Selamat hari merdeka, Malaysia!

Selamat menyambut kemerdekaan untuk semua warganegara Malaysia (including Miss 13 and myself).

I pun sambut merdeka hari ni by going to a friend’s house to celebrate her birthday .

Nak berarak dengan jalur gemilang kat depan rumah, takut pulak kena chop mereng so better lah pergi makan2 kat rumah kawan kan..

sambil bergossip, sambil menaikkan berat, hahaha.

Masa bulan puasa and a week after puasa, my weight went down to a really gorgeous number.

But habis aje open house kat rumah ni, terus dia naik mendadak semula!

Tension……

Bila makan2 kat sini, we usually will take a dish along ala2 potluck gitu.

I took some baklavas to the birthday party.

I made a big batch, using up the whole box of filo pastry sebab I tau orang2 kat rumah ni surenya akan nak merasa jugak.

i used a combination of walnuts, cashew nuts and almonds. Nak guna pistachio, I malas giler nak mengopek. Nak guna walnuts aje, tak cukup stock so kenalah campur nuts yang ada, hehehe.

And then for dinner last night, I made sushi along with its usual accompaniments.

I bought seaweed salad, i bought pickled ginger, miso soup powder and I bought sashimi tuna.

Then I made squid salad.

So, memang meriah lah our sushi dinner malam tadi, hehehe.

I made raw tuna maki sushi, canned tuna maki sushi, prawn maki sushi and seafood stick maki sushi and also seared tuna.

Dah lama we all tak makan sushi so memang semua orang makan sampai kenyang sangat2.

The Other Half said, “another restaurant outing ruined by you. I don’t want to go out to eat sushi anymore now. I love your squid salad and your seared tuna so much. I much prefer raw tuna and the seared tuna in the sushi than smoked salmon.”

Music to my ears when The Other Half says things like that .

I can make it too ;-)

On Tuesday night, when Miss 8 had her Massed choir concert, The Other Half, Miss 13 and I had our dinner at the kebab shop near UWA.

I seperti biasa will go for doner kebab, The Other Half had samsun and Miss 13 had cheese pide.

When The Other half ate some of the cheese pide, he kept on saying, “this is really really good!”

I tengok biasa aje, just pizza dough and melted cheese, hehehe…

But since Miss 13 and The Other Half kata sedap sangat2, I pun cubalah buat malam tadi for dinner.

I basically just used my normal pizza dough aje and rolled it thinly and tabur 4-cheese blend on it, pastu rolled up the side a bit jadi bentuk sampan and bake it in the oven.

But I used the pizza setting in the oven which uses the bottom element, the back element and the fan to distribute the heat evenly and I baked it at 210C.

and this was how it turned out.

I buat saiz extra large, hehehe….

It’s basically just pizza and cheese aje. And then makan panas2 and masa tengah starving, mesti lah rasa sangat sedap kan .

Then we had it with grilled beef strips, sour cream and guacamole and fresh sugar snap peas.

The base is crispy, the sides a bit doughy sebab tebal and then melted cheese in the middle.

Then I tanya lah The Other Half and Miss 13 sedap macam kat kedai ke…

They said, “it looks the same and it’s as nice.”

Nasib baik you all cakap sedap, kalau tak, memang I nak mogok, hahahahaha….

But I still cannot make doner kebab as nice as the shop bought ones.

How I did it

A lot of people asked me how I managed to masak all the stuff for the open house all by myself.

I bukan superwoman tapi occasionally I can be a very organised woman, hehehe…

Like I said before, I love my lists.

Any major things that I need to do, I kena ada list so I tak kelam kabut and stressed out.

Seminggu sebelum open house tu I dah siapkan all the lists.

Unfortunately I have deleted all the lists, kalau tak, boleh gak tayang kat blog untuk tunjuk kat you all betapa anal nya I when it comes to things like this, hikhikhikhik…

Some people will think I’m obsessive sebab ada list bagai but for me, it’s just being organised.

The main reason I do it is so I don’t feel stressed out.

For that open house, I created 3 to do lists.

The first list is the menu list of what I want to offer on that day. Selalunya I will ask The Other half’s input on what is best to offer the guests. But selalunya he will leave it all up to me sebab I yang nak masak so dia kata I would know better apa yang senang nak buat and apa yang complicated yang I tak nak buat.

Then, the next list is of things to buy for the do from the small stuff like serviettes to big stuff like how many kilos of chicken and seafood and beef. And once I’ve bought them, I ticked them so I tak terbeli 2-3 kali.

Then, the most important list of all, – daily tasks to do list which has every tasks and chores from when to kemas rumah to when to buat all the food to when to buy all the groceries to when to write the labels of the menu, hahahaha….

I wrote down what to do on each day and I normally will stick to finishing all the chores listed on the day.

