Selamat Hari Merdeka and Ayam Penyet

First of all….

SELAMAT MENYAMBUT KEMERDEKAAN YG KE 53 UNTUK NEGARA MALAYSIA DAN SEMUA RAKYAT MALAYSIA TAK KIRA DI MANA JUA ANDA BERADA (that includes me and Miss 11 :-)).

I hope tak ramai lah yang pengsan nanti sebab kena berarak/berpanas terik di bulan puasa or have they scaled the perarakan and celebration down a bit? Agaknya, rasa2nya tahun depan Merdeka jatuh sama hari tak dengan Raya? Double celebration lah macam tu ye, pagi2 pergi masjid solat raya pastu terus berarak kat padang, then baru lah boleh pergi jamuan Raya :-D. Yang bestnya, sudah tentu lah public holidays akan berhari2 lamanya kan!

Tahun ni, we all tak dapat sambut Raya kat Masjid satu family like the previous years :-((. Kalau Raya jatuh hari Jumaat, The Other Half ada lecture pagi tu from 8.30 and no one to cover for him and he can’t just change the timetable. I tak berani nak drive to Rockingham Mosque just with the kids pagi2 morning tu. Dah lah that’s the best Masjid to go to for Raya. The Little Misses and I might have to go to a nearer masjid lah (tapi tak dapat lah merasa juadah Raya yang bermacam2 and sedap2 macam kat Rockingham tu, hehehe). Oh well, that’s the joy of living here, you just have to adapt and make the most of it.

Takpe, I’ll make do by having a wonderful open house the next day or the day after, OK tak macam tu? ;-D.

Malam tadi, for dinner I made a special nasi ayam. Percaya tak kalau I kata yang I tak pernah in my life makan ayam penyet yang so fofular nowadays? Masa we all balik M’sia bulan 12 lepas, we didn’t have time to try all the food and nasi ayam penyet ni wasn’t even on the list of things to try. But bila balik sini again, all the blogs yang I singgah mesti akan ada N3 regarding ayam penyet ni and how sedap it is.

But biasalah I kan, malas nak buat sebab rasa macam leceh aje, until malam tadi (I was really rajin semalam, hehehe). I memang berhajat nak buat nasi ayam pun but nasi ayam biasa2 tu aje. Then I said to myself, why not buat nasi ayam penyet yang luar biasa ni since everyone’s been raving about it. Bila lagi kan nak join the bandwagon of “people who have eaten nasi ayam penyet”, hahahhaha….

Nasib baik Ijan Finland baik hati sedekahkan recipe dia for me to try. Thanks ye Ijan! And it turned out really sedap especially the ayam goreng (I cuma sempat perap ayam tu about 5 hours aje) and the sambal yang menyengat itu. But I tak letak cili api, I cuma letak 10 biji cili biasa aje pun dah terasa berapi2, hehehe. But The Other Half tak minat sangat sambal tu sebab dia tak biasa makan sambal belacan or yang seangkatan dengan nya itu. But for me, itulah yang made the nasi ayam so special! Kalau takde sambal tu, baik tak payah makan, hikhikhik ;-).

Memang dah lama sangat2 I tak buat nasi ayam ni, so memang melantak sakan lah semalam. The Other Half pun tambah 2 kali sebab dia kata the soup is so nice. And then makan dengan marinated tempe and tahu goreng lagi, lagi lah tak boleh nak stop! :-D

Tengok lah my pinggan ni, lengkap dengan sambal, sup, tempe and tahu :-). Ayam lagi banyak dari nasi, high protein diet kan, hahaha…

Meh, I tunjuk dekat sikit…

Baru lah nampak ayam goreng and sambal tu dengan lebih jelas lagi kan! :-D

And I made kuih as well. Sorang cuma boleh makan sebiji aje masa berbuka sebab I tak nak lah perut diaorang kenyang and then dah tak larat nak makan nasi ayam penyet special I ni….

Breaded frankfurt rolls.

Op Cendol

Dah 18 hari we all berpuasa, cepat aje terasa masa berlalu. Sekarang ni dah nampak semua orang sibuk buat project Op Cookies kat rata2 blog and dah ramai yang start dengar lagu Raya. I tak pasang lagi lagu Raya ni sebab asik terlupa aje nak dengar :-).

Pagi semalam pun I buat project jugak, I buat project Op Cendol. Orang lain semua dah puas makan cendol and dah puas buat cendol, I baru nak mula buat cendol, hehehe. Sebab I banyangkan dalam hati yang agak lama nak buat cendol ni, tu yang asik tangguh2 aje nak buat. And another thing, kat sini tengah Winter kan, tu yang tak terasa sangat2 nak makan cendol but it’s been quite warm for the past week especially semalam, tu yang tekak pun tetiba gatal sangat nak merasa cendol :-).

Rupa rupa nya senang aje nak membuat cendol ni ye especially if you have this…

Hikhikhik….saje je nak menunjuk yang I ada acuan muruku :-D. Ni sebenarnya acuan Mak I yang dah bertahun2 dia beli but biasalah I kan, bila balik M’sia mesti bukak gerobok dia sambil mengendeng2 her kitchen gadgets :-D (especially yang tembaga macam ni and sudah tentu mahal). And Mak I mesti rasa kesian kat anak dia yang duk oberseas and susah nak cari benda2 macam ni, so for sure nya akan sedekahkan benda2 yang I dah ngendeng tu, heheheh….

Tengok betapa lah senang nya nak buat, sampai kan Miss 6 pun boleh buat cendol :-D.

I guna recipe yang gunakan tepung beras semata2. Dia tak kenyal sangat but still rasa macam cendol bila makan. I ambil recipe kat sini, thank you kat empunya recipe sebab bagi recipe yang enak ini :-).

Ini pulak cendol yang dah jadi. But nak jadi cerita, I dah kehabisan red kidney beans and I suruh lah The Other Half gi beli. Dia gi kedai lebanese cari red kidney beans ni and dia jumpa lah 1 can with ‘red kidney beans’ on the can. But gambar memang sikit pun tak macam red kidney beans. But dia beli jugak sebab dia kata dah besar2 tulis red kidney beans on it.

Bila I telek2 the can, I found out that it’s haricot beans bukannya red kidney beans! So, dengan sedih hatinya semalam, we all makan cendol guna haricot beans, hahahaha. Nasib baik lah rasa dia a bit similar. That’s what happens when you ask a man to do your job ;-).

But ter fullfilled jugak lah my yearning for cendol! I said to The Other Half, Raya ni boleh lah hidangkan cendol kat orang kan sebab dah terer buat, hahaha :-D.

And for dinner pulak, I made rissoles/burger with roast potato and coleslaw.

Ini pinggan The Other Half, dia suka double patties :-D. Tapi, I buat kecik2 aje pun the meat patties.

A sneak preview of the house

Hari ni seronok rasa sebab sempat buat 2 jenis biskut raya. Tapi tak boleh tayang sebab memang tak menarik langsung2 rupanya, hehehe. Takpe, I buat untuk makan sendiri so tak lah segan sangat bila nak masuk dalam mulut tu :-). I denagn biskut ni kan, memang tak ngam lah, I suka makan and boleh buat, tapi the end product memang tak menarik di mata :-(. Tu yang I malas buat biskut ni, beli kat kedai lagi best. Sape nak makan biskut Arnotts masa Raya, bolehlah datang rumah I nanti, hahahaha ;-).

