lasagne

mmmmm.... not good at taking photos, dunno if it looked scrumptious or not but it din't fail to impress my kids...they loved it, so they said...hehe.....

"Tsara'! Ameer! Batrisyia!" Time for lunch! It's Garfield's favourite food today!", you could hear the mum of the house calling her kids down for lunch yestersay afternoon. what prompted her to make lasagne, I don't know. Perhaps, the fridge was running low on stocks of chicken, fish, etc? No.. still had some chicken pieces in there, meat, yes, another portion of prawns, but no more crabs or squids, tulang rusuk, fish..time to go 'early morning'shopping again, time to stock up the freezer

Ameer asked me, have I made lasagne before? Of course I did. One time? no. Twice? No, thrice? No... many many times already but not so often. there was always a long gap in between unlike spaghetti bolognese or spaghetti goreng.

well...just felt like it, once in a while, you just didn't feel like having rice for a meal or rather you were clueless as to what to cook for the meals. It happened to me so many times, sometimes I would just stare at the freezer shelves, looking at the fish,sometimes we had bawal. merah, siakap, grut grut,terubuk, kembung, kerisi, etc and they stared right back at me!

saw the unused portion of the minced meat (i forgot what I used the other half for), some meat balls and remembered that there's still half a jar of bolognese sauce still in the fridge, balance of the spaghetti bolognese which I did last week, I still had the cheddar cheese block, still intouched and the expiry date was very near, that triggered me to make lasagne, after all, it's been awhile, so okay, let's be Italian today.I mean, yesterday.

here's the actual recipe which I obtained from couldn't remember where. Had been using this recipe since my student days:
LASAGNE
1 lb minced meat
425g tin tomatoes
1/4 pt beef stock
2 tbs tomato puree
1 onion
1 garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp sugar

Chopped and fry onion and garlic, then stir in the minced meat.then , put in the rest of the ingredients.
Bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

CHEESE SAUCE:
60g/ 2 oz butter
1/3 cup plain flour
salt, pepper
pinch of nutmeg
2 cups milk
125g/ 4 oz cheddar cheese
3 tbsp grated parmesan

Melt butter ina saucepan, add, plain flour, salt,pepper, nutmeg. Blend in until smooth. Stir over heat for abt 1 minute. Gradually add milk. Stir until sauce boils and thickens
reduce heat, cook 1 minute.
Remove from heat, stir in grated cheese. Stir until cheese melts.

Layer pasta, meat sauce and cheese sauce. then repeat
Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in moderate oven 375f/190C or gas mark 5. for 30 minutes or until browned and bubbling. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Feel free to try, I did the easier way, by using the bolognese sauce which came in a bottle, forgot which brand did I use, either Pr*ego or D*lm*o

Anything Italian, pasta I mean, is just yummy.....bon jorno!
Ciao!

amboi..amboi..amboi....

caught in the act...but she didn't mind it the least...:-)

kids will be kids and young girls will be princesses to their mummies ....


it's 1 noon., my cupcake deco is half way done, my fruit cake is still bare, so what am I doing updating this blog...it's not that i don't have anything to do right at this minute but i just need to take a breather.It's been a long night and there will be more long nights after this.

chocolate, green and white

choc moist banana cake

this is how it looks like inside, chocolate moist cake is sandwiched in between two layers of chocolate banana cake. Actually I was experimenting on these two cakes wondered how it would taste like if I mixed /combine these two and the outcome was rather good.A splash of ganache on top and in between the layers too.

Trial and error, testing---testing....I decided to call this combo: choc moist banana cake .

Aidil Fitri 2009

Salam Aidil Fitri.Marble cheese brownies for my mum and mum-in-law for Eid.











































1 Syawal , a very quiet Syawal morning, my eldest daughter and my son having ketupat and rendang






2 Syawal.... the journey back to hometown . After visiting mum in law and relatives in alor Star, we headed back to my home town to beraya with my parents. we started the journey at almost dusk and reached there at 12 midnite sharp.







3 Syawal


smile...you are on candid camera....Tok Umi wanted to have photos with her grandchildren.














Abah and umi with their cucus and two daughter









bilalah depa ni nak balik..... (perhaps that's whats on her mind, while lounging on the chair in front of the house)








4 Syawal di Taman Stadium...tak cukup di dalam, di dapur, bersila di depan pun jadilah...

satay...satay.....mari..mari...

happening...kereta penuh kiri kanan jalan di taman stadium that night...

4 Syawal- it's satay time!

5 Syawal

kanak2 riang...

