Pruning time

Bila masuk bulan July, it’s the time of the year when we (in OZ) have to prune our rose bushes.

Sejak balik dari M’sia awal bulan 5 hari tu, our gardens have been neglected and abandoned.

Neither of us could find the time to spend hours in the garden.

I wanted to plant some Winter and Spring veges in the garden but dek disebabkan takde masa, that idea went down the drain.

Nak pergi Bunnings beli seedlings pun tak sempat!

So takde lah succulent sugar snap peas this season .

Our main vege patch is now being run over with wildly grown tomatoes.

Meleret2 satu vege patch penuh dengan tomatoes on the ground.

Gile nya semak!

And only some of the tomatoes are edible, yang lain rosak sebab atas tanah and it’s been raining on and off so cepatlah dia busuk.

The Other Half dah gatal tangan dia nak cabut semua nya but I tak bagi lagi, hahahaha….

and all the other veges and plants have gone into ‘hibernation’ during Winter ni so our vege patch and vege beds look really scraggly and pathetic and unkempt.

That’s why lah I dah lama tak letak gambar the garden updates.

2 days ago, I finally managed to find some time to prune the roses but lagi 2 pokok nak siap, hujan pulak tiba2.

Hampeh betul!

Ini rupa sebelum kena potong.

Tengok lah, kesian pokok roses we all, memang tak terjaga, dah kuning all the leaves.

Nasib baik they were still happy to produce flowers…

Ini rupa selepas kena potong.

The last of the roses.

Memang lah Raya nanti, kena kemaskan the lawn area tu or else terkedu orang datang tengok our yards yang sangat hampeh!

Hehehehe…..

But during Winter ni, our Poinsettia yang tengak galak merimbun.

And also the snapdragons pun still producing flowers tak berhenti.

But sambil prune roses, sempat jugak lah I made dessert for buka puasa.

Coconut lemon curd slice.

We got given a jar of lemon curd berbulan2 yang lalu and tersadai aje in the fridge not being used.

So, instead of throwing it out, I pun buatlah this coconut lemon curd slice.

And The Other Half has already taken half a tray to his work to be given to the person who gave us the lemon curd.

She gave us a jar of lemon curd, she got back half a tray of coconut lemon slice .

Our Iftar menu on Day 5

Dah nak dekat seminggu kita berpuasa kan.

Sebab cuti sekolah, tak lah terasa sangat kepenatan berpuasa for the girls.

We’ll see how they go next week once schools start.

But I definitely have to write a letter to excuse them from participating in sporting activities at schools.

Bukannya tak boleh berexercise bagai, tapi diaorang suka jugak duduk tepi padang cheering their friends dari bersukan!

Anak2 I ni memang bukan kaki sukan sangat padahal Mak Pak diaorang masa kecik2 dulu suka giler involved in sports.

They only like certain sports aje, hehehe.

Their school reports pun show the same results in their physical education subjects.

I told them kalau dapat C in Phys Ed, we dont mind at all, as long as tak fail, hahahaha….

Anyway…

Since we only had leftovers on Saturday night, I made something nice yesterday for Iftar.

I made beef lasagne with loads of white sauce and cheese.

Bukan lah susah mana nak buat lasagne ni pun tapi ambik masa jugak cos kena masak the bolognaise sauce and also kena masak the white sauce and then kena assemble it.

But, once it’s in the oven, you can lepak2 lepas tu.

We had it with steamed broccoli.

Puasa ni, tekak2 3 orang kat rumah ni menjurus ke arah western food aje but tekak I sangat2 lah asik nak makan makanan melayu aje.

Tapi nasib baik tekak I ni baik jugak, telan aje the western food until kenyang.

Tu kot why bila puasa memang berat I akan turun sebab tak dapat makan all the mengidam food, hahahaha.

A very easy dessert

Like I said yesterday, we had leftovers for Iftar last night.

Memang once a week kena buat leftover night during Ramadhan or else there’ll be too much waste and the fridge will be so jam-packed with containers.

Luckily no one minds having leftovers as long as the leftovers kena dengan tekak diaorang lah .

The Other Half, Miss 9 and I had rice and curry, asam pedas ikan and sotong goreng kunyit while Miss 14 had pizza last night.

