From Saba to Sana'a to MARHABA (finally!)

And this is the elusive restaurant that we were trying to get to on Sunday...

My niece called up and asked if we'd liek to join them for lunch at Saba Cyberjaya. Since we're just 10mins away, we of course said "Yes". Then a second call came in to say that the location has changed to Sana'a. Ok. It was not far from Saba, and we knew where it was. And according to her, it was near the Arab Mart where we usually go to buy our supply of Barbican :-p

So, we met another niece with her hubby and baby at the Street Mall and headed to the Sana'a we knew. We didn't want to wait in the car since the weather was broiling, so we sat and decided to have a look at the menu. I had called my other niece earlier to inform her that we were already there. Turned out, as we were looking through the menu, she called and told me we were at the wrong place!

I asked what was the name of the restaurant, she really couldn't say since there was no signage outside the shop! Now, where on Earth did they pick out the name Sana'a from? LOL LOL

So, we picked up our stuff, apologised to the waitress at Sana'a and headed to the correct restaurant located within the grounds of Cyberia Homes.

For seven adults and 2 tiny kids, we ordered 4 dishes ~ 2 Mandi Lamb, 1 Mandi Chicken and 1 Chicken dish which was new and I cannot recall the name but it starts with a "Z" :-D

For some reason, Aina was extremely cranky yesterday, so she refused to sit with everyone else. First she wanted to go home! But she finally settled sitting with me at another table... She was actually a bit sleepy, and so her mood was horrible! I had to take her to the convenience store there, and I had to buy her a feeding bottle to pacify her. OK, it was either that or the plunger, so obviously I chose the feeding bottle!!! Who in their right mind would want to be carrying a plunger all through lunch??!?!

This is the "dug out oven" used to cook most of the dishes. I think the concept is similar to a tandoor... But since it wasn't me who went in the kitchen to take pics, I wouldn't really know :-p

And this is the shop, from the outside. Yep, no signage.... So, for those who'd like to try it out, it's within the grounds of Cyberia Smarthomes and the restuarant is located at the end of the row. of shops.

Cheers!!

When Babah Is Not Around....

Babah had to work. Well, he's planning to go on his annual fishing trip so whatever job is pending MUST be completed before he leaves. And so it was just us girls at home on Saturday. I tried making Apam Eno for breakfast, but it didn't turn out so good ~ it was not soft and fluffy :-( I followed the recipe to the letter but I guess I'll just have to try again some other time...

Then lunch was a simple affair of noodle soup. I used the air-dried-not-fried noodles sold in supermarkets, and the soup was made of home made fish stock, a little bit of chicken stock cube (had to add a hint of familiarity for Aina's sake), enoki mushrooms, chinese cabbage and an egg. The way I cooked it was pretty much similar to making instant noodles, and the reason is, Aina is a total stickler for instant noodles! So, we change the ingredients to make it healthier and present it to look like instant noodles :-D

After her afternoon nap, to make sure she did not go back to sleep, I asked if she wanted to play in her pool. I didn't have to ask twice :-D

For dinner, I decided to make spaghetti carbonara. I had fresh button mushrooms, and I had pasta, so it was basically a no-brainer. Babah was not home so I didn't really feel like slaving in the kitchen on a hot afternoon.... :-p

My carbonara sauce is the simplest (read: laziest) version and uses only stuff I have at hand. I left out the heavy cream and egg yolks since Aina would be eating it anyway.

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA ~ SHORTCUT VERSION

you need:

enough pasta for 2 persons

2 cloves garlic. minced

2 sausages, sliced

3 - 4 button mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 cups fresh milk

1/2 Tbs. flour

handful of cheese (I used pre-packaged pizza topping mix)

salt and pepper, to taste

how to:

you need to start cooking your pasta first, and time it to be almost done by the time you're done making the sauce.

heat olive oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic is fragrant, not burnt. add in the sausages and mushrooms and cook till mushrooms are soft. add in all other ingredients except the cheese, then bring up to a boil. simmer gently, and as it
starts to thicken, drain the pasta and add into the sauce. stir in the cheese at
this point and stir till sauce and pasta are well combined and cheese has melted. check seasoning and serve.

Shortcut enough? :-D

Cheers!

Aina's Spa Experience....

...at home :-)

She saw Mama, and was fascinated. So, after Mama's time was up, the eye pads were passed to Aina..... ehehehhee...

I am planning to take her for a haircut soon, but dunno how THAT will turn out! LOL

I'll see if I can actually manage to take pics/video if that ever happens.....

