An awesome job!

He did it!

He managed to finish ‘landscaping’ the front garden.

Hooray!!! A bl**ming awesome job if I may say so!

Ye lah kan, kalau bini tak puji beria2, sape lagi nak puji kan, hahahaha….

Let me recap using photos the evolution of our front garden ye, hehehe ….

This was taken in October this year.

The roses were still small and there wasn’t a fence yet.

And this photo pulak was taken about 2 weeks ago.

When the fence was erected but the lawn was still bare…

And today, The Other Half spent an hour in the morning and then from 1 in the afternoon to 5.30 to complete his project.

Tengok lah you, punyalah gigih dia bekerja doing the landscaping with only a spade, a garden fork and his bare hands aje.

Tu yang buat I sayang sangat2 kat hubby I ni, takde the right tools pun still boleh buat kerja, hahahahaha…..

And after 5 back-breaking hours (plus a few more hours a week ago), he finally finished it!

Taaaaadaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He did the brick planter boxes enclosing the pots of citrus plants.

And he also laid down the grey pavers under and along the front fence.

I think The Other Half did an awesome job!

We bought the white stones  to fill up the planters instead of river pebbles.

But Bunnings tadi cuma ada 4 packets aje so kenalah tunggu until lepas Xmas before we can buy some more to fill the planters right up to the top.

I know the black pots tak cantik sangat but we all tak nak repot the citrus plants sebab takut nanti mati pulak….

Maybe I can ask Miss 9 to paint the pots to brighten them up .

We are 17 today

Today is our 17th wedding anniversary!

That is a lot of years definitely, hahahaha.

We didn’t get anything for each other sebab dah tak tau nak bagi apa and we’ve reached the stage where if we want something, we’ll get it ourselves instead of waiting for the other person to buy it for us .….

But he did get me something yesterday which he has been wanting to buy for me for ages but I kept on telling him I didn’t have a need for it.

Until semalam I told him, “fine lah, you can get it for me if you really want to. I’ll definitely use it if it’s there.”

But it was not a wedding anniversary present, it was a Xmas present.

Or else hari2 dok tanya I what I want for a Xmas present.

Now he’s happy sebab dah belikan hadiah untuk I, hehehe.

What did I get for him?

Nothing. I told him to get whatever he wants himself so he’s happy, hehehe.

Come to think of it…. in a way, he did buy both of us a wedding anniversary present….

If you look at the wedding anniversary gifts for each year, for the 17th anniversary, the present is either furniture or a watch.

This is what The Other Half bought yesterday (after I told him that it would be nice to have this at the front of the house).

A rustic-looking metal bench which is a type of furniture lah kan.

He even bought matching cushions to go with it!

Hahahahaha….

So, when the girls are playing outside during late afternoon, the two of us can sit there enjoying the view and enjoying eeach other’s company, romantik gitu… .

And how did we celebrate the day?

By going to a friend’s brother’s wedding!

A Malay wedding here in Perth.

Kiranya sambil makan nasi orang kahwin, sambil mengimbau kembali kenangan silam 17 tahun lalu lah, hikhikhik

But our wedding takde lah nasi briyani and all the lauk pauk melayu like today.

So, layan lah ye some photos we took at the wedding today.

Sampai2, kena makan dulu….

Then, tunggu pengantin datang sambil buat people watching, hehehe….

and then pengantin datang…

Siap dengan kompang and silat semua!

lepas tu we all pun cabut balik lah kan, tak kan nak lepak lama2 sampai majlis habis pulak kan…

But sempatlah pengantin lama ambik gambar sama2…. so boleh we all buat perbanding now and 17 years ago, hikhikhik….

But since dah makan lauk kenduri siang tadi, malam ni I buat pizza aje lah for our anniversary dinner, heeeeee……

What’s going on in the garden

The Other Half is officially on his Xmas break starting today!

He’s got a 2 week xmas break because both his workplaces have a compulsory 2-week office shut down for Xmas-New year.

But we are just going to spend the 2 week break at home…

Tending the garden, joining in the hoo-ha of post-Xmas stocktake sale and getting on each other’s nerves, hehehehe

He said to me, “I can extend my leave to 3 weeks because I still have another week leave up my sleeves.”

I was like, “ . No! I think 2 weeks is enough…..”

Hahahahaha…

Ye lah, kalau pergi bercuti 3 minggu takpe lah kan…. memang tak cukup but kalau duduk rumah aje for 3 weeks, mau lah end up driving each other crazy.

So, since dah mula cuti, pagi2 tadi we all pun masuk lah kebun sama2….

Our sunflowers dah tinggi melangit and dah start producing big seeds.

But this was we saw on 2 of the ‘ripe’ sunflowers…

Almost a third of the sunflower seeds have been eaten clean off the head!

It is such a strange sight kan!

