Baby Blue Aqiqah

Oh my... I just realized that I never announced the arrival of our first nephew, on my blog!

My youngest sister-in-law, who got hitched to the man of his dreams exactly one year ago, gave birth to the most adorable baby boy about two months ago. (Bunting pelamin woot woot!) We were over the moon! He is absolutely an angel - tak banyak ragam and soooooo baik. Jarang sangat dengar dia nangis unnecessarily. You can literally leave him in his crib and he would coo himself to sleep. Ian pun excited sangat with the newborn. Peluk, cium, gomol... asyik mintak for us to put the baby in his lap. The first day, he even asked to bring the baby home!

So last weekend, we had an aqiqah for baby Ahmad Daniel Firhad. The mummy wanted a baby blue theme, so we worked with the desired theme. Everyone contributed to the dessert table - I made fondant cookies and macarons, my sister-in-law made brownies, fruit cheese and tartlets while another made sugar cookies and mini cakes. I even went through my arts and craft box and found old props and ribbons that I bought for Ian's aqiqah four years ago. Some were even still wrapped and unused!

The front view. 

My fondant sugar cookies. One of my mother-in-law's guests took home like ten of these, muttering about making the same for her future cucu. *chuckles*

Sugar cookies in the shape of milk bottles and baby rompers.

I found the ribbon with those adorable baby footsteps unopened, deep in my arts and crafts stash box. Also found the baby blue paper doilies at my local baking supply shop.

Sunlight was pouring directly onto the table, making it hard for me to get decent pictures.

Chocolate brownies, topped with desiccated coconut tinged with a hint of blue. Such a creative way to make desserts match the desired theme. 

Three batches and macarons, tapi still tak cukup. It was quite a hit with both the adults and kids. Love those Prince ribbons; leftover from Ian's aqiqah.

A view from the side.

From the top - kek lapis Sarawak, blueberry tartlets, and fruit cheese (fruit cocktail topped with cream cheese). Baby carriage topper from the US.

This one is a funny story. My sister-in-law attempted to tinge the cookie batter blue, but it didn't quite match the theme, so she saved the day by topping it with baby blue icing.

Baby mummy cutting the centerpiece cake - a Ferrero Rocher cake that she baked specifically for the occasion. Baby blocks and cake topper from the US.

Reused the baby blue tissue flowers that I used for Ian's aqiqah nearly four years ago. You can read that entry here. Flanked by marshmallows and crunchy love letters in apothecary jars.

Okay, I honestly think I'm done with the baby blue theme. When can I start decorating with pink??? Doa banyak banyak for a baby girl to make an appearance soon in the family. Amin!

BASF Kids' Lab

Last weekend Aiden was invited to be a mad scientist for a day!

BASF Kids' Lab is an annual program in Malaysia for kids between 6-12 years old; and best of all, it's free! The interactive educational program allows kids to experience hands on experiments to learn about the fundamental role of chemistry in everyday life.

This year's theme - Clever Foodies, introduced the wonders of chemistry through food. Aiden experienced three different experiments using food, and based on his excited but garbled chatter at the end of the session, I deduced that they tested for the existence of Vitamin C in food.

Experimenting with test tubes, beakers and pipettes.

For the first experiment, Aiden was asked to record the number of drops required to dilute the blue-black colour of the iodine. Using a pipette, he slowly squeezed droplets of lemon and orange juice into the iodine solution. It was so cute watching him shake the test tubes like a proper chemist!

Lemon champion!

For the second experiment, Aiden was given Vitamin C test strips to measure the Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) levels in food. The darker the colour, the better. It turned out, that red pepper was the Vitamin C champion for the day! (Even I didn't know that *chuckles*)

Concentrating intently on the task at hand - squeezing lemon juice!

Unfortunately, I didn't get the details of the third experiment but I'm sure it was equally as interesting as the first two. The moment he walked out of the session, he was chattering non stop, talking about the various vitamins we can find in our daily food. The experiments certainly raised his awareness about healthy nutrition!

The kids were divided into groups. Aiden was Team Papaya.

Ian was too small to join, hence he joined the other parents outside Petrosains, where the event was held.

Thank you BASF, for having us. We will definitely join the next time the BASF Kids' Lab makes a comeback next year.

Espresso

I hate coffee. I really do. I have zero appreciation for coffee and I don't understand how people can pay double digits for a cup of bitter tasting liquid. Yucks. Hubby loves coffee so I've resorted to making his coffee by judging the colour of the liquid. No way in hell would I ever make it to taste. (And no way in hell would I be able to tell too!) This girl, is very much a Milo Ais gal :p

This year, Hubby cultivated two new interests - good coffee, and cigars. He now devotes a good part of his weekend at the gazebo, sipping his coffee over a cigar. And I'll stay far far away from those sessions cos I hate coffee, and the smell of cigar gives me a migraine.

I digress. Anyway, it's that time of the year again when I have to crack my head for a birthday present for Hubby. Given his new interests, it was a toss up between a coffee machine and a box of cigars. The former won hands down because I would hate to watch Hubby burn my money with the latter - literally.

Since I have zero knowledge in coffee, I couldn't just buy any coffee machine as a surprise. So I gave him the opportunity to choose his own machine. He spent a whole night researching for the best (within my budget, mind you). Hence last weekend, all I heard about was ground coffee beans, grinders, filters, thermoblocks, double shots.. you get the gist. He even gave me a crash course about the difference between espresso, cappuccino, latte, flat white and mocha! (Everything is merely called coffee to me.)

