Obsessions

Ayam Goreng Lengkuas (Fried Chicken with Galangal)

2009-09-26T21:48:00.005+08:00

This is one of my favourite recipes. A sure hit with my kids. It is a bit tedious to make as I highly recommend that the galangal be grated and not chopped using a food processor, but worth it as the shredded galangal makes it more palatable. Try using younger galangal as the older one gets a bit to difficult to grate. Another thing that I recommend is that you use a fry-siever to catch all the tasty fried morsels. Try as best as possible to get all of it before proceeding to frying the later batches as these will get burnt and ruin the over all taste. I sometimes resort to pouring everything through a sieve lined with paper towels to catch everything and pour the oil back into the wok, reheat to be used for the next batch.

Ingredients:
1 chicken cut into 8 parts
1 stalk lemongrass buised
4 tablespoon shredded (or coarsely grated) galangal
2 pcs of bay leaves
1 tablespoon oil

Finely grounded (using blender or food processor)
5 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
3 candlenut (dry roasted in a pan)
1 small pc of fresh tumeric ( or a teaspoon of dried turmeric)
1 tablespoon of tamarind - use quarter of a cup of water to extract the juice.

Salt and sugar to taste.
Oil for deep frying Photo above from top left: Chicken, galangal, tamarind juice, bay leaves, roasted candlenuts, fresh tumeric, garlic and shallots and bruised lemongrass.

Clean chicken and place all ingredients into a roomy saucepan or wok.

Using medium heat cook the chicken. Once half cooked remove from pan. Reserve the gravy. Continue cooking the gravy until the gravy is dried. Heat oil in wokDeep fry the chicken. Drain the chicken and any residue from the frying (that is the delicious part of the dish!) Once the chicken parts are fried to golden brown, drain on paper towels. Serve with the dry-fried gravy and fried residue. Delicious with Nasi Lemak!

Today...

2009-07-18T13:42:00.003+08:00

...is another saturday. I am actually standing in front of Sunway Pyramid at 1.41 pm waiting for my ride back home. An idea that sounded good this morning proved to be a huge mistake. I forget how ugly things can get. The steamy heat, the cacophony impatience of traffic, gaggle of tourists - oblivious of their surroundings and other people around them, all leaves me reeling. Teenagers, with their state of the art hand phones, miniskirts, wrap around scarves, latest trends of underwear-showing jeans a scene that confuses. And right this moment a luxury car is left idling, passively poisoning me to death.

Starting fresh

2009-07-16T20:01:00.003+08:00

I have new toy and I am liking it. Though I am reduced typing with my thumbs, I am loving it. I am officially mobile and I am enjoying it.

I have always liked writing but apart from my indiscipline of doing it everyday, i hate my handwriting. Chicken scratching is what my mother labels it and most of the time I agree with her description. Now, it's time to start fresh.

Envy....

2009-04-14T11:17:00.003+08:00

is a bad and green monster. It lurks under the bed, in your handbag and sometimes shows it's ugly face on the computer screen.

Yes, I am having those pangs of green slime murking my brain this morning. I know to some I have no reason for letting this green monster slip under my skin. Most of the time I can keep it at bay with a good slug of gloat. But this past few weeks, I am left down, slightly depressed and has let my door slightly ajar. Envy has managed to slide in undetected.

I can't actually complain, really. It's not as if I haven't had it good...maybe not excellent, but good. I can choose my time to do what I want, unless it is dictated by others who demand my time at their pleasure. At most these demands are entertained after juggling my nearly non-existing pressure of life. I can take a look what's behind my eyelids whenever there is nothing else to do, even though in actuality there is plenty to do. Just that doing what plenty there is to do means that I have to do without having to lift any brain muscle which bothers me.

However, having to use my brain muscle as it is at this moment really is even more counter productive. I will wallow even deeper into the dark abyss of darkness and turn into such vegetated state that I am unable to focus on what really need to be done.

And I digress....what's new? ;-)

Distraction..

2009-04-12T23:31:00.003+08:00

I have been wanting to do more in this blog, but it seems that I am much distracted by happenings around me, plus the advent of facebook and scrabble on line have greatly distracted me. But as scrabble of facebook takes ages to upload, finally I am ready to let it slide. Partly being such a sour grape on the issue that I seem to always be on the losing side and my statistics have not improved by a single iota....I deem ready to say goodbye to it and stick to the traditional board game....

Kuih Cek Mek Molek and Kuih Keria

2009-02-19T10:00:00.025+08:00

Sweet Potatoes or Ubi Keledek, in Malay, is a very versatile tuber. The shoots and tuber can be eaten as a vegetable and also be used in sweet and savoury dishes. In Malay cuisine, these tubers at times, especially during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, is used as a staple food to replace rice.

There are several varieties of Sweet Potatoes, the more common ones are the orange and whitish-yellow. Purple and red can also be found, mostly imported from Japan. Sweet potatoes can be baked (it can be simply put onto a dying ember and baked until cooked), fried like banana fritters, made into chips like potato chips, or prepared and a sweet dessert called pengat (where the potatoes are cubed and boiled with sugar and coconut milk or in water, sugar and ginger).

The Orange sweet potatoes are sweeter and retains more water compared to the whites . However, the white potatoes give more structure and at times these two are used together in kuihs, like Cek Mek Molek, Belotok, Cucur Badak and Keria.

Cek Mek Molek ( which means "Beautiful Lady") and Belotok share similar looks, the difference is in the filling. Cek Mek Molek (which comes for the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia) is sweet, while Belotok (which originates from the Northern Peninsular of Malaysia) is savoury, with either spicy beef or chicken filling. Cucur Badak, which is also a savoury kuih is filled with prawn coconut sambal. Meanwhile, keria is a Asian version of a doughnut and instead of plain sugar, the sugar is cooked in a thick syrup and then stirred with the Keria to form a delicious crystallised outer layer. Thus, creating a crunchy texture that contrasts against the softness of the kuih.

Following is the method of making Cek Mek Molek and Keria. I hope you will enjoy trying it out!

Boiled Sweet potatoes. Boil the potatoes with the skin on to ensure that it doesn't become too water logged and make sure to remove the potatoes once cooked. Check by piercing with a fork. You can see the fork marks on the sweet potatoes below.

Skins off.
Mash till fine. Remove any stringy particles. Do not use food processor or you'll end up with a gluey mess. It's easier to mash while the potatoes are still warm.
At least 20% weight of flour to weight of mashed sweet potatoes. Meaning if you have a kilo of mashed sweet potatoes add at least 200gm of all purpose flour. Do not decrease. You may increase another 5-10% if the sweet potatoes are watery (That is why it is good to boil the potatoes with their skin on and remove immediately once it is cooked). Do not exceed more than that unless you want to lose the nice yummy sweet potato flavour. Also add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every kilo of sweet potatoes. The salt is just to enhance the sweetness.
Mix and knead until you can form a ball. It should be slightly sticky and malleable. Not dry or hard. If initially you have added all the flour and it is still a bit wet, you can let it stand for 20 minutes for the dough to become drier before proceeding.
Divide doughs. I usually weigh the balls 30gm for Keria and 40 gm for Cek Mek Molek/Belotok.
This is where the recipes differ, following is the making of Cek Mek Molek/Belotok. You take a a ball of the weighed dough and flatten it.
Place a teaspoon of sugar in the middle, if you are making Cek Mek Molek, or a teaspoon of the savoury filling if you are making Belotok. The filling of the Belotok is similar to the Karipap (Curry puff) but without the potatoes in it. It tastes more like a rendang than a curry.
Fold the dough into 2 and crimp the edges. Make sure it is crimped nice and tight, otherwise the filling may leak during the frying process.
Roll the dough to make a nice clean 'torpedo' shape.
The completed Cek Mek Moleks ready for frying.
Heat oil, and fry. Continuously turning to make sure that the kuih is fried evenly. Otherwise one side may bloat and cause it to cook unevenly.
Drain on kitchen towels.
And NGAAAAAP!
For the Keria, once you have weighed the dough, shape it into torus (or doughnut) shape, by pushing your index finger in the middle of the dough and at the same time turning the dough around the finger like it's a hula hoop.
Frying is similar to the Cek Mek Molek, only that you don't need to turn it often. Just once the once side is golden brown, you can flip it over to fry the other side.
Drain it on kitchen towels. The camera is a bit blurry because of the steam from the kuihs.
Once the Keria is cooled, you can make the sugar caramel. Around 1 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoon of water in a kuali or saucepan, heated until bubbly and all the sugar has dissolved. Make sure it hasn't started caramelising. Add the cooled Keria, take the kuali off the heat and stir gently to make sure the sugar will cover the kuih and at the same time create the crystallisation of sugar adhering to the outside of the keria.

