Pot Luck Planning

Apa itu pot luck? sumer orang bawak pot yang berisi makanan berlainan untuk dikongsi bersama rakan-rakan supaya kenyang...and luck pun datang.. (lucky sebab takyah beli breakfast / lunch kat opis benonya..)
We in the office plan to buat pot luck next week..tapi ramai plak unavailable... set date will be 8th June.. hmmm....apa nak bawak ni..
Mihun goreng & Kek Pisang Kukus dalam kotak pemikiran ku... wohoooo.....
Nanti lain2 bawak lain2....

TGIT!

Hari ni baru Thursday but I have already sounded celebrating...hahhaha... the fact that today is the last day of Mid Year Exam for Alia n Faiz.. this weekend will be something fun-tastic I guess..! Other half said he will be OFF WORK Sunday and Monday.. so will I too..!! Big plan for long weekend I guess.. over excited my parents are coming too, to 'borrow' Alia n Faiz...

As per their conversation:
Ayah: Korang pegi la cuti kat umah Tokcit, mama dgn ayah nak pegi dating..
Alia: ye latu nak dating..
Ayah: iye... ayah dgn mama nak bawak adha n emir pegi zoo
Alia: eleh.. zoo ke, bukan laa nak dating tu.. nak pegi jumpa sedara ayah kan..!

Both of us tersenyap, and I smiled dalam hati.. anak dara kepochi ni...

Anyway, I have pumpkin n sagu..boleh buat pengat!!! tapi dalam kepala hotak ni nak try Kek Pisang Kukus...mak oi.... banyak nye nak buattttt.... sume nak buat, buat dgn tidak je u....

UNIVERSITY'S DINNER....(OUCH!)

Alia: Ayah, Mama, Happy University!

Mama: Bukan UNIVERSITY la kakak, ANNIVERSARY!

Uwan: Kakak tau ke anniversary tu apa..?

Alia: Tau, kawen-kawen kan...?

Cehh.... anak ku ini...kepochi tak sudah2 tapi merepekkk jekkk...

For 9 years and 4 kids... I am blessed for everything I have.. Thanks so much to other half who made this happened to.. and I pray for another 9 years, followed by 9 years more and more, without us feeling bored / hatred of each other... I love what we have, and thanks to Allah for giving us the life we are living...

Anyway, I took half day leave yesterday... main reason was I have an interview to attend, just went there to test market org kata... kalau dapat pun kena pikior dulu banyak2...although dekat giler dgn umah, less than 15 minutes away jek... the place I am working now is also a good prospect though!

Anyway, my interview was scheduled at 4, but i left my office 10 to 2 pm and managed to hit Jalan Kuching by 5 past 2.. since i still have much time before the interview, i went to tesco just to window shop...half an hour later i found myself with half a trolley of things.. ouch! so called window shopping yek.. in my mind was to prepare something good for the family tonight.. hmm.. ayam masak gulai lemak dah ada...ada jering cambah.. thinking of nak buat sambal jering + ikan bilis.... ikan merah ada, goreng kan for the kids since angah tak suka pedas..adha plak suka, but kalau makan tercirit2....rendang daging dah ada.. cukup la tu.. heheh..PLUS Kek Coklat Kukus special tu sekali le...

lepas interview i reached home 10 to 5... kemas2 barang, adha tgh tido...my MIL tolong kopek ikan bilis semangkuk.... thus, senang le keja mama.. before start masak (ikan baru tgh defrost dalam sinki), pi amik emir katumah opah.. hai.. si comel tu tgh menyusu atas riba opah.. instead of bringing him home, i brought LAKSA PENANG plak.. opah bagi stapau besar... Opah kata nanti Acu hantar Emir..

Balik terus start masak, si Adha plak bangun...half an hour later, Emir balik dgn Acu.. told acu nanti bagi sikti coklat kek universiti (anniversary) tu.. hihih..

quarter past 6, other half plak sampai umah.. memacam terhidang atas meja... kek tgh kukus lagi.. sampai kaka n angah balik... makan2 potong kek.. Happy University Mama & Ayah..! hahhahahha..... Love my life a lot!

Weekend Meals

Again about weekend ya... well nampak tak kueh lapis yang tak berapa menarik dipotong tu..hmm.. tu weekend punyer penangan ye..

saturday we went out, thus, Sunday I was expecting a challenging day as Adha is around, Emir's opah balik kampung (otherwise mid of the day Opahmenti pinjam Emir kejap..kekadang sampai siap makan n mandi..senang mama tau..!).. so i was not planning to cook anything for dinner..forget lunch as I do not have appetitte to eat alone.. i just cut off yesterday's chocolate cake..for the kids..mix some Campbell's soup and stir slowly over slow heat.. took the with somebread from tesco.. Milo kaw is ready to drink.. anough for them..

