Two big events happened today, a happy one and a sad one........

The happy bit, my youngest brother got engaged today dengan his chosen one :-). The last wedding in my family was in 2003 of my older sister, while I was pregnant with Miss 5 so kiranya it's about time lah for another wedding soonish, hehehe. But baru aje tunang hari ni so tak tau lah bila the wedding pulaknya. I told Emak that a December wedding next year would be good sebab bolehlah the Aussies balik lama2 sikit since it's the summer break for schools and unis here. And the other half needs to be there for the wedding because it's his job to basuh pinggan mangkuk and periuk belanga at the wedding, hehehehe. Bila lagi kan nak dapat buruh kasar Mat Saleh ni :-). He said, that's the only thing he's good at anyway at a wedding. Nak suruh tolong masak, kang nanti semua lauk jadi meatloaf aje or bolognese sauce, adalah nanti yang kena pelangkung dengan Abah n Emak, hahahahaha. The Little Misses are so excited to go back to M'sia for a wedding, especially of their favourite uncle's. We'll wait and see ajelah when the date will be next year :-).

The sad bit, we just received a shocking news that the other half's cousin passed away today. He was only 42 and he just dropped dead when he was out riding his bike this morning and couldn't be revived by his doctor friends who were with him at the time. No one knew what the cause was yet, he's still at the coroner's. He's the only cousin that the other half was quite close to because when we were in Adelaide, they were there too. Yang paling sedihnya, his daughter is only a few months younger than Miss 5 and it's coming up to Christmas very soon pulak tu. So, the other half might be flying off to Melbourne for the funeral later this week. Sedih betul bila dengar tadi, it really hits home that our stay here are just temporary and we can go anytime.......
Condolences to the Conleys, our thoughts and prayers are with you during this sad time.

Hari ni managed to do some baking which is good sebab since pagi sibuk dengan household chores yang tak pernah siap. But since we were running out of bread, so nak tak nak terpaksalah bake jugak, hehehe. But instead of baking it fully in the breadmaker, hari ni I cuma suruh breadmaker tu menguli and menaikkan aje the dough. Then I baked it in the oven cos I want the bread to be loaf shaped. I like yang bake in the oven lagi compared to the breadmaker one, sebab yang bake dlm breadmaker ni for me, the crust is a bit harder than if bake dlm oven. And roti ni bila makan freshly baked, memang lah sedap sangat2 kan, hehehe.




And ini pulak kek pandan. I guna resipi Pandan Muffin Yani fr MyResipi but tukar susu ke santan and double the dose and guna SRF and baked it in a cake tin sebab malas nak guna paper cups, hehehe. Jadi lah jugak my kek walaupun di bega bega :-).

The other half said to me most nights at dinner time, "I'm so thankful that you can cook and I'm even more thankful that you can cook different types of food!" :-). Ye lah kan, kalau I cuma tau masak nasi and lauk pauk aje, mau lah dia kebuluran tak dapat makan his western food, kehkehkeh. I guess he's thankful sebab he can save loads of money on the takeaway and eating out expenses, hehehe. But it is true though, I can't imagine what our household bills would be like if I can't cook decent food/meals. I'm not talking about cooking 5 star restaurants type of food here mind you, I'm just talking about normal everyday type of food (well, my household kind of normal everyday food lah). Memang lah rasanya pokai every month kalau makan kat luar setiap hari. Some people can afford eating out everyday but we definitely can't! Especially dengan all the varied likes and dislikes of the people in this house, lagilah susah nya kalau nak eat out unless you go to a food court.

The other half said everytime we go out to eat, he would think to himself, "hmmm, my wife can cook this so why do I want to waste my money buying this?". Don't get me wrong, he doesn't mind going out kalau I malas or penat nak masak but I pulak yang rasa like it's such a waste of money buying food that I can cook better at home. Tu yang lagi lah buat we all jarang keluar makan, hehehe.... I'd rather masak indomie goreng and goreng telur at home :-).


