Happy New Year 2014

Finally...another year has come. It is already 2014! How was your new year celebration? Mine was nice. We invite a friend and his family to come over together as well as my in laws for dinner. This year will be the first time we host a new year dinner. Well, we don't actually live here not until 2 years ago. And only after 1 year, our house is really ready for guests and party. Entertaining people at home is something I am used to because while my dad was still in service, we always have gathering of friends and colleague at home whenever there are festive celebrations. I did that a lot too when I am back in KL. 

So, when it come to hosting a dinner/party, obviously you need to cook. And for this dinner, we plan to serve Malaysian foods. I seldom cook Msian dishes because most of it require a lot of ingredients and it consume so much time to prepare but skali skala, boleh la. Just to introduce some of the Msian dishes to the Danish people. So, apa lagi, I dah prepare the menu a week before. Asian ingredients do not come easy here especially the area where we live. Lepas googling maner nak carik Asian's shop, we finally found one and decided to go there. Luckily, the town where the shop is situated is not so far so we took a drive and I must say, I am very happy and satisfied with the shop. Well, at least I know where to get my kangkung if I am craving for it.

I prepared the paste for the chicken curry, prawn in a spicy sauce and black soy sauce squid the day before so I can go ahead and cook the dish in the morning. That is one good thing about Msian cooking, you can do it early in the morning and just reheat it when you need to serve it.

Told my hubby to set the table after lunch and decorate it because I need to cook. And the end result is BEAUTIFUL.  

First thing I do that morning, cook the chicken curry! I marinated the prawn & squid the night before. The prawn I add salt & turmeric powder the night before and for the squid, I marinated with lemon juice (both to get rid of the smell & to soften it a bit so it won't get too rubbery). The next morning, I need to stir fried the prawn while in another pot, I cook the chicken curry.

The prawn are quite big so I am very happy. Probably next time I go get some more from that store and try to do butter prawn. Yummy..anyway, this is how the prawn look like after the frying...

Still steaming hot. But this is not done yet. I just put this aside for later. I need to mix it with the paste to make the gravy later on. After I am done with this one, my next dish is the kuah kacang for our satay. I miss stay so much so I decided, why not!! I made the kuah kacang the night before but something just not rite. I need to make some 'modification'. Hehheh...after the 'modifying' is done..tadaa...akhirnya, dapat sudah the kuah kacang...

What a pity that I have to make it less spicy. Takut nanti, tak ader orang dapat makan. Huhuh..Lepas tu, giliran sotong plak. Color a bit out because I do not have thick black soy sauce like we have at home. Heheh...

Tapi the rasa, maintain sedap okk..heheh. Just now I set aside the prawn right, now lps I add the paste and stir fry together, tadaa...spicy prawn..

Unfortunately, it become very spicy for some. For those who tak peduli, dia orang makan jer sambil tarik hingus. Hahah...yang tan brani, only try sekeping jer. They said it is very nice tapi pedas!! Hhaha..

Anddd...my curry pun dah masak. Waduh, I tengok now lapar plak. Hehhe...actually, I cooked this based on personal request. That friend of ours had tried this so many time during his short visit to Singapore, which was a long time ago and now he misses it so much. Tu yang request nak suruh I masak tu. And the verdict..PASS WITH EXCELLENCY! Hahhah..

Vegetable is a much so I cook stir fry mix vegetable. There is cauliflower, capsicum, mushroom and carrot. No fancy mancy recipe but I add Maggi Secukup Rasa. Hahha..yang I seludup dari Msia. 

And this is my satay! I marinate the mince beef & chicken with turmeric powder and salt. Wet the stick so it won't get burn and stick up the satay on it and trus masuk oven. I wish I can bbq it just like dekat saner tapi it is freezing cold outside so I have to be happy with an oven. It turn out great except for the beef, as it become very dry but edible. Heheheh..the smell..hmm..yummy!

Ini dia!! I brought the nasi himpit from Msia. Bought yang ready made kat carrefour jer. Nanti bila summer come, aku nak buat real satay ni. Do bbq kat luar..ahh..mabeles. I save some of the nasi himpit yang belum di masak untuk itu. Hahaha...

