My Husband is home and so are my Kids.

I love that being a holiday that affects EVERYONE, I don’t feel rushed to accomplish all those important matters of the day.

I get to catch up on housework and complete outstanding household to-do’s, while The Hubby entertains the Kids and their inquiries. We have no need to rush off to anywhere and instead, leisurely carry out our plans for the day.

And we’re just basically hanging out with each other.

It’s so peaceful and calm that The Girls have no reason even to bicker.

*sigh*

Bliss.

Mamarayou oku’d Kinorohingan

(I will praise the Lord)

Tontok tadau, do pitinungan diti

(As we meet in this place today)

Sumayau om suminding oku di Yesus

(Dancing and singing for Jesus)

Nokointalang noh kosianan-Nu

(You have shown your love)

Korikatan-Nu minamasi dahai

(When You came to save us)

Royohon noh ngaran-Nu

(Your name is worthy to be praised)

Unsikohon dahai kasari

(We are forever thankful)

Id suang ko id ginawo dahai

(You are deep in our hearts)

Poingompus yahai tumanud Diya

(We follow you all the days of our lives)

(I’ll use this term lest there be any more strong feelings about it…)

Have a good celebration and may the Lord continue to bless us with bountiful crops for many more years to come.

Yang aramaiti tu, jan sampai tiwas ah…

Salam mesra,

When I was a full time working Mom, I was always on the lookout for time-saving (or time-stealing) ideas to help me get more out of a given  day. This Cookbook was one of those ideas I was able to get a hold of. And true to its 15-minute promise, it has been an invaluable resource for me even now that I am a SAHM running around after my Kids. The time-saving / time-stealing ideas still work. Always good to have something that lasts, yes?

Included in the chapters of this Cookbook is one titled ‘The 15-minute Kitchen’ where you are given a breakdown on the essential items to have for your kitchen to work superfast! Here’s a line about whisks that I like:

‘A metal balloon whisk is great for softly whipping cream and sauces to a smooth consistency. Whisks are available in all shapes and sizes. Don’t buy an enormous whisk that is difficult to use and will not fit into pans. Mini-whisks are not essential – you can always use a fork instead.’

You know how when you go shopping for these things and when you find them, they come in a set of S, M, L sizes? Not essential. In today’s economic climate, buy the One you need.

It’s good to find some attention to detail in the pages of this Cookbook. It’s the little things yaknow…

Then there’s the REAL 15 minute recipes.

Among the dishes that I’ve made from this collection is the Corn Fritters, which the Hubby loved. The recipe called for slicing the kernels off of corn cobs, but I made things even simpler by using those Del Monte Whole Corn Kernels packed in a tetra pak.

This dish quickly became a favorite because it goes well with main dishes, on its own, and even for an afternoon snack with tea or coffee. (Typical of the Malaysian ‘makan’ culture)

And who knew you could have Barbecued Lamb with Red Pepper Salsa on the dinner table in 15 minutes tops??

Wanna know something else that’s cool? After using a few of these recipes, I found myself slowly coming up with little time-saving tips and tricks of my own. Handy huh?

Now how do we get hold of this Cookbook you say?

To be honest, I got it off the Doulos Book Shop when they were docked here last.

BUT.

Have no fear Girlfriends!

Thanks to the wonders of technology, now you can buy this off – you guessed it – Amazon.com.

And *shameless plug alert!!* if you click through my sidebar and make your purchase from there, you’ll be helping this housewife jingle a little pocket change in her small purse.

And did I mention this Cookbook comes with pictures for some of the steps? Easy peasy!

(I’m trying to find something I DON’T LIKE about this Cookbook, so that you know, you’ll have a balanced review, but I just heart it. What can I say??)

Comfortable, discounted (weee!) and beautiful!

Love it.

And no. This is not a paid post and I have no affiliation with the retailer other than my Aunt works there and I AM LOVIN’ IT.

Have a good week ahead y’all. I certainly will.

Mmmkay.

Hence I present my Tiramisu.

I first asked for this recipe from the Mommy of my daughter’s friend when I had it at her little Girl’s birthday party. “Oh, I got it from this month’s Astro Magazine!” said she. “Really?? I must go rip mine out too then.” said me.

Coming home, that magazine was the first thing I dug around for and behold, I finally laid my hand on a Tiramisu recipe. Yay! I had wanted one for the longest time, but as in all things, life tends to move along and you just forget about the inquiries for the day as it passes. Read: old.

