What I learn 'Allah's Green creations'

Nothing much to say.. but lots of photos of our novice efforts in the lawn. We believe flowers and tended garden adds 'shimmers and shine' to the house. May Allah counts our efforts in caring for His creations (as well as being responsible tenants to our landlord! Hope they are happy (and wont increase the rent!) =D)

Mini roses, given FOC by a local nursery after the bad monsoon season last Dec.

A full bloom, also given by Zie's Nursery (12.2011)

Pluck it and stick them in the pot..

Blooms from 9am-12pm daily.

Non-stop action since we bought them (032009)

Pretty bunch of 'bunga tahi ayam'! (rabbits dislike them!)

Daun kesum or Vietnamese cilantro/mint (regularly snipped. Wash and keep them in the freezer.) - One of the most popular items in the garden, neighbours will come in and pluck some for their singgang.

Turmeric in a pot! (Look at the sizes of the leaves... lovely in rendang!) - it started as a tiny remnant of unused herb in the kitchen.. and vavavoom... it grows and grows!

Kaffir lime plant (Limau purut) - a pot given by our next door neighbour. I learn from her that plants are fantastic gifts. Just imagine, every time I use this in Tom Yam, she receives blessings from Him. Subhanallah!

Aloe vera (lovely in juices!) - was given by the cleaner of Klinik Desa Mengabang Telipot. She told us to use it for burn wounds. A thoughtful gesture, I reckon (06.2010)

Ginger plants (and a lonesome ulam raja! - we replanted the other 'monarchs' in a secluded area, where rabbits can't munch them!). This ginger plant was a good friend of mine during the confinement days! Ahahha..

Galangal (lengkuas), another favorite items of our neighbours. (Neighbours will enter the house, take any herbs they need and go back to their respective kitchens... cool eh? I think that's why this plant is growing so well.)

Peonies in a pot..  =D

Plant plants.

Patience.

Persevere, water and fertilize them.

Ponder upon His super greatness.

Priceless buds.

Pray...
(Put them in the pot)
Precious dine..

What I learn from 'cooking shortcuts'

My super wise Mak and I.

Mak has taught me a lot of practical things. This is one of the most practised, ever since I became a mom myself. Spending less time in the kitchen daily is the objective - in order to spend more quality time with the children when they are at home. And so, these are some of the shortcuts I've been making use of...

(p/s: Alhamdulillah for having a husband who is not a fussy eater.. Love you more and more, Abang!)

 Cook a “Big Batch” Recipe Weekly

I make big batches of food, like bolognese sauce, curry, masak lomak cili api (without the yoghurt/coconut milk), soup, stocks, tom yam soup (add in more veggies and chook/prawn/squid later) so there are lots of leftovers to be heated up for dinner for the rest of the week. One of my favorite ‘big batch’ recipes to make is home made sauce for pasta. My kids actually thank me every time I make this, which melts my heart. 

Frozen batches for this week!

Freeze, Freeze, Freeze

Then I'll freeze them in my ever-so-faithful tupperwares in small batches, so it is easy for me to heat them up. I label my tuppsies on top, so that I know what's inside. Then a small list to be placed on the fridge, so that I know what is there and has been chomped!

 

To save time, I always marinate a big batch of ground beef and chicken with the normal tumeric and salt, and sometimes with the satay paste. So, when one of the kids are in need of ayam goreng 'Upin Ipin' style (fried chooks), I can make it in 3 steps - open the freezer, thaw, fry!

Mak taught me to make a big batch of cupcakes/curry puffs/sausage rolls/samosas on the weekend with the kids (fantastic fun activity here, moms!). Parbake them. Then, they can be stored in the freezer for months. It's fab if you love to entertain (surprised) guests as well!

What's left freezing in the freezer?

Pre-Chop Veggies

Onions, chillies of all sorts, garlic, tumeric.. I pre-process them to make my life easier. Then I store them in colourful tuppsies in the fridge, which look pretty and are enjoyable to use, instead of plastic bags, which can get kind of sticky. This really cut off your prep time, which means more time for the familia!

Since we love our chillies, I even pickled my chillies for fried noodles/kuey tiaw and chilled a tupperware of sambal belacan! Yes, I confess that I dont like to stay in the kitchen too long! =D

My pickled chillies, half empty! And other sort of pre-prepared shortcuts chilling in the fridge!

Use Pre-Packaged Pastes as Bases

A true confession of a studying/working mom  - 'I cheat in the kitchen!' (<---- it's ME!!)

Hey, if it makes my life easier, just half an hour (MAX) in the kitchen, and the result is delicious, why not?!

Since I love this product so much (Seri Tunjung, uolls!), I do sell them to other busy momsies like me! Sharing is caring (and it can be a wonderful side income, too!)

