Monday-New Maid KA

My new Kitchen Maid hehe.. 

I'm still in belek2 mode and still kissing it every seconds haha

 *grinning from ear to ear* :D

Big thanks to Hubby for this lovely, lovely gift. Muah 1000x

Friday- A plate of Brussels Sprouts

Tonight's dinner. 

A plate of Stir Fried Brussel Sprouts and a bowl of Chinese-style Creamy Butter Fish.

Yummeh!

What's on your plate? 

Brussels Sprouts recipe taken from Simply Recipes.

Chinese style Creamy Butter Fish recipe taken from Quinn's Cooking With Love & Passion

For the fish dish, I've adjusted the dish to be more like Chinese style Fish Curry using the same recipe..just add more curry and less butter and omit the bird eyes chili. :D so creamy and yummy..

Friday- {When I was small}

Back then, when I was small, I always feared with the dark places. I hated sleeping in the dark room, refused to go to the toilet alone in the middle of the night [and ended up wet my bed] and I would be the first person to freak out if the power went down[read: blackout]. I wouldn't dare to go the farthest section in the house, which is the kitchen even if I had a candle with me.

It's not that I have Achluophobia [googled], but just a common children fear, feared of "something" might be inside the darkness, waiting to eat me alive. [ok I'm a lil bit exaggerating here hehe]

As far as I could remember, it was because of THAT incident that had leveled up my fear of darkness, or fear of there-might-be-ghost-inside-dark-places rather. It happened during weekend and as usual, our family would stay late in the living hall to catch our favorite movie slot together. I was in primary school, maybe in Primary 2 or 3, or 4..haha seriously forgot how old I was when it happened. I thinks we were watching P Ramlee's movie or Malay drama, and at 10 pm, the show would be put on hold to give away for Berita Jam 10. [issh..geram, the movie was about to finish in just 30/15 mins more, can't they just hold the news for that short period of time?] My parents were so strict on bedtime hour and my siblings and I were always had to be in bed after Isya'. Since my eyes were trained to sleep early, I fell asleep in front of the TV.

So my dad had to carry me to bed after the movie ended. I was half asleep [tido2 ayam] when he tugged me in bed, kissed me goodnight and off he went to bed. But before he went out of my room, he switched off the light and closed the door. I was shock, gabra, mengelabah and totally awake dah. I tried to get out of my bed, but I just scared 'something" under the bed might catch up my feet. Tried to return to my sleep, but failed. 

After about 30 mins or so [agak2], I called for my mom, but the door was closed and it was raining heavily that night. I couldn't move an inch pun, since I feel 'berat' and the feeling of something-is-watching-you was there. I was so scared and tried to call my mom again. "Mak..Mak.." but nobody heard me. I called again, "Mak..Mak..nak selimut, sejuk nih", reason nak selimut, padahal takut.. 

Next thing I know, the most rememberable and scariest thing happened. "Nah selimut..", a grumpy voice under the study table said. [the study table was about 1 meter away from the bed].It was loud and clear. I was erk..who was that? "Nah selimut".. he said it again..then he emerged himself and... and.. he was a big, white frog!! A giant frog!! I swear I saw a frog coming up to me, asking me to take the selimut. He slowly moved towards me and I was so scared and I hid my face under my pillow. I keep praying for the thing no to do any harms to me. I was so scared. Only God knows how scared I'm that night. I keep my face under the pillow and next thing I know, it was morning.. alhamdulilah.. I was still in my previous position, with pillow on my head, covering my face. 

I guess I might blackout or something.. but that's one h*ll of experience. And that led to my fear of the dark syndrome. That's was the closest encounter with 'that-thing'. Whatever it was. 

