Dah lama betul simpan segala recipes yang I've promised I'm going to put up. Finally, ter rajin pulak malam ni nak type the recipes, hehehe. So hopefully people yang requested for the recipes lepas ni boleh lah cuba ye :-).

1. Easy- peasy crustless quiche

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup plain flour
  
• 3/4 cup grated cheese
• 1 teaspoon butter, softened
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten ( I guna 50g nya eggs)
  
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp oil
  
• 1 cup of mixed vegetables, diced (any mix will do, I used mushrooms, carrots, peas, campsicum)
  
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• any type of cooked meat, chopped up a bit (sausages ke, cooked BBQ chicken,cooked beef, whatever you have leftover in the firdge :-))
  
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

Method

1. Panaskan oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a round pyrex dish dish (or a quiche dish kalau u ada).
2. Combine plain flour, cheese, butter, eggs and milk in a bowl. Stir well.
3. Heat a frying pan and add the oil, saute the dices onion until layu. Then masukkan all the diced mixed vegetables and saute until just masak. Tuangkan the cooked vegetables and the cooked meat into the bowl with the milk mixture. Kacau until well combined.
4. Then, pour the mixture into the pyrex dish.
   
5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch. Serve.

2. Pan-baked Scones (to be eaten with savoury stuff)

Ingredients

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 30g butter, melted
• 3/4 cups milk
• a pinch of salt
  

Methods

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
   
2. sift the flour into a bowl. Add the pinch of salt to the flour.
3. Add the milk to the warm melted butter and mix well.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and mix the batter with a butter knife until a soft dough forms.
5. Then roll dough out onto a floured board and knead lightly. Cut into rectangles. Then transfer to a baking tin.
   
6. Bake for about 12- 15 minutes until lightly browned.
   

3. Toad in the hole ( gourmet version :-))

Ingredients

• 500g beef sausage, cut into smaller pieces
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
  
• 1 large brown onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 tomato, sliced thinly
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon grain mustard
• fresh basil leaves, shredded
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Heat a frying pan and add the olive oil. Add the brown onions, sliced potatoes and sausages into the pan and saute until cooked.
   
3. Then add the carrots and saute for 2 minutes. Transfer all into an ovenproof dish.
   
4. Sift flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Combine egg and milk and stir into flour. Add mustard and season with salt and pepper.Mix the batter well.
   
5. Pour batter over sausage mixture. Shake dish to distribute evenly. Arrange the slice tomato and scatter the basil leaves on the batter. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until batter is golden and well-risen. Serve with salad.
   

Finally, jeng...jeng..., presenting Maya, our 'beloved' virtual personal trainer. We are so glad that Maya is not stick-thin macam models tak cukup makan tu. Tak lah we all terasa gemuk sangat2 bila buat program ni sbb Maya pun kiranya on the normal healthy looking side like me, except tang chest and 6-pack tummy, wahahahaha..... (by the way, the Other Half said Maya's got a fat bottom, hehehe....). But she's very pleasing to the eyes as well so tu yg the Other Half seronok aje bila exercise dengan Maya ni :-). Suara dia pun lemak merdu aje di dengar :-).

Cantik lah kan our trainer ni, hehehe....


Ini pulak cupcakes that I made last nite for the Little Misses' school's cake stall. The parents of Year 1 and 2 students were asked to donate a plate of either savoury or sweet cakes/muffins/finger food to be sold at the cake stall after the assembly today. Selalu nya every couple of months the Parents assoc. akan buat cake stalls ni untuk fundraiser and every time different classes yang kena rota. Hari ni kena turn Miss 5 so malam tadi sempat lah buat cupcakes and sempat lah siap hias pagi tadi before school. Nasib baik dia suruh bawak 1 plate aje, kalau 1 tray, memang tak kuasa I! And biasanya, cupcakes yang colourful and chocolatey memang lah yang akan cepat sold out dulu. Tu yg I made chocolate-choc chips cupcake pastu hias dgn pink icing, lagi lah nampak menawan kan, hehehehe. Miss 9 kata, my cupcakes dah habis di jual even before recess lagi :-) sebab dia pergi tengok masa recess, dah takde langsung Mummy's cupcakes on the table. Alhamdulillah lah, tak payah susah payah kena bawak balik....

So far I'm still impressed with our Wii personal coach, Maya. When we keyed in that we don't really feel motivated to exercise, she will give us gentle exercises so we don't feel lagi demotivated. But if we key in yang we are raring to exercise, memang she'll push us to the max, sampai peluh2 tahap mandi lencun lah, hehehe. And yang paling best nya, I can see that my weight is starting to come down as well. Yeahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Seronok I, hehehehe. And even The Other Half said that he can see that my bum is getting smaller! WHAT????? I don't think it was ever that big before! But I know him so well, he likes his wife to have a flat bum, hehehe (oops, I have to use the word bottoms instead of bums or else kena marah dengan the Little Misses for using impolite word, hehehe). So, tak boleh lah I jadi macam J Lo kan ;-). Chest macam J Lo takpe, bottom mcm J Lo tak boleh, wahahahaha........ Tak larat......


Last night I tanya Miss 9 dia nak makan apa for dinner. She said she wants KFC style chicken so sebagai ibu mithali, I made just that for our dinner tonite. Kira healthy lah kan sebab semua nya oven baked instead of fried. And the coleslaw pulak I added chopped apple to it which made it extra nice and I used purple cabbage instead of the normal cabbage. The Other Half mula2 a bit sceptical about the apple in the coleslaw but lepas he tasted it, dia kata memang jadi kan lagi sedap cos it's crunchy and not too sweet, hehehe.... Lebih kurang macam Waldorf Salad lah but without the celery or walnuts :-). So, The Other Half renamed the coleslaw to 'walslaw' , apa2 lah pakcik tu!

