Wet Saturday and BBQ for dinner

We had such a lovely day today without going anywhere (well, except for The Other Half and Miss 11 to painting session and to buy a coveted thing). The weather was perfect, sunny and bright, not wet . I stayed at home sebab konon2nya nak kemas2 rumah bersiap2 menunggu kedatangan tetamu2 next week. Miss 7 pulak stayed at home sebab I pujuk dia temankan I kat rumah, hehe. I did manage to kemas rumah but biasalah kan, mana boleh stayed kemas forever. As long as sedap mata memandang for us, cukuplah kan, hehehe.

Then after Zuhur and lunch, we started our mega project, memang busy betul2 until lah sekarang ni, baru lah boleh relax goyang kaki sikit (even though ada kain berbakul2 tengah menunggu untuk di lipat but mata I buat2 tak nampak aje ni ).

What’s our mega project?

We finally bought a gas BBQ, yeay!!!! Tapi seperti biasa, the BBQ needed some parts to be assembled by us. So tu yang tadi we all sibuk memasang BBQ. Pasang BBQ tu tak lah lama mana but we had to do so many other things in between, tu yang it took us more than an hour to finish assembling it. Masa tengah pasang2 tu, The Little Misses wanted to play on the lawn in the backyard. The weather pulak tu was really sunny tadi so I told them that I will bentangkan a tarpaulin on the grass and sprayed it with water and bubble bath and then they can slide on it. But then, The Other Half wanted to mow the grass first before we could do that, tu yang kena took a break from BBQ assembling and mow the lawn, prepare the tarpaulin slide and macam2 benda lain lagi. Nasib baik lah sempat gak assembled the BBQ before dinner tadi!

After it’s been assembled and The Other Half was testing the burner and knob. Masa ni I dah undur jauh2 ke belakang. Ye lah manalah tau kan, tiba2 Kaboom terus sebab silap pasang paip gas tu! hahaha…..

While we were doing this, The Little Misses were blissfully playing with water sliding on the tarpauline. Kalau lah the Water Department tau we all senang lenang guna air macam tu, mau lah kena fined, hehehe.

Layan aje lah gambar diaorang tadi ye (some of the photos might be a bit indecent ). Budak2 dua orang tu sekarang ni dah hampir sama kaler kulit dengan I sebab berjemur main air for nearly 2 hours! Kalau Mat Saleh pure sure dah merah padam under the sun but since diaorang campur jawa kan, so kulit diaorang jadi legam lah bila berjemur. But don’t worry, they did slather loads of sunscreen before berjemur tadi .

Masa ni kulit diaorang dah agak merah but belum legam lagi. The Other Half helped once in a while spraying them with water.

Masa ni memang dah legam, hahahaha.

Psst… Nampak tak our vege patch yang makin menghijau itu? hehehe.

Next time we all nak join sama lah because it looked like so much fun! hehehe.  Since the fences around the sides and back are quite high, memang the neighbours tak boleh nampak lah apa yang diaorang main ni. Tu yg kalau I nak join pakai bikini pun boleh, muahahaha. Miss 7 just couldnt believe how fun it was sliding on wet soapy tarpaulin. Ye lah, rumah lama dulu mana ada backyard with grass so tak boleh lah nak buat mcm ni kan. Bila dah ada rumah with backyard ni and the weather was perfect, barulah boleh nak main air. Masa kat Adelaide dulu, she was too small to remember doing it .

Dah habis huha huha tu, turn I pulak masak dinner.

Jangan terpedaya dengan gambar di bawah ini, he was just acting as though he was the one cooking! Sebab I had to take the photos!

We bought the BBQ with the side burner so kalau nak menggoreng apa2 kat sebelah tu sambil berBBQ, memang senang sangat2 lah . Masak burger, marinara mix, prawns on skewers and also goreng fries on the Barbie. Kalau I malas nak goreng benda2 berbau dalam rumah, I boleh lah goreng kat luar rumah kan.

Our dinner tonite, Burger and chips.

School assembly

Malam ni I’m not going to write about food, I’m going to write about The Little Misses’ school. Every 2 weeks, the school will have a public assembly where 1 designated class will be in charge of conducting the assembly and also presenting a short skit/song/drama during the assembly. Dari awal2 tahun lagi, dah siap roster of which class will be in charge of the assembly. So, the classes will have ample time to prepare their items. And the items yang they present have to have meaning. And during this public assembly, kaum keluarga di jemput hadir sama to watch their kids/grandkids perform at the assembly. I slalunya cuma attend if The Little Misses got a merit certificate or their class is doing the assembly.

