Weekend Diary: I heart DIY

 

Seems like I woke up on the DIY side of my brain on Saturday morning cos as early as 11:30, I found myself with a pair of cutters and two screw drivers fixing up a nursery toy for Baby R. This wasn't part of the plan. I recall clearly last night I promised my fatigued self that this weekend, I will become a hermit. Check in Friday and resurface on Monday morning. So what the hell was going on?

 

Oh, right! It's the guilt! We've been feeling a little guilty that Baby R may not have enough age appropriate toys cos sometimes, she'd rather watch tv and play with my iPad or phone than stay in her room with her toys.

Luckily, there's this one (My very own Nursery) that I've been keeping till she's old enough. She's also been a little interested in stuffed animals (she plucks out their eyes). So a nursery set will be a cute home for her plushies. So we got to fixing!

 

 

We got this nursery set at an outlet mall in Atlanta for $12.95 but I saw it being sold in Abuja for 18,000 naira! Like seriously? WTH? 650% mark up?

It's a little tedious clipping bits off before assembling, but I love flat packs and anything that requires putting together before use. Gives me a sense of accomplishment, like hey, see that bookshelf? I put it together all by myself. I'm badass, you know?

But of course, Little miss demolisher was a bit of a hinderance.

It's coming together! That's the wardrobe.

Daddy came along to help with the screwing.

Aaaand Voila! It's all done. Minnie finally has a home that's not underneath my bed! Or on the couch! Or on the car seat.

And reporter bear can finally relax.

That's the finished wardrobe and sink. See that pink cup-like thing? That's the baby powder. Hehhehe. Cute isn't it?

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Even creepy one eyed bear seems happy with the new arrangement.

 

Moved it to Her room, hopefully it'll make her spend more time in her room. By the way, see that white cot on your right? That's Baby R's bed but it used to be my bed when I was a baby! It has been used by my Older and younger siblings and I from 1983 and 32 years later, it's still kicking (after a little facelift). That's the beauty of good quality furniture.

We've been living at our new place for 4 months and I still haven't finished decorating the place! Decided to finally use these stickers that Baby R got from her aunt.

 

Flowers, stems, leaves.

 

Used the stems first, then attached the flowers. Cute.

 

That's it! I used the leftover stems to make tiny triangular grass.

 

At 2:30, I seriously considered taking a nap. But no, I was Craving Malaysian food. And what do you do When you're craving Malaysian food in Abuja?

 

You make it yourself! As in, literally. From scratch. DIY egg noodles! Mr. H bought me this pasta machine on one of his trips to Kano. Awesome gift! Used the linguine setting instead of the thin one cos my dough was very springy.

I used the noodles to make this Epic Mee Goreng! Chicken, crayfish, squid! Oh, my!

Went perfectly well as the main for our Iftar. For starters, we had shrimp dumplings (ha kau) with my special homemade Chinese chilli oil. Bought the dumplings Frozen and steamed it right before din din.

 

 

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Weekend Diary: Cry Baby Shopping

Hey there!

 

Ramadan Kareem! Hope you had a fabulous weekend. Mine was pretty busy, but Alhamdulillah, it was quite funehfcvgfcrfdd.

 

Saturday

 

My cousin is getting married in about 4 weeks! And she still doesn't have some essential furniture so we took her to a furniture showroom Alfemo in Gwarinpa.

They've got some really impressive pieces there, mostly modern European style living room and bedroom sets. I always feel tempted To buy when I visit but then I remind myself that My living room is clustered enough as it is!

Baby R was mad at me cos she was sleeping comfortably in the car and I accidentally woke her. She kept crying and sulking the whole time, I had to do something I had never done since she was born: I had to Piggyback back her in public! With a wrapper and everything and climb up four flights of stairs! Phew! I was exhausted by the time we were done!

After an hour on mummy's back and several reps of Old McDonalds farm, she calmed down and seemed ready to forgive.

By the time we got to Malabis Lingerie, she had dozed off again.

 

See the scars on her face? I get so worried about them! The one on her nose is from her nails being sharp at the edges and I'm sure will fade away.

 

The big gash on her forehead was horrible! She was running towards me and couldn't stop herself so she hit the edge of a pillar and had a concussion. It took two days for the swelling to go down and a week for the wound to heal but now I worry the scar might persist for life. Oh well, there's always concealer...when she's old enough, that is.

 

Anyways, glad she dozed off cos that gave me time to do what I went to do there: shop for custom made nightwear and bottoms. Unfortunately they were all sold out, thanks to the shopping frenzy at fusion. Sigh. Ended up with only four bottoms and no nightwear. They promised to make new stock in Two weeks so I'll be back!

Got home at 5:55pm and still had to prepare Iftar! Sigh. Luckily I had diluted and filtered my peanut paste earlier and popped it in the freezer before I went out. So when I got back, I took it out and placed it on the fire, added some rice after 30 minutes and voila! Kunun Gyada!

Guess what this beauty is...

The cheesy crust on my potato au gratin!

We had it with beef goulash

Beef, carrots, mushrooms, onions, in a tomato paprika sauce. Yum!

 

Sunday:

 

Had to run errands on Sunday. Finally got to do our Ramadan shopping at the new Sahad stores in central area. It's finally opened!

If you're an Abuja resident you'll understand my joy! I have used to have a longstanding love hate relationship with Sahad for as long as I can remember.

First, it's super crowded and disorganized. You have to elbow and shoulder and punch people outta your way.

Then, there are no price tags! You find out prices at the check out with the guy yelling "kai, Mallam nawa wan An?"

Then there's no guarantee. If you see something you like at Sahad, you'd better buy it cos when you come back tomorrow, it'll be gone and will never be stocked again!