Oh ya, we also did sushi roll. Hubby berkenan sgt nak makan sushi so ok la, I do for him. Actually making sushi ni very simple. All you need is the rice vinegar and the sushi rice. And of course the seaweed thingy. What you put inside the roll, that is up to u. Bila the rice the sejuk, add the vinegar mixture (vinegar, salt & sugar). U let it settle for a while then do your rolling. Here's our sushi....

Hubby did prawn tempura. My father in law love it very much. I guess next time we can make sushi party and invite them both. They won't eat the sushi so much but tempura, at least I know they love it.

So, makanan dah masak, guests dah datang....let's dig in. Happy New Year peeps!!

It's Christmas!!!

First of all, Merry Christmas to all my family, relatives and friends wherever you are!

As for me & hubby, this year Christmas is a modest even, with only both of us and of course, my in laws. We had our Christmas Eve's dinner last night (the Danes always have their Christmas dinner on the eve of Christmas) so today, we practically do nothing! Hahaha...I for sure is planning to write something on this blog of mine with a movie watching interval in between. I decided to watch some horror story from back home today. Hubby as usual is busy at his workshop, doing 'pimp my ride' version of his American truck (that is what he means with spending his Christmas vacation with me...hmmmm)

Anyway, last night my stomach was full to the brim although, now when I think about it, I don't really stuff myself that night. We have roasted duck, roasted pork, Christmas cabbage, cucumber pickles, red cabbage, small brown potatoes, boil potatoes and carrots (kira cam nasi dia org la ni), cream porridge as dessert (eaten with sour cherry sauce), cookies & cake for coffee. And YES...all the foods were prepared by me & hubby. Then there was the gift unwrapping 'event' where I got myself quite a number of gift and mostly are Christmas items, which I am a collector (Georg Jensen & TripTrap...you guys can google what is that. One thing for sure, it's a Danish design and I have been an avid collector since few years back & I intend to keep on collecting until I have all the design especially the old one). And I do get some kitchen stuffs as well, I guess they do know I love being in the kitchen so giving me these utensils is very practical.

All of us are happy with the guy and the foods so I guess...everyone is satisfied last night. After my in laws left, I start cleaning the dishes, vacuuming the floor and mopping it. Keeping the leftover foods inside the containers and store it in the fridge (that will be eaten for the next 3days)..hahaha...jangan harap aku nak masak lepas ni yerr). The whole of yesterday is a very tiring event (except for the eating part) and I was literally sweating after all those cleaning so that today I can be a lazy BUM!  

So, I guess it is time for shower before we start 'going to the movie arena'..hahah..you guys enjoy your holiday, Christmas and time with your love one. I miss everyone and everything back home & looking forward for 2015 when I will finally go home for Christmas!!!

Ho Ho Ho...Bless you all!

Pineapple upside down cake

Yes..another baking. It surely has been a busy morning for me that Sunday because I need to bake  a few different kind of cake/bun. I prefer to serve my guest with variety of serving rather than just one type. Like what my mum always said, biar lebih makanan asal jangan kurang. Nanti malu. Hehehe... so I took my 'laboratory equipment' & let us make a cake!

For this cake, you do not have to use pineapple. You can easily replace it with apple/peach/berries etc. It is up to you which fruits you want to use. As for me, pineapple it is! What do you need???

 As usual, mix all the dry ingredient in a bowl; flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together until creamy. For this cake, I am using brown sugar. My old time favorite. Furthermore, the cake will be brown so it's ok to use brown sugar. 

Then add the egg one at a time and blend well. Stir in vanilla essence. 

Lepas tu, add the dry ingredient into the wet by alternating it with buttermilk. For those who do not have buttermilk, you can replace it with normal milk but add some lemon juice (1 cup of milk + 1 tbsp of lemon juice). Since normal milk has a different texture compare to buttermilk, I will use lesser milk. Instead of 11/4 of buttermilk, I used only 1 cup of milk or even lesser. 

I normally stop adding the milk when the mixture dah cukup cair. Not too watery and not too hard. This I guess you need to learn through experience of baking. So, kekdg I tak guna smua milk pun. So,now the cake batter is ready.

But before tu, you need to melt 1/2 cup of butter. I don't think I guna 1/2 cup even. Just a few tablespoon of butter. Depend on your cake try (the diameter). The 1/2 cup measurement is for a 9-inch cake tray.

