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These days we consider dining out in a nice restaurant a luxury! One of the things we always consider when dining out is whether the restaurant is a baby-friendly one which usually means smoke-free, bright and above all comes with a baby chair. Oh you’d be suprise how some restaurants don’t provide this. Anyway, dining with Sairah also means eating our meals in speedy gonzales mode since she gets a tad fidgety. The only way we can sit longer is if we share our food with the little fatty, LOL.

Giovino is a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to go to for quite a while. I remember wanting to take the hubby here to celebrate his birthday and thought against it since we were going to bring Sairah along.  I hardly see babies in nicer restaurants maybe because it’s not actually conducive, have you?

Since our anniversary was on a weekday, the hubby promised we’d go out to a nice dinner on Friday even when I said he didn’t have to do so. My mom was kind enough to baby sit Sairah so we could go out for dinner alone So off we went to Giovino’s – finally, YAY.

Deciding what to eat.

Oh hai.

We decided on something light and went for the Fried Eggplants and Sautéed Sausages in Tomato Herb Sauce. I requested for chicken sausage instead of pork and damn was this dish REALLY good.

We also shared a typically Greek dish called Vegetarian Spanakopita. The pastry was soo fluffy and soft while the filling was delicious. Feta cheese – everyone loves em!

Also tried the Greek Saganaki Tiri which is essentially pan fried cheese in bread crumbs. Sounds pretty easy to make but trust you me – I’ve tried it and it’s not. Cheese rules!

All set to dig in.

A photo of us before we head back. You’d think we would have spent hours out since we had some Q-time together but nooo, we were back in less than 1.5 hours. HAH. Even my mom and BabySis were suprised.

Food here was slightly above average, wouldn’t say it’s spectacular probably coz we were too cheap to indulge in the more popular dish. Anniversay dinner came up to approx RM120. So now I can strike off this restaurant from my must-try list.

Anyway, we rushed back to take Sairah home and decided to just cam-whore and chill the night away

Naughty face ON 

You gotta excuse her crazy hair, she has mad-hair thesedays, lol. Then again blame the mother who forgot to comb her hair!

EH?!

Come to think of it, would trade any luxury restaurant and eat in speedy gonzales style with my baby girl!

So we did throw the little one a small do. I remember saying back then what’s the point to a first birthday party since she won’t remember it all BUT guess I got carried away and went ahead with it anyway I”M SO WEAK! But I have no regrets.

Pick A Date

Like duh. Preferably on a weekend or Public Holiday, like what we opted for. Keep two dates available – and above all check if the restaurant of choice is available to a private party on that day. Ours was on the 16th. We wanted the 17th but the cafe was booked for another event – so that is why keeping two dates as option is a must!!

Guest List

I actually drafted out a guest list first to roughly gauge the amount of people we would have to cater for. I made it clear that only people who play a role in Sairah’s life and close relatives and friends will get an invitation.  So the folks who turned up at party are obviously people who are dear to me (well except for one person but that’s a different story) It’s easy to get carried away and ballon up the list esp when we have to invite so and so ‘just because’……. if you’re Indian you’ll know what I mean, lol.

Picking THE Venue and Food

Now this one is a toughie. There are SO many options out there ranging from a house party to cafes and restaurants. It all depends on your budget and amount of guest you have to cater for. For starters, I didnt opt to have it in our apartment coz  it’s obvious  that our place is small. Hubby suggested we have it at the pool area but I wasn’t keen on guest not having the comfort and going through the humidity so I chose a cafe :) I did SOOO much research that it wasn’t even funny at all. But the one thing most of these places had in common were  the high price followed by simple food served which did not justify the amount we were gonna pay for each pax. Imagine paying approx RM45 per pax and getting finger food like sandwiches and chicken pie in return??? Cut throat!!

Then lo and behold, I found a place very close to home that charged me the same price BUT with good variety of comfort food and tons of it! :D I also made sure we had some vegetarian food.

Venue: Tappers Cafe, Bangsar South The owner Florence was very accomodating to my requests and that is what I like most

Total Cost: RM44 x 42 pax with corkage and extra tea/coffee charges: RM1,920

My biggest worry was not having enough food for everyone so I’m glad they were even leftovers at the end of it.