Actually quite good jugak buat macam ni sebab it teaches the kids public speaking in front of their peers, teachers and parents. Bukan setakat budak2 kelas Year 6-7 aje yang handle the assembly, even budak2 Year One pun diberi kepercayaan being in charge of the assembly under their teachers’ guidance. You can really see it in their faces of how proud they are to be given this huge responsiblities and everyone tries their best to make it a successful assembly.

Miss 11’s class assembly was in June where they presented a skit called Be In It Today which was about being healthy. And her group had to perform the aerobics. I managed to get some photos of her but most of the photos are so blurry sebab I terlupa nak set the camera to ‘sports’ mode. Ye lah kan, diaorang beraerobics lompat2 bagai, so blurry giler lah most of the photos, hehehe. Pastu I pulaknya dah biasa ambik gambar food yang memang takkan bergerak unless moved by me so bila ambik gambar moving objects, I got so flabbergasted. Tu yg I tak tayang the photos on the blog, hehehe.

Pagi tadi pulak was Miss 7’s class turn to conduct the assembly and present the skit. Their skit was titled ‘From little things big things grow’. It’s about how a long time ago, 1 aboriginal man stood up for his rights and brought a positive change to his people. And Miss 7 also had to get up to the mike and lead the whole school in saying the school creed. And since their skit ni was mostly slow moving, dapatlah I ambik gambar yang quite nice jugak.

Layan aje lah ye the photos of today’s assembly and Miss 11’s assembly in June (sian dia, I letak lambat giler, hehehe).

Her group was supposed to be farmers so tu yang pakai shirts petak2 and ‘old style’ pants. Patut pakai gumboots but takde sape pun ada gumboots kaler hitam. Mana lah ada farmers dulu kaler pakai gumboots kaler pink and blue kan, hahaha. So, tu yg pakai aje lah sneakers.

Cakap dah, kat kelas dia mostly students from asian background, hehehe.

Miss 7 at the podium leading the school creed. Sikit pun budak2 ni tak seram sejuk nak bercakap depan orang ramai. I dulu masa kecik2, menari or menyanyi masa concert sikit pun tak malu and gabra but kalau bercakap depan orang ramai, nak terkencing2 sampai, wehehehe.

Presenting their item at the assembly.

Bila dah habis assembly, they must be saying to each other, “phew! that’s all done!” .

Ini pulak assembly item by Miss 11’s class in June.

She’s definitely the smallest in her class .

Bila the students have to do the assembly item, the parents kena provide the clothes yang diaorang nak pakai in that skit. But tak payah lah sampai kena beli baju khas untuk the skit, just punggah old clothes or make do with whatever clothes yg kita ada and then bega2 lah sikit.

Seronok jugak sekali sekala attend the school assembly ni.

The Little Misses at the end of the assembly today. Miss 7 tersenyum lebar because she got the award ‘Aussie of the month’. Mana tak tersenyum lebar, only 1 person is chosen at each assembly to receive that award and she got chosen today. Jeles kakak dia, hehehe. Tu sebab she’s got that badge on her collar tu .

Animal stories

The Little Misses love animal documentaries or docos as we Aussies call them :-). And they have been watching a NZ show called The Zoo for the past few nights. It starts at 7 o’clock at night which is usually well after dinner’s finished.

But tonite, we had dinner a bit later, after solat maghrib so when the show started, The Other Half and I were still busy cleaning up the dining table and the food and starting to wash the dishes. Since sekarang ni our kitchen and family and dining areas open plan kan, so while we were cleaning up, sambil2 tu bolehlah tengok tv with the girls.

And tonite’s show was about these cute tiger cubs at the zoo going through their vaccinations.

Suddenly, Miss 7 said…

Miss 7: Do you know Dad that they’ve been showing the tiger stories for the past few days already.

Dad: Really….

Miss 7: Yeah, the other day they were showing the big tigers mating, and then yesterday, they showed the tiger cubs being born and today, they showed the cubs being vaccinated!

Dad: R..i..g..h..t… Fascinating! (while looking at me wildly)

Masa ni I tengah terduduk menyorok belakang the kitchen cabinets, gelak giler2. Yang I gelak kan sebab the innocent way she said the word ‘mating’ to her Dad and The Other Half trying so hard to keep a straight face, muahahahaha……

We love it that they love watching animal shows but that’s the point with animals kan, they live to procreate and eat and survive. So, tak dapat lah nak elak in any animal shows for them to learn about that aspect of life :-). As long as she didn’t think it took only 3 days in real life from mating to vaccination dah lah, hikhikhik….

The reason why we all makan dinner lambat malam ni was because I didn’t start cooking until 5.30. Actually I betul2 tak tau nak masak apa malam ni until pukul 5 baru decided nak masak nasi lemak. And masa tu lah baru nak blender chilli sebab chili boh dah habis, baru nak defrost the chicken nak buat ayam goreng, tu yang start masak lambat, hehehe.

