Ramadhan Day 5: Enthusiasm

Today is the 5th day of Ramadhan. The busy week starts again, need to concentrate more on my writing. Am sooo missing my parents dreadfully, so I need to finish this fast, pronto, rapido.... I can do it!!! I keep chanting this in my heart,"must submit in October, must submit in October, must submit in October". Friends please pray for me ya. Tawakkaltuwallah....

OK, I can't spend a lot of time here, so here a brief. Yaya is at school today, so that leave me with adik at home. Adik as usual la, when nobody else at home except me, she will spend the day watching TV, her fav movie selection or doodling on a piece of paper. Dah lame tak citer pasal adik new words kan. Her recently added to the dictionary is, "Kukumi" haaaa....macam burung cuckoo pulak ye.... What she is trying to say is "excuse me". hahahhahah... nak minta lalu, "kukumi", nak minta attention den jap, "kukumi mama".

So for yesterday iftar, because it was Sunday, so terlebih rajin sikit, I cooked bryani rice, beef kurma and acar darat (Mak' recipe).  Kuih?..hmmm still have leftover donut from a day before yesterday's iftar and cucur udang from the iftar with neighbour makan-makan, so heat them up laa...

Nasi briyani set (Atang's plate)

While Atang had nasi briyani, yaya, adik and me had soto ayam from our neighbour. Thank you neighbour :D.

Soto from neighbour

Weekend masing-masing rajin ke dapur masak macam-macamkan. Weekday, sorry la hehehhe... buka terus makan nasi campur yo, takde kuih-kuih nie :D. If I am lucky, we will have leftover...ahahah punye la malas. Like today, we still have beef kurma from yesterday's iftar, so I think I will cook sambal ikan bilis as add on.

Oh yes...before I forget, the Bazaar Ramadhan organise by the Malay Student Association of Queensland (Persatuan Pelajar Melayu Queensland, PPMQ) has already started since last Saturday. Same like previous years, the Bazaar opens on Saturday and Sunday, from 3 to 5pm, but the location will be announce each week. Last weekend, the Bazaar operated at Guyatt Park. Hope they will still continue at the park, I think it is most convenience for everybody.  Tak sempat lagi nak pergi, actually, we don't know what to buy yet. Tengok la one day I will go down and take some pictures. OK laaa... till we meet again. Selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

p.s. Welcome to new readers and followers to my humble blog. Thank you for reading bebelan ntahapahapantah of mine nih...hehhehe.. For those who want to link or add my blog to your blog roll, please inform me ya, so that I can add you too. Thanks again, happy reading.

yours truly,

It's cheesecake time

It has been quite sometime after I baked the last cheesecake, and that was when I went back to Malaysia. When I went back home for data collection cum raya celebration, I brought 4 slabs of butter, 4 slabs of philly and 1 box of frozen blueberries, among other things. I have freezed the butter couple of days before departure, and wrapped them individually with old newspaper and packed them together with our clothes. Almost 16 hours of travelling, both land and air, door to door, until destination. When we safely arrived my parents' home, the butter were still hard. Alhamdullillah...was so afraid that the butter melt or worst turned bad. A good quality butter is expensive in Malaysia. I remembered a good friend of mine once told me it is so dear to buy one philly. Price wise, it's better to buy a cheesecake rather than making one back home.

But here, it is so difficult to buy a Halal cheesecake. I have tried one piece of Halal cheesecake at a friend's house, and I tell you, Kak Ida's cheesecake recipe can easily beat the one I tasted. Honestly, even my friend agreed.

So far I have tried only a few cheesecake recipes. To add to my collection, I tried this recipe yesterday.

New York Cheesecake (source http://www.joyofbaking.com/Cheesecake.html)

Crust:

2 cups (200 grams) of graham wafer crumbs or finely crushed vanilla wafers or gingersnaps (process whole cookies in a food processor until they are crumbs)

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 cup (114 grams) unsalted butter, melted

(For crust, I used Kak Ida's recipe)

Filling:

32 ounces (1 kg) (4 - 8 ounces packages) cream cheese, room temperature (use full fat, not reduced or fat free cream cheese)

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

3 tablespoons (35 grams) all purpose flour
5 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping:
1 cup (240 ml) sour cream (not low fat or fat free)
2 tablespoons (30 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

New York Cheesecake: Grease, or spray with Pam, a 9 inch (23 cm) springform pan. Place the springform pan on a larger baking pan to catch any leakage while the cheesecake is baking. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with rack in center of oven.

