1st day of hari raya...

...yesterday was damn busy as usual, like those years back. my staff didn't have time to sit even for a second. i (of course) helped them to fight too! lol... fight with the customers... hehe... rotfl... no lar... where we could fight with customer, no way... i mean, i also "turun padang" to join my staff with the busy situation. anyhow i sent my staff to perform their raya prayers while i stand-by at the cashier counter alone. it was damn silent then but as soon as people finished their raya prayers, it was damn busy non-stop till to-date.

girl cousins

L-R: liyana, ina (squeeeeeeezed), ida, sarah, nivin, illa, kuE (and one missing shanaz).

taken by basheer(?)

special guest

clockwise from left: auntie mia, enda teh, auntie mek, my mom & me.

megat & auntie mek

i went back at mid-day as relatives kept coming to our house. everyone from near and far were here. my staff also came after they have finished their work. not forgetting my god-mother auntie mek (pronounced mik) who came all the way from ipoh just to visit us for hari raya along with her dot dot dot and dot dot dot, in two other cars. i could say that it was her unofficial trip as there was no official protocol or what so ever. as usual, my sister came with her digital camera when we were at the dining room with auntie mek. "ahhh... this is the hardest part when ina is around", auntie mek said after a few bites of my sister's home-made muffin, followed by a quick laughed by all of us. before auntie mek went off, she gave the kids duit raya. guess what she created a new category under "unmarried" that make my unmarried sisters, brother and cousins also got the chance to receive duit raya from auntie mek and thats including me! lol... ;)

yea... my sister took most of the pics yesterday. i'll update them here after sunday 6 november 2005.

since visitors non-stop coming to our house, my sisters and cousins including me went to our grand-auntie's house later in the evening. we just visit her for the sake of meeting her for hari raya. we then adjourned to another grand-auntie's (late grand-pa's sisters) house around there too. then the last house that we went to was my dad's youngest sister. really had a heavy meals there *phew*

since we are in the millenium years, i also received lotsa raya sms'. these were part of them:

31 Oct 2005 21:55
Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin. dari zilhaziq

3 Nov 2005 08:26
Selamat Hari Raya...!!! Raya kat mana? Other fon KO. Balik t'ganu later. maybe 4th raya going up north... Will let u know... V

3 Nov 2005 09:48
... SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI... MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN ATAS APA JUA KESILAPAN YANG LALU... azah
(kuE's note: sentimentalnya bunyi...)

4 Nov 2005 15:32
Selamat Hari Raya. From Akiko.

... plus many many more. sometimes i wonder that no one seems to care about the traditional way of sending the hari raya cards anymore. for me, wishes thru cards are more meaningful. but i myself didn't have the time to do that this year. so i didn't buy any single greeting cards from my favourite gift shop memory lane. anyhow i still have to dig some from our old stocks. this is because i still received some raya cards and i have to reply them, namely to auntie gai. she was together with us during my beijing trip last august. in her card, she told me that she will be joining her son who is an accountant to riyadh (insya allah) in october 2006. i also got one card from my first bf, rizal who is now based in ipk jhb (hmm... wonder whether sheryl stumbled into him there lol...). well no matter how i will definitely reply all the cards that i have received.

kuE's note:
8/11/05 ~ uploaded 'girl cousins' pic.
9/11/05 ~ added more pics.

hari raya aidil fitri

hari raya aidil fitri (also hari raya puasa, literally “celebration day of fasting“) is the malay term for the muslim festival of eid ul-fitr. hari raya is also known as lebaran. muslims in brunei, malaysia, singapore celebrate eid like other muslims throughout the world. the term “hari raya” literally means “day of celebration” — it is also occasionally used to refer to eid ul-adha in the form of “hari raya aidil adha“. the main greeting used by muslims in malaysia and singapore is “selamat hari raya” which means “happy eid” in malay. another greeting is “maaf zahir dan batin” which translates loosely to “i seek forgiveness (from you) physically and spiritually”, for hari raya is a time to reconcile and renew relationships with others.

of balik kampung...

Raya: Diskaun tol 20%

PETALING JAYA - Orang ramai yang pulang ke kampung sempena Hari Raya Aidilfitri ini boleh berjimat menggunakan lebuh raya Projek Lebuh Raya Utara-Selatan (PLUS) dan Lebuh Raya Lingkaran Tengah (Elite).

