Gardening: My Very Own Bird Bath

BISMILLAH

Finally, my wish to have a bird bath became a reality.. After a long weeks of crowded activities, health issues, kenduri kahwin... at last we both got the chance to go to the nursery...

Here is my simple bird bath..

Gardening: Pak Choy

Recipe: Cucur Nasi

Recipe : Grilled salmon with white sauce

Bismillah..

It'd been few months back in early 2012, when we had grilled salmon for dinner..

First, lets add some flavours to our taste buds with these pictures before we go to the recipe..

Last monday I cooked this salmon for our dinner and complement it with baked potatoes as carbohydrate source, asparagus, capsicum and fresh salads as fiber source. And also, my favourite white sauce... Humhum.. really healthy meal huh... :)

We both are on light diet.. so I think this meal is perfect.. I read an article about a research on skipping carbohydrates on a diet will increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Dresser turned kitchen island

Pinterest! This is the place where I get most of my crafty ideas. I'm sure most people know about this website already. But, I still want to write about it. That was my intention this morning.

This wonderful website, let us organize and share all the beautiful things we find on the internet. You can get  ideas for styling, home decorations, recipes, remedies, tips, automotive, traveling and best of all (for me), craft ideas and DIY projects.

This is my board. These are all my pins that I plan to do it myself.

Look, here is what I found today. It's cute and I think it's a workable idea. 

A dresser turned to kitchen island.

Credit to the creator and pinner..

Need to show it to my hubby and next, head to the local used furniture store.

Have a nice day.

8 Kesalahan Kesihatan Anda Perlu Tahu dan Elak

Artikel oleh Kevin Zahri. Maklumat berguna tentang 8 Kesalahan Kesihatan Anda Perlu Tahu dan Elak... Sesuai utk sesiapa sahaja yang ingin mengekalkan gaya hidup sihat...

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Kesihatan diri bukan soal kesempurnaan. Yang penting adalah keseimbangan dan masing-masing mempunyai keseimbangan yang tersendiri. Tapi apa sekalipun, cubalah elak 8 kesalahan kesihatan yang berikut:

1. Tak cukup atau terlebih Tidur!

Dengan kesibukan kerjaya zaman sekarang, terutama dengan kos kehidupan yang makin meningkat di Malaysia, ramai yang tidak dapat cukup tidur. Bukankah itu bagus untuk tingkatkan pembakaran kalori? Memang tak. Walaupun anda terjaga lebih lama, badan tidak bertenaga. Dari situ anda sendiri tidak bermaya dan kurangkan aktiviti. Malah nafsu makan akan meningkat kerana badan akan perlukan boost kalori untuk teruskan aktiviti. Inilah punca penambahan berat badan bagi mereka yang tidak cukup tidur 8jam.

Selain peningkatkan berat badan, amalan tak cukup tidur boleh akitbatkan sakit jantung, kecerderaan (kerana kecuaian mental), depression, stes dan lain-lain.

Tidak kira kesibukkan kerjaya dan lain-lain, cuba yang terbaik untuk mengatur masa supaya dan cukup rehat. Kalau tidak, yang menjadi mangsa adalah diri anda sendiri bukan kerjaya. Keseimbangan work-life itu memang penting.

Handmade Crossbody Bag

Another product from my weekend craft activity.. I spent about 3 hours making this crossbody bag (sling bag) with my youngest sister. Actually, she didn't do anything much other than helping me cutting the fabrics and watching me sewing her bag... My intention was to teach her how to make this bag, so that she can spend her school holiday learning something new and able to make another bag for my other younger sister... But, in the end, I was the one who assembled and sewed everything. Hmm..., Aishah, looks like you have to wait a little longer for "THAT TIME" to come when my head instructs my hands "SIMULTANEOUSLY" to grab that scissors and sewing machine.. Hahaa...

That evening, she used it for the first time when we went out to pizza's restaurant.. 

DIY : Casual Bag

 Another series of making my DIY bags... My first bag project was made from a placemat. For this second project I used velvet fabric, not because of the texture that got me, it was the colour that attracted me. It was quite soft and it got a bit slippery when I sewed it. The tutorial was almost the same as my previous project, except that I added adhesive paper to harden and flatten the bottom part of the bag.. You can refer the tutorial here.

