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!

make it BIG!!

First time Adam uttered this word, we couldn't really understand him.. He was asking his daddy to add more Dhal for his roti canai..
Adam: MakeA big daddy..
Daddy: Huh?
Adam: MakeA BIG! MakeA BIG! MakeA BIG!
Daddy: What?
Mommy: Can you say nicely Adam?
Adam: MakeA big please daddy.. do NOT makeA small...
Mommy & Daddy: oooo nak banyak... :)

After a few times he now knows to say it properly.. The other day, we were having dinner with my parents and brother. Adam asked his daddy to pour some more Tomato Sauce for his Cheese Wanton but he was pointing to the chilli sauce bottle..

Adam: Tomato please Daddy.. (while pointing to the chilli sauce bottle)
Daddy: No Adam, that's chilli.. this is tomato sauce (pointing at the tomato sauce bottle)
Adam: Noo!!!!! This ONE!!! THIS ONE!!!!

My Dad, brother, me, my mom, everybody tried to tell Adam the bottle he was referring to was chilli sauce.. But Adam being Adam, refused to listen and feels he is right. So, daddy poured the chilli sauce..

Adam: Make it bigger Daddy.. Make it BIGGER!
Daddy: this is enough..
Adam: Make it BIGGER! do not make it small...
Dadday: Whateva.. (and poured some more)

Adam happily dipped his wanton into the sauce and took a bite..
Adam: Air! Air! (Drink it then look at mommy)

Adam: Mommy, that's chilli pidas! (pointing to the chilli sauce bottle)
Mommy: Aku pulak kena sekolah ngan dia.. haishhhh...

mine and yours

I think Adam understands how to use the " 's, mine and yours"to show belonging. But the application is rather, weird. Funny weird :)

Scenario 1
While trying to pull his pillow from me..
Adam: That's Adam's pillow!
Me: still holding it tight..
Adam: It's mine!
Me: No! It's mine!
Adam: It's mine!

Ok this could go on and on but basically he knows how to apply it.. but let's look at this other scenario..

Scenario 2
I was holding my phone and he was trying to take it from me..
Me: It's my phone!
Adam: It's yours! (But still trying to snatch it)
Me: It's mine!
Adam: It's yours!
Me: It's mine!
Adam: It's yours! (Finally he managed to get it and I tried to get it back from him)
Me: It's mine! (Konon-konon wants to take it from him)
Adam: It's yours! (while looking for youtube icon and turned away so I cannot get the phone back)
Me: It's mine!
Adam: It's yours!

Ok, how do u explain that? :)

Cheeky Adam @ Pantai Batu Buruk - miss him so much!



Adam's First: Movie

Last two weeks, after a very hectic weekdays, we decided to bring Adam to watch his first movie ever! I went to TGV website and saw that Hop was showing. Rio was not out yet then. I had absolutely no idea what the movie was all about when we decided to watch it. The poster looks like it's a cartoon show so I guess there must be rabbits hopping around. And the chick looks cute too.

We had a quick dinner and dashed off to Bukit Raja to catch the 9.15pm show. I felt the timing of the show was just right as Adam's bedtime is around 12am-1am. While waiting for the show, Adam took a ride on a fire engine. I did not have much coins so Adam had two rides only. Obviously that wasn't enough.

Then Adam persuaded Daddy to buy him some popcorn. Actually I have already bought some but did not plan to give him before we go into the hall. To avoid another scene, I let him have some of the popcorn. And as expected, once his hands were in the bag, he will not take it out. Even his dad was scolded bila mintak sikit  from him. Haiyoooo kedekutnya!

Once we were in the movie hall, he kept pointing to the screen and asked what's that? Movie, I told him. He kept on repeating the question until he could pronounce it properly. (When we went to Starbucks last Sunday, there was a huge blinder outside the cafe and Adam pointed to it and proudly said "Mommy, movie")

As for the movie, Adam enjoyed the part where the rabbit played the drums the most. When asked what did he watch at the movie, he kept saying rabbit drum and make drumming action. The parts where human were talking bored him a bit. After sitting for so long, Adam stood up and that was the most action he did. Yeayyy! I was so happy he did not run around in the movie hall. Guess my lil Adam is now big enough to watch a movie :) So, can we watch Rio next, Daddy?

