To my heart"s content

Bestnya bila mom & dad datang ke rumah... Just lay out the menu, stock up the fridge and mom will take care of everything else! Burrpp..oops!

A sinistic remark

Tempat parking kenderaan jabatan menjadi tempat parking untuk staf-staf terhormat

Superwoman alert!

Yesterday I felt like a superwoman! At lunchtime I went home with a growling stomach. Thought of eating roti for lunch as that is the only food easily prepared and available. But... bak kata org.. perut Melayu...x puas kalau x kena nasik. So I think fast and decided to have rice instead! Letak nasik dlm periuk..(1 pot ja...nasib x berkerak). Then jemur baju2 yg dah diletak dlm mesin before I went to work, then masak telur goreng masak kicap. Then sembahyang...and makan nasik. Back to work at 2pm. Wow wasn't that some kind of accomplishment and something to be proud of?

What I had for lunch. Nasi putih nak telur goreng kicap.
Xberkuah sgt..kurang minyak.. healthy pun healthy.
Lebih menarik kalau ada cili merah dan bwg besar.
(Bwg besar ada dah potong, lupa add!)

Petang ni nak try masak mee goreng. Dah amik recipe from mak yesterday. Then kalau sempat nak buat bread pudding. Gonna cook this same menu this Friday for my in laws. Sungguh mencemaskan. My in laws are coming this weekend...most probably will arrive Friday night. Whats making me so cemas is that all of them are coming at the same time! The whole immediate family plus tok, nenek n makcik. So in total 12 adults. Plus us 2 so 14. 14 people to feed for 2 days. That's my concern.

Thank god and hoping everything will run smoothly...my mom in law dah agree to help me with cooking, or rather, cook together, or most probably, she cooks and I help. =0 What to do I must admit I have no experience at all in cooking big scale. My small accomplishments before this is only limited for 2 person, my husband and I.

my Quest to be a Chef

Sedar x sedar it's been close to 3 months that i am a wife. Baru perasan that my last post was actually in Nov 2010. Since then it's been hectic for me. Planning for wedding... then come wedding day... honeymooning... back to work... wedding groom's side... back to work then finally transferred to Pahang to live with my husband!

if i were to jot down each and every step through my wedding i will take 1-2 hours (given that writing is not in my everyday job. hence longer time needed to write)
so here's an update : i moved to Pahang 2 weeks ago. then moved in to the kuarters kerajaan (which is right behind my clinic) 1 week ago. Since transferred here.. i've sustained a little mishaps here and there..suffered minor burns and bruises... because of my newfound passion... cooking!

the first day that i'm left with my husband..(after mom&dad went home to Kedah)... i was ironing some clothes. and while ironing, i was chatting with my husband that at one time i reached for the iron without looking! so my forefinger sustained minor burn (left hand). luckily i was fast to move my hand away.

then went back to my in laws' house. while my mom in law heating up the soup for us... menantunya yg nak buat2 busy n saja2 reached for the sudip. without me knowing, the tip of the sudip has been contacting with the hot periuk for sometime. n the sudip was really2 hot! so there goes another burn on my forefinger at the right hand.

then the other injuries are minor ones like a small cut on my finger(s) due to the pisau2 tajam(baru beli). and from the heat from pots and pans yg berasap. huhu
i've cooked for 3 days (only) now...mostly using my mom's recipe..yg simple2 saja and the spectacular one that i want to post here is... Ikan Siakap Masak Stim which i took the recipe from myresipi.com, posted by Mat Gebu. it's simple, but yet delicious. preparation time about 10 minutes, cooking time 10 minutes.




my first try. cooked in the Elba multipurpose cooker with steamer, a gift from my collegues at HSAH for my wedding. the cooker is not very big, just enought for me to use an 8 inch round tin plate.

does the ikan look nice? tempting? appetising? can use this link for the recipe. http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/604

i just add in the veggies supaya senang...dah save time and need to prepare one more dish. i used bunga kobis, broccoli and carrot.






our menu for the first day. ikan siakap masak stim, ikan kerapu goreng sekor, ikan kerisi goreng sekor and sambal kicap cili padi. we dont have tong gas yet at this time, so goreng ikan using induction cooker (farewell gift from the fab dentists)...cemas sbb meletup2 so the result is xberapa garing plak the ikan. (still learning to adjust the temperature). and of course, note my lovely Corelle set in the picture ok. Bought during hanimun time at Langkawi.

for my second attempt, i blended the bahan2 hirisan kononnya untuk give more flavor and added some water, to make more kuah. but it end up not nice! so lesson learnt : follow the recipe ye next time.

