Monday 31 October 2011

walking again

Esok dah nak masuk bulan November…

Summer is nearly here and judging from the weather today, we might be experiencing one long hot Summer this year…

Last Summer was quite bad as well, it started early and didn’t end until nearly June….

The Other Half and I joined Miss 8’s school for a walking day this afternoon. The whole school went for a 40-minute walk from 2 o’clock tadi. Ramai jugak parents and families yang joined that walking event.

The walk was fine and quite fun, it wasn’t searingly hot, only around 29°C kot but windy at the same time. We did get sunburnt a bit though tadi.

But what was extremely annoying was the flies, they were everywhere!

I told Miss 8 to keep her mouth shut most of the time or else the flies might get into her mouth, urggghhhhhh!

(actually it was a good suggestion because it stopped her from talking non stop for 45 minutes, hahahahaha).

Balik aje from the school, I quickly made silverbeet, chicken and ricotta cannelloni for dinner.

The ricotta filling mixture I made pagi tadi before going for that walk sebab malas nak rushing nak prepare dinner.

I sauteed diced onion and garlic in olive oil until wilted. Pastu added diced chicken breast and continue sauteeing until chicken is cooked. Then, I added about 10 chopped up silverbeet leaves. Kalau takde silverbeets, boleh guna spinach, rasa dia lebih kurang aje.

Continue cooking until all the leaves have properly wilted and then add some powdered chicken stock and ground black pepper. Take it of the heat and let it cool down, once it’s cool down, add the ricotta cheese. If you like the filling cheesy and creamy, add more ricotta than silverbeets. If you like it full of veges, add slightly less ricotta. Slightly mash the ricotta so the mixture will be well mixed.

And then you can start filling the cannelloni tubes.

IMG_3403

Cannelloni ni is a type of pasta.

IMG_3406

People normally filled the tubes with ricotta mixture or cooked minced meat mixture.

IMG_3408

How the tubes looked like after they’ve been filled.

IMG_3414

Before the cooking process. I put a layer of bottled pasta sauce at the bottom of the dish, then put the filled cannelloni tubes, then the rest of the pasta sauce and top it of with grated mozzarella.

Then bake it in the oven covered with alfoil at 180°C for about 35-40 minutes.

If you want another recipe, you can try this recipe.

IMG_3416

After it’s baked (the photo didnt come out that great.)

IMG_3424

IMG_3425

It’s nice with green salad and bread but I malas nak buat salad tadi.

Sunday 30 October 2011

An update filled with photos of food

Jom kita layan gambar food aje lah ye since semalam dah layan gambar haiwan2 ‘peliharaan’….

Food ni pulak kiranya membanyakkan lemak peliharaan, hahahaha.

On Friday morning PH hari tu, masa I bangun pagi, terasa sungguh bersemangat nak buat cooked breakfast. So I pun buatlah pancakes makan dengan fresh strawberries, mangoes, whipped cream and maple syrup.

IMG_3235

IMG_3245

This is why I love Spring and Summer, because of the marvellous fresh fruit. Hari2 we all makan mangoes, hehehehe.

Pastu, I tak ingat pulak apa yang we all makan malam Friday tu, hahaha.

Nachos yang kat bawah ni, we all makan on Saturday night for dinner.

IMG_3351

IMG_3359

IMG_3365

Yang ini memang betul food yang memelihara dan menternak lemak Smile.

And then pagi tadi I bawak cupcakes to Sunday school. Hajat hati I nak buat butterfly cupcakes macam dalam recipe ni. Tapi cupcakes I takde rupa butterflies langsung, rupa catterpillars ada lah kan Winking smile.

IMG_3370

IMG_3381

Masa nak isi the holes dengan jam, barulah I perasan yang I takde raspberry jam and strawberry jam I tinggal sikit. Tu yang the butterfly wings tak timbul sangat, hikhikhik….

And then for dinner tonight pulak, I was feeling extra rajin and adventurous to buat a lot of finger food for dinner.

Miss 8 tanya I, “what’s for dinner?

I told her, “finger food.”

She then said, “you mean food like burger?

She thought finger food means food yang tak payah guna knives and forks or forks and spoons utk makan, hehehe…

I said to her lebih kurang lah but it’s more small food that you can hold in your fingers and eat it 1 or 2 bites.

