Chinese Peanut Pancake / Man Jien Kuih

It's Saturday!!!!

Started my day at 615am with jogging at a nearby park. It was super dark and i got so scared that i would be 'kidnapped' by some hooligans...am i thinking too much?

So after the jog, i was soooooo eppi with my flatter stomach that i quickly went home and made myself a hearty breakfast. I vowed earlier that i would at least try to stay healthy for 1 month by ceasing junk food intake...and while i was having my tasteless bowl of oatmeal, i heard this..

Psst psst...over here!! over here!!

Guess what was 'calling' me? a bottle of coarsely chopped peanuts....yerrr! Why liddat 1??? I wanna stay healthy also kenot! Suddenly i was walking towards my recipe books cabinet...and suddenly i was pulling out a book....and the next second i found myself whipping up a batter!! Haha!!

Ok...here's what i've got:

Batter:

• 220g of plain flour
• 40g of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1 cup of water

Filling:

Coarsely chopped peanuts + balanced amount of sugar

Method:

1. Combine all the batter ingredients in a mixing bowl using a whisk. Set aside the smooth and silky batter for 30 minutes.
2. Heat up a non stick pan. On low fire, pour the batter to the pan and spread evenly. Close the pan with a lid for about 40 seconds.
3. Toss a handful of fillings over the pancake. Fold the pancake into half moon shape. Cut and serve hot.

The man jien kuih is super delicious and super easy to make!! A definite keeper!!
aiyoyo...sumbody please stop me from eating....

Man Jien Kuih Cooking in the pan

Healthy Oatey Wheaty Loaf

Oooo yea! It's Healthy! It's Oat-ey! It's Wheaty! Best of all, it's YUMMY!

Hmph...after my torturing period of feeling SLUGGISH, FAT, UNAPPEALING...the list goes on and on and on and on for the past few days, i vowed to stay on the healthy track...for at least a month just to monitor my body system.

When healthy is DB's main concern, guess what is the least priority now? *sob sob*.....gone will be the chocolate chip cookies, the sausage buns, the roti pratha, the junk food, the preserved fruits and food....boo hoo!

I made a loaf of bread yesterday night with mostly organic ingredients. Using numerous bread recipes as guidance, i made up my very own healthy bread recipe....here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of water
• 2 cups organic wholemeal bread flour
• 1/2 cup organic rolled oats (grind them to powder texture)
• 1/4 cup organic wheat bran
• 3 tbsp organic molasses
• 1 tbsp vegetable shortening
• 2 tbsp organic soy powder
• a handful of organic sunflower seeds
• 1 1/4 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp vinegar

I combined all the ingredients in my bread machine and selected "whole wheat" setting. Waited for 3 hrs and 40 minutes.....almost ZZzzzZZZzz...haha!

Verdict: The bread was a little dense, probably because the flour i used was purely wholemeal bread flour without any other 'white' flour. I've learnt from a website stating that adding a TABLESPOON of vinegar will help reduce the dense-ness of the bread and helps yield a much airy bread....i was very skeptical at adding that much of vinegar...afraid of producing a sourish bread...hmmm...probably next time i should add 1 tbsp of vinegar and we'll see how it goes. Anyway, asides from the bread being densed, it actually tasted really good....soft...and i can actually savour bits of sunflower seeds and brans in every bite of the bread....and quite filling too!
For those who are health conscious, do give this bread a try!

Zooming into the texture of the bread

Gulung Pineapple Tart

Suddenly i'm in mood for making pineapple tarts! Not the open top type....not the ball type....but the rolled type...oh yeah..the messy type!

During the CNY festival this year, i made my very first pineapple tart...open top type. It was a hit among my family that i had to 'hide' them in a secluded spot in a cabinet....hehe. The pastry wasn't the melt in mouth type but wasn't the overly crunchy type either. The sweetness of the jam was just right and everything was just right. So i tot to myself, since this is a success, maybe i should try making the rolled type pineapple tarts next round.

Last chirpy sweet Sunday morning, i woke up as early as 630am...(as usual the weirdo me who refuses to sleep more than 5 hrs in the weekend) and started my baking session. I made the pineapple jam from a fresh pineapple the day before so that i won't end up torturing my shortie legs from standing for 5 hrs...oh by the way, did i mention that i bought my tiny pineapple for only RM 1.20? Haha! Pretty cheap! I thought that since this would be an experimental pineapple tart, i should opt for a small cheap pineapple.

So here's what i gathered:
For the Jam:

• 1 fresh pineapple, grated
• Sugar
• A lil cinnamon powder
• Some Cloves

Drain 3/4 of the grated pineapple juice and transfer the remaining 1/4 juice + the pineapple pulps to a pot. Cook the grated pineapple over low fire on the stove and stirring them frequently to ensure thorough cooking. Add in cloves and cinnamon powder to the grated pineapple (judge the amount of cloves by yourself...just how much tolerance you have against the spices! hehe!) Add in sugar slowly to taste....make sure your pineapple jam taste sweeter than usual...as to balance the buttery pastry taste later. The finished product should be sticky and able to be rolled into balls without much hassles.