Bawang Goreng dan Gula

Ni entry nak lepas perasaan. Negative energy. Don't say I did not warn you :)

Last weekend I stayed at home most of the weekend. Keluar petang Sabtu and malam Ahad saja. Biasalah, bila lama dekat rumah, banyak lah encounter dengan bibik. Bila dah banyak berjumpa, mesti adaaaaa je yang jadi.

Sabtu malam tu, after dah kenyang makan nasi ayam, and nak kemas-kemas sikit, perasan yang kat dalam peti sejuk tu ada semut. Eh, macam mana ada semut? Penuh semut dekat botol ubat demam Adam. Hmmm, buang ajelah sebab dah lama pun ubat tu. Pastu mula la belek-belek lagi barang dalam peti ais. Sekali, bila tengok belakang getahpintu fridge tu, penuh semut! So, bermulalah sesi audit peti sejuk. Masa tu dah perasan banyak barang dah tak sejuk. Telur berpelu-peluh. Menandakan perubahan suhu dalam peti tu. So, alih-alihkan barang and nampak lubang yang sepatutnya angin sejuk tu keluar macam dah di blok oleh barang-barang yang tak perlu! Barang-barang yang dah entah berapa kali dah cakap bibik tak perlu simpan dalam firdge. Contoh? Spagheti sauce yang x bukak pun lagi lid dia and botol bawang goreng! Botol tu dahla besar, isi sikit je. Dah geram dah sambil keluarkan barang sambil membebel. Masalahnya ni bukan kali pertama tegur pasal barang dalam peti sejuk. Dah banyak kali dah re-arrange kan barang2 dalam peti tu ikut category. Degil jugak. Main campak suka hati dia aje.

Tengah malam tu, turun bawah sebab rasa nak buat pavlova. Bila buka peti, rasa botol fresh milk, tak sejuk. Rasa botol jam, tak sejuk. Hati dah gundah gelana. Terus tak jadi buat pavlova dan naik atas bawak fresh milk untuk dihabiskan in case peti sejuk rosak.

Kalau peti sejuk rosak, dah barang ke berapa dah rosak sejak bibik kerja dengan kitorang. Dahlah siang tu baru beli rice cooker and iron baru untuk ganti yang dah rosak. Otak mula buat kira-kira. Barang yang dah rosak:
1. Rice cooker - Anggaran RM250-RM350 so katalah RM300.
2. Iron - RM120
3. Electric kettle - RM40
4. Washing machine - RM600 (ok, yang ni dah lama tapi still nak kira).
so, total dah dekat RM1K. Kalau fridge rosak, tambah lagi RM3k. Orang kaya pun boleh jatuh miskin macam ni.

Nasib baik bila bangun pagi, peti dah sejuk balik so hati dah kembali sejuk. Tapi malam Ahad, bila balik from Giant, nak masukkan ice-cream dekat freezer, guess what I found deeeep inside the freezer drawer. Bawang goreng! Geramnya masa tu tak terkata. Rasa nak campak je botol bawang goreng tu biar pecah. Tapi sabarkan diri. Geram sebab rasa ada usaha to outsmart me di situ. Dah kata jangan masuk dalam fridge dia masukkan dalam freezer. Urggghhh!!!

Tapi beberapa minit lepas tu, bila tanya dia eh, mana granulated sugar? (Biasanya ada dalam tuppaware sekali dengan brown sugar) Dia jawab, oh saya sudah campur dalam bekas itu (bekas yang ada casto sugar). Hati dah mendidih tapi masih boleh cakap elok-elok cuma suara lebih tegas.
"Laaaaa, kenapa kamu campur. Kan jenis lain sebab tu saya asingkan bekas lain-lain"
"Samalaa puan! Saya yang gunting plastiknya"
"Tak sama, saya yang beli, saya tahulah"
"Samaaaaa, Puan mana liat (lihat)! Saya yang gunting plastiknya. Samaaa"
"TAK SAMALAH!" masa tu dah tak tahan. Habis semua principle Dale Carnegie buang ke laut. Geram tau tak!!!!!!!!!

Memanglah gula tu sama asasnya. Kalau guna 1 teaspoon memanglah tak rasa sangat bezanya. Tapi kalau pakai 4 CUPS?! Mestilah jadi tawar or lebih manis kalau pakai gula yang salah! Even kalau tengok saiz dia though sekali pandang macam sama, boleh nampak beza dia. Bila tunjuk kat bibik suruh tengok, dia dah tak nak tengok dah.

Bukanlah masalah gula atau bawang sangat sebenarnya. Masalahnya ialah nak tunjuk pandai and tak mengaku salah! Apa salahnya, kalau dia cakap, oh, lain ke? Sorry ye. Itu aje!

