Fav recipe: Butter lemon salmon

I prepared this for lunch, today. The credit goes to dapurdriyadh.blogspot.com for this simple yet yummy recipe. The original recipe was using dory fish, but I cooked salmon instead and adjusted the amount of ingredients accordingly.

Ingredients:

6 pieces of salmon

1 tbs of minced garlic

2 teaspoon of salt

1 tbs of olive oil

For sauce:

3-4 tbs of butter

2 teaspoon of minced garlic

1 lemon (squashed for juice)

a bit of salt (for unsalted butter)

Veggies to boil:

Broccoli

carrot

Optional: (not in the original recipe)

Salad

Tomatoes

capsicum

pepper

*mint leaves or parsley 

Methods:

1. Marinate the salmon with minced garlic and salt. Set aside for 30 minutes.

2. Saute garlic in butter and add lemon juice, a bit of salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Fry salmon on the medium heat, using a small amount of olive oil for about 4-5 mins of each side (or till golden). Drizzle with 1/3 lemon butter juice.

4. Transfer salmon to the serving dish and pour the remaining lemon butter juice all over it. 

Serve with boiled veggies and salads. (Yeayy!!!)

*Optional: 

-I sprinkled chopped mint leaves in the sauce for minty taste. 

-Untuk tekak Melayu, boleh dijadikan lauk dengan nasi putih / nasi goreng cina.

-Untuk fefeeling mat saleh, boleh dimakan dengan kentang ;)

Dessert: Fruit cocktail jelly

Last week, I brought fruit cocktail jelly to the Arabic class pot luck party. Then again, in the same week, I prepared the same dessert to bring over to the Islamic lecture (ceramah) organised by the Malaysian group. Memang Macam takde idea lain... lol. Btw, they are of two different groups ;p

Dalam bab memasak saya tak berapa gemar untuk berlama-lama di dapur.  Namun, bila menyediakan agar-agar atau puding saya suka sebab ianya senang, cepat dan sedap. I'm sharing the recipe here. 

Ingredients:

1 packet dried jelly (10-12g agar-agar)
1 can of fruit cocktail
1 can of evaporated milk
4 mugs of water
1 mug of sugar
2 table spoons of custard

Method:

1. Boil the the jelly in a pot till it dissolves. (with 4 mugs of water)
2. Then add sugar into it and stir to dissolve.
3. Separately stir the custard with a small amount of water
4. Then add the dissolved custard into the boiling pot and stir the mixture.
5. Add evaporated milk into the mixture.
6. Finally add fruit cocktail (using filter, drain the syrup from the can), stir a while before turn off the heat.

Then pour the cooked jelly into any bowl or mould and let it cool in the refrigerator.

Senang kan ;)

Pindah rumah

After being here for almost 8 months, we finally moved out from the serviced apartment for which was planned as a temporary stay, to a new home. This new home is relatively smaller unit but cozy and just nice for our small family. I love this apartment, its layout, the provided furniture & stuffs, its hidden balcony, the ground level parking spaces (compared to previous basement parking) and its efficient maintenance support. 

Well, it was not easy to find a vacant fully furnished apartment within our specific budget in this specific location with quite spacious layout (for apartment standard) and reasonably good furniture provided (almost new). The reasonable ones were mostly fully occupied. After countless surveys, alhamdulillah, this one practically meets our expectation. It's just 5 mins drive to hubby's office and 10 mins drive to my son's school as well as to the airport. Furthermore, it feels considerably cool being inside the apartment even during this hot summer. Mode: happy :)  Well, no idea when it comes to winter though...  

Opps, no mover hired like the above pic. Below pic was the real one :p

Easy peasy recipe: Arabic Salad

Once in a while (maybe the right word is once in a blue moon;p) when I'm in the mood of learning the new Arabic words, I'll search for the lesson in the You Tube and I kinda love these simple lessons (few different sessions) by this lady by the name of Maha. One of the lessons that I followed, came with the salad recipe. I was listening to it while I was cooking for lunch and automatically, I searched for the ingredients available in my fridge and wallah, the Arabic salad was one of the lunch dishes for that day. I'm sharing the recipe here as well as the Arabic words for the ingredients :) 

Arabic Salad (Salata Arabiyyah) - credit to Maha's you tube.