For the Pastry: courtesy of my cousin...Sue Sue

• 1 kg of plain flour (DB used 350g plain flour)
• 450g of butter, softened to room temperature (DB used 180g butter)
• 4 eggs (DB used 1 large egg)
• Egg Yolk for glazing

Preheat the oven to 180DC. Combine the flour and butter using the 'rub-in' method. The mixture should appear somewhat like breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the mixture, pour in the eggs. Mix well. Do not over knead the dough...otherwise it will affect the texture of the pastry. Pipe out the pastry with a relevant plastic mould into a long strip and cut into 5cm length. Place the prepared rolled jam onto the cut strips and roll the pastry to seal. Place the rolled tarts onto baking sheets. Brush some egg yolk onto the tarts and bake them in oven for 12-15 minutes. Do not overbake these babies. Cool them and store them in an airtight container. Pineapple tarts are best to be consumed within 2 weeks to avoid growth of 'foreign organism'....brain wanders now?? huhuhu!

Notes: I have only 180g of butter in my fridge. So i adjusted the rest of the pastry ingredients. The dough appeared dry, hence i added some unsweetened soy milk to yield a moist and pipe-able dough.
*Warning* - The whole process was rather messy...so be prepared!

Verdict : The pastry wasn't the melt in mouth type. It's probably because the adjustments i made. But my mom and dad loves them. They preferred the pastry slightly crunchy rather than powdery melt in mouth type...hmmm...i'm not satisfied though. I shall follow the exact amount of ingredients in my next attempt. Here's a picture of my babies :)....wipe your saliva k..

Presenting.......the Gulung (Rolled) Pineapple Tart

Since i have a portion of left over dough from making the tarts, i turned them into butter raisin cookies...hehhee...honestly...i'm more satisfied with this than the pineapple tart...nevertheless, my determination to attempt a second round of pineapple tart will never diminish!

I'm Feeling FAT

Dear diary,

I'm feeling fat since last Saturday. I have hardly eaten anything since Saturday. WHat i ate for since Saturday were only

• a bowl of vegetable soup
• 3 slices of yam bread
• 1 salted baked chicken thigh
• Shared a packet of rojak with bb
• a piece of kow zi
• a bowl of vegetarian soup (mushroom + dried lily buds + Napa Cabbage + peanuts + muk yi + water + salt)
• a few bites of stir fry veges
• two apple

Yes...these were wat i ate since Saturday morning until today...my tummy ballooned like a ball and i can feel the wind in my stomach is practising the tsunami disaster...my bb has been laughing his head off upon hearing the rumbling sound from my tummy, in which as loud as the siren, i have not burped have hardly fart and forget about poo pooing....nothing is coming out. The attempts of drinking high fiber drink didn't help much either.

Just then, i wikipedia-ed abt PMS - PreMenstrualSyndrome and check this out :

Most common Pre Menstrual Symptoms include:

• Weight gain from premenstrual water retention
• Abdominal bloating
• Breast tenderness
• Stress or anxiety
• Depression
• Crying spells
• Mood swings, irritability or anger
• Appetite changes and food cravings
• Trouble falling asleep (insomnia)
• Joint or muscle pain
• Headache
• Fatigue (medical)
• Acne
• Trouble concentrating
• Wanting to be alone
• Body temperature increase
• Worsening of existing skin disorders, and respiratory (eg, allergies, infection) or eye eg, visual disturbances, conjunctivitis) problems

Congratulate me now because i fit all the symptoms....if only winning lottery is this easy!

ANYBODY PLEASE....I'M BEGGING YOU....PLEASE SEND ME THE REMEDIES NOW IF YOU HAVE ANY....I'M BEING VERY VERY VERY SUPER DESPERADO NOW.

Jacques Torres’s Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another Chocolate Chip Cookie weekend!

My bb came over to my place on Friday night complaining that he's having sore throat and feeling heaty. He was 'indirectly' hinting me that i've been feeding him with too much cookies! $%^&*UI^%$%!

But i know he purposely said that just to get on my nerves so that i will not be spending too much time in the kitchen baking and baking and baking...instead i can hang out with him in the malls or movie theaters. I just know him too well...so nope...nothing will bring my baking enthusiasm to a halt.

So....i was practically 'quite free' last Friday...in office....and i spent almost half day of my working hours reading other's blog. shame on me....should have spent my time reading and understand some calculations...but too much of it will make me go nauseous...ish! And so happened that i found this blog page...just check out the page!!! Holy Moly!! It's all about cookies!!! I'm falling in lurrrrrrv with this blog page...it's like a relationship between human and oxygen...just how essential that cookies are in my life!! Hehe....silly me!

Anyway, in her blog page, she has this TOP 10 list category...i browsed a little and found Jacques Torres’s Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. The recipe calls for pastry flour....which i have no idea what is it at first...did a little research and found out that pastry flour is sumhow similar to cake flour except that it has more protein...i tried to find over the baking shelves in our common hypermarkets (Giant, Carrefour & Tesco)....it wasn't there but the organic items section has them...a little pricey though.

