Salam Ramadhan Al-Mubarak

Salam everyone!

Ramadhan Kareem...kepada semua sahabat-sahabat blogger and my gentle readers. Mohon ampun dan maaf jika selama saya bersiaran disini ada terkasar bahasa, menyinggung perasaan dan gurauan yang tidak sengaja. Semoga Ramadhan kali ini lebih baik dari yang lalu. Insyaallah.


***Forgiveness is not something we do for other people. We do it for ourselves to GET WELL and MOVE ON.

P.S: thanks, Shidah! ;)

Am I Crazy or Am I Crazy!

A quiet Saturday, worth spending if clearing the cupboard means you are stocking up another skeleton....

Oooohhhh....I must be crazy!

 Seeing nothing but roses upon roses of M*rtha's G*rden Wedgwood 
at Kak T's house this morning...

 ...while waiting patiently for the 'broker' to personally

deliver these darlings to me, at Kak T's...

 Before every piece would be 'quarantined' for an indefinite time....

 ...until the guilty feeling passed....ahaks

 ...it's only apt to capture some of these babies, laid on my bed... haha...

...before putting them away, (squeezing for space) 

in a top secret an unassuming cabinet!

Now, now... how shall I plot a drama before the hubby finds out? erkk...

I reckon a dish he likes so much....

....nicely served

on...

 this salad plate will do the trick!

I am wise after all! Hehehehehehe =))

By the way, I am thrilled as my 'bundle' today comes with numerous gifts from the broker...and one of them is this pair of mugs which made me clapping in glee because they reminded me of you, Brad and Angelina!

Well, to this...I'd say I'm crazy! ;)

Of Dinner and....Falling In Love? ;-)

These past two weeks saw me and my 'gang', congregate from one 'tahlil' to another. As Ramadhan draws near, there are friends leaving for 'umrah', friends like me, who have children sitting for exams soon and friends who simply fill these last days of Syaaban with 'kenduri' in ushering the coming of Ramadhan. All of which done in Yaasiin-reading and follow by tahlil.

This morning, has been quite a busy one. Busy sokmo sebab dah kena operasi spring cleaning and what-not. Well, some extra workload just before Ramadhan. Entahlah, apa yang kalut pung tak tau. Macam ler bulan puasa tak boleh buat kerja rumah. Saja jer nak ringankan sikit waktu kerja masa puasa...hehe... So, dah sibuk-sibuk tu, makan main ala kadar jer. Rasa lapar about mid-morning, jenguk dapur...goreng nasi. The nasi goreng should last me till late afternoon. At almost 10am, baru tuan puteri pucuk kelumpang tu bangun. Mentang-mentang she ditched school today... It was her school Sports Day yesterday and today. Semalam, subuh-subuh syapi'e I dah menghantar MyC ke Kompleks Sukan MPSP....nun ...kat Kepala Batas tu. Balik semalam dah buat hal...sakit kepala berbatas beratur dalam panas. So, hari ni 'tuang'. Terlepas chance mummy dia nak ronda KB. Psst...best ler tempat Pak Lah ni...traffic ok aje. Senang jer nak merempit...ekekeke!

Aiseymen, cerita ni tergantung ler pulok, sebab I dah lupa ape motif-nye and what has MyC stirring up late got to do with my morning...

Dah...malas nak cer citer cer cccciter ni....Layan aje gambar my dinner tadi. Bulan puasa nanti rasanya malas nak tepek gambar makanan. Kat facebook, Fa dah siap warning, jangan tayang gambar makanan...hahahahaha! Lagi pun puasa is not about food, ken ken ken?


Jemput ye... ;)

Masak tomyam seafood jer...

...kangkung goreng belacan

and telur dadar yang masih diatas kuali...

pergghh...giler sedap ke sedap giler, makan nasi 'begitu saje' dengan telur dadar

yang rangup kelilingnye, gebu didalamnye...~ngee :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before I sign off tonight, I have something to tell you guys. Errr...I'm falling in love.... so please help me. :(

`

`

`

`

`

 ....please help me I'm falling....in love with....

