It's been raining non stop here since this morning. Finally it was slightly cold after a very long hot summer. I might have to start digging out the long sleeve tops for the little misses. There'll be lots of last year's winter clothes yg dah tak muat rasanya sebab they have definitely grown. Itu yg leceh kadang2 duduk negara 4 musim ni, sebab every season kena bertukar ganti baju and then most of the times, the little misses can only wear them for 1 season.

Bila sejuk2 ni, it's nice to eat warm comforty food but the problem is, my comfort food is very different with the other half's comfort food, hehehe...I grew up where the sun always shines and he grew up not that far from the Antarctics so bezalah kan! But since I'm going to be cooking loads of my comfort food while he's away in New York in a few weeks time, so I cooked his comfort food tonite for dinner.

Tonite's dinner has a very strange name of 'toad in the hole'. This is a traditional British dish of sausages cooked/baked in Yorshire pudding batter. Nama dish ni lebih kurang macam nama2 kuih2 yang pelik2 kat M'sia tu lah. Konon nya dipanggil toad in the hole sebab nampak mcm sausages tu mcm rupa toads lah! But my 'toad in the hole' batter didn't turn out quite right. Sepatutnya dia mengembang naik cantik aje, puffs up probably like souffle but it still tasted really good. It's said that klu batter tu tak jadi, I can't use that'toad in the hole' name, I have to use 'Frog in the bog' instead, hehehe....

p/s I know the photo memang lah tak nampak menarik langsung but that's the best out of the lot, hehehe!

Khas utk Ika, Mince Stroganoff...(my style)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, potong dadu halus
2 garlic, cincang
200g button mushroom, sliced
1 carrot, sliced thinly (tak nak letak pun takpe, I letak sbb nak bagi anak makan sayur)
300g minced beef
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup beef stock (larutkan 1 cube beef stock in 1 cup hot water)
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
200g dried fettucine/ linguine
1/2 cup grated cheese (mixture of cheddar n parmesan)

-Panaskan olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Masukkan brown onion, garlic, carrot n mushroom and saute sampai onions layu for about 5 minutes.
- Then masukkan minced beef and masak sampai tak pink lagi. Make sure minced beef tu tak berketul2.
- Then masukkan tomato paste, beef stock dan simmer for about 10 minutes. Kemudian alihkan dari api, dan masukkan sour cream. Kacau hingga sebati.
-Masak fettucine seperti arahan di packet. Drain bila dah masak.
- Grease a casserole dish lightly. Then spread the cooked fettucine in the dish. Tuangkan the cooked stroganoff on the fettucine until all covered. Then taburkan the grated cheese on the stroganoff and put under the grill until cheese melted.
-Sedap dimakan with green salad.

Finally, daylight saving has ended here in WA. So, sekarang ni Perth time is the same as M'sian time instead of an hour early. But it also means sunrise comes early which means kena bangun lagi awal lah for subuh, hehehe...

Hari ni we went for Miss soon-to-be-9 first soccer match. From now on, our Sundays will be taken up with soccer matches sbb we have to go to different ovals for the games. Luckily it's a home game today so tak lah kena drive jauh2 sgt. Poor her though, baru aje 5 minutes into the game, dia dah kena sit on the bench sekejap sbb injury. Masing2 nak kejar bola kan so dia bertembung dgn another player and got hit quite hard on her ear. Berjurai jugaklah air mata sekejap, hehehe. Nasib baiklah mummy ada on the side nak usap2 telinga dia and nak bagi dia extra hugs. But unfortunately, their team lost their first game, 1-4...Luckily it's still a friendly match for the under 9s. They will still get a trophy at the end of the season, hehehe...

Miss 4 1/2 pulaknya was quite happy riding on her bike at the bike area kat sebelah the soccer ground and was quite upset that she had to stop riding to go and cheer her sister. Oh well, I couldn't just leave her there riding alone, could I!