IMG_3383

I made prawn and chives wontons which I fried some and steamed some. I also made chicken gyoza (but I ganti tamari with normal soy sauce and sake with vinegar) which you pan fry first and then cook in water.

IMG_3390

IMG_3394

IMG_3392

I also made prawn fritters and spring rolls.

On top of the finger food, I still masak nasi and I buat choy sum and shiitake mushroom in oyster sauce, fried fish fillet and omelette with nori as the rice side dishes.

IMG_3395

IMG_3397

Nampak macam banyak sangat kan I masak. Actually I masak banyak jenis but semua in small amount, sekali makan habis, hehehe.

And we all makan everything semua sikit2 so dapat lah merasa everything without stuffing our tummies (well, except The Other Half and Miss 8 yang makan macam seminggu tak jumpa food!, hahaha).

Saturday 29 October 2011

Sessi berkenalan….

Since it was a long weekend, we spent yesterday and today at the parks.

We only went to the local park semalam. It was a small park but serene sebab ada small man-made pond kat tengah2 the park.

But occasionally, it is marred by people bringing their unleashed dogs to the park. I tak kisah orang nak bawak their dogs for a walk but I would appreciate it if they can have their dogs on a leash so tak lah berlari ke sana ke mari willy nilly scaring the kids and the ducks!

Today pulak we went to a park quite far from home sebab nak hantar Miss 12 to a friend’s birthday party which was held at the Perth Laser Sports down at Bibra Lake.

Since malas nak balik rumah and then datang balik to pick her up, we decided to take a awalk around the lake and Miss 8 on a scooter.

Jauh giler you the track around the lake itu!

6 kilometres!!!!!

Dah lah lama giler tak exercise so bila buat power walk tadi, memang semput lah, hahahaha….

And punyalah excited habis we all bila dapat completed the walk (macam lah berjaya complete New York marathon aje lagaknya, hahahaha). I think Miss 8 was excellent as well sebab dapat keep up with her scooter and did the 6kms without any complain.

And since dah pegi parks, mestilah ambik gambar right….

But kali ni I nak buat sessi berkenalan dengan the animals we found at the parks pulak (asik2 gambar we all aje, sure dah tak larat you all nak tengok kan, hehehe.)

IMG_3262

Ini gambar itik, different types of itik (hahahaha…)

IMG_3264

This is a photo of Pacific black duck with her chicks. Kesian dia, tak lah hitam mana tapi still kena chop black kan, heheheh.

IMG_3277

Ini gambar itik pulang petang, heeee.. These 3 white ducks are Indian running ducks. Why are they called running ducks? Entah lah you…

IMG_3308

Ini pulak gambar a bored cat looking at The Other Half who was taking it’s photo with that disdain look only a cat can give, heeee . (what specific type of cat, kena tanya Angelina lah.).

IMG_3323

IMG_3325

Ini pulak gambar Galahs (Scientific name Cacatua roseicapilla). Bukan galah buat jolok buah tu ye, yang ini versi ada 2 kaki, boleh terbang and buat bunyi bising giler!

The second photo tu is a photo of an adult male galah, kalau tak silap lah (research I pasal Galahs ni tak habis lagi, hikhikhik.)

IMG_3328

Ini pulak a black swan, WA state and bird emblem. Basically kalau sesiapa datang WA and tak jumpa black swan anywhere, memang menghairankan lah sebab they can be found kat mana2 tempat yg ada air (except tepi longkang and in the toilet bowls, heeee Smile with tongue out).

IMG_3329

I think this one is wood duck (banyak sangat ducks mah…,pening kepala I nak cari nama diaorang.)

IMG_3334

IMG_3346

And ini pulak Silver gulls.

Kat mana2 diaorang ada. Makanan kegemaran diaorang are chips as in fries sebab bila ada sape2 duduk tepi laut makan fish and chips, mesti lah menatang ni datang beramai2 sambil buat muka duapulohsen mintak chips. Kalau dah bagi satu keping, dengan muka tak malu mintak lagi. Pasti dia akan ajak sedara mara and sahabat handai dia datang sama2 mintak chips lagi.

Memang tak aman kalau nak dating tepi pantai sambal makan fish and chips! Hikhikhik….

Sekian lah dulu sessi perkenalan kali ni ye.

