It’s just another usual Monday

The second day of Eid in our household is the usual busy Monday.

The Other Half going to work, me waking up early to prepare the girls lunch boxes after a month of hibernation and then sending the girls to school.

No more cuti2 raya ye, hehehehe….

But Miss 13 asked me if I could make some kuih ketayap for her to take to school to give to her friends sempena Raya.

And Miss 8 nak roti jala for lunch.

So, pagi tadi kelam kabut lah I menjala and menebar ketayap sekejap.

Nasib baik diaorang tak mintak rendang tok and ketupat daun palas kan!

Heeeeeee….

Anyway, since tak pergi jalan2 beraya ke mana2 hari ni….

I spent some time in the garden at home…

Our lavender bush is blooming at the moment.

Tak sangka betul, after only a year+, it has grown so well.

Unfortunately our other lavender bush didn’t survive being smothered and suffocated by the watermelon plants.

And then bila nampak loads of lavender flowers ni, tetiba teringin pulak nak buat lavender biscuits.

But bila I Googled, I found out yang the type of lavender that we have tak sesuai untuk dibuat biscuits, sob sob sob….

Our lavender is the spanish lavender type and the smell and taste is a bit ‘camphor’ like so tu yang tak sesuai nak buat cookies.

Then bila I pergi Bunnings, they didn’t have english lavender which is the right type to use untuk buat cookies.

But masa jalan2 around the aisle, I saw this thing….

I’ve never seen this before and I’ve never seen lavender seeds being sold before so to find this is pretty amazing I think, hehehe.

And what makes it even better, it is a kit to grow english lavender, the type of lavender I’ve been looking for.

But we’ve never done this before so tak tau lah whether it will grow or not.

But, there’s a first time for everything kan .

And I also bought another lavender plant because they look so gorgeous.

Can’t wait to start planting Spring and Summer plants soon!

Aidil Fitri 2012

How was your Eid celebration?

Hope everyone had a wonderful, joyful and safe Eid.

Ours was a good one, still meriah even though not as meriah as Msia lah.

We did go to the Masjid Rockingham pagi tadi and arrived there on time.

Penuh dengan lautan manusia and also penuh meja dengan makanan…

But we didn’t eat any of the makanan2 berat kat situ (which was a hard thing to do let me tell you!) sebab we were  going to 2 open houses so kenalah save some rooms in our stomachs kan.

Lagipun baru aje habis puasa, kalau makan macam2, maulah meragam perut malam ni, hehehe.

And as usual, our baju raya colours tak serupa.

I wore the same baju yang I’ve had for a few years already. Cuma tudung aje baru, hahaha.

The Other Half pakai baju batik you! (Itupun setelah berjaya dipujuk oleh bininya supaya pakai baju yang cantik sikit. Or else dia nak pakai his work shirt and pants aje, hehehe).

Jangan harap lah dia nak pakai baju melayu, memang tak kan berjaya I pujuk punya lah.

The girls pakai baju kurung yang Nenek bawak from Msia in June.

Our first family photo at the Masjid pagi tadi.

Tak sedondon tapi still chomels kan

Muahahahaha.

Our second family photo at a friend’s house tengah hari tadi after penuh perut makan macam2….

I wonder bila lah baju raya we all akan sedondon agaknya ye….

Selamat Hari Raya 2012

Anak bulan Syawal telah kelihatan di Perth pukul 6.35 tadi jadi…

Esok Hari Raya, esok hari raya, esok hari raya!!!!!!

And solat kat Masjid Rockingham will start at 8.30 esok pagi so tak perlulah bertolak awal2 sangat from home.

Sunday pulak tu, so memang dah sahih2 takde traffic jam that early in the morning lah kan.

So, since esok Raya, we spent the day today kemas the outside area and masak2.

(Inside dah kemas beria2 semalam but dah bersepah balik hari ni! Tak kuasa nak kemas balik, hahahha).

What did I masak today?

I masak sate ayam and daging.

And The Other Half bakar guna arang .

Then we had it with kuah kacang and nasi impit segera and rendang daging.

And jaffa whoopie pies for our last Iftar this year.

