2 cooks’ lasagna

Last night for dinner, The Other Half and I made lasagne.

It’s been a lonnnnggggg time since the last time we cooked together so it was really nice to have him in the kitchen helping.

He helped because dah kesuntukan masa nak buat lasagne from scratch so terpaksalah guna khidmat dia untuk tolong I kacau the bechamel sauce while I prepared everything else.

But since dia cuma boleh guna 1 tangan aje, tak banyak jugak lah yang dia boleh buat.

But he did a very good job at stirring the bechamel sauce non stop! Which I hate doing .

Satu hari suntuk we all busy dengan the garden kan so we had a very late lunch, tu yang start masak dinner pun lambat.

Dah lah start lambat, pastu tak tau nak masak apa yang semua orang akan makan until Miss 13 said, “why don’t you cook the lasagne sheets that you just bought?”

I pun heran lah, tanya dia, “You like lasagne?”

She said, “yes!”

There are so many things that she doesn’t particularly like to eat so when she says that she likes lasagne, terus lah I masak lasagna for dinner that night.

Nasib baik I have a big casserole dish or else memang dah tumpah2 the kuah everywhere, hehehe….

I used beef mince and sausage mince for the meat sauce.

And then, dah lah kesuntukan masa, I pergi buat bechamel sauce yang a bit complicated pulak tu but it was worth it though sebab sangat sedap, hehehe….

I used this recipe for the bechamel sauce. I guna ready made pasta sauce untuk the meat sauce.

It was very creamy and cheesy though. The Other Half kata just how he likes his lasagne.

I can’t remember when was the last time I made lasagna sebab malas nak buat, heeeeee….

We ended up eating dinner at 7.30 which was an hour later than our usual dinner time of 6.30 so semua dah kelaparan!

Kalau makan dinner at 6.30, by 7.30 I dah boleh tutup dapur.

No more masak2 after I dah tutup dapur.

Sape2 yang lapar and nak buat air, pandai2 lah buat sendiri, hehehe…

Orang kat Malaysia waktu ni, baru aje habis minum petang kan, kahkahkahkahkah…….

And another weekly garden update….

I know, I know…

Kalau hari Sabtu aje, mesti I update pasal garden kan .

Sepatutnya hari ni tak update pasal garden. Sepatutnya hari ni we all keluar pergi kayaking at the Canning River satu family….

Tapi disebabkan dek The Other Half’s injury, tak boleh guna his left hand, terpaksalah we all postponed that river program…..

So, kenalah we all spent the time in the garden instead, hehehehe……

The Other Half kata sekarang ni I tengah kemaruk beli benda2 nak hias our outdoor area….

I said to him, “Dah 2 years kita tinggal kat rumah ni, baru sekarang I terhegeh2 nak cantikkan the outdoor area!”

I bought a nice metal wall art the other day to put up on the outside wall next to the front door so bila orang datang rumah, ‘meriah’ lah sikit that area kan instead of just bare aje….

But kena tunggu The Other Half sihat walafiat dulu before he can use the drill to hang the wall art.

So, kena tunggu dia sihat and kena tunggu mood meng drill dia datang, mau lah kot tahun depan baru pasang, hehehehe…..

And since I tengah kemaruk nak mencantikkan laman depan tu, I also replaced all the other garden solar lights with the ‘japanese’ pagoda type ones.

So, nampak lah sama aje kan….

The old garden solar lights I letak in the vege patches kat belakang so senanglah sikit all the siput babi nak datang makan our seedlings kan sebab I dah bagi lampu, hahahahaha….

Baru lah cantik sikit the rose garden kan .

So many roses blooming!

Pagi tadi masa I bangun tidur and looked outside the window, punyalah terkejut tengok so many roses have bloomed already.

Maybe sebab hujan lebat and the storm semalam kot so pagi ni semua sepakat nak mekar.

But The Other Half kata, “I just hope no one steals the solar lights….”