Ada rupa KFC tak? :-).

I love my bread machine sebab memudahkan kerja membuat roti ni. Balik from work tadi, teringin nak buat cornmeal loaf so I put all the ingredients into the bread pan, turned on the bread machine using the 'bread- dough' cycle and let the machine buat kerja kneading and proving it. Lepas I switched it on, I pun keluar rumah pergi grocery shopping before fetching the Little Misses from school. Balik from school, the dough dah pun siap the cycle. I cuma keluarkan from the bread pan, knead it again and shape it into a loaf and a few rolls. Then let it rise again pastu bakar in the oven. Yang best nya, I can just leave it and do my own things while the bread machine does all the kneading. Tak payah lah bergelumang dengan tepung, hehehe.... Seronok kerja bila ada helper ni kan :-).


This is the polenta bread that I made this afternoon. I just guna the white bread recipe that comes with the bread machine but substituted 100g of the bread flour with cornmeal/ ground corn. Cornmeal ni will make the loaf a bit yellow and texture-wise, a bit gritty (macam berpasir sikit lah but takde lah rasa pasir, hehehe). But sebab tak banyak sangat cornmeal yg I guna, the bread was still very soft and gebu. Even the Little Misses really love the funny texture of the bread, makan dengan butter masa panas2 memang sedap sangat2 :-). Roti apa aje pun kalau makan masa panas2 memang sedap sangat2 kan, hehehehe.....

Ini pulak our dinner tonite, nasi panas with fried mackerel (apa nama dia ye in Malay, memang lah lupa sangat2, hish!), stir fried veges and mussels sambal berkari :-). Bila dah makan macam ni, memang lah malam ni kena exercise dengan Maya, hehehehe...

After only 2 days of exercising with Maya, our virtual personal trainer on Wii, the lower half of my body is aching all over. My thighs and my calves feel so sore. All the muscles kat my legs yang selama ni lie dormant sleeping sebab tak pernah di exercise kan tetiba dikejutkan dan di paksa bekerja keras so obviously lah kan, depa2 ni akan memberontak! So, bila diaorang memberontak, I lah yang akan kena padah nya kan. So, satu hari ni, nak squatting on my toes sikit nya seksa ke! Tapi bukannya lama mana pun we all exercise every nite, just a 30 minute program but still lah berpeluh2 you :-). Takpe takpe, for the sake of a fit and trim body, I rela bersakit sakit, wahkahkahkah.......


The Other Half and I are both doing the Wii program and sebelum we all mula, Maya did a fitness assessment on us. And after putting all our details and doing all the exercise she asked us to do, the verdict was, I need to increase my cardio fitness level but my weight is still within the normal range ( which I already knew but I want my weight to be the lower end of normal, not the higher end of normal!). And for The Other Half pulaknya, he really really needs to lose a lot of weight, hehehehehe, (which he also already knew :-)). Sian hubby I tu kan terang2 Maya kata dia fat, hahahahaha....


But this time around, we all tak lah berdiet sangat2 like last time. We just cut down on a few things like sweet stuff and junk food :-). Sedih I kena berhenti kejap dari makan crisps and desserts. But kalau tengah craving, I'll still eat, wehehehehe....

And since we are not really on a diet, our dinner tonite pun tak lah healthy bagai nak rak. We had oven roasted lamb chops in rosemary honey gravy, mashed potatoes and salad. Salad tu kena ada sebab nanti Maya marah kalau dinner takde veges, hahahaha...... ;-).

Malam ni tak boleh nak berceloteh panjang sbb I want to try my new Wii 'game' called My Fitness Coach- Get In Shape. The Other half bought it for me! Is he trying to tell me something you think? Hmmm.... Is this his subtle way of telling me that I've put on a bit of weight and I need to lose it? Or is it because he's sick and tired of hearing his wife moaning about her weight gain but not doing anything about it? Hehehe.... Probably the latter kot :-). I did tell him that I want to go to the gym but just can't find the time except night time when he's at home to help look after the Little Misses. But bila dah malam, memang lah malas nak keluar rumah kan just semata2 nak pergi ke gym. Waktu lain memang takde masa lah unless I rush after work - home- gym- school-home again. Tak larat wei nak rush everywhere ni!


The Other Half kesian kat wife dia ni yang asik moaning about her weight aje hari2 so tu yg dia belikan the 'game' which claims to be like having your very own personal trainer albeit a virtual one. And he also wishes that his wife would stick to the exercise program this time, hehehe. Hopefully lah kan! I pun dah naik fed up asik dengar myself membebel hari2 about my weight :-). So, wish me luck with this one. I need to lose 3 kilos which only God knows how long it will take to reach that goal. 3 kilos doesn't look like much kan but percayalah, I've done it before and it took a lot of daily exercise and dieting to lose that much weight. Pastu memang kena ada strong will to avoid temptation in the form of yummy fattening food. Terus rasa nak nangis ni, hahahaha........

Our dinner tonite tak lah healthy sangat sebab ada cheese and eggs and sausages in it but vegetables-wise, memang lah cukup bagus sebab you can put whatever veges you want in it. I added capsicum, carrots, peas. Basically whatever meat yang leftovers from previous meals, you can put in it. I added sausages and chicken from a few days a go punya dinner. Pastu makan pulak dengan lettuce so I guess healthy jugak lah kan, hehehehe......


Everything-in-it quiche with pita bread and lettuce.

The Little Misses had swimming lessons today and The Other Half and I slalunya ambil kesempatan while they were having their lessons to borak2 about our day. Ye lah, sehari tak jumpa so bila dah jumpa tu, borak2 lah kan, what else to do pun, hehehe. And tadi while we were chatting, I was playing with the rings on my fingers. And baru lah terperasan yang the rings tu dah makin susah nak keluarkan which shows that my fingers dah makin gemuk!!!!!!! WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!


