Post puasa weight gain

Puasa tahun ni tak sama macam tahun2 sebelum ni.

Selalunya I would lose quite a bit of weight masa bulan puasa, walaupun makan macam2 masa berbuka.

But tahun ni, walaupun I tak buat kuih macam2 untuk berbuka, my weight didn’t come down as much as I would have liked to!

Dah akhir2 puasa baru muncul nombor yang agak cantik on the weighing scale tu.

I guess bila umur makin meningkat, makin susah nak maintain the weight and the metabolism makin kurang….

But then, baru aje beberapa hari habis puasa, I’ve gained back the weight that I lost and then some!

Agggghhhhhh!!!!!!!

Rasa macam nak beli weighing scale baru aje!

Wahkahkahkahkah…..

Badan sendiri dah gemuk, blamed it on the scale!

Open houses tak habis lagi ni, macam mana nak lose back the weight kan!

The Other Half has gone back to riding on his non electrical bike to work so he could lose all the weight he gained masa bulan puasa.

Orang lain lost weight, dia gained weight sbb makan segala macam benda masa berbuka.

Walaupun dah tak makan lauk pauk raya sejak day 2 Syawal hari tu, but we still munch on biskut2 raya.

Membuatkan lagi susah nak lose back the weight kan.

And dinner still makan banyak jugak!

Our dinner for the past few days…

Fettucine bolognese.

Mee goreng paling sempoi.

Sausage rolls with chips and cheesy cauliflower gratin.

Orange, honey and ginger chicken wings with crusty bread and salad.

The salad has lettuce leaves, butter beans, steamed green beans, orange slices and marinated artichokes.

Macam mana lah nak kurus balik kan!

Late Winter garden makeover

While everyone else is still in Raya mode- makan lauk pauk and kuih raya non stop, jalan2 pergi Raya open houses, uploading gambar2 raya with baju cantik2…

We (The Other Half mostly) were busy in the garden this morning!

(Tapi Miss 9 and I did go to 1 Raya open house petang tadi so dapatlah jugak makan lauk pauk raya hari ni, hehehehe…).

Anyway, since bulan April hari tu, memang our vege gardens have been severely neglected.

Tu yang memang I tak upload gambar langsung.

A lot of the warmer weather plants are in ‘hibernation’ so there’s no point showing them cos daun pun takde so nak tunjuk apa kan, hehehe…

And we didn’t plant any Winter veges this year cos tak sempat.

So, nothing to show there either.

But today sebab dah lepas bulan puasa and ada masa spare and dah nak dekat masuk Spring, The Other Half and I pun berkebun lah sikit.

For the next few weeks until Spring time, every weekend we’ll be spent cleaning the garden and preparing the garden beds getting them ready for Spring planting.

This was how our main vege patch looked like a couple of weeks ago.

Taken over by the wild tomato plants.

They were everywhere! Menjalar2 atas tanah.

Some of the tomatoes. I think they are the cherry variety.

And pagi tadi, while the girls and I were at the market, The Other Half pulled all the plants out leaving the vege patch bare except for a small row of newly planted sugar snap peas.

The row of sugar snap peas, the only Winter veges yang we all tanam but a bit too late in the season. Tak tau lah sempat ke tak dia berbuah sebelum the hot weather comes in.

And after we have dug compost in and topped it with mulch…

We’ll let this vege patch rest for a few weeks to a month before we start planting seedlings in it.

The Other Half kata tanaman yang wajib ditanam this Spring are kacang panjang, lebanese cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes and watermelon.

I might also plant some basils, daun kesum, chilli, ginger….

And masa tengah kat kebun tadi, I baru perasan our lavender plant has produced some gorgeous flowers.

And the rose bushes that I pruned the other day have also started producing new growths!

Yeay! I managed to not kill any of them with my pruning, hehehehe…

There’s still a lot of overgrown grass everywhere in the garden.

I need to spend some time weeding and pulling the grass out.

The 3 citrus plants, the kalamansi, the tahitian lime and the lemon tree.

Can’t wait for the Spring planting season to arrive .

Post Eid update

How’s everyone’s Raya celebration?

Sangat2 happening ke?

We all kat sini, macam biasalah, meriah enough for our family’s standard but kalau orang Malaysia tengok, mau menangis berjujuran air mata plus air hidung sebab sedih giler sebab tak happening langsung!

hikhikhikhik….