Oh ye, ada ramai jugak yang mistook my themed open house tu. Maksud I, I nak masak food berdasarkan apa yang I can find in the freezer and the fridge and the pantry sebelum I kena kosong kan all the fridges and pantries for the move. Bukan I nak hidangkan leftovers, hehehehehe. Dalam freezer I tu still ada macam2, contohnya, frozen berries, cream cheese and shortcrust pastry that I can turn into tarts for the open house, the filo pastry for me to use to make baklava, poloni and loads of cheese I can turn to pizza, all the frozen seafood/crab balls/fish cakes/tofu that I can turn into seafood laksa. Lebih kurang gitu lah kiranya. So, instead of me buying more groceries to make Raya food like rendang, nasi impit, kuah lodeh, ayam masak merah, I can cook my usual western/asian style dishes for the open house. Tepung beras and tepung pulut banyak lagi dalam pantry tu so bolehlah I buat onde2 or tepung pelita kan. Ok tak macam tu, lain dari yang lain kan? :-D.

Kat dalam pantry I tu pun ada bermacam2 tin yang isi nya entah apa2 and ada macam2 spice pastes that I have to use up. Kalau boleh, I nak lah reduce the amount of bahan2 makanan yang the packers have to pack. Malu weh sebab nampak macam I ni hoarder aje sebab segala macam tok nenek bahan ada dalam pantry tu, hehehe. Less things for them to pack, less money for us to pay, betul tak :-D. Kiranya sekarang ni pun I tengah dalam proses mengosongkan pantry lah. Tapi nampak macam masih tak berkurang pulaknya, hehehe…

I nak tunjuk a sneak preview of our new house. Ini gambar yang the real estate agent ambik to show prospective buyers. But I’ll just tunjuk the front and the back aje lah ye sebab gambar2 inside the house still penuh dengan the current owners’ stuff.

This is the front lawn. The Other Half dah berangan2 nak tanam pokok buah kat tengah2 lawn tu ganti that lone tree. I think kat tepi rumah tu pokok roses kot yang the current owner tanam. Probably I’ll keep that (if they leave them there lah :-)). But I ni tak reti jaga pokok rose, mau lah semua mati terus bila we all take over nanti, hahahha.

Ini the backyard. It’s big enough for our small family. This is big compared to our present backyard yang so tiny! And the best part is, it’s got a vege patch right next to the shed. And I think they’ve planted some fruit trees as well. Bonus for us :-). Nanti my parents datang sini in October, sure diaorang akan happy nak bercucuk tanam dengan cucu2 diaorang tu while Mummy jadi mandur, hikhikhik….

Tak sabar pulak nak pindah bila tengok gambar2 ni :-D.

For Iftar/dinner malam ni, I made sausages with chips and salad and corn. But untuk Miss 6, I buat lamb chop instead of sausages sebab pagi tadi bila I tanya dia nak makan apa for break fast, dia terus kata nak makan lamb, hehehehe. She loves lamb and memang dia makan a lot of the lamb (Daddy ‘terpaksa’ habiskan the rest of her chop, hehehe).

It’s really good terus makan dinner masa buka tadi, sebab tak lah terover makan kuih muih.

Sila percaya mata anda :-)

Malam ni entry emo sikit. I kan dah lama makan hati sebenarnya. Mentang2 lah musim durian kat M’sia sekarang ni ye, kalau I jalan2 gi mana2 blog, mesti tayang gambar tengah makan durian lah, gambar tengah kopek durian lah, gambar tengah beli durian kat gerai tepi jalan lah, gambar bubur kacang letak durian lah, gambar lauk pauk letak tempoyak lah, gambar roti jala makan dengan serawa durian lah. Tapi gambar tengah demam sebab bahana banyak sangat makan durian and gambar kaki luka terpijak kulit durian, tak nak pulak you all tunjuk ye! Muahahahahaha…..

Nyampahsssss I tau! .

You all ingat, cuma bloggers kat M’sia aje ke yang boleh tayang durian berlonggok longgok kat blogs tu?

Blogger kat Perth pun boleh jugak tayang gambar durian ni, jangan jeles tau! :-P

See, I no lie one! Betul apa mah!

You all teka lah, kat mana agaknya I ambik gambar ni. (Ni kira gambar ala2 Mission Impossible lah sbb tak nak bagi orang kedai tu nampak. Tak pasal2 I kena halau keluar kedai, hehehe. Tu yg gambar pun blurry semacam sbb ambik guna handphone murahan I aje).

Torkojut I semalam masa pergi grocery shopping,masuk aje kat entrance kedai tu, terus nampak buah durian 1 longgok. Confused sekejap I sebab kena fikir whether I kat Perth or tengah mimpi kat M’sia, hikhikhik. Tapi kan, sebab durian ni from frozen stock, memang takde bau durian langsung. Kalau berbau lah, mau pengsan Mat n Minah Saleh yang bershopping kat situ semalam, hahahaha….

The Other Half bila nampak gambar ni, terus cakap, “It looks like the durian costs $697/kg because you can’t see the dot.” Hehehe. Takde lah dia jual longgok macam tu Cik Abang weh kalau rege dia $697/kg, mau ada 2-3 orang pak guards jaga durian dari kena curi, hahahaha :-D. Harga dia cuma $6.97 aje per kilogram. Tapi I tak beli pun sebab tak kuasa I nak bawak masuk basket I semalam.

The Then Other Half said, “I want durian for Raya.” Ish! Nampak sgt Mat Saleh nya. Orang lain makan rendang, ketupat, lodeh, sate and biskut Raya masa Raya, dia nak makan durian masa Raya. Memang tak ngam betul lah suggestion dia tu.

Speaking of Raya, I ingat nak buat rumah terbuka Hari Raya ke 2 nanti. Tapi instead of masak lauk pauk Raya, I akan buat theme ‘food that I cooked to empty out the fridge and the freezer and the pantry before the move’ open house. You all  rasa rasa kan, ada tak orang nak datang kalau I buat theme macam tu? hehehehehe……

Mengemas di bulan puasa

Bulan puasa ni kan, tak tau nak update pasal apa and tak tau nak karang cerpen pasal apa. Balik2 asik cerita and tayang gambar our buka puasa food aje lah kan :-). Kalau cerita and tayang gambar I baca quran kang ada pulak yang kata saje je berlagak, hehehe ;-). Nak cerita pasal orang2 tertentu dalam hidup I, bulan puasa tak baik menganyam ketupat kan :-P (padahal banyak cerita boleh dianyam ni, muahahaha).

Cerita pasal nak pindah rumah ni pun ok jugak kan? We’ve already booked the removalist for Friday the 17th which is basically in 3 weeks time, memang betul2 seminggu lepas Raya lah. The packers will come to our house on the 16th to pack all the stuff that I don’t want to pack like all the fragile stuff (most of the kitchen and dining room stuff) and the electricals. I cuma akan pack the clothes, books, toys, linen and the knick knacks. But I have to wait for them to send the packing boxes before I can start packing. So, sekarang ni my time is spent trying to kemas everything by throwing out all the small things that occupy a lot of the storage space.

Like tadi, I kemas our walk-in pantry. I sedih sangat2 masa kemas walk-in pantry ni tadi sebab I will miss this storage space tremendously bila dah pindah nanti sebab kat rumah baru ni, the kitchen storage space is so so tiny. Tak tau lah mana I nak letak all my kitchen gadgets nanti :-((.

Tengok lah my pantry ni, jammed-packed dengan segala macam benda. Padahal I ambil gambar ni lepas I kemas and throw away a few things! My hubby kata, kalau tetiba ada perang, memang tak kan lapar lah we all, hehehe. Some dry food I letak kat dalam pantry ni and the rest I letak kat dalam the other pantry yang choc-a-block as well. Kat rumah baru nanti, cuma ada kitchen pantry aje, takde walk-in-pantry ni.

