tahu panggang

dari bahan-bahan ini,

diutak atik dan akhirnya...

menjadi ini!!!

margaret river

we spent the weekend at margaret river which famous for it's vineyard, dairy farm and beautiful beaches. it was only a short visit (two day one night) minus 3,5hrs+3,5hrs driving going and back. but the weekend was lovely, and we definitely will come again!

this is where we stayed. i think the hotel was unfair the check in time is 14.00 and the check out time is 10.00. why don't they make it 12-12 just like the other normal hotels? it cost AU155 for the accomodation without breakfast.

the rooms are not in the one solid building, but in two blocks and scattered in small buildings which each had 6 units. we got room number 19 , it was on the ground (thank God because i hate to carry noelle when climbing the stairs). we got a HUGE bed, spacious built in robe, kitchen area (fridge, microwave, kitchen sink, dinnerware+cutlery), bathroom area with sink, shower and separated toilet. all nice and clean. there are 2 set of picnic table behind the fountain.

preverilly beach, 13km from margaret river city centre.

just like the othe cow we saw in busselton, this cowman the moorander by myles and jaquie happ is one of the cow which took part in the cow parade all over western australia. the cow looked like indian cow with those chain and gold plates on it's back, especially the fruity headdress and the make up. sooo bollywood! i think i spotted around 4 decorated cows during our stay in margaret river. this picture taken in leeuwin estate where we had long lunch and of course wine tasting!

our orders took quite some time to make, so the waiter brought a sheet of paper with animal pictures and a set of crayons to make those sticky fingers busy while we're waiting for our order. i observed noelle uses her left hand quite often and you can see she colored with two hands..

our entree was a dozen of oyster kilpatrick, with smoked bacon and red wine sauce. i am not a big fan of oyster but somehow i ate 3 of them.. yum..

my lunch : ricotta and mozarella canneloni with tomato and basil sauce.. double yum! noelle ate some of my canneloni, she just cant resist cheesy meal..

this is what my husband had : ranger black angus scotch fillet, brioche, mushroom dauphinoise, shallot jus. the meat was well cooked, tender and juicy. love angus!!

and this is my desert.. flourless orange cake with sour cream and caramel sauce.. weird combination but it works! noelle ate some of my desert while abenk busy with his raspberry soufle with ice cream.. it was so beautiful looking my husband jump right on it before i got the chance to take photo of his desert :( but in the end, he regreted his decision for not choose the chocolate desert HA!

noelle just had her lunch, finished her coloring activity and started to bite the crayons so we ordered her chips. and you can see the massive pile of chips in front of her, she ate about 10 of it, throwing at least 10 and i decided she need a table manner class.

during our short visit, we managed to buy souvenirs. from left to right on the back : glass markers and 2004 wine from leeuwin estate, chilli + garlic infused olive oil and extra virgin olive oil from olio bello. on the plate : chocolate hazelnut fudge, coffee caramel fudge, banana coated chocolate and peanut brittle. on the right : peach and cream soap bar, aussie map fridge magnet, margaret river magnet.

after the hailstones..

hailstone in the size of golfball

for the second time in my life, i experienced hailstones. the first was when i was living in bandung (during junior highschool), and the second was yesterday. a freaky storm spat various sized hailstones, from the size of ice cubes to tennis balls, freaky wind and freaky rain. me and noelle lounging safely in our apartment. i was busy taking pictures and videos, my baby calmly watching her favourite kid's show at ABC.

the hailstones melt after the storm

several times i saw lightning strike the city, and the power in our apartment like goes on and off for miliseconds. our apartment carbays (with metal roofing) sounds like been thrown by rocks, and alarms from the cars on the carbays, but the owner didn't come to turn in off just in case they got hit by hailstones on the head..

broken window and fly net

i watched the hailstones from our front balcony as well as back balcony. hundreds of hailstones landed at the swimming pool, carbays, balcony, and our bathroom window.. OH NOOOOOO...

i phoned abenk, i told him not to come home during the hailstones because i saw some cars sliding wildly on cambridge street. he did wait for 30 minutes, and arrived at home about an hour later. it was supposed to be a 10 minutes drive from his office at osborne park to our apartment. turns out, herdsman parade and shelby street was flooded. lots of car got jammed and off in the middle of the flood. some SUV's like our car managed to flee the flood and safely back home, like our TReg. :)

can you see the dent?

