21 days in…

Hari ni dah 21 days bulan Ramadhan bersama kita.

Masa ni lah kebanyakan Mak2 and Bapak2 baru sibuk nak kisah pasal kuih raya.

Tahun ni, Mak kat rumah ni ada lemau sikit, tak berkobar2 nak buat kuih raya, hehehe…

Alah, bukannya ada orang nak datang rumah we all on the first day of raya pun so kalau nak start buat kuih masa dah raya pun takpe.

But hari Sabtu lepas, I did make our first kuih raya.

Itu pun sebab biskut ni kegemaran the girls so tu yang buat awal2 so they can eat masa berbuka and bersahur.

I made biskut gajus Daisy which is adik beradik tiri biskut mazola.

Ye lah, minyak mazola tak jumpa cari kat sini, yang ada cuma minyak jagung Daisy aje. Pastu kacang tanah tak boleh guna, ganti dengan kacang gajus so kenalah tukar nama kan!

I made 2 and half adunan so hopefully, adalah baki2 lagi when people come to our house.

Tahun ni I tak nak buat kuih macam2 sebab takut tak habis.

And for the first time after so many years, I wont be making kuih gunting!

Not because of anything, just because I malas ya amat nak menggoreng tu. Sebab I know I yang akan banyak makan kuih gunting and all the minyak2 and lemak2 will definitely stay on my body!

Probably I will buat tart nenas because it’s my favourite, cornflakes meringues and florentines because everyone loves it and belgian biscuits because kesian kat The Other Half, mintak this biskut since Xmas, sampai sekarang I tak buat2 lagi!

hehehehehe….

Sekarang ni cuma fikir nak buat kuih utk berbuka aje

On that Saturday, I also made kuih angkoo and keria balls for Iftar.

Anyone wanting to try making angkoo, can follow Nasilemaklover’s recipe. But I use normal temperature water instead of hot water.

Next time I nak cari acuan angkoo yang kecik2 sikit so boleh terus masuk sebjijk ke dalam mulut.

And that weekend, we had steak burger and fries for our dinner.

Sebab both The Other half and Miss 9 said to me, “I really would love to have burger and chips for dinner tonite.” .

But I made a gourmet-style of burger . Siap dengan homemade buns lagi tu!

Masa baru masak, the sesame seeds still on the buns but bila dah kena pegang and potong, all the sesame seeds jatuh atas pinggan, hehehe.

We had it with garlic aioli, avocado salsa and caramelised onion.

The Other Half said, “That’s the best steak burger I’ve ever had because it had garlic aioli and caramelised onion on it. And the salsa to go with it!”

Macam lah selalu sangat dia makan steak burger tu!

Hahahahaha….

Something written…

Sometimes I like to write things down….

Like the love notes on the sandwiches….

Like all my lists of things to do….

And the other day, sebab saje je cari kerja lebih, I wrote this down….

This chalk sticker is on my pantry door.

Dah lama letak tapi asik terlupa aje nak beli the chalks.

So, since I’ve written the menu of the day down, kenalah buat that menu kan .

The process of crumbing the lamb cutlets.

First you dip it in flour, then in egg+salt+pepper mixture, then in the breadcrumb mixture. Just like when I make crumbed anything.

And after bertungkus lumus kat dapur, our dinner for that night.

Crumbed lamb cutlets, creamy scalloped potatoes, bean salad with soumac croutons and lamington roll for dessert.

Disudahi pula dengan lamington roll. I got the recipe from here.

So, I did follow the written menu which is a first!

Hahahahaha .

Homemade lebanese bread

We like to eat kebab and its sedara mara.

And we normally would have it with lebanese bread (well, what they call lebanese bread here in OZ lah). Kat tempat lain I tak tau panggil apa.

But ada jugak yang I jumpa called yiros bread.

Tapi we only like this one particular type of lebanese bread yang cuma dijual kat Woolies aje.

So, bila2 I nak buat kebab, I will always have to go to Woolies to buy the bread lah.

A few days ago, I nak sangat buat lamb kebab sebab baru beli lamb mince.

But bila pergi Woolies, they didn’t have that particular lebanese bread in stock.

Nak pergi Woolies lain semata2 nak cari that bread, tak kuasa pulak I!

So, I went home googled for the recipe that I think resembles the kind I like most.

Project haritu sebelum Iftar was making lebanese bread lah .

Dah lah I nearly forgot that I had to take Miss 14 to the orthodontist after school that day!

Kelam kabut lah sekejap lepas balik from the dentist tu.

Nasib baik sempat siap sebelum waktu berbuka!

I baked the bread one by one in a very hot oven (240C) on a pizza stone.

