Prep for Ramadhan - Frozen Mini Sausage Rolls

Hello! So how was your weekend? Yesterday I managed to squeeze in some time to prepare these yummylicious Mini Sausage Rolls.

Fresh from the oven

First time buat sausage rolls ni masa my aunty buat parti durian kat rumah dia. Saja la bawak buah tangan kan. Buat the night before, so terpaksa la freezekan dulu. Turned out, walau dah masuk freezer before bakar and served the next day tu, they were still a huge hit. Hubby siap cakap macam kat kedai. Puas hati!

Sausage Rolls

Anyway, sempat bakar sikit untuk tetamu yang datang rumah and balance tu dapat 3 trays. Rezeki my bro and my bro in law dapat bawak balik sorang satu tray.

Resepi kali ni dapat from blog MamaFaMi. MamaFaMi ni roti-roti yang dia buat memang sangat menggiurkan. Yang paling best, setakat ni semua resepi yang dah pernah try semua jadi and sedappppp. Cuma kali ni MamaFaMi tak letak gambar macam mana nak buat. So kalau nak try, here are some pics to help you with. Tapi ni gambar masa first attempt hari tu guna sausage yang standard size. Untuk kali ni buat pakai frankfurter yang kecik-kecik je sebab masa yang besar tu sangat besar untuk Adam.

Adam and my breadmaker. Kalau nak uli sendiri pun boleh.

Kalau guna  sausage, divide the dough into 20 balls at 50g each. Kalau  guna frankfurter (2 packets) divide into 60 balls lebih kurang 17g each. 

Bila  balls tadi dah double it's size,  uli dengan tangan macam nak buat rantai guna playdough then  pintal je keliling sausage tu. Make sure selitkan sikit the ends tu kat bawah pintalan supaya tak terbuka masa dalam oven. Masa nak susun atas tray, make sure the ends tu kat bawah

Kalau nak freeze, susun satu-satu supaya tak melekat and masukkan dalam freezer lebih kurang 2-3 jam. Bila dah keras boleh transfer masuk tupperware supaya senang nak defrost kalau nak bakar sikit aje.

Another tip nak bagi sedap ialah guna Ayamas punya premium sausage/frankfurter ada blackpepper, mushroom and cheese filling. Yang biasa pun oke aje :)

Meleleh-leleh cheese kat dalam. Yummy!!!

P/s: Sambal bilis dah nak habes. Nampak gaya kena buat lagi lah before puasa start nanti.

Prep for Ramadhan - Frozen Popiah

My popiah

Just finished rolling one batch of popiah and kept them safely in the freezer. Lucky me, my sister stayed over tonight so I have extra pair of hand in the kitchen just now. Sangat senang rupanya buat popiah ni. Much much much easier if you compare it to currypuff. Anyway, reseppi tu dapat dari sini. Cuma  bezanya my version tumis udang kering with bawang and ayam pastu tambah sengkuang dengan carrot. Telur letak jugak macam dalam resepi tu. Tadi guna setengah biji sengkuang dengan 1 batang carrot. Lupa nak kira dapat berapa semua sekali. Inti macam sedap dah tapi kena goreng sikit for breakfast esok baru tau sedap ke tak :

Prep for Ramadhan - Sambal Bilis

My Sambal Bilis

Managed to cook this with my Sister in Law last night. It's so yummy my sis in law said it might not last till Ramadhan :)

Anyway, sambal ni sangat sangat sangat senang nak buat and I really recommend for you to spend a little bit of your time this weekend to make some. Kalau tak nak letak bilis pun takpe, buat sambal ksoong or with bawang aje then freeze in small packets. So, bila nak makan just panaskan pastu tambah aje ayam ke, udang ke sotong ke or goreng telur aje pun dah boleh makan dengan sedap. Sangat sesuai untuk sahur kan :)

So for those yang nak try, this is the recipe (tapi main agak2 je ni sebab most barang dah ada kat rumah so tak timbang pun) :

Bahan:
Bilis (dalam half kilo) goreng sampai rangup
Cili Kering - dalam half packet besar tu (kalau boleh after basuh tu, keringkan dulu and blend guna dry mill. Kitorang nak cepat semalam so guna blender and tambah air sikit-sikit asal boleh gerak)
Bawang Besar - 3 biji (hiris)
Bawang Merah - 10 biji (tumbuk)
Bawang Putih - 3 biji (tumbuk)
Asam keping - 1 keping
Garam dan Gula secukup rasa.

