What do you do when your neighbour gives you food yang memang langsung tak kena kat tekak you? We've got a really nice and friendly Afghani family who's been our neighbour for the last year and a half. We all tak lah rapat sangat dengan diaorang but kalau jumpa akan bertegur sapa and kadang2 tu bertukar2 dishes and cakes and desserts. And dah a few times jugak lah they gave us this rice dessert ala2 kheer (Indian rice pudding) and their version of pilafi and meat kofta.


Maybe sebab my palate dah biasa dengan kari and beriani yang so full of rempah ratus and dengan santan and pedas. So, bila makan kari and beriani Afghani style yang memang takde chilli and takde rempah ratus sangat2, terasa lah hambar nya. Diaorang memang tak makan chilli langsung so tu yang kari dia tak spicy enough for us :-). Selalunya we all akan tambah our own kari or sambal to the pilaf that they gave us daripada terbuang aje kan, hehehe. And the rice pudding pulaknya, ada rasa macam kurang sikit, macam tak cukup susu or something like that. And neither the Other Half nor I minat sangat kat rice pudding ni. The first few times, we all makan lah jugak the rice pudding tu a bit. But bila dah selalu sangat dapat, tak larat dah nak makan. Last week we got 1 big container of it and sampai sekarang masih ada lagi dalam fridge tu tak bersentuh sikit pun! I should go and check kan to see whether it's still edible or not, hehehe......


I'm not saying yang apa diaorang masak tu tak sedap, cuma tak kena dengan our tekak aje. Most probably the food that we gave them pun agaknya tak kena jugak dengan tekak diaorang kan and entah2 masuk Cik Tong jugak, hahahaha...... It's the same with the food I cook, for us, kena sangat lah dengan tekak we all but ramai yang tak gemar langsung tengok our food sebab memang tak kena dengan their taste. Tu yang kadang2 bila I make or bake something for others, rasa takut jugak kalau tak dimakan and terus masuk tong sampah, hehehe.


So, macam mana ye nak buat dengan our neighbours ni? I memang lah tak kan sampai hati ever to tell them that we don't want their food. Yang boleh we all buat setakat ni cuma accept their food gracefully and put it in the fridge aje and wait for it to become inedible naturally, hahaha...


Probably if I give them our dinner tonite, they will straight away throw it into Cik Tong. Even the Little Misses tak gemar the dinner I made for the Other Half and I, I made a completely different set of dinner for the Little Misses :-).

This was our dinner, spaghetti marinara while the Little Misses had meatball wrap. Nasib baik weekend so bolehlah Mummy jadi restaurant cooking different food :-). Tak ramai rasanya yang minat spaghetti marinara ni compared to spaghetti bolognese, hehehe....


Ini pulak the muesli slice that I've baked every weekend since school started. Kiranya untuk snacks for the Little Misses and the Other Half during recess and at work. Kalau dulu, I selalu aje beli muesli bars for the Little Misses for school but since I've found out yang it's so easy to make them at home, I've been making them myself. And I can put whatever cereal and nuts and dried fruits I like in them. Setiap Monday, the Other Half will take a container of muesli slice to work and he'll go through them during the week. Tak payah kah dia susah payah keluar to the shops to buy snacks and munchies bila dah ada muesli slice ni. Bolehlah I use the money saved to buy something else kan, hehehehehe....... ;-).

I'm still thinking of what to buy for the 100 000th visitor, ye lah, citarasa orang kan lain2, kalau sama dengan citarasa I senang lah sikit I nak membeli kan hadiah nya. Tapi kalau totally the opposite, susah wei nak cari idea ni :-). So, tadi pergi shopping konon2nya nak window shop for ideas. Yang best nya, Miss 9 and I walked to the shopping mall from our house, rasa best aje dapat buat extra exercise ni, hehehe. Miss 5 ikut Daddy dia to the city so tu yg only Miss 9 and I aje gi walking. Hari ni Miss 5 buat Father-Daughter bonding while Miss 9 pulak buat Mother-Daughter bonding session. But bukannya jauh mana pun, about 25 minutes of slow walking dengan 1 stop halfway at the Council's pond to look at the black swans, dah sampai depan pintu the mall. Walaupun dekat, jarang betul we all walked to the shops ni, lagi senang drive ye tak :-). But it was such fantastic weather pagi tadi, sunny and bright but with gorgeous breeze so memanglah tak berpeluh langsung. So, kalau tak berpeluh, did I burn any calories from the walk or not? Hmmmm....... Pastu balik from the shops, I suruh The Other Half jemput we all kat the shops, tak larat lah nak jalan balik dengan all the shopping bags tu, wehehehe.....

