My Own

We've been going to ikea quite a lot since we got ourselves a home. i think by now i'd probably know all their products, their prices and what's on offer. i kept telling my husband that i refuse to have an ikea home (not that it's anything bad) but we simply cant help it since their prices are very attractive! bearing in mind that i do have an 8 month old son, who's growing, and one day would probably walk around the house holding his crayons, paint, and probably might use the sofa, tables and chairs as his canvas. so ikea'd work ideally for us.

I'm trying not to have an "ikea home". thus, i'm making my ikea stuff "different". you might find this white pot familiar. i'm sure you'll be able to find them at ANY ikea stores whichever country you are in. they cost only 50 euro cents over here.

So i decided to give my ikea pots a signature, something you cannot find at ikea, something when someone comes to visit and they wont know that i bought it from ikea. ikea SHALL NOT take credit for this! ha..ha..



And so here it is. using a method called decoupage. i cut out my flowery paper napkins and glued it with a serviette coat. as you can see, i havent mastered the art on porcelain yet.....



....but i'm getting there!

Aardbeien (part 1)

Strawberries are in season. its wonderful that we can get them easily and affordably! these three boxes costs us only 3euros! (where did i get mine? read here, at my other blog)

I havent had much time lately since my son's been conquering our living room floor i.e crawling. i have not made anything out of them before. so this was just a lazy attempt - sprinkle some sugar on them! (washing, cutting and sprinkling.. its still effort, right?)



Dayat suggested loads of things to do with them. and everything she suggested sounded SO good! thanks yat! bedankt! you're definitely my KitchenAid!

Any of you out there with good ideas or recipes (proven!) for me to try?

Lekkerste!

Next time you grill a fish, try this! this is probably the best sauce to eat with your ikan bakar. i am aware of kuah asam made with tamarind juice that goes pretty well with any grilled fish but so far, this is my favourite! (and my husband's too!).

My sister made this for me some years back, and last year, when i was pregnant with aidan, i was craving for it and didnt know how to do it (lazy is the right word), so my husband bought us a return ticket to the UK for me to enjoy my sister's ikan bakar and this kicap sauce! (together with some shopping, a lot of cathing up with her and my brother in law).

Anyway, just trust me on this.. try it!



KUAH KICAP IKAN BAKAR (Soy Sauce for Grilled Fish)

1. Kicap manis (sweet soy sauce) - i used an indonesian brand ABC kicap pekat (the best!)
2. Water
3. Cili Padi - cut into tiny bits (caution, might be too hot for some)
4. Red Onion - loads of it. diced or sliced, whichever you prefer
5. Coriander - A MUST!!! loads and loads and loads of them (i'm a huge fan of it)
6. Lime - a few drops (optional) i chose not to include this

Nasi Goreng Ketam

Prior moving to the netherlands, i was staying in KL for almost a couple of years. there's this place near the condo i was renting, one of the stalls called "hulwina" has the best nasi goreng ketam (crab fried rice). they use white crab meat (canned), and serve it with i think some fish sauce with diced chilipadi.

I managed to get hold of a can of crabmeat last month but only managed to use it last week. of course hulwina's tastes better! mine was just making do with whatever i have and can! too lazy to do the fish sauce though.. but i fried some keropok terengganu instead ;)

You cant actually see the crabmeat, but i swear it's in there, somewhere!



NASI GORENG KETAM

Just like any ordinary fried rice, you will need:
1. Cooked white rice
2. Cooking oil
3. 1 whole onion
4. Eggs (i used 2)
5. Salt

in adition:
6. A tin of crabmeat
7. White pepper (a dash)
8. Sesame oil (4-5 drops)
9. Oyster Sauce (2-3 tbsp)
10.Coriander leaves
11.Sliced red chilli

Prawn Toasts

This is a great weekend snack, or some can also call them finger food. you can also serve them as starters! they are easy to make and the results will be a guarantee thumbs up! i think i put a little too much of coriander leaves but it still tastes good! besides we love coriander, so we dont really mind!

We had ours with thai sweet chilli sauce. serve when its hot! lekker!




PRAWN TOASTS

350g raw prawns (i used slightly more)
1 egg white
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
1 tsp fresh ginger (diced)
A dash of white pepper & salt
1 1/2 tsp cornflour

White Bread
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp sesame seeds
Cooking oil
Sweet chilli sauce

Method:
1. Blend all ingredients in italics above
2. Cut bread into triangles
3. Brush top of each bread with egg yolk
4. Spread mixture of prawn on bread
5. Sprinkle sesame seeds on bread
6. Fry bread with prawn mixture facing down until golden
7. Serve with sweet chilli sauce

Sinfully Good

I LOVE chocolate. anything chocolate, but i do try to cut down no my intake as i REALLY need to loose weight! living here DOES NOT help at all as the chocolates are sinfully delicious, not to mention the belgian chocolates! oOoOooOOlalaaa!

