Luqmanku Sayang...

I see him grow although not under my nose.  He's my first nephew and he's now 7 months young. He is SO adorable, I'd gaze at his photos every day and night. He's so active now that he loves to leap every time anyone holds him.  I noticed each time I sang a rhyme, he'll be leaping of his feet without fatigue.  Here's how the rhyme goes:

...cat loncat loncat
Luqman suka loncat
Luqman loncat loncat
Loncat sampai penat.

...and if I were to sing the rhyme again, he'd jump again and again! This is how Luqman look like after he leaps...

My sweetheart Luqman :-)

Minute Things I Learned from My Mother

Being the eldest and the only daughter, household chores are nothing unfamiliar for me.  Over the years, I learned so many things from dearest mom.  They are things you acquire being the right hand to my mom for some decades. I just wanna share 'em with you...yang mana boleh diguna-pakai, sila2 lah mencubanya.

1.  Setelah bangun pagi, terus pergi mandi dan berus gigi supaya badan segar dan muka pun nampak berseri2 (tak lah nampak sangat mmg baru bangun tido)

2.  Setiap kali selepas memasak, mandi lagi supaya hilang bau2 masakan yang melekat kat baju, badan, rambut.

3.  Bila rasa badan kotor jer, mandi lagi.

4.  Sebelum solat, supaya badan kita bersih...mandi. 

5.  Kalau mencuci pinggan mangkuk, cuci gelas2/cawan2 dulu, kemudian sudu garpu; kerana gelas/cawan dan sudu garpu tak begitu berminyak...jadi items tersebut mudah dicuci kalau tak bercampur dengan pinggan/mangkuk lauk yang selalunya mesti berminyak2. Selepas mencuci 2 items yang disebut tadi, barulah cuci pinggan2 dan mangkuk2 lauk.

6.  Susun peralatan yang dicuci tadi tu mengikut size, she calls that "space management".

7.  Apabila mahu mencedokl lauk dari mangkuk lauk, gunakanlah tangan kiri untuk memegang sudu lauk tu. Alasannya, supaya sudu lauk tu tak kotor (kan kotor kalau pegang ngan tangan kanan yg digunakan untuk menyuap makanan ke dalam mulut-kalau makan ngan tangan lah). Kalau sudu lauk tu dah kotor, orang lain yang duduk makan semeja dengan kita pun geli nak pegang sudu lauk tu.  Logic gak kan?

8.  Kalau memasak, memasaklah dengan ikhlas...supaya orang makan pun rasa sedap,

9.  Kalau kemas katil, biar betul2 kemas dan sedap mata memandang dan tak landing atas katil sehingga tiba waktu malam....Kalau tak, asyik nak baring jer.

10. Kalau nak tido, berus gigi supaya bila bangun tido esok paginya, mulut takde la berbau busuk.

Sepuluh perkara ni saja yang terfikir oleh ku buat masa ini, yang lain2 I will share with you all in the next change. 

The Must-Have things and Auxiliary Items in My Kitchen

The kitchen is my "office".  I can't work in a kitchen with no essential items.  Let me just share with you what I have in my kitchen...I think anyone can cook almost anything in my "office" with the loads of things I have. List of essential items I store in my kitchen:

1.     Rice, cooking oil

2.     Coarse salt, fine salt, turmeric powder, sugar

3.     Curry powder - meat & fish, kurma powder, chilli powder, soup powder

4.     Oyster sauce, chilli sauce, ketchup, soya sauce

5.     Spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, clove, whole black pepper, coarse black pepper, coriander powder, tom yam powder

Those are the ones I MUST HAVE, and I'm listing down according to what I will see in my wet kitchen section.

