Sun-day, pruning day….

Luckily it was such a gorgeous and warm day today. We had planned to do our ‘kemas kebun’ day pagi tadi since esok is the greens collection day in our neighbourhood. Kat Perth ni (and I think around OZ as well), every suburb is allocated greens collection day twice a year. Greens collection day ni is when you can put out all your green waste i.e. tree prunings, dead branches, lawn clippings and everything that comes from trees on the kerbs for the council workers to pick them up to be munched. Kat OZ ni, you can’t just prune your trees and leave the branches lying everywhere. Tu yg last time masa we pruned the lemon tree, we had to leave the branches under the lemon tree aje sebab belum sampai our turn for green collection day.

So, tadi The Other Half and I pruned our lemon tree sampai betul2 bare sebab it’s gone wild! We pruned it last in January kot and it was at the fence level. Pagi tadi before we pruned it, the highest branch was at our roof level and there were leaves and branches everywhere and not many lemons at all. The Other Half and I tadi memang cantas habis2 all the branches and left only the big branches for it to grow again. Sebelum ni, kalau I stood at the kitchen window, I could only see the lemon tree. Now, I can see everything, including the neighbour’s bathroom window and bedroom window! Hikhikhikhikhik……. (Nasib baik ada 6-foot tall fence in between our houses so tak lah boleh nampak perkara2 yang tak patut di nampak dek mata I ni!). Dah lah semua bujang nerds yang tinggal kat sebelah rumah ni :-).

Lepas we’ve done the pruning, we stacked the cut branches neatly by the roadside on the lawn. Pastu, nak stack the branches pun kena ada special way! The cut ends have to face the road so senang lah the council workers nak pick up the branches kan :-D. Kalau kat rumah my parents kat kampung tu, lepas trim pokok, terus aje diaorang bakar, hehehe….

And since we all nak kerja keras pagi tadi kan, I made scones with cream and jam for breakfast.

Sikitnya lama ke nak ambik gambar angle yang menarik kononnya, sampai meleleh2 strawberry jam I tu, hehehe…. Orang lain dah habis makan 2 biji scones, I baru nak duduk start makan :-).

And I made rice pilaf for dinner. The reason I masak nasi again after baru aje beberapa hari makan nasi hari tu was because I found a kari in the magic freezer. I was ‘selokar’ ing my freezer cari benda nak masak for dinner and I found this container of curry. Bila punya curry, dont ask! Bila I defrost it, tengok2 rupa2nya kari daging bertulang (probably yang I masak in the oven zaman dulu tu kot, hehehehe). Dari tersimpan lebih lama, baiklah I masak nasi kan to eat with the curry.

So far, tak sakit perut lagi (cuma senak perut sebab makan banyak sangat ada lah!, hahahaha).

Sunny Saturday in Winter

Bangun pagi tadi terus terfikir betapa boring nya lah my blue blog ini. Dah berapa lama tak ganti cat baru sebab tuan rumah malas nak godek2 blogspot. Rumah orang lain nampak meriah aje dengan macam2 wallpaper, cat ceria, lip lap lip lap so tu yang I pun teruja nak tukar cat baru. Dalam banyak2 designs, this orange abstract corak aje yang semua orang rumah ni suka. I guess it’s not that cluttered and still easy to read. Tapi I have to readjust my photo size so tak terlebih bagak and terkeluar2 dari garisan penamat ;-). I’ll ganti cat baru again bila nak dekat raya nanti ye!

What did we do today? Miss 11 and The Other Half as usual pergi painting on Saturday morning. While Miss 6 and I duk kat rumah bergolek2an bermalas malasan. That’s what Saturdays are for kan :-). I malas nak ikut diaorang sebab nak jimat duit, tak nak tergoda dengan segala macam sale yang tengah berlangsung sekarang, hehehe. Kalau duduk rumah, dah sure nya lah tak kan keluar duit apa kan!

But we did go out in the afternoon after lunch. We went to Freo sebab nak jumpa someone yang kenal through blogs who just arrived from M’sia for a holiday. Ni kiranya baru pertama kali jumpa lah. I kan kalau ada orang tanya kat mana nak beli souvenir paling murah kat Perth ni, I mesti suruh diaorang pergi E-Shed market at Freo.  And I rasa every visitor from M’sia memang tau and akan pergi E-Shed market tu untuk cari souvenirs. Kalau ada sesiapa yang baru sampai dr M’sia and rindu nak tengok ramai orang Malaysians, pergi ajelah E-Shed market tu, mesti nya akan terjumpa dengan M’sians lah! Kalau rindu sangat nak borak2 dengan orang M’sia, tegur aje lah sape2 yang kat situ tu. But I tak lah sampai tegur2 entah sape2 kat E-Shed market tu, tak kuasa I!Hikhikhikhik….

Even though it’s Winter but the weather tengah hari tadi was so so warm. It got up to 23C which was warm lah kan in Winter! And the best thing to have when it’s warm is gelato.

Eating ice cream in Winter, hehehe….

