The Early Bird

I first knew about The E@rly Bird was from Aina, daughter of a family friend. She handed to me the pamphlet of this restaurant and recommended for me to try it out. I discovered that they have another branch at Fahaheel, which is like so very near to my house so I've been bugging my husband about going there ever since. Since the road system in Q8 is not really systematic, the streets wasn't well marked with poor road signage, we made some "research" first and the outcome was quite worrying since most of the reviews I read said that the location is secluded and 3 out of 5 reviews said they got lost up until hours. I was actually at ease even after reading those reviews as I always mentioned before, I am married to live size walking GPS and also by the fact we are pretty familiar with Fahaheel area coz we are actually living in the district.

Well well well, think again...

We made 3 attempts, of course on different days to find this shop, to no avail. At some point we kept making circling in the area more than 5 times. I even called their shop so that they can guide us but my call goes to answering machine. So many wild guesses were made like maybe the shop was close for renovation or maybe they even closed for good or maybe they shifted. Eventually, after 3 failed attempts, out of frustration I decided that I was not fated to eat there and just gave it up ha ha ha... Macam ke haper, tak jumpa restoren pun nak frust menonggeng -______-.

I do not dare to mentioned about Early Bird anymore after that because 3 times lost track record + scorching hot summer + grumpy & hungry husband = still no Early Bird! is indeed not a good equation.

Anyway, a few days back, my husband went out with his friend, Syukri and somehow they ended in the area so my husband unintentionally brought up the topic of our failure attempts in locating the restaurant. Guess what, Syukri happened to stay in the building next to it and more than happy to show him the restaurant whereabout. Gosh, it was like right there in front of our eyes all this time but we just didn't see it because we were looking at the wrong street.

So yeah, it's all happy ending between us and The Early Bird and we all lived happily ever after :)..

Ha ha ha I'm so funny like that!

Well, we went there this morning and I must say that our effort was paid and it worth every quarrels hee hee hee...

Live up to it's name, The Early Bird, they opened from 5 am in the morning till 15:00 pm. Super impressive!

We arrived around 8:30 am and was greeted by a very cheerful , friendly and chirpy Philipino server and man I felt good already. The restaurant in particular was very tiny. Only 4 tables available and when we were there, only one table is un-occupied. The concept was minimalist with simple decorations and basic furnitures but still deliver the cozy sense of feeling. You know like the feeling of having breakfast at your own kitchen, except my kitchen was everything but cozy ha ha ha..

~What you see is what you get. This is pretty much the interior of the restaurant. Tiny isn't it? There's another 4 seater table next to us, occupied by 2 Kuwaiti ladies so I dun't dare including them in this picture ~

Menu wise, hmmm the menu book consist of 2 pages since they served only home made American breakfast. Nothing fancy yet you'd still spoiled with choices. They even putting some consideration into their menu for customers who like to have their day starts healthily, where they came out with Health Start. Every item in Health Start omit the usage of egg yolk in it so yeah, unless you're looking for pasta or Nasi Lemak, there'd be something for everyone.

Price wise, not cheap but not that expensive either. Not cheap considering you're eating breakfast with a price of lunch but then again, if you're putting paratha from Indian shop as comparison, then you're clearly setting your foot in wrong shop in the first place. Not expensive because the portion is BIG, the set came with varieties and it's definitely filling up till lunch time so it's like killing 2 birds with one stone since you might ended up skipping your lunch.

I opted for Assemble Your Own Omelet and chosed spinach, jalapenos, cheese and onion to go with my omelet. As a side dish, I picked Hash Brown and brown toast.  Owhhh soooo English... hahahah

~ Mine! The Hashbrown is to die for. Seriously hands down the best hash brown I've ever tasted ~

~ Creamy and crispy hash brown plus fluffy and cheesy omelet, I can't help but smiling wide and grinning while eating I looked so silly. No one should be THAT happy over breakfast. I think I am the happiest looking customer that day LOL ~

~ My husband's. He ordered Denver Omelet with bacon strips and hash brown. Tiru lah tuuu ! kah kah kah.. He never have liking for potato based food but exception goes to this hash brown as he agreed that it was nice too ~

~ Banana Bread. It tasted and looked just like our kek pisang ~

When I ordered mine, the waiter went like.. WOWWWWWWW. I couldn't register at that time what was the significant of his reaction upon my order and even though I was puzzled I just couldn't be bothered. I was too busy being happy and studying their menu. Then my order came and I gobbled everything up while chit chatting with my "date". 

