The Summer of weight loss

Tadi I pergi bershopping dengan the girls.

Seperti biasa, Miss 13 since dia dah besar and ada phone, I biarkan dia pergi berjalan window shopping sorang2, tak payah ikut I aje.

Alah, bukannya besar mana pun the shopping complex kat sini, hehehe.

Bila time nak balik, I’ll give her a call and we’ll meet up somewhere.

And kadang2, if I were in Kmart or BigW or Target, I’ll let Miss 9 go to the toys section by herself while I browse the other sections.

I guess I feel safer kot kat sini untuk lepaskan diaorang macam tu.

Tu yang bila balik Msia, diaorang rasa pelik and terkongkong sebab I tak bagi diaorang pergi mana2 without an adult going with them.

So, kalau I nak pergi tengok2 kasut or baju kurung kat kedai kat msia tu, terpaksalah diaorang berjanggut menunggu I, hehehehe…..

Anywaaayyyyyyy….. back to the main story yang nak disampaikan .

Tadi bila I tengah berjalan2 dengan Miss 9, she said, “I think you look thinner now Mum after all the exercising you’ve been doing.”

Hikhikhikhik…..terus dia jadi anak kesayangan I tang tang tu jugak!

And The Other Half pun tengah happy jugak sebab a few of his colleagues have noticed his weight loss.

He’s lost more than 10kg in the past 3 months, slowly but banyak lah jugak kan.

Tu yang colleagues dia finally baru perasan kot.

And friends that haven’t seen Miss 9 for a while also said, “She’s lost some weight. Her face looks thinner.”

Miss 9 sangat lah happynya sekarang sebab her daily outdoor exercise and kurangkan makan dah berhasil juga.

Some recent photos of Miss 9.

(Photo Mum dia tak boleh letak lagi sebab masih lagi belum mencapai target, hahahaha).

Maybe her pipi dah tak sechubby dulu and her dagu makin meruncing (without any help from plastic surgery tau! hehehehe), tu yang nampak dah kurus sikit kot.

And ini pulak dinner orang malas.

Fish and chips.

But healthier version sebab semua oven baked instead of fried.

Every week our menu mesti ada chips, nampak sangat lah yang I ni pemalas kan, hahaha….

Temperamental scale

We’ve got a very temperamental weighing scale.

It needs a tap to trigger it which is usual lah on a digital scale.

But lately….

Depending on where you tap to trigger it, it’ll get a bit psycho.

In the space of 10 seconds, your weight can fluctuate erratically.

Sometimes it adds a kilo to your weight, sometimes it’ll deduct a kilo.

I’ve been trying to lose weight since the start of the year but only for the past 2 weeks that I have been exercising constantly every night on the elliptical and also being more aware of what I put in my mouth.

i still eat all my meals like normal but I just cut down on junk food and sweet drinks like juice and bottled iced coffee and all the yummy yeo’s drinks….. (for now).

But how am I supposed to track my weight loss with the bl**ming psycho scale?

Arggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Bila I stand on it and it shows a good number, I’m so happy.

But when I stand on it and it shows a number that I don’t like, I akan ubah2 kedudukan the scale and tap it at so many different spots until I get the ‘right’ weight!

Hahahahahah……sangatlah cengkelat nya kan .

So, sekarang ni, I am just going to use my ‘skinny’ jeans (the ones that I used to wear when I was at my thinnest) as my measuring stick.

Once I can sarung my jawa thighs nicely in them, it means that I’ve reached my target weight, hehehehe……

Even The Other Half is going to reach his goal weight very very soon.

I’ll get my Bruce Willis and Van Diesel back, hikhikhikhik…

Takpe, like I said early in the year, I only want to lose 3kg in 3 months so hopefully tak lah susah mana kan, hehehehe….

So, tu yang tak kisah masak apa pun for dinner, cuma control the portion aje lah.

Like tonight for dinner, I masak beef enchiladas which is so cheesy…..

yummmmm….. drool…….

But I makan 1 medium size serving aje.

I didn’t make any green salads to go with it sebab the filling dah ada zucchini and carrot.

It’s enough to fill me up and kalau lapar lagi, I minum air aje lah, hehehe…..

Kalau makan banyak2 sampai kenyang, susah lah I nak exercise after that kan.

Too many things to do-Tuesday

The whole day I’ve been on the computer…

(Well in between siram pokok, kemas rumah, basuh pinggan, lipat kain, pergi library and pergi grocery shopping, hikhikhik).

Searching for things, comparing things….

So, bila nak update blog, dah malas nak mengadap screen sebab dah berpinar2 biji mata

So, you all layan aje lah gambar our simple dinner tonite.

I made my version of penne boscaiola for dinner tonight.

Segala benda I letak dalam tu…

Onion, garlic, mushroom, sundried tomatoes, peas and corned beef.