I masak sotong goreng berkuah khas untuk Miss 7 (sambil tu we all pun bedal sama lah :-)), bila letak kat pinggan, meleleh kuah dia around the nasi. Tu yg nampak berair aje kat sebelah nasi tu.

The shredded lettuce tu was picked from our garden. Miss 7 cakap, “It’s the best lettuce I have ever tasted!” Budak tu memang selalu over, muahahaha. But I guess any sayur when they are freshly picked, memang lah rasa sangat sedap kan!

Baru nak letak recipe

Minta maaf sebab dah lama janji, baru sekarang I letak the recipe for the fettucine. Ini lah susahnya bila masak main campak2 aje with whatever’s in the fridge, freezer and pantry so memang takde exact measurement. But I guess recipe campak2 ni lah paling best sebab it’s up to us to adapt it to our taste kan.

Sempoi creamy fettucine with chicken breast and broccoli

The ingredients:

-any long pasta eg spaghetti, fettucine, tagliatelle (amount depending on how many people are eating, prob about 300g for 3 really hungry adults)

-olive oil

-1/4 brown onion, diced

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 chilli (optional, kalau nak pedas, tambah chilli lagi)

-chicken breast, diced (amount is up to you)

-broccoli, cut into strips (if you like broccoli, put loads)

-1/4 cup fresh cream(you can use reduced fat or thick)

-salt n pepper to taste.

Methods:

-Chop up all the onions, garlic, broccoli, chicken while you are waiting for the water for the pasta to boil.

-Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente.

-While the pasta is cooking, heat up about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan. Sautee the onions until softened. Then add garlic, chilli if using, chicken and broccoli and pan fry them for a few minutes until the chicken’s cooked. Don’t overcook the chicken breast, or else jadi kering and a bit tough.

-Add about 1 senduk air pasta tadi to the chicken broccoli mix in the frying pan so tak lah kering sgt.

-Once the pasta dah al dente, drain it and add it to the frying pan.

-Add about 1/4 cup of cream, salt and pepper and stir them altogether and heat gently for about 1-2 minutes.

-Serve with grated parmesan cheese if you like.

Once a teapot, now a vase

I’ve been spending the past few weeks reading books on roses, plants, gardening in general, how to grow your own food and also surfing and reading articles on the net on them. Betul lah orang cakap kan, “the more you learn about something, the more you don’t know”. I guess it’s a bit like learning anything, macam masa kat Uni dulu, masa mula2 belajar memang lah rasa macam there’s so much you need to know and you think that you’ll never be able to remember anything for the exams (ke I aje yang rasa macam tu? hehehe). I rasa macam tak boleh jadi peladang berjaya aje I when there’s so much I need to know, sob sob… hehehehe.

And pagi tadi, I tended my rose garden. Our roses have been infested with aphids. This annoying little b****rs are tiny insects that suck sap off the plants. So, menatang bertuah ni akan berkumpul kat the rosebuds, the stems and suck them dry so roses yang bloom nanti akan jadi tak cantik lah. I ingat mula2 nak bunuh them gently without using any pesticides but after dah geram sangat2, I main sembur aje tadi. Padan muka all those b****rs! I hope they die! Muahahaha. Ganas sungguh tetiba, hehehe.

And sambil bunuh aphids, I had to dead head the spent flowers and then pick the nice roses to put in a vase.

But cuma ada 4 kuntum aje yang cantik tengah berkembang mekar. But there are many rosebuds just waiting to grow some more and bloom. Hopefully they’ll bloom when my parents are here so they can go, “Wah cantiknya kebun Angah!” Hikhikhikhik.

Orang lain kumpul teko antik letak cantik2 dalam lemari. I tak mampu nak beli teko antik, hehehe, so I pegi kedai second hand nak cari benda unik nak jadikan vases and I found this enamel teapot yang harganya cuma $3. Memang so comel as a vase. Tapi kalau jadikan teapot letak kopi or tea sambil duduk bersantai kat outdoor area tu pun bagus jugak kan :-D. Tapinya kalau dah duduk bersantai, mestilah I kena sediakan benda2 utk dikunyah jugak kan…. hmmmm…

Malam ni for dinner we had mee goreng. Dah lama pulak I rasa tak makan mee goreng ni. I said to The Other Half yang we won’t be eating rice sampai minggu depan sebab once orang2 Malaysia tu datang sini, mau lah agaknya hari2 makan nasi. Mau lah terkulat2 muka Miss 11 kalau hari2 kena makan nasi, wehehe.

Mee goreng, telur goreng and tahu goreng :-).

