Time spent in the garden

This morning I spent a little bit more time in the garden than normal.

Membersihkan aka pruning the overgrown kale plants that had overshadowed the snake bean plants and the cucumber plants.

I would rather let the snake bean and the cucumber plants grow as big as possible than the kale.

Sebab I lagi suka makan kacang panjang and timun dari makan kale, hehehehe.

And also pruning the tomato bushes.

They have definitely overtaken the vege patch, semua tempat dia nak menjalar!

But at least, they produce loads of sweet juicy cherry tomatoes so tak kisah sangat lah kalau they want to hog the whole patch to themselves.

Some of the fruits yang dah masak.

We’ve been picking the tomatoes a little bit at a time everyday makan dengan salad.

But tadi I collected all the ripe ones so tak busuk and tak kena makan dengan Cik Ti.

Dapat lah satu container.

Lepas ni boleh bukak gerai tomato kat depan rumah kan, hahaha.

Cherry tomatoes cost about $2-$3/200g punnet sekarang ni tak silap so jimat duit we all tak payah beli cherry tomatoes lagi, hehehe.

Bila dah pegang kamera in the garden, you all layan aje lah ye some more photos of the plants in our garden.

This is a 3-tiered herb planter which I bought a long time ago tapi tak guna2.

And then bila I baru nak guna, our ex-neighbour pergi bagi pulak 2 pasu besar penuh dengan different types of herbs kat we all, so terbantut lah niat di hati I nak tanam so many different herbs in this planter.

Ended up with me planting corianders in the bottom tier and then some sprouts in the second tier.

The top tier is still empty sebab tak tau lagi nak tanam apa, hehehe

One of the basils that we have, it’s called serata basil.

the leaves have got ‘serrated’ edges so I guess tu sebab dipanggil serata eh .

And our new mint.

Our old mint was very scraggly and unkempt and spindly so we threw that one out and bought a new one.

I promised I will not let this one go scraggly and become unkempt! hikhikhikhik….

And Miss 9’s phlox.

And something that is growing slowly that is makiing all of us so excited…..

Can you see the small green leaves in the metal container?

They are the lavender seedlings yang baru mula nak tumbuh! Hooray!!!!!

I know they are still so small but I really honestly thought that nothing will grow so when they do come out, excited giler lah kan.

I finally planted the english lavender seeds that we bought last month.

Luckily I did sebab bila I baca the instruction which was inside the pack, it says October and November are the best months to plant the seeds.

Inside the pack, ada this metal container, a small packet of labender seeds and also a bag of vermiculite and instructions on how to plant the seeds.

It says to put the seed planter in a warmish place but not under direct sunlight and with plenty of moisture.

So, the best place is in the girls’ bathroom next to the big window lah kan (next to the snow pea sprout plants as well), mana lagi, hahahaha.

I have to keep the seedlings in this metal container for at least 3 months before I can transplant them into the garden or to a pot.

I am really hoping that they will all grow.

It will be a thrill to be able to grow lavender from seeds kan .

It’s still not as nice as hers….

I have a friend who’s famous for her potato bake.

Everytime ada get together makan2, she will always bring her potato bake along.

Orang lain will always bring something different everytime.

She even says that she doesn’t know how to make sweet dishes and what not, she only knows how to make the potato bake.

But her potato bake memang sedap sangat2 pun.

Kalau dia buat function kat rumah dia, The Other Half akan makan her potato bake banyak2, hehehe.

And everytime (well…the few times I tried making potato bakes), The Other Half mesti kata yang rasa dia tak sama and tak sesedap macam the potato bake my friend buat tu.

Mesti ada kurang something!

So, I pun tanya lah rahsia dia.

She told us that she uses the packet scalloped potatoes powder mix that’s sold at the shops!

She only needs to slice the potatoes, sprinkle the powder mix on all the potato layers, pour cream on top and bake it until tender and brown.

hahahaha……

Mati2 I ingat she made it form scratch .

So, tadi for dinner I pun masak sausages with scalloped potato bake using the powdered mix and garden salad with croutons.

For me and Miss 9, dah sedap sangat2 lah the potato bake.

But The Other Half said, “It’s still not as nice as hers. There’s something missing. Hers is creamier. maybe she uses more cheese….”

Cittt!

I made it exactly the way she told me how to ok! Takde guna cheese apa2 pun!

Next time you masak sendiri! Tak larat I!

A simple pasta dish for dinner

After the overeating semalam, we all kembali semula ke pangkal jalan tonite with our dinner, hehehe….

Actually, tak terasa sangat yang I overate semalam.

I guess sebab it was all finger food so all the food that we ate semua kecik2, tu yang tak terasa macam makan banyak.

