Domestic Goddess In Progress

Those who know me are aware I'm no expert in the kitchen. Some dishes are good to go and edible to say the least and some are total failures. 

Recently Hubs went on an impulse purchase and bought lots of bananas. I mean lots...Why? 

"Cos they were pretty". 

Keep in mind it's just the two of us. 

Obviously it went way ripe before we could even finish the first bunch.

Friends gave suggestions on what to do with the remaining bananas and all. Out of all the solutions, I picked Cekodok Pisang. I've never made them and sounded quite simple to make.

I was WRONG. 

W.R.O.N.G.

The remaining bananas. Pretty and ripe. Ready for my attempt to make cekodok.

Banyak giler pisang kena potong. Penat lenyek!

With the amount of bananas mixed with flour, sodium bicarbonate, sugar, salt and a dash of baking powder and me trying to get the right consistency, it took half a day to mix them. Serious penat mix. My legs were wobbly by the time the batches went into the wok.

My first attempt was too watery. Though it smelled and tasted right, they were floating and reminded me of SHHH...hmmm...so added more flour bla bla bla to get the right consistency.

The second batch looked better. But huge as F***. Hahah...pardon my language, sorry not sorry.

Besar dooooh...

These were just half of the mix. Damn banyak. Gave my neighbour loads to feast on.

One fell, sounded like a whoopee cushion. Heavy and made a "floop" sound. I was lucky it didn't turn out like one of those brick like cekodoks.

These I kept for the both of us.

I told hubs the next time he decides to go on an impulse purchase, I'll be at Chanel going on impulse purchases with his credit card. He came back from work and I forced him to give me foot massages. Penat weiii...no joke.

He had a taste of the cekodoks. His comment? 

"Tak rasa cekodok. More like kek pisang. Next time kalau I nak cekodok, I beli kek pisang ar."

He was lucky I was kind enough to not give his face a taste of the whoopie cekodok.

#nodomesticgoddess #amateurcook

Greeting Ramadhan

Alhamdulillah, tadi dah settle kat dapur after our sahur.

With the exams looming so near, I thought my reaction towards greeting this year's Ramadhan would be lukewarm than usual. However, it's totally the opposite.

The sense of excitement and euphoria in greeting the holy month this year is definitely different. I don't recall being so "semangat" to cook for sahur last night after spending most of my Sunday in revision class and walking about in Pavi jalan-jalan with Hubs. Somehow I managed to muster some energy to do so after an hour of chilling in front of the TV once we got home.

This will be our third year greeting the Ramadhan and Insya Allah, Eid, as husband and wife. Hoping for more Ramadhans and Eids together in many more years to come, Insya Allah with our own family soon.

Wishing everyone a blessed Ramadhan Al-Mubarak. May our Ramadhan be filled with peace, blessings, forgiveness and enlightenment. Please forgive my family and I for any wrongdoings we might have committed to you, knowingly or unknowingly.

Happy Ramadhan everyone!

It's Tough Being A Woman

I was driving my way back home from lunch with Hubs whilst listening to a modern rendition of 

"Tiru Macam Saya" on the radio.

Let's just say it gave me a harsh/rude wake-up call. 

It was my first time listening to the song. Once hearing the clear warning/reminder/ lyrics of the song, pucat jugak. Orang dulu no joke, tunes, music and all sound jolly but the words...fuhh...pedas and direct!

Here are the lyrics:

Pandanglah, lihatlah,
Rupaku yang cantik dan
rambutku yang ikal,
marilah tuan-tuan dan nyonya
Sama-samalah pandang
perempuan yang cantik bikin hati goyang

Pandanglah, lihatlah
pinggang ku yang ramping
dan dadaku yang bidang
Inilah selalu menjadikan
Orang hilanglah akal
rumahtangga tak kekal
Gilakan bayangkan

Perempuan kalau tak pandai jaga badan
suaminya tentu lekas menjadi bosan
mengerbang rambut macam hantu dalam hutan
suami memandang hampir pengsan
Perempuan kalau sayangkan suaminya
Pandang sini, hai tirulah seperti saya
jaga bentuk,
jaga kulit dan jaga rupa
Senyum sayang kau berikan dia
Pandanglah...lihatlah....tiru macam saya........

Whoaaaa...

