Monday, February 21, 2011

I Won't Say I'm In Love ~ ♥

This song was playing on my mind for the past few days. Yup~ I'm a Disney cartoon freak.. the 2-D type hehe.. suke hokey!


And for the cartoon Hercules, this was my favourite song in it. Suke dok ulang² pasang tauu.. I would've prefered to embed the video of the song which Meg sang about her feelings for Hercules coz the video chumel but that would just lembapkan this sedia lembap pc so I'm just pasting the lyrics (sambil nyanyi² jugakkk~~) The video ade at my FB wall klau sape nak tgk


I Won't Say I'm in Love ~ Meg

[Meg:]
If there's a prize for rotten judgement
I guess I've already won that
No man is worth the aggravation
That's ancient history, been there, done that!

[Muses:]
Who'd'ya think you're kiddin'
He's the Earth and heaven to you
Try to keep it hidden
Honey, we can see right through you
Girl, ya can't conceal it
We know how ya feel and
Who you're thinking of

[Meg:]
No chance, no way
I won't say it, no, no

[Muses:]
You swoon, you sigh
Why deny it, uh-oh

[Meg:]
It's too cliche
I won't say I'm in love

I thought my heart had learned its lesson
It feels so good when you start out
My head is screaming get a grip, girl
Unless you're dying to cry your heart out
Oh

[Muses:]
You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feeling
Baby, we're not buying
Hon, we saw ya hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown-up
When ya gonna own up
That ya got, got, got it bad

[Meg:]
WRONG!
No chance, now way
I won't say it, no, no

[Muses:]
Give up, give in
Check the grin you're in love

[Meg:]
This scene won't play,
I won't say I'm in love

[Muses:]
You're doin flips read our lips
You're in love

[Meg:]
You're way off base
I won't say it
Get off my case
I won't say it

[Muses:]
Girl, don't be proud
It's O.K. you're in love

[Meg:]
Oh
At least out loud,
I won't say I'm in love

Friday, February 18, 2011

Peak season untuk nikah and tunang ~ ♥

Okay².. I know la the usual 'musim kenduri' is during the school holidays but for the past few weeks, due, maybe to the long weekend we had during Chinese New Year as well as the recent Maulidur Rasul holiday, people have been taking advantage of the long weekends to.. spread the love! Heheh..

Anyway, I received a few orders regarding these engagements and solemnizations so, as usual, instead of a few entries, I'm cramming it all in one ☺

This order was from Arifah, Jaja's friend. She'd ordered before and since she was to be engaged on the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday, she wanted me to custom make a cupcake set for the hantaran, I think. She still prefers the white-black-red combo hence the nickname 'INewYork girl' I gave her hehe..

This one plak from kak Sue for her youngest brother's solemnization. Waaa.. adik dia sebaya Ikram hokey.. and mase cuti tunggu rsult SPM, penah keje at this diner which me and my exhousemates use to frequent.. *sigh* Jodoh dia.. hehe.. (ade bunyi dengki kah?)

This one plak my first fondant set yg I used the cutters I bought a zillion years ago hehe.. akhirnye gune jugak! This one for kak G for her niece's engagement..

Then another one, same theme, different colour and flowers for Farah's in laws. Saje je gatal nak mix and match colours since I suck at playing around with them. Always je nak background putih kan Ayu ni..

And this one for my friend, Siti Normisa who got engaged last week. This was supposed to be a suprise for her but apparantly when I call to buat² tanye pasal her theme, she already guessed I'd be making her a set of cupcakes haha.. Mase ni mcm suke giler hokey, sy ngan Bart try curik sireh segala. Then in my FB at this pic, sgt la nak gelak with comment² kengkawan pasal curik sireh and all that ☺

Lastly, ni bkn hantaran k.. but this is just a birthday cake I made for my adik² jiran umah No 40 whose birthday was at the end of December and early February (tetibe leh combo gitu wpun bln January tadek pun besday sesape antara diorg kaaaaannn)

Ohh.. Oven sy menjerit mintak berehat skrg hehe..

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Kuih Tok.. with love! ♥

It was late in the night, and her tummy was grumbling. Not really wanting to eat anything this late at night, she ignored her hunger and continued to read the book in her hand for a few more minutes before her tummy got the best of her.

Having not cooked for the whole day, she knew she had to whip up something simple but filling as she had no snacks her in kitchen cabinets. Pondering a while over what she had and how long her tummy was able to stand being hungry, her eyes fell upon the plain flour container she had on her fridge while an old memory of her Pah's kitchen came into her mind.

