The Other Half said to me, “It’s been 3 weeks already. I should get a medal!” Do you know what he was talking about? His promise to cook every Saturday nite :-). He was supposed to cook last nite but since semalam no one felt like eating much after a big picnic lunch, he postponed it to tonite. I said to him, “ we’ll wait till you’ve passed the 6-month mark, then I’ll give you a medal for cooking! ” I dah bertahun2 masak, tak pun mintak medal, dia baru 3 kali masak dah mintak medal, hehehehe……

And furthermore, he had to ask Miss 10 to help him to cook tonite so tak aci lah kan kalau bagi medal kat dia sorang :-). But truthfully, Miss 10 loves helping her Daddy in the kitchen because he made her do a lot of things like chopping the veges, tasting all the ingredients, weighing and measuring the ingredients, stirring the food in the pot which is fun to do kan. And it teaches her maths and science at the same time but in a much more fun way! Hehehehe…. Unlike me yang jarang ajak dia masuk kitchen to cook dinner sebab I would rather masak cepat2 without any interruption :-). But once in a blue moon we do have our weekend mummy-daughters baking sessions which they both enjoy. Hmmm, dah lama jugak tak buat our baking sessions ni….

So for dinner tonite, The Other Half and Miss 10 cooked beef tacos.

The whole taco ensemble before the assembly.

After the cosntruction, doesn’t it look tempting?

I wonder what he’ll make next. Oh yeah, I forgot, the Honorables will be here next weekend so he might cook roast I guess. But after next week, he’s open to suggestions for his dinner menu from my loyal blog readers as long as it’s nothing too complicated but still taste good ( banyak benor demands dia, hahahaha ).

What a gorgeous day today. It’s 2 days before the official Winter season starts but it was really warm today. That’s Perth for you! Our winter pun never gets that cold anyway, paling sejuk it got to was –0.6C in 2006 which was such a big news sebab memang tak pernah2 sampai subzero temperature kan, hehehe. I think it got up to 24C tengah hari tadi which was just nice enough for a picnic at the playground. Biasalah kan kat Perth ni, bila nice weather aje during the weekend, mesti lah pergi playground sambil berpicnic :-). I guess it’s everyone’s favourite past time here (especially people like us yang dah beranak pinak ni :-)). You all pun sure agaknya dah jemu tengok we all ni asik2 pergi playground, asik2 pergi picnic, hehehe. Memang takde social life lain lah kan ;-).

So, hari ni nya entry sudah semestinya about picnic and playground lah kan. Sheri’s Hero turned 3 yesterday so The Other Half suggested why don’t we all go to the Applecross playground for a potluck picnic, the kiddies will definitely enjoy the playground and the biggies will definitely enjoy the food :-). I pun when people mention potluck and picnic, terus lah angguk aje especially if the picnic is among friends kan. But I guess it counts as a surprise birthday party because she didn’t know that we were bringing along a cake for the birthday boy as well :-).

The Other Half was so happy today cos he got to play with ‘HIS’ toy aka my Mother’s Day present aka the DSLR camera, hehehe. I cuma dapat main2 dengan our old digital camera aje since I masih belum khatam2 lagi the DSLR manual tu! Punyalah lambat nya nak khatam, tak tau lah bila ;-). So, layan aje lah ye the photos from today.

 

The food spread at the picnic today, pizza and garlic bread (I buat), marinated baked lamb (Hafiz buat) and the yummiest otak2 (bought by Salina :-)). Dah lama sangat I tak makan otak2 ni and tadi memang lah The Other Half and I melantak betul2 :-). The biggies makan sampai kenyang habis but the kiddies makan sikit aje because they were so busy playing, more food for the biggies, hehehe…..

The biggies yang tak sabar2 nak makan :-).

         

Hafiz, only a true macho man/boy can wear a pink floral hat so gorgeously, hehehe….

Ingat nak buat the walk ala2 The Beatles tapi most of the people in the photos were too young to know who The Beatles were, hehehe….

It was a jaffa cake, orange cake covered with choc ganache. I liked it (but tak tau lah what others thought of it especially what the birthday boy thought of it ;-)). Probably he was so terharu tengok nama dia on the cake, hehehe….

The Other Half testing the DSLR timer on a tripod :-).

Thank you Sheri n family and Salina n hubby, we had a fabulously great time at the picnic!

Recipe Cottage Pie as requested :-). Malam ni ter rajin sikit pulak nya nak type recipe, selalunya dah berhari2/ berminggu orang mintak, baru lah I rajin letak recipe, hehehe….

Cottage pie

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 2 tablespoons (40mls) olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500g beef mince
• 2 teaspoons chicken/beef powdered stock (tak payah letak kalau dah pakai liquid stock)
• 1/2 cup water ( or you can ganti dengan chicken stock in liquid form)
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables (I used the corns,carrots,peas mixed)
• 1 tablespoon (20mls) worcesteshire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

For the mashed potato topping:

• 700g-1 kg potatoes, peeled, diced and boiled until tender and drained
• 2 tablespoon (40g) butter
• 1/4 cup cream (or warm fresh milk kalau takde cream)
• 125g tasty cheese, finely grated
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until soft.
2. Increase heat to high. Add mince. Cook and break up and stir the mince until browned. Add tomato paste, stock, water, worcesteshire sauce and canned tomatoes. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered until the liquid has reduced and the sauce has thickened. Add the frozen vegetables. Cook for about 2-3 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease an ovenproof dish. Spoon in mince and ratakan the top.
4. Mash the potatoes and add the butter, cream/ warm milk and grated cheese and mix until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Top the mince mixture with the mashed potato and rough the potato up using a fork. If nak lagi bercheese, boleh lah kalau you all nak tabur mozarella cheese on the mashed potatoes. (but your arteries wont like it, I can tell you, hehehehe).
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the mashed potato is golden. If your oven is like mine, maybe you can grill it at the end so the top will become golden brown.

