Hari yang sibuk..

Semalam, Neeza kami bangun awal pagi sebab nak siapkan segala keperluan. Telah bermula hari tiada bibik. Neeza ada kelas jadi anak-anak terpaksa lah berangkut ke suatu tempat. Kak M telah bermurah hati untuk menumpangkan anak-anak Neeza dirumahnya. Shahmey kena bawak pergi nursery di kelas. Lagipun memang Shahmey pernah duduk di nursery pun.


Sesampai di tempat belajar, Neeza letakkan Shahmey. Menjerit dan meraung dia. Kesian pulak. Mungkin sebab dah lama tak tinggal di situ. Dari awal sampai sudah dia menangis. Tersedu-sedan sampaikan caretaker terpaksa panggil Neeza dikelas untuk tengok dia. Neeza masuk nursery Shahmey masih tersedu-sedu menangis. Neeza tidurkan dia tak nak. Last-last terpaksa bawak dia ke kelas. At first, dia diam aje. Bila dah rasa seronok, dia mula buat bising. Tak boleh lah gitu. Kalau pulak orang lain nak belajar kan. Neeza turun ke nursery semula bawak dia. Masa dia tengah leka main balloon, Neeza keluar dari nursery. Dengar jugak dia menangis tapi Neeza biarkan aje since tinggal lagi 15 minit aje kelas nak habis.


Habis kelas, Neeza ke rumah Kak M. Nampak macam anak-anak Neeza ada sedikit conflict dengan anak Kak M. Tak senang lah rasanya. Memang orang boleh kata, ala budak-budak.. Tapi Neeza tak suka kalau anak Neeza cari pasal. Since anak Neeza tu berdua dan anak Kak M seorang, Neeza rasa sangat yang anak-anak Neeza mungkin buat perangai. Tak lama lepas tu diorang okay.


Lepas Zohor, kami bergerak ke rumah Kak Z. Ada lunch disitu. Ingatkan dalam 3.30pm nak balik rumah tapi biasalah, tak pernahnya kami ni balik on time. Husband-husband memasing sampai dan dinner pulak. Kami tak lah sebab lunch kami pun lewat dah. Memang kenyang sesangat...


Pagi ni, anak-anak mintak pancake. Neeza tengok resepi Drno baru-baru ni. Macam senang aje nak buat dan ingredients nya semua ada kat rumah. Maka pagi ni jadilah homemade pancake. Memang sedap betul. Lebih sedap dari readymix pancake yang jual tu. Seriously.. cumanya... rupanya tak comel macam yang Drno buat. Biasalah kan.. penyalin resepi punya tangan tak sama dengan pencipta resepi tu ;). Ingat nak ambik gambar tapi belum sempat stack kat pinggan, dah habis. Oh ya, benda tu sedap bukan lah pasal Neeza yang buat tapi sebab resepi tu lengkap :).


Mulai semalam, laundry dah takde orang lain nak buat melainkan kami sendiri. Memang Neeza nak buat laundry tapi ada orang lain dah buat dulu hehehee... Terima kasih ya encik!

Lori garam tumpah bila kepala weng..

Cerita semalam yang dah hampir basi.


Alkisahnya, ada seorang minah yang perlu kedapur untuk memasak. Sebenarnya dia tak lah rajin sangat dan nak makan kat luar, dia rasa malas pulak. Dengan kaki yang agak berat dan badan yang agak lembik (sebab cuaca sejuk), dia kedapur. Dia keluarkan ayam dari frigde untuk di defroze. Dalam kepala dia, dah ada rancangan untuk masak lauk apa. Lepas keluarkan ayam, dia keluar dari dapur. Berehat...


Beberapa jam kemudian, dia kedapur semula. Dengan perancangan yang lengkap, dia keluarkan semua bahan untuk memasak. Mula lah acara memotong, mengetuk, menghiris dan sebagainya.


Mula-mula, dia masak sayur - kacang peas dan putik jagung yang dibeli di Kedai siam di Khobar. Di Jubail, memang tak pernah jumpa putik jagung. Makanan exotic lah katakan... Siap masak sayur, dia senduk dalam mangkuk. Simpan dulu.


Kemudian, masa untuk masak ayam. Dalam perancangan, nak masak Ayam masak tomato. Letak itu ini. Rasa garam. Hmmm... tak cukup masin. Letak lagi garam. Apa lah susah sangat garam nak keluar dari botol. Kecik sangat muncung garam tu. Guna dua-dua tangan, cuba keluarkan garam tu terus ke kuali. Sekali...... dush!!!! terbuka penutup tin garam tu. Semua Hampir 80% garam dari tin yang penuh (dekat 1/2 kilo) tu dah berada dalam kuali sekarang. Uwaaa!!!!! Tensennyaaa!!!


Geram, sakit hati dengan diri sendiri. Rasakan sekarang. Bila hati tu dah half hearted, nak jugak ke dapur. Sepatutnya kena ikhlas kan dulu hati.


Malas betul nak tengok kuali. Dah la cili kering yang siap blender dah habis. Nasib la ada pembantu. Boleh lah mintak tolong dia buat kerja yang agak membosankan tu - potong cili kering, rebus, blender... lecehnya la.. Then, minah tu pesan kat pembantu tu, dah siap nanti panggil ya. Wahhh.. banyak senang minah tu.


Dah siap cili tu, minah tu kedapur. Tumisan cili tadi tu diguna juga sikit. Bila masak semua dan campur dengan cili baru, mak oiii!!! masinnya!! Takpe, letak kentang. Masin lagi. Letak sos tomato lebih sikit. Masin juga. Letak lagi sebijik kentang. Masin lagi. Letak lagi sos tomato sampai setengah botol (botol besar tu..). Masih masih. Fikir punya fikir, letak air dengan banyaknya. Siap perah lemon lagi. Lepas tu rasa buat kesekian kalinya. Okaylah kot. Akhirnya jadilah Ayam Masak Tomato Entah Apa Apa Berkuah Banjir!


Bila makan, the husband of the minah kata,

"Kenapa masam sangat??"

Sebenarnya masam pun ada, masin pun ada. Malam tu, minah tu mabuk. Sakit kepala. Tak tahulah kenapa. Sebab minah tu makan masak ayam yang tersangat masam dan masin ataupun makan sayur kacang peas tu.

You're not an expert!

'You' in the title above is me. Yes, I'm telling myself that I'm not an expert. I should act like an amateur or better be, like a kindergarten student. I should follow the steps by looking at the picture. I shouldn't have behaved like everything is in my mind.


What the h*ll am I writing about?


Here's the story...


I planned to bake a cheesecake yesterday. Since it was pretty late (I should have baked it a day earlier but due to some reasons, it can't be materialized), I didn't look at the recipe (it was in the laptop). I needed to rush to the Fiqh class. So, everything must be done by 7.30am.


I took everything out and mix all the necessary ingredients. I managed to put the cake in the oven at about 6.30am. I guess the cake should be nicely baked right before I left for the class. An hour later, the timer buzzed. It was time but when I looked at the texture, it didn't seem right. Then I thought, perhaps I should prolong the baking time. I baked it for another 10 minutes. Still, it looked the same. I touched the top of the cake and it seems really cooked. It wasn't burned. I've got not much time left. I baked for another 5 minutes and told the helper to let the oven lid slightly open after the timer stopped.


Then, I left for school. I came back and took the cake out. I put them in the fridge (that's what we are supposed to do with cheesecake). I was still wondering why the cake didn't look like it used to be.


