Books, Books and More Books Part 48 To Kill A Mocking Bird

Saya mula2 terjumpa buku ni dalam stor buku mak saya when I was hmm.. twelve maybe? I didnt read it then. But everytime cari buku dalam stor mesti terjumpa buku ni.

My parents have this rather big store, macam almari besar gitu and all sorts of books are put there (except my parents' buku ugama - yang tu ada kat dalam proper almari). I remember my brother was (is?) an avid reader. Macam2 buku dia dalam tu yang dia bawak balik bila dah abis baca. Some I read, others macam tak menarik minat. I remember titles like Zulu Dawn, Anna Karenina, The Thorn Birds, various Airport titles and many others yang saya tak ingat dah pun.

Jadi bila saya terjumpa buku ni ada diskaun pulak tu I thought I must read this. And I finally did. When I told Has I am reading the book she said, what? I read that in school and had to do a book review on it too. Saya tak pernah pulak tahu this book is being read in school - well not in my school anyway.

I like the book; jalan cerita tak complicated sampai nak berserabut kepala yang memang dah serabut pun. It is about a girl and her brother who grew up in Alabama in the late 1930s during racial injustices. And mockingbird do naught but to provide pleasure with their songs; to kill a mockingbird is to kill that which is innocent and harmless.

Good reading actually.

I am currently reading a couple of buku2 ilmiah; tapi saya selalu membaca selang-seli dengan buku2 santai. I wonder if I should re-read Anna Karenina; I've forgotten the story. But when the movie came on air the other day, I said I dont want to watch this movie - perempuan ni (Anna Karenina) jahat! That much I remember. Mungkin saya akan baca buku lain come to think of it.

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Reminiscences : Wedding Cakes

I suppose I am still sort of caught up with wedding stories; after all Ilyas' has just passed. Syahdah's was two weekends ago and this coming Sat is Shakira's. And in fact we were at a wedding as well last Sun; Zainal's son got married at Taylor's. Lepas tu things will quiet down for a bit and then there will be two more weddings at year end (saya ada raaaamai anak sedara).

And Eirfan's birthay cake sort of reminded me of other cakes as well. I definitely love the cakes Aida made for us throughout Iman's and Ilyas' weddings;

This is a present from Aida for Iman's wedding. I went like wow! when I first saw it.

This one was for Ilyas' bertunang. I told Aida I wanted a very simple cake; nothing too elaborate.

And this is the hantaran masa Ilyas kahwin. It was so sweet and cantik.

 

Last but not least, the wedding cake. It comes with pretty identical cupcakes. I love the silkiness of the flowers. Kata Aida that is the pearl finish she had added. I thought this was adorable (I wish I had better photos though; let's hope the pros have this).

Call or email me; or write in comments if you want to contact Aida.

ps - I wanted to add other things in this post. But then decided not to. But this post sort of inspired me to have an on-line place for wedding stuff. I think I will call it Weddings are Splendorous Things - how's that? Hmm, we'll see what will materialize of this inkling..

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'Twas His Birthday

Eirfan celebrated his birthday recently. Already tired of segala kek resipi yang berahsia, I thanked Aida yang mengiyakan cerita saya tentang kek di Cupcake Chapter. I thought the place was gorgeous; not your usual secret recipe type of place. Just look at their site and I'm sure you'll agree.

Anyway, when I told Aida about the place she said it is her friend's. She went for a birthday party there once and it was gorgeously gorgeous. I think I will ask friends to go chill at the place. I read their meals are quite good too.

Eirfan got a kit-kat cake that everybody loved. I took a couple of slices to the office and everybody said sedap too. And which I'd recommend to anyone.

I love the place. Cantik sangat. Personally I'd call it a boutique cake shop (you know, like a boutique hotel concept). And I definitely like the words they use to describe their place - so much fun and gaiety and enjoyment! And so creative. Dan saya amat, amat suka legal frostitution dan confectionately yours. With a tagline like that how could you not like the place?

I'd recommend this cake / place to everybody. Ada sesiapa nak pergi sini dengan saya? Anytime. Even for a cuppa and a (an out of this world) cupcake.

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Books, Books and More Books Part 47 - Bersyukur Saat DiUji

Sesungguhnya membaca kena buat dengan hati. Kalau membaca harap di mulut atau di mata saja, tak jadi apa2 pun.

Kadang2 pun itulah, saya membaca dengan mata. Hati melayang ke lain. Namun saya fikir kalau saya dapat separuh of what I read that surely is good enough. Dan kemudian terus membaca dan membaca.

I finished this most recently. Sudah lama pun berada di tangan; but with worries over the wedding my concentration just simply flew out the window.

Saya recommend buku ni untuk memujuk hati yang jauh dari Nya agar kembali mengingati tujuan hidup dan meniti hari dengan lebih kesedaran. Good reading, in fact.