After we're done, as usual, the waiter came to clear our table and he has this impressed look on his face and looking very excited while he uttered this :

" Wowwwww ( againnnn!! duhhh ), Madam, I didn't expect that you can finish your portion, AT ALL! That's easily 3 eggs and a whole potato! "

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha......

Well I am supposed to be crying instead of laughing ain't I ?

So it turned out that his 1st WOW was because he was amazed of how BIG my order was, for a lady. And I imagined, he secretly have this thought in his mind.... Let see how many leftover she have then you greedy woman! Heheh clearly I added the last part yer for dramatic effects. Hurmmm actually I added the whole part ha ha. Thay friendly guy might not be thinking of anything.

Too bad, he certainly didn't know I am no ordinary lady hahahha.. I may look slim, lean and long but I can really eat. In fact, I ate more than my husband most of the time. 

I was taken aback by his impulsive comment and kinda stunned because I didn't see it coming although I knew he meant well. I must have really surprised him hahahah... It's not like he insulted me or anything and I am not angry at him at all. I can see where he's coming from because it has been kinda local culture that people here do often ordered many things at eating place or diner but ended up eating just quarter of it and the rest will go to waste. I don't make generalization but speaking based on my personal experiences. Honestly, the 2 ladies next to our table was doubled my size and yet they ate only worth a few spoonful and left.

I wanted to respond to his comment by saying that the food is THAT good but since I wasn't really prepared for sudden ambush on big appetite of mine, I just exchanging smile and said Reallyyyyy? and laugh like fool. Hahahah yeah yeah lame, I know. Actually, what I had in mind is 3 eggs? Seriously? Nahhh this is nothing. I usually ate 3 whole chickens for breakfast! 

Hehehe no lahhh.. Just kidding. This time is real one. I honestly,would answer him this : This is nothing! I had jin tanah in me. That's why!

You may wonder what was my husband respond in this. Well, this is what he said to me afterward..

" Bikin malu lah mummy. Lenkali 1st time makan kedai orang, pura pura la malu, segan, buat buat tak abes. Dah selalu datang nanti baru lah makan beriya! "

Tak percaya? 

Percayalahhhhhhhhhhh.....

of how uncomfortable week ended up with comfort food

As salam..

Been away from this space for quite a while. Am still around and doing fine Alhamdullilah. It just that, nothing inspired me to write lately hence I decided to give this blog and myself a break. 

Summer has finally arrived, though not fully and I must say, the temperature is still endurable compared to my previous summer experience. As for now, we're experiencing pretty bad sandstorm and by far it's been  lasted for 2 days and were forecasted to be around until this Saturday. It's orangy out there and I can't even see buildings opposite mine so yeah, it's dusty and sandy inside out. 

Summer came and carries all the common diseases with it, as usual. Flu, fever, sore throat, running nose, coughing, measles, chicken pox.. just to name a few. And we were not spared. 

My husband and I has been down with sore throat for couple of days already. I used to have a veryyyyyy frequent tonsillitis during my younger days,  like 2 months once so by nature, I should be familiar with the symptom and should be able to bear the pain. However, I learned that you can never be prepared for thing like this and it is exceptionally excruciatingly painful each time :(. My girls on another hand, developing some kind of severed rashes after having fever for a day or two. The paed was unable to determined what was it and said it was between German Measles or prickly heat rashes or some kind of allergy. Anyhow, the rashes went after doses of antibiotics, zillion coat of calamine lotion and never ending mummy scratch my back please episodes.

:: Unfamiliar faces yet familiar symptom. This is how they look when the rashes at it's worst. Swollen eyes, bloated face, pity my babies. They don't look like themselves don't they? ::

Alis told me one day, Mummy.. please make soup. Chicken soup or any soup because kakak read in iPad, sick people eat soup to get well. 

Hmmmmm unnecessarily true because I am also sick but I still eat sambal ikan bilis and sambal belacan most of the time, despite my throat feeling as if I just swallow the whole durian.. That's how intimate I am with food, spicy food to be exact. I had such a strong will when it came to food ha ha ha. Unfortunately, when you had two sick childs and one sick husband with you, the world is no more revolved around you and your big appetite anymore. They came first.. I don't usually give in when it comes to spicy food under normal circumstances, but when they're sick, yes.. they comes first. Plus, my throat is begging me for mercy ... and soft  food.

Therefore, I made chicken porridge.. 

