InsyhaAllah....Jumpa lagi tahun depan....

Spring is here to stay and temperature has been in the teens these past few days. All of us miss the snow especially Hakeem. He has been saying "Ma...why is it so hot" and hari tu found him tidur with just his boxers. Ni baru spring, nanti kalau summer he'll be asking for 2 kipas. Kalau dia kat Malaysia baru dia tau langit tinggi or rendah with the scorching temperature I heard these days back home. Anyway, few weeks back we went for our last snow fling for this season, again in the Harz. This time the place is called Torfhaus and we found a spot specially for sleighing complete with lift so that tak payah menapak naik bukit lepas zooming down on the sleigh. Masalahnya with the lift tu is we have to berpaut like nobody's business to the sleigh if not sleigh tu will shoot up and you'll be left tergolek like what happened to me and Syirah....last2x meniarap atas sleight tu baru boleh. Hakeem all 3 times tercicir when dia berpaut dekat Angah punya sleigh and he had to menapak alone up the hill. Punya penat sampai menangis dia after the 3rd time. Shiannnn my baby (ciannn sangat -___- tak pun,by syirah. hehe)....Enjoy the pix....

This is when Angah tercicir his baby bro...

So his baby bro merah padam muka...last2x menangis penat!

Then, Angah kena go pujuk and rescue adik...

This is so sweet.....

Milk anyone.....?

Spring is here although we've been saying that since 2 weeks ago and yet we still have snow even up to early this morning....snow in mid-March? Some say don't fret, be prepared for snow during Easter too. Weather around the world has turned haywire thanks to global warming.

Anyway, one of the early signs that winter is ending and spring is on the way is when you see this particular cenonet plant which we found in our front garden.

Snowdrop it's called, it's a winter bulb. It pops out towards the end of winter, often pushing through the snow to appear. With its botanical name Galanthus, derived from Greek gala (milk) and anthos (flower), it is only normal that its white flowers look like drops of milk, and is commonly called the milkflower. Buleh gamaknya tadah mulut bawah them flowers.....I'll be looking for Crocus next.

Food...Glorious Food...

It's been quite a while since I updated this blog. The mood was just not there and for me, to write kena ada angin baru boleh jalan. So today the angin is whispering thoughts of food that we had recently sebab teruja tengok the other half mengasah bakat masak western food. Last 2 weekends we had a blast of fatty food when I made pizza one day and masak lemak cili api udang with buncis and nenas with pecal the next. (Pizza base punya recipe ni I got from another blog of which I'm an avid silent reader...Min of Salam Dua Benua...I so love her blog which is a must-read for me...hari-hari check for her updates...thanks Min for the recipe and minta halal sebab mention kat sini). Since sindiri buat, topping teramat mewah, ada yang salami with cheese, ada yang turkey, pineapples and cheese....all with generous helpings of each...Bestttt...

Since then, he's been lamenting about his boroi perut, asal lalu cermin monyok jer rub his perut yang macam orang mengandung 5 bulan. He then decided to go on a diet which delighted us coz now everybody can eat same type of food. Kalau tidak tu, me and the kids jer yang akan partake in this type of fare and kena masakkan hubby his nasi with lauk pauk dia. Now masak sekali harung for everybody.