See, tu yang semua orang happy!

And sebab I felt a bit weird tak masuk dapur langsung to cook anything, I ‘made’ dessert.

I just cut up some bananas, strawberries, kiwi and Arnotts arrowroot biscuits filled with marshmallow.

Then I made some chocolate ganache, put it in the fridge for a while and then whipped it until creamy.

it was easy to make but was so sedap and healthy-ish, hehehe….

3rd day Iftar

After dah seminggu tak makan nasi, we had rice again yesterday for Iftar.

And sebab bulan puasa, tekak mengada2 nak makan typical kampung food.

I really wanted to eat ikan masak asam pedas!

Hehehehehe…

But The Other Half tak suka sangat masak asam pedas ni especially with fish in it so I pun buat kan lah dia kari daging pekat2 for him which made him so happy.

And the girls pulak I buatkan cheesy pizza for their Iftar which made them so very happy too.

I was happy, The Other Half was happy and the girls were happy.

Cuma terasa macam kat restoran aje lah semalam sebab 3 different menus, hahahaha….

But since I wasn’t that well semalam and still not that well today, I just masak guna apa yang ada kat rumah aje lah.

I used pes asam pedas Adabi which I found in my pantry to make my asam pedas.

Nasib baik ada frozel mackerel cutlets in the freezer so boleh lah I guna untuk asam pedas ni.

And nasib baik ada frozen okra/bendi dalam freezer jugak so dapatlah my asam pedas bersayur lengkap .

But since masak ni masa tengah berpuasa, tak dapat lah rasa cukup ke tak segalanya.

For me, pes Adabi ni tak cukup masam and also tak cukup garam so sangat lah tak kaw nya.

Definitely need to add a few things in it to make it more kaw!

But bersyukur aje lah sebab dapat jugak merasa masak asam pedas ikan yang instant ni .

And for dessert pulak, I made bubur pulut hitam sebab terjumpa pulut hitam while menyelongkar the pantry, hehehehe…

Which made The Other Half and Miss 9 even more happy because they love this malay dessert so much .

And tonite for Iftar, we are having leftovers night sebab nak kosongkan the fridge or else terbuang aje semua tu which is sangat lah tak menepati ciri2 mulia di bulan Ramadhan kan!

Things I found in the library

Cuti sekolah kali ni, we all takde plan pun nak pergi mana2.

Duduk rumah lagi best sebab puasa kan .

I nak ajak the girls ikut pergi grocery shopping pun diaorang tak nak sebab lagi best melepak kat rumah main games.

Dah lah tengah Winter so satu hari melepak kat rumah tak mandi!

Kalau boleh, pyjamas pun tak nak tukar until kena bebel!

But semalam they asked to go to the library sebab dah habis buku nak baca.

We went to the bigger newer library quite close to our house.

Masa I ronda2 all the aisles, terjumpa lah this section….

Adalah about 20+ novels bahasa melayu.

And most of them are newish novels instead of novels zaman A. Samad Said.

So, dengan semangat membara I  picked 2 novels konon2 nak pinjam and baca…

But knowing myself, I ended up borrowing one only, the Sehangat Asmara novel.

Sebab people have been telling me yang this book is so good that it has been made into a movie (or was it a drama?).

We’ll see how long it’ll take me to start reading it and finishing it, hehehe….

And then I singgah the butcher.

They have started selling biskut raya you! Walaupun baru 2 hari aje puasa semalam.

Yang I tau tart nenas tu aje, yang 2 lagi tu I tak tau biskut apa.

Takpe, I’ll make my own cookies as usual .

And then balik rumah, lepas zuhur, masuk dapur bersungguh2 nak buat kuih melayu utk berbuka.

I kena buat kuih muih, bukan setakat kuih saje sebab yang sorang suka sgt kuih lapis and the other girl tak suka, yang sorang tu lagi suka sangat kuih ketayap and the other girl tak suka.

I pulak dua2 I baham, hehehehe….

Tapi I tak buat banyak, I just buat 1 cawan tepung beras aje utk kuih lapis tu and ada leftovers utk hari ni.

Kuih ketayap ni pun ada lagi leftovers so hari ni I tak perlu masak kuih!

yeay!

