First Year Post-Mortem

My mom was right all along. Despite having known The Don for 8 years, I learnt more about him this past year than all the 8 years combined. But we are lucky I guess, we have had less fights this past year of marriage than 3 months of our pre-marriage days. The Don is very helpful at home. He often helps with the dishes & laundry and is a great host whenever my family comes for the weekend. And believe it or not, since we have been married, not once have I operated the vacumn cleaner coz that's his dept. I have a warm relationship with my in-laws so no grouses there. My Don's only weakness is food so as long as I keep the dapur berasap, he is one happy man.

Thats not to say everything has been picture perfect. There has been major annoyances and minor skirmishes but above and beyond, I love being married. It has given me a kind of serenity I have never known before and I look forward to every day like the flowers wait for the sunshine.

Still to benefit those waiting the throes of marriagehood and those in their early days yet, I list here the top 10 things I learnt in the first year of my marriage....

1) It seems there's an invisible sign on the ice-tray that says "Your wife will fill it"
2) Forget about any hope of holding the remote control when the husband is at home
3) Avert your eyes away from the television when its commercials time coz the constant channel buzzing can make you go blind.
4) The seat of the toilet is never down. Forget it and your butt will get stuck in the bowl.
5) Its ok to spend all your pay check. Every morning, the husband fairy will put in money in your empty wallet.
6) There is no such thing as "read till you fall asleep". The husband will make sure of that. :)
7) Apologies have to be extracted, sometimes with a plier and a chainsaw.
8) Its fine to stay out late till the MRT ends on a girls' night out. The husband is just a phone call away. And he sends my friends home too :)
9) Whenever you bring up an issue, make sure he cannot find a way to blame it on your PMS.
10) Hint at something you see on a sale long enough and eventually he will buy it for you :)

Happy Anniversary to my friends who are celebrating their anniversaries in Dec too.

Never Too Late

I finally got The Don an anniversary present. Extremely belated, being one whole week late (as his presents from me always are) but he's not complaining. Its extremely difficult to steal away to find his present. My lunch time is never enough for shopping and come 5.30pm, he will already be waiting at my office carpark. I usuallu get my chance at surprising him during my girl's nights out but I haven't had one yet this week.

Anyway, I took an extended lunch just now and after much scouring, found the perfect gift.



Just what he needs. Now let's hope he doesn't read this before I give him his present.

A Girl's Best Friend

My anniversary gift from my darling Don.


My colleague made me a Hello Kitty charm to hang on my new mobile


Then my best fren, M bought me 2 very very lovely charms that are symbols of what we love most. Shoes and handbags.


So the hello kitty has been relegated to my old phone and the new blings-blings on the new one. And I'm hanging them both!!!!

Oooh I so love my phone....

Thank you guys for all those wonderful anniversary wishes and e-cards. Time sure flies huh? Suddenly, Its already one whole year since I officially became Mrs Don. It seems like it was only last month that we had our wedding. I can still recall every single minute of that weekend, the images imprinted vividly in my mind's eye. When other people talk about weddings, I practically hold my tongue for fear of going on & on about my wedding ad nauseum. HeHeHe. Short of Idris, who still loyally asks for our wedding dvd to be played again and again every 3 days or so, our wedding is as ancient as yesterday's last year's news. But as my Don so loves to remind me, "The wedding is but one day, the marriage, Insyallah, is a lifetime."



Our plan to whisk oursleves away for a short anniversary holiday went up in smokes. Literally. We planned a quick getaway to Colmar Tropicale on the anniversary week, to celebrate our special day and also to re-live the French atmosphere of our Paris honeymoon. But things just didn't materialised. We planned this anniversary hols months back but never really got down to do the booking. When we finally tried the week before, we were told it's full house. Numerous attempts at various travel agents also failed to get us a room. The Don tried to placate me by offering to go even further than we planned. We scoured the net for Bangkok deals but our trusty travel agent said they needed more than 3 days to make the necessary bookings. The Don contemplated going up cold and pray for a cancellation at the last minute. But I declined coz it was too risky. Needless to say I was sullen and certainly didn't look forward to the weekend.