Ramai yang cakap kalau dah asyik sakit hati kenapa simpan lagi? Hmmmm, dia ok dengan Adam. My friends ada yang dapat worse maid. Nak hantar nursery tak sanggup. And, kalau amik yang baru pun, entah2 lagi teruk dari ni. Yang ni at least lepas ni hopefully dah tak perlu bagitau jangan campurkan gula dalam satu bekas. Hopefully lah kan. Aduhaiiii...  Serba salah. Adakah ini masa yang sesuai untuk guna peribahasa Diluah mati emak, diludah mati bapak? Sekian pengaduan di hari Isnin.

Nasi Ayam oh Nasi Ayam

Masa balik dari Kijal last weekend, kitorang singgah rumah my aunty. As it was almost dinner time, my darling aunty invited us for dinner. Her maid dah takde so I offered to help and at the same time belajar macam mana nak buat nasi ayam coz according to her, kalau nak cepat, dia akan masak nasi ayam.

But masa nak masak nasi ayam semalam, terlupa a few steps and bila try call aunty tak angkat lah pulak.. So I called my mom and asked how she makes her Nasi Ayam. Jadinya semalam kitorang dinner nasi ayam version campur-campur. After letak gambar kat FB ada plak yang nak tau resepi. Diorang ni dah tere memasak sebenarnya maybe just nak tengok sama ke tak dengan diorang kut.. Bagus jugak diorang ni dah tere sebab I don't know the exact ingredient amount so ni adalah resepi untuk mereka yang dah biasa di dapur sahaja ye :) (Masa mula2 masak dulu sangat tak suka resepi macam ni and semua yang ada ayat secukup rasa)

Nasi Ayam simple


Bahan-bahan
Halia
Bawang Putih
Chicken stock
Kicap Manis
Kicap Masin
Kunyit
Beras
Butter
Olive Oil (takde pun takpe)
Daun pandan
Cuka/Limau kasturi
Roman Lettuce Salad
Tomato
Telur rebus (takde pun takpe)
Garam
Gula

Cara-cara (mengikut sequence masa masak semalam)

1. Rebus ayam dengan bawang putih dan halia. Pastikan air cukup untuk masak nasi dan buat sup.
2. Bila dah menggelegak and ayam dah masak, keluarkan ayam.
3. Larutkan kunyit dengan kicap masin dan kicap manis. Kicap tu sikit dulu takpe nanti boleh tambah.
4. Perap ayam dengan #3. Tambahlah kicap secukup rasa. Kicap manis letak banyak sedap ayam jadi hitam dan lemak manis.
5. Panaskan kuali dan cairkan butter. Kalau ada olive oil boleh masukkan sikit supaya butter tu tak hangit. Tumis bawang putih dan halia sampai garing.
6. Masukkan beras yang sudah dibasuh ke dalam tumisan #5 dan goreng beras sehingga kering sikit dan butter tadi dah sebati (eh ke rata? maknanye dah evenlah mix tu)
7. Masukkan beras ke dalam rice cooker, masukkan sedikit garam (dalam 1 tsp). My aunty kata lebih pun tak apa sedap nasi tu masin-masin sikit.
8. Masukkan air rebusan ayam tadi sebanyak yang diperlukan ke dalam rice cooker. Pastikan ada lebihan untuk buat sup. Masukkan sehelai daun pandan dan boleh mula masak nasi.
9. Potong salad dan tomato dan susun ke dalam pinggan. My mom suka letak telur rebus yang dipotong nipis-nipis kat atas salad tu.
10. Tumbuk/blend cili hidup dengan sedikit gula, garam, air rebusan ayam, cuka/limau secukup rasa. Kalau x cukup pedas boleh tambah cili padi sikit.
11. Kepada yang suka makan nasi ayam dengan halia, bolehlah tumbuk/blend sedikit halia.
12. Air rebusan ayam tadi bolehlah diletak di atas dapur semula untuk buat sup. Masukkan garam, chicken stock, bawang putih dan halia secukup rasa. Kalau nak sup ni wangi, boleh juga tumis dulu bawang putih dan halia sikit kemudian tuang air rebusan ayam tadi sebelum tambah bahan-bahan perasa.
13. Panaskan minyak, dan goreng ayam yang diperap tadi. Pastikan minyak betul-betul panas supaya ayam jadi garing. Tak perlu goreng lama sebab ayam dah masak. 

