My Carrot Thoughts...

Salam & Hi

Alhamdulillah...we are in 2012.

It is good to reflect oneself at the end of the year so that the new year resolution is more achievable ; ) But am not gonna talk about all that here. I think most of us are familiar with such ritual and those big word.. I asked my Cheekyface, what is his new year's resolution and his straight answer is " I wanna have another birthday party!" :D Now that is do-able,InsyaAllah...may Allah bless him and all of us another year to live well, happy and free.

I started 2012 with my first bake of the year, the Carrot and Walnut cake, specially made for my Cheekyface who has requested this for more than a month now. He made a strong emphasis that it has to be a cake, not cupcakes, so here it is...welcoming the new year in all its goodness and awesome cream cheese blanket!

I only get to enjoy a slice of it this morning and while scooping through the entire slice, I read on some new year thoughts. Found this lovely thoughts on How to Stay Young  at this site of which I'm sharing with all of you along with some "Carrot" thoughts of my own:



1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her. - Disagreed. I want to be there to play with  my grandkids and the numbers are essential to me. I am happy that towards the end of 2011, I am finally on the right track (well, except for the last week of large feast of potluck nasi kandar - irresistable! ; P)


2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.- Hmm, maybe I should edit and update my FB friends list...go finger!


3. Keep learning. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's. - Learning how to cook better Malaysian dish/kuihs..already in the pipeline. Wanna learn more on photography  and taking up art skills again...or perhaps learning Arabic too? Wish me luck!

4. Enjoy the simple things. - Yes, more of something that does not involve eating, maybe? Like sitting out at my balcony in the cold winter and just breathe. Like closing my eyes for few seconds and smile to the next person I see....or lie on the carpet and look at the ceiling, thinking of my loved ones back home... 


5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.- Well, I certainly don't wanna die laughing, but perhaps smiling. That's it! To smile without any reason more this year ; )


6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is God & ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. - I believe so.  I did cry on some occasions last year and still there would be this year, am sure. That is part of life one should accept and redha'. Sometimes good things do fall apart for better things to fall together. Allah knows best. Let's just be brave and carry on and try our very best to be better everyday, in every way.


7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. - Indeed. So is this Melthoney.  It keeps me going ; ). And faith in the Almighty. you get nowhere without it.


8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.- Isn't this contradictory to item no.1?I thought so! I'm on my way to running on the treadmill! Yayyyy!


9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is. - This is deep. Perhaps it isn't all bad. Guilt trip is ok to reflect and refresh with asking for forgiveness. "I am sorry", I should say that more eventhough I am not guilty per say. Sometimes, it just make other people feel better, happier. So let's be :)


10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. - Oh dear, I love u, I love u, I love u like a love song and I keep hitting re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat!

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.- Well said. Me love it!


Well, just my Carrot thoughts of the Day..Here's wishing you the very best of many great things to come in 2012. May Allah bless us all with true love, great health, more wealth and warm hearts to receive His Nur and hidayah...InsyaAllah. 

And thanks from the bottom of my heart for keeping Melthoney on your side to this new great ride. Enjoy your piece of cake lovelies....Hugs!

Tillykke!

Salam & Hi
It's been almost 2 silent months on my part. I know, my bad...Actually the iPad2 is bad..it made me very lazy to open the laptop and type type type....hehehe

But silence does not mean I do not have any exciting to share. It means I had too many, too much to actually type and press "post"! Hahahaha

Well, let me start with this belated post of cupcakes order by my dear friend, the lovely Sania for Niels, her Danish hubby's birthday in end Nov.

This is Real Chocolate cupcakes in chocolate ganache swirls with lots of little flags provided by the Mrs herself.

Sania said the Danish are really proud of their flag and always parade it in their celebrations including birthdays... ; ) Hmm that surely made my work easier hehe

Tillykke (pronounced te-luu-keh) means Congratulations! That is how you wish someone Danish on his/her birthday.

So, Tillykke bro Neils! May u be blessed always. Am sure it was all fun and thrilling smooching these cupcakes in that Hummer limo ride that day...hehehe.

