my geli keli experience

I don't know about you but I love eating ikan keli. Be it keli goreng, keli bakar, keli masak lemak cili padi, keli goreng berlada. I love them all. However, I have never ever cooked, let alone cleaned an ikan keli my whole entire life. That's why I would take a keli dish whenever I eat outside because it's the one fish that I never dealt with.

That was until a few days back. I was at Mercato supermarket trying to figure out what to buy for dinner that night. Then I saw some ikan keli and they're already cut into two, packed and chilled. Normally I see ikan keli still alive and jumping around or swimming away in tanks. I passed by the fish counter and went to the poultry section. I have a few pieces of chicken in the freezer so there's no need to buy chicken. Then I went back to the fish counter and i noticed that the Bangla guy was looking at me weird probably thinking as if I have never seen an ikan keli before because I was prodding and touching the package. I eventually took one pack and thought it would be nice to cook ikan keli goreng berlada. I also took a packet of cili giling and I'm set. I was in no mood to boil and blend dried chillies at home so cili giling is my saviour. 

I got home and started working on the ikan keli and boy oh boy. Who would have thought that they are slippery as heck? I sat on the floor, put my cutting board and took my chopper and set to cut it. It was so slippery and looking at the fish gave me a weird feeling. It doesn't help that Babycakes kept on saying 'EEEEEE (insert some baby talk gibberish here)'. She said it so many times I kid you not. I kept telling her this is a fish. I didn't say it's a catfish or she'll get confused like, wait, is it a cat or a fish now LOL. She's not used to seeing a dead fish I guess so she probably couldn't recognize it. She's used to seeing the fishes in the aquarium at our condo lobby and also posters of fishes in the elevator at our condo.

As I worked on the ikan keli, I realized that it was not cleaned yet. So I had to clean out the gut and gills and what not and the feeling is just weird. I feel so geli handling the fish, I have no idea why. Other fishes, I am fine. I am so used to cleaning fishes but handling an ikan keli is a different thing altogether. 

Too bad hubby doesn't eat ikan keli so I ended up eating it myself. I even had some leftover that I tapau them for lunch the next day, with white rice of course. I think I'll just stick to eating ikan keli at restaurants. I don't think I ever want to deal with a dead, uncooked ikan keli.

Dinner made easy

Being a busy working woman and having a toddler around, I'm all for making quick dinners and I really appreciate an easy to prepare meal or a one dish meal. After a long day in Court and in the office, the last thing I want to do when I go home is to cook a storm for dinner, unless I am really in the mood. Meals that are easy, have minimal ingredients yet complete nutrition are a Godsend. It would be a bonus if I have all the ingredients needed in my kitchen so I don't need to drop by the supermarket or kedai runcit to buy the stuffs. Again, this depends on my mood. Sometimes I would make a quick stop at the kedai runcit near our house or if the ingredients are fancy ingredients, I would drop by Cold Storage.

The other day I had a really good salmon quiche and mushroom quiche with my good friend Sara. I've made tuna quiche before and it's quite tedious as you need to make the pastry beforehand. But then I found one recipe which is so easy I could whip it up in less than 15 minutes!

I mixed eggs, milk, melted butter, flour, baking powder (the recipe calls for self-raising flour but I ran out of them so I had to improvise by mixing wheat flour and a tsp of baking powder), a can of tuna, a can of button mushrooms, sliced, frozen peas, baby tomatoes and cheddar cheese. I simply used the sliced cheddar cheese although the recipe calls for grated cheese. Whatever works, people!

I managed to whip it all without having Babycakes bugging me because she was occupied with her nursery rhyme dvd. I baked the quiche for 40 minutes at 180 degrees celcius. Timing is everything when you have a busy toddler. Once I put the quiche in the oven, I took a bath and gave Babycakes a bath and a good wash because she had pooped.

Once cooked, simply cut and serve. It would be nicer if you have a cold salad on the side but I've got the peas and baby tomatoes in it so that's good enough.

