I Am A Miracle...

TO SOMEONE ELSE...

That's what I've learned so that one day when my time is up and I have to meet God, my name will be in the book of Life and He will tell me,"Well done, my child. You have been a very good servant."

To be a miracle to someone else is harder than to win a race in the Amazing Race. You'll have to keep your focus upon Jesus so that nothing will distract you. The enemies are always trying to be make you stumble and fall and at times, without knowing it,  we gave in to those things that made us stumble. 

I'm not sure whether I'm a miracle to someone else or not but I sure know that I have done a great deal for others but most of the time, it would never be returned with gratitude. Instead, it would be returned with nothing at all or worse, with complains and ungratefulness. Most of the time, I feel that people are just taking advantage of my kindness. I feel so used until to the extend that I try to be selfish more often, but I even fail to be selfish. Am I a failure of sorts? What ever happens to the promise, "I can do all things through Christ that strengthen me?"

To what extend should one be kind to others? I asked myself that often. I have sacrificed so much time and money that sometimes, I think that I should spend less on others and spend more for me, myself and I. I do also think about spending more time for me, myself and I instead of always having to fetch people around or following the whims and fancies of my kids who are not even of my blood. And the hubby also put them first instead of me which left me cursing everyone of them. I'm so pissed off right now that I have to drive home just to vent it out here. If just there is someone who can understand what I'm going through, but none could and none would. Therefore, I would rather choose to be left alone typing here.

I am not a selfish person but I do hope that if I am a miracle to someone else, somebody else would be a miracle to me, too... good friends are hard to come by. I have Judz, Juju and Gracie but well, sometimes they don't understand what's going on, too. It's easier said than done.

Right now, I feel like going away to somewhere alone... 

 

...And They Were Gone...

... my holidays... I mean... what were you thinking? I would like to write a summary on my week-long holiday... see whether I can remember or not. On Friday, it was cooking day for Stefy's birthday party. More like an adult's party. We were having fun as well and it was the day that Juju found that Gracie isn't so graceful after all... Gracie was a little drunk and threatened to whack me with MY water bottle and Gracie challenged Juju to arm-wrestling... out goes her gracefulness into the toilet bowl. So, that was what I did for my Friday. One day down.

I have no recollection of what happen on Saturday. Oh, ya. I was at Queensbay, doing what? Couldn't remember at all. I think we walked around Queensbay oh, to buy some pasteurized eggs for the lemon frosting. Was that all? I think so... and we did go to church later in the evening. Second day gone. 

Sunday... Sunday... hhhmmm.... hhmmm... I guessed I was lying on the floor watching some old movies. I have to enjoy my television. Everyone has been using it except me. Yeah... that's what I do. I did not bother looking at the clock and I was watching the movies alone as hubby was catching up on his long lost sleep. Third day gone. 

Monday... spent most of my time watching movies again. Gosh... I really can't remember how I spent my day. I think I went to market with my mama. I better continue blogging on my China trip before I forget all the details completely. I still remember bits and pieces of the trip. Okay... so my fourth day also gone... but I kinda enjoy the relaxing time, rolling on the floor. I couldn't remember the title of movies that I have watched.  I wasn't making an effort to remember them as well. At least I could recognize the movie if I were to watch it for the second time. Fourth day gone... 

Tuesday. Tuesday was really fun. Ladies' morning. And I have a chauffeur... we went to Air Itam dam for a walk. Surprisingly, there were so many people that we couldn't find a parking space at all. So, we had to park quite a distant away from the main parking bay. And there were terrapins in the dam. Who put them here? After an hour of 2.8km of walking, we went for a walk around the market area. 

They had a great time scooping coconut flesh at the roadside while I have no love for coconuts. Where's Gracie? Why wasn't she eating? Gracie... you like coconut or you don't as well? Funny... we've been out for so many times and I realized that I don't really know her. She has morphed into someone else. Until today I still didn't know how did she get drunk while having dinner at my place on Friday night when I have no liquor or whatever equivalent to liquor in the house. She must be drunk of chocolate. Will get to know her better... and she's one scary driver... a real Penang driver... I have mellowed down... but I can be a road bully if I want to... but I chose not to be one.. .for the time being. 

We went up to the Kek Lok Si temple so that Mary can see the tortoises but in the end, along the way where there were so many stalls selling t-shirts, I ended up buying for my eldest and my precious. Call me bias... I am... when you have four you just couldn't buy for all and my pineapple is of my size so it was easier for her to just wear mine.... heheheh... my youngest... punishment for her for being disrespectful... no clothes... but I bought her two of her favourite homey shorts a couple of days back. 

We went for bowling after that. Gracie won in both games... see... she's not the quite little church mouse. Hah~! She's not a mouse at all. She's a... a.... transformer? We were kinda tired after the first game because we haven't had our lunch. Juju was bowling with us and she kept on asking me whether Gracie was a bad person last time... the gangster type. I guess she must be but the Lord must have changed her until now... hhmmm... that's a tough question to answer my cousy. 

