It seems like baru semalam we celebrated Ramadhan and Eid 2007. Pejam celik, it's going to be upon us again Insyaallah tomorrow. This will be my 14th year berpuasa di perantauan, dah lama jugak kan, hmmm.....



So, sempena kedatangan bulan Ramadhan yang mulia ni, my family and I wish our Malaysian family, all the readers of my blog, all my cyber friends, everyone out there who knows us and all your families a peaceful, joyful, prosperous and pleasant Ramadhan. May Allah accept our good deeds and our ibadah in this holy month. Please accept our sincerest and humblest apologies for any wrongdoing, written and verbal. May Allah fill our hearts with humility, forgiveness, compassion and strengthen our iman, insyaAllah.

Miss 4 3/4 and I didn't get a good nite sleep last nite. She was sick, again! Kesian dia, the whole nite, she threw up every hour. At first, she threw up her dinner, after that, she just dry retched most of the time. Kesian betul tengok dia sebab muka lemah sgt, dgn tak cukup tidur lagi. So, since Mummy yg kena berjaga malam tadi with Miss 4 3/4, Mummy pun teramatlah penatnya hari ni sebab tak cukup tidur jugak. The whole day today, Miss 4 3/4 tak lalu makan langsung which is a real worry for Miss 4 3/4 who loves her food. I hope it's just a 24 hour stomach bug which is so common during winter. Sebab semlm the Little Misses spent quite a long time at the pool so maybe she caught something there. Miss 9 is as healthy as anything, dia jarang sgt2 sakit ni eventhough she's a fussy eater. I think it's because with Miss 9, since she was a baby I sent her to nursery so she's caught every bug known to kids (well, most of it anyway :-)) so now she's quite immuned to a lot of things. While Miss 4 3/4 since she was a baby, I looked after her and tak join langsung dgn other babies or kids until dia masuk sekolah. So, kiranya baru skrg lah dia berkenal2an dgn all this germs. Tu yg slalu sgt sakit. Ini pun, baru aje threw up again. Oh well, another sleepless night for all 3 of us. The other half said he'll take turns tonite to look after Miss 4 3/4 so I could have a few hours of unbroken sleep.

Ok lah, I better temankan Miss 4 3/4 tidur and get some shut eyes myself until the next bout of throwing up. Saje nak post photo of our dessert tonite for the other half's book celebration.



Pavlova with grated choc , strawberries and cream :-). takpe, kejap lagi puasa, lemak2 from tonite will hopefully 'disappear', hehehe....

Hari ni the Little Misses had 'student free day' sbb the teachers had PD today at school which in another word means takde sekolah hari ni. Yang geramnya, they only told us about it after school semalam in their newsletter. The other half had meetings the whole morning today so tak boleh lah nak duduk rumah jaga the Little Misses. kalau takde meetings, dia dah happy aje nak stay at home, hehehe. Luckily I could get time off work so bolehlah jaga budak berdua tu. Kesian kat families who couldn't find carers for their kids hari ni. Masa mcm ni lah you really feel the need to have your extended family around you :-).

So, what did we do this morning at home. Well, I had to clean the house and do loads of laundry as usual. The Little Misses went 'bug hunting' in the 'backyard' which kept them out of my hair for a while so senanglah nak mengemas rumah. Bila dah mengemas rumah tu, terasa lapar pulak sgt2 so I cooked lunch ( which I haven't done for a while now, hehehe). Teringin sgt nak makan nasi goreng pedas so I made just enough for me. The Little Misses mana makan pedas so diaorang sikit pun tak teringin tengok I makan.

Ini pulaknya is a picture of black tomatoes or another name for it 'kumatoes'. These tomatoes are ripe already, cuma kaler dia aje yg blackish greenish like that. From what I know, it says that it originated in The Galapagos Island and only introduced into Australia in 2005. The taste is sweeter than the normal tomatoes so tu yg fofular variety ni skrg ni. Saje je nak tunjuk to people yang tak pernah tengok the black tomatoes. I know dlm photo ni nmpk green, but actually kaler dia more black green.

On a completely different story, the other half called in the afternoon telling me that we should celebrate because the book he co wrote has been published. I said the only thing I really feel like eating is mee rebus right now so we have to go to the city to find a good mee rebus and city on a Friday nite is not the place we want to go. And he doesn't like mee rebus at all so last2, tak jadi lah pergi mana2, hehehe.... We are always like that, everytime we think of going somewhere for dinner, either he or I would say that I can cook it much better at home and end up not going anywhere! Tu lah susahnya bila he's so used to his wife cooking all this nice food for dinner so dia malas dah nak spend money buying food that I can cook at home. Lerrr!!!! Actually, we would rather spend the money buying really good quality produce and cook it ourselves at home :-). So, I told him that I'll make him something special this weekend to celebrate his name on a book and also to celebrate the coming of Ramadhan. Congratulations dear, we are so proud of you and now you are more famous than me, hahahaha...

p/s Kel Keem, your name is in the book and so is Abah's name and the kiddies. He used the names as case examples. Popular kjap kamu among the accounting students, wehkehkehkeh..

