Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The 1st Birthday Dinner :">

As I mentioned before, I planned to cook something special for my beloved hubby for his birthday. And thank God I managed to do it and surprise him! Hmm not really surprise, but still, it works ;)

I still can feel the excitement and remember the details for the occasion so I'm going to write them, for future remembrance and I can imagine myself chuckling later, over this piece hehe.

Talking about surprise, I can't make it a TOTAL surprise because we always cling together. In case some people don't know, we are in the same office. So we go work together, lunch together, dinner together, shopping groceries together, etc etc. Therefor, can you imagine how hard it is for me to prepare this? *sigh*

So that day, I had to tell him

"I'm going to cook something for your birthday and I need your help. Please send me to Cold Storage and wait outside. I don't want you to see what I'm buying"

Hahaha gila keji ok. The thing is, we always buy groceries together. Both of us share this fetish of jalan-jalan in hypermart, observing the fish, chicken, meat, vege, canned food, hmm everything! We will spent at least 2 hours eyeing the wet and dry stuff and putting him outside of Cold Storage means a torture!

A torture to both of us.

To me as I looooveee to check out things with him "ehh u tgk ayam ni..ada kaler hitam, me know u likkkeeeyyy haha", "Hey..ada frozen Salmon and it's cheaper".

To him as how come he let only my eyes feasting on the varieties?

After all, shopping won't be fun alone right?

We even spent 10 mins in front of Cold Storage to decide wether he will accompany me or not, padahal dah plan awal2 kan I will go buy alone. It's so tempting to buy things together. I know it's crazy, but I guess early of marriage will always be like that ;)

So I made a quick shopping but still took me over 30 minutes as I'm torn between choices *sigh*

After the shopping, we drove back and I quickly put everything in the freezer and said "Kitchen is off limit"

I expect him to lie down and relax, watching TV, but he couldn't help himself waiting in wonder, so he assemble the bedroom lights, and I get the kitchen all for myself :D

Basically this is what I did that night- lemon & pepper steak with chicken Chorizo sausage, creamy mashed potato, blanched baby carrot and broccoli, and sago gula melaka as dessert!

I was like, seriously? Hahaha ok ok.. seriously, I can't believe I made them by myself.


The main course. I didn't whip the gravy as the steak taste good on its own. And the mashed potato is a total success!! It's really creamy and sinful. Ahhhhhhh


After everything is setted nicely on the table-for-two, I quickly drag MrComot, asking him to close his eyes, switched off all the lights and guide him to the kitchen.

And ta-daaaa!!!

A candle lite dinner for us ;)

The sago gula melaka was in the fridge at that time (it was a sruprised too!) I made it as, 'ok, that's it, this is our dinner and nothing more'. Hehehe witty me! Ok, let me perasan will ya ;)


I use 2 pieces of tea-candle with heart-shaped and rose-scented, in opposite color. It's beautiful isn't it?


It was one of the best dinner so far. The food is good but unfortunately, the steak was a bit on hard side, even though it is medium-well ;(

MrComot rates the dishes as below

#1 - Sago Gula Melaka
#2 - Creamy Mashed Potato
#3 - Baby Carrot and Brocolli
#4 - Chicken Chorizo ---> But I think this should be out as it is instant right?
#5 - The steak

Even though the steak is a bit tough, he said the flavour is right and it is tasty! So I can consider it is good right? :D

It's definitely a wonderful and emotional dinner towards the end. MrComot was a bit on teary side after the dinner. Ishhhh tak suka okkkk terharu2 ni...because I don't know how to react.

Anyway, I will post up the recipes on another entry, although they are very simple :P


To MrComot, Happy Birthday and I love ya!

Waking up from the slumber

Hi allllll,

How was your holiday? I have lots lots stories to pour in here but time is killing me. There is no free lunch and I have to pay for the whole week holiday with a week (yeah I am exaggerating but it's true, it's a lot! At least more than last week :P) and activate my brain back. So here I am sorting out the emails and trying to catch up every single thing.

How I wish I can do this faster, so I can update my blog!

Ok babes, later!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Birthday and plans

Lazy bug bites me and I'm dragging myself to write my last update before the long holiday. Yes, I'll be on leave for the whole next week! Yeaaaaayyyy!!

Anyway, MrComot's birthday will be on this Saturday and I don't really have a nice plan for him. Also I don't know what to buy as the birthday present. Truth is, I don't think he needs anything as for now. No no no, of course he wants a lot of thing, but wanting and needing is two different thing and I am not kind-hearted enough to entertain any silly wanted-list.

I plan to cook some nice dinner. I already sketched the rough idea in my mind how the dinner will go. And I want it to be a surprise. The thing is, we always cling to each other, so it's kinda hard for me to execute it. Possible, but hard.

Hmm..maybe I can shut him in the room and let him out after I finish cooking and setting the table?

I really don't know.

I will share the celebration (if it happens) with you guys. As for now, Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a good holiday!

Ps: Oh ya, talking about CNY, now I realized that we are married and to the custom, we have to give angpows to the single relatives. And we still don't change the money! *pull hair*

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Dinner is not all about food you know ;)

We had a fantabulous get-together-dinner last week where involving lots of experiments in cooking! :D

If you know me, you will also know that I am not a cook. In fact, I categorized myself in can't-cook-crowd. I don't deny that my upbringing didn't include cooking. I was away most of the time to boarding school, then matriculation, then university and didn't bother to learn cooking. When I come home for holiday, it was my mom who always whip out the dishes and I don't feel guilty of it, nor ashamed. I know I'm spoilt.

