Bread Making Machine

It was Wednesday 29 July 2009. Again, I had to cancel my exercise routine. I was excited to get my wonderful bread making machine. Izad promised to send it that evening around 6pm. When it was close to six he called from Kemaman and told me he was on the way back to Kuantan and would arrive around “magrib”. He would send the machine after “magrib” prayer. If he told me earlier that he would be late, I would have gone jogging! Around 15 minutes until 8pm he showed up with Lin and their daughter Nabila. My long awaited machine had finally arrived. Lin briefed me on how to operate the machine. I felt bad rushing them because I had to go to my “Harfiah” class at 9.15pm. We just dumped all the ingredients in the machine and left it for 2 hours. Voila! The bread was ready when I got back from my “Harfiah” class. Unfortunately the kids were all asleep. They were excited to see (and eat) the bread the next morning. It was delicious!

Wonder machine

The present which came with the machine. It's a bread cutting guide

Voila! Nice and warm bread

Off to Mexico

Steve and Juan at the airport

On Tuesday 28 July 2009 our friend Juan left for Mexico after 2 months vacation in Terengganu. Steve, Najla, Yasmin, and I went to see him off at Kuantan airport. The flight was on time at 6.50pm. Hope he had a safe trip home.

Spaghetti Dinner

Yesterday evening I didn't go to the gymn or jogging in anticipation of a new bread maker cum multipurpose oven which was supposed to be delivered by my friend Izad. Since I was at home I decided to cook spaghetti bolognaise and made a pitcher of lemonade. It was all worth my effort! My spaghetti dinner was a huge success because I received tons of praises "sedapnya Mak, sedapnya Mak" especially from Danial, Yasmin, and Harris. Hannah and Najla were cautious at first but then decided to jump in and join the other fanatics. Harris ate so much until his stomach hurt! That boy has such a small stomach, he probably will not have a weight problem in life. I was so busy cooking I forgot about the oven. Then I called Izad and asked why he didn't come and guess what? He forgot! I asked him to send it on Wednesday because this evening we would like to send Juan off to the airport.

Mmmm... YummyBurppp... We are full!

Relaxing Sunday

Today is pretty relaxing compared to yesterday. I thought of going for a walk in the morning but had to abort the plan due to heavy rain. I started to sort the old news papers but had to stop for my “tajwid” class. I was so hungry at the end of my class so I ate some rice at home before I left for facial at my friend’s salon. This time I was awake during the massage and it was so relaxing. I dozed off while waiting for the mask to dry. On the way home, I stopped by a supermarket to get some ingredients to make spaghetti bolognaise because Danial is coming back from his PMR workshop today. He was the one who asked me to cook spaghetti. However,when I got home, Steve told me he was going to bake pizza for dinner. I guess I have to postpone making the spaghetti. Since he was volunteering to cook, there was no point for me to crowd the kitchen, so I decided to update my blog. In the middle of writing, I was interrupted by a wonderful tray of pizza. I thought, hey, why don’t I take a picture of this pizza and share it with the world! Pizza anyone ?

A Change of Plan

Our weekend turned 360 degrees. All of us planned to go to Subang Jaya yesterday and stay overnight at my cousin’s house because Danial is supposed to play soccer at the Shah Alam Stadium today! Yeah! That’s right! I am supposed to attend a 3-hour talk at the NST office tomorrow. Unfortunately, his teachers told him that he had to attend a “PMR” workshop today and tomorrow. Since nobody else was going to KL, I canceled my participation at NST as well. It turned out to be a good change of plan because I had the opportunity to do all the cleaning that I wanted to do. Last night Steve and I cleaned our fridge and we threw tones of old medicine. We could have opened our own pharmacy. While cleaning the fridge, we also found Steve’s fat tumor which was removed from the side of his torso 7 or 8 years ago! Besides cleaning, I also got a chance to cook chicken “masak lemak cili padi”. On top of that, I managed to fold a mountain of clothes which have been washed yesterday and the day before! A terribly boring chore that can’t be avoided. I still have one more chore to do tomorrow which is sorting the old newspapers to be sent to the recycling place.
I will try to squeeze in an appointment to do facial tomorrow too. It would be great to take a nap while someone massage my face. Wow! I can’t wait!

Juan’s Visit to Our Kampong

We have been going back to the “kampong” quite often lately because it’s fruit season. If we don’t go and eat all those fruits, who else is going to do that? However, last weekend (18 July) was special because we had a guest, Juan, a wonderful medical student from Mexico. He plans to do a practical training in the US so he met with Steve a few times to get used to the American accent. We didn’t travel to the kampong together because he was in KL the day we drove back last Saturday. He arrived with his parents around 7.15pm. That night my sister had a gathering at her house so Juan got to experience a kampong style gathering. He ate all the hot and spicy dishes (masak lemak cili padi) and had no trouble eating rice with his hand. The next morning, Steve, Najla, Hannah and I sent him to St Joseph Church (SJC) in KP but it was closed. We drove to the nearby Methodist Church in case if the Minister knew when SJC would be opened. We were told that the mass would be held at 11am in Bahau instead of KP for that weekend. Since we still had plenty of time, we headed to the nearby stall for breakfast. Juan and Steve ate “nasi lemak”, Najla and Hannah ate nuggets, and I ate curry puffs.