`

`

`

 `

`

`

mmm...bahasa Melayu for wedge, apa hah? Wood, I tau ler...kayu!  
Nanti kita story, k? ;)

Rash!

You may not be her first, her last, or her only.

She loved before she may love again.

But if she loves you now, what else matters?

She's not perfect - you aren't either, and the

two of you may never be perfect together

but if she can make you laugh, cause you to

think twice, and admit to being human and

making mistakes, hold on to her and give

her the most you can. She may not be 

thinking about you every second of the day,

but she will give you a part of her that she

knows you can break - her heart.

So don't hurt her,

don't change her, don't analyze and

don't expect more than she can give.

Smile when she makes you happy, 

let her know when she makes you mad,

and miss her when she's not there.

                                                                                     - Bob Marley

He may not be reading this....but someday he will.

Hubby dearest, there is more to me than just a person who makes you laugh everyday. You think it's weird of me writing things I couldn't say about you instead of pasting it straight on your face. But there you go again...refusing to see the reason; and then envy me for keeping my cool under any circumstances.
I know. Too much space sometimes 'suffocate' me. You don't have to know if it bothers you, because I'm cool! ;-)


*** Hehehe...slipping the note above (yes, the quote by Bob Marley) into his bag this morning, makes me want to throw up now!! =)) Come, laugh with me! ;p

pic: by google

awat tak laugh pung?!

Just Another Monday....

Once and again? ;-) 




Of course, it's Monday!

Something Good Something Not So Bad...

How many times when you have set your mind to a simple meal for lunch and then something irresistibly 'unhealthy' changed your plans? 

Well, I was at the market Thursday, with plans to cook 'ikan masak tauchu'. I already saw myself tucking in this sourish dish laden with lots of green chillies and chunks of cut cucumber. Nothing fancy, but on days when you couldn't think of anything else to cook, this one would definitely suit the taste-buds. Before I made my rounds for the fish-mongers, I could see from afar, my butcher was pulling a humongous slabs of bones out of his equally huge basket. Bob saw me and gave a thumb's up for his ware that day; not to mention, his usual quip of "cantik kak hari ni!".  But of course, he meant his beef and bones were 'cantik'. I don't mind taking the credits though... Wehehehehe! I decided to ONLY check on the bones and maybe buy some tenderloin meat for later consumption over the weekend. But then again...I have weaknesses for some things including this:

Oh me oh my.... such juicy 'tulang dada' begging me to take them home!

So, forget ikan masak tauchu and those crunchy cili muda...hu hu....and say hello to:

Gulai tulang tumis darat...once removed from the stove,

 and...

...ladled out for lunch the other day.

What a sinful bliss!

Hmm...whatever happens to my blog now? Blog masak-masak ke ni? Help! ;p

Yell-OW!

I have no idea why the folks here - up north - loved some of their food, yellow. One reason I seldom buy nasi ayam is because the rice is yellow. Their bihun soup is yellow for the rice noodles; and sometimes even the soup. And oh, don't get me started with their cucuq udang. Yes, cucuq udang-s here are yellow. In fact, all their fried fritters, be it banana or all kinds of tubers are tinted with yellow colouring in the batter.

Power to the turmeric powder!

Now, now...don't get me wrong. There is nothing unusual about the food, anyway. Having lived in Penang, part of the northern region, for a long time now, I have adapted quite comfortably with the same food I find in Ipoh and the ones I find here, only different is the yellow submarine colouring. Hehehe! And oh, I'll spare the sauce part - for now-lah! :D

Last Saturday, I attended three 'kenduris'. Two being a wedding. My friends and I ate sparingly at these weddings because we had taken a hearty lunch of a good beriani kambing at the first house, (of a close friend), so much so, we attended the weddings as a show of courtesy to the hosts and also to catch up with another batch of friends. We ate little, but chatted a lot...hahaha! Only at the last house we went, I still find some room for another round of 'ratah-ratah lauk' minus the rice! But we were pleased because there was a 'cucuq udang' corner. Panas-panas weh. I didn't take a second look but queue up for psst, guess what?...yes, the yellow cucuq udang! It was so damn good...oops, excuse me for the language..., that I have to have it again. Only this time, home-made ones, of course...hikhikhik...


