Finite Incantatem

Warning: Do not read this if you haven't read the book and want to find out the surprises yourself. But if you really, really can't wait to know some tiny bits of the story inside, please proceed.

Actually, I've finished reading it yesterday, but I still couldn't shake off the after-effect. Hehehehe.... Much as I'd like to tell you about Harry's latest adventure, I'm sure you would kill me if I really do that :))

Well, anyway, I only want to say something: J.K Rowlings is really the mistress of story telling. She gives me the answers to all the questions popping up in my minds while reading the other six books. And she provides everything that I want to read in this book. For example, (well, it's not a joy-killer, but I have to say something, don't I?) what does a Harry potter's fan really hope for? A war? A great war between the Voldermort's Death Eaters and pupil of Hogwarts? You got it. She'll give it to you. Do you want to know the reason behind Dumbledor's gleaming eyes right after Harry told him what happened in the graveyard on the night Voldermort came to live again? You got it. Do you wanna know why Dumbledore's trust on Snape never waver no matter how fishy the situation looks like? You'll get the answer in this book. Do you ever wonder why house-elves could Apparate and Dissapparate inside Hogwarts while wizards can't? She'll give you the answer. Do you wonder why Dumbledore referred to his letter to Petunia as 'my last'? You'll find out in here. And most importantly, do you wanna know what became of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Dobby, Kreacher and Grawp? Well, I'm afraid I can't answer that question. You just have to read it yourself to find out.

Almost in every chapter, the pace of the story is fast that I feel like riding on a roller coaster. It fulls of surprises and twists on every turn. Just when you think Harry got the upper hand, Rowlings turns it around. And just when you think everything is lost, she gets your hopes up again. She still includes some humor that became the character of this series. But I, and I believe you will too when you get to that part, was woeful when one of my favorite characters is deceased.

All in all, in my humble opinion, she gives what readers expect. And what do readers usually expect after years of misery and misfortune? No, no, no, don't ask me to answer that. I won't! I won't *crack. I Dissapparate.

Husshhhhhh.....

Please do not disturb.
The new and latest Harry Potter is here.

Minggu sibuk

Hwaaa... sibuk? Pengacara kok sibuk? Hehehehe... Sebabnya, di bulan juli ini cukup banyak pesanan kue yang berdatangan. Alhamdulillaahh.... Semoga seterusnya begitu. Hehehe... Mulai dari bos di MT yang pesen brownies keju-coklat, terus Diah yang pesen buat Razan yang ultah ke 3, terakhir Devina buat ultahnya Ari yang ke-5. Gak tanggung-tanggung, si ibu satu itu pesen dua, karena satu mau dibawa ke sekolah, dan yang satunya buat di rumah. Oke deeehhh...

Mulai deh saya bersemedi, kira-kira tema apa ya yang mau diangkat? Dari jauh-jauh hari, mamanya Hikari yang memang selalu-terencana-rapi-teratur itu udah tanya ke anaknya mau kue apa dan dijawab langsung, dino. Tapi di lain waktu, jawabannya berubah jadi ikan. Ya udah, akhirnya kedua tema itu deh yang dipilih.

Tapi ultahnya Ari jatuh 2 hari setelah ultah Razan, jadi urusin kue Razan dulu. Waktu ditanya mau model apa, bundanya Razan yang easy-going bilang terserah. Saya sempet unjukin model kue stegosaurus yang akan saya buat untuk Ari. Gambar itu dikasih lihat ke Razan sama bundanya, dan jatuh hatilah Razan sama itu kue stego. Tapi alamaakkk.... Artinya saya harus buat 2 stego dalam selang waktu 2 hari dooongg? Aduh duh, ngebayanginnya aja udah langsung mules. Jadi dengan menyesal, Bunda Razan diminta merubah bentuk ke pesanan semula yang kotak dengan edible diatasnya. Dan setelah dibujuk-bujuk, akhirnya Razannya mau juga. Dan inilah hasil kuenya.

Kebetulan lagi seneng motif kepang, jadi aja bagian atasnya dihias seperti itu. Karena Razan alergi coklat, maka isi kuenya gak bisa brownies plus ganache coklat andalan saya itu. Pilihan jatuh ke cheesecake yang gak kalah yummy. Untuk lapisannya, cukup selai strawberry karena memang itu padanan yang paling sip.