Psst… jangan tenung lama2, takut nanti ada yang meroyan tengok barang2 kat pantry ni pulak ;-). I rasa kan, kat setiap room kat rumah ni (except the bedrooms and the bathrooms) ada kitchen gadgets. Segala drawers yang free and unoccupied, I akan isi dengan entah hape2 yang I terbeli masa sale :-D. Ye lah kan, better beli masa tengah sale kot2 mana tau, I nak buat giveaway for a lucky reader kan, so better beli the hadiah awal2, hahahaha….

Malam ni for iftar, I told The Other Half yang from now on, we’ll buka terus dengan dinner instead of makan kuih. Sebab bila dah buka dengan kuih ni, nanti semua orang tak larat nak makan dinner lagi dah and terbuang aje most of the time. Tu yang balik2 asik kena recycle our dinners aje. Kalau terus makan dinner masa iftar, I know that it will be eaten sampai licin and kalau lapar lagi lepas solat, baru lah makan kuih muih or dessert.

So, our dinner/iftar tonite, I made

Beef schnitzel with curly fries, corn and salad for The Other Half and The Little Misses while untuk I pulak, I buat

I was trying to make vietnamese beef pho with rice noodles but sebab dah lidah and tekak Jawa kan so tertukar pulak ke kuey teow sup with everything, hehehehe…. Banyak sangat benda2 on top of the noodles sampai tak nampak the noodles nor the soup :-(.

And for after dinner kuih, I made jemput2 pisang.

Macam mana nak bagi jemput2 pisang jadi cantik menawan untuk di ambil gambar ye? My jemput2 ni jenis yang tak pakai botox, kerepot, hihihihihi…..

Kuih sagu and burger sardin

Malam tadi batuk and sakit tekak I got worst, tu yang lepas dinner, terbaring aje atas sofa. During the day pun adalah a few times dapat bad coughing bouts. Yang susah nya batuk time puasa ni sebab bila tekak gatal sangat, tak boleh nak suck lozenges to relief it. Ingat nak minum air lemon & honey tapi asik lupa aje nak beli lemon, semalam baru teringat and dapatlah I minum warm lemon & honey drink malam tadi and for sahur pagi tadi. Hopefully, beransur baik lah lepas ni kan. Like Cik Mat Gebu cakap, nak buat biskut Raya pun kena postpone sebab tak kan lah nak batuk2 depan biskut tu kan, adalah nanti yg tak lalu nak makan biskut I, hehehe. Kalau lambat nak baik batuk I, kenalah I pakai mask masa buat kuih nanti ;-).

Semalam I rajin buat kuih for Iftar sebab bekalan kuih dah habis :-). Since The Other Half tengah kemaruk makan sardin, so I pun buat lah burger Malaysia semalam but berintikan sardin. I tanya lah dia, sedap tak burger M’sia ni. Dia jawab, “It’s really nice but it would be yummier without the green thing in it.” FYI my dear hubby, the green bit tu was cucumber which I think makes it nicer sebab adds crunch to it! Memang lah Mat Saleh sorang ni allergic betul kat anything green, hehehe….

I guna resipi Yani for the roti burger M’sia tu, thanks ye Yani, kalau nak resipi boleh pergi sini. And then I also made kuih sagu sebab dah lama tak makan kuih ni. Kuih sagu ni pulak I guna resipi yang ini. Jenuh jugak nak menunggu kat depan dapur tu untuk semua sagu tu masak eh, tapi berbaloi lah bila makan sebab sedap, hehehe. The Little Misses pulak, untuk Iftar, diaorang makan bowls of fruit loops with milk. I memang jarang2 sangat belikan diaorang ni Fruit Loops tu sebab too much sugar tapi sebab bulan puasa, I let them have what I know they really like. Miss 11 sikit pun tak minat nak rasa burger sardin tu nor the kuih sagu. Miss 6 makan lah jugak seketul kuih sagu and a bit of the sardin burger.

Masa puasa ni lah yang diri ni terover rajin masak berjenis2 kuih :-).

And for dinner pulak, we had baked gnocchi with bolognese sauce. But The Little Misses kureng sikit when it comes to baked pasta ni so I made them sausages makan dengan croissants and salad aje.

I pun tak minat sangat dengan gnocchi ni sebenarnya tapi bekalan maggi tomyam I dah habis so terpaksalah I makan gnocchi aje, hahahaha…..

Maggi tomyam

Apakah maksudnya bila ada gambar ni kat blog ini?

 

Maksudnya tukang masak dah tak larat nak telan benda2 bergoreng and merindui something soupy, warm, hot and spicy! :-) But sebab kesian kat orang2 lain yang penat berpuasa kat rumah ni aka The Little Misses and The Other Half, tukang masak rela masak kan something else for their dinner and made herself maggi tomyam aje, hehehehe…..

I rasa sejak puasa hari tu, our dinners semuanya jenis yang ‘kering2’ aje, takde langsung yang berkuah macam soup ni kan. Even our dinner tonite was beef yiros/souvlaki/kebab. But masa I tengah memasak the daging, my tekak asik terkenang2kan soup yang masam2 aje. Pastu, sibuklah I geledah my pantry and suka nya hati bila terjumpa 1 bungkus maggi tomyam! :-D. The Other Half and The Little Misses makan kebab and I pulak makan maggi tomyam :-D.

I pun buatlah project seafood tomyam. I added some kobis, prawns, squid and crab balls and tambah sikit lagi kiub tomyam bagi dia lagi masam and lagi pedas. Even The Other Half kata, “your dinner looks really nice!” Tapi kan, masa dia cakap tu kat I, I buat derk aje and sikit pun tak pandang muka dia sebab the tomyam is all mine! Dah lah cuma tinggal 1 last bungkus of maggi tomyam, mana boleh main share2 kan! I dah buatkan kebab untuk you tu, cukup2lah. Tak kan lah my dinner pun you nak makan sama! hehehehe……

Baru aje tak sampai setengah bulan berpuasa, I dah mengidam nak makan maggi, hahahaha……

It’s not long to go….

We received confirmation from the bank on Friday kata the loan has been officially approved that day. And the contract we signed with the real estate agent kata, the house settlement is 28 days after the approval. So, kalau di kira2 from Friday, 28 days will be a week after Raya lah kan. Which means, we all memang betul2 ada 4 minggu saje lagi before the big move! Agggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! I’m not ready!!!!!!!!! :-D

Sebab we will be breaking our lease on this house, we have to pay for our current agent to advertise this house for rental, pay for the agent to come and do the final inspection after we’ve moved out completely, pay for the weeks that the house is empty and to make the house available i.e. clean and neat and tidy when they want to show prospective tenants the house. Dah lah rumah ni sekarang tengah berserabut with God knows what, so nak make it clean and tidy tu might take a while lah, hehehe. And then I have to make sure that we keep all our valuables, knick knacks, electronic games, cameras and what not securely hidden away so tak lah kena curi masa all these people come to view this house. Manalah I nak sumbat segala benda ni weh! Tu yang dah start pening ni.

And I pulak, kadang2 will make myself busy with other things to avoid thinking about all the things that I need to do around the house to prepare for the big move and for vacating this rented property. So, for the past few days, I pun buat2lah busy dengan my apron and hat project yang sikit nya lama dah terbengkalai. Kalau nak tunggu sampai dah pindah nanti baru sambung the project jahit menjahit tu again, memang lah definitely tak sempat siap because we’ll be busy with unpacking segala benda. Kesian lah nanti Miss 6 kalau tak dapat buat her birthday party kan :-).

