Selera Berbuka

hari ni sambung puasa sunat Rejab, dapat 3 hari dah, Alhamdulillah. menua berbuka today simple jer, pecal. dah lama tak buat pecal ni, dulu2 once a week mesti ada pecal atas meja for dinner. kalau rasa tak nak heavy dinner or nak skip nasi mesti opt for pecal, makan sayur2an celur dengan kuah kacang tanah... simple & light tapi sedap.

resipi paste pecal ni belajar dari maid lama, wahhh ada jugak satu dua resipi yang aku blajar dengan dia ye. kusiapkan paste nya malam tadi, simpan dalam fridge bila nak makan bancuhkan aja kuahnya. saja buat awal sebab nak mengadun paste nya makan masa juga, kalau time tu nak makan baru nak buat sempatlah kebulur kalau tak tertidur dulu.

paste ni dibuat dari campuran kacang tanah, cili, bawang dan sebagainya ditumbuk halus dengan lesung tau, takde main short cut masuk blender... tak best maa, guna cara tradisional baru mengancam rasa dia. dan tak perlu dimasak sebab bahan2nya digoreng sebelum tumbuk. nanti bila nak jadikan kuah cuma tambah air panas jer.

Bahan2nya:

Paste
300gm kacang tanah
5 ulas bawang merah (kecil)
3 ulas bawang putih
2 tangkai cili merah (boleh ditambah kalau nak pedas)
6 biji cili api (kalau nak pedas tambah lagi)
7-8 ketul ubi cekur (lagi banyak lebih 'berlemak' rasa kuah)
1 inci belacan (bakar biar kering)
3 sudu besar gula melaka (ku guna 3/4 keping nisan t'ganu)
2-3 tangkai daun limau purut (dihiris supaya senang nak tumbuk)
air panas secukupnya
garam secukup rasa

Sayur-sayuran
1 ikat kangkung (dicelur)
1 ikat pucuk ubi (dicelur)
kacang panjang (potong dalam 1 1/2 inci & celur)
taugeh (dicelur)
jantung pisang (direbus)
tempe (digoreng & potong kecil2)
2 keping tauhu (digoreng & potong kecil2)

kalau suka boleh tambah lain-lain sayur/ulam seperti kacang botol, bendi, pucuk keledek, bayam dan timun.

Cara2:
1. Goreng kacang tanah dengan sedikit minyak. Buang kulitnya.
2. Panaskan 1 sudu besar minyak, goreng sekejap bawang merah, bawang putih, cili besar dan cili api hingga layu.
3. Tumbuk bawang dan cili serta ubi cekur portion by portion hingga lumat. Masukkan kacang tanah sedikit demi sedikit berselang seli dengan garam, gula melaka, belacan dan daun limau purut. Tumbuk dan ulang proses hingga semua bahan lumat dan sebati.
4. Bancuh air asam jawa dengan air panas, gaulkan dengan paste pecal hingga menjadi kuah.
5. Bila nak makan ambil sayur/ulam serta tempe+tauhu dan gaul dengan kuah pecal secukupnya. Kalau letak keropok sekeping dua pun sedap!

Siapa yang ada food processor kat rumah tu boleh juga campak semua bahan ke dalam, senang sikit. Takdelah lenguh tangan menumbuk paste dalam lesung. Jenuh nak lumat sebab lesung ku kecik jer... 1/2 jam nak hasilkan paste daripada 300gm kacang. Berat semacam rasa tangan, macam senget sebelah pulak dok membongkok menumbuk.

asal usul pecal ni tidaklah kutahu... rasa2nya hidangan orang jawa kot. walaupun bermentuakan orang jawa, tapi belum pernah lagi tengok mil buat pecal. dan aku belajar buat pecal ni pun secara tak sengaja from ex-maid bila tiba2 satu hari hubby teringin nak makan pecal. kebetulan bibik lama tu orang veteran, so dia memang suka lauk2 kampung/tradisional ni. apalagi pucuk dicita ulam mendatang...


esok tak tau lagi sambung puasa ke tidak. patut semalam pun niat nak berpuasa, alih2 sampai ofis kepala pulak berdenyut2 sakit... tak tahan telanlah panadol. perut pulak terasa pedih gara2 makan kuah durian dengan air coke... tak pernah2 aku minum air coke kenapa ntah boleh hentam keromo jer... merana perut ;-(

Feast

see my two cheeky children feast on the durians. they eat durians like they were having rice! they definitely took after me on their obsession for durian. dulu2 when i was a kid , i myself just love durian so much. i use to mix the durian with nasi, sugar & warm water, gaulkan semua jadilah nasi durian. ummm it was soo yummy... sampai menjilat jari! serius!

now looking at my two children dishing on durians macamlah durian tu nasi rasa nak marah jer... budak berdua ni ku gelar hantu durian. yaya pantang tercium bau durian mesti menjerit nakkan durian. budak berdua ni dari kecik lagi dah minat durian, tapi tak boleh kasi banyak sangat... tau jerlah durian tu kan panas... kang demam plak bebudak tu. tapi bila ingat2 balik aku ms kecik dulu pun hantu durian rasa malu sendiri pulak nak larang lebih2.