But apparently our disappointment was short lived. That same day, my cousin called to say they were planning to come down to Singapore for the weekend. We, of course welcomed them with open arms and a failed anniversary trip became one whole weekend shopping trip. hehehehe My cousin, like me, simply loves shopping. So the two of us painted the town red, pink and green while our dearest hubbies sat waiting and chatting, each silently hoping we dun burn holes in their pockets hehehhee. But burn we sure did... hehehe.

And just when I though justice had been served, as a make-up for that botched weekend getaway, The Don has agreed to book a week-long holiday in Penang + Langkawi + KL for the coming year-end hols. Looks like for the 2nd year running, we will be celebrating New Year away from home. A good deal if u ask me.... one weekend of doing nothing in Bukit Tinggi is now a week long holiday of endless shopping, good food & wonderous sights.

Happy Anniversary Darling!!!! And a big thank you !!!!
Now who says a delayed holiday is a bad thing???

HOLLYWOOD ON ICE

The Don received 5 free tickets for Hollywood on Ice show at Singapore expo, courtesy of his client, the company that brought them to Singapore. Since he was busy at Ba'alwie for a special function last Friday night, I took the opportunity to have a girl's night out with my 2 best gal pals. Lisa fell ill at the last minute but my MIL and the Don's sister joined us so it was a Girl's Night Out nevertheless.

We had prime seats, as always, and practically sat at the edge of the ice floor. Having been to various Disney on Ice shows in the past on account of bringing my nieces and nephews, I was quite sure of what to expect, but clearly I was wrong.

This was sooo much better. They put up a showcase of all the major hollywood films and icons. From the time of the silent movies all the way to the most recent epic of Titanic. Perhaps the skaters are not as world class as the Disney ones (we caught a few falling) but the shows they put up were great. The props, the costumes, the acrobatics were captivating, to say the least.

M and I had a fun time picking out the movies we know. Being such movie buffs and lover of classic movies, between us we picked out Charlie Chaplain, Top Hat (Fred Astire & Ginger Roberts) when they played the song "Dancing cheek to cheek" Casablanca (Ingrid Bergman & Humphrey Bogart), Elvis Presley in "Jailhouse Rock", the massive props and costumes in Dr Zhivago, the theme song & sexy girls were a dead giveaway for James Bond not mentioning the Aston Martin car they brought in as a prop, Moulin Rouge, ET, Starwars, Titanic, the great songs from Dirty Dancing, Footloose and Flashdance. There was only one movie that left us stumped. One with two groups of people and lotsa bats/flies lookalikes, which we later found out was Lord of the Flies.


It was a great night and the audience clearly enjoyed the show although perhaps not many would want to come and see it. The expo hall was only half filled on the Friday that we went. But I'm sure if you were to go, you'd have enjoyed it as throughly as M, I and my in-laws felt.

EGG-LICIOUSLY PERFECT

What do think this is ?

a) a table lamp ?

b) Idris's spinning toy ?

c) a dinosaur egg ?


Neither...

Its a life-saver, a virtual time conserver, and recently my most recent best friend.


The Don loves half-boiled eggs for breakfast and he eats it like twice/thrice a week. And he is very fussy about it. It has to be perfect. Not too watery, not too hard. And eaten with a dash of kicap.

During the early days of marriage, I used to fret about not getting it right. I either leave it too long in the pot and it ends up like this

or I take it out too early and it looks like this


Honestly, pre-marriage I had no idea how to make half-boiled eggs. No one in my family eats it (with the exception of my brother) and I never had to cook it for anyone before. Besides, looking at the slimy whitish concoction I can't help but think of it as some oozy, yucky slimy insides of some poor chick who was terminated before it got a chance to live. UUUrrrghhh!!!

It is only with much practice that I got it right. Now with a glance I know when to fish out the eggs from the pot and it will be perfect. Just as The Don likes it. With the yolk undisturbed and with his dash of kicap.


And now that I have mastered the skill of making the half-boiled perfectly, I come across a life-saver. The microwable egg boiler. Its an absolte time saver. 2 mins on high in the heat box and Voila! Perfect! If only I knew of its existence when I was struggling to getthe eggs right.