Pagi tadi Miss 5 bangun due to a coughing bout and then complaining of sore tummy. Pastu bila I told her that she needs to go to school, terus lah nangis sebab dia kata dia tak sihat lagi so mana boleh pergi school. I kata lepas dia breakfast and mandi, she would feel much better to go to school but still menangis2 tak nak pergi. Pastu I pun malas nak fikir panjang2 since it’s Friday already and dah 4 hari pun dia tak pergi sekolah, what’s one more day right! After berdiskusi dengan The other Half, we told Miss 5 that since it’s already Friday, she can stay at home. I told her, kalau dia tak berhenti nangis, I’ll force her to go to school. Boleh pulak tu terus berhenti mengalir air mata! Memang ratu air mata betul lah budak kecik tu, hish! Mummy lah lagi yang kena stay dengan dia kan, hmmm…. But after 4 days of staying at home, I pun malas pulak nak pergi work just for 1 day, hehehe…

So, what do you think she did at home? Playing with mud outside! I cakaplah kat dia yang she might as well go to school this morning since she’s obviously feeling so much better! Senyum senyum aje dia…. Agaknya dia pun dah ter best duduk kat rumah dengan Mummy aje tu yang malas sikit nak pergi sekolah. Nasib baik lah baru Yr 1 aje so tak kisah lah kalau nak ponteng sampai seminggu pun, hehehe…..

      

Oh no, I’ve been caught skipping school! Don’t take my photos please :-).

But I rasa still nampak lagi lah muka orang sakit sebab her eyes takde sparkle sangat, nampak kuyu aje, hehehehe….

Malam tadi The Other Half skyped ibubapa dia bertanya khabar berita. Dan saya pun menyuruh The Other Half tanya ibubapa dia apa yang mereka tak boleh makan, benda2 yang boleh menyebabkan mereka tak lena tidur. Dan seperti yang dijangkakan, mereka pun berkata, “ Takde apa2, kami makan segala nya!” ( obviously, not in Malay lah kan, terkejut badak I kalau tetiba diaorang cakap Melayu. Kalau diaorang boleh cakap Melayu macam tu, kenalah I tulis my blog in Italian or Spanish ke, hehehe. ) Selepas mereka beritahu yang mereka telan segala benda, kami berdua pun terus lah tersenyum sinis. Nak tergelak pun ada sebenarnya :-).

Tapi, saya ingin berfikiran terbuka dan positif terhadap ibubapa mertua saya bila mereka berkata begitu. Jadi saya pun berkata pada diri sendiri yang tujuan mereka berkata begitu mungkin sebab mereka tidak mahu menyusahkan hidup menantu kesayangan mereka ni. Mereka tidak mahu saya bersusah payah menyediakan makanan khas yang berlainan untuk mereka. Mereka tidak mahu saya bertungkus lumus di dapur memasak :-). Jadi mereka akan menelan sahaja segala benda yang saya masak walaupun mereka tahu yang tidur mereka akan terganggu di sebabkan makanan yang saya masak. Alangkah murninya hati mereka kan :-). ( Think positive, think positive, think positive, think positive ). Hehehehehehehehe……….

Tamat dah pelajaran Bahasa Malaysia malam ni ye Tuan2 dan Puan2 ye, hehehe. Macam mana lah I nak tulis novel cinta Melayu ni ye kalau tulis 2 paragraphs pun sikit nya susah. Maybe I can start from writing cerpen first before writing a 300-page Malay novel ;-).

Hari ni Miss 5 was still off school so melepak lagilah Mummy at home. But Alhamdulillah, her cough’s getting better and she hasn’t thrown up any of her food so far. But we might still keep her at home esok and just send her to school on Friday. I would rather keep her at home until she’s 80% better before sending her to school. Her class teacher pun tadi told me yang about half of Miss 5’s class was at home sick since a week ago. It’s the season for sniffles and coughs now, tu yang ramai tak pergi sekolah. And on top of that, there’s chicken pox going around at that school as well. But both of The Little Misses have been vaccinated for chicken pox so we are not worried. Macam2 lah kat sekolah tu, hehehe….

And since I was at home again today, I terlebih rajin pulak hari ni. I made kaya bread. The dough recipe I guna dough bun kentang by Ros kat Jepun tu yg memang femes dgn roti2 nya. Tapi biasalah kan, I menderhaka a bit, I tambah tepung lagi and then I tambah bread improver. Then sebab malas nak masak kastad, I just swirled kaya on top of it. Miss 10 makan sampai 3 ketul sekali gus, pastu makan lagi 2 ketul after dinner tadi. Miss 5 pakkal aje sebab tak sihat badan, makan seketul aje, kalau tak, sure nya dah I kena buat another batch malam ni jugak, hehehe…

Then for dinner I made cottage pie. Basically cottage pie ni sama lah macam shepherd’s pie but cottage pie uses beef mince while shepherd’s pie pulaknya uses lamb mince. But both are topped with mashed potatoes. Dah lama sangat2 I tak buat cottage pie ni, bila sejuk2 ni best lah makan macam ni :-).

I know gambar dia kurang menarik sikit lah but dah senduk baru teringat nak ambil gambar, wehehehe….

Miss 5’s cold is getting worse especially her cough. Poor her sebab hari ni aje dah 3 kali dia threw up after a coughing bout. Tak sempat her meals nak hadam, dah keluar balik, tu yang asik kelaparan aje dia hari ni, hehehehe…. At least she’s a good patient who’s happy to lie on the couch watching tv the whole day and would go to the toilet herself bila terasa nak muntah :-). Probably sebab dia dah biasa sangat muntah, she knows already all the symptoms nak muntah tu, tu yang terus aje pergi ke toilet. Which makes life so easy for her parents sebab tak susah2 nak clean up after that :-).