Cara:
1. Tumis bawang merah dan bawang putih sampai naik bau and bawang masak betul.
2. Masukkan cili, goreng sampai garing. Tambah minyak supaya cepat garing. Lebih tak apa bila dah masak boleh buang minyak tu. Boleh masukkan gula jugak nak bagi cepat masak.
3. Cili tu kalau boleh, goreng dengan api perlahan sampai betul-betul garing dan kering.
4. Tambah asam keping dan garam secukup rasa. Bilis kitorang masin so tak letak garam pun.
5. Tambah bawang besar dan goreng lagi sampai bawang besar layu.
6. Bila dah masak, tambah ikan bilis dan gaul. Siap!

Kalau makan masa siap terus tu, bilis masih rangup sangat sedap. So next time maybe bilis tu just gaul masa nak makan supaya rangup. Have fun trying!

Cooking Blogs

My darling friend Nette shared a link to this awesome website this morning. My Halal Kitchen shares tips on how to prepare for Ramadhan cooking. Guess I am not the only one excited to prepare for Ramadhan cooking. The blog author shared many tips in the blog, from freezing the herbs to menu list for the whole month of Ramadhan! Amazing!

 My Halal Kitchen will definitely be one of the frequently visited site for me this Ramadhan. Last year,I referred alot to these 3 blogs for ideas on what to cook for iftar and will definitely do the same this year:

1.  MamaFaMi's Spice n Splendour 
2. Hanieliza's Cooking 
3. Dapur Tanpa Sempadan 

Apart from these blogs, I hope my friends will still share pictures of their cooking in FB and Twitter like last year. Had so much fun last year trying out new recipes shared by them. Can't wait for the mouthwatering pictures and lengthy discussion on food with them. Anyway, my sister in law is coming over tonight to make Sambal Kering Ikan Bilis. If time permits, I might be making some frozen popiah too tonight. Wish me luck :)

*picture googled*

My smart aleck

Scenario 1:
M: Alamak, my tummy is aching. I need to yak.
A: oh! Go yak in the toilet mommy! Don't yak in your pants. Later, your pants dirty! Off you go mommy! Off you go!

Scenario 2:
M: Adam, can you please help mommy close the door. Please..
A: Mommy, can you please help Adam close the door. Please.. (He was playing with his train and didn't even stop to turn to me)

Scneario 3:
I was about to leave to work and woke him up. Still half asleep and didn't even open his eyes, this was our conversation:
M: Adam wake up! I'm going to work!
A: Oh. Have you got money?
M: Huh?
A: You go to work and get money?
M: Yes. I'll get money after I finish my work.
A: Ok. Then you buy me train oke Mommy, oke!

Scenario 4:
One weekend morning..
A: Wake up mommy, wake up! (He sounded panic)
M: Oh! Yes Adam, I'm awake. Why?
A: (Still panic voice) We HAVE TO go to Jusco Mommy. We HAVE TO.
M: But why?
A: So we can buy train for Adam.

Scenario 5:
One day in Mothercare..
A: Mommy, I wanna buy this. This is good. (Referring to a big box of toy)
M: But I don't have any money. Do you have any?
A: Yes!
M: Oh, you have? Where is it? Give me your money so we can buy this.
A: In your pocket.
M: Nooooo! There's no money in my pocket. (showing him my empty pockets). You don't have money so we cannot buy this.
A: I have money! It's in Daddy's pocket. (Daddy was not even with us)

Scenario 6:
A: You cannot go to work mommy. You have to stay at home.
M: But I have to go to work. If I go to work, my office will give me money. What do you wanna buy with money?
A: I wanna buy food, train, vegetables, twisties, vegetable (yes he said vege twice though he is very picky with his vege)
M: There are so many things that you wanna buy so you have to let me go to work ok.
He tried to digest what I said. Then he went into my room and came back with the small Pringles bottle that is full of 1cent coins and some rupiah.
A: Here is money mommy. It's heavy.

Kindergarten

Pagi tadi isi feedback form untuk sekolah Adam and just realized tak pernah lagi cerita pasal sekolah Adam kat sini. Initially I thought of sending Adam when he was 3 to expose him more sebab Adam ni duduk rumah dengan bibik aje seharian. Not so much nak suruh dia pandai baca buku ke apa tapi to improve his social skills and speech. At home, hubby and I speak English to him tapi bibik cakap Indon. So, Adam ni lambat sikit la bercakap and ramai la yang point out on this. Though I knew the reason was because he did not have that much of practice tapi sekali sekala ada la jugak datang risau tu kan. Especially bila tengok budak lain yang not even 2 dah boleh buat long sentences.

