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!

Winter Wonderland

We couldn't get enough of the snow so off we went yesterday on a lazy Sunday morning in search of more snow in the Harz Mountains which is an hour away from Hannover. This place is well known for winter sports in this part of Germany although the mountain ranges are not as high as the German Alps. The amount of snow that greeted us was something we could not have imagined before. Setinggi berdiri and tinggi lagi dari kereta. We were looking for a place where we could do some sleighing and for Imran to snowboard as skiing is something which we can only dream off for now. The first stop, Harz Nationalpark did not meet our expectations as although it provided us with picturesque scenary, it was more for cross-country skiers.

Next stop is Sonnenberg which is quite a busy place with 2 ski-lifts and people engaging in skiiing and snow-boarding activities. But still no special place for people who wants to slide down a hill with their sleighs. Imran nak rent snowboard pun Mamat tempat sewa tu macam layan tak layan, mentang2x la satu bas tourist turun at that time and that place is quite commercial. So since perut dah berkeroncong and our bladders were nearly bursting we entered the cafe there. Not much choice of food that we can take so ended up with fries, soup, Pasta Napoli and baked potato. Syirah's soup looked like savoury bubur gandum which wasn't what she expected so dengan pujuk rayu she switched with Mama's baked potato. Bladder empty and tummy filled, we made our move.

Backtracking to the road where we came from, we found this lovely place on top of a hill amidst houses with snow right up their roof. We have learnt that the best places are normally those yang tak commercial which are usually the village's best kept secrets yang worthwhile pergi cari masuk celah kampung mana entah and the best thing is it's FOC. The house owners nearby had to tarah the snow to create a pathway to their door steps and for their cars to be parked. Imagine depa bukak tingkap and they're greeted by this wall of snow, kinda like a house within an open-topped igloo...so cool ehh....

Along the small narrow street atop the hill sits the best place for us to sleigh down and had Imran been able to rent a snowboard he would have had great fun as the slope down was not very steep. Semua orang macam dah penat and malas nak turun dari kereta but I was adamant that we get down. Rugi la dah datang and then dok dalam kereta jer. Dengan bersemangat I took the snow bob out from the car boot, konon nak be the first to slide down, tapi bila sampai kat starting point tu macam kecut perut la pulak so suruh Abah and Imran go first. When my turn came, I had the best time of my life whooshing down the slope. Turun memang best, nak menapak naik punya la seksa, tecungap-cungap. Gerak Hakeem and Syirah as it was too good to be missed. Syirah yang mula tak nak pun then wanted to go for more.

Masa ni la ada satu member-of-the family (not naming that person but you know who you are...hee..hee..hee...kita panggil MOF la senang kira. Jaja, make a wild guess!) yang dah tak tahan nak wee-wee so much so that dia sanggup think of peeing somewhere in the snow and suruh Mama hadang dia, boleh? Hishhhhh...ada ke? Nasib baik Abah saw a mobile toilet along the road. With great relief MOF berjalan lenggang kangkung with a bottle of water to wash after. Mama saw that MOF waited for so long kat luar toilet tu and was wondering apasal la lama sangat. Abah said that orang yang masuk sebelum tu amat la besar orangnya and we dread to think kalau dia "melabur" kat dalam cubicle yang teramat la sempit tu. Later MOF came back to the car dengan muka yang kelat....Yes, Mamat tu "melabur" big time and the toilet tak der flush so the poo was all there to be seen and tak der tissue and tak der air and baunya teramat la SUPER PONG! Tu la, orang suruh wee-wee kat cafe tak nak, eksyen strong bladder control konon. Shian dia.....we then got thinking, kalau toilet tu tak der tissue, Mamat tu lap pakai aper??? ieuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwww.....

Harz, Germany

Too much of a good thing...