Still, its a great thing to have. At least now I dun have to keep popping into the kitchen in various states of half dressed to check on the eggs every few mins. And even better, I dun have to spend 15 mins preparing breakfast every other morning. I can do it in 5 mins flat! And its EGG-PERFECT every single time !!!!

Hari Raya Open House

During the last week of raya, The Don and I held our Hari Raya open house especially for our elder relatives. We didn't initially plan to have it but at almost every house we went during raya visiting, especially The Don's side, our uncles and aunts said they have plans to come to our house during the Raya season. Perhaps its due to our "ringan mulut" attitude at always inviting people to our house (as opposed to "berat mulut" and feigning ignorance and keeping their mouths shut when somebody so much as give any indication or hint at coming to their house) However, everytime any of uncles / aunts / cousins called to say they were in the vicinity, we were either at the other side of the island visiting or indisposed (and by that I mean our little weekend at Royal Plaza Hotel)

So we discussed and decided to have an "Open House' on the last weekend. We didn't send out any invitations, merely a personal call to relatives and friends. We honestly were unsure if people would turn up, since

we heard every other cousin/family/friend was also having an "open house"

we are quite far down the line in the family hierachy of both sides and thought the aunts/uncles/granduncles/grandaunts might not exactly prioritise our invitation especially in the time-constraint month of Syawal.

This was the third time this year we are holding a function at our place (after the wedding & the housewarming) and seriously even I wouldn't have attended a 3rd invitation in one year hehehe.

So I guess we were either lucky or perhaps The Don and I are really, really in their good books. Relatives started flowing in trickle by trickle from 11am. By 2pm it was full force. As far as we can recall, 90% of the people we invited turned up and that includes The Don's bro and wife, all his paternal uncles and aunts, most of his maternal uncles and aunts, both his grandmothers, all of my siblings, my aunts, his reservist friends and our close neighbours and my colleagues. At one point, all 13 of his paternal aunts and uncles were present at the same time and there was absolutely no space to sit. Such that some of The Don's cousins had to eat in the study.


By 3pm, the food levels were dangerously low. The briyani rice was fast depleting, the choice chicken parts were gone and only traces of the cucumber acar was left I began to panic. We inited about 100+ people but as I said earlier we hardly expected a good turnout. Lucky my mother-in-law came to the rescue with her claypot rice. Alhamdulillah.

But the biggest surprise of all was when some people brought gifts along with them. Its been almost a year since we got married and moved into our matrimonial home but The Don and I have simply not stopped getting presents for the house. The presents came from people whom did not make it for our house warming. But that was a long-long time ago. Among the gifts we received were 2 warmer sets, a corningware set and a wine bottle holder (???) (the last one from our chinese neighbour)


I guess what they say is true. Setiap tetamu yang datang itu membawa rezeki.

ROYAL BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

It has always been difficult springing a surprise for The Don. His instincts are super sharp and he always second guesses my surprise way before I bring it on. This year I was determined to succeed. I had everything planned way in advance. Booked the suite at Royal Plaza on Scotts, ordered the cake and bought him a new Nokia plus bluetooth headset. He kept hinting and trying to extract from me what I had in store for him but everytime he asked I put on an apologetic look and told him I was super broke this year so no present for him. hehehe



On the actual day, seeing how I seemed to have not made any plans, The Don went for an appointment early in the morning. I told him to call me when he was on the way back so that I can get ready. Meanwhile, I rushed to pack our clothes for the weekend stay at Royal Plaza and took a cab down to the hotel. I checked in (using his name) and waited very very patiently for his call. I conspired with the reception staff to give him a surprise.

When he finally called, I told him to meet me at Cafe Vienna for lunch. That wasn't much of a surprise for him coz we often go there for lunch. When he reached the lobby, he called me again, asking where I was. I told him to look for Ms Suet at the reception and he was given a room key. Hahahhahahaha Finally managed to surprise him. (although if I had made the reservation in my name, I'd have failed again since apparently he called up to check if I had made anyreservations in my name) The suite was super big and the service was top class. If it weren't so expensive, I'd love to stay a whole week there!!!

