30.12.2009

it's almost the end of the year. our family project which is to have an extended family gathering is still in the process. we (uncle william, milia, ah meng and i) are in charge of producing the family-tree book, where we need to get pictures from all the extended family members to be attached in the book..to tell you the truth, sometimes it's not easy to work even with your own people :) so, we had our final meeting for the year and i made some cookies to munch on..

i actually still have some cookie dough which need to be in the second-round of baking (because my oven is extremely mini). after finishing this bowl of cookies, i excused myself to put the unbaked cookies in the oven...and then continue with the meeting again. unfortunately, i was so into the meeting discussion, and i totally forgotten about my cookies in the oven. and these are my first burnt-not edible cookies of the year..

the raisin is turning itself back into a grape!

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cherrie and kimberly were the first two students of mine (not including the students that i taught in tuition centre in kajang). and i've been teaching them for two years, form2 and form3. and this year, they sat for their PMR examination, where their results will determine which way they will go.

black pepper chicken: for me

kim is joyce's youngest sister whom i agreed to teach just because joyce wants me to (but i'm not sure if i did help much because they, themselves are bright students)..and as joyce is no longer around town after she got married to michael, i see them as my own sisters.

lasagna: for kim

cherrie and kim are two good friends. and these two girls always reminds me of those days when joyce and i were back in secondary school. kim is so much like joyce and i can see myself in cherrie. the one who is not as confident as joyce but always compete with each other to see who can do better and yet humbled ourselves when one did better than the other. =)

( i dont remember what was this): for cherrie

before the exam, they were nervous and were so afraid that they would not be able to do their best. time is passing by too fast that they havent have enough time to revise all the 7 subjects that they have to sit for..but i was very confident with these two girls. i am so sure that they can get the best.

apple-lime juice and (i think) orange juice: for me and kim

a day before Christmas, the results came out, and i think it's the best Christmas gift for two of them, as well as me. =) they got straight 7As for their PMR. and as i've promised them, i will treat them good food or anything that they want to eat. they choose to dine in Secret Recipe. so, there we were..

chocolate indulgence: a piece for 3

we celebrated their achievement and also farewell for cherrie, as she will be moving to Brunei next year, and continue her studies there. while, i will still be teaching kim and another new student.

blueberry cheese: a piece for 3

i hope for the best for cherrie, and i know she will be good..as for kim and the new girl =) we still have long way to go =)

28.12.2009

my Christmas in Labuan.
let those pictures do the talking..

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

21.12.2009

two weeks ago, my brother, roddy called me, to ask if i would like to contribute cookies for his BAG2SCHOOL project.

the purpose of the BAG2SCHOOL project is to raise fund for the children who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. and the fund collected will be used to buy new school materials including new school uniforms, school bags, books and stationery.

if i were to agree i have to bake 100 cookies, they will be part of the items to be included in the aprreciation bags (they have chocolates, Starbucks voucher, Body Shop Perfume, bookmark, KASIH brochure, candies and the bag itself) that will be given to the donors who donated for the project. roddy suggested to bake gingersnaps to have the christmas feel.


considering that my little old orange oven can only hold 2 baking trays and at least 9 cookies (with the size that he wanted) per tray. that means that i can only bake 18 cookies each round. and to have 100 cookies, i need to bake for at least 6 rounds. while each round i need around 30mins time, so for 6 rounds, i need to have 3 hours.


i have a day to give him the answer. i didnt say YES to it, neither did i say NO. but seems that it's a YES because i did all the preparation. i bought butter, flour, eggs and searched for the best recipe. hehe. we started our the baking project on thursday night, and luckily friday was a public holiday. these were the outcome. the followed the recipe that i have but the dough turned out to be too soft and not pliable..i have to add more flour to improve the texture of the dough.


when our first trial is done, i managed to bake only 33 cookies including the burnt ones. roddy was the quality control. the sound of breaking the cookies was perfect. but when it come to the taste, in my opinion, they were too fluory due to too much flour added. i wasnt happy with the products. it was already 1230pm that night, and i started to get nervous.


