Sunday 31 July 2011

Ramadhan is here…. on Tuesday though

I got the news that Rivervale Masjid and Thornlie Masjid saying that anak bulan tak kelihatan so Ramadhan will start on Tuesday for us. But Perth Mosque pulak ikut calculation so they will start fasting tomorrow.
Since I normally go to Rivervale Masjid for Sunday school, I guess we’ll be following them lah and mula puasa on Tuesday.
(But we all dah berkobar2 semangat nak mula puasa esok, hehehe.)
It is always like that here, they can never agree on the start date which is a bit sad kan.
Anyway, thank you to all my blogger friends for all the Ramadhan wishes on all your blogs.
Hopefully, our Ramadhan this year will be filled with blessings and ibadah. May Allah listen to our prayers and doas.
Sempena nak menyambut Ramadhan, I want to present a video of Miss 7 wishing everyone a blessed Ramadhan.
(Miss 12 is a big girl already so mati2 tak nak bagi ucapan Smile)
Isn’t she cute? hikhikhik……

Saturday 30 July 2011

Colourful things for iftar

I want to show you what we’ll be having for buka puasa for the next week or so.

(Puasa pun belum mula tapi dah tau nak makan apa untuk iftar, hahaha.)

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Aren’t they beautiful!

Can you imagine betapa terkejutnya I tengok the supermarkets jual cherries in July. Sebab selalunya cherries ni are associated with Christmas in OZ sebab buah musim Summer kan.

But they got these imported cherries from the US and since the OZ dollar is so strong now, the cherries are so so cheap, $10 aje sekilo, hehehe.

The medjool dates are from the US jugak tak silap, also $10 sekilo, the dried apricots from Turkey about $7 for a 750g packet but the strawberries are local from Jandabup here in WA and so cheap as well at $2 for a 250g punnet Smile.

(Kalau strawberries kat Msia jual semurah ini lah kan, maulah tukang buat cuppies and cakes bersorak gumbira, hahaha.)

The supermakets kat sini are selling the dates and the dried apricots really cheap sebab nak menyambut Ramadhan. Negara Mat Saleh and supermarket Mat Saleh but at least they are trying to enter the spirit of Ramadhan jugak kan.

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They are all so sweet and juicy……. The strawberries are really big as well, tengok lah saiz dia banding dengan jari The Other Half.

Makan ni aje untuk iftar sure dah kenyang kan Winking smile.

Friday 29 July 2011

Dinner in the city

We went out to the city for dinner tonite.

Keluar rumah after maghrib around 6 mcm tu and sampai balik rumah at 8.30. And that’s including drive kereta dari rumah sampai ke parking kat train station,  tunggu train pergi city, order pizza and tunggu pizza sampai to the tables, makan pizza sampai nak terbelahak and then jalan2 sikit kat city, tunggu train from city balik ke station, drive from station to the house!

All in two and a half hours!

Now tell me if you can do that kat Malaysia with public transport, hikhikhik Winking smile Smile with tongue out

And since I cuma ambik gambar guna my handphone cokia tu aje so mutu gambar memang sangat jauh beza lah dengan DSLR ye Open-mouthed smile.

We bought this coupon online which got us 2 large pizzas, 1 dessert pizzas and 4 drinks.

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Mula2 sampai the margherita pizza so memang rasa so cheesey, so sedap and so everything lah.

After that, sampai the vegetarian pizza pulak. Masa ni we all bertiga dah muka terkulat2 nak makan but The Other Half was still going strong!

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So, you all bayangkan lah ye….

There were 2 large pizzas so 16 slices all together lah kan.

Miss 7 makan 1 1/2 slices, Miss 12 makan 2 1/2 slices, I makan 3 1/2 slices and tinggal 1 slice that we all bawak balik….

So, the question is…. (tak payah guna calculator ye murid murid…)

Berapa banyak keping pizza yang The Other Half mengketedarah tadi?

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We all geleng kepala tengok dia makan, hikhikhikhik. Macam dah sebulan berpuasa!

He said that he didn’t eat the crusty parts so tu yang dia boleh makan berkeping2 non stop tu.

Yo lah tu jang!

And this was the chocolate dessert pizza. It was really yummy actually Open-mouthed smile.