Tu lah kan, dah lah kawasan depan rumah we all ni takde pagar so sape2 pun senang aje lah nak ambik….

Nasib baik lah $2 aje but still tension gak kalau kena curi…

And we also put up the second trellis that we built last week into the garden bed.

Compared to three weeks ago, our garden bed looked so much better today.

This is the first trellis. The cucumber plants are growing well. Sekejap lagi, mulalah dia memanjat.

This is the second trellis. I’ve planted 4 snake beans/kacang panjang plants under it.

I tanam these 3 zucchini seedlings 3 weeks ago, sekarang dah mula menjalar. Kejap lagi, hari2 lah we all kena makan zucchinis nampaknya, hehehe.

Pemandangan yang sangat menggembirakan hati we all, our first kalamansi/calamondin/buah limau kasturi.

The lemon and the tahitian lime trees are also flowering at the moment so hopefully, akan keluar buah jugak kejap lagi.

Pagi tadi we went to Bunnings again and I bought a few plants there.

Salah satunya, this Australian paper daisy.

Macam2 warna ada, I rasa macam nak beli all the colours aje tadi.

But I and flowers kadang2 tak ngam sangat. Our gerbera dah pergi to Gerbera Heaven, tu yang I kena ganti dengan another flower so we chose this one.

Hopefully this one will last a lot longer lah since it’s native to Australia.

And ini pulak the succulent that I bought about a year and a half ago. Sejak beli, I tak pernah tukar pasu dia, kesian betul, but sungguh dia tak kisah, masih hidup seperti biasa.

Tadi, I finally repot it into a bigger pot so hopefully lepas ni, lagi senang lah dia nak membiak.

Petang tadi we all keluar lah tengok the plants again. The Other Half said, “I swear the cactus is growing bigger already!”

Ceh, magic apa boleh grow bigger in a few hours, hehehe…..

The solar lights at night time.

I tak pandai lah ambik gambar at night time…It is much prettier than this in real life.

My life from different angles

I was browsing through a second-hand shop this morning looking for odd bits and pieces for me to use for my food photography props (cari and kumpul aje, gunanya sangat2 lah jarang. Buat menyemak dapur aje kata The Other Half, hahahaha….).

When I found this mug.

Terus jatuh cinta tak berbelah bagi with all the words on the mug, hikhikhikhik…..

And terus lah I beli, tak kisah lah second hand ke tak!

From one angle, I am definitely the taxi driver for everyone, the negotiator when I’m in a good mood, the nursemaid definitely, Miss 13 says she doesn’t think I’m a super conversationalist (dalam hati dia sure dia berkata unless super conversationalist is another word for nagger, hahahaha…)…

Miss 8 says that fixer of all things is not Mum but Dad (little does she know eh, hahahaha), gardener definitely, coffee lover memang sangat2 betul but only in the morning to wake me up, great lover and hugger (itu kena tanya The Other Half but my blog is PG so tak boleh lah kan, hahahaha but great hugger tu boleh lah tanya Miss 8 ), homemaker every single day of the week.

Organiser memang betul or else semua orang akan tak tentu hala, dietitian I’m still trying to be especially now 3 of us have put on weight again!, alarm clock tu memang tugas rasmi saya every morning, wonder cook sudah semestinya lah kan , encyclopedia only occasionally.

Actually, ada banyak lagi job description for Mums like us kan but tak muat pulak nak tulis on such a small mug.

Kena lah beli jug 2 litre tu baru muat nak tulis semuanya….

But giler apa nak minum kopi dua litre pagi2! Tak sudah I keluar masuk toilet nak wee wee sampai malam!

This mug sums up my life every second of every hour, every day of the week…..

Sesiapa yang has the same kind of life like me, sila angkat tangan tinggi2 ye.

Kita High 5 sama2!

Please hold my hand

The Other Half sekarang tengah nervous habis, siap dapat nightmare bagai….

(lebih teruk dari his nervousness masa nak nikah, kahkahkahkah….)….