Ini kerana mereka diberikan diskaun sehingga 20 peratus ketika menggunakan kedua-dua lebuh raya itu selama enam hari iaitu pada 16 hingga 18, 22, 24 dan 26 September ini.

read more here...

isn't this kewl people? PLUS and Elite highway patrons will get 20% discounts on this raya seasons: 16 to 18, 22, 24 and 26 September 2009. and while we are all happy with this, everyone must make sure to drive safely during the hari raya holidays no matter where you are going, far or near.

what's the most important thing is to arrive at our hometown safe and sound. think about our loved ones. we do not want to hear more tragic incidents like what we have heard all this while, even during the ramadhan. and i am sure all of us do not want to celebrate this syawal in tears :(

*this community service reminder is brought to you by kuE ;)

the day before the big day...

just like any other festive holidays, now we muslims around the globe will be celebrating the eid mubarak (also known as hari raya aidil fitri here) which precisely is a 'celebration day of fasting'. and the best thing is we celebrate it all through out the month of syawal! wohooo...

and part of the most important thingy for me is that my hair has been fixed!!! i am so glad i did it, cuz now many people praised me for looking much younger ehem...

the day was spent by doing some thorough cleaning everywhere. looks like we didn't opt for any panjut this year hah! we just go for some colourfull windmills instead wakakaaa, blimey...

while puteri and i prepared cupcakes as usual. we always do this at the very last minute because obviously we want the cupcakes to be served good... as you could see in the pic above, it was my view of puteri helping to put up the curtain since she has completed with me— mixing the cupcakes ingredients. besides that, both my sisters already make sure that all the fresh flowers are in order. its a must thingy for us to make sure that the house look more vibrant *winks*

mama cooked rendang pedas ayam (chicken), as part of other main perak delicacies specially served during hari raya at our place. like cupcakes, the chicken can't be cooked very much in advance. not like other meals— we can cook them in earlier, and keep in the fridge. we will then heat the food up when we wanna served them on hari raya. closed relatives and friends were normally looking forward for these... hmm yummy!!!... but one thing, the meals were all cooked by mama this time around since grandmother is already 82! but of course bah is monitoring mama like the chef je... anyhow ok what, bah really knows her way around in cooking!

alrighto!... i guess that's it for now. i am off to bed! gotta wake up radically early tomorrow to decorate the cupcakes.

i would like to take this chance to wish everyone selamat hari raya aidil fitri, maaf zahir & batin no matter wherever you are. to those of you whose driving back home, make sure you drive carefully. take care! *peace*

first thing in the morning...

i wanna check-out today's headlines first as soon as i sign-on as usual; when i read a live news of a bad accident on my fb instead huhuu...

jenkin yat saw a "great(?!!)" car accident on jalan loke yew on his way back home from pj earlier at 5am... according to him, the 2 cars were badly wrecked!

owh... you know i hate to hear this kind of news. from what i understand, it was raining heavily when the accident occur. anyhow aren't we supposed to drive more careful when its raining. i have just mentioned yesterday here in this blog for everyone to drive carefully during the raya seasons. basically the reminder is not just for hari raya, but this applies to anytime and anywhere in the world! and most importantly: think about your loved ♥ ones...

by the way good morning world! its sunday morning here on this part of the world now... and we gonna celebrate hari raya next weekend! wohooo!!!... how time flies...

find out more about hari raya here.

*this community service reminder is brought to you by kuE ;)

"malam raya"

its already +/- 4.09pm here on the eve of hari raya (eid mubarak). i need to get off early but i have to wait for my 2 staff who are at the MBB to change more of RM10 notes. malaysian people are rich what, all make payment using big notes... hah! no lar... its early of the month. on the other hand its double celebration for us rite? i.e. deepavali and hari raya. malaysia is a multi-racial country.

i am going to bring part of my staff to seri malaysia, ipoh for buka puasa tonight. half of them already went there with me yesterday. i also brought along puteri and megat together with my grandma. my auntie (her hubby passed away few years ago) and her three children reached here last nite. also my two sisters and a younger brother.

anyhow despites the busy-ness (got such word meh?!! hehe...), i asked my staff to send me to my hairdresser and i called him to fetch me when i finished. i dunno whats my puteri and megat's re-action as i haven't go back yet. i know megat will like it. puteri prefer me to have a long hair. i do wanna some changes sometimes ;)

my mom called when i was at the saloon. it seems that everyone are going to buka puasa with me too! so i called seri malaysia to let them know of the additional people coming. wow... looks like tonite buka puasa would be more havoc lol.