Yummy!

For My Friend....

2009-02-18T16:23:00.016+08:00

who has decided to cut all ties to everything white. Here I have 'created' or rather adapted a delicious oatmeal raisin cookie from Recipezaar that will be an answer to your challenge .

250 gms butter with 250 gm brown sugar and 100g white sugar (you can make it all brown sugar if you want to eliminate all whiteness or you can even eliminate the white totally for less caloric intake) and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the bowl on the top right. 280gm whole wheat flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda, whisked in the left top bowl . 2 eggs with 2 teaspoons vanilla essence in the small blue bowl. 300gm old fashioned rolled oats in the bowl on the bottom right. Please don't even think of using those instant oats as the cookies will end up tasting like sawdust. Because my son doesn't like raisins, I will divide the dough into two and add 200gm chocolate chips in one half and 250 gm of raisins in the other half. Husband and daughter loves raisins...

Cream butter, sugar and salt until creamy but not overly light.

Add eggs and vanilla essence.

Mix well but do not over do it.

Add and fold in all the flour.

Put in the oats and fold.

I then divide the dough into two, roughly around 650gm each bowl and in one I pour in the chocolate chips and the other the raisins.

Using a #60 scoop, I scoop the dough out to a parchment lined baking sheet. I press the dough slightly flat.

Place in a preheated oven 175C for 11-15 minutes. Rotating when necessary. Cool once out of the oven and Bon Appetit!

Note: I probably would add a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg in the dough to enhance the flavours.

So, to my white-challenged friend, I hope you will enjoy this cookie recipe. Just remember to eat only one every day, and not 3 in 1/2 hour like I did. ;-)

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

2009-02-03T21:38:00.010+08:00

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies? It may not be something that brings back childhood memories (because our mothers didn't bake chocolate chip cookies then) but it does give you warm fuzzy feeling when you have one or a bag full.

My biggest problem was that I never really had a good recipe which didn't need tweaking, or so I thought. I always ended up having to add more of something especially when the first time round the cookies were to flat or too thin.

Cookies tend to be nice big saucer like and this is so unMalaysian. We like lots of coconut milk in our nasi lemak and condensed milk in our Milo or teh tarik, but we can't stand big saucer like cookies. We like them cute and the size just nice to pop in the mouth without biting.

Recently I decided to scour through the many baking books I own to see the difference between one recipe to the other and also whether there were any tips missing in my technique that made my cookie most of the time delicious but flat like a board.

To my surprise! Most of the cookbooks have something same or similar! There may be variations in type of fat used or amount of chocolate chips added in or the optional desire to add other ingredients of nuts or fruits. The bottom line the recipes are basically the same.

A couple of tips that I discovered from the research was that the type of fat and the refrigeration of the dough effects the spread and flavour. Using half butter and half good quality vegetable shortening helps the retard spread and still ensures buttery taste. While keeping the dough an hour to 36 hours in the fridge also helps minimise spread and enhances the flavour. There was a test done in one of the books that claims the cookies baked from the 36 hours dough won hands down.

So here is the recipe:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening ( I use Crisco)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 cups of chocolate chips

1. Sift the flour with baking soda. Add the salt and whisk.

2. Cream the butter and shortening with the sugar until creamy and light (4 minutes or so). Do not over cream, remember you are not making cake!. Add eggs, one at a time and mix one minute each and add the vanilla essence.

3. Combine the dry ingredients in two parts and then add the chocolate chips. Fold.

4. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for an hour or up to 36 hours. You can form it into logs to ease cutting and baking or like me I use a small scoop to shape before baking. You can pre shape the cookies and keep in the freezer for up to a month. Make sure it is tightly wrapped. You can bake it straight out of the freezer but you may need a couple of minutes longer in the oven.

5. When ready to bake, preheat oven 175C, cut or scoop dough onto a baking tray. You can use baking paper as a liner. Bake for 15-18 minutes depending on size. Rotate tray halfway to ensure even baking.

6. Leave on pan for 5 -10 minutes before removing from tray and let cool before eating. Keep in an airtight container.

Note: You can of course add nuts if you like, preferably coarsely chopped otherwise it will add to the density of the dough. In Bakewise by Shirley O. Corriher, she added 3 cups roasted, salted and chopped pecans in her recipe. I can't wait to try those, just have to wait until the current batch of cookies are depleted and get some pecans from the shop.

Bon Appetit!

Obsessions

2009-02-01T16:16:00.002+08:00

I have been neglecting my blog for some unknown reason. It is not because I do not have material to fill it up but I guess part of the problem is that we have only one computer at home and my daughter has now learnt the fun of computers and will always be hovering at the background when I am trying to find my muse...

Apart from discovering facebook...and scrabble on facebook...

Apart from trying to improve my bowling, which forces me out of the house for at least some part of the 3 days in a week...

Apart from having two kids going to school...getting them ready for school and also cooking and cleaning...

Ahhh! THAT is life and I have no plans in complaining... ;-)

Bingka Ubi.

2008-07-16T17:19:00.017+08:00

I really dislike when food writers tend to mislabel food. It really shows that they have failed to do their homework and take lightly the history behind the cuisine.

Take for example Bingka Ubi. It is actually a very basic Malay kuih (kuih - meaning cake in malay). A food writer who writes for The Star had labeled Malay kuihs as Nyonya Kuihs without making any reference to the origin of Nyonya cuisine. Apart from Pulut Telang most of the Kuih she labeled as Nyonya Kuihs actually are of Malay origin. However, the Nyonyas, to some extent, have made the kuih's more commercial by adding vibrant colours and sago to make it more manageable.

Ubi literally means tubers. Ubi Kentang being Potatoes, Ubi Keledek being Sweet Potatoes and Ubi Kayu being Tapioca. Ubi Kayu (Kayu - Wood) is such named as when the tuber is left too long in the earth, it becomes woodlike and unedible. There are two types of tapioca, white and yellow. The latter being the sweeter version.

Ubi Kayu is a plant that is easy to propagate. Cut the stem into 1 foot long or slightly less and just stick in freshly turned earth with the buds facing upwards. Apart from being easy to propagate, it is also very low maintenance. Make sure that the earth is properly turned or tilled, so that the root will have sufficient space to grow, and water it on hot days. Other than that it can be left as it grows, unless it is grown in an area where there is wild boar. Tapioca is a favourite food of theirs.

The young shoots of the plant can be cooked as a vegetable. Just blanch it until softened and it is ready to be eaten with Sambal Belacan. Or after blanching it, cook with shallots, belacan, dried whitebait and coconut milk for Masak Lemak. Delicious with hot steaming rice and just fried turmeric salted mackerel. Are you salivating already?

Normally the plant is left to grow until it is 6 feet or so. One way to check to see when it is ready for harvest, is to clear abit of the earth around the base of the tree. If you see that the root is around 4-5 inches or so in circumference it is ready. Cut the tree trunk to around 3-4 feet. Clear the base from any grass or vegetation and slowly clear the earth in a circle of 3 feet. Using a small shovel or hand held cangkul, clear the earth, being careful not to damage the root. Once the root is partly exposed, start rocking the trunk of the tree by pushing and pulling it. The earth will move where the roots are located. Clear it to ensure easy removal. Once you can pull the trunk out with the roots, dig the earth to make sure you have not left any of the useable roots behind.

From personal experience, it is hard but fun work. Get a few people to help out, preferably children (cheap labour!) and supervised by adults. The pulling out part should be done by adults (preferably the men - but from experience the women end up doing this! It's starting to sound like the Hen and the Wheat story!). The effort is worthwhile once you pop a piece of hot boiled tapioca in your mouth!

Tapioca was a starch replacement during the Japanese Occupation years, when rice was a scarce commodity. My father used to tell me stories of those times. My mother was luckier as my maternal grandfather was a plumber therefore during those years could exchange his service for rice.

There are several ways to eat tapioca. First you need to clean it by removing the earth. Cut the root into manageable pieces. Make a shallow slit on the side. The root is covered by two layers of skin. Remove both layers by using the tip of the knife under the second layer of skin and pushing it off the flesh of the root. The layers will easily be removed. Once the roots are skinned, the best thing to do is to place the pieces in water. This will prevent the flesh from oxidising and also help remove any bitterness. From thereon you have a choice of boiling it in salted water, or grating the flesh to make kuih or patties.

The simplest way of cooking it will be to boil it in salted water until it can be pierced with a fork. You can eat hot it with sugar (I know it's not healthy...but that's the way I like it!), with shredded palm sugar and coconut or with sambal tumis. YUM! The important thing to remember that there is an in edible string in the root that needs to be removed before eating or grating.

