Yesterday vs. Today

Jom tengok perbezaan cuaca semalam dan hari ini dari flat kami.

These pictures were taken yesterday, 11:00 a.m. Saturday 30th Jan 2010. 

It snowed at night and the next morning was sunny and just plain beautiful.

Semalam good mood habis sebab tgk langit membiru..

Blue sky AND snow! Temperature 0°C.

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Yang ni pulak pictures taken just a while ago, 11:40 a.m. Sunday, 31st Jan 2010.

Snow masih turun dengan lebatnya. No sun.

So very white everywhere macam icing sugar. Temperature -3.9°C.

Nak describe pun tak reti, cerah tapi gelap, putih tapi 'mandom'..hehe

Balcony kami yang diliputi salju.

Parcel Conundrum

I have good news and bad news.

First the good news, I want to thank Amy Schwenke for her parcel. So very sweet of her, Amy kata nak hantar ikan kering saja but I received more than that. Siap dapat Maggi mee lagi tu..hehe..I'm so very touched. Terima Kasih bebanyak ek Amy, jasamu dikenang. Herzlichen Dank! 

( Ps: Comel gile handwriting ko Amy..hehe)

And since we are talking about kes pos-mengepos parcel ni, there's another story. I called my family a while ago which just my normal weekly ritual. Other than the usual update of whats going on in each others life, we also every now and then gossip about malaysian artiste. Alhamdulillah, everybody in the family sihat-sihat belaka and yes, Fahrin Ahmad cried on TV and yes, Linda Onn is meeting him in court.

The story is, my mom and makcik went to Mekah last December and naturally, diorang shopping la sikit-sikit buah tangan untuk family. Instead of shoving everything they bought into their baggage, makcik and my mom decided that they post most of the stuff home. Makanya, senang lah sikit nak bawak beg masing-masing bila on the way balik from Mekah.

So they posted two parcels. The first one sampai dengan selamat ke rumah kami di Penang but the second one ada problem. It seems that the my mother wrote the wrong phone number on the parcel and they couldnt get through to my sister. Last-last my mom and makcik sampai dulu ke rumah dari Mekah, barulah parcel tu sampai one week later.

Parcel tu pulak, rupanya dah macam separuh mati. Tali yang suppose to ikat parcel tu pun dah tak ada langsung. My mom pulak sign saja tanpa rasa was-was as the parcel came. You know what, bila buka parcel tu, half of the stuff was gone. Shoes for my sister and uncle, tasbih, ketayap (a.k.a kopiah) and what not, semua hilang. Eventhough those stuff tu, barang-barang biasa saja and bukan mahal harga ribu-ribu, still rasa marah bila dengar cerita ni. Geram dan very dissapointed.

Takkanlah benda-benda like shoes and tasbih tu hilang sebab tak lepas kastam. Takkanlah kastam bukak parcel tu sebab suspect ada benda-benda haram kot? Kalau pun check, mesti taruk balik kan. The funny thing is, my mom cakap the parcel came siap seal balik dengan cellophane tape. And we'll never know ni kerja side Malaysia or side Saudi, unless pergi report kat Encik Mazidul 999 tu kot. 

One more thing, my mom guna service City-Link, that means she paid extra for the courier service, which includes faster and registered mailing. Ironic kan?  Well it seems that tak kisah guna mailing service apa pun, perkara ni masih berlaku. Dah lama dengar dari kawan-kawan kat Malaysia, yang benda ni dah jadi macam lumrah. Siap ada yang pesan, bila terima parcel bukak parcel tu depan-depan postman tu, so that dia bleh jadi saksi.

Sedih mengingatkan ada orang yang tak amanah sampai begitu sekali. Sometimes orang kata nak buat jahat ni, mesti disebabkan negative temptations or maybe just the thrill of stealing. Tempations apanya kasut dan tasbih tu, bukannya gelang emas pun. Thrill? Thrill sangat ka curi tasbih dan ketayap, benda nak buat solat. Alamat sender pun dari Mekah, Arab Saudi, sampai hati diorang curi kan?
 

Sedihlah sangat sebab mengingatkan benda-benda kecik  gini pun boleh timbulkan pecah amanah. Kalau la manusia sampaikan tengok benda-benda begini pun boleh mencuri, apatah lagi kalau tempted dengan benda-benda lebih mewah, senang-senang saja diorang boleh buat jahat. 