Later that night, we went to my in-laws for the kenduri do'a selamat held for The Don's birthday. We thought it'd only be family but apparently my in-laws invited a whole bunch of people. Macam kid's birthday party plak. Nasib baik takde belon. The Don was surprised to see a huge cake waiting for him. But best of all was the surprised look on his face when he opened up my gift to him. satisfaction!!!!!!!


Now for our anniversary next month.. I wonder what he has in store for me........

A Birthday Surprise One Day Early

The Don's birthday was on Saturday 19th Nov. I had everything planned, present bought and everything one week in advance. The Friday 18th Nov was a normal day, well it was supposed to be, anyhow. We were in the car that morning, the Don sending me to work as he does evey morning. The traffic was heavy, not unusual in the early morning. At the slip road leading to Stevens Rd exit, traffic was start-stop so we were driving at dead-slow speed with frequent stops. On one such stop, The Don noticed thru the rear-view mirror that the lady behind us was holding up a piece of paper at her steering wheel. We then moved on and picked up speed. At the next stop a few seconds later, he noticed again from the mirror that the car behind us did not seem to slow down despite the fact that all the cars in front of us were at a complete stop and so were we. The Don pulled up his handbrake, just in case and true enough, she banged into the back of our Lancerlot for 3 consecutive times.

When we got out of the car we realised the back of lancerlot was wrecked beyond words. The Don was busy checking the damage to the car while I did the neceesary exchange of particulars. The lady was in a panic state but after talking to her husband ont he phone, she offered to settle the matter privately but seeing how there could be a possibility of an injury to both of us, we declined. I called our firm's workshop and within minutes, they took our car and gave us a replacement car to use in the meantime.

Anyhow, @ Alexandra hospital after the necesary x-rays and examination, we were given a few days MC with a appointment to see a specialist. I am used to handling road traffic accidents and acident-related injuries, it sure will be funny handling my own and the Don's. But you can be sure I won't let that lady off easy.

My Hari Raya Celebrations

Sorry this comes a lil' belated. As you know, my office was closed for the whole week prior to hari raya. My plans to actually extend my Raya wishes on the PC @ home was mere wishful thinking considering I hardly had any free time. So even though this wish is very belated, it comes straight from the bottom of my heart......

In the spirit of Aidil Fitri, to all my blogger friends & visitors, I extend my sincere apologies to one and all for any misdeeds, mistakes & if any feelings were hurt or inadvertently angered by the words on this blog or by my comments in any of your tag/shout boxes. May this Aidilfitri bring with it the best for you and your family and may Allah s.w.t bestow his blessings to us all. Amin.

I had a blast of a Raya this year. I was super-excited, considering this was the first time The Don and I will be celebrating Hari Raya as husband & wife. Add to that the excitement of celebrating in our own home. My mom offered to cook for me for Hari Raya seeing she was gonna cook the same dishes at my sister's place but I declined. So on the night before raya, I cooked lodeh, sambal tumis udang and my mom brought back some satay gravy she cooked at my sister's. We bought some ketupat and lontong & serunding. Now it really feels like raya.

We have all seen it before whether on tv or between our own parents etc etc, the wife on her knees, crying, asking for pardon for all her wrongdoings while the husband takes on a superior tone and bestows his forgiveness while superficially asks for same. I have to admit that was what I kinda expected although perhaps a toned-down version.

In the morning of Aidilfitri, after coming home from Ba'alwie Mosque for Aidilfitri prayers, I was fully prepared, full speech and all, and even before I opened my mouth, my tears were already streaming down my cheeks. After all in nearly one year of marriage I knew there have been numerous times I have been less than a perfect wife. What I totally didn't expect was a totally reciprocal response from The Don. (minus the tears & knees bit) Unlike the scenes of yesteryears between my mom and dad and aunts and uncles and those I see on TV, he actually reciprocated my asking for forgiveness and actually meant every word of it. He recounted the times he had inadvertently hurt my feelings expressed his syukur for having me in his life and even thanked me for being there for him 24/7. For a minute I was quite speechless. But of course, being married entitles you to more than just words to express your feelings so that settles it. At that poignant moment, there was nothing sweeter for me than being married to him. I am grateful to Allah s.w.t for all the blessings that have been showered to me and for bringing him into my life.

