Another anniversary of birth

Wifey turned forty one almost eight hours ago..Exactly a year ago, the above pictures were supposed to be posted BUT I procrastinated; so shoot me : ). BTW ignore the U in FOURTY as it was a mistake by the bakers. Those were the cuppies I surprised her with last year together with a handbag.

What did we do for her birthday, you ask? It went uneventful, as usual...Not not really, wifey baked brownies and I ferried Khadijah to and fro her tuition class and later exercised my lungs on the boys to get them study...(the last I checked this word did not exist in their dictonaries).

What was supposed to be a surprise prezzie for wifey became public knowledge a few days before her birthday; so there I presented her with her current dream kitchen gadget (which she has made in no uncertain terms that she wanted it here; truthfully, I would have gotten her anyway even if she had not disclosed it as I'm the happiest person on earth when she decided to take on baking - an activity which I have been hinting that she'd take up for the past 10 years!) a couple of days ago after I arrived from Kuantan.

Presenting her new toy (in white, though!) which she did not defer using nor hesitate in making my every ringgit worth spending (he he he); we had vanilla and carrot cupcakes 3 hours later - - - - -

Oopsie...I have not wished wifey Happy Birthday...So dear wifey.....

"Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmatNya, memurahkan rezq, memberkati segala perbuatan, menerima segala amalan, panjang umur....Selamat menyambut hari kelahiran ke 41"

Beautifully imperfect partner

I wanted to post my trip back to Muar with my two girls over the weekend but Yasmin's posting in her blog made me defer the entry. Yasmin's work never has failed to touch my heart. And this latest installation just did it again this morning

"Little imperfections that make them perfect for you"...Isn't this so very true..! Life is too short to dwell with and complain about the imperfections. Embrace them; for you will miss the very imperfections one day and it would then be forever!

Smell the bed of roses along the way, enjoy the lifetime journey and do tell them that you love them, now, in case you have not done so today or ever.....!

Out of hibernation......

It's been a good three months and a bit since I last updated this blog. That's what our crystal anniversary hideaway did to me (wink wink! nudge nudge!). But seriously, to say that a lot of things happened between then and now is a gross understatement! One thing for certain - the title of this blog needs reviewing (which full disclosure will be done later after I have scanned a couple of pictures).

Man, this song is damn haunting (forlorn lover's dilemma of loyalty and love) and subconsciously entrenched at the back of my head....Found it song on youtube this morning and have been repeatedly played since! Yup we actually got tickets this time after missing it the first two seasons; wifey should take the blame, honestly, as no free dates were given by her even after loads of requests (formal ones including) hence our absence!!! We watched it the first weekend of the third season....I was terribly knackered that day after a full day prior. Dozed off, briefly, during the show (yaah.....after waiting for 6 years for the show, I dozed off!!!) nevertheless I enjoyed the show! Loved the illussions and the stupas and most of all, most of the songs (the one in this posting being neck and neck with "Keranamu Kekasih")! BTW, the original cast recording is out but have no clue where to get it! Anyone? Enough of PGL as I can ramble till the cows come home!

I know I owe, for decades now, some of you recipe for Nasi Briyani Udang which I always rave about! Wifey has posted it in her blog - extract it here!

That's it from me for now ....like my daughter says..."toodles"!!!

p/s I managed to get two tickets for PGL encore performance on-line and my credit card was charged ONLY to find out four days later that my booking was erroneously confirmed...Boo hoo for Khadijah! She wanted to watch it sooo much....Season 4 ok?

Crystal Anniversary Hideaway

By the time this entry is posted (thanks to auto/scheduled/timed-posting which blogspot introduced), wifey and I are on our way to a much deserved 3-day-hideaway-break and staying in one of the heavenly abodes above....And it's a surprise for wifey (of course I have about 3 other surprises up my sleeves lined up for wifey which will be unfolded one by one by the day)! Well the weekend away is not a surprise; the destination is! I really wanted to surprise her in toto but to save myself being surprised with shock-horror, I decided dead against it! (wifey's a workaholic you see....Even on days which she is not well and gets medical leave, off she'd go clocking-in! This time she even thought of bringing her laptop along - well let's just put it in the mildest way; I forbade her. I don't mind a few of this breed in my office as my support staff, though!).

