Ke'dilema'an....

hurrmmm agak susah hati jugak la dengan perkembangan terbaru ni...

raya kedua aritu dapat perkhabaran yang bulan 11 ni jiran sebelah rumah yang belah kiri (macam la orang2 yg baca ni tau kan, LOL) nak masuk. kira dia dah nak start reno la dalam masa terdekat ni... ok, fine.

masalah 1 - dia nak tambah buat tembok, yang mana kita tak brape setuju sebab kita ni dah ler dok lot intermediate... kalau naik tembok tu, sahih la air circulation turun, and tahap ke'terang'an jugak akan mendadak menurun. yang tu no hal, dah bincang dan sudahpun mencapai persetujuan bersama... kira compromise la ek :-D

masalah 2 - DIA BELA ROTTWEILER!!!!!!!!! ARRGGHHHHHHHHHHhhh...........!!! yang ni tak bole nak tahan...

dah la dulu pernah jadik kes kat depan rumah mak kat ttdi tu, ada jiran bawak cucu dia jalan2... skali dia singgah la rumah jiran depan rumah kengkonon nak tunjuk cucu, skali nak sembang2 waktu petang. nak dijadikan citer gempar, tetiba anjing rottweiler yang dibela oleh "Uncle Dato'" kat depan rumah tu tetiba terkam budak kecik tu... kena heret jugak la sikit. apa lagi, meraung la si nenek penuh panik!!! nasib baik masa tu tuan rumah a.k.a tuan anjing tu ada, security guard dia pun ada (yeerr... umah dia pakai security guard ok) so dapat la leraikan DUA EKOR anjing tu dari beudak kecik yang dah panik dan trauma tu. sib baik tak sempat nak jadik lebih serious. sib baik jugak la, pasal budak kecik gitu, ada malaikat yang jaga (tak kira la agama mak bapak dia kan...).

following week, 2 ekor tu mengganas lagi. kali ni, anjing kecik comey yang bulu2 banyak pulak jadik sasaran... sampai arini, tak tau la apa jadik dengan anjing kecik tu. tuan dia terjerit2 mintak tolong masa tengok anjing kesayangan dia diheret 2 'monster' tu, tapi takde orang -- masa tu time keje.

my point is, area yang kita duduk sekarang ni *banyaaaaaakkk* young families, meaning ramaaaaaaaiii kanak-kanak kecik. kanak-kanak kecik yang suka bermain lari2 depan rumah, main beskal sepanjang jalan (mmg selamat sbb ujung jalan semua jalan mati :-D), taman permainan pun sangat dekat dengan row rumah tu. macam mana kalau rottweiler dia meroyan satu hari nanti? brape ramai agaknyer ibu-ibu bapak-bapak akan jadik panik dan kelam kabut tiap kali dengar rottweiler tu menyalak2 kat pagar?

macam mana nak handle benda ni ek?
dah la berjiran plak dgn kitorg ni... huhuhuhuuuuu

sahih la bulan 10 ni last aina bole jalan2 dengan confident kat luar pagar. lepas tu, sorry!
tak sanggup nak ambik risiko mcm tu.... :-s

kalau ikut hati, nak ajer diracunkan, tapi dia pun makhluk Allah jugak, punya nyawa yang wajib dihormati. macam mana niiihhh.........????





AM

p.s. memang kata jiran tu dia ada pikir tak nak bela anjing tu dah, tapi takde org nak ambik rottweiler tu so dia terpaksa jugak bawak walaupun area kitorg dah ada security, gated community, bla bla bla. dia tak sanggup nak tinggal kat pound/spca dan sbgnyer sbb dia tau, kalau takde org ambik, lepas beberapa lama, anjing tu akan kena put to sleep... abis la kita kalau nak tunggu anjing tu mati akibat sakit tua... uhuuhuhuhuuuhuhuhuu....

Aina & Duit Raya

Yesterday, I managed to meet up with Anis.... :-D

After MANY many many years, this was a catch up session which I truly cherished. We've not seen each other in *AGES* and to see that Afiq, her oldest son already grown up (well, the last time I saw him, he was like 2 or something and now he's 10!).... it was definitely sweet :-D

Aina, as usual, was excited to be around 'little people' like her but she tends to play a bit rough. I had to watch her to make sure no one got injured!

