apa nak citer eh...?

well..another week has gone by..and this past week..mmm..macam lemau gitu lah..hehe. can i use that word? anyway, the only thing that was happening was the parent teacher conference. saw sarina nyer progress report..alhamdullilah she is okay..but both her teacher and i felt that she has not given her all. it is the same thing that i am hearing year after year..sampai i bilang kat teacher tu..at least i know what to expect next year..hahaha. but when her teacher and talked to her right there and then..meleleh2 crocodile tears dia..ishhh! pastu balik kan..she put a box on her head..she called it her disappointment box..i bilang kat dia...it should be me wearing that box on my head instead of her doing so...hahaha. this week tak hike pulak..i spent my day today baking bread. gambar nanti2 lah eh :) sean spent the afternoon changing the oil to the car..yup..he is doing it himself now..he tak nak go to any oil changing places lagi.

one of my fav kitchen gadget..hehe...guess what is it?

ta-dah!..ginger grater :) tak yah nak keluarkan the blender :)

see...halus and good for things that requires ginger juice :)

this is the seven minute crispy chicken recipe that i tried and i didn't care for it..the recipe calls for cinnamon and the taste was a bit off...

but the wings was crispy after just seven minutes of cooking them :)

and then tadi ketawa besar i dengan sean kat dalam kereta. we saw this trailer with a bunch of cows in it. i was just saying that perhaps they are taking the cows to the slaughterhouse kan. then i heard dua beradik talking about it. sarina said something that the cows are going to be killed for meat and sarah agreed with her. but then sarah said that lucky we do not eat meat. we eat only steaks...hahahahahahahha. dia buat kelakar lah tu..then she said a short while later that steak is meat..hahahaha. okaylah..enjoy the pictures okay :) you know that, there are more pictures here :)

our hike last week :)

i simply love to see this colour combo..and the effect of the wind blowing the leaves.

sarah on the trail by herself...ngeri pun ada when she wanted to walk by herself..not only that..she can lompat2 on the rocks pulak tu..apa lagi..terpekik2 lah i kat belakang..hehe

politics... and why i am frustrated ..

how can difference in politics cause so much anger and frustration...within families..hmmmm...anyway, i think i have calmed down enough to blog about this. the past few days was unbelievable..i was still feeling frustrated and couldn't believe what i had heard or what was said to me.

tuari tekak betul2 nak makan laksa..so made this simple asam laksa with ikan sardine dalam tin :) tak cukup sifat laksa tu..but takper..tekak nak makan nyer pasal..orait jugak lah...terubat craving i..hehe

there is so much hate out there right now that it is not even funny anymore. the best thing to do sometimes, is not to bother answering any questions , because you know that your answers would not be what they'd want to hear. i am also surprised at how many educated and intelligent ppl buy into this crap that obama is dangerous. like palin is not? oh no..she is like us..by us they mean the so called ordinary people...WHAT? these ppl deemed her ordinary just because she has the same social problems like most americans do? hhmmm...i can say so many things about that particular statement. but let's leave it at that..to each his own. i've already been called an elitist and stupid after being labelled a liberal.

morning of the first frost...after sending sarina off to school...i thought about getting the camera and capture this beautiful autumn dawn :) ni rumah my nieghbour across the street...kalau my house..tak nampak bulan time pepagi gini :)

what really gets my goat is when, these republicans try to tell me that their candidate is the one that could lead america and that the other party is evil. excuse me..i cannot vote..hehe..but if i can i am surely not going to vote for either. i am going indepedent. you know, prior to coming over here, to the US that is, i do not really know the extent of what it means to be labelled as liberal or conservative. back home..it is..just is, you know. sure you can vote for the opposition if you want to..but we know who's going to win anyway. :) and so be it..whatever right? we're so used to it anyway.

the frost on the grass.

anyway, my point is, back home we hardly use the word liberal..in fact not at all..as far as i can remember..but coming here, in the first mth that i was here..i have been labelled that..just because, i said i don't care for o'reilly's tactic of yelling over ppl who disagrees with him...and within less than a minute..someone came right up to my face and said that ' i think rosma is a liberal'..by not liking someone who is rude to others means that i am a liberal, then so be it. and over the years..i heard that word being used a lot...and it always has this connotation of it being ugly and a despicable thing. i get the feeling even more so this past weekend where we were at.

