My florentine bars

A lot of people in Malaysia have tersangkut with the florentine cookies/bars craze lately.

I’ve made florentines before for Christmas but a different version yang ada cornflakes, glace cherries and dried fruits and nuts.

This time nak lah cuba yang guna almonds, pepitas and sesame seeds ni pulak.

But everywhere I jumpa, semua recipe guna Florenta mix/ tepung florenta yang sudah semestinya takde dijual kat sini.

So, terpaksalah I googled for florentine recipes yang ada ciri2 the famous florentines kat M’sia tu.

And then terpaksalah alter here and there to suit with what I have….

And this is what I made today.

My version of the florentine cookies/bars without using the mix.

Macam mana rasa dia?

Sangat2 lah moreish nya. Tak boleh berenti, asik nak mengunyah aje!

Tapi I tak tau lah whether rasa dia sama atau tak dengan yang kat Msia tu.

But I still have to tweak the methods a bit so I can get an even crispy layer.

Sekarang ni, hujung2 dia sgt crispy but yang kat tengah not as crispy.

Jangan tanya recipe dulu ye sebab I masih nak betulkan a few steps.

Kalau dah perfect nanti, insyaAllah I’ll put it up here.

The occasional dates

The Other half and I haven’t had a date for quite a while now…

Last sekali masa kat Msia when the girls followed my sister shopping and The Other Half and I naik komuter berdua duaan pergi Subang Parade mengimbau kenangan lama.

Punyalah lama kan!

I guess when you dont have immediate families close by to babysit your kids so you can have the occasional us time plus everyone had been very busy for the past few weeks months….

So, nak slot in a date time tu sangat lah susah nya…

But today, we had 2 hours to spend together untuk gi dating!

2 hours pun dah kecoh kan! Hahahahahahaha…..

Itu pun sebab I had to send Miss 9 to her PEAC lesson at the Perth zoo and The Other Half had a meeting in the city in the afternoon so boleh lah we all ber dating at South Perth sebelum dia kena gi meeting.

My date tadi…

first gi minum kopi and makan waffles…

Siap main footsie lagi tu…

Then, we all konon2 nak berpicnic tepi sungai so beli fish and chips and duduk lah makan tepi Sungai Swan tu sambil tunggu ferry…

Today was a very cloudy day which is quite rare jugak lah kat Perth ni.

Selalunya langit so clear without any clouds.

Picnicking with fish and chips while enjoying the gorgeous view by the Swan.

The Other Half punyalah ‘baik’, gi sms gambar we all berpicnicking ke Miss 14 yang baru saje habis sat for her exams tengah hari tadi, saje je nak bagi dia jeles, hahahahaha….

Lepas 2 jam, The Other half caught the ferry to the city and I went to fetch Miss 9 up at the zoo…

When will our next date be?

Entah lah…… Lepas Raya kot!

hahahahahahaha….

The exam days

Miss 14 started her mid year exams today.

2 papers today and 2 papers tomorrow.

Kengkawan dia yang ambik Language has another paper on Wednesday but dia tak ambik language so dia dah merdeka on that day…

I said to her yang when I was in upper high school, baaaaaanyak lagi papers that I had to sit for.

And baaaaaanyak lagi tests and exams in between the major exams…

Thank goodness those exam days are behind me already!

hahahaha….

She said to me yang she wasn’t that hungry at school today sebab she was worried about the exam..

But Mum dia sentiasa hungry since I takde exams pape kan so dinner tadi, I masak something yang I nak makan…

I made chicken and prawn laksa/ mee kari nyonya style.

kali ni I guna udang besar2….

mangkuk yang I guna ni quite big jugak lah but just enough to fit 2 prawns aje, hehehe…

Kalau kat Msia, mesti ada kerang dlm kari laksa ni kan.

But kat sini sangat lah susah nya nak jumpa kerang which is fine by me sebab I pun tak minat kerang sangat.

Maybe sebab masa kecik dah terlampau bnyk sangat makan kerang kot, hehehe….

For the girls, I made mee hailam aje.

I letak cili boh tak sampai 1 teaspoon pun in the kuah, itu pun Miss 14 dah komplen pedas!

Apalah anak half jawa I tu, pedas sikit pun tak tahan langsung….

weekend food

Mak mentua dan Pak mentua saya dah sampai WA pagi tadi.

Baru saje merentas masuk border WA pagi tadi.