Miss 5 waiting for her babychinno at the coffee shop with Daddy.

Miss 9 berlatarbelakang kan the black swans and the pond.


But bila dah sampai the shops, and masih ada lagi saki baki end of Summer sale, sure lah akan 'ter'beli a few things jugak kan. And termasuk pulak kat pintu yang dekat dengan Pumpkin Patch shop and 'ter'tengok pulak banner 'UP TO 70% OFF SALE' kat window that shop. So, kaki ni pun 'ter'pusing lah ke arah kedai tu, macam ada magnet aje kat kedai tu tadi, hehehehe... And dapatlah a few things for the Little Misses. But memang murah habis tadi, I got a pair of jeans 2 gorgeous tops for them for $35. Bila ada sale aje lah baru I beli stuff kat Pumpkin Patch ni :-).


Bila dah banyak sgt window shopping, banyak pulak ideas yang masuk on what to buy as the gift. But bila dah banyak sangat ideas, sampai tak tau pulak yang mana satu I want to choose, hehehe.... Apalah kan! No, don't suggest, belilah semua nya, I ni memang bukan lah millionaire :P ( I wish though :-)). Takpe, kita tengok dulu sape yang visitor bertuah tu, then only I'll buy the gift according to citarasa pemenang tu kan :-).



This was our dinner tonite. I know it looks like breakfast food but we had it for dinner. I still malas nak masak and the Little Misses and The Other Half are very happy to have croissants, scrambled eggs, sausages and smoked salmon for dinner. Seronok lah I tak payah susah2 masak kan :-).

Dah nak makin cecah 100 000 dah makin malas pulak nak mengupdate :-). Actually, the Other Half and I have been feeling under the weather for the past few days, tu yang bila malam aje rasa penat sangat and tak larat. The Other Half masih lagi teruk with coughs and sinus problems and fever. I cuma kena sipi2 aje the colds so masih lah boleh masak and gi kerja and uruskan the Little Misses :-), SuperMom kan, hehehe.... But The Other Half pun kiranya ada super power macam I jugak lah kan sebab still lagi pergi kerja and bagi lectures and seminar hari2 walaupun tak larat nak keluar suara. Husband and wife ada super power, hahahaha, ;-). Boleh join The Incredibles!


Speaking of seminars, the Other Half had to give a presentation this morning. And biasalah culture orang sini, macam kat M'sia jugak, the presenters selalunya dapat token of appreciation from people yang menjemput penceramah tu kan (well, on top of the presenter's fees :-)). Kalau kat M'sia, penceramah kadang2 dpt hampers hadiah or dpt mugs ke or dpt macam2 lah kan. Kat sini, the usual gift is a bottle of wine! So far, since last year, adalah lebih kurang 10 bottles of wine yang The Other Half dah dapat as gifts. Every time dia dapat the wine, tak kan lah dia nak tolak depan2 ramai2 orang tu kan, so selalunya he just smiles and accept aje lah all the bottles. And some of the wine, bukannya jenis yang murah2 pulak tu, yang mahal gak.


Setiap kali dia dapat wine as gifts, tension aje we all sebab bukannya we all boleh minum, rugi betul lah kan! Kalau dapat hamper chocolates ke, expensive cookies and nuts ke, even mugs sempoi aje pun best lah kan, bolehlah we all kenyang melantak the food and guna the mugs. Ini dapat wine, nak buat apa kan! Dulu masa tinggal kat Adelaide, bolehlah we all bagi all the wine gifts to The Other Half's parents so tak lah terbuang macam tu aje. At least diaorang appreciate lah jugak dapat free wine, hehehe. Sekarang ni, nasib baik lah business partner The Other Half ni bukan non-drinker so untung lah dia, tak payah lagi susah payah beli stock wine for her house. Dapat supply from the Other Half. Nak buat macam mana, dah culture kat sini kan bagi hadiah macam tu :-).


Patutnya tukar2 lah kan, kejap bagi wine, kejap bagi expensive chocolates, kejap bagi shopping voucher ke, baru lah best, hehehe..... Baru lah I boleh join sama2 mendapat manfaat from the gifts ye tak :-). Especially kalau dapat shopping voucher, tak tidur malam agaknya I asik memikirkan apa yang nak di beli kat kedai tu, wahkahkahkahkah........


Sorry lah, malam ni takde gambar dinner sebab I memang malas sgt2 and penat sgt2 nak masak..... :-).

