numero thirteen - tragedy Sausage Roll

Decided to give the new oven a trial run. I've been excitedly announcing the things I planned to cook using the oven eversince we bought it, little that I know my eldest has been keeping a record of it! :D

So, after rummaging through bags and drawers (dah pindah but belum setel kemas barang), I found the manual and started reading (and scratching my head), I decided with numero thirteen menu on the list - Sausage Roll.

Oh ya, I must warned that I am a little hopeless in the kitchen, especially when it comes to baking. When I was in secondary school, I was taught the subject SRT - Sains Rumah Tangga. There was one time we were baking basic cake. I thought things were going on well. The right temperature, the correct amount of things and appropriate way of mixing things. It was golden brown and was smelling nice. After it has been cooled down a bit, I turned the baking pan upside down and plopppp.. the inside went out. The outer remain intact but with a big hole on its bottom! Like a shell. The inside was obviously still tak masak. My SRT teacher was a garang woman so I decided to just put the shell with nothing inside on the plate and the teacher complimented me that I freaked out she might want to cut a slice of it. Thank God she didn't!

That was what,.... 25 years ago? Fast forward 25 years, things hasn't change much *ahem*

It says flour, margarine, water, salt, sugar, yeast, fresh milk... knead until a soft and elastic dough is formed.
It says 180d for 20 minutes.
It also says - the temperature however depends on your oven, the size of it, how many rolls you put inside as well as the type of baking pan.

I say - ?????, api atas bawah? kipas or not? *pengsan* and the dough.. how soft is soft enough and at what level of elasticity should I stop kneading?

I decided to try it out anyway. Afterall, perjalanan 1000 batu bermula dengan langkah pertama. Right?

After 20 minutes, these came out!

Told you, things hasn't change much over the years.
Me and oven *sigh*

Yang, I makan 2 ketul Yang. Moral support for you.
Kids, makan roti Ummi ni. Show your mother some support. Abah dah support Ummi. Dah makan dua.

Kakak said those are good but knowing her, she'll always try to jaga my hati. Proof - petang tu she gobbled up plates and plates of sushi during our family outing :P

Anyway, after fb-ing on the matter and googling for information (which should've been done before and not after the tragedy anyway), I can conclude few things.

1. Temperature should be 160d - 170d C

2. Baking time should be just 10-12 minutes only

3. Don't be gelojoh, wait to proof the second time for 30-45 minutes and not errr... 25 minutes. Or until those has doubled their size.

4. Don't mix yeast with salt directly.

Am so gonna try this again and Yang, yes, I might need your moral support again the next time around. And perhaps for many more times to come so bear with me :D

the boys

Brought the boys to Menara Optometry few weeks back. Iman needed a new pair of spectacles and he was due for his inspection anyway. This is the second time going. Did not cooperate the first time around and was giving different answers to the same questions. While waiting, they had fun joking and teasing each other and eventually, as expected, quarreling. Sigh.

Guess what. After being given food and drink to sooth the situation, he still did not cooperate. The second best option - ikut je reading spec yang sedia ada.

Then we went for the much-needed haircut. New school term was starting anyway!

He resembles much of me with his long, unruly hair. My boys, they have curly hair actually. When curls can be seen, it calls for a visit to hair saloon. Adam agreed for no-1 cropped style :D

While Iman wanted to keep his hair longer. No more no-1 style or Mawi, as his friends used to tease him.

Done. Terus jadi rambo. With a pistol terselit kat seluar dia and a gun at the back! And terus muka jadi cam muka Abah hihi..

Obviously satisfied with the output :D

grilled and ironed!

After months flipping the catalogue and drooling over photos over the net, enduring with Tebby's yes and no interchanged from time to time on my proposal of wrought-iron grill, wooden gate and pergola - finally we settled on: -

::   Powder coated metal grill (hurmpp..)

::   Pergola with steel beams and poly-roof (I am hesitant to name it pergola... shouldn't it be wooden?)

::   Wrought iron gate (yesss!) with wood-look-alike material (hurmppp... )

Sesi pemilihan material for gate. D*** heavy this thing, even as samples! Now I understand why wrought iron is expensive :P  And due to that, our gate comes with a railing in fear of the heavy pagar might get senget in future.
Yang, dah lah wrought iron tu berat, kalau you buat kayu, lagi tambah berat.
Kayu kena maintain tau.
Owh well..

