Monday, February 11, 2008

The Long CNY Weekend That Was

What does one do if one's husband is away for the long CNY weekend? Some would say, stay home and be a couch potato but not me. No way! Eventhough B is not around, it doesn't hold me back from gallivanting with my two kids. So, here are the things that we did the whole of the four-day weekend...

Day 1:

We went here....

and saw lots of animals and people! so sesak but for the kids' sake and educational purposes, I dived into it head on!

Hihihi... Zareef imitating the fish's large mouth.

Zareef feeding the deers or was it reindeers? Their antlers were long and beautiful!

On the tram with cousin Hannah, his idol.

Last but not least, my favorite animal. So magnificently strong and big but still remained calm and sexy. Ehhhh... boleh ke?

Zara was so psyched to see all the animals. She kept on pointing to all the animals and saying "OOOHHH, OOOHHH" repeatedly.

Day 2:

We went for a swim in the evening at Pusat Kejiranan Presint 16. Despite it being a public pool, I was very impressed with it facilities and CLEANLINESS, what with me being the hygiene freak. There are three pools; one for the toddlers, one for the kids complete with a water slide and one for the adults with depth going to 1.6 m deep. You'll have to put on proper swimming attire complete with swimming cap though. No t-shirts and shorts and long pants allowed, which I'm so glad because I hate to be swimming in someone's hair, if you get what I mean.

We spent a good two hours here just lazing and swimming in the pool. Zareef was busy going down the slide and pulling all sorts of stunts in the water. I think it's high time to enrol him in a swimming class since he loves swimming so much.

Sorry no pictures here as I was busy tending to Zareef and Zara, the water nymphs.

Day 3:

We went to the likes of Ikea, Ikano and The Curve. Zareef puts it as "Lets go Shopping Day". We had lunch at Little Penang Cafe and bumped into Bess and Co. Her daughter Mariah is the sweetest thing, sitting down perfectly quiet in her highchair unlike mine who'll grab everything available on the table. We managed to catch the Lion Dance show. Zareef was so inspired by the show, so much so that he was trying to jump from one sofa to another when we got back.

Another reason I went there was to get my hands on these...


More information on them can be found here. It's RM 4.50 per piece, RM 25 for 1/2 dozen and RM 48 for a dozen. Pricey? You be the judge.

Clockwise from top left, I bought Butter Pecan (butter pecan cake with caramel frosting), Othello (chocolate cake with vanilla frosting), Banoppy (banana poppy cake with vanilla frosting) and Fatal Attraction (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting). The person at the counter claimed that these are all best sellers.

What do I think? Well, this is my honest-to-goodness opinion and does not reflect what others think; I didn't like the vanilla frosting at all and so did Zareef. Despite me having a sweet-tooth and a penchant for all things dessert, to me the vanilla frosting was way too sweet bordering to cloying. For every small bite that I took of the cake with the vanilla frosting, I had to drink a big gulp of water. We (Zareef and I) were cringing and closing our eyes everytime we took a bite. After two bites, Zareef gave up and said that 'I don't like it and Mummy can have all of it'. Aduhhsss... ada yang kena diabetes camni.

The banoppy and butter pecan cake were a bit dry and crumbly. The banoppy had bits of bananas at the bottom. I'm not sure what bananas that they used but it didn't work for me because I didn't really taste the banana (it wasn't ripe kot). It would have tasted better if they were to use pisang emas or rastali.

Butter pecan was so-so. It had small chopped pecans at the bottom and laced with caramel. Again, I didn't enjoy it that much because the frosting was too cloyingly sweet.

However,not all was lost as I truly like the Fatal Attraction and Othello. The chocolate cake was just right in its moistness, texture and it wasn't too sweet. I'm giving a thumb up for the chocolate frosting because it has the right amount of sweetness that goes very well with the chocolate cake but not for the Othello though. This time, I scraped off the vanilla frosting and ate it sparingly with the chocolate cake.

Will I try it again? Hmm, sorry to say, I think that's it for me. I spent RM 18 on four cupcakes which to me is a bit pricey but for research sake, I did it. I think I'll just bake my own whenever I'm in need of a cupcake fix after this.

Day 4:

We woke up early to meet and greet B at the airport. His flight was delayed so instead of just waiting for him at the arrivals, I had to park my car and bring the kids down. Forgetful me forgot to bring along the MacLaren. So I had no choice but to put Zara and Zareef on the trolley which they enjoyed immensely. After 30 minutes, B came out all grinning and our family is now complete again. How all of us miss him so much, only God knows.

After having breakfast, B started pulling out all kinds of goodies from his bag. Everyone got something. Zara got a stack-and-nest toy from Playskool, Zareef got a Transformer Decepticon named Storm Surge added to his collection and me? Nyeh nyeh nyeh...


Nak tengok ke apa ada kat dalam? Okay la, terasa macam show-and-tell pulak.