Anis and I were "corridor mates" at Uni and after we graduated, we didn't have much time to spare to meet up regularly. For one thing, working life took up most of our time, and soon after we got back, Anis got married to a wonderful guy (and SO perfect for her!) whom she met in the UK thanks to her sister who was in Australia at the time. Confused? Hehehehe... You just had to be there :-)

And so, here is a pic of us to share with all of you......




Now, these are piccas of my cheeky-tot having fun with her duit raya packets :-D :-D :-D
Her babah first arranged her in a pose with all the packets on and around her, but when we prompted her to react a bit, she was all game for it and so she began rolling and posing on our bed... LOL LOL LOL



Anyway, Aina still has a few more colletions to make, but I've already kept all the receipts from the 2 days of Raya. She's now officially richer than Mama & Babah put together LOL LOL LOL





AM

Aina Beraya.....

Since the office is VERY quiet today, I managed to do these simple editing on PowerPoint, and am uploading them here now...

Aina's various faces and actions during Raya.... :-D

with uncle maman, monkeying around! :-D

playing with TokMi's fone

at TokNek's house, happily pulling Uncle Maman to go play................at the stairs!!!

AM

Salam Aidilfitri!

This is Aina's second year celebrating Eid with us, but since she's still refusing to walk, no cute tiny teeny baju kurungs for her... LOL

Our journey back to Penang began on Saturday morning, after Subuh prayers. Not wanting to risk the heavy crowds at the R&R for prayers, we decided to leave only after that. True enough, traffis was at snail's pace throughout the expressway, and the crowd (not to mention queue!) at the R&R's along the way was UNBELIEVABLE!

Since we saw such horrible queues all along the way, when we decided to stop for our toilet break dad suggested we turn into Bidor and use the facilites offered at the PLUS office. That proved to be a MUCH smarter (not to mention quicker!) choice!!

Aina was probably exhausted during the trip, since she'd been up since 5.30am.... so this was what happened... LOL
It took us 6 hours to get to Penang, which considering the situation and circumstances, was not so bad at all.

To keep Aina from getting bored at the apartment, her TokMi had bought her this *huge* kitchen for her to play with... and she enjoyed herself indeed! The 'kitchen' came with 2 stove tops that made 'cooking sounds' when you turn the knob and Aina danced along to the sound, making all of us roll over with laughter!! LOL LOL LOL

First day of Raya was rather off for us as Mom fell in the bathroom just as we were about ready to leave the apartment for Tok's place. In the end, it was not a good Raya for us as Mom was practically bed-ridden and Aina was miserable as she could notplay with her TokMi as much as she wanted -- TokMi was in too much pain... :-(Then, later in the afternoon, I decided to give Aina her meds as her nose was starting to get runny again. In the end, it became a full blown argument with her, resulting in her being mad at me and running to her Uncle Maman for solace... In the end, she 'dropped' on him like a fly LOL

I'll try and upload more pics of Aina later when I've edited and resized them.

These are just done on powerpoint, just for the purpose of this entry :-) :-) :-)

AM

Salam Lebaran

Sebelum miss the boat, elok rasanya saya tepek dulu kad ni untuk semua pengunjung2 blog saya yang tak seberapa ni... (agaknyer ada ke 10 org?? LOL LOL LOL)


Nak ambik gambar khas edisi raya memang tak berkesempatan, so tepek ajer la gambar ni asalkan gambar ni kami bertiga :-D

Maaf la yer gambar tak brape nak semenggah....

Sekali lagi, kami sekeluarga menghulurkan sepuluh jari memohon ampun dan maaf sekiranya ada terkasar bahasa, terkecikkan hati sesiapa sama ada secara sengaja atau tidak, sedar atau tidak.. almaklum, kekadang kita bergurau tapi orang lak serious...




SALAM AIDILFITRI, MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN.......

~ Aliza, Nasir & Aina Nadira ~

Productive Indeed!

Okie. As mentioned in my previous entry, I am on leave today. So, I managed to finish quite a bit of kitchen projects which I'd planned.

Before that though, here's our menu for yesterday since hubby did not break fast with us at home. Frozen springrolls which I'd bought at the office, bubur kacang hijau which Ana made and fried noodles with seafood.

nota kaki : cili padi jeruk tu home made yer....mmg acara wajib bila makan mee goreng mcm ni :-)

And this sweetheart is in her special pose :-)
Yup! She's learnt to pose for the camera!!!
And of course, we'll just laugh hysterically each time she does this..... LOL


Rite...now back to my kitchen projects for today. I managed to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles and also prepared samosa, springrolls and mini murtabak to be frozen since Aina now loves this kind of food i.e. with a crunch, and has spice as well as taste. Give her rather bland, mushy food and she'll just spit it out!