I told my parents about it, my mom believed me but not my dad. He said I tido tak basuh kaki.. cis.. hehe But since that night, whenever I caught myself sleeping in the dark room, I would pull myself up and run to my parent's room. I would slowly sneaked into their room and slept on the floor, beside their bed. The following morning, my parents would scold me for that..yelah, terpijak perut kank..haha 

 And I always make sure I have a blanket with me all the time at night. In case that thing comes back. Hehe

 I kept my fear of the dark with me until it was slowly subsided when I was in Form 5. I've done nothing. Maybe through years, I've learned that nothing is greater than Allah, and He's the one who created those creature and us at the first place. Why get scared with those creatures, when you have Allah to be feared the most? 

Happy Friday, peeps!!

Thursday- Minus 3 kilos

Yippee..!!

Just to update that I've managed to shred 3 kilos....finally...Yabedabeduu...ni br 2 weeks  without rice..

Thanks Hubby!!! :D for the support [macamlah dah kurus sgt hehe]

okay2 maintain x makan nasik sapai setahun cam AliaaRoslan. :D

eh, where did I put that weight-lost-tracker gadget? Need to bring that thing back! ;p

Wordless Wednesday- Nibbles

Inspired by TheKnot's Wordless Wednesday.

 recipe source: CardamonHill

Tuesday- Skinny Omelette and Quiche

I have my ECG result. The doctor said it's normal. Alhamdulilah. I'm still sticking with my diet so far even tho I "accidentaly" ate Maggi instants noodles last couple of nights hehe.. 

The whole family love omelette and there are few ways to varying them instead of having it with onions or plain. {but those plain and with onions are the best kan?] 

You can served them in many several shapes too i.e ribbons, fluffy round shape, very thin and flaky, very thick and juicy hehe..for example, spanish omelette, for me it's consider as a thick and juicy omelette. Imagine all those extras,i.e. chicken ham, tomato, cheese, etc, you can put inside with the omelette. 

Or make a quiche. It's not an omelette lah.. But it's a "bigger version" of Spanish Omelette to me. hehe I still have few slices of this quiche in my refrigerator. Tak laku pulak.. hehe Dip it in chili sauce to make it more Asian.. 

What else? Ribbon-shaped omelette are greats with fried beehoon/noodles/fried rice. Fluffy round omelette are a great side dish for a tomyam/soup and  rice. Droolingg... but making this fluffy omelette will consume lots of frying oil. So not good for my diet.. hehe

I've prepared this skinny omelette last week and eating it make my 'feel healthy' haha [because the salad is there hehe] hehe.But it's indeed a simple way to get all the nutritions you want in less hassles way. Eating simple dishes like this helped me lots in my diet program, so I would stay on track and keep motivating myself to lose weight. 

[Oh the doctor asked me to climb the stairs for at least 15 mins..uuggh.]

A Note to Adam [14+15 months]

Dear Adam, 

On your 14 months, you had viral fever and ended up having some red roses spot [roseola] all over your body. I believed this was the worst fever you ever had. The temperature reached 40.7/41 couples of time. Mommy and Daddy were so scared all week long! 

Unlike HMFD, where Daddy had to take emergency leaves for few days, this time Mommy had to take care of you alone. But it was not bad at all. Mommy managed to do everything [the usual feeding, bathing and playing PLUS med-fed] alone successfully. You hate the pink panadol syrup very much and I had to syringed [paksa]  into your mouth.At first, you threw it all out every time the med reach your throat, but after a while, it was successfully reach your tummy. Mommy had to change your cloth like 4,5 times a day during that time, due to the vomit stains,  and tadaaa...it was a bad raining season..Sigh..

The fever subsided almost after a week. 

Dear Adam,

As for your appetite, I made bentos for you almost everyday until your appetite recover as usual. 

You still call me Dedi and Daddy as Dedi. T_T You can say Nenek but still sounds so pelat. You still cannot say Atuk..  You would do the "press-the-motor-handle" gesture every time you see a motorbike. Hehe You loves the Baby-Can-Read video. You know how some animal i.e. lion, hippo, monkey, giraffe, snake, etc look like and also know how to imitate their sounds hehe you know how to say bye2 and Hi.. and it sounds so cute! 