So i went home and made the substitution for the pastry flour...using plain flour and corn flour...

Extracted from COokie Madness Blog Page)
Ingredients :

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature (DB used 250g of Anchor brand butter)
• 1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons granulated sugar (DB used 1/3 cup )
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed (DB used 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon pastry flour(DB used 120g of plain flour + 20g of Cornflour)
• 1 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt(DB omitted this, since the butter is salted)
• 1 pound good quality dark chocolate, chopped coarsely(DB used 1 packet of Hershey's Semisweet Chocolate Chips)

Method :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside. Don’t grease the baking sheets because this might cause extra spreading.In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla, then add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate; mix until well combined.Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, (I used a very generously rounded tablespoon) scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. If you use a rounded tablespoon, check your cookies at 12 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Verdict : It's really good...crunchy at the side but soft in the middle. A little too sweet for my taste bud even after i have reduced the amount of sugar...but definitely worth a try. BB and I agreed that my previously baked Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies is still our favorite. You can check it out here.

FUuuHhLiiiieday

Yay! It's Friday!!! Eppi Eppi cuz i can Bakey Bakey tonighty!!!! Stay tune for my next post about my baked goods tonight...

Btw, i heard about this 'teka-teki' (puzzle) from FLy Fm yesterday...just want to share with all of you and to tickle your heart a bit bit la...hehehe...

1. Kucing apa yang berkaki Sembilan? (What type of cat that has 9 paws?)
- kucing yang berjalan kat kaki lima (the cat that walks in 'five foot way' (direct translation from BM...which literally means alley)

2. Apa yang kecil, putih dan mempunyai kelajuan bagai kapal terbang jet? (What is small, white and has the speed of a flying jet plane?)
- nasi yang terlekat pada kapal terbang jet (the grain of rice that's glued to the Jet plane)

Hehe...hope y'all have a good weekend ahead!!

Impromptu Housekeeping....sucks!

This morning we had a group of VIPs (our soon boss to be) visited our company for a friendly meeting (more like makan meeting i think) with our current MD. And you know...the usual practice...come in and cheek smile with you and hellos and byes and bla bla...ok that's not what i want to highlight here...

I'm fusing abt this.

In my little department...3 of us, namely my department's manager, my lanky and super slim colleague and myself, were basically confined in this small room with blocks of files which can be piled up to the ceiling, pieces of papers slotted in between every books/files and totally not related to any of the them, some once-very-fuyoh-&-in-tech-machines which serve more like dust collectors rather than being utilized as they should and...well the list goes on.

So my company's CEO brought the VIPs in with a charcoal color face (the moment he opened the door and saw the mess in my department) and introduced us to the VIPs. My CEO set a firm and ferocious stare at my department's manager (let's refer him as BA from now on)....obviously very unhappy about how oblivious our department is for cleanliness. CEO was 'transmitting' the msg to BA via eyesight in which a toddler could easily understand as "HEY YOU AN NEH NEH...DUN TEST MY PATIENCE....CLEAN UP THE MESS IMMEDIATELY"

So right after CEO with the VIPs left our department, BA asked me "DId you know that we have visitors today?" I shrugged my shoulder and gave him a dumbo facial expression. BA continued "No one told us ha?! hmm...but still we shud have done the proper housekeeping" and there.....he instructed me and my colleague to start cleaning up the dusty mess....the room was filled with 'ahhhh choooos' and rotten rat odor...i am not sure if it's because we have lifted some old files which were packed and stacked tightly in a corner or BA's body odor....sheeesh...i swear to god everytime i am near to him...he has this funny odor in a bad way...

After the papers clean up, next would be the machines...just to name a few....they are scanners...old CPU...old keyboards....bla bla bla. I was already darn tired standing and squatting and standing and squatting.....with the 'mess' on my hand that weighs half of me....(yes it was that heavy k....just imagine buying a 20 kg rice and do the stand up and squat down exercise.)..and BA being B-A-(i'll leave to you guys to guess what does BA stands for) told me and my lanky colleague (a female) to move the giant boxes to the next room. I swear to god i was at the verge of popping my eyeballs out of the socket....the boxes measured like 1m x 1m x 1m....for those who are tall and strongly built...maybe you are able to move these boxes...but i'm bloody petite...standing at no more than 5'1 and weighing at no more than 40 kilos...how am i going to move them??? oooh wait...these boxes are NOT EMPTY BOXES...these boxes are filled with PAPERS AND FILES and SEALED!!!!

I was standing there and i looked at BA with my goldfish eyes....i guess he read my mind...cuz he was saying this almost immediately after he instructed us to move the boxes "errr....maybe not...we'll get the store department's guys to help"....

I mean just what is this BRAINLESS ASSHOLE thinking!!.....oppps....i think i've said too much!