And, sheepishly, I made my cucuq udangs, yellow. Okay, only this once. :-)

Late afternoon tea of cucur udang on Monday recently...

Meh, nanges sama-sama...sebab syedapp! hahaha))

Psst again...SOMeone made cucuq udangs too the next day....and....it was also YELLOW! ekekeke ;p

HCR - The Recipe ;-)

Hmm...how shall I do this....
I am about to type out the recipe for the Hainanese Chicken Rice (HCR), but find it a bit weird, because I don't really have a recipe. I was taught roughly how to make this by an old neighbour, Judy Lim. My other excuse would be that, I cook without a recipe except for baking; that too I sometimes tweak....hehe...being adventurous...

Anyway, since Shidah, CS and Fa have requested for the recipe, I will try my best to organize a proper way of writing down a recipe...ha ha ha ha ha! 

***Hah, dah ready ke puan-puan dengan pen dan kertas, buku exercise anak-anak ke...ke nak kopipes jer? Ok puan-puan, sebelum tu saya nak perkenalkan diri dulu... Saya, Chef WAN. Huuuu maap ler bukan Chef wan yang tu tu tu....Saya memang Wan...Wan di depan nama saya hehehe...dia wan kecik jer...kat belakang nama dia. Tapi ken...saya takde ler ber-Latuk latuk kaya raya macam dia...*sob sob sob*
Ooopsie, sorry...macam tak biasa dengan selingan I!

Nasi Ayam Hainan - recipe agak-agak aje ni...

Persediaan untuk ayam:

Seekor ayam sekitar 1.8kg (mesti besar, sebab nakkan lemak ayam tu!)
Ayam dicuci bersih luar dan dalam. Kemudian dikeringkan sikit dengan hair-dryer kitchen towel dan di lumur dengan GARAM pada badan ayam dan cavity. Gosok2 and pupuk ayam tu macam kita lumur bedak kat baby... Rest sekejap dan rinse chicken sekali lalu. Tujuannya supaya kulit ayam firm dan tak wrinkle. Ngeh18x!

Bahan-bahan lain:
4 potongan halia - agak tebal-tebal (dalam 4cm halia)
4-5 ulas bawang putih - smashed
2 batang daun bawang - satu perempat dari bhgn bawah yang ada bulb
-kesemua bahan-bahan ini dimasukkan ke dalam cavity ayam
dan di rebus dalam periuk berisi air sampai cover ayam tu
Also add to the pot:
1/2 of each: a celery stick and carrot*
1 onion, quartered (bawang besar belah empat)*
*these are to enhance the poaching
- Bring to a boil then lower the heat to let simmer the broth to slowly cook the chicken. So, now you have the chicken to cook and the broth to become a stock. Once you have removed the chicken, strain the stock and discard the veges added. Leave the stock to cool.

Bila ayam dah masak - agak-agak dengan cucuk bahagian peha sampai clear liquid oozes - normally dalam satu jam ke satu jam sertengah. Tutup api. 
Sediakan satu periuk besar berisi air sejuk dan ketul ais sekali. Do this ahead of time when chicken is almost done..
Angkat ayam perlahan-lahan - kalo guna cangkuk lagi bagus...
and plunge the chicken into the cold water - this stops the cooking process. 
Balik-balikkan ayam dua tiga kali lebih kurang terendam selama 5 ke 7 minit dalam air tu. By doing so will help keep the chicken firm and taut when chop into pieces.
Angkat ayam ke dalam bekas dan sapu dengan minyak bijan. 
Ketepikan. ke tepi...ke tepi...ke tepi! oops, selingan!