Cheers!

Weekend...

We stayed in on Saturday, all day, since Babah was at work. In the afternoon, he went to pick up Raihan, since she had stuff to do, and we had planned to go see Mak on Sunday.

Since Raihan was at home, I cooked the last ikan tongkol in the freezer. I made a simple gulai, which recipe I'm posting without pics as I totally forgot to snap a pic with it! I am putting in the recipe anyway because it was my first time making the dish, and it turned out quite well :-)

GULAI IKAN TONGKOL
you need:
1 whole tongkol, roughly 1kg ~ sliced and pre-boiled with a few pieces of tamarind pieces and salt. reserve the stock for the gravy.
1/2 cup thick coconut cream
5 - 8 whole cili padi
salt, sugar, to taste
grind/blend to a smooth paste:
5 small red onions
2 cloves garlic
1/2-inch piece galangal
1/2-inch piece turmeric root
small piece of ginger
10 dried chillies, soaked in hot water

how to:
heat oil and fry the spice paste till fragrant and slightly dry, and the oil has surfaced. add in the stock from the boiled fish pieces and the cili padi. bring up to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. add in the fish pieces and a bit of seasoning. add in the coconut cream and simmer gently, stirring constantly so that the cream doesn't split. check seasoning and serve.

Sunday morning, we headed to Sg. Besi to see Mak. Since Raihan had stuff to do on campus that evening, our visit was short since we also wanted to go visit my brother-in-law who's been in and out of hospital. That visit was also "touch and go" as it was already 1.30pm, and we REALLY had to move....

We stopped somewhere as Raihan needed to get some infor about her assignments, and that was when Aina decided to monkey around a bit in the car....

Her sunglasses even became crooked but she just grinned and had the time of her life pretending to drive us. No worries ok, the car was stationary, put in "P" and hand brakes were up. I NEVER EVER let hubby put her in his lap while driving, NEVER ever did that myself, and I think parents who did this either had temporary insanity or are totally devoid of common sense. You may be going at 25kmph, it can still cause serious damage to a child if you were to crash!!!

Anyway.... we got home by 3pm, and rested for a bit while Raihan finished what she had to do, then I went down to prepare dinner, and Babah sent Raihan immediately after dinner.

And THAT was our (boring) weekend....

How was your? :-)

Cheers!

Prawn Mee @ Penang Hokkien Mee

I think the meal should be the entry title today considering how long I've been waiting to make it. To make these noodles, there're a few levels of patience one must endure, and it is all worth it! Let me enlighten you :-)

1. to 'save' enough prawn heads to make a decent stock is no easy task, not when there's only 3 adults in a home, short of risking high cholesterol and sinus attack if we should consume the required amount in one go!!

2. to slowly boil the heads (2 hrs, gentle simmer) until you achieve a beautiful full-flavoured prawn stock.

3. to cook the compulsory chilli paste that goes into the stock/gravy and also as accompaniment to the final dish. it takes a LOOONNNGG time for the ground paste to be a rich, deep red colour and dry enough not to be considered as additional 'sauce' to the stock/gravy.

And so.... I first took out the prawn heads and cleaned them and put them in a bowl to simmer. That was at 11.45am (we'd just got back from Tesco with the other ingredients). After Zohor prayers, I proceeded to make the chilli paste and to blend the strained prawn heads to add to the stock. I finally got back upstairs at 4.40pm.

PENANG HOKKIEN MEE @ PRAWN MEE
you need:

for STOCK
1kg prawn heads ONLY, rinsed
2 sticks celery, chopped in large chunks
1 large white onion, quartered
small garlic clove, smashed lightly
1 1/2 ltr. water
~ combine all in a stock pot and bring up to a boil. lower heat and simmer gently for 2 hours. strain and set aside. reserve heads for later; discard the celery, onion and garlic.

for CHILLI PASTE (to blend)
5 shallots
1 large onion
15 - 20 pcs dried chillies
1 small piece ginger
2 Tbs. dried shrimp
5 - 6 Tbs oil
3 - 4 Tbs water
~ blend to a very fine paste and fry in oil (make sure you use enough oil) until the mixture dries up and is a rich, dar red. make sure not to burn the bottom though, so you need to stir regularly. you may also wish to season with salt at this point.