I made the pies and Miss 13 put the filling and dusted the pies with icing sugar.

It was a wonderful Raya spread for us .

 

And dikesempatan ini, we would like to wish all the Muslim readers of this blog..

Have a happy, safe, peaceful and blessed Eid ul Fitri.

May all our good deeds be accepted by the Almighty.

And May the guidance and blessings of Allah be with us and our families in this holy month and beyond.

Esok2 lah ye I tayang gambar raya .

A sad entry before Syawal

I’ve lived far away from home for nearly half of my life….

And every year without fail, I will receive a Raya card in the mailbox from my parents.

Selalunya my Abah lah yang beria akan pergi ke kedai (heret Mak I sekali) untuk cari kad raya yang paling cantik untuk diposkan ke anak dia yang jauh di perantauan ni.

Kadang2 kad yang paling besar, kadang2 kad yang ada lagu2 tu, hehehe….

Awal2 puasa dia dah pos kan kad tu, just to make sure that I (bila dah kahwin and dah ada anak2, we) received the cards on time.

Orang lain dah stop bagi I real cards, cuma bagi sms and virtual cards aje, he was still stuck in the ‘old’ ways .

But this year, hati I sangat lah sayu nya……

No more raya cards arriving in the mailbox for us…….

Everytime I see the postman, it makes me slightly sad knowing that he will never ever bring any more raya cards for us….

I guess in my heart I somehow knew that last year might be the last Raya card I were to receive from him…

Sebab tu I simpan card raya yang I dapat from him last year.

Masa tengah kemas2 all other greeting cards last year, card dia tetap I simpan rapi….

His last written words to us…..

And now, I will definitely put it in a safe place for me to take out whenever I’m missing him….

It is true what they say, ‘you don’t know what you are missing until it’s gone.’

The last kad raya from him…

This Syawal will be the first Syawal my Mak will be celebrating without Abah after nearly 45 years of marriage.

In a way, I am ‘happy’ that I am here in Perth and not there at kampung on that Raya morning so I do not have to feel and see her sadness.

Kalau I ada kat situ, instead of cheering her up, I might just menambahkan her sadness by bawling my eyes out at the kubur.

Semoga roh Abah aman di sana dan ditempatkan di dalam Jannah Nya.

We surely miss you a lot Abah/ Atuk.

Al Fatihah….

I finally did it!

Alhamdulillah, lagi a few days nak masuk Syawal, I finally managed to khatam Quran.

First time ever I berjaya baca Quran dalam bulan Ramadhan and khatam!

Selalunya baca tapi tak pernah berjaya nak khatam cos too many distractions, hehehe.

But this year memang I berazam sangat2 nak cuba khatam in 1 month and Alhamdulillah, dimakbulkan doa I.

But memang kena committed betul2 lah, baca setiap kali lepas solat and kalau ada masa lebih, baca extra to cover up the times tak sempat nak baca banyak2.

Selalunya lepas Sahur lah yang ada masa lebih nak pulun baca.

Now dah khatam, boleh lah relax sikit…….

Bolehlah start dengar lagu raya, hahahaha…..

2 nights ago, The Other Half mintak nasi and kari for dinner so I masak lah nasi and butter chicken.

Tapi for me yang bukan minah kari sangat2 ni, I masak bilis goreng tumis dengan bawang, cili and kicap manis!

Heaven! hikhikhik….

The Other Half sangat lah berselera makan sebab ada kari dan sekutunya, acar mentah.

Dah seminggu ni I tak masak kuih, we all buka straight dengan kurma and then terus makan main meal.

Pastu baru solat maghrib and dah boleh lepak2 lepas tu.

Lagi pun, Maghrib masuk agak lambat sekarang, around 5.50 so memang ngam2 waktu dinner lah, tu yang dinner terus.

Lagi senang kerja I kaaaaannnnnn……

Am I done with kuih raya yet?

I don’t usually spend that long in the kitchen making kuih raya cookies.

I feel like as though I have other more pressing things/ errands to do instead of spending so long making cookies.

Tu sebab my cookies semuanya simple2 belaka, takde deco bagai!

