Syawal 1439H

Syawal 2018 

Syawal 1439H 

Days 1 - 3 

Eid 2018 feastaa.

so it was Syawal 1439H (or 2018) the past week.

my kitchen, of course, was one helluva mess like a tongkang pecah (broken sampan).

the number of Raya cookies and snacks i have in my house.
i only bought some. others, were given by my neighbors, my mom and bought by abz. i didnt even put out all the cookies. im just thinking how can my household finish these snacks.
ahh, rezeki, Alhamdulillah.

i had wanted to make four dishes for Raya 2018. four! who was i kidding. ahahahh. i managed to do three, and that is good enough.

made Ayam Masak Merah, Sayur Lodeh and Kuah Satay. these alone, made my kitchen a mess. so pleased that Eid is once a year. hahahh.

ultimately, we had more than three dishes. Alhamdulillah, neighbors came to give more food and these were our meal for the Syawal morning.

the name cake

what was a tease order turned out to be real when my school mate requested an alphabet cake for her sister's birthday.

such a sweet gesture that the cake is a surprise for the birthday lady.

of vanilla sponge cake with chocolate ganache, decorated with Hershey's Cookies & Cream, M&M's Peabuts, Whopper Maltesers and Kinder Schoko-bons Crispy.

she's two!

so little babe turned two end of May, and of courseeee we had a small celebration for her. as previous year, we called for a birthday iftar for both families.

its more meaningful this time because she already knew what a birthday is and was able to soak in the limelight.

babygirl had two cakes - for our family iftar and for her school. how lucky!

and nope, i didnt bake anything this round, because #makpenat.

some pictures below, #formemoriessake.
and probably if you need party ideas for dessert tables and stuffs.

for the family iftar, my invite was for about 25 pax in total including children.

• family iftar meals: Satayboy (for mee rebus, roti kirai and chicken curry, with putri salat and samosa) / mee hoon birthday by my Mak 
• family iftar side dishes: Yummy Takoyaki / add-ons by self (hashbrown pops, pepes wraps and nuggets)
• family iftar desserts: Chendol Kain Pelikat / Rizq Delights / Keria.Sg / add-ons by self 
• family iftar birthday cake: I Am Cafe's 5-layered Rainbow Cake with cream cheese filling

• dessert corner: DIY - mini Milos, Ritz cheese biscuits, marshmallows, puddings
• family door gifts: DIY - tea, Redondo wafers, Tim Tams
• birthday banners/balloons: DIY Rainbow theme (balloons not in pic)

• school birthday cake: Prima Deli Sg's Rainbow Connection with Strawberry Cream Filling
• school goodies bags: DIY - tangram set, packet drink, rainbow cookies, rainbow marshmallows, chocolate biscuits and jellie cups 

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Satayboy
do i need to even review Satayboy? i mean, oh come on. their much raved satays were amazeballs, their mee rebus flavorful. i would even appoint them as my official caterer moving forward.
dealing with them was also breezy, although delayed replies are expected. otherwise, good food, good transaction.

Yummy Takoyaki
this wasnt the first time we had them. my family lovesss their takoyaki and just kept repeating orders. and their delivery timings didnt fail too - always on time.
they used to pour their sauces before hand, but now they dont. i mean, the takoyakis get soggy after a while and to prevent that, YT separate the takoyakis and sauces for you to pour in accordance to your eating time. nice kannn.

Rizq Delights
such an easy breezy transaction! i was the one delaying replies because i couldnt decide what to order from them. and ended up with just their fruit tarts after reviewing my food list. so much pretty desserts they have! i have had their desserts before too, and once again, top taste.

Keria.Sg
you know some kerias would be hard the next day and its not nice to eat? Keria.Sg isnt like that! i was very amazed! our first time ordering from them, and my oh my they taste good! not too sweet, very soft textured. and still delicious the next day? ouhhjyes!

Chendol Kain Pelikat
again our repeat order from them. a little too sweet for my liking but thats easily solved by adding water. one bottle could actually feed two! i love how they are prompt at delivery and comes in a cooler box complete with ice to keep the chendol cold. sweet gesture, i like!