Later in the afternoon, I went to kitchen to prepare lunch for the kids who usually came back by 3.00pm. I opened the fridge to take out tomatoes and lemon. Then my eyes stucked at something. The yogurt!!!! I forgot to put the yogurt in my cheesecake. That was the reason my cake didn't turn out well. Everything was done. The cake was already in the fridge. Nothing can be done except for accepting the handicapped cheesecake heheeee..


It upset me a lot since I wanted to bring the cake for yesterday night's program. We had 'ceramah agama' at Kak M's house. I chose to bake a cheesecake because Sophea was asking for it for quite sometime already. I thought, while fulfilling her wish, I could bring some to the program.


Of course, after being covered with strawberry topping, the cake looked pretty. But, I knew, the taste was not like a real cheesecake. Sedihnyaaaaa!!!!


Insyaallah, I'll bake another one again (next time - which I don't know when ;)). Hopefully I won't forget to mix any crucial ingredient. It was really a lesson to learn for me... That's whay, I'm telling myself that I'm not an expert. Nak berlagak pandai konon... cesssshhhh... heheee..

Mood hilang sekejap

Semalam mood untuk blogging hilang sekejap. Puncanya ialah hero kecil kat rumah ni lah. Shahmey main digital camera and rosakkannya!! Geram dan geram sangat. Neeza tengok saja muka dia. Dia boleh senyum saja. Memang dia tak bersalah pun. Yang bersalah ialah Neeza. Yang Neeza pergi bagi kat dia camera tu sape suruh? Tapi, sebelum ini, dia tak pernah rosakkan pun. Well, benda dah nak jadi kan. Nak buat camana. Takde rezeki lah tu.


Anyway, Neeza still hoping camera tu boleh repair. Sebab yang rosak ialah zomming in and out dia tu. Macam stuck sebab Shahmey jatuhkan camera on the floor yang ada carpet. So, jatuh tak teruk. Bila ketuk-ketuk, dia keluar zoom tu. Tapi takkanlah asyik nak ketuk kan. Hehee.. apahal la pulak. Hmm.. ada tak agak-agaknya 'orang tu' nak belikan camera lain? Hoping saja lah. Boleh aje nak beli sendiri tapi kalau orang bagi rasanya lagi best kan!


Since semalam, hati dah tawar. Sekarang ni nak ambil gambar dah jadi susah. Terpaksa Neeza guna N73 punya camera. Handphone tu memang tak pakai sangat di sini. Neeza tak suka sebab ianya lebih besar dari hp Neeza. The mister pulak tak boleh guna sebab the phone ada camera. Tak boleh bawak masuk plant. Jadi, semalam, dengan bengkak hati, Neeza menukarkan sim card ke handphone tu. Tak suka nya lah. Tapi since nak guna the camera feature untuk snap gambar juadah berbuka, terpaksalah juga guna :(.




Semalam, disebabkan miscommunication, kami berbuka dengan banyak lauk. The mister beli beryani sebab dia call Neeza tak dapat. The handphone duduk dalam bilik. House phone memang dalam bilik pun. Bunyi housephone tu pulak tersangatlah slow. Handphone memang tak dengar sebab once pintu dapur tutup, jawabnya memang lost communication dengan dunia luar lah hehee..


Neeza masuk bilik nak ambil handphone. Sekali tengok ada missed call. Tengok screen kat housephone pun ada missed call dari number yang sama. Neeza call balik. Beryani dah beli!!!! Jawabnya kami berbuka dengan Beryani, ikan bilis goreng berlada letak kacang dan kentang, ikan goreng dan sayur lemak kobis. Sayur lemak kobis tak jadi makan. So, simpan fridge. Buat berbuka malam ni lah pulak.


Pendek cerita, kami makan Beryani saja semalam. Nasi putih tak luak pun. Kesian nasi tu. Takpe, malam ni akan dimakan lah kamu wahai nasi putih :).


Lepas berbuka, kami pergi hospital. Neeza dan Coan nak jumpa doctor. First time didalam hidup Neeza, ada orang ingat Neeza ni Korean!! Sabar aje lah. Da muka cina ke Neeza ni yek? Hehee.. Yang tanya tu minah arab. Rasanya dia tak pernah pergi Korea kot. Jadi, dia agak2 saja.. hehee..


Coan pulak sakit gigi. Ingat nak cabut or filling aje tapi since ada inflammation, kena makan antibiotics dulu. After 3 days, baru pergi jumpa doctor semula. Tak tahu lah camana tu sebab Coan ni paling takut dengan doctor. Semalam pun dia dah merengek. Hopefully, dia akan okay nanti :).

celoteh di pagi Ahad

Hari ni ada a few short bebelan yang Neeza nak tulis kat sini. Saja suka sebab rasa teringat nak tulis.


Bebel 1

Masa mula-mula blogging, Neeza buat comment moderation sebab banyak spam. Tapi dah takde spam (hopefully takde dah la). Setakat ni, alhamdulillah, belum ada lagi orang-orang yang tulis comment yang 'tidak sesuai' untuk di publish. Harapnya takde lah.

Pasal word verification pulak. Dulu, Neeza buat juga tu. Siapa nak comment, kena type dulu word yang di prompt tu. Neeza dah disable juga. Sebabnya, susah sebenarnya nak type. Mungkin senang bagi sesetengah orang yang mata macam microscope. Tapi, Neeza dah experience banyak kali, sampai 3 4 kali kena type sebab tertinggal / tersilap 1 letter (huruf). Ini membuatkan 'mood' untuk tulis comment tu hilang. Tapi tak pernah lagi lah, Neeza skip untuk comment disebabkan kes tu.


Bebel 2

Tag dan tag lagi. Bukan tak suka tag. Errr.. to be honest, ada sikit tak senang saja (only a little). Kita rasa obligated. Siapa lah agaknya yang memula initiate tag ni. Kesian kat orang yang kena. Dia pula rasa obligated untuk tag orang. Bila orang tak buat tag tu, dia sure rasa orang tak cooperative. Kan ke kesian tu. Padahal bukan orang tu tak cooperative. Bayangkan, kalau dia ada pembaca setia seramai 10 orang dah kesemua 10 tu tag dia. Takkanlah hari-hari entry dia pasal tag kot. Dia pun jadi takde mood nak baca blog sendiri sebab bukannya dia menulis tentang apa yang dia nak tulis tapi tulis tugasan. Macam tugasan kerja daaaa.... Bosan tak agaknya? hehehh..

Akhir-akhir ni, bila Neeza kena tag, Neeza dah tak nak tag orang. Tapi kalau award tu, Neeza bagi lah kat orang lain. Itu pun ikut mood juga. Bila dapat award, orang pulak kena buat entry pasal tu. Kesian jugak sebab banyak kali Neeza baca blog orang yang terima award tu, macam terpaksa tulis aje. Wordings pun lebih kurang sama dengan orang lain...

Cumanya kan, tag ni bagus masa kita kering idea nak tulis. Tapi, bila fikir balik sebenarnya orang malas nak baca apa yang kita tulis pun dalam task yang diberi tu.