Makan pulak dengan lamb kebab, garlic sour cream mix and lettuce.

Memang sangat lah sedapnya! The bread is soft and fluffy and sangat senang nak wrap.

And this is the recipe that I used to make the lebanese bread.

Lebanese bread

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon/15 mls olive oil
2 1/2 – 3 cups bread flour

Methods:

- Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water and set aside until frothy.
- Add 1 cup of bread flour and olive oil to the yeast mixture and mix well. Leave aside to rise for about 30 minutes.
- After it has risen, add the rest of the flour and the salt and knead until it is not sticky anymore and smooth. Depending on where you are, you might need less flour or more flour.
- Cover the bowl with gladwrap or tea towel and leave in a warm area for the dough to rise until double its size.
- Once it has doubled, punch it to knock the air out of it and divide the dough into 10 balls.
- Leave the balls to rise for about 15 minutes.
- While the balls are rising, preheat the oven to 240C and put a pizza stone on the lowest rack. If you havent got a pizza stone, you can use an oven tray. Pizza stone is better because it doesn’t warp at high heat.
- On a clean floury surface, roll the balls very thinly (just like the photo above). Make sure there’s plenty of flour so the flattened dough does not stick to each other when you stack them up before baking it.
- Once the oven has reached temperature and the pizza stone is hot, put the flattened dough onto the pizza stone, one at a time.
- Once it has puffed up which is about 2 minutes, take it out and bake the next one.

Basically the recipe sama aje macam recipe nak buat pizza but the measurement is a bit different.

And now sebab I have proven that I can make lebanese bread yang kena dengan tekak semua orang kat rumah ni…

The Other Half said, “Now I won’t want to eat the bought lebanese bread anymore cos the homemade ones are really good!”

Random stories

Thank you readers for the warm compliment about my blog.

It is nice to see that people do still appreciate my blog.

But I think one day in the near future, I might still need to stop writing, when I’ve run out of stories to tell…

Ye lah kan, Miss 14 now is in her last few years of high school and will be going to uni in a few years time.

Kalau sekarang ni pun susah giler nak ambik gambar dia and nak ambik gambar dengan dia, can you imagine what will happen once she’s entered Uni?

Lagi lah agaknya setahun sekali aje masa raya kot dia bagi kebenaran utk we all bergambar dgn dia kan!

hehehehehe….

And by that time, Miss 9 pulak dah start being a teenager and will definitely start acting like Miss 14 is now…

Sekarang ni senang lagi lah nak ambik gambar dengan dia and nak ambik gambar dia but in a few years time, it’ll start to get very hard…

Takkan lah masa tu I nak tayang gambar I bercamwhoring aje in the blog kan, giler apa!

Kalau makin awet muda, ok lah jugak, hahahahahaha…..

Speaking of Miss 9…

We received a note from school asking permission for the Year 5s to be given a talk by the health nurse about puberty and their bodies.

Miss 9 said to me, “Hmmm….I dont want to go to the talk..”

I said, “Why? It’s good for you because you have to learn about puberty and how your body changes as you grow older.”

Miss 9 said, “ I already know that it involves a lot of hormones being produced by your body and that’s the extent I want to know about it.”

I said to her (while trying to suppress a smile), “Isn’t it better for you to know what will happen to your body now before anything happens so when things do happen, you are well prepared for it. You don’t get alarmed because you already know what is happening.”

She said, “I guess……”

But I can see that she’s still not that enthused about it…

Tapi Mak dia sangat2 lah enthused and happy nya sebab I don’t have to give the birds and the bees talk to her!

yeay!!!!!!

Wahkahkahkahkahkah….

Muka budak yang termalu2 nak pergi dengar health talk .

This photo was taken masa we all berbuka nasi lemak a few nights ago.

Miss 9 makan nasi lemak dgn kuah butter chicken, Miss 14 makan nasi lemak dengan kicap manis ABC.

We all berdua makan nasi lemak dgn sambal kaw2 Shidah . But I added a bit of halia masa nak masak sambal tu sebab I like halia in sambal.

As usual, I ‘goreng’ ayam in the Actifry.

Keropok ikan tu I still goreng guna minyak kat kuali biasa, hehehe.

For people yang tanya whether ada jual Actifry kat Msia or not, memang ada.

But yang I jumpa tu online lah. But Phillips Airfryer ada jugak jual kat Msia.

Our weekend feast

Kenapa lah terasa makin malas nak update blog?

Mungkin sebab dah lama sangat I ber blog so tu yang dah rasa macam takde thrill pulak nak update blog ni.

I’ve been blogging since 2008 and I’ve written 1751 posts.

Banyak kan! .

By now, most of my posts are just repeat stories I guess.

