Or great Disaster?
The whole family went to Malacca over the weekend leaving me and Zubair home alone.
DAY ONE
On Saturday, there was still left over Asam Pedas (Malay dish) from yesterday and we ate that for lunch... Breakfast was done in sleep haha..
Then for dinner, we wanted to eat Tom Yam. Ever since the Sakura last thurs which Hid treated us there for dinner, Zubair has fallen in LOVE with Tom Yam! and wanted to try again. We were sooo excited to eat Tom Yam that i cldnt take my afternoon nap. By 5pm, we decided to get ready.
Headed to Bukit Panjang Mall via Mrt, LRT wanting to show him the LRT only to find out he has already taken the LRT when he visited his friend in Sengkang. Bluek. On the way, i remembered i still have $20 voucher useable at Bukit Panjang Mall. We can use it to play bowling!! yayyy!!
Reached there. Went up to 3rd floor. Looked at the directory, Sakura's stated there... but WHERE IS IT???? Is it the one covered with cardboards??? yes it is!! how come its closed?? is it closed for renovation or forever? can't be no Bukit Panjang pple eat Sakura that they went bust... Our hopes crushed man just like that...
Ok let's go bowling... eh... where's the bowling alley?? it's supposed to be at 4th floor. I've ever been there with my ex colleague... oh noooooooooo! It's been so long since i last stepped in here that there's been so many changes. Two things we were looking forward to.. both hopes were crushed! What are the odds man...
In the end, we ate KFC for dinner. At least, we had a fruitful visit at the library. There were so many books i wanted to borrow and they're all available there. I was disappointed to know that the 8 books promotion is over that i had to discard 4 of Janet Evanovich's books. eh wait a min! i just realised something as i typed this... I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER and can borrow 8 books! OHHHHHHHH *Slap own forehead* Selenger nye Julissa!! takleh angkat!! #$%^$%^$%^#$
I spent the rest of the night reading the 12th book of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
DAY TWO
Next day, i woke up at 9am made a small bfast n continued to finish the 12th book and went back to sleep. only to be woken up by a sheer feeling of hunger at 2pm.
Initially, i wanted to cook Keema for him cos i bought some Chappati flour some time ago... But when i looked in the fridge there's nothing inside... ie no minced meat. and when i searched for the recipe, we dont have most of the spices anyway... and it'd be a hassle as well as a waste to buy them.
There's some left over dish also from my aunty who comes every friday to clean the house. but to eat white rice is boring.. so i decided to make Nasi Goreng (fried rice).
Hmmm for those of you who dont really know me.. i dont really have much experience cooking. i know most theories but rarely put into practice bcos there's always somebody else in charge of the kitchen. Now that im alone i had just the chance!
Now.. Nasi Goreng in my knowledge should fry the blended onion and chilli first... then put rice and stir... But i wanna put Ikan Bilis (Anchovies) quite sure is supposed to come before the rice but not sure whether should i fry separately first.. shld i wash it first, shld i add anything? So i tried calling the first girl of the 11 gang to be married. Alas, she's not in singapore and i hung up as soon as i realised that.
Next on the list is one of the 11 friends who lives in Woodlands. I know she does the cooking at home too. She told me she blends everything onion, garlic, chilli AND anchovies first. and that if i want the rice to be red i should put RED chilli, if i want green, green chilli. but that i should add some green chilli even if i want it red bcos green chilli is to make it sweeter. She told me i can wash the anchovies but dry them first if there's time so that it will be crispy. she actually said that the soft ones remind her of DEAD LIZARD'S BONE!! ok push that thought away... dont puke dont puke... i told myself as i took out the anchovies...
My mother always have a container or blended onion and blended chilli ready in the fridge. I just diced two pieces of garlice and sliced 1 red chilli and 1 green chilli since the rice is only 2 scoops... I fried them all beautifully i thought... But then.. it looked too dry.. i wonder if i can add water and asked so to the hubby.. and he said yeah why not. ok i added...
He looked on as i fry the anchovies and commented that the oil is too little. i looked at him as if he's crazy. "Are you crazy?" i asked "There's too much in there already." Then he went to taste the base... i havent added salt yet cos Fit said it is AFTEr the rice. he insisted i put it first ok lah i put.. Then he commented, "THIS IS RICE?!?!?!?" Ok my rice too lembik (soft). I like them like that... but ok i admit its a weeee bit softer than originally desired. OK i pray that it will become dry when i fry them?
I began to add the rice and stir... then he interfered some more showing the so called "right technique" to stir. GRRRRRRR very angry. i wanted this to be my OWN cooking. i dont like to cook when the other ladies are at home to guide me around the correct way of cooking But now HIM TOO?? ok whatever..
Then he tasted the result.. not salty enough... reminder: this is after the rice is fried already. Then he added the blended union and WATER again!!! and some more salt. i almost shrieked. Isnt the union supposed to be in the beginning?? He said nevermind. ok lah nevermind. Whatever. I left him in the kitchen to go shower.