(I lined the tin with baking paper. This will help removing the cake after baking easily)

For Crust: In a medium sized bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch (2.5 cm) up the sides of the springform pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.
(refer to Kak Ida's for crust preparation)

For Filling: In bowl of your electric mixer place the cream cheese, sugar, and flour. Beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 30 seconds) after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the whipping cream, lemon zest, vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling. Place the cheesecake pan on a larger baking pan and place in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) and continue to bake for about another 1 1/2 hours or until firm and only the center of the cheesecake looks a little wet and wobbly. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Spread the topping over the warm cheesecake and return to oven to bake for 15 more minutes. Remove from oven and carefully run a knife or spatula around the inside edge of pan to loosen the cheesecake (helps prevent the surface from cracking as it cools).

Let cool before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating. This cheesecake tastes best after being refrigerated for at least a day.

This cheesecake is very heavy, rich and creamy. Yummy indeed, but I don't like the smell of egg in my cheesecake. Probably the amount of eggs can be reduced. Other than that, you surely can't stop eating this, well if you have no problem with your diet...hahahahahha... I surely gained a kilo today, both due to this cheesecake and soto that I prepared for colleagues who came for tea today. Arrghhh nothing beats eating cheesecake and soto ayam with friends yaa...

Feast your eyes...hehheheh...just kidding.

OK...I have to complete a task tonight before call it a day. It's gonna be an early start tomorrow...no..not working... but taking the kids somewhere for a break. After all it's still holiday tomorrow.

yours truly,

Who rules the kitchen

I am watching My Kitchen Rules while typing this entry. Right now, Veronica and Shadi are competing with Mossy and Gabe for a spot to the final. There will be two teams competing in the final. The other spot, won by Noah and Clinton automatically, because they have the higest score. Fuhhh... suspense pulak den tengok. I have been following this series since the beginning.....arrghhhh now the judges are scoring.....now the advertisements are on.....suspense.... ok ok...den citer dulu laa.... gosh!! have a lot to say here, bit little time to spend....here goes....

I had a very constructive and good meeting today. Now I know what I should do for the data analysis. Although there are loads of things to get done. At least one problem has resolved. Alhamdullillah, Allah has shown me the path.

OK....they are going to announce the result. Jap ekkk.....(boleh pulak)....haaaa...dah agak dah...veronica and shadi won... can't wait for the final's next week...ok now we talk about my kitchen yaa...hahahahhahaha



I cooked simple nasik goreng today. This is a very significant dish in my life, because.... because mak cooks her nasi goreng like this. Cooked rice, with ikan bilis, shallots, garlic and eggs. With oyster sauce and light soy sauce for seasoning. During weekend when there are some left over rice from yesterday's dinner, mak would fried the rice for brekkie on Sunday. Sometimes, when I was little, I showed resentment when mak made nasi goreng almost every weekend. I would choose a couple of toast over her nasi goreng. But when I moved out from the cocoon, after I got married, I missed her nasi goreng...hahahahha...so boring kan. Thus, whenever we went down to my parents' place, and saw her nasi goreng under the tudung saji, wahhh.... I was sooo happy...and...makan la apa lagi. Ahhh I missed mak and her cooking (emotional)

So for dinner tonight, I prepared nasik goreng just like how mak prepares it. Though this is not the first time I cooked this dish, I still couldn't get the taste right. I guess the saying, "air tangan" is right after all ekkk.... We had some daging masak merah left over from yesterday's dinner. Being a mom, wife and a full-time student, recycle meals are acceptable kan...ahahhaha... Am lucky to have a family who is not fussy.

There are going to be a lot of things happening from tomorrow onwards. Tomorrow I am meeting yaya's teacher about her progress in the classroom. Yaya has her first 'show and tell' tomorrow. When I asked her what is she planning to talk about in that session, she immediately said her barbie doll. What!! I said one straight NO! to her. No toys please. You are too old to talk about a doll (yes, I am being the garang mom). Plus, I don't want her to bring any toys to school, afraid she will misplace or forgets to bring it home. I said, "Why don't you talk about your glasses?" She reluctant at first, but after I gave her some good reasons, she agreed to it. Then I helped her in preparing the text for her to read. She has practiced it, and hope she could deliver it well tomorrow.

Next, I need to call up panel doctor to book an appointment for medical check-up, for visa renewal. Hope I am able to submit the application before end of this month. Then, loads of writing to do. And data analysis. And reports. And...... don't know when I will see the end of the list. But I know there will be the end of all this. Can't wait to go home, and see all the familiar and friendly faces again.

