Had no idea what to cook for iftar today. Ingat nak masak couscous with fish but bila buka freezer, saw lots of frozen rice to be used up. Hari tu, the other half dah mintak nasi goreng and sambal sotong but malas nak buat. So, malam ni since malas nak fikir lebih2, I just buat nasi goreng, sambal sotong, telur goreng and keropok goreng for iftar. And red bean pau for pembuka selera. Don't worry, I wasn't that rajin to buat pau, pau segera aje from the asian shop. I'd rather buy the mini pau than membuatnya, bukannya mahal pun, u can get them for $2 a packet of 9 mini ones. Baik I beli aje kan,dah gerenti lembut and gebu,hehehe. Kalau I buat sendiri, mau lah agaknya bantat and buruk rupa,hehehe..... Macam2 excuse! Bilalah nak rajin ni agaknya :-).

Happy Father's Day today to all Dads in Australia n NZ. The Little Misses gave the other half cards and presents that they made at school. When I asked the other half what he wants for Father's Day, he showed me the new IKEA catalogue. He said, "the new IKEA STIBY TV storage combination for plasma TV is really gorgeous." Then I said to him, "but we haven't got a plasma TV to put in it." Then he smiled and said, "You know what Dear, that would be a really great present for Father's Day!" Hampeh betul bapak budak2 ni! Luckily I know he's just joking about the plasma TV since tengok TV pun jarang2, what's the point of buying one kan. As usual, he didn't know what he wants for Father's Day so we ended up not buying him anything, hehehe.

But I did cook him what he wanted for iftar today so I guess that's good enough eh ;-).

For starters we had chocolate tart and murtabak segera.

For mains we had homemade burger, roast wedges and salad (Mat Saleh kan, hehehe).

For dessert we had tiramisu.

Kenyang betul everyone makan malam ni. Kalau tiap2 malam makan mcm ni, bukan makin berkurang lemak2 kat badan masa puasa, makin bertambah adalah, hehehehe.....

The 6th day of Ramadhan, baru lah terasa bersemangat sikit nak masak untuk berbuka. Tapi sikit aje bersemangat nya pun bukan banyak, hehehe. Kenalah warm up dulu kan mana boleh terus laju aje ;-). Hopefully lepas ni, vitamin "R" sentiasalah ada kat badan ni sebab kalau malas aje, macam mana nak buat biskut raya kan. Dah lah kat sini tak boleh nak main tunjuk2 aje macam kat Malaysia, kalau nak makan kenalah buat sendiri biskut2 tu. The only biskut and kuih yang I have to have masa raya cuma tart nenas and kuih gunting. Yang lain tu kalau I terlebih rajin barulah I buat or if the Little Misses and hubby ask for them specifically. Setiap tahun memang berangan2 nak buat macam2 jenis biskut yang kiut miut but slalunya yang jadi buat cuma paling banyak pun 5 jenis. Itu dah kira banyak lah tu wei, hehehehe....

Menu berbuka hari ni: kurma, cupcakes, nasi ayam and honeydewmelon jelly (instant nya)

Malam tadi malas tahap gaban nak masak dinner. The other half tak berbuka kat rumah so tinggal Miss 9 and I aje lah. The Little Misses didn't want anything much so I just cooked scrambled eggs, fish fingers and croissants for them to have for dinner/iftar. Mummy pulaknya cuma makan maggi kari, wehehehehe. Told you malas tahap gaban!

Tonite the Little Misses and the other half wanted pizza for dinner/ iftar so buatlah pizza for them. Seafood pizza for the other half and hawaiian pizza for the Little Misses. Mummy had vegetarian pizza sebab I don't like seafood pizza at all. I like prawns, squid and mussels a lot but not on pizza, tak tau lah kenapa. For me they taste too 'fishy' kalau on pizza, hehehe... Dah 5 hari puasa but I'm still feeling so unmotivated to cook! Maybe sebab the other 3 are still not feeling 100% so tu yang I pun malas aje nak masak kuih muih or fancy dishes. Sebab nanti takut membazir aje kalau masak lebih2 sebab semua tak larat nak makan. Maybe this weekend lah I'll try something nice since it's Father's Day anyway this Sunday. The other half has already asked for tiramisu so I might just make that for him.