...and to Sania, thanks a lot for the order and forever telling me to believe in myself more ; )

xoxoxox!

Cheekyface's StarWars Birthday Battle & Sleepover Party

Despite my excitement to share this post with all of you, I got caught up in a cooking frenzy lately and preferred posting pics over typing anything on my laptop. Sorry, my bad! I've been trying new recipes of Malaysian dishes on daily basis now – those who has me on FB list would notice that I had been posting some pics of my experiment results haha..so much so that I had to tell myself to pause for a while and get back to my blog…

Well, hi there..Greetings!

On October 6, we finally had Cheekface birthday party at home and everything (well, most of it!) was also homemade. In 2010, we had a big farewell and birthday bash for him..so big that I think it drove me nuts at some points haha..So for this year, we decided to keep it small but very personal.

Cheekyface requested for Star Wars theme this year..A big leap from Toy Story, last year ; ) Therefore everything for the party had the force of Star Wars. I let him picked the theme colour too and he chosed the Black, Yellow and Blue - as you can see in the balloons and overall party decorations. To decorate the walls, we used posters from Cheekyface's StarWars magazines/books collection and black garbage bags studded with glow-in-the-dark star for that starry magical effect ; )

I made the place cards, each bearing the guest's name and had them held by various StarWars figurines. Cheekyface helped to pick the colour coordinated parties supplies and set up the table for his guests too. So rajin, knowing that it was going to be his party kan? hehe

The party was restricted to only boys since we were having the sleepover party too. Out of 8 invitees, only 5 turned up but it was still a blast! When the boys arrived, each of them was given a Jedi robe (we got a part-time tailor to sew them in standard size of  2 metres brown cotton fabric which I got from the souq. I’m very bad at sewing lol!). …and that surely put everything else in the mood!

The party kicked off at 6pm.While waiting for the guests to arrive, the boys played Playstation until dinner time. The party menu was in StarWars names too ; ).  I made Mac & Cheese in cups (Coruscant Cupcakes), Chicken (Blaster) Wings, Marshmallow Crispies Bars (The Ewoks’ Food), Lime Syrup Soda (Yoda Soda) and Lightsabers breadsticks (which also served as the centrepiece and taken home as party favors. We also ordered take outs for pizza and shish tawook (chicken wraps). Well, the boys certainly enjoyed the galactic pizza the most!

Cheekyface, enjoying the YodaSoda ; )

Then came the Game-Time. Honestly, my Luv and I are not StarWars fan at all. But that night we both had to be the Jedi Masters (complete with costumes too okay..;P) and thanks to the power of Googling, we managed to create our own training for the boys. We divided the boys into 2 teams - Blue & Yellow and the one that collected the highest total points from all the games, won.

Beginning with The Blind Jedi (cover the Jedi’s eyes and let him hold a picture of StarWars character. He must name the character based on the clues given by his teammates), we later had our living room ransacked by the boys during the Asteroid Rocks Search (I wrapped candies and little gifts in aluminium foil and got them hidden around the room  (the boys got to take home the gifts and candies and at the same time earned points for their team). It was funny to see how such little hidden treasures got them excited and thrilled! 

The ultimate test came next in the Jedi Obstacle. We turned the whole living & dining rooms into a little camp with the help of decorated boxes, chairs, floor cushions and a play tunnel! The lights were switched off too-just adding to the suspense and thrill! At the end of the obstacle, each Jedi took turns to shoot the bad guys (got them all pasted on our bedroom’s door, each marked with different points too ; ) with a Nerf gun. The boys loved the obstacle so much that 4 of them actually repeated the test so that they could keep shooting off the Darth Vader and other criminals! Hahaha kecoh!

In the end, all Jedis graduated with flying colurs and each of them received a Jedi badge (again, I googled the logo, printed and pasted it on shop-bought badges. The boys were so proud when they got it embedded onto their robe – both of which they got to take home as party favors. We also made copies of StarWars movies downloaded from the net, complete with StarWars CD cover and included it in each party bag.