We were married on 21st November 1993 (btw, this hideaway had to be brought forward from the actual date due to an unavoidable circumstance) - that was within 3 months after we got engaged! Had it not been for my mum, on the fated day, who saw us flipping through a bridal magazine with wifey admiring some solitaires which were beyond my means, I can safely say that there wouldn't be any Khadijah, Yusof, Kauthar, Ibraheem, Umar & Hajar nor this special weekend! She put her foot down and said come let's go to the goldsmith and get wifey the engagement ring! That was how the decision was made. It's not that I was not sure about wifey....but it was my obsession with my personal goals in life which was the hindrance! I knew she was the one for me to spend the rest of my life with because I was constantly thinking about her whenever we were apart; her faith in God, her company, her wits, her intelligence, her beauty etc (like what they say nowadays, a complete package....What to do.....personal goals over happiness in life!

I was later told by wifey, after the wedding, that she was giving me time until that very year (in her heart and mind; obviously she could not tell me this as we were never an item!)...She'd, otherwise, have moved on! It was shocking for me but I knew that she would not and did not expect her to wait for me till the cows come home.....! Till this day, I thank God for guiding my mum to push her way through!

You know in life you tread on very thin lines without realising it? A thin line indeed I was walking on at that very instant!

Truth of the matter was, wifey and I had been friends for what seemed to be forever....And our relationship was entirely and truly platonic. We had never gone for a proper date,...not even once, before we got married. I would say they were just outings like with other friends. I was so obsessed with my goals in life that falling in love was never an option. My goal was to make money and settle down with a wife and children in my late 30s. Well "Man proposes, God disposes" !

Dear Yayan if you are reading this, my feeling for you is aptly captured in this song - Happy Anniversary in advance!

Tak kusangka kau hadir di hidupku,
Kau penuhi semua impian hidupku,

Sungguh Tuhan ku bersyukur padaMu

Kau izin kan aku untuk mencintainya

Kau terbaik

Yang pernah kumiliki

Jangan kau pergi dariku

Namun bila harus berpisah

Kuingin kau tahu

Kaulah yang terbaik

So to any of you out there in the same dilemma, I would say, seek blessings from God and follow your heart!!! Bollocks with personal goals (LOL!)

The forgotten Ivory

I've forgotten it for the first time in my life.....! Wifey is the one who usually forgets and it's a no surprise that this particular day passed as a non-event for her yet again this year...; like previous years! For me to forget this important day shows how chaotic my life has been for the past two months!

It was our Ivory anniversary on 21st November 2007 and it really eluded me! Had it not been for me blog hopping to Mior's today...our anniversary would have escaped unnoticed...Thanks Mior for the prompt - and hey...you got hitched 2 days before I did!!! Happy belated anniversary to you and Azian!

Wifey and I went on a platonic relationship for seven years...It was, initially a subject of interests to a lot of friends but they gave up on us after a while! There was no courtship, candle-lit dinners, valentine gifts, "proper" dates, love letters etc etc.....

The relationship, thankfully, progressed albeit at a pace (to quote Andrew Leci) "of a snail on valium"! And it finally reached the point of no return, in 1993! - I felt I could not live without her! Let me be frank here....- it's amazing after all those years the feeling of "LOVE" didn't blossom within me at that point! I still kept mum about my feelings - even my best friend didn't know! (talk about slow worker!!LOL!). I'm not good at initiating all this mushy stuff... ** blush**

It was August/September 1993 that the relationship took on the express lane! My mom (thank you mak!) was the one who instigated that we should settle down and tie the knot - and I tell you, it happened so fast that the next thing we knew was that an engagement ring was purchased by my mom....! I didn't object to it because I knew then that wifey was the one who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with! Three months later we tied the knot!

Call me a traditionalist - and that's what I am when it comes to love and relationship etc- ! And yes we only fell in love after we got married...Well our 6 offsprings is indeed a testimony to "traditionalism is still relevant today and indeed a way of life"! LOL!

To wifey..... - Looking forward to many many wonderful, happy and prosperous years to come.......! I love you always...YAYAN!

Read my last year's anniversary entry here!

Dad of five now!

Well guys....I'm officially Dad of Five from this day on. Decided on a mouthful of blog title/name "Dad of Four plus One" though!

Praise to Allah, Siti Hajar was born (normal delivery) at 1.20 a.m. today....(i'm still sleepy coz wifey was finally pushed to her room at about 3 a.m. and here I'm now in the office waiting for a client to sign some documents. Then off I go to the hospital. Her birth weight is 3.5 k.g...the smallest of the six (to the uninitiated, one of our children passed on a month after delivery) whom wifey delivered.

I'm most thankful to Allah for endowing us with beautiful children and of course for the smooth delivery of Siti Hajar!

Will update once I'm free............

That time again!