but in the morning, we found out that our TReg got a few dents from the hailstones. hopefully our insurance cover force majeure like this.

view from our front balcony

and today, every news channel told stories about storm damage. floods, shattered windows and glasshouses, broken car windows, broken cars, fallen trees and ruined gardens, land/mudslides, and almost every traffic light in north-western perth went off so police officer forced to stand at interchange and give direction manually (just like what i saw everyday in jakarta). around 160,000 people left without electricity and many more struggling to cope with landslides and floods, and the insurance people call this storm as insurance catastrophic..

there comes sunshine after the rain..

it was the most powerful storm for more than a decade followed the driest summer ever recorded in western australia's state capital. the gauged recorded the rainfall just about 0.2mm for the last three months, and as wind and rain lashed the city last night about 40 millimetres fell in a couple of hours.

sundress to play dress

lagi-lagi terjadi penganiayaan pakaian, sundress kuning berubah wujud jadi play dress noelle. karena kainnya sudah cukup well worn baju "baru" noelle ini layaknya beredar di rumah aja hihihi yang dibutuhkan untuk refashion : baju lama yang sudah nggak dipakai dan bias tape untuk binding lengan, leher, hem dan bukaan saku.

gunting baju lama jadi lembaran yang bisa dipakai untuk refashion. saya memakai bagian bawah sundress, dapat dua lembar kain sekitar 40cm x 50cm, saku asli dari sundress saya gunting untuk nantinya dipakai di play dress. jahit bagian pundak kiri kanan dan sisi kiri kanan dress. lalu ukur bias tape untuk binding leher, kerung lengan, hem (bawah dress) dan bukaan saku.

cara menjahit bias tape supaya jadi lingkaran utuh dan nggak bulky di sambungan kain.

pasang di leher/kerung lengan/hem/bukaan saku dengan jahit jelujur atau jarum pentul ( saya nggak suka jarum pentul, sering tertusuk!.

jahit dengan benang yang warnanya sesuai dengan bias tape, usahakan jahit sedekat mungkin dengan ujung luar bias tape.

berhubung lupa motret pas bikin bagian saku, jadi nggak ada bayangan bikin saku. tapi gampang kok, dari bentuknya saku tempel kebayang cara bikinnya kan? hehe foto di atas itu play dress yang sudah jadi.

play dress "baru" langsung dijajal noelle dan nggak dilepas lagi sampai bangun tidur besok paginya :D

busselton

we went to busselton, small city blessed with beautiful beach, about 230km from perth. it was only a one day trip because we were so fed up with perth :p we leave our apartment at 10.00 and arrived just in time for lunch. we planned this trip just to get the idea of busselton and therapy for noelle and her sound of wave phobia.

you see, in her first weeks, noelle was a sound sleeper. she slept in my arm while i talked to visiting friends with my loud voice and bouncing body because sometimes i laughed out loud. but she didnt stir even a bit. now that she's bigger and older, she hates when her father sneezed loudly (man heavy voice = loud sneeze/cough) or the sound of sirene, people cheering (she screams during ellen show trying to topped the audience!).

and the first time she set foot on a beach was when she was about 7 or 8 months old, and you can tell she hates being in the seashore. she just held me tight and kicking her feet against my body, her body busily moving trying to get me moving as far as possible from water. i thought it was just noelle and her sound-of-waves phobia. and i was right. on other visit to the beach, we did not even touch the water and noelle happily sat on the sand, touching and getting the idea of the beach sand and the wind and the joy of other people on the beach.

but yesterday, she seems to enjoying herself at the beach. she touched the sand, the water brushed her tiny feet and occasionally she touch the water. YAY!!! but i dont want to get my hopes up because i know she act like that because the sea was so calm and the wave just like a whisper.. i really looking forward to visit cottesloe or city beach again before autumn comes.. anyway, the coastal strip was beautiful, clean, fenced by pine trees. the bridge is busselton jetty, a 2,5km walkway and railway from the beach to underwater observing area, museum, souvenirs shop. too bad, the jetty is on construction rebuilding project so that make a reason for us to come again.

glistening water.. lovely lovely beach but next time we have to come early early in the morning to get a crystal clear water. finger crossed!

