Another addition to the extended…..

Aggghhhh, dah pukul 10 baru nak update blog hari ni. Ini sebab tengok dvd Avatar again tadi lepas dinner, tu yang asyik masyuk sampai terlupa nak update blog. And since dah pukul 10, tak boleh lah nak berceloteh panjang2 macam selalu sebab mata dah kuyu, hehehe.

We heard some good news malam ni. I finally have got a nephew and The Little Misses have finally got a boy cousin, yeay…  This is on my side lah sebab on The Other Half’s side memang takkan ada anak sedara or cousins since he’s the only one kan. Adik beradik I including me ada 6 orang and yang dah kahwin 5 orang. So, The Little Misses adalah a few cousins kat Malaysia but all of them are girls :-). Kakak I ada anak sorang, girl. Then I ada anak dua orang, girls jugak. Then adik bawah I ada anak 3 orang, all girls jugak. Then yang bawah dia pun ada anak 2 orang, girls jugak. And adik I yang sanding bulan 12 hari tu (diaorang dah lama nikah cuma sanding kat belah we all aje yg buat lambat :-)) baru aje tadi wife dia bersalin kan anak lelaki. So, finally my Abah and Mak ada cucu lelaki after 8 orang cucu perempuan, hahahahhaha. So, Abah I lepas ni tak kena gelak lagilah dengan kawan2 masjid dia sebab 8 orang cucu semua girls ;-).

Tapi kan sian this boy kan, sure kena buli dengan all the cousins bila balik kampung. Sure tension giler dia sebab takde kawan nak main, hikhikhikhik…… Nasib baik lah all the girl cousins bukan jenis girly2 habis so bolehlah nak di ajak panjat memanjat pokok buah2an, nak main kat tepi parit or nak pergi halau monyet kat kebun :-D.

Congrats ye Akeem & Ros. Jangan lupa letak gambar banyak2 kat FB eh!

I’ll just letak photos of our dinners malam tadi and malam ni aje lah ye.

Ini dinner malam tadi, beef burritos with chips. I guna yang siap in a pack tu aje, tinggal sediakan the beef/chicken and the salad. Senang and sedap :-).

Ini lauk dinner malam ni, I masak kari dalam oven sebab we had to go somewhere petang tadi so sebelum keluar rumah tu, I dah siap masak2 and masukkan dalam oven. Bila balik rumah, dah 3/4 masak and I tak perlu risau, dia hangit atas stove or the gas mati. I still guna santan untuk kari ni tapi tak banyak.

And dinner we all malam ni, oven-cooked beef kari dgn sayur goreng and poppadum. Tapi untuk The Little Misses I masak kari sotong aje, buat yang tak pedas sangat.

Crowning glory

Since the last time I wrote about Miss 6’s curly locks, it’s been 10 days already that I have stopped over washing her hair, changing her shampoo and conditioners and her brush. Rambut dia masih gugur lagi but I think dah tak sebanyak yang dulu lah kot. I’m not sure either because the new regime is working or because I dah jarang basuh rambut dia so tak lah banyak rambut yang got tangled in between my fingers everytime I shampoo her hair. Tapi I still letak conditioner every 2 days masa dia tengah mandi, just the conditioner not the shampoo. I cuma shampoo rambut dia seminggu sekali aje. I guess sebab dia tak berpeluh2, so ok lah tu sebab tak berbau. Masa I balik M’sia dulu, hari2 I kena cuci rambut dia sebab hari2 berpeluh giler2 and kalau tak basuh, memang bau masem! hehehe… Sejak tu lah, rambut dia mula gugur quite bad. Maybe rambut dia ni jenis yang tak boleh overwashed kot.

And since guna wide-toothed comb instead of the brush, I’ve stopped over brushing her hair as well. I rasa her curls makin menjadi2 pulak sekarang ni bila I tak overbrush her hair, hehehe…

Ini gambar her latest, I ambik tadi…

Rambut dia ni kaler dia macam bila kita letak inai kat rambut lah kan, dark reddish brown kot namanya or is it brunette?

Tengok lah betapa curly nya and tangly nya hair dia kan. Macam mana lah I tak pening kepala nak menjaga hari2, hahahaha. I kalau boleh tak nak lah she loses her curls from neglect and missmanagement ;-). I have to trim her split ends soon but kena basuh rambut dulu bagi dia betul2 basah, baru lah boleh potong rambut dia.  Itu pun terketar2 I nak potong sebab I cuma tau potong style kojak aje! Muahahahahaha….

Rambut fringe dia yang kena potong masa kat M’sia bulan 12 hari tu pun masih tak panjang2 lagi! Dah 7 bulan tapi still lebih kurang macam tu aje I rasa. Probably sebab curly kan, tu yang tak nampak panjang. The Little Misses dua2 lambat sangat rambut nak panjang (macam Daddy dia kot, hehehe). Kalau ikut I, memang cepat aje panjang :-D.

Saje je tunjuk gambar from different angles (manalah tau kan ada bakal2 besan I yang nak telek gambar bakal menantu mereka ni betul2, muahahahaha..)

And ini pulak gambar our dinner tonite, pesto spaghetti with crumbed chicken. Jangan tanya macam mana I buat pesto and crumbed chicken tu ye sebab dua2 beli kat kedai, hehehehe. But kalau you all pergi shortcut ‘recipes’ I ada letak cara2 nak buat pesto and nak buat crumbed baked chicken.