Sedia untuk dihidangkan kepada keluarga tersayang :)

It took me an hour to prepare this last night. So, masak nasi ayam ni cepatlah eh? Tapi kenapa masa bujang dulu pernah masak nasi ayam dengan housmates start masak dari tengah hari dah nak buka puasa baru siap semua... Nampak sangat masa tu sangat tak ada skill multi task masa memasak langsung :)

Siri Mari Memasak: Chicken Stock/Broth using Slow Cooker

I used to stock up lots of instant finger food like sausages, burgers, nuggets, drummets, fries and so on. But a couple of months back, I realised my maid fried the chicken nuggets for Adam almost every day for him to eat with his nasi goreng or spaghetti. Even I have asked her not to do that, her answer was "tapi Adam sukaaa". That's when I decided to put a stop to it by not buying them anymore.

That doesn't mean I don't allow Adam to eat nuggets and all but at least not at home. Adam is only 2 and he doesn't know to ask for specific food yet. So before he is 5 and refuse to eat if he doesn't have fries for lunch, nuggets for tea and so on, I vowed on having healthier food at home. Because God knows what they put in our food when we dine outside. And we eat out quite often. 

I never use chicken stock in Adam's food before and though many recipe requested for chicken stock I usually omit it. Last 2 months, I made my first batch of chicken stock and lovin' it! I finally got to use the slow cooker I received as a wedding gift more than 3 years ago. My maid used the stock to make Adam's soup and I used it in all sorts of dishes. It certainly added flavour to my dishes and definitely healthier than the chicken cubes. Now we are almost out of the stock so I am making a new one and wanted to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients

5 chicken carcasses (you can buy it at the hypermarket)

5 stalks of celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 1/2 onion, quartered

1 sprig fresh rosemary

2 sprigs fresh parsley

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1.8 litres of water

Directions

1. Place everything in the slow cooker.

2. Cook on low setting for 10 hours.

3. Strain the broth. You can discard the vegetable. The chicken can be used in soup.

4. Keep in refrigerator for a few hours until you can see the foam of fat layer on top. Carefully scoop off the fat and you will have clear broth. Divide them into small containers and freeze them for later use. Make sure you always have a small container in the fridge for daily use. 

Easy peasy right? Cheers to a healthier home cooked meal! 

We are back!

We are back from the wonderful family trip. Great food, great weather and of course great company :) Will update once I have the pictures from my cousins.

Chinese New Year

Holiday mood is definitely ON! No mood to work and most of my customers are already on leave hence two entries for today.

The first time my father's siblings organized a family getaway was in 2009. As it was a last minute decision, my aunty finally managed to book a few villas at Swiss Villas, Lumut. I was told they have yet to launch the villas then so we were the first occupants to some of the villas. Most of my aunties, uncles and cousins joined the trip. Adam and my cousin's daughter, Arisya were the only babies then. As most of my uncles are avid golfer, it was definitely a golf trip for them. My hubby joined them and caught the golf bug since. For the rest of us, the days were spent at the beach, spa and catching up with each other. I really enjoyed it.

having fun at the beach

some of us after dinner

almost 4 months Adam's first trip

In 2010, my uncles and aunties requested for another trip. My cousin Jihana, did a great job in organizing the trip. And for the first time, the 2nd generation (those that has started working) SALEZA* paid for ourselves. That made the trip more meaningful as we took charge to make sure we get the service we paid for. This time we had 3 babies from the 3rd generation including Adam. We took a bus to Kuala Perlis on the eve of Chinese New Year and then took a ferry to Langkawi. Though the travel agent sucks, we made sure we enjoyed ourselves. We stayed at Bella Vista, Langkawi. The highlight of the trip was the boat trip and annual dinner. The theme for the dinner was "roaring 60s". It was fun to see my uncles and cousins performed during the dinner. Such a great trip overall.

this was fun! the water was so clear

my father and uncles performing with the girls as backup

the boys performing with the uncles as backup

1 year 4 months Adam

Tomorrow, we will be heading to the 3rd SALEZA annual trip and this year it will be in..

