Mummy_Ayu GIveaway @1st Birthday Moment

For the first time ever, I managed to get the HTML code by myself in order to enter this contest! Yahoo..............I'm so happy,excited and so over the moon. So, thank you so much to my dearest sis. Yatie Chomeyl who had the time to write the tutorial abt getting HTML code in her blog. Muahh...love you sis.

Okay, let's get back to the contest before I totally go out of the topic. hehe. As usual, we have to check terms and conditions. Here are the T&C:

1. Jadi follower Mummy Ayu & add Mummy Ayu dalam bloglist (done)

2. Tepek banner contest nie kan side bar kenkawan... (done)

3. Lagi bagus kalu buat sticky mode entry..senang nak jengah nanti. (will try)

4. The most important things....tepek kan gambar waktu baby tu

celebrate her/his 1st birthday..

tak kisah la kat mana, macam mana...

janji nampak baby tu ngan kek.... (okay)

5. Terbuka kepada kanak kanak di bawah 4 tahun

(so..maksudnya gambar 4 tahun yang lepas pun diterima...)

6. Masukkan nama penuh kanak kanak, tarikh lahir plus

cita la cikit cikit pasal her/his 1st bithday celebration tu... (okay)

6. Tarikh contest nie...dari la nie (sekarang)

until my princess nya birthday 10 November 2009

7. Hadiah biarla rahsia but satu je leh kasi tau

my bestest friend dah agree nak jadi one of the penaja

so..satu lagi syarat tambahan..kena link ngan blog Notti Netti &

of coz link jugak ngan blog Mummy Ayu (okay)

(tak de link direject)

8. Tinggalkan link entry kenkawan kat komen box nie.. (okay)

9. Pemenang akan dipilih oleh para juri Mummy Ayu

(no undi undi...) ok!

I have chosen these two pictures of Hafizah when we celebrated her first birthday last year.

Name: Hafizah bt.Ariff
Date of birth: 22 June 2007
During her first birthday celebration, I was so determined to make the cake on my own and decorate it as pretty as possible. However, the butter icing turned out to be so watery. I used white chocolate to decorate at the adge of the cake and chocolate bits to make number one. Well, Hafizah and her big sister still loved the cake as chocolate cake is always being their favourite cake. we just celebrated Hafizah birthday at home during the winter. (that's why I was wearing jumper!). Hafizah received a rider for her birthday present and she was so delighted to ride it around the house everyday since she got it. I was not really in the mood at that time because I received a message from my brother about my late mum being addmitted to the nearest hospital. But, I didn't want to let my daughters down as her big sister was the one who was so excited to celebrate Hafizah's birthday. (We can see clearly in the pictures. :D). Two days after Hafizah's first birthday, my late mum passed away. Hafizah's first birthday is going to be an unforgettable date in my life especially because my late mum never had the chance to meet Hafizah. (She was born here in Hamilton, New Zealand and I never had the chance to go back to Malaysia to show my late mum her second granddaughter. huhuhuu).

Now, here are the link to mummy ayu , the organizer of the contest and the sponsor:
www.mummyayu.blogspot.com
www.nottinetti.blogspot.com

Beautiful but harmful.

Look at the two photos here. What kind of fruit do you think that is? I reckon most of you might say that it's cherry. That's what we thought too. If only we are more knowledgeable in identifying plants and trees, then we wouldn't have problems in eating the wrong kind of fruits!. Two days ago, when my hubby took a bite of the fruit, it tastes bitter and afterward, he suffered from burning lips and diarrhea. So, this fruit is only meant to be part of decorative plants in our backyard as the tree and the fruits look so amazingly beautiful but it's harmful. (maybe not to the extend of causing death but absolutely not to be eaten. Remember: I'm not an expert bcs it's only based on my assumptions). This is the tree:



We have few fruit trees that might be poisonous in our garden and we always try to be careful especially when our daughters are playing in the garden. Right now, we are waiting before the plums in our garden are ripen. There are already heaps of green plums on 3 trees that we have. Once the plums turn to magenta, we can eat them and definitely share the plums with our neighbours and friends here. Last year, we had a BBQ in our garden and our friends who came just went to the plum trees and pluck them as much as they like. It was fun and we might do the same thing this year. (depending on our budget bcs my hubby is still waiting for the next cheque to come. huhu).

