Being modest

mod·est

   [mod-ist] 

adjective

1. having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one's merits, importance, etc.; free from vanity, egotism, boastfulness, or great pretensions.

2. free from ostentation or showy extravagance: a modest house.

3. having or showing regard for the decencies of behavior, speech, dress, etc.; decent: a modest neckline on a dress.

4. limited or moderate in amount, extent, etc.: a modest increase in salary.

I just started trying to be modest. In other words, I just started wearing the hijab =). Kinda funny that in the previous post I was just writing about my new haircut. Anyways, surprisingly wearing the hijab makes you even feel modest inside. I mean, me at least. I used to wear it in school coz it was just compulsory in my school to wear a hijab. But once school ended, I chose not to. It was for the simple reason that I felt insecure. And I still remember telling myself that I'll wear it again once I gained more confidence. And that was when I was 18. Now I'm 26. My self confidence has definitely had a tremendous increase since then. This past year I've been thinking of wearing it again. Close friends know my intention as once in a while, I would tell them. I started buying scarves and wearing more covered clothing although not completely committing to it. Once in a while when I'm about to go out, I try on a scarf and look at myself in the mirror. But everytime, I just ended up taking it off coz I felt like it just didn't look right.

Personally for me, it's been quite a tough time this past month. And naturally, that just makes one think about god/Allah more and asking for his guidance. Maybe that's why he suddenly moved me to try on the hijab again, only this time for some magical reason, it looked just right. Maybe to someone else's eyes it looked ordinary. But who cares. It looked super nice to me! And so I decided to leave it on that day. I went out that day with my new, hot pink, jersey hijab that I bought from Karyanina (acecee promo skett)and headed over to Stellar at SS15, feeling proud and contented. Seriously, it felt like such a relief. I didn't think that it was gonna make me feel that way. But it was a good feeling. And I didn't even feel insecure or anything. I just felt really pretty =). I decided to keep my new image and I feel happy. 

The best thing is that it changes your life in the best way. You don't just wear it to look modest, but to try and be modest in every other way possible in your life. Jaga tutur kata, pergaulan dengan kawan-kawan, pakaian of course lah, and most importantly solat. I'm not saying it gets perfected instantly. Memang tak aa. Orang luarbiasa je boleh buat instantly. But you are more aware of it and you genuinely try your best and its like you can now focus better on other things in life besides obsessing on your looks. Tak tau nak explain mcm mana lagi tapi memang best la.

Alhamdullillah, thank you Allah for all that you have given me. I feel proud of myself. Thank you friends and family who have truly been supportive. and to that special someone, thank you for being on the same page with me during this transition. And for telling me I look pretty more times than you did masa sebelum bertudung =D. (kalau siapa-siapa rasa nak muntah skarang, muntah la. ade aku kesah? haha)

I just felt like sharing this coz it feels good. =)

..Oh on another note. My take on bertudung just being a trend now, I say OKAY AA TUU! Ramai lagi orang rasa confident nak bertudung sekarang. Tak kesah la nak ikut trend ke apa, asalkan tak over and tutup mana yg patut n cosistent, ok aa tuuuu.. =) 

Stay positive!

Because I'm cool liedat!

I watched this video and I thought "haa..that's pretty simple.."

So I tried it myself. Because I've actually been intending to cut my fringe but I was just too lazy to go to the hairsalon..

BEFORE

AFTER

If you noticed, I coloured my hair too. I used the Liese bubble hair colour from Kao. Super easy to use and good results. It gives an even colour and it doesn't really dry out your hair :D

Supercalafragelisticexpielledocious 2012!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy new year to all of you! Hope your 2012 have been great so far. How did you spend the first day of your new year? I went back to my Kampong with my family. It was a great way to spend the first day of the new year. Some great things happened during this trip..

 Brought my Uwan back to her home. With an entourage. heh. She was so happy (FYI, my uwan lives with my aunt because she's too old to live alone). But we made a short detour to Ulu Bendul for a picnic lunch, and she wasn't too happy about the delay..

 Ada sikit bebel, sikit masam, but in the end she warmed up and joined us dipping our feet in the river.

 As for my maklong, it's her first trip back to Kuala Pilah and her first picnic in a really long time so she's happy about it. And you'll be surprise to know that she has never 'mandi sungai' before in her life. Ever. So she absolutely couldn't resist dipping her feet into the cold water.