And all the chef’s hat 95% done, tinggal nak letak velcro aje at the back so they can tighten it a bit. And the aprons pun dah nak siap jugak. Nasib baik lah she’s only inviting 5 guests so tak lah banyak set yang I kena buat, hehehe. We’ve never been the type of people yang invite the whole class, The Little Misses birthday parties memang very small aje. Kalau I invite the whole class to this party, adalah nanti Mummy jadi macam tailor masa bulan Ramadhan, tak tidur siang malam sebab nak siapkan tempahan baju Raya, wehehehehe……

A sneak preview of the birthday girl-in-waiting in her hat and apron with Mummy’s whisk and spatula :-D.

Kalah Iron Chef when it comes to posing, muahahahaha….. I know the hat and the apron tak matching but tak cukup kain nak samakan dgn the hat :-). I just guna whatever I can find in my material box aje.

Hari ni for iftar, I told The Other Half that I’m going to do a clean up of the fridge and we’ll be having only leftovers tonite. I tak larat tengok all the plastic containers in the fridge yang berisi segala macam lauk pauk, nasi, meehoon and kuih muih. Kalau we all tak habiskan, alamat lah akan masuk Cik Tong tak lama lagi.

So, for iftar tadi, we had….

Tepung pelita and kuih lapis from leftovers hari tu and kek gulung (kedai mari). Itulah tepung pelita I yg takde rupa tu, hehehe.

And for dinner pulak, each one of us had different meals, terasa macam kat restoran habis padahal like Miss 6 told her Dad tadi, “Mummy’s just reheating all the stuff for dinner Daddy!” :-D.

I had meehoon goreng with chicken fingers, Miss 6 had meehoon goreng and runny fried egg. I made meehoon ni a few nights ago :-). The Other Half pulak had nasi goreng biryani from the other day makan dengan kari ayam and dhal malam tadi. Miss 11 had roti canai with mince kebab (leftovers from weeks ago that I froze). Everyone was happy with their dinners and I managed to reduce the amount of leftovers in the fridge! Yeay!!!!

My meehoon goreng with sambal and chicken fingers.

My weight and the fasting month

Is it considered cengkelat or cheating if you only weigh yourself at 4 pm during the fasting month? :-D. Kalau I weigh myself lepas iftar, sure bacaan tak betul kan sebab perut masa tu tengah kenyang from all the food. Kalau weigh myself in the morning pun sure tak betul sangat kan bacaan nya sebab the food from sahur. Hehehehe….. ;-).

I’ve decided to only weigh myself at 4 pm sebab masa ni my body’s lacking in fluid and my tummy is empty too so memang seronok sangat lah bila melihat the numbers that appear on the weighing scale. Dah lama I tak nampak that number materialising, memang seronok habis, hahahaha…. But I know I’m just deluding myself kan :-). Takpe, bagi lah chance I perasan dah slim balik macam dulu2, hahahaha….

Pagi tadi at 10.30, Miss 6 sibuk mengadu perut dia lapar sangat2 and rasa nak makan sangat2. Padahal dia bangun sahur. I was like, “it’s only 10.30 in the morning. I think it’s because you are not doing anything, that’s why you think of food all the time.” I suruh dia occupy her time with playing, baru lah lepas tu dia tak mengadu lagi and dapat puasa sampai habis waktu :-). I guess bila weekend duduk rumah aje, so asik terpandang dapur aje lah and all the food associated with kitchen kan, tu yang asik lapar aje.

Ini muka budak yang asik mengadu lapar pagi tadi, hehehe…. Kalau weekend and tak keluar rumah, The Little Misses memang takkan mandi until dah nak maghrib macam tu. Lagilah masa tengah Winter sekarang ni :-). Tu yang serabai aje muka and rambut.

And since tak keluar rumah langsung hari ni apart from The Other Half pergi voting pagi tadi, I pun try lah my hand at making roti canai :-). I ingat nak buat roti jala and kari ayam but The Other Half tak minat sangat nak makan roti jala for dinner so dia mintak roti canai. Dah dia mintak roti canai, I pun terus tak jadi lah nak buat roti jala, tukar arah jadi roti canai pulak.

Speaking of voting ni, hari ni Australia has its Federal Election. And The Other Half kan OZ citizen so kenalah dia gi vote. So, dia bawak lah the other OZ citizen in this house i.e. Miss 6 to the polling booth :-). Ye lah, kena lah kenalkan dia to the polling booth from young kan, so bila dia besar nanti, tak lah jakun sangat. It is quite funny that everytime The Other Half votes for his chosen party, mesti the opposite party yang akan win that seat. It has happened a few times lah. So, tu yang I said to him that if he wants his favourite party to win, he has to vote for the opposite party! It is quite fun watching the vote counting on tv now.

Semalam I made apam gula melaka Che’iza, recipe dia kat sini ye. And I buat 1 loyang so banyak lah yang lebih lagi. Kat dalam fridge tu, masih ada lagi a bit of tepung pelita left, a bit of kuih lapis left and some more apam gula melaka. I think I should stop making any more kuih for the next few days kan until all the kuih’s finished. Since kuih manis masih banyak lagi, I cuma buat savoury kuih aje lah tadi. I made sardin roll for us biggies and sausage bread roll for the kiddies.

I thought The Other Half tak minat sardine roll ni, rupa2nya dia cakap sedap! Habis my bahagian pun dia bantai jugak! hehehe…

And for dinner, we all makan home-made roti canai (yang Mummy tiba2 tersangat lah rajinnya nak buat, hahaha) with dhal curry and chicken curry.

Ini my plate. I buat special roti telur untuk I, orang lain dapat roti kosong aje, the cook dapat roti telur, hehehe. I guna recipe roti canai Joayee from Myresipi jugak. I memang tak pandai tebar so I pakay tray bulat aje and tarik perlahan2 :-). Jadi lah untuk makan sendiri kan! Macam mana nak kekalkan that magical numbers on the weighing scale tu kan if makan banyak masa buka puasa, hehehe…..

Our beloved car is back :-)

Alhamdulillah, our beloved car is fixed. Semalam, bila I nampak The Other Half with the car, I rasa macam nak kiss kiss the car first baru pastu kiss The Other Half, hehehehe…. Punyalah sayang nya I kat kereta itu especially after going through all the endless waiting for late buses!

But hampeh punya mechanic, they’ve stuffed up the car radio. And we are not using mechanics yang bengkel kecik2 tepi jalan tu tau, we use a certified Holden car mechanic yang company sikitnya besar tu. When The Other Half picked up the car yesterday, the guys there apologised profusely to him. They said, “We are so sorry, we’ve stuffed something up when we took out the starter motor.” Then they told him yang with the Zafira, if you take out the starter motor and disconnect all the electrical stuff, it will disable the radio and to enable it again, you have to key in the right code. I tak tau lah whether diaorang auta aje we all or memang betul this sort of things happens. But they don’t have the key code so they have to ring around the head office or wherever to get this code. So, now our car is without a functioning radio!

The Other Half masa tu dah nak mengamuk lah sebab the day before, he had to complain to the GM of the company before he could get the mechanics to reply to the 3 messages he left for them. Lepas dia komplen, baru lah tetiba pandai pulak the mechanics guna talipon tu and rang him up with the progress report! Manalah tak geram kan! Tapi sebab they’ve apologised sangat2, tak jadilah dia mengamuk, hehehe….

