Eetle and playdate!

Wht a weekend it was! Saturday we drove the Swift to a used car dealer. Turn out the salesperson was quite a nice guy and I don't feel bad leaving the car there. When dear signed all the necessary forms and whatnot,I was left in the car with Aresha sleeping on my lap. I almost got teary eyed (emo la sangat) and funnily enough I actually bid farewell (read: literally talking to the car, saying goodbye and thanks and hope she'll fall to a good hand)Oh dear! I'm gonna miss our compact, but just enough to accomodate the three of us lil' Swift :(



After waiting for almost 2 hours (including roti telur & choc Vitamilk session at nearest mamak)
We finally ride on our '68 Beetle. Definitely a different experience but so much fun! Aresha was stunned the first half hour. She seems to sit back, enjoy the ride, inhaling the natural air condition and fell asleep right after that! It is a good sign indeed! She's comfy and all and kept saying 'Eetle best!' (insert thumbs up here)
I even suggested tht we watch 'Mukhsin' to celebrate, lol! Not today..we need to (at least dear think that)get to the famous VW spare parts supplier @ Jln Ipoh to get some regular service. We don't want to be stranded by the roadside, do we?
Before heading home, we decided to take a bite @ our usual drive-thru. Aresha had so fun, her face show it all, with the wind blowing her hair, priceless!
Tho' this is just a temp VW before dear got(and still looking) his '67... I must say riding in a VW is so much like riding on a Harley! Why? (Since u can only feel the a/c when the weather is not too humid)The sound itself plus vibration is very similar to a Harley. All in all we LOVE it!


The next day, we went out on a playdate @ Kidzsport (again! Had 3 vouchers to redeem before 31st) with ET, Apek & their kids the English speaking Taha & oh-so brave Ainul, Kecik & Nadia. All of us had a blast! Apek has to catch Taha who ran around ALL the time :) The always smiling Ainul can't get enough of the pool of balls. Dear and Kecik having the time of their life bullying the kids (and Aresha too!) in a miniature football field while me & Nadia, we had some catching up sessions before taking turn to watch Aresha as the big boys went to Amcorp Mall. While sipping orange juice and munching currypuffs & muffins, I can't help but amazed by Taha's English vocab and his politeness. I know Aresha's taking her babystep to talk and build sentences, I'm not gonna push her so hard and let her have her own pace. Being a mom these days is not easy!
We promised each other to meet up for more playdates in the future. After her 3rd visit, Aresha's now really familiar with the playground and she even went down the slide on her own for the first time while mommy busy catching up with her friends! Wow! Marlia even told me tht Aresha couldn't find her way up to the slides but still didn't give up! That's my girl!
I managed to drag Nadia to accompany me for grocery shopping before she gave me a lift to Bangsar to meet up with dear and Kecik. Aresha really enjoyed the ride as she run her hands on Nad's dashboard and cushion, giving another thumbs up! :))
We went to Bangsar Village II, our turn to accompany her on a shopping spree followed by fruit and vege picking @ the pasar malam, hehe.

It's all good except for the curried mee goreng. Poor Nad,should've followed our instinct to go to tht banana leaf restaurant, kan? Next time, I promise!

An ode to our Swift

I try not to think so much about sending off our Swift tomorrow morning. As I clean up the whole car yesterday, all the memories, moments tht we have in this car suddenly flash right in front of my eyes. How excited we were when we first got it. We actually talk about it till 3am as the light goes off. It it our first ever car (and dearie actually thought of keeping it forever, (hehe ye la tu) Bambi loves to be carried around in the car. She just love sitting near the back window and look out till she fell asleep. So cute! Most of all we bought the car because of Aresha. We are so used to get around with our bikes rather than as dear used to say trapped in the car. He was the one who convinced me to buy the Swift strangely enough has convinced me to sell after approximately one year!

Well tonight we'll be riding her the last time, maybe to our usual drive-thru, and have some breakfast before we bid farewell. Au revoir or is it a bientot?

A beautiful engagement

Hmm I never thought high school sweethearts would last (at least for me lah) but my brother Erie proven tht it could happen!
He just got engaged to his lovely fiancee CT on a beautiful Sunday morning of 10th March (just 2 days after his b'day) We went all the way to Kluang (actually to Singapore on Friday night but tht's another story)
I made blueberry cuppies with royal icing frosting for the hantaran but sadly it didn't make it to the dulang :(
My royal icing didn't hardened as it supposed to be. There goes my laborious 6 hours of baking (including chocolate chip cookies)and dear actually helped out to ice the cupcakes. However, at least I learn the hard way, ALWAYS follow the instructions. I'm supposed to beat the meringue and powdered sugar from 7-8 minutes not 5 minutes!

