What now, Aliah?

I thought Aliah's crying phase was already over until this week, she's back crying in fear. This morning after i gave them a bath and about to dress them, Aliah started crying once she saw her uniform trying to tell me that she doesn't want to got to school. I wondered why she's back to dreading school now...

Tomorrow, Dh had a day off so he can see for himself and maybe he can figure out how to deal with it. I juz want her to be happy, is that so difficult?

Macaroni cheese

This is not the traditional mac n cheese which i absolutely love. I found this insteresting recipe a while ago from a blog which i fequently visited.

This is the 2nd time i make this and my family simply adore this especially Dh who's not a fan of traditional mac n cheese. But he's definetely can eat this.

The 2nd picture showed that i increased the cheddar cheese input after the thing had already been baked to give that extra kick. The macroni was cooked in traditional pasta sauce and i added some chopped chili padi to it.

To me, this tasted more like lasagna compared to mac n cheese.

Twilight novel by stephenie meyer

Recently, Dh said to me that he would love to buy storybooks for Aliah once able to read after noticing how Aliah love being around books. Then i lightly commented that how come i don't see him buying books for me even though he knew how much i love to read. I even used to read in the toilet in my younger days...while doing my business..he..he

I guess it made him thinking and last week, Dh bought me twilight novel which i love to have even though I've already watched the movie in DVD. It's hard to get this book in library becasue it was always on loan. It seems forever...

That was the first time he bought me a book. I was pleased, of course. See...sometimes a man needs a hint or to be told directly.

Twilight is a young-adult vampire-romance novel written by author Stephenie Meyer. Dh knew that i totally love the character of Edward Cullen the vampire who is overly protective and so madly in love with his lover Bella Swan. The story is so damn romantic and it's hard for me to put down book once i started reading it. The author didn't use a lot of big words in it mostly so it suits young reader too.

Before, I wondered what's the fuss was when i saw lots of people reading this novel especially in the train.

The difference between the movie and the novel is that the movie is more direct while the book contain more details to the story.

Angsana JB

Went to JB Angsana two days ago with the kids and had lunch at Kenny Rogers. Too bad in Singapore, Kenny Rogers is not halal certified. By the way, alot of shops there selling a wide selection tudung of different kinds.
My eyes were tired oggling at them but i managed to buy only one.

There's indoor playground where the kids can have fun while waiting for the foods to be served.

The muffins were served warm. It was ok to me at least it's not dry.

The front cover of the menu stated that they use less oil, less salt on their roasted chicken hence less calorie.

This was what Dh ordered that he will share with Aniq while i shared mine with Aliah. It was black pepper half a chicken with 3 side dish which cost RM25.50. Dh chose coleslaw(thumps down), potato salad and fruit salad.

I chose mac n cheese, garden salad and mashed potato. The mac n cheese was so disappointing because it was so bland and tasteless. Luckily the chicken was perfectly roasted and nice.

POsing an evil look, waiting to feast...

I must say that the kids behaved quite well despite the tedious journey taking the public transport. Not to mention the scorching hot weather throughout the day! So i think they deserved a medal for that!

My bloody valentine

This is my first time watching 3D movie. I was so excited about it. The 3d spectacles they gave us were a good quality ones not a paper type of spectacle that i expected. But sadly we have to return it at the end of the movie on our way out.

The storyline wasn't great. I gave it 6-7 out of 10 rating but the 3d effects were superb..i think everyone should try it. It's a one hell kind of experience, i must say..

Bread pudding @ Delifrance

These was taken around 2 weeks ago. After a hearty lunch at far east plaza, we wanted to eat something light for dinner but still want something delicious. :-)
So we decided to dine at Delifrance and we ordered 1 seafood sandwich using ciabatta bread and POunding De Pain. What a name for a bread pudding...! So only 2 dishes for 4 not so hungry people.

The last picture in the menu is the bread pudding. I wonder where else sell this ?Or maybe i should try to make it myself. I remember Asmah Laili ever made it before..

I told the waitress to halve the sandwich so that my husband and i have easy access to it. I think i like barguette (correct spelling?) bread better than ciabatta. Crossoint is good too...