Thyme Loaf and Chili con Carne

Semalam buat roti ni Thyme Loaf, basically guna resepi Mat Gebu tapi tukar-tukar sikit. Thanks Encik Mat Gebu, resepi yang kat website tu memang sangat reliable dan tidak pernah mengecewakan. 

It was suppose to be Onion and Rosemary Bread but I used thyme instead. This is my second time using this recipe, so ingat nak tukar citarasa sikit lah.

Thin crispy crust and dalam dia lembut walaupun tak pakai bread improver or softener. The best part is time keluar dari oven. Pergh..wangi.

Kami makan the Thyme Loaf with this Chili con Carne. Jangan tanya resepi naa sebab kami guna rencah instant Knorr saja. Easy peasy.

Bubur Nasi

Hari ni kami berdua makan bubur nasi. Winter kali ini memang sangat sejuk, average -4°C memanjang. Kalau bukak tingkap saja, berderu angin masuk dengan salji-saljinya sekali. Brrrr!! Makanya sangat lah nikmat makan bubur nasi panas-panas untuk lunch.

Bubur yang dihidang panas-panas.

Yang ni condiments untuk bubur nasi. Dari kanan, crispy chicken, sambal cili, daun bawang dan homemade garlic oil.

Simple dan Sedap.

Bienenstich lagi..

Hari ni buat bienenstich lagi.

Before filling. Here's the original recipe but I added vanilla pudding to the whipped cream this time.

Ni la akibat mencampur whipping cream with too much vanilla pudding. This is why some say less is more..

Last-last makan style a la mode dengan baki cream, since all the cream between the cake flows out. The taste? Better than my last Bienenstich..Yum!

Warm salad with potato croutons and roasted duck fillet

Hari ni makan salad for lunch. Bunyi macam diet kan? Not really!

The story is like this, usually we eat duck with bread dumplings, pickled red cabbage and gravy, which, exactly like it sounds, heavy on the stomach. Today I wanted something lighter and I have an appetite for veggie, so I made this light warm salad with roasted duck fillet.

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Recipe:

Salad leaves,  I used a mix of lettuce and romaine

Onion, cut into thin rings

Cherry tomatoes, halved and pitted

Carrots, thinly sliced

for the potato croutons:

400g potatoes, peeled and diced.

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Sauté the potato cubes until brown. This may take a while.  When its starts to brown, season with salt, cayenne pepper and oregano.

for the duck:

The duck fillet is store bought so I just shoved them in the oven. I guess one can opt for grilled chicken breast or turkey breast fillet. No rules here!

salad dressing:

5 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon runny honey

1 tablespoon mustard

1 tablespoon creme fraiché or sour cream

2 clove of garlic, very finely minced

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

juice of half a lemon

juice of the roasted duck

I put all ingredients in a clean bottle and shake until they emulsify.

to serve:

Get a big plate, salad first, then the dressing, then the croutons and lastly the duck fillet. Dribble the sauce over them one more time. Sprinkle toasted sesame seed to garnish.

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Yummy, filling and light to the tummy.

Rss Feed and Ceklat

I dont know if some of this blog readers perasan, semalam blog ni jadi tak tentu hala kejap. Don't worry, itu disebabkan tuan punya blog tengah 'try' template baru untuk blog ni. Walaubagaimanapun, tuan punya blog belum berjaya sebab tak pandai hal-hal HTML atau XML. Rss Feed pun baru kejap tadi google sebab tak tau tu benda apa. Hehe. Lagipun, one reason I blog is because I think I need to learn about these things. So I have to bersabar sambil belajar pelan-pelan. Anyways, I will try my best to make this blog alive and well. I thank you, my dear blog readers for taking the time to read this simple blog.

Just to spike things up. Here's a picture of our chocolate stash at home. Mostly we got them as gifts at Christmastime. Most of them are still there, we have not manage to finish them. First there's marzipan and nougat covered with chocolate. I'm not a big fan of nougat or marzipan, I mean I still eat them, but orang melayu kata tak layan sangat. Makanya bab tu  tunggu mamak la yang habiskan. The normal milk or dark chocolates ring our schocoholic bells, tapi chocolate flavour pelik-pelik tu buat kami nervous untuk try. There's ginger&semisweet chocolate, milk chocolate&red pepper and the other one dark chocolate with wasabi. Sapa brani?

ps: I got the courage to try the milk chocolate with red pepper yesterday..hehe..I dont think I'll be buying ever again..