Sampai rumah terus watsapp suami, minta maaf for my "selekehness" at the moment. Delving in my books most of the time, I've been tying my hair so tight to discourage unruly hair but it doesn't seem to work. Just this morning I was telling my Hubs how I wanted to shave my whole head so that I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of managing my unruly hair. Huarghhhh! To make it worse, I tie it in "bunjut" style most of the time these days because of the heat. 

My clothes? Nowadays I don't venture beyond my T-shirts and simple blouses with jeans/slacks. Boring I know. 

I proceeded to assure him that I have not let myself go. Just that right now I'm a bit confused with my fashion sense suitable with my now slightly overweight body. Most of the time I get disappointed when shopping and not being able to get the right size or a nice fit. 

That, however, is being remedied with my consistent (most of the time) gym sessions. Thank god I still stick to my facial regimes. My hair though, thought it best to do it after my exams, but balik rumah tadi terus ask friends for recommendation in nearby area as my usual hairdresser is closing the branch nearby and moving to Publika. Definitely paying them a visit soon.

It's no easy job being a woman. So many expectations and burdens are imposed on us. Kena jaga looks, badan, laki, anak, rumah, masak, clean, career, etc. Even, perhaps, after meeting all those, ada ajer pihak yang use religious justifications to demean a woman's efforts or accuse you less of a mother,wife, etc. because of not meeting certain aspects to their personal standards. Frust jugak yer. 

My response on using religious justifications...it's time to stop. I am no expert but I don't recall the Qur'an stating gender specific roles on us. In fact, if ever, those cherry picking, know that it's the Westerners whom had imposed such generic roles. Husband= Bring Home Bacon, Wife= Homemaker. I recall whilst attending our Kursus Kahwin, the Ustadz and Ustazah explained how big this misconception is. 

I, personally believe, that you are to reach as far and to your fullest potential. Never stop. 

On not meeting others' standards? They are not you. You are not them. Keep yourself happy. It's not about you pleasing others. They pandai komen ajer so lantak okay. You know what's best. Each has their own pace.

Yes, senang cakap, susah nak buat when you have external factors persuading you otherwise. Try your best is all I can say.

Time to Cook

Remember the frozen seafood we bought from KK?

Well, among them included a bag of mantis shrimps. I've never cooked one before. I googled for recipes and found two that was kind of doable sans some ingredients I didn't have at the time.  

I was absolutely intimidated by the size. There were three of them in a bag so I decided to first experiment with the largest one.

" How the bleep do I cook this thing? It's bleeping huge!!!" 

"Look at it?"

"Do I cut it? How laaaar?"

All my watsapps with pictures were greeted by Hubs I dunnos and lots of LOLs.

Google was my saviour. Turns out to dispose of the dirt sack is similar to how you would do for  shrimps.

Yes, I'm about to cook an alien life form. It's bigger than my face!

Arrrrghhh!!!

This is Hubs fave picture by the way. On two different occasions he resent the pics from work to emphasise that this is his all time favourite picture.

Hubs gave an A+ for my first, ONE AND ONLY, attempt for Butter Oat Mantis Shrimp. Please google the recipe as I didn't have all the ingredients needed and had to combine two different recipes and just winged it. Luckily it turned out ok.

The remaining two mantis shrimps will most likely be steamed and eaten with butter sauce. 

Yup Yup...This Mak Cik knows how much work went into it.

The Mee Goreng Mishap

One night, I decided to finally give home-made Mee Goreng a go for dear Husbie. It sounds simple enough to cook. Tumis some shallots, garlic, chillies, dash of this and that, stuff some fish balls in there and waaalllaaaa...

Uh-uh....Seriously NO!

We were already coughing none stop before I even served it.

Hubs: OMG! B! Pedaaasnyeeeeerrrr!!!

Wifey: I'm sooooo sorry. I think I did everything right. Bawang merah, bawang putih, cili padi...

Hubs: How many cili padi?

Wifey: Five.

Hubs: WHAT?!!!

Wifey: Well, when we had dinner at your mum's last night, your mum put in 10 cili padis and it turned out fine.

Hubs: Mama letak to garnish it! Not to tumis!

Wifey: Ok, ok. Please stop eating the damn thing. I pun dah berpeluh makan. Nanti you sakit perut kang!

Hubs: Takper, I makan. (Bless him. He actually ate the whole thing and told me to shut up when I wouldn't stop telling him to stop eating the awful Mee Goreng).

