When my amateur cooking is so appreciated

For break fast yesterday, I cooked nasi beriani with two versions of chicken, masak kurma and masak merah madu. The kurma to cater to Zarif's request and the masak madu to cater to Munirah's. Made cendol jelly earlier and asked the maid to fry the pisang nipah that I had bought at the pasar malam in Ampangan the day before. This is the second time I cooked nasi beriani, the first being the day before fasting began.

Seeing them eat today, with husband's eldest brother and family at break fasting as well, gave a lot of satisfaction to me, even though all I had was one piece of chicken as part of my diet.

This blog entry is typical of a working mother's dilemma. Zarif, my 11 year old son, asked me again to confirm that I am indeed returning to work on Monday and I said yes. His response was, "alaa....lepas ni mama dah kerja tak ada lagilah mama nak masak best2....."

True. When I start work and typically before when I became engrossed with work, I would sooner relinquish the menu selection and cooking to my maid. For the first 2 weeks of this fasting month, I have been planning every day on what to cook and eat for break fasting, save for a couple of days when I am too tired and asked the maid to decide what to cook.

I made this Milo drink on the 1st and 2nd day of breakfasting for Aliah and Zarif, and both of them have been asking for Mama's Milo since. I differentiate the drink I make to the drink that the maid makes for them with my own Milo concoction. My sister-in-law (husband's brother's wife) says why I worry because these kids know that the maid is a maid and we are their mother. I am of the view that despite them knowing that, I want my kids to remember the things I do for them and the taste that comes with it, not so much expecting anything in return, but to create memories for them that they will remember and tell their friends and own kids some day and make them want to come back to Mama's house for that special meal (no matter how simple or amateurish the cooking) because they remember and crave for that taste.....