Tonite's dinner was half leftovers and half non-leftovers. Spag Bol from the other nite ada banyak lagi but not enough to feed all 4 of us (well 5 since the other half always eats for two, hahahaha). Kalau dia tau baca Malay ni, mampuih I sebab kata dia makan banyak, wehkehkehkeh. So, I had to make up another dish for tonite's dinner. I wanted to make sempoi pizza but malas nak buat the pizza dough. So, I browsed Taste and found a recipe for ham, pineapple and cheese scrolls yang guna scone dough as the base. Tapi sebab malas nak menggulung, I just rolled the dough out flat and sapu pizza sauce, tabur poloni, pineapple and grated cheese on it and baked it. Rupa dia sama mcm pizza but the base tastes like scones. It's really good actually! And it didn't take long to make it, which is the most important bit for me :-).

Spag bol tu pulak I sauteed onions,some more poloni and then masukkan the leftover spag bol until all heated through. Pastu tambah sour cream and then tabur grated cheese lagi and grill it sekejap. See, that's why lah our cheese consumption can go up to 1 kg a week, semua tabur cheese nak bagi tambah sedap, hehehehe.....

This is Miss 4 3/4 this morning on her way to the Shipwrecked Museum in Fremantle with her classmates. They were dressed as pirates sebab pergi Shipwrecked Museum kan, hehehe. The other half volunteered to be the parent helper since he didn't have any classes today. He said, "that's the first and last time I'm going with them on any excursion!" He said some of the kids were real brats! Memang jenis tak dengar cakap and very very naughty. I have no idea how the teachers cope with those sort of kids. Kalau I lah jadi cikgu diaorang, memang lah hari2 my BP naik, hehehehe.

This is one of the things that made us fall in love with Perth. Every weekday morning, this is the view I see on the way to work. And what the other half used to see when he was working in the city. He used to ride his bike along the Swan River going to work and coming home and occasionally in the morning, he could see the river dolphins frolicking around.

The big area of water tu is the Swan River and dah nak dekat2 muara lah and the cluster of tall buildings tu is the centre of the City of Perth. Kalau nak pergi City from where I took the photos, ada ferry service daily, lebih kurang mcm boat ke Pulau Ketam lah, hehehe. Bas pun ada jugak tapi kadang2 naik ferry ni, best apa :-). And along the river, memanglah banyak tempat utk berpicnic and there's a really good bike path along it as well. Adalah 3-4 kali we all dah pergi ronda2 the Swan naik basikal, seronok kamu! :-). Cuma kalau pergi during weekend, punyalah ramai manusia cycling and jogging and walking along the river. Bila tgh musim Summer, tak tau nak letak mana mata ni, bnyk sgt benda yang tak larat di pandang dek mata, hehehehe..... Seksa! :-) Muahahahaha......

p/s kereta I tu dah berapa bulan tak berbasuh so tu yg cermin dia pun sikit ny bnyk ke white spots, hehehehehe.......

Dinner malas malam ni, Spag Bol aka spaghetti bolognese :-). Malam tadi memang buat mince sauce coney dog extra sebab nak gunakan for tonite's dinner. So, tadi cuma tinggal masak the pasta and panaskan the sauce and dinner's ready in 15 minutes, punyalah malas, hahaha...... Dalam seminggu mesti ada hari2 malas kan so I guess tonite's 1 of them :-).

Cantik tak cup n saucer set ni? I got it at Spotlight for $1, murah gilerrrrrrs kan, kahkahkahkah. I found it at the clearance table but takde cacat celanya selepas puas dibelek2. I went looking around that area, manalah tau kot2 terjumpa lagi another few pairs but sadly, that was the only one left. Since it was only for $1, even though I can only use it for me, I still bought it. Weyy, comel mcm tu tak kan lah nak tinggal kan kat kedai ye tak! Ahaks! Mana tau, lepas2 ni, dia ada buat clearance lagi from the same set, bolehlah I start collecting, hmmmm....

Malam ni saje nak try resipi baru yg the Little Misses and the other half tak pernah makan lagi. Kalau kat M'sia, ramai yang dah biasa makan ni kat A&W tapi kat sini manalah ada A&W ni kan so kenalah buat sendiri. I can't remember the last time I went to A&W, probably 7-8 years ago, sikit nya lama lah, hehehe. I'm not even sure if they still have this in their menu. Tapi sayangnya dah kehabisan vanilla ice cream and root beer to make floats to lengkapkan the menu :-).

