Nasi lemak seringgit :-)

Semalam dah kenyang berBBQ, hari ni kita makan nasi pulak. Dah seminggu tak makan nasi for dinner kan, so kena lah masak nasi before anak2 I tu lupa yang they are half jawa, hikhikhik…. Tapi terlupa pulaknya nak goreng tempe so tak boleh lah mengaku lah pure jawa macam ni kan :-(, hehehe….

Everytime we all balik M’sia, my Abah mesti akan belikan nasi lemak yang kawan masjid dia jual. So, bila we all ambik midnite flight from Perth and got to the kampung around 9 pagi, sampai2 aje kat kampung tu, mesti ada nasi lemak bawah tudung saji waiting to be consumed by us. And ada special nasi lemak for The Little Misses yang takde sambal and takde peanuts. Tapi mana lah The Little Misses ni biasa makan nasi pagi2 kan so we all aje lah yang membaham nya, hehehe. Diaorang akan mintak roti canai or cereal or toast :-). And then usually, on the last day of our stay kat kampung, he would order nasi lemak for us as well and pagi2 morning dah tersedia kat meja :-). My Emak suka lah sebab dia tak payah masak nasi lemak untuk we all, hehehehe… But I tak tau berapa harga nasi lemak yang my Abah beli tu. Simple aje nasi lemak dia, nasi + sambal + timun + kacang + ikan bilis + telur. Ada RM1 kot kan?

Nasi lemak yang I masak for dinner tadi pun simple aje, instead of telur I ganti dengan ayam goreng. Mahal lah sikit dari seringgit kan sebab ayam mahal ye tak, hikhikhik….

Nampak tak the steam coming off the nasi lemak? Menggiurkan sungguh kan bila nampak steam kat dalam gambar ni, macam nak makan aje, hehehehe ;-).

Kalau I jual seringgit, memang rugi lah. Kalau I jual $1, lagi lah rugi nya, muahahahaha…..

And ini untuk Mia’s Mom, gambar Miss 6 in B&W :-).

I lagi suka ambik gambar Miss 6 dari ambik gambar Miss 11 sebab Miss 11 ni at that stage where getting her photos taken is such a chore. Kadang2 susah betul nak suruh dia smile or act ‘happy’ for the camera. Teenagers!

Oops, sebelum Miss 11 makin merajuk, I’m going to put a photo of her that I took semalam where she’s ‘smiling’ a bit for the camera. Teenagers kalau dah merajuk ni susah weh!!!!

Semalam I konon2 nya nak ambik gambar diaorang  melompat. Ye lah kan, semua orang yang ada DSLR, ada gambar jumping so I pun nak lah buat gak, hehehe. Tapi kan, susah giler nak suruh diaorang jump at the same time and jump elegantly, hahahahaha….

Jom kita gelak ramai2, muahahhahaha…

Why are crabs like ribs?

Malam ni we had beef ribs for dinner sebab The Other half yang ditugaskan pergi butcher semalam so terus rambang mata lah dia and he wanted to try to cook ribs. I’ve cooked ribs before but I did it in the oven, slow cooked. We’ve heard so many stories about how nice BBQ ribs are and how juicy and yadda yadda yadda…..

Tu yang The Other Half pun tergoda and beria beli 1.5kg of ribs! Actually bukan salah dia beli banyak macam tu, kat butcher tu cuma jual ribs in big pieces. Ye lah, ribs lembu kan, obviously besar gedabak lah if they cut it lengthway :-). And I guess with ribs, lagi banyak tulang and lemak dari daging.

Tu yang The Other Half asked me lepas dia makan ribs tadi. “So, why are crabs like ribs?” I said, “Because they are both messy to eat. And not much meat/flesh to satisfy my hunger after all those hard work!” Hehehehe….

Tu sebab The Other Half tak suka makan crabs unless ada dayang2 kat tepi yang sudi/sukarela patah2kan the crab legs and scoop the flesh out for him, hikhikhikhik…. Sudah semestinya dayang2 itu bukan I lah!

So, ini lah our dinner tonite, ribs with crusty bread (cooked on the barbie) and sauteed veges.