Once each task is completed, I put a done next to it.

It felt very relaxing everytime I typed that word ‘done’, hehehehe….

Macam hari tu, I buat open house hari Sabtu but my preparation started on that Monday.

I buat sikit2 and pelan2 so by that Friday night, I cuma tinggal rebus nasi impit and telur aje. Takde lah I berjaga sampai 1-2 pagi untuk siapkan segalanya the night before kan.

The sate I dah cucuk awal2 and simpan dalam freezer so I cuma tinggal defrost them in the fridge on Friday night tu.

Pagi Sabtu tu I bangun macam biasa at 6 in the morning. I sempat lepak2 depan PC pagi tu sambil minum kopi before starting that day’s tasks.

I cuma tinggal goreng karipap, buat the choc strawberries and masak kuah mee kari and potong all the desserts and nasi impit and what not.

Kuah mee kari tu I guna ready made paste so sangatlah senangnya nak masak.

For me, if you can make life easy then go for it. I dah jumpa a really good curry laksa paste, so why susahkan diri nak buat from scratch kan.

But it is better when your family can help you with some of the chores.

The Other Half helped with rearranging the dining tables and the chairs and setting the BBQ and BBQing the sate.

Miss 13 helped pagi Sabtu tu organising the dessert table and putting all the labels out.

Miss 8 helped by not getting in anyone’s way and not making mess, hehehe…

So, when the guests arrived, I could sit with them and chat with them instead of sibuk kat dapur .

So, up to you nak call me organised or crazy kan, hehehehe….

And since takde gambar food untuk entry ni since we weren’t at home for dinner last night, layan lah gambar Miss 8 that I took malam tadi when she went for the WA Primary schools’ massed choir concert.

450 students from 7 schools around perth performed in a mass choir.

They sang all the songs beautifully together amazingly. The conductors did an amazing job making sure all 450 students sang harmoniously in tuned together.

Since we had to be at the concert hall at 5.30, kenalah Miss 8 makan dinner there. I buatkan mee goreng aje for her.

With one of her choir mates.

No more mee kari for the next few months!

After school semalam I said to the girls, “Come on, let’s go to the shop. I want to get some chips because I really feel like having chips tonight.”

Tekak I dah beria2 mintak chips! hehehe

Mana tak nya, Saturday tu makan mee kari and sate. Sunday makan nasi impit and rendang for lunch at a friend’s house and then for dinner makan leftover mee kari and sate again.

Then for lunch semalam I makan mee kari again untuk habiskan the last leftover so by dinner time, I feel I’ve had asian food overdose.

Tu yang terus cari chips, hahahaha…

And the girls pun terus lah mintak nak makan burger and chips for dinner jugak…

And bila The Other Half balik from work and entered the kitchen, he straightaway said, “thank goodness you are cooking burger and chips! Just I what I really need!”

He then said, “I love Asian food but I think I’m all Asianed out at the moment.”

Hikhikhikhik….

I think I’m going to have to cook Western food during the week for the next few weeks sebab every weekend ada open house invite so we don’t get Asian food overdose.

This was our dinner last night.

I had open-faced burger, konon2nya nak kurangkan pengambilan carbs lah (but makan chips menggunung so macam mana tu?) hehehehe….

But ada satu perkara pelik berlaku….

Miss 8 mintak burger for her lunch today…

Miss 13 mintak nasi impit and kuah kacang tanpa peanuts for her lunch. Dah 2 hari berturut dia mintak nasi impit and kuah kacang for her lunch sebab dia kata sedap sangat2!

I think they have swapped bodies during the night……..

 

Colourful entrance

Some houses kat OZ ni a bit pelik sikit.

We use the kitchen door untuk keluar masuk dari rumah instead of the front door.

Sebab selalunya pintu dapur ni betul2 bertembung dengan garage.

So, bila dah park kereta kat garage, terus lah masuk rumah through the kitchen door kan instead of pusing keluar balik untuk pergi kefront door.

Jadi, the front door and the area from outside leading to the main door ni kadang2 a bit neglected sebab tak ditengok hari2.

(Especially in our house lah. I selalu terlupa nak sapu sawang and sapu the outdoor area kat depan front door tu.).

Bila ada tetamu nak datang or nak buat open house, baru lah kelam kabut nak mencantikkan aka menyapu daun2 and sawang around the area.

And since sekarang tengah nak masuk Spring, we all pun mencantikkan by putting pots of flowers lah.

At the end is Miss 8’s phlox yang keeps on flowering. At first nampak macam serabut aje but bila tengok dua tiga kali, nampak cantik pulak letak depan pintu tu.

Next to it, the lavender I bought last week, then a couple of gerberas.

Then the poinsettia, followed by the really small english lavender which I finally found.