Snickerdoodle a.k.a cinnamon sugar cookies

SNICKERDOODLES

you need:
1/2 (approx. 110g) cup butter
1 cup fine granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder

how to:
beat butter. add in sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar. beat in egg and vanilla.
beat in flour as much as you can, and stir in remaining flour. cover and refrigerate for an hour. the dough will be very soft, so don't worry. mix the 4 Tbs. sugar with the cinnamon powder in a large plate.

use hands and shape dough into rounds, then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. place on ungreased cookie sheet/baking tray and bake in a pre-heated 180'C oven for about 12 mins, depending on oven.

NOTE 1: the baking time here makes for chewy cookies and not crispy ones. if you do want crispy cookies, then increase baking time but watch cookies carefully as they will burn easily.

NOTE 2: the cookies go in the oven in little balls, but come out flat, as seen in the picture above so ensure that you allow plenty of space for expansion! :-D

Now, while waiting for the cookies to cool totally, this was what Aina was up to. She started off playing with Babah's songkok, and ended up with the box for the said songkok!! She preferred having the box over her head compared to the songkok itself LOL LOL LOL



And this was our menu for iftar -- mini murtabak with pickled onions, bubur lambuk and home-brewed lemon tea :-)


Tomorrow we'll be going to TTDI so that's a break for me from the kitchen LOL
I'm still not done with my Raya projects, but we'll see if I have time on Sunday to catch up....




AM

Nak Meroyan Sikit....

Aci tak kalau nak meroyan sikit waktu lunch break ni?

Ni semua gara-gara idea yang 'sangat bernas' untuk mengikut arahan dan kemahuan orang lain tanpa mengira tahap kesukaran dan kesusahan rakyat sendiri...

Senang cerita gini la..

Kita ni ambik pembantu (ntah kenapa istilah sekarang ni "amah"??) untuk menyenangkan kita dari segi kerja-kerja rumah, dan jugak tolong tengok2 anak kita waktu kita kerja. Nak hantar nursery memang boleh, tapi faham ajer la tahap kualiti some nurseries. Hygiene jugak satu issue yang memang saya sangat2 concerned bila masuk bab2 nursery yang ada ni.

First, demand cuti seminggu sekali.

Fine!
Daripada rumah kat Puchong ni, aku anta la maid aku gi Kg Baru (rumah sedara dia) tu pagi, then petang ambik dia. Agak2 hilang tak penat dia? Aku rasa dia lagi penat sebab dia jenis orang yang mabuk kalau travel lama2 dlm kereta.

Arrangement aku dgn dia skrg senang -- tiap bulan dia dpt 3 days 2 nites off. Dia bole gi shopping2, jalan2 kat KLCC, jumpa kawan yg dia kenal melalui "KAWAN DIGI" dan sebagainya, and bole jugak kalau dia just nak lepak aje kat rumah sedara dia tu.

Aku pun tak penat nak hantar dia pagi ambik petang, all the way dari Puchong tu.

Then, nak pulak demand gaji minimum RM600.

Gaji ni bukan issue la sangat, but soal prinsip.

Aku tak pernah segregate maid aku tu... in fact, pegi holiday, aku belikan jugak tiket kapal terbang sebab dia tak pernah naik, so nak kasi dia experience. Dok hotel, tak kira la Cherating ke, Langkawi ke... aku bayar extra room utk dia duduk SINGLE ok. Aku tak suruh pun dia jaga anak aku sepanjang cuti tu, anak aku tido dgn aku. Dia cuma tolong aku jaga Aina time kita keluar makan sama-sama. Kalau dia nak merayau kat bazaar depan hotel, aku biarkan aje.

Kitorg pegi Morib semata2 utk menikmati seafood, kita bawak dia. Kita pegi makan kat restoran2 di shopping mall, kita ajak sekali. Shampoo dia aku beli -- dia mintak jenama Pantene ok sebab jenama lain rambut dia tak sesuai, gugur banyak. Sabun mandi dia Lux yer, bukan cap tesco atau giant dan sebagainyer. Keperluan 'wanita' lain, aku belikan dia brand yang sama aku pakai, takde pun aku cari yang murah semata2 pasal dia tu PEMBANTU aku.