Tengok lah our juicy ribs ni. Tapi kan we had to throw away half of it kot sebab cuma lemak and bones, hehehe.

We put a tray of water underneath the bread masa tengah masak tu untuk bagi the crust lagi crusty. Miss 11 loves crusty bread :-). She ate probably half of the loaf tadi, hehehe.

We might ask the butcher to cut the ribs into smaller pieces next time :-).

Famous by association, hahaha

Hari ni The Other Half went painting with Miss 11 while Miss 6 and I stayed at home. I ni kadang2 malas betul nak pergi ikut diaorang bershopping on Saturdays sebab the malls are normally so crowded. And then sekarang tak banyak sale so tu yang membuatkan I lagi malas nak ikut(tu lah actually the main reason why I malas nak ikut, hehehe). I tengah tunggu June mid year stock take sale ni. Masa tu nanti, memang kalau boleh nak aje pergi shopping hari2 sebab sale di mana2. Toleh kiri sale, toleh kanan sale, jalan ke depan sale, pusing belakang sale, memang boleh meroyan lah nanti. Macam2 dah I terfikir2 nak beli ni :-D.

Anyway, bila diaorang habis painting tadi I asked The Other Half to stop over at the butcher sebab dia nak buat BBQ esok and I haven’t bought the meat for it. While waiting for his turn to be served, something happened…

Guy A: Excuse me, does your wife have a blog? Salam Dua Benua? I recognised you.

The Other Half: Yes, she does.

Guy A: My wife reads your wife’s blog but she’s never left a comment. This must be Miss 11!

At which stage Miss 11 had an attack of shyness and hid behind The Other Half. (This is one of the good things of having a Dad that’s triple your size so you can hide easily behind him, muahahaha). Apalah Miss 11 ni, baru aje 1% femes dah malu2, kalau nanti dia jadi model femes 1 dunia, how kan! Hahahahaha ;-P.

The Other Half: Oh, your wife should leave a comment. My wife’s always happy to reply to the comments :-).

Balik tu, The Other Half and Miss 11 terus cerita kat I yang tetiba diaorang terperasan femes sekejap, hikhikhik….

Kalau lepas ni The Other Half suddenly nak pakai sunglasses pergi mana2, I tau lah kenapa, wakakaka….

Something similar happened to me jugak..

Masa I pergi K Mart about 2 weeks ago, a nice young lady came up to me and said, “Akak ni Lemongrass yang ada blog tu ke?”.

I said, “yes :-)”.

Then she said, “my friend loves to read your blog!”

Terkejut I sekejap sebab ada orang perasan I siapa and what made it really funny sebab this girl was in Perth on holidays and then boleh terjumpa dengan I kat K Mart!! Betapa kecik lah dunia ni kan, hehehe. And we ended up taking and chatting for about half an hour in K Mart but stupid me, I terlupa sangat2 tanya nama dia :-(. Borak sikit punya tapi and siap ambik gambar bagai tapi nama tak tau, hahahaha….

Anyway, punyalah jauh I melalut. Actually I nak cerita what I did with Miss 6 kat rumah tadi. I saje2 nak play around with the camera and this foam board I bought hari tu to act as a light reflector. I still have a lot to learn but I’m thankful my ‘model’ was cooperative and cute enough to make the photos cantik, hikhikhik…

No, it’s not raining out there. It’s just our sliding door being so dirty after the heavy rain on Thursday, hehehe…

I said to Miss 6 to do whatever memek muka yang dia nak, hahahaha…

Sape nak ambik dia jadi model, bolehlah berurusan dgn I ye, the manager! hikhikhik ;-).

Malam ni for dinner I masak roast maryland with breadcrumb stuffing. The Other Half loves chicken with stuffing sebab mengingatkan dia kat Christmas masa dia kecik2 dulu. So, I tadi konon2nya rajin, pergi lah deboned the chicken legs and put stuffing in it. Punyalah leceh and banyak kerja I kena buat, memang lah I takkan buat lagi lepas ni! hahaha

Roast chicken maryland with baked sweet potatoes, sauteed zucchini, green salad and fries.