"Thats it, I'll make some kuih Tok!"

Not really remembering the exact measurements and ingredient, she whipped it up from memory. Well, Pah didn't actually use any exact measurements anyway too and the best, they say, is what you do using your instinct as your guide.

Right when the batter was ready, she heated up her frying pan with just a little bit of oil. Her batter was at just the right consistency.. or so she thought!

When the frying pan was at just about the right temperature, she poured in the batter carefully at just the right amount.. and then she waited.

She remembered, as a young girl living with both her Pah and Tok, she spent most of her mornings in the kitchen. Not that she was old enough to help anyway, but she just loved being with her Pah as she prepared the meals for the day. She'd wake up early and sit with her Tok as he had his breakfast of kuih Tok, as she called it, before he went to the mosque for his Subuh prayers. This was always his favourite breakfast, and it became the favourite breakfast for the whole family where even her cousins would request kuih Tok. Some would eat it with sugar, others with leftover curry from yesterday. But best of all was to eat it all by itself.

Darn!

Her first attempt of kuih Tok yielded a very thick one. Not at all like the ones her Pah used to make every morning. Oh well, it was still edible and there was still enough batter for another two pieces. This time, she spread the batter a bit farther than the previous one but, oh no! It wasn't all nice and round, instead it was a misshapen kuih Tok that she had on her pan and she just let it cook.

This time her memories bought her to a time when she was a bit older but the funny thing is, she was still in her Pah's kitchen. Only instead of the kitchen in the Bukit Chandan home, it was the kitchen in the Kg Menora home. This time she was in the kitchen with Pah and her cousin, Sayang. They were helping Pah make some kerisik.. well, at least they were TRYING to help anyway.

Both of them had a mortar and pestle each and she had her favourite one where the pestle was made from a river stone and was smooth to the touch. Pah had taught them how to pound the fried coconut shavings until its oil was released but somehow, no matter how hard she pounded, she never got anything out of it whereas Pah was already pounding her fifth batch of fried coconur shavings. Almost at tears, she tried to hide how frustrated she was when Pah took her mortar and help her to pound it and voila! In a matter of seconds her mortar was filled with the kerisik they wanted. And all the while Pah told her, she had helped a lot pounding it earlier.

She was shaken from her day dreaming by the smell of burnt flour mixture and quickly took out her second attempt from the pan.

Sigh!

She only had enough for a last one but even as she poured the rest of the batter in the pan, she knew she'd never make any kuih Tok as good as Pah's! It was all holey by her attempts to pour the batter more thinly and she felt a bit frustrated with herself.

And she remember, how in the 10 weeks she had stayed with Tok during her industrial training, not once had she offered to make some kuih Tok for her grandfather who must be missing the kuih Tok made by his beloved wife all those years ago before she started getting sick and eventually passed away. She had helped to prepare his breakfast and morning coffee everyday without fail, even made some attempt at Malay kuih for tea which her Tok lovingly finished no matter how tasteless it turned out to be (cucu punye pasal kaaann!) but she realized, she never did that favourite breakfast item they had both loved and shared when she was smaller and for a while, her eyes felt hot with tears threatening to fall out of her eyes.

As she sat at her dining table with her 3 failed attempts at making something she had loved from the time when she was a wee toddler, she offered a small prayer for both her grandparents who had looked after her full of love. She missed them so much and wished she still had the chance to tell them how much she loved them.

If only she had the chance for another breakfast with the both of them with kuih Tok made by her Pah..

AlFatihah

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Seryes jeles ngan bebudak ni!!

I've been noticing something on the telly lately.. and seryes sy dengki ngan bebudak ni!

Tv show apekah itu?!?! Jeng³..

At first, I wasn't really that interested in watching a bunch of kids making a mess in the kitchen but just 5 minutes of channel switching made me hooked! Giler terre bebudak ni.. and makes me hungry just watching them.

The season started with 50 kids vying for the top 20 where they competed in 5 stages with 10 kids each. Sgt menarik ok.. There was the International Food Challenge, the Dessert Challenge, Seafood Challenge, the Youngest Contestants Challenge (diorg bg je bdk² masak ape².. and umo diorg was like 8~9 tahun ok!) and the Meat Challenge. Mase dessert challenge, they actually laid out all the ingredients in a fairytale kinda way that made you wanna go through the TV right there and then.

From that 50, only 20 where chosen where they 'battled' again to fight for a spot in the top 12.

