Of Friendship

We became neighbors since standard 2, but she's too "eksyen" to be my friend. Been best friends since form 2. Till now.

God knows how we can remain friends when we are so different from each other.

 Shaf & i

Conclusion: there are all kinds of friends. Because friends are human too; variety of characteristics and attitude. Sometimes these differences piss you off and feel like "i need time off from these friends". It's okay to spend some time apart. Remember that at the end of the day, you know that you're still best of friends and carry on with life.

Differences. Best we can do is embrace them.

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

i just realized my recent posts are all lovey-dovey, wedding-related posts. Mahaplaaaa.. Mak jakun kahwin. Almaklum lah kawen ni benda best! Hehe..

Here's a post to prove that i do have a life besides being a (WONDERFUL) wife.

Last week Shaq and i went out afterwork. Best friends catch-up session! We went to have dinner at La Risata because i was craving for some creamy Italian pasta. This time i tried their Salmon Ravioli and MashaAllah! It was superb!

Salmon Ravioli at La Risata

We finished eating early but we just didn't want to go home. Come on, it's Friday night! Right there and then we decided to do wild things.. The things we never done before - WE DECIDED TO BAKE!

Stopped at the nearest supermarket, bought all the stuff (including baking tray because Shaq doesn't have one. Pscfttt! ) and rush back to her place. All the way to her house i was thinking "Really? i'm gonna bake with this girl? With this zero-experience girl?"

We reached her house at about 10.45pm, waited for her to take a bath and at 11pm, we started baking!

 Two tired girls, wanting to do a wild thing on a Friday night - BAKING!

Here's the recipe:

For Cake

225g unsalted butter
4 tbsp water
55g cocoa powder
3 eggs
250ml buttermilk (hard to find in your average supermarket. Click here for buttermilk substitute)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp red edible food coloring
225g self-rising flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
280g caster sugar

Frosting

250g full fat soft cheese
40g unsalted butter
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

*but we didn't have any weighing scale so we just estimated EVERYTHING, praying that the cake will turn out ok*

1. Preheat oven. Grease two sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper (or in our case, we used 1 sandwich tin and bake the cake twice).
2. Heat the butter, water and cocoa powder in a saucepan gently, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove the heat and leave to cool.
3. Beat together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and food coloring until frothy. Add in the butter mixture and continue to beat. Sift together the flour and baking powder and stir quickly and evenly into the mixture with the caster sugar.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins and baked in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Then turn out and cool it.

My first ever red velvet cake in the making.

The mixture should be something like this. Look at that color!

5. For the frosting, beat together all the ingredients until smooth. Use about half of the frosting to sandwich the cakes together then spread the remainder over the top.
6. The result:

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Our messy red velvet cake. 

Gaahaha.

We didn't have any spatula, so we just used spoons.

The Verdict

It looks messy as we never ever had any experience decorating cakes with creams and toppings. Gaahaha!

Sheera, Shaq's little sister, hesitated before digging in. Takot sakit perot katanya (-____-). Hubster digged in excitedly tapi muka ragu-ragu. In the end, both of them makan bertambah-tambah. The cake was excellent they said. Not too sweet, not too bland, and oh-so-soft. And the cream cheese topping is perfect. Shaq and i were so happy and proud. *high five Shaq*

At home my brother, Redha, makan tersenyum-senyum. Esoknya dia cari lagi kek tu. Muaahaha.

Who says first-timers can't bake good, finger-licking-good cakes?

Now Shaq and i know what we're gonna do if we ever find ourselves out of the corporate world; sell cakes!

My Majlis Nikah Vendors

Entry basi. Layankan aje yek!

Those of you who came to my majlis would agree that both nikah and reception majlis were very simple. VERY simple. No elaborated decorations. Typical Malay wedding lah katanya. Truth is, i'm a lazy girl. DIY benda penting je. Yang tak penting malas nak buat or hire vendor. Hehe.

Despite that, a few people have been asking about my wedding vendor.. Meh saya ceritakan perihal vendor semasa majlis nikah..

