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I am packing up to go and visit my mom in Bangi. There has been a relapse in her lungs, and the big C is back with a vengeance. Please help me and make special doa for my beloved mommie, Barirah Alwi. It seems that the very moment, we thought we were ahead of these cells, they pop out of no where and destroy anything wishful that ever crossed our minds. Also, remember Nefertiti's grandma who is now valiantly fighting for her life in Kota Bharu, in your solemn prayers. Also, for Kakteh's mom who is ever so strong fighting the same battle as my mom. For Mobilemom who is now recuperating. And for all sufferers and survivors , family and friends, may Allah show us the way towards love. May we all find peace in the knowing that Allah knows what is best for us. Amin.

Of Chocolates

Cocoa was said to have been discovered somewhere near the Amazonian-Orinoco basin, where the ancient Olmecs and Mayans dwelled. The earliest known cocoa plantation was found in the regions of Yucatan. Cocoa wasn't just an important part of their epicurian palate, it was money. Aztec Indians are convinced that the cocoa beans were brought down straight from heaven, and those who consume chocolatl(a bitter drink made by boiling crushed cocoabeans) will acquire superpowers and great wisdom. It was well kept secret until a Spaniard named H.Cortez discovered that King Montezumo of Mexico popularized the idea of consuming molten hot chocolatl to improve virility. Naturally, he brought home some of that potent stuff.

The Spanish were the ones who started to mix the bitter South American concoction with vanilla, sweeteners and aromatics to taste like the chocolates that we so love today. And then a Spanish King married a French princess, bearing a gift of a chestful of expensive cocoa, which essentially marked the beginning of chocolate culture in France.

Chocolate continued to be the food for the upper class well into the 17th century until it was made more superbly edible by refining its taste and texture and easily affordable and available in the open market by big chocolatiers like Van Houten, Cadbury, Lindt and many more. From that bitter drink, it has evolved into scrumptious bonbons, ganache, caraibe, tendresse,fondants, royale, caraques, tablette, truffles, pralines, macarons, caramelo...oh, I can go on and on...

The theme of my dreams

Isn't it amazing to learn what was considered as sacred and divine by the ancient South Americans, a couple of thousand years ago is so readily available for us these days. Chocolates continue to be the subject of sinful fantasies, sure fire way to win your way into the hearts of mother- in -laws, and especially lately, souvenirs from overseas friends. Kakteh got me nearly 10 bars of these, I finished them all before I remembered that I should take pictures. Sorry. Temporary short term memory loss possibly due to high pheromones.

So you have read about the serious pig-out session I had with Ayu last week, yea? If not, please click here, I've put up some food pics there,just in case you need to work an appetite for lunch or something? See also our private stash of See's Candies flown in all the way from San Francisco. What you see here is the content of that gold box. As you can see, it was not very hard to eat these giant truffles. This picture was taken minutes after it was opened. What was difficult though, was to refrain from eating more than two at one seating. The trick was to leave the gold box at the inlaws' just so that I don't gobble them up on the get go.

What didn't help was the fact that Aishah is a connoissuer sampler. She eats a bit and when she gets enough of one truffle she would move on to the next one just to see what heavenly filling is next. You never know what you're gonna get, huh, Gump? I could not let the leftovers go to waste so, pop! In you go!

I have always had this mad, mad passion for chocolates. So bad that almost everyone I know would get me some of this stuff for the kick of seeing me all giddy and hyperactive. I remember an old friend who came back for summer hols and gave me huge bars of chocs. I went berserk and totally ignored him while getting orgasmically lost in chocoholic frenzy. Other than great guitar skills, chocolates can be considered as welcomed compromise, when it comes to scoring major points with me way back then. Give me a Baci and you're home free. Give me Godiva, you are my best friend. Give me See's Candies, you are my twin. Keypoint: 70% and above dark chocolate. With an assortment of nuts, if you please.

I discovered cream-filled frozen strawberries earlier this week at Cold Storage, but since I am seriously detox-ing, I had to be forcibly steered away to the salad section in the middle of my hallucination of simmering chocolate fondue, my delectable husband and them strawberries. Oh, gosh! Ayu, please stop me.

My regular trips to The Cocoa Tree does not help much either. I would always keep my purchases below $50 just so that I won't buy too much that I'll regret the extra paunch, eh, pounds. I am not kidding when I say the Japanese make great chocolates, Hironobu Tsujiguchi is one mean chocolatier, or you could just try Royce, your answer to Japanese Godiva. And if you just want to feel overly sexy with the masterpieces by bonbonnieres magnifique, send the boys to get you some knick knacks from, urm, let me see, Le Chocolat de H would be as much fun as Hevin Chocolates. Airports are great places to get your chocs, some restaurants make their own gourmet chocolates too, like Les Amis, and there are a great number of chocolate cafes and bars down here in Singapore. In KL, you could just pop over to the KL Tower and knock yourself out. Otherwise, supermarkets carry a wide range of goodies too. Or better still, order online. Wah, how easy it is to get fat nowadays huh?

Chocolate is always a good ingredient to have fun with in the kitchen. I can betcha there are probably hundreds of chocolate recipes out there.It is always a joy to google chocolatey recipes. One I would like to try is Chocolate Soup with Caramelised Bananas, pictured above. But I would not be too k*nky or brave enough to try chicken fried in chocolate though.

But it is not radically strange to put chocolate in savoury dishes, really. Mole Poblano , poultry cooked in chocolate sauce is Mexico's national dish. So there.

I remember a pen that has a chocolatey smell, which was really popular when I was in primary school. And bath products that smell of chocolates are good for cold weather, kan Ayu?.I have not mustered the courage to purchase edible chocolate flavoured massage oil, but I would someday wish to make a visit to Hershey's and go for that chocolate body mask treatment and that oh-soo-gooey chocolate long bath.

