faithful friends

MS need help making carrot cakes as gifts for her colleagues, so I trooped along and helped her. I used the usual recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook...I can't believe how long we've used that recipe already. We managed to make 8 little loaves. She only needed 7, so the last one, we iced with cream cheese frosting and ate it ourselves. I have to admit that I didn't even wait until the cake cooled to put the frosting on, so it melted a bit...but still yummy!!

I've always liked wrapping presents

I really wanted to eat popiah again this trip around. Especially with all the memories of popiah during my July trip (SN...remember the videw & mummy). But mummy said that we won't have enough time, so I had a brainwave (kinda) and asked Aunty Cheryl if she wanted to make it. She did since she was going to make popiah for friends on Saturday and she had never made it before. She also wanted to test out her lastest gadget, thenMagiMix.

We started out at TTDI market at 7 am!! SEVEN..I kid you not. We ended up having to go to the SS2 market as well to get the popiah skin.

And then..finally..MAGIMIX ROCKS!!! It really did everything at a touch of a button. Slice, grate, shred, blend...so quick! That, together with the AMC pots, I never knew popiah could be so easy :)

Everything turned out really nice. This is the list of ingredients in case I forget. It serves about 5 people


1 kati popiah skin
2-3 turnips, cooked with bean paste, thick black sauce, soya sauce ( and pork as an option)
Tofu- then thin, hard one
Chicken breast
Prawns
Fried shallots
French beans
Eggs
Taugeh
Lettuce
Chilli (chili, shallots, garlic)
Tim cheong

And...voila!

I should have a picture of a wrapped popiah here, but I forgot to take one. Hehee...so, just imagine the unwrapped one now wrapped :)

Sabrina #1

Donald

Chicken is more expensive than duck. So, with a heavy heart, I purchased a frozen duck instead of chicken. ..
because you know how much i looovvveee roast duck!

So in an effort to finish up my honey, I made honey roast duck. The duck was soaked in milk for 5 hours before roasting - apparently it gets rid of the ..ducky taste? and makes the duck tastier.
The basting sauce was honey, olive oil and white wine.
The oven was set at 325 degrees.
and then..
the long long process began. I don't have a roasting pan, so it was a little tough. lol. but you have to keep draining the juice from the duck as it roasts, and turning the duck from side to side - i'm assuming this is to get it to cook and brown evenly.
but when your roasting pan consists of aluminium foil bunched up at the sides, boy, it's hard. heh.
2 hours later of running back and forth from my computer to the oven and doing my laundry ..and the duck was ready to be eaten.
mmmm...very nice. unfortunately as you know, I only like breast meat. So again with a heavy heart, I am making risotto with roast duck (to use up my leftovers mar!!). heehee

Name it

heh. che : your christmas present. what could it be? ;)

Back In Business

I have my laptop back!!!! YIPPEEE. Thanks so much KF..I owe you. And now, random pictures from what seems like a long time ago.


This was the curry laksa I made for the Martinis (my cell group). Lizar's curry paste rocks!! It wasn't too hot and because I only added a little bit of coconut milk, it wasn't too heavy either. Looks good eh *grin*



This is the bubble tea I keep trying at A1 hoping each time that it would somehow have improved.... my hopes are currently still just hopes...


Egg chiffon with char siew from A1 as well. My favourite dish there..... I think possible my favourite dish in Chinatown. It's reputed to have 6 eggs in every dish!!! Cholesterol heaven...


My favourite vietnamese dish- Prawn & jelly fish salad. I had it 4 times in my last week in Melbourne. Every restaurant has a slightly different version... I don't have a personal favourite...i love them all!!!!

And while I don't have a picture of it, my very last meal in Melbourne was Ipoh Sar Hor Fun from Ipoh-something on Lygon street. The irony.

So you don't forget how I look like. :)

Holiday season. Missing my family - enjoy each other's company lah. We hardly see each other. Whatever differences you may have, tahan and repress :) so that you can be nice and appreciate each other.
Love you all.

Some say..

that this is one of Renoir's best works.
I agree..and in memory of the great master, I created a work of art worthy of the painting: Young Girl Braiding Her Hair, 1876. ...

I call it, the Young Girl with breaded hair, 2006

heehee. oh the wit! ;)

Anyway, so the story goes, my honey spilt onto a container...and I didn't want to waste it. :( Good honey mar. anyway, but mommy and koko said - shouldn't eat, so i baked bread with honey. :D

sorry to spoil the illusion of me being a great genius. Thanks to Rose, I made Challah, or bochallah ( bobo contributed).
I made it with 3 strands instead of 4 and even then, it took me a while to remember how to braid the strands of dough. I didn't expect it to be so huge though. it taste pretty good too. I used butter instead of oil. That might not be kosher..because it's a dairy product, but i'm not Jewish, I'm chinese and we eat all things. lol.

Looks pretty eh?