 The felt flower was from my previous DIY project.

Close up picture of the fabric..

The strap was made from a shirt belt. I bought this shirt last week. It came with a fabric belt and I didn't want to wear the belt. Now, it has a new place to hang on. Look at the bottom part of the bag.. It got flatten after I added the adhesive paper inside.

Can you see the leaning 2" x 2" wood against the wall? That would be our next project for breakfast counter bench. Hopefully, we will work it out very soon!!

DIY : Fabric Flower Headband

This fabric flower was made from remnants from my previous project (I made a tunic..That was unbelievable, I made my own shirt and dress!)... I'll post my finished tunic in next posting.. I made this together with my 6 year old niece. We made two of them, one for her and the other one for her cousin (my niece too).

Using the skinny elastic this headband can be worn as headband and also as hair tie.

Tasneem wearing it as headband...

and also as hair tie...

Doesn't it look cute on her?

DIY : Felt Headband

 I made a felt flower headband for my husband's niece. She wore this on her 1st birthday (that was yesterday).

Yummy2... strawberry...

Haha... she became so excited to grab the cake... so cute...

This picture was taken a day before her birthday wearing the felt flower headband...

I'll write the tutorial in another posting.. Nowadays, I got so busy finishing my labworks... Have a nice day!!

DIY : Upholstered Bench Part 2

These are some pictures of the finished upholstered bench. In part 1 post, I wrote about how we made this bench. As you can see there are nail holes and some gaps between the joints. But, it's okay. This was our first project. My husband intends to buy a jigsaw soon, so that we can cut perfect angle of the woods.

Can you see the gaps and nail holes?

Bye for now.. Have a nice day...

Gardening : Reject Flower Pot and Lemongrass

We found this nursery on the way back home from a local market one day. It sells both reject and good quality pots, however this nursery is kinda not well taken care of, therefore it was hard for us to find plants that we want. Plus, the owner was out of town. Since there were many rejected pots, my husband suggested why not we try to look for one, since we had nothing to rush.. We were looking for large pots to plant bamboo trees. So, we ended up buying two pots with some defects that would need only minor repair. The price was only RM12 per pot. Normal price for this kind of pots is approximately RM30 and above depending on the design and quality.

You can see the opening was like an oval shape. But, once we plant trees and pretty flowers, who cares to look into it right?
 

Some minor crack and holes on the surface. At first, my husband wanted to apply grout onto it, but at last he didn't want to. He said, it would not effect the whole structure. The more rustic the more aesthetic it would be.. Oppss, never heard him said like that before.. Huhu..

There was only a thin crack at the bottom..

Instead of planting bamboo trees, we decided to plant lemongrass in it. I found somewhere on the internet, someone planted lemongrass in a very large pot; firstly, to cover the air-conditioner unit; secondly, to repel mosquitoes and bugs. Great idea! I think it will be a nice outdoor decor too..

This was where we planted the lemongrass before, in between wall and porch pillar.

So, now it has a new home. In a large rejected pot. Ain't it look nice in there?

For bamboo trees, we have to go to that nursery again next month, when the new stock coming in. Perhaps, there will be more pots for us.

Have a nice day!!

Recipe : Breakfast, Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This is our favourite meal for breakfast.. I can't help falling in love with the cheesy taste of this sandwich. Usually we'll make it using white bread, but today I made it using whole meal bread (even though, I don't really like white bread, but for this sandwich white works the best). And we both like the crust too. 

This one was slightly burnt... However it tasted great..

 Can you see the cheesiness temptation...Yummy...

RECIPE 

2 slices of bread

Butter

Grated mozarella cheese 

Heat your skillet or pan.. Butter one side of your bread. Place bread butter-side-up onto the hot skillet. Put a  cup of cheese on top of the bread (the more the merrier ;)). Another bread, butter one side and place butter-side-down to make a sandwich. Cover your skillet or pan so that the uprising heat will melt the cheese). Cook until the first side is golden brown and carefully flip it over. Again, cover the skillet and cook until the second side is golden brown.

Optional, slice it so that you can see the melted cheese and serve it with your favourite coffee...

Ok for now, have a nice day ahead...