But, I guess that’s a small matter. I would rather live withour a car radio than have a non-starting car. And, we didn’t get charged yesterday, not even for the labour fee. I think the GM dah mengamuk kat diaorang for not treating us nicely when we’ve been their loyal customer for 5 years now so tu yang we didn’t get charged labour fee kot. We are definitely not going there again after our warranty’s run out. The Other Half is going to write a letter to the GM outlining why we are taking our car somewhere else. So, even though it was a bad few days, at least we didn’t have to fork out anything at all, not even a single cent. So, bolehlah sambung shopping for the new house kan, hehehehe…..

For Iftar semalam, Miss 11 mintak I buat sweet potato balls aka kuih keria versi malas. Kalau bulan puasa, memang selalu jugaklah I buat sbb The Little Misses suka kuih keria ni. And I made jemput2 udang at the same time from the leftover batter from the previous day.

Rasa macam tak lengkap pulak nya nak berbuka puasa kalau takde kuih muih ni kan :-). Tapi bila dah kenyang makan kuih, tak larat pulak lepas tu nak makan dinner, hehehe. Takkan lah nak dinner lambat sangat sebab Miss 6 has to go to bed at 8 pm so kenalah finish dinner by the latest 7.15 pm kan. It’s not good for her to go to bed on a full stomach.

Our dinner last nite, sausage pizza and chips. Selalunya they’ll makan beria pizza and chips ni but last night, they could only eat a small slice of pizza each sebab dah melantak the balls and the jemput2 sakan2!

Agghhh, dugaan betullah….

Agghhhh, dugaan bulan puasa..... Allah nak suruh I banyak2 bersabar sebab Dia tahu yang I ni jenis kureng sikit bab2 sabar ni, hehehe…

The story goes like this…

The car wouldn't start this morning masa I nak hantar The Little Misses to school so obviously couldn't send them to school. Padahal baru aje srvice giler2 semalam kan. Manalah I tak gerrraaaammmmm sangat2 pagi2. Called AHG Roadside assistance and they thought it was the car battery that's flat. I knew it wasn’t the car battery but the operator was adamant that it was the battery. I guess they thought I’m just a pretty no-brainer tak tau anything pasal car(no-brainer probably but pretty definitely, not! Hahahaha). The battery guy came (quite early, Thank God!) and found out that it wasn't the battery that's flat, it was the starter motor that's gone to motor heaven (See, I know a little bit about car!). So, he told me that the car had to be towed to the workshop. He rang the tow-truck guy and we had to wait for the tow truck to come which takes another 30 minutes! Masa ni, The Other Half was already at work, lucky him. But he had to ring around to get things done for the car.

To cut a long story short, the car was towed away to the service centre and the kids finally went to school at 10 am thanks to Sheri who's generous enough to take us there :-). Sayang betul tak ambil gambar masa the tow truck lady was rolling our beloved car up the truck. Rasa sedih giler tengok kereta I tu tak bergerak (terasa macam anak sendiri aje yang kena masuk spital, hehehe).

Then, I had to go to school again at 1 pm for the Multicultural Day demonstration. Remember the kuih lapis and the cucur udang that I was busily making?(thanks to Sheri again for taking me there :-)). Takkan lah tak nak bagi budak2 tu makan the kuih lapis n the cucur udang tu kan lepas penat2 buat, hehehe. By the way, I masak kuih lapis tu pagi tadi while waiting for the AHG guy to come check the car battery. Sikitnya lama kan menunggu sebab sempat masak beberapa layer, hehehe….

And then, lepas habis demo at school tu, I terpaksa lepak2 sekejap at the shopping complex while waiting for The Little Misses to finish school. Nasib baik lah ada a small shopping complex depan that school so tak lah mati kutu I kena tunggu diaorang habis sekolah. And then, home we came on the bus after school which took an hour with all the waiting! Luckily The Little Misses ok aje naik bas tadi walaupun dua2 penat berpuasa. Miss 6 nampak orang makan kat bus stop tadi, dah kecur2 air liur dia menahan lapar, hahahaha. Nasib baik lah Mummy dah ada bekal kuih lapis and cucur udang untuk berbuka so tak lah tergesa2 nak masak sedap2 balik tu untuk buka puasa :-).

But then, ada lagi bad news, the car's still at the workshop and will only be ready tomorrow arvo(maybe!) sebab they didn’t have a new starter motor here in Perth. Kena courier from interstate which might arrive by tomorrow. This is what happens when you buy a car that is not in production anymore! Holden has stopped producing Zafira for a few years and sebab it’s a European model, tu yang susah sikit nak dapat spare part kat sini. I just hope the new part that they have ordered from interstate fits the Zafira. I can’t live without a car! Sigh…..

But the good news is, it’s still under warranty so tak payah bayar for the new part :-). Probably still kena bayar labour fee lah.

Which means we have to catch a cab tomorrow morning for school and then I have to catch buses home and buses again to school in the afternoon to pick the kids up. What to do, dah nasib hidup ada 1 kereta aje kan :-).

Seperti yang di nanti2 kan, ini gambar kuih lapis I yang I buat tadi. I buat lapis hijau putih guna pandan paste. Tapi, sayangnya kaler hijau tu tak hijau sgt, so tak lah nampak terang sgt lapis nya. I guna recipe Tulip. Thanks ye Tulip!

Hehehe, ini masa masih dalam loyang lagi, tengah tunggu dia sejuk nak potong :-). Loyang ni dgn steamer I Ganu mari, my sister belikan, hehehe.

Ini dah potong dalam pinggan. Lapisan dia tak menyerlah betul lah. Kena pakai magnifying glass baru nampak! Next time, I nak letak kaler pillar box red and hijau, baru kot nampak garang aje each layer tu kan! :-).

And our heavy dinner lepas makan kuih muih tu was fettucine bolognese. I penat nak masak lepas turun naik bas, hehehe. The Other Half boleh kata kat I, “why don’t we just buy dinner tonite?” I rolled my eyes (over the phone, dia tak nampak, hehehe) and said, “We haven’t got a car. How are we supposed to eat out tonite?” He answered, “Oh yeah… I forgot!”

D’oh, hikhikhik…….

Our sempoi dinner, Spinach fettucine with bolognese sauce.

Balik sekolah naik bas….

Hari ni is the day that I have to take the Malaysian food to school as part of the Multicultural Week program. And I have decided to make kuih lapis and jemput2 udang. Miss 11 beria suruh I buat kuih lapis and I ingat nak buat lapis kaler merah and white so ala2 bendera Malaysia tapi kaler merah dah habis so kenalah buat guna pandan paste jadi belang hijau putih lah :-D. Jemput2 udang pulak sebab I tau most people aka Mat Saleh will love it. My FIL memang suka giler2 kat jemput2 udang ni, he can eat a lot of it! Cuma Mak Mentua I aje lah yang muncung kalau Pak Mentua I makan banyak2 sebab konon2 jaga kesihatan, hikhikhik…..

So, I’ll be making the kuih lapis this morning sebab kalau tak jadi cantik lapisnya, sempatlah I nak buat kuih lain untuk bawak to school this afternoon :-). Speaking of cantik, I tried buat kuih tepung pelita semalam. Rasa dah sedap sangat2 tapi rupa memang out sungguh! Maybe I letak air gula dia banyak sangat kot, so macam terapung2 aje lapisan hijau and santan tu, tak cantik flat :-D. But both The Little Misses didn’t like it. I guess they don’t like the texture yang lembik2 gitu. But The Other Half suka sangat2 (I wonder apa aje yang dia tak suka ye, hehehe). He said that Ramadhan kali ni I hidangkan kuih muih baru for Iftar. Baru aje 6 hari puasa but I’ve made 3 ‘new’ kuihs in my repertoir and he happens to like all of them, hehehe. First time I buat badak berendam, kuih cara and tepung pelita. Sikit sikit, lama2 jadi bukit lah kan. Pasni, I boleh try buat 1 new kuih every few days, but yang senang2 aje lah. Malam ni I tak payah buat kuih since I’ll be making kuih lapis for school, so simpan sikit lah untuk buat buka :-).