and here is the famous cow who participate on cow parade all around western australia. this art called "tru blu" by artist voytek kozlowski. i heard the word tru blu aussie and this amusing cow is trully a TRU BLU AUSSIE because it's so aussie!! it was painted in blue and has aussie flag on its left side, and built to mimic a ute, australian name for utility/pick up car. there are another cow on the beach but i forgot to take the picture, the color was like turqoise and has seaweed and fishes painted on it.

this is where we had lunch, the goose.

handsome fisherman (AHEM) standing at the busselton jetty.

i love the scenery, how about you?

pine farm we saw during the trip to and from busselton.

souvenirs from busselton.. mr pingu for noelle, fridge magnet and lovely seashell ring..

first bruise..

it happened just like i imagined. she fell when i was in the same room but i can not reach her. i was in the kitchen, she rode her rocking chair, turned it upside down, step on the frame and fell to the coffee table. she cried, loud. it was something that i never heard before.

i ran from kitchen, i hugged her, rocked her gently, and rub her head to her back. she clinged to me tightly. 3 minutes later the crying stopped and i managed to see her face. there was small cut with tiny bit blood on the right cheek and nose bridge. and within minutes, she had dark red circle under her eye. i knew it was bruise and she'll have blackeye for a couple of days.

left picture : photo after she fell (night, about 8PM)

right picture : morning after, she had black and bumpy undereye, cuts on the cheek and nose bridge.

SIGH..

buntut oh buntut..

susahnya punya suami penyuka buntut sementara istrinya benci buntut.. i just hate the idea of sucking and making out with the oxtail to get the meat out of it.. tapi demi cinta, saya rela lah masak sepanci oxtail soup kesukaan suami.

sop buntut

bahan:

• 1.5 kg buntut sapi
• 1.5 ltr air
• 250 gr kentang, potong-potong
• 300 gr wortel, potong-potong
• 3 batang seledri, ikat
• 1 batang daun bawang, potong kasar

bumbu halus :

• 5 butir bawang putih, bakar dengan kulitnya
• 10 butir bawang merah, bakar dengan kulitnya

rempah-rempah :

• 1 sdt merica bubuk
• 1 butir biji pala
• 5 butir cengkeh
• 4 cm jahe, belah dan memarkan
• 2 butir bawang putih, bakar dengan kulitnya dan memarkan
• Garam dan penyedap rasa sesuai selera

pelengkap :

• seledri diiris halus
• daun bawang, iris halus
• bawang putih goreng, remas
• 2 buah tomat, potong 8
• 2 jeruk nipis, iris "pipinya"
• Sambal rawit
• Emping goreng
• Acar ketimun wortel
• Kecap manis

cara masak :

• siapkan dua panci. dalam panci pertama, didihkan air dalam jumlah yang cukup hingga buntut bisa terendam. dalam panci kedua, rebus buntut dalam air mendidih selama 5 menit, kemudian buang air rebusan itu, baru masukan 1,5 lt air mendidih dan rempah-rempah, masak di api kecil hingga mendidih dan buntut menjadi empuk, seandainya punya panci presto bisa lebih 30 menit saja.
• kupas kulit bawang merah dan bawang putih yang sudah dibakar, haluskan, lalu di panci ke dua tumis bumbu halus hingga harum, masukkan wortel dan kentang. tambahkan air dari rebusan buntut, masak sampai mendidih, tuang ke dalam rebusan buntut dan tambahkan seledri ikat. biarkan di atas api hingga wortel dan kentang mulai matang.
• kalau saya, sesudah wortel dan kentang matang langsung saya angkat dari panci, jadi yang tertinggal hanya si buntut yang kalau bolak balik dipanaskan pun nggak akan benyek/hancur tapi justru makin empuk dan gurih.
• trus, berhubung sup sapi buatan saya selalu keruh karena sarat bumbu, maka saat hendak disajikan biasanya saya menyaring kuahnya supaya lebih bersih, tapi ternyata si hubby ini dasar seneng makanannya super spicy dan sarat bumbu, dia justru suka kalau kuahnya butek dan kental dengan bumbu :)

sebenarnya saya ingin belajar bikin sup buntut bakar karena dulu pernah makan sup buntut bakar yang enak tapi lupa dimana.. duh, kapan ya bisa wisata kuliner lagi?

pendosa..