back at home, grandma cooked all the food by herself i.e. rendang pedas, rendang dinding and ketupat to name a few. she likes to do all that herself, without the assistance from anyone else. her cooks are the best i tell you!

again i would like to wish everyone "selamt hari raya aidilfitri". be safe on the road and always think of your loved ones.

silence

all home alone last night. parents went to kl for the mcoba royal gala 2005 (annual dinner). so megat followed them too. but then mom and megat will stay in kl until next week where puteri also will be coming back with them. puteri's extra class starts on next monday, 5 december 2005.

i was so happy and makes me keep moving on when david called me yesterday morning. but i was having my shower that time. i checked my "missed call" list. then i called him back. well, bank opened 1/2 day so we cannot talked long :(

hmm... luckily hari raya mood is still on. i went to the sambutan hari raya aidil fitri bersama polis daerah at ocpd's house yesterday afternoon. very good response there. once i arrived, one of the police officers usher me to the VIP tables and asked me to have my meals there. i was like... o ok... my grand uncle, tok mansor and his wife were there too. i also met bankers and some other business people that i know. but it was strange that i never see any of my competitors face hehe... anyhow the food... wow... so damn great that i don't have to eat dinner hahah... before i left i met with the ocpd tuan zakaria who was in light brown baju melayu with sampin koleq (i remembered that before i go there, when i wanna say goodbye to dad, he told me that tuan zakaria was budak koleq too) and some of his officers tuan hasbullah, tuan nazri etc. if can, i would have snap some pics of tuan zakaria lol. but shy lor...

V sms me yesterday asking about my problem. its not that easy lar kawan. thank you for asking anyway. he also went around for hari raya open houses, juz like me ;)

since no one at home, as usual i glued on the tv box for hours. i was watching fashion luminaire on astro prima this morning. during ads, it was mentioning something that makes me interested to go. that's the penang island jazz festival. uhh... how i love jazz so much. i wanna go... but who shall i ask.

o yea... before i forgot i wanna tell something that make me shocked hehe... not that really shocked lar... its about my friend nizam that i met during our meeting last thursday. he was 1/2 an hour late. ok that’s fine. he asked me to take down the minutes as the secretary-in-charge has an appointment with her doctor. that’s fine too. suddenly when he wanted to use his fon, my eyes was like... arr... then i thought in my mind, "oh... my god". his new fon is exactly like my new one, nokia 6680! hehe... wonder whether he realize it or not. well ok, that’s one thing. then when the meeting almost over, nizam was looking for extra cups. maybe he was kinda thirsty cuz he talked so much also. when he can't find any, he juz took mine. so i told him, "ehh... tu teman punya lar...". "tak pe... bukannya mati pun", he replied. then he immediately poured some tea in the cup. i wondered if other people realized that. i knew shaidi was looking at me and smiled ;)

dup dap dup dap

the above title really tells of why on earth i haven’t up-date my blog for quite some time. puteri sat for her first day of 3-days UPSR exam this morning. she looks so damn cool. on the other hand, i was the one who felt so nervous. i dunno why. maybe when every time i saw her, i would also think that “my darling princess who was my normal-born baby about 11.5 years ago is now also my teenage girl”. most of her sizes are bigger than mine now i.e. her vital-statistics except that i am still a bit taller than her. more over when she told me last week that she wished to change her hair-style after her exams— from straight to curly. “ohh… it really shows that she’s getting older and knows what’s best for her”, i thought to myself.

i received sms from Leilanie, wishing her good luck. unfortunately puteri was already somewhere in the school compound. thank you dear. i’ve told puteri when i fetched her from school anyway. she said thank you and hugs back to you.