Our impromptu plan was to go to Nibong Tebal to see the fireflies but Juju changed her mind not to go as she said it was starting to rain. Good idea to scrape it off. The boat wouldn't be operating if it was raining and it would be a waste of our trip. So, suddenly I have the urge to go watch a movie and off we went to Queensbday Mall to catch a movie. There were available tickets for the Bourne Legacy and I spent the first half an hour sleeping. It was a confusing start and I missed looking at Matt Damon running all over the screen. 

By the time we went home, it was 14 hours where we spent outside of the house. Great outing... and we went home broke. So there goes my fifth day.

Wednesday. Wednesday was spent with my precious and my pineapple. And the first event was one disgusting one. It cost RM100 to remove the shit in her ears. 

Yeah... that's called the ear wax. Don't puke okay... just in case you have never seen your own ear wax before because the one that you dig out using cotton buds looked really clean. Now, my precious can hear loud and clear so I needn't have to yell at her.

I found the best koay teow th'ng just opposite the clinic in Carnavon Street. You have no idea how much I love koay teow th'ng and hubby made the best koay teow th'ng. I've planned out the day pretty well and my pineapple has been looking forward to watch Step Up Revolution. If you ask me, my personal opinion would be, yeah... you better watch all the Step Up movies available. You'll not regret it and if you enjoy watching flash mob, it's all the most worth while to watch Step Up Revolution. We did a movie marathon as my pineapple has never done that before. We watched The Three Stooges after that... really stupid Moe, Curly and whatever his name was. It reminded me of P. Ramlee's movie, Do Re Mi. It's the same but in Malay version. I grew up in the Malay era so I watch more Malay movies than English during those times where P. Ramlee movies were a hit in the television.

I don't know how come we were so broke since the previous day but at the same time I was rich enough to buy Brabantia's indoor and outdoor clothes hanger that cost about RM500. I think I had a serious overspending issue staring back at me for this month... I can't wait for next month to come to my rescue. For the time being, my kids are richer than I am. My precious treated us to simple double toasts before the second movie continued and my pineapple treated us to the Taiwanese dessert. Then, we went back for dinner. We had salmon, satay chicken and lychee for dinner... see... we were rich, weren't we? We have such good food... salmon for dinner, could you imagine that?

Then, mi ladies came over and Wyn came over after that. Gracie had a serious muscle aching problem in her arms now. She was boxing the air and she won... lack of exercise, mi lady? There goes my sixth day.

Thursday. Mi last day... aww... and I spent them sleeping until 9 a.m. then went out again with Judz and Gracie. Instead of taking a morning walk at the Metropolitan Park, we ended up at the BB Coffee Shop having breakfast as the rain started to pour like nobody's business. Then, Gracie had her piano lessons and I spent my whole day tidying up my top notch kitchen, mopping the whole house including the stairs and cleaning the top area and it was tiring but I still had time to watch another movie but I almost fall asleep halfway thru. The best part of watching a movie at home was you could always shut it off then continue the next day. I can take 5 days just to watch a movie... hehehe.... There... there all my seven days of holidays well spent with friends and family. 

Friday. Starting to work but we went back to another house to find a stinky surprise. The refrigerator died while we were away. The stench from the rotten food and spoiled sauces were disgusting and the tap head almost turned into the garden's water sprinkler. Aww... I already overspent so how am I gonna get a new refrigerator? Hhhmmm.... I will have to handle my finances better for the next month...  and we cleaned the house and again, made a fortune by selling old newspapers. Whoever says that junk is not salable? Oh, no~! Almost 2 a.m. now... how am I gonna wake up tomorrow... hah....

Eid al-Fitr...

Eid al-Fitr... the English term for Hari Raya Aidilfitri. I'm more used to Hari Raya Aidilfitri instead of Eid al-Fitr. I have a week-long holiday that came to an end on Friday. Hari Raya is one of the holidays which I'm looking forward to as I get to have a week-long break other than the Chinese New Year celebration. It's quite impossible to take a week-long break for Deepavali as the Indians don't even get such a long holiday. Hey, I'm staying in Malaysia so of course I enjoy all the celebrations. There are discounts in shopping malls which I took advantage of. But for this Raya, I did something different.

I did the Hershey's moist chocolate cake with the chocolate frosting for Lia. You might wonder who the heck is Lia. I make friends kinda fast so I don't know when it happen, but it just happened. Lia is working in Tesco, the seafood department... what are you guessing? Yeah... I spend the longest time shopping for prawns, fish and all sorts of edible aquatic animals. So, before long we would be yakking a bit here and there while she was cleaning my fish. Actually, I cleaned my own fish but she insisted on doing it so I let her. She finds pleasure in doing her job and we both find that we're great yakking away. I just wanted to do this for her because I have all the Raya accessories for cakes and I can only use them once a year. 

Then, this is a little bit different with the chocolate mosques all around the cake. This was the most difficult to do. I almost scraped away the side decoration as it wasn't perfect and spoiled the whipped cream. That was an orange and lemon cake. That was for my new neighbour. Love thy neighbour, that's what Jesus reminded us. So, whether my neighbour is a Muslim or not, I'll have to learn how to love them as they will be the nearest help I can ever get in times of trouble. So far, they have been very nice. We went over for ketupat and rendang on the first day of Raya, at night. 