Diaorang bertolak dari rumah diaorang di Adelaide hari Ahad seminggu yg lepas and baru pagi tadi melintas masuk border WA.

Seminggu ambik masa nak cross the border padahal South Australia and WA ni sebelah menyebelah aje, hahahahaha….

Macam I dari Selangor nak cross border ke Perak lah ambik masa seminggu!

Takde nya orang buat macam tu kan, hahahaha…

The Other Half cakap, “They are nearly here….you can start panicking now “.

I ada lagi a few more weeks before diaorang sampai sini so sempat lah lagi nak kemas and cuci rumah bersih2, hikhikhik…

Patutlah I asik lapar aje and asik nak makan aje past few days ni, rupa2nya sebab I stressed…

I kalau tgh stressed, akan makan aje…

Last night, I buat toasted gourmet sandwiches for dinner.

The filling is diced ‘fried’ chicken, gherkin, mayo, mustard, grated colby  and bocconcini.

Sedap sebab the cheese meleleh2…..

Tapi sebab tak nak terasa mcm makan something sinful, I made salad filled with good things as a side .

Malam ni pulak, I made flat beef meatballs with wedges and steamed carrot.

But tak kisah makan banyak2 sebab I cooked them in the actifry so tak guna minyak yg banyak.

Makan dengan guacamole and this new black bean and chipotle salsa sauce.

Sangat lah sedapnya and guilt-free pulak tu!

hahahaha….

A day spent in the kitchen

I know I’ve been really slack in answering all your comments.

Nak kata takde masa busy sangat2, ada jugak masa nak membaca the comments…

But I guess bila nak menjawab comments, kena duduk and fikir tu yang ambil masa lebih sikit….

And sejak seminggu sebelum pergi Malaysia, dah start busy and bila kat Msia memang takde masa…

Pastu, bila balik dari Msia, pun busy jugak menyiapkan rumah untuk guests…

Bila ada guests, busy jugak and now dah seminggu guests balik, baru lah kot boleh relax sikit sambil busy sikit2 in between, hehehehe….

Sepatutnya today was supposed to be spent in the garden tidying up the really really messy and neglected garden tu.

I haven’t been out membelai2 the plants since balik dari Malaysia haritu.

I cuma sempat pruned the roses sekali aje sejak balik sebulan lepas.

Siram pokok pun tak sempat nak buat, Alhamdulillah ada a few days of rain here and there to help keep the plants alive.

Kalau ada ular kat vege patch tu pun I tak perasan kot!

Nasib baik tgh Winter so ular tgh hibernate, hehehehe….

Tadi The Other Half aje lah yang tidy up the vege patch a bit and siram all the plants yang dah nak separuh mati tu and racun all the weeds yang dah besar2 pokok!

What was I doing while he was doing all this?

I hari ni tersangat lah raaaaaaaaaajin nya duduk kat dapur tu!

I start masuk dapur pukul 11 sebab nak start masak serunding daging…

Thursday nite I rebus and siat daging…

Malam tadi, blend all the rempah ratus and cili and what not…

Pagi tadi baru mula project, menyerunding…

Pukul 4 petang baru siap! Lama gilers nak kering kan!

Sambil2 tu I buat roti…

(Malam ni I rasa my right arm and shoulder will be so sore from stirring the serunding and kneading the breads).

Ni masa a third of the way there….

And ini rupa dia setelah I dah tak larat nak kacau lagi by 4 o’clock tadi!

Ada a few bits yang ter browned a bit sebab terleka buat kerja lain…

Nasib baik masak dlm kuali non stick so memang takde sedikit pun serunding yang melekat kat kuali tu.

I tak kacau non stop, tak sanggup weh!

I rasa serunding ni jenis makanan yang I cuma akan masak setahun sekali kot because of how long it took to make it, dari rebus daging ke keringkan the daging.

Unless I can devise a way to keringkan the serunding evenly without much work, hehehe….

And ini rupa 2 jenis roti yang I masak in between mengacau serunding.

Raisin bread and cinnamon pull-apart bread.

Orang lain dah berkurun2 buat cinnamon pull-apart bread ni, I baru hari ni nak try, hahaha…

Memang the girls and The Other Half demolished it in no time at all!

Semua kata sedaaaaap banget! hehehehe…

But I kurangkan the amount of sugar-spice mix to half aje, itupun dah manis sangat2 for me.

