Ingat nak masak rice n curry malam ni but tak jadi pulaknya. Lepas ambil the little misses from school, I buat jemput2 udang for afternoon tea sbb Miss 9 ada soccer practice so I wanted her to eat kenyang sikit, but semua pulaknya yang dah terkenyang lebih so masing2 didn't feel like having a heavy dinner. Tak jadilah masak rice n curry which made me quite happy, hehehe.....

For me memasak ni tak leceh but nak fikirkan apa yang nak dimasak every nite tu yg I really do not like. Especially when the little misses tak makan anything chilli hot and the adults pulaknya have different likes :-). Some people tak kisah and like to spend hours in the kitchen cooking many dishes everyday. A lot of people think, being a stay at home mum means you can masak segala masakan yang complicated yang ambil masa berjam2 nak masak sebab you dont have to be at work. But the truth is far from it! There are so many other things to do around the house that needs doing, kalau hari2 masak berjam2 kat dapur tu memang lah akan jadi tongkang pecah rumah I ni! Occasionally, I pun suka spend hours in the kitchen trying out and cooking different things but most days, I akan start masuk dapur at 5 o'clock for a 6 o'clock dinner. Kalau dinner lambat sikit, miss 4 1/2 lah yang akan bersuara dulu telling me that her tummy is rumbling because she's so hungry!

So malam ni, we had coated fried chicken aka ayam goreng salut tepung, potato croquettes and cruditès with guacamole. Crudites is a French term for sliced raw vegetables served with dipping sauce. Kalau in malay kiranya sayur mentah lah, but guna 'crudites' nampak fancy n chic sikit our dinner kan, hehehehe.....

Guacamole dip tu kurang hijau pulaknya sebab terlebih letak sour cream :-)

The other half's got home safely from NY, alkhamdulillah! He asked me what he could get for me from there. Let's just say, even if what I really wanted was a handbag, I wouldn't in a million years ask him to buy 1 for me! He's not in the slightest bit fashion nor colour conscious so kalau I suruh dia beli handbag, maulah handbag tu nanti akan tersimpan dlm wardrobe for a very long time tak di pakai, hehehe.... And dia pun dah awal2 told me yang he wont buy me one sbb he knows I won't like the style that he chose. So, nak bagi senang for him tak payah perah otak penat2 nak carikan presents for me, I told him to buy me chocolates, baik kan wife dia ni :-). Specifically, chocolate for baking, sebab kat sini the choc chips for baking cuma ada dark, milk or white saje which is a pain! So the other half bought caramel swirl and white/milk choc swirl choc chips and hershey's choc which we can't find here. So, weekend ni bolehlah try buat choc chip cookies with the little misses. Other wives dapat handbags, perfume, shoes, scarves bila their other halves pergi overseas, I dapat baking chocolates, hahahaha......

Dinner malam ni was something simple instead of nasi and sambal cos the other half wanted a light dinner after being on the plane for so long. But he's already asked for rice n curry for tomorrow nite's dinner :-). Tonite's dinner was spaghetti with crabmeat and tomato bruschetta.

Ini lebih kurang spaghetti goreng but fusion style, mat saleh and asian. I sauteed garlic, fresh chilli and taucu ( yes, I used taucu instead of the mat saleh anchovies which I really detest) then added the crabmeat and diced fresh tomatoes and a splash of lime juice. then add the cooked spaghetti to the pan and toss it around and ready in no time at all!

Bruschetta is just basically grilled bread rubbed with garlic and then topped with whatever you want. I had some juicy ripe tomatoes to be used up so just diced them and sprinkled salt & pepper on top. Bila I terlebih rajin, I will add grated cheese on top and then grill the bread again but malam ni nak makan simple style aje. The little misses had scrambled eggs with their bruschetta.

Khas untuk Mommy Lily & Nabialishad


1. Anzac Biscuits

1 cwn tepung gandum/ plain flour
1/2 - 2/3 cwn soft brown sugar (klu suka manis, guna 2/3, mat saleh ni terlebih manis biskut dia!)
1 cwn rolled oats
1 cwn dessicated coconuts (kelapa kering yg dlm pack)
125g butter
1/4 cup golden syrup / light corn syrup
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate/ baking soda
1 tbsp boiling water

- Panaskan oven to 180 C. Line baking trays with baking paper
- Ayak tepung ke dalam mangkuk besar. Add sugar, rolled oats & coconuts. Mix well.
- Combine butter, boiling water and golden syrup in a saucepan. Masak gunakan api kecil hingga butter melted dan adunan bercampur sebati. Padamkan api dan campurkan bicarb soda kedlm adunan butter dgn segera. Kacau hingga dia berbuih and foamy.
- Selepas adunan butter berbuih, tuangkan ke dalam campuran tepung di dalam mangkuk. Dengan menggunakan sudip kayu, kacau mixture until well combined.
- Either gunakan sudu atau tangan, bulat2 kan mixture sebesar 1 tablespoon dan aturkan dia atas tray ( lebih kurang mcm how the little misses did it in the photos).
- Flatten the biscuits a bit but make sure ada ruang utk biscuit itu mengembang. Bake for 15-20 mins until just browned. Keluarkan dari oven dan let the biscuits cool on the baking tray for about 10 mins sebelum dialihkan ke redai.

