Where does the time go?

I just feel like the hours go by so quickly during the month of Ramadhan.

Macam tak sempat2 aje nak buat segalanya…

I am supposed to update my blog in the morning while waiting for The Little Misses to get ready for school.

But memang tak dan sungguh nak buat tu!

Nak blog walking and nak jawab all the comments pun tak sempat2 sangat.

So, minta maaf lah ye if your comments are left unanswered for the time being.

Padahal, I have no idea apa yang buat I busy sangat2 nya….

Nak kata sibuk buat kuih raya, bayang butter, gula and tepung pun tak nampak lagi…

Nak kata sibuk kemas satu rumah sebab nak sambut raya, bersepah2 jugak rumah ni I tengok…..

Nak kata sibuk buat baju raya, baju kurung Miss 8 yang I dah siap potong tu pun still tak jahit2 lagi, hahahaha….

Takpelah, I nak perasan konon2nya tak cukup masa sebab sibuk membuat ibadah lebih2 sempena bulan yang mulia ni .

Salah satu ibadah yang tak boleh tinggal is cooking for Iftar.

Malam ni I malas buat kuih sebab I tak nak diaorang makan kuih lebih2 until tak larat nak makan main meal.

I masak nasi lemak for dinner tu yang I nak diaorang makan nasi kenyang2.

But I terlupa beli cucumber untuk ulam nasi lemak so I terpaksalah masak sugar snap peas+carrot+udang goreng as the sayur.

And then I masak the sambal sikit punya lama ke until dah hilang langsung pedas dia, hahaha…

Even Miss 8 pun boleh makan nasi lemak with the sambal tadi!

Kakak dia makan nasi lemak dengan kicap manis, adik dia makan nasi lemak dgn sambal tak pedas langsung tapi manis .

Orang lain turun berat badan masa bulan puasa, Miss 8 still manages to maintain her weight, hahahaha…..

From 1 to 7

Ramadhan has always made me nostalgic of all the things happening around me when I was a child.

The most vivid memory is always of the neighbours swapping kuih and juadah berbuka with us just before Iftar time.

It was always the kids jobs to go around to the neighbours with a plate of food.

But we didn’t do it everyday lah. I guess setakat goreng cekodok takkan itupun nak bagi orang, hehehe.

But for the life of me, I can’t remember what kind of kuihs we normally swap around…

I guess with old age comes memory loss eh, heeeee…..

Anyway, tahun ni tetiba I terfikir nak ajak the Sunday School mak2 to do just that.

To swap our kuih muih on Sunday.

So, when I let them know about the plan, semua setuju and excited nak join which always makes it more fun bila semua excited sama!

Semalam was our first ‘swap meet’ at the masjid.

Everyone brought along bags with containers filled with food macam nak berjual kat pasar ramadhan aje, hahaha.

So what was my kuih contribution?

Custard fruit tarts

 

I’ve been wanting to make these tarts for ages but sentiasa malas and fikir sape aje yang nak makan.

So, when opportunity comes knocking to make 1 batch of it, terus lah I buat.

And what do I get in return for making 1 type of kuih?

So many yummy kuih muih!

Kuih ketayap, kuih lapis, kuih lopes, cara berlauk, kuih bakar pandan and pulut panggang.

The Other Half said he was so impressed with the kuih muih spread and he said every single kuih tasted so sedap.

Memang sedap betul we all berbuka semalam, hehehe.

Dia kata tak payah beli kuih at the bazaar ramadhan kat masjid tu lagi lah sebab tak sesedap kuih yang Mak2 buat, hahaha.

And all the Mak2 dah siap buat list what to bring next Sunday .

Lamb for dinner

It’s only been a week into Ramadhan and I have already started recycling my kuih menu, hehehe.

I guess when the fasting people asked for the same kuih, who am I to say No kan!

And when he specifically said, “I would like to have the green balls again for Iftar tonight exactly like the ones you made the other night without any changes whatsoever, please.”

Kenalah I buat .

But I guess I should be thankful sebab dia cuma mintak nak makan the easy peasy buah melaka instead of asking for croquemboche or salted caramel macarons or kek lapis 10 tingkat kan!