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A Family Wedding : Syahdah & Hakimi

We were in Taiping this last weekend. Anak saudara, Syahdah, kawen. Somehow anak & anak2 sedara ni pilih tarikh dekat2 pulak nak kahwin. My another niece will be getting married next weekend. Kami kata macam setahun tu ada bulan Mei saja, semua nak kahwin time tu.

Anyway the wedding went on very well. It was sunny yet windy. Alhamdulillah it didnt rain considering that we were in Taiping after all. The nasi was sedap; the laksa delish and the kambing bakar was finger-licking-good.

 

 

 

 

We stayed at Flemington, with rooms that overlook the lake gardens. Which I love. We couldnt all stay at mum's, after all we could form our own bola fc if we wish. Oh wait, we could have many football teams come to think of it. We could even form our very own American football team - which is like 30 or so on a team, right?

 

 

 

Anyway. We all love our rooms; except Ilyas who made last minute reservation change and gotten a room with a view of some roofs instead. We visited kuay teow doli after which we decided we will not come back! And went to Burmese Pool - sungai yang cantik with deep and wide pools to swim/bathe/play in - a place I visited with friends years, years and years ago - and thought it hadnt changed a bit (not like I remember much of it anyway!)
 

 

 

On Sun kami hantar pengantin to Syahdah's in-laws and then return to the city.

If you are in Taiping, visit the Lake Gardens - a must (hubs complained that I always take the long road via the lake gardens getting to and back from the hotel and insisted he drives slow when passing through. I said of course we must, after all that was how my late dad and mum used to do it) - visit Burmese Pool and the Maxwell Hills. But leave Doli out of your itinerary. Just chill and take things slow in Taiping, that is the rule.

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LOVE

Life is slowly returning to normal after the wedding. I still have lots to clear, but am taking that slow.  And now I am thinking what new projects I should come up with.

Last weekend we were in  Taiping for my niece's wedding and enjoyed our stay at Flemington with rooms facing the lake gardens! I need time to post that with photos too.

For now this is something I found and like.

Btw, I also love van Gogh's Starry Night (which I love most of all his works) and Irises and also sunflowers (I only know of van Gogh from hubs who took an elective class in arts at college).
 

 

And do you know Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) by Don McLean is a tribute to van Gogh? So now you know (for whatever its worth).
  

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Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan

We wondered where to have dinner the other night. I didnt have any inclination to cook. And we have had enough of the mamak's menu and Thai food and pizza and other fast foods. At least for now. Then we thought of the we-dont-know-what-it's-called restaurant at the more quiet street in Melawati and decided to give it a try.

It is called The Republic of Meat (TROM) rupanya. The place looks nice inside and out. And very quiet - in fact, we were their only customers that night.  I thought it is a good place to catch up news with old friends, sharing confidences (and secrets!) and maybe even do some MLM recruiting!

The entrées we ordered were delicious. We had clam chowder (which were cooked with the shells and I thought that was a great idea) and caesar salad and Iman ordered bruschetta (baguette topped with fresh diced tomatoes, olives and finely sliced basil).

 

Then we ordered various lamb dishes. However we think the chops hubs made at home tasted better. We also ordered fish and chips. Dan kata Luqman, hey these tasted like those mcfillet burgers you get at you know where! Their chips / fries were great though - thick and crispy just the way I like it.

So if you are ever at TROM's, skip the meals but go ahead and indulge in their starters.

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Ilyas' Wedding : The Reception

Sebenarnya I am not too sure what a wedding reception is in the Malay culture (in this case it is just a title).

Anyway. Alhamdulillah the majlis went on quite smoothly. I thought it was beautiful (my opinion might be biased and I could be wrong). There was no major catastrophe. And the weather cooperated despite the laden sky and dark clouds in the afternoon. MasyaaAllah.

I have some photos to share, if you dont mind.

We put up signages which got swallowed up by the election posters; jadi letak directions pun macam tak letak jugak.

We also put up a photo booth with masquerade masks and hot lips and funny moustache. They werent very professionally done (they are home made and it is our first try) but looked interesting and we had fun with them anyway..

I told Eirfan to tidy up the door gifts and this is what we ended up with..

We thought this is a funny photo - both boys are wore orange tee with identical actions -

That's Sushi peeping at us from the top of the stairs while we run around finishing last minute chores.

The pelamin that Fatin did for us - and we love. It looks rather pink here, but was ok in the warm evening lights (I requested for grey but Fatin thought we might not have good contrasts as we also wore grey for the occasion). I was afraid the baubles might be too christmas-sy; but they look simply gorgeous actually.

 

Fatin also put up candelabras and flowers in the walkway.

We took some fun photos.

I'll put up more photos when the official ones come back.

ps - I love the wedding and thought it was beautiful (pardon me for saying so myself). Lalu saya bertanya pada diri sendiri; what more can I ask dan nikmat Allah yang mana lagi yang ingin didustakan?

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