* Anzac biscuits ni can be either chewy or crispy, klu nak crispy, tambahkan masa masak another 3-5 mins or kurangkan golden syrup. We all satu keluarga suka yg chewy.*


2. This is my tersilap version (which makes it even chewier but still very nice)

-Ingredients semua sama seperti di atas kecuali I used quick cooking oats sbb takde rolled oats at home masa nak buat tu

-Ayak tepung dlm mangkuk. Add dessicated coconuts and quick cooking oats into the flour.
- In a periuk, add sugar, butter, golden syrup and boiling water. Masak gunakan api kecil sehingga butter melted dan sugar bercampur sebati dengan bahan2 lain. Padamkan api dah tambah bicarb soda dgn segera. kaca sehingga berbuih and foamy.
- Add the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Kacau gunakan sudip kayu hingga well mixed.
- Bulatkan seperti di atas dan bakar seperti biasa.

Hoooraaayyyy, it's school time again tomorrow after 2 weeks of holidays! Sekolah kat sini tak semestinya start on Monday, that's why harini was their last day of holiday. The first week of holiday went really fast dgn swimming and preparation for miss 9's party but the second week went on and on and on...........for me especially! I guess sebab the little misses pun dah bored sgt2 duduk rumah aje, balik2 tengok muka each other so hari2 ada saje benda yang nak digaduhkan. And the constant attention seeking 'Mummy look, Mummy look, Mummy look, Mummy look', mau terkehel my neck sebab asik kena tengok whatever they were showing off to me! And since the Daddy's not home, nama Mummy ajelah yang naik setiap masa. Can't wait to have a quiet time to myself esok pagi after the little misses have gone to school, hehehe.....

The other half's already on the plane on the way back from NY so malam ni my last mee dinner. Actually, I pun dah rindu with my western food sebenarnya so quite glad he's coming home tomorrow, hehehe..... But rasanya dia akan mintak sambal sebab dah seminggu dia tak makan sambal kan ;-).

Dinner malam ni, masa still dalam wok lagi, mee hailam versi sempoi and tak pedas. Cuma letak 1/4 teaspoon cili paste saje but Miss 9 dah sibuk ckp pedas. Miss 4 1/2 sikit pun tak komplen pedas, laju aje dia makan, siap tambah lagi, hehehe....

P/S to Mommy Lily and Nabialishad, resipi anzac biscuits tu I'll post esok ye! I'll post both, the original recipe and my 'tersilap' resipi, hehehe....

Pagi tadi, awal2 lagi dah keluar pergi Sunday market with the little misses.Kesian diaorang kena kejut before 7 o'clock, masing2 muka tak nak bangun, but malam tadi diaorang juga yg beria cakap nak pergi. Bukan selalu pun pergi sunday market ni, maybe once every 2 months ke kalau ada benda yang nak dicari aje lah. Masa summer, memang penuh the carpark dgn sellers but bila tgh2 musim hujan ni, tak ramai sgt orang so this morning wasn't that good.

Miss 4 1/2 found 20 cents last nite on the floor and I told her she could take it to the sunday market to buy something, punyalah happy dia dapat duit but apalah aje yang she could buy with 20 cents anyway, hehehe.... But she was so excited to ada duit sendiri so pagi2 tadi lagi dah tanya duit dia masih ada lagi tak. She carried it in her hand the whole way there and also at the market until I told her better masukkan inside her pocket manalah tau tercicir kan pulaknya, hahaha.... Some kids will only get excited bila nampak notes, my kids 20 cents pun dah happy habis :-) . I got them 3 walt disney videos ( yes, we still have a video player but dvd players pun ada gak, hehe). Miss 4 1/2 lagilah suka sbb dpt 3 videos without having to use her 20 cents :-) .
So, since pagi tadi bangun cepat, malam ni I forced them to go to bed before 7.30, evil mom betul lah.....

Dinner malam ni dah balik ke malay food again after my 'healthy' and green dinner last nite. malam ni masak asam laksa but the shortcut version. Dulu masa student selalu buat laksa mcm ni bila kempunan nak makan laksa. Instead of guna ikan kembung 'fresh', I guna ikan mackerel dalam tin and canned tuna yg flavoured nya. Ikan mackerel ni dlm tin yg mcm sardine tu dah siap ada tomato sauce and chilli in it. Ikan tuna tu pula I used canned tuna with lime, chilli n mint flavour. So, tak payah letak daun mint lagi, hehehe.... Nasib baik pokok kesum kat dlm pot tu masih tumbuh cantik so bolehlah guna banyak2.

For the little misses' dinner I made roti sausage. The bread dough ikut recipe from Taste but cara nak decorate the dough dpt fr MyResipi but memanglah I ni tak pandai nak decorate so tak lah jadi cam rupa roti sausage kat kedai tu!

Malam tadi we had nasi with ikan goreng, masak lemak sayur n sambal belacan for dinner. Dah berapa malam makan sambal, either sambal kicap or belacan and also overeating, so malam tadi I felt really bloated and stuffed to the max. Terasa sangat2 yang lemak2 dah mula berkumpul buat gathering dalam badanni, hehehe..... Hajat hati nak masak asam laksa but kalau masak laksa or ikan masak asam ke, adalah nanti yang ter overeat lagi, tak boleh jadi macam ni. So affter 3 nights of eating malay food, I cooked something western with loads of greens. Takpe, esok malam boleh buat asam laksa ;-).

My dinner tonite, mixed leaf salad with crumbed chicken and croutons. The little misses don't like the colour green especially when it's on vegetables so they had 1 salad leaf each with the chicken and bread.