On a completely different subject, Miss soon-to-be-5 will turn the big 5 in a month time. She's so excited that it's Ramadhan now because she knows that her birthday is after Raya, so kiranya kejap lagi lah tu, hehehe. She's already decided what shape cake she wants for her b'day and she has already decided what she wants for a present. Senang betul dapat anak mcm dia, tak payah Mummy n Daddy nak fikir panjang2 nak carikan hadiah utk dia, hehehehe. And the cake pulak tu bukan nya shape yang complicated so lagilah senang Mummy nak buat :-). Dah berapa tahun her b'day jatuh masa bulan puasa so tahun ni kiranya kena sambut 'besar2an' lah kan. She wants to invite her friends over for a birthday party. Kenalah Mummy buat her famous 'things to do' list camtu, hahahaha.....

Nak tau apa habit dia sampai la ni tak boleh hilang? She sucks her thumb! Dulu masa baby sampai dia umur about 2+, she sucked her 2 fingers, jari tengah n jari manis (her middle n her ring fingers) sampai her skin there became quite thin and fragile. So, I taught her to suck her thumb instead sebab kesian sgt tengok 2 jari dia tu, bleeding teruk sometimes. Dari tak boleh tidur sbb tak dapat hisap jari, tu yg I taught her how to suck her thumb. At first, she found it very awkward nak hisap thumb sbb dah biasa hisap 2 jari sekaligus but sekarang ni, tak boleh tidur kalau tak hisap thumb, hehehe......

But the weird thing is, she wont and is unable to suck her thumb without her blankie! She has to have her blankie, barulah boleh thumb tu masuk mulut. And bukan semua kain boleh jadi blankie, kain yang buat bedung dia when she was a baby, I cut it into quarters and sekarang ni jadi blankie dia. Kalau pergi jalan jauh mesti kena ada blankie ni, kalau tak, memang tak boleh tidur lah dia. And kalau dia tak boleh tidur, we all pun gerenti lah tak boleh tidur punya kan! Nasib baik lah she has a few blankies so kalau I basuh pun she doesn't mind. She told us last time, she's going to give up sucking her thumb when she turns the big 5. But now she knows it's just around the corner, she has changed her mind, she only wants to give it up when she's as old as Mummy! For her that's going to be a very very very long way away still, hmmmmm!

p/s she pleaded with me not to put her photo sucking her thumb on the blog sebab dia malu and embarrassed that people will think she's still a baby sbb still suck her thumb. I told her ramai lagi budak baya dia suck their thumbs too and no one is going to tease her. I told her aunties yang baca Mummy's blog semua baik2 and bukan jenis yang suka tease ;-) baru lah dia bagi I letak gambar dia, aduhai anak, kahkahkahkahkah.....

Tonite, only Miss 9 is still feeling a bit sick. She's got blocked nose and the sniffles but she still completed the whole day today. Tengok lah macam mana dia masa sahur nanti, if it gets worse than tak puasa lah dia esok.The other half finally managed to puasa today after 2 days of being sick. Alhamdulillah, I haven't got it so far. Susah wei kalau Mummy yang sakit, hehehe....

Tonite's dinner is something simple again sebab semua masih tak lalu sangat nak makan berat2.



Entree : kurma and jemput2 udang n jagung.



Main: Ayam goreng salut breadcrumb, coleslaw and roast potato wedges



Last nite cerita about our grocery bills, lupa lak nak bagi tau yang itu termasuk sekali all the meat kat halal butchers and all the seafood as well. Our other bills kalau u all nak tau (well, tak nak tau pun takpe tapi I'll still put them here anyway, hehehe).



Water bill- $220/year. Kat sini our water bill comes every 6 months cos it goes through the rental agent first.


