Times like these

 First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for not replying the kind comments on the last entry. I really appreciate them and I feel so honoured to be sharing my experiences with those who reads them. Saya minta maaf! I am struggling between home and school, it is a luxury to sit and blog without feeling guilty. With guilty I mean, always feeling that I should be doing something else that is more important. It is times like these that makes me loose interest in blogging. I guess it is normal for blogger to feel fed-up at times. My time is at the moment filled with books and preparations for exams.

Why did I start blogging in the first place? First and foremost, I wanted to keep a record of my cooking and it should have been my cooking journal. I vowed not to make my blog personal because I am aware that there a so many strangers out there who has the possibility of reading it. I simply wanted to make a food-blog that features recipes and beautiful images of food. I didn't have any intention whatsoever of revealing my personal life or who I am through this blog. I wanted to share my cooking and food experience, not more and not less. That is why my earlier entries consist of only food images.

Somehow this blog has changed for the past year. As I received more and more attention from my blog readers, I started to make some entries more personal. I put up photos of myself, my family and friends and starts to write rather personal things that occurs in my life. I have always tried to keep everything confidential. Also, it is my husband's request that we should stay as anonymous as possible. The world is smaller than one thinks.

BUT I sincerely appreciate all the attention we have been receiving and the cool and funny comments for bloggerfriends. 

Terima Kasih!!

Sometimes I just wonder if it is the same if they know who I really am. I am sooo not nice. I have heard the word 'ice-cold' a few times, as some  describe my character. Haha..I was just pondering on how my writing in this blog affect how others picture me as a real person. There may be a possibility that this 'mythical' person is not who I am at all. That's another reason I tried making this blog as anonymous as possible. I honestly do think a lot about what people think of me and I hate to disappoint them. I have a feeling that knowing me too well will dissapoint you. So I really like to keep my distance, in blogging or in real life. I mean don't get me wrong, I am honestly ikhlas in everything I have ever wrote on my blog. I just wonder if it would be the same friendly reactions I'll be getting, if my blog readers know me personally. I am sorry if I dissapoint anybody, because I am not as nice or as sweet as anyone might think. :)

So with this I am kind of saying, I'll be really really bad with updating my entries in the future and when I do update, I plan to update with more food and less me :). I hope you understand.

Maybe

Once in a blue moon.

Brother Special in the rain

Sejak minggu lepas, asik hujan memanjang. Nasib baik tak simpan jacket kalis air tu lagi. Pergi balik kelas dalam hujan lah nasibnya. Seperti biasa semalam, lepas kelas terakhir tu terus ke bilik, pack laptop dan sebagainya dan terus mulakan perjalanan ke bus station.

Buruk betul mood masa tengah berjalan tu. Iya la, dahla jauh, beg agak berat, hujan pulak beriya-iya. Basah kuyup jugak seluar jeans bila dah sampai tu. FYI I get cranky when I am cold, hungry and tired. Masa tu memikir, ish tak sabar nak sampai rumah, nak kena keringkan buku lagi, nak kena mandi etc. Bila dah static tunggu bas tu pulak dalam keadaan basah kuyup tu, kena pulak angin sepoi-sepoi bahasa jerman, memang la sejuk sampai ke tulang kering. Dalam hati merungut tak berhenti, kalaula aku ada kereta, kalaula rumah aku dekat, kalaula aku banyak wang ringgit...haha.

Bas pun datang, I pun naik. Settle satu bab. Bas tu pun teruskan perjalanan and at the next stop bas tu pun berhenti nak ambik orang. Masa tu saya ushar-ushar la sapa yang naik bas tu, sebab semenjak dok naik bas ni, perasan mostly orang yang sama saja yang naik. Pastu nampak sorang guy who looks familiar. Ushar-ushar memang betul la dia.

Let me tell you about this brother. Dia ni special sikit, both his legs does not function. So he gets around with his crutches and his legs will be hanging. It's a small town, so you tend to see the same people often and I've seen him often, I guess he takes the bus to work everyday. Sebab dah selalu jumpa, dia akan greet me 'Hallo' everytime he sees me and vice versa lah. Merata brother ni berjalan, he'll have a backpack and he 'walks' faster than some of middle-aged men I know.

Back to the story, I was looking at him waiting ngan sorang makcik ni at the bus stop. Makcik tu nice enough to hold the umbrella over his head tu. Brother ni berbungkus you, hood of his raincoat covered everything but his face and he wore a plastic 'sarong' to avoid his pants getting wet from the rain. Both his hands still holding his crutches. Hujan turun tak berenti.

Masa tu rasa nak nangis pun ada. I was so ashamed of myself. Punyalah complaint itu ini, sedangkan I have both my legs, sihat waalfiat pulak tu and the rain was just temporary. I start to think about so many things I take for granted. Kalau kena nasib macam brother tu baru padan muka I kannn...

The good thing about duduk area small town ni is when you have a routine life, you will know the everyone, for instance the bus driver or the train driver 'personally'. I mean, you will see the same old people lah, so you tend to know what they do and where they are going. Kalau tahap I ni takat kenal muka lah and like the brother, say Hallo Goodbye camtu ja lah. So the bus driver tu memang dah biasa dengan brother ni, so bila brother ni nak turun bas, the driver drove the bus as near as possible to the his home, although he's actually not allowed to stop anywhere else but at bus stops. Haha..but from the look of it, kat kampung tu lagi banyak lembu dari kereta, so what the heck la kan?