Ini pulak raisin bread which we will have for breakfast esok

Toasted and slathered with loads of butter and honey, memang sedap!

The Winter sun

I’ve finally managed to finish washing all the bedsheets, pillowcases, towels, blankets, Winter knitwear from the two hectic-filled with guests- weeks. And I’ve packed them away nicely.

Yeay .

Itu tak termasuk our daily laundry yang still berjalan jugak.

We all takde dryer so we rely solely on the sun to dry everything.

Alhamdulillah, it’s been really sunny this week so senang lah nak membasuh.

But the most loads I boleh basuh pun cuma 3 full loads aje in one day sebab tak cukup ampaian dah lepas tu, hehehehe.

And matahari Winter bukannya panas mana so it took the whole day untuk keringkan baju. Sunny  but 20C max so tu yang kena tunggu the whole day baru kering.

Kat Perth ni, kalau Winter time, it’s quite cold in the morning and at night tapi during the day nyaman aje.

Pagi2 walau matahari memancar2 tapi still bungkus habis.

Miss 9 masa ni tengah kesejukan sebab dia lupa nak pakai beanie, scarf and gloves.

Nasib baik I pakai tudung so warm aje rasa leher and telinga tu, hehehe

Pastu, kalau terlambat and terlupa angkat kain kat jemuran until dah nak dekat maghrib, dia jadi sejuk balik so tak best betul rasa kain tu

Dah lah maghrib pukul 5.15 mcm tu so memang kena lah angkat cepat2 lepas ambil the girls from school.

Kalau during Summer, satu jam dah kering, hahahaha….

And bila Winter, sangat lah sedapnya makan food yang di baked dalam oven kan.

I made pasta bake for dinner tonite.

I just guna Leggo’s pasta bake sauce aje, tinggal campur dgn sauteed mince meat and mushroom to bulk it up.

But salad kena ada to cut down the richness so we had lettuce, kiwi, almond and cherry bocconcini salad.

For the pasta bake, I just tabur breadcrumbs and grated colby on top of it sebelum bakar.

Our new love

Malam ni I nak cerita a bit about the Tefal Actifry.

We love it so much!

But so far we’ve only used it to ‘fry’ chicken wings, drumsticks, french fries, potato nuggets, thicker-style chips/fries and fish steaks.

We are still at the learning stage of finding out what’s best to be cooked in it and how much we can put in it so it cooks perfectly.

I still have loads of recipes to try in the actifry.

Nanti bila my in laws datang, boleh lah we all guna hari2 kan .

Drumsticks and wings cooked in it perfectly, exactly like fried chicken.

But so far we’ve only tried the uncrumbed chicken pieces.

Cuma bubuh some spices and salt on the chicken pieces and about a teaspoon of oil and cook it to your liking.

We like our fried chicken garing so we cooked them around 20-25 minutes.

Macam ni lah rupa the actifry fried chicken drumsticks.

Serupa mcm goreng kan!

We tried cooking fish steaks as well in it. I used mackerel steaks and some broke apart and some stayed intact.

So I guess it depends on how thick the steak is and how ‘fragile’ the fish is.

If you want to make fish sambal, I guess it doesnt matter that much if the fish breaks a bit.

But kalau nak plate up seketul fish mcm tu, maybe still kena goreng or kena bakar dlm oven lah.

We also tried different style of fries/chips in it.

If you use chunky style cuts or hometyle frozen chips, they do tend to break a bit. And you definitely cannot put a kilogram of chips in it.

From the info on the net, it says most probably because it has a high moisture content so tu yg cepat pecah.

So, try to reduce to amount you cook each time so it doesnt break that much.

Potato nuggets/ potato gems are quite difficult to cook in it.

You have to separate each frozen nugget before you put them in the actifry. Or else, they clump together and get really mushy!

Even then, they still stick to each other a bit and get mashed a bit.

And maximum quantity is 500g/batch.

French fries however cook perfectly well in it. And it doesnt take long either.

They are so crisp just like fried . Memang boleh makan berguni2 lah tanpa rasa guilty, hahahaha…..

The best thing about actifry ni is that takde lah minyak memercik2 kat atas stove and the bench tu which makes life so easy…..

Ayam goreng kat atas tu I guna untuk dinner nasi lemak tonite.

I rindu sangat2 nak makan nasi lemak ada kacang tanah goreng! hehehe….

Nasi lemak ni salah satu makanan kegemaran The Other Half tu yang slalu jugak lah I buat.