Ingredients:

Main

-2 Cucumber (khiyar)

-2 Tomato (tamatem)

-1 small Capsicum (felfel) 

-Onion leaves (basal akhdar)

-Mint leaves (Na'na')

For sauce

-1/2 tsp of salt (melh)

-1 Lemon (laymoon)

-1 tbs of Olive oil (zayt zaytoon)

-a bit of black pepper (bahar)

-a bit of cumin (kamoon)  ~ I didn't add this as it was not available in my kitchen at that time.

Above is the original ingredient for Arabic salad, however I also added carrots and salad leaves to it. 

Method:

Dice the cucumber, tomatoes and capsicum. 

Chop the onion and mint leaves.

If you like to add salad leaves / carrot, cut them to small pieces.

Mix them (veggies) altogether in a large bowl and put aside. 

For its sauce, we need to extract the lemon juice and pour it into a cup. 

Then add a small amount of salt, olive oil, black pepper and cumin into the juice and stir it.

Finally combine the sauce with the mixed veggies and it's ready to be served :)

Easy peasy, right. Give it a try... It's yummy and it also goes well with Malaysian lauk pauk such as ayam masak pedas/ kari / kurma. It's more or less like the Malaysian 'acar timun'. 

Easy peasy recipe: Mashed potato and gravy

This is my family's favourite and I'm sharing the recipe here. The gravy recipe was taken from myresipi.com with slight adjustment due to available ingredients and my convenience ;)

Both hubby & son's favourite dish

Mashed potato

Ingredients:

- 5 potatoes (medium size)

- 2 tbs butter

- fresh milk

- salt & pepper

Method:

1. Peel off potatoes and boil til soft.

2. Drain the water and mash the potatoes while they're hot.

3. *Melt the butter and mix with the potatoes.

4. Add fresh milk bit by bit to the mixture and stir to combine, til soft up to your liking. 

5. Add salt & pepper to taste.

*Notes: for those who like it more creamy can add 1 more tbs of butter. (in step 3)

Mashed Potato gravy - credit to myresipi.com 

Ingredients:

- 650 ml water (I roughly put 2-3 mugs of water)

- 5 tbs of chicken stock (I used a cube of maggi brand stock)

- 1 onion chopped (I used half of big onion)

- 1 celery (I didn't use)

- 40 g butter (I didn't add any)

I don't like it too buttery since butter has been added in the mashed potato.

- 20 g flour (I used 1 tbs of flour)

- 1 tbs tomato sauce

- 1 tbs of oyster sauce

- few drops of soy sauce

- salt & pepper

Method:

1. Boil the water in the pot and add chicken stock, celery and onion. Simmer for ab 10 mins.

2. Then filter the sauce into a bowl (to discard the onion & celery).

3. *Pour back the sauce into the pot and put on a low heat. 

4. Dissolve the flour in the water before adding into the pot and stir.

5. Add the oyster sauce, tomato sauce and few drops of soy sauce (for colouring).

6. *Add salt & pepper to taste.

*Notes: 

1. taste first before adding the salt as the oyster sauce & the chicken stock is already salty.

2. If prefer to add butter, melt the butter in the pot before pouring the sauce into it. (in step3)

Serve the mashed potato with the gravy and it's yummy! I can say, more or less like the kfc version;)

Organise- dressing table

I'm still looking for the suitable cases or holders for my my skincare items and 'you-name-it' stuffs on my dressing table. There are some more on the other side of the dressing table and some are hidden in the drawers:p I found a basket from Zara Home and toss the skincare bottles and tubes in it. I'm using the bathroom toothbrush holder set to hold the brushes, eye liners, etc. 

When googled, I found there are actually variety cases available in the market.

1. Wooden case

2. Acrylic case

I fancy this shoe ring holder :)

from website: elegancebyelena.com

I've yet to find the ones suitable for my dressing table stuffs and also for the rings...

