Pink & Blue baby shower party for Moon

My current passion in life is hosting parties. Not just normal party invite but properly set-up with decorations and home cooked meals all made by myself. The event that I am hosting next is for a dear friend Moon who is expecting her first child. Baby shower is something very Western where it is in honour of moms to be and hosts for close friends.

 

Due to my work commitment, I had to plan one month in advance to start thinking of the concept and then slowly doing the arts stuff for decoration.

 

Things that I made first is diaper cake. After searching for various decorations for the diaper cake, I decided to do it simple and just added ribbons and tissue flowers. For a first timer, I did a good job. I can't believe people are selling this for at least RM200 where my costs is only diapers (around RM40) papers and tissue flowers. Perhaps the effort is something that money can't measure...:)

 

Other decoration items that I made is cut out baby suits, paper windmills, tissue flowers for hanging decoration.. The party does looks better that my own birthday party. I guess the effort paid off. Hosting a party for dear makes my day no matter how tired I was with outstation for the past 3 weeks...

 

So, on the Friday night before the party on Saturday...i just hang up all the deco. The next is just finishing up deco such as ribbon on the chairs. Cooking mee curry took me below 2 hours and then the rest is just finishing up decorating house for the baby shower party. I am always excited when it comes to hosting party!! Here is pics to the party...

 

 

The host getting ready for the party..last min touch-ups



Desserts table all set-up. Own made diaper cake, trifle and jelly..

 

The celebrated girl- Moon caught staring at the red velvet cake.

 

Some of the early guests.. it is a party for close friends

 

 

 

Nicely decorated chairs with tissue flowers and balloons as backdrop

 

 

 

Dinner in Chop Steakhouse, Toronto, Canada

One of the things I love about this previous job is the opportunity to enjoy fine dining. This is to compensate the fact that we do not get any travelling allowance but instead we need to submit claims as expenses. While in Canada, one of the restaurant that we choose was Chop Steakhouse. The menu is rather obvious...

The tag line of the restaurant- With tender cuts of steak, fresh seafood, an expansive and affordable wine list and delicious desserts, we are proud to offer you the ultimate steak experience. So time to experience and pen it down..

A glimmer of what to come... it looks amazing already!!

Looking so sleek and stylish

My choice of main- Lobster

Trying to smile even when I am super tired!

Our starters- it does feel like there is Asian combination due to the spices being used

So overall I would rate the food 9/10. The ambience is also perfect as it is modern luxury concept. It gives you the feel of opulent and luxury on the same time. Definitely a great experience to be added into my gastronomy palette.

Black & White birthday party

I have always wanted to have a black & white birthday party theme. Inspired by Coco chanel to make it more stylist as I am one of those girls who love fashion and style.

This is an exclusive party which I have carefully selected my guests lists due to the small space I have in my place. Invitations sent out in advance as I need to book my friend's time. The brief is clear- girls party and black tie event. So the girls who are coming are from my different phases of life since school, unversity, work and London life and to the present life. All are gathered together to celebrate my birthday.,,,

I didn't have much time to plan the party even though the ideas are in my head. No time to act until the last week. This is always the challenge, as work is so demanding. I got panic took half's day leave and went to Masjid Jamek areas in search of ribbons and decoration stuff on the day of my birthday.

The party itself is on Sunday at 3pm. The initialy plan was to have it by the pool but to temperamental weather for the past week I had to revise my plan and do it in my own small lounge. Saturday was grocery shopping and they staying up till 3am just to do the deco stuffs. The next morning, woke up in the morning and start cooking..

Table all laid out in B&W.. party packs for guests, wine glasses, Royal Doulton plates. Tip for hosting- avoid using paper plates. As convenient as it may be it does not reflect any taste nor refinement from the host.

The first guest to arrive is my sister, who is offering to help. I am busy on the phone trying to give answer questions from the coming guests

Cutlery sets all laid out from Villeroy & Boch. My sister helped to set out all the cutlery...

Corsage for guests

Friends helping out with the balloons arrangement. Farah, Mimie and Gee at work!

Spaghetti meatballs- all home made by the host. I started cooking at 10am and finished by noon

Honey roasted chicken with chili to add up the flavour
 

Lychee drink in the wine glass- decorated with apple mint.

The highlight of the party- The birthday cake which is Chanel inspired. A gift from my dear friend- Mazatul Akma. I took the design from the internet...and voila!

Birthday gift from my colleague- the picture frame where I then get images of Coco Chanel with her famous phrase. In order to be irreplaceble, one needs to be different. Love it!

The host in her full costume. The LBD, pearls and to complete the look a fascinator which is inspired from London





The group pic from left to right- Maz, Eli. Gee, Mia (my sis), Muni, Farah, ME, Muzzan, Mimiejo and Moon. It took us almost 15 mins to capture one great pic..Everyone was being such a good sport! Point in the future, I need to hire a photographer as using timer is so challenging..hehe
 

The group pic from another angle

The birthday girl, the cake, the host. It is my day!!



Waiting for cake cutting ceremony



 No words to describe how happy I felt at the end of the party. I managed to host my own party from scratch. Designs, deco and even the food are all made by myself. I am hoping to host more parties from my place in the future onwards. Next party is my sister's birthday in October. Bring it on!

Lunch in Pogreeb, St Petersburg, Russia

This is a random restaurant that we stumbled upon while walking around in Saint Petersburg. Unassuming, underground restaurant which were located on corner of the Griboyedov Canal and Cheboksarsky Pereulok.

As we walk into the basement, the deco was nice and simple. We were seated by the waitress. There were no tourists inside so it was obvious, we were the odd ones out of the other patrons in the restaurant. Trying to converse in English is not one of the requirement  for the waiter so it was a challenge trying to explain that I do not want any pork/bacon in my food.

We ordered the lunch menu. This is a 3 course meal with starter, main and dessert at an affordable price of GBP25. All in all terrific food and service!

 

 

Pumpkin soup

With my Russian travel buddy- Reenu Vaghela

Apple pie

Complimentary ice-cream on the house as they accidentally gave me soup with bacon... how nice!

Little Kitchen- Ayam Rendang for Raya

It's Raya. My first ever Raya in Malaysia in my own place so this will be first Raya hosting for Little Kitchen. Since I have just recently join a new firm, the first guests to try out my rendang is my colleague.

Ingredients
1 chicken- cut into small pieces
10 pieces of dried chilis
20 red eye chilis
15 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch of galangal
2 inch of tumeric
2 inch ginger
5 lemon grass- small slices
2 lemon grass
1 tumeric leaves
12 kaffir lime leaves
1 kg of coconut milk
1 cup of water
salt and sugar to taste

First of all, blend dried chilies, bird eye chilis, onion, shallot, ginger, galangal and tumeric.
Then fry them all in pan.
Put it chicken and stir once in a while.
Put in the coconut milk and stir for a while until it dries.

There are other ingredients which I have not manage to buy in time- kaffir lime leaves and tumeric leaves. So just proceed as at the end I would have to say the overall taste is still good.

Chopping all the ingredients
 

Chicken into small pieces- just ask the butcher to help!

Slow cooking on the stove- it is best to cook it in more than an hour

Option of pasta for my guests who does not take spicy food

 

Frying all the ingredients

The host of Little Kitchen- engaging with guests is one omy forte

Little Kitchen is my passion but it is difficult to host and cook for friends due to demanding work in the corporate world. But I believe everyone should have a passion to pursue in life apart from work and family/friends/social commitments... If anyone would like to try out my Little Kitchen, do drop me an e-mail at nadiahanim.daud@gmail.com. My aim is conduct a session at least once a month...