till then

04/11/10

today i'm left along at the clinic. all the other dentists are away. 1 already taken leave for Deepavali, and 3 others went for FYDO course. my specialist is at Hospital Kulim today and the other one is away in US. almost all appointments are canceled for the day...just left 4/5 appointments and i'm on standby for casualty cases. and while doing so, i'm free to browse internet the whole morning n update on all that matters to me.

my parents have gone to Mekah to perform their Hajj. it's been one week now that i'm left home alone. but my lil bro is at home in between his exam papers. i figured out that now is the best time for me to practise cooking. i basically know the theories but rarely do so.. as my mom is a housewife and i dont get the chance to cook (n refuse to do so) when she's around.

so lets see what i managed to cook in the past one week.

so for the first attempt mesti la start from the bottom, and simplest,
that is sardin. sardin from tin n the tomato sauce, add in
cabai mesin, bawang besar and cabai hidup. (org kedah use
cabai instead of cili ok) n eat with nasi putih n timun + salad
rasa ok, but should have been lighter, iaitu lebih berkuah
as my mom would do. now that i'm writing..baru teringat.
my mom will only masak sardin once in a blue moon, and
selalu serve with telur cabai bawang. y didnt i think of that
the other day?!

the next day i cooked this sayur air fo chu. slalu we pronounce
as sayur pucuk ja. when i bought the ingredients at tesco myself
baru tau yang sebenarnya ejaan ialah fo chu. n the campuran
include suun, bunga lili and cendawan kering. walaupun masak
tgk recipe yg amik dari mak...somehow it doesnt seen btl2 sedap.
huhu. and knp tah kuah dia jadi terlebih pekat. i think it's from
too much suun. maybe that's why selalunya mak x letak too much
suun walaupun i always ask her to put in extra!

my first attempt at ketam cabai. masak sekor saja ketam bcoz
takut x jadi. before this i've tried sotong masak cabai, but the
sambal x jadi. but this ketam cabai i made..i'm proud to say that
menjadi...mcm mak masak! yeay! i sent mms to my sisters and
both said dah tau jadi just by looking at the pic!

nasik goreng ikan n bunga kobis. kurang rasa. looks rather pale kan. hurm..

for dinner. ayam masak kicap, ikan bawal
goreng and chinese choy sum in oyster sauce

for dinner lagi. prawns in oyster sauce and bawal goreng

weekend breakfast. corn nugget dibaluti oatmeal. and hash brown.
x abis makan nugget tu. in fact i only ate one. nugget mmg not my fav
n apatah lagi covered with oatmeal plak tu.. hihi

this is all i managed to cook in 1 week plus. other days tapau saja from restaurant nearby or me and adik eat out. but there's still plenty of frozen raw foods in the fridge. ni yg rasa stress sikit. takut if lambat masak the bahan2 all will turn bad. as of now i think there's still plenty of sotong, ikan (xtau ikan apa..xreti tgk apatah lagi bila di chop isi2 saja), then ketam lagi 3 ekor..plus the sepit2..then chicken whole leg..dlm 2... udang i've managed to finish em all selepas 3 kali masak. siap bwk bekal lagi nasik and udang in oyster sauce semasa ber-locum di gurun... hebat kan..=P

peektures galore

I'm quite tensed up rite now because of the upcoming Hospital Specific Approach (HSA) day next Monday. I'll be presenting on a study of the diagnostic quality of Orthopantomogram(OPG) in assessing oral&maxillofacial pathology/trauma cases.OPG is a type of extra-oral radiograph commonly used in dentistry and a very good diagnostic tool for clinicians. So no need to go in depth of OPG. The thing is, we the dental team only send 2 representative, me+Dr.M and Dr. P. All the other teams are from medical team. This is the first time the dental division is taking part. So our study is only the preliminary ones and actually not really following their guideline or the true meaning of HSA. But the thing is, we were forced to participate (by the BIG boss). Dr.M my consultant surgeon was thinking of withdrawing from the competition instead of possibly making fools of ourselves. Nevertheless, here I am on my way to the briefing session of HSA and to submit our presentation slides.

On a lighter note, let's talk a bit on my engagement day.

I started on the preparations 3-4 months prior to the date, 30th May 2010.

1) Book a photographer.

Encik Nasir from nasirzin.com. He's based in Lunas, close to Sg Petani. Affordability? Depends. I got the rm1k package. Overall sgt puas hati..he covered from 11.30am till around 2pm. The next morning he posted some of the pics in his facebook...sgt best best coz xpayah tunggu lama. Then 5 days after the ceremony he dropped by my house to give the dvd containing all the pictures. However...the custom album is still not done yet after 1 month. Plus no news too. So I'm gonna msg him later today and ask what's his progress.