Auxiliary items:

1.     Cukup rasa, ajinomoto, Knorr cubes which I use ONLY when called for.

2.     Paprika powder, my lasagna herbs which I make my own mix, ginger powder, sesame oil

Items in my fridge:

1.     Onion, fresh ginger, turmeric, garlic, asam jawa, belacan, red chilli, red cili padi, butter (super must!), margarine, plain yoghurt, celery, coriander leaves, carrots, bell pepper, eggs, Sapphire sauce (my own mix)

Freezer:

1.     The frozen curry puffs, frozen chicken pies (all made by me), chicken meat, mixed vege, instant roti canai, my cili boh (home made)

My dry items in the cabinet:

1.     Canned items - sweet condensed milk, evaporated milk, tuna in a can, sardine, mushroom, tomato paste, canned tomatoes, all sorts of sauces - cili padi sauce, kicap bercili. 

2.     Nescafe Gold, Coffee, tea of all sorts, creamer, Milo, Horlicks, pre-mix coffee in sachets, brown sugar (I don't use white sugar anymore), Nestum, instant oats, cream crackers

My drawer:
1.     Cutlery, my knives (yes, plural, I have many knives and they're very sharp, Ayah will sharpen my knives when he comes over), ladles - soup, senduk lauk, aih... macam2, however, the number is rather limited for the ladles and cutlery

My crockery
Yang ni kurang sikit sebab dapur I tak besar so I can't have too many crockery, but I can cater for at least 20 people at one serving.

My baking items:

1.     I have 2 boxes of baking utensils, you name it, they're all there, malas nak tulis.... banyak sangat.

2.     Tepung je dah bermacam2 jenis - all purpose, high-protein, corn flour

Electrical items:

1.     Fridge, electric jug, rice cooker (although jarang guna), convection oven, microwave oven (my brother can't live without this one), blender, mixer

....and most importantly, the gas stove and the tong gas.  I may have omitted those I forgot to list out.

Now, you tell me if you can't make one simple dish in my kitchen with all the things I have in store in my office.  Most people who have visited My Elysium would say, anyone can live for at least 2-3 months without going out at all. I LOVE MY KITCHEN and that is why I don't usually eat-out and that is also why I love to cook in my own kitchen because I have ALL the things I need to open my own restaurant here, at My Elysium :-)

A Test of Patience

Blog ni jadi blog masakan lak ya...terpengaruh dengan makcik saya yang suka memasak dan buat posting kat blog dia dan upload gambar2. Dia memang rajin...I don't think I can ever catch up with the number of entries she uploaded on her blog. Dengan internet capacity 3gig jer menggunakan maxis broadband ni, lagi la payah saya nak upload photos of what I've cooked, what more to share the recipes.  I usually COOK and not WRITE recipes, but it feels good to share with others. Not to be cocky on the tastiness of the dishes I cooked, but to feel the satisfaction of having others try out my recipes which I think turned out nice when I tried them myself.

After right now I may probably share something else than the recipes for reading pleasure and just to impart my opinions on certain things. Wholesome sket blog ni...kalau tak asyik cite pasal masak jer... boring gak tau. Penat masak masak masak tiap hari...tapi itu la yang saya tengok mak saya buat berpuluh2 tahun, and I have had the honor to be her aide in the kitchen.  Since I've moved to live by myself and my little brother (again, who's not so little anymore... he's 27 this year), I've been taking over my mom's chores in a smaller scale here at our Elysium.  Oh, that reminds me, I will write an entry on "My Elysium" soon, so you'd understand what is "My Elysium" when I keep referring to the term.

Today isn't totally a great day for me, but I'm held on till almost its end.  Early in the morning I headed to my parents' to see my sweet heart, Luqman (my first nephew) but I was rather in vain when he kept crying most of the day.  I think it maybe the consequence of him not seeing us for some time till today.  I love my nephews but honestly I couldn't stand it when I hear babies cry on and on and on.  Sigh...it's like the school recess and end-of recess bell reverberating on my eardrums.  I feel disappointed when I couldn't make him stop crying and couldn't understand what he wanted.  Owh...but before that, I was already stressed up with the fact that my netbook charger is already finding faults with me when it got spoilt.  I am disappointed because I am always a careful person in taking care of my personal belongings. When things like this happens, I get a bit stressed up.  When my nephew cried to the top of his voice, I get stressed. I went home feeling upset.