The next morning, while driving to work, both of us were laughing away from the night's debacle. Well, Hubs did most of the teasing with me trying to not bite his head off. I couldn't help but laugh at myself though. One has to admit when it's superbly funny.

"Well, you can include this with your Cili Masak Ayam. Now, dah ada Cili masak Mee Goreng."

"Can't believe you tumis'd the damn thing. People use it to garnish the Mee Goreng. Nih, Cili garnished with Mee Goreng."

#Frust #Cissss #WhenwillIevercooklikeanexpert

Cameron Goodies

So with the current heatwave, Husbie and I are not feeling up to par. Husbie sampai kena berpantang to guard his temperature. No red meat, spicy food, fried stuff, heaty stuff. I pulak tak expert in determining what's heaty and what's not. To play it safe, cook soupy stuff and steam everything.

So after work, we received some goodies from Cameron Highlands. Aper lagi, best lar sumbat all the fresh veges in my soup and I soooo can't wait to kukus my jagung and keledek madu.

Since dah lama tak masak, Husbie happy dapat makan home cooked meal time time hujan nih (yes, yes...things have been on overdrive at work so by the time sampai rumah all I want to do is sit on my couch and watch TV). Esok steamed fish and asparagus for dinner pulak, Insya Allah. Ok cayaaaang?

Hindustani Lurve

We were watching TV when Dr. Fadzilah Kamsah's ad came on. He was doing a Hindustani bit, I assume, as one of the many examples a husband can 'woo' his wife.

Moi': "How come you never express your love to me in Hindustan?"

Husbie: "Hem...ppprrrrr....Ka...Kaaaaa"

Moi': "Ok, point taken."

Haiz, I think I need to enrol him in Romance 101 soon.

Flower Pots

One morning, I pointed out to Husbie how some have started planning their Valentine's this year.

"I want flowers this year."

"But you said you never want flowers. It's a waste of money and it dies easily. Besides, everything hikes up on that day."

"Yeah, true. So you better get me flowers by the 9th. 10th onwards florists will start hiking their prices up."

" How do you know? Maybe they'll start hiking their prices up sooner? Mana tau most people will be like you and exchange gifts earlier. "

"Argghh, I don't care! We can go to Sungai Buloh for all I care and purchase a bunch of flower pots!"

"Lagi puas...cantik rumah sikit."

[Yes, yeeeeess...plans are going according to plan. Now, pretend to be slightly miffed to finally get those damn flower pots on your lawn.]

"Hmppph...ok. Then biler gaji masuk, we'll go to Sungai Buloh k?"

Growing my own Bali

It's raining now. Looking out the window, I see we need to trim the yard this weekend.

It takes me back to my conversation with my husband a few months back. Since we had not found a gardener back then, the yard was left a tad "bushy".

Husbie : We better potong rumput soon.

Moi' : Don't worry. In the meantime, with all these greenery, macam Bali. Time hujan we can pasang lagu gamelan and we have our own little Bali in our yard.

Husbie : I think our neighbours heard you. I rasa they're shooting daggers now.

Moi' : Pffft...you're exaggerating again.

The (temporary) Tai-tai life

The journey of making a career change is no easy feat. It's difficult to divert from your comfort zone no matter how many transferable skills you have.

In the meantime, having the tai-tai life is not easy.

Oh..bohoo u say...

I'm generally not the type to wait patiently or stop thinking too much...so you can imagine the deluge of emotions I go through whenever whatever little time I have in between. It's easy to slip into depression or shame-boomerang mode and get even more frustrated. When I get into those moods, I hang on to whatever feelings I have for a few minutes, cos' realistically you have the right, and let it go (Cue Frozen soundtrack- Let it go). Then I go occupy my time be it by housecleaning, cooking or other house chores. Establishing a routine doesn't hurt either. Do not let yourself, mind, spirit and body, be idle. 

Lately, I have been organising my things and unpacking items from boxes to set up house. I'm also surveying for items that can best serve as storage for the things we have. One best bit of organising clothes, books, make-up and other stuff and having your own place to boot is that you can do it in whichever you like. In other words, I can take the time and organise my, I mean 'our', things as creatively as I want. I've been browsing tips and ways online and there are soooo many fun ways to do it. Slowly making our house a home we love.

I also spend my time sketching. Can't really divulge on the items I'm sketching until things really take-off, but starting to sketch again after a year off really gave butterflies in my stomach. Funny but I now understand the fear and anxiety one gets after not riding a bicycle for so long. 