Malam tadi dah makan nasi but hari ni teringin sangat pulaknya nak makan nasi lemak. Actually the other half yang teringin nak makan sambal. So, since dah buat sambal, baik buat nasi lemak teruskan. Pastu saje aje bungkus nasi lemak siap2 kat brown paper, nak bagi nostalgia sikit kat nasi lemak Malaysia. Kalau lah ada paru goreng, rendang daging, sambal sotong and kerang, memanglah sebijik macam gerai nasi lemak jadinya, hehehe...

I'm typing this in the dark sbb it's Earth Hour now. We wanted to switch off everything for the hour but what fun thing can you do in the dark? ;-) ;-). So we compromised in just switching off everything except the computers and the little misses nite lite. I think I'm starting to develop a headache from straining my eyes trying to write this blog in darkness, hehehe....

Nothing much happened today. Pagi tadi pergi register the little misses for their holiday swimming programs. They can't wait to start swimming again after so many years tertinggal. At least they have something to do during the holidays. Then buang masa pergi window shopping, hehehe. Came home and started making doughnuts and bun kacang merah for afternoon tea. Cuma buat doughnut dough aje actually, tapi sajelah letak inti and bakar half and goreng half. Inti tu leftover from buat red bean stollen from a long time ago which I froze. Konon nak iced the doughnuts but tercair pulak icing nya and termerah too but the little misses didn't mind so tak kisah lah kan, hehehe.

And bila dah makan afternoon tea at 4 o'clock, semua still kekenyanganlah at dinner time which was really good since I didn't start cooking until after 6. But at 7, miss 4 1/2 started complaining that she's really really hungry. Nasib baik dah siap masak masa tu, hehehe...Dinner malam ni sempoi abis. We had grilled chicken wings and nasi sayur campur.

Malam ni the other half ada function in the city so he didn't join us for dinner. Selalunya bila the other half tak dinner at home, I normally cook dishes that I like but yang dia tak suka sangat like apa2 jenis mee except laksa/ mee kari. I looovvve noodles especially Malaysian style but the other half tak berapa gemar sangat mee ni so tu yang jarang jugak masak kalau banding dengan nasi. Bulan depan he'll be going to New York for a week so bolehlah I experiment with segala jenis noodles in the kitchen while he's away, hehehehe...but sian kat the little misses kalau I masak mee bandung pedas, mee jawa, asam laksa, mee siam....

Ingat tadi nak masak bubur nasi with all the condiments but tak tau whether the little misses would eat it so changed it to Beef Stroganoff. Last nite we stayed in Perth for our dinner, tonite we 'flew' out to St. Petersburg, Russia, where beef stroganoff originated from. The name stroganoff came from a Count whose cook invented the recipe for him. It's main ingredients are beef strips (but I used mince), mushroom and sour cream and it's normally eaten with wide egg noodles. But we had ours with pasta.

I can't remember when we had it last. The little misses finished theirs off without any complain which made me happy. The little misses are strange in that they very rarely ask for seconds even if they love whatever dinner they are eating. Tak tau lah kenapa. But kalau desserts, they'll ask for seconds everytime, tak ke tension tu!

Khas utk Lia ,recipe Slow Cooker Osso Bucco (my style - asianised ;-))

4 beef shins (about 1.2 kg)
1/2 cup plain flour
salt n pepper to taste
4 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, diced quite thick
1 stick celery (optional klu suka rasanya)
1/2 large brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 x 400g can whole peeled tomato
1 cube beef stock
3 dried bay leaves
2 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp bawang goreng (ready made)

Methods:
-Preheat frying pan with 2 tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Mix plain flour and salt and pepper on a plate. Dip the beef shins into the flour mixture, then coat the whole meat with flour, shake off excess tepung. Pan fry the beef shins 2 at a time until brown, then set aside.
-In the same frying pan (no need to basuh dulu), tambah another 2 tbsp of olive oil and then add onions, garlic, diced carrot and diced celery and fry until onions wilted.
-Transfer the half cooked meat and the onion mixture into a slow cooker. Then add the rest of the ingredients into the slow cooker
-Set the slow cooker on high and cook for 5 hrs. Then rasa the osso bucco after that and kalau daging masih melekat to the bone, continue cooking on low for another hour.
-Boleh dihidang dgn mashed potatoes or risotto.