frost on the cedar tree..

you know, if you like palin so be it..but don't expect me to like her too. you asked me why i do not like her..i said...it's not that i don't like her..i do not know enough about her to make up my mind about her personally..but i do know that she is not someone i would choose to represent the women of america. i said, to me, she does not sound that intelligent...but wait..she graduated from a university..so?... a lot of ppl graduated from uni here..but that does not mean that they are intelligent. they can be jerks and ignorant when it comes to a lot of things globally. on the other hand, there are tonnes of ppl who did not graduate from a university but are very intelligent and knowledgeable . on top of that, they are very articulate too, which i cannot say the same for the female vp candidate. but there you go trying to make me see, why she is such a good person..why she is being victimised by the media..how she was not involved in the scandal ( oh please..make excuses for her..i do not care) even after i said over and over again..that i do not care for her. and when we try to make you see or explain why..you accused us of being the ones that are going to lead america to ruin, because why..because we are going to vote for obama...now, obama has his own demons..he is not that clean cut too..but as of right now..he looks like the better one. i used to like mccain..in fact, a lot of ppl would have voted for him , until he introduced to us his running mate. it all went downhill from there.

and frost on the car :)

now, i understand the basis of that fear. the fear that the house of reps and the senate are going to be run by democrats and on top of that we might have a democratic president..yeah..it is worrying..because then they can pass whatever bill they deem to be good and just and right. but having said that..the first 6 years 0f bush's administrations..wasn't the republicans the majority of the senate and house of reps? and look at what happened in 2006..ppl voted most repubs out. anyway...the democrats are not that great either..that is why, this country here needs a 3rd party..maybe can get parti lilin from singapore eh..hahahahahhaa...

next change :) pictures from our 5 mile hike on a gorgeous fall afternoon :)

oh well..what can i say..i was pissed.. i can see that sean was visibly upset when he was told that he is supporting the wrong party and that he needed to vote for the mccain/palin ticket..you know what i think..these repubs are worried..because it is obvious that the ppl are in favour of 'that one ' :) and they are trying everything that they have to try and convince us that we should vote republican..well you know what..until you can sit down and listen to us, and not brush aside our opinions..then we can talk..other than that..shut the hell up.. there i said it . boring sehhhhhh! love palin so much why don't you marry her..hahahah...borrowing a line from some funny film. another thing..this whole market crash and economic disaster..guess who they tried blaming now..alan greenspan..not the fat cats of wall street but greenspan..now..i seem to recall that dr. mahathir years ago..blamed greenspan for the currency crash right...remember that? and what did the american public do..they laughed at him..all sorts of things they said..and now they are bringing up his name..how convenient..see..they refused to blame the administration in power..why? because it is anti-american. so let's blame the person who retired years ago for this disaster..cheh!

anyway..enjoy the pics of our first frost eh :)

our first frost and thank you fir :)

well, firstly..wanted to say thank you to fir for sending me the raya goodies 7yang dah i goreng..hahaha. tak sempat amik gambar :) also i intended to hantar something to you..but like kak za nyer 100 over missing tarts..our second batch pun dah dwindling sampai nak dekat habis :) so insyallah, once i make another batch this weekend, i will send some over to you okay :)

ni gambar dah berbulan i amik. i made these parker house rolls for sean. the girls and him loved it. it is these beuutery rolls...yumms :) insyallah will put up the recipe at multiply okay :)

well..weather is so cold today. it has been cold for a while..and yes, cik nora, the cold front is already here. we got our first frost this morning. i heard sean leaving closing the door behind and then dia masuk balik..told me that i need to bring whatever plant i wanted to save in here too. well..takder apa nak save sebab all perenial kan..so will just bring in my basil to make pesto and freeze them..and also my daun kesum that i managed to plant lah. hopefully..it is still alive. you know..you'd think that i would have already brought it in kan..nope..i am still in my lazy mode lah. maybe it is the change in weather..