Setelah istirahat satu hari, mulai lagi berjibaku buat nyiapin kue hikari. Karena kue stego itu perlu 2 kue bundar, jadi saya buat 3 brownies. Satu kotak, dua bundar. Setelah diisi ganache coklat dan dibekukan dulu, siap deh badan si stego dihias. Dan inilah hasilnya.

Seluruh badan si stego ditutup sama buttercream yang dikasih warna hijau, lalu dihias pake buttercream hijau dan biru pake spuit bintang. Lumayan juga sih, nyemprotin bintang satu per satu ke seluruh badan si stego karena lumayan gede juga (wadah itu ukurannya 28 x 50 cm kl gak salah). Jadi sampe sekarang tangan masih senut-senut nih pegel. Hehehe...

Selesai si stego, lanjut ke nemo. Oya, kalau sebelum bikin stego saya udah siapin duri-duri di punggungnya itu duluan, nah untuk yang nemo ini sebaliknya. Setelah ngehias kue baru terpikir buat nambahin ikan dan bintang laut dari fondant. Jadilah dibuat si nemo dan dori plus satu patrick *bintang laut temennya spongebob itu lho* di atas kue Ari. Gak tanggung-tanggung, si nemo dan dorinya itu hand-painted lho :P (bukan apa-apa, soalnya masih belum bisa bikin model multiwarna pake fondant. Jadi dibuat dulu dari fondant putih, trus dicat deh pake pewarna kue. Saking asiknya ngehias, sampai kelupaan satu hal. Ealaaahh.... nama hikari-nya belum ada. Untung masih ada space di bagian bawah kolam. Jadi walau agak sedikit maksa, bisa juga nama Hikari nempel di bagian bawah kue itu. Ini penampakannya.

Gimana? Lumayan kan kue-kuenya? Seneng juga sih dapet pesenan banyak gini, jadi banyak kesempatan buat latihan ngehias. Buat Razan dan Hikari, semoga jadi anak sholeh, berahlak baik, kebanggaan orangtua, agama dan negara serta sukses dunia akhirat. Amiiin. Dan moga-moga teman-teman the birthday boys juga tertarik buat pesan kue ke saya. Amin. :D

PS: Barusan mamanya Hikari SMS, katanya, "makasih banyak Ly kuenya. Ari histeris. Gw jg harus jagain si dino dari colekan temen-temennya. Kuenya enak, coklatnya tebel. Si Ari seneng banget."

Baca SMS itu rasanya seneeeengggg banget. Ada yang bilang, bikin kue itu menyenangkan. Berhasil ngejual kuenya, lebih seneng lagi. Yang beli puas sama kuenya, tambah seneng. Percaya gak, rasa seneng ngedenger anaknya histeris liat kue itu lbh besar daripada seneng waktu nerima duitnya :D Kesannya berlebihan, ya. Tapi bener lhoo... Kalo kata sesama temen bakul kue, triple orgasm. Hehehe..

Kalau libur sekolah

Dulu sebelum kakak sekolah, gak ada bedanya antara musim liburan dan musim-musim lainnya. Sekarang, setelah 1,5 tahun ini kakak mengenyam (duile... mengenyam) bangku sekolah, baru deh terasa bedanya. Kalau kakak sekolah, rumah sepi dan baru rame setelah jam 11 alias kakak pulang sekolah. Kalau kakak lagi libur....... Mama stress setiap hari di rumah ribuuuuutttt dan berantakaaaan terus. Hehehe....

Akhirnya, karena bosen stress, mama ajak anak-anak main di Kiut playground di Hypermart. Bukan apa-apa, pertama kali lihat tempat mainan ini, mama sama bapak langsung bisik-bisik, ealaahh semua mainan itu ada ya di honjo city park, kecuali kolam bolanya. Bedanyaa.... di sana gratis tis. Di sini, dikepruk sama penjaganya kalo minta gratis. Ya bayar dooongggg.... Per satu jam, lagi. Apa sih yang gratis di indonesia kecuali napas dan buang angin? Jadi kangen lagi deh sama Honjo *ihik. Sedih*.

