The start of a long weekend

We had fun this morning.

Tiring but fun.

We registered to join the ParkRun community which is a group of people who run 5kms every Saturday morning at a park.

The best part is that it is free and you don’t have to be fit and athletic or a runner to join the group.

I’m not sure ada kat Msia or not but it’s everywhere around the world.

I think we were the only newbie group there this morning so The Other Half said, “I just dont want to be last ok!”

Hahahaha….

We let Miss 14 ran first but we stayed behind with Miss 9 sebab kaki dia pendek and she’s not that good at running, hikhikhik….

So we jogged, ran, sprinted but we mostly walked from start to finish.

Miss 14 finished about 7 minutes before us and we managed not to finish last, ada lagi sorang behind us!

Hahahahaha….

But we were so proud of Miss 9 because she didn’t stop at all even though she was so tired.

Even when The Other Half offered to give her a piggyback ride, she declined and kept on walking.

I said to her, it doesn’t matter if we finished last because this is our first time and we just have to improve our personal best next week.

Miss 9 was still smiling at this time, waiting for the start of the run.

We all berdiri kat belakang aje, bagi orang lain lari dulu cos sudah gerentinya we all takkan dapat finish first!

So glad we did it as a family .

Then balik rumah, tengok2 kebun….

Wellll……. I tengok kebun while he temankan I tengok kebun, hehehe.

Some of the rose bushes yang memang tengah galak berbunga. Semunya kembang semangkuk!

The cute row of snapdragons.

Some of the roses.

So, I had to deadhead some of the roses and cut some of the flowers to put in a vase.

Menceriakan sikit the loungeroom and the family room lah .

Sports carnival and bread making

This week is the final week of term 3.

And then starting from Saturday, the girls will be having a 2-week break.

We don’t have any plan to go anywhere, duduk diam2 kat rumah sahaja, hehehehe.

2 weeks will just fly by so quickly when you are having fun by not doing anything at home .

And yesterday, Miss 9 (who’ll be turning 10 very very soon) had a school sports carnival.

Luckily, the weather was just perfect yesterday after hujan 2-3 hari and hujan lebat again today.

But unfortunately, her rumah dapat tempat tercorot sebab most of the students in her house semua lebih kurang Miss 9, tak terer main sports and langsung tak athletics, hikhikhikhik…

So, layan lah ye some photos I took yesterday.

The colours of the houses. Green is Moreau, Blue is Nairn, Red is Gwai and yellow is Canning.

And hari ni since stock roti dah habis so I had to bake another loaf.

Everyone liked the muesli bread the other day so I made it again using whatever muesli I had in stock.

It’s a good way to use up all the little bits of muesli.

Semenjak dua menjak ni have been using Dan Lepard’s easy bread recipe as the base of all my breads.

He uses the ‘less kneading’ method so sape2 yang takde bread machine and tak nak lengan jadi mcm lengan popeye from extreme kneading, his recipe is marvellous.

He uses the sponge method where you make the sponge first and then the rest.

But for my bread, I added 1 teaspoon of bread improver to his recipe so jadi lagi naik.

And he says to have the bread dough slightly wet and sticky still.

I still have mine a bit sticky but maybe not as sticky as his kot.

And make sure your hand and the kneading board are a bit oily when you want to knead the sticky dough or else it’ll stick everywhere!

Sebab the flour measurement is just a rough guide.

The amount all depends on the humidity, the temperature, the condition of the flour and macam2 lagi lah.

And my bread today.

The muesli I used had nuts and sultanas and currants in it and cinnamon and honey so the bread smelled extremely delicious!

And you have to remember to soak the muesli in hot water first and then let it cool before mixing it into the sponge.

Or else all the nuts and fruits and oats wont be nice and soft in the bread.

The Other Half kata dah macam bread from Baker’s Delight aje, hahahaha.

Miss 14 and The Other Half love this bread, just with salted butter…

Another baking day

I ni bila rajin, sangat lah rajin nya…

But only rajin part2 masak aje, part2 lipat kain, gosok baju sentiasa malas!

Tu sebab sekali I gosok baju, mau berjam2!

hahahaha…

Hari2 ni hari rajin I membaking sebab hari ni I tak keluar ke mana2 apart from jadi supir.

So, I made cream puffs and sicilian orange cake sebab tergoda tengok gambar friends kat IG.

Sebelum buat cream puffs, I berguru dulu depan laptop tengok Joyofbaking buat her cream puffs.

Dah habis mendalami, baru lah I masuk dapur and Alhamdulillah menjadi.

Dah habis buat ni, I buat pulak the orange cake.

I used this recipe for the orange cake.

And for dinner pulak, I made Msian’s popular breakfast, nasi lemak.

I buat 2-3 lauk nak cater kat tekak2 orang rumah ni.

My plate ada sotong goreng kunyit and telur goreng aje as the lauk.

But dalam sambal tu ada ikan bilis so dah cukup banyak lauk tu dah, hehehe.

Of rain and baking

Hari ni hujan selebat2nya throughout the day with strong winds.

