Bila Terlebih Rajin

princess saya yang seorang ini sungguhpun dia suka berlagak diva tapi adakalanya rajin juga dia menolong saya buat kerja2 rumah. selalunya when i least expected it.
contohnya susun baju dalam almari. yang mengejutkan saya pada satu malam sesudah selesai solat isyak, yaya tunjukkan saya baju2 saya yang sudah kemas tersusun dalam almari. pelik juga saya sebab rak baju saya 2 kaki lebih tinggi dari dia. rupa2nya masa saya sedang solat dia terlangkupkan bakul baju dan panjat atas bakul untuk susun baju2 saya. patutlah kemas dan cantik je susunan dia.
dan ini aksi dia few nights ago yang sempat saya snap.
pandai juga dia ambil hati mama yang sedang ntahapaapa ni.

Filo Pastry

for those yang tertanya2 macam mana rupa filo pastry, here i upload gambar packagingnya. maaf tak dapat nak ambil gambar the filo sheet sebab masih beku, nak dibuka helaiannya supaya nampak jelas kena tunggu dia defrost. tak larat cheq nak tunggu hehe.

jangan confuse filo pastry/sheet dengan kulit popia. filo sheet ni jauh lebih nipis, diperbuat daripada tepung gandum. harga sekotak agak mahal juga, belasan ringgit tapi saya pun tak ingat. this one brand pampas i bought from cold storage. kalau pergi giant or tesco cuba jenguk frozen section dekat area yang sama dengan kulit popia mungkin ada (saya dah berkurun tak ke giant so saya main agak2 jelah harap mengena! ;-)).

filo sheet ni mesti disimpan di tempat beku. bila nak pakai defrost kan beberapa jam. nak asingkan setiap lapis kena hati2, sebab mudah koyak.jangan biarkan terdedah pada udara nanti cepat kering, lebih sukar kita nak meyapu dengan butter mahupun nak melipatnya.

hope this info helps. ;-) ;-)

Banyak Aktiviti

erm banyak sangatlah aktiviti hari ni konon.
pagi2 lepas solat subuh (subuh gajah!) kejut the children. i took the children for a run while hubby seperti biasa pergi cycling with his gang. oh yes, eversince dia form (secara tak rasmi) a cycling club ni, he spent less and less time for activities with us. grrrr!
i managed to do 3 rounds of running around the lake at our home before i retired. itupun yaya dah mengadu sakit kaki and retired after 1 round.
walk back home, collect sekotak cupcakes tempahan customer pastu terus pergi hantar. tak yah mandi lah tak sempat dah... heheh busyukkk!
tengahari malas nak masak coz hubby pergi kenduri, so i just cook garlic butter rice and grill dory fillet sekeping. lauk pauk mentah dah takde!
sambil2 tu mengerjakan buat kuih koci. selesai mengukus dah dekat pukul 2.30pm. naik ke bilik solat zuhur then acara kuak lentang atas katil with yaya. hahaha...
petang pergi collect barbie doll untuk buat doll cake for one customer ni. balik dari collect doll tu kami anak beranak mengerjakan kebun depan laman rumah.
now at almost 11pm ni... my unuse muscles kat kaki and pinggang dah menjerit2 sakit. ada yang jalan mengangkang esok nih.


p/s: i've found my wit, no?

Mana Jiwa Saya?

the mood i'm in currently and have been for the past 12 days is : blank. macam stone pun ada, so cold and hard.

- saya tiada mood untuk marah (except when my kids buat nakal, have to marah them if not bermaharajalela plak nanti),
- no mood to eat (which is good sebab saya tak perlu paksa diri untuk berdiet! kalau selalu macam ni kan bagus, tengok food pun kurang bernafsu),
- takde mood nak bercakap or berborak , dah penat bercakap pasal benda yang sama over and over again, so save your air liur dan energy ye,
- takde mood nak buat semua benda2 yang saya suka buat like reading before tidur, masak, baking!!!

ada urat putus ke? ini bukan macam saya. jiwa saya takde kat sini. ini penangan gara2saya nak 'R' ke?
saya sendiri takut dengan perubahan ini. buang tabiat ke saya?

