Wake Up and Smell the Cake

These days we are blessed to get a whole day to ourselves for the weekend, and the Husband isn't too busy lately. I've been bringing breakfasts to work, sometimes lunches too on gym days, and Sundays are the best days to prepare make ahead meals. I'll usually marinate some chicken, or cook something to reheat in the mornings before going to work, or if I'm REALLY lazy I'll just let it thaw to room temperature before eating hurhurhur. When I first began to bring meals, I'll be wasting lots of ingredients, like salads (I can't finish off that whole head of lettuce eating wraps) or I miscalculated the amount of meat I'll use, or rice or other things that accumulated in the fridge because they're not fresh anymore. These days I try to manage better, and thanks to Google there's so many recipes you can make out of leftovers. Like just now I found that you can make yummy rice pudding out of leftover rice! Okay next project! Yesterday I manag

Today is a much better day than yesterday. Good start to my morning! I woke up at 4am and got my washing machine going, slept back and woke up at 5 to start the dryer. I love it when laundry gets done! Then I ironed a couple of shirts, baked banana muffins cos I have ripe bananas rotting in the fridge, and then off to work with the muffins! In office, a stack of chappati with keema and vegetable curries awaited me YUMYUM :) My dearest colleague made them for me (I requested for her homemade chappati and keema), she loves cooking for pregnant women. Totally love her soft chappati and her curries! With such spices, I don't mind being vegetarian haha. My banana muffins today aren't sweet, luckily I added some leftover chocolates in for a bit of sweet chocolatey taste and topped off with sliced almonds. Banana Muffins (they don't qualify as my type of banana cake) 250g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder 2 eggs 125ml oi

After lugging around my gym clothes in my humungous bag, I finally went to the gym during lunch today. Climbed up 5 storeys to the gym and did 2km only. I can only squeeze in half an hour. Felt a little woozy after getting off the threadmill. Mixed brisk walking with jogging though it's more walking than jogging hurhur. Let's start the no-diet plan, just good ol' exercise and eating healthy diet regime. I hope it works. Haha.

Took the bus with Husband to Junction 8 for lunch! I forgot that he sent the car to the workshop, so I happily went to the basement. Haha. It's very very rare to get Husband to take the bus. Very exciting I should say :)When car rides are too frequent, taking public transport is an adventure! We should do this more often! Walking before and after lunch, and taking the public transport too. Weekend zoomed by because both days were working days sadly, but I brought Junior along so it wouldn't be that bad. Junior was very well behaved. His appetite was good too! He will eat the porridge I brought from home, AND eat again when it's our turn to eat! Thank goodness I brought a lot of his clothes cos most of his tops were smeared with watermelon juice. Am looking forward to this weekend where finally we don't have any commitments and we can have pure family time. And it'll be Junior's first playgym lesson after signing him up a week ago. Exciting! No baking la

Good "Monday" to everyone. So glad it's a short work week and Monday Husband is back! YAY! :) I love my colleagues. Last Friday was really TGIF, with a wonderful lunch and grocery shopping included. Haha. What was supposed to be just getting a box of oranges ended up with at least $30 worth of groceries per person. I got the Bisquick mix too, to make pancakes since I've read that it's almost similar to McD's pancakes. I made two batches over the weekend, the first time was really good and the second time was a little runny and I couldn't make thick pancakes. 1 cup of Bisquick (+ 1/2 cup milk + 1 egg) is enough for a hearty breakfast for 2. I still have more left, so I'm gonna make some for Husband when he gets back. I also made strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting on Saturday, and rocky road brownies yesterday but the recipe is different from my clear-the-fridge project last week . This time round I used a best cocoa brownie recipe with mo

I'm in the taxi now on the way to court. Court hearings aren't as exciting as I thought it would be, certainly not to the level of The Pupil and far from court sessions as shown in US tv shows. But it has been a good experience for me, this is the first time I sat through hearings, and I'm glad I'm not the one testifying as a witness. In other news, I have yet to talk about Lombok or post photos, and I haven't been baking either. Hmm I need to do a spring cleaning of the larder and see what I can whip up. Husband will be going for a month long trip and I'm dreading it a lot. Why does he have to travel so much. A month is just too long. It's like London all over again only thing there's a baby now. A friend told me to pester him everyday to come back and even fly back early! Haha. I don't think it's possible though sadly. Junior is getting more adorable by the day! He know prays, he'll takbir, rukuk and sujud, then takbir again when he&#