So, peeps, this is what detox-ing has done to me. I could not get chocolates of my mind. Help me God! What's your chocolate story, Charlie?

Menjelang 31 Ogos

Terdetik di sudut hati yang telah sekian lama meronta-ronta untuk berasak-asak menyeberangi tambak sempit itu untuk menyatakan rasa rinduku pada tanah yang bergelar Malaysia, bisakah aku menabur budi sementelah aku terbias mengikut takdir perjalanan hidupku? Walhal memang sudah menjadi kebiasaanku meneropong dari jendela rumahku, betapa hampirnya aku kepadanya. Terlonjak-lonjak hatiku setiap kali dapat melihat sebarang pergerakan di Pasir Gudang, tidak jauh dari kediamanku. Rindu.

Bukan sahaja kepada sanak saudaraku, pada aneka selera rasa, malah kepada aroma yang sering menggeletek rongga hidungku suatu waktu dulu. Seringkali tercetus jua kenangan tempatku bermain, detik gembira dan detik hiba serta wajah-wajah yang kukasihi.Walaupun jasadku di sini, jelaslah sudah di mana duduknya jiwa ragaku. Walaupun dekat namun tak tergapai kekerapan mendakapimu semahu hatiku. Walau jauh, kau sentiasa bersemarak di hatiku. Sedang kau mengukir kegemilangan ke-48, kubingkiskan salam kasih dari anak watan kerinduan dengan doa syahdu agar kau sentiasa gah dalam kebebasan dan kemerdekaan hakiki. Syabas Malaysia! Negaraku.

Omak, den nak balik...kobau semolih lah sekor duo.

Pot Luck Picnic

Geng Gebang Singapura

Oh, nyamannya suasana

So CK-F-Y, Noreez, Raudz and I agreed meet at Botanical Gardens at 3 pm yesterday, just so that CK could take a break from playing host( doing the 3Cs-cook, clean and collapse) to all of us. A picnic was amicably decided and the food was to be fuss-free. But ALL of us ended up carrying berkoyan-koyan of goodies. The event manager was Noreez of course, the ever efficient one.

For the sake of waking up your salivary glands this mundane Monday morning(or whatever time you happen to read this), let me just list down the things that are probably going through the home stretch down our digestive system, and for you to angan-angan. It IS going to be my last Sunday before I start my frantic yo-yo dieting. Again.

Yeah, right.

Noreez brought tuna sandwiches-which were superb I could easily finish them all but I tau malu, skewered sausage and sotong balls and kueh-mueh, including a very nice cake-a surprise gift commemorating F and CK's forthcoming anniversary. CK brought berlambak fruits, Chikedees (I got really hyper when I saw the packet, felt like a kid again), Royce chocolate covered whole almonds( checkout also Royce cubes) and berlambak drinks. Ely's hard candies also made an appearance but no one actually touched it, pemalu kot or I lembap tak offer. I brought nasi himpit and sambal bali for the grownups, and tomatoey pasta with basil and parmesan, cheezdippers for the kids and some drinks. We ended up with so much to eat and drink after all.

It was really hard to decide what to gobble first. So rambang was my mata, CK had to jemput me more than 3 times. Muahaha. Macam terkesima dan terblur-blur gitu. Oh the cake, oh the kueh, oh the chocs, oh no, the chocs. Die-die. The Amande (amender?) Chocolates were yummy, almonds coated with dark choc, milk choc and white choc. You would think that being as meticulous as they are in food preparation, the Japanese would somehow make it with flying colours as chocolate connoissuers huh? They were really lovely lovely morsels of heaven, I tell you.

Our designated photographer, Raudz made sure all the Kodak moments were immortalized. She is a bag of talents this wee lil lass. Janganlah malu-malu beli majalah Manja bulan ni. She even made Aishah and I bracelets out of beads. Enterprising lagi Nona Singapura ni. gambar gelang MIA

Selain dari acara makan memakan, while tha daddies took a stroll with them daughters mommies, kakak dan adik urm, mesyuarat tingkaplah, jabbered away. Muahahaha.

Alah, anak abah

Dari kiri, cepat jalan.

Chocolate Ganache Layer Cake

It was Noreez's idea to give the lovely couple, CK and F, an early celebration of their anniversary. And they were really touched with the gesture. A little monster actually hijacked the cake thinking it was her birthday and cut the cake first. Malunya aku... But the cake was delish.

Noreez and I

Notice that I am always within arm's reach to the chocs. Oh, one thing that I overlooked again and again (nyanyuk tak sedar diri) is the fact that Noreez and CK are wonderfully generous people, that I am beginning to feel really bashful for all the goodies and trinkets that they lavish me with when we meet. CK gave each of us girls bling bling with our names customized in crystals. Aishah got t-shirts from these lovely ladies. I really, really must buck up, man! Thanks, you guys...

Bling! Bling!

Hip Hot Hoochie Mama T-shirts for Aishah

We went back slightly after 6 pm. Aishah was clearly reluctant to go home, she actually asked to "picnic again". Y was obviously very tired because she had not napped before the picnic. It was getting late too. I could see on Noreez's face, so motherly was she towards Aishah and Yasmin,it occured to me, she is the most maternal of all of us put together. She was quick to notice what Aishah was up to, walhal mak dia khayal. Cepat-cepatlah kawin, Noreez.You would make a good mom.

I may have missed out other details of the picnic, and there are many more pics. Hop over to these lovely people's blog for more. We parted ways with promises to meet up again.

To CK and family, Noreez and Raudz...

Bangun pagi gosok gigi

Jangan serik, mari lah picnic lagi

Pak Lebai pakai celak

Pasni BBQ lah pulak