After solat, i served him and everything.. then he said, "Maybe we should cook the small fish separately." I did what, i told him. "Yeah but dont put in together with the rice." I rolled my eyes and fixed them on the TV. I cleaned my plate.. some parts were actually quite hot and i didnt even add chilli sauce! and bcos we put just 1/3 of the two cups of rice i cooked, the fried rice is VERY Red. Zubair took two pieces of RAW garlic to his rice and then signalled he can't finish it. Im guessing he just took 2 or 3 mouthfuls of rice only cos his plate still FULL. and im VERY VERY VERY SUPER OFFENDED!
i already warned him that however the outcome is he has to say its nice. i didnt talk to him for half a day. i went to watch TV outside then read my book in my sister's room. Then he came to me saying that he didnt finish it not bcos its not nice but bcos he was full already. I just said ok and ignored him bcos he didnt say sorry.
Then he approached me again to say his mum is calling to talk to me. At first i told him to tell her im sleeping but he came back to say Ammi ji really wanted to talk to me and i should show some respect. So i said salam and after the usual exchanges she asked me "Apna kya pakaya hai?" I thought to myself how did she know i cooked today? I just answered her, "Nasi Goreng" Not bothering to translate to English since Zubair will directly translate to Urdu for her. Then she asked what's ur recipe? I felt at a loss not knowing what to say... i just er er er... and hmm hmm in a bratty, im-sulking kinda tone. Then Ammi asked, "Am i angry?" After much hesitation i said no... Then she said something in Urdu very long and high pitched. i dont know what she said but i really cldnt take it anymore i just excused myself and went of sobbing loudly...
An hour after that, he approached me again to say that his mother scolded him for not eating. and said nevermind i will teach her how to cook when she comes to Pakistan. In my heart i smiled broadly. Its great that the mother in law sided me. aloud i said, "Padan muka" (Serve him right!) and told him i cleared away his plate already and in reply he said, "OH No.. now my turn to cry.."
Then he said, ok get ready for maghrib. i guess after that i began to be ok... but not sure how to start talking to him again... solution: Make him his usual tea before he asked me. And then everything was alright again..
Im guessing the impact of the phone call with Ammi ji is very strong that he kept telling me but softly lah not angrily, almost like a child, "Bcos of you.. i got scolded by Ammi ji, you know... She told me i shldn't bla bla bla bla..."
Anyways, I told him I wont ever cook again. BUt of course.. that's a bit of BedeQ and Drama.. when we have our own house of course i'll hafta cook for him for myself also... Im just not ready yet..
Well that's the disastrous part of the weekend. On the overall, the great part was i get to watch TV and play game on the computer outside. Speaking of which, Ly, if you're reading this.. I'm sorry i didnt realise i was playing Turbo PIzza under your name!!! No Wonder i got confused, how come suddenly selling seafood pizza?? and i finished the game already! Sorry!! In my opinion, its too easy anyways... Unlike my beloved Cake Mania.....
3 glasses of Juice:
i never cook in my entire life of singlehood because I was just too lazy and had this heckcare attitude.
when i got married, i was like u...want to learn cooking myself thru trial and error. as i am living with my in-laws, its even harder because i also have the command-in-chief in the kitchen also. hehehe. and i still refused to learn from my mum-in-law.
after 3yrs of marriage, eventually the hubby managed to put some sense in me and i decided to learn cooking from my mum and mum-in-law. i took every chance to ask questions from them. and Im proud to say my cooking skills have improved tremendously with their 'coaching'...Alhamdulillah. I know this because my husband is my worst critique. if he doesnt like my cooking, he will say it outwardly and tell me to practise more but if he likes it, he will praise me. :))) maybe im used to this because im from a design background where I get critique all the time! hehehe.
and cooking need lots of practise. the more you cook, the better it will get. now i can cook ikot buku or i just call up either my mum or mum-in-law for some recipes if dah buntu on what dish to cook for the day.
so my advice to you is get whoever who can cook in the house to teach you....goreng ayam pon kena ader tactic. hahaha. don't give up...it's tough initially and your cooking won't be nice at first try...kalau sedap at first try pon, i tell myself, it's luck. practise more. then you can teach malay dishes to your mil in pakistan nanti...insyaAllah. :)
huarghhhhhh i despise frying esp fish!! bcos it produces most "percikkan" er... what's the eng word for it?
ive been brought up at home AND in school that the MEN esp husbands CANNOT criticise the ladies' cooking bcos it will hamper their spirits to learn and bcos its like demeaning their everyday efforts doing d household chores. even the prophet, when his daughter cooked too salty or what he just ate until the cook realise when she tasted it herself.
but of cos ur right kak yammy... we SHOULD learn cooking thru somebody.. in a way im quite excited to go to Pak to learn cooking from the MIL. but a bit nervous at the communication barrier.
When can i be like Nan who can "cook like nobody's business"?
Yes, i know abt that hadith..but i myself told my hubby to tell me when its salty ke, rempah kurang masak ke..cos i believe we learn thru kritikan yg membina..kalau tak..we wun know our weaknesses..of cos the hubby shud know how to tegor wif wisdom..btol tak? to each his own ;)
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