Adjusting back

It has been a week since school starts but it's still difficult for Amir to get back into his school routine.

This is pre-dominantly due to the change in his transport schedule going home. Normally either Papa or Mama will send him in the mornings (though of course he prefers me to send him everyday but that's not cost effective because I have to make a big round going back past the house to go to work, while Papa's office is just almost in front of his school) and he'll go back via a school-van.

Last year the van route was not complex, so he could reach home in only half-an-hour. This year, we almost had to charter a cab for him because we couldn't find a van that has a short route so that he could be home at least by 1pm (pre-school finishes at 12pm). Luckily, end of last week, we managed to get one who could send him before 1pm. So, the whole of last week Papa had to fetch him in between his meetings.

But of course, the little boy complains and nags the whole time.. even up to the point that he doesn't want to go to school at all. His criteria was that there should only be at least 3 people in the van that driver needs to send. I had to explain and justify to him all sort of reasons why he needs to take a van and share it with other kids...

So this week the challenge is to wake him up and entice him for school. Last night he nagged me for nasi beriani just because his friend had that packed by the mom for snacks in school. So after picking up the big kids from Kumon, we went hunting for nasi beriani in the vicinity as Mama had a bad headache and couldn't go that far to his favorite JM Beriani. Lucky there was some left over for him for breakfast this morning, so he went off to school with a happy face though very very late because he insisted for second helpings.

Whadya know..today he came home excited to show me his arts & craft piece. I hope he'll still be interested to go tomorrow :-)

Selera Mat Salleh

For the past 1 week anak-anak Mama duk minta makanan omputih je..and since Mama memang finishing off my must-clear leave days, boleh la layan their selera. Tak larat pun nak bawak pi makan-makan outside all the time. So the past 4 days punya recipe was, Spaghetti Bolognoise, Spaghetti Tuna, Roast Chicken (ini first time mama try tau) and Spagetthi Aglio Olio de Fungo (with mushroom), semua recipe campak-campak. Janji they had fun and enjoyed their food, disamping belajar tolong-tolong kat dapur kan...



And budak-budak ni bukan main nak makan ala proper sit down meal, so pandai-pandai la they set the table on their own. Especially Amir la.."Mama, Amir nak macam otel punya ok?"

Kerja mama, masak aje. Abang kupas garlic and took out the plates, Amir peeled off the onion skins and Aina set the table. For me, Spagehetti la paling senang. But the roast chicken tu, something I wanna try for quite some time, cuma tak terbuat aje. Last raya, we had a very nice roast chicken dish at one of Papa's friend, so I've been asking for the recipe, tak dapat-dapat lagi. Tak kira, nak buat jugak, so the next best thing was to google and modify la recipe sendiri.



So, recipe Roast Chicken yang Mama dah modify is like below. Remember, ini first attempt buat, but I think not bad juga for a first timer. Papa kata boleh jemput orang kira ok la tu.

Ingredients
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
• 3 ribs celery, peeled and cut into thirds
• 3 onions, peeled and cut into quarters
• 6-8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 whole chicken (Mama prefer ayam kampung) rinsed and patted dry
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper and black pepper
• 1/2 to 1 lemon - if you like it sourish a bit, use the whole lemon
• 2 fresh bay leaves (hari tu takde kat kedai, Mama tibai Sweet basil he he)
• 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 4 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped, plus 1 tablespoon for gravy (pun takde kat kedai, Mama used Tarragon)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup chicken stock - kalau beli Maggi or Knorr, use half a cube je
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped and fry it dry
• 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider (if takde pakai cuka pun boleh)
• 2 teaspoons of cornflour (chap butterfly tu)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

In my Corningware Casserole dish (masa ni la nak test power Corningware) place the carrots, celery, garlic and onions by the sides.

Season the chicken both inside and out with the salt and white pepper. Squeeze the lemon halves over the chicken and place the rinds inside the cavity. Place the bay leaves inside the cavity.

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, olive oil and butter. Rub the chicken both inside and out with the garlic rosemary blend and place in the roasting dish.

Place the pan in the oven and roast the chicken for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

Remove the chicken from the oven and pour off excess juice from pan and return to heat.

Whisk in chicken stock, roasted garlic, applce cider and chopped rosemary, Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Reduce gravy by half, until thickened using a bit of cornflour.

Serve chicken with gravy on the side.

Pandai-pandai la modify if you wanna try it too. Good Luck!


Bottom line, the kids said it was Yummy! That's enough satisfaction for the mother!