After grating tapioca, some cooks squeeze water out of the grated flesh and leave the water to stand. A sediment will form. They will throw away the water and add the sediment to the flesh to be used. They believe by doing so it will remove any bitterness. So far I have not encountered any bitterness even if I skip this step. But it does help to drain a little bit of the liquid to make sure that the end product is not too watery.

So back to Bingka Ubi. If a type of Kuih uses the name Bingka, it means that it has been baked. Talam is used if it has been steamed and Lepat if it cooked steamed in individual parcels of banana leaf.

The ingredients: Grated Tapioca, Sugar, Coconut Milk (fresh or boxed/canned), Eggs and Salt. Mix everything together. Pour into a greased tin and bake in 200C oven for 45-60 minutes. If you want it to be nice and brown on top, grill it for a couple of minutes until the top is golden brown. Cool, then remove from tin and slice.

The recipe I used is from a booklet titled 'Malaysian Cakes and Dessert' written by Rohani Jelani and published by Periplus. I find that recipes written by Rohani Jelani are usually dependable and doable. The bingka turned out just like in the photo. The sweetness was just enough to highlight the tapioca without overwhelming it. It is 'lemak' from the coconut milk and the texture softly chewy. A piece is not enough!

Happy salivating!

China Treasures at Sime Darby Convention Centre

2008-07-01T13:55:00.032+08:00

China Treasures at Sime Darby Convention Centre.

This was my first visit there. I have been to their sister restaurant Halia a couple of times for buka puasa and dinner.

China Treasures serves Halal Chinese Cuisine. Currently they are having a dimsum buffet lunch promotion of RM33++ per person with a minimum of 2 people.

I love dimsum. The portions are small and it is always nice to go in a group of friends as you can order a great variety and share and share a like. Razman is not really a fan of dimsum. He prefers the fried rice and the chinese beefsteak, so this time round I have resisted from doing the buffet. Instead we ordered the fried rice and a few selection of dimsums.

Boneless Beef Shank. Very tasty. Moist and flavourful. Melts in the mouth. The beef was cold, not really sure whether that is normal.

Fried Rice with Salted Egg and Seafood. The salted egg left a dusty taste of yolk that was suprisingly not salty at all. The squid was cut in minute pieces and prawns were very fresh.

Crystal Prawn Dumplings is one of my must orders. The skin was translucent and the prawns crunchy.
Prawns in Rice Rolls is another must order. Extra smooth to the tounge and the sauce slight saltiness really pairs well with the blandness of the rice rolls. My favourite!

Steamed Chicken Siew Mai. Spongy. The mushroom earthy taste really cuts through the chicken flavour and gives a nice contrast.

Chicken Claws with Peanuts. My daughter's favourite. The claws were partly deboned. Very soft and jellified. The sauce was a balance of sweet, sour and salty. The peanuts were soft without being mushy . It will be a repeat order the next time we come here. Some people balk at eating chicken claws. They are claims that this is actually good for the skin. Personally, I like it because it is delicious.

Mini Egg Tarts are my son's favourite dessert. The pastry left a slight greasiness on the palate but all is forgiven with the extra smooth custard and flakiness of the crust. I could down all three, but had to share with husband and son.

Overall, the food was good. However,as I did not go for the dimsum buffet, I can't really say much about the other dishes. The service was slow and the waiter who served us was a tad clumsy. Discounting that, I definitely would come again.

China Treasures

Sime Darby Convention Centre

1A, Jalan Bukit Kiara 1,

60000 Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

Tel: 603 2089 3788 Fax: 603 2089 3699
chinatreasures.sdcc@simedarby.com

Happy Birthday!

2008-07-01T12:51:00.018+08:00

On the 29th June 2008 2.30pm at KLGCC bowling alley, Sura, Ina, Tape and Me invited some friends to celebrate our joint birthdays in May and June. We had bowling and food. Teams for formed via balloting. There were prizes for best team, best bowler and LQ- Longkang Queen.

The best bowling team comprised of Tape, Ina and Me, but because we were the hosts, we disqualified ourselves and therefore the first place went to Team BOOBee; Rock, Etty and Bee. Best bowler was Tape, and again because she was one of the hosts, the prize went to Bee. Longkang Queen was Zuri. She managed to dethrone Zura...

With Shima. I haven't met her since her Asasi Sains years! She is on a two-week break from her PhD studies in Ireland.

Donie, Datin Norzie, Tape, Me and Ina. Just before Norzie had to leave...busy lady always having curfews. Thanks for the Telekung. Donie and Lila, Thanks for the Japanese Cookbook. Still figuring out how you knew I didn't have that particular book.

The cake I made for the birthday party. The '4' is chocolate and the '0' is butter.

The group who made it. Some had to leave early. Thank you to all of you who came. Thank you Sura, you are THE HOSTESS TO THE MOSTEST!

Soft, white Baps.

2008-06-24T12:44:00.009+08:00

In my search of the origins of Baps, I have discovered other more 'modern' meaning to the word 'Baps'. Partly to the shape of these soft flatish buns, their name, is what describes a certain female anatomy that looks like two of these squidgy breads set side by side...

It is said that Baps are Scottish. There is also a sweeter Irish variation where currants (the smaller version of raisins) are added. The true scottish version is more floury and savoury. Typically used as an edible receptacle for sausages, cheeses and the likes.

Dan Lepard is one of my favourite British bakers and cookbook author and the following recipe is from his webpage DanLepard.com

From left, the flour, cornflour and sugar in the smaller bowl, melted butter, milk and water in the pyrex cup, salt in the small glass bowl and the sponge in the bigger bowl.

Because of the sponge, the kneading time was very minimal and the resting between kneading and shaping was only 15-20minutes.
The photo shows the balls of dough before proving.

After 45 -60 minutes or so... Sift some flour on top before popping them in the oven for that authentic scottish look.

After 25 minutes in the oven. I forgot to take pictures of the internal crumbs. Remembered only after it was finished...and it flew out of the kitchen with a blink of an eye!

I am going to the kitchen now and make some for the crumb photos...

Sotong masak kunyit (Turmeric Squids)

2008-06-24T11:15:00.007+08:00

This is one of my children's favourite dish. My daughter, as I write, is asking whether I can cook this for lunch today... It is actually a very simple and quick dish that my mother use to cook for me and taught me when I was very young.

The ingredients are very easy to find. The only hard part is cleaning the squids. Clean the squid by pulling the tentacles from the main body, removing the ink sac and the eyelets. Cut in half. Removing the soft bone from the body and cutting it open, scrapping whatever is inside. I usually keep the egg sac...love the gummy stuff! Remove the skin. Thereon you could choose to slice it in smaller strips or score and keep it whole. It's your choice. I prefer to slice it in smaller pieces as it cooks faster. Then you wash the squids and drain it. Add a teaspoon of turmeric.

From left: Turmeric coated squids, tamarind water (you can use seedless tamarind paste diluted with water), chilli slices, sliced onion, julienned ginger, sliced garlic and sliced shallots.

Heat up a wok with a little bit of oil until hot but not smoking and sautee the chillies, ginger and shallots until fragrant. You can literally smell the frangrance and your tummy will start to rumble. Immediately add the squids and garlic continue to stir fry, just for a couple of minutes. Then add the onions and the tamarind water. Season to taste. Stir for another couple of minutes and you are done!

The dish is really delicious with steaming hot white rice and simple cut cucumbers on the side.

Bon Apetit!

Those yummilicous waffles.

2008-06-19T22:07:00.015+08:00

When I am interested in something, I tend to be a bit obsessive. I used to collect self-help book due to whatever reasons. Am over that, but then came the writing-poetry phase. Collected whatever book worth collecting on the subject matter. Currently I am trying to wean myself off cookbook addicition. I may need to form a Cookbookaholic Anonymous, as pointed out by a friend that my wish list in amazon.com will show you my need for 8 pages of books listed on how to bake the same cake or bread 1001 ways, apart from the others books in the list which includes 1001 ways to ten pin bowling, a sport I am currently obsessing about, 1001 ways to write poetry and fiction, 1001 ways to take the perfect photo, sewing, retail and so on.

I have, in that particular list, added a kitchen equipment, but because Amazon doesn't ship kitchen equipments to Malaysia, the list remains as one item to remind me to get that doughnut dropper. Something that I have not found here yet. I think it is because Malaysian just doesn't appreciate the yumminess of the American style fritter doughnuts. We are deluged with the yeast raised doughtnuts with all those branches of doughnut franchise all over KL and Selangor, which to my opinion tasteless, except for the toppings.

One of my favourite food is waffles. I love waffles since I was very young. Hot and drenched with maple syrup and melting butter, it is the ultimate breakfast food. Even better when there are sausages and sunny side up eggs.

