Heating up my Kitchen

Bak Chang (Meat Dumplings) season is back. Can't believe a year has flown by so quickly. I remember writing here about my bak chang making last year. This year, I am going to take the lead instead of my MIL. I have most of the ingredients and other stuff ready for this Saturday. I have the bamboo leaves left over from last year. I bought fatty 3 layer pork belly & lap cheong (chinese sausages) yesterday. Chestnuts, pulut rice and other dried stuffs I bought them last night at the supermarket. I will start tonight, marinating and soaking some ingredients in time to start the cooking, wrapping and boiling process on Saturday.

Pic form last year's Chang making.

I am really happy that I can start cooking and making stuff at home again since things are getting more settled at home with my new baby. I like cooking, especially traditional types of food. Always feel that we need to keep the tradition going. Bak Chang is not that hard to make, only require lots of work. Ingredients have to be prepared earlier then precooked separately. Then need to wrap them in pre-soaked and washed bamboo leaves and tied up nicely before boiling them for 3 hours. I don't know how many dumplings I will be able to make from 2 kg of pulut rice. I already got in mind some people I want to give the dumplings to.

This Sunday evening, we gonna have a small pot luck with my family members, mum, sis and bro and their families will be here. I will prepare maybe fried bee hoon and curry chicken while my mum will buy otak-otak and sis will cook mee rebus. My house will be really crowded and noisy on Sunday with happy big and small people...

Reading Habit

It's funny how I used to read a lot of books, mostly romantic novels but still, I read. I could finish a novel in 2 days! Over the recent 10 years, I have not really read a book, any book, except for books/training manuals for those dreaded tests after some external professional training courses. Recently I started on a book and I haven't finished it, yet. It's been siting idle for a few weeks now in the book rack. I have to finish it quickly since I borrowed it from someone. Plus, it's a very very good book that increases my religious knowledge. I have this guilty feeling inside of me for holding on to the book that doesn't belong to me. I think I need to set a target and finish it up, it's only about a quarter of the pages left. 

This is what happens when you have a working life and 4 kids to top it. The precious time you have left at home is spent entertaining the kids' needs and resting. It's not that I totally do not have time to spare for some reading but just my other priorities and preferences comes into the picture. For example, I can still find time to finish up 16 episodes of a Korean drama in 4 days or I can surf online for hours.

Evan spending time in the National Library

But still reading is a habit that should be maintained and to be instilled in the kids. A few weeks ago, we brought the kids to the National Library's kids' library. I was not so pleased that they got bored after less than a hour. Maybe, there were just too many books and they could not hold on to one to finish it. Instead, they would take many and browse through them rapidly and then go take more! I guess it's not a good idea to have too many choices. Maybe when they are a bit older, we could go there again.

My eldest likes to read the National Geographic magazines that we subscribe to. In addition, I will always buy books as presents for them instead toys. But they do not seem to take good care of the books I bought them, which gets my blood boiling sometimes. However, I won't let that stop me. We, as parents, really need to lead by example and set a side some reading time together. I think I had better get the ball rolling again.Time for trips to the bookstore again! Plus we can claim tax exemption for the money spent.

King of Fruits

Durian is back in season, we can see durian stalls everywhere, especially along Jalan Broga. We had durian for tea break this Monday. Best of all, didn't have to pay for them since a colleague decided to treat us. I think the ones we had were of the 101 breed and boy were they tasty! So yellow and creamy. I was not particularly a durian fan but lately, I kind of start liking them a lot, a little too much.

Yellow potent stuff!

I think I will be having another few rounds of durian fests again soon, even buy some home for the family. My kids do not like durian except for the eldest who is crazy about it. Tonight, we will have some durian from my bro-in-law, yeah!

I am back...

It's been awhile since I updated my blog here. I have been really tied up with matters at home. Now that things have settled down and I am back at work, I can start my weekly rants again.

My new freezer looks like this.

This week, I bought a new Mistral upright freezer. The purpose? To store my expressed breast milk (EBM). My existing freezer is filled up already :(. When I moved them from the freezer in my existing fridge to the newly bought freezer, they already occupied tray 2 and tray 3. Darn, should have bought the bigger one. But anyhow, I need to make this new freezer work for me since I already spent RM900 on it :(. I have been storing my EBM in disposable plastic containers but they fill up the freezer very quickly. Today I bought those 'Aiskrim Malaysia' plastic bags and going to use them instead. After all my research online, I think this will be the best and most economical option. Saves space and money. I still have one more month before baby can start feeding on my EBM after her operation, so the stock will be piling up.

Since this was taken, it got even more packed in 

my existing fridge.

At work, I am back to the normal routine. And, as always, the best part of the day is my lunchtime with my colleagues. We spend this time enjoying nice food and joke with one another. We are also planing a durian feast next Monday at Broga. Haven't had any for a long while and since they are back in season, what are we waiting for?!

This weekend, we have loads to do. Need to clear out the small room downstairs to make room for live-in (foreign) domestic helper, expected to arrive in August. I also want to shop for beds for my daughters and decorate their little room upstairs. Plus my mum is coming by bus on Sunday to stay for a week with us to help us care for my little baby. Mum and MIL are (alternately) helping us with the baby until the helper arrives, still a few more months to go, so sorry to trouble them both but have no choice :(.

Lots of things happening and changing for us but we will make everything work.