Score.

Sending The Invites Out

I personally called relatives, esp the older ones and for friends, I sent them a Facebook invite, lol. In order to save trees and telephone cost I told em :D  I did it approx 1 month before the party followed by a few reminders because I was sooo worried they’d forget and not show up. At the end we had about 50 people at her party – just the right amount

Total Cost: Free + a small amount for phone call/ text messages. Can’t look that cheap by putting these figures down here

Cake Cake Cake

I must have sent approx 10 or more emails out to get a quote for the bear cake I wanted! And this was 2 months beforehand. Most of them were either too busy or charged a high price for a small cake. Then by luck, I came across this person who I once bought cupcakes from and I have NO REGRETS! She charged me RM350 for a big 2kg bear cake followed by 16 3D cupcakes, can you say double score?

The end results? You gotta wait for the photos But Eunice is a seriously awesome baker. Check out her blog here.

Total Cost: RM350

Photographer

Now this is an option. I’ve realized alot of photographers charge an arm and a leg and I was bent on not adding up the cost. So I managed to find someone who was ready to take these photos for free as he’s building up his portfolio. I have no regrets since they worked really hard at capturing all the moments. More details on that once I get the photos. I also had a dear friend who took some awesome photos thanks to her awesome camera.

Total Cost: RM200 – coz we weren’t gonna take anything free so it was just a small angpow

Now here comes the fun part – The Little Extras

Since the cafe was already white, we wanted to stick to a pink-white theme. Hubby walked in to a few stores and they charged exhorbitant prices for decorative items, can you imagine that?

So I did the next best thing and sourced for it online, got it at a fraction of the price at Bug’s Party Shop. Free shipping for RM50 and above And very efficient seller.

We spent Thursday evening decorating the place with the help of my cousin Roshan. THANK YOU!

Total Cost: RM75

We only had less than 8 kids so I got these party items from Giant – which is also a good option for affordable party packs.

Total Cost: Less than RM20

I wanted to have a lil guestbook/autograph book for people to pen their thoughts/wishes for my baby girl. I sourced high and lo and you’d be suprise there aren’t many places that carry autograph books! And to think this was REALLY popular back in my time!

We did the next best thing any parent in love with their baby girl would do – we personalized it with our bare hands!! I spent the day running to Mid Valley to print the photos out, buying the stickers and supplies, spent hours cutting the photos, printing out quotes and sticking them to the book etc. If you know how much I HATE craft, you’d love me.

I’m sure Sairah-Bear will enjoy reading this one day.

Total Cost: Less than RM50. Daddy and Mommy’s time + effort = priceless

The hubby working on the DIY guestbook while the mommy worked on the door gift 2 days before THE day.

Now I REALLY have to take credit for this (Thank you creative brain – didn’t know it existed? heh!). I intially thought of cupcakes but bah – that is sooo yesterday. And expensive.

I tried searching for door gift boxes and came across this affordable site. We drove to their store in Bukit Jalil and settled for some DIY gift boxes (which the hubby bitched about non-stop how hectic it was gonna be putting em together). I had earlier bought the baby bottle gifts for the kids when I told the hubby why dont we get em for ALL guest – afterall at some point, I’m sure all they were all on the bottle So he drove back alllll the way on the same day so we could exchange and top up for these cutie lil bottles. It helps that they happily exchanged for us

It was my idea to fill em up with Smarties and Hershey’s Kisses, which are both my fav chocolates. These babies were a hit!!

BabySis got these stickers customized during my baby’s first month ceremony. And to think these stickers are close to one year too, hehe

I couldn’t resist putting up these quotes Everybody LOVES chocolates, it’s a fact.

Total Cost: For bottles – RM78 (for 52 baby bottles). Chocolate: RM130. Come to think of it, the cupcake option would have been cheaper but I like my idea more so…..

I wanted a simple door gift for the kids and babies and thought story books would be perfect for them. We accidently bumped into Excess Book Store in Amcorp which sells books at a MUCH cheaper price.