So that was our quick and hearty dinner. We even have enough leftovers for all three of us for lunch the next day. You can guess which container belongs to who.

For the full recipe, click here.

The Story of Abik

When Babycakes was small, I bought her a pink doll whom I named Pinky Polly. I wanted Pinky Polly to be her lovey, her best friend, one that she would get attached to, one that she would bring everywhere she goes. Pinky Polly did have her fair share of story.

This was when Babycakes was only 4 months old. She's oblivious to Pinky Polly's existence at that time. As she grew older, she started to have an obsession with teddy bears, whom she fondly calls Abik. We've taught her to say bear but she still says Abik so Abik it is. 

   

 This is Babycakes with her many soft toys. She has a pink bunny (we call it bunny rabbit hop hop hop), Tony the turtle which Daddy got for her in Sabah, a Harrods teddy bear, a few McDonald's teddy bear from my collection and a few other teddy bears which I used to put in my car. She received the big brown teddy bear for her birthday.

She has no particular favourite Abik. She loves and adores them all. She would pick any Abik by random and take Abik wherever she goes. This was when we went to Starhill for dinner at Jake's. Abik is just as big as herself.

This is the Harrods Abik.  Abik joined us for breakfast at Restoran Bistari, Solaris Mon't Kiara.

She loves all kinds of Abik. Big, small, brown, pink, white, red, purple. She kissed this purple Abik at Jkids Playground at Tropicana City Mall.

  

This panda bear was part of the Chinese New Year deco at Desa Park City. She literally ran and screamed "Abiiikkkk" when she sees it. We put on the safety harness on her for safety purposes but also because the park is a dog-friendly park so there were many people walking their dogs, on leash of course. I was the one who's scared when a dog comes near me. Babycakes was excited looking at the dogs that she wanted to touch them. You can guess who freaked out. I can't help but feel like I am walking my baby, with the harness on. -_- But then again, it's for her own safety so screw what other people might think!

 

This was at home. She was testing her sunglasses. I bought the sunglasses at Mothercare when it was on sale. She was barely 3-4 months when I bought it.  Now she's big enough to wear it. It's also one of those days when she doesn't mind wearing a headband. It's a Christmas headband with the heads of snowmen. A waitress at Magnificent Fish & Chips Restaurant gave it to her when we dined there sometime before Christmas.

This was at my parents' house. Abik is with her almost all the time, even when she's 'studying'. She was cheeky enough to give me that cheeky smile when I said "Mummy take your picture!" One time we left my parents' house without Abik so my Mum called me and said "Abik tinggal!". Daddy had to turn around just to take Abik home.

That's Lola with her. It's a mushroom-like doll we bought in Cameron Highland. Of course I came up with the name Lola. Now she calls her 'Lala'. Close enough.

Again, that's Lola and the big brown Abik. Babycakes would sometimes bring Abik to the nursery too. When I pick her up, sometimes Abik is not with her so I must ask her sitters "Hari ni bawak Abik tak?" I wouldn't know because hubby sends her. 

Abik followed us to Kuantan too! We followed my Mum to Kuantan on Hari Wilayah and we went to Pantai Teluk Cempedak. Abik got sand all over her. When we came back, I had to sanitize Abik by spraying some Euky Bear Eucalyptus spray.

During the Chinese New Year break, we went to the Metropolitan Park in Kepong to fly a kite. Well, Daddy did the flying while Mummy had to look over Babycakes (and Abik). There were so many people that we just had to put the safety harness on.

I dare not think how much germs this Abik caught. It sat on the road with her and it also fell on the grass. After that, we went to Tesco to do some groceries shopping. We assumed Babycakes was tired so we put her in her stroller instead of the shopping cart. As we finished paying and about to leave, I only realized that Abik was nowhere in sight. I panicked. I asked hubby, "Mana Abik?" He was like "Eh ada Abik ke?" -_____- He said he didn't see Babycakes holding Abik but I remembered giving Abik to her earlier. Believe it or not, I actually went in and literally combed the whole of Tesco including the lower floors where we went to ATM, just to find Abik. I went to each and every aisle, I looked on the shelves, in case someone found her and put her on the shelves, I even looked into people's shopping cart, in case their kids found Abik and wanted to take her home. However, I could not find Abik anywhere. I was devastated. Thankfully Babycakes do not have a particular favourite Abik so I can be rest assured that she can still sleep at night, with other Abik accompanying her. I went to the information counter and left my name and number and told the staffs to call me if they happen to find Abik.

