Chinese New Year 1

Our breakfast was 'golden' croissant and pumpkin bread pudding, which I'd made before and decided to do again, just because of it's 'golden hues' that is suited to usher in the first day of the New Year :-) Only this time, I used honey and butter to make the caramel instead of butter and sugar. The end result, for me, is slightly better as the sweetness is slightly muted.

The pizzas which Aina helped make. She arranged the sausage slices (while tucking away a few safely in her own mouth!) and topped with the cheese, all the while chattering and smiling proudly :-D

For lunch, since Hubby was at work, Aina and I made wholemeal pita pizzas with beef sausages, tomato (mine) and topped with cheese. I had made the pizza sauce earlier. The sauce also has grated carrots, a very sneaky way to add veggies in a fussy child's diet!

SNEAKY ENRICHED PIZZA SAUCE

you need:
1 large can whole tomatoes
1 large garlic clove, minced finely
1 med-sized dried bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried ground oregano
1/4 tsp. ground stevia leaves (or 1/2 tsp. sugar)
1 small carrot, grated
optional ~ other veggies you might want to consider:
zuchinni, spinach, asparagus, etc.. it's up to you, really! just be
sure to cut or grate finely.

how to:
heat a bit of olive oil in a sauce pan and add in the bay leaf. add in the
minced garlic as well. fry till fragrant, then pour in the whole can of
tomatoes, oregano and carrots and bring up to a boil. if using ground stevia,
add in now, then lower heat and simmer about 10 - 15 mins on low heat till
almost dry. add salt, pepper to taste. cool slightly before using.

THIS SAUCE CAN ALSO BE FROZEN AND USED TO MAKE YOUR PASTA SAUCE.

For dinner, we had steamboat. Yup, it's usually eaten during the big feast on New Year's Eve but I was working yesterday and since Mom didn't have any plans last night, I decided not to take leave on New Year's Eve.

And no, to those who're thinking "what the....??", I have not gone mad. Our family does acknowledge the New Year, and even Christmas for that matter, since my Mom's side of the family are Chinese Catholics :-) We've been having steamboat on New Year's Eve for as long as I can remember, and only recently that Mom has 'merged' the steamboat tradition with the celebration of Dad's birthday since his birthday usually falls a few days after New Year. Mom isn't quite as sprightly as she used to be so she saves her energy for just one big prep!! :-D

Anyway, since I'm 50% Chinese, making Aina 25% (is there such a thing??!?! LOL), I thought I'd keep the steamboat tradition going in my own family..... My version is just that much more complicated!! LOL

Little Aina extremely anxious to start!

No, not really....just takes a slightly longer prep time :-)

Aina's little crockpot steamboat, with chicken balls, carrots and one mushroom

to try, which she ended up not touching at all.......

STEAMBOAT STOCK
you need:
1 lemongrass, bruised
1 1/2-inch piece galangal (lengkuas), bruised
1 1-inch ginger, bruised
1 whole garlic bulb, cleaned and cut in half
1 large white onion, quartered
optional ~ chicken bones, smashed lightly
(i added in the chicken bones leftover from where i took the fillet)
1.5 - 2lt water
salt and pepper

how to:
in a large pot, combine all ingredients EXCEPT the seasoning, and bring up
to boil. simmer for about half an hour, check seasoning and leave to simmer an
extra 10mins. Turn off heat until ready to use.

MARINADES:
Chicken fillet : Oyster Sauce, Minced Ginger, Minced Garlic and a bit of
sugar
Beef fillet: Soy Sauce, Minced Ginger, Lea & Perrins Worchestershire
Sauce (just a small amount)
Squid: Soy Sauce, Minced Garlic, Minced Red Chillies, Minced
Lemongrass

DIPPING SAUCES:

Soy and Garlic
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1/2 Tbs. chopped garlic
1/2 Tbs. minced ginger
1/4 tsp. sugar, or more to taste (i used honey)
- mix all ingredients well. stand for about 15mins before using.

Hoisin Dipping Sauce
2 Tbs. hoisin sauce
2 Tbs. tomato ketchup
1 Tbs. oyster sauce
4 Tbs. boiled water
1 Tbs. light soy sauce
1 Tbs. sugar
- mix ingredients weel, check seasoning and adjust accordingly.