And this is Farah, the blogger that I met at Freo today. She said she saw me once at Sunway Pyramid masa we all balik M’sia last time but dia malu nak tegur I masa tu, so bila dia datang sini, baru dia dah tak malu dah nak tegur I, hehehe…

Thanks Farah sebab sudi jumpa we all tadi :-). Hope you have a nice holiday in Perth!

Tonite’s dinner I cuma masak yg sempoi, baked chicken wings and sausages with sauteed potatoes and salsa.

The Other Half malas nak berBBQ even though the weather was so nice!

What’s so good about stocktake sale? ;-)

Did I go to the stocktake sale? Yes, I did! Did I buy anything? Yes, I did! (not just 1 thing, a few many things, hehehehe). But I only bought I Tefal frying pan aje, tak memborong banyak2 pun. I cannot borong banyak2 sebenarnya sebab my pots and pans are still in very good condition so tu yang takde excuse for me to buy new ones. I beli frying pan tu pun sebab my excuse was, I don’t have a frying pan that size! Hikhikhik…..

I’m still using the pots n pan set that we bought with the gift voucher we received on our wedding day. Kiranya dah nearly 15 years lah kan the set but still in very good condition. Cuma tak bersinar2 macam baru2 beli dulu lah. Itu yang I tak boleh nak beli new ones, hehehe. And lepas ni I can’t buy new frying pan lah sebab Tefal’s supposed to last a very long time kan. And I still have the glass Vision saucepans yang I beli masa student dulu. That’s the problem when you buy good quality stuff kan, they last a long time so you can’t shop for new stuff! :-D. Kiranya I kena tunggu another 10-15 years kot before I can change to a brand new set of pots and pans. Uwahhhh…..lamanya kena tunggu!!!!! Hahahahhahaha……

But masa I tengah mengukur aisles kat Big W tadi, I saw that they were having Corelle sale as well. Macam2 corak ada. From abstract to bunga2, semua dia jual. And from the square sets to the old round sets, semua ada. But it wasn’t much of a sale lah, the square set tu I think they normally sell it at $85 for a 16-piece set and tadi they were selling them at $68 kot. And they were also selling the corelle loose so I pun beli lah 1 square ‘Mandarin flower’ plate khas untuk ambik gambar :-). I like the design because it’s so simple and uncluttered.

Inilah the lone plate that I bought :-). 1 keping aje yg I beli tau, bukan 1 set! hikhikhik….

And this is the frying pan that I bought. Kecik aje, 26cm. Harga asal was $49 and tadi lepas 50% off, I got it for $24.50 aje so memang berbaloi sangat2 lah kan beli masa sale ni.

Hah, cepatlah Indah, suruh your adik ipar gi borong kat KMart tu!!! hehehehehe….

So, lepas penat bershopping, I pun masak yang simple aje. Masak guna packet kari ready made :-). I made green chicken curry with beans and red prawn curry for dinner tadi. Since both pedas sikit, I masak ayam kicap aje untuk The Little Misses.

Senang aje masak green and red curries ni, tinggal tambah ayam, udang and the sayur aje, terus siap. Tak sampai pun 15 minit, hehehehe. Tu yang I kata I love ready made pastes ni!

Another yummmmm…..

Sape nak teka apa yang I mengidam nak makan untuk berbuka petang tadi? Angkat tangan! hehehehe.

I teringin nak buat jam doughnuts or another name for it, jam berliner. Bukan teringin nak makan sangat2, cuma ternign nak membuatnya aje. Since I had to make something for The Little Misses’ afternoon tea anyway, tu yang I buat doughnuts tu. And since I terperasan rajin sekejap, tu yang buat jam doughnuts tu, hehehe.

I tak pernah seumur hidup buat jam doughnuts ni sebab I tak tau macam mana nak masukkan jam ke dalam doughnuts tu. Macam magic aje I rasa :-). Pastu tadi I pun google lah cara2 nak masukkan jam ke dalam doughnuts ni and bukannya susah mana pun. As long as you ada icing ‘gun’ with the long nozzle tip, sonang bah itu. You just put the filling after you’ve fried the doughnuts. The Other Half loves jam doughnuts but selama ni we all beli aje sebab bini dia tak pandai buat. But tadi he ate 1 and said it was really good and torkojut pakcik tu bila I kata I yang buat sendiri, hahahahaha… Pastu, bila dia nak lagi, I told him I’ve frozen the rest for future consumption! Terus sedih aje dia sebab dapat makan sebijik aje, hehehe…. Takpe, he can take 1 esok for after lunch treat kan :-).

Sampai melimpah ruah jam tu I sumbat dalam doughnuts tu, hahahaha. It was really freaky watching the doughnuts grew ‘fatter’ when I was filling them, macam cerita Alien aje :-D.

And esok Stocktake June Sale has started at KMart. They are selling Tefal at 50% off!!!!!! Macam di panggil2 aje untuk I pergi bershopping Tefal ni…..Kuranglah pahala puasa I esok macam ni kan sebab bershopping sampai tak hengat dunia, tsk…tsk…tsk…….

Sape nak ikut I shopping Tefal esok? :-)

Yummmmm….

