Eveything is a first time for Coan's Ummi :)

I can't remember the last time I cooked for my kids birthday party. I think, it was about 7 years ago, when Sophea celebrated her 1st birthday. Thanks to Ma who was the main cook for the party. Otherwise, I don't think it'll be materialized at all.

The 2 cakes - a gift from Auntie As and Uncle Roy


The busy Birthday Girl

I'm not a good cook, worse be, not even a cook!. Ma knows me very well. Between me and Bada (my younger sister - her name is Shima but we call her Bada hehee..), I think Bada is more rajin than I am. Whenever I went back to Kemaman, I always asked Ma to cook with a very sly reason - I miss Mom's cooking! Hahahaha!! And my mom would say something like,

"Ye la tu. Awak tu memang malas.."

Hehehee... When I told Ma that I cooked almost everyday in Saudi, she couldn't believe me. In Malaysia, whenever Ma called me, it was either we (the family) were outside having dinner or we ordered pizza. It showed that I rarely cooked in Malaysia. Of course, Abang I cooked sometimes, when we really tired of outside food.


I called Ma a few days back, asking a few recipes and telling her that I'm gonna hold a birthday party for Coan. Actually the birthday party is just another excuse. After being for about 4 1/2 months in Saudi, I never invited all Malaysian friends who live in Al Jubail (Elisa, Nana and Kak Rozie..., Khobar and Riyadh friends are welcome too. Just give me a call but please prepare for my uncertain food quality hehehee..). We did have a family or two coming to my house before but not all Malaysian in Jubail which I think we have about 30 - 40 individuals (that is inclusive of families).

Seronoknya borak.. tak yah jaga Shahmey ke Abah?

Ma was worried I would not have time to cook since I told her I wanted to have Nasi Kerabu, Sate and Meehoon Soto for the party. She said, it is tedious to make Nasi Kerabu since we need to prepare the Sambal Penumis, Sambal Kelapa, Ulaman, Solok Lada and Daging Goreng Kelantan style (a replacement for Daging Bakar). Anyway, Nasi Kerabu has always been my favorite dish since I was small. Abang was the one who suggested it and I thought, why not?

Be careful my dear Kakak...

I've been preparing for the party since 2 days earlier. The party was held last night (16 March 2008). I started preparing since 15 March morning... cutting, frying and marinating the ingredients that I would be using to cook all the 3 dishes!

I finally managed (Alhmadulillah...) (though the rice turned to be lembekkk) to get everything done by 6pm last night. The only thing was, the food was not on the table yet when a few guest have arrived. Blame it on Abang who told them to come after Maghrib instead of after Isya' hehehe...

Roy (Mr Zachary) is making sure the food is enough heheee...

All in all, I was glad everything went smooth though I was having a panic attack at first that was due to not having many assistants to help (when I held a party in Malaysia, many students came to help - I could sit comfortably talking to the guest instead of thinking what need to put next on the table). Fortunately, all my guest were very helpful. They helped me arranging the dishes on the table.

Coan the birthday girl with Ummi's helpful friends (As and Liza)

When all guest went back, Abang and I had our 'post-mortem' about the party. Everyone enjoyed the party (especially the kids, including mine, who went messing up my daughters' room - well, kids are kids. My 2 girls are like that too and even worse sometimes :)). Both of us love having guest at home. The 'guest spirit' really cheered up our home. Alhamdulillah...

The women conquer hehehhh...

A special note:

1. That was my first time making sate, marinating them using my own ingredients mix that I blended by myself and grilled them using the grill that I bought using my own money (wow! everything is I and I again huh! heheee..). By the way, thanks to Mr and Mrs Zachary (Roy and As) who helped me to cucuk sate a night before. Also, thanks to Abang who also assisted in cucuk sate and grilling them. (Ops! a few other people also involved rupanya. hehehee..)
   
   
   
2. Thank you again to Mr and Mrs Zachary for sponsoring the really expensive mouth watering Chocolate and Tiramisu Cheesecake for Coan's party. They also helped me in preparing the ingredients a night before the party. Only Allah could compensate you guys for that...
   
   
3. Thank you to Liza who brought the delicious pudding, Kak Nor who brought an appetizing Pulut Serunding and Madina who brought her home made pizza.
   
   
4. Abang and I were so pleased with the party, though I didn't eat even a stick of sate (tak selera makan food masak sendiri) and Abang didn't get to taste the meehoon soto (sebab dah habis).
   
   
5. While I was typing this, a kind and friendly blogger, Manje had given Coan a surprise gift. I put the gift in Coan's blog. Thank you Manje... Cantik gift tu.. akak memang tak reti buat *malu*