Some Update

i haven't been writing much of late. i haven't been cooking that much also. so there being not much interesting thing happen around me and no pictures captured, i just keep silent.

i made grilled sirloin steak complete with mushroom sauce and roasted rosemary potatoes for dinner on saturday. but i was too lazy to snap pictures. then on sunday, i was simply too lazy to cook i made fried rice with salads only for sunday's lunch! later after lunch i went off for a little shopping with my little girl at amcorp mall. it was pouring heavily when we left the house and that half of my excitement almost gone away with the weather. we (me&yaya) went shopping at a kidswear outlet called 'Too Little Shop'. the brief shopping trip works as a therapy for me, after having dotted on my two sick boys the previous week, at least i had sometime for myself last weekend.

my basil plant was attacked by a bug... and the other day i saw some ants hovering and coming out from inside the soil. no wonder there were holes on the leaves...rupa2nya kena makan bugs & the roots are coming out sebab ants semua dah gali tanah. ughhhh... jap tadi baru lepas alih pokok to another pot.

Mat Kacau & Mat Nusia?

before i went to the subject of today's entry, let me just update on hubby's condition. mr liasari has recovered from his severe back pain; as a result he has gone for 1 week outstation ... grrrr!! the laser treatment unfortunately has been postpone to a later date, but that did not stop him from taking the outstation assignment. some would think that he's a workaholic...

i on the other hand had to dealt with fahmi's sudden illness yesterday. he had stomach ache on sunday night, but the pain immediately gone within minutes after i rubbed yuyee's oil on his stomach. came monday he barely eats, complaining of nausea everytime he had some food. he even vomitted a couple of times; one time right upon arriving at the clinic last night. he was pale and tired. he went to bed very early last night on empty stomach. he woke up this morning terus minta nasi and telur goreng (for breakfast!). right after that he doze off (tak sempat mandi!) and woke up only when i came back during lunch break to check on him. alhamdulillah, anakku yang sorang ni dengar nasihat mama dia rajin makan ubat & pujuk2 makan nasi, so petang ni dah sihat. tapi punyalah cengkung, bahana satu hari sakit.

tiba2... rumahku jadi rumah sakit pulak bila berturut2 father and son sakit.

okay, so i've already covered latest updates on hubby & fahmi which left only yaya yang belum ada update. which brings me back to the subject of this entry. mat kacau & mat nusia? these are the new nicknames yang yaya gave to daddy and mama since last saturday morning upon our return from the market. boleh tahan laser mulut anak dara ni sekarang sesedap rasa jer dia bagi nicknames kat daddy & mama dia.

sabtu lepas masa me & hubby returned home from the market, hubby terus menyakat yaya. agaknya geram punya pasal spontan yaya cakap "tu mat kacau dah balik"... ternganga mulut kami berdua. cepat2 teringat watak mat kacau dalam rancangan gerak geri gasing on astro channel yang we watched earlier. so it prompted me to challenge her kalau daddy mat kacau, mama ni apa? ingatkan mestilah dia kata mama ni makwe (she only knows to describe me as makwe daddy & daddy pakwe mama) daddy. rupa2nya dia kata "mama lah mat nusia" ... mula2 pelik juga sebab takde pulak watak mat nusia dalam rancangan tu. lepas tu barulah realise what she meant was 'manusia'...

semenjak ada astro ni macam2 perubahan yang i observed in my children. good things and some not so good things. they watched cartoon network, disney channel and few other cartoon channel mainly. the not so good things are that they have become hooked with mr bean ( i hate it!) sampai fahmi boleh tiru gaya mr bean joget kendur lutut tu and everytime i told them perangai mr bean tak senonoh, they would defend mr bean. pastu masa mula2 masuk astro 3 bulan lepas both fahmi & yaya tak mau tidur malam asyik tengok cartoon jer.

but they are many other good things they picked up from watching disney channel. fahmi punya malay vocab tersangat improve, walaupun sebenarnya i was putting much hope yang it would help him to understand english better. rupa2nya dia dah pandai switch to malay language! mickey pun cakap melayu. so his malay kekadang sounds sangat skema & sopan habis ... kekadang bulat biji mata kami dngar dia bercakap.

kebelakangan ni, ada lagu baru yang selalu yaya & fahmi nyanyi...memula i couldn't figure out apa yang diaorang nyanyikan. the song goes like this (in malay, of course)...