Speaking of Miss 5, she asked me just now, “ Mummy, I don’t like being sick. How come Allah makes me sick?” . She’s been learning about Our Creator quite intensively at school the past few weeks so she knows that Allah makes all things happen. I guess she’s just at that stage of understanding things that she can’t see and trying to make sense of the things she learns at school. She asked me the other day whether Allah is a boy or a girl :-). So in regards to her being sick question, I said to her, “ No one likes being sick but you can always ask Allah to make you better quicker.” Then I explained to her, “In a way, it’s good to be sick because your body is making all these good things called antibodies to fight the bad germs so next time when your body meets the same bad germ, you won’t get sick because your body will know how to fight it. And when you are sick, it shows that your body is fighting the bad germs which is good.” I think she understands the concept of good germs and bad germs and fighting, hehehehe….. The Little Misses love it when we explained to them about our bodies and its functions and how all the bits work :-). Much better to tell them the truth than tell them white lies kan :-).

And since I hari ni jadi Mummy mithali again, I made chicken briyani for dinner. But I think memang jauh beza betul my briyani dengan the real pakistani briyanis tu sebab I pakai taram aje masak guna remaph ratus yang ada in my kitchen aje. The Other Half said there’s something missing in it, probably chilli and a few other vital ingredients in a briyani kot :-), sebab I buat tak pedas langsung so tak kick lah rasanya. Oh well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose in the kitchen :-). For Miss 5, I made chicken soup sebab orang sakit kan, hehehe……

I takde saffron tu yg kaler dia semua putih aje, takde warna warni :-).

Tinggal banyak ni after dinner tadi…. Enough for The Other Half’s and my lunches esok, hehehe

Miss 5 was sick today so I pun kenalah duduk rumah jaga dia. Probably we have to stay at home every day this week kot sampai lah her cough and cold betul2 baik. The problem with Miss 5 ni, kalau dia batuk2 teruk sangat, she’ll throw up after that so tu yang dia ‘malas’ sikit nak pergi sekolah bila she’s got a bad cough, kalau dia termuntah kat sekolah tu, sape lah yang nak tolong dia nanti. And kesian pulak kat the other kids at school tu kalau kena her virus. And bila dia tak sekolah, Mummy mithali lah yang kena stay at home with her kan :-).

And since I kat rumah, ter rajin pulak nak buat extra special winter dinner. I made slow cooked lamb with cheddar and rosemary dumplings. But instead of using the slow cooker, I cooked the lamb pieces in the oven on low heat for 4 hours ( lama giler weh sampai memang betul2 daging tu just falls off the bone!) . I looovveee this type of cooking sebab after the intial prep, I can just leave it cooking in the oven and then go and play, hehehe. Senang kan :-). But the dumplings tu I added them at the end and baked them on top of the lamb for 25 minutes. Ini dumplings Mat Saleh bukan chinese dumplings tu tau. The Mat Saleh version ni lebih kurang scones lah but I don’t knwo why they call it dumplings.

Masa baru keluar oven, the dumplings on top and the succulent lamb underneath :-). I used the recipe from here.  Tapi I didn’t make the wasabi mash, I don’t think The Little Misses would appreciate it kalau I bagi diaorang makan wasabi, hahahaha…..

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Makan dengan steamed carrots and oven baked fries. The dumplings tu were used to ‘mop’ up the gravy from the dish. Miss 5 yang demam2 tu pun makan habis her lamb, lagilah The Other Half. He ate 4 pcs of the dumplings! Sedap lah tu kan agaknya, hehehehe…..

After 3 days of rain, hari ni baru lah nampak matahari. From sunny high 20s temperature early this week terus jatuh mendadak since Thursday and barulah kelam kabut keluarkan all the sweaters and the jackets from storage. It was so good to finally see the rain after sebulan lebih takde hujan langsung. Baru lah namanya Autumn kan with cold weather and wind and rain :-). I love Perth’s cold weather sebab it’s cold but not bone-freezing all the time. And masa ni lah nak bergaya dengan jackets or coats yang lawa2 kan, hehehehe. Not that I have any jackets and coats yang lawa pun, hahahahaha….

Pagi tadi The Other Half and I sat down to write our Guests of honour’s itinerary and menu for the week. Baru aje 6 hari diaorang nak datang tapi lama jugak lah we spent on writing down the list of things to do and places to go and food to cook and eat. Kalau datang sebulan agaknya mahulah we all kena ambik cuti 1 hari semata2 nak buat jadual and menu list for them kan, wehehehe….. 6 hari nya menu, cuma sehari aje yang Asian which is fine by me. The Other Half requested for me to make seafood pizza on one of the nights tapi bila fikir balik, rasanya MIL/FIL tak makan kot and surenya lah kalau I nak buat seafood pizza, I kena buat 2 other different types of pizza as well for the Little Misses and for PIL. What am I? A restaurant?  :-). Weekend ni we all kena buat special grocery shopping to buy the special things they need for their daily tea drinks, breakfast cereals, special soy milk, poning kopalo eden ni :-0. Hmmmmm…..

But enough of them (for the time being anyway, hehehe)… Malam ni we all dinner with pasta and beef. I ingat nak buat beef stroganoff but tengok dalam fridge takde sour cream or mushroom, yang ada cuma yoghurt aje so I had to use yoghurt instead of sour cream and used carrot instead of mushroom, hehehehe. Sedap jugak rasa dia, lemak2 gitu :-). I guess I have to call it pasta in yoghurt sauce eh :-).

I know it’s only been the 2nd Saturday of his promise but so far so good :-). Even though I had to be the one going to the shops to buy all the ingredients for tonite’s meal, I wasn’t complaining, hehehehe… And the dapur pun tak berkecah after he’s been in there which was even better :-). Less job for me to do kan! But yang paling best nya, he was so impressesd with his creation that he just can’t wait to cook again next Saturday, which makes me so so so happy, hahahahahaha!

Since I ni baik hati and wouldn’t want you readers to tertunggu tunggu to see his creation, let me present to you The Other Half’s cooking creation….

