Malam ni tak boleh berceloteh panjang sebab Mount Kain dah memanggil and rasa teruja sangat nak melipat kain ni sebab nak tengok dvd Die Hard 4.0 sambil lipat kain. Ni lah first time tengok Die Hard 4.o ni sbb baru aje beli the dvd semalam. Sekarang ni tgh giler2 sale dvd so we all pun beria2 lah beli, hehehe..... Ok lah, Bruce Willis dah nak start so I better go. Layan gambar our dinner tonite dulu lah ye and also gamabr Miss 5. She followed me pagi tadi pergi grocery shopping sebab dia kata, sian Mummy takde kawan kat kedai tu, hehehe. But yang tak tahan nya tu, non stop talking dari mula I start engine kereta nak keluar rumah sampai lah balik rumah semula, pot pet pot pet! Sampai naik kebas telinga mendengar nya, hahahahaha......



Our dinner tonite, red beef curry, thai style.




Pendek kan rambut dia but still curly as anything

Alhamdulillah, it's finally Friday. The other half and I really need this weekend to rest after a very hectic week. Luckily it's going to be a very gorgeous weekend weather-wise so we will probably head to Whiteman Park for our long abandoned bike ride and a picnic afterwards. Dah lama betul tak naik basikal ni, mintak2 ingat lah lagi camner nak kayuh, hehehe.Last sekali naik basikal ni kalau tak silap before puasa so kiranya lama lah kan ;-). The Little Misses will be happy to go for a bike ride and a picnic but they can't be told yet, ye lah kan, sekali tak jadi pergi, surenya frust giler, hehehe.....

This was part of our dinner tadi. To people yang ingat I made this myself, that's not the case. I don't think I would ever be able to make this bread sebijik jadi macam rupa ni. I've tried making this turkish bread once before but memang tak jadi langsung macam yang kat kedai punya tu. Maybe sebab I'm not Turkish kot, hehehe... Tu yg terjadi roti jawa tu ;-).

But roti ni kalau makan masa baru aje masak, memang lah sedap sangat2 sebab lembut and chewy at the same time. And if you buy it at one of the lebanese kebab shops, teramatlah murahnya as well and the size pun sangatlah besarnya, kalau orang melayu kata panjang sedepa lah, hahahaha. I really want to know the secret of making this bread, hmmmm.......

Petang semalam pergi hantar the Little Misses to swimming lessons without the other half. And I had to lug their heavy swimming bag around carrying it on my right shoulder. I'm not sure what happened after that but I must have pulled a muscle on my back because tiba2 aje punyalah sakit the area around my right shoulder blade setiap kali I turned my head to the right or to look down. It was hell driving the car yesterday and today! The other half tried to massage some voltaren on my back last night but sikit pun tak reduce the pain, I guess when you are not a masseur, you don't know which urat to massage ye tak. Tidur malam tadi pun I was in agony setiap kali nak tukar position or nak angkat kepala. Pagi tadi, I nearly called in sick sebab tak larat nak bawak kereta sebab tak boleh oleh kanan but since the other half had an early morning meeting, nak tak nak, terpaksalah jugak I hantar the Little Misses to school. And since I kena hantar them to school, I might as well terus pergi kerja kan, dapat jugak duit kalau pergi kerja, hehehe. Dengan berbekalkan voltaren tablets, I managed to get through the day without too much pain. If still sakit lagi by Saturday, I'll go to a masseur or physio to get my shoulders and neck 'fixed' :-).

But sakit macam mana pun, kenalah jugak masak for the family, unless memang dah tak boleh bangun langsung. Last nite's dinner was pasta, tinggal thawed and reheated aje so tak lah susah sangat. Tonite's dinner teringin pulaknya nak makan nasi so masak lah sikit yang teringin kat tekak. Orang 'sakit' ni macam2 pulak teringin nya, hehehe.... Padahal sakit bahu aje pun :-). Yelah, bukan mulut and tekak yang sakit kan so selera tu sentiasa ada.



Sekali nak makan, terus teringin nak makan ayam goreng, sambal goreng and pajeri terung, mengalahkan orang mengidam aje, wehehehe.

