of food, family, friends and favourite things

the year of 2010 saw me cooking and baking a lot, for friends, family and even for some orders, believe it or not, well at least on the baking part. tried some new recipes for the boys and myself, and discovered new recipes that have become the favourite of many.  roasted lamb has been a whole year favourite with the boys and nieces and even my close sarawakian friends.  and there is no ending to brownies. my chocolate brownies filled with walnuts and chopped chocs has always been a favourite but the adults fell in love with my brownies with orange cream cheese topping ever since i stumbled upon that recipe.

i believe it is that zesty taste of orange mixed with cream cheese combined with the sweet and salty and such chocolatey brownies that overwhelms a person when eating it.  my special banana cake topped with cream cheese frosting (yes more cream cheese...) made its appearance again after a long time towards the end of the year. that happens to be one of my sister-in-law's favourite and i still owe her one big cake without having it being invaded by others, which in my family can be a little difficult and the reason why i always end up having to bake more than one cake or brownies...  my nieces are over at my place pretty often to savour the home cooked food. last year, they have had lamb, pasta, salad, stuffed mushroom, sauteed mushroom, roast chicken, bruschetta, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, and the list pretty much goes on. and just after new year, on january 2, i made roasted lamb again complete with sauteed mushroom, mashed potato, bruschetta as the appetiser and salad, for my niece naressa and nephews, adam and yusuff. in a way it was to celebrate ucop's birthday on dec 29 because no one took him out to celebrate when he turned 14. his mom, salee has moved to qatar, and i am sure if she is around, she would either cook for him or take him out. he was already leaving for his boarding school the next day while adam who is now pursuing music in UITM was home for the weekend. thoriq of course enjoyed lamb, being one of his favourite dishes and the company was perfect for him and his brothers. 

stuffed mushroom

choc chip cookies

the next evening, i was again cooking, this time the menu was more chinese style - chicken with ginger and mushroom, mixed vegetable with straw mushroom, deep fried fish vietnamese style, salted eggs and last but not least the malay bit of sambal belacan. that was for tirmite who is my niece's fairuz's husband. he is not into western and he has never had lunch or dinner at my place ever since they got married a year ago. whenever fairuz comes over to eat, it was always with the girls and not with him. so i cooked him that and for someone skinny who doesnt like to eat much, he did a double helping. i was glad he enjoyed the food.  my biggest achievement in the food area in 2010 was finally baking a pie. goodness, i have been thinking and saying i will bake a pie for yonks but the thought of making the pastry always somehow stalled me because i was sure i was not going to get it right.  until i found that chocolate pecan pie recipe which i posted up here last month.  i actually tried baking the pie and it turned out pretty well. so happened it was just fresh out of the oven and the ex arrived with some friends from jakarta. they were all over the pie with the boys, it was a sight to behold, fighting each other off the pie.  i have yet to make another one but when i am back from New York, i must try a savoury pie instead of a sweet one. i am sure thoriq would be ecstatic if i bake a lamb pie... that is on my next to do list when i get back.

my roast lamb

end of 2010 also saw me spending more time with the family, especially my sister. i saw her a whole lot more and i actually went out with her for a movie. i do not ever in my life remember going for a movie with her. i never did ask her about this but i am pretty sure i have never been to one with her. it has also been a long time since we went out for dinner and it was a refreshing change to do so when her girls, who are of course my nieces arranged for the evening of dinner and movie Rapunzel for just us girls. it was nice to be able to do that with her. being 10 years younger than her, i don't remember getting to spend that much time with her. she left the house to pursue her studies when i was in primary school . i don't recall spending a lot of time with her but i know i looked forward to all the time we had. i admired her for being so smart in maths, a subject which i could never quite figure out until of late.  i admired her for all the knowledge she has from all the books she read, and trust me until today, she keeps her nose in books whenever she has the free time. she once told me that the only reason she knows how to cook is because she has kids, otherwise forget cooking and here's to reading.  i admired her for her strength in being able to be patient with all the hardship she had to go through many many years ago. and i was so happy for her when all that patience was rewarded when life took a better turn for her and her family years after.  and when she lost her husband, my heart broke for her. i am just so glad she has her children who are all Alhamdulillah, have turned out to be good kids and responsible to their mom.  of late, i have been going over to her place quite often than usual, because of the last school holidays and i make it a point to go see her at my parents' whenever she goes there. and u know what, it feels good. it feels really good to be with the family. as you grow older, you appreciate family more and the moments spend with them are definitely moments treasured, moments that can never be bought or sought after once they have passed. i make the effort to go home to my parents each week because the thot of not seeing them at least once a week makes me feel incomplete especially if i am not away.  i make sure the boys know the importance of visiting their grandparents often, to have them close to my parents now when they are still around, to appreciate the love of their grandparents and to return that love. ruiz almost always give his tok bak a massage whenever he goes over and tok bak enjoys that a lot. it is a delight to see the two of them together with my father laughing over his grandson's way of massaging him. i also make the extra effort to visit my brother nazrie whenever he comes home to my parents as he stays in setiawan and if i do not do that, i will miss the chance of seeing and catching up with him, his wife and kids. i am guilty of not making a trip to his place after that one visit many years ago and also not making it during the last holidays. so that long overdue visit would also be on my to do list for this year. ruiz and thaqif would go hooray on that one...

