Merdeka!Merdeka!Merdeka!

bersempena dengan ulangtahun kemerdekaan yang ke 53, saya ingin menulis dalam Bahasa Malaysia. saya tahu penulisan dalam Bahasa Malaysia saya tidaklah sebagus percakapan, akan tetapi saya akan cuba sedaya upaya untuk menggunakan bahasa kebangsaan pada kali ni.

saya berbangga dilahirkan dibumi Malaysia, menjadi anak Malaysia walaupun berada diperantauan. anak-anak kami masih boleh bertutur didalam Bahasa Malaysia walaupun tidak sefasih bertutur didalam Bahasa Inggeris. anak sulung kami yang lahir dibumi Malaysia masih ingatkan tanah kelahiran nya, gemar masakan melayu, makan menggunakan tangan dan tidak lupa dia anak Malaysia. beliau tahu keistimewaan tarikh 31 Ogos. anak yang kecil yang dilahirkan disini hanya mengetahui bahawa Malaysia adalah tempat dimana makcik & neneknya pulang setelah berada disini untuk beberapa bulan.

mungkin ramai kawan-kawan dan ahli keluarga beranggapan kami hendak menukar kerakyatan dan tinggal disini buat selama-lamanya. InsyaAllah, kami akan kekal menjadi rakyat Malaysia dan akan pulang juga ke tanahair suatu hari nanti. cuma buat masa ini, rezeki kami disini...

lush greenery...

our backyard with the big trees and a small brook (anak sungai) just behind the fence makes us feel like living in the kampong..bliss!!

the brook just behind the fence

view from over the fence

summer project ... resumed

after 2 weeks of 'suspended work' due to puasa & bad weather, we resumed our summer project over the weekend. on saturday, we went to Homebase - DIY and garden centre and bought grass seeds (for shady area), paint for timber windows, autumn/winter plants, hanging basket and greenhouse cover.

yesterday we cleared the backgarden, cleaned the greenhouse, planted some pansies & nemesia fruticans (in blue, pink & white) for autumn/winter.

and also our first batch of vege - potatoes in the crop bag.

today, with help from the 2 missies, we sow the grass seeds. first, we had to prepare the soil - rake the leaves & the ground, then sow the seeds and stomp the ground.

kamar re-planted the pokok kesum on the greenhouse bed

and lastly , he fixed the hanging basket at the front wall.

the backyard looks better now. we'll just have to wait for 2-3 weeks for the grass to grow, 'greenfingers' crossed...

how to....

lose weight dalam bulan puasa kalau tiap2 malam makan sedap ....

lamb chop with roast new potatoes, sweetcorn, honey roasted parsnip & carrots, boiled brocolli & baby corn, fresh salad and mushroom gravy..

thanks to our very own chef wan for the lovely meal at iftar tonite, sempena menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan Malaysia yg ke 53 esok.

we thot of mummy tok & aunty yan at dinner..if they were here, they would have enjoyed the food tonite. InsyaAllah panjang umur, murah rezeki tahun depan...

gone bananas

on saturday morning we went to 'Little India/Pakistan/MiddleEast/Eastern European all rolled into one' area of the city to buy halal provision, asian groceries & veg. a shop was selling a box of ripe bananas (banyak...) for £1. some are over-ripe and have to be thrown away. i also bought some plantains (macam pisang tanduk) and ubi keledek. hajat hati nak buat pengat pisang campur keledek.

what have i made with the bananas?? kamar dah lama nak makan kek pisang style kampong macam yang jual kat pasar tani/pasar malam. i searched for recipe on the internet and found this recipe - kek pisang gebu on http://www.jintanmanis.com blogsite. resipi tu sukat guna cawan, not using weight on scale.. and it uses cooking oil instead of butter. tu yang rasa confident sikit that its the correct recipe. and voila !! it turned out gebu & nice, just like what kamar wanted..

lepas buat kek pisang, for the second time, i made banana & honey cupcakes, the family's favourite. and when its near berbuka time, buat pulak pisang goreng..

hari ni goreng plantain celup tepung.. esok lusa cekodok pisang pulak..

british, american, melayu, mexican..

