Faheem dah setahun..

Today is 21st Jan, approaching 22nd. I've promised myself to concentrate on my study after Faheem's birthday. Well I have to fulfill it.

Faheem is 1 year old + 2 days hehe. Ceria mummy and daddy bila Faheem ceria, alhamdulillah :) Last night abang arranged Faheem's birthday presents in the lounge and closed the door. This morning when he woke up, I opened the door. When he saw the gifts, he RAN towards them, feeling very happy. oh yes he chose the gift one after another :) 2 balls, sweaters and pants, foods and toys. But we give him few only which are suitable for his age. Among them is a GIANT sized lego :) Of course he never feels tired to try putting them in his mouth.

Today faheem discovered that there are many cakes in the kitchen. Mummy stacked them on the gas. Guess what he did all day long? he kept returning to the kitchen to get a 'pinch' of cake from time to time! comel betul hehe. kek tu dah berlubang sebab faheem korek haihh.

Have I mentioned before that faheem can say his name? But he can't pronounce the letter H so instead of FaHeem, it becomes Faiiim (sounds like Fine with the letter M instead of N). As for numbers, he only remember Five because whenever I start counting (usually when I am preparing his milk, I count the scoops loudly), I say "One" he will shout "Five". Hahaha macam2 la budak ni. He calls abang Dede instead of Daddy. Mummy? Takde harapan lagi nampaknya..

Mummy's journal: approaching Faheem's 1st birthday

Red velvet cake

Strawberry stabilized whipped cream + white butter cake

The journal starts here....

24th Dec.

Approximately a month before Faheem's birthday + aqiqah celebration. For the past 1 week, i have been planning for the celebration.

For the past 1 week, I have been designing faheem's birthday cakes . I drew various designs, searched for the best theme in youtube, and even coloured the drawings to get a good idea of how the cake will be.... and yes I've finalized my drawing on 23rd Dec. I tried baking various cakes, find the best recipe for layer cakes, try making buttercream, royal icing and fondant. Last night, abang's friend ordered his birthday cake, and I actually tried my fondant on his cake. That was my first experience with fondant haha. It was ugly but I guess boys don't mind... I did remember to ask abang to apologize to him for making his birthday cake my guinea pig ;p

2 days ago I met kak ikin (the owner of warung usom) to discuss with her about the best price and place to buy daging aqiqah, and to order the main meal. We plan on having mansaf.

Next would be... planning for the side dishes. So far I plan on making cookies as it can be done early, days before the actual event. I also plan on making colourful macaroons. It's a birthday party after all!. That is of course important as I will have my hands full to finish the cake on the great day. Maybe I would have to call for help from the sisters to make some side dishes... but I'll think about that later.

We plan to invite 150 guests..

Some of the shopping list that I can think of

1. balloons (lots of them!)

2. Banner "Ameer Faheem turns 1!"

3. paper plates, paper cups, forks and spoons

4. invitations

5. photographer

27th Dec.

I've been busy since I last updated this post.. baking of course! (uhh it's getting a lil bit harder to type with the letter A missing..) I've been trying to bake a perfect buttercake. To assemble a pecan butterscotch cake. Guess what? I use the same recipe for 4 times, each time I bake it at different temperature!! Haihh duit semakin habis :( Well I try to use my own money (out of selling cakes) to bake Faheem's birthday cake. if possible I don't want to ask from abang.. bercita2 tinggi tak?? haha. So finally 3 cakes are considered edible while the first try goes down the bin. I keep them in my friend's freezer ;p. Here's the recipe:

4 cups, flour + baking powder + soda bicarbonate

300g butter + 1 1/4 cup milk, heat on low fire (till all the butter has melted)

6 eggs + 2 cup sugar + vanilla essence, beat till fluffy

Finally add the flour mix and the liquid (milk + melted butter) into the beaten eggs, alternating between the two.

I baked at 175 degree for 1.5 hours.