It's great to have a big garden that's full with beautiful trees, plants and definitely flowers. Here, it's still Spring and there are heaps of flowers blooming beautifully. So, feast your eyes and enjoy the photos here.

Weblog Popular 1Malaysia

This time I want to nominate Mom Bloggers Planet in the contest called "Weblog Popular 1Malaysia. (Sebenarnya dah lama nak buat entri ni tapi asyik tangguh2. Nasib baik tarikh tutup dilanjutkan sehingga 31 Okt.). Why do I want to nominate MBP? Well, in short, there are heaps of cool stuffs in MBP. I like the blogging tips, blogging reviews (kat situla kenal lg ramai bloggers lain), the blogging tutorials (kalau nak belajar pergi sinila), cool contests (selalu jugak masuk contest kat sini sbb nak cuba nasib) and heaps of cool products that have been advertised here.

These are the cool prizes that have been offered:
HADIAH

1. RM1,000.00 : 1 Weblog yang mendapat pencalonan terbanyak dari teman-teman blogger akan dinobatkan sebagai Weblog Popular 1Malaysia.
2. RM1,500.00 : Weblog yang paling banyak menjadi reference atau rujukan peserta contest Weblog Popular 1Malaysia.
3. RM1,000.00 : Weblog kedua paling banyak menjadi reference atau rujukan peserta contest Weblog Popular 1Malaysia.
4. RM500.00 : Weblog ketiga paling banyak menjadi reference atau rujukan peserta contest Weblog Popular 1Malaysia.
5. 4 x RM250.00 : Hadiah khas – Ranking no 1- 4 di google.com.my dengan keywords “Weblog Popular 1Malaysia” pada jam 12.00 am 30/9/2009.

Thanks a lot to these sponsors:

SAUDACARE , ANISHA ONLINE MALL & One Malaysia Blogshops

I found out about this contest; Weblog Popular 1Malaysia obviously
from http://mombloggersplanet.com.

This contest is organized by www.denaihati.blogspot.com

P/S: There's only one problem, I'm not sure if my blog is considered as "Weblog Malaysia" or not as I'm currently in New Zealand but I'm certainly am a Malaysians who are here just on the temporary basis.

Curry VS Gulai

They look similar right? However, the ingredients that we use are somehow different. Why do I want to talk about these? You have to read first to find out..........

As a housewife now, I have to worry about what should I cook for lunch and dinner. I used to be so lazy (really3x lazy), when I was working full time. I would buy take away food or even went out to have lunch and dinner. When I was working in USM, Engineering Campus in Nibong Tebal, Penang, I only cooked during the weekends as my hubby would be home on the weekends. We were the weekends couple for about 2++ years. When I moved to KL and worked in ELS, KL, I still didn't really have to cook as we were staying with my hubby's family in Kelana Jaya. My hubby, MIL or FIL would buy something for us before they came back home. During the weekends, my MIL would cook and I would only be her assisstant (sous chef. hehe). Sometimes we went out during the weekends and had lunch or dinner either in the food court or any nearby restaurant.

I should be going back to the title: Curry VS Gulai before I totally forget what I'm going to write. Hmmm it's about how I resolved our clash of preferences when it comes to food. My hubby really loves curry. He can eat any types of curry everyday with white rice or roti canai. While my taste is more on the Kelantanese dishes. I prefer soups and gulai. (beef/chicken/fish with light coconut gravy). According to my hubby, gulai which is prepared according to Kelantanese style is not as tasty as curry! Thankfully, he likes my favourite dish which is "Nasi Kerabu". What do I do? Well, in a week, I will cook curry for 2 days, soup for 2 days, special dishes like Chicken Rice, Special Noodle with gravy for the weekends and Western food for the remaining day. I always try to be fair and square as it's kind of hard to satisfy everyone's need especially when you have different preferences. My daughters now somehow have started to demand certain food too. I can see that in the future I have to be more creative in cooking. Sometimes, you can cook the same kind of dishes with some twists. For instance, yesterday I cooked spiral pasta with bolognaise sauce. In the bolognaise sauce, I put minced meat, some sausages, tofu (yes, tofu!), grated carrots and muushrooms. My daughters loved it and my hubby also gave a thumb-up. I reckon it's because I also put 2 tablespoons of curry powder in the sauce.