I know, I know, rupa dia kurang menawan sikit and with the crumbly stuffing on top, susah sikit lah nak nampak rupa chicken ni, but believe me, the taste was really really good :-). ( kenalah puji lebih2 sikit kan, kalau tak puji, ada lah pulak nanti yang merajuk tak nak masak lagi, habislah my lepak2 time Saturday nite! ), wehehehe….. Btw, the pink thing kat kaki ayam tu is silicon tie which we use to tie the chickens legs together, tak lah seksi aje terbukak bila tgh di masak tu :-).

 Slow cooked ‘tantrum’ chicken ( Gee, I wonder why he chose that name! ). See, I told you guys, he can cook but he’s been so lazy for the past few years to enter the kitchen until I had to throw a tantrum to get him going again! Men!!!! Can’t live without them, can’t live with them, hehehehe ;-). What he did was stuffed the whole chicken with pine nut and spinach stuffing and then put the chicken along with kumara/sweet potatoes and potatoes into the slow cooker and set it on high and 4 1/2 hours later, everything was succulently cooked. He did say he was going to cook easy dishes and something that you can leave in the cooker to cook while you go out is pretty easy I guess. But he did cook the stuffing on the stovetop so he did cook jugak lah kan, hehehehe.

This is my plate :-). The polka dot jagung was so juicy and so sweet, pastu the kumara pun so sweet when it’s slow cooked, hehehe… ( puji jangan tak puji :-) ).

Sape nak recipe, pandai2 lah mintak kat The Other Half ye, wahkahkahkah….

Pernah tak you terasa yang sometimes you really really want to say something sarcastic to some people who in your mind deserve the sarcasm. The Other Half said yang I am occasionally sarcastic but only to him, never to other people. I guess I know The Other Half can take my sarcasm without being offended and he will tell me if I have offended him with my sarcastic remarks. And he sometimes will get sarcastic with me too so tit for tat I guess, hehehe. And a lot of the times, both of us will jokingly be sarcastic to each other in front of The Little Misses. The Little Misses know that we are only joking and we are not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. And Miss 10 has been occasionally trying to be jokingly sarcastic to us as well but I guess at her age, the sarcasm doesn’t really work that well because she doesn’t know the nuances of sarcasm, hehehe. So we told her to wait till she’s a bit older before she tries to be sarcastic! Kids!

But, with strangers or with casual acquaintances, I selalunya akan act polite sebaik mungkin. Ye lah kan, buat apa nak act tak polite to these people, buat menghabiskan boreh aje, bukan nya dapat apa2 pun! Unless I know yang those people can take the jokes. Tapi since I start berblogging ni, adalah quite a few times already I rasa nak aje keluarkan kata2 sindiran pedas dan tajam and nak bagi se das dua kat some people. Tapi, bila fikir2 kan balik, I know I will feel better right after writing the sarcastic comments, but unfortunately,  I will also feel terrible for a few days after that sebab asik teringat kan pasal my sarcastic comments aje. And selalunya The Other Half will ‘counsel’ me not to layan all these crazy ‘holier-than-thou’ people. He will tell me to either not write anything back or tell me to be just short and sweet ( macam I lah, short and sweet kan, hahaha, sape2 yang nak termuntah tu, pi masuk toilet sana!). Some people tak boleh tengok orang senang kan, nak buat macam mana, perangai manusia ni berbagai2 ragam. I envy betul kat bloggers yang pandai menyindir secara tactful and berhemah :-). Sebab kalau lah I boleh tulis sarcasms yang very sharp and straight to the point, alangkah bagusnya, but I haven’t reached that level yet. Maybe 1 day after dah lama berblogging, mana lah tau kan, hehehehe…..

So, for the time being, kalau I terasa geram kat some people, I won’t do anything. I will still be polite and short and sweet :-). Tak guna layan lebih2 kan, nanti melarat2 pulak…… Hmmm…..

Ooops, before I membebel lebih2, baik I tayang gambar my dinner tonite.

Nasi lemak aje…..

Malam tadi, The Other Half said to me yang he’s quite looking forward to his parents coming here. Then he asked me, “Are you as excited as I am Dear?” Then I jeling dia and he looked at me and we both burst out laughing, hehehehehehe. What a question! :-). I have 2 more weeks to make the house spic and span for their arrival, lebih kurang macam nak tunggu agent datang inspection lah kiranya, hehehe. And I’ve already told The Other Half that he’s not allowed to melepak2 the weekend before their arrival sebab he has to help me clean up and tidy the house. Ye lah kan, if he wants his parents to sayang anak menantu ni sebab pandai jaga rumah, kenalah dia tolong I kemas rumah right :-). I think we can keep the house fairly tidy in that 6 days. I jegil aje biji mata kat The Little Misses, sure terus kelam kabut diaorang kemas rumah, hehehe. Now, if I can train The Other Half to do the same ;-).

By the way, The Other Half has come up with a solution to reduce the stress levels (his and mine) while the parents are here. He said, he’s going to keep them fully occupied with a detailed itinerary for them for those 6 days which included detailed menu as well! Sampai begitu sekali you, hahahahahaha. Which reminds me, actually I kena mula tulis semua entries yang berkaitan dengan diaorang dalam Bahasa Melayu sepenuhnya so diaorang tak boleh lah nak paham apa2 yang I tulis. Evil betul menantu diaorang ni kan, wehehehe. So, kalau Bahasa Melayu I tiba2 jadi bahasa baku, just ignore aje lah ye, susah weh nak tulis essay in Malay after so many years of not doing it! :-). Ok, I mulakan sekarang ye :-).