The gerberas, poinsettia and the english lavender I beli at the Sunday Market semalam.

Pergi Sunday market sebab nak beli pandan untuk menggantikan pandan I yang dah go to pandan heaven (sob sob ) tapi pandan tak jumpa, jumpa all these other flowers, hehehe….

And the last one at the end are the pansies.

The poinsettia. I think people plant poinsettias ni not for the flowers but for the colourful leaves which are called bracts.

I said to The Other Half, kalau letak lavenders kat depan pintu, nanti penuh lah bees kat depan pintu and susah lah orang nak jalan ketuk pintu.

He said, “that’s the idea, it will deter salespeople to come knocking at our door!”.

Hikhikhikhikhik….brilliant .

It went well

This was what kept me occupied for the past week.

Since Monday, I have been busy preparing them bit by bit…

Ye lah, kita buat kerja sorang2 so kena lah buat pelan2 so tak stressed kan…

And this was what materialised today…

The dessert table.

 

I made chocolate-coated strawberries which was like by a lot of people.

Strawberries and chocolate kan!

Kek batik, fruit cake truffles (which are the balls I showed in a couple of entry ago), sticky date pudding.

Date shortbreads

And sagu gula melaka.

And for the main table pulak, I made vegetarian curry puffs, no-peanut satay sauce, instant nasi impit untuk dimakan bersama sate ayam and sate daging.

 

Seafood and chicken laksa with their accessories.

And also chicken and beef sate yang dalam bowl besar on the bench behind Miss 8 tu.

Berjam2 I duduk mencucuk sate. Cucuk sate ayam lepas ambik the girls from school until I had to stop to make dinner. Pastu, after dinner, sambung cucuk the beef sate pulak.

Sebab itu lah I kena buat pelan2 over a few days so I tak stressed….

And then The Other Half ditugaskan bakar sate everytime ada guests datang which he did a marvellous job at .

Lepas makan berat2, I jamu pulak dengan kuih muih raya….

Tahun ni, I made 8 jenis kuih raya yang kebanyakannya bulat2 and leper2 aje, haahaha…..

I made florentines, tart nenas gulung, biskut almond london seksi sebab tak cukup baju, biskut gajus daisy

Meringue cornflakes, maltesers cookies, choc cherry bliss bombs and kuih gunting.

Last year, I buat lauk pauk raya jawa.

This year I buat lauk pauk and kuih muih bukan raya sebab tuan rumah dah tak larat nak makan rendang rumah sendiri, hikhikhik….

Tahun depan kita buat jamuan raya yang totally Mat Saleh pulak eh .

Tak habis beraya lagi ke?

Sungguh lah sunyi sepinya ‘rumah’ I ni sejak Raya hari tu.

Masa bulan Ramadhan, tersangat lah ‘meriah’ nya dengan tetamu yang datang berkunjung.

Bila tiba hari raya aje, terus senyap sunyi sebab semua tetamu sibuk berkunjung to real houses insteal of berkunjung ke cyber houses, hehehe.

Lagi sedap pergi makan2 kuih and lauk pauk hidangan raya yang real dari tengok makanan on the pc kan, hahaha.

I cuma pergi beraya to 2 houses aje on that first day of raya, pastu takde dah pergi mana2 .

So, tu yang hari2 I pergi beraya to rumah kawan2 on the cyberworld tengok segala juadah sedap2 yang orang hidangkan…

Tak dapat makan, dapat tengok aje pun jadi lah kan, heeee….(sangatlah sedih nya kan ).

Takpe, takpe….weekends ni boleh start beraya balik.

Our dinners since Monday night dah went back to our usual dinner.

Takde rendang nor nasi impit nor kuah kacang lagi.

Sebab orang2 kat rumah ni tak kuasa nak makan nasi impit 3 malam berturut2, hehehe…

(Nasi pun tak nak makan 3 hari berturut2, lagi lah nasi impit kan.)

Monday night tu, The Other Half dah mintak fish and chips for dinner!

The day after raya dah makan fish and chips for dinner, sungguh kurang sopan betul kan, hahahahaha…

Pastu on Tuesday night, makan pasta…

And last night, we had creamy honey and mustard chicken drumsticks and chips and fresh sugar snap peas for dinner.

Memang macam ni lah every year, maximum 2 hari aje makan lauk pauk raya, pastu semua dah tak larat.

Tu yang kalau beraya kat Msia, muka semua kelat semacam aje lepas kena ‘paksa’ makan the same kind of raya dishes over and over again, hikhikhik….

Colourful balls

Aren’t they the cutest things .

balls covered with crushed biscuits, dessicated coconuts and sprinkles.

They are supposed to be fruit rum balls but since I sub the rum with orange juice concentrate, I guess I have to call them non alcoholic balls, hehehehehe….