We used to have a waffle maker when I was small. My father brought it back from U.S when he came back from his Sabbatical in Santa Babara. It was used so often that the teflon surface lost all its non stickiness! Therefore I was so happy to fork out my money when I saw this Waffle maker being sold at a discount in Bangsar Shopping Complex. I didn't even stop to think and didn't even ask beloved husband if he will contribute his moolah to buy it. Of course we know the answer, if we were to ask him...the typical "Do you really need this?" or "Do you need to use it now?"....I rest my case.

Anyway, here is my adventures in making waffles, after testing some recipes from those 1001 books on how to make waffles:

Sift 300g flour and 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder in the big bowl and add 50g sugar. 3 eggs with a cup of milk with a teaspoon vanilla essence. 110 gm butter melted. You could add a whole 220gm of butter for a more sinfully crunchy and yummy waffle...but I am on a diet ;-). There is another school of thought on the matter, where you separate the egg yolks with the whites. Add the yolk with the milk and whisk the white until soft peak and fold into the batter at the end. But hey! I am feeling a bit lazy today and this recipe works without the extra work

Make a well and pour all dry ingredients. Notice that nifty batter whisk from WMF? Did I tell you I am an obsessive collector...

Mix everything just until it comes together. Don't mind the lumps.

Switch on the waffle maker and wait till the light goes off.

Spray the waffle maker with some oil.

Pour an estimate of 1/3 cup for each waffle.

Close and holding to the handle turn the whole thing upside down so that the batter will be even.

Wait till the steam disappears...

Serve immediately with a pat of butter and plenty of maple syrup....I am salivating!

Nasi Dhal Tok Det

2008-06-18T11:46:00.038+08:00

It was my Birthday last month. My children asked their Abah to buy me a cookbook because they know how much I love collecting cookbooks. The cookbook they bought me was Selera Perdana by Habibah Yahaya and Fadillah Yakin. I eyed this cookbook for some time but with the price of RM200+ I balked at buying it. This book features the 4 Former Malaysian Prime Ministers, the recipes of dishes they like to eat or serve at Seri Perdana, the Official Residence of The Prime Minister and also a lot of recipes from the former housekeeper of Seri Perdana.

The first recipe I tried was the Nasi Dal featured in Tun Mahathir Mohamad's section. As my husband 's family is from Kedah (one of the nothern states of Malaysia) and also related to Tok Det (as he is familiarly called), I thought it was appropriate that I tried this recipe first.

From the photo, you can see that photography is very well done. Most of the ingredients are listed and photographed in the opening pages. There are kitchen hints and tips included too.

Each section features a particular Prime Minister, his history and contribution, food and lifestyle. There are excerpts of interviews of people close to him and also a section of his favourite recipes.

All proceeds of the sale of the book goes to charity particularly to assist single mothers.

Following is my attempt to try out the recipe:

Garlic, onion, ginger, cinammon stick, cardamom, cloves, screwpine leaves, coconut milk and lemon grass.

Basmati Rice and dhal soaked for 15 minute with a little bit of tumeric.

Sautee the garlic, onion, spices and lemongrass in a little oil and ghee until fragrant.

Add the drained rice and dhal with the screwpine leaves. Coat the grains with the oil.

Pour everything into the innerpot of a rice cooker. Add water and coconut milk. Salt to taste. Switch on the rice cooker and leave it to cook.

Viola! Nasi Dhal Tok Det... Really nice with Daging Masak Hitam, a nothern beef dish which you can find in some good Mamak Restaurants. It would be nicer if I had some fried shallots.

Verdict? Hubby and daughter loved it. Redza picked out the dhal and put it on the side.

As if my plate is not full already...

2008-05-21T14:16:00.019+08:00

The article has been moved to http://skbj-pibg.blogspot.com

Thank you

The Fairy Tooth comes visiting...

2008-05-20T09:26:00.006+08:00

Redza just recently celebrated his 6th birthday in April and lost his first tooth a week later. I noticed that there was a new tooth behind his milk tooth when we went to the doctor.

The new incisor is double the size of the old one and is a bit crooked due to insufficient space provided by the old one. I am waiting for him to lose the other milk incisor in a month, otherwise to the dentist we go.

He was hoping the tooth fairy would come visiting, but unfortunately the tooth fairy needed a sabbatical...

Personal Agenda

2008-04-30T18:10:00.004+08:00

Main Entry: 1per·son·al
Pronunciation: \ˈpərs-nəl, ˈpər-sə-nəl\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French personel, from Late Latin personalis, from Latin persona
Date: 14th century
1: of, relating to, or affecting a particular person : private, individual
2 a: done in person without the intervention of another; also : proceeding from a single person
b: carried on between individuals directly
3: relating to the person or body
4: relating to an individual or an individual's character, conduct, motives, or private affairs often in an offensive manner
5 a: being rational and self-conscious
b: having the qualities of a person rather than a thing or abstraction
6: of, relating to, or constituting personal property
7: denoting grammatical person
8: intended for private use or use by one person

Main Entry: agen·da
Pronunciation: \ə-ˈjen-də\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, neuter plural of agendum, gerundive of agere
Date: 1871
1 : a list or outline of things to be considered or done
2 : an underlying often ideological plan or program

I have been...

2008-04-15T11:11:00.009+08:00

wanting to try baking this cookie since I saw it in Dorie's book Paris Sweets: Great Desserts Pastry . In that book the cookies were called Korova cookies. It was also in her newer book Baking from My Home to Yours but renamed to World Peace Cookies. The name change was suggested by her friend, who loved it so much and claimed that if everyone were to have eaten this cookie there would be world peace. I wish it was that easy!

At last a couple of days ago, when I decided that it is about time I used up my precious cache of premium professional 70% chocolate and cocoa powder, I tried out this cookie recipe. What is the main difference between this recipe with the normal run-of-the mill recipes? One thing for sure, it uses salt. Not a pinch but at least 1/2 teaspoon of fleur de sel. And some of you may ask, "What in earth is 'fleur de sel'?" Fleur de sel is french for flower of the salt. It is expensive sea salt, normally harvested from off the coast of Brittany in France. It is mineral rich which attributes to its grey colour. It is usually used as a final seasoning before one partakes food...in other words you sprinkle it on your food before eating. In the cookie recipe you may replace the fleur de salt with normal fine table salt but only 1/4 teaspoon. The cookie is not salty at all, but the salt and the amount of it enhances the sweetness and the chocolate factor.

The other difference in this recipe is that there is no egg, or milk. Therefore the taste of the chocolate and cocoa defines the cookie. Therefore it is worth to invest in top quality ingredients. Use at least 60% chocolate (meaning there is at least 60% cocoa in the chocolate).

It is the closest sibling to a brownie in a cookie form. The taste of chocolate is very clear and leaves no question unanswered. It would be delicious accompanied with milk. The cookie is abit crumbly but you would not want to waste any crumbs...

Domestic Goddess? ...I think not!

2008-04-14T09:42:00.011+08:00

I have been maidless for nearly a year now and domestic goddess I am not. I love cooking and baking but cleaning up afterwards and doing laundry is not my favourite past time. I don't mind loading up the washing machine and hanging out the laundry but ironing and folding is not what I call fun. I force myself, literally to do it when things seems to get out of hand, especially today when I look at the spare bed in my daughter's room starting to look like Mount Clean Laundry. Razman is forced to iron his own shirt to work, not that he complains but I am sure some MCP out there are dying to stake me up and tear me limb to limb.

But then I may able to avert such action by offering the said MCs (I am not referring to any specific boys' fartenity...opps I meant fraternity;-) here ) this lovely extra moist chocolate cake I tried for Nigella Lawson's " How to be a Domestic Goddess":

It's a very easy cake that requires very little handling. The only weird part was that it uses boiling water (not 'boiled' water, mind you there is a difference). I was a bit apprehensive about that part, worrying that I will end up with a puddle of oily scrambled eggs. Much to my relief, no such thing happened. The batter was quite liquid and when its time in the oven was up, it didn't really look 'done' like other cakes. I followed directions to the 't' and happy to report that it came out exactly and described.

It was not Super chocolaty, due to the fact that there is only 1 chocolate ( and I used the best quality I could lay my hands on) element in it and only 100g of it but Super moist it is. Important thing to remember is to wait till it is cool to remove from the pan, otherwise you end up with hot mush. As claimed, I had a piece today of what's left of it after three days, it certainly does improve with age.

There goes my thighs....

Fried Noodles

2008-04-10T13:50:00.007+08:00

From top left: Bean sprouts, fried tofu, fresh tomatoes (cut into eight) , sliced beef, pepper, oyster sauce, tomato ketchup, sweet soy sauce, fresh noodles, mustard leaves and sliced shallots.