Bomb Bread

Rilek rilek! You will not explode into pieces if you eat this bread....just a name to suit the shape of the bread i made. Looks like a stupid-dumb-dumb bread..

Most of you have heard about the popular Hokkaido Bread....some people claimed that it taste almost similar to the Gion bread sold by Jusco. Whatever it is, there's no doubt that every bakers who made this particular Hokkaido Bread were impressed by how soft and yummy the bread is.

Found this noble baker's website for the Hokkaido Bread recipe....i halved the ingredients called for this bread as i'll be baking it using the bread machine (getting lazier to knead and proof and knead and proof and...bla bla bla). After 3.25 hrs of anxious waiting, i quickly 'released' the bread from the loaf pan and left it under the fan at vigorous speed to cool it down.

First bite: WHoa!!! 'CHeng' man....so soft...really soft....the oh my gawd soft!! and very yummy....(though i find it not very similar to Gion Bread as claimed by some people). The bread stayed soft and yummy even the next 2 days! Seriously No joke!!!

light & soooooooooooooft

Shape wise.....hmmm i have myself to be blamed...should have worked out the 'bye bye' flesh on my arms by kneading the dough instead depending solely on my breadmachine and rested my saggy butt on a chair for 3.25 hours....nevertheless....i still give THUMBS UP for the Hokkaido Bread recipe shared by Angie.

*i think i live up to my domain's name...dumb-baker...dun believe? just look at the shape of my bread.....*faints*

dumbo's bomb bread......hehe!

Crispy Oat Coconut Cookies

The thought of the distinctive smell of good cookies baking in my mom's-almost-antique-oven surrounds the little hut of mine (which i called home btw) is haunting me everynight since last week's Friday. I did not manage to bake any cookies for fear of binge eating them and cause further eruption to my already inflamed throat.

The haunting, as a matter of fact, greatly affected my daily work. While i was preparing a proposal for a project in the office, my fingers just won't stop making typo in the proposal. Almost every 5 minutes into typing the proposal, 'OATMEAL COOKIES' will appear in between the lines. Just imagine if i hand in my proposal to my superior without doing the proof read step...he'll be scrunching his eyebrows thinking "WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS LITTLE BIMBO THINKING?!!?"

Two choices : Either to dismiss the thought of oat cookies or bake them tonight!

The first choice is kinda ironic...me having big heart for cookies and gotta forget about them? NO WAY.

Found this great page after typing "OAT COOKIES 2008" in the google search tab. This baker/blogger had made many many good looking goodies. And she's setting up the online baking sales thingy too! Do check out her website to find out more! (i am not in any way related to the baker...just that i find her web page interesting and wanted to share with everyone)

Using her recipe "Oatmeal Raisin COokies - Martha Stewart Version" as a guide, i managed to come out with my very own Crispy Oat Coconut Cookies.

What i used was :

• 180g butter, soften to room temperature
• 50g of vegetable shortenings
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup of castor sugar
• 1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
• 1 1/4 cup of plain flour
• 2 1/2 cups of rolled oats
• 1 cup of dessicated coconut
• 1 1/2 cup of raisins

What i did was :

1. Preheat oven to 180 DC. Lined baking trays with baking sheets.
2. Cream butter, shortenings & both types of sugars till pale yellow/brown color.
3. Add in eggs (one at a time) and beat well with the butter mixture, followed by the vanilla extract.
4. In another big bowl, measure out all the remaining dry ingredients and whisk well.
5. Fold in the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Mix well to form a soft dough.
6. Take a pinch of the dough (abt 1/2 tbsp). Roll between your palms to a ball and flatten it.
7. Place the flatten cookies onto the baking tray and bake them in the oven for 10 minutes if you prefer crisp edge and chewy texture in the middle or bake them for 12-14 minutes if you prefer a crispy cookie.

I had my cookies baked for 12 minutes...not too bad...cripsy, crunchy, a tiny lil bit chewy in the middle, light, addictive (yea u heard me, addictive)...but i guess if i use just butter instead of butter + shortenings, it would have been better. no worries....friday is coming soon...my next baking attempt...ngek ngek ngek! Meanwhile....enjoy!!!!

My first Ever Enzyme Drink Encounter

Enzyme Drink Preparation - Day 1

After the line dance class, my mom came home and the first sentence that popped out of her mouth was "Eh the enzyme drink is 'in' now ar? Just now those aunties invited me over to try...but i chicken out...nice ar?" Suddenly i remember...i made an enzyme drink two weeks ago!

I've mentioned in my first post on enzyme drink which helps to eliminate those toxins (& fats) in your body (yea...detox and take off those inches!!), i managed to make an enzyme drink and tasted it. I admit, even though i've said that i'll be bold enough to try out those 'fermented' drink (just imagine leaving fruits in room temperature for weeks and then u eat them..not forgetting the molds that grew around them....urggh!) i chicken out a bit...cuz i have no idea how it taste and the smell...will it emit the pungent odor similar to the reservoir in Indah Water or will it be pleasant after all?