These only cost us a little under RM3 though the retail price is RM14 each Did a simple ribbon tie to it followed by  stickers with the kid’s initial to it

Total Cost: RM24

This was also my idea! I also hate it when I go to a function and have to figure out what the heck is on the food tray. So we spent hours printing this out, cutting it and sticking on the cardboard all for the comfort and convience for our guests.

Total Cost for our Baby’s FIRST Birthday party: A little under RM3k.

To be surrounded by loved ones while making my girl one happy baby – PRICELESS!

And of course I’ve realized though some of these things cost money, there are other things that come from love and strong family-ties like how my cousin Roshan drove alll the way from Subang in traffic to help us put up the balloons in Tappers, how my two other cousins came to our home and helped blow more balloons and let’s not forget BabySis who helped us by transporting the door gifts and cake on the day itself. And my parents who were in charge of dressing up and bringing the birthday girl to her FIRST Birthday Party. Let’s not forget friends who came early to help out and a friend who helped transport a vegetarian dish Priceless I tell you!

And with that I’ll leave you with some photos of the ACTUAL day birthday on the 14th. We took her to the temple followed by a simple cake cutting.

Cake was by Merienda De Eva -one of the better chocolate cakes around in KL I swear. Like I always say you don’t mess with the Fillipinos when it comes to desserts

Making her first wish

Just happy to have chocolate in her mouth

YAY I”m so happppyyy todayyyyy…….

Baby + Aunty Love

Baby with our maid/nanny

And here’s a lil tease of the Princess at her party.

:P

Promise to put the party pictures up soon!

From reading all about my pregnancy, to the day of my delivery and all about Sairah as a baby as well as my journey to motherhood , can you believe she’s the big ONE today???!! That’s 12 months on this planet earth and countless post on Sairah

It’s today my special day, it’s today my special day.

I’ve been waiting all year and now it’s finally here.

It’s my birthday I’m so happy today!

It’s my birthday, i’m so happy, happy, happy, happy….. Today!

Happy happy happy happy birthday to yooou have a happy tooday, HAVE A HAPPY DAY

(Sairah’s FAVORITE song  from BabyTv – don’t ask, it’s our default channel thesedays!)

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.

So much truth in that and I wouldn’t want it any other way Well perhaps more sleep wouldn’t be such a bad thing. And more money in the bank account

Don’t tell daddy this but mommy loves you more than him :D  Helps that you don’t talk back. For now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAIRAH-BEAR

We love you SOOOO much!

Chocolate cake for you tonight!!

Okay so I’m VERY the excited to share this recipe. Safe to say this baby was coined by yours truly and I’ve made it just about right  by cooking it a few times to get the right dose of richness and taste. As one can tell by reading this blog, I enjoy cooking pasta so it brings me soo much joy to finally find a good sauce to go with pasta *flicks tears*  This sauce is SUPER RICH so it ain’t for those who are on a diet. Or have any sort of bodily/health issues I think.

What you need:

Half packet of penne (enough for 2-3 people)

3 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon mustard

Half tablespoon flour

1 medium onion, chopped

3-4 clove (0r more) garlic, chopped

Campbell’s Mushroom Cheese with Crouton soup (add in a bit of hot water in a bowl to create a thick soup)

1 cup low fat milk

1 egg yolk

100ml whipping cream

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I use Bega). More if you dare.

Half packet of parmesan cheese

Handful of Mozarella cheese

Generous sprinkles of paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper. I usually sprinkle around the pot TWICE! Thrice sometimes if I”m crazy.

Salt to taste

Add ons: You may choose to fry chicken marinated with your favorite spices, chopped cooked sausages, heck even boiled brocolli would do!

But if you ask me, just having pasta with the plain ol good sauce is the best option for me

Directions:

In a pan, place 3 tablespoon of butter on low heat until it melts. Add in mustard followed by flour and stir for a minute until smooth. Add in the onions and garlic and cook until golden brown.

Throw in the thick soup, followed by milk, whipping cream, and egg yolk. Add in the cheddar cheese and stir until it melts. Add in generous portions of paprika, garlic powder (LOVE garlic powder) and black pepper followed by a pinch of salt and stir. Add in parmesan and mozarella and mix it for a few minutes.