Like tonite's dinner for example, I wonder how much it would have cost us to buy this at a restaurant? I wonder how much it would cost for a plate like this in Malaysia ye? I ni dah lama sangat2 tak makan western food kat M'sia sebab setiap kali balik M'sia, memang lah we all tak pandang western food ni except McD or KFC lah, hehehe. Rugi lah kan kalau balik M'sia tak merasa all the glorious asian food yang berlambak2 everywhere :-). I calculated just now, for 4 of us, tonite's meals cost us roughly around $10 aje for all the raw produce and gas and electricity. Murah kan! Tu yang everyday, I said to my kids and the other half, bersyukur lah banyak2 dapat Mummy and wife yang pandai masak, hahahahahaha.... ;-). And the other half said to me pulak, "bersyukurlah banyak2 dapat hubby yang boleh makan everything!" :P


P/S Tukar topic kejap, apa ke hal lah kereta ni parking macam ni? balik from work just now, I saw this car on our street, opposite my house, until la ni, still ada lagi kat situ. I'm really really perplexed how someone can park their car macam ni. What was the person thinking! Probably drunk masa tgh park the car ke tu yg tak sedar the car's halfway on the road. Entah lah, tak tau nak cakap apa, cuma boleh geleng kepala aje lah tengok perangai manusia ni.......

Alangkah best nya kalau dapat zzzzzzzzzzzz macam kangaroo ni sekarang....... Best nya jadi kangaroo ni, takde kain baju yang bertimbun nak kena basuh and nak kena lipat, takde lunch nak kena prepare, takde kitchen nak kena kemas n lap, takde blog nak kena update...... boleh aje tidur kat mana2 tanpa gangguan..... Tuan rumah tengah mengong kjap, wahkahkahkahkahkah.... Layan aje lah :-).

I think masa musim Spring and Summer ni, people yang baca blog I lagi suka tengok I tempek gambar trees and plants and flowers dari tempek gambar food rasanya, hehehe. I can understand completely sebab kebanyakan gambar plants yang I post a bit 'pelik' sikit and takde kat Malaysia kan tu yang menarik minat, hehehe. Ingat weekend ni nak pergi ronda2 the beautiful parks around Perth ni nak ambil gambar plants and flowers yang cantik2 to post on this blog. But unfortunately, the other half has a mountain of exam papers to be marked. Nak buat macam mana kan, dah end of semester and end of exam weeks kat Perth ni so kenalah dia bertungkus lumus mark the papers. Maybe next weekend kot baru boleh jalan2 cari bunga :-). So, sementara tu, you just have to be satisfied with my food photos aje lah ye, tak pe kan ;-).

The other half has been asking for sausages and pesto pasta for dinner everytime he sees our basil plants outside yang tengah hidup membesar dengan suburnya sampai dah keluar bunga lagi tu ,hahaha. Yelah kan, setiap kali guna the basil leaves, cuma ambil 2-3 helai aje so banyak lah lagi yang tak terguna. So, dari terbiar di makan caterpillars, I made basil pesto with it.

These are the ingredients for making basil pesto. Basil leaves (obviously!), parmesan cheese, olive oils, toasted pine nuts, garlic and salt & pepper.

Then put everything apart from oil into the food processor and blitz them until mixed. then pour the oli gradually until it becomes a paste like this......

I know it looks a bit like sambal cili hijau but rasa dia memang jauh panggang dari api, hehehe.


Ini pulak trussed tomatoes that I roasted in the oven to add into the pasta


And this is the final product, penne with sausages and pesto and roasted tomatoes. Both the Little Misses siap bertambah2 lagi makan dinner malam ni. Daddy dia jangan cakap lah, memang lah sampai 3 kali tambah, wahkahkahkahkah......

Before I lupa, nak tayang some photos of the jacarandas in bloom on the way back from work today. I just love the colour, purple purple everywhere !!!! The whole street was lined with the trees so bila Spring teramatlah cantik nya the view of the street. Speaking of Jacarandas, teringat kat my Dad because when he was here a long time ago, I told him about the name and he said macam nama jawa pulaknya. I was like, "huh?". Then he said, joko in javanese is young male/ teruna and rondo is divorcee/ janda so jacaranda means teruna and mak janda. D'oh? How he came to that connection, don't ask me, hehehehe. The pronunciation is completely different anyway :-). Only my Dad could think of that!

This is nowhere near my house, about 10 minutes away and a completely different suburb pun.

At nearly 5 o'clock, the other half asked, 'what's for dinner tonite?". My answer was, "don't know!". Macam lah dia tak biasa dengan jawapan tu, hahahaha. Wife dia suka masak under stress, tak best lah kan kalau set menu awal2 ni, hehehehe ;-).