I Am Cafe 
my family loves their cakes since forever. my mum have a special place in her heart for their red velvet cake. and given the party is rainbow theme, of course i have to get their rainbow cake. only thing was, i couldnt decide a seven or five-layered cake. i went with five because i didnt want too much wastage and figured not many will eat cake after stuffing themselves with other foods.
i was disappointed though, with the outlook of their cake. i felt the Happy Birthday message was sloppily written and given the name was for a girl, they could have used red cream instead of blue. i even texted my mum that the cake is small, about 6-7". tall, but small. i expected something bigger.
they dont have any cake image for you to view, no options for what cream, what color, whatnots. it was simply "Okay what cake you want, when and what message?" kinda thing.
i wish they had paid a little more attention to the cake details.
oh, for this cake, i paid about SGD90.00 without delivery.

Prima Deli Sg
the place to go for todds! i love how the cake is big and short. hahahh. and its good sponge cake for toddlers - light, creamy and less sweet. score! and ooh the colors were so vibrant - suitable for pre schoolers to wow at the cake. i supposed its readily available at Prima Deli, otherwise ordering it is also easy breezy.

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now onto the babyboy's birthday planning. hahahh. 

birthday registry

Regardless how old I am, or at least for as long as I will remember, I will have a birthday wishlist. I mean, isn’t it easier to tell people what you want, instead of them guessing and sometimes getting stuffs you may not want and don’t use? Quite wasteful, right?

Its like a registry, so you can keep track of what was gifted. In fact, I actually purchased some items myself, as part of my resolution to care for myself better.

Actually its an ongoing list lah.

This year, I aim to have the following items:

1)      Too Faced White Chocolate Bar eyeshadow

2)      Too Faced White Peach eyeshadow

3)      Too Faced Just Peachy Mattes eyeshadow

4)      Too Faced Sweet Peach eyeshadow

5)      Bodyshop Peppermint Feet Care

6)      Sand & Sky Pink Clay mask

7)      Laneige Sleeping Mask

8)      Benefit Bad Girl Mascara

9)    SF Egyptian Dress Blue

10)  Lulu Al Hadad Kaftan

11)  Nusheennura Marble Long Dress

12)  Desigual Bag

13)  Unicorn cake

14)  Mermaid cake

15)  Ondeh-Ondeh cake

16)  Teh Tarik cake

17)  Macaron

18)  HP

19)  Laptop

20)  Fossil Rose-Gold watch

21)  Lang Leav - Love & Misadventure // Lullabies // Memories // The Universe Of Us // Sad Girls // Sea of Strangers

22)  Rupi Kaur – Milk & Honey // The Sun and Her Flowers

23)  Jojo Moyes – Honeymoon in Paris // The Girl You Left Behind // The One Plus One // Paris for One

24)  Cecilia Ahern - One Hundred Names // How to Fall in Love // The Year I Met You // The Marble Collector

25)  #88lovelife – Volumes 1 + 2 + 3

26)  Origami books/kits

27)  Hand Lettering books/kits

Of course there’s other stuffs I bought that’s not in this wishlist, like the UD All Nighter Spray and Australis Primer. I hope I could stick to this list and get these collections.

Else, there's always next year's wishlist, insya Allah ;p 

eight pieces of CCC

since I made a mess in the kitchen. 

and i made caramel chocolate cupcakes for my neighbour for her CNY. 

gave her eight pieces, because, well, lucky number. received a text after that, her telling me how it tastes sedap. makes me all fuzzywarm inside. nobody died from my cupcakes. hahaha. 

