Monday 18 March 2013

My new hobby

Work at the office and motherhood could be stressful and it began to take its toll lately. But looking on the bright side, it has also fostered to do something to counterbalance the stress. Then, I came out with a hobby. I definitely needs a hobby to ease the tense and stressful 9-5 at the office and 5-9 with 3 growing kids at home. So, what is mine? I really love crafting and I am so into felt lately. So I have decided that I want to make felt brooch. So, since I am working during the weekdays, I usually focus on my hobby during the weekends. Come out with new design every weekends. These are some of my felt brooch. And the good news is, I am also selling it. 

 Sunflower

 Daisy

Butterfly

My friends are liking it. I just love to see the expression and it make me happy.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Kid's bedroom

When I was little, I always wanted a beautiful bedroom. I do not like sharing room with my sister, since our perception of "being organized" is way too different. When I did a little search on Google, I found a lot of beautiful and cute design of kid's bedroom. Having little girls of my own, encourage me to do the similar thing, to design cute bedroom if not replicating it. IKEA is one place that you can just copy their room design and furnish it with their furniture. You can have many ideas if you see this IKEA kid's room. I really in love with these arrangement (I took these pictures from IKEA's website):

IKEA: Blue

IKEA: Pink and green


 
IKEA: Simple but yet, practical

IKEA: Best for your girl(s)

IKEA: This one is also lovely

IKEA: Sweet isn't it?

You see, you would be spoiled for choices. I do not want to invest a lot in my girls' room, since they are still kids and like to do different kinds of "experiments" on their own which include a lot of "reverse engineering" stuff that you wish they wont dare to do. So, I just prefer to have a large bed (so that I can sing them lullaby during their bedtime) and a large closet (to organize their clothes, well girl always have lots and lots of clothes, and I have three of them). So, I organize my girls' room like this:


Hana excited with her new bedroom. There is actually a large closet on the right side of the room. Near the window, I arranged their playing tent, kitchen playing set and two big full basket of their toys.You also can see that there is a wall decoration (behind the tent). I did that with the girls. An organized room just really make my day. By the way, if you haven't noticed, I also painted the wall in purple. 

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Recipe: Leek and potato soup

This soup is apparently a classic  (jamieoliver.com). It is usually served when it is still hot, but you still serve it chilled especially during a hot and sunny summer afternoon, and it still taste divine. There are also some nutritional information available on Jamie Oliver's website. But for your information, I was not using the recipe from his website, but from a book that I've bought last week, since the ingredient is almost the same. BTW, I've done some improvisation; I skipped the single cream, so it  might contain less calories (I hope so). 

Nutritional Information - Amount per serving:
  • Calories108kcal
  • Carbs14.6g
  • Sugar5.4g
  • Fat3.5g
  • Saturates0.5g
  • Protein2.9g






So, here is the improvised recipe:
Serving:6
Prepared in 15-20 mins
Cooks in 30-40 mins

Ingredient:
3 large leeks (I've used 2)
1/2 oz butter
1 onion, thinly slice
2 oz potatoes, chopped (I've used 1 big US potato)
11/2 pints vegetables stock (you can also use chicken stock)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 bay leaf
1 egg yolk (skipped)
150ml single cream (skipped)
salt and white pepper,
freshly snipped chives, to garnish. (skipped)

How to cook:
1. Trim the leeks and remove most of the green part, slice the white part (thinly)
2. Heat the pan, put in the butter, onion and leeks. Cook it for 5 minutes but make sure do not turn in brown.
3. Then, add in the stock (in my case chicken stock), lemon juice, bay leaf and chopped potatoes. Let it cook until the potatoes are soft.
4. After that, do not forget to season your soup with salt and pepper. Then, transfer your soup into a food processor and blend it well. (Ok, I just stop right here and skipped the yolk and cream part).
5. If you want to add the cream, here it goes. Transfer back the soup into the pan. Add the yolk into the cream and whisk it until it blend and add it to the soup. Reheat the pan but not to boil. 
6. Do not forget to garnish it with chives, which I also skipped.

Picture courtesy of Google.

Monday 4 March 2013

First attempt: Leek and potato soup

After a hectic life in the office from 8am to 5pm, it's back to doing some "housewife chores". Yesterday, I came across this recipe, leek and potato soup. Never tried this before, but perhaps worth trying. And it appeared so. It taste like onion soup with lemony zing to it; not piquant but zesty. I will share with you the recipe in the next entry. Besides having this soup as an entree', we had lasagna (my style) and vinaigrette rocket salad (Mr. Hubby's style). We had a very pleasant dinner and not to mention, Zahra (my elders daughter) had her plate filled 3 times. 

Sunday 3 March 2013

What I have in mind

So cute. Need to it this weekend.

Mario Kart Rainbow Road Coffee Cuff
http://wildolive.blogspot.com/2013/03/project-rainbow-road-coffee-cuff.html

DIY projects

I always love DIY projects. When I was teen,  I had done a beautiful (at least to me) patchwork pillowcase for my favorite pillow.


Now, since I have my own kids, I love to involve them with my DIY project. When I was 5 months pregnant with my third daughter, I really wanted to make a kitchen play set for my two older girls. I've spend a whole weekend working on transforming a 3-tier book case into a kitchen play set. Seeing my girls playing with it was really a joy. 

Hana, arranged plates after 'cooking'