It's that time of the year again (......so soon?) when wifey will be terribly busy with hamper orders....(started as passion but has been taking orders for the last four years). This is the other side of her which not many people know - and of course smocking dresses (sample work here) is another hobby - but she's been doing charity work all this while....Not anymore though because she has absoultely no time for it!

Anyway, she received a phone call this morning placing 260 mini hampers to be delivered in two weeks' time....Knowing her she will meet the deadline by hook or by crook...In the mean time, yours truly will be driving around to be her beck and call to get stuff! LOL!

Duri-licious

I am born into a family who are just crazy over durians!

When I got married to my wife, somehow my cravings for durians dwindled over the years up to a point where my mom and dad were extremely perplexed over this "pehenomenon". Me refusing durians? Unheard of!

Wifey just can't stand the smell and taste of durians despite being born in to a family who owns uncountable durian orchards in Baling (where both maternal and paternal grandparents reside). She used to boast (before marrying) or perhaps trying to impress my parents (whom she knew love durians) that "Di kampung I dughian penuh satu dapoq. Tak larat nak makan" (In my hometown, the durians practically fill in the kitchen up to a point where we don't really eat them"). And by the way it's now durian season in Baling. Luck has it that we are busy with work and can't make time to go back!! : (

The first time I went back to Baling - My god...I never saw so many durians in my entire life, in a home that is! And the taste of the durians - HEAVENLY! I went ga ga and wallopped loads!

BUT when your partner hates something, you try to compromise and sacrifice....

There are only two exceptions, though, which wifey has made in eating durians- her first pregnancy with Khadijah and this pregnancy to my dad's shock and horror! Naturally, Khadijah is the durian lover in our family now due to the overdose of this smelly fruit when she was in the womb!

Since wifey is in to durians at the moment, I have no grouses as I can bring home durians freely now! Just this morning after sending Yusof to school, wifey made an offer to buy me durians at the corner of IIU and Sg Pusu Road. Unfortunately, they were sold out...And what touched me, she asked the seller when is the next batch coming...So this afternoon...she's buying me durians! Yeayy!

I sort of have this craving for durian fritters.......(wifeys mum used to make them). AND guess what....? Wifey took the trouble to find out from mum-in -law how to make them!

Can this pregnancy last two more years, please? LOL!

NB: Picture is nicked from my daughter who posted on her daily photo blog. BTW the durians are from my bro-in-law's house in M'cca!

Over the Hedge - Zooview chapter

I'm sure anyone with kids would have watched Over the Hedge produced by Dreamworks summer (if my memory serves me right) last year. What I'm about to reveal in this posting is Over the Hedge, the Zooview chapter!

Where we live is an old suburb (about approximately 30 years in existence) but is now surrounded by new developments which we once thought would be left as the city's green lung because the National Zoo is literally our neighbour. Before the hills adjacent to ours were raped by unscrupulous and moolah-minded developers, we lived peacefully alongside nature and the wildlife co-existed in harmony. Yes we do get snakes slithering through the house may be once a year (the last time was a couple months back); we had a slow loris moving about in our master bedroom, some years back, mistakenly thought as a panda by my then 4 year old boy, Yusof while wifey and I were having dinner at a restaurant some 45 minutes' drive from home and later caught by our dear neighbours and good friends Chr*s and Cha* Yi* and put in our rabbits' cage which we later surrendered to the zoo; an injured wild fox resting on our backyard pergola; tiny orange frogs leaping in our open-air-in-a-garden kitchen; countless of toads in our bathrooms; muti-cloured dragon flies and butterflies in the house etc etc....(apparently there are wild boars too which we have not seen with our own eyes). This is what you get when you want to be close to nature! That's the choice that we made! I don't find it disturbing at all since this is what nature is all about...My philosophy has always been, if you don't disturb them, they'll reciprocate (superwomanwannabe :- you may disagree)!

Look what happened when the hills were barren in the name of progress and development - the landslide which killed a couple of people last year near our house is a testament to nature disturbed and nature retaliated....!Whoops this posting is getting a bit serious which is not my intention...

So you might ask, what's the relevance of Over the Hedge?

When we first moved to Zooview some 7 years ago, we could open our windows and sliding doors all the time letting fresh air in and watching monkeys swinging from trees to trees trees around the housing estate without any disturbance.... Like I said, we co-existed in harmony!

The problem started a few years back when all the surrounding hills were developed in to housing estates...The monkeys lost their natural habitat and obviously are trapped within the concrete jungles created by us. The nearest green lung is our housing estate because our area is the oldest housing estate which is surrounded by matured trees. What happened in Over the Hedge is an exact duplicate of our lives now...The monkeys run amok whenever they are hungry and steal our food!

