Cashewnut Chicken

Usually Mama prepares the dishes for breaking fast, but today I decided to make my favourite cashewnut chicken. It's one of the easiest stir fry dish I know and it tastes super.

The ingredients:
Chicken
Cornflour
Garlic
Ginger
Onion
Dried Chilli
Oyster Sauce
Chilli Sauce
And last but not least, cashewnuts


Ready to eat.

I also tried to make some simple chicken puff using the roti canai as the pastry. But I made the mistake of using the microwave grill function. It turned out dry. I remember making this with sardine filling a few years back and it turned out great. The difference then is that I baked them in the oven. Another reason to buy an oven.


Roti canai with the chicken filling.


Microwaved chicken puff.

Microwave with Grill Function

I love baking cake and cookies. The problem is my apartment is not equipped with an oven, instead I've been provided with a microwave which has crisp and grill function. I tried to make a butter cake once using the microwave function. It turned out just ok, which I was not satisfied with. Since I've been craving for a cake, I'm making a second attempt. This time I tried using the grill function with the hope that the cake will turned out better. And to avoid any disappointment, I also made steam cakes just in case. So I ended having three cakes, a chocolate layer which I baked in the microwave, and haw flakes layer cake & coffee cake which I steamed.


The verdict, the chocloate layer cake turned out dry. Huhuhu. Luckily the steamed cakes were perfectly moist and tasted great. Yummy. I do need an oven desperately.

Tesselaar Tulip Festival

I had a chance to visit the Tesselaar Tulip Festival in Dandenong today. The trip was organized by some Malaysian students from La Trobe University which was joined by more than 40 Malasyians altogether. We all met at Barnes Way Apt parking lot around 9.15 am but it was almost a quarter to ten when everyone finally arrived and we started our journey. It took about 1 and half hours to get there. The drive there wasn't so bad, but trying to keep up with almost ten cars was a nightmare. I was glad when we finally arrived at the tulip farm. Here are some pics among the tulips. Too bad not all we're in bloom since it was still early in the season.


Pretty blooms.


Among red tulips.


Sea of pink tulips.


Zade n Qis.

Since we we're fasting, we decided not to join the others to Emerald Lake. By the time we left, I was already exhausted. Driving home took almost three hours. We got lost a few times and had to stop and asked for directions twice. I was so happy when we finally got back on Plenty Road. Home sweet home!

Joshua's Birthday Party

Tonite, Chit invited us for a makan-makan session. She ordered nasi lemak with chicken curry from a restaurant in the city. Since its Ramadhan, we went right after breaking fast and Maghrib prayers. The food was delicious. Julie was nice enough to bring a large platter of karipap, nyum-nyum. After dinner, Chit brought out an ice cream cake fo the birthday boy. Zade and I split a piece, yummy.

One of Chit's friend, I forgot her name, was so keen on Zade. Since Zade still has stranger anxiety, he will not let go of me. She persisted, and at the end of dinner Zade finally gave in and she had a chance to hold him.


Malaysian mommies.


Mama, I'm hungry.


Joshua turns three.


Zade's first birthday party invite.


Amoi and Zade.

Bundoora Park

The weather has finally turn spring-like, so I thought it would be a good time to take Zade to the park. The Bundoora Park is stone's throw away from my apartment, so getting there wasn't a problem. There's a wildlife reserve and an animal farm, which we decided to spend the day at. The entrance fee was $7.50 and it cost us another $2.50 for a ride around the reserve on a tractor, which I thought was not too bad.


The old tractor, so glad that we didn't have to go on this.

After being in Australia for 6 months, I finally got a chance to see a Kangaroo up close. There were hopping around in groups. I'm so glad that I was in the tractor, which by the way was caged up. There were other animals there, but I'm not sure what they are, I'll find out the next time I go. Anyway it was awesome to see all the animals up close. However I did think the ride was a bit too short.


In the tractor.


See the roos hopping in the background.

Next we took a walk around the animal farm. There were chickens, geese and ducks. Most of the animals roam free which was really nerve wrecking for me. Zade found this exciting. He has never been this close to farm animals before. There were also sheeps, goats, and llamas. Oh there's also a pig. After waliking around, we took a break and feed the little ones. We sat at one of the many picnic tables around. As soon as we started taking the food out, the ducks and geese came around with hope of getting some food. So they end up getting the crumbs off Zade's sandwiches. I'm sure some were covered with cheese, those lucky animals!


Goat.


Llama.


Zade's trying to get the chicken.

Then the most exciting part of the day, we were given bottles to feed the little sheep. They were really hungry. As soon as they saw us with the bottles, they made a beeline. And by the way, one of the little sheep was wearing a jumper. Can you imagine? It was adorable. All in all, not only Zade, but all of us had a great afternoon.


The little sheep in the jumper.


Among the sheeps.

AIR ASIA is Flying to Melbourne

I am so excited that AIR ASIA is finally flying to Melbourne from Kuala Lumpur. Tickets were on sale beginning yesterday, and I got a one-way ticket to Kuala Lumpur for AUD$255. It's soooo cheap, that I bought it eventhough I have bought a return ticket from MAS just last month. Now I have two tickets to go home. Yeah yeah.