Wide range of VERY TASTY products (<-- promo!! hahah).

And you know what, short cuts or long drive, it is important for us moms to try to cook for our husband and children most of the time. It's crucial since you know the ingredients you are using are halal, clean and fresh (ish).. and when you cook, you always put the extra ingredients that you cant buy anywhere, LOVE, ZIKR and DU'As. Remember, stir in your food with them... insha Allah, you'll get healthy family filled with His barakah.

And always make du'a for Mak.. many of them!


Wallahu'alam...

What I learn from 'outsourcing kitchen work'.

Alwani LOVES pasta. She can eat any kind of pastas everyday! And this weekend, she was asking for spaghetti and meat balls (and it was not in my cooking schedule!!) But hey, why not? They need an activity anyway during the weekend. Light bulb!!

I'll outsource the tedious part for them to do! Yee haaa! They have to do their own meatballs!! 

Yes, they did. After washing and brushing their hands with soap and water, both Al Fateh and Alwani sat down while I demonstrated the way to make the minced meat ball-like. They are fast learners, so after a couple of meatballs, they're off on their own!

I believe there were a few lessons learned from this simple event.

Lesson 1: Do include your children in the kitchen activity - the simple and far from dangerous ones. They will appreciate the food more, since they put their own effort in 'making it happen'.

Lesson 2: Trust me, sibling rivalry will happen. And during this simple meatball-outsourcing activity, they started to compare who 'balled' most meat. Counting and more counting, and rechecking others' counting occur continuously, till the last of the meatball. Great indirect math lesson!

Lesson 3:  Appreciate the kids after their hard work. I rewarded them with cold yoghurt drink (which is rare in the house. They (are force to) live by plain H2O)! When they are appreciated, they do ask if they can help more in the house, which is a wonderful thing. It's really magic how simple 'Can I help you with anything, Ummi?' washes away the tiredness. Seriously.

Lesson 4: Furthermore, they'll learn about cleanliness - prior to, while and after food prep. Of course those are basic skills, but if they are not exposed to it, they can't practice it.

Lesson 5: Raw food is yucky to be eaten! (Hard lesson learned by Yusuf!)

'Cooked food is wayyy better then raw!'

Lesson 6: Have trust in your children small hands. They can do it if you trust them and show them what and how things should be done well.

Lesson 7: Don't be a perfectionist. There might be odd shapes and sizes, but hey, just chuck them in the pot and cook them! Nobody will notice it when they're all jumbled and stirred in the pot!

Lesson 8: Praise them, and tell their wonderful effort to their Abi, and grandparents! 

Hard work pays off!

What I learn from 'bubbye bottle'.

Yusuf managed to say goodbye to his Avent bottle today. We're so proud of him. He's 2 years and 5 months old and we believe that he should be able to drink from a cup - and he proved us right!

I know it's not an easy thing for Yusuf to do, especially when he has been depending on milk from the bottle starting from 6 months old, to comfort him to sleep and it became his savior from hunger (if Ummi takes too long to cook!).

Remembering what the nurses in King Eddie Hospital back in Perth advice, which was to teach the toddler from the age of 2 to let go of their bottle, in order to protect their teeth from rotting and to ensure a better sleeping pattern at night and better brain growth (since no waking ups for milk in the middle of the night) - it gave us strength to prevail, though Yusuf actually asked for his bottle (only) twice during the first day (and both were not caused by hunger, but merely to comfort him to sleep).

Steps for 'Bubbye-Bottle'

Bubbye bottle, Hello Wiggle cup!

1. We comforted and praised him that he is a very good, big boy, and big, handsome boys don't drink from bottles. They use cups. And we asked him whether can he be a good big handsome boy. Of course he replied, "YES!' without understanding fully the consequences of the answer.
2. Then we asked him to find his bottle from his cot and asked him if it was dirty. And of course, another 'YES,' from him. So we reasoned him that it's not healthy anymore to drink from the bottle. Grown-ups like us (includes the older siblings in the conversation) do not use bottles. He then told us, 'I'm a big boy! No yucky bottle!' (Phew, correct answer from him!) And we asked him to throw the bottle in the rubbish bin (himself). <--- This step is important so that he'd remember that he chucked it away himself.
3.  Then we introduced to him to his new pals, Elmo and Wiggle straw cups, just like his sister's. Alhamdulillah, he accepted it. (Alwani did not approve of her cups when she was younger, so we drove to Target in Carousel, Perth and asked her to choose her own cup! And she was stuck to it for a looong time. <---This was another tip given by the nurses at King Eddie's which was to reward the children for their sacrifice.)
4. Be persistent. Some kids (like Al Fateh) take a bit longer to adapt to the new situation. They might rebel. But some (like Yusuf) understands well and reason with himself when he was in need of the bottle. Some of his monologue; 'No bottle, I'm a big boy', 'Wiggle cup but same milk', 'I don't want bad teeth'. 
5. Though Yusuf transformed exceptionally well, his milk consumption became less at the beginning (4-5 days), which actually worries the nursery carers. But he'll gradually learn to drink more from the cup day by day. Both my children, Alwani and Yusuf, enjoy the chocolate flavoured milk in the cup, as compared to the normal flavoured milk. I can't answer why. Al Fateh only drinks full cream milk, even till now.
6. For us, because we knew and believed on why were doing the this, we symphatised when Yusuf desperately sought for his bottle, but we didn't give in. Patience and perseverance are essential to both mom and dad.