A couple of years back, they only rummaged through what's edible in our garbage bins... In recent times, they even have become more daring entering into homes when the inhabitants are out of sight or not at home.

Over the weekend wifey wanted to bake banana muffins using flowerinthedesert's recipe or halwafy's recipe (she can't remember she got the recipe from which blog but definitely from either the two) over the weekend. Much to her horror when she came back to bake - all her bananas were gone....None other than the monkey's job! There went our banana muffins for the weekend. The monkeys at Zooview have acquired quite good taste....If there are other fruits placed together with bananas like kiwi fruits, apples, mangoes etc....they'd pick the latter than their staple food! Last Eid, they even took the nicest cookies of the lot which were the pineapple tarts made by my step grandmom.They took the whole glass jar of tarts with them!

Last December was the worst attack so far. My daughter forgot to close one of her windows and we were away for the whole day for my cousin's wedding. When we got back - the whole house smelt urine and monkey pooh....They had a gala time the whole day in our house feasting our food - bread and fruits. When the food ran out, they emptied my organic soy powder can and sprinkled them all over the house - even the piano keyboard was not spared; traces of their feet were all over the keyboard! There wifey was with the maid cleaning the mess......

I can go on and on about Zooview monkeys....I think you have gotten the picture!

Yeayy a new phone

Wifey just told me that she bought me a new phone but I will only be getting it next Tuesday (Thanks dearest darling if I forgot to say it earlier! : ) ). I'm not a gadget person, by the way...!My kids are better versed on what's the latest in the market; what's in and what's uncool....! To me as long as, with it, I can take pics (to update my blog), mms, sms and email (not forgetting to call and receive calls) it ROCKS!

I'm sick of my phone now which is only barely 1.5 yrs old....I have spent close to 0.5k moolah since January this year to get it repaired! I suppose what motivated wifey to get me a new phone because there have been a lot of times my phone/network (which I have yet to determine which one) will give a "the number is not in service" message! I myself get frustrated because my clients have been bombarding me with a series of complaints that I could not be reached most of the time (thinking that I'm avoiding them...Heloo....? They are the ones who pay for my house car etc etc and why should I avoid them?) ! We'll see with this new phone next week!

p/s Owh...Khadijah is having her end of term French test today and her definition of flunking, when I asked her about her entry in her blog about "flunking", is getting a B (nice to know that she sets high standard for her.... :)!)

Blessing in disguise

Drove all the way to Hulu Langat again Saturday evening to discuss and finalize on the layout of the tables etc for my parent's ruby anniversary dinner. I was told to collect the floor plan from Iskandar who mans the information counter and cashier's booth. I sort of suspected that something was amiss when he said the Marketing people did not leave the floor plan for me....but I just dismissed my suspicion! He promised to contact the Marketing people immdiately and would meet me at the restaurant once he got some news.

And off I went excitedly to the restaurant showing my best friend and his assistant, Yeh, the venue of the bash. Whe he saw the restaurant, from his face, I could tell that he wasn't all too happy! I just ignored and explained to him what we really want and ran the event sequence with him!

Whilst discussing animatedly, this PR person from the resort interrupted us saying that there's a huge problem with our booking.....WHAT? With one more week to go and he said there's a mistake? I almost blew my top........! Luckily, my parents always taught me to be patient and not jump to conclusions.. Listened, I did, to his side of the story...

Apparently, there is a certain political party group of people who had booked the restaurant before us....and even paid before we paid ours! That's a load of bu**! I had cleared with the Marketing people before we paid and the Marketing people has the booking diary with them! Yes they told us that there was another booking by another group but not firmed. I was further told that if we paid first, we got the place...And paid we did! But now.......?????

He suggested I look at the other possible venues within the resort which I flatly rejected as I didn't quite like the rest of the places (e.g. the main hall which has low ceiling and no windows). The only place which I immediately liked when I first recce the place is the lawn which has a pavillion cum stage. But there's extra cost to it like tables and chairs, canopies etc.....if we had boked the lawn. He then suggested that we used the lawn!

He assured me that the resort will subsidize the cost......I said no. It's either full costs to be borne by them OR the restaurant it is!

I was then ushered to see the MD cum owner of the resort who diplomatically said that it'd be nice to have the bash at the lawn area and can have a garden dinner concept etc....I told him, yes of course it'd definitely be nice to have it in the garden rather than the restaurant BUT what about cost? He wanted 50/50 but I said no......Finally he gave in and offered to pay for the 2 canopies, throw in banquet tables nad chairs for free, PA system for free, a couple of staff to hold bunga manggar, a gong (whatever for?), an Imam to recite the du'a, call in journalist from a local wedding magazine to cover the event ( which I doubt.....) and the list goes on.....I have to see their floor plan and what they are throwing in for free tomorrow!