Poly roof to choose from. Glass oso got but we dare not! Being me, of course I picked the dullest of them all - brown!

Actually this 'iron-man' is 'kaki' Mazlan The Contractor jugak. He suggested Uncle Wong to us and regret not, his work sangat kemas! Everything I ever imagined the grill, gate and pergola would be. Upon our agreement, Uncle Wong tak ambik deposit pun. What a risk-taker. Takpe, nanti siap you bayar. Or, he must be very rich!

2 weeks later, Uncle Wong and his team (2 mamat bangla yang asik kena marah dek Uncle Wong ini) datang install, starting with grill. It took them 3 trips altogether, second time datang pasang beams for pergola and third pasang poly roof and gate.

Uncle Wong, hard at work. Kerja-kerja drill, pateri (fuhh... berapi-api you!) semua dia buat sendiri. Pekerja dia cuma tolong angkat, pegang, angkut (dan kena marah :P) Seen here dia pasang grill kat pintu belakang. Kami tempah yang half covered punya.

Ahhhh... so me. Brown over brown. Tebby had wanted white but he let me picked the color. He picked the design. Earlier I had wanted wrought iron grill with 'bunga padi' pattern but my proposal was rejected due to complexity of design plus the high cost (am not sure which one carry more weightage :D) As I have told before, I won't play with so much color. If the wooden frame is white, the grill should be white. But the frame is brown, so white has to go. I opted for the closest brown of the frame.

Done. Ideally I would've let the windows bare with no grills, it would've felt so open and airy and vulnerable! But in our boleh-land, realistically, grill is essential.

mr Mama

 

Mr Mama ushered in 2013 with a cracked bone and a torn ligament, on his right hand. Had a fall from a free-standing ladder. I was in our rented house and he, in our house next-door. Heard a loud thump, followed by a metal crashing and his cries. I was expecting but hoping not for the worst. When I finally arrived at the scene, I saw his standing holding his right hand in his left. Funny when it felt like so long that I took to get from next door house. When panic strikes, that is exactly how it felt.

Asked Kakak to look after his brothers while waiting for my SIL to arrive. SIL lives just few houses away. When she arrived to the kids, Kakak was crying pools of tears. I was already on my way to Columbia Asia.

Long story cut short, after 2 MRI's, his right hand put in cast and scheduled for physiotherapy 3x a week. Alhamdulillah it doesn't call for operation and healing shall take via natural course. The cast is removable and now he is reduced to only wearing it during bedtime. A self-prescribed method, apparently.

The scene. He put up the ladder on this stair landing. When he was at top-most, the ladder wobbled and gave way. Thank God he did not roll his way down the stairs! Instead fell backwards on the landing.

Deep wound at the stairs railing. The Contractor mend the would, painted it back and it certainly looks like new now.

He's on MC now. And been acting like Mr Mama now. It is nice to be back home after a long day at work to freshly cooked rice and steaming bowl of Daging Goreng Sos Tiram and to see all dried laundry picked and put away in basket. I feel guilty about it, frankly. But let's just savor the moments, shall we? :D

menuju puncak!

Hari Khamis minggu lepas Kakak hulur surat dari sekolah. Perjumpaan guru-guru yang berkenaan dengan semua ibu-bapa murid Tahun 6, 2013. Perkaranya tak lain tak bukan - persediaan untuk UPSR.

Terkesan dengan tips Pengerusi PIBG. Ada 5 perkara yang ditekankan..
:: 1.
- tak sempat dengar sebab terlewat sampai - :P

:: 2.
Solat hajat bersama keluarga setiap minggu paling kurang. Cari kesempatan ke surau/masjid dengan keluarga sekali setiap minggu, paling kurang.

:: 3.
Komunikasi dengan anak-anak. Jangan terlalu cepat 'memotong' bila anak-anak cuba berkomunikasi tentang sesuatu.

:: 4.
Pantau prestasi anak-anak secara konsisten dan bukannya 'melompat' 2x setahun iaitu time dapat buku rekod anak-anak.

:: 5.
Tunjukkan kasih sayang melalui kata-kata dan perbuatan.

Yang dibentangkan adalah proposal extra classes, khemah ibadah, kelas pemulihan dan macam-macam lagi. As for me, I'd pick and choose mana-mana yang sesuai. Tak maulah sampai tekanan perasaan pulak si Kakak nanti semua nak kena pegi kan. And of course to inform parent on costs that require our attention.