With a bit of tiny hails and thunderstorm pagi tadi.

And a lot of damage to a lot of houses from the storm last night.

A block of flat siap tercabut parts of the roof because of the storng winds.

Alhamdulillah, our house is still standing.

This coming week pun akan hujan setiap hari.

Macam mana lah baju nak kering weh!

I jemur bawah undercover area pun akan basah sikit balik bila the winds are so strong sebab bila angin tiup dgn kuat, the raindrops will fall nearly horizontal lah so obviously lah akan ditiup masuk bawah undercover area tu.

Masa ni lah rindu sangat nak tengok matahari balik, hehehehe…..

However, semalam we had some sunshine throughout the day, enough to dry the washings which made me feel so good.

See, I’m a simple woman, minor things like this can make me happy!

hahahahaha…..

And since it was a sunny day, I pun made it my baking day .

I made a loaf of bread, a tray of brownies and a tray of raspberry marshmallow slice.

Loaf of bread tu was for dinner, brownies tu for Sunday school and the slice tu for our afternoon tea.

Sejak beli tepung 25kg ni, The Other Half selalu mintak I buat roti sebab dia kata rasa roti fresh takde tandingan.

I said to him, if he tells me 4 hours before he wants it and if I have the time, boleh lah I buat roti .

Kalau hari2 buat roti, maulah I kena pergi kedai beli tepung roti lagi soon!

Hikhikhikhik…

And the two sweet things, choc brownies and raspberry marshmallow slice.

For me, the slice is way too sweet sebab ada marshmallow and jam and ganache on top.

But yang bertiga tu said, “No they are not sweet! They are so good! Don’t change a thing!”.

And hari ni, I had to make another loaf of bread so we can have bread for breakfast and lunch esok.

Orang2 kat rumah ni especially Miss 14 can live on bread and butter happily every single day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dia tu kalau tak makan benda lain pun dia tak kisah asalkan ada bread and butter.

Macam orang melayu lah kan, ada nasi panas, telur goreng and kicap pun dah cukup!

Hahahahaha….

But I pulak tak boleh lah mengadap bread hari2.

So malam ni I made pasta with fusion pesto, chicken pops and salad.

Kenapa I called it fusion pesto?

Sebab I used garlic, sundried tomatoes in oil, pine nuts, olive oil and taucu to make the pesto.

But I tak guna banyak lah taucu tu, just a little bit for added oomph and saltiness.

I rasa kalau guna banyak pun tak jadi hal but all the flavours kena seimbang lah kan.

Kalau Mat Saleh, sometimes they use their wet anchovies in pesto but I really cannot stand the taste so tu yang tukar ke taucu.

It’s obviously nice sebab Miss 14 didn’t say anything at all, she finished it all up!

And when you sprinkled parmesan and chilli flakes on it, it tasted even nicer!

The garden in the wet Spring season

Spring has officially arrived in OZ since First of September hari tu.

But biasalah kan, Spring and Autumn ni memang very unpredictable seasons.

Dah masuk 20 hari in September, cuma beberapa hari aje yang rasa macam Spring weather.

The rest of the time, macam Winter because it’s been raining every day so memang sejuk lah pagi2 and malam.

All my Spring and Summer flower seedlings pun macam nak tak nak aje membesar sebab tak cukup sunlight and warmth.

And the rose buds pun tak begitu cantik berkembang sebab asik kena hujan aje hari2.

But the lawn is happy sebab hari2 dapat minum.

Kalau tunggu tuannya siram, alamat lah sampai haus sgt2 baru bagi minum!

hehehehe.

Dah tinggi2 my rose bushes selepas di pruned 2 bulan lepas.

Dah banyak bunga tumbuh.

Another view of the garden.

Two of the roses yang dah terbuka sikit.

And another type of strawflowers that I bought a week ago.

A purple plant this time.

Hopefully it’ll survive cos I’ve planted it on the ground instead of in a pot.

And the lavender right infront of our front door.

And one of the bees yang suka noh hurung dia.

And dapatlah 4 kuntum roses untuk diletak dlm vase.

Kena beli a vase mulut kecik so cantik lah sikit klu letak 3-4 kuntum aje.

Malam semalam I teringin sangat nak makan mee rebus/mee jawa.

Pergi kedai, tak jumpa paste mee rebus ni.

Yang banyak berlambak2 paste mee udang.

I beli jugak pes mee udang tu sebab I tengok the basic ingredients lebih kurang sama cuma mee jawa ada a few other additional ingredients lah.

So balik tu, I rebus daging.

Then I added air rebusan daging to the paste.

I also added mashed sweet potatoes, pes asam jawa, gula and the daging rebus.

it turned out really good actually! Tak lah terasa sangat udang kering tu. I tak suka sangat udang kering kalau banyak sangat2.

Dapatlah jugak hilang rindu dendam I kat mee jawa ni, hehehe.

But seperti biasa, the rest tak makan mee jawa ni.

I made them enchiladas instead.

Kenapa I buat banyak2?

Sebab They could have it for lunch today.

So, everyone was happy sebab dapat makan their favourite food .