Kebab, coleslaw and roast potato

Ish, tak sangka betul, ramai jugak yang terliur tengok pizza I semalam tu ye, hehehe. Nasib baik lah I letak the recipe sekali so boleh lah sesiapa yang terliur tu start buat pizza or start dialing 13 PIZZA kan, hahaha…. My pizza tu memang selalu nya I letak berlambak2 cheese sebab kat dalam fridge I tu ada lagi 6 kilograms of cheese that we have to use by Feb next year. Kenapa banyak sangat cheese you might ask? Sebab hari tu, kat IGA ada buat sale cheese, 1 kg for $6 so since kat rumah ni memang ada sorang hantu cheese, we all pun rembat lah 7 ketul! Hehehehe……. Tamak haloba sungguh kan!

Jadi, kalau I tayang food yang guna banyak cheese in the next few months, you tau lah kenapa ye :-). Kuih Raya nanti pun I cari yang pakai cheese ye and instead of buat rendang and nasi impit for Raya, I buat pizza, pasta bake and all things cheesy ye! Muahahahahahaha ;-).

But, dinner malam ni takde cheese (apart from in The Other Half’s roll) sebab I yang tak larat nak telan cheese again after melantak cheese semalam.

For dinner tonite, I made mince kebab makan dengan coleslaw and roast potato.

If you want to get the best roast potato, you kena masak it twice. First you kena parboil it until it’s partially cooked, kiranya only a bit tender lah. Jangan boil sampai dia lembik giler boleh mash tu, nanti jadi mashed potato lah instead of roast potato :-). Then, you have to drain the potato really well and then put it back into the saucepan and letak balik kat atas api until all the clinging water’s evaporated. Pastu, you have to shake the saucepan kuat2 to roughen up the surface of the potatoes. Tapi jangan lah shake until berderai habis the potatoes tu ye, hehehe. Ini lah nanti yang akan membuatkan bahagian luar roast potato to crispy and crunchy but the inside still so so soft.

Pastu, biarkan dia sejuk sekejap before baking it in a hot oven at 210°C. Preheat the oven tray first and make sure the oven tray is well oiled/greased and hot before you put the potatoes in it. Lagi lah nanti jadi crispy and crunchy! Tadi I baked it for about 40-50 minutes. But ken balik2kan the potatoes so all the surface are well browned. If you want further details, you can go here.

Senang aje kan nak buat roast potato ni :-). Kalau you takde masa, you can parboil the potatoes the night before so bila you balik kerja, tinggal bake aje.

roast potato, coleslaw and kebab in hot dog roll.

Ada nampak crispy and crunchy tak my potato ni? hehehe

I kalau buat coleslaw suka campur mayonnaise and sour cream sebab kalau guna mayonnaise aje, I rasa macam terlebih manis pulak nya. Kalau letak sour cream, dia lagi lemak sikit and kurang sikit kemanisan nya. I suka sangat2 coleslaw KFC kat M’sia tu, itu yang I paling rindu instead of the chicken, hahahaha. I boleh makan that coleslaw 1 big tub to myself. Coleslaw KFC sini teramatlah manisnya to my taste, rasa muak giler. Pastu, mahal pulak tu sebab beli itu aje. Baik I buat sendiri kan :-). Now kalau lah dapat ngendeng2 dengan pekerja KFC kat M’sia kan best! Boleh lah I korek rahsia recipe coleslaw diaorang so bolehlah I melantak coleslaw tu kat sini.

Minced kebab tu pulak I guna recipe burger from here but I shape it bentuk oblong aje sebab nak bagi fit in with the hot dog roll, hehehe. I think I definitely tak boleh kerja kat McD sebab tak pandai shape the burger jadi bulat2! wehehehehe…..

Easy peasy Pizza

We love pizza in this household. I can make it once a week or twice a week and no one will complain. I’m not sure whether it’s the bread and cheese combination yang membuatkan people drool over it or it’s the meat & veges combination that people like (as though! Hahahaha…..). But I think sejak I start buat blog ni, dah berdozen2 or beratus dozen gambar pizza yang I dah tayang kat blog kan ;-). Kalau boleh timbang berat the cheese yang I dah grated to put on the pizza, adalah berpuluh2 kilo kot, muahahahaha…..

Probably kalau I nak kerja kat Pizza Hut or kat Dominos, I boleh tunjuk my blog to them as my resume and they’ll hire me on the spot kot, hikhikhik… I pun sekarang ni kalau buat the pizza base, dah boleh pejam mata aje and tak payah tengok recipe, insyaAllah menjadi (eksen giler kan, wakakaka). Lagi lah sejak ada breadmaker ni, lagi senang I nak buat the base. Tinggal campak segala ingredients in it and then pegi ambik The Little Misses at school and by the time we come home, dah naik cantik aje. Pastu, tinggal siapkan the toppings, gelek the base jadi bulat cantik and then tinggal hias and bakar.

I selalunya akan buat pizza enough for dinner and for lunch the next day so The Little Misses and The Other Half can take it for lunch. Senang lah kerja I sebab tak payah susah2 fikir pasal nak kena buat lunch for them pagi2 morning tu kan :-).

Nak buat the base ni senang aje, you boleh pakai any recipe white bread yang you like or the simplest recipe just using flour, oil, salt, water and yeast. kalau ada bread flour kat rumah ni, I’ll use bread flour. Kalau dah habis, I will just use tepung gandum aje and it will still turn out great.

For toppings pulak, I’ll just use whatever yang I can find in the fridge and the pantry. Tapi yang mesti ada is pineapple! Tapi kat sini pineapple senang nak cari sebab I just use canned pineapple aje, hehehe. Toppings yang I selalu guna is poloni or salami or pepperoni or sausages or BBQ chicken or roast beef or marinara mix. Yang gerenti I takkan bubuh on my pizzas are olives and anchovies! I really cannot telan olives and anchovies ni, my hidung and tekak memang tak boleh terima the smell nor the taste. Anchovies ni yg Mat Saleh punya version, the ones in oil, not ikan bilis kita, hehehe.