I've also baked a strawberry butter cake to make a teddy bear. Here's the recipe

2 cups flour + baking powder + soda bicarb

1 cup sugar + 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beat till fluffy

170g butter + 3/4 cup milk, put on low fire.

Finally add the flour mix and the liquid into the beaten eggs, alternating between the two

I added strawberry flavour and red colouring (optional)

I baked at 175 degree for 1 hour

Btw I made banana cake today. Money has got to be recycled ahaha!

Alhmdulillah 1/6 of the birthday cake is done! Now I'm planning on doing the red velvet cake! I'm wishing me luck!

29th Dec

I've baked 5 (FIVE) 6" red velvet cakes so far! Abang simpan dalam freezer kawan dia. Alhamdulillah. And I've sold 3 chocolate cakes today, Alhamdulillah.

Next will either be

1. carrot cake (with cream cheese filling to be done last)

or

2. a white butter cake (Plan to make a white cake with strawberry mousse)

or

3. Moist chocolate cake (with peppermint stabilized whipped cream)

Oh I need to borrow a big square cake tin from Kak Aizah!

31st December (it's actually 12am of 1st Jan 2012! I can hear the firecrackers :))

A hectic day. It's saturday! We went out to balad this morning. We braved the rain and went to a baking shop Abu Sobbah in Syari' Rashid. I was so overwhelmed with the things sold there... anything for baking! Bought some gelatine. We were actually searching for cake boxes and cake plates for my cake business ahaha. Aku taklah semangat sangat, abang yang semangat ;p Managed to grab an icing set, a packet of balloons and a serrated knife. Then we went to the wet market, I bought a box of fresh strawberry for my strawberry mousse. Tried the recipe for classic white butter cake, and it turned out superb! The strawberry mousse was too delicious for words!! And I had to lick my fingers and the glass bowl clean before washing them. Not a drop should be wasted ;p Plan to sell the white cake tomorrow... and bake it for Faheem's birthday in 1 week time probably.

1st January 2012

I bake another white cake ;p just to familarize myself with the recipe. And today I plan to try out the frosting recipe. Again me wishing myself luck ^_^

8th January 2012

Uihh lama tak update journal ni. So what's the update? I bought a 'Happy Birthday' banner/ lettering for Faheem, Lightning McQueen theme. I've baked 4 rectangle white cakes, plus and additional 2 rectangle chiffon butter cakes- green (pandan flavour) and yellow (orange flavour). The orange and green cakes will be used to make rainbow cake for the letter blocks. FAHEEM TURNS 1. 12 blocks in total. I've also baked orange chiffon cake which will be rolled (like a swiss roll) and used to make a small birthday cake. I guess that's all for now. Next will be carrot cakes!

12th January 2012

I've baked 4 carrot cakes 2 days ago. I'm left with the last cake which is chocolate cake. plan to bake 3 of them. Will probably do it on sunday.

The party is 6 days away and pheww I'm getting anxious. So her's the plan for the next one week..

Thursday (today):

make a video of faheem's 1st year (to be shown on the day)

Friday:

1. Order mansaf for 150 people. Ask the cook the ingredients that she need.

2. Shop for the ingredients. + vege shortening (need it for my fondant. I've made 3 batches but they are quite crumbly)

3. Send agar-agar strip to k. Abidah (I requested that she make caramel pudding for the party hehe)

4. Buy papers to make a banner + decorations

5. ooopps I almost forgot, shop for pizza ingredients

6. Pinjam meja tinggi kak ikin for cake

7. Pinjam bekas nasi and bekas air from Permai

Saturday:

1. go to balad to buy balloons, paper plates, paper cups, strawberry, search for dowel

2. Invite people

Sunday:

Make 3 chocolate cakes

Siapkan guest book

Monday:

Bake macaroons. Lots and lots of them!

