Jules, Sex & The City, and Rustic Charm...

Woohoo! Finally, I got to watch my 4 favourite ladies on HBO last nite! Aaahhh...the Lulu Guinness handbags, the Manolo Blahniks, the Vivienne Westwood, the Christian Lacroix, the gorgeous 5th Avenue Penthouse...and most of all, New York, New York...aaaahhhh.... :)

I just loved the wedding ensemble; Carrie in the gorgeous Vivienne Westwood with the blue bird in her hair, Miranda in electric blue, Samantha in red and Charlotte in pure black... My favourite scene was when Carrie smashed the flowers onto Big after he had ditched her, and Charlotte's tone and expression when she screamed "NO!" to Big. How wonderful it is to have such fiercely loyal friends to stand by you that way...I also enjoyed watching Charlotte poop in her pants! Hahaha! Reminds me of the time when I was suddenly stricken with the worst "tummy rumble" one morning, when I was on the Intrakota heading for work! Aaaaa! I had to jump off (very, very carefully, of course) the bus in front of Concorde Hotel and use the facilities there! Geez, I can't even begin to describe how I felt back then...it was simply horrifying!... Then I loved the part when Carrie presented Louise of St Louis with a fab Louis Vuitton; that feeling of utter achievement and fulfilment, for both parties... :)

Well, I maxed the movie, so, I'm definitely gonna watch it again and again and again, like I did Mamma Mia!

And the even more fab thing was, both my sister and niece were at my place last night and we watched the movie together. How cool is that? Watching SATC with my 2 best gals! My four guys were upstairs, entertaining themselves with Ultraman and Football! Cool eh?

The reason Kak Rozy and Medina were here was coz Dinz asked me to bake her a brownie for her class party today. So, I did. And Dinz had brought sugar pearls to decorate her brownie, and I offered some of my stuff to add to the merriment... :) ...so that's Dinz's fab brownie work, not bad for a girl who aspires to be the first Malaysian Fashion Editor to be based in Paris huh?! ...:) It felt like it was only yesterday when she was the chubby cheeked 3year old who loved Odette, The Swan Princess...she'll be taking her SPM next month...

As for Jules Fudgy, Wild Flowers made her last curtain call last week, Alhamdulillah...a great big thank you to all Jules family, friends and patrons, I truly appreciate your support. So, Jules Fudgy is now presented in a elegant oven safe baking dish, simply called "Rustic Charm"... :)

This week's busy-ness

...among others... I'm still backlogged on tins and boxes...it's still just not "coming" to me yet... soon I hope, soon...

...for a purple wedding...


...for a happy sweet 14...


...my latest bling fudgy in chili red and black fishnet...

How hot is that?! Thanks Ave, for giving me the chance to "bling" in red, definitely one of my favourites! Makes me think of Moulin Rouge and Lulu Guinness :) It didn't quite turn out like what I wanted it to though, a bit crude a pro might say, but this is the best of my creation at this time, I'd love to blame it on my sprained neck and shoulder, but I know I shouldn't... Nevertheless, I hope my hot red bling brought joy... :)

Jules on Breast Cancer/Cancer, circa Breast Cancer Awareness Month

...Sigh... You know the things people say about writer's block? And creativity drought? Well, call it a myth, but for me, it's really true. God knows I've been wanting to share something about this year's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but I haven't been able to bring myself to write something that would bring justice to the cause. I kept dilly-dallying with it, that's what I do when "things" don't "come" to me, in the creativity sense of it. But, before I miss it completely, I figured that I must write or share something, I must, I must, I must. Inhale, exhale...

Mrs. Ismail, she was the first "Orang Putih" I ever knew, she was my Kindergarten Bunga Raya Principal. Now, thinking of her, I think she looked a bit like Margaret Thatcher, the more pleasant version! If you noticed my posts some time back, I had shared with you my "Bachelor of Rhymes" scroll. Yup, Mrs. Ismail had conferred that to me. Mrs. Ismail was also the first woman I knew who fought breast cancer for as long as I could remember. She was a wonderful teacher, someone who made me enjoy learning, enjoy doing my homework and who made me want to improve myself. She was a strong woman. I will remember her always...