While Emir and Adha were sleeping, i did the laundry (for weekend forgot to mention Adha vomitted in the wee morning for eating TOO MUCH during the day!!!).. i need to wash the comforter today...finished that and the little two woke up..ready to rumble, mama!!
other half mentioned before he left that he will be home early today.. after 6.. i had some time for myself before he came home.. surprisingly, slightly after 4, my brother and his wife and little Chienta dropped by.. its been months we did not see each other....luckily i had a tray of choclate cake for them..

but, as i told you i do not want to cook anything for lunch or dinner, yet i still made something in less than half an hour... geuss what? you've guessed right, kuehlapis.. hhahha.. my sis-in-law asking me how did i make the kueh lapis..the exact ingredients.. ouch..sorry sis.. exact amount is never in my dictionary.. thus, i showed her how i did it..haha..sorry ye..tawar sikit..!

they stayed till other half came home with m y MIL... LUCKY for me, my MIL brought RENDANG DAGING.....wah....ada ikan selar goreng sambal..nyumm..nyum... betul2 malas nak masak rupanya ada bontrot dari umah MIL.. hehehehhehe..... senang hidp mama..!

My Littlest Food Lover

What is it for weekend, mama? Look at my face, I am hungry and please prepare something for me okay...

Well, other half took leave on Friday & Saturday. He sent MIL home just before Friday prayer and let Adha stayed there overnight. Hence, when I was home, he was HOME ALONE since Alia n Faiz went to school...Emir was sent to Opah's place too...wahh...senang2 kan jadi HUSBAND ni... >:P Anyway, I was not planning to cook anything for the night as the leftover are still there for quick dinner.. I did not eat dinner either that night because I had rice twice from morning and cheesecake for tea break.. too much !!

Other half asked whether we need anything from tesco.. I told him whatever left in the freezer just add, and Adha likes FISH so much and no more fish in the freezer though. In short, we went there and bought few things for our stomaches. ahhahahh... I took a bottle of TAMIN taucu (this one is better than the packet ones) as other half strolled around the wet market area.

This is one of the lovely Saturdays I have as I don't have to rush ironing otherhalf's shirt, boiling water for other half before he went off to work..yelling at Adha as he ran down towards the gate or playing with the brooms..while I am busy with Little Emir and kakak surely fed up being asked to watch over the nottie Adha.. (see his pic there, the nottie face shown!) today, I woke up a little bit later..poking other half what to eat for breakfast... he kept quiet..I woudn't want to ask anymore I woke up, boiling water, filling up flasks for later use.. other half came to the kitchen, refilling the MILO pot, and had some left in the packet, thus he asked me to prepare MILO KAW! prepared that and i told him i just prepare light meals for breakfast.. he said ok..just cook for lunch je la... i agree thus i just fry some nuggets, cuttlefish balls and fish fingers.. i took out ikan terubuk and udang we bought from tesco last night... i took my own sweet time to cook those.. my plan was to masak asam pedas terubuk and stirfry the shrimp..

but, later, i did masa asam pedas for the terubuk and i goreng tauchu for the shrimp..maveles (as per Alia...) Emir was still sleeping when I finished cooking where his father dozed off next to him.. I asked Alia n faiz to do some revision for exam while i was cooking... Thought I still have time before Emir is up, I whisk 5 eggs and sugar...found the cocoa powder.. wahh.. it would be nice if we have chocolate cake for desserts.... after less than half an hour, my chocolate cake is already in the steamer...



Emir is already up when the choc cake is steamed. I bathed Emir and put on some new clothes.. by this time, other half is also up and asked us when to fetch Adha.. while I am getting ready myself..the cake was ready..but still TOO HOT! when we were about to leave, Alia asked for a piece of this cake.. still too hot to cut, i pinched soem for her though..! thank you, mama...

we left for Anna's kids bestday party..after we fetched Adha.. went to Muksu's palce after ANna's, wahh...restless la mama.... sampai rumah semua terbongkang!!!

what a nice weekend....too bad, my sunday will be a challenging one as other half supposed to work...ouch!