Bebel 3

Walaupun bulan puasa ni, masa kita masih lagi 24 jam, tetapi aktiviti dah bertambah sikit. Tak payahlah Neeza huraikan sebab ramai yang faham tu. Jadi, aktiviti yang biasa dilakukan pada bulan-bulan lain (blogging terutamanya) akan menjadi tidak berapa prioirity lagi. Ramai yang sempat tulis entry tapi kurang (banyak kurang) masa untuk blog hop. Termasuklah Neeza sendiri. Jadi, pada sesiapa yang blognya belum sempat dilawat, diharap sangat-sangat untuk tidak berkecil hati. Neeza pun tak kecik hati pada siapa yang tak jenguk blog Neeza. Lagipun tujuan utama kita blogging bukanlah sebab nak suruh orang baca blog kita kan. Ke ada yang gitu? hehee.. *sowwwiiii*


Bebel 4

Kenapa Neeza rasa geram bila tengok anak-anak main pondok-pondok dengan menyusun kusyen untuk buat rumah sedangkan masa kecik dulu, Neeza selalu main macam tu? Habis semua kusyen dia turunkan untuk buat dinding, atap rumah. Lepas tu, dia siap tidur kat situ. Padahal, bilik diorang dah ada katil selesa untuk tidur. Tapi, hampir tiap-tiap hari, bilik tv lah yang jadi mangsa. Mata Ummi ni penat lah tengok. Tapi dulu, mata Opah, tak penat ke haa?? hehee.. tak adil betul Ummi awak orang ni kan :P.


Bebel 5




Baba Athirah bagi Neeza duit raya!! Tapi.... duit ni takleh guna... huhuuuuuu!!! Boleh tengok aje. Tapi, okaylah kan. Daripada tak dapat hehee.. Terima kasih En. Zul di atas duit yang menarik tapi tak leh beli baju raya ni :P.


Bebel 6




Bebel 6 ni ada gambar makanan laa :). Semalam malas masak. Jadi ini sahajalah yang Neeza masak (masakan paling senang didunia hehee..). Labu masak lemak diulangi untuk kali ke2 dalam minggu ini. Sebabnya, hari tu labu tu dibelah 2. Kalau tak masak semalam, jawabnya labu tu akan 'kecuk beghuuk' (bahasa klate ni) dan tidak sesuai untuk dimakan lagi. Ada daging jadi masak goreng kunyit daging sikit. Tambah sikit dengan telur goreng berlada.

Malamnya, ada tetamu datang. Tetamu ni bawak cherry cheesecake, tiramu cheesecake dan meehoon soup. Amboi!! rezeki sebelum sahur tu. Neeza cuma buat cucur udang saja. Tapi, since ada juadah yang tetamu ni bawak, maka makan macam buka puasalah juga kami. Kenyang betul Alhamdulillah. Gambar juadah yang tetamu tu bagi lupa nak ambik. Semua dah selamat dalam perut. Terima kasih ya Encik dan Puan serta adik comel :). Since semalam dah tahu location kedai siam tu, lepas ni boleh lah masak nasik lemak daun pisang pulak kan hehee..


Itu sahaja siri bebelan kali ini. Nak tidur lah pulak rasanya. Entry ini akan dischedule untuk di publish pada jam 9.33am pagi (waktu arab saudi) :).

Day 18

I was so blank of what to cook yesterday until I wrote about it on yesterday's entry. After reading Kak Tie's blog, I've got an idea hehe.. That was my 2nd time copy cat Kak Tie's menu ;). I defroze beef bone and chicken as soon as I saw the tasty look of Kak Tie's Sup Tulang ala thai and Ayam padprik pictures.


In the evening, I went to kitchen and cooked! The Sup Tulang didn't turn out that well. The soup was okay but the tulang.. really taste like 'lembu'!! Hanyir sangat! I already washed them with flour. I don't know why the lembu taste was so strong. I ended up eating that gross taste and smell Sup Tulang by myself. Sophea (Kakak) commented,

"Kenapa rasa lain haa??"

Even that little girl could taste the yucky sup tulang. Kesian sup tu.. The chicken padprik was okay. They love it but commented (who else like to comment if its not the kakak!) that the gravy (kuah) was not enough. I told them that if I made so much gravy, then the good taste would disappear hehee.. Lagipun, kalau pedas sangat, they wouldn't like it (They = the 2 girls).


As for the sayur, I cooked labu masak lemak putih. I don't really want to consider labu (pumpkin) as sayur (vegetables) since it sometimes eaten sweet and become dessert. But, when we made labu masak lemak, of course it's not dessert anymore hehehh..


Enough about that. Today, I won't cook for the Iftar. We'll see what happen today in tomorrow's entry. Insyaallah...

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I've been tagged by an ex colleague in KPTM Kuantan - Tg. Lieyn (jangan marah aaaa lieyn akak spell out your Tengku tu hehe.. I know you never stress on your tengkuness.. sama la macam my other friend in Al Khobar tu ;)). It has been a while that Lieyn tagged me. Only today I manage to fulfill it.


Here it goes:


THREE NAMES THAT FRIENDS CALL YOU:

1. Neeza
2. Nor (my first name)
3. Nora (my friends in primary school called me that and I never like it)


THREE THINGS YOU'VE DONE IN THE LAST 33 MINUTES:

1. made formula milk for Shahmey
2. deleting pictures in my camera
3. read my emails!


THREE WAYS TO BE HAPPY:

1. sit and observe my kids are playing
2. sight seeing
3. watch cartoons!


THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AS OF NOW:

I've got so many songs that I like. Semua lagu lama ;)


THREE THINGS YOU LOVE IN A GUY:

1. Pemurah - kalau mintak duit, bagi hahahaa!!!
2. Can read my feelings and take of them like his own
3. Like to share stories with me - I hate a guy who keep things to his own


THREE PERSONS YOU MISS:

1. My late grandma
2. My youngest brother
3. My niece and nephew in KKB


THREE GIFTS YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE:

1. A video camera
2. a bread maker
3. a facial session to remove dead skin and wrinkles! hahahaa!!


THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO FOR NEXT VACATION:

1. Egypt (especially Cairo and Alex)
2. Tasmania Island (Aussie)
3. Universal Studio in LA


THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:

1. internet
2. take pictures
3. collect stamps and coins


THREE FAVORITE CARTOON/ANIME CHARACTERS:

1. Tom & Jerry
2. Garfield
3. Winny d Pooh


THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE FAST FOOD:

1. KFC
2. Kenny Rogers
3. McD


THREE FAVORITE DRINKS:

1. Iced Milo
2. Fresh Soy drink
3. Sugarcane drink


THREE THINGS FOUND IN YOUR HANDBAG:

1. wallet
2. handphone
3. diapers of little Shahmey


THREE FAVORITE COLORS:

1. blue
2. red
3. purple


TOP THREE U LOVE SO MUCH:

1. ALLAH swt
2. Myself
3. My family


I don't wish to tag anyone :).

A blurry day

I still don't feel well. Shahmey looks a bit better this morning. I guess everyone knows the situation of being sick, right. So, I don't have to describe further. I went to the clinic yesterday night. This time, we tried a new clinic in town - Al lulu. It was quite big for a clinic though.


A saudi friend of mine suggested the clinic to me. Well, I guess she got a totally wrong information from her friend. I wanted to see a different doctor actually. When I checked, the doctor that my friend's friend had suggested was an ENT doctor! So, I had to ask for a different doctor.


Shahmey went to see a paedetrician with his Abah. He was diagnosed with bronchotic asthma - another name for pneumonia bronchitis. It's not asmathic though. Both of his sisters got it before (when they were small). It was due to viral infection. Yesterday night, Shahmey got his first dose of nebulizer. The dose need to be repeated tonight and tomorrow night. He also got a bunch of medicine to be swallowed yuckkss!!


As for me, I had 2 reasons to see the doctor but only manage to settle with my first reason. When we're on our way back, I recalled that I actually wanted to ask the doctor for flu medication. I totally forgot. Perhaps I could see the doctor again, tonight. I have to think thrice though because there were so many patients last night in that particular section. If I'm mistaken, almost all of them are saudis. Perhaps, this is a favorite clinic for the saudi women ;).


