Bulgogi

Love and I spent the past 4 days of holidays in front of TV watching Junior Masterchef Australia. Those amazing kids made me excited to try lots of new recipe, seriously!

Ever since we got married, I would cook for Love every morning, every day dutifully. Because he eats heavy breakfast and he skips dinner, so I don't have to cook for dinner. I just packed the food nicely so that he could eat them when he got to his office.

It was always the same recipe; Chinese fried rice, Malay fried rice, fried meehoon, fried kuey teow, ayam kicap, ayam halia, all sorts of sambal, cekodok, cucur udang, cucur ikan bilis, Pa Jun (Korean pancake) and the most boring menu has got to be sandwiches.

Chicken sandwich, tuna sandwich, egg sandwich, boooo... ringgg...

My latest obsession was pancake, after reading Thepinkstilettos.

I tried again and again and again to get the texture of my pancake from this..

To perfectly golden brown like this, thanks to my SIL..



Then, I got bored. After watching Junior Masterchef, I realized that the only Korean dish I ever cooked was Pa Jun (I will reveal the recipe soon).

So, I googled some recipes from web and combined them with MIL's cook book, and add some ingredients to make the taste similar to the ones cooked by MIL. Finally, I come out with Bulgogi (direct translation would be fire meat)!!


Hubby's packed food for today; nasi+bulgogi+ikan goreng.

Now, let me share the Bulgogi's recipe with all of you.

400g sirloin steak, cut into thin slices (I used minced beef since we're running out of steak at home)
1 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp light soya sauce (kicap cair)
2 tbsp dark soya sauce (kicap pekat, I mixed both kicap manis and masin)
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 dashes black pepper
2 cloves garlic
3 scallions/green onions (daun bawang)
1 yellow onion
sesame seed

Marinate the sugar and meat, leave for at least 20 mins.
Dice the garlic.
Chop onion and scallions.
Marinate the sugar+meat with soya sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, garlic and onions.
Refrigerate for at least 10 mins, of course the longer the better.
Cook in pan fry until the meat is properly cooked and until the juice from the meat comes out.
Sprinkle some sesame seed on top.

Done! It tastes good and so easy to prepare compared to Malay cooking :) All the best!

Nadrah's birthday celebration

Things could have been so much better for me these past couple of weeks.

My beloved grandma was hospitalized for a few days since she broke her hips, we spent countless days in hospital.

Now that grandma was discharged and mum had been taking a really good care of her, I decided to have a little time out with the girls.


MY FIRST SLEEPOVER AFTER MARRIED, Y'ALL!! Wheeee!!

Nadrah, Iza, Myra and I, doing what Myra and I used to do everytime I sleepover at her place, watching some scary movies.

Anyway, we started a splendid night with a dinner in Chez Rose.





Food was quite pricey. Range is from RM30 - RM50, read all about the reviews and more of the photos from Nadrah's blog.

We bought her the Sereni and Shentel's Tea for Two Garland that she had been craving for, Myra's brilliant suggestion.



Then, we headed to Myra's brother's condo in Putramas, where we had our sleepover at. Played with the Photo Booth app in Nadrah's Macbook for a while..

Catch a movie, had some pillowtalk and a nice sleep.

Woke up in the morning, had some breakfast and went for a swim. Gambar tak boleh upload ok, these girls are so freaking hot to handle. ;p

Then, we had our lunch at Wau Penyu, Solaris Dutamas, read the full review here.

Such good time that i'll always remember.

TQ Myra, for inviting. Though I'm married, I'm happy that I'm still close to their hearts.

And to beloved Nadrah, Happy birthday, gorgeous. May Allah SWT bless you always.

Happy to have such mesmerizing hearts as friends :)

Nicknames for your better half?

I am quite comfortable with the nickname I use to call Love.

.SAYANG.

It goes like this, "Sayang, boleh tak you tolong I bla.. bla.. bla.." It's Sayang, you and I. (Or sometimes when i needed to use my charm, it'd be Gorgeous or Sweetheart.)

The same goes to him, he calls me Sayang too.


But recently, I read one of the Islamic book my dad always left on the dining table and came across one particular part out of boredom. It said something like how the wives should call their husbands "Abang", to show respect to their husbands rather than calling him any other nicknames with "I" and "you" as pronouns whereby it shows that your husband and you are in the same level.

Ouch! It feels like someone mocking me right in my face.

But, seriously, "Abang"?

I called my brother "Abang". I called my cousins and my colleagues "Abang". I even called every male cashier on earth as "Abang".

I could not even bring myself to call my husband of all people as "Abang". For me, it is not as special as "Sayang". You don't go and call every male stranger you meet as "Sayang".

I am so comfortable on the way I called him "Sayang" or "you". In my humble opinion, it feels like talking to friends when I used the pronouns "I" and "you", and hence it feels like no barrier in between. He is my bestest best friend after all.



When I got so angry with him for the mess he did, i'd go like, "Sayang, how many times I tell you to not put this here!"

Or in the middle of argument when he still call me as Sayang, it makes things a lot easier, and the anger a lot lesser.

But, after reading that article, i seldom wonder, what should i call him to show that i put him in another level higher than myself. Any other nicknames, other than "Abang".

And anything other than "papa" or "ayah" or whatever, that is so NOT sexy! Please someone mock me if i ever call him that once we have a baby.

Truth is I couldn't find any nickname better than "Sayang".