[oh oh, i'm sooo going to make more of this "so called bundle of joys"!!]

Dear Adam, 

The most interesting thing happened on this month was you learned[imitate] how to pray. Not exactly praying, but all the praying acts, takbir, rukuk and sujud were really there. And lucky us, Daddy managed to record your act on camera. hehe 

It started when I gave you a big black paper-bag. At the same time, TV1 was showing the Maghrib azan and you rushed to your songkok and straight away "praying" on the "sejadah"[black paper-bag]. We both, mommy and daddy were really amazed by your act. :)

Dear Adam,
We bought you a big red car this month and you really really into your new ride. I'm planning to have an Adam corner in the room, so I can put a table and a chair there. With your toys and posters of course.So you can play and learn in that corner. I'll buy you more books if you promise me not to chomp on your books.. hehe 


Dear Adam, 
You're so into Barneys nowadays. I don't want to turn you into this boy{credit to Lurpak for sharing it}. Nauzubillah. But mommy couldn't do any chores if I didn't let you watch the TV. {one confused mom}


Dear Adam, 
You've taken your MMR shots and you cried out loud during that time. You hate doctors so much!! You'll always ended up crying at the new place, the place where you're not familiar with. i.e. Aunty Nana house. But not at Aunty Marcella hse..Why why? 


Dear Adam, 
I love you so much. and when you know how to read, please read this all notes, and let me know  [and show] that you love me too.. time flying by, and we couldn't rewind every seconds that we missed. I want to  cherish every moment of my life with you and Daddy every possible way that I can. Muah2..

Sunday- Banana and Custard Tart

This is a winner recipe. Simply delicious and I declared it as the yummiest tart ever. The nice fragrant of the banana slices on top with a custard spread below, a nice treat for all the 'hard-work' preparing it [read: the puff pastry]. Actually, it's not hard at all if you buy a ready-made puff pastry. I dunno why preparing a puff pastry was such a big job [and fuss] to me. 

Easy way to do puff: Buy Ready-made one

Easy way to make custard: 2 heaped tablespoon of custard powder, 1 cup of fresh milk, and 1 tablespoon of sugar { put everything in a pot, and stir until it thicken}

How to do this tart?: Preheat oven at 170 C and grease the pan. Spread the custard onto the puff pastry, lay banana slices on top of it. Glaze it with lemon juice and sprinkle some sugar on top of it. Bake for 20-30 or until brown. Glaze maple syrup on top, serve and bon appetit!

Saturday- Picnic Nibbles

I love picnic time! Unfortunately, in this few days, sunny sky would only last til noon, then thunderstorm would take place and picnic is the last thing you wanna do during this time of weather. But, being a stubborn head, we still went to Singapore Botanic Garden, just to check out and stroll inside the National Orchid Garden. hehe

No picnic for us since the raindrops started to fall slowly. We had our quick lunch and lucky us, the heavy downpour was during our journey home. 

Friday- The Royal Engagement Ring!

Picture taken from US Magazine.com

I watched news on Prince William and Kate Middleton's engagement and stunned on Kate's engagement ring, the platinum ring features an oval blue 18-carat sapphire surrounded by 14 smaller white diamonds.It's priceless since it was the same engagement ring that belonged to Prince William's late mom, Princess Diana. It's so classic and I never own any color except of pink and white gemstones. hehe. 

Hubby, could you please buy the cheaper version of this ring for me? hehe 

[SGD 1000 is still cheaper than $150,000 right?]

Friday- Pumpkin themed foods {Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Soup}

I saw lots of pumpkin-related foods going around the internet lately. It's nearly [or already?] Fall and there are few Fall holiday/festivals i.e.Holloween, Thanksgiving that served pumpkins-related foods in Western world out there. Well, no Fall in Singapore obviously but rather a grey weather this few weeks. hmm..and that's a good excuse to make this yummy-looking bread and soup right..