If anyone wants recipe for osso bucco yg bake in the oven, you can find it here at Taste

Hari ni I think I'm 98% recovered from my cold. Which is really good sebab rumah dah macam tongkang pecah. So, pagi ni macam lipas kudung lah mengemas rumah, lipat kain yg menimbun, berkenalan balik dgn cik vacuum. Ingat nak kemas fridge sekali, buang mana2 yang dah membiak and tukar warna, but bukak aje fridge terjumpa a carton of thick cream with expiry date hari ni so terbantutlah kejap acara mengemas fridge sebab melangut depan PC cari resipi nak guna the thick cream.

Found a nice recipe for cupcakes using just cream, eggs, sugar and flour so apa lagi, put my chef hat on and started baking the cupcakes. Pastu ada lagi lebih thick cream, I whipped it up and made Butterfly Cupcakes out of the cupcakes I made earlier. The little misses were so impressed to see their mum decorating cupcakes on a weekday.....then sempat lagi letak kat atas tiered cake plates, hehehehehe.....

I've already decided to make fish and chips for dinner tonite but since I was so obviously in a rajin mode (well, for me anyway), I made home made chips and also home made tartare sauce. I'm also thinking of baking a banana cake tonite, hehehehe...Sekali sekala rajin kan....

Tonite's dinner menu: Battered fried fish with homemade oven baked chips and homemade tartare sauce

Tonite is soccer practice nite but they've delayed it to a 5.30 start so the other half has plenty of time to come home and take miss soon to be 9 to soccer. Kiranya so I could have time to cook dinner at the usual time instead of rushing around. Tapi setiap kali balik dr practice miss soon-to-be-9 was always too tired to eat heavy dinner. Kesian jugak dia, dah lah penat pastu nak kena makan dinner, pastu nak terus masuk tidur... So, hari ni I made mee goreng before picking the little misses up from school. I wanted to change their eating plan on practice night. If I give them heavy afternoon tea cum dinner awal so bila dia balik from practice, she can have a light supper so tak lah muka letih aje masa dinner.

Tonite miss 4 1/2 and I tagged along to soccer practice. Saje je nak bagi moral support for miss soon-to-be-9 and nak bagi miss 4 1/2 main kat playground nearby. And I can have a chat with the other half while lepaking on the oval. Kiranya mcm berdating masa dulu2 lah, hehehe...

These are the photos of the little misses...

I still have a slight cold but it's getting better. Thanks to everyone who wished me a speedy recovery. However, having the kids at home today didn't really help with my sore throat. I guess with 2 girls in the house, the good thing is diaorang tak mengganas like some boys but it's the constant talking macam murai2 tengah buat AGM tu yg I really can't stand bila tengah sakit ni. Dah lah setiap kali nak bercakap I will be coughing because of the 'frog in my throat'.

Pastu the endless questions that needs answering yg keluar dari mulut Miss 4 1/2 since she woke up this morning. Kalau tak jawab, she'll ask the same question again and again macam record player buruk but kalau jawab, it'll lead to another question. Macam mana lah nak baik my sore throat ni! Berapa kali dah suruh dia diam hari ni, kejap aje diamnya around 2 mins max, pastu mula bercakap balik. In our house, no one's allowed to say 'shut up' because it's not polite...tapi sametimes the other half and I really feel like shouting the words to them bila they just talk non stop, hehehe....Kids! We love them to bits but they can still drive us nuts!

Anyway, our dinner tonite is homemade burger with roast potato and salad. Didn't take any photos sebab semua orang dah biasa makan burgers kan, hehehe. But I want to show everyone our plants that have bore fruits, yeah yeah....