But kalau dah 2-3 pies masuk mulut, followed by 4-5 ketul sandwiches, followed by the sushi and the scones and the fruits and all the snacks, kenyang jugak at the end.

So, our dinner tadi was something quite light.

I made a simple fettucine with crabmeat, garlic, cherry tomatoes and chilli.

I used canned crabmeat and also crabsticks.

And I wanted to have a hot pasta so I added loads of chilli flakes and pepper.

Jadi, kenalah masakkan something else yang tak pedas for the girls.

But Miss 9 terminat pulak dengan our dinner so she had a tiny bit of the pasta.

Masuk sesuap pasta, teguk setengah gelas air, masuk sesuap pasta, teguk lagi setengah gelas air.

Tapi sambil tu boleh pulak cakap, “it’s really nice but quite hot….”

Hehehehehe…..

I love simple pasta like this.

It takes about 10 minutes to cook the pasta and then another 4-5 minutes to saute the garlic, chilli, tomatoes and crabmeat. Add a splash of cream and then add the cooked fettucine into the crab mixture and mix them well. Season with salt and ground black pepper.

Serve with shredded basil and flaked parmesan cheese.

Her belated birthday party

What a tiring day for The Other half and I today!

But a very exciting, fun and happy day for Miss 9.

She finally got to celebrate her birthday with her friends by having a party.

Padahal her birthday was 3 weeks ago, hehehe.

But it was only a low-key celebration sebab cuma invite 6 of her friends aje pun. But only 5 could make it.

And what makes it nicer, birthday party Mat Saleh style kat sini, the parents will drop off the kids and the parents wont stay for the party.

So, memang cuma cater untuk the budak2 aje lah which makes my life so much easier, hikhikhik….

Since the party was in the afternoon, I made it ‘afternoon tea’ finger food.

But afternoon tea Mat Saleh style lah so takde lah mee goreng ke, roti jala ke, goreng pisang ke, bubur kacang hijau ke, hahahaha…

I made all these spread (apart from the meat pies and the snacks lah).

We had crackers, chicken mayo sandwiches, sushi, meat pies, cream horns, scones with strawberries and cream, fruits with chocolate fondue, lollies and the birthday cake.

The savoury stand.

The sweet stand.

And the fruits with chocolate fondue.

And the home-made sememeh-ly decorated birthday cake, hahahaha…

And the friends who came.

And the party games they played.

The doughnut eating competition.

The ‘who am I’ guessing game.

The cupcake decorating competition.

And the jelly eating competition.

And the candle blowing and cake cutting at the end.

And now we are all so tired! .

Briyani for Raya dinner

For Eid semalam, we didn’t go anywhere.

Life was like any other Friday.

But I cooked something a bit special for dinner.

The Other Half said, “You finally cooked rice and curry for dinner!”

I made mutton briyani with acar mentah, mutton vindaloo and fried chicken.

Sempena raya Qurban, kenalah ada lembu atau kambing atau yang seangkatan dengan nya kan .

But I made briyani using the Shan packet mix aje sebab all the spices are already included in it.

I just have to follow the recipe on the back of the packet.

Cuma biasalah kan, masak briyani ni ada banyak steps so tu yang I kata my dinner special sikit.

I kan selalu nya masak benda2 yang simple2 and senang2 aje, hahahaha.

The girls cuma makan the mutton briyani dengan fried chicken aje sebab vindaloo tu pedas.

The vindaloo pulak I guna Patak’s paste so senang jugak and I masak dalam oven which made it even easier.

Adalah jugak rasa macam hari raya, hikhikhik….

By the way, ini gambar pokok ‘cousin It’ we all.

Dah lama tak nampak dia berbunga so when it finally flowers, memang cantik I rasa.

especially sekarang ni when we’ve put other flowers around it, lagi lah nampak lebh berseri.

Berhari raya dengan RVC

Alhamdulillah dapat jugak berpuasa hari ni.

Sayu nya rasa hati bila dengar takbir raya di malam hari.

Sure ramai orang kat Msia yang tengah dalam perjalanan balik ke kampung.

And sure jugak banyak lembu2 yang tengah heran sebab tetiba dapat makan rumput segar plus many other sayur mayur yang sedap2 kan!

Little did they know, hikhikhikhik…..

And sekarang ni ada sekor lembu kat Ijok tu yang a part of it ada nama I, hehehe.

Since esok nak raya and I puasa hari ni and I ada buttermilk in the fridge yang dah nak expire…

I pun buatlah red velvet cake for the first time in my life!

Orang kat Msia dah pindah ke new fad of making durian crepe, ombre cake, rainbow cake, macarons, whoopie pies….

I baru aje nak go on the red velvet cake wagon!