i made the rolls nak lawankan dengan the steak that i grilled. i griled the steak pun because i wanted to try out the green sauce that you can see there..it is called something verde something..see..told you that i am lazy..nak look up the name of the sauce pun tak kuasa..hahahaha. anyway, the sauce is so yummy..salty and briny..sebab it has green olives in it :) and capers and lemon juice and anchovies..yummmss!

and then kan..mak bapak..pakai baju berlapis2..sebab kesejukan...sarah is in her shorts and short sleeves..boleh gitu..and tak pakai socks pun..when i told her to put on long pants..she said that she is not cold..see see see..that was her words. anyway, this weekend we're heading up to lawrence to spend the night at his parents place..i bilang kat sean..i cannot promise that i can keep my mouth shut, if anyone says that Palin is the greatest thing that has ever happened to the US elections. i have had it...and also to anyone who says that they are afraid of Obama...makes me wonder is these ppl are really using their brains...

thia eclairs pun i buat dah lama jugak..tak sempay amik gambar sebab seme dah kena ngap..last2 tinggal yang ni jer..itu pun it was already bitten by sarah..haha..sebab tu tersenget..hahahahaha

i posted some pics at multiply when we went to a farm 20 mins from here :) you can view them here :) anyway, banyak lagi gambar yang i belom upload..recipes yang i nak share..insyallah slowly slowly i win the race eh :)

hmm..mood malas dah datang dah..

macam gini lah mood i..entah entah PMS eh..madang jer pms..hehehehe.

recipes :)

here are the tart and mee hong kong nyer recipe..recipe ini ditujukan khas untuk busu tersayang dengan ucapan : selamat mencuba..hehehehe :)

resepi ni..i ikut nissa nyer resepi. for the crust. and sekarang ni i tengah try ikut her way of making the inti. yang inti kat atas tu..i made my own way..kira ikut sedap rasa..hahaha.


Bahan2:
525 gm tepung gandum
30 gm tepung jagung
60 gm gula castor
375 gm butter
3 biji kuning telur
1 tbsp esen vanila

Cara:
1. Panaskan oven pada suhu 180 darjah selsius.
2. Masukkan bahan kering kedalam mesin, gaul rata.
3. Masukkan butter dan gaul rata lagi.
4. Dengan membuat lubang di tengah adunan, tuangkan kuning telur dan esen vanila dan gaul lagi sampai sebati.
5. Leperkan adunan diatas papan gulung dan terap menggunakan penggulung bergigi. Potong memanjang dan isikan inti nenas.
6. Susun di atas dulung pembakar, lining with baking sheet. Sapukan kuning telor pada atas kuih.
7. Bakar dalam ketuhar sekurang2nya 20-25mins atau sehingga kekuningan.
8. Apabila masak, keluarkan loyang dan sejukkan sebelum dialih ke telap kedap udara.

Inti Nenas:
3/4 biji nenas, dibuang mempulur tengahnya dan parut.
4 cawan gula pasir
1 batang kayu manis
3 biji bunga cengkih
Sedikit serbuk pewarna kuning

Cara:
1. Toskan nenas yang telah diparut. (boleh gunakan food processor dan ambil ampas nenasnya)
2. Didalam periuk non-stick, masukkan nenas, gula, kayu manis & bunga cengkih diatas api yang kecil.
3. Masak nenas hingga hingga kering. Sentiasa kaup balikkan nenas ini supaya tidak hangus dibahagian bawahnya.
4. Taburkan sedikit pewarna kuning pada sesedap mata yang memandang.
5. Apabila sudah betul2 kering, tutup api dan sejukkan.
6. Boleh disimpan di dalam freezer hingga bila waktu yang ingin digunakan.


and here's the mee hong kong nyer recipe. this is one of the simplest mee to cook. again..ikut sedap tekak lerr..hehehe

Bahan:

