A 250kms day

Hari ni we did a 250km trip from home to everywhere to home again. So, kiranya keluar rumah pukul 9 tadi and sampai balik rumah pukul 5 on the dot. Macam orang pergi kerja 9 to 5 lah kan, hehehe. Nasib baik pakai kereta auto with cruise control kan so tak lah penat sangat The Other Half drive tadi. Tak lah sakit kaki dia asik tekan clutch or accelerator or brake aje .

Where did we go today? We went to Yanchep National Park nak tengok koalas and kangaroos. Yanchep ni about 80kms lah from our house. Sampai tertidurlah the tetamu dlm kereta on the way to Yanchep tadi, hikhikhik. We saw the koalas but the kangaroos were in hiding. Kangaroo poos banyak lah jumpa but sekor kangaroo pun takde, hehehe. They normally come out looking for food at night time, tu yang susah nak tengok diaorang di siang2 hari in their natural habitat. Tujuan sebenar we all pergi Yanchep ni sebab nak pergi the cave, the Crystal cave. The weather was quite hot today so bila masuk Crystal cave yang situated underground, it felt so cool and rasa nak duduk lama2 dalam tu aje, hehehe. We spent about an hour lah kat dalam tu looking at the marvels. Underground cave ni best sebab takde bats which I am really afraid of! Tu yang berani masuk .

Pastu, singgah masjid untuk solat zohor and lunch and then sambung balik jalan. Our next stop was Lakeside Joondalup sebab my Aunt n Uncle nak shop for souvenirs before going back this Tuesday. Lakeside Joondalup ni one of the few shopping complexes yang open on a Sunday kat Perth ni. Susah nak shopping kat Perth on a Sunday ni! But, they knew what they wanted so tak lah lama kat situ.

Pastu, sambung jalan lagi, heading towards Swan Valley for a drive through. Unfortunately, masih belum masuk grape and fruit season lagi so cuma boleh nampak green vineyards aje without the grapes yet. And masih takde lagi stalls kat tepi2 jalan jual all the Summer fruits . Can’t wait for the fruit season to start! But we did stop at Mondo nougat beli nougat yang sangat2 lah sedapnya itu!

On the way back, ingat nak singgah Margaret River chocolate factory tapi there were so many cars in the carpark, terus rasa malas nak singgah. Tak dapatlah The Little Misses merasa free chocs, hikhikhik. (macamlah kat rumah ni tak berlambak2 chocs! ).

Pastu, sampai rumah, semua dah pengsan, hehehe.

Layan some photos of The Little Misses on our daytrip today .

No, this is not one of The Little Misses, hikhikhik . One of the koalas yang tengah sedap tidur on the gum tree.

Hah, ni barulah The Little Misses .

Some more wildflowers we saw at Yanchep National Park.

Orange-coloured Banksia.

Don’t know what this tree is called, hehehe.

Some photos inside Crystal Cave.

What shape can you see in the picture below?

Ada nampak macam Puteri Fiona tengah beradu kat katil tunggu Shrek datang selamatkan dia tak? hehehe.

Stalagmites and stalagtites and The Little Misses.

What about this picture? What can you see?

The 3 wise men .

when you are being watched

I selalu rajin update blog tapi bila ada tetamu ni, memang rasa ‘malas’ sikit lah nak duduk melepak depan pc aje kan. Especially bila ada orang berdiri kat belakang kita trying to read what we are typing. Terus terbantut and tersedak my writing mood nak taip lebih2, hikhikhik. Lebih2 lagi bila diaorang asik tanya, “malam ni tak ambik gambar makanan ke?” and “malam ni cerita apa kat blog?”

JK Rowlings pun boleh mati idea kalau asik kena tanya aje, muahahahaha…..

Pagi tadi I keluar rumah pukul 5.40 pagi semata2 nak pergi the Fish Market. Punyalah beria nak makan fresh fish, sanggup tu I tak tidur balik lepas Subuh on a Saturday! Last time I pergi this market was about 4 years ago, nampak sangat rajinnya I bangun pagi2 on a Saturday kan, hehehehe. But pukul 6.30 dah sampai rumah balik so bukannya we all memborong sakan pun .

And bila dah banyak beli fish tadi, obviously malam ni dinner we all makan BBQ fish and prawns lah kan. But I said to The Other Half to BBQ using the charcoal BBQ so adalah bau2 sikit kat fish and prawns tu nanti. Jadi lagi sedaplah kan the food .

Gambar the fishes on the BBQ lupa nak ambik pulaknya. We all BBQ 15 ekor king prawns ni but 2 ekor terjatuh kat dalam bara tak dapat diselamatkan lagi. Ish, rugi betul lah! .