Baju Nikah

For baju nikah, i like it simple. i don't like those heavyly beaded or laced baju. i want it to be wearable even after the ceremony. That's why i opt for plain satin-polyester material with lace patching and light beading. Kainnya sahaja chiffon with satin-polyester lining. Cutting baju pon sengaja buat longgar dan tak ngam-ngam dibadan. Hehe.

Baju nikah saya (without lace patching) adalah dijahit oleh Cik Ana. Saya selalu tempah baju kat dia, semenjak Linda kenalkan. Tak kisah la baju raya ke bridesmaid dresses ke, hantar je kat dia. i like her workmanship, so baju nikah pon hantar kat dia. Upah jahit adalah RM100.

Di Jakarta, saya hantar lace serta baju dah siap for patching. Upahnya adalah Rp250,000 kalau tak silap, lebih kurang RM80. Upah untuk patching lace kat veil pulak Rp50,000 (approx. RM20).

For tudung, i borrowed my friend, Aslinda's beaded awning. Tudung haji daripada material chiffon adalah dibeli di Ariani dengan harga RM50.

So total upah baju nikah adalah RM250.

Murah dan berjimat cermat bukan? 

Kepada sesiapa yang perasan, veil saya jugak telah dipinjamkan kepada Aslinda untuk majlis nikah dia on December 4. We think that tak payah gatal nak beli sorang satu kalo warna baju lebih kurang sama. Dah la pakai veil tu skali jeee. Bukankah sharing is caring?

Makeup Artist

Makeup by Kak Liyana Awang. She's a freelance makeup artist. Kenal dia dari Linda jugak. Linda bertunang, bernikah dan bersanding semua Kak Liyana makeupkan. Kitorang siap blaja makeup ngan dia lagi! Hehe.

i'm happy with her makeup. Hasilnya natural seperti yang saya inginkan dan tak terlalu tebal sampai orang tak kenal Teefa. Tahan jugak sampai ke petang. Cuma petang tu je bibir saya kering sket. Mungkin tak sesuai dengan lipstick. But overall, it's fantastico. Thanks Kak Liyana!

Henna

Henna saya yang comel ini adalah hasil kerja Kak Diena Henna. Friday night dia datang rumah, pasang henna. She's very friendly. Senang terima pendapat orang. Senang lah bekerja ngan dia. Color of the henna is divine. Naik warnanya dalam gambar. Cuma henna yg dilukis kat belakang tangan tu tak tahan lama sangat. After 3 days dah start luntur. Mungkin sebab saya ni kalo mandi memang sental habis badan ni. Pastu kalo kat dapur tu memang saya rajin cuci pinggan Sebab tu la kot cepat luntur. Hehe. Tapi peduli ape ye dak? Yang penting semasa nikah dan sanding, warnanya okay dan naik!

 My heart-shaped henna yang tak berapa nak heart-shaped sangat. Ngeehehe.

 Henna kat kaki.

Doorgift

Doorgift nikah yang diberi adalah surah Yassin booklet, chocolate moist muffin and pudding.

The Yassin booklets are made by Gift Me a Break. i designed the cover myself, pass it to them. They edited it, made adjustment and created a clearer image of it (as the one i designed was in JPEG). Overall, i'm satisfied with the workmanship. i just wish they use a booklet that has translation in Malay.

Chocolate moist muffins are made by my very own Aunty Yatie. i tell you, they are SUPERB! Serious lah bukan lah puji makcik sendiri. Tapi memang betol-betol sedap! Husband saya gilakannya, kawan-kawan saya memuji melambung, saya sendiri smpai skang dok makan bnde tu tetiap hari.

Hantaran

Takde vendor. Dibuat oleh my very own aunts; Cik Ella and Angah. Diorang ni laaa semangat lebih. Lagi sebulan setengah nak kawen dah sibuk suruh hantar barang, hantar magazine. Cari ilham katanya. Terus beli bahan-bahan gubahan. Hasilnya fabulous di mata saya. Memang keje menggubah saya serahkan bulat-bulat kat depa. i just told the the color theme. Thanks Cik Ella and Angah!

Pelamin

DIY oleh my then uncle and aunty, now dah jadi parents-in-law. Hihi.

