Planning a family menu

It's been a while i haven't update my blog. Not that i'm busy with my own thing but i'm out of idea. Recently i have been thinking to do my menu plan for both of my husband and i. If you notice, i posted some of my cooking pictures and recipes. I do like cooking not loving it. It is quite hard to cook everyday since i usually arrive home at 6.30pm. Sometimes you feel exhausted after work. I'm wondering if i have a child.... it would have been worst.

My goal is to cook everyday....not just dinner but 2 main courses every day. Lunch and dinner. If can breakfast as well. Consider one of my year 2010 goals. Eventhough i know i might don't make it. My hubby prefer to bring lunch to work. Well, both of us are trying to save and also one of my money management goal. Goal and lots of goals for 2010!

I've been thinking about freezer cooking for a week meal. I got the idea from Jon and Kate Plus 8 on Astro. It does save time. Just take out today's meal from the freezer to the oven. But not all food can be freeze for a long time. What about freshness? Certainly out. Unless the meal is in a vacuum condition. This method probably not my type. I found a website about freezer cooking and menu plan from http://organizedhome.com/articles/kitchen-tips . A lot of tips we can find there.

My best way is still to do advance preparation. First, i need to think what kind of meal i need to cook for the next whole week. This take me a long time to think. Sometimes i need to read recipe book or surfing other people blog for an idea. Another thing to be consider is my husband kinda food. He likes traditional cooking especially sambal belacan and ulam. He always critic my cooking. Some of the sentences are 'too much salt lah'..... 'i think i know how to cook better than u' .....'you always cook weird stuff'. In fact it is not weird at all coz he don't preferred western food. About salt, i tend to put more salt, my mistake, but now i just put one teaspoon of salt and let him taste it after finish cooking. For lunch, we like to eat heavy food and lighter for dinner.

After that i do shopping list and head to the market. At my place, the best market is Pasar Tani starts at 2pm - midnight on Saturday and at 6am - 2pm on Sunday. It's cheap and fresh. At home i separate the food according to one serving in a bag. Especially for meat and seafood. I marinade them first if they need so and put in the freezer. Cut, cut, cut, chop chop, chop. I do cut the veges like long bean and spinach not to wait until the day i want to cook it. Peel the onions, shallots, garlic and chillies. I don't wash and chop them. I just keep them in a container. If i wash them, they easily rotten. Some people blend the shallot and garlic like a paste. I don't.

A day before cooking, for meat or seafood, i move it out from the freezer to the fridge for defrosting. A hygenic way instead of putting it outside in a room temperature. Unless unexpected i will defrost the meat in a room temperature for today's cooking. I will cook today's dinner and tomorrow lunch at the same time. After work, i just chop my onion, garlic & shallot and start cooking. Walla!

Onion Wonders

Hi everyone. I got an interesting email from a friend, Byron. Its about onion that do wonder in preventing infection and i think everyone should know. So read this story:

In 1919. When the flu killed 40 million people, there was this doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it, and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer, and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different, the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home (probably only two rooms back then).

The doctor couldn't believe it, and asked if he could have one of the onions, and place it under the microscope. She gave him one, and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in Arizona. She said that several years ago, many of her employees were coming down with the flu, and so were many of her customers. The next year, she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work . . .(And no, she is not in the onion business.)

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office, or under your desk, or even on top somewhere.
Try it and see what happens. We did it last year, and we never got the flu. If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all the better. If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild case. Whatever, what have you to lose? Just a few bucks on onions!

Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:
I don't know about the farmer’s story, but I do know that I contracted pneumonia, and needless to say I was very ill.

I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion, put one end on a fork, and then place the forked end into an empty jar, placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs. Sure enough, it happened just like that. The onion was a mess, and I began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

So guys put onion in every location of your house....:)

Wishing You A Happy New Year 2010