This entry is for people out there yang tanya macam mana my roti jala jadi begitu cantik, hehehe. I nak perturunkan ilmu (which is not mine to start with) ni so lepas ni semua roti jala akan cantik2 belaka. Actually Azie yg bagi idea ni so I ni memanjangkan idea dia aje lah kiranya :-).

The things you need:


-botol sos plastic that you can buy very cheap kat pasar malam or kedai plastic yg berlambak2 kat M'sia tu. Make sure the opening/ hole tu tak lah besar sgt ye or else tebal sgt pulaknya kiraian jala tu nanti.
- non-stick pan klu ada, klu takde just guna kuali leper biasa but kena letak minyak sikit lah.


-First you lorekkan macam ni. Just squirt the batter out of the plastic bottle. Sebab there's only 1 hole/opening, teramatlah senangnya nak control the flow and tak tersumbat langsung tu yg best aje menjala guna cara ni, hehehehe.....


- Then you lorekkan atas dia macam ni, jadi bentuk net. Kalau you want it to be star-shaped ke, spider web-shaped ke, squiggly-shaped ke, it's up to your imagination. For me, mcm ni aje pun dah cantik, hehehe. Then lipat mcm lipat popia, lipat the sides first, then gulung. Kalau nak buat menjamu orang ramai, memanglah cantik aje :-).

Today we spent the whole day at home, inside, keeping cool with the aircond on sebab it got up to 38ºC outside! Keluar kejap masa jemur kain pun dah terasa perit sangat on the skin, lagi lah kalau keluar jalan2, mau rentung terus my already tanned skin ni, hehehe. Miss 5 banyak kali asked to go bike riding, I asked her to keluar kejap to feel the sun panas ke tak on her skin, baru lah dia kata, "it's still very hot out there Mummy!". Then terus dia tak tanya lagi sebab it's so much nicer to be indoors where it's cool and comfy, hehehehe. Nak keluar pergi shopping pun tak larat sebab panas sgt and surenya all the shopping complexes are jam packed with people kan sbb dah nak dekat Christmas sgt2 ni, lagi lah tak larat. In Perth ni, from a month nak Christmas, the shoping complexes are opened every Sunday, which in Perth is a very big deal you! Tapi memang penuh lah dengan segala macam manusia yang buat last minute Christmas shopping. Everyday pun dah busy sgt2 skrg ni, nak buat normal grocery shopping pun naik menyampah sebab the supermarkets penuh dgn orang. Tu yg for the next week or so, kalau I nak buat grocery shopping, I have to do it early in the morning to avoid the madness. So before the other half pergi kerja, I can go to the shop first and leave the Little Misses with him at home and then we can stay at home the whole day and not have to deal with the heat and sesak2. But I think sesak macam mana pun, tak lah se sesak KL masa nak dekat Raya, hehehe.


Since we didn't go anywhere today, Mummy was extra baik hari ni to make Roti jala for lunch sebab meleleh air liur tengok roti jala Kak Ina buat. The adults makan dgn kari ayam and the Little Misses makan dengan susu pekat. Miss 5 tried the kari ayam, Miss 9 sikit pun tak nak cuba sbb dia takut sgt kat pedas ni! Hish.....


Then the other half was extra rajin as well, he made garlic and cheese bread sebab dia kata nak makan dgn leftover roast beef for dinner tonite. He made the dough in the breadmaker and baked it in the oven in a cake tin. Miss 9 thought Mummy was in her rajin mode, baking another cake :-). When I sliced it barulah dia tau itu roti, hehehe. we had roast beef sandwich tonite for dinner with homemade bread. Home made bread ni memang lah sedap kan :-).

Macam rupa kek kan, tu yg Miss 9 tertipu sekejap...

After it's been sliced. Lupa pulak nak ambil gmbr the sandwich, hehehe....

The first day of holiday was very uneventful, Miss 9 went to Guides and we stayed at home. Baru first day aje kan, tu yg the Little Misses baik aje main sama2 with all their toys, tunggu lah 2-3 hari lagi before the fights and arguments start! Can't wait for that, NOT! Hopefully if I keep them occupied with activities and things to do, tak lah diaorang bosan gilerr sampai nak bergaduh aje kan. Tengok lah nanti kalau Mummy rajin, hehehe. The other half spent the whole morning cleaning up his office nook and the spare room. They are finally tidy! Unbelievable! :-). I can now walk in the spare room without tripping over anything and I can finally use my sewing machine and the overlocker sebab I can finally reached them, hehehe. Punyalah dah lama sangat2 tak menjahit ni, rasa gian pulak nak buat something. The last time I made something on the sewing machine was probably early this year kot. Padahal everytime pergi kedai kain, I would buy some kain dengan angan2 nak buat macam2 with them, hehehe. Kain dah bertimbun tapi project belum jugak bermula, motivation tak sampai2 lagi, hahaha. I will definitely try to make something masa cuti panjang ni so the Little Misses adalah some summer stuff to wear :-).