Back to the title of this post, semalam, we had our first balik sekolah naik bas! We had to take our car for its 6-monthly service. Selalunya the car will be ready by 2 so sempatlah we all nak gi ambik The Little Misses at school but semalam, there was a problem with the throttle so it took a bit longer to fix it. So, I lah yang kena naik bas from home to school and then bawak budak2 tu naik bas from school to home. But, since our house ni not in the school zone, so takdelah bas yang direct from home to school. Kenalah tukar 2 bas but The Little Misses really enjoyed the experience, hehehe. The bus trips themselves didn’t take long tapi nak menunggu  the first bus and the connecting bus tu yang lambat sangat. Selalunya, kalau naik kereta, we would have been home before 3.30 but semalam, pukul 4 petang baru sampai rumah. Pastu kena jalan jauh lagi from school to the bus stop and from the bus stop to the house, hehehe…. Luckily it only rained while we were in the bus. Miss 6 said sambil grinning, “They don’t have seat belts in the bus Mummy!” Ye lah kan, from baby till now, memang sentiasa ber seat belt everytime she gets into the car so bila takde seat belt, rasa lain macam aje lah bila duduk, hehehe….

Alamak, I better get back to making the kuih lapis or else tak sempat siap before pergi school….

Our buka puasa last nite was murtabak segera with tepung pelita and chocolate cake (khas untuk Miss 11). I tak ambik gambar tepung pelita sbb memang betul2 tak cantik, hehehe….

Murtabak segera recipe Minami fr MyResipi. Ini link dia.

Ini pulak simple choc cake, I guna recipe from here.

And our dinner pulak, I buat nasi goreng. I used nasi biryani leftover from a week ago. I memang simpan all leftover nasi in the freezer so bila nak guna tinggal defrost and reheat. Nasi biryani tu memang dah ada perencah dalam nya but I tambah kicap manis, sos tomato, diced ayam goreng, garam and bawang masa menggoreng tu so tukar jadi nasi goreng ayam :-). And makan pulak dengan leftover sambal ikan bilis, tempe goreng, telur dadar and keropok. Jadi a completely different meal! hikhikhikhik…….

 

Tu lah nikmatnya bila kita freeze all the leftover rice. Bila tengah tak tau nak masak apa, boleh magic kan meal nasi biryani jadi meal nasi goreng! And rasa nya pun berbeza, muahahahahaha…..

Karipap, buah melaka, chicken burger, curly fries, pindah rumah and Raya…..

Another day of fasting completed, Alhamdulillah. Dah 2 hari The Other Half bersahur dengan tuna pasta (leftover from dinner the other nite) and dah 2 hari jugak lah dia kata perut dia still kenyang sampai ke petang! hehehe. But bekalan leftover pasta dah habis so I tanya dia whether dia nak bersahur dengan nasi esok. “Nehi, nehi” dia berkata (terperasan hubby I actor Bollywood sekejap, muahaha). Dia kata tak tertelan rasanya nasi and lauk pauk that early in the morning. Tapi dia tak nak bila I offer nak masakkan pasta, so, terpaksalah dia bersahur dengan multigrain breads aje esok :-).

And, we heard some good news today. You might remember in a previous post, I kata yang our minds and hearts were preoccupied with something making me takde mood nak berblogging.

Ceritanya, for the past few months, we’ve been out every weekend whenever we were free, looking at houses. And a few weeks ago, we found a nice house and made an offer to the owner to buy the house. Tu lah bendanya yang preoccupied our minds sebab berdebar2 jugak nak tunggu whether they accpeted the offer or not. Unfortunately, they didn’t. They wanted more money but we don’t think the house is worth that much more. So, we didn’t get the house. But we didn’t feel that bad, we just took it as a sign that we weren’t meant to have it.

And then, we continued looking for houses again. And 2 weekends ago, we found another house that we really like. And we put an offer again and Alhamdulillah, this time they accepted our offer. And today, we got financial confirmation to go ahead with the house buying. So, if everything proceeds smoothly without any hitches and glitches, we might be moving to the new house in 4-5 weeks time! Yippeeee but not Yippeee at the same time sebab takkan lah nak pindah masa Raya! Uwahhhhhhhh, I nak Raya!!!!!!

There’s so many things to do in the meantime which means tersangatlah akan busynya in the next few weeks ni. Dengan nak buat kuih Raya lagi, lauk pauk Raya lagi, the aprons and chef’s hats lagi, nak go through all our stuff lagi yang dah berkumpul bertahun2 lamanya since pindah sini. Luckily we’ll be hiring people to come and pack and move our stuff so tak lah penat sangat we all kena buat kerja :-).

Dalam pada excited nak masuk rumah ‘baru’, rasa sedih jugak nak pindah from this house sebab we’ve been in the same house since we moved here from Adelaide. Dah rasa mesra and sebati sangat2 duk kat rumah ni. Miss 6 pun membesar kat rumah ni. She has no recollection of our house in Adelaide because she was only 2 when we moved here. This is the only house she has ever known :-). But The Little Misses are excited because they’ll finally get their own rooms and they can finally put up posters, photos and what nots on the walls at the new house, hehehe.

Don’t worry, I’ll definitely keep an up-to-date progress note on this blog about our big day itu (dengan gambar sekali sudah semestinya! :-D).

Doakan semua nya berjalan dengan mudah and lancar ye!

Ingatkan nak keluar celebrate tapi sebab puasa, malas pulaknya nak keluar malam2. So, terpaksalah celebrate dengan home-cooked food aje kan, hehehe.

I made karipap and buah melaka for our iftar today. Tapi buah melaka tu I buat saiz mini aje sebab senang nak makan and telan :-).

Then for dinner, The Other Half requested nak makan chicken burger and fries. The chicken burger and fries to kedai mari, I tinggal ‘masak’ and assemble aje. So easy peasy kan! :-)

I had an open-faced burger with salad, mayo n chilli sauce and mashed avocado.

Kalau lah ada A&W float, barulah konon2nya macam makan kat A&W restoran kan, hikhikhik…..

Kuih cara, jemput2 udang and nasi lemak

Arrggghhhhh, teramatlah malasnya nak mengupdate blog ni. Pergi jalan2 blog orang lain, tengok sedap2 and macam2 jenis juadah berbuka. Tu yang buat lagi malas nak update sebab semalam memang tak masak yang special langsung sebab I tengah malas nak masak, hehehe. Kesian kat Miss 11 and The Other Half sebab kena makan choc cake and badak yang still ada balance lagi tu semalam :-).

Tadi kat Masjid ada gerai Ramadhan. I dah siap bawak camera sebab kononnya nak tunjuk kat you all semua yang kat Perth ni pun ada gerai Ramadhan tapi sungguh lah rasa termalunya nak ambil gambar tadi, hahahaha. The Other Half kata, pergi ajelah buat muka tak malu ambik gambar or else you’ll be sorry you won’t have any photos to show tonite. Eh eh leh, macam lah dia tak tau yang bini dia sebenarnya pemalu abis especially bab2 nak mengambil gambar kat depan orang ramai ni! Awww…… hahahahaha… I malu sebab I tak beli anything so takkan mengada2 nak ambik gambar kan :-). So, takdelah gambar yang I ambil tadi walaupun sekeping! hikhikhik…. Takpe, akan ku usahakan lagi minggu depan, semoga I won’t be shy shy cat lagi!