Aku masak steak kat rumah, steak jugak la makanan dia. Aku grill salmon, tu jugaklah makanan dia.

Orang tu senang2 aje nak demand mcm2. Abis semua majikan kena cop yang begitu begini.

Waktu lunch pun nak abis dah, esok aku cuti, plan nak bawak maid pegi beli baju raya dia.. PUN AKU YANG BELI.




AM

Less Than 2 Weeks

..and we'll be ushering Eid again.

Seems like we'd only just started fasting, and soon it'll be the end of Ramadhan... Unbelievable!

Okie... let's get on with babbling about food and what we've been up to the past week :-D

I'd started buying Aina's clothes for the festive season but I still can't, for the life of me, find an acceptable (read: cute and of suitable fabric) baju kurung for Aina. It's probably useless too, since Aina still does not want to walk on her own, but I think she'd look really nice in one, ehehehe. Disney Baby and Poney were having a sale, and the items I bought were between 30% - 50% less their normal price. Believe it or not, 3 tops and 4 pants just cut me back around RM200!

Hubby has decided not to buy a new baju melayu this year, since the one he got last year was only worn twice (Aidil Fitri & Raya Haji!), so that left me looking for something that would look nice with his existing suit. Managed to find it at the Mall :-) AND, not too pricey too!!

19th Ramadhan Menu
Spongegourd Soup with Dried Anchovies & Fishballs, Squid in Spicy Chilli Gravy,
Sweet & Sour Fish and Bubur SumSum to start :-)

OK, menu was kept simple but on Tuesday I decided to divert from rice and made Roasted Chicken with Garlic & Rosemary with Potato & Egg Salad with Green Salad, and added homemade cream of mushroom soup. One BIG mistake -- I'd seasoned the soup perfectly but when I reheated for iftar, it turned out too salty! I had to finish my serving with bread....

18th Ramadhan Menu

HOMEMADE CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP
(i did this by feel since i didn't have a lot of mushrooms -- an
experiment, really!)

note that quantity of ingredients will depend on how much mushrooms you
have at hand

you need:
1/2 pkt of mushrooms (i used oyster, but u can use a combination of
mushrooms)*
1 large onion, diced finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs butter
1 bit of olive oil
1 vegetable or chicken stock cube
1 cup full cream milk
1/2 cup water
1 potato, cubed (as thickener)
1 bay leaf
white pepper, salt
canned button mushrooms, sliced - optional

how to:
heat butter with oil in a large pot -- the oil keeps the butter from
burning.
add in the onions and garlic, together with the bay leaf and reduce heat.
just cook the onions thru until translucent. only low heat is required as you
don't want the onions to brown.
stir in the mushrooms and cook until it softens and begins to break down.
add in the potato, stock cube and water and bring up to boil. simmer gently to
cook the potato. remove from heat; take out the bay leaf. use a hand
blender to blend the soup, or pour into a stand blender. if using a stand
blender, make sure you leave the small cap on the cover off. you don't want an explosion of hot soup in your
kitchen!

reheat the soup and add in the full cream milk (may use heavy cream if
desired), and add in the seasoning and sliced mushrooms (for added texture). ready to serve.

ROASTED CHICKEN WITH GARLIC AND ROSEMARY

you need:
3 large chicken thighs, keep skin
5 - 6 cloves
garlic, crushed roughly
1 Tbs minced ginger
2 bunches fresh rosemary,
chopped finely
olive oil
salt, pepper

how to:
prepare chicken -- poke through the meatiest parts with a
fork and also between joints to ensure it'll be cooked through. combine
allother ingredients and leave to marinade for an hour or so. place on a
roasting pan and put in a low oven (about 130'C) for about an hour. crank up
to maximum (about 250'C) for the last 10 minutes to get a nice crunch of the
garlic and rosemary on the skin. done this way, most of the fat in the skin
would have dripped, leaving a crunchy
layer of skin.

I'm looking to make clam chowder or some sort of a bisque, but will need to source for the ingredients first. I'm also hankering for pumpkin soup, but have yet to be able to find the 'right' pumpkin LOL LOL LOL(the one I saw at Cold Storage costs RM35 for a whole pumpkin!!!)