Udang Goreng Taucu

Hahhaa..gasak le penah ke org buat udang masak ni... pepandai je i ni meng'alter'2 masakan.. anyway I did and tasted good! Awesome! tgk gambo to..tak meleleh ayor liur?? hish... posa laa plak hari ni...(ganti you... 6 days to go...!!) tahun i dengan azamtakmau ponteng2...harap2 dgn pil yasmin tu berkesan laa...

memandangkan posa, pepagi buta ni malas nak mengexplain further taucu udan gni..tgk gambo dulula... pepetang sikit explain...huhu..

Sambal Jering Cambah

Korang tau jering cambah??? i bet not many knows kan.. i ni gelak je lebih I pun tau jering cambah bila kawen dgn org Minang... tp thebest is bukan my other half yg introduce this, my MIL yg bgtau... ini banyak belajar dari MIL kalau kat dapur ni, tapi early training dari Omah la.. teringat kata2 TokCit (my beloved father..) "kau tu tinggal dgn mak bapak 12 tahun je yg penuh, lain2 tahun kau mana tinggal kat umah..." sedih pun ada bila TokCit cakap camtu sebab mmg betul pun I stayed for full 12 years dgn diorang, meaning the first 12 years of my life je.... pastu dok asrama, pegi sambung belajo la..lepas belajor, koje pun kat Lembah Klang areas... dapat koje kat JB pun stayed in JB, bukan Kota Tinggi... tapi above all, all the time staying with TokCit and Omah is the best I have had especially my childhood memories tu... owh, sini bukan tempat nak luahkan kegirangan zaman kekanak ye...hahhahahah

Anyway.. bila dah kawen, rajin le menanya MIL tu cemana buat jering cambah ni..sebabnya kita2 ni bukannya suka pun makan jering, bau tak hengattt kan! Tapi bile first time tried my MIL sambal jering cambah ni, mak oiii...best giler...macam makan sambal kentang gitu...tapi kentang stail minang la kan bukan mat salih.. hihih.. rupanya nak buat jering tu lembut kena ada cara... sama kind of jering dgn jerign utk menggulai tu..maksudnya jering tua la.. pastu rendam for whole night, next morning, toskan rendam lagi.. for 2-3 days la kena buat gitu, evryday kena air rendaman baru, jangan bior je, kalau tak umah bau tak hengat...lalat berkeliaran nanti ingat umah kita bau tong sampah! hahah.. ok, after jering tu dah agak2 lembut, or terbelah, leave the jering dalam tapis...sampai bercambah...3-4 hari gak laa..... kalau nak best, cambahkan dalam pasir samapi tumbuh anak cambah tu.. tapi kalau nak buat dalam pasir tu bukan tak nak, sebab lagi senang takyah nak tukar2 air, just one thing, takut di*tuuttt*kan dek kucing2 berkeliaran sebab depa ingat tu TANDAS depa.....hihihihihi

dah bercambah tu, dah boleh la belah jering tu 4.. gorengkan... gorang segenggam ikan bilis.. set both aside... tumbukkan 2-3 biji bawang merah and 3-4 biji cili merah (bukan cili kering) boleh blend or tumbuk..buh garam secubit...pastu tumiskan dgn 3-4 sudu minyak...dan naik bau masukkan jering and ikan bilis tadi, gaul rata dalam kuali..READY TO SERVE!!

nak best makan dgn any gulai lemak...dapat plak gulai lemak ikan kering + nenas muda...pegh...maveles!!!

Kueh Lapis

Uikkkk...jangan tak percaya I dah buat kuih lapis ni one Saturday morning..I think about 5 weeks ago.. now that I don't have anymore tuition class, I have my weekends totally for my kids (of course their dad IF HE IS NOT SO BUSY WORKING!)...
So that morning, I was tired of having the too-often of nasi goreng although Adha loves it so much. So i took out tepung gandum and I do stock up santan kotak in my cabinets.. You know, my new house ni guarded and gated (so-called laa kan...!) so, no shophouses/shoplots/any kind of shops available in the housing area....susah tauuuuuu....unlike the old house, seberang longkang je kedai runcit...
Back to the kuih lapis (Alia's ever feveret!!), I asked her after the father left for work whether she wants kuih lapis for breakfast? Boleh tak anak dara ni asked me back: MAMA PANDAI KE BUAT KUIH LAPIS? YANG WARNA PUTIH DGN PINK tu kan..? Dengan muka selamba, I replied, mesti la pandai....(dgn confident nya ok!!). In return, she helped me eyeing for the toddler Adha while Emir is playing in his baby bouncer... nasib baik dapur besar, so, sambil masak sambil the kiddos playing in front of my eyes...
Dulu pernah tengok my mentor (Omah) buat kuih, so, ingat2 lupa laa but I still can picture the things in my mind. So confidently, I took out my blender masukkan tepung gandum agak2 3/5th of the 1 litre blender jar, masukkan santan sekotak, campur air secawan setengah and gula agak2 300grms.. secawan lebih sikit la... pastu i tretttttttt je blender tu....terus sebati..owh, yang ni bukan cara Omah buat dolu2 ye... ni my shortcut to kuih-making..:P lepas blend tu, tapis adunan tu...i masukkan secubit garam, bagi lemak naik tu...bukan naik lemak ye..