Caramel Chocolate cupcakes, with crushed Lotus biscuits in the centre and topped with Caramel SMBC. gold pearls, because wealth.

pen my book.

when lil bro mentioned he wont be having a guestbook for his wedding, i recalled i have an unused black plain guestbook chucked somewhere in my storeroom. so i offered to do up the book for him, so guests could pen their well wishes to the newly weds.

sourced Pinterest and googled for suitable designs/images, and took out my colored pens. i was undecided to have a monochrome theme for the design, or to add some colors. i even thought, since its rather a last-minute plan, i should just print using normal A4 white paper. but nahhh.

took a little extra time with it, designing and deciding on the colors and fonts etc, and printed the final simple design at a nearby photo shop.

voila, a guestbook ready within a couple of days. phew.

yes, she did it again.

as per tradition, mummy will always put together our wedding trays. wedding trays for my brother's solemnisation were no exception.

I JUST REALISED I NEVER UPLOADED ANY IMAGES OF MY WEDDING TRAYS!

so anyway, mummy did the trays for her son's solemnisation and i think it is equally elegant.

ive always advised her to not make the decorations extravagant, because we want the gifts to stand out, not the flowers or the bold colors or twigs or whatever. the idea is to show the gifts, so it would look pretty when pictures are taken, not show off the flowers. lol. i honestly cannot stand extensive decors on wedding trays because i just do not know what to look for - where is the gift? why is the flower so big/the color so bold? what should i be looking at??

knowing what gifts will be exchanged - food, scents, toiletries, handbags and watches, etc - would be extremely helpful because it helps to decide how big the trays would be and how the decorations would be. it also helps in what kind of decorations are needed - big petals, small petals, more leaves, just baby breaths, more pearls, less blings, etc etc.

and so my talented awesome mummy put together the entire wedding gift trays below, all are her idea, yes right down to the bunga rampai holders and sirih junjung:

although i do assist her occasionally, i do wonder if i can even match her creativity.

so whaddya think? can take in orders? hehehh.

in addition to wedding trays, we also DIY-ed the wedding favors for kids and adults.

we chose yellow/gold for the favors so they give a sense exclusivity and class.

before my wedding, i learnt that to add a touch of exclusiveness to the reception, it would be good to have glossy/shiny favors because the public would always have a second look at what's bling bling at the entrance of the reception. hence i chose silver packaging for my favors back in 2014.

similarly for this round, we chose gold. because, classy. and i loveddd how it turned out when we laid out the favors on the table. so much gold bars! hahahh.

so thats the DIY-decorations bit for my brother's wedding ceremony.

do send in emails for enquiries on wedding trays and wedding favors if you have any HEHEHEHEHH =D

in phink.

My only bruhhh got hitched last weekend! Yayyy! Pictures coming up! MAYBE. Hahahah.

But more importantly, I need to do a shoutout to Natalie Le Bella for coming to my rescue at the eleventh hour, making me nail my outfit on the solemnisation day.

You see, the family color is pink. I do have a pink.. or rather, a peachy outfit. So I thought I wont need to purchase any. However, the color was not close to Abz’s or Sara’s outfits. All skirts got stuck at the hips area! Or maybe I was just itching to get a new outfit.

I also bore in mind that I had grown sideways and in front a lotttt, so getting attires to match my size could be a problem. I SOS-ed my friends, looked up online and couldn’t find a suitable outfit for myself. Like a race against time, I was frantically searching for a pink outfit for my brother’s solemnisation day!

So I texted NLB, asking her if she have anything for me, given the conditions my concerns being: (1) a pink outfit, (2) stretchable skirt and (3) a top long enough to cover my tummy. 

AND YES SHE DOES! 

Natalie Le Bella's Exclusive Flowy Beads Kurung

So much loveeee for this outfit!

So comfy, I was able to chase after Sara around the ballroom. Material didn’t stick to my skin and I was breathing with ease. I didn’t sweat buckets and material was cooling and flowy. I felt like a princess myself with all that tail~. Hehh.

So THANK YOU NATALIE LE BELLA! *hearts shooting out from eyes*

And yes, #FSprojectheir is having our #2, insya Allah J

girl's first.

and so our little one celebrated her first birthday a few days after Ramadhan.

i was adamant to not do a big affair, with lots of guests and spend a huge amount for her first. like i maintained, "she wont remember the celebration!" abz and i were not in favour in doing a big celebration involving a massive amount of people's money and efforts to make the supposed party a successful one. i didnt want pressure on guests to come and bring gifts for her.

however i was insistent to do a very intimate affair, of course, to celebrate her first year. and what better way than to have an iftar birthday with only immediate family members. my aim was for our members to meet, have a good iftar, and celebrate Sara's first birthday and simply spend time with her.