Tuesday

1. Collect the cakes

2. make pizza dough. lots and lots of them

Wednesday:

Make

1. buttercream frosting

2. Cream cheese filling (enough for red velvet cake and carrot cake)

3. Butterscotch walnut filling (for yellow butter cake)

4. green mint stabilized whipped cream (for chocolate cake)

5. Strawberry mousse (for white butter cake)

Buy cute mashmallows for the kids. Buy fruits

Ask abang to inflate balloons, clean the house and decorate.

Remind people of the event

Thursday

Assemble and decorate cakes

So far, the menu list includes:

1. Chicken mansaf

2. Pizza

3. Caramel pudding

4. Macaroons

5. Birthday cake

6. Fruits

7. Mango juice

8. Marshmallows

17th January 2012

Plan berubah banyak... because Ameer Faheem is not well. and i don't have much time to cook. I've omitted pizza and macaroons from the list, they consume too much time. I'm left with the chicken mansaf, caramel pudding, birthday cake, fruits, mango juice and marshmallow.

We went to balad today. Bought ingredients for the mansaf and balloons. Guess what?? I found Crisco in Arabella mall!!! Will go there tomorrow, to buy the rest of the ingredients. The plan as for now:

1. Finish Faheem's video (tonight)- almost done!

2. Hang up the banner. Abang will hang up the balloons on friday while i learn how to cook mansaf ;p

3. We have Faheem's birthday celebration tomorrow. Kwn2 arab abang belanja kat kfc. Lepastu kutip cake dr fridge2 kawan abang haha. Ambil meja dari kak ikin. Beli mounting board

4. Finish making the fillings and frostings tomorrow night

5. Assemble the cakes on thursday. Playing with fondant. Abang kena carikan dowel on this day

6. beli papercups, paper plates, more chicken today.

21st Jan 2012

A day post birthday party huu. Mcm2 tak ikut plan heh. mansaf was ok. but i didn't get to make a tiered cake sebab tak sempat g cari dowel so hidang la sebiji2, but it's ok.. puding caramel kak abidah sedap! We didn't find any suitable fruits except for appple. Abang bought basbuseh (a halawiyat). Faheem was grumpy all day long as he was not feeling so well. Pics are available on facebook :)

Thanks to the guest and those who gave faheem presents!!!

Today is 17th January. 2 days before his birthday. Yesterday we went to KAUH, and consulted three different paediatrician regarding Ameer Faheem's health. All three of them diagnosed him as Roseola infantum. I was quite reluctant to agree... because of the history.. Probably it was our fault as we didn't tell the history thoroughly.. and probably because when we met them, the conjunctivitis has resolved. He was left with fever cough and runny nose only. Ameer Faheem has been having fever for 7 days, approaching 8 days with no sign of resolving :( This morning, I noticed that he was not well, just like the past 1 week.. but a bit different. Nampak comot lebih dari biasa. I brought him to the sink to wash his face, and I knew the reason.. There were dry pus surrounding his left ear, and matting his hair. I touched his right ear and he cried. Everytime. but when I touched his left ear, he stayed quiet. I check the canal. Oh yes, a nightmare which I thought have passed... it was full of pus. The exact presentation when he had tympanic membrane rupture (twice in fact) when he was 3 months old... I told abang about it, but we decided not to bring him to the hospital, just yet. Twice a visit to the hospital in a week is indeed tiring.. for us and for him...

I cleaned him, and then he slept besides me. He appeared lethargic. I cried and oh yes I cried. Because I know that a ruptured membrane heals by fibrosis, and thrice rupture isn't something to be taken lightly..

At that point of time, i just missed sharing it with Wani, when Faheem had his first and second membrane rupture; discussing the options that we have. At that point of time, I dreamt of being in Kuantan, calling my lecturers and ask for their kind help and assuring words... At that point of time I regretted my housewife status which prevents me from driving him to the hospital and straightaway seek for the best medical care... because a human never feels enough, and yet a mother always want the best for her child....

Life is indeed a test. O Allah give me strength to continue on..