Ini Pokok limau purut with its first ever buah. Kecik lagi tapinya but at least adalah gak buah. Ingat dulu kena tunggu lama lagi baru berbuah. Masa we all kat Adelaide dulu ada tanam pokok ni gak and buah dia banyak lah jugak and I made Citrus Pie with it. Dia mcm baked cheesecake but without the creamcheese. lainlah rasa dia dr klu guna lemon or oranges saje.
( Cik Mat and Hani jangan jeles ye, hehehe)

Ini pulak our capsicum plant. Dah ada a few capsicums tapi masih hijau lagi. I'm not sure kalau buah tu akan membesar lagi or that's the biggest size they are ever going to get to. Takpe, kita nantikan perkembangan nya. :-)

Ini pulak our one and only terung. Kat sini terung yang panjang2 mcm ni dia panggil lebanese or japanese eggplant. Kalau dia berbuah satu satu at a time, jenuh gak nak mengumpul buah nya ye nak buat pajeri terung, hehehe...

My cold got worse today. Dengan runny nose, sore throat, slight temperature, disappering taste sense and on top of that, my hayfever's back! At least it's still a public holiday so the other half can look after the kids. But I still had to cook because the other half hasn't cooked for maybe 3 years now so the little misses weren't prepared to eat his cooking, hehehe...And since I had to cook dinner, I thought that I might as well cooked a lavish spread (well, lavish for us anyway ! :-) ). Maybe sebab tak sedap badan, tengok food pun tak lalu nak makan so nak naikkan my selera i masak my favourite, ayam masak merah, pajeri terung and acar timun with nasi minyak! Kalah orang tak demam nya dishes, hehehe.... The other half loves acar timun n nanas. Kalau boleh memanglah dia suruh buat everytime makan nasi but biasalah kan, I ni bukannya isteri mithali, hahaha.

So malam ni tak bolehlah berceloteh panjang sbb tak larat nak type banyak2...Wish me well soon kay!

Woke up with a sore throat this morning. Must have caught the bug from the other half. At least it's a Sunday so I could have plenty of rest if I want to. Luckily the little misses woke up late so I had a longer quiet time this morning to feel miserable. Since they woke up late, I decided to make brunch for everyone to save some energy. We had some smoked salmon sitting in the fridge that needs to be used up. When we went to the shops on Thursday, we walked past this crepe eatery which made really good looking crepes. The other half wanted me to try making some crepes since it didn't look that difficult at the shop, hehehe....

So, tried my hands at making them for brunch and they turned out quite good for a first timer. Except that I think I should have maybe blitzed the batter in the blender to have a really smooth batter. The little misses asked what they are so I told them they are crepes. They went, what's that?, so I told them it's lempeng, they went...ohhh! Kalau dah jawa tu, rupa mcm mat saleh pun tetap lah jawa, hehehehe.....

The little misses had their 'lempeng' with susu pekat and maple syrup while we had ours with smoked salmon, grated cheese, sliced tomatoes and diced gherkins! I also made jemput2 pisang for the brunch spread and the hot cross buns from yesterday. I definitely do not have to make anything for lunch!

I'm definitely not the most patient mum in the world sbb baru aje 2 hari the little misses cuti but dah berapa kali suara i naik hari ni.Luckily the other half took them to the park for a few hours, dapatlah rasa peace and quiet sekejap. They are not bad kids but probably I expect too much from them....Susah jadi parents ni, hehehe...

I baked some hot cross buns today sbb kat sini klu Easter, there'll be hot cross buns everywhere. But instead of dried fruits, I put choc chips in it and also forgot to put the spices in the mix. Oh well, they stil taste good especially with all the choc chips in them ;-). And Little miss 4 1/2 was my helper in putting the tiny choc eggs on top of each bun. Tak sabar2 dia nak makan the tiny speckled choc eggs because they looked so cute!

