A Homemaker’s Diary

I’m not cooking anything today because the whole big radius of my housing area are out of water supply since last night..huhu!

I hate when such disruption happen.

Something went wrong with the big water tank so the whole area of 2 towns nearby with how many thousands of people are now living in dry and hot condition. (It’s not raining today so add up that heat as well)

Luckily my house tank still have some water storage so I have been very careful with how much water we used since last night.

Oh, I had this at Deli France a few weeks ago. I love their Chicken Delight with croissant.

I just had my dinner outside since I can’t wash anything at the sink. Just hope those dishes would not stink too much until tomorrow.

I hate the smell when rice go bad in the pot..huhu!

Haha..this is not a protest against cooking. It’s just that I am planning to take 2 days break from cooking. I hope those leftover sambal bilis and sardin will do for midnight hunger.

Since it’s Thursday and Friday (well, Friday is pasar malam day, so official off cooking day), I will be taking like 2 half day time off (if you consider cooking is a full time, employed job, salary paid by hubby..haha!)

The picture? It’s the chicken rice I cooked last week. Now I have to think what to eat and where to eat on Thursday.

I was trying to search for related blogs online that I can read on daily basis when I found one about cooking, specifically about all sorts of spices. I was browsing through the collection of writings when I read about nasi kerabu or nasi ulam some called. From the ingredient and method of cooking, it sounds like nasi ulam which usually found in the Northern states of Peninsular Malaysia. This is not the typical Kelantan nasi kerabu which you can buy at pasar malam and roadside stall in the morning.

Actually I think some people call it nasi kerabu since kerabu means a mix up of all kind of herbs. Usually when you make kerabu you will use non-meaty ingredient, like the herbs or normal vegetables, you dice and slice it thinly, mix with salt for tasting and some lime juice for sour taste. It’s like salad that Westerners serve as appertisers but Asians eat together with rice and other meat or fish dish.

I remembered my grandma used to cook this dish during Ramadhan months with asam pedas keladi and ikan masin as the condiment. If you go to Kedah during the Ramadhan month these days, perhaps you could still find a stall or two that sell this nasi ulam (kerabu) done in traditional ways.

The one that my grandma used to make was the one with local herbs or ulam (among them I remember pucuk gajus and putat) found around her house. I don’t think you can find such ulam at ease these days unless you go back to rural area, pick them up from the backyard of the kampung house area.

If you want to see the picture of the nasi ulam, kindly visit the blog I mentioned earlier. I dare not upload the picture here for fear of copyright violations. 🙂

I have typed what I would like to say about brown rice but in the middle of saving and continue editing, my server has problem. I feel like changing my hosting plan with some other local hosting company. I hate when it occurs especially when I’m in the middle of submitting paid posts.

Well, come back to this rice story, I have checked the packaging and it says nothing about brown rice. It says about hi-fibre rice, the brand is Somali and something like Cambodian rice plantation. So is it really brown rice or what? Anyone who has experience and knowledge about this Somali brand rice, please share.

My review for this rice, I don’t like the taste of it…haha! Hubby ate a bowl since he was starving for supper late that night while I was fast asleep. So when I woke up the following morning, I tried to gobble a plate but couldn’t take it. So I ended up driving to the nasi lemak stall by the roadside and bought a packet for breakfast.

There goes my attempt for healthy eating. Luckily I cooked a pot of normal rice that evening, or otherwise we had nothing to eat with my fish dish. So bye brown rice, hope the rice weevil will have good time eating you..haha!

I found new thing to explore today..hehehe..while chatting with a friend on GTalk, she was telling me about eating brown rice. She said it taste better if you eat brown rice with soy sauce..huh! This is something to try..so it reminds me that about a year ago, when hubby and I was into gym regime, we were planning to go on healthy diet and bought all kind of health food including a packet of brown rice.

A few months passed by yet the packet of brown rice is still intact. So after reading what my friend was telling me, I decided to go down and check in the kitchen the well-being of my brown rice. I can see a lot of small ants and rice lice (?), or what Malays call as bubuk..huhuhu

*Updated at 4:28am Wednesday, the rice lice real term is rice weevil. Checked on Google and the picture is the same as the rice weevil in the brown rice packet..hehe

So read what the Internet says about brown rice, quoting this from About.com

“Keep in mind that standard brown rice takes twice as long to cook as white rice, although there are some quick brown rice products available. Brown rice should be used within 6 months because it has a high level of natural oil within the outer bran layer making it subject to rancidity. Brown rice may be refrigerated or frozen for longer shelf-life.”

Nevertheless I still cook the brown rice. Luckily my fuzzy logic rice cooker has the menu program for cooking brown rice so I’m waiting for the outcome of the rice. Will update about it later, OK!