21 November 2005

Bunga pahar Bang Long

Went to Bunga Reben in Jalan TAR today. A last minute decision for me to order the bunga pahar for Bang Long's wedding. Actually, me and hubby has decided that it is better for me to go and order without waiting for Kak as the wedding is less than 3 weeks away. Waiting for Kak to come down to KL from Shah Alam , just to get her endorsement on the design of the bunga pahar may end up with no bunga pahar on pelamin at all. Poor Bang Long and Bany.

Granted that Kak is very hard to please and also very picky ( ...make sure it is golden brown with lots of brown and not golden yellow like the one we saw earlier....make sure it is very bushy, with lots of ribbon around....make sure it looked expensive.....i wanted the one with the bunga lalang but with different type of colour scheme....and make sure it is not golden yellow), my decision on to go ahead ordering the bunga pahar without her viewing it first, would akin to putting my head on a chopping block.

But a caveat, if I don't do this by today, there will be no bunga pahar at all...ok, she said yes , go ahead but I want to add some more ribbon.

I went, I saw, and I ordered. Without additional ribbons whatsoever. But with bunga lalang, bunga manik, bunga net and lots of ribbon already thrown in.

But if you want more ribbons added, it will take a month to fulfill the order, the sales girl said. So I just ordered as the sample design which to me, look rich and expensive enough as any bunga pahar can get.
The cost RM4.80 per stalk, and for 106 stalks, it will burn half a thousand away...but I believed it will make a couple of newly weds very happy.

17 November 2005

Makan makan session

Mami n Ah is coming down from JB today. They will stop by Ucu's place in Seremban and together they will convoy to Cik Zain's place in Banting, Umi's place in Port Klang and visit Ami's grave and swing by to my place much later.

Cannot join them due to today is a working day. On the way, they will picked Elin in Serdang and Bob from his hostel in UM. So, what to cook for them? Surely they will have rice n all sorts of lauk in Cik Zain's place.

So last minute thought, fried macaroni and beehoon n trifle will do. So, went to Ampang Park during lunch time to shop for the items.

Called Sarimah and Kak Lin and invite them to join. Sarimah's open house is tomorrow night while Kak Lin's will be on Monday night. I don't think that I have the energy to organise another cook out for them and it is better to ask them to join tonight. And my dear next door neighbour, Kak Wahidah is also invited in a last minute after thought, as I don't want to left her out. After all, she will hear all the commotion and smell from my kitchen.

And,ah yes, Cik Nor who came all the way from Trengganu, to send his daughter and newborn cucu to their place in Wangsa Maju. Since he's going back to Trengganu on Saturday, invited him and the whole family. And they came,brand new baby and all, in fact they are the first to arrive.

Sarimah arrived later, complete with Cik Nana and Wan, Kak Lin with hubby and 3 girls. So the place became a bit cramped.

When my aunties, uncle and cousins arrived later, the place really heat up. Eh, eh jadik macam open house although it was not our real intention. It was just more of a makan-makan session with families and friends.

The kuih raya really does their round, and so did the muruku and ketumpi. I have to cook another batch of macaroni and 2 batches of meehoon. Bibik fried the keropok and we served orang cordial and hot tea.

Remind me to buy more glasses the next time I do my shopping. There is not enough glasess to go around and some of them resorted to drink the cordial from teacup....hmmmm.

By 10pm , everyone has left and Bibik cleared the mess. Babah swept the place. I broke my fast earlier with plain water and sat down to have my proper dinner.

The kids...well, the kids got lots of duit raya and they were also stuffed with prohibited food and drinks ( read: iced cold orange cordial , sweet kuih raya n lots of muruku n rempeyek).
They were past their bedtime but none appear sleepy. In fact they were most excited with lot of guests . I forced all of them to shut their little eyes at a little past 11pm....mak pun tertidor gak...

13 November 2005

Kak - Wedding plans (1)

Bang Long is getting married soon, in fact in less than a month's time. Bang Long is Kak's first born and Kak is hubby's eldest sister. So, Bang Long is the first nephew and the first cucu ( grandchild) of the clan whom is getting married. So you can imagine Kak's situation now. His first son is getting married, her husband is down with a stroke, her second maid is not coming back, her first daughter is at college. She is forced to handle her household chores with her first maid handling al the cooking and washing, ran her business with the helpof her second son, managed her husband's health ( proper diet, exercise, mediacton and all), monitor her children's studies ( Silah in UTM first year diploma, Fifah sat for her PMR, Kael still doing his hafiz up north in Kedah) and now preparing for the wedding. And she is doing this all ALONE...super woman indeed.