It's only Monday but I'm looking forward to the weekend. Just had a great weekend which started off on Friday with a long overdue date with Other Half. In our daily routined lives and busy work schedule, we tend to forget how to have fun and dates like these are meaningful and necessary reminders :) Back to planning for this weekend! Besides weddings (yup the season's here again), I have thought of a couple of things to do, especially with Junior. 1) Apple cupcakes. I have like 7 apples at home, 5 of which are green and bought for the sole intention of baking no way am I going to eat them raw haha, so off as apple cakes they go! I'm going to repeat the recipe I used before since it was a success. Since I'm going to chop the apples, I think I'll get Junior involved so he can play with the apples and batter :) 2) Go to the library. I have to get for us travel books on Lombok. Have not done much research as a dutiful travel planner and besides, I would real

Was randomly looking for Casey Abrams' performance and I came across his album songs instead. Exciting!! The first song I listened to, Hit The Road Jack . Omgomgomg it's a collaboration with Haley Reinhart! Another of my American Idol faves! Haley & Casey should do a duet album. Haha. Anyway that song is like the best evaaa. Best version at least. Okay I'm totally sold on this album. It's good ol' jazzy stuff that makes you all fuzzy inside. Ordered one via fishpond cos I'm lazy to go to a CD shop. I thought of buying from iTunes but it's always nicer to physically own an album so I placed an order for a CD. I can't remember the last time I bought a CD haha. Can't wait can't wait!

New addition to the work table! Parfum! Using bamboo scent we bought from Taka, I can't remember the brand. The Husband was compelled to buy from this auntie cos she gives good customer service. She can even guess what kind of scents we like, and she's almost correct all the time! This was a bit pricey, 60 bucks per bottle, and we bought the refill as well, $40. An impulse buy for me, cos it was The Husband who wanted it and on the spot I took one as well haha. But now my nose is half-stuck. Bleah. Made brownies last Friday. Was on childcare leave, my poor baby was having fever. I managed to cook too haha. Made nasi goreng for myself with leftovers on Friday, and spaghetti goreng yesterday! I is amazed with what I can do when I have no menu restrictions. So for the brownies. It was the first time I made brownies from scratch! Yes! I've been too reliant on brownie mixes haha. This time I tried a safe bet, Nigella's everyday brownies. It didn't need any mel

I went to the gym yesterday! 2nd time. Last Friday I just followed my colleagues out of curiosity and then they got me to do some stretching exercises which are no joke by the way!! My legs were so sore I really needed to take full care when bending my legs! And that too, I did in my jeans. Haha. Wasn't dressed for it but oh wells just gave it a try. So yesterday I joined them again, this time I brought proper clothes and shoes and I was all psyched to get myself in shape! It was also my first time on the threadmill hurhur I know so suaku right. I don't go gyms and when I do jog (not run), it's at the park near my mum's house. And me and my lack of balancing skills, I was kinda scared so I held on to the handles when I started for the first 5 to 10 minutes or so. One good thing about the threadmill is that you have to force yourself to keep up with the speed. If you're in a park running, then you will tend to slow down or walk and that kills momentum. I didn't

I wanna bake  I wanna bake  I wanna bake! Didn't bake at all last weekend even though I had three days, and now I'm itching to bake though it's gonna be a busy weekend. Hmm. There's just too many things on my to-do list that I can't decide if I wanna make cocoa brownies or pandan cheesecake or pandan muffins or red velvet cupcakes!! Of course the easiest and fastest is the first option but I do love pretty red velvets. Options options! Sigh. Okaybyebye. Oh before I go, here's Junior! He doesn't really like bananas anymore, current favourite fruit is plums and grapes. And thank god plums are in season!

I went KL a week ago for a work conference invitation. I was just an observer, so it was relaxing for me hehe. Free trip! But it was a dreaded trip. Because for the first time ever, I was going to leave behind my precious breastfed (albeit partially) baby, and that is heartwrenching for both baby and mother. I don't know how heartwrenching it is for baby but definitely for mommy! I have become so used to the pattern of cuddling him while feeding him to sleep, then I get sleepy too from all those sleepy hormones released while breastfeeding, and bedtime for me is 10-ish. But being away from baby, I couldn't sleep! Like really tossing and turning on the bed. Both nights I slept after midnight, close to 1am. It was tiring. Pumping was okay, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to pump, wasn't really sleepy after that. It has been ages since I can't fall asleep quickly. The conference was good, food's good. Food's almost always good in Malaysia haha! I

I have lots of things to blog about! I hope I can write them all. Trip to KL and first time away from Junior Chocolate Okay scrap. Husband just asked me out for a short date and I ditched blogging. Haha! But just to remind myself, to blog about: trip to KL and being away from my two boys chocolate banana cake that would've been better without the banana, sadly. Haha. Is Neil Armstrong really Muslim? Cos it seems like a rumour only. And now he's gonna be "buried" in the sea? Oh wells. It's one of those stories that you heard when you were young and stuck to you for life. There's staff Hari Raya dinner today!! We can bring family members, and I'm so excited to hear many of my colleagues bringing their kids! Yay! I wanted to bring Junior too, I really do! But maybe we should just go as a couple so we can eat in peace, enjoy the night and then steal some babies. HAHA. Okay back to work!

