Secret Smile..

Okay, for a not so expert in kitchen like me, maybe u should be more sceptical about my recipe here. but hey, i’ve been learning fast since I lived alone here in OZ. having to cook every single meal, or else u’d starve of hunger or burn ur pocket money off, u have to make sure u have ur lunch / dinner cooked everytime u go out of home. so, one day, i found absolutely crap in my frigde, no idea what to cook!! here’s what i have in my fridge that day :-

- 1 piece of sausage

- leftover parsley (daun sup kot!)

- tomato paste (or u call it tomato puree back in Msia)

- santan

- beras dah habis, ada macaroni kering

- kiub ikan bilis maggi

- garlic (if u wanna try putting more onions - bawang merah ke, bawang besar ke, u can try, but i dont have any!)

that’s it. so, i decided to try out making a pasta sauce and boil the macaroni. we’ll have macaroni for lunch today. but there wz no cheese or any grated cheese whatsoever, .. so being creative, i tried experimenting something. i switched the cheese with santan. its still a milk product, isn’t it? it should have the same result. lets try..

ok, pardon my mixed language here. i cant decide .. ok, ill decide now. please pardon me. cakap bahasa melayu lah senang.

1. mula2 basuh macaroni, rebus.. kalau nak masak spaghetti pun bole, or any other pasta. nak guna mee pun bole, kalau berani mencuba. hha.. tapi azah guna macaroni la. tu je yg ada masa tu. lepas da rebus, toskan n bilas dgn air paip. takut panas sgt nnti melekat2. tak cantik.

2. panaskan kuali. bila dah panas, masukkan minyak sikit. pandai2 la bajet panas mana, masukkan bawang .. tumis la.. azah cuma ada bawang putih je masa tu. kalau ada bawang2 lain bole la letak. make sure tumbuk lumat2. sbb ni nak wat sos pasta.. kene smooth sume kalau nak jadi mcm sos betul.

3. letak kiub ikan bilis tu.. kalau nak letak ikan bilis tumbuk pun bole. tade masalah. janji tumbuk lumat. biar naik bau dulu. kacau2

4. bila dah naik bau, letak tomato puree tu. sini panggil tomato paste. kalau ratah tak sedap. nak kene masak baru jadi. lainla kalau sos tomato. ratah je pun bole. tapi ni utk masak, kan? letak byk2 sikit. kalau sikit tomato, sikit la sos tu. lagi byk tomato, lagi byk la sos yg dpt. pandai2 serasi kan dgn bawang n ikan bilis tadi. jgn over byk pulak.

5. dah letak tomato tu, bole la masukkan sosej yg dah cincang2 tu. tak payah tunggu sos mendidih. asalkan dah gaul semua rata2, jadi la. kalau malas nak cincang sosej. beli burger, potong2 sikit, pastu blender. kalau tak, beli je terus minced meat. tak tau la kalau mahal minced meat tu. rasanya mahal la sikit. mama azah dulu masak spaghetti sause guna burger cincang je. so, terpulang la kat korang nak guna apa utk inti. inti daging tu lebih kurang 2/3 drp sos tomato tu.

6. ok, tunggu mendidih, biar ada letup2 kecik2 kat sos tu.. maknanya dah bole letak daun sup. cincang2 daun sup tu awal2 halus2 dgn batang dia sekali. hmm.. daun sup ke? bau dia wangi.. daun sup la tu kan? ada lagi satu jenis, coriander nama dia panggil kat sini. pun bole guna jugak. kacau2…

7. last sekali, masukkan santan lebih kurang biar santan tu menutup permukaan sos dlm kuali tu. jgn sikit sgt, jgn byk sgt. ni nak kasi lemak, ganti rasa cheese. kalau hana (adik saya yg dietician tu..) baca ni, mesti dia soh ganti dgn skimmed milk. haha.. sori ye hana, ni nak sedap punya pasal. santan mmg kurang menyihatkan, tapi sekali sekala apa salahnya.

8. lepas masuk santan, jgn tunggu lama terus kacau2… sammpppai… mendidih. jgn biar tinggal santan tak berkacau. org kata nnti pecah minyak. entah la. tak try plak masa azah wat ni. kacau je sampai naik bau, sampai mendidih.

9. rasa la sikit. kalau rasa tak sampai, tambah garam secukup rasa. kalau nak tambah manis, letak la gula kalau nak seimbangkan rasa. ikut style mama azah masak, kalau masak apa2 at least letak sikit gula n garam , bagi balance.

dah siap!!! bole la letak sesenduk dua atas macaroni tadi. makan!!

flatmate azah kata azah ni mmg pandai eksperimen. kdg2 jadi, kdg2 tak jadi. yg ni jadi pulak. tu la nak share dgn korang ni. selamat mencuba!!

~im due shopping this weekend obviously!~

I sent a message to my sister, telling her I was excited to go to the city for an ANZAC Day parade one day, and she replied to me: " wah.. seronoknya dia!.. pelik tapi, masa kat msia tade pun excited nak pe gi perarakan hari merdeka!" hahha.. well.. she’s right.. in a way.. but i wasn’t actually excited to go see the parade.. the main reason was to dwell in the culture of the people here, as long as im doing nothing wrong, and to have a break from my restless schedule. it has been a month since i went out.

the weather was good. cold, cloudy day, but good. the best was the ‘feel’ of the day. everyone was dressed up in uniforms, with rows of war medals of themselves and their fathers’/grandfathers’ who had been to war.

O yes, I should tell you what ANZAC Day is. its started when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on ANZAC Cove in Gallipoli, Turkey on the 25th April 1915. This landing has been commamorated ever since in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. (www.anzacday.biz). They even landed in Malaya, in Johor, Muar, Parit Sulong, etc.. where my family is fram, and seeing that banner with my ‘kampung’s name in the parade really touches me deep. i thought, "these are the people that helped us against the evil Japanese a long time ago"… I snapped a few more pictures of that particular troops. maybe i’ll show them to my grampa one day when i get back to malaysia.

Today, there were no more soldiers left from the World War I, but a few from World War 2, some are already in wheelchair and cruthes. some move in army cars and trucks. i got a photo snap of a lady in the parade, wiping tears of her eyes with an old photograph of a soldier in her hands. probably her late husband who died in the war. flowers and cards were placed on the monuments, as a commemoration to the dead soldiers. young troops also joined the parade, as they are the future soldiers of the country.

i went there with my flatmate, supanee. we bought a small australian flag each. going around the city full of australians, we really feel like tourists. we met a few ex-soldiers, 2 ladies from world war 2, and a dashing gentleman with 3 rows of medals - his, his father’s and his grandfather’s. haha.. that was clearly an enjoyable day.