HAFIZ AND FARAH

Every weekend a wedding

For the life of me, I cannot understand why, at weddings, I always stop short from taking pictures with my humble and loyal Nokia handphone, and my post would be without my own pictures, and  I would have to wait for someone to send me some of theirs, which I would never get.

Last night, at Dewan Seri Hendon Putrajaya,  when Hafiz and Farah walked on the the red carpet in tuxedo and a lovely white gown and coincidently stopped by my table to wait for the next cue, I was just gaping at  how lovely they looked and bursting with pride, when I could have taken some really good shots.

October belongs to Hafiz and Farah because its weekends are punctuated by one wedding event. Nikah for family only, then home reception for neighbours  and family and another at the hall for office colleagues and family. I am glad I am family.

The guest were entertained with a show of Kuda Kepang, an energetic fast number joget  and  songs from the Balle-balle group. The mother of the bride surprised us all with a song.

For wedding favours we were given chocolates and colourful towels (see pictures).

As usual,  our not so shy and not so dignified group, were busy having fun, taking pictures, pairing Ding with Selena (so cute a couple ) and making Na dance with the Balle-balle group.

The generous and big celebrations for the newly weds is an indication of  the many good and big things to come into their lives. Hafiz and Farah, who in the own right, have achieved good careers and a promising future.  May Allah give them success in this world and hereafter. Ameen.

GG oven

GG Oven is their (Hajar and Nor)  brand name.  GG means.....hmmm....they might not want me to tell. But I will disclose to you the English translation. Fluffy.

They are burning their faces to the oven since morning, and the new mixer, I named Miss Maximix, is spinning its whisk non-stop. Going whirrrrrrrrrl, to combine the eggs with the cooked butter and flour to make the choux pastry. Then  they would pipe the mixture into  florette shapes onto the trays. Then wait for it to fluff up in the oven and cook at the sound of TING!!! And  repeat. 

Here are some pictures. Sorry, not clear. My nokia is losing its sharpness. 

Have you read any food blogs?.  I am a fan of a few food blogs which are very interesting .  Cafe Fernando is one.  Another is The Misanthropic Hostess. Best giler. With GG Oven starting their small home-based business,  I will write on food too.

Two ovenettes

Saved by the rain

Quite rested from the wedding, I am supposed to go collect something but the rain saved me a trip in a 'for sure' traffic jam from Kg. Semut to Shah Alam. So now I can sit and blog with the cats around me, munching snacks while I make some business plans.  Dream abit, google a little and doa alot. For better things.

I call this place Kg. Semut because for one, it is crowded with a capital C. Second, it is full of activity and life and noise which Aishah could not stand. hehe. Third, it has a system.

I like this place very much. For one because the azan is very loud.  I wonder what kind of loudspeaker they use because of the way it blasts and booms into our homes 5 times a day . I like!!! Second, I found out very late, living in KL makes me happy. For once, that shrinking feeling I feel in most places, I do not feel here.  Strange. Third, its a cha-cha-marba place, and I am a cha-cha-marba person. People here are friendly too.

What started a refuge from my house problems turns out to feel like home. It is a good feeling.  It has been so long ever since I feel good. Poor me. Huhu. Poor Mama. :-(  So girls, let Mama feel this way a bit longer ok?

We, Hajar and friends and I will start something from this place.  An order for 1000 creampuffs is a start.  See, good feelings results to good things.

This flat in Kg Semut will be home cum baking outlet.  Wish us luck. We hope from creampuffs we are able to produces more foodies to sell. Next project after this would be a stint selling this fluffy creamy puffs at the flea market in Amcorp Mall, InsyaAllah.  (as Mahir Zain sings, InsyaAllah, InsyaAllah, InsyaAllah, you'll find the way.....ay......)

I bought our first good mixer for Hajar could never be able to beat the mixture for 1000 like she usually does by hand. Her arms would come off.  Her friend, Nor is good at baking too and I have confidence in this two ladies. I will be their biggest supporter. Maybe QC. A bit of customer service and of course, the delivery lady.

This is the biggest order we have had and I hope our dreams to be self-sufficient would come true. Creampuffs, anyone?

A wedding!

A friend said 'bila kita suka dan buat sesuatu kerana Allah, setiap yang baik dan buruk kita terima dan redha.'
Also ' kita tak nampak yang buruk pada sesuatu yang kita suka, kerana kita tak suka dia kerana Allah'. Deep.