So, after a few minutes thinking about what to cook for dinner, I told them that it's going to be meatloaf with mashed potato and steamed veges which got a definite 'yes' from everyone, including the Little Misses :-). The other half said, " Finally a meatloaf for dinner! We haven't had it for soooo long...". Kalau ikut dia, every week dia nak meatloaf on the menu but my tekak pulaknya yang tak boleh terima. So, whenever he gets meatloaf for dinner, he's so happy, hehehe.... He told the Little Misses during dinner tadi, if Mummy ever has to go away for a few days and left him with the Little Misses at home, the dinner menu will feature a lot of meatloaves and chips! The Little Misses sikit pun tak kisah kalau kena makan meatloaf and chips most nights :-).


Our dinner tonite, meatloaf with mashed potato and steamed carrots. Habis licin the Little Misses' plates tonite, sedap lah agaknya tu Mummy masak, wehehehehe.

Woke up early pagi tadi to bake some more cakes for the Open Day. Rasa tak best pulak nya nak sedekah cuma segulung swiss roll aje, macam nak tak nak aje bersedekah, hehehe. So pagi tadi I baked 2 more chocolate cakes yang sempoi aje but with decoration and icing, jadi cantik sikit dari sempoi lah ;-). Biasalah kan, kalau kosong aje kek tu, walau sedap macam mana pun, orang kurang sikit minat and tertarik hati nak beli but kalau ada icing and decoration sikit, terus teruja nak beli kan. That's marketing for you :-). But my deco bukan lah canggih mana pun, wehehehehe.


The cakes to be donated. Nasib baik lah ada orang yang sudi beli my cakes, kalau tak, memang lah I nangis sebab sedih my cakes tak menarik minat anyone. Sian Sheri kena paksa beli my cake, hahahaha.... Jahat sungguh I ni. The other half said, mana aci paksa orang gi beli my kek, hehehe. Pssst Sheri, ok tak rasa dia? :-).


Our dinner tonite, sebab terlebih rajin I buat entree samosa /karipap. Dari malam tadi dah buat inti dia but was too tired to make the pastry so tadi balik from the Open day terus suruh Cik Kenwood menguli the dough and I spent more than an hour duk mengelim. I like my kulit karipap tebal and pastry-like instead of crunchy so bila makan 1 dah kenyang. Tu yg buat besar2 so tak payah kena goreng banyak2, dasar tak rajin! ;-).

And main was nasi goreng daging, keropok and red curry.


The Little Misses at the Open day today in Miss 9's class.


Miss 5 spent about 10 minutes hanging upside down at the playground. Why you may ask? Who knows! Yang heran nya tak penat pulak her arms bergayut aje...... Rambut dia macam iklan maggi mee, hahahaha...

Baru aje habis 'playing' in the kitchen for tonite. The reason why I was so 'enthused' to bermain kat dapur tu is that the Little Misses' school is having an Open Day tomorrow and I've promised the president of the PFA (parents and friends assoc.) yang I'll be donating some cakes for the food stall. If I had started the baking sooner, tak lah sampai malam baru siap, ini lepas dinner baru lah terhegeh2 nak mula, hehehe...

Pastu instead of baking the usual easy cakes that I've made before like choc cakes or butter cakes or muffins, I tried making swiss roll u! Actually dah lama sangat2 teringin nak menggulung ni di sebabkan dek tergoda tengok Cik Mat, Mama Fami and Fidah menggulung lah ni! I blamed them for the'virus', hahahahaha.... Nasib baik lah resipi fr Mama Fami's blog teramatlah senang nya so tak lah sampai berjam2 kat dapur tu :-). But senang2 pun, still tertanggal gak 'kulit' swiss rolls tu so jadi 'naked' lah my swiss rolls, wahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Hampeh betul, dah lah for the food stall pulaknya, malu nak bagi wei, hehehehe. Takpe, I'll tell people it's supposed to be that way ;-). Kalau I rajin esok, I'll make some more cakes in the morning before the Open day starts so kalau I segan nak bawak the naked swiss rolls, ada lah jugak cakes lain yang I boleh sedekahkan.......

