When Pre Is Over, Here Comes Post

i really am in no mood for cooking, thus i haven't been in to the kitchen this weekend hatta untuk prepare breakfast sekalipun. so you won't be seeing any food entry this week. tiba2 ada semacam withdrawal syndrome pulak... ni bukan pms as in pre tapi pms as in post... yang pre part tu selalu buat selera makan membuak2 tu yang idea memasak mencurah2. yang post ni selalunya wash away my appetite & buat mood hilang. kesian kat mr hubby... herot berot mulut dia muncung tak dapat hidangan istimewa father's day.
i made chicken salad jer for dinner... bukanlah buat pun setakat potong2 iceberg lettuce, sliced purple cabbage, shredded grilled chicken & gaul dengan thousand island.
oh ya, for father's day, i get the kids to present a card untuk daddy. and also daddy dah dapat hadiah dia in advance kan...a new bonia wallet ;-)

sebab mama takde mood nak masak, belanja daddy makan kat luar je

fahmi is progressing well in his tutorial class. i suspected that he must be the most annoying student in his class coz he told us that teacher milla (the one that replace teacher intan when she goes on leave) suruh dia 'zip mulut' sebab banyak cakap dalam kelas. i bet he is... dia banyak tanya and paling aktif dalam kelas. and he has 'rakan subahat' dalam kelas dia; a cute no-name girl yang sama2 duduk semeja dengan dia but now being seperated sebab fahmi dah upgrade satu level. bila tanya siapa nama kawan fahmi, mulalah dia tersengih2 malu2... isyyy casanova in the make ke nih?

Pheww!!

pheww!! rasa lega akhirnya jejak kaki kat rumah semula jumaat malam sabtu baru ni. i was away for a one night trip to KT... bukanlah lama sangat pun, just one night jer tapi aturcara sangat memenatkan. the first night away from my kids, i couldn't sleep. i was only able to shut my eyes pukul 5am... pastu kol 6am dah bangun solat, mandi & bersiap2 coz 7am somebody from site office came to fetch me. aduhhh rasa macam tak boleh buka mata tapi apakan daya tanggungjawab belum selesai. pastu berkumpul kat primula hotel ( i stayed at my grandpa's house), meet the bankers & proceed to our site office to board the dredgers. huargh! sakitnya badan turun naik 2 dredgers pagi tu. rentung kulitku...i refused to tempek2 sunblock ke or pakai long sleeves bagai, akibatnya tanggung sendiri lah kan. nasib i made the right decision to wear sport shoes, there's no place for sandals or high heel or fancy stilleto's atas dredgers, you'll ended up causing injuries to yourself. apapun, sport shoes or no shoes kaki ku tetap jugak sakit. i manage to ignore the pain the whole day, putting a though face in front of our visitors (read bankers) sampai semua orang ingat aku keje atas kapal sebab cool aje... tapi balik malam tu adehhh sakit giler. ni pun tengah berdenyut2 sakitnya... hampeh betul, ntah bila nak baik agaknya.

yaya weep in her sleep the first night. fahmi tried to calm her down but to no avail. hubby didn't succeed either. aku & yaya tak pernah berenggang 1 malam pun sejak dia lahir. malah when i was hospitalised 2 tahun lepas sebab remove my tonsils pun she slept with me in the ward 2 malam. to be honest, i couldn't stay away from the children, i have been keeping my outstaion travel short... day trip normally. but this time around had to stay lil' bit longer. bayangkan lepas hubby & the kids dropped me at the airport tiba2 boleh terdengar suara fahmi... it wasn;t him of course. it was some other boy talking to his sister. cepat betul rindu kat anak2.

emm... rasa nak demam ni sebenarnya. penat lagi rasa badan & kaki yang menjadi2 sakit ni doesn't help either. esok father's day... kena lift up my mood by tomorrow morning. i don't want to spoil the day just because of kaki yang sakit & badan yang masih penat lagi ni.

Nasi Tomato

yang ni pulak today's lunch. asyik makan western jer today kita tukar selera pulak. dah lama tak masak ayam masak merah, so lawannya nasi tomato & veggie dhall. masak nasi tomato kali ni lain sikit, kugoreng dulu beras basmathi bersama bahan2 tumisan dalam kuali sebelum transfer dalam periuk nasi. hasilnya nasi masak sekata dan lembut. so far dah 2 kali cuba kaedah ni, alhamdulillah memang terasa perbezaannya. atau maybe sebab nak tidur malam tadi memang dah asyik terbayang2 nak cuba kaedah baru masak nasi tomato ni tu yang turns out perfect tu... hehehe i am mad! but i believe if you put your heart in to cooking memang semuanya serba menjadi.

ni resipi nasi tomato versi ngada2

3 cups basmathi rice (washed & drain)

1/2 onion - blend

2 garlic - blend

2cm ginger - blend

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 fresh tomato - quatered

1/4 cup fresh milk

1 stick cinnamon

1 tsp cardamon seeds

2 star anise

2 bay leaves

2 tsp salt

water (to your own adjustment)