Organise kid's stuffs

I believe that by having suitable and appropriate storage will help to keep our things organised and creates more space. It'll be easier to keep things as well as to retrieve them. Dual function storage is a bonus :)

My experience with 'mess' toys... (old picture, my son was around 5-6 yo)

My son's toy storage:

1. Ikea's drawers are really practical

2. Dual function chest (storage and bench) - I love this the most as it's easy to store my son's toys in it. Since we gave away his toys, it's used to keep our linens.

3. Stack-up transparent boxes for more room space

4. Storage from ikea. Highly recommend for its dual function and affordable price. It can store bulky items and its top can be used as a small table for the kids.

I found interesting pictures from the google too :)

Google picture

I love woven baskets. Those can be used for keeping other kid's items too such as their magazines, clothes, etc. 

Google picture

Dual function storage is always a good choice. I like this one as it has see through drawers and it can be used as a bench too.

Easy peasy recipe: Oleo pasta

This morning, I cooked oleo pasta for my son's lunch pack. His school has no canteen, fortunate and unfortunately;p It's good in such a way that I have a control for his menu however it means I have to prepare for his lunch pack for almost every school day. Pasta is always his favourite but heavy meal such as pasta / spaghetti bolognese / fried rice will be only for once in a while. Alternately he'll also bring sandwiches, fruits or energy bars to school. 

Ingredients:

250g of pasta (1/2 packet)
3 cloves garlics, chopped
3 tbs Olive oil
Peeled prawns
mushrooms - slices
Basil / Italian herbs
2 tbs butter
Salt & pepper to taste

Optional:
-capsicum chopped / sliced
-dried red chilly flakes
 (Due to unavailability of this, I used chilly powder but chilly flakes would be better)
-fresh parsley, chopped
(I used dried Italian herbs instead)
-Parmesan cheese

Methods:

-Cook the pasta till soft and drain, put aside.
-Heat olive oil in a frying pan and saute the garlics till yellowish colour.
-Add prawns, mushrooms, salt and stir a while till it's cooked
-Toss the pasta into the sauce and add butter
-Add capsicum / italian herbs / chopped parsley / pepper

Serve with chilly flakes and parmesan cheese.

*makes ~3 servings

Homemade Donuts Recipe

Today is the Qatar's National Sports day and it's announced as a public holiday, yeay! It's actually the first National Sports Day, introduced this year and it'll be on the second Tuesday in February, yearly. This morning, we were invited to a friend's breakfast gathering, double yeay!! I brought some 'Malaysian' donuts to her party and it was my first attempt making donuts which the recipe referred was from my mother in law. So I'm sharing it here. It's such a simple recipe but kneading the dough was a bit tough for me. (for a first timer) However, the result was encouraging, the donuts were soft and yummeh :) 

Ingredients:

4 mugs of flour
1 small packet of instant yeast
4 tbs of sugar
3 tbs of butter
1 1/2 mug of water + a bit of salt
1 tbs of cooking oil

Coating / topping:
Blended sugar / icing sugar


Method:

-Mix flour, sugar and yeast into a large bowl.
-Dissolve salt in the water and pour it bit by bit into the mixture.
(Adjust the water accordingly for a nice, soft dough)
-Then add the butter and cooking oil and knead the dough till smooth and soft.
-Leave the dough for at least an hour till it rise up, double of its original size
-From the dough, make round donuts shapes / any shapes of your liking.
-Leave it to rest for about 1 hour before frying.
-Fry the donuts in hot oil till golden yellow colour.
-Sprinkle the icing sugar before serving.

Best served for breakfast or evening tea :)

My first beading project

While watching movie this morning, (aired on tv my fav movie during school time, "A league on their own") I decided to sew simple beads on my two favourite old t-shirts. Started with my plain red t-shirt. 

For the plain t-shirt, I had to first draw the pattern that I like to see on it.

Just then started to sew the beads on those patterns.

Tarra... the beading done :)

How it looks on the inside of the t-shirt.

I just need these:

Beads, threads and needle.

My second t-shirt. 

This is also a simple one as I just sewed the beads based on the flower patterns on it.