Heat wok and add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Saute shallots till golden and add chili paste if you want the noodles to be hot. Saute till fragrant.

Add beef and continue sauteing.

Add all the vegetables except beansprouts ( beansprouts are added last after cooking is nearly done). Stir and season with oyster sauce, pepper, soy sauce, tomato ketchup. Taste and add salt if needed. Stir fry till vegetables are slightly wilted and add the noodles. If too dry add a little stock or water. Then add the noodles and continue stirring. Finally just before you take it off the heat add the beansprouts and fried sliced tofu.

Viola! Ready to be eaten in less than 30 minutes! You can add or exchange the vegetables to something else like cabbage and such, but remember to cut so that able to cook quickly.

Tin/Aluminium....

2008-04-10T12:36:00.009+08:00

Yes, it is that time of year again...we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this Friday 11th April 2008. 10 years ago, I was up to my neck with wedding preparation. I made all the bunga telur and hantaran myself with some help from my mother and sister. Unfortunately, this year's celeberation has to be postponed to a later date as my other half is on his way to JB till Sunday.

10 years may have passed but I am still as 'cute' as ever and him even 'cuter' still. There is a major reason why the photo is cropped as such... :-). No more moustache and lots of gray hair. Of course he will claim that is due to the fact of being married to me. Hahaha!

My question of "How and why did I ever marry you?", which I have asked him numerous occasions have been answered by his card to me.

Till next year....

Breakfast last Sunday.

2008-02-13T09:29:00.001+08:00

Eat your heart out! ;-) Orang Malaysia tak heranlah....

Ayam Panggang (Grilled Chicken)

2008-01-31T21:16:00.001+08:00

Happy New Year everyone. Today I was so inspired that I decided to document one of my favourite dishes, Ayam Panggang (Grilled Chicken) sometimes also known as Ayam Percik. Percik means Splatter . It is called such because when we grill the chicken we have to splatter the gravy to baste the chicken.

To my new friend (you know who you are ;-)) I have added photos of the ingredients so that you can identify it by sight. To Peanut, whom I promised this recipe, I hope this helps. Enjoy this and comments are most welcomed!

This is fresh Lengkuas or known in English as Galanghal.

These are the ingredients: Clockwise from top is the lemon grass, galanghal, dried shrimp paste (belacan), fresh red chillies, garlic, tomatoes, Onion and ginger.

Clock wise from top: Chicken cleaned and quartered, Mortar and pestle (lesung batu in Malay), (plate on the right) crushed galanghal, tomatoes in eighths and crushed lemon grass,(plate on the left) ginger, chillies, garlic, onion and dried shrimp paste (belacan).

Chillies, onion, garlic, ginger and dried shrimp paste have been blended in my small Phillips hand held foodprocessor. Add the rest of the ingredients plus 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, 2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoon brown sugar and 400 ml coconut milk (I like it extra creamy. You can add 200ml and top up with water). Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add a couple dashes of freshly ground pepper. Some people would add 1/2 a cup of crushed roasted peanuts, but because my son has peanut allergy this is not possible.

Add the chicken. I like to add the giblets too. You can cut the chicken in half, or butterfly the chicken. I didn't because I don't have a big enough saucepan.

When the chicken is partly cooked, remove and continue simmering the gravy until thick as shown. Taste it and adjust seasoning as required.

Preheat the grill or BBQ and baste the gravy and grill.

Turn it once brown, baste with gravy and continue grilling till nice and brown and fully cooked.

Bon Appetit! Nice eaten with rice or still good with bread and salad on the side! My son said it was delicious!

Un-inspired

2007-11-28T14:29:00.001+08:00

What can I say? The title says it all. It is not because insufficient materials. I have loads, but I am just uninspired or rather more accurate unmotivated to write. It is not a good thing, as it shows my total lack of discipline and at this moment, it's something I can't afford to dwell on.

I hate sounding so pathetic but that is how I am feeling now. I have no wish to wallow in it but it is difficult to pull yourself out of muck.

It's school holidays and whatever rigid schedule there was during the school year has been blown apart!

Whatever it is, it is not easy to write in here. I want to be truthful and honest about myself but is this the right medium? No one can understand even not myself... if you get my meaning. Will you think of me differently...

Not that it matters...

The Lake House.

2007-09-27T11:08:00.001+08:00

I love chick flicks. Really love them. Recently we managed to buy a coffee table cum TV table and hooked up the TV borrowed from my friend (Thanks Chique!) to a DVD player. The TV has actually been sitting on the floor for the past five months! We bought a new remote control and also a whatchamacalit cable that makes the visual much-much clearer.

After that my husband went on a DVD/VCD shopping spree. Of course no chick flicks...

So the first chance I get to go to the DVD shop I managed to buy 2 DVDs. 1 is 'The Good Year' (hubby paid for this one) and the other was 'The Lake House' (I paid for this one, it was on sale).

Two nights ago, I gave husband a choice to choose which movie he wanted to watch first and his answer was 'The Good Year' starring Russel Crowe. The reason why he chose that one was because he doesn't want to replace the image of NEO from Matrix with some soppy tear eyed chick flick hero. Hey! I love Russel Crowe, but he just doesn't cut it as a romance hero, especially when the story is told only with his perspective. We'll get into the details in another post.

Yesterday, while he was in JB (husband that is...not Russell!) I watched 'The Lake House'. I was blown away, can't help myself and watched it again this morning! In the Lake house, Keanu Reeves is no longer 'the pretty faced boy'. You can see the wrinkles et al and to me that gives more character to his 'deadpan' delivery. I actually like his 'deadpanness'. It creates a mysterious air about him, inscrutable. Yet in this movie he, as Alex Wyler, shows how much he actually understand his father more than his brother and helps make his brother understand their father better.

I also like Sandra Bullock as Dr Kate Forster. I prefer her better in this movie than all the comedy acting she has done before. I think she acts better when she takes it slow and easy. I think both Keanu and Sandra have good chemistry and it shows.

The plot has its twists, not unexpected but delivery was so well done that it came as a delight. First time watching you do get a little confused with the story and time line but when I watched it again it was not as confusing.

To me, one of the better chick flicks... no full nudity or sex scene required for a good movie and The Lake House proved this!

UPDATE: The Lake House will be screened by HBO (Channel 411) on the 7th October 9 pm. Other screening dates are on the 8,9,11,12,13 and 14th October, time varies,

Can't believe it...

2007-09-20T16:13:00.001+08:00

I have been published! Actually this is not the first time I have been published. I wrote to the Sun once and I also did a book review for Flavours...but this is the first time a full length article.

September/October Issue

The Scoop on Rendang

Me sans makeup: au naturale

I would like to thank Julie Wong, Flavours Editor, for making me sound so good and to Yap Chee Hong for making me look good (better than realitylah!). I would also like to thank all my sisters and makciks who helped me with the information (K. Sal,you are a gem!)

There is a writeup on rendang and 10 recipes including 3 serundings. Feel free to try out and send me comments!

Nasi Goreng...Nasi Goreng!

2007-09-19T15:06:00.001+08:00

Nasi goreng bukan sebarang nasi goreng! (Fried rice, not just any fried rice!) This is Nasi goreng Ala Man! Once you have it you would want more.

Poor Birthday boy! Instead of loving wife making him dinner for buka puasa, he had to cook! But this is his speciality: Nasi Goreng Ala Man!

Sautee the shallots until fragrant and lightly golden. (I just love men in uniform! *wink*)

The ingredients(from top left to right): Kicap Lemak Manis Cap Kipas Udang, dried shrimps (soaked in hot water, drained, and coarsely pounded), chopped spring onion, slices of lime (for the juice), reserved water from the soaked dried shrimps, pounded fresh chillies (you can use leftover sambal belacan), beef (cut thinly across the grain), shelled fresh shrimps and eggs. You also need yesterday's leftover rice and not to forget the sliced shallots are being sauteed (see 1st photo).

Shallots being sauteed with a little bit of oil in a very hot wok.

Add the dried shrimp and the reserved water. Stir fry and then add the beef and the fresh shrimps. Stir. Add the pounded chillies (or sambal belacan if using) and lime juice. Fry up till fragrant. Finally add the rice (make sure it is clumpless) and the soy sauce. Season to taste with salt and little bit of sugar.

Make a well in the middle and add the eggs. Once it is lightly set on the sides mix the rice to the eggs and continously stir on moderatley high heat. Add the spring onions last. Remove from fire and serve.

Viola! Nasi Goreng Ala Man...a tasty dish from the birthday boy (though he likes to add a dash of Lingham Cili Sauce on the side of a little bit more heat)

Bon Appetit!

Happy Birthday!

