I didn't really do much cooking lately ( after Eidul Fitri) except for simple easy peasy stuffs for the kids. Partially because, we've been in and out home at some points I don't remember staying at home for more than 24 hours at one time. There's so many invitations for open houses, coffee morning, group gathering, breakfast session and so on. I am so overwhelmed by all those invitations and tried my best to attend most of it, if not all.

:: BBQ at Malaysian Embassy. Photo credit to Megat ::

:: Dinner in conjunction of Malakoff CEO's visit to Kuwait @ Rotana Hotel. Photo credit to Ayu ::

:: Sya's birthday party @ Ila's resident. Photo credit to Ila ::

:: Coffee morning with Datin Azlinda @ Malaysian Embasyy. Photo credit to Lina ::

:: Coffee morning @ Kak Zaharah's place. The one and only photo by me :) ::

Another reason being was my husband was currently under soup-diet. He's been taking only soup for dinner, for quite sometimes by now. I think I cooked more soups in this month alone compared to the last 20 years of my life. I've tried mushroom soup, vegetable soup, fish soup, chicken soup, bone soup, schezuan egg and tofu soup and so much more I am practically soup-a-holic now ha ha ha...

Case in point, I guess you won't be seeing fancy schmancy dishes like lemak cili padi and sambal udang frequent this space anymore since it's no fun to eat alone. My husband definitely won't take rice at night so basically I'll just eat whatever I cook for the kids that day.

Below are some of my simple menus prepared recently. Even though we don't take rice as much as we used before, I'd make sure they eat a lot of vege in each meal.

:: Whole roasted lemon chicken. Recipe from Julia Child. So simple to prepare yet very tasty ::

:: Ayam percik ::

:: Ayam percik's gravy ::

:: Oven grilled salmon with home made brown sauce for husband and kids. Steamed vege and grilled mushroom as side dishes. I used THIS recipe and I must say, it's fast became my husband top pick now. While the ready-made canned brown sauce is much easier option, the home made version was proven tastier and healthier. It's very easy to make, thanks to Kak Nani my search for easy and quick-to-fix brown sauce has come to it's end ::

:: Husband and kids requested for the same thing again. I improvised a bit by adding rosemary as garnishing while grilling the salmon. In the first photo, I used raw chopped garlic and onion, but this time, I used powder instead. I must say, the taste was pretty much the same ::

:: I felt in love with those carrots. They looked classy and elegant to my opinion. The choices of vege for side dishes was seasonal. Not winter-summer type of seasonal yer, but my kids tekak's seasonal. At times they love broccoli and want it in almost everything but hated it in the very next day. There's a time when they loved spinach but now they looked at spinach like an old enemy. Sighhhhh.... and as u can see in two pictures above, mushroom is IN recently at my home. They wanted mushroom in almost anything. Soup, tomyam, fried rice and etcetera ::

:: Have I told you I felt in with the carrot? kah kah kah ::

:: Pau kacang, my first attempt and alhamdullillah it turned out as I hope for. Fluffy and soft...Ohhhh chentaaaa. Buat nye sejenis jer pau as in pau kacang, tp siap nak bercop2 tanda bagai macam kan banyak jenis hahaha.. En Muddy cakap, mummy kalau tak over memang tak sah ::

:: I made this donut on the very same morning I made pau above. I've prepared the dough for pau and I need to let it rest for around 45 minutes. During the idle time, I suddenly have a mood for donut so I took out a bowl and before I knew it I already started kneading the donut dough. Must be kena sampuk dengan Jin Rajin ! I had fried donut and steamed pau before 10 am that day. Phewwwwww such a productive day that I must say. Day like this doesn't come often in my life ha ha ha... Anyway, I was planned to make glaze donut, like the one in Krispy Kreme. By the time I finished frying the donut, I was too exhausted from all the kneading work so say goodbye to glazy, say hello to the much much easier and less time consumed method - sugar sprinkle he he he. Nampak sgt pemalas tahap mana ntah, tabur gula pun ala kadar je. Ni kalau meniaga, confirm 3 hari tutup kedai. To my defense, I didn't have bread maker okayyyy.. I hand knead both dough myself one time after another and it wasn't easy as it looked. ::

:: Nasi Goreng, my mom's version. This are among those days when I'm craved for rice and forced my husband eat it too for the sake of having a company hehehe.. ::

:: Ikan talang kering goreng as side dish ::

:: Daging paprik, also to be eaten with nasi goreng ::

Since we're at it, have you heard of Hamam Mahshi? It's an Egyptian food. My husband was pretty closed to one of his Egyptian colleague name Rasheed. He normally learned Arabic from him. So, one day he told En Muddy that his mother sent some traditional Egyptian food to him via his friend that went back to Egypt recently so he wanted to give us some to try.