Just to stay on the 'safe' side, i read my cousin's blog and made the drink similar to hers (since it's tested oledi ma!). You know, as i stacked up the fruits, my mind were bombarded with thoughts of having frequent visits to the toilet and watching those inches disappear just like that Pooof!~ Wah seh.....(giggling at the thoughts of revealing a much slender figure me in skimpy bikinis....oppps i veered)

SO after two weeks of fermentation, as soon as i uncapped the bottle, i stuck my nose at the opening of the bottle....guess what...it smells weird.....i just dunno how to describe in words...sort of like strong acidic gassy odor? i dunno...just strong..not smelly...smelly is too harsh to describe.

My first sip : Urrrrr.....i just gotta be honest...IT DOES NOT TASTE GOOD AT ALL...NOT EVEN CLOSE TO ANY FRUIT JUICES.....IT TASTED LIKE BUAH BUSUK....wooh! but for the sake of detoxing my body, i had half cup of the diluted fermented juice extracted from the bottle and save the rest in the fridge.

I had the bowel urge 4 hours after my half cup of enzyme drink and prior to that, i expelled lotsa gasses and pee pee a lot too! The bowel urge was sorta like 'lau sai' minus the achy tummy.

I had my 2nd half cup of enzyme drink on the same day after dinner. This is it tasted much better....probably because it's chilled? 4 hours later...i had the bowel urge again! wah...i'm super happy! never in my life i have bowel movement twice a day (leaving out the diarrhoea moments)
As my cousin told me, the grape enzyme will probably taste much better...sumthing like grape wine (ooo...fingers crossed and i shall make one tonight). Stay tune for the next update on enzyme drink ;)

Enzyme Drink - Day 7

The "Kentang" Salad

Tired of plain old scrambled eggs on your toasted bread? NO? Ok...it's just me then.

As a crazy fan of bread, i can eat my bread plain, or sandwich a scoop of vanilla ice cream in between for desserts, or make a super healthy vegetarian sandwich for lunch at work, or spread peanut butter and jam generously on the bread...just anything but cheese. I hate cheese. Full stop.

Yesterday, as usual, went to the mart and bought a loaf of bread. Then.....open the fridge, instead of reaching for the butter and the coconut custard (a.k.a. kaya....yala...action a bit can or not?), i grabbed the Mayo, 2 eggs and a potato. Heh heh heh....cheeky me up for something again

So, after peeling the kentang's skin, i settled it in a pot of boiling water and let it boil until soft. Since i'm hungry, i cut the potato into quarts (speed up the soften process). Then, made hard boiled eggs (don't boil them too long...you won't want super hard boil eggs in your yummy sandwich....well at least in my sandwich). Peel the hard boiled eggs and mash it together with the soften potatoes.

Add 3 tbsp Mayo to the mashed potato eggs if you have a stick thin body....or add 2.99 tbsp Mayo to the mashed potato eggs if you are not. Haha! Come on....it's salad! How can you miss out the fun of Mayo??? Just for once, be generous on the Mayo :>

Finish the salad preparation with dashes of pepper and a lil salt....mix and spread them on the bread or have it just like that.

Now...get a bip and salivate over this....kekekke....kid you not!!!

My Generous Spread of Potato Salad on Toasted Bread Topped with Pork Floss ~ muaaaaah!

Just a Thought

When you were a toddler, you were adored by many people
When you were a kid, you made fuss that people wished you were just thrown away from the community
When you were a teenager, people started the 'betting game' that you will turn out to be rotten person
When you enter college, people were startled at the course you studied (but still strong on their bet that you will be a trash to the society)
When you graduated with an honorable degree, people still think you were probably a lucky chap or maybe you cheated you way out of school
When you entered the corporate world, people don't give a damn about the effort you put in your work and will only justify you by the results you are able to deliver at the end of the day
When it comes to appraisal, salary adjustment or even promotion period, you received nothing bombastic but only peanuts were shown in your bank account
When you were defeated in a hard way, you became the 'rotten person'
When you became rotten, people cheers happily and loudly "TOLD YOU SO! HE/SHE IS HOPELESS!"

So tell me, who can you blame when the statistic of crimes around you grew alarmingly?

Dinner For Two

I’m not a good daughter. Know why? Cuz when my parents are not around, I’ll P-A-R-T-E-Y at home! (bet you are just like me :P)

Stop! No….that’s not the (booze) party I’m having k! When I said party, I meant partying with the ingredients and cooking utensils in my house! Wakaka…well I rarely get to experiment my cooking skills at home…mum thinks that I’ve worked all day and by the time I’m home, I’ll be darn tired to cook…so she thinks that I should come home to a feast on the dining table waiting for me….that’s how lucky I am! ;>

Ok…skip the nonsense. Mom and dad are away for their vacation in Bali…so that means I gotta ‘eat myself’ for these few nights. Normally, one would sulk at the idea of cooking and eating alone…but I’m just opposite! I luv it when I get to cook anything I want….anything that includes an extreme dinner combo…hahaha…so tonight’s dinner for me :