For our dinner tonite, we had fish! Dah lama bebeno tak makan nasi and fish ni (well, sardine terkecuali :-)). Kalau kat M'sia and masa student dulu, selalu makan fish, bila dah kawin and ada family ni, jarang sangat makan fish ni. And I pun dah lama sangat tak makan ikan bertulang ni, so semalam beli lah ikan bawal but yang frozen aje :-( . Ikan bawal hitam yang frozen ni was $8 a kg but kalau bawal putih tu it's $15/kg, mahal sangat2 pulak rasanya for me. Salmon jangan cakap lah, lagi lah mahal nya :-). Walaupun OZ ni dikelilingi laut, fish and seafood are quite expensive here due to high labour cost, tu yang we all lagi selalu makan chicken and beef aje, hehehe.

The other half wanted sweet n sour when I told him I bought bawal. So, the adults had sweet n sour and the Little Misses had bawal goreng. But biasalah kan, mat saleh and anak2 mat saleh ni tak pandai makan ikan bertulang. So, Mummy kenalah leraikan isi ikan from the tulang for anak2 and bapak dia sekali! Tu yang buat I malas nak masak ikan bertulang ni even though I really love them :-).


Bawal sweet n sour.

Terung goreng bercili


My 'naked' swiss roll ;-). Swiss rolls orang lain cantik aje berkulit mcm2 kaler and corak, my swiss roll kuning aje, hehehe.....

Dah lama orang mintak recipe, baru sekarang berkesempatan (well, baru ada mood actually :-)) nak letak recipes. So, here they are:-

1. Chocolate truffles

- 1 cwn currants (it's a bit like sultanas but darker and smaller in size)
- 2 tsp kulit oren, very finely grated
- 1/4 cwn fresh orange juice
- 300g butter kek atau coklat kek yang telah di 'crumb' dlm food processor
- 125g cooking chocolate/choc chips/choc melts -melted

Method

- Masukkan currants dlm tapisan dan curahkan boiling water through them. Process ni utk 'plump up' the currants so they become juicier. Drain them thoroughly and masukkan kedalam mangkuk.

-Then add the grated orange rind and the juice ke dalam mangkuk yang berisi currants tadi.

- In another bowl, tuangkan melted chocolate ke atas cake crumb dan gaul sebati.

- Then add them ke dalam mangkuk berisi campurant currants tadi dan mix them really well. Jika kek yg digunakan a bit dry, you might need to add extra orange juice sehingga adunan itu boleh dikepal dan tak berderai.

- Jika nak buat bentuk bulat2 and roll them in choc rice pun boleh. Kalau nak roll them in cocoa powder pun boleh, icing sugar pun boleh. Pastu bolehlah masukkan ke dalam small paper cases and simpan dlm fridge jika nak tahan lama. Kalau malas nak roll them kecik2, just put them in a small baking tin, and cut them into squares like I did.


2. Potato and onion tart

- 1 sheet ready-rolled shortcrust pastry, thawed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1-2 biji bawang besar (brown onions), thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 tsp malt vinegar ( klu takde, tak payah letak)
- 3 small potatoes, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup (20g) finely grated parmesan
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup (125mls) cream

Method

- Grease a 20 cm diameter removable base tart pans with butter or oil spray and line with the pastry. Trim off excess pastry and tempekkan kat mana2 yang tak sekata. Put the pan in the fridge for about 15 mins.

-Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook for 15 minutes until layu but not brown. Add the brown sugar, malt vinegar and potatoes and cook for a further 15 minutes until the mixture is browning and the potatoes cooked. I normally put the lid on the frying pan at this time sbb nak bagi the potatoes to cook quicker. But kacau lah a few times just to make sure the potatoes tak melekat kat pan. Bila dah masak, masukkan rosemary, salt and pepper and set aside to cool slightly.

-Panaskan oven to 180°C. In a bowl, masukkan grated parmesan, egg and cream and whisk until all combined.