Pagi Raya on that Thursday tu, we went down to Rockingham to the masjid there.

Walaupun ada aje hall yang jalan kaki tak sampai 5 minit dari rumah we all buat solat raya pagi tu, we all tetap gigih nak gi sambut raya kat Rockingham jugak yang 45 minutes away from our house, hehehehe..

Pastu, satu hari suntuk hujan on and off that day…

Luckily it wasn’t freezing cold as well so tak lah kena pakai segala macam winter jackets kan.

And inside the masjid pagi tu.

And jamuan raya potluck yang menunggu untuk dimakan beramai2.

And our only raya photo on that day.

everyone wore thermals and leggings under the baju kurung tu yang the girls tak payah nak pakai coats .

The girls wore the same baju kurung they wore last year and The Other Half wore shirt and pants and I wore baju kurung nenek beli kan, hehehe….

Bila lah agaknya we all nak pakai baju kaler sedondon ye?

hiihihihihi….

After the masjid, The Other half went back to work and the girls went back to school!

And I went back home untuk masak rendang and masak kicap daging!

hahahahaha…..

But lepas ambik the girls from school, we went beraya to a friend’s house and malam tu pergi beraya to another friend’s house so ada lah jugak pergi beraya kan .

And a photo of me and Miss 9 nak pergi beraya malam tu.

On the second day of raya, everything went back to normal.

The Other Half pergi kerja and the girls went to school and I jadi cinderella kat rumah.

Malam raya and hari raya makan lauk pauk orang masak, the second day of raya baru lah we all berkesempatan makan lauk rendang masakan sendiri…

Tapi I cuma masak rendang and acar aje sebab dah puas makan lodeh and sambal goreng at other people’s houses.

And hari ni on the third day of Raya while all my sedara mara masih gigih makan lauk pauk raya, we all makan pancakes for breakfast

And pizza for dinner.

I made roast chicken with caramelised onion pizza.

Kalau pizza macam ni, baru lah terliur I nak makan.

Kalau plain cheese pizza aje, memang tak lalu lah nak masuk tekak!

Segala leftover rendang, kuah kacang and daging masak kicap I dah packed masuk freezer untuk dikeluarkan bila rindu, hehehe….

Selamat hari Raya Aidil Fitri

It happened again.

Masjid kat Perth berbeza pendapat nak sambut Syawal bila.

Since we’ve already decided even before Ramadhan to follow Masjid Rockingham, we will beraya esok on Thursday!

Yeay yeay esok Raya!

hehehe…

I tak masak apa2 pun hari ni kecuali kuah kacang and some desserts.

Sebab tadi we all pergi jemputan makan2 malam raya so tu yang tak masak apa2.

But dah kenyang sangat2 perut makan rendang daging, nasi impit, sambal goreng, masak lodeh….

Sangat lah seronok nya dapat makan lauk pauk raya tanpa kena masak! .

But I did take some desserts tadi..

I made mini choc pavlovas.

The girls were happy cos they love pavs, hehehe.

And ini pulak rupa dua gadis melayu terakhir kena paksa pakai baju kurung pergi beraya tadi, hikhikhik….

Sempena bulan Syawal yang mulia ni, I would like to say…

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.

Please forgive me for any wrongdoings or offences that I might have made in this blog.

I know I have a lot of flaws….

25 days in

Tak sangka betul ramai yang terliur tengok the swedish meatballs and creamy gravy I tu, hehehe.

Biasa lah kan, bila tengah puasa, segalanya nampak sedap kan! .

I used this recipe for the meatballs but obviously guna 100% beef mince lah.

I also used the same recipe for the gravy but I tak masak the meatballs in the gravy at the last step tu. I cuma tuang gravy on top of the meatballs and mash aje.

Making gravy in the same pan as the one you fry your meatballs is the best thing to do.

Jangan bersihkan pan tu, the burnt crunchy bits tu lah yang membuatkan gravy anda sedap!

And the most important thing is, you have to adjust any recipe according to your taste lah ye.

Macam swedish meatballs tu, I added a bit of paprika for a bit of spice. But jangan tak letak allspice or nutmeg tu sebab those are the spices regularly used by the Swedes I guess.

Kalau you all nak letak chilli powder sbb you all suka pedas, it’s up to you but tak boleh lah panggil swedish meatballs kan .

For the creamy parmesan mashed potato pulak, it’s like any other mashed potato recipe.