Nasi Ayam
3 cawan beras - terpulang jenis apa nak guna - di cuci bersih dan toskan
Minyak utk menumis - I used Canola oil
1 sudu teh minyak bijan
Lemak ayam 
4 ulas bawang putih - chopped
6 ulas bawang merah/kecil - di hiris nipis
Halia yang di hiris halus - agak2
Daun pandan - di simpul
Air rebusan ayam


Dalam non-stick wok, panaskan minyak-minyak dan lemak ayam. Bila lemak ayam mengecut, keluarkan dan tumis bawang2 dan halia.
Bila garing sedikit, masukkan beras dan goreng sekejap.
Alihkan ke dalam rice-cooker.
Sukat air rebusan mengikut sukatan biasa like we would of plain rice
Masuk daun pandan.
Garam dan sedikit gula mengikut rasa,
(personally, I cook my rice with generous amount of salt and 1 1/2 levelled tbsp of sugar. This will yield a tasty rice ready to be eaten on its own!)
Bila nasi masak/kering, karih (fluff up) and keep warm. 


Dipping Chili Sauce

In a blender, put:  
4 chilies, (I used red chillies extra hot and fiery, jenis lada merah yang runcing tu)
and another 4 mild red chillies, 
4 ulas bawang putih, sedikit halia, 
4 - 5 biji limau kasturi yang dibuang kulit dan biji - meaning, the lime should be whole
salt and sugar to taste
Air rebusan ayam as the liquid to blend the above ingredients.

Condiments

In a bowl, mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and a dash of white pepper with some chicken stock. Not too runny nor thick.


Soup 

Heat a little oil then fry some pounded garlic, shallots and some roots of the flat leaf parsley (daun sup). Add in the stock and bring to a boil. Add anything you desire. In my case, it usually is tofu and a few leaves of Chinese cabbage. Adjust the taste with seasoning. Garnish with daun sup and daun bawang. Done!

To serve, chop chicken and spoon some soy sauce over. Garnish with spring onions/scallion and sprigs of daun sup and don't forget some sliced cucumber. Timun tu hiris memanjang....baru rangup. :D
* For first timer, cooking this might be tedious but once you get the hang of it, it'll be easy peasy. Trust me ;)

Selamat mencuba ye puan-puan...Jangan lupa hantar sepinggan ye! ;) 

**Useful tips: Fill an ice-cube tray with remaining stock and freeze. Great for vegetable dishes and for frying noodles. Have fun! <3

****Updated: next time kita buat yang roasted macam ni ye, puan-puan...hehehe:

This Thing Called Love!

MyC has this habit of telling her friends and teachers about my cooking. Last Friday, she and her classmates stayed back to set up their 'Horror House' for the school's Canteen Day on Saturday. It was going to be a long day for them. She had asked me to sponsor lunch for some of her friends. And by special demand...ahaks...they had asked for my spicy fried pasta. 

Well, I was more than happy to oblige. :D

I ran out of macaroni, so, spaghetti worked fine...

As always, it was a hit among those kids...*smirk*

The day before, I made Hainanese Chicken Rice....

Simmering a whole chicken....

It was so much fun cooking this 

than the roasted version.

When the chicken is done, I plunged the 

whole bird into a pot of icy cold water just to stop the cooking process.

It was indeed a hot and messy task, that I forgot altogether to take the photo!

The chicken rice after being fluffed up...

The steamed chicken that has been cut up and drenched

with a lovely condiment.... ;)

The simple fare with accompaniment

of stir fried kailan, and oh goodness, some left-over sambal tumis sotong!

...and as usual, my share for iftar that Thursday

 Desserts was fruits

and this lovely pavlova given by a friend's daughter

Well, we all know that Elmo bakes! hehehe! 

Thanks a lot Nadiah!

...and finding some space for a small portion of pavlova....

 

 .... was a little luxury I indulged  ;)

Beautiful? Naahhhh!

I've been tagged...yes, yes, again! This time it's by Shidah Sizuka. And of all the days, I've chosen a Saturday to blog about it because everybody knows this is the day where the traffic is low. But who cares, ken...ken...ken!