This is for my old neighbour. Old as in she's of my age and we've known each other since we were wild kids. We were always playing together. I would be going over to her house most of the time as my house has a dog all the time. Love thy neighbour. This neighbour is easy to love. Thank God for good neighbour. And Shakee's mom cooked really nice Malay food and she cooked just for us neighbours as she was still fasting for another extra 6 days, Puasa 6. Shakee was the one who wanted the orange and lemon cake so I made it for her. I've only eaten the cake once when I was doing a trial run on the recipe. I love it but during the trial run, I did not grease the silicone tray so if you're into baking, you would have known what happened to my cake. They were all stuck in the tray and hubby and I scooped the cake out using our bare fingers and the cake went straight into our mouth. They were delicious, not yucky at all, thanks to the online tips on how to bake the best cake. 

Hehehe...

Today I feel like spending some time just to online but that depends on whether there's empty parking space or not as the annual getai for Hungry Ghost Festival's stage has been put up, thus half of the parking lots are not available. Now, I'm killing time typing here when the television is playing some Japanese gameshow at 8TV. Oh, I feel like shitting now... so bye bye~! 

This is one lamest post that I can come out with.... *.*

Stefy's 15th Birthday...

That was last Friday. Invited the few teenagers who loved to gather at my house. They helped around in the kitchen during the unimportant part but when I was cooking the major stuff, they ran off to the big field playing water balloons, throwing water balloons at each other until they were soaked from head to toe. They came back just in time to help out in the kitchen. It was a great cook out with everyone fitting into the kitchen. That proves that the kitchen is big enough for everyone. I just need an extra stove and an extra sink... just saying...

On Thursday or was it early morning of Friday, my eldest and I was staying up until the wee hours of the morning, decorating two cakes at the same time. My eldest was depending on me on how to decorate a cake as she has no creative cells in her. She's more a hands-on person while I'm the creative one. I was cracking my head and this came out after so many hours. We were playing with the chocolate moulds trying to figure out which looked better. She's good with her hands. We were filling up the chocolate moulds and then trying to squeeze them into the refrigerator. It was so full until in the end I put a few in the freezer. We did a great job and we even cleaned the kitchen up at 4 a.m. My eldest was holding the mop and I thought she must have gone crazy but I helped with the mopping, too. Two nutcases in the kitchen, talking, laughing and head-scratching.

That's my precious' birthday cake for her 15th birthday. She wanted a very moist chocolate cake and this was the most perfect cake that I've ever made. The cake melted in the mouth. That was really moist and I was really proud of myself. All the teenagers were upstairs watching movie on the new plasma tv while we were in the kitchen waiting for the guest of honour. How did the guest of honour changed as she wasn't even the birthday girl. My birthday princess was already upstairs sitting comfortably in a corner with my stuffed dog in her arms. 

Now, that's the guest of honour. We waited for her so that we could have a second helping. I cooked the whole afternoon. I was too tired to snap any good photos. That was the whole tray of shepherd's pie, some orange and poppy seed cake pops, hubby fried lots and lots of chicken backside which Mr. Daniel helped to finish and we had the best satay in Penang all the way from Teluk Kumbar. If you're a Penangnite and you have no idea where Teluk Kumbar is *shake head* I don't know what to say. Teluk Kumbar is one place that's in the developing process. A 5-star hotel will be built with so many modern designed bungalows. It will be a township on its own. 

That guest of honour has to watch her diet. She's just having small meals in between... *in-house joke*

Last Thursday...

You know... it always appears in the newspapers and the Internet, reminding us never to review our whereabouts so that people would not harm us or know that the house is empty to invite intruders in. Thus, I'm one who never updates on my whereabouts. By the time you know where I was, it was already over and days or weeks or months or years have past. I don't blog immediately as I do not see the need in doing so. I write whenever I can find the time like right now, I have my King size mattress propped up, have the floor mopped and I was sitting on the small stool instead of sitting at the edge of the mattress. I was waiting for the floor to dry up before plopping the mattress back on the floor and while doing so, I chose to upload some photos and update a little bit on this humble blog of mine. 

I don't really know where I caught the bug of snapping the photos of food. It was like I was snapping a food pic and then suddenly everyone else was doing it as well. So, who started the trend? Nah... wouldn't dwell into such thing. Last Thursday, we had visitors from Venus and Uranus. I wouldn't post up any of their photos just in case I scare you straight out of this universe and right into the twilight zone. We were just tagging along as Gracie had to go to the commissioner of oath but while waiting, we had nowhere to go. So, we thought of going to the nearest coffee stall. Mana tahu there was this Tea Garden selling the Taiwanese traditional cold dessert and we ended up there. So, that was breakfast and it was such a big bowl. 

Then, suddenly we had lunch in Prangin. That was at JL Gourmet and I didn't want to eat because I've cooked bak kut teh at home. That should be my lunch but then it smelt kinda tempting. I got myself the Trawler's Pie, a seafood pie which I have no regrets in ordering one. 