For yesterday iftar, I cooked - still. Just feel like cooking and to clear my freezer. It's not good to store fish and meat too long in the fridge. I made Ayam masak Kicap - different recipe. I used Kak Tie's recipe. Thanks Kak Tie. It was yummy. As for the vege - Sambal pecal was prepared for the 2nd time during this Ramadhan. I made an omelette (telur dadar) for Shahmey but it ended up eaten by others because Shahmey was sleeping during the iftar. I guess he was still full with other things that he ate before.

The man of the house came back with bunch of items for the fresh salad. He prepared it himself :). A big bowl of fresh salad! The dressing was thousand island - bought from the store. We also had a savoury bubur lambuk! Nope...!! it wasn't mine.. Kak Ani gave it to us. Kakak and Coan like them so much. Well, of course I had to eat all the leafy items inside ;). Thanks Kak Ani for the bubur lambuk.

Sabar lah sayang

Hari ni Neeza tak sihat. Shahmey pun tak sihat. Shahmey selsema dan batuk. Neeza selsema, sakita tekak dan pening kepala. Rasa macam nak demam pun ada. Kalau orang tua sakit, kenapa teruk sikit? Mungkin sebab immune system tak sebaik budak kecik. Sejak semalam lagi Neeza dah kena nose block dan sakit tekak. Bangun pagi tekak kering sangat. Sabar ajelah nak nak di bulan puasa ni. Mana boleh nak minum air kalau sakit tekak tu. Kena banyak sabar. Dugaan di bulan puasa kot. Shahmey takpelah, dia tak puasa hehee..


Semalam, buat pertama kali dalam hidup, Coan berpuasa. Dia tak cakap pun yang dia nak puasa. Dia ada lah mention masa bersahur dengan kami pagi semalam. Neeza masak nasi goreng masa sahur sebab masa berbuka malam sebelum tu kami berbuka di luar. Jadi, no food - kenalah masak masa sahur. Dia mintak Neeza suapkan nasi goreng (memang dia ni manja banyak). Dia ada kata, dia nak puasa. Dah banyak kali dia sebut nak puasa tapi tak puasa pun. Semalam dia puasa! Alhamdulillah...


Dari dalam bilik, Neeza terdengar Coan mintak Sophea bukakan penutup bekas Nestum. Dia nak buat Nestum. Dia siap cakap kat kakak dia,

"Oan nak bagi Shahmey ni. Oan puasa.."

Terkejut gak si kakak tu hehee.. Tapi yang bestnya, masa dia nak suap kat mulut Shahmey, dia boleh rasa dulu sebab nak tau manis ke tak. Lepas tu dia pergi kat Neeza dan bagi tahu..

"Ummi, sorry ya.. Oan termakan sikit. Oan nak rasa manis ke tak."

Neeza pun kata, takpelah dan dia teruskan puasa. Neeza tak tahulah dia sengaja ke tidak bila dia rasa nestum tu hehee.. Tapi, hari ni memang dia tak nak puasa (katanya lah). Walaupun dia join sama sahur, dia dah mention awal-awal, dia nak makan tapi tak nak puasa.


Kejap tadi, Shahmey batuk lagi. Dengar macam ada banyak phlegm. Malam ni rasanya nak bawak lah dia jumpa doctor. Dengar kata, klinik/hospital buka sampai pukul 2 pagi bulan puasa ni. Mungkin sebab dia start pun lewat. We'll see..


Kisah berbuka semalam pulak. Buat pertama kali dalam hidup Neeza pulak, Neeza buat kuih gulung a.k.a kuih ketayap. Siap buka resepi di internet tuuu.. Lap top letak kat dapur sambil nak buat. Bila Kakak tengok gambar kuih gulung tu kat screen, dia siap cakap,

"Ummi buatlah kuih ni ya. Kakak suka sangat kuih ni.."

Heheee.. ye la tu.. Tapi memang dia suka pun kuih gulung ni. Dulu, masa-masa dia puasa kat Malaysia, kalau dia nampak kuih ni kat pasar ramadhan, mesti nak beli.



Maka terjadilah kuih gulung semalam. Pada mulanya, bancuhan tu agak pekat. Ehemmm.. Neeza memang ada pengkritik tetap dalam rumah ni. Jadi pengkritik tetap tu lah yang menambah air dan bancuh semula. Barulah nampak senonoh sikit. Kuih yang tak senonoh, makan jugak. Kuih yang senonoh, barulah boleh ambik gambar hehehh..




Gambar di atas adalah juadah berbuka semalam. Disebabkan model tu puasa, dia diberi keutamaan untuk masuk gambar ;). Makanan lain yang Neeza masak ialah Gulai Lemak Cili Api Ikan Gelama, Ikan bilis goreng berlada campur kacang tanah dan kentang serta Sayur bayam masak rebus hehee.. Kat dalam gambar ada apam apa entah - yang tu dibeli. Ingatkan manis or at least masin. Tapi, rasanya masam! Macam tosai lah kot tapi tebal dan takde pencecah apa-apa pun. Jawabnya, buang saja sebab takde sape nak makan. Sayangnya kan...

Seafood Gala

The family of 'S' invited all of us (Malaysian in Al Jubail) to their residence yesterday afternoon for lunch. Wow!! another day of eating out. Alhamdulillah. After the Jumaat prayer (at 1.00pm), we moved on to their house and reached the place at about half an hour after that.


Kak M (the wife) had cooked all the main dish by herself. She didn't prepare any dessert though. I guess she kinda expecting that everyone else would bring the desserts (since that was what being practised so far. The guess usually brought desserts - it's NOT a MUST though!). It turned out that, many of us brought desserts, namely Caramel Pudding, Caramel Pudding with cake, Marble Jelly, Sweet Corn porridge (bubur jagung) and cheesecake. A lot huh! As we can expect, we didn't finish all of them. So much leftover and some got to be packed back by a few of us ;).


As for the main dish, there was no red and white meat (no beef nor chicken and not even camel heheee..). We ate seafood and to name - Ketam Masak Lemak Cili Api, Sambal Udang with petai, Sotong goreng kunyit and Ikan Kembung Goreng. Yummy!! We also had ulam-ulaman like Kacang Botol, Cucumber and another kind of leafy item which I couldn't recall the name. We had sambal belacan too :).


Overall, we enjoyed the meal. The kids and a few of adults were having ice cream later. Now I realized that Kak M did prepare dessert - the ice-cream! I was so full that I didn't take the ice-cream at all.


By 4.30pm, all of us left the S residence. Thank you to the S family for inviting us for the lunch. We really had a great time eating and mingling around with our Malaysian community. I also hope we'll be able to eat meet again in a near future :).


By the way, this is the cheesecake that I made. I am glad that after 4 times of trying to make the cheesecake using 4 different recipes, this one turn to be the best! Kak Ummi, I used the recipe that you have recommended. However, I had to alter a bit since I can't find the brand that the recipe suggested. Also, the amount of cheese is slightly different. Anyway, I'll put the recipe that I've used in my recipe blog soon ;). How soon? It will very much depend on my 'kerajinan' hehehee...

Updates on family matter

Nothing much to write today. I was thinking of jotting a few updates on my family - here in Al Jub@il, just in case my family in M'sia is wondering :).


Shahmey

He is still having runny nose and coughing once in a while. I guess it's the weather change. Last night, when we were outside, the humidity was very high. I could feel the sweat all over my body as soon as I was out from the house. Alhamdulillah, he's got no fever. Also, I'm thankful that I can still see his smiling face and restless acts most of the time - telling me he's ok!.