Easy peasy recipe: Ghee Cookies

Ghee Cookies (Biskut Suji)

'Biskut Suji' is my family's favorite 'Raya' cookies which is the most simple cookies recipe ever!! Got this recipe from the 'Malay Recipe' book bought during my study time (yeah, ancient book). The ingredients used are so simple and very easy to prepare. Insyallah, it'll never go wrong :)

Ingredients:

1. Flour 500g
2. Ghee 250g
3. Icing sugar 250g

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.

1. Mix all the ingredient and make a soft dough.
2. Then from the dough, form little balls and place on a grease baking tray, flatten a bit and decor the cookies up to your liking.
3.Then bake in the oven til the bottom of the cookies are golden yellow.

Easy peasy :))

Fav recipe: Sardine Curry-puffs

I'm sharing my family's favorite sardine curry-puff recipe, passed down from my Johorian mother in law :) It's best to be served with family's favorite beverages during breakfast or tea-break and also nice to bring over to potluck party, picnic or for lunch-pack.

Ingredients:


For Pastry:
-500g multipurpose flour
-2 tbs cooking oil
-200g butter
-*180ml water (rough measurement - reduce/add for a soft dough)
-1 tsp salt

For filling:
-*2 small cans of sardine (amount can be adjusted up to one's liking)
-3 potatoes, cut into small cubes
-1 onion, finely chopped
-*2 tbs of blended chilies (reduce / add up to one's preference)
-5 shallots & 3 garlics - grind
-2 tbs oil
-salt and sugar to taste

Method:

For pastry:
Mix flour with cooking oil and butter.
Slowly add water (with salt) until dough is formed.
Knead for few minutes till the dough is soften.
Set aside and covered with plastic or covered bowl for at least 10-15 minutes.

For filling:
-Heat up the oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion, grind shallots, garlics and chilies until fragrant.
-Add the rest of the ingredients and cook the mixture till the potatoes soften and dry, then set aside to cool
-Then roll out the pastry (manual / machine) and cut into circles by using the mould. (I used the tuna can)
-Put the sardine filling in the centre of pastry and fold into half.
-Crimp the edges to seal.
-Deep fry in hot oil til the pastry is cooked in golden brown.

~ready to be served with hot tea / coffee :)

Easy peasy recipe: Corn Custard Pudding

Sharing my family favorite, easy peasy dessert recipe. It's so simple which takes only 10-15 mins to prepare and it's yummy :)

1. Ingredients

2. Cooked pudding poured into jelly bowls before going into fridge

3. Cool pudding ready to be served

Creamy Corn Custard Pudding

Ingredients:

For this recipe, the measurement is in can (tin / cup) which I used the same can of evaporated milk.

-1 can of custard powder

-1 can of evaporated milk

-1 can of creamy corn

-3/4 can of sugar

-2 1/2 can of water

Methods:

-Mix the custard powder with water in a pot and stir thoroughly till the powder is dissolved.

-Once the powder dissolved, mix the rest of ingredients in a pot.

-Cook and occasionally stir the mixture over medium heat till the mixture is thicken and shiny.

-Then pour the mixture in the baking dish / bowl of any shape up to your liking and set it to cool.

-Leave it in the fridge for about 4 hrs before cutting into smaller pieces.

Ikan oh ikan...

Sebaik pulang dari beraya di kampung, air kolam kat rmh tu hijau sehijau-hijaunya dek berlumut. Kebetulan dtg mood rajin, kitaorg pun cubalah bersihkan kolam & menggantikan dgn air bersih. Oleh kerna kurang pengalaman dlm bab2 bela ikan, habis lemas ikan2 tu. Sementara bersihkan kolam, ikan2 tu kitaorg tangkap & masukkan dlm 'bath tub' tanpa terlebih dahulu 'treat' air paip yg berklorin tuh... I guess that was the main reason, tak tau lah kot ada bekas2 sabun dlm bath tub since pg2 tu Nik Mad (spent a wkd here) yg mandi dalam tu. Yg sedihnya dlm jangka masa 2-3 jam sementara air dimasukkan ke dalam kolam, berbelas2 ekor ikan kap kitaorg mati, sedih mmg sedih... Dari lebih kurang 20 ekor, tinggallah 4 ekor sahaja yg masih hidup skrg. Minggu lepas, on the way balik dari kampung, singgah kat bandar keluang tambah lagi 8 ekor. So smlm balik kerja, sambil2 bg makan ikan2 tu sempatlah snap gambar ikan2 kap yg ada sekrg....