We had our first wedding last Saturday. My sister Idah's reception. At Singgahsana Hotel.

Upon writing this, I have just barely recovered from all the planning, buying, shopping, browsing, running around, answering calls, making calls and driving all over the place. Did everything but took pictures. So no pictures  of the wedding for the time being.

A last minute wedding. All the advise to Idah to make up her mind quickly so that we are not short of time was just a waste of time. Then an issue with a blackberry came about. Shah gave me a blackberry for my birthday. I told Idah I cannot accept because if she does not accept his incessant proposal, I will have to return the cellphone. Idah said  she will be accepting for she knows how much he loves her. I happily accepted the gift and within 2 weeks, the invitations were out.

Actually, doing the wedding was quite a scary task to take on .  With my house problem  and helping with  Hafidz's  wedding the week before, we now have a full blown wedding to organise. A hotel wedding package was called for.  Time was short.  Luckily my aunt is an experience wedding planner, so with the idea in our heads, we got things going, and going fast. We invited only 200 guest and kept it small but 'meriah'.

Being the bride's sister and filling my late mother' place, I bought the most expensive baju kurung I have ever bought in my life.  I had to, since all the dresses I saw at the shops were too fancy and trendy for me.
Finally I chose a simple one, of cotton and some embroideries which ended up more expensive then the prettier ones on the displays. But since its the first wedding we held, I still bought it, especially with Mimi's encouragement, "beli aje Ma, bila lagi'.

Our 'hantaran' was in silver since Shah's was in gold.  Silver flowers on parcels of silver wrapping paper. Silver ribbons were tied around all the items to customize them. Then Aunt Chor added on to the trays dark red roses to make it look more grand and spectacular.

I was everywhere that night. I was nervous and anxious for everything to go smoothly. Aunt Chor was in a hot blue long dress as the theme that night was 'any blue'.  She was at the forefront being 'mak andam' and I was at the back, seeing the door gifts given out to the guest and saying hello to everyone.

Alhamdulillah, it went quite well, with some hiccups due to not having enough time to keep everyone informed and the people who were not prepared to take on last minute task, gave me a scolding instead.

As soon as the recorded kompang started and the bride and groom walk into the ballroom,  we just let it roll as planned.  With En. Manaf giving cues and signals to his staff with his walkie-talkie, we opened the ceremony with doa,(recited by our very own ustaz muda, Hilmee) and merenjis.  Then followed by dinner, thank you speech by my brother, and cake cutting. We even had a surprise birthday cake for Shah.

My wedding favour was a goody bag filled with bunga telur (eggs from Bah, thank you Bah), bahulu given by Shah's mother, complimentary fruit cake from the hotel, some insect chocolates and I threw in a cute little ceramic bell. (picture above)

Siti, my wedding planner friend in Muar, advised me once,  to have a smooth wedding, we must give the best and to be ikhlas. I tried.   Partly on behalf of my dad. And my late mum.

Wishing Idah and Shah all the very best in their marriage.  Bahagia selalu.

Between the last blog and now

Between the last blog and now, so many things had happen.  Big things. Life changing. Mile stones of one's life.

After Nufaeel was born and made me a grandaunt, my nephew Hafidz got married to a very sweet girl, Farah.

Then my sister, Idah married a nice guy, Shah.

And I moved, not sure for temporary measures or for good, back close to where I came from, my real kampung, Petaling Jaya. (I am a lost child)

Turning 48 came with such big events, I guess 48 is one mile stone to mark, the real me.

I guess one will ultimately come home.  To what they are and to where they came from.  And being close to 50, an age that whatever that you are will be here to stay. I remember and believe what Oprah once wrote, to be careful when you get to 50.

Lay down all the charades, because what you will get when you squeeze an orange, is an orange. Thats one of my favorite quips, for if you want to know about someone, look at them when they are pressured.  If they are cool things, they would stay cool.  If they are hot, they will blow their top off.

We hear our elders saying, if one do not change after 40, one will not change. Except for some exceptional cases, I observe that to be true. I guess by 40 we lose the elasticity of putting up false pretenses  just as you start to lose the elasticity everywhere else, like your face.

This is not a good time to write, but I miss writing my blog.  My head is full of things I have to do before Idah's big day and my nerves are frayed from the events that are taking and had taken place.

So remember to always 'control ayu'  so by the time you get to 48 or 50, the 'ayu'ness becomes a trait to stay.

More stories to come.....tunggu....