Fish 'N Chips

yesterday's lunch was salad, mushroom soup (again! ni kes nak habiskan stock mushroom dalam fridge) eaten with garlic bread for appetiser & fish 'n chips served with mayonis and baked potato wedges.

sebelah petang pulak i made butter cake... again sebab ada permintaan daripada fahmi yang mengamuk2 sebab butter cake that i made yesterday habis dimakan farah. amazing sebab before cameron highlands trip nobody cares about butter cake tapi lepas masing2 hirup boh tea sambil makan butter cake it become a hit pulak. mangsanya, mama kena buat butter cake 2 hari berturut2... hehe my pleasure. i topped the butter cake with lemon curd yang dah 2 bulan dok dalam fridge... ada juga gunanya lemon curd tu ye.
i made them extra special for the kids, i baked them dalam love-shape silicone mould courtesy of madam lemongrass. tengok tu the cakes popping out from the mould. yaya had hers with my homemade strawberry jam. the rest i baked dalam loyang bulat jer untuk seisi keluarga.

sambil2 prepare lunch tengahari semalam, sempatlah buat strawberry jam. ni mix of cameron highlands sour strawberry dengan driscoll's (californian) strawberry (yang debab2 tu). sangat2 mengecewakan sebab driscoll's strawberry musim kali ni tak manis macam tahun lepas... *sigh*. last year strawberry tu semua habis dimakan begitu aja tapi this year semua berakhir dengan jam.
merah gelap warnanya tapi rasa tak manis pun...

Cameron Highlands Day 2 (Last Day)

surprisingly bila sampai cameron ni walau penat & tidur lewat macam mana pun boleh pulak bangun awal... hehehe excited pulak mr hubby siap snap a few photos suasana sekitar hotel di waktu pagi.

pastu pagi2 kami keluar nak pi shopping sayur, ingatkan sini pepagi buta orang dah menjual sayur rupa2nya kat pukul 9.30 baru celik mata buka kedai. emm price takdelah murah pun rm10 3 jenis.


time ni dah check out from hotel, pi ronda2 mana2 tempat singgah on the way turun dari highlands

susah kalau budak2 kecik ni perasan model... asyik nak bergambar je. yang jelik tu posing dengan biskut penuh dalam mulut!

ni kat english garden, taman agrotek mardi... destinasi yang ditunggu2 sebab mama nak beli pokok english herbs

teringin nak cantikkkan garden umah dengan bunga2an kat english garden mardi ni... hee berangan je kot?

pokok sweet basil yang dibawa balik from highlands. tak taulah berapa lama boleh hidup kat lowland. before this pernah beli dalam mini pot tapi seminggu jer tahan duk kat window sil. kat belakang tu pokok thyme.

Cameron Highlands Day 1

penat berjalan masih tak hilang lagi. malas nak bermukadimah, so let the pics do the talking. ada orang gatal tangan tukar resolution camera hence the pics taken pecah2... tak cantik sampai je kat Sungai Palas's Tea Plantation kami pun posing berlatarbelakangkan pokok2 teh
ignore meja yang bersepah tu... lepak kat cafe for morning tea dengan butter cake sambil hirup udara segar, dari cafe ni boleh cuci mata tengok kebun teh. crowdednya cafe ni maklumlah musim cuti sekolah


ni kes kemaruk nak petik teh, orang lain pikul guni, kita pikul anak...hehe

lepas check in hotel kat equatorial, kami melawat raju's strawberry farm yang dekat sangat dengan hotel kami. memula nak strawberry picking tapi farm yang sebelah hotel tutup, so pi kat raju's jelah cuma sini tak boleh pick strawberry ye, tengok aje

tengok cik mek yaya tu suka posing kepala teleng, oh ya yang sorang lagi tu farah my niece saja ajak dia join, school holiday ni kan

ni muka orang puas hati sesangat dapat makan strawberry salut coklat sampai kembang lubang hidung...nyampah, selagi tak dapat dia punya merajuk nak pengsan!

Short break

we are leaving to cameron highlands tomorrow morning, for a short holiday. i would say that this trip to cameron is more for the benefit of the children than for mama & daddy's rehat2. i've been there once masa sekolah darjah 6 dulu and now planning for the 2nd trip with the children. it is a small place hence not many attractions in store. but it would be fun for the children to be in the highlands; pi strawberry farm, tea plantation (if we ever get there), butterfly garden etc. looking back at the list of tourist spot i can safely say that we'll be visiting the same places i went to 18 years ago. oh wow sebut 18 years tu rasa macam berzaman lamanya. kalau dapat duduk kat smokehouse ke, lakehouse ke or YTL resort tu ughhh bestnya. i'm tempted to book ourselves kat situ, would be good for relaxation. nonetheless i look forward to see if there's any differences this time. the temperature perhaps?
but i can see from the weather forecast that it is pouring almost everyday in cameron just like it is right now in kl & subang. well suits the other half right coz dia yang beriya2 sangat nak pegi cameron. anggap jelah macam pegi london musim salji. i can understand his passion for the higlands coz he has never been there, but in this weather i'd rather be somewhere sunny... like terengganu.