I think I know what’s the culprit…

Sudah semestinya all the native Australian birds lah kan.

But yang heran nya, we all tak pernah nampak the birds makan during the day…..

So I said to The Other Half, “I think the birds come very early in the morning at sunrise to eat the seeds.”

He said, “that’s what I think too.”

Then I said, “I want to stay awake after subuh to wait for them so I can see which birds like the seeds.”

He looked at me and said, “Good luck! I’ll be back in bed having a sleep in! I’m on holiday!”

Sunrise sekarang pukul 5 pagi you! hahahahaha….

Sudah semestinya lah akan tidur balik, heeeeee….

And ini pulak gambar our snake beans/kacang panjang yang dah makin menjalar but only producing a few flowers aje so far.

Hari Rabu semalam, I membersihkan the vege patch.

I cut off a lot of the trailing tomatoes sambil mengutip buah tomatoes yang dah masak and masih boleh dimakan.

So many!!!!!!!!

I haven’t got time to cook them into something else so for the time being, they are eaten raw in salads aje lah….

But I did use some in the tuna pasta mornay I made for dinner.

And ini muka budak yang bangun pagi terus aje pergi kutip buah blueberries untuk dimakan bersama her muesli.

Kutipan pagi dapatlah around 10-12 biji and then kutipan petang pulak dapat around the same so memang puaslah jugak makan blueberries.

Funny thing about blueberry picking that we found out is that ripe blueberries will just fall off into your hand with the slightest touch.

So when you want to pick them, you cannot pull them or tug at them hard even though they are so blue they are nearly black.

You just have to tug them very gently and if they fall off, it means they are ripe.

Baru rasa dia manis sgt2.

The song they sang

You know how we’ve been waiting for Miss 9’s school to go on air with their Christmas carol…

Well, guess how many times we got to watch her choir on the tv sejak 3 minggu bertapa depan tv?

Only ONCE!

Choir sekolah lain dah punya lah banyak kali repeat and dah selalu sangat we all tengok kat tv but their school cuma baru sekali aje we all dapat tengok.

I said to Miss 9, “Maybe they know people in these schools so that’s why they keep on playing the same ones over and over. Or maybe they’ve lost your choir copy.”

Hikhikhik….sangat lah pilih kasihnya kan, hahaha.

Padahal, bukannya we all duduk depan tv tu 24 jam so maybe we did miss their performance when we weren’t watching.

But at the times that we did watch, memang tak pernah lah we all nampak her school’s choir being aired berulang2 kali.

Luckily, her choir teacher got given a copy of their performance last week so I pun dengan muka tak malu, I asked her to lend me the cd with a promise that I will make so many copies for her to give to the other mothers. Terus lah dia bagi I pinjam and terus lah dia happy dapat so many copies, hahaha.

And so here it is.

See, if you can see Miss 9 singing with all her heart and with a big smile on her face .

This is the senior choir plus the some of the junior choir students who are year 3. Tu yang ramai.

Miss 9 is in the senior choir sebab she’s already in year 4 this year but she’s as short as the year 3s, hehehehe…

The gifts and the sushi plate

Woke up this morning with mixed feelings.

Yeay to not having to be a supir and makcik kantin for the next 7 weeks!

Yeay to occasionally being able to sleep in on weekdays .

But not looking forward to the arguments and bickering that will definitely arise when 2 girls are cooped up together for 7 weeks!

We wont be going anywhere this long holidays (well, so far memang takde plan nak pergi mana2 lagi) so the girls will find the holidays a bit too long for their liking kot.

This is the photo of half of our dining table pagi tadi.

I’m glad it’s all over for another year, tak payah fikir macam mana nak wrap the gifts, hehehe.

This cellophane-wrapped gift is for Miss 9’s music teacher who also teaches her choir.

This basket pulak is for Miss 9’s class teacher. And since dia ada 2 class teachers, kenalah I prepare 2 baskets.

Kat sini quite common jugak lah for a class to have 2 class teachers. 1 teacher will only teach for 2 days and the other teacher will teach on the other 3 days. Sebab ramai jugak teachers yang buat part time teaching or have another teaching job at another school.

and this small cookie containers pulak are for Miss 13’s teachers.

Mula2 dia tak nak bagi apa2 but suddenly last nite, she wanted to give some biscuits to her teachers. Nasib baik ada extra containers and extra ribbon.

The maltesers gift box pulak for the cross-walk lady.

Hari2 pagi2 and petang2 dia help the students and parents and everyone to  cross the road safely and she is so friendly and chatty and so full of smile so memang layak dia dapat gifts from the families.

And memang every year, she gets loads of Xmas gifts from the students!

Lucky her kan .

And ini pulak our dinner last night and also the food that Miss 9 took to her class party.

Miss 9 said that the sushi went so fast, kejap aje habis, sebab all her classmates and the teachers love sushi.