On top of the cream and parmesan cheese.

I wanted to make something quick and simple so pasta lah yang paling senang kan.

Tak sampai 20 minit dah boleh makan!

Tu sebab I suuuuukaaaaaa sangat2 masak pasta, hahahahaha….

Spending Monday morning

Semalam berkobar2 The Other Half kata hari ni dia nak terjah Bunnings pagi2 pastu terus kerjakan kebun….

Bangun pagi tadi pun pukul 8.30, itupun sebab I kejut…hahahaha….

Tapi still berkobar2 jugak dia untuk mengerjakan kebun we all itu .

The Other half berkobar2 nak berkebun hari ni sebab dia nak buat a few things sebab next week dijadualkan akan ada heatwave again.

So, dia kesian kat seedlings2 yang baru kena tanam tu.

Our raspberry seedling dah selamat jadi arwah sebab we all asik terlupa nak shade dia so memang shrivelled up and die.

Sedih we all….

See, ada jugak pokok yang we all tanak tak hidup, hehehe.

But sebelum I tunjuk project dia, I tunjuk harta terbaru I

Semalam I pergi Sunday market and saw this one asian guy selling hat….

Senyum2 sumbing the girls tengok I menggayakan, hahahaha.

Cantik tak topi kebun I?

Petik kacang panjang yang tak berhenti2 berbuah lagi.

Baru lah betul ada rupa ah soh kebun sayur kan!

Muahahahahaha…..

And ini lah dia ‘payung’ yang The Other Half buat untuk our cucumber seedlings.

Haritu Ummu Aidan tanya rupa our grapevines.

Our shaded area ni dah reput sikit the kayu kayan so The Other Half dah cabut kayu2 yang reput so sekarang ni tinggal bare rangka aje lah.

This Winter, once we’ve pruned the grapevines, we are going to call someone to come and build a new covered area for the grapes.

Some of the green grapes dah masak so I tugaskan Miss 9 to pick them

And eating the harvest.

Our harvest for today

Miss 9 showing off how big the melon is right now and it is still not ripe yet!

Besar kan!

Ada about 5 more big melons amongst the leaves.

Once dah masak, memang kena bagi kat orang or else sampai muntah we all kena makan tembikai, hehehe.

P/S- I tgh busy at the moment so lambat sikit lah nak jawab all the comments. So sorry ye! I’ll answer them bila dah tak busy sgt nanti.

Post Australia Day BBQ

Semalam was Australia Day so The Other Half suka sangat sebab it’s a long weekend, esok pun cuti!

Sama lah mcm Msia eh .

And bila Australia Day ni, memang tetiba semua orang akan ber BBQ sungguh2!

Yang tak pernah2 berBBQ and yang BBQ dia dah habuk pun akan lap2 habuk and cuba berBBQ.

So, kiranya udara semalam was filled with the smell of cooked meat lah.

But we all semalam tak ber BBQ sebab The Other Half tetiba nak sangat makan nasi dengan kari!

Apakah!!!!

Memang tak patriotik betul Mamat tu, hahahahaha.

Dia kata dia dah lama tak makan kari, last sekali makan was a week ago…

Sedih aje I dengar you, kahkahkahkah….

And since semalam tak berBBQ, we all bantai lah ber BBQ hari ni.

Kalau kat OZ, kena lah BBQ ada lamb kan or else bukan BBQ namanya, heeee .

But Miss 9 beria2 nak makan BBQ prawns so Mum dia buatkan lah jugak.

At the same time, we all BBQ jugak corns, some mushrooms and some red onions.

And ini pinggan I..

Tiba2 The Other Half cakap, “I like barbecuing. We should do more of it.”

I tak kisah, I tukang perap the meat aje….

as long as you are going to do the cooking, I’ll agree with you anytime!

hahahaha…..

The green ones

Bila kamu nak masak?

Dah lama we all tunggu…

I tau yang they are not completely ripe yet because I’ve been trying them one at a time….

hehehehe….

Pagi2, sambil siram pokok, sambil tu I petik sebiji untuk rasa….

Ye lah, kena lah try test cuba kan!

1 or 2 are already very sweet but the rest still has a bit of sourness in them…

And the parrots haven’t come to eat them so I guess they are not ready yet lah kan.

Either that or the parrots tak suka green grapes because they are not that attractive.

My Emak’s nasi goreng

When I first started to learn how to cook nasi goreng, of course lah Mak I yang ajar.

So, obviously dia ajar I masak nasi goreng ikut cara dia buat nasi goreng.

Bahan2 yang Mak I guna untuk buat nasi goreng dia hanya bawang merah, bawang putih, cili merah sebatang, ikan bilis yang ditumbuk lumat guna lesung.

And then kacang panjang dihiris nipis2 sebagai sayur dalam nasi goreng tu.

