Ramadhan is leaving us

Oh my...Ramadhan is leaving us...we have about 9 more days to perform our fast and tarawih...I feel so sad...but I'm thankful to Allah for giving me a blessed and meaningful 20days of Ramadhan...alhamdulillah thank you Allah...

I couldn't update my blog yesterday as I was busy marking the Trial PMR paper...I've finished marking just now...yeay...yes! I could celebrate Eid ul-ftr peacefully then...but I'm not satisfied with my students' performances...their results are quite disappointing...I got to do something with them before the school holidays next week...

Ok...enuf with work! Let's talk about food...Yesterday, Mr.B decided to cook fish...(this is because Aqeel loves fish)that's why today, Mr.B went to Pak Tam's stall at Tikam Batu (his uncle is a fishmonger at Tikam Batu) to buy more fish. Our freezer now is full, I think it will last until Eid ul-fitr.

ikan tiga rasa

I made choc chip muffin, as requested by Aqeel, actually he requested two days ago but I managed to make for him yesterday...

choc chip muffin

I used Nigella Lawson' recipe...you can go to this link for the recipe ; Nigella Feast

Today...Mr.B made fish curry....fish lagi...but sedap!

fish head curry / kari kepala ikan

for Aqeel...Mr.B added spanish mackerel (ikan tenggiri) in the curry...he finished a bowl of rice today...alhamdulillah

kambing lagi

We had lamb again! I'm not really a fan though...I'll get sick sometimes after eating lamb like getting headache or tummy discomfort...but I still ate it today, cannot eat much la ... 

I couldn't finish the big portion of lamb together with the extra side dishes...

   grilled lamb with cold potato salad , macaroni n cheese

While Mr.B was grilling the lamb, I prepared the cold potato salad...this is also my sis's fav dish... betul tak Lurve?
and very easy to make too

cold potato salad

Ingredients :

5 medium sized potatoes, boiled until just tender (add  a pinch of salt)

1 medium sized onion, diced

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 tablespoon fruit salad dressing

1 teaspoon black pepper

Cut the potatoes into bite-size pieces, then mix the rest of the ingredients until evenly coated, chill the potato salad in the fridge

And here's what I made for my kids...

 mixed macaroni with chicken soup

So, these were our iftar menu on the 18th of Ramadhan. 

Have a great day peeps!

Nuzul Quran

I am not working today. It's a public holiday in Penang for Nuzul Quran. Early this morning, around 8 a.m., I went out to clean the compound with the help from my girl and another little helper, an eager one indeed hehe...

presenting, Charlie...my lil' helper...he is named after Charlie Caplin, as you can see, he has patches on the lower part of his nose that resembles Chaplin's moustache. He is about two months old and is the only kitten alive at the moment (from 7 kittens that didn't survive).  He was abandoned by his mother, which I'm still figuring why...because, she is still around just that Charlie cannot be near her. In the end, Charlie is adopted by Fifi, that brown cat in the picture.

what on earth are you doing? I wonder why he is so fascinated with the plastic bag...

having breakfast from leftover sahur

take a look at the clean compound...no more dried leaves....I'm so happy!

my dragon fruit plant...I'm so surprise to see it is still standing...I wonder will it survive?

Today...for iftar...I prepared 'asam pedas ikan merah' 

I followed the recipe from TryMasak

but I made some changes to a few of the ingredients for example, I decided to cook ikan merah,  I used only 1 liter of water instead of 2 liters, and only one tomato. I also added more asam keping, salt and sugar. 

I made this one too...

kerabu jantung pisang

do you know that, I took a longer time to prepare this kerabu than cooking the asam pedas! 

I have to cook the jantung pisang for about 15 minutes, then prepare the ingredients such as

3 onions, chopped

10 birdeye chilies, chopped

1 bunga kantan, chopped

1 tsp of kerisik

1/2 of jantung pisang, chopped

some dried anchovies,advisable to cook without oil and pound well

2 tbs tamarind juice

some salt and sugar

combine all together and your kerabu is ready! 

Ocean Catch

Yesterday,on the 15th of Ramadhan, we had fish for iftar. 

Mr.B decided to make 'ikan pari bakar' or can we call it grilled skate wings or BBQ stingray hehehe...I told him I was thinking of cooking 'daging masak hitam' but we didn't have any beef in the freezer. So, ikan pari lah...

the stingrays were grilled on banana leaf with a mixture of lemon juice, kaffir lime juice ( limau purut ) olive oil, ginger, black pepper, turmeric leaves (daun kunyit) and lemongrass (serai)

When you have 'ikan pari bakar' you must have the air asam ,the gravy! It's a must. This was prepared by me. Mr.B loved my air asam :) It's a simple one to make; we need 

20 birdeye chilies (cili padi), chopped

2 medium sized onions, chopped

2 tablespoon dried shrimp paste ( belacan ) 

2 tablespoon tamarind juice ( asam jawa )

mix all together and there you go...it's ready to be eaten with ikan pari bakar

the fried mackerels were for Aqeel... He had two bowls of rice with these! I was so surprised to see he ate so much rice and fish. Alhamdulillah...at least he had extra energy and wouldn't be tired fasting the next day.  

Italian cravings...

Wow...it's been two weeks of Ramadhan...alhamdulillah Aqeel is still fasting. And today, my boy requested to eat spaghetti, well, this is how he described to me, "Mommy, can I have spaghetti with the sauce and chicken for bukak puasa? You must make with chicken, I don't want with beef,o.k. mommy."

Mr.B was not around so I prepared the food for iftar today.

Chicken Spaghetti Bolognese

here's the recipe I would like to share :)

Ingredients :

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tomatoes, cut into 4
1 can Heinz Tomato Soup
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon chili paste
1 cube chicken stock
250g angle hair spaghetti
500g chicken mince/chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic,stir often until browned. Then, add chili paste, saute` until fragrant or in 'Malay' until 'pecah minyak'. Add chicken mince and cook for 8 minutes.

2. Add tomato soup, chicken stock, basil, parsley and oregano. Stir well and mixture comes to boil. Then, add tomatoes,salt and sugar, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Cook pasta in a large pan of boiling water for about 8 minutes,add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of oil, drain and serve pasta topped with bolognese sauce. (3-4 servings)