nak makan popiah..nak makan popiah..

tah kenapa pulak ni eh..tekak i nak makan popiah basah lah..ni mesti mey nyer gambar yang sungguh menusuk kalbu tau..ni tengah pikir..nak buat popiah tu mmg lah boleh..tapi ada sikit nyer malas sehhhhhhhhhhhh...hehehhe. kat sini pulak takder jual skin yang dah ready made..adalah kulit popiah biasa yang boleh buat popiah goreng.

the girls loved those snacks that are in the small packets and the kerepek ubi :) thank you also for the mee bandung and nasi goreng nyer ready made rempah eh :)

neway..sungguh gumbirah ria lah hati ni ..hehe...gua dapat ovalette 3 botol :) me kasih lah kepada cik sriberry. the girls were so happy to get all the yummy snacks. satu packet tu dah habis dah diorang ngap...yang lagi satu tu kena ration..hehe. mak dia punya snack..seme tak leh pegang..hahahahahhaa. yang kacang2 tu i punyer lah :) dah lama tak nampak tai sun nyer brand.

ovalette ni...apa lagi..kek tapak kuda..kuih coconut blossom..and apa2 lagilah yang pakai ovalette...hahaha

i would also like to thank for the books. baru i teringat..buku by prof. hamkah is 'dibawah lindungan/naungan kaabah'. thank you many2 for these two books sri :) anyway, i watched 'puaka tebing biru' on youtube. dah lama nak nengok citer ni and finally someone uploaded it. :) citer orait lah but 'jangan pandang belakang' lagik best. this one the story ada sikit confusing..like never explained what's the relationship between ayu and ratna..hehe. and then how come everyone blamed her...how can the guy who told ayu to leave the baby so they can get married blamed ratna for ayu's death..apa dah..so belit one..but now am trying to watch citer indonesia..pocong 1..hehe

books :)

well, tengah takder mood nak masak apa2 lah...kesian sarah..everyday tanyer is i will be making asam pedas. she will then as if i have the asam pedas leaves..daun kesom lah tu. kalau pergi kedai jer...mommy did you buy the asam pedas leaves..hehe. maybe karang nak buat mee goreng jer lah..senang sikit..also kena cut back from eating too much rice. i read somewhere that this person gave up eating rice for a week and lost like about 10 lbs...i thought pun nak ikut camtu jugak lah..but then..tuari masak pulak kari ayam..dah habis diet tu..and then i dah return back the gym that i bought.

one of my fav photo..i was experimenting amik gambar air lah..hehe. too bad i takder macro..kalau tak kan..can see the droplets around the main body of water.

after i injured my arm, i jarang pakai the gym ..ni seme time sean tarik i pakai satu tangan tu lah..dia nyer power banyak kuat hor..he sort of injured my rotator cuff. lama jugak tau sakit ni..i thought cuma lengoh but nope. he said kalau tak baik jugak kena gi operesen..alah tak yah lah..it is somewhat better now..cuma sakit sikit2 jer..but maybe in the coming weeks it will be gone altogether. actually i thought that i would like it a lot, but discovered that i like to go on hikes better. sean dah dapat dia nyer basikal baru kan..so dia dengan sarina always go biking together. jeles pulak i nengok...hahaha. so i dah nak kena start balik belajar naik basikal. so i tak kena tinggal lah..:) okaylah i think dah nak start masak mee goreng lah..perut i dah berbunyi ni :)

reflections...

well, another week is almost over. a couple of happy things happened , alhamdullilah. and nope..we are not having another baby..hahahha. got back in touch with an old friend. and we went hiking again today :)

tengok..sekarang aku dah pakai bedak..cantik tak?..hehehe..see how she dresses herself...knows her abc's very well, but itu kasut still pakai salah and baju still pakai terbalik..dah lah tu..see the curry stains from eating maggi kari nyer noodles..hahaha

anyway, i was on the computer a few days ago and well, sean had spilled some baby powder into the floor. i hadn't cleaned it up when sarah walked in. this was after her breakfast of maggi curry noodles. she is always hungry in the mornings. actually more like ravenous. anyway, she came in and asked me what was that on the floor..to which she answered her own question, oh...powder. pastu kan..alih alih jer..she put her palms on the floor and started scooping the powder up..i told her to leave it alone. she said that she was only looking at it. i turned my attn. back to the computer and guess what i saw out of the corner of my eye...yep..wahhh..dia apu itu bedak from the floor like nobody'd business on her face. she then turned to me and asked me if she looked beautiful and then said that she smells nice :) hahaha...

