Homemade mixed berries jam

I have wanted to make my own fruit jam for a long time, and I finally did it!

I love eating fruit jam on toast. But most jams from the store are way too sweet. You taste the sugar more than the real fruit. It is very hard to find a jam that is less sweet in supermarkets here.

So, I decided to make my own at home.

My Simple Ingredients

For my first try, I used:

• 1 packet of frozen mixed berries

• A handful of fresh mulberries from my garden

• 1 Local gula nisan (palm sugar) for sweetness

• Chia seeds to make the jam thick without adding too much sugar.

Cooking it on the stove smelled amazing!

With 1 whole piece of the gula nisan, the jam still tasted sour.

It made me realize how much sugar must be added into the store-bought jam to make it so sweet. 

Even though it was sour, I was happy with the outcome.

Tips I found online.

If your homemade jam is too sour, here are a few simple ways to fix it without adding cups of white sugar:

1. Add a tiny pinch of salt: A little salt helps cut down the sour taste and brings out the natural sweet flavor of the fruit.

2. Try honey or maple syrup: Mixing a little honey with gula nisan can help soften the sharp sourness of berries.

3. Let the chia seeds rest: Chia seeds take 15 to 20 minutes to soak up the juices and thicken the jam properly. Let the jam sit off the heat before putting it in a jar.

*update: After 2 days in the fridge, the jam tasted so good, not too sour anymore.

Pineapple #11

 

Pineapple #11 from my backyard.

Tak pernah baja, takda special care… yet look at her now—queen of the garden!

Tak pernah pun mintak perhatian lebih, tapi membesar dengan sihat.

Kadang-kadang yang low maintenance tu lah paling menjadi.

Maybe dia stress-free, jauh dari drama pokok-pokok lain. Or maybe dia dengar podcast motivasi dari pokok jambu batu di sebelah. 

Apa-apa pun, syukur… rezeki dari belakang rumah, tak payah beli kat pasar. Simple joys like this is priceless.

In My Garden | Pineapple #10

This pineapple is a pleasant surprise.

Last week, while taking down the laundry from our back, I saw this pineapple almost lying on the ground. It was all orange/yellow, subtly peeking out amidst the sugarcane leaves.

Since it would rain soon, I quickly grabbed my parang and chopped the pineapple's stem.

Look at how big this pineapple is.

Alright, this might not be the sweetest pineapple from my backyard, maybe due to lack of sunlight, it was covered by the sugarcane leaves.  Still, it is good to have fresh produce from my own little backyard garden.

Related post:
Pineapples #8 and #9

Hicon Ice Maker Machine

In September 2021, we bought our first ice maker machine, but unfortunately, about 3 weeks ago, it broke.  The on/off button stopped working.  So, we purchased another one. This time, we opted for a cheaper version, there was no point investing in a tough aluminum body when the buttons were not long-lasting.

Hubby suggested we should get a deep freezer instead, as it would have more functionality. But whose going to make the ice? Plus, we didn't have enough space for a new freezer in our small kitchen.

Therefore, we just stick with the ice maker for now. If this one broke again, we might consider purchasing a deep freezer in the future.

So here's to our new ice maker, we can enjoy unlimited ice-cold drinks once again.

Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Mop 2 Lite

My 3rd robot vacuum.

The 2nd one still working, just that the tyres are losing the grip.  On rough surface, it can’t perform properly.

A new pair of tyres with wheels cost more than RM100. After consideration, I decided to just get a new set.

This 2 Lite is a newer version, with less noise and a better sensor.

Sangat puas hati.  Saya ni memang jenis yang malas sapu n mop rumah.  Spend some money to buy free time is a better deal for me.

Look similar to our previous 1C, but the charger, water tank, and dustbin are not the same as the previous model.

Tong Gas

Suka-suka je nak keep track harga tong gas semasa.

Record pembelian tong gas di rumah kami menunjukkan gas kami boleh bertahan untuk jangka masa 2 tahun, sejak 2015. Terbukti memang jarang masak di rumah ini.