Sprinkle some brown sugar in the cake tray before you pour the melted butter on it.

Place the pineapple on top of the melted butter and brown sugar. I just used the canned pineapple. But kalau nak best lagi, do use a fresh pineapple. Memandangkan kat sine pineapple smua xder rasa/very masam so better I use canned la. Hahaha...Lepas tu pour the cake batter inside the cake tray and bake for 45-50min in a 175C temperature.

 Here it is, pineapple upside down cake! Not too sweet, just nice!

Normally, within all those whole (at the centre of the pineapple), people always place a cherry but I know, not many like so I decided not to put any cherry (fresh or not). So, here how it look like. The cake is serve with fresh whipped cream. Simple marvelous especially when you have it over a cup of hot tea/coffee on a cold winter day. :)

Ingredients;

• 11/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter, 3-5 tbsp for melting
• 13/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 bicarbonat soda
• 1/4 salt
• 3/4 - 1 cup of milk
• 7 tbsp brown sugar for the sprinkling
• 1 can of pineapple ( you won't use it all anyway)
• A few cherry (if you decide to use it. It doesn't have to be fresh cherry. You can use the one you can get at the supermarket)

Simple right...

This time of the year again where I am getting wiser..heheh

Wow..how time fly eh..I am already 35 years old!! Hmm..how do I feel?? Frankly, nothing at all. I don't feel old nor young..just normal. It is just another day of the day for me. I come from a family who do not celebrate birthday so you don't actually get any special feeling on that day. I am just grateful that I am still breathing and enjoying life despite the disappointment that happen in my life.

I am also grateful that at this age I have that special someone that I can celebrate the day with. Someone who know me deeply, who accept me as who I am, understand me more than anyone else, who support me through the thick and thin, who love me unconditionally and who no doubt treat and care about me tremendously. Well, who else would do all that for me but my lovely hubby. Hehheh...I really thank God for him and the happiness he brings into my life. 

I have lots to be thankful for...I am grateful for my family who no doubt has been there for me through all these years. Despite our differences in term of our ideas & opinions doesn't change the fact that there is nothing more important than family. I am also grateful for my loyal friends who been standing on my side and supported me when I needed someone to lean on. Am also grateful that I am wiser to know the different between true and fake friends. But most important of all, I am grateful that I am still alive and well.

Nothing much I would like to wish for but pray that God keep on guiding my way through life as I know, without HIM, I am nothing. I wish that He will keep reminding me to be grateful and appreciate what I have and going to have and allow me not to forget that all things come from HIM. I wish that I be a better person or at least trying to be a better person. Andd of course I pray that HE will provide me a good career in the future, a job that suit my personality and knowledge where I could excel. AMEN!

It's Christmas again...soon..

It is the time of the year again when we will celebrate Christmas. My favorite time of the year although hubby does not share the same feeling but who care...I love CHRISTMAS! I love the rush before Christmas where people going around buying gift and the rush at home to decide which cake & cookie to bake, and as it come nearest to Christmas, the rush to get the house clean, setting up the Xmas tree, foods/drinks are ready to be serve for visitor. This is what I will miss the most whenever it is time for Christmas.

And this year it is not an exception because I will be in Denmark for Xmas and here they do it a little different. Besides the rush to buy all sort of gift, the rest is pretty quiet here. My first time celebrating Christmas here is a bittersweet event. Well, of course I am happy because I get to celebrate it with my husband to be (we were not yet married at that time) and his family, and of course experience my first heavy snow (my first time seeing snow is back in the UK). But the liveliness tu kurang. Here, the Danes celebrate xmas is a 'closed' manner. It's a gathering with family only and time to eat & drink. Unlike back home, it's time for open houses and visiting!!!

I remember when I was younger, my neighbor will play their xmas song out loud, enough for the whole neighborhood to listen. While we bake our goodies and do the house cleaning, we at least have a free entertainment which we enjoy very much. On the eve of Xmas, we all go to church and only back at midnight. My hubby experience that for the first time in 2008 and he said, that is the longest church service he ever been to in his whole life! Hahah...it was not until I went to their church service that I know why. It was not even for 30 minutes!! Like the Malay say..duduk pun kerusi tak sempat panas dah nak balik. Hhahah...I was speechless..