BUTTTTT of course also, i cannot let the iftar be a plain boring one. I NEED TO DECOR SOMETHING. I WANT HER TO FEEELLL SOME SORTA BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION.

i told abz to leave me in charge of planning Sara's birthday iftar. and he was more than happy to let me do! duhhhh.

i decided on the color theme - red, pink and white. because, well, girl.

DIY-ed all the birthday decor - sourced Pinterest for a few weeks, printed and pasted the buntings myself, bought paper fans from Spotlight, and even managed to DIY a mini dessert table.

I ALSO NEEDED TO MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF MY KITCHEN! it is afterall, my girl's birthday! but given my condition, i couldnt cook. i made Nutella Blossoms instead.

i had my mum to contribute ideas and energy, thankfully.

we ordered Nasi Ambeng from Dapur Ummi, mum made Bubur Hitam for dessert and i made spaghetti in case some guests couldnt take nasi ambeng as a meal.

Sara's birthday cake is from our trusted Secret Recipe, its been our family favourite since forever! requested for own image and delivery, and that's settled! 

for about twenty pax small affair, below are our menu: 

Main & Side Dishes

Nasi Ambeng 

Beef Spaghetti

Vegetable Popiah 

Desserts

Birthday Cake

Pulut Hitam

Nutella Blossoms

Chocolates, Jellies, etc

Fruits

Drinks

Fruit Punch Cordial 

it was a small intimate affair, close family members around us, just how i envisioned it to be. visibly, Sara was more than happy because these are the people she was familiar with. 

getaway in Bali

and so i single-handedly planned a birthday getaway for abz. nyehehh. 

birthday surprise plan was successful! whee! 

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Place: Bali, Indonesia

Weather: Sunny

Period: Sept 2015

Duration: 4D3N
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Day 1- started at 3pm

• arrival flight via Jetstar at about 3pm
• reached Ngurah Rai Airport Denpasar about 6pm: no airport arrival tax for Singapore passport holders
• reached Bali Vidi Villa about 8pm: Rp350,000 for taxi ride not via hotel's airport transfer

given that we reached the Ngurah Rai Airport at 6pm, after all that baggage clearance, and finally reaching the villa at about 8pm, we obviously didn't do anything other than getting dinner and retreating for the night. it was one day wasted. 

 Day 2 - started at 9am

• White Water Rafting + Buffet Lunch + 2-hour Spa & Massage: Rp770,000 per pax
• Luwak Coffee Tour: no admission fee/coffee and tea charges + Rp50,000 per Luwak Coffee cup
• Kechak Dance: admission fee Rp 100,000 per pax

Day 3 - started at 3pm

• lazy morning and noon in private pool
• 5-hours Tour Guide with Driver: Rp 490,000 per slot
• Kuta Beachfront free-and-easy
• Jimbaran Seafood Dinner: Rp 900,000 per package for two excluding 21% GST

 

Day 4 - started at 1pm

• 8-hours Tour Guide with Driver: Rp 560,000 per slot
• checked out from Bali Vidi Villa 
• Ubud and Kuta Beachfront free-and-easy
• departure flight via Jetstar at about 11pm: Rp 200,000 per pax for airport departure tax 
• reached Singapore Changi Airport about 2am the next day

#notetoself:

• travel in a morning flight to maximize a one day trip, even if its just getting around.
• standby spare cash especially for the last day for last min souvenirs etc.
• generally the tour guides may have partnership agreements with other companies. unless you have a specific place to dine in, they are likely to recommend you to their partners' companies.
• unlike Bintan and Jakarta etc who is one hour behind Sg timing, Bali's time zone is the same as Singapore's.
• do be aware that some prices are exclusive of Bali's 21% GST