For those yang nak tau whether the lamb cutlets tu dah siap sedia macam tu or not.

You can buy yang dah ready made crumbed and seasoned tapi mahal lagi lah.

I bought rack of lamb to make the crumbed cutlets.

Macam ni lah rupa dia.

And then I just potong in between the ribs tu aje and crumbed the pieces myself.

First you dip in flour, then egg+salt+pepper mixture, then in breadcrumbs mixture (I added grated parmesan and mixed herbs to the breadcrumb).

It’s exactly like crumbed schnitzel or chicken chops in Msia.

Then either pan fry on the stovetop or you can use the BBQ plate like what I did.

His birthday dinner

First day of fasting went smoothly yesterday.

Walaupun Miss 9 kejap2 mengadu perut dia dah berbunyi2, hehehe.

Miss 14 seperti biasa kata tak lapar langsung.

Ada best and tak best nya bila puasa masa tengah cuti sekolah ni.

Yang best nya, boleh sambung tidur balik lepas sahur and subuh sampai lah zuhur kalau nak, hehehe.

Boleh lepak aje main games atau tengok dvds atau baca buku sepanjang hari (the girls lah not me!).

Tak payah penat pergi sekolah dengan homework and what not kan.

Tapi yang tak bestnya bila duduk rumah ni, dekat aje dengan dapur so panggilan dapur tu kadang2 adalah kuatnya, hahahahaha.

Especially bila dah petang and I sibuk masak kat dapur dengan bau2an yang sedap kan .

Malam tadi for our first Iftar, I masak lah ‘sedap’ sikit since it’s The Other Half’s birthday.

He requested for crumbed lamb cutlets with buttery garlic mashed potato for his bday dinner. And tiramisu for his bday cake.

I made 1kg of cutlets and cuma tinggal 3 ketul leftovers aje last night.

I makan 3 ketul, Miss 14 makan 2 ketul, leftovers 3 ketul, yang selebihnya dimakan dek The Other Half and Miss 9!

Tapi dia tak nak gravy langsung sebab he said “if the mash is good enough, you dont need anything to make it nicer”.

Birthday dia kan, I pun ikut aje lah and lagi senang kerja I sebab tak payah masak gravy, hahahaha.

Birthday boy tak mintak salad tapi bini dia buatkan lah jugak salad, hahahaha….

The tender meat inside….

And the tiramisu for dessert.

I made decaf espresso coffee tiramisu for us sebab kalau guna espresso biasa, maulah tak tidur satu malam.

And for the girls pulak, I made choc tiramisu cos they dont like the taste of coffee.

I made 1 bekas pyrex ni.

The birthday boy makan separuh malam tadi! Giler tak kenyang lepas makan so many lamb cutlets as well!

First day of fasting

The first day of sahur went smoothly pagi tadi.

Both the girls senang aje nak bangun walaupun mata masih tertutup rapat, hahahaha…

And our sahur pun tak lah berat mana so I pun tak perlulah bangun setengah jam awal nak masak or perangat lauk pauk .

My sahur pagi tadi was this.

2 pieces of multigrain toasts with butter and banana with a drizzle of Manuka honey.

Miss 14 mintak nutella so I made her nutella jaffle/toasted nutella sandwich.

Miss 9 pulak mintak cheesymite so I made her cheesymite jaffle.

The Other Half pulak makan 2 keping toasts with strawberry jam and butter.

Miss 9 tengok I punya banana toast, terus said, “can I have that for sahur tomorrow?”

Sedap sangat agaknya dia tengok, hahahaha…..

Our dinner last night pulak was just maggi goreng (buat sendiri, takde pakai perencah ye ) and ayam goreng actifry.

Nampak sangat I dah malas nak masak kan, hehehe…

But dinner/Iftar malam ni is going to be a bit special, atas pemintaan lah kiranya.

Sebab it’s The Other Half’s birthday today so dia requests for lamb and mash with Tiramisu for his birthday cake/dessert.

Sangatlah Kiwinya kan bab2 lamb ni.

Nasib baik tak mintak pavlova for his birthday cake or else memang dah sahih2 Kiwi celup Aussie, hahahahaha