Before you know it, she dived into the water head first. Ok tak. Tu tipu. Tapi dia masuk la dalam air tu. Mandi sungai pakai jubah dgn tudung labuh baru cool ok. Maklong awak ada buat? Takde kan?

This is my cousin, Abbas. It's quite obvious that this is his first time 'mandi sungai' too. I mean like, siapa tengok jam dalam air bro.. chillex aa. ahihi..

On the way back before reaching uwan's house, we'll always drop by the supermarket in Kuala Pilah town, Gedung Harian, and get this wonderful Apollo wafer chocolate and of course other supplies too. MMmm yum. 

 Some kids/teenagers nowadays don't really enjoy balik kampong because they say it's boring and there's nothing to do. But actually there's a lot of things you can do.

Kita boleh tolong Uwan kita kemas laman, cabut rumpai-rumpai, sapu and bakar sampah, and the best thing, kait buah rambutan, buah langsat dan macam-macam lagi buah yang ada kat kampung (haip haip!pikir ape ha.. :P).

 Selain tu, boleh santai-santai ambik gambar or maybe just sit back, relax, enjoy the lush green scenery and breathe in fresh air which otherwise you can't get in the city.

 

 But if non of the above interests you, I'm sure jumping into the river will. Bila rasa boring je, kita terjun balik dalam sungai depan rumah!

Conclusion: I had a great start to my year and I hope the rest of the days will be just as awesome no matter what I choose to do :D

White Chocolate Pieces Cupcake with buttercream frosting with coconut and walnut topping

It was my dad's birthday a few weeks back and I decided to bake something for him. Something different and yummy. Something that I know my dad will love. So I gave my usual vanilla cupcake recipe a bit of a twist. I added some white chocolate pieces to the recipe and for the topping I added some shaved hawaiian coconut which I still had some left from before and some walnuts which I know my dad loves (he likes any kind of nuts). It turned out great and super yummy! I still feel like having some! I can taste the sweetness of the coconut and white chocolate pieces and the crunchy walnuts as Im writing this. GOSHHHHHH....

White Chocolate Pieces Cupcake Recipe

For the cupcakes
1 cup butter, softened
1cup superfine/castor sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup white chocolate pieces/chips (whichever you have)

For the frosting & topping
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening/krimwell
1 1/2 cups Icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. milk
Shaved Hawaiian coconut
Chopped Walnuts

Preheat oven to 175C. Prepare baking cups in muffin pans. Combine all ingredients for the cupcakes in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy, smooth and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in white chocolate pieces.Spoon batter into cups until about half to quarter full.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Prepare frosting by beatng the butter, shortening, Icing sugar, vanilla, and milk until smooth. Spread over cupcakes and sprinkle coconut and walnuts on top. And Voila! its ready to be eaten!

Even my cat Blue want's it!



The recipe is super simple. You just basically toss everything in. Try it!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is father's day. As a thank you to our beloved dad we bought him a present and early in the morning, put it at the kitchen where he usually has his breakfast...



Yay! It's a leather work bag!

Hope you like it Pa =).. Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there!

Picking up the pace

Woahhhh! I surely left the blog idle for too long! Reason being is because I actually wrote a lot of entries but didn't post them because I didn't know if it was appropriate. I'm still figuring out the direction of this blog because I do wanna write about personal stuff but I don't want it too seem like I'm boasting or showing off what a good life I have because some people tend to do that on their blog and it can be annoying sometimes.

Anyways, I just got back from Melaka. I had a work induction and yes, that means from now on the baker will also have a permanent, 9-5 job. Pheww! Boy will I be busy. But I'll still bake. In fact, I already have a bunch of wedding and hantaran cake orders lined up for December. Looking forward to that and excited to see how everything goes. MUST PICK UP THE PACE AND STAY POSITIVE. =) Lets see, what have I been up to lately....

Of course I've been making cakes...

...and cookies

..and trying out my dulang hantaran. This actually looks pretty don't you think?

Been making doorgifts..

..And of course, cupcakes!



Went to kuantan with friends..



and of course, out to meet the BFF's

and also out with cousin.

to line up for 1 hour 40 mins, to see whats all the buzz about the new Uniqlo.

Went to see a dear friend's wedding

..and went to some function.

Got to go now! Going to accompany my aunty to bring her two twins to a casting at TTDI..That'll be interesting to see huh..Later!