1 biji bawang dihiris
4 biji bawang putih ditumbuk ( lebih sikit pun takper..lagi sedap and more aromatic)
lada sulah ( ikut rasa)
sedikit garam
stock ayam ( ayam direbus dengan daun bawang and ginger and garlic..cam buat hainanese chicken rice gitu. this one also ikut tekak..how soupy you want it to be. kalau takder ..leh lah pakai knorr nyer chicken stock :) pun sedap jugak)
fishballs
250 gm udang
hirisan daging
hirisan sotong
sawi
mee kuning 500 gm
minyak untuk menumis

cara:

panaskan minyak dalam kuali and tumis bawang and bawang putih sampai kekuning-kuningan. then add the batang sawi and lada sulah...biarkan for a few minutes and then add the fishballs and the daging, fishballs and sotong and udang..goreng for a few minutes and then add the stock..bila mendidih..taruk mee and then kasi balik sampai mendidih ..taste for salt :) tu ajer..hehe

kalau nak yang kering punya..lessen the stock..and then add cornflour nyer slurry..so dapat kuah pekat kan..but my mom tak pakai cornflour..dia taruk sikit jer air..so more like mee goreng basah gitu..well, selamat mencuba yer :)

1st , 3rd & 6th day raya..and citer omputeh nak nyalakan anglo....hehe

okay..better buat entry ni sebelum tido. i think fall is alredy here. today hujan almost the whole day..best gitu. we went rounding2 kat salina looking at antique stores for old handtools. i bought old magazines for organic gardening :) suka baca majalah2 like that. anyway, this raya, kira happy jugaklah walaupun i sambut like that2 jer :) lainlah kalau kat singapore kan kan kan kan :) ingatkan i tak nak buat or masak apa2..but on thursday sean balik jer, he said that if i takder plan aper2 on friday, we're getting together with one of his colleague to celebrate eid with us.

ni lah kueh tart i..time kasih lah kat cik nora clementi for sending me this terap last year :) eh..bila eh nora..you balik last year kan or the year before...lerr..i dah lupa. anyway, cantik jugak kuih tart ni pakai acuan tu..kalau tak...besau2 lah i nyer kuih tart buat freehand..hahahahahha..i buat macam egg custard nyer stail..but tak lah selawa egg custard kat kedai rupa dia :) resepi crust i have to give credit to chip lah..i pakai her resepi yang senang and sedap :) inti pulak..i buat dah berbulan2...i taruk kat dalam esbob..sib baik tak bercendawan..hahahha

anyway..berbalik pat story i tadi...rupa2nyer, kawan sean ni was aware that ramadhan was over..so he asked if there was anything special that we do at the end of it. sean cakap..oh normally, ada big feast lah..but dia bilang kat kawan dia ni, yang i adalah depress sikit sebab tak leh sambut with my family kan...so kawan dia cakap..why don't we have our own big feast..so these two men buat lah plan nak get together friday night. yang best nyer..kawan dia nyer wife pun got the news like me...hah apa?!...get together?..hahahah...so i said..okay no problem...i will cook the lauk that we eat together all at once..about twice a year lah..so i masaklah rendang tok...lodeh..satay ayam..lontong...sambal goreng, yang tak complete sebab takder tempeh...hehehe. kuah satay and for dessert i bawak kueh tart yang kat atas tu...they all loved the juih tart tu tau..resepi kueh tart tu kan..i pakai nissa nyer crust..sedap and lembut and so easy to make :)

this lada jeruk..i tell you sungguh lah sedap :) i gi kedai korean kan..they all jual lada hijau packet besar..i pun belilah nak buat ayam masak lada hijau tu kan..so belen masih banyak lagi. i nak freeze..asyik buat camtu ajer..so i thought..why not buat this jeruk..leh makan dengan mee :) so i used this recipe in one of my cookbooks..syiok! title dia and i really like it lah :) oleh kerana dah buat this kan..so kenalah masak mee nak lawankan dengan this jeruk..hehe...thus..this was what i made for first day raya :)

for some reason, my blog ni dah macam jadi food blog pulak eh..hahah..but insyallah..ia akan berbalik to normal blog..which is seme i main bedal jer lah :) ada gambar sarah pergi farm i belum upload kat sini..insyallah, will do it after this one :)

mee hong kong ni kan..i ikut arwah my mom nyer recipe...for some reason, a lot of ppl like her mee lah. pernah for a while, she made her own noodles and sell this to ppl that will call and order..so kita kena hantar kat rumah orang tu lah..kesian my youngest brother..kena do the delivery..but after a while..she stopped jualan. can't remember the reason why also.