The Other Half loves anchovies. Kalau dia nak makan anchovies, I akan buat separate pizza just for him with anchovies on it. Kalau I buat half-half and I termakan the anchovy even a tiny bit, I akan terus stop makan pizza tu sebab rasa macam nak ter buwekkkkk…… Hampeh betul I ni kan, hahahahahaha….

For dinner tadi, I buat pizza and I used the breadmaker recipe for the base which is:

Pizza Dough

• 200mls air
• 1 tbsp olive oil/canola oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 375g/2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 tsp yeast

(This recipe will yield 2 large pizzas)

-Kalau guna BM, just campak in the container ikut turutan and then choose the pizza setting and bagi dia buat kerja sendiri while you buat kerja sendiri :-).

-Kalau guna tangan, campur kan air suam with the yeast and then biarkan for 15 minutes sampai berbuih. Kalau tak berbuih, buang aje yeast tu sbb nampak sangat dah matinya!

-Dalam mangkuk besar, gaulkan tepung and garam. Bila campuran yeast dah berbuih, tuangkan ke dalam mangkuk bertepung tu and then tambah olive oil and uli hingga adunan tu tak melekat kat tangan and bila di tekan dengan jari, it’ll spring back.

-Biarkan kat tempat yang suam until double in size. Make sure you tutup mangkuk tu dengan gladwrap or tuala lembap so dough tu tak kering ye.

-Bila dah double in size, boleh lah bahagikan ke 2 bahagian and gelek jadi leper setebal mana yang you nak.

-Then bolehlah bubuh pizza sauce (I beli aje), letak toppings yang menyelerakan and then tabur dengan grated cheddar and mozzarella.

-Bakar at 220°C until masak.

And ini gambar our pizza tadi. I made 2 versions, BBQ sausage pizza and seafood pizza (just for The Other Half :-)).

Ini bukan my plate (tak kuasa I nak mengada2 pakai plate kayu, wehehehe). Ini cuma untuk ambik gambar aje :-D.

Marinara mix yang penuh dengan prawns, calamari, mussels and fish fillet. I tak berapa gemor makan yang ini.

Sausage pizza for the rest of us.

So….. you rasa berdasarkan gambar2 kat atas ni, Domino and Pizza Hut nak tak lantik I jadi chef diaorang? Wakakakakakaka…..

conversation between Mummy and daughter

The conversation I had with Miss 6 tadi.

Miss 6: Mummy, do you know when people get married….

Mummy: Yessss….. (Oh shivers! Please don’t let this conversation go anywhere where I don’t want it to go!!!!)

Miss 6: Do they have to, you know, marry someone born in the same month?

Mummy: No, but why do you asked that?

Miss 6: Oh, because you know how Daddy and you have got birthdays both in July. I thought you have to marry someone that has the same birthday month as you.

Mummy: Hehehehe…..

Lega I sebab it’s not that kind of conversation. Then she sambung balik…

Miss 6: Mummy, you know when a boy marries a girl….

Mummy: Yess….. (Oh heck! please please please, don’t go there……..)

Miss 6: And they have kids…

Mummy: Yessssss……. (Oh definitely heck heck heck!)

Miss 6: And the kids have surnames right… do they have to take the Dad’s name?

Mummy: In most cultures they do but in some cultures they take their Mum’s surname.(phew….it’s that kind of question :-D).

Miss 6: Oh, that’s why I have Daddy’s surname.

I don’t know what brought it up though, this talk about marriage, hahahahahaha… (You are still wayyyyyyyy too young to be thinking about it, Miss!)

For dinner tonite, I made baked paprika chicken drumsticks, makan dengan dumplings and steamed veges. The dumplings I baked in the oven, in the same tray as the drumsticks so they’ll soak up the juice form the chicken. Dumplings ni lebih kurang scones lah.

 

Yang macam tahu tu are the dumplings/scones. Cantik tak my corelle plate ni? hikhikhikhik….

Yang in pulak masa they were still in the ovenware. I know they look a bit messy :-).

Tu yang I ambik gambar selalu nya bila dah plate it nicely instead of when they are in the tray, heheheh…..

Sunny Sunday in Winter

No one would be believe that it’s still Winter today sebab it was such a gorgeous day. It got up to 23°C tengah hari tadi! The only sign that it was still Winter was pagi2 buta tadi, it was so d**n cold, around 4°C! I guess this is what happened when there’s no cloud cover to  regulate the temperature, so cold in the morning but hot during the day. But, this gorgeous weather won’t last long because they are predicting rain for a week starting esok.

And as usual, bila the weather is nice at the weekend, we all keluar jalan2. We went ‘fishing’ today :-). What did we catch? Nothing! hehehehe. Alah, we all pergi fishing pun bukan sebab nak catch fish, saje je nak bagi The Little Misses and The Other Half main2 dengan rod and line and for me to play with my Canon. I don’t think we know what to do with a fish if we ever caught one, hikhikhik… I’m not sure if The Other Half tau macam mana nak siang ikan :-). Even masa kat Denham cuti2 hari tu, The Little Misses and The Other Half did catch some fish but they threw them back into the water sebab no one’s going to eat them :-).

Layan lah some photos I took today.

Orang lain mengail, dia mengaup :-).

Here fishy fishy fishy………..