Ini bukan brownies nor chocolate cake but choc truffles made from choc cake. Sepatutnya buat bentuk bulat2 tapi tak sempat pulaknya haritu nak buat bulat2, terus letak dlm acuan square aje and simpan dlm fridge. Bila nak makan, potong sikit2, lagi senang and tak banyak kerja. I usually make truffles ni during christmas time along with fruit cake and mince pies to give to people and for our own gorging. Yummmmmm....... Recipe later lah ye ;-).

Malas betul nak masak dinner tadi so the other half kata dia nak makan potato nuggets, chicken fingers and salad. I pun senyum panjang lah sebab potato nuggets and chicken fingers cuma keluarkan dari freezer and tinggal masuk oven aje and the salad cuma tinggal petik the lettuce leaves dlm pot and chop up some tomatoes and avocado. And my dinner was leftovers sempoi mee goreng from lunch today, makan dengan chicken fingers. Senang sesenang nya kan, hehehe....


And entry malam ni pun pendek aje ye sebab nak masuk dapur nak bermain dengan Cik Oven malam ni. There's a banana cake baking in the oven tu and I think I'm going to make a very simple chocolate cake after this for the Little Misses for their lunch boxes. Kiranya tak lah malas kan kalau sampai 2 biji kek sanggup buat malam ni :-). I think maybe cuma malas masak dinner aje kot sebab the 'rajin' bit tu dah berpindah ke kek making, hahahaha......

Ramai yang kata the scones I made yesterday nampak sedap, memang pun sedap u! :-). Especially if you have it with cream, lagilah sedapnya. I generally like scones but sometimes scones yang dibeli kat kedai ada rasa 'pahit' sikit, probably from the bicarbonate of soda kot, maybe diaorang tertuang 1 kotak agaknya tu yang terasa 'pahit' nya. But the recipe that I've been using ni takde guna bicarb soda which for me makes it taste so much nicer. Instead it uses lemonade (sprite or schweppes lemonade, alah yang fizzy drink tu!) and thick cream. And teramat lah senangnya nak buat. Lagi mudah and cepat dari naik kereta pergi bakery beli the ready-made scones ;-).

Scones

300g tepung naik sendiri (SRF) / 2 cawan - plus a bit extra masa kita nak uli the dough
125 mlm (1/2 cwn) lemonade (sprite)
125 mls (1/2 cwn) thick cream - I guess klu kat M'sia u boleh guna fresh cream or whipped cream
40 mls (8 teaspoons) fresh milk
a pinch of salt

-Panaskan oven 220ºC.
- Ayak tepung ke dalam mangkuk yang besar.
-Add the lemonade, cream, milk and salt into the bowl dan kacau menggunakan butter knife sehingga jadi dough yang lembut.
- Keluarkan dari mangkuk dan letak di atas papan pencanai /meja yang di tabur dgn tepung gandum. Uli perlahan2 sehingga dough tak melekat di tangan. You might have to add the flour a little bit more masa menguli tu. Tapi jangan uli sampai macam menguli roti, uli sekejap aje hingga semua soft and combined.
- Press the dough using your hand sehingga about 1 inch thick.
-Using a round cutter, cut the dough until all done. Kalau besar cutter, besar lah scone nya and dapat sikit aje.
- Place on lightly greased baking tray and brush the top of the scones with milk (tak nak pun takpe). Tak perlu letak jarak sangat2 pun sebab scones ni tak lah mengembang sangat.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Serve warm with cream or butter and jam.



That's the recipe done. And now to tonite's dinner. Dinner paling senang nak buat, maki zushi. The other half and the Little Misses love smoked salmon sushi. I rather have chicken filling in my maki zushi than smoked salmon. So, tonite I made smoked salmon filling and chicken filling (leftover chicken from the chicken rice). Senang keje!

Aktiviti di hujung minggu.......




Breakfast pagi tadi, lemonade and cream scone. Makan dgn whipped cream and blackcurrant jam.



Lunch tadi, nasi ayam hainanese.



Acitvity lepas lunch, main layang2. Since angin tadi bertiup sepoi2 bahasa, dapatlah jugak the kites naik above our heads :-) sekali sekala. The Little Misses pun seronok jugak lah main kejar2 and lompat2 dengan the kites.

