Names of things…

I’m not good with names.

Especially flowers and people.

Kadang2 tu, orang yang dah jumpa a few times pun I boleh terlupa nama dia.

Siap kena sms kawan lain tanya sape nama this person!

hehehehehe….

Flowers tu pulak memang I tak berapa nak ingat the names sebab nama kat sini semua in English kan so macam manalah I nak kenal and cam and ingat the names.

Nama bunga in Malay pun I tak tau sangat, lagi lah their names in English!

That’s why I love buying flowers at Bunnings or any nurseries cos their seedlings and plants come with nametags .

Kalau beli at the markets, sometimes ada nametags/signs, sometimes takde.

Kalau takde tu, I slalu buat muka tak malu tanya the seller bunga apa yang dia jual, hehehehe….

Tu sebab bila I beli flower seedlings, I will make sure I cucuk the nametags sekali in the pots along with the flowers so for the whole flowering season, I can remember what they are .

Like this 2 flowers, nasib baik ada nametag tu, I know they are called Cinderella Dahlia.

I planted about 5-6 plants in that pot and so far baru 2 yang berbunga and different colours.

I’m now waiting for my Asters and another type of Dahlias to bloom.

(Again… I only know the names because of the nametags, hehehehe).

But nama food ni, I tau banyak lah jugak compared to nama flowers .

Like our dinner the other night.

I called this fettucine with asparagus, prawn, chilli and garlic.

Senang aje buat nya.

Just sautee some diced garlic and asparagus and prawns in olive oil until cooked.

Then add loads of dried chilli flakes

Add a bit of the water that you used to cook the pasta in.

Toss the drained pasta into the pan and mix it well with the prawn mixture.

If it looks a bit dry, add some more of the pasta water.

Season with salt and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.

If you like, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil just before serving.

And since we are on ‘calorie conscious’eating, kenalah buat loads of salad to eat with the pasta.

I used mixed green leaves, kiwi, cherry tomatoes, avocado and marinated feta for the salad.

Makan nasi pun kena ada salad jugak…

Selalu kalau I buat nasi lemak, cuma potong2 timun aje as sayur.

But sebab The Other Half beria nak makan salad everyday, I pun buat lah kerabu.

Cuma letak raw sugar snap peas, mixed salad leaves, timun and daun pegaga aje in the kerabu. Itu aje daun2 yang ada kat rumah ni .

Sambal kelapa for the kerabu tu dah laaama I buat.

Kalau I buat, I akan buat banyak and simpan dalam small individual ziplock bags in the freezer.

So, bila I terfikir nak buat kerabu, I cuma tinggal thaw it sekejap in the microwave and then mix it with the ulam2an.

Untung ada magic freezer ni .

Salad for every meal

Our Saturday morning is now occupied with the 5km ParkRun.

It doesn’t take long, it starts at 8 and we are normally at the shop before 9 already.

So, we can still do so many other things the whole day.

Cuma kesian kat the girls sebab tak boleh nak sleep in on the weekend lah.

Saturday ada ParkRun and Sunday ada Sunday school in the morning so paling lewat boleh sleep in is until 8.45.

Miss 14 tu kalau dibenarkan sleep in, memang takkan bangun until kena kejut dengan we all at 10!

And sekarang ni dah Spring time, memang sentiasa busy kat garden dengan macam2 kerja lah.

Weekend aje lah yang The Other Half boleh tolong I buat macam2 kerja in the garden tu.

During the weekdays, memang kerja I lah.

Tu yang rasa macam bertimbun2 kerja nak buat, hehehe.

Bila The Other Half pergi kerja pagi2 pukul 6.30 tu, masa tu lah I siram all the plants kat depan and belakang.

6.30 pagi sekarang dah terang benderang macam pukul 8.30 pagi so memang waktu yang sangat sesuai lah nak siram pokok kan.

Tu yang by 9 o’clock at night dah mengantuk sangat2.

Tu yang malas giler nak update blog sekarang .

Tu yang buatkan folder I penuh dengan unpublished food photos, hikhikhik….

So, once in a while, kenalah jugak I update blog and letak all the food photos sekali gus kan.

Layan aje lah ye .

One of the meals we had this week.

Tortellini with roast chicken and sauteed veges.

I used asparagus and carrots for the veges and sprinkled with roast pine nuts after it’s cooked.