Next time I akan sumbat aje stuffing tu dalam whole chicken. Tak kuasa I nak debone2 lagi unless I am feeling extra extra rajin and homely!

Cili ni pedas tak?

Semalam I bought about half a kilo of cili hijau. Cili hijau fresh senang nak cari kat kedai veges kat sini and tak lah mahal (kalau banding kan dengan halia!), around $6-8/kg aje. Halia sekarang still macam emas lagi harganya, paling murah I pernah jumpa was $20/kg. My pokok cili dah makin jarang keluarkan buah sebab dah nak masuk Winter kan. Adalah 5-6 biji lagi kot kat pokok tu. Ingat nak tinggal kan for the mice sebab sian diaorang kan musim Winter nanti takde makanan, hikhikhikhik…..We all kan baik hati sedekahkan makanan kat binatang yang memerlukan ni :-P.

I beli cili hijau sebab nak buat cili jeruk, stock we all dah tinggal sebatang aje :-). Mana boleh habis stock cili jeruk kat rumah ni! Mat Saleh yang sorang tu pun suka sangat2 cili jeruk ni, tu yang sentiasa kena ada stock. Nasib baik lah zaman sekarang ni senang nak cari recipe kan, tinggal google aje terus dapat.

And bila dah ada freshly made cili jeruk, of course lah dinner malam ni I akan masak mee goreng ye tak.

Selama2 ni I buat cili jeruk, The Other Half mesti kata tak manis enough and tak pedas enough. Padahal I dah bubuh banyak gak lah gula. I guess dia dah biasa kot kalau makan cili jeruk, mesti ada rasa manis2 and pedas2 and masam2 (macamlah dolu2 dia membesar dengan cili jeruk, perangai mengalahkan orang jawa pure kat rumah ni aje! Kahkahkahkah). Pedas tu tak boleh nak tolong lah kan sebab terpulang kat cili yang I guna.

So, semalam masa I buat the jeruk juice, I made sure I letak berlambak2 gula (kat sini gula tak kena catu, still berlambak2 lagi kat kedai tu :-)). Bila I rasa dah cukup manis for him, baru lah I berhenti tambah gula, hehehehe. Kalau you all nak recipe and cara nak buat, I guna recipe June tapi I tak masak the cili, I cuma masak cuka+air+garam+gula until menggelegak and then curah kan atas cili yang I dah siap packed dalam botol.

So, inilah tadi our dinner, mee goreng with cili jeruk. Yang makan cili jeruk cuma The Other Half and I aje pun. Masa dia ambik cili jeruk tadi, dia tanya I, “are they hot?” I jawab, “I don’t know. I haven’t tasted it yet.”

 

But luckily lah budak2 tu tak makan cili jeruk tadi sebab cili jeruk ni pedas berdesing sampai ke telinga! Nak nangis I makan cili jeruk tu tadi, muahahahahaha…… The Other Half said, “Wow! It’s really really hot but I love it. It’s got the right sweetness and just that extra kick!” Sampai merah2 muka and telinga dia makan cili tadi. Bibir I pun masih terasa2 kepedasan nya sampai sekarang :-). Tu lah, mintak lagi cili pedas. Hah, padan muka! Hahahhahahaha….

Psst Cik Mat… bunga apa kat pinggan n sudu n mangkuk kecik tu? hehehe….

Extra long?

Tadi pergi kedai tengok frozen chips ada sale so I pun jenis greedy giler, ambik yang ‘extra long french fries’. Dalam hati masa tu dah terbayang2 kesedapan makan french fries yang sangat lah panjangnya. Sure kalah makan french fries McD kan! Hehehehe…. And for sure makan sikit aje dah kenyang sebab panjang2 kan! At the same time, I dok terbayang, besar manalah kentang yang diaorang guna untuk buat extra long french fries ni. Kalau kentang tu species bantut or the politically correct term ‘vertically challenged’ macam I, sure awal2 dah kena reject kan! Hikhikhikhik…..

Nak jadi fries pun ada selection criteria…

“Kamu pendek and chubby, tak boleh nak masuk dalam ‘extra long french fries’ package. Kamu kena pergi factory sebelah. Diaorang buat mashed potatoes, sudah semestinya they will want you!”