Dulu when I was at my slimmest, the rings slalu sangat ter come off from my fingers dengan sendirinya sebab masa tu my fingers were so thin so senang lah nak tertanggal. Bila I masak2 or kemas2 rumah, memang slalu kena berhati2 takut terhilang my diamond ring! Wei, bukan senang nak dapat diamond ring ni, hahahaha. Kalau hilang, takde lah The Other Half nak belikan a new one! Tapi sekarang ni, walaupun still masih boleh tanggalkan, tak lah ketat mana, but tak lah sesenang dulu. I have to pull it a bit harder to get it over the bony joint. Memang itu salah satu tanda I kena kuruskan badan balik lah kan :P. I can still twirl the rings on the fingers easily, cuma part bony joint tu aje lah yg bermasaalah sikit, hehehe. But kiranya dah bagus lah kan if I can still wear my wedding ring from 13 years ago which shows that my berat badan still maintain aje mcm zaman belum kawin dulu, wehehehe....... Cuma pengagihan lemak tu aje lah yang a bit different banding dgn dulu ;-).


Masa masak dinner tadi since teringatkan lemak2 kat jari jemari I yang dah makin bertambah, I made something healthy for me. Well, I had a big lunch pun tadi, tu yang I made a light dinner for me. I made pan fried chicken and roast potatoes and salad for The Other half and The Little Misses. And for me I made chicken sandwich using the same pan fried chicken and salad with multigrain bread. Dah lama betul I tak makan sandwich ni even though I selalu buat sandwich for other people's lunches. And it tasted really good with all the healthy bits in it :-). Even Miss 5 wanted some of my sandwich, hehehehe. Biasalah kan kids, apa yang the parents makan, nampak macam sedap sangat2 :-).


This was The Other Half's dinner. Roast potatoes topped with sour cream, cheese and chilli sauce, pan- fried marinated chicken thigh fillet and salad ( sejemput aje ;-)). Dia kata dia lapar sangat2 dinner tadi sbb makan lunch sikit aje tu yg satu pinggan penuh dinner dia tu!


And this was my dinner, chicken salad sandwich.



Which one would you choose to have for your dinner? Mana yang nampak lagi menyelerakan and menggiurkan? Hahahaha.....

It's been 3 weeks already since school's reopened this year. And homework Miss 9 pun dah makin bertambah everyday (but still not as much as homework students kat M'sia lah :-)). Even Miss 5 has been getting homework from school. Every Monday, she'll get a new book for her to read at home every night. On Monday night, there'll be a few words yang dia still tersangkut nak baca. But by Tuesday night, she's reading so well already sampai dia naik bosan baca buku yang sama aje. So, The Other Half tak nak bagi Miss 5 bosan baca the same book over and over again, has been asking Miss 5 to read all the words backwards but pronouncing it the right way! His reason was, dia tak nak Miss 5 reading the book by memorising the story so tu yang dia suruh Miss 5 baca backwards. Punyalah suka Miss 5 dapat a new challenge. I told The Other Half, kalau Miss 5's class teacher complained about Miss 5 reading backwards, he has to answer it and accept the blame! Ada ke, takde kerja cari kerja! Dia ingat baca buku Bahasa Arab agaknya, hehehehe.......


And Miss 5 has been getting spelling homework as well. The problem with Miss 5 is that she can spell but she can't write that well. Banyak alphabets dia yang masih terbalik. 'd' jadi 'b' , 's' jadi '2' , 'z' jadi 's' . So kalau spell 'and' , she knows it's 'a.n.d.' but she will sometimes write it 'a.n.b.' so salah lah kan, camner lah tu nak dapat full marks :-). Nama dia pun dia kadang2 terbalik dia tulis 'z' with 's' , hahahaha........ But yang herannya tak pernah pulak dia tulis 'dad' jadi 'bab' :P. I can't remember Miss 9 having this kind of problem when she was that age, hmmmm...... Budak2 zaman sekarang, they are so mahir with all the letters on the computer keyboard so tu yang makin malas nak menulis ;-). Hopefully, she'll get better with time and not get her alphabets confused anymore. We'll see how she goes in her spelling test tomorrow, hehehehe.


Malam ni I teringin sangat nak makan nasi putih dengan lauk sempoi2. But for the Little Misses n the other half I made them sausage pizza sebab sian pulak nak bagi diaorang makan ikan bilis goreng aje, hehehe.


So, my dinner malam ni was nasi putih dgn terung goreng with loads of bawang besar n cili, ikan bilis goreng and sambal sotong (yg I jumpa dlm freezer, hehehe). Banyak betul harta karun dalam freezer I tu, kalau rajin menyelongkar, macam2 boleh jumpa, hahahaha....

Adeh, sejak dua tiga hari ni memang rasa mcm tak cukup tangan aje nak buat everything. Itu baru kena melayan kerenah anak dua and hubby sorang aje, kalau anak lagi ramai and hubby dua tiga orang, memang takde chance nak rehat langsung lah, hahahaha. Alhamdulillah, Allah cuma benarkan bersuami sorang aje kan, banyak hikmah nya tu :-). And dapat pulak The other half yang tak berat tulang menolong which is a real bonus for me (even though he does need the occasional prodding at times baru bergerak, but biasalah kan with guys! hehehe).


