Love turned 30

Love turned 30 on the 22nd November. This year, MIL decided to celebrate it at home where she cooked bibimbap for us.

Hubs was craving for Fuel Shack afterwards. So, we had burgers for dinner.

And no bake blueberry cheese cake for supper. So easy to make, I will share you the recipe here.

No bake blueberry cheese cake

250g digestive biscuits (small pack McVities)
125g butter (quarter Buttercup)
500g cream cheese (Big Tartura)
1 can of sweetened creamer
3 teaspoons gelatin (halal gelatin can be bought in Baguz)
Lemon juice
Blueberry jam

1. Crushed the digestive biscuits, mixed with butter and put it as a base, chill
2. Mixed cream cheese, creamer, gelatin and lemon juice in a mixer. Put it on top of the base.
3. Serve the blueberry jam as its topping. I bought the ones in Baguz, and I don't quite like the taste of it. I would suggest to go for Tesco's blueberry jam.

Happy trying!

...


Worth mentioning for my keepsake that, before we went for dinner, we dropped by at Grandmother's and that was the last time I saw her alive in her own house. She was later admitted the next day due to pneumonia.

Lost

My grandmother was very dear to me. She took care of me up until I was 9. I came to visit her every weekend. I called her up every now and then. She shared my every stories, even puppy love moments without any prejudice. She knows everything about me, more than my mom.

Grandmother love.

Two Sundays ago, I went to visit her in IJN. She was admitted on the 24th November due to difficulty in breathing. Turns out she had a slight pneumonia. Apart from that, she was healthy. Not even being dripped.

However, considering it was her 4th time in IJN within less than a year, doc suggested to do angiogram due to her previous heart problem. The angio was scheduled to be on the 27th November, but later was postponed to 4th December due to her kidney was unstable. Angiogram procedure has an affect towards kidney, might caused the kidney to fail, hence, we obliged.

So, two Sundays ago, after not being able to see her for three days, Grandmother looked a bit feverish. She craved for Cendol and after   having her Cendol, terus demam. I believe because it was too cold in IJN. Nonetheless, she was chirpy as usual. I fed her some porridge with she shared with Aisha, aunt captured our pics together..

..and that was it.

That was my last moment and my last picture with my Grandmother, whom I dearly called "Mak".

On Wednesday, mom and dad visited Mak and she was so happy. That night, Abang Mat spent a night in the hospital with Mak. She was so so happy. In the morning at around 1030 am, Mak insisted Abang Mat to go to the cafe for breakfast. Siap bagi RM50, belanja katanya. Because she was persistent, Abang Mat left for breakfast.

Around 10.45am, Mak went to the toilet with the nurse. After a while, the nurse called for her from outside of the toilet to no reply. When the nurse opened the door, Mak was trying to move from toilet seat to her wheelchair, clutching her chest. Nurse suspected she was having a major heart attack. The nurse managed to hold Mak before she hit the ground, but by then, Mak has left us.

At 11.08, I received a phone call from Aunt saying that IJN called, "Mak critical" was her exact words. (In actual, Mak has passed away and they waited for official statement from doc).

I rushed to IJN, only to discover that Mak has left us while on the way.

Doc tried everything, but did not manage to do anything. CPR 5 times to resurrect, last option is to cut her neck to inject some medication straight to the heart, but to no avail.

Right now..

I'm so so lost.

Al fatihah, Mak.

14 years anniversary

21st November was our 14 years anniversary.

This year I prepared a 3 course meal for Love. So, that Saturday, after we were done with our dishes and laundry, we left the girls at parents' and had our little date.

I cooked Love's favourite appetizer onion soup, steak for main dish and blueberry cheese tart for dessert.

We had a wonderful lunch and back massage at Reborn afterwards :)

14 years and counting, Alhamdulillah.

Onion soup recipe (From Masterchef's website)

1 tablespoon olive oil
50g butter
2kg brown onions, peeled and thinly sliced (chill to minimise vapours)
200ml dry good quality cider (I used Heinz Apple Cider)
1L homemade beef stock (Obviously I used beef stock I found at supermarket, Knorr)
2 fresh bay leaves, 2 thyme sprigs, 2 sprigs rosemary (I just used McCormick's mixed herbs)
8x1cm-thick slices of sourdough ficelle (Iggy's bread) or small baguette, lightly toasted
250g coarsely grated gruyere
100g finely grated parmesan

1. Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan over a medium low heat. Add onions, cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and caramelised.

2. Add stock, the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer, simmer soup uncovered for 10-20 minutes or until slightly thickened.

3. Ladle soup into ½ cup capacity oven-proof bowls set on an oven tray. Sprinkle a little gruyere and parmesan onto the top of each bowl of soup. Top each with two slices of toasted ficelle then sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Place under a hot grill for 3-5 minutes of until cheese is melted and light golden.

Aisha's flashcards progress

By now, Aisha is 15 months old.

Similar to Khaira during her age, she is at a stage where she is learning hijaiyah flashcards. 

Although this time around I've learned that we should start earlier, I found it less easy to commit with the two girls. Love arrived from work around 9pm everyday, I arrived around 6.30 pm. So I was rushing like mad everynight to find time to teach Khaira and Aisha before Aisha fell asleep. But after she turned 1 and has a fixed sleep time, I became more discipline.

Back

Front

For Aisha, I tried a different set of flashcard which suits her personality more. The flashcards are from Little Qari.