.... semua boleh, asalkan sedap & halal!!

few days have gone by without updating the juadah berbuka puasa. so, this post is all about & contains pics of our iftar food (what else??) for the past few days. one has to be cruel to be kind...

last thursday nite, rasa nak makan local/british fayre - fish n chips. we bought a packet each of Youngs Fish Nuggets, Breaded Scampi, Fish Goujons & Aunt Bessie's chips from our local co-op. dalam freezer ada Breaded Mushrooms and Onion Rings. so we had an array of seafood platter, chips with mushy peas & mint sauce for iftar; accompanied by cucur ikan bilis + bawang. (yang tu melayu, bukan omputih...)

on friday, as in the previous post, we went down to london; balik dah penat nak masak so we opted for KFC & fries.

kamar cooks on weekends and this weekend is a long weekend as monday is the summer bank holiday, meaning that i get 3 days off from cooking!

for saturday iftar, kamar cooked nasi lemak with sambal tumis biasa, ikan bilis & kacang goreng, telur rebus and udang goreng kunyit. dia memang pandai masak sambal tumis which i don't.. and he makes the tastiest sambal belacan just like my mom's which he learns from her and again i don't.. i only made the kuih - pisang goreng, kek pisang & banana and honey cupcakes.. its the day that we went bananas.. (thats in another post)

on sunday we decided to go mexican...bought the Fajita kit from co-op @£2, which can feed 4 of us..we added chicken, grated cheese, salad, tomatoes, guacamole & soured cream. 2 fajitas each pun dah kenyang..

our 'chinese takeaway chef' who cooks mexican food too...

prepared fajitas before gulung..

i made a quick dessert, our all time favourite Eton Mess.

malam ni - lamb chop with roasted new potatoes, boiled brocolli & baby corn and honey roasted parsnips...

intrigued

yesterday i lost my favourite blogsite. the blogger lady who inspired me to start my own blog in 2007 had decided to stop blogging .. i'm sad, confused, intrigued by her sudden decision but i suppose she must have had her own strong reasons to stop doing what she loves doing which she does very well. she's a dear friend, someone i know personally, not just virtually and that makes it worse.

as i wrote on her fb status last nite "life has its ups and downs"..hope she will bounce back to her cheerful self and make a comeback sometime, sooner or later.

i shall miss your witty, fun, interesting, intelligent and honest write-up mummythelawyer..
(u'd probably wonder where i got this picture from?? gotcha!! its from one of those joyous lunches we had when i was back home on holiday in 2008)


i nak baca blog sapa pulak lepas ni??? boring aaahhh...

'short & tiring but have to' trip

on friday we drove down to london to get our new passports done as the current ones are expiring in sept. we left early, at 5.30am in order to get to the Hi-Com at 9am. traffic on M1 was ok, not busy...until we got to 1 mile before Junction 1 exit into outer london, traffic was crawling at 1 mile per hour!! we arrived arrived at park lane carpark at 9.30am, 1 hour later than expected.

we walked for 15 minutes to Hi Com at Belgrave Square...thanks to En Wan & En Alias who helped to speed up the process and we managed to get the passports done by 12.00 noon.

by 12.45 we left Park Lane Carpark but getting out of London to Junction 1 is another pain in you know where..tak paham what attracts people to live and work in London..

we arrived home at 4.30pm, too tired to cook and kamar suggested that we have KFC takeaway for iftar. Alhamdulillah for halal KFC on Alfreton Road..

mee siam = thai laksa..NOT!

siang tadi was contemplating what to cook for iftar. after 2 days in a row makan nasi, rasa nak makan something else. took out the meehoon from the pantry and soaked in cold water. what to cook?? 2 options - mee siam with kuah taucu (nak try recipe kak nani) or thai laksa. nama je mee siam tapi not a thai dish, more like johor/spore dish. when kamar came home from work, we went out to get some groceries, got back in at 6.30pm then only i decided to make thai laksa.. memang yummylicious..

kenit doesnt eat anything spicy (omputih sesat sorang ni), so masak mee kicap for her. she loves noodles & pasta.

big missy complained to her aunty that she didnt lose much weight this year's puasa because 'mummy always cook yummy dishes' !

for kuih pulak, i wanted to make something using the bananas which have gotten ripe enough to make apam pisang or banana walnut cake - kamar's favourite; then flipped thro the cupcake recipe book & found banana honey cuppies...dapat 12 biji, lepas buka puasa aja, we had 2 each. kenit only ate the topping, daddy walloped the cake.

blooming well

geranium bed is blooming with 4 different colours - pink, fushcia, salmon & white.

pokok kesum yang separuh nyawa dulu dah pun sihat & gemuk. i plucked few leaves for ulam laksa johor the other day. kalau nak buat nasi kerabu, anytime pun boleh dah ni. i had to put 2 pots of pokok cili back into the greenhouse because the flowers keep dropping due to strong wind lately. kalau bunga dah gugur,macamana nak dpt buah.

the rocket salad which the kids sow are growing as well, tinggal lagi nak transfer to crop bag. all the other omputih herbs - thyme, greek basil and rosemary pun sihat. in a months time, everything will have to go into the greenhouse when autumn comes and temperature drops.