Now that I'm home, I did a little self-talk to myself.  Tomorrow I will try to handle Luqman better than today. I will keep trying to win my munchkin's heart no matter what it takes, although I almost lost my patience with him today.  Ni lah dia orang yang takde anak2 saudara... bila dapat, 2 orang sekali dalam setahun and now.. as they're growing...amikkk... layan la pe'el (perangai) mereka berdua. I'm determined to try again. Now I could smile... as for the netbook charger, I have no choice but to buy a new one. KOPAK bulan ni...dah la hari tu gi color rambut. But what the heck, duit boleh dicari... insya'Allah ada rezeki lain.

Tomorrow morning I gotta be at my parents rather early. I'm sending daddy to KLIA and I'm going to bring along Luqman. Let's just see how it goes tomorrow, I pray that he will not be as cranky as today. Please help me, God. Make me a more patient Mama Long, please?

Missing my muchkins

It has only been a couple of days that I sent Harritz and his mummy off to Muar to rejoin his daddy, my brother. Sigh...Ini lah payahnya kalau dah sayang sangat. Dulu dengan Luqman begitu gak...Sampai nangis Mama Long ni takmo lepas Luqman balik Kulai dengan mummy dia. Tapi hari tu masa hantar Harritz, Mama Long tak nangis, knowing that his mummy will be coming to KL every month for work...so I'll get to see munchkin number 2, a.k.a. Harritz.

This is how my life is like since my brothers produced babies.  Becoming an aunt at the age of 41, my life became obsessed with the two little ones. We haven't had babies in 27 since my youngest brother was born.  Last year, we were so blessed to have Luqman and four months later, Harritz.  

My mother took care of my sisters-in-law during their confinement. I have the privilage to see them grow from 1 day young to a couple of months.  They are SOOOOO cute.  My heart leaped at just looking at them. Cair meleleh bila tengok muka 2 orang nihhhhhh. Macam nak pengsan pun ada.

Luqman dah tinggal di Kulai bersama mummy dia, and Harritz & his mummy baru rejoined his daddy on Tuesday 31st Jan yang baru ni. Tinggal la Mak Tok, Tok Ayah and Mama Long kesunyian tanpa suara2 high-pitched itu.  Uncle Su dorang takde rasa apa sangat kot sebab dia asyik gi kerja kerja kerja...sesekali jer tengok muka anak2 saudara yang comel2 belaka tu. Saya la yang sangat sedih bila asyik kena belek gambar2 jer. Nasib baik la gambar2 mereka berdua ada banyak dalam BlackBerry saya dan Facebook. Agaknya kalau gambar2 tu pun tau haus, gambar2 tu akan HAUS ditenung2 oleh saya.  Hujung minggu ini Harritz balik KL...saya tak sabar nak tengok dia, nak peluk cium dan cakap2 dengan dia. Luqman pula saya kena juga tunggu sehingga bulan Mac nanti untuk gigit2 dia.  

Ni dok tulis tentang anak2 buah saya, dah terasa bergenang lak air mata di kelopak mata saya. Lain kali saya tulis lagi tentang anak2 saudara saya yang comel2 belaka ini dan letak gambar2. I miss my nephews!!!

Cooking VS Baking

Penat pula rasa selepas berjam2 mengacau dan menunggu daging Rendang Kasturi tadi empuk. Mana tak lama, saya slice daging tu tebal2... lambat la ia nak empuk.  Tetapi kalau hiris nipis2 daging jadi keras dan kurang sedap.  So nak tak nak, kena sabar menunggu daging tu empuk.  Kalau nak kurangkan masa memasak, guna daging batang pinang, atau gunakan pressure cooker.  Kalau guna pressure cooker, bila dah empuk dagingnya tinggal keringkan kuahnya dan masukkan daun limau purut serta kecilkan api untuk bagi naik sikit minyaknya.  Masakan Melayu ni selalunya cantik kalau naik minyak pada lauk pauk yang kita masak tu.