Today barulah terasa summer weather, the temperature went up to 30+ tak silap. Sidai kain, tak sampai 3 jam dah kering semuanya, seronok betul! Tomorrow it'll be even hotter so bolehlah I bagi some more work for the washing machine, sian dia kena kerja kuat masa weekend :-).


Orang lain bila panas2 ni terasa nak makan yang ringan2 aje like salad or BBQ but we all dinner tadi we had sliced slow cooked beef with gravy, roast potatoes and bean salad, hehehe. Roast and gravy ni is typically a winter food but biasalah kan dah tekak terasa nak makan roast beef so summer ke winter, bedal aje lah :-). And as usual, Miss 5 said, "this is the best dinner ever Mummy!" Alahai anak I yang sorang tu, memang teramat lah loves her food :-). But the other half pun makan beria jugak so I guess sedap lah tu. Sebab jarang betul I buat roast beef and gravy ni so sekali sekala makan memang lah sedap kan :-). And then when you cook it in the slow cooker, the meat was very tender but well cooked so tu yang the Little Misses makan laju aje sebab senang nak chew and telan, hehehe.....

Our dinner tonite.



p/s Fiza, I pun buat waffles jugak for breakfast pagi tadi. I had mine with fresh mangoes, hehehe. The Little Misses beria2 makan sebab Mummy dah lama gilerr tak buat waffles :-).

I had no idea why the colour is a bit reddish, hmmmm.....

The last day of school had finally arrived. The Little Misses were so excited but sad as well sebab lama nak berpisah dgn their friends kan. The teachers were so excited as well because they can finally get rid of the kids. Yang muka monyok and sedih at the school just now were the parents aje, hehehe, because 7 weeks of 24-hour chaos at home can make anyone go mental! I feel so blessed sebab my kids are both girls so chaos tu masih lah boleh di control. The only part yang tak boleh control is the 'kenan murai' part i.e. non-stop talking from the moment they wake up to the moment they shut their eyes at night. Mummy pun dulu masa kecik2 talked non-stop gak but bila dah besar ni, dah tau lah nak diam, hehehe.....


The presents for the teachers were very well received. They love it when they got cakes or cookies or sweets from me because they say, they know that it's going to taste delicious :-). The ceramic containers and bowls that came along with the food gifts kiranya macam bonus aje lah, hehehe. Setahun sekali kan bagi buat memento. The Little Misses like giving the presents to their teachers pun so berbaloi lah Mummy bertungkus lumus masak kat dapur kan, hahahaha...

The foodies that I gave were Rocky Road, Coconut Ice and Boiled fruit cake. Memang Christmas sweets lah. The other half lah yang happy terlebih2 sebab I made all his favourite Christmas treats. Miss 5 pun loves the coconut ice, first time I buat tu I think. Coconut ice ni kat M'sia panggil coconut candy kalau tak silap lah. Masa I kecik2 dulu, one of our Indian neighbours used to make it every Diwali, memang sedap but very sweet as well.


Miss 5 with some of her friends. She's the yellow fairy which gives the yellow flowers their colour, hehehe.....
Miss 9 with her clique. Told you she's the smallest :-).


The trees in the photo yg I posted semalam are very interesting looking kan? I just love the unique black trunk and the funny leaves and also the flower spikes yang mcm horns on top of the head aje. The trees used to be called 'blackboy' because people say it resembles an aboriginal boy holding a spear but the term was considered offensive by some people so they've changed the name to 'grass tree'. They are definitely natives to Australia. What is quite unique to some native Australia plants are their needs for fire to bercambah. It's difficult for them to flower kalau tak kena bakar, but after kena bakar like from a bushfire, they'll turn black but suddenly you can see loads of flower spikes coming out from the tree. Interesting right!

It's been such a busy few nights with so many different things. I rasa like I'm being swamped by housework and just everyday stuff. Everytime I look around the house, rasa macam I can never get on top of the daily chores, banyak mana dishes yang I basuh, banyak mana kain yang I basuh and berapa kali pun I vacuum and kemas rumah, when I toleh again and blink, dah bertimbun balik dishes in the sink, dah bertimbun balik baju kotor, dah menggunung kain nak kena lipat, dah bersepah balik the carpets! It really makes me depressed when I think I'm not able to get things done on schedule. The other half tadi did the folding sebab dia pun dah tak larat tengok kain tinggi menggunung, hehehe...... I really need a holiday!!!!!!!!