2007-09-15T23:36:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to you!
You were born in the zoo!
With the monkeys and kangaroos !
we all do love you!

New wrinkle sighted! Happy 43rd Virgoman... *mwaaaah*

Happy 50th!

2007-08-30T00:11:00.001+08:00

We are unique and we are individualistic.
I don't understand the need for a Bangsa Malaysia.
I am a Malay but I never thought my race is better than another.
I am a Muslim but I respect others' right for religion or otherwise.
I don't eat durian but I don't scoff at those who do.

Do we need to be a uni race to be unified?
God made Man and Woman.
Doesn't mean one is better than the other.
We are just different.
Do we need to be unisex to make this world a better place?

There are reasons (whatever they may be) of why we have;
different skin colours
different hair types
different facial characteristics
a hawk nose or a jemput-jemput one.

It makes life a more interesting experience.
Rather than a monochrome, single colour,
single race, single whatever...

We should celebrate our uniqueness
We have to commemorate our differences
We must bask in our harmonious diversity!

I am proud to be Malaysian!

Food glorious food....

2007-08-27T16:10:00.001+08:00

Because my husband goes to JB for his work, normally when we go along with him, breakfast is limited to the hotel breakfast buffet or what I happened to pack for the trip and lunch is dependent on my friends who come and visit me. :-)

So I usually look forward to dinner.When we go to JB this is a must place to go for dinner.

IT Roo is located along Jalan Dhoby. Prime real estate area. The buildings are very old but have been refurbished. The only problem with Jalan Dhoby area at night is the transvestites. It's not really safe to walk alone here, at night, due to the unsavoury visitors who come for their 'servicing'. Due to that, most of the shops along this area closes quite early.

This restaurant, however, opens until 10.00pm. It's fully air-conditioned and there are also tables outside for those who smoke. The decor is simple with old family photos, pictures of Johor during the colonial era. There are also some knick knack to remind us of yesteryears.

I love Sirap Bandung! And happy to say that IT Roo's Sirap bandung is fantastic. They use ice-cream soda, which makes it authentic Johorean drink. Reminds me of my wedding feast. My mother brought a cook specially from Muar and they served this drink for the kenduri.

This is the way to drink Hot Milo. The saucer for older teacup sets like this one has a deeper bowl. The larger surface makes cooling the Milo faster. Just make sure that the saucer is clean.

This is my son's favourite meal at IT Roo. The Egg Sandwich. Scrambled eggs on lightly toasted bread.

This is my daughter's favourite meal. My son likes eggs, while my daughter likes chicken. The peas are usually given to the Father. I always wondered what is the secret ingredient in Hainanese Chicken Chop. And I found that out on my first trip to IT Roo. I think the cook made a slight mistake of being a bit heavy handed on the secret ingredient that I could immediately identify it. Husband said he was wondering what it was until I told him and he agreed with me.

Anyway, the first time I went to IT Roo for dinner, due to the fact that the secret ingredient was a bit overwhelming and the chicken wasn't broiled properly, the chicken chop was a bit difficult to finish. However, on our later visits, the taste was properly balanced and the chicken was cooked better. I prefer the mushroom sauce myself, being a mushroom lover, but my daughter prefers the black pepper sauce.

This is the steak served here. Relatively same sauce. The steak is well done but not dry. Just nice, even for me who prefers medium cooked steak.

My husband tests a restaurant via his Nasi Goreng Index. The first thing he orders in a restaurant like this is the nasi goreng. And I am happy to say tha IT Roo has passed the Nasi Goreng Index. The prawns are super fresh, unfortunately the quota for each plate is 2 (edited: husband corrected me, I earlier thought there were 3).

So if you are in JB, do visit IT ROO at 17, Jalan Dhoby, Johor Bharu.

Another place to visit is Gerai Makanan Kacang Pool Haji at Medan Selera dan Bazaar Larkin.

My husband, a foodie himself, was raving about this stall and wanted me to have a taste. Kacang Pool has arabic origins. The dish is made from beans ( I will up date on the type of bean, later) cooked with tomatoes, onions and spices, until the beans are very soft. The beans is then mashed. Some cooks add minced beef or lamb in it, otherwise it could be a vegetarian dish.

Kacang Pool is usually garnished with a slice of lime, minced onion and green chillies. You can have an egg with it. Normally the egg is fried sunny side up ( the egg is cooked one side only and not flipped) with the yolk still runny. The yummy part is when you break the yolk and mix it with the kacang pool. Delish!

At Warung Makanan Kacang Pool Haji, the set of RM4.00 is served with a hunk of bread as shown. The bread is lightly toasted on both sides. You can either tear the bread and dunk in the bowl or place it in the bowl and eaten with the fork and spoon. Whichever choice you make don't forget to squeeze the lime. The lime juice brings the dish to another level of deliciousness.

The Kacang Pool served here is mild and not overly spicy. The serving is not too big and just nice for a snack. Just don't have this dish if you plan to go elsewhere as the gas you emit may kill someone!

The cendol I had was nice. Th cendol itself was soft and spongy but lacked the strong pandan taste. My cendol had kidney beans in it and with the kacang pool, it did make a explosive impact ;-). The santan was fresh and the gula melaka was authentic. A definite repeat order next time.

So if you are somewhere near Larkin, it's worth the visit. You can't miss the stall as it is the only one serving Kacang Pool at the Medan Selera and Baazar Larkin. It opens early and closes late at night.

Johor Bharu

2007-08-26T09:48:00.002+08:00

On the 19th August 2007, my family and I went to Johor Bharu. Husband had to go for his usual weekly work trip and because it was the school holidays, we decided to join him. This time round, with Dr. Nur's advice we decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency Johor Bharu. The top photo is the Clock tower in front of the Hotel. Husband says that is the largest working clock tower in South East Asia. Don't know where he got that information from. Following are some photos from our hotel room. We had a sea-view room. The main reason for choosing Hyatt was because of the pool. It had a larger pool and the pool had shady trees, compared to Puteri Pacific, the water at Hyatt's pool kept cool even at noon.

The next photo above is Hospital Besar Sultanah Aminah. As we arrived late evening, I didn't realize that we were so close to the hospital. All night there were traffic noises. If you drive pass the hospital at night it looks like Kingdom Hospital... I am sure there are stories to be told as the hospital is one of the oldest and probably one of the biggest in Malaysian.

The last photo is the scenery right in front of the hotel. I haven't had a chance to research about the site, but as I may be going to JB later during the longer school holidays, I will gather more information.

Staying in Hyatt Regency was a nice experience. The room was spacious and the air conditioning was not freezing. We could simply spread out the bedpread on the carpet and accomodate the 2 kids. As the hotel was fully booked we couldn't get spare beds, but it was alright. However, the problem was always breakfast. The coffee house where breakfast was served is beautiful but cramped. There is always not enough tables and I had to always wait for a place. The buffet area was way too tight. You can't help bumping into someone else when you are going around plating and choosing what you want for breakfast. The selection is also quite limited and with little variety daily. However, the wait staff are friendly and they do try to accomodate your requests.

The hotel, location wise, is not so favourable if you don't have a car. Unlike Puteri Pacific, where it is adjoining to Kota Raya, staying in Hyatt means that you are dependent on others to have lunch or dinner outside if you are without a car. Good thing I had Dr. Nur to help me out on that. Of course there are some food stalls and restaurants at a walking distance, but it is not conducive when you are with 2 small children.

This is Dr. Nur. She's my school mate and was my class mate for Form 1-3. She has her own clinic in JB and I have been visiting her during my trips to JB. Normally she will bring her 4 children to the hotel and swim with my 2 children. This time round, she took me to her clinic for a visit.

Redza playing patient and Doctor with Dr. Nur.

All the walls were covered with family photos or artwork by her children or by herself. The photo above, you can see the pencil drawing of her youngest child in the corner. She drew that. WOW! An Artist trapped in a Doctor's body! ;-)

I had fun of course, apart from the stress of Nur's hubby waiting for the roast chicken to cook. Next visit I'll make sure more info of JB and also maybe a trip to Singapore!

Kaab El Ghzal

2007-08-23T22:02:00.001+08:00

For my friend Chique:
Kaab el ghzal : Gazelle's horn. A middle eastern pastry filled with almond paste, sugar and orange essence. Divine! Eat some for me!

Diamonds Are Forever...

2007-08-23T21:22:00.001+08:00

Diamonds are forever was the theme for this year's OGA dinner. I wanted to wear what Jill St John wore in the James Bond movie but then we were forewarned of the dress code : nothing revealing. So I had to leave my diamond encrusted bikini at home and be happy wearing the Abayyah (sp?) Chique sent me from Doha. Unfortunately because beloved hubby bought batteries not suitable for my P&S camera, I only managed to capture a few photos before the camera decided to lose all power

Anyway, the menu was as follows; Cream of asparagus with croutons, Fish ( I forget what, but I think it was Bass) on a bed of oven baked pepper with some sauce (again I forget) and walnut parfait with banana chocolate roll with chocolate sauce followed by coffee or tea.