For dinner, I made Osso Bucco in the slow cooker. Osso Bucco ni daging bertulang cooked in tomatoes and other ingredients. Dah lama terperuk slow cooker tu tak digunakan so gunakanlah dia hari ni since I still had the beef shin to use up. Nak masak guna slow cooker ni kena start dari awal2 lagi so tadi pukul 12 tgh hari dah siap masukkan segala benda dlm slow cooker and then barulah boleh relax. Yg sedapnya masak daging dlm slow cooker ni, it'll just melt in your mouth and all the flavours meresap masuk dlm daging sbb masak sikit punya lama kan but on very low heat. I pernah masak kari n rendang dlm tu, best lah rasa dia and senang sbb tak payah sibuk2 menggodek dia kat atas stove every now and then.

We had the Osso Bucco with gremolata and risotto milanese. Malam ni memang kira full italian lah, hehehe... Gremolata is basically finely grated lemon rind with finely diced garlic and parsley and they normally sprinkle it on the osso bucco. Since the garlic is raw, so rasa dia pedas sikit lah, not pedas chili but pedas garlic mentah which is really nice with the Osso Bucco.

Risotto milanese ni pulaknya nasi italian style. lebih kurang macam nasi lembik but leceh buat ni sbb u have to stand kat dapur, kacau the rice sentiasa and tambah stock to the rice 1 senduk at a time. Klu tak buat mcm ni, nanti nasi tu jadi gluggy cam nasi lembik which is not the right texture. But the taste is really good. I added chicken stock, saffron, parmesan cheese and peas to the rice. The little misses ate without complaining so I guess it was delicious ;-).

We used the snack maker/takoyaki maker this morning for breakfast. Ingat nak buat kaya balls tapi the kaya we had in the fridge has gone passed it's expiry date (punyalah lama tak makan kaya ni, terperap aje dlm fridge tu). So I made choc chip filling for the little misses and plain ones for us. Dpt resipi from Tulip but seperti biasalah, ubah sikit2 sbb I wanted a thin batter. Tak lah susah sgt nak buatnya cuma kena cepat ajelah masa nak terbalikkan the balls or else hangus. The little misses were so mesmerised when the balls started to shape up, hehehe....tapi my choc balls tak lah bulat sgt, leper gak bila dah sejuk. The other half said it's much more fun to eat than the normal pancakes, sbb panas2 terus makan so memang lah rasa sedap sangatkan, berbaloi lah sangat2 beli the snack maker for $9, hehehe....

Ini the first batch tu yg semua 'geseng' aje which means hangus but tak lah pahit, still sedap.



The little misses waiting for the next batch with choc chip filling.


Where there's food, there's always Miss 4 1/2 waiting.... :-)

Our entree tonite: Fried wontons with hoisin sauce

Malam ni tak nak cerita pasal dinner tapi nak cerita pasal my new 'toy'. Tadi we all pegi window shopping lepas ambik the kids from school and masuk lah ke Target sbb dia tengah 15% off everything. Since it's going to be a long easter holiday wknd starting from tomorrow we wanted to just browse around looking at all the chocolate easter eggs and bunnies. The little misses will be having a 5 day easter holiday until Tuesday, aggggghhhhhhhh, help me!.....

Anyway, I found a kitchen gadget at the clearance aisle that's called 'mistral mini delight snack maker'. On the box it says comes with recipe book but searched for it high and low, there wasnt anything in the box, not even the manual! But since it was only $9, I still bought it thinking that I can always search for the recipes on the net. The other half could only shook his head when I showed him what I bought, hehehe...But even he was quite taken with the strange looking snack maker. Rasanya lah kan, boleh buat kaya balls or kuih cara in those holes. I might let the little misses have another baking day during these 5 day holidays and maybe they can try the snack maker. Who knows, they might like 'playing' with it, hehehe....

p/s we all makan pizza n garlic bread malam ni...

Khas utk Mama Anis....