And I dont think I'll be getting it anytime soon sebab tomorrow is the last day of school. I've told the other half that I need a day next week to myself to do my own thing without the Little Misses and him. He said to me that he'll take them somewhere and I can stay at home to do my own stuff. I told him, I don't want to stay at home and do housework, that's not a break! So I told him that he can stay at home with the Little Misses and I'll go out somewhere having a day off. As long as I have my gold Visa with me, I'll be happy :-).

Anyway, tak larat lah nak tulis panjang2, layan lah dulu gambar ye. The story behind the photos, I'll cerita esok.



Cantikkan pokok ni. I'll tell you esok the name but if you want to guess the name, boleh aje, (except for the people who live in OZ cos you definitely know what they are).



Presents for the teachers. Last day kan esok.....

Entry malam ni entry luahan hati so kalau ada sape2 nak pergi toilet dulu, ke nak buat kopi dulu and goreng keropok dulu sebelum baca my short story, dipersilakan ye :-).


The Little Misses went back to school today which means 3 more days before the end of term/ year. When they came back from school todayand I asked Miss 9 if ada homework today, she said, "Mummy, it's the final week of school already, we don't do anything much at school anymore." Rugi aje macam tu I bayar school fees for 9 weeks of school kalau cuma belajar for 8 weeks aje, hehehehe. I guess macam I dulu jugak lah masa at school, bila dah final week tu mana lah ada belajar sgt pun, cuma pergi skolah semata2 nak dpt kedatangan penuh aje! Pastu siap bawak mainan sorok2 sebab nak main dgn kawan2 kat skolah :-). At the Little Misses' school, slalunya the last day of term, they are allowed to bring board games and dvds for them to watch at school and usually it's free dress day. Miss 5's teacher dah bagi note kata they are going to have a fairytale day so the kids can come as any fairytale creature. I tanya Miss 5, "nak tak pergi school as dragon?". She said, " NO! I want to dress up as a butterfly fairy and I want to wear wings that can flap!" I've been meaning to fix their butterfly wings for ages but asik terlupa aje, tengok lah nanti kalau ingat before this Friday, hehehe....


Miss 9 pulaknya ada pot luck lunch this Thursday and she's already asked for cupcakes. Baru aje siap membakar cupcakes for her and siap buat icing. Takut tak sempat pulak tomorrow night nak membakar and nak mendecorate, tu yg bakar awal2 and tomorrow nite tinggal decorate aje. Alah, yang nak makan nya pun her classmates, just letak icing and sprinkle with 100s&1000s, it will be 'posh' enough for them :-). Bila dah masuk perut, bercampur gak nanti kan!


Speaking of school, hari tu we all pergi meeting with Miss 5's Year 1 class teachers for next year. They wanted to explain to us about 'team teaching' which basically means that there'll be 2 teachers teaching 1 big class of maximum 50 kids. The class room is really big to cope with the big number of students. The way they explained it DID NOT make the other half and I go, " YES, this is what we want for Miss 5!"


We can see some good points in team teaching but when they said that the kids will be divided into 2 groups, "higher ability" and "lower ability" and the kids will be taught according to which group they are in. Dalam hati I terdetik, takkan 2 groups aje, what about the ones yang memang dah pandai and what about the average students and what about the ones yang memang masih lagi tak kenal huruf! Because from the way some of the parents yang hadir tu tanya, they were concerned about their kids yang masih tak kenal huruf and tak reti membaca, will their kids be neglected. The other half and I were just rolling our eyes and whispering to each other, "WHAT!!!!! Your kids dah 2 tahun kat skolah, kindy and pre primary and masih lagi tak kenal huruf? Didn't you teach them at home?" Agggghhhhh, we don't want Miss 5 to be in the same class as this kids! I know a lot of the parents rely solely on the teachers at school to teach the kids, when the kids go home, sikit pun tak kisah pasal the homework or even help the kids to do their homework. I know there's a few in Miss 9's class yang memang tak pernah read story books or any book at home and I think the teacher dah tak larat nak komplen to the parents sebab the parents buat derk aje.