“Kamu tak lah pendek but tak lah panjang sangat so pergi kat factory ‘regular fries’ tu ye!”

“Wow! Look at you, so long and well proportioned. Welcome to the ‘extra long french fries’ pack!”

Muahahahahahaha……

Tengok, tak percaya cakap I! Extra long french fries dia tulis kat pack tu.

But, bila I bukak the packet……

Uwahhhhh, sungguhlah rasa tertipu I ni…

I said to The Other Half “if these were what they called extra long, I sure wouldn’t want to buy their regular chips!”

Then The Other Half said to me, “That’s the problem with you. You always think when people say extra long, you really picture it to be extra long. No wonder you are always disappointed! :-D”

I somehow don’t think he was solely talking about the fries….Hmmmmm…..

So, tengok lah the fries that came out of the packet Tuan2 and Puan2…

Lagi panjang McD nya fries kan!

That’s only a medium sized muffin case and most of the fries are only as tall as the case aje. You rasa diaorang tersilap packing ke or memang I tertipu? Sungguh lah cisssss!!!!!!

Our dinner tonite, oblong burger with all the condiments with ‘extra long’ fries and green salad.

Irksome phrases from the babes’ mouths

There are some phrases that I don’t like when they come out of The Little Misses’ mouths.I’m not talking about swear words and such because that’s definitely a big NO in this house. These are just normal day to day phrase that make me lose my cool with them sometimes :-).

Let me list them down… (hehehehe…)

Coming at number 1 would be:

Wait!

As in when when I say to them, “It’s your bedtime now. Have you brushed your teeth yet?”

And their answer was, “Wait! I’m doing something!”

Why must it be answered with ‘wait’? Why can’t they just say, “Wow! It’s my bedtime already and I can’t wait to go to bed. I’ll go brush my teeth now!”

Wouldn’t that be wonderful! Ha ha ha ha ha……

Coming at equal 2 would be:

It’s not mine/ I didn’t make the mess/ I didn’t do it

As in when I ask one of them, “Can you pick up all the cut papers on the floor and throw them in the rubbish bin.” or “Can you put the story book away” or “Can you switch off the light in the bathroom.”

And their answer was, “I didn’t cut the papers, not me!” “It’s not my book” or “I wasn’t in the bathroom last.”

And my answer to that kind of answers would be along the line of, “I didn’t wear your clothes so why did I wash them for you?” or “I’m not going to eat the lunches at school so do you want to prepare your own lunches instead of me?”

Am I mean or am I mean? Hahahahahaha….

Coming at number 3 would be:

I was only joking!

As in after one of them (normally Miss 11) has made the other one (normally Miss 6) cry by teasing her endlessly.

Hmmm….How come I can only think of 3? I’m so sure there’s more phrases that irk me! Hehehehehe….

Takpe, I’ll write them down next time :-D.

For dinner tonite I made poloni and pineappple pizza for The Little Misses and sliced BBQ beef pizza for us.

BBQ beef ni was barbecued by The Other Half about a month+ ago kot and di simpan terus dalam freezer in small cuts. And tadi I just thaw 1 small piece and slice it thinly. And then tadi I just letak the sliced beef on top of the piiza when the pizza was 3/4 cooked. So, it was still tender to the bite.

But unfortunately the pizza pan tak muat nak masuk dalam light box I yang comel itu so kenalah ambik gambar kat atas dapur aje tadi, hehehehe…

Behold! The magic freezers…

Miss 6 is sick again, her asthma is back. So she won’t be going to school esok and I lah yang kena stay at home dengan dia :-). She’s been taking Seretide twice daily non stop since she’s first diagnosed but I guess viral infections sekarang tengah berleluasa sebab tengah musim sejuk kan so tu yang dia start batuk balik and the preventive medicine wasn’t doing a great job. Oh well, the joy of having 4 seasons :-D. Hope she has a good nite sleep tonite without too much coughing and sniffling and having to take the puffer.