Red (drool) versus silver.

So in the end, he settled for the machine of his dreams (I wanted red to match my KitchenAid, but he wanted silver... so I relented) and we finally brought home his baby - an entire month before his birthday.

Meet the new addition to our dry kitchen counter top! Although Hubby complained endlessly about the compact size (he prefers bulky in-your-face machines), I actually love the fact that it doesn't conquer the table top.

Hubby's first cup of coffee.

Hubby even made me a cup of mocha. Check out that milk froth!

Anyway, I wanted to give him the complete experience, so I offered to buy him the barista accessories too. Boy, I was taken by surprise by how big this whole coffee affair is to the rest of the world. Malls actually have specific coffee/tea sections within their home-living department! I found fancy double walled mugs, and am now on a hunt for the perfect stainless steel milk pitcher. Exciting times!

Double walled mugs for the complete coffee experience. Bodum is quite pricey, hence we settled for La Gourmet for the glass version, but found a good deal for Bodum outdoor plastic mugs in One Utama (not in picture). Snatched them all in a heartbeat!

Couldn't believe my eyes when I found this stainless steel pitcher at Robinsons, The Gardens, going for RM100. Settled for the Lazada version instead.

Anyway, now that the pressure is off for Hubby's birthday present, I'm wondering what he has in store for me for mine. I sure hope it isn't a coffee grinder. I wouldn't put it past him to do such a maneuver! *chuckles*

F1nale

After 19 long years, yesterday officially marked the last F1 race for Malaysia. Personally, we've been taking the F1 race for granted; always assuming that it would be a yearly event for Malaysia, hence we never made the time to the circuit to watch it live. (Also, the horrific stories about extreme heat and massive traffic jams definitely turned me off.)

So when Hubby told me that this year was going to be the last F1 race for Malaysia, we decided that we had to make it a point to watch it live this once! Buying tickets was a headache too. We both wanted good seats but didn't want to spend unnecessarily. In the end we both took the plunge and splurged on main grandstand tickets. (Serious tak tipu, when he said he wanted to buy those tickets, I told him to go for solat jumaat dulu and doa lebih sikit at the end so that we would make the right decision!)

Boy, was I glad that we decided to buy those tickets. Because we had the time of our lives!

What a quirky tagline - F1nale!

Learning from our prior experience from last year's MotoGP, we went on the day of qualifiers so that we could purchase parking coupons in advance and be able to scout for strategic seats for the actual race.

Race day, we left the house super early. Arrived at the Sepang F1 circuit at 845am and there was already a long queue to enter. Quite unnerving really! Parking was a breeze (cos we had the said parking coupon). The queue flow was quick as soon as they opened their gates at 9am. Security wasn't so tight; they didn't allow snacks purchased externally but allowed us to bring in our home cooked meehoon! *chuckles* Sorted out our seats (we had to move once because the seats we chose upstairs were reserved) and Alhamdulillah it was definitely the best seats in the house, for our ticket price lah. (Gila tak best seats, pukul 930am dah terpacak at main grandstand, padahal race start pukul 3pm!) On the left we had a view of the pit stops and on the right we had a view of the starting grid/finish line. Awesome!

Can you see the pit stops in the background?

Our wing was absolutely packed! By the end of the race, we had people standing behind us and even on the stairs. 

Although those seats were right smack in front of all the action, it didn't have a screen anywhere close to it. And without a screen nor earphones, we missed some key pivotal moments and lost track of the number of laps after a while. But I certainly appreciated being able to watch the opening/closing ceremony up close, and most notably - witness a pit stop by Hamilton. Laju gila!!! Anyway, I won't go on and on about the race, I'm sure you know how Verstappen went past Hamilton on the 4th lap and ended up winning the race. So I'll share some photos which we took instead:

Slight drizzle at the start of the match, hence the Petronas grid girls had to walk into the track using umbrellas. Attire designed by Rizman Ruzaini!

Vintage cars were used to parade the drivers around the track for the Driver Track Parade. Of course, Hamilton was given the biggest cheer as he went by.

And Hamilton was also the only driver to step outside his car and walk towards the fans. Everyone went berserk!

Opening ceremony. Our national anthem was sung by Ning Baizura, while kids in traditional attires stood in front of the drivers. Ian excitedly pointed to the kids in baju melayu and said, "Hari Raya, Mummy!!!"

The starting grid ceremony behind us.

I was so disappointed when they wheeled Kimi Raikkonen's machine out of the track. Dah la Vettel was last on the grid! Such a sad day for team Ferrari.

The starting grid, seconds before flag off. Notice the missing #2 front grid slot? *cries*

We allowed Aiden to bring his phone out for the day. He had a field time, taking photos and videos of the race.

The winner - Verstappen's #33.

Hubby and I cracked our heads to figure out what those figures meant. Finally Hubby deduced that it was the timing of the racer in front and behind him.

Mid-way through the race.

My jaw dropped when I witnessed this pit stop. I posted a video of it on my IG. Seriously, memang laju gila.

The Red Bull crew climbed the fence to welcome and celebrate their winner. And the fans raced out onto the tracks right after every driver crossed the finish line.

The crowd in front of the podium.

Can you see the crowd behind us??? It was packed!

Us at the Petronas FanZone, before we bid the Sepang Circuit goodbye.

Farewell F1, you will be sorely missed. Thanks for putting Malaysia on the map, and I hope the race returns to our country in the future.