Until today, I still do not hear anything from Abik.  Poor little Abik. I wonder where she is now.  Even though Babycakes has other Abiks, it's still so sayang to lose one. I hope Abik is in good hands.

So that is the story of Babycakes' Abik.

chocolate goodness

I really love anything chocolate, like anything, really. And I especially love a good, yummy, moist chocolate cake OMG. I just found a moist chocolate cake haven in Shah Alam.  I found it by chance one fine day. It was after court and I was looking for a place to have lunch, a place that sells a nice nasi campur, a place that is not too crowded, a place with ample parking space. I went to Section 13 and made a few rounds. I then saw a Kedai Ayam Kampung Hassan (if I got the name correct) and I thought I should give it a try. Ayam kampung for lunch sounds good. I parked my car right in front of a shop called Anis Chocolate Moist Cake. After I had lunch, I went in the shop and bought 1 box of chocolate cake for only RM4.

I got to the office and tasted it and I fell in love instantly. OMG the moist chocolate cake is just soooooooo good!! It's not too sweet and it is very moist and chocolatey and it doesn't make u feel muak after a while. In fact I couldn't stop eating it! 

The rest, they say, is history. I go to Shah Alam every other day or almost every day so you can guess how many times I've bought the cake already. They also sell red velvet cake, trifle pudding, tiramisu cake, rainbow cake, durian crepe, cookies, pineapple tarts etc. So far I have tried the chocolate cake (super duper delicious!), red velvet cake (not so red-velvety-ish and the topping tasted more like butter than cream cheese) and tiramisu (nothing to shout about but you can definitely taste the coffee in it). 

I was in Shah Alam yesterday and I bought 2 small boxes of chocolate moist cake and 1 trifle pudding, which I have yet to try.

I can finish it all by myself. They distribute the cakes to other places too. I'm thinking petrol station etc but I am not sure what the price is like outside. This small box is only RM4. Bigger ones are RM5 (in a small heart-shaped box) and RM8 for a rectangular box. If you happen to be in Shah Alam and you love good moist chocolate cake, go give it a try. I honestly don't mind promoting it simply because the chocolate cake is really good (in my opinion, that is). After all, I get to help their business to grow too, right? They deserve it. I am happy to know I can get my chocolate cake fix anytime and at a very cheap price too. Yeay!!

A belated Xmas gift

I received a belated Xmas gift in the form of a Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System. The contest was held during Christmas. That was 2 months ago. But hey, it's better late than never, right?

January

I have always loved the month of January for these obvious reasons.

1. It's the beginning of a new year
2. It's our anniversary month
3. It's my birthday month

However my January has been pretty hectic. Looking at my court diary is enough to give me headache. But thank God there are just so many holidays in January. Ok not really holidays but long weekends. For example, the first week of January itself was a pretty short week because New Year fell on Tuesday so work only started on Wednesday. And then there was last weekend. Last Thursday was Maulidur Rasul and Sunday was Thapusam. Boss was kind enough to close office on Friday too. So we got a 5-day weekend. That was a long weekend all right! And this weekend will be another long weekend with Friday being Hari Wilayah.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is the last day of my favourite month. Gosh time flies ever so fast these days. Or maybe I got too occupied with stuffs that I don't realize it huh?

We are Two!

Two years ago we tied the knot and officially became husband and wife after being in a relationship for about a year. Some people might think that we barely know each other, so how can we get married? I believe when everything feels right, it is meant to be. Alhamdulillah the relatively short period of relationship was enough for us to know that we want to be with each other for the rest of our lives.