Here’s what I used (and didn’t use) for this recipe:

1. For the whipping cream, I used non-dairy Anchor Bakers Mix.
2. I used Nutriplus Eggs, you know the one with Omega 3.
3. The rum is Captain Morgan Black Label Jamaican Rum.
4. I didn’t use chocolate shavings because, well, I had one bar of chocolate but that’s to save for the triple chocolate sinful indulgence I am producing for an upcoming company dinner. *wink*
5. I forgot to use my springform pan and put all that yummy goodness in the usual casserole bowl. Would’ve looked prettier when cut had it come out of that cake pan. Next one lah.

Once again, happy is the pastry chef when her Husband comments, “Mmmm… This is good.”

Here’s that elusive tried and true recipe if you too want to impress your Love. Try it and let me know how you went.

p.s I also make a mean Orange Tiramisu that’s a hit with my ‘eaters’. That, for another post.

We came home to find our kitchen window opened and the stack of plastic chairs we had kept at our backyard, moved to where the window is. An old handbag that I no longer used that the Children now play with, was on the floor next to the chairs. When we checked for any missing things, we found all our broomsticks detached from its brooms, and the sticks nowhere to be seen. “Stupid broomstick thieves!” the Hubby muttered. I, on the other hand, found it odd that they would take the sticks and to find my old handbag outside when clearly they were not able to gain entry into the house. My first instinct after that was that it was likely the thugs may try again.

As we were making our exit from the door of our home to send the Kids to school this morning, our neighbour stopped us on our tracks and proceeded to inform us that he had an attempted break-in to his home last night.

We proceeded to respond that we too had an attempted break-in last weekend when we were away. The jerks forced our kitchen window open but since they were unsuccessful in getting in, they carted off the broomsticks from our backyard. Or so we thought. Our neighbour then showed us how the thugs attached four broomsticks together to make a long pole and tied an S hook to its end. Two of the poles that was tied to each other looked a lot like our missing broomsticks.

Using this self-made pole, they then tried to fish things out of my neighbours window and unfortunately for this family, the thieves managed to lift off some keys and a handbag. The offenders would’ve probably got off with more had my neighbour not wake up at 4am to go to get a drink downstairs. He has since changed all the locks in his home and is re-thinking how he stores his keys.

Since the attempt on our home, we too have taken measures to further protect our home. One friend suggested setting ‘invisible’ booby traps at possible entry points before switching the lights off for the night, to delay the intent of would-be thieves, using fish lines and maybe cactus plants no less!

You know, that might not be a bad idea after all.

Rats!

UPDATE: “What?? All Words and No Pix??” Ok. Ok. Here are some.

Truth be told, this is the first time I’ve organised a birthday party for Children. In all my twelve years of working full time organising events for hundreds of adults, this project consisting of 12 Children has been the most daunting! Did y’all know that “2 hours is not enough time for a party Mommy!”??

Anyhoo. So Big Sis wanted a Hannah Montana themed birthday party this year, and with today’s economic climate, we (as in, ME..) decided we would organise it ourselves this time round. I had envisioned lots of Hannah Montana paraphernalia, colorful finger food and a good amount of singing to the tunes of this famous Disney personality.

not too bad huh? those are Ikea plasticware.

I found out however, that it was difficult to find affordable HM paraphernalia here in KK. There are loads of Disney Princess ones, and there are even stockpiles of the more recent hit with the kids – Ben 10. In the end, I’ve only managed four sheets of stickers and used them to stick to plastic crockery and other party-related items.

I bought a Hannah Montana magazine which had the bonus of a huge poster which I put up, and was able to glean ideas from it for party activities. On the day of the party, I took apart the magazine and pasted them on the walls of my Mom’s living room as part of the decorations. In hindsight, I could’ve gone to borrow some cardboard stars from someone and stuck them alongside the magazine pages to give the room a real star / celebrity / concert hall feel. Ah well.

The Children came and started off with bracelet making using beads that someone had given the Girls some time ago but was never put to use. I bought a few more and some strings and the Kids got to work. My strings were a little too fine. (See, I told you organising a Kids’ party is not a walk in the park!) Even so, most of them were able to make theirs and I got my Party Hostess to take individual pictures of them with their bracelets and with Big Sis. Sometime this week, I’ll process those photos and send them off to Big Sis’ guests as a Thank You token.

Oh. I must tell you how thankful I am for my Party Hostess, Jia Jun. The downside of doing things by yourself is being pulled on 15 different directions, and that’s just on the day itself! I was toggling back and forth from the Kitchen to the Living Room carrying out orders from my Mom (who helped with the cooking, bless her!) and organising the food table, all whilst chatting with parents.

So in the middle (literally, because they were in the living room and the food table was at the front porch) of my running around, my dear Party Hostess carried out games to keep the Children entertained. I could see that they enjoyed the last game of the day as it involved action movements to the tune of Best of Both Worlds on a piece of newspaper that they had to eventually fold into a tiny piece to dance on top of. So fun! Thank you Jun! Couldn’t have done the Games without you. *wink*

there they are. so pretty!