as for friends, for many years, i have been having vanessa on my side. she is like a younger sister i never had. she can be nuts and obscene when she wants, but she has the kindest soul.  and eventhough we are not tied by blood, we are family.  for god knows what insane reason, she made me a godmother to her youngest the not so chubby boy anymore, jayden whom she gave birth to over a year ago.  i have not been such a fantastic godmother, but i hope she knows i would rise up to the challenge if ever there is one.  and that she can rely on me not just for jayden but on anything that has got to do with her. and believe it or not, that girl has a whole lot of creativity in her. she may not have patience with people but she sure has lots of patience when it comes to creative stuff. see what she made me for 2011...

i can't get even close to that. sorry sa... this year in May, our friendship will reach its 17th year, can you believe that? we have gone through our highs and lows and i see us growing old together, and perhaps still drooling over the equally old marcell and anuar zain, haha...

my friendship with my school friends, sumitha, audrey and li lian is still solid. we don't meet often but we try to once every few months. we have been close friends since we were 13 and we have been the 1Malaysia even before the Prime Minister came up with that slogan, for me, that's old news... li lian finally got married just over a year ago and we are simply excited for her. one regret was not being able to be at her wedding as i was away on a job in Tambun, Perak. i owe them lunch or dinner too. they have not been at my place for ages and now, that is another must to do list for the year, and early of the year it has to be, somewhere on top of that list.

and my dearest nana, my sarawakian friend whom i first met more than 20 years ago. she was one of my apartment mates when we were both in part one in ITM for a whole year. and eventhough we moved dorms after that, we hung out often especially since i started dating a sarawakian.  over the years, we have stayed good friends and become each other's confidante.  if vanessa is nuts, this one is nuttier and even more obscene but she is funny, warm, thoughtful and a wonderful friend.  i am looking forward to having her visit come this february. another sarawakian friend, naza will be crashing over at my place at that time on his way home to Miri after a holiday in Brisbane. so there will be lots of chatting and eating sessions for us when we get together.

friends have come and go in my life. i have in my lifetime lost someone i considered a best friend for many years, my entire teenage life infact, and sadly until today, i still do not understand what exactly happened.  another close friend kind of drifted away and no longer stayed in touch and what hurt was to find that she is these days in touch with mutual friends of ours but not me.  up to now, i wonder why but i have learnt to let them pass, preferring instead to focus, enjoy and cherish on what i have now - existing friendships, the lasting ones.  can't say what will happen tomorrow but i shall not worry about that now, shall i?

books remain one of my favourite things - i have read a number of them in 2010 and i hope to be reading more this year. they are such a delightful past time, i just can't seems to get enough of them. with books, i get to be in a different world, travel elsewhere, in touch with others' emotions, slip into someone else's shoes, look at things in a different perspective, learn something new, make interesting discoveries, laugh my heart out, break into tears, have my heart touched... how is it that there are people who are not into books? i dream of having a room full of books, with shelves as high up to the ceiling, filled to the brim with all sorts of books where i can reach only with those ladders or steps you see in the movies. i do not know if i will ever achieve that dream but one thing i can say is that i love standing infront of my modest sized bookshelves in the upstairs tv area of my home and just spend time looking at the books i have. it is difficult to explain or describe the feeling.  but i am sure that those who are in love with books the way i am would understand what i am trying to say. i have just finished The White Tiger, a novel by Aravind Adiga which is funny, absurd at times but pretty powerful.  the storyline which touched on corruption and injustices in India, cynically and gleefully told by the writer, ironically resembles the dirty politics and corruption that is going on in my own country. anyhow, now that i am done with that novel, i am now reading Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom, a book i bought back in october.  got a copy for nazrie too and he has finished it a long time ago.   i just started this evening and i am already quarter way through. i am done with the boys' homework and revision. let's hope no one needs me now so that i can continue reading.  i wish i have more time to read, sometimes i wish i have all the time in the world just to read...