-Keluarkan chilled tart case from the fridge and put the onion mixture into it, then pour the egg mixture over the onion mixture and make sure all is covered. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until set and golden on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

What a tiring day, rushing off everywhere then menemankan the Little Misses at their swimming classes for 2 hours, then rushed back home to masak dinner, then kemas dapur and rumah sikit, now I'm tired! :-). So, layan gambar aje lah ye malam ni. Recipes tart and truffles will follow soonish :-).

meehoon sup yang teramat sempoinya sbb tak cukup bahan2 but janji ada sambal kicap tu dah sedap sangat2 lah tu for me, hehehe. Hidup jawa! Wahkahkahkahkahkah. I boleh buat meehoon sup ni pun sebab the other half balik lambat malam ni so I could cook apa yang I teringin nak makan. He said he deosn't mind makan leftovers from last night, hehehe..... Teruk betul wife dia ni bagi dia makan leftovers :-).


The Little Misses lunch boxes' pack pagi tadi.

Seperti biasa, I had to think of what to cook for dinner today. Dari malam semalam dah tanya the other half what's for dinner today. He just said, not pasta, then I said, not rice either. There goes 2 major carbohydrate groups out the window. Nasib baik ada lagi a few more carbs to choose from, hehehe. I can still play around with potatoes and bread kan :-).



So, our dinner tonite, potato and onion tart with sausages and carrots.

Ini rupa tart tu baru keluar dari oven.

Ini pulak rupa dia selepas kena potong.



Since sekarang ni Spring kan so pergi mana2 pun memang penuh dengan bunga. Nak tunjuk satu lagi pokok yang terdapat banyak kat WA ni but not native to here. It's called Jacaranda tree. Flowers dia warna purple and when it's Spring time and the flowers bloom, the whole tree will be covered in purple flowers, sampai tak nampak daun hijau dia langsung kadang2. Ingat tadi nak stop kat one street ni which was lined with jacaranda tress on both sides and it was really beautiful, but tak sempat pulaknya, maybe tomorrow I'll try to take some photos of the street.

Kepada kengkawan yang bagi tags for me to do, minta maaf banyak2 lah ye sebab terpaksa di peram dulu semua tags tu. I dah lama tak makan tapai so ingatnya kalau peram tags tu lama2, mana tau kan, bertukar jadi tapai, boleh gak merasa, hahahahahaha.... But akan dibuat juga one day, InsyaAllah :-).

Our dinner tonite, beef schnitzel wrap. Miss 5 asked when she saw me took the bread out to the table, "are we eating the schnitzel with roti canai?". Alahai dah memang sahih anak campuran Malaysia, roti canai aje yang dia tau sebut, hehehe. We told her rupa aje macam roti canai sikit but they are called tortilla bread :-). Since it was quite hot today, it was really nice just to have cool food for dinner and not too heavy.



The other half dah tak sabar nak makan but kena jadi model tangan sekejap, wehehehe. Thanks Love :-).



Ini untuk Mommy Lily sebab dia tanya apa yang I isi inside the Little Misses lunch boxes every day? Well, selalunya the list of things in their lunch boxes will change daily, depending on what I have in the pantry and what we have for dinner the night before and what the Little Misses feel like eating that day and also what Mummy feels like making that night/morning :-). But since they have recess/ snack/ fruit break and also lunch break, so I kena make sure they have things to eat for both breaks lah.

Hari ni they had fruit salad and biscuits for recess and for lunch they had sausage rolls, butter cake and jelly. And sampai rumah pukul 3.30, they'll have afternoon tea of milk and biscuits or cereal. Tak lah susah sangat nak bagi makan budak dua orang tu, hehehehe.

Activity hari ni, cycling around the Swan River and having a picnic at the Burswood Park. Tak lah jauh mana cycling, cuma 9 km aje but jauh lah jugak for the Little Misses because they had to ride their own bikes, especially for Miss 5 with her short legs, hehehe..... And for us pulaknya, sikit nya susah ke sebab kena kayuh perlahan aje to make sure they can keep up with us. Macam mana lah peluh nak keluar and nak exercise macam tu kan. Some photos from today



These are Kangaroo's Paw plants which I think are native to WA. They are so named sebab the bunga resembles kangaroo's paw/ tapak kaki kangaroo. This is the red flower type, ada yang black, orange, purple flowers. We all dulu tanam gak pokok ni kat depan rumah but they grew for about 2 years aje then got 'eaten' by bugs so jadi tak cantik.


I'm not sure if the plants are tall or Miss 5 is short, hahahahaha ;-).

Mummy and daughter, don't we look the same? ;-), wehkehkehkehkeh......

The other half's dream apartments yang in the background tu, cantik kan! Kena tunggu we all jadi millionaire lah dulu......