Tools =)

I'm actually really busy and I still have a ton of things to do because I have quite a few cake orders this week and at the same time I have to get ready for Bijou Bazaar (!) this weekend. But anyways, I still wanna write this now because I'm really happy today! I got a really good bargain for some cake decorating tools that I've been trying to get for quite sometime.

Okay, for those of you who aren't familiar with cake decorating, actually the situation in Malaysia is that it's really hard to get a lot of the tools that we see American's use to make those beautiful cakes. There is only one supplier for wilton products in KL and that is ICCA. And because of that, the prices are high. Sometimes a bit ridiculous. But a lot of people, including me, buy from them anyways, simply because you can't get wilton's quality products elsewhere. But today I'm gonna show you a few things that I got that can save you a lot of money especially for those who are just getting into cake decorating..To those who already know, takyah baca je la k..

Okay. So first is the bead cutter.

This is used for making those pearl like fondant borders that you put around the bottom part of the cake. This is really useful because tak payah nak gentel fondant bulat tu satu-satu. leceh. That's what I did before. At ICCA, they sell this for RM30 if I'm not mistaken. I got this for RM6 at Bake with yen, Chow kit. ;)

It even comes with instructions. But I have to say after trying it out, the beads doesn't really come out that neat. There's another silicone version of this that I've tried before, and I think the outcome is better. But that you can only get from ICCA.

Next, meringue powder.

Okay, so it isn't exactly a tool. But this is an essential in making royal icing and also buttercream. Meringue powder is dry egg whites. You can do without it as well. But in my personal experience I find that it's better to make royal icing using this. For one, it's because if you used normal egg whites in royal icing, it's not cooked.

At ICCA, the wilton meringue powder is RM40 plus. But I'm not so sure how much it weighs. but I don't think that theres much difference. I have yet to try this brand. I'll let you know my verdict when I have.

Next, is the fondant rolling pin.

Now this made my day. I have been wanting to get this for quite sometime. Because this is truly essential for making bigger sized fondant cakes. To roll the fondant out using normal wooden rolling pin is dreadful because one, its not long enough, and two, because you can sometimes see the grooves of the wood on the fondant. Although its not that apparent, but you still want the fondant that covers the cake to be perfectly smooth. Honestly, I couldn't afford of getting this before because it cost RM100+ at you know where. So how much did I get it for??...

28 FREAKIN RINGGIT ONLY! I found this at another shop before at RM46. but thank god I didn't buy it there.

Next, other fondant tools.

First is this packet of tools. I dunno what to call it. They are useful for when you're sculpting a fondant figure or making gumpaste flowers. You really do need them. I'll give a little demo later on how to use it. I got this at City Bakers at Kota Damansara. It's cheaper than the one at Bake with yen (RM28).

Second is this flower cutter. There are various types of cutters but i'll just show you the ones that I used for the demo later on.

This is another type of cutter. both of the cutters costs less than RM10 for a set of 3 different sizes at bake with yen. I'm not sure how much exactly.

So for the demo..

You'll of course need fondant. If you don't know how to make fondant or if you're simply lazy to, you can just buy one of these ready made fondants. but in my experience, they take a long time to dry and harden in Malaysian wheather. That's why I make my own.

Firstly you roll out the fondant like in the picture.

Then, using the cutter, cut out pieces..

and place them on this fondant sponge or whatever its called.

Then, using the tool in the picture, make an indent on each petal..

and also in the middle using the round tip tool.

And walla! you get cute little daisies. but it's not done yet. you still have to pipe some yellow royal icing in the middle.

Do the same with this cutter but because its bigger, roll the fondant a bit thicker this time.

Then place the flower on a palette like so and make an indent with a small rolling pin.

Then flatten out the sides with you fingers. This also needs royal icing to be piped in the middle I'll show you the end result when it's layed on the cake in another post.

And finally, the last tool are couplers.

These are couplers. couplers are used for the tips on the piping bags. If you have these, its easier for you to change to different tips or nozzles. The left one is a local brand which costs RM10 for four pieces and the right one is from wilton which costs RM20+ for the same amount.

And of course you need a tool box (only RM20). The wilton's tool box costs RM100+ but they have special compartments to hold the colour bottles and tips in place. So up to you. I just got the cheaper one. heh.

Keeps everything organized and in place so you don't loose things.

So that's all for now. Come back another day and see the outcome of those daisies. =)