But before the seafood dinner, we spent the day in the city and pergi King’s Park. My rellies nak tengok the famous wildflowers of WA but nak drive jauh2 up north rasa lama sangat pulaknya so we all bawak them to King’s Park where the wildflowers are in season.

Memang penuh lah King’s Park tadi dengan all these native flowers.

Ini some of the wildflowers grown at King’s Park.

The famous kangaroo paws. Ada banyak kaler lain kangaroo paws ni.

Some more wildflowers (sure you all kata, alah, kat M’sia pun ada banyak bunga macam ni )

I can’t remember what this tree is caled but it is definitely not a native to OZ.

The really gorgeous Banksia flower.

Untuk people yang nak nengok gambar tetamu2 I tu, inilah gambar diaorang

kalau nak tangkap gambar artis femes, kenalah tangkap dari jauh kan, hikhikhik…..

Kerja part time jadi tourist guide!

Penat jugak kerja jadi tourist guide ni ye! Pastu on top of jadi tourist guide, kena jugak jadi top chef. Ye lah kan, sapa suruh I tayang all those mouth watering dishes on my blog, of course lah orang akan suruh I membuktikan nya ye tak, hikhikhik…. And mana boleh drop water face kan!

Pastu pulak nya, we all ni memang jenis yang tak masak nasi and dishes for lunch or anything heavy for lunch so bila ada tetamu ni, obviously I kenalah masak nasi and lauk pauk for lunch kan. And bila dah bukan jenis orang masak lunch, bila kena masak lunch, teruslah rasa kelam kabut and tak tau nak masak apa, hehehe. Baru aje habis kemas2 for lunch, dah kena masak dinner pulak nya sebab our family dinner is normally at 6, so memang macam ala2 lipas tercabut kepala berkaki 10 lah I .

Tapi sempat jugak lah I masak western dinners yang sempoi ni for last nite and tonite.

Ada orang teringin nak makan Australian lamb so I pun buatlah BBQ lamb and gravy with bean salad malam tadi.

And ada yang teringin nak makan  crumbed chicken breast so I pun buatlah crumbed chicken breast with roll and green salad malam ni.

(Lepas ni kalau diaorang balik M’sia, bolehlah canang my name kat rellies kata I pandai masak, muahahaha ).

Dalam sibuk2 masak tu, sempat jugak lah we all pergi Araluen Botanical Park tadi. Semua orang terpegun tengok all the gorgeous roses bermacam2 kaler and some of them bersaiz sebesar mangkuk and also some other flowers yang sangat2 cantik. Yang I paling tension bila tengok all their roses langsung takde aphids! Pokok roses rumah I penuh dengan aphids!

Layan ajelah ye some photos of the roses and flowers I took today.

Cukup2lah dulu ye gambar bunga2 ni. Dah harum semerbak my blog, hehehe. And jangan tanya nama bunga kat I sebab I memang failed bab2 nama bunga ni. Kalau nama retis pun I failed! hikhikhik.

Esok InsyaAllah we all akan pegi Fremantle jalan2 sambil bersouvenir shopping .

so many relatives

The Little Misses are still trying to grasp the concept of ‘loads of relatives’. They love knowing that they have loads of relatives (especially in M’sia) but it is quite difficult for them to place all these faces and names where they belong.

Kalau ikut I, you just call everyone yang lebih kurang sebaya your nenek and atuk as Nenek and Atuk. And then yang lebih kurang sebaya I (yang sebaya I ni from 20y.o-50y.o, hehehe) kena panggil Uncles and Aunts lah kan.  But it is difficult for them to distinguish yang mana satu kena panggil nenek, yg mana kena panggil atuk, yang mana kena panggil uncle, yang mana kena panggil auntie, yang mana kena panggil abang, yang mana kena panggil kakak and yang mana just panggil nama aje. Ye lah kan, jumpa pun maybe setahun sekali aje so tu yang confused.

Bukan diaorang aje confused, I pun confused everytime bila balik M’sia sebab mesti punya akan jumpa muka2 baru. Ye lah, cousins yang baru kahwin, cousins yang baru dapat anak and then anak2 cousins yang tetiba aje dah besar giler so memang lah sangat2 mengconfused kan kan!