Masa tengah busy macam ni lah I really really miss the food stalls in M'sia. How I wish I could just go out to the mamak stall for a paper thosai with the coconut sambal, roti telur with its kari ayam and sambal kosong, roti canai kosong and dal for The Little Misses and milo ais, kopi ais and teh ais to drink. Pastu duduk borak2 sampai berjam2, hehehe. Pastu memang tak boleh nak bosan lah makan thosai or roti canai ni hari2 sebab bukan ada 1 style of thosai and roti canai aje, macam2 style ada! The other half and The Little Misses really really love the mamak stalls kat M'sia tu, hehehe. Kalau boleh, setiap hari every breakfast, lunch and dinner nak pergi mamak stall tu. It's not just the food, it's the ambience as well kan. How I wish sometimes that I could make my 2 worlds meet and become like the Hannah Montana's song that goes...

"you get the best of both worlds"
"mix it all together and you know that"
"it's the best of both worlds"


But, our family life is here and we have to make the best of what we have kan and sentiasa bersyukur with everything......


And since there's no mamak stall here in Perth, kenalah jugak masak dinner malam ni, hehehe. Nak buat thosai memang I tak reti and nak buat roti canai, memang lah tak sempat. So, I made paprika chicken with pan-baked scones with steamed veges. Walaupun berbeza sungguh dgn thosai and roti canai, it was still delicious and was gobbled up by everyone at the table :-).

People wonder why we don't go out to restaurants for dinner. I think boleh kira one one hand berapa kali we've been out with The Little Misses to a restaurant for 'formal' dinner. Fast food and food court tak termasuk tau in the count :-). If you look at the picture below, you know why!



This is one of the reasons why we don't take them to fancy restaurants, hehehehe. Tak senang lah Mummy nak makan her dinner kalau setiap masa kena lap muka Miss 5. Camner nak bawak pegi majlis kan macam ni, hahahaha..... Anak orang lain rasanya tak lah secomot ni bila makan pasta bolognese. Bakal besan pun sure akan fikir 4-5 kali before ambil dia jadi menantu lepas tengok gambar ni, wehehehehe..... ;-). But I guess it shows that she really enjoyed my pasta kan sampai pipi2 and dahi dia pun makan sekali. But it is true what people say, don't order spaghetti bolognese or burger on your first date with your boyfriend sebab they are quite messy food to eat. Dah lah masa first date ni selalunya sikit nya control ayu aje kan so sure lah malu gilerssss kalau tomato sauce from the spag bol or the mayonnaise from the burger tu terpercik2 kat your pipi, wahkahkahkahkah :-).......




The Little Misses and I had fettucine bolognese for dinner while the other half had gnocchi bolognese. Gnocchi ni is pasta made out of mashed potatoes (no, I didn't make the gnocchi, I bought them ready made, hehehe). I do have lots of lazy moments in the kitchen :-).

Semalam I letak gambar Miss 9 with her hobby, hari ni nak bagi fair, I letak lah gambar Miss 5 with one of her hobbies.


Playing with Miss 9's Nintendo DS :-). Punyalah khusyuk nya dia main sampai tak sedar :-).


Pagi tadi The other half and I had to do our weekly chores, dia seperti biasa kena lipat kain while I did the ironing. So nak hilang kan kebosanan membuat chores tu, we watched Wild Hogs on dvd. Miss 9 was doing her homework and Miss 5 pulaknya bored habis sebab takde kawan nak main sama. So, she decided to join us in the lounge room. But we all malas lah nak dengar the noise from her game so we asked her to put earplugs on. Cari cari the DS earplugs tak jumpa, The other half found a solution by letting her wear the headphone instead. So, everyone's happy, we got to do our weekly chores and watched Wild Hogs, Miss 9 got to do her homework and Miss 5 got to play in the lounge room surrounded by people she loves :-). It took us 2 hours to finish all the folding and all the ironing! Boleh tak bayangkan betapa tinggi menggunung nya the kain baju yang nak berlipat dan nak di iron. Rasa nak patah my shoulders mengiron tadi, nasib baik lah cuma 2 minggu sekali aje I mengiron ni so tak lah teruk sangat rasanya, hehehehe.

Silap lah pergi shopping hari ni when it's Valentine's Day. Everywhere we looked, penuh dengan bunga and teddy bears and cute toys and love-shaped cushions and love-shaped chocs. Nak termuntah sekejap bila people yang tak romantik macam we all ni tengok, hahahaha. And the florists really hiked up the prices of the flowers and teddies. Terbeliak biji mata tengok harga sekuntum bunga rose tadi, $10!!!!! Mahal gilerssss......... Pastu 3 hari dah layu abis, buang duit betul lah. But I guess if you tengah asyik masyuk bercinta, everything is 'cheap' to buy for your sweethearts kan :-).


Since it was Valentine's Day, the newspaper kat sini memang ada section khas for people to send their Valentine's Day messages to their loved ones. Masa I tengah baca paper tadi, tersampailah to that section. Straight away I asked the other half, "Will I see my name in this?". Dia terus cakap, "Don't get your hopes up, cause you'll be sadly disappointed! " Then sebelum I sempat say anything witty to him, he said "that's because I say it to you every single day that I love you, I don't need the newspaper to say that." ... Awwwwwww........... Wehkehkehkehkeh...... Tak larat, pandai aje dia bagi excuses, hehehhe.....


Since I didn't get anything for Valentine's Day, I pun tak lah masak anything special tonite for us, hahaha. Merajuk lah konon nya tu (well, malas nak masak sebenar nya instead of merajuk but don't tell the other half that ;-)). So, sebab tak masak anything special, takde lah gambar our dinner but I have a photo of Miss 9 doing her current hobby.


Dulu, every Saturday morning Miss 9 had Girl Guides but she's gone off it now. Sebab she's got a new hobby now. So, since last 2 weeks kot, every Saturday morning we've been taking Miss 9 to this Games Workshop where Miss 9 and The other half spent a few hours bonding over their mutual hobby. Nak tau apa hobby terbaru Miss 9?