Anyway, ramai orang asik tanya about my magic freezers ni kan sebab I slalu sangat recycle our dishes when I’m in my malas to cook mood. I ni selalunya masak more than enough food for 4 people at dinner time. And I will pack some of the leftovers for The Other Half to take to work for lunch the next day. I will be so happy kalau the leftovers terus habis the next day but most of the time, memang akan ada saki baki for another meal or lunch. And sebab tak baik membazir makanan kan, I pun selalunya akan simpan them in ziplock bags or in plastic containers in the freezer to be used sometime in the future when I’m being lazy, hehehe.

Kalau I buat BBQ, we all akan BBQ 1 whole chicken as well to be kept in the freezer so we can use it anytime we like. Kalau masak sausages, I akan masak extra and put them in the freezer too. Masak apa2 pun lah, kalau ada lebih, mesti letak dlm freezer, including nasi! Kalau I buat karipap or doughnut, pun sumbat dlm freezers jugak untuk di buat makanan for afternoon tea or for The Little Misses lunches.

Tu sebabnya my freezers rupa dia macam ni…

Ini freezer in the kitchen where we put everything and anything but mostly non meat stuff lah like karipap, segala macam jenis pastries, frozen veges, ice cream and entah2 apa lagi including leftovers, hehehe. Don’t ask me what’s in that red plastic container because I dah lupa what I put in it. I rasa dah berbulan2 kot benda tu dalam freezer tu. One day I think I have to defrost the container and find out what’s in it! wakakakakakaka…

Ini pulak our upside down drawer freezer in the laundry where we put our meat/seafood/chicken and everything else yang I boleh sumbat in it. I jumpa the peanut sauce haritu dalam one of the drawers ni lah :-D.

As you can see, both freezers sangat2 lah chock-a-block nya with stuff. I tak boleh tengok the freezers empty, rasa lain macam aje so tu yang I sumbat dengan segala macam benda. Tepung2 or baking stuff I memang tak letak dalam freezer. Kalau I kena letak baking stuff or tepung dlm freezer, memang I kena beli another freezer lah mcm tu, hahahaha. Kira kalau ada darurat kat Perth ni, memang we’ll be fully stocked lah with food, hikhikhikhik…. Tu yang kadang2 terlupa ada simpan leftover food inside here sebab dah penuh sangat dengan macam2. But bila geledah freezer, masa tu rasa best sebab tetiba terjumpa harta karun! Save me time from cooking, wehehehehe….

And gambar bawah ini pulak khas untuk FairyLilly and TTM..

Tadi I pergi serbu Coles and borong their curry pastes, I beli sampai 8 packets you! Ini pun dah last kopek punya, memang orang lain dah borong giler2 macam I jugak. Sedih betul sebab Rogan Josh dah habis stock :-(. Check out girl tadi agaknya mesti ingat I nak buat kenduri kot sebab borong curry pastes berpacket2, kahkahkahkah. Either that or dia ingat I ni mesti malas nak masak from scratch! :-D. Best you sebab I dapat kofta, korma, balti and vindaloo untuk buat stock until 2012(well, they expire in 2012 so tu yang borong bagai nak rak, muahahaha).

Do you like your curry pastes?

The Other day at  Coles, I saw these range of India curry pastes on sale so you know lah kan with me and sale ni, mana boleh di pisahkan, hehehe. So I bought 2 packets just to try them. I don’t normally buy Indian curry paste yang ready made ni sebab entahlah, selalu tak kena dengan tekak we all. I lagi suka beli kari Baba’s or Allagappas and then make the paste myself by adding a few extra ingredients to it.

Tadi The Other Half said he wanted to eat curry and rice for dinner. But I malas nak masak curry from scratch so I pun buat magic and took out these 2 packets of instant curry from the pantry, hahahaha. So I used its Tikka Masala paste that’s ‘mild’ to make chicken tikka for The Little Misses and I used its Rogan Josh paste that’s ‘medium’ to make beef rogan josh for us :-). I didn’t have to add anything at all apart from the beef and chicken and potatoes and they tasted really great! Terkejut jugak sebab selalunya I have to add and tweak a little bit to curry pastes to make them nice for us.