Weighed myself this morning and Alkhamdulillah, my weight masih sama gak even after 2 days of gorging, hehe.... But selalunya ambil masa gak lemak2 ni nak menimbun n melekat permanently kat badan ni kan ;-) . Next week the kids start their swimming school again, kenalah mummy join sama macamni.....

Hari ni public holiday here in Australia for ANZAC day which is lebih kurang Hari Pahlawan lah in M'sia. They have dawn service and also parade here in every major city but we all tak pergi tengok pun sebab malas nak bersesak2 and also malas nak drive to the city yang surenya akan jam. So, the little misses and I just celebrated it at home by baking anzac biscuits. Anzac biscuits are so popular in Australia ni, kiranya macam makanan kebangsaan lah, hehehe... a bit like pavlova, lamington or pumpkin scones. The history of Anzac biscuits went way back to the first world war where this biscuits were sent by the family to the Australian soldiers during the war as a nutritious snack. The tradition continues tiap2 tahun sampai lah sekarang ni people will bake it on Anzac day to remember the fallen. Sekian lah pelajaran sejarah malam ni murid2 semua, hahahaha... ;-)

Ingredients nya cuma tepung gandum, dessicated coconut, oats, brown sugar, golden syrup, butter and bicarb soda. Senangkan, tu yg the little misses love making them and devouring them after that. My sis selalu suruh I bawa balik anzac biscuits ni bila I balik M'sia sebab dia malas nak buat, sanggup tunggu I balik baru dia makan, hehehe.....

Dari main computer games and nintendo DS aje, baik lah tolong mummy buat biscuits kan girls?

Ada tak serupa the anzac biscuits yg dalam buku recipe tu? :-) . Saje je tayang sebelah the recipe book tapi dia punya tebal sikit compared to mine lah.

Tak boleh jadi macamni, seminggu the other half takde, 2kg berat badan I naik from over eating! Semalam dah betul2 melantak mee jawa sebab rindu yang tersangat, hari ni pun betul2 melantak dinner sebab dah lama gak tak makan. Ish, susah betul kalau hari2 melantak aje ni, hehehe.... Nasib baik dia pergi for a week only, kalau sebulan, mau tak kenal wife dia bila dia balik rumah nanti, wakakaka! Maybe I makan lebih2 dinner last nite and tonite sebab dalam hati terfikir yang entah bila lah boleh dapat peluang nak masak benda2 ni lagi so better pulun puas2 sebelum menyesal, teruk kan! Kenalah I start my daily exercise again. But I'm lucky, sebab my badan cepat aje turun if I control my food intake and exercise 30 mins a day so I'm not that worried yet about my weight ni ;-) . Whatever it is, I have to make sure my weight is really down sebelum balik M'sia for the holidays sebab bila kat M'sia, memang semua kalau boleh nak makan and nak rasa, takde control2 nya!


Tonite's dinner yang I melantak sakan was a mixture of soto and mee hoon sup. The soup base was beef soup but I makan dengan mee hoon, nasi impit, tauge, tahu goreng, daun sup n ketumbar, kacang goreng, bawang goreng and last but not least sambal kicap. So, nak kata mee hoon sup, mana ada mee hoon sup makan dgn kacang kan. Nak kata soto, soto selalunya guna sup ayam. Tak kisah lah nak panggil apa pun, the main thing, it was really delicious to me.

Hari ni bermulanya menu 'mummy's favourites'. Dari semalam dah tak sabar2 nak masak, malam tadi after the other half's gone off to the airport, busy meronda dari blog ke blog and dari recipe ke recipe nak cari recipe mee berkuah yang paling sedap but senang nak buat at the same time. I knew I wanted to make mee yang kuahnya ada keledek but sebab tak pernah buat sendiri so tak tau what it's called, either mee rebus or mee jawa! My mum memang tak pernah buat mee jawa eventhough pure jawa, so anak dia ni lagilah hampeh bab2 membuat mee2 ni, hehe... Pastu dapat pulak hubby yang tak minat sgt dgn mee ni so lagilah memang nya terperap aje bakat terpendam ni, hahahaha. kalau suruh I buat any pasta, pejam mata pun I boleh buat, suruh buat mee jawa, kena berguru depan PC baru jadi.

So, setelah meronda2 malam tadi, terberkenan pulaknya dgn recipe mee jawa Cik Mat (he got it from fotopages Mak Lang )because of its simplicity. Kalau recipe panjang berjela ni, rasa leceh sikit nak masak (well, change that to malas instead of leceh :-) ). But recipe mee jawa ni memang betul2 simple and semua bahan2 dah ada pulak tu kat rumah ni except tauge. Takde tauge pun takpelah, asalkan the main ingredients cukup. So, I was really excited masuk dapur tadi to cook the mee jawa, told you, it doesn't take much to excite me! Hahaha...

Tonite's dinner was pure bliss sebab dapat makan mee jawa setelah lama betul tak makan sampai dah lupa rasa dia macam mana, teruk kan! Rasa dia memang sedap to my taste, manis2 kuahnya and terasa udangnya as well. Thank you Cik Mat and Mak Lang for the recipe. For the little misses I made pasta and bolognese sauce, anak2 mat saleh kan ;-).