tgk2 adunan tu, jangan cair sangat, agak2 laa pekat nye, jangan pekat sangat nanti keras!! pastu divide this into 2, satu i colour with syrup Double Lion tu...agak2 setengah sudu warna merah..

kukuskan 2-2 adunan ni layer by layer, sesenduk setiap layer... wah... lepas siap tu..i pun amazed myself!!! panas2 tu si kakak suruh potong, by the time siap kukus angah pun bangun tidur...terus dia tanya:"mama buat kuih tingkat ke??" (LOL!) i jawab ye and hidangkan sepiring... mak oiii bebudak ni makan macam tak Bismillah... but really, makan berebut2 termasuk SI DOBOT ADHA tu!!

hence, for the day, itula food yang diulang2nya oleh 3 beradik tu...till the next day, i served the last piring of this kuih lapis for tea time... what made my laughed was when it was left with a piece i told Alia n Faiz, that last piece is for Adha... when Adha was taking it then, the two elders begged me,"Mama..mama potong la jadik 3!!!"

Percaya jagan tak percaya u....opp...ada lagi kuih yg i dah buat KUIH SERI MUKA!! hahahha....nanti i bgtau yek..!

Master Chef Programme

Nak gelak pun ada bila buh tajuk tu... last night while it was heavily raining + thunder, our home sweet home went off-light, BLACKOUT daa.... few times lak tu... I was planning to goreng ikan kembung masak taucu... my MIL dah keluarkan ikan awal2 lagi an hour before I reached home. Since, it was dark inside, I took my own sweet time cuddling Little Emir (big bro Adha was with his granma..fret of the dark I guess..) Later, I swithched on all the available torch lights (including handphones' too).. I started to siang ikan...dalam gelap... well... dah hobi la plak kan...plus, the urge was my stomach, TERINGIN SANGATTTTT IKAN GORENG TAUCU ni....!

While cleaning the fish, my other half reached home, surprised finding us all rambling in the dark. Soon, he joined us in the dark and switched on his phone's torch too.. p/s: dalam gelap pun laki ku ini sempat membebel dgn anak...bilaa laa nak diam org tua ni....*sighhhh...*

goreng ikan, sambil tu Alia suluh my kuali and sinki sebab I was finishing off the onions, garlic and ginger... ayah yang suruh Alia tolong suluh kat mama, takut tangan mama kena pisau actually... after a while, my MIL and other half broght all the kiddos down to the living room. Still in the dark, other half asking kakak to accompany mama cooking. She did it willingly though...

Soon, the lights are back and my taucu also ready to be served. It is not the taucu I am focusing here, I just want to rephrase what my eldest child told me:

"mama, dalam gelap pun mama terer masak jugak kan.. mama ni Chef Farah la... mesti la boleh masak kat mana2 pun... mama boleh la masuk MASTERCHEF tu mama...!"

so I asked her, "kalau mama masuk MASTERCHEF tu, boleh ke mama menang?"

She replied:"mestila boleh, mana ada orang boleh masak dalam gelap macam mama...!"

so I was terharu...! really sweet this little (no tlittle anymore of course!) girl....

Kenapa Perlu Suka Masak

I tak taula kenpa or mengapa ada orang suka masak ada orang tak suka masak..itu keputusan masing2..tapi for me, i memang PERLU SUKA MASAK for various reasons:

1. My other half bukak periuk/tudung saji/tgk atas meja dulu bila balik dari keja walaupun tetengah malam
2. Anak2 dah 4, kalau beli je..mak oiiii tak ckup kuantiti nya....or nak cukup kuantiti duit nye kena BERLEBIHAN u...(LOL)
3. anak2 i memang suka makan esp those yang baru masak tgh naik bau tu.... and many other reasons that I could not recall at present...