wonder pet, wonder pet
kami datang membantu anak khinzir
kami tak besar, dan kami tak kuat
bila2 berkerja bersama-sama
jerit wonder pet!

yang part 'anak tut tut' tu buat me & hubby terkejut & ketawa nak pecah perut.. but these kids they are innocent... bukan tau pun halal haram, so kenalah mama explain kat diaorang kenapa tak boleh "membantu anak tut tut"... nanti jadi kontroversi ketua menteri selamatkan ladang b*b* kat melaka pulak. there are other version to this song actually... versi "membantu anak penguin" and other animals. fahmi knows that khinzir is malay word for 'pig'... i'm impressed that he knows both name in english and malay. anyway, i'm open to the ideas of exposing my children to as much information yang boleh enrich pengetahuan dia... takdelah semata2 sebab seekor anak tut tut i would ban terus astro kat rumah. but of course, screening itu perlu juga.

Two Weddings And An Emergency

remember in my previous entry we were supposed to attend 2 weddings on sunday? i did attend my bestfriends wedding sebelah siang tu. but the one at sheraton; we didn't get there that night. instead we get ourselves checked in to the 4 star hotel across the road that night. except there was no ballroom but emergency room and instead of deluxe room we got ourselves single bedded ward room comes with tv but very limited astro channel. in case you are wondering which hotel in subang jaya i'm referring to, it is none other than sjmc.

who was warded and why? hubby was warded ( i got myself checked in to play the dutiful wife attending to her sick husband)for 3 nights due to severe back pain that reduced him to not being able to move any of his limbs without gross pain. he complaints of back pain since returning from his outstation trip to rengit last thursday. thinking that it was a normal back pain, he went to work as usual on friday only this time the pain seems to be persistent and got worse come saturday. bending his body to get into the car took a lot of effort, time and unbearable pain. we travelled back to seremban anyway, with me driving the car; to sent my mom back home and also there was a wedding to attend. God! i sounds selfish!

that saturday night, the pain was so unbearable hubby can't wait for the tukang urut that abah looked for; i drove him to the clinic. there being limited clinic operating on saturday night we can't be choosy. the doctor gave him a jab; it was supposed to be a very strong pain killer as the doctor said hubby can jump within minutes after that, but nothing happen. he can't move, kalau dah baring tak boleh bangun, kalau dah duduk tak boleh berdiri, macam orang paralysed (touchwood), sampai makan pun bersuap.

the next day (sunday) right after my bestfriends wedding which i attended with yaya (only), we drove back to subang. nak jadi cerita masa tengah drive tu tiba2 aku pulak diserang sakit perut & angin satu badan, tak berhenti2 sendawa sepanjang jalan, siap dengan mual dan nak termuntah. ni gara2 perut cramp sejak 2 hari lepas, asyik masuk angin jer. punyalah tak larat nak drive dalam mual2 tu, vision pun tak berapa clear, hujan lebat pulak tu, rasa nak collapse jer kat tepi hiway tapi kugagahkan juga.

sampai je kat rumah terus kuserbu keluar kereta dan dengan tak tertahan2nya membuak2 lah muntah. uhhh lega bila dah muntah hilang sakit perut & angin segala. barulah boleh concentrate on driving hubby to sjmc.

we got to sjmc, i had to get a wheelchair, nak push him on the wheelchair pun an effort jugak, time nilah aku rasa kalau aku ada extra 20kilos kan bagus. sambil tunggu hubby been thoroughly checked kat dalam resus room tu sempatlah aku sms kat bos apologise for not attending the wedding. boringnya duduk sorang2 kat ER dekat 1 jam tak tau apa khabar berita. finally aku terjah juga bilik resus tu.

we decided to get hubby warded so he can be monitored closely coz masa tu kami tak tahu apa punca back pain dia. an x-ray put off the possibility of slip disc, alhamdulillah. but still in his state yang tak boleh bergerak tu nak juga kami tau puncanya. he had a 6.8mm gallstone in his gallbladder. that was the reason for his severe back pain, bukan slip disc or injured nerve but a gallstone!

after going through 2 sessions of physiotherapy a day hubby can move his limbs, he can walk, dressed up and eat on his own so we got ourselves checked out yesterday afternoon. tomorrow he's booked for a minor operation, laser treatment agaknya.

i'm so exhausted! berulang alik rumah-hospital-office for the past 3 days, tak cukup tidur & rehat. know what i learned from this whole incident? we (me & hubby) here in subang living miles away from our family, only have ourselves to look after each other in better or worst. our support system sangat kurang. my parents & siblings are all in seremban. whereas hubby walaupun ada adik & kakak kat cheras but they are not mobile. so i told hubby that we can't afford to get sick so frequent sampai ke tahap warded coz we have small kids. we are lucky our maid yang baru ni sangat boleh diharap. she took care of the children dengan baik sepanjang aku takde kat rumah. for that i am grateful that she came into our family.

