled for tips for travelling with a toddler. So these made us survive our trip.

I brought along my carrier/sling because I know Babycakes won't want to sit in the stroller all the time and I won't be able to carry her in my arms for a long period of time. This carrier is a life saver. It can be folded and kept in the bag, it has no ring, hooks whatever thus making it lightweight yet durable. It's from pupsikstudio but I bought mine at Mothercare for only RM99. It is much cheaper than other carrier/sling that are available. Unfortunately when I bought it (when Babycakes was 2 months+), they only have this colour.

Even though it is ergonomically made i.e. it does not strain your back, one can only carry a 9kg+ baby on her back for so long. Think carrying a baby while walking from one place to the other. It eventually gets really tiring and you gotta give your back a break once in a while too. And your baby would want to run and walk and stretch herself as well.

That is when this thing comes in handy. It's called a harness. I am a sucker for all things pink and girly so obviously I chose this pink butterfly for Babycakes, which is freaking adorable. It's from Bumble Bee, btw. There are other designs too e.g. monkey, cow, bee etc. You would want to give the freedom to your child yet you have to still be in control. God knows where she would run to if I let go off her hands for just one second.

See, Babycakes was as happy as can be and she wanted to walk but you can't expect us to be chasing after her all the time, do you? It's tiring! We do get mixed reactions from the people around. Some were curious looks, some were weird stares while most were friendly smiles but we couldn't care less. As long as we have our baby close to us and as long as we can keep our baby safe, we will do whatever it takes. Of course there are times we played tug-o-war with her but at the end of the day, we won. Haha.

After all that walking and running and a game of tug-o-war, they are bound to be tired and needed their naps so you still have to bring a stroller with you. But make sure you bring a lightweight stroller, like this one. This is an umbrella stroller and it is only 3kgs if I am not mistaken. It is not bulky, it folds easily and it is durable. We bought ours from Toys R Us for less than RM200. It's Hauck brand.

There are certain places that are only accessible by stairs so you will be very glad that you bring a lightweight stroller. It makes going up and down buses, trains, ferries so easy. Don't worry, you don't have to carry the stroller down the stairs, just get your hubby to carry it. :D And do you see the bag hubby is carrying? That is Babycakes' diaper bag during the holiday. Yes, a backpack is the perfect choice for traveling. Don't bother carrying a sling diaper bag. Apart from extra clothes, diapers, wipes and other essentials, contents of the diaper bag include a thermos, a bottle brush and a small bottle of liquid soap for washing your baby's bottle. Unless you want to carry a few bottles with you, I suggest you bring a bottle brush and liquid soap. You can always wash the bottle after using it.

If you haven't been to Australia, please be informed that they are very very strict when it comes to customs check. Make sure you declare every single food item you carry with you because trust me, they will check your luggage thoroughly, especially if you have a baby/toddler/child. We already knew this so we didn't bring any foods for us, except for a few packets of 3 in 1 coffee mix. When the customs checked our bag, we showed them everything that we brought along i.e. milk powder, cereal and biscuits for Babycakes. We told them they're all for the baby. So when he saw our coffee mix, he asked, "Does the baby drink coffee too?" Not sure if he was being sarcastic or joking though. We just answered sincerely that the coffee are for us (duuh). I feel like rolling my eyes but of course I'd be stupid to be sarcastic with them so whatever, just go with the flow and move on. Since we didn't bring the most essential i.e. instant noodles, we had to buy at the supermarket. Finding halal instant noodles ain't easy but thankfully they sell Indomie. Instant noodles can never taste so good at that time. We also bought tuna, cream cheese and bread to make sandwiches.

When traveling with a baby/toddler, make sure you bring her medications too, just in case especially if there is a change of weather. When we were in Sydney, it was autumn and weather forecast showed temperatures between 17-22 degrees celcius but there are days when it gets chilly and there are days when it was just as hot as Malaysia. I brought along paracetamol, minyak yu yi, vicks baby balsam and gripe water for Babycakes. These items also went into the diaper bag so hubby got quite an exercise there. Anyway, due to the cold but dry weather, Babycakes got her nose stuffed and it was so hard to get the booger out because they were dry. She would also scream murder everytime i try to pick her nose. I went to the pharmacy and bought a saline spray. This spray literally saved our lives and kept Babycakes' nose clear. Let's not talk about the struggle to place the nozzle into her nostrils but whatever it is, I managed to spray the saline water into her nose and it cleared her nose and helped her breathe easily. I am not sure I've seen any saline spray selling in local pharmacies though.

So there you go. If you plan to travel with your baby/toddler, I hope you find this post useful. It helped me so it can surely help you too. :) Now where shall we go next?

Doing our little part

Growing up, my parents, dad especially have always taught us all to recycle. We would take turns to send old newspapers to the storeroom and on weekends, we had people come to our house to collect the newspapers for recycling. They would come on motorbikes and sometimes a van or small lorry would come and collect. Back then I didn't know the value and meaning of recycling because we get so little out of a huge pile of old newspapers and magazines. I thought it was not worth it. Why not just throw them out? Why the extra work and effort to collect, which takes space for a few ringgit?

Now that I am all grown up, I am so grateful to my parents for teaching and instilling this good habit in me and now that I am living on my own, I keep on this habit. I would collect whatever that are recyclable in one huge laundry bag. You know, the transparent laundry bag you get when you send your clothes for dry cleaning. In a way, I am reusing that bag rather than using a fresh garbage bag. I put the plastic bag in a corner of my kitchen and would put anything and everything that are recyclable. Within a month or so, the plastic bag can easily be filled with all sorts of things from shampoo bottles to sardine cans, from coffee bean cups to uht milk packet. I can't believe the amount of things that are collected in my house within a month considering there are only 3 of us.

Of course I had to get hubby to play his part too. When the plastic bag is full, I would get him to send to one of the many recycling bins that can be found all over the place like the one in the picture below. I am so glad that there are so many of this bins scattered all around my neighborhood, in fact there's one near my office. The best part is, these recycling bins are for charity so not only we are doing our part for the environment, we are also doing our part for those in need. It takes so little effort to reuse and recycle and I feel so good everytime we dump our recyclables in one of these bins.

What about you? Do you recycle? If not, it's never too late to start! Do your part now, for the future, for the environment, for those in need and for Mother Earth.

P/S: Please ensure you rinse out the bottles, cans, cups etc before recycling. Jangan la asal boleh, OK?

Blind Date

Going to the court for the first case management or mention feels a bit like going on a blind date. Not sure if today there is such thing called blind dates anymore because of social media. At least you know the name of your future blind date and also how he/she looks like, provided that he/she puts up his/her real name and his/her real picture of course.

Whereas, when you go to court for the first time (for a new case), you only know the name of your opponent's legal firm. You won't know which lawyer is attending and you won't know whether the lawyer is a female or a male lawyer. When you reach court, you would be looking and guessing which one of the many lawyers is your opponent. If you are bold enough (of course you have to be bold, you're a lawyer, duuh!), you could ask one by one "excuse me, are you from XX?" But that would consume so much time unless you are lucky and you strike at the first few attempts or when the lawyer from the particular firm that you are looking for is nearby and heard your question. Otherwise, you could just wait until your case is called and then only you meet your opponent.

To think of it, it is more complicated than a blind date, huh?