He’s going to have the K-wire in his finger removed next Thursday..

Bukan tomorrow, bukan jugak Saturday, but next Thursday which is a week away!

Tapi dah siap berpeluh2 bagai sejak dari minggu lepas lagi, hikhikhik….

The Other Half ni has always admitted to people yang he’s a wuss when it comes to pain and suffering and needles and blood.

When the OT had to change the dressing on his finger minggu lepas tu pun dia dah dry retched, hehehe….

Itu baru tukar dressing dah termuntah, I tak tau lah apa nak jadi when he has to get his stitches out this Monday, and bila the K-wire’s coming out next week…

Unfortunately, I can’t accompany him to get his stitches out sebab I kena hantar Miss 13 pergi her orthodontic appoinment.

Miss 8 dah put up her hand to accompany him to the doctor on that day…hopefully jangan dua2 pengsan dah lah, hahahaha…..

But The Other Half dah cakap tadi, “I really wish I could have you to hold my hand when they take the wire out. It was so comforting holding your hand at the Emergency Dept when they did the nerve block on me even though I think I neary crushed your hand.”

I guess I nearly crushed his hand when I held it masa tengah bertarung dalam labour room so now it’s my turn pulak to get crushed, heeeee……

I dah banyak kali offer to go with him to get the wire out tapi dia perasan macho and kata tak payah everytime…

Rupa2nya tak lah macho mana, hahahaha…

So, I told him that I don’t mind being there with him to hold his hand when the time comes which makes him so happy.

I tak kisah benda2 ni semua, sikit pun tak rasa nak pengsan .

Orang yang separa macho tu wanted to have thai green chicken curry this week so malam ni for dinner, I buatkan lah dia his favourite Thai green chicken curry.

Makan dengan ayam goreng, sayur goreng and keropok.

I letak bamboo shoots/rebung and green beans in the curry. I guna the canned rebung aje, dah takde bau pun so tu yang Mat Saleh sorang ni relax aje makan .

Samalah mcm petai. He loves petai but only the canned variety sbb dah takde bau. Haritu I pernah beli and masak petai yg freshly frozen, tapi dia tak suka sebab dia kata a bit too strong, hehehe….

Mat Saleh sorang ni suka sangat2 thai geeen chicken curry…

For me, I lagi suka masak lemak cili api. Dua2 guna cili api and pedas kaw2 but masak lomak cili api lagi simpe tu yang I suka….

Thai green chicken curry ni kena ada rasa masam, manis, pedas and masin which is more complex I guess.

But The Other Half tak suka sangat masak lemak cili api ni so kenalah I tukar selera…..

 

P/S Al fatihah to Arwah Abah. He would have been 71 years old today. Happy birthday Abah. Semoga roh Abah aman dan tenang di dalam Jannah Nya.

heavenly smell

The first bloom in our rose ‘garden’.

The smell is just heavenly.

This rose bush is right infront of my bedroom window so when we leave the bedroom window open, we could occasionally smell the sweet rose smell especially when the wind is blowing.

But kadang2 bila terlupa yang the window is opened and tiba2 terbau wangi aje malam2, terus meremang bulu roma I tiba2…

Hikhikhikhikhik…….

And kat bawah ni pulak is the weekly repeat dinner from my kitchen.

Its smell is equally as heavenly as well, hehehehe…..

Sausage pizza.

But bila tercium bau ni, tak meremang bulu roma….cuma berirama perut aje lah….. heeeee…

Her meatball sandwich

Miss 8 aka Miss ‘I’m going to be 9 in 18 days Mum’ told me that she really really loved her meatballs sandwich for lunch today.

She said that it tasted so good! Everything in it tasted so nice.

“I even ate all the crust!” Sedap sangat2 lah tu agaknya sebab she even ate the crust, hahahaha.

Then I tanya lah dia apa kawan baik dia at school had for lunch tadi.