Throughout the years, I have had very close people around me, relatives and friends, who encountered cancer, some victoriously battled it, while some sadly succumbed to it. When I was younger, my mom was always in and out of hospitals for one illness after another. No, she didn't have cancer, but there was a point when I thought it was, and, well, at that age, though I couldn't really grasp the implications that surround cancer, I knew that I was scared, for her, and for me, coz there was a point when I thought I would lose her. I remember Hospital Fatima in Ipoh, Hospital Seremban, Hospital Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah, SJMC, Sunway Medical, IJN... I remember always eating her hopsital food, coz she never had the appetite for them! Yet, my mom was never sad, nor tired, nor bored, nor fed up with anything. Soon after those hospital works, she'd be up and about again, cooking, sewing, doing all sorts of things for us. Ya, there were times when she would just cry and cry, but, I think those were more emotional tears, not so much of sadness or fear. And, now, after all these experiences, Alhamdulillah, I am no longer scared nor worried. Yes, sometimes the sadness comes...but scared? InsyaAllah, no...

What I'm trying to say here is that, though I've never had to directly deal with cancer, I believe I can relate to the feelings and emotions that are involved when dealing with serious or terminal illnesses, all sorts, not just cancer or breast cancer. An aunt and a cousin are at stage 4 cancer, my cousin-uncle in London is making the most of whatever time he has now, a dear friend is dealing with mouth cancer, another cousin and aunt (very close family friend) are recovering from mastectomy. There are also those whom I have lost to breast cancer/cancer, Mrs. Ismail included.

Some may think that I am heartless when I encourage people to "hope for the best, but always anticipate the worst". I don't mean that in a inhumane way, it's just that I believe that it would be less bitter when we unconditionally accept the reality of things. And I believe that, regardless of race and religion, everyone is God's creation, and that at the end of the day, if and when they return to Him, they are actually going to a much better place.

Remember my second Hannah Montana bling tin? That was for the delightful Qaisara, who had then just lost her beloved grandma to breast cancer; she had been by her grandma's side the whole time. I hope Sara grows up to be strong and full of heart... :)

To all breast cancer/cancer heroes, I salute you.

On a personal note, may I urge all women to go for your annual pap smear test, or any relevant tests for that matter. Single, married, given birth, never given birth, just go and get it done. Ignore the myth that unmarried women, or more bluntly, virgins, shouldn't be "pap-smeared"; there's more to the meaning of virginity, you don't just lose it by having a certified OB-GYN probe you...! Well, again, this is my personal point of view, no offense intended...

Happy Deepavali!

My whole family and I would like to wish all our Hindhu friends and Jules patrons a very Happy Deepavali, may your celebration be joyous and meaningful, may you be blessed with the warm company of your loved ones and most importantly, be safe wherever you are.

To my dear, dear friend, Mala, I truly miss you, and I'm thinking of the good old days when we all used to rush up to your mom's vegetarian buffet spread ~ idli, pooree, tosai, chutney and all those yummy curries!

Mmmm, I hope to score some cool white muruku from Aunty Indera too... hee hee...

It's green...

...the biodegradable garbage bags at supermarkets! Hee hee, just a very quick one for now, in response to Wiz earlier. Biodegradable garbage bags are in green, and you can find them in various sizes under the brands Sekoplas or First Choice. Perhaps there are more, but these are 2 brands that I'm familiar with.... :)...

Mommy Mia!

Hot day mommy! Must have ice cream mommy! Okay...mommy wants one too...!



....aaaaahhh...Alhamdulillah... okay, now mommy can start making tins... :)

Introducing Wild Flowers!

...the latest in JulesFudgy platter... It measures 13inx13in and is just so stunningly gorgeous! I was actually thinking of offering my current batch of fudgies in Vintage Garden Cupcake Dish, but when I saw this "Wild Flowers" the other day, I immediately decided to offer this platter instead. Perhaps the Vintage Garden Cupcake Dish is more for special orders, where you wish to have your fudgies cupcake style. So, this time around, JulesFudgy will be available on Wild Flowers, for as long as the stock is available.

And, in light of the recent devastation in Padang, Sumatera, Jules will split the profit from her JulesFudgy for October09-November09, so that a portion of it can be channeled to the Padang Relief Fund (I will choose the most favourable one), on top of her ongoing Gaza and Cancer efforts. Just to share with you, on the day of the first quake, a dear friend of ours, Susi, was actually at the Hotel Ambachang; she had had a meeting there, which ended at about 5pm and she left at about 5.15pm. She was still nearby when the hotel collapsed, and unfortunately, one of her colleagues who did not leave with her, died. She lives in Batusangkar, well and fine Alhamdulillah, but the memory of that day still haunts her... Hopefully, we'll be able to do our bit in helping them... InsyaAllah...