Dia tau setakat mana kerajinan bini dia ni, kahkahkahkah….

We’ve also decided that Friday night is our leftover night during this fasting month(if we have any leftovers from the whole week of cooking).

All the leftovers that I could find in the freezer and the fridge will be taken out and displayed for everyone to choose from.

And my job is just to reheat them in the microwave.

I don’t even have to make any kuih on Friday night!

I just open the freezer and take out the shop-bought frozen pau, the shop-bought frozen ricotta puff parcels and any other frozen ‘kuih’ I can find in the freezer and put them in the oven or in the steamer.

And everyone is very happy!

Tu sebab my fridge and freezer besar gedabak, hikhikhikik…..

But last night kenalah masak sebab Friday night dah lepak2 tak masak apa2.

i found a rack of lamb in the freezer so terfikir nak masak lamb.

I made the lamb exactly like the last lamb rack I roasted.

They were as good as the last time!

 

But this time, we had them with pasta in home-made sundried tomato pesto instead on roast potato.

The combination of pasta and lamb was just superb (to our taste buds).

The Other Half said that he’s willing to fork out $50-$60 at a restaurant to eat this type of meal.

And then Miss 8 piped in and said, “I will pay $90 to eat this at a restaurant.”

I said to them, “God! I do not want you guys to ever fork out that much money for a meal doesn’t matter how good it is!”

Then The Other Half said the sweetest thing again, “You have definitely spoiled my restaurant outing because everytime I go anywhere, I will always think that you can definitely cook the same food at home, better. So, I don’t feel like eating them!”

Isn’t that nice of him, heeeee……

I made the pesto using semi-dried tomatoes in olive oil, roasted walnuts, grated parmesan, garlic,  salt and pepper and loads of olive oil.

Give them a good blitz in the grinder.

When you want to use it, just sautee them for a bit in olive oil (to cook the garlic) and then mix the cooked pasta into the pesto.

Serve it with green salad to soften the ‘richness’ of the lamb and the intensity of the pesto.

Kalau lah bukan bulan puasa, memang I rasa The Other Half and Miss 8 akan berebut to habiskan the last rack of the lamb untuk lunch today, heeeee

But everytime I masak mee or yang seangkatan dengannya, tak pulak dia puji I lebih2 because noodles are not his favourite food doesn’t matter who cooks them, hahahaha….

The bills you will see when you own a house

My blog update for the past few days have revolved around food aje.

Dah bulan Ramadhan katakan so itu aje lah yang termampu nak di’bual’kan .

But this morning, let’s talk about something else.

It’s been nearly 2 years since we moved into our own house.

Cepat betul masa berlalu kan!

I can still remember blogging about the chaotic life pre and post moving with all the boxes and what not…tup tup dah nak dekat 2 tahun we all kat sini.

It is nice to have our own house to do as we please with the house and not to have to worry about the 3-monthly inspection by the agent which used to make me so frenzied and hassled with cleaning!

But, owning a house also comes with all the other ‘hidden’ responsibilities that we didn’t have to think about when we were renting.

Punyalah banyak duit that we’ve spent on this house just for maintenance and replacing broken parts.

Macam the solar hot water system that we need to replace, the oven and the stove top that we need to replace, the ducted airconditioning unit that needs check up every year

Kalau dulu masa duduk menyewa, kalau ada problems with any of the above, we just have to let the agent know and they will send someone to come and fix it.

Pastu, the bills will be sent to the owner to pay instead of the renter yang bayar.

Senang kan, tak payah susah payah fikir.

And another major thing that we didn’t have to worry about when we were renting was all the bills associated with owning a house and land.

Like the council rates and the sewerage bills.

This is our yearly council rate.

50% of the rate is used to pay the councillors wages. Patutlah ramai bebeno yang nak jadi councillors ni ye!

And the other 50% is used to maintain the libraries, the playgrounds, the garbage collections and so on and so on…

Rates kat OZ ni are calculated differently, depending on the council you live in.

In our suburb, the rate is calculated based on the property’s annual rental value if rented instead of the value of the house.

So, it’s just an assumptive value aje lah sebab we definitely are not going to rent our house for the time being, hehehe.

And ini pulak the annual bill we got from the Water Corp.