This was the bread pudding that we ordered. Even though it doesn't look as tempting delicious as in the picture in the menu but i was pleased with the taste.It was soft nd not so sweet. Ok ok , what do i know cause i never had a bread pudding before this! The bread pudding was served warm with a scoop of cold ice-cream. What a lovely combination! Dh liked this very much and so were the kids.

I forgot to proudly tell Aliah's teacher that Aliah is toilet-trained now. (finally after a month plus of constant coaching). As a result Aliah wet herself in class last Friday. I apologised to the teacher due to my absent-minded. So i hope that Aliah will be able to inform her teacher everyitme she needed the toilet. Since i had the chance to be with Miss Lin (their teacher), i took the opportunity to ask about Aliah's progress. She told me that Aliah would cry everytime they go into colouring corner to do some activities. And Miss Lin said that she and the other teacher no longer force her into doing things.

As much i feel sad upon hearing that, i know that they are at their wit's end trying to make things work with Aliah.

But today i found out from one of their classmate's grandmother that her grandson also cry and do not want to participate in colouring activities. I t really does make me feel better ( oh oh i feel evil). At least I know Aliah is not so weird after all.
So i guess this is just a common problem faced by preschoolers. But i do hope that Aliah will be able to participate readily one day...

Pizza Recipe

I came across this recipe from Cleo Magazine and i dedicated this post to Azian.



Basic Pizza Dough

2 tsps dry yeast ( beli dari paket, lagi better)
1/2 tsp caster sugar
180ml warm water

Combine them (the above) in a small bowl and cover. Allow to stand in room temperature for 10mins until frothy(berbuih sikit gitu, foamy).


300g plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsps olive oil

Sift the flour and salt into large bowl. Stir in the yeast combine mixture and olive oil and mix into a soft dough. Add in a little water, if needed.

Knead the flour by hand (kalau takde kneading machine) on lightly floured surface for 10 mins.

Brush a bowl with little oil and put the dough into the oiled bowl covered with towel and leave it to rise for 1 hour.

Tomato Sauce (Base)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small chopped onion
2 garlic
1 can (410g) diced tomatoes ( Kak Linda beli brand Hunts and crush the diced tomatoes into a more smoother consistency, kalau suka)
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic till soft.

Then stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and oregano. Simmer the sauce

till it is thick. Season with salt and pepper.

You can make 1 big pizza or 2 small ones from the dough.

Firstly put the tomato sauce as a base and spinkle some mozarella cheese, then you can put some toppings eg pepperoni, turkey ham, sausage , button mushroom, capsicum etc. Then top it off with mozarella cheese again.

Oven temperature: 240 degrees celcius

Time: 10-15mins

To Azian,

The next time i make this, i will take some pictures so that you can understand better. ok..?!

Islamic Restaurant

Last Friday, we went to Arab street to buy some materials for my sewing course-Basic Kebaya. So for dinner, we thought of trying Islamic Restaurant for their famous Nasi Briyani. The picture above is called chicken roll($4).Personally, i find it a little expensice because it was small in size. The kids really love this so i didn't get any chance to really taste the roll as they enjoying every bits of it. It looked like that it was covered in breadcrumbs and the filling was a little cheesy(If i'm not mistaken)

The place was a little dim and it was not air-conditioned but it's ok.

Aliah looked so glam...she loves dressing up...vain little missy.....

This is my set meal. Whole set cost $8.00. It came with 2 small pieces of plain naan. a tandoori chicken, small bowl of dalca(which taste different from Dh's . His dalca was way better), a spoonful of chutney(I'm not used to it) and small serving pilaf rice. Overall, i say it was ok. I think the briyani set was better worth of money.

This was Dh's acar terung. I'm not a fan of acar but i really do like this. Both acar terung and timun were to die for.

This was Dh's set meal which was Nasi Briyani Ayam that also cost $8.00.

Total bill was $26.00.

2 set meal $8.00

1 chicken roll $4.00

2 lime juice $3.00x2 =$6.00

Sambal terung/Terung Berlada

Keeping my resolution for this year which is eating lots of vegetables, Dh and i tried eating sambal terung at nasi padang stall one fine day.