Hhmmm... those two... with the technology bug. There were either updating or texting or checking their e-mails. Thank God I don't have such phone or else none of us would be talking. Instead we would be texting each other while sitting on the same table. 

It's A Holi Holiday~!

Hurrah~! Hurrah~! It's a holi holiday~! Not much to post as I don't have my SD card reader with me and I usually enjoy posting along with photos. I find it quite difficult for the eyes to digest a post with too many minute words without any colourful photos to go along with it. I'm currently waiting for my orange and lemon cake to cool down before I flip the cake onto the cake board. It's a cake for my old neighbour and it's Raya holidays now. Old neighbour doesn't mean she's old. She's of my age and we grew up together. It's my annual week-long holiday and surprisingly one of the students' parent is against me in taking this holiday. Thus, I've decided not to teach her for the next year.

It's not fair because all the other public holidays that fall on Saturdays, I've ignored them totally and now that the mother is being so calculative with me taking Raya holidays, I was totally pissed off. So, there you go... I do not wish to teach a girl with such a calculative parent. Most of the time, it's the parents who kill, not the student. If I'm to calculate, you owed me four public holidays... one for the King's birthday, one for Wesak Day, one for the Penang's Yang di-Pertua's birthday and one for Penang's Heritage Day.. there you go... you owe me FOUR holidays and yet you wanna calculate with me for ONE Raya holiday... I was so pissed off.... and I'm STILL pissing away and I HATE people who calculate with me because I'm generally a very generous person....

I'm having a great time at home, lying about watching my 43-inch Plasma tv. I know some people have a 70-inch flat screen but I'm happy that I have a 43-inch, already an upgrade compared to my 29-inch. We used to only watch from a somewhere around 14-inch manual television where you have to get up from the sofa and press to change channel. Slap the television at the side a few times if the picture ran into the back of the idiot box.

Oh, we had a simple dinner at the new neighbour's house. Love the rendang eaten with ketupat. Planning to have grilled salmon for breakfast tomorrow :D and laze around for a few more days. Hey, I deserve my holidays. I've been working everyday... Hhmmm.... no pictures for this post as I'm using my mama's lappie to online forawhile... tomorrow going to another neighbour's house for lunch~!!!

How Much is the Cost of A Life?

So... how much is the cost of a life? Priceless... for God created us in His own image and He loves us as much as He loves His son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to redeem us and to wash us of our sins. I'm not being melancholic but one starts to wonder about such things at some point of time. 

It must have happened very fast. I wonder whether the little boy knew what squashed his head into nothing. I wonder whether the father knew what happen to both of them. 

We were on our way to our morning class down south. I was just two traffic lights away from my place. It was 9 in the morning and as I was nearing the traffic light, I saw a pile of something in the middle of the road. It must be an accident involving motorcyclists. It must have happened just a couple of minutes ago as I was the only car approaching. I was shocked beyond belief as I was staring at the pile from my wide windscreen. The man riding the motorcycle was in such an odd position that he would have most probably broken his spine and the little boy riding pillion, both of their butts were still stuck to the machine, there was no head attached to the boy's neck but only a pile of mushy pink.... minced meat? Looked like small intestines... but it must be the brain.... where's the rest of the head... where's the helmet? What happen??????? I made a three-point turn at the two-way road and drove back home with shaky hands. I canceled the class as the pile of victims were in the middle of the road and there was no way for me of ever crossing the traffic lights which were merely a few centimetres away. 

I was thinking about the accident for the whole day. What happen? What happen? WHAT HAPPEN??? It was exactly one week away from Eid. The family must have wondered what took them so long to reach home. I was sad no doubt I didn't know them at all. If I have known them, I would have cried my eyes out seeing that the boy has lost his head. It was a very 'clean' accident scene. The motorcyle was in a good condition, it just fall to the ground with nothing broken. There was not even a trickle of blood but just a small pile of brain. It was like an implosion happened instead of an explosion. There was a Petronas oil tanker stopping on the shoulder of the road. Did the oil tanker run over the boy's head and at the same time run over the father's waist that's why he looked like he has an elongated body sprawled on the road in a very odd position. You must have wondered why I didn't have any photos but if you're me, behind the wheels, staring at the scene, out of respect to the victims, I wouldn't dare snap a photo. Hubby took out the camera but I drove off before he could switch the camera on. 

Where's the helmet? The boy will never have the chance to live happily ever after. It was a short life because of no helmet? I don't know who's fault but I'm sure if I was a minute earlier, I would have seen everything unfolding in front of my own eyes and I would not be able to sleep for years to come. Maybe if I was two minutes earlier, I might be the one banging them to the ground but not mowing them under my wheels, but the guilt would have kill me. Maybe if I was 5 minutes earlier, then I wouldn't know of such accident as I have zoomed past the traffic lights. 

Those staying in rural areas, riding on the motorcycles without a licence, being underage and without a helmet, whose fault? I don't know... no point playing the blame game. Just a week ago, my 12-year-old student, who has been riding a motorcycle for years, fell off the machine and hurt himself in the face while his pillion rider was sent to the hospital with a broken nose. Was he afraid to ride again? No, he wasn't. He was even more daring. He rode his bike with only the back wheel most of the time while the front wheel was up in the air. For what purpose was he doing that? All for the sake of fun. Fun kills. Fullstop. 

