Sausage Rolls

Reading Catcat's blog last week gave me an idea for Michael's dinner. As you already know, not many food he would eat. No seafood, no bone-in chicken except for chicken wings (but has to be the small ones), no mushrooms, no soups and etc etc. He's a typical american kid. He'd eat pizza, cheesesteaks and hotdog everyday if I let him!

Anyways, back to the 'idea' for dinner. Its sausage in a roll or also known as pig in the blanket. All you need is croissant dough and sausage. First grill the sausage, then wrap them witht the dough. Put them in the oven at 350F for 16-17min.

They are so good that I have to make a 2nd batch for his lunch too!

Of Californian Weather

A few people have been asking about my Raya celebration here but since I dont have any pic to go with the post, I decided to only write about it later when I do have some pics to go with it. So, tungggguuuuuuu!

Today im going to talk about the 'colourful' California weather. It is officially fall but the only time that I truly feel its fall is the Raya week. It was raining on the 1st day of Raya (Sat Oct 13) and continued on and off until Sunday. It was actually nice coz it wasnt cats and dogs kinda rain. the temp was in the high teens and low twenties (celcius). Then from Thurs onwards, it started to change and it got pretty warm (30C on Sat). Come Sunday, it changed again and this time in terms of wind. It was so windy and humid. A few trees around the aprtments lose their 'arms' (branches, lah!) and 1 car parked under a tree was unlucky to have its windscreen smashed by it. Thank god we got the underground parking lot!

If you dont know it already, whenever we get the hot weather and strong/warm winds, there will most likely be fire. And on Sunday night, we got it. So far, more than 90,000 acres have been burned by the bushfire in SoCal from Malibu all the way down to San Diego. If im not mistaken, more than 250,000 ppl have been evacuated or asked to leave their homes with affected city as close as Irvine which is only 10min away fr us. though if im not mistaken, the fire in Irvine is caused by an arsonist. (Oh yeah, theres a lot of stupid ppl here in the US too) The sky is orangy (is tht the correct spelling?) and the air smells of smoke. You can even see ashes floating in the air. A few of the Universities were also close due to the smoke. It is really really bad and this is what Mitch Mendler, a San Diego firefighter, said as he and his crew stopped at a shopping center parking lot to refill their water truck from a hydrant near a restaurant, "It was nuclear winter. It was like Armageddon. It looked like the end of the world."

SoCal is now under State of Emergency.

Read more about the fire here .

Somewhat Back to Normal

Selamat Hari Raya to all muslims around the world. I know its already the 5th day but hey! Raya is 1 month right?!

Iv been very busy the last 2 weeks with my friends here and also for Raya. I have to admit that I see more of SoCal and also do more the last 2 weeks than the 14 months that we'v been here. I finally went back to Disneyland and Universal Studio (US) for the 2nd time though Michael has yet to go to Disneyland since he has to work and we went there during work days. Oh well, maybe next time I'l get to go with him.

We went to US on a Sunday during the long weekend of Columbus Day. It was a very nice day eventhough the day started pretty chilly. The sun started to come out roughly around 10am and boy was it hot! Since it was a long weekend, you can imagine how crowded the place was. We decided to take the front-of-line pass which cost ard $50 more on top of the entrance ticket. Yup, they cost a bomb but when you see the queue is like 100m long, you know you'd have to get them. It saves time and back-ache too. Alternatively, go middle of the week rather than weekend.

I enjoyed our US outing the best since it was the 1st time that Michael could join us. Even the kids, Harith (6y/o) and Dinara (3y/o), enjoyed his company since Michael is really a big kid. Less than hour that we got there, Harith was already chatting, holding hands and playing with him. He even chose to sit with him during the tour instead of sitting with his parents!

