December Favourites

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to share with all of you some of my favourite food/beverage/stuff for December.

1- Five Roses rooibos chai spice tea - Started drinking the tea that my parents bought from Capetown.
SOO good. The smell of this tea makes me think of Anna's ( my daily vlog leading lady) pumpkin spiced tea even though mine has no pumpkin elements to it. Maybe because its spiced, thats why.
She was really into this tea for halloween, and each time i watched her drink, i'd imagine the taste and smell of it.

2- POST Selects Great Grains Cranberry Almond Crunch cereal - Getting my breakfast is soo important. So besides the occasional karipaps, eggs and breads, i'm loving this cranberry almond crunch cereal. Last months favourite was the blueberry one, and before that was the Banana.
The cranberry is not as sourish and not as sweet as the others. But still love it though.

3- Wholemeal pita breads - Again as a result of watching what Anna eats for lunch. I'm opting for sandwiches or wraps whenever there's no rice dishes. Would make (if i'm home) barbecue chicken with salad or mashed boiled eggs with a dash of black pepper sandwiches. I dont cut the pita bread in half and stuff in the chicken n salad into the pockets, but i cut the pita bread into half forming 2 round flat breads. slap some mayo on the top n bottom n lay down the chicken n salad to form my sandwich and shove it in the toaster for 2 minutes. Yummy and i feel less guilty because its wholemeal.

4- Toblerone - Must have my chocs! Dad got a whole load of Toblerones from his numerous vacations this year. So for now this is my dessert after dinner.

5- Song - Dont Stop the Party by Pittbull.

6- Hairstyle - Ponytail and the high bun. Though i've been trying the fishtail braid on myself since my hair is longer, i've yet to master it. It leaves me with sore arms everytime.

7- Less trafic - Since its the school holidays, driving to work is a breeze. I leave home 15 mins later than i usually do, and still get to work early.

Anywhooooo (the way Judy says it; from Itsjudyslife), loving December so far.
December reminds me of the christmas festivity atmosphere in London.
Not getting my 3rd consecutive Europe winter trip this year; hubby said i'm pushing it - ingat dia chop duit?
So Jakarta it is!

All the pictures above are from Google.

Daily vlogs

I'm obsessed with Youtube's daily vlogs.

My current fav:
1) Leflooftv: A couple from Cork, Ireland have been vlogging everyday for the past few years. From being in a relationship to having a daughter. Everyday i watch how their daughter grow from a newborn to a 2months plus baby. Chubbier by the day. And when she smiles,my heart melts too. Sooo cute.
Anna, (the wife) has her own beauty channel on youtube: Thestylediet.
She's pretty! and they have not 1 but 6 maltese dogs. Crayyzy! Love watching them go grocery shopping, move house, set up the christmas tree.

2) Itsjudyslife: A couple from Washington. The wife, Judy is Philipino, the husband's mixed japanese / caucasian.
They also just had a baby named Juliana who's 1 month plus. Judy's separate beauty channel is: itsjudytime.



I seriously open up youtube the first thing in the morning to watch the latest vlogs, of course after subuh that is. Leflooftv is usually up with their latest vlog at 2am (msian time) since its now daylight saving mode, previously up at 1 am.

Its like reality tv, but daily on youtube.

Obsessed with Emilia : Jonathan and Anna's girl

The Beach Holiday

On Friday, me, B, and my fam will be going for a short 3 nights trip to the land of the white elephants; Thailand.
Phuket to be exact. Having been to Bangkok for 3 times, i'm pretty much excited to experience again the great Thai cuisine, and the Siamese culture. This is B's first out of country trip with my dad. Our 1st trip with mom was last years December holidays.

As a couple, we've never really favored beach holidays. We've always been the Bangkok type of people rather than the Phuket. But since brother no 2 is back for his summer hols, we thought we'd go somewhere together like they did (without me n b, b lah kecoh tanak ikut) last year, where they went to Bali. Just somewhere close to make it a short trip.
But soo sad that bro no 1 has been working in Jakarta on a work assignment since July and has yet to finish work there. So he's out of the fam troup to Phuket.