You may now add in the chicken and sausage into the mixture and stir until sauce thickens. If you prefer something more watery, you can add in more milk.

Throw in your cooked penne into the pot and mix it up with all the saucey goodness.

And  tada:

It’s so damn rich, that just half a bowl makes you FULL and HAPPY

Can’t believe something this yummy can be whipped out SO easily!

Ah, the face that says it ALL.

Not a peace sign. He’s just saying he’s having round 2! Love a man who has a good appetite

The ’secret’ ingredient.

Oh and quite randomly (and because people just love FOOD and BABIES), go pick up a copy of Pearl magazine in Jusco if you can.

Coz my lil star is on it! It may just be a small win but hey, we have to start somewhere isnt it?

For those mommies who are keen to enter, just submit a photo of the lil one with a caption to pearl@jusco.com.my

Dont forget to include your name, baby’s name, baby’s DOB, address and phone number. Contest runs every month, to be submitted before the 5th! Winner stands to win a hamper worth RM100.

Yesterday marked out 4th year anniversary as husband and wife. It feels like it was only yesterday we were sitting down in Mezze with an almost-due heavily pregnant me (with contractions clearly showing on my face) to celebrate our third!

I can’t believe 4 years has gone by and the fact that I’ve been with the SAME guy for the past 6 years! Someone warned me about the 7 year itch and to be frank, I doubt that would ever happen unless I come across John Abraham or anyone who resembles him and his HOT body But who am I kidding, there can only be ONE John Abraham thus making that chance quite slim so I take comfort in knowing we’ll make it through the 7th year still very much in love But if you think you look like him then please do contact me

I got home to a bouqet of flowers.

And of course a sweet card

I was making him massage my feet a few days ago and I guess that prompted him to get me this at my fav spa

I’m obviously not of a flower-type of girl.

But it looks like the husband is

This year we decided to do something different. I had invites to the Twinings tea pairing session in Saujana Hotel where we got to meet Stephen Twinings in person. If the last name rings a bell then yes you probably have seen the various tea bags in our supermarket. So the husband asked me a few times if I REALLY wanted to go for that or have a candle-lit dinner somewhere nice. I obviously chose the former and have no regrets Afterall how can one say no to free food and tea :)

A 20 minute presentation by the man himself on tea history. That’s right, even tea has its own history!! And believe it or not, he drinks at least 15 cup of tea everyday. And I thought I was a tea addict.

This is how you make a PERFECT cup of tea apparently.

And one would be shocked to know that adding sugar/milk into your tea is and I quote a ‘barbaric’ act as it defeats the purpose of enjoying the flavors derived from tea itself. 

In essence, this is how you’re suppose to have your tea:

Sweet sweet creme brulee and a cuppa strong earl grey. No sugar. No milk. Basically a sweet treat to go with tea to add in some sweet-ness. Which if you think about, why not just add sugar into your tea already? Perhaps it’s a good excuse to have sweet dessert all the time? Hey, I could roll with that.

Scones and Tiramisu with Jasmine Tea

A refreshing Iced strawberry-mango tea. Perfect for a hot sunny day.

Dinner for the night – chicken with cheese, yum yum. We had seafood soup too.

Mmm panna-cotta, not as good as the one from La Rissata though.

Free meal on anniversary =  a very happy man

One photo before we hit the road and say goodnight to the wonderful education on tea-pairing!

Oh and I should add that the hubby got me (okay more like I made a bid on it and he paid for the bag), the Coach Kristin Op Art Ombre Hobo which I was eyeing previously. I FINALLY won it on Ebay and it feels soo good Now I just have to wait for the husband’s uncle to bring it from the US

Gonna love it to bits and at the same time promised this would be my LAST bag for the year!

P.s: I’m selling off my under-utilized Coach Mini Signature Gallery Lunch Tote in Khaki. It was previously going for more than RM1k in our stores. I’m obviously selling it off at a MUCH affordable rate. Just email me at teh.tarik.addict@gmail.com