Thai Dipping Sauce
2 large red chillies (or chilli padi if you prefer fiery hot!),
minced
1 small garlic, minced
2 Tbs. fish sauce
2 Tbs. sugar
3 - 4 Tbs. lime or lemon juice
2 Tbs. chopped coriander
- combine and mix all ingredients and check seasoning to preferred
taste.

Special Steamboat Sauce
1 large onion (approx. 1/2 cup) finely diced
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
2 Tbs. oyster sauce
2 Tbs. light soy sauce
4 Tbs. water
1/2 Tbs. sugar
1/4 Tbs. vinegar
4 Tbs. olive oil/vegetable oil
- heat 2 Tbs olive oil and fry the onions till brown and caramelised. add
in the garlic and ginger and fry till fragrant. add in the sauces and
water, sugar and vinegar. simmer about 1omins, then check seasoning. turn off
heat and stir in the remainder of the olive oil.

note: i found this recipe a while back, and have tweaked it to my
preference. as the onions and garlic may add a bit of texture to the sauce, you might want to use a hand blender and smooth it all out.

And so... after a most satisfying meal, it is good nite for now, until my next post :-)

Till then, eat well and be jolly!!!

Cheers!

Fever Again.....

Aina had the fever again....


The pic above was taken at TokMi's on Sunday when she first had the fever. Poor thing curled up on the sofa while watching her Mickey Mouse DVD.



This pic was taken last nite (Tuesday). She fell asleep waiting for Mama to switch on the Dibo DVD. She was exhausted really, because she woke up that morning with a VERY high temperature ~ 39.5'C ~ and so I gave her a cold shower after giving her her meds. She cried in protest since it was only 5.00am but I didn't have a choice because her high fever was already making her nose bleed.

We went off to SJMC at 5.30am as I wanted Aina to have a blood test since she's had the fever on and off for three days.

It took a LOOONNNGG time for the lab tech to get to the emergency room/outpatient clinic, that we almost gave up. It doesn't make sense to make patients wait that long since it nowadays the danger of dengue and H1N1 is most apparent! We waited for the tech about 15 mins (the time which the doc said will take for the tech to arrive), then hubby decided to cross over to the other side of the building to go to the ATM machine. And yet, aven after hubby returned (from the same building where the lab is located), we had to wait a good 10mins more before the lab tech arrived!! Did the tech crawl on all fours from the building across, which was why it took him that much longer to arrive??? Weird!!

Anyway, alhamdulillah.... Aina's blood test was good ~ no signs of any danger. So, she was presribed meds then we went off home. We had exactly one hour before we had to leave for the appointments at DEMC. AppointmentS, because it was for both me and Aina.

I decided to take Aina to the ENT to see if there was any specific reasons for her frequent nosebleeds. I was a bleeder too as a child, but lately Aina's nosebleeds have been a bit worrying.

Alhamdulillah... nothing serious, just maybe some extra sensitive capilaries. So, since there was a bit of blood in her nose where it was a bit damaged, doc gave her a course of aitibiotics to finish, and some flu meds for her runny nose. Oh yes, she was also prescribed nasal spray to help keep her nose moist :-)




This pic was taken before she fell ill at TokMi's. TokMi was clearing away some festive baskets which were decorated with fake sakura flowers, and Aina wanted to play with them. TokMi took one small piece and placed it in her hair, and when Aina went to see the mirror, she grinned and said "princess!". And so she gave TokMi a few more pieces to add into her hair... and so in the end, she became (in my opinion) Rudolph's cousin!!! LOL LOL LOL

Last Friday I was asked to attend the above briefing. It was interesting to say the least. We'll see how the actual grading goes when we start the program....

Oh, and this was our breakfast yesterday morning, before going off to DEMC for the appointments ~ tuna, crabstick and sweetcorn with mayonaise on wholemeal bread :-) Well, this was actually mine. Hubby's version was without the tuna and sweetcorn and he used croissants instead :-D :-D :-D

Tomorrow we usher in the year of the Rabbit, and so I wish all my immediate and extended families and friends a Most Prosperous New Year and to all, Happy Holidays!!! :-D

Cheers!

TWO WEEKS????

OMG!!! Has it really been two weeks since my last entry?? It can't be!! REALLY???