The Perfect Wedding Gift?

Hunting for the perfect wedding gifts are on top of my list this week. mainly because i have 2 weddings to attend; both on sundays! how i wish both wedding are on seperate days so i can enjoy the reception and linger little bit longer without having to rush from one reception to another. i should be thankful though coz the timing does not coincide with one another or else i would feel torn apart between the two. but both are at different location seperated by the elite highway! satu siang & satu malam... still i would be rushing. ohh... i know i'm ranting.


the first one is going to be the happiest day in my best friend's life. using the word 'best' somehow sounds a bit strange to my ears especially when i know i haven't been playing the role of a good friend to anybody for a long long time. i really am not good at keeping in touch with my friends, always blaming the miles apart between us; despite the invention of email and mobile phone. whatever, faisal, the groom still and forever will be a dear friend to me. he was my first ever male best friend whom i can opened up to(hubby falls second to him ;-)). i was a prim & shy girl; i didn't mix (fits) quite easily with the boys unlike my other girl friends. one of the reason i became so close as a friend with hubby was because i missed having a male friend whom i can opened up to; who gives different perspective of life, different point of view from what i'm used to with my girl friends. the friendship with him is really a treasure. and i wouldn't miss his wedding day. i've been waiting for this day for ages, been counting for it since before i met my soulmate. you see, how come i always beat those who already been dating since our school days to tie the knot?


okay enough pondering around the memory lane. wedding gifts...i still haven't had a clue what to buy. the other wedding invitation comes from my boss... his sister in law's wedding in a hotel at subang jaya. and it sounds formal cos i heard a VVIP is attending... something i can do without but couldn't pull the escaping act this time, dah banyak kali turn down his invitation. that left me with 2 wedding gifts to look for. kitchen appliances? macam dah basi je. electrical goods? adeh skemanya! photo frame? pun basi. pinggan mangkuk lagilah dah lama aku buang dari list. i received tonns of pinggan mangkuk on my wedding... kebanyakan masih tak pakai lagi sampai sekarang... sayang jer. pasal tu tak suka kasi hadiah pinggan mangkuk kat orang.


speaking of wedding gift, have you ever had someone pulling a prank on you on your wedding day/night? i had one. a friend of mine (except i don't know which one) pulled a prank on my wedding night; in the form of his/her wedding gift. i kept all my wedding gift in my room, which is a normal thing to do. we didn't expect that on the struck of midnight masa sedara mara semua dah lena kepenatan; and me & hubby pun dah tertidur masa tu tetiba dengan kuatnya buat azan comes from one of the gift boxes dalam bilik kami. me & hubby jumped out of the bed frantically selongkar all the boxes. we were so desperate to find the source of bunyi azan tu sebab tak mau sedara mara semua terbangun and somehow it made us feel embarassed as if we were doing something wrong. we didn't do anything wrong, we hardly did anything at all ;-P. masa tu memang dah agak mesti ada orang bagi hadiah alarm clock. siot betul... lu punya timing memang cantekkk!wakenabeb!


so, would i be daring enough to pull such prank? i'm tempted to... :-)

Fruit Cake

my kitchen is back in operation!

bila mood masak2 tu dah datang balik mulalah sehari suntuk sampai tak cukup hari siang sampai ke malam tak berhenti memasak.

i made mee rebus for dinner yesterday. since semalam was my working saturday so tak sempatlah nak cook for lunch. unless hubby is willing to munch on keropoks & biscuits while waiting for lunch to be served... err in time for tea agaknya? so forget the hassle and bought ready cooked lauk instead.

semalam ada project baking which will keep me in the kitchen for the longest time. so i decided to prepare kuah mee rebus awal supaya by the time nak dinner boleh panaskan kuah & siapkan condiments nya aja. our dinner is normally around 8 to 8.30pm on weekends and slightly earlier in certain days in the weekdays. but hubby dah tak sabar2 nak makan mee rebus, he had his the instance i finished preparing the kuah. tuan tanah dah minta makan so celur lah mee & siapkan condiments. pastu malamnya merungut lapar sebab dinner dah jadi hidangan tea time. duh!

ok move on to my baking project. i've been planning to bake steamed fruit cake for my abah since last weekend but since i had this withdrawal syndrome last week so tangguh ke this week. yang tak tahan tu nak mengukus kek ambil masa berjam2. whatever, i'm sure abah is going to love this cake... abah memang suka fruit cake :-) and this one taste simply divine. i delivered the cake petang tadi, the same time i fethced my mom who's going to spend the whole week with us. mama rindu sangat kat cucu2 dia, aku pulak memang tak sempat nak balik lama2, so alternative is get mama to stay at our house for one week.