Merdeka weekend 2012

I had plans... grand, wonderfully exciting plans for this weekend.  I thought of taking the family for a picnic, bbq at the riverside, yada yada yada....  But, my body had other plans.  Plans of just lazying around and resting (what a queer word!).


Nasi Lemak and all it's condiments (yes, we had veg too!)

So I managed a sleep in on Friday and had actually plan to bake pizza for lunch.  But when I woke up, the spirit of being a Malaysian - it being Merdeka; our Nation's Independence (let's not get into the arguement if or if it's not our Independence Day; what matters most is that we all had a public holiday!) prompted me to cook one of the best known "National" food if you may - Nasi Lemak.  And we had it Nasi Lemak berlauk style - with Chicken Rendang for the adults and Fried Chicken for the kids.

That night, we were invited to a "prayer & dinner" gathering by my cousin (so no cooking! yeay!) - Birthday & Thanksgiving dinner for the eldest daughter going off to study in UK.  How much does her study cost?  2012 - the rate will be RM0.5 million. KILL.ME.ALREADY.  What would the cost be in 2020?  Local Uni jak lah Wel.

The Brocolli Pizza - half laden with Cheese - just to show how "healthy" it was - before the cheese!

Saturday morning, had another sleep in (BLISS!!), woke up to Mom's porridge.  Had to cook some vegetables and had a late breakfast - more like lunch that is.  Then for dinner, since Noel is now trying to have vegetable only for dinner, we had Brocolli Pizza!  Kills 2 bird with 1 stone - our craving for homemade pizza satisfied - and we had a "healthy" vegetarian dinner.  I simply threw in lots of brocolli (raw), plum tomatoes (varient), and pineapple.  Yums!!

Brocolli Pizza - yes, I skimped on the cheese! Cheapskate!

In all honestly, I've never heard of Brocolli Pizza, but thanks to a cartoon we watched that morning, Noel was game enough to try my version of Brocolli Pizza.  In the cartoon, this boy turned into a superhero Brocolli Boy - had a craving for Brocolli Pizza.  The things they put on the telly now! Oh well, at least it promotes eating vegetable!  I baked 2 version - one the veg version and the other, Hawaiian Ham - purposely baked for breakfast on the next day.

My version of sandwich - thin slice of turkey ham & lots veg

Sundays, normally for our family, is a time to eat out.  From breakfast, to lunch to dinner.  But this week, we had leftover pizza for breakfast and for lunch, decided on something simple and didn't require much work, time, energy and effort taken out of our Sabbath.  So we had sandwiches.  DIY - so everyone came up with their own version.  And we had salad too.

Noel's version of salad

So, yes, a good and relaxing simple Merdeka weekend we had.  Though we had lots to eat, it was with lots of greens (and other colours as well), so the guilt ain't that heavy (yeah, yeah...)

note: oh, yes, I did bake - baked a Choc Cake for the Thankgiving Dinner & Ati Parek for pleasure.  What's "resting" without baking right? :)

Towards Transformation

Merdeka day Jelly - red, white, blue, yellow = Jalur Gemilang

When we were kids, it was a thrill to wake up early on 31st August day to watch the parade on TV. To oohhh and ahhhh along with the crowd in the comfort of our own living room. We'd all be sprawled infront of the TV in our PJs till it was all over. Of course the highlight will be when the Malaysian Airlines team march by - we'll be ecstatic, as Dad was in service with them for almost 28 years.

I do not think I've instilled enough patriotism in Noel (or rather, I don't think the kids these days are very much patriotic!). Or is it because Noel goed to a Chinese school and they don't really sing patriotic songs? I don't know. But for whatever reason, I think there's more to be done to instill the independence spirit in them.

With this in mind, last weekend, I told Noel that for Merdeka, we are going to make Merdeka Jelly - i.e. colour of the National Flag (Jalur Gemilang). He woke up early yesterday and dragged me along with him (it should be the other way round eh? hehe). After a few minutes infront of the TV, we proceeded with our "big" project. Layer by painstaking layer... red, white, blue and yellow. Then came the moment of truth... Cutting it up... Noel asked me - mummy, the flag for green meh? Haha!!! Blue + Yellow = green!! Should have put coconut milk in the yellow layer!! Though that didn't turn out too well, it was still a cool refreshing desert on a super hot day :) It also kindda hit the spot to say that though we Malaysians are of different races and religion, we are assimilated with each other, well enough that we take on each other's colour. That is the beauty of our country isn't it not?

Being all Malaysian at heart, we decided to make Nasi Lemak for dinner. Well, it was supposed to be for breakfast, then postponed to lunch and finally for dinner. And it was a battle between Laksa Sarawak and Nasi Lemak. A tough battle, but considering that not everyone was at home, nasi lemak won (don't ask me why - to me, both needs so much effort!)

Again, one by one of the accompaniments were painstakingly prepared. Roasted peanut (which got a tad burnt! haha), sambal, hard boiled egg, cucumber slices, salted fish and chicken curry, fried chicken along with the rice. Took most of our afternoon away. We were just on time for Dad's breaking of fast.

Our Nasi Lemak spread - Rice in Coconut milk, Roasted (burnt) peanut, cucumber slices, hard boiled egg, fried egg (Noel likes his egg this way), soup (NOT one of nasi lemak list but with 2 kids eating, soup is essential for our family! haha), fried chicken, chicken curry and the star of the show - the sambal.

I will not say this is an easy feat. It was HARD work! Phew! But then, it was a satisfying effort too. I must say after eating so much food with coconut milk, I felt really guilty to my body (and my heart) that I decided that the next meal with coconut milk will have to wait for Sept 16th. But then, who can resist packing some along for lunch when there's still left overs? Like what Noel will say - it's not good to waste food you know :) (which explains our sideways expansion).

Note: 1Malaysia, Towards Transformation is 2010 Malaysia Day Theme

Song for the Nations

May we be a shining light to the nations

A shining light to the peoples of the earth

Till the whole world sees the glory of Your name

May Your pure light shine through us

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May we bring a word of hope to the nations

A word of life to the peoples of the earth

Till the whole world knows there's salvation through Your name

May Your mercy flow through us

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May we be a healing balm to the nations

A healing balm to the peoples of the earth

Till the whole world knows the power of Your name

May Your healing flow through us

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May we sing a song of joy to the nations

A song of praise to the peoples of the earth

Till the whole world rings with the praises of Your name

May Your song be sung through us

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May Your kingdom come to the nations

Your will be done in the peoples of the earth

Till the whole world knows that Jesus Christ is Lord

May Your kingdom come in us

May Your kingdom come in us

May Your kingdom come on earth

Dirgahayu Oh TANAHAIRKu!!!