Kalau we all pergi jalan mana2 lagi, I akan buat another sessi mengerat silaturrahim Open-mouthed smile.

Friday 28 October 2011

A late update on Miss 8’s birthday celebration

I guess this will be entry tertunggak sebab it happened 2 weeks ago masa we all still kat M’sia.

I just couldn’t find the time to write up a special entry about it.

Tapi kalau tak letak entry, sedih pulak anak I yang sorang tu sebab tak masuk story mory about her in my blog, hehehe.

So, since hari ni PH and ada banyak sikit masa (sebab I pejam mata buat2 tak nampak all the house chores that need doing tu yang banyak sikit masa, hahahaha).

Masa we all kat M’sia, we had a small birthday celebration for Miss 8. We thought nak buat the weekend after her birthday but one of my brothers takde kat Msia so kenalah postponed to the last weekend before we left for Perth.

She was so ecstatic to celebrate her birthday kat M’sia sebab boleh celebrate dengan cousins. Selama2 ni cuma celebrate dengan her classmates and family aje kan.

Tu sebab my luggage berat gilers sebab I banyak bawak balik barang for her birthday from here. Bukannya takde benda2 tu kat Msia but since senang lagi for me nak shop for those stuff here, better lah bawak from here kan Smile.

(Kalau nak shop for bday stuff, kena pergi KL kan, tu yg leceh nya…..)

But as usual bila ada party, I mesti lupa nak ambik gamber the food!

Hampeh sungguh sebab I think the menu that day wasn’t that bad, hahaha.

And talking about the food at Miss 8’s party, I memang sangat2 berterimakasih kat my parents, sis in laws and sis yang bertungkus lumus tolong I masak and hias all the food for the party. Without them, memang nangis lah I sorang2 kat kitchen Mak I tu sebab tak sempat nak buat everything, hehehe.

My brothers pulak tolong organize the games for the kids! Smile.

The first two games were ‘dry’ games, one of them was this.

IMG_2890

IMG_2894

They had to try keep the 2 balloons afloat for a minute. It was fun watching them cheering each other on.

Then came the ‘wet’ games. I made sure everyone came to the party in their old clothes so they can get wet.

IMG_2900

IMG_2901

IMG_2902

I brought back some water bombs/ water balloons. And pagi2 morning tu, pujuk my brothers to fill the balloons up with water for the water fight game.

Punyalah happy giler the kids dapat throw the water balloons to each other. But most of the time, they didn’t aim right so ended up pecah on the ground aje.

IMG_2907

IMG_2906

While my brothers were filling up the second set of balloons, the played with the water guns, chasing each other up trying to shoot them with water.

IMG_2914

IMG_2912

And then while some were playing with the guns and the balloons, the rest were playing with the bubbles.

Lepas dah tak larat basah kuyup, barulah masuk rumah tukar baju and makan2.

Main menu hari tu  was nasi putih with ayam masak kicap (jawa giler kan, hahaha), ayam goreng, sambal goreng jawa, ulam2, sambal tomato, soup ayam kampung, sausage pizza and macaroni bake.

Kalau you all nak tengok the spread, kena pergi tengok kat rumah Zarin ye, hehehe.

Dessert pulak we all hidang choc cuppies, marble choc cheesecake, jeruk belimbing buluh, biskut macam2 jenis, fresh fruit and fruit cocktails.

Lepas makan, we had pinata time but this one yang tarik punya instead of yang pukul punya. Tak kuasa I nak beli yang pukul tu, tak pasal2 ada yg menangis melalak kena pukul.

IMG_2918

waiting in anticipation….

IMG_2920

berebut the loot time.

IMG_2921

IMG_2923-1

The birthday girl!

IMG_2924

I bought 1 big Tinker Bell candle instead of 8 small ones, senang nak tiup, hahaha.

I made orange cake for her bday cake and my sis in laws decorated it with choc icing, freckles and M&M’s.

IMG_2930

My sis in law also made these choc cuppies for dessert.

IMG_2935

The kanak2 yang datang plus Miss 8’s cousins. I tak berani nak jemput ramai2 budak sebab takut tak terlayan, hehehe.

Thank you to all the guests sebab sanggup datang dari jauh untuk meraikan Miss 8’s birthday sampai ada yang sesat barat, hikhikhik Smile.

I hope you guys had as much fun as we had!