I was very tempted to try the famous pumpkin bread and the appetizing pumpkin soup coz it's savory looking dishes and very easy to prepare! I love easy-to-prepare with delicious end-result food. Huhu

The Pumpkin Bread

I don't know why it's called bread, because it's more like a cake to me. But, I like it to be bread, so I can eat it for breakfast hehe So this so-called bread will be our breakfast for the next two days. 

I simply made a pumpkin bread without throwing any extra 'accessories' in the batter. [read: raisin, nuts, etc] Adam ate half slice for brunch. Yippe!! It's indeed a heavy cake, so 1 slice is enough for me. I like the pumpkin, nutmeg and cinnamon taste. It's soo, soo unique and yummy. I spread a lil bit of cream cheese on top of the slice before i ate it. Nyum nyum. Adam prefer to ate the slice alone tho.. huhu recipe from Things We Heart, but I adjusted the recipe according to what I've in my pantry.

The Pumpkin Soup

There are lots of recipe for this soup but after a while, I simply did my version of this soup. It's so easy and fast to prepare. 

Ingredients:

yellow onion-1

Shrimp- up to you

Butter- 1 tbsp

chicken/vege broth-11/2 cups

whipping cream/milk- 1 cup

Pumpkin puree- 1 cup

to make the pumpkin puree, you can simply boil/roast the pumpkin until it becomes tender. 

How do you do it?

Saute the onion in butter in medium heat. Add the shrimps, mix well. after 2 mins, pour the chicken broth inside the pot. and let it simmer for 5-10 mins. Turn off the heat.

Transfer the mixture into a blender and blend it until it's smooth.Return it back to the pot and bring it to boil. Add salt, pepper, and turn off the heat. Stir in the whipping cream and serve with baguette. 

Adam finished up one bowl of this soup with a slice of baguette. Way to go boy! and this soup has been bookmarked into Adam-can-eat foodlist hehe

Okay, i'm off to the kitchen to get my own bowl of this delicious soup. Happy weekend!

Pumpkin

Tuesday- Cranberries with Lemon Sugar Crust Muffin

I baked this for my little man, Adam. He doesn't have appetite for rice, spaghetti, all the usuals that he usually had this few days. Yesterday, I found out that he was really keen in eating raisin, so I'm up to make a banana raisin muffins. Unfortunately, the banana aren't ripe yet and I'm out of raisin. Thus, I substitute raisin with dried cranberries and lemon become handy with this recipe. 

This recipe will took about 20 mins on preparing it and 25 mins for baking. Adam instantly asked for the muffin, "Mamam, mamam", once he saw I took the muffin tray out of the oven hehe I sliced the warm muffin into two, and put a knob of butter in between.aa..sedapp..[to my tekak at least haha]

 I chose to eat the muffin top, and left the bottom part for Adam hehe. He loves dried cranberries and had the whole muffin himself. Surprise surprise. 

The muffin was very simple to make and I love the crunchy, sugary and zesty muffin top. And the bottom part are not bad either. Love and love this muffin very mucho.

Anyway, I would like to wish everyone "Selamat Hari Raya AidilAdha". 

Selamat berkorban! 

Sunday-Banana Bread

Our day started as early as 630am[not that early haha]. Adam woke me for milk, as usual. After that, everybody had a quick shower except for Adam and off we went to Thompson Mall. We always prefer to go to FairPrice to stock up our pantry staples. 

I bought so many fruits and vegetables. Haha I'm still sticking my b*tt in my diet routine. No rice, less sugar and eat side dishes only. I ate fruits for just now lunch, and had to hold my saliva from dropping while preparing hubby's quick lunch [a yummy chicken[left over form chicken rice]  mayo sandwich]. And for dinner, I'm planning to re-heat my black pepper beef. 