Ye lah, balik2 cerita about the same food I cooked, the same kind of activities we did so I yang menulis ni pun rasa bored, lagi lah orang yang nak membaca kan!

Lain lah kan kalau I ni jenis yang cook different food every single day and have adventures every single day so memang lah seronok giler nak menulis kan.

But I ni jenis yang cook the same kind of food week in week out and duduk rumah aje most days and we dont have an active social life as a family, hehehehe….

Maybe I should just put up photos of our dinners instead of pot pet pot pet, then I might not feel too tired to post I guess…..

Maybe I should retire and then let the girls take over writing this blog…

Hahahahaha…..

Anyway….

It’s already the 13th day of fasting today and tomorrow the girls will start school again after cuti sekolah 2 minggu.

My life will be hectic again as a supir everyday.

But at least I dont have to worry about being the lunch lady for the next 2 weeks+.

Bole lah I start buat kuih raya while the girls are at school kan .

So, what did I make for Iftar this weekend?

Since I didnt have to cook dinner on Saturday, I made cendol and apam gula melaka for dessert.

Acuan muruku ni I begged from my Mak.

Bila balik Msia, I love to selongkar her laci2 and almari dapur. Acuan ni I jumpa a few years ago and selepas kena pujuk, she gave it to me, hehehe.

Dapatlah I buat muruku and cendol kat perantauan ni kan .

Tapi I buat cendol ni masa bulan puasa aje.

Masa Summer yang memang panas giler, I tak teringin pulak nak makan cendol!

Tekak orang puasa memang mengada2 kan.

hahahaha….

Yang makan cendol ni cuma The Other Half, Miss 9 and I aje. Miss 14 kata dia tak suka cendol (what else is new kan).

And apam gula melaka which has been my favourite kuih sejak kecik and now The Other Half’s favourite pulak .

We love our cendol cuma dengan kacang merah aje. No other tambahan.

At the same time, sempat jugak I buat cili jeruk for our stock.

And then, for iftar semalam I cooked roast duck.

Makan pulak dengan potatoes roasted in duck fat, toasted cheese bread and salad.

Sekali sekala aje we all makan duck ni.

I think this is the third time kot I masak duck and I still think that chicken tastes wayyyy better than duck!

hikhikhik…

The leftover dilemma

As you guys know, we don’t mind eating leftovers.

Be it leftovers in the fridge or leftovers that have been kept months in the freezer.

And lagilah bila bulan puasa ni, lagi banyak simpan leftovers cos takde sape nak makan them for lunch the next day kan.

Hari tu Oyis ada tanya about how I keep my leftovers supaya tak basi and how to know ok lagi ke tak.

I pun tak lah berapa mahir dalam ni sebab food science wasn’t my bidang, hehehehe….

But as a general rule, kalau food tu I’m not going to eat again within a week, I will masuk dalam freezer so tahan lebih lama.

And berapa lama pulak boleh simpan cooked food in the freezer before they go bad, all that depend on the type of food.

High sugar food boleh tahan lama.

So, sambal nasi lemak yg kebanyakannya bnyk gula tu tahan lama jugak lah in the fridge.

Chicken and meat, I jarang simpan lama in the fridge, max a week but usually only 4-5 days max.

Tapi ayam goreng I slalunya terus masuk freezer unless we all nak makan the next 1-2 days. I rasa they keep better that way.

Masakan bersantan slalunya dont keep that well even in the fridge so kalau boleh, put it in the freezer so it can last longer.

There’s a few sites that list down how long you can keep certain things in the freezer. And from there you sort of agak2 in regards to the particular food you want to keep.

And one other important rule, if your gut instinct kata the food dah go off and tak selamat dimakan or you was was, just throw it out. It’s better safe than sorry kan.

How do you know if it’s off?

Well I guess, from the way it looks, the way it smells and the way it tastes, heeeeee…..

So, masa bulan Ramadhan ni, we’ve put aside Saturday as the leftover day.

I’m not going to cook any new dishes. We are just going to raid the fridge and heat up anything and everything we find in there. .

But tak semestinya hari2 yang I masak tu semestinya ada leftovers. Sebab bukan semua dishes are nice reheated.

If I masak fish and chips, memang takde leftovers lah cos they dont taste nice reheated the next day.

Chips/fries memang tak sedap reheated unless I guess you refry them so we try to eat up all the chips malam tu jugak .

So tonight, we’ll be having lasagne, enchiladas, roti jala, pizza, salmon and leek parcel and phad thai!

Banyak kan! But semua in small quantities aje, dah nama pun leftovers kan!

hehehehe….

layan lah ye all the photos of the food that I cooked for the past week.

Kenyang lah we all malam ni and hopefully, the fridge will be empty again.