Happy Chinese New Year! Enjoy your long weekend! I'm sure I would enjoy mine :)

*SALEZA is actually the name of my late grandparents's house and it is a combination of their name. Wan Salleh and Zainah. We refer to our parents as the 1st Generation and us cuzzies as the 2nd Generation. Adam and the rest of his second cousins are SALEZA 3rd Generation :)

missing my Adik

I was browsing through old pictures. I miss staying in the same house with my sister. I miss having our girly chat before we sleep. I miss our camwhoring session. I miss going to movies with her. I miss sharing chic lit and other story books with her. I miss our coffee session after midnight. I miss cooking Brahims with her. I miss driving to Giant to eat Kuey Teow with her. I miss her boring face when I told her my boring story. I miss our gedik time together. I miss our makeup session together. I miss our gossip hours. I miss our berangan session. I miss having her around. I really miss my Adik :'(

Way back in 2005 after one of our midnight movie session with my girlfriends.

Adik is so far away now. She has been quite busy lately with her internship and all. She's in her final year in medicine. All the on-calls tires her and she doesn't have much time to BBM me as much now. Most of my BBM to her went unreplied. I pray God to give her courage and strength to go through her days as Doktor Muda and passed all her exams with flying colour. So she'll come back and we will be together again. I love you darling!

My Boring Weekend

It's almost the end of the weekend. Sigh~

Saturday was spent watching Junior Masterchef. I cried and cried especially during the last 2 episodes. As I said earlier, the bond between the two sisters is soooo amazing. And all of them are amazing cooks. And the hosts cum judges are even better cooks. Imagine preparing a pasta dish complete with grilled chicken and all in 15 minutes. And they even made the pasta from scratch. If it's me, in 15 minutes, the most I could probably do is prep the chicken, let alone making pasta from scratch!

In the evening, my bother came so we went for tea at Kedai Kopi near Tasik Shah Alam. Actually he wanted to take his notes from my store room but it was too much work as we have to take everything out of the store room first before we could reach his box. My brother loves the cookies too so I gave a small container for him to bring back.

My Saturday night was spent watching Eat Pray Love. I have downloaded it for quite some time but wanted to read the book first and finally last weekend I finished reading the book. The movie was not bad but they missed alot of things in the movie.Well, it definitely took me more than 2 hours to read the book so to be fair, they have to cram everything in the 2 hour (or was it almost 3?) movie. So, I prefer the book than the movie.

This morning, I was up very early for a Sunday but just couldn't go back to sleep. Decided to cook breakfast for hubby n Adam. Initially I wanted to make pancake but hubby does not really like pancake so I decided to make lempeng instead. It's the Malay version of pancake. Much simpler I must say. Just flour, water, a pinch of salt and an egg. I threw in some sliced onions in the dough and it taste good :) As the lempeng is too plain to be eaten on its own, I made sambal sardin to compliment it. Had to make one without chilli for Adam. Happy to see both of them enjoying their breakfast.

Spent the whole day lazing around reading a book my friend lent me. Quite an interesting one as the book was written in the perspective of each of the main characters in the book. How people view things are entirely based on what they want to believe and almost always, people has a good reason for everything they do. Even if it is the wrong thing. So, that sums up my 4th book in 2011 :)

My First..

Baking Cookies! Yummy one plak tu.. hahaha! perasannye :)

Hubby was never a sweet tooth. But one day, while eating his favourite Famous Amos cookies, he said "If you bake this, I will eat." That gave me a new aspiration. So there I was, excited to bake something that finally hubby would eat.

I went all out googling for the recipe and finally found one with very good review and seems doable from Suzette  Cooks. So, after work yesterday, with a help from my cousin, we messed the kitchen and baked the cookies.

The first batch was crunchy on the outside and chewy in the inside. Reason being, my oven, a very old one that is, does not have 190c. It was either 180c or 200c. For the next batches, I increased the baking time to 11 min and 15 seconds and the cookies were perfectly crunchy throughout. Hubby loved the chewy ones better though.

As hubby loved his cookies to have more textures, I added some crushed walnuts to a small batch of the dough. With walnuts in it, I baked the cookies for about 10 min 30 seconds only as anything more than that will burn the nuts. I made half of the recipe and it came out to 150 pieces of delicious melt-in-your-mouth cookies :)

My little boy loved the cookies so much and kept coming to me with the cookie jar because he could not open it himself. When hubby wanted to take one of the cookie jar, he screamed angrily! So cute! I have to give him another jar of cookies then only he allows hubby to take one of the cookie jars.

Hubby said, as cookies they are great but maybe not 100% like Famous Amos. Well, if it is the same, Famous Amos must have been out of business long time ago. I guess I just have to keep on looking for Famous Amos cookie recipes and try them to find which one is the closest to the real one.