So pencarian ni actually started towards end of 2010. Masa tu pun dah berminat with Real Kids as they accept 3 years old tapi, was not ready to let Adam naik van balik sekolah. Cakap pun tak boleh lagi cause he was 2y3m in Jan takkan nak bagi balik sekolah naik van. So postpone setahun. Towards end of last year, start cari sekali lagi and this time lagi serious la. I went to a few kindies and these are how I made my decision:

• Distance - it has to be close by as I don't want my son to spend his early years on the road. Though Real Kids ni kat section lain, tapi it's not too far for me or hubby to drop him off on our way to work. Plus point is dia ada outsource hantar/amik anak sekolah dengan school bus/van operators and rumah kitorang termasuk dalam area of service.
• Safety - As sekolah ni ada it's own compound and gated, I am quite ok la. Sebab ada some kindergarten yang dekat shoplots. Kalau yang dekat terrace house tu at least dia ada safety ladder in case of fire from atas kan. Kat Real Kids ni, pagi-pagi pun semua pagar akan dikunci. Kalau anak datang lambat, kena tekan bell for the staff to open the gate. Mula-mula tu of course la risau specially part naik van and that was the very reason Adam postpone setahun kan. Tapi bila dah tengok sendiri how it works, kurang la sikit risau tu. At Real Kids, after the final bell rings, all the students will gather dekat assembly area. Masa ni all gates are still locked. Parents will go to the gate and mention their kid's name to the teacher, and the teacher akan amik the kids sorang-sorang and pass to parents. Sangat puas hati part ni. For those yang naik bus/van, they will gather in one corner. Bila van tu sampai, a teacher/staff akan make sure all these kids queue up and naik van sorang-sorang. Van driver tu pun turun and  make sure semua budak naik van and dia tutup pintu van. Bila sampai rumah, bibik dah tunggu depan gate and make sure Adam turun.
• Facilities/Compund - As mentioned kat atas, Real Kids ni ada its own compound. So, senang la budak-budak nak berlari ke apa kan. Those yang kat terrace house pun ok still ada area budak2 nak lari-lari kan. I still wonder tadika yang kat shoplot tu macam mana budak2 buat physical activities? Dalam kelas je ke eh? Anyway, sekolah Adam ni macam mini school. Ada it's own music room, computer room, library, playground and its own swimming pool! Kecik je swimming pool tu and of course it is gated and no way budak akan dapat panjat masuk. Ni sangat plus point sebab banyak kindies yang offer swimming lesson tapi they have to ferry your kids to the nearest swimming pool. Cukupla naik van balik sekolah. X nak banyak sangat risk on the road. 
• English Medium - Most of the kindies in the area offers this. Tapi bila tanya the teachers, some confess cakap most of the time diorang kena cakap Malay sebab ramai budak tak faham. And some of them, especially tadika kecik-kecik, I was not really happy with the teacher's English. Tak naklah kita kat rumah cakap elok-elok nanti pergi sekolah jadi "I is" kan ;p
• Program - I would say most kindergartens ada their own program and semua nampak ada kelebihan masing-masing. Yang ni memang tak nampak sangat advantage Real Kids. Cuma suka bila tengok diorang ada bagi time table macam kita kat sekolah dulu. About 20 minutes for each subject. So takdela ikut suka hati mood cikgu rasa nak ajar apa hari tu kan :) On reading and bacaan, I don't have much comment or complain. Sebab memang bukan intention nak suruh focus academic sangat pun.
• Agama- Most of the kindie dekat Shah Alam memang focus on Agama. What I want is balance. Real Kids ni takdela macam sekolah lain siap anak pandai semayang dhuha and what not tapi ada la jugak basic alif ba ta. Tak pernah test Adam on this tapi adala lagu Alif Ba Ta yang dia nyanyi and pahamla concept pray and nak pray macam mana. I was informed diorang ada program khas Agama after school with additional fee of course tapi additional setengah jam sehari so kena arrange transport sendiri. Talked to one of the parents yang hantar anak for that program and she said banyak la doa apa semua dia boleh baca. Better than nothing lah kan.
• Trips/Concert/Sports Day - One advantage franchise macam Real Kids ni, they have the numbers to organize such events. Yelah kalau tadika setakat 10 students macam mana nak buat concert kut? Masa kita kecik kecik dulu event macam ni la yang sangat kita look forward pun kan. This year sempena Olympic special sikit diorang combine semua Real Kids in Klang Valle and organize a big Sports Day in Kelana Jaya siap Tun Siti Hasmah officiate the event. Tahun-tahun lain kecil kecilan jela kut tapi Real Kids Shah Alam itself ada banyak kelas dah so memang cukup sangatlah nak bagi event nampak meriah kan. Field trips Adam pernah pergi Petrosains and Kidzania (masa Holiday Camp). Concert hari tu Cikgu dia cakap will be held sometime in September. Can't wait!
• Quality of Teachers - Yang ni susah sikit nak gauge. Tapi masa tengah survey tu, adala tanya siapa cikgu-cikgu dia. Permanent ke tukar-tukar ke macam mana kan. Sebab ada satu sekolah tu, macam best cikgu dia tapi dia macam dah nak deliver dah so mesti kena tukar cikgu tengah-tengah. Kalau budak besar lain kan, ni kecik-kecik lagi kesian kalau tukar-tukar cikgu kan.
• Fees - Ni of course point paling penting. Surprisingly, the fees does not vary much from one kindie to another. Initial payment masa registration you can expect between RM800-1.2k. Monthly fees, Real Kids RM280, another corner lot school is RM230. Tapi bila compare rasa worth it lah RM50 difference tu. Another Islamic Montessori sampai RM400++ sebulan tapi yang tu tak check in detail kenapa mahal sangat. Maybe dia siapkan lunch kut. 