Anak siapa ni.....

ayunyer.....duk bersimpuh atas katil,

my sweet moment

when I first saw her on TV,I was mesmerised by her, something about her made me glued to my seat and watched her spreading good words to mankind while quoting and singing the Quran verses melodiously and translating them in between.
She's truly one great lady and when a good doctor friend of mine smsed me asking if I would be interested to attend the program " An Evening with YBhg Dato' Dr Fatma Elzahraa" which was scheduled to be held on 8th August 2009 at the Holiday Villa here in Alor Star, I straight away replied a big "YES".

the program was a joint effort between Usahawati Negeri Kedah and the "Badan Kebajikan Wanita Kedah Kuala Lumpur/Selangor.This is an event not to be missed.

To be able to see her in person and be able to capture this sweet moment with her, is truly a sweet and memorable experience.I extended the invitation to a few friends and according to my doctor friend, the tickets were selling like hot goreng pisang! They even had to add in extra tables since the response was overwhelming. I'm sure everyone else wouldn't want to miss this great opportunity.

On that day, I went with good friends of mine, Yus whom I have only just known a couple of months back and how do you think we met? thru a blog, a blog of a friend ( also because of a Mothers Day chocolate cake and we later became friends too)and thru my carrot walnut cake . What beautiful things a cake can do to us, don't you think? Through my cakes, I get to know many beautiful and nice people. Alhamdulillah.

Yus offered to drive us to the venue and how glad I was because I was not really keen on driving the car up the spiral carpark .that's another story. Another good friend of mine , Nani, also went with us, the lady who has a daughter by the same name as the great lady speaker, the lady who ordered Power Puff Girls and Dorami cupcakes and cakes for her daughters whom I have known since my A-Level years. Another friend was also supposed to join us but it was unfortunate because she was down with fever and flu on that day.Hope you and your kids are feeling much better now, Jay..( her short name)Another friend of mine couldn't make it either but she bought the tickets for her mum and mum-in-laws and her granny and so they all went without her.

Saw YBhg Dato' entering the hall, with an aura that filled the room with great sweetness and warmth.The evening started with a brief introduction of the Badan Kebajikan by the Emcee and followed by the moment that we were waiting for. the topic for the day was about our heart ( hati or jantung). I wouuld like to share a few things that I managed to learn that day, afew short notes that I managed to scribble in my small notebook which I hope can be used as a reminder to me , now and in the future.

'Hati" , our heart is the most important organ in our body. It will make us who we are. If any of you are watching the Korean series " Summer Scent" which I had been following without fail, it's about a girl who received a heart of a girl whose boyfriend now falls in love with. Her heart was so strong that it totally changed the character of its recipient. She fell for him , of course, and he fell for her maybe because of the heart which was beating inside the girl, his girlfriend's heart who was missing and yearning for his love. I don't know how it ends because the last episode was on Thursday where she only just found out that her heart donor was actually the girlfriend's of the man he falls in love with. Can't wait for the next episode tomorrow night.

Back to our "ceramah ugama", about heart.

Ciri2 hati baik: yukminunabilghaiib......
untuk mendapat hati yang baik:
baca lah surah al-Fatihah 17 x daily
bacalah 5 ayat pertama di dalam surah Al-Baqarah
bersolat

Bad characteristics (nauzubillah):
1) riak
2)dengki
3)tak boleh memaaf
4) bakhil/kedekut ( in kelantan slang, "kupik" as YBhg Dato' said it )
5)sombong
6)berasa lebih dari orang lain

tuhan tak mahu tengok muka orang2 berikut:
-bakhil
- derhaka ibubapa
- mabuk arak

How to lawan syaitan:
1) banyak2kan sebut "auzubillahhiminasyaitanirrajim"
2) always berwudhu'
3)pasang/baca surah al-Baqarah di dalam rumah ( boleh juga pasang CD or cassette)
4)kawal mata ( you know what they said, "dari mata turun ke hati")
5)Baca 3 "Qul" sebelulm tidur dan masa bangun
6)jangan tinggal zikir, zikrullah/ zikir banyak2( esp read the Quran)
7) Attaubah( bertaubat)
8)Nak masuk rumah, bagi salam walau pun tiada siapa di dalam rumah
9) nak tutup tingkap or nak buka pintu, say with "Bismillahirrahmanirrahim"
10) Bila keluar rumah, bacalah "Bismillahtawakkalalallah"

How to fight nafsu:
1) Ilmu ( majlis ilmu ugama)
2)bersahabat dengan orang baik2
3)puasa banyak2
4)buat sunat tahajud

these are some of the things that I managed to write and hopefully practised. A lot more need to be learned. the evening went by so fast and her talk ended after more than an hour, which later was followed by the high tea and a muslimah fashion show with beautiful models wearing beautiful jubahs, kebayas and kurungs with matching and beautiful tudungs.

All good things must come to an end. the programme ended around six in the evening. Thank you hubby for babysitting the kids while mummy went out for a couple of hours with mummy's friends to attend this programme.Thanx Yus and Nani for the company , thanx Dr Mas for inviting me.I should thank the organisers too for organising this wonderful programme.Last but not least, thank you to the wonderful Dr Fatma for accepting their invitation and make it a memorable evening .