Of Heart and Mind

Today marked our 16th year together. Thru sunshine, thru rain... thick and thin.. you name it... we've been there. It's true what people say, the bigger the number is, the bigger the challanges you face.  I have been to a point where I almost gave up, but He knows best.  I am still here and today I am proud to say that we've travelled this far together.  More reason for us to be there for each other. A small celebration, we had a quiet dinner after work, exchanged gifts and we were back home at 11pm ... well, after being harassed by my daughter with questions.... "where are you going after work?" "what are you having for dinner?... where?" "is it far?" "what time are you coming back" hahaha... well, I'm truly blessed to have this family, thank you Allah! Happy 16th Anniversary MrN. p/s thanks to Mawar who helped me choose the gift for him, and also for the BIG discount I got from this shop . .. to have, to...

It's Saturday and this is the second week we spent the day indoor.  Naqeeb is still 'recuperating' .. hahah so we decided not to go anywhere until he is fully recovered.  That will be 2-3 days more.... ouch!  Can't wait!  Hobbit the movie is waiting for me.... huhuhu Anyway, I was on my lazy mode today and decided to cook something simple for dinner.  Actually. not really dinner because it was just only 5.30pm when we had our meal this evening.  I made Shepherd's Pie today, so let's see NAH's version of this pie. Filling: About 500 gms minced beef (you can use minced lamb if you like) I added about 100-200gms beef (thinly sliced).  Make sure you buy good quality beef, otherwise you will be chewing forever. 4-5 cloves garlic (whole, pounced) 5-6 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1-2 tsp brown sugar 1 beef cube 1-2 tbsp olive oil (to fry garlic) 1 cup water 2  tbsp corn flour - mixed with 3 plain water salt to taste ** you can add slic...

Suddenly i realized that it's already December ... haizzz... where was I? I'm just gonna share with you what I baked tonite... it was a busy day for me but I've been wanting to bake this for sooo long... and tonight I did it.   Such a nice cake, great recipe - definitely a keeper.. thanks to Betty Crocker... hehehe but I added some stuff in, just to add a little bit of taste.  Let's chekidout! For pineapple layer: A 70 gm butter 50 gm brown sugar 1 can pineapple (round) 5-6 fresh cherries Melt butter in an 8"x8" square baking tray - I just left it in the pre-heated oven for about 5 mins.  Then , take the tray out and sprinkle the brown sugar over butter - make sure it is evenly sprinkled.  Arrange pineapple and put the cherries (halves) in the middle (refer to pic below).  Set aside while you prepare the cake batter For cake batter B 1 1/3 cups plain flour 1 cup sugar 75 gm butter 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup milk ...

october has not been nice to me. my loves, elvee and c-kay left me ... for good.  RIP my luvlees.... remembering how it happened made me fall apart all over again.  8th Oct - we found elvee dead in his cage, 'brutally murdered' ... by human, well, that's what we chose to believe, looking at the crime scene.  we reported the case to the guard, but there was no sign of break ins. c-kay was left in his cage, alive but badly injured.  he survived 4 days, and eventually left us on 12th oct, just a few hours after i came home from office :'(  i guessed he waited for all of us to be back.  we carried him to the vet because he looked very weak but died on our way there, right in Nik's arms.  of course i cried and for a moment, i felt lost.  we burried him the same night right at the corner of my garden so i can see him everyday.  in fact, that's what i've been doing ever since.  not a single day passed by without flowers on his grav...

I never thought that I could crossed that finishing line….   if not the his words of encouragement, or could be the lack of it. Hahaha… Both of us registered for the run some months ago before he was diagnosed with severe back problem that resulted in him not being able to run like he used to.   That left me alone…. in most of the events that we planned to participate. I didn’t prep myself much, only 1-2 runs one month prior to that event.   Felt like giving up because I didn’t know what’s coming.   It was my 1 st run for Half Marathon and my mentor had to stop running for health reasons.   Yes, that somehow demotivated me… what if I couldn’t finish the run?   What if I needed to stop halfway? A lot of WHAT IFs lingered on my mind that I almost decided not to participate. Me & Sha Well, to cut the story short, I went anyway… Sha and Aziz gave me a lift to Dataran merdeka and Nik was supposed to meet me there after my race.   So t...

I deserved much more for the sacrifices I made, but I learned that life is not fair, and neither is love....   Amandah Fleming 

 I love my fried chicken wings! ... sometimes we just have only chicken for dinner, and nothing else. The boys will be eating these will all their fingers, no rice, no salad.. nothing. Let's see how these are made. 6 pcs chicken wings, washed and cleaned 3 tbsp marmite (or you can use Bovril) 2 tbsp osyter sauce 1 tbsp soy sauce (sweet) 1-2 tbsp honey black pepper pinch of salt cumin powder last but not least....... cups and cups of TLC.... hehehhe   You can also use Bovril.... and leave the chicken for a few hours before you fry them   Mix everything and marinate chicken for 1 hr or so. Fry and serve hot.  Yummy!

