LEAH's Kitchen: Ayam Masak Merah (Malay Dish)

I love #ayammasakmerah and will attack this dish whenever I go to wedding ceremonies. I wasn't sure about the end-result but my family wiped out the dish in less than a day (mind you, 2kg of chicken), so I guess, it can be concluded that the dish was delicious right? Jeez, such a self-brag! Haha!

Ayam Masak Merah (Malay Dish) (8-12pax)

 

Ingredients:

6 garlic (sliced)

1 onion (sliced)

2 inch ginger (chopped)

2 cm lengkuas (chopped)

2 stalk lemon grass (smashed)

6 bunga cengkih

4 buah pelagah

2 bunga lawing

2 cm kayu manis

60 ml asam water

100 gm chilli sos (Maggi brand)

6 tbs sugar

20 tbs chilli boh

2 chicken (skin discarded, cut into parts)

2 ts salt

1 ts Ajinomoto

Tumeric powder

Instructions:

1. Clean chicken parts and marinate with turmeric powder and salt. Deep-fry chicken until it's cooked (do not need to be crispy). Set aside for later.
2. Heat cooking oil and stir-fry lemon grass, bunga cengkih, buah pelagah, bunga lawing and kayu manis till fragrant.
3. Mix in with garlic, onion, ginger and lengkuas. Stir-fry till soften.
4. Mix in chilli boh. Stir-fry till mixture looks crisp and shiny.
5. Add chilli sos and seasoned with sugar, salt, ajinomoto and asam water.
6. When mixture starts to thickened, add chicken and mix till even.

LEAH's Kitchen: Spinach Chicken Cheese Burger

I came across this #spinachburger on Pinterest and felt that the burger was quite peculiar in a way. I don't usually eat spinach in a burger. My mom cooks spinach in a soup form or stir-fry in a Asian-style as a side dish. But the picture that I saw was very tempting. It looks yummy and pretty easy to make so I decided to give it a try.

 

Spinach Chicken Cheese Burger

Ingredients:

100gm of butter

3 x cloves of garlic (chopped)

1 x onion (chopped)

1 x packet of oyster mushroom

1 x packet of spinach (without stems)

1 x red bell pepper (cut into cubes)

Light soya sauce

Oyster sauce

Salt

Black pepper (grounded)

Chicken parts, boneless (cut into small pieces)

Tomato (sliced)

Cheddar cheese slices

Hamburger buns

 

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in a frying pan. Sautee mushroom for about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic and onion. Sautee again
3. Add chicken and red pepper. Sautee till chicken is cooked.
4. Add a little light soya sauce and oyster sauce.
5. Add spinach. Finish off with salt and black pepper to taste. Place filling aside.
6. Cut hamburger buns and slightly toast them in the oven.
7. From bottom up, placed tomato slice, chicken filling and top it with cheese.
8. Wrap the burger in foil. Place it in the oven 200 degrees celcius for about 20 minutes till the cheese melt. Enjoy.

Healthy Rating:

5/5. I used wholemeal buns and there are loads of goodness stuff in that burger.

Things will change, if you change...

Keep positive vibes and you will see a difference. Yes, you will.

Ever since I stayed away from negative vibes, I've been feeling happier than before. I no longer feel that I'm just waiting for days to pass, get stuck in my emotions of not being seen or treated fairly, or even think why I can't be somebody else.

I'm thankful for things that are happening to me in 2014. Although my circle of friends have grown smaller in size, I no longer have to fake optimism or feel shunned as if my presence is not needed when I'm with my friends. I'm glad that God opened up an opportunity for me to make amends with people that I have lost touched with and strengthen the friendship that I have built along the way. For those that have come and left, thank you for being part of my life because that's where the chapter of my life ends with you in it.

I'm learning ways to manage my finance, always keeping in check if we have enough for the whole month, until one day I realised that you can't save if you are in debt. I'm not in debt, truly. It's just that we have a lot of things to pay for since we are renovating our house. I struggled with payments and at the same time, scrimping every penny which led to even more debts. Don't get what I mean? Heh, never mind. I envied those earning higher salary than me and wished that I could achieve more for a better life. However, things change when I let go of my ego to save every month and pondered over what I could achieve with the little income that I have. Take a look at this article. It's very encouraging that let you have a different perspective of why salary doesn't matter. Applying this concept, I concentrate on clearing my payments, limit my expenses and alhamdullilah, I've seen a difference that it makes to my financial situation.

Excited for my new house, our renovation works are 90% complete. We checked for defects last night and hopefully our contractor can get it rectified by this Friday. My tolerance for my contractor's attitude is really off limit but I keep repeating to myself that this situation is temporary and it will end soon. Well, he's not a bad person to start with but he lacks the initiative and has poor customer service skills. In terms of workmanship, I would rate it 9/10. So that's the deal. You get good workmanship but poor customer service. I say, I go for workmanship. Some snapshots of my renovation works here:

I've just made some baking sale last week out of a regular customer. At the same time, business for tailoring service is really picking up beyond my expectations. Kudos to Carousell! It's such a good app that I don't even require to create a facebook page or website (of course 1 day I will do!). I've received countless of enquiries and mostly are for wedding events in November. Wow! Good thing is, I'm partnering with my mom for this business and we intend to take it further next year for Hari Raya despite my Dad's disapproval. It's quite tiring but I enjoyed every second of it because you can copy ideas but you can never copy skills that's learnt. Hopefully, one day, I can realised my dream of owning either an F&B or tailoring business!