Hari ni I teringin nak berbuka dengan something sweet. But instead of kuih melayu, I teringin nak makan brownies. Ni sebab pergi rumah Kak Ita tengok dia buat brownies lah. Ye lah kan, tekak orang puasa ni, macam2 nak makan, hehehehe. Nasib baik tak teringin nak makan kuih talam lapis keladi ke or kek lapis sarawak ke or tepung gomak ke or donut Big Apple ke. Mano den nak cari kat sini kan! Hikhikhikhik…. Nak buat sendiri, memang kena tunggu rajin tahap mega (which in my case is probably never lah kan :-)).

But masa tengah buat ni tadi, memang menguji daya willpower and daya ingatan yang kuat sungguh!

Mana tak nya..

Masa tengah kacau the batter, jari ni asik nak mencolet nak merasa aje…

Lepas habis scraped the bowl, lidah ni asik teruja sungguh nak menjilat the bowl….

Masa tengah potong the brownies, tangan ni asik nak menguis the cake crumbs bawak pi masuk mulut aje….

Masa tengah arranged the slices nak ambik gambar, otak asik suruh jilat jari yang terkena the chocs….

At all times, I kena ingat kan diri baca mentera, “I’m fasting, I’m fasting, I’m fasting, I’m fasting, I’m fasting…………” so setan2 tak mengacau suruh bagi I buat2 lupa yang I tengah puasa!

Hahahahahaha….. Ada jugak manusia macam I ni kan ;-).

Inilah rupa brownies yang menggoda iman I tadi. Actually I guna recipe the base for choc swirl cheesecake slice yang ini. But I tak letak the cream cheese top layer and I just dotted the cake with easter eggs. Easter dah lama berlalu tapi the choc easter egss masih berlambak lagi kat rumah ni, hehehe. I reduced the oven temperature to 160C and baked it at around 45 mins kot.

The Little Misses tadi makan this brownies for afternoon tea and dah mintak nak bawak to school for their lunches esok :-). I like it sebab it’s slightly crispy on the outside but so chewy and chocolatey inside but probably too manis kot for some people, hehehe…..

And sebelum orang ingat I berdiet lagi sebab makan brownies aje for buka puasa, Meh I tunjuk my dinner tonite.

Kari laksa tapi kuah dia tercair pulaknya, hish…… hehehe…. Nasib baik bukan nak bagi kat MIL kan ;-).

Alhamdulillah, dapat jugak I berpuasa hari ni and kenyang I malam ni :-).

First day of puasa ganti

Pagi tadi I set my alarm at 5 o’clock in the morning. Sikit nya gigih ke bangun pagi2 morning sebab nak bersahur. Ye lah orang qada’ puasa first day hari ni, so tu yang berkobar2, hahahaha….

Sekarang ni Subuh masuk pukul 5.38 so tu yang seronok bersahur sebab bukan tengah malam kena makan. But I cuma minum kopi and minum air aje pun pagi tadi. Siap bawak masuk thermos and instant coffee n sugar and powdered milk masuk bilik sebab tak berani nak pergi dapur sorang2 masa still gelap gulita pagi2 buta tu, lawak kan….hehehehe…

And yang best nya berpuasa masa Winter ni sebab Maghrib masuk awal, pukul 5.19 dah boleh buka puasa non! Hajat hati nak berpuasa hari2 minggu ni and kasi selesai segala hutang piutang but tak tau lagi lah kan. Mana tau ada aral melintang tak dapat nak puasa kan. Esok pagi I think I set alarm clock tu lewat sikit lah kot sebab setakat minum kopi and air aje, 5 minit pun tak sampai, hehehe….

Sebab puasa sorang2 aje kan, so berbuka pun sorang2 aje lah and bila berbuka sorang2 ni, malas lah nak buat macam2 untuk iftar. I cuma buat karipap aje since I had to do them anyway for The Little Misses lunch boxes. But I buat inti special untuk I, keledek + kentang. I love karipap inti keledek ni but no one else likes it so tu yang malas nak buat selalunya. But tadi, since dah ada keledek, I pun just buat lah sikit to satisfy my tekak puasa :-).

Jom, jemput berbuka…..

secawan kopi susu dengan 3 ketul karipap :-).

Silent Sunday

I’m not in the mood to blog tonite sebab Miss 6 is not well and The Other Half is in Sydney. I just want to lie in bed and read a book.

Last nite, masa tengah lena tidur, suddenly there was a knock on our bedroom door and the sound of Miss 6 sobbing. Dengan mamai2 nya, I bukak pintu and asked her what’s wrong. She said she had such a bad ear pain. So, she ended up sleeping with us after a dose of panadol. She was ok during the day but it got bad again tonite. Dah bagi panadol pun still complained sakit lagi. And on top of that, she’s started coughing again. Oh well, probably another sleepless night for us both tonite.

I’ll just put up what I had for dinner tonite.

I had nasi putih with telur and tahu goreng, terung goreng with cili and the centrepiece of it…..

sambal goreng tempe with kacang and ikan bilis. Dah lama betul I tak makan benda ni. Heaven sangat2 dapat meratah samabl goreng ni. Rasa macam nak tambah nasi banyak2 kali aje just so I could eat it with the sambal goreng!