4 Dec 2023 - RM26.60 laju pulak habis, banyak masak la tu.
Feb 2023 - RM26.60 - after changing the pipe, our gas barrel is back to 2-3 years lifespan.
March 2021 - RM26.60.  Something must be very wrong with the previous tong.  How is it possible that we used up 1 barrel in 1 month?
Feb 2021 - RM26.60
23 March 2019 - RM26.60
Feb 2018 - RM27
March 2016 - RM26.60
March 2015 - RM28
March 2013 - RM27.50
Jan 2012 - RM27.50
Sept 2009 - ni pun tak ingat brapa harga.
Sept 2007 - tong pertama bawah yang letak nama sendiri, tak ingat harga da.

Our cooking corner..

Red Palm Tree

I have been toying with the idea of doing some re-landscaping on our mini front yard.

In order to do the makeover, this red palm tree has to go.  Plus I think that this palm tree looks a bit outdated, you know, plants also like fashion, they have their seasons.

Last weekend we attended the Palm Sunday Mass.  Since MCO, we were encouraged to bring our own palm, and we harvest ours from this red palm tree.  This red palm tree is where we got our palm supply for the past 3 years ever since the MCO.  Normally the parishioners will gotong-royong go and collect the palm, typically a Sago Palm.  However, MCO changes everything.

During the Mass, the Father said, "Thank you for bringing your own palm from home, be it a red palm, yellow palm, or even a coconut palm.  If you don't have any, you can start planting tomorrow."

We laughed at his jokes, but in my heart, I knew that our palm tree is not going anywhere for now.

What an Egg-cellent dinner

My homecooked egg-cellent dinner last night.

Tiba-tiba datang rajin, cooked 7 dishes for our dinner.

5 of them were egg-based dishes.

Plain fried egg for Emmett.

Egg with lobak manis for me.

Chives with egg for Eugene.

Bitter gourd with egg.

Lobak putih with egg #charkuehkak Ini kira dessert lah.

Steamed pork.

Pork ribs soup with lotus roots and nuts.

 

Malas nak keluar tapao, hari ni payday, mesti ramai orang. Hujan pulak tu.

 

Dengar kata susah nak cari telur di Sarawak sekarang.

Syukur saya ada jodoh dengan telur. Selalu jumpa lorry telur kat luar kedai makan, beli terus dari situ. Tak payah thru middle man.

Telur size AAA RM14.50. Tapi telur besar ni biasa ada kembar dalam nya, kalau nak buat kek tak sesuai la.

Ok, sekian cerita telur kita hari ni.

Xiaomi Mijia Icemaker Machine

Our Xiaomi Mijia Conair icemaker machine is here!

We have been buying ice cubes for almost every day this year.

Ice cubes per packet cost RM2, average 5 times a week, 4 weeks a month for the past 8 months. Total lost RM320.

Beli je la mesin ais ni. Harap lebih berbaloi.

Machine mijia ni ada 3 model.

Boleh tengok perbandingan di bawah.

Kami beli yang badan dia stainless steel, harap-harap paling tahan la kan. Beli kat shopee je.

Machine ni boleh buat ice dalam masa 6 minutes, nak penuhkan basket kecil dalam tu mengambil masa 2 jam. Lama la jugak.

Jum layan video unboxing kami..

#icemachine #icemaker

Updates: After one month of using this small machine, we noticed a spike of RM50 on our monthly electricity bill.  Looks like the price is not worth it. But I guess we are paying for the convenience of it. We are using it everyday from 8am to 10pm average. At night we switched it off.

In My Garden | Pineapple #8 n #9

Ini hasil buah nanas dari kebun kecil di belakang rumah.

Cantik buah nya kali ni, tak besar sangat, sederhana saja.

Kedua-dua buah ni kami bagi kat mak mentua je, dah selalu sangat makan buah nanas, ada yang dari kebun kakak juga.