I guess it's time for me to stop rambling about food as it might make you feel hungry if you're not eaten anything yet. I'm not an expert yet but I'm learning here and there and picking up few tips from the experts to brush up my cooking skills. It's good if we always trying to renew the recipes that we have by adding few ingredients that are suitable and experimenting with food is better than experimenting in the lab like my hubby. haha.

After 5 years.........

This entry is actually a backdated entry. So, please bear with me.

After 5 years.....we were able to go to watch a movie at a cinema. Yup... that's what happens when you have little kids. (bukan tak bersyukur ada anak tapi ada keterbatasannya.tak boleh nak buat sesetengah aktiviti mcm masa berdua je. jgn fikir benda lain pulak. hehe). The last time we went out to watch a movie, I was 4 months pregnant. (Fathini dlm perut masa tu). We went out with my hubby's lab mates to watch a movie. I can't even recall which movie that we watched during that time.

My hubby was the one who seemed so excited when we finally can bring our children to watch a movie. He booked the tickets online and chose the movie "Up". On the 4th October 2009, we went to the Sky City Cinemas in Westfield Chartwell. My hubby booked the earliest session which started at 10 a.m. (senang tengok awal2 sbb kalau lambat takut anak2 lapar). There were not so many people when we arrived there. I asked my hubby to buy a medium sized popcorn before we went inside and we were quite surprised to see that it was quite big. (dah jakun tengok popcorn sbb lama sgt tak masuk panggung. hehe). Once we were in the cinema 3, there were only about 12 people there! (syok tengok cerita bila tak ramai org). Both of my daughters seemed happy to be able to have this experience. Fathini asked "Why there's a big tv there?" . She even pointed her finger to the huge screen. I have to give a little explanation about the huge screen and what we were going to do there. Hafizah was just being so quite and contented herself by eating heaps of popcorn.

This is a photo of my hubby and my daughters inside the cinema:

I was quite pleased with the seats because the seats were huge! In Malaysia, there are some cinemas that have small and uncomfortable seats and we really hate going to those cinemas.
We thought that it's going to be cold in there. However, they didn't turn on the air cond which was fine as it was a rainy day and quite cold outside.

The movie was a good movie but maybe it's not so suitable for my kids as they can't really understand what happened in the movie. At some points, I had to reassure Fathini that everything was going to be all right at the end especially the parts when the old man fought with the explorer. We didn't hear too much noise from other kids who were there. Maybe because they were busy concentrating on the movie. Though Hafizah was bored at some points, and I had to move to her seat and put her on my lap before she started to cry. When the movie was over, we couldn't finish eating the popcorn and we just threw it into the rubbish bin. We took some photos before we went back. (utk kenang-kenangan bila anak2 besar).







As usual, before we went back, we had to stop at the dollar store. It's my favourite store here as I can buy most of the things at $2. I bought a set of coloured pens, two colouring books and a new set of doctor kit toy for my daughters. Our plan after that was to eat at King Pizza and Kebabs in town. Unfortunately, there was no parking space available during that time. (dah mmg masa lunch dan hr Ahd pulak tu. ramai ler yg makan kat luar). I had to agree with my hubby to eat at a small eating outlet that served halal Indian food. huhu. (Kempunan nak makan pizza org Turki tu). The food there was not bad eventhough there were only rice and several types of curry available on Sunday. We chose a bowl of butter chicken, a bowl of-not-too-hot lamb curry(tak ingat apa nama sebenar) and a bowl of hot lamb curry. (tak habis bungkus bawa balik lg sbb butter chicken boleh tahan sedap).

Once we were home, both of my daughters were sleepy and we just had a good rest for the rest of the day.

Top Chef?........or is it my own imagination.....

I like to watch"Top Chef" or "Master Chef" programmes on tv lately as they show that cooking is an exciting thing to do. (well, minus the pressure and expectations). Lately, some of my friends ordered some food from me and I've started to imagine myself as one of the contestants whenever I prepare the food. (hehe). Of course, the kinds of food they like to prepare are totally different from our kinds of food. But I doesn't stop me from wanting to try my best in preparing the best food for my friends. Maybe I'm not so good in decorating the food as I'm not so creative in that part. I'm quite lucky as Malaysian food doesn't need to be decorate so much as we care more about the taste. (iye ke? maybe it's just my own opinion. )

Last week, I've been asked to prepare fried noodle a.k.a mee goreng and macaroni baked for 50 people by WUMA (Waikato University Malaysian Association). It's for their meeting which would be on Saturday, 17 Oct, with new MSD (Malaysian Student Department) director here, Dr. Rosli Mohammed.The meeting would only be for the students as they are going to discussed things related to them. They are actually having the meeting while I'm typing this entry.