The Yellow Team won the overall challenges. We had a lucky draw too which assured every Jedi felt lucky and went home happy ; ). We had special award for Best Jedi which went to the most obedient and kind hearted Jedi Syafiq, the eldest in the group.

After the game, the Jedis gathered around the table for cake cutting. I made almost 3 kg cake for the night, the 2D Captain Rex Helmet Strawberry cake,  Cheekyface’s fav! I could tell that he was proud of Mommy making the cake for him…siap promote kat his friends to order cakes from me after this hahaha…so sweet!

The boys had their share of cake and then moved on to opening up the presents by the birthday boy and more and more Nikon moments of  Cheekyface and his besties. Two Jedis left early and skipped the sleepover but the rest of the gang camped in Cheekyface’ room for the night. Cheekyface was the first one to dozed off, leaving his friends watching movies till midnight..Qeh! He was too tired from all the fun time  - jumping and crawling!

One Jedi down........zzzzzzzzzzz.......

The kids woke up early the next morning, watched more movies, had breakfast and continued playing games until their parents came to pick them up at around 10a.m. The boys truly had a blast and they kept talking about the party for weeks! As one of his friend quoted, “It was the best birthday party I had ever been to!”. I also received texts from few moms who said that their boys couldn’t stop talking about the party! hehe…That surely put a big smile on my face..after such pain in the neck and sleepless nights!

 Honestly, I didn’t sleep well for 2 weeks before the event. I hope these pics are self-explanatory to my agony…haha, not really..I really love party planning and I wanted to make the best party for my darling Cheekyface. The one that he will cherish forever…I hope this one did.

My special thanks to my sweetest Yummy Mummy for being there when I needed a friend (and a helper too!) and for these awesome snaps of  true blast ; )

For those who plans to have StarWars party, here are some inspiring links for you to check out:

http://partyplanningcenter.blogspot.com/
http://www.chiff.com/entertain/star-wars-party.htm

http://aimingtobeawellroundedwomen.blogspot.com/2011/09/adams-star-wars-party.html
http://www.freeprintable.com/free-printable-name-tags/star-wars-name-tags
http://thecellardoorstories.blogspot.com/2011/03/light-saber-pretzel-rods.html
http://justjennrecipes.com/star-wars-food-place-cards/2011/09/27/


Here's to my Cheekyface! Happy 9th Birthday, boy! Yes, we all had a blast... May The Force be with you always. Rock on, my Aniq-in Skywalker! We love u lots xxxxx

The Icy Lava Planet Cake

Salam & Hi

As promised, here's the post on the cake I made on my Cheekyface 9th original* birthday. (*original cuz this one was made on his real birthday date). He's just very happy to have had few birthday celebrations this year (Read here). At first I wanted to bake some red velvets cupcakes with cute little fondant lightsabers for him to celebrate with friends at the school but he stopped me before I even go further saying that, "I don't feel like celebrating at school, I am in KS2 now, Mommy...only KS1's kids do that." Hmmm..so much from a boy who just turned 9!

And instead of cupcakes, he requested me to make him an ice cream cake, like the one I've done before.........but in strawberry flavour. I've had friends asking me how to make this simple ice cream cake, so here's how I did it.

However, for this time, I added some crazy ideas which turned out pretty cool for my StarWars-crazy-Cheekyface! I wanted to make him the Planet Mustafar cake, like the one I saw on one of the many websites/blogs about star wars party ideas but it was slightly difficult since he wanted an ice cream cake and that meant no buttercream or fondant to deco! Well, Mommy had to be extra creative la kot...

I used a shop-bought sponge cake to make the base of the cake. Cut the cake and placed it into a springform tin ( I used 9x3 inch square tin) lined with clingfilm (both in the bottom and sides of the tin). As for the ice cream, I mixed approximately 1.2liter strawberry ice cream with about 300g chopped frozen strawberry (let it softened at room temperature before chopping); stirred them up slowly and later scrapped the mixture onto the cake base, flattened it like a cake and froze it up in the freezer overnight.