I have a friend who has been chasing, reminding and pushing me to continue sketching but I was always somehow occupied with work. If I'm truly passionate about it, shouldn't I spend more time on it? Pftt...yeaaah!!! Now that I have the time, I love the designs and ideas that come flooding into my head and flows into my paper. We'll see how it pans out. Strategising and all the planning in the world on paper alone won't take off unless I take action to launch it off the ground.

Oh, and my month has been occupied with my other temp job...mak bidan to my cats. Whaaaa...tttt? Yes, I have kittens now. I left Mango, Jojo and Nelly at my dad's while we set up house and unknowingly, they became pregnant from my dad's American Short Hair, Oscar. I guess regardless of how much monitoring my sis took, Oscar managed to have his last Hurrah before he went snip-snip. My husbie and I naively thought Jojo and Nelly were merely fat and happy with moving back in with me. That was until I caught Jojo giving birth in my cupboard! Huarghhhh...my jeanssss!!! Nelly gave birth a week later. Ayoooo...mak bidan mode lar...aper lagi... Alhamdulillah, we have already found a friend who would love to adopt the kittens once they're weened off.

Ahhhh...the tai-tai life...Martha Stewart wanna-be, brunches and lunches ala socialite, couch potato moments, try not to mess-up the kitchen too much, anxious to launch a big project soon, mak bidan, babysitter, driver, personal shopper...another form of journey I have to take albeit only temporary...

Home-made sandwich...shoving loads of veges to make me feel less guilty for having a beef burger for lunch...:p

The waiting game

It's been a month since I left my previous job. Now it's the waiting game...wait for what you ask? I'm not really sure...my new job posts or strengthened inclination to have the guts to start up on my own.

In the meantime, we have been gearing to set up our library cum home office. When growing up I remember my family always having one dedicated room for work and study. And later on only then I got to know that I was not the only one among my sisters whom actually dreamt of having a library like Belle from Beauty and the Beast... ( still setting my hopes up for a huge library of my own).

In the meantime, I have this blank canvas to work on. Husbie is more of the conventional and old-worldly type when it comes to the handling of books.

But what do you guys think of colour-coordinating books rather than the conventional "according to fiction/non-fiction" kind of organising?

:p

P.s. the picture with the colour-coordinated organised books is sooo not mine. Got it off randomly from Google okay?

Ramadhan series: What's your craving(s)?

One of the best features of celebrating Ramadhan in Malaysia is the food galore we experience in the many Bazaar Ramadhan (Baram) or Pasar Ramadhan (PaRam). There we will find all sorts of dishes and desserts not commonly found in the usual Pasar Malam (night markets), unless you truly know where to look.

However, costs of those food sold in the barams or params have definitely increased exponentially throughout the years. During the first weekend of the fasting month, my husband and I felt like having ikan bakar. Guess how much it costs? RM18 per piece...ikan pari tau! Belum terubok lagi! They don't even sell the small ranges anymore where it would generally costs RM7-RM8 per piece. Semua besar-besar (bigger but not huge). 

From then on, we decided that it was best to cook at home ( Managed to do so a few times during the week and weekends but fall short at times as we often arrive home late after going through the horrendous traffic on the way home).

Anywaysszzzzz...

Cravings? Have you been craving any favourite old dishes or desserts so far during this holy month? Your mum's ayam kuzi? Weird combos like laksa asam +coco crunch? The favourite murtabak at that usual store your family used to buy from? Do share...

In my case, it has been sira pisang. It turns out there are other sort of siras out there too specifically sira labu and sira ubi.

What is it?

I don't know quite know how to aptly describe it. 

Bananas cooked/ swimming in some sort of delicious syrup. Dunno...??? 

Those who'd want to try cooking their own sira pisang or experiment in kelantanese cooking, do visit this website I recently stumbled into...even the way she explains how to cook ayam percik seems simple...(but...oooohh...i don't dare try it yet).

http://aziejaya.blogspot.com/2012/05/sira-pisang.html

Happy cooking and feasting...

New curtains from Nilai 3

If you ever have the need for new curtains, then Nilai 3 is the best place to buy them! Best price, best quality, puas hati waaaannn...

We opted for Sri Maju. Word has it they have the nicest stitching for custom-made curtains.