Sophea (Kakak)

It seems that she ate quite a lot lately. However, she only took plain rice, fried egg and sweet soy sauce. She refused other than that especially vege ;). Actually it was so hard for me to ask my 2 daughters to have a heavy meal as they're alerady fulled with tit bits like biscuits, bread and chocolates. By the way, I was so flattered when Sophea told me the other night that she's happy having me accompany her in the tv room. She felt 'tak best' when I had to sleep early - I had to cuddle the little one to sleep actually and end up zzzzzzz myself ;)


Sobhan (Coan)

The last 2 weeks, she used to eat a lot (heavy meal) but not anymore. I remember Abang telling how he was proud of Coan for eating a lot, unlike Kakak (during that time, Kakak ate a little). Things were switched, I guess. Kakak ate a lot and Coan didn't. Of course Coan took things like bread and biscuits. Perhaps she was also fulled with fresh milk and other sorts of milk (chocolate & strawberry) that she drank.

These two (Kakak and Coan) had been staying up late for the past few days. Last 2 days, they slept at 1.00am! They were playing with things in the room - toys, stationeries and books!. They like to act with so many characters, changing from one to another. I don't really like this actually since they woke up very late too. It's quite okay now as it is still a school holiday. In a week, they will start their schooling period. It seems that some kind of 'force' needs to take place soon. Someone (me or Abang) has to stay in the room and make sure they sleep tight before 10.00pm.


Abang

He is busy as usual - working 6 days in a week since the plant hasn't start up yet. That means, he only has 1 day leave in a week. That also means, if I wanna go somewhere, outside Al Jubail for example, that will be the day. This week, he has to work on Friday instead of Thursday. I've got plan but we'll see if it'll be materialized ;). Abang's new tasks in the house - ironing clothes and bathing Shahmey in the evening (I was the one who bathe Shahmey in the morning). I'm not bullying taking advantage of my husband okay... He's helping me since I'm easily get tired lately. Thanks Abang for having to understanding me :).


Myself

I'm getting 'fatter' - easily get tired but still manage to do simple housechores like cooking and washing clothes (the machine does it actually :P). The house is really in a mess and will only be tidied up when guest are coming (oopps!! pecah rahsia hehee..). My cooking mood is also up and down. Sometimes, I was so anxious to cook, sometimes I don't. Alhamdulillah, Abang is okay with that. He's not fussy with this one. Nowadays, I (with Shahmey) always went to sleep after Zuhur and woke up before Asar and sometimes slightly after the Azan ;)


That's about it. By the way, below is the thing I made yesterday. That was my first time making this. It burn a bit at the side and underneath though. Practice makes perfect. Yes, I'll never give up, Insyaallah...

Singgang Ikan Kembung + Budu

Nasi Putih Panas
+
Singgang Ikan Kembung
+
Budu
+
Cili Api
=
Nostalgia masa kecik ku!!

Semalam Neeza 'agak rajin sikit'. Sebenarnya dah lama sangat kami sekeluarga tak pergi pasar beli ikan atau seafood lain-lain tu. Asyik makan ayam, daging, ayam, daging. Badan pun naik berlemak. Di sini, kami beli ayam dan daging di grocery store (ayam dah siap proses - kerajaan sini tak benarkan sembelih ayam di tempat penjualan). Kalau nak beli ikan, kena pergi pasar ikan (kat tempat lain). Pasar ikan sini bersih dan yang bestnya, kita boleh minta penjual tu siang (bersihkan) ikan tu wlaupun ikan tu kecil. Tapi tak termasuk ikan bilis lah hahaha!! lawak la tu..


Pada hari Sabtu (malam), kami pergi ke pasar membeli ikan, udang dan sotong. Ketam tak beli sebab dah selalu makan kalau pergi P@ttaya. Diorang letak ketam dalam tomyam. Borong lah kiranya untuk seminggu (atau 2-3 minggu - kalau malas masak hehee..). Sebelum tu, nak share sikit harga ketiga-tiga jenis lauk yang dibeli tu(nak tengok sama tak dengan M@laysia)

Ikan Kembung Besar (1 kaki panjang) - SR10/kilo
Ikan Merah (Sederhana besar) - SR23/kilo
Udang Sederhana Besar (2 inci panjang) - SR26/kilo
Sotong Besar (2 tapak tangan - besarnya!!) - SR22/kilo

(Semua di atas telah dicuci dan potong kecuali udang..)

Penjual tu ada cakap, harga ikan dan udang mahal sikit sekarang. Musim orang tak ke laut kot. Tapi ikan kembung tu harga biasa rasanya. Sebelum ni pun macam tu lah harga dia. Tak pernah berubah.


Balik rumah, simpan dalam peti dan tidur! Esoknya (semalam - Ahad), dengan semangatnya Neeza mengerjakan sebahagian (bukan separuh) daripada lauk pauk tu. Ada beberapa jenis lauk yang Neeza sediakan (mengikut permintaan anak-anak dan suami). Tengahari tu, terasa sangat nak makan Singgang Ikan Kembung cicah budu. Ikan tu cicah budu yang ada cili api dan makan dengan nasi yang dibanjirkan dengan kuah singgang. Fooh!! memang mengembalikan kenangan masa kecil Neeza. Teringat kat arwah Mok (Semoga aman di sana. Alfatihah..). Inilah lauk singgang tu pada sesiapa yang tak kenal.

Gambar budu lupa nak ambil. Tapi rasanya semua kenal budu. Pada siapa yang tak makan budu, Neeza tak kecil hati. Biasalah tu. Ada benda yang kita makan. Ada benda yang kita tak makan. Macam Neeza, memang tak makan ikan sungai. Memang tak boleh masuk dalam tekak ni. Manusia berbeza-beza kan.


Anak dara Neeza, Sophea makan kuah singgang ni juga, tanpa ikan. Sobhan, suka juga singgang tapi tengahari tu, mood dia tak nak singgang. Dia makan ini dengan nasi.

Sambal Udang

Pada sebelah malamnya, kami makan lauk-lauk diatas bersama lauk tambahan seperti dibawah. Habis licin nasi. Yang tinggal cuma air asam dan ikan kembung singgang tergolek-golek tanpa kuah (dah dihabiskan 2 anak dara dan Shahmey si teruna)

Kembung Bakar

Air Asam

Kacang Buncis Goreng

Hari ni nak masak apa ya? Hmmmmm.... ;)

Sepakat membawa berkat

Hehehe.. saja je gempak dengan tajuk tu. Sebenarnya semalam ada jamuan di teratak kami. Memang semalam birthday Sophea. Kalau ikutkan hati, bukanlah nak celebrate sangat sebab badan tak berapa larat. Ingatkan beli cake saja cukuplah dan kami ambil gambar kenangan aje satu family. Tapi Sophea kata,

"tak aci lah Ummi. Dulu masa Coan, panggil kawan2... Kakak pun nak jugak.."

Oooo.. nak panggil kawan2 rupanya. Dia seronok bila kawan-kawan datang. Dia seronok bila bagi jajan (goody bags) pada kawan-kawan. Budak-budak kan. Bila tengok orang buat, dia pun nak juga. Bila Neeza fikir balik, lately ramai orang baru di sini. Ada diantaranya yang belum lagi kami jemput makan dirumah. Molek juga kalau datang dan berkenal-kenal dengan yang lain-lain. Sambil borak, sambil makan. Lebih menarik daripada borak kosong dan perut kosong. Jadi, terlaksanalah beberapa agenda dalam 1 majlis.


Tapi... hehee.. ops! ada tapi pulak? Tadi kata tak larat kan. Neeza tak larat nak masak banyak-banyak. Apa nak buat ya? Kita lihat siapa yang kena? Jeng jeng jeng... Ada 2 orang sahabat kami di sini yang rajin dan sedap kalau memasak. Siapa lagi kalau bukan As dan Leeza. Neeza plan untuk masak 1 @ 2 benda dan selebihnya cater (order) dari mereka. Kiranya, Neeza bayarlah untuk harga masakan mereka tu.