I've got a very loyal follower of my blog who's been asking me for presents everytime he reaches a significant number and he's been sending me emails to prove that (well, 2 emails so far :-)). Yang heran nya, pandai pulak dia macam tau tau aje nak dapat those numbers. Either he's very lucky or he rigged the numbers to suit him ;-). And he's been telling me yang he'll try his best to be the lucky 100 000th visitor. Dia kata, if he has to hit the refresh button 10 000 times, he would do it just so he could get a present from me. Best sangat ke dapat hadiah dari I ni?


This is the first one he sent me. Lepas he sent me this one, setiap kali asik tanya, bila dia nak dapat hadiah and if was going to put this picture up on my blog. Bila I kata, mahap lah nak bagi dia hadiah and bukannya cantik sangat pun nombor tu to put it up on my blog, terus dia merajuk, hehehehe.


Yang ni pulak, he sent it to me this morning. Pastu, sampai naik kebas telinga I asik kena tanya bila nak letak picture ni on my blog. So, tu yang I letak lah jugak malam ni as the main entry (sebenarnya tak tau nak cerita pasal apa malam ni, tu yang I letak this pictures, hahahaha). So, hopefully he's satisfied that I've put these 2 photos up tonite and stop asking me already!


Kalau ada yang tertanya2 sapelah 'stalker' blog I ni, sape lagi kalau bukan my husband dearest! Wehehehehe :-). Yang I heran nya, asik tanya pasal hadiah aje, padahal I dah masak best2 untuk dia every nite kan, cukup lah tu, betul tak? ;-). Sikit nya happy ke dia that he got to be the 80 000th and the 90 000th visitor, apa lah hubby I tu, hehehe.

But please Dear, don't you dare hit the refresh button 10 000 times just so you could be the 100 000th visitor. We Malays call it, 'tak aci' lah, and you Mat Salehs call it 'not fair' :-). Let someone else get to be the 100 000th visitor alright! Sebab that number is so momentous that whoever gets to be that visitor will definitely receive something from me.


So, ingat ye, if you are the 100 000th visitor, do take a photo of it and send it to me and I'll send something to you. Rasa macam best aje kan bila your blog's visitors dah reached that number, hehehehe......

I was talking dengan The Other Half tadi about the food I cooked. I think ramai kot yang perasan that our food involves loads of cheese weekly. Kadang2 I pun rasa jemu sebab balik2 masak dinner, mesti ada cheese, in any shape, way or form. Most of the western meals that I cooked, mesti dikaitkan dengan cheese masa nak makan. The Other half said, dah tekak dia memang leaning towards western food yang bercheese, kalau hari2 makan cheese pun dia tak kisah, nak buat macam mana kan. And I pulaknya, selalu masak food yang dia minat so obviously lah I akan masak a lot of food yang ada cheese kan (terperasan kejap jadi isteri mithali, hehehe).


So, my question is.... How come, bila girls/females kahwin or cohabitate dengan their partners, most of the time they tend to cook what their partners like to eat? Kenapa kita tak selalu masak makanan yang kita minat ye? Like me, I love noodles, I can eat it everyday but The Other Half tak suka noodles so memang jarang lah I masak noodles ni. And I selalu tunggu dia pergi outstation baru lah I masak the food that I like for me. Is it sebab tekak kita boleh terima/ adapt to different kinds of food more readily than our male counterparts so kita tak kisah makan apa apa aje for our meals?


For me, I know kalau I masak benda2 yang I minat, most probably The Other Half and The Little Misses won't eat that food that much, so wasted aje lah kan kalau I sorang aje yang akan makan. Tekak diaorang ni westernised sikit, hehehe. So, tu yang I lebih rela masak apa yang diaorang suka and I just makan aje apa yang ada dari masak 2- 3 different types of food every day, tak sanggup I! Nampak sgt lebih malas dari rajin, hahahahahaha.......


So, back to our dinner tonite, biasalah kan, mesti ada cheese. Malam ni I buat meatballs with pasta and salut dengan cheese. How to diet macam ni kan! ;-). The fact that I haven't put on so much weight from eating cheese every day tu dah kira bagus lah kan, hehehehe.....



And, on a completely different matter.....



Do you think this is child abuse or child neglect? Instead of tolong dia keluar dari lobang tu, sempat lagi Mummy ambil gambar dia, wahhahahahaha..... But sorry lah ye gambar dia seksi meksi sikit. So kalau ada yang offended tengok gambar2 macam ni, sila pergi ke blog lain ye......

Alah bukannya sakit pun, sempat lagi tu gelak2 sama2 dgn we all, hehehehe.....

