Dear Ciwei,

As you were cosily sitting in front of the fireplace sipping your hot chocolate, while enjoying the cold breeze outside, i was busy helping Cate West solving The Vanishing Files,locating criminals and arresting them.[obviously, i could only enjoy such adventures via pc games....pathetic life!!]

so, how's cameron?fancy buying me some lilies of the valleys later...promise you, it would last longer than you thought!

well,you asked,whats my plan for today? its a sunny warm sunday to begin with. and sundays would mean a trip to the nearest sunday market.i would be doing my grocery shopping.buying whatever fruit there is in season.checking local produce.chatting with the butcher,with the hope that i would impress him and in return,he would give lower price as discounts...(its the pak cik i told you last time,remember? he thought i was my hubby's daughter...:0 ROTFL..).and sunday would be the only time i could be together spending not-so private moments with my husband, enjoying breakfast at our favourite stall,chatting,checking on the sunday news or simply observing people and activities around us.

as for today, i am going to share with you my preparation for lunch...jeng..jeng..jeng...brace yourself, as this would be such an epic debut, as no one ever expected me to be doing this before. a friend from the staffroom once expressed her disbelief when i mentioned to her that i can actually cook!she said, she couldn't imagine me spending time in the kitchen cooking meals for my small family...hmmhh...initially,i was so flattered as i had successfully projected this image of a modern working class lady whos priority was professional-oriented..but, later, i discovered that her remark was satirical..refusing to overanalyse the matter,i chose to stick to the first thought that cross my mind...

back to the ...where was i? owh!ciwei, its my showing off time...normally,i would be seeing my high school buddies posting recipes,and uploading photos of their culinary skills in their blogs or facebook wall..i always admire them and keep wondering where do they learn to become masterchef?[coz i used to share the same dormitory with them before,and i know the type of people they truly were...what made them change?why on earth were these aspiring Margaret Thatchers slowly transforming into Martha Stewarts in the later part of their life?]

so, i decided to do my part.seriously, i am not at all proud of what i am going to share with you. but, considering the fun i had snapping all the process, and struggling with the ingredients[mind you, im not a pro!], im still proud with the outcome, and am sharing it on my blog, coz i know, nobody's going to read about it and goes 'aaaaaaawww......jaw dropping...'[except for u, lyss,shah n pika perhaps, and maybe my loyal followers la kot..ikut suka hati makcikla..ini blog,makcik yang punyakan..apa makcik nak post,punya pasal makcik la kan..zasss..]

k-la, here are all the ingredients required...

so,which part of the ingredients that you don't recognise?

yummy meat!!its not easy to find this beautiful piece...looking beautiful here,the tenderloin,with the right colour and texture....now im talking like the 'meat business' host...no. im no nigella...

yup!that's the sous chef in the house , Timmy the cat..here,she's inspecting whether i had the meat proportionally cut...




well, it should look like beef stew once its cooked. if you notice, im not using the pressure cooker for this. i used to cook meat using pressure cooker before, but my mom-in-law said that it is not good to cook food under intense pressure as you would not get the actual taste of the food. food should be cooked under slow flame,as this helps the meat to release its sweetness and the food would taste better. well, all these while,i thought people would perform better under pressure, but this is meat we're talking about....and again, i'm using this pot i bought from padang besar 20 years back.still in good condition[which goes to say the frequency of usage....].im not using that correll casserole or the see through maxim cooker [yea..yea..i couldnt afford them:( ] its the way my mom-in-law cooks,so my verdict is OLD SCHOOL is the best..!!!

there's my brinjal in coconut sauce [gulai lemak cili api +terung telunjuk]. reminds me of my chilhood moments. my grandmom grew her own vegetables.so,whatever she served on our table were directly harvested from the backyard.and this is one of them.her version was quite hot. mine is milder.nowadays, i cant tolerate hot food..

ow yes,ciwei, ever wonder where i got the coconut from?

haa...authentic and organic. not the artificial one...[terbaeekk dari ladang].i can always go and buy the quicker and easier ones sold in packets or boxes. but, nothing beats the authentic preparation.[see, i ramas and perah sendiri santan tu...heh]

won't be complete without something to enhance the taste...and here's the end result....

TADAAAAA..............

here's something danial requested for lunch......errr, no official name for this one..

may look a bit dry, but its the way danial likes it...roasted to perfection...

and no meal would be complete without ulam- petai and sambal belacan....

thats a wholesome meal for our lunch today...took me an hour and twenty minutes to complete the whole course [would be faster if i wasnt struggling with the ingredients and snapping here and there..].

what?what did you say?owh-the beef stew...well, i am not going to take credit for something i didn't personally complete....the meal is prepared by my other half..ngeheheh..wait till i master the whole process, then i will proudly show it off to the whole world....

guess its time for me to stop.need to do the dishes...[sucks!].

hope you have a safe journey back to UTP and be mentally prepared for Maniac Monday!!

till the next entry..C I A O!!

Yours truly,

just me ;]