Shooting for Brownie Points

Slightly belated but hopefully not too late! Happy Teachers' Day to all the wonderful educators out there. I have personally come across several wonderful teachers in my life, but one certainly stood out from the rest.

Miss Jeyanthi. She was not only my class teacher at Form 2, but also my Maths and Science teacher during my lower secondary years. She was quite the character... exceptionally 'garang' with a heart of gold. Despite her stern demeanor, her teaching ways were really effective. Jangan berangan la tak buat her subject homework. A fond memory of her was how the entire class would all freak out whenever she walked into class and started drawing lines on the board. Yes. Lines. Those lines were meant to separate each row of desks into a team. She would then read out a Maths question and each team will send a representative to race to the blackboard to solve the question. Points would be given to the team rep that finishes first. It was so stressful, because if you got it wrong, your entire team would be penalized!

Since she was extremely superb at teaching, my mum sought her out for tuition classes. So that was how me and a couple of friends started going to her house twice weekly for tuition. My mum would drop me off in the morning, and after tuition we would all walk to the bus stop to take the bus to school. 

After graduating from high school, I lost all contact with her. I met her briefly twice after that - once when I found out that my cousin was attending her tuition classes (I sneaked in at the end of her class and surprisingly she still remembered me!) and the next time was at the BBGS 2009 Gala Reunion in Pavilion (the first time our alumni gathered at the location where our alma mater used to stand).

Anyway, back to the original intent of the post! Every year I would make baked goods as presents for Teachers' Day, with a matching personalized message to boot. (Other than last year, as Aiden's teachers were both vegetarian so I bought Crabtree and Evelyn teabags with the message "Thank You For Being a Tea-rrific Teacher!") So this year, I made Congo Bars... but struggled to find a suitable message. I found a particularly good one for cookies (Thanks For Making Me One Smart Cookie) but by then the Congo Bars were already in the oven. I contemplated using one for Brownies (Shooting for Brownie Points) but decided against it cos it was more suited for Valentines Day... shooting Cupid, geddit? So in the end, I decided to be boring and just use a generic one I found off the internet.

Sorry Ian, no school yet for you so you just have to watch and learn.

Aiden didn't know the names of all his teachers (!!!) so Mummy jugak yang kena pegi find out.

Cute mini Congo Bars nestled in individual wrappers.

Thank you teachers, for your dedication, enthusiasm, and hard work in shaping these young minds into the future leaders of tomorrow.

Food for thought: "Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions..."

Date Night

Hubby and I arranged a date night last Thursday. (Khamis malam Jumaat, anyone?) *giggles*

Since Hubby has been recording late work nights these past few weeks, we decided to catch a midnight show. Usually Hubby doesn't entertain my request for chick flicks, but surprisingly this time he conceded when I requested to watch AADC2. (I guess Dian probably had something to do with it?)

Andddddd we both really enjoyed the movie! Hubby will never publicly admit this though. (To quote, when asked how he found the show, the only thing he said was "At least I didn't fall asleep in the movie!") But the fact that he agreed to review and dissect the storyline, on our way home after the movie; is concrete proof that he enjoyed it as much as I did!

Anyway, here are our comments to the movie. (Spoilers ahead!)

1. We loved the storyline. No cliche endings, so that was a huge bonus.
2. There were no flashbacks to the first movie, although the scene where Cinta rubbed her lipstick off did pay homage to the original.
3. We both thought that the reason why Rangga left Cinta was a bit weak. It could have been more catastrophic (like his dad died or something), but Hubby pointed out that Cinta pointed out the same to Rangga. Hence maybe the weak reason was intentional?
4. Is Milly really pregnant or was that made up because she gained weight? Nevertheless she provided great comic relief throughout the entire movie! Well done to her!
5. Beautiful cinematography. Loved how the movie showed a different side of Yogyakarta. 
6. Hubby thought that the tiff Cinta and Rangga had in the middle of their road trip (when he assumed her fiancé came from a wealthy family) was a nice twist. Without it, the journey would have been too perfect (and too easy). 
7. I loved the fact that Cinta didn't immediately change her mind for Rangga right after her return to Jakarta. The fact that the movie gave her some time between then and her arrival to New York, implied that she gave it a good long thought. 
8. Last but not least, Hubby actually suggested an improvement to the movie! He thinks Rangga should have named his cafe after Cinta, to show how significant she was in his life. Also, he should have scribbled the 'gift' poetry for Cinta on his cafe napkin so that Cinta will discover this. (And the plot thickens... *chuckles*)

I am convinced that Hubby will be a movie producer in his next life! *kidding*

Anyway, if you haven't watched AADC2, you really should do so. If you have, what do you think of Rangga? Is it just me, or is his hair thinning?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, ladies!

I hope every one of you had a great day, being pampered by your loved ones. I am currently writing this post in a hotel room in Johor Bahru, having landed in this state just an hour ago. 

I took the last flight out of KL, hence I did get to spend a good part of Mother's Day with the kiddos. How did they celebrate me? Well, as usual - my boys just love 'winging' it last minute. So as I woke up this morning, I discovered that everyone was still fast asleep. (Apparently Hubby slept at 4am watching football.) I fiddled with my phone for about 40minutes before Hubby stirred, opened his eyes, looked at me and exclaimed "Happy Mother's Day!" and then bounded out of bed muttering something about making breakfast. 

Aiden and Ian woke up from all the racket and crawled into my bed. After a lot of cuddles and kisses, Aiden joined his Daddy to make breakfast while Ian and I sang the ABC song on repeat in bed. ("Ann mowe tymeee!" aka one more time he says!)

Fifteen minutes later, this arrived on my bed:

Well basically, Hubby ransacked the fridge looking for any thing he could present on a plate. He found some nuggets - left over from Aiden's dinner. Kuih koci durian - something I had purchased from two days ago. Semperit bedazzled with hearts - Ian's birthday present (and favourite snack) courtesy of my SILs. All those plus hot dogs wrapped in cheese and scrambled eggs. But he did such a great job plating the whole thing! Major love for my man! *kisses*

We then attended an aqiqah where I caught up with my BBGS girls (all mothers!) and then returned home, packed, and left for the airport for an early Mother's Day dinner. Eden was no gastronomic feast (in fact it was slightly disappointing) but their stir fried tenderloin with crispy almonds somewhat made up for it. 

Someone shared this on Facebook and it struck something in me:

So to fellow mummies out there, may Allah reward all that we do for our kids with Jannah. InsyaAllah! 

Suntanning at the Beach

I know, I know... I promised an entire post about Aiden and Ian's Star Wars party. But when you're given a choice between enjoying the beautiful sandy beach with blue skies (as per picture above), and turning on your laptop to shortlist the hundreds of pictures from the party... The former wins hands down!

I had a short work assignment in Kota Kinabalu, hence I took the opportunity to organize an island getaway with the family. I arrived on Wednesday with the kids and we spent the next day just literally doing nothing other than swimming, sunbathing and eating. Hubby arrived on Thursday night and that marked the start of our family island adventure.

On Friday morning we took the boat to YTL Pulau Gaya Resort and since our arrival until now, I've been basking in the warm sun, tanning at the beach, snorkeling in the sea, enjoying the fabulous food to my heart's content and just simply enjoying quality time with Hubby and the kids.

I will definitely write a review about this place as I am supremely impressed with the service. They have definitely wowed me! Two thumbs up for YTL Pulau Gaya Resort.

Until then, I hope you're getting your fair share of the sun too!

An extremely rare smile from Ian.

Take care,
Liz