Am I really prepared for this?

( i know: anis, TOO LATE.)

the most lingering question for a new momma, will i be a good mother? i've tried reading a LOT, but i know no theory can prepare me completely until i experience it myself. harap2 dapat jadi mama yg baik, aminnn.. or as hariz said, nnti kalau mama menyinga jadi raksasa gorgon, baby boleh jadi otromen... :D

will i be able to finish preparing for the material stuff before delivering? i do have a lot to pack, see. This is not even about hospital bags. ARGGHHH!

Baby stuff, easy, i'll just lug EVERYTHING into bag #1-beg bb balik pantang di SgPetani + raya di K.Trganu. Senang, sebab semua barang baru kan. Its the parents' stuff that's worrisome.

Thing is, if everything is according to my EDD, there'll be only a few days left to puasa after pantang and then raya. N we'll be heading east straight from north, so i'm not in the liberty to get back to our place before heading east, hence the freaking out having to pack for raya in REJAB.

Baju raya? hariz punya tak beli lagi? sendiri punya?(sendiri punya tu MUAT KE???)
Baju2 spare utk kenduri2 & open house?? yg sedia ada tak tentu muat!!
Songkok, tudung, butang baju melayu, sampin jgn lupa!
anak2 sutun, baju pegi dapur, baju jalan2 tepi pantai, baju tido????

all this, on top of risau sakit bersalin, risau baby hari2 kira movement, risau baby lahir normal/tak, risau mama's hospital bag tak siap lagi(???!!!), risau all the stiff joints i felt if i dont move during my sleep (hidung merah+kembang, kaki bengkak, dan jari macam sosej tu takyah cerita la).. haih..

Ground Beef Shepherd Pie

i really need to jot this somewhere, n pity i didnt take any pic on the dish before being eaten. it always feels good to cook it right the first time, n nobody gets stomachache from it!

what i initially googled was some recipes on mashed potato gravy, but ended up with a simple baked mashed potato with ground beef. bila google lagi dan lagi, baru la dapat nama yang betul:

GROUND BEEF SHEPHERD PIE.

ada la rupa skt mcm gambar sebenar, tapi bukan. googled.

you'll need:

mashed potatoes

7 medium size russet potatoes (roughly almost 1kg) - skinned and quartered
4 cloves garlic
1 cup cream
1 heaping tbsp butter (missed this one!)
sprinkle of mixed italian herbs
salt, as needed

ground beef base

500g beef, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
coarse ground black pepper and salt to taste

some grated cheese and breadcrumbs for topping.

to do:

1. preheat oven at 150C. Boil the potatoes together with garlic (or can roast the garlic with some oil instead) and mash together with cream, butter, salt and herb. set aside.

2. Saute chopped onion and garlic until fragrant, then mix in ground beef. Simmer on low fire til they turn brownish. Season with salt and black pepper. Transfer beef into casserole, spread around the base.

3. Top with mashed potatoes, and sprinkle breadcrumbs and grated cheese.

4. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the cheese tips turned brown.

Siap! Baked this for the potluck cum housewarming cum baby shower, and since ada byk budak2, this dish ialah yg paling senang makan, mashers for tots, beef for mums and dads too :D

:D

hoho this is the looooongggggeeeesssst stretch of absence from this page for me heh. lama gila tak tulis, rasa sgt rusty. no excuses , i know, but yeah, like some ppl like to say that annoys the heck out of me , whatever...

n whaddaya know, i've arrived at the last laps y'all! just 8 wks left til we can finally get to see our lil' one. ok ok, so we do get to peep at whatever the baby's doing every month n sometimes in the middle of the night i'm awakened by the baby's movement, smiling in the dark and secretly wishing i can keep feeling it in my tums, but everyone is very hyped up n anxious for the grand arrival. n me, being super-paranoid, am obsessing on every false/true labour signs i came across in articles / pregnancy tracker apps. not to mention the almost daily Braxton Hicks. dr kata anak panjang, maka agak kurang space agaknya, tu yg asyik mengeliat selalu, perut pun asyik kerassss je. the last time we saw the bean he's had his tali pusat near his face, his hands near his face, AND one leg up his face. kesian anak mama. sempit ye sayang? tak lama lagi dah nak kuar pusing la sesuka hati ye.