After the ride, it was so nice to sit down for a picnic :-).

Malam ni tak boleh berceloteh panjang sebab Mount Kain dah memanggil and rasa teruja sangat nak melipat kain ni sebab nak tengok dvd Die Hard 4.0 sambil lipat kain. Ni lah first time tengok Die Hard 4.o ni sbb baru aje beli the dvd semalam. Sekarang ni tgh giler2 sale dvd so we all pun beria2 lah beli, hehehe..... Ok lah, Bruce Willis dah nak start so I better go. Layan gambar our dinner tonite dulu lah ye and also gamabr Miss 5. She followed me pagi tadi pergi grocery shopping sebab dia kata, sian Mummy takde kawan kat kedai tu, hehehe. But yang tak tahan nya tu, non stop talking dari mula I start engine kereta nak keluar rumah sampai lah balik rumah semula, pot pet pot pet! Sampai naik kebas telinga mendengar nya, hahahahaha......



Our dinner tonite, red beef curry, thai style.




Pendek kan rambut dia but still curly as anything

Alhamdulillah, it's finally Friday. The other half and I really need this weekend to rest after a very hectic week. Luckily it's going to be a very gorgeous weekend weather-wise so we will probably head to Whiteman Park for our long abandoned bike ride and a picnic afterwards. Dah lama betul tak naik basikal ni, mintak2 ingat lah lagi camner nak kayuh, hehehe.Last sekali naik basikal ni kalau tak silap before puasa so kiranya lama lah kan ;-). The Little Misses will be happy to go for a bike ride and a picnic but they can't be told yet, ye lah kan, sekali tak jadi pergi, surenya frust giler, hehehe.....

This was part of our dinner tadi. To people yang ingat I made this myself, that's not the case. I don't think I would ever be able to make this bread sebijik jadi macam rupa ni. I've tried making this turkish bread once before but memang tak jadi langsung macam yang kat kedai punya tu. Maybe sebab I'm not Turkish kot, hehehe... Tu yg terjadi roti jawa tu ;-).

But roti ni kalau makan masa baru aje masak, memang lah sedap sangat2 sebab lembut and chewy at the same time. And if you buy it at one of the lebanese kebab shops, teramatlah murahnya as well and the size pun sangatlah besarnya, kalau orang melayu kata panjang sedepa lah, hahahaha. I really want to know the secret of making this bread, hmmmm.......

Petang semalam pergi hantar the Little Misses to swimming lessons without the other half. And I had to lug their heavy swimming bag around carrying it on my right shoulder. I'm not sure what happened after that but I must have pulled a muscle on my back because tiba2 aje punyalah sakit the area around my right shoulder blade setiap kali I turned my head to the right or to look down. It was hell driving the car yesterday and today! The other half tried to massage some voltaren on my back last night but sikit pun tak reduce the pain, I guess when you are not a masseur, you don't know which urat to massage ye tak. Tidur malam tadi pun I was in agony setiap kali nak tukar position or nak angkat kepala. Pagi tadi, I nearly called in sick sebab tak larat nak bawak kereta sebab tak boleh oleh kanan but since the other half had an early morning meeting, nak tak nak, terpaksalah jugak I hantar the Little Misses to school. And since I kena hantar them to school, I might as well terus pergi kerja kan, dapat jugak duit kalau pergi kerja, hehehe. Dengan berbekalkan voltaren tablets, I managed to get through the day without too much pain. If still sakit lagi by Saturday, I'll go to a masseur or physio to get my shoulders and neck 'fixed' :-).

But sakit macam mana pun, kenalah jugak masak for the family, unless memang dah tak boleh bangun langsung. Last nite's dinner was pasta, tinggal thawed and reheated aje so tak lah susah sangat. Tonite's dinner teringin pulaknya nak makan nasi so masak lah sikit yang teringin kat tekak. Orang 'sakit' ni macam2 pulak teringin nya, hehehe.... Padahal sakit bahu aje pun :-). Yelah, bukan mulut and tekak yang sakit kan so selera tu sentiasa ada.



Sekali nak makan, terus teringin nak makan ayam goreng, sambal goreng and pajeri terung, mengalahkan orang mengidam aje, wehehehe.