Two years and one baby down the road, we couldn't be happier for this blessing from Allah. Of  course there were trying times, there were ups and downs, there were times when we feel like killing each other (not literally, btw) but we survived, yeay!!

To my ever dearest husband, thank you for a wonderful two years of marriage and thank you for being ever so patient in dealing with my everyday antics, mood swings, craziness, crankiness, laziness, tardiness, and nagging. You are indeed the calm and patient one between the two of us. I love you so much and I pray that our marriage is blessed by Allah swt and together we will strive for a better life and be better in every aspect of our lives. We have a very long journey ahead of us but I believe with the love, patience, strength and perseverance that we have, we can go through all odds, come what may, Insyaallah. *hugs and kisses*

weekend projects part 29 & 30

This is a combined post as it was done in two weekends. OK the second one is not a weekend but it's a holiday so it counts as a weekend project.

When I go back to my parents' house, my mum would request me to bake a cake. She loves freshly baked cakes and I love baking them so it's a win-win situation. Sometimes I am just too lazy to bake but how can I say No to my mum, right? She likes plain butter cakes but I like to take it up to another level because to me butter cake is, well, plain. 

For the first project, she actually requested for orange cake because there were oranges in the fridge. I'm all for baking as long as all the ingredients are available. I left my scrap book at home so I had to Google for a recipe and I found this recipe.

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/easy-orange-cake-with-orange-icing-L1097.html

The cake was yummy but I made the icing a bit too runny and a bit too sweet. But you can definitely taste the orange in the cake as well as the icing. Surprisingly Dad enjoyed the cake too. He's not much of a cake lover, let alone sweet cakes like this but he had more than one slice. 

The second project was made on the last day of 2012. Again, Mum wanted a cake for tea so i thought, a marble cake would be nice for a change. I Googled and found this recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/marble-cake-i/

I am all for a recipe that requires minimal ingredients and easy to follow. I also prefer recipes which uses cups as measuring tool because I hated using the weighing scale as I always fear that I won't get an accurate reading.

The marble cake is yummy but it's a bit dry and crumbly. Not something that I am proud of. Not sure if it's the recipe or my mistake. Next time I shall try a different recipe.

fun day with my Babycakes

Last Friday, I took leave to take Babycakes for her 15month check up. Hubby was away in Miri for work since Christmas so it was just Mummy and Babycakes. I must say that without hubby around, it was quite challenging especially that Babycakes is very mobile and active now. If hubby were around, I can easily ask her to 'go to Daddy' when I'm doing something or shout for hubby to take her. Let's just say that during the period, she was called Irene Dalia more than Babycakes hahaha. Anyway her check up went well, alhamdulillah. My baby is a happy and healthy baby and she did cry for a while after the jab. I guess she got it from Mummy. Man I really hated being jabbed so I totally understand the pain she went through. :P

We were done by 12ish and it would be boring to just go back home so I took Babycakes to Tropicana City Mall and had lunch with her at Papa John's. It was the only place that has very few people so it's perfect. I don't want to be dealing with a restless toddler in a noisy restaurant, even though I so wanted to eat at Nando's. The thing about highchairs at restaurants, I notice that most restaurants use the IKEA highchair. However, most, if not all highchairs at the restaurants have no safety belt. GRRRR. Where the hell did the safety belt go to? They come together with the chair, don't they? It's very dangerous without one. I can't really enjoy my food as I needed to keep Babycakes in her seat and also get her to eat her pizza. I think I should write to IKEA.

The main reason why I went to Tropicana City Mall was to go to Jkids Playground. I've always wanted to bring Babycakes there but I don't think going on a weekend is a good idea as I'm sure the place would be packed. So Friday was a perfect day for us. After paying at the counter, Babycakes ran into the playground and got so excited while I was still storing our bags in the locker and also putting my socks on.

 

She was so happy to be there especially looking at the big purple teddy bear. Her expression when she saw the stuffed animals was priceless. She was so excited that she just wanted to go everywhere. Good thing there were only 3 other kids at that time so we literally had the place all to ourselves.