Okay, first thing first. Let's start with the awards:

 Beautiful blog? Okay...boleh ler accept. Hahaha! Thank you very much, Shidah, for the awards... <3

Hah, hambik...sebesor-besornye! But then... beautiful BLOGGER? Ehem, am I beautiful? Nak..! Nak jadi biyutipul! Ececeh...suker ler tu! ;p

Now the drill is, I have to tag seven other bloggers, which I think I am going to pass because most of the bloggers I know are the very people that have been tagged. Oh, how I wish I could tag the first few bloggers I came to know...long before I even started blogging. *Sigh* :'(   
Anyway, to all my blogger friends, please help yourselves to these awards. Adorn your side-bar with them and be...beautiful within. ;) Love you all!

Next part is I have/need to talk about seven things people don't know about me. WHAT?? Okay, I've narrowed it down to five...okay...let's just make it SIX! hehehehe))) Whoa, scary man... I don't believe anyone would NEED to reveal the things they don't WANT people to know, no?! But heck, just for the fun of it...I'll take you into my unknown persona. *sila bluekkk ! Yes, Zarin...I'm like you suka nak bluekkk and mintak orang lain bluekk sama!

Adeh, bila nak start ni...asyik bluekk digress sokmo!

Hello everyone! I'm Lili...the supposedly beautiful blogger...hahahahaha *ferasan glamer laughs*
What do you want to know about me? Oh yes...why haven't I thought of formspring! Well... tak sker tak sker tak sker.
Okay...be serious Lili... Meh kita beRahmah-meswa!

1. You know what? Telling you this would hurt my pride....watdehek.....
Fact number one: I cakap manyak lajuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu weh! According to Ja-nis de menis,  my speaking speed comes second after light travels! Huiii...jenuh nak kejor cik Akak  oi! Tapi best taw cakap lelaju ni...satu ayat jadi satu perkataan jer...save manyak, wa cakap lu. Sebab terlaju jugak ler I ni kadang-kadang dengar macam Lady Gagap...much to Mrs Atip's amusement! I can't forget that day when she called and I was struggling to say, 'ccccceeee....pat nyer' *owh owh...aiyamblushing*

2. Did you know that I am very childish? Hate to elaborate, but...behind those cengeng-ness, sentimental and hopeless romantic, there is still very much a child in me. And when a little girl still trapped inside a mature woman's body, you bet how easily susceptible of her to merajuks. Hate to elaborate.. ....hikhikhik ;p 
I seldom er...almost susah to lose my temper. Sila percaya...*dengan muka seposen, mata kebil-kebil*. And only recently, hubby asked me AGAIN...."why can't you be angry?" I replied to that with a question: "...and let the devil wins?"   
Ye tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, kalau kita cepat marah, syaitan siap buat hi-5. I guess, I am 'cool' being sad than being angry....and the most I can show when I'm upset is of course the merajuks....ish ish ish...boleh?


3. Oh...this one...macam Zarin, I love to eat! I jugak beruntung - pung macam Zarin - sebab makan ler banyak mane, badan macam tu jugak. Yeeeharrr! Wanna know the secret? Makan janganlah bertambah....lauk tambah takpe....Makan sayur and buah-buahan banyak-banyak. Jangan terus minum air lepas makan. Agak-agak ler...after twenty minutes to half an hour. And, very the rekod buruk one...drink lots of  water. Tapiken tapi...bila dah senjer-senjer ni *sila slang ye*, eloklah di kemvangken lagi ventuk vadan taw. Kot nanti kuwus sangat pung tak biyutipul jugak. Tak gitu? ;p


4. I'm a peculiar person actually. I love reading that to some extent on days when I have nothing to read, I read the dictionary. I read cookbooks with no intentions of cooking. I also read labels on canned food and toiletries. If it is a skincare or supplement labels...it can be quite a serious affair. With the dictionary it is a silly game I still play...like open a page at random and read the first word I see. It happened yesterday, when I reached the word 'lone, loner and lonesome'. And I blurted out, 'oh boy, even the dictionary leads me to myself!' *hate to elaborate....* ;)

5. When I first started cooking it was very late, really. I was sixteen when I suddenly had this urge to experiment my own version of crumpets when I found the recipe in Female magazine. Well, it turned out to be just like crumpets should be. Muahahaha!  So...what is pancakes for me? Peanuts. Oops. ;-D

6. This is a bit melancholy to reveal but surprisingly, I can never imagine I blog till today. I started to blog in 2009, after being pushed by a best friend. I am the shy type and writing has always been something I'd rather pen in my journal, then tuck them away in somewhere forgotten. Every day, I tell myself to give up on this blog because it is not my calling. But I keep coming back and write instead. Now, if you all must know, I have a promise to keep... 

