Indonesia Yellow Rice

I have always been intrigued by the way the Indonesian celebrated any happy occasion with this cone like shaped yellow rice. It was beautifully served with a lot of side dishes and a prayer will be said to bless the occasions, before the rice will be cut by the person/s being celebrated or celebrating; then everyone else are welcome to serve themselves to this tray of wonders.

Yesterday, I got the opportunity to observe how the rice was being arranged and got an insight to how to cook it too. As for the side dishes, it is really up to the individual to put whatever they like. In this occasion it was the celebration of the hostess husband’s 53rd birthday, but the husband was not there, so therefore, the cutting of the yellow rice was represented by his beautiful wife. Alhamdulillah……..

  

 

 

Today I Am Smiling ............. :)

Came home today to see these gifts waiting for me, it was a nice surprise. Thank you for the thoughtfulness, one gift brought tears to my eyes. It was from my niece, I miss her and I am so proud at where she is now in her life. The other gift was from my landlord, when she learned that I was not well, she sent a box of chocolate and a sweet card to cheer me up. May both your life be blessed always.

Today I am smiling…………….. :)

I Must Have Aged That Much

I was on a crowded tram yesterday, and had to stand just behind the driver. On a seat in front of me was a young beautiful teenage girl, she suddenly looked up at me and asked me if I would like to have her seat. It was so sweet of her and very rare too for a local to give a seat to an Asian face. I, of course declined with thanks. However, it got me thinking I must have aged that much………………. He he he

Snow Storm

We were caught in the snow storm on our way to the hospital. It was an experience but I hope the snow will go soon.

 

 

Friday Solat

Today, I took my little angel for her first experience in submitting to Allah the Almighty in the Friday Solat. It was a very good moment for the two of us, as I was able to make her understand what Friday Solat is all about. It cools my heart and my eyes to see her so obedient and the curiousness of wanting to know more. Inysa Aallah, I hope she will carry on submitting to Allah the Almighty with honesty and clean of heart.

Butter Prawns

Ingredients

1 kg of medium size prawns
6 egg yolk
7 cloves of garlic
5 pieces of bird eye chili
Some curry leaves (if you have)
Salt, pepper, soy sauce and sugar to taste

Method 

Remove the head and devein the prawns, pat dry with some paper towel, and marinate with some salt and pepper. Leave for 10 minutes.

Heat a deep wok on high stove; add enough oil to quickly deep fry the prawns. Scoop the prawns out and placed on paper towel to drain the excess oil.

Remove the oil from the wok leaving approximately 2 tablespoon only, and add 8 tablespoon of butter on medium high stove. Add the chopped garlic and chili, as well as the curry leaves (but since I don’t have curry leaves, so I make do without that) until fragrant, using a sieve add the egg yolk through the sieve and stir quickly so that the egg yolk will be disintegrated, add the prawns, some light soy sauce and sugar to taste, and continue to stir until egg yolk is brown and look like floss.

Serve hot with steam rice.

Added Advantage to Me

Because of the annoying appetite that I am having at the moment, I am however, thankful that anything that tasted sour will be a welcome consumption to my palate. This is what I am serving on a regular basis on the dinner table, as well as after dinner nibbling. I am happy to know that in one way or the other these foods contain substances that are added advantage to me.

Numerous studies have concluded that the more tomatoes people eat the lower their risks of certain cancers, especially lung, stomach and prostate cancers.  A substance called lycopene, which is responsible for tomatoes red color, is thought to be the reason for this cancer protective effect. Processed tomatoes contain even more lycopene than raw ones. The process of cooking breaks down the cell walls, helping to release the lycopene. Eating tomatoes with a little bit of fat, such as olive oil, helps lycopene to be better absorbed by the body.

Studies done with artichoke leaf extract have found that they induce apoptosis (cell death) and reduce cell proliferation in many different forms of cancer, including prostate cancer, leukemia, and breast cancer. An Italian study found that a diet rich in the flavanoids present in artichokes reduces the risk of breast cancer.