she said that she found the most perfect dandelion :)

showing sarina her precious find :)

well, this weekend we did not go for any long drive. just went to salina for a hike and checking out something. a co-op store..and we liked what we see. store selling local produce. then we went on a hike at aplace called indian rock park. i loved it..at the end of the short hike, there's this sheer cliff. that was awesome. now since sean wants to use the computer, i didn't get to work on the rest of the pictures, but here are some of them.

we found a few of these plants growing wild..hehehe..uncle dani..look at what this is..hehehehe. i heard that sometimes, there are ppl that actully dug them up and bring them home to grow it. for those yang tak kenal this plant..ni lah maryjane aka pot aka pakalolo..dan sewaktu dengan nyer :)

on our way back, there was a unanimous decision made, that i should bake cupcakes today. guess what they requested? yep..red velvets. anyway, i ran out of the red food colouring, so i used shy blue instead..it turned out this weird greenish blue coloured cupcake..to which i coloured the frosting with this neon green food colouring..hehehehe...it looked funky, but it tastes great :) if i do say so myself..hahahah

my blue velvet cupcake :)

back in business :) for now..hee hee!..warning..gambar berlambak

okay..am feeling back to normal. maybe it was the bleak weather. the whole week was cloudy and it was also rainy. i don't mind the rain, but i think sunshine was what i sorely needed. i ni macam pokok lah..takder matahari jer...lemah longlai. anyway, whole of last week stayed at home..nak keluar pun malas. so weekend nice sunny weather with the exception of friday..the whole day on our trip to iowa, it was raining cats and dogs. sampai nak see what is in front of us pun susah sehhh..

sarina tengah lenggang kang kong :)

the trail in wichita...nota :) itu bandana sean cakap is for absorbing his sweat..not for ermm..cover up..hahahahahahhaha..macam bret michaels :P

kesian nengok this lonely duck. tengah berenang by himself. a mallard.

well, the trip to iowa ni day trip..mak oiiii..punyalah macam nak pengsan. we had to drive about 1000 miles round trip to go and get sean nyer trike. dah siap dah. in some ways, good thing lah, we went to go and get it because, the guy explained to sean what's what with regards to the trike. so the whole way, we just sat in the truck, and only got out when we gassed up or when we were at the bicycle workshop. and the whole way it was raining. sib baik bawak truck, because the tires on the fit needs to be changed..dah botak dah tayar tu..hehe. kesian the girls..duduk kat belakang macam sardin.

wild flowers on the trail.

more flowers

tak tau pulak kenapa sarina panjat sampai camtu sekali.

anyway, i tak amik gambar basikal tu..ada tu ah kat dalam garage..nanti i tunjuk you all how the trike looks like. sean cakap, it is like sitting on a lawn chair while watching the world go by..hehehe. he took it out for a 4 mile ride and termengah2 dia balik..he said that he is so out of shape. he used to be able to ride like 200 miles in a day...but that was like when he was in his prime..hahahah..when he was like 18 or so :)

tengah hike2..dengar pulak the sound of roaring water...eh eh ada river lah..hehe. this picture i thought reminds me of those scenic pictures of rivers in japan..dunno why..but itulah apa yang i rasa..terperasan japs..hehe

the redbud tree.

tak tau pulak pokok apa ni..but the flowers are beautiful. macam bunga buah epal pun ada.

saturday, we went to wichita...stopped kat pleasantview. ada tempat jual foodstuff in bulk. murah so i beli lah apa yang i nak beli..finally found the ammoniam bicarbonate. mahal jugak lah..but still cheaper than having it shipped it to me. then pergi kedai vietnam tu, beli lah beras and what not. you know what..ingatkan for some reason, the prices over here would not be that high..maklumlah..kata tinggal kat negeri omputeh..yang no. 1 in the world.. hahahahaa..according to orang sini lah. what used to cost me about $25 for a bag of rice, sean was surprised that it costs us $42 now for a 50lb bag..kira about 22 kg lah. will last us for a few mths..but sometimes maybe a couple of mths. so now kena cut back on the eating of rice.

