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