for SOUP/GRAVY
reserved stock
prawn heads + 1 cup water, blended and strained
extra 1 cup of water
half of the prepared chilli paste
salt and sugar, to taste
~ bring the stock up to a boil, then add in the strained liquid and extra water with the chilli paste. let it come to a boil again, then simmer gently about 2omins. check seasoning.

to SERVE:
1 pkt yellow egg noodles, blanched lightly
1 bunch water onvulvulous, cleaned and cut into manageable lengths;
blanched
enough beansprouts (I did not use this)
1 pkt fishballs, blanched
hard-boiled eggs
pre-cooked prawns (I ran out and Tesco didn't have large ones, boo-hooo!)
shredded cooked chicken breast (too lazy to add this one as well!)
extra chilli paste on the side
~ place enough noodles and condiments of choice in a bowl and laddle over the hot soup. add more chilli paste if preferred. ENJOY!

Yes, yes... I know. Going through the 'rituals' above, I should have added the prawns and the chicken but honestly, to me it isn't really necessary as I enjoy the noodles with the veggies as is anyway.... :-) :-D

Yummmmyyyyy.....!!!

Cheers!

Aina's Pool :-)

On our recent trip to Toys R Us, we'd gotten Aina a mini swimming pool. Well, at least she can cool off on hot days right there under our porch :-)

Last Saturday, I'd jokingly asked Hubby to blow it up since we can't locate the pump we'd gotten awhile back for the air mattress and her floatie. When we (Aina and me) got back from TokMi's on Saturday afternoon, the pool was all set to be filled, smack in the middle of our bedroom!

aina just HAD to test it out, even though it was empty and in the middle of our bedroom!!

Thanks, Hubbs!!! **muaaaahhhhhsss**

Anyway, hubby moved the thing down to our porch, reversed the car to the side of the street and filled it up.....




Babah even indulged Aina by being Aina's very own bubble making "machine" making sure the bubbles kept coming, much to her delight! :-D




Cheers!

Sunday Dinner

The whole of Sunday was spent watching TV (by Aina) and editing pics and updating FB & blog (by me) since Hubby was at work all day.

After lunch, I'd started to prepare the ingredients for dinner ~ pounding the chillies and turmeric for the masak lemak, and prepping the chicken to be grilled in the oven. Yup, the Ayam 'Goreng' Rempah was grilled in the oven to make it a little healthier :-D

GULAI LEMAK IKAN MASIN & BELIMBING
you need:
2 pcs med-sized salted fish, soaked in hot water for about 15 - 20mins,
rinsed and cut into smaller pieces
10 - 15 cili padi, up to your own level of tolerance! :-p
1 thumb-sized (and my thumb's not so large) fresh turmeric root
1 piece turmeric leaf
6 belimbing buluh, cut into chunks
1 small piece asam gelugur
1 cup thin coconut milk
1/2 cup thick coconut cream
salt, sugar ~ to taste

how to:
pound the turmeric and cili padi to a fine paste. combine the paste with the coconut milk, asam, and belimbing in a pot and bring to a boil. lower heat to a simmer, add in the salted fish and turmeric leaf. simmer gently, stirring regularly, until fish and belimbing is tender. add in the coconut cream and bring up to a boil, again stirring regularly so that the coconut cream does not split. check seasoning and serve.

AYAM GORENG REMPAH
you need:
6 pcs. chicken wings
1 small piece turmeric root
1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
1/2 tsp. white peppercorns
1 Tbs. light soy sauce

how to:
rub the soy sauce into the chicken and let rest about 10mins.
pound all the spices coarsely, then rub into the chicken and leave to marinade for about 20 mins. heat oven to 160'C and drizzle vergetable oil over the chicken pieces and mix to combine. lay the chicken pieces on the grilling tray and cook for about 40mins, till done.

This is another dish that goes perfectly with the gulai lemak, and any other gulai that you may cook at your home! :-D

IKAN PEKASAM GORENG TELUR
you need:
3 - 4 small pcs ikan pekasam, rinsed well
sliced onions, quantity is up to you
sliced cili padi, quantity is up to you
1 egg, beaten lightly
lime wedgesm, to garnish and squeeze over the dish

how to:
heat a bit of oil and fry the fish pieces gently over low heat. as the fish browns, add in the onions and cili and fry till onions are soft. pour in the egg mixture and let set a bit, turn over and cook the other side. it is basically like an omelette, only you have the fish as the filling. when egg is cooked through, squeeze lime over and serve hot.

It's Monday morning, and it's busy, busy, busy..........till tomorrow, I HOPE!



Cheers!!