Tapi berhubung ongkos ke honjo jauh lebih mahal daripada biaya masuk kiut itu, ya sudah lah. Kita ngalah deh. Jadi, pada suatu siang, mama ajak 2 unyil itu ke sana. Reyhan langsung kalap. Lari2 gak karuan. Coba ini, masuk ke sana, lompat ke situ. Sampe pusing mama ngikutinnya. Sementara Adek masih bingung. Maklum, itu pertama kalinya adek masuk ke tempat main seperti itu. Trus, banyak anak-anak pula. Adek kan jarang keluar rumah, jadi rada bingung kalo banyak orang. Tapi lama-lama ikut seneng juga dia. Dan pas waktunya pulang, adek lagi asik2nya naik perosotan. Ini foto2nya.










Adek in action. Ada bakat jadi pesenam juga neeh...

Beberapa hari kemudian, Reyhan menuntut main di situ lagi. Daripada terjadi huru-hara, ya udah, main lagi yuuukkk. Kali ini Adek udah jauh lebih pede. Dia gak kalah kalap sama kakaknya.

What's so special about 7-7-7?

Yeah, why, indeed? What's so special about july 7, 2007 that everyone feels one should do something unusual that day, or one should celebrate something on that day? I have no idea. For me, that date is the same as any other date. Just as new year's eve. Just another day to live.

Anyway, long before that date, we had an invitation from one of Mas's friends from Waseda, Andi. He's going to get married on that date. One week before the date, my cousin told me that she's going to celebrate her 17th birthday. I offered her to buy the birthday cake from me and she said yes. So one day before the day, I made the cake and it looked like this.

I took the design from Tan See Fong book. It's quite pretty, except for several flaws due to the disturbance from the children (so what's new, right?). The bottom cake was 25 cm in diameter, and the top cake was 16 cm in diameter. All in all, I felt quite proud of the result since it's the first fully decorated cake by me (I made all the ornament by myself from scratch, including the flowers and the butterflies).

My brother had promised to take the cake to my cousin's house that afternoon. But when he was about to go, the car broke down. So we had no option other than to take the cake ourselves. So off we go, 5 o'clock that afternoon, to my cousin's house in Bintara, east Jakarta. In normal time, it took about 1-1 1/2 hours to get there. But then, that afternoon, nothing was normal. The traffic jam was unbelievable. At 6 o'clock, we only got as far as Pasar rebo. There were so many cars, so many people on the street, all struggled to get to their festive destination. Finally, we arrived at my aunt's house at 7.30. Luckily, the party hadn't started yet because some guests hadn't arrived yet. My aunt tried to persuade us to stay, but then we still had our final destination. So off we go again, joined in the crowd again, to get to Menteng where the party's held. The journey took 2 hours, and it's already a quarter past nine by the time we got there. The newlyweds were still there, taking pictures with their guests, and we met one of mas's friends and his family. So we got in, congratulated Andy and his bride. From the announcer, we found out that the couple was going to go back to Japan where he worked on sunday, so it's a good thing that we made the effort to come to the party.

But the food were all gone (and I imagined they must be something since the theme of the wedding and the place was a special place, not one of those common places for wedding). Thank God my aunt had provided us with some ransom from her party catering, so we're not very hungry. But Reyhan still demanded to go to McD, just as our promise to him in case we didn't got any food at the party (which turned out to be true). So on our way home, we stopped by the McD at Manggarai, grabbed some last food, and head home. We're finally arrived at home at 11.30. And that ended our adventure on july 7. Now, do you understand why I was traumatized by that date? :))

Note: Yeah, yeah, I do know why. It's a unique combination, it's easy to remember, bla bla bla. But still, it's just one of those days, you know.

Uhuhuhu...

Kelinciku mati lageee... Uhuhuhu... Sedih banget. Udah segemuk itu, gak kenapa-napa, gak ada pertanda, jam 8 masih lari-lari, jam 11 'dah kaku.
Gak ada pelipur lara lagi deh kalo mama lagi bete. Mana kemaren baru beliin makanannya sampe 3 kilo pulak! Masa beli kelinci lagi? Ntar mati lagi, sedih lagi. Duuh.... jadi pelihara apa dong? Anjing, takut. Kucing, ogah. Eeknya bau. Marmut, gak bisa diem. Kelinciii.... mati melulu! (Oya, masih punya 2 kura-kura sih. Tapi gak enak dielus-elus. Gak ada bulunya).