I feel complete. Thank you so much Darling for this. You're simply the best!! I don't know how to repay your kindness and generosity but hopefully with me being your loving and doting wife to you and the kids sort of make up for it. Like a friend put it "Baru la berbaloi kena tinggal selalu" and I readily concur...

13 comments:

reenazack said...

ayooo!! i'm sooo green with envy already.. LV pulak..

Arituh baru posing ala2 Spa Q ngan JJay masuk LV butique kat starhill..walaupun dalam purse dua2orang ada less than 100 bucks..hehehehe..

-ajezack-

mummychomel said...

OMG!!! huhuhuhuhuhu drooolin'.. you B is so generous and baik!!! just goes to show how much he appreciates your sacrifices for the family.. muahs!

NORA ANSHAR said...

aje: tak yah posing ala2 Spa Q pun boleh je masuk LV. But I would recommend KLCC rather than Starhill. staff kat klcc are friendlier and they layan you eventhough they know you're not buying anything when you leave the store.

100 bucks je? takpe, credit limit kan ribu riban. boleh je sambar satu hehehe. anyway, who brings duit berkepuk2 shopping nowadays? what with snatch thief and all, kan kan kan...

mummychomel: and there i was drooling at your TH. Alhamdulillah... all my efforts and sacrifices have not gone to waste. i'm feeling very blessed indeed.

Azura Abas said...

Your favourite animal is a lion? I like 'em too, simply becoz I was born under the Leo zodiak. I love dragon too as they are the best animal in the chinese zodiak. You can tell that I have some chinese blood in me, can't you? So superstitious.

NORA ANSHAR said...

although i like lion, i'm not a fan of the dragon eventhough i'm borned in the year of the dragon like you.

yes, u the very superstitious one.

Amy said...

argHhh bag lagik..u saja la nak buat i makan hati eheheh. cantik la weh. Ish sayangnya Bad kat bini dia :D

NORA ANSHAR said...

syukur alhamdulillah... tu je la yg mampu aku cakap la ni.

jgn makan hati weihh... kan ko gak yg cakap, you can always hope and dream. so keep on hoping and dreaming.

Along said...

A woman can never have too many bags!! Hehehe...

My fav animal = polar bear. Alas, kat sini manade...setakat tengok poster je lah sekarang.

Swimming kat Cyberjaya Community center pun ok gak. I take the kids there most weekend mornings, tak ramai orang and quite clean. Ada go-cart...apa lagi, jom ah..:D

MDR said...

ok, i'm so green... as GREEN as a goblin with envy! what a perfect gift :-) makes up for the hubby's absence yes? :-D

ur so creative with the activities and outings lined up for the kids, while their daddy is away...I have no choice but to be a couch potato in the absence of the hubby because i have yet to master going out with a kid, alone...can u believe that? me too scaredy cat lah :-(

maybe i need to learn from u! hehe

ms ngantuk said...

kak noresh, bestnya! mcm2 bags.. lv, furla, ferragamo. so jealous!
bilalah nk add my bag collection..sigh...

-kay-

NORA ANSHAR said...

along: polar bear pun aku suka gak. all cute, cuddly and covered with snowy white fur but they are quite ferocious, aren't they. kat US tak sempat tgk ke? Seaworld San Diego kan ada.

ohhh... ada go-cart ek. eh jomm... sunday morning ni nak tak? nanti aku call. kids can go on the go-cart ke? kalau boleh, sah2 zareef tak nak balik punye!

MDR: practise makes perfect. i guess because i'm the kaki jalan type. duduk rumah longer than 2 days in a row pun dah tak tahan.

i arm myself with car seats at the back (so that i can drive without any distractions), a lightweight stroller (i strongly recommend MacLaren), a diaper bag filled with essentials and a high level of patience and tolerance. after all, the sole purpose of me going out is to entertain the kids and i come second. so, try to have fun with aqila when u go out. go to places where she's most interested in. gezz... kena buat an entire post about this. nanti la, i'll do it.

my point is, take baby steps. sooner or later, u'll be there. have some confidence, woman!

kay: Alhamdulillah. that's all that i can say. i started with just the watercolor wristlet. then the bags just started tumbling in. i'm still in shock and awe sampai sekarang.

buat tabung. everyday simpan rm 5 (ni ambik inspiration for zied's brilliant idea). by the end of the year, you'll get quite a tidy sum that you can spend to your heart's fancy. this is what i call tabung-o-meter.

Unknown said...

nora.. we r twins...!! my mom got it for me as a token helping her in her project.. boria laa pulak

NORA ANSHAR said...

indeed we are! mula2 ingat nak yg lain but somehow my heart still has the mini lin in it although i do remember that u have one as well.

takpe la. next time we go out, sila cakap dulu ye which bag you're bringing utk elakkan ke'boria'an berlaku.