Sape nak resipi Coney Dog boleh tengok di sini but sorry ye Fida, I bega2 your resipi utk ikut selera tekak orang sini ;-). The Little Misses bila nampak their dinner asked, "what's this Mummy and what's on top of the sausage?" I told them it's a special type of hot dog with mince sauce on it. They tried it and finished it which I think is the same as they like it :-). The other half when given his dinner asked if I've put mustard and tomato sauce on his sausage. I had to gently remind him that you dont have to put them on because the mince is already 'saucy' enough. But the other half is really good when it comes to my cooking, he will try anything I cook for dinner and will finish it off even when the dish tastes really bad. But so far, he said, he can only think of 3 times when I cooked really awful dinner that neither of us can telan and had to be given to Cik Tong. Kira ok lah tu kan since we've been married for quite a while now :-).

Yang ini pula gambar ambil last wknd masa the Little Misses' school ada fete. Tak sangka boleh terjumpa Siti at the fete. Dia pulaknya bukan nya merancang nak pergi fete tu but since she was around that area that morning, terus lah singgah that school. Bila nampak dia dr jauh, terdetik dlm hati, mcm kenal aje, hehehe, padahal tak pernah pun berjumpa sebelum ni cuma in the cyberworld aje :-). Banding dgn dia, memang macam pokok kelapa dengan pokok pisang aje berdiri sebelah menyebelah, hehehe. Walaupun tak pernah kenal, but when we talked, as though macam dah lama kenal sebab dua2 ringan mulut, wehehehe.

p/s Benda yg I pegang tu botol air and cantik kan my red handbag, merah sangat lah Mak Ngah! Hahahaha......

What a busy weekend. As usual, spent the whole day semalam doing the spring cleaning but petang tu sempat jugak pergi shopping, hehehe. Shopping kan, busy macam mana pun mesti kena sediakan masa for it, right :-). Actually, dah kehabisan our necessary stocks of milk, bread, cheese and chocolate biscuits so tu yg kena pergi kedai. Bila dah seharian mengemas rumah and bershopping, obviously termalas lah nak masak malam tadi. So, we only had nasi goreng sempoi and telur. Cukuplah kan, asalkan kenyang :-). Then last nite, I had to stay up temankan the other half rearrange and reformat the PCs until 1 o'clock in the morning which is wayyyyy late for us! Selalunya by 10 dah masuk tidur so last nite sampai pening2 kepala berjaga, hehehe.

Sementara temankan dia tu, sempatlah melipat kain baju yg menggunung sambil tengok "I am Sam", not the Dr. Seuss version tau! Meleleh2 air mata tengok citer tu, sampai kena gelak dgn the other half even though dia pun dah started merah2 mata as well, hehehe. He said, tak best betul bila I yg choose the movie sebab sure nya a tear-jerker. Then, bila dah abis semua kain kena lipat and the PC still tak siap reformat lagi, I masuk 'ofis' to make a tart base for tomorrow's dessert and also set the breadmaker to bake a bread for breakfast esok pagi. Makin malam makin ligat, hahahaha....







Bangun pagi tadi terus sambung siapkan tonite's dessert since it had to be refrigerated for a few hours before eating. Then since I was already in a baking mood, I made pikelets and scones (kalau nak recipe scones, sila tengok sini ) for breakfast. We had it with whipped cream, blackcurrant conserve and fresh strawberries. YUMMMMMY! It's more brunch than breakfast since it was already 10 o'clock when we had the feast, hehehe.





After the big breakfast, we went bike riding along the river. Sebelum sempat lemak2 tu berkumpul lama2 dlm perut, better burn it off through cycling kan. But since Miss soon-to-be-5 was riding her own bike as well, so tak bolehlah kayuh laju2 sgt pun sebab kena tunggu dia, hehehe. So, not really sure if any lemak was burnt off during the ride :-). Oh well, it's the thought that counts I think ;-). Layan gambar the Little Misses up on a tree masa tgh berehat sekejap at the playground halfway thru our bike ride. Monkeys galore today :-).


The bike ride didn't dampen my cooking frenzy though, so balik from riding terus sambung buat naan dough ( recipe ada kat sini ye). Naan dough ni kena 'peram' for 3-4 hours tu yg buat cepat2 sebab kang takut tak sempat siap for our 6 pm dinner. After buat tu, sambung pulak buat samosa pastry and the potato filling. Wei, Mummy was like lipas kudung in the kitchen today :-). I felt like I could continue cooking and baking the whole night, maybe this is what lack of sleep does to me, wahkahkahkah. Pastu, tgh tunggu nak goreng samosa, I made butter chicken to eat with the naan bread. Ingat nak buat mcm2 lagi but sape lah yang nak makan nya nanti, hahahaha!



This is dessert ( recipe tengok sini ye) which didn't really gel with our Indian inspired dinner. But it was still a fantastic way to end a fabulous weekend :-).