and there you have it..mee hong kong berkuah..kalau kat rumah i dulu2 kan..my mom will make dua style..one with kuah one with very little kuah. arwah my dad loved the one with less soupy version, while the majority of us will want the soup to can hirop2 :)

ni time i tengah bakar satay..best pakai tempat pembakar satay ni tau :) i beli online..hehehe..this picture sarina yang sebok nak amik...nampak tu..betapa gelap nyer kulit i this summer :) tunggu winter datang..nak kasi kulit i putih melepak balik..hahahahahha....perasan perasan..hahahaha

ni satay ayam i buat...satu ekor ayam..dapat lah dalam 20 cucuk..tapi i tak lah potong kecik2 cam kat warung2. next change i nak buat satay daging lembu and kambing...sean pun dah datang minat nak bakar satay and grilling :)

ni lah remdang tok i :) i buat kerisik versi senang nyer. i put the dried shredded coconut kat dalam microwave and nuke it intermittently for like 7 minutes sampai garing. make sure the coconut is unsweetened tau :) then i tumbuk lah pakai lesung batu i..i tunjuk kat sean kerisik macam mana...dia pun macam terpesona dengan kerisik gitu..haha. ni resepi i ikut chef wan nyer..sedap jugak tau :) if i do say so myself lah..hahaha. sean nyer kawan pun suka..they said that they had never tasted anything like this before :)

the following pictures kan..you can see how sean is trying to get the fire going pakai anglo. i bilang kat dia..hari ni is not a good day sebab hujan the whole day..even now dah nak masuk pukul 12.00 malam dah ni. anyway, i also cakap kat dia that, the wood that is at the side of the house is also kinda damp kan..he said apa tau..no...there are some dry ones. okay lah..so go head jugak lah i cakap...then he said..he nak pakai the briquettes, kira macam arang lah kat sini..he wanted to use this to light it first and then pakai the wood. i cakap..no need..pakai kindling jer..ehhh..dia kata..dia pernah buat camp fires in his day..so i tak yah lah nak kasi dia a lesson on lighting fire 101. i said..whatever makes you happy...20 minutes into it..i keluar with the dulangs of ingredients..ah kauuu...satu neighbourhood berasap...api nyala tapi tak kuat..i said..you kena kipas..tak leh duduk tengok the wood and hope that the fire will be crackling..and also i said..asap tebal..sebab kayu lembap...you't think that he's agree..but nooooooo....i ni main layankan ajer lah..hahaha. after 30-40 minutes..asap tebal berkepul..api kecik..kuali tak panas sangat..he gave up..and thus..that's how the kuali ended up on my gas stove..hahahahahahhaha.

this is one picture out of 3 that i took with sean waiting for the fire to light..hahahaha..nampak tu asap..pedih bijik mata i tau...haha. not only that,,habis satu beighbourhood berasap sama..hahaha

api nyala finally..but too small...and then it started to drizzle again

see...i nyer ingredients dah siap terhidang kat dalam dulang. murah dulang..only $4 for this small one :) teringat dulang kat rumah kampung and zaman dulu2..hehe. kat bawah dulang tu lah sambal for the mee goreng sib baik i dah tumis dulu and kept it in the fridge.

akhirnya..ke atas dapur gas jugak kuali ni end up :)

and ta-dah!..mee and ayam goreng :)

tales of a fourth grade nothing :)

over here, school pictures can be quite nicely done. they can wear whatever they want and pose like however..macam2 sehhh. nak nak when they get to be seniors..i still remember my school pictures..nak nak time JC..hahahha. it looked like mug shots i tells ya! hahah! ada have that surprised look..ada have that, i am trying to act cool look..but me..i am just trying to hide my tembam cheeks..which failed miserably..hahahahahahaha. i wonder , if she were to look back at this picture when she's older, what will be on her mind :)

sarina's fourth grade photo taken about a few weeks ago :)