The old me used to think that choosing vegetables as one of the side dishes was just waste of money. Silly old me...!

Unexpectedly and surprisingly, Dh and i enjoyed every piece of the terung(eggplant) coated with little sambal. mmmm...why the hell did'nt i try it before..

So here i am...trying to replicate the sambal terung..annnndddd (drumroll pls) waaalaaa!!! or is it voilaaa??!(shrug)

Dh said that it looked a bit dry but the taste was good. So maybe i should add a little bit oil to fry the chili?

Family photos on paper plate

These beautiful and colourful photo frame paper plates were pinned up on the board outside of the classroom so that the parent and the kids could see them.

Aniq and Aliah were smiling ear to ear while pointing at them and say " Cantik"

I don't think these photo frame paper plates were done by the kids alone (at least not my kids), i think definitely with the help of the teachers.

I don't know whether Aliah gave a helping hand to this craft project because the teacher had been telling me that Aliah had not been co-operative so far. Everytime they need her participation, she would cry.

The teacher then asked me what they should do to make Aliah do her work.

First of all, i told her that Aliah loves colouring, singing and other fun activities. She's the most liveliest kid at home.

I told the teacher that maybe she or the other teacher hovered over Aliah too much and she might be feeling challenged.

I told her that maybe they should take one step at a time with her.

I really really hope that both of her teachers would think Aliah as part of their job challenge and figure a way on how to befriend her or gain her trust first that rather asking me all the time (at least once a week) on how to deal with Aliah.

Well, i can't do much because i am not there in the class and i can never will.

At home, she behave just fine so i don't know what she's like in school or among friends and teachers.

Maybe Aliah need more time, that's all.

Anyways......

To yan

Congratulation on your baby girl. Mesti jambu...kan..

I forgot to ask about her name on our last conversation.

i hope to call you soon.

Lontong goreng pedas

Since i have one spare lontong untouched from the gado-gado, i decided to whip up Longtong goreng today. This is spicy juz the way i like it. I think my mother will surely like this because she and i are like the Spicy Underworld Queen. Ha ha ha.... (It think i exagerated the label a bit...lol)

Not so sedap Gado-Gado

This is my first try on Gado-GaDO and it turned out the taste was not that great. I am not a fan of Gado-Gado so i have a little difficulty making something which i don't know what to expect. I'm making this for Dh's sake cause he loves Gado-Gado. My mum always make this on Hari Raya Haji and her Gado-Gado taste so much better than mine.
But i won't give up yet...I'm sure with guidance from Mum, i able to make it perfect one day.

These are the ingredients that we put on our plate then top it off with the gravy. Then finally decorate it with keropok ikan (Dh preference) or keropok udang and boiled eggs which already been cut into small pieces.

Things gradually getting better.

We are going into the fifth week of the first school term and their school notified us by letter that they will be focusing on the theme “I Love my Family and I Love my Friends”.

Aliah no longer cried going to school and no longer screamed when time to go back.
That takes the pressure off me Phew..!

In fact today, she no longer put on a solemn face everytime I dressed her to school.
Both of them will kiss my hands first then say goodbye loudly in a happy note!
That’s the way I wanted them to be in the first place. …but I’m still grateful they are now happy even though it took them especially Aliah almost a month to settle down.
Well better late than never, right.?

McDonald near Ang Mo kio park

Getting cosy with Mr Mcdonald...

They need to take off their shoes first and they have shoe racks to store them away.

Last 2 weeks, crazy me brought the kids to McDonald near the Ang Mo Kio park by myself. Dh had been busy with his work and I’ve been longing to bring them there cause it looked like a fun place to me. Meanwhile I thought I could go to the library to return some books as well.

I forgot to take picture of the whole McDonald from far as the kids were too excited wanting to play the indoor playground the minute they saw it from the entrance.

We ate our lunch first and indulging on my walnut cheesecake mmmm...yummy yummy. Yeah they have McCafe too!

I love McCafe cause their coffee blended are cheaper than Starbucks and Cofeebean, i think by a dollar.

Definetely i will bring them here again together with Dh the next time...