The Little Misses had their swimming lessons this afternoon and both of them are progressing really well. Miss soon-to-be-5 memanglah tak takut air langsung, she loves being in the water and under water as well. When the instructor asked her to go under water and sit on the pool floor, she just jumped in and happily sat there for a few seconds holding her breath :-). Masa awal2 dulu, selalu jugak dia terminum air pool tu sebab tak pandai lagi control breathing under water but skrg dah expert so perut dia tak lah sentiasa penuh dgn chlorinated water lagi, hehehe... I guess bila dia tengok Miss 9 tak takut water, itu yg buat dia jadi brave because she wants to be able to do what her sister can do. Now if only Miss soon-to-be-5 can float unaided for a lot longer, that would be perfect :-).

Dinner malam ni since dah lama tak makan nasi was rice with Thai green chicken & eggplant curry. Siap bertambah the other half makan nasi malam ni, hehehe.. Either sedap sangat the curry or sebab dah lama bebenor I tak masak green curry ni, tu yg dia makan beria2 :-). The kids had mee hailam since they love it so much.

And also entry malam ni nak post the awards yang I dapat from fellow bloggers.

Award ni dpt dr VG and also Cik Mat lama dulu but since asik busy memanjang semenjak dua menjak ni so baru sekarang dapat ambil. Thank you so much VG and Cik Mat for thinking of me. Hope our cyber friendship continues.

Yang ni pula dapat dari Cik Mat lagi. Terharu sungguh lah bila kawan2 blogger think my blog is worth visiting :-). Thanks again Cik Mat. Kalau duduk dekat dah lama saya jemput datang makan2 kat rumah, hehehehe.

Miss 9's name got a mentioned on Channel 7's weather watch tonite because her school is currently doing the weather watch program. She was so excited waiting for the weather man to say her name. But the other half and I told her beforehand that there's a big possibility that her name will be pronounced wrong because it's a non 'mat saleh' name. So, we told her that it might be pronounced this way or that way but definitely not the way it's supposed to be pronounced. So, bila the weatherman said her name, we burst out laughing because Mummy got it right! Miss 9 wasn't too upset that her name wasn't said the right way because she was prepared for it. But she was upset that her friends' names were pronounced right. Nak buat macam mana kan, dah duduk negara mat saleh so lidah keras sikit lah nak sebut nama melayu ni, hehehe.... We thought we've chosen names for the Little Misses nama yang tak berbelit untuk disebut. Ye lah, kalau berbelit sgt, takut nanti Nana n Pop diaorang pun tak reti nak sebut, tak ke haru tu!

Doesn't matter where she goes here, memang takkan ada lah mat saleh yang boleh sebut nama dia dgn betul so she's quite used to it already. Same goes with Miss 4 3/4, but Miss 4 3/4 gets upset more easily bila orang tak boleh sebut nama dia dgn betul. Maybe for her, apalah yg susah sgt nak sebut nama dia tu, dia budak kecik pun boleh sebut dgn betul, takkan lah adult tak tau kot! Hahahaha. Luckily they go to an Islamic School so taklah ganjil sgt nama diaorang ni and the teachers all know how to pronounce their names correctly, hehehe....

This was tonite's dinner. The other half calls this 'heaven on a plate' while we 'normal' people call it parmigiana with chips. I notice that when I masak lots of western food during the week, our cheese consumption goes way up. We use about 1kg of cheese a week usually, banyak kan! Most of it goes into the other half's tummy. That's why he needs to ride his bicycle to work everyday, wehehehe. But Mummy still maintain aje :-).

Hari ni last day ganti puasa, alhamdulillah dah settle semuanya. Tapi kira teruk lah sebab dah nak dekat puasa baru terhegeh2 nak bayar balik! Every year, selalunya ganti puasa during the winter months, tapi this year, we were in Malaysia for most of it so itu yang terlewat sikit tahun ni. But I know, excuses excuses, hehehehe... Kejap lagi dah nak mula puasa balik :-). Ramadhan will be in Spring this year so Iftar won't be that late which is good for Miss 9. I think the latest iftar will be around 6.30 pm. Teringat dulu masa berpuasa during the height of Summer, memang tak larat sangat2 dah by Maghrib time sebab iftar nak dekat pukul 9 malam and sahur around 4 pagi. Nasib baik Miss 9 masa tu still a toddler :-).

Menu berbuka puasa at this house will be the same as any other day since dinner is always our main meal anyway. Cuma I selalunya ter'rajin' sikit buat kuih yang Miss 9 suka so she feels happy masa breaking fast. Mana ada pasar Ramadhan kat sini nak makan kuih muih n lauk pauk macam2, sedih, huhuhuhu.....



Buka puasa malam ni, I made kari laksa guna instant paste for the biggies and mee hailam for the littlies.