Model painting. Not that kind of models yang cantik2 or yang posing nude tu tau! The models that they've been painting are miniature models/ figurines of Lord of The Rings characters. She's painting Gandalf at the moment but with a red robe, hehehe. They sometimes spend up to 2 hours painting just 1-2 models, lama kan! But I guess since the models are quite small and quite intricate to paint the small faces and eyes and what nots, tu yang ambil masa lama. Bila Daddy and Miss 9 are doing their bonding session, Miss 5 and I pun buat bonding session jugak. But biasalah kan, my bonding session involves shopping! Dah the painting shop is inside a big shopping complex, what else can I do apart from shopping right! Miss 5 masih tak cukup umur nak paint at that place so nak tak nak terpaksalah dia bershoppign dengan Mummy. I think Miss 5 is going to grow up to be very well trained in shopping, hahahahaha...... But it's not all shopping, she's learning at the same time because I asked her to read all the names of the shops that we see and the names of the things that we buy and I asked her to read all the price tags. And I let her select the veges and the fruits so I think she likes our bonding session as well :-). Perasan lah sekejap dia dah jadi a big girl.

Tengok lah what we did with the Little Misses petang tadi. We asked them to have their dinner out of plastic containers in the back of the car. Not that they minded at all, lagi suka diaorang ber 'picnic' dalam kereta :-). The reason was, petang tadi ada parents teacher meeting with Miss 5's classroom teachers and they did it at 6 o'clock which is our usual dinner time. So, nak tak nak terpaksalah angkut dinner sekali for them to eat there. Nak tunggu siap meeting baru dinner, surenya kelaparan the Little Misses dibuatnya so tu yang they had the picnic in the car.



We weren't supposed to bring the Little Misses with us to the meeting but malas pulak nak menyusahkan people to babysit them so tu yg bawak sekali. But we are so thankful that we have Miss 9 who is so responsible and can be relied on at times like this to look after herself and Miss 5. Maybe sebab age gap quite big kot tu yang Miss 9 is so responsible. So, what we did was asked them to sit in the boot of the car and we left the boot open wide so they can lepak2 sambil makan2, main2, read books in the car while waiting for us to finish the meeting. Important notice.... DON'T DO IT IF YOU HAVE A HATCHBACK OR A SEDAN (penyek anak2 u nanti!) ...hahahahahaha..... But the building was very close to the carpark and we could easily hear them if they scream and we trust Miss 9 completely to look after her sister so tu yang tak risau leaving them like that. And it wasn't that hot either tadi so tak lah kepanasan diaorang dalam kereta and with the boot wide open, memang lah angin sepoi2 bahasa senang nak menyinggah masuk :-). And senang lah diaorang nak stretch their legs walking around the car. And ramai lagi other kids yang lepak2 kat carpark tu pun sebab ramai jugak parents yang tak dapat babysitters for their kids. Kalau kat M'sia, memanglah I takkan berani buat macam ni, lepas tangan masa jalan2 kat shopping complex pun I dah seriau, ni lagi tinggalkan diaorang dlm kereta, hehehehe.....


Inilah dinner yang I bekalkan for the Little Misses to eat in the car and I gave them some after dinner treats as well so they don't mind being left like that again when we have to do it next time, rewards are good right, hehehehe....

This dish is called 'toad in the hole' but gourmet version sebab I letak potatoes, tomatoes, basil, carrots. Kira lengkaplah kan semua ada in 1 dish, tak payah susah2 masak sayur lain, carbs lain protein lain, memang dasar nak cepat and simple kan :-)....

Memang betul lah as predicted by the BOM (bureau of meteorology) that today was going to be hot, it got up to 39.7 tengah hari tadi. Memang rasa perit betul bila driving around in the car today. Bahang dia tu yang perit sangat, nak bernafas pun rasa panas aje udara yang masuk dlm lubang hidung, hehehe.... Even the Little Misses didn't play in the playground at school today because it was so hot. But I like their policy here at school which is, 'no hat, no outside play'. So, kalau ada anyone yang terlupa bawak hat, they are not allowed to play in the playground or in the oval. They have to sit and play in the undercover area. It's well known kan yang Australia has the highest skin cancer rate in the world so that's why they are not allowed to play without their hats on. We even have the 'slip, slop, slap' campaign for skin cancer awareness. Slip on a tshirt, slop on sunscreen lotion, slap on a hat! Hehehe..... Kalau kat M'sia, most parents put hats on their kids sebab tak nak the kids 'hitam' from the sun but kat sini sebab nak elakkan skin cancer :-).


The other half pulaknya is so prone to being sunburnt. Kalau we all pergi bike riding during the day, walaupun tak panas sangat, he will still get burnt. Ye lah, kulit mat saleh kan, banding dengan kulit jawa I yang tough ni, memang lah tersangat sensitif nya dengan sun. Penuh dengan freckles pulak tu, So, bila ada new moles/tahi lalat on his body, memang lah kena ambil notice and monitor them betul2, sebab ye lah, mana tau tukar jadi something sinister kan... Nauzubillah lah.......


Well sebelum jauh melencong, just nak put up our dinner tonite. I made baked chicken wings ( biasalah kan menu ni memang our favourite, hehehe), chips and salad. But I wasn't in the mood to eat chips and bila selongkar the freezer, terjumpalah nasi goreng yang I froze a few weeks ago. I slalu buat mcm ni, bila ada nasi goreng lebih and instead of buang, just freeze it, bila nak makan, tinggal thaw and reheat in the microwave, senang kerja! Microwave kat rumah I ni memang lah a necessity, tak boleh takde, hari2 memang akan digunakan. A few years ago, the old microwave broke down, memang tak boleh guna langsung so petang tu jugak I pergi beli microwave baru, hehehehe. Nasib baik lah microwave ni benda murah so tak lah kena break the bank to buy a new one :-). So, I had nasi goreng with baked chicken wings and salad while the rest of the family had chips and wings and salad. Takkan hilangnya selera nak makan nasi ni walaupun dah duduk negara mat saleh bertahun tahun, hahahaha.......