Setelah berbincang, mereka tak nak pulak macam tu. Mereka nak sumbangkan saja makanan tu untuk jamuan. Neeza rasa tak sedap hati sebab apa yang nak dimasak, especially oleh As tu, banyak. Tak sampai hati pulak kan. Kalau buat makan di rumah As, lain lah cerita. As kata, kira dia kenduri aje lah. Maksudnya As sumbang kenduri (orang utara faham lah kot) dirumah Neeza. Leeza pun gitu. Dia sumbang makanan saja. Tak perlu bayaran. Alhamdulillah. Terima kasih As dan Leeza. Semoga As dan Leeza dimurahkan rezeki oleh Allah. Lain kali Kak Neeza pulak sumbang kenduri ya. Tunggu Kak Neeza sihat sikit hehehe ;).


Jom kita layan gambar-gambar sepanjang majlis. Malangnya tuan rumah lupa nak ambil gambar tetamu lain (dewasa) yang datang sebab sibuk dengan entah apa apa aje. Sibuk makan lah tu agaknya hehehe...

Anak dara En Shahril potong kek yang cantik tapi tak sedap :P serta gambar-gambar dengan kanak-kanak riang

Lagi gambar kanak-kanak riang dalam bilik dua anak dara En Shahril

Anak teruna En Shahril sibuk main senduk hehe..

Jangan tergoda tengok ya. Memang sedap apa yang As masak ni. Karipap dan Seri Mukanya terkenal seluruh Jubail ni..

Sorry sebab tunjuk ni tapi Leeza memang pakar buat meehoon Siam dan puding kastard ni

Yang ni tak payah tengok pun takpe sebab ala kadar saja...

Blessing in Disguise

Yesterday evening, Abang received a phone call from a new friend, Z who has just arrived in Al Jubail. A few things that they talked about. What I wanted to point out here is only 1 thing. Z requested to have a ride from Abang to go to work in the morning. Actually, he already paid for a monthly pass for a bus ride (it's normal for them here since they've got no car yet). But, according to Z, he's not comfortable with the people in the bus (I shall not describe further here).


It wasn't a problem since Abang's and Z's work schedule started at about the same time, though they work at 2 different places. A tiny little problem is, usually Abang would take a nap (a long nap hehee..) after performing Fajar (Subuh) prayer. Bare in mind that Fajar begins roughly at 3.20am and ends roughly at 4.50am at the moment. His official office hour is at 7.00am but he can come a bit later and go back a bit late (flexible plus minus 1 hour). Most of the time, he would take a long nap and woke up about 6.15am. Also, most of the time, he had to rush to work since he had to attend a morning meeting at 7.15am. Many times he was late to the meeting. Of course, it's not a wise thing.


If he had to give a ride to Z, he had to leave early from home which also mean, no more nap after Fajar! Hehehe.. He told me, "it's a blessing in disguise..". I agree because sleeping after Fajar is actually not good for health (am I right?). I don't have any fact to support but I heard about it from a few people. Besides, he could arrive early at work and come back early. Today, he was really early. He's already at work before 7.00am. Bravo Abang!!


Talking about blessing in disguise, an undesirable incident had occured to me and my family (our property actually) a few days ago. Our house in Ktn was broken into and that was informed by our tenant, En M. When the thing happened, En. M was away on vacation. The burglar (or may be burglars) had stolen some of our staff like Abang golf club (an old one), vaccum cleaner (quite new but not that expensive), amplifier (that Abang bought when he was in States - we never use it anymore), Abang's work related file (?? I wonder why they took that), my kids' toy box (toys must be everywhere :( in the house), torch light (a tool to help them stealing I think), dinner set and glasses (nak jual ke nak pakai tu?) and a few other small items. Some of the tenant's stuff also were stolen (I'm sorry En. M).


The burglary was the 2nd time actually. Before that, the thief only took our DVD player (we bought it 6 years before) and a bunch of keys. Luckily the keys were not the keys for that particular house. That first time, the burglar broke into using the front sliding door. En M then bought new padlocks for all doors. This time, the burglar broke the padlock's hook (the place we put the padlock) at the kitchen's door. It was a bit dark there actually. What a thief!


It was a night of troublesome to En M since he had to go to make a police report and would only able to sleep at about 5am! Thank you En. M for informing me about the incident and thank you for taking care of our house. Also, I'm sorry that it occured to you (hopefully you don't change your mind about staying there longer... hehee).


I was kind of uneasy and sad thinking somebody, illegally had entered our house and stolen our stuff. Abang took it positively. I'm so uncomfortable when thinking about it. But I would take it as a test for us. Perhaps, it's one of the ways to 'clean' our property. So many possibilities that we don't know. Only Allah knows best. Like Abang said, there'll be blessing in disguise. Insyaallah...

***************************************************

Oopss! Let's look at our menu for yesterday and a day before (jamu mata je lah ye..)

Homemade Nasi Lemak with banana leaf (beli di Khobar)

Mee Hoon Soto (saja tukar selera - jemu lah nasi everyday..)

I won't attach any recipe here. They'll be in my recipe blog, My Magic Pots and Pans.

Lidah tak bertulang

(Nada dering)

"Hello.."

(Senyap)

(Talian diputuskan)

(Nada dering lagi)

"Hello.. siapa ni?"

(Senyap)

(Talian diputuskan lagi)


Selang beberapa hari kemudian.

(Nada dering)

"Hello.."

"Hello. Siapa bercakap ni?"

"??. Siapa di sana?"

"Awak kenal Zainal tak?"

"Hmm.. kenal. Kenapa ya?"

"Macam mana awak kenal dia?"

"Saya kenal dia semasa company saya ada buat lawatan di Kuala Kangsar. Kebetulan dia datang ke tempat pameran kami. Kenapa ya?"

"Sejauh mana hubungan awak dengan dia?"

"Saya anggap dia sebagai kawan saja. Lagipun, semasa dia ke gerai pameran kami tu, dia ada bagi business proposal. Jadi, saya bagi lah contact number. Dia ada telefon saya. Macam tu ajelah. Boleh saya tahu, siapa yang bercakap ni?"

"Saya isteri dia."

"Oooo.. isteri dia. Ada apa-apa yang saya boleh tolong ke kak?"

(Senyap seketika)
(Suara seakan-akan menangis)

"Awak tahu tak. Baru-baru ni saya ternampak sms Zainal untuk awak. Saya tanya dia awak ni siapa. Dia kata takde siapa siapa. Cuma rakan business. Saya tak percaya. Saya cuba untuk telefon awak."

(Cuba ingat kembali)

"Ya.. ada beberapa hari lepas, saya ada terima panggilan telefon tapi takde sape bercakap pun"

"Akak lah tu. Kali kedua akak nak telefon, Zainal bagi kata dua pada akak. Dia kata 'kalau awak telefon juga, jatuh talak!"

"Hah???!!! Takkan lah sampai macam tu sekali?"

"Iya.. sebab tu lah akak nak tahu apa hubungan awak dengan Zainal"

(Diam seketika)

"Kak... macam ni lah. Saya anggap Zainal tak lebih dari kawan biasa. Saya tak tahu lah dia anggap saya apa. Tapi, saya dah ada keluarga kak. Saya dah kawin dan ada anak. Saya sayangkan keluarga saya. Saya pun tahu Zainal dah ada family. Dia pun selalu cerita pasal akak dan anak-anak. Tak pernah pun dia cerita buruk pasal akak. Semuanya baik-baik. Dia selalu bagi tahu akak banyak berkorban untuk dia"

"Tapi... kenapa dia buat akak macam tu. Sampai nak jatuhkan talak pulak. Akak pun tak tahu apa status akak sekarang"

"Astaghfirullah... saya pun tak faham. Kenapa sampai macam tu. Macam ni lah. Akak nak saya call dia dan tanya ke?"