And so, on the next morning (on his birthday), I made strawberry filling/topping (I  added some chopped dried cranberries too) and few drops of red food colouring to make it more lava-like, let it cool, took out the ice cream cake from the freezer and poured the topping in. It looked like thick pool of red lava on top! I put the cake back in the freezer for another couple of hours before I went on to the next step i.e. to make the chocolate topping.

I melted 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet milk chocolate chips and mixed it with 1/2 cup of thick cream. Popped the cake out from the freezer and while it was still warm, I put dollops of the choc topping onto the 'red lava topping'. I wasn't sure how to do it so I had my friend to shape the choc topping like torn pieces of land on the Planet Mustafar! 

When Cheekyface got home from school, all he wanted to see was his cake and I let him placed his figurines on the cake. Boy, was he proud to parade his skills too :P

It was a small little celebration at home - thanks to my dear friend Yummy Mummy and her two little MONsters who rocked the sudden unplanned party :P Babe, thanks for the pics too, I love 'em so much!

There was no writing on the cake, no special deco whatsoever, but just what he wanted - his Strawberry Ice Cream cake of which Mommy made special - The Icy Lava Planet Cake!

Like this cake? Coming up next is ....Cheekyface's Birthday Battle & Sleepover Party...all Star Wars style! Keep reading peeps...I love u all!

A Lucky Birthday Boy

Salam & Hi

It took me so long to update and for that I am terribly sorry.
Been busy since we got back to Doha; mostly due to my Cheekyface's belated 9th birthday party 2 weeks ago (I will update it soonest, promise!). It was a belated one cuz I needed the time to prepare (plus my stuff from Msia was only couriered here a week before the party - so more unpacking was to be done besides the 4  suitcases which flown with us). Besides, I think he's had more than one birthday celebrations thrown for him this year...the most he's had so far...!

My baby turned 9....awwwhhh...so big now!

The first one was at our Family Day during Eid (early Sep) at my aunt's home in Kedah. We celebrated all family members who were born in August & September.The Chocolate Indulgence was a really nice surprise for Cheekyface...p/s we do miss Secret Recipe here in Doha ; )

The second one was at our farewell dinner just a day before we departed to Doha...Special thanks to Opah for the wonderful treat and to MakLong Dyna for the thought and effort. And to Pak Su and Pak Long for the warm farewell...We miss everyone dearly... hukhukhuk!

wif Pak Su, Adeq, Aiman and Tsara...

The third one was a splendid treat by The MONs at Chili's (apparently one of Aniq's fav places here in Doha). Thank you to The MONsters haha...we love u all lots!

The fourth one was on his actual birthday i.e 25 September. Since we wanted to make it special on the day itself, I made him an ice cream cake (I'll post this one in details separately, ok?) and put up a little celebration with our MONster family!

...with the world's cutest MONsters...

And the final big gig was Cheekyface's Star War's Birthday Battle and Sleepover Party on 6 Oct......and again, I'll post it separately soonest!

So my dear Cheekyface, aren't you one lucky boy? Who has 5 birthday celebrations in a year? No one but only YOU! This means everyone loves you dearly....and wants you to be happy ; )

Baba and Mommy love you so much and may Allah bless you always..A wonderful person, always has a wonderful life. And, so shall you. ..We and everyone closed to you certainly wished you a very happy and sweet birthday and many more stars to come your way.... XOXOXOX!

My Cheekyface at 3. He grew up so fast!

Sawattdee ~ Krabi!

Sawattdee-Kaa!

I'm back!!!!......in the dusty land after spending 2 months at the homeland....I am sad to part with my lovely families and friends back  in Msia but yet happy to be back in Doha to continue the journey seorang perantau....qeh!

Eid was great...and I've hoped that yours was the same or even better! Filled with lots of love, exchanging stories and gossips..(haipppp!) and loads of good good foooooood! I think we ate a lot, despite the fasting month. And the 5-day trip to Krabi during the last week of our holiday was the tip of the icing! Aiyooo....I think I have to be on strict diet for 1 year straight kot lepas ni...Help!!!