Phi Phi island

James Bond Island (The Beach: Leonardo Dicaprio)

Patong Beach

Pictures above are all from Goole.

We've booked a travel package which includes 3 nights accomodation, 3 halal meals a day, 2 days island tour, snorkeling, airport transfers n all. 

After doing some research on Phi Phi island  and James Bond island, i can admit that i am soooo excited to go swimming n snorkeling.

And of courseee makannn thaii food! B n i loved the thai food we had in Bangkok. Being the big eater that we are, we surely have planned  to go and look for a good halal thai restaurant even though we will be provided with breakfast, lunch, n a dinner meal while we're there.

Baked with love

Before Ramadan started, mom and i agreed that this year, we'd try and bake choc chip cookies.
Finally, we gathered the effort to start on it yesterday . Started at around 5 pm, to about 1/4 to 7 , 2 batches of choc chips were produced. The smell of baked cookies  lingered around the whole night.

Even though it's not as good as Famous Amos (not even close) . But i still thought i got an A+ for the effort and love poured into baking those cookies. My sweet and thoughtful brothers even suggested i sell my cookies because it was good to them. Too bad B had to go back to Melaka yesterday (after coming back to subang for the weekend + mil went to Mekah, so he'll prob be staying more in subang until raya), so he didnt get to try it , but he'll prob be back this evening, so i'll let him try it for berbuka. Good verdicts hopefully. Fingers crossed!

We still have left over choc chip dough from yesterday( had to stop baking coz needed to prepare for iftar) So this evening, my mission continues. I'm very domestic and hubby's proud of it.

Happy preparing for Aidilfitri everyone!


Love,
Diyana

Crepes with nutella and banana

Last Sunday i made:

Crepes with nutella and banana!!
Yummy! B requested for it.
During our Euro trip last year, we had loads and loads of this street food.
Been promising him that i'd make it ever since.

Picture above are from google

I can say that it turned out great considering it was my first attempt.

Of  course its totally up to the person whether they like their crepes softer or thicker etc..

Ingredients:

1 cup multipurpose flour

1 cup milk

1 cup water

2 eggs

1 spoon of melted butter

1 pinch of salt.

Mix it all together. 

butter ur pan.start dropping the watery batter in.

flip it on the other side after about 1 minute, spread nutella and cut bananas.

Makanan

Salam everyone,

Today is the 7th day of Ramadhan. This year i've developed an interest in making malay kuih's. Last month i made sago gula melaka which my husband loves. Last monday  mom n i made ondeh ondeh . I've been googling for a number of recipe's like the kuih lopes, cream caramel, kuih batik, bubur kacang hijau n a few more. Cant wait to try either the caramel, kuih lopes or the kuih batik this weekend. B also loves kuih lopes. So hopefully i get it right the first try when he's back.

For today's berbuka, i've requested my mom to make her delicious nyonya-curry laksa (it actually has no curry powder/leaves in it at all, it just looks like curry.

Picture above taken from Google.

Its something like this, but instead of the sliced omelette, we eat it with boiled eggs

The ingredients for this fab laksa are: mee/bihun,  tauhu- the spongey type?, fish/chic balls, kerang, chicken ,boiled egg, bean sprouts, mint leaves, bawang goreng,limau nipis or kasturi? - not sure, and an absolute must for this dish is the special sambal.

Of course i wouldnt know what's needed to make the gravy besides santan. 

Ya Allah, gets me drooling just thinking of it. Moga diberi rezeki and kesempatan to have it for berbuka today. Amin.

Selamat Berpuasa

Selamat menyambut bulan ramadhan..
Banyak kan beribadat n membuat perkara baik and bermanfaat.
Lets use this time to gain as much pahala as we can and continue to do so even after ramadan.



Love,
Diyana