Pagi tadi pergi fish shopping at this frozen seafood shop. Since the other half's going to NY for a week, bolehlah I masak segala benda yang teringin nak makan sangat2 but yang dah lama tak buat sebab the other half tak berapa suka makan especially segala jenis mee berkuah dan ikan bertulang, hehehe. He doesn't like noodles that much except char kuey teow and mee kari while I love noodles dan yang sewaktu dengan nya. Miss 9 ikut daddy dia tak suka sgt noodles while Miss 4 1/2 suka noodles (well...she likes anything and everything, hehehe). Hajat hati nak masak mee rebus, mee jawa, asam laksa, ikan masak asam pedas, ikan masak lemak cili dah ntah apa2 lagi. But rasanya yang berjaya masak maybe 1-2 dishes aje sebab nak masak utk sorang ni rasa tak best pulaknya dan rasa malas pulaknya, hehehe.... Sebab kena juga masak dishes lain for the little misses kan sbb diaorang tak makan pedas langsung! Bila terfikir nak kena masak 2-3 dishes ni yang buat malas sikit, wekekeke....

Anyway, found this fisherman's pack at the seafood shop which had frozen crumbed fish fillet, crumbed calamari rings, crumbed butterflied prawns and crumbed scallops in it. Terus teringin nak makan fisherman's basket pulaknya. So, balik from that shop, keluarkan fries in the freezer, baked them in the oven and then goreng all the crumbed stuff. Makan dengan tartare sauce and tomato sauce, sehingga menjilat jari sedapnya! The other half had a day off work today sbb nak organised the packing and whatever not so we had a nice lazy lunch eating seafood and fries.

The little misses will definitely miss their daddy but at least it's not that long. He'll definitely enjoy the break from the constant, 'daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy.....' hahahaha. Hopefully he'll have a safe journey to and fro and have a wonderful time in NY, InsyaAllah, amin.....

I'm so glad the party's over. Semalam we all satu family tak keluar kemana2 pun, we stayed at home doing nothing which was really nice after a hectic week. Dapur pun tak berasap langsung semalam, makan leftovers aje the whole day, hehehe.... The little misses woke up a bit later than usual as well, maybe sebab penat from the party and they were so excited to see Miss 9's presents on the coffee table. She got from her friends a Polly Pocket pack, a perfume pack (don't ask me why perfume!) and Uno game. She got from us Nintendo DS games, a magic trick pack and books so the kids spent the whole day semlm playing with her presents which gave us some quiet times in between the bouts of arguing and whinging! Maybe kalau boys, they'll fight and whack each other silly but with girls, the constant talking, arguing, whinging, moaning, whining tu yg selalu buat my ears berdengung aje, hehehe....

Anyway, back to cooking dinner tonite. Since the other half's flying off to New York tomorrow nite for a week, I asked him what he wants me to cook for him utk dinner sbb nanti seminggu tak dpt merasa my food kan, hehehe.....He straight away said nak sambal. Lerr, of all the things, sambal gak yg dia nak makan! So, kenalah masak nasi malamni sbb nak makan dgn sambal. I also cooked beef in black bean sauce and crumbed baked sardines.

Finally, tayangan perdana the birthday cake. Like in previous post, last year Miss 9 asked for hedgehog cake. This year banyak kali dah bertukar cake shape throughout the months leading up to her birthday, from a castle cake to a smiley cake to a dragon cake and finally to a snake cake which we both agreed on! She wanted it to be iced in light blue icing (her current favourite colour) and decorated with m&m's. Manalah ada snake kaler biru ni kan but dari dia suruh buat ular senduk or rainbow coloured snake, I'd rather just iced it using 1 colour. Like I said, bertahun2 buat kek pun masih tak lembut2 juga tangan ni when it comes to decorating cake but I think for a snake birthday cake, I didn't do too badly right! All the guests were so impressed anyway that I made the cake, hehehe.....

Bila time nak cut the cake, everyone wanted Miss 9 to chop off the head first! Apalah budak2 sekarangni, semua brutal abis, wekekekeh.....

Ok lah kan my snake cake? The eyes I guna black jellybeans and the tongue guna strawberry fruit flap.

Some more photos....



The kids making their own pizza for lunch. Bukan sbb tuan rumah malas tapi the kids like to choose their own toppings so win-win situation, hehehe... I only had to put them in the oven and they had a hot pizza each for lunch, senangkan!

This was another activity. I made biscuit dough pagi tadi and rolled it out for them. They chose which cookie cutter shape they liked and shaped the biscuit, I put them in the oven for 15 mins and while they chatted, the biscuits had time to cool down and they then decorated them again. They really loved playing with the icing and all the sprinkles, jelly beans, choc chips and so on, jenuh lah nak mengvacuum esok pagi ni, hehehe.....

To all my blogger friends yang wished Miss 9 a happy birthday, thank you so much. The little misses had a really wonderful day with their friends eventhough 3 of Miss 9's friends didnt turn up without letting us know. Oh well, their loss! Walaupun tak ramai yg turned up, but still kecoh gak sebab all girls kan so kalah murai tengah bermesyuarat!

Both woke up early sebab tak sabar nak start the day, hehehe... Nasib baik we all buat the party pagi fr 10.30-2.30, kalau tak sian the little misses jenuh nak menunggu. But eventhough officially tamat at 2.30 but biasalahkan bila dah jumpa kawan2 n I pun jumpa kawan so borak2 sampai lepas pukul 4 baru abis guests.

Some photos of the day, bnyk lagi photos but I can't put them all up in 1 go so kenalah buat bnyk2 posts....