“kuE… my wishes and good luck goes to PU3 today and the next few days of her UPSR exams. hugs to her…”

even both my sisters were here during the weekend to give a full support for puteri before her exams today.

i went to ipoh last saturday with puteri and grandma. the main reason was to get some fabrics for the coming hari raya. wow... its gonna be raya soon. how fast the time past. i guess its just like a few days ago when i posted about getting fabrics for last hari raya. so did you realize that megat didn’t follow us? he has to stay at home for about two weeks since last friday. he complaint that he was ‘dedo’ ~ pronounced 'the' and 'door' (perak word for warm body temperature, almost fever). i gave him the children’s chewable-cherry-flavour panadol tablet with hope that he will be okay by the next morning. when i checked on him the next day, his temperature was a bit high. alright, so i thought it’s just a normal fever that i didn’t allow megat to go to school. i was having breakfast with grandma when suddenly megat showed his body with a few red-spots. grandma thought that he was having miscles. fine. megat followed me when i wanted to fetch puteri in school. we went straight to the clinic. with only a glance, the doc said that megat is actually having chicken-pox auww... we were kinda worried though for puteri as she is having her exams this week. puteri never had this yet.

last two saturdays were spent in ipoh too by watching movies with kids— click (19th) and monster house (26th). sorry people, no time to write some reviews on this. what i could say is that we really enjoyed the movies so much. its nice to watch with the kids.

a raya with V...

i didn't have nothing much yesterday at first cuz i remember of V's sms that he is coming to the northern region on the 4th of hari raya. i was at my office when suddenly i received a sms from V at +/- 11.24am. he was on his way to alor star. after a few sms' here's what he thought... "just passed behrang. that's why i asked if u were in ipoh... kalau nak beraya dgn i ke...? traffic quite heavy so i thought i'd take a break... mana la tau ada org boleh urut neck i ke...?" *glurp* its confirmed that he wanna meet me so i told him that i would be out in an hour.

as soon as i was passing-by the tunnel V called saying that he already reached ipoh. he went to kinta city to get our lunch. but then before that he send his clk230 to a car accessories shop to fix his audio system that was out-of-order. so he waited for me infront of the coffe bean shop. he directed me to his new house in bandar baru tambun which was a damn easy straight roads from tesco, first time there though. i guess its a damn new area, double-storey terrace houses. i dunno which one is better. although that one is more newer and spacious, i prefer the old one better ~ a single-storey bungalow in bercham.

anyhow i went to the toilet as soon as i reached V's place. can't stand lor... of the damn hectic traffic. it took me almost more than 45 mins than usual 20 to 25 mins. whatever it is the interior design of the house would make whoever goes there feel so relax as he decorated his place just like a resort style with fully air-conditioned. its not strange at all for me as one of the famous resorts in the country was his idea (or maybe more?). we had deli-france take-out that V bought earlier while watching a nice movie on star world. grr... can't seems to remember the name of the movie lol...

he asked me about my sms asking for a job with him. that was about 3 weeks ago. it was a damn hard thing to explain. it got somethin' to do with my fights with dad that makes me felt wanna leave and work with V. "black magic!" thats the main reason initially. we tried to confront each other. surprisingly, just few days before he got my sms, he quit his job and he dun have any office right now. he said that he thought to himself, "apasal budak ni... mesti got something wrong somewhere... i pun quit my job, suddenly dia nak keje dgn i plak..." lol... anyhow now he knows that its all because of the black magic thing. "so now, sume dah ok lar...", he asked. "yeah... sort of.", i answered with a smile. it seems that he was so damn fed-up with the kl projects that he decided to quit. so now he would concentrate on the other projects out of kl. that really confused me. i was not dare to ask him furthermore yet. never mind, maybe next time. after i finished my meal, he asked me to massage his neck hehe... i'm petite i tell you my man... got bones only lor... lol...

we then proceed to his bedroom upstairs after the movie finished. we lepax there together. V voluntarily did a full body massage on me. he really makes me felt on top of the world. we had a nice great time then. i dunno whether i should describe it here ;) we had our shower before we went off, left the house after 4.15pm. i dropped him at the car accessories shop. as usual, there's always something for me... this time a hari raya hamper. V continued on his way to alor star. it seems that if his work completed before 3pm today, he might go back to kl immediately if not he will be going back on tuesday instead.

well, it was really a day to be remember for both of us!

more to come...

its the first day of hari raya today. we were all busy like hell here as usual. and now we are all already dead tired! *phew*

so be on the look out for more blog postings on our styles of celebrating hari raya very very soon...

it's the time of the year again

heya all… how’s your weekend. i am sure you all wonder of why I placed this miserable pic. yes, like the title said—it’s the time of the year again! i was cracking my head like crazy here at work today.