The cooking operation (note the word operation. haha) started last night when I cut 2 kg beef, I cooked 2 bags of macaroni pasta and sauted garlic, onion with chooped tomatoes and canned tunas.You might wonder why did I started so early? Well, eventhough fried noodles and macaroni baked are quite easy, when you have to cook in a large quantity, you need more time for the preparation. (tambah2 kalau mcm I yg still tak terer masak ni. lambat sikit masak2 ni)

This morning by 7 a.m. , I took out 8 packets of noodles (mee kuning tu, mahal tau kat sini sepaket $4.50), the prepared beef, 2 packets of shrimps, chives and beansprouts. Before I fried the noodles, I had to mix the macaroni sauce with the cooked macaroni and sprinkled with some cheese. The macaroni then went into the oven for about 40 minutes. For the first time after about 3 years, I used the gas cooker stove top that we bought last week. Usually, most of the time, I have to cook using the electrical stove tops. You might wonder; so what's the difference? When we use the electrical stove tops, we have to wait longer before it's really heated and we have to be careful with the volume as we don't want to burn our food without cooking it properly. The gas cooker stove tops; well most of you know because that's what we normally use in Malaysia. But if you never use it, the gas cooker stove tops would be so much easier compared to the electrical one. (apala dah melalut sgt ni. sorry...)

In order to make my job easier, I sauteed garlics, onions, chilli paste with the beef and shrimps first. After it's ready, I scooped out the base and pour it into a big bowl. Next, I put a packet of noodle and mix it with 1/8 of the base. The beansprouts and chives would be put later when the noodle looked nicely cooked. Of course I also pour some sauces like chilli sauce, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce,soy sauce and some salt. I cooked about 8 batches of fried noodles and I finished cooking at about 11 a.m. I was so relieved that I managed to finish cooking before they came to pick up the food. There was not much decoration for the fried noodles as I just sprinkled some fried onions on top of each containers and they were ready. I have to mention that I got some helps from my hubby too along the cooking process. He helped to stir the noodles and hold the big frying pan when I need to transfer the noodles into the containers. Thanks sayang! Love you so much (jgn muntah lak baca ni. hehe)

I only managed to snap two pictures of me while frying the noodles. I didn't really have time to pose as I was afraid that the food wouldn't be ready on time! I even forgot to take a picture of the noodles and the macaroni baked. There were 4 big containers of fried noodles and a big container of macaroni baked. Maybe next time (if there's another order. huhu), I will remember to take heaps of the food photos.

House Warming Contest | Want to win a Blog Makeover?

This time, I want to try my luck in this contest as I've tried few times to do some makeover in my blog without any success at all. (bila buat, dah hilang pulak some blog sites. huhu). I'm quite hopeless in blogging as there are so many things that I always struggle like in copying banner, making sticky mode(yup, that's right. I don't really know how to do a sticky mode entry. huhu), changing from 2 columns to 3 columns and changing the header og my blog to make it more interesting. Thus, I really need a makeover!All right, here are the terms and conditions:

1. Satu (1) blog entri bertajuk House Warming Contest | Want to win a Blog Makeover?

2. Kembangkan (haha!) ayat ini di dalam entri tersebut “Jiji u better kasi I menang Blog Makeover ni kalo tak……!!“ (ada kat bawah)
3. Dialog Anis Manis kepada kepada saya.. Contoh: “Mii..jangan makan banyak, nanti gemuk lagi, cemana Abbi nak belikan seluar jeans?“ (sila lihat di bawah)

4. Copy dan paste syarat-syarat ini di dalam entri tersebut. (dah letak)

5. Jangan lupa sertakan link http://triplecolourlife.com

6. (Optional) Copy paste Blog Contest Badge pada entri atau sidebar atau mana-mana la yang anda suka.