After our "wajib" (essential) first day visiting of in-laws, grandmohers and grandmother-in-laws, we fetched my mom and zoomed off to Temerloh, Pahang.
The celebrations in Singapore seems quite sedated compared to the celebration there. The day before Aidilfitri, most houses would already be busy preparing lemang, rendang & dodol. All the houses will be surrounded by pelita that looks simply amazing at night. Probably the origin of lampu lap-lips. In the morning of Aidilfitri, the men will recite marhaban from house to house from the mosque in Kampung Tekal (which is a family wakaf mosque by the way) all the way to my granduncle's house in Bukit Seden.
Lemang Rendang

The morning of 2nd raya is spent at the family burial grounds, where close to 30 families will congregate to recite tahlil and yasin as rememberance to our elders who have passed on before us. And invitations for open house abound everywhere in Temerloh. So basically the whole weekend we were there was spent eating eating and more eating. I won't be surprised if the negligable weight The Don and I lost during Ramadhan has been gained in double dose.

We heaved a sigh of relief that we have completed the visiting on the Pahang side of the family. Now on to more visiting in Singapore..........

YAHOO

I received a piece of great news today. My office will be closed next week from Tuesday to Friday YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Short of Monday we're gonna be closed for the whole week. I am spared from the teasingly cruel calendar of one day public holiday one day work day week. Of all 365 days a year what were the chances that the calendar would play havoc in one week. And an important week at that!! I was thinking even if I had to work I'd probably take leave or something. If I were somehow given a chance to have a say in the Government planner, I'd change the way things are run. You know how a Monday will be declared a public holiday if the actual one falls on Sunday right? I'd make it such Fridays & Mondays will be declared public holidays if the actual day falls on ANY day of the week. Heheheh maybe I should go live in France where they work 35-hour weeks (or less) They have 2-hour lunches ok!!!!

Anyway with the days before Hari raya work-free, I can bake all the Hari Raya goodies to my heart's contents and go have multiple last-minute Hari Raya shopping (1st-last minute shopping, 2nd-last minute shopping etc etc )

My 2nd Best Friend

I dun think I need to announce that I love diamonds. I guess you all already knew that. But its a long wait from one special occasion to another and one bonus to another to enhance my diamond collection so I have transferred my obsession to the next best thing ---> Swarovski crystals. They're beautiful and with the right choice of crystal colour they look as good as diamonds. Well... almost.


Pretty ain't it?

My colleague is the one rsponsible for this mad frenzy of mine. She joined a CC class learning how to make jewellery using Swarovski crystals and when she brought it to the office, she offered to make me one. To-date I already have 3 such bracelets from her. I have even started designing the pattern I want and get her to string for me. In the works are 3 brooches and a few more bracelets.

They cost quite a bit but my colleague has refused to take any money from me. Now I need to look for a suitable gift for her so that my supply of Swarovski jewellery won't stop. HHmm.. maybe I should get for her more Swarovski loose crystals....... (vested interest at play here)

But this doesn't mean my love affair has ended with diamonds, real diamonds. They remain my one and true love. This is but a short fling. I promise to be faithful soon ok....

PS: to my hubby, The Don, pls ignore this entry. I still want that diamond bracelet I showed you!!!!

Food Fiesta

Having my mom stay with us is such a godsend especially this Ramadhan. Otherwise, I'd have to rush home from work like a madwoman on weekdays. On the few occassions that I've had to cook on weekdays, all I managed to whip up was one simple dish in the limited time before breaking fast. With my mom cooking, we get a spread daily and my sanity is kept intact.

But I make it a point to cook on weekends. And to make it up to my dearest Don who loves my cooking, I always make it a point to cook something extra special for him on weekends.