Dinner malam ni, pastitio with green salad and bread. Tukang masak puasa so masak yang simple ajelah. Pastu, badan pun rasa tak sedap so tekak pun tak terasa sangat nak berbuka puasa dengan dishes yang canggih manggih. Kalau masak pasta, dah gerenti ada bekal leftovers for the other half to take to work esok so tak payah susah2 buat his lunch malam ni.

Bestnya kalau dapat masuk tidur sekarang ni, zzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Selalunya Sabtu and Ahad ajelah boleh sleep in ni, but this morning still kena bersiap awal2 sebab nak kena hantar our beloved car for service. And since the service centre dekat aje dgn city, so we decided to bring the kids along to the city while waiting for the car to be serviced. Sian budak2 tu, Sabtu pun kena kejut awal, hehehe. We had to catch the train from the service centre to the city which took about 5 minutes aje but the Little Misses enjoyed the train ride. Ye lah, bukannya selalu dot naik train ni, so bila sekali sekala naik train, terpegun lah :-).

Sampai kat city around 8.15, manalah ada kedai yang dah bukak lagi pagi2 morning tu so we all lepak2 dulu lah kat Gloria Jeans sambil makan breakfast. The other half wanted to look for EEEPC for himself so he went looking in all the computer shops but I managed to persuade him not to buy any yet, hehehe.. Ye lah, bukannya perlu sgt pun benda tu so better spend the money somewhere else kan :-). I pulaknya dah berminggu2 cari a pair of boots for me but tak jumpa yang berkenan satu pun. But tadi finally found a really gorgeous looking pair (well, for me anyway) with a gorgeous price as well. Yeay, lepas ni bolehlah melaram lebih sikit ;-). The other half got a pair of work shoes as well so he's a bit happy sebab at least dapatlah jugak something from the city. The Little Misses got some books which they are happy with.

Look at the heels, kalau pijak kaki orang tu, mau patah jari kaki orang rasanya and mau berbulan jugak dlm cast, hehehe. Kiranya multipurpose jugak my boots ni, boleh buat melaram and boleh jadikan senjata kalau ada orang kacau, wahkahkahkah!

Sure ada orang yang akan tanya, gambar apa yg ditayangkan ni? Kalau nak tau, inilah our family's favourite instant noodles, hehehe.... Miss 4 3/4 even has a special name for it, "miss 9's favourite noodles". Ingat lagi, when I was in Form 1, nak makan maggi kena curi2 /senyap2 sebab Abah memang tak bagi beli benda2 macam ni. So, masa tu nasib baik sekolah petang so bila Abah pergi kerja aje, bermulalah operasi memasak maggi. Lepas dah masak tu, bungkusan maggi tu buang jauh2 sebab tak nak bagi dia ternampak dalam tong sampah. Punyalah teruk perangai masa tu, wehkehkehkeh.

Lain pulaknya in my house, sentiasa kena ada supply 'mee goreng' ni, especially bila Mummy tersangatlah malasnya nak masak. But we all makan pun maybe once every 2 weeks kot, tak lah selalu mana pun. But I'll put mixed veges and meat or sekurang2nya eggs in it so adalah protein and vegetables in the noodles. So, tak lah rasa 'guilty' sangat hati ni sebab bagi the Little Misses makan instant noodles :-). Bila dah lama tak masak mee goreng ni, the Little Misses and the other half will ask for it, sampai macam tu sekali penangan nya, hehehe.... But cuma mee goreng ni ajelah yang we all suka makan, yang lain tu tak pernah lah pulak I cuba masak for them.

So, saje nak tau, what's your favourite instant noodles? And how do you eat them?

Malam ni tak boleh nak post entry panjang2 sebab 'bukit jadian' dah memanggil2 dari tadi. Kalau tak settlekan malam ni, alamat mau jadi 'gunung' esok tu. Bayangkanlah 5 loads of washings to be folded, mau nya tak tinggi macam bukit! Nasib baik lah takde sesape nak datang rumah, kalau tak, memang malu abis, hehehe.....

Tonite's dinner, menu orang malas masak. We had 'cooked breakfast' for dinner. As long as everyone's full and doesn't complain, who cares right!

My dilemma setiap kali masak nasi for dinner is what to do with the leftover cooked rice. Selalunya I just put it in a bag in the freezer for later use. And selalunya I'll use it for nasi goreng lah. But bila dah buat nasi goreng a few days ago, rasa bosan pulaknya nak masak nasi goreng again especially when the nasi goreng I make everytime is the non pedas version, because of the Little Misses. And I think the Little Misses and the other half pun dah jemu jugak makan nasi goreng ni. So malam ni for dinner I tried something completely different. We had rice last nite so adalah leftover cooked rice yang nak kena habiskan. Dalam hati fikir, "well, kalau tak sedap and tak lalu nak telan, kenalah masuk tong sampah and kenalah makan roti telur aje for dinner". Nak rasa masa tengah masak tu, I puasa pulaknya and the other half wasn't at home yet. So, kenalah panggil Miss 4 3/4 to taste it cukup tak rasa masin n what not. Bila ditanya dah masin ke, she just looked at me buat muka tengah berfikir and said, "hmm, I think it's salty enough!" Hahahaha..... Nak tak nak kenalah percaya cakap dia, hehehe.