ni kat wilson lake. sarina pakai bandana so that ticks tak melekap kat kepala dia..hehehe

ni pulak..pantang camera focusing on her..siaplah posing complete dengan senyuman dia :P

and then kan..jumpa pulak durian fresh nyer..wahhh..sean told me to go ahead and get it..a treat for me lah kan..so pergilah timbang..ingatkan kalau $30 kira orait jugak..sekali ah kauuuu....it cost like $52 for one durian..in US dollars...terus kensel sehhhhhh...tak jadi belik...heheh. sean mintak sori kat i..he said that he was not willing to pay for that amount..hahahahah..i pun cakap jugaklah..i pun mmg tak nak beli kalau dah that expensive....might as well beli yang frozen punyer.

purple version of the flower yang kat atas

i love this wildflower the best..kira for the spring ones lah. reminds me of daffodils.

lepas tu gi makan and then we went to hike. sunday, morning pergi walmart..beli plants and herbs for my garden. dah terkopak lagi..tu lah i bilang ngan kak za..pergi walmart..habis lah duit beli pokok..dah a bit broke..takper nak kurus nyer pasal kan...this is a good thing. kiter kena budget sekarang..hahaha. so i bought my usual herbs, like basil, italian parsley, thyme, chives and tomatoes. pastu ternampak pulak pokok blackberry, raspberry, and blueberries..beli lah jugak..i ni mmg rambang mata kalau beli bende2 ni seme..hehe..next change nak beli pokok munga pulak lah :) pastu balik lunch kat rumah petang apa lagi..pergi hiking lagi... :P biasalah eh..for more pics pls go here.

grape hyacinths..berlambak kat tepi rumah

this one comes from a plant that grows near the lake.

in a funk...

well, i am still in a funky mood. will be back when the mood has lifted, insyallah.

kuih pau and the clash

firstly, had to get this out of the way, before i forget. conversation heard between sarah and sarina.
actually sarah was singing to the clash's nyer song ' rock the casbah'.

sarah: mock the catbox, mock the catbox
sarina: no sarah, it's not mock the catbox...it's rock the catbox..rock the catbox

hahahahahahahhahahahahahha.....

this is the flour..i beli nengok gambar..ada gambar kuih pau jer , gerenti ni tepung pau..they also sell tepung chwee kueh tau..i bought it also but belum try buat :)

anyway, remember a while back i made this pau. it turned out okay but not great. the filling was delicious and i will share the recipe later, but the dough yang buat problem kan. it is because i didn't have baking ammonia and dunno where to get it lah. of course now i know , that i could get it online. not sure if walmart has it..need to look more carefully. anyway, i substituted here and there lah to come up with the baking ammonia nyer compound. the dough after kukus, tak segebu that i'd like it to be. anyway, online, i found out that the baking ammonia is not that expensive. for a few dollars i could get quite a bit..but get this..to ship it to me costs like $10..boleh..shipping cost is more than the price of that thing itself..so i am still debating about it. nak still look around for it in salina or just go ahead and order it. oh i just got off the phone at the bulk foods place and they sell baking ammonia..yeayyyy! this weekend kalau tak buat trip to pick sean nyer trike, we will go to this place which is near wichita and hutchinson. :)

ikut instructions on the packaging..lepas uli, kena let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

anyway, about a couple of mths ago, while doing grocery shopping, i came across this vietnamese pre-packaged flour..and guess what it is for..it is for making pau lahh..so i bought it and semalam baru i tried it out..guess what....so the lembut and the gebu..macam kat kedai nyer tau..no kidding. even sean said that it is better than my first attempt. anyway, dapat lah 18 medium sized paus and i kukus adalah 10 biji gitu..sean and 2 and i ate the rest..pendek kata badan i naik macam jueh pau tu jugak lah...hahahaha.

ni pulak, the sauce for the filling. the chicken, you bake or pan fry dulu..or kalau nak ikut style diorang, you kena panggang dulu using the char siew sauce. the sauce you can buy lah..but i main bedal jer the baked chicken. then lepas tu cut the chicken intu cubes and gaul with this sauce. yummss! i got the recipe from a dim sum cookbook.

i am still feeling a bit blue..i guess it has to be hormonal..but who knows. cam takder mood nak buat aper2 lah..niari i made paninis for sean and sarina and i also made mee siam goreng. maybe when this mth is over i will be okay..hopefully lah..insyallah.