Leah A A

LEAH's Kitchen: Fried Macaroni (Macaroni Goreng)

I had unusual craving (what's new?) for macaroni, salivating at the thought of biting into those al-dente pasta and chew on the ground beef that is perfectly seasoned with some tomato-based sauce. Anyway, it has been a while since I whip up #friedmacaroni or #macaronigoreng and I had forgotten the recipe. That's the reason why I always jot down the recipe into this blog. I used my six sense (like real only!) and grab whatever I think will make the dish tasty.

Fried Macaroni or Macaroni Goreng (for 7-8pax)

Ingredients:

6 x cloves of garlic (chopped)

1 x big onion (chopped)

5 x chilli padi (optional)

2 x tbs of tomato paste

4 x tbs of chilli boh

2 x tbs of oyster sauce

2 x tbs of light soya sauce

100gm minced beef

500gm of macaroni

2 x cups of peeled shrimp

1/2 x can of button mushroom

3 x stalks of sawi

Salt

Ajinomoto

A little bit of water

 

Instructions:

1. Boil a pot of water and cook macaroni till al-dente (follow packet instructions). Drain water and put cooked macaroni aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix tomato paste, chilli boh, oyster sauce, light soya sauce and water till it's even. Put sauce mixture aside.
3. Using frying wok, heat up some oil and stir-fry garlic, onion and chilli padi till fragrant.
4. Add in the sauce mixture and minced beef. Stir-fry till beef is almost cooked and add shrimp and mushroom. Stir-fry again.
5. Add in macaroni and stir-fry evenly.
6. Add in sawi and stir-fry till vegetable soften.
7. Add salt and ajinomoto to taste.

 

Hello Baby D!

Baby D has arrived and I'm so thrilled for my gf! I couldn't believe it. It was just Monday, 2 days ago, that I met her for lunch with Baby D in her womb and then, yesterday, Baby D, who had been in my gf's womb for 8 months plus, decided to make his appearance into this world. Alhamdullilah, God's creation is such a beauty beyond words description!

Both mom and Baby D are safe and sound. It was a smooth delivery for her, a 2.5hours process of natural delivery. Such a strong woman!

Hehe. I'm excited for my turn too. Hopefully, I'll get the "jackpot" soon!

Stolen from my GF's facebook. Handsome boy right?

Leah A A

I'm going nuts, literally...

I'm worried about my health. I've recently started to eat a lot of nuts - cashew and pumpkin seeds - for the #TTC project, and at the same time, getting sudden mild headaches for no reasons. This happens frequently in the office. I suspected that it was due to the cold temperature (stupid centralised aircon!!) but just now, I had the headache again after finishing a packet of cashew nuts.

Did I just go nuts? Apparently not.

I google and find out that eating nuts could cause headaches. What? Yes, seriously? My body is such a weirdo, reacting to nuts this way. Right now, as I type, I feel like I'm seeing stars. Suddenly feel so unwell :(

What should I do now? Scrap nuts from my list? Boohoo... I've just started to appreciate them and now this!

Leah A A

TTC...

Ditto. AF is here to visit. Boohoo!

I've always thought that TTC is quite straightforward and easy. I am so wrong. Having TTC for nearing 6 months (I think), I'm starting to think if there is something wrong with us? My period is so regular that it comes on the dot! Well, I know there are couples out there who have been trying for years and so, who am I to complain for waiting 6 months only. But... I can't help it, my maternal instinct is doubling up rapidly that I groaned each time AF is here. Like yesterday :(

I recalled last week conversation with Mom and Sis when I told them I had a craving for Lemak Sayur Pucuk Ubi, my mom went, "Dah ade ke? (have already?)". Haha! I wished! When I told them that we are TTC, they started nagging at me for my exercises. Seriously? I mean I've heard that exercising may reduce fertility but there are some articles which encourage exercising as it helps to better prepare the body for pregnancy.

Yesterday I was really quite disappointed. The past few months, I've been a maniac, tracking my ovulation and fertile period, as if by doing so we will hit the jackpot. When we failed, I totally removed this "tracking" method and tried to take things naturally. So for last month, we just let it happen. Ditto. We failed.

My friend had recommended Blackmore as she was successful with that. It's so tempting to just try it but Husband disagree and prefers to take things naturally. Sad! And so I thought, I have to do something, at least naturally (pfft!), to increase the chances of pregnancy. Well, I have to admit that maybe my exercise routine do play a part in my chances to conceive as my body feels tired and exhausted every single day. I'm not totally omitting exercising out since it has always been part of my lifestyle, but probably I could something about it. For instance, reducing the intensity?

I've gathered this list by sourcing through various website. I'm going to start my next project #TTC. For those of you who are still puzzled what TTC means, google it! :p

Food that Boost Fertility

Fruits

• Bananas, Oranges, Berries, Prunes, Mangoes

Vegetables

• Asparagus, Broccoli, Spinach, Lettuce, Garlic, Bell Peppers, Potatoes, Yam

Seafood/ Fish

• Shellfish, Salmon, Cod, Snapper

Poultry

• Eggs, Beef, Lamb

Beans/ Nuts

• Almonds, Peas, Edamame (my favourite!),Lentils, Pumpkin seeds, Kidney beans, Tofu

Others

• Whole Milk, Whole Wheat Bread, Olive oil, Yogurt, Green Tea

Moderate Exercises

• Cycling
• Brisk Walking
• Swimming
• Zumba
• Light Jogging

The list could be exhaustive but this is as much that I could gather. I hope that this project works! Give me some baby dust y'all!

Leah A A