I could have gotten anything that I want... but I wanted this, I still do. I am convince that I made the right choice.... I hope I did. I pray that I will not stray from the path that I willingly chose and please God let me have the strength to weather the storm.

Okay… after so many months of not writing anything here…. I decided to write today.   This is my 1 ST entry after I turned 40 last March.   That means I have not been here for more than 3 months.. Wow..…. Now I have so many things to talk about, so many things to share.. so let’s take it one at a time. Well turning 40 was never one of the things that scare me. I have always liked birthday celebration so in a way, I was actually looking forward to my birthday. I like receiving birthday wishes from friends and family members, that alone gives me a good feeling… a feeling thinking that you still have friends around you, people who care about you and those who are willing to take a few minutes to call you or write you a message just to wish you birthday wishes. Ain’t that wonderful? As we age, what matter most is being you and the fact that you friends accept you for who you are, not for what you are trying to be. Anyway, my colleagues planned a surprise birthday breakfast ...

I made trifle last weekend and invited Nik's sisters over to enjoy lunch at our house.  I had nasi dagang to go with it... hahaah what an odd combination, ey?  Check out my previous post for nasi dagang recipe. I enjoyed cooking so much and if only I have the time....... I would've invited guests to my house every weekend.. LOL! Btw, trifle is so easy to 'assemble' but very 'time consuming' to prepare.  It's all about layering the ingredients, so you may need to prepare the 'layers' in advance to save time... plus you need another 3 hours or so to chill it in the fridge. OK, here's the recipe for my Trifle.  You will need these, as a start Step 1 Cake rolls or butter cake or pound cake I normally buy this to expedite the process.. hahaha but you can always bake yours and cut to your desired shape to fit the trifle bowl  Mine looked like this... Step 2 After arranging the cake in the bowl, pour strawberry sa...

Goodness!  I haven't been updating my blog for so many weeks already.  Been so bz, not with work but with life.... hahahaha.... Anyway, I just wanna share this recipe which I've been saving since I started baking in early 2000.  I have always love baking and ... eating.... especially desserts. Keep this cake overnight and it'll taste .... much better... delicious! Ingredients 250 gm butter 1 1/2 sugar 2 1/2 self rasing flour, sifted 3 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 100 gm buttermilk 100 gm whip cream 1-2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted 2 tbsp milk Method Mix A Beat butter and sugar till white and creamy.  Add in vanilla and eggs, one at a time.  Continue to beat till well blended. Mix together buttermilk and whip cream.  Add to the butter mixture, alternate with flour.  Mix B Finally scoop out one cup of the mixture and mix in cocoa powder and milk.  Mix till well blended. Pour mix A and B into a bundt pan, alternately .  Us...

Some pics that we managed to snap on that day.  Race started at 1am... for full marathon, so everyone had to be there by 12 midnite....  crazy eh?   Ajees .. with his HP Shah... with his HP Nope, not HP, he was fixing my bib... but after that, back to his HP....   My running buddy & my biz partner.... Sha.  Can't wait for me to recover, so that we can run and roll ... hehehe The crowd   After the run, it was almost 8.30am

Someone posted this on Facebook and I thought of sharing this here.  It's wonderfully written and tells just about the sacrifices that we, women, wives, mothers, do everyday to the people we love around us... Enjoy! Love her …when she sips on your coffee or tea.  She only wants to make sure it tastes just right for you Love her…when she "pushes" you to pray.  She wants to be with you in Jannah Love her…when she asks you to play with the kids.  She did not "make" them on her own. Love her...when she is jealous.  Out of all the men she can have, she chose you Love her…when she has annoying little habits that drives you nuts.  You have them too Love her…when her cooking is bad.  She tries Love her…when she looks dishevelled in the morning.  She always grooms herself up again Love her…when she asks to help with the kids homework.  She only wants you to be part of the home Love her...when she asks if she look...

I was sick early in Dec 2011 and I was down for almost 3 weeks.  Right after the Penang Bridge International Marathon in mid-Nov 2011, I had fever for a week.  I kept going back and forth to the same clinic and they changed my medicine for so many times, still I did not recover. Last resort? Hospital...!  The GP didn't know what to do.  My temperature kept going up, I was coughing VERY badly, whizzing and I was losing my voice on the 5th day I was sick.  I couldn't talk and eat, I lost 4kgs within 2 weeks and my condition was BAD.    To cut the story short. I went to ER right after the doctor issued me a referral letter and was admitted to SJMC almost immediately for Pneumonia.  I was warded for 8 days... and God knows what they did to my body during that period.  I hate hospitals, ok! I was on MC for another 7 days after I was discharged..... and the doctor said, "no running for a while, okay.....