Ini bukan brownies nor chocolate cake but choc truffles made from choc cake. Sepatutnya buat bentuk bulat2 tapi tak sempat pulaknya haritu nak buat bulat2, terus letak dlm acuan square aje and simpan dlm fridge. Bila nak makan, potong sikit2, lagi senang and tak banyak kerja. I usually make truffles ni during christmas time along with fruit cake and mince pies to give to people and for our own gorging. Yummmmmm....... Recipe later lah ye ;-).

Malas betul nak masak dinner tadi so the other half kata dia nak makan potato nuggets, chicken fingers and salad. I pun senyum panjang lah sebab potato nuggets and chicken fingers cuma keluarkan dari freezer and tinggal masuk oven aje and the salad cuma tinggal petik the lettuce leaves dlm pot and chop up some tomatoes and avocado. And my dinner was leftovers sempoi mee goreng from lunch today, makan dengan chicken fingers. Senang sesenang nya kan, hehehe....


And entry malam ni pun pendek aje ye sebab nak masuk dapur nak bermain dengan Cik Oven malam ni. There's a banana cake baking in the oven tu and I think I'm going to make a very simple chocolate cake after this for the Little Misses for their lunch boxes. Kiranya tak lah malas kan kalau sampai 2 biji kek sanggup buat malam ni :-). I think maybe cuma malas masak dinner aje kot sebab the 'rajin' bit tu dah berpindah ke kek making, hahahaha......

Ramai yang kata the scones I made yesterday nampak sedap, memang pun sedap u! :-). Especially if you have it with cream, lagilah sedapnya. I generally like scones but sometimes scones yang dibeli kat kedai ada rasa 'pahit' sikit, probably from the bicarbonate of soda kot, maybe diaorang tertuang 1 kotak agaknya tu yang terasa 'pahit' nya. But the recipe that I've been using ni takde guna bicarb soda which for me makes it taste so much nicer. Instead it uses lemonade (sprite or schweppes lemonade, alah yang fizzy drink tu!) and thick cream. And teramat lah senangnya nak buat. Lagi mudah and cepat dari naik kereta pergi bakery beli the ready-made scones ;-).

Scones

300g tepung naik sendiri (SRF) / 2 cawan - plus a bit extra masa kita nak uli the dough
125 mlm (1/2 cwn) lemonade (sprite)
125 mls (1/2 cwn) thick cream - I guess klu kat M'sia u boleh guna fresh cream or whipped cream
40 mls (8 teaspoons) fresh milk
a pinch of salt

-Panaskan oven 220ºC.
- Ayak tepung ke dalam mangkuk yang besar.
-Add the lemonade, cream, milk and salt into the bowl dan kacau menggunakan butter knife sehingga jadi dough yang lembut.
- Keluarkan dari mangkuk dan letak di atas papan pencanai /meja yang di tabur dgn tepung gandum. Uli perlahan2 sehingga dough tak melekat di tangan. You might have to add the flour a little bit more masa menguli tu. Tapi jangan uli sampai macam menguli roti, uli sekejap aje hingga semua soft and combined.
- Press the dough using your hand sehingga about 1 inch thick.
-Using a round cutter, cut the dough until all done. Kalau besar cutter, besar lah scone nya and dapat sikit aje.
- Place on lightly greased baking tray and brush the top of the scones with milk (tak nak pun takpe). Tak perlu letak jarak sangat2 pun sebab scones ni tak lah mengembang sangat.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Serve warm with cream or butter and jam.



That's the recipe done. And now to tonite's dinner. Dinner paling senang nak buat, maki zushi. The other half and the Little Misses love smoked salmon sushi. I rather have chicken filling in my maki zushi than smoked salmon. So, tonite I made smoked salmon filling and chicken filling (leftover chicken from the chicken rice). Senang keje!

Aktiviti di hujung minggu.......




Breakfast pagi tadi, lemonade and cream scone. Makan dgn whipped cream and blackcurrant jam.



Lunch tadi, nasi ayam hainanese.



Acitvity lepas lunch, main layang2. Since angin tadi bertiup sepoi2 bahasa, dapatlah jugak the kites naik above our heads :-) sekali sekala. The Little Misses pun seronok jugak lah main kejar2 and lompat2 dengan the kites.