I also made carrot-zuchini cake. Why? Because I'm trying to finish my fresh ingredients before I leave. :D After some searching, I settled on this, Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake:

2 c All purpose flour

2 ts Soda

1/2 ts Salt

2 ts Ground cinnamon

3 Eggs; well beaten

3/4 c Vegetable oil

3/4 c Buttermilk

2 c Sugar

2 ts Vanilla extract

1 cn Crushed pineapple; drained,- 8-oz can

2 c Grated carrots

1 cn Flaked coconut; 3 1/2-oz can

1 c Walnuts; chopped

BUTTERMILK GLAZE

1 c Sugar

1/2 ts Soda

1/2 c Buttermilk

1/2 c Butter

1 tb Light corn syrup

1 ts Vanilla extract

ORANGE-CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1/2 c Butter; softened

8 oz Cream cheese; softened

1 ts Vanilla extract

2 c Powdered sugar; sifted

1 ts Grated orange rind

1 ts orange juice

Combine flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside. Combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar, and vanilla; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture, pineapple, carrots, coconut, and chopped walnuts. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake at 350~ for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately spread Buttermilk Glaze evenly over layers. Cool in pans 15 minutes; remove from pans, and let cool completely. Spread Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Store cake in refrigerator. Buttermilk Glaze. Combine sugar, soda, buttermilk, butter, and corn syrup in a Dutch oven. Bring to a boil; cook 4 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Yield. About 1 1/2 cups. Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting. Combine butter and cream cheese, beating until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, powdered sugar, rind, and juice; beat until fluffy.

Ok. but really, I didn't make the glaze, neither did I add the nuts and fruit..I made some cream cheese frosting though! but just plain cream cheese. I thought I'll put up the full recipe in case you are more semangat and decide to make it. The forum has a couple more recipes that sound really yummy but too much work for a one person snack.

3 weddings and more than just a funeral

I still in the midst of attending all 3 weddings over 3 weekends. In fact, I've only attended one so far so I still have 2 to go. As much as I complain about having to answer the same question with "no, I don't have a boyfriend yet" at these events, I rejoice with my friends. I rejoice at their happiness, I rejoice at what God has blessed them with, I rejoice at their new life together, I rejoice.

And yet, in the midst of all this rejoicing, I remember my friend's friend who was in a car accident in Melbourne only 2 days before I left. I remember her sadness, I remember that the accident was at 4am and that life support was turned off at 3 pm because he had so many internal injuries, I remember meeting him briefly at the pharmacy and being told what a smart student & nice boy he was, I remember.

I also think of my friend's uncle in Kota Bahru who committed suicide only yesterday due to pressure from loan sharks. I imagine her grandmother's sadness to have her husband pass away only 2 months ago and now her youngest son to die. I imagine how bleak the future now seems for his pregnant wife and their 2 young children. I imagine the suffering his family must be going through now. In fact, I can only imagine.

And still, God is God yet.

I don't pretend to understand all these things. I mean, I can't even begin to know how much they grieve. But I do know, that in the midst of all these things, if we cannot cling to God and even demand His accountability, then there is nothing left. There is no one else who can carry our burdens, no one else who understands and grieves with us, no one else who can give an answer, no one else who can withstand our anger, no one.

Colossions 2:17-These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

...and in Christ alone

me and poverty

I would say that I am in an elite group of people. How many people go to university? less than 1/2 the world. How many people get to go to graduate school? even less than those who graduate from university.

Yet..
I cannot say
"I'll confess to being fairly sniffy about vanilla. If a recipe calls for vanilla seeds, I don't think twice about dipping into my stash of Tahitian or Madagascar Bourbon beans, which I stock up on whenever I travel or through mail order - the general quality of beans available here, even if they have winged it from Tahiti or Madagascar, makes me weep (not tears of joy)."
http://brandoesq.blogspot.com/

"First, if you are looking to find a cookbook on comfort food or "the-way-Mom-used-to-make-it-desert" for your next family gathering, DON'T GET THIS ONE. Also, if you're on a frugal budget or a time crunch, again, LOOK ELSWHERE. This is one of the GREATEST patisserie chefs in the world. And he gives us in his cookbook all the extravagance, style, taste and showmanship that title carries. The recipes are expensive, time consuming and sometimes tricky. They contain specialty ingredients and use specialty tools. Any substitutions based on economy or convenience will probably result in failure"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0316357200/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/002-8593593-7858425?ie=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155

I live on $1000 a month - and that pays for all my bills.
yes, I buy san nom (no name) brand. hehehe. So I'm thinking of renaming our blog to sookies (san nom) cookie.
hahhaha.
or sookies (economy) cookie.
:P

je ne sais pas. that's all i can say. lol.

the only real pan I have is ..a muffin pan and that's because they don't make aluminium muffin pans. haha.
hm..oh oh. I think I said this before - but I have a kitchen aid mixer (go me!). It's a step up from beating my egg whites with a fork. ;)

so, what say you?