Memula Mr. Chenta and i only wanna make it simple. Beli je kain satin cream and sheer putih. Nak dok atas lantai beralaskan platform dan bantal nikah je. Tapi mak dia nak lain. Nak cantik lagi. So depa dok beli la kain backdrop color brown, combined with my peach chiffon kami buat backdrop. Siap beli mini sofa tu lagi. Dan jadi la mini pelamin macam gambar di bawah.. Terharu sangat. Tak seberapa to others, but it means a lot to us. We made this. With our bare hands. Memang sampai tahun depan la pelamin ni dirumah nampaknya.

 Pelamin simple. 

Us with our grandmama, Wan.

Caterer

Ntah la caterer mana. Cik Ella yang uruskan. Alhamdulillah..

Official Photographer

Tidak lain da tak bukan, Mahadhar Photography. i like his work, sebab ada ala-ala Fad Manaf. Nak amek Fad Manaf memang la out of budget. So Mahadhar is our best option.

Working with Mahadhar is easy. Some of the edited photos are published as early as four days after the wedding, the albums are ready a month after the wedding. Cepat kan? Cuma terkilan tak sempat amek gamba dengan bridesmaids semasa bersanding. And lepas nikah kat masjid he didn't come to our house to take photos of majlis makan-makan and posing atas pelamin. Maybe sebab kitorang tak brief dia awal-awal kot. Other than that, okay je. Just make sure you tell him what you want.

All photos from Mahadhar Photography.

That's the story of our solemnization ceremony. Simple, intimate and low-budget. i'm so grateful that all went according to plan. Meeehehehe!

As my solemnization day is on my 26th birthday, Mr. Chenta let me cut the cake that i gave him as hantaran, to mark my birthday. Red velvet!

A birthday girl and a wife.

The happiest day of my life!

All Time Favorite Song

Mine is from Bon Jovi - All About Loving You..

Then and now, it remains my favorite.

Watching the music video never fails to choke me to tears.

"I've lived, I've loved, I've lost, I've paid some dues, baby
We've been to hell and back again
Through it all you're always my best friend
For all the words I didn't say and all the things I didn't do
Tonight I'm gonna find a way"

The In-Laws

Being married is great.

Being married to your cousin is even better.

One of the reasons is there's no issue of 'can they accept me as i am?' They know me. We've known each other's family for life. Since my mum and dad passed away, my uncle and aunty (now father and mother in law) has been looking after my brothers and i. We went on trips together. Cooked in the same kitchen. Talk about life. Kenduri kendara segala. Been through crisis. Wear each other's clothes/shoes/slippers. Had misunderstandings. You know, being a family.

When Mr. Chenta and i first got together, breaking the news to our family is a huge deal to us. We didn't have the meeting-the-parents jitters (come on, they are practically my parents already!). But we did have the will-they-be-okay-about-us-being-together? drama. And the will-my-maternal-family ( my grand parents and uncles and aunties on my mum's side) -be-okay-with-us-marrying? drama.

Alhamdulillah, to my surprise, everyone was okay with us being together. Some were even pleased. No objection whatsoever.

Now that we're married, i keep forgetting that my uncle and aunty are not just Uncle Mael and Acik. They're my parents-in-law. Kakak and Baby are not just my cousins. They are my sisters-in-law. And Adik is my brother-in-law.

*reality kicks in*

Mind you, they're practically my family already. But to call your aunt "Mama" after 26 years of calling her "Acik" is a bit awkward. i swear in my heart she's my mama and i really wanna call her mama but everytime i tried, my tongue freezes. It's not that i don't want to. It's harrrdddddd! Wan was like "Apa niii panggil Acik. Mama lah, mama! Dah kawen kene la panggil Mama.." i could die everytime she says that.

The other day i was tweeting with Baby ( Hubby's sister who is currently in the States) and i said "Take care, cousin!". She replied something like "Okay. i luv you, sis-in-law!". Sis-in-law! *died again*

Bottom line is; subconciously i know that they're my in-laws now. Sometimes i just forget to register that Acik is Mama, Uncle Mael is Babah and Kakak and Baby are my sisters now.

Time will heal this mental illness of mine.

Family.