The Other Half siap bertambah 3 kali lagi tu so definitely sedap kan. He said, “buy some more of these if they are still on sale cos they are really good. Even I can cook delicious curry like this!” Muahahaha, boleh lah I retire from cooking curry macam ni kan :-).

Anyone in OZ or Perth yang nak try these brand of curries, they are called ‘Passage to India’ simmer sauces. The mild and medium sauces memang tak pedas lah but The Little Misses still complained kata their chicken tikka was quite hot, sampai minum air aje bergelas! Hikhikhik…

I should mintak royalty ni kan kat the company sebab promote thier products on my blog, hahahaha….

 

Our dinner tonite. Simple rice pilaf with acar (mesti ada kalau tak nak The Other Half merajuk, hehehehe), beef rogan josh, chicken tikka, ayam goreng and poppadom.

Breakfast and by the river…

Rain..rain.. since last night which is such a nice sight. Memang seronok sambung tidur balik under the doona and since The Other Half dah balik from Sydney last nite, lagi lah best snuggling up kan, muahaha :-P. Kalau lah tak kerana tekak dah merayu2 mintak kopi, memang lah malas betul nak bangun, hehehe.

Instead of just the usual toast or cereal for breakfast, I made tomato n avocado croissants for us and instant roti paratha makan dengan gula for The Little Misses. They lovvvvvvvve the instant paratha that setiap kali I masak, they will eat 2-3 keping each! Luckily the instant ones tu memang senang nak cari kat kedai asian and so so cheap as well. Bila dah murah, memang lah I akan jadi malas giler nak buat roti canai sendiri kan, hahahaha.

Our avocado n tomato croissants (No, I didn’t make the croissants, kedai mari!). Kali ni I tried using white plate with black background. Tapi my light box tu was too small for the long platter so I kena crop the photos so tak nampak the front of the box. Memang lah kena cari kotak besar lepas ni! Bila lah The Other Half nak beli a 50 inch LED TV ni ye so I can use the box, hahahaha…..

Then, for lunch pulaknya, we got invited to Rus’s house down at Bertram for her daughter’s birthday party. Memang makan bertambah2 the nasi bryani dgn lauk pauk yg sedap2 tu, hehehe. Ye lah kan, bila lagi nak makan dishes yang orang lain masak! But we forgot to bring the camera pulaknya so tak dapat lah nak ambik gambar with the birthday girl.

Balik from the party, while driving home, I was saying to The Other Half that it is such a ‘good’ weather for a photo shoot because it’s cloudy with the sun shining through and the girls are in nice clothing :-). Bila lagi kan nak harness my skills ni. I ni kalau ambik gambar orang still fail lagi. Ambik gambar food senang sebab I can pose them the way I want and  they won’t move at all, hehehe. I can take as long as I want and they will stay still for me :-). They won’t be moody and sulky either unlike the kids! :-D.

So, singgah rumah sekejap just to get the camera and off we went to the river. Nasib baik anak sendiri so senang lah nak ‘suruh’ diaorang to at least smile at the camera. Layan lah ye some photos from the photo shoot today taken by an amateur :-D.

 

3 gorgeous girls sitting by the jetty, hikhikhikhik…… I set the camera setting and The Other Half tinggal click aje. Memang nampak sangat yang pipi I dah makin menembam! Nyampah betul lah!!!! Hehehehe…

Miss 11 tengah cuba tahan gelak….

I told The Other Half to make The Little Misses laugh and smile naturally at the camera. Hmmm…..memang susah betul lah ada assistant tak bertauliah ni ;-).

Me and my brooding tween look….

The Other Half kata rupa dia sebijik George Costanzas dalam cerita ‘Seinfeld’, fat and balding! Muahahaha…

The 2 sisters, so different and yet so alike…

The happy family shoot. We put the camera on the fence railing and then I set the camera settings while The Other Half set it on timer and then away he ran to join us. Nasib baik lah tak jatuh the camera tu!

Dah larut malam…..