Sebab2 musabab The Other half nak buat itinerary ( apa eh dalam BM? ) yang terperinci ( I kena guna kamus online untuk cari makna ‘in detail’. Hampeh betul lah BM I ni!) sebab dia tak nak lah PIL bosan aje tak tau nak buat apa terperuk kat rumah with me as company, hehehe. Kalau diaorang terperuk kat rumah aje, takut macam2 pulak yg diaorang nampak yang tak kena dengan rumah we all ni, hehehe. So, kalau bawak jalan2 merata kemana2, tak sempat lah diaorang nak tengok the house dengan terperinci ( I am going to keep using this word now because I can, hehehe), betul tak, hehehehe. Pastu, my PIL ni lambat sikit nak bersiap2 ni so kalau we all bagi itinerary yang terperinci ( hehehehehe, I’m using it again :-) ), diaorang tau lah nak bangun pukul berapa and nak bertolak pukul berapa and nak minum teh pukul berapa, hahahahaha……

Meals hari2 masa diaorang kat sini pun we all akan cuba tulis menu harian. Nak tau kenapa, my PIL ni macam2 tak boleh makan sebab konon nya akan bagi kesan/ganggu tidur diaorang, jadikan diaorang tak boleh tidur or tak lena tidur or mimpi macam2 lah. Sejak dari dulu lagi, setiap kali diaorang datang makan kat rumah we all, I akan tanya awal2 apa yang diaorang tak boleh makan so senang lah kan I nak masak apa2 yang patut. I bukannya menantu/ orang yang jahat, kalau sesiapa bagi tau I awal2 apa alahan diaorang, memang I takkan masak benda2 tu. Ye lah, Miss 5 pun alah teruk kat kacang so I tau lah kan macam mana nak masak for alahan ni. Anyway… ( oops, terguna BI pulak, hehehe ), yang buat kan I geram, setiap kali I tanya, mesti diaorang akan cakap diaorang telan semua cuma jangan masak pedas2 sangat, itu aje. Padahal I tau yang ada macam2 benda yang diaorang tak makan contohnya bawang besar. Pastu, esok pagi lepas makan malam nya, bila we all tanya tentang tidur diaorang, mulalah diaorang kata, tak boleh tidur lah, tak nyenyak tidur lah sebab ada benda yang diaorang makan masa dinner tu! Kalau you jadi I pun tentu lah akan bengang jugak kan. Macam I ni saje2 aje masak benda2 tah hape2 utk diaorang! Tapi pastu, kalau we all gi makan kat luar, boleh pulak tu order macam2 and makan segala bawang! Tak jadi hal pulak tu! Agaknya air tangan I tu yang buat semua jadi tak lena tidur, asik terkenang kat I aje, wakakakakaka. Power habis I ni ;-).

So, you boleh bayang kan lah tahap tekanan I masa tu kan. Dah lah penat2 masak! Tu yang memang 6 hari tu I kena buat menu harian so semua orang happy and takde sape nak komplen apa2 lepas tu. I lagi suka kalau orang bagitau I apa yang diaorang tak boleh makan sebab lagi senang kerja I nak cari recipes and nak beli bahan2. I rasa I akan masak western aje lah 6 hari tu sebab western food mana ada guna rempah ratus ni kan so selamat lah rasanya :-).

Ooops, panjang pulak essay kali ni. Tak boleh lah nak hurai kan semua benda dalam 1 essay aje kan, nanti2 I sambung lagi, hehehehehe…….

Saje je letak gambar ni, terkenang kenangan lama :-).

People asked me kalau I membebel kat my family, guna bahasa apa? I wish I could say, guna both Malay and English which would be so cool! But…….unfortunately, I only use English 100% of the time (well, unless I want to membebel at the walls and the kitchen and the plants, then I guna Malay lah sebab bukannya I kisah diaorang paham ke tak, hehehehe). I’ve tried it a few times, membebel to The Little Misses in Malay, diaorang ternganga aje sekejap pastu gelak2 pastu they asked The Other Half what I was saying! Macam lah The Other Half paham I cakap apa, dua kali lima aje dengan The Little Misses tu, hehehehe. So, it defeats the purpose of membebel lah kan when your kids start to gelak2 instead of feeling sorry.

I know, I am to be blamed for their lack of verbal knowledge of my mother tongue. At first, dolu2 masa tengah preggy with Miss 10, I had such high hopes of teaching all my kids (read: 2 :-)) to be bilingual. Bukan susah pun Malay language ni kan. And if I start talking to them in Malay from early on, it would be easier for them to absorb the language. But, after a while, I got complacent and a bit lazy in talking to them in Malay. Masa Miss 10 kecik2 dulu and duduk kat M’sia, everyone around her spoke Malay so it was easy for her to absorb the language while I talked to her in English and Malay. Then when we moved to OZ and she started going to nursery, I continued talking to her in English and dropping the Malay gradually. Masa tu, I wanted her to pick up English quickly so tu yg guna English 100%. By the time, she could properly talk and converse with everyone, English has become her mother tongue instead of Malay :-(. And it was quite difficult to keep the Malay up sebab I sorang aje yang speak the language. More to being lazy and impatient I guess. I know, I know, excuses excuses :-).

And now, with Miss 5 who’s a bit like her Dad when it comes to learning a second language i.e hopeless (hehehe, his words, not mine), memang terus fully English lah. I guess I like to take the easy way by using English fully since dari kecik2 dulu pun I was used to the language. It’s not like I baru terpaksa belajar English sebab kahwin dengan The Other Half. I think my English was pretty good even way before that, if I may say so, hehehehe. So, tu yang lagi senang nak guna English with The Little Misses everytime. Sekarang ni pun I dream in English so macam mana lah tu, hehehe. The sad bit is kadang2 tu I have to think for a few minutes to find the right malay word when I’m talking to my parents. Bila you dah jarang guna that language, ada lah a few words yang terslip from your active parts of your brains so kena dig deep baru terjumpa balik kan, hehehehe. Maybe I pun kena belajar Malay balik lah sama2 dengan The Little Misses kan, baru lah terer we all sama2 :-).

The Little Misses are very interested and eager to learn Malay especially when they go to M’sia for holidays and surrounded with the language everywhere :-). And it’s quite funny how Miss 10 picked up the language quite quickly while Miss 5 still ternganga2 aje everytime, hehehehe. I don’t blame Miss 5 sebab she was born here, surrounded with English everywhere and baru 3 kali aje dia balik kampung pun, hehehe. So probably susah sikit lah for her to serap the language.