How nice would it be if we can wake up to this view every morning?@Bamboo Island, Krabi

For this post, I wanna share about our Krabi get-away which was a bliss.....Alhamdulillah.
We needed a beach retreat after surviving the hot summer here in Doha and Krabi was the closest deal we could get at the last minute. We stayed at Sala Talay Resort, in between Aonang and Nopparatthara Beach (check out Booking.com for good rates!). The resort was very very pleasant and their pool access rooms are awesome! So eventhough it rained almost everyday when we were there (where swimming in the sea is impossible), the pool was still our best escapades!

Or at least like this for that matter? @ Sala Talay.

Since we were a big group (Mama/my bro/wifey/ baby Airiel tagged along) we rented a mini van for sight- seeing on the 2nd day there. However, there was nothing much to see in the stop-and-go rain throughout the first 3 days, so we ended up renting motorbikes instead. We also fully utilised the "Tuk-tuk" rides  of which we can easily get in front of the resort to the nearby Aonang for dining or night shopping.

Me loving my Tuktuk ; P

Muslim food can be found at Aonang area. One should look out for the crescent and star sign which means halal food displayed at the stalls/restaurants. It's good to ask again for confirmation though ; ) The nasi campur meals is available during the daytime at many stalls located nearby Aonang tourist spots. The further up you go towards the end of the town, the cheaper the food is, I think ; ) But do be careful of the extra spicy dishes ya....Sangat pedasss okkayyy!

Top: Lovely Prawn Cakes,
Mid: Fried Calamari, Thai Pineapple Fried Rice & Krabi-style Goreng Pisang
Bottom: Sea Bass in 3 Flavours Sauce (3 Rasa la tu... ; P) 

We enjoyed our dinner the most and savoured great sea bass dishes every night we were there, steamed or deep-fried. I wasn't really craving for any Thai food since we had great ones here too in Doha but I've had the nicest prawn cakes and pineapple fried rice there in Krabi - we don't have these in Doha, I think ; P

As for the street food, we found a very yummy goreng pisang stall in front of one of the small Muslim restaurant in Aonang and I swear it was the best ones I've had in my life! And I loved indulging the banana pancakes with nutella (okay, that justified the weight gain-lah!), with my Luv after a short ride on the bike along the beach at night! We've had this too in Phuket last time. I believe it's a very popular street food of Thailand. You should try it whenever you're visiting - Do ask for less oily version cuz it can be too oily at times ;P

I took Mama for a spa treatment on the 3rd rainy day. It was cheap yet very good. It’s true that spas (not massage centres) along Aonang tourist spot is so much cheaper than the one in the hotels, yet the quality is not much different. We’ve had ours at Let’s Sea:Let's Relax, a very simple yet serene place to relax and get pampered ; )

My bro getting a fish spa @ a small operator along Aonang street...

In case you are wondering, we didnt get any elephant ride or visit to the safari. Mama said she wouldn't even set her foot or nose to the safari...hahaha. But on my bro's request, we did go looking for the safari, so that he can see what's it all about. We followed some signboards that led us to this small operating safari (couldn't remember the name) but what we found in that spot inside the rubber plantation was devastating to the hearts. The elephants were still babies, very dirty and looked like they were in complete sadness and pain - some even got their ears chipped! Would we find joy in riding these ellies? Hell no!

Definitely not our choice for a joyride....

We thank Allah for giving us the chance to experience the island hopping around Phi Phi islands on the 4th day we were there. It was the only day the sun came out shining and not a rain dropped. The weather was wonderful and kind and the tour took us to Bamboo Island (I love this one!);

Following his Baba's footsteps.....@ Bamboo Island

Maya Bay, made famous by The Beach movie (very beautiful white sand but still too crowded for a low season and overrated, I think!);

Cheekyface @ the magnificient Maya Bay...

Viking Cave (where you can get a glimpse of the swift birds' nests thriving industry; from inside the boat) , Monkey Island (watching big monkeys ruling the island, again from the boat) and experience the open sea snorkelling around Phi Phi  islands.

I didn't go down but I took these pics from my boat!