On another note, I was shopping for my goons' never ending milk supply at Tesco last night, and I was quite disappointed to see that none of the patrons cared to use their own shopping bag, except for this makcik. Everyone else happily packed their stuff in Tesco's plastic bags. Darling husband and I make sure we have at least 2 bags in each car boot at all times, so that we're prepared to shop in case we pop by anywhere and end up getting stuff. And when we do forget to bring these bags with us into the mall/shop, I get quite upset and I feel really guilty. Coz I feel very strongly about doing our part in contributing to the preservation of our environment, locally and globally, as it is also part of progress. Hmmm... perhaps Jules could and should come up with a plan to encourage folks to be more environment friendly? Hmmm... :) .....

Jules carries on...

...with life as usual, after the surprise departure of Makcik Ati...Oh, please don't get me wrong, she's well and fine, it's just that she suddenly decided that she rather not work anymore, perhaps too overwhelmed by emotions of missing her kids and her kampung... But she's been with us for 3 years, and we've considered her part of the family, so, let's hope she'll finally find what she's looking for and that she'll be happy... We already miss her... :)

Anyways, the 2 younger goons got up late this morning coz the were exhausted from playing at the playground in front of Ayah Sabri's and Wan Sal's house yesterday, during their Raya open house. So, mommy had time to view the recorded "Mamma Mia", for the very first time. Aaawwwwww... now I understand what the raving was all about. I simply fell in love with the movie! Love the songs! Love Meryl Streep! Love Greece! Despite my aching sore throat, which is causing me to lose my voice, my back ache coz Marrakesh had decided he wanted to be carried in the middle of the night, and the laundry stockpile, not to mention my fudgy order for tomorrow, I found myself dancing and dancing and dancing like a teenager at her first live concert! Woohoo!!! Haaaaahhh... all that dancing really did me good actually, coz now I feel like a huge burden has been lifted (from not having anymore help around the house during the day) and that I'm all alive and wired up to do just about anything! Woohoo!!!

InsyaAllah, we'll all manage to keep our home and our lives organised with just mommy running and screaming around...hee hee...

Jules reconnects with kins...

I remember Esfahan's first words as he entered the domain of his Aunty Shareena and Uncle Raja last night : "Waaa, mommy, this is the biggest house I have ever seen!"...!...hee hee... Then Uncle Raja replied modestly, "Alaa, don't la say that...my house is tiny tiny only..."... :)

Well, the boys wasted no time exploring every nook and cranny of the house, which they found irresistably fascinating. And how delighted were they with the torches/jamong that illuminated the perimeter of the house. They only needed 5 minutes to gobble their food, then they were back to "exploring" the place! I enjoyed last night, especially coz I got to "beraya" with dear uncles and aunties whom I've not met for a while; they're my dad's cousins, with whom he grew up in Bukit Mertajam. It was also a pleasure to catch up with cousins, who were busy chasing after their frisky little ones too! And the food was fab, durian cheesecake and all! But the highlight of the night was my dear cousin's birthday surprise. And what a lucky lady she is, coz her darling hubby had his friend serenade "Happy Birthday" on the saxophone... Awwww.. it was so sweet... :) Oh, oh, another highlight was the special giveaway by the host : his very own handmade glass art. So, each couple last night had the privilege of leaving the party with an exclusive Raja Azhar coaster/plate, thank you, thank you...

And, for dear, sweet Nina, a special brownie offering from her Pak Wahab (my dad is known as Wahab among his Penang kins) and Aunty Eran... :)... hope the chocolate added to your magic last night (wink, wink!)




And talking about birthdays, it was also that of my dear old brother, Abang Joe, or Pak Ngah to my goons; he turned 42 yesterday...


I also remember my late uncle, Paksu Karim, whose birthday was also on 2 October, I will remember him with fond memories always...
Arwah Paksu Karim, Aunty Sham, My Mom, Me, Kak Rozy, with my younger cousins Awang Selamat, Gucci and Cahaya (baby)...State College, circa 1982

Jules ~ Younger days...

As I was clearing my boxes and drawers, I found some old stuff which, to this day, remain very dear to me...

...My Kindergarten Bunga Raya Graduation Scroll...

...A composition I had done in my 7th grade English class, with Mrs Jenkins, during my time at Reizenstein Middle School...


I had forgotten all about it, till today. It seems rather silly and funny now, but I suppose back then it meant a great deal to me. Hmmm, it's no wonder why I love Star Trek and The X Files... !