Tak main lah rod ni, pakai hand line aje lagi best :-)

Come here Black Swan… closer…closer….closer…….

Sejak duduk WA ni, macam dah lali bila jumpa black swan ni sebab they are everywhere. But bila guests from M’sia excited sangat2 dapat jumpa black swan ni, baru lah tersedar sekejap yang they are quite unique actually :-).

Even though tak dapat tangkap ikan after 2 hours of ‘fishing’, but I could still do some ‘magic’ and made gulai ikan for dinner, hehehehe. Terer betul I, wakakaka…..

The Other Half nak sangat2 makan kari for dinner malam ni. But then bila I geledah my magic freezer, baru lah I terperasan yang takde stock ayam nor daging untuk di buat kari! Minced beef, chicken burger, chicken nuggets, sausages ada lah but I don’t feel like making curry out of them! Lepas geledah lagi, I found some fish fillet and prawns and a bit of chicken thigh fillet, enough to make gulai ikan+udang and butter chicken for the kids. The Other Half ni tak minat sgt kari ikan but gulai ikan dia minat lah jugak :-).

Kat sini daun pisang teramatlah mahalnya kan so pakai pinggan ala2 daun pisang pun jadi lah, untuk buat nostalgia kedai mamak, hahahaha….. Lauk we all hari ni is gulai seafood, butter chicken and cauliflower+potato+bende goreng.

Saje je tunjuk dekat2 sikit so lagi senang nak nampak udang berenang2 tu, hikhikhik….

And ini pulak muffins yang I buat pagi tadi for The Little Misses to take to Sunday School. I made choch chips banana muffins, recipe from here but I tambah cocoa powder sikit sebab nak bagi lagi chocolatey. Memang laju aje lah lesapnya bila dihidangkan kat budak2 :-).

Muffins I tak merekah cantik tapi naik jugak lah membukit :-).

Raincheck?

We went to Target tadi sebab starting from Thursday hari tu, Target buat their biggest Toy Sale. But tak sempat2 nak pergi Target until today. We knew that the toy that we were looking for would have been sold out so quickly on that Thursday itself, but we still went there anyway to go to their ‘raincheck’ counter.

I ingat lagi masa I awal2 sampai OZ dulu (zaman tok hek dulu), when my Aussie coursemates said to me, “can I take a raincheck on that?”, I akan terpinga2 because for the life of me, I had no idea what that meant. I was saying to myself, “what is it about Aussie and rain ni and why do they have to check on the rain?” Punyalah pening kepala I pikir pasal ni, hahahahaha. Until I asked a friend of mine what raincheck means, baru lah eden paham maksudnya! hikhikhik…..

To people who are not familiar with that saying, raincheck loosely means ‘to do it another day’. For example, when you invite a friend out for coffee you belanja and the friend says, “I’m so sorry but I’m really busy today but I’ll take a raincheck on that.” What she/he meant is that she/he would love to go out with you for coffee another time and she/he will definitely one day take up on your offer to belanja them. Selalunya, they’ll come up to you one day when they are less busy and say, “Is that coffee offer still on? Do you want to go now?” Hehehehe….

But I think other countries use this raincheck term jugak kan, not just kat OZ…

Anyway, so tadi we all pun pergilah ke the ‘raincheck’ counter and put our names on the toys yang dah sold out tu. What they’ll do is that they’ll take our details and the details of the toys we want and then when they get their next shipment of the toys, they’ll give us a call and we buy the toy dengan harga masa sale itu which is 50% off the RRP. Which is so cool right! :-). At least, when they do like this, orang tak lah marah bila the sale items they want are sold out. But they don’t do it all the time, cuma on mega sale days like Toy Sale ni. Sometimes bila diaorang buat sale benda2, you can see on the catalogue on the fineprint, ‘no raincheck on these items’. That means they won’t take raincheck order kalau dah sold out. They’ll say to you, “sapa suruh datang lambat sangat, kan padan muka dah habis!” Hehehehe….

But tak tau lah bila we’ll get the toys that we’ve ordered ni, the lady said probably mid to late September! Lama giler kan but ok lah tu sebab boleh lah jadi hadiah Raya, hehehe.

Dolu2, memang pening nak paham the Aussies and the unique words and sayings that they use but now, dah terer I, kahkahkahkah….. Cuma bila balik M’sia lah I have to make sure that I don’t use the OZ sayings sebab tak ramai yg paham OZ-talk ni unlike American-talk which ramai yang paham :-).

Malam ni, I masak 2 jenis dinner sebab The Other Half nak makan scrambled eggs and sausages for dinner and I maleh beno nak makan benda2 ni. I pun masak lah kuey teow goreng untuk I. Sebab I yang jadi chef kan, so tak kisah lah kalau chef mengada2 nak makan benda lain dari yang lain, hehehe

Ini dinner The Other Half and The Little Misses, breakfast for dinner.

Ini dinner I, kuey teow udang goreng.

Kenangan bersekolah

Hari ni The Little Misses brought home their class photos that were taken a while back. Kat sini, every year ada class photos and you can choose to buy the package provided. Sama ada tak nak beli, or nak beli gambar kelas aje, or nak beli gambar kelas and all the students’ photos taken individually or beli gambar kelas+all students+gambar our kid in different sizes. We all pun ambik lah the last package for both of them. Miss 11 sebab this is her last year at primary school, so adalah memento of her friends. And bila dah ambik the full package for Miss 11, Miss 6 pun kena lah bagi sama kan :-).

Ini gambar their classmates and them.