And we know that some of the kids in pre primary yang memang ada behavioural problems yang ganazz and rude to the teachers, biting and kicking them, surenya the teachers akan sibuk pay attention to these problematic kids that kids yang ok akan terbiar selalu. When I told the teachers yang Miss can already read, they looked like they didn't believe us. I can see from their faces that they were thinking, " The parents think that Miss 5 can 'read' but maybe Miss 5 can only 'recite' the story books by heart. Or maybe Miss 5 can 'read' only but can't understand what she's reading." Sebab after I've told them yang Miss 5 can read, they said to me yang some kids can read but we have to assess the kids to make sure yang they understand what they are reading. HELLLOOO!!!!! Excuse me, macam lah I tak tau wether my kids tau baca and paham or not the things she's reading. What do you think we are, dumb? Dia ingat we all ni uneducated ke like most of the parents there yang cuma ada primary school or high school diploma aje. Why don't they ask the pre-primary teachers about all the students kan, sape yang clever and sape yang tak pandai so they have a better understanding of the students before they enter Yr 1. Because I know for a fact that Miss 5's pre primary teacher is very impressed with Miss 5's reading and writing ability. She said, ' Miss 5 is the only one who can read and write/ spell the words. "


Then, when the Yr 1 teacher was explaining the system to us, she said, " Sorry, I'm talking to fast for you." We quickly said, " No, you are not!" Then she said, "Miss 5 might be the only one in her 'group' yang boleh baca." Dalam hati I, siannya lah the other kids tu still tak tau baca lagi. I thought Miss 5 ni average or slightly above average lah for her age. The other half said to me lepas tu, "If we show the teachers our degrees, they'll be so shocked to find out what they are for!" Tension aje lepas meeting tu, hehehehehe. The other half terus nak pull the kids out and ask me to home-school them. I told him, I am not patient at all especially with the Little Misses. Either I'll go bonkers after a month of home schooling or the Little Misses won't stop crying everyday! :-).

So, kesudahan nya, we'll still keep them there but only until Yr 7 anyway, once they go into high school, we are definitely sending them somewhere else. Miss 5 loves her kindy and pre primary teachers and she really blossoms at school. Hopefully she'll continue to love school when she goes into Yr 1. Our mission this summer holidays is to make sure Miss 5 can read all Dr. Seuss' books fluently. So far, she can read them but some words she still has trouble with which is normal especially sebab Dr. Seuss books have loads of made-up words :-).


Alright, panjang lebar dah short story I malam ni. I pun dah tak larat nak bukak mata so I better end the luahan hati kat sini aje. Thanks for reading :-).

Selamat hari raya to everyone, sure tengah kenyang makan lauk pauk and juadah raya kan :-). Memanglah tak rasa langsung suasana raya kat sini, well for me anyway sebab tak pergi solat raya pagi tadi. Maybe kalau pergi masjid pagi tadi ada lah gak terasa macam beraya kan. But sebab kan dah biasa sangat tak menyambut raya haji kat perantauan ni, sikit pun tak rasa sedih, hehehe. Kalau Raya Syawal yang tak dapat disambut, memang lah sedih gilerssss :-) but rasanya tak lah sampai menangis meraung2 golek2 kat lantai, just menitis air mata aje lah.


Pagi tadi sent the Little Misses to Sheri's house before heading off to work sebab dia dah offer to 'babysit' them. Thanks a lot ye Sheri! Nanti kalau the other half and I nak keluar berdating berdua2an, bolehlah we all park them at your house again. And you can ask Miss 9 to look after Ayra and Miss 5 to main kejar2 dengan Adam ye, hehehehe. Nasib baik lah both of them are girls ye, tak lah macam tongkang pecah your house dibuatnya :-).


Balik from Sheri's house after picking up the kids, terus masuk dapur masak nasi impit instant. Orang lain makan best2 masa raya, kita pun nak lah jugak makan best2 kan. Ayam dah marinate from yesterday so hari ni tinggal masak aje, Ingat nak cucuk ayam kat lidi sate but since it's only us aje yg nak makan pun, so teruslah jadi malas nya. Wasting lidi sate aje, hehehe. Rasa nya tetap sama kan! :-). I teringat satu cerita that says orang yang pakai susuk tak boleh makan sate berlidi, nanti susuk nya akan terkeluar, sama macam tak boleh lalu bawah ampaian. Phew, selamat my susuk malam ni, masih maintain ayu lagi, wahkahkahkahkah ;-).


Our dinner tonite, daging sate grilled, nasi impit and timun. Miss 5 said, "it's the best sate and rice I've ever had Mummy". Sian anak I, tak pernah lagi merasa sate kajang, kalau dah rasa agaknya tak lalu dia nak makan Mummy's sate, hahahaha....