Merdeka 2010

Happy Merdeka Day, Malaysia!

I spent the entire day with my loved ones at home!! I woke up at 9.56 am! *bats eyelashes* Adel woke up earlier than his parents *tsk tsk*. He was frolicking on the bed and played with his pacifier. After much patience with his inconsiderate "mutti" and "vatti", I gave in *sigh*. I got out of bed and prepared his breakfast. 

Adel = frolicking, Daddy = sleeping

Told hubby to undress him as I waited for the little one outside. Hubby shrieked "Cuba tengok pampers dia! Colour itam!" Adel pooped while we were sleeping and he had kept in on the low. I find this hilarious! I changed his pampers and prepped him up for breakfast. Heinz mango and apple baby food for today! He loves it :). Bathe him and dressed him and passed him to hubby. Mummy is busy today!

We're expecting guests for iftar today. My daddy and my sister and her hubby are joining us for iftar. I cooked nasi ayam and banana custard. It was my first attempt ever at making nasi ayam. I googled and got the recipe from here. So I rebus the ayam for 45 mins on medium heat ( fret the chicken will get rubbery), it was one whole chicken by the way. Once the chicken is tender, I drained the chicken and left it aside for marination. I told hubby to get some bananas for dessert as I have forgotten to buy some earlier. He went out with Adel to hunt for mummy's bananas!

Cooking nasi ayam is such a tedious process. But I concluded that you need a hell lot of garlic and ginger. My breath still smells of garlic and ginger..not good! I did the chili sauce, the rice, the soup and lastly, the tender marinated chicken needs to be fried. The hot oil was very aggressive and it did this to my left hand:

see the 3 reddish spots :(

I was scorched! I cried for hubby and he took out a bottled water from the fridge and placed in on the affected area. Pedih..huhu. All this for nasi ayam *sigh*.

Daddy came at 3 pm I think, this woke Adel from his sleep. Then my sister and my BIL came. Adel was super excited. It was showtime for him :). He looked strangely at my daddy. Prolly because he had not seen his grandpa for a long time. So before iftar, Adel had his dinner, it was mushy carrots! Then, again, the usual process, bathe him and dressed him in his pajama. 

I sent my sister and BIL to the bazaar to buy some goodies. She brought back satar ikan and some other kuih and air asam boi. The table was packed with food. We waited for the azan and we broke our fast. Adel was on his walker and was busy throwing his toys around. My BIL had to be his designated toy collector. For each time the toy gets thrown out, BIL will save the day! Hehe. 

The verdict:

The rice was a tad bit dry and a wee bit tasteless. The soup was hands down tasteless *hangs head*. The chili sauce was OMG hot! I think the fried chicken was good, save for the fact that it scorched my left hand *boo hoo*. All and all, it was my first attempt, so I don't think it was that bad! I did not fail as an aspiring cook *perasan sungguh*. Bottom line is, it was still edible, and hubby, BIL and my sister had seconds (sebab terpaksa ke sebab sedap ke, only Allah knows ;p)! Daddy didn't go for seconds but I told myself that he must be on a diet (nak sedapkan hati ;p).    

My sister and BIL left an hour after iftar. Daddy left afterward. Only then Adel voluntarily goes to sleep. Hubby did a review on my nasi ayam. He had 3 comments:

1. Soup was tasteless - I concede.

2. Chili sauce was super hot - again, I concede.

3. No bawang goreng - hey, that's not in the recipe!!

I did the dishes, clean the kitchen and started to prepare food (nasi ayam leftovers, mind you!) for sahur. Then it was off to dreamland!

And that is how I celebrated Merdeka Day :). Though not essentially Malaysian but cooking nasi ayam is as patriotic as I can get, lol! Don't get me wrong, I love Malaysia, I do..but not to the extent of marching to Dataran Merdeka and the likes.

p/s: I got a surprise from my pulut of a friend, Sasha, while reading her blog! I "ngongs" you :)