Syukur banyak juga hasil dari kebun family saya tahun ni.  Ada durian, rebung, langsat, dabai, petai, dan nanas. 

Kalau di negara sejuk pasti ayah akan tanam apple, peach, cherry, blueberry dan  kiwi. Angan-angan sekejap sebelum tido.

Ok, good night all.

#staysafe

See Pineapple #7

My mini garden

We have this mini garden at our front yard.

It is a small area that I consider as my zen corner.  Here we also have a mini fish pond which we installed in 2007.

When I am bored, I like to move the flower pots around, reorganising them.  Some people like to decorate and move their house furniture around, not me, I prefer to move my potted plants around :D

Here’s the compilation of me moving the plants around.

Ubah sana sini, hasil nyer sama jugak, cukup la untuk happy kan diri sendiri.

In my garden | cow grass

We had this cow grass planted in 2014.

We got a contractor to do it for us for about RM2k at that time.

Now we have more plants in our backyard, we have more pineapples, ubi kayu, limau kasturi and the guava trees are still there. Actually, we planted a new limau kasturi tree at the same spot.  The previous tree was getting old and big, I got it removed and planted a smaller and cuter one 😁 This is our 3rd pokok limau so far. 1st one was planted in 2007.

Ok, back to the cow grass story.

I haven’t really put much attention to the grass, normally we just let the grass cutter uncle do his work. But since the 2nd CMO just started and I have taken a more than 1-week Gawai leave. Can’t even go back to visit my parents, might as well look for something to do to sweat out a bit in the evening.

So today I started plucking these unwanted weeds manually. I got a small stool and a portable sony speaker with me, The Beatles were playing on repeat.  Ahh, such a relaxing activity on a lovely evening.

Before..

3 baskets of these unwanted weeds..

This is how the unwanted grass looks like.  Ada ubi dekat akar nya, which makes it hard to pull out, good exercise.

After..

Nampak beza tak?

In My Kitchen | Veggies

Even though I seldom cook at home, but I have this habit of keeping stock of veggies at home.  I like to have it in the fridge just-in-case I wanted to cook something up.

Here's what I normally have..

1. carrot - for fried rice, chicken soup, mixed veggies

2. tomato - for curry, beef stew, bolognese sauce, canned sardines, tomato egg

3. cabbage - can be stored longer

4. broccoli - also because it can be stored longer

5. sawi or any type of green leaves - for Maggi, veggie soup

6. lotus root

7. white radish or pumpkin

8. sweet potatoes

9. normal potatoes - for curry and stew

After practicing these for more than 10 years now, I find that there are flaws in my planning.  Now I think I don't need to have all these veggies with me all the time.  Reasons?

1. 80% of the veggie will sure go to waste, like I said, I seldom cook.

2. I can always go and buy and have the freshest veggie that I can get, more nutritious that way.  They are all within 1km away from my house.

3. End of last year, a new mini-market just open up in my area, it is on my way back from work, I can easily stop by to get the veggie supply if I am feeling like cooking for dinner on that day.

4. Lately I see that veggie price is going up, a normal packet of green leaves veggie used to cost RM 2-3 now is about RM 5-6.

Veggies at supermarket, not cheap you know.

So, after all this thinking, I am going to replan my shopping list. Less fresh veggie stock at home.  The same goes for my canned food, junk food, any other food stock at home.

Ohh My Fridge

We purchased this fridge approximately 13 years ago when we moved into our current home.

We bought a small fridge because we know the bigger the fridge, the more garbage we going to store.  

Panasonic - RM950 +

Can you see Emmett’s artwork on the fridge?

For the past 11 years, our fridge has been incredibly reliable, never experiencing any breakdowns. However, it chose last weekend to give up on us.

The worst part was that it died on Chinese New Year's Eve.  Where la to find a shop that can deliver at that time?  That night we transferred all our frozen meat to my sister's house.  We just did you stock up since we know most shops will be closed for CNY.