But I really really hope one day I can converse with them in Malay and I know I would feel so proud when that happens. Maybe one day hey! Who knows :-).

Ok lah, Ok lah, I’ll stop my rambling now and show you oour dinner tonite. Don’t ask me what it’s called because I pakai taram aje masak nya.

 

Mee daging berkuah.

 

Malam ni cuma nak tayang our dinner, bangers and mash with onion and rosemary gravy or nama yang lagi mudah orang faham, sausage and mashed potato :-). The name Bangers and mash ni came from Ye Old London Town originally lah kan, why bangers, who knows! But memang lah sungguh senang and cepat nak masak for dinner. That’s why kat rumah ni, slalu sangat we all makan sausages ni with potatoes in any shape and form. The mashed potatoes I bubuh cream and butter so lagi lah creamynya tu yang asik sungguh bila makan tadi. Even Miss 5 requested to have mashed potato for her school lunch tomorrow, hehehe :-). But healthy jugak lah our dinner tadi because I steamed the veges instead of boiling them to death. So, masih banyak lagi lah vitamins and minerals yang survived the cooking process tu kan :-). Patutnya makan raw, lagi lah bagus kan but takut ada pulak yang tercekik nanti kat meja makan tu, hahahaha……

Pagi semalam ada 1 cerita ni….I threw a tantrum at The Other Half. Sekali sekala rasa nak melepaskan tension di dada kan, hehehe. It started like this… Oh, by the way, sape2 yang ada opinion about how I was behaving really badly to my husband, just keep it to yourself ye, I don’t really need to know because I knew it already.

As usual, every Saturday morning The Other Half nak pergi painting with Miss 10. Miss 5 and I didn’t follow them yesterday sebab I had to clean the house. Masa ni lah dah rasa tension sikit sebab I had to stay at home menyental bilik mandi and toilet, mop lantai, memvacuum the whole house, membasuh and menyidai kain baju while dia pergi bersuka ria, hmmmm…… The Other Half sikit pun tak offer nak tolong I with those chores.

Then bila diaorang balik, I had to prepare lunches for everyone (well, reheating lunches for everyone) while dia lepak2 aje. Pastu I was busy doing something when the washing machine beeped, dia buat tak tau aje and still lepak2 dalam bilik! Macam lah penat sangat driving to the painting workshop pagi tadi tu. Masa tu lah I started throwing tantrum. I pun ‘bagitau’ lah ke dia, takkan lah tak boleh tolong jemur kain tu, padahal I dah penat kemas rumah the whole morning. But, biasalah kan, saje je nak bagi extra effects macam kat drama melayu, lepas aje I said that to him, terus I pergi ambik washing basket and emptied the washing machine and terus keluar nak jemur kain. The Other Half masa tu pun terus ikut I keluar nak ambik alih tugasan tu form me lah konon nya :-). Maka, berebut2 lah kitaorang nak jemur kain! Ada ka! Hehehehe….. Pastu since I masih lagi tengah marah, I pun just left him to it and masuk dalam balik.

Then bila dah start tantrum tu, susahlah kan nak berhenti! Lagi lah banyak I mengomel lepas tu. I said to him, “dah lah tiap2 malam I kena masak dinner, weekend pun tak boleh nak gantung periuk.” (well, not in Malay obviously, hehehe). Pastu, he said, “I’ll buy dinner tonite if you want me to.” Pastu lagilah I mengamuk, I said to him, “Why is it, everytime I said I don’t feel like cooking, your immediate answer would be to go and buy dinner?” “Why can’t you offer to cook and save the money.” “What if I were to tell you that I don’t feel like cooking every nite? Are you going to waste the money on takeouts?” “You know how to cook, why can’t you cook once in a while?” Sebab dulu dia slalu jugak tolong masak ni but it’s getting to be very very very rare nowadays. I tau lah yang I terer masak tu yang dia malas nak usurp my position, hehehe ;-).

So, anyway, we came to a conclusion that every Saturday he’ll cook but he will only cook easy stuff. Heck, I don’t care whatever he wants to cook as long as he cooks and I can lepak2 during that time. So, this was what he ‘cooked’ last nite. Chicken burger and salad and potato nuggets.

We bought Baiada frozen chicken breast burgers (they were really good actually!), frozen potato nuggets, ready packed salad. All from Coles, hehehehe. Then we bought the bread from Baker’s Delight. All this only cost us $10! kalau we had gone out for a take away, this would have cost us a lot more! I know I’m a cheapskate but I would rather buy frozen stuff kat supermarket and cook them at home. The Other Half cuma tinggal grilled the chicken burgers and baked the nuggets in the oven. He was so impressed with his creation last nite, hahahaha and The Little Misses were so shocked to find out Daddy cooked! But Alhamdulillah lah he’s willing to cook every Saturday now, I’m so happy. Thanks Love! He’s already promised to cook roast chicken this coming Saturday :-). Sometimes nagging does work kan :P

But tonite I jadi cook again. I made butte chicken for them and I made ikan kembung goreng taucu for me. Lama betul tak makan taucu ni, tersangat lah sedap nya I makan tadi, sampai bertambah, hehehehe. And for dessert, I made self-saucing chocolate pudding, makan dengan vanilla ice cream!

My ikan kembung goreng taucu with loads of bawang and cili hijau.

Our dessert. Dah lama betul tak buat ni, tapi terover masak so the sauce terkeras lah sikit, but still yummy :-).

 

Oh ye, before I lupa, Butterscotch recipe:

• 100g butter
• 65g brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Put everything in a pot and then on medium heat, masak until boiling and then simmer until the sauce is a bit pekat. Sauce ni tak pekat mcm kaya, lebih kurang sama pekat dengan condensed  milk bila dah sejuk.

Boleh lah tuang atas kek or gunakan sikit utk mix kat filling apple pie.