"Tak! Tak payah! Awak jangan call dia lagi. Akak nak bagi tahu. Janganlah awak buat macam ni lagi. Jangan lah ganggu rumah tangga orang."

"Aik! Sejak bila pulak saya buat macam tu?"

"Kenapa awak layan dia?"

"Kan saya kata tadi, saya anggap dia kawan saja. Tak lebih dari tu"

"Takpelah. Sekarang saya nak minta satu benda dari awak"

"Apa dia kak?"

"Awak jangan sekali-kali telefon dia lagi. Hal akak dengan Zainal, biar akak yang uruskan. Boleh awak janji dengan akak macam tu?"

"Baiklah kak. Saya pun tak suka lah dengar kalau akak dan Zainal sampai macam tu jadinya."

"Okaylah ya. Awak ingat ya. Jangan contact Zainal lagi. Awak jagalah keluarga awak baik-baik. Ingat pesan saya. Tolong jangan call Zainal lagi sampai bila-bila. Assalamualaikum"

"Waalakumsalam.."


Mudahnya lidah berkata-kata. Hidup bersama selama berbelas tahun tiada erti ketika syaitan merasuk jiwa. Sememangnya talak adalah hak milik mutlak suami tetapi mengapa ianya dianggap satu senjata ugutan?


Baru-baru ni, ada 1 kes artis diceraikan oleh suaminya ketika dia sedang mengandung 3 bulan! Mengikut Islam, haram bagi lelaki menceraikan isteri yang sedang mengandung. Walaupun begitu, ianya sah. Maknanya talak telah pun jatuh.


Dihati lelaki berkenaaan, tidak kah dia terfikir wanita yang diceraikan itu sedang membesarkan zuriatnya sendiri? Apalah dosa anak kecil didalam perut siibu itu sehinggakan tidak dapat menerima belaian seorang ayah ketika masih didalam kandungan? Selalu kita dengar, untuk mendapatkan seorang anak yang baik dan sihat, kandungan perlulah sentiasa dibelai dan dipupuk dengan kata-kata positif oleh kedua ibu bapa. Tetapi, sekiranya ibu bapa bercerai, tinggal lah siibu yang terpaksa mengusung kandungan kesana kemari dengan hati yang luka.


Manusia sungguh mementingkan diri sendiri. Asalkan hati puas, sanggup buat apa sahaja. Langsung tidak terfikir sebab dan akibat. Perjanjian yang dibuat pada hari pernikahan dilupakan sekelip mata, hilang bersama nafsu amarah. Kasih sayang yang dicurahkan sebelum itu langsung lenyap bersama kenangan baru yang belum tentu menjanjikan kebahagiaan.


Semoga kita tidak termasuk didalam golongan orang-orang itu...

*******************************************************

Baiklah, lupakan seketika cerita di atas. Di sini, Neeza nak share menu hidangan semalam dengan semua bermula dari breakfast (minum pagi) sehinggalah ke dinner (makan malam). Hehehe.. semalam terlebih rajin. Rajin masak aje la. Mengemas rumah masih malas.. *tutup muka*

Mari kita lihat. By the way, hanya gambar-gambar saja yang tertera sebab Neeza bercadang untuk memuatkan semua resepi didalam blog masakan yang akan tiba tak lama lagi. Kalau Vitamin R banyak, cepatlah muncul blog tu. Kalau tidak, malam sikit la kot.. hehehh..


Shakshuka ni tak tahu lah masakan arab ke, pakistan ke ataupun Iran. Tak pastilah. Tapi, yang ni memang yang selalu dijual di kedai makan di sini. Ianya dimakan bersama roti yang macam roti hot dog tu.


Di bawah ni masakan yang dimasak semalam tapi hanyak dimakan semasa dinner sebabnya... baca lagi dibawah..






Sebabnya, 2 masakan dibawah ini yang dimasak pada hari sebelumnya masih banyak. Jadi, Neeza dan anak-anak perabihkan masakan hari sebelumnya lah. Masakan semalam, makan semasa dinner. Yang tentunya, masakan semalam juga akan dimakan pada hari ini. Begitulah adanya. Masak sikit ke, banyak ke, memang tak pernah habis. Mesti akan carry forward ke hari berikutnya. Kadang-kadang sampai berhari-hari. Yang tukang perabihnya Neeza la sebab anak-anak dan suami biasanya tak nak makan dah kalau lauk tu dah banyak hari sangat. Nak buat camne.. nak buang sayang. Tak baik membazir kan...

My first bread ever!

I wanted to bake a bread but I've got no bread maker. I found a simple recipe in the cookbook that I bought about 17 years back. It doesn't require a bread maker but does require lots of effort to knead the dough.. *phew!!*


This is how it looked like. I'm not a pro and not even an amatuer. The taste came out just okay. As long as it is edible looks like a bread, who cares huh! Hehehee...

The recipe..

Ingredients:

2 cups of warm water (I used 3 3/4 milk and 1/4 water)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar (I used 4 tablespoon - saja suka2)
5 1/2 - 6 cups of all purpose flour (I used only 5 cups)
2 teaspoon salt

Method:

Pour the water into the bowl. Add the yeast. Put in the sugar and whisk until the sugar and yeast are dissolved. Measure 2 cups of the flour into the bowl. Whisk the mixture well. Let it 'proof' or sit for 10 minutes. Then, stir in the salt. Add in the remaining flour, 1 cup at a time. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop. To knead, fold the dough in half and push it down and away with the heel of your hand, rotate the dough, and repeat until it is smooth and elastic (Kneading can take up to 10 minutes).

Place the dough in a bowl greased with vegetable oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a draft-free area (I don't know what this means actually) for 1-2 hours or until it has double it size. Punch the dough down and knead it again and shape it according to your preferences. Cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F (Celcius?). Brush the dough with egg wash (if you like it). Bake for 25 minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack to cool and wrap the cooled bread tightly in plastic until ready to eat.



Note to myself:

I have a get together tonight (makan-makan, of course) at my friend's house. Am I bringing the bread there? Nope!! Abang said, "macam bantat aje..". Takde encouragement langsung huhuuu...

Daging Masak Hitam ala Zai..

Lately, I noticed myself like to cook a different kind of food from usual (of course only those that are easy to be prepared hehehh). Kinda boring eating the same thing everyday, I guess. Yesterday, I remember a recipe that was given by a friend of mine, Zai. She named the dish as 'Daging Masak Hitam'. I name it 'Daging Masak Hitam ala Zai' since I think it's a unique recipe created by her (her mom actually heheh..). It tastes like 'Rendang Dendeng' a bit (if I'm not wrong about the name). This one is easy to prepare yet tastes yummy! (suites me well hahaa!!)

I surfed the net for the actual recipe but found nothing that is similar to the one that Zai gave me a few years back.I was so engrossed to get the recipe. I rang Zai up in M@laysia huhuuuuu!!! Am I obsessed? Let it be, as long as I got what I want hehehe.. I know I would forget the recipe again. So, I decide to put it my blog. It'll be easier for me to refer to it whenever i need it.