This is what i baked recently - brownies. my first time, i think it still needs a good 5 more mins in the oven as the centre is still soft. but we sapu (swept) everything off the plate before it could even reach half way to the oven.




Ultimate Betty Crocker Chocolate Brownies
(recipe taken from Betty Crocker's website)


2/3 cup butter or margarine
5 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (i choose not to have them since i like mine plain)


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of 9-inch square pan. In 1-quart saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool slightly.
2. In medium bowl, beat sugar, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on high speed 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture on low speed. Beat in flour just until blended. Stir in walnuts. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or just until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack. For brownies, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

Smakelijk Eten!

Rozen

I dont really like roses but lately, i'm into them. we've got tonnes of species here. we go to the market in geleen almost every saturday. that's where i get my fresh flowers for the house. you'll be amazed with the varieties and colours!


Anyway, i'm collecting these - my vintage rose collection. looks rustic, sweet and romantic!

I've just realised that have too much of them. thus, i'm planning to sell them at ebay. but just before i do that, i'd want to put some pictures up in here. i simply love them, but after a long consideration, i'm ready to sell 'em off (havent work out on the pricing yet though).







I need to create an account on ebay first! please dear husband help me..



What do you think of them?

Roast Chicken

I love doing roast chicken. its the side dishes that needs more preparation time. the potatoes, the salads, the gravy... but once you see your husband's plate is all wiped clean, you dont care, you simply wouldnt mind going through it again and again!

Since we'll be eating the skins as well, i tried to compensate it by adding more and more vegetables! i dont know if it'll balance things out in our digestive system, our body, it'll still be fat, but at least it makes me feel somewhat better and less guilty!



ROAST CHICKEN

1/2 oz butter, softened
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 lemon juice
Half lemon slices
Sea Salt
A good grind of black pepper
Olive Oil
A little sprinkle of dried rosemary

1.Preheat oven at 260c.
2.mix 1 whole lemon juice with softened butter and crushed garlic, salt and pepper, dried rosemary.
3.place the herb butter inside the chicken.
4.place chicken in baking tin along with the halved lemon slices.
5.rub a little bit of olive oil on the chicken
6.season well with sea salt, black pepper and dried rosemary all around the chicken
7.roast the chicken in the oven for 45 mins without opening the oven door, if required, turn the chicken to make it golden and crispy all around just like we love ours!


There you go, that's how i did it. i'm sure there's plenty more ways to roast a chicken. and when you have leftovers, make some roast sandwiches! wholesome! :)



This is what you'll ended up doing when there arent many halal places to eat around here. i'm glad, otherwise i wouldnt know how to cook and we'd be spending loads on dining out...

Balletjes

I felt a little bit of a bum last friday, and told my husband we'd just have pasta for dinner. bolognese. but somehow i felt a little bit guilty in fixing him a "lazy dinner" (not that he'd mind), so this lazy bum put a little bit more effort to the sphaghetti meal - i made some balletjes (meatballs).

I once thought i bought a can of plain tomato soup, but as soon as i opened the can, i saw tiny balletjes in them. the dutch love to have their soups with balletjes! i was careful from then onwards when i wanted to get a can of soup.

So, back to sphaghetti meatballs! I know they are the simplest things to make, but just thought i'd share it with you. so this is my version of it.




MEATBALLS

1 whole onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
600g minced beef
1 tbsp fresh or dried herbs (marjoram, rosemary, oregano)
salt
1tbsp light soy sauce
a few good grinds of black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3tbsp breadcrumbs
1tbsp cornflour
Oil to shallow fry them

Just put everything in a large bowl, and then, using your hands, mix to combine, before shaping into small balls. You might find it a little bit time consuming but the end result will be worth it. easy peezy, the slow process of shaping them can be quite calming (for me at least, when your 7+mths baby's in the good hands of his dad!)

Hortensia

I love hydrangeas! absolutely love them! i think they are such a beauty whatever their species, wherever and however you put them. the common ones are the pompoms (no wonder they call it pompoms!) but lately, i've come across quite a number of species.



They have large blooms, some with such flamboyant colours, and brings the garden to life! potted hydrangeas are perfect plant to bring colour and beauty into your home during spring. having them in a room simply brings the outdoors indoors. it'll colour your home and garden, make the room and house feel cozy and bright.

I bought a white mophead hydregea and waiting for it to fully bloom. it's been 3 weeks now and i'm still waiting...



The advantage of these stunning plants is they bloom quite long. it can last quite long but they need pleny of water! i've just realised it, after not caring well for mine. according to the garden centre where i bought them, they are at their best from march to may and some even till autumn. it'll make such a perfect gift for occasions such as mother's day (hint! hint!).

If you're lazy to grow them, well.. you can get the artificial ones. just add them to your pots, baskets, and whatever colour they might be they'll sure bring life!

I love flowers and love to craft with them. they're quite popular so there's no difficulty in finding them anywhere.



Here are my hydrangeas, crafted by moi.



I wish i have a tiny little shop of my own...