Back to the engagement, of course the usual yada-yada, the solemnisation was set on a very prosperous date, 8/8/08 and the hantaran with about the same figure, and my future SIL looks really gorgeous tht day in chiffon white baju kurung with a hint of blue flowers. She definitely looks taller than usual and my bro beamed with smile from ear to ear. They go way back since Form 4 @ High School and finally Ct is now his fiancee and in 17 months they will be husband and wife. All the best to you both..COngrats!

Goodbye Suzy, welcome home 'Eetle'

We're definitely bringing home our '68 VW Beetle this Saturday and send our Suzy to a used car dealer in Jln Klang Lama :(
I never thought that we would have to depart with our lightly driven '06 Blue Swift this soon? Mentally not prepared. I love lil' Miss Suzy so much tho' I didn't get to drive her, I'm the one who took care of her interior (read :religiously vacuuming the carpets, seats etc)Hope she'll fall to a good hand

The funny thing is that, we actually bought the Gold VW you saw in Mukhsin. Yes, tht exact car, now everybody knows our plate number, lol!

Now, everytime Aresha sees the trailer she'd exclaim with excitement " Eeetle!" Soo cute!

Momma's day

It's momma's birthday today, Happy 53rd ma!

I'm supposed to bake a birthday cake and cook dinner for a small get-together party tonite, but I guess it has to be postponed till tomorrow as momma & Fara's not feeling well.Called to wish her and she said she'll treat us all for lunch on Saturday, Yeay! They'll definitely be here for few days and on Friday, Marlia has offered to take us all to OU, got free vouchers from her to bring Aresha to Kidzsport again! So lucky Aresha to have Aunty Marlia!

On another note,I'm refraining myself from baking breads (and eating them too!)Gotta exercise more before I'm turning into a balloon again, lol! Am I expecting again? Hmm we're absolutely extra careful on tht. Just rapid weight gain kot, since I'm not producing as much milk as I used to. I may just be paranoid, boo hoo!

of baking and posing

I don't know where she got it, must be ANTM. Aresha's so into posing ala top model the moment the lens is pointing at her. Here's some taken in the room, dining table up to the stairs where she grabbed my hands and ask me to take her picture.It's funny how she struts her thing like a pro.






I tried making marbled chocolate cheese cake (and testing our new used Moulinex oven from the famous 2nd hand shop) It turned out to be really good :) and Aresha and I ate almost quarter of the cake (hence my rapid weight gain lately, lol!)

Punk momma!

Thanks to Nad, I finally have the guts (more like whatever, it'll grow!) to shave off my hair and voila! I'm definitely Mrs. Reza, no doubt abt it, lol!
Dear was such a professional at this. It's so perfect just like wht you have in a salon! I guess I'm gonna stick with this for a looooooong time!

Potluck party

Dear Malscenians,
Here's the flyer to our first potluck party @ chez moi.
Malscene's already 10 and dear & 1 met 9 years ago.
That's a perfect excuse to party eh?
See u all this Saturday!

Here you go;

Salam Aidiladha & Happy New Year!

Salam Aidiladha to all my friends, may you have a happy and blessed Aidiladha.
I know most of you may already be at your kampungs respectively and this time we'll be celebrating Eid with dad's side of the family in Segamat. It's gonna be dearie's first time there after almost 3 years of marriage. (Don't ask me why ;) )
Tonite we'll have mama and papa's 27th Anniversary celebration. I already cooked Mee Hong Kong and Erie's gonna buy a cake. Silly me I forgot to wish them on the 21st so we decided to make a surprise party for them :). 27 years wow!

In a sad note, Saddam Hussien is now dead executed by Iraqis. Well I know he's a dictator and all but I still find it sad that he has to go that way. I read that many Iraqis who lost their families were really happy that he's gone for sure but what makes me more happy is to see the PUSA who hides behind his humanity mask die in agony and humiliation. Say what you wanna say. I'm gonna stick with this.

We'll be back on Monday and hope y'all have a safe journey home.
It's ironic to celebrate Eid and New Year's Eve on the same day but we stopped celebrating New Year few years back so it doesn't matter. We hope for a wonderful year in 2007 and maybe some travel soon? Have a great one!