Even masa wedding adik I bulan December haritu, I ternampak this 1 guy yang acted so friendly and macam family dengan all my siblings and makcik and pakcik. Padahal I memang tak pernah nampak muka this guy langsung. Heran lah I sekejap kot2 ada long lost sedara yang I tak kenal and orang lain semua kenal, hehehe. Pastu bila I tanya my pakcik, baru lah I tau yang that guy is suami sepupu I and they all siap dah ada anak lagi masa tu. I tau my sepupu dah kahwin but I guess since diaorang kahwin I memang duduk sini, so tu yang tak pernah jumpa until lah the wedding, hehehe. Ish ish ish, teruk betul I ni kan, sedara pun tak kenal .

Itu baru sebelah my Mak, sebelah my Dad, lagilah I tak kenal, hehehe.

Miss 11 tanyalah I sape yang akan datang from M’sia esok apart from Nenek and Atuk. I told them that they’ll be my Auntie and Uncle which will be their Nenek and Atuk sedara lah kan. pastu dia tanya I, “will that be my great Aunt and Uncle then?”

Aiyo, I ni kan when it comes to salah silah terms in English, memang hancus so I guess that’s the right term lah kan, hehehe. The Other Half kata that’s the right term for siblings of my parents.

For me that term is quite funny. I bayangkan someone who’s so so so old when they use great aunt . But I guess I am in a way a great aunt once removed kot sebab anak2 kepada my sepupu dah ada yang kahwin and ber anak. Terus terasa tua sekejap, wahhhhh!!!!! hikhikhikhik….

And my pakcik have created this family tree using Geni. I patut berterima kasih sangat2 kat dia sebab from that tree, barulah I dapat tau all the names of my cousins’ spouses and kids, hehehe.

And baru lah I belajar sikit2 the salah silah terms used in English. I’m still trying to understand first cousin once removed! What has been removed? hikhikhik….

Entah2 ada antara my blog readers yang bersedara bau2 bacang or bau2 petai or bau2 asparagus dengan I kan! Wouldn’t that be funny, wehehehehe.

Ada sape2 yang berani mengaku bersedara dengan I?

Petai Mat Saleh

Orang M’sia selalu associate petai dengan smelly urine or air kencing berbau. I tak sangkan lah yang Mat Saleh ni pun actually ada equivalent vegetable yang meng ‘smelly’ kan urine macam petai ni. Selama2 I makan vege ni, I tak pernah terperasan (or maybe I tak associate that vege with smelly urine so bila the urine smells lain macam, I thought it’s because of something else, hehehe).

Until The Other Half complained yang he loves eating this vege except for what it does to his urine. I pun pelik lah, pastu I cakap dengan dia yang selama2 ni I makan, takde pun bau apa2. Pastu dia kata, next time I makan this sayur, just smell the toilet bowl after I pee, t tell him again if it smells or not, hehehe.

Pastu I pun buatlah experiment (just to prove him wrong ), but unfortunately, it was me that was proven wrong, hehehe. Memang out of a sudden, baru lah I perasan yang air kencing memang akan berbau selepas makan this vege.

Nak tau apa vege yang ala2 petai ni?

Asparagus!

We had grilled asparagus, BBQed sausages and pasta salad malam tadi so the toilet really stinks! hikhikhikhik….

Betul you, I baru aje tau yang bila makan asparagus, our urine will smell, hehehe.

But The other Half said to me tadi, “For me, petai doesn’t really make your pee smell!” takpe, next time I masak petai, I suruh dia smell the toilet bowl pulak! Wakakakaka…

Malam ni pulak nya, we all makan pasta lagi even though last night dah makan pasta. I made beef ragu for dinner and ingat nak makan dengan polenta but bila selongkar pantry, couldn’t find polenta so kenalah makan dengan pasta.

Ragu ni lebih kurang bolognese sauce lah but cuma guna tomato paste only for the red colour and guna fresh milk and apple juice(to replace wine in the original recipe) in the sauce. Rasa dia lain sikit dari sauce yang guna canned diced tomato or bottled pasta sauce ni. We think it’s a bit richer in flavour. But definitely takde rasa susu! hehehe.

Ini my version of the beef ragu recipe:

Ingredients:

1 small brown onion, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, diced finely
1 carrot, diced finely
1 celery, diced finely
500g beef mince
1/2 cup apple juice (unsweetened/no added sugar)
4 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup milk (I guna low fat)
salt and pepper to taste

Methods:

-heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a  frying pan. Sautee onions, garlic, carrot and celery for 3-4 minutess on medium heat until cooked.
-add beef mince and break any lump up and cook until all brown.
-reduce heat to low and add apple juice to the pan. Let it cook until all the apple juice have been reduced.
-add tomato paste and stir until well combined.
-add milk and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes until reduced. Don’t disturb it.
- Then add salt (or if you like, chicken stock granules) and pepper to taste.
-You can serve it with pasta, frech bread or sourdough bread or polenta.