What I did was saute diced onion, diced carrot and diced mushroom until cooked. Then add cooked roast chicken meat to it and then add some tomato sauce, chicken stock, pepper and saute lagi. Put the mixture in a bowl, then add the cooked rice and salt to it. Gaul sampai mixed. Then pecahkan 4 biji telur into the mixture and gaul lagi sampai betul2 mixed. Sendukkan masuk dlm greased texas muffin tins and then top it with grated cheese. Then bake it at 180ºC for 20 mins. Then hidangkan with tomato sauce /chilli sauce and green salad. Miss 4 3/4 said, "This is a yummy dinner you cooked Mummy!" She's a sweet talker :-).





Since I puasa, teringin pulak nak makan rice paper rolls.

Entry malam ni nak membayar hutang piutang segala recipes yang dah lama dijanjikan. Takut pulaknya nanti ada orang kata kita kedekut tak nak share recipe, hehehe. Bukannya kedekut nak share sebenarnya tapi takut pulak nanti recipe tak se'sedap' gambar. Kebanyakan dishes yang I make bukannya ikut recipe betul2, main tambah2 and main campak2 ikut apa bahan yang ada masa tu. So, kalau sesiapa yang nak cuba buat tu, pandai2 lah godek2 sendiri ikut citarasa masing2 so cukup segala rasanya mengikut selera tekak masing2 ye!

1. Spinach, mushroom and ricotta penne

-about 100g baby spinach leaves (kalau kat m'sia kena guna daun bayam yg kecil2 tu lah rasanya)

-1 cup ricotta cheese (kalau takde boleh guna cottage cheese but kena tambah other cheese bagi flavour sikit like parmesan or cheddar ke)

-1/2 brown onion, diced finely

-1 clove garlic, minced

-100g button mushroom, sliced

-20g butter

-salt and pepper to taste

- 250g pasta ( any shape you like)

-grated parmesan cheese for serving

-First, masak spinach until wilted sama ada steam or rebus or microwave. Then squeeze the leaves, make sure tak banyak air yang tinggal. Chop coarsely.

- Then heat the butter in a frying pan until melted. Add the onion and the garlic and saute sampai masak.

-Then add the mushroom, and saute lagi sampai mushroom masak. Matikan api.

-In a blender or food processor, put the chopped cooked spinach, the mushroom and onion mixture and the ricotta cheese and blitz them until semua bercampur and the spinach dah finely chopped. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put it aside.

- Masak pasta seperti di packet and drain it.

-Put the pasta back in the pot and pour the ricotta n spinach mixture onto the pasta. Mix it well and dah siap untuk dihidang. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on it before eating.

- Kalau nak yang non vegetarian version, boleh add cooked sausages, frankfurters or cooked beef rashers.

2. Home made beef burger

-500g beef mince

-1 small brown onion, diced finely

-1 piece of white bread to make into breadcrumb (masuk dlm blender and pulse until jadi breadcrumb)

-1 tsp worcestershire sauce (sauce Lea&Perrins)

-1 tbsp tomato sauce

-3/4 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp chili powder (optional kalau nak pedas)

-1 egg, kacau sedikit ( small size)

-Put everything in a bowl and ramas menggunakan jari sehingga semua bercampur sebati. Kalau rasa geli nak ramas, masukkan dlm food processor dan pulse until all mixed.

- Shape them ikut besar mana n tebal mana kita nak.

- You can either grill the burger or BBQ or masak kat frying pan, terpulang ikut citarasa masing2 but jangan guna minyak yg banyak to make it healthy.

3. Meatballs

You can use the same ingredients above but buat kecil2 or you can use the recipe below. Ini recipe utk budak2 bagi hidden veges in the meatballs :-).

-500g beef mince

-1 small brown onion, chopped

-1 small carrot, chopped

-a handful of button mushrooms

-2 slices of bread

- 1 large egg

-1 tbsp tomato paste

-1 tsp salt

-pepper ikut nak pedas mana

-into the food processor, add bread, onion, carrot and mushroom. Blitz them until finely chopped. Then add the egg, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Pulse until all mixed. Then add the beef mince and pulse again until well mixed.

- Using wet hands, shape them into tiny balls and cook them either in the oven at 180ºC for about 30 mins ( spray then with oil first) or pan fry them.