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Nasib baik dah nak puasa soon, tak sempatlah all the lemak from the pizza menetap lama2 kat peha I tu. Phew…..hahahaha….

Thursday 28 July 2011

T.o.o. l.a.z.y. t.o. w.r.i.t.e. a.b.o.u.t. d.i.n.n.e.r.

Alhamdulillah, I didn’t manage to kill the rose bushes, hehehehe…

So many new leaf buds coming out from the rose canes, happy happy joy joy!

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But it still doesn’t mean that my rose bushes will produce bountiful flowers though. It just means that I haven’t killed them with my hard pruning the other day, hahaha…

And with the torrential downpour today, hopefully the rose bushes will continue to produce more buds.

My 2 lavender bushes are also growing well, still not big but big enough to produce some flowers Smile.

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Mentang2lah ada macro lens, mesti nak try ambik dari jarak dekat jugak! Smile with tongue out

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Don’t judge a book by its cover….

Kan pepatah Mat Saleh kata ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’

Obviously I wasn’t in the classroom when my English teacher taught that proverb…

Sebab I (we actually) bought a book today because of its cover!

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You rasa kan, ini Mum dia yang teruja nak beli or anak2 dia yang teruja nak beli? Heeheehee…..

(Teringat kenangan silam……. bermain with the paper dolls Smile. Kat sini ada jual the paper dolls with their baju and what nots but they come in books like the one above.)

And kalau you baca that ‘smallish’ green print on the cover, it says ‘ fold it and it’s ready to go.’

Banyak lah auta itu ayat!

Because it didn’t say that not only do you have to fold all those bits….

You also have to slot them into tiny holes while making sure the other bits stay tucked in and folded and held together while you are trying to jam this big pieces into this small holes and trying not to tear it and swear at the same time!

Hikhikhikhik….

What/ who do they think we are? Winking smile

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After bertungkus lumus for an hour…. we were halfway there Open-mouthed smile.

Miss 7 lah yang happy sangat2 because she wanted this doll house.

But baru aje tukang rumah siapkan separuh and the interior decorators belum habis buat all the fittings and furniture, dia dah kena masuk tidur, hahahaha.

Luckily esok only half day of schooling aje for her so bolehlah dia main puas sikit Smile.

Sebelum I jadi tukang buat rumah tadi, I made pasta bake with meatballs for dinner tadi.

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I buat the meatballs a bit big this time so bila I baked them in the oven, they dont get too dry. I guna this recipe for the meatballs but I added about 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce and 1 teaspoon of kicap cair to the mixture.

Then shape the mixture into balls and bake them in the oven at 160°C for about 20 minutes. Tak masak sangat pun tak apa because you are going to bake it some more when you bake the pasta.

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Then I just used a bottled pasta bake sauce and bung it in the oven.

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Makan dengan green salad memang boleh bertambah, hehehe….

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Couscous and fish

Lega hati I The Little Misses dah start sekolah Smile.

Lepas aje hantar diaorang pergi sekolah tadi, I had to do a few errands before shooting off to Carousel untuk berdating minum kopi sambil bergossip and window shopping dengan Anis.

Dari pukul 10 sampai pukul 1.30 lepak kat situ and balik pun sebab terfikir nak solat and nak kena ambik The Little Misses, hehehehe.

They look much happier balik dari sekolah tadi sebab dah dapat jumpa all their friends instead of balik2 tengok muka each other aje Smile.

This semester, Miss 12 will be taking 3 different electives, drama, discovering arts and food awareness. She told us that her friends yang ambik Food awareness last semester said that it was a really fun elective.

Anything involving food definitely should be fun! Winking smile

Kids nowadays are so lucky I think. Most of them are exposed to so many different types of dishes from so many different countries at such a young age which means that their tastebuds got introduced to a big range of flavours early.

Especially in OZ ni where there are so many different ethnic groups living here sekarang so banyak lah ethnic restaurants mushrooming everywhere.

Kalau tanya the Mat Saleh kids kat sini what they have for dinner malam tadi. They will be a few who will say fried rice or fried noodles or sushi or curry and rice or pizza or pasta instead of the typical ‘meat and 3 vegs’.