Cili merah tu yg buatkan nasi goreng tu nampak lebih berseri kan, hehehehe...

Satu Australia still in mourning for the people who perished in the bushfires. Such a sad tragedy. Kat TV, every hour mesti cerita pasal tu. Kat M'sia pasal politik, kat Australia pasal bushfires, dua2 sama panas nya. But one deadly, the other one so far tak lah lagi ye ;-). Esok ni, kat Perth the expected temperature is going to be 39C and dry. Harap2 takde lah bushfires around the area, susah jugak kan duduk negara yang memang naturally dry ni. Kalau padang pasir aje takpelah kan sbb takde bushes nak caught fire but Australia ni dry but still full of forests and what not. Tu yang senang aje nak jadi bushfires ni. But we still like living here :-). Like the song, "I still call Australia home." For me, home is where my family is and since the other half and the Little Misses are here in Australia, I have to call this place home lah kan :-).


But one thing I'm a bit annoyed with Australia is their predilection to use cursive writing at school. Dari pre primary lagi budak2 tu dah di ajar cursive writing/ tulisan yang bersambung2 tu. Padahal budak2 tu tulis all the alphabets dengan betul pun tak pass lagi, dah diajar tulis cursive, hehehehe. And yang I paling tension dengan cursive writing ni sebab kebanyakan huruf dia 'terbuka' . Masa I kecik2 dulu, kalau I tulis 'a' atau 'b' atau 'd' atau 'p' adah lubang kat atas atau bawah, memang kena marah dengan cikgu. Semua 'a', 'b', 'd' kena bulat betul2 baru dapat ticked. But lain sikit hal nya dengan cursive writing ni, as shown below.......





tengok lah, sape lah yang tak rasa geram aje bila tengok huruf2 tu terbukak (actually dua huruf aje yang terbukak tapi cukup menyakitkan mata I!)..... hahahaha. Rasa nak aje I tolong cantum kan huruf 'b' and 'p' tu jadi bulat cantik2 :P. Bawah tu tulisan Miss 5 copying the letters. Kalau Mak I tengok ni, sure dia suruh betulkan the letters 'b' and 'p' sebab my mom ni bekas cikgu sekolah rendah, tu yg tulisan kena lawa aje, hehehehe.....


Ini pulak our dinner tonite. memang malas sikit nak masak so I just made tuna pasta bake with breadcrumb and cheese topping.

But I added zucchini and tomato in the pasta mixture, healthy lah sikit kan sbb ada veges :-).

It's been a really sad 2 days here in Australia. 84 people so far have lost their lives in the bushfires that have been raging in NSW and Victoria. And they think they will find more dead bodies in the next few days. Every summer here in Australia, there will always be bushfires and most of these fires are deliberately lit / started by the bl***y stupid arsonists. I really hope that these deadly bushfires in NSW and Victoria weren't started by arsonists sebab can you imagine 'killing' 84 innocent people just because you like playing with fire. But if they were started by some stupid arsonists, I really hope that the police will find these people and charge them with murder! My heart really goes out to those families who have been affected by the bushfires....... :-(. And also a big thank you to the firefighters, volunteer firefighters and other volunteers who are willing to risk their lives to save others. Hats off to them!


On a completely different topic. Miss 5 and Miss 9 both can roll their tongues. I ingat lagi when I was in Form 5, we were taught yang the gene responsible for the 'tongue rolling ability' is a dominant gene so kalau salah sorang parent ada the gene, the kids will have it too and will be able to roll their tongues. But it's actually more complicated than that but that's a different story altogether. Yang nak story kat sini is that walaupun both of them can roll their tongues, but they roll it so differently. Miss 9 can roll like me and the other half but lain betul dengan Miss 5. Miss 5 can roll it around until her tongue looks like it's twisted. It looks so freaky sometimes sebab nampak macam it's not her tongue at all, hehehehe. Tadi cubalah nak ambil gambar dia masa dia tengah rolling her tongue but we were laughing so much at her sampai dia dah tak boleh nak buat betul2, hahahaha...... But I managed to just ambil gambar bila her tongue dah uncurl a bit so tak lah nampak best sangat.


(anak cina mana lah ni, she does look a bit chinese-looking doesn't she? hehehehe....)


So, siapa boleh roll their tongue angkat tangan! Hehehehe......


p/s. to Kak Da, sorrylah tak sempat nak buat rockyroad hari ni.. Next time ye...

Dalam pantry kat rumah ni ada berjenis2 beras for the different dishes that we normally cook. Yang paling selalu we all guna obviously is the SunRice long grain rice. Then we also have basmati rice (imported from Pakistan), SunRice medium grain rice for my risotto and SunRice koshihikari rice for my sushi and jasmine rice for my Thai- influence meals :-). And on top of that ada gak kadang2 we all guna brown rice so ada lah jugak that stock. Pastu not to forget beras pulut and also our instant ketupat (which is beras jugak kan, hehehe). So, memang penuhlah jugak the pantry tu dengan segala macam jenis beras, kira boleh lah bukak kedai, hahaha....