Dah pukul 11.30 malam and I masih kat depan komputer. The Little Misses nak bawak karipap esok for lunch at school and bila I checked my magic freezer, dah habis stock karipap. So sambil2 masak dinner tadi, sambil tu lah I masak inti and uli dough, sampai pukul 10.30 tadi, baru lah habis kelim karipap nak penuhkan balik supply yang dah dwindling tu. Lambat betul I mengelim tadi sebab sambil kelim, sambil tengok TV, manalah tak lama kan!Punyalah rajin ibu mithali ini membuat karipap kan, hahahahaha….  Cukuplah supply untuk 5 kali lunches for The Little Misses :-)

Malam ni I malas nak masak sebab tengah hari tadi dah makan berat (leftover masak lemak from last nite :-)), so I goreng kan chicken nuggets and chips for The Little Misses and I buat jemput2 udang for me :-). Masa I tengah geledah freezer mencari karipap tadi, I terjumpa frozen kuah kacang (but tak tau lah dari zaman bila!). I pun goreng tahu sikit and buat rojak sempoi yang tak cukup bahan. So far, masih lagi tak sakit perut sebab makan kuah kacang yang dah berzaman dalam freezer tu, wehehehehe… Every time I dah masuk simpan cooked food dlm freezer tu, baru lah I teringat nak tulis date kat atas bekas tu. But since malas, terus lah tak buat. Tu yg tak tahu berapa lama kuah kacang tu dah tersimpan dlm magic freezer tu, hehehehe…

Rojak sempoi tak cukup bahan :-). Kuah kacang tu still rasa macam kuah kacang so I guess it was still ok lah kan, hikhikhikhik…..

Masak lomak cili api

Kenapa I masak lauk masak lemak cili ‘api’ malam ni? Sebab… The Other Half is in Sydney again! Dah 3 minggu asyik kena tinggal aje we all ni. Baru balik from Darwin, dah kena pergi Sydney pulak, mengalahkan orang kerja pilot aje! Hikhikhikhik…. Hopefully lepas ni, takde lah interstate trips selalu selalu sangat.

Masak lemak cili api ni lebih kurang masak asam pedas lah, dah lama sangat2 I tak masak. Selalunya kalau The Other Half ada and I masak lauk bersantan, mesti nya lah kena masak kari (kan ke Mamak celup dia tu, hahaha). Tu yang dah lama sangat I tak masak lemak. Sampai kan boleh terlupa macam mana nak masak lemak ni. The only ingredient yang I tau mesti ada is cili, hehehehe. Belek2 buku resipi tadi terjumpalah resipi masak lemak cili api ikan so bantai lah guna resipi sama. Menjadi lah jugak :-). Tapi since kat rumah ni cuma ada pokok cili biasa aje, I pun bantai aje lah guna cili I but pedas lah jugak walaupun tak sampai mengalir2 hingus and berpeluh2 makan….

I masak 2 ketul drumsticks aje, itupun still ada balance seketul lagi untuk lunch esok, hahahaha… The Little Misses I gorengkan drumstick seketul sorang. Sungguh tak membazir kan!

Best betul masak tadi sebab pakai cili, kunyit, daun kunyit, halia, serai yang di tanam sendiri. Kalau lah ayam tu pun tangkap kat belakang rumah kan best! Jimat belanja, wehehehehehe…… Tapi kan, we all dua dua orang tak berani nak tangkap ayam and sembelih ayam so macam mana lah nak buat reban kat belakang rumah, kahkahkahkah….

Psst… cantik tak contrast black mangkuk and the white background gitu? Lepas ni kita cuba white mangkuk and black background pulak ye! ;-). Macam lagu MJ lah kan ‘black n white’.

How many have you had?

We were driving when suddenly out of the blue, The Other Half said to me, “You know what? I think we must be the only people on earth who still have the same mobile phone numbers for years and years and years!”

(See, we’ve been married for too long that we don’t have anything else to talk about, we had to resort to talking about phone numbers to break the silence! Hikhikhikhik…. ;-D).