 I had mini heart attacks when she goes down the slide like this. -_-

 

I thought she was the adventurous kind, unlike Mummy but then I guess she is Mummy's girl after all because she seems gayat when she walks on the bridge. Heheh. But then again, it could be that she's just unfamiliar with the place, thus the hesitation.

We spent about 2 hours+ in the playground and of course she just went on and on while I got so tired of chasing after her. I could just let her play but I have to monitor her so that she won't fall or knock her head.

 

After 2 hours+ of playtime, she finally mellowed down and I gave her milk. She wanted to continue playing but I know she was already tired. When I put her in her stroller, she almost had a meltdown. Phew. After a nappy change and some biscuits, she fell asleep in her stroller while I had a nice time drinking coffee and eating my pastries at Delifrance. We went back at 7ish and it was such a fun filled day with my Babycakes. A perfect way to end the year by spending quality time with her.

Happy New Year everyone! Let's strive to be better this year and together we shall pray for a better and brighter year ahead, Insyaallah.

a day of pampering

See the letter above? Check out the date. Yes, I won this contest back in May this year. I entered the contest much earlier. What did I win?

This package is worth RM480. It includes a welcome tea, 90 minutes full body relaxing massage, exfoliating full body scrub, warmy steambath, detoxifying foot spa and a nourishing milk bath.

 

The spa is located at Menara Standard Chartered, Jalan Sultan Ismail. It is right smack in the middle of KL. I took leave on Friday to utilize the voucher because it expires on 31 December 2012. If I don't redeem, what a waste it will be. Upon entering, I was greeted by the staffs and they gave me a welcome tea. Then one lady took me to the consultation room to explain to me the package that I won. There are several types of massages i.e. sensual, Japanese, traditional and Swedish. I am not one who frequents spas and massages so much and my pain threshold is really not high so I opted for a relaxing massage that does not have a strong pressure on my body. The lady explained to me that some people whose bodies are not used to massages may experience body ache the day after if the pressure is too strong. She suggested I take Swedish massage. I was also served with another cup of tea during consultation.

After consultation, I proceeded to do my detoxifying foot spa. What they did was soak my feet in hot water for about 20 minutes and put a small cup of salt in the water. That's it. I don't know how that can help to detoxify but whatever. They didn't even scrub or massage my feet. :(

Again, I was served with another cup of tea. By the time I was done with the foot spa, I had the urge to go to the toilet to pee. >.<

Then an Indonesian masseuse led me to the massage room where I was required to change into the disposable G-string and was asked to lie down for the massage. The massage was good, she asked me every now and then, whether the pressure is ok or too strong. After the massage, she scrubbed my whole body with some sea salt. After the scrub, I went to have a warm steambath for about 20 minutes. After that, the lady asked me to shower. I thought I was gonna dip in a milk bath but nope. All I did was shower with johnson&johnson milk bath. -_- I guess that is their equivalent of a milk bath. After showering, I went back to the room to dress up and a cup of tea was waiting for me. 

Then the staff called me into the consultation room again, also with another cup of tea. She started asking me my experience and of course she started promoting their packages. I had to say no simply because I don't want to commit myself. The location itself is inconvenient to me as it is right smack in the middle of KL so you can imagine how expensive parking will be. Plus, as much as I love doing spas and massages, I don't see the need to sign up. I don't want to pamper my body so much as people said, including the masseuse herself that once your body is so used to massages, it will become manja and always wants to be massaged. I don't know how true it is but mind you, it is not cheap. I politely said no and walked out of the spa feeling energized, refreshed, skin as smooth as a baby's butt and wanting to pee.

I left the building and went shopping at H&M. I ended up buying 3 outfits for Babycakes and one for me. I was itching to go to other shops but it was a Friday and I don't want to get caught up with the traffic madness on a Friday evening so I left at 3ish. Went to tapau some food, went home and watched a dvd before I picked Babycakes from the nursery.