Appetizer: recipe from here
Biscuits with butter & jam

Main Course: self inventory
Pasta Ala Campbell’s Mushroom Soup (Cream)
comes with chicken frankfurters, squid, straw mushroom and frozen mixed veggie

1. Boil a packet of spaghetti till Al-Dente
2. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pot and stir fry the chicken frankfurters (about 5 pieces), squid (3/4 cup), straw mushroom (1/2 cup, sliced) and frozen mixed veggie (1 cup) for 1 minute.
3. Pour a can of the mushroom soup into the pot and add half can of water to the pot.
4. Stir until the mixture is silky and creamy in the pot.
5. Season with dashes of black pepper. Dish up to a bowl of spaghetti. Serve hot

Stir fry cabbage with chopped garlic

1. Heat a tbsp of oil in a wok. Sauteed the garlic till fragrant.
2. Add the cabbage and continue stir frying till cook. Add ½ tsp of salt to the cooked cabbage and turn off the heat.
3. Mix well and dish up. Serve hot.

Dessert:
Red Bean soup with black glutinous rice and sago (self inventory)

IKO Cookies

Look at my weird food combo below….how is it possible not to say that I’m partying?? Also....dinner for two? heck! I'm too hungry that i was licking clean all the plates by myself. (I guess the taboo on skinny girls don't eat should be abolished! Judge me now!) Hehe!

Biscuits with butter and jam-----syiok!

Dinner just for myself!

Bananarama

<---- Can you see the chunks of banana in the cake?


"Ah miss ar....this banana black oledi. Not good. You choose that side 1 la...better bananas!"
"I'm using the bananas to bake cake...so? "
"Oh...then you this black black 1....very ripe and sweet oledi...i charge you cheaper...RM2 per kg"
I bought my bananas for RM2....how cheap! At first i thought of making steam banana cupcake...but after getting my big bunch of RM2 banana, i changed my mind. There were like ten 5 inches long bananas all together...so I must use at least three quarter of them before they rot away. No banana cupcake? Switch to Banana Cake then! I found this banana cake recipe from Happy Home Baker's blog page. She claimed that her cake looks ugly but i personally think it's nice and appetizing...and that's what prompt me to bake this cake using her recipe.

The cake is sooooo moist and yummy. I used two cups of banana instead of 1.3 cups. The aroma of the banana cake is sooo good....even my bb couldn't resist to take a pinch of the cake and taste as soon as i brought it out from the oven. This is definitely a keeper! Hopefully i can get another kilogram of Banana at RM2 this weekend! Can't wait to bake another one for my relatives and friends.

I altered the original recipe a lil bit....nevertheless...the cake still rocks!!!

Here's the recipe adapated from Happy Home Baker:

• 1 1/3 cups (315g) mashed banana (DB used 2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups (235g) plain flour (DB used 2 cups of plain flour and omitted the wholemeal flour)
• 1/2 cup (75g) wholewheat (wholemeal) flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (DB substituted baking soda with 2 tsp of baking powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (185g) firmly packed golden brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons (90g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup (125ml) fresh milk (DB used Low Fat Milk)

Method:

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 180 degC (350 degF). Line bottom of a 20cm (8") round pan with parchment paper, butter and flour the sides. Alternatively, you can use a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan, butter and flour it and set aside.
2. In a bowl, stir together plain flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended and stir in the brown sugar, butter and milk.
4. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches alternately with the mashed bananas, and stir with a spatula until just blended. Do not over mix.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the spatula. (Optional: Stud the top of the batter with slices of bananas).
6. Bake for 55~60mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. If the surface starts to brown too much, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil around the last 15mins of baking. Depending on your oven, you may have to do this mid-way during the baking time.
7. Remove from oven, let cool in the pan for 5mins before unmold. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Store in airtight container at room temperatures for 2-3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.

WARNING: This cake is too yummy to be stored for 1 month

Melt-In-Mouth Peanut Cookies

Besides chocolate chip cookies which I craved constantly, I’m also a great fan of peanut cookies….especially the melt-in-your-mouth type. So what if CNY is over? It doesn’t mean I have to wait till the next CNY before I can taste the yummy peanut cookies again.

Here I go…made these batch of melt-in-your-mouth type of peanut cookies during the weekend. I bought the peanuts raw from the market and had them rinsed (not blanched) under running tap water (just to thoroughly clean the dust on the surface of the peanuts). Instead of dry frying them in the wok over low heat, I had them baked in the oven at 160 DC until brown….this way I can save myself from 'sipping' the ‘heat’ into my body as a result of stoning in front of the hot wok of raw peanuts for hours….and I can also occupy myself with other activities whilst having the peanuts baked in the oven.
*Remember to stir the peanuts in the oven from time to time to allow uniform baking*

You can also buy ready to eat peanuts from the store and ground them finely in a food processor. But I personally think it’s best to bake from scratch cuz trust me, you’ll feel the ultimate satisfaction when you savored them;>