We are proud of you big, handsome and good boy Hamza Yusuf!

What I learn from 'my veggie patch'.

I started my small veggie patch late last year when I felt the need to divert my attention from my research. Yes, that's how bad it was. Using the hoe as my weapon to break the hard brown soil, I felt a sense of relieve. I felt good. 

From planting the basic lemon grass and pandan plants, I advanced to veggies and everyday herbs. And today, after sowing the seeds of my kangkung in mid March, I ate my own grown veggie for the first time (in Terengganu) (and this also excludes eating taugeh, which was the experiments of Al Fateh and Alwani)!

My skinny kangkung.

Looking at the photos captured, I praise to Allah for His power to make things grow.

I learn that the kids enjoyed looking at the different phases of the growth. My wee veggie patch allows me to introduce to the kids the idea of caring of our surroundings, how to treat plants. Even Yusuf loves to take part by practically standing by the hose to 'book' his turn to water the plants. Alhamdulillah for this opportunity.

And of course, the best part is.....
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eating them!

Delish in hubster's Yong-Tau-Foo dish.

What I learn from 'Playgroup chit chat - Sawmia's Vadey'

When Al Fateh was two and Alwani was a newborn, we frequent the playgroup in our area. It's held once a week where moms and dads brought their child(ren) to meet others at the same age. It's a get-together time for the moms, too. Most of the time, we brought a plate of food to share. Sawmia, originated from India but has been staying in Perth for ages, always brought vegetarian food. One of them was my favourite, Vadey!!

This is Sawmia's version, simply yet super tasty!

Baked version.

Sawmia's Vadey

1. Yellow split peas - soaked
• 3 portions blend to paste
• a portion as it is.
2. Curry leaves
3. Chopped onions
4. Chillies, both powder and coarse
5. Salt to taste.

Mix them all. Shape them into balls - flatten them.

Deep fry until golden.

Serve hot.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy eh? I always make them in a big batch. I don't fry them all, but bake most of them, cool them, and place them in small packets. Then deep freeze them. I only take a packet at a time for tea time. Clever eh? heheh.. Mak's technique.

Frozen vadeys ready to be baked/fried.

Bon Appétit!

 AF AW playgroup

What I learn from 'Machik Norziah aka Mak Shafis - Mee Rebus Johor'

I learned this recipe when I stayed in Dealy Close, Cannington, when the purple-skinned-white-flesh kumara were in abundance. At that time Shafis' mom worked her magic in the kitchen. I missed those 'hu-ha' carefree moments.

This is my reproduction of Macik Norziah's Mee Rebus. Made the meal for two main reasons:

1. The orange-flesh kumara was super cheap in Mydin last week. 

2. Mr Hubs randomly talked about Mak Shafis' mee rebus (what a huge hint!!)

Ingredients for:

Gravy

A1. heaps of onions, 1 inch ginger, garlic, chilli powder

A2. 2 sticks of lemon grass, Babas fish curry powder

A3. 3 tbs dried shrimps

B1. Kumara of any type  - peel, wash, dice, boil, blend

Blend A1, A2 and A3. Stir fry in a big pot with appropriate amount of oil.

If you have shrimp stock, chuck it in the pot, if not, water will do. 

When all are nicely boiled, pour in the blended kumara. Add sugar, if needed. 

Condiments

Deep fried tofu - diced.

Mustard green aka sawi - chopped as you like.

Bean sprouts - blanched super quickly.

Eggs - boiled and halved.

Green chilles - thinly sliced.

Fried shallots.

Spaghetti/Yellow noodle/Mee gemuk (in Alwani's language)

Keropok (which I didn't do since lacking of ingredients during this attempt)

Rice flour

Finely chopped garlic

Chicken cube

Water

Mixed them all till very thin. Deep fry. 

Spread thinly at the sides of the frying pan.

Thanks Machik Norziah!