These flashcards are equipped with images at the back to assist you on what to act to that particular letter so it would be easier for your children to memorize. 

Example; dzho for zikir.

She's still progressing so far. Able to pronounce a few letters, Alhamdulillah. I hope to be more istiqamah after this. 5 minutes a day in shaa Allah.

Khaira turns 4

Last month, on the 17th October, Khaira turned 4.

We planned to have tea at Hello Kitty Gourmet Cafe, Sunway Pyramid, but needed to queue for 90 mins as per estimated by the hostess, so plan B --> Allowed her to pick anything she wanted from Toys R Us. She chose some Robocar Poli's stuff; we received RM30 off if we purchase above RM 150 since it was her birthday. Rezeki Khaira. Alhamdulillah.

We celebrated her birthday at her kindy where I bought her a Barbie cake from Shaery's Cake. Cost only RM 70 and always happy with the outcome :)

Goodies were chosen by her where we bought some stationary for her classmates. Pencils, rulers, erasers, etc.

Her class teacher sent me the pictures, they were precious..

Khaira looks so happy in all the pics. That was her happy smile. I did not get this kinda smile back when she was in her previous kindy.

Everytime I look at these pictures, I feel so thankful, so humble, so blissful.. I must have been blessed.

Thank you, Allah!



P/S: Happy birthday, Cinta Hati. I hope you have the chance to read this one day. We have been through a lot; a lot of ups, unfortunately the opposite as well. You are something new to me. Everything you do, is always new to me. It is only natural for me to take time on how to react. Bear with me, because I will never give up on you. Sending my love and prayer to you, wherever you are in the future. *hugs*

The guest of the Almighty

When my bimbo girlfriend (she's super genius by the way, we love calling her bimbo because.. well she acted like one.. happy, chirpy, loud girl, hehe.. and you know we love you for that, S!) went back from Umrah a couple of years ago and I met her, she said..

"When I first saw Kaabah, I cried and I don't know why.."

You know how when someone said it so sincerely, you could just feel it and kind of went "Awww..." and get all teary like that.. this was one of those moments.

And this came from, like I mentioned earlier.. happy, chirpy non-emotional bimbo friend of mine.

From that day onwards, I knew I just had to.

And things went smoothly afterwards in terms of financially for me. I made super easy money by involving in stocks. Alhamdulillah. We thought of leaving the girls to both my parents while we were gone, and it is only fair if I let my parents go first. They have never been there before.

Parents supposed to go this year, and both Love and I were supposed to go next year (Could not take too much leave in a year), but Dad had a hectic year at work this year. So, they had to postpone to next year.

Sedih? Of course because that only meant we could go the following year. I was so so down and of course mad at the same time.

During this year's Matta fair, Love had to visit his booth. Love is a head in Avis now, so Avis had a booth there, we came to visit. There was an Umrah fair as well, I decided to drop by.

Upon discussing with the Ustazah, suddenly Allah SWT opens my husband's heart to bring the girls. In short, it means we can go next year with both of my parents.

The rest is history and in shaa Allah we will be leaving on the 13th January. Mashaa Allah I'm beyond excited. At first I was nervous to bring the girls, but I know that if Allah brings me to it, He will surely brings me through it.

Doakan ye kawan2. I really need your doa so that everything is smooth sailing for me. I have been wanting this for years, really wanting this, I could cry thinking of it. Doakan ok :) In shaa Allah.

At the moment I'm reading the Syamail Muhammadiyah, a recollection of the Prophet's Hadis, which I totally recommend by the way, I rate this 5/5. The more I read, the more I feel that I want to go to Raudhah and meet Rasulullah, rindu yang I've never felt before. So your doa means a lotttttt to me, I really really want to go there!!!!

**Pics from Google

THREE ZERO, may I have a concealer please?

So.. I turned 30 on 12th October, just last month.

Yup, 3 series yo.

Both Love and I took a leave on Monday as usual and we were all over the place.

1) Woke up very early and went to KWSP. We decided to withdraw our Account 2 KWSP to pay for monthly installment of our home. Basically what you need are just the letter from the bank where you have your loan with and your sijil nikah if your loan is under both names. And you can opt for one of these two ways;
     a) to pay lump sum to your loan account (But you still need to pay monthly)
     b) to pay monthly to your own bank account
We opt for option b and in less than two weeks, they banked in to both our accounts the monthly installment and this will continue for the next 60 months as per instructed.

We put aside the money and aim for major renovation for Homer, in shaa Allah.

2) From Jalan Reko, we went to Ampang to have my Medela looked at.

3) Then to the tailor to pick up my altered jubahs. (Currently obsessed with Jubahsouq)

4) To IOI City Mall for a movie (The Martians, fun but mengarut) and Magnum Cafe.

My sweetheart

Both Love and I would so much prefer the usual Magnum than this one, hehe.

Arrived home super tired but happy to spend time with my girls.

Love bought me a new mini lappy since I'm always on the go with work nowadays. So. Worth. It. Tq Love!

How was it being 3 series?

Well.. I'm more comfortable with my body, healthier Alhamdulillah. I know what product suits me best and what not. Same goes to style. I know which friends to stay, which friends come and go. I know what pissed me off and what I could tolerate. So I'm happier day by day.

But, there is always a catch.. my eye bags annoy me every single time.

I seriously need a concealer guys. (T_T)