Dumb-Baker’s Version of Peanut Cookies

1. 450g peanuts (skinned and powdered them in a food processor)
2. 350g plain flour
3. 1 ½ tsp of baking powder
4. ½ tsp of salt
5. 200g icing sugar
6. 2 - 2 ½ cups of cooking oil (preferably peanut oil)

Egg glaze : Beat an egg with a tablespoon of water

Cara-cara
Preheat the oven to 180 DC. Combine powdered peanuts, flour, baking power, salt and icing sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk until well mixed. Add in oil to the mixing bowl little by little until a dough formed (you may need less than 2 cups or more than 2 ½ cups of oil). To have uniform shape of cookies, you may want to use bottle cap or measuring teaspoon and have cling / saran wrap over, simply put an amount of dough and press into the cap or teaspoon. Lift the cling / wrap to release the shaped cookie and place the cookies on the lined baking tray. You can use the chopsticks to make an indentation in the centre of the cookies for decorations purpose. Lastly, brush the cookies with egg glaze before popping them in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Cool the baked cookies on a wire rack before storing them in an air tight container.

Note : My cookies appear a bit dull....cuz i skipped the egg glaze...bad move....but these cookies are AWESOME in your mouth!

Peanut Butter Brownies

Aromatic. Rich. Delicious. sinful.

It's Friday! Yay! After the weekdays hard work, I bet most of you will want something good to reward yourself. Be it, a sumptuous meal, a nice short holiday trip over the weekend, or maybe just laze around on our comfy beds and sleep like no tomorrow. *that's me probably*

Last weekend was not exceptional for me either...instead of patting myself on the back after a good week's work stress, i made myself (ALLLLLLL JUST FOR MYSELF) a sinful peanut butter brownie. Boy of boy...i must say, you can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate aye? (I think Nabisco will agree with me...judging by the fact that they manufactured Peanut Butter Oreo cookies.) Forget about the little angel in you whispering endlessly to ur ears about FAT FAT FAT...just for once (or maybe sometimes / often....hehe) take the little Satan advice to indulge in these rich peanut butter brownies. No regrets.

The brownies recipe is originated by Jamie Oliver and i found this recipe from Baker Lee's web page. I added a dollop or two...wait..i think it's three peanut butter to the brownie mixture...it's really up to you actually...just how much you devour peanut butter (heh! *evil grin*)

Wait no more and here it is :) Enjoy!


Ingredients

• 250g unsalted butter (reduced to 150g)
• 200g dark chocolate50g chopped walnuts
• 80g cocoa powder, sifted
• 65g plain flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 360g caster sugar (Reduced to 160g)
• 4 eggs

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 Degrees C. Grease Baking pan.
2. Melt the butter and dark chocolate over a double boiler and mix until smooth. (dumb-baker added 3 tbsp of peanut butter into the chocolate mixture)
3. Add chopped walnuts and stir together.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, and then add this to the chocolate mixture.
5. Beat in the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.
6. Pour your brownie mixture into the baking tray, bake for around 25 minutes.

Not Being Responsible

I am not being irresponsible. I did what i had to do and i followed instructions. Dun give me shit that X is irresponsible and me as the assistant should attend to all these 'sou jaou si' from X. If u think X is irresponsible, please go after X. End of Story.

-sumtimes, apologies after a harsh remark will not mend the broken heart-

Apple Crumble

As I mumbled to myself in my previous post about dieting, that was just PURE MUMBLE. I did not exert the diet because I know everyone will be screaming at me “Look At YOU! NO BOOBS NO BUTT …AND YOU WANT TO LOSE MORE???!??”

Alright alright….my fault…maybe I should just do the silent diet..

Wait…did I say diet again…seriously it’s just one of my ‘3 minutes heat’ haha…because I’m up for some dessert again…haha!

The first time I tried Apple Crumble was a take away from a café (forgotten the name) early this year …it’s really good and I planned of giving it a try to make it. However, I dropped the plan almost immediately for some reason but my plan is back!!!

And here it is….my first ever homemade Apple Crumble. I googled for the recipe and most of the recipes stated almost same ingredients….however, dumb-baker being adventurous, did not follow any of the recipes and made this apple crumble based on instinct. Call me dumb or whatever, I knew I should have adapted one of the many recipes since it’s my first time…but my little instinct wasn’t too bad la. Baking is all about experimenting…agree???

What I Had was:

1. 2 green apples (core + cut them and toss them in an amount of lemon juice to keep the apples from discoloring)
2. 1 tbsp of brown sugar
3. 1-2 pinch of cinnamon powder
4. 140g plain flour
5. 50g rolled oats
6. 10g castor sugar
7. 120g melted butter

What I did was:

Preheat the oven at 180DC. Bring the cut and tossed apples into a saucepan. Add in brown sugar and cinnamon powder over the apples. Stir and simmer over low heat until the apple becomes slightly soft. Turn off the heat and transfer the saucy apples into a baking pan ( I used a 6 inch pan). Set aside first.

Combine flour, oats and sugar in a mixing bowl. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula.