So, all in all I am quite happy with Adam's progress so far. Social skills makin better, speech Alhamdulillah much better sekarang. Dah boleh bercerita macam-macamla. Adam pun happy with his school banyak kawan and teacher semua dari support staff sampai principal semua pun baik-baik. His Malay pun dah improve sangat banyak walau masih ada Indon dia ;p Bila jumpa orang yang cakap Melayu, dia akan cakap Melayu jugak maknanya he is adapting well with whatever situation he's in. So, if you are looking for a kindie, make sure you know what you want cause you will be happy only when you get what you want :) (sape tah tulis quote lebih kurang macam tu dalam fb tadi)

p/s: nak letak gambar tapi xleh la pulak kat ofis ni

Are you where you think you'd be 10 years ago?

Just had a lunch with my friend and this topic came up. Honestly, if 10 years-ago-me can see me today, she'd feel disappointed.

Career wise, I am nowhere I thought I'd be. I always imagine I would be one of those high flyers climbing up the corporate ladder and has all the professional degrees under my belt. You know, those with their perfectly tailored power suit and the most beautiful Birkin walking down Wall Street.

 Physical, totally out! 10 years-ago-me would cry to see how I have grown ;p

Marriage, well, I get to marry the love of my life so that would make 10-years-ago-me happy. Children, I thought I'd have two by now, a cute girl and a boy but if she gets to see Adam, I'm sure she'd be happy. Who wouldn't right?

But if you ask me, is there anything I'd change? Well, apart from being more careful with my diet and exercise more, I'd proudly tell my 10 years-ago-me I am really happy to be where I am now.

Despite earning half than what I thought I would, I am happy with the path I chose. After Raya, I'll start my new career 5km from home! I am not as ambitious as I was before. So long it allows me to earn good money (at least good enough for me to buy things that I want without asking from anyone), provides me with some intellectual challenges and allows me to go home after the hours ended, I am in!

The miscarriage I had a few months back made me feel so grateful I am lucky enough to at least have Adam. Not everyone is that lucky.It made me realise that we can always ask for it but it's up to Him cause He knows best. 10 years-ago-me would not understand that. I used to think that if we work hard enough, than we will get what we want. But life ain't that easy babe!

My priorities, hopes and dreams have changed a lot in the past 10 years. It has made me wiser and appreciate my life more. Perfect ife is not all about money and all the Birkins and Christian Louboutin you can buy with it, it is about how it makes you feel at heart. So long you have a peace of mind and happy at heart, you are living your life just like I am today. So, if I get to see my 10 years-ago-me, I'd tell her not to be disappointed as this is the life I chose and I have no regret :)

Preparing for Ramadhan

Hello! The holy month of Ramadhan is coming soon and I am all excited about it. Year after year, Ramadhan has always been the month that I will put more effort in being a better muslimah. It just makes me feel closer to our religion and wanting to change for the better.

Anyway, as a mom and a wife, Ramadhan also means more cooking and dining together with the loved ones. For the first time this year, I plan to prepare for the upcoming Ramadhan. Apart from the usual stocking up the freezer, I plan to prepare pre-cooked meals for the days that I am in a rush or just too tired (lazy is more like it ;p) to cook. So far, I only have sambal and probably sausage bun in mind. If you have any other ideas or tips, please share ok!