Once you have cooked and mashed the potatoes, masa tengah panas2 tu, I added loads of butter, cream and parmesan and salt and pepper to the mash. And mix it really well.

But don’t forget to adjust the seasonings according to your taste ye.

Like The Other Half, he would love it if I add more butter to the mash but nanti I kena tukar nama the mash potato tu heart attack mash potato instead of creamy mash potato pulak nya kan!

hahahaha….

Resipi tart nenas yang I selalu guna pulak is recipe Princess Haryati sbb I suka yg gebu2 .

Weekend ni I pulun buat biskut raya sebab nak bagi kat Ustazah2 the girls at Sunday school.

Bukannya buat untuk we all, hahahaha…

But gambar biskut tak ambik lagi so you all layan aje lah gambar our dinners for the past 2 nights.

On Thursday nite, I made fettucine in walnut sauce.

Makan pulak dgn honey mustard drumsticks and pear salad.

The walnut sauce is basically like pesto but thinner and creamier.

I love this kind of pasta much more than tomato-based ones.

And last nite since Miss 14 reminded me that Friday nite is pizza nite, I made ‘pizza’.

But I made the Turkish pizza version called samsun pide.

It’s a boat .

Kat Msia, orang sibuk buat biskut sampan lah, tart sampan lah sebab nak raya.

I buat roti pizza sampan, hehehe.

And I also made chocolate hazelnut melting moments semalam for our buka snack.

Malam ni we all makan leftovers and whatever we can find in the fridge and freezer aje so tu yang boleh pulun buat biskut .

The dishes we had….

So, dengar2 cerita kata Malaysia mungkin sambut Raya next Thursday ye.

Wahhhh….kejap lagi lah ye .

I pun just found out a few days ago, one of the masjids kat sini pun kemungkinan besar sambut Raya on a Thursday jugak.

So, we all pun happy lah sebab The Other Half boleh ambik half day leave on that Thursday tu (kalau Friday, dia tak boleh sebab ada training pagi tu).

And we all pun dah berura2 nak ponteng kan the girls the whole Thursday tu.

Until suddenly, we found out yang Miss 9 ada WAMSE test on that Thursday, pagi dan petang!

Camner nak ponteng macam tu!

hikhikhikhik…..

But luckily, it’s one of those tests where you can sit it anytime between the 5th to the 9th of August so I might have to discuss with her teachers to find a more suitable date and time for her to sit the test.

Apa nak buat kan, dah duduk kat negara yang Hari Raya bukan nya public holidays, hehehehehe….

At least, ada gak masjid kan .

By the way, selepas dah 23 hari puasa, lepas berbuka tadi, baru lah first time I dengar lagu raya on Suria FM.

Kali ni memang agak lemau sikit in everything….

Lemau nak start buat kuih raya, lemau nak start dengar lagu raya, lemau nak update blog…

hahahahaha…

Disebabkan dek lemau nak update blog, berlambak2 lah gambar our iftar meals yang tak ditayang kat sini.

So, layan aje lah ye gambar our meals for the past few days ni..

On Monday nite, we had nasi untuk berbuka.

I made Thai green chicken curry for us and sate goreng for the girls.

I also made kerabu taugeh for us.

Miss 14 baru nak buat memek muka tak best sebab nampak nasi, terus tak jadi bila nampak sate dan kuah kacang, hehehe….

And then on Tuesday nite, The Other Half and Miss 14 berbuka kat city so I made mee goreng for Miss 9 while I had steamed rice noodles aka chee cheong fun.

I dont think my version is authentic at all sebab I tak ingat whether I have ever eaten the authentic chee cheong fun ni, hehehehe…

And last night, we had swedish meatballs with creamy gravy on parmesan mashed potato.

Memang menggemukkan sebab I added cream and loads of butter in the mash and cream in the gravy.

But so worth it sebab semua makan sehingga menjilat jari.

I still think homemade meatballs lagi sedap dari IKEA’s, hahahhaha .

Pagi tadi sampai tengah hari pulak nya was spent making these 2 cookies.

tart nenas and belgian biscuits. I ambik recipe belgian biscuits from here.

The Other Half, Miss 14 and Miss 9 ate a lot of the belgian biscuits utk buka tadi.

Nasib baik lah memang I buat untuk mereka2, bukan untuk raya so tak kisah lah kalau habis, hehehehehe…