Xmas in S'pore

These pics were taken almost a month ago while we shop in S'pore.
Notice those cute little All Star on Aresha's feet? I've been searching hi and lo for this sneakers since Aresha was born and we found it in S'pore for just SGD29!
Aresha's becoming more attached to her daddy each day and I just love seeing them together.
The past few days she even sleeps on daddy's chest, which is soo sweeeet. Don't u just love it when daddy and daughter bond that well?

Designer/punk

I so wanted Jeffrey to win Project Runway 3. Why? Maybe because he's a punk who successfully made a living being a fashion designer, or I'm always a punk at heart (pffft) and married to a punk who's also a great designer. He's not your typical gay designer. Tattooed, mohawk and all, just a breath of fresh air in the fashion industry.
Laura is such a b**** for pointing it out at Tim about his sewing skills or is it such a great finishing on his leather jeans. So what if he used "outside" help? That's none of your business! Why can't you just shut up and get on with your buttons and hooks?
Tonight we'll see how it goes, but it seems like Jeffrey is gonna be disqualified and she seems happy to eliminate one contender away. I just wanna see wonderful design by a punk on a runway, ala Vivianne Westwood or Malcolm Mclaren. I guess it won't happen eh?

3 in 1 party

Last fortnight was like a whirlwind and hectic for all of us. We were hosting two couples of CSers simultaneously, preparing for the party and doing makeover for our lil' living room. No wonder I didn't manage to cook on time. Luckily mom made us her famous laksa johor, with nasi himpit and kuah kacang or else Ain, Nazri, Stuart and gf would have nothing to much on except for cheesecake and kuih raya la. Open house apa namanya tu?Pfftt

More pics can be found @ here Luckily Man brought his SLR cam and act like a photographer we hire for the party(err,jgn hantar bil pas ni sudah) We didn't get the chance to take so much pics as I'm for sure running around the house to make sure everything's ok. Sorry for those I didn't get the chance to greet or chat with. Particularly Ain and Nazri :( Many thanks to those who came and brought gifts for Aresha. It was great to meet Apek, E.T and kids, Ajeep, Man, Nadia, Kecik, Yawn & Mas, Yunus,Marlia & Isz, Muna & family, Kak Ada, Abg Enol (thx for the lovely painting) & Iwan, Oare, Kerry & Ola, Wong & family, CSers Low & Ed, in case if I forget to put your name, you know who you are and we appreciate your presence.
Most of all thanks to my wonderful parents who did helped me a lot! and saved the day! (Aresha loves the bike so much!) My grandma who made me the nasi himpit My future SIL Siti, who brought the scrumptuos apple crumble and helped out in the kitchen, Erie for the balloons oh you guys were so kind! ( Sounds like Oscar speech plak)
Aresha had so much fun tht day and it shows! She's beaming with giggle and laughter, playing with all the kids and even adults (who has camera, posing, and love to see her own pics, ok?)Tht was the first time we saw her so happy!

Meanwhile,here's snippets of our lovely time with Alia and Luis, me practicing Poi (you're truly a 'legend' ;) Alia!) I miss them when they left, they're such lovely, super nice couple , I admired their politeness and their effort to make our hosting experience a memorable one :) Do come and visit us again guys! Or, we'll visit you soon, perhaps?

Alia doing the ribbon poi

Luis and his diabolo

Riding in car with Bambi

Went to my best friend's, Marlia wedding last Sunday and I can't believe tears almost came down from my eyes seeing a very close friend of mine tying the knot :)
She's glowing, prettier than ever and Isz is sure one good looking groom :) Too bad I didn't take much pics as we're handling two babies, Aresha and Bambi.
We took Bambi for her booster vaccination and earmites treatment. She's actually having a serious infection in her ears.
Bambi is a dream cat. We could travel in the car without having to cage her. Aresha loves it, she giggled all the way :)

10 great years!

We're going to #malscene gig/gathering tomorrow. Can't wait to see faces of our old friends, some we haven't meet for years!

I dunno if I've wrote about this but this is how I met dear. Yes, thru IRC chatting. I was 17 back then and he's 23. He's one of the founders of the channel, I'm just a newbie who gets really excited to meet/make new friends.
To cut long story short, we chatted for hours almost every night, on weekends, till 6am! Mama got so furious (obviously there's no broadband back then,the phone bills went sky high!)She even locked the computer room at night. Lol! I'd climb the window from the kitchen and sneak in. Talk about things you do for love eh? We didn't become online bf gf instead I fell in love with his long ponytail on the 2nd IRC gathering that I went. Heh,I always have a thing for long-haired guys since I was in school. The relationship starts from there, tho' he actually uttered only a few words the first time we met. There goes our monthly Tower Records meet up, hiding from other #malscenians dates, till we actually tie the knot almost 3 wonderful yrs now. How fast time flies when #malscene is actually celebrating 10 great years online and we're almost 9 yrs together.
Happy Birthday Malscene, I'm thankful that I met my #1 love there :)

Our new baby

Since you guys have been asking, or wanting to ask when are we going to have a second child, while here she is....introducing, Bambi (short for Bambina) new addition to the family. She's a Flame point siamese mix, cream coloured neither shorthair nor persian-liked fur, with orange striped tail.