Nampak sangat tak ikut aliran arus kan, hahahaha….

And as usual, I takut nak guna banyak sangat kaler merah so my red velvet becomes red velvet malu2 kucing, heeeee….

And of course kena ada the cream cheese icing on top lah kan, baru lah sedap .

I buat 1 adunan, tapi baru 3 aje yang kena mekap sebab nak buat ambik gambar.

Yang lain tu, esok2 lah I mekap kan, hahahahaha….

Memang gabungan yang sangat mantap!

Jemputlah makan ye! .

Selamat Hari Ray Aidil Adha!

Another ordinary Wedenesday

Hajat hati esok nak puasa.

So tadi tengok lah kat azan timetable subuh masuk pukul berapa.

Errk, terkedu sekejap tengok subuh masuk pukul 3.58 esok, hehehehe….

Maknanya I kena bangun lagi awal lah untuk bersahur esok.

Jadi, kenalah tidur awal kan .

Last sekali I puasa masa puasa 6 Syawal hari tu and at that time still around 5+ tak silap.

Maghrib pun dah lewat sikit sekarang ni at 6.35.

Perth pun sambut Raya Haji on Friday, tu yang nak puasa esok.

Tapi we all tak buat apa2 pun on that day sebab The Other Half kena kerja and The Little Misses pun I hantar ke sekolah jugak.

Dari diaorang melepak duduk rumah tak buat apa2, baik lah diaorang melepak kat sekolah kan.

But I ingat nak masak something special on that Friday night…. kalau tak malas jadi lah….

Malam ni we had a western meal again.

I made caramelised onion and feta foccacia. Makan dengan scrambled eggs, sauteed baby zucchinis and salad.

The zucchinis tu datang dari kebun, the first harvest for this year. The lettuce and the tomatoes pun datang dari kebun.

The Other Half lah tadi kata nak merasa makan baby zucchinis so I pun petik lah the largest two.

Bukan nya besar mana pun sbb still baby lagi, adalah kot 6cm in length, hehehe….

The foccacia bread ni I guna recipe pizza dough but instead of gelek nipis, I made it into a thick square. Then tabur dengan caramelised onion and feta before baking it.

I dapat 3 ketul kecik, The Other Half dapat 3 ketul kecik

Cukuplah kan for the first taste, hahaha…….

Another Western meal

When I looked through my food photo folder, i noticed we all makan nasi maybe once a week kot.

Paling banyak pun 2 kali seminggu.

The Other Half dah mintak I masak nasi and Thai green chicken curry semalam but I said to him, “we just had rice and fish on Friday and I’m cooking rice again this Friday for Eid so I think I’ll cook western until then.”

He said, “yeaaahhh, but that’s just rice and fish chinese style. I want rice and curry Thai style.”

Actually, bukan I tak nak masak nasi tapi I maaaaaalaaaaaaaas nak masak Thai green chicken curry yang dia sangat suka tu tapi I tak berapa minat.

Kalau dia mintak I masak nasi putih dengan ayam masak merah ke, atau masak nasi dengan sayur lemak putih, ikan kembung goreng and sambal belacan, tang2 tu jugak I akan gigih masuk dapur masak!

hahahaha……

Masa I kecik dulu, punyalah I suka sangat2 dengan ayam masak merak yg Mak I masak. I boleh ratah macam tu aje anytime.

Masa dah besar pun I suka sgt2 ayam masak merah ni.

Sekali bila dah kahwin and dapat laki yang tak gemar ayam masak merah sebab dia lagi suka kari mamak and kari thai, terus I tak masak sebab takde sape nak makan dgn I.

Agaknya kalau I kena masak ayam masak merah sekarang, memang tak reti dah, hehehe.

(tapi kalau I pergi kenduri atau function and jumpa ayam masak merah, I still reti makan!)

Pengorbanan perut seorang isteri, heeeee…..

So, malam ni, I masak Western again….

I made chicken stroganoff makan dengan buttered bread.

Tapi kan, kalau orang kata I masak ayam gulai lemak cili api pun ada rupa jugak kan, hehehe….

Gulai lemak cili api pakai santan and cili api kaw kaw yang boleh buat anyone drools………………..

My stroganoff pakai sour cream and paprika aje yang sangat lah tak pedas kaw kaw nya.

But still sedap .

My family lah kata sedap but they love my cooking so their tastebuds are a bit biased, kahkahkah…

Tu sebab sekarang ni my tastebuds dah tak boleh terima benda pedas2 sangat sebab dah hari2 makan dishes yang tak pedas langsung kan……..

Sape yang suka makan pedas and nasi memang lah tak boleh tinggal dengan we all, merana jiwa raga perut let me tell you!