As Bree Van De Kamp says, "I work too, I'm a Home Maker." (pix of Rosie The Riveter copied from smartgirlsknow.com)

Monday, November 22, 2010

Love You...

...before you love others...

This morning started very well for me. I had a good night's sleep after a super fab riding day with the Highlanders Gang in Janda Baik yesterday. I hadn't gotten much housecleaning done though, but, whatever! Hehe, if anyone complains then that anyone can clean my house! Ngeh ngeh...

For the first time, I started with CandiSoo's Group Fitness Program this morning. Yup, it was Gymstickin for me! Woohoo! Well, it was hell actually, I swear I died just now, after all the cardio moves and then we went on to toning, and I was lying on my back and they started moving the legs up and all over. Geez man, are you all mad!!! Well, anyhow, apparently I'm still alive...! Hehehe... Alhamdulillah, phewh! And I'm going again, surely :)

After a quick shower at the gym, I rushed off for acupuncture. Have I told you about this? Hmmm, I told you about my mom's sessions right? Not mine... Ok, well, the thing is, I've seen all these videos on YouTube about all those weight loss acupuncture programs. So, one day after one of my mom's sessions, I just asked her doctor if there was such thing as acupuncture for weight loss. She looked at me somewhat puzzled. Well, Dr Wang Rui is mainly Mandarin based, so I went on to say, "thin, not fat" (pointing my tummy and butt and shaking my head). Then she smiled...Aaah, yes, she understood that I am fat and I want to be thin...! Hehe... So she finally understood what I was talking about and her reply was, "yes, we can do it here." ......... (long pause of disbelief from me)........ then, "Yayyy!". Yes, I actually said that to Dr Wang; I also actually clapped my hands too. Oh, sungguh malu, this 40 year old woman, kesian kan? Hadoooiiii... Anyway, she asked me all the necessary questions about my health history, and gave me clearance and then I immediately started the next day! Yayyy! But, ouch, some of the needles do sting a bit, but, anything to be kurus, huh? :)

Okay, anyway, after my acupuncture session, I was happily on my way home, planning how I should start cleaning house and getting some stuff organised. Feeling good and refreshed, and thinking about how life does really start at 40, and how true it was, not just for men, but for women too, me specifically. Oh yes, I love my life! Alhamdulillah... Then I checked my phone to turn off the silent mode and I saw a missed call from my mom (FYI, my boys are in Klang with my mom these few days). So, the first thing I thought was my boys. But it wasn't the boys, they're fine, behaving very well with TokMama and TokAbah. It was about my eldest cousin.

He was admitted to ICU Gleneagles very early this morning, for acute pneumonia; there are also issues concerning his sugar and other stuff. This was the second time that I received such shocking news about Abang Zu. I was already at the traffic light near Polo Club, so I quickly detoured towards Gleneagles. My cousin-in-law and cousin nieces/nephews were there, just about to have hotdog lunches. So Kak Yam gave me the full rundown of what happened and brought me up to date about how Abang Zu's condition. I took a quick peek at him in the ICU and told him that he must start taking care of himself, seriously take care of himself. He was telling me how much he loves his family and that he'd be lost without them. Then I told him that he must first love himself before he can love others. He smiled, all teary eyed, agreeing with me and he promised to start taking better care of himself...

So, what I'm trying to say here is, love yourself, be good to yourself, be good to your body, be good to those around you and never take anything forgranted, especially those you love. Most often good people don't know how to be good to and for themselves. Don't be like this. Do good things to and for yourself. Love you, okay? :)


Jules and Pampa ~ Photo credit to Azha Bakar ~ thanks Che Ad :)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Making Rendang

Yesterday I had the most memorable family gathering this year...

I successfully made RENDANG!!!

This may sound trivial to some, but hey, it's a big thing for me. The thing is, I don't normally "cook"; for get togethers like this I'd normally deploy the services of experts around me. Omelette, chicken soup, fried rice, I do those. But rendang? Heh heh...