Monday was a holiday for hubby so he went to Keramat to get ikan bakar on before picking me up from work. Hence, the menu below for our iftar on the 17th of Ramadhan.

On Sunday, we went to Sg Buloh to (finally!) get some plants to decorate our mini (miniscule?) garden. I decided on portulacas, or commonly known also as Japanese Roses, as they were hardy and can tolerate direct sunlight, with minimum care required. Hubby also bought a kasturi lime tree, to add to the existing kaffir lime tree, and I picked out fennel to add to my already existing roesmary plant. I'm sourcing for more herb plants, so another trip to Sg Buloh is extremely crucial :-P ehehehehhe

I fell in love with so many orchids there but I need to sort out my porch/garden area to accommodate all that we have now before I can add more plants (of any species) to the existing ones we have.

Sunday afternoon, after replanting the portulacas, we headed to Sentul as hubby wanted to buka puasa with Mak. We stopped by at Keramat to get ikan bakar, and hubby was so happy to manage to get tuka for Mak.

Saturday (notice I'm doing this in reverse this time, LOL), hubby decided to take me out for supper at Tenji @ Solaris, Hartamas. It's a Japanese fusion buffet restaurant, and reservations are crucial. Do not go without one, and go slightly early if you do have reservations. You need to re-check and reconfirm your reservation, and pay in advance, before you're seated at your table.

My Starter @ Tenji Sashimi - Butterfish, Salmon, Scallops, Octopus and Fresh Oysters

My verdict? MONEY WELL SPENT! There's a whole sashimi area complete with scallops, squid, fresh oysters, butterfish, salmon... you name it, and they'd probably have it all! There's a counter for the DIY steamboat, tempura, grilled items, vegetables, local fare, western offerings as well as a dessert bar which includes Haagen Daaz ice cream.

Oh yea... This is Aina, 'dressed' in her stuffed toy snake thingy by her Babah!!

See...! Leave a man with his daughter for a while and this happens!! I didn't know whether to laugh or hit her Babah....!! I had to leave Aina to her Babah as I made cookies as well as Bread Pudding for our iftar, before we went out.

Earlier in the week, I'd made these simple dishes which we enjoyed very much! :-)

14th Ramadhan Menu

13th Ramadhan Menu

12th Ramadhan Menu

Okie... that's it for now...

I will be on leave on Friday, in hopes of being able to catch up on some kitchen projects but we'll see how that goes, especially with Aina around LOL LOL LOL

AM

Menu.... Menu, Food.... Food

Yup... I know I've been 'gone' for a while but it's not without good reason :-)



Aina has now decided to become more demanding, especially for attention, so my evenings with her are spent together, watching her favourite cartoons and then putting her to bed with me joining her in Dreamland.



Anyway... last Friday (7th Ramadhan), I made lamb chops for iftar, with coleslaw and roasted potatoes with gravy. I'd marinated the chops with fresh chopped rosemary, garlic and a bit of salt and pepper and seared them on a hot pan before transferring them into the oven to cook.





I used the bits left on the pan to make the gravy, adding beef stock and minced garlic and ginger for added flavour. At the end, I added a cornflour paste to thicken the gravy.

ROASTED POTATOES

you need:
new (or baby) potaotes, cleaned and halved -- leave skin on
fresh chopped rosemary
cracked black peppercorns
salt
olive oil, to coat

how to:
preheat oven to 190'C. Mix all of the above ingredients in a large bowl and
steam or microwave until halfway done. Place in the oven and let roast for about
35 - 40 mins till done.

In the pic above, you see my little drama queen displaying a bit of her 'talent' while we are about to leave for a friend's house for buka puasa. Don't really know what made her do it, but she just decided to hang off the edge of the bed until I had to call her to climb down as we were about ready to leave.

Sorry, no pics from my friend's house as we were just too engrossed eating!! LOL LOL LOL

On Sunday, since it was Mom & Dad's anniversary, we had dinner there. Again, no pics as we were too focused on finishing the food off the table, ehehehehehehee...

On Monday, I decided to make Nasi Lemak but this time I made 2 sambal dishes to go with it -- ikan bilis and prawns with petai.

And for our sweet starter, I made onde onde :-D



Alrite, I know I have a bit of entry-catching up to do, so this will do until I edit and load another set of pics.... :-)

Cheerios!





AM