To avoid the part that I hate the most in cooking i.e. thinking of what to cook, I plan the menu on a weekly basis. Okay I actually drag everyone to the small white board I have in the kitchen and ask them what they would like to eat next week. This is done either on Friday night or very early on Saturday morning before we go to the pasar tani.

Panjangnya mukaddimah cerita cekodok.

Aaanyway, last week Shahril put in cekodok (pisang) as today's breakfast. (When we were small, my brother called this cucur hitam for obvious reason. So yesterday, we went looking for bananas, and Shahril bought a huge bunch of it.

The nice guy that he is, he even mashed the bananas and keep it in the fridge before we went to bed. You can tell he's excited for cekodok now, can't you?

So we had cekodok for breakfast. Afiq originally wanted to bring a small box of Frosties as his 'bekal' to school today, but changed his mind when he saw I was making cekodok. Even Mariessa wanted to bring some to school.

After school, Afiq told me that the cekodok was really good. Mariessa said, " Memang sedap kan, bang. Kawan- kawan Kakak berebut tadiiii, nak makan cekodok yang Kakak bawak!" Then Afiq said, "Terror la Mama buat cekodok, sedap betul "

It's just cekodok, really. But today, cekodok really made my day.

4th October was my last day at work. So I've been a SAHM (that's stay-at-home-mom for those who are wondering) for a little over 3 months now.

I didn't think I could survive the 51-day school holidays, with all 4 kids at home. After all, I am someone who needs her 'me' time more often that anyone I know. But Alhamdulillah, I survived. So did the kids. 😉 Some days are better than the rest, some days are worse.

Come December, I was looking forward to January like never never before!

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids to bits and pieces, but they can drive me up the wall... And I say this in the most loving tone I know how. 😝

Now that the kids are in school, life is just as hectic... But I do get more quite time for myself, Alhamdulillah. This of course depends very much on Muiz's mood in the morning, but he's quite an easy boy so far, Alhamdulillah.

I try as much as I can to wake up very early in the morning, ideally at 4.30.., but so far the earliest I could drag myself out of the bed is at 5. If I could settle everything before 6, that guarantees lazy time between 8.30 to 11.30 a.m. when Afiq, Mariessa and Adreena are at school. By everything I mean breakfast and lunch meals ready, house is clean (definition of clean varies, depends on my mood) and also laundry (most of the time Shahril gets this settled, Alhamdulillah).

I then send Afiq to school, which is something I love doing because this is the time when I can concentrate solely on Afiq. A lot can be talked about in 15 minutes (the school is only 3 kms away, but traffic can be really bad), and I feel that this is my opportunity to get him in the mood for school.

Shahril sends the girls to kindy on his way to work, so I'm basically free until it's time to go and fetch the girls.

When it's time, fetch the girls. Come home. Then out again to fetch Afiq, then home again. Shahril sends Afiq to KAFA after lunch, but if Shahril's extra busy or have meetings elsewhere, I'll send Afiq instead, dragging everyone along with me of course!

3 hours later, we go out again and fetch Afiq.

I'm starting to get tired just writing all these down. 😅

I am lucky Muiz is accepting his carseat very well. On days he doesn't feel like being strapped into his carseat and cries all the way to and fro, I am lucky that after 3 kids before Muiz, I am immuned to kids crying in the car. Haha.

So that's how a day roughly looks like for me. That is of course the 'good' part of it. The not-so-good part involves washing dishes almost non-stop, sweeping the floor countless times, mopping, picking up toys, picking up bowls and spoons which were turned into toys, you get the drift.

Life as a SAHM (with 4 kids), now that I have 3 months experience of it, I can say that it is very, very, VERY tiring.

But to be able to watch my children grow in front of my very eyes... THAT is priceless!

Suddenly in the mood to bake.

Found the recipe at

http://www.secubitgaramnor67.com/2009/07/bun-pandan-berkaya-2.html?m=1


BUN PANDAN BERKAYA

bahan2:
350 g tepung roti (high protein flour)
200 ml air sejuk (dari peti sejuk)
50 g gula halus
1/2 camca teh garam halus
3 camca teh instant yeast
1 camca teh bread improver
20 g serbuk santan
1 camca besar susu tepung
1 biji telur kecil ( guna telur biasa, kacau sedikit dan timbang 40g)
30 g mentega
1 camca teh pandan paste

bahan hias :
Kelapa kering secukupnya (I left this out)
Seri kaya secukupnya

CARA MEMBUATNYA :-)
UNTUK DOH :Masukkan semua bahan2 diatas kecuali bahan hias ke dalam Bread Maker dan pilih setting untuk doh, tekan "on" dan tunggu hingga siap...
Tumbuk dok untuk membuang udara. Bahagikan kan doh kepada 16 bahagian yang sama besar, bulat2kan doh dan susun. Tutup dengan kitchen towel bersih dan biar naik selama 45 minit - 1 jam.
Spray sedikit air atas permukaan roti, tabur kelapa kering dan paipkan serikaya (masukkan seri kaya dalam plastik bersih, dan gunting sedikit muncungnya) atas roti tadi...ikut lah style memasing yeaa...
Bakar dalam oven yang telah dipanaskan pada suhu 180C selama 20 - 25 minit...Bila masak, keluar dari tin dan sejukkan sepenuhnya atas jaringan....Lepas tu boleh lah makan.

The dough comes out really soft, I wondered if I measured the ingredients wrongly. It was tough trying to work with it, but the end result came out really soft and fluffy. A keeper, this.

I took it out of the oven 5 minutes before Afiq had to go for his KAFA. He brought 2 to school, Alhamdulillah.

This is the first picture taken with my new toy. :) Just thought I should jot that down. :)

I seem to have lost the mojo to write, which is sad because I feel like I have so many things to write about now that I'm watching my children grow in front of my eyes.

Hopefully I am able to write more from now on, InsyaAllah