So, this year it will be only me, hubby and both my in law. We will have Christmas Eve dinner at our home this year and we will just sit & eat & talk. And of course, unwrapping the gift (that remind me that I haven't got any gift yet for my in law!!!). Honestly, this is the part that I hate because we do it every year so after few years, you end up not knowing what to buy. But tradition has to go on I guess. I will surely miss everything & everyone back at home during this special season but as a traveler, I guess I get used to it after a while. This is not the first time I will be away for Christmas to say so but nevertheless, I will always miss being at home for Christmas.

Raya

Raya is approaching soon and I bet most of my Muslim friends are busy baking biscuit and cake and making sure that they get new cloths. Some even already having their holiday starting this week. I always like Raya since I was small because the idea of visiting my parents' Muslim friends is very exciting knowing they will serve various types of dishes, biscuits, cakes & tidbits. And they serve in abundance too!

Not to mention, there will be a lot of nice Malay movie show on tv. This is the time to catch up some local movie that I think not worth it to pay for. As years go by, Raya is more to spending time at home for me. I go out with my friends, whoever that stay in KL and not going anywhere. We will hangout at the mall, and mind you, the mall is always full of people during festive season. That is life in the big city. Movement don't just stop just because it's Raya or CNY because business has to open as usual.

This Raya, I will be missing the fun and missing the Raya music..Raya sales..Raya movie..hell, I already missing the Pasar Ramadhan. Something that I always look forward to because I love to try old and new foods available there. When my parents are staying with me in KL, my dad & I will make it a point to go down to Pasar Ramadan & shop for food. As usual we always end up buying too much.hahaha..

Since Raya will be coming soon, in fact, it is this weekend, so I think I decided to do some Raya cooking & invite my in law to join me. It at least make me feel that I am not left behind. Now I need to find my menu for Raya! I will update my Raya feast soon!

Longhouse (Iban) wedding

Today is the day that I have been waiting for. I have never witness an Iban wedding in my life ..EVER! So, I am so excited to witness one today. My auntie woke up quite early as I can hear the pots and pans making sound downstairs. Me & my brother slept in an air conditioning room while the rest sleep outside...yeah ..yeah..we're cheating. But I can't sleep if it's too hot and that is normally the case in a typical longhouse in the month of June.

I woke up & help a bit. Nothing much actually because my aunt only cooked two type of dish. According to the programme that was passed to everyone, the bride's entourage will arrived at our longhouse at 3pm. But you know what, they only arrived at 645pm! I have no idea which planet does their time following but on earth that is like almost 4hrs delay! We waited and waited until we no longer eager to see them arrive anymore. Everyone is fed up because they are all tired. Delay in arrival will mean that all the programme are pushed behind schedule. As their van stop at the side entrance of the longhouse, guess what...there are 25 people coming out from the van! Serious shit! Hahahha....I don't even want to imagine how on earth they can fit inside that van and it was an old van! Probably that's why it took them 4hrs because they were overloaded so the van can'r go very fast!hhahaha...

 Not the entire entourage but these are the group that fit inside an old rugged van that normally can fit only 12 people. There are 25 of them! Can you imagine!!

 Miring ceremony was performed as the guests arrived to honor the 'petara' or God, spirit and ancestors.

 The welcoming committee.Hehehhe...

Everyone is waiting outside their room now to see the entourage. The whole group will go from one unit to another, from one end to another and every unit will serve them either with soda drink or tuak. This is the time for the us to see who are our guest. For those who are single, this is the time to search for available partner.Hehhehe...

 The first person to lead the entourage is normally representatives from the welcoming longhouse.

 One of the welcoming party with Iban traditional vest and head gear. The pants is the modern part of the outfit though....hehhehe

 Of course the 'chief' have to be part of the welcoming comittee.:)

 This is the groom's mom.

 This little girl is always used as the young 'mascot' each time there is a ceremony in the longhouse. I have no idea to whom this girl belong to but can't deny that she does look pretty here.

 This is the boy band. Actually I was wondering how the boy band look like. I thought that it be like those boy band that make live performance in a hotel/lounge.