Above is the dessert. Totally forgot about taking photo of the courses before. Was too hungry. I had an extra bowl of soup, courtesy of Hawk who couldn't make it. Frankly, the food was ok, only that it was standing too long and what is supposed to be hot or at least warm was cold and the dessert was already room temperature. Anyway, still managed to eat everything and served myself some tea after that.

I sat with Awatif, Gie, Ina, Lila (Happy Anniversary!), Donie, Hawk (absent), Amalina, Fiddie and Sura at table 61, one table behind the Royal table.

Madame Awatif sat besides me and I managed to capture her beauty (and the size of that bracelet) on my camera. :-)

Dr Gieto was my next victim. She was sitting besides Madame Awatif. As usual her sweet smile was glittery enough.

Dr Ina was another story. Look at that necklace! Humbly she says it's her mother's. Yeah and my lips look like Amber Chia's!

Ni dia Madame Fiddie and Madame Didie. Both looking resplendent. Yes, Fiddie I still remember I owe you a cake! ;-)

Last but not the least is our own DIVA....DIVA ZURA with Julita Ilhani our Lawyer from Kuantan. Diva Zura stole the limelight from all the glittery diamonds with her beautiful rendition of 'Diamonds are Forever' ala Shirley Bassey. Bravo Zura! Semua lagu you nyanyi sedap-sedap and you looked fantastic. I rasa I yang jerit paling kuat kot...

And, unfortunately, after that my camera went kaput. Couldn't capture proof of Sarah, Filzah, Mok, and Julit's lepas gian!

It was a good night and hope to go again for next years dinner!

Encounter of the Yellow Kind

2007-08-07T16:58:00.001+08:00

It's unfortunate that Yellow is my favourite colour. Yellow has superseeded brown which was my favourite colour when I was a girl. So when DiGi came up with the campaign of the Yellow Thingies, I was aghast!

Those yellow beings, with near undress state (due to the body suit), bellies and buttocks that are quite obscene following you around if you were a DiGi subscriber. Thank GOD, I am not a subscriber! Have been a loyal CELCOM subscriber since I don't remember when. Not that the service is fantastic especially at my housing area, but I am too a lazy to have to inform people that I have changed numbers if I did.

On Sunday at One-Utama, DiGi was having a promotion somewhere near the Luxury Section on the ground floor. I made the mistake of going there to have a closer look at the Yellow Thingies. And...when I told them that I am a CELCOM subscriber, one of it decided to follow me around, rubbing his belly on my back! Talk about EWWWWW!

My son who is not afraid of anything! I hope they didn't follow him home!

P/S I had the Portobello Mushroom Burger at my favourite Burger Joint (see previous post), and looking at the pair, I better re-start my work out, unless I want to see something like that in my bathroom!

It's gonna get messy!

2007-08-01T18:07:00.000+08:00

My favourite burger joint is back in town! I still remember when they used to have Carl's Jr at the bird park. I used to make a monthly trip on Friday lunch break to have the BBQ Chicken sandwich!

I was so happy that they have opened in 1-Utama! My beloved husband bought me the sandwich yesterday and I was in heaven. Eat your hearts out BK and McD! It IS gonna get messy!

Memories rekindled

2007-05-07T17:21:00.003+08:00

Those from my batch who came:

Dr. Zuri & Daughter
Dr. Norizzati
Awatif (PM's Dept) & Daughter
Dr. Nik Mazlina & Daughter
Dr. Rozita, Uzrita(Hot Shot Entreprenuer) and Dr. Nur (all the way from JB!)
Dr. Rozita & Daughters (yang tengah tu dah book anak I!)
Norafilzah (Hot Shot Lawyer) & Daughter
Mokhrazinim PhD and Nur MD
Dr. Mokrazimim & Khairulbariah (Hot Shot Entreprenuer)

Photos of the school, when I remembered to take out my camera:

Last Entrance to the Dining Hall

Dining Hall

Block C

Block B

It was fun. Wished I took more photos of the place.

Karnival BJ 2007

2007-03-26T13:18:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday 24th March 2007, Bukit Jelutong Resident Association organised our 'Annual' Karnival BJ. Like previous Karnival BJ in 2003 and 2004, my sister and I decided to participate.
In the above photo is my sister (older by one year mind you, as everyone mistakes her as my younger sister...) serving a customer.

As usual prior to the Karnival BJ, plans were made to bake a variety of goodies. But as the mind is willing and the body not, quite a few ideas were abandoned last minute. Ah well! There's always the next one!

My sister made cheesecake, cheesecake slices, mini chocolate bundt cake, ice cream Malaysia and corn pudding. I made some cookies, chocolate cupcakes, cream cheese pound cakes, a couple of coffee cakes, a chocolate cake, a carrot cake, cinammon rolls and 3 trays of lasagna . I actually wanted to do more, but because I was also helping out the committe in organising the whole event, I didn't have the time or energy.

I would like to thank my husband for being so wonderful in helping out with the stand ( unfortunatley he didin't take photos of what we sold!), to my friends Zura and Filzah, who also participated in the booth by selling your delicious goodies and to my Mak for making the lovely Kuih Koci Labu which was a hit. Not forgetting my sister - you are da bomb! Also to all my friends and neighbours who came as supported us and the Karnival BJ 2007.

Following are a couple of photos of things we made for the Karnival BJ 2007

The Cinnamon Roll (L) and the Sour Cream Chocolate Swirl cake (R)

Montel Mama and the French Chef

2007-03-05T20:58:00.001+08:00

Since I seriously started baking, I always had a dream to learn from a French Chef or Baker. I know it will always remain a dream of my going to France to learn, or even to the United States, considering the money I have to spend on logistics alone, not including tuition. The sum of which would cost more that what I could ever afford.

I have been baking/cooking since I was 7 or 8 (Actually, I was the lazy one - but that's another story). I have been greatly influenced by my mother who used to bake buns for the family. She would knead the dough and shape them into small balls and then cram it in a round pan. When baked,the smell was indiscribable.

When I started to work and could afford to pay for classes, I would be driving all over KL, Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya and Kajang to go to classes. All my salary went to my love for baking. Either in the form of classes or books.

A few years ago, I attended a Cordon Bleu class for petit-four in Taylor's College. I was in love! A English speaking French man teaching pastries...what more can I say? It was a half-day class, which was not enough for me. But I still couldn't afford to go to any of the Cordon Bleu school ( the nearest would be in Australia). Nearly a year past when I recieved a call about a French Cooking School in Kuala Lumpur. So that was the start of my love affair with HTC - The French Culinary School in Asia and the Year was 2004 ( April 2004).

Back to present. Last Sunday a class with my favourite Master Pastry Chef : Chef Jean Francois Arnaud. If you look closely at the photo, you will see a black shadow behind me. That's Bruno trying to be funny.
The French Flag on Chef Arnaud's collar means that he is Un des Meilleurs Ouviers de France Patisserie (in simple english, The Highest Award Winning French Pastry Chef). In France they have a competition every 4 years to see who is the best chef and only a selected few will recieve the honour of winning this coveted awards.

At least now, I don't have to go to France to learn to bake like a French Pastry Chef. Cest Bon!

Following are some of the things I learnt from the 1-day class in The French Culinary School in Asia with Master Pastry Chef Jean Francois Arnaud MOF

And it's already...

2007-03-03T22:01:00.000+08:00

March!!! Time really flies! It seems like it was just yesterday when the year turned new and now, it's already the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. I have been extremely busy with work and also with things that have been happening on a personal level.

On 1st March, hubby dearest started work with a new company. And for that he did something that I never thought he would do...shave his moustache. God, was I suprised! I thought he looked totally different. Actually he looked different than what I thought he would look without his moustache. But now after three days looking at his 'naked' face, I am getting used to it, and he is starting to look like his 'normal' self to me. A good friend of mine who came for breakfast this morning declared that hubby looked younger. Egad! Now he decides to keep it shaved for a while. A monster created I have!

Add 38 years to this photo and Viola!

Happy Birthday!

2007-02-08T18:32:00.001+08:00

It was my Birthday on the 6th February 2007. I counted everyday from January to that day. Everyday I crossed out the date on the calendar. I told Mak I wanted a book cake with powerpuff girl picture on top. The one with sugar paper. I like the one with sugar paper. It looks nice like the cartoons.