Ginger is thought to lower cholesterol, reduce the production of cancer cells and reduce inflammation with ailments like arthritis.

Pomelo rind contains huge amount of bioflavonoid that can stop the cancer cells from spreading the effect of breast cancer in a patient, by making the body get rid of the excess estrogen.

A Real Angel

Eating sunflower seed while half asleep

My little angel is down with the virus, she was sent back from school today with high fever. This is the little person who’s been caring for me without knowing to say no or any remorse at all. In her very tender age she showed so much love for her family especially me. She will come back from school tired and guessing if I have not been feeding myself, will quickly change and go to the kitchen and prepare anything that she can to feed her mom. Now she is sick and she needed my attention, but she still dragged herself to pampering me.

I love you my little angel, I love you so so much.

The First Time Part 2

The First Time Part 1

Annoying..........

 

For dinner last night, this was my food, fried tofu with boil brussel sprouts and peanut sauce dip

The side effects from the medication that I am taking are causing so much anger in me, or shall I put it in a better word - FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!!!!!

My appetites are just super annoying; I hate the feeling of being so weak, light-headed and tired. This is just not me, to top all that the nausea feeling just added more frustration. I am also experiencing blurring of my vision………………. Arrrrrrrrrrr.

What’s next?

Sardine Puff

 

 

Last Sunday for mosque time, I bake some sardine puff. It was amazingly simple to do and does not take too much time. Here I am sharing the recipe:

Ingredients: 

3 cans of sardine with tomato
3 pieces of potatoes (cut into very thin squares)
15 pieces of dried chili
1 whole large yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups of water Salt and sugar (I used palm sugar) to taste
3 packets of ready frozen puff pastry

Method:

Blend the chili, onion and garlic together. Heat pan on medium, once the pan is ready add the vegetable oil, and stir in the blended ingredients, add cut potatoes, sardine and 3 cups water. Let it boil for 20 minutes, add salt and sugar to taste, further simmer it until potatoes are soft and mixture is dried. This is the filling for the sardine puff. Set aside to cool.

Defrost the frozen puff pastry. Cut into desired size, put fillings inside and egg wash the ready pastry. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350.

and Hubby Came Tumbling Down

Hubby went all crazy, and came tumbling down. Little angel was capturing the action and I was just the tired bystander :(

Amal's Moment

Things that brought smile to my face are memories like this................ :)

Let's Not Spoil The Night

Hubby took me out for a dinner date last night as I was feeling miserable. It was also a good opportunity to have our alone time since the little angel will be coming home late because of her junior group meeting. This week all I wanted to eat was seafood (but still salivating for keropok ikan and muruku). We decided to have Japanese and I ordered the Ebi Tempura, the first two pieces was enough for me, then I kept on nibbling on the pickled ginger. The bitterness and sourness of the pickled ginger felt so nice to the throat, plus the dip for the tempura too. Looking at hubby I told him that I love the tempura dip so much, he responded, “may be you can drink it like soup”…………………………. Please let's not spoil the night.

Ketam Masak Lemak (Crab in coconut milk)

 

 

It is difficult sometimes to understand why I have the loss of appetite or completely unmotivated to eat. And then there will be days that I craved for food that I know will not be possible to get from here at all.

For the past weeks my craving were for fish crackers (keropok ikan) and muruku, I searched the internet if there is any place at all that I could order these things online, but could not find any. However, this week I am just yearning for crab, yes, you read that right CRAB!!!! But the fish crackers and muruku are still stuck in my mind (aaarrrrrrrrrrrrh).

Out of the hope that I would get to eat the crab, I just asked hubby to see if he can get this from the duty free shop at the office. Loh and behold, there were beautiful blue crab being sold there. He bought a whole kilo of the crab home for me. I was the happiest.

Yesterday, the crab went to my pot and here is my “ketam masak lemak with pineapple (of course I used the cane pineapple and discarded the juice from the can) and it was simply fantastic.