The tour was okay for the price we paid i.e. THB 900 per adult (50% reduction due to low season) inclusive of a buffet lunch. But it would have been even better if  we could spent more time on the island (instead of the congested speed boat!), enjoying the beautiful scenery and snorkelling at our own pace – like the one we had in Sabah last time….

But no regrets, still we had a great time in Krabi. Maybe not so much of soaking up the sun but we got to spend more time with our loved ones before we flew back here sob! sob!

And as for this cruise to Krabi, the award for the Best Crew went to our little champ, Baby Airiel! Yayyy!!!

Airiel was such a sport throughout the trip, never once being cranky; bringing smiles to all of us in every of his. We heart you Adeq..........! And right now we all miss you berry berry much!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rendang Ayam Cili Padi Chik Anish

Salam & Hi

Selamat Hari Raya to my fellow readers, friends and families.
How's raya this year?
As for me, balik kampung this year is so much different. Since we now live far away from Malaysia, the whole balik kampung experience is something grande and to be celebrated in every way possible. And yes, we love food...it is part of that celebration as well ; )

For Eid this year, Chik Anish (that's what my nephew & nieces fondly call me) was given the honour to cook one of the raya dish for the entire family....One of my brothers requested for a dish from the Middle East as one of the menu but since I've not mastered anything grand, I had to postpone it to next year, InsyaAllah ; )

Mama asked me to make our own favourite - the ever so delicious Rendang Ayam Cili Padi for the special day. I remembered the first time making this dish in Doha for a breakfast with my female friends. I made 2 whole chickens for 5 of us to be served with hot nasi lemak and it wasn't enough!

The recipe is extracted from a book by Esther Foo (my ex-classmate from a Wilton class) but I've modified according to my Malay tastebud  ;P

Rendang Ayam Cili Padi


1 whole chicken cut into 12-14pieces

2 tbsp cooking oil (optional)

1L thick coconut milk, extracted from 2 coconuts
1 pc turmeric leave/daun kunyit
4-5pcs kaffir lime leaves/daun limau purut
3-4 pcs dried slices of tamrid fruit/asam keping/asam gelugor
Salt & a pinch of sugar to taste

To be blended to make rendang paste:
2 medium sized onions
3-4 cloves garlic
50g galangal/lengkuas
20g ginger
25g turmeric/kunyit hidup
50-80g green bird's eyes chilli/cili padi (depends on how hot you want it to be)
4 sticks lemongrass/serai (use 2-3 sticks to make paste, the balance is to be bruised and fry with the paste)


1. Fry rendang paste in cooking oil (optional) along with bruised serai till slightly soft and fragrant.
2. Add the coconut milk, mix well by stirring gently.
3. Add the chicken pieces, stir and cook under high heat. Bring it to boil.
4. Once boiled, add in asam keping, salt and sugar. Turn down the heat, let it simmer.
5. Cook for another 11/2 - 2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes. Check the taste and adjust according to your liking.
Tips: You may fry the chicken pieces to slightly browned before putting it inside the coconut milk as to avoid them becoming crushed/hancur in the whole process of making the rendang. As for me I like it all crushed!

Serves 4-6 people

So, how was the verdict, you may asked?Alhamdulillah, everyone in the family loved this rendang so much - refilling it at least 3 times in a row hahahaha....My aunts and cousins loved it too and kept asking for the recipe. Well, do download from my blog ni ok?

As for me, I fell in love with this rendang the first time I made it. It is soo easy to do and the end-product is just awesome! Don't be scared of the cili padi in its name - it is not as spicy as it may sound! To me the amount of cili padi used in the recipe is on the mild side. If you want it to kick harder, do maximise the cili padi volume in the paste ; )

This rendang is good with anything, be it nasi lemak, ketupat, pulut kuning or even a plain white bread. If you ask me, I prefer it most with the "square/cubed rice" a.k.a nasi himpit!

Again, here's wishing you 

Eid Mubarak: Selamat Hari Raya: Maaf Zahir & Batin

Hugs from Melthoney  ♥