19 Ramadhan 1432

To start off.. let's see what do we have for iftar today..

White rice (of course)
Kerapu bakar - charcoal-grilled
Air asam - to complete the grilled fish
Sardin masak kicap
Sayur campur- stir fry 'cincai'
Acar rampai
Kuih abuk-abuk sagu
and.. lots of clear water (followed by hot java later before terawih)

And today Kushairy received a package sent by Photo Bucket.  He just won a Canon, almost what he actually wants.

About France.. passport renewed, a-week leave approved (remind me to buy a gift for the Pengetua), baby-sitter informed, parents agree to take care of our PMR-candidate and most importantly, kids agree that this Mom and her bff deserve to go holiday all by ourselves!!

Counting the days to Paris!!

Cure for chocolate addiction

1 Syaaban 1432

    To cure your addiction to chocolate you need to immerse yourself in chocolate making.  That was what my 4 daughters and I did today.  Two kinds of chocolate - white and dark. Five fillings - ground nut, peanut butter, golden raisin, blueberry conserve and desiccated coconut.

    We started around 3, after attending a wedding at Desa Pinji, and were done around 6 pm.  Total weight of homemade chocolate = 2.5 kg.  The hardest part was the clean-up.  The clutter was indescribable. Chocolate drops and the excess filling were everywhere; and I had to turn down a visit from an ex-student (who wanted to push Amway products). Sarah and Iman are very quick and efficient at cleaning-up .  Creativity award goes to Dayana, who pretty much decides the design, arrangement and the filling.  Izzah was an honest taster.  Daddy didn't dare to enter the kitchen, so he busied himself with bill-paying chore upstairs. Kushairy and Ryan amused themselves in and out of the house. I'm not sure if it was the clutter or the chatter in the kitchen that scare the boys off.
  At the end of the day, the sight and the smell of the chocolate didn't entice me that much anymore.  Let's hope that the cure is permanent.

Father's Day

I woke up this morning craving for healthy brownies.. (if there's such thing)..
And oh it's Father's Day too.. all the more reason to bake for my Abah and my children's Daddy.

This is what I came up with..

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup chocolate mix ( I used Milo )

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1.5 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup oil ( I used sunflower )

Dry desiccated coconut

Put everything in a mixer.  Thick batter.

Place in greased 9x13 in. pan. 

Bake at 160 degrees C preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Cool before cutting.

Sprinkle with dry coconut.

Breadmaking

WHITE BREAD 

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cups bread flour
• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast

Bread Maker Method : 

Add ingredients into the bread pan. For best result, add all liquid ingredients first, then add all dry ingredients except yeast. 
Make a small indentation on top of the dry ingredients (not so deep it reaches the wet layer) and add the yeast in the indentation. 
Press start and sit back and relax. 
Bread is ready in 3 hours and 20 minutes.





Alternatively, bake it at 190 degrees C for 30 mins (after kneading it for 20 minute, let it rise until doubles, punch it down and let it rise again).

Kek Batik

My daughters' first attempt in making a cake.
4/6/2011

Kek Batik

(adapted from Majalah Kuntum, Feb 2011)

Bahan-bahan

300 g biskut marie

125 g mentega

3/8 cawan susu pekat manis

3/8 cawan serbuk koko

1/2 cawan Milo

2 biji telur

7/8 cawan air sejuk

Cara

1.  Patah-patahkan biskut kepada dua bahagian.

2.  Dengan api sederhana, masak serbuk koko, Milo, air dan susu di dalam kuali hingga mendidih.

3.  Masukkan mentega, kacau hingga likat.

4.  Masukkan telur dan kacau 1-2 minit lagi.  Tutup api.

5.  Masukkan biskut, gaul hingga rata. 

6.  Masukkan ke dalam loyang dan tekan hingga padat.  Simpan dalam peti sejuk selama 3-4 jam sebelum dihidang.

Gardening

The day we planted a mango tree - 15/5/2011

Daddy showing the way to do it.

Ryan Danial was eager to help.

The ever-helpful Dayana.

Brother and Sister

2 Rejab 1432

Started the day with cucur bilis+bawang+kucai.  Half kilo of wheat flour gone in a dash. With 6 kids in the house, breakfast is a big affair.  But we were hardly full yet.  Iman, the birthday girl, decided to make a Batik cake, using a receipe she read in Majalah Kuntum.

Lunch was rice, sardin tumis kicap and salad.

Then off to Greentown Mall for raya shopping.  It's only Rejab (I know), but there's 20% sale of baju kurung material at Nagoya.  Bought a piece for each of 4 daughters. Now what's left is to find a tailor who can stitch in time for raya.

Dinner was rice+fish for mommy and rice+lamb chop for the rest of the family.

Took Ryan to clinic and finished the day off with an old episode of Law and Order.