So today munchy-munchy is banana bread. This recipe is such an ABC recipe and so yummeh, so busy moms with kids are highly recommended to keep this recipe in your pocket. In case you have ripe bananas and other basic baking ingredients, this recipe can turn that bananas into a warm buttery banana bread. Preparing time is 20 minutes, baking will take about 1 hour, and it will took just seconds to finish it off. 

Okay, all you need is;

 "1/3 cup of butter [ i used SCS butter], 4 ripe bananas [mashed up], 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 egg, beaten, 1 tablespoon of vanila extract, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, a pinch of salt and 11/2 cups of flour."

"Preheat your oven to 180C. Grease a 30x23-cm bread tin. Pour the mashed bananas into big mixing bowl. Mix in butter, sugar, egg, & vanilla extract. Add the baking soda and salt and mix in the flour. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour. Remove and cool"

-Banana Bread, Sophie Dahl'-Miss Dahls Voluptuos Delights-

Hubby loved it and asked me to baked it often hehe. I ate a slice only and I love it too.. So this recipe is totally a keeper!

Friday- Pear and Ginger Muffin

I made this for our brunch today. I love the bread-y texture so much and the sweet-spongy mixture between oats, raisin, and diced pear is so unique and tasty. My kitchen smells so nice with the nutmeg-cinnamon-ginger fragrant from the baked muffins. I can keep munching of those muffins if I wasn't on diet.. hehe I'll definitely baked this often..and perhaps try to replace those pears with other fruits. 

The recipe is originated from Sophie Dhal's Voluptuous Delights book. But I'd adjust the ingredients with what I have in my pantry. So below is the recipe excerpt from the book;

"Ingredients [Serves 12]:

Sunflower oil

2 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1teaspoon of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg { I used ground nutmeg}

11/4 cup spelt flour {I used all-purpose}

11/2 cup of rolled oat 

1 cup of pear puree { I blend 2 pears and make puree}

4 egg whites-lightly beaten

1/2 cup of natural yogurt

3/4 cup honey { I omit}

1 firm pear, diced

3/4 cup raisin"

"Preheat oven to 190C. Grease a 12-hole muffin tray with sunflower oil. Sift the baking powder, baking poweder, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg into large mixing bowl. Stir in the flour and the oats. Make a well in the midldle of the dry ingredients and add in the wet ingredietns, the diced pear and the raisins. Stir very gentle until all the dry ingredients are folded into the batter. Pour the batter into the tray filling each cup two-third full. 

Put in the oven and ake for about 25-30 min, until the tops of the muffins are brown."

-Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights-

 As far for my diet, it's still on track. I ate half banana and half portion of muffin for my brunch. and slurped on plain water instead of coffee. 

So, today is Friday. I have a childhood friend named Friday. Hehe.. Happy Friday, Friday the Fourth!! ;p Check his blog here. He's good in creating some magics in the kitchen too. :D 

Thursday- Hainanese Chicken Rice

We have this for dinner. I always love Banquet's Chicken Rice. For my taste buds, it's the best chicken rice I've ever tasted so far! The tender and juicy chickens with fragrant-ginger and garlicky rice. Yummeh! 

{but I believed the downfall of this dish is the chicken broth/soup, it's just a plain soup with no cilantro, fried shallots, spring onions, etc..so plain..and that's why some ppl prefer "Malay-version" chicken rice}

I've been trying to 'copy' the same taste for months, and always ended up with 'almost-near' taste.I believed the main ingredient for the rice is still missing.. They must be using some kind of ghee/butter to make the rice so so fragrant and so so yummy.. hehe I tried to add butter {all brand from SCS, Buttercup, Lurpak} previously, but maybe I should replace it with ghee. Hmm.. {BTW, QBB Ghee is halal again! :D}

Nevertheless, will try to make this chicken rice again and again. 

Okay, from now on, apart from posting some 'what-I-eat' today, I will put some update on my diet also. The diet resolution is simple, according to to Dr. Ping, just avoid rice, eat side dishes only, and avoid sugar! Sounds simple kan, and up until this hour, I still can stick my nose to this new resolution. I don't know how tomorrow gonna serves me..Will I break the rules?