The accident report from New Straits Time...

GEORGE TOWN: A father and son were killed in a road accident involving a motorcycle and a lorry in Teluk Kumbar, Bayan Lepas this morning.

South-west district police chief, Supt Hatta Md Zin said Mohd Adnan Abdullah,59, and his son Mohd Adri,7, were riding a motorcyle at 9:15am when it grazed a lorry while overtaking.

"As a result, the motorcycle skidded while the father and son were thrown into the middle of the road and run over by the lorry," he said when contacted.

Mohd Adri died at the scene of serious injuries while Mohd Adnan died one hour after being treated at Bayan Baru Hospital.

The bodies were taken to Balik Pulau Hospital for autopsy and later claimed by family members. -- BERNAMA

Read more: Father, son killed in road accident - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/father-son-killed-in-road-accident-1.124195##ixzz23M3wQGcM

What Am I Thinking?

I have lots of stuff going on in my mind right now. It's like a circus in there or more like a theme park complete with a variety of booths, dry park and wet park. I am currently Googling around for cake recipes. Different contributors have different ideas. I am no contributor, I'm recipe extractor. And I'm gonna keep it that way for the time being. I am cracking my head to think of what how to decorate the cakes with all my utensils and what not's. For an amateur, I have lots and lots of stuff... I'm just waiting for an idea to come popping or I shall leave the cake in the refrigerator and pray about it.

Then I have paper work which I'm too lazy to bother about since it's the weekend. I plan to sleep early but it's already past midnight. There goes my plan of turning off the light before 12 a.m. 

I have my precious' party to think of. I'm thinking whether to make it big or keep it small. And I have the preparation of food to think about... I know the teenagers are thinking about water balloon fight... and I'm not a party pooper I will not stop anyone from having fun just don't dirty the house too much. 

I'm thinking of what to do during my week-long Raya break. I'm already thinking about finishing all my posts on my China trip and uploading the photos. I'm still stuck with all the photos. And I'm thinking about how to decorate the house at the same while thinking of how to keep the other house neat and tidy. It looks like my old house is piled up with stuff strewn everywhere. Who dumped their stuff everywhere without putting them back on the same place? Me... I'm the culprit but I refuse to change my carefree style :D

Back to hunting for recipes... and the guinea pigs will be fed with experimental-level cakes... muahahahaha

Cake Pops by Amateurs and Professionals...

While the queue in front of Baskin Robbins were starting to form roughly at 7 p.m. on the 8th of August 2012 *don't mind the the date on the photos, I set them wrongly because it wasn't my camera* the kids were looking forward to queue but I remembered the horrible wait at Zul's Burger, so I decided to cancel my plan to wait for just a scoop of FREE ice-cream. Instead, I was starting to make the batter for my cake pops with orange and poppy seed flour. Mama's friend gave us the cake pop tray and the only time I've heard of cake pops was seeing my little nephew did it by rolling the dough in his hands. If I were suppose to roll it in my hands then I definitely won't be doing it. So, thank you Jesus for you know the desire of my heart even before I speak it out loud. 

After 20 minutes, the oven sounded with a loud 'TING' when the timer was off. We were doing Add Maths while waiting and all of us ran to the oven like little children waiting for some surprise goodies from somewhere. I managed to make two rounds of the 18-hole tray. Then, teenagers starting walking in. The hottest place in my house is the kitchen yet it is a place that is always filled with people. We have two honoured guests, Ping Ping and boyfriend, invited them to join in the fun... I have no particular reasons why I invited her over, just felt like doing so :D

That's the result of cake pops complete with decorations, decorated with all sorts of flavoured and coloured melting chocolate and topped with coloured rice, this and that. Everyone was in happy mode until lessons continue...*yyeeeerrrrrr*

Hubby wanted more cake pops. You know, we always don't have enough for ourselves. So, the next day, I did some lemon cake pops but in the end, we also didn't have enough for ourselves. Again, it is far better to give than to receive. The teenagers love it so I freely give them. They are happy, I am happy, too. 

They were begging to come help me in the kitchen but no more playing time. These were done by professionals- me and my eldest. We did mess the kitchen top a little but not as much as the day before. And we open ceremony to the chocolatiere electric chocolate melter... got such phrase or not? 

Nice topping... not as sweet as the previous night's toppings where it was too sugary. I don't really fancy sweet stuff.

How to De-stress During Exam Week...

The trial for Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) is left with two days only, next Monday and Tuesday. Prior to the exam, it was one stressed out week. While I was forcing them to study harder, I was very disappointed with a few of them who could have done really well, but due to the laziness syndrome and lack of desire to study harder, they were burning the midnight oil. Every year I sing the same tune, advised the teenagers on how to study effectively and what to do to ensure good grades all year round but any sort of advice seem to fall upon deaf ears every year. Different set of teenagers but same behaviour.... just that the present generation is worse than the one before. Nagging doesn't work so I stop telling them to study. No point repeating. They have heard until they thought I was singing a lullaby to them. 