Dia kata dia cuma ambik 3 keping aje, hahaha.

I told her that 10 years ago, not many people know about sushi and not many mat salehs like sushi.

But sekarang, all the mat saleh kids yang love sushi lebih2, hehehe.

It’s the last day for the school year tomorrow

Penatnya badan I rasa malam ni.

I guess dari petang tadi memang non stop kat dapur.

Miss 9 will be having an end of year class party esok so everyone kena bawak a plate of something.

The teacher says to bring something healthy because of school policy but selalunya memang ramai jugak lah yang bawak junk food and cikgu2 tutup mata aje sebab party kan, so mesti lah ada junk food

But Miss 9 and I decided to bring something healthy, a big plate of sushi to the party.

She says a lot of her classmates love sushi so memang gerenti akan habis lah.

Tu yang dari petang tadi kat dapur buat sushi for our dinner and also buat extra for them.

I masak 4 cawan beras you, giler penat menggulung sushi tadi!

Hahahahaha……..

Lepas habis dinner tadi, sambung pulak packing the gifts for the teachers.

Nasib baik lah the girls sudi menolong so dah siap everything sekarang.

Kalau diaorang tak tolong, memang masih tersengguk2 lah I .

Tengok lah, gigih we all berkerja, hahaha.

These are the treats that I made

hazelnut melting moments in the front and fruit mince bites at the back. Both are basically shortbread with fillings.

Shortbread ni memang biskut wajib during Xmas, lebih kurang tart nenas masa Raya lah, hahaha.

And these are chocolate coated pudding truffles.

Truffles pun sweets yang wajib ada masa Xmas.

Almond biscotti

And all the treats together..

From the left almond biscotti, caramelised mixed nuts, gingerbread men, almond fingers.

And the melting moments, fruit mince bites and the truffles at the back.

I thought nak letak dalam basket macam ni, but tengok lah esok pagi what I will come up with.

I’ll take a nicer photo esok ye once it’s all ‘nicely’ packed, hehehehe.

Zucchinis in everything……

Setelah bertungkus lumus 2-3 hari buat kuih, dapat lah jugak I buat 6 jenis Xmas treats to give to the teachers.

(Eleh, itupun nak sibuk kan. Orang jual cookies 2-3 hari dah boleh dapat beribu2 and bermacam2 jenis cookies ye tak, hikhikhik).

And seperti biasa, bila buat cookies and sweets ni, sudah semestinya dicuba dek 3 orang testers tu.

Yang buat sorang, yang mencuba 3 orang, so you rasa kan, penat tak agaknya I 2-3 hari ni asik membuat cookies aje?

Hehehehehe……

Kalau masa bulan puasa, buat kuih raya, diaorang tak boleh makan banyak sangat sebab puasa.

But bila buat cookies and sweets sekarang, akan ada aje tangan2 yang gatal nak membuka the cookie containers at all times!

Macam semalam I buat caramelised mixed nuts.

I buat sikit aje sebab konon2 nya nak mencuba dulu sedap ke tak and kalau sedap, terus nak masuk packs nak bagi ke the teachers.

I buat around 2 1/2 cups of mixed nuts.

Lepas habis I buat and dah sejuk, berlumba2 diaorang makan.

Pagi tadi, I kena siap2 pack cukup2 untuk the 3 teachers lepas tu bagi the rest to the vultures with a promise that I will make another big batch soon just for them, hikhikhik….

I said to The Other Half janganlah habiskan sebab I dah tak larat nak buat some more cookies and treats before Selasa ni.

Esok malam I dah nak pack the treats nicely in a gift basket, kalau tak cukup, I jugak yang kena bersengkang mata malam2 sambung buat some more treats kan and dia jugak yang I akan paksa temankan I berjaga!

Terus dia stop makan sebab tak nak bersengkang mata temankan I, hahahahahaha.

So, bila dah penat kat dapur buat benda lain, I pun masak dinner yang simple aje lah.

I made lamb meatballs subs guna recipe ini.

Nak tau kenapa I guna this specific recipe?

Sebab it uses zucchini in the meatballs, hahahahaha.

But seperti biasa I alter the recipe using what I have in the kitchen and what I think will suit our taste lah.

I takde Moroccan seasoning so I ganti dengan cumin, coriander and paprika powder. And I tak letak the currants nor the coriander leaves. I ganti dengan fresh mint and parsley leaves aje.

And I tak pan fry the meatballs, I baked them in the oven instead.

Takde sorang pun perasan that there’s zucchini in the meatballs. Semua makan dengan lahapnya, even Miss 13 yang kata eeuw to zucchini itu, hehehe.

The Other half makan the meatballs bertambah2 and said, “this is really good!” And I said, “it should be good cos I’ve added zukes to it.” .

Hmmmmm…….I wonder what I can add zucchinis to next without them knowing it?