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow.....I personally like it. There's something magical about it. Been snowing since before Christmas so that makes it to almost 2 months of record breaking snow fall since the last 30 years in Germany. Berlawan-lawan countries with 4 seasons in terms of the worst snow fall. UK katanya since the last 70 years, parts of US some 90 years? Mula-mula turun di Hannover dulu everybody was overjoyed even the Germans yang anak cucu depa memang tak merasa snow in such big quantity in town. Sleigh tu sampai habih kat kedai, queing list nak order punya panjang.

Mula-mula turun cantik.....everything is white and pure. After a few days, mula la the ugly side of it appears...yang kat tengah and tepi jalan tu turns into blackish icy muck (Slurpy 7-eleven cola flavour?) especially if not cleared by the Majlis Bandaran which happened in Hannover hari tu. Sebabnya the people yang in-charged of the cleaning is under the purview of the party yang menang election hari tu and this party katanya is golongan pencinta alam and to put salt on the road is an act yang sungguh tak environmentally friendly. So they let the snow melambak kat jalan to a certain extent yg dah agak-agak membahayakan baru la nak clear. Yang kat pavement tu bila dah bercampur dengan dogs' poo and pee turned especially yucky.

Since it has been snowing for sometime and temperature most of the time still below freezing point, the old snow has turned into ice and to walk in this condition is very dangerous. Kinda like going through obstacle course for my daily walk to the cafe behind my office for lunch so much that we got one colleague to drive there although the walk is a short one. Berapa kali dah nak tergolek. The kids' school principal had a bad fall resulting in a punctured lung. Same case with another teacher who is still warded as we speak. As such, the hospitals registered record increase in people admitted with related cases.

Now that we have so much of it, nobody ambik pot pun and kedengaran komen-komen bila la pulak snow ni nak berenti. We've been encouraged to feed the ducks sebab the lakes have been frozen for a long time, takut kebulur itik-itik tu. Kalau depa suruh tangkap bawak balik rumah bela best jugak boleh buat roast duck lagi. Garam nak tabur kat jalan pun dah habis coz they never expected it to be this bad. This is the case of too much of a good thing....bak kata orang Perak...sampai dah muntah monggek....nak buat ais kacang or cendoi takut sakit perut although geram jer nengok salji putih gebu tu all around the area.

As I type this entry, snow is still falling non-stop outside. Looks like niat nak skating on the lake terpaksa tunda lagi coz the snow on top of the frozen lake creates a warm effect underneath and will halt the freezing process and the much needed thickness of ice enough for the lake to be declared safe for skating activities. Last year the lake in Hamburg not only had people skating and walking on it but also kiosks selling coffee and hotdogs! For now, my brandnew skates will dok diam-diam dalam kotak dulu noo....terkenang skating with my A-Level buddies kat Queensway ice skating rink as well as ice skating in Newcastle just before balik Malaysia for good (Elry- I know you're reading this, ingat tak?). Those were the days....

Ice-Skating On The Pond !

Want to know how cold it is here, just look at the 1.5L mineral water which has totally frozen. The mineral water was left in the open outside the Masjid's shop.

Kids cleaning the frozen pond belakang rumah for their version of ice-hockey...

Went to one of the Asian shops in town and bought frozen durian for $.50Euro for 4 ulas (durian siam) and Mama made bubur durian makan with pulut...yumm..yumm. Walaupun 4 ulas durian sahaja, itu sudah cukup membuatkan satu rumah bau durian....they did not call it King of Fruits for nothing..right....Kat Asian shop ni Mak/Bapak aje yang depa tak jual.....

Last Saturday Mama bought her new pair of ice-skating shoe in anticipation of ice-skating event at Lake Machee but until now we are still waiting for the announcement from DBKL. In the meantime, Mama practiced ice-skating kat pond belakang rumah and hasilnya.......

Last but not least, look at the banner below...yes...Scorpions is coming home to Hannover on 1 Jun 2010 and Mama/Abah dah plan nak tengok konset Scorpions..back to memory lane. Just found out that Scorpions ni rupanya Hannoverians.