I pun nak lah my girls to know about other types of food kan instead of the typical malaysian dishes or typical anglo dishes.

Tapi kan, kadang2 I ni yang takut2 nak try new dishes sebab takut tak kena dengan tekak, hahahaha.

Ye lah kan, penat2 masak, pastu masuk Cik Tong, rugi aje lah kan.

So malam ni, instead of masak something that’s completely strange, I masak couscous aje. Couscous ni makanan ruji North African countries tak silap and is made out of semolina.

Jadi lah kan, lain lah jugak dari the typical nasi and kari or pizza yang I selalu sangat buat tu Smile with tongue out.

I made spiced couscous with veges and grilled marinated fish.

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Couscous ni I buat a bit ikut this recipe but I added diced carrots, cherry tomatoes, sliced mushrooms and green beans to increase the veg content.

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I used barramundi fillet marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, cumin, paprika and salt and pepper. Then grilled on the a grill pan on the stove top.

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We love couscous but maybe not as makanan ruji lah, hehehe.

Kalau makan macam ni kering takpe, tak pulak tercekik. Tapi kalau makan nasi, mesti kena ada kuah sampai banjir Eye rolling smile….

Monday 25 July 2011

Up the wall and around the block

It’s the last day of school holidays today. The Little Misses will be going back to school tomorrow for another 10 weeks of school term.

I am glad that they are going back tomorrow sebab they drove me up the walls today!

The Other Half took the car to work today so we stayed at home the whole day. To top it off, it was very gray and cloudy and raining dari pagi sampai petang. So The Little Misses were cooped up at home with only each other to play with (well apart from the iPod, the pc, the mac, the DSi, the toys Eye rolling smile), nak keluar rumah main kat lawn pun tak boleh.

So, bila dah cooped up dalam rumah aje, tak dapat lah nak burn their excess energy kan so mulalah main gomol2, main fighting2 which was harmonious at first but gradually was followed with “stop that!”, “stop that!”, “stop that!” “I don’t like it”, and “give it back to me!”, “give it back to me!” “give it back to me!” and “that hurts, stop it!”.

Sorang kaki whining and sorang lagi kaki usik with an obviously selective hearing loss!

So Mak dia yang dari pagi tadi tak marah diaorang langsung sebab sungguh lah penyabar (muahahaha Rolling on the floor laughing), mulalah rasa gereemmmmmmmmm aje by 5 o’clock sebab masa tu lah kita nak masak dinner, masa tu lah dengar diaorang whining.

I pun went, “what is it with you girls? If someone says stop, what does that mean? It’s either someone is deaf or she’s just trying to cause trouble!

Pastu The Other Half straight away said, “Right, come on you girls, go and put your rain coats on. Obviously you have so much energy to burn. We are going walking around the block now.”

Muahahahahaha…padan muka diaorang!

Miss 7 happy aje because she loves walking especially in the rain. But muka miss 12 masam mencuka sebab kena paksa berjalan, hikhikhik.

Tu lah, sape suruh buat Mum you geremmmmmmmm, kan dah kena paksa jalan by Dad Smile.

The Other Half kata sepanjang berjalan2 tu, Miss 7 didn’t stop talking and Miss 12 didn’t stop sulking!

Lega hati I besok dah start sekolah, hehehehehe….

Sebab cooped up at home today, I made something out of the ordinary (for me lah, kalau orang lain tu, biasa2 hari2 dia buat, hahaha).

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Goreng keledek pun nak tayang kan, hahahaha.

I buat batter keledek goreng ni guna self raising flour, soda water (which is just carbonated non flavoured water), garam and a bit of gula. I like this kind of batter which can be used for so many different things Smile.

Pastu I baked choc chip cookies which I haven’t done for sooo long. Last time buat was bulan puasa tahun lepas kot, hehehe. I used this recipe but I added 1/2 cup of walnuts and only used 1/2 cup of mixed choc bits.

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The Other Half tanya I, “how come you wanted to bake cookies today? You haven’t done it for so long.”

I said to him, “I did it because I haven’t done it for so long lah.”

Kan dah nak raya ni, so kenalah asah bakat buat biskut raya from now kan Smile with tongue out

Heeeee……