Granted that she is quite a difficult woman to please but she is very friendly all the same. She is just like a kakak ( sister ) to me as I have no kakak of my own. She is very supportive and concerned about her brood and closest family well being. She was there when I was in the labour room, pushing hard for my Anis to come out. Although I have to be c-sec d later, she waited throughout the operation.

She left her paralysed husband at home, just to visit me, on the birth of my twins.
She called me, hearing me ranting out on any displeasures or disagreement between me and hubby. She is a very good listener, adviser, a mother figure and sister figure rolled into one.

And now, she is in such a frantic state. Preparing for any wedding is a daunting task in its own. Now, Kak, as every mother would be, wanted the wedding to be as perfect as it could.
Me and hubby, advised her to slow down, as we dont' want her to collapse from all the work. We offered to her in every possible way that we could. I showed her all the places that I went to when I was preparing my own wedding. Volunteered to introduce her to wedding card supplier, tailor , arrange for the transportation and accomodations.


She wanted to give bunga telur, chocolates, potpourri, cakes ect to the guest. All of those have to be prepared beforehand.And she is quite shorthanded and she wanted to oversee everything herself.The catering, the kenduri tent, the pelamin and wedding gear and 1001 things that have to be settled.

We went to her place yesterday, slept overnight and went through all the wedding preparations with her. She seemed calmer after talking it out with us.

I prayed that everything will run smoothly. Will update more on the wedding later.

09 November 2005

Maman fell down

Reached home from the office about 6.45pm. Opened the gate for hubby and no sooner than hubby parked his bike, Bibik squealed from the door...Aiman jatuh tadi, kepalanya berdarah sikit ( Aiman fell down just now, his head bleeds a bit)
Huh! Bila tadi tu? Pukul 5.30 tadi. Pukul 5.30 tadi sekarang baru kamu bagi tahu!)
( When did it happen? Around 5.30pm just now. 5.30pm and only now you informed us!)

Checked Aiman's head and Ya Allah, bengkak kepala anak aku, berdarah kat dua tempat lak tu.
Apsal lah pompuan ni tak bagi tahu awal2...asked her why she did'nt call either one of us to inform, she replied ' dia menangis sikit aje..' ( He only cried a little) Pompuan ni really make my blood boiled ....nak suruh budak tu menangis bersungguh2 kesakitan baru nak dia inform kot. It's not that she do not how to use the phone, she called me and hubby several times before. All of them on petty matters, but things like this happened, she did't call us.

Straight away took Aiman to the nearest clinic. Aina n Anis tagged along. The GP tended to Aiman and said that there is nothing that they can do at the clinic, she have to refer Aiman to a hospital where he can be x-rayed. Ya Allah, lagi sekali berderau darah aku, is it that bad? The GP said that it is a precautinary measure as we cannot see if there is crack or bleeding inside.
Got the refer letter and went to Tawakal. Registered into the Emergency Room.

The nurse cleaned his wound. She sprayed and put some gauze but it wouln't stick due to the thick hair. So she put on a net- like head cover over Aiman's head. Aiman stayed stiff all this while but once the nurse was gone, his hands tugged at the head cover and it went off.
The doctor exained hima and called the radiologist. As Aiman is very active and did not vomit or anything, he did'nt expect anything serious, but ordered an x-ray anyway.

By this time, Aina n Anis is quite cranky, maybe due to hungriness, It is nearly 8.30pm and they haven't had their dinner. So left Aiman with his father, while I tended to to the two princesses. Brought them to Haslam and have our dinner there.

A little later, hubby and Aiman joined us. Alhamdulillah, there is nothing to be worried about.
The doctor prescribed antibiotic for his wound and some medication for his flu. Went back around 9pm something. Penat ooiii...

Reached home and give a pep talk to Bibik. If something like this happens again, if the head, the eyes, the nose and stomach bleed, call us immediately. Do not wait!

Baik Bukk...

My Raya Adventure


Just came back from a loong raya break today....aiyoohhh...seems the office has turned to a ghost office...nobody around, except for a couple of KLites who have no kampungs to go back to. Pity them.

Ton bragged of having the whole of KL to herself. She said they can even have picnic on the road during this festive period. Kesian ngko ton, nak piknik tengah jalan, orang lain sibuk2 balik kampung, itulah pasal, carik lagi orang KL..keh keh keh.

( Pictured here are the twins in their baju raya at MIL's house on the morning of first raya. Anis didn't join in as she was hiding behind the curtain> She was forced to wear her baju kurung and didn't like it)

For me and the brood, we touched down in KLIA last night after 1/2 hour flight from JB. Hubby has to leave us there because he came back earlier due to no leave. Spent the first half of raya in Dungun and travelled back to JB on 2nd day of rata. We reached my parents' place after almost 11 hours journey....whew, how did we managed that with 3 children aged 4 years old and below in tow. Itulah bahana carik orang jauh..keh keh keh...