Last Saturday it was roasted chicken


and macaroni goreng


Its hard to believe that to-date, we have not eaten out during Ramadhan. In previous years we spent more days eating out than at home. Usually, by the 2nd week, we would have covered all the major Ramadhan buffets promotion, chief of which the one at Royal Plaza. This year despite the Middle Eastern promotion and live performance by Zubir Abdullah there, we haven't made any plans whatsoever.

The record however, will come to an end tomorrow night when we will be having Iftar with our usual gang @ Amirah's Grill. It'll be a refreshing change for me but the Don says he might be having withdrawal symptoms from not eating at home. hehehhe

Wipe that drool off your face

This Ramadhan I shall assail you with photos after photos of food...finger-licking good food.... heeheehee

Yesterday my sister, bro-in-law & Idris came to break fast over at our place. Umi cooked fish briyani.


with egg salad


and dragon fruit and papaya & Mocha Almond Fudge ice-cream for dessert.




hungry yet?

Tarts & Lap Lip

We went to Geylang Bazaar on Friday night together with my mom and again on Sunday with my in-laws. As always I find nothing interesting at the bazaar but I managed to get quite a few things at Joo Chiat Complex. I went crazy at RH Fashion, when I saw their huge array of sequinned and kilat kilat tudung. Quite exorbitantly priced @ $60 but they are oooh-so-lovely!!! I bought 2 to match my baju raya. I might go down to get more this week. Remember the shop selling nothing but brooches at the corner 1st floor of Joo Chiat Complex. Well, now the shop has closed but the lady selling the brooches set up a stall just outside her former shop. She has slashed all her prices by close to 50%. Imagine, a $56 dollar brooch selling for $29/-. Ape lagi ? borong lah.

I looked everywhere for a new tablecloth to match my curtains. I was fingering one at one of the stalls when my eye caught another shop across the road. Needless to say, I left the auntie in mid sentence and zoommed over to the other shop. My instincts were right again. They were not selling generic table cloth that every 3 shops in Geylang sells. Theirs is especially designed and sewn in Dubai. Apparently the shopowner's uncle has a shop in Dubai so this lady and her husband brings in the goods just for raya purposes. They cost a bomb but the table cloth is so nice, its imprinted in my mind. If I had not bought it, I'm sure I won't be able to sleep at night. Worse I might wake up drenched in perspiration, engulfed with pangs of regret. hahaha. I may be broke but I am happy. (my mantra for shopping)

The cookie making marathon has started. First up ---> Pineapple tarts.
I made one batch on Saturday. But seeing how I only managed to get a little over 150 pieces (excluding the ones My Don pilfered from the oven), I might have to make one more batch today.


And the lights are up at our house. You can see it from a distance away but I think it's not enough as there is no lights inside the house. I want more!!! Hehehehe. It feels great preparing for Hari Raya in our own place. It costs more definitely but the fulfilment is more too.

Chef Don

On Sunday I was down with a high fever, horrendous flu and a bad case of sinusitis. My menu for the day was Western food extravaganza. I had plans to cook some steak, fish and chips and some breaded prawns but all came to naught when I could barely open my eyes and all I wanted to do was lie in bed.

My Don came to the rescue. He told me to stay in bed while he whipped up his specialty, Roti John. I had no idea he could cook and at first I was quite skeptical since he has never attempted cooking before. But then again, during our courting times, he ever did cook for me jemput jemput. But that was part of a dare. Still, I was impressed. The roti john my Don cooked was tasty. The meat portion was generous. And it wasn't too oily. I chipped in by making the sauce.

Even my mom agreed it was fantastic. Looks like if I decide not to cook, he won't go hungry right? For such wonderfully tasty roti john and his utmost consideration in not allowing me to cook in my state, I give him 5 stars. hehehehe


The previous day, my mom went to the Bazaar Ramadhan at Woodlands and bought a few many many kuih. Among them was ondeh ondeh. As with most things bought, the ondeh ondeh came short of expectations. And seeing how The Don and I devoured the ondeh ondeh nevertheless, my mom decided to make some.


Yummy yummy yummy. Unlike those commercial ones, the glutinous portion was just right (not too thick) and the gula melaka was generous. (unlike the miserly shops) We'll never be able to buy ondeh ondeh again knowing we have tasted the very best.