Btw, I break my own record after 26 years, I cook for people! (Husband tak kira lah ye). And it is indeed a BERANI-MATI-ACT. And the best part is, I cook something that I never cook before. Memang berani mati lah!

The story started when my dear friend, Polt is coming down to KL and his lovely junior which happen to be my friend also suggest that we eat together-together. Ok so fine, we eat together. Then she comes up with this brilliant idea about me cooking for the get-together thing.

At first I was like, haaaaaaaaaaa?

But somehow, I found the idea is intriguing. I know it's crazy. The paling-hebat thing I ever do pun is hot tea. And ya..sunquick. But drinks is not inclusive right?

But yes, in the end I finally show off my skill (the berani mati skill lah, not the cooking skill ;P) and luckily nobody admitted to hospital. And did I tell you it is purely from scratch? :D

It's a bit challenging as we were working during the day and started to roll up our sleeve at 6PM, finish everything around 9PM!

To me, it's excellent for a start! EXCELLENT ok!! Hehe. Btw, since I was soo busy bersilat the dapur with my hubby, I didn't manage to capture many pictures ;(


My chicken going into the oven

That's the last picture I managed to snap, then terus potong bawang la, fry some vege la, chop this and that..

The menu that night was ayam bakar, tomyam udang galah, fried french beans with garlic, fried oyster mushroom and telur dadar. I also manage to prepare ribena longan! YUM!

I can safely say the ayam bakar is a success and kid you not, it's my very 1st time doing it! I know I keep telling you this (the first time thingy) but I am too excited and not bothered that I am repeating :P

MrComot says it is YUMMY! So I consider it success ya! I wish I can share with you guys the recipe but unfortunately I don't have the specific measurements as all I do is campak2 but basically this is what you need for that ayam bakar;

Chilli paste (a lot! blended from the dried chilli), big onions (I use two), some ginger, lots of shallots, 2 cloves of garlic, some salt and sugar to taste. Marinate it and grill.

The tomyam is a success too as I didn't use any instant paste and according to them, it do taste like a tomyam! Hehe..now I feel like giggling..I am happy, that's all :P

MrComot did the french beans with garlic and then I fry some mushroom, it's a tad mealy though ;(

And I also bake some muffin!!!!

It's suka-suka hati punya recipe but I would like to call it coconut heaven with scattered choc chips hahahaha. I use this as the base and replace raspberry and white choc with coconut and normal choc chips.

Taste-wise, PASS! But it's not a success as it's a bit hard to me ;(

So I'm not going to paste the recipe here. Maybe you can try the original version at your own risk. We had this little discussion on why my muffin is hard, it could probably because the type of butter and its amount. So I'm going to bake this again, with different butter and add it a bit more. I will share with you guys if it turn out fine :)

So thanks to all the lovelies who came for the dinner that night and eat without any complaint :P Thanks to Shani for the del.ici.ous potato salad! Thanks to Khairiah for snapping pictures, thanks to Polt for reading my comic and thanks to Bee for bringing nothing. Hey!! Jumpa you pun dah best sgt okkk! :P

Ps: Since we are near, expect me to crash your house pulak ok. I wannt food!! Like those days! :D

And not to forget, thanks for the CHOCOLATES!!!

Our fridge is violated with choices you know ;)


Thanks darlings
!!!! That's the best gift, ever! I have to restraint myself from buying anymore chocs. I also have some Rocher, Cloud9, Cadbury and Pistachio Lindt in other compartment. Feels like living in chocolate factory already :D

Maybe I can organize another dinner again, once my chocolate stock finish hehehe


Ps: More pictures and stories on the dinner can be retireved here ;)
Pss: Thanks Lalink Khairiah, MrLampard, Bee, Shani, Hubby-to-be, Polt and also my hubby, MrComot for being a good guinea pig that night ;)
Psss: A good companion will make a good dinner ;)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Penang on Random

Hi all,

Actually I am soooo itchy to update about my 1st get-together-dinner hosted at the house but unfortunately my camera is out of battery, so I will try to update esok provided I remember to charge my battery. As if banyak gamba nak bagi pun :P

So I'm going to write the last entry for our Penang trip. This entry is about random thing in Penang that we did and captured. Lets pics do the talking ;)


Our first meal once we stepped in Penang. Char keow teow, Sotong Kangkung, Laksa Penang (SEDAPPP GILERR!!) and young coconut at Gurney Drive. My craving for Laksa totally paid off with this yummilicious laksa! I love love love laksa penang and laksa kedah.

Gurney drive when the tide is at its lowest. You can see the big rocks are embraced with thick green moss.

Komtar is very ghostly now. And it was on Saturday! But somehow, some shops spell the other side..

Like this Watsons. Look at the tiles!!! The detailing is very heartwarming.

People walking at beach with umbrella. It wasn't that hot though..

I wonder how it feels to fly with the big balloons. We'll try it later, at another beach. The morning breeze is just soooo right for u to lay on the sand and do nothing.

The covered links to chowrasta from Komtar. The road is quite tricky, they are all one way.

They start to sell CNY stuff already

"Tiau Lang Khay"
It's a local Chinese term for 'execution street' where the guilty person will be hanging, next to police station.

We were doing self-capture using our own hands when one of the tourist (Mat Salleh) stopped and said "Let me take for you". Very nice of him! I wanted to snap his picture as well but I was so shy that time hmmppphh.


Looking at these pictures somehow making me miss Penang very much. The food, the old building, the one way road, the big trees, they are breathtaking and incredibly touching my heart.

So long Penang, we'll meet again, sooner or later ;)