The lobstersquad

my next post comes from http://lobstersquad.blogspot.com/
lol. i am shamelessly lifting off from her blog although please note that i am citing her and am not plagarizing. :) i am in academia after all. a definite no-no.
heeeheee

Diet is a four letter word

Since a sizeable proportion of the world as I know it is about to embark on a crazy eating binge any minute, I want to get this off my chest now:

I don´t care if you´re on a diet.
I don´t care if you mean to go on a diet soon.
I´m not interested in the latest wonder-diet your cousin has told you about.
I don´t care if your zip doesn´t do up.

So you feel guilty about eating. SO WHAT?

If you don´t want to eat, fine.
If you want to spend january fasting, fine.
If you want to jump out of a window, go ahead and be my guest.

Just don´t, please, please, moan about the cream and the butter and the chocolate and the almonds, while stuffing your face.

Also, don´t imply I´m stupid by telling me how many calories are in a bite of turrón. I KNOW.

You only make the food turn to ashes in my mouth, and you make me want to drown you in the punch bowl.
And this is supposed to be the season of good cheer and goodwill, after all, so I´d really appreciate it if you´d just shut up and be a good guest.

There. Aren´t I quite the little ray of seasonal sunshine?

baba

Baba is russian for grandmother. and as you know, grandmothers cook. well, not ours. haha. but usually, grandmothers cook. more specifically, they cook..perogies. :)

long introduction to today's item.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/104662

here's the recipe for the dough. it's really quite good - the addition of cake flour makes a difference. not that i've made it before, but other recipes use dairy e.g. sour cream & butter.
this dough was pliable and it didn't break. and it also tasted pretty good!

the filling: potatoes, butter, ementhal cheese and pancetta. I wanted to finish up my potatoes - because I've had them for sometime now. hehhe. it's NOT just an excuse. anyway, i froze the whole lot of them. :)
I have extra filling - i'm probably going to pan fry little potato cakes. hehe. ..hm..maybe have them with polenta and some kind of sauce? ;)

An article that we submitted was rejected. I knew it. :) it's like when bad things happen, we quickly claim foreknowledge/foresight that for suuuurrreee, it would have been rejected. quick quick, buffer buffer.
but in reality, i wouldn't have accepted the article either. its really quite flawed. Maybe if the new study that we are working on works out, we can rewrite the whole thing + the new study to make it better.

In other news, I also made biscotti.
http://creampuffsinvenice.typepad.com/cream_puffs_in_venice/
why? because 5 other bloggers made biscotti. and as you know, i'm collectivistic so I don't like to feel left out. :P

I made some changes to the recipe though:
1 stick of butter, 1/4 demerara sugar, 1/4 cup almond meal and 2 toblerone squares in addition to chocolate chips.
why? well, the 1st one was ..a creative decision mistake. haha. the recipe called for 3/4 stick. I took out 1 stick of butter to soften and without thinking, I started creaming it.
the 2nd one because I thought it'll go well. the 3rd because that's all i had. the 4th because the toblerone has been sitting in my fridge for sometime now and I'm trying to use it up. ehhe. I also don't have white chocolate, or caramel bits - so I thought this was a good replacement.

I shaped the log, put the tray in the oven, skipped back to my computer - glanced over the recipe and realized that she had put specific measurements for the log. argh. so I ran back to the oven, took the log out..hehe. but it was too late, the chocolate and butter were melting and reshaping it would have made it worse. that shows you - pay attention to details.
oh well.
I left it in a little longer then I was suppose too..again I would like to say it was a creative decision and that I like a slightly caramelized burnt taste, but..no. it's pretty good though. I like it. it's like a good double chocolate almond toblerone-chip cookie.

Look at them shyly peeping out from the crepe paper.
nb. I bought the hot chocolate from Godiva during my recent Toronto trip for Alexis' christmas present. I may be tempted to use it though. heehee. no laaahhh.

updates..finally..and introducing bolangles

hey,
sorry haven't updated the blog.

ok. well, i've been cooking quite a bit.

First up, curry laksa made with ikan bilis & prawn head stock. I put in beef and pork balls that I bought several months ago and they have been sitting in my freezer.
looks pretty good eh?




then i made chocolaty goodness because i wanted to finish the cooking eggs.
http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2005/5/2/rationalizations-of-a-chocoholic.html
everyone liked it except one person who thought it tasted weird.
but I liked it. :)
so it's alright.
i like the effect of the hallogen light - kinda gives it the halo. ;)

and finally a keeper recipe. !!
YES!
my sourdough bread hasn't been working out very well..the past 2 recipes bombed.
so this time, i stumbled across this recipe
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=27634
it's more technique then recipe. i changed it a little - first, i didn't have 4 hours to wait, so my first rising/sponge was in the fridge overnight.
then the 2nd rising, i folded the dough every hour.

now, mind you there's only 4 cups of flour + 1 cup of starter. but because of the extended rising, the bread is so amazingly light and BIG! ok - so it's 9 inches long..and about 4 inches high.

to give you a better sense, here's an indomee packet. :)

so without further ado..introducing Bolangles. why bolangles you may ask? well, because it sounds like bojangles and because his last name is lang. haha
Climax. ;)