But what can we do? Sahad is still one of the best places to shop for pantry items in Abuja due to their low prices, bulk stock and often, pleasant locally made gems. So we put up with the stress.

But all that has changed! The new Sahad is a breath of fresh air!

 

What's this? Ample parking? At Sahad? Unbelievable!

 

Huh? No junk on the floor? No precariously placed boxes of eggs? Clear aisles? I can actually push my cart without tearing someone's Achilles? Wonderful!

 

Even Baby R was impressed!

 

Or maybe she was just licking off her boogers. Eew.

 

That's the front entrance.

 

Two of many ATMs.

 

Very helpful staff member. I was impressed.

The view from the undercroft parking lot. I'm guessing there are vacant store spaces for lease.

 

The Way out. On the left there's a warehouse and car parks and on the right is the actual store. I'm reallyimpressed with their new look. I love it when businesses take criticism and move forward with their client. Keep up the good work!

I shall return.

That was my weekend in a nutshell, what did you do this last weekend?

 

Let me know down below.

 

Love, Ummi.

 

 

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Pepperoni Egg Muffins

Pepperoni Egg Muffins

I'm a big fan of the weekend brunch. Lazy mornings, getting up whenever and then scavenging the fridge trying to figure out what to placate our growling tummies with.

I'm a huge lover of the quiche. In fact, from 2010 to 2011 I had a mushroom or spinach quiche almost every weekday morning on my way to work. What? You can't blame me! The bakery at the Perth train station had a sinfully irresistible smell of freshly baked goods at 7 and since the pharmacy I worked at was in Midland, 1:15mins away, I always had breakfast on the platform as I wait for the Midland train. Mushroom quiche and peach flavoured Nestea was my undoing.

On this Sunday morning however, we had run out of bread and I wanted something more filling than just baked eggs. So I went with my staple egg muffin recipe and took it up a notch with chives, pepperoni and grated cheese. It was nice and moist on the inside with the flour settled around the bottom and edges to form a browned outer shell.

If you're fit fam you can always substitute the pepperoni with a low fat sausage or thin turkey slices or beef ham.

This is an easy crowd pleaser if you're looking to entertain guests. From start to finish this took about 30 minutes. It'll make six large muffins.

Here's what you need

2 large Eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup of milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup of pepperoni, sliced and diced.

1/2 cup cheese, grated

4 tablespoon chives

1 tsp dried oregano leaves

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1 cube Maggi seasoning,

Here's what you do

Preheat your oven to medium-high (about 200*C)

Add the the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper and Maggi seasoning seasoning then whist until uniform.

In a separate bowl, whisk the milk and eggs together. Slowly incorporate the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until no clumps are visible.

Save some pepperoni slices and half the cheese for the toppings, the dice the remaining.

Add the pepperoni, chives, oregano and half the cheese into the batter and mix

Pour into a greased muffin tray and bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

Take the muffins out of the oven.

Top with cheese and pepperoni slices

Return to the oven but turn off the bake feature (lower burner) and turn on the grill feature (top burner) for 5 minutes or until the pepperoni is crisp and curled around the edges. If you don't have a top burner, you can use the bottom oven feature set on low heat.

That's it!

Serve with a tomato based sauce for maximum flavour. I used some of my secret recipe Italian pasta sauce that I had left over and it was glorious.

Hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know in the comment box.

Lotsa Eggy love,

Ummi.

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One pot Beef Shawarma

Shawarma with a twist!

Mr. H and I are such Shawarma snobs! You can't blame us though, most locals like their shawarma full of ketchup, chili, mayo and enough cabbage to feed 100 bunnies. We tend to prefer the more traditional flavour with acidic ingredients like pickles and fresh tomatoes in a garlic tahini sauce. Although once in a while, we do give in to the chicken mayo swirl of Chicken Capitol.

 

 

 

On this very day, we had no pita bread. So I decided to go another way. Shawarma beef sautéed in tahini sauce and served with a fragrant steamed basmati rice.

 

It's a very filling meal that gave us the rich middle eastern flavour of beef and tahini while the rice made it a fully satisfying meal cos we were both sooooo hungry! It went down excellently with the rice and also, thickly sliced cucumbers as a dip.

 

This recipe might look complex because of the long ingredients list, but it really isn't. It's quite straightforward.

Enjoy!

For the beef shawarma

 

300g lean beef

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

2 medium onions (sliced)

2 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 stock cubes

2 tablespoons cooking margarine

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons middle eastern spice blend or

• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp clove powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp star anise powder
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice

For the Tahini Sauce

 

1 cup plain yoghurt

1 tablespoon middle eastern spice blend (or as above)

2 generous tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)

2 limes squeezed

One handful parsley (chopped)

Salt to taste

 

For the fragrant rice

 

2 cups of basmati rice

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

3 inches cinnamon stick

7 cloves

1 star anise

 

Here's what I did

 

Wash your basmati rice until the water runs clear then soak for at least 30 minutes

 

Drain the basmati and transfer to a rice cooker or pot. Add the salt, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves and anise. Add enough water and cook according to your rice specification. Keep warm.

Slice the beef thinly into strips

 

Combine all the ingredients for the beef shawarma except the margarine and onions in a bowl and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

 

On medium heat, place the pan with the margarine in it.

 

 

 

When hot, add onions and stir until the onions have wilted but not burnt. (5 - 10 minutes)

 

Add the beef and stir. Turn the heat down and cover pan

 

Stir every 2 minutes to prevent charring.

 

If necessary, add water one tablespoon at a time so it doesn't dry out.

 

Mix all the ingredients for the tahini sauce in a separate bowl. When beef is tender, add the sauce to the pan and stir.

 

Cook for 10 minutes or when sauce is browned.

 

 

Serve! That's it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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