We all tak guna air banyak macam tu, giler hapa!

$681.90 of the total bill is for sewerage charge. Kalau tak nak bayar, tak sanggup nak bayangkan what will happen, kahkahkahkah….

$188 tu lah our water bill for 1 year tak silap….

I was lamenting to The Other Half, “if we were still renting, we wouldn’t have to worry about these bills….”

Macam ni tak boleh lah nak balik kampung nak beraya kan sebab duit nak guna nak bayar bills, hikhikhik….

Anyway, since it’s my blog, kenalah jugak I tayang gambar food kan.

I made jemput2 donuts.

I used the donut recipe tapi I kurangkan the tepung sangat2 making it a very lembik batter.

Bila dah naik kembang, I just jemput2 kan dia and goreng.

tu yang shape dia semua ada tanduk, hahahaha…

Miss 13 loves doughnuts and kalau I benarkan, she will just have this for Iftar, for dinner and also for sahur the next day!

Turkey is not just for Christmas ;-)

A long time ago, living in a country where the majority of the population is non Muslim used to mean that halal stuff is so difficult to get.

Even 10 years back when we were living in Adelaide, there were only 2 halal butchers operating in the whole of Adelaide.

Luckily one of the butchers was in the middle of the city so we didn’t have to go that far to get our meat supple but the choice of what we could get was quite limited.

For example, there was only 1 type of sausage available which for us at that time was heaven enough, hehehe…

And it was difficult to get processed meat like salami and pepperoni. We had to go quite further from our house to get the stock.

Then when we moved to Perth, it was like living in a completely different country altogether!

Halal butchers everywhere which was heaven .

There’s even one 5 minutes away jalan kaki from our house!

And now it’s made even easier when some of the supermarkets stock halal meat especially chicken.

The latest thing to be available is the halal turkey range.

We normally buy the frozen turkey breast or thigh that comes in a prepacked box because that was the only thing available.

But in the past few weeks, I’ve bought turkey shanks, marinated turkey thighs and turkey mince at the meat aisle section.

They taste different compared to chicken but still not too bad as another source of protein.

Last night for dinner, I made meatloaf using turkey mince.

I tak suka sangat meatloaf ni but The Other Half and the girls like it.

So, malam tadi I made meatloaf after many moons not making it.

I used fresh breadcrumb, turkey mince, diced poloni, diced onion, BBQ sauce, Hoisin sauce, chicken stock powder, dried mixed herbs and pepper to make up the meatloaf.

Put the mixture in a loaf pan and bake it in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.

Take it out and squirt a mixture of BBQ sauce and tomato sauce on the top and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

We had it with a slice of buttered toasted bread and sauteed asparagus with garlic breadcrumb.

the sauteed asparagus with garlic breadcrumb.

The Other half said it was really nice. He said it’s different from the usual beef mince meatloaf sebab less fatty and oily. He had 3 pieces of the meatloaf so I guess kenalah sangat2 dengan tekak dia kan .

And ini pulak our Iftar spread.

I made spring rolls which I baked in the oven instead of frying them, tu yg kaler dia pale sgt2. Then I also made jemput2 pisang makan dgn maple syrup.

And also the fresh and dried fruit platter of course.

The colourful spread

This year for Iftar, I try to serve fresh and dried fruits daily.

Instead of just medjool dates to break our fast, I give them a selection of fruits.

At the moment, it’s always either strawberries, fuji apples, dried figs/dried apricots, mandarins or cherries and dates.

It’s Winter but we’ve got an influx of cheap cherries from the US so tu yang hari2 boleh makan cherries, hehehe.

Miss 13 doesn’t like strawberries at all because she always finds them to taste sour even though everyone else finds them sweet.

But she’ll eat the apples and cherries. Orang lain will eat everything on this plate!

The dried figs imported from Turkey, the dates and cherries from the US.

Only the strawberries and the apples aje yang come from OZ, hehehe.

And then kena ada kuih (for the first 3 weeks aje, lepas tu dah malas, hahaha).

Malam tadi, I made savoury kuih, murtabak segera guna kulit popia aje.