Here it goes

Ingredients:

300g beef (slices them small)

1 onion (medium size) - blend

3 cloves garlic - blend

1 inch ginger - blend

1/2 tsp blackpepper powder

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp vinegar (I used lemon since I've got no vinegar at home)

3 tblsp soy sauce (preferrably a salty one)

3 tblsp kerisik (dried coconut paste??)

2 tblsp oil

Method:

Marinate everything except oil with the beef for at least 1 hour. The longer the better. Heat the oil in the frying pan. Put in the marinated beef in the pan. Stir a bit. Then, cover the pan for while. Stir the beef once in a while. While not stirring, remember to put on the pan cover so that the beef is well cooked. It is ready to be served when the beef looks dry (garing) a bit. Not to dry though. Imagine how you cook Rendang. That's how it should look. Happy trying :)

Abang didn't like to eat it with rice since it's tastes like Rendang. So, I ended up eating most of it myself. Anyway, I was the one who crave for it ;).

Kek coklat??

Tak tahu lah kenapa, 2 hari lepas, tak semena-mena, Neeza dok teringat-ingat Kek Itam kak OO (resepi asal Maklang). Betul-betul macam mengidam (macam???).


Badan rasa tak berapa sihat dengan selsema dan bersin (macam kena sinus). Bayangan kek tu asyik bermain kat dalam kepala.. bahaya betul hehee.. Lepas zohor, cuba nak lelapkan mata untuk rehatkan badan tapi kek Itam tu menjelma bagai dipanggil-panggil. Tak boleh jadi ni.


Neeza pun pergi lah ke dapur untuk melihat bahan-bahan. Memang sebelum balik M@laysia hari tu, dah beli bahan-bahan nak buat chocolate cake ni. Cuma, masih belum diselesaikan saja.


Pendek cerita, Neeza pun bertungkus lumus lah di dapur.. hehee.. takdelah teruk sangat sebab senang aje nak buat kek ni. Terima kasih kak OO dan Maklang. Memang senang dan sedap hehee.. puji diri sendiri pulak. Cumanya, kek Neeza ni terlebih manis sebab tersilap sukatan gula. Neeza guna chocolate bar. Ingatkan pahit rupanya manis. Dah pukul telur dengan gula, baru rasa chocolate tu. Manis rupanya. Lagi satu, kek ni tak jadi hitam (frust jugak sebab Neeza nak kan kek Itam...) sebab chocolate tu tak hitam pun (dia tulis light.. ingatkan light sebab low fat supaya light colour. Tertipu lagi...)


Ingatkan nak kukus semua kek tu tapi tak muat bekas lah pulak. Jadi, separuh tu Neeza bake.


Jadi, inilah hasilnya... jeng jeng jeng.. Kek Itam yang berwarna cokelat!!! hehehe... Neeza tambah topping sebab Neeza suka topping. Tapi, kalau boleh biarlah pahit sikit, bukan manis macam ni :(


Gambar ni adalah kek yang di bake. Kek yang kukus belum potong lagi. Manis sangat lah rasanya. Naik loya tekak. Kena buat lagi nampaknya bagi nampak hitam sikit hehehh...

My 2nd attempt ;)

I love cheesecake and I could eat a few slices at once! Despite several times asking for the recipe from Kak Mahani, I never baked any cheesecake when I was in M@laysia.


I don't know why but it seems that I've been craving for cheesecake lately. Last week, I was determined to bake one. I searched for a recipe in the web and managed to get one that fit with all ingredients that I've bought. I was happily and confidently baked the cake. But, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to be!! Huhuhuuu.... (too much confident perhaps). The feature looks bad and the taste was almost awful... *sigh*

I ate another scrumptious cheesecake last Thursday (thanks to As who paid for the cake). I still wanna eat more of it hehehee...

Yesterday, I made a 2nd attempt. I asked for a recipe from Kak Mahani, again (I think she's been telling me for more than 10 times heheheee). It was a really simple recipe.

Yesterday, I made a 2nd attempt with the simple recipe. I alter the recipe a bit though. Alhamdulillah, it turn out better. I shall rate it as 7/10! hehehee.. (tak lah sedap sangat pun..)


Cheescake recipe

Base
2 cups of cookie crumbs (I used tea biscuits)
5 tblspn butter


Cake
400g Philly cream cheese
5 eggs
1 can plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
1 tspn lemon rinds
3-4 slices of peach


Topping
1 can of liquid whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence



To prepare the base:
Mixed them together. Spread it at the bottom of a baking pan. Press it till compact and bake for 10 minutes to ensure the crumbs stick together.


The cake:
While baking the base, beat egss and sugar together. Mix cream cheese, yogurt, lemon rinds and vanilla essence. Add in chopped peach slices. Pour the batter into the prebaked base. Steam baked the cake at 175 C for about an hour or slightly golden in color.


The topping:
Whip together whipping cream, sugar and vanilla essence till soft peak. Spread the cream all over the cake. Decorate the peach slices on top.

Note: steam baked means putting the pan with batter inside another bigger pan filled with water. It is steaming while baking, to prevent burning too soon, cracking and drying.

salad anyone?

A few days ago, ma called (she smsed first, I called her later heheee..) and asked about a receipe for chicken nugget salad. I'm not sure whether to call it a Chicken Nugget Salad since the chicken nugget that I used was not that much. 5 pieces may be.. the bulk of it was potatoes.


Since I came here, I haven't made that myself.


Yesterday, I felt like eating fresh vege meaning - no cook. So, here my salad goes. The receipe? I list down everything that I used down here.


Ingredients:

3 leaves Lettuce
1 huge Potato (cook before cut them)
5 pieces Nugget
2 Eggs (hard boiled)
1 medium size tomato
1 Green Apple
6 -7 tbl spn Mayonnaise
1/2 tspn Black Pepper
pinch Salt
1/2 tspn Sugar


Directions:

Just mix everything and serve :)

a little experiment

After a few weeks days managed not to cook (actually I wasn't able to due to my sickness), I cooked yesterday. One of the reasons was, I couldn't stand kabsah and pizza any longer. Another reason, I wanted to finish those free plain yogurt and laban that I got and tried the receipe (can it be considered receipe? Sure can!) given by Kak OO and Lollies.


Kak OO taught me to make fried chicken using plain yogurt while Lollies suggested me to make mango lassi. Thanks sisters! Since I had chicken and mango juice at home, I thought, why not gave it a try!


Yesterday evening, after the headache eased a bit, I went to the kitchen and took out everything that I needed. About an hour later (probably more than that heheee..), everything finished.


I thought of taking a picture of them but when I looked at the results, better not heheee.. (buat malu company aje). Must be something not so great to be shown huh! Surely there were... huhuuuu!!! Let me list them here...

1. The chicken was overly cooked. Some parts turned to almost black *blush*




2. I don't have potato flour (tepung kentang) at home. So, I had to exclude them. The chicken didn't look scrumptious at all. It turned to be a bit harden instead of crispy.




3. The taste of the chicken?? a bit salty and too sweet...




4. The mango lassi did taste great but why it looked like santan pecah minyak (that's the only way to describe heheheeee..). The laban and mango juice didn't mix well. Is it supposed to have that look? I doubt it though. I end up drank the mango basi lassi all by myself. My kids just *eeeuuwwww* when they looked at the look!

My conclusion to this experiment are:

1. I should get the correct measurement before pandai-pandai
   
2. Make sure I have everything required and not partly (lack of 1 item could make a lot of difference)
   
3. Menuntut ilmu sampai habis, bukan separuh jalan!

and last but not least, mengaku je lah awak tu tak pandai masak heheheheheeeee.....

Anyway, I did try once. I can try again but of course I have to buy them coz' there'll be no more free stuff :)

I wish my fried chicken and mango lassi look like these... *drool*