After beberapa hari hujan lebat selebat2 nya, semalam and hari ni was perfect sunshine. So, since semangat bercucuk tanam masih menebal di dada, we spent petang tadi lepas redup sikit, bercucuk tanam. Memang literally bercucuk tanam lah sebab we bought seedlings yang dah agak besar so we only had to tukar ke pot lain, cucuk the plants into the soil and tanam :-). Now, tinggal tunggu dia besar aje to 'harvest'. Sometimes, we buy seeds and kadang2 we buy seedlings, it all depends on what's available at the time and how motivated we are at that time as well :-). Today, the seedlings at the nursery looked so gemuk and healthy, membuatkan we all terpikat aje and I also wanted them to grow quickly to yang ambil seedlings terus.


What plants did we buy today? I was looking for curry plant/tree sebab we've thrown away our old one a long time ago because it wasn't growing properlyand nicely and a lot of people said that the leaves didn't look like the curry leaves they see in Malaysia but I thought they did and even smelled like daun kari. So, after thinking about it, we decided to bin the tree and cari a new one. But puaslah mencari, tak jumpa2. I think I have to try and find them at one of the Sunday Markets but punyalah malas nya nak pergi Sunday Market ni cos kena bangun pagi2 on a Sunday! Ha..Ha..Ha.. I still haven't found the perfect curry plant yet but tadi masa pergi nursery ni terjumpalah this plant, gambar below......


I've seen this plants a few times before kat a few other nurseries but tak pernah terberani nak beli sebab lagi lah lain giler banding dengan pokok kari yang kat Malaysia tu. And the smell pun lain lah dengan daun kari yang I grew up with kat Malaysia. Nak tau bau dia macam mana? Daun ni takde bau unless you crushed the leaves or rubbed against the leaves. Bau dia sebijik macam bau indian kari yang dah siap masak, basically a mixture of bau cumin, coriander, fennel, bawang, garlic, halia and rempah lain. That's the only way I know how to describe it. Masa I crushed it against my fingers, bila I cium memang macam bau my fingers lepas makan nasi and kari lah........ terus aje jadi lapar u, wehkehkehkeh..... It says on the information card, kata the leaves are edible and boleh dimasak so I guess I'll try it one day hey. Kalau after that, I berhenti blogging for a few days, you tau lah kenapa, hehehehe ;-).


So, what do you think of this 'curry plant'? Pelik kan rupa dia. Nampak macam rosemary leaves sikit kan but the smell memang tak macam rosemary.


And this one we bought because it looks and smells so delicious. We already had a few mint plants growing tapi bila tengok yang ni terpikat terus pulaknya and lain sikit rupanya dari the common mint. Not that we use that much mint in our cooking but I guess lepas ni bolehlah I put it in my hot choc or in my choc cake ye :-). Pastu kalau sedap sangat2 my choc cake because of the mint, bolehlah I bukak bisnes kek kat sini, hahahaha.......

Nama aje chocolate mint but believe me, it doesn't taste like chocolate, hehehe ;-).

Ini rupa common mint, lain sikit kan dengan the chocolate mint tu :-)


And the other half bought thyme because he said he has always wanted to use thyme in cooking. Then I said to him, "Since when do you cook anyway?". Terperasan jadi chef sekejap pulak dia ni, hahaha. Which means since I'm the real 'chef' kat rumah ni, I lah yang kena cari recipe ada thyme lepas ni :P.


Another plant we bought is Zimbabwe bird chilli. Rupa dia on the info card lebih kurang macam rupa chilli api, tu yg we all beli sebab chilli api kat sini sikit nya mahal, $2 for about 10 biji, tak sanggup rasanya nak beli since we don't use it that much anyway. So, bila dah jumpa chilli plant yang seakan2 rupa cili api, tu yang terus beli but when I googled Zimbabwe bird chilli, I found out that it's one of the world's hottest chillies! Errkkk...... Let's just say, neither the other half nor I are game enough to try it sebab I memanglah tak tahan pedas and I think the other half pun rasanya tak nak lah makan pedas sampai berasap telinga. So, nanti once dah berbuah lebat, I'll announce it on the blog and sape2 yang duk Perth ni bolehlah datang ambil ye :-). Pokok dia sama rupa macam pokok chilli yang lain, but nanti bila dah berbuah I'll take some photos of it so you can see the rupa buah dia ye.