So Hot

It’s sooo hot these past few days. The weather was very dry with no rain. And my body beginning to react to the hot weather. My lips started to crack, aduii pedih sib baik lately ni I’ve been using lip gloss, no lipstick and it helps to give extra moisture to my lips, takdelah teruk sangat cracked nya. tekak rasa kering so I drink lots and lots of water yet immediately after that mulut semua kering balik. My eyes are sore and dry, my body ached and I gets tired easily walaupun sekadar duduk dalam office. I even postpone my site visit coz i don't think i could stand the hot weather. Am already dehydrated sitting in this fully aircondition office apatah lagi kat luar sana. But I read somewhere that working in a fully air condition place is even worst, sejuk di dalam tapi panas kat luar, lagi senang dapat sakit.

I asked the kids to drink a lot of water too. They are the most hyper ones, they use a lot of energy and with the hot weather they’d sure lost lots of body fluid. But how can I confine them from going out of the house? Especially fahmi who keeps on bugging me if he can go out for riding even di tengah hari panas! But I could not take the risk, let them cry or climb the wall; I’m not going to compromise when it concerns their well being. They’ve just recovered from cold and cough; I couldn’t risk another bout of fever or anything of that sort.

but the hotness doesn't stop me from hibernating in the kitchen. we had grilled chicken breast with white mushroom sauce last night. like its namesake, the recipe is made of chicken breast. the rest of us had grilled chicken breast on our plate except for hubby doesn't like the meaty part, never was and never would be one, so for him i replaced the breast with deboned drumstick.

grilled chicken bed on a bed of potato salad & white mushroom sauce

i marinated the chicken with pepper, italian herbs & salt. coated with extra virgin olive oil and grill til golden. in the meantime while waiting for the chicken marinate, i prepared the chicken stock (for the sauce), sliced white button mushroom, prepared potato salad (cut into 6 halves, mix with ground parsley, pepper, salt & lightly coated with olive oil), arrange garnishing on the plate and sementara meng gril chicken, i made the mushroom sauce. it was my first experiment with this recipe which i pick up from a cooking programme on tv called a'la carte. i didn't actually follow the recipe 100%, i don't know whether the full recipe was given because i missed the first 10mins. but i observed the chef while he's cooking and decided to reproduce.

fahmi enjoying his lot

and wallah... it is worth every sweat, in fact no sweat at all, as it was a very simple dimple recipe but the result is fantastic. the ingredients that i used to marinate the chicken was very simple, yet the chicken taste so good and soo succulent you can even eat it on its own. tambah seronok when you have children like mine yang cukup suka mama dia experimenting with recipes. fahmi is definitely a smooth talker; cukup terer buat mama dia kembang semangkuk dengan ayat2 power dia. would definitely consider putting up this menu when entertaining friends. tapi bila ye?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Here's the recipe, khas untuk diana.

chicken breast, cleaned
ground pepper
1 tsp ground mix herbs
salt to taste
olive oil

gaul semua kecuali olive oil & perap ayam for 20mins. panaskan frying pan/grill pan, sapu ayam dgn olive oil dan grill til golden brown. kalau agak2 kering letak sesudu butter. bila masak belah dua, susun atas plate.

bahan untuk sos:

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
white button mushroom (hiris nipis)
1/2 onion (diced)
2 clove garlic (mince)
2 helai daun bay
2 tbsp mix herbs
2 tbsp ground pepper
1 cup milk/heavy cream
1 cup chicken broth (atau 1 ketuk chicken cube dissolve dlm 1 cup air panas)
1 keping keju
salt to taste

melt butter in a sauce pan, tumis garlic with mushroom & daun bay(jgn sampai garlic hangus). masukkan flour, kacau for about 3 mins, masukkan onion, mix herbs & pepper. let it simmer, lepas tu masukkan air rebusan ayam, bila mendidih masukkan susu or heavy cream. sambil kacau let it simmer for about 5mins, sampai agak pekat. masukkan garam & keju. ready.

untuk potato salad pulak. kupas kentang, rebus sampai empuk. drain, potong 6 bahagian atau kurang jika potato kecil. letak ground pepper skit, garam & ground parsley serta olive oil. gaul semua.