Since duduk kat Australia, kenalah guna locally grown rice kan :-). Masa I first dapat tau yang Australia does grow its own rice, rasa macam tak percaya aje pulaknya, hehehe. Ye lah, tak pernah ternampak sawah padi kat sini macam sawah padi kat M'sia tu so tu yang tak boleh bayangkan mat saleh kat sini ada jugak tanam padi, little did I know hey! Dah more than 80 years the Australians have been growing rice, that's a long time right! But since OZ ni memang very dry banding dengan M'sia so the way they grow rice lain lah sikit. I've never been to an Australian 'rice paddock' so far but it would be fun to visit one kan. But unfortunately, they only grow rice in NSW & Victoria so kalau setakat nak travel ke NSW from Perth ni just nak tengok rice paddocks tu memang lah tak berbaloi, hehehehe. Tak sanggup wei nak drive 4000 kms across the country just nak tengok 'sawah padi'.


So, awat nya lah I cerita pasal beras ni kan. Saje je sebab tak tau nak cerita pasal apa malam ni, hahahahaha :P. And we also had nasi malam ni for dinner. Ye lah bila sekali sekala makan nasi so special lah kan. Pastu lauk malam ni pun special sikit. Kenapa special, sebab I buat kari kambing biri2/ lamb and yang membuatkan dia special sebab ini kambing aqiqah. Thanks to the generosity of Siti and family , 2 weeks ago we got 2 ekor kambing biri2 (lamb) aqiqah you. Bukan sekilo dua, 2 ekor terus, hehehe. But I gave seekor to Sheri so tak lah sendat my freezer dengan daging kambing. Tapi sekor tu pun dah banyak sangat2 so berbulan2 lepas ni memang lah we all tak payah beli kambing lagi at the butchers, best kan, hehehehe. But the 'bestest' part is that kambing2 ni dah siap dilapah and tanpa kepala, hooves, organ dalaman or kulit which made my job so much easier :-). Kalau dapat seekor belum siap lapah, I memang lah dah surrender awal2 and dah nangis awal2, wahkahkah..


So, inilah our dinner malam ni. Nasi putih with kari kambing, telur goreng, tumis sayur n tahu jepun in oyster sauce and for Mummy, tahu goreng and sambal kicap, hehehehe..... Paling sedap lah makan kari ada tahu goreng and sambal kicap ni! The other half tengok I makan sambal kicap sikit pun dia tak terliur, heran I. Kalau I lah tengok orang makan sambal kicap dengan tahu goreng, memang akan ngences abis, hahahaha........ ( memang dasar Jawa kan :P)

It's quite funny how sometimes out of the blue, you really crave something. Here I am sitting infront of the PC trying to type my entry tonite when all I could think of is these crisps/chips sitting in the pantry. But before you say anything, I'm definitely NOT pregnant so ni memang lah bukan craving mak buyung! ( unless you count the lemak kat my perut tu as a growing 'baby', hehehe). Padahal baru aje makan dinner about an hour and a half ago so sepatutnya masih lah kenyang lagi kan. But my perut and my taste buds and my brains are all ganging up to make me eat these potato chips!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh....... tak senang duduk dibuatnya bila tengah craving ni....


When I told the other half yang I really really really feel like eating some potato chips, he straight away suruh I redah the pantry. Patutnya dia suruh lah kan I minum air segelas dulu, or makan buah ke so tak lah makin naik berat badan wife dia ni sebab melantak chips :-). Maybe dia nak join I sekali kot melantak potato chips yang teramatlah sedapnya tu, that's why lah dia suruh I gi bukak the chips bag, hehehehe. Ye lah seperti kata orang, couples who eat together stay together, wahahahaha........


I am going to blame my hormonal cycles for all these cravings. Sometimes at certain times of my cycle, I crave something sweet which is selalunya chocolate cake. Kalau I makan any other type of cake, memang tak kan hilang the craving. Kalau I makan berkilo2 chocolate pun, memang tak kan hilang the craving. I HAVE to makan chocolate cake baru lah rasa puas! And at other times, I crave something salty which is slalunya potato chips or savoury biscuits. Makanlah benda lain, or berkilo2 garam pun memang tak jalan. Not that I have ever tried eating berkilo2 garam tu,hehehe. Terukkan my cravings ni, mengalahkan orang preggy aje!


So, for anyone out there yang tertanya2 macam mana lah rupa bentuk potato chips yang I tengah meleleh2 ngences memikirkan nya....


If you ever find this in the shop, do give it a try, memang lah sedap sangat2. Macam tak nak berenti makan bila dah mula gigit the first chips, hehehehe.... Masa tengah makan ni, memang tak ingat all the calories and what it can do to your thighs. But lepas makan tu, sendiri aje lah yang tau kan ............

Writers have writer's block, bloggers have blogger's block when nothing seems to be able to inspire them to start writing/blogging. I definitely have that tonite :-O ...... I can't think of any single thing that's interesting and worth putting in the blog tonite. If you Google "blogger's block" , you'll find so many different ways on the net to overcome it. But I ni bukan lah blogger yang serius giler2 that I need those remedies to help fight my blogger's block. And setakat sehari dua aje tak tulis blog tu kira dah bagus sangat lah tu kan, dah boleh di anggap a dedicated blogger :-). I asked the other half to write tonite's entry on my behalf, dia gelak aje! Dia kata cukuplah dia tulis 2-3 entries dulu masa I 'terkandas' without broadband kat M'sia. Itu pun dia kata masih terasa2 betapa perit nya nak menulis in BM, hahahaha...... He said (after translation), "masih terbelit2 lidah dia and jari dia nak menyebut and menaip all the Malay words!" . Apa rah bojo ku itu, hehehehe......


Bukan setakat blogging aje takde inspiration, our dinner tonite pun sempoi sangat2 sebab I tak tau nak masak apa yang 'fancy' tonite. I ended up making mee goreng, chicken tenderbites (ready made nya, tinggal beli kat kedai aje! :-)) and keropok goreng. But saje nak bagi our mee goreng ada oomph sikit, I letak sambal ikan bilis on ours. Habis jugak all the mee goreng yang sempoi itu, hehehehe.....