 Tipah tertipu!! hahaha...that how I feel when I saw these 3 boys playing the traditional instrument.

 Now everyone gather at the groom's ruai and of course everyone bring their dishes to be share by many.

Eating time! This is what most people been waiting for the whole day. The time for feast!

 After the gathering at the groom's ruai & listening to some introduction of the guest and whatever announcement that follow, everyone go back to their own bilik and it's time to place the food outside for everyone to eat. This probably the largest and longest buffet you can ever found! Hahaha...

 The buffet table is stretching from the first bilik to the last one. So, you basically can go as far as you want in search of your favorite dish or in search for new dish that you haven't try yet.:)

 This is our table. We share with two other bilik. It's all traditional Iban dishes but of course there are some individual who want to add a new twist to the all Iban food so it won't be too traditional.

 Finally, I get to see the wedding cake. Can't even fit the whole longhouse.....hehehe

 Finally, at almost 12midnight the bride & groom came out. Man! That was long, in fact, this is the longest wedding ever in terms of the waiting time. The waiting started from the first step of the programme, which is the arrival of the bride's entourage. Gosh..talk about timing!

After like 15min, I just left & went to sleep. Can't wait any longer to go to bed. It was a nice experience to witness the wedding but I hate the waiting.

Gawai continue

So here I am again, after my stomach is fill and the dish are wash & I manage to take a walk, at least 1.5km. I try to take a walk everyday for at least 2km because I am terrified that when I am back to KL, my friend will say the unwanted comment...you gain weigh? Don't we all hate those remark cum question.

Anyway, here my Gawai story. As we reach the longhouse, it's rather quiet for a Gawai celebration. My auntie was entertaining some guests when our car reach the front 'porch' or ruai as it called in Iban. We were asking our auntie why it's so quiet. She said...

"Orang dah lelak bergawai maya orang kawin tok tadi. Pagilak bisi gak org kawin. Nyak meh saritok org diau dirik ajok." (People already started the party two days before Gawai because there was a wedding. Tomorrow there will be another wedding so today everyone just want to relax).

You see, when you held a wedding at a longhouse, everyone is involve. I literally mean EVERYONE! Every unit in the longhouse will cook some dishes, which will be serve to the bride/groom entourage during the feast. Therefore, the bride/groom's family from our longhouse will not be burden with the task of cooking for numerous of people. This amount sometimes can go to more than 100 guest and that's not including the people living in the welcoming party's longhouse. So, you can imagine how much one have to cook if it was only  one party cooking. Guest also can go inside any unit or bilik in Iban, in the longhouse and of course as a good host, you need to have foods and drinks.

As you can see, wedding in a longhouse involve a lot of cooking and entertaining and it really is a community work as everyone, young or old, will have a task on that day. In my case, there are two wedding at my dad's longhouse within a close gap. So, it is no wonder that they prefer to sleep in & just watch tv instead of go visiting on Gawai itself. Nevertheless, my brother and I start our visiting 'journey' at 6pm. Just right after dinner and we manage to go to at least five bilik. Man..my stomach was full and it's difficult to walk after.hahahah..

But before we both left for our makan journey, suddenly the Gawai group came to our bilik & there goes our plan. We have to stay for a while because it is rude for the host not to entertain the guests.

 Yes, the group fill up our living room and some of them are already drunk.Hahha..

 My dad gave a glass of tuak to the 'chief' or Penghulu after his lovely speech.:)

 The funny thing is, his wife decided to wear a wig! Hahhaha

 My brother posing with the 'chief' 's wife. The next time we saw that wig, it was at someone else head! hahaha...