Time seems to have just whizzed by that even though I have a gazillion things to rant about, I can't seem to fgind the time or energy to write them all down! LOL

On this wet, rainy Sunday morning, with Aina asleep by my side (she has a fever) I am now writing this down, hoping to be able to jot down the few memorable moments I've had the last few weeks... :-D (really, memorable??? hurrrmmm)

I think that only Aina's antics are worthy to put in, since she has managed to make us all laugh each time she opens her mouth or discovers something new! :-D

But, this blog is also kind of about MY life, so I guess a bit of that (boring) part will have to be put in as well.....

1. Work
Things have been crazy-busy with a whole lot of programs for the first quarter falling into place and taking shape, and lots and LOTS of planning and paperwork need to be done. I am due to travel again soon, but the actual date is yet to be determined since it's not even finalised yet as to which program I'll be going on!! We have a few planned, including a trip to Goa but Goa is already out from my to-go list since I've already given that up for my colleague. So, it's either Delhi or Mumbai for me then.....

Other parts of my work, I'd rather not even start to rant for fear it'll take a hundred entries before you even see some resemblence of the end of my ranting!! ~ lol

2. Life (in general)
Is pretty good. I am still trying to conceive so in a way it is a good thing that most of the travelling will take place in this first quarter. Hubby is also unbelievably busy with work so our long-intended family vacation up in the hills will have to take a back seat for now. I'm also thinking of taking Aina on an overseas trip, although a short one since it'll be her first, but destination is yet to be determined ~ Singapore? Indonesia? Thailand? hurrrmmm.... Malaysia, Truly Asia is still strong in my heart so it might be a trip 'overseas' but the South China Sea instead... ehehehhe!

3. Aina :-D
The light of my life, reason for myu existence! Seriously, I cannot imagine what life would be like without her.... Her vocabulary grows everyday, sometimes surprising us with the way she puts things together. For instance, she knows what a coconut is. And she knows what trees are. BUT, she totally surprised babah when he was driving with her in the car, and they were passing some palm trees by the road and she said "tree..coconut". And when she was with me in the car, we passed by an area full of trees and she said to me "mama....forest".

Just yesterday, she made all of us laugh like mad when she was looking for TokMi's 'pet toy' guinea pigs (you can find it at major departmental stores) and when Tok Yat found it she actually said to Tok Yat "Oohh! You found it!!"

And again last night when she was looking for TokMi who had gone upstairs. When TokMi came into the room "Tokmi! I found you!" It was totally hillarious!!!! LOL

Last week, Ana's room door got jammed up and we could not open it. We tried using the key, a hammer and dear hubby even took the door knob apart and yet the door still could not be opened. We finally called the contractor to help do the deed, and when the door opened, Aina who'd been following our progress dilligently suddenly said "Yaaaay! It works!!" Imagine how hard we were rollng on the floor then!!!

Anyway, Aina is asleep now since she has a fever. Maybe because she got caught in the drizzle yesterday evening when we went out for dinner. Our lunch plans for today has to be changed since Aina is in no position to be going out (in the rain, again!) so instead of going to try Hadramawt @ Chulan Square, TokMi will tapau lauk from a new Minang restaurant in Uptown.

Yup, no pics in this entry as I did not bring my card reader back from the office, and we're now in TokMi's house since Babah is working outstation.....



Cheers!

Aina's Wings....

Early Saturday morning (well, not so early... it was after our yummy bread pudding breakfast), we left for Puncak Alam/Puncak Perdana to go pick up Raihan. Aina wanted to wear the wings which I'd gotten for her the day before LOL


She didn't even mind standing up the whole way!! Just so she could show off to kakak Raihan :-p

Then, we decided to head to IOI Mall as I wanted to search for donut pans at Daiso. Unfortunately, there were no donut pans, but we did manage to try the frozen yoghurt from Tutti Frutti. Very pricey, but I guess it IS a healthier alterntive to ice--cream every once in a while...

Aina obviously liked it :-D :-D :-D

Oh yeah... Saturday night we attended a kenduri near our house. Aina of course had fun befriending the other kids there. There was ONE child, a boy, however who was extremely overbearing. Initially, as his mom was around, he and the other kids played well together. But when his mom stepped away, he and Aina got in a tussle of sorts, and he pushed Aina to the floor, used his feet to kick at her and even pressed her to the ground. I was watching the whole thing, making sure things didn't get too far out of hand. Aina, although smaller in size and stature, manaed to keep her own quite well. In the end however, the little tyke got very violent and slapped Aina HARD ON HER LEFT CHEEK! I've seen her get smacked by other kids before and she's always managed to keep her cool but this time she screamed her head off.... Her left cheek turned a crimson colour and it stayed red for the next hour or so....