:: My portion. Sambal is a MUST! ::

:: Erin's request. Boley tahan selera masa sakit. Sebijik mak dia! ::

:: I don't know what to name this dish. I just put everything I felt like to. Let see, I put fresh portobello mushroom, sauteed carrots, handsomely amount of garlic, onion, thinly slices of ginger, a dash of pepper, fresh red chillies, spoonful oyster sauce, spoonful Worcestershire sauce and a spoonful light soy sauce. Ha ha ha the recipe is basically grab whatever nearest you and off they went inside the pan. Nonetheless, it is tasty I tell you. But come to think of it, you can never really go wrong with all those ingredients can't you??. Add kicap kipas udang and it'd become ayam masak kicap, add chili paste, it'd become ayam masak pedas, change ayam to udang it'll become udang masak kicap..  so nope, I don't feel like I just invented something new because anyone could came up with this, like seriously ::

:: Salty fish. You MUST eat porridge with salty fish because salty fish complement the usually bland taste of porridge, and also helped to overcome your "tak sedap tekak". Ala you should know lah how everything taste tawar and bland and how KFC tasted like selipar jepun when you had store throat ::

:: Spring Onion and "kincai" as side dishes. Kincai is daun sup here and I am not sure it's arabic or what. ::

:: Sambal Ikan Bilis, penambah penambah rasa :) ::

As always, I would close my post today with pictures of my girls taken recently before going to their weekly K.A.F.A class.

" When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change.
'Cause you're amazing just the way you are.
And when you smile,  the whole world stops
and stares for a while.
'Cause, girl, you're amazing just the way you are. "

:: Auwwwwww jelingan manja ::

:: Cheeky and chirpy Cik Erin kita ::

:: May they will be protected from evil intention and fitna in dunya and akhirah. Amin ::

Pau..

I don't usually share recipes here because of ... hrrmmmmmm I don't know why lah hehe. Rasa tak layak pun ader because most recipe I tried is taken from the net or other blogs. I would normally linked the original sites of where I took the recipe from in my post, without copy-ing the actual recipe here. However, below recipe is an exception simply because I love it so much, have tried myself many many times and each time, it never failed me. I got the recipe from Kak Z'lynna and she got it from Kak Rosmarlina. 

Despite my liking for pau, I never make any pau before this, ever, in my entire existence. My first try using this recipe, it doesn't turned out as I hope for. My pau tasted somehow mentah and hard as rock when it cooled down. The recipe was not to blame as I didn't follow the steps properly so I decided to give it another try and Alhamdullillah, I never looked for another pau recipe ever since. There's so many great pau recipe out there nonetheless but the reason I stuck to this one is because the outcome was everything I expected from a pau. Soft and fiber-ish yet not too spongy, like the one sell outside, sweet but not too sweet and the best part is, the texture and the softness remained even after it's cooled down.

I made below batch as a potluck for Sukaneka event recently and am honored to paste the recipe here. Do try it out. I added few personal notes that marked with **.

Happy Pau-ing peeps :)

Pau Gebu ( water roux)

Sumber resepi: rosmarlina @ jintanmanis.com 
Bahan-bahannya

500 gram tepung pau ( low protein flour)
3 sudu besar shortening ( lemak sayuran)
220ml air suam
1 sudu kecil garam
3　sudu besar gula
2 sudu kecil double action baking powder
4 sudu besar water roux
2 1/2 sudu kecil yis

resepi water roux
25 gram tepung gandum
125 ml air

cara-cara untuk membuat water roux

-masukan semua bahan di dalam periuk dan kacau sehingga pekat dengan menggunakan api perlahan, setelah pekat angkat dan sejukkan sebelum digunakan.

Cara-caranya

1. Masukkan semua bahan dalam bekas adunan dan uli sehingga tidak melekat pada tangan,( nak guna BM pun boleh) pastikan doh elastik ye, kemudian perap dalam 40 minit atau sehingga satu jam, tumbuk-tumbukkan doh keluarkan angin.

** Since it's cold here, I usually let my dough rested for more than 45 minutes in warm place ( I used my oven ) each session. 

2. Bahagi doh pada beberapa bebola kecil dan masukkan 2 sudu kecil kacang merah dan tutup kemas, ulang langkah tadi hingga doh habis.

**I usually weighted my dough ball to be around 30-40 gram each so the size will be equally even. 40 gram will yield a pau as big as my palm size once it's rose and steamed. If you prefer to have smaller size, go for 20-25 gram for each dough ball. 