We took some photos with the little misses before the guests arrived. Both the dresses were made by me for raya last year and baru sekali aje pakai. Sebelum they grow out of it baiklah pakaikan selalu kan..

The first activity, decorating cupcakes. I made the cupcakes last nite, so they only had to decorate them with icing and segala mcm decorations.

Game time before lunch.

Harini pun busy lagi, tak sabarnya menanti hari Ahad sbb boleh relax puas2, hehehe....Esok dah party so lepas the kids masuk tidur tadi, mulalah project mendekorasi b'day kek. I think adalah rupa shape yang the little miss asked for so hopefully she'll be delighted with my attempt. Tiap2 tahun buat b'day kek pun masih lagi tak lembut2 tangan ni when it comes to decorating cakes, agaknya kena rendam lama2 dlm air panas baru lembut kot!

Esok the little misses and friends want to 'main masak2' so I've made them pizza and cupcakes that they can decorate and bake. Ingat esok pagi nak buat biscuit dough so the kids can play with the cookie cutters and take their creations home but tengoklah rajin mana I esok pagi, hehehe....

Malam ni nak letak gambar my 'workplace' since kena tagged dgn cousin nana minggu lepas lagi. Sorrylah Nana ye sebab anak murid malas and busy sikit nak buat homework. I should have taken photos of the whole house sebab dah jadi home manager kan so satu rumah lah kiranya my workplace, betul tak? Tapi I'll just show you my humble kitchen and my workstation where I sit everyday to gi meronda2 blog orang, surf the net and to chat with people. The little misses and the other half have their own computers so takde sape kacau my PC which is marvellous, hehehe....

Another busy day with last minute shopping for the party, swimming and baking again. Mengalahkan nak buat kenduri kahwin aje, hehehe...But kalau kenduri kahwin ramai yg menolong, ini kita sorang yang organise segala benda so memanglah terasa penat nya. The other half is busy with work and the little misses setakat tolong kemas sikit2 tu bolehlah. I want to prepare and bake everything yang boleh before Saturday so nanti I can relax a bit on that day, tak lah macam lipas kudung aje. Sekarang ni pun while blogging, tengah tunggu piza dough naik sebab kononnya nak parbake the pizza bases tonite. Saturday nanti the party kids tinggal letak topping apa yg diaorang nak and tinggal masuk oven sekejap to continue baking. Tak pernah lah so far cuba parbaking my pizza base, hopefully menjadi lah hendaknya, kalau tak jadi, alamat tong sampah lah yang makan nanti!

Anyway, dinner malam ni cuma home made burger and chips. Too lazy to cook! Nak letak gambar pun segan so I letak gambar the little misses at the pool today ajelah..

Little miss 4 1/2 practicing what she learned in lesson, blowing bubbles under water. The first day of swimming, dia tak nak letak muka langsung under water, by the fourth day, dia dah boleh menyelam for a few seconds so we are quite happy with her progress.

Miss '3 days to 9' in the kids' spa area.

The two little misses together.

3 hari lagi to miss ' a few days to 9' birthday party. Her birthday is this Sunday but we are having the b'day do 1 day earlier because we thought she might have a soccer game on that Sunday. But bila dah jemput orang baru tau yg her soccer game takde Ahad tu but malas pula nak tukar the party date again so awal sehari lah sambut b'day nya. But we are not giving her presents until that Sunday, hehehe....

Since tinggal kat Australia ni, every year bila buat b'day parties for the little misses, I have been doing all the cooking and baking myself. Chiefly sebab nak jimat belanja and also terjamin halal nya. And also rasa berbaloi bila masak and buat everything sendiri especially bila tengok semua habis dimakan. But selalunya pun bukan lah ramai mana we all jemput to the parties, maximum 20 people, tu yg boleh masak sendiri, hehehe... So, hari ni was quite hectic with baking, swimming and all the nonstop household chores. Pagi tadi I made meringues cos the bday girl asked to have that at her party and malam ni buat the bday kek pulak. She's already decided on the shape of her bday kek but I'll buat tayangan perdana on Saturday ;-). Luckily, she has decided against having a dragon-shaped cake sbb mummy dia kata bnyk cantik nak buat dragon kek! Miss 4 1/2 dengar kakak dia nak dragon kek, dia pun nak dragon kek jugak, hehehe.... Tak kuasa lah mummy nak buat dragon tu!

Dinner malam ni nasi again sebab bnyk sgt frozen nasi dlm freezer tu, menyemak ruang aje. Nasi sejuk ni yang paling sedap and senang buat nasi goreng lah, hehehe. We had it with stir fried veges n whiting.

Malam ni tak nak cerita about dinner and food, nak tukar angin sekali sekala pula. Malam ni nak berceloteh about mixed kids particularly mine. In Perth, ramai mixed families and mixed kids around so the little misses don't really stand out that much but bila balik Malaysia, lain sikit cerita nya.

When we were living in M'sia and little miss ' a few days to 9' was a baby, setiap kali I keluar berdua saje dengan dia, a lot of people tanya, 'mana mak dia?' or ' anak mat saleh and chinese ye?' or 'ini anak siapa?'. And me being sarcastic selalunya jawab, 'mak dia shopping' or 'a'ah' or 'anak boss' because everytime I said 'I lah mak dia' or 'ini my daughter lah' no one would believe me, hahaha..... Sikit nya penat meneran nak keluarkan dia masa bersalin, people tak percaya anak I, mana lah tak geram kadang2....