Miss 11 and her classmates. Yang pakai baju biru gelap tu semua in the same year as her, Year 7. Itu baju ‘leavers’ diaorang. Every student in their final year of school will have a t-shirt with their names in the back and the year they leave school in the front (I think kat semua sekolah buat macam ni.). Yang pakai uniform sekolah tu pulak in Year 6. She’s the smallest in her class, memang jauh beza betul dengan budak2 yg lain, hehehe. Kalau kena beratur from paling pendek to paling tinggi, dia memang yang kat depan sekali lah (sama macam Mummy dia masa kat sekolah dulu, muahahahaha).

Her class is a mixed class, Year 6 & 7 class. Diaorang belajar syllabus berbeza even though they are in the same class, kesian jugak kat cikgu dia kan :-). But it worked really well.

Miss 6 and her classmates. Macam kelas kat negara Asia aje kan sebab her classmates ni majority Asians, hehehehe. Miss 6 pulak has 2 teachers, sorang ajar on Monday and Tuesday and sorang lagi ajar on Wednesday-Friday. But they communicate with each other so well so if anything happens, both teachers will know about it lah.

And ini pulak gambar The Little Misses individually :-)

  

Masa ambik gambar ni, they were asked to smile showing their teeth, hehehehe.Nasib baik lah tak menyeringai dua2 :-). Dalam gambar ni, their hair is so reddish brown, mesti dah di photoshopped kan! hahahahaha…

And ini pulak our sempoi dinner tonite sebab I tak tau nak masak apa dah.

 

Mee goreng dengan chicken nuggets. Sempoi kan! :-)

From Mummy to Mum

I know I shouldn’t be feeling this way but I do. What am I feeling? A mixed emotion of sadness and happiness I guess. Sad sebab I know it’s a small step to being independent and an adult. Happy sebab my kid is getting older :-) (which means, so am I! hehehehe).

We are talking about Miss 11 here. Her transition from calling me Mummy to Mum and calling The Other Half Daddy to Dad. She’s been trying it for ages now but I resisted her attempt. Setiap kali dia panggil I Mum, I akan buat2 tak dengar aje, hikhikhik. But The Other Half tak kisah sebab for Mat Saleh, it’s a part of growing up. It’s their way to change from calling their parents Mummy and Daddy to Mum and Dad when they are in upper primary lebih kurang. I guess for them, only kids/babies/toddlers use the term Mummy and Daddy. Once they are in high school and become adults, memang lah takde sorang pun yang still panggil Mummy & Daddy ni, hehehe. Unlike kat M’sia kan, where you still call your parents Mummy and Daddy (for people yang guna this terms) sampai bila2 :-). I know a few people yang sampai dah beranak pinak pun still call their parents Mummy and Daddy. I guess it’s up to the individuals lah kan with what they are comfortable with.

Anyway….For the past few days, Miss 11 memang dah hari2 akan panggil I Mum and I think I can’t ignore her anymore or buat2 tak dengar kan :-). I guess it’s her way of showing that she’s not a kid anymore so I guess I have to resign myself to accept the inevitable, being called Mum by Miss 11 from now on. I find it a bit awkward too when I hear the word Mum sebab macam dia panggil orang lain aje and not me. Apalah I ni kan, hikhikhik. The Other Half relaxed aje bila Miss 11 panggil dia Dad instead of Daddy sebab dia kata dia lagi suka kena panggil Dad. Ye lah, dia Mat Saleh, I ni Jawa, tu yang lain! :-D

I can still remember how she used to call me Mama, sebab masa dia baby dulu, dia tak boleh sebut Mummy. Even though, hari2 I bahasakan diri I Mummy, she still called me Mama (masa tu kat M’sia kan so lidah Jawa dia tebal lagi lah, muahahaha). Until one day, out of the blue, I heard, “Mummy! Mummy!” coming out of her mouth. Masa tu, my otak still tak compute lagi yang she said Mummy instead of Mama. But then it clicked and I was so shocked but so excited at the same time, hehehehe. I was like, “did I hear Mummy?” Terus rasa nak menari nari masa tu, hahahaha.

But now….sob sob sob…….. I am a Mum instead of a Mummy :-(. As long as she doesn’t shorten it anymore, I’m happy. Mana lah tau kan, dia dah rasa tak best nak panggil I Mum, dia shorten it to M aje ke, hahahaha…… But luckily Miss 6 masih lagi suka panggil I Mummy so lega lah sikit, hikhikhikhik….

I wonder when will Miss 6 start calling me Mum? :-D

And now sebelum I terlupa lagi, our dinner tonite, fries with meatballs in a mixed up sauce with garlic bread and greens. I ingat nak buat alfredo pasta makan dengan meatballs. Meatballs tu I dah lama buat, tinggal reheat aje. But kat rumah ni, kureng sikit lah dengan alfredo sauce ni. So, tu yang I tambah sikit tomato paste and mushroom and capsicum into the Leggo’s alfredo pasta sauce. Tu yang kaler dia jadi pinkish orangey sikit, hehehehe.

Ada yang terliur tengok meatballs I ni? ;-)

Hair, hair…gorgeous luscious hair?

A lot of people have asked how I look after Miss 6’s curly locks. I used to ‘look’ after it well because her hair was quite lush and very curly. But now, for a few months, there’s something horribly wrong with her hair. It breaks easily! So, bila I wash and condition her hair or brush her hair, punyalah banyak rambut dia yang got tangled in between my fingers and in the brush. It is really sad to see it. Maybe, it’s not much at all but with her hair being long, nampak macam banyak sangat2 lah kan. And she’s only a kid, so tak patutlah lah for her to lose so much hair yet. Takut pulak, tetiba dia jadi botak like Daddy one day, hehehehe…. Uish, jauhkan lah kan…..