old tee + applique = ladybug dress

liat deh gayanya noelle, dia nonton TV (sesame street di ABC1, weekdays 8.30) dan gk mau denger mamanya minta dia pose yang cantik pake dress buatan tangan mamanya.. yang ada gitu deh, nyender semaunya, sampai2 ladybug yang ada di dress nggak bisa keliatan dengan jelas.. :(

dress hitam ini lagi lagi berbahan baku kaos lama saya, kaos olahraga reebok yang ada bolongnya di ketiak (keringat saya dahsyat juga ya hehe) jadi saya malas untuk memakainya lagi dan karena ada gelombang semangat wardrobe refashion akhirnya saya putuskan jasad kaos reebok itu dibangkitkan lagi menjadi dress untuk nonik.. agak aneh juga ngeliat dia pakai baju warna hitam, dress pula.. jadi kayak cewek yang udah besar pake LBD tapi bener dink, ini juga LBD tapi Lady Bug Dress :p

berikut ini tutorialnya, sebenernya saya pengen posting soal sewing/crafting ini dalam bahasa inggris tapi sayangnya saya masih belum ngerti kosa kata dunia jahit menjahit jadi tetep pake bahasa indonesia aja..

bahan : satu kaos (saya pake ladies tee), satu aplikasi, gunting, benang hitam, benang putih untuk tusuk jelujur/baste seam, jarum pentul.

masih sama seperti kasus old tank top yang berubah jadi dress nautikal, saya membuat dress ini tanpa pattern jadi main gunting dengan perkiraan baju noelle yang sekarang ditambah sedikit lebarnya (she's a cubby tot) supaya masih muat sampai summer mendatang, mudah2an..

step by step

1. gunting gunting bodi, kerung leher dan lengan. saya pengen buat dress A line dengan upper body raglan tapi lengannya kerut supaya girly.. jadi dari satu potong ladies tee saya dapet 2 lembar bodi (depan dan belakang), sepasang kelepak lengan, dan oh iya binding leher jangan dibuang tapi diidedel perlahan-lahan supaya nanti bisa dipasang lagi jadi kerung leher dress ini..

2. lembaran lengan dijahit jelujur untuk jadi kerut, bagian upper body dan lengan disambung, kemudian buat kerut dengan jelujur untuk neck line depan belakang, baru dibinding pake binding leher.

3. untuk binding leher, kalau saya pakai jelujur dengan benang putih, setelah semuanya tersambung baru nantinya ditindis pake jahitan mesin jahit yang lebih konsisten dan lebih kuat..

4. bodi samping juga disambung, masih pake jelujur, baru deh dressnya kelihatan bentuknya.

5. si nonik menjajal LBD-nya.. tampangnya kayak nggak puas ama hasil jahitan mamanya :D

6. Lady Bug Dress setelah dijahit pakai mesin jahit dan dipasang aplikasi ladybug merah (beli di BIG W, 2 dolar). aplikasinya dikasi judul IRON ON, tapi ternyata lem-nya keliatan gk kuat jadi saya jahit juga, tapi pakai tangan, lebih leluasa dan lebih rapi juga.

when the temperature hit 42°C..

we had long weekend because labor day is a public holiday in WA so we had fun eventhough we didnt take vacation.. the forecast said, this labor day long weekend will be hot and the temperature will be around 40-ies..

we planned to go to albany, but it was last minute idea (wednesday) and all the accomodation (with kitchen/microwave) we preffered all taken :( so, instead of sulking, we went to joondalup and afternoon mass on saturday. on sunday we went shopping at harbour town and have fun at lotterywest playground area (noelle make new friends, zoe, lily, flynn and 1 babygirl). we had domino's pizza and salads for dinner, me free from cooking.. YAY!!!

and on monday, we went to hyde park community fair and home expo (catch up with the gintings) and we felt soooo exhausted because of the hot air and sunrays. the temperature hit 42°C. even the wind feels warm on our skin :( our apartment has swimming pool, and it looks so tempting and finally we swam. uhm, actually we were not swimming, more likely soaking and playing in the water :D

noelle my little dolphin really loves being in the water, she got wringkly toes and fingers and object when i tell her swimming time is over. so i let her play in the water for another 5 minutes.

noelle and papa having splishy splashy moments

SPLASH!!! she just cant wait till wednesday for her waterbabies class...