Mabuhay!

thats hello in tagalog. reason for this post title - our iftar menu tonite is Adobo Chicken, recipe from the philipines. tonite first time masak this dish, selalunya kakak (sis in law) yg masak, which she learned from her filipino friend. big missy said 'its nice but not the same as how aunty yan made them '..maybe because i used pepper grinder instead of crushing peppercorns in batu lesong.

its really easy - no frying at all. just put chicken pieces in a wok, add kicap manis, vinegar, crushed black pepper and bay leaves. put the lid on and let it simmer over low fire until cooked.

hari ni buat kueh melayu - bingka pandan & bingka jagung. i made only one mixture but split into 2 bowls, in one bowl i added in pandan essence & green colouring, in the other one creamed sweetcorn. senang kuih melayu yang ini, sukat pakai cawan and satu cawan of everything - plain flour, caster sugar, santan, evaporated milk, creamed sweetcorn (if used). then add 3 eggs, 2 tbsp custard powder mixed with water. stir well (i used hand mixer) then pour into muffin tray, set oven to 180 deg C and bake for 45 minutes.

apart from bingka, i also baked some cuppies..hari ni try Coffee Walnut Cupcakes. memang yummy. i bought a new piping bag the other day and tried my hands on topping deco and it worked.. even though not so nice tapi ok lah jugak.. patutnya letak whole walnut at the top but i only have walnut pieces, so ganti dengan sugar flowers.

buon appetito!

buona sera! = good evening!

my fb status for today - "cina sudah..siam sudah.. jepun sudah..hari ni kita jalan2 cari idea kat italy pulak". we went italiano tonite - spaghetti bolognese aka spaghetti al ragu with garlic & herb toast.

my first attempt on kuih lapis failed, terkeras & didnt deserve a place on the dinner table tapi sempat buat apam balik & fruit jelly for iftar dessert.

apam balik on the pan - with jagung, kacang & gula

apam balik on toast rack..

jelly on the plate, jelly on the plate, wiible wobble wibble wobble, jelly on the plate...

kembang...

you must know the feeling of 'kembang', that feeling when you get praises or compliments especially from people very2 dear to you..

who wouldnt feel 'kembang' when

1. the big missy said 'mummy, the food was lovely and yummy' .. even tho sometimes i cheated a bit by using the ready made paste, she would say 'but you still have to cook it..'
2. the daddy said ' i dont lose much weight this puasa becos i eat more when you cook (no disrespect to my mom or my sis in law..)
3. the little one, while lying down on the sofa drinking her nite milk, said 'mummy, you are the best mummy in the world'

get what i mean??

moshi moshi

we made sushi for saturday's iftar... ada cerita lama pasal sushi ni..

kamar told the kids that we had japanese dinner & sushi on our first & only date way back in 1998. kenit asked "what about me..where was i?". kamar said " you were still playing with Allah".

when i was pregnant with kenit in 2006, i really wanted to eat sushi..with the amount that we eat, it could be quite costly to eat at the sushi places in town so we decided to get the kit & ingredients and made them ourselves. puas makan....

these are our presentation for the iftar... not bad kan??

sushi, dip (soy sauce, wasabi & ginger), miso soup

jalan2 hari sabtu

saturday morning i was at the library for a few hours to get my coursework started & borrow some books, library closed at 2pm during summer holiday. then walked on the streets of notts to take some pics of the buildings for the coursework but then it rained so....i went into tk for shelter & 'damage' my purse; basically spent on the kids & household items.

then kamar fetched me and off we went bowling, compliments of big missy - she got a voucher for doing well in some school activities before she finished in july. we took lauren with us cos last time lauren took her. kenit was so excited cos at last, she got to go bowling..

kenit used the ramp to bowl and guess what? she got a strike once!

she came second after daddy, only 4 points behind but..we told her that she won so as not to upset her. i know its wrong to do that but i just couldnt stand seeing her sulking & pouting. soon she will have to learn that she cannot win all the time.. after 1 game of bowling, we went grocery shopping to get sushi ingredients & sushi mat; for iftar.

sawasdee kaa

sawasdee krap (for male) or kaa (for female) = hello in thai.

the reason for the post title - because i cooked thai dishes for iftar tonite. lauk2 nya adalah

1. tom yum goong with straw mushrooms, fish tofu and baby corn
2. thai fish cakes
3. som tam timun & cherry tomatoes

for dessert, hari ni try buat kuih sagu gaul kelapa or org2 east coast panggil kuih bronok sagu.

kamar likes that kuih and also apam puteri ayu which i'm yet to try making ..i've looked at myrecipe.com. and all recipes guna 'ovalette' in the ingredients. penat pikir apa itu ovalette, some kind of stabiliser to make the cake light & spongy. only kat msia or spore yang ada jual benda tu. so i have to make do without it but need to beat the eggs really well to make the apam spongy.. will try one day..