After beberapa hari hujan lebat selebat2 nya, semalam and hari ni was perfect sunshine. So, since semangat bercucuk tanam masih menebal di dada, we spent petang tadi lepas redup sikit, bercucuk tanam. Memang literally bercucuk tanam lah sebab we bought seedlings yang dah agak besar so we only had to tukar ke pot lain, cucuk the plants into the soil and tanam :-). Now, tinggal tunggu dia besar aje to 'harvest'. Sometimes, we buy seeds and kadang2 we buy seedlings, it all depends on what's available at the time and how motivated we are at that time as well :-). Today, the seedlings at the nursery looked so gemuk and healthy, membuatkan we all terpikat aje and I also wanted them to grow quickly to yang ambil seedlings terus.


What plants did we buy today? I was looking for curry plant/tree sebab we've thrown away our old one a long time ago because it wasn't growing properlyand nicely and a lot of people said that the leaves didn't look like the curry leaves they see in Malaysia but I thought they did and even smelled like daun kari. So, after thinking about it, we decided to bin the tree and cari a new one. But puaslah mencari, tak jumpa2. I think I have to try and find them at one of the Sunday Markets but punyalah malas nya nak pergi Sunday Market ni cos kena bangun pagi2 on a Sunday! Ha..Ha..Ha.. I still haven't found the perfect curry plant yet but tadi masa pergi nursery ni terjumpalah this plant, gambar below......


I've seen this plants a few times before kat a few other nurseries but tak pernah terberani nak beli sebab lagi lah lain giler banding dengan pokok kari yang kat Malaysia tu. And the smell pun lain lah dengan daun kari yang I grew up with kat Malaysia. Nak tau bau dia macam mana? Daun ni takde bau unless you crushed the leaves or rubbed against the leaves. Bau dia sebijik macam bau indian kari yang dah siap masak, basically a mixture of bau cumin, coriander, fennel, bawang, garlic, halia and rempah lain. That's the only way I know how to describe it. Masa I crushed it against my fingers, bila I cium memang macam bau my fingers lepas makan nasi and kari lah........ terus aje jadi lapar u, wehkehkehkeh..... It says on the information card, kata the leaves are edible and boleh dimasak so I guess I'll try it one day hey. Kalau after that, I berhenti blogging for a few days, you tau lah kenapa, hehehehe ;-).


So, what do you think of this 'curry plant'? Pelik kan rupa dia. Nampak macam rosemary leaves sikit kan but the smell memang tak macam rosemary.


And this one we bought because it looks and smells so delicious. We already had a few mint plants growing tapi bila tengok yang ni terpikat terus pulaknya and lain sikit rupanya dari the common mint. Not that we use that much mint in our cooking but I guess lepas ni bolehlah I put it in my hot choc or in my choc cake ye :-). Pastu kalau sedap sangat2 my choc cake because of the mint, bolehlah I bukak bisnes kek kat sini, hahahaha.......

Nama aje chocolate mint but believe me, it doesn't taste like chocolate, hehehe ;-).

Ini rupa common mint, lain sikit kan dengan the chocolate mint tu :-)


And the other half bought thyme because he said he has always wanted to use thyme in cooking. Then I said to him, "Since when do you cook anyway?". Terperasan jadi chef sekejap pulak dia ni, hahaha. Which means since I'm the real 'chef' kat rumah ni, I lah yang kena cari recipe ada thyme lepas ni :P.


Another plant we bought is Zimbabwe bird chilli. Rupa dia on the info card lebih kurang macam rupa chilli api, tu yg we all beli sebab chilli api kat sini sikit nya mahal, $2 for about 10 biji, tak sanggup rasanya nak beli since we don't use it that much anyway. So, bila dah jumpa chilli plant yang seakan2 rupa cili api, tu yang terus beli but when I googled Zimbabwe bird chilli, I found out that it's one of the world's hottest chillies! Errkkk...... Let's just say, neither the other half nor I are game enough to try it sebab I memanglah tak tahan pedas and I think the other half pun rasanya tak nak lah makan pedas sampai berasap telinga. So, nanti once dah berbuah lebat, I'll announce it on the blog and sape2 yang duk Perth ni bolehlah datang ambil ye :-). Pokok dia sama rupa macam pokok chilli yang lain, but nanti bila dah berbuah I'll take some photos of it so you can see the rupa buah dia ye.