So, to make myself comfortable I keep telling myself that it doesn't matter what you call him, as long as he knows the amount of respect you have for him. It does help..

sometimes.

*Pic from google, the first pic is edited from Sayang, you can dance.

Kedai curtain murah

Alhamdulillah, bonus dah masuk! :)

Anyway, last week, we went for curtain hunting.

Kedai curtain paling murah is the one in Nilai Square. Nilai 3 mcm a bit mahal for curtain.

We spent around RM400+ for the whole house. But just the material. Belum jahit lagi.


Tingkat bawah colour grey.


Tingkat atas colour brown, but the same design.


Kain organza belakang.


Pengikat curtain.

So anyway, mum gave me a tip that i really would like to share with you guys.

She said the prices there are all negotiable. You could ask for reduction as high as 70% from the actual price.

We tried.

But we managed to get only 50% off from the price displayed.

We're quite good, aren't we? (T_T) Ok.. Ok.. Getting better at least ;p

Bring that braces on!

Had my braces on yesterday, which also means..

I've crossed off one of my "To achieve list 2011"! Alhamdulillah

Would like to share the procedures you have to go through for the braces:

1) Consultation. Some clinics give consultation for free, but mine, I have to pay RM50 for this

2) Moulding

3) Xray. Read all about my experience here.

4) Get your teeth pulled off, I had to pull off 4 teeth. The fourth teeth from front; one from top, one bottom, one left, and one right.

The first two teeth got off perfectly. Not that hurt since I took some pain killer.

The third teeth (bottom left) was really painful. Normally for bottom teeth, you get only one shot of local anaesthesia, but I had twice since it did not go numb. And the root was a bit bent, so imagine the pain.

The fourth teeth (top left) gave me even more headache :( Which reminds me to remind you this, if you're looking for a doctor to pull out your top teeth, find a specialist. Because the root looks like this..



Compared to the bottom one



Makes the top one easier to break.

And my doctor accidentally break my teeth, leaving the root stuck in my gum, which causing me two minor dental surgeries to remove it and the pain and the bleeding, jgn cakapla..

5) Have your braces on. First, the doctor will dry all the saliva in your mouth, put something to stretch your mouth and begin to glue the brackets in each tooth. The taste of the glue was super duper horrible. That I had to take a break and had some drinks for a while

Then, the best part was when the doctor asked you to pick the colour of your braces!! Put the wires on, and before you even realize it, you're done

Tak sakit pun!

Yup, wait for about 3 hours and tell me that again. I couldn't even sleep last night.

The power of letting go

A few days ago, Love went to KB for work with some of his colleagues. I guess along the way, he makes lots of new friends too.

As he got back, he was in this “OMG-I’m-so-glad-you’re-my-wife” mode.

What happened to him there?

Then, he told me a story that I pray I will forever remember.

I am not so sure how it started. I guess it started from a normal boring conversation in one of the coffee shop where he spent hours at every day he was in KB.

He said most of his friends almost had no life once they were married. The wives wanted the husbands’ life to resolve just around them.

Keluar malam with friends tak boleh. Jamming on the weekends tak boleh, kena beli barang for anak. Tengok bola at mamak, tak boleh.

Not that they did not love the wives, but they just did not feel happy as they used to.

The story made me feel insecure. I have absolutely no problems of letting him go anywhere he wants as for now. Jamming ke, bola ke, balik 3 pagi ke as long as no b***h involved ;p Because he returns back the freedom I gave by calling/smsing every hour, so.. you know.. would be mcm psycho la kan kalau u nak merapu jeles lagi or whatnot.

But, you know.. the only constant in life is change.

What happened to us once we have a baby? Would i still be the same? Would he truly be happy as what he feels with me now?

Insecurity.

I don’t want us to end up like that..

“I will never let you be that kind of person, Ikeen!” BFF Qdin shouted at me all the way from Aussie.

So glad we have friends as our reminder in daily life.

"Have you ever feel suffocated with me?" I asked him insecurely once he finished his story of 'Why I'm so glad you're my wife'.

"Once, long time ago, maybe masa our 2 or 3 years couple," He said. I nodded, the time when we argued a lot. Owh.. long term relationship did help after all.

"You feel suffocated having me around?" This time he asked insecurely.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!!!"

He is not the most secure person that would make you wonder whether he loves you or not. And not the most insecure person that makes you push him away.

He sits perfectly in the middle that makes you wonder how on earth does he play this game.

Ayers Rock - Butcher and Grill

Had a weekend all by ourselves last week, and boy, it was good!

We barely had time to spend just for ourselves these past couple of months. With weddings and hang outs and family activities, so last weekend was the moment we have been waiting for, to just chill.

The morning we woke up, Love said, "I'm craving for burger."
He was a die hard fan of burger and I was not. For me, it was way too big to bite and sloppy and bla.. bla.. All the reasons why I hate them are just exacty why Love likes them. Funny!

"Let's have a burger then? Wendy's or Carl's Jr.?" I asked.
"I don't want any burger. I want Massive Burger!" He replied.
"The 500gram German's Deli?""Tak.. There's this one burger shop I've been craving to bring you.. Jom Bukit Jelutong!"

So off we went to Bukit Jelutong. Since we were there he dropped by to a friend's house palace (OMG! how cool is the house there!) for a jamming session.

Then we had Massive Burger. I had only the patty, I don't like the bread.

And it was the best patty I've ever tasted in my life, SERIOUSLY. :)