It gave me such a pleasant feeling to see how much hubby and lil Adam enjoy the cookies. To make it easier for you, I have copied the recipe from Suzette's cooking blog. Give it a try! I promise you won't regret :)

‘FAMOUS AMOS’ CHOCOLATE COOKIES RECIPE

Ingredients

1 bar butter (approx 250g)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla essence

2 cups plain flour

2 1/2 cups oatmeal, blended to powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

340g chocolate chips

250g Chocolate bar, grated

100g nuts (your choice), chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven at 190C

2. Cream the butter and both sugars

3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix evenly

4. Fold in flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.

5. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate bar and nuts. Mix well (I used my hands in a food grade plastic bag, as it is too thick for my mixer).

6. Roll into small balls (around 1 inch in diameter) and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet/tray.

7. Bake for 10 minutes at 190 C.

When the cookies are removed, they are soft. But when left cool, it will harden up and become slightly crisp outside (but chewy inside).

Vaccination for your child(ren)

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin's 6 months old daughter was hospitalized for diarrhea caused by rotavirus. She was hospitalized for about a week. It was heart breaking to see the drip bandaged to her hand. Last week, a friend to my friend lost her 15 months baby due to diarrhea and rotavirus, again, was the culprit. I was told the virus has creeped into her central nervous system and infected her brain. The baby had diarrhea so the parents brought her to a clinic and was given some medicine. After 2 days her condition did not improve so they brought her to a private hospital and were told the baby was already dehydrated. After 5 days on life support system, she left to heaven.

Both babies did not take extra immunisation apart from those made compulsory by the government. And both could actually be prevented if they have taken the rotavirus vaccine. The first mother was not even aware of the existance of rotavirus vaccine while the second mother thought it was too expensive. It costs about RM600 to RM750 for 3 shots. But the cost for not taking it? More than RM2k for the first case and the life of the baby for the second case.

When Adam was younger, I took the initiative to ask Adam's paed and the doctor in our local clinic for advise on whether we should take the additional vaccines. My favourite book on childcare, "What to Expect" series also listed the vaccines that are made compulsory in developed countries. That was how I learned about the importance of vaccination.

At first it was hard to convince my husband as it costs alot of money, and I had just had a caesarian which costs us alot more money. After I made my case, he finally agreed to it. My mom was not too happy at first as she said I gave Adam too many shots so to her it was like so many chemical going into that little boy's body. So I explained to her what vaccination is all about and now she is the one who encouraged other new parents to give the additional vaccines for their baby.

During vaccination (most but not all), the doctor will insert a weak or dead disease germ into our body. That is how our body will develop its own defence system (antibodies) to protect ourselves against the germs. So, the next time a real strong germ attack, our body can already recognize it and do what needs to be done to shoo them away. Some of these antibodies could remember the germs for the rest of our life. But some, needs a periodical reminder that is why sometimes we have to take the booster shot.

So, what additional vaccines can you get for your child(ren)? I am not qualified to recommend them to you but these are the additional vaccines we took for our little Adam:

1) Rotarix (Rotavirus vaccine) - at 2, 4, 6 months. It helps to fight Rotavirus, the main cause for severe diarrhea in babies.

2) Prevenar (Pneumococcal vaccine) - at 7, 8, 10 months. If your child is above 1 year, only 2 shots are needed. It helps to fight among others, pneumonia and meningitis. I took this vaccine because each time Adam had flu and cough, he will also gets ear infection apart from the high fever. Upon consulting with our local doctor, she advised us to take the vaccine as Pneumococcus is one of the common bacteria that causes ear infection in young children. So we took the chance hoping to kill 2 birds in one stone. Alhamdulillah, after taking the vaccine, Adam did not have ear infection anymore. So we did kill 2 birds in one stone :)

3) Flu Shot (Influenza Vaccine) - to be taken once a year. My colleague told me that she sent her kids for flu shot every year. At that point of time I was not aware of its effectiveness.We took this shot because Adam was about to go back to my parents' place and my brother was a doctor in the H1N1 ward at that time. So, as a precaution we took the shot. Prior to that, Adam had flu that leads to cough and fever almost every other month. After the shot, he had flu only twice. The first one affected the whole family so it might not be the common seasonal flu and the second time, the colour of the mucus was clear and it went away after 2 days without affecting Adam much. I will definitely continue to get him the annual flu shot.