Waffles
2 large/size A eggs
1 3/4 cawan/420 mls susu segar
1/2 cwn/120 mls vegetable oil (I slalu guna canola sbb dia takde rasa yg strong)
2 tbsp gula kasar
2 cawan self raising flour
1/4 tsp garam halus
1/2 tsp vanillas essence

Pukul telur with hand mixer sehingga kembang. Kemudian add the rest of the ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour about 1 senduk nasi adunan on the preheated hot waffle maker and bake until golden brown.
Adunan ni boleh disimpan dlm fridge jika tak habis digunakan to use the next day or Mama Anis boleh bancuh malam utk makan breakfast the next morning.

Tonite we had western again sbb memang tak nak masak nasi seminggu ni. Since miss soon to be 9 had soccer practice this afternoon, we had to postpone dinner to 7 o'clock. It was quite late for them to be having dinner and miss soon-to-be-9 was really tired to eat but I still haven't found a way to avoid a late dinner. What I might do next week is give them a big meal or afternoon tea at 4 o'clock so when she came home from soccer, she could just have a very light supper instead of dinner. Sian dia, penat betul masa dinner tadi, nak masukkan food dlm mulut pun lambat aje...

Tonite's menu was meatloaf, with peas in mashed potatoes and sauteed mushroom and carrots in garlic. The other half has been asking for meatloaf for a few weeks now, hehehe, but I was never in the mood to cook it until tonite. Since I'm the cook, I have to be in the mood to cook whatever dishes I'm cooking or else rasa malas aje nak masak. Tu yg dah berminggu mintak baru malam ni dapat, hahaha...

Khas utk AmyS ;-)...

Baklava (simplified version)

10 keping filo pastry
100g butter, cairkan
about 300g mixed nuts (you can use pistachio, walnuts, almonds, cashew), grind until halus

For the sugar syrup
250g gula kasar
150mls air
a splash of lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon of rosewater (kalau ada)
- Masak air dan gula sehingga menggelegak. Let it boil for about 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and rosewater. Pour the sugar syrup onto the cooked hot baklava.


Preheat oven to 180ºC.
1. Grease a rectangular disposable aluminium container (utk senang nak buang terus lepas tu :-)) measuring 8"x 12".
2. Sapu 1 keping filo pastry dgn melted butter. Kemudian lipat 2 dan masukkan dlm container, adjust sikit the filo pastry to fit. Repeat until dah letak 5 keping pastry dlm container.
3. Kemudian taburkan kacang ground kat atas filo pastry tu sehingga habis dan menutupi semua bahagian pastry.
4. Ulang step 2 dan letak atas taburan kacang tadi sehingga semua filo habis digunakan. Make sure lapisan filo yg di atas sekali disapu dgn butter bnyk sikit.
5. Potong baklava bentuk diamond sehingga lapisan bawah sekali sebelum masuk dlm oven.
6. Bakar for about 25 mins or until golden.
7. Take the baklava out of the oven and straight away pour half of the syrup on it. Let it meresap dulu, then pour the rest of the syrup.
8. Enjoy!

I'm back in the kitchen tonite after a really lazy nite last nite. Tonite, we flew to Austria / Germany for the origin of our dinner. We had chicken schnitzel with chips, salad and bread rolls. Schnitzel is a thin slice of meat coated in breadcrumbs and fried. The original name is wiener schnitzel which is a thin slice of veal coated in breadcrumbs and then fried. But I made a different version of schnitzel which is famous in Australia as a pub food called parmigiana.

Basically, first I used breast fillet which I pounded using meat mallet until thin. Then dipped them in seasoned plain flour, then in egg and then in breadcrumb.Sbb nak kurangkan lemak, I panfried the schnitzel instead of deep fried. Pastu, put the schnitzelon a plate, pour a bit of pasta sauce on it, then top it with grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese, then grill it until the cheese melts. You can serve it with fries and salad or just it eat like that.

For the little misses I made them schnitzel burger to have with chips. They like the burger more than the parmigiana.

Malam ni tak masak apa2, just leftovers from yesterday and some frozen finger food. The other half said this morning that he's had too much rice to last him a week now, hehehe...So minggu ni I can cook anything for dinner except rice. Sebab kononnya nak melayan guests makan, dia yg makan lebih2, pastu malam tadi pun dinner rice and hari ni pun rice jugak, itu yg dia dah exceeded his rice quota in a week, kehkehkeh...