Today we finally got to use our new toy outdoors. But as usual lah kan, with a new toy that doesn’t belong in the kitchen, The Other Half lah yang beria2 menggunakannya and kept it close to him, hehehe. Nasib baik lah the models today cun2 belaka so cantik2 lah the shots he took today, wahahahaha….. ;-). Sian The Other Half sebab takde satu pun gambar dia petang tadi but begitu lah nasib photographers kan, hehehe. I used to be the photographer with the old camera but I’ve been laid off bila dah ada new camera ni :-). But sekali sekala jadi model ni best jugak kan!

We went to Kent Street Weir petang tadi for a walk cum photoshoot and for The Little Misses to have a run around at the playground. So, malam ni layan gambar from the amateur ‘photoshoot’ aje lah ye! :-).

Tak larat bila kena stalk dgn paparazzi ni, bagi pose baru lah dia happy :-).

Dah lama sangat tak hujan kat Perth ni, tu yang air sungai pun murky aje!

Like Mummy, like daughter, hehehehe… Come on, come on, list down all the similarities between Mummy And Miss 5, wahkahkahkah…..

Tak sempat I nak tegah, diaorang dah gelak2 main dengan the dead grass. We used to be like that too masa kecik2 dulu so let them have fun kan :-).

Masa ni dah nak dekat sunset so there was only the 2 of them at the playground. Enjoy abis lah diaorang.

          

Adik beradik helping one another so jatuh gedebuk pun together jugak lah ;-).

p/s Akeem n Ros, still nak jugak hire The Other Half as photographer masa wedding nanti ke? Mahal weh the fees, hehehe……

Eurovision song contest is back and so tonite and the next 2 nights, our eyes will be glued to the idiot box watching Eurovision.So, kiranya my entries 3 malam ni akan jadi short and sweet lah ye sebab nak kejar masa ;-). Unless I jadi rajin and post the entry during the day, hmmm…..

Anyway, malam ni we are going to play the Eurovision drinking game while watching the show but our version lah since we don’t drink kan. Basically we’ll follow the rules exactly but everytime you are supposed to drink, we’ll eat m&m chocolate instead! Slalunya people will get very drunk by the middle of the Eurovision program if they play, so in our case, we’ll get so fat instead because of all the m&m’s we’ve consumed!!!!! Hehehehehe…….

It’s already starting so I better go now, can’t ‘talk’ anymore. GO EUROVISION GO!!!!!! :-) :-)

I made meatloaf tonite but instead of loaf shape, I made it into a cake shape and ate it burger style. I’ve never been a big fan of meatloaf but since last nite I dah masak food yang I minat, malam ni kenalah masak food yang the others minat. I thought of mking burger but can’t be bothered shaping the burger patties and grilling them so I made meatloaf instead and just chucked everything in the food processor and then chuck it in the oven. Then the fries pun were oven baked so memang lah senang betul masak malam ni :-). rasanya this week aje dah 3 kali we all makan fries ni, nampak sangat lah I ni malas nak peel the potatoes and create something from them. Much easier to buy the frozen fries and bake them in the oven, hehehehe. Potatoes jugak kan! I think The Other Half would have preferred the other types of potatoes to have with meatloaf tonite like mashed or roast but he knew not to complain;-). Bila I tengah mood malas nak masak, everyone knows not to say anything, hehehehe.

Nasib baik lah kawin dengan Mat Saleh kan so bila tengah malas masak boleh masak Western food yang sempoi2 ni, hehehehe.

We were watching Food Safari tonite on SBS and it was on Pakistani food. Walaupun we’ve just had our dinner, still drooling abis2 tengok all the nice food they cooked especially thier goat biriyani and their naan and their chicken tandoori and their sweets! The Other Half pun lagi lah meleleh air liur sebab memang favourite food dia semua tu, hehehehe. Pastu, dia terus cakap, “I don’t mind not having a BBQ set if I can have a tandoori oven!” I pun angguk laju aje lah menyetujui pendapat The Other Half, hahahaha. Aduhai, best betul kalau ada tandoori oven ni kan, adalah nanti hari2 I buat naan and tandoori chicken lah, lamb lah. Kalau Raya, sure nya I akan fofular sangat2 sebab orang lain masak nasi impit and rendang and sate and kuah kacang while I masak naan and tandoori meat, wehehehe. Tetiba aje I ramai kawan masa Raya ;-).

Most Aussie men are so attached to their BBQs and love BBQing during summer or any time they get a chance to have a BBQ. But I have a hubby who’s not fazed at all with the BBQ and I can count on 1 hand berapa kali we all ber BBQ during the summers sepanjang2 we’ve been here in OZ. Bila I say to him, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a BBQ tonite.”, he’ll answer back with “I think it’s as nice as when you cook it indoors on the grill pan!” … Aghhhh!!! Which means I lah yang kena masak kan! Kalau kat BBQ tu, dia yang kena masak so tu yang dia malas abis! Rasanya nanti kalau ada tandoori oven, I jugak yang kena masak tu, so better tak payah lah kan, hehehehe……..

Anyway, The Little Misses and I had ‘sizzling’ yee mee, recipe kat sini but tak sizzling sbb takde the hot pans and tak guna yee mee pun, cuma guna noodles biasa aje but still sedap. I thought Miss 10 memang tak kan makan lah sebab she’s quite fussy especially dgn noodles ni so I buat jugak ayam goreng just in case. But then she surprised me by saying, “The soup is really nice Mummy. I like the taste.” Terkejut I sekejap, hehehehe. Miss 5 macam biasalah, laju aje makan noodles, siap tambah lagi tu :-). But The Other Half seperti biasa tak makan the noodles, he had the kuah sizzling tu makan dengan nasi and ayam goreng, sedap jugak. Sekali sekala masak ikut selera I kan, hehehe.

My sizzling yee mee without the sizzle and the yee :-).

Ini pulak rupa 2 orang budak yang tak pernah makan pomegranate sebelum ni. Memang macam orang jakun ;-). Siap suruh we all cari pokok pomegranate and tanam sebab they said the seeds are so so delicious :-).

