My cousin @TimZahrah offered to keep me company. I didn't sense anything amiss since this supposedly carefree girl loves to play with my kiddo, anyway.
Later in the afternoon, another cousin, Ate called me. She's always been wanting to meet up and pass me the cold powder (some kind of scrub) that I ordered. Her daughter is schooling at the centre right under my in-laws block but I was always at my new abode by then. I spontaneously invited her over to my new place just to get thing over and done with.
I got busy cleaning up the place (dust from nearby construction site & neighbouring renovation works), clearing laundry that I washed over the previous weekend etc. Tim came at the same time as I did and it was pretty chaotic. Thankfully my helper also came along.
Later that evening, Ate called me again to confirm my house location. I was quite surprised that she actually knew her way without ever asking for my address. Little do I know…
Anyway, it wasn't long till I heard the doorbell ringing. Opened the door to see Ate and her daughter. I was like, "Only you two (he son didn't come, this time)?" Before she can answer, out sprung a group of people from the lift lobby, one of them holding a cake and all of them saying, "SURPRISE!!"
Erk...?
Aside from Ate and her daughter, there's also Nor with her 2 daughters and her 1-YO granddaughter. There's also Sue and Sakinah, Tim's sister.
Awww....... That was the 2nd time that they sprang a birthday surprise on me but this time, I really was clueless. Maybe because I had a lot on my mind. Hurhur.
Blackforest cake from Polar
The poor birthday cake that got brought out at the lift lobby and got left in the open before I finally managed to get out of the kitchen for the cake-cutting. Sowie....
Cake-cutting
Cut the cake with my-most-reluctant-to-take-photo Kiddo. My dear cousins made me hold the present that they give, together with the little bouquet of flowers.
FYI, the flowers are drying pretty nicely at my kitchen. Will take a pic and post it on IG, one day.
Choux/Cream puffs
Time brought these empty choux shells and only start to fill them up when she came. Talk about last minute… Tsk. But the were nicely small and crispy. Custard not to sweet. I like!
Cheesecake
Time made this cheesecake prior to coming here and it had not set properly. She threw the container into the freezer in the last minute. Gave me half and she brought the other half home.
I only manage to have a taste the next day and realised that it's actually Peanut Butter cheesecake! Sinful or what??
This girl is really taking after her mom. They seem to share a hobby of baking.
Ate brought those colourful Nutella blossoms, seen in the background. Neon-colours that one. Heh.
---------------------------------
These people ah, come in one big group then never bring proper food. I plan to prepare food for ard 6 people, max. I end up having to feed like 10 people??
Thankfully I have enough ingredients. And my instincts told me to buy (and boil) another packet of pasta.
But since I was busy handling kiddo and cleaning up, I didn't really get down to preparing to cook. And these poor, hungry souls have to wait until my pasta was finally done when it was almost 8pm.
Know why it took so long?? All of them crammed into the kitchen. What I thought was a pretty spacious kitchen ended up being really cramped. Doesn't help that almost everyone is quite 'reasonably' sized. Hurhur.
Baked creamy pasta
A mix of fusili & penne with homemade cream sauce (I dislike the taste of the bottled kind). There's chicken ham, beech mushrooms (buna shimeji) and red capsicum. Oh, and lots of cheese. But it still wasn't enough. Sigh.
I had a slight panic attack when I realised that I don't have a proper container to bake the pasta in. Until I realised that my mum had brought over my wedding gift that was given by my cousin, Suzy. A large, round casserole dish with a metal stand. Perfect!
After more than 4 years of marriage, I finally utilised this wedding gift. Even this particular designer (forgot his name) teacup set (the teapot came in it's own decorated box) given by my guy-pals; I only used when I moved here. Didn't want to use it actually but I didn't have a proper set to serve to my guests, then!
Oh, did I mention that it was also the first time using my new oven? I was wondering why the cheese on top hadn't browned yet, until I figured out that I've used the wrong setting! Pfft!
Anyway, I'm just so glad that they liked it. Been a looong while since I cooked for so many people. Those asking for recipes, I'm sorry to say that I'm the 'campak-campak' kind of person. I just use my instincts and gut-feel (which sometimes let me down too, boo!) when I cook.
There's also the uber last minute plan to make Nasi Goreng (fried rice). I let them prepare the ingredients and other whatnot. Using freshly-cooked rice, the Nasi Goreng ended up being pretty clumpy- like some 'lontong' gone wrong. Hurhur.
Oh, did I mention the attempt at making churros? ROTFL. Nevermind. Let's keep it between us, ok?
Once again, THANK YOU my dear cousins for the effort and the gifts etc. Thank you for gracing my humble home with your quirks and antics. Your laughter really fill up the spaces with much joy. Thank you for celebrating my big day. And Thank You for making me happy. Love you all. LOTS.
**Muuuacks!**
No comments:
Post a Comment