Eierkuchen a.k.a Lempeng telur

Hari ni makan Eierkuchen for breakfast. This is rather old fashion german breakfast, but when rolled with cream filling, can also be served as dessert.

Eierkuchen ni lebih kurang macam american  pancake, just that the Eierkuchen batter use more eggs than normal pancake batter. Texture pun tak 'spongy' macam pancake sebab tak pakai baking powder. Rasa dia macam a thicker heavier version of crepés.

 Eierkuchen Recipe:

4 Eggs

250g Flour

400ml Milk (or 300ml Milk + 100ml carbonated water)

Salt

 

Whisk eggs until frothy and add milk. Mix in the flour, whisk until there's no clumps. Season with a little salt. Fry on the griddle just like pancakes or lempeng.

Serve hot with any sweet sidekick for instance, nuttela, honey, marmalade, icing sugar or fresh fruits. We ate ours with maple syrup and butter.

Projekt: Roti Sorai

Semalam teringin sangat nak makan roti sorai a.k.a roti jala ni, habis satu rumah diselongkar, nak cari benda yang boleh nak dibuat acuan. Ni lah akibat lupa nak beli acuan roti sorai ni kat malaysia. Penah gak tgk blog-blog lain yang pakai bekas plastik untuk sos tu, yang tu pun takdak kat rumah. Sedih tau mengenangkan nasib diri di perantauan yang dan-dan teringin nak makan roti sorai. Acuan takdak, so nak pakai apa?

Last-last pake beg plastik saja, ala-ala piping bag gitu. .hehe.

Roti sorai

2 cawan tepung gandum

2 cawan air
1 biji telur

1/4 cawan minyak jagung

garam

kunyit sebagai pewarna

Hasilnya amat memuaskan hati, walaupun 'benang jala' besaq gajah..huhu.
(Maaf na, frying pan kami dah uzur and season)

Bila dah siap gulung cam ni, comei la sikit rupa dia. Kami makan dengan kari ayam. Habis  dibedal oleh mamak&mami as dinner semalam...huhu.

Hadiah Bachelor Party

Mamak had his bachelor party after kahwin sebab before kahwin, dia tak sempat nak ambik cuti. Amatlah kelakar. Eventhough mamak dah kahwin, his one and only brother insist sesangat nak buat bachelor party ni jugak untuk abang dia sorang tu.

So that time, Mamak flew back to Germany with his parents after our kenduri kahwin and I was in Malaysia waiting for my visa. He stayed a for a while at his parents house and they had the socalled party there. Bukan party besar-besaran macam P.Diddy's white party tu. Just kawan-kawan belanja main paint ball and traditionally, dia dapat la hadiah 'selamat tinggal dunia bujang' from his bachelor friends.

Ni la hadiah tu..muahaha. Masa first time tengok memang I gelak sakan.

On the left, a weapon called Morningstar..hehe..ala² senjata viking dahulu kala. And yang orang kat bawah tu suppose to be his shield. Masa tengok dari jauh macam real, rupanya diorang kawan-kawan mamak buat sendiri from scratch.

Shield tu actually talam plastik yang dispray paint kaler orange. The silver ribbon tu suppose to be the shield handle la...huhu. Weapon tu made from black painted styrofoam dan dicucuk oleh toothpicks. Handle tu pulak diorang carve sendiri and the chain is plastic but painted black.

Paling kelakar is whats written on the shield.

"USER MANUAL

This shield is to protect you from the invasions of your wife with her rolling pin. Like a real Knight, this shield has a coat of arms (tak sempat nak ambik gambar logo at the back of the shield). 

And because offensive attack is the best way to protect oneself and so that you could  preserve the tiniest of chance against your wife, we hand you this supplementary weapon, the Morningstar.

GOOD LUCK!

Memang gelak guling-guling la lepas baca 'user manual' tu.

 

Tak cukup dengan tu, Mamak received another gift, note the T-shirt..

 

After the party, he sent me this photo using Skype. Tersangatlah romantic suami ku itueww! *sigh*

 (see my MIL kat belakang dengan aksi ketakutan: Nein! Nein!)

Menu from Sri Andanda Bahwan

apakah ini? adakah ini pancakes...

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bukan..bukan pancake..tapi tosai....tosai segera..

ni pulak tandoori ayam...tgk kak ijan kat blogresepi terus terasa nak wat tandoori..tapi bukan original..sangat sedap dan puas hati walaupun guna perencah segera maggi...