We got home, changed and got out again to take Raihan out to practice a bit of night photography. That will be in another entry I suppose... :-)

Anyway, with reagrd to Aina, I usually let her just play and fight her own fights. Helps build character, I believe! LOL Her babah did tell her though that the next time a boy hits you, smash him in the nose, HARD!!! LOL LOL LOL

Till then.

FRUITful Saturday :-)

It was definitely an ambitious weekend which I'd planned, and thankfully almost all of it was carried out. The list was as follows:

1. To paint loft (hubby) and wall (me)
2. To finish Aina's dress
3. To make lasagna
4. To make bread pudding
5. To make tacos
6. To make donuts

Review:
1. Could not complete as hubby had to go in to work, so paint time cut short, postponed to next week.
2. Kind of completed it, but it was too small after making adjustments! Project scraped, starting a new one soon....
3 - 5. COMPLETED!!
6. Due to overload of food, item no. 6 was postponed to another week :-)

And so here is my simple bread pudding recipe which was inspired by an entry in MADE, using pumpkins. I tweaked the recipe and used croissants instead of bread, and it was DELICIOUS!

PUMPKIN BREAD PUDDING
you need:
2 pkts of mini croissants from Bread Story
to make caramel:
50g butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
egg mixture - whisk together:
200ml low fat milk
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. flour
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 large eggs
2/3 cups mashed pumpkin pulp
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

how to:
lightly grease baking dish and pour caramel mixture on the bottom. tear the croissants in half and arrange tightly in the dish. pour the egg mixture over and leave minimum 8 hours, or overnight. Pre-heat oven to 175'C and bake for approx. 45 - 50mins, depending on your oven. Exteremely yummy served warm! :-)

LASAGNA
(using a 6 x 6 aluminium foil pan)
you need:
6 pieces instant lasagna sheets
1 pkg. pizza topping cheese OR mozarella cheese
meat sauce:
1 large onion, diced finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 large piece dried bay leaf
1 pkt. RAMLI minced meat
1 large tin canned whole tomatoes
1/2 tsp. cocoa powder
salt, pepper to taste
white sauce:
2 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. flour
300ml milk
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
white pepper, salt to taste

how to:
meat sauce:
saute the onions, garlic and bay leaf until the onions are soft. add in the oregano and minced beef. let the beef cook until most of the liquid is absorbed, then pour in the canned tomatoes with the juices, and stir while crushing the tomatoes. Add in the cocoa powder and seasoning and simmer about 10mins. Set aside.

white sauce:
melt butter in a saucepan and add in the flour. stir using a whisk or wooden spoon until the paste thickens and form lumps. add in the milk and whisk/stir until smooth, then add in the seasoning. taste and adjust accordingly. the mixture whould be thick and creamy. turn off heat and set aside.

to assemble the lasagna:
spoon 1/3 of the meat sauce into the base of the pan. arrange 3 sheets of lasagna over - it's okay to overlap :-) Then pour 1/3 of the white sauce and top with a handful of the cheese. repeat, finishing with a layer of meat sauce, then white sauce, and a whole lot of cheese and bake in a pre-heated 180'C oven for approx. 35 - 40 mins, till bubbly and nicely browned.

This is the Mexican Taco which hubby had been craving for, and I will not be putting up the recipe since you can buy the taco shells in a pre-packaged box complete with the spice mix to cook the beef and the salsa sauce that goes on top of it.

As for my other projects, I'll update as and when it's all done :-)
Watch this space! :-P



AM

Happy New Year..........

Totally unbelievable that it's already 2011!

Dunno where 2010 went, as it seems to have just whizzed by :-p

Anyway, I had decided to take leave on Thursday and Friday to finish off the last two days of leave I have left in 2010, when the football team had to 'ruin' it all by leaving me one measly day balance to carry forward to 2011 :-p

Kudos and congrats to the team :-D :-D :-D

On Friday, hubby sent Ana to the train station for her to take the LRT to Kg Baru since I'd promised her the weekend off. She had friends to see, stuff to do I guess... being so young, I guess it's only normal.

