Horsing around at Denai Alam

Good news! For those who has a passion for horseback riding but find the cost is burning a huge hole in the wallet, here's a chance not to be missed! I was there for a photoshoot to promote the place. It will be launched and open to public in January. I was told that the yearly fees will cost about a mere RM150 (lesson fees not included, of course. But they will be offering low fees for the classes too!). So look out for it! Go horse around a little. Life is too short. Have more fun! (Unless u're a wee bit intimidated by the horses like err, me. Heheh).

You can find more than 10 horses that are very well kept here, in which all are male except for 2 (they are called Siti Nur & Siti Mas :D) and 2 ponies, one female and another a male.

The idea of this place is to provide horseriding facilities at affordable prices. So perhaps i should say that now, everybody can (horse)ride? :)

Mission accomplished!

The nephew's birthday celebration finally came. Elmo was the lucky (or not) character the mother had chosen for my task. These are what i came up with:

Initially the plan did not include the dialogue box. But when i saw the birthday candle the mum had bought, i knew i needed a change of plan. Either that, or we needed new candles. In the end, the mishap i had was what saved the day.

What's worse, I only realised that my oven was not working properly when i saw the outcome of the first Elmo. It was a DISASTER!! It was distorted, lopsided. I had to turn the next one the other way round after half baking time and prayed hard for the cake to rise nicely. Lucky for me, it turned out okay.

I would definitely hate to see the first one goes to waste (stuffing myself with it was obviously not a solution, and to serve it to any guests would be a disgrace!) so, the Mr. suggested that i do something with it. I needed a new plan anyways. That's when i thought of the dialogue bubble. And so i did damage control. Reconstructed the whole thing, improvised a bit here and there and voila! With not much expertise, i manage to salvage it! Hahh! Thanks to the beauty of frosting, it helps to conceal all the flaws :D But i admit that it wasn't my best effort. I was too drained to make it any nicer.. bolehla, kan? I hope the birthday boy liked it anyways..

Side profile of the (still edible) lopsided Elmo.
It was taken out of the mould by utter frustration, hence the bad complexion.
(I also had to warn the mother as to which part can be cut for the guests given the nature of its construction :p).

Happy 2nd Birthday, kid!
Aeeaeyyouuu!! (he knows what it means :))

A Token of Appreciation

A gift of 5 to 5 helpful friends.

All i want for Xmas is... not much.

Just these:

1. a DSLR
A basic one will do. I just need a good camera for nice, sharp images for my projects and travel. And for his hobby too.

2. an Anya Hindmarch Hector Navy Python

3. maybe a Hybrid car :P

OR,
some additions to my wardrobe/shoe/book/DVD collection and home furnishings would be nice too :)

Life goes on..

I lost my dearest grandfather 10 days ago. I told my uncle that day that i still can't believe the fact that he's gone (i still can't!). I've so many memories of growing up with him. Then the uncle replied,

"We all live with memories, just make the best of them. And live your life so that he would be proud of you if he were still around".

That gave me the support i needed at that time as i was in no mood to do anything, let alone to bake. but i'm glad i did. These happy faces made my day :)

Happy Birthday to the sister and a Happy Anniversary to the couple! :)

Spring in December

What i'd like to say is that i am proud to be the first one to leave class this time.. heheh. I know, it's not a competition but it's a big achievement for me :D What motivated me? Well, i was running late to fetch the Mr! :P

Learner vs. Teacher
This is how the chrysanthemum should look like.
Mine, of course is the one looking like a tepee..

And here are some i've made for a friend.. (she was asking me why i didn't put them up on my blog. Honestly, i'm uber shy :)).
Here goes nothing..

For her mum in law's birthday.
Dadi translates mum in Pakistani.
Trying out mini hydrangeas.

For the sister.
Experimenting with bright hues.
Note to self: To use the bright colours for the lettering background next time.. i think it will look nicer.

And this is a simple one i made for the lil kid who "helped" me bake for my friend's order. Sorry you only got 3 pieces, Naufal. Next time, perhaps when Aunty Azra is able to work her hands faster!

Funny how it never occurred to me that i'd be doing this for a side income - especially given the fact that i don't bake. I actually went for the class because i received a request to make my nephew's birthday cake from the mother. I have another order this week, Alhamdulillah. It's true what they say, sometimes the best things happen when you least expected it ;)

Irene Suchocki

She captures breathtakingly beautiful photos. I especially like the dream like effect. Stunning.

Check out her work, i am definitely a fan.









[the red vanity case reminds me of mum. She used to have one just like that, given by dad on their engagement day :)]

Just humour me

With body kit - Arden

Classics
I love them all.

Ouch!

One Sunday night over cakueh and air kelapa laut while waiting for our ikan bakar.
Venue: Tip Top Ikan bakar stall, JB.

Kid bro: .. tadi kat majlis qiqah there's this one girl my frens and i were checking out.. Cun! Tapi dah tua la...

Moi: Tua macam mana?

Kid bro: Dah late 20s..

Warning: High sugar content - Fondant fun 101

Went to another cake decorating class at Cake Connection last Thursday. This time, it's working with fondant. Like the Cupcake fun 101 class, we were provided with the recipe and given points on making the cake they prepared for us but the decorating part was hands on. Everything was breezy at the beginning. I was working pretty fast, kneading the plain white fondant by adding Kelly green mixed with Electric green, splitting the cake into 2 and filling it (i have to get one of those cake leveller. It's so easy to work with!) and icing the cake with a thin layer of buttercream but when it came to the decorating part, i got delayed.

First, because i had produced an oblong shape of fondant to cover the 6" round cake. So i had to start kneading and rolling all over again. It was quite a task i tell you! After several minutes had passed, i stopped rolling and asked Lynette, the instructor if my fondant was ready and she said, "it's still quite small for your cake". Sigh. Yeah, my patience was running thin at that point. "Please avoid re-kneading your fondant too many times, please", cried Lynette after checking one of the other girls. Obviously i wasn't the only one. Hehe. Fondant dries very quickly, so we had to work fast to prevent it from cracking due to dryness. You can't tell from the picture below, but my cake actually has some kind of (slight) "stretch marks" because it took me quite a while to work my hands on it. Huhuhu...

Lynette also demonstrated the crimping technique, which i didn't apply, not wanting to risk having ugly holes because i think it requires some practice and of course, time is of essence. In fact, none of us actually did any crimping on our cakes. She also showed us how to create borders from fondant cut outs, making sugar flowers from modelling paste and the quilling technique. We were given the chance to work with royal icing too. But the fact that we were instructed to make a stem and leaves for our sugar flowers using the white royal icing, i thought i'd continue when i get home. Reason being, i think it kind of spoils the look. (If this was a test i would obviously fail.. haha). Well, time was running out as i was just about done with my sugar flowers (Lynette told us to make 15 of 'em) when i decided to stop anyways.

When i got home, i realised that i had accidentally left the flowers behind. So i only had sebijik of the little pink sugar flower on my cake. Yep, one sad little pink sugar flower. My brother's maid sempat tanya, "bunga ni satu je kak?..". -__- However, the husband was kind enough to drive me to a place nearby to get the tools to make new ones from the leftover modelling paste i brought home. (Thanks, sweetness!). Here's the upshot(s) of my very first fondant cake (one, with a fan :P):

I thought the shade of green was rather too pale at first, but i kind of like it after it's all done :)

Have a sweet week ahead, everyone!