Change tactic la... bring out the pillow... encourage them to sleep more... encourage them to watch more television to improve their language skills... no to the formal, yes to the latter... That's not a pillow... and why was that blue? It was suppose to be Satin Ice's PURPLE fondant but it turned out blue. Something must be wrong somewhere but it was wonderful :D For those who refused to study, pushed their heads into the fondant, threaten them to study until all historical facts and literature components enter their brains. 

I didn't do anything bad. They know what they are doing and what they are suppose to do. Since they want to de-stress, I can't make them run round the wide field in front of the house so instead, I bring out the cake that I wanted so much to decorate myself, I gladly passed them two of my fudge writing gels and my purple-covered fondant rainbow cake and let them have the best time of their lives. Their first time doodling on a cake instead of doodling nonsense on my paper-wrapped table. They were indeed having a good time.

That's the Maths question that Zoe could not solve >.< and It's Tuesday.... the only thing I wrote... the Chinese sentence 'I DO NOT WANT TO STUDY' is an echo of most teenagers if not all. Then, they drew two piles of shit. Wyn drew a stickman walking a dog but dunno what happen, the dog's head fall off and the dog died at the side of the cake. 

I will do this again... one day... after I learn NOT to reduce the sugar... I have to change my mindset regarding the amount of sugar dumped into the mixer. I just could not stand looking at so much sugar being used for a cake. It's gonna cause me to have mental diabetes before I even eat the cake...

That Rainbow Doodle Cake...

On Sunday night, I wanted to start earlier to bake the rainbow cake but my plan was smashed as I was sitting at the coffee shop, watching the heart-pounding match for badminton. I ended up starting to bake at 10p.m. but it wasn't so as well. I shooed hubby off to sleep as we were both extremely tired. Then I started mixing all the much ingredients into a big pot. I no longer use the mixing bowl that came together with the mixer. It was too small so I was using the pot which I used to make soup.... a large one indeed. I blended the mixture until it was as fluffy as Savvy's fur. And I had a pounding headache. By the time I finished mixing everything, I went to look at the wall clock and I almost collapsed in a heap. It was already midnite. I was calculating... if I were to start baking at 12 a.m. gone will be my sleeping time and I just could not do it anymore. I ran up and woke hubby up. 

He said he would do it and he is always much better than I am in doing these stuff. I would have dump everything into the oven but hubby baked each layer for 15 minutes. It's a rainbow cake so we have 15 layers times 2 coz I separate the batter into two bake tins. Will show you the other one later. I have no idea what happen because when I sleep, I sleep like a log. Nothing can move me. Hubby took lots of photos to entertain himself maybe. Next day when we woke up, we travelled back to another house in town to find that P. Ramlee Road and Patani Road were underwater thus, I cancelled off my morning class as the traffic was one dead lock traffic. 

We wanted to continue with our precious sleep but I was stuck online :D Then hubby was doing the housework and the initial plan for the afternoon was to watch the movies Total Recall and The Dark Knight Rises at Lotus Five Cinema, just within the walking distance from our house. We cancelled that because I reckon I would be the one who fall asleep halfway through the movie. And Hubby slept at 4 a.m. so he would love his afternoon cat nap. We went to a shop called Bonjour, selling all cake stuff at Lintang Burma in Pulau Tikus. I have a great shopping spree there. I bought lots and lots of utensils for baking. So, without all the utensils, no wonder my cake was one ugly one.

I left Hubby to have his cat nap while I went grocery shopping in Tesco. I have friends in Tesco :D One by the name of Lia manning the fishy department and another one at the cashier counter, Sharon. Oh, by the way, Bonjour sells the dairy products a hundred times cheaper than Tesco. Even the Anchor butter is in 250g instead of the usual 227g found in supermarkets. And it's only RM6.60, buy 10 get 1 block free :D Oh, I bought lots and lots of new toys from Bonjour. And look at the extra large rolling pin. Hubby rolled the fondant for me as I have no such skill. 

At night, my kitchen became the place where everyone squeezed around the table. They were having a fun time doodling the cake with my Gourmet Writer magic ink pens. 

You see, I separated the doodling surface into halves. One half for the older teenagers and the other side for the younger teenagers. Guess which side was ours? The side with the simple doodles was what we started off first. We had no idea what to draw so it looked like a 3-year-old's doodling. Hey, I drew Nobita's face... not bad eh.... 

That's the cake. The fondant was sweet, of course la... icing sugar ma... but the cake... hhmmmm... I think I reduced the sugar too much... will increase them again...

Ruffled...

I thought that decorating a cake is as easy as cooking up a storm in the kitchen. I was wrong. I started decorating this cake around 11p.m. The recipes from Google never inform that to decorate a cake eats up the most time. It's like a quarter of the day gone just to decorate a cake. Or should I say almost 80% of my sleeping time gone. Thank God hubby was helping me or else I would have slept on the cake itself. I have no skills patience in ruffling the swiss meringue buttercream that's why I did it half way and give up. I thought of something else along the way and changed the decoration. 

