The Sum of 2013… (the last bits only)

if i were to talk about the adventures i had in 2013, i would need a year to do that. so i am only going to touch on the last bits that i did the previous year (that sounded as though it was long ago, ain’t it?). anyway…

we had three rounds of celebrating the little girl’s first birthday and another round will be this Sunday. ain’t she lucky? we did the same with her big sister 6 years ago (till now) because it was just so hard to do it once and for all when you have a big family.

the second time was together with my aunt, whose birthday was 2 days after Fateena’s. one of my cousins would have joined in as well, if he was around, because his birthday was 2 days after my aunt’s. our December “babies” have nice dates; they’re all even and 2 days apart from each other. Fateena – 20 Dec, Aunt – 22 Dec and Cousin – 24 Dec. we should plan for a birthday get together next December!

we had good food, of course! all home-cooked and prepared by another aunt, the eldest among my dad’s siblings. there were spicy fried noodles of 2 kinds, jeneket (Jenny Cake), KFC’s popcorn chicken (not home-cooked, of course) and of course, the birthday cake from Secret Recipe sponsored by the birthday lady.

and the third one was with my in-laws.

we had lunch together at a halal Thai restaurant – Jai Siam, at Dhoby Ghaut Xchange. the lunch was on my in-laws but the cake was on us. and because Fateha’s birthday was nearing, we added her name onto the cake. the cake that we had forgotten to take a photo of. it was a small chocolate cake of Tom & Jerry. because it was the only cake with the characters that suited these girls. Fateha being Tom and Fateena, Jerry. it was just them, except that they were females.

one last bit of 2013 that i absolutely love the most is definitely got to be this.

on the eve of new year’s eve, a small parcel was delivered to our home; late at night after i sent Fateha to bed. i asked hubby what that was and he said it was his. he ordered something from Qoo10. i gotta say that both of us are addicted to online shopping at Qoo10. we have been purchasing stuff one after another, be it for the home, the girls, birthday gifts for others and even for ourselves. i gotta stop this addiction – NOT!

the parcel was on the table so hubby asked me to get it for him. and then he told me to open it. wha-? why would he ask me to rip off the plastic wrapper? unless it was for me. and indeed, he said it WAS for me!! awww, it was a sweet surprise from him, who just kept a straight face. without even a smile or that loving, romantic look after seeing that i melted from his sweet gesture. that, everyone, is my husband.

after ripping off the wrapper, this was what i saw.

it was the awesomest gift he gotten for me. like, finally!!! something that i could feel good about when using. not that i didn’t like all the gifts i got from him. but this one, went on top of the charts like instantly. the smell, as the name suggested, was indeed seductive. i fell in love with this almost immediately. aaaahhhh, thank you husband!

but, hey, it wasn’t my birthday. and no, it wasn’t a Christmas thingy cos we didn’t celebrate. nonchalantly he said he got it for me just because. no reason behind it. but he did joke a little and said he had too much money! hahaha. yes, that, i already knew.

the following day, he sent me to work cos we planned to have breakfast together. while we were getting ready that morning, i thought of spraying just a bit of that beautiful and seductive eau de toilette. i asked him if i smelled good and he only said, “hmm.” as in agreeing with me “hmm”, not that “mmm” of  inhaling the sensational smell. my husband.

i need to get him to a crash course of how to express himself. or maybe i should do it myself. after learning the theory, he could definitely and absolutely apply the practical with me, which would be very beneficial for us.

it has been a joyful, tearful, jerk-full, stupid fool and bloody fool 2013. would i ask for more? no, no more of 2013 cos we are already in 2014. new year has begun and i hope to get that good news that i have been hoping for. my new year’s resolution?

just to be myself.

HAPPY 2014, people!

the one who is One

she turned one two days ago. and since daddy was on his off day, we brought the birthday girl, and her sister, to an ice-cream treat at Swensen’s.

 

we’ve never really let her eat ice-cream before; just a few licks were all she had. but 2 days ago, we gave it a go and fed her some small, itty bitty scoop of the dessert.

and instead of swallowing, she spat it out and let it sloppily slipped off her mouth. and dirtied her onesie. aaahhh, i had zero tolerance for kids dirtying their clothes. but because we were in the public, i shrieked a lot lesser and cleaned up the dirty spot like nothing happened. and like a good mom should. hahah!

the rest of us ate a big bowl of 8 scoops of ice-cream like there was no tomorrow. i wondered whose birthday we were treating for. lol. surprisingly, i couldn’t help them to finish it up. i left them to finish the eating job.

happy 1st birthday to my little BamBam.

 

 

p/s: sorry. i just can’t produce enough words for this post. because we’re off to celebrate her birthday, again! but this time it will be together with her grand aunt, who turns XX today. wait for it in my next post. more words and lengthy, i pwomise.

apple of my eye

she pulled herself up just so that she could grab a bite from that apple. like she had teeth for that.

love the spread so spread the love

my aunt made the tastiest garlic spread ever. tried it during our family gathering at aloha resorts and my palate refused other barbecued food that were prepared.

there were chicken wings, beef and chicken satay, prawns, hot dogs, stingrays and slices of french loaves. all barbecued. once i took a bite on a slice of french loaf with the garlic spread, i fell deeply in love! managed to cajole my aunt into unleashing her secret recipe in making the spread. i was glad that she shared.

made a batch (as above) a few days ago but i left it chilled in the fridge. read somewhere that the longer it got chilled, the tastier it would be. and prior to making it, i wrote a list of the items needed before scooting off to johor bahru for our fortnightly marketing.

– garlic
– butter
– italian herbs

so the above spread was made with love. hahah. about 6 tablespoons of softened butter (approximately, i didn’t really measure), 1 clove of garlic, some dashes of italian herbs, a pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar. yea, i liked it sweet. i smashed the garlic and chopped them into tiny bits before adding them to the butter. and then finally, in went all the other ingredients.

i love the smell of the italian herbs and i guess it made the spread smell wonderfully delicious. well of course, the smell of the garlic was stronger.

just to make it my style, i added half slice of cheese on top of the spread and baked them in the oven toaster for 3 minutes only. the husband had asked for them twice and i was so happy! it only meant that my garlic spread was nice, if not delicious.

Going Bananas

High in potassium.

Well actually I am hopeless when it comes to what vitamins or minerals that can be found in food. I just know how to eat them. So do not ask me what’s good about them.

But I do know that some people say bananas are good for…you know…if you have constipation. And Fateha has not been to the loo to do No. 2 for days now. The last one that I can recall was somewhere last week.

THAT IS BAD!!!

So we are going bananas. Hope she’ll have loo trips now.

(or is it papayas that help?)

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