So, I am changing the way I’m taking care of her hair now to stop the breakage. I’m not going to overdo it.

I used to use just Pears which is so cheap or Palmolive Macadamia shampoo and conditioner on her and it worked quite well on her hair. Tak banyak yang gugur and didn’t disturb her curls. But then I tukar guna Sunsilk and Pantene for dry/damaged hair when her hair started getting a bit dry (probably from the weather or the swimming pool or too much hair washing). I thought bila guna shampoo khas untuk hair damage, her hair will get better lah kan. But I think, it’s not doing much good on her hair because it looks like it’s drying her hair more. Lagi banyak hair damage ada lah I rasa! Probably, it’s too harsh on her hair.

And I also used to use hair brush for her hair which suited her curls. But I think I might have used it passed its ‘used by’ date kot sebab the hairbrush looks really worn out and might have contributed to the hair loss (by pulling the hair masa I brush it and not massaging her scalp).

And for a few years, I’ve been using Pantene leave-in conditioner for her hair every time lepas dia mandi while her hair is still damp. It’s been quite good sebab it helps reduce the tangles so senang lah sikit I nak brush her hair. But it doesn’t help kalau I letak masa hair dia kering, it just makes it so frizzy and ala2 afro aje. But it’s got so much chemicals and silicone in it.

So, I’ve totally changed everything. I’m going to start using organic-type shampoo and conditioner (or as close to organic as I can get without SLS or a lot of chemicals and silicone-free conditioner). I’m just going to use the basic shampoo and conditioner instead of specific ones for dry/damaged hair or for curls. And I’m not to over wash her hair, maybe twice a week max sebab the more you wash your hair, the more your hair will be stripped off its essential oils. Maybe tu pasal her hair is dry, sebab everytime I tengok her hair dry, I pi basuh rambut dia lagi, hehehe…

I’ve thrown away her old brush and now just use a wide-toothed comb and my fingers to untangle her hair. And I’m using a leave-in conditioner specially for curls called Rapid Curls which doesn’t have that much chemicals nor silicone after every shower.

And I have to make sure that she has her fish oil everyday because it’s good for your hair :-). She normally has it everyday but we all ni selalu terlupa nak give it out.

Hopefully, her hair will get better in a month time and she’ll regain her gorgeous locks again :-). I mean, she hasn’t lost her locks, she still has nice curly locks but I guess since I yang hari2 look after her hair, I can see the difference between now and before. And hopefully, if all goes well, by Raya time, she’ll get her gorgeous hair back so bolehlah bergaya masa Raya nanti, hahahahaha…..

Asyik sangat cerita pasal hair, I nearly forgot to tayang our dinner tonite. What a surprise, we had rice again tonite :-). Muka Miss 11 teramatlah tak laratnya bila dia nampak nasi on her plate. She’s a ‘once-a-week-rice-menu’ kind of girl. Terkulat2 dia nak menghabiskan nasi dia tadi, hehehe.

 

Sweet and sour Ling fillet. The Other Half kata, he doesn’t mind makan rice again sebab lauk sweet sour ni jauh beza dengan sardin tu, hikhikhik…..

Churros for afternoon tea

Last day of school holidays today and I felt baik hati, I made afternoon tea for us :-). But we had a late afternoon tea tadi so by dinner time, we were still a bit full. Ye lah kan, kat rumah ni, dinner is around 6-6.30 pm so bila afternoon tea at 4.30, memang lah akan masih kenyang at dinner time kan.

I’ve been wanting to make churros for a long time now since we went to Freo and saw Sanchurros there. But rasa macam tak berbaloi pulaknya to eat the churros there sebab harga dia for us is a bit too expensive just for a few pieces of fried dough. Harga a set of ‘churros for one’ is $8 and you only get 2-3 pieces of churros aje albeit quite long ones. I know it’s the ambience you are paying for but I’d rather make them at home sambil minum2 kopi at home. Jimat sikit duit, hehehhe…. And then, bukannya susah pulak tu buat the dough, takdelah guna exotic ingredients to justify the expensive price!

So, tadi I made my first batch of churros using the recipe form this Rockin Robin's site. But since I takde an extra big nozzle to pipe the dough into the frying pan, I just used the small icing nozzle.The Other Half kata, my churros is the ‘french fries’ version instead of the ‘steakhouse’ version! So kurus2 and kemetot, hehehehehe…..

Normally you makan churros with chocolate dip, tak kisah lah either white or dark or milk. I made milk choc dip but The Other Half and I lagi suka makan the churros macam tu aje. But, they taste really really good! Memang tak nak berhenti makan lah tadi, hahahahaha…..

Churros ni lebih kurang jemput2 manis lah kot but very moreish because it’s crispy on the outside and very soft inside. But next time I buat, I think I’ll make it in a bigger size sebab jenuh weh nak menghabiskan 1 adunan tu using only a small nozzle to shape it :-).

Sunday & Sardines

The Other Half had to go to work today for a graduation ceremony. I asked him in the morning if her wanted lunch and then dengan confident nya dia menjawab yang lunch will be provided at the ceremony. I cuma senyum sinis aje kat dia and told him that he’s going to be very disappointed if he thinks that. He said that it’s definitely provided because that’s what’s written in the email he received.