It's really a blessing in disguise, don't you think?

Did a trial run for the main table today, with my daughter, and the above picture is what it's going to be like roughly (without the flowers and tall candles)!

Long lost family friend

Wifey had a pleasant surprise yesterday! She finally found Abg Ij*n after all these years. She had mentioned a lot to me about Abg Ij*n and Mummy (his mom) ever since I got to know her mid to late 80's.

Of late she has been thinking about them a lot. In fact m-i-l just mentioned about them a couple of weeks back. They were neighbours in Alor Setar when wifey and family used to stay in Taman Nakishah before their migration to Pulau Pinang and eventually Kuala Lumpur due to d-i-l's work commitment.

This is what we call karma or providence - fated by the Almighty! It began when I was reading my must-read for the day which is my daughter's blog. There was a message on my daughter's shout box asking whether "mommy" went schooling in Alor Star. I had to answer quickly because Khadijah was indispensable at that time. I was excited too when Abg Ij*n revealed who he was. Unhesitatingly, I gave wifey a tinkle and related everything to her....and the rest is history!

Had it not been for this entry by daughter, Abg Ij*n would not have stumbled upon my daughter's blog and wifey's quest to re-establish contact with him and family would have been in vain.

Like I said....it's fated!

And to Abg Ij*n - hoping to see you and family really soon..so that I could put a face to the name!

Bakso anyone?

Inspired by Eating Asia's entry on Bakso , wifey came home charged with excitement after her weekly-Saturday-morning-ritual to Pasar Tani (weekly local produce open air market) announcing that we were having Bakso (meatballs) for Saturday lunch. The poultry and meat stall at the Pasar Tani sells the meatballs and wifey just had to cook the broth and boil the vermicelli.

Yes that was what we had on Saturday.

The broth above looks a bit blackish as it was mixed with sambal kicap (soy sauce with grounded cili padi (small extremely hot chillis), garlic and a little bit of sugar to taste).

Her recipe for the broth was given by Kakak who in turn was handed down by one of my brother's ex-maids who hails from Medan, Ngaini. No Bakso recipe in my wifey's blog as yet, but she has finally added another recipe after two weeks' hiatus!

Wifey's blog

Wifey has finally given in to the pressure of joining the bandwagon of bloggers...Check out her blog here!

Wifey's work in progress

R*-A**e's yet to finish smocked dress

Last Saturday our good friend, Ch** Y*n and her daughter dropped by to return the whole set of Sunshine books which we purchased for Missy K when she was about three (translated - 10 years ago when I was 29.5 years old).

Every time we meet Ch** Y*n, wifey will feel a bit guilty because she was to present to her two daughters, J*-A**e and R*-A**e, with a smocked dress (english roses printed on American Cotton) each for last year's Chinese New Year and she has only finished smocking for one of them. She decided to put the rubber to the road and went on a marathon of smocking last Sunday (this explained her disappearance some time on Saturday last, to purchase what's required for her to complete her project). All the pressies Ch** Y*n and hubby, C*ris have been giving us like the berlian (a hard wood indigenous to Sarawak) fruit platter they lugged from Kuching, the brass wall bell from Portobello Market and the list goes on and on give her the drive to finish them before this coming New Year! Good on ya, wifey!

Yes smocking is now one of wifey's passions of what initially was to save the dosh we had to spend on Missy K's dresses (way too expensive when you only don your child in dresses only) when she was the cute little one with Goldilock-curly-locks others envied.

Yup yours truly paractically threw her in to the deep end by registering her for a short smocking course at Cottage Patch in Ampang [Some trivia about Cottage Patch - belongs to a husband and wife team, Mr & Mrs Chan. Mr Chan was either an Architect/draughtsman (cant remember now) before whose passion is quilting. He teaches quilting now and his fave past time is breeding fighting fish] which was about RM150 then and invested in a Janome sewing machine (RM1,500) and an Amanda Jane pleater (RM500) - I think I broke even within two years!

What a fine investment I made and now she enjoys pleating and thinks it's therapeutic although she does not have the luxury of time to do it which explains why she has two boxful of American and Japanese cotton materials stashed some where in the house worth a couple of grand.

Wifey's first project - a bishop smocked dress

A yoke smocked dress (Missy K's as well)





Another bishop (from Missy K's wardrobe)