After we finished our breakfast, we decided to play tourist guide so we took Juan to the Sri Menanti Old Palace. We didn’t stay long, just enough to take a few photos, so that Juan would not miss his mass. Since we are not too familiar with Bahau, we asked the policemen who were standing outside of a supermarket. Two of them started their motor cycles and showed us the way to the church.

We went back to my mom’s house at lunch time. We wanted to take some fruits but it started to rain really hard. We all took a nap until the rain stopped. Then we took some “manggis”, “langsat”, “duku”, and “mata kuching”. Steve also took Juan to the durian orchard across the river and they got 2 big durians. We cut one up so Juan could eat it and he really liked the taste because it was fresh from the tree. We hope he had a good time because he seemed to blend in well with the kampong folks. We’ll miss him when he goes back to Mexico.

Najla posed by the river while waiting for Steve and Juan getting durians

Getting ready to get "mata kucing" behind my sister's house

Eating dinner at my mom's house before we headed back to Kuantan

Harris’ 11th Birthday

Having 5 children means celebrating their birthdays 5 times a year. Well, that’s not so bad. Looking for the right presents 5 times a year is sometimes tough. We don’t want to buy something too expensive because that will drill deep holes in our pockets but at the same time we would like to get something which would please our kids. Since Steve is not so busy at his office at the moment, he went shopping for the present. Harris wanted a Nintendo DS but we (the parents!) disagreed. Besides being expensive, it will just transfer Harris’ attention from the computer screen to the game screen. That would be bad for his eyesight! Steve decided to get him a remote control car and Harris loves it. At least something takes his eyes off the computer. He didn’t open his present until 10 o’clock last night, after we got back from a birthday dinner at Pizza Hut (a ritual for the past several years). We didn’t cut his chocolate birthday cake until this evening, after Steve and I got off work. The chocolate cake is homemade, and it is another family ritual ever since we celebrated our eldest son’s first birthday in 1995! They aren’t tired of the taste yet. Happy birthday Harris.

At Pizza Hut (Ktn Parade)

Harris is taller than abang Danial?

Najla must be full to be able to make that expression

Harris! Get off the counter!

Mmmm, yummy icecream

How does it feel to be 11 Harris?

Harris with his present

Najla got a present too, a diary. See! she's writing in it!

Smile... You are on candid camera!

The same old chocolate cake

Be careful Harris, don't cut yourself

Harris' present, the batteries are dead already!

Yasmin, Hannah, and Najla got one of this diary each

Danial got this mouse and he has to share it with me!

Cooking Class

Blogging is the order of the day. After I finished jogging, I rushed to the bathroom thinking that I had my “tajwid” class. When I arrived at the “surau” no one was there except 2 other ladies and myself. I called up the teacher and was informed that the class has been cancelled. I went home and started to update my blogs. I was so engrossed with it until I forgot to check the time. When I looked at the clock, it was 1:45pm and I had to attend a cooking class at 2:00pm! When I arrived at the class, the teacher had just started the class and I didn’t really miss much. Thank God. Today’s recipes are spaghetti Bolognese, chocolate caramel cookies, almond raisin bread, and Malaysian yogurt (dadih).

Spaghetti Bolognese

Almond Raisin Bread

Chocolate caramel cookiesDadih

All participants were given a few slices of bread, 9 cookies, and a container of “dadih”. However, the spaghetti was not enough to be taken home so we ate it in the classroom. It was pretty tasty and from now on I can make it for my kids. Danial seems to like spaghetti the most. Usually I made spaghetti sauce with tuna because I couldn’t stand the smell of meat. I found out the trick is to wash the ground meat thoroughly until the meat color turns from red to white. I guess the trace of blood that stinks up the meat!

Participants

Goodies we took home

The class ended at 5.30pm. When Steve came to pick me up, Najla came along. She couldn’t wait to get home to taste the cookies so I had to give one to her in the car. She wanted more because “it was soooo good” she said, but I didn’t let her. It looks like I have to bake some soon. This coming weekend, the teacher is going to teach how to make “kek rampai kelapa”, “apam balik”, potato bread, and tropical juice. For those who are interested please call Izad at 013 938 8797 or 013 996 3789. Registration is on a first come first serve basis.

Yummy spaghetti sauce

Our "sifu" Lin was serving a participant

Izad was cutting the bread. With the right tools slicing bread is a breeze

Voila! Tempting slices

My new friends Zam and Rafiha. May our friendship last forever

I will post the rest of the pictures in my Facebook sometime later.