Lunch kat sini is definitely not the same as lunch in Malaysia. Kat sini cuma finger foods yang setakat sandwiches or quiches or sushi. Ingat lagi masa kerja kat M’sia dulu, everytime ada meeting or seminars or courses, the lunches memanglah berat2 giler. Bukan setakat lunches aje yang berat, morning teas kat M’sia pun berat2! At least mesti ada 2 jenis kuih and 1 makanan berat like mee goreng ke, meehoon goreng ke, kuey teow goreng ke. Macam mana lah the meetings tak meleret2 sampai berjam2 kan sebab lepas makan morning tea, semua dah kekenyangan and dah mengantuk so takde idea bernas nak curahkan at the meetings, hehehehe.

Anyway, when I picked him up at the train station tadi, I tanyalah whether dia dah lunch ke belum. And as I guessed, he didn’t get any lunch at all because he said lunch was cancelled! Sebab the ceremony organisers kata, it’s cancelled so everyone can get home early to watch the footie game between Fremantle Dockers and North Melbourne! And they only announced it at the ceremony! Punyalah tension The Other Half, hikhikhikhik…… What a stupid reason to cancel lunch! Berlapar lah dia sehari suntuk tadi until he got home.

So, tu yang malam ni for dinner I masak ‘berat’ sikit sebab kesian kat The Other Half. Nasi and lauk pauk :-). Come to think of it, dah lama jugak we all tak makan nasi putih ni. Last sekali makan nasi, I made briyani. Probably adalah 3-4 minggu kot dah tak makan nasi putih kosong ni. Rindu kat nasi kosong, hehehe.

Inilah lauk pauk I masak. Cuma kari sardin, ikan trevally goreng, sayur kailan n shiitake and masak kicap telur goreng.

 

Lauk kegemaran The Other Half and I, sardin! I masak guna cili yang we all tanam dalam pasu tu, pedas lah jugak lidah ni, hehehehe…

This was what came out of Miss 6’s mouth masa dinner tadi:

Miss 6: Can I have some more of the egg and soy sauce please?

Miss 6: Can I have some more rice please?

Miss 6: Can I have some more fish please?

Miss 6: Can I have some more egg please?

Miss 6: Can I have some more rice please?

And then bila dia mintak rice for the third time, I kata kat dia, “Are you sure you are still hungry or you just love to eat it? hehehehe”

Cukup cukup lah makan tu Anak oi, macam mana nak jadi catwalk model macam ni kalau asik tambah nasi aje. Muahahahhaha….

(Mummy dia pun 2X5 jugak dengan Miss 6, tambah nasi tak hingat. Dia tambah nasi sikit2 aje stiap kali, kita tambah nasi banyak2 sikit!, hahahaha).

Shrek Saturday

We finally got to watch Shrek 4 3D at the cinema today after orang lain dah berminggu2 and berkali2 tengok that movie :-). We all ni malas nak tengok awal2 sebab the cinemas sure sesak with people. Tadi we went to the 10 o’clock show and it was quite empty which was really good. At least takdelah orang yang sibuk berborak2 and bagi commentary and takdelah mobile phones yang asik berbunyi during the movie which are my pet peeves! We really enjoyed watching it but quite sad sebab it looks like there won’t be any more Shrek sequel after this. Can’t wait to get it on dvd though so bolehlah watch it on the projector kan, hehehe.

Weekend ni is our last weekend before The Little Misses start school again on Tuesday after a 2-week break. It’s been a busy 2 weeks so tak lah terasa sangat The Little Misses keboringan duduk rumah. The first week was spent at Monkey Mia and this week was spent just relaxing at home with the occasional jaunts to the shopping malls. So far, they haven’t been driving me nuts that far up the walls. Either that or I am better at ignoring them kot, hehehe. Occasionally aje lah I’ll be yelling at them to calm down and stop making so much noise :-). With girls, it’s the noise yang membingitkan telinga not their actions yang memeningkan kepala, hehehe. But I bet, they can’t wait to go back to school to play with their own friends instead of just with each other!

And for dinner tonite, I made beef and beans nachos. The Mexicans will eat it with jalapenos chillies tapi we all makan dengan chili jeruk buatan sendiri yang tak kurang pedasnya jugak :-).

 

A bowl of nachos for me.

Roast chicken for dinner

I rang The Other Half today and asked him what he wants for dinner and he said, “I don’t know. I’ve had really lovely dinners the past few nights.” I said, “Owww…that’s nice of you to say that about my cooking :-).” Hehehehehe……

He even took some leftover beef sate and nasi impit and kuah kacang gajus to work for his lunch today. And bila dia heat up his lunch in the microwave, all his colleagues were really inhaling the lovely smell that came out of the microwave. Semua sibuk dok tanya apa yang he’s having for lunch, kahkahkah. Bau kuah kacang dgn sate kan memang sedap so tu yang diaorang ter’pikat’ sama :-). Most of the others makan sandwiches aje for lunch (Mat Saleh kan ;-)) but The Other Half hari2 bawak leftovers so bau pun hari2 bertukar2 lah. Kadang2 The Other Half mengadu gak kat I yang he misses having sandwiches for lunch macam dia kecik2 dulu, hikhikhik…..

Because The Other Half dah kata dinners I masak lovely, I pun berfikir panjang lah nak masak apa yang sedap2 for dinner tonite. Susah weh nak memikir hari2 ni ;-). After much deliberation, I decided to make roast chicken with all its trimmings. Kalau orang lain sure dah masak yang lagi gempak kan :-).

Inilah rupa my roast chicken. I made mustard, lemon, garlic and rosemary roast chicken. Senang aje nak buatnya.

(pink silicon tie tu untuk tak nak bagi kaki ayam tu terkangkang seksi masa tgh bakar. Bila nak makan, tinggal untie aje and it can be reused :-)).