So, we've been having soups, baked stuff and setakat ni we're enjoying it. Carbo intake is minimised especially rice. Days when I'm at work, and the kids will have lunch in school, Abah will cook "Sup Semua Taruh" ie loads of vege and meat all thrown inside. When I come back from office no more masak additional like I used to buat, pasta bake ke, muffins ke, roti jala ke...coz semua orang makan sup. Bila muak sup, buat segala roast pulak. So far we had roast chicken, baked fish and the latest today hubby tried his hands in making Roast Lamb, of course with the cooking instructions from me. Imran made the mash potatoes and I made the gravy. Hasilnya....the lamb is verrrry..verrry..tasty. He said he put in his special additional ingredients, tak ikut bulat-bulat my recipe, tu yang taste out of this world...Wahhhh...dah eksennnn skarang nooooo..mentang-mentang dah terer masak.
Semalam however true to his perut yang dah graduate down to 4-month looking, he mengidam makan pau pulak after looking at blogger friend Mami's blog, so he asked me to make some. The recipe that I had in my recipe file kena pakai Hong Kong flour, mana pulak nak cari kat sini yang baking ingredients memang hampeh. Tengok recipe Mami quite easy and menjadi elok tapi kena pakai yis basah. Masalahnya, I don't have that in stock, yang ada dry yeast import dari Malaysia, so cari resipi from other blogs and found one in Kak Rin's (Naz Rinnchan blogspot. Kak Rin is actually my senior at SMS Taiping). which uses plain flour and Yis Mauripan. Hasilnya tidak mengecewakan. (Thanks Kak Rinn).. the traditional pau rose bagai dipam-pam bila dikukus and making it is so easy-peasy. Ada la rasa macam makan pau yang ada makcik jual from her van kat depan Stesyen Keretapi Taiping. SInce I made 1 kg weight of tepung and when I divided into portions terbanyak la pulak, had to think of other fillings to put in as the inti ayam that I made earlier tak cukup. Korek laci found half a packet of dessicated coconuts so made some inti kelapa. Tak cukup lagi so the balance tu I just stuffed them with Nutella, serunding daging and even cheese. The verdict...they liked those yang inti kelapa and nutella the best. So, this recipe is for keeps...dah sehari pun still lembut and kalau nak kaw lagi just heat up in the microwave for 2 seconds, tastes like baru lepas kukus. Recipe as follows, as requested by dear cuzzie Wid :-

PAU KUKUS TRADISIONAL (resipi dari Kak Rinn of rinnchan.blogspot.com)

Bahan-bahan:
1 kg tepung gandum
11gm yis mauripan (=I packet)
200gm gula (=1 cwn)
100gm minyak jagung atau minyak masak (=1/2 cwn)
460gm air (=2 1/2 cwn air, boleh tambah jika perlu)

Cara-cara:
1. Gaul tepung dengan yis.
2. Larutkan gula dalam air.
3. Tuangkan larutan gula sedikit demi sedikit ke dalam tepung dan gaul perlahan-lahan dengan hujung jari.
4. Halfway thru campurkan minyak dan teruskan menguli dgn menghabiskan lebihan air hingga menjadi doh yang kenyal.
5. Rehatkan adunan 10min - 15min.
6. Bulatkan adunan mengikut saiz yg dikehendaki dan rehatkan lagi 10min. Sementara itu panaskan kukusan.
7. Leperkan doh bulat di atas tapak tangan dan masukkan inti kesukaan (kelapa/ kacang merah, daging atau ayam) dan tutup rapat2 dgn menarik bhg yg dirapatkan itu ke arah bawah dan dapatkan permukaan atas yg licin dan bulat.
8. Lapik dengan daun pisang atau plastik yg telah digunting mengikut saiz pau.
9. Biarkan pau naik selama 30 min dan kukus selama 10 min. Jangan lebih lama dari itu.

* Pau yang telah sejuk boleh dihangatkan semula menggunakan kukusan.

Esok back to work for me and it'll be interesting to see what the other half will cook! Dia macam tengah mengidam Roast Duck recipe MIL Mami jer....asyik sebut quek..quek..quek...after embekkkk...embekkk...semalam. Macam ni punya menu bukan nyer diet! Boyot ader ler....Meantime, I'm actually nursing an upset stomach which has been growling and spewing its anger atas bawah since last Friday. I had food poisoning cukup dengan cirit birit and muntah monggek bak kata orang Peghark! Ingatkan dah baik coz semalam dah reda, hari ni mengaruk balik perut ni penangan kambing tadi ghaser nyer.... I still hutang one update on our short trip to Belgium and Luxembourg. Nanti la bila angin jalan-jalan berghembuih I'll tic toc on the keyboard. Till then...toodles!