3. Lapik pau dengan baking sheet atau daun pisang, dan biarkan pau naik dua kali ganda lebih kurang 1 jam, Panaskan pengukus, dan pastikan air betul-betul mendidih, kukus pau dengan api sederhana, tak perlu api terlalu besar selama lebih kurang 7 hingga 8 minit sahaja, bergantung pada saiz pau.

** I am too lazy to cut paper or daun pisang in this case so I just use big size muffin paper cup and trimmed the edge after the pau cooled down a bit. I used electric steamer and it took 8-9 minutes approximately. If you're using normal steamer, 8 minutes is more than enough.
-buat pau kecik-kecik je, biar senang nak masuk mulut dan paling penting pastikan air kukusan tidak jatuh pada permukaan pau, bagi mengelakkan pau berkedut apabila selesai dikukus nanti. Sedia untuk dihidangkan.

Nota Tambahan

Tips-Tips untuk mengelakkan pau berkedut apabila selesai dikukus

1. Pastikan air kukusan betul-betul mendidih. ( air kukusan lebih kurang 3/4 pengukus)

2. Jangan kukus pau terlalu lama ( masa yang sarankan hanya 6,7 dan 8 minit sahaja)

3. Apabila mahu menangkat pau yang sudah di masak, angkat sekali pengukus atasnya dan alihkan dari haba pengukus, angkat pau yang sudah masak dan letakkan di dalam bekas ( jarak-jarakkan pau, jangan ditindih antara satu sama lain) dan susun baki pau yang mahu dikukus, ulang langkah tadi sehingga selesai.

4.Pastikan air kukusan tidak jatuh pada permukaan pau, ( kalau nak lagi yakin boleh balut penutup pengukus dengan kain bersih).

of the girls recent milestones

Assalamualaikum ...

It's been ages since I talked about the girl's milestones. They've grown bigger and wiser eversince my last post about them. Both of them has started schooling as Alis in Reception and Erin in Lower Kindergarten. By next September, Alis will enter Year One, where the real school will begin with exam and all, no more nappy time after meal and such, while Erin will be in her Reception Year. Although this could only mean more time for me in the morning, in some weird way, I kinda miss having them at home once in a while especially when the quite-ness, and the stillness got to me. 

:: Erin during British Playhouse's registration day ::

:: Picking up uniforms ::

Alis as her appeared to be, grown up to be quite a lady. She's still very much reserved and shy when meeting new people. She loved everything girlish, everything pinkish and like to make her own face every time we went out. At times, she took more time getting ready compared to me. 

:: Doing what she love best! Posing :) ::

School wise, she's doing beyond great. She speaks good and fluent English and at 5, she'd able to read short and simple words now and managed to read story books by herself, although in "merangkak" phase. Masya Allah I am more than grateful as I was nothing near her achievement when I was her age. She's doing well in her weekly KAFA class too. 

Started as very easy to fed baby, she's now unfortunately became very picky eater as of late to which contribute to my daily headache. However she loved Western and Japanese food jiddan ( too much in Arabic) so any thing that have to do with Mac&Cheese, pasta, spaghetti, salmon and Japanese is fine to her. Just give her a plate of raw salmon and she'd on cloud nine.

Having a very moody and fierce sister like Erin ha ha ha she gained a lot of patience and I can see that she tried her very best to give in to Erin and avoid conflicts every time fights occurred or when Erin pissed her off. Am proud to say that she possessed and embraced the big sis role very well. 

I found her to be tad a bit sensitive lately and demanded attention more than ever from us. I guess it's all part and parcel of growing up and she's in the phase and age where she realized about love, aware of jealousy and understands about sense of feeling, be it sad or happy or frustration or responsibility and embarrassment. She closed the door now when changing clothes specially when her papa is around, she blushed when I teased her with boys, she sulked if I raised my voice to her and she'd reasoning with me if she felt I treated her unfairly. She's a young lady already!

:: My tiny baby is now 5. Your laughter is indeed my best medicine ::

And as for my little one, she remained a cheerful, easy going and entertaining baby of mine. She started school recently and became a pro ( at school ) overnight as if she had done it for a long time. It's undeniable that she's a frequent sleeper. It is such a headache trying to wake her up from sleep before but now, just at the mention of the word "school" and she'll be in a shower in a blink. You know how babies have this addictive- heavenly smells and normally the smell will wear off as they aged. Erin, however, to me, still have the same sweet and sourish baby smell. Her morning breath is the best I tell you and you'll find me snuggling beside her and sniffing her when she's still in her deep sleep in the morning! Kah kah kah.. My husband unfortunately doesn't agree with me on this.