By the way, thank you so much for all the suggestion regarding the kuih for me to take to the Multicultural Week tu. Actually I tak kisah nak masak kuih apa tu. Yang I kisah sangat2, I have to explain about the food, its significance, its history, its origin and everything that involves the food and the M’sian culture lah to the class. Tu yang I kena cari kuih yang simbolik, old fashion and really represents M’sia. Tu yang poning kopalo eden weh! Kalau kena masak aje, anytime beb! Ini kena buat karangan semua and cari facts lagi, banyak lah cekadak diaorang. Kalau I buat kuih Tahi Itik nanti, baru padan muka diaorang bila I translate the name! Adalah yang terus tak lalu nak telan kuih tu nanti, hahahahaha….

And speaking of kuih, hari ni I rajin buat kuih for buka unlike semalam. I buat kuih cara for the first time. And bakar dalam oven instead of the stove top sebab I takde acuan kuih cara tu. I guna recipe Juns kat Myresipi. Ini link dia. Thanks ye Jun, semua orang suka sangat2 kuih cara tu :-). But kuih cara I takde rupa kuih cara, hikhikhik…. Takpelah kan, asalkan habis dimakan and disukai semua, I’m happy :-). Kalau lah I terer buat kuih cara jadi cantik aje, memang dah akan ku buat untuk Multicultural fair tu nanti :-).

And I buat jemput2 udang as well for buka so ada 1 sweet and 1 savoury kuih for buka.

Tengoklah kuih cara I, orang lain punya, cantik aje terbentuk. I punya, semua pecah2 giler sebab I bubuh gula melaka sikit nya banyak ke dalam tu! But everyone likes the extra gula melaka filling :-). Siap boleh sedut gula melaka tu sebelum gigit the kuih, hahahaha.

And then I buat nasi lemak for dinner sebab The Other Half beria nak makan nasi lemak. Orang itu kan, kalau puasa, memang macam2 mengidamnya, kalah orang mengandung. Sebab I nak jadi bini mithali, kadang2 I turutkan jugak lah mengidam dia tu, hikhikhik….

Tengoklah nasi lemak we all ni, siap ada tempe goreng lagi tu! Jangan tak caya :-P.

Berbuka dengan nasi :-)

Alhamdulillah, another day completed by Miss 11 and The Other Half. Miss 11 balik sekolah tadi kata she’s hungry, not thirsty. I guess that’s what happens when you fast during the colder months, you get hungry quicker. And the hunger gets stronger at home because you know there’s lots of food at home kan. Bukak fridge, ada food, bukak pantry, ada food :-). Luckily, she’s not the type yang asik bukak fridge aje tu.

Speaking of food, there will be a Multicultural Week at The Little Misses’ school next week and I’ve volunteered myself to make something traditional for the class. Dari minggu lepas lagi I pening fikirkan nak masak apa yang represents Malaysia and will be eaten by the kids at the same time. Yang pedas2 ni, memang tak kan di makanlah so nasi lemak and rendang are out. And then yang weird sangat pun won’t be eaten by the kids so paru goreng or sambal petai or kerabu perut are out (macamlah I tau masak paru goreng or kerabu perut tu, muahahaha). I ingat nak buat karipap yg senang tu aje but Miss 11 kata they are too common. And she suggested kuih lapis. I said to her, itu pun quite weird jugak sebab kenyal2 macam tu. She said, “Mum, even someone who’s fussy like me loves the kuih lapis. Of course the other kids will like it.”

The problem nya sekarang, I buat kuih lapis ni baru 2-3 kali seumur hidup so it might not turn out that great. Buat malu kaum aje kat depan budak2 tu nanti kalau kuih I tak cantik kan, hehehe.

Kuih apa ye yang senang, sedap and mudah diterima tekak anak2 Mat Saleh ni and melambangkan Malaysia?

Poning palo makcik nak mikir! Dah lah masa tu tengah puasa, hish…..

Malam ni, I tak buat kuih sebab badak and choc cake from semalam ada lagi. Sape lah larat nak menghabiskan 12 ketul badak saiz XXXL tu semalam :-). Nasib baik The Other Half tersangat lah minatnya kat kuih ni (baru first time dia makan and terus jatuh cinta you!) so dengan rela hati dia makan 3 ketul sekali gus! I takut lepas ni badan pun akan ikut ala2 badak tu jugak, wahkahkahkah…… I rasa I kena sentiasa ada stock tepung pulut kat rumah ni kan, hikhikhik….

Since tak buat kuih for buka puasa, I masak lah something heavy for dinner. I made chicken maki sushi and japanese style lauk n rice.

I lagi suka makan the japanese rice with lauk and sayur n nori tabur kat atas nya instead of di gulung. But The Little Misses lagi suka digulung so I buat lah yang gulung for them. The Other Half pulak, dua2 dia taram so dua2 pun I bagi ke dia, hehehe….

I marinated the chicken breast in ginger, garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, BBQ sauce, kicap manis, salt n sugar. Makan dengan stir fry beans n carrots.

I used to hate kacang buncis masa I kecik2 dulu sebab dia ada bau and rasa semacam. Actually sampai sekarang pun memang tak suka sangat2. Bila sampai sini, I memang tak makan any beans at all sebab ingatkan I ke kacang buncis ni. Until one day, I wanted to try masak stringless beans (sebab kesian kat The Other Half yang suka beans but dah lama tak makan beans). For me, rasa dia lain dari kacang buncis, more like kacang panjang a bit, so tersangatlah bolehnya tekak I menerima. So, sekarang ni, asik2 masak stringless beans aje, hehehehe…..

The soaking hippos

Alhamdulillah, selamat sudah first day of fasting. Miss 6 tak puasa hari ni sebab she’s still not well, nak tunggu sampai dia sihat sepenuhnya baru boleh puasa. But she’s already decided to do a full fast once she’s better, we’ll see…. :-). Tahun lepas, she managed a few days of puasa penuh. The rest of the month, she had breakfast sebelum pergi sekolah and then berbuka either masa lunch at school or bila balik rumah. Tahun ni, she’ll be the only one fasting in her class sebab bukan sekolah agama lagi kan, hehehe. But there’s quite a few muslim families in that school so The Little Misses won’t be the only 2 fasting. Miss 11 has found a few students from her year who are fasting as well so she’s happy :-).

Their teachers pun dah dapat surat ‘cinta’ from we all explaining to them that The Little Misses will be fasting for a month. Miss 11 sukalah sebab she’ll be excused from sports! But I told Miss 6’s teachers yang Miss 6 is still learning and I will still provide a snack and a drink for her just in case she can’t continue with her fasting. The teachers tanyalah I whether Miss 6 will feel guilty kalau dia terpaksa break her fast at school. I guess they want to find out if we are really strict with Miss 6’s fasting ni. I told her that Miss 6 knows that we’ll understand if she has to break her fast since she’s still at the learning stage. And I also told them that she won’t be fasting yet until her coughs and sniffles are better. I guess I want the teachers to know that Islam ni agama penyayang, kalau you sakit, tak payah puasa (but kena ganti lah kan kalau dah tua bangka kan) and kalau budak tu kecik lagi, teaching them how to fast step by step.

Menu berbuka puasa we all tak lah semenggah mana. Kan I cakap nak buat kuih koci tapi takde daun pisang. Memang lah hampeh betul I ni. Baru lah I tau yang kuih koci tak tau malu aka naked ni di panggil badak berendam. But this was how the conversation went with The Other Half and The Little Misses tadi…

The Other Half: So, what are we going to have for break fast?