So that's how we spent our CNY weekend this year, looking for a new fridge.

Emmett said: Buy online la Mummy.
Son, not all things are more convenient online.

On the 1st day of CNY, we checked around which shop was open on that day. Harvey Norman is the only shop we can find, so to Vivacity Mall, we went.  After looking around and deciding on a fridge, the sales girl told us that their warehouse only opens on 16th Feb, that's when they can deliver.  What?! 5 days from now? No, we did not get the fridge from Harvey Norman.

On the 2nd day of CNY, we checked, SenQ is open, so we went to Aeon Mall. So many people, we hardly find a parking space, I decided to just stay in the car, not going to brave the crowd.  Hubby went in and after awhile came out saying that SenQ can only deliver on Monday.  Off we go again.

On the 3rd day of CNY, Siong How is open, so we went to the MJC branch.  They said if we get a small fridge they can deliver on that day using their staff transport.  Ok, small size it is.  

So here's our new fridge, Toshiba, similar size to our previous Panasonic.

Price RM1300 +

Indoor plant

New corner in the house.

Hobi yang sekejap tenggelam sekejap timbul ni.

Ni dah pasu ke-4 yang aku angkat dari luar, rasa nyer yg ni lah yg paling sesuai.

Kita cuba dulu 2, 3 hari, kalau tak sesuai kita tukar lagi.

Siapa tau nama pokok ni?
Macam pokok ubi kayu kan? One nak jabut la tengok akar nyer ada ubi kayu tak.

Setakat tukar sikit arrangement rumah pun dah berpuluh puluh jugak. Cukup la exercise untuk hari ni.

Btw, Kuching dah #redzone lagi.

#staysafe everyone.

Update.

4 days later I change this to another potted plants.

Reason, daun yang lama tu berguguran. Pokok yang baru ni jenis daun yang layu tak gugur. Malas la nak sapu hari-hari.

RMCO | Kemas luar rumah

I took a day off on Monday, supposed to go for All Souls Day Mass, then things got cancelled.

At the same time, kids were at home, schools are still closed.  We are in the redzone once again.

So, buat apa kat rumah? Jum kemas luar rumah.

Pokok jambu di belakang rumah yang berusia lebih 10 tahun dah tumpang ditiup angin kenyang pada petang Isnin yang lepas.  

Dah la banyak buahnya, sayang betul.  Pokok tu pulak banyak semut merah, susah jugak la nak clear kan.

Pasu-pasu bunga di depan rumah pun dah perlukan perhatian. Tukar-tukar kedudukan sikit, beri nafas baru.  Baru la ada semangat sikit kan?!

Ok lah, kalau rajin minggu depan kita sambung lagi. Chow.

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum-Mop Mijia 1C

This is my 2nd robot vacuum set. My 1st set was purchased exactly 10 years ago, the PicaBot eVo2. Used it for a few years before it breaks down. That time we started having a cleaning lady coming over during weekend. So I don’t see the need to purchase a new robot vacuum.

The problem starts again when we begin the MCO. Arghh, all those sweeping and mopping, it’s like never ending story! I started browsing on robot vacuum again. 10 years different, now there are so many options available, from as cheap as below RM100 to a few thousand ringgit.

2 of my must have criteria:
1. Global version
2. Vacuum with mop function, and must able to function at the same time. (Sekali jalan gitu)

Hence, my best option is Xiaomi Robot Vacuum-Mop Mijia 1C.

Before I finally got my hands on the set, I went through a series of drama. I messaged 2 of the so-called official Mi Store on Shopee. Both of them never reply to me.  I messaged them a few times within 1 week.  Of cause, in the end, I file in a report to Shopee.

I also messaged Kuching’s one and only Mi official store, through their FB account, the admin reply saying that they have the stock in Kuching.  So, on the last day of CMCO, I went to their store.  How disappointed I was when the staff said they don’t have any.  It was my 1st going to a Mall just to get this and you said you don’t have any!!! I don’t want to urgent, social distancing what, I try to project my unhappiness through my small eye, not sure if they get the message or not.