I love cooking as compared to baking.  Why? Cooking consume so much less time in contrary to baking.  Most of my dishes are quick-cooking.  I usually come up with a new recipe at the moment I start cooking. I don't really like to be in the kitchen for too long. I think it makes me fat just by inhaling the aroma of all those tasty food thus disliking long hours in the kitchen.  However, some meals need longer time to cook for example the rendang I cooked earlier this afternoon.  Meat usually takes longer to cook as opposed to fish, squid, shrimp, chicken but meat like beef and lamb cooking produce very delicious meals.

My cooking usually takes short preparation and cooking time, I could create anything out nothing.  Baking, on the other hand, requires measurement. One wrong measurement would spoil ur baking product. Besides, it takes quite a while to finish baking and it devours your electricity consumption!  That, I had experienced when I was really into baking pies at one time.

I'm not a great baker, but I bake for fun and self-satisfaction.  I don't bake anything classified as intermediate level and above.  Cooking is more of a passion to me and I think I will stick to that for now.  Baking?...errr... bake the chicken, pie, meat, fish, I would do that anytime...baking cakes...simple ones yes. Susah2 punya... I kena consider banyak kali dulu. :-)

The Long Holiday

All things must come to an end.  So must the long Chinese New Year holidays.  Tau2 sudah tamat cuti yang panjang ini. How I wish it's extended until Friday, so we can all have a real LONG holiday.  Walau bagaimanapun, bila cuti panjang2 ni, kita jadi MALAS.  I spent my long holiday with my family members...went to my parents' and played with my little nephew, Harritz yg dah pandai nak bercakap2. I cooked, baked and eat with my family members. my parents and brother and his family came over to my little apartment here and dined here. It was a holiday well spent and I feel content.  I will share some recipes of the dishes I made later. Do follow my blog if you like what my recipes.  Thanks for blogwalking at my blogsite.  Now that the long holiday is over, I hope everyone is geared up to finish the week with 3 days to go until it's weekend agaain. Happy working everyone!

Sleeping Disorder

Just when I thought I have finally overcome my sleeping disorder, it revisits me.  Last night I was deprived of a good sleep albeit the work out I did at the gym.  I thought I could fall asleep soundly after burning so much calories but I guess I was wrong. Tonight, I'm having the same problem, plus my hungry pangs reverberated in this tummy. Geez!

I'm writing this to make myself feel sleepy...coz when you try to do something productive, that is exactly the time when your eyelids will fall heavy and you just want to hit the sack.  Yesterday, Friday; wasn't a productive day for me as I didn't do much to fill my time and how wasted I felt at the end of the day. The only thing I am glad I did was to make up for the much needed sleep, and due to that, tonight I am having the difficulty to sleep again.  Sigh...nevertheless, I think I would fall sleepy in a short while.  I am trying to keep up with one-entry per day for this brand new blog, and it's not easy to fulfill the idea and putting in effort. I have yet to post my recipes as I've promised myself to do but I'll get around it soon, hopefully!

Okay, I could feel these heavy eyelids forewarning me to quit and tuck myself in bed.  So here I halt and will try to write again in the day. Good night and sweet dreams.

Happy New Year 2012

Today is already 5 days into the new year, and I find myself not wishing many people as much as I used to in the previous years. Nevertheless I'm taking this opportunity to wish everyone (although no one is reading this) a Happy New Year.

I am motivated by my aunty, Mak J; to start blogging again and share recipes here. This is a fresh blog and I will start everything afresh here.  No more sedih2, pilu2, nangis2 yang perlu diingat lagi, kan?  I'm leaving all those behind and will live life as a happy woman.

Will try my best to keep sending entries everyday.  Jealous juga tengok Mak J ku yang rajin blogging sekarang ini.  Until I write again, keep smiling.