Hope my experience could help you in making the decision whether or not to spend the extra money on vaccination. But of course, consult your doctor first :)

Random Thoughts

This morning, hubby greeted me with a tough question..
"If you are in a labor and I had to chose between you and baby, whom should I pick?"
"Whatt??!" I was dumbfounded. I had never given this a thought before.
Hubby said it was just a random thought. And he said he would pick the baby.
"Why?"
"So that you can die as a shaheed and will go straight to heaven" said husband with a smile.
"Kalau x belum tentu lagi masuk syurga sebab ayang degil" added him with a bigger smile. Chet!
"But if I were to have the option to die as a shaheed, I will chose it" he added with a serious note.

I hope we would never have to face this. Call me selfish but frankly, my first thought was for him to pick me. I could give birth to more babies if that is what we want. And even if we cannot have a child anymore after that, we already have Adam. And what if we already have a few children who are still very small and need their Mommy. Who would take care of them? Of course my family will give their full support and hubby could even get them a new mommy but it won't be the same right? The sadness and emotional impact on them for losing their Mommy might not be cured forever. And it could impacted more lives than it would be if the baby is the one who sacrifice for his/her Mommy. I mean, we barely know the baby.

Having said these, I haven't really make up my mind. What if I could never get rid of the guilt that will haunt me forever for being so selfish? I don't think I have the heart to live with that. It will eat me alive. Let us just pray I (and all of us) would never have to make this kind of decision.

On another note, have you thought of organ donation? I have been toying with the idea for quite sometime. Initially, just like the above, I was too selfish to give up my organs even if I am already dead. After given it more thought and read all those articles written by Muslim scholars, I felt more open to the idea. As what we read in the media, even if I have the donor card, my family are the ones who own my body upon my death. So, I need to get their blessings first.

Couple of months back, I popped the question to hubby. What does he think about organ donation? He is positive about it and has no objection to it. I haven't bring up the subject to my parents though.

Though it has been quite some time since I first thought about this, I haven't had the time (or courage) to actually go and sign up for it. Let us make this as one of my to-do list this year so by end of the year, my name would be written on one of this:

So what do you think of both issues?

P/s: For more information on organ donation in Malaysia, the process and the likes, you can visit Malaysian Society of Transplantation website.

Project Adam 365 : 2010

Finally! After much work and effort from everybody in my family, Project Adam 365 is finally completed. I wanna thank everybody including those who commented and like the photos in my FB because all of you has given me the strength and courage to complete it. When people asked if I want to continue in 2011, without any doubt I said no. It was not easy. Especially when I send Adam back to my hometown. I have to trouble everybody to ensure they take a photo of Adam and send it to me. Having said that, I would want to take the challenge for my next child(ren) because at the end of the day, the compilation of photos showed how your child has grown throughout the year.

To my little Adam, I hope you would understand how much you mean to me and our family. Everybody played their part to ensure our little gift for you would be a reality. You made it easy for us with all your candid action and creative act in exploring the world. You inspired us by your positive atttitude and determination in learning new things. I wish you would stay as my little baby forever :) I love you son..

Siri Mari Memasak: My first lasagna!

Last weekend, we were invited to a surprise birthday party for two of our dearest friends. Dalam email tu semua orang offer nak bawak tu la ni la.. I wanted to bring something too tapi apa??!!! Pening kepala fikir sebab macam semua main meal and dessert dah ada.. nak bawak sesuatu yang orang nak rasa walau sikit so xdela membazir nanti.. tapi tamola susah2 sebab sepatutnya my schedule was quite pack that Saturday..

Fikir punya fikir finally I decided to bake a lasagna! Dahla oven pun tak sure boleh on ke tak.. main redah aje :) So bermulala episod mencari resepi yang paling senang dalam internet.. kalau boleh nak yang bukak botol, tuang dalam baking tray and bakar terus aje.. hehehehe.. pemalas kan :)

Cari punya cari still x jumpa jugak.. Red suace to confirm la sama macam bolognaise je kan so xde problem.. White sauce ni la yang nampak macam renyah sket.. dahla bila tanya my cousin yang sangat tere buat lasagna, dia kata kena kacau selalu supaya tak berketul.. ayarkk.. ni yang malas nie... Bila pegi shopping for the ingredients, saje la tengok ingredients dalam Alfredo sauce and tengok eh, macam sama je dengan recipe white sauce.. ada cheese ada susu ada pepper so selamba je beli :)

Bila tanya dengan head chef bidan terjun of the day (my cousin yang belajar hot & cat at UiTM), dia rasa sket Alfredo tu and dia kata rasa macam white sauce dah ni.. Makanya kami pun terus mulakan rancangan masak-masak kami..