Pour the crumbly mixtures over the saucy apples. Bake in the oven to 180DC for 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold….i had mine hot…and it’s yummy…!

Finally..~

I did it. After being fickle minded for like the last few weeks, my hair is finally 7 inches shorter.

Me in Jammies

Bb, i really hope you can take this new me minus the heart attack...wakakakaka!

Easy Puffs on Lazy Day

Last night, it hits me again. This time, it isn’t cookies or breads anymore. It’s puffs. Too bad it was raining heavily last night that I struggled a lot to drive safely back home…ah…not forgetting that my car was almost banged by a 4WD (shitty traffic lights). So, going out from my home sweet home to buy puffs is the last thing I want to do since my vision at night is not good.
I ransacked my cupboard….looked up at the clock…damn…it’s already 8pm…I don’t want to make a puff from scratch as I know it will takes me forever just to knead and get the shape right…plus I’m getting sleepy. But without satisfying my sudden crazy crave, i will not be able to sleep peacefully. SO….checked out the freezer…hehe…guess what I found? FROZEN ROTI PRATHA!!!!!
Epi EPi EPi!!! Immediately I took out two sheets of ROTI Pratha, a packet of frozen mixed veggies and a can of baked beans. I preheated my oven at 160DC, while waiting, I assemble my lazy puff. Hu HU HU!!!

What I did was:

1. Thaw the Frozen ROTI Pratha for like 3-4 minutes. ( u might want to flour the surface of the counter where you thaw the roti pratha to avoid the roti from sticking to the counter…and get messy later)
2. Cut the roti pratha into the portion/size you desire.
3. Put an amount of mixed veggies and baked beans on a piece of roti pratha.
4. Lay another piece of roti on top and seal the edges by pressing them lightly.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the puff is golden brown in color.
   For a buttery taste, you may brush some melted butter on the puffs before baking them in oven.

For variations: you can substitute baked beans with sardines / Tuna / hard boiled eggs….basically anything you desire :>

result of being too greedy *grin*

This snack was super easy and yummy too. I had a piece of the puffs (felt guilty since I had taken dinner…gotta stop all my crap binge eating from now) and my dad finished off the rest of the 3 puffs. See how yummy it is…haha…ok who am I kidding now?

*Mumbles to myself: Hmm…where’s my bathroom scale…I GOTTA MUST MESTI “YAT TING” stop eating after dinner…sad case…my waistline is getting thicker..diet diet Ms Shortie!!!*

A New Hairdo??

SHould i cut or should i not cut? SHould i get my hair permed or should i not? For those who knows me well, guess you guys know i've been keeping the same hairstyle with the same length for the last 2 donkey years. As per now, it has grown to slightly past my midriff. I guess i should have a new hairdo, agree? no? The thing is, i just don't know what i should with my hair. Chopped it short? Like our famous Mrs. Beckham? or have it permed since my hair is lying flat on my head? (i'm afraid i'll look like auntie)

ANy suggestion? Yor...see la...hair oso give me headache. Every time i visit the salon, the hairdresser will always comment on my thin hair....saying that i needed this treatment and that treatment (which will cost me a bomb)...and if not treated, i may risk displaying a miniature Mediterranean Sea on my head.

I know lah but she doesn't need to 'remind' the botak-ness risk every time...

Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Are you a 'Famous Amos' or 'Mrs Field' cookie person? I'm both. How greedy. I devour the cookies by both of them very muchieeee. When i was studying in the States, i used to visit the mall and never missed buying Mrs Field cookies. I just can't resist them....these cookies not only had the aroma made you quicken your steps the cookie counter the moment you enter the mall, even just the sight at them at the display counter made you swallow you saliva countless of times. Same here in our city's famous Sg. Wang mall....my god! Just tell me, how can you just NOT detect the aroma of Famous Amos cookies baking in the oven?

It just strikes me again. My binge eating on cookies is back! Haha! I bought a packet a Hershey's Semisweet Chocolate Chip just to make these cookies. I used to get only the store brand chocolate chip...cuz usually i make them in bulks and i'll be burning a hole in my pocket if i were to purchase a few packets of good chocolate chips.

But this time, i decided to make these chocolate chip cookies in terms of quality, not quantity. I even bought a block of good butter...good butter as in pure good butter (eg. Lurpack / Anchor). I adapted this recipe of Mrs Field Chocolate Chip cookies from All Recipes.com.

*Note that recipe calls for rolled oats and powderised in a food processor / blender. Also, the recipe stated that i should bake the cookies for only 8-10 minutes, but i baked them for about 15-18 minutes as my family members are not used to consume 'soft' typed of cookies.*

I halved the amount of ingredients used in the recipe and it yields me 4 small containers (the size in which the shrimp rolls are packed during the CNY festival).

Verdict: It's really good (significance of using good chocolate chips and butter) and i will definitely make these batch of cookies again. My other half complimented that this is the best cookies i have baked so far and he just couldn't stop munching on them. The cookies are neither too soft nor too hard.