Then bila little miss 4 1/2 arrived to complete the family, rupa dia lagi kuat ikut mat saleh dari ikut jawa. When we went back to M'sia for holidays, bila pergi jalan2 bertiga at the shopping malls in KL, I was automatically stamped as the Indonesian maid, looking after the 'anak2 boss', grrrrrrrrr!!!!! Probably my style of dressing didn't really help either since I was always in jeans and t-shirt aje pergi mana2, hehehe..... Lepas ni kena start kumpul an the brand stuff lah ye baru orang percaya I'm the mum ;-) .

Anyway, enough rambling, saje nak letak gambar of us as kids and the little misses when they were small so people can compare, like mummy or like daddy :-).

****************************** Daddy and the little misses ***********************

***************************** Mummy & the little misses *******************

Such a busy day today. Bila cuti sekolah ni memang lah selalu busy. Hari ni the little misses started their holiday swimming programme for 5 days so for the next 4 days I would be spending more than 2 hours kat swimming pool hari2. Bukannya masuk sekali pun kat dalam pool tu but penat menunggu diaorang aje, hehehe....

Minggu ni I have to masak dinner sebelum pergi swimming sebab bila balik from swimming memanglah tak sempat nak masak. Harini dinner was the easy peasy bolognese with fettucine. The bolognese sauce dah masak awal2 so balik swimming tadi tinggal masak the fettucine aje, senang cerita.

Dapat tag homework fr mama anis hari ni. Homework dr cousin nana pun tak buat2 lagi dah ada homework baru. Kalah budak2 sekolah nya homework, hehehe....Ini kiranya buat homework under duress tau mama anis, macam budak2 sekolah kena paksa buat homework lah gitu ;-).

Sebabnya our wedding was so long ago, masatu mana lah ada digital camera lagi and the photographer was our friend aje. Ours was a low budget student wedding so memang informal sgt2 and upacara nikah and reception buat kat back garden of the other half's parents' house, hehehe...Even the food and hadiah tetamu was cooked and home made by us. Manalah nak cari catering halal and murah so terpaksalah buat semua ourselves. Cadang at first nak nikah kat masjid but at the last minute nak jadi cerita masjid ada function jugak masa tu so we had to change the venue. Dah lah bukannya banyak masjid kat Adelaide masatu, hahaha.....Then Pak Imam pulaknya arrived an hour late sebab dia sesat barat tak jumpa cari rumah my in laws, memang lah kelakar kalau teringat balik....All the guests thought I yang arrived lambat sebab they thought I had cold feet and chickened out at the last minute.

Anyway, hope Mama Anis puas hati ye with all the grainy scanned photos....Nak gelak kan boleh tapi jangan lah sampai golek2 ye, wakakaka....


Selepas selesai upacara akad nikah...

With my in laws and beloved brother yg sudi datang from Melbourne...



Upacara suap menyuap wedding kek which my MIL buat sendiri.


p/s Lupa lak nak tag kengkawan yg lain to tempek gambar kawin, hehehe.....So, sesiapa yang nama tertera di bawah ni sudi2lah buat homework ye :-)
* Azie @ Aziemas
* Fidah @ S_Shamen
* Hunny @ Hunny75

Seronok nya hari ni sebab dapat supply tempe yg fresh from a friend. Still not frozen yet so hopefully boleh lah buat tempe starter this time. Last month tried making my own tempe from the frozen one tapi tak menjadi so tong sampah lah yang makan! Dah lah mahal, rugi aje rasa...Kalau beli kat kedai, it's already frozen and rasa dia pun tak sedap sangat. So, awal2 the other half dah asked for tempe goreng for dinner tonite, kalah orang jawa asli, hehehe...

Then singgah sekejap kat asian grocery store ni and the other half found frozen isi durian. Nampak manis and kuning so beli lah walaupun a bit pricey sebab dah bertahun tak makan durian. Tak sabar2 the other half nak tunggu dinner sebab nak makan as dessert. I asked him nak makan dengan bubur kacang ke, he said, he just wants the pure taste of durian in his mouth, hehehe...Best betul dapat mat saleh yang suka makan sambal, nasi, kari, durian...

So, malam ni dinner nasi again but I made coriander coconut rice resipi from Hani and makan dengan sambal sotong, tempe goreng, omelette and lettuce. The other half and I beria2 makan tempe goreng, hehehe....

The durian tasted sooooo nice and creamy. Miss '1 week to 9' didn't like the strong smell of durian but miss 4 1/2 couldn't stop smelling it sebab dia kata best nya bau durian ni. Pelik betul lah, hehehe. Miss 4 1/2 had 1 taste first and said 'not bad at all Mummy' and lepas tu laju aje dia makan durian tu. Miss '1 week to 9' was 'forced' by us to rasa durian sikit so at least she knows what it tastes like. Typical her, rasa sikit pastu terus kata tak sedap! Well her loss and more durian for us ;-).

Semalam beli boiler chicken aka ayam tua, kononnya nak masak sup ayam. Teringat masa kecil2 dulu bila mak masak sup ayam mesti sikitnya lama ke masak sebab guna ayam tua. tapi semenjak kena masak sendiri ni tak pernah lah I beli ayam tua ni so memanglah tak tau macam mana nak masak. Tanya the other half, lagilah dia tak tau, hehehe....But since dah beli kan, so kenalah guna and bila fikir balik, lagi best masak rendang dari masak sup ayam kan!