Anyways, my friend Su and Harith took the Jurassic Park ride, sat on the front row and came back soaking wet! There goes the salon-done hair. lol! I persuaded Michael to take the ride since iv taken it a long time ago and didnt wanna do it again. He went alone but was smart enough to sit on the middle row instead so he was saved from getting drench. I waited for him outside the ride with a camera hoping to catch him wet but unfortunately i missed him since he was sitting in the middle row. dang! hehehe.

We spent almost 9hrs there and by the time we left, we were both very tired but we had so much fun.

Su and family left for Seattle on sunday morning and back to Msia that night. It was really tough seeing them leaving our place on their way to the airport. We hugged and cried. This morning she called me to inform that they have arrived safely on tue evening. She also told me that once the plane took-off, Harith started crying. When her husband, Hazree, asked him what's wrong, he said, "I miss Aunty Farina and Uncle Mike". So this morning, i cried again.

So im dedicating this post to them. Harith and Dinara, "Aunty Farina and Uncle Mike also miss both of you and Insyaallah we'll see each other again next year!". Hugs and kisses!

Soto Ayam - Updated

*Sorry for the kelam-kabut layout. I just cant seem to get them aligned and where I want them to be. Arrrgh!*

1. Nasi impit 2. Add the beansprout

3. Pour the soup 4. Sambal kicap


This is what I made for buka puasa a few weeks ago. Soto Ayam! I promised MsJ that I will share the recipe with her a long time ago but only now I made them. The last time I made them was for Xmas dinner last year. Sorry MsJ.


For today I'll let you enjoy the pics and will write the recipe when have more time ok?

************************************************************************************

Ok, here's the recipe for soto ayam. It'l be in Manglish because its easier for me. hehe :)


A.
1 piece chicken thigh,bone-in (u can also use 2 pieces for this recipe)
4 cardamon seed
4 cloves
2 start anise
2in cinnamon stick
4-5 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup santan (coconut milk)


B.
4 shallots
1 onion
4 garlic
2in ginger


Blend items B. Heat the oil in the pot and add the cardamon, cloves, star anise and cinnamon sampai naik bau. Masukkan bahan2 B and stir for about 4-5min. Add in the chicken and water enough to cover the chicken, about 1.5-3 cups. 2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Keep flipping the chicken and continue boiling for abt 15-20min.


Once the chicken is cooked, take it out and let it cool down. Add another cup of water and the coconut milk. (The blended items are wht making the soup look thick and thts wht we want. So make sure you dont add too much water ok?) Let it boil and then only you add the salt and sugar to taste. Banyak mana tu, up to your own tastebud.


Shred the chicken and put the bones back in the soup. You can also put the shredded chicken meat back into the soup if you like. Thats how I make the soup for my soto ayam.


I dunno how to make nasi impit fr scratch since i always buy the nona brand (or any other brand) tht comes in small packets where you just boil them for an hour and cut when its cooled down. Alternatively, you can use meehoon or both. Back home, id def use both.


For the sambal kicap, blend or tumbuk a handful of cili padi. Add a pinch of salt, lemon juice and sweet soy sauce. If ur in Msia, use kicap habhal. If ur like me in the land with no kicap habhal, kicap abc pun jadilah. :P


For garnishing, use daun sop, bawang goreng, soohoon goreng (just deep fry and crash them on top of your soup) and of course beansprout.


Selamat mencuba ye kawan-kawan!

Me got visitors fr Kuala Lumpur!

Hi all, just wanna let u guys know tht im gonna be very busy entertaining my good friends, Su & Hazree w their 2 kids who are here on holiday for 2 weeks. Theyr gonna take me around with them. Today's itinerary is Disneyland since yesterday while we were shopping at The Block, the son told my friend, "Mommy, can we not go shopping anymore? U shop everyday in Seattle!" Hahahaha! Kena sejibik kat muka by a 6 yr old.

Anyways, I will try to post something in between when I have the time. ok?

p.s. Thanks Gert for the seunding daging, mooncake and belacan. ;)
Also thanks to kak Ram aka Cath for he gift fr Virginia.