Jeng..jeng..jeng..

Thursday- My so-called Cappuccino

I had to have this so-called cappuccino because I stayed up late last night due to This& That entry [and extra 'research'] on AC Mizal scam..haha 

I consider myself a non-coffee-holic since I prefer tea more than coffee. I do have friends who had to top up their mug every time they ran out of coffee and friends who would have migraine-attack every time their nose sniffed out the coffee smell. Lucky I'm neither of those two. 

My family all time favorite's hot beverage is teh tarik kaww.. My late nenek and Atuk loved it very much and I dunno who's in the family who doesn't digged into teh-tarik. It has to be pekat, creamy and foamy.. huhu And most of my relatives said the teh-tarik was also the cause of my nenek's and some other's heart & blood pressure problem and diabetes. I'm against to that theory tho.. as long as we take it in moderate amount, it would not harm us, right?

Lately, I had a sharp pain on my left chest..and after had my consulation with Dr. GOOGLE, I might be having a muscle problem, virus infection or worst-case, heart problem. Sound serious kan?

I quickly went to Ping's clinic to get a clear picture of it. Earlier, based on my symptoms, it looks like I'm having some muscle cramp or something related to muscle problem.. But after the doctor asked me whether I had a tingling sensation on my left arm and did I sweat when the pain come, I said , Yes, and straight away she asked me to do ECG. I dunno what ECG means.. 

Hopefully the pain stays as a muscle problem, and no more than that..ameen.. I must admit that I have a worst diet-style ever and I'm so lazy to exercise.. I keep giving out excuses and now i'm in fear of getting a heart problem. Sigh..

Things have to change from now on..{Shout: I must scale down my appetite and do some exercises!!!}

My so-called cappuccino is almost cold.. This will be the last cup of sweet stuff that I'll ever take {determine}..

Thursday-Strip Me

Natasha Bedingfield - Strip Me from lovekeepscalling on Vimeo.

I'm so gonna watch Morning Glory and Life as We Know it tonight.. and keep on repeating the above song every seconds! haha

Wordless Wednesday- Tears

Inspired by TheKnot's Wordless Wednesday.

Monday-While Adam is napping...

While Adam is napping, 

Mommy quickly stole some time for cowboy-bathing,

While Adam is napping,

Mommy got into her apron, took few things out from the fridge and  did some cooking,

While Adam is napping,

Mommy decided to call your granny for chit-chatting,

While Adam is napping,

Mommy managed to do some reading,

While Adam is napping,

Mommy Google-ed  some recipes and accidentally stuck with blog-hopping,

While Adam is napping,

Mommy went to the kitchen again to continue with baking, 

While Adam is napping,

Mommy got a chance do so many things!

While Adam is napping, 

Mommy is waiting, 

for him to wake up from dreaming,

so we can continue enjoy doing some eating,playing and reading. 

Sunday Durian Mousse Cake

I saw this cake at Bakericious Blog last week and quickly added it my 'cake-to-do' wishlist. Since there still 2 boxes of durian left from last weekend baking project [read: Durian Cream Puffs], I decided to turn those durians into cake. :)

I simply bought a ready-made chiffon cake to make my job easier hehe and did the durian mousse myself. You can get the recipe from Bakericious Blog. 

Ok..Adam is really into my keyboard now.. I can't type properly..Ciao..

Monday Diet Blues

Diet Motivation 1:

Aku nak kurus sebab aku nak pakai baju putih ng seluar jeans biru. 

Boleh tak reason nak kurus gini?

Tapi klu aku kurus pun, tak mungkin asset yg satu ni akan ikut scale down skali.. 

Mungkinkah akan jadik cengini klu kurus?

err.. nehi...!!

desperate nak lost weight..sgt2x..tp otak asik pikir nak masak and nak sumbat perut.. ;p