Nape sy suke giler bebudak ni?

Well, feast your eyes on this!

Strawberry shortcake by one of my favourite contestants, Lucy!

Custard Tarts by Lucy and Siena (another favourite!)

And Lamb Wellington by my Pierre, my favourite male contestant! Well, ni bkn la the exact Lamb Wellington yg dia buat hehe.. tp lebey kurang la.. sgt nmpk sedap ok!

My favourite contestant is Pierre (setakat ni la since I haven't watched sampai habis.. Anim ngan Rashid dah tgk sampai episode 10 dah ni.. jeles²!) He reminds me of a Pakistani friend I had when I was 6 by the name of Jameel. Comel kan dia? In the Tuck Shop challenge, he was a great leader.. seryes yg you gotta see it yourself. He kept going around to his teammates to help them out and all that. Even the judges pun puji ☺

Then there's Nick si gigi kapak haha.. he is like the most expressive boy ever. Bile nganga, he'd nganga betul².. I love watching him. The first pressure test they were asked to make poached pears in cranberry syrup and he cored his pear sampai berlubang. Sian dia risau but you should've seen how suprised he was when he emerged the winner of the challenge.

I love watching these two boys..

Another boy I love is Anthony si rambut cacak yg unique. You should've seen the judge trying to touch his hair and he is soooo cute when he smiles hahah.. masak pun terre! Can't help laughing when he went to Pierre's group just to snoop around.. chumel!

The other guy in the picture is Alex ke apetah name dia.. a bit quiet! (Sy pun quiet tatau nak ckp ape pasal dia =p)

Then there's Jack.. one of the oldest and one who only recently discovered his talents. He was feeling a bit bummed when his biscuit for the poached pear didn't turn out well and blamed it on his lack of practice on desserts. So imagine his suprise when he emerged 3rd on the challenge (Okay, sy baru tgk sampai episode ni je so dunno much lagik about other challenges.. but bakal watch through YouTube setelah dicucuk oleh Anim and Rashid!) And btw, he made some quiches and now I'm looking around for ingredients to make them sbb tetibe sgt tingin nak makan lagik heheh..

Another rambut cacak boy is Sam yg terre ok.. the judge told him his Baklava (Sy siap pi Google apekah Baklava coz of this boy!) was at the same pedastal as baklava's in famous restaurants (the judge tu ade restaurant sendir and even compared Sam's to his own.. bangge giler!)

As for the girls, my most favourite is cute n bubbly Lucy! Chumel kan dia ☺

She loves to laugh and is always excited in anything she does. I liked her even during the qualifying and had thought she'd be sent home for her Strawberry Shortcake (not as 'exotic' as other contestants punye dish) and was very relieved to see that she got through. Bravo Lucy!

My second favourite one is Siena who's only 9! She's such a sweet girl ♥

She and Lucy were the dynamic duo in the Custard Tart making during the Tuck Shop challenge.. sgt suke tgk coz both sgt chumel with one sgt excvited and the other sgt la calm even when there was something wrong with their pastries (it was industrial-bought punye.. klau homemade, mesti takde masalah pun diorg) Sgt la konsentret muke sorg² when sifting the icing sugar and making zig zags with the chocolate on their custard tart!

And then there's the twins.. Isabella and Sofia!

Apparantly they've already named their future restaurant as Issofia. I noticed them from the beginning jugak but I much prefer the soft-spoken Sofia than her confident sister, Isabella. Their grandma was from I-don't-remember but bukan native Aussie la, thats why they knew how to cook so many types of food. Terre tau!

Here's a picture of my favourite twin, Sofia and another contestant Emily during the Tuck Shop Challenge where they made sushi for the first time.. and sushi yg cantik plak tu. Klau mine, mesti malu nak jamu kat budak sekolah makan hahaha..

This plak is the second 4-person group to be eliminated from the show. Three of my favourites are here and the other one is Cassidy, a whiz in making desserts! ☺

In the end, it was a face-off between Isabella and Jack. Siena and Sofia were also in the final 4 so YEAY to them! Personally, I would've vouched for the modest Jack but it can't be denied that Isabella, who in the end won the title, had much more talent and experience (this I got from Wiki coz I haven't watched it till the end, remember)

In all, the first few episode have made me literally hungry for more so off to You Tube I am heheh.. But I really recommend this to anyone who hasn't watched. Only, sile jgn tengok dengan perut yg kosong =p

*pictures ALL Googled!