i saw a new fax that just came-in, as soon as i entered my office by noon. when i took it… argghhh… NOT AGAIN! it's from my AM. i hate this one of the entire task that i supposed to do yearly. well actually its not that i hate it or what, but it really will have to make me think thoroughly crazy like mad. it’s the ‘Raya pre-plan’ people. everyone was happy enjoying fasting month, thus Raya soon but not me. i have to make sure that i placed the order correctly, not until we run out-of-stock. besides that my heart-beat was running so fast that because i was so damn worried about this. we have to submit it back to the sales office by 3.30pm. alright, that’s fine. for me, it’s not settled yet as that was just the pre-plan, not until the Raya season is here when we would know the actual thingy. believe it or not, i have done this for about four years now i think—there’s still a lot to learn.

happy holidays people… but for those of you who are working tomorrow, i would like to wish you all happy, happy and happy always ;)

kuE's BIG note: on the other hand, no matter what as usual i will be working with my female cashier on the morning of Hari Raya :D

selamat hari raya aidil adha

we didn't go anywhere today although its a holiday. flu bugs are still around that's why. maybe we just went to an auntie's place in bukit chandan with adik illa except mom and dad. besides that, at the same time we also met our latest edition to the family, auntie's grand-daughter who was born on christmas day last year. here are some pics of the baby with puteri-

we would also like to take this chance to wish all muslims around the world,

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL ADHA from kuE, puteri & megat!

peace to the world...

happy deeparaya...

we would like to wish all our family & friends esp blogging friends...

HAPPY DEEPAVALI

&

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

*hugs*

kuE, puteri & megat

kuE's note: pic taken during 1st day of hari raya in 2003 :)

“It’s Krrunch Time, Get Playful!”

It's 4th day of Syawal! Some people already started working especially those in banking industry, and also some offices no matter in government or private sectors. While kiddos are still on Raya holidays until this Sunday! wohooo!!!... Better let them enjoy the “Krrunch” yo... Can't hassle them much also, not good occay?!!...

Basically my online timing was kinda off a bit during these days lor... I only managed to sign on around noon today. One of the "must" visit site is of course none other than my FB page. As soon as I signed on, I was like: "Oh my GOD!!!"...

A junior of my former secondary school typed this on her FB status: "Sat lg nak siap pg beraye kat umah Kak... tgh mkn cup cakes yg Kak... bg bawak balik semlm... yummy..." (translation: going to celebrate hari raya (eid mubarak) at kuE's house in a little while... am eating cupcakes now, given by kuE yesterday... yummy...).

Like I mentioned earlier, it's already 4th of Syawal now. We don't have much thingy to be served to them... there's no more lemang, rendang and what's not!

So I quickly grabbed my car keys and off I went!...

Check-out the clear blue sky people... Aren't we feel sooooo damn lucky to have this kind of weather during a festive season? It's way easy for us though to go and visit our relatives and friends. But anyhow I had an important mission to go through first!

The main road along Clifford School (yes, this is how local veterans called the school!) was smooth... kewl! I can't have much hope though, while tapping my fingers away on the steering wheel; with hope that the road will be just like that all the way...

And when I was about to reach the "Jam Besor" (Big Clock Tower)... Holy SH*T!!! Look at the traffic to/fro every corners of the roundabout junction people especially towards the Jalan (road) Kangsar (the 3 o'clock turning).

Then I headed straight to a local mini market. I searched everywhere, hi and low, and finally...

Thank God that there were only two tubes of Pringles left! *phew*

You people don't know of how happy I am until now, smiling from ear-to-ear seeing what I was thinking of. Whatever it is, at least there's something that nothing at all!

And now... I am all ready with my open hearts, waiting for my guest to be arrived!!!...

Besides that, of course I also have some Raya money packets to be given away... Hah! those in the pic below are mine actually, courtesy of my lil' sis and lil' bro hehee...

Hey! btw KL-Kualè is not that far ler... You will only take about 2.5 hours drive :)

“It’s Krrunch Time, Get Playful!”

telekom' hari raya tv ads 2008

i suggest, you grab a tissue first before you start watching it...

well at first i don't even thought of placing the above video here in my blog. but when my lil' bro asked me this afternoon, "chor, miké ada tengok iklan raya telekom (translation: chor (big sis), did you watch telekom' raya ads)?"; then i was like— this must be because he was the sound man, if not for sure he won't ask. he had just arrived alone this afternoon. since his wife has just started work with a new company, so she has to work today. sheryl dear, fyi shafinaz is with the same company with you now, but she's based in hq :)

so i asked lil' bro, "kenapa... miké buat ke (why... did you do it)?".