Cook aka Mummy: The soaking hippos

The Other Half and The Little Misses: the what????? Did you say hippos?

Cook aka Mummy: you heard right! We are going to eat the soaking hippos tonite.

The Little Misses: We want to see it!

Cook aka Mummy: these are the soaking hippos.

Punyalah besar gedabak my soaking hippos kuih ni memang sebijik badak saiznya. Makan sebijik dah tak larat, muahahaha…. I buat muat2 acuan silicon bunga2 tu and dapatlah 12 biji muat2 pengukus comel I tu :-). Kita takde acuan kecik2 cawan apam tu, tapi kita ada acuan kecik2 silicon so ok aje lah kan, hehehe.

Soaking hippos dari jarak dekat.

The Other Half: Is the name really ‘soaking hippos’?

Cook aka Mummy: Well it is Badak berendam in Malay and badak can mean either Rhino or Hippo but I think only hippos like to soak? in water. Probably soak is not the right word in this context but it’s near enough :-).

And I also made choc cake for Miss 11 which made her so happy :-).

And for dinner pulak I cuma buat sausage casserole makan dengan potato nuggets.

It is not an appetizing dish to photograph! But taste wise, it is really nice. Probably nicer if eaten with mashed potato instead of nuggets, hehehe….

Psst… sementara I tak boleh puasa ni, I’ll update malam2 hari lah but once dah start puasa, kenalah spend time at night beribadat kan so barulah I update lepas sahur, hehehehe….

Puasa lambat tapi raya nak cepat boleh?

I thought finally, masjid2 kat Perth bersatu hati and mula puasa on the same day. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, ada yang dah start puasa hari ni and ada yang akan mula puasa esok (macam we all lah :-)). I ingat nak pergi masjid Rockingham Raya nanti tapi tadi baru Rus bagi tau yang Rockingham dah start puasa hari ni instead of esok. So, kalau diaorang puasa cuma 29 hari and Raya on Thursday, tak kan lah I nak pergi beraya on Thursday kan sebab tak kan nak puasa 28 hari aje, hehehe…. So, kena cancel lah beraya kat situ nampak gayanya :-(. (Ciss…puasa belum lagi, dah sibuk2 fikir pasal raya, muahahahaha).

Finally, tadi sempat pergi beli medjool dates untuk berbuka and bersahur esok. Got it for $10/kg, seronok I, hehehe. We love these dates sebab they are so juicy and fleshy and sweet :-). Kiranya makan sebiji dah kenyang lah!  :-D. Kalau pergi kat kedai middle eastern, bermacam2 jenis kurma diaorang jual especially masa Ramadhan. Kalau lah diaorang start jual kuih muih ala2 pasar Ramadhan, baru lah betul2 best kan, hehehe.

I ingat nak buat kuih koci untuk buka esok but tak nak pakai daun pisang nak membalut nya tu, sebab, dah lah mahal frozen pulak tu bukan fresh. Tapi I tak tau nak bungkus kuih tu dengan apa….hmmmm…. Maybe I just kukus dia bulat2 tanpa pembungkus, pastu curahkan kuah santan atas dia masa tengah panas2 tu. Jadi tak agaknya? Kalau tak jadi kuih koci, I bagi lah dia nama lain kan! Susah apa, hahahaha….

Then I kena buatkan another sweet kuih for Miss 11 sebab dia ni jarang makan kuih yang ‘pelik’. I might make chocolate cake, pastu potong kecik2 and freeze. Bila nak makan, tinggal keluarkan satu-satu and defrost aje kan :-). She’ll love having ‘instant’ choc cake masa buka and I’ll love it too sebab tak payah susah payah fikir nak masak kuih apa untuk dia :-).

Our dinner malam ni sempena nak sambut puasa esok, berat lah sikit. I made nasi biryani ayam makan dengan sambal telur, stirfry green beans n cauliflowers and poppadum.

Biryani paste tu I pakai yang instant dalam botol aje. Sedaplah jugak rasa dia.

Biryani ala Perth sebab makan dengan sambal telur! hehehehe…….

Esok pagi sahur toasts aje!

P/S disebabkan esok dah kena bangun sahur, I akan bersiaran/update blog lepas subuh lah sepanjang ramadhan ni. Since The Other Half nak keluar rumah pagi2 buta pergi kerja kan, I might as well stay awake jugak lepas subuh tu. And sambil2 tu, boleh lah I mengupdate blog.

P/P/S Makin ramai sedara mara kaum kerabat I yang tau pasal blog I ni, habis lah I! Tak boleh lah I nak berceloteh segala secret kat sini kan, hahahaha…..;-). Memang sahih kena kekal kan blog ni PG and G aje lah :-D.

It’s Thursday here :-)

Sudah confirmed yang 1 Ramadhan kat Perth ni jatuh pada hari Khamis. So, adalah 1 hari lagi untuk I membeli barang2 untuk persiapan iftar and sahur. I still haven’t bought any dates yet, nasib baik puasa hari Khamis so sempatlah nak beli esok, hehehe. Menu kuih muih iftar pun tak fikir lagi ni :-).

Tadi I said to The Other Half, “Boleh tak bulan puasa ni I masak Asian dishes hari2?” (ini setelah ditranslasi kan ye, hehehe). He answered, “I don’t mind eating rice everyday. I can cope with it. I think you’ll find it harder eating rice everyday.” I smiled at him and said, “I wasn’t thinking of rice. I meant having my favourite noodles everyday!” He said, “Rice everyday, I can cope with. Noodles everyday definitely won’t make me happy.” Hikhikhikhik…..

I think I kena selongkar balik my previous posts lah kan to find out what we had for iftar last Ramadhan. Menu sahur we all memang tak berubah, hanya toasts and hot drinks and water aje tiap2 pagi sebab memang tak tertelan nak makan benda lain pagi2 morning tu. The Other Half kata dia nak pergi kerja subuh2 sapiei lepas sahur instead of going back to sleep. Nasib baik lah subuh kat sini sekarang tak lah awal sangat so tu yang dia boleh terus pergi kerja lepas bersahur :-). He’ll be at work way before 7 in the morning! Sure nya boleh dapat pingat pekerja cemerlang macam ni kan, hahaha. The earliest we all kena bangun untuk bersahur will be around 4.30 in the morning and the latest time for iftar will be around 6.05pm. Tak lah selama macam berpuasa kat negara2 di Northern Hemisphere kan. Next year, lagi pendek puasa we all :-).

Malam ni we all dinner dengan pizza sebab The Other Half tak dapat makan pizza yang I buat on Sunday bawak gi masjid tu. And I pun malas nak fikir nak masak apa sebenar2 nya.

I buat meatball pizza. Tapi masa buat tadi, terfikir jugak, kalau esok puasa, sape lah yang nak mengabiskan leftovers pizza ni nanti. Nasib baik puasa on Thursday, so memang ngam2 aje pizza tu tadi untuk dinner and lunch untuk esok. Lepas ni, kena start masak cukup2 aje untuk iftar so tak lah membazir sebab takde sape nak makan the leftovers for lunch.

Saje je ambik gambar pizza yang masih lagi dalam oven. Oven ni memang rumah ni punya, sangat lah berjasa kat we all sepanjang2 we all duduk kat rumah ni, hehehe.

Atas stove, lepas masak dalam oven, sementara nak tunggu kena potong.

Atas pinggan, sementara nak tunggu kena ngap dengan I :-).

And ini pula kad ucapan Ramadhan yang Along Roz sudi bagi kat bloggers. Terima kasih banyak2 ye Along! :-)

SELAMAT BERPUASA EVERYONE!