She's really cute and bonded with Aresha instantly! She loves to play and sleep with Aresha (tho' sometimes Aresha got so jealous when Bambi snuggle with me)The best part is she's so smart we don't really have to toilet train her. Just put the cat litter in the bathroom, she went there on her own to do her business, :)

We got her from Ampang's SPCA. She was really meant for us. Why did I say that? When we arrived there, it was raining heavily. We went straight to the cat's area where most of the cute kittens are already taken (adopted/booked) Bambi caught our attention the minute we went in. She was placed in a cage, on the center, left side, she's the only kitten left in that corner, others are either taken or left empty. Dear fell in love with her immediately as she wriggle herself towards us. Then, the caretaker,kakak came in and told us she was taken. Arghhh.. but there's another cat near the office, just like her, only orange in colour. This time it's a male cat but we know he wanted us to take him home too :(
We just can't bear looking at other cats' sad faces, as if they were saying"Why aren't we taking 'em home?" We decided to take the orange cat home, when dear said he wanted to look at the backyard one last time, and..... unexpectedly good news! Someone cancelled to take the cream kitty home! It's officially ours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, that's how we got Bambi. Bought a carrier, the sweet lil' Bambi stayed really calm in the car, singgah open house rumah Che Mat jap for 3 hrs and Aresha just couldn't wait to play with her.

Now, the bed is really I mean really full with 2 adults and 2 babies altogether. Bambi loves to sleep on my pillow. Ah, my new baby! It's easy to leave Aresha when I'm cooking as she'll happily snuggle, cuddle and play with Bambi.


On another note I made pot roast chicken (since we don't have oven yet), with baked potato served with, sour cream beef bacon and spring onion and Caesar's salad on the side.






So here's the recipe of Pot roast chicken, Baked potatoes and my interpretation of Caesar's salad for 2.

For the Chicken in this particular recipe I only use half of the chicken (preferably one whole chicken cut into four) Mine was already cut into twelve hence the presentation is not really that good :P

Pot Roast Chicken

1/2 Chicken - if u don't have it quartered, choose drumsticks, wings or thigh
1 cup chicken stock/broth (I use Maggi cube)
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves - smashed
2tbsp light soy sauce
1cm ginger - slivered,smashed (if u like it gingery, smash it or use more than 1cm)

It's easy peasy, just fry the garlic till brownish or aromatic with some oil and put all the ingredients in the pot. Leave for 45 minutes.

When it's done, heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok transfer all the chicken, fry each side for 2-5 minutes ( I like it crispy) and add some black pepper to taste.

Now, for the baked potatoes what you need;

2 Russet potatoes
2 slices beef bacon
2 tbsp sour cream(I love sour cream, so I use more!)
scallions/spring onion to garnish on top


You can either put it straight in the oven wrapped in alumininium foil or if you don't have oven like us, just boil it till it becomes soft abt 15 minutes [I think, I just left it since Aresha always distract me from the kitchen ;)]
then wrapped it in foil and put it in a pan (dry fry) for 5 minutes each side (cover it if u can).
Meanwhile,you can fry the beef bacon with 1 tbsp oil for few minutes and chop it.
when your potatoes are ready,transfer to a plate, make a cross cut and spoon sour cream in , garnish with beef bacon and spring onion.

As for the salad I made the sauce beforehand with
6 tbsp mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp vege oil/olive oil
1 sprig dill( I don't have it in stock so I just leave it be)
salt and pepper to taste

Blend all the ingredients in a blender/food processor till it becomes smooth, or just whisk everything in a bowl.

For the salad;I use;
Butterhead lettuce - tear or chopped
2 boiled eggs -sliced
potatoes - boiled with the ones used for baked potato, diced and fried with garlic- this is substitute for croutons
purple cabbage- shredded
8 cherry tomatoes (yellow and red)

Voila! A healthy meal for the whole family. Aresha digs boiled eggs, she ate most of 'em and no kids would refuse to eat chicken!