So, since tonite takde gambar dinner, I want to show you some more photos of my weird looking chilli plant. I found some 'old' photos of the chilli plant and kira amazed jugaklah tengok pertumbuhan nya in a few months only. Tapi sedih lah jugak sbb Summer dah habis and it's Autumn now, tak lama lagi pokok chili tu wont be as productive as it is now and won't be as pretty either. Hopefully takdelah tanaman2 yg mati this winter.

This photo was taken on the 29th of Jan this year. Kiranya that's the first lot of chili lah and tak bnyk lagi stakes yg di bubuh sbb buah dia tak bnyk sgt lagi. If I'm not mistaken, chilli ni namanya "hot thai chilli", hehehe...Tapi memang pedas pun!

This photo pulak was taken on the 14th of March (a few days ago). I had to put a few more stakes utk elak dahan pokok tu dari patah dek kerana lebat sgt buah2 nya. Dah lupa berapa kali we all petik chili2 tu sampai tak larat2 nak makan and skrg ni masih lagi banyak bunga2 chili kat pokok tu. The other half said, memang pokok chili yg ini jenis yg membesar ketepi bukan ke atas so I just have to keep on adding more stakes kat dahan2 tu supaya tak patah. Lepas ni bolehlah bukak gerai jual chilli and daun limau purut, hahahaha.....

Seperti yg dijanjikan, photos of yesterday's lunch spread. The server finally managed to upload the photos!


Gulai lemak ayam, Sup sayur with egg tofu and bakec sticky chicken wings.


The chocolate cake with ganache but the ganache I buat thick sikit so tu yg tak meleleh ke tepi.

Baklava which is a rich sweet dessert of ground mixed nuts (I used almond, walnuts and cashew nuts) encased in filo pastry layers with sugar syrup poured onto it while hot. I think this dessert is native to Turkey.

The little misses with the guests from Malaysia.

(Due to server error again, I cant upload any photos tonite, gerrrraaaaammmmnya!!!!. So, esok ajelah I'll upload the photos)

Penat nya harini. Rasa tak larat nak post kat blog tapi sbb nak tunjuk segala aneka masakan yg dimasak utk guests harini, kenalah gagahkan juga menulis, hehe...Dari semalam dah bz kemas rumah and baking with the kids, malam pulak prepare a few things to marinate in the fridge. Pagi tadi awal2 dah sibuk kemas outside pulaknya and started the ball rolling in regards to lunch. Macamlah ramai sgt yg nak datang, hehe..cuma 1 family aje but from jauh so itu yg beria buat macam2.

Lunch Menu:
Entree - Prawn fritters /jemput2 udang
Mains - White rice with Gulai Lemak Ayam, baked sticky chicken wings and sup sayur with egg tofu.
Dessert - Chocolate cake with choc ganache and Baklava

Dah lama betul tak buat and makan choc cake ni since the other half went on a diet. Buat baklava tu sbb the little misses like them a lot. The kids devoured the chocolate cake and baklava like they've never had them before, hehehe...The adults enjoyed the sweet treats too ;-)
Biasalahkan bila dah lama tak berjumpa, borak sakan lah, tu yang masak awal2 so bolehlah berborak2 without having to sibuk2 in the kitchen. I like it when my guests really enjoy the food that I've prepared for them and eat it with gusto. Rasa seronok sgt bila penat lelah kita masak di habiskan, hehehe...

I know it's going to be a loonnnnggg wknd with the kids sbb they started driving us both nuts from the moment they woke up. I think this will be on of those weekend when we are so glad that we stopped at two! Awal2 pagi lagi dah mula bergaduh so the other half put one in the bedroom and one in the playroom and told them they weren't allowed to talk to each other for 30 mins. Peace and calm for 30 minutes before the arguing started again.