"ha ah...", he replied. i knew it! see... its always like that where we only know about his work after its completed hehe...

so basically i placed this ad here for me to remember that its part of my lil' bro's work. good job bro!... you really make us proud :)

kuE's note:
miké is you in perak slang ;)

important message from plus highway

today is the last day of working and schooling for some. malaysians especially muslims will be celebrating hari raya next week, and most of us took a whole week leave. while everyone are so excited to get ready for their raya season, most importantly to those going back to their kampung, here i copy and paste an important message from plus highway that i received via an email that i have just retrieved—

Jika kereta-kereta di bawah ini menghampiri anda, cuba elakkan dengan melarikan diri ke tempat selamat, sebaik-baiknya ke Balai Polis berhampiran.

ISWARA BIRU

Nombor Pendaftaran

WFK 6929
WHN 8719
BWB 9325
BEB 8734
BEB 8320
BEB 8323

PROTON WIRA

Nombor Pendaftaran

WKT 5371

Kenderaan-kenderaan terbabit adalah kenderaan yang digunakan oleh penjenayah-penjenayah/peragut/pembunuh yang bergerak aktif di sekitar PJ dan Lembah Kelang.

Tuan / Puan diharap berhati-hati dan keselamatan anda tanggung jawab anda.

Please share the info.

Norlia Mohammad
Legal and Secretarial Support Department
PLUS Expressways Berhad

Ext : 4911

take care people! and have a safe trip back to your hometown. think of your loved ones... this community message is brought to you specially by http://kueee.blogspot.com!

cupcakes: store bought or homemade?

in case you don't know, we (that's my kids and i) love to bake; even though, we don't often have time to do so. when we make cakes and cupcakes, we also like to make homemade butter cream icing. in fact, i can't even remember the last time i bought frosting in the can at the grocery store.

now this being said, just because we like to make frosting doesn't mean we are good cake decorators or good at frosting cakes.

here are our homemade cupcakes for my dear son megat's hari raya party in school today. forty-eight butter cupcakes with butter cream frosting on top. megat loves his mommy's cupcakes, so much that he asked to make them for the party. for a child his age, he has an amazing understanding of what it takes to make the food we eat, and i'm so proud of that.

this morning megat marched in the school proudly carrying the cupcakes, and all he could say over and over again was "my mom made cupcakes!". then i thought no mothers won't feel great hearing that statement from her children...

as for me, i believe store-boughts are stale, greasy or/and dry, empty of excitement and full of beurk.

at least when you bake your own you know what's in them! i would eat a handmade cupcake before i eat one bought at the grocery store. except for the ones made in cupcake shops.

one of those generally accepted ideas is the idea that the only acceptable treat to send to children's school/group parties is a homemade one. generally, only homemade treats (particularly cupcakes) are seen as a sign that a mother cares enough to send the very best. there is often a hint of contempt in the voice of anyone who talks about "those mothers who run down to the store and pick up store-bought cupcakes".

the first question to ask is why would any mother buy store-bought cupcakes when she could make them herself? the answer to that is not necessarily that she is too lazy or too busy for her child's party, although both of those answers are also possible ones. another answer to that question, though, is that anyone who has ever brought a child by a bakery case and seen his or her eyes light up at the sight of particularly adorable, fun, or beautifully decorated cupcakes or cookies know how nice it can be to offer a child a particularly special and professional decorated cupcake or cookie. let's face it: its a rare mother who can turn out a cupcake that looks anywhere near as great as a bakery cupcake. homemade cupcakes are often a little tilted or lumpy. their frosting isn't usually as artfully applied. often its just spread over the top of the homemade cake in a pretty unimpressive, unimaginative, unprofessional way. moms who want to send something very special may believe that letting the professionals do the cakes really nicely is the more caring and special thing.

the second question to ask, of course, is why would any mother make cupcakes herself when she could "just go by them". one answer may be that she enjoys baking from scratch. most moms, i'd venture, do not bake those homemade cupcakes from scratch, though. most use a mix and a can of frosting, which does kind of take the "homemade" out of homemade; but which still shows a certain amount of enjoyment in making something nice for a school or group party. many moms may make the cupcake-making event one to share with children, who can help. others may prefer to mix up the batter once the children are asleep.

besides the basic motives involved with each mother's preference there are also unspoken messages that homemade and store-bought cupcakes can send.