Well...that is all you need to know about this boring Lili. 

*I was writing this this morning and was stalled by so many activities today - MyC's Canteen Day, a tahlil and two weddings.  I attended all. :D
But I did get to tell CS over the phone of what I am about to blog..."errr...to vuka fekung di dada and FAyunya"...hahahhaha....only I can't do it better than kak Som herself, "to just lamvakkan atas meja!" Another yeeehaarrrr! ;)

Not So Wordless Late Wednesday! ;D

Was back in Ipoh last weekend.... And guess what I brought home for old time sake? Well...what is Ipoh without these:

 fresh from the orchard...and delivered straight to my mum's door

and then happily idle on my table....

For a good, tasty, juicy pomelo, allow the fruits to mellow a few days after plucking.

And look what I savoured this afternoon....hehehe...

 ...this is how we present our 'limo abung'/limau bali

And I have two more pomelos to melantak enjoy...hahaha

One will definitely be turned into Thai-style pomelo salad

'Yam Som Oh'! Oh...betul ke Cik Yam and Cik Som? hikhikhik!!!

Note: Oh, one thing for sure is...I've been tagged! Oh, oh, oh!!!

Interlude

They don't make music like this anymore....

Awesome 90's this:



 

Thank You....

....very much for this:

 ...from a birthday guy who shares the same birthday with his aunt yesterday.
>:d< Hugs and kisses from hetA...
Oh now, I have to either stop munching on these cuties while writing this entry or to stop writing while munching these cuties!  


But, I have chilli crabs to share here....oops...sorry though, they were all gone at iftar/dinner just now!
My initial plan was to cook these crabs in black pepper sauce, but MyC wanted chilli crabs. Easier for mummy ;-)

 my share...the most I can eat is half a crab...

Ohhh gotta go now.....the hubby is complaining about chocolate wraps I litter on our bed!
Good night everyone. <3

When All I See Is .... Mee!

No, this time it is not that "Mee Kasar" , but it is the real yellow noodle - mee! :-D 
I had mee rebus all day yesterday. 

 kasi close-up sikit...

Hah? Tak selera? Takpe... :(

 

I still have some left-over mee rebus gravy this morning and had some for breakfast too. On my way to fetch Yasmin from school this late afternoon, I stopped by the seaside to check on the day's catch. I was one happy girl when I saw lots of crabs. Hidup-hidup lagi!  So, guess what? This evening I had mee ketam. Hahaha...orang Ketam makan ketam on her ketamday birthday!

It was simple. The left-over gravy is diluted by bringing to a boil some water and then throw in the crab, some greens, bean sprouts, and a handful of mee kuning. And then the gravy comes in. No seasoning needed but a dash of soya sauce does justice to this runny version of mee rebus - Mee Ketam. Shared between MyC and me...it was a blast on a quiet birthday! ;)

Little House, My July Song...

To a blogger, her blog is like her home. Like a house, you would want to keep it nice and tidy. You would want that home be comfortable and inviting. You'd love to welcome your guests and let them share a favourite corner of your house where they can bask, perhaps, in a little luxury, or even simple trappings there are you afford to offer, and make them feel at home. Being a host, you realise of your shortcomings, but giving the best is all that matters. You're lucky enough if your guests stayed on to be friends for life because they understand you. Over time, they are no longer guests, but friends dropping by your house now and then. They make you happy. Or so, you thought...
But sometimes, some friends just had to stop being friends. For some reasons, they come and then they go again. Sometimes, among the ones that had left, is a best friend that means a lot to you. And suddenly, your house seems bare...

....I love my little house, and I'm staying put. ;-)