Selamat Berpuasa...

A bit late, I know tapi today is my first day of puasa (nudge, nudge, wink, wink!) so am thinking its only relevant if I write about our puasa days now. hehe...

Anyways, just to report that the rest of the gang's Puasa days are going along fine...alhamdulillahhh...kak long and kak ngah are showing much maturity by embracing this ibadah effortlessly this year. Alhamdulillahhhh...cuma Sarah jer yang belum faham the compulsory-ness of puasa but she and Soraya knows enough to respect orang yang berpuasa. So, there is no prancing around dangling food depan kakak-kakak! Alhamdulillahhh...I tried to get her to at least puasa half a day last weekend but Sarah refused to even get up for sahur. Tak per...Mummy will try again next weekend.

You know...there are 2 things I "recovered" when we moved here - my love for reading and writing (counted as 1 lah!) and my interest in cooking (am using "interest" rather than "love" coz cooking is a chore but on a good day, I enjoy it and I do it really well!). When I went back to Malaysia after finishing my studies, I stopped writing (well...letters, at least! still had to write those stuff at work!) and cooking altogether. For various reasons. There never seem to be any time for leisure writing and there are so much food available everywhere to even bother cooking. You knowlah what I mean!

So, moral of the story...since moving here, I seem to have found time...time to read...to write...to cook and bake and on top of all that, I found time to be with the girls everyday..this posting meant no outstation work for Mummy!! yay!

Ok..back to what I'm trying to tell here...which is about cooking in this puasa month. Its only been 5 days and I'm already running out of ideas of what to cook for buka and for sahur. Yeap, I have to cook for sahur too coz Abah would like to have at least 1 freshly cooked dish during sahur..well, to be fair, he's not strict about it but the isteri solehah that I am...ehem!

So far, I've managed to come up with masak lemak udang + nenas, masak lemak ikan kering + nenas (not on the same day, of course!), masak assam ikan (donno what ikan but it looks like ikan keli tu...), sup tulang...Oklah, kan? Semalam, upon request from Kak Ngah, we had chicken chop! Yum yum! The kids' Abang (or sometimes referred to as Uncle) Johan was kind enough to make the black pepper sauce and garlic bread. The kids ate till they cannot walk!

During the day yesterday we baked raya cookies! Not meant for raya but for munchies after buka. They were goood...nestum cookies and cornflake cookies! By the way, at this juncture, perhaps I should qualify my earlier statement, cooking is my interest, yes but I luuurrrrve baking! Am proud enough to pat my own back everytime I bake! hehe..eh! tak boleh takabbur, kan! But just so you know, I bake yummy (or so I claim...) cakes - carrot, apple, banana, cheese cakes, you name it. But..I cannot make chocolate cakes. Still can't come up with a moist chocolotey chocolate cake!

Am also learning the art of making kueh-kueh melayu...so far, I've been successful (or so I claim..) in making kueh cara...apam balik...currypuffs...and latest, cucur udang gerai style! Senang ajer rupanya kueh2 kita ni!

I found this blog - Kitchen Guardian - belonging to an old friend. Am hoping she will continue to write and share her recipes coz GOD knows I need them now! Found also many other blogs owned by mummies proud of their culinary skills..best nyer!! Good to know there are many modern mummies in Malaysia who are making time to cook for their family. I must admit, before coming here, we were perpetually eating out, konon tak sempat nak masak! Hopefully, balik nanti I will continue to cook and bake for Abah and the girls as I do today...

So folks, what do you reckon I should cook today??