for example, store-bought cupcakes may say, "my mom can afford to buy 25 high-priced cupcakes from the bakery." store-bought treats can even say, "my mom cares enough about other people's children that she wants their mothers to know the batter wasn't stirred by a five-year-old with a cold. my mom is a perfectionist and wanted to send something really special to the party."

what do homemade cupcakes say? they may say, "my mom loves to make things for our parties," but they may also say, "my mom couldn't afford 25 bakery cupcakes. nobody guarantees that the kitchen in which these cupcakes were made would pass health codes. my mom thinks we, school children, care more that she made these cupcakes than about how special the cupcakes really look." at the same time, homemade cupcakes may say, "i'm so proud that my mom made these cupcakes."

in reality, cupcake-baking moms may have all kinds of other things to do but prefer to make the time for cupcakes. bakery-shopping moms, on the other hand, may be doing other nice things with their children and may simply believe that nice cakes from a bakery are a nice treat for a holiday party.

so children, which do you prefer: bought or homemade?

my advice: love and love big! stop being afraid of being “less than”, a bad parent or being rejected for loving the right person. BE BRAVE AND LIVE BIG!

project 365: 1st week—

day 1 — i thought to myself, what a good way for me to start this project 365 of mine with a picture of our home. this is part of a corner of our ‘green room’ which is quite synonym for our family's photography session especially during hari raya.

day 2 — i have just came back from town when i snapped this pic. i was on the look out for orange colour thread and satin ribbon. here’s what happened: we had an invitation from a young uncle for his new born son’s “kenduri marhaban” on 16th may 2009. mama asked of what we going to bring for baby ibby. since i had some 100% cotton cartoon print with matching plain orange fabrics, that i simply bought at the sunday market the week before (without knowing of what was it for); i had the idea to sew a simple tote bag filled with baby toiletries. i am so glad that they like our handmade gift.

day 3 — picture taken by megat, shown me with auntie zarina and baby ibby; at the kenduri marhaban held at a grand auntie‘s place in bukit chandan. normally functions like this are the chance for us relatives and friends to meet up out of our normal daily routine. i like...

day 4 — i was waiting for puteri to buy bread at a mini market when i saw this new banner hanged by a local café, the gate café at the back view of their café in jalan kangsar. they have been accused of serving non-halal food. i am sure they took drastic action this way to prove to kualé people that they actually served halal food. i myself was surprised at first when i heard about this as i knew that they employed malay cooks i.e. malay makcik and some malay guys.

day 5 — i as one of the committee members of my former secondary school’s PTA has been invited for the school’s teacher’s day celebration. this scene really reminds me of my school days huhu... i used to stand/sit there for five years of my secondary school’s life. we had our daily morning assembly there way from mama’s time, and now… its puteri‘s turn. can you spot her? it was so nostalgic i tell you. we could also see the wonderful panoramic view of the sungai perak from there.

day 6 — this view was from the back of aked mara building here in kuala kangsar. along this road as well, was the back part of the shop houses located along jalan kangsar in town. far end is megat’s school. i have just brought megat to see my uncle at his clinic when i snapped this pic. megat was coughing and has minor fever. he was so happy when my uncle gave him two days medical leaves :)

day 7 — i had just arrived from my former high school when i remembered that i haven’t take any pics of the day yet. so as you could see, that’s my stuff that i normally brought for any school’s PTA’ committee meeting and such: starbucks coffee 2009' diary and its meeting minutes papers. guess what people, i will be going to my school again this saturday for our OGA's AGM 2009!


it was a great week for this project even though its only the first week. can't wait to see the full results :)

salam aidil adha

we would like to wish selamat hari raya aidil adha to all muslims around the world.



regards,
kuE, puteri & megat!

the day to do some last minute thingy...

it was just like yesterday we started fasting and now already 28th day of ramadhan... see how fast time flies without us realizing it...

and here's some of my to-do-list for today. we'll come back and see of whether i would succeed to complete them all, ngeh³...

√ last minute marketing at the local market with mama :)

√ mother-daughter trip to a local hair saloon

√ mail my friendship bag swap that i joined. if not have to wait for wednesday(?) *glurp*

√ thorough spring cleaning of our home and of course my lovely room! ;)

√ get all the ingredients for hari raya cupcakes baking session with puteri ready.

√ lights: 'lampu lip-lap' ok, check! but not panjut yet... haiya! :(