I love potato salad but jarang sangat buat sebab kadang2 some of the potatoes are still a bit undercooked which really spoiled the salad.

But this time, al the potatoes were perfectly cooked which made it so delicious.

I added dijon mustard, sandwich mayo, sour cream and salt and pepper for the dressing.

And hard boiled egg, gherkin, spring onion, chives and fried diced corned beef silverside in addition to the cooked potatoes.

Pakkal lah sekarang konon2 tengah buat portion control, tak nak makan tambah so kenalah tahan napsu nak melahap the salad tu!

We had the potato salad with panfried whiting and another salad (so tak lah rasa bersalah makan potato salad tu kan sbb ada green salad as well, hahahahha).

See, another ikan takde tulang! Sedap aje diaorang makan!

And then on Friday seperti biasa, we had pizza.

But kali ni I made 4 individual pizzas sebab semua orang nak lain2 topping.

The Other Half is back on calorie control but sebab dia naik basikal pergi balik kerja hari2, boleh lah dia makan lebih2 calories sometimes.

And everyone knows when he’s on a diet when he starts asking me to make salad for him at every meal!

Tu sebab pinggan dia half penuh dengan salad, hehehe…

Kalau tak, takde sayur tu lah yang paling dia suka.

And ini my pizza

I love my pizza to be thin crusted instead of the thick crust like The Other Half’s.

And I put marinated roasted eggplants, marinated roasted capsicum, semidried tomatoes, marinated artichokes, corned silverside and bocconcini on my pizza.

Ala2 mediterranean pizza lah. I hate pickled olives so all my pizzas memang tak pernah letak olives lah.

My plate.

Kenalah ada salad jugak kan .

Sesiapa yang nak tau the recipe I used for my pizza, I pernah letak the recipe dulu. Ini link dia.

And ini cara2 macam mana I buat pizza.

Both my thin crust and my thick crust guna recipe pizza dough yang sama.

Thin crust tu I will roll it out very thinly and letak atas the pizza tray yang berlubang2 tu and I used a hot oven so tu yang cepat masak and it gets crispy.

If you have a pizza stone, lagi bagus nak guna but I tak rajin nak angkat pizza stone yang berat tu untuk just my pizza.

And the salad for dinner tonite

Rocket leaves, snowpea sprouts, alfalfa, herbs, tomato, orange capsicum, sliced fuji apple and marinated feta.

Even Miss 10 suka sangat2 makan the salad! hehehe

We had the salad with beef burger and airfried chips.

Ours kenalah buat open-faced burgers so kurang lah sikit the carbs kan.

And I also had some grilled mushrooms on my plate.

Now…. if only I can kick my butt to start exercising 3-4X/week, that would be just marvellous!

Of food and flowers

Celebratory dinner for a good result.

Creamy scalloped potatoes, baked crumbed lamb cutlets with mint pesto and a mixed salad of avocado, apple and greens.

Definitely fattening but very much devoured .

Another well-received dinner, beef enchiladas.

I love salads so I have it often. This one has grapes, grape tomatoes, almond and greens.

The food I had last Friday nite when everyone else was having their usual weekly pizza.

I only had to cook the rice. The chicken curry, sambal belacan ayam penyet and the tahu goreng were all from the freezer.

I only had to reheat them, easy peasy!

Definitely much yummier (makan bertambah2 kind of yummy) to me than pizza!

And the Spring has finally sprung this week, the weather has been lovely, mid 20s during the day.

Cousin It has also started flowering eventhough tak banyak bunga lagi.

And we’ve added 2 more lavender plants on the strip.

This time they were the Allaardi variety which they say is the tallest lavender of the lot.

Our french lavender, still flowering and growing strong.

And now we have a hanging pot of fuschias outside the front door. Hopefully they grow well there.

The ever beautiful strawflowers.

Our first gazania.

It’ll open up when there’s sun and kuncup again in the evening.

And the colourful snapdragons.

Do you know that I just found out that strawflowers and snapdragons ni boleh ditanam di lowland Malaysia?

I’ve seen them in a few blogs, cantik aje hidup!

I dah post some seeds ke Mak I, tinggal tunggu dia rajin nak tanam aje, hehehehe….

I know we have pretty flowers outside but I still teringin somethign different inside.

Bought some carnations at the shop sebab our carnations that Miss 9 planted aren’t growing that well…

Berseri lah jugak inside kan