And just garam sebagai perasa. takde sos2 lain….

kadang2 letak telur, kadang2 takde telur….

So, everytime I nak buat nasi goreng, mesti kena ada cili merah and kacang panjang in the fridge, baru I boleh buat nasi goreng.

Kalau takde cili merah and kacang panjang, I tak tau nak buat nasi goreng!

hahahahaha….lawak kan!

Until lah I kena pergi overseas…..

And then first time nak buat nasi goreng, I didn’t know what to do sebab masa tu susah sgt2 nak jumpa kacang panjang and cili merah….

Lama jugak lah I tak buat nasi goreng sebab I rasa kalau I buat nasi goreng ikut recipe lain, it won’t taste as nice, hehehehe…..

Until one day, I ‘berani’ kan diri buat nasi goreng ikut whatever I had in hand at that time.

Memang lah rasa lain and not ‘ori’ like nasi goreng Emak kat kampung but beggars can’t be choosers lah kan….

Kenyang jugak I makan and sedap jugak masuk tekak….

Mengada2 lebih aje I ni kan, hahahahaha…..

From that day, my nasi goreng akan tukar2 rasa tiap2 kali I masak depending on what I feel like putting in it.

Kadang2 sgt sedap, kadang2 sedap, kadang2 so-so aje….

But tak lah sampai masuk Cik Tong sbb nasi goreng kan, cannot be tak sedap sampai tak boleh telan .

But hari ni, I buat nasi goreng like how my Mak taught me a long time ago.

Sebabnya, kat kebun belakang rumah berlambak2 cili and kacang panjang.

Siap dengan lesung batu sekali…..

But I derhaka sikit, I letak diced carrots as well in the nasi goreng sebab nak increase the vege intake.

And I tak letak telur sebab nak makan dengan ayam goreng.

And since ada lebihan kuah kacang from yesterday, we had it as an extra sauce.

Still sedap macam dulu2, hahahahaha…….

How did your Emak2/Nenek/Makcik/kakak teach you how to make nasi goreng?

Both eastern and western dishes tonight

Occasionally I do cook 2 completely different meals for dinner at the same time.

Mostly either because the adults want something quite hot so I have to cook something else for the girls.

Or when I want to eat something completely different which I know no one else will like.

Like tonight for example, I want to eat my homegrown experiment which I know no one else will touch so kenalah masak benda lain for them.

The Other Half loves the roast potatoes I made on Monday nite and has been asking for it again!

Padahal baru aje hari Rabu kan so takkan lah nak eat the same thing again…

But since I want to eat my own food, I pun buat kan lah the roast potatoes for them again…

I wanted to serve crumbed fish with the roast potatoes but I takde stock crumbed fish in the freezer so terpaksalah tukar menu at the last minute.

Couldn’t decide on what meat to give them so I made something up from leftovers ….

Miss 13 tanya, “what’s the meat to go with the roast potato Mum?”

I answered, “mystery meat…..” followed by an evil laugh, har har har (gaya Brad the ‘evil’ cat), hehehehe.

This was what I serve them for dinner tonite…

I told them to taste it first then figure out what kind of meat it is….

Semua muka seriau aje nak makan, muahahahahaha…..

It doesn’t look that bad kan!

Makan pulak dengan steamed veges and roast potatoes in sage and garlic butter, terus lah jadi bertambah2 sedapnya, hahahaha.

It’s actually crumbed beef schnitzel which I sliced and put in a baking dish.

Then I mix some bolognese sauce with ricotta cheese and pour it on the sliced schnitzel. Then I just scatter some shredded colby on it and bake it in the oven alongside the roast potatoes.

I guess it’s a bit like parmigiana but caca marba version.

.

Everyone said it tasted delicious so tak kisah lah kan mystery meat ke tak, hehehehe.

Nasib baik takde sape nak komplen kena makan mystery meat from the leftovers .

While they had that for their dinner, I had my own special dinner.

I made pecal but with kuah kacang instead of the real kuah pecal jawa style (sebab I takde cekur).

I beria sangat2 nak makan pecal sebab my experiment to grow my own beansprouts dah menjadi.

(Padahal kan, Mak I kat kampung tu setiap kali buat pecal, memang dia akan grow her own taugeh, sikit pun dia tak heran, hahahahaha).

the bean sprouts are curly instead of straight like the shop-bought ones.

My rojak had raw beansprouts, steamed broccoli, carrots, kacang panjang, tahu and keropok lekor.

I grew the beansprouts guna method yang I jumpa kat blog Olive.

I told the girls and The Other Half, “No one’s allowed to touch this teapot. Do not try to make tea or coffee in it!”

Hikhikhikhik….garang kemain .

The Other Half says he loves this kind of beansprouts, so dia meratah mentah2 macam tu aje macam makan anggur, heeeeeee……