Balik tu terus inform Kakak what she's to expect from February. Yang pastinya she needs to go to Saturday classes 8.00am - 12.30pm. I know it's going to be a tad bit tiring but we all will do what we have to do. Program optional lain-lain tu, see how it goes la.

Ya Allah, permudahkan jalan untuk kami dan terutamanya untuk anak kami, Nurul Athirah.

first furniture - Macy's

Started scouting around for furniture about one month back.Starting with dining set hihi. Asal berkait dengan makan, laju aje yer.

Love the table legs but I shivered at the glass top! Nice-to-have-but-cannot-have category :P My boys are reckless at times so we're not taking chances here.

Yess!!! Same leg design with wood top! L.O.V.E!

L.O.V.E but in category nice-to-have-but-cannot-afford-financially-to-have. RM369 each! 4 chairs? *financial pengsan-ness*

Finally after about 2 weeks, our things were home! At this point I must congratulate Macy for its customer-service. They called up before coming and knowing they were gonna be a little late than planned, they kept us informed on status. Thumbs up!

The chairs. 2 padded (with fabric! I just couldn't resist!) for Mr and Mrs of the table (so we can sit comfortably during meals hihi)

View of complete set. We mixed and matched. Perhaps what enticed me most is the table legs. Something different.

However, one if the seat had defect. A little chip that would go a long way to annoy me. Lodge a report and photos were taken by the installer. Oh ya, the table needed assembly whereas the chairs came in as-is.

And the process of getting its replacement - one thumb down. We have agreed on such date and time and suddenly Macy called-up saying they would only send later, on the same date. Because they had to deliver this here, that there. Err.. like I care? Told them I already book such date and time and it is for them to comply to that regardless if you need to go tu Subang or Shah Alam or where-ever. I mean, shouldn't them took that into consideration already before giving slots?

After a mini lecture on 'provider is not always right' - they finally made it on the time agreed earlier. Maybe a little late but I can still be reasonable with 15 or 30 minutes delay. Hah, boleh pun kan. Well, I may be mean at times but when you are in business, please be serious about providing good customer service. Especially when it is not a monopoly. Because that would be you differentiation. I especially hate it when one person name A says 'owh, itu saya tau tau, itu orang lain'. Super annoying okay.

back to school!

School has started! Likewise the traffic congestion huhu!

Like any other mothers, I had my fingers all kematu from sewing badge and name-tags! Burning the midnight oil sewing.. chewah! And 2 days before school term started, I realized I haven't shorten Iman's pants! That boy grew from size 26 last year to size 28 this year. And shirt, he went from 11 to 13! As for Kakak, she can still fit into her size 14 kurung tops. I only bought her sarongs of dark blue for primary and green for KAFA. And thank God, no need to shorten what-so-ever. They fit her just nicely.

How time flies, I flipped through our photo album, seeing them flashing toothless grin or going through videos of them tumbling their first steps. And suddenly, they're all grown up!

Athirah is 12 this year. Coming to the difficult teenage phase *gulp* I just hope we can still be the best of friends. She's sitting for UPSR this year *gulp* and PSRA! *gulp* Seen here after her KAFA session.

Iman, starting his Year 3 this year. All grown up. He'll be 9 this year! Feels like only yesterday that he started his Year 1. Seen here lining up to go to school. Nor, at the back in green tudung, takes care of Iman since he was 1, sends and fetches them to school. Only Allah will repay your kindness in fair ways Nor.

Cousin. Same age with Iman, only 2 weeks apart. Same school. Different class. Tho when they are together at home they'll stick playing together, in school they have different buddies.

The usual traffic congestion for session yang ada Year 1. Iman attends noon session along with Year 1 and 2 so we were stuck as well. Normally after 1 or 2 weeks, it would not be this bad anymore.

Adam! Difficult pregnancy but the most easy one to take care (well, relatively!) He adjusts well, he adapts well. He insisted on going to his kindy via van.. on his first day! Maryam naik van Ummi, saya pun boleh.

Told ya! All smiles.

Ummi balik dulu ye Dik
Ok, bai.

He didn't even look at me waving bye-bye :D Seen here with his cousin. Younger brother to the boy who's of the same age as Iman. They have striking resemblance. From what I heard, on the orientation day, they had so much fun that their Teacher Shuod had marked these two boys!

bleak

A bleak start to 2013.
Hope things will get better.

happy new year anyway.