So last Friday evening, when I saw the Kuching store posted on FB, saying they have new arrival, I straight away give them a call, to confirm of the vacuum-mop, and to inform them that I will go and get it the next morning.  The next morning, I reach the store before they even opened their door.  Not kaisu ok, I just want to beat the crowd.  I still try to avoid people as much as I can.

Payment and check out took less than 15min, and we were out of the mall with my new robot vacuum.  Happy? Yes, but I can save about RM150 if I buy it from Shopee, during offer.  Still some regrets there.  What would you do, if the Shopee store never reply you, will you still purchase from them?  I only message them for item cost more than RM500.

After using the robot for 2 days.  I am so happy with its performance,  I don't mind the price.  Thank goodness for all these technologies.

For Mopping function, you can set the water level from low, medium or high.  I am lovin' it.

For Xiaomi Robot vacuum Comparison Chart, refer here.

Day 55 Movement Restriction Order

We went out for groceries shopping today.  Finally stock up on salmon, boneless chicken tights, lots of tomato paste for our lazy spaghetti night.  Also bought grapes, bayam, and cabbage.

For lunch, we had salmon, chicken soup, and bayam, all newly bought this morning.

For dinner, we had fried boneless chicken, curry gravy for cream overdose, and cabbage.

Going to sleep early tonight, tomorrow gonna be a new day, back to the office.  Need to prepare mask, water bottle, staff name tag, where is that thing?!  Ok, will update again on my 1st day back to office.

#StaySafe
#Sarawakfighting
#CMCO

Day 54 Movement Restriction Order | Mother's Day

Wake up early for 8am online Sunday Mass.  You can see there are 1.8k viewers on FB online.  That would be 1.8k household online, say there's an average of 4 person in a household, 1.8 x 4 total of 7.2k person joining the virtual Mass.  This figure does not include those access from Youtube.

Our Mother’s Day starts with breakfast consists of toast, and cakes from bakery.

We ordered cakes Secret Recipe, can’t decide which flavour to chose, just buy slices of this and that.
Mostly chocolate flavours.

This is one is special, only for me, durian flavour.

Then we drive over to my in law place, just send the cakes through the gate.
On the way back we stop by at Xi Fu Tang.  Haven’t had any boba tea for more than 2 months. Consider it as a special treat on this special day.

Reach home, we ordered food from Ginza restaurant via Grabfood.
Ramen, salmon mantai, chicken teriyaki, and karage curry.

For dinner, we can’t decide on what to order.  So I just cook simple meal of fried rice, cheese macaroni, and meatballs.

After dinner, I had mango and hubby had chips, while watching show on Netflix.

I feel bad not able to go back home to see my mother on this mother’s day.  When this is over, we are so gonna have a big family gathering of everything belated.  I hope that time will come soon. Really miss my parents and my hometown.

Today PM also make a special announcement that CMCO will be extended until 9 June 2020.  But our office will be open starting 12 May 2020.  How confusing is that.  I am so confused I needed to go on Shoppe to purchase something, anything.  And I plan to go for groceries shopping tomorrow!

Day 53 Movement Restriction Order

Today me and hubby went out for a drive.  We drive up to 7th mile, and make a u-turn back to 3rd mile market.  Didnt stop by at 7th Mile, saja jalan-jalan, see the other side of the town.  At 3rd mile, we tapao breakfast, laksa and buns.  So many people around.  I still don’t dare to go to the wet market.  It’s ok, seafood can wait.

I make a new order for 6 mangoes today, cost RM40.

At 2pm, Postlaju delivered my slow cooker, ordered this from Shopee 4 days ago. That was so fast.

For lunch, I had bubur pedas.

For dinner, we had tauhu sumbat, pork intestine, and kailan with meat balls.

My neighbour gave us this freshly made cai kueh.