and voila! the finished product..which is finished already. last one i makan this morning after nuking it for 30 secs :)

this is tomatillo...nampak macam tomato kan but not at all..rasa dia masam but i love adding it to guacamole and last night i made chilli verde..meaning green chilli...panas seh perut semalam malam bila nak tido..apa tak...it uses a lot of fresh green chillies..hahahahaha.

feeling blahhhhh.....

i thought that this could be daffodils..but nope..i am thinking that this is some type of lily. i think this could be the 'naked ladies'.

well, nothing much to say really..been feeling kinda down..morose..depress...and any adjectives that fits those other words lah. dunno why ..eh actually i know why..hahaha. last two weeks maybe because of pms..this week..going through the whole rigamarole. anyway, weekend we went up to lawrence and kansas city. sean wanted to take pictures of his old school which they have just revamped. safe to say, he was not happy with the new design. but then again..i doubt that the ppl in lawrence cares about his feelings..hahahah. we went hiking at the konza prairie trail on our way up to lawrence and once more on our way home.



went to kansas city ingatkan nak beli ketam..but the day was warm and i tak bawak pulak cooler..so tak jadilah nak beli ketam. nak beli plants for my garden pun tak beli sebab belakang dah penuh dengan sean nyer hiking gear. so maybe next time lah. nak masak2...pun not sure apa tekak i nak makan..so wait and see lah hor.. anyway, kesian anak i sorang ni. mak tengah sibuk nak update blog..she pulak has to talk to the television. macamlah tv tu boleh dengar dia..hahaha. she is busy telling dora ker diego ker..or maybe blue about some thing. anyway, here are some pictures..enjoy :) oh lupa pulak nak citer..actually i was also busy taking pictures and experimenting with them. like the ones of the plants kan..i took it after the morning rain. different angle and also to practice on picture composition and close ups lah..heheh. also, for some reason, the previous skin kan..macam not me lah..the blue is too light. agaknyer tengah nak ikut i nyer mood...so this darker background suits me well :)

forsythia..agaknyer lah spelling nama pokok ni :)

wild deer that we saw at the prairie trail. tak lari pulak tu..

at one of the top of the hills..before descending down into the valley away from the winds.

i suruh lah dia posing..asked her to smile...she said that she doesn't know how to..

adik pulak..pantang camera focusing on her..

see that white dot..tu lah sarah and i..see how far sean has left us behind..

this week takder gambar makan kanan..but ada gambar this lemonade that i made and so loving it. resepi senang..instead of using ordinary water..i pakai club soda..which is basically carbonated water kan..so tastes like italian soda..yummss!

death..continued

well, i am still feeling a bit bummed out. all because of the death of a squirrel. sarah and i was walking home from running errands downtown she she screamed about seeing a squirrel on this lamp post. agaknyer the tupai was startled..started running of towards the road, just as this white minivan driven by an old lady was looking at sarah..it went under the van..but got hit by the back tire. i saw it scampering haphazardly under this tree and didn't see it come out.

i knew that it was hurt, but was just trying to make sure that it was okay. it tried running away from me, but i can tell that one side of the body is kinda broken you know..like it was not as strong as the other side..i saw the front paw and the back legs were affected. i can also see that it was weakening...so when it tried to run across to a bigger tree..i threw my coat over it, wrapped it up and carried it home. i figured , i could put it in a pet carrier, feed it a bit and call the vet...

i tell you...i was so hoping that he was going to be okay..that it was just a broken leg or paw you know...but i also could see how weak it was getting just by watching it giving up on trying to climb a low limb...anyway, brought it home..put it in the pet carrier and i knew that it was not a good sign when the squirrel lay on it's side and was not moving that much. figured that it was in shock at being in the house..so brought it out to the back yard..but by the it was breathing very hard..looks like dah nazak..i tried to make it move a bit you know, by stroking the fur..but i guess, he had a major internal injuries, because on the outside, he looked okay. i looked up to see what sarah was doing and when i looked down, the squirrel had breathed his last breath. sedih ahhh...even sarah was crying..she was telling me to wake him up and that all his family members will miss him. anyway, i buried him out back. just hate seeing animals die due to our carelessness. that or the fact that because we are driving, so to save our lives, we should not try and avoid running them over...well, that's the mentality of most motorists anyway.

death..

why is the death of an animal so difficult for me to see..let alone that of a person *sigh*... just buried an animal that i thought i could save..but i guess it was not meant to be. sedih ah..