So here is the step by step recipe to make the easy peasy lasagna :) Konfem senang tapi kesedapannya x jamin :)

Some of the ingredients..

Mula-mula, rendam lasagna noodle dalam air panas.. This was a mistake though, because:

1. We put 2 boxes of the noodle dalam mangkuk yang x berapa nak besar.. muat-muat je semua noodle tu..

2. Rendam lama sangat and by the time nak start layering tu, some of them dah melekat and susah giler nak leraikan..

3. We did not read the instruction on the box! My other cousin (yang tere tu) said, you don't even need to soak them.. duuuuhhhh...

Dalam resipi banyak kata guna Italian Sausages.. err.. mana nak cari.. so, ganti dengan Ramly sausage ajelah..

Ni dua tin button mushroom yang di'slice' nipis-nipis..

2 paket minced meat

Mula-mula, tumis satu sudu rumbu bawang blend and satu sudu bawang putih blend.. I guna planta sebab tak ada olive oil la pulak kat rumah..

Kemudian masukkan minced meat and kacau sampai daging tu dalam setengah masak..

Then, masukkan sos Prego Traditional satu jar besar..

Kalau rasa x cukup tomato, tambah tomato puree pulak.. I guna setin lebih sikit...

Last but not least (untuk red sauce), tambah garam secukup rasa..

Sapukan baking tray dengan planta sket supaya tak melekat

Bolehla mulakan susunan dengan lasagna noodle paling bawah

Ni dia Alfredo sebagai ganti white sauce

Sapukan kat atas lasagna noodle tadi

After letak another layer of noodle, letak red sauce then tabur sausage and mushroom kat atas dia..

Masa ni bolehla sprinkle some oregano and thyme kat atas red sauce tu..

The next layers adalah atas kreativiti masing-masing ye puan-puan.. kalau ada banyak sauce letakla banyak lapis.. kalau nak buat banyak bekas bolehla buat sikit lapis je... nak campur dengan cheese ke apa ke macam gambar ni pun boleh...

Yang final layer kat atas sekali, bolehla letak white sauce and shredded mozarella cheese sampai penuh.. Then sprinkle some parsley kasi cantek sket :)

Then bakar dalam oven at 180 degree celsius for 40 minutes bergantung kepada ketebalan lasagna anda..

Tadaaa!!!!! Abaikan lapisan yang sangat tebal! sebab ni version makan kat rumah.. yang bawak pegi party tu nipis sket la :)

Selamat mencuba!

Adam 365: First half completed :)

Before Adam was born, I bought a beautiful baby scrap book with a very ambitious plan to complete it. I never did. When Adam was born, the nurse at the hospital sold me another scrap book for Adam and they even started it with Adam's foot prints and I thought I am going to complete it. I never did. After Adam was born, a family friend gave me another beautiful baby scrap book. It was too beautiful that I promised myself even if I did not finish the other two scrap books, this one I have to complete. I never did.

I was never good at follow through. I am easily excited and always have plans to do this and that. The problem is, my enthusiasm doesn't last long enough. I always ended up giving up half way through.

At the end of 2009, as I was reflecting back my past and look forward for the new year, I made a promise to myself to start something that will require my long term commitment. Something easy that I can easily maintain throughout the year. Then, came the idea to start this Project Adam 365.

The objective of this project is to have a picture of Adam every single day in 2010. There is no rule. As long as there is a picture of Adam on each day, the task is complete. Some people argue that some of the pictures were taken by somebody else. It's up to other people how they want to interpret it. I know that it would be impossible for me to be with Adam every single day throughout 2010. So, if I am not with Adam, I have to make sure and remind whomever with Adam, to snap a picture of Adam on that day.

In the past six months, I received strong support from my husband and family for this project. On days that I would be home late from work, hubby would take charge and snap the picture. The good thing is this ensures one of us to be at home with Adam at least a few hours of the day. Whenever my parents kidnap Adam back to our hometown, they too helped me to snap Adam's picture of the day and send it back to me.

I am very proud and happy with the support I received from my family. Without them, I would not be able to complete this. I am also thankful to all the comments I received from friends and family who follows the project in my FB. Their comments play a very important role in keeping me on track. I hope the support will continue till the end of the year :)

Here is pictures of Adam from 1 January 2010 to 30 June 2010..

Adam 365 : 1H 2010