Tak sangka, ramai jugak yang nak menyewa my 'mesin lipat kain' ni ye. The other half kembang kempis dah hidung dia sebab ramai yg berkenan dengan dia, wahkahkahkah. Perasan dah mamat sorang tu! Hish, entah bila lah agaknya nak hilang perasan dia tu :P. Tapi mesin I ni pun bukan nya regular sangat, 2 minggu sekali aje paling kerap boleh switch it on. Kadang2, tak payah tekan apa2 button, tetiba aje dia start lipat kain. Tapi kadang2 tu, kena tekan butang banyak kali pastu kena keluar suara sikit, baru lah dia mula lipat, wahahahaha...... But I still love my 'mesin' and am very thankful that he's there to help :-).


But memang lah kan, my entry kelmarin kiranya really shows betapa lah ramai nya orang especially mak2 budak yang teramat lah menyampah nya dengan kerja rumah ini, hehehehe.... And ada setengah tu, menyampah campur malas lagi, just like me :-).


Dah a few days jugak ye I tak tayang my dinner kat blog ni. Masak dinner masih macam biasa, tak lah semalas macam nak melipat kain :P. Tapi everything else pales bila banding kan dengan pavlova tu, so rasa macam tak best aje sekarang ni nak tayang food yang biasa2 aje, wahaha..... Acah aje. I'm not that perasan yet :-). Food yang biasa2 ni lah yang best kan!


This is our dinner tonite. You might ask why the 2 completely different types of food. Roti jala and kari ayam tu Sheri bagi for dinner semalam but since we've already had our dinner at that time, we made it our dinner tonite. Thanks so much Sheri, sedap betul makan roti jala n kari ayam Mak Sheri masak :-). The Little Misses makan the roti jala dengan susu pekat for dessert, hehehe. On the other plate is part of our dinner as well. I bought turkish bread today so I made Samsun pizza with it. Basically I split the turkish bread into 2 then filled it with mince meat filling yang I dah sauteed and campur mcm2 spices and veges. Then tabur grated mozarella and cheddar and sandwich the 2 halves. Then wrap it in alfoil and bake it in the oven until the cheese has melted. Memang lah yummy!!!!!

I've finally found a clothes-folding machine aka mesin lipat kain. Masa I busy memasak tadi, the 'mesin' pun busy lipat kain but lambat sikit lah kerja dia (90 minutes nak abis lipat semua baju) and the way the 'mesin' lipat the clothes wasn't to my liking, tak setajam and sekemas bila I lipat sendiri. But heck, I'm not going to complain! I'm very very happy that kain2 yang bertimbun tu are finally folded, phew..... :-). Kesian the Little Misses lepas mandi tadi, they were looking for their summer pyjamas to wear, Miss 5 came out of her room saying, "Mummy, I can't find any of my summer pyjamas! Where are they?" Alahai, anak2 Mummy sungguh lah kesian nya kamu tak cukup baju, hehehehe. But now dah ada mesin lipat baju, you'll always have folded clothes :-). So, anyone out there nak pinjam my mesin lipat kain? But sebelum tu, let me tayang my mesin lipat kain ok....


Sorry lah gambar blurry sikit, my 'mesin' lipat kain ni malu2 sikit nak ambil gambar.


Wahkahkahkahkahkahkahkahkah, sorry lah kalau ada sesiapa yang dah tertipu ye and yang dah start keluarkan their credit cards or their cheque books sebab nak mengorder the mesin lipat kain from me. Ammmmmmpuuuunnnnnnnnnn.............

Pejam celik pejam celik, the Little Misses will be starting school again this Tuesday. Cepat betul masa berlalu, tak sedar pun dah 7 minggu diaorang bercuti. Rasa macam baru 2-3 minggu aje pulaknya the school ended dah nak bukak semula. I got so confused about the day they are starting school. All the public schools in WA will start tomorrow so I pun assumed yang the Little Misses'school will start their first day esok jugak. Nasib baik lah ada kawan yang balik hati let me know that their school's first day is on Tuesday. Kalau diaorang tak bagitau, mau lah I terpacak pagi2 esok depan sekolah tu tunggu pintu gate tak bukak2, hahahahaha. Sometimes I really think I'm such a bad mother for not remembering things like that, hish.......... We got given the newsletter regarding the opening day but I accidentally threw it away masa tengah rajin mengemas. SO, the moral of the story is, janganlah rajin sangat mengemas, wahkahkahkahkah......


Like every other parent, bila budak2 bukak sekolah, it's our job to balut their books. The other half and I really hate this job. Because sepanjang2 we all 'kerja' membalut buku ni every year, memang tak pernah cantik our balutan. Mesti ada air bubbles under the wrapper and selalunya besar2 pulak tu the air bubbles. Sampai kan we had to use pins to burst them so tak lah teruk sangat rupa the books. When I was growing up, the only book wrappers that could be found are the normal plastic ones and the paper ones which you have to use sellotape to stick them to the books. But sekarang ni dah high tech and what not, the wrappers pun dah high tech jugak. They are the sticky ones yang sebijik macam wallpaper tu. Where you have to peel the paper backing and attach the clear sticky plastic onto the books. And memang you need 2 people to do it right, kalau tak, memang tak kan melekat dengan cantik lah benda tu...


But tahun ni we were so proud of ourselves because we finally managed to master the intricate and mystique arts of book wrapping. For the first time ever, the Little Misses can go to school without feeling embarassed sebab buku diaorang dah di balut secantik buku2 their friends, hahahahaha. Langsung takde air bubbles uder the plastic tadi, sikit nya terkejut ke we all, wehehehehe......