The most appreciated time is when baru je hidang dan masih panas everybody is circling the food and demanding for some! This moment will never be replaced with anything in the world... especially when I looked into their bright eyes with full of excitement waiting to taste the food...

So mothers, whether u are a domestic engineer (house manager laa.../housewife..!) or a career woman with high reputation at work, feel enjoy cooking food for your loved ones....do not wait til it's too late to share the same feelings I have with mine....:)

Pengat Keledek + Sagu

OUch...! bila ke nya nak diet ni... (op, sori there's no diet in my mom-life-dictionary...!) yesterday was a public hol here. Since it is mid week thus, my MIL stayed with us helping me with 2 kids+1 toddler (the fastest and most attention needed!!) + 1 baby.. Hence, I have extra time to meddle with my kitchen. 2 weeks ago my MIL came back with a plastic full of sweet potatoes...keledek warna orange tu.. I had boiled half of those last week for breakfast on Saturday.really nice! so I have another half for desserts yesterday. As I already bought sebijik kelapa parut and used half for my gulai jering, I have half left for pengat..
kopek keledek tadi..then I cubed about 1.5cmx1.5cmx1.5cm.. masukkan dalam periuk, perah kelapa amik santan n masukkan dalam periuk yg sama... renehkan atas api yang sedikti panas je.. buh sehelai daun pandan (yang MIL bawak gak.... as my new house ni semua pkok tak mau hidup....*sigh...*) renehkan sampai keledek tu empuk.... pastu masukkan 2 ketul gula kabung dan sesenduk gula pasir... op lupa plak tang sagu, before I cubed the keledek i dah rendam segenggam sagu dalam air..bila masukkan gula tadi tu I tskan sagu and terus masukkan dalam pengat tu.... msak for another 5-10 minutes or sampai gula mencair/sagu mengembang/sampai mendidih sikit...
i tell u, bila i tutup je api..my 1yr old tu nak makan dah.. soon after, kakak n angah pun datang bawak MANGKUK N SUDU!!! i bagi sorang sesenduk...they enjoyed and COMPLAINT, mama bagi sikit sangat laa...nak tambah lagi!!
kalau masuk dalam peti makan sejuk2 laaggiii maveles!!!!

Gulai Lemak Jering

Tajuk nye je dah menyelerakan.. wow! erk, korang pernah ke makan gulai jering ni...? or kalau my mom panggil jengkol! tapi wa cakap lu...really superb!!! even my 1++yr old toddler pun selambaaa je makan gulai jering ni...cam makan kentang u...!
kalau nak buat gulai, jering ni perlu yang tua..bukan jering muda ye..jering muda tu buat ulam leh laaa...... cemana nak cari yg tua...tgk kulit dalam tu mesti dark brown or dark perang.. tu yg tua.. rendam jering tu agak2 dalam 20 bijik.. sehari ke.. pastu halvekan jering tu, rebus....agak2 dah empuk, tumbuk jering tu (lepas sejuk la..jangan le tumbuk panas2 lepas rebus tu...) tumbuk tu bukan le sampai hancur...hihi.. tumbuk bagi jering tu pecah sikit je...or lembut tang dalam so bila menggulai tu kuah nye senang nak menyerap masuk ke dalam jering (bagi lembut gitu...!) so for the gulai, amik setengah bijik kelapa parut, blend kan bagi santan tu pekat and perah sekali je... buh kat kat periuk berisi jering ditumbuk tu.. pastu amik ikan bilis agak2 setengah genggam dgn cili api 15 biji.. tumbuk sekali...masukkan dalam jering tu gak... masak atas api sederhana buh kunyit serbuk dalam sesudu teh bagi warna kuning cantik gitu... pastu garamkan dan perisa tambahan PAK AJI (kalau suka la..)...buh daun kunyit sehelai... masak agak2 20 minit sambil kacau2 gulai tu so taht tak bertahi minyak kat atas...
makan dgn nasi panas pastu ikan kering rangup... peghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..mmg marveles!!!

selamat mencuba u all...!

Food for thought

It's been quite a while (almost a year though!) I have not written anything here anymore. It doesn't mean I do not COOK ya! Cooking and me go hand in hand...(too bad...) as long as it takes!
Updating my status, I am now still with the same other half plus one more baby in 2010. Yes, another boy in the house born on 24th Dec 2010 @ 3.79kg. Still nothing compares to his brother of 4.22kg!
I just drop by to say that I am never forgetting this blog though. I will be writing again soon with more food to come dari dapurku!!