Puff, Puff and gone...

This endevour has been delayed for quite some time now, even the lemon bought for this venture has turned mushy and yucky. Kak Ida (my baking master) suggested making this instead of the more ambitious difficult apple pie. The reasons she gave:

1. easier, as the pastry was store bought.
2. tastier, as the filling was as easy as ABC.
3. time-saving, as it taks only minutes to fold, crimp and voila!

the apple puff is ready to be consumed with relish. Here are the evidence...

Post Raya Kuih

Adik found a gadget from the depth of the kitchen drawer. When she asked what it is for, I immediately had the hankering to make kuih siput - one of the traditional Malay delicacies. We then browsed for some recipes and found one that seem easy and we had the ingredients listed in the recipes. After Maghrib prayer, we started our project and still couldn't finish until now. Here are some pictures to show for our effort.

We have mixed reaction to the kuih siput - my husband said there's not spicy enough, but Pak Atan had seconds of the kuih siput. Adik is speechless... Thanks to my SIL Rin for finishing the 'gentelan' for the kuih siput.

Homebound Journey

We left KL in the wee hour or what some might say the witching hour. At 3 a.m. sharp we went southwardbound. As usual, I was light out as soon as I entered the car and left Ayang to drive on his own. I was so sleepy that every time I woke up, I just adjusted to my most comfortable position and the snores would be resounding in the small, confined space. After nearly ten years of marriage, you don't sweat the samll stuff like snoring and farting - he he he but I do take care not to pass gas in front of him intentionally, unless if I am sleeping...

When we reached Yong Peng, Ayang had to wake me up as he was feeling drowsy. I was totally geared up to drive but after some time, my two peeps started to have their own fireworks - there were some starbursts, some swirlings and some whiteout. Afraid of unwanted incident in this festive season, I breathed a sigh of relief as I sighted the Machap R&R. Luckily, Suboh prayer was due and Ayang went for his prayer.

We resumed our journey and finally arrived around 7 a.m. Alhamdulillah, we arrived safely.

Messy Mess

I got my first wind and enthusiastically attacked the bathroom cum toilet. Well, it has not been cleaned for weeks (but not to the point of our public toilet, lah). In my vigouresness (is there such words), the toilet was squeky clean and sparkling. As I moved the cistern cover, I accidently knocked the toilet roll ceramic thinghy and to my shock, the whole thingy came loose and shattered across the cleaned floor, aaaawwwwhhh.

Ayang came running and quickly I changed to my pitiful face. He he he, luckily he didn't get angry. What a relief. Unfortunately, the eyesore would be there until Pak Atan came (if and when he comes). Sigh.....

Home Sweet Home

Went back to my hometown last Saturday. As usual, whenever we came back, Mak will spread an array of delicious food on the table. And Saturday's iftar was not excluded - we had awesome chicken curry, mussel rendang and some other dishes. As for Sunday's iftar we were served my all-time favourite - soto ayam.

But please excuse the lack of pictures, everybody was like the hoover vacuum, but to be honest I wasn't inclined to take pictures, dah lapar sangat!!!!

Today's iftar will be steamed assam siakap, kerabu mangga and some additional dishes. Yours truly will be the invited chef for the day. Hopefully, the dishes would turn up fine as I have the tendency to make errors and mistakes cooking at home. Ye la, cooking in front of the master is quite daunting. Furthermore, the critics and reviewers are a bunch of hard to please people. He he, jangan marah, Abah.

Will update the pictures soon, hopefully.

As I've written before, the dishes weren't as excellent as when I cooked in KD. But, still got rave reviews from the family. Aaaaawwwhhhh.....

My "Hometown"

The day was a hectic one. Promised Abang (my younger brother) to start the journey to Kota Singa earrrly in the morning. When he came at 7.30 am, we were still lounging in dreamland and slumberland. Ha ha ha. If I didn't do that, the trip will start at a much later time.

The journey wasn't long and not as congested as we used second link at Gelang Patah. But what made it tedious was the fact that there were so many stops o be made due to strict regulation by the Kota Singa govt.

Just imagine, the first stop is to hand over our passports and identity cards for first time user of the passports (i.e. Ayang, Adik and I). We were interrogated as where we were headed and so forth. The funny thing was nobody knew where we were headed as my eldest brother will be waiting for us at the other side. What a laugh. Finally, Ikin remembered to mention Jurong.

The second stop was to acquire the passcard which will be used as touch'n'go when we exit Kota Singa later on. After being checked twice for the car registration, we managed to get one.

After that we need to pass through custom, even after choosing the green lane (nothing to declare) we were still stopped and ordered to open the trunk and so on. After handing the receipt for god knows what, we were still detained as the date stamped on the receipt were on 24th instead of 29th. Again, we were asked to wait as they sort out the mess. Just imagine waiting with some Nepalese soldiers who were equipped with weapons and all. Finally we were let go to continue with our journey.

Whaaaa....tak suka.....tak suka!!!!!!! It felt like going to a high security place. Haaaa, if I don't think about all my uncles and aunties and cousins and a brother, I won't want to step a foot on that soil again.

On the way home, the trffic was a bit congested and had to queue up for quite some time. After handing up our passports to the officer on duty we were on our way and had to stop at the custom to again declare if we brought in any contrabands. As if....

Finallly, we arrived at Gelang Patah, our Johor side. Alas, Home Sweet Home....

Just the Two of Us

Last weekend Ayang and I had a sleepover at the new house. It was heaven with just the two of us. Thee hee hee.(*,)

Dinner was Chicken Roasted with Lemon Zest and Salad with Eggs and Black Pepper Sauce... Tadaa..... Appetizing, ya?

And finally....

Liciiiiiin..... I like!!!

I'm baaack... After a week+++ of sheer torture of marking papers, today I am officially liberated from 'paper penitentiary'. Ha ha ha!!!

Last week was dedicated to marking papers and marking papers....

And sewing curtains for the new home.

It was such an amateurish venture that all gadgets and tools that were within reach were used in the making of the curtains. Well, what do you expect from a 'once in a while tailor'. But it was worth the effort. The curtains were hung and they look amazing, if I may say so. Not 'amazing' in its look but 'amazing' in a way that I sewed those curtains...

EXODUS 2

The Exodus

Evey time the holidays beckon, be it the school holidays or festive holidays, the only destination that I want to go would be the south of Peninsula. What's the attraction, one might ask. The answer would be my hometown. Without fail, InsyaAllah, I will go home. There's nothing better than to relax and chill out surrounded by your loved ones.

But for this homecoming, there would be no relaxing nor chilling as my youngest sis will be engaged on Sunday. So everyone in the family is busy as a bee to make sure that the majlis is held smoothly. It is going to be a busy one as we will do our cooking for the feast. Well, there would be no catering for anak2 Mak Yah. :-)

I've done the special order of the day - Agar2 Cendol. But to my chagrin, those four batches are still not enough to fill every container that Abah bought. So, back to the stove tomorrow for a repeat performance. I am starting to feel the toll of the long day, my eyes are getting heavier and heavier. But if I mention this to Ayang, he would laugh and smirk at me as I slept on the way home and again on the way to buy things for the Agar2.

I'll try to take some pix tomorrow. Camera pinjam adik, baru la ada gambar2 sikit. (*,)