4. Choc swirl cheesecake slice ( Janelle Bloom)

Bahan A

-185g butter

-1/4 cwn cocoa powder

-1 cwn caster sugar

-2 eggs (gred A/59g each)

-1 cwn tepung gandum

-combine butter and cocoa powder in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook, kacau selalu sehingga butter melted. Matikan api.

-Add the sugar, eggs and tepung and mix well using fork.

-Tuangkan ke dalam acuan 4 segi or rectangle about 20cmX20cm yang dah bergris and berlapik baking paper.

Bahan B

-250g cream cheese, softened (room temperature)

-1/3 cwn caster sugar

-1 tsp vanilla esen

-1 egg (gred A)

-Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla esen and beat it until combined. Add the egg and beat it again until well combined.

- Tuangkan adunan cream cheese ini ke atas adunan coklat tadi carefully.

-Dengan menggunakan knife atau lidi, swirl kan kedua2 adunan hingga dpt bentuk .

Preheat oven 180ºC dan bakar adunan for about 40-45 mins or hingga masak.

Recipes yang lain sambung lain hari lah ye, penat jari jemari saya menaip dah, hehehe

Pagi tadi Miss 4 3/4 woke up saying, "I can't go to school today Mummy because I've got the sniffles and I'm coughing". Then I said, "Well, you have to go to school because Mummy's got work.'. Then she said, " Can Daddy stay with me at home then?". Then I said, "Daddy's at work already sayang." So, nak tak nak terpaksalah Miss 4 3/4 pergi juga ke school with strict instruction not to run around at the playground and not to take her jumper off even though she feels warm. Balik from school tadi, she was sweating and she told me, " I didn't take my jumper off at all Mummy even though I was sweating!". Hehehe anak I, lurus bendul betul! But she didn't cough at all at school, hehehe. Kesian jugak dia sebab she coughs at night time bila sejuk and then terus uwekk. Penat I bagi dia makan dinner, semua keluar balik.

Dinner malam ni I was terlebih rajin. I made beef mince pie,roasted sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. Yang terlebih rajin tu, sebab I ter rajin bentuk2 kan mashed potatoes tu into balls then baked them again. Dah takde kerja lain agaknya, hehehe. The Little Misses really enjoyed them a lot though! We had the lot with green salad.

The things we did this weekend:

Saturday - Sent the little misses to a friend's house for a play date for the day. Suddenly, tinggal berdua2an aje dengan the other half. Neither of us knew what to do with our free time sebab dah berapa lama tak tinggal berdua ni, hehehe... So, the 'best' thing to do was to go shopping :-). It was so good to be able to walk around the shopping mall without this constant 'noise' calling our names. Seronok nya dapat masuk the kitchenware shops without feeling seriau. Kalau the Little Misses ada, seriau aje takut diaorang terlanggar benda2 yang senang pecah tu. Then dapat lah belek barang2 lama2 sikit, aaaahhhh....heaven! hehehehe... Even though it was only for a few hours but the other half and I really enjoyed our together time :-). If only we could do it every weekend, kan ke best ;-).

Sunday - Since we've spent the whole Saturday being lazy, terpaksalah spent the whole morning cleaning up the house, from the toilets to the bathrooms to all the rooms. The Little Misses pun kena kerah jadi buruh paksa jugak pagi tadi, hehehe. Bila rumah dah 'berkilat' baru lah boleh masuk dapur sekejap.

I've promised the Little Misses that I will make 'fortune cookies' with them weekend ni. So, tengah hari tadi, we did just that. Nak buat Fortune cookies ni bukan nya susah sgt pun but bila nak melipat lepat tu lah yang kelam kabut sikit. The first few tries tak jadi sgt so the other half had to help the Little Misses melipat the cookies. I asked Miss 9 to write the 'fortunes' but she wrote jokes on the paper instead, hehehehe. Jadi lah kan :-).

Then, for dinner, I made Pizza for the other half and the Little Misses. Dah dua hari makan asian dishes sempena Olympics so malam ni diaorang dah minta Western lah pulak.

But dinner for me was steamed rice noodle rolls with stir fried veges. Dah lama tak makan rice noodle rolls ni so semalam terjumpa terus lah beli. The other half and the kids tak berkenan sangat food macam ni so I made it just for me while the rest had pizza.

For dessert, I made Lime Pie. Rajin gilers Mummy masak hari ni, hahahahaha......

The other half sms'ed me this morning saying,"let's have chinese for dinner tonite". My answer, "we are having stir fry and rice, that's chinese!". Pastu tanya dia kenapa teringin nak makan chinese pulaknya tonite, selalu asik mintak kari aje. Dia kata sempena Beijing Olympics 2008 yg start malam ni, tu lah dia mintak chinese food. Nasib baik lah Olympics kali ni bukan kat Ghana or kat Siberia, mau fening I kena fikir nak masak food from there, hehehehe..... Nasib baik lah Mummy pandai masak chinese food ;-).