Little miss 4 1/2 drove us up the walls with her continuous "why not?" and constant "mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy". My deep breathing technique and counting to 10 didn't really work today! The big sister was better behaved after a stern talking to and went out of her way to not cross our paths, hehehe...

But I still had some patience left to do some baking with them. I let them make grissini / breadsticks and sausage buns for lunch and biscuits during the day and the other half took them to the playground in the afternoon (so I could have some breathing space).

Tonite's dinner was just a simple seafood mee goreng using instant noodles. I was too busy cleaning the house today because we are having guests tomorrow for lunch hence the laziness (I know excuses, excuses). But I did bake the bread, biscuits, a chocolate cake and made some curry pastes for tomorrow's lunch so I guess I wasn't that lazy eh :-) .

Post hari ni taknak cerita pasal dinner, kita tukar angin sikit. hari ni kita cerita pasal my backyard garden. The house we are presently staying at is a rental property so tak bolehlah nak tanam apa2 on the ground unless we dont want to take the plants away with us when we move out. So, segala tanaman yg we all tanam, we planted them in pots, ranging from small ones to a really big one for the pokok limau purut. Ada yg tanam from the first summer we moved into this house and ada yg baru aje tanam about a month ago.

Pokok limau purut tu we all tanam masa baru pindah Perth, and masa beli pokok tu ada lah 10 helai daun aje and kurus sesgt pokok tu. Masa tu memang lah tak sangka yg pokok tu will survive but survived it did and skrg ni punyalah tinggi and lebat dgn daun. Sayangnya, masih belum ada buah lagi...But klu kat supermarket, they sell daun limau purut ni about $4 for about 10 leaves. The other half said that we should insure our pokok limau purut sbb it's worth around $700 skrg ni, hehehe....Bolehlah bukak gerai kat depan rumah jual daun limau purut, hahaha!

Anyway, mari kita berkenalan dgn tanaman2 in my backyard garden ok....

Starting on the left side yg cuma nampak kelibat nya saje is my pokok limau purut/kaffir lime tree/makrut tree. It says that pokok ni is native to Indonesia and used widely in South East Asian cooking. tapi memanglah klu masak rendang letak ni, rasa wangi aje...

Sebelah dia tu is daun kesum. Sejak summer ni and hari2 kena siram, daun dia tersangatlah hijau nya. Sebelumni taklah sehijau tu. It's called vietnamese mint or laksa leaf here in Oz. Sedap makan raw in salad or letak dlm asam laksa or mee kari.

Next to daun kesum tu is the feijoa tree. Buah feijoa ni is also known as pineapple guava or guavasteen. It came originally from South America but I think a lot of New Zealanders have embraced this tree as their own. That's why we have to grow this tree sbb it reminds the other half of his birthplace, hehe..

Then serai aka lemongrass (ehem,ehem), pastu in the small black pot is coriander and daun sup/ italian flat leaf parsley. Pastu next to it is my pride n joy, my chilli plant. Tak tau lah kenapa pokok chilli tu membesar sideways and tak meninggi. So, kenalah cacakkan bnyk2 stakes so dahan pokok tu tak patah dek kerana berat sgt buah nya. Tapi mmng dah bnyk lah guna chilli nya sampai tak termakan2 dah.

Infront of the chilli plant are terung/brinjal/japanese eggplants and also capsicum/lada benggala/bell pepper.
( the photo below it is just another view from the other end)

Right, the next photo pulak. Dah tak larat nak baca ke? Teruskan membaca, bnyk pengajaran dapat ni, kehkehkeh.

The climbing plants are sugar snap peas (tak ingatlah nama dia in BM) and snake beans/kacang panjang/yard beans. Tak taulah bila nak boleh di semai tu, hehehe. Next to it in the hanging pot are the cherry tomatoes. Behind the trellis is the rosemary shrub, we didn't plant this, it was already there when we moved in here. Rosemary goes really well with roast meat. And next to the rosemary shrub is the lemon tree. Ada banyak gak buah but none are yellow yet.

The last 2 photos are just of the silverbeets, ginger and turmeric plants.