Baklava ... or Baklawa

i think the spelling and pronuoncition berbeza2 geographycally. sebab manisan baklava yang pada kita orang Malaysia lebih sinonim dengan negara2 timur tengah dan turki sebenarnya juga terkenal di negara2 balkan i.e. greece dan bosnia. jadi asal dari mana baklava ni? hmmm risik2 lah sendiri ye... meh layan resipi. i owe this to one silent reader - dasheila and diana.

there are many version of baklava recipe can be found on the internet, you may choose either the greeks version or turkish version. and there's iranians and afghans version too. masa nak buat tu i had this iranians recipe in hand tapi tengok list panjang sangat and the portion pun quite large so in the end i opted for simple recipe yang diambil kat rumah kak min aka lemongrass. minta halal ye ;-)

Baklava (simplified version)

10 keping filo pastry
100g butter, cairkan (sila guna lebih butter coz 100gm is not enough for me!)
about 300g mixed nuts (you can use pistachio, walnuts, almonds, cashew), kisar halus (i use a combination of almonds & pistachio - tapi pistachio lebih sedap & mahal!!! next time i'm gonna use pistachio only!)

For the sugar syrup
250g gula kasar
150mls air
a splash of lemon juice (dalam 1 sudu teh pun cukup)
1/2 tablespoon of rosewater (kalau ada)
* i adopt the iranian version by putting in 1 cinnamon stick. i don't have rosewater in my pantry. ada juga recipe yang letak cardamon pods (biji buah pelaga)
*boleh tambah 1 sudu besar madu kalau suka

- Masak air dan gula sehingga menggelegak. Letak kulit kayu manis (atau cardamon pods kalau guna). Let it boil for about 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and rosewater (and honey kalau guna). Peringatan: jangan boil the syrup terlalu lama or sehingga terlalu pekat/likat, nanti susah nak menyerap ke dalam baklava. Pour the sugar syrup onto the cooked hot baklava.


Preheat oven to 180ºC.
1. Grease a rectangular disposable aluminium container (utk senang nak buang terus lepas tu :-)) measuring 8"x 12".
2. Sapu 1 keping filo pastry dgn melted butter. Nak koyakkan filo pastry ni hati2 coz sangat nipis. Sementara tengah brush filo dengan butter keep the rest berbalut sebab dia cepat kering nanti mudah koyak. Kemudian lipat 2 dan masukkan dlm container, adjust sikit the filo pastry to fit. Repeat until dah letak 5 keping pastry dlm container.
3. Kemudian taburkan kacang ground kat atas filo pastry tu sehingga habis dan menutupi semua bahagian pastry.
4. Ulang step 2 dan letak atas taburan kacang tadi sehingga semua filo habis digunakan. Make sure lapisan filo yg di atas sekali disapu dgn butter bnyk sikit.
5. Potong baklava bentuk diamond sehingga lapisan bawah sekali sebelum masuk dlm oven.
6. Bakar for about 25 mins or until golden.
7. Take the baklava out of the oven and straight away pour half of the syrup on it. Let it meresap dulu, then pour the rest of the syrup.
8. Enjoy!

* I leave the baklava for a few hours until the syrup meresap betul2 ke dalam. Ada yang kata best leave them soaked overnight which is even better kalau anda boleh tahan sabar hehe. You can granish the baklava with remaining ground pistachio.

Ada yang bertanya apa rasanya baklava ni?
I was asking myself the same thing before i first tasted one. For a sweeth tooth like me, rasa dia hmm... heaven!
okay seriously, rasa dia lemak2 manis - manis datangnya daripada syrup tu and lemak from the nuts. kalau guna pistachio rasanya lebih lemak dan sedap. while the filo pastry sungguhpun masa baru keluar oven rasanya rangup tapi after u let the syrup seep through and leave them overnight, filo tu akan jadi lembut but can still hold its texture. hmm pernah makan biskut kacang tumbuk? lebih kurang begitulah cuma tidak rangup.