Menu was simple. Finger food all the way. Spaghetti in individual cups. And pink guava juice. I ‘contracted’ the Bff to do an array of cupcakes for me and those turned out cute! Everyone loved them! I’m so inspired by her cupcake stand that it’s now in my to-do list to get one for myself. The cake I baked was chocolate with cookies and cream buttercream filling and frosted with purple and pink fondant. Next time I do the cake again, I will make three layers instead of two, so folks can get more of the cookies and cream. I think I did pretty well with the filling cos I got good raves about it. The cake itself. Eh.

Still. The children couldn’t keep themselves away from the food. They kept going back and forth picking up food as they went along the program for the day. I just felt so sorry for the Kids cos temperatures was humid that afternoon causing them to thirst badly. But then it rained heavily towards the evening which cooled the air a lot and was when the party ‘really’ started with the Kids watching the Best of Both Worlds Concert in the living room, in the dark! They wanted a movie theatre effect and was at one time complaining about the lights that was on at the outside (where the parents were chilling) cos it spoiled the effect a bit.

We served the food to the Kids at the Kids table where they had an individual set of placemats, plates, cutlery and cups each. We put the cupcakes right in the middle so they could all get a piece each and put the cake in front of Big Sis, to whom we sang the Happy Birthday song and then said a prayer to bless the food. And the Kids ate. I think, serving them at their own Kids size table with Kid size chairs and Kid size plates and utensils, they get to actually eat! So that’s good.

When the Kids have had their share, and sat down to watch their movie in their ‘movie theatre’, the parents finally sat down to bite-sized food, Monavie juice (which my Mom hussled around) and had our own jabs to the side from everything about Man-U’s err.. ‘declining’ streak, to the subject of orang gaji. (Paid Help). And everyone was being kind to me about my cake.

Albeit being a Kids party, it was a fun-filled afternoon for everyone with good enough food and certainly good company. Which has always been what’s important to my Hubby and I.

I think I’m getting the hang of the whole party for kids event planning thing. I should think about making a business out of it huh?

Not!

a Smiley button for everyone!

and body jewels for the Girls. cool?

Oh. I should mention. My Husband was in charge of the Music Station. U rock Darling!

Oh Oh. And we did do the Earth Hour thing, but didn’t take pictures. We were all exhausted by that time anyway, we just plain forgot as we sat in the darkness. Tsk!

Once, at a Bookstore, a Mother commented to me that she was impressed at Big Sis’ reading when Big Sis appeared to be of a younger age than the Mother expected of the regular Reader. I politely informed the Mom that in fact, Big Sis is a petite size and that many of her friends can read too. The Mother went on to tell me that hers still can’t read as well and her child was about to enter Year 1 of Primary School. I smiled and looked at Big Sis who was seated among books reading quietly but audibly.

These days Big Sis likes to read just before going to sleep and while we read the Bible together often times, I wanted to introduce her to some other books I had found memorable when I was younger. I was delighted to have found the Classic Starts Series at the new Harris Bookstore at 1B that carried some of my favorite titles in Junior Reader version.

I gave her the choice of Heidi, The Swiss Family Robinson (”Ah. THIS is good.” said Daddy) and Little Women. I then gave her a summary of each title – the adventures of a Little Girl up in cold mountains, a shipwrecked Family’s trials and triumph, and a tale of Sisters.  “I’ll have the one that tells about Sisters, Mommy.” said She. Good choice Sweetheart.

When we get ready for bed now, I ask her about the latest happenings with the Little Women and she very readily recaps all she’s read, punctuated with some of her own opinions. “Little Sis is just like Amy, Mommy!” “Ohh.. So Meg is sixteen years old. That means she’s a teenager, right Mommy?”

Tonight I’m looking forward to hearing about another chapter of the lives of the Sisters. More so for Big Sis’ thoughts about what she read. My hope for her is to travel far and wide to learn new things all in the comfort of her own home and with the people she loves close by.

“it’s not safe to leave Flutterfield, but when I read I get to visit the entire universe..” – Mariposa from Barbie’s Mariposa

I was talking to a Mom friend from Church that somedays we just don’t know what to cook for the family anymore!

This one covers all the main meals plus sandwiches and even a section on mid-meal snacks. I could use every one of the recipes in here for every meal, everyday this week.

I am trying one recipe soon. I’ll let y’all know how it turned out. Stay tuned!

p.s I got it at the little bookstore next to Toys’R'Us at 1B. Rm11.90. In case anyone’s wondering…