Yang ni pulak sidedishes untuk tandoori kami, hirisan bawang, timun sagat, tomato and limau nipis..yang kanan tu masala yoghurt..sedap buat cicah..

resepi masala yoghurt

200g magerquark/ soft cheese curd,

(originally guna joghurt,saja kami guna magerquark ni sbb nak habiskan stok dlm fridge, rasa dia lebih kurang sama)

jus limau purut

garam

1 sudu kecil halba campur

1 cili kering, hiris kasar

Panaskan minyak dan goreng halba campur dengan cili kering sampai garing dan wangi. Ketepikan. Satukan joghurt/magerquark dengan jus limau purut. Masukkan halba campur dan cili kering yang digoreng tadi, garam dan sebatikan. Serve!

Tom Yam dan Mangkuknya

Pinggan mangkuk kat rumah kami ni kata orang melayu jenis kahwin, ada yang kecik, ada besar, pattern pun lain-lain..hehe. Pulak tu kami takdak noodle bowl. Ye la set pinggan mangkuk mana jual noodle bowl, kalau nak kena beli asing. So all this while kami makan mee/bihun tomyam pakai pinggan deep plate atau mangkuk kecik. Kelakar la jugak kalau nengok, sorang pakai mangkuk kecik, sorang pakai deep plate. So everytime kami makan tomyam, I will tell mamak that we need noodle bowls, the tomyam will taste better..hehe.

Alhamdulillah, hari sabtu lepas di Schaffhausen, ada kedai pinggan mangkuk buat clearence sale. Kami pun ushar-ushar, ada pun mangkuk yang dicitakan hati. Hehe..harga pun murah dari di Jerman, so kami tangkap 6 biji.

Hari Ahad tu jugak mamak request nak makan tomyam. Apa lagi, dia nak rasmi mangkuk baru la tu. Seronok jugak pakai mangkuk baru ni, makan tak tambah-tambah. Kena semangkuk mee tomyam, dah tersandar.

Jom sightseeing....

Yesterday we went to Schaffhausen, a small city at the Swiss-German border. We live relatively near to the Swiss border, so it doesnt cost much to take the train to Swiss. Actually, it cost the same to take the train to Konstanz which in Germany (the nearest big city to our kampung). Just jalan-jalan, kat swiss tak mampu nak shopping, mmg lagi mahal dari Jerman. If you like bershopping chocolate macam kami ni memang la sangat sesuai pergi Swiss..hehe. Jom layan foto....

My first shot in Schaffhausen. Hehe..dasar foodie terlampau. There's so many cafés and confiserié with beautiful pastries here. Heavenly.

This shop sells fine delicatessen from balsamic vinegar, oilve oils to...

...balik lachs? Lachs means salmon and 'balik' happens to be the brand of the smoked salmon. Funny.

Typical european, tengah-tengah bandar mesti ada statue and water fountain.

The whole building is covered with beautiful drawings and hand painted. So very pretty.

We had breakfast here. The confiserié is downstairs and on the second flour, a tiny and comfy café.

Two coffees, Raspberrycake for him and pearcake for me.

Very light cake, biskuitbase with strawberry jam, pears and cream. Topped with thick icing sugar and slightly burned with gas torch, like cremé brûlée. One of the tastiest piece of pastry I have ever eaten. Hunny bunny, I'm taking you here when you visit me!!..

Mamak yang dah kenyang..at the moment..hehe

Cute italian ice cream shop. Nanti summer mesti penuh kedai ni.

Perasan tak benda apa kat atas tu? Tu tikar anyam plastik yang macam yang kat malaysia tu. Sini tikar tu buat decoration lagi, mahal tu. Hehe..

Kucing yang sangat cukup makan. The stairs leads us to Fort Munot.

Rumah yang terletak dicelah-celah tangga yang menghala ke Fort Munot.

Ni la Fort Munot. Letih jugak nak memanjat. Sampai hari ni sakit..adeh..dasar tak penah main sukan.

In the fort. In the middle ages, this hall is where all the horses are left. Thats the feeding and water dock for horses.

The winding stairs..

Some snaps from the fort..

View from the top.

So thats it.

Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures!

Brrr..winter

Wintertime...

 

pictures were taken on 13 January 2010, time 17:20 (5:20 p.m.) from our flat.