Lain Padang, Lain Belalang, Lain Orang, Lain Ragam...

Fahmi is recovering from tonsil infection. His body temperature has gone back to normal, thanks to antibiotics and paracetamol syrup prescribed by his paed. He has gone back to school despite nenek’s prediction that he will need to stay at home come Monday. I hate the idea of my children staying away from school longer than necessary, unless it is really necessary. Because I don’t want them to miss out on school. Thank God he fell ill during the beginning of the weekend (don’t get me wrong I’m neither happy nor sad if my children fall ill, it is a process that every one has to go through, we are human after all), which means I have 2 days to take care of him and give him the best treatment I could provide – that is mother’s TLC. Alhamdulillah he is ok now, but still need to complete the course of the medicines given.

Tonsillitis… ni semua inherit dari mama. Both my children ada tonsillitis. It is easier with fahmi sebab dia rajin makan ubat. And the speed of his recovery pun lebih cepat compared to yaya sebab dia masih mahu makan walaupun tekak sakit. Whereas yaya she’s a bit resistance when it comes to ubat, inikan pula nak disuruh makan memang dia tak mau. Ketakutan dia terhadap sakit nak menelan makanan overcome keinginan dia nak cepat sembuh.

Now, mama pula sakit. Bukanlah sakit teruk, but I’m having a very bad stomach ache sejak malam tadi. Must be something rotten or infected in my food semalam. Adehhh…

meh layan mata tengok foto2 dulu dan kini laman depan rumah. we started to plant pokok berdaun lebar dan rumput filipina ni lepas pindah masuk rumah.

December 2009
pokok berdaun lebar ni apa ntah nama dia ye? birah udang ke? susah sungguh nak membela dia bila beralih ke tanah baru. my abah tolong pasakkan kayu supaya pokok tak rebah ke tanah masa mula2 alih dulu.

April 2010
now after 4 months walaupun tak selebat seperti masa kami tanam kat subang perdana dulu but at least banyak anak2 pokok dah mula keluar, daunnya pun hijau2 belaka

yang ni pula rumput filipina yang kutanam. punyalah kedekut orang lain tanam rapat2, aku ni nak jimat punya pasal sekeping rumput aku potong tiga pastu tanam jarak2.

December 2009



April 2010
now rumput dah menjalar tutup lompong2 tu. tapi every now and them kami kena tabur tanah in between the squares supaya rumput lebih cepat menjalar dan tutup penuh rapat2.
nampak tak pokok kaffir lime new addition to our laman. baru petang semalam kubuang ulat bulu yang menyamar menyerupai batang pokok. habis dedaunnya carik dan berlubang2 diratah ulat. dan pokok purple button tu dah makin tenat after 4 months... jenis tak tahan lasak juga dia. nak kugantikan dengan rumput bawang berbunga purple dan putih nanti.

Quadruple Celebration

we had another birthday party today in seremban with my family. it was a join celebration for yaya and her cousins (my nieces) and my shy pet brother who is not in any of the pictures below.

remember the party that i plan to have in my house? nah... we shifted it to our (my ;-)) favourite restaurant in seremban instead. all my siblings turn up. so it was a family gathering.

eversince i started to bake, all my nieces and nephews wants me to bake their birthday cake. like this time around each of them wants to have their dream cake. but i only have two hands, so i bake a castle cake with their faces printed on edible icing and put them on the cake. they were happy to see their faces on the cake, so that solved my problem. haha...
yaya with her cousin, left in brown blouse and top wearing party hat with their castle cake.my pet bro not in the pic. the brown blouse worn by my niece, farah, was mine! i worn them when i was in my early twenties and was doing my industrial training. i'm surprised to see she can fits in to my blouse. and the skirt she wore was mine too! she worn them ankle length whereas i worn them knee length. that shows how tiny i was when i was young! *lol*
my boy fahmi was not well. he had fever due to infected tonsil. still when around his cousins he forgot he had fever and went all the way to have fun.
my mum and sister. i just realised all of us including me wore purple tudung! ;-)