2) Book package andaman.

I got the andaman previously hired by my 2 sisters. Inai d' Jari. Thought of renting this baju at first. Nmpk cantik but after try 2 times it looked not so flattering on myself. The drawbacks : First, it's a kebaya, does not have the sweetness yg kena ada masa engagement. Second, I have to wear a corset. Looks funny on my small built and not so curvy feature. Yeah maybe it's suppose to enhance my shape and all, but it's simply not comfortable! Third, the lacce doesnt have full lining, meaning that my upper chest and back part will be exposed, and I'd have to wear an inner tight fitting shirt to close up the area as wearing tudung alone is not enough.



That time it was just 1 and a half months away from the engagement day so dengan kamikaze-nye I decided to search for the kain then tempah and make a baju kurung moden. I don't really know what to look for, which type of kain to buy, how much I should put aside to buy and tempah the kain. According to my andaman guy, I have to be quick to send the kain for tempah because the tailor is doing a lot of baju at the moment for June weddings, and 1 months is definitely xsempat for them to add beads to my kain (if need to). So my sister and I head to Gulati's Jln TAR and instantly fell in love with this kain.



Our shopping time jadi tersangatlah sekejap! And this is how the kain looks when turned into baju kurung moden. Tudung also bought at Jln TAR, 2 weeks before engagement. Kain jojet. Senang dibentuk (have to wear Ariani inner scarf, thanx to Fida) and fall nicely bila dipakai.



Mini pelamin. What I had in mind was something like this.



They did it like this.



And my sisters and I convert it to this.



Really a convenient to have a mini pelamin. Tak payah beramai2 cram up in the bedroom. Anyhow we actually did bought a new sheets and ordered arrangement of fake flowers to put in Mom's bedroom. Just in case. But actually x masuk langsung x bergambar langsung on that day. Cuma these 2 kids saja yg dok buat ramai sekejap kat dlm tu during the ceremony!




Also ordered a bunga tangan. On the left is something I had in mind, on the right is the one they did for me. Loved the bunga tangan so much!!!



Finally this sireh junjung...it's FOC.



Total cost andaman : rm850.

Will continue on my wonderful day in another post. Later alligator. I'm now back at home. Just now I sheepishly asked Dr.M(boss) whether I need to go back to the hospital as we finish early in Alor Setar. He said NO NEED. Love u boss! So will be spending the rest of the day sleeping because I'm on call today and I did not get much sleep last nite.

Let's worry about the HSA presentation tomorrow, shall we?

flower power

Yesterday marked a historical/memorable day in my dear little brother's life. He registered as a 1st year university student, doing Diploma in Computer Science. He got into UITM Merbok, whish is just 15 mins away from home! I personally think it's good that he got a place somewhere near home as it's his first time being on his own.

The fun thing is, there's a Tupperware booth in from of the hostel where Adik registered. We went to take a look and the lady offered some of the Tupperwares at a really good price. So we grabbed the chance and bought a few.

Here's my new Tupperware set.

Meant for use at my new house

(which is sometime in Feb/Mar 2011)! hahah

I intend to buy one set each month. It's 7 months away from my wedding, so at the start of our life (me n love) together, I will have many many Tupperwares ready for use!! yeah yeah yeah so bersemangat!

My FYDO (first year dental officer) attachment at Oral&Maxillofacial Surgery Dept of HSAH is coming to an end, come this 30th June. I'm not sure yet whether I'll be retained as a permanent officer there or have to transfer back to the main clinic, KPSP. Anyhow, I pray for the best as I'm sure everything that Allah arrange ada hikmahnya. But at present, I'm really enjoying the work there, as well as the working environment. It's challenging and interesting, everyday and every patients are different. And not to mention the frequent jamuans that they have. heheh. To date, I've brought hazelnut cake(bought), chocolate blueberry cake(bought), and fruit cocktail pudding(mom made) to the jamuans(or we may call it kenduri). Tomorrow I'll be bringing choc cake, home made by mom.

Above is the picture of a potpourri I made myself from the flowers given during my convocation day. Lillies from family, and roses from yus. It's pretty amazing how the idea of potpourri can help me get rid of the large bouquets lying around in my room for almost a year now, and at the same time the memories of my convo day will always be with me. Just lacking is the potpourri perfume drops that I intend to buy at Lovely Lace some time soon. =)

Roses from Love


Lillies from family

Forgot to mention that I also include these flowers
given by Jothi my uni classmate during my engagement day