Gas bill - average $460/year but we get the bill every 3 months. Gas ni we all cuma guna for the water heater and for the stove. Kalau tak masak sebulan, kuranglah the gas consumption, hehehe but naik melambung2 lah our takeout/ eating out bill! And kalau mandi seminggu sekali aje and basuh baju guna air sejuk aje, kurang lagi lah the gas consumption. But I don't think that's a wise move to be making, hahahaha. Kang ada pulak cikgu2 kat skolah the Little Misses tu pengsan sebab tak tahan cium bau badan diaorang yg mandi seminggu sekali aje, wehehehe.


Electricity bill - average $750/year and the bill comes every 2 months. During winter naik sebab guna heater everyday. During summer, tak naik sgt even though we use aircond bila tgh panas2 tu. I guess sebab aircond rumah ni guna ducted evaporative system to tak guna banyak sgt electricity kot.


I can't remember what our bills were like in Malaysia but I dont think sebanyak ini kot.

Menu berbuka hari ni: kurma, jemput2 pisang, pasta n sausages.

Sepatutnya awal2 puasa ni lah rasa excited sgt nak masak segala benda and nak cuba all the new recipes I haven't tried yet but since the other half yang tukang makan is sick, terus hilang mood nak masak anything special for berbuka. Last nite's dinner pun banyak berlebih sebab takde yang nak menghabiskan. And I don't eat much anyway selalunya, so masa puasa ni lagilah kurangnya. I have to remember to cook less during Ramadhan or else we'll be wasting lots of food which is so against the meaning of Ramadhan. Hopefully our grocery bills will go down as well this month :-).

Speaking of grocery bills, ours range around $600-$700 a month which includes everything we buy at the supermarkets. From kitchen stuff to bathroom to laundry to household stuff, kira semuanya lah termasuk dlm bill tu. Our pantry is always full and kadang2 tu sampai overflowing, hehehe. So I'm not sure if our monthly grocery bill is considered excessive or just average. But itu belum masuk other bills lagi. But so far, we've always managed to put money aside every month for rainy days and for the Little Misses' savings. I guess we rarely eat out so that cuts down a lot on our expenses. Kalau duduk Malaysia, eating out ni lah yang dulu banyak menghabiskan duit we all, hehehe, but grocery bills masa tu tak lah banyak mana sebab jarang masak kan :-).

Setiap kali tiba bulan Ramadhan, itulah azam we all, tak nak berbelanja lebih2 kat supermarkets but selalunya memang tak tercapai lah. Sebab bila dah nak dekat raya, masa tu lah I nak beli macam2 sebab kononnya nak buat mcm2 jenis biskut n kuih and raya dishes. But kadang2 tu, bahan2 dah siap beli tapi buatnya tak jugak, hahahaha.......

So, what's your grocery bills like? As high as mine ke or much lower or higher?

First day of Ramadhan was quite eventful in the house. The other half woke up for sahur this morning throwing his gut up, he's caught what Miss 4 3/4 got on Friday nite. Setiap setengah jam he had to rush to 'hug' the toilet bowl. Dia kata now he knows how Miss 4 3/4 felt like on Friday nite when she was really sick. Kalah muntah and pening orang mengandung, hehehe. So today, only Miss 9 and I aje yang berpuasa. I really hope and pray yang Miss 9 and I tak kenalah this stomach bug. Kesian tengok the other half lembik aje today, tak lalu langsung nak telan apa2. Luckily Miss 4 3/4 dah sihat sepenuhnya :-).

Since we all 2 orang aje yg puasa, when I asked Miss 9 what she wants for iftar, dia kata dia nak kuih keria and burger n chips. Senang kerja Mummy, hehehe. Miss 4 3/4 pulaknya nak noodles so I made keria, burger n chips and mee hailam. The other half still tak lalu nak makan apa2, loya aje tekak dia he said, hehehe....

Mee hailam terlebih kuah :-).