My All Time Interest

I love to read. I think I got it from my late sister, the teacher. She too was an ardent reader. When I was little before I could actually read, I was always given books by my sisters, or boys who are interested in my sisters (nak kawan kakak, ambil la hati adik kan?), sometimes as birthday presents when I was not getting dolls.  You see, when I was little, I always get a birthday party, arranged by my older sisters, its a good excuse to have a party what?, who would then invite their friends (budak kecik mana la ada kawan sgt kat kampung tuh !!!). But, but I don't care cos I get presents !! :D

So I read, from the time I was introduced to a library.. albeit it was just a small cupboard, in our little primary 3 classroom, I read... I read all the books that interests me in that little cupboard, read all the Enid Blytons books that I can get my hand on, you know, the Magic Faraway Tree, Folks of the Magic tree, all her fairy tales, her Naughty Girl series, her Famous Five series, I read all the Hardy Boys series, the Nancy Drew series. But somehow, I never moved on to Mills & Boons.. these books were introduced to me in college. Then, I met Judith McNaught, Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, later Jeffery Archer, Anne Rice, Dan Brown, etc etc etc.

I stopped reading when I had my kids, while they were babies. I actually did, totally stopped! For about 4 or 5 years, up to a point where my youngest was smart enough not to disturb me when I'm reading, I started again. Wah, I really did. By then, I found a little bookstore by the corner of Subang Parade, where I can buy latest books and then resell it back to the bookstore... Love it! But they've moved away. So am back to buying books. Now online, via the internet, mphonline.

Today, I find that I have a whole stack of books that's waiting for me to go thru them. What with my baking and all, I still make time to read.  Here's what I'm going thru now,

these are books by my side of the bed ! so far, I've completed reading may be 2 of the books, and one of it is not even in this pile, its been borrowed by my son's friend !

I can't believe myself, cos I've never done this before, but here I am, reading 4 books simultaneously! 4! Tok Dek's Memoirs is a must of course........ Yes, that's three in the pic, one more (a Jeffery Archer short stories) is on my office table. I read during my lunch hour, as I catch up with my fav tv series, fringe, glee or supernatural...

Apart from reading the Quran whenever I can (have to read and practice as I'm taking tajweed class, nanti Ustaz suruh baca dalam kelas, tak mau la tergagap-gagap kan! ), I've also started on reading religious books. It all started with Yakjuj Makjuj. And the got to this wonderful biography of our beloved Prophet (saw). I really enjoyed reading this book, his rich history.  Then, hubby asked me to get this book,

This book is on the 4 Khalifah that follows after the death of Muhammad saw. I thought the content were too brief, to simple, so it was not such a satifying read but its knowledgeable enough. At least, now I know some of their history.

I bought this Malaikat book to read on a flight to Kota Bharu, not bad.. it actually got me interested enough to make me book myself a place and attend a class by Al-Kauthar Institute, called Out Of Sight, Believe in Angels, Jinns & Ain. No regrets, wonderful class by Sheik Yahya Ibrahim.  The other books, so so. Kind of boring that I didn't even finish it. Some authors need to learn to write better, not just facts.

Okay, guilty.  I have NOT started on these books yet ! I should remember NOT to buy more books until I've gone thru these.

The following books are presents. The wonderful baking book, so thoughtfully & painstakingly selected by my BFF for my birthday. Thank you so much but I've yet to test any of the recipe in it. Will get there one day. Not to worry.  The second book, a coffee table book, on Roses. Beautiful, bought in Dublin, Ireland, a present from my niece, who is also an ardent reader (I brought back lots of books from her shelf!!!), is the daughter of my dear late sister, the teacher. Oh, I miss you both so much!

This book is a collection of 2 books, well on Roses of course.

More cupcakes

I surprised myself ! I had no idea I baked quite a lot of cupcakes ! But effective this year, I'm making sure that I keep track of my bakings especially those that were orders that I received.  At least, I will be able to see and keep track of my little itsy bitsy business.  Perhaps this will help keep me occupied when I finally retire !  He he he...

Special birthday treat for hubby.

Carrot cupcakes with chocolate cheese toppings and strawberries.

Another birthday treat for my nephew Aizat.

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frostings.

Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry flavoured cream cheese frosting

for a meeting at the office.

Carrot cupcakes I made for my good friend (a caterer) Alice. Year End gift.

Her son, Nick is also the Chef from whom I learn the basic on baking (cakes, cupcakes, etc)

Chocolate cupcake I made as testers, using a recipe from internet.

My colleagues from office are always happy to be my testers!

Carrot cupcakes for my niece, to enjoy with her big extended family.

Another vanilla cupcake for a friend.

And another.. I sure made lots of swirlsss.

These are carrot cupcakes, a very last minute request

from a colleague and friend at the office.

.... these too, for a family 'doa selamat' kenduri.

These are Red Velvet cuppies for own enjoyment !



Cupcakes Collection To-Date

Here are some my cupcakes so far..........
We have here, Red Velvet cupcakes, Carrot cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes and Vanilla Cupcakes.

 Red Velvet cupcakes.

These simply made for own consumption. Call it testers if you must.

These are delicious ! 

Cupcakes for Hantaran

Sinful Chocolate Cuppies with Chocolate Ganache toppings

and handmade chocolate decoration

Cupcakes Galore

Vanilla Cuppies for a pair of lovely teenagers, Nadia and Natrah

Chocolate Cuppies

Cuppies for a baby shower

Birthday Cuppies

 .... and there's more. Its late now, so will add more later.  I didn't realised that I'd actually made quite a lot of cuppies these past few months ! :D

An Apology......

I edited a particular post which I wrote on stories of my friends today and took out some sensitive experiences that I had unwittingly wrote without thinking at the time of writing that particular post. In fact of the things that I'd writen, I'd also kinda forgot about it, and forgot how sensitive it can be. What with Anwar Ibrahim case still going on and Mahathir out with his memoirs. Hahahaha, tak de kene mengene pon !

I was quite open then because nobody, practically nobody reads this blog before. Now that Í'm using this blog more to promote my cakes & cupcakes, hopefully I might have more visitors lah! If I hurt some people with my direct words (I'm a sagittarius, what do you expect?), I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart.

coming soon....

keep a look out on this blog... coming up are new cake flavours added to my repertoire ! and cupcakes that I'd done for the past few months.

meanwhile... read somewhere that cake and cupcake Diva should be wearing these aprons !  boleh ?

Some recent cakes done.....

here's some of my recent 'cake creations' . these are all carrot cakes.

A last minute request from a friend to celebrate

family members birthday !

A cake for a mum & her daughters to enjoy

traditional design for carrot cakes!

simple design for hantaran

birthday for a mum

birthday for a group of boys...

Another cake made for kids (boys)