I am so freakin' sleepy. I have a presentation later. I can't be sleepy. I can fall asleep anytime now. On a lighter note, tomorrow is the last work day of the week yippee!! Argh I'm in such a blah mode today. I made chocolate chip cookies last weekend, and I was kinda disappointed. Maybe I should have baked longer. The cookies were not that crunchy. Argh I'm still sleepy!!

Warning: sorta religious post ahead. HAHA. I know, even I am not used to such things :D Came to work and they're playing Quran recitation over the PA system. Weird much. It's almost 9 already! But I'm looking forward to tadarus later, if there is one. Yesterday I joined in and I'm ashamed to say that I'm such a lousy Quran reciter. Shame shame. Made so many mistakes. But thankfully the other colleagues were encouraging. Truth be told, since I've moved out of my dad's house, I haven't really recited Quran much. I know I know, what a setan I am. Hah. So I think I shall start again. I need such pushes. Today is quite the "Islam" day. Not only am I psyched to recite, I'm also looking forward to Happy Hour. Instead of the usual games & sports, for Ramadan, they have organised for us Quran classes with Ust Zulkiflee Bachik. Yay! Looking forward to that :) Today is day 5 of Ramadan. Alhamdulillah fasting has been easier than expected f

I just have to remind myself to blog about these once I'm done with 14 July: Junior's birthday my birthday our birthday cakes our little family vacation Extremely busy at work, and tired when I get home. No time to blog yet, sadly. But I do wanna share about the birthday cakes especially! Some hits and misses. Okay back to the neverending work!

I'm taking a breather from work. Did quite a bit today, a rate I hope I can do everyday. Today I discover that I work well when I'm angry. Weird isn't it. But true story. Angry + pissed = replying more emails, clearing more papers. On to happy, frivolous stuff!! I do hope my bananas can wait for me while I find time to bake them into a banana bundt cake! I was sooo tempted to make them yesterday while I was working from home in the afternoon but I was kinda engrossed in getting my work done so I put off baking. That, my friends, is a shocker. Very rarely you see me choosing work over baking. But miracles do happen and I was in my workaholic mode (another shocker). Back to the bananas. Their skin looks so terribly brown already. But seems like that always happens when I put bananas in the fridge. Wait for me okay!! Only 2 more days to the weekend and I promise I'll mash you up and bake! That reminds me. I have 2 lemons still sitting in my fridge. Will be using some

Birthday celebrations are never one day affairs these days. We started off with the Battleship movie which I totally was against watching previously, but because it's the boy's birthday, I reluctantly agreed. And I loved it! The plot was kinda normal bang boosh shoot shoot stuff, but there's humour and I especially like the Jap guy who was made co-captain! His ideas are awesome. Oh! And the part where the navy veterans helped out too! Enjoyed the entire two hours haha! Birthday boy gave me that "see I told you it's good" look when the movie ended. Heh. Fine fine I'll join u in such movies again next time haha. Saturday, I planned for a morning picnic at Botanic Gardens and a visit to the farmers' market for some yummy cupcakes but it rained the entire morning so we had to change plan: lazed around at home for a bit and then off to the market to get ingredients for big feast (birthday boy's request). The rain subsided in the later part of the m

It's one of those shitified days that makes you want to lock yourself away from everyone because everyone around you is being negative. Except Junior. Junior can sit with me in my locked up room. Oh and the locked up room should have lots of baking supplies and goodies and an oven and a mixer. But for an immediate cure, I need a good comforting lunch. Oooh yeah I've decided. I'm gonna stuff myself with Swensen's. Haven't had that for some time already. Good ol' mega burger hurhur. And some ice cream too if I'm feeling like a glutton. YUMYUM CAN'T WAIT FOR LUNCH.

Day two, insyaAllah. This time I planned my sahur earlier and with more food and water! Muahaha. On the day I decide to fast, there's free good food. Like epok-epok my colleague brought. And new tidbits from another colleague. And sandwich and suji from the wife of yet another colleague! Drools. But I get to eat the suji at least! She brought these cookies for me yay! Hmm does that mean I have to bring something in return? Such a nice lady, I have yet to meet her! :) My eyes are dry, from the lack of sleep. Woke up at 5am and didn't sleep back. And at night Junior didn't really want to sleep. He kept waking up after like 10 minutes of sleep between midnight and 1+am, finally slept after singing to him. He's getting VERY active too! Cannot sit still! So adorable, such a handful! Husband says he's not a handful, he's two hands full. Hahahaha ♥