But the inti I buat macam inti karipap. I guna banyak kentang, I added frozen peas and I guna leftover roast lamb as the meat. And then sebelum isi kat the kulit popia, I just add eggs in it.

Kuih ni memang I cuma buat masa Ramadhan aje, hehehe.

And then for main meal, I made beef schnitzel makan dengan oven-baked chips, guacamole and bean salad.

The bean salad tu I buat banyak2, lepastu simpan dalam fridge and boleh makan for 2-3 dinners. Orang malas lah katakan, heeeeee…

I always use topside cut to make my beef schnitzel sebab takde gristles and tendons and ligaments in the middle of the meat untuk buat the schnitzel tough.

Malam ni untuk Iftar, I’m thinking of making something with turkey mince.

Either rissoles or meatballs or meatloaf I guess.

Another kuih in my repertoire

Ini kuih yang wajib I buat every puasa sebab senang nak buat and tak guna banyak bahan2 and senang dimakan and everyone loves it.

But everytime I buat, mesti akan ada yang pecah punya lah.

Doesnt matter how carefully I shape it to make sure takde lobang2 bertuah and doesn’t matter how carefully I handle it bila dah masak, mesti akan ada 2-3 biji yang pecah.

For me, kalau 2-3 biji pecah out of 20+ I buat semalam, itu dah kira sangat bagus lah, hehehe…

Ada ke sape2 yang buat buah melaka ni tak pernah pecah?

I guess kalau buat kulit dia setebal mungkin and gula melaka dia seciput aje, boleh kot tak pecah langsung but takde sape yang lalu nak makan pulak nanti sebab tak sedap.

 

And then kena buat kecik2 or else adalah nanti yang tercekik makan buah melaka kat rumah ni.

Kecik2 tapi penuh isi so kulit kena nipis. Banyak demand betul lah anak2 tekak orang puasa ni! .

And for main meal, I masak butter chicken and sayur goreng and madras beef. madras beef ni lebihan hari tu so I just panaskan balik aje.

Bulan puasa ni kena pandai budget masak cukup2 aje untuk dinner so takde leftovers sebab takde sape nak makan the next day.

Tapi punyalah susah nya for me to budget sebab dah slalu masak dinner+leftovers kan.

But so far, ok lah, yang boleh dimasukkan dlm freezer, I sumbat dlm freezer. Yang tinggal seciput aje and semua orang dah tak boleh nak telan sebab kenyang sgt2, terpaksa I buang. Sedih aje rasa.

I’ll get to the right amount one day! .

Malam ni I think I’ll masak beef schnitzel and fries with salad.

And jemput2 pisang with maple syrup as the kuih kot, hehehe….

By the way, untuk sesiapa yang nak tau macam mana nak buat custard horns tu, sila lah jenguk ke rumah TopsyTurvyMum sebab dia ada letak cara2 nak buat.

I ada sikiiiiiiiiit malas nak type kat sini, hikhikhik….

A day of puffs

For Iftar last night, I made the requested food.

So, semua orang bergembira, hehehe..

And I also made bubur kacang hijau 1 periuk kecil just for my consumption which made me happy just like the others.

Pagi tadi for sahur, I melantak bubur kacang hijau with Jacob’s cream crackers which tasted so nice at 5 o’clock in the morning, hahaha.

Our menu last night was custard horns which was made from puff pastry and packet custard.

The girls had these at my friend’s house last week and they ate them non stop especially Miss 13 who loves most sweet things (except most of the sweet kuih muih melayu).

So, I made 14 small horns which they demolish in record time!

They weren’t that big pun so senang nak masuk mulut.

Then for the main meal, I made sausages with creamy mashed potato and gravy, bean salads and parmesan fingers.

I used puff pastry again for the parmesan fingers.

And I terrajin semalam, I made dessert as well again using puff pastry, hehehe.

I told you it was a day of puffs!

I made banana tart tatin from this site.

But mine looks a bit darker than the site’s photos sebab I doubled the butter and the brown sugar. memang penuh dengan caramel lah!

The Other Half obviously loved it sebab ada caramel kan. He said, “I dont normally like banana but when it’s used this way, it is really nice.”

And he’s asked for rice for Iftar tonite….

I might make butter chicken to go with that rice…..