December 22, 2011

East meets West Macarons Tower/Sireh Junjung for my sister engagement

My sister got engaged last weekend! Yippee!! :D 

I made this macarons tower as her Sireh Junjung. For those who don't know, Sireh Junjung is a must have gift in every hantaran gifts in Malay wedding/engagement. The traditional Sireh Junjung usually consists of sireh leaves and flowers, aesthetically arranged in a decorated tray. So instead of the same o same o sireh junjung, I decided to fusion it with macarons tower. My dad loves the fusion idea and called it East meets West Sireh Junjung :)

The macarons tower consists of two parts. The bottom part was pinned with Sireh leaves, I folded it to make it looked like a pineapple skin (sort of). The upper part was the macarons part and I arranged arrays of mini roses of beige and pink in colors in between two parts.Oh how I wish I have detailed pictures of this tower to show you.

I think the macarons arrangement on the tower was a bit loose. Time wasn't on my side. Sigh. I was so busy in the kitchen, I didn't have extra time to fix the mac tower...and the saddest part is... I didn't get to snap any photos from my camera. tsk tsk. double sigh.

These photo were taken by my soon to be my bro-inlaw, Azfar. Thank you, STBMBIL. he he 
My sister, Dya and her fiancĂ©, Azfar.
 Hantaran gifts from our side. My sister did her hantaran gifts all by herself. The macarons tower was my gift to her. 
 Hantarans gifts from both sides.
 Salam mitak restu dari my mom. 
My parents and my sis. 
 Isn't she lovely?
 Both families. 
 The engagement dais. More like a wedding dais if you asked me. hihi My sister did this by herself. 
My sister, Dya. She's taken guys. ;p 
Congratulations Dayah & Azfar!!

December 12, 2011

Hodugwaja-Cheonan Walnut Cakes

To be honest, I don't know much about this cake. All I know is that this little snack is Cheonan`s trademark walnut-flavored cake known as Hodugwaja. (Note: Cheonan is a city located in the northeast corner of South Chungcheong, a province of South Korea-Wikipedia)

This small cake has the size and shape of a walnut. The filling consists of red bean paste (if I'm not mistaken) and a small slice of walnut. Hubby's distributor bought a box of this cake for us while they were visiting their clients in Cheonan. 

To me, the dough part tastes like a Malay Bahulu. :)
Believe it or not, this is the only Korean snack we brought home huhu I was planning to buy rice cakes and whatnots.. but.. one restless little soul called Adam wasn't keen on taking a break. He didn't want us to make any stop at all. He he ikutkan aje.. 
Anyway, thank you very much to those who left comments on my previous post. I'll write more on that on my next entry. he he We did had fun, despite all those little 'challenges' caused by Adam..and sometimes me.. =P I still have a bunch of photos, waiting to be resized. Just hold on.

December 1, 2011

Seoul: It's about Adam.


Yep, you read it right. We're in Seoul rite now. It's a business trip cum holiday. Business for Husband, pleasure for both Adam and I..lol 

There's nothing like holiday, at first. The journey from Changi to Incheon was rough. It was a midnight flight and Adam was a first timer. Duh..I should've had an early vision for the upcoming event, but I didn't. Where did my instinct go?  Half an hour into the flight, Adam's temperature started to build up. The temp reading was 39.4. It made me anxious a lil bit. Be cool, I reminded myself. It must be the sweater. He must be hot, since the air was a bit stuffy in our area. Adam being Adam, sigh.. he refused to let the sweater off.  I just let him be. 

Second hour on the flight, he threw up. I felt irritated as I cleaned it up. I should have had rip that sweater earlier. Still blaming the sweater. We took another half an hour to persuade him into changing into new clothes. Luckily, we bring spare clothes. And the thermometer. 

We changed him, rinsed off the dirty clothes, asked plastic bag for it, and few minutes after that, he threw up on us, and continued to do so for the next hour. It was a puking saga. I felt helpless and sad, as I watching him squeezing his tummy muscles out for nothing. He was REALLY sick and I couldn't do anything. The wafting smell was bad at that moment. We ignored the complaining passenger and continued to do our job as a parent. Adam needs us. He was having a motion sickness, indeed. 

Luckily (again), our seats were located right next to the toilet. We ended up staying at the toilet area, and it was a war zone for us. We had him sit without shirt and let him puked whenever he wanted. Poor boy, pity him. I really felt helpless. I was at the end of the rope when I took out my Minyak Cap Kapak Oitment,dropped a few on tissues paper, and let him smelled it. Alhamdulillah, it helped him a bit. I should have bring his own oitment on board next time. We wrapped him with the airline blanket and I let my husband hold him. He slept on his daddy's shoulder for almost an hour. Mind you, he's 14kg toddler, and what my husband did amazed me. I holded him for mere minutes(when Husband took his turn to eat), and I started aching here and there. 

The whole experience has taught us lot of things. First, bring spares clothes for everyone. I ended up like a zombie with puke smell after we landed. Secondly, expect all the worst nightmares before you fly with you little one (s). Bring every single thing needed. Google it. Since we just discovered (the hard way), that Adam is prone to motion sickness, we will have to find some anti-nausea med before we fly home. (So far, it's hard to find pharmacy that sell 'everything under the roof' here) .

All the crappy things about stewardess and passengers with kids won't help you were nonsense in our case. The SIA stewardess assisted us from A to Z. She helped me cleaned up the mess, covering our seat, drying up Adam's clothes, and she even sprayed some air freshener to clear up the smell, at our request. She keep asking me "are you okay, do you need anything?" (My face read HELP ME all the time, probably..ha ha ) Thank you SIA stewardesses. The chief crew even asked whether we wanted any medical help on board. We wanted to pursue it at first, but after everything was clear, we decided not to. There was another mother with kids (eight kids to be exact) on board, and she asked me what happened and how am I doing.. she was on her way to the toilet and  remember our war zone? When I was back in my seat, the nice lady came near me and offered me a Panadol syrup for Adam. There's still love and concern in this world. Alhamdulilah. The stewardess gave me the tablet one earlier, and it was hard to get Adam to chew them.   Since Adam was sleeping at that time, I told her we'll get it from her if we need it. She's a mother to eight kids, no wonder she bring everything on board.. she must have learnt a lot. :D

Last but not least, both parents should be cool with the whole situation. I know I'm not. I was the one with the helpless, sad and irritated feeling at the whole things, the whole time. My husband, on the other hand, is a great man with high patience and passion. Thank God for that. He had to take care not only Adam but ME. Yep.. I know.. silly me..I'm so gonna have to master on self-control more.. isk isk Bottom line..We are very lucky to have him as a husband and daddy, respectively. :)  

Anyway, Adam is not having fun, at the moment. He keep throwing tantrum here and there. Everything is new to him..We went for a walk yesterday, and the cold weather was indeed cold. Adam being Adam (again), refused to wear his thermal clothing. He keep screaming at me. Ouch. (And my patience is thinning..oh sabar sabar..) No cap, no gloves, no scarf, no ear puffs, no stroller's rain cover. He wants to wear his long john, jacket and hood only. That's after a loooooong struggle with him. I'm totally blank and I have no ideas on how to persuade him into wearing his cap and gloves. Oh please pour me some tips, or we have no holiday at all. =P