(Bilalah nak rajin mendeco biskut raya ni gamaknya ye!)

hikhikhik….

And I would normally start my cookie making at 10 in the morning and finish by 12 or 12.30 in the afternoon.

2 and half hours max, cukup lah kan, heeeee…

Malam memang takde masa nak buat cookies.

Nasib baik Isya’ masuk awal around 7 o’clock like that so  even after buat Tarawikh, I could still be in bed by 9.30 the latest at night.

I tak tidur balik after Sahur, neither do I sleep during the day, tu yang kena tidur by 9.30 so I have 7 hours of beauty sleep still, hikhikhik….

And now, I baru aje habis buat kuih gunting.

So, my must-do kuih raya have all been done so bolehlah I relax a bit….

But I rasa I still kena buat a few kuih raya next week sebab…..

Mkiss 13 have been eating the kuih raya non stop!

I have to tell her to slow down on her kuih raya munching lepas Iftar and masa sahur because I’m not making them anymore and I am hoping they could last for the guests to eat!

Tu yang kadang2 malas betul buat kuih raya awal2 ni sebab ada aje yang tukang makan.

Tukang buat I sorang but tukang makan nya ramai gak.

Nasib baik The Other Half and Miss 8 tak join makan sama banyak macam Miss 13 or else memang I kena hidang biskut kedai aje lah kat tetamu2 kan.

I am not sure whether sebab the cookies yang I buat sedap sangat atau tetiba ada banyak cookie choices depan mata so tu yang Miss 13 melantak sakan.

Maybe I kena sorok the cookies until raya time kot…..

Once I dah habis completely buat semua kuih muih raya and dah masuk balang, I’ll put up the photos eh, hehehe…

Sambil tu, layan dulu lah gambar kuih gunting in the making

Kalau takde pasta maker ni, memang takkan ku buat kuih gunting.

Dulu2, Mak I pun buat kuih gunting pakai pasta maker ni. I tak tau dia beli kat mana tapi memang dia jaga her gadget tu sebab memang menyenangkan hidup kalau nak buat kuih gunting.

I can still call it kuih gunting sebab I still have to gunting the dough that came out into tiny pieces .

My pasta maker ni walaupun cuma once in a blue moon aje I guna but tak boleh hidup tanpanya, hehehe.

And for dinner last night, I made pasta again.

Punyalah malas giler I nak masak so I cooked the same pasta in sundried tomato pesto with sausages (again!).

So simple to make as long as you have the sundried tomato and cooked sausages in hand.

And loved by everyone (well, except Miss 13 but she still ate it anyway, hehehe).

Too many things to do-Tuesday

Pagi tadi I made some kuih gunting (but baru uli and mix the dough aje, esok baru nak buat proses menggunting dan menggoreng).

And also some tart nenas.

And also another batch of biskut gajus daisy aka biskut mazola (kena tukar nama since I guna gajus and guna minyak jagung Daisy. Lembu punya susu, sapi dapat nama eh, tak aci lah kan, hehehe).

The Other Half dah mintak his favourite Belgian biscuits tapi I masih takde kuasa lagi nak buat that biscuits, hehehe.

Biskut lain senang aje, sebab main gentel2 dan guling2.

Biskut belgian ni siap kena terap, pastu kena isi icing, pastu kena decorate….terlebih cekadak sikit, tu yang malas nak buat, hehehe.

Tak pun, lepas raya nanti lah baru I buat since no one’s coming to our house on the first day of raya anyway .

Malam ni tak boleh cakap banyak since dah lambat dah ni….

Layan lah ye gambar our dinner that we had 2 nights ago.

Roast chicken sandwich ala2 Subway, hahaha.

I buat roast chicken hari tu and since ada leftovers, I jst shredded the flesh and re sauteed them in olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper.

Then I filled the roll with grated carrots, some salad leaves, sauteed red onions (which turned purple after cooking!), colby cheese, gherkins, mayo and sweet chilli sauce.

Itu aje lah dinner we all on Monday night since tukang masak malas nak masak lebih2, heeeee…..