my baking book is just next to my pillow. i searched through and found out 'the recipe'. so the next morning (friday) i started early, just in case i fail again. i prepared 2 butters of dough and refrigerate them to firm. i started baking at 8pm and finished at around 1am. the total cookies i managed to bake were 150 pieces. oh ya, the size of my cookies had shrunk, so i have to put in 2 cookies per bag. roddy wanted to get 120 bags, so i have to have at least 240 cookies.


i have to continue for another 90 pieces of cookies on saturday. the project will start on sunday and i'm afraid that i couldnt make it in time. luckily ah meng and milia were at home to help. i finished baking all 240 pieces of gingersnaps at around 3pm. ah meng and milia helped with the icing and me as the designer..and of course roddy as the approver. hehe.


after 2days of baking, 2.5 hours of icing, and almost 1 hour of packing. everything is done at around 530pm. and they are ready to be given away.


i never knew that i'll be able to produce this many of cookies, with little experience and many failures that i had. hmm..praise God! =)

06.12.2009

Ah meng just got back from her annual dinner in KL. and these are the things she got for me:

this snack keropok cap keropok dan pinggan, boleh dimakan selalu used to be my snack whenever i do my revision in college. it used to be my habit where i had to have something to eat while doing revision or reading. the keropok are quite hard to bite but taste very nice- strong fish taste and one can get addicted to it (well, at least to me..hehe) by having this, it brings back all the memories in kolej dato' onn, kolej tun hussein on, tun sri lanang library, pusanika and nescafe kiosk. hmmm..i like. =)


CHOC-A-LOT! you cant find any of twiggies product anywhere in sabah. you have to import from peninsular. and the last time i went to kl which was in 2008, i brought back 10 packets of choc-a-lot twiggies..woah~ satisfying.


toast'em! lots of raisins..a very healthy loaf of bread. this cant be found anywhere in sabah too. we can have the ordinary white sandwich gardenia bread, but ironically, not any other type of gardenia products.

and these just made my day~

03.12.2009

days passed by. and exactly today, it has been two years i'm with my current company. how far is my progress? what have i learnt? how have i improved? who have i become?

all i could say is i'm glad that i have a job to do. there are things for me to do everyday, which give me the opportunity to learn every single day. and i thank God that for every thing that i experienced is a challenge for me to make me a better person. =)

01.12.2009

1st of december is observed as world's AIDS day. AIDS is acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and HIV is human immunodeficiency virus. to tell you the truth, i wouldnt know much about AIDS/HIV if not because of my brother, roddy. all i knew is one can be infected with HIV through three major ways.

1. unprotected penetrative vaginal/ anal sex
2. sharing of contaminated needles/ syringes
3. from infected mother through giving birth and breast feeding.

and these info instilled in my head because there was a big billboard in front of my primary school, which i used to read everyday while waiting for kakak to fetch me.


this year's theme is Universal Access and Human Rights, where it is our rights to have access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care.

milia: beralih dari kesangsian ke harapan

why do i suddenly talk about HIV/ AIDS? well, thanks to roddy for the awareness. he is actively involved with this because he was once incharged of the HIV/AIDS control division in his ministry. he has been planning to help in creating the awareness among the comunities, since few years back.


last sunday, in conjunction with the World AIDS day, the plan had became reality. some of us volunteered ourselves to help out with the activity which was held in gaya street. we gave away 500 free cupcakes with red ribbon taped on each of them (our target: little kids) and good quality condoms (our target: adult male) to whomever looked interested with what we have to give. =) we need to let the society know that HIV infection can happen to anyone and also HIV/AIDS patients need our support, care and love.

classic lubricated condoms, contura contoured condoms, and cupcake

we met lots of people while giving away the condoms, which i understand, because it is very unusual to have someone giving you free condoms..hehe..but, it is also surprising that not many people are interested with our free cupcakes.

ah meng: HIV/AIDS saya prihatin anda bagaimana?

this project was organized by KASIH (Kinabalu AIDS support services association) and all the donations will go to them. i dont really know how much have we collected, but there were quite number of people who donated. thank you very much!

the main objective is to create the awareness among them.. and i hope part of them were aware of it, if not all.