But what he said was true sebab he’s had the same phone number since he moved back to OZ from M’sia which was in 2000. And I pulak have had the same number since 2001! So, kira lama lah tu kan because we are talking about mobile phones here :-). We still keep the same numbers even when we changed our service provider last year. Sebab in OZ ni, we don’t have to change our numbers if we don’t want to, even if we change our service provider. Walaupun dah upgrade phones berkali2, tapi phone numbers tetap yang sama :-D…

Why don’t we change our numbers? Entah lah you, probably sebab we are so attached to the numbers kot because it’s our birth dates :-). Kat sini, you can choose whatever numbers you like (as long as takde sape dah ambik number tu and the numbers are available) and we chose our birth dates so tu yang teramatlah attached nya to the numbers, hehehehe…. Senang weh nak ingat instead of just some random numbers! And then since we still have the same numbers, tak payah lah kena susah payah let everyone knows bila dah tukar (macamlah ramai sangat yang kena di bagi tahu, muahahahahaha).

Nasib baik lah we all takde stalkers kan so tu yang boleh keep the same numbers forever :-).

But even though we have had the same numbers forever, bila kena isi borang asking our phone numbers or bila kena call orang and tell them our phone numbers, kadang2 masih tersilap2, hikhikhikhik…. Ye lah kan, mana ada kita call phone kita sendiri hari2(takde kerja I nak buat kerja tak berfaedah tu!) so tu yang sentiasa terlupa nombor sendiri. And then phone number The Other Half pulak on speed dial so memang lah susah jugak nak ingat kan :-).

I tau my adik beradik kat M’sia selalu jugak tukar phone numbers ni sebab belum sempat I hafal/key in nombor diaorang, dah tukar nombor baru, wehehehehehe….

Anyway, malam ni I saje nak tunjuk kat Cik Mat and Jaja yang berkenan kat spice bottles I tu.

Masa I mula2 pindah OZ dulu, I started collecting all these bottles for my spice rack (The Other Half pun ikut sama pergi kedai chose the bottles with me sebab dia pun excited sama, muahahahaha). It was so much fun choosing all the different shapes! And with the price of around $1-$2, lagi lah best nya nak memilih kan, hahahahaha… I love my 3 tingkat spice rack! :-D. One day when I’ve cleaned my spice rack until spick n span, I’ll put it up on the blog :-).

Our dinner tonite was mince beef again but in a different form. I made meatloaf, makan dengan chips and sauteed carrot n mushroom.

The Other Half kata dia lagi suka his meatloaf sebab takde ‘healthy things’ like diced veges in it, hehehehe.

Nachos and Choc Pudding

The Other day, Tasha asked me to show her how to make nachos. Since I can’t do it personally, face to face, and I’m not famous enough to video record it and put it on Youtube ;-), so I’m just going to show you how to do it step by step through photos aje lah ye :-).

Nachos my style.

The ingredients I used:

400-500g of beef mince

1/2 brown onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon each of paprika powder, cumin powder, coriander powder

chilli powder to taste (I guna 1/4 tsp aje sebab budak2 tu tak tahan pedas).

4 tablespoons tomato paste/ tomato puree

1/2 cup of canned red kidney beans

1/2 cup water

1 bag of corn chips

1 jar of salsa

1 cup of grated cheddar+mozzarella cheese

           

In a frying pan, heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Then saute the onion, garlic and the spices sampai naik bau.

Then add the beef mince and cook until all brown. Add 1/2 cup of red kidney beans.

 

Then add 4 tablespoons tomato paste (kalau susah nak jumpa, guna tomato puree pun takpe), 1/2 cup water, garam to taste. Masak sampai kuah dia pekat.

   

On a tray, chuck the whole bag of corn chips. Ini rupa1 type of corn chips and salsa yang I guna tadi.

   

Scatter the mince bean mix on top of the corn chips, top it with salsa. Last sekali, tabur grated cheese on top.

Masukkan dalam grill and grill until the cheese has all melted and the corn chips slightly brown.

Nachos ni selalunya makan dengan sour cream, shredded lettuce, diced jalapeno pepper and guacamole.

Tapi tadi I makan dengan avocado salsa mixed in with sour cream :-).

And I made self-saucing choc pudding for dessert (sebab terliur tengok TTM nya choc pudding, hehehe). I guna recipe ini.