I come to end of this entry. Atang had looked and try to fix my camera. Unscrewing the screw was laborious job (no wonder the fixing charge is soo expensive). There were so tiny, and atang doesn't has the right tool. When he finally removed the casing, he met with another set of tiny screws, and he gave up. Then he gave me many reasons; afraid that a spring will pop up laa, tak nampak laaa, nanti susah nak pasang balik laaa....hahahahhahah...so I told atang, it's ok if you can't do it. I still have my phone camera, besides, my photography mood has gone. Don't think we will visit any new and interesting places in near time. Kalau ada rezeki sok...beli a new one. Sounds like merajuk kan...ahahahhahah... psychology tu...huhu...don't know if atang will get the hint

OK...adik is calling me to bed. She still needs me cuddling her to sleep. And I have one paper to read tonight.


p.s. dapat comment arinie...sekali ter select reject la pulak....
"samalah.. ituje yg akak masak kalo bz dan malas datang menjelma,... ahakss"
(Diarihatiku1976)


sorry banyak2. tu la akibat buat 2 keje dlm satu masa...ahahahhaha... terima kasih ya kerana sudi baca ngomelan den.



yours truly,

Salam aidil adha

Sibuk macam mana pun kena la masak sambut raya. Masak lodeh aje raya kali nie. Lodeh perantau, bny yg kurang, tp feel raya tu dapatlah dirasai.
Eid mubarak

my Simple Nasi Ayam

Taken from Chef Zailina's The New Malaysian Cookbook but modified by mixing with other recipes and friends/relative tips. I have tried this many times, so simple and yet so delicious. Jom masak.

Ingredients:
1 chicken
2cm ginger
sufficient water to boil chicken
1 bulb of garlic (chopped)
2 shallots (chopped)
chicken fat (the secret ingredient)
chicken stock/cube
some oyster sauce
oil
salt
a dash of sesame oil

Method:

1. Boil the water with the crushed ginger. Add in the chicken stock/cube and salt to taste .
2. Add in the chicken and lower the heat.
3. When the chicken is cook, remove the chicken and immerse in cold water for about 20 minutes.
4. Rub the chicken with some oyster sauce, leave it for awhile and fry the chicken till golden brown,
or if you like the steam version, just rub the chicken with the sesame oil.
5. Heat oil in the rice cooker pot, saute in the chopped garlic n onion. Add in the chicken fat. Saute until fragrant. Then add in rice and mix well.
6. Transfer the pot into the rice cooker. Pour in the water that was used to boil the chicken sufficiently to cook the rice. Use the remaining water to make the chicken soup. Add in spring onion and fried shallots.
7. Serve the chicken rice with the serving sauce.

my chicken sauce:
sugar, sesame oil
2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
Add about 1 laddle (senduk) of chicken soup

my serving sauce (chilli sauce):
blend together some 1/2 inch ginger, 1 garlic, 3 red chillies, 1 chopped tomato, sugar and salt to taste. Add in a little bit of lime juice
Heat the blended ingredient in a pot. Add in 1 teaspoon of corn flour. Simmer under low heat, until thickened.



This chicken rice set is for our neighbour :D.

yours truly,

Nasi Briyani Iza

I tried different style of preparing Nasi Briyani on Sunday. Before this, I just followed the instruction at the back of Faiza' Briyani packet.

(laziness struck me last weekend, so I bought ready to use garlic and ginger paste...pardon my horrible handwriting :p)

For recipe, visit my friend, Iza's blog.

Nasi Tomato on ANZAC day

Last Saturday, all stores are closed due to ANZAC Day celebration. ANZAC day is a national public holiday in Australia and New Zealand to honour the Australian and New Zealand Army who fought the Turkish Army in WWI. Enough say, google if you like to know more :D.

We planned to do groceries shopping at Coles, and I need to get some ingredients for my baking project. There was a bunch of ripe bananas and I would like to try a new recipe. And I found one. Usually I would do the baking on Saturday and heavy cooking on Sunday. Changed of plan, heavy cooking on Saturday, baking on Sunday then.

Atang for long has requested ayam masak merah. So while browsing the internet for recipe that use banana, I found a new blog recipe. Her ayam masak merah looks tempting, and the recipe is simple. So ... to the kitchen and start cooking.



Some of the ingredients.

Please note the onions. Shallots or bawang merah is expensive here and it is difficult to find. People used brown onion for cooking, though the maroon bawang besar is easy to find, but it is a little bit expensive than the brown onion. The maroon bawang besar is usually used in salad, thus the name is salad onion. So I used brown onion in most of my cooking. But for some cooking, like this nasi tomato and ayam masak merah, I used bawang besar, this grade is bit cheaper than the one they used for salad.

For recipe, please find it at kak liza (nasi tomato), and kak noreen (ayam masak merah) ya.





buurrpppp... alhamdullillah.....kenyang dah :p.... I made air sirap to go with these.....

owh.... i missed my bro's nasi tomato and ayam masak merah la!!