Remaining 4 survivors plus 8 new comers...

Should hv added some more, later lah...

Ikan yg dipindahkan ke dlm bath tub sementara kerja2 pembersihan kolam dijalankan...

I love weekend...

Seronoknya tengok kuntuman bunga2 ni.

Ingatkan jenis pokok berdaun yg tidak berbunga...

Ewah2 seronoknya mengunyah daun limau purut ..

Patutler byk pokok gue yg daunnya berlobang2...

Ada ulat bulu yg gemuk (tajuk buku cerita akid) rupanyer..

Tapi gue biarkan jerlah, dah makanan dia...

Lagipun lambat laun ulat bulu itu akan bertukar

menjadi rama-rama yg cantik (ayat dlm buku cerita itu)

Nearby nursery.

It's such a beautiful day , waking up in the morning and knowing u'll be spending time with your love ones... To put aside those non-stop office work, burdens, conflicts, etc... Sekali sekala mengikuti jugak kemelut politik negara yg beransur2 reda... yg pasti biarla org2 yg arif sahaja yg komen....

Early this morning, I fed the fish & checked on my plants... Labeled as an environmentalist by hubby eversince zaman bujang dolu2 hahaha... Well, bz weekdays prevent me to do all these... Pergi office pagi2 lagi, balik rumah hari dah senja... Seronok tengok bunga2 menguntum, seakan2 menyapa tuannya yg kesuntukan masa utk depa. Lepas tu gue masuk dapur kay, takderla ala2 bercakap dgn pokok2 tu... kelentang kelentung masak nasi lemak sambal tumis udang, terpaksa buat udang tomato utk Akid jugak, telur rebus, kacang goreng, bilis goreng dan timun. Tengahari, selepas ambil akid dari kelas taekwando, kitaorg singgah nursery dan sempat merembat beberapa batang pokok... Nursery tu janji nak hantar pokok2 tu pada petangnya tp tak muncul2. Anyway petang tadi hujan lebat, tak boleh nak berkebun pun... Layan puding roti jer lah...

Akid loves bread pudding very much.

Kuah puding roti, pelengkap rasa...

Weekend at home...

Weekend ni kitaorg melepak di rumah saja.... Sabtu jer kuar kejap jengok rmh alam damai & singgah makan di mcD di BTHO. Malam sabtu dah melencong ke ikea from ofis... So weekend kami tak kemana2 sangat. Byk masa ku membaca magazine dpn kolam, memerhati ikan2 kap liar makan... yg mana muncul masa ada makanan ditabur saja, nyampasss.... Hby & Akid byk mengadap pc main game... like father, like son...

Hari Ahad, ku jadik surirumah sepenuh hari, bermula dari pagi masak nasi lemak, lepas tu melepak baca magzine di kolam, Niz antar akid taekwando. Lunch semua kekenyangan dgn nasi lemak berkalori tinggi tuh... so lunch we all skip... Ptg we all g shopping for groceries at giant w just few metres from our hse. Balik aku masak bubur jagung for tea. Niat asal nak buat puding roti dibatalkan sbb agak malas nak memantau pembakaran dlm oven yg jrg2 aku guna... maybe next wkd. Then malam aku masak lg tuk dinner, simple2 jer tapi nampaknya sorang2 makan bertambah2, mungkinkah tengahari tak jumpa nasi...

After some years

Within few yrs, some of my plants which I bought in small pots from several nurseries become gigantic.... Love watching them grow, just like watching my son grows... We moved-in here, to Alam Damai in 2001 - the yr I gave birth to Akid. After some yrs settled down here...

This plant (not sure of what it's called) was 1 ft tall when I first bought it.

The 'juniors'

membiak jugak pokok ni...

So excited to see the blooms :)

If I'm not mistaken, this one is called Cow horn.

Bought it in a small pot and took years to bloom,

Only recently produced flowers ...