So, pagi2 lagi dah mula masak rendang and masak kicap ayam utk makan for dinner, sebab tak tau how long it'll take for the chicken to cook. Memang lain lah ayam tua ni, even the bones and the skin are so different dari ayam muda. Masa dah masak tu, semua tak lalu nak makan kulit ayam sebab lain aje dari biasa, hehehe....So, tadi I cooked it for about 4 hours which I think dah lembut lah but the other half kata still a bit chewy banding dengan ayam muda. Dia kata next time tak payah lah beli ayam tua ni. Next time kalau nak beli ayam tua, I think I'll just make chicken sup aje lah...

Hari ni terajin pulaknya buat dessert. The little misses tadi asked for meringues and miss '1 week to 9' wants meringues at her party so tadi cubalah buat light blue coloured meringues but I definitely need to lembutkan sikit my tangan to shape the meringues! Punyalah tak jadi bentuk spiral, hehehe... Egg yolks lebih buat meringues tu I made into caramel custard and makan dengan savoiardi /sponge biscuits.

p/s I also bought pigeons (yg dah disembelih and disiang) semalam. I have no idea what to do with them. Anyone knows of a good recipe for pigeons? Sape yg tau tu, bagitau lah ye :-).

Nak tergelak betul lah sebab bila kawan2 baca entry malam tadi, macam2 yg dok imagine, hehehe...Actually bukan nya project apa pun, cuma project baking aje, camni cerita nya.....

Today is the last day of school for the little misses for this term and selalunya I bake something for the little misses to take to school on the last day. And it just so happened that both of the little misses birthdays fall during the school holidays every single time so they missed out on taking cakes to school to share with their friends. This year, miss very soon going to be 9 nak sangat bawak birthday kek to share with her friends so I said ok. I thought I had plenty of time to make it during the day semalam but pagi2 keluar shopping with hubby until noon, pastu busy pulak nya dengan the kids after school and then nak masak dinner, then after dinner, keluar balik to go to the library. Lepas tu barulah ada masa nak bake cakes for them and decorate lagi. Itulah sebabnya penat sesangat malam tadi sebab asik keluar rumah aje, hehehe...See told you, bukannya project besar mana pun, buat suspense aje kan ;-).

Anyway, sebab nak bawa kek to school, lagi senang bawa cupcakes instead of cakes and then since semua orang sekarang tengah kemaruk buat and decorate cupcakes, I too wanted to try my hands at it, hahaha. Tu yang buat lagi memenatkan since I'm not a pro at all! Nasib baik lah saiz kelas kat sini kecil2 gak banding dengan kat M'sia so tak lah banyak cupcakes yg I kena buat and decorate, hehehe..

I made a simpe vanilla cupcake batter but mixed half of it with choc nesquick so jadilah marble cupcakes. Made regular sized ones for miss very soon to be 9 and mini cupcakes for miss 4 1/2. Since miss very soon to be 9's favourite colour at the moment is light blue so I iced the cupcakes using light blue icing and decorated them using whatever decorations I could find in the pantry :-).


I used choc freckles, mini choc eggs (konon nak buat mcm nests, hehe), sugared butterflies and stars and icing gel for the writing.

For the mini cupcakes I just used choc freckles because kids love them.

I know memanglah they look so unprofessional but since I'm not making a living out of selling cupcakes I think they look good enough for the little misses to take to school!

Tonite cuma nak letak gambar dinner malam ni aje sebab I'm so tired. Esok I'll cerita panjang2 why I'm so tired tonite...Nantikan sambungan nya esok ye, hehehe....Good nite, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite!

Tonite's dinner: Nachos

Yeah, another inspection over and done with. Bolehlah relax until July, hehehe. Selalunya bila the agent datang, we try not to be at home sebab rasa janggal pulaknya nak duduk diam2 masa orang tu pergi keliling rumah check segala benda. But yang tak best nya, they wont give a specific time bila diaorang nak datang cuma kata from 9-5 aje. Sometimes when we are lucky, they came while we were out but ada jugak diaorang datang when we were already at home.

So, hari ni lepas hantar the little misses to school, I went shopping, window shopping, grocery shopping, presents shopping, party shopping and cookbooks shopping :-). Dah penuh 3 shelves kat rumah ni dengan cookbooks but biasalah kan, kalau nampak bargain and sale, mana boleh tolak, hehehe.....Don't ask berapa banyak resipi from the cookbooks yg I dah try, sbb lagi banyak yang belum try dari yg dah try, hahaha....Let's just say if I were to cook all the recipes from all the cookbooks and the food magazines I've collected, the little misses would have grown up to be big misses and there would still be lots of recipes I haven't tried! But I love collecting cookbooks. Even now with all the recipes you can find on the net, I still love collecting them. Some people like to collect handbags and shoes, I like to collect cookbooks, hahaha.....

These are some of the cookbooks I bought today. Tengah sale sgt2, down to $8 each and they are quite thick so beli lah kan, hehehe....

Yang ini pulak, masa lalu depan kedai kitchen stuff ternampak dia tgh 50% off. Memang pun tengah mencari bakeware yang small size just big enough for 1 serving. Hajat hati nanti nak lah buat baked dinner in it, masuk oven and then terus serve in the same bekas, tak payah potong2 masuk pinggan lain, hehehe. Does this mean I'm being trendy or does it mean I ni pemalas nak basuh pinggan extra?....

Yang ini pula, dinner orang malas, maggi goreng with sausages. The other half gelak aje sebab beli cookbooks sikitnya banyak hari ni tapi masak maggi aje for dinner, wakakakaka....