But that morning, Mak said I had to share my birthday with Redza in April. So I cried and I wrote on the calendar "Tak da benda" on that date. I cried again in the bathroom when kakak Imah help me bathe. When I went to school I had to tell my friends that there is no party today. I told them that they can come to my house but Mak said "No, there will be nothing today".

I was talking to my friend in class when I saw Mak. She was carrying a box of cupcakes! There was no teacher in the class. The boys in the class were making noise and being naughty. The girls were talking and making noise too. I was a good girl. I was sitting down playing with my friends. Mak became the class teacher. She said everyone is to be good or not she will not give the cupcakes. Puan Normah the headmistress came to the class. She made all my friends sing Happy Birthday and say Thank You to Mak for giving them the cupcakes.

I was still sad because there was no party...until I came home and saw that Mak actually invited the neighbours for a SURPRISE Birthday Party!

by Iman Syafiqah

Chcocolate Cupcake

2007-02-04T11:51:00.001+08:00

I tried the one-bowl chocolate cupake from Martha Stewart's Baking Hand book (see my previous post). The batter was very liquid and I was a bit worried about the end result, but I needn't worry. The cupcake came out 'perfect'; moist and delicious.

Here is the photo of the crumb I took recently.

I changed the recipe a bit, in anticipation that the buttercream would be extra rich. I added 2 teaspoon of Instant Coffee. The cupcake was less sweet with the addition but sort of added a deep note especially if eaten by itself. But if eaten with the buttercream icing, it was excellent. The coffee-ness negated the richness of the buttercream making it a good combination.

I added some cute sprinkles I had. It was actually cute and nice to eat. A must do again!

White Cupcake

2007-01-30T08:46:00.001+08:00

I have to confess that I am a Martha Stewart Fan. I was introduced to the housekeeping maven by my sister when she returned from the States, years ago, with Martha's Living Magazine.

I am a clutter freak. My style of decoration is what I describe as "Creative Clutter" and what my husband describes as "Sepah Hell". 'Sepah' means Clutter in Malay, so at least we agree on one word in the discription of my Interior Design Style.

Therefore, reading the magazine, was like the light at the end of the tunnel. The style, the ideas, the tips and all was like heaven sent. Of course, even after years and years of buying her magazines and books, I have yet to be "Martha"ed. Actually far from it. I doubt I would achieve the 'perfection' that I see so seamless and easy for her ( you have to agree that she could do that with all those assistants that she has!).

Anyway, the least I could do is try out recipes from her book Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. First let us talk about the White Cupcake.

What is White cupcake?, you ask. White cupcake is cupcake made from white cake batter. You shake your head and ask again, What is White Cake? Well, over there in the States they have a variety of cakes, White Cake, Yellow Cake, Chocolate Cake and its derivatives and the list goes on. So what is the difference? I can say the difference is of course in the colour. A White cake is white and a Yellow cake is yellow. The whiteness of the white cake is due to the fact the cake is made without the egg yolks, the Yellow cake is made with whole eggs and sometime additional yolk added.

Ok, so back to the White cupcake.

This time I made sure I read the recipe more than once. Mise en Place, meaning everything prepared prior to starting the process. Preheat oven? Check! Line cupcake pan? Check! Sift dry ingredients? Check! Butter, room temperature? Check! and so on. The batter was light and of course lighter-coloured than the normal batter made with whole eggs and yolks. One thing to remember is that make sure that I beat the butter and sugar until really light and fluffy. As you can see this is the photo of the baked, uniced cupcake.

I took a bite and decided to take a photo of the crumb, to show how light coloured it is. The crumb is dense and light coloured. You can see the fine holes that make it really nice and light.

The final product. I didn't have any strawberries to make the strawberry buttercream but I had extra swiss meringue buttercream in the fridge. Viola!

My verdict: Excellent recipe. It turned out very well. My children loved it. The cake was a bit too sweet, I may lessen the sugar next time. The crumb is light but dense and moist. It adhered well to the cupcake liner and was not a bit oily. Definitely something I can imagine making again.

Mee Bandung Muar...

2007-01-25T23:00:00.001+08:00

...in Bangi. If you have a craving for Mee Bandung Muar, here's a place you can get the near to original Mee Bandung Muar. Mee Bandung Muar basically is yellow noodles with thickish prawn based gravy, with prawns, fresh tomato, mustard leaves and a partially cooked egg. It's hot, sour and sweet at the same time. The highlight of the meal is the softly cooked yolk which oozed out it's golden yumminess (Don't I sound like Nigella!)

This stall or 'gerai' is at the food court near the traffic light opposite Permata (the PETRONAS training centre) in Kg Dato' Abu Bakar Baginda, Bangi.

My Husband had the Mee Bandung that wet and cold evening. It was so good that we decided to bring back one bungkus for my mother to see what her comments would be. She had it for her dinner and not a sound came from her during the meal (which is a good sign). Mak is a food critic especially the local delicacies. So silence is indeed GOOD!

I am not actually a real fan of Mee Bandung (not partial to yellow noodles), so I had the sup tulang (without the cili padi). It was nice and hot with 3 chunks of sizable bone with meat. Lots of celery, which I liked. I didn't have heartburn after that, so I can say it was a MSG free meal.

Highly recommended and I would definetely drop by there for a meal when I am in the vicinity.

Brownies

2007-01-25T22:35:00.001+08:00

Just to show you that the quality of ingredients does make a difference.

These brownies were made from compound chocolate. Compound chocolate is made from cocoa and palm oil. The palm oil replaces the cocoa butter. If you eat compound chocolate it usually will leave an oily residue in your mouth akin to eating shortening. The price of compound chocolate is very cheap RM15.00 to 20.00 for 1.5 kg. However, what happens is that the brownies become cakey (having texture like cake) after baking even though I followed the recipe that supposed to produce Fudgy Brownies. The chocolate taste is very mild and the brownies are mediocre.

I will post a picture of brownies made from Valrhona Bittersweet Chocolate (RM95/kg) and you will see the difference! Taste wise using real chocolate (where the ingredients contains cocoa and only cocoa butter) it is richer, fudgy and luxurious.

Keep Posted!

Postscript: Well, to see the brownies using Valrhona, check out the brownies in http://www.panidolce.wordpress.com.

Spice Cake Doughnuts

2007-01-25T10:32:00.001+08:00

I made these yesterday. The recipe was from the The Baker's Dozen Cookbook: Become a Better Baker with 135 Foolproof Recipes and Trie d-and-True Techniques.

Made it in smaller 1 1/2 inch doughnuts and covered it with icing (confectioner's) sugar. I didn't have shortening, so I used margarine.

I failed to follow the 1st cardinal rule of baking: Read the whole recipe before starting. So I put the whole 2 cups all purpose flour in the bowl with the rest of the dry ingredients before realising that I had to reserve 1/4 cup for later. I did manage to salvage some of the flour but I have to remember next time to properly read the instructions before dumping everything together.

The recipe was quick. Didn't need to refrigerate the dough like another recipe I tried. Fried the lot and let it cool before rolling it in sifted icing (confectioner's) sugar. I did think it was a bit doughy. I think, in my next attempt, I will try to lessen the flour a bit, let the dough be slightly more wet, and refrigerate before cutting and frying.

Overall a good attempt and a worthwhile recipe to try again.

My Babies

2007-01-25T10:18:00.001+08:00

This is my son, Redza, when he was around 4 months old in 2002. He was born in Miri. One thing good about him being born there is that he can go and work in Sarawak without a permit, unlike the rest of us from the Peninsula.

This month , he had his first taste of going to school. My, times do fly by. One moment he was this chubby baby and the next a little boy with too much sass. On his first day of school, his father sent him to school and the report I got that he was very happy and already making friends.

Unlike my daughter, the first born, Redza is very friendly even as a baby. He used to wave his hand (actually he still does) to anyone he saw as we went down or up the escalator in the shopping mall. I was really afraid, when he was younger, that he would walk away with any interesting stranger who caught his interest.

My daughter, Iman, is a different story. She 'chooses' her friends and people she wants to be with, even when she was a baby

This photo was taken the same year as above. She was 3 at that time. I think it was a difficult period for her, having a baby sibling after 3 years being the only one. She, even though, she may deny it, felt lost or rather felt that she was losing me as a mother with the arrival of the brother.

People say that she looks like me. There are some differences of course, her facial features are the father's but the forehead and the overall facial structure is mine. She can be very tempremental and moody, typical of a February child. She loves deeply, gets hurt easily but most of the time tries to make is seem like it doesn't hurt her at all.

Whatever it is, these are my children. Sometimes, I can't believe that I am a mother of two but when I look at them, I am proud that I am. Iman and Redza , remember that I and Abah always love you both and whatever I do, I hope it is for the best. XXX Mak