(no problem)

So this is for no 2:
“Jiji u better kasi I menang Blog Makeover ni kalo tak……!!“ I would never be able to makeover my blog as I'm still new and still in the process of picking up some tips here and there about blogging. Plus I'm quite an IT illiterate person. (buta IT. hehe or maybe slow sikit). I've tried few times to do the makeover and I ended up messing up the whole arrangements in my blog. So, right now I'm kind of hope for someone to help me with the makeover. SO, your contest is the perfect opportunity for me!

For no 3:Dialog Anis Manis :

Mii...jgnla tenung2 Anis macam tu. Takutla Anis tengok. Kalau buat macam tu lama2, nanti Anis nangis sapa jugak yg susah. Mii jugak yg susah nak pujuk Anis..Kan, kan,kan. Baik Miii bg Anis susu. Anis dah lapar ni. Perut Anis dah berkeroncong, berdangdut dan mcm2 lagu dah ni.


This is the link: www.triplecolourlife.com

Okay, I think I've done what I've supposed to do. Takpe ye Jiji kalau my entry campur2 English dgn BM. Sbb dah terbiasa guna English. Tapi of course tak lupa mcmmana nak tulis dlm BM.

Promoting .......MOM BLOGGERS PLANET.....

You may wonder what is Mom Bloggers Planet? Is it a new planet that had been discovered by scientists? hehe. NOPE! This is the best site to be referred to when you have zero or little knowledge in the blogging world. (for example I, myself is still in the process of learning abt blogging). There are heaps of cool things that you can discover here like tips on blogging, blogging tutorials, cool contests, blog reviews and some product reviews. The owner of the site is Little Mama @Ros. Though MBP is still new (abt 9 months ++), it's become quite popular among Malaysian bloggers. I'm actually writing this entry because I'm interested to grab the Top Referrers Award for October 09. So, if you are new and interested to know about blogging, this is the best place to find out. Don't worry if you can't understand some of the jargons there as you can always ask little mama to explain. Plus you can always meet other mum bloggers out there and it's good to know that they are quite helpful as well.

Why am I so interested in promoting MBP? well,

ALL October 09 Top Referrers will get:

• 30% discount e-voucher on all exclusive gin&Jacqie models available on BagsKaki AND
• 5% discount e-voucher on all Coach/Cole Haan & other Designer branded items on BagsKaki

And, the TOP 2 referrers for MBP will get:

• The above e-vouchers as well AND
• FREE Gin & Jacqie Roomy Susan baby bag (choose between blue, purple, black – while stocks last) worth RM149.00 each!!

It's great! Right!

The prizes have been sponsored by Jacquie from
www.bagskaki.blogspot.com


And.....the organizer is of course www.bloggersplanet.com

Miela77 Aksi Di Aidilfitri Contest..

Sebenarnya I baru rasa nak rest kejap dr masuk mana2 contest. Tapi oleh kerana baru terbaca pasal keluhan Iela yg contest dia tak mendapat sambutan, rasa terpanggil nak try jugak utk memeriahkan. Kalau yg lain berminat pun, apa lg masuklah cepat sbb hadiah2 menarik jugak.

Pilih punya pilih, rasanya ni gambar yg ada aksi menarikla. Bukan apa banyak2 gambar cuma ada aksi2 sopan jer. Teng3 lihatlah gambar ini:



Why did I chose this photo? Well, macam nampak menarik je gaya org2 lelaki makan di pagi raya di sini. Kami sembahyg raya kat rumah seorang kawan yg bermurah hati menawarkan rumahnya sbb kami raya hr Isnin (21 September 2009). Lewat sehari dr Msia. huhu. Slps sembahyg raya kami menjamah mknan yg disediakan tuan rumah dan mknan yg dibawa oleh rakan2 yg lain. Sesetengah kaum lelaki tengah menjamu "Soto" yg disediakan oleh tuan rumah. Tapi tengoklah mcmmana diaorg makan. Macam tengah buat mesyuarat kat tengah2 tu bukan macam makan. Entah apa yg dibualkan sambil2 makan tu. Khusyuk makan sambil berbual2 dalam bulatan. hehe. Lps tu I accidently snapped our kamera girl of the day. Jadi, aku ambik gambar org yg tengah mengambil gambar org lain. hehe. Yg bestnye, this is the only photo yg ada gambar kamera girl masa kat rumah ni. Sian dia. Ok, dah cerita tentang gambar, skrg kena cerita pasal produk yg Iela selalu promote kat blog dia.