This time was different. My mom was not in the state of health that allowed her to cook like she normally would. My dad was having both palpitation and lowered heart beats at the same time. But it was Raya Haji and most importantly, it was Esfahan's 9th birthday on 16 November, so a family congregation was in order, and who better to play host than me?

It had also been a super hectic few days for me before that. Between rushing my JulesFudgyliciousness Brownies and Chewies for my normal orders, for Bridal Glam's workshop giveaway and for favours at Soroptimist Ampang's fundraising dinner, I'd also been elbow deep in Damascus's and Marrakesh's concert goody bags and Esfahan's birthday party packs for his school class. In between all that, there were also trips with my mom for her acupuncture treatments (for her knee pain) and chauferring Esfahan to his music class lah, auditions lah, voice over jobs lah...phewh! I only managed about a couple of hours of sleep daily; so, exhaustion is one thing, dark circles under my eyes! Aaaaaaaa!!! So, there was also the needful task of applying my eye pads and facial masks...hehehe

But what made it emotional for me is the fact that this may be the beginning of my taking over my mom's role as the family's "rendang maker" at family gatherings.

And rendang is always compulsory, especially for my brother. My mom has a soft spot for my brother, coz he is the only boy, and he loves her rendang. "Rendang ada?", he asked when I told him about the do at my place. My husband didn't ask that much of me coz he knew me better by now, hehe. So since it was Raya and all, I agreed to make rendang. I was anxious and nervous, especially since darling husband only managed to shop for ingredients that very morning after Raya prayers (like I said, it had been hectic, up to the night before when we went out for our own special family dinner to celebrate Esfahan's birthday at his favourite Las Carretas) while I stayed home to clean house and supervise the younger two in their Ultraman Intergalactic Battle.

I eventually started cooking at about 10.30am, after Ayah and Abang Long returned from Raya prayer and ingredients shopping, and after all 4 boys had settled breakfast and all. Guests were invited for lunch, but since it was a relaxed, lazy day, everyone was late. Phewh! So when my sister first arrived at about 2pm, I had just managed to get everything about done, and she helped me setup while I showered. Alhamdulillah, I managed to feed my guests, safe, edible food, hehe. And Alhamdulillah, I successfully made Rendang... :)

Jules' Lemon Rendang (er, please don't ask me how much of each ingredient I actually put in, I was mostly banking on my nose to decide...)


1) Beef, abt 2kg
2) Lots of red onions
3) Some lengkuas (galangal)
4) A bit of ginger
5) Some kunyit (tumeric)
6) Chili, I think I used about 200gm puree
7) Daun limau purut (kaffir lime leaves)
8) Daun kunyit
9) Santan (coconut milk)
10) Kerisik (grated, toasted, ground coconut paste)
11) Salt and sugar to taste
12) Lemon squeeze ~ the basic principle my mom once taught me a long, long time ago, was to use asam gelugor to flavour rendang, but since I only realised midway cooking that I didn't have any asam gelugor (yes, I forgot to include this in darling husband's shopping list) nor asam jawa (tamarind), I just used whatever I had in the fridge - lemon!
13) Lots and lots of love... :)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Busy Moms R Rockin' Hot!

Yup, we are! Hehehe...

One such mom is our very own Lee Kuen, who's busy preparing for her Bridal Glam's "Be A Natural Looking Bride" workshop at the Doubletree Hotel Kuala Lumpur, this Sunday 14 November 2010.

And the thing about Lee Kuen is, to me, she looks exactly how she looked when we were both in UPM some 16 years ago! Well, actually, she looks better now, with 3 kids and all! So, doesn't that make you itchy to make your way to Doubletree KL this Sunday and see for yourself how she does it... :)

I'll be there with her in spirit, and I hope my JulesFudgyliciousness will delight the visitors at her workshop.

Lets Rock 'n' Roll!