mangolisa's Profile

3-4 days before the party sprinkle some bicarb soda or salt on your patio esp between tiles - it will get rid of the weedlings without you having to pull everything out.

I like hosing everything down in the morning of the party - plants will ahve time to soak in the water and look so much better!

throw in some herbs into the fire if you're bbqing!

sometimes, it takes me three days - especially when there are components of the meal/dish which can be made ahead.

I throw a summer bbq pizza party for my daughter and her friends every year. I usually use the same dough recipe for pizza and focassia - the basic pizza dough from The Silver Spoon. I usually prepare the dough the night before or in the morning.
The kids get to roll the pizza and scatter the toppings. They can dress the table, run around and play on their bikes while waiting for the pizzas to get ready.
You will be surprise and entertained to see how *imaginative* the pizza creations turn out to be.

the lightest and easiest thing to make and I make every other week in my Dutch Oven is the Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce. You use one can of tomato, 3 spoons of butter and half an onion. You don't even have to chop/slice the onion. Just throw everythign together and leave it in the post simmering for 45 minutes and you end up with the most luscious, scrummiest tomato sauce to use with pasta, seafood, fish, meatballs, cous cous... the list is endless.

I think more than everywhere else in the house, we need serenity, calmness and peace in the bedroom (and bathroom). It's a place not just to wind down but also to recharge. To sleep and to dream.
We strip everything to the minimum in all our bedrooms including for our 16 month old toddler. We find this approach allow the children to sleep well - both the children sleep through the night from 6 weeks old (not even up for night feeding)
It is very refreshing to learn our daughter who is 9 can now have a *minimalistic* room with shocking pink wall. Not a typical colour for minimalism but when everything else is hushed down, you can even get away with red.

In Malaysia, although we usually leave the spices whole in curry, for soup, there is another way to keep the seeds off - it is easier to take things like cardamom and cinnamon stick out - by using a little muslin parcel. We call it sup bunjut - bunjut referrign to the little parcel.
I have a post on hwo to do this using a tea strainer in my blog - a lot handier and when you make it yourself it is easier to keep the spices gfresh too!
http://lekkertje.blogspot.com/2009/03/mixing-your-own-malaysian-soup-spice.html

with a toddler who is really trying hsi boundaries, I have to vacuum, wipe and mop a few times a day. But at the same time I find myself not so good with the rest of the housework (OK I admite even from before i had him) so we have a cleaner comes twice a week to clean everything else.
I am also allergic to dust and dustmites so it makes sense to having the place spotless without killing myself by *delegating* the job ;-)

my daughter has the Ghost set from a few years back. She still use it for breakfast everyday :-)

Made some fresh pasta last week with meatball (beef) bolognaise ragu. what I am cookign this weekend depends on what I pick up at the farmer's market tomorrow morning :-)

a great way to use tempeh is in lodeh - a Malaysian vegetable stew http://lekkertje.blogspot.com/2008/09/lodeh-oh-yeah.html. It is a vegetarian dish. I didn't use tempeh in this one. But it is very easily added to the tofu sticks, mung beans and vegetables. Tempeh is usually used in it.
The other way to use it is to slice it thinly or in matchsticks and fry it until crisp. And then made into sambal tempeh with some dried whitebaits or dried shrimps, onions, garlic and ginger. It can be stored for months too.