Hubby was more adamant. He finished the whole cake with nicely done ruffles. It was in blueberry and I puke at the smell and taste. We finished at 5 a.m. and staggered upstairs to the lovely bed. Plopped and dozed off to dreamland only to be waken by the alarm clock at 8a.m. Have to work :S the rest of the day was a blur of wanting to sleep. 

Now, truth facts about this cake. I reduced the sugar content so it was bitter and it was an intense cake. I don't like such cake. And the taste of blueberry was a real turn off. And I dislike thick butter cream. Half of the cake was dumped into the rubbish bin. I shall look for different recipes and cut off meringue buttercream from my list. I have to seriously find time to bake and decorate as I'm not so willing to sacrifice my much needed sleep just to decorate a cake. It's ridiculous. 

Heart Bleeds: A Gold Too Far...

In year 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, all Malaysians regardless of colour and creed, huddled together in front of screen whether big or small to cheer for our badminton player, Dato' Lee Chong Wei while he was fighting a great battle on the badminton court. Yesterday nite, it was a bitter sweet victory in the Wembley Arena in London. 


We were having dinner after our amateur badminton session. I was actually rushing to go home after dinner so that I can bake the rainbow cake. I have a serious problem in managing my time when I am baking. Will talk about that further in another post. So, yesterday when we were at the coffee shop I thought there was no television but there was one small television where I felt like stuffing my whole head into the screen to see properly who's winning the game, who's shuttle cock got whacked and didn't make it over the net. We were cheering for Dato' Lee Chong Wei, our homegrown Malaysian champion, whenever he made a smash that Lin Dan could not twist his body fast enough to save. We cheered when Lin Dan smashed our Dato' Lee Chong Wei but it was an OUT. We cheered when Lin Dan made a mistake. We cheered when Dato' Lee Chong Wei scored. Our heart bled when Dato' Lee Chong Wei made mistakes. 


As the television screen was so small and we couldn't even see the score, we knew Lin Dan won the match as my mama said Lin Dan and his 'si lang khuan'.. bad habit of removing his shirt when he won. He's so proud. Pride before a downfall, Lin Dan. It's your gold to chew for this one, don't be so proud. 

No, you don't have to be sorry. We should be sorry that we did not pray hard enough for you. Those who cursed you and hoped that you lose should be sorry for sending all the negative vibes. Those who ridiculed your loss in getting a gold medal ought to be sorry for thinking that they are better than you and they could win if they were at the badminton court. I was really sad and disappointed that he didn't get the gold medal but all in all, Dato' Lee Chong Wei is the pride of the nation. And to those racist people who always asked the Malaysian Chinese to pack our bags and go back to where we came from, know this in your heart, without Malays, Chinese and Indian, there's no Malaysia. You see that flag stitched on Dato' Lee Chong Wei's shirt? It's our Jalur Gemilang and we're not labelled as Chinese. We are MALAYSIANS and proud to be one no matter how dirty the politics are. Politics are well-known for it's dirtiness. Okay, put that aside. 

He cried. He is a man to shed his tears as he has sacrificed so much and one will never know whether he is playing in pain or not as his ankle injury has not completely heal. I hope that he will not drown in depression after the country has put so much mental pressure on him for winning a gold. We have not seen a gold medal for a very long time but if only the eyes will be opened. Malaysia itself is a country flowing with milk and honey. It's gold in our own backyard. If not people will not want to flock to our country. Even those from China would come to our country illegally. So that proves that Malaysia has everything everybody wants. 


Now, SPM questions for Bahasa Malaysia essay loves to come out with the question on how to improve the country's quality in sports. As if whatever the students' ideas will be taken seriously. Now, anyone in authority who stalks my blog or happens to stumble upon this piece of post should consider this seriously in hope to hold a gold medal in the coming Olympics 2016. 


I happened to watch the TV1 interview on our Malaysian cyclists in Olympics. There are a few things that I would like to highlight. Can you imagine them having to work the office hours and then they have to trained on their own after work. Wouldn't they be dead tired after working such long hours and they have to coach the younger ones. What positive action should the country take to improve their qualities? Look at China. Their players are practicing from the moment the sun rises to the time when the moon appears. That's what they do. There is this thing called social obligations where private sectors are carrying out. It is as simple as ONE company adopting ONE national athlete, pay the adopted athlete a monthly salary such as paying an employee WITHOUT having the adopted athlete to clock in to office at all. It's paying them to play and play and play. They don't have to worry about clocking into the office to work. But once they retire from sports then they will have to work in the office like it or not with the salary increase accordingly as the cost of living hikes up. In that way, they do not have to worry about setting up a family and feeding the family and at the same time play for the country. It's not paying millions it's just adding one more person to the pay list. Will the company go bankrupt in doing so? No, it won't. That's ridiculous. A company goes bankrupt because of lack of intelligence in many different areas not because of adopting an athlete. Under the 1Malaysia call, even schools have the 1Student, 1Sport so why not have the 1COMPANY, 1 ATHLETE programme? The government should seriously look into this so that our athletes don't come back empty-handed, defeated, ego-smashed into pieces and the name Malaysia doesn't even appear on the list of medals gained. This should be carried out as soon as possible in preparation for the coming Olympics.