Hari ni penat sangat2 rasanya. Satu hari suntuk mengemas dan membersihkan rumah inside and out sebab it's inspection day esok. Pejam celik dah 3 bulan since the last inspection. Dah duduk rumah sewa kan and it's in the contract yg agent will inspect the house every 3 months so nak tak nak terpaksalah bertungkus lumus bersihkan rumah. Bukannya rumah kotor sangat pun but kenalah juga make the extra effort. Vacuum and dusting hari2 pun still ada lagi habuk n mess hari2, hehehe...The other half did his part by washing the windows, cleaning the oven and mowing the lawns on Sunday so semalam and harini my turn lah pulak buat yang lain. Even the little misses have been warned not to play with their toys yg Mummy dah kemas cantik2. Nasib baik lah once every 3 months aje, kalau sebulan sekali memang lah tak larat terus!

Dinner malam ni pun simple aje. Nasi goreng, ikan whiting goreng, sotong goreng cili and sambal ikan bilis.

I really do not like it when tak tau apa yg nak dimasak. Dulu pernah we all buat weekly menu so tak payahlah susah2 fikir on that day nak masak apa, tinggal masak aje whatever's written on the menu. Tapi yang tak bestnya after a few weeks of doing it, bila sampai on that day, takde mood pulak nak masak and makan what's on the menu. And since I'm the chef, I have to like what I'm cooking so the idea was abandoned after a month. The other half wants to start doing the menu again sebab he's getting bored of being asked 'what's for dinner' every single day by me, hehehe....

Like tonite, memanglah tak tau nak masak apa. The other half nak makan nasi but rasa malas pulaknya nak buat kari and sayur and lauk the little misses, banyak kerja, hehehe. So, took out the mince and masak bolognese style but letak carrots n peas in it, like inti meat pies a bit. Then buat open pies using filo pastry. Makan dengan leftover cheese bread from last nite. Senang kerja!

Another soccer day today but Miss 4 1/2 and I didn't go sebab the game was in Mundaring aka Outer Siberia, hehehe. It took 45 mins to get there on the highway so memang jauh lah tu kiranya especially on a Sunday morning when there's no traffic around. Their team won big today, 6-0, so Miss very soon going to be 9 was so happy!

I've changed her status to 'miss very soon' cos her birthday is coming up in 2 weeks time. Since the 1st of April, hari2 duk sibuk menghitung hari to her birthday, kids! Last year we had a 'bake n shake' birthday party for her. She invited 3 girlfriends over and they baked and decorated biscuits to take home, made n baked their own pizza, made a few other girly stuff and boogied. She really enjoyed it so this year she wanted to do the same thing again. I'd rather do this sort of things than invite the whole class and tak boleh buat apa2 sangat pun. Her friends were so amazed that they were allowed to cook and make mess in the kitchen, hehehe... But she still hasn't decided on the shape of her birthday cake though! Last year buat echidna-shaped cake for her, tahun ni tak tahulah binatang apa yg dia choose, hahaha..

(Ini a photo of the echidna cake last year, jenuh mummy dia nak buat. Haritu memang bole dpt title ibu mithali lah, kehkehkeh.)

Malam ni dinner was a simple crumbed baked chicken, wedges, home made bread and salad. We had it in front of the TV watching Gladiators, hahahaha....

This is chives, spinach and cheese bread. The yeast dough dapat resipi from Taste but the filling ikut citarasa and apa yg ada dlm fridge tu. The other half really liked it!


Miss 4 1/2 tengah tekun melukis aliens from outer space. Khusyuk melukis sampai rambut kat muka pun tak sedar, hehehe...

Today I felt like making things sebab semalam tak masak dinner kan. Sebenarnya dah buat dough for roti canai semalam before the other half called to say that we are having dinner outside. So, pagi tadi bangun terus lah buat roti canai and kuah dal. I tak reti mengibar so tarik ajelah, that's why rupa takde langsung, hehehe....

Lepas buat roti canai teringin pulaknya nak buat kuih lapis. Lepas sukat the tepung, baru lah terperasan yg it's written 'glutinous rice flour' kat packet tu, wakahkahkah. Nasib baiklah belum lagi campur dengan benda2 lain kalau tak, taktaulah jadi kuih apa. So, kenalah simpan balik the tepung and cari the right tepung which nasib baik ada stock, hehehe. Ingat nak buat separuh adunan but some how bila dah campur gula ke tepung,baru tersedar yg sukatan gula tu I guna utk 1 adunan so kenalah adjust semua balik. Pening kejap, hehehe. Then the little misses had an argument of what food colouring to use to make the lapis because I yg silly pergi asked them for their preferences. Akhirnya I told them, it's going to be blue and red, habis cerita! Definitely kalau jual, takde sape nak beli sebab kaler dia lain dari yg lain....

For dinner pula, I made Phad Thai but with chicken mince sebab prawns dah habis. I made the phad thai sauce using asam jawa, palm sugar, kicap and fish sauce. The taste is not too bad actually ;-). And we finished dinner off with orange cake with vanilla ice cream and shards of mint chocolate. I gave the little misses just the ice cream and the mint choc but when miss 4 1/2 saw our orange cake dessert, she wanted our dessert pulak, hehehe....Tak boleh terkurang sikit budak tu, apa yg we all makan nampak lagi sedap in her eyes, hehehe....