I went outside to my backyard and pergi petik about a handful of fresh rosemary. Pastu, pergi pulak ke pokok lemon sebelahnya yang dah kemetot tu and found 1 yellow lemon. Chewah, mentang2lah pokok rosemary and lemon ada kat belakang rumah, eksen terus I kan! Kahkahkahkah…..

Pastu I basuh rosemary and lemon tu and peel the lemon skin. Pastu kan chop up the rosemary, lemon peel and a few cloves of garlic sampai halus. Then in a bowl, tuang olive oil sikit, campur dgn seeded mustard, add some salt and then masukkan rosemary+lemon+garlic cincang tadi and kacau sebati.

Pastu, sapulah kat seluruh ayam inside and outside and under the skin ye.

Chop up some potatoes and sweet potatoes and put them around the chicken and bakar at 180°C until masak.

I rajin jugak tadi, buat gravy sekali. But, gravy tu I buat guna juice yang keluar from the chicken masa you roast dalam oven tu and collected in the tray. I put the juice in a saucepan, tambah 1 sudu tepung and masak atas api perlahan. Bila dah pekat, tambah air sikit and then add kicap masin and pepper. Jadilah gravy yang sedap :-).

Inilah rupa my pinggan, we had roast chicken with roast potatoes n sweet potatoes, corn and apple n green salad.

(The Little Misses love fruit+greens salad so tadi bila diaorang nampak apple in the salad, terus makan sampai habis. I guess the fruit makes the green leaves bearable to eat kot :-))

Yang ini gambar dekat lagi sebab nak bagi more people terliur tengok, hehehe….

The Other Half makan beria2 which means it’s another lovely dinner lah kan ;-). Miss 6 said, “this chicken is really yummy, Mummy!” Anak I sorang tu kan, semua dia kata sedap, hahahaha…..

Sambal apakah itu?

2-3 hari ni, teringin sangat nak makan everything Asian (ye lah kan, sebab masa pergi holiday last week, hari2 bantai masak western food because that’s the simplest and the easiest to cook, hehehe). Tu yang balik2 aje from Geraldton, terus masak kari daging with nasi beriani sempoi sgt2 for our dinner that night. Even The Other Half pun terus setuju bila I suggest kari for dinner that night, hikhikhik….

Hari ni, I pulak teringin nak makan sate sebab semalam bila buatkan The Little Misses chicken skewers, I terus terasa nak makan sate. I memang tak pernah pandai buat the marinade for sate ni. Doesn’t matter how closely I follow the recipe, still tak dapat nak sama macam sate kat M’sia. For me, it’s always not sweet enough even though I rasa I dah letak bersudu2 gula! Maybe next time kan, I should just pejam aje mata and tonggengkan balang gula tu kat marinade tu kan, baru jadi kot, hehehehe.

And the other problem with making sate is the peanut sauce. Memang yang makan kuah kacang kat rumah ni cuma The Other Half and I. But The Other Half takkan makan anything with peanuts at dinner time sebab dia kesian kat Miss 6 yang allergic to peanuts. Dia tak nak lah nanti bila he eats the peanuts and accidentally touch or kiss Miss 6, her allergy terus flares up. Sebab Miss 6 ni can’t even touch peanuts or if someone has touched peanuts and hasn’t washed their hands properly and then touch her, she’ll straight away get a reaction.

I pulaknya suka sangat2 peanuts ni, especially in nasi lemak. Kalau I buat nasi lemak, The Other Half memang takkan makan kacang tu but I akan makan but I will make sure yang no kacang falls on the dining table or be anywhere near Miss 6 and I don’t touch Miss 6 until I have washed everything completely. Kalau I goreng kacang tu pun, I will make sure I buang minyak goreng kacang tu straight away and then wash and wipe everything as soon as I habis menggoreng. But kacang goreng is easier to handle sebab besar2 and you can see it clearly kalau ter spilled.

Unlike peanut sauce yang kadang2 tertumpah sikit kat baju or kat tangan kita and then tak perasan terus pegang Miss 6. Pernah sekali masa raya kat sini, I buat kuah kacang and someone ate it and spilled it on the dining table. We all tak perasan pun masa tu. And Miss 6 straight away duduk kat tempat tu, and the next thing we know she said her lips are tingling, her face started to become so red and blotchy and she’s itching like mad.

Anyway (punyalah jauh I melencong, hahahahaha), I decided to be creative today and substitute peanuts with cashew nuts to make the sate sauce. Mana boleh makan sate tanpa kuah kan, namanya bukan sate lah!

This was how our dinner looked like tonite.

Sate daging and ayam with nasi impit instant and sambal gajus :-).

Rupa sambal gajus tu memang sebijik macam rupa sambal kacang tanah. Rasa dia pun ada lah lebih kurang jugak. But if you were expecting  sambal kacang tanah and then makan sambal ni, you might think ‘macam ada yang tak kena aje with the taste which you can’t pinpoint’, hehehehehe.

But The Other Half was so happy with it because he can eat it freely now without having to worry about Miss 6. Sebab The Other Half ni jenis yang kalau makan, the placemat pun makan sama, tu yang dia terlebih2 risau kalau makan sambal kacang, hehehe!

And Miss 6 was so happy sebab she can finally eat sambal ‘kacang’ with sate. But baru aje rasa sikit, dah kata, “it’s hot!!!!!” Miss 11 lagilah teruk, terus minum segelas air! Apalah anak2 I tu, hahahahahaha…..

This was a photo of her when she was a year+ when we first found out she’s allergic to peanuts. This wasn’t a bad reaction, just a mild one.