Bila brother ni turun bas, dia pun kata kat driver tu "Danke Schön, Gute Fahrt!", meaning Thank you, have a good trip!.

Driver ni jawab " Danke schön!", meaning Thank you.

Brother ni pulak, dalam dok tot tet turun bas, dia kata " Ich soll IHNEN bedanken! Tchuss!!", meaning I'm the one who should be thanking you! Goodbye!.

Driver tu pun gelak "Tchüss!"..Goodbye!

Kekadang I ni kalau turun bus, lompat keluar saja. Tak kata apa pun, especially masa tgh letih or malas nak layan. Adeh, terasa lagi dengan brother tu. Betul tau orang kata, 

a little kindness goes a looooooonggg way!

So masa I sampai at my stop, I skipped out of the bus and said to the driver 

" Danke Schön! Tchüss!!"

Award Pro Memasak dari Jaja'Z

Dear Jaja,

Terima kasih sebab sudi kasi award kat blog Mamak&Mami yang tak seberapa ni. 

I Looike!

3 jenis lauk pauk yang suka dimasak

1. Kari ayam, ikan, daging

2. Ayam Masak Merah

3. Keow Teow Sup ngan sambal kicap

3 jenis pencuci mulut yang paling best pernah buat

1. Chocolate glazed chocolate tarte

2. Berliner doughnuts

3. Matcha Ice Cream

3 jenis biskut kegemaran time raya

1. Semestinya Semprit

2. Tart Jem Nenas

3. Kuih Makmur

Bagi Award ni pada 3 orang rakan anda yg juga rajin memasak

1. KNV - http://knvogue.blogspot.com/

2. SweetLuv - http://luvlifeandlivelife.blogspot.com

3. Yat Maria - http://yateasybakes.blogspot.com

Thanks again Jaja for this award!

♥ Ich liebe Macarons!! ♥

Though I am fully aware of the stress and the ridiculous preparations of making this adorable cookies, I tried another recipe for macarons, here's the link.

I made the shells with finely grated lemon peel and nuttela ganachè for the fillings.

I succesfully baked a tray of shells with 'feet' and another tray was just a disaster. So I do recommend a good preparation not only physically but also emotionally for anyone trying to make macarons for the first time. I myself thought I will never make these EVER again, as I failed my first time. But when I bloghop and see homemade macarons, I couldn't resist trying just one more time!

I'm just happy to say, this is the results of my fifth attempt. Saying that doesn't mean anything, because that won't ensure my next attempt will be flawless. 

Damn you macarons!..

It's truly a Love Hate Relationship.

Let's make the ultimate Kartoffelsalat!

Kartoffelsalat is potato salad in german. Usually I buy my potato salad from the supermarket, because they taste pretty good and I don't have to stand around in the kitchen to make them. It is pretty time consuming you know. Well, that was until I tasted my mom in laws potato salad. You see, every family here has their own recipe and naturally everyone says theirs are the best :). Just like our rendang recipe lah. This one is from a very new recipe book, that my MIL tried, which means not the turun temurun recipe lah. But I think they taste so good, I want to make it a tradition.

First you need 1 kg potatoes, the type that keeps their shapes when cooked. Just boil the whole kilo in salt water.

Then you need radishes, 10 medium sized ones.

Then you need sour cream, 100g will do.

One medium sized onion and a bunch of parsley.

This is meerrettich, grated horseradish. It taste like a milder wasabi. Not a must, but it gives a sharp taste to the salad.

Of course, gherkins.

This is veggie broth granules. Every german household has it and they put this stuff in everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Really. Kat Malaysia takda jual benda ni, so I guess you can use chicken stock atau home made sup sayur.

Remember the boiled potatoes? I skinned them after their boiled and chunk them into tiny pieces. Don't ask me why I skinned them after boiling, haha. I just obediently follow instructions. Anyway, I made a veggie stock consisting 3 tablespoons veggie granules and 150ml warm water. Add chopped onions, pepper and a generous dash of the gherkin juice. Then I pour this mixture onto the warm potatoes. They should be soaked until they cool down to room temperature.

Meanwhile I sliced the radishes and chopped the gherkins finely.

One hard boiled egg chopped into small pieces.

Here comes the cream mixture, 100g sour cream, 100mg mayonaisse and 2 tablespoons grated horseradish. Once the potato salad is cold enough, have a taste. Now you can adjust the salt, I don't put any salt in the beginning because the veggie stock can be very salty. So add the cream mixture, egg, radishes and gherkins. It is almost done now. Leave your precious potato salad to rest in the fridge overnight. Don't touch it!!

Now, the next day before you serve, chop the parsley and mix it in. Transfer everything into a nice clean bowl and sprinkle more parsley on top, just for fun.

Now your ultimate potato salad is ready!

We had guests today to share ours. Too bad the pictures came out not so good, I don't snap well under pressure !..haha.

Little P and his parents came to visit. It was lovely! The little guy can speak a few words now and he knows us by names.

Precious little thing!