Spring salad and eye candy

My parents and makcik n pakcik will be arriving here in about 1 week’s time.My Abah tanya lah hari tu about the weather kat Perth sekarang ni. I said to him, “Sekarang ni tengah panas walaupun still musim Spring lagi. Dah seminggu dua ni memang panas betul lah.” Pastu dia tanya lah, “Panas ye? Berapa suhu nya?” I then said, “Tinggi jugaklah, around 30°C!” Pastu dia kata, “Lah, ingat tinggi sampai 40°C macam tu. Taklah panas sgt, lebih kurang M’sia aje lah.”

Hehehehe…nampak sangat badan I ni dah acclimatised dengan temperature kat sini kan, 30°C pun kononnya dah panas sangat :-). The Other Half kata, 30°C tu dah memang panas sangat2 lah obviously sebab all his students sejak 2-3 minggu ni semua masuk kelas half naked. Uni kat sini mana ada dress code kan so they’ll wear whatever they think is comfortable for them lah. And selalunya yang comfy for young nubile female uni students are figure hugging singlets or plunging neckline tshirts and micro shorts/skirts or really short dresses, hehehehe. The Other Half said sometimes dia sampai tak tahu nak pandang mana when talking to these students, muahahahaha. Kalau comel2 memang lah jadi eye candy, kalau tak comel tu…….

At The Little Misses’ school pun adalah a few parents yang dress so sexily everyday, tak kira whether Winter or Summer. I guess they know they’ve got the bodies for it so tu yang masa Winter cuma pakai really sexy thigh high stilleto boots with macro skirt and nothing much on top. I rasa diaorang ni ada ilmu kebal lah (sure menuntut dengan Ayah Pin, hikhikhik) sebab tak rasa sejuk! And sekarang ni bila dah mula panas, lagilah tak boleh tahan mata melihat baju diaorang, hikhikhik. Dah lah The Little Misses’ school betul2 bersebelahan dengan high school pulaknya. I yang sama jenis dengan diaorang ni pun terasa macam ada magnet kat badan diaorang tu, curi2 pandang jugak! You should see all the high school boys’ heads when these yummy mummies walk by, muahahaha. They are definitely MILF! But at least kat sini, people are a bit polite, they/we don’t stare because staring is rude so takde sape lah yang stare kat these yummy mummies, cuma curik2 pandang aje :-).

Habislah my Abah nanti, sure tak sudah2 mulut dia mengomel tengok orang2 kat sini berpakaian, kahkahkahkah ;-).Tak boleh bawak dia gi tempat kerja The Other Half lah macam ni :-P. But I think kat M’sia pun lebih kurang jugak kan….

And since the temperature today got up to nearly 33°C, tak larat nak makan dinner yang berat2 (actually alasan aje ni. I dah makan leftover nasi for lunch tadi, tu yang malas nak makan berat2 for dinner, hehehe).

I made main dish salad which is salad yg ada daging and carb in it. I made sausage, sweet potato and bread salad with vinegar and EVOO dressing.

Punyalah lama we all tunggu Miss 7 to finish her salad, dari mula start dinner sampai we all mula basuh pinggan and then habis basuh all the pinggan mangkuk, still tak habis2 jugak dia makan salad nya! Kalau I masak enoki mushroom, cepat aje dia habiskan, tapi kalau I bagi salad, bercinta nak menunggu! hehehehe…..

It’s not sick anymore, yeay!!!

Muahahaha, after so many weeks of being the light man, he’s finally has had enough and fixed my lightbox light for me petang tadi:-D. It didn’t take him that long anyway to fix it (cuma malas aje nak buat, tu yang makan masa sampai sebulan!). And I am finally able to take beautiful pictures of our dinners again (my perasan mode is definitely on :-)). Now, barulah best I nak buat a bigger lightbox kan! Lap you darling!

Comel aje kan my set for the food photo sessions ;-).

Now, I’ve found a nice spot to put my lightbox without having to move it around and without it being to obvious and tak payah pakai light stand. He just clipped the light onto the book shelf and sangkut the other 2 lights onto the top of the box :-). Tetiba bertambah sayang pulak I kat laki I tu, muahahaha.

And gambar dinner yang I ambik tadi memang jauh beza dengan gambar yang I ambik kat atas bench, hehehe. I guess kalau photographer yg skillful and pro tu, diaorang dah terer, ambik gambar kat mana pun nampak cantik aje. But I ni tersangatlah amateur nya so kena ada lighting semua bagus, baru lah boleh ambik gambar :-).

Our dinner tadi. We had tandoori chicken, terung masak sambal, poppadom, makan dengan pistachio and raisin pilau. The Little Misses makan chicken kurma.

For me, lighting is so important to make me feel motivated to take food photos. Baru lah boleh nampak jelas apa yang we all makan every night kan, hehehe.