Mentang2 lah hari ni cuti, bangun pagi tadi terus rajin masuk dapur. Sebelum pukul 8 pagi tadi, dah start on kan the bread machine. Kopi pun tak minum lagi dah start buat roti, hehehe. lepas lepak2 kejap minum kopi, sambung pulak buat apple crumble pie sebab nak menghabiskan stock apples yang dah macam rupa kulit nenek kebayan, all wrinkly :-). Tengah buat apple pie tu terfikir pulak kat stock white chocolates yang berlambak2 dlm fridge. Miss 9 loves anything chocolate so buatkan lah dia white chocolate fudge cake since she doesn't like apple pie. Macam mana nak diet ni kan, bila cuti aje and bila rajin tengah melanda, sampai 2 desserts I buat, hahaha. Tapi takpe, bukan selalu pun rajin buat segala benda macam ni . By 12 o'clock, I've made bread n bread rolls, apple crumble pie and white choc fudge cake, kalah bakery, wahahahaha.......


Then lepas lepak2 after Zuhur, I masuk kitchen balik sebab nak buatkan sausage rolls for the Little Misses' lunches at school. Alah, bukan susah pun buat nya, as long as ada sausages and puff pastry, senang banget nak membuatnya :-). So, kiranya my oven memang sentiasa 'on' lah hari ni from morning to petang, penat weh dia!


Dah siap buat sausage rolls, sambung pulak dengan dinner. Nasib baik lah cuma dinner hot dog n salad n chips aje. Bread rolls for the hot dog tu yang I made pagi tadi so dinner tadi tinggal masak the sausages and buat chips aje.
Sausage rolls utk school lunches. Sekali buat cukup utk seminggu nya lunches, tak payah pening2 fikir nak prepare their lunches at nite, hehehehe...


Ini lah apple crumble pie. It's apple pie but with crumble on top so tu yg jadi apple crumble pie. Makan pulak dengan vanilla ice cream, memang tak ingat kat diet n Maya langsung, hahaha....


Baru teringat yang I terlupa nak ambil gambar the cake but malas pulak nak masuk dapur dah just to take some photos, hehehe.

I love long weekend just sebab I can relax a lot more on Sunday knowing that I don't have to rush like a headless chook on Monday. Esok is a public holiday kat WA ni for Labour Day. Kat Australia ni, every state has their own different Labour Day holiday, apa lah kan! Sepatutnya long weekend macam ni lah masa yang paling best nak pergi jalan2 makan angin kan but too many things to do at home and too lazy as well to drive, hehehe. Kalau keluar jalan2, duit pun keluar jugak kan so better lah stay at home and simpan duit tu ;-). Nak bercuti ke M'sia end of this year pun sure lah nak pakai banyak duit jugak kan....


And semalam pun dah keluar banyak duit sbb hantar the car for its 6 monthly service. On top of the normal service, we had to replace the brake and all its system sebab dah 40 000 kms. Sejak beli memang tak pernah berganti the brake. And services kat sini memang lah mahal nya banding dengan M'sia sebab just a normal service with a few replacement cost us $400 and nak replace the brake tu cost us another $1k, mahal giler kan! I think if we shop around we can get a cheaper price but takde masa nak shop around and we like sending the car to a certified Holden mechanic. Zafira tu lah satu2nya our car so we really have to look after it really well. Kalau rosak, memang patah kaki sangat2 lah we all ni, hehehe. Macam mana nak hantar the Little Misses to school without a car kan. But it's quite funny, walaupun Zafira ni Holden make tapi tak banyak on the road. Tak tau lah kenapa tak ramai orang yang suka beli this car even though it's a good car. Sebab jarang jumpa this car on the road, bila ternampak another Zafira car while I'm driving around, kadang2 rasa macam nak lambai aje to the other driver sbb so excited to see them, wahahaha..... Nampak kereta pun boleh excited :P.


Since we didn't go anywhere today, apa lagi, we spent the whole day doing household chores lah. Kemas lah sikit rumah ni for a while :-). And to motivate ourselves to kemas rumah, I made pancakes for breakfast pagi tadi (well, bukan nya pagi pun, pukul 10 tadi baru nak bfast, hehehe).


I had my pancake with poached pear and maple syrup. Perasan on diet sekejap sebab makan fruit for bfast ;-).


Ini pulak our high tea tadi sebab busy mengemas rumah sampai tak sempat nak buat lunch. So, terus lah buat high tea and malam ni tinggal makan supper aje. Buat apa nak menyusahkan diri kan, hehehe.....


Makisushi with 3 different fillings (Mummy tengah rajin :-)). Crabstick spring rolls, fried noodles with grilled chicken. Banyak betul makizushi yang I buat tadi, memang enough lah for lunch sekali esok. Miss 5 tadi terus tanya, "did you make smoked salmon sushi?". Hish anak I tu, tekak high class sikit, wahkahkahkah......