Anyway, in English, Hamam Mahshi is pigeon stuffed with roasted green wheat called freekeh, onion and herbs such as cinnamon.

To cut the story short, this is how hamam mahshi looked like when it came to me...It's frozen by the way.

:: Nice to be eaten grilled, roasted or baked. In our case, we boiled the birds first and then apply butter onto it's skin to make it crispier and oven bake it ::

:: This is how the inside looked like after some minor surgical procedure he he he... You can eat it with vegetable salad, just on it's own or you can take the stuffing out and eat it separately. My husband had both birds by himself. Me ??? As much as I'm flattered and touched by Rasheed's kindness in sharing this authentic meal sent all the way from Egypt by his mom with us, I'm not that adventurous when it comes to things I'm putting in my mouth. I can't force myself to eat this even if I want it too. Maybe I will if my life depends on it :). No offense to all the Egyptian out there coz I'm pretty sure this food is lovely. It's not the bird, it's me ! ::

On more less-authentic side, I am currently having head ache on what to prepare for Alis's lunch box. During teacher-parents meeting last week, the school had certain requests for parents in term of food. This is what I remembered during the briefing...

* Do not give too much food to your kids. No rice, no spaghetti sorts of food ( no wonder Alis refused when I wanted to bekalkan her with meehun goreng. She said tak boleh bawak la mummy food yang leceh leceh ha ha ha ha.Ehh meehun leceh ker? Mummy dulu nenek bg bekal nasik lemak lagiiiii hahahah.... I thought she just being difficult rupanye memang school rules )

* Do not give the students rich-milky cakes, chips or chocolates for snacks. ( I swear this is what the teacher said ). Cookies, fruits and bread can be given as snacks replacement. I asked Alis if her teacher always check their lunch box and she said yes. Kids are not allowed to eat chips or snacks during lunch time. Those who attempted to eat snacks during lunch will end get getting their snacks confiscated. Baguusssss!!!! As we parents can't be there to watch them, I felt somewhat secure when the teacher being firm and concerned in the sense of rules and the kids food intake.

* Parents are recommended to provide kids with finger foods that freshly made.

Soooooooo, as of today, I was preparing simple yet filling food for her like burgers, chicken nuggets, sausages, sandwiches and french toast with one type of fruit. So far it's been bite-size cut apple, grapes and banana. 2 type of drinks daily will be of her choice. It could be milks and plain water, or milk with tea, or milk with sirap or apple juice with milk. She'll decide every morning what to bring. Plus, I'll put extra snacks for her incase she gotten hungry in her bus or during snacks time. It could be pack of Oreo, cheese crackers or croissant.

Anyhow, recently, she demanded for burger everyday... I tried to coerced her into bringing something else like salads but to no avail. She told me her best friend Beatrice brought "sayur" everyday so I persuaded her to bring the same thing so they can eat together gether but she refused. So, instead of having her starving at school, I had to gave way for now but am thinking hard on how to change her mind later. I made her promise me to eat her fruits without failed everyday though.

Since it's burger almost everyday, I had to pour some creativity so it won't look boring to her. Actually, truth be told I was worried that Alis's class mate would think that Alis's mummy was some lazy bum ( heyyyy I'm the victim here! ) because Alis bring only burger everyday, so I made it looked different each time,with a hope they'll buy it and fell into thinking that it was different thing. No harm trying eh? There's no way I can fool her teacher with my tricks but I think 5 years old would buy it ha ha ha....

:: Burger No 1 - Spiral ::

:: Burger No 2 - Smiley ::

:: Burger No 3 - Starry morning ::

Few days ago I managed to pujuk her to bring french toast, only after I show here how the toast gonna looks like. She said roti telur biasa kakak taknak, kalau roti telur star ni okay lahhh, kakak bawak..... -_______-... Ade beza kah ??

:: Before ::

:: After ::

:: I used this mould bought from Daiso ::

:: Not enough with her demand nak bentuk fancy2, demand taknak bawak dlm bekas pulak. Oh my, she can come up with so many excuses okayyy.. Berat lah, susah laaa.... So I put her toast bread inside sandwich bag, baru diam. Sandwich bag pun bukan yg plain one okay! Kena corak2 spongebob bagai... Takper takper, kita layan kan dulu. Kids these days ehhh ? ::

Dear Alis,

You're so very lucky mummy was unemployed for now so I have extra time to entertain to your diva-ness. If we're back home, mummy has to work.. you certainly won't have this privilege so enjoy it while you can. I hope this temperamental mode was momentarily, you know until you'll get used to school and grow wiser. Lepas ni, banyak sangat cekadak, mummy bekalkan awak biskut kepala lutut dgn air kopi !

Love,

Your blood-pressure-elevated-every-morning mommy.