i just had the baby stuff for hospital bag packed up. baby bag is one cutesy bakul rotan courtesy from my MIL, yeay! comel gila, but i'm thinking of a way to line the basket so kain baju semua tak tersangkut. now just lapik dgn tudung yg tak penah (n tak boleh sbb susah gilaaaa nk bentuk)pakai. mama bag tak siap lagi, kemudian la ye.

checklist for baby bag:

baju: 3 pairs button tshirts n pants, 2 rompers

booties and mitts 1 pair, 3 pairs NB socks

3 receiving blankets, 1 pc muslin swaddle

4pc lampin

1 towel

4 barut baby

1 pk baby wipes

huggies NB diapers 1pk 12 pc

baby sebamed liquid wash

baby cotton buds

yet to be filled with:

baby massage oil, minyak telon, bedak, nail clippers, plastic and reusable bags utk uri dgn baju kotor.


being me, who likes to reaaadd anything and everything, am planning to jump on the CD(clothdiaper) bandwagon, which is a hot topic online nowadays. this, with full support from my mak who's gonna take care of me n baby masa pantang nanti. but still i'll be using dispos during the first few days on my mom's advice, at least until the baby poo is no more tarry like, or meconium as they call it. mainly because the tarry meconium mak kata susah skt nk tanggal unless pakai liner, n we had the huggies dispos for free anyway so we might as well use it first.

will be posting on inputs regarding clothdiapering later, toodles!

a heartwrenching news.

a death news took me by surprise today. the more harrowing part was she died due to the negligence of her baby sitter.

Deanna was only four months old.

seems like only a few days before i met the little girl, a little nervous to hold her - the old adage said that if ur holding a baby n he/she doesn't cry, it means the opposite gender is in your belly. not that i totally believed that since i hold both a niece and a nephew and they didnt cry, but that's another story.

she happily chatted away in her own language, talking to my yet-to-be-seen belly. a sure signal that she's sleepy, her mummy said. how adorable it is for an infant to babble to say she's sleepy, no? Deanna.

it really hurt to think about it as i am in emotional limbo these days, but its my dear cousin's only child. n my heart aches for her loss.

sleep well sweetheart. my love goes to u. Al-Fatihah.

i want i want i want!!

i've had one, n its been my go-to sandals during weekend. nevermind that the lipstick red clashes with the rest of my outfit. until i saw this, n I, in the most hyperactive manner, definitely WANTTTTT!!!

pic from fitflop.com

designed by Anna Sui, n not available in Malaysia. not to mention the price (BP70). sedih!!!!!!

me and things non pharmacy related

u know how i adore things non-pharmacy related. i mean, how exciting can a pharmaceutical product get physically? white box orange box blue box white pill round pill green pill rectangle pill... booooorrriiinnnngggg...

the most exciting that i ever saw looks somewhere along this line:

serius bosan ok.

speaking about mideastern cuisine and tarbush restaurant, the one thing i adore most is not the meals, but the beautiful mosaic tables. MashaAllah memang laaaa sangat menarik sampai ada hati siap menggoogle macammana nak buat mosaic art sendiri, heh. berangan okk. iyelah kalau nak beli tu side table kecik pun mau parah jugak poket.

pic googled

lawaaa... and it is actually quite doable, but u have to have the appropriate mediums and tools, annnddd the patience to cover the whole surface. but me being me, ehem. tak tau la bila kurun baru nak attempt.

mid eastern food closer to home

we went for a quick arabstyle dinner at a new shop in the strand. its nearby butik najjah if anyone's familiar with that farah diba of tv9's boutique.

no pictures as we were a hungry lot, but its quite decent. n we don't have to go to jalan damai for our mid-eastern fix anymore, yeay! oh ya tarbush still ok, tp kedai ni of course nearer to our home :D

the spread is not much as yet, but we're hoping the shop will add more menu. the lamb mendi that we tried was not bad, the nasik a little biasa but the lamb was sangggaaatttt sedapppp!!! the meat literally jus melt in your mouth and very very juicy. it has three sizes, small (apparently for 1 person), regular and large. we ordered the regular portion for sharing, and boy were we stuffed like some christmas turkey! that, even after taking into account that hariz is a big-portion eater. sangat banyak, so i figured if its only girls with small stomach, regular portion can feed 3!

the only cheesy thing about the shop is not the meals, but the name. KEDAI NASI ARAB. in your face ok! kalau tak paham tu tak tau la.

i am hankering for much meat these days, next time pegi i'll take some pix okies. later!