I was thinking what to do the weekend since due to the last minute unexpected bonus holiday, I'm sure many would have abandoned their original plans and decide to do other things. In the end, I called up my favourite place up in the hills in Putrajaya and they still had room available!! Yaaayy!

So, I packed while waiting for hubby to come back from Friday prayers, then got Aina ready. Hubby made a side trip to the hardware store, so he came back a bit later than expected, but since we were all packed (I'd also packed his stuff) all he had to do was to tload the stuff in the car and go where we wanted to go.

We decided to make a stop first to tapau our dinner since we figured it'd be mad to go out on New Year's Eve, no matter where you are!!!

We checked in at the hotel almost 6.00pm, and Aina was all psyched about being in a 'nice' place which had a huge tub and a swimming pool, so three guesses where she headed first?? ~ LOL

Yup, the swimming pool. Since the pool at Putrajaya Shangri-La does not use chlorine, I was more than happy to allow Aina to play as much as she liked. But, the pool was a bit crowded, so Aina had a short dip then we went back to the room where she continued playing in the tub, where she had more fun playing with the bubbles :-D

On a side note, I noticed that the hotel had changed their toiletries, and the bath salts were missing :-( But, it was still nice anyway, and the most important thing was that Aina had fun.

We showered, then decided to go to the lobby lounge as they had their usual complimentary sunset cocktail for their in-house guests. FYI, the cocktail's from 6.00pm - 7.00pm daily. By the time we got there though, it was about quarter to seven. Aina was more interested looking down at the table setting @ Azur (the Mediterranean retaurant) and Palm Hill (the Coffeehouse) as they had placed hats and gift packs, and Aina kept saying "er-pise, Mama... er-pise" i.e. surprise :-)

Babah was not feeling so good as he had a sinus attack so while he went back to the room to rest, I took Aina around the hotel for a short inspection, ahahahhahaaa... I'd been there many times before so I knew my way around :-p

When we got back to the room, Babah was already re-heating the food we'd bought for dinner and so we sat down for a nice meal of Chicken Mandi and Lamb Madghout, from Al-Barakah @ Neo Cyberjaya :-)

(sorry, not many pics of food and the like as Babah was more intent on taking pics of Aina at the pool and playing in the bath tub!!! ~ lol)

Aina must have been really excited about our little getaway because she didn't nod off to sleep till after 11.00pm and woke up early in the morning, at 6.30am!!!

She went to the bathroom, saw the tub and 'volunteered' to take her bath, ahahahhaaa... We all showered and were off to breakfast by 7.00am!! :-D

After breakfast, Aina changed into her suit and we headed to the swimming pool again. This time, it was just us so it was obviously MUCH more fun, ehehehehee... Babah joined us, but only to take pics.

We actually wanted to check-out at noon or a little after but considering Aina woke up extremely early, and to top it all off, she was happily playing on the bed when she suddenly 'disappeared onto the floor', you can imagine that the fun was all over for her that time, LOL

And so we packed up and left around 11.30 and headed to Taman Warisan Pertanian for our lunch. We weren't in the mood for anything really heavy so we decided to go for Hj Samuri's satay.

After our early lunch, we headed home to rest.

Aina had already nodded off in the car, on the way home. And the journey was only 15 minutes!! LOL

Raihan called when we were on our way home and told us she was coming back that evening so all we had to do was to wait for her call to pick her up at the bus terminal. Unfortunately, when we got there that evening, she SMS'd to tell us that the driver had decided to go to Klang first, so we had about an hour to kill before she arrived! We had dinner at a nearby restaurant while we waited, and turned out the food there was yummy :-D

Anyway, that was our activity for the New Year, and we wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Madghout anyone.....?

Some time last week, hubby and I went to Al-Barakah again for dinner.

Surprise...surprise. They had added some new stuff in their menu, so we decided to try the lamb and chicken madghout.

Then, hubby went to the grocery store a few doors away to see if they had restocked their Strawberry and Apple Barbican, and he was also pleasantly surprised to see a new flavour added ~ Pomegranate!!

Verdict?

We were extremely happy with the meal and well as the drink :-)

I only had a bit of taste of the new barbican, but ordered mint tea at the restaurant as I was nursing a bad sore throat at the time...

Yes, I would recommend anyone to try the lamb madghout at Al-Barakah @ Cyberjaya as the rice is nice and fluffy and the lamb protion was more than adequate :-D :-D :-D

AM