As soon as Miss 5 and Miss 10 got in the car this afternoon when I picked them up, they straight away told me that Miss 5 didn’t get to eat her lunch today. When I asked Miss 5 why, she said in a really sad voice, “A boy kicked my lunch box and tipped out all my pasta before I even got to eat more than 1 bite and he didn’t even say sorry to me!” Sedih betul dengar dia cakap tu. Pastu bila I asked her to tell me what happened from the start, dia pun bercerita lah dengan sedih nya and Miss 10 was also filling in the gaps.

From what I could gather, Miss 5 was sitting alone during lunch time because she couldn’t find her friends to sit with and she couldn’t find her sister to sit with either. So, masa dia tengah duduk bersila atas lantai ( yes, all the kids sit on the floor masa lunch and recess to eat their food sebab kat skolah ni takde meja and kerusi mcm canteen kat M’sia) and starting to eat her lunch, a few boys were mucking around near her kicking a ball when they knew very well they were not supposed to do that when other kids are still eating their lunches. And one of the boys got too close to Miss 5 and kicked her lunch box and tipped out all her pasta onto the ground. And what do you think the boy did? Straight away ran away without saying sorry! And Miss 5 ni yang selalu nya ceria and full of smiles at school terus burst out crying because she was still so hungry and all her lunch are gone!

And someone told Miss 10 that her sister was crying so kelam kabut lah Miss 10 pergi cari adik dia. Miss 10 kata, masa tu dah ramai kids yang kerumun Miss 5 sebab heran tengok dia menangis. Cikgu kat sekolah tu pun heran tengok dia menangis sebab diaorang selalu nya nampak dia senyum aje hari2. Some kids who saw the incident told the teachers what happened and who did it and the teachers went to talk to the boys involved.

But yang I geram sangat2 and heran sangat2, why didn’t the teacher asked the boy who kicked it to apologise to Miss 5? Kalau I jadi cikgu, I akan suruh budak tu apologise to Miss 5 infront of the other kids so he’s being held responsible for his action. I know accidents happen and I accept that but yang I tak accept tu, the kids didn’t even say sorry. Ye lah kan, bila lah budak2 nakal tu nak belajar erti accountability kalau the teachers pun tak kisah sangat about this sort of things. If you make a mistake, you have to learn to  admit it and say sorry for it kan! But memang lah some of the boys at that school are so obnoxious and rude and I rasa nak lempang2 aje! Geram geram!!!

Yang Miss 5 sedih sangat2 sebab no one said sorry to her and dia kelaparan sangat2 tadi masa lunch. Miss 10 pulak nya had already finished her lunch so tak boleh nak share anything with her sister. Nasib baik lah I ada bekal muesli bars in the car so dapat lah Miss 5 lapik perut sikit before sampai rumah tadi. Sampai aje kat rumah tadi, after dah mandi manda, terus dia makan a big bowl of cereal with sliced bananas on top :-). Kelaparan weh, hehehehe. Bila I told The Other Half what happened, dia pun sedih aje dengar anak dia kelaparan, hehehe. Kalau it happened to Miss 10, rasanya dia tak kisah sangat sbb she’s not into food, but this is Miss 5 we are talking about who just loves her food so much, hahahaha…….

And speaking of food, our dinner tonite cuma pan-fried crumbed lamb with coleslaw and chips.

Dah terang rumah ni dengan awards yang bergemerlapan tu, baru lah boleh tayang our dinner pulak kan, hehehe.

But before that, pagi tadi The Little Misses gave me their Mother’s Day cards that they made at school. Every year memang akan dapat this ‘home’ made cards from The Little Misses and we normally put them up on the tv cabinet for about a few weeks, pastu masuk ‘drawer’ to be kept for about 1 year and then into the recycled bin after that. Semalam, The Other Half beria tanya I nak apa from The Little Misses as my Mother’s Day present sebab The Little Misses beria2 sangat nak belikan something for me. I said to The Other Half, I don’t have anything that I really really want right now so they can just buy me anything that they want. So, The Other Half bought me… guess what? A compilation cd set of the best of the 80s songs, hehehehehe…… Actually he bought it sebab dia pun nak dengar sama and he knows I don’t mind that kind of cds so dia malas dah nak fikir banyak2 about my gift, tu yang dia beli aje, wehehehehe.

Tengok lah rupa The Little Misses baru bangun tidur, dengan tak basuh muka lagi and tak mandi lagi, hehehe….. Miss 10 made a nice paper flower from tissue papers at school as well.

But kat rumah ni, even though it was Mother’s Day, I still cooked breakfast, luch and dinner. I’d rather cook because then I can be sure yang I would like the food, hehehe. Kalau I let The Other Half and The Little Misses masak, they’ll cook what they like so takut I tak berkenan aje :-).

Our dinner tonite, fresh fettucine pasta with chicken in tomato and bocconcini sauce and green salad.

Our dessert tonite, butterscotch apple pie with ice cream. Tadi ada lagi balance butterscotch sauce from the sticky date pudding and since tak nak membazir, I cooked the apple in the sauce so apples tu jadi manis lemak berkrim lah. And bila I used the apples for the apple pie, rasa dia lain lah sikit, lagi lah kick nya, hehehe. Makan pulak tu dengan vanilla ice cream, lagi lah tak hingat apa2 pasal lemak2 kat badan dah ;-).

Happy Mother’s Day to every mother out there and thank you so much for all the Mother’s Day cards yang kawan2 bloggers sudi bagi kat I. Puas sudah I mengangkut kat all the houses, penat betul but memang berbaloi sebab all the cards memang ber ‘bling bling’ so kalau I gantung kat my house ni, dari jauh dah boleh nampak. Tak payah pasang lampu pun dah cerah rumah I ni, jimat sikit guna electric, hahahaha… ;-).

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Thank you utk kawan2 bloggers yang bagi ni ye Kak Ina, Fiza, Hunny, Kak Intan, Fatinz, Kak Ain, Ika, Emil, Cik Mat all my blogger friends yang sudi memanjangkan semua awards yang kiut miut and comel lote.