That night we visited our relatives (basically almost everyone is related in a longhouse either through blood or marriage) and go home with a really full belly. I don't normally go visiting alone when we're in the longhouse because I don't really know anyone and they also don't really know me. I am the least from my sibling to visit the longhouse so I am not surprise no one really know me & vice versa.:)

Gawai 2012

Gawai is here again. This year, I decided to go back to Kuching and take a break from KL for 2weeks. This year, we decided to celebrate Gawai at two places, Taee & Engkudu. First, we go to Taee in Serian, my mum's hometown. Originally, my brother and I plan to join the village folks to celebrate Gawai eve at the community hall but due to unfortunate event, we can't go. But we still go back to Taee anyway because we plan to depart for Saratok from there. Cut the journey by 1hr.:)

The weather was hot in June and as usual, when there is celebration, there is water disruption. I swear that these people purposely disrupt it because it can't be coincident if it happen every year right? So, my bro and me decided, it's time to pay the river a visit! Heheh...well..well..what do you know, even the river has no water!!!! Whattt???? So, we just have to satisfied with rain water that my parents collect in the huge water drum. Sigh...after taking shower me, my bro, mom & dad when to my grandma's house to have Gawai eve dinner. WE ate our hear out & decided to take a look at the show at the community hall that we miss.

OK..we didn't miss much. It's kindda boring. So, we went back to the farm house early that day because we have a long journey the next morning. We left Taee at 9am. With so many people on the road, we can't go faster, therefore, we take our own sweet time. We reach Engkudu to my aunt surprise on 1st June, 2012 at 330pm. She though we will come the next day.hahaha...my bro purposely don't call her so we can surprise her & she was surprised indeed.

I need to cook dinner for now, I will share with you what happen in Engkudu during our 3 nights stay.

Three in 1

I always love to entertain people because I enjoy arranging the dinner, preparing the door gift, planning the menu & the decoration. I do believe most of my girlfriends do love to hangout at my place. So, one day I decided that we should celebrate wedding anniversary, baby shower & birthday all at one at my place.

I always go for potluck dinner so that no one is burden with all the cooking task and as usual, I take care of the dessert. Days before, I did the planning & what need to buy for the decoration as well for the dessert & gifts. We decided that we going to surprise Hellen with a baby shower. She has no idea that we are making a baby shower for her that night. All we told her is that we just going to have a potluck gathering since it been ages we last saw her. On the morning of the dinner, Jul came over and help me with the balloon & ribbons.

 I order these helium balloons for her with a picture of a duckling. In fact, everyone do love this balloon.

We hang a banner & more balloons.

 Jul bought this one from the party store. It kindda cute & actually you can do it yourself. My sister just did it although I didn't ask her how.

Yes, more balloons. I feel like living in a nursery for the coming few days. I was planning to release the air from the balloons but it hurt my finger each time I need to open it.

 Early in the morning, I received a large bouquet of red roses from my hubby. The night when we decided to have the party is exactly the day when we got married, 5 years ago. He always send me red roses on our anniversary no matter which part of the world I am at that day.

And got myself an anniversary helium balloon. I saw this balloon at the party store & I just have to have it. It is still in my house until today although the air might be lesser and lesser now.:)

 Made sweet and salty peanuts chocolate mix as the party favor. It was not so hard to do. I always make simple but yet delicious favor. So that my guest can still enjoy my baking even after they all went home.

All my guests always have party favor and the big one is for the mummy to be.

 Yau came and brought a gift for my anniversary. At first I thought the flowers were fake. Hehehe...sorry..

Since we going to have 3 celebration at one, so, I need to make a birthday cake. I made this cake for the birthday girl because she love carrot cake. Well, it was not her birthday yet but no harm in celebrating it early.

So, table is set & we open up a bottle of Moet & Chadon champagne and make a toast. WE all wish good health, happiness and success to each other.

Nanie order this special cupcake for Hellen. It's very yummy and tasty. Not to mentioned how cute the cupcake design.

 The foods are all on the table and so are the guests. Everyone is eagerly waiting to eat all the delicious foods.

Even I got a surprise that night. Hahahha...the girls surprise me with Baskin & Robbin ice cream cake for my anniversary. This is the reason why I love my friends!

Not only that, they get me a lingerie! Hahhaha...

 The girls decided to share and bought Hellen a baby stroller. She was very happy because now she don't need to think about which stroller to get. Both of us have a hard time to fold that thing the morning after. We look rather stupid twisting & turning the stroller in every possible direction until we finally fine out how to do it.

I bought her a baby cot. I believe she will need to have a proper baby cot which she can use for her subsequent babies. Hahhaha..


Overall, it was a great nice. We did a lot of catching up with each other life. We have no idea when we can come together and have such gathering again in the future. I am sure will miss this bunch of people once I am finally moving to Denmark.