Flying Without Wingzzz....

with hubby's granny, my maternal granny & paternal granny. All 3 are SINGLe. any takers? *LOL*

with my hubby's & aunt's family

with my hubby's siblings

with my family & (paternal)aunt

amboi! jambu betol budak ni

home sweet home!

I'm BACK!

Ohhh!! Now I missed my bed badly. That's the cost for going on long leave. Tempted to extend my leave for the next 3-4 days but I sympathise with the poor fella who covered my duties. (Tak baik bully budak baru ;))

Here comes a LENGTHY blog entry of the past week event. (My home pc is not working as bro is doing some techy installation in his room.) Sheesh!

Eve Raya
1st time I did last minute shopping at geylang. Changed my bro's baju kurung & bought dad another pair to match with bro's. Hubby got another suit too. Hmmph! Bought crackers & nuts, chasing lights (lampu lap lip), cookies (for office), lontong, ketupat, lepat, tudung (for mum) & quickly rushed home for iftar.

The cost for spending too much time on shopping - late for last minute cleaning up. Completed the final touch @ 4am. The last task of the day - filling up the containers with the cookies. Tuck in @ 6am with aching legs, back & new grown PIMPLES! Arggghhhhh.....

Pagi Raya
Woke up @ 8am. Hubby sengaja tak kejut when he left for prayers. Quickly packed the bag & iron the clothes. We're leaving for kampung in the afternoon. I purposely took my time to dress up, eat, drink & all. Reason - I dread leaving my family behind on 1st raya. Tak nak balik kmpg but PIL insist we did *hentak2 kaki* Left home @ 12 noon. Reached our destination at ard 4pm due to bad weather. Did our visiting rounds at 5pm. Everyone was sweating like mad cause the weather is suddenly very HOT & we're all dressed in BLACK! Reached home (hubby's grandma plc) before maghrib.

1st time beraya kat kampung felt a bit alien for me. I've yet to adapt to the atmosphere (reads: home sick) I was told that, at kampung, visting hour stops at 9pm the most. True enuff, last visiting guests came at ard 8pm & left at 9pm. Thereafter, hubby & my siblings-in-law tried to cheer me up by dragging me to play with fire crackers. Fun. But it was only for awhile & I'm back to my sullen & temperamental moods. Luckily, I'm feeling shagged & worn out otherwise, I'd kept whining to irritate hubby.

2nd day of Raya
Look fwd to going home. Yipppeee!! Did 2nd rounds of house visting to abt 6 houses b4 making our way home. Sweating profusely as MIL insists that all of us to don the same BLACK suit again! (We had our clothes washed the day b4 & quickly iron it in the morning. Nasib baik da kering) Stucked in traffic congestion @ 2nd Link for abt 30-45mins (I think). Yayy!! PILs & family going to my house as FIRST stop. Hug my mum tightly upon reaching home. *blushed*

Unexpected huge crowd of visiting guests. Dad's siblings, nieces & nephews & grandchildren hit out our small abode. Gelas tak cukup lagik! *slaps forehead* We resorted to non-raya glasses (not the champagne-glass-type) instead.

I continue on my 2nd rounds of visiting with my PILs, on FILs side. I thought I could get away & spent the time visiting my parents' side. Fat hope. MIL dah signal2 :( Reached home at 12 midnite. In total, we went to abt 12 houses within the day (incl. the ones in JB)

3rd day raya
All dressed up to leave home @ 2pm for visiting when our abode was hit again by 2 groups of visiting families. It was raining heavily then. Almost dampened my spirit, but was boost up later when the rain stop. Hurrayyy!! nak jalan raya. We're hitting the East side. Reached home at 11.30pm

4th day raya
This time we're hitting the West side. Bad luck has befallen upon us. Some @#$%^& scratched our car from the rear to the side. Bagero! We parked our car near the rubbish area coupled with other cars but somehow the vandalist chose OUR car. *fuming with fire* Later, we learnt that that part of Woodlands is known for "some grp" of notorious kids. !@##$%^ Anyway, raya tetap raya punya. Completed our rounds at 11.30pm. Target timing baik ah.

5th day raya
Hubby & dad starts work today. Left with me & mom at home. Received phone call that my mum's eldest bro & family are coming. So both mother & daughter hurried to nearest market to whip up "mee soto". Our plan to go for visiting has been cancelled as it seems that 3-4 families has called that they're coming over.

6th - 8th day of raya
Looks like we're stuck at home as it seems the visting crowds had not subsided. That puts all plan to continue visting on hold. Dad has 19 siblings in total & he's the 3rd in the family. Thus, that explains the continuous visting spree. Mum has 8 siblings & that means we've lot lot more houses that we're not done with.

This year, as per last year, we (hubby & I ) weren't spared from the milliondollar questions. But somehow, this year i guess it's more of "doa" than sarcastics remarks like "cik/akak/nenek/abang etc doakan mudah2an tahun depan is a better year for both of you. cepat dpt cahayamata" Amiin... Though you cant help those few "rascals" from offending u further.

Heh! Looking forward to more jalan raya this year. Somehow tahun nie mcm selera nak makan kuih2 & keropok2 plak. Semakin terasa keseronokkan beraya berdua dgn suami despite having bigger family & more house visting & more flying notes! *LOL*

Had a cookie-baking marathon with mom. I did the weighing of the ingredients while mom did the mixing. We bake 2 cookies together. I complained to mom that she didnt whisked my ingredients well. Mom complained that I didnt weigh her ingredients properly. We burst into laughter when we pulled up our dough & showed each other the end result. Then I told mom perhaps she should add more oats so that her dough will be slightly dry & easier to mould. Mom told me I should add a lil' bit of flour so that it's not too sticky. Apalagi bergegar atas kabinet dua beranak main tepok2 tepung. *LOL* It was really fun to do baking together. Mom is baking "Oatsmeal Cookies" while I'm making "Cereal, Fruits & Nuts cookies". We had a 'fight' over the oven, the tray & the utensils. For a moment, I felt this is what I've been wanting to do together with her for a long time but was too busy with other things. Precious moments which I'll hold dearly in my heart. Too bad, dh was busy doing some spring cleaning in the room, otherwise, I'd get him to capture a shot of the happy moment.

.....and so, that makes a total of 5 cookies ready for raya. We've 2 more cookies to bake & then we'll put the oven to rest. Major spring cleaning is next on the list.

Ingredients:
95g butter
90g cream cheese, at room temperature
125g castor sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla essence
1½ tsp lemon juice
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp grated lemon rind, chopped

Method:
Grease baking trays lightly with corn oil.

Beat butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add lemon juice, egg yolk and lemon rind and continue to beat until well combined.

Fold in sifted flour, baking powder and cornflakes; mix.

Shape the mixture into balls and place them on prepared trays, spacing them out well.

Bake in preheated oven at 170°c for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown. Leave the cookies on the trays for 1 – 2 minutes before transferring them on to wire racks to cool completely.

Hazelnut Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
150g dark cooking chocolate, broken into pieces
175g butter
175g soft brown sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs

Method:
Line a 21cm square baking tin with lightly greased aluminium foil. Preheat oven to 180°C.

Melt butter and chocolate over simmering hot water until both chocolate and butter melts into a paste.

Remove from heat and add in sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Leave aside to cool.

Add eggs, one at a time into the chocolate butter paste and add in essence, sifted flour and cocoa mixture.

Stir in hazelnuts.

Pour batter into prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes.

Allow brownies to cool for 10–15 minutes then cut into slices.