She said, “Dorothy usually has nutella sandwich. And her Mum cut the bread into different shapes every day. And it is quite small and she only has 1 small sandwich.”

Then I asked her, “are you saying that you have the most food for lunch amongst your friend?”

Then I said to her, “No wonder Dorothy is so thin compared to you. She only has a small sandwich while you have 2 thick meatballs sandwich triangles for your lunch and you finished it all up”.

She just smiled .

This was the meatball sandwich she had for lunch. (Rupa tak boleh lawan Subway’s meatballs sandwich lah kan. Rasa pun Subway punya lagi sedap lah kot, I tak pernah rasa cos kat sini punya mana halal.)

2 slices of Helga’s bread which is quite thick, broken up meatballs so tak tergolek2 keluar masa dia makan (leftovers from last night’s dinner), sliced colby cheese, gherkins, butter and dijonnaise mustard.

No other veges because she didn’t want it.

And she only had this sandwich for her lunch, nothing else. And she had fruit salad for recess.

Kalau I makan this sandwich for lunch, sure kenyang jugak kan . But my sandwich will be filled with greens lah because I love loads of salad in it.

Miss 13 will usually have the same kind of sandwich and sama banyak dengan Miss 8, tu sebab dia kurus aje. The Other Half usually has 2 sandwiches (4 triangles) for his lunch, baru dia kenyang (tu sebab dia gemuk, hahahahaha).

Sebab sedaaaapppppp sangat the meatballs sandwich yang I buatkan untuk Miss 8 hari ni, she has asked for it again tomorrow.

Nasib baik stock meatballs ada lagi you, hikhikhikhik…..

Eating too much is definitely not good! :-)

Pagi tadi I ada jamuan farewell party kat rumah kawan….

Seperti biasa lah kan…

Jamuan=food, lots and lots of food and loads and loads of talking.

Party start pukul 9.30 pagi….

Nak tau pukul berapa I balik from my friend’s house tu?

Pukul 2.00 petang!

Itupun sebab ingat nak ambik budak2 kat sekolah, baru lah kelam kabut balik!

Hahahahahaha….

Balik tu, memang I rasa perut I sangat2 lah sendatnya, rasa macam tak boleh dah nak telan anything anymore walaupun secawan air.

Mana lah tak sendatnya, the host cooked mee siam and nasi lemak as main meals.

Pastu dengan segala macam side dishes lagi like karipap sardin (yang I makan banyak lah jugak), lontong goreng (yang I memang tak makan sebab dah kenyang sangat2), all kinds of desserts.

Pastu siap tapau lagi, hikhikhikhik….

But then, since the girls and The Other Half tak pergi melantak macam I, nak tak nak, I kenalah masak dinner for them jugak kan.

I made meatballs, makan dengan steamed veges and chips and gravy.

The meatballs I just guna a mixture of mince beef and sausage mince, fresh white breadcrumbs, grated brown onion, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce and worcesteshire sauce.

Then kepal2 and I baked them in a moderate oven for around 20 minutes. Before masuk oven, I sprayed them a bit with olive oil.

Don’t ask what are those white lumpy bits on the meatballs!

I tersilap buat gravy, tercepat tambah the hot meatballs jus sebelum the flour betul2 masak so the flour lumps didn’t disintegrate walaupun I dah tried whisking it to death.

Pastu, nak cepat sebab nak solat and nak serve dinner before I nak solat, tu yang malas dah nak betulkan.

takpe lah, once in a while my gravy tak jadi smooth, hehehe…. But rasa tetap ok .

I cuma makan the steamed veges aje sebab bila I timbang lepas balik from that makan2, berat I terus naik 2 kilogram!!!!!!

Uwahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other day, Yuhaisya nak tengok the solar lights ‘in action’ at night time.

This is how they look like.

It’s a bit blurry sebab I malas nak pakai tripod bawak keluar malam2, hehehe….

nasib baik lah my neighbours tak panggil police sebab nampak I terhendap2 dengan camera atas the pavers outside!