DIY : Felt Flower Headband Part 1

Few months back, I promised to my husband's niece to make a headband for her.. It took quite some time to get the courage to make it.. Finally, I did it during last weekend... Here are some photos of the finished product.. Tutorial will be posted soon... HAVE A NICE DAY... 

DIY : Placemat Shopping Bag Part 2 (TUTORIAL)

I just finished sewing my first placemat shopping bag... (gonna make more bags..). In my part 1 post, I thought I was gonna make the handle using the polka dot ribbon. But the ribbon width was a bit smaller, it didn't nicely fit with the large placemat. So, I made the handle using the bag strap... I found it at a local craft store, RM6 for 3 metres...

TADAA...here is the finished product.. I just love how it turned out so adorable with the fabric flower.

This is the handle strap..

First, on the right side of the placemat, measure 3 inch from the side and pin it. I was quite easy because the placemat had vertical stripes. 

(Suppose to do like this) At the end of the strap, tuck the end of the strap under the other end and fold the upper strap about and inch. I made a mistake here (below picture).. 

Make sure to make a loop at the end of the placemat and the length should be equal for both sides.

 Sew 1/4" seam along the strap on both side of the strap.

Once finished, fold the placemat in half with the wrong side facing out. 
Stitch on both sides for 1/2 inch seam. Do not stitch on the opening of the bag.

With the wrong side is still facing out, pin the bottom corner of the bag such below picture. Mark about 3 inch from the end of the corner and stitch the dotted line. Repeat this step with the other corner.

Turned the right side out and tadaa... You got it... Very simple and easy project...

Once again, my placemat handbag sitting on upholstered bench...

Have a nice day!! :)

Recipe : Pilaf Rice, Grilled Chicken with Herbs, Grilled Shrimps and White Sauce

I cooked these dishes two days ago.. Everything with mixed herbs.. Pilaf rice, chicken and shrimps, white sauce and definitely, veggies...

The pilaf rice...

The chicken and shrimps...

The white sauce...

The veggies.. 

RECIPE : PILAF RICE WITH MIXED HERBS

1 cup rice

Olive oil

1 tsp of minced garlic

1 chopped onion

Salt

1 tsp white pepper

2 cups white stock

1 tsp mixed herbs

2 tbs raisins (optional)

1 tsp ground thyme

In a pan, sprinkle olive oil in a pan, place on stove over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add garlic and cook. Stir constantly until translucent and becomes soften, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and saute for about 1 minute. Add rice and saute, make sure to coat it with oil. Leave it for about 5 minutes. Add white pepper and salt. Add the chicken stock, stir occasionally until the water becomes to boil. Add mixed herbs and raisins. Cook for 30 minutes or until it is cooked. Once cooked, add ground thyme and toss with a fork to combine.

RECIPE : GRILLED CHICKEN WITH MIXED HERBS

4 pcs chickens

1 tsp of salt

1 tbs of honey

1 tsp of mixed herbs

1 tsp of fresh ground thyme

1 tsp of minced garlic

1 tsp of white pepper

Olive oil to grill

In a large bowl, mix everything. Leave it to marinate for 15 minutes. On a skillet, sprinkle some olive oil, let it  hot and start grilling.

For the shrimps, I didn't season it (request from my husband). Because the shrimps were super extra fresh, so he wanted to taste its' original sweetness and flavour.

For white sauce recipe, you can refer here for the recipe. 

Tata for now.. Have a nice day!

DIY : Placemat Shopping Bag Part 1

I found this DIY idea on pinterest. It was made by Deborah from wonderwomancreations.blogspot.com (click here to directly go to her post). I felt in love with her polka dot ribbon.. The ribbon tie was really cute and adorable.. Most importantly, it was affordable especially to the DIY lovers and crafters. 

I was looking for placemat for quite some times. So, last weekend when I went to Tesco Extra I found this placemat for RM11.50 (about USD3.50). Another placemats were below RM10, but the clothes were not as good as this one.I think it was a great bargain considering the quality of the placemat and apparently, only one left. It was my lucky day, I guess!

To make the handle, I bought a spool of ribbon for RM5.90. 

Here suppose what it looks like when I finished it.. :)

For embellishment, I will make a fabric flower from remnants of my previous projects. 

Ok, will need to start sewing now.. I will update the final product once finished. 

Tata for now...

*UPDATE - You can refer the finished bag here.