As shown in the above picture, we still didn't managed to separate her from her "cuk-ting" apparently. Honestly, we didn't tried hard, nope we didn't even tried although we did put some restriction like she can only have her puting during night time. Some part of me wanted so much for her to stop this "cuk-ting" addiction soonest, worried that the habit will sooner or later did some damages to her teeth, plus an image of  4 years old sucking a pacifier in public is not cute, at least to others. Another part of me anyhow, couldn't be bothered much by this because in some way, this is the only trace left of her baby-hood. Baby talk has left, her small petite baby figure obviously has left too, she stopped drinking bottle milk almost 2 years by now, hence only her "cuk-ting" was all left that reminded me of old days and I'm not sure whether I was ready to part ways with the very last piece of her babyhood memories. I think when the time finally comes, I'll be more devastated than her :).

She didn't resemble me in many way but one. Her palate! As I always said this, Erin have a very "desa" palate. She just have to had rice everyday, just like me. She loves anything kampung-ish. Pucuk paku, kangkung and whatnot.

:: Eating lemak cili padi pucuk paku. She gobbled the whole "cekak" all by herself and left me with only the gravy. I am THIS close to become like a mother in Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup ha ha ha. Pucuk paku is unavailable here therefore to sooth my crave once in a while, I ordered it from Asian Market who "import" it all the way from Thailand hence, the price certainly ain't cheap. In short, it's very rare and expensive item by my standard hahah and yet she have no pity on me at all -_____- ::

:: Cheeky is Erin's middle name. Ermmmmmmm as well as mischievous and stubborn! ::

:: Doing part time modelling for Papa during free time :) ::

:: Cat whisperer ::

Quoted from someone whom I already regard as my own sister :

My promise to my children: 

I am your parent first, your friend second. I will stalk you, flip out on you, lecture you, drive you insane, be your worst nightmare & hunt you down like a bloodhound when needed because I LOVE YOU! When you understand that, I will know you are a responsible adult. You will NEVER find someone who loves, prays, cares & worries about you more than I do. In short, I am your worst nightmare who loves you!!!

:: My other 3rd quarter. They complete me :) ::

FOOD is an important part of a balanced diet.

I have already posted some of this picture in my post of Alis's birthday celebration. Anyhow, those photo were taken using phone, explained the lousy quality. 

It's so happened that Alis was on Easter break last week so I was pretty much occupied with her at home and Erin's schooling schedule. Trying to juggle between house chores, kids and ME time, I guess at times, I just had to put aside less important things aka blogging and prioritized. Now, both girls already back to school, hence some extra time to do some picture editing and blogging.

As I said earlier, here are some pictures from our recent activities, clearer and better version that is. Let start with our visit to Mughal Mahal Fahaheel. We probably ordered every tandoori they had in house that day.

:: Chicken Tandoori from Mughal Mahal ::

:: Beef Tandoori ::

:: King Prawn Tandoori ::

:: Pasta for birthday girl ::

:: Fried prawn with garlic rice ::

:: This is gula batu with spices. Ermmmm jintan manis maybe. This is normally served after meal in most restaurants here, to helps freshen your breath after eating spices, curries and all ::

:: Couple of happy people and we're not even the birthday girl ::

As we all knew it, both of my girls have started school which means extra time for mummy in the morning. Usually if I don't have any coffee morning invitation, I would just stay at home, trying to do some tidy-ing up or folding my clean laundry, or sleep in. Ermmmm most of the time, I would sleep in kah kah kah.. If my husband is on his off day, or rather working night shift, we would occasionally went out for breakfast date nearby, just the two of us - it's uni time all over again !

:: Mugg & Bean ::

:: Checking out their menu ::

After much of  I-want-this-NO-sorry-I-actually-want-that-ermmm-wait-Okay-I-settle-with-this-then-Nope-nope-this-looks-good-too moments, I finally ordered this. To be truth, all their menu looked and sounded appetizing.

:: Mine - Plain croissant, with butter, cheese and strawberry jam. Ha ha ha true enough, I am not very adventurous when it comes to my palate. Among the best croissant I've ever tasted, by far. Second best after PAUL and Jetwing Sri Lanka ::

:: My husband's - Salmon set. I don't remember the exact name. I am THAT bad when it comes to remembering fact ::

Last but not least, finally something decent which came from my kitchen recently. Chicken Rice !