After the Little Misses' swimming lessons, balik rumah terus start masak the Olympics dishes. At first cuma nak masak beef in black bean sauce aje tapi the other half teringin nak makan honey chicken so terpaksalah jadi rajin sikit n masak extra dish, hehehehe...

Since makan chinese dishes kan, so kenalah pakai chopsticks and sudu tembikar comel aje...

Jom makan..... and selamat menonton Beijing Olympics 2008! Go Australia n Malaysia!

Dah beberapa hari ni memang malas nak masak anything too complicated. Anything that involves having to use blender ke, or food processor ke or 2-3 biji saucepans n frying pans memanglah tak kuasa nak di buat. I guess everyone who has to cook everyday will have these moments occasionally or if they are like me, regularly! Masa ni lah rasa nak aje duduk menetap balik kat Malaysia with the abundance of gerai and cheap restaurants around. Nak makan apa tinggal order aje! Actually kat sini pun sama, banyak varieties of restaurants around but memang boleh pokai lah kalau keluar makan selalu sangat ni. So,nak tak nak, terpaksalah masak jugak eventhough cuma masak the simplest of food.

Malam ni, since perasaan malas tu masih lagi membara :-), we only had 'doorstops', scrambled eggs and fried chicken goujons for dinner. 'Doorstops' ni just another name for thickly sliced bread grilled with veges and grated cheese on it. We used tomatoes and avocadoes on the bread. Well, I know technically tomatoes and avocadoes are fruits and not vegetables but for dinner tonite, we classed them as vegetables, hehehe.... So, tak boleh lah orang mengutuk kata tak makan sayur ke family ni, adalah jugak sayur tu kan ;-).

But when you arrange your food nicely on the plates and present them nicely, even the simplest food can look tempting kan :-).

To everyone yang mintak recipes, minta maaf banyak2 sebab tuan rumah masih lagi malas teramat nak type all the recipes. Especially bila recipes kebanyakannya main campak2 and takde measurement, nak kena ingat balik tu yang ambil masa sikit. Ye lah kan, my brain cells are getting older so they need plenty of time to recall things :-). Muka aje yg awet muda, wahkahkahkah. That's why I call the other half - 'dear' and the little misses - 'girls', much easier to remember than remembering their names, hahahaha.....

Since weekend dah puas makan nasi n everything asian, last nite's and tonite's dinner had to go western lah pulak. The other half came home late from work last nite so I had to make dinner that could be reheated when he got back home, so pasta lah yang paling senang.

We had pasta with chicken paprika and steamed broccoli. Miss 4 3/4 makan beria2 sampai her tummy macam dah nak meletup. That nite, baru aje dia nak tidur, she had a bout of coughing and segala benda yang dia makan for dinner dia uwwekkk kan balik. Memang I dah agak that would happen sebab punyalah banyak dia makan masa dinner tu! Sian jugak kat dia sebab tak sempat jadi darah daging dinner dia, dah keluar semula. Patutlah makan banyak makan pun dia, badan tak naik2, hehehehe...... As long as she's not bulimic when she grows up, ok lah tu.

Tonite's dinner was sausages again, hehehe. The other half and the little misses were asking for it so I made a simple dinner of sausages with fried caramelised onions n potatoes, green salad and lebanese bread roll. The other half doesn't like lebanese bread that much sebab dia kata they tend to be a bit dry. So, nak elakkan from them drying up, I spread them with butter and grated cheese and roll them tightly and wrap them in alfoil and bake them until the cheese melts. Baru lah semua suka makan!

The other half's friends came over yesterday to watch the Game with us and the All Blacks won so easily against the Wallabies, yeay!!!!! Poor the othe half because he was the only one barracking the Wallabies :-). And seperti yang dijanjikan, we put out an all asian spread for finger food during the game and for dinner. They were so impressed with my culinary skills, hahaha..... Kalau jemput orang melayu, sure sikit pun diaorang tak heran sbb dah biasa makan. But bila jemput Mat Salehs, the oohs and the aaahhs when they saw the sate, karipap, jemput2 udang, rendang, acar, nasi lemak and sagu gula melaka were quite embarassing to hear, macam lah sedap n exotic sangat2, hehehe.... ;-).


Layan aje lah gambar the dishes I made semalam.







I cooked the rendang daging in the slow cooker so I had time to do other things that morning like menyucuk sate n mengemas rumah again :-).

Karipap, jemput2 udang, emping pedas n maruku (both kedai mari :-) )

Sate ayam with instant nasi impit.

The dinner plate, nasi lemak with rendang ayam n acar n ikan bilis goreng.

Sagu gula melaka but with susu cair instead of santan, my favourite!