No more suggestions as the main concern is of what mentioned above. Our athletes need to concentrate and be consistent by practicing day in and day out. It's their JOB to play for the country so why should they be burdened with an 8-5 job and then need to muster whatever energy that's left to practice after work? In the office they have to use their brain and after work they have to use their physical strength. At the end of the day, they will not have anything left for their love ones. No wonder our players cannot win. 


After the players retire from work, they should be automatically be included in the government pay list to get a penchant every month. Only that would be fair because when they played, they played with all their might for the country. 

I'm Thrilled to the Max~!

"There is no right or wrong way in life. It is just longer or shorter once you know your way." E.L.

What Donk Donk says make sense...  as a good cake-decorating tips, not in real life though. In real life, there is a right or wrong way. For example, if you take the wrong way and ended up as a drug addict, drug pusher or drug mule or you take the wrong way and become a criminal, a murderer by accident or a notorious gang leader, that wrong way will lead you to a dead end, as in you will get caught by the authority, thrown into the prison and faced a hanging punishment. Then, you're dead. You die before the appointed time. So, in real life there is a right and a wrong way. Thus, the best example to amplify the Donkey's saying is to use it in my journey of self-learning the way to decorate cakes.

You see that Gourmet Writer? Do you remember playing with magic inks when you were small? I don't see children playing with magic inks nowadays. I saw this AmeriColor Gourmet Writer while I was Googling for cake recipes. The website is selling the accessories for cake deco but I'm not one who will buy anything online except for my plane tickets. I thought I will never see the Gourmet Writer until I went to Hong Yap, a shop selling all sorts of stuff for baking in Siam Road. I was watching the movie 'We Not Naughty' for the fourth time with Judz and Gracie so I was undecided whether to go or not to go. In the end, after my precious' piano class, we went together for awhile. That for a while was a fruitful trip. I went crazy seeing all the Americolor food dyes but it was oil-based and used best mix with melted white cooking chocolate, that's what the shop people said but in the end, I saw the magic inks... the Gourmet Writer... now I can write on my cakes. Judz said I'm obsessed with baking... and I have to agree to that... it was just so addictive that once you start baking, you can't stop... Claire told me a year ago when she started baking...

I received this two days ago. Hubby bought for me this. See, told ya' he's very supportive of me doing things. I want my garden vege plot, it appears. Now, I'm into baking, he buys all the accessories for me. My hubby can cook and bake, too. He's better in everything but I'm more meticulous in doing things. I'm a near perfectionist. Now, I don't have to use a self-made plastic for writing. This is battery-operated... reminds me of our battery-operated screw driver in the tool box kept in the storeroom. 

We tried this out to see whether it's functioning properly or not. It was so difficult to remove the plunger and everything. My eldest and I struggled to remove it. In the end everything came out with a loud 'PIAK'. We were so afraid of breaking some of the parts. Thank God nothing bad happen... one cake coming up next week... no no... three cakes coming out by this weekend :D

That Sweet Potato...

It's funny how I always prepare food for others and now that I'm being served by others, I actually feel very awkward. I have a class with WP on Tuesday mornings. His mom would make me a huge cup of Horlicks. I like Horlicks. I thank God that she didn't give me a tall glass of fresh milk. I would have cried while gulping it down the throat. This morning, I was served with a freshly steamed sweet potato. It was purple in colour. I am not that localize in terms of food. I have no idea how to it eat. I was staring at the sweet potato and I thought about Pinky and her sweet potato back when we were in Beijing. WP's mom kept on asking me to bite the whole thing together with the skin. OOoOOoOOoo... the skin was brushed clean of any dirt sticking on it. Finally, I sank my teeth into the hard soft steamed sweet potato.

Oh... it was really good especially when it was eaten hot. I chewed off the whole sweet potato but halfway thru I was very full. I just had breakfast from home. I had chocopops with Milo. I wanted to snap a photo of having chocopops but my camera was upstairs and I was too lazy to get it so no chocopops picture. Maybe tomorrow I will have chocopops for dinner instead of breakfast :D

My Small Garden Patch...

I'm very happy because my new house has a small garden for me to plant various types of vegetation and flowers. Sad to say, I have no green fingers. The seedlings will never have the chance to germinate if I were to do it myself. I'm forever grateful to have a very supportive hubby who agreed with anything that I wanted. I'm a pampered one. I wanted a garden with blooming flowers and vegetables so that I do not have to go to the market to buy my supplies. This photo was taken yesterday and today there are a few more rows added. 

Hello there little seedling.~! I can't wait to see the whole garden in bright vibrant colours. I love colours... and my eldest cleared away the growing weeds until she had backache. And again, I'm forever grateful that I have helpers all around me. And I love my hubby very much. He's one in a million. 


PS. Hubby just saw this post from afar and he said it was a pile of rubbish >.< then he said it looked like unmarked grave @.@ ... and he was the one who did the garden.... haih...