Apa itu Anti-Virus Bio-Tech Herbal?
Dari apa yg telah dibaca, ini adalah vaksin yg boleh mencegah H1N1. Org yg bertanggungjawab dalam penghasilan vaksin ini ialah Dr. Wan Mahani Zainal Abidin (Serologist, (Ex Research Development Petronas PRSS dan kini menjadi Penyelidik Chemicals/Kimia Bertaraf Antarabangsa serta Senior Business Advisor Dunita Corporate World).

Macam mana nak makan ubat ni? According to Iela, ubat ini boleh disapu di hidung untuk membantu pernafasan atau titik 2,3 titis ke dalam mulut atau ke dlm secawan air suam dan minum 2 kali sehari untuk menambah oksigen ke dalam badan sekaligus membantu pernafasan. Vaksin ini dijual dalam botol kecil(5 ml) yg berharga RM20 dan botol besar (100ml) berharga RM150. Selain dari membantu pernafasan, vaksin ini juga berguna dalam menghilangkan batuk, sakit tekak dan membuang toksin di dlm badan. Selain itu, ia juga mampe membantu dalam sistem penghadaman, melancarkan perjalanan darah dan menguatkan imunisasi badan dalam melawan virus. Ada lagi, ia juga berguna dalam merawat sel2 kulit dan menyembuhkan luka2 dgn cepat. Iela juga telah menulis beberapa testimoni dari beberapa pelanggannya yg telah mencuba vaksin ini dan telah terbukti dalam beberapa kes yg vaksin ini berkesan.

Ok, kepada kwn2 yg berminat, jomlah masuk contest ni. Ini link dia:
www.miela77.blogspot.com/2009/09/miela77-aksi-di-aidlifitri-contest.html

I'm torn when they are fighting!

My daughters are now at the stage where they have started to bicker, fight and sometimes hit each other. I know that this will happen sooner or later. As Fathini is 4++ and Hafizah is 2+, they constantly try to grab my attention when they are fighting over the same toy, claiming who is better at something (F:I'm a good girl mama! H: No!me mama!) or just fighting over something silly. I would be torn in between. I don't want to choose any side as as a parent, we shouldn't do that. There's a term for this;"siblings rivalry". Based on what I've read, this is actually normal in a fully functional family. They fight because of several reasons like:

* They fight because they want a parent's attention, and the parent has only so much time, attention and patience to give.

* They fight because they are jealous.

* They fight over ordinary teasing which is a way of testing the effects of behavior and words on another person.

* They fight because they are growing up in a competitive society that teaches them that to win is to be better.

Why does this thing exist? Well, according to many experts, having a sibling/s has created a competitiveness. They want to compete in getting the parents' attention. It's a healthy thing as in the real world, we always have to compete with other people. So, it's up to the parents to teach them how to handle the situation.

What should I do? I can't help myself but to think of my past when I always argued, bickered, fought or even started kicking and hitting my younger siblings especially my sister who is 4 years younger than me. I realize now that I did all those things just to make sure my late mum noticed me as her first born. I have 7 younger siblings and it was not easy to have the attention all to you. I hated when my late mum reminded me that I have responsibilities as the eldest in my family. However, I slowly started to change when I grew older (and perhaps wiser!hehe) by playing my part as the eldest and tried to help my parents whenever possible. I had become my sister's best friend and until now we always share our highs and lows. I wish that my daughters can have the same relationship when they grow older.

At the moment, whenever they start to fight, bicker or shout to each other, I would do these things:

• Remove the toy from them if they are fighting over the same toy and ask them to take turns or both of them choose other toy.
• Ask them to say sorry and hug each other if they start hitting or shouting.
• Ask them what's wrong and hear first what both of them want to say before deciding what to do.
• Give positive reactions.
• Be a good example to them.
• Treat my daughters individually as each if us is unique. It's not fair to compare your children abilities.

There are other things that you can do. I'm still in the process of learning and I'm not trying to be a perfect mum. For me no one's perfect! I'll try my best in raising up my daughters and hopefully they'll grow up as independent, reliable and responsible adults.